Live Like Legends (LIVING LEGEND #3)

Chapter 9

“ W ait, I’m sorry, he punched Zane?” My voice cracked due to the laugh that came out. “And he almost punched you?” I pointed over to Reese who let us go ahead of him into Natalia’s house.

The blonde angel shook his head. “No, I’m way too quick for that.”

Nick rolled his eyes and shoved his friend. “Keep telling yourself that.”

My forthcoming angel decided that the minute I woke up and started to get ready was the perfect time to clue me in on all the things that had happened prior. My eyes had widened a bit when he told me about Garrett’s outburst. As out of character it seemed, it was something that didn’t surprise me. Garrett was a good father that was without his family. They were a part of him and without them, it was like he didn’t have much at all. Risking everything by taking Nick’s key was the ‘best’ solution in his eyes. Desperation makes you do wild things.

I had rubbed my hands all along Nick’s body, furiously asking if he was alright, which got me pushed against a wall and kissed very hard on the mouth. The story continued once we got to Oculus and in front of Reese who couldn’t help providing us with a more colorful interpretation of what happened.

“Zane keeps his beady little eyes on him constantly now,” Reese explained. “Natalia keeps telling him to back off, but the guy is a force to be reckoned with.”

I tugged on Nick’s arm, bumping against him. “And you talked to him?” The entire conversation about this whole mess had me wondering if he had taken what I’d suggested to heart.

He smiled down at me, nodding. “Yes, I did. Happy?”

I reached up and kissed his cheek. “Good boy.”

I heard his groan of annoyance from his distaste at my form of praise. We made it to the doors of Natalia’s personal training room and after what happened to me last night, I wanted to make today count. Everyone was already gathered and settled along the walls of the room, waiting. I had told Nick about what happened, especially when he noticed the hand sized burn into his sheets and mattress. He had mumbled that it was yet another piece of information to tell Natalia and the others, which I agreed with. Secrets were something neither of us were a fan of any longer, whether it be with each other or anyone else.

“All this time we’ve known each other, I’ve never asked…do you have wings? Like can you fly like most demons?” I swung my head over at the sound of Elise’s voice and saw her engaged in a conversation with Beetee.

The pink haired demon wrinkled her nose. “Uhh, not that I know. I’ve never felt the urge to make something protrude from my back and it also sounds like it hurts so I don’t think I would want to anyway.”

“They are magic manifestations, Beetee, not actual appendages.”

Beetee wrinkled her nose, again. “Yeah, well your tail is something you magically manifest and it still hurts like a bitch when something happens to it, so no thank you. I’ll stick to shape shifting.”

I received a quick wave from Beetee the minute she noticed me. It was a tiny bit awkward, especially with the way she was biting her bottom lip furiously. I was quickly reminded that we still needed to talk, but what I would say during that conversation was still lost on me. Listening to a sliver of what they spoke about just pushed my need to speak with her at the top of my list of priorities. Well, maybe not the top , but close enough.

Natalia placed herself at the center of the room, but before she could start with whatever she had planned, Nick and I both hustled over to her.

“There is something you need to know,” I said, shuffling from one foot to the other.

“If it’s about the sky last night, I saw it too.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “It’s not that. Although, that’s also a problem and unfortunately not the Lilith kind.” I licked my lips before I continued, “so, you were right. Nick might be more of an asset to me when it comes to being more connected with my light. Well, actually it was apparent a while ago, because he actually decided to bring to my attention that I’ve been burning him with my light. It’s likely our light put together, but it happens every time that we…or really when I?—”

Nick let out an obnoxious cough. “We don’t have to go into so much detail, Dani.”

“Oh okay, well how else is she supposed to understand that my light powers become so powerful they burn you when you make me come, huh?” I waved my hands in the air, making more of a scene then necessary.

A loud laugh came from behind us. “I’m sorry, what the hell?” Reese asked between gasps of air. “That’s a new one. Your light burns him because the dick is just that good.” He couldn’t get the last few words out without laughing.

I saw Nick shake his head and heard him blow air out of his nose with the way he was seething.

“I can honestly say, for you two horny idiots, that I am not surprised. You both can’t seem to stop touching each other half the time, it’s no doubt that level of intimacy could cause you to spontaneously combust.” We all looked over at Elise, but she was inspecting her fingernails as if what she said had no merit and was just a fleeting comment.

