Summary: Everyone knows about the Queen's Guard Dog, Earl Phantomhive, but there was always another who worked closely in England's underworld. The Queen's Lioness, also known as the head of the Vega family. Ciel is ordered by Victoria to work with her Lioness and meets the Vega family head, only to receive a surprise. And is there more to the Lioness that meets the eye?

Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji or its characters, the same goes with ideas that originate from another manga/anime/game/book, etc.

Pairing(s): (possible) SebastianxOC or UndertakerxOC

Notes: General warnings: slight angst, cursing, kind of OC-centric, possibly slightly OOC characters, (possible) spoilers, and Rated T — possibly going to elevate to Rated M. This will be a mix of the manga and anime universes, and it starts out during the Jack the Ripper case. This is the "upgraded" version of "A Raven's Darkness."

Chapter One: Enter the Lioness' Den

The day for Ciel Phantomhive started out as a pretty normal day; though he had just gotten away from his fiancee, who could be rather annoying — despite the fact that he cares for her deeply, even if he does have an odd way of showing it.

Ciel was a rather short, twelve-year-old-boy — only being around five feet tall, if not a little smaller. He had a fair skin tone and was somewhat thin. He had dark, navy blue hair with his bangs covering most of the upper right side of his face, and his left eye was dark sapphire blue. His right eye was normally covered by a black eye patch, not covering his eye when he slept or if he deliberately took it off. He sported two rings, one worn on his left thumb that had an ornate silver body holding an emerald-cut blue stone, while the other he wore on his right hand was a gold band with the Phantomhive family crest emblazoned on it. As a noble, he wore expensive clothing — a dark blue, thigh-length jacket over a black vest and white dress shirt; a black ribbon tied in a perfect bow; black pants; and dark brown dress shoes.

However, he had just received a letter from Queen Victoria concerning the various murders of prostitutes. He was ordered to find Jack the Ripper, the murderer's given nickname, and take care of the situation. That was the normal part, the assignment given to him wasn't what offset him. What offset him was the fact that the queen asked him to work alongside her Lioness, a title for another noble family that deals with things related to London's underworld.

He stared at the letter intently, as if just staring at it would give him all of his answers. When it became obvious that he couldn't get any more information on the Queen's Lioness, he turned to his butler.

"Sebastian, look into the Queen's Lioness as soon as possible," he ordered."I don't want to walk into this situation without knowing anything."

Sebastian was a young, handsome man who appeared to be around his early-mid twenties. He was around thirteen inches taller than Ciel, making him around six-foot-one, with a lean, fairly muscular build and a pale skin tone that had a grayish tint to it. He had shoulder-length, raven black hair that had his bangs framing his face and a thick strand swept in between his eyes, and his eyes were a dark red color. He wore a white dress shirt under a dark gray vest; a six button, double-breasted swallow-tail coat; black trousers; and he also wore black dress shoes and white gloves. He had the Phantomhive family crest on his shirt cuffs and a black tie around his neck. He also sported a silver pocket watch with a chain, as well as a chained silver lapel pin that bore the same family crest.

"Yes, my lord," the butler replied dutifully, bowing with his right hand over his heart, before he left the room to perform his task.

*** elsewhere ***

"Milady, you've received a letter from Queen Victoria."

The young woman blinked as she stared up at her butler. "Another one already?" She held her hand out, and her butler placed the opened letter in her hand. "...It seems we're going back into town," she muttered, not exactly pleased; it was the Season after all, and she didn't like the large crowd of people that was sure to wandering about the streets.

"What are your orders, Lady Vega?"

A sly smirk crossed her face. "The Guard Dog will be here later to retrieve his partner for this case. In the meanwhile, make sure that our rat down in the cellar is taken care of," she ordered.

He bowed with his hand over his heart, his eyes closed and a slight grin on his face. "As you wish, Milady."

*** back at the Phantomhive Manor ***

"About fifteen minutes later, Sebastian returned and headed up to his young master's study, a packet of papers in hand. When he reached the study, he knocked on the door once.

"Come in," Ciel's voice shouted from the inside the room. "Well, what did you find," he asked as soon as his butler reached the front of his desk.

"The Queen's Lioness, originally the Queen's Lion, is a title that belongs to the head of the Vega family, and this family is a close friend to the Midford and Barnett families. The current head of the Vega family is also the only Vega still alive today: Ariel Vega," he reported. 'Lioness of God...what a befitting name,' he mused sardonically in his head.

"Anything else? That isn't much to go on," the young Earl stated, mentally expressing his surprise at a female being the head of a major noble family. After all, aside from the queen, there were very little to no females who were the head of their noble families.

"The Queen's Lioness has a more direct role in dealing with the affairs of London's underworld than most families, including the Phantomhives. Like the title implies, she's a huntress who will toy (torture) with her prey until they finally give up the necessary information before she kills them. Unlike you, who will sometimes leave the suspects alive for arrest by the Yard, she always captures and kills. She is also serves as a protector for the queen when it comes to balls hosted at Buckingham Palace, along with the queen's other security forces."

*** at the Vega Manor ***

The door opened to the cellar as Ariel's butler descended the stairs, a lit candelabrum in his hand. He remembered his orders perfectly well: 'Do whatever it takes to get the information from him, but don't kill him until I get there. We have to be swifter than normal because of Earl Phantomhive's arrival.'

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door and placed the candelabrum on the nearby table, the three flames lighting up the room and giving it a sinister glow.

On the opposite side of the room, a man had his wrists chained and a metal collar around his neck, all of these chains connecting to their respective places in the wall behind him. Of course, he still had some leeway to move around, just not very much. His condition wasn't the best either: bruises and black eye, cuts that were sure to become infected, and shredded clothes along with his blood-stained shirt.

"P-p-please spare me," the man instantly started begging once he saw the butler enter the room. "I-I swear that I didn't want anything to do with it!" He just wanted to get out of this torturous hell hole.

"Does that mean that you're ready to finally give up," he asked, his voice not showing an ounce of pity towards the man in front of him.

"If I do, will you let me go?" He didn't receive an answer, but as the butler drew closer, he acted out of fear. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I SWEAR DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!"

Sighing in annoyance, the butler grabbed the metal collar and yanked him forward, choking the breath out of the man momentarily. "It won't do any good for you to yell like that; not only will it not help your situation, but you would also disturb my mistress who is upstairs above us." A dark look entered his eyes. "If you refuse to give me and Lady Vega the truth willingly, then I will simply have to force the information out of you."

Upstairs, Ariel paused in adjusting one of her gloves as she heard the pained, terrified scream of the vermin that was locked in the cellar. However, she quickly disregarded it and continued to finish getting dressed for the day.

"The rat screams like a pathetic pig taken off to slaughter."