Page 80 of Living Legend

I let my hand ghost along his, ever so slightly touching his knuckles, fingers, then letting the tips touch my dagger. I felt my eyes flutter closed at the contact. I closed my hand around it, but he still refused to let go. He looked at me as if trying to decide if this was a good idea.

“It’s way too late for a morality check,” I stated, looking him up and down, letting my eyes linger a bit longer on his crotch. I felt my thighs squeeze together from the thought of it inside of me. “Far, far too late.”

He followed my eyes, a vein in his neck pulsing. “It was a mistake.” He said it in a low voice, so low I had to lean in to hear him. Our hands still barely touched on the hilt of my dagger, neither of us wanting to let go.

I mirrored his low tone. “Oh, of course it was.” I shuffled my feet so I was closer to him, so close that I could smell him again, but this time, I focused in on every scent I could catch. The ends of my lips tilted upward. “Is that why you still smell like me?”

His eyes dilated right as he let the dagger slip from his hands and into mine. He watched as I rolled the hilt around in my palms and ran the pad of my index finger down the silver metal. He opened his mouth slightly to challenge my words, but I didn’t let him.

I placed my hand against his chest and whispered, “I’m flattered you loved the scent of me so much, you couldn’t bear to remove it, but you don’t seem like the type to make the same mistake twice.” I bit my bottom lip and watched as he stared directly at the movement, as if he was remembering the way my lips felt against his. “Or maybe you are.”

He broke away after a moment and moved to the door, shaking his head as he placed his palm on the door. It moved open, the tension in the room beyond dispersing around us.

Reese let out a low whistle. “You’ve got thirty minutes, no more, no less.”

“Thirty minutes?”

“From what I’ve heard, you should be able to do it in five, but Nick here decided you might be a little rusty.”

Nicholas stopped the door from opening any more than necessary. “Get as much information as you can get, that’s all we ask”

I nodded, placing the dagger in the side pocket of my leggings. “I got it, thanks.” Inside the room, there was nothing but a chair and a demon tied to it.

“We’ll come in when time’s up. We’ll be right outside,” he said, a hint of caring in his voice.

“I got it,” I repeated, not giving him another look before disappearing behind the door. I heard it slowly close behind me. I was finally alone…sort of. The room had the same stones as the rest of the prison. There was a cement bench protruding out of the left wall with cobwebs hanging from the corners.

I looked over at the demon tied to the chair. It sent a wave of déjà vu over my body as I remembered all those souls I had torn in Purgatory. I remembered all the blood and the screams; it almost made me smile now. There was a blindfold over its eyes, and if I listened closely, it was humming something softly.

I stepped closer to it. Closer, closer, and closer.

A familiar scent hit me, and I paused. It was notably familiar, but it wasn’t at all what I expected. I smelled boredom; it floated in the air and through my nostrils as if this demon had physically just shrugged its shoulders. It was a man, by the looks of it.

“Finally. I was wondering when they would send you,” he said, his voice smooth. I knew that voice.

I reached toward the blindfold and yanked it off. He tilted back at the motion and shook his head. A few of his inky black curls bounced as they settled back near the tops of his ears. His skin was tan and dusty from the cell’s dirt. I narrowed my eyes at the face I had seen so many times during my early years in Purgatory, before Elise had made her entrance. He was the first teacher I’d had. At the command of Lilith, he’d happily stepped aside when Elise strutted in and told him to get lost. I had only seen him from time to time after that.

He looked up at me with those deep green eyes I knew so well. They never held any care or passion for me, but they did have a sense of chaos I used to adore.

“Cullen?” His name came from me laced with confusion and a hit of anger.

He smirked at me with amusement. “I’m surprised you remember me.”

I held the crumpled blindfold in my hand and squeezed tightly, hoping the dirty cloth would somehow disintegrate. “You are quite unforgettable, if I remember correctly.”

He laughed. “You seem upset.”

I walked around the chair, letting my fingertips glide across the top of the back. “Me? Upset? No, why would you think that?” Cullen being here didn’t surprise me. He was, after all, one of Lilith’s right hands, always there and willing to do whatever she wished with no questions asked and no hesitation.

Cullen looked straight ahead. “I know you expected to find a demon less familiar to you, but I have to say, I’m so very happy to see your face again.”

“Under these circumstances, I can’t honestly believe that.”

“You don’t have to believe it; I say it as a fact. I am quite joyous at our current reunion.”

I rolled my eyes, slipping my hand into my pocket. Leaning against the chair, I let the dagger dangle from my fingers near the side of his face. The feel of the weapon in my hands, knowing all the damage I could do with it, sent a rush of pure dark energy through my veins. Cullen was a tall demon, not quite as tall as Nicholas, but his head peeked over the top of the chair, allowing me to lean down and let my lips reach his ear. “How about you make this reunion joyous for both of us and tell me why you came through the portal? Tell me how?”

Cullen blew out a breath. “Oh, come on now, Dani. You think that it’s going to work like that? I am shattered by your underestimation of my resilience.”

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