Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1)

by Tara Benham

  “Shall we head upstairs to let the fun that is packing begin?” I smiled, hoping to continue to ease her fear of me.

  She nodded that she was ready. “Does he know?

  “Know what?”

  “That you’re an Angel. I mean, you had your wings out in the open like you weren’t concerned if he saw them? Wait...is he an Angel too? Is Had an Angel too?”

  “Yes Declan knows I am an Angel. I shouldn’t have had my wings out, but they just were aching to be stretched. I’m sorry they scared you. Declan is most definitely not an Angel, and yes, Hadraniel is…was…an Angel too.”

  “Can I touch your wings? They are beautiful. I think I was more in awe of them than truly frightened.”

  “Unfortunately, you can’t touch my wings. I’m sorry.”

  “Why, is it bad luck?”

  “No,” I shook my head before I continued, “Nothing like that. They’re just tender, and touching them could be a little overstimulating.”

  “Can I ask one more Angel question before we start packing your clothes? Are all Angel’s wings white like that?”

  I grinned proudly. “No. My wings are very unique. My roommate’s wings are white, but they have speckles of brown and black throughout them.”

  “Do you know why yours are different?”

  I frowned. I had never thought of them as different. I had been conceited in my thinking actually. I had been proud that they were so beautiful. I thought they were special. “No, I hadn’t put much thought into it.”

  “Are you in trouble for telling me?”

  “Yes, but that’s a choice I made when I asked you.”

  “I hate for you to get in trouble for me.” She tossed me a bag to put the stuff I was folding into as she sorted what she thought I would need and wouldn’t need for the weekend.

  While she wasn’t looking, I put the folders from the mission into the bottom of the bag. I needed to make sure they went with me, so I could debrief if I survived, and if I didn’t, they needed to be easily located by whomever was sent to collect them. She was packing clothes that could be layered because we weren’t sure how cold the valley would get in the evenings. We would only be there for one night, but I didn’t want to bring this up right now. I wasn’t sure what time the earthquake was going to happen, only that it was going to be Saturday. We had planned to be camping until Sunday so I knew we would be in the area whenever it happened. We worked in silence until we had packed all my clothes, toiletries and such. We were also able to pile the sleeping bags, tents, lanterns and cooking essentials Had, Declan and I had gotten on the shopping trip. That seemed to have been ages ago, not just five short days ago.

  “Is that everything?” Hannah plopped down on the couch.

  “I do believe so.” I took the chair across from her, “Hopefully Declan gets Alissa’s car tomorrow. I am really not looking forward to having to carry all of that.”

  She giggled. “I wouldn’t be either.”

  “Hannah, why was it so easy to believe me?” It was something I had been dying to ask her since our first conversation about her helping me.

  “I don’t know. You seemed sincere. Besides, if you were lying, you sounded entirely too crazy to contradict, especially being in the cottage alone with you.”

  “UH!” I giggled as I tossed a couch pillow at her.

  “Must be nice to be such lazy bums.”

  Whack! We both had direct hits to Declan’s head with pillows after his bold statement.

  “Hey! That’s not fair. Two against one.”

  “I’ll have you know. We are taking a much needed break, which we earned, if I do say so myself. And I do say so.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

  “Here! Here!” I cheered, sharing my agreement with her statement.

  He shook his head looking somewhat bewildered. “Well, I got all the water and food stowed. What else is on the list?” He’d sat down at the foot of the couch where Hannah was lying.

  I looked at him hoping that he could see I didn’t really want to tell him in front of Hannah. I actually didn’t want to tell him either. How could I ask him to help me practice my fighting skills, when it could be him I ended up fighting? How could I practice without help though? I couldn’t sword fight alone; I could only practice evasion techniques, kicking and striking the air.

  “I can tell she’s hiding something. What do you think, Hannah?”

  She sat up beside Declan, hand on her chin and observed me. I tried to keep a straight face, but Declan moved to mimic her, making me laugh.

  “I think you are right, dear Declan.” Hannah declared, her eyes alight with laughter.

  “This is a serious situation, you two. Maybe I am hiding something because I don’t think either of you could, or should have to help with what I need to do next. That’s what Had was supposed to do.” My shoulders dropped some at the thought of Had. The ache was all over, not just in my heart. I wished Father Paul could’ve given me information about him.

  “Bayla, at this point is there any reason to not tell us?” I looked up at Hannah and saw such earnestness in her eyes. I had made this her mission too.

  “I need to train.” I glanced at Declan from the side of my eyes. “Like full on, hardcore train.”

  His face went serious. “Then let’s train. I can help. It’ll help each of us to know the other’s weaknesses.”

  If Hannah caught on to what was being said, she didn’t let on. I had told her Declan wasn’t an Angel, but I hadn’t said he was a human either. I didn’t want her to necessarily be afraid of him, but if she found out he was a demon, and on the side that did not want Gray to survive, she would not be very happy with me for allowing him to join in the planning of the camping trip. Or the event at all for that matter. It was a fine line between knowing and not. I decided that unless she directly asked, I wouldn’t bring it up.

