A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or its characters.
Well, here is the first chapter of The Dog and the Raven. I promise to actually update this one, so hopefully you will continue to read later chapters. Enjoy the story.
Light poured through the window beside Charlotte's bed. Charlotte slowly opened her eyes to see that the curtains had been opened. The butler must have done that, she thought. She sat up in her bed and brushed a curly strand of strawberry hair out of her face, still in disbelief of the night before. Had she really done what she remembered? Had she seen some odd dream? Or maybe she was just a lunatic like she had always suspected.
Charlotte swept the covers off her legs and looked to her right. Lucius, her husband, had already gone downstairs for the day. He did this often because he liked to have time to read before breakfast, but it never bothered Charlotte. In all honesty, she liked having time alone. This way, she had time to think about things and could relax.
Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Charlotte began to think of the events of the party. The night before, she and her husband had been invited to a grand party that was being hosted by Lord Earling. Charlotte hated parties, but even so, she always went to them with Lucius without a single complaint.
In this way, Charlotte and her husband were very different. Lucius loved socializing was very charismatic, but Charlotte preferred solitude and was shy. She had a hard time trusting people, especially after what happened to her when she was a young girl.
Charlotte was twelve years old when her parents hosted a party of their own, as they had many times. As usual, Charlotte and her sister, Sarah, who was fifteen at the time, were not allowed to go to the party, so the girls went into their room, and Sarah taught Charlotte how to paint.
The party had been going on for quite a while when the girls heard footsteps in the hallway. They ignored it, assuming that Johanna, Sarah's maid, was coming to check on them, but when the door opened, Johanna was not the one that entered the room. In fact, Johanna came in several minutes later to find one girl tied to a bed, naked and trembling and the other motionless, her own blood staining the floor beneath her.
When the girls' parents discovered what had happened, their mother wept at the loss of Sarah and the absolute disgust of what was done to Charlotte. Their father did his best to comfort her, but he, too, was overwhelmed with anger and sorrow.
A few days later, during the funeral service, Charlotte looked upon Sarah's casket and thought about her sister, how loving she was, and how she was taken away. Slowly, anger began to mix with Charlotte's sadness, and she knew that she wanted the man that killed her sister to die. She wanted revenge on whoever was responsible for committing such an act.
Several months had passed, but the police never found the man. The lights had been turned off when the figure entered the room, so Charlotte could not give a description of the man. She didn't even know how old he was or what his voice sounded like.
"Are you alright?" Lucius asked with a look of concern, seeing that his wife seemed to be worried about something. He had just finished talking to a man from France when he noticed Charlotte's saddened expression.
Charlotte lifted her head to face Lucius and her features softened. "Hm? Yes, I'm fine, just a little too warm, that's all." They walked a few steps when Charlotte gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "I think I'll go out to the garden for a moment if that's fine with you." She smiled gently.
"Of course, but Charlotte, are you absolutely sure you're alright? If something's troubling you, tell me." Lucius was always so considerate, and Charlotte loved that about him.
She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." She reassured him with another smile. "I won't be long." She lowered her hand and turned to go to the garden, Lucius watching after her until she disappeared in the crowd.
Charlotte sighed when she reached the garden. She was relieved to be away from the crowd and felt a little calmer looking up at the stars. Even after so many years, she felt painfully uncomfortable at parties, and all because of what had happened.
When Charlotte was young, she was told that if she made a wish on a clear, spring night, it might come true, and while she doubted that it would, she felt it was worth the try. She would ask for the one thing she truly desired.
"I don't know which one of you is listening up there, but I once heard that if I made a wish on a clear night like this, it might come true if I wanted it badly enough. I don't know if I believe that's true, but there's nothing to lose by trying, so here is my wish." Charlotte paused for a moment as if she was wondering whether she should even make the wish in the first place. "I want to make it up to Sarah. I want whoever did this to her, to us, to be punished. I want him to suffer like I have for all these years."
Charlotte waited for a few moments before turning to go back to her husband. When she turned however, she came face-to-face to a handsome butler with raven hair and mysterious red eyes. He grinned at her, took a step back and bowed.
"Excuse me, miss," the young butler said, "I was taking Lord Earling's dog for a walk around the garden, and he got away. Have you seen a black dog around here?"
Charlotte didn't say anything at first, still wondering how he got so close to her without her knowing, but when she realized he had asked her a question, she shook her head. "No, I have not seen a dog." she told the butler.
"Well if you see a dog, could you please tell me which way he ran? I'll be standing over there, searching for him."
Charlotte gave a short nod, and the butler traveled several yards away. Out of curiosity, she turned towards the woods on the other side of the garden. Sitting at the edge was a black dog, probably the one the butler had been searching for.
"There he is!" she shouted, "He's over there by the-." At this point, she realized that the butler was gone. She turned in all directions to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found. When she looked to the dog again, it rose and ran off into the woods.
From the way the dog had looked at her, it was almost as if he was beckoning her to follow him, but that was not possible…was it? Charlotte stared off into the woods, looked back to the house, then looked to the forest edge once again. While the idea of following after the dog seemed completely absurd, she somehow felt that she desired and needed to chase after it.
Against her better judgement, Charlotte pursued the dog, running as fast as she could after it. She flew past the garden and several trees until she saw the dog again. It was sitting as if it had been waiting on her to catch up with it. Seeing that she had found him again, he ran off once more and she quickened her pace.
The dog stayed just far enough ahead so that she could see it, and finally the dog stopped in an area with a smaller amount of trees. As Charlotte tried to catch her breath, she never took her eyes off of the creature.
"Why have you summoned me?" asked the dog, his mouth unmoving. The voice was that of an adolescent boy, but even so it frightened her. She stared at the dog in shock.
"I summoned you?" she asked, beginning to wonder what kind of strange dream this was.
"You made a wish just now, did you not? I'm here to fulfill it."
"What are you?" Charlotte asked, "Are you some sort of angel?"
The dog laughed though his expression did not change. "Hardly," he said, "unless you consider me an angel of Hell."
Charlotte gasped at the word, beginning to feel even more afraid than she had before. "A demon? That's what you are?"
"Yes, a demon who will help you get revenge if you give me something of equal value in return."
Charlotte was worried by this. "What do you want?"
"If you make a contract with me, I will help you get revenge, I will help you find the man who killed your sister, and I will protect you until my part in the deal is done. However, once I have done what was asked of me, I will take your soul."
Charlotte's eyes widened. "But then that means-!"
"You cannot go to Heaven after making a deal with a demon, those are the rules."
Charlotte remained silent, not sure what to say.
"So," said the demon, "will you make a contract with me?"
A/N: So, how do you like the story so far? I would really appreciate reviews if you have comments. :)