Paranormal morals the pa.., p.1
Paranormal Morals (The Paranormal Morals Saga Book 1), page 1
Lauren Flack
Paranormal Morals
Copyright © 2023 by Lauren Flack
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Lauren Flack asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
First edition
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For my readers who would become angels
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
About the Author
Chapter 1
Prologue
“She’s going to end up with us, I demand so,” Amon growled as he lunged at the white-winged angel. “She’ll be ours, we just know it.”
“I wouldn’t get my hopes high. Plus, don’t you already have more than enough people on your side?”
“You’d be surprised, Orah,” the demon ruler said. “Not many people are like us anymore. We’re growing extinct.”
It was odd that he said that, mainly because demons, as well as angels, live eternally. More so, he must have meant the demons were not far from passing them up in numbers, as Orah had guessed.
The next mortal had been chosen and it was already being an ugly fight between the two sides who wished to adopt her.
Although, there was no such thing as a fight with an angel. They were against it by all means. At that, it was more of a battle between the devil and himself. The angels allowed everyone to choose who they wanted to be freely, but Orah was sure, this time, that they had seen something in the girl.
“You’ll see. She’ll be the one who will overpower you all. I’ll make her see, and when it becomes apparent you’ll see yet again, shortly after that my side will soon overpower yours once again.” Amon threatened.
However, the demons had never overpowered the angels. There had been close calls, but never once had he gotten his wish.
Orah backed away from him, then began to fly away.
“Stop it right there,” Amon called out. “I need to let you know one thing. If she chooses you, she’ll be in for trouble, and so will you all. I’ll gain an army so strong we’ll be able to do anything.”
“Amon, she shall decide on her own and I can’t stress that enough.” Orah didn’t fear Amon. Not even a little bit.
“But I will fight for her, so watch your back.” Amon grunted before flying away.
Orah turned to his two partners, then said, “We can’t let him get in the way. We need her, I see it.”
“Isn’t the mortal we chose bound to be with someone?” Chiron, the beige-winged angel asked.
“It is all in her hands now, Chiron. We must stand back and watch. We will guide her, but we need her. Joining us would save her, which is what we were called to do.”
“Save her?” Azriel asked as he flared his brown wings. “We haven’t saved anyone in decades, I thought. It has been a terrible slump, remember?” Azriel had been glad, ecstatic that there had been yet another mission to save someone in the mortal world.
“Our newest member is, in fact, the chosen one because she needed to be saved. We believe she could do great things for us, so we must hope that we are able to make her come through to us.”
“But what if it doesn’t work? We haven’t done this in so long, Orah. This could go terribly wrong, we could fail.” Azriel seemed to grow concerned.
“I understand your hesitation, both, but this is a risk we must take to get back on our feet again. Amon’s nonsense aside, we need to at least try. I know he can be intimidating at times, but it is our job as angels to put aside our biggest fears for others.” Orah explained.
“I see. But Orah, I must ask, what makes her the chosen one?” Chiron asked.
“It’s,” Orah sighed. “A lot to explain.”
Chapter 2
Mona
It seemed like forever that the alpha family of the Miria had been begging Mona to officially join their family by the hands of their son, who was Mona’s boyfriend for all intents and purposes. It was her boyfriend who was the son, grandson or nephew of the people who acted as if they ruled over the town. Or at least, in their eyes. They weren’t just like any town rulers, they were more of a mafia as Mona had observed over the years. Most would kill to be asked by them to join just to feel safe, but Mona found it all too pique-like.
They argued Mona would be an asset that they didn’t have yet. They would do anything to convince her, but it seemed like the only way to get them to listen to her was by letting them know that just because she was in a prolonged relationship with the mafia boss’s son, that doesn’t mean she owes them her rights.
That’s what led Mona to wake up in her own apartment that morning, the sky gloomy with clouds. She was joyed by having a place of her own where she could be alone and not be bothered. It was the one place she could truly be herself. It also was the only reason she hadn’t gone insane as of yet.
There were tons of reasons Mona didn’t want to join. The first one was that she for sure didn’t belong there. She didn’t resemble them, act like them, and her beliefs were polar to theirs. Then there was the reasoning that she had when it came to how much control she needed in her life. She didn’t want to be checked on daily by anyone. She wanted to choose her own clothing, and she didn’t care for the food they ate during the dinner hour either. The tables were always filled with pork and brussel sprouts. Mona happened to be more of a plant based person, herself.
