Page 67 of Live Like Legends

We all watched as the blood started to rapidly pour out of his skin and sizzle as it hit the ground. Blood started to come from his mouth and his body shook with pain. His hands flew everywhere, not knowing where to go and how to help himself. His body fell to the ground, soaking up his blood.

Dimitri chuckled, grazing my ear again with his lips. “Oh, no, look what you caused. Don’t worry, what I plan to do to you will be much less horrifying—on the outside.”

The air turned cooler when he finally let me go. I didn’t get a chance to enjoy it when his hand dug into my hair, tugging backwards, then forcing my head against the stone wall. Black dots decorated my vision and I blacked out.

My wrists stung with pain as I tried to stretch them out but to no avail. I pulled and tugged but nothing worked. I slowly blinked my eyes open to see the stone ground below me, but also that I was on my knees. I realized quickly with a few more tugs that my wrists were now placed around my back and secured. Pieces of my hair clung to my mouth and I blew tiny breaths out, trying to get them away from my face.

I tried to conjure up my own dark magic, but I felt nothing happening. I knew it was in there; I could even feel the light magic bottled up in myself, but nothing was willing to release itself from my fingertips. I couldn’t feel anything wanting to come from my skin or any thrumming in my veins. I almost felt human and I ground my teeth together at the thought. Irallied when I brought my thoughts back to my captured wrists. Heaven’s Gate had their golden magic dampening handcuffs, so what would stop Hell from having their own version of it.

I hadn’t noticed the two guards standing on opposite sides of the room, staring at me as if they had nothing better to do. One of them was the shorter one from earlier, but there was a new one to my left. He had cropped blonde hair and dark brown eyes that looked black in the dim lighting of the cell. I glanced over at where the other guard had seized and died in front of me, his blood still staining the stones.

A throat cleared as the door opened and a smiling Dimitri sauntered in as if he was the biggest piece of shit in the realms. He wasn’t alone though. Lilith walked in after him, her black silk dress flowing behind her. Her platinum blonde hair was swept up in a high bun and it almost looked as if she was about to attend some elegant dinner party rather than come and torment me with her presence again.

“Ah, you’re awake. Excellent.” Dimitri rubbed his hand down his fitted shirt, nodding at his guards.

They rushed over to me, grabbing my elbows and lifted me up. My knees ached and my legs felt wobbly from how I’d been placed on the ground. Dimitri stood in front of me, taking my hair in his hand and brushing the curls over my shoulder. His green eyes looked at my face as if he was considering something but then thought better of it.

“I admire your work with her Lilith, but I think you were quite foolish in how defiant you made her. I love a woman with her own mind, but hmm, I do believe it is a bit misguided.” He looked over his shoulder at her, tilting his head towards me as if to tell her to come closer. She obeyed, standing next to him. He brought his gaze back to me. “I had a lovely meeting with your delicate little angel. I forgot how good his darkness tasted, although perhaps he isn’t quite as delicate as before. He put upa fight and I probably haveyouto thank for making him so resilient. I could taste his need for you, his need tofindyou. It was actually kind of pathetically sad. Poor sad, simple Nicholas, loving a girl who was never his to begin with.”

I tried to pull away from him, hating the way he said Nick’s name. I hated the way he thought he was better and that somehow I was the missing puzzle piece in his deluded love story.

Dimitri raised his hand and placed his fingers at my shoulder. He twisted his hand so his knuckles slowly ran down my arm. “You don’t want to work with me Dani, well then unfortunately, I will need to use a method I’ve tried to avoid with you. You really do bring out the worst in me.” He looked over at Lilith. “Watch and learn.”

I furrowed my brow, when Dimitri’s long nails extended, pressing into the skin of my arm and slicing downward. Lilith took in a sharp breath, but it wasn’t from shock, but as if she was impressed or awestruck. An excruciating pain ran along my arm and I closed my eyes, biting down on my tongue to keep the whimpering sounds I wanted to make at bay. I heaved out a breath, glancing at the damage he’d done. Blood ran down towards my elbow, dripping onto the stone.

