Tested

Chapter One

Cover Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/Shardel 

Note from author: You don't have to read my previous books to understand this one, but I thought I'd post a few important details about it, just in case. This book is a previously unpublished novel set in the same world as my Ava Delaney series. I quit working on this novel last year but decided to post it here in anticipation of a brand new Ava book (currently available for pre-order on most online ebook retailers) that follows directly on from this series of events (Jessica, the main character in this story is a major player in Tainted - Ava Delaney: Lost Souls #1). This is a full-length novel about a teenage tainted nephal that I stopped editing, so it's obviously not up to par with my published works that are fully edited (sorry!) I'll be posting a couple of chapters a day until the 10th of October on the official release date of Tainted (35 chapters in total). It runs along the same timeline as Taste and Traitor (Ava Delaney series #5 and #6), so if you're curious about what was happening elsewhere during the "war", then this might be for you. If you have any questions, please find me on Facebook as I rarely receive notifications of messages here. Thanks for reading!

Chapter One

“We move on at dawn,” my father announced.

“Dad, no. We just got here.”

The tiny hotel wasn’t a palace, but the sheets were clean, and there was still hot running water. And we had already been running for years when the world finally learned the truth: Supernatural beings existed. Of course, being the daughter of a seraph, I had always known that. We had escaped into Sheffield after what sounded suspiciously like old-fashioned air-raid sirens suddenly started wailing in Derby. Armed forces established checkpoints on all of the major roads leading out of the city, and we managed to flee amongst the chaos.

He turned his gaze on me. His green eyes matched my own, but that was the only similarity between us. “It’s too risky this close to Derby when we don’t know exactly what’s happening out there. Who knows what’ll happen here? Besides, he can find us anywhere.”

“You don’t understand. I know he won’t find us here, not in the middle of a city. The scents are too confusing. Too many people. Too many—”

“Enough!”

I deflated. No rest for the probable wicked. Never remind an angel of his daughter’s similarities to a vampire.

He leaned across the tiny table to pat my forearm. “Be ready to leave at dawn. Whatever’s happening here, I have to find out more. For all we know, it’s his doing. Somebody has to have news from the south. I’ll be gone for an hour to prepare.” He checked his watch. “If I’m not back by ten, run.”

I nodded, barely listening. I already knew the drill.

“What do you do at ten, Jessica?”

I sighed. “Run.”

“And if anyone tries to stop you?”

I looked away. “I kill them.”

***

From the only window in the room, I watched my father hurry down the street. I blew on the pane and drew a smiley face in the condensation. I practiced smiling back until a figure on the street looked up and waved at me. I fell backward in my hurry to move away. Rookie mistake. Dad would move us on without sleep if he knew.

My father had ditched my MP3 player a couple of weeks before because I hadn’t heard him come into the room with my earbuds in, so I hummed one of my favourite songs to fill the silence. Not that it was ever truly silent in a B&B. I could hear a woman groaning in the room beneath ours and a child singing down the hall. Footsteps, heartbeats, endless noise, and yet I was alone in the world.