Story of Sebastian, Chapter Four
Features adult language.
When we last saw Sebastian on September 4, he’d just been killed only to awaken in a strange room to Paul’s crazy explanation…
“I see you understand,” Paul droned. “Open your eyes.” He laughed as Sebastian was forced to follow the command. “Good. Your first job is to find a woman for me.”
“I don’t think I know your type,” Sebastian interrupted and grinned. “Let me guess, you like them young and stupid with big breasts.”
“I like your spirit, I really do. Right now though, you’re going to listen and watch.” Paul’s hands waved through the air and a picture formed. “This woman is called Sorcha. You will find her somewhere in America. Find her and stay with her. I will tell you what else to do later.”
Sebastian fought the hold over him. “Two questions. One, how am I supposed to find her and, two, what if she kills me on sight?”
He studied the woman in the image while he waited for an answer. Long red hair, bright green eyes, and a deadened expression stared back at him. Sebastian was sure she’d drop him as soon as he waved in her direction. Of course, it could work in his favor and now he regretted asking. Something about the woman pulled at his memory though. He tried to study her further, but the image disappeared.
“Good points. The first is easy. You have an assignment, your angel skills will find her for you. As for the second, while it’s not easy to kill an angel, I can make it even harder.”
Sebastian’s skin tingled everywhere as Paul muttered some Latin sounding words. Great, Paul knew spells too, ensuring Sebastian was doubly screwed. The tingle grew to an annoying itch and his toes curled. He ground his teeth; his second life as an angel wasn’t starting out so well. And, if he was an angel of death and destruction, where was Death? Sebastian only knew the folktales, but he guessed Death would command an angel of death not some skinny punk.
“There,” Paul broke through his insights. “You’re now invincible, you’re welcome.”
“Gee, thanks,” he mumbled.
Sebastian felt the chains fall away from his body and stretched. He got up slowly, never taking his eyes off his opponent. With one chance at freedom he lunged instinctively from years of experience. Sebastian was going to hold true to his oath to tear the fucker limb from limb. He shot across the room aiming to take him down to the floor with a body tackle.
Paul grinned and stood his ground. Sebastian’s body stopped obeying him, swerving away from Paul and slamming into the concrete wall. He bounced off and onto the hard floor. It stung for a second, but Sebastian assumed he was fine. He shook his head and rolled his shoulders. Okay, so outright violence against his captor was off the menu. Lesson learned.
“Your hand,” Paul pointed.
Sebastian looked down to see his hand hung at an odd angle. Oddly, it didn’t hurt at all. Then, the bones moved under the skin and snapped back into place with a loud crack. “Holy hell…” He wiggled his fingers and stared in amazement. Fast healing powers, check.
“Something like that.” The voice was full of evil menace now, signally playtime and Paul’s patience were at an end. Sebastian climbed to his feet and stared the man down. So, there were rules to this game and he didn’t have the manual… just bloody wonderful.
“You can’t hurt your master…”
“No shit.”
Paul smiled again, chilling Sebastian to the bone as he moved closer. “Now go and find the woman.”
He was about to ask how again when his body come apart at a molecular level. His last thought before he disintegrated into the air was a need to kill.
Sebastian felt all the bits and pieces of his body as they found their correct matches. This was the first time he’d been aware of his body as it jogged through space. He wondered why it hadn’t hurt as his body burst into being. He wiggled his fingers, amused with himself and the whole process.
He’d barely begun to ponder the situation when a dagger sliced into his shoulder. Again, he registered no pain. Sebastian noted his body was already pushing the blade out. He lifted his head to casually look for its owner, studying the night around him.
The woman he was sent for watched him warily, another dagger rested lightly in her hand and her stance spoke of skill. Sebastian caught the knife as it worked free from his shoulder and studied it. Odd, it looked just like the type of dagger Dubhan favored. He looked up at her, pasted on what he hoped was a nice smile, and cocked his head. Well, time to make friends.
The second dagger hit closer to his heart as he took a step toward her. Sebastian blinked, surprised this injury stung a bit. He ripped the blade free and tossed it aside, allowing the wound to heal faster. She launched a third with his next step and he caught it easily. His patience and understanding wore thin with each new hole.
“Okay, knock it off!” He shouted, tossing the blade end over end in his hand. “It’s pretty obvious that tactic hasn’t worked.”
Her green eyes studied him coldly, iridescent in the moonlight. “And just what the hell are you?”
Sebastian couldn’t resist the opening, especially the way his day was going. “I’m your Guardian Angel, tada.”
His sarcastic response was the perfect one. Her eyes widened as her hand lowered. Good thing too, the woman was loaded with an arsenal of daggers. It could have taken a while before exhausting her weapon of choice. Sebastian found himself wondering what the blazes this female did and why she was so important to a sick man like Paul.
“They’ve noticed,” Sorcha murmured. Putting her blades away, she pulled her jacket over the straps crisscrossing her body.
“Excuse me?”
“The Gods,” she replied. “They’ve noticed all the good work I’ve been trying to do. They sent you to me.”