Dimitri ran his fingertips along my open wound, smearing the blood there. I watched with my mouth half open as he brought his fingers to his lips, tasting my blood. He sighed as if he was so content with what he was doing.

“Such rage. Such overwhelming hatred for me, when all I’m trying to do is help you. We wanted the best for you and you went and decided that living withthemwas a better choice.” He laughed. “We should be enraged withyou, yet, I desire you too much to show you such malice.”

Lilith reached out and touched my bleeding arm, pressing her fingers into the long cuts. I grunted, her nails digging into the broken skin.

“You can keep me here forever and I still won’t want you. I willneverwant—” The back of his hand came down across my face, his knuckles connecting with my jaw andfuck, it hurt. I tasted blood on my lips, verifying that he had in fact, busted my lip open. I looked into the fiery red that were now his eyes and the way his face began to distort, but then he pulled himself back together.

Dimitri flexed his hand, chuckling. “I told you that I will break your spirit and I wasn’t lying. I will see that power of yours, pretty girl. You will give me what I want.” He nodded over to his guards who came up behind me, wrapping their hands around my wrists.

The Son of Hell ran his entire palm over my blood soaked arm, squeezing so that more of the dark red liquid oozed out. He pulled back, creating that reddish black magic in his hand, clouds of smoke coming from his palm. “I really do hate hurting you.”

That was all he said before I felt the dampening magic at my wrists release but the guards still held my arms in place. Dimitri slapped his blood soaked hand over my eyes and it was like I was seeing multiple visions at the same time.

I tried to rip myself away from the guards holding my arms, tried to use my shadows now that they were free to run rampant, but it was like I was stunned into focusing on the things Dimitri was forcing me to see.

He had me seeing every single soul I’d tortured and I felt a shiver of pleasure roll down my spine from it. There were images of blood, so much blood. Blood I had spilled and the fact that I had desired more of it. He played off of my need for applause of lower demons and those that enjoyed my shows of torture. Itwas as if he was letting me know I could have all that again, that I could evoke pain and be praised for it.

My shadows molded and submitted to this idea, snaking around my arms with the need to do something like that, be something like that again.

I felt his hand press harder down on my face, his Hell shadows filtering into my eyes and it stung. I wanted to cry from how much it hurt and burned. It wasn’t enough to fuck up my eyesight but I knew what was coming would be painful in a way I wasn’t prepared for. Dimitri had tasted my blood and he would have found things he was knowledgeable of, but then he would have also tasted my desire for Nick, my love for him and everyone else I had let myself care about.

I flinched as he slammed image after image into my mind. The way he’d sliced down Nick’s arm and the amount of agony he’d put him in. My angel’s declining attitude at the fight outside the hostile and how he’d so much as put himself in the fetal position to make it stop. Dimitri sent feelings of despair and fear into my mind. He made me feel hurt and scared. I wanted to pull his hands away and make him stop.

He kept showing me Nick bleeding and then I would be the one over him as if I’d done it. Nick’s screams and agony filled pains echoed continuously in my head.

Make it stop! Make it stop!

The warmth in my hands started to surge. I felt the familiar pull of my shadows rally around the warmth as if it wanted to protect. I willed the sparks to stop and I pushed myself to not explode. I couldn’t give Dimitri what he wanted, I couldn’t give up because the visuals were too much to bear.

I squeezed my fists together as he pushed images of him tearing Nick and everyone else to shreds. Blood flew everywhere and it was almost like I could taste it in my mouth. I wanted this to stop.

“Let me go! Stop it! Stop it, now!” I shoved the light down and it retaliated by nearly burning my insides with its rage to get out. For something that was supposed to be light magic, it had quite a temper. I used all the strength I had to force one of the guards away from me, while driving the other in the opposite direction. I grabbed Dimitri's hand, but it burned my palms the minute I made contact.

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