Birth of Jaiden (2 page)

An isle separated two
pews, and at the far end of the church, behind the podium and the
large choir section, was the baptismal area.

Alex went about his ritual
as usual; he knelt down in front of the podium at a short wooden
table that, without fail, held a fresh flower arrangement each
night that he came. It also held a large old style Bible that
always lay open to the same verse; John 3:16.

Alex lowered his head and
spoke aloud into the empty church; his voice echoed from the walls:
“Lord, forgive me…I have sinned…I live a life of sin. Yet still you
let me live. Again and again I ask you how that can be. How is it
that you could let something as evil and corrupt as I am live on
this earth and walk with the humans that you created?”

He felt his head drop even
lower.

“
I still don’t understand
a lot of things you have presented to me throughout this long life,
Lord. I am depressed and I have never asked for anything from you
except for guidance and strength in certain situations, but it is
time that I come to you so humbly and ask that just this once you
bless me with something to give me the will to go on.”

A clap of thunder shook
the walls of the church.

“
This depression has
become too great to bear; I can barely rise from sleep when the sun
goes down, and none of the hobbies that previously occupied me so
well interest me anymore."

Alex paused.

“
I would never try to bargain
with you or to demand anything from you. I would never be so bold
as to assume that I was
owed
anything. All I am asking for is some kind of
meaning to this life, or afterlife, however you wish to put it. I
need a reason to
want
to persevere. After all, I no longer have a family. The
only thing I do have, besides a few friends, is the everlasting
torment of being one of the most unholy creatures to walk this
earth.

Please hear me and
consider the needs of one of your servants and thank you, thank you
so much, for everything that you have given to me. I would do
anything for you, I am yours in all ways, and I am yours in
everything.

In Jesus precious
name…Amen.”

As Alex rose from his
knees, contentment flowed through his veins and filled him up. He
felt the same way every time he prayed.

A moment later, he rushed
out of the door, stopping only to relock it as he always did out of
respect.

***

“
Do you think he’s ready?”
Damion asked.

“
He’s past ready,” Danielle
murmured as she slipped off her perch on the railing that separated
the choir area from the rest of the church. “Damion, his depression
has to
end
.”

She felt Damion following
her to the front pew of the right isle where she wanted to sit so
that she could see the altar.

“
I know Alex was chosen
for this,” he said as he sat down next to her, “but how do we know
it will cure his depression? It could end this present situation,
but begin another lengthy and dangerous one. How do we know this
will not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?”

Danielle smiled. “I have known
Alex for over a hundred years and I know that even though he thinks
he is damned to hell, he still keeps his faith in God and
that,
my dear friend, is
the strongest kind of faith there is.”

“
So he’ll do
it?”

“
It is still his
decision.”

“
I hope it goes the way we
want it to.”

“
So do I, Damion, so do
I.”

“
Why do you always come
here to watch him pray; don’t you think that’s like invasion of
privacy or something?”

“
I’m his
guardian.”

“
You
were
, when he was a human. He hasn’t been
mortal for a long time. I know enough to know you aren’t required
to be with him at all times.”

“
That’s true, but his
prayers are the most important time for me to be with
him.”

“
Why?”

“
He’s convinced that God
doesn’t hear his prayer; that’s why he comes here almost every
night. He is convinced that he is going to hell and yet he remains
a child of God, doing what the Lord would want him to. He could go
on living a sinful life, knowing that he is damned anyway, but he
doesn’t. It is vital that he has some reinforcement of his faith in
God. I know that he feels me here.”

Damion shook his head.
“Well, whatever, I’ll see ya at the meeting. I’ve gotta
go.”

“
Ok.”

Damion was gone. Danielle
did not want to leave the church; she looked up at the large cross
on the wall above the baptismal. “Come on, big guy, his time to
shine is finally here so let’s show him how much you really have in
store for him.”

She reluctantly stood and
walked back down the aisle. Her transparency carried her through
the tightly locked doors.

2

Alex sensed that Danielle
was gone. He sped back along the streets which gleamed wet in the
light of the street lamps. This time, he took the exit that dropped
him right in front of Lucas Hotels.

He stopped in front of the
valet and watched the young man’s face as he examined the car.
Then, he put the car in park, got out and gave the kid the keys
along with a fifty dollar bill.

“
Thank you, Mr. Lucas,
Thank you.”

“
Just be nice to my baby,”
Alex teased him.

The boy looked at the car
as a junkie would at his drugs. “Oh I will, Mr. Lucas, don’t you
worry.”

“
Well, thank
you,
then.” Alex smiled at him and entered
the building through the large, darkly tinted glass
doors.

On his way to the
elevator, he looked through to the casino entrance and hesitated.
Normally, he went straight up to his office before he could even
hear the sound of the slots, but for some reason he was drawn into
the casino.

He watched the people from
the doorway; some appeared desperate, some seemed happy, and some
indifferent. Scantily clad prostitutes roamed about, hoping to get
a room with one of the high rollers. Every night, at least two or
three drunks fought with security about the machines or the card
dealers, insisting that they were cheated.

Alex saw a young, blond,
pregnant woman sitting at a slot machine with her head resting on
her hands and a drink in front of her. It appeared to be orange
juice, but he could smell the vodka in it from his position more
than ten feet away.

