Episode 7 Continued - Knowing the Demon
“Master!” Carter called from below. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
I stood on the edge of the roof, staring at the ground below me as I swallowed something hard. “Indeed, I do!”
It was a lie.
“I’m perfectly safe, I know it!” I said then.
Also a lie.
“And I know we’ll get a good image of Sebastian!”
Another lie, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure.
“Now is the camera set up?” I called.
Carter just closed an eye and peeked through the lens before gazing up and giving me a thumbs-up.
“Remember!” I said then, wincing as the wind pierced through me. “Click only when I land, got it?”
He gave me another thumbs-up.
“Master!” Scarlet called, cupping her hands over her mouth. “I don’t think this is a very good idea!”
I just breathed. “I know! This is probably the most-stupidest thing I’ve ever done!”
“What?!” Cammie yelled then, standing next to the others. “I can’t hear you, master! You’re going to have to speak up!”
“Stop yelling or Sebastian will hear us!” Maddox said then. “If he hasn’t already!”
Carter just gazed up, covering the top of his forehead to block the sunlight. “Master, you ready?!”
“Yes!” I replied even though I wasn’t.
I was about to jump off a building.
A building.
To get an image of my butler because I was too scared to ask him to hold still for an image.
I was insane.
Definitely.
“Master, I’m having second thoughts!” Cammie yelled. “Asking Sebastian for a picture is starting to sound a whole of a lot better! Why don’t you come down from there?!”
“Yes, I agree!” Scarlet said. “Please, don’t jump! Come down the stairs! We can find another way!”
I just held my breath, feeling the wind continuously pierce my skin.
“Master!” Scarlet yelled.
But I stepped off.
And the world fell out from under me.
I immediately screamed, hearing the sounds warp as my stomach dropped down to my feet.
My breaths stilled, and my entire body scraped against the wind like I was being ripped apart by a black hole.
My vision tinted with white, my soul shattering inside me like I was going insane in seconds.
I gazed down.
Oh, shit.
The ground was coming closer… and closer… and closer…
Scarlet called my name from below and rushed out to catch me, but I knew from their distance that they were not going to reach me in time.
I then gazed up, screaming, “SEBASTIAN!”
The cement came toward me at light speed, and I closed my eyes tightly.
But everything stopped.
I breathed shakily, silently pleading for my life as I secretly wondered if I died just now.
Oh, shit… if I did, Sebastian would be pissed.
Although the air bursting through my ears silences, the wind scraping my skin lessened to a small dust, and my stomach swam back up to its normal place.
I opened one eye, finding myself floating gently to the ground.
I blinked immediately, gazing up in question.
Sebastian hovered over me, holding my body to his as his right foot rested on the siding of the mansion, gently scraping along the brick walls to lessen the impact of the fall.
He finally landed on the ground, looking down at me seconds later to make sure I knew he wasn’t particularly happy.
But—after a couple seconds of him looking disapproving—a bright light burst through my retinas, and I blinked hazily when I gazed over, finding Carter, Cammie, and Maddox hovering over the camera.
Scarlet came running over to us, gasping in horror as Sebastian gently set me down.
“Master, are you alright?” she said, cupping my face. “That could’ve killed you! I told you this wasn’t a good idea!”
Sebastian just sighed and shook his head, smiling now. “Master, if you wanted a picture of me so badly, all you had to do was ask.”
I glared at him then. “Like you would’ve agreed.”
“Yes, but…” he gazed up in amusement, “if you ordered me to do so, I would’ve had no choice.”
I glared at him then, although he just kept the smile.
Sebastian then looked up to the other four, eyes sharpening to a glare. “Were you all in on this?”
Carter and Maddox yipped and scrambled backward. “She wanted us to!” they said together. “We just wanted to please our master!”
“Be almost getting her killed?” Sebastian snapped. “How stupid are you?”
“We were trying to think of something else before she fell!” Scarlet argued.
“She’s right!” Carter said frantically. “But by the time we tried to stop her, she already hopped off the roof like she was Marry Poppins!”
“I actually thought she’d float for a second,” Cammie remarked.
Sebastian just sharpened his glare. “You don’t seem to understand that you CONSIDERED THE OPTION IN THE FIRST PLACE!”
“We’re sorry!” they said at the same time, backing away as they bowed. “Won’t happen again!”
Three of them dashed away at an instant, screaming in curses and panic.
Cammie remained then, now staring at the camera in curiosity.
