Читать книгу The Angel and His Witch - JR Martens - Страница 13

After breakfast Johann and Rissy went out into the garden. They walked to a little secluded corner that led to some steps that led down into a lower part of the garden. There were ferns and small trees and it looked like a clearing in a forest with a carpet of soft moss. Johann told Rissy to take off her shoes before getting off the steps. He had already taken his off. The moss felt so gentle. There were a few wildflowers around and wooden furniture in a small area where the whole garden could be seen. On the table were several bottles of wine and a basket of bread and cheese. “Johann, why have I never found this spot before?” “You were not ready to see this before now.” “Well it’s simply beautiful.” Johann smiled as one of the butterflies flew close to him and the around Rissy. She had never heard a butterfly make a singing type noise before. It flew back to Johann and he said “It’s alright. She belongs here.” “Why are you talking to a butterfly?” “Just and old habit for a lonely man I guess.” He replied. “I think now is the time to begin telling you about some of the things that you have been experiencing.” Rissy had been waiting for this moment and was happy that Johann was keeping his promise. “I am going to start from the beginning. It is important that you listen and listen carefully. Close your eyes to begin with.” She closed her eyes as he requested and was waiting for more. “I’m ready.” “Like I said please listen. This is the very beginning of all. Remember this is to assist you in preparing for our life together from now until eternity. As you remember things and see that things are real, you will see that we were meant to be together for eternity and if you decide, we can be together that long. We will merge in a sense if you desire.” He made sure he was ready for this. “What if she thinks this is a joke?” he thought. He composed his himself and began the tale.

“I was born to Freya before man began and roamed the earth which at that time was such a beautiful garden unlike now. You must understand that when I say born that I am not speaking of the way humans are born. The correct term may be created. There was no such thing as time. It’s a difficult concept for mortals or those who have been mortals to understand. The change from day to night, the seasons, and the like are a continuum; it sort of like a day that does not end. That’s the best I can explain such. There were great beasts that roamed the planet. I think this was a little game among the gods, because every so often new creatures would appear and some of the others died off. Some favorites were made smaller like the lizards you seen even now. There were other changes made to several of these because the gods did not wish for their new creations to be harmed, well you know there were some tricks and I think Loki had his hands in that mess. The poisonous snakes and lizards, and different bugs, but I ramble from my story.”

Rissy was listening but did open her eyes and began looking intently at Johann. “You’re right the concept of a continuum is very difficult to understand. We age and change yet you have always been just like you are?”

“No not really dear, we learn as time goes on or we hope that we do. I’ve been a little slow in my learning in affairs of the heart and understanding what humans consider normal, though at one point I was actually a human and did grow and know of days and years. I guess that is why I can relate a little though I may see centuries are weeks.” They both had to laugh at that.

“Johann, why were you once human? That seems very odd to me.”

“It happened like this Rissy. I fell in love with a woman who was under a waterfall. She loved me as well and we were constant companions. Other angels including my so called brothers were angry that I would spend time with a mortal. You can see how much like us in appearance you are, and more attention was being paid to your kind than mine. To add insult to injury for many was to have to help manipulate your kind. There was a rebellion in the heavens and it was bloody.”

Rissy nodded. “So how did you become human?”

“I’m getting to that, so please be patient with me. My lover and I were taken when mother was busy. I was chained with angelic gold. The only beings that could break free of these bonds were the gods. They beat me mercilessly with chains made of the same metal and then my brothers tortured my love in front of me and kept raping her. She screamed for me and I was helpless to save her. She fought hard and then they said that they were going to kill her but her suffer slowly. I fought harder and harder to break free and then somehow I broke the chains that were unbreakable. I grabbed my Asgard sword that they had left close by, and sliced through them killing them. However I was too late to save her. She died in my arms at the moment Freya arrived. She imposed a blessing upon her so that she would come back to me time after time. This did happen until we grew apart and you even knew her and were friends at one time.”

He stood up and turned his back to Rissy and wept. Rissy was a little jealous, but also knew that somewhere along the way that he had chosen her above the other. She waited patiently for him to continue as she sipped the wine and nibbled on the cheese and crackers. She worried that this was causing him too much distress. “We can wait until later for you to finish.”

“No, I want to at least finish my becoming human before we end for the day.” He turned around facing Rissy and smiled at her. He ate a piece of cheese and washed it down with some wine, then kissed his lovely witch. “I love you dearly Rissy and I will get to our story in time. I need to give you my background so that hopefully you will understand me more clearly.”

