An hour later they had sent the girls to bed. All four of them could use some rest and sleep after everything that had happened in the past few days. They were expected at the campus early the next day, so they needed their sleep. Later they had gone upstairs alone. In the hallway of the bedrooms, Jon suddenly blushed and stammered like a teenager:
"I don't know which room is mine or yours or what to do, Elise. I'm sorry I'm not used to this; you'll have to teach me how to behave."
She laughed softly, stood on her toes, kissed him lightly on the lips, and said:
"Come, I'll show you."
She took his hand, and together they went to check on the girls. Jules and Sam had apparently decided to share a bed and slept peacefully close together. It was clear that they would have to stay close together for a while. But Hope and Fay had also chosen this option, which was no wonder after what had happened that day. Elise closed the door gently, and he whispered:
"Well, it looks like we have two twins, two mommy girls, and two daddy girls."
She laughed very quietly so as not to wake the girls:
"Absolutely right. Come on, I'll show you your bedroom."
She opened the door to one of the larger bedrooms and led him inside. She said:
"This is your bedroom, but it is also my bedroom. Come, my Greek god, let us go to bed."
What followed was an outlet for them that they both desperately needed. Soon they were lost in their love and passion, and the world around them seemed to cease to exist.
Later they lay in each other's arms. She noticed that he was having trouble sleeping and his thoughts were far away. She asked quietly:
"What are you thinking about love?
He sighed and said:
"The more I think about this whole mess, the less sense it seems to make. Oddly enough, it's Michael I have to worry about the least. He is on a war footing and has tunnel vision. Nothing can distract him from his goal. Yes, those winged idiots are up to something, but I'm not worried about that. They are complete idiots every day of the week and twice as bad on Sunday. I have been expecting them to set me up for a long time, and usually, all I need is half a word from Rae Rae to know what is going on. But I have a feeling that this is something much bigger, more important than whatever Michael and his weasels are trying to accomplish. It's my grandpa and my dad that I can't quite figure out. I just can't shake the feeling that I'm being played like a two-dollar banjo."
She looked at him and asked:
"Does it help if you say your suspicions out loud? What do you think is the most obvious scenario?"
He shook his head gently and said:
"With you, it cannot fail, my beautiful Elise. What I found so damned strange about the last meeting, the last few meetings, is that Grandpa and Dad were suspiciously quiet. Grandpa left the bickering to Michael, and Dad mostly let Belios do the talking. They just sat there in silence, watching. What Raffa said this morning, that Michael has set a trap and is waiting for me to fall into it, tells me a lot. It tells me that Grandpa has given him a free hand, no more orders or directions from the throne. Dad's silence tells me that he is quietly searching for Michael's weakness. This, in turn, tells me that Dad is at his most dangerous. He is the First Angel and knows the other Archangels better than they know themselves. That he lets Belios do the talking is a distraction. Belios knows damn well what buttons to push on Michael and his weasels to make them angry. That in turn makes them say or shout things they don't think through. I usually sit there in silence as well. The more I let Belios have his way with Michael, the better I see what that asshole is up to and then do the exact opposite of what he wants. The problem is that until today I didn't realize how transparent I was. Belios is messing with Michael, who yells something, and Dad knows what I'm going to do because he knows I'm going to do the exact opposite of what Michael yelled. In the past, Dad never openly sought this war. Everything was focused on punishing an attack by Michael and letting Belios and Bearus, his generals, do the heavy lifting. He set the strategy; his generals set the execution. That seems to have changed, and I can't figure out why he's suddenly jettisoned a strategy he's been perfecting for centuries. Why is he so focused on Michael and wants to strike so damn hard to wipe him out?"
She thought for a moment and said:
"Let's start at the beginning. I know you said you don't want to start the apocalypse because you don't want to kill anyone. But if your father and Michael are so intent on this war, there will come a time when it can't be stopped. You know that too. So how could they go to war without you starting it?"
He had to collect his thoughts before he could answer:
"Climate change would be my answer of choice. Mankind will soon come to an end. They will destroy themselves, climate change, probably preceded by a fierce nuclear war if the situation becomes really dramatic. The reason I don't want to start the apocalypse is not only because I absolutely don't want to kill anybody, but also because I don't want to kill nature on Earth to the point where all life just becomes impossible. So I told them at the last meeting that they should just wait about fifty or sixty years, and then they can kill each other in peace without people dying. What is fifty years to creatures that are billions of years old? Blink and it's over. Why all of a sudden that rush?"
