Between HeVan and Hell (18 page)

“She sure can,” said Suzanna, looking
at the top certificate. “Those stocks are worth several hundred
thousand, if not millions of dollars.”

The door to the kitchen opened and
Arjun came back in with one of the new guards. He and his brother,
along with two others, would be temporarily replacing Jalen,
Justyn, and Jett as Addie’s personal guards. Addie remembered this
guard’s name was Kai. Gilda called them all ‘young men’ and they
all looked as if they were in their mid-twenties, but she knew they
were all at least two hundred and fifty years old.

Kai was the shortest of all the men
she’d met so far, at a measly six foot seven. He was also the first
blonde. He and his twin brother Ari wore their blonde hair in what
Addie thought of as a Viking style. There was a braid by each
temple with the rest pulled back in a leather thong at the nape.
Most startling were their eyes, not gold and not green; they were a
citrine color or maybe chartreuse. Luckily, most people would just
assume they were wearing contacts. For now, they were still in
their clothes from the ship. She didn’t know what the cloth was
made of, but it had the look of leather with the comfort of stretch
fit jeans. Boots and a leather vest completed the
outfits.

Kai and Arjun came over to the table.
Arjun leaned over and gave Addie a kiss on the head. “You should go
to bed; it’s very late,” he said.

“I’ll go to bed when you do. I took a
nap after dinner, remember? Don’t worry so much. Now, what did you
guys come in for?” she asked.

“We’ve figured out how to make
everything fit, but we need the ladies to move into the passenger
chamber now. The aisle and doorway will be blocked later,” he said
with a grin.

“Gilda,” he said, gesturing to the
door with his arm. “Your carriage waits.” Then with a sober face he
added, “Remember, violence against women in any form is abhorrent
to us as a people. That you were harmed in any way is unacceptable.
If there is anything you need to have that we can provide for you,
please let us know,” said Arjun, and then he leaned over and gave
her a kiss on the cheek.

“I don’t believe in that kind of debt,
Arjun. You’re making it possible for me to walk again. I’ll have
many years to spend with my sister and my granddaughter. If any
debt is owed, it’s from me to you. Let’s start fresh from here,”
she said.

Arjun gave her a bow. “You humble me
with your generosity. Addie, I and her other Ankida would ask that
you accept the position of Royal Jeweler to the House of
HeVanth.”

“Oh, yes. Please say you will,” Addie
said, bouncing a little in her chair. She loved the rings that
Grace had helped pick out and that Gilda had brought back to the
house.

“I would be honored. Has anyone on
your planet heard of Faberge?” she asked with a giggle.

“Don’t carry her off just yet, Arjun,”
said Addie, “she hasn’t shown us what’s in the big, metal box. The
diamonds were pretty and it looks like she may be a millionaire.
Now we want to see what’s behind Door Number Three.”

Kai turned to Arjun and whispered, “Is
the Queen all right? I don’t see any doors with numbers on
them.”

Addie heard what he said. “It’s an
expression, Kai. Don’t worry, you’ll catch on quick. We’ll watch
some game shows tomorrow on the television.”

She turned to Gilda. “Come on, no more
stalling.”

Gilda pulled the box towards her, and
then she pulled out her necklace with a HeVanian opal inset in
gold—it was actually a locket. She opened it and removed a key.
“The story of the Nephilim and the Queen has been passed down in my
family from mother to daughter for as long as anyone can remember.
Now you tell me it has been nearly ten thousand years. That’s mind
boggling to me! In this box are a few of the things we’ve managed
to keep and pass down in the family. The power of the women enabled
us to keep these items through wars, famine, plague, and bad
husbands,” she said with a little giggle but no one else laughed,
they were too engrossed in watching her open the box.

She used the key to turn the lock and
slowly opened the lid.

