by Anne Schlea
The Fallen
By Anne Schlea
Copyright 2019 Anne Schlea.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
For my grandma and trips to Williams Park to watch baseball.
For the farm in Ohio where my first characters were born.
For a small town that is still home no matter how far I roam.
For the Roadies who taught me family is so much more than blood.
And for my family, the ones who share my DNA and ones who don’t, thank you for being a part of this journey with me.
Chapter One
Anna watches her daughter work on math homework from across their New York apartment.
The teenager is brilliant in school. She studies hard, gets fantastic grades, and is such a natural on the athletic field it seems unfair to allow her to compete against kids her own age. Anna surmises it really is unfair, her daughter just doesn’t know it yet. She’s genetically predisposed for strength and speed.
The day is coming soon when Anna will have to tell Marissa the truth about her heritage, but she wants to make it wait a little bit longer. Delaying is purely selfish, and she knows that. Other children with Marissa’s background have already begun studies the special school; a part of Anna knows she’s withholding something that’s Marissa’s birthright.
The mother in her reasons out that it’s to keep her child safe.
The truth is Anna will have to go back to a world she left behind for Marissa to have the opportunities she needs, and no one is welcome back in once they walk away.
Anna is Forsaken.
Marissa, her pencil scratching away at the table, doesn’t have any idea what that might mean but it means something to Anna. It means she’ll either be forced to drop her child into the hands of men who’d failed her and then walk away from her daughter forever; or live the rest of her life as a half-life, a second-class citizen.
Neither option is appealing.
She’s made her own bed, she’s going to have to live with it. With ten years of time to consider her options, she still knows she’d do the same thing.
She watches Marissa’s head bend down over her homework and feels a pang of regret. Marissa’s dark brown curls spill down her arm and spread out across the table like a blanket. Looking at her back, she can still picture Marissa’s brown eyes furrowed in concentration and the freckles scattered across her nose.
Marissa looks more like her mother than she’ll ever know. Lily was gone much too quickly with so much left unsaid; Anna fears the same will happen when she’s forced to relinquish Marissa to her own people again.
When Anna agreed to take Marissa in and raise her, it never occurred to her how difficult it would be to let the child go when the time came. She would have done it years ago if it were easy.
But as they draw closer to Marissa’s sixteenth birthday, time becomes less and less her friend. Soon she won’t have enough time to explain. If she doesn’t act carefully, she might not even have time to say goodbye.
A knock sounds on the front door; Anna drops the book she’s been holding onto the sofa. “Sounds like the pizza’s here.”
Home is a small, two-bedroom apartment in the city. Anna had chosen this place ten years before because of the park down the street. The kitchen table is crowded into a corner of the living room that only has enough space for a loveseat and a television that’s mounted to the wall. A bookshelf is tucked into a corner. Everything is painted soft shades of brown, something Anna had done to remind her of their true home.
Both bedrooms are equally small. Marissa’s only fits her twin bed and a tiny desk.
Even being tiny, the apartment costs a small fortune in valuable New York real estate; Anna will only be able to afford a few more years before her funds run out.
“Good.” Marissa sighs and pushes back her homework, the book sliding quietly across the table. “I’m starved.”
“Get some plates out and set the table.” Anna grabs her purse from the bookshelf by the door.
“’Kay, mom.”
Anna fishes through her purse for her wallet as she opens the door. If she hadn’t been distracted, she might have remembered to look out the peep hole first; and then she might not have opened the door at all. But in retrospect, she isn’t sure what she would have done if she’d had a warning her life was about to change forever.
“Anna.”
Anna stops cold at the sound of the soft voice in the hallway. There is no, “$25 for the pizza, m’am.” Only her name spoken by a voice she hasn’t heard in years. It’s a voice out of both her most secret dreams and her worst nightmares.
The man standing in front of her had been her best friend, confidante, and partner for more years than she can count. He looks older now. His face is worn down and there’s a terrifying looking scar on his neck that wasn’t there the last time she saw him.
Of course, that was ten years ago. She’s sure she looks older, too.
“Can I come in?” His voice is low, like he’s doing his best not to frighten her.
There’s no choice. If she says no, she knows he has the power to walk right through the door. If he’s been sent by the Committee…well, maybe time really has run out. It was smart of them to send this man to get her. He’s probably the only one in the city Anna won’t fight.
“Honey, go to your room and close the door, please.” Anna doesn’t step aside or turn to look at her daughter. She keeps her body blocking the doorway and hopes whatever power she still has in her body is enough.
“Mom?”
There’s confusion in Marissa’s voice; Anna needs to know the terms brought to her before she’s willing to hand over the child she’s raised for ten years. She’d like the chance to explain a few things first, especially to this man.
“Now.” Anna watches the face of the man in front of her. He looks surprised to hear the voice of a teenager inside the apartment. The shock is reassuring: maybe he hasn’t come for Marissa after all. Is it possible no one put together Marissa’s disappearance with Anna’s? That seems unlikely.