Elise thought for a moment and said:
"Apart from the fact that this terrible vision of the future frightens me, especially for the children, and I really want to talk to you about it. Could it be that this is some kind of coup? Your grandfather decreed that the Antichrist should start the war; you don't want that, so they have to throw your grandfather aside to start the whole thing in a different way."
"I had thought of that too. But those behind this are either not very smart or there is a hidden agenda that I just can't see. Michael wants me to become the biblical Antichrist. If I do that, then according to him, I will also be destroyed. At least his zealots fully believe in the Antichrist as described in the Bible. How can this happen? I can't figure it out. I am simply invulnerable, even to angels and demons. All the weapons they want to use in the war are just toys to me. I have the power of Grandpa, Grandma, and my father in me; no Demon or Angel can do anything to me, even if they gather both armies against me. I just don't know how that would happen because I don't know what such an attack would do to my powers. The powers in me will go into overdrive if I am threatened like that. In other words, I can simply reduce them all to ashes at the same time with the snap of my fingers."
"Jeez, Jonathan, how powerful are you then?"
He got that mischievous smile on his face again that made her so weak and said:
"As powerful as God himself, darling, and I don't need to be tied to the throne. Okay, I can't do certain things without the throne, like create new life and a few other things, but everything else I already have."
She whistled softly, thought for a moment, and asked:
"Okay, so we can rule out the Angels as instigators of the coup. What about your father?"
"No, he cannot go to Heaven anymore; not only was he banished from Heaven, but there is a permanent ban on his return. From the moment he set foot in heaven, the fire of heaven would consume him in an instant. Contrary to the stories that are circulating about my father, in reality, he is quite different. He can get very angry, just like me, but he never explodes. I, as you may have heard from Rae Rae, unfortunately, do. Dad is more of a cold strategist, observing, analyzing, and then striking deadly. The Bible may say that the Devil and the Antichrist will lose the war. A war between Michael and Dad, and I put my money on Dad. A war between Michael on one side and my dad and me working together on the other side? Believe me, there won't be a shred of Heaven left. That is one of the reasons I want nothing to do with it. I have no desire to destroy everything that Grandma and Grandpa have built together in Heaven."
"Could it be that they are working together, behind everybody's back, to put you between two fires and thus get the war by somehow forcing you into that role?"
He said firmly:
"No, cooperation between these two camps is impossible. The hatred between my father and Michael is so great that they could not work together even if their very existence depended on it. If they knew that doing nothing would mean the end of the other camp, they would set up lawn chairs, make a cocktail, and celebrate the end of everyone's existence."
"So the principle of the enemy of my enemy is my friend does not apply here."
And with that sentence, Jon let out a very deep sigh.
"Damn, Red, we lost sight of a third party."
"How love?"
"Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle J, and Aunt M."
"Uncle J?"
"Yep, Jesus!"
Elise's eyes snapped open, and she said:
"Wait, what? Jesus is your uncle?"
He looked at her strangely and said:
"You do know how a family tree works, right? If my dad is a son of grandpa and Jesus is a son of grandpa, then that must mean that they are brothers. Well, you folks know him as Jesus, and he adopted that name centuries back in Heaven, but before his name was Yeshua Ben Jozef."
"Why isn't he the Crown Prince instead of you, Jon? He is the son of God, and you are the grandson, so shouldn't he come before you in the line of succession?"
He looked at her completely uncomprehending and asked confused:
"Crown Prince? Succession? What succession? I am the Crown Prince of Hell, and I am bound to the secondary throne in Hell. I am a prince in Heaven, but I am certainly not in the line of succession if there is to be one at all."
Now it was Elise who looked at him in surprise and asked:
"Jon, you don't mean that? You know who and what you are, don't you?"
"Elise, in the name of my grandfather, I absolutely cannot follow you. Yes, I know what I am; I just told you. I am the Antichrist, the Crown Prince of Hell."
Now she looked at him in amusement:
"Exactly, Jon, in the name of your grandfather is the right word, and of course your grandmother as well."
"What on earth do they have to do with this?"
If your grandfather ever decides it's time for him to hand down the throne, who will inherit it? Jesus?"
He shook his head:
"Uncle J is tied to Grandma's throne and was brought to life by a blessing from Grandpa. He is half-human like me, but not bound to both thrones like the Host of angels created by Grandpa and Grandma. So, no idea, never thought about it, never talked about it, no interest. You know, I avoid the whole thing as much as possible because of what both sides expected of me and how I reacted. If I had to guess the way the situation is now, it would be Michael."
"Love, has your grandfather in the past ever wanted to talk to you about his throne in heaven?"
