I had just purchased a camera from auction but it wasn't any normal camera, oh no. It was a rather interesting contraption. I had bought it with the intention of taking a photograph of my butler, Sebastian. It is said that it will show who the photographed person cares for most but the revealed being is from beyond this realm. When I learnt that there was such a thing I became immediately interested.

I had recently become aware of the fact that I have feelings beyond that of master and servant towards my butler and at first I was absolutely disgusted with myself. How could an Earl fall for a butler? But after thinking about it long and hard for weeks and weeks I realised that it wasn't entirely uncommon. I had often heard of relations happening between someone from high society and their workers. So I decided that there was no harm as long as I kept my feelings private. It would do me no good if Elizabeth found out or, perish the thought, Sebastian were to find out.

At first it was simply finding myself enjoying the few times there was physical contact between the two of us such as when he would dress me in the mornings. He's the only person who doesn't make me feel physically sick when touching me so at first I just put it down to being natural due to this information but after a while I began to realise that I was actually craving the touch of my butler. To begin with it was just the innocent touches that I already got that I was craving but it quickly moved onto more sexual touches that I craved. I have been able to keep my thoughts at bay for now but I worry that one day I will not be able to keep my feelings under control.

It is not only physical contact that I like to have from Sebastian though. I find that I enjoy his dark, sarcastic sense of humour as well as his intelligent mind. I rarely feel so positively about someone. The only people I care for are my servants and even if only a little, Elizabeth. And I find myself thinking of the demon throughout most of the day. My thoughts are constantly taken over with thoughts of him. I find myself wanting to know everything about him – what interests him? What has he done throughout his long life? Has he ever loved anyone? Is he even capable of love, as he is a demon?

So the reason as to why I was so set on taking a photograph of Sebastian with such a unique camera was to find out who he cared about. It may have sounded childish. I myself found it annoyingly sickening to know that I was infatuated with him to the point I insisted to myself that I should know who he cared for. I knew that part of me was hoping that he cared for me but I instantly pushed the thought out of my mind whenever the thought occurred. A demon couldn't possibly care about a human, especially a human who was in fact his next meal.

After successfully purchasing the camera that I so desired and devising a plan – which consisted of my three servants following Sebastian with the camera – I called the three of them to my office. Upon entering I could tell that Bard, Finny and Mey-Rin were all rather worried. They clearly thought that they were to be punished or at least reprimanded by me, lucky for them I had something very different on my mind.

"So, Young Master. You wanted to speak to us about something?"

Mey-Rin was the first to break the silence that had filled the room. Her tone of voice and the way her voice cracked at the end of her question certainly gave away how nervous she truly was.

"Yes. I have a little job for the three of you to take care of."

I didn't feel like teasing the three servants today, I wanted to brief them on my plan and then send them straight out to complete what I had asked so I replied quickly. As soon as I responded to her question, the trio's mood quickly changed into that of a happy one.

"J"

"O"

"B?"

Bard, Finny and Mey-Rin started to express how glad they were that they weren't in trouble but I simply tuned them out. It was not important to me what they were saying anyway. The only think I took notice of was Tanaka quietly chuckling to himself in the corner of the room. Seeing that the servants had calmed down, I retrieved the special camera and placed in front of them on my desk.

"This is a camera from the famous Talbot's collection. It has a story behind it – it had been missing from the collection altogether for some time so when it suddenly came up for auction I bought it immediately."

I explained briefly. All three of them looked greatly confused and I don't know why I didn't expect for that to happen.

"Who's Talbot?"

Finny asked, his brows furrowed in confusion. At which point Tanaka stepped forward letting me know I could leave the explanations to him which I was glad to do. As his words faded out into background noise my mind drifted to thoughts of Sebastian. Before I could get too lost in my own thoughts I heard Mey-Rin exclaim loudly so I quickly shook such thoughts from my mind.

"Oh my! That sounds too incredible to be true!"

"Does such a camera really exist or is it just a rumour?"

I could hear the doubt in Bard's voice but there was also a hint of interest and curiosity within his words.

"Perhaps we should take a picture and find out. Don't move. The exposure takes ten seconds."

I hadn't actually tested the camera myself but as I had seen things that many humans had no awareness of, I was fairly certain that such a camera was entirely possible and I had it on good authority that I had indeed purchased the exact camera. I began the process of taking a photo, using Finny as my subject. Bard and Mey-Rin talked amongst themselves as we waited for the exposure. I noticed that Finny was fidgeting, which he instantly stopped once I had spoken.

