Insatiable Hunger

"'Hungry', you say?" Ciel scoffed, rolling his eyes and repositioning himself in his throne. "I know what the feeling of hunger is you imbecilic demon! I went thirteen years knowing what the feeling of hunger is, seeing as humans need to eat often to stay alive."

The eternal demon butler smirked to his undying young Master, once again lighting his Master's face up slightly. The demon stood from his bow and walked up the few rocky steps to meet Ciel's level, skulking around the back of the chair and finally stopping beside the boy. He leant down to his level and held his gaze for a brief moment, enjoying the human expression his Master was once again showing because of his strange way of dealing with such issues.

"My Lord, it seems you do not understand," Sebastian's hand ran down Ciel's chest and rested over his stomach, before coming back up to lightly trace across the contours of his neck, "this hunger is something not just any food can satiate. It must be a specific kind of sustenance which you can only obtain by either stealing or trading something of equal value for. And let me tell you this, the stolen ones never taste good. They are vile, wretched, unsatisfying and burning with a rancid piquancy."

"Are you going to tell me what it is or are you going to avoid answering me like you always do–" Ciel had to stop himself there, as things weren't like they used to be. "Like you always… did?"

The question caught Ciel off-guard, he wondered if things were returning to how they used to be between them– he secretly was hoping that they would. Even though Ciel was a demon now, he understood human emotions more than any other demon could–because unlike them, he was human once, rather than just taking a human form and acting as one. The younger male would still forget his new self and the human side of him would show through as his eyes would return to their brilliant sapphire hue from the exotic and demonic red every now and again. Whenever they did switch back to blue, Sebastian brightened up more. Although he appeared genuinely content, he looked more relieved than happy, because when Ciel was taking on a demon status, he was much more cruel and sadistic.

And that's what made Ciel feel even guiltier. The fact that he himself enjoyed his new way of life too much and that whenever Sebastian ever showed him his true happy side, it was only ever out of thought that he could perhaps somehow–despite the impossibility of it–obtain his Master's soul or get a glimpse of the humanity left inside of him. That's what hurt Ciel the most about this. Sebastian had grown on him, he had accepted that he would one day give up his soul in exchange for all of Sebastian's help to complete his life-long goal and now he could never return the favour, but he was glad that he could forever be with this man–no, this demon–and that thought alone caused him such distress. It pained the boy to realise that he liked the company of his demon more than anyone else in his past life, not even his parents could compare any longer–which was the starting point of Sebastian's existence in Ciel's former life. The very thought made him angry and he couldn't help but always take it out on his demon.

"Tell me, Sebastian!" Ciel ripped Sebastian's hand from himself, tightly gripping the elder demon's wrist so much that you could hear the bones were on the verge of snapping. "Do not make me punish you once again!"

"What makes you think I dislike your punishment, my Lord?"

The very words made Ciel gape and release his butler's wrist immediately. That annoying underlying perverse innuendo Sebastian used when he was human was causing the late Phantomhive boy to reminisce and the itching that started all of this change and return of character was getting worse with every moment he kept gazing into eyes that were so similar to his now.

"J-just tell me, it's an order, you… fool." Ciel managed to compose himself, turning away from the elder male, uncrossing his legs and sighing.

"As you wish, my Lord, but I cannot guarantee you will like what I have to say," Sebastian straightened back up and moved around the back of the throne and whispered the answer into his Master's ear, not only startling the boy, but making him speechless and incapable of movement.

"It is about time you need to find your very own soul to devour, if you wish to survive down here without a contract, that is."

The words were haunting almost; they sent chills down his spine, making his hair stand on the back of his neck and his blood run cold. Once he finally regained enough mobility to face Sebastian, his sense of hearing returned as he heard his demon butler's chuckle echo throughout their lair.

"That is out of the question!" Ciel huffed. "As if I would lower my standards to do such a disgusting thing like ingest a soul. I don't even believe in souls myself, so it really would be pointless–"

"Young Master, if you consider us demons to be below you, then you too are now below your old self," Sebastian breathed. "Nonetheless, if you do not consume a soul, sooner or later you will not be able to withstand the atmosphere in our realm nor would you be able to endure the physical change to your carcass. I only can because I am still under contract–and because I was born a demon."

"Was that your attempt at taunting me?" Ciel asked in a childish and sarcastic manner, his crimson bloodied eyes on the verge of sparkling to a magenta hue.

Although Ciel didn't want to have to find a soul and eat it, he couldn't deny the fact that the pain and need to fulfil what this body craved–what his new instincts desired–was getting incredibly stronger and even harder to resist. He truly did have a need for something in which he'd never tasted before, something that was beyond his old self's comprehension. Something only a demon or other kind of supernatural entity could find its location and be able to reach it without damaging its core. For now, he'll have to humour his demon–and even himself–when it came down to this soul business.

