Suddenly, Mara awakened to the sound of a dog howling in the woods near the house. She started to get out of bed to yell at whoever’s dog it was, but Samael put her back on the bed and placed his sword into her hands.\u00a0<\/span>As he got out of bed, he told her “no matter what you hear or see, no matter what I \u00a0tell you, no matter how injured I might seem to be or how much danger I appear to be in, do not get out of this bed or let this sword out of your hands. No matter what happens, keep the sword in the bed with you, and hold it as hard as you can with both hands. If you can, close your eyes and keep them closed. There may be things you would not wish to see.”<\/p>\nThe angel disappeared and the night went black and still.<\/p>\n
Time went by, Mara had no idea how much time has passed in that awful, dark stillness. She stayed in the middle of the bed, the hilt of the sword in both hands, motionless. Waiting for Samael to return.<\/p>\n
Out of the silence, a rumble. Distant thunder.<\/p>\n
Then, suddenly, some sort of battle outside the house which moved with the thunder into the house, through the house, into the bedroom around the bed.<\/p>\n
Mara knelt in the middle of the bed, holding Samael’s sword as tight as she can with both hands on the hilt, wondering why he couldn’t use it himself. He was never parted from the sword, even in his most intimate moments with Mara it was within his reach every moment. \u00a0She wondered what would happen if someone, something, were to get the sword out of her hands.<\/p>\n
Samael was fighting a huge black dog. Something like a black dog. It was more than a dog. \u00a0It was blacker than real black. It reflected the darkness somehow, making \u00a0the room seem even darker than it could possibly really be. The creature dwarfed any mastiff that Mara has ever seen. Almost as tall as a horse, but far more muscular.<\/p>\n
Samael struggled to grapple with it. The creature didn’t bite, but used her teeth and body weight to try to pin Samael down. They were wrestling, she realized.<\/p>\n
When Samael neared the bed, he looked at Mara, who tried \u00a0to hand him his sword. He snarled at her to get it back on the bed and close her eyes as the dog lunged for it.<\/p>\n
He reminded her to stay on the bed with the sword in her hand no matter what. Even if he begged her to give him the sword. Especially if he begged her to give him the sword.<\/p>\n
Mara squeezed her eyes closed, hard, and tried not to think about what it would take to make Samael beg. She tried not to think about how she would live if anything happened to him. She suddenly knew nothing would. Nothing could. \u00a0She knew it deep inside.<\/p>\n
The sword got \u00a0warmer in her hands, starting to emit a light which gradually grew brighter until Mara opened her eyes to figure out why the room was so bright. The glowing sword drew itself up, so Mara had to stand to keep it in her hands. Until she herself was floating above the bed, sword pointing down at the black creature. She could feel an energy flowing through the sword that she would never be able to describe as anything but Love.<\/p>\n
The angel rose, and stepped back from the dog. It was only a dog now. The largest dog Mara had ever seen, but only a dog. Still black, but only a normal black. \u00a0“Your dog,” she heard a voice say. The dog walked over to the door, nudged it closed with her nose, turned around three times, and sunk down to sleep.<\/p>\n
Mara, looked down and saw she was still floating. The sword was not glowing any more. She looked at Samael, laughed and stretched the sword out to him. \u00a0It seemed to want to be with him again. He took the sword, and caught Mara as she started to fall back onto the bed. Still laughing.<\/p>\n
Samael smiled.<\/p>\n
“You are pleased with yourself, my treasure?”<\/p>\n
“I didn’t do that,” she said, “did I? I couldn’t!”<\/p>\n
“Only faith and love could have won that battle. It had to be someone, a human, with enough faith and love to bring the magic into the sword when it was needed. Only those can defeat this kind of darkness.”<\/p>\n
“How did you know?” she asked.<\/p>\n
“Know?”<\/p>\n
“How did you know it would work?”<\/p>\n
“Because in my arms you could fly. I knew. I trusted. These are things I am trained to know. It is who I am, ” he said.<\/p>\n
Later, in bed, Samael’s arms around her, Mara wondered if he ever slept. No, she knew. He never did. He rested, \u00a0but he kept watch over her. Always. He was her defender.<\/span><\/p>\n“Sami?” She started to ask…\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n“My name is Samael, my treasure. ”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nShe smiled against his chest as he stroked her hair. She didn’t need to ask. She knew.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She sure hoped the dog was housebroken.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “But do you love me?” asked Mara.\u00a0 \u00a0“I do not understand the human idea of love,” Samael replied. \u00a0“I love all of humanity. You are my own. My treasure.”\u00a0 Mara sighed, then smiled. Angels were apparently no better about answering simple questions than human men, but she had definitely never felt more cherished by … Continue reading Samael and the hell hound<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Samael and the hell hound http:\/\/wp.me\/p4FR8-29u","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/IMG_2470-0.jpg?fit=341%2C391&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-29u","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9482,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=9482","url_meta":{"origin":8276,"position":0},"title":"How do you name a hell hound?","author":"Michelle","date":"March 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Mara was not a morning person. She'd also had a very eventful night, what with Samael wrestling Evil right there in the bedroom and all. So it was really not a surprise when she stumbled on the enormous dog that was sleeping on the floor next to her bed. She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5788,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5788","url_meta":{"origin":8276,"position":1},"title":"Mara, Cara and Samael go to Burning Man","author":"Michelle","date":"May 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mara and Cara are kicking their feet up on the porch swing at Mara's house, drinking tequila and grapefruit juice and watching Samael split firewood with a certain amount of justifiable admiration. \"He's awfully good at all of the boy work,\" said Mara, \"and he doesn't even sweat. I bet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8036,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8036","url_meta":{"origin":8276,"position":2},"title":"Mara and the clouds","author":"Michelle","date":"November 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mara sat on the front porch swinging her feet and looked up at one of those dense puffy gray clouds. She wondered out loud about how inviting and soft they look. \"No, they're thick and cold,\" said Samael. \"Unimaginably cold. When you fly through them, it's completely dark and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4119,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4119","url_meta":{"origin":8276,"position":3},"title":"What happens in Vegas is forgotten in Vegas","author":"Michelle","date":"February 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mara and Cara are on the floor, their clothes nowhere to be seen. Cara sits up, moans, and opens her eyes as slowly as possible. It might still be practically dark outside, but that is still far too much light for her massively hungover head. Cara has many questions of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5822,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5822","url_meta":{"origin":8276,"position":4},"title":"When it’s true","author":"Michelle","date":"May 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A while ago I decided that I needed to write a chapter of my ongoing story about fictional characters Mara and Samael bringing Cara into their bed and becoming a threesome. A story about them all sharing each other. The thing is, although I knew exactly how it would end,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3889,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=3889","url_meta":{"origin":8276,"position":5},"title":"Literal is as literal does…","author":"Michelle","date":"February 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With Samael and a set of very messy king sized sheets still wrapped very tightly around her, Mara told him that she thought was still due for a good sulk. She didn't think she should have to cancel her sulking just because an imaginary giant incubus dropped by to ravish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}