Page 28 of The Secret of Pain

“So, you mean fate makes us friends?” I rub my temples, because this is all a lot.

“Something like that, but as your memories return, you will see what I mean.” He pats my hand reassuringly.

“So, the ritual. Is it painful?” I ask hesitantly, almost not wanting to know. Yes, he already told me not to ask, but I can’t help myself.

He shakes his head at me, pinching the bridge of his nose before looking at me again.

“I should’ve known you wouldn’t take my advice on going in blind. But no, it’s not painful. Not as such, but it does depend on how much comes back to you at the beginning, if it’s one big hit or a trickle. It is different for each of us each time. Fate is a bit of a minx like that.” He winks at me and I laugh, some of the tension leaving me.

“Thank you, I needed that.” I smile.

“Of course, my dear, it is what I am here for. Now, speaking of the ritual, if you have no other questions, since you’re dressed, we shall begin.” He stands and offers me his hand. I take it and stand beside him. Ready or not, I guess.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I follow Ben back into the main domed room that Creek showed me earlier, except now, all but one of the Elders’ chairs are full, and my family and friends are dotted around the edges of the room. Even Nate made it back. I smile at him and he winks at me, setting me at ease a little.

I pull the robe tighter as we walk across the room to the altar. My hair floats around me, free from its binding, and Ben takes my hand.

"I present Remington Elise Bennett to the Elders, ready and prepared to take her oaths as a Hunter," he says, and they all murmur their acceptance back.

"Do you, Remington, swear to uphold the Hunter laws, our way of life, and vow to protect our faction against all odds, at all costs?" the man in the center chair of the platform asks and I gulp, because I don't even really know what I'm agreeing to. But I clear my throat regardless.

"I do," I say clearly, trying to hide the nervousness I feel.

"Then let us begin," his voice booms around the room and it’s as if a blanket settles over me, a weight I didn't feel before. Ben motions for me to remove the robe and lie on the altar, so I do, and holy motherfuckers this shit is cold. I can't help the goosebumps that cover my body as I lie down, trying not to squeak as my bare skin comes into contact with the dark stone.

"Fata vocant, ad hanc adducere nos ut in venator nobis," Ben says as he stands at the head of the altar, placing his hands on my temples. "Rogamus autem vos, Angelus scientiam, ut restituat in aedis dedicandae se unum ex memoria vobis."

I lie still when the room begins to get brighter and heat rises from the altar below me. The symbols carved into the stone around me begin to glow, and I just know that the symbols beneath me are glowing too.

"Close your eyes," Ben whispers to me, and I do, unsure of what is to come.

"Remington Bennett, your body is marked with the symbols of the Angels, one for each life you have had, for each life you have dedicated to the cause." His voice rings out, and I feel the symbols on my body, they almost itch, and it's as if they're coming to life.

"Angelus autem ducibus nobis dona puer hic noster de quo in suis bonis quasi unus accipit vera semita."

His voice grows distant, and the pain increases as the marks on my body increase in heat.

"Ut rogatus est, et illud fieri."

The Latin becomes nothing more than a whisper as agony racks my body and my mind, and I feel tears stream down my face as the intensity grows too much.

Pictures inside my head hit me, feelings, faces and so much more. My mind screams at the flood of memories until I can't hold it any longer and the screams escape me. I try to move, to escape, but my body is held in place, trapped. And then, a warmth washes over me and the pain subsides as the heat grows at the back of my neck, a pressure growing, and just when I think I can't take it any longer, it releases, and I hear an intake of breaths and groans in the room around me. Relief floods me momentarily and I open my eyes, sitting up slowly, finding the others in the room sitting on the floor, either groaning or holding their heads.

Well shit.

"What the hell was that?" one of the Elders asks, looking to Ben who is sprawled on the floor at the head of the altar. I jump down and go to him, his nose bleeding.

Please don’t let me have killed him.

I check and he’s still breathing, so I shake him gently, and he moans as he comes around, opening his eyes slowly.

"Are you okay?" I ask, and he laughs.

"I'm quite fine," he says, sitting up.

"You need to explain," one of the female Elders says. "This is quite unusual."

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