The silver crescent of the moon enveloped London's winding roads as a blanket of immense silence masked the cloaked figure's footsteps, each muffled stride growing quicker with unease from the lone human. It continued to sneak over the shoddy cobblestone roads with it's crouched form, almost slithering across the uneven pavement like a cobra preparing to strike. The light pitter-patter of feet grew still, and the cloaked figure had gently removed their hood in the dim moonlight. Wild, forest green eyes framed with jet-black eyelashes just above high, freckled cheekbones covered in pale skin delicately set above smooth, pink lips twisted into a permanent scowl. A glasgow grin marred the feminine features, distracting from curly, frizzy, and brilliantly red hair that escaped from the cloak's smothering grasp. The pair of green, predatory eyes surveyed her surroundings for any drunken thugs or discarded homeless and then closed violently, almost like the sun was blaring harshly into the sensitive irises. The harsh quiet only grew as she sat, a marble statue in a city of decaying buildings. Her steady breath was barely detectable to human ears, but the fast fluttering of her heart was quite audible,resembling a frightened hummingbird in flight. Leisurely, her murky viridescent irises were revealed once again and she continued her late-night stroll through the dismal streets of foggy London. Thump, thump, thump. Banging noises interrupted the ominous silence in the air and caught the mysterious woman's attention. She was entranced by the curious sound, and her careful footsteps changed to hurried paces towards an abandoned tavern a few blocks down the road.
Keen eyes shifted around the room. From the dull, cracked entryway of the tavern, to the discarded bottles of ale sitting on top of dusty, splintered tables with chairs, the rotting walls covered with sticky, black grime and warped pictures of what the tavern was in it's prime, and finally to the dismantled bar with unused shelves beside a creaky staircase. A set of grotesque tracks were found on the disgusting floor alongside swirling dust motes leading from the entrance up to the top of the broken steps. Cockroaches scurried away on the floor as she cautiously approached the bar, kicking up even more dust from the neglected floor. No longer under scrutiny from unwanted citizens, she swiftly undid the clasp on her right shoulder that kept the cloak in place and allowed it to sweep across the floor. The sudden change in attire allowed her to reach her sheathed weapons with ease, most secured in hidden compartments of her leather armour. With one last. lingering sweep of the place, the young woman began her slow ascension up the rickety stairway. An obnoxious creak echoed through the building as she placed her first step on the lowest stair, startling the redhead and causing a low snarl to rip through her mouth. Her hairs stood up on the nape of her neck as her mind began to scream, "Danger, run, it's here it knows you're here!" Her complexion became ghastly pale, and her blood ran cold as she began to hear someone else's sure footed steps. She tried to clear her mind of all of her fears but kept fumbling for her trusted sword on her hip with shaky, unsure hands. The sure foot-steps from the stranger grew still, but as soon as the woman's mind began to free itself from fear's brutal choke-hold, the slow steps became constant scratching noises against the ancient wood of the tavern's floor. She knew that no amount of termites could replicate that noise, her suspicions about the horrid tales of the 'cursed' lurking the streets was no bed time story. She backed away on the loose wooden boards as the foul stench of sulfur and decay overpowered her senses and made her eyes water. It was trying to see if she was weak, maybe another unfortunate street rat no one would miss coming to investigate. The woman had her head down and was dry-heaving from the powerful odor. A single creak was heard atop the stairs causing the woman to turn her head so fast she could have had whip-lash. Dominating the stairway was a creature of nightmares, one someone would create to make naughty children behave on the holidays. Dragging itself painfully slow down to the main floor was a the figure of a male, but at every point where the limbs should have been were instead swirling masses of short, grey tentacles that kept the rotted corpse together. It's shuddering breath was even more horrific than the smell the body produced, making the woman more and more nauseous. She unsheathed the abyssal, black obsidian sword from it's spot and whistled through the air with it's serrated end to make a show of ferocity. The euphoria of battle was replacing the shaky and trembling feelings of nausea and rage the creature created in her body. An insane, twisted grin graced her features as the adrenaline for the kill readied her for combat. Years of training and instilled discipline took the reigns of her conscious as the beast made it's final descent. The two sat not eight feet from each other, calculating the enemy with wariness. The petite woman dashed forward with certainty towards the monster as it's withering mass of tentacles shoot out. It seized her ankle and yanked towards it's body. A huge bolt of pain wracked her leg as she struggled to keep herself at a distance. She clung with all her might with her left arm around a pillar, taking her dominant arm and slashing viciously through it's limbs. It released its grip and she fell scrambling across the floor with her weapon. Eyes searched wildly for her only hope for survival as the creature sat shaking and moaning. The stench of the unholy was all around her, and for a moment she lost concentration as she found her lifeline. She turned back towards the thing and sucked in a horrified gasp through her teeth. Never before had any of the creatures she encountered look so intelligent or malicious towards her, and it hurtled its full weight towards her. She flipped onto one of the wooden tables, hair seemingly burning with demonic flames as she raised the dark weapon in her hand and sliced the whirling body apart at it's core. It sat on the floor severed in half, dark ichor leaving its body and burning sizzling holes into the ground. The euphoria no longer was running through her veins, leaving her tired and clumsy. The woman pushed herself off of the table top and onto the floor, tip toeing over the recent corpse and back to the entrance. When she placed her shaky hand on the rusted door knob, something blunt and heavy was smashed against the back of her skull, knocking her out completely. The body fell against the door and slid further and further until it lay across a pair of expensive, black shoes. Sebastian turned to his master hidden in one of the dusty closets and waited for him to make himself known. Ciel's small form appeared from the bowels of the closet and approached the butler with a cold look on his face.
"Ah, what shall we do with this young woman, my lord?" Sebastian asked with thinly veiled amusement.
Ciel lowered his gaze to the girl and appraised her with curiosity . No one, with the exception of his butler or Agni, could have handled that fiend of a being. His icy blue eye continued to stare at her thoughtfully, before he turned and began his smug stride back to the carriage.
"Bring her to the manor, she can sleep with thee other servants," Ciel demanded coldly, he no doubt had questions for this mysterious woman. His only answer was glowing, luminescent eyes and sharpened fangs with a respectful bow from Sebastian.