Taylor Murphy

Elements of Literature

12/1/10

Demon's Lullaby

I sat on a ledge overlooking my mansion, watching as my servants bustle around, doing what they had always done since they were employed. I looked over my shoulder at Sebastian, my faithful butler that was bound to me forever. I flashed him a fanged grin.

"It's been a year since I've been a demon, hasn't it?" I looked off into the distance, recalling memories of when I lived in my mansion…back when I was a human.

"Yes, it has been one full year. And I must say that this one year has been the best of all the thousands of years I've lived." I kicked my legs back and forth off the cliff edge.

"I remember the day it happened…."

It was a normal day; not a day I would have expected for everything in my life to change.

"Young Master, it's time to wake up, it's 8:30." A strong voice told a sleeping boy in a large four poster bed, coiled up in covers. The tall man walked gracefully across the spacious room and pulled the curtains back, allowing sunlight to stream into the room and onto my face

"Ugh…" I groaned, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. I opened one bright blue eye and one purple eye to stare at my black haired butler. To keep myself from staring at him too long, I turned my head to the side and feigned annoyance.

"What's the schedule today, Sebastian?" I asked, swinging my legs off the side of the bed. I watched as his tailcoat fluttered around him as he walked over to me handed me a plate with a delicious looking parfait on it. I took the plate and ate as he began to change me out of my sleepwear and into the day's attire.

"Today you have some paperwork to fill out. As the head of the Phantomhive toy company, you have many responsibilities to-"he stopped when I wiggled my socked foot in his face.

"I know, you don't need to tell me my responsibilities." I said, standing up so Sebastian could tie the ribbon on my neck. After he was done, he straightened himself and gazed at me. I could tell he was happy with the way I looked from the sparkle in his blood red eyes that were normally emotionless and cold. I blushed slightly at the spark he got in his eyes whenever he was happy, and for some reason, whenever he was happy, I was happy. And that confused me like I couldn't believe.

"Sebastian, get out of my room and go do your duties, I have paperwork to attend to." I ordered, walking out of my room to my study to fill out the work Her Majesty had sent me, plus a pile of invitations from other Earls in London that I had been neglecting to respond to. I could feel Sebastian's tantalizing gaze on my back as I left the room. Once I was around the corner of the hallway, he flashed my back a wide fanged grin only he could pull off.
"Yes, my lord" came the reply as he turned on his heel and went the opposite direction to the kitchen to start making preparations for lunch.

As I sat down in my oversized chair at my desk I put my face in my hands and sighed in exasperation. It had been three years so far that Sebastian had been my butler. Ever since my parents were killed when someone set our mansion on fire and I was kidnapped by a cult, I was cursed. I had called to him when the cult leader drove a knife into my heart, and he had appeared before me in a tight black outfit with feathers falling around him that disappeared as soon as they hit the ground. He faced me with slited, burning red eyes and asked me if I wanted revenge. I remember the distinct sound of his sharp heels clicking on the granite floor as he walked toward me and the cult that was spread out all around the room, covered in their own blood. He reached a bloody hand out to my face. I was supposed to be scared, that much I knew, so I was very surprised when I felt such a warm sensation that spread through my heart when he branded the sign of our covenant on my right eye.

A small clinking sound brought me back from my memories as I quickly scanned the room around me, expecting it to be Sebastian, like it usually was. When I found that nothing he wasn't in the room, I relaxed in my chair and let out another sigh.

"Why would he actually care about me? He only cares about eating my soul after my revenge is complete…" I mumbled to myself, so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice a sudden movement from behind me until it was too late. A cloth soaked in a drug slapped itself over my nose and mouth, and an arm wrapped around my stomach. I bumped into my desk and scattered papers and ink everywhere as I struggled. As soon as I realized that I was in trouble, I tried to call out to Sebastian, but I couldn't talk, and my vision was getting blurrier by the second.

After what seemed like forever, I passed out in the arms of the stranger who attacked me. Whoever the man was, he turned to the window and jumped out off the balcony and was gone in the woods. Seconds later, Sebastian burst into the room in a frantic.

"Young Master?" he scanned the room for any sign that I was still there. After not being able to find me, he closed his eyes and removed the pristine white glove off of his left hand that revealed the same mark my eye did and focused on finding my location through our contract. Once he figured out where I was, he took off after me with inhuman speed into the woods.

A sudden throbbing in my contracted eye caused me to wake up groggily.

"S-Sebastian…?" I called out, not able to see due to the side affects of the drug that was used on me. Panic overtook my mind as I heard a chuckle from the corner of the dark spacious room. I tried to move around, but I found that I was chained to a granite table by my hands and ankles. I struggled to get out, but that just made him laugh more. His laugh was a sick, psychotic laugh that sent chills down my spine. My heart thumped in my throat as I heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and the soft footsteps as someone advanced toward me. I hadn't felt so scared since the day I found my parents burning on the floor.

"Sebastian!" I screamed, hoping that he would come for me like he always had whenever I needed him. I waited a few seconds and panic hit me at full force when he didn't come.

"Good luck, Ciel Phantomhive. No one from your mansion can hear you; we're ten miles away." I glared into the darkness, trying to find my kidnapper.

