by Inez Kelley
To me, villains were always far more interesting than heroes. When I set out to combine my multiple love of history and romance, I delved into the research. I didn’t want to rewrite history so much as to know why and how it came about. No human being is without flaws and no one without redeeming qualities. That is what I hope to show in this series.
I set my story in motion before the dawn of historical recording and ended the Awoken selection before modern artistry or photography for a reason. The mind is a much better image creator than paint or film. I wanted the reader to be able to picture my characters without the influence of someone else. Even the last Forsaken, Dray, is physically an unknown. The most well known ‘images’ of him were created after his death and no two match completely.
That isn’t to say I didn’t come up against some iron-clad facts. History may be fickle, but it is all we have as a record keeping source. I tried to stay as true to those ‘truths’ as I could. Dray had deep-set, dark green eyes and was a sadist. Rex had dark blond hair, blue eyes and an insatiable sexual appetite. Vike really did have sixteen brothers and, yes, he killed eleven of them. He was also hen-pecked and ruled by his wife, the Mother of Kings.
I was able to take more liberties with Zale, Myth and Nomad, but even they have accepted ‘facts’ based in folklore and I kept as much of the common beliefs as I could. In the same vein, I drew from several religions and there is no one correct way to interpret The Creator of All.
I spent two years researching, crafting this world and its mythos, and wondering how these historically renown evil men dealt with love. And they were so bad, so violent, what better way to redeem them than to force them to fight for the good of mankind? But, of course, I had to let them do it their way.
The book, and the entire series, spawned from two different conversations with two very different groups of women. Thank you, Romance Divas and TKers! The Rat Chatters are a collective of zany, nutty, utterly crazy people who have kept me mostly sane while writing this and I could never have done it without them. A huge thank you to those who beta read for me, who nitpicked and nagged. I adore you.
Thanks to Denise Grover Swank, Zoe York, and Lanie Jordan, who have been my publishing gurus and held my cyber hand many times while on this venture.
-Inez Kelley
Forsaken Cheat Sheet
AWOKEN – Gift of Second Life bestowed by a Vangeli through the Breath of Life. The Awoken body is brought back to life with full memories and consciousness, although the original body has been destroyed. All illnesses or wounds are healed, physical imperfections corrected, and the soul restored. All self-intended marks, such as tattoos or markings, are recreated. There are two groups of Awoken on the side of Good:
FORSAKEN – Mortals Awoken by Josiel (Sela) to serve on the earthly plane and fight against the Third rising. The title comes from her choice to Awaken those souls best remembered in history for their evil deeds, those who were vilified and despised. She could only Awaken seventy-seven and has reached that limit. The most Forsaken living at one time numbered thirty-four. Now they stand at six.
RIGHTEOUS – Mortals Awoken by Michael to serve on the heavenly plane and fight against the Third rising. The title comes from his choice to Awaken those souls best remembered in history for their heroic deeds, those who were praised and celebrated. He could only Awaken seventy-seven and has reached that limit. The most living Righteous at one time numbered seventy-two. Now they stand at sixty-seven.
AWOKEN VOWS – Sworn pledge made by those Awoken. “I, NAME OF AWOKEN, do swear by my blood and my soul to obey you, NAME OF AWAKING VANGELI, under the Creator of All, to use all of my wits and strength to defeat those who would destroy all good. I kneel before you and accept your Mark. I vow to fight the horde of evil, to defend those whose blood sings to me, and to guard my brethren from all harm.”
BARZAKH – (Arabic: برزخ), a term that appears in the Qur'an Surah 23, Ayat 100. Unlike the Christian idea of purgatory, it is merely a deep soul sleep, without conscious awareness. All souls who suffer First Death go to Barzakh to await final Judgment at the End of Days, unless they have been Awoken for another purpose.
BREATH OF LIFE – The instance of rebirth or transfiguration administered by a higher being breathing to a lifeless form. Example: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Holy Bible, Genesis 2:7, NIV.
CAKE – Informal slang term adopted by the Forsaken to mean a mortal who has been Tasted but not transformed into a Soul-Leech. Derivative of “Tasty Cake/Tasty Kake.”
CHERUBIM – Foot soldiers in Heaven, the masses. Evil equivalent – Soul-Leeches.
CHIEF – Highest rank and most powerful of Fallen Vachangelus who rallied behind Samael and now serve him on the earthly plane. Heavenly equivalent – Archangel. Names: Ramiel, Ashmedai, Tamiel, Zaqiel, Barachiel, and Naamah.
CREATOR OF ALL – In any of his thousands of names and faiths, i.e. God, Father, Lord, Ra, Apollo, Allah, The Great Spirit, Dha-shi-zhi, Akongo, Eloi, etc.
DREGS – Where collected soul-dust of vanquished Soul-Leeches await beneath the Forsaken compound.
END OF DAYS – Judgment Day, when all souls in Barzakh will be awoken by the Creator of All.
EYTS VANGELUS – Tree of Angels – Recorded by the Watchers, this is a genealogical lineage of all mortals born from the union of male Vangelus and mortal women.
FIRST DEATH – Death of the mortal body. For those not Awoken, this is the beginning of Barzakh.
