{"id":373,"date":"2011-06-24T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T17:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/?p=373"},"modified":"2011-06-27T10:34:32","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T15:34:32","slug":"chapter-1-of-black-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/?p=373","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 1 of Black Night!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the interest of making the wait easier (or harder, I guess, depending on your point of view), here’s the first chapter of Black Night<\/em>, to be released July 26th:<\/p>\n

CHAPTER ONE<\/p>\n

\tI stood in the alley between Damen and Wolcott in the recently trendy neighborhood of Wicker Park. There was a parking lot filled with cars directly across the alley from my position. It was bordered on the other three sides by four-story apartment buildings. Behind the wall that I leaned on the clubs, bars and restaurants of Division Street did a brisk trade in liquor and lust for the upscale singles that had purchased all the new condos in the area. The cold November night was no deterrent to business. After all, if you lived in Chicago then you understood that there are only two seasons \u2013 winter and construction. If you let a little cold slow you down then you should probably move somewhere else.
\n\tI shifted a little, flexing my toes inside my boots in a vain effort to keep them warm. When I had died and been reborn a month ago, my human heart had been replaced by an angel\u2019s heartstone. As a result, I was usually a little warmer on average than ordinary human beings, since angels\u2019 hearts are made of the sun. But a half-angel\u2019s body is still no match for the Windy City.
\n\tMy gargoyle Beezle poked his head out of the lapel of my wool peacoat. He\u2019s the color of stone, about the size of an overweight guinea pig and he\u2019s got little wings, the better to flap around my head and annoy me with.
\nBefore we had left the house he had trimmed a child-size scarf for his own use. He had a small strip of rainbow-colored wool wrapped around each horn and a longer piece wound several times around his lower face. The edge of his beak poked through the material. He mumbled something through the cloth and I glared at him.
\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t understand you when your mouth is buried like that,\u201d I said.
\n\tBeezle narrowed his cats\u2019 eyes at me and commenced unwinding his muffler. He huffed melodramatically before speaking. \u201cI said, have you got anything to eat?\u201d
\n\t\u201cHow can you possibly be hungry? You ate a whole bowl of popcorn before we left the house.\u201d
\n\t\u201cBut I am. And I\u2019m cold. And I want a doughnut,\u201d he whined.
\n\u201cStop wriggling. We\u2019re supposed to be undercover here. In point of fact, you\u2019re not supposed to be here at all. You\u2019re supposed to be at home, being a home guardian, like all the other gargoyles.\u201d
\n\t\u201cDo you think I would trust your life to him?\u201d Beezle snapped.
\n\t\u201cHe can hear you, gargoyle,\u201d Gabriel said drily.
\n\tMy tenant and bodyguard, Gabriel, had been so quiet I\u2019d almost forgotten he was there. Almost. He\u2019s a little difficult to overlook \u2013 6 foot plus, dark hair, dark eyes, the face of an angel. I mean that literally. Gabriel was half-angel.
\n\tHave I mentioned that I am in love with him and he with me, and that our love is doomed, in a really melodramatic we-will-both-be-killed-if-ever-act-on-our-feelings sort of way?
\n\tI\u2019m a half angel, too. My father is Azazel, a fallen angel and a chief of the Grigori, a right-hand man of Lucifer himself. I\u2019d discovered this tidbit only recently, having spent most of my life believing my father to be an ordinary deadbeat (or possibly dead) human dad.
\n\tBeezle had been a little unreasonable about my safety ever since I\u2019d had my human heart torn out by a nephilim \u2013 long story \u2013 and now refused to let me leave the house without him. You\u2019d think the fact that I\u2019d managed to come back from the dead would count in my favor.
\n\tAzazel\u2019s orders stated that Gabriel was not supposed to leave my side when I was out of the house. I had spent the last month with a beautiful bodyguard at my elbow and an overweight gargoyle hanging off me like a baby orangutan. It was making my job a little difficult \u2013 very difficult, in fact. It\u2019s not easy being unobtrusive with those two around.
\n\tWhen I\u2019m not Azazel\u2019s daughter and Beezle\u2019s doughnut enabler, I\u2019m an Agent of death. It\u2019s not as glamorous as it sounds. Every week I get a list of names, places and times. I go to the appointed place at the appointed time, pick up the soul and bring it to the Door. At the Door the soul chooses whether to pass on to whatever is behind the Door (don\u2019t ask me, I\u2019m not allowed to know) or to stay and haunt the earth forever.
