As soon as Ariel uttered the phrase ‘Soulmate’, Grey's whole physique went numb. He could not understand what was happening. He stared straight at Ariel and felt his heart racing fast. He wasted no time in rolling off of her. Quickly.
His eyes widened in shock. He took a deep breath and looked at Ariel again. He was right away hit by a series of emotions.
"No, no, no, this can not be happening," Grey said breathlessly as he paced around. "What did you do to me?" Grey glared at Ariel, however he could not bring himself to hold it for long. He cursed softly as he crossed his arms, waiting for her response.
Ariel, who was on the floor looking shocked, stood up immediately as she heard Grey's question.
"What do you mean by that stupid question?" Ariel asked, getting slightly aggravated being in the presence of a demon. "I'm the one who is supposed to ask you that question," Ariel raised her voice. She was getting genuinely angry. "You demons are foxy creatures and you can do something evil," she added.
Grey shook his head at her. He was not fazed by her sudden outburst. He had a lot of things running through his mind.
After a few minutes of stretched silence between them, Ariel unexpectedly spoke up, shaking her head, "I do not understand this. We did not even make the skin to skin contact. How come we can feel the bond?"
Grey frowned at her words. ‘What did she mean by skin to skin contact?’ he questioned himself.
Grey did not understand anything about the soulmate bond. He never paid attention to his mother whenever she used to speak about the soulmate bond.
‘I thought it was not vital to have a soulmate and now I don't understand what this Little Angel is talking about,’ Grey grumbled to himself.
“What does she mean by skin to skin contact?" Grey muttered to himself angrily. “I wished I had listened to my Mom,” he added.
"What do you mean by skin to skin contact?" Grey asked aloud, swallowing his pride. He needed to know.
Ariel snapped her head to look at Grey as if he just asked a question. He was supposed to be aware of the answer too.
"Why are you asking me as if you don't know?" Ariel asked.
Grey looked angry. "If I knew, I would not have asked," he snapped.
Ariel looked at him and she could tell he was telling the truth about not knowing what she meant by skin to skin contact. She did not know how she was aware of that, however, she simply did.
Ariel took a deep breath before she spoke up, "Soulmates need to make skin to skin contact with each other to feel the bond they share. They will have to make contact for about 30 seconds.”
Grey listened to Ariel attentively. He loved the sound of her voice. It sounded like a song to his ears. He quickly cleared his throat when he realized he was falling prey to his emotions.
"We simply make sure that we never make skin to skin contact," Grey mumbled. He refused to look at Ariel again because each time he did, he constantly found himself staring at her.
"I do not know why this is even happening?” Ariel whispered “I always wanted a soulmate but not a demon soulmate," she added, getting stressed about what was happening to her.
Grey looked at her, listening to the distress in her voice. He had the urge to comfort her. He did not like the way she was stressed. He quickly shook off the notion and moved backwards a little, leaving more space between them before he gave in to his urges.
“This Angel is messing with my senses,” he whispered to himself. "I can not believe I am paired with an Angel. This creature killed my father,” he muttered angrily. “This has to be a mistake. I can not have an Angel soulmate. Even though I do not desire a female demon as my soulmate, I would rather pick one now than this Angel standing here."
He knew deep down that whatever he just said to himself was a white lie but he ignored the voice in his head which was calling him a liar.
Grey was in deep thought and so was Ariel. Both thinking about what to do, Ariel, on the other hand, did not seem to have any idea.
"What are we going to do?"Ariel asked.
She did not understand why destiny decided to punish her by giving her a demon soulmate. “Haven't these demons done enough to my family already? Why do I have to get one as a soulmate?" she asked herself.
Grey was silent for sometime before he spoke after giving it a thought about it.
"I don't want this bond and neither do you. We will simply find a way to break this bond," Grey said, looking determined to discover any way to wreck the bond due to the fact he did not want it. "Once all of this is over, I will kill you myself," Grey said. However, as soon as he said the word ‘kill’, he felt a shiver run down his backbone but he ignored the feeling. "These emotions will be over quickly," he muttered angrily.
"I will make sure you will be the first demon I kill," Ariel replied angrily to Grey's words.
Grey was a little surprised that she had not killed a demon before, especially with the skill she had.
