Chapter 10

 

 

Alex sat in the clinic within the women’s shelter on a rainy Tuesday morning, one week after their arrival in India, helping Isha with a young mother who was suffering from eclampsia. Alex was mentally watching Isha’s aura wipe away the woman’s muscle pain and slight tremors, learning throughout the healing, when Ahadi knocked on the door to their small room. Isha called her in, but Ahadi only placed one foot inside the exam room and spoke in French, so the patient would not understand her.

“We need you both in the room at the end of the hallway. A young lady has just come in off the street, and it is not good. Sabina is making her comfortable as we speak,” Ahadi said gravely.

“Say no more,” Isha nodded, then turned back to the woman before her. Isha swiftly completed her healing and then asked one of the mortal counselors from the center to finish the lady’s exit health review. She clasped Alex’s hand and led her to where the other immortal ladies were gathered.

Alex felt calm descend within as she looked upon a severely battered, broken, and terrified young lady. Her clothes were in tatters, and she was shaking from head to toe, despite Tomoko and Sabina’s auras wafting around her. Alex’s dense aura billowed away from her body unbidden, and it completely coated the woman, cocooning her in love and warmth.

“This is Aadita,” Sabina murmured as she gently stroked the lady’s matted hair. “She is only nineteen, and does know the one who hurt her so today.”

“Aadita, my name is Isha, and I and these ladies with me will see you through this. Do you want anyone called for you at this time? Is there a family member or a loved one whom we should bring here to support you?”

Aadita shook her head slightly and then rolled to her side, careful to shield her arm, which was clearly broken. Her eyes closed, and it was apparent to one and all she was trying to shut out all of her pain, both physical and emotional. Isha nodded to the other ladies and they began their work.

Through each stage of the healing and cleaning of Aadita’s body, Isha calmly explained what they were doing, so Aadita at no time felt surprised or taken unawares. Alex helped to bathe away the blood that marred her skin, and assisted Ahadi when they changed her clothes. Aadita’s physical injuries were soon a thing of the past, but her emotional pain was a living and breathing entity within the small room.

The immortals shared their auras with her as Isha sat beside the bed they had placed Aadita on. She gently tucked a soft blanket around her and spoke in hushed tones as she urged her to rest where she would be protected and where she was safe. It did not take long for the young woman to drift off, hoping to let the pain slide away for a time.

Isha looked up at her sisters and her eyes finally settled on Alex’s. “Alexandria, you know as well as we do, that your aura is far more vast and powerful than ours – even when we combine our energy. If you will sit with Aadita while she attempts rest, your aura can mentally delve within and chase away the nightmares that are sure to terrorize her.”

“You don’t have to ask, Isha. I’ll sit with her for as long as Aadita needs to achieve some measure of rest,” Alex said without hesitation.

“I know I don’t have to ask,” Isha said with a sad smile. “I say this, not only because Aadita needs you right now, but because this will also be emotional for you after what Bertrand did to you. Is this something you are comfortable with?”

“Absolutely,” Alex said quietly, so as not to disturb Aadita. “I wouldn’t dare give Bertrand or any other dark one enough power over me, so that they prevented me from helping another soul in need. I can do this,” she nodded.

“Very well. As the flashbacks surface, wrap the thoughts in your aura and eliminate them,” Isha said as she rose. She hugged Alex, then went with Tomoko to complete the local authority’s necessary reports that spoke of the crime which had been perpetrated against Aadita.

Ahadi and Sabina remained with Alex for quite a while, and used that time to show her how her aura could be used to soothe someone who was still close to the initial hurt and trauma. After an hour and a half had passed, Alex assured them she could sit alone with Aadita. They urged Alex to call them if she had need of them again, and then they left to help other women within the shelter.

Alex gently gathered Aadita’s newly mended left hand in hers, and she looked down at their joined palms. She thought that this must have been what her brothers, parents, and Jameason felt like after Bertrand laid hands on her. Though Ganymede had healed her physical injuries while she lay dying on the floor of Lord Lenley’s study, she had still been unconscious, covered in blood, and her gown torn when Wallace and Conner entered the room.

What must they have been through themselves, Alex wondered. They had never really talked about that night from her family’s perspective, and she saw in that moment it was a discussion they needed to have. They all needed closure. She made a vow to herself that before the year was over, she would make time to let her family share it all; just as she had when she came home from Aeoferth and told them the truth about the Nephilim, and about Bertrand.

Alex sat at Aadita’s bedside for many hours, holding her hand and channeling her aura towards the teen so she could sleep without the violent images robbing her of the rest her body was crying out for. When she groaned or grimaced, Alex gently smoothed a hand and her aura over Aadita’s hair to reassure her, in the hope she would continue to slumber.

Alex understood that this happened in every corner of the world and she wanted so desperately to stop it. But she was able to put her anger to the side and concentrate on the soul before her. One who required gentle and loving support in her most desperate hour of need.

