The Soul Destroyer Read online

  The Soul Destroyer

  The Soul Summoner Series Book 7

  Elicia Hyder

  Inkwell & Quill, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 by Elicia Hyder

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Inkwell & Quill, LLC

  Print ISBN: 978-1-945775-19-2

  Edited by Nicole Ayers

  Cover by Christian Bentulan

  For More Information:

  www.eliciahyder.com

  Contents

  Free Download

  Audiobooks

  Character List

  The Soul Summoner Series Order

  1. Venice, Italy

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  The Next Book

  HYDERNATION

  Official Merchandise

  Also by Elicia Hyder

  Britches Get Stitches

  Chapter 1

  GET A FREE BOOK

  Robbery · Arson · Murder

  And the one-night stand that just won't end.

  Audiobooks

  The Soul Soul Summoner series is also available on Audible.

  Book 1 - The Soul Summoner

  Book 2 - The Siren

  Book 3 - The Angel of Death

  Book 4 - The Taken

  The Detective: A Nathan McNamara Story

  Character List

  Warren Parish

  the Archangel of Death. Father of Iliana. Son of Azrael and Nadine.

  Nathan McNamara

  Warren’s best friend. Married to Sloan Jordan. Commander of SF-12.

  Sloan Jordan

  Mother of Iliana. Married to Nathan McNamara. Daughter of fallen Angel of Life Kasyade.

  Azrael

  Former Archangel of Death. Father of Warren and father of Adrianne’s unborn child. Owner of Claymore Worldwide Security.

  Reuel

  Angel of Protection. Now in charge of the Angels of Protection (aka Guardians).

  Adrianne Marx

  Sloan’s best friend. Girlfriend of Azrael.

  Fury (Allison)

  Member of SF - 12. Human daughter of Abaddon, the Destroyer. Twin sister of Anya. Former girlfriend of Warren.

  Anya

  (presumed deceased)

  Seramorta Angel of Protection. Twin sister of Fury. Daughter of Abaddon, the Destroyer.

  The Morning Star

  Fallen Angel of Life and Angel of Knowledge.

  Johnny McNamara

  Uncle of Nathan McNamara. Father of Fury’s unborn child.

  Abaddon “The Destroyer”

  (Deceased)

  Father of Fury and Anya. Former guardian of Nulterra, and former Archangel of Protection.

  Phenex

  (Deceased)

  Mother of Alice. Fallen Angel of Life.

  Alice

  (Deceased)

  Childhood best friend of Warren.

  Ysha

  (Deceased)

  Father of Taiya. Fallen Angel of Life.

  Taiya

  Seramorta Angel of Life. Daughter of Ysha and Melinda Harmon.

  Shannon Green

  Nathan’s former girlfriend. Now possibly pregnant with an angel.

  Kasyade

  (Deceased)

  Biological mother of Sloan. Fallen Angel of Life.

  Nadine

  (Deceased)

  Mother of Warren.

  Audrey Jordan

  (Deceased)

  Adoptive mother of Sloan.

  Robert Jordan

  Adoptive father of Sloan.

  Enzo

  Special Operations Director of SF-12

  Samael

  Angel of Death who guards the spirit line.

  Ionis

  Messenger Angel.

  Sandalphon

  Angel of Prophecy and Knowledge (Born on Earth)

  Metatron

  Angel of Life and Ministry (Born on Earth)

  Members of Sf-12 (*denotes ability to see angels):

  1.Enzo*

  2.Kane*

  3.Cooper

  4.NAG* (Mandi) - pilot

  5.Lex

  6.Doc*

  7.Wings - pilot

  8.Cruz

  9.Pirez

  10.Justice

  11.Dalton

  12.Fury* (Retired)

  The Soul Summoner Series Order

  Book 1 - The Soul Summoner

  Book 2 - The Siren

  Book 3 - The Angel of Death

  Book 4 - The Taken

  Book 5 - The Sacrifice

  Book 6 - The Regular Guy

  Book 7 - The Soul Destroyer

  COMPANION NOVELLAS

  The Detective

  The Mercenary

  For Chris.

  My everything, and then some.

  Venice, Italy

  “I won’t hurt you.”

  My hands were raised like I was creeping toward a madman with a gun. Only it wasn’t a gunman. It was a very young woman, terrified and weeping in the corner. In her mismatched brown and green eyes, I was the madman.

  “I want to help you.” I took another slow, careful step forward. “What’s your name?”

  Her trembling hands shielded her face, and she pulled her knees closer to her chest. “S…Sofia.”

