Destined for Eternity

by Susan Illene

  “Micah!” Bartol yelled, searching for the nephilim, but unable to spot him in the chaos. Other than Ivan, Lucas’ brother was the next best healer he knew.

  He yelled for him twice more as he fought off two more demons that came running at him and the injured nerou. They’d already lost at least three people on their side that Bartol had seen, and they couldn’t afford to lose more. He might not have gotten to know most of them very well, but they were good people who did not deserve to die before they had a chance to truly live life on Earth.

  Micah flashed before him. “I’m here. Go help the others.”

  Bartol lingered a minute more to be sure the nephilim wasn’t attacked while he worked on Ivan. Several demons ran at them in that space of time. He made quick work of them, killing them so they would not rise again. Once Micah had closed the wound on Ivan’s throat and started on his stomach, Bartol took off.

  He ran toward the pile of bodies the nerou had waiting for him by the dorms. There had to be at least forty of them there, and it made him proud the students had done so well. One by one, he pulled their essences out and released them into the atmosphere. Though he went as fast as he could, his powers began depleting. It started to take longer and longer with each one. His hands began to shake by the time he made it midway through the pile, and the nerou were having to re-stun the demons while he worked.

  Jeriel came to his side. “You must finish them faster.”

  “I’m nearly drained,” Bartol said, hating to admit his weakness when everyone needed his ability the most. “I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up before I have nothing left.”

  Last December, he never would have imagined he could extract that many demons’ essences in one day. He must have executed nearly a hundred so far, but there were many more to do.

  The red-headed archangel put a hand on Bartol’s shoulder. “Don’t move.”

  Every fiber of his being wanted to jerk away, but he forced himself to stay still. A white light sprung from Jeriel’s fingertips. With it came warmth and energy that poured into him. Some of his discomfort lifted. The archangel was giving up some of his precious power so that Bartol could continue his work. Within a minute, he was as strong as he’d ever been.

  “Thank you,” he said as Jeriel pulled away.

  “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.

  Chapter 23

  Cori

  The labor pains were getting unbearable and only a minute apart. Cori lay on the bed in Melena’s guest bedroom, soaked in sweat. She didn’t know how much more agony she could take. This time, she wouldn’t get an epidural like she had with her daughter. Paula had warned her months ago that painkillers wouldn’t work well for her since her body had been altered by Melena’s blood.

  “I’m sorry,” the sensor said, rushing back into the room. “The doctor won’t wake up from her day sleep. It’s still too early for her, but we called Heidi. She’s with a werewolf who is giving birth right now, but she promised she’d be here as soon as possible.”

  Kerbasi grunted. “That fool should come here instead. Want me to go steal her away?”

  “No. Don’t do that.” Cori had just gotten past her latest contraction. “I’ll be okay.”

  The guardian had been holding Cori’s hand for the last hour, never complaining even when she broke one of his fingers after squeezing too tightly. She hadn’t asked him to do it and had even told him to go away, but he’d refused. He’d been a surprisingly good labor coach.

  Another contraction started. Intense pain wrenched through her abdomen and across her lower back. She screamed, unable to help herself. This was going well past what she’d experienced with her last baby. It took a moment to catch her breath and ask the question that had been uppermost in her mind. “Have you heard anything from our guys at the compound yet?”

  “No.” Melena shook her head. “But I’m sure we’ll hear something soon.”

  They’d had to leave while their friends, family, and the nerou fought for their lives at the training center. Cori had never seen anything worse than the hordes of demons that had attacked. And that was saying something as someone from Fairbanks who’d witnessed a takeover of the town by a powerful nephilim, Zoe, and later a version of the black plague strike the supernatural population. The town had seen its fair share of danger over the years.

  Water gushed from between Cori’s legs, soaking the sheets. “Oh, God. My water just broke.”

  “Um, okay.” Melena’s eyes widened, and she turned pale. “What should we do now?”

  “Get some towels because it’s going to keep leaking until the baby is born.” Thank God she’d been through this before because no one else in the room had a clue what to do.

  Melena waited until Cori finished breathing through another contraction before stacking several towels underneath her. “Is there something else I can help with?”

  “Put some more fresh ones on the dresser and clean water,” she instructed the sensor.

  Kerbasi cleared his throat. The guardian was some
what pallid himself, but his voice and bearing still emitted confidence. “What do you need from me?”

