Beware the Wolf

By Laura Prior

Jasmine is half Angel and half Human. She was tortured in a Hell dimension by an army of Fallen Angels but escaped only to be betrayed by her Guardian Angel.

After falling through a portal into a mystical realm she is hunted by Demons and befriended by Werewolves. Finding herself trapped in an intricate web of lies, in a war against an evil Witch, she must discover who her enemies are. With no one else to protect her she must rely on herself and harness her own power if she is to survive.

Haunted by her conflicting thoughts and memories of Aidan and Zach, she wonders...will Aidan look for her? What about her Guardian Angel? Does he search for her? Or has he abandoned her completely?

The Second installment of the Falling series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Prior
• Release date: Oct 9, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301662371

Laura Prior

Laura Prior lives in Melbourne Australia with her fiancé, two daughters and two dogs.

Book preview

Dedication

To Simon: fate brought us together; it was never meant to be any other way, only us. I’ll love you forever.

1

‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’

Dr Seuss

I landed with a thump into a thick green carpet of grass. As I looked up at the blue sky above me, my first thought was, ‘Oh crap’. The thought that followed a second later was, ‘Thank God for that’.

I had just narrowly escaped a confrontation between Zach, my Guardian Angel ex-boyfriend, who had left me devastated following my recent rape and torture at the hands of a Fallen Angel called Asmodeus, and my current crush Aidan, also a Fallen Angel but the good sort. After Zach had left me distraught and shattered, Aidan had swooped in first as a dear friend and confidant, with the relationship slowly progressing to a mutual trust and friendship. I was a little hesitant about moving to the next level with him, possibly because it was on other end of the spectrum to what Zach and I had had.

Zach and I had passion; we had fireworks. We had lust so hot that we had had sex in every position and every place imaginable. He had been tasked with being my Guardian Angel because I am a Nephilim. I had never met either of my parents, but my birth father was apparently an Angel. Zach had quickly become everything to me, and when he had confessed that he was my soulmate, well, I had thought that I was set. The prick had left me high and dry after we had escaped, following months of being tortured in a hell dimension. I had been left with scars as a permanent reminder of my suffering, and apparently, they had been too much for Zach to handle. It had taken months to move on.

Aidan, on the other hand, was a constant sweetness. He was quiet, shy, and eager to please. In his former life as an Angel, before he had been ejected from heaven, he had been a healer. He still possessed the ability and was adored throughout the Nephilim safe house we lived in. He was truly wonderful, but I felt as though I was just using him as an emotional crutch now that Zach was gone.

Only Zach was no longer gone. He had walked in seconds earlier, just as Aidan and I had our first kiss. Awkward was an understatement. My emotions were clearly so on edge that I had accidentally opened a portal and fallen straight through it. And I was now in some other realm, again!

Portal travel was certainly not as fun as my other Nephilim friends made out. Sure, I could take myself off anywhere in our world, and others, at any time I chose . . . when I could control it. My control was limited and subject to my rocketing emotions. And although I had been to some amazing, beautiful realms with Zach, I had also almost been trapped in a ‘waiting room’ for judgement by a lonely wayward soul, and my most recent adventure was torture in a hell dimension. Also, time passed differently in other realms. I had been gone for what seemed like a couple of months, but in our world, I had escaped to find that I was three years older. Portal travel was definitely not what it was cracked up to be.

Before he had left, Zach had been helping me to control my ability and to create portals at will. But since he had left, I had given up trying, not wanting to risk being stuck in another realm again. My Nephilim best friends, Sam, Trev, and Gwen, had pestered and encouraged me to try again, but I was sure that my talent was harder to control than theirs. I had learnt that each Nephilim has a different ability, usually a passed on gift from their Angel relative. Everyone was very secretive of their gifts, and so far, I only knew for certain that Sam was a telepath.

Another side effect of being a Nephilim was physical strength and speed. Although it needed to be honed, during my lessons in the safe house, I had become much stronger and much more able to defend myself when needed. I figured it was owed to us by the Almighty, seeing as his Fallen Angels hunted us at every moment – some wanted to drink our blood or torture us, and others just wanted to rid the world of our half-angel species.

I sighed and relaxed into the grass, hidden from view by the metre tall blades. I felt sad and alone. I had no family to speak of, and nowhere I could run to hide. I knew that I should reach for the coil of power inside me and try my damned hardest to bring up another portal to send me home, but that would mean going back to the awkwardness of facing Aidan and Zach. My heart clenched as I thought of him. Was I angry at him? Yes, definitely. How could he tell me that he was my soulmate and then leave me? And I was hurt; he had meant everything to me. He was the only person I had in the whole world. The only person who had ever made me feel worthy of anything. I felt sick inside, thinking of the lead up to his leaving. My torture had involved being bitten by the Fallen Angels over and over, and my back and buttocks were a riot of scars from bite marks and whips. They were disgusting; I knew they were but to have Zach look at them, see the disgust in his eyes, and then for him to say directly afterwards that he was leaving me and he wouldn’t be back . . . Well . . . Maybe that was the reason I had decided to give Aidan a chance; no one else would ever be able to stomach the sight of me.

