Chapter 1 #2
The scaled monster had turned a vicious, sharp-toothed smile on them, blinked at Cullen with beady black eyes, and then had morphed into a man that looked…
so very much like Walker. But older. Taller and more handsome, if Cullen was being honest. Stronger and swifter and more dangerous than they could dream–but still Walker had jumped up, had grabbed his shortsword from the bedside table and lashed out at Leviathan.
And Leviathan had snapped his arm with one quick jerk of his hand, his eyes–still black, but much more human, the beady circles nothing but small pupils now–never leaving Cullen’s terrified gaze. Cullen hadn’t been able to move, even as Walker cried out in pain and begged him to grab a weapon…
Leviathan had only smiled, looking excited, and closed his fist in a tight grasp that had the building around them crumpling as if an earthquake had rocked through the ground and destroyed it.
The ceiling had come down on him, on Walker, and something heavy had smashed into his head.
Cullen had only barely been conscious enough to see Leviathan disappear into a pool of deep, unnatural shadows before everything had gone black.
And when he’d woken, bruised and bandaged in their medical unit, with Dominick–his overbearing sort-of-adoptive father–standing over him, looking anxious, he’d understood what they were meant to face now.
He’d been terrified, especially since he couldn’t fight with a concussion, but happy that he and Walker had both made it out alive, even if it would be short lived.
They had waited, had sent out search parties to look for the demon now on the loose. And they'd found nothing. And twice, the Diviners sent out had not come back. Had run or been eaten by the demon, it was impossible to know.
They had been questioned over and over again about what had happened, what had gone wrong.
Walker had nearly been thrown into prison for his weakness–the first in the long line of family members to fail the most important task in history–but they had talked and begged their way out of that one.
Mostly because of Dom vouching for him. Cullen would always be grateful to him for so much–but that most of all.
And once they’d healed and still nothing had happened with Leviathan, they had been foolish enough to hope that the demon had simply disappeared from this world. Had gone back to whatever hellish dimension he’d come from and stayed there.
And then he’d showed up in the courtyard of the Academy, inches from where Walker and Cullen had stood with their hands linked together, and he’d smiled in that way that told Cullen somebody was about to die.
He’d grabbed Cullen, snatched him away with a vicious jerk, and murmured that he was back for his prize, for his new toy, and that he was done waiting.
Cullen had only gaped at him blankly–it had been Walker that had jerked forward with a dagger, aiming for where the creature’s heart should be.
And Leviathan had flung out a hand, sending Walker flying back a dozen feet, his hand clenching on Cullen when he tried to pull away.
Cullen had cried out in rage and slammed a dagger into the prick’s ribcage–and Leviathan had let go of him with a soft gasp, his eyes widening in surprise.
Cullen had stumbled backwards, watching expectantly for the runes on the blade to affect him, to hurt him, but Leviathan had only given him a sly smile and yanked the dagger out.
He’d brought it to his mouth and licked the black blood from it and Cullen had heard himself gasp–and then Leviathan had disappeared into one of those shadowy dark portals and not returned.
After that, they’d begun setting traps for the bastard. With Cullen as the unwilling bait.
And they kept getting into messes similar to this one now. Cullen had secretly begun to wonder if Leviathan was only toying with them.
Tonight made it pretty fucking obvious he was.
“I have no interest in hurting you, Cullen.” His finger traced the shape of Cullen’s ear and an involuntary shiver ran down his spine in response.
“You broke my boyfriend’s arm.” He spat, trying to control his trembling and failing horribly. Leviathan inched closer and Cullen threw up his hands between them, pressing them to the hard, flat surface of his stomach to keep him back. Leviathan sucked in a breath as if the pressure pleased him.
“But that’s not hurting you.” He murmured, pressing closer. Cullen gasped and tensed as his nose ran along the edge of his jaw. Leviathan inhaled slowly and shivered, his muscles twitching under Cullen’s fingers. “I can smell it under your fear, you know. The attraction. The desire.”
“You’re fucking insane!” He snarled, shoving at him. “Get away from me!”
Leviathan made a soft, irritated sound and curled a slow, firm hand around his throat, making Cullen gasp as his head was forced back.
“I won’t hurt you–”
“You dropped a fucking building on me!” He cried, terror seeping into his voice as he clutched at Leviathan’s wrist. “Let go!”
