Sebastian's Past

Chapter 33: Sebastian's Past

Sebastian's POV
I caught Elara as she lunged at me, her magic sizzling around her hands like lightning. Her eyes burned with rage and sadness as she fought to reach Thorne's fallen body.
"You killed him!" she screamed, the silver crystal pulsing wildly in her clenched hand. "How could you?"
"He's not dead," I said, holding her arms to stop her from burning my face off. "The blade missed his heart. He'll heal."
Lyra ran to Thorne's side, placing her hands over the wound. Soft green light flowed from her fingers into his body.
"Why?" Elara ordered, tears streaming down her face. "Why would you do this?"
I released her when I felt her magic fade. The look of treason in her eyes cut deeper than any knife could.
"Because I had no choice," I said quietly. "Just like I had no choice centuries ago when I betrayed your mother."
Elara froze. "What did you just say?"
Lyra looked up sharply from where she knelt beside Thorne. "Sebastian, don't."
"She deserves the truth," I said. The weight of five hundred years pressed down on me. "All of it."
"You knew my mother?" Elara whispered.
I nodded, the images washing over me like a dark tide. "I didn't just know her. I loved her."
We moved Thorne into a small clearing where Lyra could better care his wound. The moon hung overhead, giving just enough light to see by. In the distance, something howled—not a werewolf, but too mournful to be a regular wolf.
"He'll live," Lyra stated after an hour of healing magic. "But he'll be unconscious for a while."
Elara sat with Thorne's head in her lap, rubbing his hair. She hadn't spoken since my confession, but her eyes never left me, full of questions and mistrust.
"I first met your mother in 1572," I began, knowing I could no longer hide the truth. "I was already two hundred years old. She was just twenty—young for a witch, especially one so powerful."
Elara's fingers stilled in Thorne's hair. "What was her name? My real mother?"
"Serena," I said, the name still sweet and painful on my lips after all these years. "Serena Nightshade. She was the daughter of the previous witch queen."
"You said you loved her," Elara prompted.
I looked into the darkness of the forest, seeing the past instead of the trees. "It was forbidden—a vampire and a witch. Our kinds had been enemies for ages. But Serena didn't care about old feuds. She thought the supernatural world could unite."
"Like the prophecy," Elara said.
"The prophecy didn't exist then," Lyra cut in. "Not until Serena created it."
Elara's eyes widened. "Created it? How?"
"With blood magic and sacrifice," I said. "But that came later, after... after I betrayed her."
The night seemed to grow cooler as I forced myself to continue. "The vampire council found our relationship. They threatened to destroy my entire bloodline—my human family I still protected—unless I showed my loyalty."
"What did they ask you to do?" Elara whispered, though I think she already guessed.
"They told me to steal the witches' most sacred object—the Moonstone. It contained the stored power of generations of witch queens." I closed my eyes, the shame burning inside me even after five centuries. "And I did it. I picked my family over the woman I loved."
Lyra made a disgusted sound. "You didn't just steal it. You killed three witches in the process."
Elara gasped. "Sebastian..."
"I'm not asking for forgiveness," I said quickly. "There is none for what I did. But you need to understand what happened next."
I moved closer, needing her to see the truth in my eyes. " Serena tracked me down. I expected her to kill me—I wanted her to. But instead, she told me she was pregnant."
The shock on Elara's face matched what I'd felt that night so long ago.
"With you?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No. With a child fathered by a witch elder. But she had a plan—a dangerous, clever plan."
"The prophecy," Lyra said. "My sister thought she could create a child who could unite the supernatural world. A child of three families."
Elara looked down at Thorne, then back to me. "But how? You said I wasn't your daughter."
"You're not," I confirmed. "But you carry a part of me. Serena used my blood—vampire blood—along with werewolf blood and her own witch blood in a spell to transform her unborn child."
"Children," Lyra corrected. "The magical energy split the egg. Twins formed—you and Orion."
Elara's hand went to her heart. "So I'm part vampire? Part werewolf?"
"And part witch," I said. "The first of your kind—a true mix. Created to bridge the gap between our species."
