Chapter 13: Lauren

We went home to a temporary residence in LA. We’re looking for a new one but haven’t found anything we are in love with. Isiah wants to ditch the Colorado home completely because it served its purpose and since I’m not dying, he argues, we don’t have any need for it.

Once word reached the host Bree was serving us, then other female angels approached us. We weren’t in any positions to grant titles but we were setting a new precedent. They didn’t approach me, they approached Isiah. He was the male son of Michael and therefore held more sway. It was how they thought. We tried to clear the air that our status was equal, but long held beliefs are difficult to change, especially progressive beliefs. Isiah eventually conceded to their point of view. The only reason he did was my insistence we should only change things a little at a time. Besides, I had enough going on with my estate, businesses, and trust management without worrying about what the host was doing. If he needs my input, I will be happy to give my opinion. The only reason he was upset was the implication we weren’t equal. God, I love that man. As always, his heart is in the right place but is a bit rough around the edges. More than a bit.

I had other reasons. If I had my way, then I would be managing the other women who will eventually drift into his life. Maya was already a project. We bonded but she’s having difficulty with Isiah. Meaning, after she saw firsthand what Isiah’s temper was like, she clammed up. She stopped dating men in the first place because of an abusive boyfriend. Isiah needed to be very gentle with her. She’s attracted to me but I think she will get much more emotional fulfillment from him if they ever worked things out. She wants to. She YEARNS for it much more than she realizes. Since Isiah put her in the “friend” zone because he sees her as a little sister, I’m not sure what to do. My only real sexual concern about the two is their size difference. She would need to prepare herself for him in advance if they ever decided to consummate their relationship. If he ever wanted more, he would still need to prove he isn’t going to hurt or abuse her. Hopefully, just seeing how he treats me will be enough. If she cornered him into a conversation about her fears, I’m sure it would work out. He has a soft spot for her.

I’m having a major facepalm moment. No sooner do I get to the end of that statement that I see them on the couch cuddled up watching tv. She’s stroking his chest and kissing his neck. One of his large arms wraps protectively around her and his massive hand slides up and down her leg. I’m not sure he realizes how much of a turn on that is for her. It probably wouldn’t be a turn on for him if she weren’t constantly petting and kissing him. Maya kissing and nuzzling his neck is what’s turning him on. Like I said, a work in progress. Neither have any idea what’s on tv. All he needs to do is slide his hand up her inner thigh to the very top and it would be game on for both. Does he do it? Nope. I’m not saying anything. Both know they have my permission. They need to work it out. Besides, when he gets too turned on, he will come find me. Win/win.

First thing we did for her was get an immigration attorney and learned she was twenty years old. I filed paperwork, officially making an employee of our estate. Then I set her up with a new wardrobe and stipend. Lastly, I set her up with online courses to get her GED. Then she threw herself into being our cook and studying. She spent time figuring out what we liked and experimented with recipes. She offered to be our bartender but we told her alcohol didn’t affect us anymore there really wasn’t a point. Her insistence some foods paired well with certain types of wine eventually led us to concede in part.

Then there are the two monster dogs we brought home, of which Maya eventually took charge. It took us a little while to decide on some names but we eventually settled for Athena and Hades. By taking charge we meant feeding and caring for them. Together, they ate A LOT of food. Once they figured out she was their meal ticket, they were very eager to obey. Maya was reluctant, due to the fact they terrified her. Isiah took the two “puppies” and Maya outside for a while. By the time they returned she was cuddling with them too. They’re bred to be guard dogs and we made clear their responsibility included guarding her. They loved having a well-defined task. Athena bonded with me easily but Hades was still reluctant. Isiah guessed his bond with Hades would develop in time. The personalities of the two dogs were vastly different. Athena was happy to sit, cuddle and be petted. Hades was more aloof. If you wanted to pet him, he would let you but wouldn’t seek it out. Of the two, he was definitely more task focused than Athena.

Back to the angel conversation. Isiah’s first thing to do when we got back was ask our father how Rachel (Kitty) didn’t have a guardian angel to prevent the trap she fell into. Our father’s response was, contrary to widely held belief, there isn’t an angel for each person. Sometimes mistakes happen. Isiah didn’t like it but accepted it. The angels started coming to us to offer their aid in return for increased latitude in personal decision making. Interpreted, if the male angels can fuck like bunnies than so can they. Provided they don’t do anything that causes them to fall from grace or prove the existence of heaven or hell. Strangely, none of the angels seemed interested in us intimately. My guess is, they already had someone in mind when they approached Isiah. Wouldn’t bother me if they did. Angels, without exception, are pristine examples of beauty and grace. All of them are hot, my father included. Hell, I wouldn’t say it to Isiah but it’s easy to see where his rugged good looks came from. My only criticism is this, the male angels carry themselves in a way to almost appear gay. They look too good, all the time. Why my father is so much different I’ve never asked. Then there is the, not so subtle, snobbishness, most of them exhibit. Like the elves from the Tolkien novels without the ears. Thankfully, Bree’s cut from a different cloth. My god, if I told Thomas my thoughts about how the angels resemble the elves from Tolkien then I wouldn’t be hearing the end of Keebler elves jokes. I see one hanging around and I will never learn his name because I’ll also think of him as Manbun. Some of the stuff he says is, admittingly, a bit funny.

