Chapter 14 Chapter 14
Frowning bitterly, she shoved those memories away and hurried to the subway station, taking the next train to the city center. Valerie absentmindedly watched the people sitting in her vicinity, her eyes not lingering on them for long. Time passed quickly, and when she reached her stop, she left the subway with countless other people. She felt as if someone was watching her, but nobody was looking at her when she turned around. However, the odd sensation remained.
“Strange,” she thought as she reached a large square in the city center. Night had fallen at this point, but the city’s most popular spots were crowded nonetheless. She entered a quieter street where she was supposed to meet with Reed.
The shops she passed were already closed, and the area was deserted. Reed leaned against the wall of an office building, looking up from his phone when he heard her footsteps.
“Valerie,” he smiled, hugging her. She grinned, melting in his embrace and relaxing. The faint burning on her wrist she had experienced yesterday returned, but she ignored it.
“I missed you, Reed,” she said, and he hugged her back with one arm while they walked down the street. “I had a bad day and was happy when you texted.” She didn’t know where they would go—he had told her it was a surprise, and since she didn’t know the area well, she couldn’t even guess what he was up to.
“Looks like we had the same idea. My day wasn’t that great either, but now that you’re here…” he smirked, his hand on her waist pushing her against him.
“Where are we going?”
“I won’t tell you, sweetheart. It’s a surprise,” he grinned.
Valerie nodded but couldn’t shake the sudden feeling that something was off. Meeting up with someone late in the evening was a bad idea when she didn’t know where they were going. Reed was a friend of Naomi’s boyfriend… had he been a stranger, she would have left already. The burning on her wrist intensified, prompting her to think of a certain demon. He was probably lazing around on the sofa and hadn’t even noticed her absence… then again, since he could feel the burning as well, it was more likely that he was throwing a fit at this very moment.
Glancing over her shoulder, she confirmed that she and Reed were alone. The ache in her wrist demanded her attention, steadily becoming worse. This wasn’t good. Hadn’t Maxwell mentioned that this pain was supposed to be a warning? Maybe she should turn around and leave Reed. Nobody knew where she was, and if something happened to her, who would help her? She watched Reed from the corner of her eye, contemplating it in silence.
They suddenly entered a darker and narrower alleyway, and Valerie became alarmed. Something was wrong. She didn’t want to be here any longer. She wanted to go back home. When he had invited her on a date, she hadn’t expected him to lead her to a dark alley; this wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t normal.
“Reed?”
He scrutinized her for a moment before a grin appeared on his lips. “What is it, sweetheart?”
“I want to go back,” she said, removing herself from his embrace. His eyes narrowed, cooling rapidly. The warmth in his gaze vanished, and Valerie was hit with the frightening truth—it had been a façade all along. She froze, and he used her surprise to his advantage, cornering her at the wall of a building. Her back hit solid stone.
“That’s a little too soon, Valerie,” he replied. His hand ensnared her wrist and pressed it against the wall. Her other hand was captured as well. She was rendered motionless, meeting his unsettling gaze. The burning in her wrist became unbearable, reminding her of Maxwell’s ominous words. This pain served as a warning, telling her she was in grave danger. Struggling against Reed’s firm grip, tears welled up in her eyes. She was petrified when she saw the lack of kindness in Reed’s expression. It was brimming with hatred, confirming her worst fear—coming here had been a grave mistake.
“Reed? What’s going on?”
“You’re bonded to a demon, Valerie,” he hissed and fixated her with a condescending glare. “At first, I wasn’t sure, but when I saw your mark, I knew I had to take action. If I get rid of you, I’ll kill two birds with one stone. It’s a pain in the ass to fight a high-class demon head-on.”
“Are you… a demon hunter?” she whispered and paled. Valerie remembered Ashton’s warning about them. Demon hunters were humans who had dedicated themselves to killing every demon they encountered, using various disturbing tools and, in some cases, even magic.
“Took you long enough to figure it out. I despise people who sell their souls to demons; they’re disgusting filth. You should be ashamed of your actions,” he said as he tightened his grip on her wrists.
Facing Reed’s hatred felt like being plunged into ice-cold water. She had to accept the cruel reality, but couldn’t bear it. This was too similar to her experience with Uriel, and it reawakened unwanted memories. She was pulled back into the past and saw Uriel hovering over her, pressing her wrists against the cold kitchen tiles. An old fear festered in her heart as if it had never been gone in the first place. Panicking, she began to struggle, raw terror weakening her knees. She pushed against Reed’s hold with all the force she could muster, getting him to budge a little. However, the demon hunter was stronger than her—he let go of one of her wrists to slap her.
It hurt. Black spots exploded in her field of vision, and her lower lip split open. The metallic taste of blood on her tongue was nauseating, a cruel reminder to keep fighting him. Otherwise, he would kill her. The ache in her wrist blazed but then vanished abruptly. A blinding white light flashed before her eyes, striking Reed with full force. He was torn away from her so quickly that she had to lean against the wall to keep her balance.