A distant part of her came back, a small fragment. It is the part of me that jumped out of my body when he slammed me against the divan and was pushing on me. Her hands reached out as if grasping for something as he held her. He wondered if she was having a vision. A magnetic form that he could not see was floating in front of both of them, a form of herself that she could feel. I see my room and my window in the kitchen, so I can tell him. Her voice got stronger as she said, “Just before I left Rome at the beginning of summer, he photographed me on the hallway divan wearing a blue dress so that he could paint me. But, when he pulled the cloth off the canvas, there I was as a nude! He has never seen me; it wasn’t me. He used his anatomical genius to concoct a shocking, lurid form of me. I never agreed to that! The painting raped me! I should not have gone to his studio. Then things got very scary, very fast.” Her vocal cords tightened; her hands went to her throat.
“Sarah, just keep going. I want to know exactly what happened and you must tell me now. You have to share everything so that it doesn’t go deep into your consciousness, especially into your heart. No matter what you had to do, you must share this with me.” That rotten bastard. How dare he pull something like that and then attack her. The guy is sick, a psycho. Oh my god, what did he do to her?
She spoke in a low but determined voice while gazing fixedly at the blue-white image of her spirit suspended in front of them. “He is really strong and crazy. He has always gotten whatever he wants, so when he’s stymied he goes off like a madman. I saw this tendency once before, but this time I was terrified. I felt like a weak lamb about to be flayed when he shoved me back onto a red divan next to the painting. He forced my legs apart and it hurt! I started screaming, so he shoved his hand over my mouth and kept spreading my legs apart. I bit his hand. He jerked and winced, and then he crushed my face harder with his hand while he unzipped his pants with his free hand. He tore my blouse and bra off and I got mad. My back was screaming, yet my body flooded with hot energy. It sickens me now to recall that feeling—lust was pulling me down into hell.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “I looked at him as he exposed himself; I wanted it.” She started to sob quietly, her hands twitching.
Angry blackness boiled in Simon’s heart. I only care about one thing. I want her to get through this and not be damaged by it; my father sure knew what he was talking about. She began to shake as he pulled her closer while softly stroking her hair. She paused to breathe as he said, “Just tell me. What happened does not matter to me, only whether it hurt you. It’s normal to feel desire; many women do. You should not feel guilty about it. You are a sensual woman and sexual urges are primal. Please continue, Sarah.”
She relaxed against the wired tension of his body and thought about Simon for the first time. This must be terrible for him. When she thought of his feelings, her magnetic double merged with her. I know where I am now; I can see my room. “He bit my bare breast and it hurt,” she said, her voice hard and disgusted. “He pushed against my crotch, using his hardness as a weapon. He snarled and said he was going to take me, and my only choice was to have it hurt or enjoy it. He growled at me and tried to force me to look at his face by gripping my jaw, saying he liked it either way. Then suddenly I saw his face, the contorted face of a possessed demon! My desire went away and I named him as a Fallen Angel and screamed for Jesus to help me, and he stopped; he just stopped! Maybe I kneed him; I don’t remember. His strength sucked out and I got away from him. I got out of there and crawled back to my room.
She was speaking more normally now. “I bathed and slept and tried to recover because I didn’t want to leave the Pierleonis abruptly. I have known them for so long. I did not want to make a scene. I didn’t know how to act or what to do, except to try to act as normally as possible. I almost feel sorry for them that their oldest son acts this way. My manners barely got me through dinner—I was like a zombie—and I left early this morning. I started to feel peculiar while driving into Rome. All I wanted to do was come here to sleep. Armando proposed to me after dinner. The whole thing is a blur in my mind. He said that was what he planned to do in the studio, but he lost control when I got angry. He is sorry and I accepted his apology. Of course, that is the last time I will ever see him. He needs professional help.”
