Chapter 8
As Sebastian plugged in his phone and got ready to turn in for the night, he heard movement from the front of his home. Sitting up, he reached over to his nightstand cautiously, his ears straining to hear. Had he been imagining things? For a moment, he wondered if it was Leona, but quickly squashed that possibility. They had just agreed to meet each other another time. Her friends, perhaps? Even more unlikely.
Before he could get his weapon out of the drawer beside him, a figure”s platinum hair shone through the darkness. Sebastian grunted and slumped in relief, before shaking his head. “Charlotte! You almost got stabbed.”
“You’re so dramatic,” the blonde scoffed as she turned on the light, causing Sebastian to wince and blink a few times. “What are you doing?”
“What am I doing? What are you doing?! It’s nearly one in the morning and you have broken into my house.”
“Again, dramatic. It’s not breaking in if you have a key, we’ve been over this. Besides, I’m getting used to my new future life. If I don’t get to enjoy the sunlight anymore, I want to try to get used to nightlife. It’s rather pretty, you know. Quiet, the stars are visible when the pollution isn’t heavy in the sky, and the moonlight shines so beautifully on foggy nights in the Quarter.”
Sebastian huffed and tried to ignore everything she was saying. Why was she treating this as if she was going on some fancy vacation abroad? This was a permanent vacation, from literal human life. He, of all people, understood the urge to say ‘fuck it’ to being alive in the hellhole they called Earth, but to do it for the rest of eternity? And you couldn’t even eat pizza anymore? Why the hell would he want to do that? Why would anyone want to do that?
As much as he was warming up to Leona, it didn’t mean he wanted to uproot his entire lifestyle to become some creature. It was still even surreal to wrap his head around the fact that this was real.
“I’m tired, Charlie. I’m sure whatever you’re here to tell me or do could have been accomplished in a text message or phone call,” Sebastian groaned, lying down against the pillows. He pulled the covers over him to try and shield his eyes from the harsh light. “That’s your cue to leave.”
“Come on,” Charlotte said. After a moment, Sebastian felt a dip beside him and knew any further complaints or requests for her to leave would be fruitless.
“Okay, fine. Fine. What do you want? Make it quick, if possible. Some of us aren’t practicing being undead.”
“I just wanted to talk to you. About everything. Have you even had a real conversation with Vic about this?”
“What is there to say, Charlie?” he asked, pulling the covers down from his face. He stared at her and wondered how different she would be if and when she actually went through with this transformation. Would her eyes still be the same? Her smile? Her kind-hearted yet fierce nature? Would she want to kill him? Would she change from the woman he’d grown to love so hard he’d take a bullet for her?
“He’s upset that you’re upset. We both care about you, Sebby. That hasn’t changed, nor will it ever. I hope you know that. I know you don’t understand, but your support would mean the world to us. We don’t want to live without you. He’s worried about you.”
“Worried about me? What about himself? You?”
“There’s nothing you can say that will change our minds, Sebastian. I know it doesn’t make sense. I know you don’t agree. I know it’s scary. But I want you to listen to what I’m saying: we aren’t going anywhere. We will be here with you always. Just like we promised. Okay?”
“I’m not a child,” Sebastian muttered. “You don’t have to do this with me, you know.”
“I never said you were a child. But your panic attacks get worse when a major change happens. You did this when your parents died. You did it when we were talking about moving away from New York. You try to shut us out and it only makes things worse. You promised last time that if this happened again, you would listen to me and talk to me. Remember what your therapist said?”
“I haven’t been to therapy in years.”
“Exactly. You don’t know how to cope. I can’t force you to get the help you need, but I can at least try and give it to you myself. What are you feeling? You can yell, you can break something, you can storm out of the room. I just want to hear what you’re thinking. You’re always so enigmatic.”
Sebastian blinked a few times, feeling his chest grow tight. This was not something he was prepared to address or talk about, especially with her. He should have expected it though. He had been ghosting Victor’s texts and calls and was rather surprised he hadn’t shown up out of the blue like his wife had. Charlotte was always the more... forward one of them all.
“It feels like you’re leaving me,” Sebastian eventually murmured.
Charlotte’s eyebrows stitched together in concern and she slipped her hand into his, their fingers intertwining. “Why does it feel like that, Sebby?”
“Because...” Sebastian started, feeling frustrated that his thoughts were all over the place. Usually, he was calm, cool, and collected, but currently, he felt like a fog was suffocating every part of his brain that strung together intelligent, well-rehearsed sentences. “You’re going to become these... these things. You’re getting a new family. One that has powers. One that’s unbelievably beautiful. They have seen so much, been through so much, and are all around much more interesting than anyone we’ve ever met. You’re going to be part of their world. And I’m going to be here. The human. The only human.”
