Page 22 of Destined for Shadows
“You don’t think I can handle him?”
“No one can handle him,” she said in a grave tone, but then brightened. “But he’s not so bad when I’m around, and maybe I can help.”
“The last thing I need is assistance from a seventeen-year-old.” She would either get in the way, become a distraction, or both. Bartol didn’t like to be rude to the girl, especially considering she’d suffered a lot for one so young, but he couldn’t have her around right now.
Emily put a hand on her hip. “Right, because you do so well on your own that you’ve figured out how to work all your appliances and your phone all by yourself. Oh, and pulling money out of the ATM—you’re a pure genius at that!”
Bartol was not about to discuss the ATM incident with her. He’d gotten a new bank card since losing the first one, and the bank had been very understanding about him destroying their machine…after a little compulsion told them a random lightning bolt had struck it. His more recent attempts to pull money out of his account had gone much more smoothly—only one caught on fire for a brief moment before he put the flames out.
“We agreed that topic is off limits for the rest of your life,” he said.
Her shoulders slumped. “I just want to help. School sucked today, and I just need to get my mind off of it.”
“What happened?” he asked, softening his tone.
She ducked her head. “You know how sometimes it only takes one small thing to remind you of someone you lost, and then you can’t shake it for a while?”
Bartol had lived for more than eighteen hundred years, and many people he’d cared about had died in that time. He was almost an expert on the matter. “I do.”
“Well, I was going past Hunter’s old locker, and I usually don’t look that way, but for some reason I did today. The guy who has it now was standing in front of it, and he sort of looked the same with his back to me. For a moment…it was like my boyfriend was there.” She hugged herself. “I know he’s dead and never coming back, but for some stupid reason I keep expecting him to pop back up even though it’s been seven months.”
“What you’re feeling is normal,” he said, wishing he could provide some sort of comfort for the girl. “We live in a supernatural world where magical things happen, and you wonder why someone can’t be brought back from the dead.”
She nodded. “Exactly. Melena can retrieve a fallen angel from Hell, and the nerou from Purgatory, but no one can save Hunter.”
He gave her a sympathetic look. “They were all still alive and had their physical bodies—that makes a difference.”
“I know.” She gazed up at him with sad, sensor-blue eyes. “But it doesn’t make it any easier.”
Bartol was a sucker for individuals as lost and hopeless as him. He could hardly turn her away now without feeling like he’d just stepped on a kitten. “Come inside. We were just eating lunch, and there may still be some left if Tormod didn’t eat it all.”
“Really?” Her expression lit up.
“Yes, but you better hurry before I change my mind.”
Emily pushed through the front door before he could take a step toward it and entered his home. Very few people had ever been inside, but she was one of them because she rarely took no for an answer, and he could hardly refuse her.
“Hey, Emily,” Tormod called out from the kitchen. “I saved you a piece of chicken.”
Bartol trailed behind the girl and found the nerou had given up a portion of his own food, putting it on a separate plate for her. He’d also given her a large helping of the beans and potato salad Cori sent with the meat. This surprised Bartol. He hadn’t realized Tormod and Emily were friends, but as the two of them chatted, he concluded they must have gotten to know each other since the nerou came to Earth.
He sat down, keeping quiet and letting the young people talk. Except for when he first moved into the cabin and Lucas and Melena helped him furnish it, there had never been more than one guest inside at a time. He might not like being around people as much these days, but at least these visitors didn’t expect any conversation from him for the moment.
“So did you try that underwear freezing trick I told you about?” Emily asked, cocking her head.
Tormod finished chewing his food before grinning. “I waited until the girls were asleep and then stole all their panties and bras. Stuck them in the freezer in the common kitchen. They didn’t figure out where their stuff was until after physical training and showers when they went to make breakfast. You should have seen how angry they were.”
Bartol choked on a piece of steak, and it took a full minute of coughing to clear his throat.
Emily gave him a concerned look before returning her attention to Tormod. “What happened after that?”
“Well, let’s just say I had to wait a week before the new mattress for my bed arrived.” He shook his head. “They used to never retaliate, but I think someone suggested they should make me pay for the things I do to them.”
“My guess is it’s the cantankerous one who tipped them off.” Emily cast a side glance at Bartol. “Old silver eyes would scheme against you like that.”
It didn’t take much to figure out she meant Kerbasi, though he was grateful the girl refrained from speaking the brute’s name in his presence. Bartol didn’t need his mood souring when he had a nerou to train and a teenager to distract from her woes.
Tormod pushed his empty plate away. “So what’s next, instructor?”
