Walker had fallen asleep a long time ago, tucked into Cullen’s side, snoring lightly. Cullen drew slow circles on his side with his fingers, taking comfort in the heat his body gave off. They stayed together most nights, since their rooms were so close together anyway, often only leaving each other for a few minutes to change clothes before starting their days together. They were nearly inseparable.
Except for missions. When they had to go out in separate groups to hunt this demon or that demon.
Always simple, always quick, the heavenly light that they wielded always subduing the demons until they could drive their rune-covered blades into them and send them back to hell where they belonged. It was seldom dangerous. Even rarer for it to be deadly. But it happened. Often unexpectedly, a more powerful demon hiding behind the facade of a weaker one until he caught some of the hunters in some sort of terrible trap and…
Well, he didn’t like to think about it when they wereapart. Walker was too kind, too trusting, and it would be too easy for a demon to trick him…
And then, of course, there were the incredibly dangerous, deadly demons like Leviathan. Demons too strong for them to even try to destroy. It made him feel weak. And pathetic. He hated it. Hated that he had to be the goddamn bait in a pointless trap that kept failing…
He touched his swollen lip, remembering Leviathan’s kiss, and shuddered. What the hell would happen if Leviathan took him?Wherewould he take him? What would he…do to him?
Obviously he wanted…him. Sex, assumingly. Which was definitely something Cullen wasn’t willing to give up. Not to him. Even if Walker wasn’t in the picture–who the fuck would want to have sex with a demon? And what if he wanted to…hurt him? What if he just played with him and then tore him apart piece by piece…
He squeezed his eyes closed against the thought, pushing it from his mind with a few slow breaths.
They would figure this out. They would keep each other safe.
He turned his face towards Walker, pressing his nose into his hair to inhale the familiar scent of him as he closed his eyes. “We’ll figure it out.” He promised him in the silence of the room. “I won’t let him separate us, Walker.”
4
It was another cold night, his breath creating little puffs of white with each exhale. It was always cold here, in this city nestled far to the north. Summer practically didn’t exist at all, really. Two weeks of blistering hot before the cold began to set in again. He’d seen it snow in August.August.This summer seemed to be even shorter, the nights already growing cold. He rubbed his hands together, blowing into them as he walked alone down the street. Just a show, of course; he could not feel the cold much at all right now.
Several dozen Diviners were scattered nearby–all his classmates and every teacher and guardian that lived at the Academy–hidden among the rooftops. He could feel several pairs of eyes on him. He sighed, hoping none of them were Leviathan, though he was sure from the lack of pressure and malice that they were only his classmates or his teachers.
This was the last time he would have to do this.
They’d promised him. If it worked, perfect. If not, they would stop using him as bait.
But it was mostly up to Cullen now.
He kept his hands tucked into his pockets, kept a steady stream of Heaven’s power–the thinnest layer of fire that wasn’t even visible to the naked eye– rolling off of his palms and up his arm. There was a thin layer of it all over his body, blocking the cold from his skin. Not that that would stop Leviathan, of course. It probably wouldn’t phase him at all.
But once he was close enough…once Cullen distracted him enough…that’s when he would strike with a short sword made of pure heavenly energy, made from his own strength of will. A trick only a few Diviners knew how to do. Even in the past it had been a rare and difficult technique to learn.
But he had been raised by a brilliant man, partially trained in these things already. And Dom had spent the past few days training him even more intensely, night and day, until Cullen had finally been able to produce the blade shaped flame. They’d practiced and practiced until he’d been able to do it fairly easily and now…now they were out here. And Cullen was meant to be the one to end this. Or at least to weaken him enough so that Dom and the others could finish the job.
And he could sense it in the air around him, in the little particles that brushed his face and tingled on his skin. Leviathan was here. Maybe not watching, not yet, not near enough for Cullen to feel the brush of his gaze like fingertips against his neck, but he was here.
So he was only a little surprised when the world went deadly silent, an intense wave of evil washing over him. He stilled mid-step and turned to look down a new street. Dark shadows curled across the ground, spreading out like the tentacles of some enormous sea monster. He started to slide back a step, but quickly caught himself and stood still, hislips pressing into a thin line as the shadows approached.
The energy along his skin crackled and popped in silent bursts; he pressed his arms a little closer to his body, hoping Leviathan would not be able to sense the power radiating off of him.
The man grew from the pool of shadows, dressed in startlingly human clothes–a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and dark jeans with dark shoes–a mirage of shadows and evil. Cullen swallowed hard but held his ground as he approached, just as he had the other night.
“You’re pale, pet.” Leviathan murmured as he came to a stop a few feet away. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” He breathed, trying to keep his hands from trembling. Fear. He wasn’t used to feeling suchfear. But the aura that rolled off of Leviathan was something else, something more intense than he had ever felt before. A Prince of Hell. Evil incarnate… The energy wave covering his body wavered, threatening to fall, but he only clenched his hands into tight fists and met Leviathan’s onyx gaze.
“Good.” The demon smiled at him. “I have a present for you.”
He jolted at the words. “What?” This was new.
Leviathan smiled and stepped forward, his sweet, unidentifiable scent wafting over him as he neared.
Cullen gasped softly, terror and…something else tightening his chest. But he did not move as Leviathan reached to brush the hair from his face, did not flinch as his fingers ran along his cheekbone or when they brushed down over his shoulder and the top of his arm through his cloak. He remained frozen as a statue, his heart pounding wildly and his breaths coming too quick, too shallow.
Leviathan smiled softly at him, as if he were a precious, unexpected treasure–and then his hand shot down to his wrist and flung Cullen’s hand out towards the nearby building–where at least half of his classmates had been hidden.