"Sebastian will come for me any minute, and you'll be sorry you decided to kidnap m-" A sudden low to my face stopped any further speech. My head thumped back on the table as blood ran down my chin from my busted lip. He grabbed my face between his fingers and breathed on my face. I had to force my body to not throw up at the stench that emitted from his mouth.
"He has no idea where you are, little Phantomhive." There was a sudden eerie silence before I felt something collide with my ribs, sending an incredible pain shooting through my body. I bit my lip to keep from crying out as I heard the crack of one of my ribs breaking. He pulled his fist back and struck me in the face. After that, I lost track of what was happening to me, but I think at some point he took out a knife and sliced through the tendon on my right foot, since I couldn't move it at all.

My whole body was sore and my head was throbbing painfully. I was about ready to close my eyes and accept my fate when a door on the other side of the room burst open and Sebastian sprinted in. Once his eyes landed on me, I knew that I was safe.

"Young Master…" he breathed as he walked up to me and caressed my face with his gloved hand, completely ignoring the man that was attacking me moments before. I stared weakly up at him in response, for I was unable to talk from all the pain I was in. His eyes turned from a deep red to an ultra violet color as he inspected my damaged body.

I had never felt so scared around him before. His entire being was literally crackling with unreleased rage, and his human form was starting to waver from his lack of control over it. In one quick step, he was face to face with my kidnapper. All I could see were his glistening fangs and piercing eyes through the darkness. I exhaled a breath that I didn't even know I was holding when I heard the satisfying cracks and screams as Sebastian tore him apart limb by limb, taking pleasure in his suffering. After he was done dismembering the man, he walked over to me as his demon form slowly dissipated, and he returned into the form of my cherished butler.
"Young Master…" he breathed as he effortlessly ripped apart the metal shackles on my hands and feet. I only stared up at him, fighting to keep my eyes open.

"You've lost a lot of blood, we have to get back to the mansion right away so I can stitch you up" He bent over and carefully snaked an arm under my back to pick me up. I hissed as a shattering pain shot through my body. He noticed my pain and removed his arm.

"S-Seb….astian…" I hissed in pain as he picked me up and cradled me in his arms. I was too weak to do anything more than hide my face in his coat and cry; something I haven't done in years despite my age of 13. Once he was sure I wasn't looking, he let his emotionless facade he always wore drop and transform into a face I wouldn't have understood even if I had seen it myself. I felt him walk through the door and in a flash we were back at the mansion, and before I knew it, I was lying down on my large bed, wracked in pain. I stared up at the ceiling, in too much pain to do much else. He knelt next to me and unbuttoned my torn and bloody shirt to assess the damage to my body. I watched as his eyes once again turned into full blown slits and his fangs started to bare out of his mouth as I heard a low growl from the back of his throat. I looked down at myself and gasped at the state my body was in.

The first thing that caught my attention was a large and deep laceration going across my chest. It had turned a mahogany color from dried blood and probably infection. Upon further inspection, I had multiple bruises and cuts littered around all over my entire body, and a bone or two were sticking out from under my skin. I watched in horror as he put a hand on one of the bones and gave me an apologetic look.

"I have to pop these back in. Please, close your eyes." He said. The expression on his face told me was in a lot of emotional pain as he quickly pushed the bone back in. I shrieked in pain as it snapped back into place in my ribcage. I closed my eyes again to stop from crying, but I was surprised to feel wetness on my shoulder and warmth around me. I reopened my eyes to see Sebastian hugging me and crying on my shoulder. He had never cried before, he had told me himself. He has lived for thousands of years, and not once had he cried. The only thing I could think to do was to pat his back, but that proved to be difficult due to my broken fingers and wrist.

After a long while of just letting him cry silently on me, he spoke so softly that I had to strain my ears to hear him.
"I thought I had lost you" I smirked at him

"You don't think I'd die THAT easily, do you?" he frowned at me as a sudden cough racked my body, causing me to hack up blood onto the sheet. After the burning in my throat started to worsen, I collapsed on the covers, not able to keep sitting up straight. I watched Sebastian yell to me and try to keep my awake through half lidded eyes. I smiled at him one more time before closing my eyes. But right as I closed my eyes, a searing burning sensation went up my arm and around my body. My eyes flew open of their own accord and what I saw shocked me.

My wounds were healing at an inhuman speed; the cells and tissue were reconnecting. Even the severed tendon on my foot was repairing itself rapidly. As I looked down my body, I watched as a long laceration running across my chest healed itself and the surrounding bruises and cuts around it. I also noticed that I was impossibly pale, just like Sebastian, and I could feel fangs in my mouth. A sudden movement caught my attention, and I looked over to my left arm to find Sebastian's teeth injected into my skin. Frightened, I tried to rip my arm away and yell at him, but a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me, clearing my mind of any intentions or ideas. The last thing I saw were his glowing red eyes staring at me before I lost consciousness.

When I awoke some hours later, I felt like a new person. Energy was tearing through my body like a storm, and my hearing and sight were amplified. I stood up and looked out my window, and what I saw frightened me a little. A red-eyed demon boy stared back at me. It took me a few seconds to realize that the person staring back at me was actually my reflection. I smiled back at myself with malicious eyes as I noticed Sebastian walk into the room and up behind me.

"Now marks the beginning of an eternity." I turned around and held my hand out to him.

"Take me where we demons go, Sebastian." I ordered calmly, the pentacle in my eye throbbing as I verbalized an order. He grinned as his true form emerged from his human disguise.

"Yes, My Lord."