Chapter Thirteen
Cry in the Night
Tomorrow was a big day and we couldn’t count on getting any regular sleep in the days to follow so we all turned in early. But after riding in the SUV for days I was too rested to sleep, as well as to tense about what would happen the next day.
I was getting ready to pray about my concerns of the morrow, when I heard some sort of muffled cry coming from the other room.
I got off the floor quickly and went to the doorway of the other room. Evette was moaning and turning in her sleep on the edge of the bed. Should I wake her?
She seemed to go still and stopped moaning. Guessing that her nightmare was over and the best thing was to let her sleep I went back to my bed on the floor.
Little did I know that was the cruelest mistake I could have made, because she was deep into the worst part of the nightmare. It was one of the worst she’d ever had, full of darkness.
Not ten minutes later I heard a slight rustling from the bedroom and then I saw her standing there. A little moonlight glowing into the room from an outside window showed me enough to see that she was shaking like a leaf and hugging herself with her arms. It looked like she wanted to come further, but something was holding her back.
I leaned over and tapped Larc’s arm. He was instantly awake, but lay quiet and still trying to discern his surroundings. It was a skill that every warrior would do well to cultivate.
I pointed and whispered at the same time, “She needs you! I’m pretty sure she’s been having nightmares all night.”
I had hardly finished, when Larc was already on his feet and gliding off toward Evette silently. I got up too and followed at a distance.
My skin crawled the closer I got to her at the sensation of something very foul within the place. I didn’t know how I hadn’t felt it before, because I felt the wrongness of it so strongly now, as it polluted the space with its presence.
I could even now see the form of what was haunting Evette silhouetted in a dark corner of the room.
Evette was moaning and crying pitifully as Larc approached her, “Please! I can’t make it stop! It’s killing me and it won’t leave! I’m going crazy! I….”
“No you’re not!” Larc said firmly, as he enfolded her with his arms holding her to him securely.
I stepped up behind Evette and hugged her too.
Larc pulled her chin up, “Evette do you want us to pray for you, for peace and freedom from this tormenting spirit?”
“Oh God please yes!” She sobbed crying into his chest. I started to pray for her, even as Orhanin and Thanic came out of the room behind us to stand with their hands on Larc’s and my shoulders saying prayers of their own.
Glancing back I saw Talaric standing back a way’s looking unsure, as he stared from us to the dark presence in the corner of the room.
This was important for him to experience and I held out a hand to him, as I kept a hold of Evette with the other. Hesitantly he stepped forward and took my hand and I watched him jolt with reaction to the touch I felt flow into him.
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?” He asked softly.
“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 in his answer 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 softly.
“My wife, my friend, my lover, the bearer of my children, and my sole companion for the rest of my life.” Larc said in reply just as softly as she had spoken.
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. He was pretty sure that it wasn’t from the coldness of the early morning.
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?” He asked slowly.
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.