Light crept through the room slowly as the sun rose before perfectly landing on the eyes of Zekaj, waking him immediately. His eyes were blurry from the long sleep and slowly focused on the blonde head of hair in front of him.
During the night the two had shifted and Zekaj was now big-spooning the skinny human. His eyes moved up the toned body of the mage. They went over his gray arms wrapped around the mage before landing on his shoulder where his mating mark lay.
Zekaj listened to the muffled breaths of the sleeping human in his arms. It was incredibly calming to an otherwise eventful morning.
The bond had finally been fully connected, its powers were in full force. Whatever those might be.
The bond was overwhelmingly strong, Zekaj could feel it deep in his chest, like a soft humming satisfied that they two were connected. Every skin to skin touch sent shockwaves through Zekaj.
Zekaj glided his hands along Hunter's toned chest loving the feeling of his smooth skin against his fingertips.
His human was finally his completely. Zekaj marked him as his own, Hunter belonged to him, and he belonged to Hunter. And Zekaj wouldn't have it any other way.
The demon slowly felt the human stir as his breathing changed and his eyes slowly started opening up.
"Good morning love," Zekaj whispered, snuggling his head into Hunter's back.
Hunter abruptly turned over and placed his forehead against Zekaj's and the two stared into each other's eyes. Zekaj's eyes slowly started glowing.
The two stared at one other for a bit before Hunter's face slowly started to get red. The human abruptly covered his face in embarrassment.
"You can't be embarrassed now Hunter!" Zekaj laughed. "You were amazing so there's nothing to be embarrassed about."
Zekaj pulled apart Hunter's hands and quickly stole a kiss from the human. His eyes went wide with shock, he wasn't ready for the surprise kiss.
"Best I've ever had," Zekaj winked. Hunter's face only got redder.
Hunter quickly slipped out of bed, the warmth of the demon quickly leaving him as he stepped away. His room was pretty cold even after the generation of heat the two caused the night before.
The human groaned at the pain that shot through his whole back, putting an arm on his back for support. Hunter knew he'd have pain the whole day.
"Let me help," Zekaj said, hopping off the bed and picking him up in a bridal style.
The demon laid him back down on the bed and kissed his head and walked away to the closet for clothes.
Hunter watched as sweatpants flew from the closet door and the naked demon pulled on his own pair of gray sweatpants. And yes, they did show off everything.
"Sweatpants only?" Hunter laughed.
"No one's home," Zekaj wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Fine," Hunter said, slipping them on.
The demon came out of the closet, in his human form, and quickly picked up the human again.
"I could probably make it downstairs," Hunter laughed.
"Why walk when I can just carry you," The demon smiled cheekily.
"Fair, I'm not complaining,"
Zekaj continued carrying the human down the steps to the empty living room. The human was gently set down on a lounge chair and the bare-chested demon left for the kitchen.
The demon was gone for about 5 minutes when Hunter started to feel the straining of the bond. It wasn't too strong, it was like an itch you can't scratch deep inside your chest.
Carrying two glasses of orange juice, Zekaj turned the corner into the living room.
"You feel it too, right?" He said, setting the glasses down. The demon scratched at his hair-coated chest frowning.
"Yeah," Hunter looked up at the demon, pulling his knees up to his chest.
"I can fix it," Zekaj winked.
The demon climbed on top of the chair, above the human. Their lips slowly parted in preparation for the kiss. They connected the kiss and the straining immediately parted.
"Nice," Zekaj said, quickly turning away towards the kitchen.
He soon returned with a plate full of waffles and sat them down onto the same table. Hunter yelped in surprise as he was lifted off the chair into the demon's arms. Zekaj sat down and let go of the human making him sit in the middle of him.
Zekaj sat his head on his human's shoulder right next to his mark. The demon possessively wrapped his arms around the human's waist and pecked his neck.
Hunter leaned forward as much as he could to grab the plate of waffles and syrup with his demon's arms wrapped around him. He brought it into his lap and Zekaj extended his hands to hold up the plate, still keeping his arms around Hunter as much as he could.
