Chapter Eight
Paradise
Something wasn’t right and yet the urge to awaken was stifled somehow. It was hard to think. Something said I needed to wake up and yet there were competing voices telling me to remain asleep.
Those voices promised pleasure as did their touch. My eyes shot open and my scream was cut off by a hand that cruelly pressed my head flat to the bed.
“Almost. Almost we had her cajoled into accepting us unknown within the realms of her fantasies.”
“Her spirit is strong, but no matter, there’s still the pleasure of her flesh for us to corrupt.”
To my everlasting horror I beheld the two fallen messengers from the underground facility hovering just above me. The chains that had bound my hands were gone only to be replaced now by lengths of rope.
Bonds of rope that secured my hands and feet to the corners of the bed that I had lain down on what must’ve been hours earlier. That wasn’t all though.
I was naked! Oh God this couldn’t be happening!
I wanted to scream, but it was as if a choking hold remained about my throat even though the fallen messenger’s hand had left. I was truly helpless before these vile creatures of spiritual darkness and the comprehension of that in my eyes had them laughing with delight.
I saw things then of an angelic ability that no earthborn woman should have to witness as even with a 1000 impressions within the corners of my mind they informed me of how they planned to corrupt me with the unnaturalness of their union with me.
“It’s time that we had you. We don’t often have to wait this long.”
“Yes, a highly favored one is she. All the more enjoyable for us she will be.”
They both laughed and made to cover over top of me seemingly at the same time and yet the lust of their eyes was halted as a large hand closed about each of their necks from behind only to then crash their heads together before flinging them both bodily across the room to smash against the stone wall of the house. Even in my state of paranoia I couldn’t help but wonder how the fallen angels could suddenly become so subject to objects such as stone or a man’s strength as I had just witnessed.
The man in question now stood between me and them and never had I beheld such anger on the face of a man before as I did now and yet I felt no fear for myself. Silently, as if in a daze, I asked in the spirit, “Why are such beings of power subject to a mere man’s actions?”
“They are trespassers and defilers of My established order. They have no power, but what I at first gave them and My words do not pass away. Even so let every man have dominion over his household, even as I have purposed for it to be. They have no authority here, because they have been given no authority, but instead they have come as thieves in the night seeking to destroy that which is good. Know ye not that one day you shall judge angels?”
My vision was blurred, but I watched through the legs of the man who had saved me from a defilement worse than death, as the two fallen beings looked with fear upon the man who had laid ahold upon them and overcome them with ease. It was hard to keep my eyes open as what felt like shock began to seize ahold of my body and yet it was my fervent hope that the man destroyed my enemies without quarter.
*****
Tolak with wrathful fervor burst out with, “Is it even now as in the days of old that you castoffs of your heavenly kind have thought so highly of yourselves as to think to defile the women of my people with the corruption of your fallen seed in order to bear forth even more monsters than that already plague these lands since times of old? Members of your kind were cursed once for this and even now do I do so again!”
“She is not of your people!” One said.
“We have prior claim!” The other said, as they both sang out in desperation.
“You have no justified claim upon the daughters of men unless men have given them over to you!” Tolak stormed back with in rage.
The one fallen messenger sneered triumphantly and seemed to increase in strength as he said, “And we have such a lawful claim as her father gave us dominion in return for what advancements in position of authority we bestowed upon him.”
Tolak stepped forward to the surprise of the resurgent fallen angel’s claim of dominion and gripped the fallen messenger once more by the throat. Now quaking beneath the grip of Tolak’s hand about his throat he heard the man of the house, whose home he had entered without authority being given to him to do so, say, “She is no longer under her father’s covering! She is mine and I condemn you to the Creator’s judgment reserved for those of your order who have transgressed and done that which you were forbidden to do! Now I cast you out by the authority that has been given to me by my God never to return!”
With wails of grief both spiritual entities now locked within the physical dimension, because of their blinding lust were pulled along by Tolak and hurled out the door of the house as they were now powerless to overcome what they had brought upon themselves. Before they hit the sand of the beach they disappeared from the presence of a righteous man’s house.
