Dark Halo (An Angel Eyes Novel)
Acclaim for the Angel Eyes Trilogy
“Powerful, honest, and emotionally gripping. I read it in one sitting!”
—CJ R
EDWINE
,
AUTHOR OF
DEFIANCE
(
FOR
B
ROKEN
W
INGS
)
“This is one of my favorite series! Dittemore has accomplished a rare feat with
Broken
Wings
: she’s written a sequel that’s as good as or better than book one. Beautiful, romantic, and fascinating. I couldn’t stop reading this enthralling page-turner. I’ll be the first one in line for book three.”
—J
ILL
W
ILLIAMSON, AUTHOR
OF
B
Y
D
ARKNESS
H
ID
,
R
EPLICATION
,
AND
C
APTIVES
“A gut-wrenching plunge into the supernatural,
Broken
Wings
reveals Dittemore’s skilled, elegant prose and her prowess with compelling characters! Tangible fear and violent beauty collide in this page-turning sequel in the Angel Eyes Trilogy. Simply unputdownable! Tear the veils from your eyes—
Broken
Wings
is one of the best YA novels out there!”
—R
ONIE
K
ENDIG
,
AWARD-WINNING
AUTHOR OF THE
D
ISCARDED
H
EROES
SERIES AND
T
RINITY
: M
ILITARY
W
AR
D
OG
“The author has spectacularly designed a supernatural setting filled with charismatic characters whose gifts are worth noting.”
—
R
OMANTIC
T
IMES
, 4½
STARS
(
FOR
B
ROKEN
W
INGS
)
“Stunning. A captivating read with all the intensity necessary to keep me turning pages well into the night.”
—H
EATHER
B
URCH
,
AUTHOR
OF THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED
H
ALFLINGS
(
FOR
A
NGEL
E
YES
)
“
Angel
Eyes
has everything I look for in a novel—gorgeous prose, a compelling heroine, humor, and an intriguing plot—and two things I dream of finding—permission for brokenness and the promise of hope.”
—M
YRA
M
C
E
NTIRE
,
AUTHOR OF
H
OURGLASS
“
Angel
Eyes
is a fine debut. A touching and exciting romance with celestial implications.”
—A
NDREW
K
LAVAN
,
AWARD
-
WINNING
AUTHOR OF
C
RAZY
D
ANGEROUS
“Shannon Dittemore gives us a classic tale of good versus evil with an authentically contemporary feel—and the assurance that beautiful writing is back.”
—N
ANCY
R
UE
,
AUTHOR OF THE
R
EAL
L
IFE SERIES
(
FOR
A
NGEL
E
YES
)
“. . . teens who like paranormal, edge-of-your-seat drama with a strong Christian message will enjoy this second installment in the trilogy.”
—R
AGAN
O’M
ALLEY
, S
AINT
A
NN
’
S
S
CHOOL
, B
“Where?”or wrap my arms06-01-0" class="crt">
© 2013 by Shannon Dittemore
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].
Scripture quotations are taken from the
Holy Bible
, New Living Translation. © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION
®
. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dittemore, Shannon.
Dark halo / Shannon Dittemore.
pages cm -- (Angel eyes trilogy ; book 3)
Summary: Will Brielle choose demon Damien’s dark halo and the ignorance that comes with it, or will she choose to live with her eyes wide open and trust the Creator’s design—even if it means a future without Jake?
ISBN 978-1-4016-8639-0 (trade paper)
[1. Supernatural--Fiction. 2. Angels--Fiction. 3. Demonology--Fiction. 4.
Love--Fiction. 5. Fate and fatalism--Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.D6294Dar 2013
[Fic]--dc23
2013011841
Printed
in
the
United
States
of
America
">An Excerpt from
Y
ou are picking up the third and final book in the Angel Eyes Trilogy. Reading Books One and Two first would be ideal, but if you’re determined to jump right into
Dark Halo
, there are a few things you should know about this story.
In
Angel Eyes
we were introduced to Brielle, a talented ballerina who’d been away at boarding school for the past two years. A couple of months into her senior year, her best friend, Ali, was killed, and Brielle returned to her hometown of Stratus, Oregon, to get away from the memories that haunt her.
While she was away at school, a new boy, Jake, and his guardian moved in next door. But Jake’s guardian is no ordinary ca for the rest of your li ap Aregiver. Canaan is a Shield, an angel sent to Stratus to protect Brielle. In his possession are two supernatural items.
