Potent

“Well, I suppose it’s time to get to the good stuff.” Zotox turned around and walked over to Gemini. Gemini thrashed fearfully in her black chains that held her against a dying tree. Not two minutes ago had she been waking up and realizing what had happened the other night. Then Zotox popped in and kidnapped her. Part of her prayed Valentine would notice and come save her.

But after last night? Doubtful.

“No! Get away from me!” Gemini yelled, hoping to make a display of strength.

“Why? Is it because I’m a demon?” Zotox giggled.

“That’s the first reason.” Gemini wanted to strangle him so badly. But Zotox just leaned into her face, grinning. “If you kiss me, I’ll bite your tongue until you swallow half of it.”

“Oh, really?” Zotox lifted her face, gripping it harder when she struggled. “What if…”

Zotox’s face melted off. His clothes, limbs, and torso changed completely.

Gemini’s heart tried to free itself from her ribcage. She stopped moving.

He looked like Valentine. Exactly. He simply smiled and Gemini physically felt an ache in her chest. When he spoke, he sounded like Valentine.

It took every ounce of willpower for Gemini to turn away. Why? Why did this demon have to torture her further like this?

“That does not make any difference to me.”

“I beg to differ. You crave him,” Zotox whispered.

“Stop it.” Gemini demanded.

“Let me kiss you. Just once.” His voice sounded sinisterly pleased. “Like he did.”

“No…” Gemini squeezed her eyes shut.

“Hmmm, what if I let you go after?”

“No, you won’t. You’re just saying that to get what you want.”

“Partially,” he admitted. “Now, kiss me.”

Valentine--no, Zotox--leaned forward. “And it goes both ways, you know.” With that, he pressed his lips to hers.

Gemini tried to resist but his mouth felt exactly like Valentine’s… and he kissed like him too. Finally, she gave in and threw herself into it. She felt him smile against her lips. Zotox’s hands traced her sides and rested on her back. She tensed and wanted to scream.

A few minutes later, Zotox gave her one more peck before pulling away completely. Gemini glared past his shoulder, refusing to look at him. “Very good, Gemini. I must say, I’m impressed. I suppose I’ll let you go. Eventually.”

“My lord, there’s a… a problem.” The guard stood timidly in front of Valentine’s throne.

“A problem?” Valentine raised an eyebrow.

“We’re not sure how to handle it.”

Valentine huffed loudly and rose to follow his guard.

They came out to the courtyard. “I don’t know how she got in the gates but--”

Valentine didn’t hear him. He was already walking away.

Gemini was surrounded by a cluster of guards. She was sprawled on the ground, cackling and jerking her arms around in the air. The guards around her stepped away and shifted nervously. Suddenly she screamed and clawed at her throat. A moment later she giggled again and started singing loudly, her words slurred. Timidly, the guards looked at Valentine, as if waiting for him to tell them what to do.

Gemini shoved herself up on all fours and hissed. She grabbed a small rock and bit it, shaking her head wildly like a dog.

Valentine stood there. He didn’t even realize his hand was unconsciously rising to cover his mouth in shock.

She was crazy. She was insane. She wasn’t even all there.

Stop it. You will keep it together. Now do something. Help her. Focus on the hysteria and insanity later.

Panicking instantly, Valentine took the easy way out and waved his hand in her direction. Gemini passed out on the dusty courtyard. His guards glanced at him again.

“Go back to your posts,” he managed to growl. They all scattered like sheep.

Valentine knelt next to her. He checked her pulse, her heartbeat, and her forehead. She seemed to be sleeping for now. He pulled her into his shaking arms and carried her back into Nebel Manor.

“I came as quick as I--” Daniel-Kane stopped. “Could.”

Valentine was kneeling next to Gemini’s bed, watching her as if making sure she was still breathing. Daniel-Kane noticed Valentine’s vice-like grip on Gemini’s blankets.

“She’s insane. Her mind… like someone just mixed it together and cut it into pieces,” Valentine hollowly whispered. “I put her to sleep… so she wouldn’t hurt anyone. So she wouldn’t hurt herself.”

Daniel-Kane put a hand on Valentine’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” Daniel-Kane tried find something to say. “Who did this?”

“What I wouldn’t give to know,” Valentine spat. “Whoever it was will suffer very, very slowly and in the most painful way for them.”

Daniel-Kane was taken aback by Valentine’s hatred and vehement tone. “She did nothing to deserve this.”

