Chapter 51 Valen
VALEN
The door slams against the wall and creaks on its hinges as I barrel into Luna’s apartment. Zav chuckles behind me.
“Valen!” Luna screeches and inspects the wall for damage. “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting like a bat out of hell.”
I ignore Luna. I have other things to deal with at the moment.
“I am going to fucking kill you if this is true,” I seethe at the demon who leans against the wall with a casualness that makes me want to rip his heart out.
Violence churns in my gut, and for the first time in a long time, rage threatens to consume me. I’m finding it difficult to keep a hold on my emotions.
“Aw, did you finally figure it out?” Leviathan unfolds his arms and claps slowly. “I wondered when you would. Shall I get a gold star sticker? Maybe a cookie and a pat on your head for a job well done?” He arches a single blond brow.
His teasing only serves to boil my blood, and I quickly advance toward him. With a rough shove he isn’t expecting, I manage to throw him onto the couch. Due to the connection, Luna yelps and is also thrown as collateral damage in their bonded distance.
An animalistic snarl sounds from Leviathan, and he’s up quickly, checking on Luna where she’s fallen onto the rug.
Before I can apologize, he has my shirt in his grasp and his face in front of mine.
In a flash you’d miss if you weren’t paying attention, his pale hair is a vibrant orange before settling into its original color.
“Do not hurt my wife,” he threatens with deadly intent. “The next time you pull shit like that, I won’t hesitate to bury you in the ground. Got it?”
“Levi!” Luna chides. Walking over and shoving between us, she nervously eyes both of us and sighs. “Let’s cool off a little and sit in the living room like civilized supernaturals, okay?”
Holding Leviathan’s golden gaze, I refuse to look away as long as he continues to stare back. We’re locked in a silent battle of will and refusal to submit. I notice his shadowy familiar floating around his shoulder out of the corner of my eye.
“Fucking stop!” Luna pulls Levi’s face toward hers, which ends our stare down. “Sit your ass down,” she growls and he plops onto the cushion with a huff.
With a smug grin back on his face, Levi watches her with unbridled obsession. “You know I love it when you take charge, wifey.” Luna scoffs in return and examines a throw pillow she suddenly finds fascinating. I’m sure she’s thinking about launching it at him.
“I told you to stop calling me that.”
I choose to sit in an emerald green chair off to the side and away from their couch. Bending a leg over my knee, I attempt to corral all the emotions running through me. Leviathan simply watches and waits for me to address him.
“Is it true?” I finally settle on, rubbing my finger against my lips and trying to hide my irritation, though I know I’m failing epically.
Zavier stands in the corner of the room, his eyes ping-ponging back and forth while a gleeful expression overtakes him. At least someone is finding all of this entertaining.
“Is what true, Valentine?” he counters. “Is the sky blue? Is Luna a vampire? Is my cock pierced? All of these things are indeed true. Use your words. It’s quite exhausting playing guessing games with you.”
Luna’s blue eyes widen, and her mouth drops to form a perfect O. “I can’t handle you,” she mumbles under her breath.
The fight goes out of me momentarily and my shoulders sag. “Is Safira alive?” I whisper the question—half scared of his answer and having the minuscule ounce of hope I possess shattered.
Tilting his head at me, he takes his sweet time answering. Leaning forward, making the silky fabric of his shirt dip, he grins slyly. “Yes.”
I lean fully back in the chair, my thoughts racing a mile a minute. I’m sure my heart would be racing in equal measure if I still had one.
My sister is alive.
Standing up, I begin to pace the room. I can’t handle sitting still now that I possess this news.
“How? Why? Was she taken by your father? Stolen and used to breed you?” I fire off the questions in rapid succession.
She would’ve told me if she was leaving of her own volition. Wouldn’t she?
Leviathan eases back against the couch and plays with a purple strand of Luna’s hair that falls against her shoulder. She gives him the side-eye but doesn’t comment otherwise.
“It’s simple really. She left for one reason and one reason only.” He shrugs lazily and meets my eyes when he says, “Love.”
I halt my steps and level the demon with a glare. “There is no way my sister, one of the top generals of the angelic army, willingly left Virtue to not only go to Iniquity but to be with a demon lover.”
Leviathan shrugs with indifference. “Believe me or don’t, but it’s nice to finally meet you, Uncle Valen.”
He tacks the last part on, I’m certain, to mess with me, and I growl in annoyance. He grins, having hit his mark.
“Uncle?” Luna hisses, having taken in the whole scene with confused eyes.
