Page 13 of Destined for Eternity
Chapter 6
Bartol
He flashed to the lawn in front of Lucas and Melena’s house. Like he and Cori, the couple lived well outside of Fairbanks where they could have more privacy. Other than a generous front lawn and smaller backyard, their home was surrounded by evergreen trees with a long drive leading from the highway. The house itself stood two-stories tall with pale-yellow siding, a garage on one side, and a camper set next to it. A fallen archangel resided inside the RV. She rarely left it since her escape from Hell the previous year, which had left her emotionally scarred and distant. There were quite a few supernaturals with that problem these days, but Alaska was a good place to avoid the world.
Bartol rarely came to this place. There was a shed in the back where the guardian—a type of angel—who’d tortured him in Purgatory lived. Many claimed Kerbasi had improved himself over the last couple of years, but Bartol would never forgive him. Not only for the permanent burn scars on the left side of his face that looked like his skin was half-melted, but also for ruining every intimate memory he’d had in his life.
The guardian had a unique ability to enter minds and manipulate them. He’d used that power to twist Bartol’s recollections of his past into nightmare versions, which was what made it difficult to be close to anyone or make love to Cori. He would never be the same. Once a renowned lover, he could no longer kiss his mate without his gut twisting with anxiety and fear.
Midway up the porch steps, the aforementioned torturer came around the corner of the house. The guardian had long, black hair he left loose down past his shoulders, his eyes swirled with silver, and he wore dark slacks with a button-up gray shirt. Just looking at him made one think he must be the devil’s cousin rather than a breed of angel. These days, he was Lucas and Melena’s watchdog. Another reason Bartol hardly visited since it was difficult to avoid Kerbasi, who harassed anyone who arrived at the house.
In his large hands, he held a tub of chocolate chip ice cream and a spoon. The man loved to eat since he discovered the pleasures of Earthly food. Ironic, since he’d regularly starved his prisoners in Purgatory, and even when they were fed, there was little worth consuming on the desert island located in a pocket dimension.
Bartol prayed every night the archangels would make the guardian return to his old position there so he could learn what it was like to go without decent food now that he would know what he was missing. Kerbasi was only on Earth to learn compassion and humanity after it had been discovered how cruel a torturer he’d become to the nephilim put under his charge. Who knew how long that would take before the archangels deemed him rehabilitated, but it was hard to imagine it would ever happen.
“Get away from me,” Bartol said in a menacing tone.
Kerbasi lifted his thick, dark brows. “I was going to offer you some ice cream.”
“It might as well be a snake if it’s coming from you.”
The guardian let out a long, dramatic sigh. “Are you ever going to get over this grudge you have against me? It’s getting tedious.”
“I have no plans to.”
“What are you doing here?” Kerbasi gave him an inquisitive look. He was like a naughty child in a large man’s body. “We both know you never come here unless it’s urgent.”
Why couldn’t he take the hint and go away? Bartol continued up the steps and headed for the front door. “It’s none of your business.”
“Does it have something to do with Jeriel’s arrival?”
Bartol paused, telling himself he shouldn’t respond, but he couldn’t resist. “What do you know about it?”
“Never heard of him before, have you?”
“No.” He waited a moment to see if the guardian would elucidate further, but he did not. “What do you know?”
Kerbasi shook his head. “He’s been Heaven’s little secret for as long as I can remember—the one who gets the dirty jobs done. Jeriel has the ability to blend into anyplace, appear like anyone, and be invisible to everyone except sensors. It makes him a good spy against the supernatural. He’s also very strong and old, so I wouldn’t try fighting him one on one if I were you.”
Cori had told Bartol after the archangel left that she’d picked up a powerful aura around him. She’d said he had to be one of the oldest she’d encountered so far.
“He’s threatening to take away my child if I don’t work for him.” Bartol had no idea why he’d admitted that to the guardian.
Kerbasi’s brows furrowed. “I thought you were in Heaven’s good graces, especially after that job in London.”
“So did I.” Not that he’d asked for it, but he’d already done enough for them that he shouldn’t have been required to do more.
“I’m sorry they’re threatening your child.” The guardian almost sounded like he meant it. “The innocent should be off limits if you ask me.”
“Why would it concern you?”
Kerbasi stared at him, working his jaw. “I’m a lot of things, I admit, but the one thing I’m not is cruel to children. They should be protected and cherished. They’re the only good and innocent thing this planet has to offer…aside from food.”
Bartol didn’t have time to decipher if the guardian was being honest. He had heard Kerbasi was well-behaved and protective over Lucas and Melena’s adopted daughter, Emily, and he’d healed a boy dying of leukemia. But who knew what his motives were?
He turned away from the infernal man and knocked on the door. It swung right open, Melena standing on the other side. Something told Bartol she’d been lurking there all along and listening to his and Kerbasi’s conversation. With her senses, she would have known the moment he arrived on the front lawn. The females of her race could detect all supernaturals within a half-mile radius of them, and the males a quarter mile. No one knew why there was a gender difference other than their race had been hated and hunted, so perhaps it was a defense mechanism to allow the women more time to protect their children if a threat approached.
“You heard?” he inquired.
