Grell returned early in the morning to headquarters, thinking that he would be able sneak into his office and get caught up on paperwork. William wouldn't know when the paperwork had been completed, and if Grell was able to get him to believe that he had come in earlier than he was now, the red head might be able to avoid having to say what he had been up to the previous night. After all, Grell ignoring orders to return at a certain time were often ignored and he would come in late to work despite said specific order. Grell ran a hand through his hair nervously as he opened the double doors and entered the building.

Grell closed the doors behind him soundlessly, and took a quick look around the immediate area, to see if anyone else had come in early. There wasn't anyone in view, for the moment, but Grell could sense the presence of other reapers, and despite his troubles, Grell managed a smile. Perhaps it was some stragglers (like himself) trying to catch up on paperwork and anything else work related that hadn't been finished yesterday. Probably trying to avoid any potential overtime, by coming in last minute before William began prowling about to make sure everyone was on track and not slacking. Grell's lips quirked briefly, before he realized that his clothing and hair were an absolute mess.

Grell let out a disparaging sound of disgust at the fact that his hair was a tangled mess. Did that demon have any idea how long it took him to get it looking so silky? Grell checked his clothes, and frowned in displeasure. There were grass stains here and there on his pants, and his buttons on the vest and white dress shirt were buttoned in the wrong places. Some of the buttons were even missing! Grell closed his eyes briefly. This wasn't going to be easy to hide the fact that something had happened. Grell reopened his eyes and engaged in a futile struggle to straighten his clothing and hide the bite marks that were all over his throat. There was no way William wasn't going to notice, as that man seemed to notice even the tiniest of details. Grell stopped the hopeless battle, and resolved to get to his paperwork immediately. It was the only way to avoid a whole lot of overtime and what was sure to be a very long lecture. Grell made it a few steps in the direction of a staircase when a cheery voice rang out behind him and stopped him in his tracks.

"Damn, Mr. Sutcliff. Did you have fun yesterday?" Ronald Knox had entered the building right after Grell, though he hadn't been as quiet when closing the doors. Ronald strolled over to where Grell was, and gave his senior a knowing grin as he cast an eye over the other reaper's appearance. Ronald gave Grell a bemused look, "Finally got a little demon action, huh? You do realize we can sense a demonic aura from quite a fair distance, don't you?" Ronald saw the slowly dawning horror on Grell's face, and was frankly surprised that Grell hadn't realized this sooner, "Mr. Spears is going to put the screws on you if he finds you looking like this when he thought he sensed a certain demon instead, don't you think?" Ronald was silent for a moment, and then asked curiously, "You didn't actually have sex with him, did you?"

Grell pointedly ignored Ronald's question in favor of casting another glance around, as if William were going to descend upon him at that very moment. Grell gave a nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair nervously again, "I could make a run for it and hope I could lock myself in my office, but I'm rather sore, so I doubt it." Grell looked at Ronald, "How far away were you when you sensed the demonic aura?"

The sore comment more or less answered his question, and made Ronald pointedly think of anything else. Ronald scuffed the ground in thought as he brought his hands to rest behind his neck, "Well, I'd say a good mile. Maybe a mile and a half." Ronald offered a thin smile, "You could still try running, but if you do, Mr. Spears might take it as an admission of guilt if he catches you racing about headquarters, giving off a faint demonic aura."

The color drained from Grell's face and he suddenly lurched forward and latched onto one of Ronald's arms, much to the exasperation of the younger reaper. Grell ignored this as he spoke, "Do you think groveling would help?" Grell didn't think he would be able to outrun William at the moment, so throwing himself on the ground before the dark haired reaper might alleviate some of the other's ire at sensing a demon and then finding the red head as the source of said sense.

Ronald gave Grell a quizzical look out of the corner of his eyes, "It would help Mr. Spears to stamp down on or kick your head." Grell obviously wasn't thinking very clearly, but then Ronald supposed he never did think all that clearly when he was around William. Or Sebastian, for that matter.

Grell frowned at Ronald, as this obviously wasn't the response he wanted, "Not helping Ronald." Grell fell abruptly silent as he sensed a presence headed right for them, and Grell tightened his grasp around Ronald's arm, making the younger reaper flinch at the movement. Grell whispered, "Do you think there's any way to…"

"Any way to what, Mr. Sutcliff?"

