Chapter 6
The darkness was deeper this time. Heavier. As if they were fighting against a very strong current.
Cullen felt an ice sharp wind whip at his face, felt it blow his clothes wildly around him and whip his hair into a tangled frenzy. The hot blood on his face cooled and his body went stiff and weak, as if the ice had seeped into his bones–
And then it was warm. And there was light, the shadows around them receding and leaving him standing alone on a rocky, cracked surface that stretched out as far as his eyes could see.
There were…mountains. Dead, barren mountains, nothing but black slag rock and smoke in the distance, pitch black, as if something was still burning intensely.
He could smell it on the breeze… Something shifted beside him, making him flinch.
Not alone, he realized. It was so much worse than that.
“Welcome home.” Leviathan’s breath blew softly against his ear, making him gasp.
The bastard nuzzled against the back of his neck, his arms wrapping firmly around his waist, and Cullen began to hyperventilate, his breaths coming out in quick, rapid bursts that instantly sent his head spinning.
Tears began to pour down his cheeks, and his heart raced so fast he worried it might blow right out of his chest–
Leviathan’s hand came down firmly over his eyes, making him flinch again.
“Calm down.” His voice was quiet, but the command had Cullen’s mouth snapping closed and his breaths evening out. “Sleep.” He whispered, his hand flexing a bit.
Before Cullen could even try to fight the order pressed into his mind, his eyes shut and his mind went blank.
The brat stirred a bit as he carried him across the long, stony bridge that led up to his palace.
The red river below splashed against the cliff walls and moonlight cracked through the thick clouds overhead, falling on the palace.
He smiled at the sight of it. The dark rock walls and the towers that rose and rose until they pierced the sky.
The long slopes of the slate roofs and the bright candlelight that flickered through the arched windows.
More than a thousand years of being trapped in the human world and this place had not changed a bit.
The candles had not died out. The servants–low level demons that had been bred for the purpose of serving him–had not aged or stopped their cleaning, had not stopped serving him even when he’d been locked away in those filthy, weak human bodies. Smart of them.
Because if he’d shown up here and found a single thing lacking…well…he just might have taken out all his pent up rage on them.
But he’d been greeted with the same terror as always.
They’d fallen to their knees and worshiped him, just as they had the last time he’d seen them all.
He’d shuddered with pleasure and smiled and had gone to wander his old home.
Hall after hall of empty rock, his hands lingering on the walls here and there so he could feel the rough brush of the stone he’d spent years remembering while he was forced to live those filthy human lives…
And when he’d reached his bedroom, with the massive four poster bed and the silken black sheets, the candelabras with their red candles and the giant fireplace that had never once stopped burning…he’d turned right around and gone back to the human world to look for Cullen.
Something about being in that room alone…without that damn human brat he had never been able to look away from…had always sensed coming before the dull human ears could pick up his approach…
That human that had pulled him from the ever-dulling life that wasn’t quite life after all those years…
Something about going back to that room without him had made Leviathan feel sick.
Sick. A human weakness. It was stupid to chase the cause of that. Stupid to not just slit his throat and be done with it.
But…
The clouds shifted and the moonlight moved to cover them.
Leviathan sucked in a soft breath at the sight of the silver on Cullen’s pale skin.
White as bone, with that light on him. White as a bone and just as pretty.
He paused his stride, watching him breathlessly for a moment.
Cullen murmured something in his sleep and Leviathan felt something warm and heavy bloom in his chest. An entirely unfamiliar feeling–one that he was not positive he should let himself feel.
Still, he continued on, carrying Cullen towards his new home. The doors of the palace fell open, spilling dull golden light across them both as they made their way up the steep steps. And then they closed again, shutting them away inside together.
Home. He pressed the thought into Cullen’s subconscious mind, letting the word weave its way through his dreams. We are home, Cullen.