Between HeVan and Hell

by Lucy Kelly

  “Jalen, you’re supposed to wait until we’re having our romantic dinner and I’m all dressed up and looking gorgeous,” she wailed, not quite following. This wasn’t in the script.

  “I just couldn’t wait another moment to find out if you were going to be mine for the rest of my life,” he said.

  “Give him a break, lady,” said a guy from a nearby table, whose wife just slapped his arm and said he was as romantic as a potato.

  “I really missed you, Grace,” said Jalen.

  “I missed you, too, Jalen and yes, I’ll marry you,” she said, running her hands up his chest.

  He took advantage to swoop down for a quick kiss as the crowd around them started to clap and cheer.

  “That should tide me over for a little bit. I’ve wanted a taste of you all day. Are these your bags? Come on, honey, let’s get going.”

  He gathered up her bags in one large hand and put the other around her waist and off they went, her watchers following behind.

  “Hey, where’s my ring?” she was heard to say as they walked away.

  A few minutes later they were climbing into the back seat of a brand-new Escalade. “What do you think, Grace; I just picked it up today,” he asked as he got in beside her.

  “It’s really nice, hon…”

  That’s all Anton’s watchers could hear before the door closed and they drove away. Grace’s friend stepped out from the store she’d ducked into and walked up to him. He immediately called Anton, so they could give their reports. Anton wasn’t going to be happy at all about the marriage proposal, or the size of the boyfriend. He moved like he could take care of himself.

  In the car, Grace was looking at both Jalen and Jett. They were about the same height, although Jett might be a fraction of an inch taller and broader of shoulder. Also, where Jalen had light blue eyes, Jett had dark-brown eyes, almost as dark as hers and short lighter brown hair. They both had lean angled jaws and squared-off chins. Straight aquiline noses with deep-set eyes and very kissable lips completed her inspection. “I’ve been dreaming of you both for days and your other brother, too. What’s going on, why is this happening?”

  “We are a perfect match. Your soul calls to ours, Kasharra,” said Jalen.

  “What does that mean—Kasharra?” asked Grace.

  “It means you bring joy to us. You cause us joy by being around you. And it’s true, you know. We’ve waited almost five hundred years to meet the one female in the entire universe that is our Join. We’d almost given up hope,” said Jett from the front seat.

  They were stopped at a red light, so he turned around and gave her a smile and a wink. She didn’t even realize she was settled in Jalen’s arms as if she belonged there, and she did.

  She also belongs in my arms. It was going to be difficult when they were in public together, Jett thought to himself. I’ll be glad when this undercover assignment is over.

  “You sure learned English fast. I was surprised when you told me to meet you in the Food Court,” said Grace.

  “That was Becky,” answered Jalen. “She suggested it and told me where it was. She also gave us all the particulars of the case and said she was passing off a flash drive to you.” When he saw Grace nod her head, he went on.

  “Well, Jett is going to download the contents of the file onto a nano-patch for us so we can absorb the information directly into our brains. We have one stop to make, and then we’re headed to your condo on the lake that Becky says is in our name temporarily. She couldn’t find another location so we’ll have to be careful and try not to let you be seen by the other residents who might make a comment. The security staff has been temporarily switched out, too. We’re getting you out of that apartment; it’s not safe.”

  Grace completely forgot that she couldn’t wait to get out of that dump. “Wait just a minute here, this is my assignment. You two are just window dressing. Don’t even think that you’re going to start taking over and giving the orders around here.”

  “I meant no offense. Did you wish to return there?” Jalen asked.

  “No, and don’t start trying to placate me, either. It’s important to me that we nail these guys. They need to go down. They’re into everything from money laundering to human trafficking. This assignment is covering the money-laundering part of their business. We haven’t been able to get anyone into their organization to get more. Nearly all their people come from the same neighborhood in Groznyy, which most people think is in Russia but is actually in Chechnya. My Captain says they’re the Russian Mafia, and that’s partly right. However, as Chechens, they’re Sunni Muslims and have stronger links to the Arab countries than they do to the Russian Orthodox. So I’m concerned they may be connected to terrorist groups as well.

  “That’s just my personal theory. I don’t believe that all Muslims are terrorists. In fact, I think Muslims are the same as everyone else, people living their lives and worshiping God in their own way.

  “Like any religion, there can be zealots. And like any group of people, there are those that use others to get what they want. This group is evil. They were pushed out of Chechnya, and now they’re here and have become our problem,” she said.

  “We have been studying your world’s laws and politics. Do you have permission from your judges to tape their conversations and phone calls and things?” asked Jett from the front seat.

  “Yes, only we haven’t been successful with electronic surveillance. First, we haven’t been able to get in to place a listening device. And second, they sweep for bugs twice a day and anything we’d finally be able to put in place would be found,” answered Grace.

  “Jett is our technology expert. Did Addie tell you about our nano-patches? Well, we have some that will relay information over short distances, about one of your miles.”

  “Oh, wow!” said Grace. “If we could get those on any of Kadyrov’s people, within a month we’d have enough to put them away for the rest of their lives. But how can we use that technology without running into problems? As soon as they know about it, all the police agencies will want it.”