But then there was the question I was dying to ask him. Why was he back? Had he come back to the safe house because he had business with Elijah and Haamiah – the two Angels who ran the facility? Or had he realised his mistake and come back to make amends with me? What had he thought when he had seen Aidan and me together?

I groaned. God! I was lying here, actually feeling guilty for kissing someone, someone kind and honest and worthy, when my deserting, lying ex-boyfriend deserved nothing from me but my hatred.

That solved it. I wasn’t going back just yet. I needed to take some time to calm down and decide what I was going to do when I was faced with them both.

I hadn’t been to another realm on my own before, so maybe this was an opportunity. I felt intrigued by this new realm; it didn’t feel evil, so that was a good sign, as I had learnt that my Angel senses would kick in with spine-chilling terror if I stepped into a hell dimension again. Not that I’d tested that theory. But for the first time in months, I wanted to enjoy myself on my own. After all, with my new body art from my recent torture, I was likely to be alone for the rest of my life.

Damn, no more feeling sorry for myself. I scrambled to my feet, my upper body clearing the grass, and stared in wonder around me, beginning to smile.

I spun in a circle, looking all around me, pleasantly surprised. For miles around, all I could see was the long light green and yellow grass, flowers intermittently springing up in patches. There appeared to be a wood or forest off to my left, but it didn’t look as thick and intimidating as the never-ending forest in the ‘waiting room’ that I had repeatedly found myself in years earlier.

The sky above me was clear, a beautiful light blue, and the sun was shining down with hot rays, heating my skin and bathing me in warmth. I could smell sweet scents surrounding me, I presumed from the flowers in the grass. If I could bottle it and wear it as a perfume, trust me I would. It was peaceful; there were no birds or insects to be seen, but I could hear the occasional chirping and tweeting, enough to let me know that I wasn’t completely alone.

I started walking slowly, meandering through the grass towards the wood as it was the only place visible to head towards.

As I pushed through the grass, blades sprang back slapping at my denim jeans, occasional pieces catching in my long blonde hair that was a complete mess, falling down my back and arms. I walked for a good few miles, picking up my pace as I realised how far away the wood was. Thankfully, I was wearing my favourite black boots and not flimsy shoes or sandals. They had been a present from Zach – over the knee black leather, with laces up the back and a small zip on the ankle. They fit like a glove and were so sexy, you could imagine Catwoman wearing them. They were pretty flat but had just the slightest heel and gorgeous rounded toes. When I wore them, I felt like I could take on the world. And after spending a number of months at the Nephilim safe house, where learning to fight was part of our curriculum, I felt safe enough now without an Angel bodyguard. Not that I had a weapon, but hey, I had a strong punch and had taken down my fellow Nephilim easily when sparring.

As I neared the wood, I could smell the freshness of the trees reach out to envelop me; I could hear every whisper of the leaves, and a breeze swam through. It was as though it was beckoning to me, inviting me in. It was just the oddest feeling, but it didn’t carry the tinge of evil so I cautiously continued on until I stood at the very edge, under the treeline.

The grass had given way to a dry mud floor, roots curling and winding, poking up from the ground. The interior of the wood looked quite light. I had expected it to be dark and thick and entirely uninviting, but this looked so different. It seemed almost homely. And wasn’t that just the weirdest way to describe a wood! But it did; I began to feel as though I was meant to be here, as though there was something I was supposed to do, and that creating the portal that had sent me here hadn’t been an accident.

I turned back to the grassy fields and the sun and drank in the wonderful sight for one last time and then turned and headed into the wood ready for whatever it would throw at me.

2

‘In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.’

Robert Frost

I climbed over roots and made my way through the initial treeline. The trees began to grow closer together with bushes and plants between them. Vines threatened to trip me, hidden under piles of leaves and debris. Numerous times I almost fell and had to catch hold of the nearest tree and untangle myself from where my legs had been caught.

The interior of the wood still had the same feeling that I had initially felt – that sense of welcome and approval and that something had been waiting for me, and I had finally arrived. I walked in wonderment and in a slight daze. The colours seemed so much more vibrant. The greens of the leaves on the bushes and trees were almost neon, the browns looked like rich chocolate, and the older orange leaves on the ground glittered like golden flakes.

