欧宝娱乐

“Strip naked...my two favorite words in the English language--”
― Lioness DeWinter, Southern Cross

“...And looking back, at least we got to state our love...before our world in Orleans ended in a symphony of broken glass.
Earlier that evening, I had sat on the porch with Matthieu-Michele, as Cross and Christy watched over their Grandpa Timothy's comatose body in the back bedroom. I looked down into Timothy's face and wept. Timmy already looked dead. He was deathly pale, and his hair was heavily streaked with grey.
"Don't cry, Uncle Obadiah," Matthieu-Michele said tenderly. "Just have faith, and love Him. Believe in Him, and keep preaching His Word."
"And here I thought that you were a man of science, like your Daddy Matt."
"I cannot be both?" he smiled gently, as he took my hand and led me out on the back porch. He lowered me into a chair, and seated himself beside me. "Look at the stars," he said softly. "However could I believe in the vastness and the great wonder of the universe itself, and not in He who created it? Science and Theology go hand-in-hand; they are not polar opposites. We must remember, the Holy Bible is only a guide. God isn't just a quick-fix solution for all of our problems. He isn't a pill that we pop to make everything go away. Instead, He is a shepherd, looking out for us...loving us from a great distance and calling out to us constantly...and sometimes, things get lost in the translation. We, for example, as men, will try to weave our own selfish desires and prejudices in with His. That is the greatest sin of all, the great sin of mankind. It frightens people away from His Word and His Grace. They believe that He hates them, that it鈥檚 the voice of God condemning them, rather than the blackened hearts of the misguided men who twist His words to suit their doctrine of anger and misunderstanding. Their words are straight from the evil core of mankind, who, in their foolishness, try to take on the guise of God."
I leaned upon him heavily, the tears wet upon my cheeks.
"And to think that there were times when I wondered if I did any good at all," I sighed, "But His Word lives in your heart."
Matthieu-Michele embraced me in his wings.
"Uncle, you are a wonder!" he smiled. "Never doubt it. My father couldn't ask for a better vessel for His Word."
"I love you, Boy," I whispered. "You and Croccifixio and Christophe...we will always be family, and nothing will ever part us--"
~*~*~*~
...And it was over, just like that. It happened so quickly. The window in the front room exploded in a rain of glass, and two soldiers seized Arik. Two came for me as well, and I surrendered. Arik struggled, and was silenced with a blow to the back of the head.
Matthieu-Michele--who had been behind me--was mysteriously absent, and Cross, Christy, Morgan and Simone were nowhere in sight. Matthieu-Michele must have thrown up a psychic bubble around them, and around Timothy's body, as Arik and I were manacled and taken out into the street. A barred wagon awaited us there, and we were roughly forced into it...”
― Lioness DeWinter, Corinthians

“Don't cry, Uncle Obadiah," Matthieu-Michele said tenderly. "Just have faith, and love Him. Believe in Him, and keep preaching His Word."
"And here I thought that you were a man of science, like your Daddy Matt."
"I cannot be both?" he smiled gently, as he took my hand and led me out on the back porch. He lowered me into a chair, and seated himself beside me. "Look at the stars," he said softly. "However could I believe in the vastness and the great wonder of the universe itself, and not in He who created it? Science and Theology go hand-in-hand; they are not polar opposites. We must remember, the Holy Bible is only a guide. God isn't just a quick-fix solution for all of our problems. He isn't a pill that we pop to make everything go away. Instead, He is a shepherd, looking out for us...loving us from a great distance and calling out to us constantly...and sometimes, things get lost in the translation. We, for example, as men, will try to weave our own selfish desires and prejudices in with His. That is the greatest sin of all, the great sin of mankind. It frightens people away from His Word and His Grace. They believe that He hates them, that it鈥檚 the voice of God condemning them, rather than the blackened hearts of the misguided men who twist His words to suit their doctrine of anger and misunderstanding. Their words are straight from the evil core of mankind, who, in their foolishness, try to take on the guise of God.”
― Lioness DeWinter, Corinthians

“Obadiah and I were married on that lanai," I tell him "--the night before Timothy was resurrected. I thought that I'd be with him forever鈥 thought that I was his, and that he was mine...I thought, I-I-I thought--"
"Shhhhhh," Arik reassures me. "I understand now, I do鈥enediction made me feel much the same way, Ja? I felt that there was no life without him鈥ut there is, Brian...don't you see? I forgave Beni' everything, even when he hurt me; even when he killed me. Well, not this time. Never again. It does not mean that I don't love him--I will always love him--but I love myself, too. At last, I love me. That's what I have to show you as your brother and your friend, Dear.”
― Lioness DeWinter, Corinthians

“But what about my house in Heaven?" I asked, my tone soft and piteous. "Whatever would I do there? It's filled with my memories of Obadiah. We built it together with our own hands. We laid the marble and carved the statues. I sewed the curtains, the bedclothes and the tapestries. I even created the flowers and the landscaping which surrounded our grand mansion beside the sea鈥�" I begin to sob, and Arik pulls me close. I rest my cheek against his chest and close my eyes. "Wh-When we first got to Heaven--me an' Obadiah--we were all each other had. Everyone else was still down on earth, mournin' us. Our physical bodies had been destroyed by Hana's guillotines. Timothy knew that his own death was comin', and he had specifically asked for the two of us to go and make a place for him in Heaven. When we arrived, Heaven was beautiful, but empty. I was suddenly able to see again, and the colors鈥y heart just danced, y'know? I began to create right away: houses, flowers, animals鈥t was glorious. I was never happier. It filled up my heart and pushed out the anguish an' guilt that I felt about leavin' all of you behind on earth to suffer. Obadiah and I were filled with so much joy then. I had never seen him so happy. An' the horses, Arik鈥he horses were his鈥eautiful, winged creatures, completely dedicated to him, but forever free...he would never have dreamed of restraining them. We would sit on the lanai and watch them...these beautiful creatures, who had nothing in their hearts but love鈥�"
I snuggle closer as he presses my head against his chest and weeps with me.”
― Lioness DeWinter, Corinthians

“Tis nothing holy about being a bigot.”
― Lioness DeWinter, Corinthians

“I hold no illusion of why I'm here. I know what's in store for me. I know that I am to die. Timothy and I have spoken of it often in the past couple of years, and I must willingly submit to what I was meant to do, the role I was literally born to play. Now, I understand why I have always been drawn to the Bible, although it seems so contrary to my true nature...

My surname is an omen, as well: St. John. As a youth, a new gypsy boy, I had always mocked it. As a dynamic young preacher, I embraced it. Now, as I lay here, waiting for the end, I accept it for the omen that it is.”
― Lioness DeWinter, Southern Cross

“...But I am the most horrified at the slim young man who is upon his knees, clad in the same white trousers as I, his long, black hair framing his face like soft, shining curtains as he rests his head on his clasped, shackled hands and prays.

"Brian," I sob, my anguish causing my voice to break. "I don't want you in this place..."

He raises his head and pulls me down beside him. His sightless eyes seem to look straight into mine.

"You aren't alone anymore, Obadiah," he says gently. I weep, and take him back against me the best that I can, with my shackled wrists, and we rest against one another...two vessels ready for the last journey.

"I couldn't let you go without me, 'Baddy," he says softly. "I'd never find a love like yours again, even if I lived for a million years! There is only one you. When a person is gifted with a love like this, it should be defended at all costs..."

I weep then, for real...for this precious child, who will pay the ultimate price for loving me...how he must love me, indeed...”
― Lioness DeWinter, Southern Cross