THE EXCERPTS
​
No Mercy: Part One
God, when you make a woman, you really go all out.
​
Jeff was having a hard time keeping his eyes off of the three 23-year-old women working inside the supply warehouse in the Village of St. Louis. He and Melanie had been sent by Wiseman J to pick up food and other supplies from the closest village to the Village of Memphis.
Even though he was on an important mission, Jeff couldn’t resist the temptation to flirt.
“So, beautiful ladies, which one of you would like to go out with a famous demon slayer tonight?” Jeff asked as he ran his hands through his hair, smiled and waited for their replies.
Melanie pushed a sack of apples into Jeff’s chest. “Take it easy, lustaholic. They’re not thinking of you when you say demon slayer.”
The three women giggled and continued helping other villagers seeking goods for their villages.
Jeff carried the sack of apples to the doorway of the warehouse and looked back at Melanie. “Then who are they thinking of?”
“If you’re talking about a male demon slayer, then it’s Angelo. Who else?” Melanie smiled as she picked out grapes and strawberries and placed them into a sack. “If you’re talking about a handsome, charming man with super powers who slays demons, it’s definitely Angelo.”
Jeff frowned. “He’s not the only demon slayer.”
“That’s right,” Melanie said. “There’s Angeline. She’s a true role model for all women.”
Melanie handed Jeff a sack of oranges and went to pick out some potatoes.
Jeff sat the sack next to the sack of apples and let out a loud sigh. “This is unbelievable.”
“I know,” Melanie said as she filled up a sack with potatoes. “It’s getting harder and harder for every village to supply enough food for its villagers. Thank God the Village of St. Louis is still thriving and able to harvest enough food to feed 20 villages.”
​
Jeff walked over to Melanie and grabbed the sack of potatoes from her. “I’m not talking about the supplies. I’m talking about Angelo and Angeline.”
“What about them?”
Jeff threw the sack of potatoes near the doorway.
“Hey,” Melanie said. “Be careful.”
Jeff sat down in a chair next to the doorway and folded his arms. “I’m just sick of hearing about them. I’ve been fighting demons for the last six years, saving countless lives. Then Angelo and Angeline show up and everyone forgets about what I’ve done.”
Melanie walked over to Jeff and put her hand on his shoulder. “Look, nobody has forgotten what you have done. So don’t get jealous. Angelo and Angeline are just here to help fight, especially against super-powered demons like the ones we fought against nearly a month ago.”
Jeff's voice softened. “How are you doing with that stuff that demon did to you?”
“I'm getting a little better every day,” Melanie said. “I appreciate you, Juanita, Kevin and Uncle J being there for me. So, let me be here for you now. You are a great hero, Jeff and no one will ever forget what you've done and are still doing. I think everyone is just excited because Uncle J’s prophecy is being fulfilled.”
“People used to be excited about me,” Jeff said as he leaned back in the chair.
“They still are. Just give Angelo and Angeline a chance. Work with them and I’m sure…”
Alarms around the village sounded and Jeff and Melanie heard and felt explosions coming from outside.
Screaming people, with numerous injuries and blood-stained clothes, ran into the warehouse.
Jeff and Melanie ran outside and saw hundreds of bodies scattered across the village.
A man limped toward the warehouse as other people ran towards the village gates. He fell towards Jeff, who caught him and carried him inside.
“What happened?” Jeff asked. He was worried and had never seen anything do what had just been done to the Village of St. Louis and its villagers in a matter of seconds.
“I don’t know,” said the man, whose legs were covered in blood. “There was something in the sky…looked like a flying man…and then something came from his hand. It was small at first…a small ball of orange light. It grew and grew until it was as big as a car. As he moved around in the air, the ball of light moved with him and then he made a small motion, like he was pushing it and the ball of light flew down towards us.”
Melanie found a towel and poured bottled water on it. She wiped the man’s leg as Jeff continued to talk with the man, trying to keep him conscious.
“Where were you when this happened?” Jeff asked as the man shook violently. Jeff grabbed the man and held him tight.
“He’s going into shock, Jeff.” Tears streamed down Melanie’s face as she looked around at the other villagers in the warehouse.
The warehouse employees were trying to help as many of the injured as they could, but many of the injured had died upon entering the warehouse. While half of the employees rendered aid, the other half stacked the dead in a corner and covered them up with tarps.
The eyes of the man Jeff talked to rolled into the back of the man’s head and Jeff knew, from his past failed rescue missions, that the man was about to die. But, he still needed to know what was outside slaughtering the villagers of St. Louis.
“Look, mister. I know you’re in a lot of pain and I know it may be hard for you to concentrate right now, but I need to know what happened when the light hit the area you were in.” Jeff shook the man until the man’s eyes stared at him.
“It hit the playground,” the man said as his eyes filled with tears. “I…was…watching my daughter and her friends swing on the swing set. When we saw the man in the sky, we thought it was Angelo…but, it wasn’t him. The light shot towards us…and…and…”
Jeff shook the man hard. “And what?”
“Stop it, Jeff,” Melanie said, afraid that Jeff would shake the man to his impending death.
“I must have blacked out,” the man said. Blood ran from his mouth and his eyes rolled back into his head again. “When I woke up, I was lying… on the ground… and my daughter’s… head, her precious little head… was lying next to me.” Tears ran down the man’s cheeks. “The rest of her body and the bodies of so many… many others…were in a big crater where the playground had been.”
The man’s pupils were no longer visible as his body went limp.
Jeff checked the man’s pulse. “He’s dead.”
Melanie stopped wiping the blood off the man’s legs and placed the towel over his face. She stood up and wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her shirt. “We need to contact Uncle J.”
Jeff pulled out the keys to Wiseman J’s SUV and started out the front door of the warehouse when Melanie grabbed his arm.
“Where do you think you’re going, Jeff?”
“I’m going to get my weapons and see if I can stop this thing.”
“Well, I can tell you from what I’ve seen and heard that you can’t.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No, we need Angelo and Angeline and Uncle J is the only one who can get in contact with them.”
