Closed: Comfort food

[daleysebastian]

Since the full moon, Sebastian had been alternately attempting not to move and dealing with things he didn't have the energy to deal with. He hadn't had any rest, it seemed, since his birthday. He'd spent most of the night uncharacteristically outside, pacing the estate and listening carefully for any sign of danger. He'd been useless, in the end,

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[daleysebastian]

Sebastian had been very careful to put up every ward and charm he could to keep people out of the manor on full moon nights. Somehow, that had gotten incredibly lax as of late. He was going to have to step up his game. Maybe that's how he'd spend the morning when sleep surely still wouldn't have caught up to him. There were quite a few things he needed to rework.

Hopefully, he could manage to set something like a timer on them. He'd done it with the floo. It might take some effort, but he'd find a way to make it work.

"One was scratched, but otherwise she's fine. The other one was bitten." Sebastian knew from Harry that they were holding out hope that it wouldn't take. Sebastian hoped they were right, but the chances were so slim, that the hope was worse.

Sebastian knew that from experience, having spent an entire lunar cycle hoping against anything that his own bite hadn't been anything serious.

"Harry Potter found them and took them to St. Mungo's. We talked to the werewolf who did it, and he's in lock up right now."

Somehow, this had mostly stayed quiet so far. Sebastian doubted how much longer that would last.

[daleysabrina]

Over the last ten years Sabrina had seen a lot of people turned, when the kids came of age, usually around their sixteenth birthday, they'd be bitten by a werewolf on wolfsbane. It was more of a ritual than anything else and it was contained, or at least as much as a ritual biting could be contained.

There had only ever been one case when the bite hadn't taken, a very rare case.

But that wasn't actually what drew her attention.

"Wait, you caught one of them?" she asked, almost in disbelief. Though, she shouldn't have been so surprised. Nolan's halfbrothers weren't exactly known for their wit.

"I could smell them the moment I changed-"

[daleysebastian]

"Harry did," Sebastian corrected. "Stunned him. The charm held up through the change. I was pretty impressed." Being that he was a hard sell and impressed by so few things, that was actually a huge vote of confidence,

Taking a bite of his sandwich, chewing the bagel slowly, Sebastian thought back to exactly what had happened after he'd shifted, what he'd been aware of. The scent of unfamiliar and unaccounted for wolves had set him on edge and prowling the perimeter of the estate for most of the night. Too bad he'd been a little too late.

"Me too." He looked up at her, deciding if he wanted to do this. Did they even have an option anymore? "He said he was Nolan's brother. Did you recognize that by scent?"

[daleysabrina]

If they'd only gotten one of them that meant the other had run back to Nolan by now, empty handed and without his counterpart. Part of her wished she could have seen the look on their faces when the elders realized they'd been defeated.

"Yeah, he sent his half brothers, the two youngest ones," she told him, spreading bright pink cream cheese all over her warmed bagel.

"They're not the brightest. He has five brothers and two sisters-"

[daleysebastian]

Big families weren't completely unheard of, but that seemed excessive for anyone, especially a pack living in the woods.

"There's eight of them? Just related to him?" Sebastian's eyes narrowed, bagel dropping to the paper towel he'd been using in favor of an actual plate.

He didn't want to ask. Sebastian wanted to let it all go and not try to make Sabrina talk about this. She had started it by offering up information on her own.

"Is there anything else I might need to know about them?" He hadn't actually made it a secret that he was hunting them down, knowing it would be worse if she discovered it on accident later.

[daleysabrina]

Sabrina realized then that Jemma hadn't exactly brought Sebastian up to speed after their conversation the other day, which she was actually grateful for. She saw it as a small olive branch, a small growing trust between them that could possibly turn into something more.

"Um- well, yes. There is-" she told him, her brow furrowed and tight as she tried to figure out the best way to explain this.

Hopefully there was a way to say this without her brother completely freaking out.

"Nolan is- special," she started, using the words that were used on her so many years ago. "He wasn't bitten and turned into a werewolf. He was born one."

[daleysebastian]

The impact of that was practically physical. Sebastian dropped the bagel he was holding and sat up straighter. The implications of that were terrifying.

"Wait." Sebastian leaned forward, eyes trained on her. "A born werewolf? Those are only legends." He'd looked up general lore and information after he'd realized what he was, but the only tales of a born wolf were considered folklore, even by wizarding standards.