\n\tMost of the time my job is as straightforward as it sounds. I\u2019m kind of like a UPS delivery guy. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s in the boxes and I don\u2019t care. It\u2019s just my job to deliver them on time and to the correct location. I also have to file paperwork \u2013 lots and lots of paperwork, and the forms are annoying and redundant. Being an Agent of Death isn\u2019t such a great gig, really, but it\u2019s an inherited job (I got mine when my mom died) and one that doesn\u2019t go away until you take the trip to the Door yourself.
\n\tSo there I was, a week before Thanksgiving, shivering in 30-degree weather and thinking longingly of my crocheted blankets and a cup of hot chocolate, and waiting to pick up a soul who was scheduled to die at 1:27am somewhere in this alley.
\n\tBeezle carefully rewrapped his scarf around his chubby neck. It draped over his wings in the back.
\n \t\u201cI hope that this isn\u2019t one of those disgusting alley murders,\u201d he said conversationally. \u201cThe last one put me off my feed.\u201d
\n\t\u201cIs that even possible?\u201d Gabriel murmured for my ears only, and I smiled. Then I straightened a little, pushing away from the wall. Gabriel came to attention beside me. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d
\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t think you have to worry about hacked-up body parts this time, Beezle,\u201d I said.
\n\t\u201cWhy not?\u201d
\n\t\u201cBecause I can see the vampire.\u201d I nodded at the innocuous-looking man making his way across the parking lot.
\n\tHe looked like any moderately successful single guy out on a Saturday night. His hair was blonde and stylishly cut, his clothes were good without being flashy, and his face was sort of ordinary-handsome. You wouldn\u2019t know he was a vampire, which is good for their kind. The most successful hunters are the ones with the best camouflage.
\n\tHe crossed out of the lot and into the alley, his footsteps slowing as he approached us. We were tucked unobtrusively in a little four-foot depression in the building, one of those architectural oddities that seem to have no explanation. The building went straight across and then it dipped in, like someone had planned to put a closet there, and then resumed its normal course. It was just enough to keep us from being seen by anyone who passed by.
\n\tThe vampire stopped dead, a few feet away. I saw his nostrils flare.
\n\t\u201cI know you\u2019re there, Agent,\u201d he said.
\n\tI stepped out of the depression and into the light of the one yellow streetlamp that hung over the parking lot. Gabriel followed and stood behind my shoulder. I said nothing. The vampire\u2019s eyes widened a little when his saw Gabriel.
\n\tHe smirked. \u201cYou must be the famous Madeline Black, the only Agent with a guard dog.\u201d
\n\tIf the vampire thought he could make a little sport for himself by getting rise out of Gabriel he had another think coming. Gabriel is the type that burns slow \u2013 so slow, I wonder sometimes if he\u2019s got a pulse.
\n\t\u201cWhat is your business, vampire?\u201d I asked.
\n\t\u201cIf you are here, then you know my business,\u201d he said. He raised an eyebrow at me. \u201cYou will not interfere?\u201d
\n\t\u201cYou know I am bound against it,\u201d I said, and there was a little shivering of magic as I said it, as if the source of my power was affirming the truth of that statement.
\nThat was one of the suck things about being an Agent. I saw a lot of death, and most of those deaths would break my heart if I let them. Stupid accidents, horrific murders, deaths of children and young mothers and college kids before their time. But it was not for me to judge which lives should be saved. If their name was on my list, then their death was fated and I was bound not to interfere. I\u2019d learned early on to adopt a circle-of-life attitude for my own sanity. It didn\u2019t mean that I liked it.
\nThe vampire sidled a little closer to me, and I could almost feel Gabriel\u2019s hackles rise. He loves me, he can\u2019t have me, but he does not like other men coming near me. If Gabriel had his way there would be a 36-inch man-free radius around me at all times.
