Page 66 of Live Like Legends

I sighed, knowing my heart was a lost cause. “I do.”

My father clasped both my hands in his. He looked as if he was in awe of me. “Somewhere between all the pain, blood and sacrifice, you fell in love.”

Daya got up from the couch, leaning down to kiss me on my temple before doing the same for my father. “We’ll be right here when you bring her home.”

Home. That’s exactly where I was and it’s exactly where I wanted her to be.

“I know what that kind of love feels like. This love you have for her, the love that makes you fight without a single thought, the love that makes you worried and nervous, the love that lets you know that she is worth everything you’ve put yourself through— that is how you know you’ll find her. That’s how you know you’ll win.”

Every single time I made a movement with my head, it was like my scalp screamed for mercy. I’d managed to close my eyes, nodding off for a few moments until the image of Jasmine and Yuri flooded my mind. I would evade sleep happily if it meant not having to see that cross my mind again. The look on their young faces, filled with so much fear. Leah had tried to look strong for them and I knew she was anything but weak, yet being stuck in a Hell prison can make everything feel damn near impossible.

I felt like I was belittling myself with the way I had to make it out to be like I had no power at all, when all I wanted to do was rip Dimitri’s head from his body and give it to Garrett as a prize for even considering touching a hair on his family’s head.

Was I doing them a disservice by not doing anything at all? Making them rot in that disgusting place they were in.

Maybe Dimitri was bluffing and I was the one keeping them here longer. Perhaps if I just killed him and all his guards then I could set them free. I stood up from the ground and ran a dirtcovered hand through my curls, getting my fingers caught on a tangle. I ripped through it in frustration, yelping at the pain in my scalp.

I scoffed, maybe I deserved this pain.

I gently moved my hair over my shoulder, letting my mind wander to things that lifted me up. I thought about how once I was out of here, tangles would be the least of my worries since I had my angel to carefully remove them for me. He had gotten so good at meticulously finger-combing my hair when I washed it. Time could tick by and Nick wouldn’t even so much as let out a groan of annoyance when he had still another section of my hair to go.

The pain in my scalp wouldn’t even be something to consider since Nicholas was insanely too good at giving scalp massages. I caught myself smiling, at the soothing feeling of someone delicately alleviating this pain in my head.

I rolled my neck and shoulders, my happy ideas halting when I heard the door opening. It didn’t feel like Dimitri though outside of it. No, two of his bodyguards stalked into the room with their eyes trained right on me. I scanned my eyes over both of them. One was bulky and extremely tall; he reminded me a little of Zane but with shorter hair. The other was of average height, but his thighs and biceps bulged, even under his clothes.

“Can I help you?” I wasn’t intimidated if that’s what they were going for. All I felt was annoyance at their intrusion.

They casually looked over at each other, giving one short nod. The shorter one cocked his head towards me. “Grab her arms.”

I reared my head back, blinking rapidly. “The fuck you will,” I protested, backing up.

The taller one snickered. “You can make this real easy and just oblige us.”

He took one long step over to me, reaching for my arm, but I swatted it away. “I’m not a fan of making your lives easier.”

The short one rolled his eyes, lunging at me. I jumped back, nearly laughing when he almost fell flat on his face. The other one trapped my arm in his grasp, twisting it so that the bones there were on the verge of breaking. Before the shorter one could grab hold of my other arm, I collected shadows into my hand and reached over my shoulder. I shoved the dark magic into the larger one's face, thrusting backwards to get him off of me. He stumbled backwards, shaking his head and clawing at his face.

I pulled my hand back, shooting the shadows towards the shorter one. I spun around but had to lean back to escape the flying fist that was aimed at my face. The larger one huffed, moving a few steps to the side quickly when I shot out another stream of shadows. The other one pushed out his own dark magic, hoping to battle against mine.

The taller one saw that as an opportunity to gain the upper hand on me, but I’d let shadows rise from the stones, wrapping their ribbon like appearance around his legs, up his thighs and around his ribs. They cinched him in, letting me give all my attention to the one currently thinking he could win in this shadow fight with me.

I was about to propel a large amount of dark magic at him, something that would likely send both of them into unconsciousness when I felt something wrap around both my wrists. I instantly felt the burn. My eyes flicked to my wrists, ropes of black and dark red had a hold of me and the heat it created was fucking unbearable.

My power stopped flowing and everything the shorter guard had thrown at me hit me all at once. It looked so much like simple transparent wisps but they felt like stones. I tried to raise my hands and shield myself but the ropes at my wrists kept me in place. The larger guard broke through my shadow holds,beginning to barrel towards me, but he halted when he was so close he could have picked me up.

I started to turn around and add yet another person into this fight, but my head was yanked back by another rope that circled my throat. I didn’t get a chance to catch my footing when I was pulled backwards, my back hitting a hard chest.

I knew that chest and I tried to force my hands up to my neck. I wanted to rip away Dimitri’s hold on me, move my body as far away from his as possible. He still had a solid grip on my wrists, the burning a slow continuous feeling. It was a never ending heat cycle that thrummed through my veins and it was starting to make me sweat. I felt his hands move my hair away from my ear, so he could touch his lips to the shell. “Always the little fighter, aren’t we?”

I looked straight ahead, refusing to even give him an ounce of my attention. I focused on the two men in front of me. They had gotten themselves together again and seemed to be waiting for his instructions.

Dimitri sighed in disappointment before directing his next words at them. “Grab her and hold her in place. One simple task, for fucks sake boys, do I need to do everything myself?”

“We had it, boss, I swear…” The taller one started, but suddenly there was a long cut along his neck, blood trickling out. I peeked over to my right as much as I could, seeing that Dimitri had extended one of his fingers at his guard. His fingernail had become long and pointed, the same way it had when we fought with him in his office at Leviathan.

He didn’t have to take a step at all to cause harm and the tip of his fingernail was coated in blood. The guard’s hand flew up to his neck, but before he could get any words out the blood started to bubble as if it was boiling. The color red caught in my peripheral vision and I knew Dimitri’s eyes had turned. Hewasn’t angry enough to shift into original demon form, but he was pissed enough to make things count when he needed to.

“I am so sure you did.”

---