[daleysabrina]

"I thought it was impossible too-" Sabrina offered, watching him carefully before really going on.

Honestly, it was only going to get worse from there.

"Both parents were werewolves but his mother didn't survive the birth and they think it's because she was a halfblooded witch."

This had all been explained to her very early on, maybe only six months into her stay at the camp when they told her she had a greater purpose with them. At the time she had counted herself lucky.

"The elders think that Nolan is destined to create more like him as long- um, well, as long as he has me-"

[daleysebastian]

Sebastian's blood ran cold right before he felt his blood pressure sky rocket. Sabrina's life with that pack was going to be the death of him if the actual pack didn't make it happen first.

"That is complete bullshit and not going to happen." He was going to find a way to make sure it didn't. "Between me, Dean, Jemma's back up, and whatever Potter can pull together, not happening." He didn't just mean with her. Somehow, they were going to make sure he was locked away and completely denied the opportunity to procreate at all.

"What? They want to create a master werewolf race?" Considering they had worked with You-Know-Who, he shouldn't be shocked at all.

[daleysabrina]

This was the reason that Sabrina had refrained from diving into this conversation with her brother for so long- not because she didn't think it was just as awful, but because she was embarrassed.

For years she'd been told what her purpose was, knocked around, her future decided for her and it had been like a prison. But she'd accepted it after awhile, doubting that she could ever make it out here in the real world on her own.

"I don't know exactly what they wanted," she admitted, not quite looking at him anymore.

"But everything was going to start happening after my birthday. Something about the stars and the time being right again-"

[daleysebastian]

She might not know, and Sebastian might not have confirmation, but it was obvious that that's what they wanted. He couldn't imagine what else the purpose would be.

"At least you got out before then." Sebastian didn't even know where to go with this. His rage was suddenly reignited as he curled fingers around the edge of the counter top. "They're either going to keep coming for you or start looking for a replacement." That essentially put all pureblood women on a very dangerous, most-wanted list. He hoped they weren't smart - dumb - enough to try that and make this even more difficult.

[daleysabrina]

"I don't think that they'd do that," she said, which was both a good thing and a bad thing, considering.

At least the threat to other women was limited and they'd know where Nolan was headed, but that meant that he'd keep coming here for her.

It made her angry to think about now, to think about how they'd used her and played off her grief for her family. She wasn't ever going to let them take her back there again.

"It can't be a new wolf. They wouldn't use somebody they just turned and there's not enough time-"

[daleysebastian]

She knew the pack better and that was a good point. Sebastian wasn't about to count anything out, though, even when she was being completely logical. He'd just table the panic over that until some time later when he had less to worry about.

"Then we just need to find them and wrap this up before they get any fancy ideas to come back for you." Mostly likely, Sebastian figured that meant the next full moon.

"Which means ... I could use your help." Even as he looked up at her, it as obvious he didn't want to be asking, preferred to keep her as far away from this as possible.

[daleysabrina]

"Wait- really?"

Sabrina looked up from her bagel, her eyes wider than usual as his words began to sink in. Of all the things that had happened in the last two months this might have been the strangest.

She had expected it to be a struggle to get involved in this whole thing, unsure if her brother would ever consider her useful.

"I mean, yes. Yeah. What do you need me to do?"

[daleysebastian]

He'd thought Sabrina would appreciate him asking, but he hadn't realized she'd light up quite so much. Maybe he should have done this a long time ago.

Sebastian laughed a little, just a quiet chuckles at how shocked he was.

"I was hoping you could look over some maps for me." It wasn't much, but Sebastian didn't want her to be too directly involved. This, though, was where he absolutely needed her help and the way she would be the safest. "I've narrowed the location down, but you'd probably do it much more quickly. Unless they've moved."

[daleysabrina]

While Sabrina hadn't ventured out of the camp until two months ago, she'd spent enough time wandering around the surrounding woods and finding her own quiet, cozy spaces to be alone to be able to help. There were certain landmarks that she knew she'd never be able to forget.

"I can do that," she told him, even if it wasn't as involved as she wanted to be.

"I sort of talked to Jemma about maybe coming along when you went to find them? I could stay on the side lines but the kids know me, you know? I could help keep them comfortable-"