Grell cringed at the sharp, clipped tone, and let go of Ronald's arm reluctantly to face an irate William approaching him. Grell couldn't help but admire how sexy Will was when he was angry, but shook the thought from his mind, for now, and was on a wary lookout for potential bodily harm to be dealt to him.

William halted before Grell and Ronald, and with a slight tilt of his head, glanced at the younger shinigami, "Mr. Know, I believe you are to head out on soul collections today?"

"Ah, yes sir." Ronald shot Grell a sympathetic look, before hurrying away. Even he could tell that William was close to flipping his lid, and for good reason. It wasn't the best thing to find one of your workers giving off a demonic aura.

The dark-haired shinigami took one look at Grell's appearance, and the disgusted look that appeared on his face said it all, "Did you get into a fight with that demon, or did you manage to latch onto the beast until he was able to remove you by force?"

"Will, I can explain…" Grell didn't get to explain anything for the moment as William all but dragged the red head by his hair to his office, practically radiating hostility. Grell stumbled as William let go of him, and the office door slamming shut made Grell hold perfectly still. William never slammed his door, no matter how irritated he may become. Grell winced as William shoved him against the nearest wall, and that surprised him as well.

"How many times have I told you to stay away from that creature? I hope for your sake that you didn't tell that noxious beast the whereabouts of any soul collections in the area."

"Of course I didn't say anything like that to him. Sebas-chan didn't even ask about that…" Grell trailed off at the look that had appeared on the other's face, and the red head pressed his back against the wall, prepared to endure a very long, angry lecture from one obviously livid William T. Spears.

As William began scolding in earnest, Grell was wondering vaguely whether Sebastian had just used him, or if he might have felt something for him the night before. The redhead decided that, given William's reaction, he should wait quite some time before going to ask Sebastian which assumption was true. Grell wasn't sure what William would do if he went to see Sebastian after obviously being intimate with the 'demon.' Not that William appeared to have made the connection. Not yet, anyway.

"Are you listening to me, Sutcliff?"

Grell flinched at the harshness in William's voice. Yes, Grell was definitely going to have to wait before going to talk to Sebastian. William sounded more serious than usual, and that usually meant a load of overtime, and there was nothing the red headed reaper could do to avoid it.

The only constellation was that by the end of the lecture, Grell would be allowed to keep his deathscythe, though his freedom to go about London and the surrounding area was severely restricted.

X-x

Back at the Phantomhive mansion, the next week went by, mundane as ever.

Sebastian was currently taking stock of a partially destroyed kitchen, and a coughing Bard, who was sprawled out in a corner of said kitchen. Sebastian couldn't help but sigh at the sight, "I believe I have said before that a flamethrower is not an acceptable tool to be using in the kitchen. Are you trying to make the food inedible?"

Bard groaned as he sat up, spitting out a burnt down cigarette as he ran a hand through sooty hair, "Ah, you don't appreciate my cookn', that's all. It woulda been fine if I'd toned it down a bit." Bard fell silent at the sight of an eerily smiling Sebastian in the doorway, "Ah, well, I only tried preparin' lunch. The ingredients for dinner haven't been cooked yet." Bard kept to the ground as he watched Sebastian whip up a small lunch in the span of a few minutes, and headed for the kitchen door laden with the tray. Bard was about to let out a sigh of relief when Sebastian's voice cut like a whip.

"Make this kitchen presentable by dinner. And no 'artful' cooking is to be done tonight. Understood?"

Despite being unable to see Sebastian, Bard let out a low sigh, "Yeah, yeah, I got it."

Sebastian left with lunch for Ciel in tow, highly doubting that the kitchen would be in working order by that evening. Yet another thing for him to see to, along with the other ordinary tasks that appeared to be incapable of being completed by the other servants without some disaster occurring. Sebastian knocked on the door of Ciel's office, before entering the room and placing the tray on a nearby table.

Ciel glanced up from the desk that was littered with papers, "Is it lunchtime already?"

Sebastian offered a thin smile, "It's a tad early, but seeing as Mr. Bard has made a mess of the kitchen, I had little to work with."