\n\u201cI have heard stories of your beauty,\u201d the vampire purred. His nostrils flared again. \u201cI see that they are not exaggerated.\u201d
\nI crossed my arms. My beauty is so not legendary. \u201cDo I look like I just fell off the turnip truck? Get lost. I\u2019m not the helpless victim you\u2019re looking for.\u201d
\nI saw a glint of fang as he stepped closer. He seemed hypnotized by some scent. \u201cBut the blood of angels\u2026I have always wanted\u2026and you are Lucifer\u2019s own\u2026\u201d
\nI opened my palm in front of me, extended my will, and a little ball of blue flame about the size of a baseball hovered above my hand. \u201cI understand that fire is unpleasant for vampires.\u201d
\nThe vampire hissed and backed away several feet. He shook his head, seeming to come out of a trance. For a moment I thought he would try again, but then he appeared to think better of it.
\n\u201cPerhaps you are right,\u201d he said, regaining his composure. \u201cThere must be easy prey awaiting me if you are here.\u201d
\nI closed my fist and the ball of nightfire disappeared, leaving behind a lingering trace of sulfur. I flicked my fingers at the vampire. \u201cMove along, then.\u201d
\nHe gave me a sarcastic bow and continued past us. Gabriel stared stonily at the vampire\u2019s back as he went by. A few feet past us, the vampire stopped. I couldn\u2019t see his face but I was sure he was scenting the air. I felt the thrum of magic that told me a soul was approaching that was marked for death. A moment later a too-skinny blonde came tottering into the alley on four-inch heels.
\nI sighed and slipped back into the shadows. I didn\u2019t need to see what happened next. I just had to be there to pick up the pieces, like always.<\/p>\n

About an hour later I was flying home. Gabriel met me in the air about half a mile away from the Door. For reasons that we don\u2019t understand, Gabriel can\u2019t come within a certain radius of the Door. This tends to make him annoyed, since he is charged with keeping me safe at all times. However, other non-Agents seem to be bound by the same restriction. None of my enemies have been able to cross the invisible line that keeps Gabriel from the Door. I know because I have seen some of them try.
\nWe were about ten minutes from home when I saw it. A flash of green light somewhere on the city streets below, a pulse so large I was surprised that it didn\u2019t wake up everyone in a four-block radius. Then the shockwave hit us.
\nGabriel and I were thrown upward by a wave of energy that emanated from the pulse. I let it pass through me instead of struggling against it. As I relaxed, the magical energy inside the shockwave spread through me, and I cried out. There was malice in that magic, a sense of wrongness that chilled my heart.
\nThe wave passed through me, but I was frozen by fear. I had felt something like this before, when Ramuell the nephilim had been released from his prison to hunt and kill me. It was a sense that the natural order had been upended, that death stalked without plan or mercy.
\nBut Ramuell was dead. I had killed him myself. How could this be happening again?
\nI thought all of this in an instant, but an instant of immobility in the air can kill you. I heard Gabriel\u2019s anguished voice calling my name. I shook my head, realized that I was free falling, my face turned towards the sky. I tried to flap my wings, to turn over and right myself, but my wings had disappeared. They do that, so that I can look like a normal human most of the time. They only appear when I need them for a magical reason, like when I\u2019m carrying out my Agent duties.
\nBut the shockwave had temporarily knocked out my magic, like an electrical surge will cause a fuse to blow. I tried to stay calm, to concentrate on the power inside me, but I was gathering speed. I could see Gabriel\u2019s face, white and strained, as he arrowed towards me in the air, but I was falling too fast. He wasn\u2019t going to make it. I closed my eyes.
\nAnd then I was plucked from the air by a pair of strong arms, and I heard a grunt as my speed was arrested. I opened my eyes to see a pair of bright green ones flashing at me through wire-rimmed glasses.
\n\u201cNext time you might want to try a parachute,\u201d J.B. said as he fluttered us slowly to the ground.
\nI opened my mouth to speak, to thank him, and was horrified to feel tears pricking my eyes.
\n\u201cHey,\u201d J.B. said, and cuddled me closer. \u201cHey, it\u2019s OK.\u201d
\nI decided it was easier to cry it out than try to talk through suppressed tears. I buried my face in his t-shirt. He said nothing, only held me there until I lifted my face and sniffled.
\n\u201cBetter?\u201d he asked.
\nI nodded.
\n\u201cYou can put her down now,\u201d Gabriel said, and his voice had a note of steel.
\nI looked in the direction of his voice and saw him standing a few feet away, arms locked against his sides as if he were keeping himself from pummeling J.B.
