saint Sebastian the Rose

by Glover, Michael W.

  The coolness of the night matched his demeanor, and he saw the moon peeking from behind those treetops, watching him run as he never had before. The path was there—he saw it. He saw everything in minute detail, even though he ran at great speed—the stones here and there in the dirt, all lined with the trees he narrowly missed.

  He knew he was far from the monastery without even looking around. He had covered a lot of terrain in a short time, and he knew he was close. His instincts told him he was near but he probably didn’t even need his instincts because he knew this area better than almost anyone, and he knew his quarry.

  Finally slowing down, Sebastian settled into an easy walk and looked to the area around him; yes, he knew this area well, very well. He took a few steps and came out of the trees into the small clearing, a clearing that held things he recognized—the small pond and the stone bench he had spent so much time on in peaceful reflection. This was his place, a place he had not been able to see for some time because of events he did not want and could not stop. Now those events had brought him here and against his will; this was his peaceful place and he didn’t want it marred with bad memories.

  Sebastian walked around, finding the familiar landscape soothing, and looked up to the sky that could shine clearly down into the small area, giving the moon’s light full admittance. The trees he often felt protected him now seemed to speak as they moved with the breeze, telling him everything he didn’t want to hear. Listening carefully, he searched for that purveyor of knowledge, his owl, to see if everything he heard the trees telling him was true … but nothing came.

  The silence was signal enough, and Sebastian held out his arms in welcome and walked in small circles, showing himself to everything that might be watching. His face, once serious, presented a mocking smile as he continually turned in place. He grew tired of the game and wanted it all to be over. He would speak to the woods and see if they would speak back.

  “I am here. Will you not face me?” Sebastian yelled out in the night. His anger grew at the silence that should not be, and now he mocked the night and all in it.

  “This is my place and none shall venture here without my permission. I lay claim to all you see, and I shall not release to cowards who are not worthy!” Sebastian finished with great authority. The woods finally spoke.

  “My, how they have mighty words, the hubris of the young. How quickly they become self-absorbed,” said a voice from the dark. Sebastian looked for the source of the voice, and all he saw were the dark woods.

  “Arrogant, like those before me,” he spoke back to the blackness.

  Then the eyes appeared, and Baldric stepped out of the woods into the clearing, smiling at his most favored one, Sebastian.

  “Arrogance seems to run with our kind. It would seem that I have passed that on as well. I am not sure you should thank me for that.”

  “I will thank you for nothing, unless you see fit by granting my wish and die before me. You have taken from me so much of myself that there is hardly anything left. I fear I will become a mere shadow of something I will not recognize.”

  “You have become more than you know, and you can become even more, but only through me,” Baldric said, presenting the path he wanted for the both of them.

  Sebastian shook his head in disbelief. “I am not so dead I would ever give up what I have to follow you, and you shall not make me ever want such a life.”

  “Would such a life be so bad? Could you even imagine one I can give you?” Baldric enticed him.

  Sebastian could not even fathom the logic that fixed itself to the words, yet somehow there was still something. He again shook his head.

  “In all of your years, you still do not understand anything that life has tried to teach you. You are hollow because its meaning for you has remained hidden. You chase it half-heartedly and because you do that, meaning is always one step ahead, always turning the next corner as you round yours and only there long enough for you to recognize it,” Baldric hypothesized.

  “I know what is there—danger and evil. You are there. You are always there to strike at me and take away any happiness that I possess. Most people have a guardian angel but you—you are a devil sent to tempt and destroy. Why must you plague me?” Sebastian asked, exhausted.

  “I am not your devil or anyone else’s devil. I am what anyone or anything is to others: I am the chance, the coincidence, or the quirk of fate. We are two roads that connect and merge to become one for some distance. That is all we are.”

  Sebastian did not want to listen to his simple logic. There was more; there had to be so much more. He would not explain away the tragedies in his life to mere coincidence and the eventual happenings of the passing day.

  Deep in thought, too deep in thought, Sebastian caught himself once again not aware. He looked up and saw that Baldric was closer, much closer to him. He shook the confusion from his head and fixed his gaze upon the center of his torment, and his thoughts became clear again. Sebastian’s eyes went from dark to burning. Baldric recognized the change and stopped.

  “I would have been happy for a normal life. I would have been happy to have lived a short life if that life had been void of you. You, who are my anti-self, the rock in my shoe, the thorn in my side; you will not be the sun in my eyes blinding me from the truth.”

  Baldric put some distance between them again, keeping away from the visibly angry Sebastian.

  Sebastian realized he was burning down the last bridge standing between him and his maker and was possibly setting himself up for the worst fight he had ever seen, and more than likely, his death. He readied himself and slowly stepped forward, keeping a wary eye on his maker as he skirted the edge of the pond.

  In silence they paced each other. Baldric backed, never looking behind him as Sebastian stalked him. They were like two boxers in a ring waiting to see who will throw the first punch. The small open area seemed a great stage with spotlights and all as Mother Moon shown down on two of her children.

