Claude Faustus knelt over the body of his latest victim. His hands, arms, and chest were spattered in dark red blood, his face speckled as well. His eyes glowed red in the blackness of the alleyway, the moonlight glinting off his glasses as he leaned in to draw out the sweet soul. The lips of the young body were soft and still warm against his own as he kissed the soul from them and swallowed with pleasure, licking the last remnants of flavor from their silky corners.
Only a brief moment and another life ended, another soul devoured, another sorrow stacked against mankind. Claude drew back, gazing down at the shattered body. He gave a small sigh, and let his hand cup the back of his victim's head, stroking the soft hair.
"Now this is ironic; the prey you so carefully hunted is nothing less than a young boy, how interesting."
Claude's head jerked up at the sound of the voice. Above him, on the roof of the building that made up half the alley, a black silhouette stood out against the moon. A silhouette that he knew well, even after all these years he would never forget it, or that voice, smooth as the blackest silk.
"Even with all that damage to the body you left his face intact. How compassionate of you. I must say, he possesses very similar features to someone else I know. Someone who neither you nor I could capture."
Claude's expression turned openly sorrowful as Sebastian dropped from the building to stand before him and his kill. He nodded slowly, turning his blazing gaze back to the body he held in his arms.
"Instead, he captured us." He responded softly, his blood-stained fingers stroking over the boy's smooth cheek, leaving trails of red on the flawless skin. "Ensnared us entirely in his web of unintentional enchantment, binding us with a spell that can never be broken now..."
"What spell are you bound by?" Sebastian asked, curious about the depth of feeling he was receiving from the other demon; he had changed since their duel. He almost seemed more…vulnerable now. Claude drew the boy's head toward his own and slowly licked up the blood his fingers had left behind on his small face. After which he pressed his own forehead's to the boy's as he spoke,
"Eternal hunger for that which I shall never have. We share this, do we not? You should feel it more than I," Claude looked up and met Sebastian's eyes sincerely, almost pityingly. "You have to be near him. You have to feel the pain of loss with every passing moment. I had only known him for a few short months and I am rendered like this now; pointlessly seeking out any substitute I can find with every day and night I live. I cannot imagine how it must be for you, who had been craving him for three years.
Sebastian grinned, and pressed his gloved hand to his chin as if contemplating.
"You are wrong."
Claude's eyes widened a bit in surprise, and his kneeling body straightened up. His grip on the lifeless boy tightened as he asked,
"How? How can I possibly be wrong?"
"It is precisely because I spend my life with him now that I have come to accept the passing of his soul. I grieved the loss of it bitterly in the beginning, but then I realized something,"
Sebastian stopped speaking to kneel down in front of Claude, reaching out and touching the dead boy's face as well. Slowly, he closed the wide, staring blue eyes. They were just a few shades lighter than Ciel's.
"My young master is still Ciel Phantomhive. His spirit, his personality, and his body…they are all the same, perfectly preserved for eternity. In that way, in some strange, intangible sense, his soul still lives on.."
Claude was staring at him, his face mesmerized by Sebastian's words, his hands shaking a bit on the corpse. Sebastian leaned in closer, and Claude did not stop him. With a deliberate bass to his voice, Sebastian whispered directly into his ear,
"And I taste it, every single day."
Sebastian could hear Claude's breath increasing, could feel the desire rising in his being…along with the anger. In a surge of anguish Claude lashed out, throwing Sebastian against the alley wall and clutching his throat, the lifeless body he had been holding dropping into the pool of its own blood. Sebastian showed no reaction to this, simply continued to smile at Claude's very close face, which was snarling and panting. The Spider Demon's grip was not enough to harm him, just keep him still. Sebastian knew that he had practically invited this kind of attack in the first place.
"That is not true! You're taunting me!" Claude said hotly, his entire body shaking with rage. Sebastian calmly shrugged his shoulders in a defenseless gesture, saying lightly,
"You can be the judge of that."
"What-what do you mean?" Claude asked.
"I mean that if you think it's not true, you should test it for yourself."
"How…could I even..?"
Sebastian smirked up at him slyly, his own eyes shifting from even red to blazing hellfire as he asked,
"You haven't seen him once since that day, have you?"
Claude's jaw set tightly, his glare lessening a bit.
"How would you know if the essence of his soul was truly gone forever? You haven't stared into the eternally deep wells of his eyes, bluer than heaven itself, or smelled the sweet fragrance that his hair gives off."
Claude's grip on him lessened slightly as Sebastian spoke, his voice becoming far away and sincere as it described his dearest master.
"You haven't felt the petal-softness of his body, flawless in its every inch. The rise and fall of his slender chest as he sleeps, wrapped in your arms and trusting you. His elegant fingers, so small and tapered with such grace. The stately walk he does, carried by his young legs toward any goal he sees. The grim set of his little pointed chin, so defiant, so determined…his smile…once so rare and now so sweet on his full, pink lips…"
Claude released him completely, stepping back with a small breath almost as if Sebastian had singed him with his words. Sebastian pushed away from the brick wall and stepped forward.
"You haven't ever made love to him, hearing his priceless little sounds, his heartfelt pleading for more pleasure as he clings to you in desperation…"
Claude's face twisted with anger once again, but before he could make another move, Sebastian laid down his final card,
"…and yet…for some reason he wants you to."
There was a silence that rang out for long unbroken moments. Claude looked completely stunned, unable to process the information.
"W-what did you just say?" He asked, rather undignified as he stuttered.
"You heard me, Claude. For whatever reason, my master wishes to give you this most precious of gifts; to adore his body. I carry out his every wish out of love now as well as duty, and this is what he wants. Plus," Sebastian's own mouth twisted slightly, "I have a bet to win."
For all his surprise, shock, and even (Sebastian sensed) excitement, Claude laughed bitterly.
"A bet? Is that all I am?"
"Not all, just in part."
"How so?"
"I do not wish to tell you all the details of the wager we have, but I will ease your mind by telling you that it arose out of the prospect of bringing you into our bed, not the other way around."
"Oh yes, my mind is immensely at ease." Claude said, growling.
"Is that a rejection of my young master's offer? Because I can go back to him right now and tell him—"
"No!"
The desperation in Claude's tone erased all the anger and uncertainty from a second before. He seemed embarrassed to have spoken in such a way. He cleared his throat and in a move that genuinely surprised Sebastian, knelt down in a humble bow.
"If it truly be the young Ciel's wishes that I…share his-your-bed…I would be most eagerly inclined to accept his invitation."
"Yes…" Sebastian said, slight displeasure to his voice, "I thought you might."
