Twice Upon A Time (The Black Angel Book Series, #1)

Chapter 1 - Sympathy For The Devil

Centuries ago, I was Morgann. Albeit I am neither immortal nor a supernatural creature of any kind; I am now an urban legend. For I am something else.

I am a soul that gained awareness of its existence; a wandering soul inhabiting various bodies throughout their mortal lives.

A soul longing to be reunited with its soulmate.

Like a fairytale, you know, "Once upon a time..." And the rest of the story unfolds, sometimes with torment, but always with a happy ending. Only that is not how it turned out for us.

So maybe we should try another story line that will end better this time. Let's say, "Twice upon a time," maybe?

Anyway. This is what I am.

Centuries later, this soul eventually ended up in my body. Now I feel I can speak on Morgann's behalf, for I'm him and he's me. We're one.

Fearless and hopeful, when Morgann's body died, his soul began its journey. His body was no longer of use, but his soul had lived on, intact, searching for her frantically. Her? Well, that would be Deirdre, a powerful medicine woman accused of being a witch.

Some witnessed my encounter with Deirdre and what followed, back when I was still Morgann. I, Morgann, a monk working on the now infamous Book of Kells. Witch or medicine woman, I couldn't care less because right from the start I had that gut feeling that she was the one for me, even as I had simply stared at the river of shiny black hair cascading down to her back. It was meant to be.

Kismet.

Yes, we were undeniably soulmates. Twist of fate? I have no idea but that was how connected our souls were and still are, somehow. What was Deirdre doing there that day in the monastery? I didn't dare ask. After that, I was already too involved to search for additional information. My fate was sealed and so was hers. When we were introduced, we grasped at once that we were made for one another for as long as we lived. Too bad we hadn't foreseen our time together would be shortened by greedy people. Hopefully she was resourceful and found a way to escape our fate.

Let me tell you about us.

What did we do wrong?

Well, when you're a monk, there is no such thing as falling in love and breaking the vows of celibacy but I did. When you're a medicine woman, there is no such thing as engaging in a passionate relationship with a man, and not just any man but a monk.

So the medicine woman was accused of being a witch for her medicine involved plants, charms and casting spells as well. Truth be told, she was a witch. There was no doubt about it.

Morgann was born in Ireland in the 8th century. When exactly? Not sure. Nobody was good at keeping track during that time. For some reason, though, centuries later I had a dream about the encounter that changed everything; it happened in the year 813.

Shameless, Deirdre and I broke all the rules. Deirdre had been paid to write what she knew about strong medicine and spells. I was one of the chosen script monks who wrote the book in calligraphy with her, for years.

That meaningful book didn't belong to us. It was theirs. So meaningful they ended up referring to it as poisonous when I'd rather call it visionary. Who were they? The sleeping partners; narrow-minded judgmental people who started to become afraid of her. Of us. They needed to destroy us. Deirdre didn't realize their attempt until it was almost too late.

But we had to stop them once we had apprehended their genuine intentions. Their goal was plain and simple, yet we were too blinded by our love to see it right from the start. They were seeking eternal life. But it didn't work that way. None of them ever figured out how to cast the right spell at the right time on the chosen person.

When it got out of hand, people's imaginations were already at work. At once, word-of-mouth spread the tale that soon became legendary. Why? Well...who could believe in our true fate? A soul that lived on until reunited with that of its soulmate, come on!

Soon enough, our legend started. Our peculiar story and the supposedly poisonous book were referred to as the Black Angel Book.

Over the years, I've heard and read several versions of the legend. Fantasies. Although the major events were accurate, throughout the centuries, many alternate views existed on how we died and what the content of the book was. But I'm the one who remembers it all.

Unbelievable for the human mind but still, so far from the actual truth. Their wildest imaginations couldn't fathom what we lived through and what we experienced each and every time our human bodies died.

Because they did kill Deirdre and left Morgann for dead. They were the ones who should have died that day. They needed to control us. All this for a damn book, written by a witch and her monk lover.

Those men were thieves.

Granted, they were the ones who ordered and paid for the book. Yet this book was their way of stealing the essence of Deirdre's knowledge. A book that held the key to health, youth, love, and much more. Unfaithful men who didn't know anything about its power.

That was why we stole their precious book and ran away with it to hide it. Who did they think they were, trying to play God? No one should be granted eternal life. The irony of all this was that, in a way, we played God, too, not accepting death when it was about to knock on our door. It was too unfair. We didn't deserve this.

Foreseeing our impending tragic fate, Deirdre fought for us, protecting us, to make things right again. How? Gifted Deirdre cast the spell that enabled our souls to eventually be reunited. She couldn't bear for us to be apart, and neither could I.

Yet death didn't suffice. Our souls—mine at least—needed to learn their lessons first; be purified in order for the process to go right. Apparently I had to redeem from all my wrongdoings: a monk having a lover, and a witch nonetheless?

A monk who dared to defy God by trying to be reunited with his loved one... A higher force sent my soul straight to Hell after Morgann's body died. It took another couple of lifetimes for my filthy, rotten soul to be cleansed and set free again. Free to inhabit a human body again, and again, and again. Fulfill its purpose, at last. What happened to hers then, I have no idea.

What I'm aware of is that now I have a duty to carry on with the fight that she started. Until we are finally back together.

For good.

PS: Did you like this chapter? Comments and vote greatly appreciated. ;) Keep reading to find out about this new kind of fairytale. Grab a free copy of Twice Upon A Time on Kindle Unlimited: http://goo.gl/qYkGHn and check out Deadly Ever After (The Black Angel Book series, #2).