  “Do we have wooden swords?”

  “We can use sticks.”

  “If you say so.” I smirked at the thought of fighting with sticks. When we were trained in battle techniques as young Angels, we first used wooden swords and then moved to hard plastic ones, before advancing to the real things. We had to be able to fight and lift real swords in order to pass our training. Hadraniel had been the best in our class with Aniston being the worst. Even at her worst, she was still good enough to have passed.

  “Hannah, would you like to judge this battle please?”

  “I wouldn’t know how to tell who won.”

  “You will.” We spoke at the same time.

  She shook her head at us but agreed. We headed to the back of the cottage to an area that was decently cleared. Declan scanned the wood line for similarly sized and shaped sticks. He brought back two that were thin enough to hold and maneuver, but were thick enough they shouldn’t break easily and would be felt if we got hit by them. I took hold of mine and gave a few quick movements to get used to the balance and feel. It was different than the swords that I would have hidden in the valley and bigger than the one that I would be storing in my boots, but I could manage.

  “You ready, Bay?” He sort of snarled. He looked hungry to battle me.

  “You better believe it.” I grinned.

  He stepped forward, presenting the first defensive move. I stepped to the right and struck his arm. He winced and backed out of reach. He presented again, this time stepping opposite of what I had expected, and he was able to strike my thigh. It was painful, but not unbearable. In a real match, it would definitely give him the advantage more than my arm strike would have. We continued this dance for a while, one of us advancing and taking turns landing strikes. Towards the end, he was beginning to show fatigue. I stepped towards the right as he advanced, but at the last minute, I pivoted into his reach and was able to tag his chest. I pulled back making sure not to truly injure him.

  “Bayla wins with a heart strike!” Hannah clapped until realization struck her. “You’re training for a real fight, aren’t you?” Both Declan, and I turned
towards her. Grim faces met her stare as she awaited an answer. “Are y’all going to be fighting each other?” I could see she gulped.

  “Not necessarily.” I didn’t want to lie so I answered as honest as possible without giving away too much. “Shall we continue?” I glanced towards Declan.

  “No, I don’t think there’s much you need to learn. Practicing too much can fatigue you. Maybe you need to go with Hannah and do something fun, like see a movie or shop, or whatever girls do.” He was not happy that I won, but he didn’t seem angry either.

  “I think that sounds like a wonderful idea! Bayla?” She seemed eager to do anything that would get her away from this awkward situation.

  “I suppose a movie wouldn’t hurt. We would still have time to come back and finish up things, and I might be able to get a few more hours of training in before bedtime. It helps clear my head.”

  Hannah clapped, jumped off the tree stump she had been perched on and followed behind us into the cottage. I quickly showered and changed for the movies. At the top of the steps, Declan caught me. He wanted to make sure he hadn’t bruised me or injured me in anyway. I had to reassure him several times before he would let me go. I told him I would be back before dark to do some more training. He simply nodded and headed into Hadraniel’s room. Downstairs, Hannah was waiting for me.

  “Let’s go watch some silly meaningless chick flick or comedy. Maybe it’ll help clear your mind and let you relax some.”

  “You choose, I’ll watch.” I responded. I haven’t really ever been into movies, but it might prove to be a good distraction.

  We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. ~Maya Angelou

  Those few hours of relaxation did wonders. Hannah had picked out some comedy full of nonsense that allowed us both to forget the impending events, even if just for a moment. After the movie, we headed over for a late lunch with Gray at the café. Gray was in good spirits and glad to see Hannah back. We regaled him with the silliness from the movie and created a story about needing some girl time before spending a whole weekend with the boys, Sadie and Alissa to explain her coming back to the cottage with me. She drove at a slow pace to give us time to enjoy the last few minutes of the fun we’d had this afternoon. Pulling up to the cottage, I noticed Alissa’s car was gone.

  “Hopefully that means Declan isn’t home. That way I can get some more physical training in. I really need to be up on my game.”

  “Why do you need to fight, Bayla? Or should I ask who?”

  “I can’t tell you. I’m sorry. If you want to go home and spend the evening alone, or with Gray, I understand.” I checked out the cottage, and Declan was nowhere to be found.

  “No, I promised to help. Let me help you train.”

  “Ok, but this could get interesting!”

  To keep from hurting her, I had her put on multiple layers of clothes from Had’s room. I promised to keep from striking her at full force, but she wasn’t having any of it. She held her finger up, indicating for me to wait where I was, while she ran back inside. When she emerged from the cottage, she had taped pillows around her arms, legs and waist. It took some time for me to regain my composure enough to stop laughing. She looked like a marshmallow or poorly made doll. She picked up her stick and mimicked the en-garde stance that fencers used during fighting. I returned the stance and grinned.

  She circled, doing what she had watched Declan do earlier this morning. I had instructed her in the way to hold the sword which would allow me to get the best training, then proceeded to have her circle me, stepping and out at random times. She was a quick learner, and before long was providing me a decent challenge for a beginner. I learned that even though she was little, she was fast. She had good evasive moves, and she was making me think outside of the box. She might have provided me better training than Declan. His motivation was to strike while hers was to avoid getting hit. I had to get creative in my approach. I started taking fake-out steps, backward strikes and sneak attacks when possible.

