“You still want him?” He hissed, his fury burning hotter as he spoke. Heat flared in his hands and Cullen flinched, panic mixing with the fear and hunger in his eyes. “You think he still wantsyou?” He whispered, the words barely audible. He shoved him forward then, forcing him to his knees but keeping a firm hand on the back of his throat as they came face to face with Walker.
Cullen gasped and shuddered, his hands curling into tight fists as he leaned closer. He growled–and Walker screamed again, jerking his hands up to shove Cullen away.
Cullen jerked back in shock–and Leviathan pulled him even further away when Dominick swung a blade towards them both. He let out a low snarl to threaten him away and hurried backwards with Cullen. Who knew how easy it would be for those stupid light wielding swords to hurt his new toy, after all? He wasn’t keen to find out.
“Say your goodbyes.” He whispered into Cullen’s ear. “We have places to be.”
“No!” He cried, the ferocity in his voice startling him. “No, let me go to him–”
“Stay back!” Walker screamed, letting go of his bloody shoulder to snatch one of Dom’s blades from his waist. He lurched toward them and Leviathan stepped back again with a scowl, his arm locked tight around Cullen’s chest. “Stay away from me, you monster!”
Cullen stiffened in his arms and Leviathan heard him suck in a sharp breath. But Walker barreled on, stumbling slowly to his feet while he swung that blade at them clumsily, screaming that he would kill them both.
“Oh?” Leviathan purred as the men advanced on themwith murderous intent. “Where did all that all-eternal, all-powerful love go, Walker? I thought you said you would always love him no matter what?” Not that that had ever been true anyway.
“You turned him into a fucking monster!” He shrieked, flinching as blood pulsed from his shoulder. It drenched his cloak and shirt now; Leviathan was mildly surprised that the prick was still standing. “That’s not even Cullen anymore! You’re both fucking demons and I’m going to slit both your fucking throats!”
Cullen gasped–and collapsed back against Leviathan. He smiled. Perfect. More perfect than he had expected.
“You see that, pet?” He whispered against his ear. “He never loved you. He couldn’t even handle such a simple change.” He nuzzled him, still backing away from the others. “Are you ready now?”
“You bastard.” He choked out with that weak, broken voice.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Shadows converged between them and the other men, swallowing them up and pulling them off their feet. And then there was nothing but icy blackness.
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…
