Hm. That was a lot longer and a lot fluffier than I intended. Oops.

Oh well! I finally have an "Oh shit!" moment at the end to signify that everything is going to happen!

Also the whole Time skipping thing probably makes absolutely no sense, especially since I didn't put anything at the end like I initially intended. But it WILL! Probably by next chapter because I want that to like actually start explaining things! Except it probably won't until much later…hnnnnngh. Just think Doctor Who. Maybe. Try to. Agh, I'd reference a character but then it would all give it away for yooooooou! *flails and dies*

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

(Also, another disclaimer that I probably should have put last chapter is that, yes, I know Sebastian is OOC…like a lot. and very. Especially in modern-day scenes. But that too will also make sense! Also he's really grumpy in the canon time period, but my reasoning for that is, well, if you had not desire to ever meet someone you know you'll be stuck with for all eternity, but then you do meet them and not only find out that you're actually kind of physically attracted to them but they are also a creature/type of person you're supposed to detest, AND you aren't even supposed to feel any sort of emotional attachment to individuals like that, you'd be kind of pissy too!)

(I also like to think that modern day Sebastian with Artie is like everyday Sebastian with cats. I also like to picture him playing with Artie's massive mound of cat when he meets her family. Ah! I really want to write that but then this story will be all fluff and no plot so I might just write fluffy one shots for this! AAAAAH!)

(Oh, and I definitely decided that I'm going to up the rating for this later on because I thought of a heart-wrenching idea that I definitely have to write and you're all going to hate me for it but hopefully-kind of-maybe still love my story anyway? Or just find it mildly entertaining? Eh, I definitely love what this is turning into and I still hate myself for this idea.)

LOL Sebastian in a church…that thought just crossed my mind…

NO, Sebastian in a CONFESSIONAL: "Forgive me, Father for I have sinned…because I'm actually a soul-sucking demon from the flaming pits of hell…I don't know how you're going to fix that one so good luck."

Also, LILIES *sob* (Don't worry about it)

I'm going to stop now.

ENJOI


Great Britain: Year 1888

Sebastian

Sometimes the demon wondered if Ciel was out to personally victimize his butler. First he hires the servants, then he orders Sebastian to take care of that blasted demon hound (although Pluto eventually grew on him, he didn't exactly miss the beast either), and then the young master's soul nearly slipped away from Sebastian's hands after he exacted his revenge and now Sebastian was trying to come up with a way to recreate that revenge to fulfill the contract.

So but of course Ciel would suggest taking the lost angel back to the manor.

"I assume you can hide your wings, correct?" the young master asked her as she stepped into the carriage.

In response, Artemis folded her wings against her back before they promptly disappeared.

Ciel nodded and crossed his arms, sighing, "I do not know where you are from but that outfit is unbecoming of women. Sebastian, I believe we have something for her to wear if you could find a dress or something when we get back to the manor."

"Yes sir," Sebastian said as Artemis's face contorted in disgust.

"Excuse you?" she snapped, but after a pointed glare from Ciel she groaned but didn't say more, careful not to overstay her welcome.

Well, if anything she'd certainly make things more interesting.

Granted, that fact also had Sebastian quite uneasy.

When they reached the manor, Artemis burst out of the carriage without even accepting the butler's assistance. Pesky angel. You'd think her kind would at least be well-versed in social customs in the human world. Angela/Ash at least was. Then again, Angela/Ash was the rare case of a more ancient breed of angel. Perhaps the angels Sebastian was more familiar with had spent too much time in seclusion doing whatever they pleased. It wouldn't surprise him.

Artemis was at least courteous enough to follow her host into the manor, and when Sebastian opened the door for her and Ciel, the angel took a few steps in before she paused and looked around the room, her blue eyes sparkling in awe.

"This is beautiful," she said in a daze.

"This is the home of the Earl Phantomhive," Sebastian explained, "and if you follow me I will show you to your room."

Artemis glanced sideways at Sebastian and smiled. The demon in turn stiffened and fought to scowl back at her while a shiver ran up his spine. It wasn't difficult for angels to distinguish demons from other beings, surely Artemis knew what Sebastian was, and yet she did nothing to call him out. It was possibly more unnerving to him than if she had attacked him as soon as she was freed from the rubble.

Her blue eyes left Sebastian and fell on Ciel, she bobbed her head as if to bow and said, "Thank you very much for you hospitality, Lord Phantomhive. I couldn't be more grateful."

Ciel nodded in the faintest of acknowledgement before saying, "Sebastian, take her to her room and find a more suitable outfit for our guest, please."

"As you wish, my lord," Sebastian said. "Come with me."

Artemis hurried to Sebastian's side as he led her up the stairs, but the butler couldn't help but notice how distracted the woman got, stopping every few steps to gaze at the art on the wall, or peer through an open door to see the room on the other side. Curiosity such as this was something Sebastian was accustomed to, and had she been an ordinary guest, Sebastian would have offered to take Artemis on a tour of the house. He knew he should, as were the customs of Phantomhive hospitality, but something fowl formed knots in the pit of the demon's stomach and the fact was that he couldn't wait to be as far away from the angel as possible.

