Page 100 of Legendary

He snickered, the other demons taking a small step forward. “You really shouldn’t go around making a fucking mess and not expect others to come looking for retribution.”

I heard the door swing open and saw Leah and Garrett, taking in the sight. They looked alarmed, but they squared their shoulders and remained in place. “I’m sorry I don’t even know your fucking name. What the hell are you talking about?” His friend, Rio, came up next to him, his hands cast in dark shadows as if he was readying himself for whatever tonight may bring.

He brought his hands up, shrugging. “How rude, I’m Erick. Dimitri wasn’t so happy with your decision and of course he couldn’t come here himself, busy man and all that, so he’s letting us have some fun. Granted us permission to tear you and your little friends apart. Ready to have some fun, Soul Seether?” He looked behind him and cocked his head towards us. “Leave the demon princess for me.”

Before I could blink, they were charging towards us. Dust kicked up around us when a large tail dropped to the ground. The iridescent scales shimmering as the tail rattled and swung. Beetee’s large snake form descended upon the group while they tried to climb on her lengthy body, but she shook them off, slithering through the crowd as she went, causing demons to run and jump over her to get to us, to me. I could feel Nick moving next to me and Reese was following suit, readying his bow. He launched glowing arrow, after glowing arrow. They started falling but others would just take their place. Dimitri had a lot of sway when it came to demons, he was muchmore likable than Lilith and seeing as he was much, much closer to Lucifer, demons seemed to love that power high he was always wafting.

Erick swung his fist out, but I caught it, bringing my hand up and shoving it into his face as shadows propelled from my palm and encapsulated his head. I pushed him back, watching as he stumbled backwards onto his ass. Elise jumped up onto Axel’s back and rode him through the crowd of demons, shooting bright red fire shadows at them. They clawed at Axel’s paws and legs, but he opened his mouth removing their presence with his fire. Leah made the flames bigger, pushing out her magic to illuminate the flames even more, making them burn even hotter.

Everyone in the surrounding buildings and houses stayed where they were. They didn’t think of taking a chance stepping outside into this mess. There were so many groans and grunts around me, so much yelling and the sound of slaughtering bodies bled into my ears. It was music if I was being honest, but I had to pay attention and make sure that it was the sound of the elimination of the other side I was hearing and not my friends. I felt a rope wrap around my waist and I was pulled backwards, the heels of my shoes skidding across the dirt. I hit a body that smelt of sweat and pure pathetic disappointment. “None of this would have to happen if you would just do as you’re told,” Erick breathed in my ear before taking the back of my head and throwing me forward. My face hit the ground harder than I anticipated and I felt his hands wrap around my ankles, but I twisted around and kicked my leg into his stomach, then further up so I kicked his face as well before springing up and grabbing his throat to yank him close to me. “Aw, does Daddy Dimitri tell you that you’re a good boy when you do his bidding? What’s your prize? Does he let you suck his dick cause you look like you have a great mouth for it.” I gripped his throat harder and with all the strength I had threw him away from me towards the exterior of the hostel. I watched his body fly and then dust exploded around where he had been, followed by the sound of cracking wood.

Nicholas was doing well for someone who had every reason to want to sit this fight out. His sword was lit up, every single slice and movement was precise, and he glided through the footwork like he was born to wield a weapon and slay his enemies. He definitely didn’t fight like a man who just got so severely scratched by a Son of Hell and now had a very large helping of darkness in his veins. Perhaps that was the sentry angel in him, pulling through and making shit work until it didn’t work anymore. He dodged and weaved, using his blade to block most of their shadows, but it was odd that they seemed to be coming at him in waves…

They could sense it too. Darkness had a kinship with all of them andwhatever Nick had was a four-course meal and the fact that it came from an angel was even worse or better depending on who you were. Garrett plowed through the demons, removing Nick from the circle that they had created around him and told him something I couldn’t quite hear before he started fighting them himself, his own magic propelling out of his hands in various colors. My very stubborn angel had pushed out his wings and ascended to the sky, followed by Reese as they fought side by side, their glowing weapons making the dark sky not so dark anymore.

