01. Earths Requiem - Earth Reclaimed.pdf

(1384 KB) Pobierz
Earth’s Requiem
by Ann Gimpel
Copyright © Ann Gimpel, 2013
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without prior written permission of the publisher.
This e-book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual places or events, the names, characters,
incidents, and locations within are from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or dead
persons, businesses, or events. Any similarity is coincidental.
Musa Publishing
633 Edgewood Ave
Lancaster, OH 43130
www.MusaPublishing.com
Issued by Musa Publishing, October 2013
This e-book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a
violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or
imprisonment. No part of this e-book can be reproduced or sold by any person or business without the express
permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-61937-652-6
Editor: Jennifer Duffey
Artist: Kelly Shorten
Line Editor: Jenny Rarden
Interior Book Design: Cera Smith
To my patient and supportive husband. It’s not easy
being married to a writer. For a guy who wasn’t
fond of urban fantasy, he’s stepped up to the plate
like a champ.
A
PROLOGUE
islinn tried to stop it, but the vision that had dogged her for over a year played in
her head. She squeezed her eyes shut tight. Mental images crowded behind her
closed lids, as vivid as if they’d happened yesterday. She raked her hands through
her hair and pulled hard, but the movie chronicling the beginning of her own personal
hell didn’t even slow down. She whimpered as the humid darkness of a South American
night closed about her…
Her mother screamed in Gaelic, “Deifir, Deifir,” and then shoved Aislinn again. She tried to
hurry like her mother wanted, but it was all too much to take in. Stumbling down the steep Bolivian
mountainside in the dark, she ignored tears and snot streaking her face. Her legs shook. Nausea
made her gut clench. Her mother was crying too, in between cursing the gods and herself. Aislinn
knew enough Gaelic to understand her mother had tried to talk her father out of going to the ancient
Inca prayer site, but Jacob hadn’t listened.
A vision of her father’s twisted body lying dead a thousand feet above them tore at Aislinn. Just a
few hours ago, her life had been normal. Now her mother had turned into a grief-crazed harridan.
Her beloved father, a gentle giant of a man, was dead. Killed by those horrors that had crawled out
of the ground. Perfect golden-skinned men with long, silky hair and luminous eyes, apparently
summoned through the ancient rite linked to the shrine. Thinking about it was like trying to shove
her hand into a flame, her pain too unbearable to examine closely.
Aislinn was afraid to turn around. Tara had already slapped her once. Another spate of Gaelic
galvanized her tired legs into motion. Her mother was clearly terrified the monsters would come
after them, but Aislinn didn’t think they’d bother. At least a hundred adoring half-naked worshipers
remained at the shrine high on the mountain. Once Tara had herded her into the shadows, her last
glimpse of the crowd revealed one of the lethal exotic creatures turning a woman so he could
penetrate her. Even in Aislinn’s near-paralyzed state, the sexual heat was so compelling, it took all
her self-discipline not to race to his side and insist he take her instead. After all, she was younger,
prettier. It didn’t matter at all that he’d just killed her father.
…Aislinn shook her head so hard, it felt like her brains rattled from side to side in her
skull. Despite the time that had passed since her father’s murder, she still fell into these
damned trance states, where the horror happened all over again. Tears leaked from her
eyes. She slammed a fist down on a corner of her desk, glorying in the diversion pain
created. Crying was pointless. It wouldn’t change anything. Self-pity was an indulgence
she couldn’t afford.
Pull it together. The weak die.
Even though she wasn’t sure why life felt so precious—after all, she’d lost nearly
everything—Aislinn wanted to live. Would do anything to hang onto the vital thread that
maintained her on Earth.
A bitter laugh bubbled up. What a transition: from Aislinn Lenear, college student, to
Aislinn Lenear, fledgling magic wielder. A second race of alien beings, Lemurians, had
stormed Earth on the heels of that hideous night in Bolivia, selecting certain humans

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika:

Zgłoś jeśli naruszono regulamin