Chapter 98 Chapter 98
“Thank you, Esther. This is a big help,” Valerie said and let the light vanish.
“It’s the least I can do for my friend. I want you to be able to protect yourself,” she replied seriously. “We both know how unpredictable supernatural creatures can be, and I don’t want to take any chances here. Your safety is important.”
Valerie teared up hearing her kind words. The sadness she had kept bottled up overflowed and came spilling out all at once, overwhelming her. A sob tore from her throat and shook her body. At least she wasn’t alone. At least she could still count on Esther. The witch frowned in sadness and embraced her friend, holding her close to her body. Her hand drew calming circles on her back as she murmured soft words into her ear, trying to comfort Valerie.
“It’s alright, just let it out,” she whispered. “Let it out and move on.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You have to,” Esther said decidedly. “You deserve better than a selfish demon… There are so many other men in this world; one day, you are going to find the right one. For now, just concentrate on yourself.”
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Three weeks after Valerie had last seen him, she was overtaken by anger. Her fury controlled her—she needed to sate her thirst for revenge. No longer did she mope around at home. She wanted to let her frustration out, and what better way to do that than seek out low-class demons?
They usually attacked her as soon as they sensed her magic flare, and she took it as an invitation to fight them. It served as training and helped her get a better feeling for her magic. Additionally, she would keep other humans safe by getting rid of the invisible dangers lurking around them. She killed two birds with one stone.
However, she was careful to keep this new hobby of hers a secret since she doubted that Thorne and Esther or Vaughn would have wanted her to get herself in danger. Valerie had reached a point where she didn’t care anymore about what happened to her as long as she could let her unending anger and frustration out.
Today had been an uneventful day at work, and that was why she had decided to go for a walk through the woods afterward, intending to get her jumbled thoughts in order. In the past few days, she had felt particularly angry, and that anger wanted to be let out.
“Fuck you, Maxwell. Fuck you and your dumb selfishness.” she screamed into the sea of trees, her loud voice echoing around her. A few frightened birds flew away, taking to the skies. “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. Why did you leave me? Come back.”
“Damn, this Maxwell must be a real jerk,” a voice said behind her, and she flinched, whirling around. She took a step back when she saw a stranger standing between the trees, watching her with raised eyebrows. He was taller than Maxwell and had dark red hair that framed his gleaming, almond-shaped eyes. She took in the black leather jacket he wore, paired with ripped jeans, sensing that this stranger was capable of using demon magic. Cautiously, she watched him, trying to find out whether he was a threat or not.
“Who are you?” she hissed, prepared to defend herself. Without the useful warnings of the mark, she had trouble deciding if danger was near, and it made her feel vulnerable.
The stranger held up his hands in a gesture that was supposed to calm her, but it only riled her up more. “Calm down, please. I won’t hurt you.”
“Are you a demon?”
He tilted his head, his lips twitching amusedly like he had anticipated the question. “Yes and no. I’m half-demon, half-human. My mother was a demon and my father a human,” he explained, seeing her eyes widen. She had never heard of half-demons before, didn’t even know they could exist, but the living proof stood in front of her. Her cautiousness faded when her curiosity grew, and she walked closer to him.
“That’s interesting,” she said before she remembered that she should probably introduce herself. “My name is Valerie, by the way.”
He grinned cheekily, amused by her sudden interest. “I’m Travis.”
“Nice to meet you,” she replied. “What kind of magic are you able to use?”
He smirked, and his hand lit up, flames licking over his skin. “Fire,” he said. “And you? I’m sensing demon magic from you even though you are human.”
She decided to copy him just for fun and made her hand gleam with white light, seeing his eyes widen with interest. “Wow. How are you able to do this?” he asked, and she grimaced instantly but saw no harm in telling him. He seemed to be nice enough, and up to now, he hadn’t done anything even remotely threatening. Besides, letting off some steam sounded like a good idea.
“I was bonded to a light demon before and gained this ability through the bond.”
“Is that light demon called Maxwell, by any chance?”
“Yes,” she sighed. “That obvious, huh?”
“Well, it doesn’t happen every day I hear women scream profanities through the woods,” he said, amusedly. “Not that hard to guess that he did something wrong. May I ask what happened?”
Valerie looked at him for a moment before she decided to tell him. If anyone would understand her dilemma, it was probably a half-demon, a person who was familiar with both demons and humans. They began to walk through the woods together, and Valerie opened up to him about what had happened to her, starting with the summoning and the failed spell.
Travis listened attentively, sometimes interrupting her to ask a question, and when she ended her story, his gaze had darkened considerably. He huffed, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“Damn, what an asshole,” he grumbled. “How can he just leave like that? I understand that your bond was an accident, but judging by what you just told me, you got along very well. So why would he want to leave?”