Henrà Chevalier's last memory, before stumbling naked into a museum’s moonlit garden, was Auguste Rodin and his dusty Paris studio in 1886. To escape his broken heart, Henrà volunteered to sleep inside a statue until needed. Expecting to die, he discovers he must learn to use the unexpected powers Heaven has given him. Without them he will fail his mission against otherworldly creatures, such as demons and faeries. 
“We’re trapped.” Kenzie’s whispered words made HenrÃ’s shoulder muscles tense. She twisted her fingers into claws that gripped his waist and trembled.
He gathered her close, while fear rattled him.
Mon Dieu! My nightmare has come true.
This time period seemed fraught with more dangers than any he had faced during the Siege de Paris. The battle against the Prussians had caused his sixteen-year-old self to grow up fast. Henrà forced memories of death, blood, and needless carnage back inside the dark place in his mind.
Concentrate on here and now. On her.
“Are you okay?” she asked with a shaky voice.
“This is strange and makes dark memories return,” he answered. She smelled wonderful, of meadows in spring, and forests filled with the rich scent of moss. He focused on her fragrance to calm his thudding heart. Fear fed on fear. He had learned that on the eve of battle, from his commanding officer. If he showed no fear, and she followed his example, she would tell him what to do next.
“The elevator might start by itself. We can wait a few minutes. Tell me more about . . . Rodin,” she whispered.
“I recall how regally my master had stood before me in that cold, dark studio. Rodin said he planned to send me into the beyond inside a statue.”
“And you said yes? Were you crazy?”
“Oui, I agreed by reciting the pledge.”
“Why would you do such a thing?” Her hand stroked his cheek in the dark confines of the unmoving moving room.
Heat penetrated his skin, making him feel more alive than when he first awoke. The dark interior of the small space warmed, and his body inched forward until his chest pressed against her. He blinked, though the darkness did not waver.
Recalling that Rodin told him demons and the fae might work in tandem to bring upon the end of the humans’ world, he stepped back. When she dropped her hand from his cheek, cool air chilled his skin.
“I believe we have a problem.” Henrà kept his tone calm and non-threatening.
“A small one. There should be an emergency call box hooked up to the security station.”
“We must, therefore, find the box.”
“HenrÃ?” Her delicate hands shoved blindly at his chest. “You need to move.”
He enjoyed the sound of his name upon her tongue. A sudden craving to taste her mouth surged through him, pushing all fear aside.
Nancy Lee Badger grew up in Huntington on New York’s Long Island. After attending Plymouth State, in New Hampshire, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and met and married her college sweetheart. They raised two handsome sons in Rumney, New Hampshire while she dreamed of being a writer. When the children had left the nest, and shoveling snow became a chore, she retired from her satisfying job as a 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher and moved to North Carolina, where she writes full-time. 
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