Page 244 of Caelum

Was I surprised when Bartlett stepped back from Avalina, grabbed her desk chair, and brought it over so it was closer to us? Not really. What did surprise me was when he hauled Avalina onto his lap as Frazer had me, and she snuggled into him, as happy as a cat in front of a fire.

Bartlett cleared his throat as he slipped his arm around his wife’s waist and said, “God gave the life giver—Eve—theJannah—myself as a means ofcreating a world where we could all live. I was born with the ability to grant her the things she needed most. While she might believe she needs a pair of Louboutins now, she doesn’t, and that is why she won’t receive it. The wishes are God-granted, and He decides what is gifted and what isn’t.

“However, I’m getting ahead of myself. Before I even knew about this ability, Eve and I lived in the Garden of Eden. We were happy, content, but as is the way of humans, we grew bored and unappreciative.”

Avalina whispered, “I fell into temptation, and that was the beginning of the end.”

Bartlett rubbed his wife’s arm. “We were born to fall, Ava. You know that.” Her jaw tightened, and she turned her face away from us. Her guilt was as prevalent now as though she’d eaten the apple yesterday, and not thousands of years or more earlier. “The second Eve ate the apple, she introduced Satan into her body. We didn’t know that at the time, were just aware that life had forever changed when we were tossed out of the Garden.

“And though we were terrified,” he admitted, shuddering, his fear a real thing, “when Eve wished for the sweet nectar of juice to quench her thirst as we baked under the sun’s rays for the first time in our existence, it appeared. Right before us.”

My brow puckered. “Wait. So, God knew you were going to be tempted and made youJannahso you’d have something to safeguard the pair of you outside of Eden?” I inquired softly, wondrous at the generosity inherent in that act. God’s knowledge that man and woman were born to fall hadn’t stopped him from gifting them a safety net of incredible proportions.

“Yes. It didn’t take us long to realize what was happening. We wished to return home, back to Eden, but that didn’t work. We wished to return to the moment before Eve ate the apple, nor did that work. But when we wished for shelter from the sun and water to quench our thirst? A river was sprung, and trees began to grow along its banks.” His tone grew hoarse with the memories. “Those days were difficult. It’s hard to believe that we survived them, even if that was what we were born to do. To become survivors, to create the world under God’s hand.” He swallowed thickly. “We created our first home. It was remarkably like Eden, but could never be as beautiful. We realized that we could live, that we had food in our bellies and water for our thirst. The wishes didn’t dry up, but they became more specific. We were never allowed to rest on our laurels with them.”

Ava pulled a face. “What he means is we couldn’t just wish for the oxen that had been born from our wish to die and be butchered for us. We had towork for it. Once we had the means of surviving, of creating life, we could no longer rely upon Adam’s abilities.”

“I guess that makes sense. You would have grown bored as you did in Eden, would have stopped appreciating the gift He’d given you, and the cycle would begin again,” I concluded.

Ava’s lips twitched. “You are wiser than I was at that time. I was very resentful and was a horrible woman to be around. Especially when I had my first child and, though I wished for relief from the pain, I was never granted it.”

“Woman’s punishment,” I whispered then quoted from Genesis, “I will intensify yourlabor pains; you will bear children withpainfuleffort.”

“Yes,” Avalina grunted. “The punishment was very real and very horrendous. I’d never experienced the like before or since. That first dose of pain was a wake-up call, I suppose. When my first son was born, it almost marred the joy of the moment. And when I was pregnant with my second son, I was terrified. It wasn’t as bad, but only because I was prepared for it.” She sucked down a shaky breath, and I felt for her, wished I had the right to reach for her hand and hold it, squeeze it with mine to give her comfort.

She’d done wrong, and though God had protected her in many ways, he’d still punished her. Still found ways to ensure that man was tested.

“It’s important that I clarify something. We weren’t the first children on Earth, but we were the first of God’s children with his intent inside us. We didn’t create the first township on the planet, nor did we give birth to the first child to walk these lands. At the time, there was early man. Evolution played a huge part in the creation story, and that is whom our own children had congress with. With whom they bore the first of the children who would truly populate this realm with the inference of creating a society,” Bartlett explained.

“We didn’t look as we do now,” Ava joked. “Let’s just put it that way. Evolution does and always will play a huge role in all we do.”

As we nodded our understanding, Bartlett sucked in a breath and carried on, “So, while we believed that all was well, it wasn’t. We bore seven sons, no more and no less, not in this incarnation or any other. Just seven. They were well. Hale and hearty. Beautiful creatures that continue to make me proud to this day for they still live. Most of our nearest kin do.

“When Avalina and I merged together, we created themajnun. They were the first of your kind,” Bartlett said, gesturing to the men. “Each one was the first Were, the firstgouille,the first Vampire, etc. Because they were the first, we never thought anything of their abilities. There was no war in them, not like there is with creatures today. They were perfect, and now, Irealize that was how each of God’s children was supposed to be.Majnun. Before we corrupted everything, God’s plan was for us to sire only creatures.

“But our infested seed, you see, was sowed in their children. Eve, when she bit into the apple, took the devil inside her. He infected the life giver with his taint, poisoning the root of God’s children.” He swallowed again, his sorrow clear. “The war was inside our sons, and the first Ghouls were born of them.

“In the eighteen children sired by my boys, the damage to the rootstock began to show. Two of those were humans—Cain and Abel.” Pain flashed in his eyes. “They were our grandsons, not sons, and we all know how they ended up. And a further three of those eighteen babes were Ghouls. They were the very first.” His tone quieted. “All save the humans live to this day.”

“Wait, three Ghouls started the whole world’s population of them?” Frazer rasped.

Bartlett’s mouth tightened. “No, it may seem that way, but no. Every single Ghoul in creation has ties to those three because they are tied tous. We bore the fruit that will poison the Earth in its entirety. What we have spent thousands of years crafting will be decimated thanks to our mistake.” He squeezed Avalina. “The devil is inside everymajnunand it was, once upon a time, God’s will that saved them. Spared them, but then, the devil began to win. His evil began to overtake everything the humans did, damaging themajnunwith their industry and capitalistic ways.” He shuddered. “We live now as punishment. When first we died, we thought that was it for us. We saw the cycle of life, knew everything came to an end, and expected to pass over, for that to be our time on this plane…”

“But that didn’t happen?” Nestor prompted, and I heard the intensity of his curiosity in his tone—that was my man, curious about everything and nothing. In another life, he’d have been a scientist. Instead, he was fighting a war.

Life sucked like that sometimes.

“No,” Avalina said in a low tone, her eyes downcast. “Being cast from Eden, our line forever tarnished, wasn’t punishment enough. To seek atonement, we had to make good on our mistakes.” She bit her bottom lip. “That has yet to happen, and this was our final chance.”

“How long does a life last?” Reed drawled. “I mean, early man are hundreds of thousands of years old…”

Bartlett shot him a look. “Incarnations don’t work on a timeline.”

That had Reed squinting back. “Huh? You’re incarnated, but your kids aren’t. Nicholas doesn’t look like a Neanderthal?—”

“He just acts like one when Janvier is around,” Frazer mocked, and though I didn’t understand what he meant, the others snickered.

The words brought a surprising levity to the serious mood, which had overtaken the study. I wasn’t sure if that was for good or ill. Not when the tension wending its way inside me made me feel like I was on the brink of implosion.

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