He didn’t let go, but stepped closer, as if wanting to be a part of what was happening and I was glad for him beyond words for that decision.
The power and presence of God is a wonderful thing to experience, especially when you can feel it ripple through you as a tangible feeling strong enough to build faith on, despite whatever the circumstances may be at the time.
In that moment there is no denying the Creator and that He is exactly who He says He is. I felt the strength of His Spirit upon us so strongly, I for a moment, thought I was back with my father in the cultic temple praying out against the priest’s dark words and intentions towards us.
The Creator’s Spirit rippled through the atmosphere like an unseen river that could be felt with a renewing tide of good pleasure, as it washed through us to Evette dispelling the fear, the anxiety and the darkness along with its passage into a new soul conquered by eternal love. This compelling moment of spiritual warfare both helped strengthen me in my own faith and the rightness of the mission we were engaged upon, even as it dispelled a myth that I had been becoming to believe of the people of Earth.
I had begun to think that surely the Creator would have nothing more to do with such a people that had seemed to reject Him as completely as the people of Earth that I had met so far seemed to have.
I was wrong, because it was undeniable how freely the Spirit of the Creator flowed into Evette, as she received it in sobbing waves of words known only by her Creator in a personal language meant for just her spirit and Him to communicate by.
I don’t know how long we stood there praying, but there came a moment that we knew when to stop and we faded away from Evette, who still cried softly in Larc’s arms.
She broke away slightly from Larc and turned toward us, “Thank you!” and then she turned back to rest against Larc’s chest and lean into his arm’s grasp of her completely spent of energy.
The corner of the room was empty, because there was no place for darkness to dwell here or continue in the spirit of torment against the power of the living God, whose sovereignty is over all powers and principalities.
Larc made to move slightly, but quickly stopped when Evette said, “I don’t want to go back to bed. I know it’s okay now, but I just want you to hold me.”
“Well that I can do honey!”
Evette’s ears perked up at the mention of ‘Honey”. Larc scooped her up in his arms and she didn’t resist.
She didn’t know why, because it went against everything she had ever experienced with men, but she trusted him. Larc moved to the door of the cottage and opened it, and stepped out into the cool night air.
“How about an early morning stroll along the lake?”
“That sounds nice.”
As they neared the lake she wondered if she should get down and walk, but his hold on her hadn’t loosened and she craved the body heat that seemed to roll off of him in endless waves keeping her warm in the cool morning air.
As they reached the lake shore his hold loosened as he set her on her feet in front of him. Together they stared out at the still lake that bore a watery reflection of the moon.
Evette broke the silence, “Your God is amazing!”
Larc let his arms creep back around Evette and was glad when they met no resistance.
“I have the distinct impression that He’s the God that you serve as well Evette. I heard you praying.”
Evette sighed, “I haven’t prayed for a very long time. Not since after my mother died.”
Larc paused before asking, “Why did you stop then?”
“It didn’t accomplish what I had wanted it to do for me so I stopped. Perhaps I was foolish to do so, but that was how I felt at the time. My mother meant the world to me. Later with what happened to me I thought that God must surely hate me. So I walked away from God almost entirely.”
“The children?” Larc asked.
“Yes they were my one and only tie to reality. Them and Mama. She kept after me to pray, but I never did and now she’s gone!”
Fresh tears started to fall and Larc held her a little closer.
“She may be gone, but I’m sure she would be proud of you! As is the Creator!”
“How do you know what He thinks of me?”
“Well I don’t exactly, but these things I do know; He has never forgotten you, He doesn’t hate you, He loves you, and fourthly you’ve put your life on the line for those children for years and the Creator looks kindly on those who care for children and put their lives on the line on behalf of others. However, if I was you I wouldn’t let this opportunity to reopen a relationship with the Creator pass you by.”
“I know.” She said softly.
Some time passed by. It was hard for Larc to let the time pass by without asking the questions that he wanted to about her past. It was best for her to talk about it in her own time he figured. He contented himself with the feelings of just being near her and holding her, both of which were major victories.
‘God help me reach this beautiful woman and help her where she needs help most. Help her like me too please.’ Larc prayed silently.
“Why are you so different from the way other men are?”
Larc paused a moment and then said, “I had a good mentor growing up and the Creator has taken me firmly in hand on a number of occasions to keep me on the straight and narrow.”
“You like me don’t you?”
Oh boy here I go thought Larc, “Yes I do, there’s a lot to like both inside and out. I don’t intend on letting you get away.” He responded honestly.
“You intend on taking me back to your world?”
“Yes I do.”
“That wasn’t our original agreement.”
“I know that. Things have changed though.”
“What would I be there to you?” Evette asked.
“My wife, my friend, my lover, the bearer of my children, and my sole companion for the rest of my life.”
