Page 43 of Legendary

“I’m sure Lilith searched for you guys like a mad woman,” Reese said.

“Oh, I’m sure she did, but I assume I wasn’t the priority since she had her Soul Seether and her plan was in motion.”

Dani drummed her fingers on her knees. “What do you know about the demons Lilith has been experimenting on?” She meant the soulless demons we’d been fighting for some time now.

Leah and Garrett both looked at each other, a silent conversation happening between them. Garrett spoke first. “It was years later; the dark queen was all out of sorts until one day she just wasn’t anymore. It was like the idea about you sparked something in her. She didn’t start doing it until about halfway into her search for you. I saw a few of the unlucky bastards that got their angelic choice taken from them and they never lasted more than a week. She had most of us housed in her castle so you could hear the screams and pleas easily. She summoned me to resurrect the victims of her chosen ones, so they would have to keep going, falling harder into their darkness, but they never panned out.

“I overheard her speaking about wanting to use a new tactic with you when you arrived, so it seemed that she resorted to other means to keep you in line. I guess she needed someone who already embodied darkness just fine.” He narrowed his eyes towards Elise who narrowed hers right back at him.

“She sometimes kept me close to her; I was almost like her necromancy bodyguard just in case one of her own went rogue against her. Leah and I fled a few months into your arrival, Soul Seether. You had been working with Elise and I noticed demons going to her chambers more often, but I never saw them again. At night I would hear chaotic screams and it was agonizing, I learned from some others that she was keeping those soulless creatures locked up until who knows. They were bloodthirsty, but they weren’t strong enough to be manageable. But they could kill for her, so she let them live for the moment.

“She would have her minions fight them and when the shadow demons won out, I would resurrect her fallen. I was always at her beck and call even when she tried to get me to resurrect her soulless demons from nothing. It’s not impossible but I didn’t have the willpower to perform with that much energy for her, I would have gone into a coma from doing something like that. That got me beat and tortured for denying her, but I took it for Leah’s sake. I was cautious weeks later when I questioned her, but she did tell me that she was never a one idea kind of woman. That she had a good contingency plan if hermonsterever failed her. She said nothing more, nothing less.”

“So, she was prepared for if you didn’t play your role in her plan the first time.” I said to Dani, who gave me eye contact for a small moment then looked away. Urging Dani to take Jonahs's power, rip open the portal and let Lilith out didn’t work, so what was next?

“I’m still confused, why wouldn’t she just use plain old demons to do whatever she wanted, instead of going through all this? You know, instead of yanking out souls.” Reese asked, stretching his arm across the back of the couch.

Leah’s voice piped up. “As malicious as she is, Lilith has her reasons for everything. Soulless demons to herseemedmoldable since they were stillherdemons. Demons with their souls intact will always have their own thoughts, their own feelings and they could defy her if they ever wanted to. She likely wanted to remove that aspect altogether. They did what she said…. yes, but when she said kill, that wasallthey wanted to do. They were useful in a way, but still unstable and as much as she loves to create chaos, she likes clean chaos in her own house.”

“She was experimenting for her own sake and no one else's. She’ll keep doing it until she has what she wants. I’m pretty sure she has plenty of them still locked up and ready to let loose,” Garrett added.

“Oh yeah, we met them already,” I said, recounting the fight in the woods the day before.

Garrett let out a loud exhale. “She was grooming Isabel over the years before we left. I had been summoned by her and caught a glimpse of Isabel working her magic on someone. It looked painful. The demons’ eyes were black, they thrashed back and forth in this aimless way with shadows enveloping them and that told me that they no longer had their soul. Lilith seemed to be trying everything to gain control of them even when they were out of her sight, but I guess that didn’t pan out either.”

“They are definitely strong, but they aren’t unbeatable. One hit and they are pretty much done for,” Elise said examining her nail beds. “It’s like she’s just using them to taunt us now.”

“We also know all about Isabel’s fucking magic,” Reese huffed, giving me a look like he was also remembering having to fight our own kind. Kill them. Remove the problems. My stomach curdled at the thought, and I had to take in a few short inhales to stop myself from ending up on Leah and Garrett’s floor in the fetal position.

“How is an Enchanter supposed to help with a voided demon?” Dani asked, her brown eyes locked in confusion.

Leah furrowed her arched eyebrows. “I actually don’t know. Isabel’s magic was only getting stronger by then so I can see how Lilith would want to use it, but I honestly don’t know how it would affect them. The High Priestess should know something on the matter, but I’m sure she didn’t come with you on this little excursion to Purgatory.”

“She did not, but we have a way to speak to her,” I said, placing my handon my chest and feeling my portal key. I looked up to see Leah looking at me in a way that told me she had something to say that had more to do with me than the situation.

She opened her mouth to speak when a loud growl echoed through the room. The walls vibrated and the couch shook, nearly knocking me off. Another growl came through and then a scream. It was high pitched but didn’t sound like an adult. It sounded like a child. My head swung towards the window, but Garrett was already running towards the glass.