One good thing about her being his mate was that her senses were not attuned in the way his were, she would not know that they were a mated pair and he could easily dispose of her when the time came.

"This is gorgeous," Artemis said once she caught up to Sebastian again. For some reason, it seemed she was trying to make small talk and the butler wanted nothing to do with it.

"Indeed it is," Sebastian said curtly. He then came to the guest room and opened the door. "And this is where you will stay. There is a restroom connected to this room and you can use that to wash up. I will bring you nightwear and a change of clothes for the morning shortly."

Artemis nodded then, to his surprise, asked, "So where do you live?"

"I live in the servant's quarters just as all servants do," Sebastian explained. Artemis nodded and took a couple steps into the room. The butler thought he was home free but still the angel turned around again, placing her hands behind her back.

"It's down stairs, I take it?" she guessed. The butler nodded. "Also, I don't know when I'll be able to return home—like I said, the events that led me to getting here were the result of a complete accident—is there maybe some way I can help out around here? Earn my stay?"

"You are a guest of the Phantomhives," Sebastian recited. "If is of upmost importance to us that we extend only the best hospitality. If you truly do wish to work for us, that is a matter you should take up with the young master."

Artemis bit her lip at that. For whatever reason, the angel appeared to have a mild disliking towards Ciel, despite his friendly persona and her (mostly) polite demeanor thus far. From what Sebastian could tell, she hardly said anything to the young master on the carriage ride here, yet she was attempting small talk with the demon butler.

But what the angel said next surprised Sebastian even more than her apparent distaste for the young Earl: "You don't like me do you."

The butler, for the first time in his long life, was at a loss for words, especially in this time period. It never mattered what a butler thought of his master's guests and other than his silence, he gave no cues to Artemis that would suggest he absolutely detested her. But she hadn't even showed visible signs of noticing what he was, such a statement coming from her certainly shocked him.

When Sebastian didn't answer, Artemis sighed heavily and unfurled her wings as if to make a point as she sighed heavily and said, "Look, I know this must be…incredibly inconvenient for you. And I'm sorry."

"Pardon my rudeness, but I do not think you do," Sebastian retorted in a low voice. Artemis shrugged and nodded.

"Perhaps. But still, I'm sorry," she apologized in a low voice.

"Do you even know what I am, Angel?" Sebastian snapped suddenly. He couldn't contain the anger that boiled over within him any longer. "If you are trying to play coy, do not bother, such naivety will not make me detest you any less."

Artemis jumped slightly and gazed down at the floor. If the demon had known better, he might say she looked hurt by his comments. After a pause, the butler began to turn to leave, yet the angel still had one last thing to say: "It is not that I'm playing dumb about what you are, Sebastian. I just don't think it matters."

"Don't think it matters?" Sebastian snarled, his eyes beginning to glow. "I am a demon of hell and you are a holy angel. Do not act like we can travel freely between our worlds."

Artemis shrugged the remarks off and said, "Humans do. I don't see why we can't."

"You must wish to be cast away from your realm if you already haven't with such heresy," the butler mused. This angel both repelled him and drew him close between her maniacal banter and the undeniable fact that she was his mate. It was disgusting.

The angel still seemed unfazed by Sebastian: "Not at all. I just choose to believe in my God who loves all of His creation, even the ones trapped within shadows."

"You must've been misinformed, I am not one of those creations," Sebastian stated, giving Artemis a sideways glance.

It was almost as if she expected such an answer for she smiled in return and teased, "I'd be willing to make a bet with you on that."

"In any case," Sebastian said quickly before Artemis could distract him any more. "You are still an angel and I a demon, I'd rather not step on your toes and I'd suggest you stay out of my way. Nevertheless, you're an honored guest of the Phantomhives and I will do my best to treat you as such. Now if you'll excuse me, I have my own duties to attend to. I will bring you up a change of clothes and nightwear shortly."

The angel nodded so Sebastian turned to leave. He was just about to close the door when she called out, "Sebastian?"

The butler held his breath. Mate or not, he was going to rip this woman's throat out if she kept talking.

"Yes?" Sebastian asked, his patience wearing thin.

Artemis looked into the butler's eyes for a moment, her lips quivering as if she was struggling to find the right words to say. In the end, she gave up on whatever it was she wanted to voice and instead bowed, "Thank you again. For everything."

"Do not thank me," Sebastian said in a low voice. "I was just fulfilling orders."


United States: Year 2014

Artie

I'm not sure it was a good idea to take Sebastian to church.

I mean, it's not like anything bad happened, but I could tell he was extremely uncomfortable. He didn't sing any of the songs—I didn't expect that he would—though he listened intently to the sermon that morning, absorbing every word the pastor preached. But he held my hand tightly the entire time, so tightly it almost cut off the circulation in my fingers at one point.

And of course it was communion today. He was a trooper, that was for sure, but I couldn't help but feel undeniably guilty.

But of course, Sebastian was nothing short of Prince Charming on the way home. It was quiet between us at first but as soon as Sebastian merged onto the highway he took a breath as if to speak and I slunk into my seat.