"Not at all, I was just stating the truth."

The demon smirked and walked back around to stand before his demon Lord. He had spent these past five years trying to think of a way to get revenge on his young Master, but never could think of a worse enough punishment that wouldn't somehow backfire and involve him getting on Ciel's bad-side. Although, now he had finally gotten the perfect plan, it pleased him to the point that he didn't care if he was to be a butler to this boy for eternity. So long as Ciel could feel the same kind of embarrassment he had been put through, he wouldn't mind. It was wrong to feel such things, though he was a demon and they were merited every time they committed more sins.

"Now, you could do what most demons do, much like I used to before you had summoned me, and just find any soul at random–though you can never be sure of how it will taste or what its effects on you will be," Sebastian purred, dramatically posing in such fashions as if he was trying to sell a product or state why his business would be a good investment to his Master, "or you could search for a soul that calls out to you, draws you in with every fibre and molecule of your existence, just like you did to me."

"If I do that, I might just end up like you are now," Ciel snickered.

"That isn't very nice, my Lord," the demon butler had to hold himself back from wanting to snap his Master's neck from that comment, "even though you are a demon and I taught you so much, you still lack some of the more important virtues–how pitiful."

"Hold your tongue, butler, you are the one who is pitiable at the moment!" Ciel glared at the man, standing and letting his long coat trail behind him as he made his way around the demon and to the balcony. The boy looked back, his red eyes glinting in the light, "If I have to search for a soul, does that mean we would be leaving this hell-hole?"

Sebastian chuckled at that comment, Ciel merely rolled his eyes–he got that it was an unintended pun, but that didn't make it funny–strutting back over to Sebastian and grabbing his tie. He pulled the elder male down to his level and stared at him, waiting for an answer. When he didn't make a sound, Ciel gritted his teeth and pulled his tie with such a force that Sebastian was forced to the floor. He turned over so that he was on his back and facing up to his Master. That had only made the boy more agitated, so he lifted up one of his skinny legs wrapped in sharp-heeled leather boots and ground the tip of his shoe into Sebastian's chest. The long coat Ciel wore that dragged on the floor draped around Sebastian's shoulders and middle, the position of his young Master and how intimate the scene was forced the demon butler to smile, no matter how much pain he was in from the toe digging in between his ribcage.

"Answer me, you piece of shit!" Ciel spat, no longer able to keep himself composed.

"Not exactly, there's a special place us demon's go to find for what we yearn to devour. Although, if you'd have wished it, we may have left here any time you liked. Though seeing as you've been declared dead in London, if you wish to return, I would suggest a disguise if you did not want to…" Sebastian thought of an appropriate response, "...cause a disturbance if spotted by a former acquaintance." Sebastian's hand ran up the boy's foot, calf and then up the back of his thigh until Ciel had swat his hand away and removed himself from the spot he was in, allowing the elder demon to get back to his feet.

"It would have been nice to have been told that piece of information a few years back, Sebastian. You know I would prefer somewhere a little less destroyed and without as much chaos," the younger male's eye twitched with annoyance. Then again, the more he thought about it, his old home was very much destroyed and full of chaos with his old servants and the like hard at "work".

It had been a long five years, serving a human-turned-demon (and an extra three years serving him as a human) Master, but with his current plan, it will not be for nothing. Sebastian would make sure that if this is what his sentence would be for being too determined and wanting to finish what he'd started in obtaining the perfect soul, then he was going to make sure his Master was going to receive an equal payment to having the perfect servant. He would make the boy just as miserable as he is to ensure his own amusement could be satiated just once more at the expense of the late Earl Phantomhive.

Suddenly the boy fell to his knees as his stomach tightened and caused a surge of burning want to course throughout him, making him convulse and throw a fit like spoilt human children did when they couldn't get their own way. He remained on the floor, scowling and holding back from wanting to punch his own stomach and scratch his own insides out.

"The desire to feed is getting stronger, I see," Sebastian cocked his head to the side, smiling devilishly.

"Shut up!" Ciel seethed, holding his sides tightly before tossing himself and turning over so he didn't have to see his butler's face. "Just help me up and over to my room!"

Sebastian didn't need to be told twice, though he did as the young Lord asked, slowly out of spite. He could no longer take this bratty show of superiority over him. Once his Master had settled down onto his bed, the boy didn't look at him; he only gripped the bed sheets while he hung his head to hide it from the butler. Ciel was hiding his pained expression; he was biting his lip so hard that it had pierced from the severity of a razor-sharp tooth. His brows were furrowed and his muscles–especially in the stomach area–were completely tensed. The boy was trying to hide how bad the craving–of what he assumed was for "souls"–was getting from the elder demon and himself, he really didn't want to have to resort to doing such a revolting and monstrous thing–even if he was such a creature now.