"Stay still. Or the image will blur and we won't get a good picture. ... 8...9...10. All done"

I put the cap back onto the camera lens and heard Finny let out a large breath, at which point I realised he must have been holding his breath after I told him to keep still.

"You didn't have to hold your breath the whole time"

We moved into the developing room to see the outcome of the photograph I had taken of Finny and luckily it developed well without any problems. Once it was developed the four of us – the three servants and I – inspected the photograph and found that there was a little bird alongside him.

"Wow! Look at that, it's my bird!"

Bard looked at him quizzingly.

"Hmm? Since when do you have a pet bird?"

Finny began to tell us about his bird. Normally I don't have an interest in people's lives but I do actually care for my servants (as useless as they are) and hearing the hurt in the boys voice did tug at my heart strings so I listened to his story. He began to get teary towards the end but he seemed to keep himself contained, thankfully.

Although the story was somewhat sad it proved that my assumption that I had the correct camera was right. Finny had accidentally killed the little bird but it had appeared in the photograph anyway, fitting the criteria of showing what means most to the subject from beyond death. Tanaka explained this fact to the other servants, followed by both Bard and Mey-Rin shouting out.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention something. The camera has one other unique attribute, the new soul that it will show is not of this world. To put it plainly, the dead appear."

"Dead?"

"GHOSTS?"

"You can see why I would be so interested in this camera, not only does it know who you care for the most but it reaches into the other world to photograph them"

Bard and Mey-Rin began to freak out but it would seem that Bard was more so out of fear where as Mey-Rin seemed rather excited by the new information.

"This is the 19th century, surely no one believes a story like that now!"

"THAT SOUNDS AMAZING! What an incredible camera, Master!"

Finny had begun to cry to himself in the corner, clearly upset after being reminded of his bird.

"WAHHH! I miss my poor little birdy!"

Ignoring his childish cries I addressed Bard and Mey-Rin making sure that I wore my signature smirk to hide my nervousness about asking such a request.

"Take a picture of Sebastian with this camera but do it discreetly. I don't want him to know what you're up to."

"You want us to take a candid photo?"

"That's right."

Once I had confirmed my request the three of them began to talk amongst themselves. Bard mentioned something about Sebastian having weaknesses, I inwardly chuckled, if only he knew the truth - Sebastian didn't have weaknesses.

"You'll handle it?"

"AS YOU WISH YOUNG MASTER!"

My servants replied in unison, their heads held high and their back's straight – they were doing an impression of Sebastian. I actually found it somewhat amusing but my face remained with its usual stoic expression.

The clock chimed, marking the beginning of a new hour. I was using a dolls house to plan out each attack the wild trio could make, using soldier figurines to show their positions and using a black sheep to show Sebastian's position. I moved each of the soldiers so that they surrounded the sheep.

"Let's see. At this time of day he's in the library."

Bard, Finny and Mey-Rin were currently hiding behind one of the many bookshelves situated in the library. Each of them were watching Sebastian very closely but unfortunately for them, his demon speed was merely to fast for their normal sight. They came to the conclusion that they would not be able to take a photograph at the speed he was travelling, he simply wouldn't show up. The few moments that he had paused of his fast paced movements, they were too engrossed in watching how perfect Sebastian completed his tasks to actually take a photograph.

I continued on with my plans, thinking of the next destination Sebastian could be found. I moved one of the soldier pieces and used it to make the sheep topple over.

"And next – he'll straighten up every room."

Using his inhuman strength, Finny pushed a rather large snooker table into the room Sebastian was currently tending to. He aimed straight for him and he continued to push the table through the room but Sebastian simply moved slightly to the side. His side step ending up with him avoiding the table entirely whilst actually mocking the attempt by waving the red material he was holding (much like a Torero) over the table and Finny. Due to Finny's immense strength the table didn't just stop when it hit the wall, as Finny was still pushing so both Finny and the table ended up going straight through the wall, leaving a rather large whole.

I placed my figures into the next room, knowing exactly what he would be doing next.

"And after that he'll work on records in the office."

I rang the bell which I used when I wanted to summon Sebastian for various tasks throughout the day. Within moments I heard a soft knock at the door. Trying to look cool and collected so as not to arouse suspicion I granted him entrance.

"Come in."

He entered seconds later, filling the room with his delicate voice.

"Yes, did you need something Master?"

I turned in my chair so he could see that my bow was untied.

"It came undone."

He stopped in his tracks momentarily. He wore a look of slight shock for the slightest second before his usual stoic expression appeared on his face once more.

"Of course, My Lord.

