Part 1

The waters of this body of water were naturally calm. Its tides and waves could not throw a boat off of its course as it cut through the water in a thick fog; the thickest fog. This was a good thing since most who travelled through this water did so to reach the mysterious island nearby.

The island was rarely visited by humans. It was mostly demons that made use of it. It was the ideal place for them to take their masters to harvest their souls. Of course, there were demons that held to their own traditions—passed down from generation upon generation—that travelled to this island to mate. However, the most powerful trait of this island was the supernatural pull it gave expecting demons to go there to give birth to children.

In Claude Faustus's case, however, this was not why he was making the long trip there. The pull had brought him to the island for reasons that he still did not know. There was no master whose soul he needed to harvest, no mate with him for breeding purposes, and he most certainly wasn't there to bear a child. All he knew was that there was something there that was desperately calling him to come.

Claude travelled by boat to the island in silence. The most sound that was ever heard was the stirring of the water as his oar worked the boat forward. His eyes tried to see ahead through the fog in search of the island; however, his eyesight was incredibly poor. The only thing that was able to clear his hazy vision was the pair of glasses that sat upon his face. Were he to remove them, Claude would not be able to see the fog that swirled in front of his face. And so he rowed on; judging with his oar where he was and how close he was to land.

His eyes suddenly caught glimpse of a shadow standing out ahead; the island. It towered as high as a mountain, with steep cliffs, jagged rocks, and a sandy shore. His eyes also caught sight of another boat just off shore. He wouldn't be alone here.

Once he felt his oar grazing the sand beneath the water, Claude began pulling his boat to shore; thrusting the oar into the sand and pulling the boat along until it was beached next to the boat that was already there.

Claude put down the oar and climbed out of his boat. Curious as to where this second boat had come from and who had been in it, he decided to examine it. He ran a hand over an inside seat of it and brought it to his face. He inhaled sharply to catch the scent. It was familiar.

"Michaelis?"

A raven demon was here. The demon indentured to the earl of Phantomhive and working as a butler; much like Claude was indentured to the earl of Trancy, who was a young boy about the same age as Phantomhive.

Examining the boat further, Claude noticed a bizarre patch of discoloration on the bottom of the boat. He climbed into it, pulling one of his white butler gloves off of his hand, and ran the hand over the discoloration. It came off on his hand and smeared in a trail where his hand had touched it. The substance was bright red, sticky, and cold. All it took was the consistency of the liquid as he rubbed it between his fingers for him to know that it was blood. Ordinarily, he would have thought that this mean that the raven demon was injured, but the scent of the blood was strange. It did not smell solely of Sebastian Michaelis, nor did it smell like it had come straight from a wound. There was another scent to it and it smelled as though it had passed through all of his body before being spilled.

Curious as to what sort of condition Sebastian might be in, Claude followed the tracks that led from the boat and across the beach. From what he could gather from the footprints, the raven demon had managed to walk perfectly fine about five to ten steps before the trail stopped in a scattered patch of sand. Claude theorized that Sebastian must have stumbled and fell, for reason that he still didn't know.

Claude followed this bizarre pattern across the beach until he reached the wooded part of the island. From there, the only trail he was able to follow was the smell of the strange blood on the ground. His mind was running through all possible scenarios. It was possible that Sebastian was injured, but, then again, why would the injury bring him here? Claude had always known him to be an odd sort of demon—fawning over cats and always being so tied up in his fascination with the human beings that he knew so little about—but he did not thing him so strange as to do something as irrational as to come to this island for an injury.

Another possibility was that this was some sort of illness or perhaps even a parasite that was attacking his body. If that were the case, Sebastian might have come here seeking comfort and a safe place for him to go to heal. The island had long been known to the immortal kinds as a safe haven for demons; a sanctuary, and most felt safe and secure here when they were in a vulnerable position.

A less likely possibility was one that had Claude unsettled. Of Sebastian was bleeding without an apparent cause, it could very well be that the butler had made like a dog and had come here to die. Of course it was incredibly rare for a demon to contract an illness or a parasite that could kill them. As far a bodily damage was concerned, demon could regenerate parts of their bodies, including digits, limbs, internal organs, and even missing halves.

Even so, no matter what the cause, Claude knew this sort of bleeding wasn't natural, and judging from his tracks in the sand, something had to be wrong with Sebastian.