Ciel set aside a letter he had been perusing with a shake of his head, "At least it hadn't happened for a few months."

Sebastian was about to respond that it didn't matter how often it happened, because it meant that he would have to clean it, when a cheerful voice rang out from the entry way to the office.

"I say the kitchen is an awful mess this time around. It's too bad, I am a little peckish, but I guess I'll have to wait until I get back to eat."

Sebastian turned around smoothly and offered a bow to one of the Queen's butlers, "Good afternoon, Early Grey. I do apologize for the state the kitchen is in. It was an unfortunate accident caused by the resident cook."

Earl Grey frowned, "The chap that smokes? He was pretty good with that knife the last time I was here delivering a letter, but I was faster. I think I would have had him if we hadn't been interrupted." The white haired male paused, a perplexed look crossing his face as he eyed the smiling butler before him, "Oh? I could have sworn you were dead on that rainy night."

"My death has been exaggerated. I was merely in a state of death, being so injured. The wounds looked worse than they really were. My vitals were missed in any case. Whoever my assailant had been is quite skillful."

"Hm, I suppose, though if they had been as skillful as you think, you wouldn't still be breathing. Maybe it was too dark to see properly." Earl Grey mused, hand loosely resting on his blades' hit and giving Sebastian a hard stare.

Ciel quickly interceded, "Earl Grey, I assume you're here because of the incident I was informed about around three months ago? Is there further information to go on?"

Earl Grey perked up at that, "Oh yes, there have been developments. It's still a bit sketchy, so we'll still be gathering information." Earl Grey strode forward and deposited an envelope on the desk, "That letter contains everything we know of so far, and further letters will be sent if any more intelligence is gathered." Earl Grey headed for the door, "And if you learn anything, please let the Yard know. I can get information from them if need be." With a little wave, Earl Grey headed out.

Ciel eyed the envelope, before opening it and scanning the letter. When he finished he let out an amused snort, "Sketchy information indeed."

"Young master?"

Ciel glanced over at Sebastian, "It appears as though there are three villages, and a hospital that are the focus of what the Queen is concerned about. It seems as if all three villages have seen a drop in population, and there is no apparent cause of death. The same goes for the hospital, though with all the wounded, dying or infirm in the hospital, it isn't nearly as concerning as the three villages whose more healthy inhabitants have dropped dead for no apparent reason." Ciel held the letter out to his butler, "Look into it and see if you can find out the actual cause of death for these people. Come and inform me of any findings at regular intervals."

Sebastian bowed, "I'll let you know what I find shortly, sir."

"Nnn." Ciel wondered how he was supposed to avoid contacting the Undertaker now. While Ciel was still thinking of turning Undertaker in for what he had done on the Campania, he and Undertaker had come to an uneasy truce not long after that incident, when Sebastian had been out of earshot. If Ciel would keep mum about where Undertaker had set up a new shop, Undertaker was still willing to provide information to cases, free of charge. The catch was that Ciel would have to go visit Undertaker by himself, to keep the reapers and Sebastian from finding out where he was.

And this case was starting to sound like something a shinigami should be investigating, especially the hospital occupants dropping dead. Ciel watched Sebastian leave, and wondered how long he should delay the meeting with Undertaker. He supposed he should wait and see what Sebastian found out, before he made a decision.

X-x

Grell was at a loss of what to do. Well, he knew what he wanted to do, but couldn't bring himself to go do it just yet. Grell stood in his office quietly, staring off into space as he thought about whether or not to go through with a plan he had come up with that morning. Grell's gaze went up to the ceiling, still rather surprised that William had actually allowed him to be all alone in the office without any supervision for a few hours at a time. It had only been three weeks since William had stopped checking up on him every two hours, to make sure that he was doing his work and not gallivanting off to go see Sebastian. A week ago, William had only been checking up on Grell a few times a day, and just yesterday, William had told him that he could be alone in his office for a few hours the next day, to catch up on paperwork that had been piling up.

