Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter ONE TWENTY SEVEN - Body and Heart

(When It's All Over - RAIGN)

Though my vision remained steady, my heart could not. It pounded and leapt within my chest. A bit of the quill ink smudged below my fingers and nestled within my nose. 

A calling to the other half of my heart.

My eyes flicked up to Ominis, a bit of hope cresting below my lashes but plummeting at the site of the terror hung below his.

I kept my voice low, careful not to wake the remaining students around us.

"Could it truly be that easy? Could he really cure her tonight?"

Death trickled along the edges of Ominis' eyes, two moons swallowed by the gravity of heartbreak.

"Not without a cost too great."

His voice so hollow it cratered silence in the space between us. His nose tipped slowly to the ground and his right hand lifted to fist at the fabric over his chest. His fingers tugged at his shirt, in and out, his breaths shallow and uneven.

"He said he could do it Ominis. He said-"

"I have no doubt-" He took a shuttered breath in. "-that Sebastian could wield the power of the relic. He is far too brilliant a mind to misunderstand the nuances of dark magic..." His open hand swatted around behind him until it collided painfully with the wood of the chair, his bones collapsing quickly into it. His left hand fiddled with the chain that dipped from his vest button hole to his pocket. "I- I have truly lost him..."

His words sparked chills below my skin, slithering around each vertebrae in my spine. Winding, tugging, bruising.

The heaving of his chest and the sweat over his forehead tugged me from the bed as I fumbled to pull my friend from his fears. My knees felt rickety beneath my own bodyweight.

"Ominis. Hey, listen to me. Sebastian-"

His nostrils flared, his ghostly eyes wide.

"He's truly going to do it. He's- he's-"

"If this dark magic is as terrible as you believe it to be Ominis, how could it have the ability to do such good?"

His bottom lip trembled but he didn't speak.

"You said it yourself, he is too brilliant a mind... he wouldn't do it if it put himself in danger-"

Doubt tumbled through my veins.

Every molecule of heat within my body froze over.

Ominis' voice echoed my thoughts. 

"He would do anything for the two of you."

Half a second lingered between his words and mine.

"I'm going after him. He shouldn't be alone for this." I pulled Sebastian's bag over my shoulder, if only for the comfort of his scent - the weight of it noticeably lighter than usual. I tugged gently on Ominis' arm. "You're coming too. I don't care if-"

"I can't- won't Atley. I have already told him, I will not listen to that darkness consume him, kill him. I-" His shaky breathing crashed between his words. "I- fuck."

"Ominis please. I know you're terrified. I can only imagine the pain you have been through, but he needs us!"

"I-" Another breath, another fistful of his shirt between his fingers. "Fuck! Why can't- can't I breathe?"

I pressed my hand against his chest, feeling the pounding of an aching heartbeat.

"I think your body is just struggling to catch up with a decision your heart has already made."

His fingers wound around mine, trembling and entirely too warm. His face scrunched in soft sorrow. His lips parted but the fluttering of feathers against the window muted all other sound.

Whipping my head to the moonlight I spotted a wide eyed snowy owl with a letter tucked just below its beak. It pecked at the glass and ruffled its feathers in frustration. 

These bloody owls.

I pulled my hand from Ominis and hurriedly tugged open the lock to the large arch glass before the dreaded thing could interrupt another important conversation or wake any of the other students in the hospital wing.

What time is it anyway? Surely this isn't common for owl post?

Almost instantly upon being let inside, it dropped the letter on the ledge and turned its head farther to the right than should be natural.

Snatching the letter quickly, I tore into it, Ominis' breathing slowly evening out behind me.

"What is it?" Ominis whispered through the cool night breeze, the terror in his tone far more controlled now.

It was my turn to struggle in a breathe.

Anne's neat penmanship slanted to the right as if she had been in a tremendous hurry.

"Atley?"

"It's from Anne. She's worried. Sebastian asked her to join him at the catacomb immediately and to come alone. She says he doesn't sound himself. She wants us to meet her there... Both of us."

His lids fluttered slowly closed, his knuckles fisting white against the arms of the chair.

"Please Ominis. If not for him then-"

Pulling himself quickly he tugged his wand from his pocket, the deep red light curling down his neck and settling just over his chest. 

His words interrupted mine, low and firm, surrendering to the pain of entwined heartstrings.

"For Anne."