Page 28 of Destined for Shadows
Chapter 9
Bartol
He only had to hold Cori in his arms for a few seconds, but it might as well have been a lifetime. His heart thundered in his ears, his muscles tightened, and he could hardly breathe. It was all he could do to keep his concentration on their destination.
Bartol had been rigorously programmed in Purgatory to find physical contact revolting no matter its purpose. Kerbasi had drummed that lesson into him repeatedly for decades using physical torture and mental manipulation. He did it by finding one of Bartol’s most pleasurable memories, scrambling it into something horrifying, and then carving up his body while he lay there believing one of his past lovers was harming him with malicious glee. By the end, Bartol was bloody and broken to the point the guards had to carry him back to his cell. It would take hours afterward, while he huddled in a haze of pain, for him to recall who’d truly tormented him. By that point, though, the memory Kerbasi had targeted for that session was destroyed and impossible to ever piece back together again.
Bartol suffered through those “treatments” almost daily unless the guardian had another prisoner on hand. Perhaps it was selfish, and he would never admit it to anyone, but he’d been grateful every time Lucas or any other nephilim came for a period of confinement. It was the only respite he ever got until Melena called attention to the wrongdoings going on in Purgatory. After that, the archangels stepped in and put strict limits on what the guardians could and could not do. They also forced Kerbasi to come to Earth so that he might learn humanity. He might have fooled the others, but he would never trick Bartol.
The years of mental programming by the guardian had inflicted their damage and changed him forevermore. If someone even came too close to him these days, he went into a panic. He hated that he’d become something almost feral. Despite that, Bartol resolved himself to hang on tightly to Cori no matter the cost. She was in danger, and he would help her regardless of how much it bothered him. No one deserved the torment her former husband had put her through already, or what he planned to do next. They had to find a way to stop him.
Bartol touched ground on Melena’s front lawn. Cori leaped out of his arms and fell to her knees, retching onto the grass. He stared at her helplessly. Touching her again so soon was beyond him, but he still had an overwhelming urge to soothe her and pull her hair back from her face. It was his fault she was like this, though he’d had no idea the effect flashing would have on her. It had been a long time since he’d transported a human.
“Go get Melena,” Cori said, wiping at her mouth and looking up at him.
He hesitated. “Are you sure you want me to leave you here?”
She let out a dry heave, then sucked in some air. “There’s nothingyoucan do, so just go!”
Guilt flooded him that his aversion to touching made him want to do as she asked despite the fact he knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. He should stay there and be supportive. But when she started vomiting again, he decided giving her privacy would be the more appropriate course of action.
He hurried to the front door and pounded on it. Melena must have already realized they were out there because it was a mere second later that she stepped out. He gestured toward the lawn. “I believe flashing made her sick.”
“Oh, God.” Melena gave him a horrified look. “I forgot how bad it could be.”
“You’ve flashed before?” he asked.
“A couple of times back when Lucas’ soul was tied to mine so that he could get around my immunity to magic.” She gazed beyond him. “It looks like Cori took it worse than I did.”
Melena hurried down the steps toward her friend.
Bartol stayed on the porch, debating whether he should wait there or flee into the house. Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he narrowed his gaze into the darkness. A man with long, black hair and a large build came around the corner. Bartol stiffened. It had been months since he’d last seen Kerbasi, and even then he’d never come this close to him.
He considered flashing back to his cabin to escape the inevitable confrontation. When he’d had to stay at Lucas and Melena’s house for a few weeks after returning to Earth, he’d gone to great lengths to avoid the guardian and stay out of sight. Kerbasi brought back every painful memory of Purgatory until Bartol could almost feel the pain inflicted on him there. It left him weak and vulnerable even without the chains to hold him down anymore. The only thing that kept his feet on the porch was Cori. Would Kerbasi harass her at a time when she was vulnerable and ill on the ground? The man Bartol remembered would do exactly that.
Bartol’s vision colored as he watched the guardian cross the lawn toward Cori and Melena. For the first time, he didn’t feel fear while in the presence of Kerbasi. Even the memories of being tortured didn’t affect him the way they normally did. All he could think about was if the man dared get within arm’s reach of Cori, he would find himself thrown into the next century.
“Get the hell out of here, Kerbasi,” Melena shouted at him.
Cori glared, still gripping her stomach. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”
“I only wanted to check on you,” the guardian said defensively. “I could ease your dizziness if you like.”
Bartol let out a low growl, not liking that idea at all.
“Not in a million years,” Cori replied with venom in her voice. “I’d rather eat live snakes than ever ask for your help.”
Kerbasi’s shoulders slumped as if he was actually hurt by their words, and he turned away. It was then his gaze fell on Bartol. The guardian cocked his head, studying him. “Have you finally come out of hiding?”
“Go to Hell,” Bartol said through clenched teeth.
“I’ve been there, and I can testify it is quite unpleasant,” the guardian replied, taking a few steps closer. He turned his attention to the scarred half of Bartol’s face and winced. “When I burned you, I wanted to make a point. Back then you were so cocky and full of confidence that I thought nothing could break you.”
Bartol clenched his fists. “No one is unbreakable.”
“I know that now.” The guardian managed to sound regretful, though it had to be some sort of ruse.
“Somehow, I doubt that,” Bartol said.