Grell looked at said paperwork on his desk, and felt slightly guilty to know that he had let so much work pile up over the past few weeks. William hadn't noticed at first, but Grell knew the dark-haired man would realize that he wasn't doing much work. It was such boring paperwork this time around. Sometimes it could be interesting to see the way a human had died, but lately, no one in the office had yet come up with an explanation for why some of the humans on the to-die list would suddenly die ahead of schedule. It sounded like headquarters was still waiting for a few shinigami that went to investigate to return with their findings. It had been two months since those reapers had been sent out, and no one could say where they had gotten to. No one was overly concerned yet, as sometimes investigations into the odd movement of souls could take months.

Grell looked away from the desk, putting that out of his mind for now. After all, Grell knew that he had only a few hours free of supervision, and he wanted to use that freedom to go see Sebastian. Grell let out a slight sigh. He knew that if William found out what he was up to, that he wouldn't be going anywhere for a long time without someone accompanying him or keeping an eye on him. That was why Grell hoped he could make it back to headquarters without William realizing that he had left at all.

Grell shook his head, and headed for the office door, opening it slowly, cautiously. He wouldn't put it past William to either be there guarding the door to check up on him or for him to have someone (like Ronald) nearby to keep tabs on him. Grell poked his head out, looking first to the left, then the right. Grell relaxed visibly. Good, the coast was clear. Grell slid out of the office, and closed the door as quietly as was possible. Making sure that none of the late night staff saw him, Grell made his way quickly down the hall and out the door.

'Sorry...William.' Grell really did feel bad about not using the time the dark-haired reaper had given him to catch up on paperwork, but Grell really wanted and needed to go see Sebastian. He hadn't seen the demon for three months since that night. Grell still blushed a little at the memory of it, before shaking his head again. No, he didn't want to think about it, not until he knew Sebastian's motives. If the demon had actually felt something for him, anything at all, Grell would be very happy. However, since he had time to think since the incident had occurred, Grell had the unfortunate inkling that he was going to be disappointed with what Sebastian had to say for himself.

Grell started, realizing that he was in London now. After casting a quick look about, Grell set off in the direction of the Phantomhive mansion. Grell started to smile thinly. If it turned out that Sebastian had just been using and toying with him, well...using his deathscyhte, he'd make sure the demon would pay if that were indeed the case.

-x

The information gathering had taken him quite a bit longer than he had thought. Sebastian took nearly a day, which horrified the demon, as he had had to take breaks in his investigation to see to his master's needs. He could tell that the child was quite gleeful at the fact that he hadn't learned anything straight off. After being a little rougher in drying the earl off with a towel after a bath, Sebastian smirked as Ciel told him off and ordered him to go back to investigate.

Still smirking, Sebastian headed for the third village, and since it was night, those that remained in the village were fast asleep, or trying to fall asleep, as Sebastian could sense that a few of them couldn't sleep. There was something else that he was sensing, but it was such a small thing that he overlooked it for the time being. Sebastian frowned thoughtfully as he wondered what could cause such a number of deaths, and in a few cases, an almost catatonic state. That was something Sebastian had come upon from a visit to the hospitable. The scent of the hospital, however, caused him to leave the premises sooner than he had anticipated, so he would have to make another trip back. It was unfortunate to have such a keen sense of smell.

Nothing interesting came from the investigation of the village until daybreak.

Sebastian whirled in place, his focus locked onto a house on the edge of the village, his eyes narrowed and slitted. He felt it now. The small thing he had been sensing before. It was the presence of another demon. And the reason he could now sense it was because the demon was preying on a lone human in the house. The demon butler snorted in disgust. The human was dying, so the soul was up for grabs, but still...After Sebastian had stopped carelessly taking any soul in sight, to be confronted by those who still did so made his bile rise. Granted, Sebastian hadn't run into any other demon as of yet with his current master, but he had always been wondering if he would have to deal with the unpleasant company of another of his kind.

Sebastian could tell that the human the demon had cornered was now quite dead, the soul gone from the body. The demon that had done the deed was on the move. Sebastian might have been inclined to let one of his kind slip by with such an act, had it not been so close to where he resided. Sebastian left the village in pursuit of the demon, and found it quite frustrating that the demon was making a direct beeline for the mansion where Ciel was quite unprotected. Sebastian didn't bother to waste his breath on the demon, as it had taken on the disgusting appearance of a human who would be termed a beggar, and was therefore unlikely to have an intelligent conversation with it.

