Consuming Darkness: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 74

-Sebastian-

"Try another time Ominis!" I demanded as I watched Ronnie struggle. Ominis just gripped her hands tighter. Her eyes were wide in desperate pleading. I grabbed Ronnie's arms ready to yank her away from Ominis. Couldn't he feel how much he was hurting her? I could and I wasn't even in her head. I was two seconds away from punching him in the nose.

"I can't! If I lose this we might not be able to get it back!" Ominis argued. "I don't want to hurt her Sebastian!" His voice was strained and panicked and it immediately paused my protests. He was stressed, sweat collecting at his brow as he pleaded with me to understand.

I offered a short nod in response and Ominis shut his eyes.

I sat on the chaise with my back against the armrest and Ronnie sat between my legs. I leaned forward and rested my chest against her back, wrapping my arms around her. She continued to cry out in pain as she shrank back against me, pulling Ominis with her. Ominis was now kneeling on the couch over both of us, practically in my lap right along with her. And while I was happy they were talking again and that Ominis and I were friends again, it was a little too close for my comfort.

Ronnie was shaking and whimpering as she tried to shrink farther against me. My heart ached at how completely helpless I was, all I could do was hold her and hope that they were able to discover what she had lost quickly.

Ominis' face was twisted in horror and desperation, he had a tear running down his pale cheek.

I suddenly felt a surge of power, filling me with a sense of bliss.

Knock it off, I commanded.

It's not our fault you chose to align yourself with someone who had so much suffering. Let us just take a little of it.

I understood why they were eager to gain more, the more mental anguish someone was in the more euphoric I felt.

No. You cannot touch her.

You cannot be serious boy.

I command you to never touch her again.

The shadows hissed in protest but pulled back.

"Why are you doing this?" Ronnie pleaded in a weak and distant voice.

Her eyes then shot open and she looked around wildly. I pulled her toward me, picking her up slightly while I turned so my feet were on the ground in front of me, and pulled her into my lap. She curled up against me and cried against my chest.

"It's okay Veronica darling," I said softly. "You're safe." She took a deep, shaky breath and looked up at me, her green eyes desperate and confused. I pulled the hair from her face and wiped her tears.

I looked up at Ominis to see him shove a shakey hand through his hair. It was entirely uncharacteristic for him to mess up his normally very carefully manicured hair. Another tear escaped his eye and he wiped at it and scrubbed his hands down his face with a groan.

"What happened?" I wondered. "Could we pull the memory and look at it in the pensive?"

"No... the memory is too fragmented... I doubt we would even be able to be pull it from her mind with how carefully and deliberately it was removed." Ominis said, his voice distant. He was visibly shaken by what he had witnessed.

"Then someone needs to tell me what you found out?" I asked and looked back down at Ronnie. "What happened to you, darling?"

She took a deep breath and told me her memories, with Ominis filling in where she struggled to recall. The more they told me the more I was filled with a murderous rage.