Seraphina's Fall

Riley Maylon is caught between two worlds. By night she works as a waitress in the remote outback of Australia. But by day her world becomes an adventure unlike anything the real world can offer. Filled with daring heroes and forbidden loves.

She writes to give others the same chance for a temporary escape from their lives into a world where anything is possible.

To Mother Earth. Your beauty constantly inspires me.

Riley Maylon

SERAPHINA’S FALL

Copyright © Riley Maylon (2018)

The right of Riley Maylon to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781786935069 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781786935076 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781786935083 (E-Book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2018)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

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Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Chapter 1

I pity the mortals sometimes. Always questioning, Why am I here? What is the point to all of this? Never realizing that the only intention our creator has is for them just to live, and find their own purpose and meaning to it all. I, however, am not burdened by such questions; I have many responsibilities, and noble duties. I am an avenging angel, guardian of the mortals. All of us here on the plane of light and grace have a different task. Some are muses sent down to inspire the mortals when they need it. We also have a team who are in charge of retrieving the lost souls from the battlefields of wars that the mortals keep declaring on each other. I laugh to myself at what the mortals call war. I’ve been fighting a war for the better part of a thousand years. Some of my brothers and sisters have been fighting in it much longer than that. The mortals tell tales of angels and their stories are all about light, hope and love. The reality of most of us is much darker and far more fearsome than they could ever imagine. I belong to a team whose entire existence revolves around being the left hand of our creator. The hand you don’t see coming until it strikes you down.

There is, of course, the more diplomatic team who are sent in to try to negotiate first, these are the light and fluffy angels that mortals tell stories about. They are strictly a diversion from my experience. When that team shows up to try and make you understand what you are doing is wrong, you better look over your shoulder as they comfort you with words like forgiveness and eternal love. Because when they start throwing around words like that, it’s only a matter of time before I’m running my sword through your flesh.

Our battles are never with the mortals, we are sent to protect them – our creator’s greatest love. Our constant war is with the forces of darkness, demons, werewolves, witches, warlocks, vampires and fallen ones. Demons sprung from the fires of the under plane are constantly finding more creative and destructive portals into the Earthly plane. We have to destroy them and the portals they come through. Demons do not belong on the Earthly plane, it is an accord between both sides of the shadow wars. So when demons step out onto the Earthly plane, we get to hunt them. I thrive in a hunt and I have earned a reputation of being unstoppable and merciless in my pursuit of demons on the Earthly plane.

I can sense them; it was why I was created. I’m the youngest on my team, and one of only two females. When the demons possess mortals, we must always be careful to extract the demon to another plane before we destroy it. The mortals would never be able to process the witnessing of such a violent act and also we need to make sure that any mortal that has been possessed by a demon is unharmed.

The witches and warlocks generally don’t give us too much bother – they know better. All witches and warlocks draw their powers from the Earthly plane and whether they fall on the side of dark or light in the shadow wars they respect the balance and source of their power. The magically inclined were born of the Earthly plane so we don’t have quarrels with them until they harm a mortal then they answer to us and this is a widely known fact in their community. Unlike the mortal’s tales of angels, the witches’ accounts of their history with us are the nightmare-causing stories they tell their children to keep them in line.

Vampires are a plague to humanity created by one of the fallen. Despite their demonic qualities they too are born of the Earthly plane, but they are a constant danger to mortals so we exercise extreme prejudice when we encounter them. On a slow day I’ll even go looking for them. Ethereal, however, is the vampire expert on our team, and he makes the call on their destruction. Ethereal is a brash and unfriendly sort, boorish and jealous. It seems strange I know, and angels are supposed to be above such things as jealousy, and wrath. I’m even convinced that Ethereal was the original source of these feelings and they were so strong that they spilled over into the Earthly plane and infected the mortals like a disease.

Werewolves are not usually a threat to us or the mortals, occasionally, one or two will step out of line and we intervene. Generally they are just their mortal selves plagued three nights a month during the Earthly planes’ full moon cycle. I have many contacts in the werewolf community owing to a friendship with a high ranking werewolf I saved once from a mob of angry villagers. His name is Julius and he has ordered the werewolves to help me whenever I should need it as a part of his life’s debt to me. I feel like I got the good end of this life’s debt thing as he’s been around a few hundred years and will probably be around a few hundred more. We have, on occasion, had to remove a werewolf in the thralls of a mortal attack from the Earthly plane. In those cases we take the werewolf to an arena and one of our team is selected to fight them to the death. This is an archaic form of judgment but it is an honorable one that we bestow upon them due to that fact that they are part mortal and because of our mutual respect.

