Chapter 27 Chapter 27
Valerie sighed deeply. This was worse than she had imagined. As her eyes darted over her surroundings, she noted certain beings that hadn’t been there before. She spotted a light demon, the kind that was already familiar to her, sitting on a lamppost and peering down at her and Maxwell.
This one appeared like a bird and glimmered softly, not nearly as frightening as the spider. On the other side of the street, another ghost hovered over the ground, staring into space. She flinched when she raised her head toward the sky, seeing a creepy apparition fly by.
“I’ll have to get used to it,” she whispered, but her voice quaked and betrayed her fear of the unknown. This was reality. It had been like this all her life; she just hadn’t been aware. She had to convince herself somehow that nothing had changed.
“You’re clingier than usual today,” Maxwell commented, smirking at her since she still held on to his arm. Valerie let go of him as if she had been burned by his touch, her pride not allowing her to act like this any longer. She was a grown woman, not a child.
“Don’t mock me.”
“Just stating facts,” he grinned.
—
Back at home, Valerie got comfortable on the sofa, opening her laptop. Mochi soon joined her, snuggling up to her thigh and purring softly. “Aww, missed me?” she smiled, gently petting it behind its ears. “So cute.”
“I will never understand your infatuation with this lowly creature,” a haughty voice commented.
She rolled her eyes, not budging when he sat beside her on the sofa. “What does it matter to you? I like Mochi because it's cute and cuddly. Besides, it’s not like you ever kicked it out; you also have a soft spot for it, admit it.”
“Maybe I’m only tolerating it because of you,” he grumbled, leaning back on the sofa and stretching his legs.
“Oh? Are you attempting to be nice?” she grinned, raising her eyebrows.
“No.”
Valerie sighed, opening her emails in the internet browser to see if Thorne had already sent her the video files. And indeed, he had. Anxiously, she opened the message and downloaded the attached files. She didn’t know how the demon had gotten his hands on the CCTV footage, but she assumed supernatural beings had their ways to achieve things a mere human couldn’t.
Opening the video file, she watched it with bated breath, Maxwell moving closer to take a look as well. She skipped ahead until she found the exact moment she hurried back into the parking garage.
Seeing herself run for her life, looking around in fear, proved once again how dangerous the situation had been. A person appeared the second she jumped in her car and locked the doors, passing the rows of vehicles. It was a man dressed in dark clothes.
He was quite tall and lean, moving with a certain elegance she wouldn’t expect of a criminal. The man strode in the direction of her car, getting too close for comfort, but when she sped off, she left him behind. The way he stared after the car sent chills up her spine.
His hands clenched into fists, and she could have sworn his eyes glowed red for a brief moment. He ran towards the exit and disappeared around a corner, vanishing from sight. Valerie paused the video and took a deep breath, her heartbeat accelerating in panic.
“That’s it, I’m killing him,” Maxwell snarled with a finality that proved he wouldn’t change his mind.
“But you can’t just take his life. We need to involve the police; they have to interfere this case is too big for us,” she said, tearing her eyes away from the screen to look at his blazing red eyes. He was furious, and he didn’t hide it.
“You don’t understand,” he growled. “This person isn’t human. Whatever creature he is, if you leave this to the police, they will never catch him. He would probably kill them all.”
“What?”
“I’m going back tonight. If I kill the bastard, you’re safe, and I won’t die early. Problem solved.”
“How can you make it sound that easy?” she sighed, unhappy about his reliance on violence to solve everything. It was disconcerting to her, an ordinary law-abiding citizen.
“Because it’s that easy,” he drawled, leaning closer to her and fixating her with his heavy gaze. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I… I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she breathed.
“You might be right about that,” he answered huskily, moving in until his lips hovered over her neck.
She was overwhelmed, her body tensing in anticipation, but he only breathed a kiss on her pulse, feeling the nervous beats of her heart beneath his lips.
His hand moved up to her cheek, and his thumb ghosted over her skin as he looked up at her with hooded eyes.
“What are you doing?” she managed to say. The demon could make her melt in a heartbeat; his touch was addicting and intoxicating like a drug.
The only answer she received was a knowing smirk that made her treacherous heart flutter. Maxwell tilted her head back, supporting her and maintaining eye contact.
His iris was the color of endless sky-blue, and she froze under the intensity of his gaze, getting an idea of what he would do, but she didn’t mind at all. Maxwell’s attention moved lower to her slightly parted lips. He closed the gap between them and kissed her.
She clutched his shirt to pull him closer and felt his lips curl in amusement at her impatience. He kissed her with astounding gentleness, making her forget her earlier trepidation. A pleasant warmth flooded her body, chasing the fear away the longer the kiss held on.
She tried to stop herself but got lost in the moment, forgetting everything around her despite knowing his only intention was to play with her. He hated humans; it wasn’t exactly a secret, and she didn’t understand why he would kiss her.
The only explanation she could come up with was that he wanted to mess with her. This alone should have been reason enough for her to end the kiss, but she couldn’t. He had a sort of power over her that made it hard to resist him. Perhaps it had something to do with him being a demon.