The two began eating with Hunter dipping a bit of the waffle into the syrup, bringing it up to his shoulder Zekaj was resting his head on so he could eat.
"He's so weird," Hunter chuckled in his head, bringing up another bite for Zekaj.
With food in his mouth, Zekaj replied, "Why feed myself when my mate can?"
Hunter rolled his eyes in reply, knowing Zekaj couldn't see him do it.
The two were lucky to not get any syrup all over themselves. Hunter went to the bathroom to clean up, Zekaj following close behind.
Hunter brushed his teeth as Zekaj propped his hands up against the door frame and watched. His eyes wandered all over the human's toned body.
"God he has a nice ass," Zekaj thought.
Hunter turned towards the demon and raised an eyebrow. Hunter acted disgusted and rolled his eyes.
"Says the one with a bubble butt," Hunter spit the toothpaste out and washed his mouth clean.
"Huh?" Zekaj titled his head.
"You said I had a nice ass, and I said you're one to talk since you have a bubble butt."
"I said that out loud?" He questioned. "Huh, well I wasn't lying. And thank you," Zekaj winked.
Zekaj left for Hunter's bedroom before turning around, squinting his eyes. "Don't get any ideas,"
"I don't want to top you Zekaj," Hunter laughed, getting ready to leave the bathroom. "Yet,"
Zekaj's eyes widened and he put protective hands on his butt. "You aren't getting anywhere near my butt!"
"I just said I didn't want to top you Zekaj," Hunter repeated himself.
"You said yet!" He frowned.
"I didn't say yet I tho-" Hunter turned towards the demon who was still clutching his butt like he was a rich woman clutching her pearls.
"I didn't say that out loud Zekaj," Hunter whispered.
"I heard you," Zekaj frowned.
"Can you hear me Zekaj?" Hunter asked in his head.
Hunter didn't get an answer, only Zekaj staring at the human in shock.
"Hunter?" Zekaj asked.
"I can hear you in my head, holy shit," Hunter smiled.
Zekaj's voice in his head was like a distant call, not as loud as his own internal thoughts but loud enough to hear.
Zekaj grinned menacingly and his eyes glowed, "Now I can talk dirty to you whenever I want!"
"Woah Woah Woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Hunter waved his hands at Zekaj to back off as he crept towards the human.
Hunter tried to run but was too slow as Zekaj wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him into his chest. He yelped as Zekaj started to playfully rough him up.
"Put me down you horny mother fucker!" Hunter yelled in his head.
"Not a chance!"
"You're supposed to be gentle with me today my ass hurts!" Hunter chuckled, as Zekaj threw him over his shoulder.
"You're fine," Zekaj said nonchalantly as he carried Hunter back to his room. "Let's get dressed."
"Why?" Hunter asked.
"To test out the bond of course!" Zekaj grinned. "The woods is the best as it's spaced out and no one will see us. And who doesn't mind a nice walk in the woods?"
The demon slipped on a long sleeve black shirt and threw Hunter his sweatshirt from last night. Hunter was in the process of putting the sweatshirt on when he was lifted off his feet surprisingly.
Zekaj carried him down the stairs and continued talking, "So we can hear each other in our heads, I assume it's the same as it is for other demon's with the same power where it's louder with contact but quieter the further you get. Until you can't even hear it anymore."
Hunter opened the door from Zekaj's arms and the demon stepped out.
"Maximum I believe was like 20 feet or so, but who knows with us!" Zekaj smiled.
The two headed deeper into the woods, Zekaj still carrying Hunter. The fall-colored-leaved trees swayed in the breeze as the crunching of fallen leaves was all that could be heard as the two sat in comfortable silence.
"Get too far we might fall in the portal," Hunter chuckled.
"I can't feel its energy very much. It's like a little shiver on the back of my neck," Zekaj said.
This area was sacred to the coven as it held a portal to the spirit world. There were multiple portals all around the world, many hidden from the public eye and many too small for a human to even enter.