  Sebastian was not so eager as to lunge at his most hated foe, but he was not going to let him get away. He kept pace with him. He figured Baldric had his moves planned already and once again Sebastian was just coming onto a board that had already been set against him. That was always the way with his kind but somehow he had never acquired that gift, in that way he lived like most humans, day by day.

  In slow motion they mirrored each other’s movements and Sebastian worked over what he should do. He was trying to predict what Baldric was planning, and that’s when it hit him. Baldric did already know what he was going to do. Sebastian had only thought of it with some dark humor about his kind, but it was true. He was quite literally following his maker into a trap; he now knew this with all certainty. This changed things immensely, like an epiphany that opens all of the doors in the brain at the same time, showing a clear path for thoughts to navigate.

  Sebastian felt more confident knowing he was surely walking to his death and vaguely smiled at the notion that he was still willingly moving in that direction. A thought came to him: Baldric obviously wanted him to follow him around this small pond, so why should he follow him? Surely he should change the rules of the game, if it was not too late. If he was not too many moves into the board, then maybe he could have a more even playing field and then everything would be up to his wits and his abilities against Baldric’s.

  Coming to a stop, Sebastian watched for any change in his foe’s demeanor or direction. He noticed Baldric stopped also. With his attention so focused on what Baldric was going to do, Sebastian failed to notice something else. Baldric’s face gave away a slight smile very similar to the one Sebastian just had, but Sebastian could not understand what he was smiling about, and that concerned him. Surely he had gone too far onto the board before he noticed he was in trouble.

  Baldric’s smile came as he watched a form rise from the dark waters of that small pond behind his young friend. That form was deathly quiet as it rose from the water that it had taken shelter
in. A figure that stood out starkly from everything around it, clothed in all white with a complexion to match. Constance eyed her quarry with unbridled glee; this would be her revenge against the willful youth.

  Sebastian pondered over what was going to happen. He knew it would be quick and should take him by surprise. He thought about Baldric and what he would plan. As he watched him he remembered his foe, one that never worked alone and always manipulated events, ensuring the odds were stacked in his favor. Suddenly Sebastian realized he would not be alone, and that almost crushed his hopes, small as they were that he might come out of this on top.

  His mind reeling with possibilities and his eyes trying to see what he knew he would not be able to, he reached out with his senses to try to understand the board as it was set. Sebastian looked back at Baldric who stood in his same place and knew he was only a diversion. Constance slowly stalked him, supremely confident that her will would be done.

  There were no sounds; the clearing was as peaceful as he had ever remembered it. The only thing that came was the sound of an owl, the owl that had always been there to tell Sebastian it was time, that another hour had passed, or that it was time for him to head back to his home where he would be safe. This time he felt his owl was telling him something else, a simple fact he was in danger, something he already knew. But maybe it was more than that; maybe it was knowing that he was in very real and very near danger.

  Sebastian took this in and felt he should trust his feathered Companion and his instincts, which now told him he was no longer alone with his maker and that the scales had shifted in his favor. Constance was upon him, bending her head slightly to the side to take what she wanted and render Sebastian helpless. The little clock of alarm went off in his head suddenly; Sebastian willed his body to fade, and without warning he was gone, leaving Constance alone and grasping at nothingness.

  Now her alarms sounded as the tables had been turned against her, and the surprise was no more. She turned quickly in place to find her prey now behind her. Sebastian grabbed her by the arms and slung her around, releasing her into the air and sending her flying into a nearby tree with a thud before she fell to the ground in a heap. Constance looked up to Sebastian; she smiled and frowned at the same time. She stood up and walked behind the tree she had been flung into and she was gone. This was not good. Sebastian waited. He did not have to wait long as a large tree trunk came flying his way. He quickly leapt into the air to avoid being impaled or crushed by the force of the incoming object.

  Having avoided the object as it passed beneath him he took in the scene below him as he began to descend. His descent would have been soft had it not been for the flying body tackle he received mid-air, sending him into the pond. Like a weight the two sank into the water deeper and deeper. They fought for control over and over, trying to gain the upper hand in the wrestling match, and Constance was winning. She was very strong; her eyes alone told the story of that strength as they burned in the murky water. The price for that power must have been terrible.

  Sebastian knew he was losing the underwater battle and soon she would have him in control and exactly where she wanted him. There would be no saving him if he fell to her bite. Reaching into one of his small pouches he searched for one thing, something that might do him just as much harm as it would her. Finding the small silver crucifix he felt the familiar sting it always brought. He held on tight against the pain and began focusing on all good thoughts as he brought the thing up against Constance’s face. The very water around them came to a boil, bringing steam to the surface like a hot spring.

  Constance let out a cry that would not be heard for its great range or pitch because of the muting water, but the effect was complete as she let go of Sebastian and shot out of the water. Sebastian quickly let go of the crucifix and permitted it to fall to the floor of the pond. He too had felt the effects and thought it would be best if he just followed the path downward to the bottom where he too might find a place to rest. The thought passed like the pain he had felt, and he realized his task was not complete.

