Before the Fall: A Dark Breed Novella
By Sable Grace
4/5
()
About this ebook
Zach was once the Order of Ancients’ most feared warrior, beating back the hounds of hell to protect the unsuspecting human race. But since he left the Order ten years ago, he’s been living as a mortal . . . until now. The gates of the underworld are breaking open, and Zach is needed in the fight once again. But before he can answer his summons, there’s one person he refuses to leave behind. Shanna may think Zach has a screw loose, spouting all this “hounds of hell” nonsense, but he has to get her to safety. The journey to the Order’s headquarters is a dangerous one, and even a warrior like Zach might not be strong enough to keep the darkness at bay.
Sable Grace
Sable Grace is the writing team of Heather Waters and Laura Barone,long-time critique partners and friends who came together by fluke to discover their voices fit quite nicely during a writing experiment. The story became far too interesting to put down and Sable Grace was born. Both Heather and Laura reside in Florida, are happily married to their real-life heroes, and are, well, complete opposites. Still, there’s enough common ground for them to weave their words together in the voice of Sable Grace.
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Reviews for Before the Fall
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5BEFORE THE FALL was a neat short story about Zach and Shanna (they are not in ASCENSION) fighting there way to safety at the Orders Headquarters before the fall. They had a relationship that ended about 6 months before the events in BEFORE THE FALL but still loved each other. Zach is a retired warrior that served under the god Ares and Shanna is a police officer. Zach attempted to tell Shanna about what he was and the things that were in their world but she called him crazy and left him. When Zach was called back to duty he immediately went to her to take her with to safety. I enjoyed the story, I really liked book 1 ASCENSION so it was neat to see some other character views and experiences. This was a short quick read to get me ready for the release of BEDEVILED and I really liked Zach and Shanna and hope to see more of their story in future books as I would love to know how things are working out with their situation in the world after the fall. You can definitely read BEFORE THE FALL before or after reading ASCENSION so pick it up whenever.
Book preview
Before the Fall - Sable Grace
BEFORE THE FALL
Impulse_TTLPG_Rule.aiA Dark Breed Novella
SABLE GRACE
AVONIMPULSE_logo.jpegContents
Cover
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Bonus Excerpts
ASCENSION
BEDEVILED
About the Authors
Also by Sable Grace
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter One
January 10, 6:07 p.m.
5 hours and 53 minutes before the fall . . .
There wasn’t a single bottle of whiskey that Zach Merchant hadn’t fallen in love with in the past six months. Tonight, as he headed out to hit his favorite haunt, Tattoos, his bedfellow of choice would be a soft, golden color that would coat his mouth with pure sexiness and would cloud his thoughts enough to give him his evening’s dose of peace.
He could have just poured himself a shot or two here, but sitting at home with his whiskey felt pathetic, even to him. Not that the women of Tattoos weren’t a draw unto themselves. They were. Or at least they used to be. These days, however, he found himself more turned on by the prospect of a finely-shaped bottle than a finely-shaped body.
So he’d head to Tattoos, let the women rub their bodies against him, and smile as though they’d made his night, when in truth not one of them could hold a candle to the woman he was trying to lose in the bottom of a shot glass—a certain brown-haired, doe-eyed woman who still owned more of Zach’s thoughts than he cared to admit.
It’s been six months, Merchant. Shanna’s not coming back.
As he locked his door and headed down the small walkway in front of his cottage, that thought made his head pound as he mentally kicked his own ass for being such a lovesick pussy.
When he reached the sidewalk, the faint whimper of his neighbor’s dog broke the usually peaceful sounds of early evening. The short dead end housed only himself and the old Murphy couple, who treated their yapping ankle-biter like the grandkid they’d never had. The Murphys would never leave the pooch unattended outside, so Zach immediately became alert, listening for any other oddities.
The couple was elderly, and Ernest had been having memory issues recently. Could be, the old goat simply forgot to bring the dog inside.
With a sigh, he cast a longing glance at the dusky sky and the path he’d intended to take, then headed in the opposite direction across the street to perform his neighborly duties.
But before he’d made it halfway down the stone walk, the Murphys’ little yellow cottage lit up, and Mrs. Murphy burst through her front door. Curlers in her hair held in place by a pink scarf, she stumbled down the porch steps, tripped, and hugged the rail with one hand to regain her balance. The moment her wild eyes caught sight of Zach, she staggered toward him.
