Beautiful Fallen (Beautiful Fallen Book I)
Beautiful Fallen
**Book I of the Beautiful Fallen Trilogy** There had never been a time in Ariana Benson's life where she had felt normal. Plagued by nightmares of a massacre and raised by an overprotective mother who shuns the world, Ariana's life is suddenly changed when the handsome and mysterious Chris Liam appears. Now drawn into a world of monsters, demons, and angels, she must quickly figure out who is a friend and who is an enemy, including the one who gave her life. **Available on Inkitt**
Excerpt
“Can you tell me how you knew I was there?” I asked as he continued. “I was following you,” Chris answered. He sounded very matter-of-fact as he concentrated on what he was doing. “You were following me?” I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t seen any sign of him while I was out there until he’d shown up to save me, not to mention he sounded like a stalker when he put it that way. “Trust me, I’m good at being inconspicuous. But I got worried when I realized where you were going. That house isn’t a good place for anyone to be, especially you. I’d imagine if that mother of yours knew how close you live to that house, she’d probably have a heart attack.” Chris went on. “You know my mother?” I asked him. “Not personally, but I know enough about her to assume she’s probably that way. But I guess that she might be that afraid of him too. Most of them would be afraid to cross him.” Chris replied. “Okay, seriously, you’re talking in riddles. Tell me exactly what you know about me. I get that you’re here because of something with me.” I said, glancing at the stone hanging from my chest, “And what about this stone? It was glowing in there, and I know I heard a man’s voice come from it. What’s supposed to be going on with my life that’s made all of this start happening to me?” Chris looked at the stone, then lifted it so that he could look closer. “I see. He’s much cleverer than they give him credit for.” “Chris,” I spoke up, reminding him that I was waiting for my answers. Chris let out a long breath, apparently debating on whether he wanted to answer me. “Fine. I guess I’ll have to tell you a little bit now. Like I said before, time’s getting short. Besides, now that you’ve managed to find that house, I’m sure they’ve noticed you.” he finally relented. “They?” I repeated. That sounded ominous. Chris finished wrapping my wrist, then reached down between us to pick up the small box that I’d brought back from the house. “Yes, they. So, have you gotten to look in here yet?” he asked me. “I did a little bit, but I had to stop when I heard that thing coming,” I answered. I decided not to mention the voice I’d heard anymore. It was enough that he already knew about it and the stone glowing. But he hadn’t sounded surprised either. Without thinking about it, I reached up and held the pendant. It felt cool in my hand, like nothing had ever happened. Chris’s voice brought me back to reality. “I guess this is the best place to start.” he continued. He put the box between us and opened it, then pulled out the picture of the woman with the name Faith Evans written on the back, “So this is the woman. I’m not sure I see that much of a resemblance, but you do favor him more and that was a different life.” “Am I related to her?” I asked. “Kind of, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.” Chris pulled out the pictures from the other envelope and looked at them. He seemed to be studying the two men. As for me, I was studying the picture of the woman. I couldn’t say that I looked anything like her. But with how he was talking, I must have been related to her in some way. “So, what exactly is complicated with all of this?” I spoke up. “Well, I’ve been trying to think of the best way to explain everything to you without it sounding completely insane, but I’m not too sure I can,” Chris admitted. I was a bit indignant as I heard that, “Look, I just saw a burning ghost woman who was trying to kill me in an abandoned house. Trust me, nothing else can sound anymore insane right now.” Chris laughed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But like I said, this is more complicated than just saying that you’re related to them. I guess I could start by telling you a little bit about this woman and the men in the pictures with her. I just hope you’ll believe me when I do.” “You heard what I just said. I don’t have a choice.” I reminded him. Chris laid the picture of the woman down between us, shaking his head with a small smile on his face. Guess I was amusing him. “I’m sure you looked at the name on the back of this picture, and yes, that is her name. This woman, Faith Evans, lived in that house back in the early 1930s. She was the widow of a detective from Manhattan, and she moved into that house with these two men, who were supposed to be brothers.” he explained, adding the pictures of the men to each side of the woman’s. “That makes sense. They do kind of look like they’re related.” I noted. “They weren’t. They’re just of the same kind and happen to have enough of the same features. At least enough to fool the casual onlooker. It was no coincidence that the Evans woman came to live with them in that house either. It was set up that way after they did her the favor of killing her husband for her.” Chris explained. That painted a grim picture. This woman had hired these men for murder. “Okay, but what does all of this have to do with me? You said that I was kind of related to them.” I pointed out. “It has everything to do with you,” Chris went on, “These men were anything but normal, and I doubt that Faith Evans could’ve ever understood what she’d called upon when she prayed for her revenge. There was a good reason that she wanted her husband dead. The Evans woman was a victim of severe abuse, and no one believed her about it. So, when she knew