"W-why?" Ciel stuttered. "Why did you not warn me that I would feel like this eventually? Surely you knew, so why–wait, was it your plan all along? To make me feel worse than I already do about you never being able to reach my soul, so you kept this information from me, so you could one day see me writhing in pain like you?–You are in pain from not eating in so long, aren't you?"

"Certainly not, but I won't deny that seeing you like this amuses me. I am in pain; I can control and choose how I react to such troublesome things though, unlike your once human corpse that cannot choose. I am being greatly affected by my own starvation though, so do not think for a moment that it is only you who is suffering." Sebastian knelt by his Master's bed before Ciel, a hand on his the boy's knee and the other slowly ascending to take a soft but firm hold of his Lord's chin. "But, unlike me, I can never consume another soul and will be stuck in this limbo-hybrid-corpus for eternity. I will never die because of the lack of nutrients, though the pain will become greater over time–so you're lucky I don't completely hate you for what happened to our contract or else I would have to do something completely drastic and out of line."

"Luck has nothing to do with it, it was never my fault to begin with that you got stuck in this position, so the hate you hold against me is already drastically out of line," Ciel then swat Sebastian's hands off of him again as he rolled over in his luxurious bed–it was now that he hated he never needed sleep, it would be a good excuse to make the demon leave his presence without seeming completely rude.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes, though what his young Master had said was true, it wasn't his fault, but that didn't make him lose any of his new found hatred for the boy and his new attitude. For a while, Sebastian had found the human to be truly of interest to him, he actually had grown to enjoy his company, the boy even made him proud of some of the darkest sins he could commit, yet his core would still remain pure and innocent without a single blemish.

But that nostalgic moment passed quickly when he would think of the way the boy would treat him now. Yes, there was not much to keep tidy and he did get more time to himself without being interrupted by inept servants or troublesome matters from other beings–such as the clingy red-head death god, Grell Sutcliff. The demon shuddered at the thought of Grell attempting to seduce him in scandalous clothing that would make even a demon blush–and demons could wear some pretty revealing attire.

Before Sebastian made himself sick from the memories, he stood to leave his Master in peace, seeing as he would be ordered to leave soon enough anyway if he didn't leave on his own.

"Sebastian?" Ciel asked meekly. The demon turned around from the doorway and stared at his Master, not needing to reply as Ciel knew he would be there. He would always be there, forever and a day. Though Sebastian always would reply, it comforted Ciel knowing that there was someone always there for him, even if that someone was a monstrosity like himself–despite his Lord being that very same creature.

"Yes, my Lord?" he answered like he always did–always will.

"If I ordered you to go and eat enough souls to fill you for now, would that work?"

The sudden change and humanity his Master showed him–despite facing the opposite direction–had taken Sebastian aback. He did not expect such a question, even if it was impossible. A small smile graced his lips and at this moment, he almost felt guilty for wanting to put his plan into action as soon as possible–almost.

"I am flattered and grateful you would think of my well being, even now after everything that's happened, though I am afraid not, my Lord," Sebastian leaned into the room more, "I cannot consume another soul while under contract."

"Oh."

It was all Ciel had said. He didn't make another sound–apart from the odd groan from the hunger pains. Sebastian didn't leave the doorway for a while, though when he noticed the time, he finally left. The demon butler wasn't having second thoughts on getting revenge, but the longer he thought about it was making him sick thinking about how his Master was going to be even grumpier and more demanding if he remained hungry. So Sebastian had an idea, it was sure to change his Master's ideals on eating souls and ultimately Sebastian would once again have the upper hand and ability to force him back against the wall into submission and regain his superiority over the human-turned-demon.

His reputation as a demon would definitely sky-rocket above where it had been before he was condemned to unending servitude if he could pull this off. All he needed now, was a way to persuade his Master that stolen souls, in comparison to what an earned soul tastes like, are not even worthy of his consumption. Of course he would not actually have a soul of either status to display, but Sebastian would make sure he listened to every word he said in this department. For Sebastian, it would be a piece of cake.

"Oh, young Master, you may think I am completely at your service," Sebastian smirked wickedly, his eyes shimmered a magnificent magenta, his smile full of conceit yet appearing beautiful, something easily confused with his deceit he could so easily splay, "but you must have never taken in what I always told you and anyone else who questioned my abilities. You must remember I am not human. I have no emotions like humans do. For I am–and always will be–a butler…and a demon."