Chapter 1
It was a rather fair night in London. The clouds were minimal but the few that spread against the dark sky were illuminated by the full moon which hung tantalizingly in the sky. Sometimes, when she stared at it the feeling of wanting to grasp onto it and sink her teeth into its surface overwhelmed her so much that she had to look away. The sensation however, was not caused by a sense of hatred for the glorious and hypnotic orb in the sky. It was due to the feeling of power it gave, whether it was fake or real she cared not, it gave her a sense of invincibility. One would say that it made her power hungry.
On the roof top of a building it was easy to see down into the dank and disgusting streets. She hated walking on those streets, streets filled wither vermin, especially in the less profitable side which also stunk like an open sewage drain. But it was a place full of prey. Prey that nobody would miss for days or weeks. She was hunting now. She hadn't eaten in a while, a few months at least and her throat burned to be quenched. It ached when she drew in breaths, too many scents that scraped at her lungs. She brought a pale and delicate hand towards her nose in an attempt to block off the horrid smells.
The girl leapt from roof top to roof top to the less foul part of London and removed her hand from her nose and risked a breath. The air was cleaner. It still burned her but less so than before. It was time.
She closed her eyes and let out a breath, calming herself in preparation. She sat, silent and used the calm to look for the familiar fire that held her power and touched it with her conscious. It was neither hot nor cold at first but as she grasped onto it more firmly it began to cause her eyes to burn and her teeth to ache and her body to run cold. When the transition for the hunt was complete she let go of the fire but stayed near it subconsciously.
For the most part she seemed no different, but on a closer glance one would notice the strange unnatural shade of her eyes that seemed to glow an ethereal shade of lilac and her elongated canines. Had she pulled back her long, thick, dark brown hair one would see the slight point to the tips of her ears. She left her hair down. It was meddlesome at times but during the hunt she could use it to hide her more predatory features as she lured out her prey. Of coarse it wouldn't have been hard for her to just nab her prey and eat, no need for stalking and luring. But lately, she had been in the mood to play with her food. Make the hunt more interesting.
Now with her heightened senses doubled and the fire coursing through her veins almost overwhelmingly she took a deep breathe through her nose searching through the smells to find one that was just right. Her eyes burst opened. She had located her prey. Taking another whiff to make sure it was still fresh she smiled predatorily, her canines flashing in the moonlight before jumping down in an alleyway.
Her small feet touched lightly on the dirty ground, the only sound being the swish of her skirts that settled around her as she landed. Gracefully she walked out onto the main street. The smell she was following was spicy and rich as if laced with herbs. It was one of her favorites.
There were very few people out at the time, most were the homeless. Very few carriages rattled by pulled by overworked horses, their masters refusing to let them rest until they got home. The poor beasts were suffering, but they wouldn't be for long. Not many carriage horses lived for long anyway, especially those that resided in the cities.
A few blocks later and the source of the smell was nearly overpowering. Not too far in front of her walked a man in his early 20's she guessed. She turned around and walked to the around the other side of the block using her superhuman speed to go around the whole block till she stood at the end that her soon to be prey was walking towards. Then she began walking down towards him, a sway to her hips and a slight smile on her pretty face. When she was near enough she looked up through her hair which she let fall in front of her face and gave him a flirty look. He stared at her and faltered in his next step. He was hers. She licked her lips in anticipation and she watched as his adam's apple bob. A quick flick of her eyes to the alleyway just ahead of her and she could hear the increase of his heartbeat. It made her teeth ache. She walked in first and turned to face the entrance in the darkest part.
The man followed her in slightly nervously. He took a few steps in before he began to hesitate slightly, he was looking for her. She smirked beneath the shroud of her hair and stuck out her foot into the spot of light provided by the full moon. He walked towards her.
