The Stars Forbade Us
by Holly Wentz
Ailya has just died, again; leaving another mortal life lived relatively good but far from pure and not always virtuous. She is returning to the Gray City, a large metropolis located at the Crossing where those like her, not exactly evil just not going to Heaven, live alongside true hell spirits. Many of those spirits are trying to get past the hellhounds that guard the gate into the physical world and she must wait a period of time before attempting the Crossing again. Aliya is a Nephilim, a forbidden child of a fallen angel and a human woman. As a youth before the Great Flood, when her father reigned as a god-king, she met and fell in love with a true angel, Ezi, who was unaware of her heritage until he sought permission from God to marry her. After he is denied and given full disclosure of what she is, he confronts her and leaves in anger. But Aliya is offered an opportunity from God to repent and be redeemed. She must live one truly virtuous mortal life and she will be...