The Garden of Death

The Garden

of Death

Book Two of

The Eden
Chronicles

L.L. Hunter

Copyright © 2014
L.L. Hunter

All rights
reserved.

ISBN:
9781311302137

Smashwords
Edition

Edited and formatted by
Rogena Mitchell-Jones

www.rogenamitchell.com

Cover Design by

Regina Wamba of Mae I Design
and Photography

www.maeidesign.com

This book may not be
reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic
form without permission from the author. Please do not participate
in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the
author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of
the author and your support and respect is appreciated.

This book is a work of
fiction. The characters and events portrayed in this book are
fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is
coincidental and not intended by the author.

The author and editor have
taken great effort in presenting a manuscript free of errors.
However, editing errors are ultimately the responsibility of the
author.

For Lauren and Lyndsi,

For believing in and loving Eden.

Asher

“Everyone, come quick!”

“What is it?” I asked as I looked up from my
textbook. There was a commotion around the front entry to the
Michaelite Academy.

“Another one of the old hags has probably
dropped dead again,” suggested Jaz, with the flip of her hair. She
lay next to me on the floor of the library where we usually
studied.

“It’s the girl. We have the girl,” announced
one of the elderly priests.

“That’s great, but it’s very vague,” added
Jaz, sounding bored.

“I’m going to see what’s going on,” I
replied as I got up off the floor.

“What? You promised you’d study with me,
Ash.”

“I didn’t promise anything, and my name is
Asher.” I sauntered out of the room and walked into the foyer. What
I saw there stopped me dead.

I knew what had happened to her, but I
wasn’t expecting to see her so soon and looking the way she
did.

“Eden!” I ran to her side as the man who
held her cradled her closer to his chest. I glanced up into his icy
blue eyes. “Is she…”

“Dead? I hope not. That’s why I brought her
here. We don’t have much time.”

“Come this way, sir.” Sister Constance
hurried down the stairs and rushed to the gentleman who held Eden
in his arms. “We don’t usually allow your type in here, but we’ll
have to make an exception just this once.”

“Thank you.” the blue-eyed man, whom I still
didn’t know what his relationship to Eden was, followed Sister
Constance through a door under the stairwell. I knew what this room
was, and I was scared to hell of it. I followed closely behind so
not to lose sight of Eden. When I reached the threshold, a hand
came up to stop me from stepping over.

“Asher, you’ll have to stay up here.”

“But, Eden…”

“Will be okay,” said my sister, Cecelia,
with a small smile. She turned to head down the stairs.

“Cecilia, wait. Who is that man?”

She paused and looked me right in the
eyes.

“That’s Eden’s father.”

Eden

You wouldn’t think dying in the place where
death rules would change the fate of the world, would you?

Well, it did.

I died, and now everything is upside
down.

I stirred.

First, I moved my head, then my fingers and
toes to make sure I wasn’t numb.

I wasn’t.

I faintly recall having the strangest dream
where I died in a field of vivid blue and purple flowers, and then
soon after, I remembered feeling numb all over.

But I wasn’t numb anymore.

I could move my body freely. I wriggled my
fingers and felt something cool and soft underneath my fingertips.
I tried to open my eyes, but as soon as the light hit my retinas,
my head pounded, and I quickly shut my eyelids again. I tried to
move my left arm to the left of me and found nothing but openness.
I moved my right hand to the right and found warm flesh.

Warm flesh?

My eyes shot open, and I turned to look at
what I might be touching. My heart leaped into my throat when I saw
who was lying beside me in the bed.

“Asher?”

He blinked and rolled over toward me.

“Hey, baby. Good morning.” He leaned over me
and kissed my lips lightly before settling back down on his pillow
beside me.

“What day is it? Where are we?”

“Are you feeling okay?” Asher placed the
back of his hand on my forehead.

“I think so. I had the strangest dream.”

“Wanna tell me about it?” he asked as he
leaned up on his elbow to face me.

“I don’t even know if I can explain it.”

“Try.” He reached out and threaded his
fingers through mine and kissed my fingers. I tried my hardest not
to get distracted from what I was about to say.

“Okay, I was lying in a field of these weird
looking flowers. They were surrounding me and appeared to be
growing. They smelled really sweet like… well, sweets, and then I
remember seeing a really bright light and then… nothing.”

“A light? Like you were going into the
light?”

“Yeah. I think that’s what it was. I think I
died.”

“But, babe, you know it was only a dream,
right?” he leaned over me once again and kissed me, this time more
forcefully. “You’re not dead right now. You’re lying in bed next to
me, and you’re very much alive.” His fingers stroked my cheek,
which made me shiver.

I let out a breath. “I suppose you’re right.
Anyway, you didn’t answer my question before. What day is it?”

“It’s Sunday, babe. Our one day to relax and
do whatever we want.”

“No, I mean the date. What year is it?”

“It’s 2022.”

I sit up straight. “What?”

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

“I… I don’t know. I guess I do feel a little
weird. How can it be 2022? Last time I remember it was 2012, and I
was sixteen.”

“Sixteen? Babe, you’re twenty six. My
beautiful twenty-six year old wife.” He picked up my arm to kiss
it, but I pushed him off me, ripped the sheets off, and jumped out
of bed.

“Wife?”

“Yeah? Don’t you remember that, either? You
must have hit your head or something in your dream.”

“I… I guess I may have.” I rubbed my hands
over my face. “I need coffee. And food.”

