My Lord, Enlightened

The young lord was sitting in the restricted area of London's largest library. He had found his way in through a third story window. It was funny how penetrable human buildings were when a thing so simple as height could be surpassed. Usually he would have had Sebastian break in for him, but today he was happy to exercise his own strength. Besides… bringing Sebastian would have been problematic.

His eyes scanned the rows of dusty leather-bound books, but many did not have labels and there certainly wasn't a "demon" section. As he walked along the back wall a familiar scent caught his nose. He tensed. Reaper? Here?

He searched the room mentally, but found no presence. He looked back at the books perplexed. They were all the same worn black. He closed his eyes and sighed. Wait. There! He opened his eyes and grabbed one of the books. With closed eyes he could sense an invisible glowing scythe insignia on the binding. He opened the book and flipped through the pages. It reeked with the scent of reaper. What is this? He wondered. It seems to be some sort of basic handbook for reapers.

He skimmed through the book until he found a chapter on demons. It was short, mostly explaining what they were and how to handle them. Finally he found a single paragraph dedicated to explaining demon and human soul contracts.

"Demons eat human souls which interferes with the natural order of harvesting due souls. However a demon must make a contract with a human in order to eat their soul because a soul cannot be taken without consent. The demons agree to grant the human's most desperate earthly wish, in exchange for their soul and their ability to go to heaven. If the human dies before their wish is granted the contract is voided. In saying all this, it is impossible for two demons to form a contract because neither demons have a soul to bargain with."

Ciel almost dropped the book. The contract is voided if the soul is lost? Then how come I'm still contracted to Sebastian? Suddenly the truth dawned on Ciel. The room seemed to spin as understanding hit him violently. It would have been impossible for him to realize before by himself.

That damn bastard never told me. I'm a half demon!

He tucked the book back on the self, slipped out the window, and dropped to the street level scaring a cat off. Sebastian better run faster than his beloved cats, Ciel growled. The young lord made his way down the street back to his carriage. His nose caught the scent of a meat stand. His stomach told him he was hungry, but he knew that eating would make him painfully sick. He used to think that his body was just transitioning to match his demon soul, but now he wasn't sure what was demon and what was human. Ciel had felt his mental abilities soar as a demon, but other than increased mobility his physical side had always seemed to be missing something. He suddenly wondered if Claude had known this would happen. He needed more answers.

The driver barely managed to open the carriage door before Ciel jumped inside. "We're heading home," he ordered. They rode all the way back to the estate without stopping.

Ciel walked swiftly up the mansion's steps and straight through the door that Sebastian held open. Sebastian greeted him pleasantly. "Welcome back my lord. Your coat-"

Ciel practically threw his coat at Sebastian though his face was rather unemotional and cold. Sebastian lips curled into a mischievous smile. "My lord, such an unusually childish action for you. You've been off since this morning… is there something that you've been hiding from me?"

The young lord laughed heartily. "Hiding from you? Now doesn't that sound familiar?" he spat sarcastically.

Mey-Rin came around the corner. "Oh, Sir! Welcome back!" She bowed politely.

Ciel gave her a curt nod and rounded back on Sebastian. "Come!" he barked.

Sebastian's smile became almost delighted. "Yes… my lord."

The two men disappeared down the hall in the direction of the master study leaving the baffled maid behind. "Oh my," she fussed. "How unusual for Ciel to be seriously angry with Sebastian…"

Next chapter will be a steamy reveal... don't miss it! uwu