Sebastian's hand ran down my thigh, chasing my heartbeat.
I knew it was a dream, yet somehow the realization hadn't been enough to pull me back to reality.
My first clue had been the widespread grin on his face, familiar yet not quite right. The second, and most likely should have been the first, was the tether of bending white light that crept from my chest. It wound through the creeping snowfall over our heads before disappearing over a white capped hill.
Sebastian's lips kissed each of my wallowing breaths, divine and pure yet something impious ground below the surface. Each brush of his skin on mine a definitive statement to my soul.
What a beautiful thing to drown in.
Only I wasn't drowning, I was breathing, desperately forcing my heart back to my body, my mind back to more than my skin.
The familiar thrum of sinking magic pounded beneath my chest.
"Sebastian wait."
His heavy lids and swollen lips marked my cheeks in a feverous reign.
"Just a little longer. Please."
It felt as if one of my ribs cracked along the center though I couldn't decide if it was from my heart or my magic.
The white beam tugged against my sternum, pulling me from Sebastian's grasp despite his wanton groans. Bits of snow squeaked under my boots, pressed to the earth with hurried steps.
My heart beat quickly as I followed the tether, pace accelerating as the prickle of magic fizzed under my nails. The feeling more uncomfortable than ever and I squeezed my hands to fists, desperate to dull the ache.
Up
up
up
Over the hill.
Chest beginning to ache deeper
and deeper
and deeper.
Feldcroft.
The Hamlet stretched out below me, lazy and snow covered just as I'd left it.
The light against my chest, warm and illuminated under my eyes so bright I could nearly feel the shadows above. It tugged again and I traced by eyes along it's winding wisps down the hill, around the town circle and
right up to the Sallow home.
Eyebrow quirked, interest peaked and magic buzzing, I took off down the hill.
My fists pounded into the rough wood door before my feet had even hit the doorstep and I tugged it open quickly. The ache nearly crumbling me to my feet.
It swung open so abruptly, a bit of snow slid off the roof, puddling around my body. The heat of the home smashing against my face as I pressed inside.
White wisp
winding past the kitchen table,
around the legs of the chairs,
through the fireplace flames,
right into the chest of another.
Anne.
She sat on the couch, breathless and gaze staring as blankly as her brother's had been only a few hours before.
I took another step towards her and the pain within me flared abruptly, tugging my chest to my knees. Anne's familiar screams slithered across the tether and dove into my ribs.
Another step.
My ankles gave way.
Anne clutched her chest.
Crawling closer though every fiber screamed at me to stop.
Every fiber except for the rapid beat of my heart and the thrum of ancient magic licking the tips of my fingers.
Anne's eyes were locked to mine now, red rimmed and bubbled over with tears. Her bottom lip trembled, held open with my pain.
With her pain.
Finally my knees hit the edge of the couch and I reached toward her with shaky fingers.
The pain so strong now I knew I would pass out at any moment.
The white tether between us so short now.
Where it crushed into her chest, glowing red, white, pulsing.
Knowing nothing but feeling everything, I slammed my fingers against the light at her skin.
And the pain was gone.
The tether flickered out.
Anne was smiling at me, features perfectly calm, dark circles faded, warm fingers over my hand.
She took a deep breath in, letting the air touch the places of her lungs it hadn't been in a long time.
"I've heard so much about you Atley. I'm glad you came."
YOU ARE READING
Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow
FanfictionSebastian Sallow is a tortured soul with the world on his shoulders whose only mission is to save his sister Anne - at any cost. Atley Barlowe is a budding new witch who also carries the world on her shoulders as she travels the road less traveled t...
