Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1)
Copyright © 2016 Benham Books, LLC
All rights reserved.
First Edition
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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.
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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.