Between HeVan and Hell (8 page)

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, Rune, 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.”

Gilda looked down at the card. “A
matchmaker?” she asked.

“Yes. How do you think we met Grace?
Or you could take your granddaughter to the sci-fi convention next
month. I believe Valerie and Miranda will both be there,” he said
with a wink and left the store.

After they left, Gilda made sure Marta
had taken all the trays and loose stones into the back. They would
work on this commission after hours, upstairs. It wouldn’t do for
word to get around that she had a quantity of valuable stones on
the premises.

Twenty minutes after they left, the
bell over the door rang again.

“Hello, Sir. What would you like me to
show you today?” she asked with a smile.

Anton Kadyrov looked down at the old
woman.

“My sister Grace was just in here.
She’s been thinking of marrying a man our father doesn’t approve
of. This is what she looks like,” he said, showing her a picture of
Grace taken by one of the security cameras at the club.

“Oh, my, yes. Such a nice girl. She
only left a little while ago. They seemed like such a happy couple.
He bought her a very nice ring, and he was very polite. I’m sorry
your father doesn’t like him. Such a nice young man…” she stopped
speaking when he began to get red in the face.

“Shut up, you old woman!” and he
punched her in the face, knocking her from her chair to the floor.
Then he turned around and slammed his way out of the
shop.

So the engagement is true,
he’s bought her a ring. And from the quality in this shop, a good
one
, thought Anton as he strode away in
anger.

Marta came running from the
back.

“Granny G, what happened?”

“Ooh, my aching head! Help me to my
chair, child. Then I think you should call the police.”

After Marta called the police, Gilda
picked up the phone. She pulled out the paperwork from the sale,
called Jett’s phone number, mumbling as it rang.

“What a rude individual! And if he’s
her brother, I’m Aunt Fannie!”

“Hello, this is Jett.”

“Jett, dear, this is Gilda. After you
left, there was a rather rude young man here. He said he was
Grace’s brother and that their father didn’t approve of her young
man. He was quite angry when he left…”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine dear, don’t you worry
about me,” said Gilda.

“Do you want us to come back?” he
asked.

“You take care of Grace…”

“You’ll call if you need
anything?”

“Of course I will…”

“You need to be careful,
Gilda.”

“Yes, we’ll be careful…

“You promise to call if you need
anything? Maybe we should come back anyway,” he said interrupting
her again.