“Come on, Hassani, you can do it!” The woman looked down at her watch. Xenia grinned, surmising she was timing her son, seeing how fast he could swim. The bright smile on the boy’s face let her know he really liked Traci and the game they played. Feeling a heated gaze upon her, she turned toward Dakarai, who was now standing outside of the pool, a blue towel wrapped around his shivering body. The poor thing had hair in his face, loopy black strands, making him look like a puppy that had gotten caught out in the rain. Her suspicions were now confirmed. Dakarai, as young as he was, had a crush on Traci. He didn’t like the way she played with Hassani, the two laughing and carrying on right then and there. No doubt, he felt mocked. Every time the woman would come by, he’d put on a star performance, bring down all of his favorite toys and line them out in front of her, offering her his finest goods. He’d totally ignore Jagger, as if the man were a mere driver, dropping off important loot for the five-year-old to ogle. No, he didn’t give one red penny about her boyfriend; he wanted the marine’s woman. The poor child thought he had a fighting chance, and it tickled Xenia to the point that she burst out laughing, causing Isis to glare at her mother in confusion then smile as if she, too, were in on the joke.
“Oh boy, wait ’til I tell Saint about this…”
~***~
Lawrence stirred the plastic straw in counter-clockwise churns. His coffee was piping hot, but Saint was hotter. Saint wasn’t accustomed to him calling any shots, but Lawrence had heard enough. Saint ranted and raved about some man at Xenia’s job, grabbed his gun and jammed it down into his pants, promising to do damage. That was the final straw. Lawrence’s worries were coming to fruition. Saint didn’t have important information, and flying off the handle too soon could impair future endeavors. The man needed to learn patience. He was almost worse than Jagger. He’d finally talked him down, and now, the three men relaxed in Lawrence’s living room, soft acoustic guitar music playing in the background while incense drifted past. He sat on the floor cross-legged, an over-sized beige pillow behind him, and looked first toward Saint, then at Jagger. Saint clutched a bottle of water, the man’s nails practically slicing into the damn thing. Jagger looked at each of them as if a tennis match was in full swing. Lawrence sighed, placed the coffee cup beside him and tucked his long hair behind one ear.
“Now look, Saint. We’ve been meaning to get together for weeks now. I spoke to you about Krishna. He is still working out the schedule but as far as what you and I needed to discuss, it is long overdue. I know work has been hectic, but you blowing up like you did at work today let me know this can wait no longer.”
Saint remained quiet, but his eyes told on him. He was seething. The man wanted to knock some guy’s head off. Lawrence could barely understand what he’d been ranting and raving about, but his gut caved when Saint swooshed past him, armed and dangerous. This was a warning, and he’d pulled him back, yanking Saint by the shoulder and demanding he stop in his tracks at once…
And now, here they were.
“Saint.” Lawrence casually rested his forearms over his knees. “I don’t know what is going on, and it doesn’t really matter. I received an impulse that you were making a grave mistake. Timing is everything.”
“This motherfucka went and—”
“Oh, no.” Lawrence raised a hand and shook his head. “I don’t need to know, Saint. All I can tell you is wait…you have got to learn to control yourself better than this.”
“But you don’t even know what’s going on! Let me explain. You see—”
“Stop. There is nothing to explain. Whatever it is, whoever it is, you’re jumping the gun. Now listen, I need to speak to you about your gifts.”
“It’s my birthday?”
“Very funny.” Lawrence twisted his lips in a sarcastic frown.
Saint smirked and rubbed his right ass cheek as if it were sore.
“You can sit on the couch, you know. I’m just sitting here on the floor. I find it more comfortable.”
“Nah.” Saint waved at him impatiently as he glanced around the house, acting as if he’d never visited before. “This is fine.”
“Hey,” Jagger whispered, then cast his glance toward the stairway. “You got anything with a bit more bite?” He held up his empty apple juice bottle.
“Sorry. I didn’t get around to the store.”
