Page 99 of Legendary

“Nothing. What do you want?” Nick answered.

“The little psycho is getting agitated in the living room and would like to have our group discussion. I’m only here because apparently Beetee made desserts and I’m nice enough to let you guys know so that you get some before they’re gone,” Reese explained.

“We’ll be there in a minute.”

Reese looked over both of us and rolled his eyes. “Also, uh, Rae and Eva, the sharp tooth twins, are also in the living room, so just a heads up. I feel like I never have enough clothes on with them two.”

Nick scrubbed a hand down his face, and I let out a laugh because Rae and Eva didn’t bother me. I may not always enjoy the Soul Seether label most times, but in this case, I would enjoy the fuck out of it if they came near what was mine again. Nick gave Reese a look and the blonde angel nodded and lifted his hand up. “Okay, okay, I’m going. Hurry up though, doNOTleave me out there for too long with all of them.” He backed up and closed the door as he went.

I pushed away from the countertop and walked past Nick as he eyed me carefully. “Don’t worry, the sharp toothed twins don’t bother me. Not when I’m the one who gets to sit on your face later.”

“Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

That light warmth curled around me, and I swore I could feel it coming from myself as much as it was coming from him. He chuckled and kissed my forehead, letting me walk ahead of him to the door. I swiveled around, halting him from going any further. He looked startled at my sudden movement, but he waited for me to speak. “You’re fighting something unknown to you Nick,I’m fighting something familiar. Our fights are the same in some aspects, but they have wild differences. I know you think that you have to keep it together, be that good soldier, consider all authority and think of yourself last, but maybe it’s time you stopped and let yourself be selfish. I’ve had to be selfish my entire existence just to be at the top and survive, now so do you,” He looked down at the floor, but I placed my fingers under his chin to force him to look at me. “Stop and let yourself fall apart while you still have people surrounding you who care.”

“Dani…” I shook my head, silencing him. I didn’t want a response, I just wanted him to listen.

“The darkness will take that choice from you. Here the darkness and Lilith are one so you might as well be letting Lilith own you just as much as she claims she owns me. Neither of us wants that.” I got on the tips of my toes and ran a hand through his hair, kissing the scar underneath his eye. “You quiet my mind sometimes too, you know.”

DANI

Iheard him softly snoring next to me, that same vibrating dark energy rolling off of him in waves. Earlier, without me asking, he had summoned a ball of light that floated in a corner of the room, casting a small amount of illumination. My considerate night light. One of his hands was above his head while the other was wrapped around my side of the bed. I had woken up to voices in my head, but they weren’t loud and obnoxious. They were soft, almost featherlike in my subconscious. It was nothing like the alarming cry that I heard when we were fighting the hellhounds, but I knew it was Lilith’s voice trying to coax me into submitting, into being hers again. It was enough to wake me up, not in a panic, but just enough that I couldn’t get back to sleep. I had awoken to a strong arm around the back of my neck and a chest underneath my cheek.

Lilith must have been furious when Dimitri told her I had refused. I wasn’t a petulant child that made enormous rash decisions like that, but this was all getting to be too much, and it was hurting the peopleI cared about. Elise wanted to just go in, shadows blazing, but even she knew that it wasn’t worth it if we lasted all of five minutes. We were strong together, but as much as Lilith sat back and watched, she had her strength, and it was fucking scary when she put it on display. As much as I didn’t think Nicholas and I had all that much in common, I was a creature who did enjoy the facts just as much as I enjoyed the thrill of going in blind. This mission needed both. The facts were so much easier when Heaven’s Gate was the surrounding and the angels were the only ones to truly be concerned with. Now there was so much more to think about, so many questions. Some questions were answered while others would likely not be acquired until I was right in front of Lilith herself. Everyone we had spoken to seemed to have small facts, small pieces of conversations that matched up and made sense, but they never told the whole story; Lilith always left things out for only herself to ever know.

She couldn’t force you to do something when she allowed you a choice, so now she’s going to give you no choice.

Play her game and everyone wins. I would never.

