His heartbeat was loud in his ears, his head pounding with it. That painful pulse and skip kept up, growing more and more frequent as he moved forward. His life force ebbing away. It wouldn’t be long now.
Dom swung his trident with a cry of rage, no hesitationin his face as he swung at the boy he’d raised for all these years–and Cullen lashed out with sharp claws, tearing them across his throat.
Blood burst against his fingers and sprayed out over Dom’s clothes as he crumpled to the ground, his face still stuck in a mask of shock. Behind his body, Walker began to scream. Thunder cracked across the sky, cutting off the sound. Cullen moved towards him, unable to draw up any amusement when Walker stumbled and fell to his ass. He moved closer, stepping over him; seconds later a dark stain was spreading across Walker’s crotch.
“Coward.” Cullen scoffed, his hands trembling with his fury. His shadows swirled closer, edging up around him before moving forward, flowing around and under Walker’s body and the ground around him.
“Cullen…” He choked out through tears, his hands rising in front of him. “Hang on! Just a minute!”
“Why couldn’t you just leave us alone?” He whispered. His shadows loosened, becoming a deep, endless pool. Walker cried out as he began to sink down into them, as if he were being dragged underwater. “We just wanted to be happy.” He continued, feeling as if somebody had punched him in the chest.
Not long now. Not long at all.
“Cullen–”
“I hate you.” He whispered as Walker sank in up to his waist. Two shadows latched out, locking onto his arms and pulling them to the sides. “I wish I had killed you that night he Turned me.” Tears welled and slipped down his cheeks at the memories. “Wherever you go next,” he whispered. “I hope it is a horrible fate.”
He lashed out, his hand shooting forward to bury itselfin his chest. Walker let out a shriek of pain, his eyes going wide as blood spurted over them both. Cullen blinked slowly, his hand curling tight around his heart. Walker opened his mouth–to beg him to stop, probably–and Cullen slammed his fist closed, crushing the throbbing organ. Walker went still and silent. Cullen let go of him, watching numbly as his body sank into the shadows under his feet.
The silence became much more intense. Even as the rain began to fall in a steady beat against his body, against the ground. There was nothing. No sound. No light. No meaning.
Slowly, he turned and walked back to Leviathan, more tears falling to his cheeks when he smelled his sweet blood under all the human filth around him. He dropped to his knees again, his hands moving shakily over him. No pulse. No breath. That ache in his heart grew infinitely more unbearable.
A shriek of agony tore from him, his head tipping back to the dark sky before he threw himself down on him, his hands curling around his neck. He stayed like that, pressed cheek to cheek, his tears mixing with the rain that pelted Leviathan’s corpse, until he felt a light hand come down on his shoulder.
He spun with a snarl, ready to use the last of his energy to slit the throat of whoever had dared interrupt this most terrible and private of moments.
A beautiful man smiled sadly down at him, his face tan and kind. His eyes burned like molten lava, a lovely gold color that flowed and moved, as if ichor flowed in his gaze. And power radiated off of him. Much more power than he had ever felt with Leviathan or his brothers.
“Who are you?” He demanded hoarsely. But it dawned on him as the man’s smile grew more unbearably gentle. “Are you the angel of death?”
“No.” His voice was smooth and deep. The voice he might have imagined god to have. “Not the angel of death, I promise.” His head tilted to the side. “I am Lucifer, young demon.”
He jolted, his hands tightening in Leviathan’s bloody robe. “Are you here to take him away?”
The demon–Lucifer, King of Hell, in all his strange, immortal beauty–hesitated. “That is partly why I came, yes. I feel quite responsible for my brothers. And it’s so rare that one of them…” His eyes moved to Leviathan’s face, and an ancient sadness bloomed there. Cullen felt strangely jealous over it, as if he should be the only one to mourn.
“These are strange times.” Lucifer murmured, shaking his head. “This has not happened in…a very long time. And certainly not by any mortal hand.” He grimaced. And then his eyes narrowed on Cullen. “Your soul.”
“It is dying.” Cullen told him quietly. “It is bound to Leviathan’s. My time will be up any second now.”
Lucifer was quiet for a long moment. “Leviathan…bound his soul to you?”
He nodded, brushing gentle fingers along Leviathan’s cheek. It was still warm. Despite the cold night. Despite the rain.
“Cullen.” Lucifer murmured softly, touching his shoulder again. Cullen did not respond this time, that ache in his chest growing stronger and stronger. “Do you love each other?”
“More than all the souls in all the realms.” Cullen whispered, touching his cheek again. His tears burned against his skin in the icy night air.
Lucifer fell quiet for a long moment, and then slowly squeezed his shoulder. “I’ve always been a sucker for love.”
Cullen started to turn, a question growing on the tip of his tongue–but everything went black, shutting him away into the darkness. He hoped it would be quick now.
61
There was life after death. Even for demons, it seemed.
He’d woken on a riverside… Had he actually fallen asleep? He didn’t think so. But what had happened then?
