The Devil's Guardian

The Devil's Guardian - Chapter 3

"This is the twenty-first century, Deville!" His close friend and business partner, Sebastian, exclaimed with exasperation. "You can choose your wife-to-be face to face. You can even have a trial first!"

"Trial?" Devlin Tzevaot asked absently.

"Trial living with each other! Imagine you're already married with her and--"

"I don't think so," Devlin cut in. "I decided to get married at thirty-five years old and have children. About three or five children will do. One girl and four boys. No divorce. No prenuptial agreement either."

"How can you do that?" Sebastian asked. His expression was disbelieving.

"By using the technology of the twenty-first century, bro!" Devlin replied matter-of-factly. "She must be scanned for fertility, loyalty, and health--using the scanner that we have invented."

"You mean, you are willing to gamble your future happiness with a machine! That's rubbish, bro!"

"What's the matter? You said, you believed in our scanner. You said, it is the invention of not only the decade but of the century," he uttered cynically. "That does mean you're just mouthing a lot of nonsense?"

"I do believe in our invention, bro. I believe that it is the greatest innovation for the medical field. It can detect cancer at the earliest stage! But it cannot choose the right partner for you, Deville!"

Devlin gave a shrug. "Okay!" he sighed heavily. "I'll get married with a prenuptial agreement and divorce! Satisfied?"

"I--okay... You're just joking?"

"No. I'll capitulate to your reasoning because I still believe that the machine can choose my partner for me. Period."

"But you are experimenting!"

"What's wrong with that? At least, I'm willing to experiment! I'll even document the process for a believable testimonial! Satisfied?"

Sebastian opened his mouth and closed it again.

"That's the end of discussion." Devlin closed his laptop. His mouth was unsmiling. "Time to go home. Bye, bro! Want to go home with me?" Devlin invited casually.

"Nah. It's Friday. I'm meeting Siti," Sebastian declined.

Devlin Tzevaot lived alone in his centuries-old castle. It was built in the fifteenth century, according to the records found in the old-fashioned vault.

Even though he maintained a penthouse suite in one of his hotels at the city, he liked to go home in the Devil's Castle.

He had updated the property. He added two helipads and a big hangar. He enlarged the garage and constructed the wide driveway.

Sebastian collected girlfriends since they were in high school. Devlin collected vehicles. He had a thousand vehicles displayed in each house of glass along the long and winding road to the mountain. It was the most extensive and most expensive motorway!

But he seldom used this road nowadays since he was always brought out and in by one of his helicopters.

'Tomorrow, I'll ride the Bugatti La Voiture Noire!' It had been waiting for him since last week! Twenty million dollars was nothing to Devlin Tzevaot. He had inherited a lot of ancient money--from the pirates' treasures to the old Swiss bank accounts of assassins!

His ancestors were a bold and dangerous lot. But whether they were true or not, their moneys were poured over to Devlin's bank accounts. The interests of these moneys were arranged to go to different charities.

To Devlin, having a lot of money had brought him only heartache. At an early age, he fell for an older woman.

"Oh, Dev! You saved me from my father's creditors. They would have disfigured me if not for your intervention!"

"I will do anything for you, Agnes! Just tell me your troubles!"

Agnes had many troubles. She needed a house and a meal ticket. Her family had helped on draining him off. They had different demands and requirements before he could take Agnes to his home.

"My father and my mother had no work! I want him to have a small business! I want him to buy a farm! I want him to buy things!"

Agnes was an actress. She used her glib tongue to suck him dry. She knew how to use make-up to appear younger than him.

And he believed her. He did not kiss her. He respected her. He was willing to wait because Agnes was only fifteen!

Until Sebastian rescued Devlin. He had investigated her background and showed Devlin the evidences.

"Bro, you're dealing with a bunch of professional con-men!"

"I have to ask Agnes why did she do it!" Devlin was still willing believe that there was a good side to the girl he fell for.

"I'll go with you!" Sebastian insisted.

But they could not find Agnes. She and her whole family vanished like hot air!

Agnes' deceit did not even put a dent to Devlin's considerable wealth but she had put a big damage to his pride and his judgment. Since then, he was never confident when he was face-to-face with a woman.

He was tongue-tied. He had experienced tremors. It was uncontrollable! His PTSD or posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms had seemed to return although he refused to see a psychologist.

Devlin had avoided all women. It was easy at work. He had hired all male employees around him.

Devlin used his money to invent the scanner. He and Sebastian were both excellent in physics but he had hired the best brains in the field. They had spent years to have a perfect machine.

After a thousand times experimenting the scanner, Devlin had come to the idea of finding the perfect spouse for him!

"The scanner will help the whole world! There will be happy children! There will be happy adults! There will be no divorce to ruin the family!"

'Deep inside--do you really believe in the mantra of the scanner's commercial jingle?' Devlin whispered to himself.

His thoughts had dug deeper. The memory of the happy family he had thought he had...

Before he met Sebastian, Devlin was a normal boy who went to school with the governess and the driver. His parents attended the usual school activities.

"Dad, Mom, there is a teachers-parents meeting tomorrow!" Devlin would tell proudly to his parents. Confident that they would go.

"Of course, we will go tomorrow. What time, Devlin?" His father always answered him.

Little did Devlin know the many secrets hidden behind the door of his parents' bedroom.

One morning, his parents were found dead. Both had a bullet wound on the chest.

Devlin was shocked. He did not speak for about a year. He had felt betrayed. Why did he have no inkling to what was really happening?

At the young age of twelve, he was diagnosed to have PTSD. He had undergone months of psychiatric medical attention.

'What was happening?' That was the question he had carried inside him for the last twenty years. He felt icy inside. He never laughed. He never smiled. 'Would his parents had been happy if they divorced?'

'That is a childish question!' Devlin scolded himself. 'You better go ahead with the experiment!'

Sebastian had thought that Devlin was only teasing. But not really! When he had found the girl to be his perfect partner, he would marry her!

He had alighted from the helicopter. He was walking to the entrance of the castle. When out of nowhere, something dropped from above. It hit hard on his head.

Devlin had felt dizzy and fell flat on his face. Something soft was lying on his back.

"What is that?" He groaned while he let it roll of his back. "A girl?"

Devlin got up and went at arm's length as though burned.

"Oh! My head! It hurts!"

He frowned. 'She speaks differently!'

He glanced up. She came from above. Maybe, she jumped from a flying airplane?

Devlin did not believe that theory.

The woman got up on her arms. Her legs were shaky. Her body was swaying when she stood up.

Her clothes and shoes were different, too. Her leather shoes were tied up by leather cords. Her dress was a wrap-around thing that looked frumpy because of the lumpiness of the fabric.

Her face was full of dirt. Her hair was like brushwood because of thick soot.

"Oh, no! Don't faint again!" After she said that, she would fall flat on her face if Devlin did not catch her.