Six

The hall seemed to become drowned in tension. Everyone froze and stared, no one dared speak a word until Aphid started panicking. He ran away around in circles like a deer caught in headlights before running against the wall and falling back knocked unconscious from the impact. Mal shrank into himself with a grimace dancing on Valentine's features before standing straight, his hands clasped behind his back messing with the sleeve of the shirt.

"That is outrageous! Who would do such a thing?!" The Queen howled in shock.

Mal sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I do not know. It may link to whomever has the crown of pride. They may be the ones doing this to angels."

Andromeda pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. She turned around in a swift motion and glided towards her throne. She sat and stared Mal down who gave her the same look back, his glowing eyes intensifying the look.

She rolled her grey eyes, "what has my father done to manage to lose his crown?"

"I do not know," Mal replied, "I was banished ten years ago. All I know is that Modesty asked us for help and we intend to do so."

"Very well then, Emalia will aid you in your quest," the queen waved her manicured hand, the dark skinned girl opened her mouth to argue but a glare from the pale woman shut her up, she turned back to Mal, "and I will give you a gift. You will be able to move separately from your host's body in a physical form. This is not an end to your banishment, I am unable to end that, you two will still be bound, if one of you gets injured the other does as well, if one of you dies the other does as well, you must be careful."

Valentine sighed, so this was where the 'you must be careful otherwise blah blah blah' they always have in books and movies comes in. Then suddenly, he felt as if something was being ripped away from him, the feeling lasted for a second, an instant of pain that ended as fast as it came. When he looked up, Mal stood beside him except he wasn't wearing the grand clothes he wore in the reflection, he wore a loose worn shirt that hung on his frame, his pants were also in the same state.

Valentine spotted the brand the demon (or rather corrupted angel) had on its neck on Mal's collarbone along with multiple scars that peaked out from the v line of his shirt. His hair was also longer and looked layered, some strands longer, others shorter. He looked like he was in his early 20s which gave him a good few more years of knowledge than Valentine. He was also paler and his eyes seemed colder in person and were currently glowing red, his hair was also darker but definitely blue in colour.

"Stop staring," the demon snarled, he turned away and crossed his arms. 'He has an amazing side profile,' the blue haired boy thought.

"Sorry," Valentine tore his eyes away and kept them on the floor.

The Queen chuckled and snapped her fingers. When the mortal next looked at the being that he had shared a body with, he was dressed in clothes that matched the one in the mirror perfectly.

"Now you may go and begin!" The Queen declared.

The demon sighed and began to leave, Valentine quickly hurried after him while Emalia followed behind reluctantly. Valentine's eyes kept finding Mal as they walked through the woods, the guy preferred to lean on his left side when they stopped to rest for a bit in their long trek towards the edge of the forest. He had a barely noticeable limp and always kept his arms crossed and fiddled with his bracelet.

"For the love of the sins, will you stop staring at me?!" Malice snapped, his canines lengthening into fangs as he glared at the mortal who recoiled, mumbled a sorry and looked down at the floor, Malice waited a moment before turning away and picking up his pace.

"He's one fine specimen isn't he?" Emelia mumbled causing Valentine to practically jump out of his skin. The mortal shrugged, not sure how to answer, then he turned on the fairy and gave her a knowing look.

"You like him," Valentine poked her cheek.

Emalia flushed and turned away, "what gave you that idea?"

"Oh don't act all innocent, you definitely like him."

"Even if I did, I don't stand a chance," The girl sighed, her shoulders slumped.

Valentine furrowed his eyebrows, if he was brave enough, he'd voice his thoughts which were "you're beautiful, brave, smart and the nicest girl I've ever met. If he can't see that then he's a blind bat," but all that came out was "Why?"

"Demons only truly love someone once," Emalia sighed, melancholy drifting across her tone as she stared after the demon with a sense of yearning in her monochromatic eyes, "he found his One."

Valentine raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed, "Who's the unfortunate soul?"

Emalia glared at him. He raised his hands in mock surrender. She rolled her eyes, then her snarky attitude disappeared as if it never happened, instead her shoulders slumped again, and she kicked the snow up with the tip of her shoe, "an angel."

"An A-? An Angel??" Valentine's eyebrows kissed his hairline, his eyes widening slightly. Emalia nodded. Valentine let out a puff of breath, "well I wasn't expecting that."

The fairy chuckled tearfully, a soft smile etching onto her face, "at least he's happy. If he's happy then I'm happy." She sighed again, "it's like a curse in the Greyworld, most creatures only truly love once, like Angels and Demons, werewolves only love once as well."

"What about the faerfolk?"

Emalia looked up at him and shrugged, "we can love multiple times, but we only ever truly fall in love three times."

Valentine wiggled his eyebrow, "Which one is our own Professor Moody?"

Emalia grinned cheekily at him, "Never call him that to his face, but to answer your question. He's the second."

Now Valentine was genuinely interested, "who was the first?"

A dreamy far away look fell upon Emalia's face, "An elf called Eve."

"What happened to her?" He was startled by how soft his voice was.

The fairy's face hardened, "demons killed her."

They remained silent. Valentine stared ahead, he could see the trees begin to thin the longer they walked. He could soon make out the grey concrete of the road and a grin spread across his face. Then it fell as a small figure caught his eye, a small familiar figure.

"Isabelle," he gasped and ran forward.

The little girl turned around and grinned at him, she ran towards him her arms spread, "big brother!"

Valentine laughed, "Iz!"

He came to a stop, his eyes widened and he froze. In the trees, he saw a golden glimmer like a ring in the sunlight, then a whistle rang in his ears. He turned back around, Emalia was staring at him with furrowed brows while Malice remained expressionless. A thud reached his ears, he snapped his head towards Isabelle and saw her falling to the floor, a golden arrow sticking out of her back. She let out an ear splitting screech as she crumbled to the floor like a pile of overly dry dirt. In her place was the golden arrow that had pierced her back.

"What…?" Valentine walked forward, his legs feeling like they'd give out at any given moment. He kneeled down beside the pile of ash and picked up the arrow. There was the crunch of snow under boots, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the head of brown boots. He looked up at the culprit and locked gazes with Rosario's golden eyes.