  “We can say that it’s Jett’s personal invention, which it is. And that we’re using this as a test case. It’s not ready for the open market yet. And just in case you might worry about followers listening in on our conversation in the car, Jett has built-in a protection against that, as well. A simple jamming device he placed on the dashboard.”

  “Okay, that might work.”

  She finally noticed where they were.

  “Hey, this isn’t the way to the condo. Where are we going?”

  “I told you we had a stop to make. We’re getting you an engagement ring. And Arjun asked that we pick out rings for Addie and her Joins. He would very much like to surprise our new Nam-Nin with a traditional Earth wedding.”

  “And what exactly is a Nam-Nin?” asked Grace.

  “The Nam-Nin is the Supreme Ruler Queen of HeVan. Beleti Aditya is our new ruler. She will be returning to HeVan with her Ankida, her male Joins when the gate is finished.”

  “I remember now. She said she was the new Queen. I thought she was joking. Ankida is like a group name for husbands, right? What does Beleti mean?”

  “Beleti means female head of the house or lineage, or it can be a title, like in your country, England. It means Lady, she is Lady Addie.”

  “Wow, what does that make me?”

  “Since you are the elder sister, you are also Beleti. You are Beleti Grace. But we are trying to use only English words now that we’ve come down to the planet so we will call you both ‘Lady.’ Now, will you go to the Diamond District with us to find rings? We have also brought some loose stones in case you’d rather have a ring made. We know you need a ring for your assignment.”

  Great. Addie’s guys want to buy her a ring and marry her in the church, and she was getting a fake assignment ring.

  For once, Grace was struck speechless. So she just went along with Jalen and Jett into the Diamond District. She’d completely forg
otten that they might have followers. Jalen and Jett, however, did not.

  Chapter Four

  They were able to get a parking space in the Diamond District. They went to one of the larger stores first and walked up to the counter.

  Jalen spoke to the woman behind the counter.

  “Good afternoon, Madam. We would like to look at your engagement rings, please,” said Jalen.

  The lady looked them over and then showed them to a counter on the left. Grace noticed that the rings at this counter weren’t as nice as the ones at the other counter. The saleslady had taken one look at their undercover clothes and summed them up as cheapskates. Jalen looked closely at the stones in the case.

  “Would you bring out that tray?” he asked.

  The saleslady looked up at the three of them. “If you have a particular ring you’d like to look at, I’ll pull it for you. But it’s against store policy to pull out the entire tray.”

  Grace looked pointedly at the other counter where the salesman had pulled out two trays for the perusal of the couple standing in front of him.

  “Jalen, honey, I think I would prefer to go to another store.”

  “Of course, Grace.”

  “Excuse us, Madam,” he said.

  They walked out the door. Before Grace could get steamed, Jett pointed to a store across the way.

  “Let’s try over there.”

  So they all trooped over to the other store.

  “Welcome, come in. How may I assist you today?” asked the salesman behind the counter.

  “We’re looking for engagement rings,” said Jalen.

  “Wonderful. If you’ll come right over here, I’ll be happy to show you what I have. Feel free to look at the settings separately from the stones. We have an assortment of loose stones as well.”

  “Thank you,” said Jalen. “I have also brought some loose stones with me. Will you take on work that uses both your stones and mine?”

  “Well, I’d have to see your stones first,” said the salesman.

  Jalen reached into his pocket and pulled out a silk pouch. From the pouch he took out a small briefke, a paper folded to hold loose stones often carried by gem merchants. He opened it to reveal small red and black stones.

  “Hmm...well, I might be able to do something with the rubies. Obsidian is rather overdone these days, and is rarely used in engagement rings,” he said with a smile.

  “Thank you for your help. I think we’ll try another store,” said Jalen, as he folded the briefke back up.

  At the salesman’s shocked look, he added, “They are red and black diamonds.”

  The three of them walked back out onto the street. Grace turned to them and said, “My turn to pick a store. You two are lousy at it. Follow me.”

  She concentrated on finding the perfect store for them and jacked up her super-girl power, then started down the sidewalk looking into stores on the left and right. She came to a small hole-in-the-wall establishment. The store was small, only about twelve feet wide. Just inside the door there was a round wooden kitchen table and chairs. Behind the table was one low counter where an old lady sat knitting. She turned to them at the sound of the bell.

  “Come in, welcome. Oh, what a handsome couple you make! And you,” she said grinning at Grace, “you will never go hungry, yes?” and she winked.

  Before they could say anything, she cried out, “Marta, we have customers. They want to see the rings.”

  Grace stepped forward and looked in the case. There wasn’t much there, but what she saw…

  “Oh, my, your designs are beautiful!” Grace said.

  “Grace, would you like one ring or two? No, don’t answer that, we’ll get two,” said Jalen.

  “Why would I need two?” she asked.

  “One for the assignment and one for us, I don’t think you would like to use our ring for your assignment,” he said.

  By then a young woman wearing jeans came out from the back.

  Grace wasn’t listening any longer to the conversation going on around her.

  He wants to buy me a ring? He’s actually going to buy two rings because he doesn’t want me to have bad memories associated with my wedding ring? She thought in amazement. She would convince him that one ring was plenty; all the memories would be good.