Evette didn’t protest at Larc’s domineering words or the stated finality that he spoke them with. These strangers were very much elementally male in its truest sense and not at all removed from the warrior mentality, where you took what you wanted only limited by one’s own strength and ability to hold onto the object of their desire.
Evette had always wondered what would happen one day, if it happened, when there would be a man genuinely interested in what she had to offer. Whatever that might be she wasn’t sure. Her skill set wasn’t exactly conducive to married life and the building of a home, but some deep feminine part of her yearned for the chance to at least try.
What gave her pause in the making of the decision was what men required of their women physically. The thought of all that entailed in terms of being physical left her in chills and unwanted remembrances of the past. Larc would be no different in his needs, but she knew it would be different with him, but it was a hard decision to have to face anyway.
He had claimed her though and the decision had been taken from her and in some ways she was grateful for that even though it terrified her too. He was a good man, it would be okay, at least she hoped so.
Larc felt her shiver as she stood silently within his arms. It wasn’t from the coldness of the early morning he was pretty sure of that.
He hadn’t wanted to be so forceful sounding with her, but he was almost certain that if he had left the choice up to her that she would have made a decision that wasn’t in either of their best interests, but he wasn’t heartless either.
“How do you feel about what I said?”
After a short moment of pause she responded softly, “I’ll try.”
She continued, “I knew there was something different about you the moment I saw you in that little cell. You’ve saved my life twice already. I like you and the ideals that make you different, especially your belief in the Creator. I could come to care for a man like you, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to satisfy you physically. I know that’s important with men.” She finished half
choked sounding.
“It is important, but its only one of the many things that I am coming to love about you. I want to work with you on this Evette and allay any fears that you might have. How about this? You’re in complete control of the physical side of our relationship. You take it at your own pace. I’ll be there when you’re ready to try more. Take it as slow as you need to, even if it takes years.”
Evette turned in complete shock and gazed up at Larc, “You would do that for me?” She asked as she gazed at him, as if he couldn’t be real.
“That and much more.” Larc responded truthfully.
She continued to stare up at him.
He let her gaze into his soul for a moment longer before he broke her study of him, “Now if I may I would like to hold your hand as I escort you back inside.”
He held out his hand and without any real hesitation her hand slid into his and they started walking back towards the cottage. Before they reached the door Evette stopped and looked up at Larc while still holding his hand. He looked at her in question his eyebrows raising expectantly.
“You forgot to tell me something,” She said smiling softly.
He would do anything to make that smile bigger and come more often to her face.
“What’s that?” He asked genuinely puzzled, as to what it might be that he had forgotten.
“You haven’t told me what my new last name is yet.” She said gazing up at him somewhat coyly.
He stared at her enthralled for a moment at this new side of her and then remembering the question he stuttered out,
“Trenall.”
“Evette Trenall. I like it.”
She turned back towards the door, which Larc hastily opened for her and then disappeared into the darkness inside.
Larc stood there for a moment having been thrown completely off of his game. What God given power had God given to Eve and to her daughters to completely undo a man’s control over himself and his heart? He didn’t know, but he wanted to experience more of it!
Evette lay staring up at the ceiling reflecting on everything that had happened this night. Somehow against all odds she’d stumbled into the hands of a man that she could respect. A man who wanted her and yet wanted her enough to wait. A tear slipped down her cheek. She had a man. A real man.
The kind of man that her mother had prayed for her to have one day. More tears fell unchecked, but they were more out of a sense of hopeful rebirth than out of any vestige of sorrow. It was going to be different, so very different!
A tremulous smile came to her lips and she whispered, “Thank you God!” And then surprisingly she fell asleep.
Chapter Fourteen
Old Memories
The next day saw me driving again. We reached our destination around ten o’clock. It was a small town nestled in the hills. It appeared to be a rather quaint little town that had gone unscathed by the ravages affecting the larger society.
Evette directed me down the back streets of the town, but we still gathered some unwanted attention from passerby’s on the streets.
Their unkind and suspicious gazes seemed to linger on us as we passed. I’d only been here for a few minutes and I didn’t care for it already. I could only imagine how Evette felt about coming back to her old home. I asked as much of her.
“It used to be nice, but it changed. Or I should I say its people have changed, for the worse.”
I couldn’t disagree with her on that one. The town of Loch Lynn Heights appeared to be an unhappy one at best, with a more adequate description of it falling in somewhere between unhappy and menacing. I didn’t care for it or its people and I was eager to get the Bible and then get out and head home.
This entire trip had been a stressful ordeal and I was eager to put it behind me and wake back up in my own bed, with the only pressing concern being to survive my daily sparring match with Rolf unscathed. Evette broke into my daydream by directing me towards a white building that sat up on a hill by itself.
I glanced over at Evette to see her sitting there tensely. She was as tense as tense could get. She had surprised all of us this morning, when she had come out of the room that they called a bathroom.
