This is an excerpt from my book Looking for Angels. I have a lot of editing to do on it yet and it is one of my longest novels so I warn you there may be many mistakes. The book is about the search for a pure angel. Women are tested and imported to Verdin if they have a rare gene that may produce one. According to legend, all of the universe was created by angels, each planet made in the image of it’s creator angel. Some people still have very rare genes lying dormant within them that may result in producing a pure angel, a child of the gods.
Excerpt from Chapter 4: The Desert Fortress
After landing on Vortros, the girls were awed by the enclosed city that towered before them, one contained within an iron structure that seemed to reach up endlessly into the heavens and to either side of the desert. There was single gate that lead into the inner city, the shuttles having a small shuttle port located outside the fortressed city. The sun reflected off the metal walls of the fortress that had been shined to an almost glasslike surface because of the constant blowing of sand against it.
The city ofVerdinwas located in the middle of a vast desert, one that seemed to be too scorching and bleak to be able to support any life, let alone be the home of the great capital city ofVortros, Verdin.
Katie now sat alone in a room that was set up for her like a small apartment. Madeline had been taken from her as soon as they entered the gate and Katie hadn’t seen or heard from her since. Getting slightly bored, Katie sat in front of the large mirror that hung over her dresser, making funny faces at herself as she propped her head up on her elbows. Rolling her eyes when she looked at a book at was lying open under her elbows, Katie stuck her tongue out her reflection and then let out a small giggle, slamming the book she had been reading shut.
“This is soo…boring.” Dropping her elbows, Katie laid her head on the dresser, letting out a bored sigh as she frowned. “I wish Madeline would come back. I hate being stuck here all alone.”
Looking awkwardly over at the computer terminal near her, Katie sat up slowly, pushing her chair over to the terminal.
“Maybe I should try calling Dr. Hollen with this thingy.” Turning her head from side to side, Katie studied the terminal for a few seconds before attempting to use it. “Now let’s see, how do you turn it on?” Running her fingers over the keys quickly,Katie tried pushing as many buttons as she could but nothing happened. “Which one did Dr. Hollen say it was again? Oh yeah…” Smiling, Katie pushed a small green button on the upper corner of the keyboard. “It’s the pukey green one.” Soon the glass like screen filled with Vortros script, the words running across the screen quickly and welcome music coming over the speakers on the terminal. “Hmm….” Squinting at the screen, Katie saw a lot of words she didn’t know how to read, she could speak Vortros almost fluently but reading it was not something she was very good at, yet anyway. “Access…co..de.” Looking down at her hand, Katie looked at the numbers she had written there that she had gotten from Dr. Hollen and began typing them into the terminal. “Hmm…these must be these numbers I need I guess. So….it’s this number then this weird number and then these ones….” Katie clapped her hands excitedly when the screen changed and made a dinging noise acknowledging that her code was excepted. “Yes, it worked.” Looking at the message that popped up, Katie read what it said out loud. “Party’s…..ex..ten…sion.”
Biting her lip, Katie tried to remember what Dr. Hollen’s number was but couldn’t. Looking at her other hand, Katie noticed that the other numbers she had written down on it had rubbed off slightly. Slapping the table in annoyance, Katie made a sour face at the screen and let out a few annoyed squeals.
Looking back down at her hand, Katie struggled to make out the numbers that she could see, “Damn, I don’t have the first digit, it must’ve rubbed off. Hmm….” Squinting her eyes, Katie brought her hand close to her face and tried to make out what the smudged digit was. “Is it….a four?” Shrugging her shoulders, Katie sighed, deciding to take it as a four. Katie typed a four into the terminal before the rest of the other three digits, the last one she had to guess on too, so she guessed it as a seven.
The computer terminal began to beep loudly, a warning message popping up over the screen as the screen began to load numerous amounts of information. To stop the beeping, the screen was asking for an access code, one Katie didn’t have.
“Damn…” Putting her finger to her lips, Katie began to chew nervously on her finger, trying to type in various numbers and hoping that she could abort whatever she was doing. “Shut up, shut up!”
When she tried escaping the terminal all together, the screen locked up, not letting her enter anymore codes after she had tried guessing at three and none were excepted. Flashing a bright red, the screen made an even louder buzzing sound, the bright red light so intense that Katie knew that she must have done something really wrong. Biting her lip, Katie struggled to make out the words that scrolled across the screen and because she still wasn’t that good at reading Vortros yet, Katie could barely make out what the screen was trying to warn her about.
“It’s going too fast!” Standing up, Katie put her hands on her head, pulling at her long blond hair as she looked at the flashing computer terminal ahead of her, not able to do anything to shut it up.
“Stupid technology!
