Saved and SAINTified (31 page)

A
nd the cries, the God awful screams! Saint covered his ears, trying to muffle them, certain his eardrums would burst. He pushed the energy away with all of his capacity and exited his father’s mind, almost falling out of his chair. He continued to hold his ears for a while as they rang painfully. After some time, he gingerly lowered his shaking hands back to the table. Still, his body trembled. He was drenched in sweat...

S
aint rested for a moment, trying desperately to regain his composure and catch his breath. Both men remained silent. He knew his father knew that he’d seen the Angel-Child chamber of Hell and experienced it totally, completely, even if for only a few moments. To Saint, it felt like an eternity. There was no need to discuss those terrible images.

Saint
removed his saturated shirt and sat back down bare-chested, with his mother’s gold chain with a small ruby pendant dangling loosely around his neck. He anxiously rubbed his hands together, crossed his arms, and tucked his hands under his armpits as he rocked on his heels.

“Okay,” he finally uttered, still trying to catch his breath. “Yeah
, so we have a situation. My and Xenia’s daughter is important not just to us, but to others.”

His father nodded. “Yes. I had had several dreams before I came out to
California to visit. I had been thinking of coming to visit beforehand because I missed you and wanted to be around my family. At first, I thought the dreams were just anxiety. And then, they kept coming, those awful dreams. I remembered my father’s warning about his family in Egypt—that they were not to be trusted. Yet, there they were, surrounding you, screaming at you, wanting something from you, at least in the dreams. Once you told me of Xenia’s pregnancy, my heart dropped. I had to hide it though. I couldn’t let you see my concern until I saw Xenia for myself, to confirm it. I still,” his father toyed nervously with the side of his mug, “wanted to believe that it was just my own anxiety, the stress ... but then, she hugged me that night, and I felt the power in her womb.

Osaze sighed. “
I could feel my granddaughter forming, and I knew then, it was true.” Tears brimmed his eyes. He looked directly at Saint. “She is different from Hassani and Dakarai, Saint. Hassani, is like you, well, mostly. He won’t be as strong as you once he reaches his psychosomatic maturity. He can’t heal, but he will have quite a bit of supremacy. Dakarai is a deaf mute and—”

“And that is what pisses me off, Dad
,” Saint interrupted. “I had to find out this shit about my kids from a man that I met while on a case for work. I haven’t even known him a year, and he had the wherewithal to at least let me know of Dakarai’s condition, I guess, for lack of a better word. You didn’t even have the decency to break your silence for
their
sake.”

“I knew you’d find out, S
aint, soon enough. We always find out what we need to know, when we need to know it.”

“That’s no excuse. Your grandsons would have been totally in the dark needlessly because for whatever reason, I continue to remain behind the curve ball here. I’m at a disadvantage. I have all this power, I can feel it and everyone tells me about it, yet I am walking in the fucking dark!
I’m a damn joke! You could have helped me!”

“S
aint.” His father reached over the table and grabbed his hand tightly. “I know, and that is how people like you are! That is how it is supposed to be, so you can be pure, and your intentions pure. You will always find out what you need to know, when you need to know it,” he repeated.

S
aint sighed. “Okay.” He pulled back from his father’s grasp and sliced a hand in the air. “So, here is what I understand thus far and correct me if anything I say is incorrect. You’re an Angel Child, stronger than Mom, but not as strong as me. You ran from your powers and apparently wanted me to do the same.” He rolled his eyes. “From what I saw inside you, I figure there is a girl, born every few centuries, called the ‘Princess of Life’. I don’t even know what the fuck that means!” Saint rubbed his face in frustration.

“Son, you have everything correct. Look, in simplistic terms, it just means that whoever she is born unto has power over
Egypt, over
all
of the Angel Children—that is our origin. She doesn’t need to rule the world, but she controls Egypt. That is the heart of our power. That is where we first lived and why this is important. All of us, all over the world, our ancestry is from Egypt, despite the fact that there are white, Asian, black, you name it, Angel Children. Egypt is our core, son. It will always remain the grand central station of people like us, Saint. It doesn’t mean she is unusual, or better or worse than anyone. She just has this magic coin, simply from her birth, and you, as her father, are in charge.”

“But we don’t live in
Egypt and I have no intentions of moving there.”

“She doesn’t ever have to step foot
there; you’re missing the point. She will be able to do it from wherever she is in the world. She is our Queen, even though they call her a princess as a child, and the name remains even in adulthood.”

“Well, what is her strength level? Do you know?”

“She won’t be as strong as you, gift wise, but she will still be very skilled. Now, historically, that is, she would probably be similar to Hassani.”

“So you’re saying she can do all of this, but not be like me?
I’m confused.”

“She doesn’t need to.
Let me give you an example. If we were to throw out gifting averages, Hassani would be at about sixty-five percent of your capacity. That still makes him very powerful, especially since most of us are thirty-five percent or less, compared to you.”

“And Dakarai?”

“I was shocked at Dakarai. He is operating at about forty percent, but with the deaf mute aspect, he is extremely rare—and that will make him highly sought after. He covers it well though. Regardless, though, there are no definites here, Saint.”

S
aint exhaled deeply in frustration. “I’m still stuck on that shit. You knew your grandson was a deaf mute, didn’t tell me shit. You knew I was all messed up regarding my abilities, you didn’t help me. You just kept watching me suffer. How
could
you?” Anger was replaced with sadness and disappointment.

