Prologue: His Lady, Promised

I can feel it screaming in my head, the danger. I cried out, my voice shrill and echoing in the woods. A demon, a demon was near. "Leave me alone! Please!" I bawled, the tears cascading down my face as my legs pumped underneath my body. I held my head in pain and looked around wildly. Demon! Demon!

I let out one more pitiful cry before I was falling and could no longer feel the forest ground beneath my feet. Leaves scattered as I lost my footing and plummeted into the trap a hunter had left for a fox. The irony sunk in like a whip to the back.

I curled into the fetal position upon impact, feeling the pain in my ribs. None were broken but surely bruised. The twigs and sticks poking out from the sides had shredded my clothing and cut my flesh. I was pitiful. Downright humiliated. I was going to be taken by a demon because I fell in a fox trap.

In my weak state, my ears and tails had become present. In one last desperate effort, my tails swished the leaves over my body in an attempt to hide my being. Then I just lay there in the sickening silence, awaiting what was surely my doom. Demons are far more clever then I. Especially one that has lived as long as he has.

"Lilianna Bellamy?" My name, the voice of evil has spoken it. Do I dare answer? "Surely a mere fall as such could not be enough to injure an angel." I moved now, slowly letting the leaves fall from me as I sat up. Then I forced myself to my feet, arms covering my chest as I did so, the clothes hanging in strips around my pale body. I was vulnerable as exposed as I was. The moon was glinting across my body making my glow: a perfect target for his games. My head tilted back and my eyes opened to look at this creature from the Devil.

"What is your request of me? I cannot grant a miracle to anyone of your kind. Perhaps you are searching to consume the purity of an angel's soul?" I spoke, my voice not strong to begin with so it barely came out above a whisper. "My only reasoning of this situation is that you wish to murder me."

"Ah but Miss Lilianna you forgot a very crucial one." The demon who looked so oddly human smiled in an eerie fashion. "What if I came to humbly request your assistance?" he bowed slightly. I was puzzled by his clothes. Why would a demon need to pose as a butler?

"In all the history of time sir I cannot recall a demon asking an angel for help. Or vice versa." I pointed out.

"But I'm not asking any mere angel am I? I'm asking an angel who also has demon blood in her veins." My eyes widened in surprise. Was it that easy to sense I'm a mixed creature? "I would appreciate your help with my new…. Client per say."

"I have no interest helping a demon consume a poor unfortunate soul. I don't know what you've heard, but I work with the holy, not the cursed. Despite my mother being a demonic Kitsune, I do not follow her path. I was raised by my father before his punished death, with only the views of the pure and innocent." I carefully answered him with new determination. It's true the Kitsune powers had been passed down to me, but the demon was held in my sister, not me. My powers are that of an angel, of my father. The two had created a Holy Kitsune.

"Ms. Lilianna if I may be so forward. I'm sure you can imagine that as a demon I am not all that thrilled about asking one of your kind to be a part of my team. However; for my new master to have all of the full protection he needs and deserves, I figured this was the time to exercise my tolerance. My new master is a child who was recently orphaned in a fire. I am under his service until he can take out revenge on the devious villains that did this awful deed to him. Against my bitter judgment, I have conformed to the name vigilante in a sense. I don't want your help in completing my contract. What I want from you is for you to become my new Master's nanny. He likes to think he's grown up, but I will find it quarrelsome to have to raise him for proper society on my own until his time of passing." This demon jumped down into the hole in front of me and I took two cautious steps back. I was not feeling comfortable and my face heated as he looked at me with glowing red eyes. My tails curled around me to maybe hide the fragile flesh.

"You want me… to be this child's mother?" I slowly calculated.

"Nanny is the correct term I would think but in a sense… yes. I want you to help me raise him. Now we will be his servants, but things will go a lot more smoothly with a womanly presence I'd assume, wouldn't you? You could protect him; teach him your little ways. Until the completed contract of course." He took a few steps toward me and I swallowed. "So my lady…" My back hit the wall as he continued his advance and my lip curled slightly in warning. Then he took off his over coat and placed it around my naked shoulders. "Will you assist my young master?" He bowed and held out his hand, much like a gentleman would when asking a lady for a dance. I looked at him incredulously. Who was this man?

"What is your name?" I demanded, pulling the coat a bit tighter around myself.

"Sebastian Michaelis." I analyzed him. He seemed sincere. I knew this was for his own personal gain, and he was not trying to hide that fact. How could I possibly be considering this? An angel and demon simply were not a compatible team. But then I thought of the child. Could I really leave his upbringing in the hands of someone so malicious? Although right now he seemed to at least comprehend the customs of formality. A gentleman's stance. Well… I suppose as the lady I am I ought to accept this request. No matter how bizarre.

"Well Mr. Sebastian… I think I will accept this little escapade. But let me make one thing clear: I am only there to care for the child. I will not lift a hand to assist you in any of your sinful work. I will pledge my allegiance to him, not you. I will only pray that he will in the end abandon this road of darkness and let his childish innocence be saved. Do you understand?" I slowly took his outstretched hand. The gloved one held my much smaller one back with surprising gentleness.

"Perfectly Ms. Lilianna." He smiled more sincerely and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I must say, you are unlike any demon I have ever met before. Are you sure you are what you say?" I mused in response to his polite manner. He straightened and pulled me a bit closer to him.

"Oh my dear lady don't fret. From this moment on, I am simply one hell of a butler."