Edyn (The Essence Project Book 1) Read online

  All of the air was knocked out of me, and my head started spinning. Five surrogates. I tried to wrap my brain around it, and in the process remembered that he’d said they’d recovered nine eggs from me.

  "I thought there were nine?" I choked out.

  He nodded. "Yes, three others were successfully fertilized and have been cryogenically preserved for future use."

  I pulled my hand away from his and looked at him with anger in my eyes as the lab technicians busied themselves with the blood samples.

  "You’re still going to do this?" I whispered. I couldn’t fully speak. The horror of what was happening right in front of me was too much.

  Thinking about it since I’d been back was painful, but having it so blatantly thrown in my face like this made it unbearable.

  "Edyn, I wanted to show you this. I wanted to give you a choice, love. We don’t know how many, if any, were successful transfers, but I wanted to tell you, if we are successful, I can change the project with the click of a button." He tried to put his hands on my arms, but I jerked away.

  "It doesn’t have to be terminal," he said. "We can place them in good homes and let them grow up. We can keep them close to us. All you have to do is say the word."

  He would spare them?

  The thought of having children with him was still abhorrent. He would never know my love. He may not have been the monster I once thought he was, but this was still unforgivable.

  Several machines began beeping across the room. I turned my head to see the technicians reading computer screens.

  "Well, what are the results?" Jophiel asked, a hint of impatience in his voice, mixed with hope and anticipation.

  The first tech stared at him and shook his head. Jophiel’s face sank as he looked to the next. This one also shook his head. He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut before moving on to the next.

  "This one is positive, sir," the third technician said.

  Jophiel’s face lit up. He looked hopefully to the next tech, who shook her head solemnly. His shoulders slumped, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  "And last but not least?" he asked, sounding somewhat defeated.

  "Positive, Sir."

  He opened his eyes, and flashed a partial smile. "At least we have two," he said. "Which ones were the survivors?"

  The lab tech that had first said positive stepped forward. "Seraph 4 has been successfully transferred, Sir."

  Jophiel exhaled a sigh of relief. "And the other?"

  The last lab technician spoke up, "Andreas 1."

  Closing his eyes and shaking his head, Jophiel said, "Of course it is."

  I had no idea what that meant, but before I could ask, all the lights went out, and we were shrouded in darkness. Some of the women screamed, before the emergency lights flicked on.

  "What the Hell?" Jophiel said before grabbing my hand. "Let’s get back to our quarters. You’ll be safer there."

  I didn’t have time to argue. He began dragging me out the door and down the hallway that was only sparsely lit by the emergency lights. We passed a number of soldiers hurrying to various locations as we jogged back to our suite. When we reached one of our doors, alarms sounded.

  "Shit," he muttered as he thrust his hand on the scanner. "Stay in here. You’ll be safe. These doors are reinforced. No one will be able to get in."

  "What’s going on? Where are you going?" I asked frantically.

  "We have a security breach. There’s an intruder. I’ll come back for you." He slammed his lips into mine for a brief moment before he took off back out the door.

  I didn’t even have time to push him away from me.

  I silently cursed him for not leaving any weapons around, but thought that perhaps the door to his room might be open. When I reached it, I found it halfway open. Surely he had another knife or something in here that I could use if I needed it. I fumbled through three drawers before I found a black military knife. It had an eight inch blade so it should do a fine job of defending me.

  The building shook, and I could hear shouting out in the hallway. I made my way back out to the other room and tried to focus.

  I had an Essence now.

  This was my chance.

  I kept my eyes locked on the door as I tried to quickly formulate a plan, hoping Jophiel would be occupied long enough for me to escape.The knife was clutched closely against my chest. Another boom somewhere rattled the walls again, and I squeezed my eyes shut.

  God, help me.

  Then He did.

  The door was blasted off its hinges with such force that splinters hit my face, and I was knocked backwards. When the dust settled, I was able to make out the silhouette standing in the doorway.

  A tall, strong figure with glowing eyes. At first I thought it was Jophiel, but this man was too short.

  Ryker.

  The knife fell from my hands as I ran to him.

  He caught me in his arms "We have to get out of here," he said in my ear.