I hoped that this excuse would give the trio enough time to take a decent photograph as Sebastian was required to keep still as long as he was tying my bow for me. I could see them ever so slightly in the corner of my eye so I hoped that he had not noticed them otherwise this attempt was pointless just like the others. Just when I thought it was ok I noticed Sebastian look towards the window. He abruptly stood from his crouching position and began to walk towards the window. Once he was there he opened both shutters and proceeded to look left and right outside, making me panic a little.

"Let's air this room out a bit, shall we?"

Bard, Finny and Mey-Rin were taking a break in the middle of one of the many corridors around the Phantomhive Manor, each of them exhausted from trying to follow Sebastian around all day.

"This is turning out to be a lot harder than I thought it would, getting one measly photograph shouldn't be so tough!"

They each let out a large sigh which were cut off by them being startled by Sebastian's entrance behind them.

"There you are. I have a task for the three of you."

The three of them continued to look in Sebastian's direction.

"What is it, Sebastian?"

He pointed to the other side of the hallway.

"Over there."

Each of the servants turned their attention to the window across the corridor, showing Pluto in his dog form. Bard furrowed his eyebrows, seeming unhappy with what task they may be given.

"The mangy pooch. what do you want us to do?"

"We'll be receiving a guest this afternoon. That thing is offensive. You are to transfer it out of sight before the guest arrives."

"He's kind of a big fellow, where should we put him?"

"I'll let you three figure that out."

Sebastian turned and started to exit, interrupted by Bard exclaiming –

"OI! We've got our own jobs to take care of too y'know."

"You do have until this afternoon. I'm sure you can take care of it in between your other tasks."

And with that, Sebastian left the hallway to complete the rest of his tasks. Leaving the trio with the task of dealing with the demon hound. As he closed the door behind him, he muttered to himself –

"Maybe now I can do my own job without interruption."

As I was served my lunch by Sebastian I wondered why it was taking the servants so long to take just the one photograph. I had sorted out various opportunities for them to do so, so it shouldn't have been that hard. I didn't pay Sebastian any mind as he prepared my meal for me but I was pulled out of my thoughts when he asked me a question.

"Something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. I think I'll take my supper in here today"

"Of course, My Lord."

There was a silence between us then and I noticed his eyes look in the direction of the soldier and sheep figures I had been using to plan each 'attack' throughout the day. A slight smile formed at the corner of his lips before vanishing once again.

I had Bard, Finny and Mey-Rin come back to my office so I could see their attempts so far but I was greatly disappointed. All they had managed to get were black blurs, I sighed heavily.

"We're so sorry, Master."

Finny ducked his head in shame, I knew how he hated to disappoint me.

"But Bard thought up a really good plan, yes he did!"

Mey-Rin chimed in, looking to Bard to urge him onto explaining.

"The idea came to me earlier when I saw the dog breathe fire."

"I hope that this new plan doesn't involve a flamethrower."

No more words needed to be said, the fact that all three of them silenced was enough to know that the plan did indeed involve flamethrowers, much like all of the ideas that Bard came up with. From seemingly nowhere, Lau entered my office and greeted me.

"My Lord, hello."

"Oooh, its Mr. Lau!"

Mey-Rin exclaimed loudly. Surprised by the unexpected guest, I turned to Lau.

"And what are you doing here?"

"I heard what you were up to. I thought I might assist."

Infuriated by his general attitude, as always, I turned my head away from the man.

"Go away!"

"My Lord, please don't be so hasty. Why not relax and leave this up to me?"

He sounded so confident that he would be able to do it which surprised me enough to let out a slight gasp.

"I've already woven a spiders web to trap him and the more he tries to struggle, the more entangled he'll become. Escape is impossible. Against me, no prey stands a chance. It is only a matter of time."

Quickly remembering that Lau often exaggerates, I frowned at him. But decided that I might as well see what he can come up with as the servants hadn't had any success themselves so far.

"Very well, but I will not tolerate failure. Is that understood?"

"Yes, of course My Lord. I would not allow failure to sully the Phantomhive name – I would surely be booted out of the country if I did such a thing...So, what are you up to?"

And there it was, Lau's idiocy was shown once again.

Once our guest, Paul Jones, arrived at the manor Sebastian greeted him at the entrance and then led him inside and up the large staircase. This is where Lau decided would be a great place to try his own attempt at distracting Sebastian. His distraction? To have Ran-Mao pose provocatively atop of one of the bannisters but unfortunately (fortunately if you consider my own feelings) he didn't even bat an eyelid. Mr Jones, however, seemed to be thoroughly distracted by her array of poses.

