Heavenly Hell (Heavenly Hell Book 1)

by Aria Williams

Like Connor had promised, he spent at least half an hour in the shower, and we were nearly late for school. I made him his Pop Tart and shoved it in his hands as I grabbed my car keys. We still had ten minutes to spare until the first bell rang. The group stood in a huddle just inside the door, escaping the rain. Connor stood next to meet with the biggest grin on his face. It hadn’t left since early this morning.

  “Hey man, how’s it going,” Mark asked, making friendly banter.

  I was begging Connor with my eyes to not say anything.

  “Hey Marko, I woke to a heavenly sight today. Indy forgot I was sleeping on her lounge and walked down pretty much naked.” Connor flashed me a massive smile.

  I hung my head in shame and looked to Nessa; she was laughing.

  “Wow, man really?” questioned Mark.

  “The view was rockin’,” sighed Connor.

  The two boys high-fived and walked off discussing my “highly toned kick arse upper body.” Great, now the fact that I was punished into wearing this flaming hot seventeen year old body forever was going to cost me my best friend.

  If I ever get back up there, that old man upstairs has a lot of explaining to do.

  History was the first class for the day. The topic of discussion was the fable of the female pope of Rome. The teacher discussed the many legends that surrounded her alleged reign. There were many variations of the story and it was unknown if this was fact or fiction. I had deliberated many times in the past over this story, trying to decide for myself if this was a myth or a true piece of poorly undocumented history. I had been living in my human body when this legend was believed to have taken place, which was after the death of my dear noble lady. I was so pre-occupied with my period of rebellion against the religions and Benilde that I decided to shave my own head and make myself as unattractive as possible and ignore the Pope who was supposed to be God’s messenger. Sadly, I had missed the rumors which surfaced years later. I still would have travelled to Rome to investigate for myself.

  “Does anyone have any opinions on this subject?” Mrs. Harvey had looked in my direction as she spoke these words. Naturally, I had plenty to say. I didn’t hold back.

  “As we all know, men wrote the history books in those times and for many centuries they were the only record keepers. I can imagine that a female would have been an embarrassment to the Catholic Church. If she ever existed, they would have simply wiped her from the records, or adjusted the records to suit themselves.”

  “Spoken like a true feminist—are you a lesbo or something, Indy?” Pimple-Face had crossed the line.

  “If I was, that would be none of your business, and the term is lesbian, thank you.”

  When had the term feminist turned into a dirty word, and why was it being associated with so much hatred? I must have missed the shift in stereotypes, but I certainly didn’t believe that equal rights were a bad thing.

  “Oh so you are?” he mocked. Pimple-Face was going to meet my fist. He was saying these comments to me like there was a problem with being in love with a beautiful woman.

  “Man, I’d shut your mouth, before I shut it for you,” said Mark.

  Mark had stood up in his chair and was approaching Pimple-Face.

  “Boys, enough now! I will not tolerate this behavior.” Mrs. Harvey was even shaking herself.

  Both boys were now standing, sizing each other up, trying to intimidate their opponent. Mrs. Harvey looked like she was going to have a heart attack any moment now. Mark, being the bigger man, backed off, but whispered later as he went to his chair.

  “We will finish this later.”

  The poor teacher was now sitting down trying not to have a panic attack. I felt sorry for her; I had upset this poor woman because I couldn’t handle a nasty comment, and Mark felt the need to defend me. The wind had been bashing against the windows through this entire class, and the lights had flickered occasionally. Mrs. Harvey kept on looking outside; she seemed worried about the weather also. I did pass her regularly as she walked to school. The class jumped a few times as the lightning cracked through the sky; it came close a few times.

  During the next class, the school had a blackout. It wasn’t dark, but the lighting was very dim and wasn’t bright enough for the teacher to write on the chalkboard that hadn’t been used since the purchase of the computerized smart boards. I sat in my chair, texting both Nessa and Corrina. The pair was sitting in class together trying to convince me to have a party. It sounded like a good idea, seeing as there was no school tomorrow, and I had no plans or cases to check out. I finally agreed, but made sure they knew that I would not be cleaning up all the mess by myself. I got no reply, of course.

  We ate lunch in the dark cafeteria. The storm outside had ended, but the power was still off. I checked the local radio station’s website and found that it wouldn’t be back on ‘til this afternoon. The other girls were already on the case. Looking around, Connor was not in the group. I wondered where he had gone. He was missing in recreational activities, also, which didn’t matter ‘cause we sat in the café doing a workshop on team building, thankfully not sport related.

  By the end of the day, the entire class was talking about my party tonight. I was wondering when it had become my party, as it wasn’t my idea or my organizational skills involved. I was glad that school was over, so I could go home and have a little nap before the girls would be there to set up. I approached my car to find all three girls waiting for me.

  “Hey, we thought it would be a great idea to shop for some fab outfits for tonight,” Corrina was telling me, not asking. She had already sat in the front seat before waiting for my answer. I wasn’t going to get that nap after all. Everyone was in and buckled up. There was no point in arguing.