"That was thoroughly enjoyable, Artie, thank you for inviting me," he said so smoothly that if it had not been for the raw feeling in my hand still, I would have believed what he said.

"Oh, Sebastian," I sighed, covering my face with my hands. "I'm so sorry."

Sebastian glanced at me for a second before he turned his eyes back to the road, furrowing his eyebrows together. "What do you mean? I said I enjoyed this morning, did I not?"

"Well, yeah, but, you just seemed really uncomfortable. If you were, I didn't mean to force you into that," I explained rubbing my hand subconsciously. Sebastian caught my movement and he gave a small nod of realization.

"That," he noted. "Forgive me, I did not mean to hurt your hand. But…you are right; I'll admit that I do not feel I belong in a holy setting. That does not mean I did not enjoy the morning. I am grateful you invited me to join in that experience with you."

"Oh," I nodded. "Well, I'm glad you came."

"As am I," Sebastian agreed. "Well, since we are out, would you care to join me for lunch? We're quite close to were I live."

"Really?" I asked, trying to hide a smile. I looked out the window as we pulled off the highway. Oh my. They lived in the rich neighborhoods. And I don't mean they lived in what my mom called the Land of Three Car Garages were couples lived in houses big enough for families of ten. I mean we were in Mansion Estates. Well, the real name for the subdivision was Garden Estates, but I mean, all of these houses looked like they belonged to millionaires. My jaw dropped and before I had a chance to filter my thoughts, I gasped, "This is where you live?"

Sebastian chuckled, at my reaction, "Well, Ciel is an Earl after all."

"Is this like where you guys lived back in London?" I asked as we pulled into the driveway. "You guys are rich!"

"It was actually quite larger than this," Sebastian explained. "And it is Ciel who holds the wealth. In a way, I actually work for him."

I nodded as he led me into the mansion. The largest building I had ever been into was one of the academic buildings and I'm pretty sure the entryway here was larger than the lecture halls in there.

I took a few steps, subconsciously spinning around myself to take in the view of the room. "This is beautiful," I breathed, smiling a little. I then turned to face Sebastian.

He stood stiffly at the door with his arms behind his back, his rose-colored eyes fixated on me, waves of emotions forcing their way to the surface of his eyes. I cocked my head to the side, about to ask him what was wrong when another voice spoke behind us.

"Sebastian, who is this?" a boy asked. I spun around to face a scrawny kids walking down the stairs that led to the entryway we currently stood in. Sebastian stepped to my side, gesturing to me with a very poised smile, pushing away whatever was hidden behind his mask.

"Young master, I would like to introduce you to Artemis Grace Thomas. She will be dining with us this afternoon," he said. As always, my name rolled off his tongue like silk and I was really starting to like the sound of it.

"Artemis, was it?" Ciel asked, narrowing his eyes—or…eye, one of them was covered with an eye patch—and suddenly my name didn't sound nearly as nice. "Strange name."

I pressed my lips together in a very forced smile, though I'm sure it looked more like a flattened line. I could see why this kid put off just about all of my friends who had met him. Even without his supposed snide remarks, Ciel had a very…unnerving presence about him. "Please, just call me Artie,"

"Alright," Ciel shrugged. "Sebastian, I don't have a preference for lunch today, see to the needs of miss Artemis—"

"Artie," I corrected.

If it was possible to hear a nerve snap, I would have heard one coming from the kid's brain. "See to the needs of miss Artie this afternoon."

"Of course sir," Sebastian nodded. "Ma'am, if you will follow me."

Ciel turned to walk back up the stairs and I watched him as he left. Something about him told me that I shouldn't take my eyes off of him. I was so distracted that when Sebastian stopped to open the door to the kitchen I bumped right into him. He simply smiled and allowed me through the doors before he passed through them himself. As soon as the doors closed, his stiff-back posture relaxed a little and his poised, butler-like façade melted away. It was a relief to see my casual Sebastian again.

"So…are you like his butler or something?" I asked as I took a seat in a bar stool by the counter. "I mean you were certainly acting like one. All prim and proper and such."

Oh, it was so good to see Sebastian smile and chuckle at my banter. I hadn't realized how tense I got myself when he put on that mask, especially with that pained expression he gave me.

"Yes, you could call it that," Sebastian said. "Though really, it's more of a situation in which we are in contract with each other. I serve as a protector and cannot leave his side. My position just happens to lead me to act like his butler at times."

"Alright then," I nodded, suddenly very confused. "I have no idea what sort of contracts you guys do for employment over in England."

"It's not an English custom," Sebastian chuckled. "It is quite difficult to explain."

"But aren't you a little young to…you know…be signing soul-binding contracts like that?" I asked. Apparently whatever I said was hilarious because Sebastian broke out into such a hysterical laughter I thought he was going to fall on the ground.

"You have quite the interesting choice of words!" he noted. I didn't know where exactly he was going with that, but before I could figure it out, he answered my question, "And not at all. I have a lot of experience with these sort of…business dealings, if you will."

"How old are you?" I asked, the butler smiled.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he teased.

