J Morris - Beautiful Revenge

Heaven is a place on Earth…

Well, kind of. Kaarl is a Demon who changed his ways, left Hell behind him and now works on Earth to save the souls Lucifer had sent him to claim. In Los Angeles he has wealth and power and in Heaven he has the chance for a new start. Being a Demon freshman in a university built exclusively for Angels has its challenges but other than that things are looking promising…

With Kaarl lost to the other side, Lucifer has found another way to prey on Humanity. He sends his daughter, Persephone, along with the terrifying Four Horsemen of Apocalypse to tear the Mortal world apart and bring it to the brink of starvation. While the Horsemen are forcing the Mortals to sin to survive, reaping countless souls in the process, Persephone is forcing her way in to Kaarl’s heart with her sights set firmly on revenge.

Faced with Lucifer’s wrath, Persephone’s schemes and the seemingly unstoppable Horsemen, Kaarl is running out of options and the Mortal realm is running out of time. The past he has been so desperate to bury may hold his only chance at the saving the realm he now calls home…

Also by J L Morris

Selfish Beings

Beautiful Revenge

J L Morris

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

Copyright © Jordan Morris 2014

Jordan Morris asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © September 2014 ISBN: 9781474007542

Version date: 2018-10-30

J L MORRIS

He has worked mainly in sales, marketing and customer relations after discovering he was pretty good at talking and ill-suited to manual labour.

An avid reader, film buff and gamer, he has always loved a good story and decided to finally let his long-suffering creative beast out of its cage. His first paranormal novel, Selfish Beings , is a direct result of feeding said beast and giving it a generous amount of ‘prowling around’ money.

In his free time he enjoys arguing on the Internet, avoiding anything that requires going outside for prolonged periods and preparing for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

I would first like to thank Lucy Gilmore, Victoria Oundjian and the wonderful staff at HQ Digital for their hard work and this opportunity.

I would also like to thank Helen Williams for her patience, insight and guidance throughout the editing process.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my friends and family for their support and encouragement. I don’t deserve such great people in my life but you were obviously all put there for crimes in a past existence. You will just have to come to terms with that and try harder this time around.

For my beautiful niece, Peyton Jade.

Stay classy, P.J., and don’t listen to your Mum; Play-Doh does go in the washing machine. There is a massive difference between what you can’t do and what you’re not supposed to do.

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Epilogue

Endpages

About the Publisher

Chapter One: Higher Learning

Kaarl watched as L.A. began to brighten in the dawn’s light. From his top-floor office in Synergy’s headquarters he had the best view of the city that money could buy. Even after seven years in the Mortals’ realm the sight of the sun rising and setting had not lost its appeal.

Perdition’s Sky of Fire was a poor substitute , he thought.

Kaarl immediately regretted doing so; it was a shame that memories of that place still wormed their way into his thoughts. They had decreased over the years since his defection but it was hard to put Hell completely behind him. Kaarl had lived in Perdition for five centuries, his entire childhood, and those memories made up the majority of his past. Having a constant reminder of the place burnt into his flesh didn’t help matters either.

The eight-pointed star branded on Kaarl’s forearm made sure he never forgot where he came from. Out of sight, out of mind just didn’t work with the Mark of Lucifer, a “gift” Kaarl had received from the Master of Perdition before his first moments on Earth. Kaarl’s shirt sleeve would brush against it or his hand would drift to it and memories of Perdition and his past would soon follow. It was as if the lines scorched into his skin actively sought to ruin the small moments that made his new life so enjoyable. The Mark reminded Kaarl of the souls he had claimed in Lucifer’s name, the hundreds of thousands that he had made Damned. Those Mortals would never be able to find true peace and their fate was little more than a game to Lucifer.

To Lucifer – the Light Bearer and Son of Morning– it was merely a race to accumulate more of the Mortals than God. His “Game of Souls” was played for one purpose: to prove the Mortals flawed beyond redemption and Lucifer wasn’t above pushing them down the wrong path to win it. The Damned wouldn’t know what they’d lost; Perdition had more than enough distractions to keep them busy and content. Kaarl had seen both sides of the coin though and he knew exactly what he had taken from them before the Demon had been offered his chance at redemption.

As he turned his head to survey the city that had become his home he caught glimpses of Michael King reflected in the glass. The vessel he used in the Mortal world had black hair, deep blue eyes and a face and body crafted to excite and influence. He had used it when he’d worked for Perdition and for a time it had been his face in Paradise as well. Kaarl had shunned his Demonic appearance at first in an attempt to fit in. It had not taken him long to realise though that Paradise was not nearly as callous or shallow as Perdition. Appearances didn’t matter up there, only actions. Kaarl and his friends, the twin sisters Verin and Vetis, had done a lot to make amends for their past.