Getting to the garden of the Phantomhive manor, Sebastian was quite appalled, and managed to stop the other demon in its tracks by flinging several pieces of silverware with deadly accuracy. The demon let out a snarl as it was knocked to the ground. Sebastian prevented the badly disguised demon from fleeing by stamping down on its chest. Sebastian leaned over the demon with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, "I hope for your sake you are the only one foolish enough to come in such close proximity to my territory."

The demon let out a laugh, which did not fit the human guise in the least. It sounded like a hissing gurgle, "Don't care. Souls are easy pickings here. Much easier than in places swarmin' with those damned reapers."

Sebastian frowned thoughtfully, "I was under the impression that there were not a lot of them around."

The demon let out another laugh, "London and its surrounding area seems to be the place to be. Not enough reapers to keep up with all the human souls. In other places around the world, the reapers are more on top of things. Makes it harder to form contracts or steal souls from beneath their noses." The demon furrowed its brow at Sebastian, "You actually have a contract, huh? Most demons don't have the patience to wait for the contract to come to an end."

Sebastian offered a thin, dangerous smile, "Well, most demons are impatient. I, however, have found meals to be much more satisfying after a long wait." Sebastian cracked his knuckles, "I don't need younger demons mucking around in my territory and drawing the reapers' attention. They dislike me enough as it is."

The demon wore an amused expression, but said nothing more.

Sebastian had nothing more to say either.

After a brief cleanup in the garden, involving the removal of one very dead demon in human guise, Sebastian hurried back to the manor. He made certain to double and triple check that there wasn't a hint of demonic aura in the area other than his own. He rather doubted such a minor demon would travel alone, so Sebastian was erring on the side of caution and returning before he had completed his investigation to check on his master. Though Sebastian had a fairly good idea what was going on, and thought it very interesting that the reapers hadn't done anything about the mass removal of souls by demons. Sebastian was fairly certain that was what was going on. He could only hope that he could be wrong for once. Sebastian was about to enter the manor, knowing it was about time for breakfast, when something rammed into him from behind. Sebastian nearly reacted violently, as the encounter with the demon had gotten him into an overly protective mode for his young master.

"Waaahh! Mr. Sebastian!"

Sebastian sighed lightly. He would have thought that there wouldn't have been any trouble for at least a few hours more at the manor, and thought it laughable that this normally would have concerned him. However, the idea that other demons might be lurking in the area bothered him infinitely more, "Finny, cease that crying. What is the matter?" Sebastian allowed Finny to lead him to the garden, and though he kept his senses stretched for any hint of other demons, the demonic butler couldn't help but stare at the sight that greeted him blankly.

The black cat that Sebastian went to visit was currently looking miserable. Its hair was sticking out in odd angles, as though the fur had been haphazardly cut. The cat also appeared to be dirty, as though dirt had been dumped onto it. The cat blinked up at Sebastian, "Meow?"

Sebastian saw that, along with the cat, Finny had yet again forgotten about the herbicide, and the grass, along with some plants, was withering. Sebastian fixed his gaze on Finny, who cringed back at the look. The state of the garden wasn't bothering Sebastian nearly as much as the sight of the poor cat.

Finny looked down at the cat, then to Sebastian, waving his hands, "Ah! Mr. Sebastian! I didn't do anything to the kitty! It looked like that before I came here!"

"...But you are responsible for the state the garden is in?" This was asked with a closed-eye smile. Terrorizing the other servants helped to calm himself from the early morning unpleasantness.

"Wahh! I'm soorrry!" Finny didn't appear to notice that the anger Sebastian was showing was merely a front. Compared to the demon in his territory, a withered garden was hardly much concern to the butler at the moment.

Sebastian shook his head and rummaged around in a pocket, before handing Finny some money, "Go get something from the shop, and be quick about it." Getting this over with would allow him to get to his master more quickly.

Finny immediately broke into a beaming smile, and took the money, running off, "Be back~!"

Sebastian watched Finny leave, before he dropped to his knees and scooped up the mewling cat, "Ahh...who could have done this to you? You're all covered in dirt as well." Sebastian glanced around and deducing that Ciel was in his office, and not in mortal danger from another demon. Satisfied for the time being, Sebastian stood up with the cat, and went inside the mansion into the empty bathroom. Sebastian set the cat down in the tub, and removed his gloves, setting them aside.

