Falling

As Jo lay on the grass, her long brunette hair dampened from the soggy soil, her eyes scanned the beautiful mass of stars that twinkled above her.

The hairs on her arms stood on end, and the sensation of small needles prickled her skin. Her breath was visible, and at the sight of her laboured breaths she thought about everything that had occurred over the course of just a day, which had led to that very moment, lying on the cold ground, unable to comprehend what had happened.

A day ago, Jo was sitting in her favourite coffee shop writing notes in her notebook. She liked to write down her thoughts and ideas and elaborate on them.

Jo had always loved reading fantasy novels, she loved every aspect of fantasy, but when she came to writing fantasy, she always got stuck, as her favourite topics were already written about, and she feared her ideas may be plagiarised from her favourite stories.

Witches, wizards, vampires, werewolves, they had all been written about in such detail there was hardly enough space left for new ideas without taking aspect from another novel. She knew however that all books were inspired by another person’s ideas, or from real life situations, but she so desperately wanted something original.

As Jo sat there, devouring her notes, and lost in her own ideas, she neglected to notice the young man sitting at a small table, watching her, intrigued.

This guy looked a little older than Jo, his hair was almost black and was just long enough that his fringe tickled his eye brows. His skin was deeply tanned, and his eyes were a luxurious chocolate brown. Every day for the past three weeks, he had come to the coffee shop, with the intention of speaking to Jo, but all he could do was watch.

"Ah, Richard, what a surprise it is to find you here, again," a tall man had slid into the seat opposite him and greeted Richard.

"Michael." Richard said with gritted teeth.

"I see you have found Joanne," Michael said, jerking his head in Jo's direction. "If you want to earn your place back in the fold, you know what must be done."

"It isn't her fault that she was born this way! Why should she pay for the sins of her father?" Richard hissed quietly.

"Don't tell me you feel something for the girl Richard? You don't feel sorry for her, do you?" Michael asked, sounding almost amused.

"I have been watching her every day for almost a month, and she is a kind girl, I don't see how she could be such a danger to us all, she's harmless."

"To be the most dangerous creature in the room, one must always be underestimated. You may never have seen what her kind are capable of doing, but I have witnessed it in battle, five-hundred years ago, the mass killings of our kind still haunt me to this day. I still mourn the loss of my fallen brothers."

"Says the Angel of War. I thought you're supposed to be one of God's most loyal soldiers." It was not a question from Richard, more of a snubbed remark.

"I am a loyal soldier, but it does not mean that I am at peace with watching those I love, die at the hands of an abomination that your kind created." Michael hissed again, his eyes flaring in anger.

"My kind? I have not fathered a Nephilim, I may have fallen, but that is because I fell in love."

"You fell in love with a Nephilim! The very creatures, you as an Angel at the time, should have sought out to destroy."

Richard didn't say anything, he glanced back at Jo, and was surprised to see her looking up from her notebook, staring directly into his eyes.

Had she heard anything? he thought.

Richard stared back for what seemed like an eternity, and felt his whole body exhale the breath he hadn't realised he was holding in when she smiled, and glanced back down to her notebook.

"You know what you must do Richard, and if I was you, I would do it soon. You must decide what is more important to you. Your eternal place and life in heaven alongside your brothers, or your eternal damnation on earth, with a Nephilim you cannot protect."

Michael got up before Richard could say anything else, he dumped his takeout coffee cup in the bin, and left the shop.

Richard sat pondering all his choices, he remembered falling from the heavens, and couldn't think of anything more painful than his wings burning to the scorched black that they are now.

Having to kill her, he thought immediately. Would hurt more.

Richard got up and went to the cashier to put in another order, deciding on what he must do.

__________________________________________

Jo watched the cute boy walk out of the coffee shop with a fresh coffee in his hand.

She didn't think she had seen the boy before, and the man he was talking to previously made a quick whispering hissing sound which initially made her look up, she remembered the pondering look the boy had given her when their eyes locked and she felt as though he was looking at her with such an intensity that she had never felt before, her heart gave a swift jump.

She looked down at her notebook again, trying to concentrate on her notes, but the boys face was now burned into her mind, and he was all she could think about.

She shut the book, and walked home, through the field that she used as a shortcut, and when she closed her bedroom door behind her, she sat on her bed and smiled. She really liked that boy, she had never seen a more beautiful male before in her life, and waited for night to fall, so she could sleep and sit in her favourite coffee shop again all day, hoping the boy would come back.