“It is helping Johann. So far I find it intriguing. I was a little worried that you were going to bore a girl to death.” She giggled. Johann stared sternly at her enough that she lowered her eyes and then chuckled. “Glad I haven’t accomplished that feat yet.” “Sire this girl does not think that one such as you could ever do that. A girl has always loved your stories.” There it was again. Rissy wondered why she continued to speak of herself as “girl” but had a feeling that sooner or later she would discover its origin.

Johann resumed his tale. “There was a great outcry for my death since I had killed, so to keep me safe Freya decided that it would be best to hide me away until things calmed down and to show that I had been punished by making me human. She performed a ritual that took me into a deep sleep, and made me a human and placed me in a woman’s womb. When I was born, I had no knowledge of my previous life. Humans had decided that there were some greater than others and were establishing kingdoms. These were not the kingdoms with castles as those you see now, but were either made of tents or thatched huts. There was no grandeur and rituals for being made a king were just beginning. My parents’ land was wanted by a neighboring tribe and there was a war, so my mother wrapped me in cloths and hid me in the woods until the warring tribe had passed through. There was only one problem; my family was annihilated. A sorceress name Sera happened to come upon me as she was gathering herbs for her potions. She was of a tribe of humans with extraordinary powers and there is a rumor that there had been some intervention by the gods due to this tribe’s loyalty. Sera raised me and taught me the ways of her people. I learned potions and still can make a few, but not nearly as well as you or other members of your family. They were called “showers” because they were always showered good to those who came to them and people were told to go to “the showers” because they may help with certain healings or protection. They were also known to think of things and they would appear. It was also said that many though on the face of the earth actually walked above it and never touched the ground. Eventually they became known as the Moonshowers because of having to eventually practice their gifts at night due to persecution, but that was thousands of your years later.” He stopped for a moment.

Rissy was sipping her wine, listening intently. “So that’s how my family received their name. A girl has always wondered such. But Johann you are an angel now. How were you transformed?”

“I am going to tell you my dear. Where was I? Ah yes. Sera taught me many things about her people and I met and loved them all. They accepted me as one of their own. One day I was introduced to a fair maiden of the tribe. It had been discussed in their meeting of the elders that I should be wed to this girl. She was the kindest and loveliest woman I had ever laid eyes upon. I fell in love with her right off. She was shy and it took some time for her to be comfortable around me. The wedding was planned and she was happy as was I, but she kept having dreams of me dying and being taken away by heavenly creatures. The whole tribe tried to console her, but nothing worked. The day before the wedding she came to me as I was out in the forest gathering herbs and wood for our fire. She told me that she wanted to make love to me now before I died. I told her that I would love to but that we needed to wait until we were wed as was the Moonshower custom at the time and you will learn now why they encourage the clan to be free in expressing their love physically as well as emotionally.” He stopped and took another sip of the wine and then poured another flute full and downed it quickly.

Rissy saw the look on his face and rose to go to him. She took his hand and held it tight. “We made love then didn’t we?” Johann nodded affirmatively. “I could see it as you were talking. I can’t believe that I was that passionate or bold then.” She smiled at him. “But a girl can remember one thing about that encounter very well and as you told the story a girl felt a tingling between her thighs. You left right after, but why? Was a girl not satisfactory?” “Rissy it had nothing to do with your lovemaking skills. You were and always have been an excellent lover unless something has changed that I am not aware of.” Rissy blushed. “A girl is glad to know this.”

Johann paced for a few moments and then spoke again. “As you have said it was you and there was nothing at all wrong with your rape of me.” He chuckled as he said this and Rissy began to protest but did not believe that she could win that debate, especially noticing how aroused she had become. She simply smiled and waited for him to continue forth.

“I had heard Sera screaming and ran to her. It was quite late as we finished our lovemaking. She was being attacked by a female vampire who had come under the guise of needing help and acting quite human. I rushed in. Sera was bleeding profusely and as I turned to look at her this bitch attacked me. She bit at me and tried to stab me with one of the hot pokers that Sera had in the fire. It seems that the fight lasted for hours. She had me pinned and came at me with her fangs and told me that she was going to make me into one of her kind. Somehow she bit me and did the draining and fed me. She laughed the whole time as I fought back the urge to drink. I don’t really know what happened then. It’s like a haze. I broke free and apparently took the poker and stabbed her through the heart. I was weakened and badly craving blood but still had not completely changed. I went to Sera and it was then that angels seemed to appear from nowhere and lift us up. They took me immediately to Freya and Sera died on the way but not before kissing me and blessing me.” Tears were streaming down his cheeks and this time he did not bother to turn away. “She was my mother after all and it hurt me deeply that I had not been there to protect her.”

