Sebastian

by Hazel Hunter

  Sebastian forced himself to nod.

  “I could give you the tools that you need to disappear completely if you wanted to. You might never run into another witch or warlock as long as you lived.”

  Something broke in him when that was what it took to make her consider his offer. She turned those stormy blue eyes to him, and he was lost. He would have given her anything to make her stay. Even if it meant giving her the means for leaving him and all his kind behind.

  “I agree,” she said softly. “When do we start?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? I thought–”

  “Nicolette, it's two in the morning. I've been hunting all day. I'm sore. I'm filthy, and…and I just want to sleep next to you for a few hours.”

  “You want to sleep next to me?”

  “That's all. I promise. I'll swear on whatever holy relic you like. I swear that that is all that will happen. Let me sleep, and then tomorrow, from dawn until sunset, I'll teach you.”

  It sounded so much like the bargain she had made with him the day before that it stung. She reached out to him but quickly pulled her hand back.

  “All right,” she whispered. “I’ll sleep with you.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The bed felt as if it was as wide as her trailer, and when Nicolette crawled into it wearing nothing but a tank top and her panties, she wondered what it would be like for this to be her life. She could stop running. She could stop ducking out of different identities, she could have a real home. She could have it with this man.

  Sebastian came into the bedroom after she was under the covers, and with the lights turned down. He was simply a dark shape moving through the room. It was a strange moment. She should have felt menaced, but instead, he made her think of a dark guardian angel, something that followed after her and kept her safe no matter where she was. He smelled of juniper soap, a fresh and piney scent, and it made her smile.

  “Is this all right?” he asked softly, and she sighed.

  “Yes…yes, it is.”

  He was silent, but he seemed relieved when he slid under the covers with her. He was stripped to his boxers, and in the chill of the air conditioned room, she was drawn instinctively to his warmth. At her first touch, he made a small noise, but then he settled next to her as if they had been sleeping together for years. Her body seemed to fit the curve of his. Her back rested against his chest, and her head snugged under his chin. One heavy muscled arm draped over her hip, and she reached down to hold his hand.

  Slowly, their breathing evened out. She was lulled by his deep and even breaths until she was nearly asleep herself. She was so peaceful and relaxed that the words slipped out almost without her knowledge.

  “Could we do this forever?” she wondered, and in her dreamlike state, she wasn't aware that Sebastian had gone still and silent behind her.

  “We could,” he whispered after a long moment. “I think I would like nothing better.”

  Nicolette, however, had drifted off to sleep, and her only response was a soft and innocent breath.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Nicolette woke up to an empty bed and the smell of bacon bouncing in the pan. She followed her nose to the kitchen where Sebastian was dressed in a charcoal shirt with black slacks, an outfit completely at odds with the white apron he wore over it. He was forking some of the bacon over to a plate that already had some eggs on it when he looked up.

  “I know it's not as good as food from the carnival, but still, you'll need the protein. Eat up, and we can get going.”

  Nicolette folded herself into one of the chairs at the table and picked up a strip of bacon to chew as she watched him dunk the empty cookware into a sink of soapy water.

  “I don't think I understand you,” she said finally.

  He came to the table with a plate piled high with bacon for himself.

  “What's to understand?”

  “I'm your mission,” she said, and she nodded when he flinched. “That means that you need to bring me in. I've met the men of the Corps before. They, uh, generally finish their missions.”

  Sebastian offered her a half-hearted smile.

  “We make it a point of pride. I've served with the Corps for almost my whole life, and that means that I've been at this for almost four hundred years. In that time, you'll be the first mission that I had to close without a favorable resolution.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you deserve better than to be brought in like a prize. You've been on your own for years. Just like it was wrong for your former teacher to beat you, it would be wrong for me to take your freedom from you.”

  “So why not just go home?”

  A dark look crossed Sebastian's face.

  “For someone who is as afraid of the Corps as you seem to be, you really don't know us that well. We were created to protect people just like you. No matter how long a man has been with the Corps or what rank he holds, the first imperative that he follows is that he protects the witch under his care. For me right this moment, that means you. I can't protect you by bringing you in, but I sure as hell want to give you the tools that you need to keep yourself safe where I can't.” There was something in Sebastian's tone that broke on that last word, but then that mask was up again. “Finish up your food and get dressed. I'm taking you out today. We can cover a lot of ground if we get started soon.”

  Finishing up the last of his bacon, he stood and removed the apron, hanging it up before leaving the room.

  Nicolette looked after him, her feelings tangling among themselves. She shook her head, pushing them away. There was too much at stake for her to fall prey to her softer emotions. She needed what he was going to give her, and she couldn't let that confusion color what she was doing.

  After they had showered separately, he had told her to look for clothes in one of the closets of the house. She would have protested that her jeans and her T-shirt were fine, but then she had opened the closet door. Apparently, the Corps liked to be prepared for anyone who needed a sanctuary, and that included women. Some of the clothing was far too large, and some was far too small, but she pulled out a sleeveless green linen dress from the depths of the closet. It was light with a wide skirt that swirled around her pale legs, and she found a pair of sandals to go with it.

