Free True Intentions by Lisa Kuehne Page B

engaging, and persuasive. Although Satan is the Prince of Darkness, he successfully presents himself as an "angel of light." A master of misrepresentation, he is the world's greatest advertiser packaging his product so it's attractive and appealing. In reality, it's deathly poisonous. That's where Sam comes in. He is the product.
    He is the product the devil is selling to mankind. Samuel Perry is, in fact, one of Satan's angels.

    Satan needs mankind to see his angel soldiers as good, beneficent, and trustworthy. He wants his products' abilities to appear enticing and inviting. Their ultimate goal: influence mankind toward sin and the rejection of God. The human race is completely unaware of how well Satan has been training his angels for this role.
    It's as easy as taking candy from a baby.
    Of course, some of them are far better at it than others. Practice makes perfect.
    Many of Satan's angels have been around for multiple centuries and have found a great appreciation for what works and what doesn't.
    The rest of Satan's angels, like Sam, are still fairly new at this life of deception, and are still honing their skills, like a hunter with a new weapon.
    There are benefits to working under Satan—immortality being the biggest . Sam has been seventeen since 1798. Over the years, he's seen mankind evolve, for better and for worse. He's witnessed the creation of antibiotics, which saves lives, and nuclear weapons, which easily destroys them.
    His external beauty works as his biggest advantage. For mankind is, and probably always will be, superficial. Everyone wants to be rich, beautiful, and powerful.
    How easy it is to persuade someone to follow your ideas or directions when you can mesmerize them with your beauty.
    Temptation is the easy part.
    Rim of the World High School has been Sam's easiest assignment thus far. The majority of the students here already possess the self-centered values that make his job a cakewalk. All he has to do is throw in a simple temptation. That's it . . . . At this rate, mankind will self-destruct before long, and Satan won't need dark angels like Sam any more.
    His latest quest has been pretty simple. At least before Ava's involvement. He has been influencing a predator for the last few weeks. Once inside his thoughts, Sam encouraged his desires, overwhelming his sense of right and wrong. In his late thirties, this sexually frustrated male has been continually rejected throughout his life because of his unattractive looks and poor intellect. He is the ideal candidate for Sam. Turning this frustrated reject, Walter, into a sexually deviant monster—a predator like no other—was way too easy. Walter's first experience in the woods with the waitress had given him a sense of power. Pleasure so uplifting, he was thirsty for more. The young female had a strong sense of survival and listened to Walter's demands. He needed a bigger challenge, so he decided to park his truck on the side of the road and pop the hood, pretending to have engine trouble. He waited patiently.
    Sam imagined Walter's thoughts, his sick mind racing. Once the people he influences give into his carefully placed temptation, Sam can read them like an open book. When this predator finds his next victim, he'll get her into his truck and take her back to the small, isolated house he calls home—deep in the woods.
    Home: where he will be able to have his way with her until his needs are fully satisfied. After that, she can be easily disposed of somewhere in the nearby woods . . . .
    Never to be discovered.
    Sam had been watching from a distance, the predator's mind intriguing him.
    That's when he first saw her, the young, new girl from his English class.
    What the hell was she doing running out here?
    Anger overcame him, and he couldn't understand why.
    The first day he laid eyes on her, when she sat in front of him in class, she appeared in awe of him—as have so many others. Sam smiles while he reflects at the mere thought of it.