Free Web NovelChapter 212: _What Josiah Took
"I guess you had some form of entertainment while I was away." Valentine’s lips stretched slyly as he settled into the seat in front of Ambrose.
He was back from his car and had now changed his shirt into another black one—surprisingly similar to the one Ambrose spilt wine on.
Did the man just casually have other versions of each of his clothes?
"Entertainment?" Ambrose repeated the word cluelessly as he struggled to focus on the food before him. "I mean, maybe if you count the food and—"
"I mean when you were ogling at me as I peeled off my shirt, Ambrose." The words nearly destroyed the Guide on the spot. "You can admit it. You were staring so long I’m sure you’ve memorised any scars I have."
Ambrose’s face paled. "T–That wasn’t what happened." He shook his head. "I was waiting for you to get back and just happened to see you. I wasn’t looking that long."
"Such an adorably feeble lie."
"It’s the truth!"
"Tell yourself that enough times and it might end up becoming true." The sarcasm was cutting.
Valentine brought his gaze back to the steak he was eating before leaving. He grabbed a knife and fork, digging in while still addressing Ambrose.
"If I didn’t know any better," Slice. Then he took a bite, "I’d say you spilled that wine on me on purpose," he chewed slowly, using the time to fix those crimson eyes on Ambrose. "Not even you could’ve been THAT clumsy."
"If this is about the shirt I can pay for it. You—"
"Don’t pretend like that’s what this is about." Valentine cut through the steak so hard his knife scraped the plate. "You know I have a Necrotic Mark ingrained in your soul, right? You’re practically oozing with lust right now and I can smell it."
Ambrose lowered his head in shame.
Fuck!
’What the heck is wrong with me?’ he scolded himself. ’I told Devon and Viktor this was nothing but a harmless dinner. And... and that’s what it’s supposed to be. But now...’
His eyes flitted to Valentine’s fingers. The way they firmly held his utensils as he ate. Then in a flash he was thinking about how he took off his shirt.
"And now you’re oozing guilt." Valentine chuckled, pulling him back to reality. "You’re not the best at making choices, are you?"
Clenching his fists on the table, Ambrose turned on the system’s screens.
[Valentine Lockwood Attraction points: 82.]
Still too damn low for his liking.
Yet he’s only been here a few minutes and already felt like escaping and starting a new life in Nebraska. Don’t ask him why he thought of there of all places—it just had to be somewhere he could hide away from his problems.
Indefinitely.
"Now you’re not talking at all." Valentine sighed. "You know, if I wanted to sit here all night hearing myself talk—"
"How about we talk about you for a change?" Ambrose fluidly shifted the topic, arching a curious brow. "Specifically about stuff you told President Josiah earlier today."
That caused Valentine to freeze.
He was able to sense his apprehension and general surprise through the permanent link.
Bullseye.
"I doubt you want to know more about my sad past," the Necromancer snorted.
"Humour me. I might just find it interesting."
"Might?"
"I’m never one to make promises."
Valentine’s lips quivered before breaking into a full grin. ’What a cunning fella you are,’ he admired mentally. ’Just a few words and I’ve almost forgotten why I was teasing you earlier.’
Meanwhile, Ambrose watched the attraction points numbers rise from eighty-two to eighty-five in real time.
’That’s it!’ his chest loosened up. ’Keep growing. Just fifteen points left.’
Pouring himself some wine, Valentine blurted. "Have you heard Gabriel or anyone else call me... ’Baba yaga’?"
Ambrose instantly knew he was about to get some lore. "Yeah. Why?"
"I didn’t get that name because it was catchy." A pause. "Baba Yaga was a Slavic deity. An old witch who guarded the boundaries between the living and the dead, who was said to live isolated in the woods—killing children who dared wander too close."
There was a hint of melancholy as Valentine recalled memories he’s spent literal decades burying.
"It was after I did something similar almost thirty years ago that I got that nickname. And also when Josiah made a decision I still resent him for..."
★★★★★
Twenty-Nine Years Ago
It has been a year since the Emergence began.
Hundreds of Hunters had laid down their lives already, all in an effort to battle the beasts coming out of the first ever Extinction Level Rift. At this point, humanity was still lost on how dungeon Rifts worked.
They just knew more and more of them kept popping up in different parts of the world after the mega one that opened over the Grand Canyon.
While all this chaos took place, a sixteen-year-old boy struggled to stay hidden.
Valentine had no one left.
His mother spat on him, calling him the Antichrist. The few friends he had in school ran away whenever he came near them.
People were still new to Espers and their abilities—let alone one as ’evil’ as his.
Unable to take it anymore, he fled away from home and hid himself in the nearby woods one fateful night. Unfortunately, the world just won’t leave him be.
"I’m telling you, guys... I saw that freak somewhere in here the other day." Another teenage boy sniggered to his friends as they wandered the woods in search of him.
"What were you doing out here though?" One of them asked.
"Dad and I came camping—that’s not the point. Don’t you want to see him?"
"After the way he killed Chuck and the others last year? Hell nah, dude."
"Oh, c’mon. Who knows? He’s probably in the middle of opening a portal to hell or something."
Little Valentine heard all this from the cave he hid in. He didn’t want to come out. He really didn’t. But the boy leading the others was good at following tracks.
It didn’t take too long for them to find him.
"There he is!" One of them cackled as they pointed a flashlight at him. Valentine shrunk back, his heart pounding as they inched into the cave. "Hiding in here like some goblin."
They showed no mercy, dragging him out despite his pleas. Then they began humiliating him, forcing him to admit to being a demon.
He cried. But his chest also burned with a consuming rage he’d been holding back for months.
All it took was a second for everything to change. His power activated most devastatingly, snuffing the life of all five of the boys instantly.
What was left that day were shrivelled skeletons on the moss-covered ground.
Not so long after that... a young man showed up. Valentine recognised him as one of the heroes shown to fight against the dungeon beasts.
He thought he was going to be rescued that day. Instead, it was merely another opportunity for someone else to demonise him.
Josiah grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look into his eyes. "Your powers will stay locked away." He whispered, Sovereign Tongue taking hold of the frail boy.
The moment those words settled into reality, something inside Valentine shattered.
