Page 62 of Destined for Eternity
“Do not thank me yet. You still have much to do.”
A pack of seven demons headed toward them, and the archangel left to face them. Bartol resumed his work, able to go fast again. Since the nerou were stunning even more at the same time, the pile barely got smaller. Over and over, he put his hands on demons—sometimes two at a time—to extract their essence. His head was so full of the dark energy that it was beginning to get difficult to see straight. He had to concentrate to let it out. Even with the boost of archangel powers, his body was wearing down.
Bartol had no idea how much time had passed. Lucas started bringing his own pile of demon torsos to be executed. Once the essence was pulled from them, the severed limbs stopped moving and attacking their people. He’d never witnessed anything more gruesome in his life, and he’d once fought battles with Lucas for entertainment long ago.
After an unknown amount of time, he had to crawl to the last demon he could find. It took more than two minutes to finish that one off. Once he did, a hand grasped his shoulder. He jumped but didn’t have the energy even to fight off whoever touched him.
“It’s done. You can rest now.”
He looked up to find his father’s face swimming before his vision. “We finished all of them?”
“Some got away.” Raguel sighed. “We’re not certain how many, but we don’t have the resources to follow them right now.”
Bartol rocked back on his heels and took a few deep breaths until he could see more clearly. He noted his father was only in marginally better shape. The archangel appeared as if he’d aged ten years in the last couple of hours. Lines wrinkled his forehead, and he walked with a limp. Like Bartol, he’d been injured numerous times during the battle.
“How many of our people are dead?” he asked.
“I’m not certain. I have only just finished vanquishing the demons, but I know of at least four.”
Lucas cleared his throat, standing off to the side. “I have counted ten nerou so far.”
“And Cori?” Bartol struggled to his feet. “Have you received any word about her?”
“Melena took her to our home, but that is all I know.”
“I must go.” He concentrated on flashing but found he didn’t even have the power to travel the ten or so miles it was to Lucas’ house. “Can someone take me?”
Remiel joined them. “I have just enough power left to get us both there.”
It said something about the difficulty and longevity of the battle that a full archangel was severely weakened. “I would appreciate that.”
“You should shower first when you get there,” Remiel warned. “It is not good to expose your mate and child to demon blood.”
As much as he wanted to see Cori right away, the archangel was right. “Of course.”
“Have Melena give you a change of clothes from my closet,” Lucas said.
“Thank you. I’ll do that.”
Remiel took Bartol’s arm, and a moment later, they flashed away from the compound.