Many portals would open and close randomly or at set times. The covens portal opened every other hour for 15 minutes before closing again.
A group of mages could breach the spirit world's vale without a portal but alone it was impossible. These portals were unstable and needed to be closed soon after.
The spirit world was said to be the closest point to hell due to the demons that once existed in it. Scholars for centuries have explored the spirit world in search of an entrance to hell with no such luck.
"I was only kidding, it's one to two kilometers north of here. Not gonna get in the way of this."
"Speaking of this, this seems like a nice place to start," Zekaj put the human down. "Good?"
"Yep I'm fine," Hunter laughed.
"Ok, I'm gonna go approximately 39 feet from you, stay here." Zekaj took a coupe mighty steps and was a small distance from Hunter. He had to take his best guess at what 40 feet was.
"Can you hear me?" Zekaj said to Hunter. It was the same as it was in the bathroom, distant but still easily hearable.
Hunter shook his head yes and Zekaj darted farther into the forest. As his leg crossed over the 50 feet mark a pain shot through his chest and he heard Hunter cry out in the distance.
Zekaj turned around quickly and saw his mate clutching his chest on his knees. His body shuddered as shadow erupted from him and his enraged form broke out.
Zekaj closed the distance in seconds and the shadow faded. He grabbed his mate's hands.
"A little far there Zekaj," Hunter laughed through the pain that slowly let up.
"Fuck I didn't think we'd be capped at a distance too, fuck. We can hear each other in our heads, can't be like 50 feet from each other. What's next?"
"We probably need to touch every now and then too," Hunter continued to laugh.
"Why do you keep laughing?" Zekaj said seriously.
"It's just funny to me," Hunter chuckled. "It's better we figure this stuff out now than it happening to us on accident,"
"I guess, so we just have to touch all the time then. I'm not risking your health." Zekaj stated.
"Whatever floats your boat Zekaj," Hunter took Zekaj's hand in his. "We have an incredibly strong bond. I can feel it in full force now. It's overwhelming but a nice overwhelming."
The two laughed together.
"I was expecting some weird shit considering the fact we are a human and demon mated together which is supposed to be impossible." Hunter sighed, "We'll figure this all out sometime. Maybe not now, maybe never but we won't stop trying."
Zekaj lifted Hunter into his arms.
"Sometimes I think that a lot of demons have bonds with humans as there are very few demons that have never found their mates. I have this kind-of-friend that's a sleep paralysis demon and he's been through all the rings of hell looking multiple times trying to find them. He visits each once a year to look. Poor guy." Zekaj commented.
"Sleep paralysis demons exist?" Hunter asked.
"Well kinda, like it's typically void demons with the power to invade and manipulate dreams who enjoy the rise it gives them. Manipulating humans into traumatizing situations for their own amusement. It's one of the only ways for a demon to visit the earth without being summoned. If you even count it as visiting since they aren't actually on earth."
"Wild," Hunter replied.
"Yeah demons are fucking cool," Zekaj smirked. "I would know of course,"
"Really?" Hunter said.
"Yep,"
"I don't think I've met a cool demon yet, is Zekai cool?" Hunter said.
Zekaj stopped in place and looked down at the human in his arms, "I will drop you."
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."
The two laughed as they made their way out of the forest.
A/N:
Happy Inauguration day!
A nice little aftercare episode with a satisfied Zekaj and slightly embarrassed Hunter. I knew I wanted Hunter and Zekaj to be able to send thoughts to each other as a big part of their friendship was Zekaj inside Hunter's head talking to him so I believed the bond would adapt to that in a way and make it a permanent thing. With a few restrictions of course.
Questions:
What kind of mysteries do you think the spirit world could hold?
What could have happened to the demons who once resided there?
Please answer both with a minimum 500 word paragraph, thank you <3
(JK)
Chapter 34 is currently up early on Patreon (Patreon.com/MEK_14) you can subscribe today to read it early as well as the bonus chapter set in Zekaj's past with Zekai which will be coming tonight or sometime tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!
-MEK