Page 178 of Living Legend

"You know more than that," I pressed, puncturing part of his ear and bringing the blade down. Dark red liquid oozed from the back of his ear, and he winced.

He sputtered before answering. "I did ask her about it once. She told me it was a contingency plan. She told me not to mind what she was doing and focus on the goal, that the demons she experimented with were weak anyway, so it didn't matter. She would have what she wanted from you, whether you willingly gave it or she forced it from you."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion at his words. A contingency plan? I was about to open my mouth to ask him something else when I heard a yelp from below. I looked down, taken out of my thoughts as I watched a large sentry haul Natalia back. Elise created a reddened flame in her hand and thrusted it at the sentry, who let go of Natalia as he tried to bat it away. The flame leaked into his clothes, dissolving into black liquid that caused him to let out a cry of pain.

I watched as Isabel haphazardly created a portal for herself and disappeared, the blood from her wounded hand still splattered on the wood. Natalia turned around, looking for Isabel and finding her nowhere.

"I don't know why I thought this would be easy," I heard Markus say. "Maybe all this wasn't worth it. This place is riddled with lies and tyranny." He sounded like he was mumbling nonsense.

He muttered, "I will never know his fascination with that boy." I realized I had lost my hold on him then, but right as I looked at him to get it back, he extended his arm and shot out a stream of light. I tried to cut them off, but they burned my arm, causing me to hiss out in pain. I followed them as they hit a distracted Nick right in the back as he flew up ahead. He had his sword up to strike, but the streams of light stopped him.

"Nick!" I heard Reese yell, right as a sentry tried to pierce his back. He grabbed one of his arrows and slammed it into the sentry’s chest.

Nick let out a shout of pain, his back arching as if it had stunned him, before he started to fall to the ground. Jonah flew to catch him before he hit the floor.

I might not have had the best relationship with that stubborn angel at the moment, but that didn’t mean I wanted to see him in pain. I cast my dagger in shadows, not needing it at the moment, and grabbed Markus by his jacket, throwing him down onto the table, causing the wood to crack and break. I landed on the table next to him and looked over to where Jonah held Nick. I tucked my wings inward so as not to completely put them away. Reese and Elise were still fighting but simultaneously looked over. Natalia had her hand pressed to a tall sentry’s throat as he started to cough up blood and convulse.

I could see that Nick was breathing and his eyes flickered ever so slightly.

"The boy has done nothing to you!" Jonah shouted. I could hear a falter in his voice, as if he could have started crying.

Markus coughed as Nick blinked his eyes open, taking in deep breaths as he brought his hands out in front of him, as if trying to focus on something he could control. The top of his jacket was burnt and charred, but he wasn't bleeding severely, except for the slashes and cuts from the fight. It was as if Markus only wanted to hurt him to get a rise out of Jonah. The highest executive helped Nick sit up, placing a hand to the side of his face tenderly. It was a gesture that told me Jonah did care about him, despite keeping secrets, secrets that from what I could remember about our Divine Library visit, Markus wasn't even aware of.

I stepped on Markus' chest with my foot as he heaved out a breath. "Do what you must to me, Soul Seether. I'm about to get everything I wanted. Lilith will have what she wants with or without my involvement." He said it with so much vigor, as much as someone could when their airway was constricting. Markus tilted his head towards Jonah and Nick, letting two words slip out of his mouth.

"Kill him."

My breathing stuttered as I heard those stark words leave his lips. I pressed harder on his chest as he whooshed out air from his lungs. I could feel my boot digging into his skin, wanting to make a permanent indentation. Two sentries above us flapped their wings and headed towards the two men in front of me.

"No!" I heard myself shout. It was a foreign sound, almost strained. I bent down and grabbed Markus' head, bringing his face to mine. "Call it off!"

Markus just smiled, a smile of someone happy with his choices in the most disgusting way. I slammed his head against the wood, watching as his teeth slammed together and blood gushed from the inside of his ears. Cracks in the once pristine wood table started to develop behind his head. A sentry charged towards me, the same sentry who had burned the fuck out of my neck. He was threatening to do the same thing to the rest of my body, his hands lit up with gold and white magic as he threw light at me. I threw out my own dark magic, watching that light crumble to pieces. Tendrils of darkness quickly curled around his neck, charring his skin. The sizzling sound of the sweet karma I gave him filtered through the room.