"But it went wrong," Lyra added. "The ritual was corrupted."
I nodded grimly. "By the same thing that now wears your brother's face. It felt the door opening between worlds and took advantage."
"What door?" Elara asked. "Everyone keeps talking about this door, but what is it really?"
"A barrier," I stated. "Between our world and... something else. Something old that wants in. The three supernatural races—witches, vampires, werewolves—were made to guard the door. Together, our power forms a lock. But a child with all three genes..."
"Could open it," Elara finished. "Or seal it forever."
"That's what your mother hoped," I said. "She wanted to seal it permanently, ending the need for our kinds to live separately. But when the rite was corrupted and the twins were split, the door cracked open instead."
Elara looked at the crystal in her hand. "And these crystals are the keys?"
"Yes," Lyra said. "Serena made them as a failsafe. If the door ever opened fully, the twins could use the crystals together to close it again."
"But it would require a sacrifice," I added quietly. "One of you would have to stay on the other side."
Elara's face paled. "That's why she split us. She didn't want us to ever have to make that choice."
"She died protecting you," I said, my voice breaking. "After you were born, the creature—the thing beyond the door—sent killers. I arrived too late to save her, but I helped Lyra hide you with a human family."
"And you've been watching over me all these years?" Elara asked. "Out of guilt?"
"At first, yes," I admitted. "But then I saw how special you were. How much like her you are. I swore I wouldn't fail you like I failed her."
"Yet you just stabbed Thorne," Elara pointed out coldly.
"To save him," Lyra answered. "The Harbingers are coming—witch hunters who think the door should never be closed. They've been following the crystal's power. Sebastian needed to make them believe he was on their side."
I nodded. "They've entered my vampire council. They offered to restore my family line if I delivered you and the crystal to them."
"And will you?" Elara asked, her voice barely audible.
Before I could answer, Thorne groaned. His eyes fluttered open, immediately finding Elara's face.
"Sebastian," he growled weakly. "He's a—"
"I know," Elara soothed. "He's explained everything."
"Not everything," I said, meeting Thorne's suspicious look. "Not yet."
A twig snapped in the forest. Then another. Something was moving toward us—many somethings, coming from all sides.
"They're here," I whispered, my vampire senses sensing at least a dozen figures surrounding us. "The Harbingers."
Lyra quickly drew a protection sign in the dirt. "It won't hold them for long."
Elara helped Thorne sit up, wincing at his pained face. "What do we do?"
I pulled an ancient dagger from my boot—the same one used in Serena's rite centuries ago. "There's one thing I never told anyone, not even your mother."
The rustle grew closer. We could see shadowy forms moving between the trees now.
"The vampire blood used in your creation wasn't just any vampire blood," I said, cutting my hand with the dagger. "It has special properties because of who I am."
Dark red blood welled from the cut, but instead of dripping down, it floated upward, glowing with an eerie blue light.
"Sebastian," Lyra gasped. "You're not just any vampire, are you?"
I shook my head as my blood made symbols in the air around us. "No. I'm the First. The original monster. And that means I can do what no other can."
I stretched my bloody hand toward Elara. "I can awaken your full power—all three genes at once. But it would mean tying us together forever. You'd be tied to me, to my life force."
"Don't trust him," Thorne growled.
The first Harbinger stepped into the clearing—a tall figure in a dark robe with a sign of an open door embroidered on the chest.
Elara looked from me to the coming enemies, her hand tight around her crystal. "Will it help me save Orion?"
"It might," I said honestly. "But it will change you forever."
The Harbingers raised their hands, dark energy gathering around their fingers.
"Elara, decide now!" Lyra cried.
Elara's eyes met mine—so much like her mother's it made my dead heart ache. She reached for my bloody hand.
The moment our fingers touched, her eyes turned totally black. The crystal in her other hand shattered into a thousand glittering bits.
"Sebastian," she whispered, but it wasn't Elara's voice anymore. "Did you really think I wouldn't recognize you after all these centuries?"
The voice from her lips was one I hadn't heard in five hundred years.
"Serena?" I gasped.