by V L Friends
As soon as they saw him leave, Rosa erupted.
“Okay, time to get to work. We need to have a prayer meeting inside.” The twins pulled their instruments from the trunk.
Rosa was Caleb’s housekeeper and also part of the revival meetings held at the Amish territory. This was likely the same person who Caleb got his information from. She had been working for Caleb for five years and was a prayer warrior. She truly understood what I lived with better than anyone.
Some people appeared from the woods to join us inside.
I was in no mood for this at first, but as the music played and people sang out and began dancing with an occasional person praying out, I was stirred up. I got my violin. Something was shifting in the atmosphere in the house, spilling out onto the land.
Hours passed by with Samantha on the drum and Simon on guitar. Things died down and people began to retreat back through the woods with their flashlights until it was just Rosa, myself, and a few staff members. The twins had just packed up and were on their way down the road when I felt a strange feeling, a warning inside my gut. I had never felt it this strongly before.
I was outside waving to the twins as they drove away when I noticed the wind did an odd thing. It was blowing one direction and then it seemed to stop suddenly, leaving an eerie silence before it started up stronger and blowing the opposite direction. He’s coming! I thought with a rush of fear in my gut. My feet took flight as I bolted for the front door and skidded across the floor.
“Everyone, get out! Run away from here!” I screamed.
Eyes full of shock, they just stared at me.
“Now!” I screamed again.
The sound of footsteps rushed to the doors.
I could hear and feel the form coming through the darkness from a mile away. The front door blew open and there stood Julian. Only it did not seem like Julian. He was staring at me with such utter loathing I thought he was going to rip me to shreds.
“What did you do?” he snarled. His voice sounded garbled and low. This did not sound like him.
I stood in the hallway, trying to stay calm.
“Umm, hello, Julian.” My voice was shaky. I was frantically, secretly texting Caleb in my mind: “Home 911!!”
He took one step through the door. I whisper-yelled for everyone to get out… in case the servants were still around. In one move that took only a second, he swept forward and grabbed me by the throat.
My hands were clawing at his to get free but he held me in a death grip. Spots began to form in my vision.
“Julian, wait! Please!” I croaked. I felt his thumb press down harder and harder on my trachea as I pleaded with my last breath.
“I give you everything… including my heart, and this is how you treat me… you betray me!” He was just inches from my face. I felt his saliva hit me with his words before he tossed me across the floor. I hit a shelf full of artifacts before landing on the floor, feeling glass from some of the vases cut into my arms and hands. He came for me again. Grabbing me up by my hair, his hand was on my throat again, turning me around to slam against a wall.
“You bitch! You never undo what I do. You raised her from the dead!” He was an inch from my face, clamping my jaw, shaking with rage, and I wondered if my bones would break under his grasp any second.
I whimpered, pleading with him, but nothing was getting through to him. His eyes were black. Julian was no longer there.
He took a step back, letting go, and I collapsed on the floor, in a heap, choking to take a breath.
“Did you think you could hide it from me?!” He was now standing over me, screaming! “Did you think you could keep it from me that you are that kind of Christian?”
He tossed me again. This time I hit an end table and felt it smash to the floor and heard a snap. Searing pain flooded my side. One of my ribs.
The physical pain I felt from hitting the wall at such an impact was nothing compared to the pain in my heart right then. Tears were flowing and I could not stop them. Julian, who pledged his love for me, who was my father and who had looked at me with those loving eyes once, was ripping me apart with his hatred. Just hours ago he was looking at me with love in his eyes. How could he switch this fast? I don’t know if that was all Julian I was looking at but whatever it was, there was a distinct possibility it was going to kill me. Tears filled my eyes as my heart broke.
“I never tried to hide it from you, Julian. Please let me explain. I never meant to betray you. I was doing what I was meant to do. When you killed Anna, when you tore her heart from her chest, I had no choice. I did what I was put here to do. I could not stand there and do nothing, Julian, don’t you understand?” (I was hysterical now with pain.) “It is what I am here to do!!”
At my words I felt tingles all over my body as the realization overtook me.
“Shut up! None of that matters! What is done is done and now I am forced to punish you. You are a threat to my kind!” he snarled.
He raised his hand to strike me and just then some flash came from outside and drove him off. I crawled between the sofa and desk in the middle of the room and waited and listened as the two beings fought and tore the place apart. It went on for what seemed like forever, then silence. I heard Caleb’s voice cry out for me. “Anaya?” I hurried out of my hiding place to go to him, just in time to see Julian swoop down and crack his neck. I tried to stand but my legs gave out as I cried out.
“Don’t worry, I just put him out; he is still alive,” Julian said, coming to grab me up.
Julian was panting and still angry but not full of the rage and violence he had first demonstrated on me. His eyes were not as dark so maybe the rage, or whatever that was, was beginning to wear off.
“What are you going to do?” My heart was pounding and I could not stop crying.
“Anaya, you have pissed off the wrong people. They are demanding your death right now. If I were you I would shut up and don’t piss me off! I am taking you to the cellar until I make up my mind what to do with you,” he said, yanking my upper arm toward the basement stairs.