  I knelt in front of her. “Hi, Sofia. My name’s Warren. These are my friends, Samael and Jaleal.”

  She peeked through her fingers at the two Angels of Death standing in the doorway behind me.

  I offered her my hand. “We’re here to take you home.”

  “Home?”

  “Yes. Are you ready?”

  She flinched away.

  “It’s OK. You have my word.”

  Cautiously, she inched her hand toward mine. The instant our fingertips touched, her shaking calmed. Her eyes cleared.

  I smiled gently. “There. Better?”

  She nodded.

  As I stood, I pulled her to her feet.

  Radiating off her soul was a sparkling deep-amethyst haze. It moved like smoke, twisting and curling around her. Samael had been right; I’d seen nothing like it either.

  Sofia’s spirit was shielded from anything unsettling, so she didn’t even glance over as we passed her mutilated body on the bed.

  “Jaleal?” I said quietly.

  Selecting Jaleal for this job hadn’t been random. She was the most innocuous of us all at five feet tall and barely a hundred pounds.

  Jaleal took her arm. “Hi, Sofia. Let’s go for a walk.” Her voice was melodic and soothing as she led Sofia from the room.

  Samael stepped over beside me. “This is victim number four. The second one here in Venice.”

  I walked over to the body and examined Sofia’s severed head perched
on the bedpost. “Her eyes were gouged out while she was still alive.” Blood had streamed like tears down Sofia’s cheeks.

  “The mark on her chest too. The wounds are much deeper this time.” He was leaning over her torso.

  “Maybe. But why is the mark here at all? No one this side of the spirit line knows what it means.”

  “That, I do not know.” Samael sighed. “But it worries me. Azrael will be interested to see this.”

  “I’m sure I’ll see him soon.” My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. It was a text message from Fury.

  On our way to the hospital. My water just broke.

  I showed it to Samael.

  He put a hand on my shoulder. “Go. I’ll call if there’s news.”

  “Thank you.” Before leaving, I walked to the head of the bed again and looked down at Sofia’s bare chest. In its bloody center was a carving of what looked like a Roman cross with two S’s mirroring each other.

  It was my mark. My calling card.

  The mark of the Archangel of Death.

  Chapter Two

  My right knee wouldn’t stop bouncing.

  I wasn’t even sure why the hell I was so nervous. It’s not like my kid was being born today.

  Maybe it was because I was in a hospital. God knows, my presence in such a place wasn’t good for anyone.

  Maybe it was because the most dangerous angel in all of history might be coming into the world via emergency C-section in the very next room.

  Or maybe all my anxiety was because of her.

  She was certainly the reason my eyes kept flicking toward the entrance. Never mind that I’d spent over seven decades in Eden away from her; my heart quickened like it still beat on Earth’s time. For here, on this planet, it had only been a year since Sloan Jordan—err, Sloan McNamara—had almost become my wife.

  And now she was married to my best friend.

  And they were raising my daughter together.

  And a slight possibility existed that she might walk through the door at any second…

  The waiting-room door opened.

  It was Reuel returning from another trip to the vending machine. My partner, a hulking guardian angel, was stress eating a fourth bag of potato chips since he’d arrived. Crunch, crunch, crunch. And two candy bars were tucked into the front pocket of his shirt.

  He caught my eye, looked mildly guilty, then smiled. At least his crumb-covered mouth smiled. His worried eyes were fixed with fright. It was almost funny seeing such a huge and lethal angel reduced to a bundle of nerves.

  But he loved the mother-to-be down the hall in surgery—platonically, of course, the way all the guardians surely grow to love their charges. He’d been with Fury almost exclusively since he and my father found her twenty-something years ago.

  “You all right?” I asked, looking up—way up—at him.

  He grunted and sat down beside me.

  I patted his bulky shoulder. “She’ll be fine. Fury’s strong. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Akal ai vevru ta,” he said in our language, Katavukai, without meeting my eyes. Translated, he said, “She’s different now.”

  My eyes fell to the speckled tile floor. He was right. Fury was different. I saw it in her soul—whatever it was—the first time I laid eyes on her after she became pregnant. She knew it too, though I doubt she’d ever admitted it to anyone but me.

  Fury was good at keeping secrets.

  Reuel looked at my bouncing knee. “Mas alis kavalai par kalai?”

  I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “Yes! That’s exactly it. I’m stressed about the murders.” I sank back in my seat. “Thanks, Reuel. I’m not stressed about—”

  The door opened again. I jolted upright, then immediately slumped upon seeing my father, Azrael. He was alone.