"Yes, I got angry, so I immediately cut that off and made it clear that I would never, ever play the role of the Biblical Antichrist and therefore did not want to hear that lesson."
"You really should have paid more attention to your grandfather, Jon. Especially on this subject. If, as you say, Jesus is not eligible to take your grandfather's place, then there must be another heir to the crown. Michael can sit on the throne all he wants. All the angels can sit on the throne all they want. The throne will never bind itself to them or obey them."
He interrupted her:
"I have known for some time that Grandpa wants to quit. It was brought up a few years ago when I was a teenager, and we could still have normal conversations as grandfather and grandson. He never said that no one from the Host of Angels could take the throne. If we follow your scenario, why would he want to pass it on? He should know better than anyone that no Angel can take his place. He should know better than anyone that he cannot relinquish the throne."
"Jon, your lineage doesn't start with your father. Your lineage begins with your grandparents. You have the essence of the God and the Goddess literally flowing in your blood. Yes, you are the Crown Prince of Hell. But in Heaven, there is no son or daughter, no prince or princess, who can succeed your grandfather when he wants to pass on the torch. You said yourself that your Uncle J cannot succeed your grandfather because he is not bound to both thrones in Heaven. Your father, the Lightbringer, the First Angel, was always the heir to the throne they had in mind. He was the only angel who could be bound to the throne because he was the only heir chosen by your grandparents. And now he cannot take that throne. However, there is a grandson, and he is automatically the Crown Prince of Heaven in the line of succession because your father, who is the King of Hell, can never return to Heaven, so the succession to the throne skips a generation!"
Jonathan closed his eyes and realized that Elise was absolutely right. He wanted to shout, but with the girls so close, he didn't. Elise could clearly sense the scream lurking beneath the surface. In a dangerous tone, he said:
"Let's say you're right, Red; that would mean I'm screwed either way. In my role as the Antichrist, I have to destroy the world, which I have absolutely no desire to do. In my role as Crown Prince of Heaven, I have absolutely no choice; I have to take the throne when Grandpa steps down because if the throne remains empty, everything ceases to exist. That's why I don't like my family very much; there's always a Catch-22. Damn it, Rae Rae's words are coming true in so many ways. I desperately need to get my head out of my ass because there is so much going on at the same time. I've been walking around pissed off for so long. I've been so focused on stopping the apocalypse, if only to embarrass both sides, that I've lost sight of everything else. This shit just got more complicated. There are no longer two camps trying to kill each other. There are three camps now, and the purpose of the third camp is completely lost on me. Not to mention that damn joker Gabriel and what that bitch wants out of this whole thing. I really have no idea what Grandma and Grandpa are cooking up with the help of J and M."
"M?"
"Yes, Mrs. Jesus, so to speak. Mary Magdalene, the Magdala."
Elise giggled for a moment and said with pleasure in her voice:
"I knew they were married."
"What do you think the wedding in Cana is about? You're a white witch, honey; you must know they're married. Your name is Paschal, and that is a bastardization originating in Languedoc, France. It pretty much literally means Easter lamb. You are directly descended from their bloodline through their daughter Sarah."
"I always thought that was something that was assumed in our faith, but there was no absolute proof of it."
"Elise, then you really need to re-read certain passages in the Gospels and definitely the Nag Hammadi Gospels. But do it through the lens of a Jewish society two thousand years ago. A lot will become very clear."
"Like what?"
"Oh no, my delicious witch. If the girls have to do homework for school, then so does Mommy."
She giggled for a moment and then said:
"Okay, I'll do it, but then you'll give me texts and explanations when I'm done."
"Well, when you are done with that, I will be happy to be your Master Red."
And again he got a playful slap, this time on his chest.
With his typical smirk, he said:
"You see, under the surface there is a woman who is up for a little spanking."
These words caused her to strain herself to the limit not to burst out laughing and startle the girls in their sleep. When she regained some control, she said:
"Love, those problems aren't here yet. I don't think your grandfather will be abdicating the throne today or tomorrow. So why don't we enjoy our lives? You have the light of the Lightbringer in you, so help us, poor little witches, to spread some light and warmth in this world that is getting darker and colder.
She gave him a kiss and snuggled into his embrace with her head on his chest:
"Let's go to sleep, love; we have four girls who are probably shaking on their legs because we are going to the campus. Their new lives really begin tomorrow."
He smiled softly, for he could refuse her nothing. From him, she could have the sun and the stars. In his case, literally. Or he could just make a bunch of new ones just for her.