"What's your name beautiful?" He asked once he was close enough, his voice low and, she supposed, seductive. She took a step closer to him her chest brushing his causing his breath to hitch ever so slightly. Leaning up to his ear she whispered, "Why would you want to know that, when your not even going to live long enough to say it?" She pulled back as he shivered before looking down at her and watching her eyes flash a bright ethereal purple. A scream bubbled in his throat but was quickly silenced as she ripped into his neck with her teeth and drank deeply. She moaned at the taste. It was exactly as she had imagined it would taste. Her strong yet delicate hands gripped at his coat and twisted him around throwing him against the brick wall she had been leaning up against. The blood flow began to slow and she removed her head from the juncture taking in deep breaths before turning his head and biting down on the other side. She fed for a few minutes and once full she grabbed his head with both her pale hands and twisted it quickly to the side snapping his neck and then made another quick twisting, upward movement and his body fell headless to the alleyway ground. She dropped his head on top of the useless corpse and stood in front of it breathing heavily her eyes glowing even brighter than moments before.
Her throat burned, begging her to feed again and again but she took a deep breath and stepped away from the roaring flames. Her eyes dimmed, canines shrunk, and the tips of her ears rounded once more. Using the sleeve of the dress the remains of the nights meal was wiped from her face. A bit remained on the corner of her red lips and she dabbed at it with a small pink tongue, eyes pulsing a dim purple at the taste before fading back into dark blue. Those eyes darted upwards towards the sky and she jumped onto the roof. She felt no need to hide her victim of the night, it wasn't like she was going to get caught.
The rest of the night was spent watching people on the streets. The urchins fighting each other for a scrap of bread or a piece of cloth. She felt barely the smallest bit of pity for the adults. But for the children.
A small child around the age of seven or eight sat in the entrance of an alleyway shivering. His hair long and dirty hidden slightly with that of an old and battered brown cap. His hands were small and clung to his thin woolen jacket to ward off the cold of the chilly late September night air. His feet were bare and covered in dirt. The brunette without think except to remove some coins and smell for any blood on the cloak jumped down in the end of the alleyway. She went unheard. Slowly she picked her way through the garbage to the boy until she stood in front of him. She stared at his for a while. He was pale and shivered every so often. In a swift movement her cloak was off her shoulders and around the boys tiny body. He opened up his eyes to reveal big brown eyes. He stared after the beautiful girl in confusion. She sent him a kind, calming smile before reaching out for his hand, which he gave her cautiously, and deposited a few coins. He blinked rapidly and his mouth opened. "Tha-than-" she shook her head and put a slim finger to her lips before walking out and away from him.
The brunette was walking to what she had called home for the past few months when she smelled it. It was such a glorious smell that her eyes flashed its brilliant shade and she felt the ache of her canines as they tried to lengthen on their own as her throat burned even after just being satisfied. She reined in the power that was surging forth and subtly took a whiff of the air. She quickly caught the trail and something else that piqued her interest. It was mixed with the smell of a demon. The extra smell made her more cautious than she would normally have been and she decided to take to the rooftops to see where the smell was coming from rather than hunt it down like she normally would.
It was rather easy to follow the scent. Whatever it was or whoever it was smelled of a mix of something sweet, tangy or just something. Whatever it was it made her mouth water like crazy. Her speed increased slightly the closer she got to the source until she was right on top of it. Crouching down the girl looked over the side of the building and onto the street. There were a few people there. She focused her senses on each one to pick out who it was coming from until she came to a boy about the age of sixteen or seventeen. He stood next to another man of about twenty-seven, she disliked him almost immediately. They were talking to someone, a man, probably one of the homeless and he was quite frightened. This also piqued her interest and she focused in on the conversation until their words were more discernable.
"-as jus' lying there an' I sa'd ya gots to get up man. An- an he didn't move so I ah kicked his leg an he still wouldn't get up. At tha point I was little bit worried. So then I walk'd up ta his shoulda an was gunna turn him round. An-an tha-that is when I saw tha he didn't hav' no head. I bloody screamed me head off till someone came ta shut me up I right did."
"How many days ago was this?" Questioned the one that smelled so good.
"Oh it was 'bout a few months or so ago. I can't really believe da it took dis long for someone ta start lookin' in ta this, I can't. Dat man was right horribly murdered!"
