Page 54 of Live Like Legends

I lifted my chin, feeling his magic dig into wrists as I stood my ground. I didn’t answer him, causing him to lift one corner of his mouth.

“How are you here?”

I narrowed my eyes, confused. He waved his hand, rephrasing. “I don’t meanhere. I mean here in general, alive and breathing. How are you standing in my very presence?”

I ran my tongue over my front teeth. “Just great luck I guess.”

He placed his tattooed hand on his chest. “So modest. We both know that’s not true. Your pretty body should be rotting in Purgatory by now, but no, you’ve found a way to resurrect yourself. You wouldn’t have gotten the help of your little necromancer friend now, would you?”

“No, he has nothing to do with this. None of them do.”

Dimitri hummed. “It would be very interesting if you were lying and something happened to that sweet little family of his.”

“What did you do with them!?”

He raised his hand in his defense. “Nothing, yet. They are just fine. Locked away somewhere safe, don’t you worry. I have my best demons looking in on them, just in case something goes wrong.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he wasn’t finished. “Something tells me that you have an inkling to save them and perhaps we can work something out. You just have to show me that spectacular power.”

“My hybrid powers?”

“Yes, yes that luminous explosion of light and dark. That masterpiece of havoc that you possess…”

I interrupted him, wanting to break through his magic and break his neck. “You want to destroy Heaven’s Gate, turn it into a demonic free for all? Well, why don’t you just fucking do it yourself!”

He lifted his eyebrows, pushing out his bottom lip in thought. “I could, honestly, I could. It isn’t much fun to achieve that kind of success by myself. Even so, my father and Lucifer are very adamant that I don’t cause too much of a disturbance between our realms. Simply coming and destroying everything wouldn’t look good in their eyes, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.” He reached out and ran his hand across my cheek. I shuffled away, sneering at him. He clucked his tongue. “You are a sought after prize, pretty girl. Telling my father that I have the Soul Seether alive and well, while also telling him she was made to submit to her hybrid powers by the very angels she so stupidly trusted. Ah, it’s going to be a wonderful story.”

The smell of blood and burning flesh filled my nostrils again and I nearly gagged before I responded. “You haven’t gloated to your father about this already?”

“No, it would be in poor judgment to tell him and Lucifer himself that you have achieved this great hybrid power without seeing it firsthand while I have you here. They will be thrilled to know that we will be able to take what those angels thought would be a weapon for them and use it to destroy them. My father can’t say no to something like that. I can go in hellhounds blazing as long as you burn it all down around us. Lucifer himself wouldn’t be able to say no to you being aligned with the Princes and Daughters of Hell.”

He said everything like it was so matter-of-fact. Like it was all set in stone, as if I didn’t have a say.

“You are out of your fucking mind if you think I’m going to go along with this pathetic plan. A pathetically ill thought out plan makes sense for a pathetic—” I felt the sting of his palm hitting my cheek, silencing the rest of my words. I stumbled back, instinctively wanting to raise my hand to my face, but the burning at my wrists had me keeping them in place.

I blinked a few times as my mouth dropped open. He hit me. I had been put in fighting arenas when Lilith needed some amusement and I’d been struck while causing my own fights when I was bored in Purgatory, but this had never happened. Surprisingly, I realized in that instant that Lilith had never slapped me before; that seemed too small and simple for her.

If I thought about all the torture she’d put me through, it didn’t measure up, but the way my cheekbone throbbed…I didn’t know anymore.

He took in a sharp breath as if he had just released some much needed tension he had been harboring. He pointed his finger at me, the tattoos there pulsing as if they too had some darkness to emit. “Lilith wanted to make you a pet for her bidding. I want to make you an equal, yet I can’t do that unless I know that you’ve become worth all my efforts.” He flicked his wrist, his deep red magic releasing itself from my wrists.

I tentatively relaxed my wrists, the painful burn gone as I swiveled them around to gain feeling. What the fuck was he doing? In such a small space, I could wind up hurting myself, but right now that didn’t matter. I needed to conjure up everything I had?—

“I forgot to make something clear.” Dimitri placed his hand into his pocket, casually shrugging his shoulder. “You do anything to hurt me, plan to use those delicious powers to heroically save yourself, I would think about refraining.”

My fingers twitched, aching from the shear strain I felt holding in what I knew I could release.

“You do something as stupid as that, well, your necromancer friend can be expecting his family's head’s sent to him soon after. Contingency plans and all that. And with me gone, there will be no reason to hold back on erupting the entirety of Hell on that place you love so much.” His voice settled into a whisper. “Just think, you saved yourself, just to watch all the people who thought better of you get mutilated.”

Dimitri gave me a small smile that was filled with so much fake sympathy. “You can make it simple. You can show me that power and we can keep that castle they have intact so you can still hold onto some memories. I’ll even let you keep that demon friend of yours alive so you won’t be lonely, and perhaps I’ll even let the necromancer keep his family, hmm? How does that sound…”

I rubbed my lips together, mulling over my options. I didn’t trust him or anything he offered. I wanted to burn him alive and see his insides seeping out from every orifice in his body, but I couldn’t be hasty. I wanted to defend myself and show him that he was nothing, but Dimitri wasn’t the type that made threats for fun. If he could pop into Heaven’s Gate and whisk me away, there was nothing in my mind that assumed that he wouldn’t make good on his words at this very moment.

“I can’t.”

Dimitri narrowed his eyes at me, skeptical. “What do you mean?”

I shook my head. “What you saw…what made you come and get me, that was a one time thing. It was spontaneous. I have no idea how I did it.” The lies rolled off my tongue easily.

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