Matt and the Hunters
Chapter 28 — The Door.
The room felt like a prison.
Josh was taking his shoes off, and even from behind he could feel Daniel’s glance on his back.
— I’m gonna make this okay, I promise.
He didn’t know if he was trying to convince Daniel or himself, but he knew he had to make it true. It had to be true, because otherwise everything he’d done would be for nothing. He had sacrificed his past and his future in a single bet, all in for Daniel, and he wasn’t going to lose.
— How? What are you going to do that all of u... all of the Hunters have not found a way to do in centuries?
That was true. It was he and Daniel alone against centuries of history... no, he alone, against Daniel and centuries of history, but he had to try and he had an idea.
A stupid, crazy and reckless idea.
Somehow it made sense. He had spent too long being thoughtful, smart and careful, and because of that now Daniel was marked by the Tempters, and once that mark was there part of it stayed forever. Maybe stupid and crazy recklessness was exactly what they had to do if he wanted to save him.
Daniel would never be back to what he once was, but... but the Tempters could release part of their mark, give some freedom to their victims, and if he could find one and make him release Daniel...
...which meant going back to where this all had started. That was the only way. To the Tempter that had been bound at the testing chair, a lifetime ago, where this all had failed.
He needed to get Daniel back. He had to try. No matter how stupid, crazy and reckless his attempt was, he had to try it because nothing else made sense otherwise.
He paced. The room felt way too small and he felt like a caged animal turning around in circles.
— I’m gonna make it okay.
He turned to look at Daniel. He was lying on the bed with his feet bare and his wrists and ankles bound. It felt just wrong to have to do it, but he knew that Daniel would betray him at the first opportunity. He just couldn’t trust Daniel, and it felt like an open wound. He wanted to be back to the time he could trust Daniel with his life.
How could Daniel be so calm? Josh could feel the pressure building inside him. He could feel his own heart beating through all his body and every breath was a big effort, like the air had become thick and viscous.
He was sweating. He wasn’t even doing anything and he was sweating and he felt that the problem was that he wasn’t doing anything. He felt so restless, trapped in the room like there was no door.
He got up and paced. And sat. And got up and paced. And sat. He felt like he was inside a pressure cooker.
He looked at Daniel.
Daniel stared back at him.
— How can you be just like that? If I had fallen for a Tempter I’d be freaking out and trying to go back to myself, and you just... you...
— It’s not like that. It’s not like that at all.
— YES IT IS! HOW CAN YOU JUST...?
Then he realized he was yelling and stopped like he had hit a wall and sat on the bed.
— Sorry, I... I don’t know what’s getting into me.
He didn’t mean to yell at Daniel. Not to the past Daniel, at least, he didn’t know how to handle this stranger that wore Daniel’s face and spoke with his voice but with the words of a Tempter to defend his own enslavement. His Da... the old Daniel would never do that.
The old Daniel, the one he was supposed to spent his life with, as friends and hunting partner. The Daniel that...
He slid down next to Daniel, looking at him. They were so close he could feel his breath like a furnace on his face. So close. So close...
His body was moving before he knew what happened, and sudenly his hand was on Daniel’s cheek and he was getting even closer, and his lips were opening to kiss him as if he had wanted to kiss him all his life.
He felt his naked body under his clothes, and he could feel Daniel’s body under him another naked body so close to him, just two layers of clothes away. He could feel all of his body and the feeling was moving all the way to his cock and making it throb and harden. This felt just so good, so right...
Too right. He suddenly jumped back and shook his head. He was not... he didn’t... this was wrong. Why had he done it?
There was something oddly familiar on this, like he had felt this exact restlessness before. He had already felt this for sure, and if only he could know...
He turned again to look at Daniel and felt that pull inside him. It was on the tip of his tongue, and then he remembered: This was how he had felt when he had been subjected to the Temper’s test. This need to escape and nowhere to go, this agitation, this cloud in his mind, this desire...
But how?
Daniel was not a Tempter. He couldn’t be, or his whole life was beyond the edge of sanity. But then how could he make him feel like the Tempter had?
And then suddenly the “how” became clear.
— Did your Tempter friend follow us here?
