Facing the Darkness — Susan Illene

Originally featured in the “A Very Paranormal Holiday" Anthology. Facing the Darkness has since been revised and expanded.

Kerbasi, a former guardian of Purgatory, has resisted every effort to help him find his humanity. After more than four-thousand years of ruling over supernatural prisoners in the cruelest of ways, he feels he's above the petty concerns of mankind. But what is he to do when he's tasked with bringing comfort to a boy sick with cancer during the holiday season? This is one child who just might break through the impervious wall he's wrapped around his heart.

Word count: 22,000 (approximate)