Josephine picked up the blade. She glared at the word carved into it in an elegant script — ‘Destiny’. “And what the fuck do they mean by ‘Destiny’? As if it could be someone’s destiny to have her Personality scourged.” Josephine dropped the blade back to her desk and stood up.
Through the slightly cracked door to Josephine’s office, they heard the doorbell. “Why hello, Parvarti. It’s nice to see you,” Rachmiel called out, giving Josephine her usual heads-up.
Josephine threw open her office door just as Parvarti reached to knock. She fell to her knees and grabbed Parvarti tightly. “Oh, she came so close Parvarti. She came so close. I was so careless. So stupid. So stupid.”
“Well, I love you too, Josie,” she said as she kissed the top of Josephine’s head.
Josephine started sobbing. Parvarti twisted her head and looked at David. “What’s going on?” she mouthed to him.
“We were just examining the knife that Karol threw at you. We pickpocketed and disabled her Celestial weapons long before she ever arrived on Carolina Isle. But, we had no idea she was carrying a blade like this. It was careless of us to just sit around. She aimed right for your eye. If Josie had been just a fraction slower, it would have gone right through your brain,” David explained, making sure he used the collective ‘we’ and ‘us’ rather than put the blame on Josephine.
Parvarti’s mind ran through a quick litany of quips. I know my Dad made you responsible for everyone’s safety, but you’re not all-powerful. You can’t be everywhere at the same time. We’re all responsible for our own safety. If David hadn’t thought of it, why should you? But Josephine’s body was shaking. Parvarti could barely breathe Josephine held her so tightly. “I love you too, Josie,” she said as she slowly stroked Josephine’s hair. “Thanks for saving my life.”
Josephine gave her another tight squeeze, then stood and looked at her with a shaky smile. Fran offered her a tissue and Josephine dried her eyes. For an ancient Goddess like Josephine, Parvarti was still a babe. What she really wanted to do was put Parvarti in her lap and squeeze her continuously for the next few days. Josephine gestured to a chair and returned to her seat behind her desk, trying to regain her composure.
“I have to know,” Josephine said, barely above a whisper. “Why did you stop me? You know Karolita deserved to die.”
Parvarti thought for a moment. “It scared me when you turned all black like that.” Josephine twisted her head in confusion. Parvarti looked at David who gave her a stern look and a quick shake of his head. He had sworn everyone who had witnessed Josephine’s transformation to secrecy.
“I could see how dark your heart became,” Parvarti quickly continued. “Well, anyway. I just knew you were going to stab that knife right through her brain. I know Karol deserved it. But then my Dad’s face flashed before me. I remembered a story he told me when I was just a kid.
“Almost nine million years ago on Eden, a very advanced Angel broke a sacred trust that led to the sufferings of billions…basically leading to the state Eden is in now. So if we can forgive an Angel who made a terrible decision and trusted someone like…Uh, who did she trust?” Parvarti thought out loud.
“Patanjali. She trusted Guru Patanjali,” Fran said softly.
“That’s right. You know the story?” Parvarti asked.
Fran just nodded.
“Well, anyway, if an Angel…I think she was even a Supernaphim. That’s right, she had one star at the time. If she broke the law and trusted the wrong people, when she should have known better, and we can forgive her, then why shouldn’t we be able to forgive a piece of shit like Karol?” Parvarti explained. “An evil shit like Karol who obviously doesn’t know any better.”
“Yes, Parvarti. Quite right,” David said, briefly glancing at Fran. “That would have been the appropriate story to remember.”
“So, if we continue to get suckered after we already know what he’s doing, then how can we possibly blame a naïve little Angel from millions of years ago when no one had any clue as to who Patanjali really was and what Patanjali was up to.” David wondered how much Parvarti really knew, or perhaps somehow sensed, the true nature of Patanjali’s violations against her own mother.
David and Josephine gave subtle smiles and nods of their heads. Fran stood frozen.
