Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1)

by Tara Benham

  Table of Contents

  Falling

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  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

  Epilogue

  Copyright © 2016 Benham Books, LLC

  All rights reserved.

  First Edition

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, recording, or otherwise without the prior express permission of the author except as provided by USA Copyright Law. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted work is illegal. Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  This book is a work of fiction and does not represent any individual, living, or dead. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, or events is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means - for example, electronic, photocopy, recording - without the prior written permission of the author.

  ISBN-13: 978-1530873807

  ISBN-10: 1530873800

  Cover Design: Starla Huchton

  Formatting: Athena Interior Book Design and Cover Me Darling

  Editing: Jessica Valliere

  This book is dedicated to: My sister and my niece. For all the laughs you two provide. I love you!

  Special shout out to Kristen G for the motivation.

  To my tribe Amy, Meg, Paulette, Jenn and Kristen B., thank you all for the assistance and comical relief while finishing this story “BongBong”.

  Amy, thank you. More than words can say, Thank you!

  Kimberly—loud shout out…You know why!!!

  To Jessica V. and Peggy N. for the amount of effort you applied to edit this book because we all know sometimes the words and grammar can be hard for me.

  To Hollywood Undead, Breaking Benjamin, Abandon All Ships, X Ambassadors, Adele, Starset, Five Hundredth Year, Chris Stapleton and Imagine Dragons. You are the soundtrack to this story.

  And finally to those reading this now, thank you the most. I can write all day, but without you reading it wouldn’t do much good, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  Please enjoy! God Bless!

  It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. ~Buddha

  Throughout history there have been events that have shaped the way humans learn and grow. I have been a part of almost every major catastrophic event that has occurred on Earth, since the times of Noah. My first assignment was during the destruction of Pompeii. Since then I have seen the collapse of the Roman government, the ending of the dark ages, even the sinking of the Titanic. My assignments are never the same. Sometimes I am there to ensure that everything goes as planned in order for events to line up correctly and things stay on course. Sometimes I’m there to save the life or lives of those who are meant to play a major part in the evolution of history. And then sometimes I’m just there to be the first face seen by those who do not survive. I’m the only Soul Collector Angel, and with years of experience, I have learned to be excellent. To date, I have a perfect record for successful completion of missions. Recently, I had a break, which was nice because sometimes these assignments can be taxing, both emotionally and mentally. However, as of yesterday I was given a new assignment notification. The letter stated I was to be given the details for my new assignment later today and needed to meet with the Head Council for instructions. The letter was more formal than the normal call of duty letters I receive. I assumed the formality meant that the assignment would be a special one. The Head Council was made up of the Elders, who were the elite leaders of all angels. The Elders made sure things were just so, and if I was going to have to meet with them I needed to look more professional than usual. I was trying to decide what outfit to wear when my roommate, Aniston, came crashing into my room, landing on my bed.

  We weren’t allowed to choose who our roommates were while we were single and active in duty positions. If we were, I can assure you that I would never have picked Aniston. She was a Delivery Angel for the newborn humans going to Earth. She was a constant loop of unnatural happiness. I think the Elders thought her happiness would help balance out the effects of my job; however, I usually just found her to be annoying. The Elders were always concerned about the macabre aspects of my job. They feared I would start to get depressed or have a warped sense in regards to human lives. I, on the other hand, think it helped me stay connected to humanity yet also remain detached from the human subjects...seeing that they will all die at some point in time. When you have to make decisions like the ones required in my line of work, you cannot get attached to any of them. It would lead to heartbreak and possible errors when completing a mission. Aniston always says that makes me sound distant, I feel like it makes me sound prepared. She could afford to be attached though, her assignments were the beginnings, they were the snuggly little human babies just preparing for life, mine dealt with the endings of life.

  “So, Bayla what’s the word on the new assignment?” She made herself quite at home on my bed, propping her feet against the wall.

  “I haven’t heard anything yet because I haven’t had the meeting. Speaking of which, should I wear one of the white, formal dresses? Or just a basic suit?” I chose to ignore the fact that she knew about my meeting, even though I hadn’t told anyone. She must have read the letter, which could get her suspended from her duties if I let it slip that she was snooping on secret business.

  “Definitely the formal dress,” replied Aniston, still unfazed that I was giving her death glares for her continued presence. “You must be super excited. All my assignments are the same, take a baby and deliver it safely to it’s new guardians. The most exciting job I had was two weeks ago when I had to have extra security to deliver that little boy to a family on Earth in a place called Kentucky. I had four of the Blue Angels tag along for that delivery.”

  While she was speaking about the antics of the Blue Angels, I was figuring the math in my head..., two weeks for us was about nineteen years for the humans on Earth. What would it be like to constantly live in a place where time was so different? I suppose it would feel the same to them, as our time feels to us. Hearing rustling of my sheets, I came back to attention. I realized she had moved to a seated position on my bed and was staring at me as if she was waiting for me for to answer some unheard question.

