Title: Evolution: ANGEL
Author: S.
A. Huchton
Genre: New Adult Superhero Romance
Release Date: March 6th,
2014
Reveal Host: Lady Amber's Tours
Synopsis
"Candace
Bristol has always been obsessed with comic books, but in a world where the
nightly news often mirrors these inked stories, her dreams of becoming a real
superhero could actually come true. After being rescued by members of the
government’s AdvaNced Genetic EvoLution (ANGEL) Project four years ago, getting
recruited for this elite team is all she's wanted.
Now 18, she's finally reached her goal after years of study and physical
training, but little could have prepared her for life as a genetic experiment.
As though coming to terms with her new ability to manipulate water isn't tough
enough, she never expected to be swept off her feet by one of her fellow
recruits.
With genetic alteration, the threat of physical and mental instability hangs
over every superhero like a shadow. When one of their own tumbles over the edge
of madness, Candace will have to choose between protecting the world, and
saving the one who holds her heart."
Excerpt
Prologue
She jumped, trying to see over the
crowd in front of her. This was so stupid. Why would they stick her in the
back? Wasn’t showing off to as many people as possible the whole point of this?
“Calm down, Candace,” Gabe said.
“You keep stepping on my foot.”
She shot him her best “drop dead”
look. “Calm down? I’ve been dying to see these guys since they made the
announcement last year. Do you have any idea how many chores I had to promise
my mom I’d do before she’d sign my permission slip to come to this thing?” She
pinched her face and did her best impression of her mother. “Candace, I don’t
want you filling up your head with any more garbage than those comic books
already put in there.”
Gabe sighed and patted her head.
Even at fifteen, only a year older than her, her cousin was already six inches
taller. It wasn’t fair. Gabe had no problem seeing past the Neanderthals in
front of them. “Don’t worry, Princess. Maybe you can sit on my shoulders or
something when they come around.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not funny. And
don’t call me Princess.”
“Sure thing, Candy Cane.”
“Ugh. Again with that nickname. Can you
knock that off? We’re not kids anymore.”
He thought carefully. “Hmm, would
you prefer Cupcake?”
Before she could reply, or punch
him, music blared through the loudspeakers on the steps of the capital
building. Her heart leapt. They were here! She was actually going to see
honest-to-God superheroes in the flesh!
Candace looked in either direction,
trying to find an opening where she might be able to push through and get a
better vantage point. She went left. Nothing. She went right. Still nothing.
No, wait. Definitely something.
The large fountain wasn’t working.
It was roped off and marked as under construction, and no one gave it a second
look. The crowd was riveted to the top of the stairs, staring at the guests she
couldn’t see.
Yet.
She took a last peek at Gabe, who
was completely engrossed in the spectacle, and sunk low as she crept toward the
fountain. She wasn’t going to have endured a crowded, eight-hour bus ride to
Des Moines with a bunch of smelly dudes for nothing. She came here to see superheroes,
and damned if she wasn’t going to do exactly that.
The street police were lined up on
the other side of the fountain with their backs to her, as captivated as the
rest of the onlookers. Candace ducked between the strips of caution tape and
threw her legs over the metal rail. After soaking her shoes in the remnants of
the drained water, she clambered up two of the five tiers of the centerpiece
and leaned around.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the Governor
said. “Today we mark a new era in the fight against crime, terrorism, and even
natural disaster. With the founding of the US Government’s ANGEL Project, we
hope to usher in a new time of peace and security for every last one of us.
These brave individuals have given over their lives and their very bodies in
pursuit of this goal, and it is my extreme pleasure to present to you two
representatives of the ultimate first responder unit, the Aquila Team: Marissa
Hayden and Christian Markov!”
The applause was thunderous and
immediate, but Candace tuned it out. The ANGELs were amazing. Two people, not
much older than her, and here they were.
Real life superheroes.
The pair stepped up to the
microphone, ready to give a joint speech. Candace couldn’t take her eyes off of
them. They moved with a smooth, preternatural grace, as though they were
intentionally slowing themselves for the benefit of the onlookers. Marissa’s
smile was radiant as she waved to the crowd. Her caramel-colored skin was
flawless. Her thick, black hair hung in the most beautiful waves across her
shoulders. Candace wished she had half of the curves this woman displayed in
her black, form-fitted skinsuit.
