Please pardon the long wait. I had some difficulty thinking of a suitable way to write this chapter. This is not the best chapter I have written and I am terribly sorry if it awful. I spent five days pondering what would be the best course to take after Ciel's illness and this was the best I could come up with. Again I am terribly sorry. But I hope you can find some worth out of it. Please tell me what you think. Your feedback is indispensable to me.

Note: Azuremortelious is not a real poison—at least I don't think it is. I just made it up because I always thought a blue death would be poetic and beautiful.

Of Moonlight and Poison

Chapter IV: A Conversation Worth Remembering

There were intervals in which his comatose state was shattered and he regained fragments of his disoriented senses. He could not recall much in vivid details because most of the time he was in possession of some of his consciousness he was screaming in agony and thrashing out in an attempt to free himself from death's grip. These things were clearer to him due more from the evidence of his sore throat and bruised body then actual reliance on memory. What he could remember was opening his eyes for merely a moment and seeing the faint flash of something metallic glisten, and then the subtle prick of a needle injecting a cool liquid into his blood. Rather then fight another taxing battle as he had against the pain and the poison, Ciel allowed the antidote to course through his body undisturbed and gave himself up to another bout of unconsciousness, this time without pain.

His slumber was begrudgingly disturbed when he felt a needle puncture the crease between his elbow and forearm and grunted. He tried to lift his arm to swat Sebastian's hands away—at least he presumed it was Sebastian—but could not even raise it off the bed.

"Sebastian! Let me sleep." Ciel muttered in irritation and threw the comforter over his head with his right hand, this limb free from numbness and a weight that resembled lead.

"He's downstairs preparing you a cup of tea." A rich and elegant voice said in reply to Ciel's groggy order.

Ciel's eyes snapped open, all desires of continued slumber forgotten in that instant, and quickly made to sit up in bed, or rather attempted to do so, but only succeeded in making the room spin and his head ach bitterly. Once the pain had ceased throbbing angrily against his temple, his vision cleared and he saw the young black haired Earl seated composedly in an armchair drawn close to the bed, his long legs crossed. A quaint smirk touched his fine lips, his alluring greenish-gold eyes regarding him in a steadily stare that slightly unnerved Ciel.

"You shouldn't move; the antidote works best if the patient refrains from moving at all." Cain advised with a sensibly that not even Ciel's stubbornness could protest against.

For a long moment, the two considered one another with a calculating stare that lasted until Ciel looked away and saw a small case laid open on the nightstand by the bed. Besides the case, there was a small, intricately designed vial containing a minute amount of purple liquid. Inside the case lay a portable syringe, its tip glistening under the little light that illuminated a portion of the room that they inhabited. The needle was as thick as one of those that was used for sewing upholstery, the tip as piercing as that of a lance. Was that what he had used to feed the antidote into his system?

Cain followed Ciel's stunned gaze and noticed his eyes trained on the syringe and its needle. It was a simple matter of divining what Ciel was thinking. With an apologetic mummer, Cain said, "I would have used a thinner needle to administer the antidote into your body; however, in this case a thicker needle was needed to pierce through your skin."

Ciel nodded his head and glanced down at his left arm, observing with mild shock the four noticeable punctures marring his skin and wonder if his state of oblivion had been that severe as not to have him feel the sting of such a menacing needle four times.

"What was it that I was poisoned with?" Ciel asked, curious to know the deadly substance that had nearly resulted in his death, though he scarcely believed his life would have ended tonight. He knew Sebastian, being as skilled as he was, would have devised some way or another to save him. It was his duty as Ciel's butler to prevent harm to befall him as indicated in their contract.

Cain leaned forward and took the small vial into his hands, swirling its contents. His expression turned pensive and it seemed to Ciel as if there was hesitation in his manner. A moment or two passed in which Cain said nothing, his eyes fixed languidly on the gentle swooshing movement of the concoction in its vial. Right as Ciel thought he was not going to receive a response; Cain slipped the vial into his coat and said unperturbedly, "Azuremortelious. It is one of the deadliest poisons in the world. Its exact origins are unknown, and it is perhaps one of the most difficult to obtain. Even I have trouble attaining a small dosage of it. That is what makes it so peculiar that it was used on you."

"You mean to say someone was targeting me?" Ciel's eyes narrowed into fine slits. He was clearly irritated to learn that someone wanted his life for reasons that were unknown to him. Cain regarded him with a curious frown and said, "I never said it was precisely meant for you. You just happened to be in the way, that's all."

"What do you mean that I was in the way? Was that bullet meant for me, or for someone else? If you know something you might as well tell me." Ciel retorted cantankerously, his habitual haughty attitude returning to him.

With a slight shrug of his lean shoulders, Cain said carelessly, "Whatever made you think it was a wise idea to place yourself in front of a balcony where you could be easily spotted by some sniper who has been commissioned to take your life, or someone else's life? You just happened to be standing at the wrong place at the wrong time." Cain paused, then added as an afterthought, "You should consider yourself very fortunate that you did not die in a similar way Lady Remington did tonight."