 

As the dinner hour approached Ahadi and Tomoko came in to relieve Alex. They told her they had decided not to drive back to Isha’s home that night with the others. Rather, they wanted to remain and take shifts, so Aadita had an aura close at hand while she slept. Sabina brought in a tray of food for the young lady, hopeful she would eat whenever she awoke.

Alex hugged Ahadi and Tomoko, and then stepped out into the hallway and slumped against the wall.

“Are you alright, Alex?” Sabina asked softly, as she closed the room’s door behind her.

“I am,” Alex nodded, although her movements were stiff and implied she was anything but. “I need to take a walk before I go home, though. You and Isha go on without me. I’ll use one of our extra cars here when I’m finished.”

“No, we should not leave you…” Sabina began, but Alex turned and gave her a tight hug.

“I want to take a walk, Sabina. I will be fine, okay?” she pressed.

Sabina’s lips formed into a firm line, but finally she nodded her agreement. “Take your sword, your mobile, and summon Ganymede if you sense any danger. Promise me?”

“I promise,” Alex exhaled, and then headed off down the hall before Sabina had a change of heart and decided to accompany her.

She stopped in Isha’s office and took her sword from the closet where she had hidden it that morning. Alex slid it into a scabbard Gaius had fashioned for her months ago at Elysium, and she willed her aura to hide the weapon away from mortal eyes. Then she walked out of the nearest door and down the shelter’s drive towards a sidewalk.

Alex let the streets fall away as her pace increased, and the shelter’s neighborhood gave way to the city’s hectic pace and congestion. She read signs and watched for landmarks as she continued on her way, knowing she was getting closer to her intended objective when she neared the edge of a still bustling market. Many vendors were closing up for the day, but Alex pressed through until she had crossed the entire market’s length and alighted on the one stall she had witnessed within Aadita’s memory.

Without a word, Alex moved onto a nearby bench under a substantial jamun tree and watched the stall from a slight distance. It had been the place Aadita’s unknown assailant had been standing near, lounging against the wood surface, before he broke away and followed her down an alley, just after Aadita had made her purchases for the day. Would he be so stupid as to come back to that same place, Alex wondered?

She sat patiently and waited, not knowing what she might see or what she might do if the young man did present himself. But she had to do something. Anything. Alex slowly unsheathed her sword and placed it across her lap, letting her watch go on.

 

“Good evening, daughter,” Ganymede said softly, startling Alex from her intense concentration.

“Ganymede,” she breathed. Alex watched as he lowered himself onto the bench and stretched out an arm so that it came to rest behind her. His eyes moved over the sword perched on her lap and then he looked away to watch the merchants close up the last few stalls nearest them.

“Why do I have the feeling I’m about to have one of those conversations with my father?” Alex asked quietly, though a smile surprisingly tugged at the corner of her lips.

“I would hope all conversations you might have with me would be important and meaningful to you, Alexandria,” he said with an indulgent smile of his own.

“So I am,” Alex said in answer to her own question. “I feel sure you’re here to tell me what a mistake I’m making and that I should go home. Aren’t you?” she asked, and then looked away from the market and into his translucent blue eyes.

“Not at all,” he said with a shake of his head. His curly blonde locks danced around his face and shoulders and gave him such a youthful air, that Alex marveled over how very long her angelic father had existed in the Lord’s service, all while retaining his ageless appearance.

“Really?” she asked in surprise.

“Really, Alexandria,” Ganymede nodded. He lifted his hand and smoothed it over her hair and then angled his head slightly as he watched her eyes. “I am here with you, not to dictate your actions, but to support you as you struggle. For you are not yourself right now, daughter, and you and I both know it.”

Alex stared back into his eyes, and felt the slight burn enter hers as tears began to gather.

“Talk to me, and unburden your heart and mind,” he gently urged her.

Her jaw clenched for a few moments and then she whispered, “I’m very, very angry, Ganymede.”

“At whom?” he asked.

Alex’s brow furrowed and she narrowed her eyes in confusion. “At the monster who assaulted Aadita today. He was here, Ganymede, at this very spot waiting for his perfect victim. And I feel sure he will return to this place.”

“And when he does?” Ganymede continued to prompt her. “What will you do, Alexandria?” he asked as he once again glanced at her sword.

Alex felt herself deflate under his steady gaze and her shoulders lowered considerably from the tense hold she had kept them in. She shook her head and then looked away from the angel and back to the thinning crowd before them.

“Nothing,” she whispered, as her lower lip trembled.

“Daughter, look at me,” Ganymede said just as softly.

Slowly, Alex turned her eyes back towards his, and she was grateful to see only love and warmth emanating from his gaze – not censure or condemnation.