I felt myself panic. I had seen the cellar. It was a cell, complete with chains. The room was dark, creepy, and gave off a musty odor. I found it once when I was exploring and I felt such dark magic there that I had never gone down to the basement again. I had no doubt he would chain me there in the dark indefinitely.
“No, please don’t put me down there!” I fought hard but not hard enough. He stepped back and struck me across the face. Black dots crowded my vision and I fell to the floor.
Just as he leaned down to retrieve me, a blast of light blew up the room. There were at least seven beings of light. They had arms, legs, and looked like they were in the shape of a person but they were made of blinding light. They grabbed hold of Julian and one gently took me to the side of the room. The largest one had wings and seemed to be at least 15 feet tall. There was a strange familiarity about him. His blue, glowing eyes seemed to look straight into me. He took out a long sword and raised it to Julian as the others held him. It was clear to me then who these creatures were and what was about to happen.
“No!” my voice screeched as I yelled, pleading. “Please, he has not had a chance to change. I know he is someone worth saving. I beg of you to spare his life!”
After a pause, the large angel turned and struck the ground with the sword. I could see the ripple vibrating through the entire house and then everything went dark.
When I awoke, I was on the ground facing the night sky. My body could not move at first, so all I could do was stare at the stars and listen to the trees blowing in the breeze. Finally, when I could move I heard the crinkling of leaves beneath me. I smelled burning wood, like a campfire nearby. The first thing I saw when I sat up was the outline of a man glowing in the campfire light only a few feet away. He sat there, still and facing away from me.
“Shane, what happened?”
He didn’t move or speak so I reached out to touch him. His eyes met mine just th
en with their piercing glow. His eyes looked human but human not at the same time.
“You cannot live your life with one foot in the dark and one in the light. You cannot be friends with one without being enemies with the other!” His voice seemed to echo.
Then he was gone. He just vanished.
His word hit my heart like a piercing dagger.
I was alone.
The fire would have kept me warm that night but I could not stay there, so I put out the campfire and began to walk. I was not sure where I was but I was still in shock so it didn’t seem to matter. I must have walked for miles in the woods until I happened upon Shane’s house by the river. The door was left unlocked, so I went in. Even inside the house my senses were on overload. It was so eerie that it was this quiet. Usually I could hear voices or some kind of movement in the distance with my keen hearing. I could hear the wind in the trees and the water moving in the lake near the house, but other than that not a soul was around. Even as I felt my spirit reach out for God or His angels I could sense nothing. I had never felt so alone.
As I sat down on the couch my heart was heavy. My hand hit something hard next to me on the couch. It was a violin case. I didn’t know Shane had one. It was the most beautiful violin I had ever seen. From the moment I felt it in my hands I felt a deep sense of well-being and connection to something greater than myself. As I played, the world disappeared around me. Even I seemed to disappear. I was transported somewhere else. Even though my eyes were closed I could see that I was in a bright light, and all the colors I could ever imagine were dancing all around me. I was no longer alone but with heavenly beings dancing and playing with me in this new place. I desperately wanted to stay here. For some reason, I opened my eyes. What I saw in the natural world was almost as heavenly as the spiritual world. Shane was standing in front of me as a man and the room was filled with his angels. The house was lit up but what I could not take my eyes off of was the look in his eyes. He looked surprised. Tears were in his eyes. As I remained in a locked gaze, I understood them to be tears of joy, as if he were welcoming me home, only to a home with him I had never been in before. It was as if he was waiting for a long time in anticipation for this moment.
Just then my body began to shake violently. That is one thing about being in such places filled with this glory; the natural human body cannot withstand it for long. My legs were giving out. Shane caught me and as soon as he did I passed out completely.
It must have been morning when I awoke. I had been on the cool, dry, hard floor all night. Shane was lying next to me about a foot away and I remember wondering if he had been staring at me all night with that same look of intensity. He seemed a little strange. Then again, I realized I would never look at him the same way again after remembering the beings of light. I knew now that one of them was him, my angel.
It must have been hours before I could move again because light was beginning to trickle in through shaded windows.
“Wow, that was intense,” I said, trying to peel myself off the hard wood floor.
“So, where can a girl get some coffee around here?” I was trying to ignore his strange piercing gaze. Shane was looking at me like he was trying to figure something out.
“Excuse me? I am still pretending here,” I said, chuckling at the absurdity of this situation. This was another one of those moments that I just preferred not to address the truth about what I had just seen. The experience I had just come out of seemed to go beyond my human brain’s comprehension. My brain was trying to catch up.
He gave me a half smile as he looked over his shoulder at me.
He shoved a plate of food in my direction and stood looking at me patiently. I wanted so badly to laugh right then, as I was looking at him with his thick dark hair sticking up everywhere and his red cheeks from the heat of the stove. I just couldn’t believe that he was really an angel! I could hold it in no longer, so I burst out laughing.