A great wave of relief overcame Simon, since he had prepared himself for the worst. The creep would’ve drugged her to get what he wanted, the bastard. It horrified him to think how this monster could have hurt her, since he knew plenty about what guys like Armando do. He said softly, “I am so relieved that it wasn’t the worst. But you know what? I love you no matter what happens to you. You handled this so well and now it is over. I’ve been worried about this guy ever since you mentioned him on the porch in Boston. It doesn’t matter you responded! You are very sensual because you’re ready for sex. This readiness has been growing since the day I met you by the Villa Cumae. It doesn’t mean you wanted it to happen that way or that you are to blame.
He gently stroked her forehead. “Even if he’d gotten away with it, you’d still belong with me and we would work it out. We are going to be together for the rest of our lives; that is what matters. I’ve been so worried about this creep that I told my father about him! My father could feel the danger. But now he’s gone and you will never have to deal with him again. You are my delight, and I am patiently waiting for you. As soon as you are ready to be my wife, we will marry. All you have to do is tell me when you are ready.” As he gently stroked her forehead, he could see Sarah was becoming drowsy. She probably didn’t hear me say I want to marry her! While she was still slightly awake, he said, “If I put you to bed, will you be all right if I go home? Or shall I stay with you and sleep in the window seat?” She told him she would be okay, and she was fast asleep in her small bed when he slipped out the door. This is her sacred space, her sanctuary, for as long as she needs it.
Simon walked very fast through the dark Roman streets. He didn’t like being out late in the city when the streets and alleyways were filled with prostitutes. As he walked by the Via Condotti his eyes were caught by the sultry gaze of a young prostitute in fishnet stockings, tall boots, and a miniskirt barely covering her crotch. Gorgeous large breasts visible almost to the nipples in a tight red low-necked sweater glowed shockingly white under the streetlight. Her hungry dark eyes and sensual red mouth easily lured him. As she caught his glance, she slipped her hand down to her crotch. All this happened in slow motion, and Simon felt a sharp cringe in his balls. Sucking in his breath while turning away from her knowing eyes, he pulled out a bill and tossed it to her and moved on at a faster pace. The bill distracted her so she didn’t follow him. Oh god! I am too horny!
The next morning Simon called his father to share what was going on in case he had any advice. David was not surprised, since he’d been plagued with dreams of Sarah in a painter’s studio. When Simon finished, David said, “I have an engagement ring for you, and I have been waiting for the right time to send it to you. It will come by special courier in case you can use it. I think you should propose right away. I won’t tell your mother because she’ll get too excited, but you should waste no time. You can have a long engagement, but I think this is what you should do now. Watch her carefully to see if she is still upset, but I think she will be okay because he didn’t get away with it. That crummy bastard! Damned lecherous Italian men!”
The family heirloom arrived just before the fall equinox, and Simon was intrigued. My dad is really something; I never know what he’ll have up his sleeve. He sat down on the small couch in the living room while the lace curtains in the kitchen rustled in the breeze. Before opening the box, he read the note:
Dear Simon,
This ring belonged to my grandmother, Emily Levi, the first very wealthy woman in our family back in the 1880s. It is a ten-carat star ruby. She obtained it in India and set it in twenty-two-carat gold with small diamonds. It will guide Sarah. It has been waiting for a long time, so it has very special energy. I do hope Sarah
will accept it.
Love, Dad
Simon stared at the ruby for a long time. Its purple-red color reminded him of fine port. Light refraction formed a small spinning spiral that sent out six lines of light like a blue star. Staring into the spiral, he heard a whispery voice say The Ruby Crystal. He looked more intently at a vision in the tiny light: white flashes swirled into a mist around a golden Buddha in an ancient rock shrine, the Adi Buddha of the Himalayas twelve thousand years ago. The Buddha looked back at Simon with an enigmatic smile. I see it! This ruby was the third-eye stone of the ancient golden Buddha! Somehow this precious gem has come down through our family. Holding it to his forehead above his eyebrows, his brain imprinted his intention: this is for Sarah and she will be mine for the rest of my life while we live in the golden world.
