The Blood of a God: The Nephilim Chronicles, Book One

By Lance Burton

The year is 2047 and the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance. Commander Tarakia Sol, a warrior-princess with the blood of a celestial coursing through her, leads a special team called Talon Squad in a fight to save humanity from a coming invasion by a race of beings in the Orion Constellation...beings who are the descendants of a former Angel and will stop at nothing to enslave all of humanity. Will all her power, training, and faith be enough to stop them? What does the revelation of their existence mean in relation to our place in the universe?

The answers are within...

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490833156

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Copyright © 2014 Lance Burton.

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All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible, any deviation is not intended.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3314-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3313-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3315-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014906346

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/29/2014

Contents

Cast of Characters

Prologue

PART 1

THE DARKNESS WITHIN

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

PART 2

DARKNESS FALLS

Chapter 13 – Interlude

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

PART 3

THE DAWNSTAR RISES

Chapter 26 – Interlude

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Epilogue

About the Author

For Jade, no matter how fast you grow up, I will always continue to look forward to the day when we can fly through the stars…together.

Cast of Characters

Prologue

"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown."

Book of Genesis 6:1-4

The United States of America:

Dallas, Texas – The Year of our Lord 2047

One might think that being the descendant of a god would be a benefit, magical even, but I’m not so sure. They told me that sometimes the taint skips multiple generations, maybe only manifesting in small ways through your family bloodline from time to time, but then occasionally, actually quite rarely, you get a full dose.

Apparently, that was me.

I always knew I was different from the other kids. At first, meaning when I was just a toddler, it didn’t really show too much, except in really basic ways like how well I could speak, or how easy it was for me to understand things. Or, at times I would just know what someone was thinking or feeling. But, all that was easy to write off during those younger years because of who my mom and dad were.

But later, as I grew older and stronger, the taint was unmistakable.

Now before I continue, let me explain something because when I say I am descended from a god you really should know what that means. I don’t mean God, as in the Creator of the Universe, the All Knowing, the great I AM as the Holy Scripture teaches us. There is only one true God and His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus. He is the one that really matters.

So, when I say I have the blood of a god, I mean more like the Greeks once taught. Hercules, Perseus, Poseidon…guys like that. It’s too bad the history books of the 20th and early 21st Century taught they were just imaginary tales. Myths. Fiction.

All lies.

You see, back before the Flood (you know, the flood of Noah), there were some strange things starting to take place on this planet of ours. Angels from Heaven, real, no kidding angels, began to get really interested in what God was doing down here with these humans He created. As time passed, some of them just couldn’t get it off their minds just how beautiful a human woman could be and decided maybe it was worth it to give up the spiritual body God created then with and shed it for a mortal form. All so they could mate with these women and experience completely and fully what it was like to be one of these special creatures, a human being.

Seems like a dumb idea if you ask me.

However, for some of those angels, I guess they decided it would be an achievement of sorts. The world they were from, the heavenly world, allowed for no advancement, no relationships (the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage), and no power beyond what they were already given. At least that’s how they chose to look at it. But, as mortal beings living in a mortal world, they were powerful.

It consumed them.

I mean, what do you do when you have been flying around the cosmos observing all the wonder and splendor of creation, doing so while having complete understanding of the nature of the universe and the fabric of reality and then give it up to be human? As it turns out, you do a lot of bad things. Evil things.

The former angels retained all their knowledge and intellect as they transformed themselves into a being with a mortal shell. Why God allowed it is still a mystery to me, but He did let it happen. Someday I really want to ask Him about that one.

Anyhow, another twist turned out to be this: not only did these angels retain their intellect, they, in some way that we haven’t totally figured out yet, retained part of their nature in their genetic coding. Since everyone now knows that DNA is a digital code, I suppose that it isn’t too much of a stretch to understand how a being that was once angelic in nature would transpose part of that nature into his genes. No matter how it all works, the outcome was pretty clear – a being with immense intelligence who produced some hybrid children with a great deal of inherent capability mixed with a darkened heart.

That’s what you might call real trouble. In the Bible they are simply called the Nephilim.

