Preface (I Guess)

I suppose I need to explain some things before jumping into the meat of things. Whoever you are that is reading this unless you are from a very specific group of people you won't believe a word of what I write. My reality will be your fiction. I guess that's alright. That will just mean that my friends and I are doing our jobs right. To those that know that this is normal (or not that surprising. Let's be honest, normal was thrown out the window a long time ago), congratulations on finding time to read this. Heaven knows that I have a hard time finding time to write in it.

My name is Gale Atkins, daughter of Lexi Atkins. My stepdad is Kade Atkins, I never knew my real dad. Only recently did I learn anything about him. Before I get into that there are a few more things you should know. I live in Kansas City, Missouri. We're well enough off, and have a two story house in a decent neighborhood. There were a few kids my age nearby, as well as some around my brother's age.

I have light brown skin tone, dark brown hair that goes a bit past my shoulders, and hazel eyes. I'm a bit tall for a girl my age, being 5'5'' when I turned 24. That's enough about me for now, I don't need to bore you with all this crap.

Everything was perfect, and yet everything was wrong.

It was my sixteenth birthday at noon. I didn't want to get up anytime soon. Mom had told me yesterday (on accident) that she was going to surprise me today. I was not up for another stupid birthday surprise this year. It was bad enough last year when she took me to Rome. That was one of the more embarrassing times…

"Gale? Mom says you have to come down," Derek, my younger brother, told me.

I sighed and sat up from where I was lying on my bed. I had been reading The Hunger Games for the fifth time on my bed before he had interrupted me.

"What's the surprise this year?" I asked.

Derek had a knack of getting Mom to tell him my birthday surprise. Usually. Rome was a surprise for him as well.

"She won't tell. I just hope it isn't anything like last year," he groaned.

Right… Derek had to stay home with Dad during that trip. Frankly, I would have done anything to trade places with him. All we really did was visit some old churches from the days of the Holy Roman Empire. I couldn't even get decent WiFi half the time.

I stood up. "Might as well go face the dragon."

Derek laughed. Freaking brothers. He left, leaving me to pull on some clothes (I had been in my PJs of a tank top and sweatpants). I grabbed a white short sleeved tunic, a dark green velvet blazer, and a pair of black leggings. I paused in front of my dresser before putting my necklace around my neck. The necklace was my eighth birthday present, a piece of blue topaz trapped in a spiral of silver adorned with small crystals. It was one of the best surprises I've gotten.

I headed downstairs and was surprised to see mom sitting at the dining room table looking at some old papers. Derek was in the living room watching TV, and he made a shooing motion when I started to head his way. There was no way that I was ready for something that made Mom actually use some of the old notebooks that she had in the attic.

"Hey Mom," I said as I slid into the chair across from her.

"Good morning honey. Are you ready for this year's surprise?" she asked, closing the open notebook before I could peek at what was inside.

"As ready as I'll ever be. What is it this year?" I asked.

My chair was roughly pointed towards the living room, so I saw when Derek tried to sneak into earshot. I shooed him away. This is my birthday secret.

"Kade and I talked about this, and we decided to tell you something that you should know."

Please do not tell me that I'm adopted.

"It's about your real father, Gale. I want to tell you about him," Mom told me.

Wait, what? "So Dad isn't my dad? I'm from some kind of fling you had when you were younger?" I asked, heavily confused.

"No, not just some 'fling' when I was a teenager. Gale, you know me better than that. This happened a few years after I got married to Kade, and he was OK with it."

"Say what? Dad was alright with you being with another guy?"

"Just… Just let me explain before you interrupt. Kade and I had been trying to have children for two years. It just couldn't happen. Every night we prayed that we would be able to have a child, and eventually our prayers were answered. Your father, Jael, is an angel. He spoke to us over the course of several weeks before he gave us an option. Jael could use Kade as a vessel and give us a child that way. He warned us that the other angels wouldn't be as understanding."

"So you're saying I'm half angel? Does that mean that I can do all kinds of awesome stuff?"

Mom laughed before she started to explain what this meant for me.

March 17, 2001

So I'm half angel, a Nephilim. Mom has my grace (the thing that actually makes me an angel) so I can stay under the angel radar. She's given me a choice, one that will determine how my life will play out. I can choose to learn how to fight demons, ghosts, and all other kinds of creatures that are straight out of a horror movie and use my angel powers (Nephilim powers technically) to help people or I can continue to just be Gale Atkins and live a normal life.

What should I do? I don't know anymore what way to go. Usually I know immediately, but now I can't. One path is a path of adventure, one where I can make my own place in the world, and the other is me just settling for what I have. Being… average. But I'm not average. I've never fit in. Not at school, in the community, or even at home. I need to find my own niche in the world, but am I prepared to take the consequences that come with that choice?

No. I'm not going to consider the catastrophic consequences that will happen if the angels find me. Dad, my real dad, might accept me but the rest of the angels view kids like me as an abomination. That's why Mom hid me and is giving me this choice. She wants to prove that not all Nephilim are bad and that we can do good things.

I'm going to accept her offer of teaching me how to fight these monsters. Maybe I can find my place out there, with other people that have no place.

Gale Atkins