Page 129 of Legendary

Isabel stopped Beetee from going full snake, seeing that her eyes were fully diamond pupils now and her skin had started to shed. She grasped the side of her face and stopped the transformation, the colorful currents coming from her hand seeming to stun the pink-haired demon. If Beetee knew enough about both sides of herself maybe she could hone it somehow and be more powerful than all of us, like all the books and stories foretold, but that wasn’t happening right now. She was the kind of creature that never really wanted to fight unless it was completely necessary.

“It’s quite funny, Nicholas. That you think that you can beat me, beat her, because you can keep my magic out. You don’t really interest me all that much anyway, but you are quite the prize to someone else.” She was speaking towards Beetee’s face but talking to me. Elise was coming too, picking herself up from the floor, while Garrett shook his head from his place slumped against the wall.

I knew exactly where I’d felt this pain before. The darkness screeched and screamed for me to let it back in, but I refused. A pair of feet stopped on either side of my head and a face I wished I could throttle came into view. The burn that I’d given him on his face was still present and brought me so much fucking joy I could have smiled if he wasn’t assaulting my mind. One of his jacket sleeves bunched a bit at where his hand should have been, while the tattooed hand still attached to him sat on his hip.

Dimitri tilted his head to the side, his perfectly fixed strawberry blonde hair slicked back. “I can’t wait to watch what she does to you. Then, you can watch all the things I plan to do toher.”

NICK

“Fuck you.”

I reached for his leg, but he moved backwards away from my grasp. I tried to reach for my sword, but the shadow demons plucked it from the ground before I could get to it. I bared my teeth as I pushed back against Dimitri’s horrendous clawing into my mind. He wasn’t going to win, but fuck was he trying. My head was burning, like he was injecting hellfire right into my skull. I splayed out my fingers and let my light release from my fingers, fusing with my sword. The shadow demon holding it convulsed violently and eventually dropped my weapon before exploding into tiny, wispy particles.

"Leave them the fuck alone, Dimitri. It really is pathetic that you hold a grudge over a girl for this long. You reek of pettiness and I’m not surprised.” Elise ran a hand over her cheek where Isabel had slapped her and Dimitri casually turned as if he just noticed she was there.

“Oh, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” His tone was normal, not at all like someone in the middle of a fight. Elise flung her tail sidewaysand wrapped it around Isabel’s waist. The Enchanter sucked in a breath and tried to turn around, only to be squeezed tighter in Elise’s grip. Elise hurled her towards the ceiling and then over towards the other side of the room.

Dimitri just laughed at the display, unaware that Garrett had thrown a magical blast at him, sending yellow currents through his body. They didn’t debilitate him like it would most, but Garrett didn’t care. He shot out current after current; Dimitri was less focused on me, and I was free of his mental torture for the moment. I used my foot to bring my sword closer to me before swiping it from the ground and helping Reese up from the floor. Garrett used his entire body to slam into Dimitri, sending them into the stone wall in a puff of dust, smothering them both in gray matter.

“Get out of here,” Beetee warned us, her body shaking as her skin began to flake off. Her legs looked like they were melting as they started to morph together; she was letting us go ahead of her while she fought them.

“Beetee, stop.” Elise tried to get her to stay in her normal form, but Beetee just shook her head and pointed away from her. Reese looked behind us to find Garrett still fighting Dimitri, the Enchanter nodding over to us— he and Beetee could try to handle it as best they could. I gripped my sword tighter and grabbed Elise by the arm. “Where would she be?” She gave me a confused expression before she realized I was talking about Dani, Lilith, and anything else likely waiting for us.

Elise didn’t answer immediately and we heard Isabel groan as she started to come to. Garrett yelled as Dimitri dragged his nails down his arm, blood oozing from the wounds, but the Enchanter didn’t stop fighting. I could make out shadow demons from the corner of my eye, it was almost like they were multiplying.

“Any day now tiny psycho,” Reese pressed.

Elise let out a groan and ran past the chaos without looking back. We followed her, the grunting and sounds of pain behind us, as we sprinted down a hallway of red stones. I kept looking behind us, making sure we weren’t being followed, but in all honesty, I knew we were. I felt dark eyes on us, keeping track of our movements but letting us continue until we were in the right place. Without warning, a hiss vibrated around us, and Elise’s shoulders tensed as we realized it was Beetee.

She halted in front of a large door with snakes for handles and craned her neck to look it over. She glanced over at us and gripped the handle, pulling it open quickly as if there was an ambush on the other side and she wanted to go in with all the confidence in the realms. The inside had red stones decorated everywhere. There were pews set up in a circle, as if made for an audience.