"Watch out!" Reese yelled from above, readying his arrow in seconds as he shot down one of the sentries headed for Nick and Jonah. One of the angels was hit while the other ducked out of the way, the arrow nearly missing him. Natalia threw out her own magic, but the angel dodged it as well, determined to meet its mark. They were close, so fucking close.

Markus just laughed under me as I rallied up a burst of dark magic in my palm and was set to throw it in the angel's direction, knowing I wouldn't miss. In the last second, a sword shot upward and diagonal, stopping the angel in his tracks. Nick huffed out a breath as he barreled his sword through the angel's chest, blood coating the front of his shirt.

He looked at me as the sentry fell to the ground. His eyes moved to my hand, still covered in my own dark magic, and I could see the small sliver of a smile in his eyes, knowing I would have saved him if it had come to that. He looked a little weak but not completely down for the count.

Nick turned to look at Jonah and within seconds of our triumph, Jonah's breath stiffened. He looked down at his stomach and I watched as Nick followed the movement. The end of a long metal sword was protruding out. The sentry swiftly pulled the blade out, and Jonah sucked in a sharp breath as blood pulsed out of his open wound. Natalia blasted the sentry who had struck him with her own powerful magic, practically turning him to dust on the spot. She rushed over to Jonah as Nick stood still, watching as one of the few men he looked up to hit the ground on his knees and stagger forwards.

I placed a hand over my mouth, unable to form words.

I grabbed Markus's head and hit it against the wooden table so many times, I lost count. "You fucking piece of stupid shit! Does that make you feel better?" I screamed as the smile on his face never left, as if he was happy to die at my hands, regardless of anything else. Jonah was his goal and he completed it. Living in the world he wanted hadn't happened, but that was not what his heart truly desired. I manifested my dagger into my hands, watching the fight around us. I needed the sentries to stop.

I pulled him up by his lapels. "How do I make them stop?" I stabbed him in the chest, curving the hook inside. He would be in pain, but he would not die just yet.He coughed, blood spilling from his mouth and splattering along his chin. He was fighting against me yet again.

"You got what you wanted; now, tell me how to make them stop! It isn't like you will live to see what happens next." I curved the dagger further, feeling the tug of his soul against the tip.

Markus spit out more blood as he tried to move his hands to put up some resistance, but I readjusted my position so that the bottom of my boots were pressing down onto his hands. He groaned in agony and my blood boiled from the enjoyment of watching it.

"Isabel, s-she c-cast a spell to contain the manipulation, just as Natalia put up a ward to cast anyone out of Oculus except an opening for you. You were a-able to come through unaffected." He took in a breath. "Break the ward and they'll stop."

I twisted the dagger more. I leaned into him, hoping he would seethe at my words. "I hope you enjoy the confines of Hell. If you thought death would bring your loved one back to you, I wouldn't count on it." I yanked the dagger out, watching as the shadowy white ball of magic hung from the tip, writhing around like a fish out of water. I gripped it in my hand, ripping it away from my weapon and looking Markus right in the eye.

I took his soul in both my hands and began to rip it in half. Souls felt like clouds, if clouds had membranes and emotions. It was everything you were, and without it, with it ripped it and torn to shreds, the reason to live was nonexistent. Markus convulsed on the ground as he strained for breath and contorted his body, as if I was doing the very action of ripping him in two. I crushed the soul in my hands and watched as his eyes glassed over, a look of vacancy taking hold. He was breathing but unmoving. I plunged my dagger into his heart, watching as he writhed for a few moments before eventually settling into his much-needed death.

I was sweating and panting, but the sweet, sweet adrenaline was the only thing I could taste. My darkness craved more of it, and it ached to do this again and again. I felt my heart pull in a different direction, a direction right in front of me. Natalia and Nick were over Jonah's slow-breathing body. I flicked my eyes up to Reese and Elise, watching as they fought seamlessly. Natalia was making sure every sentry was pushed back, turned to dust, or writhing in pain. I pushed my wings back out and flew over to Natalia, hauling her up from the ground.

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