  “Okay, okay….I need a break. My pillow armor isn’t as effective as it had been.” She was breathing heavy and chuckling. She plopped down, using the pillows as cushions to rest on.

  “That’s fine. I think I’m good to go anyways. You were really making me change how I think when I’m battling. Honestly, it helped a lot. Thank you.”

  “It was quite fun actually. I’m glad I could be of help. What else do we need to do?” She wasn’t even looking at me, as she spoke.

  “There is something I do need to do without Declan, if you want to accompany me.”

  “Let’s do it, I mean I’m officially a pro swordsman… swordswoman?”

  “Swordswoman sounds great!” I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed this much during a mission. Or ever, for that matter. “I need to hide my two real swords somewhere in the valley.”

  “What if you can’t get to them?” She sat up, stretching as if she was achy.

  “I will have one hidden on me at all times, but it’s small, and I need to have the bigger ones somewhere easily accessible.”

  “Well, we better head over there soon then before it gets too dark.”

  “Care to walk? I don’t want to give away where we are, just in case. I think I found a shortcut anyway.” I asked, as I reached down to pull her up from the ground.

  “Sure, why not. I’m feeling more rested now than I was, especially since I used my pillow armor as an outdoor bed.” She giggled again, waving her still covered arms and legs.

  “Let me just go get the swords, and we’ll be on our way.” I ran upstairs, lifted my mattress, and noticed that only one of the swords were under there. I put the mattress down in confusion. I lifted it again thinking maybe I just overlooked it, but it was gone. Frowning, I headed over to Had’s room to see if I had left his under his bed and just thought I had moved it. I lifted his mattress, but it was gone too. Where in the world could the second sword have gone? I met Hannah outside with the one sword. “I cannot find the second sword. Declan has had to have taken it. There’s no other explanation.”

  “Why would he take your sword?”

  “I don’t really know. I don’t have time to deal with that though. We need to get to the valley.”

  “Lead the way. You’re the one that knows the shortcut.”

  We chatted about her parents and her childhood as we followed the creek to the falls. There was a lot of love for her family and this town. Occasionally I heard sadness seep into her voice, but then she quickly hid it.

  The last time I went to the valley, when I was checking out the chance of the valley flooding, I noticed a way down that wouldn’t be too treacherous if taken slowly. As we neared the falls, I could hear that the water seemed to have slowed down some from the last time. I wasn’t sure why, since it had seemed to have sped up due to the tremor last Saturday, but I was following Father Paul’s command of not asking why.

  “There’s a path leading down this hill. We’ll have to go slow, but it shouldn’t be too bad.”

  I pointed where it started, just on the other side of the tree where we had stopped. She nodded. I took the sword that she had been carrying so that she would have both her hands free to climb down as needed. I headed down first to allow her to follow my footsteps. It took some time and some pretty nimble movements, but we finally made it into the valley, right beside the falls where the cave was hidden.

  “So where are we hiding this thing?”

  “I don’t know for certain. I do know where we are not hiding it though. There’s a cave behind those falls, and I want to use that as a potential hiding place for you all. Which would make that a bad place to hide his lovely piece of steel.”

  “What about in an abandoned tree somewhere?”

  “Maybe. Let’s head over to the meadow where we will be camping and see if we find something on the way there.”

  There was a lot of activity in the meadow this afternoon. The songs of the birds helped ease my worry that Meph migh
t be around. Animals seemed to be aware when demons were in their presence and quit making noises. I had used this to my advantage before to make sure I stayed in my lane when collecting souls. Hannah was taking in the sights of the area as this was her first time in the valley. She seemed in awe of the place, turning every so often, making sure to drink it all in.

  “I can see why Ollie loved to observe the area. There’s so much beauty to take in.” My interest was piqued at the mention of Oliver. I hoped she would freely offer more information. “He loved nature, and there are a lot of different sights here. You would have loved Ollie.”

  “I’m sad I never got to meet him. He must have been special.”

  “He was. I’m glad we are camping here. It’s a beautiful way to honor him, and almost poetic that it’s the last place we’ll be when the rest of the town is destroyed.” She seemed almost shocked at her words. “I’m sorry to be so morose.”

  “Don’t apologize. It’s your right to be sad, mad, upset, morose, however you choose to feel.”

  “How do you do it? Keep yourself so calm?”

  “It’s just a part of my job. I’m used to death and destruction. Not to change the subject, but what about this tree? Think it’ll work?” I picked up the sword to see if it would be hidden inside the crevice of the trunk. It fit well, and when we circled around from all angles, it remained hidden from sight. “I think this will do.”

  “What should we do now?” Hannah asked.

  “We still have a few hours before darkness falls. Let’s go explore the cave to see if it’s just a small opening or if it leads to other places.”

  “Oh, an adventure. Sounds fun! I wish we had flashlights with us.”