“I know that what happened to young Aadita wounded your heart greatly, for you know firsthand what it is to have another lay hands on you with the intent to do harm. Anyone who belongs to the Lord abhors such atrocities and violence, Alexandria. It has always been so, and it will continue to be as mankind lives on. Just as with those of your kind, some are of His Light, while others let the darkness claim them. And therefore, there will always be sin, strife, and great hurt while the darkness yet remains.”

Alex raked a hand through her hair and then stared at her fingers as she lowered them back to her lap. Her aura was streaming in heavy arcs from her fingertips and she saw a thick chord of her father’s golden power running at the core of each tendril.

“I have so much power, and I wanted to use it to make him turn himself in,” she confessed quietly. “I wanted…” she broke off and clenched her teeth momentarily. “I wanted him to pay for his crimes, so Aadita would have some measure of justice.”

“Very understandable, given what she lived through today,” Ganymede agreed. “And I want you to know, Alexandria, that I am not here because I am angry or disappointed in you. Nothing could be further from the truth. No, I am here because I am concerned for your heart in all of this.”

“I know you are still finding your way, and you will face many such challenges as you continue to grow and learn how to be the Nephilim you are now. Consider, if you will, the fact that all of the other immortal children were born to this life. And though your power and abilities lay dormant until we cracked open the dam holding it all at bay, you grew from child to woman thinking that you were mortal. An ordinary human who wanted nothing more than to fade into the background and attract no notice whatsoever.”

“But not anymore,” Alex murmured.

“No, not anymore,” he agreed solemnly. “Yet I also want you to remember this, daughter: You have not had a lifetime of lessons from your angelic father, or a lifetime of learning how to temper the power within as your brethren have. It will take time for you to grow and blossom into the role the Lord offered you, and the life you willingly accepted.”

“By God’s own will, you, Alexandria, have been gifted with more than any other Nephilim who has ever lived. You are the leader of His immortals, here to hold back the demons when they threaten humanity or your own kind. And that means, you can no longer fade into the background.”

“I’m the leader, yet I cannot stop one vile man who hurt a nineteen year old girl today,” Alex scoffed, hating the bitter edge that crept into her voice.

“You know that is not true,” he said as he stared down into her eyes, so like his. “Had you been there when young Aadita was targeted and then accosted, you would have protected her well. You would have stopped him and she would not be in Isha’s shelter this day. But you were not there in the moment, and so now you face the dilemma of what one such as yourself should do to right the wrong. You want justice, Alexandria, but justice is not yours to seek.”

Alex blew out a heavy sigh and she nodded her understanding. “I know that verse,” she smiled sadly. “Romans 12:19. ‘Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.”

“Indeed,” he whispered his praise. “As the mortal you were months ago, you would never have come to this bench, on this night, and awaited a violent man in order to bring him to justice. But as a powerful Nephilim, here you sit. So the question you must ask yourself, daughter, is whose justice are you seeking? Are you really here for Aadita, or for Alexandria?”

Alex opened her mouth to reply, but she promptly closed it again. She looked away quickly and stared straight ahead at the now vacant market. Her tears coursed freely over her skin as the truth shamed her.

“Me,” she finally said, her voice strained and hoarse. “I am here for me. Aadita never asked any of us to find him or bring him to justice. And… And Isha filled out the paperwork for the local authorities. They will investigate this.”

“Come here, my child,” he said to Alex and then wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Ganymede gently pulled Alex into his embrace and she gladly buried her head against his chest. Alex let go completely then and she wept openly, hiding her emotions from him no longer. Neither said anything more for a time, as her sorrow and hurt poured forth.

“I love you, Alexandria, and this too shall pass,” he murmured as he kissed her hair. “This hurt that still lingers over Bertrand’s sin, and the anger you feel for Aadita this evening, will fade in its rawness over time. All sins and all acts of malice can be forgiven. You know this better than anyone, for look at the miracle you worked with Kronis.”

Alex leaned away from his chest and looked up to meet his gaze. Ganymede cupped Alex’s face and used his thumbs to wipe the moisture from her skin. He nodded slowly that his words were true and that she should take them to heart.

“It is true, that Arianna was the one to touch Kronis and offer him the Light. But it was you, Alexandria, who continued to reach out to him time and time again during each of your encounters. You kept your hand out, never gave up on him, though you knew who and what he was. A child of a demon, who ruled his kind for millennia. And if you are honest, you will admit that Kronis was himself a murderer, an evildoer, and one who delighted in the terror of innocents for century after bloody century.”

“Yet, he changed; but it was because he sought the Light and he was forgiven his sins. If one such as he could find grace and be washed clean, could be loved by you, then why not also this man who harmed Aadita?” Ganymede questioned.

“After the local authorities find and deal with him, through their own system of justice, then it will be up to Aadita to forgive him and also for the man to forgive himself. Neither of those choices will you have any influence over. Just as you could not force Kronis to take your hand in Urr Parish Church. He had to want it badly enough, that he took what you were offering him.”