“I told you what would happen if you pissed me off again, Rio.” Elise jumped off Axel as he continued to trudge through the throngs of demons, stepping on them and ripping them apart with his large teeth. She grabbed Rio by the back of the head before he could turn around and see her. Her tail slithered up his thigh and right between his legs. He thrashed in her grip, as other demons lunged for her, but she whipped her tail around in a complete circle, bringing each of them to the ground, writhing in pain. “And I make good on the things I say.” She flung her tail back around and sliced him right between the legs, the blood immediately flowing down his legs and his wailing was loud, but also soothing. I knew it was to Elise as well when her face came into view as she then broke his neck, and the most satisfied look presented itself on her face when she dropped him to the ground. Axel came back around picking her up in one easy movement.

The few demons that had wings were in the sky as Nicholas struck them down one by one and Reese used his now aerial view to shoot his arrows, never missing his targets. He dipped down low and glided in smooth circles as he cast his arrows downward, creating beams of light as he shot them off his bow. Beetee took out all the ones she could, ripping them apart with her fangs, scooping them up with her hot pink forked tongue. I let my eyes go black, my soul dimming more than normal when I shot a wave of ripping darkness over the ones headed for me, knowing they had no intention of killing me, per Dimitri’s wish to keep me alive, but I wouldn’t just go with them because they felt like they threatened me, scared me. I had never scared easily, if at all. I ran my arm into the throat of one of my attackers and tripped the other one, placing my foot on his neck as he lay on the ground. I put pressure on my foot, hearing the crack of bones and the rush of blood.

“Mommy! Mommy!” A small cry fluttered into my ears and my heart thudded. A thundering heartbeat came from behind me. I whipped my head around to see Leah’s little girl, Jasmine, standing outside the door of the hostel, eagerly searching for her mother. I saw startled faces from the doorway, hands reaching out trying to extract her from the situation she walked in on.

“Oh, look at this! How sweet!” I heard Erick say next to me as he cracked his neck. Leah turned her head around to her daughter and started to run towards her, but demons grabbed her and spun her around so that she knocked her head hard against the exterior of the hostel and passed out.

“Leave her alone!” Garrett shouted running towards Erick who stopped Garretts magic with his own shadows, gaining more power from what I would assume was Garrett’s nervousness for his daughter, his angst. Erick shoved his arm out, throwing Garrett in the other direction.

I could feel myself wanting to know that innocent soul, have it and distort it. I wanted to see what it looked like and how much she would cry when it happened.

Soul Seether.

Fuck.No.No. No.

Do it. Do it.

Erick ran over to Jasmine, who had a frightened look on her face. She had nearly seen her own brother get torn to pieces. I tried to push the voice, Lilith’s voice, away. It was so welcoming, so familiar. And then another voice came that was also those things, but it made my heart warm.

“Dani!” It was deep and assertive, causing me to blink and focus myself. There was something about Nick’s voice that made me want to stop, rethink, and reevaluate my efforts. The darkness still enjoyed what I was about to do, but it hated that it couldn’t do what it wanted, feed off the small girl in front of me. I charged over to where Erick was about to pick up Jasmine and elbowed him right in the face. He stumbled back and I punched up under his jaw, sending him flying backwards. I grabbed Jasmine’s shaking body, her eyes wide and scared. I probably wasn’t the best face to look at, but there was a part of me that wanted her safe. “Go back inside now!” Her lower lip trembled but she did as she was told, huddling into the body of an Enchanter that grabbed her as the door opened.

“That’s how you want to play, Soul Seether, then by all means let’s play your way,” Erick threatened. His eyes turned into black whirls of nothing, just like mine were. “We tried to be nice.”

Beetee slithered around, but Erick caught her tail. She hissed as he gripped it tightly and swung it in Reese’s direction. Her tail hit his stomach, sending him backwards and landing on the roof of the hostel. The last arrow he shot was caught by a demon who managed to climb onto Axel and plunged the still glowing arrow into Elise’s side. They pulled the arrow out and slammed it into her side again. Axel used his tail to jerk the demon off of him, throwing him into a pile of others before spewing fire at them all. “Fuckingarrows. Fuck.” Elise slumped forward a bit as she held her side.Erick still held Beetee’s tail, black flames appearing around her iridescent scales, and she started to wiggle and thrash, wanting to get rid of the pain as it began to travel up her body. Reese slid down from the roof, grabbing onto the ledge for dear life. Axel made quick work to swing back around to the hostel and grab Reese before he completely let go of the ledge, the back of his shirt was shredded, and blood was coming out of the scrapes and open wounds.

