How to Tame a Demon [BxB]

Ch. 37 - Bad Feelings

Hunter sat up from the bench and Ben threw his arm around Hunter.

"You and I haven't talked much have we, you know since we're brothers-in-law. Well, soon we will be." His smile growing.

"I guess," Hunter said.

"Get his arm off of you. Now."  Zekaj demanded.

He didn't have to tell Hunter twice as he pushed Ben's arm off.

"So what do you do then? You sneak around the house so often I can't get a good idea about you,"

"You got your answer a week ago at dinner, didn't you?" Hunter said sarcastically.

"I don't think I did. You're a mystery, Hunter. What do you want to do in life?"

"Photography," Hunter guessed.

"Oh cool, photograph what?"

"People, places, things," Hunter listed.

"Anywhere you want to go specifically?"

Zekaj's home.  He thought. It wasn't possible sadly. There was no way for a Human to travel to Hell.

"The beach," Hunter replied, slightly honestly. He would love to photograph a shirtless Zekaj at the beach. Zekaj would surely enjoy it too.

But to be fair, taking photos of a shirtless Zekaj was fun anywhere.

"Fun," Ben said.

Hunter didn't know where this conversation was going.

The two, or technically three, got to a flight of stairs and continued down them. Hunter noticed he was the only one seeming coming towards the basement.

"You don't have friends then?" Ben asked. Hunter ignored how rude the question was, but he didn't expect much from Ben anyway. He was Hannah's mate after all.

"A couple, we don't hang out often though," Hunter lied again kind of. He considered Max to kind of be a friend, acquaintance was the right word.

"So what do you do then?" He interrogated.

"Uh," Hunter paused. "Read books and stuff I guess. Watch Netflix and Youtube."

"Interesting," Ben said.

Hunter didn't like Ben. Something was off about him and he couldn't quite figure it out.

The two continued down the flight of stairs and into the basement of the institute. It was a dark semi-spacious room with a big set of doors at one end. The whole room was lit with torches that showed the thirty-or-so mages in the room.

"Where's my dad?" Hunter asked.

"By the door," Hunter pushed through the crowd towards his father.

His father looked concerned, yet confused. Unsure.

"What exactly is happening?" Hunter interrupted his father's deep thought.

"A ritual," He said.

"What ritual," Hunter asked.

His father didn't answer him, just handed him the clothes he gave him a couple of days ago.

"Get dressed," Jaxon said.

"But why do you even need me here, the rooms full of mages, you can't possibly need me when there's already so much power in one room," Hunter noticed.

"Just get dressed, Hunter,"

Hunter sighed and left for the bathroom on the other side of the hall. Thank god it was empty so he could get dressed.

"I don't like this Hunter,"  Zekaj said.  "Something feels off."

Hunter wanted to say it was nothing but he felt it too. Deep down something felt wrong. He could feel it coming off of his father and Ben. Something that was shaking him to the bones.

"Maybe we should just try to leave?"  Hunter said, pulling his shirt off. "Sneak out up the stairs and go home. If it's nothing, dad won't be mad."

Hunter slipped the mage robe on and threw his shirt over his shoulder. He stared into the mirror and knew in his head was Zekaj. It settled him down knowing his soulmate was there.

"I feel sick like I'm going to hurl,"  Hunter whispered to himself.

"I feel it too, or feel it from you. I'm not sure."  Zekaj said.

"Can we just head home, I'll text my dad I felt sick and took a bus home," Hunter said.

"Let's go,"  Zekaj said, not needing any persuasion.

Hunter slowly exited the bathroom and turned to leave, towards the stairs. Before he could even react, he felt his stomach drop. He was too late.

Hunter felt a cold metal clasp onto his neck. He heard Zekaj scream in his head before he too let out a shriek. The human fell to his knees and grasped his head.

His whole body felt like it was vibrating and he felt a shock throughout the whole thing. Hunter's vision was blurry and he could feel men pull him through the crowd.

The worst was the ringing. He couldn't hear himself think and worse, he couldn't hear Zekaj. Hunter felt his face was wet, was he crying?

Through the blur, he saw the doors open up into the arena under the institute. He tried to resist the pull with his feet against the floor but his legs felt like putty.

All Hunter could do was cry.

Hunter felt himself being dropped on the ground and he looked up and saw the dimly lit arena, he was right outside the center where a pentagram was set up. He couldn't make out any of the runes through the blur.

The sound ringing from the iron shackle around his neck stopped ringing. The ringing still echoed throughout his head. Hunter felt the same iron shackles clasp around his wrists, keeping him locked to the ground.

Through the ringing he could hear his father say to the other mages, who had made a circle around the ring, to begin the ritual. Hunter looked behind him and they surrounded him.

He tried to reach out to Zekaj but his mind was static, he was receiving nothing and he couldn't send anything.

The chanting got louder and louder and he looked up and met his father's eyes. He pleaded to him but it all sounded like gibberish.

The collar on his neck started to activate again as the chanting got louder and louder and soon it was like a max volume surround sound speaker was inside his head.

The ringing and the chanting made his head feel like it was going to explode.

Hunter looked down at the ground and watched shadows fade off his body. He met the eyes of Ben who looked shocked at what he saw.

The human screamed as his body felt like it was being ripped into two.

The two soulmates vibrated as Zekaj's body was ripped out of Hunter's. Zekaj's body fell to the ground in front of Hunter, whose tears streamed down his face.

Hunter watched blue static lightning travel up and down Zekaj's body as he shivered from the power the collar had over him.

"Zekaj," Hunter whispered, but the Demon didn't respond.

Benjamin Baxton backed up slowly, in complete shock at what he saw. He was stopped only by Hunter's father.

"Let's send that thing back where it came from," Jaxon said.