
reluctant tide. One moment he had been sitting on the ground, naked, awed, and so profoundly moved
that he couldn't speak, and in the next moment, he was being hurried away by many hands and clamoring
voices all trying to get him into a vehicle and onto hallowed ground. Were it not for Damali's hand firmly
holding his and her voice cutting through the melee, he would have tried to escape them all.
For the first time in his entire existence he truly feared he was losing his mind. Something was very
wrong. He'd gone into the Light—more accurately, had been propelled into it, summoned by it, sucked
toward a bright, indescribable iridescent wonder that had a pulse, a center, and held the heartbeat of the
universe. Beings of unfathomable strength had hurled him forward, their silvery light sabers cutting at
filaments of dark tendrils, holding him, burning him to ash. The heat was so intense that his bones had
liquefied, his skin had blackened and crumbled away, his eyes had melted and had run down his cheeks
like gory, oozing tears… but silver metallic wings with the texture of satin had shielded him from the
furnace blast beneath him. What were they and who'd sent them?
Healing warmth had entered him, coating his burning insides with instant peace, quenching the sun's fury
against his skin. One being had parted to become many with raised golden shields that seemed as though
each held a living, moving orb of sunlight until he was encircled by them, each ball of molten, living,
golden light fusing to become a ring around him. The ring had covered him, entered him… All he could
remember now was that they came and then in a fluttering cloud they'd dispersed, shooting away so
quickly they'd left only a blinding blur of white light in their wake.
But perhaps the powers-that-be had messed up somehow. Maybe they didn't catch his soul in time, and
how did a man turned vampire return to the sun?
He couldn't hear. Everything was coming at him in muffled tones. People spoke in indecipherable guttural
fragments. Everyone seemed to move in slow motion. It was like moving through mud. His mind was a
slurry of confusion. He was nearly blind, each friendly face blurred beyond recognition until it was
breath-close to his face. His skin felt thick and dull, the sensation of hands soothing his shoulders, rubbing
his back, bundling him into a coat, but all of it took seconds to register. Breathing was an effort that
consumed his concentration. The most troubling aspect was the heaviness he felt in his limbs, as though
his muscles were too weak to lift his own body.
What had the Light done to him?
Carlos leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. The sensory overload was too
much—rather, the lack of sensation and the ability to perceive his surroundings was horrifying.
"I think he's going into shock," Damali said, drawing him against her body closer as the Jeep careened
through the streets. "We have to get him inside, out of the sun."
"I'm gonna fry," Carlos croaked, becoming more disoriented as the vehicle barreled through desolate
streets in a town he didn't know.
"We'll be at the church in just a few minutes, kiddo."
Carlos slowly removed his hands from his face, training his attention toward what he remembered to be
Rider's voice. "To a church?" Instinct made Carlos begin struggling against Damali's hold. He could hear
his voice rising with panic. "No! I'll burn!"
Many strong arms held him. In a distant part of his mind he heard Father Patrick call out to him.
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