FORSAKEN MARK – Sela’s handprint, divinely burned between their shoulder blades as a reminder they are to guard each other’s backs. The Mark tingles when a Soul-Leech is near and acts as a link, alerting each Awoken when Sela calls them or when one of them has fallen or is gravely injured.
GĒHANNĀ – Yiddish (g'hehn-uh) or Gehinnom Hebrew (g'hee-nohm) – A place of spiritual punishment and/or purification. It is often referred to as Valley of the Son of Hinnom or valley of the wicked. Followers of various Ba’als and Canaanite gods used this place as a sacrificial burning field and offered their children to the gods. In Jewish, Christian, and Islamic scripture, Gehenna is a destination of the wicked. It is translated into “HELL” in most Christian texts.
GLEANERS – Invisible Vangelus who gather mortal soul-dust when a mortal dies. They transport this dust to the sacred wall, where the soul waits in Barzakh in crystal boxes.
H2Q – Handler Headquarters.
HANDLER – On Earth, the Forsaken have created a false security company to help hide their identities and activities, Black Handle Security. Handlers are what they call each other within earshot of mortals.
HA-SATAN – The Accuser/The Adversary. The first Vangeli created in Heaven, Samael. Once considered the Prince of Heaven, he ruled above The Patricius and was second only to the Creator of All. He was not originally conceived as evil. Greed and arrogance led him to organize a revolt in Heaven. All his followers were cast out.
IMMUNITY – A natural resistance that builds in the soul after being Tasted by a Soul-Leech. It requires forty-days to reach maximum protection levels but then renders the Tasted impervious to change.
IRIN/WATCHERS – Often called Nephilim (Holy Bible, Genesis 6:1-4) - Offspring of a male Vangeli and a mortal woman. The Book of Enoch says the Irin were “savage giants who pillaged the earth and endangered humanity”. They were bound ‘in the valleys of the Earth’ and became the Watchers. Watchers view their rape-begotten lines through a mystic well and record each birth and death in the Eyts Vangelus.
KARETH – (derived from the Hebrew verb karat ‘to cut off’) - In Rabbinical literature it is the extinction of the soul. If soul-dust is not returned to the Sacred Wall or collected by an Awoken, it is equivalent to that soul being erased. There is no recovery from Kareth.
LEAP – Physically transferring one’s body from one location to another with a thought. Leaping can cover great distances but it is
impossible to Leap into a man-made structure. Once inside, one can Leap at will but cannot Leap to the outside.
MINION – A Scion who has been Awoken by Samael or one of his Chiefs and now serve evil. Heavenly equivalent – Seraphim.
SACRED NICHE – Resting place in The Hall of Infamy for the soul-dust of fallen Forsaken
SACRED VAULT – Guarded center of the Sacred Wall where Scion soul-dust is housed.
SACRED WALL – Location in Paradise where mortal souls await the End of Days. As Earth-bound warriors, the Forsaken have their own version of the Sacred Wall, located beneath their compound called the DREGS.
SATAN – The embodiment of evil. Once called The Ha-Satan, Samael was the first Vangeli created. Also called: the devil, Kölski, Shaitan, Mephistopheles, Baphomet, Iblis, Ahpuch, Cimeries, O-Yama, Set, and various other names throughout time.
SCION – Mortals who carry the blood of Vangelus. Most bloodlines have died out but a few still remain. Scion souls can be transformed through torture after First death. If they swear allegiance to Samael, they are Awoken as Minions.
SCIONIM – Descended from one of the Seven, only Scionim can be transformed into Chiefs.
*Note: Presently, there are only two known Scionim alive, Lacy and Annie Cooper.*
SERAPHIM – Heaven’s military guards. Evil equivalent – Minions.
SOUL-DUST – The physical remains of the mortal soul upon First Death. Invisible to the mortal eyes, gathered by the Gleaners unless intervention from Samael’s forces or Vangelus.
SOUL-LEECH/LEECHES – Mortal souls who have been transformed by evil and now serve Samael. The lowest tier of his stolen army. Heavenly equivalent – Cherubim.
TASTED – When a Soul-leech attempts to enthrall a mortal soul but is interrupted before harm was done, the mortal is then called Tasted. This triggers Immunity into development.
The equivalent is the RIGHTEOUS MARK, stemming from Michael’s handprint on his group’s chest, a reminder to stay true to their Awoken Vows.
THE PATRICIUS – The elite group of Vangelus originally created in Heaven numbered at seven female and seven male Vachangeli. Six followed Samael and were cast out, leaving only The Seven.
THE SEVEN – the remains of what was called The Patricius: Michael, Gabriel, Josiel, Raphael, Uriel, Camiel, and Sariel.
THE THIRD – Collectively, all souls who now serve Samael, so named because originally their number was one-third that of Heaven’s number.
VACHANGELI - Elite of all Vangelus, commonly mistranslated as Archangels.
VANGELI – Beings created by the Creator of All, commonly mistranslated as Angels. The plural is VANGELUS.
Contents
Title page
Praise for THE BASTARD
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
Forsaken Cheat Sheet
Table of Contents
Praise for THE BASTARD
Title page
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
Forsaken Cheat Sheet