“Of his own free will,” Alex managed to say, though her voice continued to tremble. “I understand what you’re saying, Ganymede. I do. You’re saying I must temper the power within, and show grace and mercy at every turn. That I cannot interfere with human lives to the point I was poised to, had Aadita’s attacker shown his face.”

“That is exactly what I am saying, daughter,” he smiled tenderly. Ganymede turned Alex’s head still held in his palms, so that she looked once more at a nearby sidewalk still crowded with pedestrians. “Look with me, Alexandria, and truly see it all,” he intoned.

“The man in the black trousers has a mistress and he is on his way to see her as we speak, though his wife and two daughters await him at their home. The woman in the orange dress has taken money from her employers on several occasions, and she will continue until she is caught seven months from now.”

“The young man with long hair tied back at his nape, is lying to his parents about his success at university. He has been avoiding his classes, because he has a lucrative trade in drugs at this time. And sadly, he thinks that his future lies with the hollow promise that such easy money can buy. No matter how many suffer from the effects of the poison he sells.”

Alex gasped as Ganymede continued to call out the sins of one human after another, her mind reeling over his revelations. She cringed at how debase some of the acts and crimes were, but she listened to every word he uttered, determined to learn from his poignant lesson.

“However… It is also true, that the young lady in the brown skirt and yellow blouse gave up her place in her company’s training program to a coworker. One who needed the position in order to better provide for her child. The man who is wearing the grey hat has given up a portion of his paycheck for the last twelve years to his elderly mother. For she is ill and can no longer provide for herself,” Ganymede said, a slight smile forming on his lips as he began to turn the tide for them both.

“The mother walking towards us, holding her son’s hand, lost her husband to cancer months ago. But she has taken on a second job without complaint, so she can continue the saving’s plan she and her husband had agreed to. The funds will allow that young boy to attend the university of his choosing someday. He will go on to become a doctor, and he will specialize in cancer research, in honor of his father. He will save many during his long life.”

“Oh, Ganymede,” Alex breathed in a hushed and reverent tone.

“Yes, my child. There is beauty and evil wherever we look, for there is the Light and the darkness. As the mighty Nephilim you are, you could wipe them all away, Alexandria. You could set yourself up as judge, jury, and executioner, and not one among them could challenge you. But who are you, or even I, to say that one of those sinners might not be the next to follow in Kronis’ steps. That they might, through their own journey, realize the error of their ways, repent, and then come to the Light of their own accord?”

“Not me,” Alex shook her head, as a small sob escaped her lips. “Never me, Ganymede.”

“No, Alexandria, never you,” he said vehemently, a fierce light flashing in his eyes with his pride and love. “For if we judge too quickly, then we might end their journeys too soon. And that, my child, might be the one thing that cuts them off from the Lord. We will deny none the opportunity to know Him.”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. And as his lips pressed there, a large surge of Celestial power flowed over her entire being, bringing her comfort and peace its wake.

Alex wrapped her arms back around Ganymede and held on for dear life. She clung to the angel who claimed her as his and who loved her despite her failings. A father to her, he was indeed, Alex acknowledged within her heart and mind.

“Thank you, Ganymede,” Alex managed to say as her tears continued to flow.

“Always, Alexandria. I am here for you always, just as Gaius and all your family members, mortal and immortal, are. Forever.” Ganymede rocked Alex slowly as her internal storm quieted and the tumult within her aura calmed.

“Does Gaius know where I am?” Alex asked, and straightened away from his chest slightly.

Ganymede chuckled and arched an eyebrow playfully at Alex. “What do you think?”

A shaky laugh escaped her, despite it all. Alex nodded and so too did Ganymede. Her smile spread a little more and she patted his chest just above his heart. Alex let her palm linger there and her eyes grew wider as she felt the steady cadence of his heart. Ganymede placed a hand over hers and he chuckled.

“When I walk on this plane of existence with you, I breathe and function just as you do,” he said indulgently.

“I… I’ve never thought about whether you were built internally as I am.”

“Well, now you have,” he smiled. “Shall I take you home to Gaius now? His father, Haniel, is there with him. But I know he would much prefer to have your company.”

“Of course,” Alex answered, though she was still processing all he had shared with her.

He chuckled again and then stood. Ganymede pulled Alex to her feet and waited patiently while she sheathed her sword. With a last look around the area, Alex let it all fall away as her angelic father gathered her in his arms.

“Hold tightly to me, Alexandria, and we will be at Isha’s home within a breath.”

Ganymede’s aura billowed out and engulfed them. Then he turned swiftly and they were gone, nothing more than a whisper on the wind. The mortals near them none the wiser that two powerful immortal beings had just vanished from the landscape.