Chapter 3 Chapter 3
Valerie nearly stopped breathing, hearing his words. She couldn’t believe this. How was it possible that a demon had appeared right in front of her? Until seconds ago, she hadn’t even known they were real, but now her entire view of the world had changed.
Maxwell looked like he wanted to murder her, eyes blazing with fury and malice. His aura was crushing, making it harder and harder to breathe. She moved back further until her back collided with a wall.
“Do you know what happened to the last person who summoned me?” he drawled, smirking evilly at her before he moved his thumb horizontally over his neck. “I killed him, dragging it out to make it as painful as possible. And that’s exactly what is going to happen to you.”
Valerie shuddered, her knees weakening. Tears burning in her eyes, she held up her hands to shield herself when he came so close that they were only separated by an arm's length.
“Please, just go and leave me alone,” she said, her voice shaking. To her astonishment, he stayed silent, staring at her wrist with narrowed eyes. His fury surged like a raging storm, and Valerie had to face it head-on.
“What have you done?” he screamed, taking her wrist in an iron grip and pulling it towards him. “How is this possible? I’m not some low-class demon; this should never be possible.” He glared at the mark on her skin in disbelief, and she followed his gaze, terrified by what she saw. Now that he had touched her, the mark had changed. It wasn’t just a tattoo anymore.
No, it appeared like a shining star, radiating blinding white light that was reflected in her wide brown eyes. Valerie’s wrist glowed but didn’t hurt and simply felt warm.
“What’s happening?” she whispered in horror, his grip on her arm tightening until it was painful. He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You filthy little human, you don’t even know what you did?” Maxwell snarled. “You bound yourself to me.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t believe this. How can you be this stupid?” he growled, and the room turned darker. “Our lives are connected. In other words, if one of us dies, the other dies as well. If one of us gets hurt, the other will feel the pain.”
“No, this can’t be true. You’re joking, right?”
“I wish I were,” he spat bitterly, reaching out to her to touch her delicate neck, his fingers on her skin making her tremble in fear. He held her chin in an iron grip, forcefully tilting it towards him.
If what he said was true, he had to be aware of how painful it felt, yet he didn’t stop. A sneer pulled at his lips, curling them. Suddenly, his hands wandered back to her neck, squeezing it.
“It would be so easy to kill you. Just a little snap, and then it would be over. Humans are ridiculously frail.”
Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he finally let go of her, prompting her to take a deep breath. Her desperation grew the longer she was exposed to this madman and his unpredictable behavior. What he had told her seemed true. At least, she had no other explanation. Had Hope known what she would get Valerie into with her stupid idea? Probably not.
“Why don’t you just go back to where you came from? I don’t know, hell or whatever?” she asked, feeling unnerved around the strange man. Her whole world had been turned upside down within the past ten minutes, and she was beginning to feel light-headed from all the stress and panic, but passing out was the last thing she wanted in the presence of this psycho.
He clicked his tongue, the blue of his eyes fading to red in response to his rage. “Didn’t you listen to me, stupid human? When you die, I die too. As if I would just risk leaving you alone. You would most likely die in a heartbeat as soon as I would be gone,” he growled, glowering at her.
Gradually, his words sank in, and Valerie began to understand what this meant for her. No matter how creepy Maxwell was, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to her as long as the bond was intact, which meant she was safe from him – at least for the moment. She would have to find a way to get rid of him and already knew how it might work out. Tomorrow, she will first visit the local church around the corner. Hopefully, someone will be able to help her with her predicament.
“I’m going to find a way to break the bond. And when I do, you are dead,” he snarled, again getting too close to her for comfort. His face hovered directly in front of hers, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared. His aura was overpowering, nearly crushing her, and his piercing red eyes were more than uncomfortable. She tried to ignore the chain on his face, which suited him a little too well.
“How did you summon me in the first place? You seem like an idiot.”
His relentless insults triggered her anger, and she momentarily forgot about her fear. “Take that back. My name is Valerie, and you'd better remember it.”
He smirked in malicious joy, amused by her anger. Chuckling darkly, he ran a hand through his white hair. “I won’t bother remembering the name of a human. Let me ask again: How did you summon me?”
Valerie hesitated to throw her friend Hope under the bus. He would surely kill her since there was no bond to stop him, and Valerie wanted Hope to be safe, so she made up a story filled with some truths and some lies. “I used an Ouija board and asked a random ghost,” she explained, knowing how silly it sounded. “It told me how to do it, and I tried it for fun. I didn’t expect it to work.”
“You did it yourself? A simple human can’t perform such a complicated binding spell. You must have had help from a witch… unless you aren’t a regular human,” he drawled, studying her closely.
She blushed under his heavy gaze, her heart jumping in her chest. Suddenly, his smirk was back, but this time it was smug. Valerie’s cheeks turned bright red when a seductive smile found its way to his lips, and he leaned closer, his hot breath fanning over her lips. Her eyes darted down to his mouth, an unwanted wave of desire coursing through her body. She was under his spell, mesmerized by his attractiveness.
“I’m going to have fun with you before I kill you,” he said huskily, and his spell on her was broken, shattered like glass.
“You wish,” she hissed. “You jerk will leave me alone, or else I’m going to seriously hurt myself,” she said, inwardly glad she had some leverage on him, even if she didn’t plan on hurting herself. He didn’t need to know this. “I’ll go to sleep now, and tomorrow, I’ll get rid of you,” she spat, turning on her heels to walk into her bedroom, slamming the door and locking it.
“That’s not enough to keep me out,” he drawled. Valerie leaned her back against the door and took a deep breath.
How did her life go straight to hell in a single night?