I manifested my dagger and went to swing at him, but he caught my wrist, twisting it. He enveloped his hand in darkness and punched me in the stomach. All the wind came out of me, and I hunched over. He let me go and came around so that he was behind me before kicking me down, so I landed on my stomach. He yanked me by my ankles towards him and crouched down, lifting me up by my throat. I shifted so that one of my arms gained freedom and without really looking I stabbed him in the shoulder with my dagger. He made a grunting sound and grabbed my hair, pressing my face into the ground before lifting me up again. “I can’t really hurt you, which is fortunate for you. But now you’ve really pissed me off, which means it’s time for the grand finale.”

He turned my head to look at Nicholas fighting demons off, next to Elise who was still managing to fight even though she was wobbling and holding her side. Reese used Axel’s height to continue to shoot his arrows as best he could, but he was weak. Erick chuckled, “I can smell it from here you know, his weakness. Dimitri did say this would be worth it.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about until I heard it. I heard the grunt of pain, the groan of mental strain. Nicholas held his sword out to swing, but the glow of it started to stutter. It sparked and faded, over and over again. He looked down at his weapon as his face contorted into one of pure pain. Erick came down to my ear, his breath unwelcomed. “Dimitri didn’t say your little angel would make it so easy.”

I heard his weapon drop as demons were still fighting but others were so focused on him, pushing everything they had to make him stumble and eventually he fell to his knees. Elise and Reese tried to rally, but were overpowered, too hurt and damaged from this fight to try as much as I knew they wanted to. Nicholas grabbed the sides of his head and his whole body began to shake. Even from where I was and how dark the night sky was, the dark waves that were so soft while he slept, twisted, and lashed out at him now as if they were realizing they were winning, they had the upper hand.

“Eventually he’ll be nothing but an empty shell, forever lost in his own pathetic fragility. Poor boy, so many nightmares, so much hidden sadness.”

Nicholas pulled at his hair and tried to get up, but it was like a weightwas on his shoulders, forcing him down. “Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!” he screamed over, over, over again.

There was fire in places surrounding us and it brought to light everything I didn’t want to see. A frail Beetee hovered over a still unconscious Garrett, her legs reddened and scarred from the dark flames. Elise and Reese were on their knees near Nicholas, forced to watch him fall apart while they each took labored breaths from their own wounds they’d sustained. Their faces were dirt covered and sweaty, Elise’s tail disappeared, not much use when its user was out of commission and Reese hissed at the way they pulled his hair forcing him to look. Leah remained out cold near the outside of the hostel and Axel had been forced down by so many demons, a dark rope around his thick throat, pulsing dark shocks into him. Even a beast as large as him knew his limits. Flames licked at the ground around us making everything so much more dramatic and daunting.

I ran my fingers into the ground, hating this, hating all of it. I wasn’t the type of demon who sat down, was forced down, and did nothing. Erick had gained so much power from those around him and likely from Dimitri himself, but I was still who I always had been and creatures like Erick didn’t have the right to think me weak. I forced my shadows to work with me because while I was in control, they didn’t tell me what to do. I wouldn’t get my fill of rage from young things like Jasmine, I would get it from halfwits like Erick. I placed my hands flat on the ground feeling it shake under my palms. Smoke started to rise from the dirt and gravel, translucent, but it was menacing. It belonged to me, it did what I said. Dark smoke filled the air, shadow silhouettes presented themselves around us. I felt Erick slowly let go of me as he took in what was happening.

The silhouettes grabbed each and every demon around the neck and twisted. They twisted until the angle was odd and a resounding snapping sound was made. They then shoved through their bodies, creating ghastly holes right in their stomachs as they all fell to the ground. I pushed back and shoved my elbow into Erick’s face as I flipped around. As he stumbled back, I hooked my leg around his foot and plucked his leg from the ground causing him to topple backwards. I was on him in minutes, his face shining with that perfect scar I left from before. I took my dagger and ran it over the wound again, opening up his scar as blood spilled from his face. “Fortunately, you won’t have to tell Dimitri you failed.” I willed my shadowy silhouettes to pull his arms behind his back, breaking his wrists. I quickly went behind him, tilting his head back. I held my dagger to his throat, the hooked tip just piercing the skin. “Did Lilith tell Dimitri to send you?”

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