Even with his clouded mind, the change in Daniel’s expression was impossible to miss. Yes, the Tempter was there and had to be very close to be affecting him already.
Where?
When you’re in a locked room with only one door, there is only one way out.
— He’s right outside, isn’t he?
Daniel tried to keep still, but his eyes darted to the door. Yes. Yes, the Tempter was right there.
— Well —said Josh. — Don’t say I didn’t warn him. I was going to leave him alone if he didn’t follow us, but if he’s here...
If he was here, all promises were off. He grabbed his gun and walked towards the door.
He felt himself smirking. He was finally going to get to kill a Tempter. This was the moment he’d been waiting for all his life, his first test, and he was not going to fail. He was a Hunter, after all, and this was the time to hunt.
Maybe he could use the Tempter. Maybe he could knock it out and force it to remove the mark on Daniel, but only if he could do it safely. If not, getting rid of it would be enough.
It felt like the walk to the door took forever, each step taking longer and being more difficult. He knew what was on the other side, and he knew he was only getting closer to the power affecting him. He had to. The only way to destroy that creature was point blank.
He finally reached the door. It would be so easy, just like he had done on the house before taking Daniel. A surprise attack, incapacitate him or kill him, and it would be over.
He was ready.
He took a deep breath, tried to raise the gun... and found himself unable to.
He tried to bring the gun up, to spring into action, and he was frozen in place. The more he tried, the more he couldn’t move.
Was it the Tempter’s power, already taking hold on him?
He had to fight. He had to break free. He tried to move in any direction, to get away, to escape, and his feet kept him pinned to the floor.
Maybe he had realized that the Tempter was there too late.
Something shifted on the other side of the door. He couldn’t see it or hear it, but he knew it was facing him on the other side. And he hadn’t spoken yet but he knew something there was listening.
His hands and feet weren’t his anymore. All he had were his words, and he didn’t know if it would be enough to get him out. Maybe it was too late.
— Go away.— He managed to say in a low growl, trying to sound as menacing as he could. — I have a gun, and if you don’t leave I will shoot you.
— I won’t leave without Daniel. — replied a voice from the other side. It sounded soft, the way a snake feels soft as it coils around you preparing to swallow you whole. — He’s mine.
— He’s not yours! — he felt a surge of impotent rage. — You can’t treat him like... like that! He’s not an object, he’s a person and he is not your property!
— Ask him.
He didn’t want to ask because he knew what the answer would be. He didn’t dare looking back at Daniel.
— Go away! I’m going to shoot you if you don’t leave right now.
— If you were going to shoot me you would have done it already.
He felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped on him. The Tempter knew he had him, and he couldn’t bluff his way out of this.
— I will kill Daniel myself before I let you take him.
He didn’t know if he would. He didn’t know if he could. But if he could make the Tempter believe it, maybe it would work.
— Will you?
— It’s better than you getting him.
— Is it? Will you really sacrifice him before letting me take him?
— Yes.
— Why?
Why? Because everything was better than letting Daniel fall on the hands of one of those foul creatures! Because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing Daniel. Because he was sick at the mere thought of Daniel in the arms of another man. Because with the kiss still lingering in his mouth he couldn’t imagine letting him go. Because... because...
— ...you love him, don’t you?
He knew the answer, and he knwe that the Tempter knew it as well. His soul was naked in front of the voice at the other side of the door. The person behind the voice was looking at him, at all his secrets and feelings, and using them against him.
Maybe it was too late for him.
— Why are you doing this to us? Just leave us alone!
He didn’t intended it to sound like a desperate plea, but it sounded like it and it was exactly that. He had already lost and all he could do was save what had a chance to be saved.
— Just take him and go away. — he said in a bitter murmur of defeat. He didn’t want to, but it was the only way out.
— And then what? How long it will be before you come after us? You found us once and you can find us again. No, I’m taking both of you with me.
No. No! NO!
Anything but that. He was never going to do that, there was no way he would surrender to the Tempters, to become one of their thralls, he couldn’t...
He felt the influence of the Tempter rise, assaulting the center of his mind and his will. It was hard to breathe and even harder to think, and no matter how hard he tried to resist, he could feel his control over himself slowly slipping away.
