Sebastian (7 page)

“That's usually a good sign,” he commented to Nicolette.

Though she didn't lose the watchful wary look, she did seem a bit curious.
 

 
“What is?”

“Karas, your familiar. He trusts me, and that usually means that you can too.”

“Karas has a brain the size of an acorn. I think I can be excused for not thinking he's an amazing judge of character.”

“Suit yourself, but he does know where the food comes from.”

He crossed to the refrigerator, which had been stocked in preparation for his arrival. Sebastian pulled out a package of lunch meat. The crow obviously knew what that was. He hopped excitedly until Sebastian pulled out a few slices and fed them to him. Karas gulped down the meat quickly, a sight that made Nicolette smile. It was something at least.

“I can't imagine that you're here because Karas needed a meal. I would feed the both of you and more, quite willingly, but there's something else on your mind.”
 

Nicolette looked nervous for a split second, and then she nodded.

“Just so you know, this isn't easy for me,” she said softly. “I've been on my own for almost a decade now. I've done just fine without you or the Corps.”

“You've done very well,” Sebastian said, keeping the hope from his voice. “You've shown that your tough and capable, and that means something coming from someone like me.”

Nicolette didn't look impressed, only uneasy.

“I thought I had everything about my powers figured out. God only knew that Vacek made me drill with them often enough. He would take me to a crowded place and force me to take readings on every single person that came by. Over and over until I thought my head would crack open, until I thought I was going to be physically sick.”
 

Sebastian winced.

“That's not the way it's meant to be,” he said softly. “Your gifts are meant to be nurtured, to be trained with kindness, not cruelty.”

Nicolette made a cutting motion with her hand.

“I don't care what its supposed to be like, all I know is what it was like for me. That's what it was like, and I figured that after we went through all that work, we knew where the limit of my abilities were. Then today…”

“Today?”

“I looked at a woman's aura. I opened my eyes to see what it was, and it was beautiful. It was a lifetime of love that she had allowed in. It made her shine like a new penny, and it was beautiful.” Nicolette shook her head. “Maybe I looked too long. I don't know. All I do know is that suddenly, I was looking into her past, seeing who she was and what made her into the person she was. I didn't expect that. I don't know what's happening to me.”

She turned hot eyes to Sebastian, and he realized that she was angry.

“Did you do that to me?” she demanded. “Did you do something to me last night?”

Sebastian shook his head. More than anything else, he wanted to come to her, to wrap his arms around her and to explain to her why she should not be even a little afraid.

“It wasn't me,” he said softly. “It was all you. When a witch spends time among her own, especially when there is a connection there, her powers become magnified. She can open doors inside herself that she never thought possible before. This is something that has been known for centuries. That's why rogues never become quite as powerful as the witches and warlocks that live in covens.”

“Then you did do this to me.”

“No, we did it together.” Sebastian sighed, running both hands through his hair. “I am not your enemy, Nicolette. I never will be. After you left, I spent the rest of the day looking for the man who came into your tent before me. He's a Templar, and he is dangerous. He has found you. And if he is anything like the Templars I've dealt with in the past, he will not stop until he has found you again. He wants to kill you.”

Nicolette was on her feet, hands fisted at her sides.

“Do you think I don't know that?” she cried. “Do you think that Vacek didn't
beat
that into me? I know what the Templars are. I'm not some green witchling that you can trick into being terrified!”
 

Sebastian's temper snapped like a dry twig.

“Trick you into being terrified? Are you serious? Templars are a real threat! I'm not trying to make you jump at bogeymen! I'm trying to show you what risks you take by living on your own, by living without a coven to protect you and watch your back!”
 

“I know what living with a warlock is like, and I would rather have the Templars!”
 

Sebastian was taken aback by the vehemence in her voice.

She shook her head. “You don't get it, do you?” she said bitterly. “Just look at you.”
 

Sebastian glanced down in confusion. He was wearing the clothes he typically wore when he was on the hunt in the city. It was a dark suit over a charcoal shirt. Subtle and small enough to miss was the iron pentacle pin he wore on his lapel. It signaled his rank to anyone who knew what it was, and that combined with the obvious luxury of the suit put most people in awe.

“What do you mean?”
 

“I mean that as far as I'm concerned, there's not much damn difference between you and the Templars. I mean that you both want me, and you don't care what I want.”

“What do you want then?” Sebastian's question was uttered as a challenge, and it made Nicolette go still. “Well? You keep telling me that you want your way. Well Nicolette, what is that?”

“Please…” she said, her voice soft.

He shook his head. “You say you know what the Corps does, but I don't think you do. I'm not here to exploit you. I'm not here to force you to do anything that you don't want to do. The Corps, from the commandant to the greenest first lieutenant, is here to serve. We don't make the rules, we enforce them, and a huge part of that is protecting people. We protect people just like you, Nicolette.”

“Where were you?”
 

 
“What?”
 

“Where were you?” she repeated. When she looked up, her eyes bright with unshed tears, Sebastian froze. “Where were you when I was taken to meet Vacek? Someone I didn't know dropped me off, told me that he would help me. I…I was so afraid. I thought I was going crazy. Then these people show up, people just like you. They told me that Vacek would
help
me.”

“They were wrong, and I'm sorry, Nicolette.” Sebastian's heart squeezed in his chest. He deserved every bit of her scorn, the entire Corps did.

“Where were you when he made me train until I threw up? Where were you when it still wasn't good enough, and he broke my ribs?”
 

She shook her head, and hunched her shoulders to make herself look small. He wondered if that was something she had learned from her time with Vacek. He wished he could kill the man all over again.
 

 
“It's different now,” he repeated. “I swear, if you chose to come back to the Wiccan world, it would be entirely different.”

She snorted, but there was a vulnerable feeling to it.

“I've been alone for so long.”

“You won't lose the ability to be alone, I swear. Just…just let me take care of you for a while.”
 

“A while?”

“A few days. Even one day, if that's all you will give me. Let me teach you the way you should have been taught. It's not my specialty, but please. Everything I teach you will make you stronger, I swear. It will give you an edge. It’ll help you live how you want to live rather than leaving you afraid of the people who might be coming after you.”

She wavered, and he could see how close she was to simply leaving. She had stayed under the radar for such a long time that he was certain she could continue doing it. So he played the last card he had.

“I can show you how the Corps operates,” he said softly. “How we track and how we find you.”

“You would teach me how to beat the Corps?”

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.”

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.

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.