  I just stared at him for a moment, and let out a short laugh.

  "What could possibly be funny at a time like this?" he asked.

  I smiled. "You’re glowing."

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk, and he kissed me more fiercely than I could ever remember him kissing me before. It ended all too soon.

  "They’ll get the power back up soon. We need to get going before they do." He started tugging me to the door, but I stopped him.

  "Hang on, give me a second," I said and sprinted to the dining room.

  "Edyn," his voice trailed after me.

  I scooped Ryker’s bible and journal off the table and held them close to my heart. Then I grabbed his hand, and we started running. Whenever we encountered soldiers in the hallways, Ryker slammed them back with a wave of his hand. My angel powers looked damn good on him.

  By the grace of God, we made it all the way to the lobby of the building before Jophiel finally caught up to us. He stood between us and the exit. His eyes, like Ryker’s, were glowing.

  Please, God, get us out of here.

  I don’t want to see an angel fight right now.

  Ryker didn't hesitate. He shot an orb of light directly at Jophiel, who dodged it enough to take a lesser hit. Jophiel immediately retaliated, releasing a stream of fire from his hands. Ryker pushed me out of the way and caught the blaze in his hands. I was terrified that it was hurting him, but he was only absorbing it.

  "Is that the best you’ve got?" Ryker grunted as he raised an eyebrow.

  Rage took over Jophiel’s better judgement, and he flew at Ryker. Deflecting, Ryker twisted just right, and followed Jophiel to the ground, raining down blow after blow.

  Stella’s words from what seemed like forever ago hit me.

  He’s never lost.

  I caught the glint of the angel blade emanating from the glow both of them were giving off. Before I could warn Ryker, Jophiel flashed it through the air. He caught Ryker’s arm in one slash, and it only infuriated Ryker more. He grabbed Jophiel’s wrist and somehow overpowered him as the blade hit the marble floor, glowing brightly. His fists were flying again, and he pummeled Jophiel’s face. Jophiel was no match for Ryker in this state, and I could see that he was losing consciousness. No matter how fierce a warrior he had been for God, love would always be a stronger motivator than obligation.

  I ran to them and pulled Ryker off. "Let’s go!" I shouted.

  Ryker got in two more punches before he stood up and stared down at Jophiel's battered face.

  I tugged his hand towards the exit. "We have to go!"

  He didn't take his eyes, so dark with rage, off of Jophiel as he growled, "Her mercy is the only reason you're still breathing."

  I pulled on his hand again, and we ran. His blood trickled down between our intertwined fingers. When we burst through the doors, there was a gray SUV waiting at the curb.

  "Come on, man!" the driver yelled at Ryker. He clearly knew him, and I thought these must be his friends from Nashville.
r />   "Wait," Ryker hesitated after I climbed in, his face falling as he looked at his arm then turned to look back at the lobby. "I…" he started, but a flood of soldiers began pouring through the doors after us.

  "There's no time!" shouted the driver.

  Ryker blinked and hauled himself in. We wheeled away from the curb with a screech, and I looked behind us just in time to see Jophiel standing there, blood all over his face and the brightly glowing angel blade in his hand. The soldiers raised their guns, but Jophiel just lifted a hand to call them off.

  I was puzzling over it, when the voice of the man in the front seat brought me back to the situation. "…your arm," I heard him say.

  Remembering the cut Jophiel had made, I turned to Ryker, who was holding a cloth to his forearm.

  He looked at me, with panic written across his face. His eyes, and every other part of him, were no longer glowing.

  "It’s gone," he choked out, and I remembered the angel blade that was still glowing in Jophiel's hand. “He's got your Essence."

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  C.E. Smith is a wife, mom, and breeder of champion cutting and barrel horses in the heart of North Texas, as well as a barrel race producer alongside her best friend.

  Her love of books started when she was a young child, and she began writing short stories and plays almost as soon as she could hold a pen. Alongside her dedication to theatre in high school, she began taking creative writing courses that lasted through college.

  When she's not outside with the horses, she spends her time either buried in books or in front of her computer writing, usually working on more than one book at once.

  Edyn is her first full length novel, and the first novel in The Essence Project series.