"Mrow?" The cat started to groom herself, and then hissed when Sebastian poured some water on her.

Sebastian gently washed the dirt out of the fur, and took a pair of scissors and evened out the stuck out fur, "I will find whoever did this to you...I may have an idea of whom...it will be unfortunate for them if it is who I think it is."

"Mew?" The black cat blinked water out of her eyes as Sebastian wrapped her in a towel and dried her.

"Ah~. So cute." Sebastian murmured, as the cat had started to purr. He was still keeping alert for any telltale sign of another demon, yet he couldn't help but indulge himself by all but fawning over the drying cat. It was a pity that he couldn't fully enjoy himself, especially when he noticed, with a bit of agitation, that that reaper had shown up.

Yet another thing to take care of before he could see his master, who was up quite a bit earlier than he had anticipated.

-x

The garden was deserted when Grell came back to see if Sebastian had shown up yet. Grell fingered the ordinary scissors in his pocket. Surely Sebastian would have seen the cat's fur was cut out of place. Grell's hands left his pockets and the red head crossed his arms. It wasn't something he ordinarily would do, but Grell doubted that Sebastian would willingly come out to deal with him unless there was something to make him do so. And since Sebastian was so fond of cats…

Grell's attention was drawn to something on the ground. With a tiny frown of curiosity, Grell crouched down to get a better look at the glittering object. Grell reached down and picked up the tiny object, and after a brief inspection, pocketed it, before going back to looking for Sebastian.

Grell hoped the conversation he wanted to have with the demonic butler wouldn't come to a fight as he glanced around again. Sebastian wasn't anywhere in sight...

"There you go, all clean. I will come see you tomorrow."

"Merow~."

Grell perked up at the sound of Sebastian's voice, and moved in that direction, from where he had heard the demon's voice. Grell wore a disappointed frown when all he saw was a clean and evenly cut haired cat, grooming herself. Grell huffed and put his hands on his hips, glaring down at the feline, "Hmpf, he takes better care of you, doesn't he? Did he even notice the state you were in?"

"Perhaps you would like to explain that, as well as tell me why you are here?"

Grell turned abruptly and launched himself at Sebastian, "Sebas-chan~! Ahh!" Sebastian had side stepped him and seized his hair. Grell grabbed at Sebastian's arm, trying to get him to let go of his precious hair, "Ah...Sebas...let go, I'll talk. Please, stop it!" The hair was let go of, though instead of dropping to the ground like Grell had expected, Sebastian had flung him further into the garden, where he landed heavily on his face and stomach. Momentarily stunned, Grell had started to push himself up, when Sebastian stamped down on his back with a foot.

Sebastian seized Grell's arms and tugged them behind his back, trying them together at the wrists with some string he kept in a pocket when he had time to play with the cat.

Grell's hands twitched against the sudden restraints but he was unable to free himself. Grell rested his head on the ground gingerly, inwardly sighing in relief when Sebastian removed his foot from his back. The demon butler had stepped down rather hard. Grell held still as Sebastian dragged him along by his hair, further still into the garden, out of earshot of the mansion. Grell didn't bother trying to complain again. Sebastian wasn't going to listen to him anyway. But still...why were they going so far into the garden, alone? Grell felt a chill, but attempted to shake it off. He had wanted to see Sebastian, after all. Grell winced as Sebastian used his hair to yank him to his feet, before letting go.

Grell stood on unsteady feet, tugging uselessly at his hands bound behind his back. Grell walked backwards, away from Sebastian, who was approaching him with a glint in his eyes, "S...Sebastian?" Grell let out a surprised yelp as he was thrown to the ground face first again. Grell was about to get back up and say something, but instead slumped down and moaned softly into the grass when he felt Sebastian press up against him teasingly.

"Is this what you came for?" Sebastian questioned softly as he lightly ground his hips against the reaper lying prone on the ground. After the encounter with the demon earlier, Sebastian almost thought to play with the reaper, but regretfully he needed to go and inform his young master of what he had found out.

"N...No...just ahh...question..." Grell managed to breathe, distracted with Sebastian so close and shivering involuntarily at the thought of what the other had just said.