I ran out of the bedroom into a living room
that I didn’t recognize, the living room of a house that wasn’t
mine. I ran into the unfamiliar kitchen and tracked down the coffee
machine and a mug. I seriously needed to wake myself right up so I
could figure out what the hell was going on.

Asher

Eden’s father?

How was that possible?

How could Eden’s father retrieve Eden from
the Realm of Death?

Then I remembered.

Because he could.

Because he was a demon.

The man that had just brought Eden’s
lifeless body into the Michaelite Sanctuary was the infamous Lakyn
Blackbell, the leader of our opposition–the Lucifites. And the
Michaelites had let him walk right into the heart of their
sanctuary!

I realized I had to get into that room below
the stairs. Screw what my sister had said. I had to protect Eden
from the likes of her father.

But would her father really hurt her?

I shook my conscience away. No, he wouldn’t
hurt his own daughter. He’d try to infiltrate us now that he was
across enemy lines, though. I reached for the doorknob and was
about to swing it open when an irritating voice stopped me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I put my
hand back down to my side and clenched my fists. I turned to face
the witch.

“Jaz, Eden wouldn’t be in this mess if it
weren’t for you. You put her in that coma! You poisoned her with
those flowers!”

Jazmine put a hand on her hip and flicked
her hair back behind her shoulders. “Oh, quiet now. I was just
having a little fun. It’s very boring here. That Nephilim is fresh
meat, and you know that.”

“You wouldn’t be bored if you paid attention
in class and actually did your homework. And aren’t you Nephilim,
as well?”

“Correction: I am only part Nephilim, but
part something else, as well. Something much better than a stupid
weak Nephilim,” she said with a chuckle while admiring her
nails.

“What are you?”

“Please, do you think I’d share my little
secret with the world? If I did that, then everyone would do what I
did, and then I wouldn’t be so unique, would I?”

“Whatever you say, Jazmine. I am getting
into that room, and you can’t stop me.”

“Good luck. I’d like to see you try.
Unfortunately, the room is warded.”

“Warded? Against what?”

“Supernatural beings.”

“Then why were Eden’s father and Eden
allowed to enter?”

“Because the Michaelites allowed them to.
You have to have permission. And since I clearly heard your sister
tell you no, that means you don’t.”

“How do know so much about that? You never
pay attention in class.”

“Babe, I didn’t learn that from a stupid
textbook. I learned it simply by being observant.”

“You mean, by being a brown noser.”

“Words, Asher. Whatever you call it, you
should try it sometime. It’ll get you much further than sticking
your head in a book. You might actually learn something.”

She gave her unnaturally shiny hair a flick
and sauntered off out of sight.

I growled and turned back to the door. Was
Jaz telling the truth? Was the secret room really guarded by a
magical ward against all things supernatural? I smiled to myself as
I realized I wasn’t supernatural. I put my hand on the knob but was
immediately thrown backward against the opposite wall. I slid to
the floor and shook my head. That was when I remembered that I was.
I had died and had somehow come back again, making me now
supernatural.

Shit.

Now what was I going to do?

Eden

2022.

Twenty-six.

Bloody hell, I was twenty-six-years old!

Ten years had passed, and I had no memory of
it.

Oh and how could I forget the fact that I
was married to Asher! Holy hell, I was freaking married!

The coffee machine finished filling up my
mug, and the sweet and alluring scent of coffee now filled the
small house. I picked up my mug and inhaled. I walked to the fridge
to fetch some milk, and when I opened the fridge door, I saw that
it was filled and fully stocked with all my favorite things. My
favorite vanilla flavored milk was in the door… well, several
bottles of it, actually. There was chocolate on the top shelf along
with Promite, Marmite, and jam. There was also a tub of Kalamata
olives and beetroot hummus. What was going on? Had Asher done this?
I hadn’t even told him what my favorites were. Had I? I took out
the vanilla milk and poured some in my coffee. I found the bread
and placed two slices into the toaster. While I was waiting for the
toast to pop, Asher came stumbling out of the bedroom wearing
nothing but long pajama pants. I took in the sight of his naked
chest and had to use all of my strength not to drop my coffee cup
on the floor. I quickly turned back to the toaster.

“Mmm. That smells good, babe. Can you put
some in for me, too?” he placed a kiss on my cheek as he walked
past. He got a tea bag and started making himself a cup of tea.

“Uh… sure.”

When the kettle had boiled, and he had
poured himself some tea, he made his way to the kitchen bench and
placed his cup down before walking out of the room. I was unable to
move my eyes away from him. A few seconds later, he shuffled back
into the room with a rolled up newspaper under his arm. He unrolled
it and opened it as he settled down on a stool.

This was the weirdest thing ever to see.
Asher was acting like my mother, like the priests and nuns back at
the Michaelite Sanctuary. Well, he is supposed to be twenty-six or
twenty-seven. The first lot of toast popped up, and I headed to the
fridge to grab something to put on it. I grabbed the jam and the
butter, as I knew that’s what Asher likes. I had seen him eat his
toast like that back at the Michaelite Sanctuary. I spread his
toast and placed it in front of him.

“Here you go.”

“Thanks, babe.”

That’s when I saw what he was reading.

“Oh, my God!” I snatched the paper from him
and turned it around so I could read it.

“Hey!”

I studied the headline and the photo below,
and suddenly, I felt nauseous. It read: