Forsaken

FORSAKEN

FALL O F ANGELS

By

Keary Taylor

Copyright © 2010 Keary
Taylor

All rights reserved. 
Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright act of 1976, no part
of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval
system, without the prior written permission of the
author.

Published by Keary Taylor
at Smashwords

Second Digital Edition:
August 2011

Smashwords Edition,
License Notes

This ebook is licensed for
your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or
given away to other people. If you would like to share this book
with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each
recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or
it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to
Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting
the hard work of this author
.

The characters and events
portrayed in this book are fictitious.  Any similarity to real
persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the
author.

Taylor, Keary,
1987-

Forsaken (Fall of Angels) :
a novel / by Keary Taylor. – 2
^nd
ed.

Summary: Now freed from the
nightmares, something about Jessica has changed. Alex is keeping a
secret from her and they may be ripped apart, forever. And Cole’s
not about to be forgotten. He has a few secrets to tell Jessica,
about his past and her future.

ISBN
978-1456470289

For my beautiful little
family.

““
P
er tai difetti, non per altro rio,

Semo perduti, e
sol di tanto offesi

Che sanza speme
vivemo in disio.”

Gran duol mi
prese al cor quando lo ‘ntesi,

Pero che gente
di molto valore

Conobbi che ‘n
quell limbo eran sospesi.”

““
F
or such a falling short, and for no crime,

We all are lost, and suffer
only this:

Hopeless, we live forever in
desire.”

When I heard this, great
sorrow seized my heart,

For I saw men of great
distinction there

Hovering in Limbo at the
edge of Hell.”

-Dante, Inferno

CHAPTER ONE

JESSICA

She stared back at me, her eyes wide
with searching, looking for the answers to the question she didn’t
even know how to form. Her skin glowed in a way that seemed almost
unnatural. It was almost as if there were a million tiny fire-flies
glowing from within. Her skin was so flawless it was
unnerving.

I searched my face, looking for
something. What was it that was so different? My eyes were the same
hazel; the shape of my face wasn’t any different. But why did my
own reflection terrify me so much? I felt like I didn’t even know
myself anymore. Who was that person in the mirror? That wasn’t the
same Jessica I’d seen just a few months previous.

I’d changed so much in the last four
months. I’d gone from my normal, ordinary self, to a skeleton with
sunken eyes, to this thing that was nearly radiant.

What was happening to
me?

“
Jessica?”

Alex’s voice jarred me from my tangled
thoughts. I glanced once more at my reflection in the mirror,
swallowing hard. “Yeah?” I called as I pulled my tank top over my
head, glancing over my shoulder briefly at the wings that spanned
my back. I stepped out of my bathroom, looking for Alex.

“
Have you seen my green
t-shirt?” he called from his bedroom.

“
Second drawer down,” I
said as I stepped into his room. I froze as I did.

I hated the way my heart leapt into my
throat, the way I felt paralyzed in fear. It was hard not to recall
everything the wings sprouting out of Alex’s back implicated
though. The memory of every trial, every brand pressed into my
neck, the gleam of Cole’s black eyes flashed through my head. But
this was Alex. I had no reason to ever be afraid of him.

“
Oh yeah,” he said as he
pulled it out of the drawer. “Thanks.”

He turned toward me, the wings
suddenly gone, and pulled the shirt over his head. A smile pulled
at his lips as his eyes finally met mine. I hoped the traces of
fear were gone from my face. I’d vowed Alex would never know the
fright that could be invoked in me at the sight of the wings.
“Morning,” he said in a low voice as he pulled me to him, wrapping
his arms around my waist.

“
Morning,” I said with a
smile back. My lips found his and my blood felt as if it had turned
electric and my body hummed. “Oh, no,” I said as I shook my head
and pulled away. “I have to get going. I’m running late. You’re way
too distracting.”

Alex gave a sly smile but backed away
a step. He grabbed his leather wristband and snapped it on before
he put his phone and wallet into the pocket of his khaki
shorts.

“
So, you’re going to frost
the cake now and have it ready by the time we get back this
afternoon, right?” I asked as I walked out of the room and started
up the stairs. Alex followed behind me.

“
Yep,” he answered. “Lime
green and hot pink, right?”

“
Yes sir,” I said as I
grabbed my purse off of the hook by the front door. “We’ll be back
at two.”

“
I’ll be ready,” he said
with a smile. He pressed a quick kiss to my lips as I opened the
door that led to the garage. “Love you.”

“
I love you too,” I said,
feeling my insides quiver. Before I let myself become any later, I
stepped out the door and closed it behind me.

I slipped into the GTO and tossed my
purse into the passenger seat. I carefully backed out and pulled
onto the road.