Anna waits for her daughter to get out of the room, the bedroom door closing quietly behind her, before she steps aside. “Come in.”
Riley Wares has always been a tall, strong, attractive man. He’d put on more bulk in the years since Anna left but his green eyes and brown hair are the same. It’s longer now than she remembers. He’d abandoned the short crew cut for hair that brushes past his ears, something that shows off the curl his hair is capable of. She wonders if he has a wife now that prefers it long and then dismisses the thought. It’s none of her business. How close they once were doesn’t matter now. Today he is her enemy.
“You have a daughter?” There’s a catch to his voice Anna can’t identify. Whatever reason brings him to her doorstep tonight seems to be less important than Anna’s child. She can imagine why. If she’s given birth to the girl it will be a serious complication for all of them.
“She’s adopted.” Anna pushes the door closed behind him. This conversation shouldn’t be heard by outsiders. Then she walks to the hall to be sure Marissa’s door is tightly closed. Her daughter doesn’t need to hear this, either.
“It’s still a complication.” Riley looks at the photos Anna has hung on the wall. They display images of her and Marissa from the past few years:
softball games, school events, a trip they took to the beach. “Are you married?”
“That’s not really any of your concern.” Her mind races to decipher his tone and his body language. He’s hard to read, which frustrates her. She used to be good at analyzing a situation. “Why are you here?”
He reaches down and picks up the duffle bag he’d brought in. It comes through the air at her and she catches it, grunting from the weight.
“I’m here to bring you back.” Riley picks up a photo of Marissa and studies it. Anna knows he’ll see the resemblance and guess who she is if he looks at it for very long. “The Committee will renounce your Forsaken status.”
Everything stops, even Anna’s breathing. Her chest feels like a weight settles on it, forcing the air from her body. She locks eyes on the back of Riley’s head and hears the words again in her head. It can’t be possible.
She reaches over and takes the photo from his hands. "No one comes back, you know this.”
“We’re at war, Anna.” He seems frustrated with her reluctance. Anna assumes he’s probably envisioned her jumping for joy at his return: that she’d gear up, head out, and never look back. If it wasn’t for Marissa, she probably would.
“We’re always at war, Riley. It’s the nature of our people.” She sets the photo back on the bookshelf and draws him into the living room and away from the pictures. “You have thousands of soldiers. You can’t make me believe I make enough of a difference for the Committee to change the way they’ve dealt with people like me for centuries.”
“You don’t understand.” He steps forward to put his hands on her shoulders so he can look her directly in the eyes. It’s almost impossible for her to look away or ignore him. His green eyes bore into hers with such intensity she’s afraid she’ll do anything he asks. “We’re at war with each other. After you left…things got difficult. There were factions and talk of resistance to the Committee. It’s bad, Anna. We need you. I need you. That might not mean as much as it once did, but I’m here to beg. Whatever it takes I’ll do it. Please, come with me tonight.”
Anna turns away from Riley and retreats to her sofa. She slides down to sit on the softness of the cushions. If her own people are fighting among themselves, that doesn’t bode well for the rest of humanity. What can mere humans do when their saviors turn on each other? “What of our purpose?”
“It’s fallen somewhat by the wayside at the moment.” He kneels in front of her, the same way he used to when they were young. It puts him eye level with her. “So many of our people have died…from both sides. Our halls are empty. Our soldiers are few. That’s why the Committee is changing. They need you more than they need their rules.”
Anna looks down at her feet because she can’t look at Riley any more. Walking away from him was the hardest part of her exile. It isn’t the daily physical pain or the emotional pain of separation from her people. It’s the separation from someone she’d been a part of for two thirds of her life. She’d been young when she left and she hadn’t done it right. There was no time to tell him; no time to explain what she was doing.
The truth is, a part of her had been afraid back then. She was afraid his loyalty to the Committee would outweigh his loyalty to her. She was afraid he’d tell them what was really happening and he would have stopped her. It wouldn’t have taken much. As heartbroken and sick as she was at the time – as angry she’d been at the unnecessary death of her sister – she didn’t really want to leave her life and her people behind.
“If not for me, do it for yourself. I can see how sick you already are.” Riley breaks into her thoughts. His gloved hands force her to look up at him again, the soft leather burning her cheek with shame. “How old is your daughter?”
“Fifteen.”
“You won’t live to see her graduate from high school. But you already know that.” His grip is hard on her chin and his eyes flash. He’s disappointed in her; disappointed in her choices. That isn’t a surprise, either. “What is it? Cancer?”
“Something like that.” Anna wrenches herself away from his grip and then holds a hand to her eyes. Tears are threatening to spill, and she’d sworn when her day of reckoning came there would not be tears. She’d worked too hard and been too good of a soldier for that. The men and women who trained her deserve better than useless tears.