“You might need them, but I can handle this myself,” Jeff said. “I just have to get to my weapons.”
Melanie looked out the door and then back at Jeff. “Well, if you can get through that, I think you might have a chance.” Melanie opened the door wide so Jeff could see outside.
​
It was raining, but it wasn’t water that was falling from the sky. It was blood and flesh. Body parts hit the ground with a “plop” and the blood filled up several craters throughout the village that the demon’s orbs of light had created.
​
Jeff closed the door and locked it. He hung his head down and handed a transmitter to Melanie. “Call your uncle. Tell him we need help.”
S.O.L.A.D.™ BOOK I EXCERPTS:
Lives Apart
Five weeks. No word from Kevin or Jeff in five weeks.
Curls of dark brown hair hung around Juanita's head as she removed several rollers from her hair. I've looked everywhere for them and no one has seen them.
Juanita looked in the bathroom mirror and saw a Juanita that was furious. Okay, girl, fix your face. You said you would look for five weeks and today is the last day. If they don't want to be found, just stop looking. Besides... Juanita held her hand out of the bathroom and a comb floated from her bedroom, down the hallway and into her hand. ...I don't need them.
“You're getting quite good at doing that I see,” Wiseman J said as he walked by the bathroom door and into the study.
“Yeah,” Juanita said as she put the finishing touches on her hair and floated down the hall into the study. “Yesterday, I lifted four boulders, at the same time, from a distance, with telekinesis to distract a pack of demon dogs while I transformed into Angeline.”
Wiseman J smiled. “Wow. You're already exhibiting that level of telekinesis?”
“Well, I've been using that power since the blast that Kevin caused,” Juanita said as she floated to the ceiling. “That's how I made my shield circle around the explosion and how I created my force field. Besides, when you don't have any backup, you have to learn to defend yourself any way possible pretty fast.”
“It won't always be that way.”
“Well, it isn't really that way right now, J,” Juanita said as she landed on the floor. “I know God is with me and I can feel his presence. It's just, sometimes...most times...I miss having a physical presence that I can see and touch.”
“Kevin and Jeff will come back, eventually,” Wiseman J said as he tapped a few keys on his computer.
The monitor popped on and a flashing red dot blinked on a map of the Village of New York. An email icon sat next to the flashing light and Wiseman J clicked on it.
Juanita floated back into the air as Wiseman J cleared his throat and smiled at her.
“Sorry, J,” Juanita said as she landed. “It's starting to become a habit. I never thought I would like doing this.”
“Floating?”
“No, being a hero.”
“Well, whether you like it or not, you're needed in the Village of New York.”
“Is it about the missing children again?” Juanita leaned over Wiseman J and stared at the monitor.
“Yes, Jesheena just sent me an email saying that the disappearances started up again last night.”
A flash of golden yellow light engulfed the room for a second and when Wiseman J turned around, Angeline stood in the middle of the room.
Angeline pushed a button on the wall and the ceiling opened up. “Good thing we installed this skylight. I was really tired of running out of the back door.”
Angeline slowly ascended to the skylight. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
​
“Ok. Stay in contact and be careful.”
“I will,” Angeline said as she shot through the skylight and flew northeast at super-speed.
​
​
It took Angeline five minutes to get to the Village of New York and in those minutes, most of the villagers had gathered in the village square for a meeting.
Even though Angeline was flying thousands of miles in the air, her super-hearing picked up the villagers' conversation.
​
“What's being done to find our children?” a weeping woman asked to a tall woman standing on the foundation of a giant fountain.
​
“We have search parties outside the village and we are trying to increase security around the village,” the tall woman said. “I assure you, we will pinpoint the cause of the abductions.”
“What about contacting Angelo and Angeline?” the weeping woman asked.
“Even if they existed, which I'm sure they don't, we wouldn't need nor want their help,” the tall woman said. “We are doing just fine dealing with our own problems. We don’t need help from other villages or Wiseman J’s phony heroes.”
Angeline landed behind a row of houses about a mile away from the village square and transformed back into Juanita.
Still using her super-hearing, Juanita heard several villagers say that it wasn't just children who were missing. Many adults, mostly men, were missing also.
Juanita made her way to Jesheena's office and knocked on the front door.
“Come in,” a woman's voice said.
“Hey, Jesheena,” Juanita said as she closed the door behind her.
“Hey, girl,” Jesheena said as she gave Juanita a hug. “Long time no see. How did you get here?”
“Angeline Express,” Juanita said as she sat in a chair in front of Jesheena's desk. “She and Wiseman J thought that I could help out in the investigation into the disappearances.”
“We can use all the help we can get,” Jesheena said as she sat down behind her desk. “The villagers are frantic, as well they should be. Some of the children have been missing for several months. And now some adults are missing.”
“I heard,” Juanita said. “Is the siren-like voice still being heard?”
“Yes, but not as frequently,” Jesheena said. “Plus, we keep sending men out of the village to search for the children and the men never return.”
“Victims of demon dog attacks?”
“Not that we can tell. I keep telling Wisewoman V that we need to stop sending people out, but she won't listen. In fact, she's holding a meeting right now, sharing her plans to increase the search parties.”
“So, that's who’s speaking at the fountain?” Juanita asked.
“Yes, and she won't listen to Wiseman J. That's why I moved here six years ago when Wiseman J, Jeff and the others began their fight against the Demon Master. J knew that Wisewoman V didn't believe in the prophecy of S.O.L.A.D., so he sent me here to keep an eye on her.”
Juanita stood up and looked out Jesheena's window. She could see the villagers leaving the fountain.
“I'll be back later tonight, Jesheena,” Juanita said. “It's time for Wisewoman V to meet me and a member of S.O.L.A.D.”
​
​
It took Angeline five minutes to get to the Village of New York and in those minutes, most of the villagers had gathered in the village square for a meeting.
Even though Angeline was flying thousands of miles in the air, her super-hearing picked up the villagers' conversation.
“What's being done to find our children?” a weeping woman asked to a tall woman standing on the foundation of a giant fountain.