__________________________________________

The next day, Jo had gotten up at half past nine in the morning. With no school, she relished in the idea of sleeping in.

She swiftly got dressed and after brushing through her long hair, she let her natural curls fall over her cheeks and ran out of the house with her notebook and pen in hand.

She slowly walked along the field tot he coffee shop which was about a forty minute walk. She enjoyed the walks because it gave her mind room to clear and to think freely and openly.

When she got onto the pavement she turned left and walked along the small shops that had just opened, and as she got to the coffee shop, she stumbled on something and she just managed to catch herself on the coffee shops window.

Looking down she saw her shoelace had come loose, she bent down to tie it, and when she stood up, her breath caught in her chest. The boy she had seen yesterday was standing right in front of her, smiling.

"Hello," he smiled.

"Uhm, hi," she said shakily, wanting to take a step back embarrassed, she worried if he had seen her trip on her own shoelace and her face flushed slightly.

"Are you going in here again?" he asked, pointing to the coffee shop.

"Yeah, are you?" she asked, hoping he was.

He nodded, and with a smile he turned to the door and held it open for her as she walked through.

There was no more talking between them as they walked to the counter.

"Hi Jo! Another day of writing today? Do you want your usual cappuccino?" the barista asked with a smile.

Jo nodded and smiled sheepishly, aware of the boy behind, but to her surprise he shouted up behind her and said, "I will have one of them too please."

The barista nodded, and when he placed the coffees on the side the boy leaned past her shoulder and placed his money on the counter and said, "I've got these."

Jo looked at the boy again, shock on her face. "Thank you! You don't have to!" she said almost flustered. She had never had a boy pay for something for her before.

"It's my pleasure, all I ask in return is to sit with you."

Jo's heart gave a small leap, and her stomach fluttered around sickeningly.

"Uhm, sure." she said sheepishly. The barista was smiling at them both, obviously seeing the boy flirting with Jo.

"I've got these, you go take a seat." he smiled, picking up the coffees and then followed her to her favourite table.

"I'm Richard," he said as he sat down.

"Hey, I'm Jo, well Joanne, but everyone calls me Jo," she said as she added sugar to her frothy cappuccino.

Richard watched her stirring her drink and smiled to himself before saying. "I've seen you here for the past three weeks, I've noticed you don't really look up from your notebook an awful lot."

"Oh, no, once I'm reading, this world is lost to me," she chuckled as she spoke.

"I wanted to catch your eye for a while, but you were so difficult to approach.

"You've been watching me then?" she asked suspiciously, but there wasn't fear in her voice, she felt flattered that someone was watching her.

"I have been watching you, you're ever so pretty, and you caught my eyes right away."

"Well, why have you waited three weeks to speak to me."

"I was scared to ask you out on a date," Richard said in a matter of fact tone.

"Is this that date then?" she smiled, reassuring Richard that what he was saying was going down well with her.

"Uh, I guess ambushing you into a date isn't exactly asking you out on a date is it?" he chuckled.

"I don't know, romance novels were written with less," she smiled.

"Is that what you are doing all the time, is writing romance novels?" he gestured toward her note book.

"Oh, no," she smiled clutching her notebook more. "I like fantasy novels."

Richard stretched out his hand, silently requesting the notebook, his eyes bore down into her own, and she felt herself get lost within them. Something about Richard, made her feel safe around him, something about him made her want to constantly be by his side.

She handed over her note book, still dreamily gazing into his eyes, and when they flicked down to her writing, she allowed her eyes to scan the rest of his features.

His black t-shirt was hugging his body tightly, and his arms were so well defined that even through the dark material, you could see every defined muscle move at the slightest movement of Richard.

His strong square jawline, covered in a soft looking stubble made her eyes linger there, and then she noticed the curve of his lips, then she snapped out of it suddenly as Richard looked up and asked.

"Can I sit next to you, I don't understand this part," he said innocently.

"Sit, closer?" she panicked, wondering how much closer she would like him to be, she had never felt so love sick in all her life. She wondered for a moment if this was what love at first sight was, or if there really was magic in this world and she was under some sort of a spell.

"Yes, do you mind?" he asked, as he got up and gestured to the chair right next to her.

Still staring at him, she nodded and her eyes followed him as he pulled out the chair and sat down next to her. She could feel a warmth exude off him, and he smelled of something so glorious, all she could think of was pure happiness, and sunny fields and tranquil babbling brooks weaving between the grassy hills.

