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“She needs to know what to expect when she’s reborn,” stated Spade, interrupting our conversation.

“You’re going to explain it to her?” Jensen asked.

“She will
see
what is to become of her,” Spade said.

“First off, she will not become one of
them
,” Jensen hissed, eyeing a Shadow Angel by Leslie.  “And second, how in the hell do you plan on doing that?”

“We have a few tricks up our sleeves,” smirked Spade.

                            In an instant, a bright white light appeared before me.

It pierced my eyes with such force I almost screamed from the pain it caused.  And then the light and pain subsided and all I could see was the room I was in.  Except no one was there.

Where was Jensen?  And The Angel Vaad?  And what about the Shadow Angels lurking about?  Not a single angel was in sight.

I blinked my eyes and that’s when I saw it - a large, white, beautiful angel with four wings.  Its face was kind but it scared me.  I backed away slightly, trying not to fall over from the shock of seeing such a creature.

“Avalon,” it spoke to me without moving its lips, “can you understand me?”  I couldn’t form the words I wanted to speak.  I nodded my head vigorously.  The creature was in long white robes.  Its eyes were bright blue, and its skin or whatever it was, was covered in light crystals.  The brightest, sweetest aura was coming off of this magnificent angel in a golden-white light.  And just then I knew who it had to be.

“Jensen,” I whispered.

“That’s right,” he said to me, voice hushed.

“You’re so beautiful…” I mumbled, tempted to touch him.

He chuckled and then got serious.  “Before you turn around brace yourself for what you are about to see.”  I didn’t want to know what he meant by that so I took a deep breath, shut my eyes and turned around.  When I opened them I froze in place with fear.  My heart nearly stopped from the hideous creature standing before me.

It was just as huge as the white angel - the Light Angel.  But black.  Pitch black.  The blackest of all black.  Its eyes were a deep blood red, followed by sharp fangs and long black claws.  It wore lengthy black robes.  It also had four wings but its skin was not shimmering.  It looked rough, almost like sand paper.  It eyed me with suspicion.

“That is a Shadow Angel, Ava,” said Jensen.  “One of The Angel Vaad’s guards.”  He was so dark, I could feel the evil seeping out of him.  I wanted to look away.  The sight of him would be etched into my mind forever - I knew that to be true.  It was the worst sight I’d ever seen, ever imagined.  I could never have conjured something up like this in my head.  No nightmare could compare.  Not even the ones about
him
.

Compared to the angels in the room I seemed microscopic.  With one move they could have crushed me.   And only G-d knew what else they could do to me . . . .

Then, as if they appeared out of nowhere I saw the most unique angels of all - black and white mixed.  Four of them.  Their angelic bodies were The Angel Vaad.  It was hard to explain how they appealed to me.  They were all very beautiful, yet hideous and obviously dangerous at the same time with their black and white robes and dull, different colored eyes.  Did their colors mean they were a mixture of good and evil?

All of them were staring at me.  The one with the hazel eyes, I guessed was Erin, spoke to me without her mouth moving: “You now see us for who we are.  But you must see who
you
truly are.  Who you will become.”

Two giant gold doors that had not been in the room before, now appeared.  A bright crimson light shone through and a giant figure approached - just like the others, yet different.  It was half black and half white but it did not have its’ wings yet.  It hobbled on one, long leg - like a toddler just learning how to walk.  The angel stepped out of the doorway and into the center of the room.  I stood there, unable to move.

“Avalon,” it said.  Its voice sounded extremely familiar, except a tad bit high pitched.  Its eyes were a bright hazel, just like . . .
mine
.  “Your destiny has been planned out for you.”  I gave the angel a questioning look.  And just like that, the multi-colored angel turned all black.  A loud howl escaped its throat as a second leg shot out from its hip.  Wings began to appear, one by one - sprouting from its back, claws escaping the fingernail beds, razor sharp teeth stemming from its mouth and gruesome skin covering its body.  With its two long legs, it propelled itself to the other side of the room with great speed in one leap.  After the transformation was complete, I shivered.  The thing was hideous, just as the other Shadow Angel had been.  Maybe this one was even worse.

