Soul
Copyright © 2016, 2018-2020 by VeryWellAged
Author's note: This chapter is NOT a stand-alone...The story starts here.
Who are you?
Never trust a Cardinal.
I learned that lesson a very long time ago. I make mistakes once, not twice. I will wait to see what comes of his promise. But just to make sure, I go back and look again at the phone, text and email traffic to the Cardinal. I want to see who, of the bishops, asked for help.
What I find is it was three bishops, as a group, who asked for the intercession. Exactly what they were hoping for after the death of their colleague is unclear, but the three are the ones who called on the Cardinal. I will rattle their cages in a fun way. I have the cellphone number for each of the three. Let’s call them B1, B2, and B3. Using B1’s number I send a text to B2. Your life hangs in the balance for contacting the Cardinal. Then using B2’s number I send the same to B3, and using B3’s number I message B1. And then I watch.
They are going nuts. I can see calls going every which way between the three of them and then calls to the Vatican. And then there is a call from the Cardinal to “my bishop”. It lasts for a good long while.
The call between the Cardinal and the bishop lasts a good forty-five minutes before it ends and a new volley of calls, this time from the Cardinal to the three bishops.
I will wait and see what happens with the bishops. I walk over to Aina’s room and see a curious thing. Amelae is asleep, but Aina is stroking Amelae’s hair and humming a melody that I haven’t heard in millennia. It is disconcerting. Is she insane? Have the remnants of her ordeal left her with fragments of the past lodged in her brain?
I am about to back out of the room, assuming that she does not know of my presence, when Aina speaks. You always said that boy would bring you grief. He certainly has. I will help you with these three. They are good girls. You chose well. Shall we still call me Aina? That was my name. It seems odd now.
Is Amelae sleeping? Can she hear us?
I put her in a deep sleep. She will hear nothing now. You were right, of course. Aina should have left. The pain was great, too much. She was a stubborn fool and she is no more; but you knew that when you gave her those two hours. You know what she did with those hours?
No, what did she do?
She prayed to her Jesus and thought of nothing else. The girls asked her what she wanted them to remember for her. She said, ‘Nothing, Jesus will protect me.’
What do you remember of her?
All, nothing… I remember what she experienced but not how she felt about those things. … Do you want me to call you Master? It will make it easier for the girls I think.
Yes, I guess that is a good idea.
OK, Master! Hey, I’m hungry. How about you? Want to eat?
Yes, that sounds nice. About Amelae…
No problem. I will put the thought in her mind that I awoke and you took me out of the room to eat, and then to your bedroom. She won’t be frightened.
Good.
This female is Aina and then she really is not. She has crossed the Rubicon and is connected to the world in a different way. She is still the human that Aina was. But she no longer sees the world as a human sees it. She sees it much as I do. Not completely, but much the same. She can’t do what I can, but she is not bound by the rules I am bound to obey. This Aina can kill. I cannot. This Aina can enter a mind without being asked and without taking a soul. I cannot. She cannot collect a Soul. But she is dangerous and powerful and my servant.
We exit the back rooms and move toward the dining table. All others are in bed. There are mounds of fruit sitting here, a plate mounded up with puto, a tray of sticky rice, and that is all we need. No words are passed between us. None are needed. We eat, relax, smile, get up, take each other’s hand, and walk back to my bedroom.
I need to shower well before you take me. Do I really need to call you Master when we are alone?
I think it is best, so that there are no slip-ups.
Yes, OK. That makes sense. … Oh!
Yes?
Your wives! You hang the pictures?
No, the girls did it. Don’t call them wives in front of the girls.
OK, but it is good that they did it. These three are good. Mirafe and Erlyn are smart, but Erlyn is the smartest.
And your point?
Sometimes your biggest challenges are your greatest successes!
And the most notable failures too! And are you considering yourself a success? I had to destroy Aina!
Call it even then, and with that comes a big smile.
I smile. She is a success. As unlikely as the outcome was, she is every bit the best I could have hoped for. She jumps up on to the bed, turns her back to me, wiggles her ass, looks over her shoulder at me and asks, Well, big boy, are you going to sire a young one? Or are you too shy to give this girl what she needs, a good hard fucking with consequences! Oh! Wait! I still need a shower! Back in a few minutes! And she jumps off the bed and runs into the bathroom.