I felt my cheeks begin to heat up as I realised how glad I was that Sebastian showed no interest in the 'show' but thankfully, if the colour in my cheeks was indeed noticed it could be pulled off that I was blushing due to the alluring poses Ran-Mao was showing off.

Realising that this was all Lau came up with after bigging himself up so much, I turned my attention to him once again and asked harshly –

"That was your big plan?!"

"Quite odd. How could it have failed? Just look at her, My Lord. I was sure even the butler would stop a moment to stare."

I rolled my eyes at both Lau's stupidity and my own. How could I have possibly thought that Lau could help me with this?

"I was a fool for ever believing you could handle something like this!"

"I have only begun to fight"

Lau began to move his arms in various poses, sending a signal over to the servants on the other side of the room. They retaliated by fanning Ran-Mao from beside the staircase, making the clothing she was wearing begin to flutter in the wind, exposing her breasts a little. This action had Mr Jones unashamedly drooling over the sight.

I looked over to Sebastian at the top of the stairs, he wasn't even looking in her direction. He simply looked at our guest and asked if he was coming.

"Coming, sir?"

"Oh! Yes, of course."

And off the two of them went. Meanwhile, Lau was still stating his confusion about Sebastian's lack of interest.

"How strange! I don't understand."

"What a spectacular waste of time that was."

Whilst Sebastian and Tanaka dealt with Mr Jones I decided to spend some time alone in my office so I could come up with a new plan of action. With each plan that failed I found myself wanting the photograph of Sebastian all the more.

I had removed the figures I was using from the doll house and placed them atop of my desk. The sheep was now surrounded by five soldiers – each one representing each of the participants in the challenge; Bard, Finny, Mey-Rin, Lau and Ran-Mao. I thought aloud to myself –

"We need him to stand still for ten full seconds. Hmm. This is the one thing I didn't want to resort to...but he's left me with no other choice."

"Today we are serving Demon Hound Bean Cakes manufactured in Houndsworth."

I stared at the odd cake in front of me, my frown increasing. I didn't particularly enjoy food that wasn't made by Sebastian, his dishes were always the best. Especially his desserts, I love Sebastian's desserts.

"Why are you serving me this rubbish?"

"Bard and the others purchased quite a few of them."

I only nodded in recognition to the answer before changing the topic.

"How was the interview this afternoon?"

"I only wish you could have been there, My Lord. Tanaka was really quite extraordinary."

I smirked. Of course the interview went well, Sebastian and Tanaka would never let it be any other way. Especially so when concerning Sebastian.

"That's good, a distinguished old man makes a suitable face for the company."

"Yes. The interviewer deigned to take a photograph before he left...

I tried my hardest to keep composed resulting in my giving fairly short, blunt answers.

"Did he..."

"Apparently portraits photos have been all the rage among the nobles recently."

"Are they."

"I know, Young Master. Why not try your hand at it yourself?"

"No."

I didn't comment on it but I did in fact see Sebastian giggle to himself after my reply, I simply chose to just ignore it.

A deafening howl could be heard as I prepared for our final attempt at getting a photograph of Sebastian. If this plan didn't work then I would have to give up hope, I had exhausted all of my plans.

"It's almost time. Let's go."

Finny held the statue above his head with both arms, a few meters behind me. Bard and Mey-Rin were in their own positions ready to carry out the plan on my command. I took in the scent of the night air as I prepared myself for the mini operation I had devised.

"Are you sure this is ok?"

I could hear the worry in Finny's voice as he asked yet again whether or not it was safe for him to carry out the plan. I understood his worry. He had the complete ability to kill me if this were to go wrong but I wasn't worried as I knew that Sebastian would save me. So I bit back the sarcastic remark that I would usually spit out and replied quickly.

"Yes"

"I don't know..."

I was beginning to get angry with the constant checking. I knew that my plan would succeed, my plans always worked. But I was fond of my gardener and I knew that he was only concerned he would injure me or possibly worse so I didn't say too much to him but I couldn't hold back the harshness in my tone.

"DO IT, FINNY!"

"Right!"

He began to spin the statue between his two hands, building up a great speed before letting it go, sending it flying into the air. Once he noticed that the statue was out of sight, he fell to the floor clutching at his own hair. I could only assume that his actions were out of worry as I did not care to ask. I was much more focussed on the plan and trying not to think of the ridiculously large statue that could potentially fall on me at any moment. I could hear the wind as the statue flew downwards towards me. I felt it coming closer and closer until it was a mere meter away.