\nJ.B\u2019s arms tightened around me. \u201cFinders keepers. I didn\u2019t see you keeping her from turning into scrambled eggs.\u201d
\nGabriel stepped forward. I could see stars blazing in his dark eyes, always a sign of trouble. Like I said, Gabriel is a slow burn. But when he explodes you\u2019d better get the hell out of the way.
\n\u201cPut her down, human. You\u2019re squashing my ear,\u201d a muffled voice said from inside my coat.
\n\u201cBeezle!\u201d I gasped. \u201cI forgot he was in there.\u201d
\nJ.B. reluctantly released me, his hands lingering just a moment too long at my back. I would be flattered except that I knew at least part of the reason he did it was to piss off Gabriel.
\nA few months ago J.B. was my boss, and we didn\u2019t get along. At all. But J.B. had helped Gabriel and I get though a demon attack on the Agency, and in the process we\u2019d developed a kind of friendship. The attack had taken out a lot of the upper management and J.B. had been promoted by virtue of being one of the few supervisors left standing. Demon encounters plus the promotion seemed to have removed the stick that had formerly been lodged up his ass. He was a lot nicer these days.
\nHe\u2019d also shocked me by asking me out on a date. I\u2019d refused, but he\u2019d taken my refusal with surprising grace. It\u2019s not that I wasn\u2019t attracted to J.B. \u2013 I was, anything human would be \u2013 it was just that my confusing relationship with Gabriel seemed to preclude the possibility of having a confusing relationship with J.B.
\nBeezle poked his head out, looking distinctly disgruntled. \u201cWhat in the name of the four hells happened? What\u2019s J.B. doing here? Why aren\u2019t we at home?\u201d
\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t feel that electro-pulse thingy?\u201d I asked. \u201cYou didn\u2019t feel us falling out of the sky?\u201d
\n\u201cI was napping,\u201d Beezle said.
\n\t\u201cNapping,\u201d J.B. said in disbelief.
\n\u201cYou can just keep that disrespectful tone out of your voice, Jacob Benjamin. I\u2019m an old gargoyle. And what is that horrible smell?\u201d
\nNow that Beezle mentioned it, I did notice a distinctly malodorous scent lingering in the alley. And something else. A trace of cinnamon.
\n\u201cSomething angelic was here,\u201d I said.
\n\u201cHow do you know?\u201d J.B. asked.
\n\u201cWhenever something of an angelic bloodline uses its powers I always smell a trace of cinnamon.\u201d
\nI started to move cautiously in Gabriel\u2019s direction. It seemed the smell was coming from just beyond him. J.B. followed.
\n\u201cAnd there was something else, when the pulse happened. Did you feel it?\u201d I looked questioningly at Gabriel, who was still giving J.B. the hairy eyeball. I saw him take a deep breath and refocus his attention on me.
\n\u201cYes. A sense of evil. It felt like\u2026\u201d
\n\u201c\u2026Ramuell,\u201d I said at the same time.
\nI felt J.B. start next to me. \u201cRamuell? That nephilim that you killed?\u201d
\nGabriel nodded. \u201cI do not know how it could be. Another nephilim could not have broken free from the Forbidden Lands. Lucifer persuaded all of the Fallen to give some of their power to redouble the creatures\u2019 bindings. It would take more than the power of a single angel or demon to free even one of them. Even I could not do it now, despite my bloodline.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd it can\u2019t be Ramuell. He\u2019s dead.\u201d
\n\u201cAre you sure?\u201d J.B. asked.
\nI thought of Ramuell burning molecule by molecule, dissolving before my eyes until the last of his essence was gone and the souls that were bound within him were released.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sure,\u201d I replied grimly.
\nWe crept carefully through the alley. I wasn\u2019t sure where we were \u2013 Chicago looks pretty much the same when all you see are dumpsters and the backsides of brick buildings. We had been flying over the north side but the fall had disoriented me.
\n\u201cWhere were you coming from, J.B.?\u201d I whispered as we crept closer to the source of the smell. The odor had to be amazingly powerful to cut through the cold air.
\n\u201cDropoff, same as you,\u201d he replied.
\n\u201cI thought that a regional supervisor would get to delegate the scut work,\u201d I teased.