“I was thinking more about it when I was lying in bed wi…,” Parvarti started, then bit her tongue. There was no need to say she was lying in bed with Collin. “The thing I set up for Karol and Eros. The stink bomb. It was a heck of a lot funnier to think about than to actually see. Wasn’t it, David?”
“Oh, well, I don’t know.” David grimaced in mock embarrassment. “I actually found the whole thing pretty funny myself.”
“Oh, you bad boy,” Parvarti said with a laugh. “I’m going to tell Sophi on you.”
David crossed his arms and looked at her with a knowing smile. “You don’t tell Sophi on me, and I promise I won’t tell your Mom on you.”
Parvarti glanced from Josephine to Fran and back again to David, calculating relative losses and gains, wondering what David knew. Lying about her virginity certainly had not been her only indiscretion. “Okay. Deal,” she said with a smile.
“Let’s drop those things into Frank’s safe, then see if he wants to grab a bite at Bill’s,” David said to Fran after leaving Josephine and Parvarti.
If it had been almost anyone else in the entire Creation, Fran would have politely declined and resumed her tasks of dusting, sweeping, mopping, and organizing. She had, many times, made it perfectly clear to Frank, in no uncertain terms, she had no intention of ever going to Bill’s. But now David was asking. In fact, from the not terribly subtle tone of voice, David was telling her to go to Bill’s with him.
David, Frank, and Fran walked to Bill’s. Soon after arriving, Skillit joined them for lunch. A little later, Wrenn and Aniel joined them.
They sat there together the rest of the afternoon. Fran drank all the beers David bought her and accepted the Soma pipe every time David put it in her hands. The only time she got up from the table was to go to the toilet. And when suppertime rolled around, she again ate and drank and smoked.
On that day, for the first time in thousands of years, it actually happened. She forgot about her terrible sins, and talked and laughed with the others.
It was late in the evening when David, Frank, and Aniel walked Fran back to her small apartment. After Frank and Aniel said their goodnights and dismissed themselves, David said, “Fran. Thank you very much for a wonderful day and evening.”
Fran gave the smallest of smiles and nodded.
“Please forgive me if I continue to make you uncomfortable, but I would like to ask you a favor.”
“Of course, David. Anything,” she replied, before her brain could compute what his favor might be.
“I would like to give you a hug.”
She knew with PaPa David, she could not take it back. Fran tightly closed her eyes, and then gave her head a tiny nod.
David wrapped his arms around her and held her as delicately as one would hold a wounded butterfly.
He leaned down and spoke softly in her ear. “Thank you. I know this doesn’t make you feel any better. But it makes me feel better knowing I’m at least trying to comfort you.”
She dabbed her eyes, and he slowly released her.
“You know Fran. Over these difficult years, I’ve thought about you so much. Honestly, I don’t have the slightest idea how you feel about everything that happened. About the only thing I can tell you truthfully is that I care about you. Even though they have no understandings of the deeper consequences of your mistake, all over the Grand Universe, Angels pray for you. On Ninveth there are so many who care about you and love you that your mother holds special conclaves, assemblies of the Heavenly Host, that she brings together every year for the one sole purpose of praying for you.”
“Please stop,” Fran said just above a whisper.
“Of course, my sweet and won
derful Melissa,” David said, using Fran’s real name, the name she had given up long ago. “Of course. But I will warn you in advance. Sometime over the next few months, I’m going to ask you out again. But in the meantime, I’ll give you time to forget about today.” He smiled down at her. He knew she was crying because he could hear the tears as they hit the ground. “Goodnight,” he said softly, kissing her delicately on the top of the head. Then he turned and walked briskly toward the Valkyrie barracks.
Fran’s mind went numb as she slowly climbed the stairs to her apartment. She began her regular nighttime routine by looking at her face in the mirror. Except for the few who knew her true identity, no one would have been able to see who it was behind her small brown face. She saw two stars sparkling on her breast. Time after time, she had cursed her first star. Time after time, she had attempted to rip it off her flesh, but it would not let go of her.
She prayed The Infinite Mother would pass her by for her next promotion. Such was not the case. Exactly, two hundred million years after receiving her first star, the second appeared.
