Chapter 167 Chapter 167
“Of course I remember,” Valerie replied anxiously. How could she forget that name? It was burned into her mind, and she would do all it took to find more about this person.
“Then I can kill you now without wasting more time,” Maxwell said. The madness in him flared, lighting an inferno in her. This emotion was foreign to her as she never felt this kind of hatred for anyone. Neither was she familiar with his boiling desire to kill.
Part of her hated that Maxwell had to kill for them to survive, but the rational part of her knew that the blood mage deserved nothing but that. It was either them or him. Just how many demons and humans had this lunatic murdered? It had to be a large number. The idea alone made her shudder.
She watched as Maxwell pierced his heart with his blade, and she watched as the blood came gushing from his chest. The sickening view caused her to swallow hard as she fought down the bile that rose in her throat. She staggered back. Ethan collapsed on the ground, not moving anymore. Maxwell stared at him contemptuously, satisfaction flickering through his ruby eyes.
The moment the blood mage died, the spell that had been put on the building evaporated. Instantly, the atmosphere lightened, and Valerie could finally breathe without suffocating on her fear. They were free.
Valerie’s body had been running on adrenaline alone, and now that the danger had passed, the pain in her back hit her like a truck. She could barely stand on her legs. To make matters worse, she had used too much magic and now felt drained and tired.
She avoided looking at Ethan’s body, moving her blurry gaze to Maxwell, who walked towards her with quick and purposeful steps. Stumbling to him, she nearly tripped over her own feet. He caught her and steadied her, carefully holding her up. His arms avoided the injuries on her back, engulfing her waist. Relieved tears welled up in her eyes. She heaved a sigh, the tension falling away from her body at last.
“Maxwell,” she mumbled into his chest, relishing in the sense of safety that he gave her. She refused to let go of him and clung to him desperately. He supported her weight and let her lean on him.
“I’m sorry, Valerie,” he said quietly, pressing his face into her hair. “I should have been with you faster, but I was stupid and got distracted. It’s my fault you were injured.”
She could hardly form a coherent thought in her exhaustion, but she gathered enough strength to verbalize what she had on her mind. “It’s not your fault,” she breathed. “He also… tricked me at first. I freaked out when I saw an illusion of my ex.”
His burned-out anger was reignited, and he held her protectively. Finally, he knew why she was so distraught. The encounter must have triggered some bad memories that she had locked away. His hate for the blood mage was immeasurable. If he could, he would kill him all over again.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” he said lowly. His soft lips brushed her temple as he planted an apologetic kiss on her skin. “Valerie, you are in a lot of pain,” he remarked worriedly.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”
But she wasn’t fine, and he knew it. His eyes darkened in concern when her breath shortened. “I have to get you to a hospital,” he muttered. “This isn’t good.”
It was the last she heard him say before her body decided that enough was enough. The panic, the fear, and everything she had experienced in this short amount of time all hit her at once. She stood no chance. Her mind shut down. Everything turned dark.
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Maxwell wasn’t used to fear. He didn’t experience this sinking feeling in his gut often. It was a foreign sensation that normally didn’t have a place in his life. If he was threatened by someone or something, he simply relied on his demonic strength to get rid of it. Now, however, his fear wasn’t centered around something he could control. What was happening right now was far beyond his reach.
His hands were tied. He had to trust the human doctors to help her, and he didn’t like that. The fear in his stomach irritated him. He glared at the white tiles of the hospital room, leaning his back against the wall.
The entire situation had been a mess. When he had left the abandoned building with Valerie’s unconscious body in his arms, the group of humans outside had freaked out. They had made a huge fuss, asking what had happened. Thankfully, Hope had the good sense to call an ambulance and then convince the others to go home. She knew that something bad had happened while Maxwell and Valerie had been inside the house, and Maxwell couldn’t keep her from riding along in the ambulance.
Valerie’s state had raised many questions among the nurses and doctors at the hospital, but he and Hope had convinced them of a made-up story. It wasn’t like they could tell the truth. As far as the humans were concerned, Valerie had fallen a decrepit stair by accident while they had been exploring an abandoned building.
Her injuries had been treated earlier, but she had yet to wake up. In the meantime, Maxwell had used Hope’s phone to contact Nicholas Clarke, who had only just arrived. When it came to dealing with humans, he was the person Maxwell relied on—even if he wouldn’t openly admit to it. Nicholas Clarke looked as worried as everyone else in the room, knitting his brows while he watched Valerie’s unconscious form on the bed.
“You were lucky to get out of this alive,” he said. “At least the blood mage is taken care of now and can’t cause any more harm.”
“That’s the only upside to this,” Maxwell muttered. He was upset, tapping his foot impatiently.
“I can’t believe you encountered a blood mage in that weird house,” Hope whispered, her eyes wide open. “They are scary as fuck.”
“That guy was a creep,” Maxwell agreed. “He separated us and confronted her with an illusion of her ex. It must have been terrible for her. I wish I could have prevented that.”
Upon hearing that, Nicholas Clarke’s expression darkened considerably. “He did what?” he hissed. “Damn it, that’s fucked up. As expected from one of these mages.”
“He was quite full of himself,” Maxwell continued, his eyes turning red. “And he’s connected to the guy who is responsible for Seth’s death. I need to talk to Valerie about this later.”
“What? Are you serious?” Nicholas Clarke asked, disbelief written all over his face. “We’ve been searching for leads for so long, this is incredible. Who is it?”
Maxwell sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He only told Valerie, so we have to wait until she wakes up. It’s inconvenient, but apparently, all he gave away was a name… which means we’ll have to ask around. Maybe Liam and the others can help with that.”