"Oh come on, I need to know these things," I pushed. "It's going to be the first question my mom asks when I tell you about you."

"Well how old do you think I am?" he asked me. That was a weird question.

"I dunno…like twenty-two?" I guessed.

"Then I am twenty-two," Sebastian responded, though he pressed his lips together as if he were trying to hide the laughter that resulted from some sort of joke I didn't know about. Then, suddenly he stopped what he was doing and looked up at me with the uttermost seriousness and asked, "You're going to tell your mother about me?"

"Well, yeah," I said. "You're a guy. And we went on a date. And you went to church with me. And now I'm sitting at your house eating lunch with you and your…boss, friend, or whatever Ciel is to you. I have to tell my mom about you at some point. One thing is for sure is that Mom will need to hear about you before my dad and brothers hear about you."

"Why, I'm flattered," Sebastian said. I couldn't tell if he was teasing or being sincere. I suspected both. "So you have brothers?"

"Yes, both younger," I explained. "Chris is eighteen, he just started college this year. Tristan is fifteen."

"Quite average names compared to yours," Sebastian joked and I sat back in my chair and scoffed in exasperation.

"I don't know how they came up with the name!" I groaned. "I guess they used up all their creativity with me. At least that's what I always say when my brothers make fun of my name. That got them going."

Sebastian chuckled as he sliced the vegetables. "If I may, would you care to tell me more about your family? I'm curious."

"Hm," I thought on that for a bit. "Well, my mom's name is Karen. She's from the Chicago area of Illinois and she and my dad, William, were high school sweethearts. He moved to the U.S. from Ireland with my grandparents when he was a little boy. They moved around a lot when they were first married but eventually settled in back in Chicago so they could be near my grandparents. And then my brothers and I were real pranksters growing up. Actually, it was my grandpa—my dad's dad, my mom's dad passed away when I was a baby—who influenced most of our mischief and…I'm sorry, am I rambling again?"

I hadn't noticed I had gone off in a tangent within my own world until I glanced over at Sebastian, fixated on his cooking and I distracted myself enough to wonder if I should help him. But Sebastian just stood there looking quite bemused as if he enjoyed listening to me.

"No, not at all, please do continue." Sebastian answered. "Your family sounds lovely."

I smiled to myself, but stood up and walked around the counter to help Sebastian, but in a fleeting moment of courageousness and zero judgment, I stood up on my toes to plant a small peck of my lips to his cheek. I didn't realize what I had done until I lowered myself and noticed my arms wrapped around one of his and he jumped, swiveling his head to stare at me in shock.

"Uh," I gagged. Ooooh I just made things really awkward for myself! "I'm sorry, I didn't realize what I was—I mean—I meant to offer help with the food but then—it just sort of…happened…"

My stutters started to trail off as Sebastian's shocked expression softened, his red velvet eyes sparkling. He lifted a hand to my cheek, caressing it lightly with his thumb as he pulled my face towards his. My heart fluttered in my chest and I tried to continue apologizing, but as our lips drew closer, all I could manage was a weary, "Oh…okay."


Trent

It was a boy day.

And good thing too because Trent found that he could be most intimidating on boy days. And not just "I'm so tough look at me" intimidating, but when Trent was intimidating on boy days, it crossed lines into "Oh you think I'm cute in this feminine body? Let me give you a death glare that will beat you into next week before I actually lay my fist on you" intimidating.

And it wasn't that Trent got particularly grumpy on boy days, it just so happened that people tended to give him more respect-out-of-intimidation on boy days. Apparently he just had that air about him, he didn't know why. He was pretty harmless, he thought. Sometimes he wondered if this intimidation came from the fact that he had the biceps of a god sitting next to lumps of fat on his chest that were so large that they even stuck out a bit after being squished down by a compressor (though Trent had to admit that he liked his lumps of fat. They were quite flattering on him during girl days).

In any case, Trent was particularly enjoying this intimidation factor he held on boy days because he was about to tear someone's throat out. That demon child Ciel sitting in front of him in Advanced Calc was driving him up a wall. Again.

Ever since his outwardly display of arrogance and sheer stupidity, Ciel had taken to mumbling to himself angrily, just loud enough for Trent to hear. Trent was quite used to this behavior by now, but what really drove him crazy was when Ciel finally recognized Trent and began making those snide remarks to him as if it were some inside joke.

Granted, once you figured out that demon-kid's sense of humor, you might find his jokes kind of funny too. But what pissed Trent off was that the "idiot questions" Ciel was making fun of were the ones Trent was fervently struggling to write down in his notebook before the professor continued the lecture that was lazily passing right over his head!

When Ciel turned to Trent for the third time, Krysta had slumped over her desk, ready to give up (this teacher spoke with a heavy Indian accent and he wrote nonsense on the board for two hours, stopping only to answer questions that the smarter kids in class shouted out based on what they managed to interperet. How Ciel was even comprehending this bull was beyond Trent).

"This is so simple," Ciel whispered, jokingly. "You just take the square root of the—"

"Ciel," Trent snapped, scribbling away to copy down the equation that magically appeared on the chalkboard. "Shut it."

