Chapter 50 Chapter 50
“I should have known Hunter and Gareth wouldn’t keep their mouths shut…”
“Now that you’re here, we might as well go into the living room?” Valerie suggested, and they entered her flat, walking down the hallway and into the living room. They looked around curiously, spotting Mochi, who carefully peered around the corner, obviously not sure if they were safe to be around. Valerie smiled and picked it up, carrying it to the sofa where she sat down next to Maxwell. The three visitors sat down on the sofa opposite them.
“What brings you here?” she asked, stroking the cat’s back.
“We wanted to meet you, Valerie,” Wade said. “But Xander ruined it with his dumb teleportation shit. I tell you, whenever he randomly appears somewhere, it ends in chaos.”
“You’re just jealous you can’t do it,” the green-haired demon shot back with a snicker. He seemed to be a trickster, not a serious type of person. Valerie couldn’t help but notice the peculiar clothes he and the others wore.
While Shawn seemed to like black leather, Wade sported a bright red suit, and Xander apparently liked showing off his abs. Valerie blushed and redirected her gaze somewhere else, but she wasn’t fast enough.
“Like what you see?” Xander teased, getting her even more flustered.
“I’ll throw you out in two seconds if you go on my nerves any longer.” Maxwell was livid at this point, glaring at the mischievous demon so hard that she was surprised he didn’t catch fire under his burning stare.
“We’re not here to steal his girl, Xander,” Shawn chuckled, nudging his friend, who laughed.
“Yeah, yeah. I know that.”
The blush on her cheeks darkened, and she avoided their amused stares by lowering her head. What did he mean, his girl? They weren’t even a couple or anything, but these demons seemed to have the entirely wrong idea. She didn’t know what Hunter and Gareth had told them, but she wouldn’t put it past the cheeky demons to add spice to the story.
“How did you survive living with this idiot for so long?” Shawn asked her. His bi-colored eyes looked scary to her, but since he didn’t seem intent on hurting her, she was quick to dismiss the thought.
“I have no idea. He is incredibly rude,” she sighed, shaking her head.
“What the fuck? You should ask me how I survived with her.” Maxwell cut in, exasperatedly throwing his arms up. “She needs constant babysitting, and she even cuts her fingers ON FUCKING PAPER. And don’t get me started on that time she fell over the coffee table.”
She pouted and glared at him, momentarily stopping to stroke the cat that looked up at her and meowed. “You’re making it sound like I’m an idiot.”
“That’s because you are. Don’t you remember when you fell off your bed and hit your head against the nightstand?”
She blushed in mortification, hearing the demons chuckle. “Don’t mention that! It was only an accident.”
“Ah, yes. An accident,” he drawled. “Just like when you tried to remove the broken light bulb in the kitchen and stumbled off the ladder.”
“Shut up.”
“If I hadn’t caught you, you would have broken your neck.”
“I’m not that fragile, you ass,” she yelled in embarrassment. Her cheeks were still bright red since the bastard didn’t give her a second to breathe.
“You totally are,” he countered. “Humans are like dayflies; they die in a blink.”
“Did you just compare me to an insect?” she screeched, her eyes wide and angry. “Listen, Mister, that was the last straw. This will have serious consequences.”
“Oh? Do you expect me to be scared now?” he chuckled slowly. “You know who’s the stronger one here.”
“I have my ways to manipulate you.”
His eyes darkened as he leaned closer to her, their noses almost touching. She gulped, suddenly forgetting everything she wanted to say, overwhelmed by his piercing gaze. His alluring scent washed over her, flustering her. She completely forgot about their audience (that was having the time of their life), only having eyes for the white-haired demon.
“Looks like you’re the one who is easily manipulated,” he said huskily, almost kissing her, but then suddenly pulling away. She gaped at him, needing a second to recover before she reacted to his provocative words.
“Maxwell,” she grumbled, hitting his shoulder.
“Aww, they’re so in love,” Wade snickered and exchanged amused glances with his friends.
“We’re not,” they shouted at the same time, eliciting laughs from the three demons.
“Sure, of course not. That’s exactly why you’re living together and why you’re bonded,” Xander chimed in. “I can see why he has chosen you, I mean… your body is hot…”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence because a certain white-haired demon shot a laser at him, striking him in the chest. Xander coughed, his yellow crop top singed and burned. “Someone is angry today,” he commented with a provocative smirk.
“Can’t you guys behave?” Valerie mumbled.
“That’s right. Xander, you can’t say stuff like that to an innocent human,” Shawn said with a cheeky smile and a wink in Valerie’s direction.
“Are you only here to get on my nerves?” Maxwell grumbled, rolling his eyes.
“No, not at all,” Wade replied before he unexpectedly went serious, a darker tone appearing in his eyes. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, watching Valerie thoughtfully. “After Hunter told us about you, we thought we should warn you.”
“Why?” Maxwell asked sharply.
“We heard some rumors from other demons this past week. Some of them… the ones that hate humans, are banding together. They want to seek out demons that are bonded to humans and kill them. It sounded serious, and we wanted to make sure you are aware of it. Right now, it doesn’t seem like they know about you two, but that might change.”
Valerie shuddered, cuddling Mochi close to her chest.
“Someone has to be the mastermind behind all this, but we don’t know who,” Shawn continued to explain. “It might be the demon who killed Seth.”
“We are going to keep you updated on this,” Wade said and stared at the ceiling in deep thought. “I’m afraid they might try to harm you, Valerie.”