  “What? I was tuned out again, I’m sorry.” Tuning out people was a skill which I had perfected while on missions. Humans could be very mundane in their conversational skills.

  She sighed, “I said, you’d better get dressed, you have fifteen minutes before you�
��re late for your meeting.”

  I was still slipping my shoes on as I was rushing out the door. I am normally very punctual but something about being around Aniston causes me to be late. I am sure she could find a positive with that too, but I just found it to be an unwanted side effect to having her as a roommate. The meeting house was only a few blocks away and the closer I got, the more nervous I became. It was a formidable building from the outside. It had tall wooden doors, with handles that were taller than me. It was the place where the Elders held meetings, gave counsel when necessary, and where I was about to be given an assignment that I was certain would be more complex or important than all of my previous ones had been. I decided I needed to give myself a pep talk before entering so that I could present as confident in front of the Elders. Just as I stopped outside the door, taking a deep breath in preparation to enter, when Father Paul opened it and gave me a quick greeting.

  “Good to see you Bayla. This is truly a matter of importance. We must get started at once. Let’s head towards the main meeting room. They’re waiting for us.” He was ushering me through the hallways, walking as he spoke to me.

  In Heaven, there were very few jobs that required more than one angel to be in the same position. Aniston was one of many Delivery Angels because of the amount of babies the Earth families were having daily. The Blue Angels were a group of elite angels who were trained for battle and provided security. And there were several Father Angels who served the rest of the angels. Father Paul was my favorite when it came to receiving assignments. He always looked as though he had some secret he was in on, but couldn’t share. He provided one of the few outlets of joy in my job, and I appreciated him for keeping me grounded. Other angels my age speculated that he was always so happy because he was excited to be in the Angel Commission, or AC as we called it, even though he was of human birth many years ago. I didn’t care what the reason was; I just knew my nervousness immediately melted when I saw his face trying to hide a grin as we headed towards the meeting room.

  “Father Paul, do you know what my assignment is this time?” I knew asking him would prove futile, as he wouldn’t break any commands given, to withhold information.

  “I do, my child. But it is best if the Elders tell you.” He winked, trying to reassure me.

  In hopes of settling my nerves, I tried to relax my hands at my sides, mimicking what Father Paul was doing. He had calmness radiating off of him, which I was trying to soak up. As we were rounding the corner to the meeting room, I heard the chatter of more than a few angels. In the hallway in front of me, there was a group of Blues waiting outside of the meeting room. The group included Aniston’s crush, Hadraniel, a Blue-In-Training. Seeing that many Blues at once was frightening, to say the least; they were built bigger than the average angel, and had an air of power about them. My steps faltered some, but Father Paul kindly placed his hand on my shoulder and continued to lead me towards the meeting hall.

  “Hey Bayla!” Hadraniel called out as I passed, which gained him a few glares from the Elder Blues. Had was in the same age group as Aniston and myself. He was handsome enough, I suppose. All of the Blues were handsome, with strong jaws and masculine features, but Hadraniel still had some softness to his face compared to the rest of them. He had nice blue eyes which was the sign of a Blue Angel, but he had lighter brown hair than the rest. He was very tall and strong, just as one would expect from a Blue. Even being a “Baby Blue”, as the Elders called them, he knew better than to have spoken to me. I gave a quick wave, and a smirk as I passed. I noticed he looked sheepish at my response, but all thoughts were gone once the doors opened. Even some of the Elder Blues gasped at the sight that was behind the doors. It wasn’t just the Elders in the room but the head angel, Elder Michael, was present as well. There was absolute silence as we all stood outside of the doors awaiting invitation to enter the room. Elder Michael only appeared for top level occasions. He was intimidating, to the say the least.

  “Please come in and take your seat.” His voice seemed to boom. He was standing at the center of the head table, surrounded by the other Elders, all of whom were standing as well.

  Father Paul had to push me a little to get me to move. I think my brain had forgotten how to tell my feet to move. The table that was meant for Father Paul and me was at the front of the room with the Blue Angels scattered behind us randomly in chairs. We were all still completely silent as we took our seats except for the occasional scraping of chair legs against the floor. Michael continued to stand and take survey of us all, stopping to nod his head at someone behind me. The silence was broken somewhat, as whoever he nodded to closed the meeting rooms doors.

  “Bayla” His voiced boomed once again. “You have proven yourself time and again to be proficient at your job which is why the Elders have decided that you are the best angel for this highly classified mission. In four human weeks there will be a cataclysmic earthquake in the land the humans call Kentucky. We have to send you there to ensure that Gray Ellison makes it out alive and safe. This earthquake is set to cause massive damage to the layout of the land, so you will need to get far away with Gray. At present moment, we cannot tell you the reason why Mr. Ellison is of such importance. All you need to know is that he must remain alive and safe for the mission to be successful.”

