Life After
The Complete Series
Julie Hall
Contents
Awards
Praise and Reviews
Huntress
Prologue
1. In the Beginning
2. Processed
3. The Job Eternal
4. Training
5. Celestial Heights
6. Over the River and Through the Woods
7. Dumped
8. Changes
9. Riding the Waves
10. The Great Escape
11. The Day After
12. Apologies
13. A Second Chance
14. Fight
15. The Celebration
16. By the Lake
17. Romona’s Apology
18. Meeting the Archangel
19. The Fiery Sword
20. Angelic Encounters
21. The Game Plan
22. To Battle
23. A Single Jar of Pickles
24. God
25. Awake
26. Good-Bye
27. Mentors
Epilogue
Warfare
1. The Trials
2. The Gift
3. A Strange State of Mind
4. Boyfriends
5. The Defeated Warrior
6. Breaking and Entering
7. Allies and Enemies
8. A Piece of Logan’s Past
9. The Truth Burns
10. Coming Home
11. A Spiky Situation
12. No More Fun and Games
13. A Deal with the Devil
14. The Return
15. Heartbreak
16. Confessions
17. Trials Upon Trials
18. A Cohort
19. When Darkness Descends
20. The Shattering
21. Legions
22. Face the Music
23. The Effects of the Wind
24. Something Stolen
25. Only Time Will Tell
27. It Begins at the End
Epilogue
Logan
Instructions
Author Commentary
Logan’s Soundtrack
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Dominion
1. Hell
2. Zombies
3. Logan
4. Rings
5. Shelter
6. Demons
7. Hidden
8. Descent
9. Broken
10. Cursed
11. Betrayer
12. Kindred
13. Reunion
14. Reunited
15. Awkward
16. Half-Truths
17. Soul Fusing
18. Archives & Things
19. Memories
20. Coming Clean
21. Desperate Times
22. Make Believe
23. Girl’s Day
24. The Reveal
25. Ceremony
26. New World
27. The Chase
28. Artifacts Room
29. Face Off
30. The End
31. Defeat
32. Realms
33. Training
34. Revelations
35. Hope
36. Changed Plans
37. My Story
38. Home
39. Dreams
40. Beginnings
41. Better Together
Epilogue
Bonus Scene
Join the Fan Club
About the Author
Audiobooks by Julie Hall
Awards
For the Life After Series
Finalist, Speculative Fiction
Huntress
2018 ACFW Carol Awards
Young Adult Book of the Year
Huntress
2018 Christian Indie Awards
Gold Medal Winner
Huntress
2018 Illumination Awards
First Place Winner, Religion
Huntress
2018 IndieReader Discovery Awards
Christian Fiction Finalist
Huntress
2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Alliance Award (Reader’s Choice)
Warfare
2018 Realm Makers Awards
Parable Award, Finalist
Logan
2018 Realm Makers Awards
Gold Medal Winner
Huntress
2017 The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Best Inspirational Novel
Huntress
2017 Ozarks Indie Book Festival
Best Debut Author
Julie Hall
2017 Ozarks Indie Book Festival
Second Place Winner
Huntress
2017 ReadFree.ly Indie Book of the Year
First Place Winner
Huntress
2012 Women of Faith Writing Contest
USA TODAY Bestselling Author
August 17, 2017 & June 21, 2018
Praise and Reviews
The romance is sweet, mysterious, frustrating, and perfect. With fantastic world-building, Julie Hall has created an interesting and desirable afterlife. I love the unique take on angels, demons, and the life after death. Characters are relatable: Audrey, flawed and confused, but also filled with untapped strength; Logan, strong and swoon-worthy. Enough action and mystery to keep me flipping the pages.
Jaymin Eve
USA Today Bestselling author
of The Walker Saga and
Supernatural Prison series
The Life After series is wildly creative and packed with heart pounding adventure, plot twists that leave you reeling! You will not be disappointed.
Leia Stone
USA Today Bestselling author
of the Fallen Academy series
Julie Hall is destined to be one of the great fiction writers of our time. Not since Frank Peretti has an author had the writing genius to weave together spiritual and physical worlds into a believable epic journey. Her first work will keep young adults riveted, expanding their sense of wonder and challenging them to think about forces and powers beyond what they can see.
Rebecca Hagelin
columnist with The Washington Times;
author of 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family
Huntress will have you holding your breath and falling in love. Beautifully creative! Julie Hall expertly weaves an action-packed plot and swoon-worthy romance with powerful, heartfelt themes of love, family, forgiveness, and redemption. I can't wait for the sequel!
Kelly Oram
author of The Supernaturals series
and the Jamie Baker Trilogy
Dominion is the perfect ending to a beautiful story. While Audrey questions her own existence, she remains fiercely loyal to the ones she loves, especially Logan. Gripping and emotional, it’s filled with hope and unconditional love.
USA Today Bestselling author
of the Hidden Wings series
Julie has created a world so imaginative and exciting that I can't help but want to be there. In Audrey, Julie Hall has given readers a heroine who is strong, vulnerable, and relatable. This book creates a safe place to ask questions, but also shows us we will not always get the answers we want. The adventure is in moving ahead, in faith, even without them
.
Catherine Parks
author of A Christ-Centered Wedding
Huntress is absolutely charming, imaginative, and sweet. It is a fast-paced, original, and intriguing story. I hope it’s a series because I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Susan Elllingburg
senior writer for Women Of Faith
Life After: The Complete Series
Copyright © 2019 by Julie Hall
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form without the written permission from the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. While this is not a book of theology, it is founded on biblical principles. It is my hope that you would allow your heart to enjoy the story and the deeper messages within.
