Lacey opened her eyes to a dark lit room.
"Whatever, man," she heard a man say. "I got the girl, and if the guy wants his daughter back, he'll pay us in gold. He's a noble, for Christ's sake."
He won't," Lacey whispered. "you're wasting your time."
"I gotta go," the man said. "The girl's awake." Lacey guessed he had been talking in the telephone.
Lacey tried to sit up, but found it difficult. Her forearms were bound behind her back. She moved against the wall and, once she could, she stood up.
She was greeted with a strong kick to the stomach from her captor.
"Stay seated, girl," the man said, pulling his foot back. "It'll all be over soon. As long as that daddy of yours pays us for you."
"You're wasting your time," Lacey said again, doing her best to ignore the pain in her stomach to stand upright. "He won't want his serving girl back." Lacey had always been a gifted actress. She could easily find a way out with words and actions.
"Serving girl?" The man was confused. "Aren't you Lacey Dawnaheim? You fit the description perfectly."
"What was the description?" she asked.
"Really really light hair, shoulder length," the man began, listing things from memory. "About eleven years old, grey eyes."
"I'm twelve," she said, looking up at her captor. Blonde hair, not a friendly face. "and my eyes aren't grey, they're blue. My Lady ran away years ago and hasn't been found." Lacey straightened. "The last news we got of My Lady was that someone had seen her aboard a ship for India. That was last year."
"Then explain why you look so much like little Lacey," he sneered, his eyes narrowing.
"It was a strange coincidence when I was hired," Lacey said, shrugging.
Another kick in the stomach from her captor. "You little liar!" he snarled. Lacey doubled over and fell on her side, trying to regain her breath. "Stop kicking me," she said, almost breathless. "I'm not lying. I am a serving girl to Earl Dawnaheim and the Dawnaheim family. Or, I was."
"What do you mean?" he asked, though she clearly knew he didn't care.
"I was fired and sentenced to death for dropping a teapot," Lacey said, sitting up but keeping her head down. "The Earl isn't a kind man. He didn't even care for Lacey." Lacey did her best to stand up again. "He killed her fianc , you know. Pushed him into the fireplace."
"No wonder the girl ran away," the man said, walking over to a box at the other end of the dark room. "Now..." He pulled a gun out of the box and pointed it at Lacey. "No more games, Lacey Dawnaheim."
"I've told you already, I am not Lacey," Lacey said, keeping her expression the same. "Go ahead, kill me, nothing you do from this point on will do you any good."
"I don't care," the man said, cocking the gun. "Who knows? Maybe if you're close to death, the Earl will give me more money for you."
"He's a terrible man," Lacey said, anger beginning to boil in her veins at this talk of the man she hated most in the world. "I'm not going back there. Go ahead, shoot. Hell seems like a better place than Dawnaheim Manor."
"With pleasure," the man said, grinning. He pointed the gun at her again and shot.
The blast was almost deafening in the small room. Lacey grinned, staring at her captor, who's mouth was open in total shock. His hand was shaking, so much it was a miracle he didn't drop his weapon.
"What"What the hell?" he exclaimed, backing up against the wall. "I aimed for your head, why aren't you dead?"
"Demons exist," she said, sitting back down on the ground, smirking still at her captor's expression. "in all of us. Sometimes, they even take on forms of their own."
"What...what are you?" her captor demanded, cocking his gun again.
"I'm just a simple serving girl," Lacey said, closing her eyes and laying her head back against the cool stone wall. "Nothing more."
"But-But that talk about demons-"
"A simple serving girl," she said again. "with a contract."
There was a banging on a door. Lacey opened her eyes and turned her head to her right, seeing a big wooden door she had not noticed before.
"Shit!" Lacey's captor shouted, throwing his gun on the ground. He walked over to Lacey and kicked her in the stomach once again, this time with more force.
"Who did you summon to rescue you, freak?" he snarled, taking ahold of her collar and lifting her off of the ground.
"No one," she said. "I'm not a demon myself, moron." She spit in his face.
Overcome with anger, he slammed her back against the stone wall with a strong force.
"You're hurting my arms," Lacey said, grinning again. "When they get free, I'll make sure you suffer." She opened her eyes wide and made her smile as big as she could make it. "Don't mess with me, bastard."
"Augh!" he screamed, throwing her across the room. She hit the floor hard, biting her tongue and hurting her neck when she landed.
The door burst open, and Lacey got on her knees with difficulty. Standing in the doorway was a boy. He looked no older than her. He wore an eyepatch over his right eye, and he was dressed in blue. Lacey recognized him from somewhere, but she couldn't place where.
By his side was a tall handsome butler, dressed in black.
"Now who the hell are you?" Lacey's captor demanded.
"I am the Earl of Phantomhive," the boy said. Now Lacey recognized him. His name was Ciel Phantomhive, and his parents had died when their manor had burned down. Ciel had gone missing for two years and then suddenly had shown back up with a butler. Lacey had heard her father talking about it with her family's old butler, Gerard. Sober for once, her father couldn't believe a child could be the Earl of anything. The Phantomhives also owned a toy company.
"Sebastian," Ciel said.
"What is your order?" the butler asked.
