Chapter 44
M y thigh was throbbing and my arm didn’t feel any better but at least that I 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, but fuck could 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 sudden pain, 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.
“You should have really listened to the boy, hmm.” The Son of Hell’s tattooed hand was engulfed in a circle of red and black flames. He casually moved the power he had between his fingers as if he had all the time in the world to taunt us.
A large, very bright, stream of light flew at Dimitri, knocking him off his feet. When the light had retreated, I blinked, realizing that that level of power came from Maurice. His hands were in front of him as he stood in front of Ariel’s dead body. “You will leave!”
Dimitri huffed, getting up and readjusting the suit jacket he wore. He let out a low laugh before thrusting his hand forward, aiming his dark power at Maurice. The red magic flew fast, molding itself to a sharp point.
Maurice readied himself to fight back, but a sharp blade came in front of him. The magic pinging off the silver, flying into the air. A sizzling sound surrounded us, but all I could focus on was the intense breathing coming from Nick.
He held his sword tight as he protected his father. Dimitri laughed again, pure amusement playing in his eyes. “Ah, showing off are we? A solid attempt, but misguided. That heart of yours will be quite a delicacy to the hellhounds.”
The portal shuddered and moved behind him, but then shadows wafted out of it. Some of them were large and some were around my height. The darkness scattered over the benches and around our feet. The shadows lifted and grew, forming people and weapons for them to fight with. Dimitri’s guards hustled out of the portal, flanking him on all sides.
“It’s a shame you had to ask for Lucifer’s help in all this. Too helpless to do it yourself?” Elise taunted, growling right back at the hellhound’s that threatened her and Axel. Garrett and Leah stood next to her, hands already filling with their magic.
“Lucifer!?” Reese questioned, his voice rising just a fraction.
Dimitri cocked his head towards Elise, raising his eyebrows. She never let her grey eyes leave him. “We both know you don’t hold the power to establish this much!”
“Perhaps not, but he did give me the okay to destroy all of you and we wouldn’t want to let him down, now would we?” He blinked innocently at her.
I eyed the shadow demons and their holds on their weapons. I scanned the hellhounds and their vibrating need to strike. Morgan shook next to me, her fear easily identifiable.
She jumped, startled when I spoke to her. “You have a choice. You can run inside The Skies and wait until this is all over, no matter the outcome or you can fight with us. You want to prove something to yourself and actually show that you deserve that applause that you somehow think you’re owed? Then I suggest you choose the latter.”
“Kill them all, but leave that one…” Dimitri nodded over to me. “To me.”
The descent upon us was quick. Reese got his bow out, notching an arrow and began releasing them in perfect succession. They struck a few of Dimitri’s guards causing them to collapse around him.
Beetee shifted quickly, her black scales lined in pink shimmering even though the sky was darkened. Her large body slithered through the grass while her tail whipped around, knocking down shadow demons as she moved. She reared back, opening her mouth and hissing before collecting some of the guards that tried to fight her in her mouth.
I gave Morgan one last look before I forgot about the mild pain in my leg and charged towards Dimitri. He threw his deep red tendrils that held sharp points at me, but I dodged them. A flaming ball of red fire was sent my way, I crouched to the ground, feeling the heat right over my head. Dimitri continued to aim for me, but I managed to entrap one of his reddish black flames into my own shadows, harboring it in my hand and throwing it back at him.
It hit his shoulder, causing him to stagger back. He righted himself but I threw another one and he was pushed back again. I could have sworn steam bellowed from his ears as he threw his hand out and I felt a cinch at my wrists and throat. I was flipped over and thrown onto my back as he dragged me along the grass. He burned my wrists, the pain causing my fingers to tense up and the heat at my throat was enough to make breathing hard.
I looked over to see Nick and his father fighting back to back. Maurice had so much power now, it was mesmerizing to see. His hands glowed with an overwhelming amount of light that he nearly caused the guards to combust into microscopic light particles. Maurice took one by the neck, his eyes bulging out and light streaming out of them as he twirled him around. He stopped, letting his son finish them off.
A guard came up behind Nick, raising his sword to slash at his back, but an arrow came sailing down, hitting him directly in the back of his skull. Reese flapped his wings, readying his next arrow and letting it fly at a demon that was running for Leah and Garrett.
The two Enchanters rallied behind Beetee, catching all the demons that she had missed. A guard hit Garrett’s side, causing him to keel over, but Leah moved around him. Blue sparks came from her fingers as she pressed her fingertips into the guards eyes, causing her to let out a scream. Garrett ran past his wife, creating dark blue magic that formed over his fist and punched a guard in the stomach, sending him flying towards the trees.