\nJ.B. shrugged. \u201cThe new Midwestern supervisor wants us to do field work. He wants us to stay in touch with our roots or something. Anyway, I saw you flying back and was trying to catch up when that\u2026thing happened. How come you fell out of the sky? What happened to your wings?\u201d
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said slowly. \u201cIt was like that pulse kind of short-circuited my magic, and when that happened my wings disappeared.\u201d
\n\u201cThat is dangerous,\u201d said Gabriel. \u201cIf your enemies were to learn that such a thing could disable your abilities, even temporarily\u2026\u201d
\nHe trailed off. I didn\u2019t need him to elaborate. My enemies, which are many and mostly inherited from conflicts that my father Azazel and grandfather Lucifer created, would turn me into Korean barbecue in the blink of an eye if they thought I had a weakness.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s not worry about that right now,\u201d I said brightly, trying not to think of my half-brother Antares and his personal vendetta against me. Antares would be more than delighted to short-circuit my powers.
\nThe alley came to a T-junction just as we passed out of the light of a streetlamp. It was pitch black in both directions, the only light coming from the streets beyond. I wondered what happened to the rest of the streetlights.
\nThe smell was nearly overwhelming now. It was something rotted and metallic, and there was a distinct scent of burned fur. Underneath it all was a trace of scorched cinnamon and sulfur \u2013 the smell that I associated with Ramuell.
\nI opened my palm and tried to create the same blue ball of flame that had scared away the vampire earlier. All that came out were a few blue sparks.
\n\u201cI guess I\u2019m still broken,\u201d I said, and tried not to panic. I had no idea if the effects of the pulse were permanent. \u201cGabriel, can you?\u201d
\nA moment later the alley was illuminated by nightfire. Gabriel is a more skilled practitioner than I, and so was able to send the ball of flame ahead of him instead of holding it in his hand. The light danced along down the right turn of the T-junction until I gasped. Gabriel raised the light up higher and turned up the illumination with a murmured word. J.B. covered his mouth beside me and made a retching noise.
\nIt was difficult to make sense of what my eyes were seeing. There was blood \u2013 lots of blood, more blood than I thought could possibly be inside one human. And there were parts that were recognizable was human \u2013 a tibia, an ulna, a femur \u2013 all skinned but with small bits of flesh clinging to the bone. There was a torso that looked as though it had been through a shredder, and some scraps of cloth that might have been a flannel shirt.
\nBut there was no head. And there was a hand that looked almost completely human save the fact that it was covered in fur.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a werewolf,\u201d I said, trying not to gag.
\n\u201cWhat could have done that to a werewolf?\u201d Beezle asked.
\n\u201cAnother wolf?\u201d J.B. said, speaking through his hand.
\nI shook my head. \u201cThere\u2019s not usually that much disparity in wolf strength. Sure, the alpha and his lieutenants will be stronger than the other wolves, but not so much that one wolf could tear apart another like this. And where is the head?\u201d
\n\u201cMore importantly, where is the Agent? This death wasn\u2019t in my paperwork for the week,\u201d J.B. said.
\nThe implications were clear. If the death was not on file, then it was not meant to be. It was a death outside the natural order. And the last time there had been a death outside the natural order was when Ramuell had cut a swath through the innocent of this city.
\n\u201cIt can\u2019t be,\u201d I said as Gabriel stared at me. \u201cIt can\u2019t. I killed him. If there\u2019s one thing I\u2019m sure of, it\u2019s that I killed Ramuell. Lucifer\u2019s been dangling it over my head ever since.\u201d
\n\u201cThen it must be another nephilim,\u201d Gabriel said slowly.
\n\u201cYou just said that couldn\u2019t happen,\u201d J.B. said.
\n\u201cDo you have another explanation, Agent?\u201d
\n\u201cNo, but I\u2019m not the one calling Maddy a liar.\u201d
\nGabriel narrowed his eyes. \u201cI did not call Madeline a liar.\u201d
\n\u201cYou implied it,\u201d J.B. fired back.
\n\u201cYou\u2019d better do something before this turns into a scene from a high school romcom,\u201d Beezle muttered.
\nI stepped forward, intending to get between them and push them apart \u2013 they were practically nose-to-nose \u2013 when I heard somebody groaning. I froze, trying to determine the location of the noise but I couldn\u2019t pick it out over the sound of bickering.