She tried cursing it, clawing at it, screaming at it, but it would not let go.
Fran finished brushing her short brown hair. Her evening routine always ended with reading a few paragraphs in Sipheria’s book, and then getting on her knees and praying. Had it been left to her, she would have never glanced at Sipheria’s book again, nor would she have ever prayed again. She only did these things because Queen Magdalene made her promise to do so. She would have ignored her too had not the Queen been the ultimate victim of Patanjali’s violations.
She looked at the clock, watching the second hand as it crept to 11:49 PM.
It was exactly two hundred and fifty nine thousand, eight hundred and thirty two years…
Six months, twelve days…
Eleven hours…
Nine minutes…
…when Archangel Raphael’s wrathful words hit Fran’s dumbfounded head so hard they burned the exact instant into her brain so deeply she had never forgotten that moment.
That was the same day Raphael appeared on Eden, arrested Eve, and dragged her away in chains. Raphael took Eve to Salvington to stand trial for conspiracy and sedition. That was the moment when Fran finally understood what she had done.
And tonight, just like every other night since then, she lay on the floor, curled up in a tight ball, and cried herself to sleep.
Chapter 69
Falling In Love is as Simple as Falling With Gravity
There is one simple truth that drives Creation. We fall in love. With whom do we fall in love? For me it was when a young Nazz officer gave his life for me. Although very little changed in my outward behavior, I have loved him ever since. Even in the here and now of Planet Urantia, I am still in love with Doug. The obvious lesson? Finding logic might require you to look deeply into the ancient past, if you somehow find yourself hopelessly in love with someone for no apparently good reason.
—Gwenith
Elysium
The arrow that hit Lieutenant Douglas Franziska penetrated all the way through his body. Franziska had fallen to his knees, and luckily, on to his side rather than his back. Otherwise, the arrow’s backwardly aimed barbs would have cruelly ripped flesh and damaged internal organs.
Dhanvantari cut Franziska’s shirt completely off. He clipped the wooden shaft of the arrow on the front and back such that no one could accidently hit it and do more damage. While Dhanvantari sliced through the epidermal layers in his chest, Queen Amphitrite sat on the floor and continued her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
More than once, Franziska slipped toward death. When that happened, the Queen gave him a long and tender kiss on the lips. “Not yet, dear Douglas,” she whispered to him sweetly. “It would be impolite to die before the royal family of Castile has properly expressed their gratitude for saving their daughter’s life. You wouldn’t want to create an incident, would you?”
Gwenith understood the arrow was meant for her and that ‘her Doug’ had willingly stepped in front of the arrow to save her. Gwenith ran her fingers through his short blond hair, endless tears streaming down her face. She had seen such acts of heroism on stage, but was certain it was simply poetic license and fiction. Being a true Caligastian, it was impossible for her to comprehend anyone, let alone an acquaintance, would willingly give his life for her.
Thousands of Nazz medics streamed in through every door. They began to treat the wounded, attending to Nazz and guest alike. They also tended to a few Cardinals — those identified by a Nazz officer as someone who might need to be questioned later.
The first medic who came through the door, Sergeant Kati, saw Lieutenant Franziska lying on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood.
“How is he, Dhanvantari?” Queen Amphitrite asked her son between puffs of prana into Franziska’s lungs. “Am I breathing into him too hard?”
“I dunno,” Dhanvantari mumbled.
“Well, obviously it hit a major artery or his heart,” Kati growled as she approached the scene. “Look at the spurts of blood. Look at the color.” She wanted to push this individual aside and do the surgery herself. Whoever this was looked much too calm and casual for her taste.
Dhanvantari stopped and looked at Kati. “Either help or get the fuck out of my way. Either way, shut up.” He turned back to his careful slices through Douglas’ chest.
“Dhanvantari,” Queen Amphitrite said softly. “Be gentle, can’t you see that’s…” Then the Queen whispered in his ear.
Dhanvantari glanced back to Kati. “Oh…” he said apathetically and returned to his work. He made another slice and saw that the arrow had split a rib. He was still unsure if it had penetrated a lung.