He tried to raise the gun to his own head to find the only escape he could, and he couldn’t.
He had no escape, no way out, he had gotten himself in a trap and he couldn’t win. He had been so stupid...
He knew there was a hand touching the door, and he felt his own hand rising to meet it from the other side. It felt like molten lava slowly coming down his arm, and they haven’t even touched each other yet.
Yet.
He could feel tears running down his cheek, as he tried to break free and couldn’t. He could feel the power of the Tempter trapping him, suffocating his mind and his will. He... he couldn’t think.
— Josh. — said a soft voice behind him. — If you really love me, just let it happen. That way we can be together.
The world stopped spinning, frozen in a single moment of clarity, and he was breathless with vertigo and fear and hope. Hope, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself. He was being attacked right at the center of his heart with the one thing he had no defense against: Daniel.
Suddenly he couldn’t find the strength to fight anymore. The gun fell to the floor and his hand was moving like it belonged to somebody else, following the wishes of Daniel and of the Tempter, and was unlocking the door and opening it and he just watched it do it like it was happening to someone else.
He had expected the Tempter to look sinister, to look like a disgusting fountain of corruption that showed his dark power in every movement, but he didn’t. He looked just like a regular guy, the kind of guy you pass on the street without a second thought. But he had an aura of presence to him that just captured Josh’s eyes and mind, and suddenly it was like the rest of the universe had turned into a dream, like he and the Tempter were the only things that truly existed.
And his eyes! He felt like he was staring at an ocean, falling on it and drowning. Those eyes felt bigger than him, than his entire existence and his mind. He had no chance against those eyes. Maybe it had been too late for him since the moment the Tempter got there. Maybe, but now it was certainly too late for him.
The door closed.
Josh knew half a dozen ways to kill a man with his bare hands. A part of him knew that he could stop this, all he had to do has hit here and twist there and it would all end, but his hands were not his anymore and he didn’t have any spirit to resist left.
The Tempter raised a hand and brushed his cheek and it felt like electricity, like the first time in is life he was touched, and it made him shiver with pleasure and anticipation. So this was how it was, to fall under a Tempter’s power...
— Just... just one thing.
— Yes? — said the Tempter staring straight at him, and Josh had no way to escape from those eyes.
— Just... make it quick, please.
And then the Tempter smiled and took a step forward to kiss him, and Josh was lost.
This was not just a kiss, it was like having a new world opening right before him.
All he could feel was the Tempter’s lust surrounding him and his own lust rising up to meet him, and he was melting in that lust and couldn’t even try to resist.
His body had stopped belonging to him, he was just responding to the kiss of the Tempter and the feeling of that warm body next to him, and even through the clothes it was like they were both already naked, like he was feeling all of the Tempter with all of himself and the feeling was just taking over him.
Now his hands were moving, now that it was too late to fight, climbing up the Tempter’s chest and unbuttoning his shirt. The flesh and skin under the clothes felt warm and soft and firm and felt like he had never touched anyone before, like he was discovering the sense of touch right now for the first time.
The Tempter pulled his shirt up and took it off and they embraced again and the kiss went deeper, full of intent, coming in stronger now that their bodies were touching. He felt his breath coming out labored, like his body couldn’t think and stand and kiss and breathe the same time.
Their pants fell down. He didn’t know how it happened, he didn’t know if it was him or the Tempter who made it happen, or even if there was a difference, all he knew was that suddenly their pants were on the floor, they were stepping out of them, and there was a firm, warm shaft pressing against his leg.
He looked down, suddenly overtaken by an emotion so powerful he couldn’t even name what he was feeling.
The Tempter was naked and his cock was hard and pointing directly at him, and he wanted it, he wanted to know how it feel and his own cock was just as hard, responding to desire with desire.
The truth was as naked as he was.
He knew it was not just the Tempter’s power, it was also him. All the wants and needs he had hid from himself, lying on his bed, lying to himself in his dark room and wrapping himself in anger instead, were coming to the surface and he couldn’t stop or run away from the truth any longer.
He was seeing a naked man in front of him, a naked man with a hard cock, and he wanted it simply because it was a man. He had always wanted it. He...
He was gay.