Over the years they and others have worked overtime to hide their existence from the whole of humanity. Occasionally, they slip up or even allow for a story or two to get out or maybe a witness sees something he can’t explain. It adds to the mystery and the intrigue. And, it’s a great smokescreen for the truth.

In the late 20th Century they started calling them ‘aliens’ and just decided they were beings that evolved on some distant planet who happened to achieve star travel before us and stumbled upon our little world while poking around the galaxy. Of course, evolution is just a fairy tale for grown-ups so Darwin and his proselytes like Richard Dawkins, Stephen Hawking, and scores of others, provided a perfect illusion to further hide the truth.

Before that they were ‘Vampires’ or ‘Werewolves’ or a whole host of things that the fantasy writers have been banking on for years. The truth really is stranger than fiction.

Unfortunately, all too many people have ignored or deliberately ‘adjusted’ the facts over the centuries to the point where we are now – operating from the shadows and using cunning duplicity to steer whole nations to the brink of spiritual collapse. Satan (a.k.a. The Devil), formerly known as Lucifer, did a smash up job pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes the last 6000 years or so. I mean, most of the population of the Earth doesn’t even think he exists.

Anyhow, if the evil ones working behind the scenes and historians who followed them hadn’t twisted the truth so much I think my life would have been a whole lot easier. At least growing up would have been anyway.

Case in point. Once when I was thirteen my best friend at the time and I were wandering around Stonebriar Mall, talking about boys and school and clothes and what music is cool and all the normal things a newly minted teenage girl talks about, when a local bully decided to get in her face over something petty (it always is with those types) while I was off grabbing us both an iced green tea from Starbucks. I returned to witness Josh push Shannon’s face against the wall and start saying some quite vulgar things I would rather not repeat about what he would do to her if she didn’t agree to go out with him. That’s when it happened.

Rage. Pure, complete, and total rage.

In a flash I ran to Josh’s side and threw him off of her like he was nothing more than a little rag doll. A surge of strength and speed came over me like I had never felt before, not even with the hundreds of hours of training I had already done under my dad’s tutelage. Josh flew ten whole feet and smashed into a wall. Out cold.

But that wasn’t all. Shannon told me later that my eyes began to glow, albeit faintly, but glow nonetheless. Emerald green. She said it was beautiful.

On the one hand it was cool being able to have the power to help innocent people that way, but it sure did make finding a date for Senior Prom a challenge. I mean, try explaining to some poor guys parent’s that your date looks like a fairly normal, perhaps exceptionally athletic, teenage girl but that she can also read your mind like an open book and lift more than a champion Olympic Weightlifter.

Yes, dating was a bit of a problem.

Not that the boys weren’t interested. My mom was tall with chestnut red hair, tan skin, and brown eyes so my natural colors were a lot like hers. The green glow from my eyes must somehow have been from dad. I got dad’s build too. Well, a female version of it, but thanks to his side of the gene pool I had a naturally strong and athletic frame yet with the lithe flexibility of a dancer. Yes, the dancer part was mom’s.

As I got older my training got harder and the taint began to show itself more and more. It was scary. Both to myself and to others. Everyone knew me as the beautiful super-sweet athlete and scholar (I actually never liked it put that way) who you simply didn’t cross. The only one who seemed to be able to understand me and not be afraid was dad. For years though I thought for sure the flashes of inner rage would eventually consume me. I don’t know, maybe it did.

On the other hand, it sure was useful now. Sure, it still makes my relationships a little tentative, but when you are surrounded by bad guys it definitely comes in handy. Makes you extra fast and extra strong. And, it makes you deadly.

But, like my dad always taught me, being deadly really is only in small part about your physical self. Your strength, your speed, your technique, your skill. All those things are part of the makeup of a warrior like me. But being deadly really isn’t about that when you strip it down to its core elements. In the end it really comes down to one thing: being deadly requires a deadly state of mind.

Some people have it and some people don’t. Actually, most don’t.

Dad called it fighting spirit and taught me how to tap into it and later, how to control it. I can still hear his voice as he would ever patiently teach and explain the deeper truths about life and the warrior code. Honor, compassion, justice, mercy, and discipline. All vital elements if it happens to be you were born to battle against evil.

