Mark arrived first, and he had a grim look on his face. Today’s newspaper was in his hand, and he handed it to me. Our teacher was the front page story. Four other girls had come forward now. The article had gone on to say that all of these girls were receiving counseling and the tutoring records would be investigated next. I was happy this was happening. I knew there must be more victims, but I felt upset for Nessa. She wanted to move on and forget.
“I had hoped that my sister was the only one. There were many others after her. I should have done something about this. I could have prevented this,” said Mark.
Mark was blaming himself for all of these other girls. There was nothing he could have done, except for go to the police. I just don’t think they would have believed him. They would have thought that he had a mental illness, also. I absolutely loved this side of Mark. He was a very caring, passionate person, and no one but me knew who he really was. He had a mask, like me, afraid to show the world who he really was. I felt privileged that he had let me see this side of him.
One by one, the rest of our friends arrived, and Mark’s demeanor changed, and he became the not caring, smart arse we all loved. I watched our group with fresh eyes. Who else was pretending to be someone else? Looking over at Nessa and Brandon, I noticed a small amount of tension between them. Something was going on there, though it was none of my business. Mark and Casey were not the happy little sex-charged couple either. The earlier sexual comments that were present at the start of their relationship had passed. Mark was trying to be a gentleman and do the right thing. He turned to me and winked. I understood.
I felt the awareness of eyes staring at me, a powerfully loving gaze, and I knew who it was coming from. Turning toward Connor, I smiled back and went to stand next to him. The last few weeks of our lives had been crazy, but he had stood by me the entire time and never faltered for a second. My heart had started to defrost the day that Nate kissed me back in the schoolyard; I had discovered that I was preparing to let someone in. That simple act of kissing me back under those nasty circumstances had the opposite effect on me. I was initially disgusted, but as time went by, my body craved some intimate attention. I didn’t know when I would be ready to fully trust and love again—it may take the next hundred years—but I intended on exploring my emotions.
As the bell rang, we made our way to Careers in Practice. Mark and I hadn’t even bothered to pick something that was suitable to explore, and I didn’t intend to either. I knew who I was and what I would be doing for the next however many thousand years. Mark still had the newspaper in his hands. He didn’t take his seat next to me, but approached the teacher, pulled her aside, and whispered to her. This new teacher was named Mrs. Taylor. She was beautifully plump and was always laughing, which was extremely contagious. She didn’t act like a Careers teacher, but a friend guiding the students in the right direction. She had emphasized that she wanted the students to do something they loved for the rest of their lives, instead of wandering forever, trying to find purpose. It was really good advice. Nessa wanted to dance her entire life, but her parents disapproved, telling her how hard it was to get into a ballet school. Mrs. Taylor had suggested that she study the arts and dramatic theatre, and one day start her own dance company, utilizing all of these components. I couldn’t have given better advice. I now wondered what she had suggested for Mark.
The school day dragged on. I watched this new Mark and how his caring side came out, but then he would revert back to himself at lunch. I had experienced this before, but paid no attention, especially when Nate first arrived. He grew worried that his jokes had gone too far and when it was just the two of us, he asked if I was okay.
After school, Connor pushed for us to do something with our friends. The boys wanted to go to the skate park, so we all went along. It was obvious that after the first twenty minutes it just wasn’t the same anymore. Brandon seemed dejected and Mark and Connor were getting worse without their coaching buddy. It pained and annoyed me to admit that Nate had been fully accepted into our group and played a big part in the boys’ lives. The hero worship had turned into a solid friendship, and the boys’ skating lives were falling apart.
I eventually got sick and tired of watching the boys cut and scrape their arms and legs open and gathered my stuff to go home.
“Connor, I’m out,” I said.
“Okay, babes. I’m coming.”
As we walked away together, I turned to look and noticed the others were packing up. I felt a little sad for them.
Connor was fidgeting out of control, and it was starting to annoy me. It was excruciating not knowing what was going on, but his annoying movements were even worse. Without realising what I was doing, I grabbed his hand and held it in mine. Whatever was on his mind took a backseat at that moment. He pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. I squeezed his gently. The gesture was sweet, simple, and caring. I was unsure if I had started something I shouldn’t have, but it was done now.
We entered our street, and the closer we got to the house, the more that I could make out an ugly, bright pink car in the driveway. Not to mention, all of the lights were on. Connor burst out laughing. He seemed very amused. He knew who was in our house. This had been planned all day, but I had no idea who it was.
