MASTER SEBASTIAN

Chapter 49

I followed the clink of keys down the hall. When the man paused, I reached out a hand to the bunch of keys hanging from a point in his ratty pants.

I hooked a finger into the bunch and lifted just as he continued his walk. If he'd turned around at that moment, he would have seen a set of keys dangling in the air.

Smiling to myself, I started back. I slipped into Sebastian's cell and started on his cuffs. They soon fell away. He flexed his hands, fisting them. A grim countenance fell over him.

He stood and I did the same, still intangible.

"We go now?" I asked tentatively.

He nodded once. "They double the watch around their boarders at night."

I nodded, following behind him. He slinked his way down the corridor, looking into the cells and trying to identify the travellers. I swallowed and told him quietly, "They're...gone."

I heard it when he sucked in a breath, tension coiling his shoulders. "What did they do to them?"

"They killed them, ate their remains."

His eyes bled to black. He might not have known them personally, but knowing Sebastian he had felt a like he owed it to them to protect them. I came forward and breezed a hand over his shoulders. Tension gradually left them. "I miss them," I said, "But there's nothing we could've done."

We continued along the passageways, seeing other prisoners in a state of unconsciousness. One of them caught my attention and I flew forward, my heart beating in hope. Fabien!

But just as I neared, he lifted his head and I saw it was a different person.

Acrid disappointment burned through my gut. I shrunk away from the cell, going back to Sebastian. But just as I found him, I saw we had company.

Three of those disgusting beings had spotted him.

But just as one ran to go and alert the rest, Sebastian traced behind him, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and twisted. I swallowed bike when his head tumbled down, pus, blood or whatever it was spurting from his severed head.

The rest came at him and he fought like a vampire possessed. With a dangerously calm expression on his face, he made a quick work of them. In a few minutes, dislocated arms, legs and heads littered the floor.

He started forward and I followed suit, sparing one last horrified look at the carnage before I scampered ahead.

We soon bursted out in the open. When I started to speak, he put a finger to his lips. "Shh. Stay here." He threw a look behind him, facing my direction once again. "I'll create a distraction. You go out through the gates."

I had barely nodded before he went into the night. I watched as he scaled the trees surrounding the tall walls. Then he dropped down, limbs still attached to the branch, grabbed one of the soldiers and hauled him up.

The soldiers instantly drew alert, staring at the empty spot their comrade had once been in.

A few seconds ticked by before his head was tossed down.

Then the uproar started. They ran in the direction of the trees, aiming their rifles upwards. The ear-splitting sound of bullets filled the air.