First, she pulled out three separate
feathered wing pieces. They were very thin and looked delicate, as
if they could easily be crushed; they were tied together with a
thread. Gilda heard Arjun gasp as she lifted them out. “As the
story goes, these are parts of each of the mating wings of our
Nephilim ancestor. After he lost his wings, they had to be
destroyed to keep others from finding out. He treated these pieces
with a chemical or something so they wouldn’t rot or turn into
dust. They’re just as bright and beautiful now as they were when I
first saw them on my fifteenth birthday. That’s when my mother
first started telling me about our heritage,” said Gilda, holding
up the wings. The predominant colors of the feathers were shiny
silver, teal, and glowing bronze. The third wing had several flecks
of other colors.

Arjun knelt on the floor by her chair.
“The Goddess was smiling down upon us when she led Grace into your
store, Gilda. These colors belong to a lineage long thought lost to
our world. HeVan will rejoice that descendants of that proud House
have come back to us. Your lands border ours, Gilda. The homesteads
and farmlands have lain fallow for over a thousand years. We’ve
looked after the treasures and artifacts of your House out of hope
and honor. We thought the lineage of Azaz had died out. They were
the finest artisans, makers of swords, knives, armor, mirrors, and
jewelry in our history. You can be proud your skills come naturally
to you.”

“Oh, wow, Grandma,” said Marta, “so we
have a place to live already?”

“Waiting for you on HeVan is a place
to live, yes. Your land is roughly the size of the state of
Montana. Only the Zingara go there now. We gave them right of
passage in exchange for them protecting your inheritance,” said
Arjun.

Marta turned to Addie and handed the
stocks and Bearer Bonds to her, “Here, you need to buy things on
Earth and I don’t think these will do us much good on HeVan. I
don’t want to go to college anyway; I want to design jewelry like
Baba G. Use this to get your land and start your farms and
everything. We have the gems, the land, and the job as Royal
Jewelers. We’ll be fine,” she said. “Besides, I heard what you were
saying to Becky about providing food and supplies to the Space
Station.”

“That’s very generous, Marta,” said
Addie, “but I couldn’t take your money. How about we set up a
Trust? We’ll call it The Azaz Family Trust. That way, if you come
back on vacation, you’ll have access to funds. Sound
good?”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Addie, thank
you. Except, until you change the law, there won’t be any vacations
on Earth. So don’t worry about me needing money right away,” said
Marta.

Then Gilda spoke up, “Suzanna
mentioned on the ride back about satellite phones and all. Such
things! When you get that all set up, you can help me do something
about my property in the City. If I’m not going to use it, I want
my friend Ethel to have it. I’ll tell her I’m going into witness
protection or something,” she said with a laugh. “Now, it’s time to
go. The rest of the things can wait for another time. I feel
strongly that now is not the right time to show any more. I have to
tell Marta, Suzanna, and Carol the stories first,” she smiled at
Heidi. “Heidi and anyone who’s interested can
eavesdrop.”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll ask Jeze to
set up a memory saver and then we can share it amongst the crew.
Would that be alright, Gilda?” asked Arjun and she
nodded.

Kai bent down and scooped her up from
her chair. She had the box and the velvet case in her hands, with
Bella and Boris following behind as if Gilda were the Pied Piper.
He carried her outside while Marta, Carol, and Heidi
followed.

Suzanna stayed behind for just a
moment.

“Addie, my superior called me earlier,
there were more transmissions; it must have been when Jett
communicated with the ship. I told him that the signals were
emanating from a casino in Chicago called 'Hell'. That there was an
ongoing investigation and results were expected soon. It was clever
of Jett to order up this pod from there. So no more worries about
being found out. Just buy those Sat phones and I’ll get in touch
when we’ve tapped into the satellites, and then we’ll be good to
go,” said Suzanna.

“Thank you, Suzanna, that’s a load off
my mind. Now we can set up a safe haven for women who want to stay
here and those who want to go. You’d better get going. Now that
Arjun has effectively removed all my company, I’m going to head up
to bed,” said Addie, as she got up to leave.

