Page 34 of Legendary

I heard a groan and the sound of a body hitting a wall. A few faces turned to me, some full of nerves and others looked impressed. A boy rubbed the back of his head as he got up from the floor on the other side of the room. His magic gave off that he was an Enchanter. He looked up at me and narrowed his eyes as if he was prepared to start some type of fight. It would be a fight he wouldn’t win. He had sandy blonde hair that fell just above his ears. Ears that were burning red at the tips from what I assumed was embarrassment. I stood my ground as he started to stalk over to me when another guy who was seated got up and grabbed him shaking his head and whispered something in his ear. I caught two words.

Soul Seether.

The blonde boys’ eyes widened and his whole big and tough demeanor began to dissolve. “I was just messing around Soul Seether, I’m sorry.”

Beetee came rushing in, wiping her hands on a rag as she looked up and noticed the tension in the room. “What is happening?”

I walked over to the Enchanter and manifested my dagger in my hands, causing a few of the people around us to scoot their chairs back and I heard a few intakes of breath. I took my dagger and lifted his chin up with it. “Oh nothing. Careful next time, yes?”

He rapidly nodded, maintaining my eye contact like a champ. I let my dagger disappear as I looked over to Beetee whose face was a small shade of pink. “All good. Can we talk?”

She wiped her hands down her floral orange dress and nodded, tilting her head towards the small kitchen. I winked at the kid in front of me and turned around on the tips of my toes, letting the ponytail I had placed my massive curls in swing behind me.

“We’re happy you’re here.” I heard someone behind me say. I turned around to find out who it was, but no one spoke up. Every face I looked at was still rattled with nerves, but they all seemed to show some kind of overwhelming approval of the statement.

“Even if you are slightly terrifying.” I twirled back around to see one of the females from earlier eyeing me with a smirk at her lips.

Beetee stood next to me and slightly took my arm, leading me towards the kitchen. “See I told you.”

“You said I was an inspiration to them. An inspiration of what? Being someone’s bitch pawn for years. Oh yeah, definitely something to aspire to.” I rolled my eyes and jumped up on one of the stools at the bar. The women and man from before were gone, leaving just me and her.

She grabbed a mug and filled it with the dark caffeinated liquid I wascraving. “No, Dani. Some people may take some time to actually admit it to you, but while you are terrifying, you know who to unleash your voracious violence on. Everyone here has been hurt in some way by Lilith, so really if you just spoke to them, you would see the common enemy.” She placed the mug in front of me, the orange of her dress making her golden-brown skin stand out more than usual. She had a sparkly clip in her hair, pulling her bang out of her face. “Fun fact…the enemy isn’t you.”

I stuck my tongue out at her which she returned with a cheeky smile. I wrapped my hands around the mug, bringing the coffee to my lips and taking a long drink. “I’m going to guess that you don’t turn into a snake often?”

Beetee pressed her lips together, her face turning that shade of pink again. The answer to my question solidified. “Um, well…”

“I’m impressed. You even scared me for a moment and that’s saying something.”

The pink in her face subsided a bit and she started to stand a little taller at my praise.

“When I first realized I could do it, I got really bad headaches when I would change back, but now not so much. I can get a little scared ofmyselfsometimes.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I’ve only seen a few demons with an anchoring tattoo.” I reached behind myself and pointed towards my back. She absentmindedly reached towards her own back as well. Anchoring tattoos weren’t really rare, but I personally hadn’t seen many demons with them. You were usually born with something like that. I remember asking Elise if her switchblades tattoo was an anchor, but she just shook her head and explained how her tattoo was done at a club one night because she was bored, but instead of the normal ingredients of crushed up brimstone particles and demon blood, she’d opted to use her venom instead of blood. It explained why the tattoo pulsed and moved along with her whenever her power was boiling to the surface.

It was odd, since most demons with anchoring tattoos were closely associated with Lilith. If I was the queen of darkness, I would want all the heavy hitters I could get. Beetee made it seem like she’d never associated with Lilith, so it was just odd for now.

“Oh, you saw that.”

“Well, you were butt ass naked, Beetee.”

She slapped her hand over her eyes in embarrassment. “Another reason why I hate doing it.”

“You recovered well, don’t worry. I’m pretty sure Reese saw enough to satisfy him for days.” We both laughed and took a few breaths beforecontinuing. “It seems like you have it under control, though.”

She smiled at me. “Took forever. My parents had to reign me in a few times.”

A woman and two young boys hustled outside the door of the hostel, one of the boys pointing his index finger at the other's backside, sending a spark of blue magic from his fingertip. The other one squealed as they started fighting playfully. I fixed my eyes back on Beetee, noticing she now also had a cup of coffee in front of her.

“I thought Enchanters gave their powers to Isabel so that she could take on Natalia and damn near destroy us all?” I side-eyed the guy from earlier who was now nowhere to be found.

“I don’t think she needed every single Enchanter to make it happen, but most of the ones here fled from Lilith’s reign. I don’t ask many questions when they come here. I just provide what I can.” Beetee shrugged as if what she said was obvious and simple.

“And they get along in this close proximity? Enchanters and demons?” I would see how Enchanters had more of an issue with demons, but still, it was a valid question.

Beetee giggled. The high-pitched sound caught some attention around us. “There have been a few fights, but nothing major. Sometimes anger gets the better of us, but anyone here would rather step outside and take a few breaths or meditate before they accidentally tore this place apart all because… I don’t know, someone didn’t say excuse me when they bumped into them.”

I took another sip of my coffee and hummed, letting the steam hit my face. Another question dawned on me. “It was quiet last night. That’s surprising seeing as I assume people like to come here after nights out.”

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