Tolak wiped his hand across his face to clear it of sweat, as the unreality of all that had transpired became fully realized, as the adrenaline of the previous moments slowly faded. He had not had such an encounter since the days immediately following his salvation, when he had confronted and cast out the witch doctor, who had ensnared his people for generations with superstition and cultic beliefs of practice, from the village.
How close evil had come to defiling his home this day. With sudden remembrance for the woman Tolak rushed back into his house.
*****
I could do nothing to help myself, but continue lying here as I was bound to the bed. In some ways I very much felt like I was drifting from reality into death.
In desperation I whispered, “God?”
“Be subject to your husband and you will be safe and soon fully restored of everything you desire and more.”
Hands were working at my bindings and then I felt myself lifted free of the bed and transported outside. In a daze I felt myself clutch onto the muscled shoulder I lay against in order to stabilize myself.
With a gasp I felt the man holding me jump and then with a shriek of fright I felt water engulf me in a warm embrace. Despite the warmth I felt myself shivering uncontrollably as my legs were let down until I could stand for myself.
The water was up to my neck and looking around I saw that I was in a solitary pool of water in a rocky landscape surrounded by the ocean. My eyes came back to the man who had brought me here and took in the real look of concern in this stranger’s eyes for me.
“You were cold. You needed warmth. I go now.”
Like a drowning person I reached out to grasp his arms before he could move away. He remained within the pool of warm water.
I stared at the water unable to do more in the moment than I already had with this stranger. Forcing myself to speak past my chattering teeth I managed to say, “Please don’t leave me alone!”
The arms I clutched flexed powerfully. A big hand splayed across my back, while the other cradled the back of my head, as I let myself be bodily pressed to the man I now belonged to.
Hesitantly I let my arms close around the man that held me and tentatively I experimented for the first time in my life with leaning into a man’s presence. The water lapped at my chin, but I sank no lower in the water as I gave up all pretense of standing and instead allowed this man I belonged to support me.
I closed my eyes and relaxed against him as the feel of his physical strength and the knowledge of his spiritual maturity became peace itself in this moment of turbulent upheaval. In some ways I should have been embarrassed and in a way I was, but I didn’t care right now.
Time went on and I knew we should leave the warm water, but the man made no move to do so as he supported me against himself effortlessly. Finally I whispered out, “Thank you for saving me.”
I felt his head nod against the top of mine and then his grasping hold on me changed and just as assuredly I knew that everything was about to change. He raised me higher in the water and with eyes still closed I felt his lips form over mine in a gentle kiss, which after a long moment of discovery I returned as best as I could in my inexperience.
Opening my eyes I stared into his. He let the kiss break off and with barely enough room to form words between our faces I said as a tear fell down my face, “I’m scared. I don’t know your name or even if you can understand what I’m saying. I….”
“Tolak.” He said simply cutting in.
Staring teary-eyed into the man’s face before me I took a deep breath and said with what little courage I had left, “I’m yours Tolak.”
He nodded and deeply said, “I know.”
His lips were on mine again and I lost myself in the simple enjoyment of a man’s domineering kiss. A kiss that turned into a possession over all that had been formerly mine and was now made his.
*****
The feeling of being watched had my eyes opening despite the desire to remain asleep. The little girl who’d rescued me from a monster only to then deliver me into the passionate embrace of her father now had her smiling face positioned but three inches in front of my own.
Blinking I tried to come to a better awareness only to be embarrassed by that very awareness. Fighting the desire to move in order to cover myself I whispered, “You shouldn’t be here.”
The little girl’s face drew back with puzzlement as she asked, “Why?”
Meanwhile the question to me was how the child could even ask the question of, ‘Why?’ Did it not occur to her that her father and I were quite, well, naked and……… no, I guess it didn’t and why should it.
Her culture was very different than mine and yet despite liking the girl I really wanted her to back off and give us some privacy. I was in the process of trying to put together words to express that when the voice of my lover rumbled out from just beyond my ear, “Go Sheatera!”
