Origin (Eternal Sacrifice Saga Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

March?”
    “It may, but I wanted you to know what we’re up against. What will be happening during your holiday, so you’re prepared to come back if need be. I cannot promise we won’t need you to return before March. Her gifts are too valuable.”
    The heat returned to my face, and my chest tightened.
    “Do you realize how unfair this is to her?” I pointed toward the open French doors. “After all she’s given up, all she’s gone through this incarnation, and now you want her to sacrifice this as well?” I shook my head. “No. She is my priority, her happiness and well being. There are more than enough Angels and Guardians to assign for a few meager weeks so we may have a normal Convergence reunion.”
    “I understand your frustrations. I just need you to understand I can’t make any promises.”
    “Again.” My voice rose. “Work it out. She deserves a fragment of peace, however brief, before returning to this life.” I moved closer. “Promise me, Raziel. If you love her, you’ll do this. Leave her out of it. Three months.”
    “You know we need her gifts, she…”
    “Stop.” I growled. “She’ll never regain those gifts or even reach her Origin if she can’t make peace with her past. And she will never make peace if we can’t bond and rediscover our love that lies there. It’s one in the same. You know that. Let her find happiness. Humanity will never be safe without it.”
    “I’ll do my best, brother. I solemnly promise. But beyond that...”
    “Fine.” I exhaled. “I suppose it will have to be enough.”

Chapter Five
    Zoe
     
     
    “Wake up, Chayah.” Cade’s voice echoes in my head…
    I’m standing ten feet from him. Frozen.
    I hardly recognize this place. I’ve never been to this part of the dark realm before, but I know immediately we’re there.
    Evil and the smell of death are hard to forget.
    A second later, I scream, helpless as I watch a demon or Fallen, or whatever that thing is bury its lethal dagger into my Gemini’s heart, then just as quick as he arrived, the demon disappears in a cloud of dust.
    Cade’s gaze fixes on me.
    “I’m sorry, Chayah,” he whispers. “I will always love you.” His eyes roll up into his head as his body collapses.
    “Cade!”
    I run, stumbling over bloody dead bodies on the charcoal dirt below my feet.
    The smell of death is everywhere, blood seeps down slate walls, making my stomach wrench. My heart races. My soul cries out, begging someone, anyone to save my Gemini.
    I reach Cade and fall to my knees before him, grabbing his shoulders. His now clouded eyes stare lifelessly into the red sky above our heads.
    I can’t feel his soul in me. Can’t feel his heart beating in my wrist.
    He’s dead.
    “Cade.” I cry out, refusing to look into his eyes.
    A moment later, a heart begins to beat. Slow.
    Thump.
    Thump-thump.
    I peel open my eyes, pleading to see some sign of life in my Gemini, but it’s not Cade.
    It’s Lilith.
    The beating stops, and her light fades away.
    I’m kneeling over her, now holding a bloody dagger in my hand.
    Lilith’s eyes are shut. She’s not moving. Or breathing.
    I killed her.
    I hold my breath, watching. Waiting for signs of life, but there are none. I grab her shoulders, but she won’t wake up.
    “Wake up, damn it. You’re not dead.”
    I shake her vigorously, but there’s no use.
    She’s gone.
    As I sit there, eyes turned to the floor, something echoes through the empty cell.
    Thump.
    Thump.
    Thump-thump.
    My wrist begins to burn. Heat pushes from my Gemini mark, up through my arms and into my chest. My shoulder throbs, the one Azriel stabbed me in months ago.
    I stare at the Fallen Genesis.
    “Lilith?”
    Her eyes pop open, and she stares at me. Brown eyes turn red. Then black. Then back to brown.
    My wrist is enflamed, pulsing like my erratic heart. Like hers.
    Burning like the flames of hell.
    Lilith sits up and grabs my shoulders. Eyes wide, she sucks in a deep breath. “Wake up,