that she couldn’t kill him herself, she began praying for something, anything, that would do it for her. These two were the answer to those evil prayers.” Now I was beginning to follow what he was implying, “Hold on. You’re saying that these men were demons?” A chill ran down my spine as I said the words out loud. The memory of that ghostly woman’s shrieking echoed in my mind. She’d been screaming about demons with human faces. If what Chris was saying was true, then she’d been speaking the truth about back then. “I guess that would be the easiest way to put it, considering that they are technically some of the damned. They prefer to call themselves Fallen though,” Chris responded as he sat up a little, “Either way, they were bad news from the start, and once they had the Evans woman right where they wanted her, they began using her for their own gains, and eventually, one would end up killing her a little over two years later in what looked to the world like a suicide.” I looked at the photos as he said this. So, this was all that remained of a very real demon pact. I reached into the box and took out the old, small book that had been left in there. “Okay, so what’s this have to do with me? Is it because I’m related to Faith Evans?” I asked him as I flipped through the pages of the book. There was the same spidery handwriting in it that I’d seen on the back of Faith’s picture. I wondered if it was from one of those creatures. That was enough for me to put it away for now. “It’s a bit more than that,” Chris admitted. He seemed to consider his words carefully, “How can I begin explaining this so that it makes sense? I guess I’ll try this. Let’s start by saying that I’m sure you know the truth about your mother.” “Yeah, I know I’m adopted, and that my birth mother died when I was born,” I confirmed. “And you know your birth mother’s name?” “I saw it in my adoption papers and a news article. Her name was Faith Kent.” “Faith Evans, Faith Kent,” Chris mused. He nodded as he tapped the futon, “It was always a pattern with the name Faith. I guess he found it ironic that the original woman had that name. Maybe he even kept it in there to be blasphemous. Anyway, back to what I was saying; Faith Evans was killed two years after these two came into her life, but only one killed her. The reasons behind it aren’t that clear, but we do know that he also changed something in the deal between her and the two of them before he did it. He set some kind of cycle in motion, to put it in the most layman’s terms possible. He ended up having the Evans woman’s soul reincarnated over and over. Every time he’d kill her, he’d take her soul and put it into the next life that he wanted it to reincarnate to.” “Hold on. You’re saying that my birth mother Faith Kent was a reincarnation of Faith Evans?” I spoke up. I couldn’t believe it. That was the connection here? If so, then he was right. This was about to get complicated. “Exactly,” Chris confirmed, nodding his head, “She was the second to last. Apparently, this became a twisted game of cat and mouse between the two Fallen Angels involved. The one kept the soul away from the other, always killing her just before the other would get too close. This pattern went on for over eighty years. Your birth mother wasn’t killed by her father like everyone believes. The one who originally started this cycle killed her.” This answered a whole lot as I thought of my mother at home. Her reactions when we talked about my birth mother were very telling if she was aware that there was all of this involved with Faith Kent’s death. “Does my mother know about any of this?” I had to ask. “I’d imagine that she does. From what I know, you were brought to her right after you were born.” Chris told me. “No, I wasn’t,” I retorted, “I was left in the nearby church by my grandfather. That’s where she found me.” “No, you weren’t. She just told you that story to throw you off. She was probably ordered to do so if things are like I’m beginning to think they are.” Chris countered. I was feeling frustrated again. If Mama had been lying to me all this time, then why? Who would’ve made her do that? Another shiver went up my spine as I slowly realized what the answer probably was. “Hold on. Are you saying that my grandfather had nothing to do with that and this other monster brought me to Mama?” “That right. The other monster, as you wish to call them right now, did it all himself. He killed her, took you out of her womb, then directly to Mabel Benson for safekeeping.” I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach now but managed to keep my composure. If what he was saying was true, which I suspected it very well was, then I needed more answers to go with it. “So why bring me to her and what does all of this have to do with me? Am I supposed to be marked because she was one of those reincarnations?” I asked him. Chris looked puzzled, “You don’t get it?” “Get what?” Chris handed me a picture of one of the demons, “Take a good look at this picture. You do see the resemblance, don’t you?” he pointed out. I looked closely at the picture, allowing myself to study it. Yes, there was a close resemblance between us. That’s when a realization hit me. He’d killed my mother and took me to a home to be taken care of afterward. “Wait a minute. You’re not saying what I think you are, are you?” I asked cautiously. “Of course it is,” Chris replied, “Faith Kent was never with a human man. She was mostly isolated by her drunken father after her mother died. But there was one constant presence in her life, and he manipulated her to make sure he’d get her pregnant, then he took her life and kept the baby for himself.” I couldn’t believe it. Turning the picture around, I looked at the name again. Saffron. This man, this creature, was my father. That was why no one had ever known who he was, because he wasn’t human.
