Chapter 1 – Meeting 'the cat'.
Ciel Phantomhive and his butler Sebastian had just been let into the Cortez mansion by the house steward, Alfred, when they heard several gun shots and a man sceam in a most unmanly way. The next moment a slightly bulbous man came running past them and out the still open door.
"That girl is mad! This house is posessed by demons! Get out while you can!" he shouted and slipped in a puddle outside and landed on his butt, but he quickly sprang up again and ran for a carriage that was standing outside. He shouted for his footman to get going and very soon the carriage disappeared from view.
"Well, well," was all Ciel said, looking unimpressed.
"Please excuse the commotion, lord Phantomhive, the house steward said, "I will take you to my lord right away, please follow me."
"Please let lord Greystone know that he should knot waste my father's time by sending defective items," I said to the boy servant that got left behind. He was shaking terribly.
"And that he should probably look into getting another representative. I doubt Mr Buttle will set foot on this estate again," I said with a mirthless smile, "not willingly anyways."
"O...kay, misses... I will tell them and leave right away!" the boy almost shouted and was about to run off.
"Wait, you need to take this with you."
I gave him the gun that Mr Buttle had brought. It was supposed to be much more accurate than what was currently known and could shoot five rounds before you needed to reload it. The five rounds part was correct.
My father was one of the best know innovators of gadgets and unofficially, weaponry. When he heard of this so-called 'wonder gun' he decided to purchase one. As much as a genius my father was, he had his head in the clouds most of the time and would probably just have handed over the money to Mr Buttle without testing it to get the man to go away. So I decided to save him the trouble and insisted on Mr Buttle standing in the courtyard with an apple on his head. He had been uneasy and asked if I knew anything about handling guns. What a cheek! To get even more on his nerves I said that it had been a while since I last shot something. It was comical to see him squirm like the weasel he was. He and his lord Greystone. I lifted the gun and quickly fired five shots. That was when Mr Buttle screamed and ran off. I didn't even get the chance to tell him that the gun was out with about 2 millimetres to the left. What a shame.
"My lady, your father is requesting that you join him in his study," our house steward came to tell me. I sighed and made my way to the study. He probably heard the gunshots and the screaming maniac.
"Thank you, Alfred, I will go to him now."
When we got to the study Alfred opened the door for me. I braced myself and started speaking as I walked in.
"Lord Greystone was trying to cheat you into buying a defective gun, I swear I didn't harm a hair on that idiot's head..."
My words died off as I realised that he wasn't alone in the study. There was a young man, acutally still a boy, sitting on a chair and next to him stood an impecably dressed butler. Could this be...
"Lord Phantomhive?" I spoke my thoughts aloud. This was the first time I saw him, but I have heard much about the young Phantomhive heir. I knew he was two years younger than me and that he was the queen's guard dog. Like him I also worked for her majesty, but until now had been on assignments far away from London. My latest case had led me all the way here. I was following the trail of a serial kidnapper and possibly a killer who until now had managed to escape me at every turn. I was convinced that he or she was not completely human which complicated matters. The killer favoured young girls. They would just simply dissapear and none of the bodies had been recovered. No one knew what had happened to any of them. There were just rumours of sighting a harlequin that played a muscial box in some of the locations that the victims went missing. I had figured that somehow the music could enchant girls and lure them, perhaps similar to the story of the piper and the mice, but until now have not been able to hear or see the harlequin myself, to my frustration. And now the trail let to London, the 'dog's' territory. I could just have asked her majesty to relocate the case to her guard dog, but I wanted to see this through. One of the girls that went missing had been my cousin, Frannie. I wanted to find answers for my aunt, even if it wasn't good news and stop this criminal. And I was too proud to let go.
"Yes, this is Ciel Phantomhive and his butler Sebastian Michaelis. They have come here to discuss the latest issue in London with the queen's "cat"," my father explained. So this was it.
"Oh...so you know who I am. I take it that her majesty had informed you of my temporary residence here?"
Ciel's eyes widened.
"You mean you are...?" He looked from me at my father and then back again. The butler's expression didn't change at all.
"I am the one...known as "the cat", so I assume you are here on business relating to her majesty?"
Ciel composed himself. He clearly didn't expect to have to speak to a girl.
"Yes. She also asked that I assist you in this case since you had been unable to catch this criminal and the last thing we need now is for Lodon to have another thing to go in uproar about."
