Chapter 179 Chapter 179
“All you need to know is that you don’t need to worry about it. The cat is a stray you took in. You named it Mochi.”
“Mochi,” she echoed, and the cat promptly perked up its ears, running to her and rubbing its body against her legs. She assumed it wanted to be picked up, looking at her with pleading golden eyes. However, Valerie was reluctant to touch it. Whatever this cat was, it couldn’t be a regular animal, and she didn’t understand why she would ever let it enter her flat.
She was about to go into full panic mode, and Maxwell’s peculiar evasiveness didn’t help at all. More than ever, she had the suspicion that he was keeping very crucial information from her, and she found herself wondering whether it had been a mistake to trust him so quickly.
She should know better.
Perhaps what was hidden on her wrist was even more peculiar than that cat, and perhaps he didn’t want her to see it because it was something bad…? She needed to get to the bottom of this. There was no way around it. She wouldn’t wait any longer; her patience had run out.
“I think I need some time alone,” she said to Maxwell.
He didn’t look too happy with the situation, but he nodded, frowning. Valerie didn’t waste a second and hurried to her bedroom. He looked after her with a conflicted expression, wishing he could give her the answers she sought. If she at least remembered the existence of demons, all this wouldn’t be so complicated.
Valerie closed the door behind her and grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk. No more excuses, the bandage had to go. Her hand was trembling in nervousness. Anxiously, she cut the bandage open, shaking it off.
Instantly, her wide eyes were drawn to a shining star on her skin. The sight was oddly familiar—and it plunged her right into a memory.
“Please, just go and leave me alone. I don’t want this,” she forced out, her voice shaking in terror. He stared at her wrist with narrowed blood-red eyes. As his anger grew, his eyes glowed brighter.
“What have you done?” he snarled, holding 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 happen…”
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. It appeared like a shining star, radiating blinding white light that reflected in her wide brown eyes.
What was that? Shocked, Valerie stumbled back and hit the wall. The scissors clattered to the ground. This wasn’t the same person who had been with her for the past few days, or was it? This Maxwell had looked livid and ready to kill her—his eyes had been red. And this time, she hadn’t imagined it.
Her thoughts were going on a rampage in her mind. She was frozen by fear. Why had he yelled at her like that? How was he connected to this weird light on her wrist? She bit her lower lip so hard she tasted blood, clawing at the light. It didn’t vanish no matter what she did, and it made her panic. Her breathing accelerated, became uneven.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Maxwell started when he abruptly entered the bedroom. He noticed the missing bandage immediately, cursing under his breath.
“No, stop. Don’t come any closer.” she yelled hysterically, shocking him. He didn’t move and just stared at her, not knowing how to deal with this.
“Just what are you? Where does this thing on my wrist come from?” She covered it up with her hand because the sight freaked her out. At this point, she deeply regretted letting him into her flat without knowing anything about him. What the hell had she been thinking? How could she have been so stupid?
“Calm down, Valerie,” he said and held his hands in front of him, the palms facing her. It was a gesture meant to calm her, but she was too anxious to care about it.
“I can’t. Who are you really?” she demanded to know. “You lied to me, didn’t you?”
“No, I just omitted a few things,” he sighed. “Let’s talk about this, okay? You must have remembered something… and I’m guessing it wasn’t one of the good memories.”
“It wasn’t.” she yelled, moving away when he took a step closer. “Stay where you are!”
“Fine,” he sighed defeatedly. “Whatever you saw, I’m sorry about it, but you don’t need to be scared. I would never hurt you.”
Her chest rose and fell with each rapid breath she took. All she could think of was how she could get him out of her flat, and how she could get rid of this freaky light on her wrist. Fingernails raking over her skin, she scratched at the damn thing. The scratches burned, but she didn’t care. She wanted the weird light to be gone.
“Valerie, stop that.”
She ignored him, and Maxwell was at a loss for what to do. He’d never had to deal with a situation like this before, and he sucked at comforting people. But he couldn’t let her hurt herself either, so he decided to interfere, whether she liked it or not. He strode through the room and took both of her wrists, holding them in between their bodies. She started struggling immediately, kicking and screaming at him to let go.
“Calm down,” he told her. “I won’t let go until you calm the fuck down.”
She glared at him defiantly, while he grew more and more exasperated. How to deal with a human who didn’t believe a word he said? How to convince her otherwise?
“I am not here to hurt you,” he repeated. “If I wanted to, why would I take care of you? Why would I help you regain your memory? I wouldn’t bother to do any of this if I for some reason intended to harm you.”
He had a point, and even in her frantic state, she knew that what he said made sense. She drew in a breath, but her anxiety wasn’t easy to overcome.
“This is fucked up,” she stuttered. “What are you?”