His body instantly tensed, alert again and ready for trouble. As he rushed to her side, his ears were listening for any out-of-place noises, his eyes searching for moving shadows. He caught Mrs. Murphy’s arm just as her pink slippers stuttered on the curb and she spilled forward.
Her small eyes searched his face with a silent scream of fear and urgency. Please . . . they’re killing Ernest!
Her eyes rolled backward and she fainted against his chest.
He lowered the old woman to the ground and gently rolled her over, cursing under his breath when he caught a glimpse of her rotund belly. What he’d thought had been a design on the over-fluffed robe was actually shredded, blood-soaked fabric. He followed the trail upward toward her shoulder, watching with sickening dread as her arm— held in place by a few tendons, the bone torn straight through—fell away from her body, Fuck!
Pulling off his t-shirt, he wrapped it around her arm before carefully lifting her and taking her inside his house, where he laid her on the couch. He rushed to the desk in the corner of the living room. Shoving the clutter out of the way, he grabbed the old, hollowed-out phone book and shook it open. A long, sharpened silver stake and a curved silver dagger fell into his palm. He tucked them into his jeans pockets and ran back outside.
Zach had been around long enough to recognize wounds like Mrs. Murphy’s, and they hadn’t been inflicted by a human. He didn’t know what breed of demon he was about to face, but something inhuman was in there with Ernest, and the old guy wouldn’t stand a chance if Zach didn’t move quickly. Glad he hadn’t yet downed a shot of whiskey, he kicked the door open wider and stepped into the chaos of the Murphys’ living room. Immediately, instincts that had lain dormant for ten years zinged to life, warning him of a dark soul only a few feet behind him. He slipped the weapons from his back pocket and pivoted to face the Vampyre kneeling over Ernest’s body.
He was too late.
Damn it.
The Vampyre bared its fangs and hissed. Zach didn’t heed the warning. Gripping the weapons, he rushed forward.
The beast soared over Zach’s head. It lashed out with its razor-sharp claws, slicing across his chest. Feeding off the adrenaline rush of being back in the middle of the fight again after so long numbed the pain and kept him on his feet.
When the Vamp sprung again, it kicked the weapons from Zach’s hands. He barely had time to locate them again before the Dark Breed was behind him, digging claws into Zach’s shoulder. He reached back and grabbed it by its long hair, flipping it over his shoulder. It landed at his feet, but before he could pin it with his boot heel, it rose and flew at Zach, hitting him dead in the chest.
The force sent him backward, tripping over Ernest’s ravaged body. As the beast came at him again, Zach gripped it by its throat in an attempt to protect his own. They crashed to the ground. He lost his hold, and before he could regain it, long, deadly fingers closed around his neck. Without his weapons, he was fucked. The Vamp would overpower him in a second and there wouldn’t be a thing Zach could do about it except bend over and kiss his own ass goodbye.
The need for air had him struggling, mindlessly shoving at the claws holding him captive. They wouldn’t give. Desperate to breathe again, Zach brought his legs up and closed them around the demon’s neck, locking his ankles behind its head. As he tightened the pressure, he arched onto his shoulders, twisting until the weight of the demon lifted from him. Unwilling to give it a shot at breaking his legs, Zach quickly released his hold and rolled toward the spike lying a few feet away.
He flipped onto his back just as the Vamp lunged at him again. As it came down, Zach drove the silver between its eyes. The inhuman howl that followed sent Zach searching for his dagger. Locating it beside the recliner, he rushed for it, gripped the hilt in both hands, and dropped to his knees, driving the knife deep into the Vampyre’s neck. Using all his weight, he shoved the blade into the floor, pinning the fucker to the wooden planks beneath the shag carpet. As the Dark Breed peered up at him, the agony of the silver penetrating its blood etched all over its face, Zach twisted the dagger and forced it backward, severing the beast’s head from its body.
His chest heaving from more exertion than he’d experienced in a long time, Zach struggled to his feet and stumbled toward Ernest. Even though he knew it was too late, he knelt beside the old man’s body and checked for a pulse. There wasn’t one.
Zach closed his eyes, wishing he’d left his house just a few minutes sooner. Maybe he could have saved the old guy. Maybe the cops wouldn’t have to tell Mrs. Murphy that she’d just become a widow.
Loathing the needless death and the evil that had caused it, Zach pulled a knitted blanket from beneath the overturned sofa and covered Ernest with it before leaving that house and sprinting back to his own.
Adrenaline making him dizzy, he checked on Mrs. Murphy—pleased to find her still breathing—and moved into the kitchen, where he dug through the mess on the counter to find his cell phone. Before he could punch in the number of his