As I got closer to the end of Eternal Bond, I got more and more anxious because I had no idea how it was going to end.  This confuses the heck out of people.  They always ask, “How can you not know how your story is going to end?”  Easy!  I let my characters decide how they’ll end it and what my characters did shocked even me.  The heroes I so carefully created failed miserably and the bad guys wound up stealing a victory that was never meant for them.

I don’t want to spoil the ending, but I will share a little more from my novel Eternal Bond:

When Clara awoke, she wasn’t in the carriage house anymore instead, she was lying on a couch in a dimly light room.  Hearing a creaking sound, she thought someone was approaching and she slowly got up from the couch.  Turning around, she saw James hanging from the ceiling.

With a leather noose wrapped around his neck, the leather creaked, as the body swayed back and forth.

Though her lips moved, nothing came out, but a whimper.  Then a small feminine hand appeared pushing the body, making it sway faster.

Cheerfully, a familiar voice said, “Morning.”

Needing no introduction, Clara recognized who it was.  It was the devil’s consort herself, Apollonia.  Stepping out from behind the body, she revealed herself and the enormous smile on her face.

Grabbing a candle, Apollonia went over to the body and examined it with a spectacle remarking aloud, “Nicely executed, just deep enough and very clean!”

Shaking from head to toe Clara stood there scared silly.

Running her fingers through James’ hair, she said, “He was chosen just for you young, strapping—delectable.”

Clara began feeling ill, upon hearing it was all just a set up.

Looking over her shoulder at Clara, Apollonia said, “I told you Clara, thou art highly favored.”

Apollonia went back to amusing herself with the corpse, using pressure points to making the eyes bulge and lips move.

Eventually, she tore herself away from her entertainment to talk further with Clara.  Reaching out to touch her, Clara immediately jerked back from her.  Though Clara had failed in a most miserable way, she wasn’t ready to embrace those failures.

Instead, she was drawn to a window that looked like it was slowly shedding tears.  To her, it seemed as though the angels themselves were shedding tears from heaven.  Watching as the drizzle slowly crept down the glass, Clara found herself unable to react anymore, so she didn’t.  Looking over at the body and out the window again, she stood still.

Sinking deeper and deeper into despair, Apollonia spoke up and said with a tender compassion, “I know what you’re thinking, and none of it is true!”

Bewildered said, “You know not my thoughts, only God does” and she believed that, but she questioned whether He even cared anymore.  Her very soul was being eaten alive by her enemies, and all she received was silence from the throne of The Most High.

Taking the more sensitive approach, Apollonia spoke aloud everything in Clara’s tortured mind.  “You spend all your life following their commandments, whipping your very thoughts into submission.  Then, just as you taste mortality you discover, there’ll be no reward for you!  All those years of fearful sowing, yielded nothing but the whirlwind!”

Clara looked back at her in shock, because Apollonia had managed to recite every single one of her thoughts.  Clara knew she was in trouble, because Apollonia was starting to make sense.

Meeting her in the middle of the room, Clara asked, “What do you want?”

“Salvation just like you!”  Apollonia answered.

“After death comes judgment, not salvation.”  Clara said.

Sensing she was on the verge, Apollonia continued her assault asking, “Death itself was judgment on man, so what is this?”

“I do not know.”  Clara said confused.

“Then let us teach you!”  She said trying to secure the victory.

To seal the deal, Apollonia extended her hand in friendship and without looking, Clara accepted it.