As the 2012 fall equinox approached, world events became truly chaotic. New Age fanatics ranted about the end of the Mayan Calendar, Christian fanatics predicted the end of the world, and normally rational people joked nervously about both. Many thought the ancient Maya really had forecast something catastrophic in 2012. Yet how could that be? The world seemed to be holding its breath. Eurozone financial tension reached agonizing levels with huge demonstrations against banks and governments in many European cities. Angry crowds of unemployed and desperate people clashed with police. Middle Eastern tensions intensified to frightening levels. Four members of the U.S. consulate were murdered in Benghazi, Libya, while a civil war ravaged Syria that many feared could ignite a wider war in the Middle East. Western economic sanctions destabilized Iran while Israel threatened to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities. Catastrophic droughts and terrible fires exacerbated the great tension. In Rome amid severe economic tension, scandals intensified around the pope’s butler, who’d been arrested for stealing private papal documents. People wondered if these documents were about the pedophilia scandal and Vatican Bank corruption. The butler was known to be very loyal to the Pope so common gossip speculated somebody else in the Vatican was behind the scandals.
On September 18, Harvard theological scholar Karen L. King presented her translation of a fragment of a fourth-century Coptic papyrus. In it Jesus refers to Mary Magdalene as “my wife,” and more significantly, Jesus says Mary is worthy and can be his “disciple.”
Sarah was ruminating about King’s announcement while walking over to Simon’s apartment for a special dinner he was preparing in honor of Mary Magdalene. Since King was an eminent scholar, Sarah hoped the public would get the message, which significantly backed up her research. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and many other books had hypothesized Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. The implications for the Church of such a realization were huge. The male priesthood and apostolic succession were based on the premise Jesus was celibate and all his disciples were men. If the hierarchy crumbles because people realize Jesus was a fully sensual man who loved women, good riddance! This was Sarah’s frame of mind when she arrived for Simon’s special dinner, her stomach rumbling in anticipation.
With a grand gesture, Simon swept open the front door of his apartment, and she laughed. He’d blown up renditions of Jesus and a Mary Magdalene with wild red hair and hung them up over the mantle. Below the happy couple, he had fashioned a tacky “Just Married” sign with old soup cans hanging on it, American style. Sarah grinned and wondered what Simon was up to tonight. He led her out to the balcony where the table was set with a white tablecloth, beautiful porcelain dishes, and etched crystal from Roman antique stores.
“Oh how thoughtful!” Sarah exclaimed. She was Grecian tonight, wearing a sheer ivory top draped over narrow gray pants. The old diamond graced her neck, and gold earrings enhanced the color of her pronounced cheeks and eyes. Her lips were slightly glossed and moist but he restrained himself from kissing her yet, even though he knew she hoped he would.
She stood by the kitchen window while he finished an unusual sauce, steamed some vegetables, and grilled two small steaks. He observed her closely. “You really are beyond Armando, aren’t you?”
She replied, “Yes, I can’t even remember what he looks like! I’m more interested in Karen King’s announcement. I hope now more people will realize Jesus was as human as any one of us. He was not like that pack of thin-lipped weirdo eunuchs, the simpering hierarchy.”
Go, Sarah, go! Simon cheered inwardly as he turned down the flames to let things simmer for ten minutes. He handed her a glass of wine and said, “This way!” He looped his glass under her wrist to mimic a wedding toast. Raising his glass, he offered a mock toast. “To Jesus and Mary!” After they touched glasses and drank, he put her glass on the windowsill next to his and turned to embrace her. The aroma of fennel, garlic, mint, chili, and olive oil mixed with the heady aroma of the wine, opened her senses. He explored her lower waist while kissing her neck, and then he kissed her so passionately that her boundaries dissolved with the pressure of his lower body on her pelvis. Her top slid off her right shoulder when he kissed her on the neck again and gently touched her breast for the first time, causing a deep shiver to run down her spine. Then he pulled her top back over her shoulder. “I have to put dinner on the table because it’s perfect right now, just like you.”
As they carried their plates to the table on the balcony, she realized she had never imagined she could feel this happy. And it’s only just beginning.
While savoring steak tagliata with summer squash and spinach, his eyes lowered to her breasts, which sent delicious sensations into her center. A mysterious wiring system was waking up in her body, a map of delicious sensations.