Ciel stared blankly at Cain, unsure if the Earl of Poisons was making some sort of sarcastic remark. However, when he saw the serious glimmer in Cain's eyes, Ciel ventured to ask, "What do you mean? Has Lady Remington also—" The rest of Ciel's question was dispersed with the firing of a gunshot, this one nearby, and the loud thug of something heavy falling to the floor.

A strange emotion manifested itself into Cain's eyes, and for a moment Ciel imaged he saw a flicker of sorrow pass across his handsome countenance, but dismissed it as an illusion of the candle light. Cain's expression became composedly stern and unreadable like a mask. He stood up from his seat and said for Ciel to hear, "And there ends Lord Remington's life." Cain made for the door with Ciel quickly climbing out of bed, forgetting the sound advice he had received moments before to refrain from moving, and followed Cain out the door.

They sauntered for the last door at the end of the hall and discovered a thin line of smoke curling from under the sealed door. Cain made to turn the doorknob and reveal what lay beyond, when both he and Ciel heard the distinct elegant tread of footsteps making their way up the stairs and turned to see both Sebastian and Riff. Cain smirked charmingly when he saw Riff looking so anxious and alarmed. Ciel, rather then noticing an apprehensive expression on his butler's countenance, saw only a devilishly amused twinkle in auburn eyes.

"Lord Cain!" Riff cried once he reached his master's side and released a sigh of relief to see that he was not injured.

Sebastian stopped a few inches from his master and said whilst looking down at him with a reserved frown, "You really ought not to be out of bed, young master, lest you should provoke yet another tragedy upon yourself."

Ciel closed his eyes and said flippantly, "I feel much better now that the antidote has erased the worst effects of the poison."

"Lord Cain, I think it would be best if we were all to leave at once. The police will no doubt be here at any moment to investigate the events of the evening, and it would not be very beneficial if they found us still here." Riff suggested, impassively.

"Yes, it would be best if we left—now. If my young master will return to his room with me, I will dress you and we can leave at once." Sebastian conceded and was about to lift Ciel up when the latter stopped him and said directly to Cain, "No. Not until we see what is behind that door."

Sebastian frowned, a similar gesture of disapproval written on Riff's handsome face and the two butlers looked at their masters.

"Young master, should you not let sleeping dogs lie?" Sebastian attempted to reason with his master, but only received a stern look from Ciel and knew from experience that he would not move until he was fully satisfied.

Sighing, Riff gave into Cain's silent command and reached out to open the door. For the sake of precaution, both he and Sebastian prepared themselves to defend their masters against any danger that might be awaiting them. Riff pushed the door inwards, letting it to swing back towards the wall. The dying embers of the fireplace illuminated the room weakly and made it to some extent difficult for human eyes to see. However, their attention was soon drawn away from the notion of darkness to the ghastly scene that lay before them. Right at the center of the spacious room, there was a grand canopy bed with luxurious bed-spreading, pillows of goose feathers, and other extravagant bed dressings, all which was covered in the dried droplets of blood; and on that same bed rested the mutilated and infinitely dead corpse of a lady once a possessor of an enviable beauty. Lady Remington's abdominal was nothing but a disfigured heap of destroyed organs and pools of blood. It appeared as if she had burst from the inside out. The thing that minutely frightened Ciel was the horrified and painful expression she wore. However, what truly commanded Ciel's full attention was her complexion.

He suddenly looked towards Cain whose face was a composed and aloof mask reserved of all emotions that could give away what he truly felt. Without turning to look at Ciel, Cain commented frigidly, "One of the most renowned characteristics of Azuremortelious is turning the victim's skin blue, hence its name. Though the stomach bursting violently open is a mere afterthought."

Ciel blinked away the daze that had befallen his eyes and muttered in astonishment, "How did this happen? Why didn't you save her as well?"

Cain regarded Ciel from the corner of his eye and said evenly, "She was just a test subject used by my—by someone who got their hands on it. I could only save either you or her, not the two. Azuremortelious requires at most times an entire vial of antidote to prove effective, of which I only had one presently on my person."

"Why me." Ciel demanded sternly, his eyes alight with a vivid emotion that Sebastian had seen on various occasions. He was unable to look away from the hideous body sprawled out on the sanguinary bed. During this exchange of words, neither Sebastian nor Riff thought it wise to interfere even if time was now a matter for concern.

Cain turned around and said directly to Ciel, "You still have a long way to go in your life. Lady Remington was merely prolonging the inevitable. The life she led would have eventually resulted in her premature death. Had I saved her life and forfeited yours, it would have been a waste of the antidote and a precious human life. Now that our curiosity has been satisfied, I think you should follow your butler's advice and get dress so we can all make a swift escape before the police arrive." Cain smiled and added, "We could all do without their incompetence for one night."

Ciel nodded his head and replied, "I suppose you're right," then turning to his butler, "Come Sebastian." Sebastian gave a gallant bow and assented with a smirk, "Yes, my lord."

Riff closed the door, but not before everyone cast a final look behind them and saw both husband and wife resting in death and a chaotic splatter of blood. The door closed with a discreet clink, concluding the night's turmoil with the beginning fragments of an extraordinary acquaintanceship.