  “Where are we going? We have nothing nice in this dump of a town,” I asked. As much as I hated this little town, I also loved it for that same reason.

  “Bathurst is twenty minutes away; they have some great shops,” Corrina pointed out. She must have been in charge of the trip and the party.

  I didn’t really agree with going to Bathurst. They did have some good clothing options, but they were poorly made knockoffs of designer brands. I wouldn’t expect the clothing to last very long. If we had left during the day, we could have travelled further and went to an awesome shopping centre two hours away. But that would be wrong of me to encourage the girls to skip school.

  The drive went extremely fast. We enjoyed singing along to the Top Forty Countdown, screaming some of the songs out as loud as we could. We did really well have loads of fun together. Most girls would be at home, braiding each others’ hair, or plucking each others’ eyebrows. That was so not me.

  We arrived at the shop with plenty of time before it was due to close. Today they were having a big sale. All tops were fifteen and under and pants were twenty and under. It surprised me that they could make an article of clothing that inexpensively and then sell it at a huge discount and still make money. This company would have to be getting their supplies from a third world country. One little table out front had some singlet tops that were marked as low as five dollars. How was that even possible? At what price did they buy them? That’s it, I refused to buy from this shop. I sat out front waiting for the girls. They were taking a very long time. Yelling out, I told Corrina I would buy the snacks while they shopped.

  Walking out of the shopping centre and down toward the supermarket, I heard the barking of many dogs. This made me think of the friendly dog Connor and i had taken to the vet. I had been waiting for their phone call, only to be disappointed to be told the owner came forward. They had been searching for the animal for a few hours. I knew the local RSPCA was around here somewhere, and I could kill some time by visiting the dogs and cats. I found it quite easily; I followed the barking of the dogs and was led straight to it.

  I bypassed the reception building and walked around to the first row of kennels. They were all clean with only fresh messes. The little doggies looked so sad and lonely, an
d the rest of the rows were exactly the same. I came to the very last row and there was a sign before entering that read, ‘Images may cause distress.’ Ignoring the sign, I walked right down. The first five kennels were all vacant. Continuing down, I thought maybe the animal that was here was now gone. Nearing the last kennel, a fur baby had its back to me. Squatting down, I got as low as I could and cooed as softly as possible. The little fellow raised his ears and slowly turned toward me. The sign had been correct. This little puppy was heartbreaking to see. This little mini foxy was missing one eye; the left side of his face was bald and covered in scar tissue. I was taking this baby home.

  I approached the reception, and the middle aged lady looked at me from over her glasses.

  “Yes, what can I do for you?”

  “I want to adopt one of the dogs you have,” I said.

  “Yes, which one?”

  “The one with no eye,” I said.

  This got her attention. She stood up and towered over me. She was a huge lady. She looked me over. That annoyed me so badly. I wanted to scream.

  “Where are your parents, kid? I want a full interview for that animal. He’s not going anywhere ‘til I have consent from your legal guardians. He has had a horrible life, and I’m personally making sure he will get the best home possible.

  “Yes, I understand. I will get one of them to contact you soon, but can I put a deposit down for him? I don’t want him put to sleep.”

  “Yeah, sure kid.”

  Handing over some money, I walked out, a little pleased with myself.

  Which angel could I get to assume the identity of my animal-loving, responsible, and caring parent? The options were a little limited, as not many angels lived in this country and the age card was a big factor. Israfel was far too young. Russ, the hippy-loving, unkempt, atheist was likely to be sitting in a park somewhere drinking his flaggings of beer or smoking a disgusting bong and singing along to the Beach Boys. Russ was by far one of my most favorite angels. Like me, he had no regard for his angel side and didn’t have any plans to play a positive role in society. We had spent a whole century getting blind together. I had given this wasteful time of my life up when I met Israfel and Ailsa.

  Ailsa would be the angel I would ring and ask for help with saving the little disfigured puppy from a concoction of chemicals to allow him to peacefully leave this world.

  The phone was answered after three rings. I explained my situation, and she was more than happy to help. I passed on the RSPCA phone number, and she would do the rest.

  I quickly ran to the supermarket, grabbed a few packets of pretzels, Jax, and soft drinks. When I got back, the girls were only just purchasing their new clothes.

  I showed Corrina my purchases, and she nodded approvingly, and we left to head home. I was a bit surprised at my behavior because I didn’t really care too much if she didn’t like what I bought. I’m sure I knew better than her anyway.

  When we arrived home, Connor was out in front cleaning up the yard. He was picking up branches and placing them in the back of his dad’s Ute. I told the girls to head inside; I was going to see what he was up to.

  As I walked over to him, I noticed the ugly old tree that had been scraping on my window in the early hours of this morning had received a makeover. It didn’t look like an eye sore anymore. The pruning had given it a new lease on life.

  “I’m really sorry about this morning, Indy,” said Connor.

  “So you left school early to slash at my tree?” We both stood there laughing.