I could hear that he wasn't very impressed with me.
"You say 'another thing', does this mean there is already something stirring trouble in London?"
"At least you are perceptive, I'll give you that much... Lately London had been plagued by a master thief stealing very valueble items from the nobility. For what purpose is not certain yet, but you don't have to involve yourself further. Just sign over the case and go home."
"I am afraid I can't do that," I said in a firm tone. Ciel glared at me, but I did notice the momentary surprise. He wasn't expecting me to put up a fight. For several moments we just stared at each other, neither willing to give in.
"I am not of habit to do things half-way, as inept as you might think I am. Besides, there are other matters that my father and I have to attend to in London which will keep us here for at least three months. I suggest that we join up forces for this case if you are so insistent in getting involved."
"No thank you, I work alone," Ciel said with a scowl. I very quickly learned that lord Phantomhive could be very stubborn, but he would have to admit to meeting his match!
"Well, so do I. Either we both work on this case or you should just focus your attention on the other issue. Besides, the kidnapper favours young girls. I could help in this regard by being bait."
"Are you mad? You want to just put yourself at the mercy of a psycopath?"
Ciel's outburst was more intense than I had anticipated.
"No, normally I would not since I am working alone and would not have anyone to back me up, but if you agree this could work. It is the easiest way to get into contact with the kidnapper who I think isn't human. And rather than having some other girl who knows nothing about defending herself be bait I think I would be the best candidate."
"My lord, I think Lady Cortez might have a point," Sebastian interrupted before Ciel could say anything. He looked furious and I was sure that he would just outright reject my proposal and that we would just be back to square one. We were just like a cat and dog, weren't we?
Ciel glared at his butler, but then nodded slightly to him in acknowledgement. I wondered what the relationship between those two were? It was highly unusual for a noble to heed a butler's advice... perhaps because Ciel was still so young?
"Fine. We work together on this case, but you follow my orders. Agreed?"
I wasn't very happy about the turn of events, but realised that I didn't have much choice since her majesty probably asked him to assist me and that he was too proud to assist a woman and would rather take over the case himself completely. The cat would have to pull in her nails for now and play nice.
"Agreed."
My father finally decided to speak up, seemingly oblivious of the tension between me and lord Pantomhive.
"So, shall we have some tea?"
It was already a week since I agreed to work with the queen's guard dog. I was frustrated since he obviously was ignoring me. So much for agreeing to work together. I had some shopping to do in London and eventually decided to find something to eat. I felt uncomfortable wearing a dress and a bit grumpy. Normally I wore snug fitting clothes that didn't hamper my movements and would only be out and about at night. I guess I really did live like a cat back home. Apart from society demanding that a girl dressed like a girl I also hoped that somehow I could catch the eye of the serial kidnapper. I had learned from looking at pictures of the previous victims that all the girls had a similar style. They dressed in very frilly, girly clothes which made them look like walking dolls. Curls were very much in fashion so I had painstakingly curled my hair myself, but I had to ask Lily, one of our maids, to help me get dressed and for make-up advice. She had looked shocked at first, but then when I explained it was for a disguise she relaxed. What she said then irritated me tremendously.
"Oh...I had thought that perhaps you had your eye on a certain lord Phantomhive."
Luckily this dress didn't require a corset. I sighed; I felt like walking candy floss. The dress had layers and layers of pink. Even I was surprised at the end result when Lily finally finished doing my make-up. You almost couldn't tell it was me anymore, which suited me fine since I didn't particularly want to be recognised. Not that there were many people in London who would know who I was anyways.
I was walking towards a bakery when I saw a group of people gathered around a shop opposite it. I joined to see what the commotion was about.
"It was there just five minutes ago and now it's gone!" I heard the shopkeeper exclaimed to the officer that was busy taking his statement. I would have liked to walk up to them to ask for details, but since I was not officially appointed to the thief case – which I was sure this was related to – I could only do the next best thing.
"Excuse me, what happened?" I asked one of the onlookers.
"Mr Brown runs a jewellery store. One of his most prized necklace pieces seemed to have just disappeared."
"What? Really?"
"Yes, the case it was in is still locked and everything. He said he just went to the kitchen to get tea and when he came back it was gone. Didn't hear a thing."
"Interesting," I heard a familiar voice say and looked back to see Ciel Phantomhive and his butler. They had been listening in on our conversation, but he now walked to the officer and questioned him. Sebastian stopped next to me.
