Nicolas making reference to Christian hurting Evangeline without Valerie piqued my interest too. So Valerie acts as a kind of barrier between Christian and Evangeline, protecting her from…whatever he does?

Kind of loved seeing Eckhard get owned twice in the one chapter, first by Evangeline and then by Marcus. I love his character but I just really enjoy seeing him lose, for some reason.

Christian just chooses not to. It’s part of his moping, I’d say. That trivializes it quite a bit, but it’s the best way I know how to say it without spouting off paragraphs. ;)

Valerie acts as a barrier between Christian and EVERYONE. Not just Evangeline. This is, unfortunately, one of the things that got trimmed out when I downsized the story. It’s in the Memoria pieces, though.

And Eckhard deserved a bit of a kicking. ;)

Ha!!! Eckhard, sure he wasn’t expecting that kick… lol that was a wonderful come back Eva! YOu are definitely Christian and Beryl’s daughter!

I really hope Marcus wont kill Eckhard.. lol… that is a job for Christian, or even Evangeline could do it to…
there is a history with those three, and I would love Christian to put an end to than story…

Your pictures are always wonderful Mao, the lighting and the poses are just perfect as always and your writing as always is fantastic!!

Haha, we actually saw Christian in the last chapter, too. He was carrying Valerie. ;) Eckhard’s ego is quite large and he seriously doubted Evangeline had any bite to her. He was wrong! She really wasn’t raised to be a victim. Eckhard will be around for awhile, so no worries about that, lol. Thanks, Sandy! I hope you feel better!

Marcus is an interesting fellow, indeed. When Evangeline caused the earthquake, she seems to have released some very interesting powers onto the earth. I believe there are some very strong beings running around out there these days. Marcus has caught the imagination because he’s a big, giant mystery. Don’t you love when something you write, and don’t think much about, becomes the big question? :)

Um, perhaps it’s my personal perceptions of Beryl, but I do believe she would have aimed a bit lower, more toward the center of Eckhard’s body. ;D

And Nicolas is so Nicolas, I just knew he’d complain about the rain, and no matter how much he complains about watching Valerie, you just know he’s actually happy to do it. :) It’s usually a safe place to be.

Interesting as always, and it certainly gets the imagination going wondering where all this is going to lead.

I don’t usually do this, but I have a character that outfit Christian is wearing would be perfect for. Do you happen to remember where it came from? :D

Ahh, this is our first time really “seeing” Christian, so there’s plenty of surprises waiting with him. You didn’t forget anything, it’s been lightly mentioned, but it’s been awhile! You don’t have to read the Memoria companion pieces, but they definitely give you more insight into what Christian’s become as well as info on Valerie and Marcus. :)

I certainly didn’t expect Marcus to be such a huge question mark, LOL! There are definitely some power folks who are suddenly very much awake and kicking, thanks to Evangeline’s littl earthquake. There’s also plenty of folks with powers they never knew they had. Very dangerous situation all around!

Beryl totally would have aimed for the jewels, LOL!

Nicolas is just pouting, LOL. We’ll get into that, but again… since I had to cut down AoL’s length, I had to remove some of the “unnecessary” parts and the whole depth of Valerie/Nicolas got lost there. It’s in the Memoria and another planned project, though.

Just about anything you see Christian wearing (LOL) is from the ladies over at Club Crimsyn. No worries! I never mind answering CC stuff, provided I can remember where it came from. x_x

This update is interesting, Mao. So many things happening at once, all coming together, all coming for Evangeline for one reason or another.

Thanks, Ruby! Christian would never intentionally hurt Evangeline, but he is what he is. :( LOL don’t worry, Eckhard won’t go down so easily and you’re right, everything is converging around Evangeline. Eckhard is still sore about Beryl besting him at the end of Wings of Steel, LOL! He isn’t one to let go of a grudge… like, ever.

Hey there, Karen! Haha, I’m surprised at all the interest in Marcus. Maybe I will have to do more side stuff with him. ;) Evangeline isn’t as impulsive as Beryl, but she’s no victim, either.

I am glad to see some fire and spunk coming from Evangeline. I can see how Eckhard going for her mother’s necklace, the one tangible piece left of her mother, would be a tremendous mistake on his part. He is cocky and crazy and it surprised me that he would make such a miscalculation.

This piece was tense. With Eva’s memories returning it feels like all points lead to her now more than ever. She is like the twister that is sucking everything toward her and Eckhard is right, there is nowhere for her to hide now.

Hope Virgil catches up in time…that encounter is going to be fascinating!

I don’t think Marcus has any ambitions or delusions about going against Christian. If their paths happen to find a point of conflict, however, problems will arise. For now, though, it’s an alliance that works for the both of them. Christian isn’t so ignorant of Marcus’ ambitions. Evangeline isn’t one to play the victim, she’s been hunted and chased her entire life, so she won’t just go cower in a corner. Now that she remembers, she’s realizing a lot of things, a lot of difficult things…

Eckhard did it on purpose, he knows exactly what that necklace is and who wore it. He’s always been a bit of a button pusher. ;)

As for the line, it was most definitely Marcus. It’s true, though, either one could have said it, but it was definitely Marcus.

LOL! Now that’s going to be stuck in my head. :P

I love your shots in this now, some of the angles here are really interesting :).

Christian is worrying me in AOL, especially as you’re not into happy endings Mao… but I suspect he’ll get some sort of peace at some point, right? After all it’s Christian.

Evangeline is a survivor and now that she’s awake and knows what she is? It’s stupid to try and corner her. Christian didn’t just let her run through life defenseless and neither did Valerie. She has some tricks up her sleeve. Thanks! I was having fun with them, LOL! Ahh, I wouldn’t say peace, there really isn’t any peace available to anyone here, but there is a closure.

Get on with your bad self Evangeline, but I kind of think that might be the one and only time Eckhard was going to let that happen. Everyone seems to be converging on her now, I guess the question is going to be who gets there first, Virgil or Christian? Or someone else. I assume Death was anxious about Virgil for this reason?

Now see, I’ve always been a little wary of Marcus, he obviously has his own agenda here.

He makes it seem worse than it actually is. Christian should’ve killed him, so he should just be happy to be alive. ;) I think you would be right, after that, I don’t think Eckhard will make that mistake twice! I’m glad you think they’re converging on Evangeline, I want the sense that everything is coming together now, slowly. This is where everyone “meets up” so to speak. Marcus always had his own agenda and provided Christian’s plans run parallel with his, everything will be fine. It’s when they don’t that we have a problem! ;)

*crosses fingers that Marcus will be okay ;)*

Not sure that Val will be too happy at seeing Nicolas when she wakes up – for his sake I hope there isn’t a lake nearby :D

That is a very good point, Tanya. Eckhard and Evangeline are related (and their names both begin with “E”!)… there’s a possibility that she has inherited something from him, as well. ;) Marcus can handle himself and remember, we’ve got Christian bringing up the rear. I’ll go ahead and put this out there–Eckhard is not prepared to deal with Christian and won’t risk the encounter. He’s crazy, not stupid, LOL! HA! There actually is a lake on that lot… poor Nicolas.