"Claaauuuuuuude!" the blond cried out from the yard. "Claude, come quickly!"
The demon frowned and followed his master's voice. Alois hadn't bothered to close the front doors and snow was drifting in uninvited over the threshold.
Claude stood in the doorway and watched as Alois spun and giggled, crunching his boots carelessly into the fresh few inches of snowfall on the drive.
"It's snowing! I love the snow!" He giggled again, then stuck out the contract-marked tongue to catch a few snowflakes on it.
Stepping outside, Claude closed the door behind him. The servants that still attended the current Earl Trancy would likely be displeased to find it in the state Alois had so carelessly left it in. Already, a slight puddle had been accumulating in the entrance hall, one that Claude would have to clean up later. He approached Alois, leaving a few footprints behind him in the snow. "Master, you are not dressed for this weather. I recommend we go inside at once."
Alois seemed to ignore him completely. He grabbed the butler's arm, trying to tug him out into the yard, but to no avail. "Come on, Claude. Come play with me!"
When Claude didn't budge, Alois released him and ran out to the yard alone. In one quick motion, he scooped a handful of snow out of the yard, smashed it into a ball, then turned and tossed it hard at Claude. The snowball smacked the unflinching butler directly in the face.
After wiping off his face and glasses and putting them back on his face, Claude impassively purged onward. "You'll end up catching pneumonia if you stay out here."
Alois's shoulders slumped and he pouted. "You're no fun at all."
Claude's face was expressionless.
Frowning deeply, Alois took a few steps towards the demon as he eyed him up, his arms akimbo. After watching the demon warily for a long moment, he barked out, "Claude! Make a snow angel! A perfect one!"
"Master, this is hardly the time—" but before Claude could finish, Alois stuck his tongue out at him, the contract mark glowing faintly, and
Claude knew debating the issue was useless. He let out a breath and replied faithfully, "Yes, your Highness."
Immediately, he fell backward into the snow. After waving him arms and legs back and forth stiffly, Claude picked his legs up and kicked himself up off the ground.
Alois immediately trotted towards him to examine the work he'd done, the vaguely angel shaped outline in the snow evenly shaped and flawless. After admiring it a moment, the blond said smugly, "Who'd have thought a demon could make such a beautiful angel."
Claude, up to par, didn't react in the slightest.
Alois frowned again, but just as he was about to order Claude to do something else ridiculous in an attempt to provoke some emotion out of him, he was overcome by a sudden sneeze.
The demon looked sternly at the boy, whose jacket was thoroughly damp and whose hair was sticking to his face. He was covered practically head to toe with powdery white snowflakes.
"Come. We should get you out of those wet clothes before you catch your death," Claude instructed lightly.
The pout worked its way back onto Alois's lips and he folded his arms (though it looked more as if he was giving himself a hug), training the dismal gaze in his light blue eyes away from his butler. "Why should that matter? Who cares if I die?"
"Don't say that," Claude said strongly; his hands went for Alois's face and he forced the boy to look at him, to look at only him. The seriousness of his tone made sure that he would pay attention. "I am your loyal servant and you are my master. The decision of when you die is no longer yours to make.
"I can protect you from harm, master, but I am powerless against fighting a disease. So until our contract is filled, I cannot allow you to become ill or wither away." His thumb stroked the boy's cheek, as if to enforce what he was about to say. "I will serve you until I have devoured every last drop of your soul."
Alois stared back at the demon for a long moment, as if trying to actually swallow what he was being told, but eventually, he averted his gaze and replied in a low, defeated voice, "Let's just go inside."
The blonde turned away from him and moped back towards the mansion, his butler following dutifully behind. He didn't speak again until they were back in the boy's room and Claude had removed the damp jacket. There was a contemptuous look on his face as he asked,
"How goes everything with the geezer?"
"He should no longer concern us before the week is out, master," Claude told him, unbuttoning the near-equally damp vest and shirt. "It seems as though an unfortunate plague is passing through the area and it is unlikely the Earl will see it through."
A look spread over Alois's face, made of equal parts delight and sadism.
But before he could relish in the giddy feeling of triumph, there was a knock on the door. Claude went to intercept the visitor, as his master was currently half-undressed.
Alois could hear their conversation though, could hear the servant say, "Earl Trancy wishes for the boy's company before this evening's meal," and his blood ran ice cold. He didn't hear the rest of the discussion, neither Claude's attempts to argue against it, proposing the boy seemed to be catching cold, nor the servant's insistence that Alois had been neglecting the earl's needs and that his attendance would be absolutely mandatory.
