Author: A.L. Bryant
Publisher: HSW Publications LLC
Pages: 279
Genre: Supernatural Christian Thriller/Horror
BOOK BLURB:
On New Year’s Eve 2021 the staff at St.
Ann’s Hospital witness a medical miracle when a
semi-conscious woman walks into the
emergency room. The Jane Doe has been stabbed multiple times and as the staff
struggle to keep the woman alive in the end all they can do is stand back and
watch as their mysterious patient revives herself.
Glory wakes up in St. Ann’s
Hospital gravely injured from an attack she cannot remember. However, her
memory loss is no ordinary amnesia and she is no ordinary patient. Much to the
shock of the hospital staff Glory heals at three times the rate of an average
person. Soon the administration hears of her unique case and waste no time
convincing the recovering Glory to be a part of an experiment to discover the
origins of her power.
Once outside the comforting walls of the hospital it becomes
apparent that healing is just a small portion of Glory’s capabilities.
Abilities that to Glory’s distress are becoming increasingly unstable. Deciding
that the hospital’s experiments are in vain, Glory embarks on her own Journey
to discover the source of her power, unaware that she is a major pawn in a war
between two secret organizations.
The two syndicates continue to clash in their fight for
control and their battles result in several casualties. The crimes of their
warfare surface and draw the attention of Dennis Wilson, a NYPD Detective known
for solving his cases in the first forty-eight hours. Dennis follows the trail
of bodies out of curiosity. But when his curiosity causes the deaths of his
loved ones Detective Dennis becomes obsessed with the case.
In his overzealous attempts to find the murderer Dennis
becomes the syndicates’ next target. Now the Detective must run for his life
and the only person capable of saving him is the very person he suspects.
Blessed: The Prodigal Daughter is a hybrid of
government espionage and supernatural Thriller. This novel is intended for
audiences 18+ that seek an edgier outlook on Christian fiction. Blessed: The
Prodigal Daughter is the first installment of the Blessed trilogy.
Chapter 1
New Year’s Day, 2022
Manhattan, NY
Manhattan, NY
Nonskid clogs shuffled swiftly across the white and green checkered
linoleum floor. Somewhere a phone rang incessantly; several people succumbed to
coughing fits; a child cried. A vibrant current of white coats and green scrubs
barely avoided crashing into one another as charts passed smoothly from hand to
hand. Despite the beeps and sighs of machines and the increasing buzz of
frantic conversations, a single loud voice carried to every corner of the ER.
“What is it this time,
Silvia?” Cathy slammed a patient’s file on the cluttered desk next to the
computer, not caring if she hit the device. “It better not be another one of
your ridiculous premonitions.” A stray strand of steel-gray hair poked out from
her right temple, more wiry than the brown ones around it, having escaped the
strict French braid she wrestled her locks into before each shift.
Silvia shot an uncomfortable
look at the charge nurse. Cathy had worked her way up to her current position
at St. Ann’s Hospital over the course of more than twenty years, and the stress
of ER nursing had taken its toll. The bright-eyed CNA she had been at
twenty-one had long since been tarnished by long hours and harsh realities.
Silvia, a
small Latina beauty with dark brown hair that reached just below her
shoulder blades in a thick curly mass, found herself in the unfortunate position
of being Cathy’s newest punching bag. Silvia was a ‘believer,’ and Cathy
detested religious people. She considered them unintelligent and intolerant.
However, it didn’t matter how
much pressure Cathy piled onto Silvia; the younger woman remained undaunted.
Cathy knew with absolute certainty that Silvia would not last in this business.
Her dream world would shatter, broken by the heavy mallet of reality. Or—and
Cathy predicted this would happen first—she would be fired for all the trouble
her “premonitions” caused.
“Other nurses have told me
you’ve reserved a bed for a patient that isn’t even here. We’ve had one hell of
a busy night, patients stacked up outside trying to get in and an ambulance
every twenty minutes, and you’re trying to reserve a bed?” Cathy scoffed. “I’m
about ten seconds away from sending you home for good. Should I tell Dr. Clark
or Dr. Karin what you’ve been up to?”
Silvia understood that on a
night like this, with tensions high due to the constant stream of sick and
injured people, her actions could be considered career suicide. She felt more
embarrassed than grateful for her gift of foresight. Most people treated her
much like Cathy did—as though she belonged in an insane asylum. Her
“premonitions,” as Cathy called them, were unpredictable: sometimes they were
fulfilled right away; sometimes it took days or weeks or even months.
Already caught laying out a
gown, some extra blankets, and even epinephrine, Silvia did not attempt to
deny Cathy’s accusations. Even now, standing in front of the thunderous charge
nurse, she inexplicably held extra syringes, bandages, and gloves.
“I just felt I needed to
prepare…” Silvia let the excuse fade into silence, aware she had no defense for
her actions.
Cathy snatched the supplies
and tossed them carelessly onto the counter.
“I better not see you even look
in the direction of the ER. Understood? You either do the workup on new
admissions, or you go home.” Having said her piece, Cathy turned on her heel
and took one step.
“Something big is going to happen
tonight.” Silvia couldn’t help herself. “Trust me, if we prepare now—” She
stopped short as Cathy swung around with surprising speed, and cringed at the
charge nurse’s blazing eyes. Before Cathy could speak, another voice
interjected.
“I don’t see any harm. If
somethin’ doesn’t happen in the next two hours, we can always use the area for
another patient, and at the rate she’s been stockin’ that room, it’ll be ready
for anything.” The voice belonged to Cheryl, who—despite having less seniority
than Cathy in both years of employment and position—had considerably more pull
in hospital politics than the charge nurse.
Silvia shot Cheryl a relieved
smile and received a wink in response. The exchange did not go unnoticed by the
fuming Cathy, but it didn’t take her long to see how she could later use this
against her two foes.
With a smile that did not
reach her eyes, Cathy inclined her head. “Fine,” she said through gritted
teeth. Her glare turned to Cheryl. “You take responsibility for this.” With
that, she marched away, her head tilted at a self-righteous angle.
“So…” Cheryl looked at Silvia
over her reading glasses, her dark eyes dancing within her deep bronze skin.
Strands of silver interwove with her soft black hair, worn in a twist-out.
“Somethin’ big, huh?”
Silvia nodded; her eyes lit
with excitement. Her heart pounding, Silvia rubbed her hands over her arms,
trying in desperation to stave off an internal chill that left her shivering.
Whatever happened tonight, Silvia believed it would affect not only the people
in this hospital, but the whole city—maybe even the nation.
At 4:23 in the morning,
exactly two hours after her conversation with Cathy, Silvia paced back and
forth outside the ER. She waited in the ambulance entrance, ready. So far there
was no sign of anything big. Right now, she could imagine Cathy laughing
scornfully as she gave away the bed Silvia had prepared to some other deserving
patient.
She pulled her jacket closed
over her yellow scrubs and blew heavily on her hands.
“How you feelin’?” Startled,
Silvia whirled around just as Cheryl held a small cup of coffee in her
direction. Accepting the cup, she opened her mouth to reply, and then abruptly
closed it.
Tapping Cheryl on the
shoulder, Silvia pointed toward the ER entrance.
“Cheryl, what’s that?”
Cheryl squinted for a moment
and then looked at the younger woman as though Silvia had lost her mind. “It’s
a person…” Again she squinted. “I think.”
Both nurses turned and quickly
went through the double doors, tossing the cups of coffee into the trash bin at
the entrance. By the time the two made their way through the emergency room to
the front desk, the figure they had seen inching toward the door stood immobile
in front of a flustered front desk nurse.
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