Sebastian pulled back a bit, "You are a bad liar. Answer me, right now and answer my other question as well. I do not have all day."

"The cat?" Grell wondered, then bit back a cry as Sebastian fiddled with his belt buckle, "I...I was only trying to...to get your attention."

Sebastian loomed closer, "Is that so?"

Grell bit his lip lightly and nodded, managing to say, "Mmm, Sebas...last time, why did you...?" The red headed reaper fell silent as Sebastian had suddenly hoisted him over one shoulder. "What are you...?" Grell grit his teeth and shivered a little as Sebastian ran a hand along his inner thigh lightly.

Sebastian turned and headed back for the mansion in silence.

"S...Sebastian?" Grell asked quietly, staying limp and not attempting to struggle. No answer. Oh well, now that he was here, Grell assumed that he would have to wait until Sebastian was done with him before he could leave. Maybe Sebastian would even let him know the answers he wanted to know to his questions. Grell closed his eyes, to wait and see what Sebastian was planning. Grell doubted that he would be leaving any time soon, which translated to William finding out that he was not in his office like he should have been. In the back of his mind, Grell still hoped that Sebastian might have felt something for him. That would make it worth being basically grounded by William, and where he would most likely be confined to a smaller office. Grell vaguely wondered if William would try and chain him to the desk to keep him there...

Sebastian entered the mansion and went up some stairs, opening up a door and dropping Grell onto the bed, "Behave yourself. The young master isn't to know you are here, understand?"

"Sebas-chan..." Grell started to say, but the protest died in his throat as Sebastian had leaned over him, very close.

"You heard me, didn't you? Behave, or else I'll have to make you." Sebastian said in a cool tone with another closed-eyed smile.

Grell looked away, after having felt Sebastian's demonic aura flare up momentarily. The red headed reaper lay on the bed, unmoving, as he waited to see what Sebastian would do next. The demon was still leaning over him very closely.

Sebastian didn't do anything, much to Grell's disappointment, and the demonic aura died down. The other seemed to find amusement in Grell's sudden submission. Sebastian backed away from the bed and the still reaper, "Good. We understand each other then?"

"...yes..." Grell's eyes had taken on a dark look, and he had spoken the word in a rather spiteful way.

Sebastian left the room without another word, and locked the door, walking away down the hall. He'd have to figure out some way to deal with Grell's sudden intrusion. He had a busy day after all, and had no time to be dealing with Grell at the moment. Perhaps later. He would either deal with the reaper himself or get someone else to deal with him.

Sebastian headed for Ciel's office, and knocked on the door before entering the room, "Pardon the intrusion, but I have found a disturbing detail for the case."

Ciel looked up from the chair he was seated in, still looking like he was waking up, as the rumpled nightshirt and messy hair indicated, "What do you mean?"

"As I investigated the third village, I had an unfortunate encounter with one of my kind. It was in the guise of a human beggar, and it fled the scene after taking a soul from the human in a house. I hadn't noticed the presence until it happened." Sebastian hesitated, which was rather uncharacteristic of him, as he added, "I believe a demon of that level is unlikely to travel alone, so it is possible that demons are the culprits."

Ciel blinked blearily up at his butler, before burying his face in both hands and groaning sleepily, "Sebastian, breakfast. I need to be more awake than this, if what you're saying is true."

Sebastian smirked a little at the display, before giving a polite bow, "Very good, sir." He turned and headed for the door, and Ciel barely caught the soft sentence the butler left the room with.

"While I profess that I do not tell lies, perhaps in this instance I will be proven wrong."

That surprised Ciel to hear Sebastian say such a thing. Then, quite suddenly, Ciel began to smile. If Sebastian was concerned about the identity of the culprits behind the case the Queen had asked him to look in to, then it seemed like it would prove to be an interesting game.

One that Ciel looked forward to winning, whether or not the culprits were supernatural beings.

X-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I don't have the words to express how happy I am that this story finally has a plot. I hope this can keep going for the whole story. Having a concrete plot makes it so much easier to write.

Also, the A/N will now be at the end of the chapters. In addition to that, I think that having a disclaimer on the first chapter is enough, so I'll stop with that so each chapter can just be read from the top without any ramblings from me until the end of the chapter.