"I apologize sir we are doing everything we can. We have just assumed this case from the local authority." The demon replied sweetly, it made her want to throw up her recent meal. She looked back over to the young man and observed him. He had dark hair, hard to tell its exact coloring in this light without using her advanced senses and giving away her location to the demon. He had, from what she could see blue eyes, or well eye. His left eye was covered by a back eye patch. He seemed tall and lithe like a cat. She could tell that he lived a leisurely life and was more dedicated to that of studies and puzzles rather than that of sports and other activities that required physical activity. Even from where she stood she could tell that he was attractive, so was the demon but she would never voice either thought aloud.
The boy's lips moved, 'so they are still asking questions.' She thought about what she had heard already, slowly her brain working through the quicksand that currently covered it, the heavenly smell was quite distracting, and finally made the connection. They were investigating the murders, or more specifically the aftermath of her hunts. She laughed in her head, 'good luck with this investigation boys. It looks like we will be seeing one another a lot more than just tonight.' With that she spun on her toes, the skirts of her long dress flowing around her as she walked back the way that she had come.
Sebastian looked at the building in front of them and stared after a figure walking away before disappearing just as quickly as he had noticed it. 'Interesting,' he thought before turning his attention back to the useless man before him and the young master.
Ciel glanced quickly over at his butler when his head moved and he darted his eyes up into the same direction that the butler had stared out only to see nothing of importance. He sent the demon an annoyed glance for not paying attention to the situation at hand before returning his attention to the peasant that was now complaining about the law enforcement. It was time they be on their way.
"Sebastian," the demon turned to him and the old man before them grumbled about youngsters having no patience these days and some other things thrown in. "Get the carriage. I want to visit the spot where the man's body was found."
"Yes my lord." He bowed slightly before walking off.
"Do you remember just where exactly that you found the body sir." He addressed the old man whose countenance was slightly pinched together. The man replied with a gruff yes and told the Phantomhive just where it was. By the time that Sebastian returned the old man had rattled off every detail he could remember and was on his way back to wherever it was that he had come from.
The door opened and he stepped up and in then rattled off what the man had told him. He sat in silence with his cane resting against his lap. He didn't actually need a cane, it was what was inside the cane that he needed just incase there was ever a time that Sebastian would take his precious time and he were under attack. A sharp, thin blade sat inside the wood casing which acted like a type of sheath for the surprisingly dangerous weapon.
Ciel thought back to earlier that day when he had received the queen's letter informing him about the string of murders that had started occurring in the past year. It had at first been nothing to worry about, but then the officials had started to notice a dangerous trend in the murders. In each case the victim's head was torn from their body and they lacked a surprising amount of blood. Ciel thought of many different reasons for there to be such a lack of blood and came up with the idea of it being something medical related. He had had Sebastian look into any doctors that had seemed suspicious and had two people come up. There was very little evidence but both of the men who had worked with blood transfusions had been reported acting stranger than usual. They were going to question the two men about their whereabouts tomorrow.
A knock on the carriage door brought the young earl from his thoughts. The door opened and the face of his ever present butler came into view. "We are here young master." Ciel made a noise of acceptance and exited the carriage, entering into the alleyway where the old man had claimed that he had found the dead body. They hadn't walked too far when they spotted blood stains left over from the murder. There was not much, and most certainly not enough considering what had happened to the man who died.
"Do you sense anything unusual here Sebastian?" The butler stared at the spot for a few moments before shaking his head.
"Too much time has passed since the murder, I cannot sense anything. You do not believe that this is a murder by one of your fellow specie?" Ciel glared up at the butler. He no longer had to look that far up now however, they were nearly the same height. The butler did not even spare his young charge a glance so Ciel turned his attention to the shadow of rusty colored cement wall and stone cobbled ground.
"Then our trip here was pretty much useless."
"That it was young master." The Phantomhive glanced up at the butler with a scowl on his face which only deepened as he saw the damn demon's patronizing look directed full blast onto him. He sneered and looked away.
"Then let's go. I want to go to sleep."
"It is past your bed time." At that he nearly growled at his butler. 'One more of his remarks and I will surely lose it.'