End of the World Sneak Peek at Deception!

For this special First Kiss Friday, since the world is supposed to end today, here’s a sneak peek at the next installment of Lost Souls!  Deception, Coming Soon!

Defeated, Ben sat on a wooden bench with a sigh.  A clap of thunder made him lift his head to the sky.  Black clouds released a torrential downpour he couldn’t feel.  He saw drops as they rained down into his eyes and through him, leaving his vision unaffected.

He would have to go back and tell Sam how useless the search was.  Maybe they could set a trap for Cora.  No.  Sam would never do that.  And Christian might want to fight her, stab her with an iron dagger.  He didn’t know her, he only knew she was a Changed.  Ben slid his dagger out of the back of his pants.  He looked down at it in the palm of his hand.  He should want to stab her, too.  It would keep Cora weak, stop her from making the Jump into a human.  But the thought of stabbing his sister made his heart ache.

Maybe they could imprison her, he thought.  The image of Scala’s iron cage came to his mind.  They had locked him away for centuries in it.  They still didn’t know how he got out.  The image of his little sister locked away in some iron cage pierced his soul.  It was inhuman to do that.  Scala was their enemy.  Cora wasn’t.  Or she didn’t used to be.  There had to be another way.  Something else they could do.  He didn’t want to fight her.

“Ben.”

Ben whirled, standing.  She emerged from the trees, a shadow at first, but then taking on a more ethereal human form.  Rain splashed through her, leaving her brown hair dry.  It was shoulder length, the ends still curled.  She had a heart shaped face like Sam, but her eyes…  they made Ben’s heart ache all over again.  His hand tightened around the dagger’s handle.

Cora looked down at the blade.  “Have you come to kill me?”

Shocked to hear such words from his sister, he looked down at the dagger.  “You know I can’t do that,” he admitted.

“Then you’ve come to keep me weak?”

“Yes.”

She laughed softly.  “I thought that would be Sam’s job.”

He set his jaw.  He had to do it.  He couldn’t allow her to get enough energy to make the Jump.  He looked at her and they locked eyes.

Cora lifted her chin.  “Do it,” she whispered.

Ben scowled.  Was this some sort of trick?  Did she think he couldn’t do it?  He took a step toward her. 

She bowed her head.  “I’m so tired.  I just…don’t want to be lonely anymore.”  She looked up at him again with completely black eyes.  “You’d be doing me a favor.”

Ben hesitated for only a moment.  Then, he lifted the blade over his head.  She was not Cora, he told himself.  She was a Changed.  He lifted the dagger higher, clenching his jaw.

Thunder boomed loudly.

She was the enemy of every Soul, a danger to all of them and to the humans.  She was not Cora any longer.  She was a Changed.

But no matter what he told himself, no matter what kind of monster he tried to envision her being, he only saw Cora standing before him.  Her stubborn little chin lifted, daring him to bring the dagger down.

“Do it,” she encouraged.