Grabbing the blanket off the bed near her, Katie threw it over the screen, the flashing red light really starting to get on her nerves. Smiling when she heard the beeping sound stop a few minutes later, Katie laughed, sticking her tongue out at the computer. “I win you stupid thing.” Letting out a heavy sigh, Katie looked around the room quickly then looked back at the covered screen, a slightly confused expression beginning on her face. “I wonder why it stopped., I didn‘t even-”
Katie heard a loud pounding at her door, some of the pictures on her wall shaking furiously and almost falling off their hangers. Loud voices shouted from the other side of the door but Katie wasn’t sure what they were saying.
“Uh, oh..” Biting on one of her fingers nervously, Katie looked towards the door, her heart practically jumping out of her chest because she was so scared. She had known she had done something wrong but she didn’t know someone would come after her for it. Walking to the door slowly, Katie held one of her hands close to her chest and the other out towards the door, her body shaking like a leaf. “Umm….” Trying to speak in Vortros, Katie’s voice came out lower than she wanted it too, her fear getting the best of her. “Who is it?” Looking fearfully at the door, Katie could hear muffled voices coming from the other side of the door but still couldn’t understand them.
Katie heard her door make a soft clicking sound as someone unlocked from the other side, the red light above it that told when it was locked turning green. Katie immediately ran away from the door and held her shaky hands over her mouth in surprise because she wasn’t expecting anyone to be able to open the lock she had on her door.
Watching the men that filed quickly into her room, Katie realized that she was in trouble.
From the government uniforms and angry expressions on each of their faces, she knew that she wasn’t going to get by with misusing her computer terminal, even though it was just a simple mistake.
Biting her trembling lip nervously, Katie backed up against her bed, falling down into a sitting position as a few whispers escaped her lips, “I’m in trouble now..” Looking over at the computer, Katie made a sour face in it’s direction, watching how all the men had ignored her and had gone over to shut off the computer instead. “..Stupid computer, I hate you…”
One of the men ripped the blanket off the front of the computer, sitting down at the desk and going to work on shutting off the alarm Katie had triggered when she entered the wrong numbers. Katie’s eyes went to the two burly looking soldiers that walked into the room next, both of them standing on either side of the door and keeping guard, standing in a rigid pose and not even seeming to notice Katie was even there.
The sound of jangling metal and heavy boots reverberated through the hallway, a few seconds later a handsome man that was bathed in black from head to toe, entered Katie’s room surrounded by a group of soldiers. Running his hand through his dark hair, the man sneered at the other soldiers as they all stopped what they were doing and saluted him as soon as he entered the room.
He was a muscular man, much more so than the others Vortros she had seen, his hazel eyes a striking feature against his jet black hair that fell dangerous close to his intense eyes.
His eyes reflected a deep anger, obviously one that went beyond being just angry about what Katie had just done.
Folding his muscular arms over his chest, the man stood over Katie, an accusing look on his face, the other soldiers that had come in with him standing to either side of him.
Trying to find the strength to look at this very intimating man that stood before her, Katie barely got out a few words, in Norenese of course because she was so afraid she didn‘t think to speak in Vortros and spoke in her native tongue instead. “Umm….I-I-I‘m…” Looking over at the blank terminal screen and then back up at the man in black, Katie’s voice shook furiously as she struggled to find the right word to say in Vortros, “..Sorry..”
Speaking in Norenese, the man in black narrowed his angry eyes on Katie‘s terrified face, “What were you doing?”
“You can speak Norenese?” Smiling nervously, Katie bit at her lip, her dark blue eyes twinkling slightly as they glazed over with forming tears of fear. “That’s good.” Looking over at the terminal, Katie’s fake smile quickly set into a frown, her tender pout giving her a cute, innocent guilty face, one that made her look cuter than she normally was which was a hard thing to do for Katie since she was extremely cutesy as it was. “I’m sorry if I caused you any-”
Cutting her off, the man in black continued to glare at her, not seeming to be wavered by the allure of her cutesy pie face and good looks. “Where the hell did you get the access code to the headquarters?”
“I was trying to-” Katie’s lip quivered intensely as she looked into the angry face of the man in black, her heart pounding quickly in her chest as she tried to break past the thick skin of her fear and explain herself to him. “….Call Dr. Hollen.” Looking down at her hands, Katie began to fidget with her fingers, unable to look into the man in black’s intense eyes as he questioned her. “I must’ve had the wrong numbers. I’m really sorry…” Looking up at him, Katie’s frown deepened, her lip quivering as she struggled to hold back her tears. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I promise you I didn’t. I didn’t know what number I dialed, it was an accident.”
Letting out a tired sigh, the man in black frowned slightly, holding out a black gloved hand to her. He still looked slightly angry and Katie wasn’t sure what he was going to do with her or where he was going to take her.
“Umm…” Looking at his hand and then up at his face fearfully, Katie’s teeth began to chatter slightly as she stood up from the bed slowly. “What are you going to do to me? I don’t want to-” Katie held her hand out to him and he grabbed it forcefully, pulling her towards him.