“Lawrence, you knew we were coming over two hours ago!” Jagger protested. Saint shot him a look. Lawrence wasn’t certain what was going on between the two of them. The tension was palpable, but he had bigger fish to fry.
“Now look, Saint. Let’s go over this. You are unaware of some of the powers you possess. I want to go over the entire list. Just like when you sparred with Jagger, that education can serve you. This will, as well.” Lawrence paused and looked at the darkened fireplace. “Do either of you mind if I light a fire?”
Both men shook their heads. Lawrence craned his neck back toward the pit and focused his eyes on the logs. Within seconds, the damned things went up in flames.
“Now,” he said as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened because, in his world, it hadn’t. “Saint, when Krishna performs the ceremony, every single gift you have, as well as you, will be cleaned and refreshed. You will feel stronger. Are you aware that you can gift your powers?”
Saint cocked his head to the side in surprise. The water bottle slipped out of his grip. “What do you mean?”
“You can gift any of your powers temporarily to another Angel Child. You lose the power, as if you’d let them borrow a book or movie, and they have it for a brief time period. It usually ranges anywhere from five minutes to an hour—these things aren’t certain—and then, the power is returned to you.”
Saint burst out laughing.
“How in the hell do I do that?”
Lawrence stood and gently grabbed Saint by the wrist.
“Okay, stand up and face me.”
Both men glared at one another. Now, concentrate on any power you have that I don’t have, and imagine it transferring from you to me. We will put our fingertips together and you will actually see the transference, the current. It will feel electric. Just like that, the men met fingertips and continued to stare at one another.
Their hands began to vibrate against each other, causing the pictures on the walls to flip and flop like fish tails. A hazy fog surrounded their bodies and then, within a blink of an eye, it was gone.
Lawrence grinned and Saint glared at him in amazement.
“Can you do it?” he asked skittishly.
“Let’s see… It feels like you are allowing me to hologram myself.”
“Yes. That’s what I gave you.”
Within seconds, Lawrence appeared in a transparent version of himself, all around the room.
Jagger clapped his hands and burst out into fits of laughter.
“Ho-leee shit!” Saint laughed as he looked all around, seeing Lawrence in a hazy purple mirage, in various poses.
“Now, you can only do this with another Angel Child, but it can come in handy at times when you may not be feeling well, and may need one of us to take care of something.”
Saint nodded in understanding.
“And by the way, that’s a new one. You couldn’t do it last year, even. The more you evolve, the greater the discovery. You really have no idea how powerful you are, man.”
Saint angrily pointed at him. “I know I’m sick and tired of hearing that shit. I know that much.”
“What’s the problem?” Jagger asked, mischief in his gleaming eyes. Lawrence stared at him. He wasn’t in the mood to have to pull them apart this evening. Luckily, Saint ignored the fella, acted as if he didn’t say a mere word.
“Just tell me. All last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, people have been telling me how awesome I am with no further information. Well, tell me, please, goddamn!”
Lawrence smiled and sat back down, while the hologramed images of himself started to disappear. “I am…that
’s why we’re here. Come on, relax. Have a seat.”
Saint stiffened, then dropped back down to the floor as if his bones had given up on life. His dark eyebrows bunched and he seemed to even be pouting. Lawrence made sure not to laugh. The man was genuinely upset but he sure was putting on a show.
“Okay.” Lawrence slapped his knees and crossed his ankles as he leaned back against a tan leather love seat. “Saint, you have the power of potentkinesis, which is what we just demonstrated. You also have power absorption. That means you can take something from me, Jagger, or anyone else, except a Deaf Mute, to increase your own power. This is also a new development.”
Saint stared across at him for a few seconds. “And, so, how do you know all of this?”
“It is one of my gifts.” Lawrence smiled as he pressed his thumb into his chest. “I am able to sense the gifts of others. My father was the same way. I can see what everyone has, as well as their potential. That is how I knew your son was a Deaf Mute before you did.”