  “Thank you, child. It’s a pity I can’t afford to put really good stones in the settings,” said the old lady.

  “Marta, these three lovely people are getting married and they need rings. Did you bring the rings?”

  “Did they tell you that, Grandma, or did you guess?” asked Marta.

  She turned to them and said, “We’ve been reading Valerie Hudson’s new book HeVan’s Own, and so she’s got multiple partner marriages on the brain. I hope you’re not offended.”

  “Actually, we have a third brother who couldn’t be here today. All three of us are planning to Join with Grace,” said Jalen.

  “Wow, you guys must really be fans. Well, I’ll go get the rings.” And she left to go into the back.

  “She’s a good girl, but she has no imagination. She’s young, she’ll learn,” said the old lady, with a twinkle.

  “Lady Grandma...” began Jalen, when she interrupted.

  “Please, call me Gilda. And you are?”

  “I am Jalen and this is my brother Jett and this is our…”

  Jalen almost gave their real last names. He needed to remember to use their aliases.

  “When you know me better, you’ll tell me more,” said Gilda, with a big smile.

  Jalen gave her a strange look and once again pulled out the silk pouch and the briefkes. He handed them to her and let her open them.

  She opened the first paper packet and drew in a breath, “Oh my, what beautiful black and red diamonds; the quality, cut, and clarity are remarkable for stones of this size.” She opened the second briefke and was once again surprised at what she saw. “These are the most magnificent opals I’ve ever seen. The colors are so clear, and they have beautiful formations,” she added, looking at the stones through her jeweler’s loupe. As she was examining the stones, her granddaughter came back with three trays of ring settings; none of them had stones.

  “Marta, go on over to the table with the young lady and show her the settings. I’m going to talk to these gentlemen about these beautiful diamonds and opals.”

  She waited until they sat down and Grace was trying on rings.

  “Gentlemen, I believe we can do very well together. It’s easy to see that the stones you’ve brought are superior to any I have in stock. In fact, a few of these are better than any stones I’ve ever seen.”

  “And it’s also easy to see, Lady Gilda, that you are a jewelry designer beyond compare. You are correct that we will make a good team. Now, Grace’s sister has already been Joined. We have a picture of her and her Ankida. You are familiar with our words?” asked Jett.

  “Oh, yes. Many of them have been passed down in my family for generations. We don’t share them with outsiders. Just mother to daughter; Marta had just reached her fifteenth year, and I was getting ready to share the old stories with her. Her parents died, you see, when she was a little girl, a house fire. Anyway, I was going to tell her and then that woman Valerie came out with her books. Every time I tell her a story, she points to one of those books. So now she thinks I’m going senile. Bah! Four years now, I’ve stopped trying to convince her lest she put me in a home. And now you’re here! Have the Nephilim truly returned?”

  Jalen and Jett exchanged a look.

  “Yes, though it is not well known.”

  “And the Queen, did she make it okay?” asked Gilda.

  “She had to pass on her powers; she is with her Ankida now.”

  Looking deeply into the old woman’s eyes, Jalen made a decision.

  “Lady Aditya, Grace’s sister, is our Supreme Queen now. This is her picture, the men are her Joins. They have decided to surprise her with an Earth wedding.” He showed her a picture of Addie with Arjun, R
une, and Kylan that he’d brought with him.

  He added in a low voice, “They would like matching rings for all of them. And they would also like to commission a new set of royal jewelry made for her. The Princess Regent took most of the Old Queen’s things and she isn’t likely to give them back. Your designs are exquisite and I know you are up to the task. We will pay you in loose stones. Is that agreeable to you?”

  “My boy, that will do splendidly,” she said with a grin. “May I keep this picture? It will help me in designing jewelry that truly compliments her.”

  “Of course you may. You may also call Arjun if you have any questions. I’ve put his number on the back for you. The Earth wedding is a secret for now,” he added.

  “A surprise, how nice,” she said. “I can get you wedding rings today if you’ll wait while I set the stones. However, it’s going to take a longer time to do all these other pieces of jewelry. What time frame are you looking at?” she asked.

  “We are planning to leave Earth within three months,” said Jett, speaking up.

  “Oh, my. I’ll have to close down the store and work exclusively on this commission to have a hope of getting it done. Do you have any pictures of HeVan and the clothing worn there? Especially anything Ceremonial that the Queen will have to wear?” she asked.

  Jalen turned to Jett to answer that one. “I’m afraid anything I gave you would be very much out of date as it took us a long time to get here. You obviously have an affinity for making the right pieces. I think we will put ourselves in your hands. All you need to do is give us a list of the stones you’d like us to provide. Or if you would prefer, you can design around the stones,” said Jett.

  “Judging by the ones you’ve shown me, I think we’d do better working around the stones,” answered Gilda.

  Jalen and Jett gave her a short bow. “We have an agreement,” Jalen said.

  For the next hour, they chose rings for Grace and Addie and the six men. As they were about to leave, Jett walked back to where Gilda was sitting with her order pad. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a card. “You should email a picture of your granddaughter to this woman.”