“S
aint.” His father looked away. “You and I just think differently. I thought I was protecting you. You’d never have to hurt, that is what I was trying to do. I did it because I love you, though it may have been the wrong solution. Do you know how frightened I was when your mother and I saw you developing? My greatest fears were coming true. Not only did you have the abilities, but they were probably the strongest I’d ever seen, and though you weren’t aware of them at the time, they were all over you. Your mother and I knew where it was leading. I was so angry because I didn’t want you to suffer. This comes at a cost. Surely, you know that by now.”

“But once you saw I was having problems due to this and my own just normal teenage development, you could have explained all of this to me.
Dad, I thought I was going crazy. I needed you.”

“I wanted you to feel like you could fit in. I felt that
if I encouraged it, or even acted like it was there, that would make it worse. Saint, your gifts are designed to help, but with that comes a hefty price! We kill people! Why would I want that for you? I had no idea your mother was nurturing it behind my back.” A small frown budded on his father’s face.

“She wasn’t
nurturing
it; she was giving me what I needed to survive. She told me I was fine the way I was, just to be careful using it. Without her, I would have been far worse off. Thankfully, she listened to her heart and not to you. No wonder she didn’t want me to talk to you about it.”

They were silent for quite a
while.

“There’s something else.”

“Oh, great. This is getting better and better.”

His father grimaced and clasped his hands together
. “Once word gets out about your daughter, you may have a confrontation on your hands.”

“Is that what all the screaming flying angels were about?” S
aint asked as he rolled his eyes.

“Yes, and you need to take this serious
ly, Saint. The last Princess of Life was born into our family.”

“Well then
, everything should be fine, she’d still be in the family.”

“No, you don’t understand
.” His father stood from his chair and walked to the sink. He shoved his hand in his pocket. “It’s not by blood; it’s by marriage, so it doesn’t count. The family got greedy, well, Osiris and his son, Nizsm, did. The last two Princesses of Life were from
their
side of the family. Nizsm wants to keep the power in his family. He is currently the patriarch Angel Child ruler—that is what we call the fathers, like you.”

Saint slumped in his chair, drained and unnerved.

“He is the eldest son of that line, but he never produced a daughter with that supremacy. He will be angry when he finds out that not only did someone beat him to the punch, but it is a part of the family that they’ve disconnected from and ostracized.”

“Who the hell is Nazi?”

“Real funny, Saint.”

“Well shit, this sounds crazy. I’m a sex therapist, author and an interracia
l advocate for black women and Rainbeaus. I don’t want to deal with all of this bullshit! My life is complicated enough as it is. All I wanted to do was give my wife a little girl, Dad. I wanted a daughter, too, to complete our family. Now it’s turned into some Battleship Galactica fuckery!”

“Son, I know it sounds complicated, but this is just normal for us. This is our life. This is one of the reasons my father relocated, S
aint. He was tired of it—the constant bickering and mismanagement of power. Nizsm’s family has overdosed on authority and riches. All of the Angel Children in Egypt are terrified of them. They have everything they want materially; so now, they get cheap thrills out of controlling others.”

“Can I forfeit this? I don’t give a shit about having power over Egyptian
Angel Children! This is ridiculous. A family shouldn’t even be allowed to do that anyway. No man, Angel Child or not, should be a ruler over another. We are all created equal.”

“I agree, and it will be your prerogative, once you are in control, with a blessing of course from your daughter, to write that bylaw.
You will always be the first chain of communication. My granddaughter simply has the final say. But first, you have to
get
there, son.”

“So, what are you saying?
Get there? Explain please.”

His father briefly hesitated. “S
aint, he isn’t just going to try to come after you. He’ll want to kill your baby. If she lives, he loses
everything
.”

S
aint stood and began to pace the kitchen. “I’ve been having fragmented, discombobulated nightmares for the past three weeks. I couldn’t shake it. Now I see what they were about. I kept seeing a man in a white hooded cape and—”

“That’s the
Oracle.”

“The
what
? So now we’ve entered the Matrix.  ...  You know what?” Saint threw up his hands and walked out of the kitchen with his father hot on his heels. “I don’t understand what the hell is going on here, but if any mothafucka from Queens, Cali, Delaware, Ireland, Egypt—I don’t give a flying fuck—comes after me, my wife or any of my children, I will
fuck them up
!”

“S
aint, it isn’t that easy. He is just as powerful as you. He is an equal. This will be much harder. He is just as agile as you, fast and knowing, but the problem is, he is like the dark side of you. Imagine yourself as a villain, if you will.”

“I don’t give a shit how much power he has
. If anyone tries to hurt one of my children, they’re dead!”

“S
aint, please sit down. Before you go back home, I need to give you some more information.”

S
aint sat down on the couch, leaned back and closed his eyes. He now nursed a raging headache.

“
Nizsm is a man, just like you; so, of course, he can be fought and you can win. He is very wealthy and influential though, and will use all sorts of dirty tricks. We were created, Saint, to help other human beings. That is our lot in life—to be our brother’s keepers. That’s what Angel Children are, and like I said,” he sighed, “sometimes that requires ...”

“Killing people. I’ve been there, done that.”

“Yes, I know.” His father grimaced. “But you did it properly, at least. Some of us, however, have lost our way, like Nizsm.”

“I
should have known about this before now.” Saint seethed.

“Well, hear me out.” His father held up his hand. “Now, Osiris and his children, especially Niszm, his eldest son, have abused their position
, leaving so many destitute. They have a very heavy karmic debt and once you get in that deep, well,” he shrugged, “the attitude at that point is, ‘why even care?’ They are destined to experience what you saw and felt when I allowed you inside of my mind.”