I hope you have all had a lovely and relaxing Easter and that you're not feeling to sick after all that delicious chocolate. :-)
Today I thought I would share one of my free reads with you.
"Home" is the short prequel to my fallen angel novella, The Collector. It is set nineteen years before the novella and shows the moment that Kale and Samantha first meet.
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Home
The Collector Prequel
By Elizabeth Morgan
(Home is a free read, offered unedited & as-is.)
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Kale had already seen what was about to happen. He knew the driver of the black beetle would lose his grip on the wheel, due to the icy country road. And he knew that once it collided with the silver Ford, the man would be hurled through the window, killed instantly from the blow and that the car would tip. But all he could do was wait until it happened.
Kale was a hand, one of The Collectors. He was the one who came for a persons spirit when they died. It was his job to open the gateway of light and deliver the spirits into the afterlife. Without him, a persons spirit would be trapped between worlds, unable to cross.
He stood patiently underneath an old oak, unseen by all those who drove by. Just watching.
Waiting.
The country road glistened due to the thin winter ice that sat snugly upon the crumbling stone.
He could see that each blade of grass sparkled with dew as the morning light covered the landscape. He knew it was cold by the way the random passengers of individual cars sat in their thick hats and coats, their breath frosting the glass, but he couldn’t feel it. Even though he stood in nothing more than silk trousers, he couldn’t feel the bitter wind against his naked flesh.
He looked up at the naked branches above his head, he could clearly see the wind dancing through the bare branches of the oak, making them shake frantically. But he felt nothing.
He sometimes found himself wondering how something as simple as rain or a summer’s breeze would feel against his skin. But it was something he would never know. He shook the thought out of his mind and lifted his head as he sensed the faint dark fog of death invading the air. He looked to the right, to the distant hill that the road had climbed over….
It was time.
Kale watched as the small black beetle rolled over the hill, pleasantly making its way along the winding country road, the man and his young daughter clueless to what was about to happen. He lifted his hand and slowly swiped the empty space in front of him.
Time slowed before his eyes.
He watched the beetle turn the corner and head onto the main road. Kale could already hear the sound of the rubber screeching viciously as it fought against the ice, straining to keep grip of the road.
He looked to his left and saw the silver Ford heading toward them. The couple sat happily listening to the radio.
The beetle swerved, the wheels screaming against the ice. Kale caught a glimpse of the man’s face. He watched as panic and fear suddenly exploded and covered his features like a mask.
Kale could feel the panic colliding with death; it filled the air around him in a thick haze, trying to pull him in. But like all other human emotions it simply rolled off him and he remained unaffected.
He watched as the Ford swerved to the right as the beetle caught its left side. The sound of smashed metal suddenly pulsated through the air. Kale watched as the metal began to ripple from the pressure and flow along the length of the beetle in thick waves. It was almost like watching water after a stone had been thrown into a lake.
The window to the beetle cracked. He watched as each jagged line travelled along the glass, the pattern forming like the branches of the naked trees around him. The glass exploded into a million pieces as the man flew over the dashboard and bonnet.
Kale watched the daylight touch each piece of the shattered glass as they fell like glitter through the air. The car swerved again, its nose dipping down into the ditch at the side of the road as it slowly tipped over.
The driver of the silver Ford flung the door of his car open, a mobile phone already at his ear. His wife sat hysterically crying. Her left leg was cut, the impact of the car caused the metal to break inwardly, but she hadn’t realised yet. Neither had her husband. They were both in shock.
Kale walked towards the beetle. The remainder of the glass had finally landed on the ground. The sound of it hitting the stone invaded the air like the chimes of small bells. He knew that it should hurt stepping on the broken shards with his bare feet but he felt nothing. It wouldn’t wound him and he would not bleed.
He stopped by the car and allowed time to catch up.
The driver of the Ford slipped the phone into his jacket pocket and ran down the ditch to the car.
Kale opened his mind.
"Oh God. Oh God. What happened?" The ford driver looked at the man’s body where it lay on the damp grass and dropped down beside him. "Oh shit!"
"Daddy? Where has daddy gone?"
Kale closed his mind and walked to the beetle. He got down on his knees and peered through the left, back window. He saw the man’s four-year-old daughter sat in her pink bumper seat. Her little red coat bunched up at her neck as she hung upside down. Her auburn hair, done into pigtails with small sunflower hair ties, dangled down past her flushed cheeks. She was unharmed, just confused. Where had her father gone? Why was she suddenly alone and upside down? Answers she wouldn’t find out for a few years.
The girl turned to look at him. Her emerald eyes studied him for a moment, and then to his surprise a smile broke over her small pink lips. It was no surprise that a child could see him; children’s minds were more open then adults. They had not yet been told what was normal or strange. What people should see and what they shouldn’t. To this girl he would just look like a man, so he found himself smiling back. She would be okay. He already knew she would.
"Samantha?"
Kale stood up and turned to see the girl’s father standing above his body. He was as clear as he had been when he was alive, except for the faint glowing white light that lay upon his skin, declaring him as a new spirit.
"Can you see me?" the man asked looking back down at his mangled body. Confusion sat in his dark eyes.
Kale nodded.
"Am I dead?"
"Yes." Kale answered calmly as he walked toward him.