"I can't understand your hand writing here," he said, but his eyes were now locked on hers, and they knew they were both ignoring where his finger was pointing in the book.

Jo's heart was pounding so hard against her ribs that she felt like it was about to explode, he breathing quickened, and so did Richard's, she felt herself leaning forward, he eyes flitting between his eyes and his lips, along his jawline and back to his eyes, both of them breathing was sounding intense, and the silent crescendo that was building between them was almost to much for anyone to handle.

Her stomach tightened when she felt his breath tickle her cheek, and as they both got closer, she closed her eyes, and for what felt like an eternity of waiting, she had finally felt her lips touch his.

It was the most feather like kiss she had ever experienced, and it sent a shrill sensation through her body, which warmed her chest, her stomach, thighs, and lower back.

The kiss was over in a second, but the sensation lingered for what felt like a lifetime.

"Wow," she croaked, gasping ever so slightly.

Richard smiled slyly, "Shall we, uhm, leave?"

Jo's instincts were screaming at her as loud as they could that she shouldn't, she didn't know Richard, but those instincts had already been stamped down to a screaming whisper, something which could be ignored, and there was another compelling urge to just get whisked away by Richard, she stood up with him and left, leaving their untouched coffees on the table.

They both walked around the town for what felt like a few minutes, but soon enough morning turned to afternoon, and then the afternoon had swiftly turned to evening.

They had both talked about their lives, and kissed, and then they had talked more about Jo's writing, and then she had pulled him into a secluded ally behind some terraced houses and began to kiss him intently.

They eventually settled down on the field that she used as a shortcut back home, and while they were sitting on some small boulders on the edge of the field she felt a little more like herself again.

"I have never done this before Richard," she said embarrassed.

"What? Been on a date?" he said calmly.

"Not on a date like this, we barely know each other, we met properly today, and we've been making out all over town. This is very unlike me."

"Why have you acted differently with me then?" he asked, grinning sexily, edging closer to her, leaning down for another kiss.

Her breathing quickened and felt as light as a feather again, she felt like she was flying through the clouds, and she kissed him back. "I just - don't know - I don't know what it is - you make me feel - so - so - different."

Richard grinned and leaned in closer to her, he bent down and kissed her neck, she submissivly gave in to the moans of pleasure which escaped her lips, feeling butterflies all through her body.

She didn't want to talk anymore, but in an instant her pleasure and happiness were soon shattered when she saw movement behind Richard, and in silent fear she froze.

The figure swiftly moved to Richard, in such an inhuman way, he almost glided, and wrenched Richard away from her and threw him against a tree.

"If he won't kill you, then I will rid the earth of your vile existence," the figure said as he moved closer, and she realised as he moved closer, the figure was the same man who was speaking to Richard at the coffee shop the day before.

"You Nephilim have no control over your emotions, you have the passion of an angel, and the love sick emotions of a human!" The man shouted, and slapped her across the face with such a force that she was thrown several feet from her seated position on the field.

She landed on her front and when she got up and looked ahead, she saw the figure move toward her again, something glinting in his hand, something silver, something long.

Jo screamed out loud as she recognised the silver object as a long sharp dagger, but before she could react any further, the figure swiftly kicked her in the stomach, wrenching her onto her back, the figure knelt down and straddled her, the blade raised above his head and he threw the blade down towards her heart.

With as much strength as she could muster, she blocked the mans arms, she grabbed whatever she could and felt her muscles cry out in protest against the inhuman strength of this man, she grabbed the blade after and felt it slice into her palms, and the pain burned and the warm blood trickled down her wrists and dripped off her elbows.

She felt her arms giving way, and with one last effort she tried to lift her hands to stop the man from plunging the dagger into her chest and she screamed against the struggle, and from her scream she felt her body vibrate with a power and it exploded from her. The man was thrown back and she lay there motionless, drained completely, she could only stare up ahead.

She heard something like giant wings flapping against the air and she saw above her, Richard, gigantic black wings, feathers falling from them and cascading to the ground, hovering above her.

Richard went to retrieve her and pick her up, but she felt a heavy as a rock, and when Richard tried to move her, he was unable. The blast that she had let leave her body, seemed to have weighted her down to the ground.

She ignored Richard,

Angels were real? I'm a Nephilim?

She stared at the multitude of stars that had appeared in the sky, with as many questions as there were shining lights in the sky, all she knew now, was that she certainly wasn't safe.