I turned my eyes away from Elise and over to Nick, who was already looking at me.

“It’s not just the intimacy that makes it rage, is it?” Natalia asked, not seeming all that surprised by my comments.

I pulled my eyes away from him and locked eyes with her. “No.”

I tried to sum up my feelings from last night and it wasn’t the best idea going back to that memory of Dimitri. I told her about how I wanted to be able to help myself and not need Nick, even though his joy of being my catalyst was very cute. She listened to every word I said while each person around us seemed to be focusing all their attention on us as well. Zane even looked intrigued by my story, if intrigue was a facial expression he knew how to possess.

“Is Dimitri getting into your head like Lilith did?” Reese questioned. “You just said that the ripple in the sky was not a Lilith issue. Is the Son of Hell currently throwing a really big tantrum?”

I shook my head. “No, he can’t. I have—had—a connection with Lilith, but I never had something like that with Dimitri. If I had money to bet, I would say a tantrum is correct.” I frustratingly ran a hand through my curls. “I just felt a need to fight, but instead of my shadows doing the work…the light did instead. Trust me I’m still trying to comprehend.”

The High Priestess placed a hand on my shoulder. “I think you are finally letting it in, which is a good thing.”

“So, you just burned a handprint into your boyfriend’s bed? Nice.” Elise complimented, shrugging.

Nick put his hands up. “Okay, everybody can we just all come back to the point of why we are here. How are we getting her to harness both the uh...intimate part and the protective nature part?”

Natalia gave him a small chuckle. “I think I have an idea for that.” She turned to Zane, who was standing so close to Garrett it made even me uncomfortable. “Go rally up some of your recruits for me, would you please?”

Zane swiftly dipped his head down, giving Garrett a I swear, do not fuck with me look and hustled out of the room.

Elise pushed out her bottom lip in a pout. “Awe, so you guys aren’t going to demonstrate this burning light by having sex in front of us?”

I rolled my eyes. “Haha, no.”

She stuck her tongue between her teeth and looked over at Nick. “Hmm, what a shame. From how pretty boy was dancing with you at Leviathan, he made it pretty clear he liked being watched.”

“I never…” Nick started his cheeks turning a small shade of pink, but the sound of multiple footsteps interrupted him.

Five or six Enchanters walked in behind Zane in a single file line. They all stayed silent as they waited for his instruction. The men and women before us all had different tattoos decorating their skin and even though none of them were flexing, I was pretty sure they could throw around any of us. Not that I would give them the chance.

Reese pulled at the collar of his shirt as if he was stressed out. “Damn, they are more disciplined than us.”

Garrett raised an eyebrow at him. “There are still some days that I wonder how you got into The Skies.” His shoulders moved as he started to chuckle.

“That place doesn’t have standards, I figured that out a while ago. Keep up.” Elise rolled her eyes as she surveyed the Enchanter in front of us. “What is this all about, witch?”

Natalia let out a low sigh. “They are here to help with the issue at hand. Me simply throwing my magic at you isn’t going to help it seems; you need something that feels like an actual threat. Something that causes you to trust yourself along with trusting one another. As much as the power is physical, this is still a mental diabolical in its own right. Like you said, when you saw that you’d burned through that mattress, you felt like you could burn the world…”

“In a good way.” Nick chimed in, always looking for the best in me it seemed.

Natalia smirked, winking at him. “Yes, in a good way. You want that same feeling, do you not?”

I bit my lip, already getting antsy for that high again. “Fuck, yeah.”

The High Priestess pushed her mass of braids over her shoulder and sauntered over to Zane. They both left the recruits in the middle of the room while Natalia also grabbed Garrett. She made sure they were all placed in the corner of the room while we all simply stared at one another.

Natalia’s regal voice echoed. “Neither side is fighting to kill, but I’d never want you to hold back.”

Nick and Reese looked at each other from across the room, when I noticed one of the Enchanters, a girl with freckles that littered her face, zeroed in on me.

“You heard your Queen.” Zane’s booming voice rang out and a bright blue ball of light flew from the freckled face girl’s fingers straight into my stomach, flinging me against the wall.

“Woah, woah, fucking…” Reese shouted before he was slapped in the face by a spark of magic and then picked up by a gust of wind from nowhere and thrown against the other wall. He grunted and grabbed the side of his face.

