Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter SIXTY THREE - Cinnamon

Sebastian's fingers trembled as they trailed down my face, over my cheek bones, across my lips.

A stuttered breath pressed out from his mouth.

Concerned

wanting

hungry.

Down

Down

Down

The rough pads of his fingertips married my throat, wrapping hungrily around my skin.

The air in my lungs felt insufficient but insignificant as his eyes darkened.

"Fuck. Atley." His brows creased in the center and his lips were on mine.

Pressed together

Working together

Always together

I felt the flare before I saw it

Blinding, crippling pain within my heart yet bitter, unbridled rage and satisfaction beneath my lungs.

And then we were both consumed by the white

The light

The magic

The warmth of his lips and the warmth of his skin on my neck crumpled like parchment, ink dripping down my jaw and collarbone.

Only it wasn't ink

It was blood

Sebastian's blood

Sebastian's body

on the floor

I woke screaming.

Candles

Two cold hands against my arms, against my shoulders.

Two piercing blue and white eyes

"Atley. Atley darling. You're alright. You're here. In the Undercroft. Atley darling I am here. You are safe."

My mind spun as it tried to sink back into my body.

"It's alright darling. It was just a dream."

A stray hair was brushed from my forehead and I blinked rapidly, forcing myself back into the present.

Ominis was stroking my hair, hushing me and humming to the air.

"You're in the Undercroft. Sebastian just stepped out for a moment. He will be right back. I promise."

The words glided across his tongue and sat off center over my chest.

Memories slapped my face.

We were back in the Undercroft. The escapades with the trolls still fresh in my mind but the events had taken place a few days beforehand.

It was nighttime.

We had been practicing- no- studying  after dinner and I had felt my eyelids weighed down like bricks. I vaguely remembered closing them for a moment but nothing else.

Ominis' hands wound down my hair in reassuring strokes. Fingers running through the strands and working out the knots and night terrors.

"Shhh. It's alright." He cooed, voice a whisper.

My heart was still grappling with my ribs but I managed a deep, stuttered breath.

"I get them too you know."

It was so quiet I could hear the gentle flicker of the candle flames.

"Nightmares?"

Ominis paused, considered his words and spoke anyway.

"Nightmares about him."

"Oh."

My heart cracked.

"How did you-"

Ominis began stroking my hair again, the feeling reminded me of my mother. Of how she had brushed my hair every morning.

"You were screaming for him."

"I'm sorry."

"Please don't be."

A wick cracked and popped somewhere in the room.

"Atley, I don't know what tremendous feats you have had to overcome before starting here... but I know our lives are better with you in it. Sebastian's life is better- with you in it."

"Ominis- I-"

"Sebastian needs all the support he can get right now and sometimes- s-sometimes I'm not enough."

I sat up quickly and placed my hands over his. The edges of his eyes glistened in the candlelight.

"Ominis stop."

He smiled at the floor.

"It's quite alright darling. I realized this some time ago."

"Sebastian needs you more than he needs me-"

"I don't need you to tell me about my oldest friend." He laughed softly.

I dipped my head and he pat my hand.

"He needs someone to hold his heart when it's unsteady. That's something I cannot give him like you can."

"Sebastian-"

"Yes?"

His messy brown hair bounced into the room through the gate, holding three little brown bags with black ribbons and taking in the scene before him slowly.

"You alright Barlowe?"

I sniffed and wiped at a tear I hadn't realized was staining my cheek.

"Of course. Just a nightmare."

He frowned and stepped over to us quickly. Dropping respective bags into our arms.

"What's this?" Ominis' fingers traced the paper of the bag, over the ribbon and his nostrils flared as the smell of sweet cinnamon filled the room.

"A snack from a good friend." He smiled and tore open his own bag, pulling a rather sticky cinnamon covered toast from the bottom.

"You don't have friends. Besides us."

"Gee. Thanks Ominis. I do so love our talks."

His cheeks flushed in the warm glow of the room. "I didn't mean it like that-"

"I'm just teasing mate." He bumped his shoulder. "Now eat up before they go cold."

Instead of tearing off a small chunk, Sebastian bit into it like an apple. Humming contently and a bit of the sugar coated his lips and base of his cheeks.

I ran my finger into the bag and collected a bit of the topping, licking it clean but feeling less than hungry. Appetite completely swallowed by my dream.

I let my eyes wander Sebastian's frame. Over his tousled hair, across every speckle of freckles over his nose, down his neck and chest- lingering over the spot I knew still bore the mark of my heated fingers.

Wiggenweld had done little to heal the marks and I had apologized profusely but Sebastian insisted that it was alright.

That he loved them.

"It reminds me of you every morning. Not that I need another reminder when you never leave my mind to begin with." He had smiled softly and ran a finger over my top lip as he'd spoke.

The Undercroft was filled with the sounds of sticky bites and the smell of warm bread and cinnamon and I let my chest heave a heavy sigh.

Ominis leaned back against one of the pillars, tugging a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his fingers against it.

Sebastian had taken to licking his fingers with a loud pop after each and Ominis grimaced.

"The cats around the school have better manners than you Sebastian."

He shrugged. "They don't have cinnamon bread though. It's enough to make anyone go a bit mad."

"Clearly."