Christian was no less impressive
physically, but in a different way. He tossed a little nod of acknowledgment
down the steps to a group of squealing high school girls. He was the ultimate
definition of an All-American guy: clean cut, blond, blue-eyed, the works. The
man had it all and then some. It was no wonder he’d become the ANGEL Project’s
poster child. Candace snorted. Yay diversity.
A hush passed over the crowd when he
held his hand up, indicating they were ready for the speech. Candace leaned forward
even more, her fingers digging into the slippery slime around the fountain
ledge.
Christian opened his mouth.
Before so much as a word was spoken,
the ground rumbled. Candace didn’t notice it at first, but the nervous shifting
of the crowd caught her attention.
It caught the ANGELs’ attention as
well.
“Everyone get out of here!”
Christian yelled into the microphone.
The police surged forward, doing
their best to herd the confused mass of people away from the steps. Someone
screamed, soon accompanied by more shouts of alarm. The fountain shook
violently and Candace slipped. She scrambled to get a better hold, but it
crumbled away, splitting up the middle, followed by an explosion of water that
blasted her backwards into the concrete pool. Her back hit the bottom, knocking
the air from her lungs, and her skull cracked against the ledge, filling her
vision with sparkling lights.
When she could see clearly again,
someone stood over her.
He was a massive man, shirtless,
shaking, and staring at her with wild eyes. When he sucked in a ragged breath,
foamy spittle oozed from the corners of his mouth.
“Tasty…” he hissed at her, bending
lower, hands outstretched.
The scream stuck in her throat as
terror wrapped its icy talons around her neck.
Another body slammed into the man’s
torso, blasting him through the caution tape and onto the sidewalk below.
Christian Markov glanced her way
briefly before before launching himself at the strange man again. Who was this
invader? Was he one of the back alley genetic evolutions they talked about on
the news?
Christian didn’t let up, sending a
barrage of punches into the man’s face and body faster than her eyes could
track them.
Someone scooped her up and ran,
leaping over the fountain railing as though it were a mere speed bump, rather
than a three-foot vertical leap. Candace looked up into the face of Marissa
Hayden, the sunlight shining a halo around her hair.
Transfixed by the sight, Candace
barely registered it when they stopped and Marissa set her down beside an
ambulance half a block away. Not wasting a moment, Marissa winked at her, then
flew back up the street to help her teammate.
Someone wrapped a blanket around her
shoulders and another pushed around in her hair at the back of her head.
“What’s your name, Miss?”
She blinked, only now seeing the
paramedic in front of her.
“What?”
“Your name? You hit your head and we
need to take you to the hospital. Can you give me a phone number to call?”
“Candace,” she replied, still
staring back up the street. “Candace Bristol.”
“We have to get you out of here,
sweetie. Can you stand?”
“I didn’t say thank you,” she
whispered.
“What was that?”
“I…” She pinched her eyes shut. “My
head hurts. I need to call my cousin. I was with him before…”
She winced as she pulled her phone
from her pocket. Gabe was going to kill her for sneaking off.
And if he didn’t, she was sure her
mother would.
Author
Bio
A geek of all trades, Starla Huchton
has been crafting
stories in various genres since 2007. Her first novel, THE DREAMER'S THREAD was
released as a full cast audiobook podcast, becoming a double-nominee and
finalist for the 2010 Parsec Awards. After releasing short fiction of
steampunk, noir fantasy, and other varieties, she released the first three
books of the Sci-Fi Romance ENDURE series in 2013. All three books of the
EVOLUTION series will be released in 2014, as well as a Steampunk Fantasy
novel, MASTER OF MYTH (the Antigone's Wrath series, book 1), which was the
first place winner of the Crested Butte Writers' contest, The Sandy, in 2012.
When not writing, Starla trains three Minions, a black
lab, and a military husband whilst designing book covers for independent
authors and publishers at designedbystarla.com.
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