The fallen are probably our most dangerous adversary. They used to be angels until they chose to fall from grace. Our plane is the most beautiful and peaceful plane of existence throughout the known worlds. To choose to fall from it is a torture far worse than anything that anyone could inflict on a soul. You fall through pain and torture alone and unloved and knowing that you did this to yourself. The fallen have always been described to us as demons in mortal form. Once they fall, their angel side may or may not be intact; the fall affects everyone differently.

Some have turned so dark and twisted that they’ve actually formed a weapon that can kill us. They were once our brothers and sisters, and now they’re wielders of soul-destroying blades that can only be wielded by one such as us. If another creature, mortal or supernatural tried to wield these blades, it would burn through them and rip their soul from their body and send them to the plane of perpetual nothingness. Mortals have taken to calling this plane purgatory, and it is aptly named. Our team also possess these blades, which we have confiscated for the purposes of killing the fallen. It isn’t the only weapon that can kill them, just the most effective.

The darker inclined fallen feed on the pain and suffering of mortals and their destruction is currently our primary objective. Our sources have also informed us that the fallen are somehow forming an army of invisible enemies that can wield the soulfire blades. This would be catastrophic to our cause. Our war is one we know – that due to the numbers of the forces of darkness – we can never win. However it is one that must always be fought for the sake of the creator’s cherished mortals. To protect to the mortals at all costs is our mantra. Our numbers are great but most of our forces are dedicated to the nurturing of life on the Earthly plane. We are all soldiers but some are not trained to fight the way my team is.

The archangels; Michael, Gabriel, Ethereal, Ezekiel, Krystiel, and Uriel make up our team. Michael is our general and commander; he is tall and broad-shouldered enough that if the Earthly plane needed to be lifted by someone, he’d be the one to do it. When he stretches out his magnificent gold wings, they appear as pure sunlight and are blindingly beautiful. His love of the mortals is second only to our creator and his kind blue eyes and black wavy hair make him an impressive creation. He is the most fearless and strongest of us all. We are all fearless, but I don’t think that Michael has ever even heard or spoken the word fear, let alone felt it.

Gabriel is Michael’s second in command and this is something I fear. Gabriel is ruthless and his lust for the kill is almost insatiable. Whenever we do retain a rogue werewolf, he is always the volunteer that wants to end their life. He is an unstoppable force on the battlefield and in that instance I’m glad he has my back. Yet I believe he could run a soulfire blade through my back just as easily as protecting it. His eyes are grey and cold and his dark blonde hair only highlights the emotionlessness in them. He has a strong jaw and many battle scars that he wears proudly despite having a smaller stature than Michael. His dark grey wings with silver edging always remind me of storm clouds about to unleash lightning bolts.

Ethereal despises me and I play on it like a game. His eyes are the greenest green of envy I’ve ever seen. Michael frustrates Ethereal by sending me out to scout alone but he does not trust Ethereal to be alone on a scout on the Earthly plane. Mostly due to his temper, despite his angelic powers of self-control Ethereal has on occasion been known to get too heated during a battle and wipe out an entire city. It’s been said that my team was sent to make peace with some warlocks in a city known to the mortals as Atlantis. That was until Ethereal got there. I love the mortals too much to let him loose on them again. So as long as I provoke him and Ethereal keeps displaying that temper he is not permitted on the Earthly plane unsupervised. Ethereal has a bald head that occasionally turns the color red when I’m around. The wings on Ethereal are sharp and ruthless pure silver that seem like thousands of blades all pressed together as a show of deadly force. His build is bigger than Michael’s but he looks more like a troll than a warrior.

Krystiel is the only other female on our team and she is delicate and refined and her assassin skills are second only to mine. If the task at hand requires a stealth and clean execution, she is the first called up. Not that I can’t execute stealthily, it’s the clean get away I have trouble with. Krystiel is the inspiration for the sirens that exist on the Earthly plane. She is beautiful, tall and slender, her long brunette hair flows most of the way down her back and her brown eyes are just alluring. Her pure as snow white colored wings always seem out of place when they are covered in blood from a battle. She is as fearsome an opponent as anyone on our team, it’s just that most of our enemies don’t seem to mind being killed by her.

Uriel is the tallest member of our team and by far my favorite. Uriel has been like a big brother to me since the day I was created. I was created to serve as were we all, but none are more loyal or obedient than Uriel. Although he is tall his physique is more petite than that of Michael or Gabriel. His long wavy blonde hair is always restrained and his dark blue eyes are the same color our creator used for the deepest oceans on the Earthly plane. Uriel has the largest wingspan and they are the color of the clouds, a mix of light blue, yellow, grey and white. His smile is what makes him my favorite though. Even amidst a bloody and violent battle if I ever start to doubt or if I’m afraid I look to him and his smile always finds its way to me just when I need it to. He is so sure of himself and his belief in what we do. Definitely the most kind-hearted of our group, he doesn’t relish the hunts or the killing. Uriel only relishes doing his duty with honor and dignity and he tries to leave his opponent’s dignity even if they don’t deserve it.