“Yeah, I know. Whenever your mind can’t handle something you try to pretend it didn’t happen.” Then he chuckled and gave a thoughtful look. “Like that time you walked in…”
“Do not even think about finishing that sentence, old man!” I threatened.
He busted out a laugh and gave me a wink. I knew what he was about to say and he wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about me catching him bare-ass naked so many years ago. I remembered storming into his room, all excited to show him this new rare beetle I had just captured, only to see this man, who I had thought of as a father, not to mention a holy man, completely bare, freshly out of the shower. I don’t think I could make eye contact with him for a month.
“I was twelve years old. It was traumatic!” I blushed and he roared with laughter. Now the thought that he was actually an angel in human form brought a brand-new wave of embarrassment to me and I could feel my cheeks heating up. Memories of Shane having the talk with me about human sexuality shortly after this incident made my flush even worse. I now considered that an angel actually had “the sex talk” with me. I may be scarred for life. Of course, my own mother was there adding her two cents as well. Somehow hearing one’s own mother say a thing like “penis” was just not okay. I think my twelve-year-old brain blanked out the whole conversation. Of course, Shane and my mom acted like it was no big deal, just like he was doing right now, except that he seemed more amused at the horrified look on my face.
“You going to be okay?” he asked, trying to hold back his chuckle. I shrugged and looked away.
I ate my breakfast as the angel sat across from me, wide-eyed and patient until I finished. Then, when I could stand it no more, I burst.
“Okay, well, I admit I am freaking out right now! A man I have known all of my life shows up manifesting as a giant angel of light… by the way, that was terrifying!”
Things were turning more serious now.
“Am I supposed to act normal around you?! You are a badass warrior angel that wields unimaginable power. You were damn scary, Shane! You could have clued me in on what you were. Why have you never told me about your true self all this time? You lied to me.”
Okay, maybe I wasn’t over it, yet.
“Not revealing things to you is not the same as lying, Anaya. Things get revealed to you when you can handle them. It was not the right time.” Shane’s calm voice gave me a comfort.
“Yeah, well that’s very flattering that you think I can handle all of this now!” I was working myself into being angry… I had to address these emotions but I was not able to control any of them.
“It will take some time and some getting used to, I agree, but you can do this.” He narrowed his eyes at me.
He sounded almost like he was trying to convince himself. Maybe I was reading too much into his expression, but I was not sure of anything anymore. I did not know him. I felt myself starting to get overcome with too much emotion… I was beginning to cry and I could not breathe right. I had to get out.
I grabbed my coffee and headed for the dock outside. This was always my favorite place to go when I visited Shane here. I sat down on the cold dock near the water. Water seems to always calm me. It was a cold morning and I had no jacket or sweater. My coffee was the only warmth I had, so I clung to it. There was no way I was going back inside now. This was all too much for me. My mind was swimming with all that had happened. Shane came up behind me and put a blanket around my shoulders, then he sat down behind me and pulled me close.
“You see, I am still the same Shane you used to know, in so many ways,” he said as his arms squeezed a little tighter around me.
I was beginning to relax and I did feel much relief that some things stayed the same.
“When you were a baby, I remember you used to pitch such a fit. You would cry all the time, and nothing would console you. Then one night I crawled in your crib with you and wrapped my arms around you like this and instantly you stopped crying. It was the only thing that would help. Feeding you, changing you, rocking you didn’t even do the trick, but cuddling
you always did it. You have always been a cuddler.”
The image of him crawling in a crib with a screaming baby made me laugh. I could not believe it. I teased him about this and then when we were both laughing I had to slip in a question I was dying to ask.
“Hey, how does this whole change from angel to human work? Are there many that can do this? Do you have a kind of skin suit on and underneath is there the angel stuff and why are you so big? If I rub at your skin will I see evidence of the angel appearing?” As I said this I grabbed his arm and began to rub his skin. I don’t think I had ever heard Shane laugh so hard. I had to laugh too… my questions seemed a little silly but I had this childlike wonder. He had a twinkle in his eye.
“There are a few of us angels who can transform depending on our assignment and we can take the image of almost anything. I am not really human but rather take the image of a human. My size is due to my rank.”
We sat this way for a while. Then I broke the peaceful silence.
“Shane?”
“Mmm?”
“I love you.”
He kissed me on the forehead.
“Shane, can I ask you what you did with my father?” I asked boldly.
“He is bound in the dungeon of his home. He is in chains. He is alive.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Mmm.” He took a sip of his coffee
I could feel our hearts beating at the same beat and each breath was in unison. I did not want to forget this moment so I sat there for a little while longer in silence. Okay, this was weird. Here I was snuggling with the very person… being… that almost killed my father and now had him bound in some dungeon. I didn’t feel like a very good person all of a sudden. Julian needed me. What I was about to say was going to change everything.
“Shane?”
“Hmm?”
“You know that I have to go back for him? I heard everything you said, Shane, I want you to know that, but I just can’t turn my back. He could kill me, I do understand that but something inside my heart is willing to make that sacrifice. I know you don’t approve…”
