****Copyrighted**** 'Tell me you don't feel it.' He whispered against my lips, and the trembling that had ceased at the feel of his lips against mine began again with renewed vigor. 'Tell me it's not what you want, and I'll go. You'll never have to see me again.' Swallowing, I looked up at the eyes that had entranced me from the start. I took in his every feature, slowly and deliberately. I thrilled at the feeling of his arms enfolding me, and I inhaled his familiar scent with a trembling breath. And then, then I did the most foolish thing imaginable: I flung my arms about his neck and kissed him with all that I had, almost losing myself in the safety and security I felt. But more than that, I ran. I took his moment of shock, the slight loosing of his arms about me, and tore myself away from him, shoving out the door and into the rain. I suppose I'll never know why he didn't follow me. It was the thing I feared most. I knew that if he came for me a second time, I wouldn't be able to say 'no'. I wouldn't be able to run. But I had to. I had to go. I couldn't let him be hurt because of me. He would live on now, and I would marry another. I had leased my last bit of passion in that one moment in his arms, and as I made my way through the dark streets, I felt myself become dull and lost like the creatures bound in the menagerie. **Much of this was written when I was younger and then I came back later and finished it. There will likely be mistakes. Lots of them.

For years, Hope Carmichael, survivor of a shocking child abduction, has lived a sheltered existence under the protection of her fanatically religious father. Now, liberated by her mother, Hope prepares to start life over as a normal kid in an Atlanta, Georgia, high school. Normal, that is, until Hope meets Michael, a gorgeous emancipated teen with a mysterious past and a strong interest in Hope. Soon, Hope’s life is filled with questions. What’s behind the angry looks Hope gets from Lucas, leader of a gang of students? Who’s responsible for sending Hope strange valentines inscribed with Bible quotations? How does this relate to the sinister business of human trafficking that operates on the periphery of Hope’s suburban world? And is Michael really a protector, or something more sinister—and just why does he seem so familiar? In an epic narrative that takes readers from the back streets of Atlanta to the height of Vegas penthouses and beyond, Dark Hope introduces The Archangel Prophecies, a saga of vast mythological scope and great moral urgency.