When Claude returned to him a moment later, Alois sat still as a stone, staring blankly at the wall ahead of him.
"Would you like to hasten our plans, master?" Claude asked, clearly noting the boy's obvious distress.
Alois continued to sit numbly for a moment, still staring, until finally he shook his head ever so slightly. His voice cracked a bit as he spoke, "No, it's… fine. Our current plan is too great to mess up. I'll… I'll go."
Claude nodded and went about redressing the boy in dry clothing. It was only a few minutes later that a servant came back to escort Alois to the earl. The boy told Claude to be waiting for him when he returned and left with a neutral look on his face.
The winter was hard, but then again, winters had always been hard. Even in the few years that Jim had still lived with his mother, what little he could remember was how difficult the winters had been. Food had been sparse and it had always been dreadfully cold.
Jim could remember being happy though. Through his memories of freezing toes and growling stomachs, he could picture his mother's face, smiling down at him. She had loved him, he knew. She had taken him to play in the snow, building snowmen and making snow angels and tossing snowballs back and forth before taking him inside to warm up near the tiny fire. Sometimes, if he really concentrated, he could feel his mother's arms wrapped tightly around him to fend off the coldest nights.
He'd never met his father.
It was just him and Luca now, and for the past three years, Jim had been responsible for finding refuge for the both of them. Luckily, they always found a barn where they could take shelter. At night, they would sneak in (it was rare that they were shown any kindness from members of the small town, who saw them only as the bastard sons of a village whore), and the two of them would find a blanket and bury themselves in the hay next to each other. Their only source of heat was each other and they held onto each other tightly to keep from freezing.
Jim didn't want Luca to be sad. He did everything in his power to give the boy memories of being held by loving arms, of seeing the face of someone who loved him. Even if Jim didn't know if he deserved a life any better than this, he knew that Luca did, that Luca was precious and Jim sorely wished he could provide something more for his little brother than a bed of hay and scraps of bread.
But he did all that could be expected of a ten year old boy. He found Luca whatever food he could and he stopped him from freezing to death on cold, cold nights. And he took Luca out to play in the snow, building snowmen and making snow angels and tossing snowballs back and forth, hoping to impress as many happy memories onto the boy's tragically short life as he possibly could.
Several hours later, Alois stumbled back into the room, clothes slightly disheveled, as if he had been redressed by someone unfamiliar with the task. Without looking at Claude, he crossed the room and collapsed on the bed. Soon he was tugging the once neatly made blankets around himself, creating an imperfect cocoon to hide inside.
All was quiet in the room for several long moments, Claude not acting until his master instructed him to do so.
Finally, Alois murmured into the pillow, "Come here, Claude."
Claude did as he was told, knowing that Alois wanted him to sit by his side on the bed and place a hand on his shoulder. The first time Alois had asked this of him, the action had been completely alien—what did demons know of a human's need for comfort?—but after many long months with Alois, he had gained an ability to anticipate the boy's emotional needs, even if he still didn't fully understand them.
As they usually did, Alois laid quietly under his butler's hand for a long while. Claude knew dinner was approaching, but it would hardly be uncommon for Alois to refuse the meal.
Eventually, Alois shifted within the cocoon, turning finally to face the demon. His face was painted with despair, there was a dark bruise on his neck, and his voice was unnaturally timid. "Claude?"
"Yes, master?" he replied.
"You are always to stay by my side. Don't ever leave me," Alois said softly, not looking up at his butler as he said it.
"Ever, master?" Claude replied with the arch of a thin eyebrow.
"Ever," Alois confirmed.
"You know that things change, master," Claude told him. His fingers moved in a way that had also become natural to him when it came to Alois, brushing delicately through the boy's hair. "Will you be asking the same of me when the time comes for me to devour your soul?"
Alois was quiet for a long moment, a somber look in his soft blue eyes. He didn't answer his butler, but his eyes did slip shut at some point; after a few moments more, he reached up to take Claude's hand into his own, holding it tightly. "Promise me you'll play with me in the snow tomorrow."
Claude gave a slight bow of his head and replied, "Yes, your Highness."
The boy let out a long breath after that and it almost seemed as though his whole body was deflating beneath the hastily gathered blankets. It was hardly long before his master was sound asleep. When the earl's servant came by sometime later to usher them down to dinner, Claude shooed her silently away, knowing his master needed the rest.
Playing in the snow, murder, a funeral, firing the current staff, getting rid of the earl's "toys," redecorating the hideous mansion… the boy and his butler had a long week ahead of them and Alois would need every moment of sleep he could get.