“That wasn’t half bad actually,” complimented Faelan as he pulled a rag out of his back pocket, wiping the demon’s disgusting ooze off his blade. It was definitely going to need to be cleaned at home. The smell of the blood was off too, it smelled partially dead, not unlike an undead demon’s blood. The demon they fought didn’t seem undead though.<br/><br/>“And Sammy boy, what the hell was that thing, I haven’t seen one before. I wanna make a note of it.”<br/><br/>The creature seemed to twitch even in death, although only occasionally. Walking over, he checked to make sure Shula wasn’t too hurt.<br/><br/>“Agent Bystrom, you and the dragon did alright with this test, although you need to focus on being able to make sure you cooperate. Use full use of your psychic bond, it’s why you have it.”<br/><br/>Sam’s firm tone almost sounded unpleasant, like looking at the scene in the pit disturbed him almost as much as the smell bugged Faelan’s nose. One of the pit’s doors opened, and he saw a few of his more personal belongings and some spare things for Shula. Sam’s voice rang back over the intercom.<br/><br/>“For the time being, we’ve been instructed to let you go home, in hopes that not being cooped up will improve your performance and the proximity to lead to a more comfortable yet stable bond.”<br/><br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/><br/>The rest of the day seemed to build up to him getting home. It’d had seemed so long since he’d last been in his house. In all honesty, he’d avoided it before the bonding too, he’d been taking his more adventurous and new proclivities to local hotels.<br/><br/>The drive there seemed uneventful, and unbearably slow. Taking back ways and watching through the windows, his anticipation to be home grew uncomfortably. Recognizing landmarks as they grew ever closer made it worse. It was like each thing he recognized pulled another string of his painful memories, but in a way that felt good. When they finally pulled up to the building, he could see his patio. The plants didn’t seem to notice his leave of absence, most of them still looking pristine in the night lights of the city. The cracked cement welcomed his feet as the ground clicked under his shoes.