“What?” I said then, stepping forward. “What does it look like?”
Sebastian remained in place, still not looking particularly amused.
I turned around to the screen, excitement coursing through me when I prepared myself to see what Sebastian was thinking.
But I immediately froze, mouth dropping open.
There was an image of Sebastian there, leaning backward on the bed as his collared shirt remained unbuttoned, exposing his thickened pectorals and hardened abs.
“Wow, master,” Sebastian said from behind me, making me stiffen, “thinking of me so? How amusing.”
I immediately spun around and hid the camera from his view. “What are you talking about?! I wasn’t thinking of anything like that! This think is faulty! That’s all there is to it!”
His eyes just glowed as his smile widened.
“Stop looking at me like that, you loon!” I yelled then, pushing him away. “You insufferable, irritating, ignorant fool!”
I stepped past him then, starting toward the front of the mansion.
“Wow, Sebastian,” Cammie said from behind me, “is that really what you look like under your clothes?”
I then darted after the camera and blocked it, glaring sharply. “Stop looking at it, you crazed buffoons! Go inside and do something useful!”
Cammie just smiled kindly. “At once, master!”
She then walked off, trotting like nothing had happened.
I just gritted my teeth, feeling the pulse on my neck throb.
“You had a very well thought out plan,” Sebastian said then, making me shoot him a look. “Sadly, it lacked the expertise of whether the camera was aiming at you or me. You chose them to take the image, after all.”
He picked up the camera from the tripod and smiled.
“How dare you?” I said then, eyes sharpening. “You monster. You planned this, didn’t you? You landed like that on purpose so it would aim to me!”
“Master,” Sebastian said, smiling, “why ever would you think that?”
“Give me that!” I said then, reaching for the camera, but he pulled it out from my reach. “Give it!”
“Now, now,” he said, chuckling as he hopped away, “is now the time for a temper tantrum? Come on now, we have other things to do, master.”
“I order you to give me the camera!” I yelled then, glaring.
He blinked then, and his eyes darkened.
But a smile spread across his face. “Oh, my. Order? You sure play dirty, don’t you, master?”
He just sighed and kept the smile, handing me the camera seconds later.
I just smiled angrily and snatched it from him. “Now I order you to stay still and let me take a picture of you!”
His eyes glowed in amusement as he listened, standing up straight as he stared directly into the camera.
I just looked into the lens and aimed it to him, clicking it seconds later.
I counted to three, and the light flashed.
I gasped in excitement and looked down at the photo.
But I immediately froze, jaw dropping again.
Sebastian sat in the photo, looking as if he was laughing happily, a bundle of cats walking all over him and rubbing against his face.
He was petting one and setting his cheek on the other.
I then glared up at Sebastian. “What… what is this?!”
He blinked, still smiling. “What is what?”
“This!” I demanded, showing him the camera. “Cats?! Cats?! Is that all you think about twenty-four-seven?!”
He tipped his head to the side, eyes glowing in elation now. “What else am I supposed to think about? They’re just such curious creatures, you know. So beautiful with their silky black hair… I want one so badly. I could give her a beautiful home.”
I just clenched my jaw. “You… are insufferable.”
I then stepped past him, shoving the camera into his hands as he blinked, and I walked past him.
“But, master…” he said as I continued forward, “that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Why are you so upset?”
I just spun around and glare at him. “You tricked me! You’re a heartless monster! How could you let it read my thoughts like that and take advantage of me?!”
He stared at me for a moment before smiling. “So… that was what you were thinking of? Master, I’m flattered, really.”
“Shut up!” I screamed then, making his lips part as he stepped back in shock. I just glared sharply, knowing that he heard the pain in my tone. “You tricked me! And then you proceed to show me no satisfaction?! You’re heartless!”
I just took a step backwards, shaking my head to rid of the sudden pain roaring through me. “Fucking cats. I knew it.”
I was hurting, though… but I didn’t know why. For some reason… seeing that image come up cut me deep. I guess it was because the image that showed up for me was embarrassing and irritating, and I wasn’t even a hundred percent sure if it was what I was really thinking.
But his image felt like a joke when mine didn’t… and it hurt for some reason.
I started to the mansion then, but I watched in the corner of my eye as Sebastian’s smile fall. He stared down at the camera then, lips parting.
He tipped it to the side as I continued forward, watching the device in a sudden longing.
I just ignored him, wanting nothing more than to sink into my study and work all day.
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