Claude followed the trail for quite a ways into the forest before coming to the ruins of an old building that sat in the center of the island. All that remained standing was a square structure that had a stone bench sitting in the middle of the inside. The upper portion of the walls hand already crumbled to the ground in some places, while in others the walls were still able to hold up the ceiling.

The amount of blood that was present increased as soil turned into stone beneath Claude's feet. He was careful to move out of view from the doorway. He knew Sebastian. No matter what condition he might be in—even if he were half-dead—the raven demon wouldn't hesitate to stand and fight. The truth was that no demon ever got along with another. Most were antisocial and solitary beings that went about their eternal lives alone. Even mated pairs fought constantly; some even killed their mates. In terms of friendship, there were hardly any beings that would dare to consider a demon as their friend; even other demons.

Claude pressed himself into a corner of the doorway and listened. From inside of the ruins he could hear the sound of heavy panting. Every so often it would stop and a loud groan would be heard before starting back up again.

If it was Sebastian in there, he was in horrible pain.

Slowly, Claude peered in through the doorway. The first thing he noticed was that Sebastian's tailcoat, trousers, shoes, and his white gloves had been discarded and were strewn across the stone bench. He could see Sebastian with his back pressed against the far wall of the structure with his hands pressed against it, seemingly for balance. His head was bowed and even from a distance Claude could his shouldered rising and falling rapidly as he panted. The view of his lower half was being blocked by the stone bench.

Periodically, Sebastian's face would twist in pain and he'd lean his head back against the wall he pressed himself against. Sweat glistened in a thin sheet over his pale, ivory skin. His teeth were bared, as if he were trying to keep himself from screaming.

Claude watched as Sebastian suddenly lowered himself, his back scraping roughly against the wall. His breath caught in his throat and one of his hands reached to his nether regions momentarily before he brought it back up, now coated in blood. The blood smeared against the stone surface of the wall as his fingers curled and raked against it. Sebastian then resumed his panting; heavier than before.

What he had seen painted a very unpleasant picture for Claude. Wherever Sebastian was bleeding from, it was in large amounts and he couldn't identify the cause. Of course, his observation made him guess that the raven demon was likely expecting and had come here to give birth, but that brought up the dumb question everyone asked someone who was expecting a child; who was the father? As far as Claude knew, Sebastian wasn't mated to anybody and he preferred it that way. Then again, rape wasn't uncommon amongst the immortal breeds. Angels had a very bad reputation for attacking and raping demons out of the belief that they were a more superior race.

The thought of a demon such as Sebastian being raped and impregnated infuriated Claude.

Taking a leap of faith, Claude came out of hiding and made an attempt to approach him.

Upon coming into his sights, Sebastian glared at him and snarled.

"Stay . . . stay away from me!"

As Claude had theorized, Sebastian attempted to straighten and steady himself in an attempt to hold his ground. However, whatever pain he was in caused him to sway on his feet and curl in on himself as he let out a sharp cry.

In an attempt to calm the raven demon, Claude's golden eyes brightened into their demonic pink color. He brought himself lower to the ground, going from his usually proud, erect stance to a less-defensive and less threatening posture. In this stance, he slowly drew nearer to him.

Inching his way closer, Claude was able to peer around the stone bench. What he saw concerned him. Blood was splattered on various places on the ground. Where Sebastian had been standing a puddle of the red fluid was growing beneath his feet.

"I said stay away from me!" Sebastian hissed. He let out a loud groan as a stream of blood gushed from between his legs, causing the puddle beneath him to grow wider.

"Sebastian, relax," Claude said calmly, "Let me help you. I'm not sure what is happening here."

Sebastian opened his mouth to protest, but the pain that racked his body cut him off. He let out a loud cry as he once again curled in on himself and more blood spilled from between his legs. Sweat slicked his skin, causing his ebony bangs to cling to his face.

Claude used this as an opportunity to try to get closer to him, making sure his movements were slow and the he was still lowered into his less-threatening stance.

He was relieved when Sebastian didn't protest this time.

"Is it a child?" he asked.

Sebastian scoffed, "It's no child, it's a monster; a parasite that's been feeding off of me for months upon months."

"What is it? Who's the father?"

Sebastian hesitated momentarily before replying.

"I-It was Ashe Landers."

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2