Chapter One

It’s been happening for a while now. Every night I sleep, I dream that a beautiful angel visits me. His face is always blurred yet I always know that the angel is a man, a handsome man that makes me smile. His warm, soft touch—though imaginary—fills me with chills.

“Yeah? What kind of chills?” My best friend, Piper Hopkins, snickered.

“Wh-what?” I sputtered.

“You know… you had this dazed look on your face and you started talking about some guy you see in your dreams,” Piper smiled. “Where exactly does he touch you, Ellie?”

I blushed and frowned at her, telling her time and time again to snap me out of my reveries before I say something embarrassing. Like that one incident when I was at a book signing and I spaced out and started muttering the plot for the next book in my series. My fans got a hoot out of that.

My name is Ellie Rayne and not to brag or anything—maybe just a little bit—but I am a bestselling author. My books are on shelves everywhere and I’m making a pretty good living off of my books though my parents warned me that being a full-time writer is a bit of a risk. But, hey, what are parents for except to warn and threaten you then send you off happily on your way?

“Yo, Ellie,” Piper waved a hand in my face and I shook out of my thoughts.

“Yes?” I inquired.

“I don’t like the way you wrote this,” Piper highlighted a paragraph and smiled at the dismayed look on my face. She wasn’t just my best friend. She was the editor from hell.

I got off of my stool and walked to the refrigerator and pulled out a vanilla flavored yogurt.

“Can we not do this now? I’m sort of exhausted,” I groaned.

Piper raised an eyebrow. “You’re sort of quickly approaching your deadline.”

I sighed and plopped down heavily on my stool, half-heatedly listening to her corrections.

“Overall,” Piper ended, “your plot is as good as your last two books. I think this is going to be as good as the Infected trilogy. I like the whole part about how their powers are taken away if they don’t complete their quests.”

I nodded, struggling to not beam with pride. I have always wanted to write my Mystiks series and have even thought up of the plot when I was 13, almost fifteen years ago.

“Are you still seeing Duncan?” She asked.

“Um…” I took a huge spoonful of my yogurt and slowly chewed. I finally had to swallow and I replied, “We’re going out again tonight.”

“Is he the one appearing in your dreams?” Piper elbowed me and suggestively winked.

“No,” I instantly replied.

She looked at me in surprise. “How can you be so sure?”

I shrugged. “I just am.”

Piper shrugged, rifling through my mail absentmindedly. “Can we go eat now?”

I stared at the clock ticking above my T.V. in the living room. It read: 5:36 P.M. “I think I should get ready for my date,” I told her.

“What time’s he pickin’ you up?” She asked.

“Uh… Six-thirty.” I dropped my spoon in the sink and threw away my small carton. My best friend let out a huge exasperated sigh and took my wrist and led me to my bedroom. “Oh, dear, Piper, not on the first date.”

She giggled and marched over to my closet. “Where’s he taking you?”

I waved my hand, “Some sort of fancy Italian restaurant.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t act as if it’s no big deal. You love Italian food. Besides, Duncan is drop dead gorgeous. It must be hard for you to resist his good charms, virgin or not.”

I gasped and brought my hand to lips. “I am not a virgin.”

She snorted. “You haven’t done it for so long you’ll probably bleed the next time you do it again.

“Piper!” My face was absolutely burning now. “Can we not talk about my… sexual life and figure out what I should wear?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know why you’re so sensitive. We’re approaching our 30’s. It’s about time for you to get out of your teenaged years and get back to reality.”

“It’s hard to not think like an eighteen year old when all of my characters are,” I murmured.

“True,” Piper nodded. “Yet… that doesn’t explain why your characters get more action than you.”

I grumbled and Piper threw a black dress at me. It was the dress she convinced me to buy a month ago—the very same dress with the plunging neck line.

“Don’t worry, he’ll appreciate it,” Piper said smugly. And by the look on his face, he did.