Saint nodded in understanding.
“You have super enhanced senses, just like myself and Jagger, but you’ve had that for a long time. You also have offspring detection. What that means is—”
“I can find where my children are anywhere in the world,” Saint finished his sentence.
Lawrence grinned. “That’s right. I see you’ve been studying.”
Saint shrugged. “So what else?”
“This one is mind blowing…necromancy.”
“Hold up!” Saint shook his head in disbelief. “I know necro means dead so…”
“Yes, it means you can raise the dead and communicate with them, should you need to. There is a high karmic cost to that, however; the sacrifice would be huge. The reason being to stop us as Angel Children from abusing such an opportunity. We are not in that line of work.”
“I do not see why I would ever have the desire to raise any deceased person from the grave. Talk to them? Yes, but not—”
“Saint, you do it through your dreams. When you dream and have dead people speak to you, like James and your mother, that is what you’re doing. They are really talking to you, Saint. You told me your dreams seem so real when that happens, and you’re right. They are.”
Saint’s eyes glowed brighter at that information. He was apparently delighted, but keeping his reserve. Lawrence was happy to give him some good news amongst the oddity of the whole information overload.
“Obviously you can read minds. All three of us can, though your ability is stronger than either of ours. When you are, as we say, under the influence, you have super human strength. You and Jagger share that trait. You are both equally powerful in that regard. I do not possess this, though my power is stronger than the average man’s, it is not at the level you and Jagger possess.”
Saint and Jagger were listening intently.
“You have extreme blocking capabilities. You can block any Angel Child out, including Deaf Mutes, though they are the hardest to keep away.”
“You can say that again! Dakarai is only five, and he gives me headaches with that shit.”
Jagger and Lawrence grinned at one another.
“You heal quickly. Any wounds you receive heal extremely fast. You are also, as you know, a healer. That is a rare quality. Like Krishna, you can heal the ill. That too, has—”
“Karmic debt and rules…” Saint finished.
“That’s right. So you have to be discriminatory about it. It can kill you, since you take on the illness and it beats you down, worse than the original prognosis.” Lawrence paused and cleared his throat before continuing. “You have had this, but add to your list, night and infrared vision. I also have that gift, and Jagger has one more than neither you nor I have—he has ultraviolet.”
Both men shot looks at the big guy, who sat with his eyes hooded as if he were bored. Jagger shrugged his shoulders.
“What? It’s no biggie.” He smirked.
“Saint, you also have astral projection.”
“Yes, I knew about that one, but have seldom used it.”
“Mmm hmmm, and you have death vision. You can look at someone sometimes and see when and how they are going to die.”
“That’s a damn curse, and yes, I’m aware of it. I hate walking down the street and basically seeing skulls and bones over people’s heads. I hope to never see that regarding my family, Lawrence. Actually, now that you bring it up, is there some way to turn it off?”
“Hmmm, I’ve never been asked that before. I’d imagine there is, since we can suppress our gifts. If it bothers you that much, I will look into it.”
Saint nodded. “It does. When I could have used it, like with my mom, it didn’t show up and then it reveals itself when I actually don’t want to know. That is one gift I honestly have no use for. I find it debilitating and quite upsetting. I don’t want to see any more young children like that, none of that. I don’t want to know…” Saint turned away in disgust.
“Jagger has another gift that neither of has—reality warping. It means just what it sounds like. He can make someone believe they are somewhere that they are not.”
Saint smiled. “That’s pretty cool, Jagger.”
“It’s fun,” Jagger said coolly, as if he wasn’t too impressed with himself.
“As for me,” Lawrence’s gaze settled on one man than the other, “I have element generation, enhanced senses, heat vision, omnilingualism, in—”
“Hold up, what’s that?” Jagger questioned.
“You know what it is, Jagger.” Lawrence frowned. “I just used the proper term for it. You know how I’m able to understand and read any language. It includes computer codes as well.”