I am alone and not alone. I am surrounded by images of the women I have spent lives with. Women who lived to love me and care for me and eventually died, with me by their sides. I don’t feel alone. I feel like the room is alive with their presences. I hear them all in my head. I know how each of them thought; these good women.
The portraits do not do them justice. The portraits do not capture the sparks that animated them. But in my mind I make each come alive for me as I move from one of them to the next.
Are they answering you? Aina is standing behind me. I didn’t hear her come back into the room.
Yes, we were talking, in a way.
What do they think?
It didn’t come up. We were just reliving old times.
She moves around me and starts removing my clothing. I assist. She has my slacks down and I remove my shirt. Quickly enough I am undressed and we are on the bed. Aina’s body is virginal, but this one’s heart is anything but. There is a lust and a passion pulling me on and into her. She is not concerned with a membrane. It is not a consideration. She wants, no needs, me deep inside her. There is nothing sweet or gentle about this. Her teeth have sunk into my shoulder. Her pubic bone is slamming into mine as I pound her relentlessly.
Body fluids soak us and the bed. I squeeze a tit. I bite a lip. I slam her into the mattress. We make a mess of the bed. Her little body is all muscle and sinew. I am fucking someone who knows who she is fucking. She is a committed partner and will be until the day she dies. She knows I am hers for the rest of her life and she knows it in a way that no human could normally know.
I feel her in ways that allow me to feel what she is feeling. There is a feedback loop between us as we both drive toward the completion that must occur. For the child she will bear. This is not an “I hope.” This is a “we know.” She will guide my seed into her egg. It will happen. And then… it does.
Sleep now. We both need to sleep now. Did I say that or did she? Does it matter?
I hear giggling.
I ignore it. The rest is good.
I hear whispering and more giggling.
I open my eyes. What?
You! Master! You! You know what time it is? Aina is rousing now. She grabs on to me and pulls me next to her. I feel her warmth.
No, what time is it?
Noon! It is noon. We not see you this morning. We not see Aina this morning, so we look for you. Both you are sleeping when we look six hours ago. We think, yes, the two of you must be very tired, but you never sleep so long!
Aina has taken advantage of my attention being on the others, to slide down on me and start giving me head. She is doing a masterful job. There is no way that the Aina the girls had known, would have known how to do this. But this is not that Aina. This is the Aina who, now that she has gotten me hard, has removed her mouth and mounted me, then grabbing me by the shoulders and flopping herself down, pulled me into missionary position all while the others were trying to have a meaningful conversation.
As I start fucking her in earnest, she tilts her head sideways and addresses the girls. If you want him to sleep, just keep on fucking him. She laughs, throws her legs up in the air and brings her heels bouncing on my ass. I am fucking her hard and she is laughing and screaming, Harder!
The other three just stand there. They are statues, confused and immobile.
I finally reach the point where I must plant my flag, though this one is in truth already pregnant. I grunt, howl and cum hard. It is time to rest. My eyes close. I can hear them but am pretty well done in.
See? Fuck him like that and he will sleep.
Who are you? I think that is Mirafe. I can’t be sure, but, … yes, it must be.
Aina. Why?
You not Aina! Yes indeed that is Mirafe. Aina speaks like a Filipina. You not do that.
I am the one who was Aina. I am your Master’s servant now. You can call me Aina.
He not your Master?
Excuse me?
The way you say it. He your Master?
Yes, we all serve him.
But, it different with you! You not like us. Something different. What you call him?
I will call him Master.
You believe in Jesus?
No. There is no real Jesus. The one who was Aina was foolish. I know she thought Jesus was real. I do not. I know there is no Devil. I have seen much. It is good that you do not have to be shown the way Aina was shown. It is very painful and knowing what I learn does not make me happy or better. It just changed me. I will protect the three of you. I will protect your Master. There is nothing I will not do to keep you all safe.
Nothing? This is Erlyn, I am sure of it.
Nothing.
But there are things that Master cannot do. So how can it be ‘nothing?’
Your Master is not allowed to kill. I can. And I will. Your Master does not direct minds. He must stay out of human minds. I have no restrictions. I will keep you all safe.
Do you hear prayers?
No. Only your Master does that. But if needed he can send me; if you need help.
Are you a divine?
No, I am human, but I serve your Master. He is a divine. I will die, just like you. I can be killed, just like you. Come let your Master sleep for two hours. He will arise then.
