Ciel didn't like this place. The forest was too dense to even see moonlight, except for a few lucky beams that reached the ground where trees had been felled. They had been walking for days now, not even stopping to feed. He could tell that both of them were starving. He'd told Sebastian that it made more sense to follow the road around the forest, where they chanced coming across a house where they could take shelter, and feed.

The young demon shifted fitfully in the arms of his butler, and Sebastian looked down at him. "Is something wrong, Young Master?"

"I told you to go around the forest. Why are we going through it?"

"It's faster this way, my Lord. Does the forest frighten you?"

"Don't be absurd, you idiot. I'm simply cold. We could have found a house or something to ask for shelter for the night if you'd just gone around."

Of course, Sebastian wasn't wrong. Ciel didn't like the feeling of the forest. He felt like there was something out here that would harm them. Why couldn't Sebastian sense it? He should have smelled the danger that Ciel did.

In that annoyingly amused tone of his, Sebastian proceeded to repeat to Ciel everything that was crossing his mind. "I sense no danger, my Lord. You can stop worrying now."

A twig cracked, causing Ciel's head to whip around. "What was that?"

Sebastian chuckled. "Would you like me to take a look around, Sir? Assauge your fears?"

"I told you, I'm not afraid!"

He was promptly set down behind a bush, directly in a moonbeam, as Sebastian gave another soft chuckle. "Then simply permit me to look around for my own sake."

"You half-wit fool, don't leave me here exposed!"

"As I said, there isn't anything out here to expose you to." Sebastian put his tailcoat around Ciel's shoulders, then started off into the darkness. Ciel shivered, not from cold, but from worry. He knew there was someone else here. He pulled the tailcoat around himself, peering out at what he could see.

Something moved in the dark, something only marginally smaller than Sebastian. Still, marginally smaller was smaller, and smaller meant it wasn't Sebastian. He curled up smaller, watching the place where he'd heard the noise come from. There was another ray of moonlight a safe distance away, and it was within it that Ciel caught a glimpse of the stranger.

It was a demon, there was no question. A large being with what looked like wings on its back. Ciel honestly couldn't tell whether it was male or female. Or both. Or maybe it was neither. At this point, nothing would surprise him.

"You there!" he called toward it, standing suddenly.

The face that turned to him was terrifying, the eyes glowing a vicious, hungry red. Ciel took a step away from the demon, shaking again. "S-Sebas-"

"Hello, little one," the demon crooned in a voice like sweet poison. "Are you lost?"

"Sebastian!"

It moved closer, its form starting to melt into something else. The wings folded down on its back, the limbs and body shaping into a figure not unlike a woman's. The face changed in quality, from a frightening display of teeth and demonic markings to a doll-like, almost angelic face. But her smile was anything but angelic; it was sugar-coated madness.

"Who is Sebastian, dear? Your dog?"

"Not quite."

Ciel looked up at the sound of Sebastian's voice, spotting his butler perched on a tree limb above him not unlike a bird. The female demon looked up at Sebastian, peering at him suspiciously. She growled, as if Ciel was a wounded fawn and the pair of adult demons were hungry wolves.

As if she were defending her potential kill.

"Who dares?"

"I should ask you the same." Sebastian landed softly beside the young Earl, and continued to speak. "You'll find no sustenance here. I suggest you move on."

The female's eyes sparked, almost as if she recognized him. "... don't I know you?"

"I doubt that."

"... The Black Death, thirteen-hundred and forty-nine. Paris. You were quite proud of the plague you were spreading. Though..." She chuckled softly, taking a step closer, invading Sebastian's personal space. "I'm quite certain you weren't calling yourself Sebastian at that time."

"Sebastian is the name my Master gave me, so I am Sebastian." The butler brushed himself off. "Your name, however-"

"Isn't it proper to address a Master rather than a servant when making introductions?" She turned to face Ciel, offering him a gentle, polite smile as she curtseyed. "Your Lordship. It is my honor to make your acquaintance. My name is Severina Geier. If it would please you, I can offer you shelter for the night. It isn't safe in these woods."

Ciel looked at Sebastian. He was unsure. "Can she be trusted, Sebastian?"

"You aren't a wayward child, you are a demon, and you are with me. This demon preys on children, and otherwise isn't aggressive. She is a scavenger, she can hardly even be called a hunter. She's no threat. In any case, I have met her before, and she is one of the few demons that is willing to shelter wanderers in her lair."

"As he leaves out that we were friends. Hmph." Severina straightened up, brushing her short hair out of her eyes. "Now then, please. This way."