“Then come home.” Riley’s voice softens. Both hands drop to her thighs where they stay. There is unwelcome intimacy there in the heat passing between them. “Please, Anna, come home. Do it for yourself. Do it for your daughter. I can talk to the Committee. They’ll make an allowance and allow a human child.“
“She’s not human.” The words spill out of Anna’s mouth before realizes she’s speaking. The truth will come out soon enough, she might as well get all of her cards on the table. He’s right, she isn’t going to live much longer if she doesn’t go home. Marissa will need someone to care for her.
Riley had been her fighting partner in the war against demons. Their race, their entire society, exists for that fight. Fallen from Grace, they exist on Earth for one purpose: to capture and kill the evil that threatens humanity. For them Armageddon is a Holy War fought daily – not a distant future written about in some book translated from dead languages.
Together they’d fought, bled, and buried friends. They’d eaten together, studied together, and slept side by side on the hard ground when their training or the battle demanded it. Anna was the best bow in her class and Riley’s blade was equally deadly. They were an undefeatable team.
At least until Anna disappeared in the middle of the night.
“What do you mean?” His eyes shift back to the bookshelf of photos. She can see he’s remembering the picture, trying to decipher who she is.
“She’s one of us.” Anna sighs and tries to ignore the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Leaving the sanctity of the city is a crime, taking an innocent child with you is unforgiveable. “I thought you were here to take her away from me. I thought the Committee had sent you.”
“She’s not yours.” It’s a statement of fact, not a question. “I was with you fifteen years ago. It’s Marissa, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Anna wipes away the tears that finally spill over her cheeks. She hopes she can pull herself together before anyone else sees her.
“You can’t keep one of our kind this far away from the rest of us. You’ll condemn her to an early death.” He pushes up from the floor and gestures toward Marissa’s door. He’s angry now, but thoughtful enough to keep his voice quiet so Marissa can’t hear him. “I don’t care what slight the Committee committed against you and your sister. She doesn’t deserve the death you’ll deliver to her.”
“I keep trying to find the words. I’ve been trying to find the words for ten years.” Anna stands and paces the room. She shakes her head as the memories of her failed attempts flash through her mind. “How do you explain our life to someone who’s never even heard of the Fallen? She’s lived a normal, human life; which is exactly what her mother wanted for her when she was given to me.”
“Lily.” Riley stalks over to the photo and picks it up again. He holds the frame toward Anna like she hasn’t seen it before. His voice shakes with suppressed rage. “I should have seen it. She looks just like your sister and trust the two of you to come up with this kind of crazy scheme just to spite the Committee.”
He crosses over to Anna and looks her in the eyes. When he stops in front of her, the aggression seems to bleed away. When he speaks again his voice is full of defeat. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I really don’t want to have this conversation right now. Maybe…later. I’m not ready for it right now.” If there is a later; no need to draw attention to that. “Before I agree to anything I need to know Marissa will be okay.”
“Marissa is no concern. It will change nothing, only that she needs to come home.” He looks over his shoulder and down the hall. “We thought she was dead, killed by the same creature that was res
ponsible for the deaths of her parents. She doesn’t know anything?”
“Nothing. Her memories of life in the city are fuzzy at best; she doesn’t remember anything of her parents beyond shadowy images.” Anna looks him squarely in the eyes and plants her feet. It’s a silly gesture, a show of strength she knows she can’t back up. She suspects he knows it, too. “I kept her safe. I had no way to know who was dangerous, who might kill her. My life isn’t worth half as much as hers. She needs to stay protected.”
“Don’t sell yourself like you have no worth.” Riley’s hands move to his hips. “I won’t let you demean yourself. I need you. I need the Anna who had my back and kept me alive.”
“Tell me what you want from me.” Anna steels herself despite the defeat she feels. If her return to the war will make Marissa’s move into their society smoother, she’ll do it. Truthfully her hands are itching to get back on her bow.
“Go back there and tell Marissa I’m an old friend of yours that just flew into town unexpectedly. We’re going to go out and grab dinner. Leave her money for the pizza you ordered and I’ll make sure one of my people keeps eyes on her for you.” He nods to the bag on the floor. “Then I need you to suit up. I need your bow tonight.”
“I don’t have my bow.” It was left it behind with everything else when she took Marissa and ran.
“I do.” He smiles, sending unfamiliar feelings coursing through Anna’s body. She’s missed this more than she cares to admit. “It’s downstairs. Can you sill hit a target?”
“Absolutely.” Blood starts to pump through Anna’s veins. For the first time in ten years she feels alive. She doesn’t know if it’s the prospect of being reunited with the weapon she loves or if it’s the nearness of Riley, but she’ll take it. “I’ll tell her we’ll be back late and not to expect me. I don’t want her to be worried if I’m not back before her bedtime. Then I’ll talk to her in the morning about the rest.”
“I’ll make the arrangements to move you both home.” He reaches out a gloved hand and touches her cheek. “I’ve missed you.”