We walked up the steps and inside, still holding hands. The smell of freshly cooked food excited my stomach. Turning around on the lounge was Nate, staring at our hands holding onto each others’. I dropped Connor’s hand and made my way to Nate. I didn’t know what to do. Our fake relationship had seemed real after he was gone. I did miss his presence, and he did wake these feelings up inside of me. What was the appropriate greeting? I absolutely hated him, but wanted to kiss his lips. Slowly, we had been drawing nearer to each other. There were only a few inches between us now.
“Well, when are you going to explain why you’re here Nate?” said Connor.
I stood still and closed my eyes. I had forgotten he was still standing there. Then I realized I was about to kiss the guy who wanted to kill me. Connor was not happy about this display. I had taken the step by affectionately holding his hand three seconds ago. Nate had grabbed my hand and directed for me to sit down.
“So …” he started, “as you know, I had been sent here to kill you. I didn’t, obviously. I went away on another mission where I was sent to kill Max, at which time I realized he was an angel, also. Max told me some pretty bad things that I wasn’t aware I was doing. I had killed other angels, too, and we think my boss knew about this all along. We were having a chat about my future ‘til Connor rang me asking why I was still following you two around.”
This changed so many things. We thought we were immortal—to roam the earth forever—but we were wrong. Someone had brain-washed this poor kid to kill us. How many friends had I lost? This boy in front of me was a super weapon being used to kill angels, but why? Who would do this?
“Indy, can you tell me about this person following you,” pressed Nate.
“I did think on occasion that I was being followed, but I figured it was just me being paranoid.”
“Connor saw a set of eyes last night as he looked outside his window, and then they disappeared.”
“What the hell? Someone has been following me. Who?” I was so annoyed now—why were they following me?
I was furious. I could feel my anger building up into an uncontrollable rage. I wanted to hurt this person so much. They had been following Connor, also. What if they wanted to hurt him to get to me? I was pacing the room. The anger only built more. The adrenaline inside my body wanted a fight. I headed for the front door to find this person. They were probably out there now. A pair of arms grabbed me, pulling me down to the lounge. Then a second set touched my head. Calm thoughts washed over me. The adrenaline died down, and my muscles returned to normal.
“Why can’t Indy go and kill this man?” said Connor.
“For starters, it is a woman and her name is Bernadette—Berni for short. She believed
she was killing a demon, like I thought, but she never investigated like I did. She was playing with you; it’s a game to her. Plus, she is stronger than me … and older,” explained Nate.
“How old is she?” I asked.
“Legend says she is old, but like you, she hasn’t aged. She looks to be twenty-one or so,” said Nate.
This made me a little nervous. How many of these people were there? Nate was very strong and may have been stronger if he had more experience behind his fighting. I had hundreds of years of experience; this Berni might be able to hurt me.
“Nate, how old are you?” I asked. This had never occurred to me ‘til now.
“I’m also twenty one. But she does not ask questions or investigate—she just kills. You have a choice Indy—to run with me, or stand here and fight for your life,” said Nate.
I didn’t see there to be a choice at all. My only option was to fight against this person and defend the angel race.
The End … for now …
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Komal Kant author of Fallin for Hadie and Wrong side of town, she has given great advice and guidance.
Thank you to Laura L Hunter, Author of The chronicles of Fire and Ice, for help with those silly little questions and never laughing at me.
Thank you to the two most wonderful editors, Madison Seidler and Chelsea Kuhelwho have worked so hard on this novel and given constructive advice, it could’ not have been done without you.
About the Author
Aria was born in the large county town of Orange situated in NSW, Australia. In 2011 she moved to Forest Reefs NSW and settled on nine acres with her husband and young family.
Aria completed her Enrolled Endorsed Nursing studies over a year ago, while completing this course the idea for Fall From Grace came to her. This dream was put on hold till she finished her studies and settled into her new life in Forest Reefs.
Aria travels to a residential care facility and cares for the disabled during the day and at night enjoys her passion of writing YA and paranormal romances. In her spare time she loves to play with her five Siberian huskies who give her great joy.
Aria enjoys late night walks with her husband and family dinners involving her parents, four other siblings, their partners and her niece and nephews.
The inspiration for her writing comes from her four children, who never give her any quiet time but she would not change this for the world.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Heavenly Hell (Heavenly Hell Book 1) Page 18