Ciel eyed Trent for a long period of time. Trent only looked back up at the earl for a small second, and that was only a side effect of having to sit up and fix the hem of his skirt (the day started out a girl day but his mood swayed by lunchtime and he was too lazy to put on any gender-identifying clothes. Plus Casey liked the outfit and makeup he put on this morning and he wasn't about to make any alterations to his wardrobe if what he had on was enough to make the woman swoon).

"No," Ciel gasped, raising an eyebrow. The corner of his mouth upturned slightly as if Trent were joking. "You don't get this either?"

"Shut it, Demon-brat," Trent whispered harshly back. To the side, Krysta looked up, her dark eyes glazed over in despair.

"I am going to die," she groaned.

"No you won't," Trent sighed, blocking Ciel out of his mind for a moment. "Just copy my notes after class, you'll be fine."

"Am I the only one who understands this?" Ciel whispered in utter shock.

"Apparently!" Trent snapped back. "I don't even know how since you're always turning to me and trying to joke about the rest of us!"

Ciel deflated slightly, his large blue eye narrowing in thought. He puckered his cheeks like a little kid for a moment before he said, "That's interesting. Perhaps I'm just…"

"A demon-brat?" Trent snapped sarcastically. Ciel eyed Trent suspiciously, almost in warning.

"You certainly like to call me that," Ciel noted. Trent rolled his eyes.

"It suits you, trust me," he retorted.

This part is where Trent's intimidation factor comes in handy. He just knew Ciel was about to continue the argument. Possibly even make a threat back at Trent. But as he opened his mouth, one sharp look from Trent quickly clamped the kid's jaw shut again. Trent really didn't understand what being on a boy day did to his aura. He was in a skirt and looked feminine enough, but any time on a girl day that he tried "the look" or any other method that could shut the kid up, Ciel would just roll his eyes and say, "careful, you might hurt yourself with those daggers in your eyes" or something of the like. But boy days? Totally different story. Even with lipstick on!

It wasn't long after that exchange when class ended. Krysta immediately shot to her feet and collapsed onto Trent, letting out an exasperated groan.

"This class is going to kill me!" she whaled, as per usual. Trent awkwardly attempted to pat the woman's back.

"You got an B on the quiz didn't you?" Trent reminded her. "Clearly it hasn't done you in yet."

"That's easy for you to say!" Krysta's hands flew in the air. "You actually understand what's happening!"

Trent rolled his eyes at his friend, not really sure what else to do about the basket case. Poor thing always felt like this at the end of class and yet she was still maintaining a B. Clearly she was understanding something.

Behind them, Ciel sighed and said, "Well, if you two are finished, I am meeting Sebastian and Artemis now. Care to come along?"

Trent and Krysta exchanged glances. As annoying as Ciel was, Trent had to admit that he was a bright kid. And also pretty okay once you got over the chills that ran up your spine every time you looked at him as well as his god-awful sense of humor. Granted, Trent wasn't sure if Ciel had grown on him because Trent too was a weirdo that tended to put some people off or because Ciel suddenly started hanging around Sebastian now that he and Artie were dating. Actually, Trent didn't even start seeing Sebastian around until Artie brought him to church three weeks prior (an apparently they kissed afterwards and Artie didn't tell them, the bitch!) and it wasn't until earlier this week when Sebastian presented a bouquet of lilies, a box of chocolates, and a request to pursue a romantic relationship with her.

Of course, Artie nearly fainted (but really, how she didn't see this coming was beyond Trent. Because really, they had been on a date every single weekend and Sebastian had been fully inducted into their friend group and he saw Artie and Madeline both every single day), but in any case, Trent's point was that Ciel was also in the process of initiation with their group, granted it was probably incorrect of Trent to say that this started ever since they were dating because Ciel started hanging around after their first date, and seemed to have been working behaving like a normal human being. By this point, most everyone seemed pretty okay with the kid. Although he was still fourteen and apparently he and Maddie still couldn't stand each other. But even then, he stopped picking fights with Maddie after Sebastian gave Artie the flowers a few days before.

Ugh. And he picked Lilies. Lilies. Artie loved lilies, but she clearly didn't get the reference behind Sebastian's flower choice just yet and it killed Trent on the inside to see the exchange because he knew the reference Sebastian was making, oh god. But it was just so perfect. It was heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

But really, Sebastian was perfect for Artie. It was painful and fantastic all at the same time. Trent half-wondered if this is what Artie thought of him and Casey, but there was no way he could ask her about that. Not now at least. In any case, Sebastian was freaking classy. Artie called it Augustinian of the man, but Trent thought of it as just pure Sebastian.

Anyway, the three walked over to the café as Ciel and Krysta struggled to make small talk (Krysta was another one that Ciel still rubbed the wrong way, but he was getting better with her. He was certainly farther along with Krysta than with Madeline, poor kid).

When they walked into the café, Madeline was already there reading through one of her textbooks. She looked up and smiled, her golden curls bouncing as she cheered, "Hey Trent! Hey Krysta!"

