~Chapter 2~
The following morning passed rather uneventfully. Breakfast was served, as usual, at 9:30. and all were present except for Ruby. No one thought much of it considering that she had arrived very late, and had been very tired. No one blamed her for sleeping in. She appeared not long after breakfast was over and apologized for her absence. "Sebastian can make you something to eat now if you like." Said Ciel. But Ruby told him not to bother. "Its no trouble at all.." Ciel persisted. "No, no really, I'm not hungry." She said with a smile.
Around noon, Ciel announced that he was going into London. "I'll come along if you don't mind." Said Ruby closing her book and rising from the chair. Ciel glanced at Sebastian. They usual didn't bring guests along on…these sort of trips. Sebastian answered for him. "Of course milady." He said with a bow. "thank you." Said Ruby with a smile and she left the room. "But Sebastian! we have a job to do!" said Ciel "Young master I can say with almost certainty that she will not interfere with our investigation of the murders." Said Sebastian. Ciel nodded "alright then," he said and seemed satisfied.
"On that note,…" he said turning and leaving the room, Sebastian followed him out into the hall. "Have there been any connections found between the victims?" asked Ciel. "None." Sebastian replied.
Ruby froze in her tracks on the stairs. From where she was there was no way they could have seen her, no way they could have known that she had overheard their conversation. She listened closely, but they continued their conversation in whispers. She swallowed and continued down the stairs. "alright! All ready to go!" she said to let them know that she was there. "Oh….good." said Ciel turning to her and obviously abruptly ending his conversation with Sebastian. "We are ready also." Said Will now entering the hall and dragging Grell behind him. "Bu-but I haven't finished my makeup yet!" Grell said with a pout. Ruby chuckled a little and they all looked at her. "You don't need makeup!" she said to Grell, who smiled a little. Then Ruby blushed a bit and looked at her feet. "Right, lets go then." Said Ciel after an awkward silence, and they all piled into the stage coach.
After about an hour the stage coach clattered to a halt in front of an elegant home in the middle of London. They all got out and Ruby turned to Ciel. "thank you for your hospitality, I greatly appreciate it." She said with a little curtsy. "Of course." Said Ciel "think nothing of it…" Ruby turned to go. "Wait! ..miss Ruby!" Ciel called after her. "do you have a place to stay?" Ruby thought about it for a minute. In truth she did have a small home here in London, but she really couldn't stay there anymore… it was rather…a mess…. "well…" said ruby hesitantly. Ciel cut her off " you must stay with me! A lady such as yourself must have a fine place to live!" "such as myself?" Ruby asked. what did he know about her? Why would he think she was any different than every other woman? Could he know? Could he know who…or what she was?
"indeed." Said Ciel " you must be a very exceptional woman for Sebastian to convince me that we could bring you along." He said matter of factly. "Oh?" said ruby looking up at Sebastian and smiling a little. Sebastian smiled to and Grell looked back and forth between them with a pained look on his face. "Yes." Said Ciel. Ruby looked back at him. "well I thank you milord, I will return shortly, I must pick up a few things…" Ruby said with a slight crutsy. Ciel nodded and she turned and got back into the stage coach. "What an interesting woman." Said Will adjusting his glasses. They all turned and looked at him. "what?" he said in response to the dead silence. Ciel turned on his heel and walked into the house. "For once…we agree…" said Sebastian without looking at Will. They nodded slightly to each other before following Ciel into the house. Grell watched them go. What the hell?" He said, more to himself than anyone else. "What are you two- ..Will! Bassie! Wait up!" he called after them and hurried to follow them inside. He stopped for a moment before closing the door and turned, watching the stage coach move off down the street until it was out of sight, then shut the door and ran to catch up with Will and Sebastian.