Rissy pulled him to her and sobbed with him. She wrapped her arms around him as though she were protecting him. “If you hadn’t been with this girl then maybe you could have saved her. I’m sorry Johann.” “There is no reason for you to be sorry my lovely little witch. It’s just one of those things that happened.”

“Let me finish Rissy. We are almost done for the day. Freya came to me and changed me back into an angel but I was too infected with the vampire’s blood to not have some lasting effects. I do not need to feed, but will at times and since I have found how feeding on women gave them pleasure without killing them. Sorry Rissy, but I cannot lie to you about such things. Freya assigned me to a new task and that was to be the angel of death for those of great sins. When someone cannot comprehend why someone died, then my dear, it is me who has come to suck the life out of them and deliver them to Hel where she keeps them in the stench of her lair. I have also guarded gentle souls and taken them to heaven.”

They continued their embrace and as they did so Rissy felt something on his back. Something she had never paid attention to before. “Take off your shirt Johann. Take it off please.” He was confused by her outburst. “Rissy there is nothing that you can do. Those happened long before you.” She pulled back and stared into his green eyes with hers of hazel. “But if you had not suffered for love, then you would not have them, and yet because of them, we ended up together. I want to see.” In all of the times that they had been together in the past, through thousands of years she had never noticed until now. He tried to pull away from her grasp and finally did so, but not without his shirt ripping off of him. Rissy screamed loudly and then spoke softly and gently “Oh Johann, I’m so sorry.” He just stopped and bowed his head. “Rissy, you had absolutely nothing to do with it.” Rissy began kissing the scars as though she were trying to heal them. Her tears ran down his back as she did so. She glued herself to him. “I never noticed them before. It must have been horrible for you.” She tapped into his memories and saw the whole thing unfold before her eyes driving her almost to her knees. She was able to see how the chains were cutting his flesh and the blood run down his back. It amazed her how the chains seemed to fall apart and crash to the ground like shattered glass. She could see the violence being done to the woman involved and it made her vomit. “You must have loved her a great deal and yet I have the feeling that I made you choose between the two of us at one point. If your love for her was that strong, I can see how much you love this girl. This wretched little girl here with you.” He spun around and stared at her. “I will hear no talk of you being wretched. You are my love and soon to be my wife. My choice was meant to be and it was mine alone. I could have walked away from you, but I wanted to be with you. You have never made me do anything.” “A girl meant no disrespect. She truly didn’t.” He softened. “Rissy I know you didn’t.”

They went into the house and ate. That night while lying in bed with him it dawned on her. “He never slept with me because of fear of losing someone he loved. That’s why with me, he has always been patient and waited. It must also be why I have gone against my desire so many times with him and yet in this life, I was able to give freely of myself, though it was not actually what I truly wanted.” All night she held him to her and lay naked against him. She was hoping that he would try to take her. She would have given herself freely to him, but he never tried. She would wake from time to time and kiss his scars hoping that she would be able to comfort him. He slept soundly for the first time in thousands of years. The next morning Johann woke early and found one of the servants and had them bring up coffee and breakfast rolls, and fruit. He then went to wake Rissy who did not want to get out of the bed. She had not slept much due to worrying about him and continuously dreaming of the pain he had gone through. She finally clambered out of the bed and joined Johann on the balcony. As Rissy was drinking her coffee and thinking about the previous day and then how she wanted to just spend all day in bed with him, Johann spoke. “Rissy, remember we are going for a ride.” She finally removed herself from the table after drinking at least six cups of coffee and went in and dressed. She decided to wear pants and a smart pink blouse. When she went to meet Johann outside, she gasped. There he was on a black stud and beside him was a stable boy with a dapple gray mare. There was an English hunt seat upon the back of the horse meant for her. She looked over at Johann who was riding bareback and told the stable boy to remove the saddle because she was riding bareback as well, something she regretted as soon as they started down the path., but she found herself enjoying the ride.