“We have search parties outside the village and we are trying to increase security around the village,” the tall woman said. “I assure you, we will pinpoint the cause of the abductions.”
“What about contacting Angelo and Angeline?” the weeping woman asked.
“Even if they existed, which I'm sure they don't, we wouldn't need nor want their help,” the tall woman said. “We are doing just fine dealing with our own problems. We don’t need help from other villages or Wiseman J’s phony heroes.”
Angeline landed behind a row of houses about a mile away from the village square and transformed back into Juanita.
Still using her super-hearing, Juanita heard several villagers say that it wasn't just children who were missing. Many adults, mostly men, were missing also.
Juanita made her way to Jesheena's office and knocked on the front door.
“Come in,” a woman's voice said.
“Hey, Jesheena,” Juanita said as she closed the door behind her.
“Hey, girl,” Jesheena said as she gave Juanita a hug. “Long time no see. How did you get here?”
“Angeline Express,” Juanita said as she sat in a chair in front of Jesheena's desk. “She and Wiseman J thought that I could help out in the investigation into the disappearances.”
“We can use all the help we can get,” Jesheena said as she sat down behind her desk. “The villagers are frantic, as well they should be. Some of the children have been missing for several months. And now some adults are missing.”
“I heard,” Juanita said. “Is the siren-like voice still being heard?”
“Yes, but not as frequently,” Jesheena said. “Plus, we keep sending men out of the village to search for the children and the men never return.”
“Victims of demon dog attacks?”
“Not that we can tell. I keep telling Wisewoman V that we need to stop sending people out, but she won't listen. In fact, she's holding a meeting right now, sharing her plans to increase the search parties.”
“So, that's who’s speaking at the fountain?” Juanita asked.
“Yes, and she won't listen to Wiseman J. That's why I moved here six years ago when Wiseman J, Jeff and the others began their fight against the Demon Master. J knew that Wisewoman V didn't believe in the prophecy of S.O.L.A.D., so he sent me here to keep an eye on her.”
Juanita stood up and looked out Jesheena's window. She could see the villagers leaving the fountain.
“I'll be back later tonight, Jesheena,” Juanita said. “It's time for Wisewoman V to meet me and a member of S.O.L.A.D.”
​
​
Wisewoman V didn't like strangers visiting the Village of New York, especially anyone from the Village of Memphis. In her humble opinion, anyone who was under the leadership of the “crackpot” known as Wiseman J and believed in his “loony” S.O.L.A.D. prophecy were not welcomed to her “village of serenity and sanity.”
But, the woman floating above her in the nighttime sky was one person that she couldn't turn away.
“I think you and I should talk, Wisewoman V,” Angeline said as she landed beside her. “My name is Angeline.”
Wisewoman V's jaw dropped. “You...you...you...”
This is the first time she's been at a loss for words since I got here, Angeline thought to herself. “Stop. Breath and talk slowly.”
Wisewoman V slowly inhaled and exhaled. “Sorry about that. It's just...I wasn't expecting you to actually exist. I thought Wiseman J...”
“Made me up?”
“Yes. But here you are, in the flesh,” Wisewoman V said as a dark liquid ran down her face in the cool night air.
“Are you okay?” Angeline asked as she inched closer to Wisewoman V, whose eyes had started to glow orange.
“Oh, yes...Sweetheart,” Wisewoman V said as her eyes sloped diagonally, and her teeth grew into two-inch fangs. “Now that you are here, I don't have to wear this tasty human skin anymore.”
Angeline pulled out her sais and leaped backward. What is it with these demons calling me “Sweetheart”?
Wisewoman V ran her long, jagged fingernails from the top of her forehead to her stomach. She peeled off the flesh like a banana peel, revealing herself to be a purple-skinned demoness.
The demoness’ jaw dropped open and she stuffed the flesh into her mouth and swallowed it whole.
​
“That was so yummy,” she said as she slid her tongue across her teeth. “I've been waiting to do that for the last six years.”
“You’ve been deliberately sending villagers to their doom,” Angeline said.
“Well, my master needed recruits,” the demoness said. “So, I killed this village’s leader and carefully fulfilled my master’s wishes.”
Angeline gripped her sais as the demoness circled her.
“You see, once I captured the children my master called,” the demoness said, “I killed the parents so that things would quiet down and in case you S.O.L.A.D. people actually existed, you wouldn’t come to my village.”
Angeline lunged at the demoness, trying to jab her sais into the demoness’ sides. But the demoness was fast, and with her long, extending arms and clawed fingers, she blocked every one of Angeline's attacks.
“Stupid girl,” the demoness said. “You have no idea who or what I am.”
“Yes, I do,” Angeline said as she threw her sais towards the demoness’ chest. “You're dead.”
The demoness leapt high into the air, dodging Angeline's sais. “Ha, you missed.”
“No, I didn't,” Angeline said as her bow formed in her hand and she lined two purity arrows along it. “I got you right where I want you.”
Angeline let the arrows fly skyward, with one embedding itself into the demoness’ left foot and the other in the demoness’ right side.
The demoness bellowed as she hit the ground with a loud thud. “It's not over. My master’s children will protect me.”
“Children?” Angeline looked around the dimly lit village. “What are you talking about?”
The demoness opened her mouth and sang a haunting melody. “Come to me, little ones. Come and defend me.”
In the darkness, over 20 pairs of purple eyes appeared around Angeline. She could make out the figures of toddlers, pre-teens and teenagers as they ran toward her.
​
The children's faces were deformed, more demonic than human.
​
“Don't know what to do, do you?” the demoness asked Angeline. “These children are still alive and very much human, although they don't appear to be. They can be made whole again if you kill me and my master.”
​
Angeline grabbed her sais and as she ran towards the demoness, the demoness disappeared.
​
“You’ll have to find us first,” the demoness’ voice echoed across the village. “But, by then, how many children would you have been forced to kill?”
Angeline sighed as she holstered her sais. “I guess it’s time to play dodge and hide and seek.”
