Chapter 3 just for thee. Be warned Sebastian fans, he does not fare well in this chapter, or in the next few, but hang in there.

Aaaaaaaand go!

Though the room had been silent for some time, Sebastian was certainly making noise now. He was groaning in pain, tossing and turning, twisting the sheets around him and lost in whatever haunts a demon's nightmares. Ciel could do nothing but watch for the last few hours over the documents in front of him. While his research had been long and at times beyond frustrating he finally felt he had a working theory on what they were dealing with.

There were several factors to consider. As he had realized before there was the lack of blood or of any scream of pain, but there had been some blood, so that signaled something remotely resembling a human. Also the choice of weapon, which was extremely hard to come by based on what little information he had; the weapon is only mentioned being used either by the heavenly hosts or by certain ancient religious groups with ties to the early church. But the most glaring quality of this new assailant was that he had attacked in broad daylight. Almost nothing Ciel had ever dealt with in his short time as the Queen's guard dog operated during the day; only at night, when it could move in secrecy and shadow, when it could draw its power from darkness. Taking all of this into consideration Lord Phantomhive had his suspicions, but if he was correct it meant that time was short and that plans had to be altered

He hated feeling powerless.

Fidgeting slightly with his fingers and watching his butler, he was now trying to come to a decision on what needed to happen next. It was severely risky, and it would prompt more questions, possibly even reveal his movements to his enemies. Could he chance it?

The fire cast light on Sebastian's face. He was grey, his skin nearly translucent around the long, bandaged gash running from his left temple to his chin, his veins showing in his face, the bones sticking out sharply. His eyes fluttered, his head turned back and forth, his muscles spasmed.

Ciel decided in that moment. Sebastian was suffering horribly, and while Phantomhive knew he deserved some suffering, he couldn't have his most powerful pawn, his protector and his guardian out of commission for much longer, possibly even fading away to nothing right in front of him; not to mention that another outburst by him could be lethal the second time. Besides, and Ciel would only admit this in the deepest recesses of his own mind, he was worried, he could sympathize, and he did care. This thing lying before him would destroy him in the end, but the demon had become…essential to Ciel's world and life.

The young lord stood up and reached for a bell pull to ring for service, but then remembering that he was in Sebastian's room and there was no bell pull but a bell attached to the wall, because Sebastian is the service, Phantomhive huffed in annoyance and then opened the door to find, as he suspected, Mey-Rin waiting outside in the corridor. "Send for Finnian and Baldroy immediately. Wake them if you have to." She turned to leave when another thought occurred to him. "And tell them to knock and wait for me to answer, not to come barging in here." She nodded and scurried off.

While he waited the young lord wrote some instructions down on a slip of paper and then paced by Sebastian's bed, going over various scenarios in his mind. While he was still uncertain of what would come of this, he felt that he could chance it without too much potential backlash. And dawn was soon approaching, so he was quickly running out of options.

A knock finally came at the door. Rather than have anyone else see Sebastian in his current condition, Ciel opened the door only far enough for him to pass through and met his servants in the corridor. Finnian and Baldroy stood before him, both slightly disheveled but while Finnian was bleary eyed Baldroy still looked sharp and alert. Ciel knew that though at times he acted to the contrary, Baldroy was not a stupid man, and that he likely suspected something was going on and his instincts as a soldier had kept him from sleeping that night.

"I have a job for you" Lord Phantomhive explained while passing the note to Baldroy. "You will go to London immediately and retrieve these items from a shop called Canton's on Richmond Street in the East End. You will need to arrive there before dawn breaks, or else you will not be able to enter the building, and we need these items tonight."

Both of them looked confused at this, but Baldroy nodded. "Alright Sir. But will the rest of you be alright on your own toni-?"

"We can certainly manage for a couple of hours Baldroy," Ciel interrupted. Yes, Baldroy clearly suspected something else was going on. "Focus on the task at hand, you are quickly running out of time."

The chef was clearly not happy but again he only nodded. "Yes Sir." As he turned to walk away he grabbed Finnian by the collar and pulled him along, as the younger man was still half-asleep and a little slow on the draw.

Before he went back into the butler's room Ciel called Mey-Rin over one last time, who had been lingering in the corridor; "Go and tell Tanaka I will need his services before the night is over." And at that he slipped through the door and closed it behind him.

As he stepped back into the room Sebastian was shaking and speaking in his sleep, but not in any language Ciel had ever heard spoken. After watching him for a moment Ciel moved closer and chanced reaching a hand out to him and placing it on his head, brushing the hair off his face, a gesture he remembered his own mother, Rachel Phantomhive, offering him in times of distress. Rather than react aggressively as the young Lord suspected he would Sebastian instead relaxed somewhat and ceased his frantic raving.

"Be strong Sebastian" Ciel told him, brushing through his hair a second time. "If all goes according to plan after a few more hours your pain will ease." He glanced at the stack of books again, acutely aware of what he now suspected they were dealing with. "I need you to be ready to fight."

The cloaked intruder watched the carriage leave from his hiding place. He knew a carriage leaving in the dead of night could only be problematic, perhaps even meaning that there will be some impediment to his plans, but still he did not move. When the sun rose high. Only then could he act.

I'm certain some of you have your theories, and I'd love to hear them. Thank you for the comments so far and for sticking with me.