The girl sighed loudly and after a moment’s hesitation left the one room house. Laying still after the girl’s exodus I did my best not to let on to how the deep tone of my lover’s voice had affected me.
He spoke again, “She has no manners. Her mother…….died. I have not been a good father since then. Could you teach her?”
“Yes.” I whispered, as I felt the sudden responsibility of becoming a mother settle down upon me.
Tolak’s lips closed over the soft skin behind my ear in a pressing kiss that had me closing my eyes. Then speaking with that voice of his that caused shivers up and down my spine he said directly into my ear, “Thank you Samantha.”
I’d finally told him my name at some point within the eon of time it seemed in which we had been making love and ever since then the sound of my name coming from off this man’s lips had never ceased to not thrill me. My stomach however ruined the moment by grumbling hungrily to which he chuckled in response to.
In mortification I tucked my face away, but in one smooth move he was standing and then pulling me up to my feet as well. He went to a corner of the room and opened a box and pulled a colorful strip of cloth out.
Coming to me he tied it about my waist. Looking down I saw that it barely covered anything. Adjusting to this culture was going to be hard. Did he really intend for me to walk around bare chested like all the other women of his people?
Looking up with the heat of my embarrassment burning brightly all across my face I saw him hold up one finger. He went back to the box and came back with a longer strip of fabric.
He wrapped it about my chest and then supportively over one shoulder before tucking the loose end beneath the soft fabric at where it ran beneath my armpit. Feeling like my face was 10 shades of red I whispered, “Thank you.”
He nodded and taking my hand he led me from the house and out into the orange glow of this inner world. Trustingly I followed his lead as he led me up the beach and towards the most delicious of aromas I had ever smelled.
Along the way island women, clothed in nothing more than what passed for a skirt such as what I wore, came up close to slip beautifully worked necklaces of flowers over my head. The warmth of these people, the idyllic setting of this protected village, and the feel of my lover’s touch through my fingers and all the memories that evoked of what had transpired between the two of us, all went to convince me that somehow against all odds I had ended up in Paradise.
Would it last though? I didn’t know, but I intended to enjoy every moment of it while it did last.
The smell of food was overwhelming and I couldn’t help but tug a little in the direction of it, but Tolak led me off elsewhere and with a forlorn look backwards toward the direction of food and the crowd of snickering individuals who were delighting in my lack of knowledge I obediently followed the tug of my husband’s hand. He was following along a trail through some trees and jungle undergrowth, which suddenly opened out on yet another stretch of beach, but we were the only ones here.
A stone seat sat in the sand of the beach and all around it lay platters of delicately prepared food. Walking barefoot after Tolak through the warm sand I prepared to enact some ritual of where I served him food, but to my surprise he led me to the chair of stone and pressed me down to sit upon it.
In wordless surprise I watched him kneel down on one knee before me. He picked up a leaf wrapped bundle of what looked like meat and rice combined with spices and with utter sincerity he said as he held the food up to my lips, “As my wife it is my pleasure to serve you.”
Feeling a tear slip down my cheek I forced myself past the sentimental emotions I felt in the moment to take a bite. I truly was in Paradise.
Bite after bite of the best tasting food I had ever had washed down by the clearest water that I’d ever seen had me so wrapped around this man’s finger that I would’ve done anything for him. He’d honored me as a Queen, but of a truth he seemed to be a King among his people.
Slipping off the stone seat onto my knees before him I asked, “Why all this?”
“Why would I not choose to honor the woman I have accepted as my own? We are now one flesh and to honor you is to but bless myself.”
Rubbing at my eyes I said laughingly, “Oh my, you could pick up any girl in the world with a line like that.”
“Pick up?”
Smiling into his face I said, “Never mind.” Still smiling I asked, “May I serve you now?”
Pivoting to rest his back against the stone chair situated in a beachfront setting meant for lovers he smiled and said, “As you wish.” And so I did, until all he was hungry for was me and I held nothing back of what he desired of me, as by his example to me, to honor him was but to bless myself in return.