Pulling her face close to his, the man’s words hissed in her ears as held onto to her tightly, his hot breath on her face as he whispered angrily into her ear, “I don’t want to have to come down here again. Don’t waste anymore of my time with these childish pranks.” Shoving Katie away from him when he released her arm, the man in black pointed an accusing finger at her, his face twisting in controlled anger as he lectured her,
I don’t like babysitting and trust me next time I won’t let you off so easily.
“I won’t touch that computer thingy again, I promise.” Rubbing her arm, Katie nodded her head, a sad expression starting on her face as she looked up at the man in black. “You don’t have to worry.”
Turning to the other men with him, the man in black ignored her, talking to the men near the computer terminal instead. “After you fix that panel I want you to disable it.” Making an angry face, the man in black ran a thick hand through his messy black hair. “I don’t want this inconvenience to happen again.”
“I told you I was sorry.” Looking guilty, Katie spoke in Vortros under her breath, a slight mocking tone to her voice, “I’m sorry I inconvenienced you.”
Laughing, the man in black turned back to Katie, looking at her with a slightly amazed look on his face, speaking in Vortros. “Oh, so you understand Vortros then. So, you‘re a smarty pants, eh?”
Crossing her arms over her chest nervously, Katie’s long blond hair fell over the front of her arms, a smile smile starting on her face as she spoke in Vortros, “Why does that surprise you?”
“Very much so.” Nodding his head, the man in black spoke in Vortros from now on, no longer finding the need to speak to Katie in Norenese.
Looking down, Katie spoke in Vortros, a slight sadness to her voice as she spoke, “You must have just assumed that I was one of those stupid blond bimbos imported from Nors just for their looks.”
“Watch yourself.” Crossing his arms over his chest again, the man in black looked down on her with accusing eyes but the anger in his voice was subsiding a little, “You forget who you are talking to.”
Biting her lip, Katie began to fidget with her hands again, looking down and not being able to look the man in the eyes. “I’m sorry Sir.”
Looking back at the soldiers by the terminal, the man in black spoke to them. “On second thought, don’t disable the terminal. Show Miss Stern how to use the directory so that she make calls the right way so this doesn’t happen again.” Turning back to Katie, the man smiled, speaking in Norenese so the other soldiers didn’t hear what he said to Katie, “Next time use the directory to make a call and don’t call the military headquarters. I’m letting you off this time even though hacking into government files is a crime punishable by death. Next time you do something like this I can’t let you get by with it.” Pointing a gloved finger at her, the man continued to smile, his hazel eyes twinkling as he spoke, “You’re lucky you caught the old General in a good mood, that’s not usually the case.” Nodding his head to her slightly, the man in black’s smile slowly began to fade as he walked towards the door with most of the soldiers following behind him, “Good day to you Miss Stern.” One of the soldiers had stayed behind to help Katie with the terminal, the rest of the soldiers leaving with the man in black when he left the room.
Katie pulled up a chair and sat down next to the man by the terminal, watching him work at the computer for a while before she started a conversation with him in Vortros, “So how do I call Dr. Hollen using the directory?”
“Push this to enter the calling screen.” Pushing the green button on the panel, the soldier didn’t look at Katie as he spoke, “Then push this red one for the directory.” He pushed the red button and the directory popped up, the man turning to Katie and pointing to the screen to point out to her what the directory was. “Then type Dr. Hollen’s last name, Hollen.” New information popped up on the screen showing the various names and numbers of the different Hollen’s that lived in Verdin. “Then go up to the find option and type in the name Edward Hollen, Doctor in the box that pops up.” The solider pushed enter and Dr. Hollen’s number came up on the screen, the soldier pointing it out to Katie as it popped up. “See? Here’s his number and that’s all there is to using the directory.” He pushed the dial option that came up as he stood up.
“Thanks.” Katie smiled, looking up at the officer gratefully, “You were a big help, I wish I would’ve known it was that easy to use before.”
“You’re welcome.” The soldier nodded, trying not to make eye contact with Katie as he bowed to her silently, a hard look on his face. “Good day to you Miss Stern.”
“Miss Katie?” Dr. Hollen’s voice came over the speakers of the terminal, he seemed to be a little agitated that she wasn’t answering right away. “Hello?”
“Dr. Hollen!” Laughing as she turned to the terminal, there was a slight excitement in Katie’s voice because she was happy to finally to talk to him. “You won’t believe what just happened to me, I-”
“Boy do I have some news for you too Miss Katie.” Chuckling a little, Dr. Hollen’s voice was a little choppy because he must not have been close to the terminal and she couldn’t hear him very well.
“Shh….” Putting her fingers to Sadien’s lips, Allyson silenced Sadien, a devilish smile on her face. “Don‘t speak…you‘ll ruin the moment.” Rubbing her nose against Sadien’s, Allyson wrapped her hands tightly around Sadien’s neck. Laughing at Sadien, who was looking at her longingly, Allyson felt like choking her and stealing away her life at that very moment. She hated Sadien and was waiting to bask in the moment that she humiliated her in front of Nero. “I want to tell you that I’m ready to move on ….I want to be with you now….”
