6. Valphan
Chapter 6
Valphan
I worried my incessant pacing would burn a hole through the floor below at the slow rate the two idiots went at with figuring out and crafting a keystone. Granted, I should give them more credit for handling it at the speed they did since it wasn't up their alleyway. Also, I should be grateful for the fact they could free me.
Still, it felt like forever until they fully set the keystone in and opened the gate, letting me out of limbo to their dumbstruck faces.
Seconds passed to minutes as all three of us stood there staring at each other, the two of them looking at me as if they were watching an angel in a gangbang.
My irritation got the best of me in the next second of waiting around for some kind of greeting from them, causing me to snark at them. "Oh, Valphan, thank the lowest levels of home that you are fine. Oh, Valphan, you're alive, sweet! Oh Valphan, buddy, there you are." Okay, not the best time to be cracking jokes or whatever, but not even a twitch from any of them.
"Come on, you guys are going to kill me here," I muttered with a roll of my eyes.
Kastoron was the first to make a move toward me after staring at me like an idiot. However, he might as well have been an idiot because of how he reacted.
Scowling, I swatted his hand away when it came toward my face. "Quit!" I snarked. "I might be happy to see you again after all this time, but don't think I won't hesitate to bite your finger off." I playfully threatened Kastoron, who had a huge ass grin on his face.
"Val! Buddy!" Instead of my body, Kastoron was met with a wall of shadows. "Hey, what gives?" He complained after peering around the shadow wall.
"I don't want your stupid to rub off on me." I deadpanned at him before taking a tentative step across the closet entrance, sighing in relief when I didn't feel an unseen wall slam into me.
Unfortunately, my victory was short-lived because I barely made it three small steps before I felt a pull stop me from going further. It felt like there were chains connected to every section of my body to the walls of the closet; literally, it felt like there were metal hooks in my bones .
"Damn, and I thought I had it bad," Kastoron muttered with an apologetic frown at me.
"How long have you been in there, man?" Levianth asked while looking me over with his concerned eyes.
"I don't know." It was the Devil's honest truth. "I only became aware about three weeks ago when my mate moved in, and her soul woke mine up."
"Does everyone just know their soulmate off the bat besides me?" Kastoron grumbled with a string of muttered curses under his breath.
"It's because you're an idiot." Levianth sneered with a mocking laugh.
"Oh shut up, you literally got trapped with your mate, you lucky rat-ass hornhead." Kastoron retorted with a scowl and huff.
Mumbling to himself for a second, he glared holes into Levianth's smirking face for a good minute before softening his expression as he turned his attention to me. "Going based off of when you went missing, I'd say you've been out of it for a little over five centuries."
"Unholy shit." Five centuries?! No. There was no way it's been that long.
Levianth sighed heavily and chuckled softly before pulling out a cellular device from his pocket to show me the brightly lit screen, which made my face fall further.
"Wow, I didn't think it was possible for you to look as white as a ghost, considering how pale you already are." Kastoron snickered at me. "Welcome to the twenty-first century, my friend. Boy, is it going to be a shock for you."
"Better wipe that shell-shocked look off your face before the girls come back up here. Wouldn't want this face to be the first your mate sees of you." Levianth mentioned with a pat on my shoulder as he passed me on his way to open the door.
"Fucking home… Seriously!?" How I hadn't lost my damn mind floating in mindless darkness for so long gripped at my confused mind as I began to pace back and forth inside the closet.
"Girls, come up here!" I heard Levianth shout, a little too happily for my tastes.
Oh, sweet Lucifer, I am not ready for my mate to see me for the first time.
Each soft thump of footfalls on the hardwood floor seemed to mimic my own heart in my chest. Louder and louder everything grew until it all came to a stop the moment I laid my eyes on my beautiful mate.
Whatever worry had sunk its claws into my body, released at the sight of her and the feeling of her presence warming up the room. Well, it all went well until her exclamation.
"Why the fuck is there a demon in my closet!?"
Realistically, her reaction was fair and should have been expected, but the hopeful side of me really wished she had run into my arms and embraced me. Yeah, it was stupid of me to think that'd happen, but one could hope.