All I saw were Axel’s eyes that were not black anymore, they were red. A bright, neon red. His teeth were on full display, and drool was oozing down the side of his mouth. Leah screamed for her husband, but Garrett was already past us and headed towards the door. The last thing I saw, before Reese and I quickly grabbed our weapons, were those two children hiding behind one of Axel’s large front legs as he snarled and growled at whatever was endangering them.

We ran outside prepared to fight right alongside a hellhound.

DANI

Icould feel them before I could see them. They were hellhounds and they were angry. Axel growled at the creature that was inching its way towards him, Leah and Garrett’s children huddled behind one of his large front legs. This beast in front of me had a scar down the middle of its face and a tail split in half. Its claws were wide and dug into the ground with every step it took. I could smell the fear on Leah and the ferocity on Garrett at wanting to save his children. Hellhounds weren’t the greatest creatures, but they were usually harmless unless provoked—or if they were vicious beasts, it was likely due to grooming from their owner. Axel’s size gave me the feeling that they wouldn’t usually mess with him unless given some false bravado by a higher power.

“Yuri! Jasmine!” Leah yelled. Both children looked at her, pure terror in their eyes. They looked like both of their parents in different ways. Leah was motioning for them to come over to her, but they shook their heads as another hellhound stepped out from behind the trees to ourleft, removing any chance they had of getting to their mother unharmed. This one had one black eye and one red. Its teeth were rows of sharp points, and its tail was full of scales.

I heard the sound of Reese notching his arrow and a deep low growl from Elise. I saw magic surge past me as Leah let a stream of yellow light leave her hands as she headed straight for the creature terrorizing her children. The beast got knocked down by the hit, but it wasn’t enough to deter it. It was just focused on Leah now. It started moving towards us when I felt somebody run past me as magic spewed from their hands towards the hellhound. Garrett managed to directly hit the beast, sending it flying backwards past the rock structure and out of our view. The beast to our left was eyeing them as if they were a tasty meal, but before I could move, I saw Nicholas twirl his sword in his hand, in hopes of getting its attention. The hellhound focused his eyes on the angel in front of me, sniffing the air and probably smelling something much more satisfying. Nicholas moved away from the group, keeping his sword close to his body, but in a position where if he needed to strike it would be easy to fight.

The kids were clinging to Axel’s leg, more than likely frozen with unbridled fear, but my eyes widened when I saw what was creeping up behind them. It was a hellhound, a little bigger than the others, but it was moving meticulously behind Axel. Garrett was paying attention to his children, not seeming to notice. Its eyes were a simple deep black, but there were red dots in the middle. It had two bottom teeth that hooked upward and were about as large as my entire arm. It beat its tail against the ground and all of a sudden started charging, running much faster than I had anticipated. I didn’t think, I just moved forward, feeling that shadow of darkness overtake me. Before the beast could get even an inch towards Garrett and the children, I rammed into it with all the strength I had.

The hellhound jumped back a bit from what I had done, but it rallied. It showed me its teeth, trying to scare me, intimidate me. I could have almost laughed. This beast had no idea that I had teeth as well and I would rip it to shreds and spit out the pieces. The hellhound started scraping its front paw against the dirt and right when I thought it was about to lunge, it let out the deepest growl I’d ever heard. The ground shook and I nearly lost my balance.

“What the fuck was that?” I heard Reese ask behind me. I wanted to ask the exact same thing, but I heard a huff and grunt when I realized the hellhound was charging right at me. I was taken off guard for a second, but before I could blink, I was being yanked to the side and out of harm's way. I looked over to Axel whose eyes were still red and lethal, but despite his looks, I knew he was protecting me. I nodded toward him, letting him knowin my own way I was fine, and untangled myself from the way his tail was trying to collapse my lung with how tight he was holding me.

I summoned my dagger into my grip and made a move towards the beast. It lunged forward, snapping its teeth at me and I swung down and to the side, nearly slicing its shoulder. The hellhound Nicholas had decided to fight was fast, practically becoming invisible with how fast it was moving. Nicholas didn’t seem to mind, since he was just as fast. He swung left and right, jumping out of the way when the beast whipped its tail around to trip him. The hellhound from before bounded around the rock formation, opening its mouth wide when Reese sent a glowing arrow right into its open mouth. The arrow made a clean exit out the back of the beast’s head. The large creature hit the ground at Reese’s feet and the look on his face was one of pure enjoyment.

Nicholas swung right, hoping to get a direct cut into his hellhound’s neck, but the creature moved out of his reach and swiped at his leg, causing him to hit the ground hard. The large beast pounced on him, huffing out smoke in his face. Nicholas tried to reach for his sword that was a few inches away, but the hellhound slammed a paw on his arm, keeping him in place. I pounded my fist into the head of the creature in front of me, moving it from my line of sight, but before I could blink, an arrow and a bolt of reddish-black flame barreled towards the creature on top of him. It stilled while its body caught fire and it backed off of Nicholas, whining and finally killing over.

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