The case had been interesting. Chris wanted to take the time to ponder over the unusual details of what transpired last night. In the past, the billiard hall and bar had never seen any spiritual or otherworldly trouble. Chris wanted to know what had changed. It could be as simple as a patron bringing a nasty spirit with them into the building, but Chris’s instincts told him otherwise. Something seemed out of sorts. He needed to figure it out. Otherwise, the owners of the building might be calling him back. Not that he failed to send the mischievous spirit to the afterlife. He succeeded, and Juliana gained valuable hands-on experience. When he finally left sometime after midnight, he didn’t have the sense of closure that normally went with a completed job.
All that would need to wait. Sleeping off the headache was his first priority. That, too, should fall to the wayside, as far as his unexpected visitor was concerned. Four more hours of rest would make life bearable. Was it really too much to ask? Didn’t this woman come with a built-in snooze button? How about a mute switch?
Chris smelled cigarette smoke and determined he had to be dreaming. She wouldn’t light up inside his cabin, would she? That level of disrespect and bad manners? Unthinkable, and unheard of in his personal space. It was a dream. A dream where he remembered the smell of the smoking lounge at the back of the pool hall last night.
“Beep…beep…beep…beep!”
Chris launched himself out of bed and saw his uninvited guest standing on the corner of his mattress holding a lit cigarette up to the smoke detector. The piercing wail penetrated every cell in his fatigued body and made his ears cry for relief. She brought the cigarette to her lips, inhaled, and blew a long stream of smoke toward the ceiling.
“Told you I’d make you get up.” She jumped down from the bed before Chris could snatch the cigarette from her impudent fingers. The cigarette had the distinct spicy scent of clove mixed with tobacco. No matter. He still didn’t like it or want it in his house.
Mystery woman scooted out of the room, and he didn’t pursue her. Instead, he reached up and jammed the tip of his finger against the minuscule button to shut off the alarm.
With a sigh that didn’t relieve his exasperation, exhaustion, or impatience, he glanced out the bedroom window and saw nothing but the blessed dark. The dark he longed to return to in the form of sleep.
“We’re running out of time, sleepy head,” she called from the direction of his living room.
“Time for what?” he said with no enthusiasm and the barest minimum of curiosity.
“Oh, you know, the usual. Saving souls and protecting the planet.”
Chris didn’t bother looking for her before changing into a pair of cargo pants and a fresh shirt. He shuffled down the hall wondering if she continued to pollute his cabin with her cigarette. He no longer smelled it, but more importantly, he wanted to know why she showed up there at all. The woman, with the wildly curly multi-colored hair, was not in his living room when he entered.
“You may need your medicine bag,” she said from behind him.
Chris spun one-eighty and headed to the back of the cabin to his sunroom and workroom.
“Explain yourself.”
His unnamed guest perused the workbench and had her nose stuck in the top of a jar of copal.
“I always enjoyed burning copal. It’s a necessity for someone like myself.”
“Who are you?” Chris asked.
“A girl who needs your help. We really don’t have time for jibber-jabber. Grab your tools and let’s get out of here.”
“Refusing to answer will only force me to make you leave. Your behavior is unacceptable.”
She set the jar down and turned a beguiling gaze on him. Chris refused to be bewitched by this stunning woman in his sunroom. Her face might be appealing and her body attractive, nearly every curve highlighted in her tight stretch pants and a long sweater, but it would take a lot more than physical beauty to persuade him to blindly follow. So far, she had not provided any reason to go with her.
“You need to take me back to the pool hall. Now. Before someone gets hurt.”
“Did you follow me home?”
“No. I mean yes, and no. I don’t know.”
Confusion tangled with apprehension on her face. Chris didn’t like seeing either emotion. “What is your name?”
“Naomi Hutson.”
He knew she wasn’t lying. Chris always knew when someone lied to him. Auras gave them away, and if there were no aura because they belonged to the ethereal realm, he still read their eyes and their body language. Even if her answers were obscure, she was honest about her name.
“I did not see you at Jack’s Corner Pocket.” The pool hall and smoking club had been busy, but Chris would have noticed her. He considered it part of his job as a ghost hunter and shaman to pay attention to everything in his domain when working a case. Not to mention, this woman stood out. She would ping on his radar immediately.
She shrugged as if to say, not her problem, but the solemn pleading in her eyes couldn’t be ignored.
“The entire town is in danger, Mr. Abeyta. I’m in grave danger. We need your help, and we need it now.”
~ End preview ~
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Available on Amazon
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On the Back Cover
Destined to Fall
There are laws and rules to the afterlife.
My name is Nathaniel Evans and I’m an Angel of Death who breaks the rules.
My newest case, Steven, is a misguided pyromaniac who lies, cheats, and steals horses. If he would stop trying to kill himself, I would be a happier camper. But I’m stuck with him… when all I want is to be with my true love, Juliana Crowson.
Juliana may be able to communicate with ghosts, reads auras, and dream travel, but her empathy and visions of wild fires compels her to rescue the stolen horses with help from Chris Abeyta, an anti-social shaman and ghost hunter.
Loving Juliana and keeping her safe — not as an angel, but as a man in the flesh — is the ultimate goal, but falling from grace is a hazardous and forbidden undertaking.
Love is worth every sacrifice… and sometimes we are destined to fall.
Destined to Fall (An Angel Falls Book 5) Page 33