4. Valphan
Chapter 4
Valphan
I think the fuck not.
How dare she decide to deprive me of her lovely presence after I gave her such a wonderful orgasm? Did our moment mean nothing to her? She let me touch her, caress her body until it trembled against me, and then she let me kiss her and claim her mouth with my tongue.
I mean, yeah, she did run away like a scared rabbit, but that's because she wasn't thinking straight from her high crashing. Well, and maybe not being able to see me freaked her out a little, but I couldn't help that I was trapped in some limbo state because of whatever fuck up happened with the gate.
"Stella! I can't get out!" And she wouldn't, not unless I let her. My pretty little mate could pull on the door all she wanted, but it wouldn't budge unless I released my shadow lock from it. "As in, it won't open! And no, it's not locked! It just slammed shut and is like jammed shut or something!"
I felt a little bad for inciting fear in my mate, but I had no other choice. She couldn't hear my voice, so telling her not to go was pointless as it was the equivalent of shouting into a void. I couldn't physically go out there to stop her either because, again, I was trapped inside this stupid closet. The only thing that could go a little way beyond the barrier was my shadows, but even that had its limits.
"Please, hurry!" She sobbed into her handheld device, a 'phone' as I've heard her call it.
Honestly, humans have evolved so strangely over the years. Granted, centuries have passed, so I would be surprised if they didn't evolve. Still, it was quite a shock to me to see all these new gadgets they have. At least it was nice to see that they had efficient plumbing, running water, fresh and clean water, and electricity. Living on Earth back then was worse than living back home. At least we had those things back home through the use of magical relays, receptors, and runes.
Unfortunately, humans weren't blessed with magical abilities or the abilities to harness the free-flowing magic in the air unless they were gifted, and very few were gifted. However, after seeing my share of horrors from humans, I could understand why God chose to make humans different from us higher beings in that sense.
Many of them were already crazy as they were without magical capabilities. Seriously, they already did so much damage to themselves and their society with their own ambitions and absurd beliefs. I never thought I'd see more death here on earth than back home.
Humans were really a different breed. They were kind of stupid. Seriously, so much mindless murder and such backward ass logic.
Things seemed different now regarding independence for the females of the population—thank the high Heavens and low levels of Hell. It was disheartening to see women being oppressed by men when I had agreed to come to Earth with Aesophedus and the other shadow princes to watch over and help humanity. Also, we were in charge of regulating supernatural entities that humans couldn't touch to keep them from making trouble with God's little paradise away from Heaven.
So, it was refreshing to see my little mate free to her own devices without anyone around to control her. It would have been a bloody mess if she had some stupid human male bullying her around. Yeah, sometimes males were sweet and good to their partners, but for the most part, from what I observed during my time conscious and aware, they weren't.
If I had it my way, half the population back then would have been freezing to death in my home layer of Hell. If they couldn't appreciate the warmth of love from a female, then they shall have no warmth at all.
Too bad I wasn't allowed to drag them down myself.
My only job on earth was to guide spirits through the gate or go after them and drag them through it if they weren't willing. Besides being the gatekeeper, I was a protector, not an aggressor or hunter like some of the others.
"Hey! Let me out! I don't know who you are or what you are, but you better let me out!" My mate screamed into the air while whipping her head around.
I knew she couldn't hear me, but speaking aloud kept me sane. "Or else what? What are you going to do, my little blessing?" I chuckled out loud to myself as I leaned against the frame of the closet, crossing my arms and watching her pace angrily around her room.
If only I could grab her into my arms right now and snuggle her like there was no tomorrow. I wanted to tackle her onto that bed, trap her in my arms, press that plush body of hers against mine, squish that face of hers in my large hand, and spoil her with kisses. I would kill for a minute to snuggle with her right now.
I fucking loved how much she's filled out over the past weeks. It was subtle, but it was progress. My little mate wasn't too happy about having to buy new pants because she went up a size recently, but I was more than happy with how her ass and thighs were filling out. Top-wise, she had a defined waist but a small chest and narrow shoulders, and it definitely wasn't as filled out as her bottom half. Not that it mattered to me because she was as cute and snuggly as one of those stupid stuffed bears of hers.
