Page 19 of Legendary

“Lilith is up there?” I shook my shoulders, a chill running down my spine as I stared at the large castle-like structure from this distance.

“Mhmm, why are you scared, pretty boy?” Elise taunted, quickly starting to walk forward again. I cleared my throat as I noticed Dani staring up in that direction as well. Her shoulders were tense, but she simply moved her hair off on her shoulders and kept walking. I really needed to fucking talk to her about everything.

“We aren’t scared, you asshole, we just want to know where we will be sleeping tonight since you want to gate-keep information,” Reese grumbled, tucking a piece of his blonde hair behind his ear.

Once we were off the bridge the stone ground carried on into what looked like an array of houses or hostels. Most of them were brick while others were pure cement. The roofs were almost clipped in structure, the top peaks seeming to bend in and were black like the sky above them. The blown-out candle smell lingered but now the overwhelming scent of birch and honey filled my nostrils. It was enticing but not enough to make me lose my wits. There were a few lights on in various windows, but I saw no movement. Elise was walking with a purpose to our destination, not worried in the slightest about anything that could occur around us. There was a curve towards the left down the stone road, telling me there was more to this area, but any light that would guide my way looked as if it disappeared beyond what I could see.

“Outskirts?” I asked, remembering Elise’s earlier words.

“Not quite the destitute area of our beloved Purgatory, but not the poshest environment either,” Elise replied, shrugging before she looked up at one of the larger buildings. “Lilith doesn’t quite care about these parts.” The building was wider than it was tall, as if it housed multiple rooms, and there was a welcome sign hanging from a nail on the front door. Not something I expected to see down here. Especially since the word ‘welcome’ was paintedin a neon pink.

I heard a door creak open and a head pop out. I looked over my shoulder at the building across from us. A girl with one long braid over her shoulder squinted her eyes at me, as if she was assessing every inch of me. She cocked her head to the side, giving me a small smile. Not a smile that made me feel any better about our situation, but it was a smile, nonetheless.

Movement caught my eye as I noticed someone in the window of the building next to hers. They simply stared, observing quietly. I set my focus back on the girl from before and her small eyes cut to the person next to me which I realized was Dani, she was taking in our surroundings, more than likely scanning the perimeter. I glanced back at the girl in the doorway and her eyes were wide as if she recognized who Dani was, but her look wasn’t the nervous kind which I initially assumed. It was one of awe, like if she wanted to, she would have run up and asked for my pretty hybrid’s autograph.

No…notmy—she wasn’t mine.

Elise knocked on the door and waited, impatiently, tapping her foot against the ground. After one minute she knocked again. She was about to knock again when the door swung open, stunning me into silence at what greeted us.

“Elise? Oh my god!” A girl with long hot pink hair exclaimed. One side of her head was shaved, leaving her long locks to cascade over one of her shoulders and past her stomach. She was a little taller than Elise and Dani, but not by much. Her skin was a golden brown and freckles surrounded her nose and cheekbones. The girl looked around the already annoyed demon and gawked at all of us behind her. “And you brought friends!”

Elise huffed. “Can we come in or not, Beetee?”

The girl looked flustered as if she was being rude and motioned for us to hustle inside. “Oh duh, come in, come in.” Her voice was high-pitched and excited.

I looked behind me and noticed the girl from before was no longer there and neither was the one in the window.Weird. The door shut behind me and I immediately took in my surroundings. The entryway was small but not small enough to where we didn’t have room to move around freely. I noticed a sitting area to my left with a large hearth fireplace and to my right looked like it led to a kitchen of some sort, but I wasn’t sure. My eyes followed the stairs that led to the second floor as I heard footsteps above our heads. The pink haired girl rounded the desk that sat in front of us, her bright blue sundress swishing right above her knees as she walked and leaned over to lightly slap the bell that sat on top of the wood furnishing. The ringing wassoft but alarming. She squealed a little and clapped her hands.

“I wondered when you were coming back, I assume you’ll want your usual room?” The girl blinked over to Elise, patiently waiting for her reply.

“Usual room? I’m sorry, who the hell are you?” Dani didn’t even try to hide her irritation in the slightest. She narrowed her gaze at the female who leaned over the counter she stood behind, her facial expression of pure helpfulness never wavering.

The girl slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand and released a small chuckle. She came around the counter and stood right in front of Dani. She extended her hand out for Dani to take. “I’m all out of sorts tonight. My apologies! I’m Beatrice, but everyone just calls me Beetee, I own this adorable little hostel you are standing in. I call her the Hearth. And it’s such an extremely delightful and slightly terrifying pleasure to meet you, Soul Seether.”

Dani blinked at Beetee in disbelief or amusement. I couldn’t really tell.

Beetee wiggled her fingers as she waited patiently yet again.

“You know Dani?” I asked, curiously.

Beetee placed her hand over her chest. “Oh no, I don’tknowthe Soul Seether. But with how much gossip there is going around about you, I feel like I do.” She cupped a hand near her mouth, fake whispering towards Dani. “I am hoping you and I can totally be friends when this is over.” Dani’s mouth ticked up in a small smile.

“Can we get back to the whole how you know Elise thing?” Reese’s voice rang out. I looked to my left and noticed he had wandered into the small lounge area, either scanning for issues or just being really fucking nosy.

Elise let out a loud groan, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. “Can we fucking not? This conversation already has me exhausted enough to want to decapitate everyone here, so literally stop.”

“Actually, I think we would all love that answer, right about now,” I admitted, hearing Elise literally growl in my direction.

Beetee snuck a glance over at Elise and laughed as if she thought the little psycho demon’s reaction was hilarious. “Oh, stop it. Don’t tell me you brought them here without any context, Ellie.”

Elise’s eyes widened and she turned to Beetee, her pale cheeks flaming a deep red.

“Me and Ellie have known each other for a long, long time. We were a thing for a while, but it didn’t feel right, so we remained friends. I run this little hostel of sorts for demons and magical beings on the outskirts of that big scary castle up there on the hill. I’ve always had a room here for Ellie.It can get kind of anxiety inducing there, so I keep my little place open for anyone needing a place. Demons, Enchanters, whoever really. They come and go as they please, it’s usually much livelier here as nightfall approaches. Don’t let this demon fool you though, she is a total squish.” Beetee reached out and pinched Elise’s cheek and tapped her nose with all the confidence in the world.

Reese choked with laughter as he came back to stand next to me, obviously done exploring for the time being. He held his stomach as he doubled over, taking deep breaths as he regained his composure. “I’m sorry, can we just rewind please.Ellie?”

“I would tread very carefully if I were you, Blondie. You are here because I brought you here. Don’t think that I won’t remove you from my presence just as fast,” Elise threatened through clenched teeth.

Reese couldn’t help himself though. “And you used to date?” His eyes bounced between the two of them, his eyebrows scrunching inward. “Wait, you actually enjoyed this one’s company enough todateher?” I placed my foot on top of his own, hard, to cease his line of questioning.

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