  “You want to keep helping?”

  “I won’t leave until your mate arrives.” He lifted his chin. “I promised him I would keep you and the baby safe.”

  “You didn’t promise to hold my hand or watch me give birth, though,” Cori pointed out.

  His silver eyes swirled, and his expression turned determined. “I cannot make up for the terrible things I’ve done to your mate and others. I am well aware of that, but if staying by your side as you give birth to your child will redeem me even a little, it will be worth it.”

  Cori didn’t know what to say to that. She wanted to keep hating the guardian, but sometimes he threw curveballs at her like this where he showed he might have a little goodness in him after all. Maybe he really was trying to become a better person as Melena claimed. At the moment, Cori had no one else except the sensor, so she had to take what she could get.

  “Have you attended a childbirth before?” she asked.

  “No.” He gave her an apologetic look. “But I once healed a boy from leukemia. If you need healing, I can do that much.”

  She suddenly got the strong urge to bear down and push. The pressure was too great to resist. “The baby is coming!”

  “Shit,” Melena said, glancing between Cori and Kerbasi. “I have no idea what to do.”

  The guardian let out a growl of frustration. “Don’t you watch any television? Some things are at least somewhat obvious. There’s only one way for the baby to come out naturally, and it’s not through her mouth!”

  Cori had already stripped down to only a tank top and pulled a sheet over her lower half. Kerbasi grabbed the edge of it. “Do you mind?”

  Under any other circumstances, she would have kicked him in the face. Right then, she was too busy with another contraction and pushing. “Do whatever you gotta do,” she said through clenched teeth. “Just help me get this baby out!”

  “Very well, but don’t tell your mate about this.” Kerbasi took a deep breath and lifted the sheet, tucking it over her knees. “I can see a head, and there’s dark hair.”

  Melena settled next to Cori on the bed, taking her hand. “Squeeze as hard as you want.”

  “I hope you can handle it,” she said as another contraction came. The pain rocked her body, bringing tears to her eyes. “Count to ten for me.”

  Cori took a deep breath and started to push.

  “One, two, three, four…” Melena began, going too fast.

  Cori was too busy pushing to tell the sensor she needed to say the numbers more slowly. Only after the contraction passed could she lie back for a moment and explain the intricacies of counting during labor.

  “Oh, okay,” the sensor said, gulping. She had a lot more confidence when facing an enemy. “Maybe I should have watched a few YouTube videos of this first.”

  “I think with the next push you might get the child’s head out,” Kerbasi said, glancing up at her from over the sheet. He looked half demonic himself, rather than angel, but at that moment she trusted him to help her through her labor. Never before had she seen anyone more determined to get something right.

  “Okay, next contraction.” Cori felt her uterus tighten and pushed for all she was worth while Melena counted—correctly this time. It hurt so badly she thought she’d explode. A ring of fire ran through her opening just as the head passed through and slipped out.

  “Well done,” Kerbasi said, grinning widely. “Now you must push very hard again to get the rest of this child out.”

  Cori sucked in several gulps of air before the next contraction came. The pain roared through her, and she just wanted it to end. Melena had to remind her to push.

  “You’ve got this,” the sensor said. “It’s time to meet that baby.”

  She bore down and pushed with all her might. It burned as the infant’s body slipped between her legs and into Kerbasi’s waiting hands. She waited, expecting a loud cry, but there was no sound.

  “Oh, God. What do I do?” the guardian asked, panic in his eyes. “The baby doesn’t look right.”

  “Clean out the mouth!” Cori instructed, leaning upward to get a better view.

  His eyes widened. “How?”

  “Scoop it with your finger,” she said, struggling to hold herself up but frantic to save her baby. Her body was too weak to do more. “Melena, give him the bulb syringe to clear the nose. Then grab the towels and a pair of scissors.” Cori had made sure everything was sterilized and ready to go when she first arrived at Mel’s house.

  “Oh, right.” The sensor shook herself out of her shock and grabbed the items. While Kerbasi scooped the mouth, she worked on the nose and ears. Cori continued instructions on how to cut the umbilical cord and tie if off until Heidi could clamp it properly. Still, the baby didn’t cry.

  The guardian turned the child over and patted its back. “Breathe, little one. Please breathe.”

  No sound.

  Tears were running down Cori’s cheeks. It was over two weeks early, which wouldn’t be bad for a nine-month pregnancy, but her gestation period had been much shorter. Maybe it had been too soon for the baby to survive on its own.