Natalia and Zane kept demons from running into the The Skies and attempted to keep angels from harm's way, but the damage was already being done. Not as much as Dimitri likely hoped, but there were angels littering the ground. Blood soaked the grass and wails of pain were filling the open space. Natalia let out streams of her magic towards demons that headed for the sky, trying to move past and overtake the castle-like structure.
Zane held his arm out, ramming his forearm into the throat of a demon that tried to pass him, while also grabbing another by the throat. Natalia forced tree branches to extend and entrap unsuspecting guards, holding them so tight against the tree trunks that she would close their airways and break their ribs.
Dimitri raised me up by his magic, forcing me to look at him. “I have missed you dearly.” His eyes changed from their normal green to the black whorls of emptiness. He flung me towards the forest. My body moved fast and the wind felt harsh against my skin. I let out a loud groan as my back hit a tree trunk, the bark ripping at my scalp as my head collided as well. The trees around me trembled with the impact I’d made. I fell to the ground, landing on my shoulder and hearing something that sounded a lot like dislocation.
Dimitri moved faster than I anticipated and I had barely gotten up when he hovered over me. “You come with me and you won’t have to worry about Lilith. Lucifer made sure she wasn’t a problem for either of us anymore.” He winked at me and I sneered at him barely flinching at the idea that Lucifer had killed Lilith. I had wanted to end her but Dimitri would be my prize in the end. She wasn’t worth my efforts. “Simply being here for this short period of time has made you lackluster. I plan to change that.” He reached down to stroke my head, but I grabbed his wrist and slid closer to the ground, kicking upwards towards his stomach.
I let my shadows grow in my hand and I released ribbons of them over to his hunched over body, wrapping him up. I let light litter my palm next and threw it over to him, sending him sailing towards a mass of bushes. The light traveled along the shadows causing more of an explosion than I had anticipated.
He didn’t come back up immediately, but my head swung around when I heard a whimper. I saw Axel holding one of the hellhounds by the throat, swinging it around like a chew toy. Elise had somehow gotten onto the other hellhound's back and was plunging her tail into its body, causing the creature to stumble around, stepping on multiple shadow demons. Nick and Reese were both flying now, fighting like it was an art form with the way they weaved around each other and knew when to block and let the other have the final strike.
A shadow demon charged at Leah from behind, but to my surprise Morgan stunned it with her own light magic, giving Garrett the chance to kill it. Maurice was surrounded by another set of demons, but he blasted sparks of lights from his hand, letting it travel through each and every demon until they all were connected by his power and then he released a massive light explosion. There was a pop that sounded when each of the demons exploded, one by one.
The wind picked up and the startling heat that hit my neck was something I’d only felt when I was in Hell. The smell of brimstone was heady and the bush that Dimitri had been thrown in rustled.
“You think you can fight as you always have and win , pretty girl?” Dimitri’s voice was harsh, as if he was losing that usual calmness he always showcased. The ground shook again and this time it nearly knocked me off my feet. I heard a crack and right between my feet a jagged line formed in the grass. All of my friends, the people I’d come to care so much for, continued to fight, but were aware of the shift.
The crack grew bigger and lengthened, moving past me. I noticed more cracks around me and smoke puffed out of the openings.
My shadows hissed at the thick black wafts of smoke seeping from the cracks. This was different from the mist Dimitri had created before. The sky grew darker and a deep red shone over us all. I went to back away, but a hand clamped around my throat. Fingers gripped me so tightly that a single gasp for air felt like a difficult task.
Dimitri’s face was gone now and only the skull, decorated with gray matter and black eyes like a dull void, was in its place. The tattooed hand that had a hold on my throat vibrated and pulsed. His voice was deep and hollow when he spoke, “you will not have it all. You will not beat me, Soul Seether. You can have what I tell you you can have.” He threw me onto the ground and I heard my shoulder pop back in place. The cracks only got bigger and bigger.
I couldn’t bother trying to regain my breathing, so I tried to gather as much of the hybrid power I could in my hands, but something wrapped itself around my legs and wrists. The thick black smoke from the cracks in the ground had shot out and seized my ankles, holding them together tight; my wrists were the same, pulled in towards my chest.
My energy felt like it was leaving me, depleting. This wasn’t Dimitri’s magic. The Son of Hell didn’t have this sort of power. The person he worked for did though.
“You really can’t do anything yourself, can you?” I wheezed out, exhaustion hitting me like it never had before.
It was hard to see any kind of expression from him when he was in this form, but I knew he understood that I’d realized this power wasn’t his. His laugh seemed to rumble through my very core. “To be fair, getting a little help isn’t unheard of. We want the same thing, him and I.”
I could hear my shadows crying as if they were suffocating. My light simmered and tried to shove through, hitting my chest from the inside over and over. My fingertips felt the heat from my light, but it wasn’t enough.