"Uhh, so, meet Valphan, The Gatekeeper, shadow prince, a demon from the frozen depths of Hell. Uhh lovely demon, such a sweetheart really, and uhh yeah." Kastoron awkwardly slipped toward the door, grabbing Gracie's friend on the way out. "Have fun getting to know each other!" And he was off with a protestant female in his arms.
Levianth was quick to retreat cowardly with Kastoron. "Well, our job here is done, would love to stick around, but we have cases to work on. Busy, busy, busy." Damn idiot took off faster than Kastoron with his mate being dragged behind him like a ragdoll.
"Ugh! Are you guys serious!?" Stomping over to the door, Gracie stuck her head through to the hallway. "Hey! What am I supposed to do with him!? Hey!"
No response came from the empty house; only Gracie's frustrated grunts and grumbles chimed in the air. Then, the sounds of her soft footsteps filled the air from her pacing.
What happened next took me by surprise.
When she approached me, I thought it was to hug me or get a closer look at me, so I couldn't help but raise a quizzical eyebrow at her when she placed her hand on my bare chest and pushed me into the closet. Only because I let her, though. If I had dug my heels in, even remotely, then she'd be better off moving a built wall.
I planned to let her do what she wanted, but I lunged when she backed away and tried to shut the doors on me. "Whoa, hey." My hands grabbed the edges of the door and forced them back open. "What are you doing, my little blessing?"
Gritting her teeth, she grunted, struggling to push the closet doors shut. "Putting you back in the closet to ignore you and pretend you don't exist so I can go on with my merry life." She strained, her feet squeaking against the wooden floor from her struggle.
Tilting my head, I looked down at her with scrunched-up eyebrows. "Why on earth would you want to do that? Have I wronged you somehow?" Okay, stupid question because I have touched her without her permission on numerous occasions.
"Because I don't want a demon in my life. My life is already weird as it is. I don't need it to be more complicated." She strained through her grunting as she pressed her back against the door to lean her weight against it. "I just want to live a normal life. Is that too hard to ask for?"
"And a normal life constitutes what exactly?" I questioned with a growing smirk as I watched her struggle amusingly.
Letting out an angry cry, she sank to the ground and glared up at me. "I don't know, but it doesn't involve you in it." She huffed, crossing her arms.
"I forget how strange you humans are with your life choices," I muttered aloud, chuckling softly as I squatted down beside her.
Reaching out, I stroked the back of my finger along her soft cheek. Shivers pricked along my back as I relished the feeling of being able to touch her for the first time physically. "You're so soft, like fresh snow." My thoughts slipped out before I knew it, but I didn't care. Seeing the way her cheeks pinkened up was too sweet.
"That is so not a sweet thing to say." The temptation to call her out on her lie hung on the tip of my tongue, but I'd let her have this pass for her sake. "And can you please stop touching me? I'm not a dog." She hissed, smacking my hand away and scrambling away from me with a look of disdain on her face.
It was adorable how she tried to deceive herself and me. Guess humans were still as stubborn as ever.
Slowly, she got back up on her shaky legs and wrapped her arms around herself. "Why are you even still here? You're free, so go." She shooed a hand toward the open door.
I won't lie; her words and actions stung me a little. How could she be so cold toward me? I was her mate, so why? Did she know how much she caused my heart to ache? I might not show it, but I was hurt rather deeply.
"I am still bound to this gate. I can enter the physical realm and remain, but I cannot go beyond a few steps of this… Closet." Bound to a closet, how fucking lovely. I bet Kastoron and Levianth were having a field day with the fact.
"Then fix it, free yourself, and go." Gracie insisted, her hands balling into fists and her feet stomping softly with a deepening frown on her face.
"If only it were that simple, my little blessing." My chest sank with my dry chuckle. "Even if it were, I would not leave you once I was to free myself."
Growling softly, she narrowed her sharp, almond eyes at me. "And why the fuck not?" She looked about ready to slap me with the burning fire in her eyes.
Tilting my head at her with a flat expression, I pondered for a moment if she was truly toying with me. "Why, from the high Heavens to the deepest layers of Hell, would I ever leave my mate?"
"YOUR WHAT!?"