I saw Nick running over to me and I wanted to shake my head, because no, I didn’t need him as much as I appreciated his efforts. He didn’t get within a foot of me before a rope of magic the color of ivy wrapped around his ankle and jerked him back. I looked over at Natalia who gave me the most nonchalant look back, as if saying we shouldn’t be surprised .

The freckle faced girl came charging at me, but I pushed out my hand, releasing dark shadows towards her. She had electric pink sparks coming from her hand and she grabbed onto my shadows, wringing them out like a wet rag before discarding them. My mouth dropped open slightly and my shoulders tensed up when I heard a thud.

“Fuck, this is fucking bullshit,” Elise yelled, another thud coming as her back hit the wall again. A male Enchanter with a shaved head besides the one long braid cascading down the middle of his head, pressed his body weight against her. She worked her tail out, preparing to slice it through the backs of his thighs, but another Enchanter came up and grabbed it, twisting it around their arm until she yelled out.

Beetee ran up behind them, jumping on their back and I had to blink twice before I realized that maybe she didn’t need to shift into a full snake to produce snakelike elements. Two of her canines protruded like fangs as she sunk them into the Enchanter’s neck. They howled in pain, releasing Elise’s tail and giving her an opening to successfully cause the pain she was hoping for. The male Enchanter holding her up threw her to the ground, but not right before she was picked up by another and slammed into the ground again.

A bolt of magic came at me again, but I sprung up from the ground, swerving away from it. The freckled faced girl threw bolt after bolt, and I shot out multiple shadows, dodging them. I let my shadows slither on the ground as I spun around and evaded the grasp of an Enchanter. I kicked my foot out and connected the end of my boot with her stomach. My shadows wrapped around my target’s feet right as she was running towards me, ceasing her movement.

The shadows moved quickly, but there was a spark in them as if they were their own little thunderstorm. I was so close to her, I reached out and grabbed her throat letting my well-known darkness begin to encapsulate her completely. She didn’t look nervous or scared. She almost looked like this was what she was hoping for. Before her fingers could be completely taken over, she shot out bright white sparks from her fingers and removed my shadowy holds as if they were nothing.

My mouth dropped open in shock, but I was propelled to the side when a body threw itself against mine. I skidded across the floor, hissing in pain. I’d felt worse, but fuck did that hurt. I pushed myself off the ground, blowing curls out of my face, when a body came up behind me. My arms were yanked behind me, and the feeling of immobility started to make its way through my body.

“Let me go,” I demanded.

The female Enchanter tsked. “We both know I can’t do that.”

I heard grunts and yelps of pain around me and there was this feeling of agonizing dread. What if I couldn’t do this? What if I was only worth something when I was being lied to and thought I was something I wasn’t?

Nick and Reese were thrown together, colliding shoulder to shoulder before they fell on

the ground. Nick’s sword clattered in one direction and Reese, even though his face looked pained, was already moving to use his bow again.

Puffs of dark magic became the focus of my attention. I looked down and saw it swirling and moving up my legs, wanting to help me. I tried to shift my weight, tried to move my knees but I couldn’t. I looked over at Natalia who had this look in her honey-colored eyes, like she knew this would work but just needed me to do my fucking part.

The girl leaned down to my ear. “They want to become one so let them. Are you so afraid that the light will consume you, Soul Seether? It doesn’t want to consume you; it just wants you to make space. So let it.”

I let out a slow breath and closed my eyes. I felt the dark shadows wrap themselves further, but I let my own heartbeat thrum in my ears, I let the warmth that used to baffle me seek solace in my veins. I felt the dark and light caress each other like old friends, rather than mortal enemies. One was stronger than the other, but that was to be expected, but I felt them both…I was aware of them both. The darkness pushed further but it was followed by a golden light as I brought my head down and opened my eyes. They quickly moved around my body, progressing together seamlessly.

The light sparked and tiny flames surged against her magic. I heard a shriek from behind me and my body was suddenly free of her magical restraints. There was a soft glow in my palms as I spun around, looking down at my hands. Holy shit this felt…interesting. I wasn’t used to it, but it was something I could see myself getting used to.

I shot out a rope of dark magic peppered with light, but she caught it. Her face was tense with pain, and I peered down to see the light was causing small burns as she held on. She threw my magic to the left, sending me flying over to where Nick was caught between two Enchanters. The impact of my body against his sent us both tumbling to the ground.