After we learned there aren’t enough guardian angels to go around, we changed assignments. The first female angel to approach us was at once assigned to Rachel. The second to her brother.

Isiah’s opinion of Rachel spun 180 degrees from his first impression. He didn’t just think better of her but admired her for the lengths she would go through to save her brother. Isiah wasn’t embellishing her looks. I admit, she’s a very yummy dish. If he hadn’t acted like such a jerk to her initially, we likely would have Rachel here instead of Maya. He really beat himself up over that. I hope he learned his lesson.

I keep thinking the same applies to Abby but the more I think about it the more I wonder if there is something a bit more complicated going on. I was contemplating Abby and Greece when a memory of a long past life started bubbling up inside me.

490 BC Sparta Greece

“Zoe go get me some fruit from the stand up the street.” Princess Gorgo ordered me.

I was a slave to Princess Gorgo, the daughter of King Cleomenes I. All men in Sparta were strong fighters. It was rare for a Greek woman to be a strong fighter. To the dismay of the Athenians, Spartan women were, nonetheless, consistently very physically fit. Unlike the rest of Greece, women were encouraged to exercise outdoors and compete in athletics with the men. It was viewed that a strong and fit Spartan woman will give birth to a strong Spartan man. Princess Gorgo took it a step further and became a fighter. At eighteen, we were the same age and she was incredibly beautiful. She was a raven-haired beauty and one of the more formidable female warriors in Sparta. I was presented to her as a slave after a battle with the Alcmaeonidae family of Athens. In a military society such as Sparta, if you couldn’t fight then you needed to keep your head down and not attract attention to yourself. Since I had blonde hair and an Athenian, I was an outcast in this culture. I was also not a fighter.

A group of six men dressed in armor and carrying hoplite shields moved briskly down the street toward the Princess. They stopped just short and her bodyguard moved to intercept.

“Princess Gorgo, King Demaratus sends his regards.” In a flash three of the soldiers pulled their swords and attacked the bodyguard. The bodyguard, caught off guard, only barely fended off a few attacks.

Spinning around, another soldier moved in from behind to block her escape. Before he could say anything, another large figure gripped his sword arm from behind and drove his sword into the exposed area of his chest below the armpit. The large man stripped the shield of the attacker before he hit the ground.

Quickly moving past the princess, he said. “Princess get behind me.”

“Like hell I will” she growled picking up the sword of the fallen attacker. She spun quickly to face the group of men who impaled her bodyguard.

The soldiers noticed the new attacker and changed tactics.

The two center men locked their shields together and two more took a few steps to the side in a flanking maneuver. The last two stood behind the shields with spears.

The shield guards moved slowly forward but the flankers moved forward too soon and the shield wall too slow. The large man slammed his shield into the flanker on his side and in an attack too fast to follow opened a slash in his throat.

The Princess faced the opposite flanker and in a nimble move, blocked an attack and slid to the man’s side. She kicked out hard folding the flanker’s leg sideways. His screaming was cut short when she slid her own short sword straight down into his torso from above. Stripping him of his shield she quickly took position next to the big man. She instinctively locked her shield with his and he put away his sword. It was a puzzling move but became quickly clear when a spear shoved into his shoulder from behind their own shield wall. Before the spear could completely withdraw, the big man yanked the spear from the hands of the man and slammed the base of the spear into the spearman’s nose, breaking it. He laid the point of the newly acquired spear on top of their shield wall.

It’s worth mentioning, there’s a reason the spear was the weapon of choice for warriors and soldiers for so many centuries. In the hands of a skilled combatant the point can be thrust very quickly and with considerable power. So quickly it becomes exceedingly difficult to block and if they are accurate enough can land the point with an incredible amount of force into a ridiculously small opening. The large man was beyond skilled and considerably faster than a man his size has any right.

The Princess was busy blocking several attacks and countering with her own. The large man’s spear shot out blazingly fast and impaled a spearman over the shield wall.

The two shield walls crashed together but they weren’t expecting the large man to resist with such force. The impact of his shield on the two attackers sent them stumbling back and out of position. Wasting no time, the princess whipped her sword out into the exposed throat of the shield guard on her side. The final spearman fell to a spear thrust by the big man leaving only one attacker with a shield and a short sword.