“I know.” He snapped, shrugging him off. “He’s in my head.”
A muscle twinged in Dominick’s jaw. “Don’t let him get to you.”
“I’m not.”
“This is all very boring.” Leviathan sighed, spinning in aslow circle so he could examine his surroundings without being obvious. The Diviners around the courtyard were one thing. Weak enough that it would hardly take anything at all to kill them.
But the pentagram…it was perfect. Nowhere to smash through that shimmering golden light that circled him. Usually humans made a mistake here or there, left a weak enough opening that a strong demon could tear right through it with magic. But when they couldn’t…
He kept his face carefully blank as he turned back to the men.
“Well, go on. What’s the plan this time?” What the hell washisplan? He could not go through the shimmering shield; it would simply bounce him right off. The runes prevented him from tunneling through the ground with raw strength. He couldn’t portal out, though his shadows were already teasing the edges of the pentagram, searching for weaknesses. They found none and Leviathan felt that little pit of anxiety in his chest grow. If he’d only had his bone knife it would be fine, but he’d left it… Apprehension burst through him when he realized he could not recall the last time he had seen the damn thing.
The men in front of him exchanged a quick glance and then Dominick drew a small black blade from his pocket.
Leviathan’s fingers twitched at his sides, his eyes widening the slightest bit.
No.
“How did you get that blade?” He demanded, his calm slipping.
“I took it from you.” Walker said quietly, raising his chin. “When you had me in your shadows.”
That’s how they’d summoned him.
That was how they planned to kill him.
A blade made of his own bone…the ichor infused bone of an angel… It was one of the only things capable of killing a demon of his rank. They’d known it before, of course, those damned records the Diviners had been keeping for centuries–gifts of an angel, long ago, he knew–giving them far too much information on both Heaven and hell. But Leviathan never would have thought they’d be able to get their hands on one. Onhisblade.
“That blade…” He said quietly. “Is the property of a god. Give it to me.” Rage flared off him with a violent burst of shadows. They slammed uselessly against the pentagram. His fear reached a horribly vile level, his mind locked, not on the ever burning fires of Hell, of the home that would hopefully be waiting for him at his end, but of Cullen, flinching in their bed, clearly being summoned by them just as he had been…
“I think not.” Dominick murmured, breaking him from his thoughts. The man turned away then, taking a small book bound in leather from one of the closest Diviners. Leviathan tensed as he opened it, his eyes narrowing as he flipped to a marked page and started to speak in the old language that had called him here.
Down the bond in his soul, he felt a sharp tug. He was calling Cullen.
“Stop that!” He hissed furiously, prowling closer to him. He was only a few inches outside the pentagram. If he could just get a hold of him…or even the book… “Leave him be! This is between you and I!”
“This is between all of us!” Walker snapped, drawing his attention. “We are the soldiers of Heaven and you are the bane of Hell. This is bigger than us or you or Cullen.” His lipspressed into a tight, unhappy line. “He’s just a demon now. You made sure of that. And all demons must be exterminated like the vermin you are.”
“Vermin?” He breathed. “Humanity is the only unnecessary vermin of this world. You kill and break and destroy far more than even demons do. You bring nothing of use to life and act superior for nothing more than your opposable thumbs.” He slammed a fist into the barrier. It wavered for a moment before solidifying again. “You think you are soldiers of Heaven?” He barked a laugh. “I have seen real soldiers of Heaven, child. They wouldburnyou where you stand. For nothing more than that you were in their way. The angels do not care for you. Your precious god does not care for you. For any of us.” He rounded on Dominick as he felt another strong tug on the bond in his mind. “Stop calling for him!”
How were they even doing that? Leviathan had left his blade, fine, that was his mistake for giving them something that had belonged to him. But he had made sure to take all of Cullen’s things when he’d taken him into his palace. There should have been nothing–
“You’re wondering how we did it, aren’t you?” Walker asked quietly. “How we summoned Cullen after you stole all his things?” When Leviathan gave no response, Walker held up a tiny strip of red stained fabric. “His blood.” He murmured. “Blood we only had because you dragged him through all that glass.” He shook his head. “You think that’s love? What you’ve done to him?”
Something hard and painful lanced through his chest.
His fault.
His fault…
“Love…” He breathed, rage flaring again. His shadows swirled, prodding at all sides of the pentagram, searching for a way out. The bond in his mind was tugging hard, Cullen’s voice coming down the invisible line, asking him where he was, what was wrong. Leviathan merely snapped at him to stay away, to not answer the summoning no matter what, and focused on Walker again. “You filthy humans are always throwing that word around. Like you know what it means. What it feels like.” He laughed, tensing as light flared, as it wrapped around the blade in Dominick’s hand to shield it from his power as it rose and moved towards the pentagram on its own. Guided by heaven’s filthy, tainted power.
“It is my type of love that Cullen needed.” He continued quietly, ignoring the blade inching closer. “It is the darkness and the depravity and theloyaltyhe needed. You wouldn’t understand a single thing about any of it. You never loved him. You couldn’t have, even if you’d tried. His soul wasalwaysmine.”
Surprise and unease spread across the brat’s face, a slow flush growing there before it finally twisted with anger again. He turned to Dominick, ignoring Leviathan the same way Leviathan was ignoring Cullen’s now frantic screaming in his mind.
Don’t come.Leviathan ordered him, still refusing to answer any of his frantic questions.Whatever you do, Cullen, don’t come here.
