The conclusion to the Heven and Hell series. I've been beautiful. I've been ugly. I've died. I've been brought back. I've had abilities awakened within me. My strength has been tested. My beliefs have been tested. Yet I stand. What's next when you've pretty much experienced it all? The end. Sam and I are picking up the pieces. We're trying to come to terms with all we've lost. And as much as I would like to hide my head, ignore the reality I live every day, there is no forgetting. Riley is in hell-I'm still not sure of his agenda. My mother's past haunts me. And Kimber... Kimber is being herself. Cole sneaks glances at Gemma and she returns them when she thinks I don't see. But I do. When Beelzebub escapes he brings his war to places I never thought he would. Earth. Maine. Home. Now everyone and everything is at risk. This has become bigger than my circle of friends. This has become bigger than me. I have to finish this. I have to find a way to stop him, to finish this war. I just pray we will all be left standing in the end.
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Ready for some POV'S ? Here you go (may contain spoilers) :
Chapter One
Sam
It begins like usual, the slightest disturbance to my sleep, making me toss and turn until I’m in that place between rest and wakefulness—not fully coherent, but enough so I could have groggy thoughts.
There is pain, not the kind of pain that would make you squirm, just enough to make you feel uncomfortable. It kind of squirms around in my limbs, like adrenaline, but not as insistent, making my body twitch.
My eyes pop open, and I shoot up off the couch, not bothering to grab a T-shirt or the shorts that lay nearby. I won’t need them. I move silently like a cat—like a hound—to the door and slide the lock over and let myself out. It’s cold out. The air doesn’t shock me back into myself. I don’t even shiver.
Then I’m racing through the yard, over the grass, and past the barn. I hear the horses in their stalls, alerted at my presence, but I ignore them and keep running. My bones come unhinged and realign. My spine stretches, begins to reshape, and my body hunches. Black, thick fur sprouts, replacing the smooth skin of my human arm and then finally the switch in my brain flips.
I am no longer human.
I am hellhound.
But I’m still me.
Only this me can give in to the frustration and sadness that seems to well up inside my human skin until I’m so full and there’s nowhere else for it to go. And so it sloshes there. It soaks in until I feel like I’ll drown.
I hate it.
That’s when the hound takes over. I can’t really deny it. It’s like a summons, a calling, a command. Usually I can tell it no, or push back, but when you’re full of sloshing emotion there’s nowhere to push it back to.
So I give in.
I run.
I lose all thought.
It’s just me, the night, and nothing else. It’s a kind of freedom I’ve never felt before.
And then I wake up.
*Heven
Sam stepped around me and held up what he ran to grab. He pressed the button and white foamy spray shot out and covered the trees. The air instantly began to cool as white spray floated around, sticking to the now blackened tree branches and reminding me of snow.
When all the burning ceased, he dropped the red can and turned to me.
“What does it say about me that my boyfriend hauls a fire extinguisher everywhere we go?” I asked.
“That you’re really hot?” he said. I swear there was a hint of a smile on his lips.
“Ha-ha.” I sighed and looked back at the mess. “I tried to stop it.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” He said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
“Easy for you to say. You don’t light everything on fire when you’re upset.”
“No, I just morph into a hellhound and run off into the woods.”
A giggle escaped my lips, but then I frowned. It really wasn’t funny. Sam had really great control, but he’d been “disappearing” sometimes lately, and now I knew why.
“But at least I don’t have a potty mouth,” he continued.
“I do not!” I protested.
“I heard what you said a few minutes ago,” he teased.
I sighed. He laughed.
It was a real laugh and it made me do a double take. I hadn’t heard him laugh like that in weeks. Something inside me lightened a little bit.
I reached up and cupped his face. “There’s a sound I haven’t heard for a while.”
“I guess your naughty behavior brings it out of me.” He lifted an eyebrow.
“Well, then perhaps I should be naughty more often.” I pressed my lips lightly against his, and he hooked his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. The front of my body was completely against his without an inch to spare between us. His lips were warm and pliant and they molded themselves to mine in a way they hadn’t in weeks.
God, could that boy kiss. He had a way of stamping out every thought, every whisper, every single thing around us until there was only his lips upon mine. I threaded my fingers through his hair, knotting them in, taking up residence and meaning to stay, when he pulled me away from him and looked at me. He was breathing too hard to speak and his eyes were glittering like the sun. I delved my hands deeper into the tangles of his hair, trying to snatch him back, but he shook me.