His hand tightened, momentarily cutting off Cullen’s air, and then loosened again. “I couldn’t have you chasing after me, pet. Then I might have had no choice in hurting you.” He leaned closer and Cullen tensed, his eyes dropping to his mouth as it neared his own.
“Stop.” He whispered, tears stinging his eyes.
He wasn't a coward. He wasn't. But something about this prick always made him a whimpering, trembling mess that couldn't do shit. “Don’t touch me. Let me go!” He squeezed his eyes closed as terror rocked through him. “I don’t want to die…” He whispered, mostly to himself, praying silently in his head that Walker would find them soon.
Or Dom. Preferably Dom; he was the only one that even remotely stood a chance against this type of demon.
Leviathan sighed softly and tapped his forehead against his. “You misunderstand me, Cullen. My nature.”
“Your nature is to kill and maim and devour innocent people, Leviathan. I’m not an idiot.” It was the same with every demon, after all. And the Princes of Hell were said to be a thousand times worse.
“Give me a bit more credit than that, pet.” He slid his free hand around his back, lowering it to his ass.
Cullen felt him grab him there, felt his dagger sharp nails dig into his clothes and his skin, and gasped, tears springing to his eyes.
He expected violence, expected pain, but Leviathan only nuzzled against his cheek and slid his hand around to his hip before lowering it to his thigh.
He found Cullen’s soft cock through his clothes and began to paw at it, his lips brushing his jaw as he moved.
Cullen whimpered, trying to find his voice, to call out for his friends, his teachers.
Anyone. But he closed it again with a quick snap when Leviathan’s mouth moved to his, his lips touching his gently before he raised his face and licked a long, slow line up over his cheek and his eye, catching a tear there. Cullen shivered again.
“That tastes good.” His mouth lowered to his again, lingering there, though he didn’t fully kiss him.
“Stop!” Cullen whimpered, terrified. “Stop–Walker! Dom!” He tried to turn his head, to look over Leviathan’s shoulder, but he was too tall, his shoulders too wide, and then his mouth was on his and Cullen could think of nothing, could not move a muscle as his long, pointed tongue invaded his mouth and forced his to move with it.
Where the hell were his friends? Things had never gone this far before. He hated it. Hated the feel of his tongue halfway down his throat and hated the heat that was rolling off him and hated the sweet taste and hated that his body was starting to react–
A soft, breathless sound left his mouth and Leviathan gasped softly, the hand around his throat coming up to cup his cheek instead, his head tilting to the side to deepen the kiss.
Cullen flinched–and bit down hard on his tongue.
Leviathan jerked back back with a sharp gasp, his eyes popping wide, and Cullen took the opportunity to spit the venomous black blood from his mouth–and then his hand was in his hair, yanking his head back so sharply Cullen cried out in pain.
His mouth slammed down on his again and his teeth came down hard; Cullen let out a pained shriek as those sharp fangs sank into his lip.
He shoved at Leviathan and, to his surprise, this time he broke the kiss and let him catch a breath.
Cullen scrubbed the blood from his lips, paling when he saw that it came away mixed with black.
Leviathan licked at his lips, his eyes now those pitch black shark-like orbs that told Cullen he’d lost himself a bit to the taste of his blood.
“Levi–”
His thumb traced along Cullen’s cheek, silencing him with a soft whimper. Tears were streaming down his face now; he didn’t have the strength to even try to fight them. Even his body was quickly growing exhausted with all the trembling.
Leviathan ran a slow, sharp fingertip across Cullen’s bottom lip, swiping away the fresh blood there before bringing his finger to his mouth. He licked at it and moaned softly, his eyelids fluttering. Cullen’s eyes popped wide in horror.
“Every part of you is delicious.” Leviathan whispered, sounding a bit dazed. “Cullen.”
He ignored the soft tone of his voice, squeezing his eyes closed again. “Please. Please let me go. Please leave me alone. I don’t want–”
Leviathan’s body was slammed forward by a powerful burst of energy; he braced himself against the wall with his hands, inches before he would have crushed Cullen with his body.
There was a split moment where his eyes burned down into Cullen’s with a wild fury.
And then he slowly turned to face the man behind him, the anger carefully hidden away.
“You’re interrupting, Dominick.” He said softly, positioning himself in front of Cullen as if he meant to defend him.