CHAPTER ONE

It was one of those days when being Earl Phantomhive and CEO of a large company like Funtom Co. had its drawbacks, especially for a thirteen year old boy. The responsibilities he had undertaken since the death of Vincent and Rachel Phantomhive were enormous to say the least. But Ciel Phantomhive was glad to have the help of his family and trusted butler when needed.

The pressure of running Funtom Co. was tiresome alone, but with Lukas, Renfrew and Sebastian, there was a great deal of weight lifted off his shoulders, and he could trust each one to help. Besides, if you could not trust family, then who else could you trust?

But Lukas appeared to be the one with the most business sense in the family. Whatever ventures he acquired, any social engagement he undertook for Funtom Co., it always turned out to be a huge success. He had their father's business suave. If clients could not come to Lukas, then he would go to them. Lukas was also only thirteen years old—he and Ciel were fraternal twins—but age had nothing to do with smarts, and Lukas was vastly intelligent when it came to making money, and he was well respected, even to Ciel's older clientele. Once Lukas was established, no one was afraid to deal with him.

Unfortunately, when it came to social elitists, Ciel was the one with the power. He was the head of the family. This brought about, but not so much as Ciel was best renown as once the last survivor to the Phantomhive name at one point—before Lukas and Renfrew joined the fray—but he had also "won" the right to remain head of the family by way of a recent fencing match in a brother versus brother match.

In this challenge, Ciel won when he defeated Lukas fairly by drawing first blood. And he out smarted Lukas when it was learned Lukas had the aid of Sebastian's twin son's Braydon and Brandon, and to win the deal for a Pound—a Gentleman's bet, indeed. But it was also revealed Lukas had no intention of becoming head of the family and only went along with the match because of some jealous rivalry of Ciel's, which Ciel flatly denied.

At present, Lukas was in town building the Funtom Co. name further, Renfrew was hanging out with his cat Vincent somewhere in the Mansion, but resulting from all his tiresome thoughts Ciel had decided to take a relaxing bath. And Sebastian had drawn him one in his private bath chambers.

Alone, Ciel eased himself into the warm water, closed his eyes, and signed. At one point, he thought he would have to take on the world alone. He was glad that he had family now to do all that work for him. It was a selfish thought, but true in so much regard.

Suddenly, came a familiar sound… Meoow!

Ciel snapped his eyes open sharply and suddenly he saw Vincent sitting on the edge of the Victorian bathtub without so much trouble, the cat's tail twitching back and forth like a balanced pendulum. Vincent was a ghost cat, so Ciel's allergy of cats was unaffected. So many years ago, Vincent died and followed his master, Renfrew, into the afterlife. A century and a half later, he was again at Renfrew's side.

Renfrew's spirit now called home to a deceased young ten year boy named Johnny Lazarus, who was killed when Sebastian murdered the Inner Circle and all the children meant to be a blood sacrifice for a demon, at Ciel's command. After they made a pact, only Ciel and Sebastian left the mini, secretive amphitheatre alive, leaving countless bodies slaughtered in his wake and countless souls devoured.

From then, and now three years later, villains abound and enemies vengeance upon, the Phantomhive household was again a family. Although, one man—Byron Kelvin—the so-called architect behind Ciel's sacrifice to a demon and the destruction of his family for his own personal selfish reasons, and Lukas's kidnapping years prior (turned into an assassin, his face altered to look like Ciel's to replace him), things had calmed down somewhat. Except for the occasional demon out for revenge and a Fallen Reaper bent on universal carnage, it was all well.

Ciel didn't particularly like Vincent and loathed how this ghost cat had the same name of his deceased father, but apparently the name was given to him long before Vincent Phantomhive's father was born. So Ciel had no recourse but to accept it. Vincent and Renfrew were attuned beyond this world and the spirit one, and Renfrew had a special power to communicate with spirits even in the body of Johnny Lazarus. It was crazy to think that Renfrew's cat would find him all this time, but Ciel had a demon butler so nothing was surreal anymore.

"What are you looking at?" Ciel demanded.

But the cat just sat there and meowed again.

It looked at the water. Normally cats had a strong dislike for water, but for a ghost cat, Vincent didn't fear anything. This made him quite annoying when Ciel wanted him gone; even Sebastian found Vincent quite obnoxious at times, and Sebastian liked cats. Vincent was a feline with a lot of curiosity, and when Vincent was interested in something, he did not leave until he became bored of it.

"Shoo!" Ciel flicked his hand at Vincent, splashing some water his way. The water passed through the cat, Vincent had the ability to turn transparent at a whim. Vincent could also walk through solid walls, which made it very difficult, if not impossible, to barricade oneself in a bathroom alone. Vincent often found the command "No!" a word unheard-of. "Get out of here, you annoying little pest!"

With that demand, Vincent appeared to obey and dropped down to the floor. Ciel looked over the tub to see where Vincent had gone. And then he gasped when he saw the dead mouse on the floor.

"Where the hell did you get that? And why the hell would you bring it here?" Ciel demanded.

Vincent was an excellent mouse-chaser. In fact, ever since the cat had arrived at the Mansion, once infested with mice—chewing wires and getting into the food supplies—not one mouse had been seen, other than dead ones. Despite Ciel's annoyance with Vincent, he was pleased with the de-mousing. But often the feline would offer a mouse to Ciel as a gift of friendship, or this was Renfrew's reasoning, as Vinent wanted Ciel to like him. And he tried often. Leaving dead mice on Ciel's office desk, in his bedroom, and once even on the dining room table—and each time, it disgusted him, like now.

Cat's often took pride in their chases and gave them to their master's for praise. But Ciel was not Vincent's master, and nor did he want Vincent's "gift". And one so oozing blood and guts from its belly.

"How dare you! Get that filthy vermin out of my private bathroom! You're contaminating the floor!"

Vincent picked up the dead mouse, looked up at Ciel, and then for the life of it, jumped up with the vermin in its mouth on the edge of the tub. Ciel instinctively backed away, water splashing over the side behind him in waves. And Vincent looked at him, and then at the water.

Ciel gasped. "Don't you dare, Vincent," he said. "I know what you're thinking! And a dead mouse is not a water toy!"

But, seemingly, the command was unheard, and Vincent dropped it into the water, as a "gift".

And Ciel screamed blood-murder.

To be continued…