Falling (The Soul Collectors Series Book 1) (2 page)

“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 keep 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.

“I figured we could go as brother and sister, starting college away from our parents who are traveling missionaries.” Hadraniel said, apparently not caring that I wanted to take the lead on this mission. “I don’t know what you had in mind, but in reviewing where we were going, and the type of families that lived in Kentucky, I figured that that would be the best cover story. That or that we are newlyweds. However if we’re to help this Gray guy survive, you may have to get him to fall for you...and that wouldn’t work if we were married.” He winked. My facial reaction to the wink and his suggestion must have been comical because he chuckled.

“I had written a similar scenario about being brother and sister as well, so I’m good with that decision. However, because of the nature of the event and how much our training and skills may be seen, I thought we might go with that our parents are dual military both on foreign assignments.” He just nodded, so I continued. “I don’t really have much of a game plan for how to get Gray to follow us out of town for when the event occurs yet. What I usually do is go to Earth with my cover story, observe the human or humans I have to save if there are any, and then wing it according to their needs and personalities.”

“You’re the expert, so we can go with that if you choose. However, missionaries may be more believable than dual military seeing as we would have to explain why their jobs would have had any effect on our training. As missionaries, we would be placed in precarious locations, possibly teaching us survival skills. Also, do we use our real names or do we have to have Earth names?”

“Point taken, we’ll go with the missionaries’ story. As for names, I’ve always used my name mainly because I have little interaction..., but if you wanted a different name we could give you one.”

“Just call me Had as I think it’ll go over better than Hadraniel.”

“That sounds good to me.”

We finished reviewing our notes, and we actually incorporated quite a few of Had’s ideas into our plans by the time we had finished. He’d brought out a map and showed me where the earthquake was going to occur, where Gray lived in reference to the fault lines, and the top three escape routes that we would need to take to get far enough away to ensure the safety of this human. The files didn’t include why Gray Ellison was of such great importance. They did, however, indicate that he must remain unharmed and unaware that he was of importance, so as not to taint any future greatness he was to achieve. Normally I could not care less why a human was of importance, but Mr. Ellison did have my interest peaked because of the care that was being taken to keep his importance a secret.