It seemed as though she could never spend time with her partner without being preached at by the family, and every time she left, smoke would be nearly coming out of her ears. She hoped that one day it would all come to an end. She really did.
When she left her house, it had later become the one thing she regretted the most. It was because of what happened as she was on the way to the palace-like home where her boyfriend’s family resided. The home was so big, it would be mistaken for some type of castle from a distance.
Mona would walk along the sidewalk, then she would cross train tracks to get to the other side of the town, where the residence started. From that day on, she never crossed those train tracks again.
Normally, she despised the grief that came with the walk to the Elsher’s residence. The dread and fret that weighed on her nearly caused her a stress migraine while making her way there. She would clench her teeth and ball her fists up at just the thoughts of who and what she was about to encounter.
Mona stepped foot on the long train tracks to make it over them, and there was where everything had gone wrong. She was incredibly deep in her thoughts, irritated with everything. She didn’t even hear the siren of the train zooming in her direction. This was it, she thought. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing, she thought. Death had come for her, and in that split second, she knew life for what it was. On the good side, she would never have to deal with Elsher’s snobbishness and pushiness anymore, but her mate, Patton, would be left behind.
However, it seemed that it wasn’t her destiny to be smacked by that train and turned into ribbons of human remains.
Mona felt a push to the back and a crack to the head. She wondered how all of her hadn’t been destroyed. It was truly a shame. Instead, she looked up and noticed that the train had come and gone, and she was on the ground covered in the dust that sat beneath her.
She wondered for a moment if she was indeed already dead. She had only taken a step on the train tracks to cross, and now she was on the entire other side of them. It made no sense, someone must have pushed her. Whatever she felt on her back was no such thing as a train, but the hand of someone. However, she looked up, and saw herself to be alone in, now, complete silence.
“Hello?” Mona called out as she gripped her head with her hand.
Mona removed her hand, seeing that it was now drenched with blood. She must have hit her head on a stone or something and the dirt all around her wasn’t making it any better. She needed to get to town and needed to do so fast in order to get her head healed. An infected brain would not do good for her in terms of staying out of whateve
With that in mind, she pushed herself up off the ground and continued walking. Perhaps she should have thought to bring bandages with her in her backpack, but it was difficult to think of these things when the people she was headed to would oftentimes tell her things like they’d hang the heads on top of their fireplace for those who would dare to even lay a finger on her. In that case, bringing bandages felt almost like an insult to them.
Whatever just happened made no sense at all. Someone had to have pushed her out of the way in order for her to still be alive. Perhaps she may only be walking as a soul, but she held her arms out in front of her, and they still very much look like human flesh. But she supposed she still had a way of knowing for sure until she arrived at the palace and talked to Patton to see if he answered back.
Mona approached the town that led to the palace, surprised that she had made it that far without collapsing. The estranged looks from the folks passing by were assuring to her, though.
Everyone in the town was extremely built up, and showed nearly no mercy for anyone walking by. The town was filled with everything that Mona didn’t care for, such line dancers entertaining people in the streets, and couples expressing their love with public displays of intimacy. Most days, Mona would have liked to tell them to go and find somewhere else to do that, but she would receive words back ten times harder knowing the type of people who live near her.
The palace was approaching, and it looked as rigid as ever. Mona could already see the older men sitting outside on the balcony smoking the cigar that clouded all the way to where Mona was. They were most likely talking about something that had happened earlier that day that they didn’t like, or perhaps they’d be planning their next mafia-like act. It was entertaining for them to hate people. Mona guessed that was why she had yet to fit in, or accept their invitation.
“Mona!” one of them yelled, bending off the balcony once they spotted her.
Mona waved back and looked up at them, but she continued walking shortly after. She wanted to get to Patton sooner than they’d be able to stop her for conversation. Perhaps she was apprehensive that they wouldn’t take her word that she had only fallen. They’d force her to tell them a name until she would lie at the cost of a life.
Mona arrived at the gate, and caught a glimpse of Patton’s honey-colored curly hair.
“Pat,” Mona called out, hoping it would get his attention.
Blood dripped right in front of her eye. She closed it immediately and whipped it with her hand again, surprised it hadn’t dried up yet.
He turned around once he saw her approaching the door with her non-bloody hand waving in the air.
Mona could tell, even from a distance. that his eyes had grown wide and that he was headed the way of her.
“What happened to you?” he asked, concern clear in his eyes. “Who did this?”
Mona caught her breath and held herself up from his shoulder. “Please,” she said, still panting. “You’re the only one who would believe me.”