I had expected the air to be stale and stifled as it had been so warm in the field, but a fresh aromatic breeze wound its way regularly to me, under branches and through bushes. It was peaceful; like a balm to my wounded soul, I felt like I had been dipped in honey and set free. Every movement I made was soft, although clumsiness made me almost fall a number of times; when I had righted myself, I felt as though my movements flowed.

I walked for a short while before I reached a path. Up until now I had been walking in no discernible direction, just forwards. The ground had previously not shown any sign of another person – no footprints or clearings or even animal trails. But now, I could see a clearly well-worn path before me. The leaves looked to have been kicked to the side, and there was a man or animal made trail winding around the trees away from me.

After standing at the edge of the trail looking in both directions, I decided to follow it off slightly to the left as the right seemed to be heading in a similar direction to the way I had come. I stepped on to the trail and followed it. I followed it around as the trees began to spread out, and I jogged and up a small hill topped with fauna. At the top, I could see it wound down a steep slope covered in leaves and small shrubs. The trees around me closed in, blocking out the sunlight, casting a dim hue all around.

I held on to the side of a tree as I began to follow the trail down the slope. I slipped once on the leaves, catching hold of roots to steady myself. Catching my breath, I stood up again and carefully continued on down the slope. At the bottom, thick rocks and boulders covered the ground. I sat on one, resting for a moment. I could hear a trickle of water, like the beginnings of a stream. I thought back to the last time I had been at a stream in another realm.

I shook off the memories and stood up, balancing on a boulder. I looked around, trying to find where the trail began again, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of it. I wondered if these rocks and boulders were the trail.

Knowing that I could open a portal for myself to go home if I wanted to gave me a sense of security, so I decided to amble along the rocks instead of climbing up the slope opposite. I hopped from rock to rock until they became smaller and much easier to walk on. I could still hear the sound of a stream, slowly getting louder.

I walked for a while, just enjoying the peace and the relaxing sound of the leaves whispering and the water trickling, while not really concentrating on anything in particular. I began to think of Aidan and Zach. I wondered what they were doing. Were they still stood on the back porch waiting for me to come back? I imagined that Aidan was probably still there waiting, but Zach would have been more proactive. Right now he would be wherever the Principality Angels were demanding to know which realm I had gone to and for them to open a portal for him to come and fetch me. He hadn’t explained in great detail where the Angels who controlled the portals were. Did they have their own realm? Were they in heaven? Either way, I had been here for a couple of hours now wandering pretty aimlessly; I was definitely surprised that he wasn’t here already. Would he be angry with me that I hadn’t even tried to open a portal to go home?

Annoyed at myself for caring what Zach was doing or even what he was thinking, I tried to brush him off. I shook my head and scrunched my shoulders, focusing on finding the river. I marched along the rocks as quick as I could without breaking an ankle.

The trail of rocks wasn’t really a trail. I guess they were just rocks that had fallen down the slope, littering the bottom of the valley, if you could call it that. It wound around the slopes, always heading down, and the slopes around me seemed higher and higher with each step I took.

Eventually, I was forced to come to a stop. As I was walking, I could see trickles of water between the rocks I was standing on, and as I rounded the last big boulder, the sound of water increased in volume dramatically. The trail of rocks ended, and an underground stream had come to air at the edge. Water poured out from the edges of the rocks, leading down what appeared to be a fairly shallow river but with white froth splashing down rapids and large waves lapping up at boulders.

As I stood there at the edge, feeling myself get lost in the natural beauty and peaceful sounds, I felt a peculiar sensation seep into me in a rush. If I had been concentrating on my surroundings instead of daydreaming, I could have prepared myself, but instead, the sensation of danger warned me too late when as I turned around, I found myself surrounded. I whirled around looking for an escape, but on all sides of me, I was surrounded by Demons.

I stepped back ankle-deep in the water as the one closest to me laughed. I gasped as I took him in. He was huge and looked like a true monster, nothing like what I had seen before. He didn’t wear any clothes, but his skin seemed to be like hard leather. His flesh was scarlet red, with a stripe of light blue across his lower jaw and lips. His eyes were solid black as though his pupil had exploded in his eye and taken over. His limbs were gigantic, way out of proportion for his large and bulky body. Black talons curved out from his forelimbs; he didn’t seem to have hands or fingers. When he laughed, two sets of huge, sharp yellow teeth were visible. The two horns on his head were also red and looked very sharp.

My heart stopped, my brain shrieking in terror. I turned and ran further into the water, knowing that I would never outrun them but the instinct taking over my body. I heard a horrifying roar, echoed by the others, and splashing as they ran in after me.