"Hey kiddo!" Krysta waved back. Madeline smiled for a moment before her eyes fell on Ciel. Oh, her expression was priceless when she saw him. You could tell that she was trying so hard to keep her smile but the disdain for the demon-kid was so great her lips fell to a flat line in front of gritted teeth instead.

"Hey, Ciel," she said, slightly less cheerfully.

"Madeline," Ciel nodded back. He didn't hide his disdain for the girl and soon the glare from his blue eye reflected from her green ones. The tension didn't last long because Artie rolled through the door of the café only seconds later with Ashley at her haunches (no, really, she rolled. As in, she made it to the door but didn't want to take her hands out of her pockets to push it open, so she rammed into it with her shoulder to push it open then kind of side-stepped as she spun around through the entrance to the café. It was an Artie-norm, to say the least).

Ashley laughed as Artie accidentally knocked over a chair as a result of her entrance. "Do you always have to do that?" she teased.

"Well, my hands were in my pockets!" Artie defended.

"And taking them out of your pockets is too much work?" Ashley continued to tease. Those two had a funny relationship. Their banter was purely tongue-and-cheek, but if you didn't know better, you might think that Artie and Ashley were always criticizing and arguing with each other, even though they weren't. Actually, Artie did that wit Krysta and Casey too. They all just had that sense of humor, especially when Artie was doing something weird. They often joked about her inherent awkwardness, which, though Trent could see where they might be coming from, he didn't quite get the humor in it. Yeah, Artie was funny and she did funny shit, but he didn't see the awkward part in it all. Actually, he didn't think Sebastian did either, which might be why the guy was so attracted to Artie.

"When it's this cold? Yes! And my face was closer to the door anyway!" Artie giggled.

"Smooth," Krysta chimed in as Artie and Ashley bounced towards the other four. Artie tripped over her pant leg and stumbled forward, but somehow managed to catch herself before falling on top of Ciel.

"Sorry!" she squealed, unable to control her laughter.

"Honestly, how you go about being so clumsy without hurting yourself I will never know!" Ciel groaned. Artie glared at the kid before she flicked the side of his head, causing the others to laugh and Ciel to force down a bemused smile.

Trent turned around right as Sebastian and Casey walked in. Sebastian was classy as always and Casey…oh, beautiful Casey. Trent's heart melted as that ginger angel skipped up to him and wrapped her long, thin arms around Trent's neck.

"Hey, Handsome!" Casey grinned as she pecked him on the lips. Trent giggled in response.

"How can you always tell?" he asked. "I'm in a skirt!"

"It's the look you get," Casey giggled. "I can just tell."

Trent raised his eyebrows before he shared a passionate kiss with Casey, only to be yelled at teasingly by their loud friends. Trent and Casey broke apart, ready to defend their public display of affection but were caught off guard to find only Ashley and Madeline scolding the couple. Meanwhile, Krysta was smacking Sebastian, shouting, "Stop! Being! So! Perfect!"

"What? I'm just simply one hell of a—"

"Sebastian, that doesn't work in this context! Don't even try it!" Ciel groaned, smacking the palm of his hand to his face. Sebastian, in response deflated slightly.

"I was going to say one hell of a boyfriend…though I admit that does sound a little smug on my behalf," he admitted.

Artie placed a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes, "Be as smug as you like, Augustus."

At that, Sebastian frowned, looking almost like a sad puppy before calmly proclaiming, "But I have both of my legs!"

"You did read it!" Artie cheered. "Did you cry?"

Sebastian was silent.

"Oh goodness, you did, didn't you!"

"It was a good book, I have to say. Reminded me of a modern Romeo and Juliet, granted it was the cancer that tore the two apart in the end, not their families' feuding coupled with blatantly poor decisions," Sebastian explained.

"And you cried through the whole damn thing, didn't you!"

"Artemis Grace, I am not prone to crying."

"You know, the movie for it is coming out this summer, we should go see it."

Sebastian's normally poised posture sagged suddenly as he let out a faint little groan, trying to hide the fact that his chances of surviving through that movie were more than dismal.

Trent shook his head, holding tightly onto Casey who saved Artie's boyfriend by shouting, "Artie, are we going to pick up the little monsters tomorrow night?"

That distracted Artie enough to press Sebastian any further. She looked over at Casey, her eyes shifting to the ceiling for a moment, trying to remember what day tomorrow was before a light bulb lit up in the back of her mind and she nodded, "Yeah! At the train station, right?"

"Yep," Casey answered. "I believe Nicole's train is supposed to arrive at four, so if we leave right as class gets out we should make it to the station in time."

"Yeah, and we can go to dinner before the boys get here because their train doesn't arrive until seven," Artie answered.

"Seven? That's late."

"Well, thanks to the snow days, they have school tomorrow and Mom didn't let them skip."

Trent practically bounced with excitement as she looked at Casey, interrupting the conversation to ask, "Nicole's coming? Is she staying with us?"

"Who are you all talking about?" Ciel asked.

"This weekend is Sibling's weekend," Artie answered. "The school invites our siblings to come visit and they host different events for them."

"Or we just take them to the frats," Krysta added. "Though I think they banned the houses from hosting any parties this weekend so it'll just be off campus stuff for anyone who's dumb enough to go over there."