\n\u201cShut up,\u201d I snapped, and both of them turned to stare at me. \u201cSomebody else is here.\u201d
\nI heard the groaning again, very faint, further along the alley and closer to the street. I started forward and Gabriel gripped my arm.
\n\u201cWait. It may be a trap,\u201d Gabriel said. \u201cStay behind me.\u201d
\n\u201cBecause I\u2019m small and helpless?\u201d I asked, annoyed.
\n\u201cBecause your powers do not seem to be functioning normally right now,\u201d he answered reasonably.
\nI supposed I couldn\u2019t argue with that even if it did make me feel useless.
\nJ.B. took up a position behind me and we proceeded slowly toward the sound, picking our way carefully through the remains of the werewolf. I felt things squishing beneath my boots and tried not to think about what I was doing. My body thrummed with tension. What was waiting for us? Another of this creature\u2019s victims, or the creature itself?
\nGabriel directed the ball of nightfire toward the sound. There were white feathers splashed with red scattered around just past the gore from the werewolf. A bloodied hand came into view, then an arm, then a gigantic pair of white wings covering a body lying prone on the ground. A golden-haired head was just visible.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an angel,\u201d I said.
\n\u201cOr something that looks like one,\u201d Gabriel agreed. \u201cGargoyle?\u201d
\nBeezle squinted, his clawed hands gripping the lapel of my coat, and I knew that he was looking through the layers of reality to find the creature\u2019s essence.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an angel.\u201d Beezle nudged me with a sharp little elbow. \u201cSee, I\u2019m handy to have around.\u201d
\n\u201cSometimes,\u201d I agreed.
\nGabriel signaled to me to stay behind and J.B. put his hand on my shoulder to make sure that I understood. I shrugged off his touch, resenting their high-handedness. I wasn\u2019t stupid. I knew that I wasn\u2019t up to tangling with anything supernatural at the moment.
\nMy bodyguard approached the body carefully, knelt beside the angel and rolled the creature to its back. The angel\u2019s face was splattered with blood and there was a large and ugly gash across his bare chest.
\nGabriel beckoned the ball of hellfire closer to him. \u201cIt\u2019s Baraqiel.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s he doing here?\u201d asked Beezle, surprise evident in his voice.
\n\u201cWho\u2019s Baraqiel?\u201d J.B. and I asked together.
\n\t\u201cLucifer\u2019s personal messenger,\u201d Beezle said.
\n\tI wondered what Lucifer was up to now. Why was his personal messenger lying wounded in an alley only a few feet away from the mangled corpse of a werewolf? Had Baraqiel just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was he the werewolf\u2019s killer?
\nGabriel laid his hands on the wound and the alley grew brighter as the light of the sun came from his palms. The air filled with scent of apple pie baking \u2013 a smell that was unique to Gabriel.
\nBaraqiel gasped for air and his eyes flew open as Gabriel lifted his hands away from the angel\u2019s chest. The wound was healed.
\n\u201cGabriel?\u201d he asked, his gaze confused and frantic. \u201cWhere am I? Where is he?\u201d
\n\u201cWhere is who?\u201d I asked.
\nBaraqiel shook his head and sat up, staring at me. His eyes were a startling silver-blue that looked almost clear. Those eyes made me shiver. The effect of pale eyes against his blood-covered face was ghastly. He pushed up from the ground and wobbled as he attempted to stand.
\nGabriel rose beside him and placed a steadying hand on Baraqiel\u2019s shoulder. \u201cBe at peace. You need to rest. You are still weak.\u201d
\nBaraqiel shook his head, still staring at me. \u201cThere is no time. You are Azazel\u2019s daughter?\u201d
\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said.
\n\u201cYou must go. Samiel is coming for you.\u201d
\nA cave in an ash-burned land. A flash of green eyes, alight with hatred and madness.
\n\u201cSamiel,\u201d I breathed.
\n\u201cWho\u2019s he now?\u201d J.B. asked, obviously bewildered.
\nA child of an angel and a nephilim. A child that would have every reason for vengeance against me. A child that I had nearly forgotten.
\nMy voice was barely more than a whisper. \u201cRamuell\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the interest of making the wait easier (or harder, I guess, depending on your point of view), here’s the first chapter of Black Night, to be released July 26th: CHAPTER ONE I stood in the alley between Damen and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","category-urban-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christinahenry.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}