It’s so sad, and I’m to
blame
, Alex
thought before he hurried away in disgust.
I can’t watch anymore.
The elevator took
him far above the casinos and the many floors of rooms to the
conference room floor. The doors opened to the dark gray carpeted
hallway with its starch white walls and framed windows of other
offices.

He opened the door to the
conference room and Danielle immediately rose to embrace him.
“Hello Alex.”

He rushed to her and
hugged the beautiful angel, savoring her scent; she smelled like a
fresh spring day.

“
Hi, Danielle.”

He held her small frame
while she planted a kiss on his cheek with her full pink lips. Her
long black hair fell down to her waist and tickled his
hands.

When she finally released
him, Danielle pulled back and looked at him. Alex could swear that
she had the longest black eye lashes that he had ever
seen.

“
It’s good to see you,
Alex.”

She turned and went to her
chair. Alex admired her long, white skirt, which seemed to flow
around her legs, as well as her pale, pink peasant top; they both
covered her skin appropriately.
Very angelic
, he thought.

He took the chair next to
hers and realized that the others had been staring at their
interaction. Directly across from him was Victoria Jackson, their
witch. In his opinion, she sure did look like one too. She wore an
old black dress and her arthritis distorted hands clutched a frayed
wicker bag. Her gray hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her
head.

Reluctantly, he greeted
her. “Hello Victoria.”

“
Alex.” She nodded at him
and then glared at everyone else with her small blue
eyes.

Sitting next to her was
her apprentice, Deanna Ventress. Deanna was one of his favorites;
she was an incredible source of information and ideas.

“
Hey Deanna!”

She had been sitting with
her head down and her bright red hair spilled down around her face
so that you couldn’t see her light green eyes. But she quickly
raised her head so that Alex could see they were filled with
happiness, as they always were.

How can someone with such a
great attitude stand to be around Victoria all the time?
This thought had
occurred to him more than once.

Alex could not deny that
Victoria was an awesome witch. Even though she was a bit of a
downer, she knew pretty much everything when it came to
magic.

He looked over when the door
opened.
Ah,
enter the dark angel
, he thought dramatically.

Damion Snow was actually a
pretty good guy; he had just lived the wrong kind of life when he
had been alive so he had had to go to hell. It happens.

With his blond hair and
blue eyes anyone who didn’t know better would have thought that he
was the angel and Danielle was the dark angel.

“
Hi.” Damion addressed
everyone as he took his chair on the other side of Alex.

“
How’s it going?” Alex
asked him.

“
Only hell is worse.” He
smiled wickedly.

Alex wiggled his eyebrows.
“How much worse?”

Damion shook his head.
“You never give up, do you, Alex?”

“
Never
.” Alex met Damions eyes and they
both burst into laughter at their running joke. Their laughter
didn’t subside when Jeremiah Duncan marched into the room and took
a seat beside Victoria; in fact, it only made them laugh
harder.

Another running joke
between the council members was that Jeremiah and Victoria were
twins separated at birth. He was gray haired and grouchy just like
her.

Victoria’s glare suddenly
cut through them like the sharp blade of a knife. Alex gasped
viciously as he tried to curb his laughter.

Damion’s reaction was
quite the same, but somehow they managed to settle into silence
just as Stewart Craven arrived, last as usual. Alex admired his
arrogant demeanor, the way he could disregard anyone or anything.
His looks matched his attitude, with his long blond hair and icy
blue eyes.

As he watched Stewart
enter and find his chair with a quick hello to everyone, Alex
couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with him; he had
recently tried his telepathy on Stewart, to no avail. Stewart knew
how to close his mind to others, just as they all did, but recently
Alex felt that something was wrong with him, and he wanted to know
what it was.

After Stewart had taken
his chair, Alex, as well as the rest of the group, focused his eyes
on Damion.

“
I have some bad news,
folks.”

Tension tightened inside
of Alex. “It’s Malcolm, right?”

“
Isn’t it always Malcolm?”
Victoria spat out.

“
No one can find him which
means that something bad is probably going to happen soon.” Damion
lowered his eyes.

Victoria snorted, “You mean
that slaughtering whole villages in Africa is not
bad
.
Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”

Damions eyes shot up
sharply. “Of course not, Victoria, that’s horrible, but what could
be coming might be worse.”

Jeremiah finally decided
to put his word in too. “Let’s not argue; we have too much to
discuss.”

“
I’m not arguing, just
stating
fact
.”

“
Why do you always have to
have the last word, Victoria?” Damion bore his eyes into her and
tried to stare her down.

“
Stop it, guys.”
Danielle’s voice was firm. “Damion’s right; this could be very bad
if we don’t get on it.”

Alex watched with humor as
Damion and Victoria tore their eyes away from each other and
settled them on Danielle. It was Deanna who spoke first, though.
“What are we going to do?”

“
We need to inform the
warriors and get a search party going in every country. He could be
anywhere.”

Stewart put his elbows
onto the table and leaned on them. “I don’t think he wants to be
found. Therefore we probably won’t find him.”

Stewart’s comments
infuriated Alex. “Why are you always the devil’s advocate?” he
asked even though he knew that Stewart was right.