The first chapter...hope you enjoy. By the way, my story takes place after the Public School Arc, so any anime characters from Kuroshitsuji won't be in this story. You could say it takes place in the manga universe of Kuroshitsuji...if that makes sense

Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji, I only own my OCs.

Chapter 1

The One in the Dark

The woman stared out the window through half-lidded eyes. Outside the snow had just started to fall. The big, fat flakes fell ever so slowly, fascinating the woman in a way only snow could. However her attention was soon brought back to reality. Realizing her worry wouldn't disappear if she ignored it, she sighed and turned the chair around, making her face the door instead of the window.

The office the woman was sitting was sparsely furnished. A simple desk in the middle of the room, with the chair the woman in it and a bed in the corner of the room, considering the woman's "business" the bed could technically be called work-related.

Despite the bed the woman actually found the chair more comfortable. She would often find herself sleeping in it, sleep now being a luxury she didn't allow herself.

The reason for the woman's worry had all started with a single murder case. At first she had ignored it, telling herself it was a simple coincidence. However the third case had started a couple of rumors about her brothel. Determined to prove the rumors wrong, the woman had investigated and realized with dread that there was in fact a connection between the murders and her brothel. The workers realized by the time the article about the fifth murder case was published, voicing out loud the woman's fear of what was happening. The police also made the connection, but every one of her employees had feigned ignorance, scaring away most of the police officers with their behavior and many peculiar tricks.

A quiet knock shook the woman awake from remembering.

"Come in", she muttered, barely audible, but the person on the other side of the door could easily hear her.

A small girl, no more the eleven, walked in, holding a newspaper in one of her hands and a frown on her face.

Instantly the woman couldn't help but tense up, but forced her body to relax, constantly reminding herself, this girl had grown up at the brothel and was a part of her family.

"What is it?" the woman asked hesitantly, for too many reasons she believed that the girl brought bad news, after all that was the only kind of news recently reported to the woman, who was the Madam at the brothel.

"Bad news, Madam", the girl said. The Madam almost laughed at her earlier prediction, but chose to sigh instead.

"This time…what has happened this time?" the Madam asked.

"Well, at first Alexander and Rosalyn didn't want me to tell you, but I know that you would punish us all later, if we didn't tell you. So here you go", the girl threw the newspaper to the Madam. The woman nodded her head knowingly, both Alexander and Rosalyn were quite protective of her, but the Madam refused to be kept in the dark about anything happening lately. Opening the paper, the Madam braced herself for the worst possible news.

However the thing, she read, made her blood freeze, if that was possible for her kind. Another murder, but the worst part was that this time there were two persons who had been murdered. A Lord, no surprise there, and one of her girls. Slamming her hands into her desk, several cracks appeared in the expensive wood. The woman was about to yell at the girl, but she had been smart enough to escape, while the Madam had read the paper. Cursing loudly, the Madam considered her options.

None.

It wasn't that the Madam couldn't come up with any, but they would almost all mean she would have to leave, and she didn't want to leave.

The woman sighed once again, she had done that a lot lately.

She chose to trust her gut feeling and luck. Maybe the person who would receive her case would be a person, who would somehow be able to help the Madam.

The thought made her laugh, but also think of her horrible past.

Almost unconsciously she started reciting a poem, not noticing a shadow watching her and snickering.

Elsewhere the young Head of the Phantomhive family was doing the same thing as the woman at the brothel was doing earlier, watching the snow fall. However in his case, the thirteen-year old boy simply watched the snow with disgust, hating how it made everything seem white, pure and untainted.

It had been a couple of months now, since he had solved the case of the missing students at Weston College, because of the request from the Queen.

He had spent the last couple of months searching for any clues about his parents' killers…to no avail. That was beyond frustrating. It was as if some sick destiny slash fate thing wanted him to simply move on, making his toy manufactory prosper even further, along with a bunch of other things, most ordinary people would find joy in.

However Ciel was not ordinary.

In fact, if anything, Ciel was almost the definition of the unordinary, being the head of his family at the age of thirteen, owner of a major toy factory, having a demon butler, being the Queen's watchdog. Things other people might never be able to comprehend, Ciel had to handle almost every day.

Before Ciel could become too frustrated with himself, a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"You are allowed to enter", Ciel said, knowing the only person, or to be more accurate demon, to knock at this time of the night, would be Ciel's butler, Sebastian Michaelis

"Young Master", the butler smiled slyly.

"There seems to be a letter for you."

Entering the office, Sebastian neared the desk with a letter placed on a silver platter.

Ciel sighed inwardly, keeping a straight face in front of his butler. After Sebastian sat the platter on the desk, Ciel slowly reached for the envelope. Taking the letter opener, Ciel quickly ripped the envelope open and reached for the paper inside. As Ciel had suspected, it was indeed a letter from the Queen.

To my dearest Boy,

Despite having mentioned my gratitude before, let me mention it again.

I cannot express my joy of you finding the dear Derek.

Of course I am also speaking on behalf of my cousin, the Duke Clemens.

However my reason for writing to you is not because of gratitude. If you do chose to accept this case, I would once again keep it in mind.

As you probably already know, many murders have been committed on Lords from the more nouveau riche families. The connection cannot be overlooked, a brothel.

I would have overlooked this particular case, because of an acquaintance of mine, but the current situation cannot be allowed to be overlooked.

I would like for you to investigate the brothel, finding out the true reason for these murders and bringing the criminal to justice.

It may interest you that this particular case has something to do with one of your father's former acquaintances.

-Victoria

Ciel didn't need to read the letter twice. The moment he read that last sentence, he had caught the bait, not even caring for the fact that it was probably a trap.

Smiling, Ciel looked up at the butler.

"Looks like we got a brothel to visit."