"Kill this man." The butler-Sebastian-bowed to his master and said, "Yes, my Lord."
"Girl," Ciel said, facing Lacey. "can you stand up?"
"Yes," Lacey said automatically, pushing herself onto two feet.
"Good," Ciel said. "Follow me. I will get you out of here." He turned and left, not bothering to wait for her. Ignoring her stiffness, Lacey followed Ciel out the door, leaving Sebastian to deal with her captor.
"What is your name?" Ciel asked her as they waited in the carriage for Sebastian.
"Lacey," Lacey replied. Her arms were still bound behind her back, her shoulders were starting to ache, but she said nothing about either of those things. She knew how to act in front of a Lord.
"Lacey what?" Ciel Phantomhive asked her.
"Just Lacey, Earl Phantomhive," she replied. She had abandoned the name of Dawnaheim when she ran away.
"Judging by your clothing," Ciel began. "I'm guessing that at one point you were a servant."
"Correct."
"If you were a servant, how did you get mixed up in a situation like that?"
"That man," she began. "was looking to capture the missing daughter of Earl Dawnaheim for money. I appear to look similar to her, so he captured me."
"Dawnaheim," Ciel said. "I have never heard of that family before."
"Dawnaheim was the family I used to serve before I was fired," Lacey said. She felt it didn't matter if she said that much.
There was a knock on the carriage door. It opened, and standing there was Sebastian, a smile on his face.
"Your order has been taken care of, Young Master," Sebastian said. "Miss, I can free your arms, if you'd like." Lacey looked at Ciel for approval. He nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Sebastian," Lacey said, looking back at Sebastian. She got clumsily out of the carriage, breathing in the cool night air, and waited as Sebastian untied the rope that had bound her forearms together.
"How long have your arms been tied like this?" Sebastian asked her.
"I'm not sure," she replied. The rope was off. She moved her shoulders around and rolled up the sleeves of the pale yellowish/whitish shirt she was wearing. There were pink marks on her arms from the rope.
"I'm grateful," she said, turning around and facing Sebastian and Ciel, who had stepped out of the carriage. "Is there a way for me to repay you, Earl Phantomhive?"
He was going to say something, but Sebastian spoke first.
"Young Master," he said. "it appears the young lady here has no home to go to."
"How do you know that?" Ciel asked him.
"Look at her clothing," Sebastian said. Lacey wore a buttoned collared shirt with long sleeves and trousers that matched, the color the same but in a darker shade. Her shoes were worn and a bit too small. She couldn't remember the last time she ate.
"Is that true, Lacey?" Ciel asked her. "Have you no place to go?"
"That is true," Lacey replied, feeling a bit ashamed of admitting it. "I've been living in the backstreets of London for a bit over two years now."
"You're hired, then," Ciel said. "Get in the carriage, I don't want to waste any more time out here."
"Wait-hold on," Lacey said suddenly. Ciel looked at her.
"I appreciate that you would like to hire me as a servant, Earl," she began. "but with all due respect, I cannot accept."
"Too bad," Ciel said, waking back into the carriage. "Get in."
"But-" Lacey began.
"Lacey," Sebastian said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's no point in arguing with the Young Master. Please get in the carriage and we can introduce you to your new home."
"Great," Lacey mumbled, going into the carriage.
"If you're going to be my serving girl," Ciel began as the carriage began moving, Sebastian at the reins. "then I have the right to know more about you."
"Then I have the right to know who I'm working for," Lacey countered, crossing her arms.
"Out of the question," Ciel said. "How old are you?"
"Twelve," she replied. "going to be thirteen this winter."
"What family did you serve before?"
"I told you already, the family of the Earl of Dawnaheim."
"How did you get fired?"
"I accidentally dropped and shattered a teapot," Lacey explained. "The Earl is an alcoholic and was drunk when it happened. He sentenced me to death, so I ran away during the night. That was two years ago."
"Are you naturally clumsy?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "I don't want you to be breaking things all day long."
"I am not clumsy," Lacey said, keeping her annoyance from that remark under control. "It was a simple accident."
"Do you remember how you got captured?" he asked, jumping right into the next question.
"No," Lacey said honestly. "I really don't."
"Are you a hard worker?"
"I think so," she said, a bit hesitantly.
"Let's hope you are," Ciel said, looking out the window. Lacey did as well, feeling the awkwardness that was settling in the carriage. Lacey knew that this job would be a difficult one at first.
"We're here," Sebastian said as he opened the carriage door.
"That took too long," Ciel said as he stepped out.
"My apologies, Young Master," Sebastian said, closing his eyes and bowing a bit as Ciel walked past. Lacey got out of the carriage and stared up at Phantomhive Manor. It was huge.
"Sebastian, show our new serving girl around the manor," Ciel ordered as he walked up the steps to the house. "and once you're done, start her on some work or something."
"I will, Young Master," Sebastian said, bowing to Ciel again.
Lacey looked around the courtyard. It was very big, a fountain behind the carriage and many plants.
"Well then, Lacey," Sebastian said, walking to the house. "follow me, I will show you around and introduce you to the staff."
Lacey followed Sebastian inside without a word.
(C) 2011 Keevan