  “Yeah, I suppose so. I also mowed the lawns,” he added.

  “You don’t have to do this stuff, you know,” I said.

  “I know, Indy, but the yard is a mess. There are weeds growing as grass, the path to the clothes line is grown over, and I thought I saw a snake. Someone needs to do it regularly.” I kind of changed the subject, but didn’t stray too far.

  “Are you ever going home?”

  “Well, let me think about that. My parents hate each other; I’m always brought into it; I’m forced to pay all my crappy earnings to them for rent. So, the answer is a big fat no. If you will have me, I would happily exchange all outside jobs for a roof over my head.

  “If you move in with me, I have one condition. You help me clean out the study, and that will be your new room.”

  “Agreed,” said Connor with some relief in his voice.

  I could not let Connor sleep on the lounge forever, and I didn’t think AJ was ever coming home. He had taken over running a café and stopped returning his other clients’ phone calls.

  In the short time I had discussed the future with Connor, the girls had been busy. They had washed up, wiped, and de-cluttered my living room.

  Loud, girly giggles were drifting down the stairs. I made my way up to see what I was missing out on. The girls had found my stash of working clothes. Particularly, the bondage gear I wore once and only once.

  “You dirty little girl, Indiana!” Casey was in fits of laughter, nearly falling off the bed.

  “You have been holding out on me, girl; this shit is better than my Halloween costume!” Corrina was parading around in my skimpiest black outfit. With my whip in hand, she owned the dominant role. She was having a tough time walking around in my stripper heels, though, stumbling every few steps.

  “Um, my ex boyfriend was into that kinky stuff. Give those heels here, I’ll show you how to strut your stuff,” I joked.

  Slipping on the eight-inch heels, I sashayed my hips from side to side walking down the hall then back, finishing with a sexy dip. I took them off and placed them back in the box. You never know when I will need those babies again.

  We all headed downstairs where I was going to fix us a quick snack before the party guests arrived.

  Chapter Eleven

  Nate

  I was supposed to have already told Indy what I was by now, but I was finding it difficult to find the time to tell her. Either Brandon or Mark constantly surrounded me, and they were always asking me all kinds of sports questions. Connor was constantly fawning all over Indy, and I thought he might have a thing for her, but I wasn’t too sure yet.

  There was one night that I knew she was going for a run, and I had followed her. She thought she was being followed, but dismissed this so fast, even when she saw my reflection in the shop window. I was quite confident that she wasn’t aware of people like me. The supernatural being I had changed into wasn’t the type that anyone should ignore. We were feared by the demon.

  We were the only entity able to destroy the immortal demons. We had been genetically altered by accident, and the person who created us wasn’t even aware of it. I only knew of one other hunter, personally, but there were more out there. Some of us ignored the path we were supposed to live. Others embraced it. My father introduced me into this life. Others didn’t have that luxury and felt the adrenaline build up inside them when a demon came near—along with the predatory instinct to kill it. Other hunters had been tracked down by demons and forcefully persuaded to work with them to kill the demon’s enemy. Everyone had an enemy, and at this moment, I was Indy’s. She just didn’t know it yet.

  I won’t ever forget my first kill and the overwhelming pride that the boss showed me. The case was a little difficult, but only because he sensed me and ran. I had done my research for a good six months before I had to eliminate any surprises. This demon was taking the unique talents from mortals and trying to use them for himself. He failed in taking these talents because only the person blessed with these talents could use them.

  As this was my first case, I needed to show how good I was, and that I could hold my own against any demon. I just wasn’t prepared for him to sense me from so far away. I chased this guy for three months ‘til I finally found him. This time, I wasn’t going to let him get away. He only got to his car, which was a few kilometers away. I had anticipated this move and disabled his battery. He had no choice other than to engage me in a fight for his life. He wasn’t much of
a physical fighter, though we did roll around in the dirt for a while. He had nearly ended the fight using my own unique strength to knock me out, but in the end, I used my stamina and endurance to tire him out. Then I killed him.

  I rang and confirmed the kill afterward. This wasn’t enough evidence for my boss to trust my ability to be a hunter. I was instructed to take photos and a live video, and then I was to finish that mission by burying the body in a deep grave. I thought that was unnecessary as the corpse was starting to decompose in front of my eyes and would have vanished by morning. But as always, I did as I was told, no questions asked.

  Today I would try and get Indy by herself, so that I could scare her into leaving these kids. No one would think any wiser if she just up and left. I didn’t want to kill her when she still played a large role in her friends’ lives, and if she left, then no one would know what had happened—but if I had to create some kind of accident, I would. She hadn’t been in this town for too long, and I didn’t think she had created solid relationships yet. She seemed close to Connor and Nessa, but I think that was just a rouse. We were all standing outside waiting for Indy and Connor to arrive for the day, and Connor had a huge smile on his face. It reminded me of the smile boys get when they gained some conquest with girls. I don’t understand why men or boys think it’s cool to take some girl’s virginity from them. It makes me a little sick.