“Ahhh, okay.” Jagger nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t know that that was what it was called.”
“I also have intuitive aptitude which means I know a lot about an object just by looking at it and maybe holding it for a brief period.”
“Lawrence, it appears a lot of your gifts are cerebral and tied to nature.” Saint looked at him, duly impressed.
“That’s right. My mind houses most of my gifts while you and Jagger have more of the physical attributes. I have ESP, and I can induce sedation in others. I just wave my hand in a certain way over their eyes, and they are at rest.”
“Like hypnosis?” Saint questioned.
“Yes, but they have to be a willing participant. I can’t just, say, walk up to a bank teller, put him to sleep and grab the loot.”
Saint and Jagger burst out in infectious laughter.
“Lawrence, I know you can manipulate the weather and I also know your father is an upper world shaman. Some of that must run in your veins.”
“It does. Though my father can speak directly to the Creator, if the Creator so chooses, through smoke, it is predicted that I may be able to as well, though I haven’t tried as of yet. It would be a big undertaking. Now, back to Jagger for comparison’s sake. Jagger has mind control, you both do actually, but Jagger’s power is stronger in that gift than yours. It is a gift that has to be trained and it takes decades to perfect it. He also has what is called feral mind.”
“Oh, here we go!” Jagger rolled his eyes. “Lawrence, why do you tell people that?”
“It’s not a bad thing, Jagger!”
Saint grinned. “Feral? Like an animal?”
“Well, yes, that’s what it means. It ties into his superhuman strength, actually. He can become quite animalistic. If he gets angry enough, he could rip a man apart with his bare hands and it would feel like he was only pulling bubble gum. It’s not something anyone would want to see, not even himself. You can do a lot of damage in that state. Imagine a werewolf. Now, of course werewolves aren’t real, but it is a similar principle. He doesn’t get hairy knuckles or anything like that; he would look exactly the same as he does now, only, well, there would be blood everywhere.”
Saint and Jagger stared at each other as a long silence stretched among them. Lawrence wanted to ask what the deal was, but again
decided to leave it alone. He didn’t want to get them started.
“Jagger obviously also has ESP, as well as mindscape transportation and psionic inundation.”
“So basically,” Jagger jumped in, “I can transport someone to another dimension. I really haven’t, it just appears that I have, and we know seeing is believing. It is similar to my mind warping abilities, only this is more. It’s a full-fledged imaginary environment. I can make someone believe they are in paradise or in hell.”
“And Saint can make someone believe it by showing either dimension to them,” Jagger said, “only he is really showing it to them. As a warrior Angel Child, he has permission to do so.”
Jagger nodded in agreement.
“You both have great agility and speed. The one thing also that Jagger has that we don’t is, he can turn his complete form into a shadow. How long does it usually last, Jagger?”
Jagger shrugged his shoulders and contemplated. “Oh hell, I haven’t done it in forever. Usually just a couple of minutes or so.”
“So, you will just be standing there, and then become a shadow?” Saint looked utterly confused.
“Basically.” Jagger shrugged then looked down at his empty juice bottle. “Like many of our physical manifestations and transformations, it is quite painful, so it isn’t something I would do simply on a whim. It is useful if I ever needed to hide, but I always need a light source to make it work properly and I prefer to be seen.” He gloated.
The conversation continued for an hour, and then it was time to leave. Saint said his goodbyes with a hug before he and Jagger walked out. Lawrence couldn’t take it anymore. After waiting for Jagger to go to his car, he called after Saint.
“Hey, Saint, can you come here for a sec?”
Saint doubled back, looking anxious and irritable.
“Yeah, what’s up?’
“I mean it, don’t go after whoever you were going to get. I can feel it.”
“Okay. I took you seriously when you said it the first time. If you’re saying it is a bad idea, then I will hold off. But I don’t know how much longer I can hang on. I’ll try though.”
Saint's Sacrament - Sins of the Father Page 21