Ezekiel is just like a younger brother, always trying to impress his siblings. He is the shortest of us and his angelic face appears so young beneath his disheveled mess of hazelnut hair. His light blue eyes always look at things filled with wonder. Zeke as I call him is always getting me into trouble in one form or another. I’m very protective of him and I can never refuse him anything. He has the most beautiful pearl colored white wings that shimmer different colors in the light. His ability to get me into trouble is only surpassed by his ability to make me laugh, he always finds the light and humor in even the darkest places.

I’m definitely the stand out of our group, with flame red hair that is the same color as the sky over a burning city at sunset. My piercing violet colored eyes also make me unique. No one else on our plane looks like me at all, I know we were all created to look different but some of my brothers and sisters have the same colored hair or eyes as each other but no one like me. My emerald colored green wings with touches of sapphire blue sprayed throughout them are probably the most colorful things on our plane – besides my hair. I think that our creator was perhaps tired the day I was created. I endeavor to own my distinctive look and it has now become such an identifiable look that demons sometimes give themselves away by recognizing me before I recognize them. Michael has asked me before if I could adopt a more discreet look during hunts, but I laugh him off. No way, I tell him, I’m the monster their demon parents told them about, I want them to see me coming and to know it’s all over for them. I announce proudly and I don’t think Michael really understands but I always get a laugh out of Uriel and Zeke when I say that.

I am not an archangel like the rest of my team, I am relatively young. I was only created a thousand years ago, with a touch of something that makes me different. Apart from my look setting me apart from my siblings I can also do things they cannot and go places they are not permitted. I was created with a touch of darkness, a touch of sin, which permits me access to the under plane or Hell as the mortals know it. Although I don’t feel different, sometimes it appears my brothers and sisters think I’m dangerous. I just think it gives me an advantage to understand how creatures of darkness think and operate. My ability to access the under plane is always highly valued, sometimes our tem will be hunting a demon or a fallen one and they flee to hide in the under plane. This effectively ended the chase for the angels…until I was created. I can follow them in and retrieve them for punishment of their crimes. The term ‘where angels fear to fly’ does not apply to me at all.

Chapter 2

We have other armies that are constantly in battles on the different planes. Our job is to go behind the enemy lines, to make a difference in the core of the darkness. Our orders come from our general Michael after he relays to our creator the information we receive from the Fate sisters. The three sisters all shared a terrible fate themselves so now they serve by reading the fates of others. Out of their broken hearted despair they made a pact with the forces of darkness so that they never feel such pain again and the darkness tricked them and told them it would give them the power to always know the future.

They didn’t know that this would be an eternal deal, so now the sisters Ariella, Aylin and Ada live in a hidden plane that is concealed by magic so powerful that only those touched by darkness can find it. One of the reasons I was created with a touch of darkness was so that I could find these sisters and convince them to serve the light. They agreed and now I deliver messages to our leader from them. I think the touch of darkness I was created with is why I look so different to rest of my kind and also why it is so easy for me to track and destroy demons.

I feel for the sisters to have to live the way they do, their only outside contact is through the loom of silk spun to interweave the lives on all of the planes. Each sister monitors a different plane, Ariella is charged with the mortal’s on the Earthly plane, Ada sees to my kind on the light plane, and Aylin watches the forces of the dark, demons and the non-mortal creatures on the under plane and on the Earthly plane.

When I have to visit them, I feel their loneliness as soon as I arrive on their plane. But there is something else at work there as well, the darkness is wrapped around their plane. Sometimes I hear them laughing and enjoying the visions of people’s future pain and misery. I question them about it and they shrug it off as mere entertainment. I’ve reported this to my General Michael before and he tells me that the information they provide is accurate and helpful enough to overlook their darkness.

The Fates are torn between the dark and light, and belong to neither they have no allegiance so they are not the enemy they are neutral. Still I promise you that we verify all information supplied to us by them. Michael reassures me.

I find myself wondering if being created with a touch of darkness is the reason I crave the light plane so much and reject it at the same time. Some days I want to be surrounded by grace, love and light. Other days I want to be in the shadows hunting and stalking prey. I’m conflicted by these ideas and Uriel tells me that it’s natural for our kind.

We spend so much time travelling between the darkest parts of the planes seeking blood and destruction, we feel unworthy to return to our home as though we could possibly have been infected by the darkness that we destroy on a daily basis. When I listen to Uriel’s explanation, I’m comforted but I still think I’m just a little different.