The room was dim but empty, and I could feel my face morphing into confusion. Elise took a few quick steps into the room before she tripped over something, and we followed closely behind her, stopping as she caught her footing. Reese and I held our breath as we peered down at Rae’s mangled body. One of her arms was twisted in the opposite direction, bones were sticking out of her legs and her throat was slit. Her head was lying in a pool of blood, flowing towards our feet. We moved to either side of the current of blood, too focused on the dead body to notice the doors closing behind us.

The doors slammed shut, and we simultaneously gave it our full attention. Reese hustled over to the door, reaching for the serpent handles and shaking them. A slow clap came from the other side of the room— I should have known that once we stepped foot in this place, we were never truly alone. I heard Elise growl at the tall figure in the corner of the room. Her hair was straight and platinum blonde, which made her pale complexion even more haunting. A smirk appeared on her red-stained lips; her eyes were so dark that they practically pulled me in. “Well, done. You are quite a resilient little group, aren’t you?”

I remembered Lilith vividly now from my time in the past seeing Dani. Her voice was inviting as if she was hypnotizing you without even trying. She walked towards us, her heels clicking on the stone as she eyed me flexing my fingers around my sword. A girlish giggle left her mouth as she watched me. “Oh my. Do you plan to fight me with your big, tough sword?” She placed her hand over her chest in fake fear. “I doubt it will get you far, handsome. Besides, there is someone much more eager to see you than me. You are quite the recurring presence in my little monster’s thoughts.”

“She’s not a monster,” I choked out. The air was thinning, a haze cast over the room, starting at the ceiling and trickling its way down. Lilith raised her thin eyebrow with intrigue at my statement, but before she could speak Elise lunged for her, her tail curling behind her. Before she could get within an inch of Lilith, thick dark black ropes captured her, flinging her towards one of the walls. Reese spun around, and I followed his eyes, trying to find the source of the darkness.

Lilith looked over to where Elise was slumped against the wall, and she sighed, as if disappointed. “Nicholas, right?” She caught my attention, tilting her chin up. “Fighting me is futile. I’m not your concern.” Her tongue stuck out between her teeth, and her lips turned up, as if holding in a secret.

“Fuck,” I heard Reese say as shadows slashed along his legs, forcing him to the ground and then tying themselves around his feet. He was dragged across the room, his bow scraping along the floor. He tried to hold onto the stones, his fingers scrambling to grasp at something, but he couldn’t quiteget a good grip.

“Let them go.” I readied my sword in front of me, prepared to fight.

Lilith didn’t make a move towards me; she just casually stood there, her arms at her sides. “You thinkI’mdoing this? It’s quite comical.”

“Where is she?” I demanded, taking a step toward her. I felt my hands burning with the need to throw all the light I had in her direction.

Her eyes seemed to light up then. “Dani? Ah, of course, she’s right here. She’s been here the whole time.” Her smile showed all her teeth, and it was anything but friendly. The room was suddenly void of sound, as if everything moved in slow motion. I felt a presence behind me, but it didn’t seem large and overbearing. Rather, it felt discreet, like it wanted you to think it was nothing until you let your guard down.

I slowly turned around, but not before seeing Elise’s eyes open as she rubbed the back of her head. My heart stopped when I came face to face with the presence—lost and in the dark, I felt like I knew her all the same. I looked down at her beautiful brown eyes, that same brown skin, same mass of curls, more disheveled than usual. My breath caught in my throat as she placed her palm flat against my chest, running her hand over my collarbones, using her knuckles to stroke the skin along my throat.

I shuddered at her touch, at the feeling of maybe thinking she was okay. The moment felt too good, too perfect. Her small smile turned flat when her eyes shifted from warm brown to black. I didn’t have a chance to step back when her hand claimed my throat, her fingers pressing into my skin. I choked, wrapping my hand around her wrists to try and ease her hold on me. She wouldn’t budge as smoke escaped from her hand, skating over my shoulders and tracing along my fingers. I desperately held onto my sword, not willing to let it go.

“You see, Nicholas, you will never be what she needs…” Lilith started, but she was knocked to the side, her dress bunched around her knees as she skidded across the floor. Her blonde hair fell around her shoulders as she huffed out a laugh. Dani shifted her focus to what was behind me as she threw me across the room, discarding me like weightless trash. I shook my head as I placed my hands along the ground, watching her stalk over to Elise. She stretched her hand out, creating shadow silhouettes that grabbed Elise by the hair and yanked her back. When Dani got close, Elise jumped up, extending her leg to kick Dani square in the stomach.

I pushed up from the ground, only to see Reese notch his bow and point it straight at Dani. I ran to him right as he released his arrow. It sailed across the room, aimed directly for her, but she turned around at the last moment,catching it in her hands as it disintegrated into black dust. Reese let another arrow loose, but she caught it as well. Elise wrapped her tail around the legs of a demon and spun around, releasing them into the other one. Red shadow-like flames bloomed in her hands, but Reese sent another arrow flying by her head, the glowing weapon eliminating the demons immediately.

---