  Elder Michael kept constant eye contact with me for the full announcement of the assignment. I could only hear him, everything else seemed to disappear. I felt like my heart was in my throat, but I made sure to maintain eye contact and nod at appropriate times so as not to have my internal fear show outwardly. I have dealt with all kinds of events that were of importance. I have saved humans before, but something about this assignment felt ominous to me. Never had Elder Michael, or any other Elder’s for that matter, specifically assigned me a mission that required that only one human survived. I was focusing on his words and maintaining a steady breathing pattern. When he had finished speaking, he excused himself to speak in private with the Elder Blue. I turned towards Father Paul, who to his credit managed to give me a smile, even though he looked nervous for me too.

  “I was told to have you stay after the meeting to meet with the Elder Blue.” Hadraniel said, coming up behind me as I was walking towards the exit with Father Paul. “I was asked to wait around as well, but I don’t know why. Are you nervous, Bay?”

  “Bayla” I corrected, “And yes, I’m nervous, but I’ll be fine once the mission starts. I have a perfect record, so I’ll be okay. I’ve had to save humans in other missions before, so I’m not too concerned. I just need the handout and materials so I can prepare.”

  “Bayla, I’m Zeke, the Elder Blue Angel. Elder Michael informed me that due to the nature of the mission, we will need to send a Blue with you. Before you say anything, as he told me you would try to protest, I’m to let you know you have no choice. This is his strict command. After reviewing the needs, it was decided that for mission purposes, Hadraniel will accompany you. He fits the appropriate look and age needed to make this go as smoothly as possible.”

  I slid my eyes over towards Hadraniel who seemed to be as shocked as I was at his assignment. I looked back at Zeke who had a slight smirk that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He nodded his goodbye as I continued to stand there trying to process that I would have to work with someone. I had never been on a mission with anyone. Even on my first mission four years ago, for the destruction of Pompeii, I worked alone. Hadraniel had enough sense, as well as the courtesy, to not say anything to me while I worked through how I would make do with this news. I took a calming breath, said a quick prayer, and then placed a smile on my face before turning to face Had.

  “Well, let’s go pick up our mission folders so we can start planning. We have to head out soon.” He nodded, indicating for me to lead the way.

  The files were kept at the Blue’s headquarters, which was a short walk from where we were. Hadraniel tried to make small talk for a while, but I was tuning out. I needed to figure out how I could k
eep him out of my way while completing the mission, but not get into trouble for not utilizing him in the way I’m sure Elder Michael was expecting. Working alone was one of the best parts of this job assignment, so why would they give me the assignment of a lifetime, then change the way I was going to have to try to complete it?

  Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together. ~James Cash Penney

  Hadraniel and I made plans to meet at the center of the park, two hours after getting our mission files. This would allow us time to review all the information before we discussed what we each felt should be our first steps. I had decided on the public meeting area for two reasons: one being that members of the opposite sex were not allowed in private living spaces with each other unless so assigned; and two, I would never have heard the end of it from Aniston. I already knew it was going to be bad once she found out that I would be spending such a large amount of time with him one-on-one, even if it was for a mission and not by choice. Aniston has had the biggest crush on Hadraniel for as long as I have known her. I felt like I knew him already with as much as she has talked about him while living with me.

  I was sitting down with my notes when I saw the shadow of Hadraniel’s form creep over me. I shielded my eyes slightly to look up at him standing there, and he was grinning ear to ear. With the sun playing behind him, I could see why Aniston was crushing on him. He seemed to be glowing, which was funny seeing as we were angels.

  “You ready to have a great meeting of the minds?” He bowed before taking the seat across from me. He was super silly, which was making it hard for me to begrudge his presence.

  “I am if you are. I thought since I was more prepared for these things that I would review my notes with you first, and if you have any suggestions we can talk about them afterwards.”

  He simply nodded in agreement.

  Looking at his files, I noticed he had made some fairly extensive notes. I wasn’t sure if I was more impressed or nervous at the idea of having to share this mission with someone else. However, it seemed he might be somewhat of an asset. Since I started this job four years ago at fifteen, I have never worked with anyone. There was another angel that could do the job because my predecessor, Dabria, was still capable. Dabria had worked with her predecessor Karis, an Elder. Karis was killed during one of their missions, leading the other Elders to make the decision that Soul Collectors would be a solitary job. After the death of Karis, and then having to see the destruction of Earth during Noah’s time, Dabria asked to step down. I asked her once why, and she told me she could still hear the screaming of all the people who perished from the Earth flooding. The job came with so much tragedy, but it wasn’t all bad all the time. She had fun stories too. She told me about getting to judge which of the dinosaurs would survive, such as the animal now called an alligator. And of course the sea mammal the humans call the Loch Ness monster. She giggled about that choice when she talked about it. She said that the Elders weren’t very pleased with her for that but because the animal stays mostly hidden, they decided to let it stay around. She was never tasked to train me or give me any trade secrets. On the day of my fifteenth birthday, I was called forth and sent to Pompeii with my mission folder only. I had to learn quickly, but once I figured out my style I was ready. It was an adrenaline rush to do these missions. The Elders were concerned that I would get depressed like the prior angel, but in all honesty, I loved it.