When she saw the shards of bone from Douglas’ rib, Kati lost her patience. She was about to grab him and toss him out of her way when she felt a powerful hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face Prince Caligastia.
“Sire, are you injured?” she said, as she scanned his body, expecting to see an arrow protruding.
“That is my son, Dhanvantari,” Caligastia said. “Lieutenant Franziska is in good hands.”
She vigorously shook her head while staring at Dhanvantari, suddenly comprehending that her beloved Douglas was in the hands of one of the Creation’s finest physicians.
“Don’t apologize to him. It’ll just piss him off. Just help him when he asks for it.”
As upsetting as it was to see Douglas so terribly wounded, Kati forced herself to let go. She quickly placed a stool beside Dhanvantari, grabbed a clean linen, and laid open her surgical medical kit so he could see her implements.
He quickly surveyed the kit. Even though he hated to admit it, the Nazz kit was more extensive than his, so he began to use Kati’s tools.
Douglas bled profusely. Kati was preparing to give Douglas a transfusion from her own body when the large canisters of medical supplies arrived.
“Here,” she shouted when she saw a canister with a red, heart-shaped symbol. The orderly did not hear her, so she sprinted up behind him, tackled him, and snatched the canister. She knew Douglas’s blood type and found the proper bag of plasma.
Kati had no idea who the cute, tan-skinned girl was, but knew Douglas would profit more from a transfusion than having his head stroked. “Stand here,” she barked. Gwenith did not respond, so Kati grabbed her by the hand, pulled her to the other side of a nearby table, and all but tossed her on top. Normally, Queen Amphitrite would have been furious if a crude Nazz treated her daughter in such a way; however, there was that particular something about Kati that made her actions just fine.
“Here. Hold this bag,” Kati commanded Gwenith. She took her right hand and wrapped it around the handle of the plasma bag. Kati quickly uncoiled the tube and attached a needle.
“The first one here,” Dhanvantari said, taking a pen, and without looking up made a dot on one of the primary arteries in the neck that fed the brain.
Kati swabbed the spot with antiseptic. S
he skillfully inserted the needle and started the flow.
Dhanvantari made an incision adequate enough to determine that his lungs were undamaged. “Mom. His lungs are okay. Give him some more prana, but not too much until I can see where he’s bleeding.”
Amphitrite clipped Douglas’ nose and began gently breathing in more of her breath. Her son began sopping up blood until he was sure none of the major veins or arteries were damaged.
“Are these nutrient plasmas?” he asked, convinced the damage was localized to the right atrium. Since the first infusion was feeding the brain, he planned to insert the second needle into the descending aorta. This would maintain blood pressure and provide nutrients to the major organs while he determined the extent of the heart’s damage and how best to patch it up.
“Yes,” Kati replied. She pulled out a second plasma bag, which she tried to give to Gwenith several times, but Gwenith was unresponsive. Kati used her little finger to hold the bag’s handle while uncoiling the tube and attaching a needle.
“Give it here,” Dhanvantari said.
As Kati handed him the needle, she noticed Gwenith was pale. She hopped on the table, speaking to her slowly and deliberately but without being mean. “This is to give Douglas a transfusion. This is the only way to save his life. You have to hold these bags up, okay?”
Gwenith looked at Kati. There was something about Kati’s intensely focused face that made Gwenith more confident. She was able to produce a tiny smile as she grasped the second bag with her left hand instead of just using her right hand again. She looked like a tree with ornaments.
“You,” Dhanvantari shouted at Kati, and then spoke more softly when he had her attention. “Get down here.”
Kati realized she had been staring at Douglas’ face and had been in fact doing less than the cute tan-skinned girl. She jumped down and rushed to his side where he stared into an open, bloody body cavity.
“Can you maneuver…,” Dhanvantari began. “You can cry later. If you care anything about this one, I need your help,” he said in an uncharacteristically kind voice. “Now, carefully maneuver the arrow away from his heart.”
Lilith: Eden's Planetary Princess (The Michael Archives Book 1) Page 56