It had been nearly four months since
Alex had made the trade that had saved my life. We’d seen no sign
of Cole since he’d left that awful night. Life almost seemed
normal. Besides the fact that Alex was now an angel and besides the
fact that I couldn’t figure out what was different about me. It was
almost like things hadn’t changed. Like the whole impossible thing
had never happened.

Some things hadn’t changed. That was
the problem though.

I pushed that thought away and just
focused on the road before me. The sun glared on my windshield, the
day already warming in the July air. Summer was here in full force
and I loved it. It had always been my favorite season.

I pulled into the parking lot of the
athletic center and joined the small crowd that walked into the
building. Emily’s class was growing quickly. While there had only
been six or so of us in the beginning, we were pushing over twenty
now. Emily was gaining a reputation for being the best yoga
instructor in the area.

“
Hey,” I greeted her as I
helped her pull the bin of mats out of the storage room.

“
Hey,” she said, her voice
almost sad sounding.

“
You okay?” I asked her,
hauling the bin out.

“
Yeah,” she said, forcing
a smile and giving a little nod.

I knew she was lying to me but didn’t
get a chance to push it further as class got underway. We started
with a set of breathing exercises.

Emily had been different
lately. She was normally one of the most upbeat people I knew and
could nearly blind you with her smile. But lately she seemed
almost… hollow. Fake. Something was wrong but she wouldn’t talk.
All I could ever get was “I’m fine. I’m just feeling a little off
today.” But she’d been
off
for the last month or so.

We fell into the normal routine of
building flexibility and endurance. The class moved in unison,
moving in a wave of ups and downs of fluid movement. I slowly moved
myself toward another female student. I whispered to her, hiding my
face from Emily with my unruly hair. The other girl smiled and
whispered to the guy next to her. I watched as my words spread
around the room, all without Emily noticing a thing.

As the class started coming to a close
someone switched the lights off. We lay on our backs, eyes closed,
palms facing the ceiling, each supposedly concentrating on our
breathing.

“
Happy birthday to you,”
someone started singing. Other voices instantly joined in. “Happy
birthday to you!” more voices chimed in, including my own. “Happy
birthday dear Emily!” By now the entire room was singing as we lay
in the dark. “Happy birthday to you!”

I heard Emily chuckle, a real sounding
one. “Jessica,” she said with a growl.

“
Happy birthday, Emily,” I
said through the dark.

“
Thanks everyone,” she
said with a chuckle. “Class dismissed.”

Everyone got up and the mats and
blocks were quickly put away. I stayed behind, helping to put
everything back in its place.

“
So you remembered, huh?”
she teased as we dragged the bins back into the storage
room.

“
Of course,” I laughed.
“What kind of a best friend would I be if I forgot your
birthday?”

“
Thanks,” she said with a
slight sigh as we walked back into the main room. “You’re about the
only one that would remember it, or have reason to remember
it.”

“
Hey,” I said, my voice
sympathetic but stern. “You can’t think like that. What good is it
going to do?”

She gave me a sad smile before closing
the gap between us and giving me a tight hug. “Thanks,
Jessica.”

“
Now come on,” I said as
she let me go and we started toward the door. “We need to get some
shopping done. Forget showering.”

Emily chuckled. “Great.
Now I’ll
really
repel the men.”

I just shook my head and dragged her
into the GTO.

The mall was busy with people just
like us, girls just hanging out and going shopping. Yet none of
these other girls had brands in the back of their necks and wings
raised into the flesh of their skin like we did. For that reason
alone Emily would forever be my best friend. She was the only one
who could understand the horror that had been most of my
existence.

Emily dragged me into her favorite
store and started rummaging through the shoes. If there was one
thing that could bring Emily out of a bad mood it was shopping. I
started looking through them too, pausing on a pair of bright red
stilettos, a sly smile coming to my face as I wondered what Alex
would think of them.

“
So there’s this guy at my
work I think you should ask out,” I said as we moved from one stack
of shoes to the next. “I think you two would really get along
well.”

“
The one that was ogling
you when I picked you up last week?” she asked as she pulled the
lid off of a box. “I’m not so sure I want to try and compete for
someone’s attention. Just look at you, no wonder he was drooling
all over you.”

“
What?” I said, taken
aback. “Look at nothing. I’m about as ordinary looking as it
gets.”

“
You did
not
just call yourself
ordinary looking,” Emily said as she gave me a look like I was
stupid. When I didn’t respond she rolled her eyes and grabbed me by
the shoulders. She wheeled me to a floor length mirror and made me
look at myself.

“
Seriously, how could you
ever call yourself plain looking?” Emily demanded as she folded her
arms across her chest. “Ever since the whole Cole incident and you
nearly dying thing I can hardly look at you. You look more
like
them
than us
anymore.”

“
Them?” I asked, my brow
furrowing.