One ploughed into me, and I flew face first into the water, the current pulling at me. It was deeper than I had thought. I was slapped hard, and my whole body turned with the force of it. The Demon pushed my head under the water, trying to drown me. I coughed and gagged, water filling my lungs. It tasted like acid, burning and scorching my throat on the way down. My chest was on fire. I was pulled up out of the water and thrown to the side. I landed against a boulder, my head smacking off the side with a crack. Dazed, I slumped down to sit in the water, unable to summon the strength to stand. Shaking my head, I grabbed hold of the rock and pulled myself up, my feet desperately scrambling for purchase on the loose rocks under the water when I saw them come at me again.

I could taste blood in my mouth, and as I spat it out, I saw one of the Demons stick out a lizard-like tongue sensing the air, as if he could smell it. I picked up a rock, and with my Nephilim strength and speed, I launched it at the nearest one. Unprepared for it, the Demon didn’t move, and the rock sliced his face, taking a chunk of skin off. He turned back to me hissing, his tongue waving out in front of him in anger.

I quickly waded through the thigh-deep water to a flat rock to my left and climbed up on it. I stood and turned to face them and bent my knees slightly. I could feel blood running down the side of my face, and my knees and hands were scraped and bleeding from climbing up the rocks. I lifted my chin and clenched my fists.

‘Come and get it,’ I said, mainly to prepare myself.

The first Demon rushed up on to the rock, swiping at me with his talons. He missed when I ducked. I kicked out at his knee twice, the second kick sending him to the floor. When his face was aligned with my knee, I kneed him under the jaw, hearing something crack. I shoved him into the water with a splash, letting the current take him downstream.

I was rushed by another, and I knelt, knocking him straight over my shoulder and into the water behind me. I heard him land with a howl. The next had a sword. He swiped and swung at me, and I dodged and slid, which was difficult to do on a small flat rock. I managed to kick his sword out of his hand, sending it careening into the water. He swung with his talons, shredding my upper arm with three stripes. I screamed as the pain shot through me, and I saw a spray of blood fly out. I grabbed his arm and snapped it in half, chucking his forearm to the ground as blood spurted on my clothes.

Hearing something behind me, I spun around to defend myself. Another Demon had sneaked behind me and swung a blade at my neck, nearly catching me. I leapt back, knocking the Demon behind me into the water. As he clutched at my leg, I booted him in the face, sending him hissing into the water. I whirled around low to the ground, catching the other Demon with my leg and knocking him to the floor, his blade crashing on the ground. I picked it up and swung it down at him, burying it in his heart. He spat blood out of his mouth as he gasped and spluttered, looking up at me in shock.

I paused for a second, staring down in terror at the Demon dying before me. I could hear my blood pounding in my skull, but I was frozen, just staring at the body in front of me.

I was suddenly knocked forward off the rock ledge into the water. The cold water woke me up like nothing else could have. I kicked my legs to the surface, gasping for breath as my head came up only to be faced with another blue-and-red angry face. I was struck brutally in the side of the head. Dazed, I sunk under the water for a second, my lungs burning as I inhaled the river water.

I let all my anger swell up over me: every injustice I had ever felt, every bit of control I had, I let go in a rush. I was angry; I was bitter. I had spent months learning to fight in the safe house, sparring with my friends. I had been taught that in order to win in battle, you had to stay cool and calm. Well, I was sick of trying to contain my emotions; I was so angry at everything and everyone. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone? I hadn’t asked for this life, and I certainly wasn’t going to get my ass kicked by these ugly freaks. They might think I was an easy target, but I had power; I had destroyed a pack of Fallen Angels by sending them through a portal to another realm – granted I didn’t know which one I’d sent them to, but I could do the same again.

I felt the coil of power swell up inside me that usually heralded a portal, but I immersed myself in its powerful silver flow, instead of feeling like a flow of air; this time it was tangible like a weapon. I felt the power swell up and begin to take over me. It was as though I was no longer in my body, but looking down at myself.

I could see the fury and rage in my expression. I could see blood running down my face and trailing down my chin. My clothes were ripped, soaking wet and tinged with blood. It felt as though I had died. I was no longer even inside my body. I could see everything, each of the Demons as they approached me.

I shrieked loudly, and two of the Demons fell to their knees clutching at their heads. I felt myself be sucked back into my body in that instant. I blinked and screamed my rage, feeling my power shoot out of my open mouth like a thousand knives. I ran and jumped off the edge of the rock, barrelling into the Demons attacking me. I kicked and punched. With my new weapon, I sliced and cut, feeling sprays of blood and entrails pour out. I grabbed a head and pulled, hearing it snap, but I didn’t stop. I continued to twist and pull until I had snapped the neck completely and was holding it