“Oh, right… the guardian angel thing. Well…”
“You are a guardian angel, right?” Again, her eyes narrowed and her fingers itched over her belt where more slice and dice awaited him.
Sebastian tried to tell her exactly what he was and why he was there. Maybe if he scared the crap out of her, she’d take off and he wouldn’t be able to carry out whatever sick orders he was given. The problem was nothing came out of his mouth. His voice stuck in the back of his throat causing him to choke. Sebastian finally gave up, swallowed, and started over.
“It’s complicated,” he coughed out. “I can’t go into it all Sorcha, so don’t ask again.”
That came out easier. Great, more rules he didn’t know about. Sebastian wondered how many rules there were to trip over. The new gig was going to be a trial and error type deal. Not a good plan when he was trying to save his ass, and hers. Oh, and his friend was still trapped in a dungeon. Perfect, like skipping through a minefield.
Sorcha moved a little closer, openly inspecting him. “You’re really who you claim to be?”
Funny, it’d been easier to spit out the word “angel” when he’d been sarcastic. Now when he was trying to be serious, he couldn’t get it out. Instead, Sebastian nodded. Gods, his second life was really going to be a pain.
Sebastian’s eyes widened as the biggest fireball he’d ever seen came hurling straight for his head. He was too stunned to counter; shocked the little thing in front of him had so much power. His analytical brain noted he would have to teach her to start with that parlor trick and save the knives for dessert.
His jumbled thoughts stopped as the fireball shrunk and disappeared before striking him. It happened so rapidly that Sebastian retraced the path with his finger in disbelief. Fireball sent, fireball coming, fireball gone. What the flipping… warning shot?
“How the hell did you do that?” Sorcha asked, moving back slowly from him as some other magic gathered in her hands.
Sebastian moved closer wanting to test the waters. Something told him she hadn’t fired a warning shot, so the stopping power had been all him. As he moved closer the magic between her palms sputtered out and he grinned. Angelic shield against powers, check. Finally one good perk of the job, except Sorcha looked ready to bolt.
“Magic doesn’t work on my kind,” Sebastian explained, forming the words around the roadblocks in his brain.
“Why are you here?” Sorcha asked.
Sebastian shrugged. “Hell if I know. This is where I was told to go, you are who I was told to find, and here I am.”
“You’re not a very helpful guardian angel.”
He didn’t miss the sarcasm in her words and shrugged again. “My boss isn’t very good at giving a lot of information or details.”
His flippant honesty seemed to calm her and Sebastian stepped back a few paces to give her room. Sebastian wasn’t sure why he was trying to win her trust. He should be sending her bolting for the hills. Maybe it was because of Paul’s control, but part of him admitted he wanted to help her. If he sent her running scared, Paul would find someone else to pick her up. Sebastian thought maybe he could offer a small shot at protection.
Sorcha walked away and sat back down by a small fire while he’d contemplated his purpose. Sebastian rolled his eyes at himself and moved to sit across the fire from her. She would think she’d earned a brain damaged angel if he kept spacing out to think. He focused on the small fire barely throwing off any heat or light. A pity since the temperature was dropping as the sun gave way to the moon.
“Where are we?” Sebastian asked to break the silence.
She didn’t seem surprised by the question. “America, the southwestern desert. Not many humans out this way yet.”
“So what are you doing out here?”
“Your boss is really bad with details,” she chuckled. “I’m hunting dark ones, loads of them out here too.”
“So why the small fire?” Sebastian pointed to it, knowing someone with her power could create a bonfire in a downpour.
She stared at him like he was crazy. “Sure, I could make a huge fire but then those inky bastards would know what was out here. I want them to think I’m some human, ripe for the picking.”
Sebastian sat back, momentarily surprised.“They don’t prey on humans.”
She scoffed, “Trust me, these ones do. They’re after someone.”
“So, I’m sitting in the middle of a trap with darkness closing in and dark ones everywhere in the shadows… did I miss anything?” At least his sarcasm still worked.
He heard a shuffle in the distance that raised the hair on his arms. She smiled. “I hope you have a weapon.”
She was looking forward to the fight; Sebastian saw it in her face. Gods, this woman was a blood-thirsty one! He wondered again what Paul wanted with her. If she was out hunting dark ones she was on the good side. Paul definitely was not. Was this petite woman really killing off enough foot soldiers that Paul would go through the trouble of finding and trapping an angel to send after her? And, what did he have for weapons? He couldn’t be hurt, but he wanted to help. Being able to stand there and take shots wasn’t very helpful unless Sebastian wanted to play shield.
“Excuse me a minute,” he said.
She nodded and he walked out a distance from the camp, checking to make sure she couldn’t see him. Sebastian closed his eyes and focused. Time for a lesson in angelic warfare. With only about 25 minutes to total darkness, it was going to be a crash course.
Return for the continuation of Sebastian’s story on November 6th, here on Digital Digest. And check out the ebooks available on Amazon and B&N
~Jennifer Feuerstein~
Copyright © 2011 Jennifer Feuerstein
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.
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