Excerpt
ARIELLE OPENED HER EYES
gradually. Her brain was clouded and utterly disoriented. She felt
overwhelmingly fatigued and found it very difficult to keep awake. Her eyes
moved sluggishly around the poorly lit room, but nothing seemed familiar. Her
mind was blurry, filled with jumbled up images. She clenched her eyes shut,
thinking she was dreaming, but when she opened them again, the surroundings
hadn’t changed. What is happening to me? Her brain cells seemed to be
completely stripped of oxygen, she couldn’t remember a thing, and she couldn’t
think straight. Where am I? How did I get here? Who brought me here? Where is
here? There seemed to be no electrical impulses traveling between her brain
neurons. She had all these questions but no answers. Lifting her arms, fists
clenched, she rubbed her eyes back and forth, trying to amass her faculties.
Minutes seemed to tick by and
panic settled in, paralyzing every muscle in her body. Nothing made sense. The
sensation deepened and she tried to block the anxiety unsuccessfully. Something
was terribly wrong, but the wall between her physical body and her
consciousness seemed to be temporarily impenetrable.
She lay on that bed motionless,
but for how long, she wasn’t sure. Muddling through her vague thoughts, she
tried to make sense of her present situation. She searched around the room one
more time and inhaled deeply. She couldn’t gather her bearings. Silence dragged
for what she thought was a century. A century. Century. The word seemed to be
moving inside her brain and bouncing around like a Ping-Pong ball. Why does that
word seem to strike a chord?
Her heart pounded against her
chest, her brain spinning out of control. God, what is happening to me? Where
am I? Why can’t I muddle through this fog in my head? Abruptly, she was
startled by a set of deep emerald eyes, intercepting her thoughts and steeling
her breath away. The striking face of a man emerged from the depths of her soul
and found its way through to the forefront of her vision and jolted her mind to
consciousness. It was almost like throwing an enormous surge of power into an
electrical device by plugging it into a wall socket.
Arielle was paralyzed by the
vision. “Sebastian!” she cried out, brought back from oblivion to reality. She
closed her eyes as a surge of warmth and passion for him gushed through her veins
and settled deep in the pit of her stomach. Where is he? Does he know that I am
here? Is he trying to find me? A wave of shattering pain ripped right through
her body, leaving her empty, lonely, and scared. Oh Sebastian, where are you?
She whimpered anxiously and started to sob.
Vivid memories started
trickling into her brain. The last thing she remembered was fighting for
breath. Someone had grabbed her while standing at the campus parking lot by the
car. She recalled the frantic struggle to break free from her attacker’s
chokehold. She winced at the thought, and her body tensed as panic settled deep
into her bones. Lifting her arm, she glanced at her wristwatch. It was 2:35 in
the afternoon. It had been over an hour and a half since she had walked back to
the car to retrieve her mobile phone. “Who did this?”
Supported by her elbows, she
pushed against the bed and propped herself up gradually. She searched for
something that appeared familiar, but nothing was coming back. A wave of
anguish ripped through her, ramming her heart into her throat. Where in bloody
hell am I?
She inhaled deeply, scrambling to distinguish between reality and
a dream. She sat up, and her eyes flicked to the window. It was raining, and
the sky was a dark gray. Who could possible want to keep me a prisoner and why?
It didn’t take long and,
suddenly, she gasped for breath. Icy fingers crawled slowly down her spine as a
name, distorted but very familiar, flashed in front of her like a bright neon
sign. Bile rose to her throat quickly, and nausea threatened. Annabel! Annabel!
Oh, God, it’s Annabel. This was the year for their wedding and she was not
going to allow her to marry Sebastian.
She fell back on the bed and
threw her arm over her eyes. Tears streamed down the sides of her face and into
her ears as fear raced across her body, and her hand moved swiftly to her neck.
Her eyes widened in sheer shock and horror invaded every fiber of her body. Her
necklace was not there. Oh...God..., she muttered, hopelessness taking over.
Reality crashed into her skull like a thunderbolt and pressure generated a
stinging pain behind her eyelids. She was trembling with fright, knowing that
she was alone and helpless against an unbreakable immortal.
Forced gasps escaped her and
scattered through the stillness of the room. “Why would she bring me here?” she
thought out loud, scrutinizing her surroundings like a wild animal trapped in a
steel cage. And where is here? Fear surged though her body and her muscles
tensed to a painful point. Desperation and terror seeped deep into her bone
marrow, and her heart pounded the walls of her chest like a sledgehammer.
She couldn’t just lie here; she
had to do something to escape, but how? She sprang up, swung her legs over the
edge of the bed, and struggled to her feet only to almost collapse. The floor
swayed beneath her feet and she grabbed on to the nightstand to steady herself.
Trembling, she tried to bring
in her mind a glimpse of something to help her, something like her book bag or
her mobile, but the room was sadly bare but for the furnishings. How am I to
contact anyone? She stood in the middle of the room unmoved with a lot of
undefined, perplexing, and diverse feelings. She felt isolated and desperate.
Words couldn’t define the rush of emotions that surged through her
body and shook her thoughts. She was trying hard to embrace the uncertainty
that was enveloping her, and all she could feel was her world crumbling at her
feet and disappearing into another universe. Looking through a vortex portal
into this new universe, all she saw was chaos and devastation. She couldn’t
distinguish between reality and fantasy. Her heart was pounding her chest in a
painful way. She needed Sebastian to lean on; she needed the safe sanctuary he
provided, the warmth of his embrace, and his soft voice telling her that
everything was going to be fine.
Blurb:
A desperate abduction…
Sebastian Gaulle has been targeted by the Russian Mafia, who
will stop at nothing to force him into giving up documents containing his
company’s most valuable secrets. Sebastian has always outsmarted them before,
but now they’ve taken the thing he holds most dear, his beloved fiancée Arielle
Lloyd.
A coordinated strike…
Sebastian is consumed with worry and determined to rescue his
only love, but even after she’s safe in his arms the threat to her and everyone
they love will not end until the criminal organization is eliminated for good.
With the help of his immortal allies, Sebastian leads a global attack on the
Mafia’s goons, saving the most deadly foes for himself.
An immortal wedding…
Eva and Ian are finally getting their dream wedding, and Arielle
and Sebastian couldn’t be happier for their friends. Arielle wants nothing more
than to tie the knot with her own dream man, but will the immortal villain
Annabel ever allow that to happen or will she torment Arielle until she
ultimately succeeds in taking her life?
About the Author:
Lilian Roberts is a corporate engineer.
College, marriage, the corporate world, and a beloved daughter kept Lilian's
writing on the back burner for many years. It wasn't until later on in life
that she decided to sit in front of the computer and finally put her thoughts
on paper. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband, and her golden
retriever. She is an avid reader and loves novels that feature characters
draped in passion, mystery, and adventure. She is especially fascinated with
the concept of immortality.
Find Lilian Roberts here:
Blog or Website: http://lilianroberts.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lilian3roberts
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