“Let me break it down for you, wifey.” Leviathan claps and rubs his hands together.
“Valentine here has a sister named Safira. While on a mission, Safira met Amadeus, a demon general she was tasked to assassinate. Instead of carrying out her orders, they fell in love, and she snuck away to be with him. Not only did they live happily ever after, but they had a child. What was his name? Anyone?” He raises his own hand, and I glower at his antics. “That’s right, Leviathan.”
Luna gasps and her eyes ping-pong between us. “Valen’s sister is your mother?”
Leviathan looks at me once more and waits for my response.
I hesitate before responding, not wanting to speak it into existence. “Yes, she is.”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” The demon tsks and adjusts a silver ring that sits on his pinkie finger.
“Imagine my surprise when I was not only summoned here to this one”—he nods at Luna, who blushes—“but to my uncle, of all people, who greeted me with a body slam. Skipped the meet and greet and went right for the jugular, literally.”
My lips turn downward. “I found Safira’s feather coated in demon blood.
She had gone missing without a trace. What else was I supposed to think?
” I counter. “It was a logical conclusion based on the facts I had. It made sense that she was killed by a demon, one of the most dangerous, emotionless, and ruthless creatures.”
Leviathan’s lip curls in disgust. “Emotionless? You’ve got it all wrong.
” He stares out the window and seems to lose himself in a memory that has him shaking his head.
“If anything, demons feel everything. Angels are the ones who deserve the unfeeling title.” He advances toward me, and I stand my ground.
“Cruel and self-righteous, angels are the epitome of the frigid stereotype you like to label us with.”
Memories cycle through my head of various angels I met and worked with throughout my life. Having essentially been a fighting machine for the higher-ups, I never thought too much about our kind being the aggressor. Yes, we physically fought others, but it was to better the state of the world, no?
“How can you prove this? Can I talk to Safira? Where is she?” I’m struggling to come to terms with what he’s saying—because if he’s being honest, then everything I know about being an angel is a lie. Was I fighting for the wrong side? Were we the aggressors?
My sister can set things straight if I can talk to her.
Leviathan snorts and strokes the back of the red-eyed chameleon that materializes on his forearm. “You can’t. Part of the deal when she decided to stay with my father was that she could never leave Iniquity.”
Our chests heave as we come down from our angry highs.
“She’s happy?” I whisper.
Leviathan tilts his head at me. “I’d like to think so.” He sits back down and crosses one long leg over the other. “I was their only child, and both of my parents spoiled me.”
A wistful expression floods his face, and the chameleon climbs up his sleeve to perch on his shoulder. The whole time, he holds a hand underneath the creature in case it slips, and I feel the cage around my heart thawing slightly. It’s hard to undo years of negative emotion, though.
“I’m sure she’ll scold me when I’m back home. She periodically checks in because she’s a worry wart.” Even though he sounds exasperated, there’s fondness in his tone.
It feels strange to hear him talk about my sister in that way. She showed vulnerability on occasion, but only in private. I knew her as a ruthless army general. Picturing her with a baby and a husband is difficult. I desperately wish I could talk to her and see with my own eyes that she’s okay.
“Brother cousin!” Zavier suddenly shouts and walks toward the demon with open arms.
“Come again?” Luna asks while watching the exchange with a quirked brow.
Leviathan holds Zav at arm’s length while he tries to push past like a needy toddler.
Does it deter the redheaded vampire? Of course not.
“Valen is my vampire daddy, and Levi is his nephew, therefore we’re brother cousins,” he explains.
I scowl. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
Zavier shifts his attention to me and slides into my personal space, causing me to tense. “It doesn’t have to make sense to you.” He taps my nose.
Luna rolls her eyes, but mirth twinkles in her blue eyes when Leviathan finally lets Zav hug him after he runs back over. The tie between her and the demon shimmers briefly in the light, and I catch her glancing at it.
“So there’s no way I can see Safira? Forgive me if I don’t fully believe you,” I say, attempting to bring the conversation back around. “We have a powerful witch we could reach out to.”
Leviathan shakes his head. “A fallen angel turned vampire is not going to be allowed to cross the threshold into Iniquity. And considering I’m bound here at the moment”—he raises his wrist—“there’s no way for me to go in person. I’ll have to see what I can do, but seeing her is impossible, Uncle.”
A sense of determination fills me at his words. My mind is still a mess after all the revelations, but I refuse to accept what he’s saying.
I’ll find a way to contact her, even if it kills me.