  Then something occurred to her. “Melena, when my water broke, was it clear?”

  “No.” The sensor shook her head, eyes frantic. “It was a little green.”

  Why hadn’t Cori thought to ask that before? “The baby might have breathed in some of the meconium.”

  “Some what?”

  “It’s what they call the baby’s first poop.” She looked at Kerbasi. “Is there any way you can clear it from the baby’s lungs?”

  “I don’t know.” He gave her a bewildered look. “But I will try.”

  “Please. You have to.”

  “I need my hands free for this. You must take her,” he told Melena, holding out the child.

  “Her?” Cori asked.

  He nodded. “My apologies. You had a girl.”

  There was no time for smiling or congratulations just yet. The guardian put his hands on the baby’s chest and closed his eyes. His brows drew together. For long minutes, they waited while he attempted to do something he’d never heard of before.

  “I see the green stuff inside,” he said, eyes closed as he used some sort of internal vision. “But I don’t know how…”

  Ariel rushed into the room. “Oh, for crying out loud. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to intervene.”

  “How did you know?” Melena asked, drawing her brows together.

  “As if I could continue sleeping through all that screaming and whining.” The former archangel joined Kerbasi at his side. The last time the guardian healed a child, she’d helped him figure out what to do. Back then, she hadn’t fallen and gone to Hell yet, and one of her specialties had been performing healing miracles. “Now do it like this.”

  Ariel’s hand glowed as she put her palm over Kerbasi’s, and together they worked to clear the baby’s lungs. Cori wanted to watch, but labor pains started up once more as her body told her it was time to get the placenta out. Everyone was too busy to notice. It wasn’t nearly as painful as when she delivered the baby, and after a few minutes, she felt it slip from her body. She lay back against the pillows and waited anxiously as the guardian and Ariel worked.

  Please, God, let her little girl be okay. She couldn’t lose another one.

  A minute later, they took their hands off the baby, and she let out her first scream. The wail was loud and the most beautiful thing Cori had ever heard. Let her cry as long and as hard as she wanted as long as it meant she was breathing.

  “Your daughter will be okay now,” Ariel assured her. The former archangel checked the rest of the child over and sealed the umbilical cord. “No sense in waiting for this to heal on its own when I can take care of it now.”

  The fallen angel and Melena worked together to wrap the child up, then brought her over to Cori. She stared at her daughter, who had a full
head of dark brown hair and stunning blue eyes. The baby was a little bigger than her previous daughter had been and yet she seemed so tiny. She stopped crying as soon as she looked up into Cori’s eyes. It was as if the knowledge of the universe was hidden there, fresh from wherever new souls came from, but she couldn’t tell them a thing.

  “Oh, God. She’s beautiful,” she breathed in wonder of her daughter.

  Melena smiled. “Yes, she is. What are you going to name her?”

  Thankfully, Cori and Bartol had managed to pick out the names for a son or daughter months ago. It was one of the few things she’d gotten him to do before he’d become really distant from her. “Sybil—it was Bartol’s mother’s name.”

  “Oh, that is a good choice,” Ariel said, moving closer to the bed. “I remember her as a sweet woman who everyone near her loved.”

  “You knew her?” Cori asked, surprised.

  “Not precisely.” The former archangel put her finger in one of the baby’s hands and smiled when Sybil squeezed it. “I watched from afar since it was my job to keep an eye on Bartol during his early years.”

  “Oh, sure. Now you tell me.”

  Ariel gave her a wicked smile. “It is no fun if I reveal all my secrets at once, but perhaps someday I’ll tell you a little of his antics.”

  Kerbasi let out a dramatic sigh and threw his hands up in the air. “Forget all of that. Surely you could have named the girl after me since I did deliver her.”

  “Oh, no.” Cori snuggled her daughter closely. “Nice try, though.”

  He chuckled. “I suspected as much, but I had to make the argument.”

  Someone pounded on the front door. Cori tensed, though she knew an enemy wouldn’t knock. “Who is here?”

  “A werewolf,” Melena replied. “That must be Heidi.” She raced out of the room to answer the door.

  A minute later she returned with the woman. Heidi was in her thirties with dark-blond hair, a strong build, and a no-nonsense attitude. “I’m sorry I missed the big moment, but if you could hand the baby to me, I’ll check her over.”