With a mob contract on her head, Helena has kept a low
profile, trying to survive by living off the streets. Numb with cold and near
starvation, she awaits death in an abandoned house, and gets more than she
bargained for, in the form of a vampire.
When an angel — Danizriel — arrives on the scene, he is puzzled
to find Helena still alive and the vampire dead. Intrigued, he shelters her and
together they discover that she has become something neither of them expected.
Their growing attraction is soon threatened when news of
Helena's unnatural abilities quickly spreads. She becomes the target of a
deadly hunt by vampires and Danizriel is placed in an impossible situation when
he is told he must kill her.
With overwhelming forces closing in, Helena and
Danizriel face death from all directions. Who will live and who will die?
I saw a shape move in the light, and a hand rested on my
chest, over my heart, and another on my forehead. I was flooded with warmth, bliss
and peace. Never had I tasted such ecstasy in my life. I knew this angel was
setting me free.
I heard a gasp, and through his hands I felt his body
stiffen, then convulse, as if in the grip of a seizure. When at last it was
finished, he fell to the floor, breathing raggedly. I opened my eyes. The room
was near dark again, but I was not dead. The blinding light had been replaced
with a few weak rays of sunshine piercing through the gloom between the boards
covering the window. Dust motes floated lazily to settle once more on the
floor. I could see my angel was nothing more than a man — just a man, like all
those who had come before him, with promises and lies.
I scrambled backwards to the corner of the room, and as my
eyes adjusted to the light I could see two shapes. One lying still on the floor
and the other half-sitting, shaking his head and taking heaving breaths of air.
“Get away from me,” I warned. “I have a knife.”
“No you don’t,” the stranger replied with self-assurance. “If
you did, you would have used it on him.” He pointed to the body on the floor.
He stood up and brushed himself off, before taking a few
steps towards me. I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged my legs, making
myself as small as possible.
“Forgive me, how rude,” the stranger said.
He stopped a couple of metres away from me, wiped one hand on
his coat and extended it towards me.
“My name is Danny. And you are?”
“None of your business,” I spat back at him.
I knew his type, only after one thing.
“Indeed, it is my business. Light,” he murmured, and the incandescent bulb in the ceiling cast
an eerie glow across the room.
How did he do that?
Danny gave me a half-smile and pointed to the ceiling. “I bet
you’re wondering how I did that.”