  When she stepped out of the bedroom, she was gratified to see Sebastian's eyes widen momentarily.

  “That good, huh?” she said with a cocky smile.

  “To say the least,” he said with a brief grin that quickly vanished. “All right, come on. We've got work to do.”

  To her surprise, he drove them straight to the Boston Harborwalk. In the middle of the summer, this crowded thoroughfare saw tourists, vendors and locals of all sorts getting out to see the sights.

  “I thought we were training, not going shopping.”

  “My own mentor told me that I would always do my best work in the field, and given the fact that he had a skill a little like yours, I think it'll hold true for you too.”

  Sebastian purchased them a bag of roasted, sugared almonds, and then he found them a safe perch on a bench close to the foot traffic. When she sat snuggled up to his side, picking sugared nuts out of the warm paper cone, they looked like a happy couple out for a bit of sun.

  “You told me you can read auras if you concentrate, but one thing that you can likely also do is to look for specific emotions out of a crowd. This can be helpful if you are in a group and you want to sense someone who is feeling murderous for some reason.”

  “What do I need to look for?” she asked softly.

  “That I can't tell you. My own teacher told me that it was different for everyone. Everyone has a different way of sensing auras, and what you see as red, he might see as green. I know this witch in California who hears auras as music rather than seeing them as colors.”

  Nicolette bit her lip. She had never really codified the colors that she saw in the auras. It always had a lot more to do with what sensation she got
from those feelings. She decided to look for people who felt red to her, allowing her eyes to scan the crowd. Instead of picking up people who felt red, she kept focusing on one person after another. They never seemed to have any red worth mentioning in them, and as she looked harder, it became more difficult to really sort out what she was feeling. The more she struggled, the more nervous she felt. Sebastian was expecting her to figure this out, and she was failing. The old fear rolled up in her. It tightened in her throat, making her want to choke.

  As if sensing her dismay, Sebastian placed his hand gently on her shoulder.

  “Don't stress out about it. Look, try something else. Tell me about a good memory.”

  The first thing that came to mind was Sebastian, winning the locket for her and then lying her down in the field and kissing her like the world could end as long as he was still allowed to kiss her like that. The locket was safe in her underwear drawer at the trailer, and she would never forget the kiss. She blushed and reached for something else, instead.

  “Um, when I was in fourth grade, I won the spelling bee.”

  “Did you?” Far from being mocking, Sebastian's tone was one of genuine instinct.

  “Yeah, I finished it by being able to spell 'antimony.'”

  “That sounds amazing,” he said with a small smile. “Do you remember how happy you felt, how proud you felt?”

  “Yeah…”

  “Okay, close your eyes and think about that feeling. Remember standing in front of all of those other kids and knowing that you were better at spelling than all of them.”

  Nicolette grinned, but she did as Sebastian requested. She remembered how proud she had been, and how happy her mother had been with her. That was before her mother had sickened, long before her mother had died. They were a small happy family then, and her mother had placed the medal on display on the mantle.

  “Remember how warm you felt. Remember how good it was.”

  She did. She had been proud and so happy that day, and so safe.

  “Now open your eyes very slowly, Nicolette. Don't focus on anything in particular. Don't worry about seeing anything or needing to complete a task for me.”

  She did as he said, and as she did so, she gasped with surprise.

  Dotted through the crowd were people with a bright bronze glow around their heads. This halo affected just a handful of people and, when she gasped, she almost lost them. Then she focused again, and they snapped back into view. There was nothing tentative about this, she could find them as quickly as she could sort a white ball from a pile of black balls.

  “Who are you looking at?” Sebastian whispered.

  She responded slowly. “That little boy carrying the enormous stuffed animal there. That girl with the purple hair. The woman behind the sugared almond stand. They all have this beautiful bronze halo around them.”

  Sebastian chuckled.

  “Well what do you know. I think you found everyone in the crowd who was feeling pretty damn good about themselves.”

  She blinked hard to get rid of the afterimage of those bronze glows, and she looked at him.

  “That…that was easy,” she said hesitantly.

  “Let's try again. What emotion do you want to focus on right now?”

  Nicolette was suddenly reminded of the woman she had spoken to the previous day, the one with that soft sadness that seemed settled around her.

  “I don't know how to describe it, but I think I want to focus on regret, sadness.”

  Sebastian nodded.

  “Try it. Think about something that made you sad.”

  Impulsively, she took his hand and let her eyes drift closed. She had known grief in her life, and such pain, but instead she thought about that older woman. She thought of a life well-lived with someone who was so beloved. She thought of losing that person, and how after that first rush of grief, there was only a deep and abiding hollowness to the world. It wasn't a sharp pain, but it was one that sapped the strength from the bones.

