I am a part of the The Lost Souls Series by Laurel blog tour and am excited to share an excerpt for you from episode two, Imperfection! But first, a little about the books:
Lost Souls:
Souls who refuse to pass into the afterlife become wandering spirits, trapped between the world of the living and the dead. These are the Lost Souls. Some of these Lost Souls have banded together, uniting to fight against an evil endangering both their existence and the safety of the human world they once inhabited. This evil has taken shape in unholy creatures called the Changed, beings who were once Lost Souls but who are now dark, dangerous and disturbed monsters. The Changed feed on the energy of the Lost Souls, growing stronger with each Lost Soul they drain. The ultimate goal of the Changed is to harness enough energy to return to the land of the living by possessing the body of a human. The mission of the Lost Souls is to stop them…
Souls who refuse to pass into the afterlife become wandering spirits, trapped between the world of the living and the dead. These are the Lost Souls. Some of these Lost Souls have banded together, uniting to fight against an evil endangering both their existence and the safety of the human world they once inhabited. This evil has taken shape in unholy creatures called the Changed, beings who were once Lost Souls but who are now dark, dangerous and disturbed monsters. The Changed feed on the energy of the Lost Souls, growing stronger with each Lost Soul they drain. The ultimate goal of the Changed is to harness enough energy to return to the land of the living by possessing the body of a human. The mission of the Lost Souls is to stop them…
Resurrection
The
first episode in the new urban fantasy series: Lost Souls. Christian Thompson
is killed but refuses to pass into the afterlife because of his need to shelter
his daughter from her cruel mother. He soon discovers there are others like
him, other spirits trapped between the world of the living and the dead. He
joins the Lost Souls in their struggle against a dark evil that threatens them
all.
Imperfection
Sam
and her brother Ben, along with their new friend Christian, have just defied
the leader of the Lost Souls. Outcast from their former group, the three of
them battle the dark forces of the Changed on their own. With the help of their
old friend, Eugene, they investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of
their Lost Soul brethren. As the investigation deepens, they come to the chilling
realization that their nemesis, Scala, has escaped his centuries-old prison
with revenge on his twisted mind. A demonic possession leads to grave
consequences and the Lost Souls must make a difficult choice between life and
death for an innocent victim.
LOST SOULS EXCERPT FROM IMPERFECTION:
Sam didn’t need light to see him.
Damien sat in the middle of the huge room on an old metal desk. His bottom rested on the metal, one of his legs bent over the side. His hands were folded in front of him as if he had all the patience of a saint. His dark shoulder length hair fell forward over his bowed head, obscuring his face. He was everything she remembered.
She fazed forward once, cutting across the distance in the blink of an eye, and then again until she stood before him.
She stared at his bowed head for a long moment. Slowly, agony rose inside her burning her heart. It was Damien. The Damien she had thought she lost. Her husband.
The silence stretched between them, an abyss no words could bridge.
“Damien,” Sam whispered softly, finally unable to bear the quiet any longer.
“It’s been a long time,” he agreed. But his voice was strong and didn’t have the same tremble hers did.
“I thought you were dead.”
The soft, familiar chuckle rumbled from his throat. “We are dead.”
She stepped forward. “I would never have left you. I didn’t know.” The sting of tears rose in her eyes. “I wouldn’t have left you alone.”
“Six hundred years and you heard no word of me?”
There was bitterness and a touch of anger in his voice. Sam lifted her chin. “The same could be said about you.”
“When I found out you were a Soul, it was too late. I had already Changed.”
Changed. The word sliced into her heart. He wasn’t like her anymore. It was too late. “I won’t hunt you. I won’t hurt you. I owe you that much,” she told him.
“You owe me nothing.” Damien looked at her then with his black eyes. Evil eyes.
Sam wanted to touch him, to run her hand through his hair. She would never be able to now. It was too late for them. She felt the tingle of tears on her cheeks. Too late.
He stood and came to her, lifting his fingers to touch her cheek, tracing a trail of one of her tears. His closeness was intoxicating. She could… smell him. A thick heady scent she remembered from a long time ago. His scent. Forest and man. She couldn’t tell if she really could smell him, or if it was merely a remembered scent. Whatever was happening, the scent filled the area around her.
He pulled his fingers back and looked at the tiny charges on his finger. Snapping tendrils of blue power sparkled and jumped wildly about his fingertips. He rubbed his fingers together and the blue energy vanished. When he looked at her again, his dark gaze moved slowly over her face. Longing furrowed his brow.
Sam could have sworn she saw tenderness in his eyes. But in the next moment, they were hard and cold. “I want you to leave Scala alone.”
It was as if he had just splashed ice cold water over her. She blinked. “Scala?”
“You are not to blast him or whatever it is you did before.”
Sam pulled away and the distance seemed to clear her head. She brushed angrily at the tears on her cheeks. “Are you kidding me? He’s a killer. He hurts young girls. Did you see what he did to that human?”
“He’s not your problem. Stay away from him.”
Sam grimaced. “You’ve forgotten I don’t take orders well. I never have.”
A grin slid over his lips. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“I can’t just let him walk away! Or worse yet, kill again!”
“You can and you will.”
Sam stared at him for a long moment. “Why do you care? A Changed doesn’t care about another Changed.”
Damien turned his back on her and returned to the desk. “Some Changed do.”
Sam narrowed her eyes. “Scala was locked away in an iron crypt for centuries. Someone had to let him out. Was it you?”
“I didn’t know he was locked away. It was cruel of you to do that to him.”
“Cruel?” Sam took a step toward him, her fists clenched. “You don’t know what he does. What he did to the Souls. What he did to me. The torture he inflicts is… inhuman.”
Damien froze. His back straightened but he didn’t turn.
“You can’t ask this of me. I won’t do it. I want him gone from this world. From my world.”
Damien turned to her, putting the full force of his piercing black gaze on her. “It’s not a request, Sammie. I’m telling you to stay away from him. You are not to blast him.”
This time, the agony was different. She mourned the past, knowing it was truly gone and could never be reborn between them. “I don’t think so.”
Damien fazed and in an instant was directly in front of her. “I won’t let you do it.” He lifted his hand.
Sam stared at him without flinching. Part of her wanted him to drain her. Part of her wanted to be a Changed so they could be together. “I’m not running away from you.”
Again, his look softened his dark eyes. His hand lowered just slightly. “You think I’m not evil enough to drain you?”
“I think you are.” Sam’s jaw clenched. “I’m not letting Scala go. Nothing you can do to me would ever be as bad as what he did.”
He lowered his hand. “I can drain you completely.”
It would be too merciful, Sam thought. Because she didn’t think she wanted to exist knowing Damien was evil. She lifted a hand to rest against his cheek. “It’s the only way to stop me.”
Laurel O’Donnell
has won numerous awards for her works, including the Holt Medallion for A
Knight of Honor, the Happily Ever After contest for Angel’s
Assassin, and the Indiana’s Golden Opportunity contest for Immortal
Death. The
Angel and the Prince was nominated by the Romance Writers of America
for their prestigious Golden Heart award. O’Donnell lives in Illinois with her
four cherished children, her beloved husband and her five cats. She finds
precious time every day to escape into the medieval world and bring her
characters to life in her writing.
Buy Links:
October 16 Bajan Rosa-
Excerpt