“This is
you
,” it said to me, bright red eyes piercing through me.  Or rather, I said to myself.  Wrapping my head around that alone was confusing.  I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.  “This has always
been
, and always
will
be you.  YOU’RE MINE NOW!” My angel-self roared, as its arm extended from where it stood, its sharp white teeth - pointy and jagged - glistening and long black nails digging into my back.  I felt my organs squeeze inside me.  Blood spurted out of my mouth and onto the floor.

The pain was absolutely unbearable.  And I could no longer see.  But I could hear.

And what I heard was fighting - screaming, rather.  I tried opening my eyes but they wouldn’t budge.  My throat burned, as did the rest of my body.

All I knew was, if I were to get out of this thing alive I would have nightmares for the rest of my life.

Just then, the fighting stopped.

“Ava?” Jensen’s voice rang, awakening me to the point where I could moan.  I was lying on the ground, torso touching the see-through floor.  I hoped all my organs were intact.  “I’m right here next to you,” he said.  He held my head up.  I opened my eyes a bit, seeing his human face.  I breathed a sigh of relief but shivered at the thought of that large angel being inside of him.

How many times had Jensen and I been in this position - where I was the damsel in distress and he was my prince charming coming to my rescue?  I truthfully lost count.

“What did you make her see?” Jensen asked through gritted teeth, looking away from me, towards The Angel Vaad.

“We only made her see her true self,” spoke Spade.  “We formed a mirage of all of us.  Oh, and of course herself in angelic form.”

“We didn’t mean any harm,” Leslie declared.  I could tell he was smirking by the tone of his voice.

“She went into shock!” Jensen said.  “Of course causing her pain was your intention!”

“Now, now, don’t be hasty,” said Trey.  “We merely showed the child her future.”  It amused me how he used the word
child
to describe me, yet didn’t look any older than a teenager himself.  “It is obvious she’s stronger than any of us imagined her to be.  She is still alive.”

“She should be lucky,” interrupted Leslie with a snicker, “her worthless, pathetic life actually
means
something now.”  He glared at me.

Boy, this guy really hates humans.

“This isn’t going to
be
her future,” Jensen said, brushing the hair out of my face with his warm fingertips.

“Oh, Jensen,” Erin whispered, “you are very wrong.”

I opened my eyes fully and sighed.  I wasn’t getting out of this, was I?

This day seemed like a long dream, a nightmare that would never end.

I didn’t want to turn into a Shadow Angel.  I wanted to be with Jensen.  I wanted to be human.  For the first time in my life I knew what I wanted.

Well, what I wanted to be, I mean.  I wanted to continue getting an education, start a career doing something I loved, get married to a man who loved me more than life itself, have beautiful, wonderful children who would make me proud to be their mother and own a house I would bring my family up in; not particularly in that order.  Just something,
anything
other than this life!  I wanted to be normal.  I wanted to be Avalon Leah Montage - nothing more, nothing less.  Simply me.  I didn’t want to turn into a spineless, cold-hearted monster.

Maybe if I click my heels three times and say:
There’s no place like home
, I’ll end up back in New York, in my room, in my bed, with my mother just down the hall making her turquoise jewelry.

The room went silent, except for my loud beating heart.  Wrapping my mind around all of this suddenly seemed like too much to handle.

What made me so special and unique?  Couldn’t some other poor, unfortunate soul have dealt with this?  Couldn’t G-d have cut me some slack?  Why Cole?  Why Aiken?  Why Jensen?  Why me?  What was the purpose of all of this?

“You can’t have Avalon,” growled Jensen.

“She doesn’t have much of a choice,” added Leslie, who was beaming from the excitement in the air.  The rest of The Angel Vaad laughed, vibrating the room with the deafening sound.

“I won’t let you have her.”

