AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Right.” Leon still sounded slightly concerned but also convinced, which Sebastian was grateful for. “So then, how did this man get here, comatose, in your parents’ basement?”
Sebastian traced his finger along the scar across the man’s neck. “Probably bled out, went brain-dead before they could save him, but not before they could save the body.” Then he shrugged. “My family’s built up connections over the generations we’ve been here that can make sure any unclaimed bodies like that come to us. And maybe occasionally some claimed ones too.”
Leon didn’t reply right away, and Sebastian sighed.
“I know it’s unsavory.”
“It is what it is.” Leon’s presence in his mind fluttered a bit as though it were shaking off the conversation. “It’s what makes you possible, so I’ll take it.”
Sebastian blushed hard and ducked his head, acutely aware of his parents in the room with them and that damned inscrutable look they kept giving each other. “Like I said, flatterer.”
His father cleared his throat. “Are you ready, Sebbie?”
Sebastian nodded and pulled his shoulders back. “Yeah. Just prepping Leon.”
“Sebastian…”
“Are you ready?” Sebastian cupped the back of the neck of the body on the gurney, bringing Leon’s palm to the man’s nape.
“Yes, just, before you go…”
“What?” Sebastian cocked his head, fighting off the awkwardness of his parents still staring at him with shrewd expressions. “What is it?”
Overwhelming frustration. “Damn it, never mind. Nothing.”
His mother put her hands on her hips. “Sebbie?”
“Just a minute.” Sebastian scowled at his mother. “Leon, what?”
“Nothing, just go.” Leon pressed on his mind in a way that felt like pulling as much as it felt like pushing.
Sebastian hesitated, suddenly reluctant to break the connection. He’d never be this close to Leon again. That was probably all for the best, but what if Leon put his walls back up? What if he was cold and callous and never let Sebastian close again?
“Leon—”
“Just go. They’re waiting.”
Leon felt in turmoil, and it pained Sebastian to pull away. With a force of will, he unhooked his barbs from Leon’s brain and felt their minds slide free of each other. In their last connection, moments before Sebastian cut himself free, he felt Leon grasp at him.
“Shit. Sebastian, I love you. I lo—”
And then instinct propelled Sebastian out of the slit in Leon’s neck. He raced down his arm, down to somewhere he could breathe and survive, and sliced smoothly into the waiting body on the gurney. He tightened his barbs into place, snapped his eyes open, and he inhaled on a gasp.
He sat up quickly, too quickly, and he swayed and slid sideways.
“Fuck—”
“I got you.” His mother’s arms came around him and righted him before he could fall out of the gurney.
“Leon—”
“I got him,” his father said calmly before Sebastian could even form the question. “He’s—whoa there.”
Sebastian wrenched his head around to see Leon lurching out of his father’s grasp, shaking his head, and clutching the back of his neck. He flinched when Sebastian’s father put a hand on his shoulder, but didn’t shake him off, and finally looked back up at the three of them with a dazed expression.
“Oh god.” Leon blinked a few times and then brought his other hand up to his head. He dropped his forehead into his palm. “Oh god.”
“What’s wrong?” Sebastian leaped from the gurney and stood in front of him instantly. I love you. “Are you alright?”