"Like Sophie," Madeline grumbled, crossing her arms. Ever since the weekend at the start of the semester when Trent and Artie had to pick up a sick Maddie from one of those parties Sophie drug her too, Maddie and Sophie had not been on speaking terms. Granted, that was a huge relief for Artie, but even thinking of off campus parties or Sophie put the poor freshman in a sour mood.

"Anyway, Casey's little sister and my brothers are coming up to visit for it this weekend," Artie explained. She then looked at Sebastian before he could ask the question and said, "And yes, they are excited to meet you and can't wait to give you hell."

Sebastian chuckled that and purred, "I'd like to see them try."

Trent watched as the two shared a kiss before promptly being teased by everyone else. Every time he looked at Sebastian, all he could think of were those lilies he gave Artie.

Oh, how it hurt actually knowing the hidden meaning behind the gesture.


Artie

Of course, Trent went with us to greet his future sister-in-law, and Nicole was almost more excited to see him than her actual sister. I think Trent just fascinated the fifteen-year-old. She was one of those genuinely curious kids from a fairly conservative home so while Casey's parents were at first devastated by the news of Casey's sexuality (and her pansexual datefriend), Nicole was, and has ever since been, loaded with questions. Not to mention, Trent had this incredible patience and ability to bond with younger kids that almost seemed the exact opposite of his usual no-nonsense personality. All kids, whether they were babies or as old as Madeline, seemed to gravitate towards Trent and it was absolutely adorable.

What struck me the most, however, was Nicole's apparent lack of fear of asking any question that popped into her mind. In fact, she was even asking Trent about his compressor when my brothers' train arrived.

I left the trio to go to the platform and greet them. I don't know how I missed her, but as I caught sight of Chris's messy hair when I bumped into an Indian woman with long white hair.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I shrieked as I recoiled from the impact. The woman, who seemed considerably wealthy, what with the slim black dress and fur coat, merely shook her head and smiled politely.

"No, no, it's my fault, I wasn't watching where I was walking," she said kindly…in a strangely Brittish accent. "Forgive me."

"I guess it was an accident on both our parts," I said, forcing a friendly smile. I gazed into her deep blue eyes and felt a distinct chill run up my spine. It was the same chill I experienced when I met Ciel and I was sure I felt it at least one other time, perhaps towards the beginning of the semester, but it wasn't until I looked at the bizarre coloring on the woman when the possible explanation for these uneasy feelings struck me. There were only two reasons why I experienced these chills and why the woman looked so different.

One: These people may just be weird and the woman may have just died her hair and wore colored eye contacts.

Or Two: they weren't human.

As soon as the second possibility struck my mind, however, I had to shake the thought off. No, that was crazy. And there was no reason for me to feel so unnerved. Okay, maybe there was a third option:

I was just unbelievably stressed and my body was having weird reflexes to people lately.

That was a lot more probable, especially considering that I was neck-deep in my clinicals by this point in the semester.

The woman smiled and nodded, "Of course. If you'll excuse me." And with that, we parted ways and I continued forward to hug both my little brothers.

Chris luckily had a three-day weekend that made it possible for him to visit me this year and Tristan never missed a chance to come see me in college, and being able to see my little brothers made me the happiest older sister in the world. But of course, it wasn't me the boys were excited to see.

"So when are we going to meet Sebastian?" Tristan asked, bouncing jubilantly.

I couldn't help but giggle, "Calm down, you'll meet him tomorrow morning. We're going to go visit him and his friend Ciel. I believe I even put in a request for him to make a certain someone's favorite chocolate chip pancakes."

Tristan's face lit up like a two-year-old but Chris scoffed, trying to play the cool college kid and questioned, "He's just making that from a box, probably, Tristan."

"Nope," I corrected. "Everything he cooks is made from scratch. And he cooks better than I do."

"You're kidding me," Chris's jaw dropped, trying to hide his salivation. Okay, before I continue, the thing with the chocolate chip pancakes is that my mom's dad was a gourmet chef and my mom helped out a lot in the restaurant they owned when she was growing up. End result: Mom makes everything from scratch and her pancakes are buttery slices of heaven. And also her kids are extremely picky eaters. We don't accept anything out of the box, and our cooking is getting up there in her ranks too. So to say that anyone had cooking skills that could possibly outcompete either myself or my mom…woah, watch out, taste buds.

"Not at all," I said, placing my arms around my brothers' shoulders. I then helped them grab their bags as we met up with Trent, Casey, and Nicole to return to our cars.

And that's when I saw him.

We hadn't left the train station yet so there was enough light to make out his pale figure. His dark, messy hair looked as if he had attempted to comb it back but it still fell forward. His jaw was angular and his mouth fixated in a scowl. That all too familiar chill ran up my spine. A few steps behind him was the Indian woman I bumped into earlier. She crossed her arms and waited expectantly as the man stepped forward. He almost reminded me of Sebastian. Almost. Except he seemed terribly creepy and did not have any sort of welcoming presence.

And behind the rims of his glasses rested piercing golden eyes.