“She’s already ours, Jensen.”

Just then, the doors swung open and Aiken - in Cole’s body - strolled into the room with a cocky grin on his face.  Immediately, my hand began to throb.  I almost couldn’t breathe.

“Did I miss the show?” he asked with a smirk, gawking at me like I was the last piece of chicken in the universe.

“I’m afraid so,” Leslie said with a bowed head.

“I apologize for my late arrival.”

“All is forgiven, brother,” answered Trey.

He
looked at Jensen - who was cradling me in his arms on the floor - and shook his head from side to side.

“Do you have a problem?” I glared, barely able to get the words out.

“This is just ironic, don’t you agree?” he smiled darkly.

“I wish I could kill you,” Jensen growled.

“Believe me, Jensen, I wish I could kill you as well.”

Before he truly lost sight of the important things - meaning me,
us
 - I took Jensen’s hand, softly placing it over my chest - my heart.  “My heart only beats for you.”  I repeated what Jensen had recited to me not too long ago in a whisper and meant every single syllable.  I wanted to reassure him Aiken could never replace him - no matter if his
power was inside me or otherwise.

“I know, Avalon.  I believe you.” He kissed my wrist gently but his face fell.  “This is the reason you resented me from falling in love with Avalon?” he glared at all four Angel Vaad members.  “Because she’s supposed to
be
with Aiken?  Because I was getting in the way of your
plan
?”

Not only would I have been the only Barak in angel history but also Aiken and I would be the only couple in The Middle Plane!  Angels could not fall in love with one another so the only way to do this was to
create
a love interest for an already-existing angel.  Yet
another
way The Angel Vaad felt they could
one up
G-d.

“Yes.  It’s really too bad for you, though,” Erin sighed.

“You mean other than potentially losing my soul mate to some
disgusting
,
inhumane
creature?  How so?” Jensen asked, angrily.

 “My dear, sweet Jensen, an angel is at his most vulnerable state when he falls in love with a human,” stated Erin with a grimace.  “This is why we do not engage ourselves in
your
type of behavior.”  She turned to me stiffly.  “When you die from humanity and are reborn as an Angel Vaad-made Shadow Angel, the one and only of your kind,” she continued, “everything will be unmistakably as it should.”

Vomit rose but I forced it down.  I couldn’t take any more surprises.

“In simpler terms, Jensen’s beating heart is connected to your own.  After your human demise, Avalon,
you and only you
, will be the end of Jensen Marx.”

Surprise.

-END OF BOOK ONE-

-BARAK-

A Human-Shadow Angel Hybrid designed by The Angel Vaad.

-BLINK-

The ability for a Light Angel or Shadow Angel to disappear and reappear in less than a second; Able to transport Angels, Humans and Inanimate Objects by Touch.

-GUARDIAN ANGEL-

A Light Angel whom watches over and guides Humans on Earth.

-LIGHT ANGEL-

Enemy:
Shadow Angels.

An Angel created by G-d whom seeks to do good deeds in The Middle Plane and on Earth; Most are Guardian Angels to Humans
.

-MEMORY-SWIPING-

A Light Angel or Shadow Angel’s ability to Insert or Remove Information from a Human’s mind.

-PREMONITION-

The ability for a Shadow Angel to see into the Future; Can occur during slumber and/or while awake.

-SHADOW ANGEL-

Enemy:
Light Angels.

An Angel created by G-d whom wreaks havoc throughout The Middle Plane and on Earth; Works closely with The Angel Vaad.

-SHADOW ANGEL GUARD-

A Shadow Angel whom protects The Angel Vaad.

-THE ANGEL VAAD-

Four (Mixed Light and Shadow) Angels appointed from G-d who rule over The Middle Plane as a collective group of Leaders.

-THE MIDDLE PLANE–

The Home of all Angels; between Heaven and Earth; No Human is able to see this Angelic World.

-WATCH-OVER-

A Human in which a Guardian Angel guides throughout his or her life.