Excerpted from Serpent of Eternity

He stood on the subway platform listening to the drone of the inbound train. It was a numbing noise, and one that personified his heart. Amadi had never felt more alone and dejected.

     When the train doors opened, he boarded along with the commuters who actually had a destination. He’d been riding back and forth since encountering his love again. This time, it had taken all of his strength not to pull Ayalanna into his arms. If only he could have hugged her close to his body and kissed her until the anguish of missing her went away. Instead, he had only stared like a mindless fool.

     They had been apart for a thousand years, and now he wondered how he could have existed for so long without her. She made him whole. Without her, his life was void of meaning and he was an empty, forsaken shell.

     Amadi had come closer to approaching her tonight, but in the end he had done nothing — just as he had done nothing when the demon attempted to violate his beloved, to possess her soul, steal away her gifts. He had forsaken her, left her earthbound and vulnerable. Fortunately, her strength and wisdom far surpassed that of the impudent demon, and the soulless creature had not seized her power, but Ayalanna had not survived the battle unscathed. She had been left scarred, transformed into a “born to die” being, without knowledge of her duty, her love, nor the demon that had set her upon her perilous trek through time.

     The train lurched to a stop. Amadi stepped off as soon as the doors opened. Suddenly, he wanted to be out in the open air, to find her, to do something — say something. He had no idea what. She didn’t even remember him. At the beginning of their separation, there had been a strong mental bond between them, something tangible. Amadi had been able to send her telepathic messages and Ayalanna had heard them. Now there was nothing. He did not exist for her, could not even come to her in her dreams — that realm belonged to the demon. What if she rejected him?

     The absence of his twin bride had almost broken him, but neither time nor distance could diminish his love for her. Instead, it had ripened and flourished into a fervid bloom that brought him both pleasure and pain. And Amadi endured it graciously — accepted it, in all its monstrous beauty. If not for love, his antagonistic savior, how else could he have continued alone? He certainly was not meant to be that way — neither was Ayalanna. They were meant to be together. Their love was their greatest power. And as long as they were apart, everything was out of kilter. The world had no balance.