  Her eyes drifted open, and at first, she thought she had failed. There were many auras that she could see now, and the auras that were reflected were every color of the rainbow. One of the people her skill had targeted was a handsome, young busker with long dreadlocks and dark, dark skin. He flirted with the crowd, he played a rollicking tune on his violin, and his aura was a deep indigo blue. However, when she looked closer, she could see that it had the same tarnish as the old woman's aura had had. His aura was beautiful, and it gave her a sense of lively creativity and life, but overlaying it all was a patina of what she realized was sadness.

  “What are you seeing?”

  “I think I'm seeing sadness,” she said softly. “Some people carry it with them, overlaying everything else they are feeling. These people are many other things, but overlaying it all is their sadness and their regret.”

  Sebastian sighed, and she wondered if his hand squeezed hers for a moment.

  “Gods, you're fast,” he said. “That's two for two now.”

  “Am I doing well?” she asked, startled.

  “This isn't my area of expertise,” he admitted, “but from what my own teacher told me, yes, very.”

  Nicolette laughed a little self-consciously.

  “Vacek always told me that I was depressingly slow.”

  “Vacek was wrong.” Sebastian shook his head as if to rid himself of the remaining anger he felt about her situation. “I'm teaching you, and I'm saying that you are doing very well.”

  “What do I get?” Nicolette asked, feeling greatly daring, and Sebastian's dark look faded to a smile.

  “Do it a few more times. This time, look for emotions that might signify a danger to you. Someone who is feeling angry, perhaps, or someone who is feeling reckless.”

  She did as he said, and she started laughing.

  “What?”

  “Well, you said reckless. About the only person around who is feeling particularly reckless right this moment is that kid with the skateboard.”

  Sebastian grinned.

  “That's a good sign. Keep on working, but don't let yourself get overtired. Part of doing good work is being able to pace yourself and knowing when you might need to quit. You’ll never do yourself or anyone that you are trying to help any favors when you work yourself to the point of unconsciousness.”

  She nodded seriously, and for the next hour or so, with Sebastian's gentle encouragement, she practiced. She had never had someone watch out for her while she was working on her skill. She had never had anyone to help her, to make suggestions or to spot her. Instead of feeling as stressed and afraid as she had when she was working with Vacek, she felt the way she had when she was doing well in school all those years ago. She was being challenged, and she was getting better.

  She had worked through anger and a few other emotions when that beautiful gold color that had suffused the older woman's aura drifted into her mind. At this point, she had no doubt at all that it was love, and she wistfully thought about how rare it might be. She was just starting to concentrate on that feeling when Sebastian's phone went off. He looked startled and then chagrined.

  “Are you going to be okay if I step away to take this? This might be something that you are better off without.”

  She nodded, and he walked away a short distance. She didn't like the reminder of his life, of the fact that this was strictly a limited engagement, but she put it out of her mind. Tomorrow could take care of itself.

  Nicolette focused on that golden glow. Separated from the patina of regret and sorrow, it would gleam like the sun itself. She remembered how it had felt to watch that lovely woman in her dress dance with the man who would share the rest of his life with her. Her eyes drifted open, and to her happy surprise, there were several glints of gold throughout the crowd.

  The woman doing the face painting had that golden glow, as did the young Hispanic teenager in the skater clothes. The two older women, hand in hand and carrying shopping bags over their shoulders, gleamed brightly
, and then she looked to her left.

  Sebastian was still on the phone, and swirling around his head, mixed with a bold sapphire she had come to associate with courage, was a pure and beautiful gold.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Do you have nothing better to do than to ask for status reports?” Sebastian asked irritably.

  “Sorry, Sebastian.” Stephan sounded a little regretful, but it was far from enough to suit Sebastian. “But when Templars are involved, I feel like keeping you in the loop. Not, you know, that you really seem to want to do the same.”

  Sebastian was pointedly silent, and Stephan sighed.

  “Something about the way that you were talking the last time we got on the phone together made me do some checking. Yes, all of the reports that we have for that entire area tell me that it's clean as a whistle, but it sounded like you thought different, and so I did some checking.”

  “And?”

  “And technically, it's still clean.”

  “Technically?”

  “There's no organized Templar activity down that way, but the coven over in Salem, well, they lost a warlock this time last year.”

  “Lost? What's that supposed to mean?”

  “Disappeared, vanished. Fine and happy one day, took off the next. People get stressed, get mad, they take off all the time, but they don't think that's what happened.”

  “Could a Templar knight have picked him off?”

  “I would say that's definitely a possibility. When we deal with Templars, we usually have to worry about things like raids. Those bastards are worse than locusts. It’s when they attack in numbers that we have to get our crops under cover, or our witches and warlocks inside, whichever metaphor you care to use.”

  “Stephan.”

  “Look, I don't have anything concrete, not really. But Templars that travel solo are nasty enough because once again, they look just like everyone else. And if you have a single Templar knight out there that is killing witches all on his lonesome? Well, that could be really bad.”