​
Angeline had spent an hour dodging the possessed children and making sure they didn't attack any villagers. I could keep this up all night, but I must end this before they take their attention off me and place it on the villagers.
Angeline flew high into the sky until the possessed children could no longer see her.
The children ran out of the village after a few minutes, leaped over the outer village walls and ran for 20 miles into the ruins of New York City.
Angeline flew overhead and landed behind a row of destroyed mansions. She saw the children run down the street to a giant rebuilt mansion, with golden pillars, golden gates and a golden driveway.
Angeline looked back at the destroyed mansions and back at the grandiose mansion. “One of these things definitely doesn't belong,” Angeline said as the gates opened and the children ran in.
​
Several teens stood at the end of the street, guarding the mansion.
“Someone thinks they are royalty,” Angeline whispered as she ran around the gate and leaped into the backyard. She stopped and looked at sparkling objects, of different sizes, shapes and colors, at the bottom of a large swimming pool.
​
Angeline reached into the shallow end of the pool and scooped up a hand full of the objects. “Diamonds, rubies, amethyst and emeralds,” Angeline said. “This demon really does think it's royalty.”
​
“My master doesn't think she is,” the purple demoness said as she kicked Angeline into the pool. “She knows she is.”
​
Angeline swam into the deep end of the pool as the children surrounded it. Angeline, using her telekinesis, made the jewels at the bottom of the pool fly out of the water and swarm the children and the demoness. Angeline quickly flew out of the pool and into some nearby bushes.
​
I can't get close to the demoness as Angeline, but maybe I can as Juanita. A flash of light shot from the bushes and out came Juanita, using her telekinesis to make two eyeball-size amethysts hover close to her eyes and glow. I hope this works.
​
The swarm of jewels fell to the ground and the purple demoness hissed.
“Where is she?” the purple demoness asked the children. “You, over there by the bushes,” she said to Juanita. “Did you see where she went?”
Juanita shook her head.
“Great,” the purple demoness said. “She could be in the house. Quickly, children. Go inside and search this place from top to bottom. That angel girl must not harm our master.”
Juanita was the last to enter the mansion. She closed the doors and noticed that she was in an immaculate kitchen.
“What is wrong with you, child?” the purple demoness asked her.
Juanita shook her head.
​
“Well, then get a move on. We don't have time to slowpoke around.”
​
The points of two sais popped out of the purple demoness’ chest after she turned her back to Juanita.
A flash of yellow light emitted from behind her and as the purple demoness slowly turned around, she came face to face with Angeline.
“As the old fable says, 'Slow and steady wins the race,’” Angeline said as the purple demoness burst into flames and evaporated.
The sound of clapping echoed from the foyer. Angeline walked toward the clapping, twirling her sais.
“Bravo,” said a beautiful brown-skinned woman in a purple dress. She lounged inside a sheer-draped canopied throne, which was hoisted in the air by four strong male teenagers, who served as porters.
“Before you try to dispose of me like you did my faithful servant, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Temptation.”
“Stage name or real name?” Angeline asked.
Temptation smiled as her porters carried her over to a giant twin staircase. “That's cute. I like jokes. Maybe you can be my court jester.”
Angeline threw a sai through the sheer drapes of the canopied throne. The sai embedded itself into the canopy, inches away from Temptation's head.
“Or maybe not,” Temptation said as the porters lowered the throne to the floor. The canopy split open as Temptation stood up. “That's fine.”
A pack of demon dogs howled outside.
​
“You'll probably be better as a snack for my mutts.”
Angeline held her right hand out and the sai returned to her. She threw both of her sais through the front door of the mansion, towards the howls of the demon dogs.
Seconds later, the demon dogs bellowed and bright flashes of orange and white light shined from outside through the mansion’s large windows as the sais returned to Angeline.
“My babies,” Temptation said as she buried her head into her hands. A few seconds later, she acted as if she were wiping tears from her eyes. But, then she suddenly lifted her head and laughed. “Oh well. I'll just get the Demon Master to send me more.”
Angeline gripped her sais tightly and said nothing.
​
“What? Nothing else to say?” Temptation asked before she sang a seductive melody loudly into the air and her porters, along with the children standing guard outside and inside the house, surrounded Angeline. “I guess this means you are ready to kill me. But, you have to get through my children to get to me.”
​
I’ve got to get to her without harming the children. Angeline holstered her sais and held her arms out towards the children, who crowded the foyer, hallways, staircase and doorways. There are over a hundred of them and for me to do this right, I have to focus.
​
The front doors and back doors of the mansion flung open. The children floated off the ground and were thrown out of the house, where they gently landed on the ground.
​
The doors slammed shut after the last child was thrown out of the house.
​
“Neat trick,” Temptation said. “You're not like Jeff and his rebel buddies.”
​
Angeline slammed into Temptation at super speed, grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. “Where…is…Jeff?”
​
“Awwwww, I finally hit a nerve,” Temptation said as she held on to Angeline’s arm. “You have a thing for him, don't you?”
​
“I’ll ask one more time,” Angeline said as she pulled out a sai and put it under Temptation’s chin.
​
“Jeff is now in my employ and under my control,” Temptation said. “In fact, he’s out getting me some new recruits in a village not far from here.”
“You’re lying,” Angeline said.
​
“If I’m lying, I’m dying,” Temptation said as she disappeared and reappeared several feet behind Angeline. “He had so much anger built up inside him. Betrayal and hurt could have literally poured out of his veins because he was so full of it.”
Angeline floated up to the ceiling and hovered above Temptation. “Where is he?”
“You know, he kept calling your name, Angeline,” Temptation said as her red nails grew several inches. “He rambled on and on about you, Angelo, Wiseman J and two other people. What were their names? Juan…Juana…Juanita. That’s it. Juanita and Kevin. Whatever it is you all did to him, you really messed him up. That’s why it was so easy for me to seduce him. Well, it was that and the fact that he is notorious for lusting after beautiful women like myself.”