I grabbed the side of my head and looked around at all these people I’d surrounded myself with fighting. It wasn’t for me, but it was for them. I could fight for them, but I could also fight and trust myself. I peeked over at Nick, who was looking down at my hands. The glow was stuttering, and the shadows danced around it in small wisps.

I could fight for myself…with some help when it was needed.

“Always here when I need you aren’t you?” I said, gaining a small smile from him.

“For you? Absolutely.” He gripped my hand so tight, I swore he cut off my circulation.

There was déjà vu with this level of light running through my system. The last time I’d felt this kind of shock was when I’d gone rogue during the fight with the hellhounds outside of Leah and Garrett’s home. This feeling was different now that I wasn’t getting mentally fucked by Lilith or legitimately fucked by Nick. I was more aware of everything; every single fiber of my being felt his light and I could feel mine nearly squealing at the intrusion.

I trusted myself, but I also trusted him .

I ripped my hand away from his and pushed against the wall behind me, so I could stand up straight. I brought my hands together and felt a sudden surge of heat between them, along with my shadows that swirled around my hands, becoming larger by the second. I began to separate my fingers and it was nearly too bright for me to look at, but then it started to feel too much for me to even hold.

My hands shook and before I had a moment to think, everything that was in my grasp released itself from my palms. Dark shadows and bright light magic that had now morphed into mild flames was bouncing around the room.

“Everybody stop! Get down!” Zane yelled, his voice causing everyone to duck and search above their heads.

Reese made his way to the other corner near the entrance door, while Elise forced Beetee to huddle near her. I heard a whoosh and realized Nick had forced his wings out, covering me. I was proud of myself, slightly embarrassed and just a tiny bit turned on. None of which mattered if whatever I had created killed all of us.

My power was headed right for Natalia, but she lifted her hands, and a large gust of wind blew around the training room, tossing my curls around so that most of them kept falling into my eyesight. The power I’d held was caught in her windstorm and sent sideways, a crashing sound making me flinch when I saw that it had created a rather large hole in the wall giving us a perfect view of the forest outside.

A silence came over the entire room as the dust from the now open wall space settled. Zane coughed, swatting the air and inspecting the damage. “And you thought this would be a good idea?” He was speaking to Natalia but stuck his head out the hole in the wall.

“I think it proved to work just fine.”

“Work just…there is a hole in the—” Zane started, exasperated, but Natalia placed her index finger to her lips, shushing him. Garrett patted him on the back and started to pick up some of the bigger shards that had broken around the room.

“That can be fixed.” She came over to me, placing both her hands on my shoulders. I heard a whoosh behind me, letting me know Nick had retracted his wings. “I never doubted you, but I think the next plan of action is getting it controlled.”

Reese let out a cough as he leaned down to pick up pieces of the wall and chucking it back to the ground. “You were always meant to blow a hole through a wall? You see when I want to do destructive shit, everyone thinks it’s fucking weird and says no.”

“Oh, stop fucking whining, the fact that you think you need to ask permission to be destructive is pathetic, Blondie.” Elise said annoyed. She nodded over to me. “I, for on, am mildly impressed. Next time try not to kill all the people that want to help you, but good job.”

The freckle faced Enchanter inclined her head towards me and smiled as she gathered with the others towards the broken wall. The number of people that just trusted Natalia’s judgment and plans without question was astonishing. I turned around to see Nick and him off guard when I ran and jumped onto him, wrapping my legs around his lower back.

“I did it,” I said, my voice prouder than normal.

“Well, of course you did, and you added a dash of sass by breaking a wall.”

I laughed and leaned down to kiss him. His lips were just as eager to get to mine. I pulled my face away from him to see an Enchanter with a look of shock come into the room and make their way over to Natalia. The High Priestess nodded in understanding and told the room that she would be back. My eyes followed her out, curious.

I found Nick’s brown eyes still looking at me, his face a bit sweaty from the fighting. “I know it doesn’t really matter, but are you proud of me?”

He touched his nose to mine. “Yes, but more importantly, are you proud of yourself?”

I leaped off his body and yanked on his shirt, bringing him down to the ground and on his back. I really didn’t care about all the people or the gagging sounds Reese was making in the background. I straddled him, leaning down so my face was inches from his. “I’m very proud, baby.”