Defeated, my Gracie let out a groan as she threw her hands into the air and let them slap against her thighs before she plopped into the chair at her desk. Then, her head snapped to me, or the closet, more likely. "What do you even want with me? Why won't you show yourself?" It was as if she could see me, but that wasn't possible given this stupid curse.
A long sigh dragged out of me as I looked at her with a deep frown, my hand pressing against the invisible barrier. "I would if I could." I wanted to so badly. I wanted to show myself to her, let her see her glorious mate, maybe flex a bit for her because human females tend to love it when males show off.
Letting out another sigh, I rested my head against the barrier and softly banged my fist against it.
Stupid barrier.
And the more damning thing was my inability to figure a way through. I knew what was wrong but couldn't fix it because the gate was beyond my reach. I needed to examine the gate fully to see what parts were messed with to cause this barrier and my prison.
The squeak and creak of her chair and the sounds of scraping against wood turned my full attention back to my mate. Her luscious hips swayed with each step she took toward me—okay, the closet, more likely because, again, she couldn't see me.
Much to my disappointment, she stopped right at the threshold, literally a thread away from my grasp. "Listen, I know, whoever or whatever you are, that you are in there." She huffed with a glare into the closet, which right now was right into my midsection. "I don't know what you want with me, but I don't know you or even see you or want anything to do with you. So, please, just let me out. Whoever or whatever you are, my friends can help you in a bit once they get here."
"Doubtful." I mused with a scoffing laugh.
The idiot priest and demonologist (yeah, I had a laugh with that one) didn't find me out. So, I highly doubted her friends would do a better job than these 'officials' she had brought in over the weeks.
Okay, I had my doubts until her friends actually showed up. The moment I felt the familiar presence of a shadow prince, yeah, I was saved and/or fucked, depending on how my little mate weaved things.
"Gracie! Open the door!" A familiar female voice shouted through the pounding of the door.
A deeper, raspier voice 'tsked' on the other side, "She can't. It's locked with magic." Never thought I'd be so happy to hear his voice—at least, I think it was his voice.
A loud thud and bang filled the area, and the door was thrown off its hinges. The moment the door was gone, two figures revealed themselves. The female was familiar; she had been here numerous times, being my mate's friend.
The male, though. "Kastoron! Thank Lucifer's balls! Sweet screams of torment! Kastoron!" I knew letting my glee come out verbally was pointless, but I couldn't contain it at the familiar sight.
I could barely keep my eyes on my mate as she ran to her friend's arms because I was too focused on Kastoron stalking warily into the room. I'd deal with the jealousy later. What mattered now was getting out of this damn trap.
"You definitely have something here, that's for sure," Kastoron commented as he stood inches from the closet doorway, studying it carefully.
"Go inside and see if you can find something." My mate shooed Kastoron forward with a few flicks of her hand, making me chuckle out of amusement at the sight of her boldness toward my fellow friend.
Kastoron did not seem too pleased with that, not that I blamed him. Like the little sass he is, he spun around and faced the two females with his hands on his hips. "I think. The. Fuck. Not. You couldn't pay me enough to go into that gateway with no way out." He sneered while jabbing a finger toward the closet.
"What do you mean? I go in and out just fine." My mate retorted with a soft glare at Kastoron.
With a sneer, he pointed a finger at the females. "Because you're a human." Then, he pointed at himself, "I'm a demon, a completely different entity from you and Stella. If I go through there, I ain' t coming back until whatever is wrong with this gate is fixed."
And that's when all my hope went into the void because Kastoron outlived his use. Then again, I didn't expect much from him in the first place. He may be powerful and a grade-A trickster, but he was useless regarding nitty-gritty dimensional magic. I had to give him some credit, though; he did figure out that something was wrong with the gate and that there was a gate present without having to spend much time investigating.
Leaning against the wall next to the closet, he crossed his arms and gave a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "Honestly, you could live just fine. Whatever is stuck is stuck. It won't manifest or go beyond the closet. It won't be able to harm you, either. The most you'll feel are those phantom touches, but that's about it."