“What?” he looked disappointed.
“It was weird. I was crossing the train tracks to get here, and when the train came, I was pushed out of the way, smacked, almost.” Mona explained.
“What?” his voice went high.
Mona nodded.
“Come with me.” he said, guiding me into a nearby bathroom.
“You believe me, right?” she asked, struggling to keep her stomach from growing nauseous.
He lifted Mona up and set her on the sink. “Yes, I do.”
“I don’t even know what happened.” Mona went on about her confusion, tears in her eyes.
“A train smacked you to the other side of the tracks. Perhaps you were in the perfect position to do so. That’s what pushed you. If there was nobody around, how would it have been possible that you were pushed out of the way?” Patton asked as he ran the water and grabbed toilet paper to wet it.
“Huh,” Mona nodded in anticipation. “Maybe you’re right.”
She never would have thought of that possibility, but supposedly miracles happen.
As Patton fixed Mona’s head, he squinted his eyes to the cut on her head.
“What is it?” Mona’s heart raced as she noticed his face turned concerned.
“Well, the good news is I got all of the dirt out in time and it’s no longer bleeding,” he said.
“And what’s the bad news?” Mona’s eyebrows drew together as she asked.
“There’s no way that my father, or anyone, really, isn’t going to notice that something happened to you.” he said, tossing the bloody paper in the trash can.
“Shoot,” Mona jumped off of the sink and looked into the mirror. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
For a moment, she attempted to guess what she’d look like with bangs, and if she were able to cut them in time for the aftermath of the cut to be covered up.
Mona looked back to Patton and asked, “Are there scissors near?”
But he scoffed. “Mona, do you have any idea how bad you’d be at cutting your own bangs? You attempted it in high school and how did it turn out for you?”
He was right. Mona was terrible with hair and scissors. That’s why she left her hazelnut colored, wavy hair alone all these years to grow down her back.
Mona shrugged her shoulders and said, “You’re right, even if it was worth a try.”
“Come on. One of the men will see it when they do. There’s no avoiding it.”
“Okay.” Mona nodded. “But I prefer we’d wait in your room. Let’s walk.” she insisted.
Patton nodded, then they were on their way.
Thankfully, nobody was around the hallway just yet. They reached the spiral stairs, yet another thing Mona dreaded about being here.
With every glimpse out of the tiny windows on the trip up the stairs, a big, light gray building caught her eye. It looked new, which caught her attention. The view opposed heavily to the palace that she was in. The palace had more of a rustic style with clear maintenance problems. Surely, the other palace wouldn’t hold well either, and would catch up in appearance to this one, but it sure was eye-catching.
Once Mona reached the top of the stairs, she nearly slammed herself into Patton’s back. She hadn’t cared to ask any questions about what had gone on until they entered his room.
Mona went straight to his window as she peered out, watching the construction workers still on the ground, making final touches.
“Everything alright, Mon?” Patton asked.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” She pointed out the window.
“It’s okay, they’re not going to be here for long.” he made his way next to her and said.
“Who are they?” she asked, waiting for him to elaborate.
“They’re supposed to be well mannered and affable to all standards. We don’t like that. They’re our new neighbors, the second richest people in the town. After us.”
The smell of smoke came from behind Mona. She turned around to catch, but not by surprise, Patton leaning his head on his hand, lifting a cigar to his mouth. She was never pleased to be around anyone in the palace who smoked. She didn’t like it at all - she was cleaner than that. She felt like a princess compared to everyone in the palace, all just because she’d never hurt a fly and didn’t smoke like the rest of them.
“Huh,” Mona still found herself confused.
“Yeah, we’re supposed to be meeting with them tonight to scare them off. I mean meet them.”
“Really?” Mona’s nose scrunched.
“It is so.” Patton nodded once. “Just as long as you’re one of us.”
Mona rolled her eyes at Patton. She wasn’t a part of the mafia-like group and never wanted to be. She hated being given a narrative rather than choosing it. But it kept her safe and secure. Money was never an issue for her. But had she decided to go to university, she’d be laughed at and cut off.
“We’re not the best people to have as neighbors, but the Bowman’s don’t know that. They think we’re just like anyone else.” he explained.
Surely, they sounded like harmless people as Patton put it, but it didn’t seem like they liked them. But it was rightfully so, since they’re natural rivals who are fighting for the throne of the richest and most alpha family in Miria, which even Mona had expected to have never had happen.