“How will we get through dinner?” she asked.
He replied, “Considering your beauty, maybe we won’t. Remember, William said you are not supposed to be here without a chaperone.”
Sarah laughed. Boldly she took his hand and put it under her bra to reach a nipple and said in a soft, low voice, “Imagine if William saw me do this.”
Taking his hand away with reluctance, Simon went inside to get warmed apple pie with vanilla ice cream and cognac, her favorites. While she tasted the cognac, his hand massaged her thigh, which was aching with dull energy. “Well,” he said. “I have something more important to do than feel you up!”
Pretending she was insulted there could be anything more important, she said, “Yes, what?”
Withdrawing his probing hand, he put it into the inner pocket of his jacket. Her eyes widened when he held out a small velvet box and opened it. She stared at the large ruby set in diamonds while he watched her eyes. He said very soberly, “Will you marry me, Sarah? Marry me as soon as possible?”
“This is so beautiful. It must be a family antique?”
Simon’s raised eyebrows and pleading gaze made her realized she hadn’t answered yet. “Oh!” What do I say? How do I say it? “Yes, I will marry you as soon as possible. I knew I would the day I first saw you only five months ago, the most special day of my life. We are meant to be together; we always were. Yes, yes, I will marry you!” Sarah’s heart beat fast as the smile on her face broadened.
He took the ring out and slid it shakily onto her finger. The large ruby, a ring for a queen, was just the right size on her slender and elegant long-fingered hands. “It was my father’s grandmother’s ring. Her name was Emily Levi, and she was a grand dame back in the 1880s. My father sent it to me after I told him about Armando. He had nightmares about you in a painter’s studio.”
A slight furrowing of Sarah’s brow alerted Simon that he had been tactless. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I shouldn’t have brought that up at this moment. I just wanted to say that my father is going to be very happy when we call him.”
With the ruby crystal on her body, Sarah saw the clearest vision yet of the man in Portugal who carved the harvest dates on the cork trees. Looking deeply into Simon’s eager, dark eyes, she saw the man gently disrobe a woman and tenderly lay her wedding dress over the back of a simple old chair. Wind from the sea swirled curtains in moonlight. She looked down i
nto the stone, and strong energy pulsed into her heart, activating her psychic eye. She met his gaze boldly. “Now that we are engaged, I can enjoy having sex with you.”
Just her words made Simon suddenly hard. They both had waited for this moment for so long. Trying to control his body and his breathing, he led her slowly into the bedroom and handed her an exquisite antique lace gown.
Sarah raised her eyebrows. “Was I that much of a sure thing?”
Simon smiled. “Hey, a guy can hope. After I got the ring, I went to a little boutique and picked that out for you. Do you like it?”
Sarah stroked the delicate ivory lace and nodded. “I love it.” She disappeared into the bathroom, where she quickly slipped the gown on. She looked at herself in the mirror, patting down her hair and noting with a smile the way her cheeks had already flushed pink. Then she opened the door to go to her fiancé.
He lay on the bed with his body fully displayed like a reclining Roman god. Sarah swallowed. Her eyes met his, and then she looked down to his thick black hair where his penis stood erect. It rose even more as he beckoned her with his hand. She sat down by his side. “I have never touched a penis before. You need to be gentle with me.”
She turned to him while he unlaced the ties that held the front of her gown. Slowly lowering it over her shoulders and down over the rest of her body, he took in her beauty fully for the first time. Her breasts had an exquisite contour above her long and strong waist, and the slope down to the soft hair between her legs was unspeakably erotic. Determined to pace himself, he stroked her gently all over her body.
The size and hardness of his penis surprised her. It has a life of its own. It got larger when he licked her nipples. She leaned back, delighting in the sensation of his tongue. Carefully, holding her gaze all the while, Simon positioned himself above her and slowly entered her. As he moved in deeper, she uttered a small cry of pain, and then she clutched his shoulders to encourage him. With a groan, he moved deeper into her than into any other body he had ever known as she rose to meet him and then drew him in even more.
Revelations of the Ruby Crystal Page 20