Julie Hall
www.JulieHallAuthor.com
Huntress, Warfare, and Dominion cover designs by Nathália Suellen.
Logan cover design by Christian Bentulan.
JULIE HALL
Prologue
The chains rattled when he changed positions, grinding against both flesh and floor. Chains so familiar you’d think he’d be used to them by now. He wasn’t. Whether standing in his tower, as he was now, or roaming grasslands and streets, his illusion of freedom was always only that—an illusion.
He ground his teeth in anger.
The misshapen messenger who’d interrupted his musings did not even bear looking at. His contempt for it and its companions was almost as strong as his contempt for them. The chosen ones. Those inferior beings created with limited sight and innumerable weaknesses. He was sick of watching them fumble around in the dark with the freedom he deserved.
“What is it?”
“We think we have something. Something new our spies have discovered.” The creature’s voice was thick and oily, with barely a wisp of its former cadence.
“What exactly would that be?”
“We think it may be what you’ve been waiting for.”
His interest was piqued, if only marginally. Numerous false reports over time had dulled his curiosity.
“Go on.”
“An ancient weapon has awakened—a double-edged sword that blazes to life at a touch. It’s been witnessed to penetrate even to the division of the soul and spirit.”
“The cherubim sword?”
“We believe so.”
The creature had his full attention now. His shackles marred the ground as he walked briskly to look down over his domain.
“Who wields the weapon?”
“A mere girl.”
He was surprised. Then his eyes narrowed. Why give that much power to someone so feeble? He would have to verify the findings himself. If the news was correct, this could be it—what he’d been searching for. Something this important couldn’t be trusted to his slaves.
“Where is she now?”
The creature had the sense to look nervous. It shuffled its feet and brought its body lower. As if groveling could assure protection from his master’s wrath.
“Sh—she’s no longer here. She’s been taken back up.”
Red anger flashed in his eyes. Fools, all of them! The messenger scurried out of reach. He turned back to look over the expanse. The pathetic being wasn’t worth the energy it would take to destroy it.
“You will tell me the moment she returns.”
“Yes, of course.”
The creature hadn’t been dismissed, but it took the opportunity to quietly back away. He didn’t notice or care. After all this time, could it be that a mere girl would be the key to his freedom? Oh, the irony.
He smiled to himself. Deceiving a girl had been the start of his imprisonment. Perhaps it would also be the end.
1
In the Beginning
“Oof!”
Air exploded from my lungs as I hit the ground and rolled. I wish I could say I saw my life flash before my eyes, but I didn’t. In fact, my eyes were squeezed shut. My body jostled painfully with each lumpy impact. Through the noise I heard a name being yelled. A desperate sound. I wanted to respond, but I couldn’t find my voice. My nostrils stung, and there was a metallic taste in my mouth. I tried to spit it out. Something warm dripped down my chin.
And as suddenly as it began, everything stopped. My body was no longer moving. The silence was deafening.
After forcing my eyes open, I immediately wished I hadn’t. I stood in nothing. Startling white all around. Brilliant and soundless.
Without a sense of up or down I stumbled as I tried to take a step forward. Turning in a shaky circle, the breath in my chest hitched. I dropped to my knees, patting the space before me, and my hands began to sink—down and down until I pitched forward and my down was up. My arms stretched to their limits and I found myself reaching into the space above my head rather than below my feet.
Where was I? How had I gotten here? I was about to grasp something important, but with a sudden whoosh the memories were yanked from my mind. Tendrils of my consciousness reached out to haul them back, but returned with emptiness . . . a mirror of my surroundings.
One memory remained, standing out like a lone star in a black night. A jar of pickles on a black granite countertop. A memory that made something inside me prickle with anger even as I wondered why. But everything else was simply gone. Every other memory gone, as if it had never been there. As if I had never been.
I was about to lose it. Hysterics bubbling up inside, but before they broke free something caught my eye.
Squinting, I saw something, a dot. It was either very far away or extremely tiny. Without the luxury of surroundings to give it perspective, I wasn’t sure which. I blinked—it was barely, but perceptibly, larger. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again. Suddenly, not only was there a dot, but the expanse around me had a line.
A horizon.
Relief washed over me. The dot continued to grow in size and began to take shape—a man, I realized. A man with his back to me and partially bent over, moving his arms and hands as if conducting a silent symphony. The more intently I stared, the closer he appeared to be.
His arm arched down in a curve and then back up, and a great crash came from behind me. Spinning around, I gasped.
A mighty sea had appeared, waves smashing against the break. I stood on a cliff, the sea churned below me in a kaleidoscope of blues, and the smell of salty water wafted up, tickling my nostrils until I sneezed.
As I took a step back, something brushed at my ankles. Glancing around my eyes widened. More splendor had sprung out of the nothing. Bright green grass—so lush I could feel its suppleness beneath my feet—covered the ground. I was filled with a sudden yearning to slip off my shoes and sink my toes into its cool softness.
But then the man was inexplicably closer. Close enough to see the color of his brown hair and the medium build of his body. His arms had stopped their quick pace and were instead swaying back and forth to a slower, unheard melody. Stretched out before him was a landscape with trees, fields, and rolling hills dotted with flowers, a pinwheel of colors displayed before my eyes. The salty air mingled with the sweet tang of fresh summer blooms.
My breath caught when I flicked my eyes up and a vivid blue sky burst from horizon to horizon. A magnificent red bird shot through the air with a sweet song, followed by a flock of brightly colored birds echoing the melody. They danced in the air before soaring away and disappearing from view. No sooner had they vanished than a brown streak shot through my peripheral vision. I glanced around in time to see a doe dart out from a cluster of trees and lope, carefree, through the pasture.