The effects of the taint didn’t end there. One time when dad had taken me up into the mountains for some survival training he and I were working on our bladed combat skills. We circled each other slowly, like a tiger ever so cautiously stalking its prey, waiting for the right moment to strike.

My breathing was heavy, but controlled. Consumed with the moment my senses peaked and it was as though I could hear the footsteps of an ant or feel the gentle tremor of an eagle landing in the trees high above. Dad shifted his stance slightly, putting his weight on his back foot, and allowed the tip of his blade to drop back just a little.

In an instant he feinted low with his lead hand while rushing in and leaping high above, hoping to strike with a single thrust to the chest or neck. A killing blow if we hadn’t been using the training weapons we always used.

But then I realized he hadn’t leaped at all. At least, not yet.

It was what the Metaphysical Sciences Department calls ‘a precognitive moment triggered by the onset of a heightened state of awareness’ or something else unnecessarily long and wordy. In much simpler terms it was this: I saw what he was going to do before he did it.

Now, unless you have been facing certain death and are moments away from losing your head to the razor sharp blade of a monstrous creature intent on killing you and your whole team it is difficult to explain just how useful such a talent can be. Trust me, it’s useful.

It doesn’t stop there. More and more talents manifested over the years: Telekinesis, full blown telepathy and empathic ability, resistance to disease or any kind of poison (that has been a real boon let me tell you), and a host of other ever useful things. Things that kept me alive more times than I can count. Things that saved my team over and over.

So, why am I telling you all this? Why at this point should I write it all down?

Simple: the final battle that determined the fate of humanity and all of Earth just took place and only I and a handful of fellow warriors know that the war is actually just beginning. I work from the shadows, sometimes barely ahead of the law, and constantly at war with the forces of darkness. And, just in case I don’t make it back alive I want everyone to know what really happened. I want everyone to know the truth of just how close we came to losing everything – and what still must be done.

My name is Tarakia Sol…and I hunt angels.

PART 1

THE DARKNESS WITHIN

Chapter 1

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;

out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:

the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth;

and he shall give strength unto his king,

and exalt the horn of his anointed.

The Book of 1 Samuel 2:10

September 23rd, 2046, 2032 Zulu

Off the coast of Iran

I looked skyward to embrace the last moment of calm before the storm and reflected on how beautiful the stars looked, allowing my gaze to drift until I saw Orion’s Belt. The bluish hue of the constellation always drew me in and made me remember all the times dad took me outside just to watch the stars. Peaceful.

If people only knew the truth of what is out there…yet I fear they soon will.

Sixty seconds til launch! came the call over her internal comm system.

Copy that. Systems check complete…green light.

Green light, echoed three more voices over the system.

Talon Squad. The best in the business. All professional, highly trained, and deadly. Most people just thought that they had named it that because of their propensity for swooping in on their prey with calm and deadly efficiency. But, although it was that too, it was also a way to honor the family. Uncle Talon had been a warrior in his own right. Not quite like dad, but great nonetheless.

I took a quick glance at my Heads Up Display (HUD) inside my helmet and noted that everything still looked good. The jet suits developed by Saturn International were state of the art tech and allowed an operator to literally fly at speeds up to almost five hundred miles an hour. Most fuel cells lasted long enough for about an hour of powered flight.

Five, Four, Three, Two, One….Launch!

The cargo door on the specially modified KC-151 opened and the members of my squad, Talon Squad, dropped out one by one, each of us waiting just a few moments before igniting the primary booster.

Booster ignition normal…coming around to a heading of zero-two-zero, I said plainly over the comm.

Roger that Commander. Everyone is turning and will maintain standard position off your tail as we head in.

Kenzo Hasagawa. Formerly Special Operations Chief (SOC) Hasagawa, SEAL Team FIVE. Warrior, friend, and also brother. Mom and dad had adopted him from Japan when he was just a newborn. We grew up together and later he had joined the Navy like dad, but chose not to follow his footsteps into Annapolis and instead went straight to BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL Training). After doing a few tours with the Teams I recruited him to come with me to Talon Squad.

Good copy…any of you guys bring some sandwiches or something for this trip.

Kenzo grinned and a collective laugh came over the comm system.

I thought you were supposed to bring lunch for us, ma’am.

I smiled inside my helmet. The banter among the team was always fun.