“Hev,” he rasped and his voice scratched over me, leaving goose bumps in its wake. How was I supposed to think when he sounded like that?
“Heven,” he said again when I didn’t respond. “We’re on fire.”
Yes. Yes, we were. “I like fire,” I murmured and tried once more to pull him close to me.
This time he untangled my hands and grabbed my wrists. “No, literally. We’re on fire.”
I followed his gaze down.
“Crap!” I yelled and began stomping my feet.
My shoes were practically gone and the ankles of Sam’s jeans were glowing as the fire burned up toward his knees. I dropped down and began slapping at the flames on his legs, making gasping sounds when parts of the fabric came off in my hands.
Finally, I got the flames out and stood, looking down at the damage. My shoes were half melted and Sam looked like a pirate with his jeans completely burned away to his shins, leaving the ends blackened and frayed.
I looked up. “I caught you on fire.”
His lips twitched.
“I caught my boyfriend on fire.”
“I guess it’s a good thing your boyfriend is flame retardant.”
I groaned, but then it turned into a laugh.
Riley
Staring up through the dark, I listened as the light footsteps drew closer, keeping up with my little charade of sleep until the very last second. It was pitch black in here, so dark there were no shadows, but I didn’t need to see the movement of a shadow or a dark shape to sense when something was there.
At the very last second I sprang up, kicking out my legs and arching my back to jump into a standing position. My hands were ready, reaching for the newest creature that had come planning to defeat me, and I yanked it closer, letting a growl echo through the dark.
I felt its surprise; I caught it off guard and I used that to my advantage.
Stupid demon. They were all stupid.
I gripped its throat with one hand, squeezing until it made sick gurgling sounds. It began kicking and pulling at my hand, but I wasn’t letting go. I leapt from the bed, dragging it with me, and went across the room toward the massive fireplace where I smashed the back of its head against the black granite mantle. The demon went slack in my hands. With a sigh I dropped the body at my feet and reached out for the lighter (actually, a small blow torch) and with a click the kindling in the fireplace roared to life. Flames, hot and orange, shot up and out, illuminating the dark bedroom. I picked up the demon and tossed it into the hungry flames.
Ever since I came here they’d been coming, daily, sometimes hourly. They all wanted a piece of the guy who dared take over Beelzebub’s place. They thought they could beat me. They thought I would just surrender this power.
I wouldn’t.
The stupidest ones—the ones who thought they were clever—came at night. They thought they would get me in my sleep. Like I would fall for that. I had the hearing of a hellhound; it never failed. I could hear them coming a mile away, and when I slept, I did so with weapons.
The fire crackled and I watched as the last of the demon was devoured by flames. It occurred to me then that it was strangely quiet in my bedroom. The kind of quiet that meant all hell was about to break loose. Slowly, I pivoted, wishing I’d gotten at least one hour of sleep.
But it seemed sleep wasn’t something I would be getting tonight.
The room was filled with demons, fifteen at least. They all stood in a semi-circle around me. I was grateful the fireplace was at my back or else I would’ve been surrounded. That would have been a bitch.
They stood, staring and grinning maniacal grins, just waiting to pounce. The body in the fire had been a decoy, a way to keep me busy as they silently filed in the room and readied for attack.
They thought they had me.
They were wrong.
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About the Author:
Cambria Hebert grew up in a small town in rural Maryland. She is married to a United States Marine and has lived in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and back to Pennsylvania again. She is the mother of two young children with big personalities, is in love with Starbucks (give the girl a latte!) and she is obsessed with werewolves. Cambria also has an irrational fear of chickens (Ewww! Gross) and she loves to watch Vampire Diaries and Teen Wolf. Her favorite book genre is YA paranormal, and she can be found stalking that section at her local Barnes and Nobles (which happens to be her favorite place ever!). You can find her never doing math. It makes her head hurt.Cambria is the author of the Heven and Hell series, a young adult paranormal book series. The series begins with Before, a short story prequel and is followed by the first novel in the series Masquerade. Look for all her titles where all books are sold.
Cambria also co-hosts a live, internet blog radio talk show, JournalJabber, (www.blogtalkradio.com/journaljabber) where she dishes about books, publishing and everything in between: hair in a can, toilet snakes, chicken phobias, etc..
You can find Cambria on Facebook, Good Reads, Twitter and her website http://www.cambriahebert.com for her latest crazy antics and the scoop on all things Heven and Hell.
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