Good, Angeline thought. She doesn’t know that Kevin and I are Angelo and Angeline, but she does know where Jeff is.
Angeline swooped down towards Temptation, who raised her hands into the air, using her long, steel-like nails to block Angeline’s sais. A loud “clang” echoed across the foyer.
“Free Jeff and the children,” Angeline said as she and Temptation fought up the staircase. “NOW!”
Temptation laughed. “And as soon as I do, you’ll kill me, right? No…I don’t think that’s a deal I’m willing to make.”
Temptation scratched Angeline across the face, but just as soon as she made the gashes, they healed up.
The two women fought throughout the mansion for several minutes, crashing through walls and destroying expensive furniture, paintings and statues.
“Stop for just a moment, Sweetheart, and look at the mess you’ve made,” Temptation said as she tried to catch her breath. “Now, before you destroy anything else, here's my deal. I’ll release the children who are here.”
“And?”
“That's it,” Temptation said as she disappeared. “You have less than a minute to get out of the mansion and remove the children from the property before the mansion explodes. I'm not giving Jeff up, though. He's mine forever. Good luck.”
Angeline bashed a hole into the floor of the foyer and jumped down into it.
A few seconds later, the mansion, hoisted by Angeline, rose into the air. The mansion gained speed as Angeline flew faster and higher into the air.
Red energy crackled all over the mansion as the charges inside exploded.
Angeline tossed the mansion towards space and flew backwards to the ground as the mansion exploded and burned into a million pieces.
The children came to their senses as Angeline landed and they surrounded her, cheering.
“It’s her,” a teenage girl said. “Angeline. She’s real.”
“She saved us,” a little boy said. “We’re free.”
Angeline looked up into the sky as the ashes of the mansion fell into an empty valley several miles away. But Jeff isn’t and I still haven’t found Kevin.
​
S.O.L.A.D.™ BOOK II EXCERPTS:
Friends, Not Foes
Angeline and Angelo both moved at super-speed as they maneuvered past bullets and destroyed the demon soldiers. They moved so fast that, to them, the bullets seemed to be frozen in air.
The demon soldiers weren’t as fast and were surprised when law enforcement officers were suddenly freed from their grasps by unseen forces.
Seconds later, the rescued law enforcement officers, who were moments before, about to be torn apart and eaten, found themselves in the front parking lot of the Memphis, Light, Gas and Water building on South 2nd Street. A minute later, all of their weapons appeared in a pile before them.
“How did we get here?” one officer asked Grayson.
“I don’t know,” Grayson said. “But, I think we were carried here by that woman with the arrows and that man with the sword.”
​
Nearly two dozen demon soldiers remained in front of the Orpheum Theatre after Angelo and Angeline had finished rescuing the law enforcement officers and finally slowed down enough so the demon soldiers could see them.
“Where’s your master?” asked Angelo as he pulled out his Sword of Faith.
“Ask...Titan,’ one of the demon soldiers said.
​
“What’s a Titan?” Angeline asked.
“I AM TITAN!” a loud, deep voice yelled.
A giant demon soldier walked up from behind a line of smaller demon soldiers and puffed up his chest and pointed his battle-axe toward Angelo.
“Don’t worry about our master,” Titan said. “You’ll be defeated by me before you can get to him.”
Angelo looked back at Angeline and smiled.
“He’s a biggun,” Angeline told Angelo.
“He is,” Angelo said as he put his sword back in its sheathe and stepped back. “He’s all yours.”
Angeline threw her quiver and sais on the ground. She cracked her knuckles and tilted her head from side to side as she walked up to Titan.
He looked past her and directly at Angelo. “COWARD,” Titan said in a loud voice that sounded like large stones being scraped together. “You let this weak woman fight for you?”
The smaller demon soldiers laughed but quickly stopped when Angelo started laughing.
“Hey, just remember you asked for what’s about to come,” Angelo said.
Titan looked down on Angeline and snarled. “What are you going to do, little lady?”
“First, he doesn’t let me do anything,” Angeline said as she flew up to Titan’s face and uppercut him. The impact of the punch sent him crashing into the Orpheum Theatre’s lighted sign.
“Second, I’m stronger than you think I am,” Angeline said as Titan fell to the ground and the Orpheum sign fell on top of him.
The smaller demon soldiers started toward Angeline, but Angelo quickly pulled out his sword as his eyes glowed white behind his shades.
“That’s far enough, fellas,” Angelo said. “Unless you’re eager to be next?”
The smaller demon soldiers backed away.
Suddenly, the Orpheum Theatre sign flew toward Angeline and Angelo. It broke into several large pieces before it could reach them as it crashed into Angeline’s invisible force field.
“That wasn’t fair or nice,” Angeline said. “You shouldn’t try to kill a lady with a sign when she’s not looking.”
Titan growled loudly as he ran toward Angelo and Angeline.
“I got him,” Angeline said.
Titan swung at Angeline with his right fist, but Angeline stepped to her left at super speed, caught his arm and quickly spun him around several times. After several spins, she let Titan go and he flew into a line of smaller demon soldiers with such force that the smaller demon soldiers burst into flames and burned into ashes.
Angelo high-fived Angeline as he walked past her and stood once again behind her.
The remaining demon soldiers charged at Angeline but didn’t notice her sais levitating off the ground and spinning in a circle. Before they could reach her, Angeline’s sais had shot through them and ignited them. A few seconds later, several piles of ashes surrounded Angeline.
“You’re amazing,” Angelo said as he picked up Angeline’s quiver and handed it to her.
“She certainly is,” Grayson said as he and several Memphis police officers approached the heroes. “Who are you two supposed to be?”
As Angelo opened his mouth to speak, Grayson and the other officers pulled out their guns and pointed them toward the heroes.
“Not again,” Angelo said as he and Angeline put their hands behind their heads. “We are the good guys.”
“We know that,” Grayson said, “But, he isn’t.”
Angelo and Angeline turned around and saw Titan at the end of the intersection of Beale Street and South Main Street. He breathed heavily as several cuts across his body oozed blood.