“What the fuck?” Elise yelled, the thick black rope yanking her off of the hellhound and pinning her to the ground. Leah and Garrett tried to expel as much of their magic as they could but the darkness was too strong and it spun around them, pulling them in different directions before pinning them to the ground as well. The hellhound Elise had been on top of rammed into Axel, before it slumped to the ground, causing Axel to skid across the ground and be engulfed in the dark magic as well.
Beetee’s tail got caught with one of the ropes, ceasing her movements. She hissed out, her yellow eyes locking onto me. Those eyes widened when a shadowy demon came up and struck with their blade. Not once, but twice. She whipped her head to the side, snatching him up into her mouth, clamping down and then throwing him to the other side. She slowly began to shift back into her normal self, pink hair and lilac eyes. The heat was turning thick, but she was naked and shivering.
She held her side, covering the bloody stab wounds that pierced her skin.
I pulled at Dimitri’s restraints. The more I pulled, the tighter they got.
Nick and Reese continued to fight in the air, but the thick ribbons of dark magic shot up in the air, wrapping themselves around Nick’s wings and yanking him down. Reese flew down to try to release him, but his own wings got caught up in the black ropes as well. Nick slammed into the pile of rubble from a broken bench, his sword landing a few feet away from him.
Maurice was on his knees, two restraints at his wrists as he held his arms out. Another black rope wrapped around his head, covering his mouth and restricting words of any kind. He didn’t look afraid, though. He looked like he was still full of so much pride even if the odds of this ending well were slim.
I saw no signs of Morgan, leaving me to assume this had been too much for her. Hiding was always an option. Submitting was always an option.
No, no, no. Fuck , that was never an option.
“He let me have control of these beauties of his.” Dimitri cocked his head to the side and motioned his hands towards the dark magic holding me hostage. “I will show you how little your resistance mattered.” He snapped his fingers and a loud agonizing groan sounded.
It didn’t sound like Nick. It didn’t sound like Nick at all.
Leah let out a blood curdling scream as she watched the restraints hold her husband up and pull in tighter. Even from my small distance, I could see his cheeks hollow and his face grow more ashen as if his life force was being taken from him.
“Dimitri, stop!” I screamed as I watched Leah try to pull away from the thick shadows. Maurice yanked on his as well, along with anyone else I could see. Elise tugged and tugged but to no avail. Beetee, who was the closest to me, had small tears in her eyes as she winced at her wounds.
Garrett groaned louder, bones cracking and blood expelling from his ears. “I love you,” he said to his wife in a strained voice. My fingers sparked a little brighter but it still wasn’t enough. I needed it to be enough.
Dimitri snapped his fingers again and the ropes pulled so tight that Garrett’s body crumpled in on itself as they let him go. He swiftly descended to the ground, landing near Maurice whose chest was heaving in and out. I saw tiny sparks of light in his fingertips as well as if he was pushing through.
Leah started to scream violently, but a black shadow clamped over her mouth. Dimitri laughed. “Who's next, hmm? Don’t worry, I’m saving your heroic angel for last.” I felt a burning sensation in my thigh. My blood was boiling and he didn’t even need to be touching me to create visions in my head. I was starting to sweat and every time I blinked, the pictures I was forced to see just got worse and worse. “Perhaps we should just get rid of all the Enchanters first? I did tell you that you could keep your friend, didn’t I?” He pointed at Elise, who was still pulling at her restraints, even using her teeth to try and get out. “I am nothing but good to you, even though you want to be ungrateful.”
I felt tears brimming and my body was waning. My strength was straddling a line and every breath I took felt harder than the last. My light pressed hard against my chest and I wanted to tell it that I didn’t know what it wanted. I didn’t know…
I peeked up at Dimitri who was bringing Natalia over, letting her fall to her knees. The glitter that had decorated her dark skin was messy and her once vibrant demeanor was lost under the dark magic. Her honey eyes stared at me as if she still had all the confidence in the world, despite the circumstances. She wasn’t dumb enough to think this situation was ideal, but she didn’t think less of me…of any of us.
Her eyes moved to my thigh and then to the light that sparked at my fingertips. She looked back and forth from my hand to my throbbing wound. My deep planted scars were the only connection Dimitri had to me. It was shrouded in darkness and something needed to root it out. I needed enough light to eliminate it.
I used all the strength I had to push Dimitri’s vile visions aside and searched my head and my heart for the memory I wanted. I thought back to when I’d let myself be balanced with my light and dark magic. I’d let Nick help me; I had been open to the added assistance. I needed to push through the debilitating force of Dimitri’s restraints and so would Nick, if this was going to work.
Always here for me when I need you.
For you? Absolutely.
My light was strong enough to push at my chest and beg to be released. His light was strong enough to find me in a Hell prison. I had to hope it was enough.