As we return to our home plane from our latest mission I sink into the light and warmth of it all. I let the grace flow into me and I rest my head for the first time in a decade. I dream of peaceful things at first then I lose myself into a familiar nightmare, terrifying and strange. A man in a dark cloak is holding his hand out to me but separating us is a great void of pitch black darkness. I want to reach out to him as I spread my wings and fly towards him something from the pit lashes out a burning whip of fire and removes my wings in a searing slash. I scream in pain as I begin to fall and the figure of the man whose face I still can’t see begins to cry out in pain.

I awake suddenly from my nightmare to find Uriel standing over me looking concerned.

Are you alright, the entire plane just heard you scream, he tells me and I shrink back into my warm bed. I look up at him and he waves the other angels that have gathered away. He sits down next to me.

Did you have that nightmare again? He asks concerned. I just nod as I try to recall it in detail.

It was different this time, I tell him and he looks at me seriously, the man on the other side of the abyss, he’s mortal.

Are you sure? Uriel asks.

I was there and I couldn’t sense any danger from him but he led me to my death, I explain, I think this might be a portent about the army the Fallen are creating, perhaps they’re using mortals.

Uriel jumps up from the bed and looks at the floor in disgust.

Impossible, mortals are no threat to us, how could they ever kill us, our sole purpose is their protection. Uriel states like I haven’t heard the mission statement before.

That’s why it would be perfect; we would never see them as a threat until it was too late. I have to tell Michael, I say urgently as I jump up from my misty cocoon. I feel two arms strongly grab me and spin me on the spot.

I don’t think you should tell Michael that this information came from a nightmare, he may wonder about its validity, Uriel says with concern but I can’t imagine lying to Michael. With the touch of darkness I was created with I would be the only one who could lie to Michael and get away with it.

Uriel is right though, angels don’t have nightmares or portents about imminent danger. Maybe it’s the way I was created or perhaps it’s from spending too much time with the Fates. I finally find Michael and tell him about my theory of the Fallen’s new army. He listens carefully and then dispatches me to visit the Fates to confirm my suspicions. I don’t really want to go to the Fates, they may have already known about this and hidden it from us to make there entertainment more interesting. However I am a good soldier and I obey without question.

I arrive atop the highest point of the mortal plane to reach the only pathway that exists to the Fates’ plane of existence. There are seven planes in total all with a different purpose. Our plane of light and grace exists in a silver mist that is filled with sunlight and never darkens. The under plane is a place filled with fire and brimstone, that is as dark as night all of the time. The light never touches that plane and the constant sound of souls screaming from being tortured still echoes in my mind from the times I’ve had to venture there. The mortal Earthly plane is where our creator’s precious mankind live as well as other supernatural creatures. The plane of eternal nothingness is where I have been before to retrieve one of our own who was banished there by a powerful witch. The mystical plane is where we ensure the safety of mythical creatures such as unicorns and it is also where the order of the Fae exist. A plane of constant war is where there are battles between the planes, it is the one plane accessible by all the others except the Earthly plane.

The plane I seek now is a prison for the fate sisters. Accessible only from the highest point of the Earthly plane by one touched by darkness, it appears as a black storm on top of a mountain and the storm is always raging. I’m lashed by rain that feels like tiny needles and deafened by the sounds of thunder. Once I was struck by lightning when I came here, that singed my wings and it took weeks for them to heal and I couldn’t get rid of that burnt feather smell for years. Zeke still makes fun of me about that, every time we have to fly through a storm on a mission.

When I reach the cave entrance, the sisters are unusually quiet, not their normal heckling selves. As I approach them they seemed to be in awe of me, and they are sharing silent glances and snickers with each other.

What is it? I ask them. I’m met with tusking and head shaking from the three of them.

Now, now, don’t ask questions you can’t handle the answer to.

Aylin says to me and her sister’s chuckle behind her. My patience is not at its highest tolerance point today and I snap at them.

I need to know about the army the fallen are creating, I tell them sternly. They all look at me like they don’t understand.

My nightmare, is it a portent of the fallen using mortals against us? I ask. Ariella hisses at me and I hiss back. I’m growing tired of their lack of cooperation.

Is that really what you want to know? asks Aylin from the other side of the cave. You’re not even curious about the man from your nightmare? She adds.

I sigh a deep sigh, this isn’t the first time the sisters have tried to distract me from my mission by teasing me with hints about my future.

My fate is my business, I scold them. Now answer my question. I refuse to be distracted. The sisters move over to the silk loom and begin running their hands over the weavings.

You’re dream was correct, the fallen will use the mortal against you but not in the way you think, Ariella says warningly.

The army of mortals possessed by the fallen will rise against the angels of light and bring about their destruction. Aylin claps and smiles at her revelation and I bare my teeth threateningly at her.

When is this going to happen? I ask hesitantly knowing how fluid the future is.

Not soon enough, says Aylin disappointedly. My wings snap out reflexively and I stare them all down with a look of