Page 7 of Living Legend

“We caught a demon on the grounds,” Markus answered. When Jonah made no move to reprimand his interruption, he continued. “We placed him in the Ethereal Bastille—”

Jonah raised a hand to silence him. “He won’t speak to anyone, but ideally, the plan is to send him back where he belongs. We just need to know how he got here.”

I digested the information in pieces, collecting my thoughts. The Ethereal Bastille was my posting a few times a week, watching over the lowlifes and miscreants, a hell hole within itself. “Don’t the portals have alarms?” It was one of the few things I knew about when it came to our magical transportation system.

“They do, but when we checked them, the portals were secure, without failures.”

I scratched my chin, feeling the small stubble I’d missed. “I guess I’m just not understanding what any of this has to do with us.” I nodded towards Reese, his face twisted in skepticism.

Jonah let out a small smile and laugh. “Well, Nicholas, I guess I’ll get to the point. You both have the highest in your respective skill sets, and I’ve been told you both did quite well with the trainees last year.” I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes and settled for an internal grumble.

Reese pushed his seat back and perched at the edge. “We appreciate the compliments, but personally, I’m not seeing the connection between our resume and your problem.”

Jonah clasped his hands on the table. “We are assigning you this mission.”

I blinked. “You want us to figure out how the demon got through?”

Jonah nodded, tapping his fingers. “Yes. Start at Oculus, where the portals were first conceived.”

“Oculus! No fuck—” Reese started.

I quickly cut him off. “Sir, we appreciate the opportunity, but that seems a bit out of our reach.”

Oculus wasn’t a part of Heaven's Gate; it was off to the side, in the forest region. The history of Oculus was complicated. It had once been a promising land, filled with beauty, but now overflowed with ivy, ruined weaving, and winding gravel roads. Its inhabitants were called Enchanters. I’d been told they were beautiful, magical beings, but there were also people who claimed they looked like old hags in dark cloaks.

“I’m quite aware of the stories of Oculus, Nicholas, but I wouldn’t send you there without some sort of plan, much less with a threat of violence.” Jonah reached out and squeezed my shoulder, watching as I settled at his words. Oculus was old magic, something I had no interest in understanding. Its people had magic we didn’t comprehend. I wasn’t one to automatically judge, but our history hadn’t been a pleasant one.

Ariel slapped his palm on the table, catching everyone’s attention. “I think it’s time, sir.” He looked over at Jonah, hoping he’d agree. Jonah gestured towards the door, Ariel made a beeline to it. “We don’t plan to leave you two to your own devices.” Ariel rapped his knuckles on the door four times and stepped back.

The door opened slowly, two wide shouldered sentry angels stepping inside. They moved away from each other, allowing me to see the glow of golden handcuffs. I looked down at the ground, noticing a pair of black, knee high boots, then raised my eyes to a pair of thighs, shorts, and a face.

Her face.

Her eyes were a deep rich brown, staring right at me, as if she knew I’d been eyeing her. Her lips melted into a smirk, like she knew something I didn’t. Her skin was a warm brown, and it looked so smooth, like the finest silk. Dark brown hair flowed down to her shoulders, loose and tight curls interspersed throughout. Even though I was sitting, I could tell she was significantly shorter than me, even with the slight heel of her boots.

Fuck, she was pretty.

I had to physically force myself to look away and stare down at the floor. My cock started to twitch – fuck, it’d been too long since I’d last gotten laid.

“Demons? Aren’t they the problem?” Reese quipped, staring at Ariel. “I’m not seeing the logic.”

Ariel looked over our heads at Jonah, who looked taken aback. I followed his gaze to the two female demons in front of us, the one I’d marveled over now joined by one with the most severely annoyed smirk. She had the palest skin I’d ever seen, two crossing switchblades tattooed on her neck. Her blunt bangs sat right over her defined eyebrows, but I could clearly make out the way she pulled them together in disgruntled distaste.

“Ariel, what is the meaning of this?” Jonah sputtered.

Ariel swallowed hard before responding. “Sir, I brought you what you asked for.” His pale cheeks turned tomato red, and it looked like he was starting to sweat.

Jonah got out of his chair and moved around the table, unbuttoning the silver buttons holding his teal jacket closed. I looked over to Reese, who made eye contact with me, a million unspoken questions darting between us.

“Iknowwhat I asked you to do, but it clearly seems you didn’t do it.”

“There was one—” Ariel started, voice cracking. He cleared his throat, running a shaky hand through his hair. “I assure you, I provided what was asked.”

Markus knocked on the table, commanding our attention. “Maybe we shouldn’t squabble with two young angels at the table, hmm?”

I tried to sneak a glance around Jonah to the female from before, noticing a small glint of light from her back pocket. I blinked, thinking the light was playing tricks on me.

There it was again. A small glimmer.

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