Chapter 127 Chapter 127
“Of course,” she giggled.
“Good,” he drawled. “We should head back right away.”
“So suddenly?” she said and gaped at him. “I… I thought we’d stay here for at least a few hours?”
“Valerie, we’ve been over this. It’s too dangerous for you to stay here,” he grumbled, and this time, her pouty expression didn’t work on him. He didn’t change his opinion on the matter and didn’t give in either. Releasing some of his demonic magic, he created a portal right in front of them. It looked like a tear in space that led into a black void—to Valerie, it appeared terrifying, and the idea of stepping through it made her shudder.
When Xander had brought her to hell, he must have used one of those creepy portals, too, but since she had been unconscious, she hadn’t even noticed. Now, however, she was awake and anything but ready to jump into that horrifying thing.
“It looks creepy,” she whined and tugged at his sleeve. “I don’t think I can walk through that.”
“Oh sugar, don’t be a chicken. It isn’t bad at all. You won’t feel a thing,” he tried to reassure her, but to no avail. She bit her lip and took a step backward, away from the portal. “Don’t you trust me?” he asked and held out his hand to her, which she eyed undecidedly.
“I trust you, but not that portal,” she said, hesitating to take his hand.
He rolled his eyes, getting impatient very quickly. “Come on, Valerie. We need to get through the portal if we want to leave hell. There is no other way,” he sighed, and then he had an idea. The devious smirk that appeared on his lips didn’t reassure her, and she let out a gasp when he just picked her up and carried her towards the portal.
“Maxwell. You can’t be serious.” she screeched and hit his chest with her fists, squirming in his hold, but he didn’t let her go, staring down at her with amusement swimming in his blue eyes.
“Close your eyes if you’re that scared, sugar,” he smirked, but his smirk soon vanished when she started to tug at his braids. He scowled. “Stop that. How old are you, five?”
“Let me down.” she nagged. “You evil, malicious demon! How dare you.”
He rolled his eyes at her overdramatic exclamation and stepped through the portal without another word. She flinched and hugged his neck, but she kept her eyes open while they were in the strange dark void. Looking over his shoulder, she saw the bleak scenery of hell through the open portal, but shadows soon obscured it, and they were left in a completely dark space.
“I told you to close your eyes, but you never listen to me,” he whispered when he noticed her unease. Only seconds later, another portal opened right before them, and this one led straight to the street in front of her house. He jumped through and landed safely on the asphalt.
“See? It wasn’t so bad,” he said, and let her down. She pouted but got flustered when he playfully tousled her hair.
“Of course you would say that,” she mumbled as they walked up to the house, taking the stairs to where her flat was. Punching in the code for her apartment door, she opened it, and they entered.
“Welcome home,” she said with a sweet smile and turned on the lights.
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In the first week after Maxwell’s return, Valerie couldn’t have been happier since her flat was no longer empty and lonely. She grew used to his presence very quickly, and after a few days had passed, they were returning to old habits. Making dinner together and watching movies until she fell asleep, snuggled up to him on the sofa, became normal. It wasn’t unusual for her to wake up in her bed the next morning, and he most of the time joined her, so the first thing she would see when she came to was his smug grin. While he still sometimes complained about Mochi’s presence, he seemed to tolerate the cat demon and only rarely got a little irritated when it stole her attention.
Maxwell had accompanied her to work today and kept her company while she had visited a press conference that she later wrote a news article about. When they returned home in the evening, they ate dinner together and ended up sitting on the sofa. A random show was on tv, but neither of them paid much attention to it.
Maxwell had been very fussy over her injuries from the fight with Zane in the past days, insisting that she change the bandage and put ointment on them every day.
“Valerie, you’re not getting away this time,” he grumbled, since he knew that she’d forgotten the day before. He’d already fetched everything needed to treat her injuries and was waiting impatiently for her to remove her sweater. She knew that he wouldn’t shut up about it until she’d let him take care of the issue, so she didn’t complain. Besides, she secretly found it endearing how concerned he was for her well-being.
“Yeah, okay, I get it,” she replied and slipped her sweater over her head, letting it fall on her lap. It was a little cold like this since she was only wearing a bra underneath, so she hoped he would hurry up. He used scissors to cut the bandage open and removed it carefully, taking a look at the healing wounds beneath. She’d been hurt badly in the fight against Zane and healed much too slowly in his opinion, reminding him constantly of how delicate humans were.
“Does it still hurt?” he asked while he spread the ointment over the cuts and scrapes.
She kept her eyes on the TV, feeling his cool fingers brush over her skin. “No, it’s much better now than it was before,” she replied. It was strange to her that she had to clarify this. Before they had broken the bond, he’d always known when something had been wrong, but now they didn’t have this kind of connection anymore. It saddened her and made her want the bond back.
However, while she truly wanted to spend her life with him, she was well aware that he’d have a significant weakness if he were bonded to her. If she died, he would die too, and she did not want to burden him with this risk. As long as he didn’t bring the bond up, she wouldn’t either, so as not to pressure him. She wasn’t that selfish, and she would respect his decision to get rid of it.