Titan grabbed a light pole and bared his teeth.
“No, he’s definitely not with us,” Angeline said.
“Good,” Grayson said. “OPEN FIRE!”
Bullets whizzed over Angelo and Angeline’s heads toward Titan. The bullets found their target, but he didn’t flinch as the bullets went through his body.
​
Titan roared and ran toward the heroes and the officers with great speed.
“GET BACK,” Angeline screamed as she threw up a force field between herself and Titan.
Titan bashed the light pole against the force field, causing Angeline to strain under the pressure.
Seeing Angeline under distress, Angelo, with sword in hand, flew over the force field and lunged at Titan.
He swatted Angelo into the second floor of the Orpheum Theatre.
“You wanted me to face her,” Titan said, “so, she’s all mine.”
Angeline gritted her teeth as she pushed her hands out in front of herself, causing the force field to slam into Titan.
Titan, caught off-guard, stumbled backwards but quickly regained his composure and began bashing the force field again, with double the strength.
“Angelo,” Angeline said into her earpiece. “I need your help now. I can’t keep this up much longer.”
Angeline’s force field began to crack as Titan continued to pound steadily on it.
“I’m coming for you, girl,” Titan said. He licked his lips, smiled and rolled his eyes into the back of his head. “I can’t wait to devour you.”
A “boom” echoed across the street as an army tank fired a high explosive incendiary/armor-piercing ammunition (HEIAP) at Titan. A second “boom” followed as the ammunition hit him in the back.
Angeline’s force field shattered as Titan began to burn and burst into flames.
“Thanks,” Angeline said to the tanker as she dropped to the ground.
Titan stood still as flames wrapped around his body and continued to intensify.
The officers cheered as Grayson helped Angeline to her feet.
“Are you all right?” he asked as she looked up at the hole in the second floor of the Orpheum Theatre.
Angeline watched as Angelo stood up, floated out of the hole and landed next to her and Grayson.
“I am now,” Angeline said.
Angelo and Angeline looked at Titan, who still hadn’t burnt into ashes.
“Something’s wrong,” Angelo said as he motioned for Angeline, Grayson and the officers to back away. “No screams or moans and no disintegration.”
Before Angelo could say another word, Titan held his left arm out and opened his left hand.
The flames that wrapped around his body seeped into his pours and into his nostrils, mouth, eyes and ears.
When the flames were gone, there stood Titan, completely healed and even taller, with flames flickering from within his eyes.
“Thanks for the upgrade,” he said as a red fireball formed in his left hand.
Titan turned away from the heroes and threw the fireball at the tank. The tank exploded and everyone inside was killed.
Titan laughed as he formed two more fireballs in his hands and fired them toward the officers.
Angelo ran at super speed, using his sword to hitting the fireballs high into the sky. Angeline formed force fields around the fireballs, snuffing out the flames.
“There’s more where that came from,” Titan said as flames leapt out of his mouth with each word he spoke.
The flames shot out, like a flamethrower, from Titan’s mouth and eyes toward Angelo and Angeline.
The heroes dodged the attack, flew into the sky and hovered over Titan.
“Exactly where I want you,” Titan said as he held his hand out toward the officers and continued to look up at the heroes.
Flames shot out of Titan’s hands and burned several officers, who had begun shooting at him.
Angeline pulled the Orpheum Theatre’s marquee sign from the front of the building and slammed it into Titan. She slammed it into him several more times, at super speed, before slamming it on him a final time.
As she checked on the burnt officers, the marquee sign flew up into the air, hitting Angelo. The sign fell down a few feet behind the burning tank as Titan stood up and laughed.
Angelo slammed into Titan and began punching him at super speed.
“This…won’t…stop…me,” Titan said between each of Angelo’s punches. He heated his body up, creating a heat barrier around himself.
“That might not,” Angeline said as she ripped a fire hydrant out of the ground and used her shield to shoot Titan with water. “But, this could.”
The water-soaked Titan as Angelo reached into a pouch on his belt.
Angeline squeezed the water main closed and watched as Titan tried to reignite the fire that had resided moments ago inside him.
“Cooler heads prevailed,” Angelo said as he pulled out a single purity bomb and let it fall into the puddle of water Titan stood in.
The purity bomb shook and shined before it burnt out and dissolved.
Titan laughed. “What was that supposed to do? Scare me? It didn’t even do what it was supposed to do.”
“Yes it did,” Angelo said as he landed in front of Titan. He pointed to the puddle. “See?”
The puddle turned into a white, sparkling substance and overtook Titan, who fought to break away but couldn’t. He involuntarily absorbed the substance until it was completely inside him.
Titan laughed again as his skin ignited and flames wrapped around his body. “I told you it didn’t work.”
He opened his right hand to create a fireball, but the flames would not obey him anymore. Titan’s flesh began to crack and sizzle as his body burned into ashes.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” Titan screamed.
A gust of wind blew Titan’s ashes past Angelo, Angeline and down South Main Street.
​
Claps and cheers surrounded the heroes as the law enforcement officers approached them.
“I still don’t know who you two are, but we owe you two our lives,” Grayson said.
“No, you don’t,” Angelo said. “It’s our duty to serve and protect, just as it is yours.”
“My name is Angeline and his name is Angelo,” Angeline said as she shook Grayson’s hand. I sure hope dad doesn’t recognize me.
“I wish I could say it is a pleasure to meet you both, but under the present conditions, I think the presence of you two confirms my fears that this is something we can’t handle,” Grayson said.
Lightning began striking the street and the officers ran for cover.
Angelo and Angeline, followed by Grayson and a few officers, ran to the covered parking lot of the Tri-State Bank of Memphis.
“Now it’s storming,” Grayson said. “That’s just great.”
Angeline watched the lightning strikes, which had started lasting longer and hitting the street more frequently.
“That isn’t normal lightning,” Angeline said.
As the streets around them continued to be struck, the ground shook and sounded as if it were groaning.
Suddenly, the lightning stopped, and the ground ceased shaking.