“I know.”

Valentine stared at the blankets. “All she did was love me. And now she’s been driven insane because of it.”

“Valentine… do you want to keep lamenting about the circumstances or do you want to change them?” Daniel-Kane challenged gently.

Slowly turning his head, Valentine’s hands twitched and tensed. A dark fire burned in his eyes. Clearly that was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. The desk and wardrobe exploded. Pieces of wood flew everywhere.

“The only woman I’ve ever cared for has been reduced to a raving maniac… and I’m supposed to swallow my anguish and rage and be a calm little saint?”

“No, that’s not what I meant--”

“Yes, it is!” Valentine yelled. He shot to his feet. “Well, guess what? I don’t want a solution this time! I don’t want to make a plan or a strategy!”

Black energy started to wax and wane around Valentine.

“Valentine--” Daniel-Kane stepped back, his eyes wide.

Valentine fell to his knees as a giant wave of darkness of shot from his body. Daniel-Kane dropped to the floor and barely missed getting hit by it. The dark energy seemed to chop Nebel Manor in half.

The walls started to move.

Daniel-Kane opened his mouth to warn his friend. But Valentine had already spread his hands and splayed out his fingers.

Nebel Manor stopped moving. The minor earthquake stopped. The house shifted and mended itself back in a whole building. No cracks remained.

Valentine dropped his hands to his sides. He crumpled to the floor just as Daniel-Kane noticed the painful lines on Valentine’s face. Daniel-Kane watched as Valentine buried in head in his arms on Gemini’s bed.

Valentine couldn’t think straight.

She loves me. I saw it in her eyes that night. No one… has ever looked at me like that in long time. Ever since she kissed him, he couldn’t think of what to do. And now she’s gone. She may as well be dead.

He thought of the time she had insisted he cared. She had been right. But it was one of the first times she hadn’t completely hated him. Valentine knew she had seen him as a stubborn person who needed a dose of truth. He had been a person. Not a monster or a bastard as she--and many others--had called him.

But then again… if she had called him it once before… what was stopping her from doing it again? If she hadn’t been driven insane, what would she have done that morning?

She might love me… but still fear me. If she doesn’t fear me now, she will come to. When she realizes who exactly she “loves…”

The thought settled pain in his chest. She hasn’t seen what I did. She asked to see it. At the time, there was no way I was going to let her. But now… it might help her come to her senses.

Valentine didn’t know how long he had been on the floor. It seemed like it had been hours.

He glanced up.

Daniel-Kane had left a note next to him:

Let me know when you are ready to find out who did this to her. If you need assistance, I will come.

Valentine, I’m sorry.

Daniel-Kane

Despite what he was currently feeling, a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Oddly enough, he had a very good idea who had done this to her.

Valentine looked over at Gemini sleeping. Each time he did, his chest ached. He couldn’t help thinking what it would be like if she--

No, he wasn’t going to think about that.

But images popped into his head. Shallow breathing, blood, her eyes closing…

A wave of grief slammed into him, causing him to choke on his breath. He glanced at her.

Gemini’s chest rose and fell normally. Valentine cursed himself for thinking foolishly. She was alive. She was alright. She was only asleep. Whoever had hurt her like this could have done much worse.

Valentine’s set his jaw. And much worse will be done to them.

Valentine stood outside Nebel Manor in the dark forest of the Finsternis Stürtzen. Finally, a black shape appeared before him. It changed into Zotox, who grinned at him.

“Well, I can give you a rep--”

Seething, Valentine threw strands of light at Zotox, pinning him to a tree. He got right up in the demon’s face.

“Don’t play games with me. Give Gemini her sanity back.”

But Zotox had the nerve to smirk.

“Look at that. Who thought they would ever see the Mastermind of Magic with despair, desperation…” He gave a pointed, mocking look. “And pain in his eyes.”

“You want to see me in pain? You have it. Now give Gemini her sanity back.”

It suddenly dawned on Valentine. Zotox had an advantage over him. He could refuse but Valentine couldn’t really kill him since he needed him. But he could do the next best thing…

“But why can’t you do it yourself, Mastermind of Magic?” Zotox relaxed against the tree but not for long. Valentine grasped Zotox’s neck with light energy in his hand. Zotox gave a guttural cry of pain.

“You know full well why not. It’s not my area. Magic does not affect minds. And we both know Carlisle will never help me.”