Aren’t you supposed to lie down for a couple of hours to allow his seed to find your egg?
Not needed. I am already pregnant with his son. But I have a question. Who decided to put her picture up there?
It was me. That is Amelae’s voice.
Good, I am very glad you did it. Yes, very glad.
The rest did me good. I look at the clock. It is about two thirty in the afternoon. I dress and go to the work area. There is activity with the bishops and their priests. From what I can see, I will have the army I had hoped for. But I also see some things that worry me. There are face to face meetings being arranged between clergy and the PNP. I need to know why.
A check on Amelae’s mom indicates all is stable.
The bishop has sent me a message that all will proceed as I had demanded. He did not call me Master this time.
There is not one word related to Erlyn or her family in the air.
I am about to leave the room when a Skype request from Francine pops up.
Hi!
Hello to you, Dad! I just had the most interesting Skype session. You want to guess who it was with?
No, there is only one possibility. Is all OK?
Yes. Dad, she’s perfect. She told me what happened. You were right to tell Aina to leave. This one is very lucky she lived. But Dad, you are lucky too. She is great. I think she and I can be good friends.
I suspect you are right. So when are you coming to visit?
Is next week too soon?
The next minute would not be too soon.
Good. Dad, should I really call her Aina. I mean she isn’t…
Yes, call her Aina.
She told me you have Mom’s photo hanging over your bed. She was very happy to see that.
I am sure she was.
Is it true that Erlyn asked if we are lovers?
Yes.
That’s sweet.
That is a weird way to describe it!
Well, I do love you!
As a daughter!
OK… still. I think it is sweet that she had the courage to ask you.
Ah, OK yes, it was sweet.
See? OK, Dad, see you next week.
And the Skype session ends. I walk out of the work area and enter the main part of the house.
I see my original three souls but not Aina. I sit down and ask where the newest of my souls is, only to be told, She say you send her on a mission to learn what happening in a meeting between priests and PNP. We ask if she permitted to leave the house and she laughs. She say that she always could leave. She kiss each of us and leave.
Uh, OK.
Master, you not send her?
Oh, I was going to send her. But she got the message faster than I expected.
She reads your mind?
So it would seem, or maybe I projected it to her and she heard me. I will have to ask her when she gets back.
Master, what happened to Aina? Where did she go? She dead now?
I am not sure I understand. Weren’t we just talking about Aina?
We were talking about the person inside Aina’s body. Where is Aina?
Aina is in that body.
She a prisoner in there? What happen to her?
All Aina’s memories of all she has done, are still there. She is still there. But the personality who spoke before crumbled when confronting the fact that there was no god, no devil and no Jesus. This personality took over.
Who is she?
She is Aina.
No, Master, we listen a bit to the Skype session between Francine and her. She say something to Francine. Francine say, ‘You not Aina. Who are you?’ Then the start speaking another language. We not know it. Who she?
Ask Francine when you see her. I am telling you she is Aina.
How she know Francine?
She must have picked that up from me when I was inside her mind.
How she know that other language?
I guess I need to give you the same answer.
She say she not a divine. That true?
Yes, she is just as human as you are. I’m hungry. And I get up to put a plate together. There is some fried Lumpia1 with Hito2 inside it on a platter. I fill the plate up with it, and add some dipping sauce, and some rice.
There is no way I can explain to the girls who is really inside Aina’s vessel. It just won’t work. Better to leave them frustrated and confused as it is. Hopefully this will settle down. I hear what Aina told them while I was resting. Seeing as how they outed her, she did just fine. There are things you just can’t hide and there is no question that she is not a Filipina, not inside, not completely.
As I work my way through my reasonably high cholesterol meal I start hearing a conversation from afar. It is what Aina is hearing. ‘….not sure. Whoever it is, is watching networks but not face to face. This guy is not a god. He can’t hear this. He can only track things on the network. … be sure? I mean …. know that? … ust me, this guy is just a hacker. You think he is going to strike me dead now? …. HELP… DOCTOR… HELP!!!... … What? … He’s dead? Oh Jesus. OK, no more. I not go against this god! I quit! … You’re not the only one. I want nothing to do with this.’
I think to myself, Aina. Come home. I hear on the other end. I’m coming. But this was on orders from a Cardinal. I read it in a mind. May I go looking? I think back, No. I know who it is. Just come home.