Page 106 of Legendary

“They were pretty close with Lilith?” I questioned.

The freckle faced demon pressed her lips together. “They don’t talk about it much. Never wanted to subject me to all that, but yeah, they were close enough. They kept me as far away from her as possible and once all the Enchanters came, she wasn’t really bothered by them or anyone else. And then you came, and the rest is history.”

“Your parents hardly come out of their bubble as it is,” Elise pointed out.

Beetee scratched behind Axel’s ear. “I’ll go and bring them here myself. They won’t help you fight physically but they will help to stop her in any way they can. They’re good people.”

“To raise you they must be,” Leah complimented, causing Beetee to give her a smile in return.

“Well, I’m going with you, to your parents I mean.” Elise didn’t say it like a suggestion.

Beetee snorted. “Sure. Just try to emphasize that you aren’t working for Lilith anymore. They’re already a little scared of you as it is.”

Elise rolled her eyes but agreed. “We’ll head out this afternoon then.”

“That’s perfect. I want to make sure the boys are in their most perfect shape for this. Some time to get their bearings together would be good. Once we have everyone together, we’ll finish this.” I said the last words like they were final, like it would happen just like that, no fuck ups. I noticed the small looks I got as I sat in my chair, there were ones of simple uncaring, ones of admiration that I’d seen before, but then there were the ones that boiled my blood. They looked at me as if I had brought those demons here and put them in danger, as if it was all an act that I’d put together to keep them in their fear.

Leah followed my gaze and cleared her throat. “Don’t worry about them. You should know demons can be fickle with their emotions and loyalty.”

“So can Enchanters,” Elise spat back, reminding Leah of how she and Garrett got here in the first place.

Leah nodded and opened her mouth to continue but was cut off by a voice I really didn’t want to hear at the moment. “True, but we are well aware when ties need to be severed and sacrifices need to be made,” Rae, one of the sharp toothed twins commented, rounding the front desk and sauntering over to us. “We are just wondering when you’ll figure that out for yourself.”

Axel snarled as he jumped from Beetee’s chest to the coffee table. Elisenarrowed her eyes at her but remained quiet to my surprise. She side-eyed me, telling me that I needed to respond.

“Excuse me?” I answered.

Rae shook her head. “I would like Lilith gone just as much as the next demon, but if handing yourself over will stop her from terrorizing us then just fucking do it. Hasn’t your little angel rubbed off on you so that you can make some good decisions.”

“I would back off, now,” I warned.

“You’ve given yourself so many enemies. Lilith doesn’t even have to be near you, yet you’ve already caused some much havoc. Don’t get me wrong I love messy and chaotic, but not when it’s coming from some girl practically getting everyone killed while trying to get mommy’s attention.”

I instinctively grabbed her by her throat, my eyes turning their inky black and chucked her against the nearest wall. She landed with a heavy thud and all the eyes that originally weren’t paying any attention to us now had us in their sights. Rae bared her teeth and growled. She jumped up from the ground and barreled towards me. I was about to have my dagger ready, wanting to create so many stab wounds in her skin it would be hard to count them in the end, but Elise got between us. She flung her tail right into Rae’s face, halting her. The inky venom dripped from the tip.

“As much as I would fucking love to let this fight proceed, I’m going to have to be the boring one here and say not today ladies.”

Rae huffed. “I’m late for something anyway.” She nodded over to me. “The more you resist the worse it gets for everyone else. Be a good little monster and run home to your master.” She pushed around us and towards the front door. I closed my eyes and counted to three before opening them again.

There was that other word again.

Monster. Monster. Monster.

I saw Yuri and Jasmine looking at me, startled expressions on their little faces. I couldn’t look like much of a hero now. Their parents were following me into this unknown abyss without any guarantee that the outcome would be positive. Just because we all wished for the same ending didn’t mean we would all be alive to see it. And when that happened, if that happened, who would they blame?

Lilith? Well, yeah. But they would blame me. They followed me. They believed in me.

Doing the wrong thing, people got hurt. Doing what I thought was the right thing, people got hurt. Pain would come one way or another and I couldn’t help that. My buttons got pushed so I pushed back. I didn’t ask foranyone to follow my lead and stand beside me. I would have been fine on my own. I didn’t need them, but they wanted to be here, so what the fuck did everyone want me to do? Lilith wanted me, but with having me came facing all the people who wanted to have my back. They always had the option to back down, go back home, and they didn’t.

The onlookers gazed at me, their shoulders stiff and their expressions less than thoughtful. My head was a mess, and it would probably be more of a mess when we got to Lilith’s castle and the catastrophic dilemma ensued. That’s why we were here though, so why did I think that I was causing this mess. Lilith damn near created it.

She created it, gave it life—because of me. My mind felt heavy and muffled. I would never admit it, especially not to Nicholas, not now, but there was a part of me that felt less in control than I ever had.

You will ruin them, you know.Ariel had said that to me, and I was starting to believe him.

I had watched Yuri and Jasmine play with Axel for a few hours before Beetee and Elise took him away to head to her parents. She’d said that they would do nearly anything for her, but they would take some mild convincing, so they would be back before the red sun was up. Maybe it was the lack of the Heaven’s Gate sunlight that was making me moody. I waved to them alongside Leah and Garrett who had ushered their kids back inside the hostel.

Elise assured me that if they ran into Isabel that she would kill her on sight and she would apologize to Natalia later. I had chuckled and told her that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I retreated to my room for the rest of the day to gather my thoughts and if I was being honest, that only made things worse. I brought my dagger out and my name glittered in the soft glowing angelic light that Nicholas had yet to snuff out from yesterday. I didn’t want to snuff it out myself because that felt like a weird metaphor. I felt like it was mocking me, like even when it was forgotten, and placed in a corner, it was always there just waiting to be noticed. Here I was noticing it, and it made a humming sound as I stared right at it. A low hum that sent a chill through me.

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