“So… you need the one… who did it… to undo it.”

“The demon finally finds his wits,” Valentine snarled. “And you will do it immediately.”

They were both surrounded in black smoke and appeared in Gemini’s bedroom.

She still slept peacefully.

“Are you sure you don’t want to leave her like this?” Zotox suggested with a sly smile.

Valentine wanted to rip the demon to shreds. Why would he ask something like… Unless… If she stayed this way, then she wouldn’t have to deal with me or anything. Her family might miss her but-- Valentine quickly swatted away those thoughts. He would never do that to her. She deserved to have her sanity back.

“Get on with it,” Valentine growled.

Zotox scoffed but opened his hand. A tendril of black energy went from Gemini’s head to his hand. He closed his fist, the energy disappearing.

Gemini stirred. Zotox turned to leave.

Instantly, Valentine thrust his hand at him. Zotox bellowed as pure white chains bound him in place and kept him from running away. Valentine waved his again and Zotox vanished to the dungeons.

Valentine ran over to Gemini’s bed right as she opened her eyes.

For a moment she just stared at him with her watery, amber eyes.

“Valentine?” She whispered.

Valentine couldn’t help crushing her with a hug. He could hear and feel her gasp. “V-Valentine… what happened? Wh--what…”

“Might I ask you the same?” He asked, releasing her enough to look her. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Just… Zotox kidnapping me and--”

“That’s what I thought.” Valentine blinked. “Wait, and what?”

“Nothing, nothing. He just…”

Valentine couldn’t help glaring and inwardly demanding: Tell me now.

Gemini wouldn’t look at him. She looked mortified and guilty. “He… kissed me.”

Valentine stared at her. He should have seen it coming but he didn’t think she would ever confess something like that to him.

“What.”

Tears sprung to her eyes.

“He was going to let me go if I did it. Believe me, I didn’t want to do it…”

He sat there, shocked. A storm of emotions wrestled inside him. Mostly frustration that this all could have been avoided. But if had been more honest with himself in the moment, he was furious with Zotox.

“Why didn’t you wait? I would’ve found you!”

“I… I…” Tears fell one by one out of her eyes. “I’m sorry…”

Valentine bit the inside of his lip. But his eyes softened. Gemini still wouldn’t look at him. “Please don’t be upset…”

“I’m not. Not with you.” Valentine rose to his feet. “Rest. I need to take care of something.”

He could feel Gemini’s eyes on him as he walked out the door. And down to his dungeon.

There was only one cell filled. “Well, demon. You managed to anger me even further.”

Valentine glared at Zotox. An intense hatred rose up inside him. It reminded him of a time long ago. A time he wished he could forget.

“So, you’re here kill me then, Lord Valentine?” Zotox chuckled, darkly.

“No.”

Zotox’s eyes widened.

Valentine lifted both of his hands to his waist. Suddenly, he clenched both hands into fists. Zotox screamed. Tiny needles of light stabbed the demon everywhere over and over again. Valentine set his jaw, a small amount of satisfaction formed inside him. But not enough. He thrust both his arms in and then to his sides. The needles of light turned into spears. The demon’s screams, moans, and cries of pain were music to his ears.

He lost track of time. He could’ve stood there for hours, torturing Zotox, making him pay for what he had done. The light energy turned to blasts like lightning in a storm. Now Zotox was on the ground, his voice growing hoarse with every scream. “What did you think you were accomplishing? You knew hurting her would anger me. Yet you played the gamble anyway.” He gave Zotox a deadly stare. “You will regret that for the rest of your sorry, miserable existence.”

Valentine showed no mercy. He shocked Zotox until the demon was nearly ready to explode into oblivion. Then he would pause, only enough for Zotox to regain some strength. And once again, he would continue.

Finally, when Valentine felt temporarily satisfied, he stopped. Zotox lifted his head slightly.

“She liked our kiss, you know.”

Valentine’s vision went red. He wrenched the cell door opened and in one clean move, he stomped on Zotox’s head. Which didn’t hurt the demon much, his physical body could withstand pain. But it made Valentine feel better.

“Don’t speak another word or I’ll leave you in this cell and everyday your body will be tortured with light,” Valentine seethed.

Zotox made a noise that bore a weak resemblance to a laugh.

“Fool. You should have looked behind you a long time ago,” Zotox rasped.

Valentine narrowed his eyes but turned around.

The world seemed to stop.