Somehow she had washed the red dye from her hair bringing back the natural brunette color of her hair. Her natural hair color was much more becoming and less harsh than the intenseness of the red color her hair had been. I was pretty certain that Larc had liked the change too; going by the way he had eaten her up with his eyes. She had simply smiled shyly at the intenseness of his gaze on her and asked if there was anything to eat.
Larc didn’t know it yet, but she had him wrapped around her little finger. I wasn’t sure I wanted that in a relationship with my future woman. Would I have a choice? Larc looked happy enough though, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
I drew up the SUV in front of the building that I recognized as a church. Excitement began to course through me at the prospect of the near success of our mission. Evette was the last to get out of the vehicle.
Thanic and Orhanin stayed with the children, while Talaric drew off a ways to hold watch. There were only two other vessels parked in front of the white church building.
Larc started up the stairs followed by Evette and I trailed along behind. As we neared the top of the stairs a woman with what looked like cleaning supplies bustled out of the two big doors. She seemed surprised to see us and dropped the stuff she was holding.
She gave Evette a particularly sharp look and then with a last glance at us she hurried on down the steps past us and after throwing her stuff into one of the vessels she drove away.
Larc looked at Evette, “Did she recognize you?”
“I don’t see how she could have. I was only twelve when I ran away from here.”
We continued on and into the church. It had a musty old smell to it. The cleaning lady could have done a better job I thought to myself. After a short entrance area the building opened up to a larger elongated room with a vaulted ceiling. There were rows of seats to either side of a central isle, with a raised stage area at the far end of the room.
We moved further into the church down the central isle. I felt nothing of the presence of God in the place, just emptiness. I saw the form of a gray headed man sitting on the front row of the benches near the stage on the left side.
Evette stopped when she saw the man and Larc stayed beside her, as I advanced to the front of the church to confront the man. He was an older man, but he looked older than I doubted that he was.
The air of defeat and the troublesome issues of life seemed to wear heavily on the man’s face and countenance. It appeared, as if he was tired of living life itself.
He raised time wearied eyes up to look at me, “Can I help you with something?” He asked tiredly in a tone of voice that signified that he meant the opposite of what he had offered.
I disregarded his insincerity of statement and went to the crux of the matter, “I’m looking for a Bible. Do you have any that I could take with me?”
The man snorted slightly and shook his head with a sad look to his eyes, “You’re too late my friend. If you had come, but two years ago you would have found a Bible in every pew and even more of them stacked up in the supply closet. There all gone now though.”
I looked at him somewhat harshly not trusting him, “You’re saying all the Bible’s are gone? None are left?”
Somewhat taken aback by my intensity he quickly responded, “The only Bible left in Loch Lynn Heights, to my knowledge is held by the Baron.”
“Who is he and why is he the only one that possesses a Bible?”
The man seemed surprised, “You don’t know who the Baron is?”
At my threatening look he hastily said, “The Baron’s family founded this town a long time ago and they’ve been in control of it ever since. About fifteen years ago there were some private investors, who tried to take control of the town over from the Baron’s family. They succeeded to some degree. When the disaster occurred, the uphea
val and disorder that followed caused the Baron to step back into the town’s picture once more. He either bought out or forced out and some even say killed all those who had opposed him. Since then he has had complete control over the town in the absence of any outside control. He felt that the town needed to go in a different direction spiritually. He felt that he should shepherd the new spiritual movement. He holds services here every Saturday night, which is tomorrow. He may bring the Bible with him, he doesn’t always though. In any event I wouldn’t recommend that you come. He doesn’t like strangers to come or stay in his town.”
“What does he preach from, if not from the Bible?” I asked derisively.
The man had the grace to look away in shame as he muttered out, “He uses selected texts from other religions and commentaries by various authors, as well as his own opinions, which he uses to reinterpret the Bible with. Attendance of his sermons is mandatory and before you ask about it, don’t! He won’t give you the only surviving Bible left in the town for any price, primarily because it helps to reinforce his position of control over the town. He isn’t the kind of man to lose anything of his and if he does he exerts a terrible retribution on any that he can find responsible. He’s a hard man.”
“Is that what happened to you Papa, when I left?” Evette asked her voice ringing out in the quiet church.
The older man moved off of his seat faster than I thought he was capable of and turned to face the voice that had spoken.
His face as white as a sheet he whispered, “Evelyn?”
Evette who apparently was formerly known as Evelyn in this town started approaching the man, who apparently was her father. She must favor her mother in resemblance, because I couldn’t see any of her father reflected in her.
As Evette approached her hand snaked out and slipped a dagger out of my belt. She continued on past me.
The suddenness of her move had surprised me. I glanced at Larc to see if he wanted me to intervene on behalf of the man’s part, but he waived me off. I didn’t like the man anyway and was perfectly fine with letting Evette make mince meat out of him if she wished to.
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