It was like a dam broke inside him and all those feelings came out at once: he was gay and he was about to make love to a man and he had wanted to do it all his life.
He had spent all his life wanting to make love to a man, just like this, and instead he had trapped himself in denial and anger, running away from himself. He had been so stubborn, so lost, so stupid...
He was transfixed by the Tempter’s cock, like nothing else existed in the universe, and it was getting closer to his face, closer, or maybe he was the one getting closer, down on his knees, and his mouth was opening all by itself preparing to receive him. He wanted this. He had always wanted this. Maybe it had been too late for him all his life.
And maybe too late simply meant not soon enough.
Nothing that wrong was supposed to feel so right. Sucking that cock, feeling the firm, salty flesh in his mouth, just felt like had been born for it and like a part of him had always known how it would feel and spent his entire life wanting it without knowing he had wanted it.
He felt himself fall in the spiral of lust, deeper, deeper, his mind trapped in the single track of sucking off the Tempter like nothing else mattered.
He lost track of time, he lost track of himself, he lost track of everything except the feeling in his mouth. It could have been a second or an hour, it didn’t matter. He only regained a bit of his reason when the Tempter pulled him back and up and made him stand and led him to the bed.
He stumbled more than walked the few steps to the bed and fell on his back with the Tempter on top of him. It felt right in a way he couldn’t describe or resist, just having that warm body on top of him, overpowering him, and it wasn’t like he was able to fight, but if he could, he would have failed.
The Tempter’s lips traveled down his neck, through his collarbone, and then licked his armpit. He shivered. It was like having seen the world in black and white and suddenly discovering a million colors, that was what his skin was feeling, like there was a million different ways he could be touched and all of them just gave him pleasure.
When the Tempter pushed his legs open and put his cock in the entry of his ass, the realization pierced even the cloud of lust hazing his mind: he was going to get fucked. The Tempter was going to fuck him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. That hard cock was going to get into his ass and cum in him and seal the deal, enslaving him forever to the Tempter.
He’d always thought if that happened he would feel disgusted and afraid and all his will would be desperately trying to escape, but all he could feel was the desire burning inside him and filling him with anticipation.
He wanted it.
He wanted to get fucked, he wanted to feel the Tempter’s cum in his ass, and if that made him a puppet for the Tempter, he also wanted it.
The Tempter looked at him straight in the eyes, and he returned the glance and nodded. Yes, he was ready.
But he wasn’t ready for how it felt when it happened, when the Tempter went inside him and began fucking him. A lifetime of not letting himself want it couldn’t have prepared him for it.
He didn’t know if was pain or pleasure or both, but the feeling was taking over his mind and leaving space for nothing else, and it felt right. He belonged here, with his legs open and the Tempter’s cock thrusting in his ass.
There was no way this could be wrong.
He surrendered to the feeling and embraced it. He had wanted and needed this all his life and had tried to deny it, to run away from it, to pretend this was not something he desperately wanted. He had wasted so much time, running away from himself when all he had to do was admit he wanted it...
He had been so stupid, so blind...
He reached to the Tempter and kissed him, hungry for more, ready for more, he wanted this to last forever and it felt like it could. At that moment when they were just a pair of naked bodies, sweating and panting and fucking in a bed, it felt like time and space had stopped existing and they could stay like that forever.
He stopped seeing, and he didn’t know if it was that his eyes were closed or that he was feeling so much he couldn’t see. It was like all of his body existed only as an extension to his ass, getting fucked, deeper, faster, more intensely, like nothing else existed, just his ass and the cock fucking him.
And then it happened: he could feel the Tempter’s orgasm first and his own climax responding to it, covering his chest with is own cum, and an irresistible wave of pleasure taking over all of him and carrying him to the other side, where there was no way back. He felt like he finally could be himself in a way he had been just too afraid to be.
He felt like he’d found a piece of himself that had been missing all his life.
He felt like the Tempter had released him from all his past, casting it aside and making it not matter anymore, because it didn’t matter, the only thing that mattered was the new him, bonded to the Tempter by love and lust and submission.
He felt complete.
And finding himself on that bed, bound to the Tempter, enslaved to him... he finally felt free.