"YOUNG MASTER!"

I did not turn around at the sound of the loud cry from Finny but I could tell by the loud and clumsy steps behind me that he was trying to reach me to save me. He must have been feeling awful at that moment thinking that I would die or be severely injured due to his actions, even if they were on my command. I would have felt sorry for him but I knew that nothing would happen to me, of course it wouldn't.

Within seconds there was a load crash followed by the sound of crumbling cement and stone. I could tell that there were no injuries to myself so I turned around to see if I was correct in assuming that Sebastian would come to save me. The turn of my head proved that I was indeed correct. There he was on his hands and knees towering above my small form. His pale skin glowing in the moonlight, his crimson eyes shining brightly.

Although I knew that he would save me, there wasn't a second that I doubted the fact, seeing Sebastian in such a beautiful light made my heart skip. I found myself unable to move as my piercing blue eyes stared into his dazzling red ones. But no sooner than the thought came to me did it vanish once more as the pair of us separated, making the briefly short distance between us grow wider.

Sebastian began to assist me with standing up when we were suddenly interrupted by the loud hissing of fireworks all around us. I saw Sebastian take a quick look around, seemingly surprised by the suddenness. At which point Lau and Ran-Mao walk into the scene.

"What a charming picture the two of you make"

Ignoring his statement I turned to Sebastian, trying to appear as stern as possible.

"You're late"

"My apologies, Sir. I was making dinner preparations – for the entrée this evening we will have Canard a la Rouennaise.

"That's nice"

I could not help the somewhat strained tone in my voice, being so close to him whilst he looked so radiant in the moonlight really wasn't helping to calm my feelings down at all.

"You could have just told me to pose for a picture."

"WHAT!?"

"Had you ordered me to, I would have had no choice but to do so"

That sinfully beautiful smile appeared on his face as he chuckled at my obvious annoyance but as soon as it appeared I felt nothing but a warm happy feeling fill my chest. But I hid that feeling behind a more snappy tone, which I could only assume didn't particularly work as I could feel myself pouting.

"I don't know what you mean"

I had known the entire day what the Young Master and the servants were trying to pull off, which is precisely why they were not able to take a clear photograph of me (well, beyond the obvious reason that is - I am a demon) but I allowed for one to be taken during the last attempt, simply to make sure that I satisfied Masters wishes. What I said to him was true, if he had ordered me to I would have obliged without making it so awkward but it was certainly entertaining to see all of the attempts the five of them came up with.

I would have to say that Lau's attempts were probably the most ridiculous. As if I could be distracted by such lewd poses. Well, certainly not from a woman at least. I am simply uninterested in women. If Master Ciel had tried the same thing then there may have actually been a distraction issue. Oh dear, thinking about the Young Master inappropriately again. I really must get this under control. Anyway, off of that topic.

I requested that Pluto burned the photograph (I suppose it is lucky that the mutt can breathe fire even in his 'human' form) as I really didn't fancy anyone knowing that the person I care most for is in fact, the Young Master. Humans have never interested me but when I came across him that fact changed. Emotions aren't something a demon feels very often but when we do they are most definitely very deep emotions that aren't easily forgotten. Luckily for me, I am a demon with great power so I can push my feelings aside and still act how I need to to fulfil my contract.

Pluto began to run towards me down the hallway still in his 'human' form. Normally I wouldn't let him so close to me without having to but I felt that he deserved a little treat at least for doing as I requested. So I handed him a dog biscuit.

"Good"

"M'Lord has outdone himself; that was an elaborate piece of mischief he concocted."

I turned towards the demon hound –

"You do know you're sleeping outside?"

As if I would let a dog sleep in the Manor, foul. It doesn't matter how 'good' it's been.

I made my way to the Young Masters office and I opened the door –

"Excuse me, Lord. We should prepare you for bed."

I was greeted with an extremely adorable sight – he had fallen asleep in his chair.

"You've fallen asleep slumped in your desk chair, how irresponsible of you."

How cute of you was what I was actually thinking.

"Typical I suppose. Once again you have given me unnecessary work."

It's not that I actually mind, I would do anything for the Young Master. Anything at all. And that fact had nothing to do with the contract any more, the contract simply enhanced the bond I had with my Master.

I decided to return the favour to the Young Master by taking a photograph of him as he tried to do to myself. I had thought that it would feature his parents but I was surprised to find that it was in fact I that appeared in the photograph.

"How utterly surprising."

I small smile appeared on my lips as I began to let my mind wander to the possible outcomes of this situation.