​
“Please, stay here,” Angeline told the officers. “Let us make sure everything is all right.”
Angelo and Angeline were walking down Beale Street when a huge, red lightning bolt struck the Elvis Presley statue in Elvis Presley Plaza. The ground exploded next to the statue and after a few seconds, the lightning stopped again.
When the dust from the explosion cleared, a woman, with brown hair and red eyes, dressed in an orange outfit, sat in front of the statue.
“Well, that was dramatic,” the woman said. “But, every king deserves a queen and every queen deserves an army.”
About 50 law enforcement officers simultaneously pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the woman.
The woman laughed and waved her right hand in the air, as if she were beckoning someone one to come down.
​
Suddenly, five bolts of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the ground, which exploded and sizzled as five, giant demon soldiers, who looked like they were made of stone, stepped out.
The demon soldiers were as fast as lightning and before Angelo and Angeline could react, they had killed all 50 law enforcement officers. After the massacre, the demon soldiers kneeled before their queen.
The woman stared at Angelo and Angeline and grinned.
“Did I mention my name is Destruction and that I’m here to destroy everything and everyone in sight?”
Darkness & Destruction
“Angeline? Angeline, are you okay?”
The voice sounded distorted as Angeline rubbed her head and grabbed her ribs. She hurt all over and grunted as broken bones popped back together.
“Are you okay, Angeline?” the voice asked again.
This time she recognized that the voice belonged to Jeff.
“I will be soon,” Angeline said as she saw Jeff and Wiseman J looking down at her from the giant hole in the street she laid in. “Just a little groggy. How long have I been out?”
“About 20 minutes,” Wiseman J said.
Angeline slowly floated out of the hole and as she did, the bruises on her body began to fade away.
“Man, how I wish I had powers like you two,” Jeff said as Angeline landed next to them.
“How is Angelo?” Angeline asked.
“He’s over there and unconscious,” Wiseman J said, pointing to a nearby crater. “His wounds from our earlier encounter with the Demon Master seemed to have begun bleeding again after he fell from the sky.”
“We saw him fall,” Jeff said. “And we saw the giant woman leave the area. That’s how we found the two of you.”
Angeline walked over to the crater, flew down into it, picked up Angelo and flew him out of it. She gently laid him onto an area of grass.
“He’s healing up also,” Wiseman J said as he saw Angelo’s blood-stained clothing start to slowly turn white. “But, it’s much slower than you healed up, Angeline.”
“Where are Destruction and her army?” Angeline asked, looking around the area.
“You mean the giant woman?” Jeff asked. “She was heading north when she began shrinking.”
Angeline heard screams and gunfire in the distance and saw buildings collapsing. The ground also shook violently as explosions occurred in the north part of downtown.
Angeline knelt and rubbed Angelo’s cheek.
“Your city needs you, Angeline,” Jeff said. “The causalities are increasing. The Army, the FBI, the National Guard and the police…they’re all being slaughtered.”
Angeline quickly stood up and her bow appeared in her right hand.
​
“My dad…,” Angeline said as she floated into the sky. “Watch over Angelo and let him know I need him as soon as he wakes up.”
​
It only took two seconds at super speed for Angeline to fly to the area the gunfire was coming from.
​
The sky was thick with dust and smoke, but with her super hearing, she could hear her father yelling for officers to get back from several of Destruction’s soldiers.
Angeline’s super sight kicked in and as she peered through the dust and smoke, she could see small streaks of lightning dancing along the fingertips of several of Destruction’s stone demon soldiers.
As she flew down, the demon soldiers shot big bolts of lightning at the police cruisers and tanks in the area.
Angeline quickly created force fields around the officers as explosions shook the area and shattered the windows of nearby windows and vehicles. As she made her way through the explosions, Angeline rapidly fired arrows through each demon soldier.
Flames shot out of the bodies of the demons and engulfed them until nothing but ashes remained.
“Are you all okay?” Angeline asked as she landed in front of Grayson and several other law enforcement officers.
“We are now, thanks to you,” Grayson said.
“No, you aren’t,” Destruction said as she rose out of the rubble of a nearby building. “You killed my soldiers, but I can always make more, better soldiers…ones that can blow things and…people up with their minds.”
“GET OUT OF HERE,” Angeline screamed at the law enforcement officers as she fired arrows and began firing arrows at Destruction.
​
Destruction’s eyes and hands glowed bright orange as the rubble underneath her slowly joined together to create several 10-feet tall stone demon soldiers with glowing orange eyes.
​
The stone demon soldiers glowed bright orange as they raised their hands out toward the fleeing law enforcement officers.
​
The officers stopped in mid-stride and levitated off the ground. Their cruisers and guns followed suit.
Angeline fired arrows at the stone demon soldiers as the cruisers and guns exploded.
Seconds later, the officers’ bodies began to expand and their eyes began to bulge.
“STOPPPPP!!!!” Angeline screamed as she continued shooting arrows into the stone demon soldiers.
Even though the arrows hit their targets, the stone demon soldiers continued to use their telekinetic powers to slowly inflate the law enforcement officers.
One of those officers was Grayson. He and his fellow officers gritted their teeth as blood ran from noses, ears and eyes.
Angeline’s quiver disappeared from off her back and her bow disappeared from her right hand. She quickly pulled out her sais and ran at super speed. As she did, her bow appeared overhead, with her quiver close by.
One by one, arrows flew out of the quiver, lined up along the bow and fired in rapid succession, as if an invisible person were providing Angeline cover-fire.
But, it was Angeline, using her telekinesis, while she attacked the stone demon soldiers up close and personal.
Angeline rammed her sais into the chests of several stone demon soldiers before they even knew what had hit them.
The law enforcement officers fell to the ground and sighed with relief as the stone demon soldiers exploded into ashes.
“Are you okay, Chief Grayson?” Angeline said as she knelt beside Grayson. She wanted to tell her father that she was really Juanita. And she felt she would have if there hadn’t been so many injured officers nearby that could possibly overhear the revelation.
“Yes, I am,” Grayson said as he wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve. “We all are, thanks again to you.”
