Chapter 1

(Bit of background information – some of the characters mentioned in this fic are involved in another fic and this does contain some spoilers.)

Snow crunched underfoot as the watchdog of the queen and his butler walked down a quiet deserted alleyway, following a young woman's screams and pleas for help.

She was about to become the hundredth victim of a serial killer who had been plaguing London, the criminal's name more notorious than 'Jack the Ripper'.

The police had spent months trying to catch the bastard behind the killings, but the bumbling hounds of the yard, like with 'Jack the Ripper', lost track of their target.

This woman, the latest victim of this madman, was the police's last ditch attempt (as in she actually refused to help, they just decided that she was) to bring him to justice. But they let her slip through their grasp and she was in grave danger.

Though for now there was something different about this woman, there was something more to her than would meet the eye. And this was something that would cause the cold-hearted demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis, to practically beg his master, Ciel Phantomhive, to help him search for her and others.

Sebastian and Ciel approached the end of the alleyway, they were standing in front of an old wooden door that was blue, but due to the time of day looked black. His hand outstretched to grab the rusted brass door knob. As his hand grabbed the door knob the screams of the young woman fell silent.

Was he too late? Had this bastard succeeded in killing his hundredth victim?

Ciel looked at Sebastian, who looked back at him. "Surely she's not dead," he commented, "She's managed to stay alive for a month at least."

"Maybe," Sebastian replied, "But he's probably pissed with her for causing him all these problems." Ciel nodded, starting to open the door. The smell of blood hit him as soon as the door creaked open.

A lone candle lit the room, giving the 13 year old earl a sight of the carnage inside, blood stained the wall and the floor as well as the ceiling, definitely more than one victim, there was too much blood, and it was starting to make Ciel feel sick, and the Earl did not want to throw up his dinner, now that would get an annoyed 'tsk' from Sebastian.

Ciel ventured inside, his footsteps splashing in the blood as he approached what he assumed was a body. On first glance, one could assume that the body was hacked up, just like the 'Jack the Ripper' victims. But on closer inspection it was clear that the body was still in-tact, just a bit battered and bruised.

Ciel crouched down to check for a pulse, he might have come across as a heartless bastard but the woman didn't deserve to die at the hand of this madman, this woman didn't deserve to fall victim to London's Underworld.

As Ciel checked for a pulse, he looked around the room for any other victims. His eyes fell upon the corpse of a man, well pieces of his corpse, his limbs had been ripped off, a fitting punishment for this serial killer.

Ciel frowned trying to check for a pulse still when a soft groan came from the 'corpse' of the woman. She wasn't dead. The boy let out a sigh of relief before looking over his shoulder at Sebastian, "She's alive," he called, standing up and stepping back to allow her some time to breathe and try to get up. Though it did seem to take her a while to stand up, so Ciel, being a gentleman, offered her his hand which she used to pull herself up.

"Thank-you" she voiced quietly, shakily.

"It's okay," Ciel replied, leading her out of the room and into the alleyway. The woman followed quietly, meekly, just wanting to get away from it all. "What's your name?" Ciel asked as the pair reached Sebastian, the woman's gaze fixed on the floor, she didn't want to look up at the demon in front of her.

"That doesn't matter," she replied lacing her fingers together.

"Well at least we can inform the yard that their undercover operative is safe." Ciel said, mainly to himself.

"I wasn't working for the police," she said. "They wanted my help, but I refused, I guess when K got kidnapped they decided to exploit that," she said before changing the topic, "And you are?"

"I'm Ciel, Ciel Phantomhive." the earl replied, "And this is Seb-" the woman cut him off.

"I know who he is," she said turning to Sebastian and inclining her head more, "Malphas," she said quietly, even though Ciel heard it. Sebastian looked at the woman warily, he definitely knew he knew her from somewhere, but it must have been a while since he last heard her voice or had seen her, because he couldn't quite place her.

"LEICA!" a sharp voice called from the other end of the alleyway, causing the red-haired girl to look up in the direction of the voice immediately. "Come here," it ordered and Leica could do no more than obey.

"Yes fat-" she was cut off by a sharp jolt of pain that ran through her body as it punished her for forgetting how to address him. "I'm sorry, SIR," she corrected herself before moving to leave. "Pleasure to meet you Ciel," she said before looking at Sebastian. "Your highness" she said, curtsying. She then walked over to where her father was, not saying anything else as she was dragged to some unknown location.

Ciel looked at Sebastian, "'Malphas?', 'your highness?" he questioned, but Sebastian expertly shifted his gaze, not answering his master.

Now Sebastian knew everything there was to know about Ciel, well almost everything, and Ciel felt that maybe it was time for him to know a little bit more about his demon. But he knew there was only one way to stop this stubborn demon from not answering him.

"Sebastian, when we get back to the manor, you are going to tell me what she meant by 'Malphas' and 'your highness'," Ciel ordered, well that only way to stop him from blanking him.

Sebastian could only nod and do as he said "Yes, my lord," he replied, turning and leading Ciel back to the manor. Ciel sighed thinking to himself as they trundled back through the snow.

Just who was that woman and how did she have the strength to kill that man? How did she know Sebastian? Who was that other guy - Leica's father?