I propped myself up on my elbow, looking down at the angel next to me. He looked gentle and serene as he slept. It was amazing how things looked on the outside. Demons rampaged inside his head and yet, he looked just as handsome as the day I met him. I watched the waves of dark energy dance around his body as if they were smoke fumes from a boiling pot. They slithered over to me, disappearing as they touched my skin. It would be so easy for me to let his darkness in, let it become one with me and just seek out the rest of his vulnerability. I could make his soul so dark while we were down here and then pull it out with so much ease, he wouldn’t feel a thing. A part of me wanted that. I wouldn’t deny that and pretend like I hadn’t been manipulating darkness and seething souls for my entire existence, but I couldn’t push myself to do it. I wasn’t eager, it was just a habit of circumstance.

I brushed a piece of his hair away from his forehead and dragged my finger lightly down the side of his face, tapping the scar under his eye. I kept forgetting to ask him about it. I ran my thumb over the scar, watching as his eyes rolled under his eyelids. I wondered what he was dreaming about, I wondered if I really did make things better for him when he slept next to me like he said. I let out a breath and pushed the covers off my naked body, swinging my legs over the side. I found his shirt on the floor and tugged it over my head. I got up and felt a bit shaky standing up, my legs wobbling. I had told him that I would be sitting on his face later and I did like to maintain the things I said. I wanted to give his hurt arm a break and it was onlyfair that I provided him with the kind of care only I could give. He didn’t complain. Eating me out was like a remedy for him.

I felt myself smile as I padded over to the bathroom, closing the door softly. I ran my hand through small tangles in my hair as I used the bathroom. When I was in front of the mirror I took a long look at myself. It was starting to feel like his overthinking was rubbing off on me and I fucking hated that. He could rub off on me in any other way, but he could take that overthinking bullshit back and lock it away. I was about to riot in my mind when I felt the ground shake under my feet. I looked down and it happened again. A growl rippled through the walls, and I knew that growl.

It was late enough to where the noise enchantment would be in effect, so when I opened the door, I didn’t hear any footfalls and no screaming. Another loud growl, barreled through andfuck, it made my ears throb. Nick had a startled look on his face as he shot up out of the bed, quickly finding his underwear and pants. “What the fuck is that?”

I stepped outside of the bathroom, absentmindedly finding the rest of my clothes. I removed his shirt, throwing it at him, while I tugged on my loose crop top from earlier. “I don’t…”

In a matter of seconds, every single sound entered my ears. Running, screaming, crying. It was like someone had lifted the enchantment to alarm everyone. Shuffling thundered from outside the door and Nick grabbed my hand, swinging it open. It was pure chaos in the hallway. Before we could take a step beyond the threshold, bodies were plowing past us. When it was safe to walk, we spotted Reese holding both his weapon and Nick’s.

“Thought you might need this.” He tossed the sword over to Nick, who caught it effortlessly.

Nick nodded at him and looked down towards where we could see the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?”

“No fucking idea. It sounds like Axel isn’t happy,” Reese explained right as the ground shifted again. “I think…” He was cut off by a male voice, yelling from the outside. The voice was loud enough that every word could be heard, every piece of his tone accounted for.

“Soul Seether, come out and play! Bring your angels with you, huh.” It didn’t sound instantly familiar, but it did sound like someone pleading for a death wish since they seemingly decided that tonight was the night to piss me off.

“Friends of yours?” Reese said sarcastically. I pushed past both of them and a bunch of other patrons, taking the stairs two at a time and nearly jumping from the last two. Enchanters were huddled in the lounge and dining area, some of them hugging their children to their chests. I ripped thedoor open, stepping outside to not just one male demon threatening me, but a hoard of demons. I spotted Elise and Beetee, trying to hold different sections of them back. Beetee looked at me, one of her eyes was that pretty lilac and the other the diamond pupil of her snake form. She was trying to hold it in, but issues like this meant it was time to let that go.

Axel settled next to Elise, drool dripping from his mouth and his red eyes boring into the demons as he snapped his teeth at them. Reese and Nick walked up next to me surveying their surroundings. The plethora of demons were on all sides. I took a second, noticing that they were coming from the pathway that led to Devil’s Playground.

“Finally! We just want to talk, Soul Seether.” The voice from earlier said, walking past the crowd and stepping in front of them. It was the piece of shit from our first trip to Leviathan, the one who wanted to cause a fight for no reason, other than to just have a fight.

“I highly doubt that.” I answered, keeping my eyes on each individual but always coming back to him. His hair was uneven from where I’d cut it, and it almost made me smirk thinking about our last encounter.

---