​
“AGAIN…NO…YOU…ARE…NOT!” Destruction screamed as her voice echoed around Angeline and the injured law enforcement officers.
Destruction lunged from the middle floor of a nearby building and telepathically caused all of the buildings around Angeline and the law enforcement officers to explode.
​
Angeline created a force field around the law enforcement officers as she flew high into the air and slammed into Destruction like a heat-seeking missile.
The impact sent Destruction crashing through the street, into the sewers and several feet into the ground below the sewers.
When Destruction floated out of the ground a few minutes later, she was drenched in sewage and mud. The smile she had been showcasing earlier as she attacked Memphis was now gone and she bared her teeth like an angry animal.
“What, no witty remarks this time, Destruction?” Angeline asked.
​
Destruction breathed heavily through her teeth as her hands glowed bright orange.
“Okay then,” Angeline said. “Let’s finish this.”
Rapid blasts of orange energy shot from Destruction’s hands as she tried to knock Angeline out of the sky.
​
Angeline weaved between the blasts, inching closer and closer to Destruction. When she was close enough, Angeline uppercut Destruction, flew at super-speed to catch Destruction and tossed her back into the ground.
​
Destruction shot out of the ground and held her hands toward Angeline. Destruction’s hands glowed orange when Angeline jerked back as if she had been hit by an unseen force.
​
“You’re not the only one with telekinesis,” Destruction said as she slammed Angeline around with it.
​
“And you’re not the only one who has mastered it,” Angeline said as she hovered in the air and raised her arms out to her sides. As Destruction held her arms out toward Angeline, a purple force field, a few inches away from Angeline’s body, began to glow.
​
Orange explosions appeared around the force field as Destruction tried to use her telekinetic blasts to penetrate Angeline’s force field and attack her.
​
Angeline smiled and continued to hover in the air above Destruction.
​
“Why are you smiling?” Destruction asked as she physically pounded her hands in the air, an action that was mimicked on Angeline’s force field by Destruction’s telekinesis.
​
Angeline laughed, which angered Destruction even more.
​
“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?” Destruction screamed.
​
“Those metal beams that are about to slam into you,” Angeline said.
​
“I’m not falling for that,” Destruction said.
​
A large metal beam slammed into the back of Destruction’s head knocking her forward, followed by a second large metal beam that hit her in the forehead and slammed her into the buildings below.
​
“It appears you did,” Angeline said as she descended onto the street.
​
The street underneath Angeline exploded, throwing her back into the air and onto the nearby rooftop of a building.
​
Angeline rolled off her back, stood up and walked over to the edge. She saw Destruction, hair all over her head, clothes torn, and blood streaming from several deep gashes across her body, staring back at her.
​
“You…little…,”Destruction snarled. Her heartbeat was rapid as she continued to take deep breaths.
​
“Temper, temper,” Angeline said. “That’s no way for ‘royalty’ to talk.”
​
Destruction held her right hand out and moved it as if she were crushing something in her hand. “You…die…NOW!”
​
The building under Angeline shook and crumbled as she flew off it and kicked Destruction in the head.
​
“STOP…HITTING…ME!” Destruction screamed.
​
The ground exploded again, knocking back Angeline, who quickly flew through the debris.
​
Destruction caught Angeline by the neck and slammed her into the ground.
​
“I was going to let you live long enough to see my master destroy your city,” Destruction said as she picked Angeline up and slammed her into the side of a building. “But, you... have gotten... on my... last... nerve.”
​
Destruction tossed Angeline into the building and raised her hand into the air, making the crushing gesture again. “Enjoy your tomb. Sorry I didn’t have time to decorate it for you.”
​
The building shook and collapsed on Angeline. Destruction sat down on some rubble and watched as the tall building continued to fall down on her defeated foe.
​
“It’s so beautiful,” Destruction said.
​
Destruction looked around and saw law enforcement officers and other bystanders several feet away. There was a look of shock, fear and dismay on their faces.
​
Destruction laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll make tombs for all of you very soon.”
​
“No, she won’t,” a female voice said from behind her.
​
Destruction turned around and her smile quickly disappeared. In front of her stood Angeline, looking perfectly fine after having a building collapse on her.
​
“Impossible,” Destruction said as her hands glowed. She fired several blasts, but Angeline dodged each one.
Destruction screamed and shook her hands in the air erratically. “I... can’t... stand... you. And apparently, I can’t kill you or seriously hurt you.”
​
Destruction paused and pointed her index finger down the street at the bystanders. “But, I can kill them and I know that will hurt you.”
​
A small ball of orange energy exploded out of Destruction’s fingertip and grew larger as it sped toward the bystanders.
​
“You can’t fight me and save them,” Destruction said. “Choose wisely.”
​
Angeline, in super speed, flew down the street and step in front of the bystanders, just as the giant ball of energy was about to reach them.
​
Destruction started to laugh when she saw Angeline jump in front of the blast, but didn’t when the ball of energy did not explode.
​
The ball of energy twirled around, like a ball of fire, inches from Angeline. As she raised her hand toward it, the ball of energy turned white, began moving away from her and shot back down the street.
​
Destruction ran as fast as she could as the ball of energy, moments before in her control, raced after her.
​
It…can’t end…this way, Destruction thought as she ran and flew off the ground.
​
But the ball of energy was inches away from striking her down.
​
With all of her energy, Destruction telekinetically surrounded herself with the gravel beneath her.
​
Destruction knew she couldn’t outrun it and willed the gravel to attach to her body. She turned around to face the ball of energy as it collided into her and exploded.
​
Dust and gravel flew into the air and landed into a large hole, where Destruction had made her final stand.
​
Angeline flew over the hole and looked down at the pieces of gravel, that moments before had covered Destruction’s body.
​
“Ashes to ashes, Destruction,” Angeline said as cheers erupted from the bystanders down the street.
​
Angeline ascended high over the city and pressed a button on her earpiece. “Jeff. J. Destruction has been dealt with. How’s Angelo?”