  Sebastian paused momentarily, partially recovering from the pain but also setting his own plan; this was his turn to plan. He located the necessary item, the one he had kept with him in hopes of having for a reason to use it, and that purpose was now crystal clear to him. Slowly he began to rise to the surface; Sebastian knew he would be under attack as soon as he broke the surface.

  Reaching the top, his head and shoulders emerged. He looked around, and there coming at him, flying through the air as fast as a bullet was the white blur—Constance. Before she reached him Sebastian clenched the ivory handle tightly and greedily, waiting for her, knowing he had already won. Constance landed on him, grasping his neck with both hands and smiling in apparent victory. Sebastian stared at her, not fighting in the least.

  The silver blade was then thrust into her chest with everything he had; the strike was perfectly placed. The hilt of the short sword butted up against her body as its nasty point protruded from her back. A trickle of blood stained her white clothes as it ran down into the water. Her face changed from one of glee and victory to one of disbelief and finally to emptiness as she fell into the darkness of her own mind.

  Sebastian let go of her body and felt the lifeless thing brush against him as it sank to the bottom. His revenge from her previous attack did not leave him with any feeling of accomplishment or joy, and he exited from the cold water with all of the enthusiasm of a zombie.

  Sebastian was drenched and weary, his clothes still stained by the blood of many. Even the water would not wash it away. He came back to the spot he had once occupied when his friend and now protector owl had warned him that once again it was time. Here he waited for whatever would come from Baldric.

  “You have proved yourself once again. You have fought one more powerful than yourself, and still you are victorious. Will you not come with me? I ask you once more. I feel my world without you will not be the same,” Baldric said with much melancholy in his voice; he seemed almost sincere.

  “I cannot give you something that is not in my heart to do. You will have to take what you want if that is your wish. If I give you any more of myself there will be nothing left,” Sebastian stated. “It is my turn to ask for something from you.”

  Baldric did take notice of this and smiled broadly at the arrogance of his son. He had killed many before for such behavior, but this one had earned more respect than any he had ever known. He nodded his head, only wanting to play out their epic relationship that he was sure would go on for centuries.

  “What can I do for my most cherished son? Surely a father would not deny his son a most heartfelt request.”

  Sebastian’s brain toyed with the brief notion that he would be granted what he wanted, but stranger things had happened, perhaps.

  “Would you leave me and those I love and never come back?” he asked.

  Baldric felt those words and their sincerity. He felt the ache in the plea as someone who knows heartache; he surely had, but that was centuries ago. He also felt the pain of rejection; this he was all too familiar with, a feeling he had long grown immune to. This time, however, he felt its sting. Even his twisted soul was tormented with the struggle he was presented with.

  Baldric took a few steps forward, emerging from the dark shadows to stand in the moon’s glow. His eyes had dimmed a bit, and his hair, which glowed with a shimmering brilliance like strands of illuminated fiber, blew in the breeze. The facial features softened from one of harsh villain to gentle friend. Sebastian was taken aback by the change, a change he had seen several times with this one, a change that marked the madness that was held inside.

  “I do not pretend to deny that I have not often granted another’s wish over my own, but none have ever so deserved,” Baldric said, walking ever closer to stand before Sebastian. Sebastian stood there, only ten feet from the one thing in this world he cared not to be close to. “I will leave. This is your land and you are the lord of the manor an
d I … am an unwelcome guest.”

  Baldric bent in a low bow before Sebastian and held his position momentarily, then stood upright again in silence. Sebastian held himself. He dared not to say anything, knowing he might upset that madness again. Baldric locked eyes with Sebastian and did not want to let go, but just as Sebastian felt the permanence of that stare, Baldric turned and walked toward the woods, and there the darkness consumed him.

  Sebastian felt a little dizzy and in a dreamlike state. The world was a strange place and even stranger if you are a vampire in a world caught somewhere in between. Life for most is hard but he thought to himself that if he had to endure many more times like this he would not last much longer. Standing in his place that was peaceful again but now held many more memories … and ones he did not care to remember … he took into account the future that now seemed to hold possibilities that might have life to them.

  He would have to go back and face what the future had brought him and what was now his present. One problem was replaced with another when he remembered the scene he had left in such a hurry: many of his friends were down, and most likely some would not survive. His home had suffered a harsh reality and they would have to pick up the pieces.

  Sebastian half-walked, half-stumbled in the small clearing, realizing he too had suffered greatly this night. Along the way he had been injured many times, ignoring the pain and the loss of blood he was in such a need of. His whole body ached, and he wondered if he would make it back to his home given the sudden realization of his condition … and the time. The night had passed, and no one had noticed that the sun would soon be on its way.

  Sebastian had used up most of his energy in his many exertions tonight, ignoring his body’s need and injuries, and now he was facing not even making it back to his remaining friends. He shook himself from his weariness and focused; he was still standing in his clearing but pointed in the correct direction … a good start, he thought.