  He frowned. “Don’t look so happy to see me, Warren.”

  Beside me, Reuel was chuckling.

  “Sorry.” I stood and greeted him with a hug.

  Mortality suited Azrael, except it was a shock to see age on his face and his once-eternal frame. He’d only been mortal for a few months, but it was already showing in the tiny crinkles at the corners of his eyes and mouth. And, for the first time, Azrael was shorter than me. Only millimeters perhaps. Something hopefully only my keen eye would detect.

  “Have I missed anything?” he asked when he stepped back to greet Reuel.

  “Not yet.” I looked at the thick black tactical watch encircling my wrist. “She went into labor seventeen hours ago and toughed it out at home until her water broke. John came in a little while ago and said they’re doing a C-section because her cervix isn’t dilating.”

  “But she’s OK?”

  “Yeah, she’s all right.” I looked over his shoulder. “You’re alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh.”

  He must have noticed my face fall. “Are you disappointed?”

  “I was hoping to see Adrianne.”

  He laughed.

  So did Reuel.

  “Bullshit,” Azrael said.

  Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I hoped no one would notice as we sat down.

  “I’m not completely alone. Nathan dropped me off at the entrance. He’s parking the car.”

  “Where’s Iliana?”

  “Your daughter is safe at Echo-5.” After a beat, he added, “Sloan is with her if you’re wondering.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Sure.” He lowered his voice even though we were the only people in the room. “We’re taking extra precautions with Iliana now that it’s been over a year.”

  That made me feel both better and worse.

  My daughter—the Vitamorte, the most powerful angel in existence—had recently been moved into Echo-5, a supernaturally-secure building hidden in the mountains of western North Carolina. It was outside Asheville on the Wolf Gap compound, a division of my father’s private military company, Claymore Worldwide Security.

  Iliana couldn’t be any safer than at Wolf Gap with her own personal security team, SF-12. They were each hand-selected by Azrael. Twelve (or currently, eleven) men and women with special-ops military backgrounds, combat experience, and most importantly—hands-on training to deal with threats from my world. To say they were elite and unique human warriors wouldn’t come close to being an adequate description.

  But the cause for high alert had me worried.

  Angels came to Earth in many forms. Most stayed as spirits, completely unseen and almost undetectable to mortals. They could influence humans to some degree but not cause bodily harm.

  Other angels possessed human bodies—bodies that could be alive or dead. Those angels were a threat, but their powers were limited and they were fairly easy to dispatch.

  The most dangerous angels to the human race were those reborn on Earth into bodies infused with immortality. They were almost limitless in their abilities, easily camouflaged among the living, and they could reproduce. Demon spawn were a very real thing. I would know because, technically, I was one.

  I was born a Seramorta: part angel, part human. And though he was on the right side of heaven now, Azrael was once a coerced member of the fallen. My mother had been completely human, and for a time, she was held hostage through demonic possession by the Morning Star himself.

  She’d died a little over a year ago, the exact moment the Morning Star had been dispatched into the stratosphere. That was when the waiting game began. It would be a year before the Morning Star would be strong enough to possess another human—or be reborn into a new form.

  Enter our current predicament.

  I looked at my father. “If the Morning Star does return as Fury’s kid, that will almost be easier for all of us.”

  Azrael smirked. “You want to go through Fury to take her child away?”

  “She’s not exactly the maternal type.”

  “Parenthood changes people, son. Never discount that.”

  Reuel crumpled his
chip bag. “Akal kaval”—he held up his finger and thumb in the shape of a pistol—“pew, pew.”

  We had no word in our language for “gun.”

  “Fury gave up shooting completely?” I asked, surprised. Fury was an expert marksman, or markswoman, I guess. She made me, a former sniper for the Marine Corps and a Claymore firearms instructor, look like I’d done a little target practice with a BB gun.

  Azrael nodded. “I heard that too. The doctor warned her about the decibel level of gunfire during her pregnancy, and that was it.”

  “Wow. Good for her though. That’s as it should be.” Still, Fury being mom-like was weird. Crazy weird.

  “Has the Council decided on a game plan if the Morning Star happens to be born among us?” Azrael asked.

  “Not yet. It’s on the floor for discussion now. They’ve been debating it for weeks and are supposed to send for me when there’s a decision.”

  “You know what you’re most likely going to have to do, right?”

  Nausea churned in my stomach, which reminded me of the situation in Italy. “I need to talk to you about something else pretty serious. Not here though.” A maternity ward was no place for talk of beheaded women.