The stage coach rattled on down the cobblestone roads, leaving the wealthy neighborhoods and entering the dirtier low class neighborhoods. Ruby looked out the window watching the poor flower girls and chimney sweep boys milling around in the streets, trying to earn a little extra money in anyway they can. Ruby sighed "poor wretches…sometimes I think that they'd be better off if I…" "what was that miss?" the driver called down to her. "oh…nothing…" she replied. The carriage stopped in front of a dingy building. Ruby got out, paid the driver and told him not to wait. Then she turned and entered the building.
The door creaked open to reveal a dimly lit hall. There were no windows making it unusually dark, even though it was the middle of the day, and perfect for Ruby. She moved silently down the hall and up the stairs on the left. She walked down another dimly lit hallway until she reached her flat. She opened the door and walked inside, quickly shutting it behind her. She lit a lamp and looked around.
There was hardly a surface in the place that wasn't splattered with blood. Ruby sighed as she looked around, "well it won't be long now before the police find this place…I can't stay here." Thought Ruby. She shuddered and clutched the wall for support. She could feel herself getting weak. Quickly she crossed the room to a wooden cabinet that she kept with a lock on it. Ruby pulled a small key from her dress and unlocked the cabinet and wrenched it open. It was filled with empty glass bottles. She rummaged through them to make sure that they were all empty…they were. "Damn!" she said slamming the cabinet shut. "well no time to stop for more now…" she said to herself and quickly gathered her things together, at least the things that weren't completely ruined by blood.
She was ready to go in under ten minutes. She took one last look around and quietly slipped out, hoping that no one would notice her. Silently she made her way down the hall and down the stairs. She was almost to the door when … "Miss Knight? Is that you miss Knight?" Ruby sighed and turned. A little old woman was coming down the hall toward her as quickly as she could, which was not very quickly as she was blind and had to use a walking stick to make sure that she didn't run into anything "Oh miss Knight! Are you going out?" the old woman smiled at Ruby, a nearly toothless grin. "uhh…yes…going out…but don't worry Mrs. Brooks, I'll have the rent for you within the week." "oh! Don't you worry your pretty little head about that!" said the toothless old woman. Ruby half smiled. "well at least I won't have to deal with her anymore…" Ruby thought to herself rolling her eyes. She cleared her throat and shook the old woman off "thank you very much Mrs. Brooks." She said and headed for the door. The old woman waved blindly after her.
"Ugh! What a nuisance mortals are!" Ruby thought to herself hailing a cab, and one stopped. She got in as the driver loaded her bags into the back. "Except, perhaps those mortals she had stayed with the previous night, that she would be staying with now, yes, they were very interesting. She thought and smiled to herself. She handed the driver the little strip of paper Ciel had given her with the address on it. The drive back seemed to take a considerably shorter time. Before she knew it the Cabbie was pulling up in front of Ciel's stately house.
"my my! Guest of the Earl Phantomhive are you!" the driver said helping Ruby out of the carriage. "you must be awfully special!" Ruby smiled at the idiot Her eyes slid down from his face to his neck. She could see the veins, hear the blood rushing, she was starving! She leaned in a little closer. Then she stopped herself. Swallowed and shook her head a little to clear the hunger. "miss Ruby!" she heard Sebastian call from the doorway. He met her at the carriage and helped the driver to unload her bags. Ruby looked up at the upstairs window and saw Grell duck out of sight. She smiled.
"If you'll follow me." Said Sebastian with a smile. Ruby nodded and followed him in. He carried her bags up the stairs to a second floor room. "thank you…" said Ruby. Sebastian inclined his head "dinner will be served shortly." He said with a bow. "..oh…" said Ruby looking away. "Is everything alright miss Ruby?" Sebastian said. " oh….yes, I'm alright." She smiled weakly "I'm just rather tired, and, not hungry…" this was of course a lie, but what else could she say? "I think I'll just rest up here for a while." Sebastian bowed and left the room.
Ruby sank down onto the bed. She could feel herself shaking. "Damn it!" she said through gritted teeth. "Why the hell didn't I think to save some last night! Damn it! Damn it!" she said hitting her fist on the bed. She pulled her knees up and sat there hugging her knees and shivering.