“Good girl, as you should.” He gave me a peck on my lips and I pressed my lower half down on his pelvis. I bit my lip feeling something else besides pride for me. I heard a low groan from him when I rubbed myself against him again.

“Oh, does my success turn you on, Mr. Cassial?”

He brought his hands up to settle at my waist. “Maybe a little.”

My lips met his in a kiss that felt hotter than when my hands created their own little fire. I broke the kiss to lean towards his ear. “How about you show me how proud you are, hmm?”

A small, strained, fuck left his lips when I nipped his earlobe with my teeth.

The door opened and Natalia strolled back into the room, attracting everyone’s attention immediately. “We have a guest everyone.”

A girl with shiny dark hair that came in waves around her shoulders came through the doorway with a kind of confidence I knew well. She had a complexion that was a warm brown like mine and rectangular glasses that showcased the mass of freckles that decorated her nose. She was cute and if I wasn’t so enamored with my angel, I probably would have hit on her. She’d only just walked into the room, but I could tell she wasn’t an Enchanter, especially with the anxious look on Natalia’s face.

Natalia motioned towards the new girl. “Everyone this is?—”

Reese let out a strangled cough. “Oh fuck.”

“Morgan?” Nick pushed me up so that he could sit up and look over his shoulder.

Natalia pulled her eyebrows inward. “Uh, yes. This is Morgan, she is going to be around for all of our sessions from now on.”

Reese waved his hands in the air. “Wait, wait, you’re the babysitter? Ariel’s little spy.”

Natalia tucked one of her braids behind her ear. “It seems that Ariel didn’t want to intimidate us by sending a sentry to be on guard. I assume it’s just to make sure Dani is here doing what he said, no harm in it.”

“Intimidate us? Of course that’s how you would fucking phrase it.” Reese crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at Morgan. Clearly, he had some dislike for her that ran deeper than this moment.

Elise pushed past him. “Okay, who the fuck are you that gets Blondie so riled up?”

I felt Nick lift me off of him and head towards the others, placing his hand on my lower back so I could stand close to him.

When she spoke her voice came out like honey, but almost like honey that was too sweet to consume. “I’m not here to bother you Reese, I’m simply here to keep an eye on you all. Ariel thought that it made more sense since I’m a guardian. It’s kind of my job to watch over things.” She gave each of us her eyes, but those brown eyes of hers lingered too long on me, like she was sizing me up somehow. Her words were meant to be innocent and understanding, but they had a condescending tone that made me want to wring her neck.

“Did Ariel promise you a fucking promotion? We both know you aren’t doing this for the well-being of this realm,” Reese said, his tone accusatory..

I ruffled my curls, clearly confused. “I’m sorry, did you two used to date?”

“Or fuck?” Elise added. The sound of Beetee hissing at her friend from behind us would have made me laugh if I wasn’t on edge.

Morgan laughed, but it was laced with arrogance and something else I couldn’t place. “Oh, no to either of those questions, although, I’m sure he wishes.” Reese sneered at her, but she simply pushed her hair over her shoulder, every shiny piece falling down her back. “Should we suppress their confusion, Nicholas?”

Nick pressed his fingers into my back, like I was the only thing anchoring him in place. I looked up at him, but his eyes were narrowed at her. “I would really rather not.”

Elise circled around Nick’s back and over to me, whispering loud enough for everyone to hear, “oh, so Blondie is not the one she used to fuck.” I heard Nick’s sharp intake of breath and nearly bit my own tongue.

Morgan’s eyes went from Nick to Elise then onto me. She tilted her head to the side and scrunched up her nose in a way that told me she thought I was beneath her in some way. “Fucking makes things sound so impersonal, doesn’t it?”

Natalia scratched her temple clearly wondering how this had even happened, but not wanting to interfere. Beetee and Garrett were smart enough to stay on the sidelines, while everyone else watched as Morgan bit her lip and stared at Nick. He kept his hand at my back but wiped his other one over his mouth. “Fine. Um, Morgan is my ex-girlfriend.”

I didn’t feel jealous. That was for people who didn’t know how solid they were with someone else. Nick was mine and that was that. If I had to use my newfound powers to burn this girl from the inside out so she understood that, then so be it.