Hello, everyone! This is S. L. Saboviec,
and I’m pleased to be a guest today on Carpe Diem. I’m author of the Adult
Paranormal novel Guarding Angel, and I’m here to share a deleted
scene.
The book is about a Guardian angel named
Enael, who has trouble getting her human Wards to listen to her. When she meets
and falls in love with a fellow Guardian, Kaspen, she doesn’t expect to
discover his ties to a demon, named Yasva. Unsurprisingly, Yasva, doesn’t want Enael
and Kaspen together, so she begins harassing Enael’s Wards.
This scene was deleted from early in the
book before Enael and Kaspen meet. It’s about Enael’s Ward, Daniel, who is
obstinate and rarely listens to anything she says. We removed it because it was
more back story than necessary.
Daniel was
insufferable from the moment he was born. It was a frigid January day in 1728,
but the women in the Maryland cabin found the air stifling when his mother gave
one last push and he slid into the waiting midwife's arms.
When the rotund
woman smacked his bottom, Daniel refused to breathe. She turned him right-side
up and pulled open his eyes. Finding nothing of concern, she put an ear to his
chest. "Something is wrong," she mumbled to the wispy girl standing
at her elbow. She smacked his bottom again.
I could feel his
pulsing soul inside. His heart beat. His lungs were healthy. What's happening in there? His thoughts
came to me a jumbled mass of abstract concepts: too cold, too loud, too bright.
"Breathe, Daniel," I said. A rebellious thought pushed at me. My hand
brushed his forehead as, oblivious to my presence, the midwife whisked him to
the table.
"What is
it?" called his mother. Her Guardian, also unseen by the humans, crossed
the room to stand at my elbow.
The midwife laid
Daniel's purpling body on the table. She tipped back his head and peered down
his throat. Indignity rushed from him. "Daniel, breathe or you're going to
die," I said. He refused. His mother's Guardian stretched a hand toward
him, but I blocked her. "I'll handle it."
I reached into
Daniel's chest and tapped his lung. Only then did he convulse, gasp, and let
out a strident wail. Obstinate at one minute old.
"Beautiful
sound!" cried the midwife as she grabbed a wet cloth from her assistant.
She wiped away the birthing blood before handing him to his mother.
No one thought
Daniel's wailing was beautiful an hour later. The screaming grated on the
women's nerves and created a soup of annoyed human emotion.
I checked Daniel
and found nothing physically wrong. He was just unhappy: irritated at being
scrubbed and swaddled, miffed that the thrum of a heartbeat was gone, cross
that he was passed from person to person before being nestled at his mother's
breast. First he won't breathe, now he
won't stop crying…
Daniel was going to
be a difficult human to guard. This wasn't the way to prove myself ready for
ascension.
About Me:
I’m a self-published author whose dark,
thought-provoking science fiction & fantasy contains flawed, relatable
characters and themes that challenge the status quo. Guarding Angel is on sale for $0.99 right now. You can find it at
several major eBook retailers and on Amazon in paperback. The sequel, Reaping Angel, will be released in early 2016.
You can also follow me on social media,
check out the other stops on this blog tour, or if you like my work, sign up
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Thank you, Amber, for having me here today! (Your welcome and feel free to come back anytime!)
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