This is the Realm of Darkness interview series! Neri (from The Shadow of Death) will be interviewing characters from the other stories in this amazing set.
Jasper (Renegade Angel)
Neri stands in a desert, next to a tired diner. The heat is almost unbearable. This is a far world away from the east coast of Scotland. A tall man with long hair catches her eye, standing next to a gleaming bike, full of delicate silver tubes with a red carapace.
She sidles toward him, but he’s not the one she’s on the lookout for. Nevertheless, he’s not exactly painful to look at.
He jerks his chin in her direction. “Help you?”
“Yes, I think you can.” Neri shades her eyes, her pupils shrunk to pinpricks in the glaring sunlight. “Are you Jasper?”
He leans down, ice blue eyes fixing her in place. “Who’s asking?” A smile curves across his face.
Do not stare at the devastatingly handsome man. Neri cannot help it, wiping her brow of sweat. “Hi. Is this where you live?” It’s a harsh, hot ecosystem, not very welcoming to life.
He shakes his head. “My life is on the road with my vintage Harley Davidson. I travel wherever I am needed.” He pats the bike.
“Oh? And what do you do?”
“I’m a guardian angel. My job is saving people from their own inner demons and the more nefarious real ones.”
An angel! Well, no wonder his energy draws Neri closer. But should an angel really look that devastatingly decadent?
“Do you like being a guardian angel?”
“I thoroughly enjoy kicking demon and monster ass. I hate the fact that most humans have no clue of the spiritual warfare going on and take no responsibility for bringing in the darkness into their lives.” He shakes his head, shrugging a shoulder as if to say, What can you do?
“Ooh, so you’ve been in a lot of fights?” Neri cranes her neck to see. Those bulging biceps look pretty smooth. “You don’t look like you have sustained many injuries.”
He grins, pushing his hair back over the top of his head with one hand. It flexes his chest most wonderfully. He knows exactly what he’s doing with that move. “I’m sexy as hell; was even used back in the day as the cover model for many romance novels. Being a guardian angel, my scars easily fade away to nothing. But there is this one… well, let’s just say you wouldn’t notice unless we were being incredibly intimate. And no, how I got it will remain secret for as long as I walk the Earth.”
Neri gulps. Is this what humans mean when they say “smouldering”? It was way too hot in this book land. “What is something you’re really proud of? Apart from yourself, I mean.”
He smirks. “Mentoring Greylyn McLeod. I tried to end her before she existed by killing her Nephilim parents, then watching Lucifer turn her husband into a dark guardian. I personally handed him the dagger to finish her off (spoiler alert – he didn’t do it). As fate would have it, I was there when she dug herself out of her own grave months later as a guardian too. My life has never been the same, and she is the greatest guardian of all time.”
Neri blinks slowly. The light is bright and painful here, but that chain of event sounds even more so. “Becoming a guardian angel sounds… hard.”
He shrugs, a bitter twist to his lips darting across his face. He smooths it away quickly, but Neri is certain of what she saw. “I should’ve listened to my own counsel rather than orders from above to stop the prophecy. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“After everything you’ve seen, do you hold on to hope or not?”
“Considering the garbage I’ve witnessed over the centuries, I’d say I lean toward pessimistic.”
“Mmm.” Neri’s spirits sink. “Is there anyone out there you can trust?”
“Nope. I’ve learned that the hard way. Yes, Greylyn would protect me but now that she knows the truth… she may think twice.”
“But who would you turn to if you need help?” He must have someone, some colony or family.
“Greylyn, my guardian angel mentee; and sometimes I’ll call in that goofy professor, Thomas.”
The very person it sounds like he killed. What a weird family unit. Still, the opportunity to speak to an angel was a unique opportunity to ask some burning questions. “Can you tell me… does true love exist? Is there a special person out there for everyone?”
“Abso-f’ing-lutely,” he says with a wide grin, and it banishes the low mood.
Neri’s heart rises, along with colour to her pale cheeks. I’ll have to get out of the sun soon; it will roast me raw at this rate! “Are you usually honest with people you meet?”
He starts laughing, slapping his thighs.
That’s a no, then. Neri continues, rather stiffly. “Haven’t you ever been in love?”
“Sure, I was deeply in love once in my human life, just before going to war centuries ago when an ancient insane goddess decided to wipe us all out. I still remember the lovely lady’s flowing blonde hair as it slipped through my fingers like silk, the softness of her plush lips on mine, and the ravaging heat of our combined passions… I sometime daydream I could have that with Savannah now, but we’re in kinda a mess with that insane goddess popping back in to ruin things.”
“Who’s Savannah?” Apart from one lucky lady.
His eyes narrow. “The person I wish I was closest to, but… getting close to a human is bad for my health as I won’t age and die and … well, let’s skip to the next question.”
“What did you think about her when you met her?” Neri presses.
“Ah! Savannah was a lanky teenager with lots of issues when we first met. I could tell she kinda had a crush on me, but that would not have been right to take advantage. Now, years later she’s a full-blown hottie. To say my body reacted differently seeing her up on that majestic horse like she was leading a battle charge, well, there was no going back.”
“What do you look for in a potential lover?”
“Generosity, fire, lots of fire, unrestrained.”
“Unrestrained, hm?” At the same time, those big hands would have no trouble wrapping around a smaller wrist and pinning… “Uh, thank you for your time, but I really must hurry on; you’re too hot, I mean, the sun is too hot! Yes. That’s what I meant.”
He nods his head. “Pleasure meeting you.”
“I, oh, yes, and, um… Have you seen a big tall guy, shadows under his skin?”
Jasper tilts his head. “No place for shadows to hide here.”
“Oh, uh, he’s not a demon!” Neri bares her little human teeth. I better get out of here. “It was nice meeting you! I look forward to being in the boxset with you.”
The problem with being an angel? Nice isn’t what she needs.
Renegade Angel by KC Freeman will be included in the Realm of Darkness box set.
Preorder your copy of Realm of Darkness now! https://books2read.com/RealmOfDarknessSet
About KC
After leaving her career in Washington, DC behind to raise her five super-active children with her husband in North Carolina, KC Freeman eventually found her way back to her lifelong desire to write fiction, particularly stories involving angels and other supernatural creatures.
KC writes mostly urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels. Guardian angel stories have been bouncing around in her head since she was a child, but a little thing called “life” got in the way of her writing for many years.
Check out KC's website and other works here! https://kcfreemanauthor.com/