SPELLBOUND

"Wait!" Azrael called out and she halted.

She was a bit farther off from him now, so he disappeared and reappeared before her again, not bothering to hide his magical abilities.

"May I know your name?" he asked politely, and she blinked at him but eventually, she replied.

"Vera." Simple and straight. Just one word.

"Vera…" Azrael echoed.

"Azrael." He introduced himself in return, surprising her. "Alright, Vera. May I know how old you are now?"

"Eighteen." Her gaze now questioning as she looked at him. Why did he want to know her age? However, Vera did not bother to conceal it and just surrendered the information without hesitation. She did not care anymore.

"So young…" he muttered, then looked at her with a serious but friendly gaze. "You're not scared of me… of us?"

Vera shook her head. "What are you? Are you and him… the angels of darkness?"

Azrael smiled crookedly. "Angel of darkness…" he echoed, amused. But he shook his head. "No, no. We are dark faes and we live in a place called Under Land."

"Dark faes… you guys are not scary. Humans are way scarier." She said with a matter-of-fact tone and Azrael could not help but look at her with an admiring gaze. To think that such a helpless little creature was not scared of him, of Gideon of all creatures, when even the dark faes trembled before them.

"Alright then… is your offer still good to go? Because I'm going to bring you along with me." He told her and she stood very still for a moment, as if she could not believe what she had just heard. "But not as a bed warmer. You are too young for me to bed…" A quick frown crossed Azrael's face before disappearing.

Vera creased her brows. "I am old enough. I've been doing that task for a few years now, since I was way younger." She replied rather nonchalantly as she shrugged her thin shoulders and Azrael's face darkened a little. What? She had been doing such things ever since she was young? Were humans this… and she even called it a task?

Azrael could not help but feel angry. How could these human make a little girl become a bed warmer and allow her to think it was just a task?! These damned humans! They are worse than animals!

He had to take a deep breath to calm himself down before being able to speak. He did not even realise that he was already acting like some angry family member of hers.

"You've been a bed warmer for just one man, right?" he asked grimly but he pinched the skin between his brows just to hide his anger and displeasure, worried that she might think he was being angry at her.

"No. I'm a bed warmer for my mother."

Her answer made him blink twice.

"What? Your… mother?!"

"Since my father died, my mother suddenly became strange. She did not just begin to hate me, but she hated cold beds too. She made me warm her bed every night so that when she goes to sleep, the bed's already warm for her."

Lost for words, silencing him for a while as all that hot air and anger whooshed out of him, deflating him like a balloon having its air let out. He felt a little embarrassed from mentally cursing them to be worse than animals.

Azrael cleared his throat.

"So… you had meant that literally? Good Lord! Don't tell me you don't know what the other meaning of those words are?" Azrael could already expect the answer even when he was asking this question.

When the girl creased her brows, not understanding his meaning, he laughed shortly, shaking his head. Was it because only the dark faes actually have a different meaning of those words? That must be it!

Pinching the skin between his brows again, he sighed out in exasperation.

"You know… for the dark faes, a bed warmer means a sex partner." He informed her with much concern and Vera was shocked for a moment, her mouth dropping open.

"I… I didn't mean that." She immediately explained herself. "I know he… a man like him wouldn't want to bed someone like me. I could tell he's probably like royalty to us humans and… I am sure he has many women… that's why I could only offer to warm his bed. I heard there were people who hire others to do that, not just my mother, so I can only offer that since he also didn't need a servant. That wasn't my…" Vera was blabbering at the end, not even sure if her words were making sense.

"Alright, I understand now…" Azrael's large hand patted her head, causing Vera to look at him with wide eyes. "I believe you. That you don't mean it that way… now I'm going to ask you again, are you certain you want to come with us?"

She stared at him, dumbfounded and was not able to speak for a few seconds.

"You… you're willing to take me along?" she uttered in disbelief.

"Yes. He will probably kill me for this… but I believe you'll be able to stop him from doing that, won't you?" Azrael grinned widely at her.

Confusion filled her eyes before she bit down on her bleeding lip again. "I don't think… I don't think I could even if I try to… I don't have the power to –"

"Oh, you have… trust me," he smiled at her reassuringly.

"H-how? How would I…"

"Just hug him… oh, it would be better if you could kiss him to shut him up." He winked at her next and Vera's mouth hung open again. "You can do that for me, right? I'm risking my life for you here."

"I don't want you to risk your life for m –" Vera started to protest.

"Now, now. Don't tell me you're going to give up now. You can do these simple things, right?"

She stared hard at him and then a glimmer appeared in her lifeless eyes again. "Al-alright, I will do it." she declared in a tone full of determination, her voice now louder and Azrael patted her head again – this time with more fondness than previously.

"Good girl. Now let's go chase after him before its too late." he stretched his hand to her.

Vera swallowed hard as she stared at the man's large hand. But she trustingly reached out and clasped her small ones in his. As soon as she held his, they both disappeared in the darkness.

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