"I don’t know what happened. I lost grip of the wheel and--" He stopped at the sound of his daughter crying.
The driver of the Ford shot up and ran to the car.
"Oh my God. It’s alright sweetie," the man told Samantha. "I’m going to get you out." He ran round to the front of the car, dropped to his knees and began crawling through the broken window. A loud hiss escaped the man’s lips, along with the sound of crunching.
He had cut his leg on the broken glass.
"Is she okay?"
"She is fine." Kale smiled faintly. "Help is on the way. She will be safe."
"She’s only four. I was taking her back to her mother. Why didn’t I put my seat belt on? Why is this happening?"
"It has happened because it is your time, Craig." Kale replied simply. "Everyone has a time."
Craig shook his head frantically side to side. "I don’t want to go."
"It is already done." Kale began walking away from the car; he needed a clear space.
The Ford driver crawled slowly back out the broken front window. Samantha was clinging on to his neck. Her emerald eyes were filled with tears, her face turning a darker shade of red as she sobbed.
"It is time to go, Craig." Kale called as he stretched his arms out and tilted his head to the sky.
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Craig tore his gaze from his little girl and turned to watch as the stranger raised his arms up to the sky. He knew it was freezing which was why he had worn his thick black coat, but he could no longer feel the cold, which was probably why this stranger stood here in nothing more then white silk trousers.
He watched as the skin of the strangers back began to move. Something wriggled beneath, trying to break free. Craig squinted in disgust, trying not to look as the stranger’s skin pulled and split. The bones seemed to be shifting. Feathers began exploding from the stretched skin and in a blinding flash Craig found himself looking upon a set of giant white wings.
He gasped as the angel turned to face him. The giant white wings shuddered as they opened out and stretched. Behind the angel Craig could see the opening of a long tunnel of pure white light. He followed the length and looked up to see the light breaking from a set of pale grey clouds.
The angel held out his left hand to Craig.
"Where are you going to take me?" Craig asked hesitantly.
"Home."
"I don’t believe--"
"Heaven is what you choose it to be." He smiled softly. "Come Craig, it is time."
Craig stepped towards the driver of the ford who rocked Samantha gently, his gaze glued to the road as he waited frantically for someone to come. Samantha seemed to be staring out into the field, Craig turned to the angel.
"Can she see you?"
The angel nodded.
He looked back at his daughter. "Samantha?"
Her big beautiful green eyes landed on him. Her eyebrows dipped slightly as her gaze wandered over the space where he was standing. "Daddy?" she whispered softly, tears glistening on her cheeks.
He looked back at the angel. "She can't see me?"
The angel shook his head. "I am afraid not."
He looked at Samantha. "Yes baby. It’s me. I’m so sorry." Craig ran his hand over his daughter’s hair. He couldn’t feel it, but a strange, cool, tingling sensation ran within the space between her head and his hand. "I love you Sammy. Always remember that baby. I love you so much."
"I love you, Daddy," she whispered.
He knew he couldn’t stay but the grief of losing his daughter tried to pull him apart. The want to stay at her side was heavy.
He felt the strange light against his skin; it weaved around him like a warm breeze, catching him in a gentle embrace. The smell of home made cakes and the sea, floated around him, softly invading his sense. A sweet and familiar singing called to him from a distance. He turned and looked back at the waiting angel, the sudden want to be lost within the light pulled at him as a sudden peacefulness overtook him.
Craig turned back to his daughter and gently kissed her on the forehead. "Daddy has to go sweetie."
She frowned. "Daddy?"
"What sweetheart?" the Ford driver asked.
"I don’t want to baby. I wanted to stay with you forever and ever but I know I have to go. I love you." Craig turned and walked towards the angel. He could hear Samantha crying once more and the gentle sobs were agonizing.
The sound of sirens began in the distance.
Help would be here soon. Samantha would be safe.
"Will she be okay?" he asked stopping before the angel.
"Your daughter is strong, Craig. She will be with her mother very soon and I know that she will never forget you."
"How?"
The angel smiled. "She could never forget her father. Now, come with me."
Craig placed his hand in the angel’s.
"Are you ready?"
Craig nodded slowly, taking one last look at his daughter.
An ambulance had pulled up on the road alongside the Ford. The driver rushed over with Samantha, her focus still fixed firmly on them. Craig waved and watched with a sad smile as she waved back before a medic took her in his arms.
Craig sighed and turned to look into the tunnel. The angel’s wings flexed beside them. Craig watched in fascination as the light surrounded them. It brushed against his face like a tender caress and a strange happiness overtook him. The sweet sound of singing filled his ears as the smell of homemade cake and the ocean swamped him. The angel’s left wing cocooned him as his feet left the ground.
Peace embraced him as the angel took him home.
The End.
©ElizabethMorgan2010
Home by Elizabeth Morgan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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(Erotic Paranormal Romance)
Book| One Series| The Overseers
BLURB:
After watching millions die, those human emotions are starting to take effect. Instead of collecting his next spirit from the car accident that is about to kill her, Kale saves her life. His punishment for ruining fate... is mortality.
Length: Novella| Content: Erotic Romance| Publisher: Cobblestone Press|
Purchase: Cobblestone Press| Amazon.com| Amazon.co.uk| All Romance Ebooks| OmniLit| Fictionwise| Ebookwise|
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