Then, pensively, he looked into the closet again, even going as far as to reach out towards the closet but stopping right before crossing. "It feels… Familiar… And whatever is behind there doesn't feel malevolent, so you should be relatively safe." Now, I wanted to punch him in the face for insinuating that I could harm my mate.
"Oh, like how you're not bad?" Gracie remarked mockingly.
The spunk of human females in this day and age on earth still somewhat surprises me. If she were a demoness, then I wouldn't bat an eye, but I couldn't help but admire the backbone of my mate.
"Hey, I never… Uhh nevermind… Just… You'll need a different expertise to help you fix and get rid of this gateway. The only ones I can think of besides Aesophedus are Valphan and possibly Levianth. Your best shot will be Valphan since he is literally a gatekeeper, so this is all up in his jam." Kastoron gestured widely at the closet. "Unfortunately, Valphan is MIA, as in no one, not even Aesophedus, knows where the fuck he is."
It's because I'm right here, you dingbat!
Frustrated, I pounded my fists against the barrier with an angry cry.
"Whoa! Someone's not happy about something I said." Kastoron reacted with a surprised look in my direction. "Well, either way, you should get this fixed sooner than later before other issues start to show up, literally."
"What do you mean other issues?" My mate questioned with narrowed eyes, not sounding too happy with Kastoron.
"Dimensional gateways are usually set up in that they draw in lost spirits and entities. Also, entities are drawn to it because it means they can pull shit from the other side over to this side. So, you're gonna start to have unsavory visitors of the ghostly and demonic kind sooner rather than later." Kastoron paused briefly to study the area around the closet with a furrowed face. "Though… Something about this gate… It should be a hotbed of paranormal activity, yet I don't sense anything besides whatever is in the closet for miles."
Yeah, because I'm here, you horn head!
Another angry pound against the barrier caused Kastoron to flinch slightly. "I don't know if it has to do something with the gate itself because I can't see it or if it has to do with whatever is stuck on the other side." A heavy axe of tension hung in the air, ready to descend with the next words. "Which makes me wonder what is on the other side and why it's trapped."
After a long sigh, Gracie took tentative steps toward the closet, stopping inches before it and looking at it with downturned eyes. "So, what now? Besides move, because I ain't doing that." She didn't sound too happy with that idea either.
Obviously, I wasn't because that meant losing my mate. I didn't want that. I'd surely go mad without her presence to keep me anchored. It already killed me to be unable to touch her. The ghosting whispers from my tendrils only soothed the need to an extent, and ghosting her body when she entered the closet served more like torture. The fact she was there and I could somewhat touch her but not fully, nor could I show myself to her, was just cruel.
"I'll contact Aesophedus and Levianth and see what they can do," Kastoron said with a defeated sigh and shrug of his shoulders. "In the meanwhile, just stay safe and try not to piss off whatever is in there, I guess." Scratching his horn, he twisted his face in thought for a second, "And I guess if things start to show up, then you can stay at our place until you figure out your next course of action."
"Fucking hell, how does this shit happen to me?" Gracie groaned into her hands with a frustrated cry. "I just wanted freedom, and when I get it, I get a haunted closet, great." Her voice was saturated with sarcasm at the last bit.
"Hey, could have ended up with a Kastoron, so it's not that bad." Her friend tried to cheer her up with an awkward laugh.
"Yeah! My doll has a point. You could have a demon chucking shit at you and scaring you around every corner." And now I wanted to throttle the idiot out the window. I would wonder if he was serious or not, but knowing him… Yeah… I pity the poor human girl who put up with his shit.
"Do you want us to spend the night just in case?" Her friend offered with a concerned frown.
Sheepishly, my mate nodded her head. "Please? It'd make me feel safer."
Well, I didn't like that. I mean, did she not trust me? Did she really think I'd harm her?
Okay, that might have been a little irrational of me because she couldn't have known any of that. Still, it pissed me off.
I would never harm my little blessing.