She watched the women go into the pod,
and the men began loading in the last of the women’s belongings. As
she walked up the stairs, she remembered her earlier conversations
with Grace. She was hopeful she’d be coming to HeVan,
too.

A couple of hours before
the shuttle pod was scheduled to land, Rune and Justyn headed into
Chicago. Justyn was anxious to meet Grace. Jalen had been keeping
him informed of their activities throughout the day and into the
evening. He ached to feel the soft skin, smell the womanly scent of
his perfect match, his
Join
.

They had decided to leave Suzanna’s
car a few blocks from the casino owned by the Kadyrovs. So he was
driving the car following Rune in Addie’s van. Rune had driven into
the City already and would show him the way. Rune would then head
over to Becky’s house to pick up the false identification for the
new crew members that would be staying on Earth for the time
being.

He had learned to drive the van on the
country roads near Addie’s house. Now he was driving on a road
called a ‘tollway’ and it was vastly different. The speed didn’t
bother him in the least; he’d traveled much faster in vessels back
home. It was the proximity of so many other cars and the haphazard
method of driving some of them employed. He was amazed at the
number of drivers who seemed to be doing other things in addition
to piloting their cars and vans.

At last, Rune was signaling for them
to exit the faster road. As Justyn followed Rune onto the City
streets, he realized that this was much harder than the roads near
Addie’s house. There were still many cars, and now there were
people, too. By the time they reached a parking garage near the
casino, he had a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. He was
happy to get out of the car and stretch his legs. And the van was
much more comfortable for a man of his size.

Justyn grabbed the duffle bag Addie
had given him and walked over to where the van was
parked.

Climbing in the van, he looked over at
Rune and said, “It is much more difficult driving in the City; I
don’t think I want to attempt it again. At least not until I
practice more on quieter roads.”

“I also am still getting used to it.
Suzanna drove into the City earlier today and there were even more
vehicles and people. I drove home for the practice. I like it,
though; it is a challenge,” answered Rune.

“Is Becky expecting you? It’s very
late. Are you going to be able to find your way to her house?”
asked Justyn.

“Becky works late quite a bit. She
says that many of her customers are overseas. I think she works too
hard. Remember how she was when we stayed with her? I will take
care of her in the morning, see that she eats a good meal and then
be back at Addie’s home before noon.” Rune pointed to the
dashboard.

“Addie’s van has what she called a
GPS. They have a satellite orbiting their planet, which tells this
box where we are. It is programmed with maps of the area. Addie
input our destinations and all I have to do is follow the
directions of the computer. See, we have reached the first
destination,” he demonstrated by starting the engine and pulling
out of the parking garage.

“I just tell it we want to go to the
next destination,” he said, punching the screens the way Addie had
shown him.

“Why do you have to punch the buttons,
can’t you use a mind-link on the device? I don’t think removing
your hands and concentration away from the steering mechanism is a
good idea,” said Justyn.

“Jett has not had an opportunity to
put the necessary programming into this device. He wants to check
with Addie first. He pointed out that we need to be careful of
exposing the humans to Nephilim technology,” answered
Rune.

They proceeded towards Grace’s home by
following the melodic voice of the on-board computer. Addie had
told them that she had programmed it to stop three blocks from the
building as they didn’t want the van to be seen stopping there and
be traced back to her. It only took about twenty minutes to get
from the casino to Lake Shore Drive and soon it was time for Justyn
to hop out again.

“Safe journey, Rune,” said Justyn, as
he got out.

“A pleasurable journey to you, my
friend,” Rune answered with a grin before plugging in the next
destination and driving on.

Justyn quickly walked the remaining
three blocks to Grace’s building. He liked the area she was living
in with the park and the lake beyond, but he still preferred the
wide-open country spaces. He wasn’t used to this many people
gathering in one City. The cities back home were much smaller,
though now there were several cities standing vacant, just waiting
for occupants again.