Page 117 of Live Like Legends

“Neither do you. Jonah never thought highly of you, even all those years ago.” My father seemed to press down on his shoulder harder.

“Guards! Seize them,now!” Ariel shouted, clearly causing more of a spectacle than he anticipated.

Mission accomplished on our end.

“They don’t work for you now. You are back to what you’ve always been…” Dani started.

“Useless and disappointing,” Elise finished for her.

My father let go of his shoulder, watching as Ariel crumbled to the ground as if the weight of my father’s power was too much for him to handle. “Take him away,” my father said to no one in particular, but guards surrounded Ariel and yanked him up.

They carried him halfway down the lawn when the ground started to shake. Quick vibrations at my feet had me looking down, watching the small pieces of dirt and rocks shake. Then a violent growl ripped through and a few angels were knocked off their feet, some of the marble benches cracking in half.

“What the fuck is happening?” Reese shouted.

I opened my mouth to speak, but then the sky shifted in color. The blue became muted, distorting into something darker. The trees whipped from a wind that came from nowhere.

“Your majesty…” Zane started, suddenly by Natalia’s side and attempting to pull her away from whatever was happening. She batted his hands away, looking from me to Dani.

Elise was looking up at the sky, her face morphing into something I could only pinpoint as realization. “Why does no one fucking listen to me!”

“What are you yelling…” I started to say, but a dark circle appeared near us. It reminded me of the ripple in the sky but more fleshed out. This tear in the realms was more confident. The ground shook harder and the dark circle pulsed over and over.

Two hellhounds jumped out, but these looked different than the ones we fought in Purgatory. They were around Axel's size when he was angry but they had horns that protruded from the tops of their head, spikes trailed down their backs and their teethwere huge and oozing some sort of black liquid that sizzled when it hit the ground.

Axel growled more intensely, not backing down from them. I blinked and one minute he was the cute little black dog that napped in Reese’s arms, the next he was matching the size of these new hellhounds, stalking towards them but still keeping his distance.

A manically casual laugh filled my ears and the figure who owned that laugh stepped out of the portal. I had to be seeing a fucking ghost.

I heard a deep hiss come from my right and that told me everything I needed to know about Beetee’s state of mind.

“Nicholas…” My father started, but he was cut short when a scream pierced through the chaos.

I looked down to find Dani pressing a hand to her scarred thigh as she let out another scream of pain.

My thigh was throbbing and my arm didn’t feel any better but at leastthatI could attempt to ignore. It felt like my thigh was going to explode from all the pressure it was harboring. I looked down at my skin and the wound was visibly pulsing as if at any minute, blood would start to gush from it. The area around the scars was red and raging. I pressed my lips together trying not to release any more screams, practically biting my tongue.

The ground shook and black mist collected around me and everyone’s feet. Dimitri’s laugh thrummed in my ears, but it was like the volume was turned up. I released the hold on my thigh and pressed my hand to my ear, hoping to block out the noise. It was no use, the fucker was in my head. The minute he’d cut me, the minute he’d had my blood on his nails, slipping down his hand…he had a way in.

Dimitri couldn’t make me submit, butfuckcould he make me hurt. He didn’t have the power like Lilith did to make me do his bidding by a simple command. Even through all this suddenpain, I didn’t feel the urge to make it stop simply because it would make my life easier.

“Dani!” I heard Beetee yell as she ran over, kneeling beside me. She looked across my body to Nick, who was also hunched over me. He placed his hand gently behind my head, scanning my body. He went to touch my pulsing wound, but he hissed, shaking his hand as if simply touching my scars caused him pain.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Dimitri cut him off. He clucked his tongue, running his hand along the side of one of the hellhounds. “You move against me, everyone hurts. I believe I explained this to you quite thoroughly, pretty girl.”

I heard Axel growl as the hellhounds chomped at the air.

“Nicholas, what is the meaning of this!?” Ariel demanded, his green eyes wide as he took in the darkened sky, the massive hellhounds and the pretentious Son of Hell that wanted to act like he wasn’t making a scene. Ariel shoved away from the guards, rushing past us. Nick grabbed my arm helping me up as we watched Ariel trudge towards where all the chaos was.

“Ariel, if you listen to me at least once in your entire life, please do so now! Move away!” Maurice urged, walking behind Ariel but still keeping a small distance. He grabbed at Ariel’s arm, but the executive yanked away from him. He spun around, getting into Maurice’s face.

“This is how people lead Maurice! I will not let what your son and that stupid girl brought here destroy this place!” Ariel moved to face Dimitri, hesitating a bit when the hellhounds eyed him. They dug their claws against the ground, creating deep lines that brought up the dirt underneath. Ariel made sure his voice was loud and clear. “You have no place here! You will not win today…”

“Ariel I really don’t think…” Nick started, but Ariel looked over his shoulder, sneering at my angelic boyfriend.

“Do not speak to me as if…” Ariel spat, starting to reprimand Nick when his voice caught. A flash of reddish light hit his body and then…through his body. I heard Nick’s breath hitch as his mouth gaped open. Ariel looked down, sputtering when he saw the large hole that was created in his chest. Morgan let out a sharp cry as Ariel fell to his knees, the light leaving his eyes as blood leaked from his mouth. Tiny flame sparks moved around the inside and you could see clear through his body, right at Dimitri who had a small smirk on his lips.

Screams and cries filled the open space as many of the angels that had been here for a simple ceremony had no place to go, no place to run.

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