Chapter 184 Chapter 184
His eyes widened. “Huh? Me? But you keep bringing it up.” he defended himself. “Just half an hour ago, you pretty much begged me to…”
“Shut up, Maxwell,” she grumbled embarrassedly, pouting.
“It’s true, though,” he gloated, oozing confidence. His ruby eyes were glued to her face as he studied her reaction. “Well, I guess it’s my fault for being absolutely irresistible.” It shouldn’t be possible, but he somehow managed to look more arrogant than before, raising his chin and smirking at her. She was torn between being flustered and annoyed—he was so good at getting under her skin.
Still pouting, she lightly tugged at the end of his silver chain. “Don’t get too full of yourself, demon.”
“Too late,” he smirked.
“Right,” she sighed. “It’s too late to save you from your own arrogance.”
“Don’t pretend to be annoyed. I know that you love me,” he said haughtily, reminding her an awful lot of a cocky cat. Damn him and his ego—if she possessed half the confidence and stubbornness he had, she would probably argue with him all the time. But thankfully, she was more patient than he and less adamant about being the one in the right.
“I can’t win a single argument with you,” she said, amusedly. “You’re so stubborn, Maxwell.”
“No, you are stubborn! You’re still using that cursed nickname,” he complained. “I told you that it destroys my…”
“Demonic pride?” she ended his sentence, giggling. “So cute.”
“What the fuck?” he complained, offendedly glaring at her. “How was anything about what I said cute?” He scrunched his nose in utter disgust. “If you were anybody else, that would not have stayed without consequences,” he proclaimed.
She smiled, playing with one of his braids that dangled right in front of her face. His hair was very soft. “I can do whatever I want because I’m special,” she reminded him.
He snorted, and the corners of his lips curved up. “I’m rubbing off on you, sugar.”
“I’m around you all the time,” she whined. “So it shouldn't surprise you.”
He chuckled again, shaking his head. “You are something else, Valerie.”
She smiled softly as she rested her head on his chest. Silence settled over the room as each of them got lost in their thoughts. Valerie peered out the window, seeing the sky slowly turn red as the sun set. The muffled noises of traffic outside reached her ears. She heaved a sigh, enjoying the calm—but it was quickly shattered when she remembered something crucial. Her heart nearly stopped, and her body turned cold.
How could she have forgotten to mention this until now?
“Maxwell,” Valerie said, the graveness in her voice prompting him to look at her in alarm. He sensed a change in her emotions; her joy was tainted with fear and unease. These dark emotions snuffed out the warmth of her happiness and left him feeling cold.
“What is it?” he asked sharply.
“We still haven’t talked about something very important.” she continued nervously. “The blood mage told me the name of the demon who is responsible for your friend’s death.”
“You mean Seth,” Maxwell mumbled grimly. The color of his eyes was vibrant red as his fury came back to life. Hatred manifested within him, bleeding into her heart through their bond. She didn’t like this emotion as it was darker than anything she was capable of feeling, but she accepted it as part of him. A demon’s emotions were vastly different than those of a human, and the many nuances of hate he could hold for another being often shocked her.
“His name is Mason. Have you heard of him before?” Valerie asked. The shimmer of light around him flickered, the atmosphere becoming tense and unwelcoming. She shuddered when he abruptly clenched his hand into a fist, light exploding around it.
“Mason,” he echoed darkly. “No, I have never heard of that name before. Fuck, if I had, I would have gone to hell myself to find and kill him.”
“So we have no clues other than his name,” she muttered, worry clouding her brown eyes. “The blood mage was very clear about the fact that this Mason would come for us sooner or later. It would be better to be prepared, but like this, there isn’t much we can do. I don’t want to wait until he corners us.”
“I’m going to prevent another situation like that,” Maxwell growled. “He won’t get his hands on you.”
“How about we ask your demon friends for help? They might know Mason,” she suggested. “I don’t want to be unprepared. He does seem like a dangerous demon, and we don’t even know which element he commands and what he looks like.”
“I already considered asking the others,” Maxwell nodded.
She nodded, mentally going through a list of people who might be able to help as well. The only people she knew who were aware of the supernatural were Hope, her grandmother, and Vaughn’s girlfriend, Esther. She doubted they could help her—Travis, on the other hand, sounded like a good choice for this. Since he hunted supernatural beings down for a living and knew a lot about them, he might have heard of Mason before. It was definitely worth a try. The only problem was Maxwell’s aversion to the hunter. He couldn’t stand him, so inviting Travis over wouldn’t be a walk in the park…
“I have an idea,” Valerie began slowly and gauged his reaction, inwardly preparing herself for a discussion. “We should ask Travis for help.”
As she had predicted, Maxwell’s fury erupted like a volcano. He glowered at her. “You want to rely on a fucking demon hunter?” he growled.
“I just…”
“No.”
“But Maxwell. He might know Mason! We could at least try it. I’m not asking you to become friends with him,” she countered.
“I hate hunters. They’re scum,” he snarled. She flinched, unused to having him speak to her in such a way. Sitting up, she brought distance between them and gazed at him with conflict shining in her eyes.
“I understand,” she breathed, her shoulders slumping. Desperation grew in her heart. “I just thought it might be the solution we’re looking for.” Her eyes became glossy. She glanced down at the bed, frowning.