Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter NINETY SEVEN - Silent Wills

It felt entirely disrespectful to have nightmares after such a wonderful moment, but there I was, wide awake in the night while the screams of my parents jumbled with Anne's at the back of my mind. Sweat crept down my forehead even though I had managed to crawl entirely out of my covers away from the sparks in the fireplace.

Feeling dizzy, nauseous and numb I let my eyes collapse on the flames. Blues traced the tops of the wood while thick yellows blinded the space above. Bright crumbling oranges flickered along the embers, sparking, popping and screaming in comforting chaos. I found myself growing angry at how effortless the flames seemed to dance despite the destruction they were capable of.

Something so terrible isn't allowed to be beautiful.

I wiped away a traitorous tear as it slithered down my cheek and glanced around the room. Anne's sweet nose tilted to the roof, her eyes peacefully closed and a small smile at the edge of her lips. The light of the flames traced over her cheeks and down her neck, lingering across the center like a gash. 

I had to look away.

Ominis was curled up on the floor next to her, head resting atop her chest and fingers wrapped at the edges of her blankets. Even in sleep his grip on her as tight as if she could slip away at any moment. His lips frowned through the flickering flames.

My mind was a cruel place tonight.

I turned to find solace in the other half of my heart but was instead met with stretching green and white floral patterns and untouched cushions.

A zip of terror curled under my nails, bones lifting and eyes darting through the darkness. The warmth and glow of the fireplace smothered under the thick shadows. 

My brain pounded against my heart, telling it to settle, that he was here somewhere, but my lungs were already sputtering. It wasn't until I spotted his messy hair against the moonlight at the kitchen table that I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

Sebastian was hunched over, one hand pressed against his forehead while the other flipped swiftly through the pages of a thick book below him. Fractured blue moonlight kissed his right cheek, dipping up across his eyelashes and right half of his freckled nose. The shadows slipped easily over the rest of his face.

"Sebastian."

Though my voice was no more than a whisper, he startled upright, nearly smacking himself in the face as he tried to slam the book closed. He let out a strangled breath as our eyes met through the dark, moonlight illuminating all of his face.

"Merlin Atley. You scared me." He took another breath, another moment as reality washed back over his eyes. "Come here." 

I tiptoed into the beams of blue light, arms crossed and shivering as the warmth of the fireplace drifted away.

Sebastian frowned as he watched me inch closer.

"Oh sweetheart." He reached his hand over his head, grasping the back of his sweater and tugging it up, over and off in one quick movement. He tucked it into my hands with a little smirk, the thin white of his undershirt clinging to his arms and two brown suspender straps pressed against his shoulders. "Put this on."

My fingers felt numb as I tugged it over my head, messing up my hair but drifting into the smell of him.

The moment I settled into his clothes, he pulled me in. I tucked my legs up and over his so that I sat in his lap, looking down at the book while he kissed my hair, arms wrapped around me tightly.

Salazar Slytherins spellbook stared back at me with tattered edges and bits of paper sticking out from different points among the pages.

A prickle crept up my spine.