"I would recommend caution lady Cortez," he whispered to me. I looked up into his dark red eyes in surprise. He recognised me! It didn't seem like Ciel knew who I was though.
"Oh...um...yes," I replied, "please excuse me."
I got something from the bakery and then went home. It didn't seem like the serial kidnapper wanted to play today.
The next morning the paper headline read: "Dangerous kidnapper on the lose!" The first victim in London had disappeared, a girl one year younger than me. Long black hair and green eyes. The article blamed the queen for not being able to get rid of the kidnapper before he or she reached London. I felt very irritated. I could imagine wat lord Phantomhive would have to say.
"Yes, see? You are too incompetent to even carry out a simple capture order from her majesty. Just get lost already."
I wasn't in a particulary festive mood as I made my way to the fair. There was a fair being held in London square. I knew this could be the next place the kidnapper might strike since so many people and especially young girls would come. I had Lily help me dress up again. This time in a dark blue dress, resembling how I was feeling. My auburn hair was just loosely tied up and slightly curled and I wore a hat. All the sun I was getting lately was making me drowsy. And being out and about during daytime instead of night wasn't helping either. The fair was teaming with people. This was one of the few occasions that my father also came out of his 'gadget cave' as I called it. He would always see what interesting things he could find that he could use to modify other things. It would surprise me at times like these to see that he could actually converse intelligently with stall owners about their wares. Then he would appear just like any other normal person...well, mostly.
I walked around aimlessly, not really knowing what to do with myself when I noticed a young girl of similar age to me. She was wearing a bright yellow dress which was the most popular colour at the moment in London and her hair was spectaculary curled in a way that I didn't know was possible. She had a lady in waiting with her and was talking to her excitedly.
"Do you think Ciel would like this?" she asked.
"He would like anything you give him my lady, because it's from you," the lady in waiting replied. She had two circular things in her hands with little bells that jingled.
Did this girl mean Ciel Phantomhive? I followed at a discreet distance.
"I don't want to just give him anything. I want something special. It is his birthday today after all. And I still feel terrible about breaking his ring."
She broke his ring? Who was this girl? His girlfriend?
I had been distracted and didn't notice that they stopped and walked into the girl.
"Oh, so sorry!" I apologised.
"Don't worry about it! Oh, wow! I love your dress! It is dark blue, just like my fiance likes wearing! Where did you have it made?"
"Er...um... Lady Versage?"
I actually just walked into a boutique store in London and bought several dresses my size...
"I knew it! It looks just like the kind of thing she would make! And it suits you beautifully, I am so jealous!"
"So your fiance likes dressing in dark blue?" I asked to distract her from asking more questions about the dress.
"Yes, his name is Ciel Phantomhive. I am sure you have heard of him?"
"Yes, I think I might have. I am new to London though, so please excuse me if I am not up to date with all the latest news and such."
"You are new? Then I shall show you around and help you learn as much about London as I can!"
With that I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon with Elizabeth Midford and was thoroughly exhausted by the end of it. How a girl could have so much energy was beyond me. I was thankful when she and her lady in waiting left in their carriage to go wish Ciel happy birthday. I don't know why I did it, but when I saw a neck tie pin shaped like a dog I bought it and gave it to Elizabeth as a gift for Ciel. It wasn't a very cute dog. If anything it was one of those irritating little yappers.
"I am sure I had heard that he is fond of dogs...when I saw this I thought it would suit him," I said to a puzzled Elizabeth.
"In any case, I am sure you and I will become great friends so I want to be friendly to all those you care about too."
This seemed to satisfy her and with a big smile and wave they left. I smiled as I thought what Ciel would say when he saw the pin and heard it was from me.
It was some time after Elizabeth had left and darkness had settled in. I was still hanging around in case the kidnapper showed up. I was so bored. I had a coffee for a change since I needed something to keep me awake. Normally I would sleep during the daytime.
Just then I heard music. It was different from the music that played around the stalls. It sounded like a music box. The tune of 'London's bridge is falling down' was playing. It sounded a bit off-key which creeped me out. I got up quickly and followed it and caughed a glimpse of the person handling the box. The harlequin! My heart started pounding. This was the first time I managed to set my eyes on him! I now at least knew it was a man too. There was still a lot of people and I struggled against the stream to follow him, but I was slowly falling behind. Eventually I ran down an alley, but he was gone.