Page 74 of Destined for Shadows
The sensor’s eyes rounded. “She what?”
Bartol sometimes forgot that just because Melena was immortal didn’t mean she didn’t still have a lot to learn about the supernatural world. He would have to take the time to educate her on this one point. “Have you ever wondered how nephilim are born? Consider it—do you think humans are tracking down angels and seducing them? No, because it has to be the other way around. Some angels watch over Earth for so long that they begin to get curious. Then they latch onto a human who truly interests them and make contact. The same happened for me.”
“So an angel found you.” A million thoughts seemed to pass through her eyes. “Did you try sending her away?”
He knit his brows as he attempted to think back to that time. Many of his memories of Clarissa were distorted by Kerbasi’s tampering, but most of the first couple of weeks before they slept together were intact. “I laughed at her the first time she appeared in my bedroom naked. I thought for certain it was some kind of joke, and that she could not be serious.”
“But she kept trying.”
“Yes,” he said, lost in thought. “She was beautiful, graceful, and desperate for a human experience, but she did not want to risk getting pregnant so she thought a nephilim would be a safer choice. I think she also felt the highly forbidden nature of our relationship made it more exciting. After a while, I couldn’t hold back my curiosity, though I honestly tried at first. I’d known nothing good could come of being with her.”
“What was it like? Did you fall in love?” Melena asked.
Bartol shook his head. “She was smart and willing to try anything in bed. I enjoyed her very much, but I could not develop feelings for her beyond friendship. Our connection just didn’t work out that way. We did talk for hours about our lives, which was pleasant, and she told me about how bored she was with her work. Angels often spend centuries doing the same thing without a break from the monotony. It is why some choose to fall despite the consequences.”
Melena studied him. “Were you upset when they sent her to Hell?”
“Not particularly. Clarissa was the one who confessed to the archangel council about what we’d done and placed the entire blame on me.” He ground his jaw. “It was hard to feel sorry for her after that.”
“Why would she do such a thing?”
Bartol clenched his fists. “She started to feel guilty about us, and I think she believed they’d give her clemency for confessing.”
“Couldn’t they know that she was the one who started it?” Melena asked.
“Why would they check?” Bartol lifted a brow. “I had a reputation back then for seducing women, so there was no reason for them to doubt her. It likely didn’t help that I didn’t deny her accusations. At the time, I never guessed the punishment would be so severe. Even with all of Lucas’ transgressions, he was never confined for that long.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, regret in her eyes. “It was extreme.”
Bartol shrugged as if it wasn’t the worst experience of his life. “Since I was the first nephilim to sleep with an angel, they had to make an example out of me. I should have known that would happen.”
“You should tell Cori about this.” Melena started driving the Jeep again. “She’d probably want to hear it.”
“I do not see how it matters.”
Melena veered around a large rut in the road. “I think she wants to know everything about you, whether she realizes it or not. In all the time I’ve known her, she’s never gone after a man or paid attention to him the way she has you. She needs to see you can open up as well.”
“Nothing good can come of her and I being together.” Bartol stared straight ahead at the road. “We are both damaged, and she’s mortal.”
“Maybe there’s a way to…”
“Don’t,” he growled.
Melena sighed. “I’m just saying where there is a will, there is a way.”
“Not everyone gets a happy ending.”
The sensor stiffened. At first, Bartol thought it was something he’d said, but then she sped up the road. A minute later, she parked the Jeep off to the side. Her brows were furrowed in concentration as she worked something out in her head.
“There’s a vampire not far from here.” She pointed toward the woods off to the left. “He’s about the right age—somewhere between four and six.”
“You’re not certain?”
Melena shrugged. “It’s only around the first year or so after they’ve turned when I can pinpoint the age almost to the month. After that, it becomes vaguer. This guy could be it, though.”
They’d already come upon two other vampires today who were a close fit, but it turned out they weren’t the ones, either. Bartol hoped they’d have better luck this time.
“Tell me where exactly,” he said.