Charlotte listened to him, letting him get it all out before she responded. Using her free hand, she gently stroked some of his dark waves away from his face, then settled her palm against his cheek. “You’re my best human. You always have been. You say you’d be lost without us... We’d be lost without you. You bring so much light to our lives, Sebastian. Anyone is lucky to be in your presence. I know you don’t believe me, but... I wish you did. I wish there was a way I could convince you how wonderful you are,” she said, searching his eyes. “You are completely unforgettable. There is not a scenario in any universe where you, Victor, and I don’t find each other. We are linked forever.”
“We won’t be. I’ll die. You’ll continue living. You get forever. I get a few more decades.”
“Hopefully more than a few,” Charlotte teased gently, a pretty, soft smile spreading across her lips. She gently stroked Sebastian’s cheek with her thumb, wanting to soothe any worries he had. “Do you hate us, Sebby?”
The man hesitated, thinking about that question. His brain couldn’t even compute that emotion about the Labasques. “I could never.”
“Good,” Charlotte said. Sliding her hands from his hand and cheek, she snaked her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in close for a hug. Her eyes fluttered shut and she merely breathed him in. She felt his grip tighten on her, like a vice, and she felt his body shudder ever so slightly against her. Not wanting to draw attention to his emotions — something she knew he had trouble experiencing — she merely held him until he caught his breath. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” she eventually whispered against his hair.
“I was thinking about Mom. Losing her.”
Charlotte’s throat grew small and she nodded. “I know, honey. This isn’t going to be like that, though. Do you hear me?” she asked, pulling back just enough so they could come face-to-face. She wiped his damp cheeks, then held him there. “We got through that. Together. We got through New York and school together. We got through moving here together. That’s what we do, Sebby. That’s what you and Victor have always done. We would never let anything bad happen to you.”
“Okay,” Sebastian whispered. He did feel like a child. Their child. Even though they were all within a couple of years of age of each other.
“I’m still sensing some worries in that big brain of yours,” Charlotte said, wiping more tears from his cheeks. “Anything else?”
“You know you’re going to have to kill people. When you become like them.”
Charlotte slowly moved her hands from his face, dropping them in her lap. “Yes.”
“You have never done that before.”
“Obviously.”
“I have.”
Charlotte frowned and shook her head. “That was different, Sebastian, and you know it. That bastard deserved what he got. You were avenging your mom. I told you not to blame yourself for that anymore.”
“Doesn’t matter the circumstances. I still killed him, Charlie. I took someone’s life, even if that someone was evil. I will deal with that for the rest of my days. I still have nightmares about that terrible night. Are you ready to do that over and over again?”
The blonde processed that information. That night — that time — had truly been horrendous. Even she and Victor carried trauma from it. It had been messy, both literally and figuratively, and had been extremely costly in every sense of the word. She was glad it was well behind them.
“It’s something I’ve thought about a hundred times, Bas. You know better than anyone that some people shouldn’t be on this planet. Your father was one of them. You know that. He deserved what he got. I just hate that it had to be you.”
Sebastian agreed with her. Of course he did. He hated his father and hadn’t shed a tear over him. He hadn’t even had a funeral for him. His mother was a different story. Even though she wasn’t the most present parental figure in the world, she tried. He saw it then and he saw it even more now as an adult who was used to life without her. Sebastian had always felt the urge to protect her because she was unable to do so herself. But life was cruel, and no matter how hard he tried, it hadn’t been enough. She died scared and in a horrifically brutal way. There had been countless nights where he lay awake wondering what he could have done differently that would have kept her alive. He just hoped she hadn’t felt pain past a millisecond.
“Do you want to come back to the house with me? Stay over? Victor will be so happy,” Charlotte suggested, her voice laden with hope.
“No,” Sebastian answered, before he could change his mind. “I’ll come by tomorrow though. I’ll talk to him.”
The woman smiled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “My Sebby.”
“Enough,” he groaned, shaking his head away from her. “Do you need me to order you a ride home?”
“Well... I walked here.”
“You walked here?!”
“It’s not that far.”
“It’s the middle of the night! You know better,” Sebastian snapped. “Anything could have happened to you. There are all sorts of crazy fuckers lurking on the streets at night.”
“I know this city well, Bas, and it’s barely half a mile.”
“All it takes is one second and you’re gone. Or worse. I don’t even want to think about that...”
“If you’re so worried, you can always walk me home.”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes and all but glared at her. “I hate you, you know.”
The blonde beamed and sprung from the bed. “My big strong protector.”
“Shut up,” Sebastian muttered, yanking the covers off him. He stood and pulled on some jeans over his boxers, then grabbed a hoodie.
“You might as well just stay the?—”
“I know the drill,” Sebastian interrupted, grabbing his phone. “Come on, damsel in distress. Let’s go.”