I drew in a sharp gasp as I recognized those eyes. It was the man Trent and I ran into the night Madeline got sick at that party.

"Artie," Trent whispered, instinctively reaching for Casey's hand and my arm.

"I know," I whispered back.

"No, Artie," Trent whispered again. "Get out of here."

That caught me even more off guard than the man. "What?" I asked, glancing over at Trent, but it was too late for me to even react in time. The man was already advancing on us.

"Excuse me," the man asked. He reached out with a gloved hand in what I thought was a gesture for a handshake, but he instead lifted it to push his glasses up his nose. "You are Artemis Grace Thomas, correct?"

My chest felt hollow.

I don't know why the stranger had me so unnerved, but I just stood there, trembling. Remember when I suspected that the chills running up my spine had to do with some inhuman element in the situation?

Well, right then, I definitely knew that these strangers were not human.

The stranger sighed and said, "Of course you are. I recognize that face anywhere. Forgive me for my rudeness but my name is Claude Faustus." He then gestured to the Indian woman who stepped forward.

"And I am Hannah Anafeloz," the woman introduced. I nodded my head numbly. "Forgive us for the sudden intrusion, we just wished to speak with you, Artemis."

"And how do you know me?" I dared to ask. Trent responded to me with a painful squeeze of my bicep.

"Artie, get the hell out of here," he warned in a low voice, not even bothering to whisper.

"Trent, do you know these people?" Casey whispered. Before Trent could answer, Hannah spoke up.

"You, young woman, remind me of an angel from long ago," the woman mused. Trent stiffened in response.

"That's nice," Trent retorted. "But I'm not a woman, in case you couldn't tell. I just happen to be living in a feminine body. Now if you'll excuse us, we have somewhere to be."

"Oh, you are not going anywhere," Claude interjected. "At least, not with Artemis if you intend to leave right this moment. You may, however, leave when we are done speaking with her."

"Okay, fine," I said in a low voice. "What do you want? And could you please tell me how you know my name?"

"Of course," Claude nodded, almost politely. "Artemis, we simply wish to speak with you about your mate."

My mind all but shut down at that.

"M-my what?" I spat.

"Sebastian Michaelis," Claude specified. "You see, Hannah and I have known your mate for quite some time and we are seeking a certain…payment from him. You could say there is a payment we wish to return before he meets his demise and we were hoping you could assist us."

My jaw practically dropped to the floor. For one, I had no idea what they were talking about. For another…mate? …demise?

"I'm sorry, but what?" I gasped. "What demise? And what do you mean my mate? We literally just started dating!"

"Artie!" Trent hissed under his breath as I caught myself. I knew it was dangerous to reveal any information about myself to people this suspicious, but something about the way Trent panicked at my mentioning of my relationship with Sebastian told me that I had just made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.

Claude's and Hannah's eyes widened as they exchanged a glance before a bright smile spread across Hannah's lips and she said, "Oh goodness, you really don't know do you."

"Know what?" I asked in a low voice, backing away from them. I had been instinctively putting myself between these strangers and my brothers, but by this point I wanted nothing more than to hide them and myself away from the world forever.

"She's still human," Claude announced. I felt my stomach drop. Claude then too smiled. "This will be much easier than expected."

Suddenly, all the lights in the train station dimmed and it almost looked as if the shadows on the walls were moving freely for the soul purpose of covering them. I couldn't tell if it was just me, but I could have sworn I heard a series of hissing.

In my ear, there was an ominous series of whispers all chanting: "The darrkessssst maaaaate."

Claude sighed, and rubbed his temples, "Honestly, you Underlings have no control of your appetites. Hannah, take care of this before one of them devours her."

"Of course," Hannah said and then, in less time than it takes to blink, she had advanced on me and grasped tightly onto my neck. I swear she was faster than a Weeping Angel. I didn't even think that was possible.

My friends and brothers all screamed and tried to fight back, but red-skinned, devil-like creatures sprung forth from the shadows on Claude's command and restrained them, and before the constriction of my airways blocked out all my senses, I managed to hear Claude's stern voice shout: "Do not eat their souls just yet!"

Just yet.

That still meant they were going to eat their souls.

In a brief moment of clarity before panic and lack of oxygen took over, everything suddenly made sense: the red-skinned creatures, the chills up my spine, even the pentagram tattoo on Sebastian's hand.

Demons.

I don't know who, or what was a demon, I didn't know. All I knew was that it related to demons. I remember talking about the witch-trials and the stories of Faustian contracts in the Middle Ages during my Theology class last semester. I wrote the idea off as some wise tale made up due to the lack of education at the time. The thought of someone not only turning away from God but also actively seeking out the Devil to make some sort of pact with hell seemed unreal to me. And now…I didn't know what to think.

"Sebas…!" I managed to choke out.

In the midst of my struggling, Hannah used her free hand to stroke my cheek, "Come now, darling, we won't kill you yet. We just need a message sent to that darling mate of yours."

Hannah's blue eyes turned a vibrant red as she smiled, and that vision was the last thing my senses could recognize before the darkness drowned me.


Welp. A cliffhanger. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to write a review in that little box at the bottom!