Kenzo Hasagawa, Aura Winter, and Mark Ben-Tzion. I couldn’t ask for a better crew to go to war with me.

Aura grew up in a Native American family in the southwestern United States and had endured more than her share of tough training before we crossed paths. Like me, her dad figured out at an early age that she had some gifts that weren’t at all common. Keeping with family tradition he taught her martial arts, various firearms skills, and how to live off the land. She happened to be an Olympic class archer too and with her jet black hair, remarkable figure, and piercing sky-blue eyes she could have just as well been a fashion model. Except maybe for the other tradition in her family of adding a new tattoo every year between her thirteenth and eighteenth birthday – her arms were covered with beautiful tribal ink with various shades of blue and red highlighting the edges. Her masterwork though was on her back where she had a full Japanese dragon from shoulder to shoulder all the way down to her waist.

She is one of the only women I’ve ever met that could pull that off and it not look trashy…somehow she made it beautiful.

Mark on the other hand was a totally different story. Growing up on the streets of Jerusalem, he saw the darker side of life from a very early age. His parents had been part of the Israeli Defense Force and served an honorable career before both being killed in a suicide bombing attack that left him an orphan. His uncle owned a local gym and took him in, raising him as his own. Tall, athletic, and gifted in language, Mark ended up serving briefly as a member of the elite Mossad intelligence agency before I recruited him for Talon Squad.

A few minutes passed and the lights from the coast of our target loomed brighter and brighter.

Prepare to engage stealth systems.

Acknowledged came the response from each teammate.

Standard procedure in an Op like this is to engage the stealth systems just before getting into the enemy’s visual range at the target location so that even though they may have seen our signature on radar it won’t make a whole lot of difference once we are physically on the ground and moving in. The invisibility function puts a big drain on the power systems so we can’t really use it for very long at one time. But, those short times we do use it can be worth its weight in gold.

Engage Stealth.

Now, I think at this point I need to take a moment to say a few things about these suits we were flying in. Warriors over the ages have always tried to gain a tactical or strategic advantage over their adversaries and one of the best ways to do that is to be real sneaky and get into a position to strike before they knew what hit them.

These suits were the ultimate version of sneaky.

Built by Saturn International, they were sleek, relatively lightweight, and heavily armed and armored. The science geeks at Saturn International were some of the best on the planet and they knew their stuff. Back in 2022 one of the top employees at Saturn had developed what became known as ‘Titanium Zero’ because he figured out a way to improve the bonding strength of the standard molecules to the point where you could literally make thread out of it and it still retain its other qualities. High grade, ultra-flexible, titanium alloy is very useful in creating armored flying suits that also happen to be quite form fitting. Very stylish.

Besides serving as protection and giving my team the ability to fly short distances and a limited form of invisibility, it also is essentially a weapons platform. The integrated Heads Up Display (HUD for short) is a knock off from the flyboys in the fighter jet world and allows us to track all the necessary targeting, environmental, and systems status information we could ever need. In a flash I can switch from auto-targeting a heat seeking rocket fired from my forearm launcher to getting a satellite feed that gives me moment by moment updates to all other units on the network. It also has built in thermal and night vision which I can switch between using thought triggered synaptic impulses and a telescopic sighting system that works in tandem with whichever of my pulse weapons I happen to be using at the time.

All that for the bargain price of one billion dollars per suit – and I used to think mom’s Jimmy Choo’s were expensive.

But, I digress.

I throttled back on the jets as we went invisible to reduce the engine signature and noise as we approached our target: the Al-Salim mosque on the edge of the coastal city of Jask, Iran.

Only it wasn’t just a mosque. The Iranian Navy had put a base there way back in the year 2008 in an attempt to have a blocking force ready to deploy to the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point in the region. In this case, what was supposed to serve as the city’s main worship center also housed a much more nefarious purpose.

An underground base crawling with ‘aliens’ – a Nephilim hot bed.

Intelligence collected by the team during a previous operation had revealed that the ‘Blues’ (the slang term we used for the hybrids from the Orion System…they have deep blue skin) had made a deal with the Iranian Government to set up a base there in return for advancements in nuclear technology. Why on Earth anyone would want to set up