"You haven't killed a demon before?" Grey asked just to be sure he heard her correctly.
"No," Ariel replied.
But before Grey could say anything, Ariel's phone rang, causing him to swallow back his words.
‘Why does an angel need a phone?’ Grey questioned himself.
Ariel glanced at her display screen and saw the caller ID. It was her father calling. She took a deep breath before she answered the call. As soon as she picked the call, Raguel's voice rang through the phone.
"Where are you?" Raguel asked.
Ariel could hear the panic in her father's voice. She was sure her mother had tried contacting her through the Angel’s whisper.
"Dad, I'm alright," Ariel said, attempting to remain calm, even though the state of affairs she was in, was overwhelming.
"Don't lie to me, Ariel. I can tell when you are lying,” Raguel said through the phone. “I tried contacting you through the Angel’s whisper after your Mom told me she was not able to get to you," Raguel explained.
"But Dad - "
Ariel's words were cut off by her father's stern voice. "Come home. Now," Raguel said as he ended the call.
Ariel sighed softly. She does not like the situation she was in and all these things were happening because of this stupid demon standing in front of her, she thought to herself.
She felt horrified after calling him ‘stupid’ but she brushed it off quickly. ‘I can't let my feelings get a hold on me,’ she whispered to herself.
"Daddy's girl, huh?" Grey smirked.
Ariel ignored his words. She did not even have the strength to exchange phrases with him. She wished to get home as quickly as possible.
"We are going to meet here tomorrow, so we can discern this out in its entirety. However, I have to depart now," she said.
"Don't order me around,” Grey said angrily. “I'm not daddy's boy who does not have things to do. If I come here tomorrow, fine, but if I don't we'll find another time."
"What things do you have to do?" Ariel asked, matching his irritated tone. "You mean things like killing Angels?" Ariel muttered.
"Yes,” Grey said with a smug look. It is fun to kill them, especially when they are captured and tortured. Their screams are like music to my ears," Grey said bluntly.
Ariel frowned as she watched Grey speak about Angels in a despicable manner. Her frown deepened when she heard the way Angels were tortured by demons.
‘These creatures are heartless,’ she said to herself.
"I hate you," Ariel blurted out.
"The feeling is mutual," Grey said.
He looked on as Ariel flashed her wings and vanished, leaving him standing alone.
Grey sighed softly and he walked slowly around the field.
"Why is this happening?" Grey whispered to himself. "Fate cannot be this merciless to pair me up with an Angel. This soulmate bond is the least of my worries. I don't even have any Angel to return home with. I'm in so much trouble," Grey said as he shook his head.
After taking a few rounds for some more minutes, Grey decided to go home. He took a deep breath before he vanished.
***
Ariel landed in the living room. She saw her father sitting on the couch. She was aware that her father had sensed her presence but he refused to look at her.
"Dad," Ariel said as she moved closer to her father. Raguel lifted his head. He stared at his daughter intensely without saying a word. Ariel shifted uncomfortably. She did not like how silent her father was.
"Dad," she called out again.
"Where are you coming from?" Raguel subsequently asked.
"I was out in the field," Ariel responded
"What happened out there?" Raguel asked.
Ariel could not bring herself to communicate at once. How could she tell her father that she had a bond with a demon? She shook the thought from her head.
"Nothing happened, Dad," Ariel said in the end.
Raguel looked at his daughter and shook his head. "I don't understand why you are lying to me. I simply hope you know what you are doing," he said as he stood up and walked past his daughter.
Ariel hurried upstairs to her room and shut the door behind her. She hated lying to her parents. However, she could not tell them what was going on.
She fell on her mattress as tears flowed down her face.
***
Grey was feeling very angry about the whole thing that took place that day. He took out his anger on every demon he came across while making his way to his house.
As soon as he entered the house, he saw his mother sitting on the sofa as if she was waiting for him to return.
Anna looked at her son and she could tell something was not right with him. He looked very angry.
"Grey," Anna called out to her son.
However, Grey did not even say a word to her as he walked out on her and went straight to his bedroom. He shut the door and went to take a shower. The moment the water touched his skin, he sighed softly.
When he was done, he quickly dried himself up and went straight to his bed.
"Why an Angel?" he whispered to himself as he drifted off to sleep.