The Devil Doesn't Bargain (MatD part 2)

Chapter TWENTY FIVE - Direct Experience

Flickering candles seemed thunderous in the deafening silence, burdens of the past sitting heavy on our chest. It seemed we all held our breaths, even Sebastian whose jaw was clenched and eyes flicked back and forth between the three of us.

Anne was the first to send tremors through the stillness, her voice leaden and heedful. "Sebastian-"

As if that was the only spark he needed to push forward, Sebastian stumbled on. "It's not exactly... It's just that-" His gaze paused on mine a moment, holding it through a large breath before immediately darting it back to his friend. "Ominis, can I talk to you a moment? Alone."

Ominis' head twitched to the side, nose raised slightly - a movement he normally only did when he hadn't quite heard something.

"I- Sebastian..."

"Please?" He fiddled with his bottom lip between his teeth. "I should have talked to you first but- I was- I was too excited with the lead..."

Anne and I eyed each other over the boys, equally as confused though I couldn't help the tiny swell in my heart at Sebastian's consciousness to loop Ominis in instead of keeping him in the dark as he had before, no matter how late.

Perhaps, this Sebastian could be different than the one that harbored the relic.

Brahms was gently discarded to the floor and the two boys walked to the farthest corner of the room, voices hushed and brows pulled tight. Sebastian took another deep breath and began speaking, eyeing his friend up and down. Ominis stilled, body ridged and fingers clenched in fists, his skin far paler than usual and I worried he might retch.

Perhaps this wouldn't be so different after all.

Sebastian pushed forward, lifting his hand to touch his friend's arm but seeming to think better of it and dropping it back to his side. His words hurried, rapid and seemingly long though I couldn't make out a single one. Through it all, Ominis pulled at the fabric of his sleeves, nose to the ground as he listened. Yet, the color had begun to return to his cheeks and his brows had loosened ever so slightly.

Anne, pulled herself to my side and threaded her fingers through mine.

"How are you feeling?"

"Confused." I pulled my eyes from the boys only to find her head cocked and eyebrow raised.

"I meant the curse." She nodded to my chest.

Looking down, I found my other hand clenched within the fabric there, something I hadn't even noticed I'd done. It was at this realization that another tugged at its shadow. Pain. The smallest bout of pain the curse seemed to cary with a constant piercing nagging just below my chest. It was oftentimes ignorable on the best days, something I'd grown used to. It seemed to ease slightly with a bit of pressure and apparently, the motion of pushing my hand to my chest had become so routine, I was doing it on muscle memory alone.

"Oh."

Anne's warm smile curled around my cheeks. "Here, try this." Lifting my hands gently, she tucked them behind my neck so that my elbows pointed to the floor. "Now squeeze."

I did as I was told and was surprised by the flickering sort of relief that drained from my chest. It wasn't absolute, but it was far better than anything the pressure at my chest had been able to relieve.

"I don't know why it helps. For me though, this kept that ache at bay for at least a little while, until it decided it had had enough of me and gave me a few hours of normalcy."

"Thank you." I hugged my neck tighter, smiling up from between my elbows.

Anne had parted her lips to respond but the raised voices of our counterparts clamoring in the corner drew our attention away. Clinks of glass clattered through the space as Ominis rifled through our stash of fire whisky bottles in the corner. 

"Come on Ominis- its too early-"

"Just- let me Sebastian." Ominis hissed. "I need it if we are to talk about this any further."

Sebastian shifted uneasily but pulled his hands back, allowing the blond boy to pluck a rather short and stocky bottle from the collection and pull it to his lips. Only after the sting of the alcohol had twisted his features, did he return to Anne and I, Sebastian following close behind. Ominis seemed to have returned to a proper human color but his fingers still tugged uneasily at his clothes, the other hand now clutched around the neck of the bottle. He took another quickly thrown back swig before speaking.

"Sebastian is right. This wizard could very well have the answers we need, but... I'd hoped never to reunite." His nose tipped in my direction. "This seems the only suitable reason."

Something lumbered in my gut, 

perhaps the curse, 

perhaps the devil.

Ominis tossed back another drink, the strong, pungent smell of alcohol drifting from his lips. As he righted the bottle once more, Sebastian pulled at it gently until the boy released it hesitantly, finger by finger.

Anne took a breath in aside me, the sound tense.

"Cerberus Erebus Grimm-" Ominis swallowed and started again. "I was born blind as you very well know..."

He smiled sideways and while I knew it was far too quick a turn around for the alcohol to have effected him, I wondered if perhaps it was the simple mindset of inebriation that kept him going. Liquid courage perhaps.

"...I was born a disappointment, a burden, to my family. I was something to be embarrassed of, something wrong and impure... something my family would do anything to remedy."

Something in the way the word 'anything' tumbled from his lips sent a shiver down my spine and I braced my bones.

"The Gaunts were surely too strong a family to produce such a crippled heir as I." His lip curled and he turned his head quickly to hide the red at the corner of his eyes. "My mother and father tried everything and sought out any and all means necessary to right the wrong. Nothing worked until they eventually found hope in Cerberus Erebus Grimm when I was around five or six."

I released my neck and Anne immediately wound her hand around one of my hands again.

"Sebastian is the only one I've ever confided in about this..."

Sebastian kept his eyes on the ground.

"Cerberus was an elderly man who worked as an Unspeakable for the Ministry until he suffered at the hands of his profession. Much like our dear Professor Hecat though I suspect for him it was karma rather than accident. Following his misfortune, he worked within the Hogwarts infirmary until he was unofficially terminated for alleged experiments on students."

My skin bristled.

"This, naturally, piqued my parents' interest." He scoffed. "They discreetly hired him and I spent years under his care and observation every evening. They started out small and were relatively painless... but that was short lived."

"Oh Ominis." Anne reached another hand out to grasp his and he graciously took it, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. Clearing his throat and raising his chin, he continued.

"I can't- I don't particularly fancy delving into the details but, despite his controversial techniques... this man is one of the most intelligent wizards I have ever met..."

Sebastian, who had held so still and silent, spoke suddenly and jolted me from my sorrow. "And if my findings are correct... Cerberus is far older than Ominis thought-" Finally lifting his eyes from the floor, he watched me cautiously though something else glinted beneath. "-and he may have direct experience with Obscurials."