He has a chest cut from onyx. Occasionally the Throne Room of heaven delivers items to Canaan by placing them inside the chest. Just before Brielle returned to Stratus, a diamond engagement ring appeared there. Engraved on the band was the phrase
From hands that heal to eyes that see.
Canaan also has a halo, a crown that was given to every angel who did not join the rebellion of the Prince of Darkness eons ago. When Jake was young, Canaan gave the halo to him. The halo comforted Jake, something he desperately needed as a child, but it also gave him the ability to heal. In an attempt to help ease Brielle’s devastation, Jake passed the halo to her. Not only does the halo provide Brielle with the strength she needs to cope, it gives her the ability to see through the terrestrial veil and into the celestial realm—a realm usually seen only by angels and their kind.
In
Angel Eyes
Jake and Brielle used their gifts to dismantle a child trafficking operation and dispatch a fallen angel, Damien, who desired to corrupt their gifts.
Jake and Brielle thought they were free of Damien. But when the engagement ring disappeared from the chest only to be replaced by Damien’s bloody dagger, Jake didn’t have the heart to tell Brielle they may not be as safe as they think.
In
Broken Wings
Damien was commissioned by the Prince of Darkness to capture and bring Jake and Brielle to him. Damien wanted the halo as well and enlisted the help of a human named Olivia Holt to track it down. But heaven had other plans for Stratus and sent another group of angels, the Sabres—whose worship has the capacity to tear through the terrestrial veil—to the tiny town with just that purpose.
Unwilling to have the celestial realm revealed, the Prince of Darkness retaliated by sending a legion of his finest warriors, the Palatine. As
Broken Wings
closed, a heavenly war was ravaging the skies over Stratus. In the midst of the chaos, Damien snatched Jake from the safety of Canaan’s wings. Brielle could do nothing bum;">
I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north.
I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.
J
ake’s gone.
His absence races through my veins like a bomb destined to explode if it stops or slows. That’s how I feel: that the truth of what happened here yesterday will kill me if I stop moving.
So I don’t. I keep dancing. I keep praying. Moments of peace find me, sprinkled like cinnamon onto a poisoned apple.
For the thousandth time I yank my mind away from dark things and back to the Creator, who brought Jake into my life. Back to the beauty of the Celestial. The Celestial that is coloring this grove of trees red. I open my eyes and take it in. Our neglected apple orchard, full of brittle gray wood, snarled leaves, and cobwebs, is lit up around me. Reds of every shade grace the branches and the rotting fruit below. Dead trees are transformed. Light and life expand from their center, reminding me that reality as I know it is not all there is.
Another sprinkle of cinnamon . . .
Jake’s been gone for eighteen hours now, and still the Sabres sing. Still they fight. Their presence has thinned the terrestrial
veil here in the orchard, and it can’t be long before their worship tears through. I just . . . I don’t know what that means.
For me. For Stratus.
My chest heaves with exertion and my body is slick with sweat when a gigantic silver angel comes into view overhead. My celestial vision has been erratic for the last few days, but as I watch, the battle remains visible for a solid minute, if not more. It’s long enough to pull me from my dance anyway, to force my gaze through the tangle of branches above.
A Sabre hovers there. I can’t tell if it’s Virtue; this angel’s been fighting for hours, days maybe, so his skin is too bright and his wings too fast, moving like an orchestra of bowstrings. Wings that I know are made of hundreds and hundreds of blades. They blur, sending music—sharp and staccato—into the sky. Tendrils of royal blue fill the orchard—the incense of worship. They wrap around me, lifting my arms. I breathe in the Sabre’s worship. It smells of the ocean, of briny wind and sand. The fragrance fills my chest, and I let my body mimic the ribbons of worship.
I try not to take my eyes off the scene above for longer than a second or two, because thirty paces beyond the Sabre a gaggle of demons dodges and leaps, avoiding the shards of white light ricocheting off the Sabre’s wings. Like a well-aimed spear, lightning slices through three of them, and they disappear in a burst of ash.
The Sabre’s music picks up and I dance fa says, looking around. or wrap my armsster, yellow incense joining the blue. Smelling of salty sunshine, it wraps around my legs, one after the other. The incense guides me; I stretch and spin, my face craned to the sky, watching. Always watching.
A single demon moves closer, slinking past his brothers. He jabs with his crooked sword, his mouth moving in a strange
animal way. But I hear nothing of it. The song of the Sabre drowns his cry. I curl into myself, backing deeper into the grove. The demon is way too close.