Chapter 07
The Noble Beast
His heart was beating so fast that he could hear his heartbeat ringing in his ears. It was all he could hear, not Phipps's worried words, not the horses neighing from exhaustion. The rain was pouring heavier by every second that was passing. He did not notice the forest looming in front of them. He did not notice the carriage passing through some thick trees and thorny bushes. All he wanted was her to be safe.
"Faster." Grey could himself finally saying. "Faster, Phipps!"
The white horses quickened their paces, winding through the trees until they heard another series of loud neighs. They found Almeison's black stallion impatiently trotting at the side of the forest pit, nodding its large head to and fro. The Double Charles hastened toward the horse, but found no rider whatsoever. Thus, they began to shout for her.
"Allie!" Grey cupped his hands around his mouth. "Allie, where are you?!"
"Your Highness!" Phipps was calling on the other side. "Please answer us!"
It took a few minutes until a muffled voice answered them from below.
"Right here, Charles!"
Grey hurriedly slid down the muddy cliff, and gracefully landed on his feet. He found his little burden standing under the shade of a tree, all muddy and bruised from her fall. Her light blonde hair turned dark from the rain, and she was embracing herself and shivering from the cold.
"Allie," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her to provide warmth. He felt Almeison giving in to his embrace, clinging on his torso for balance, as she buried her face in his chest. Her teeth chattered from the coldness. "Here," Grey said, offering his white tailcoat to her. He was left with his black vest and white undershirt.
"Your Highness, tell me where it hurts." Phipps pulled out a small first aid kit and began to tend to her bruises.
She winced when Phipps touched her ankle.
"I'm sorry."
"Is there blood?" she asked, fear reflecting in her eyes. "Please, Charles, is there blood?"
Grey studied her terrified face for a while, and then shook his head. "No, no blood. I promise: no blood." He embraced her again.
"Good." Almeison sighed in his embrace. Then, she pointed her finger across the field. The Double Charles followed where it led.
Both gasped at the sight of the dead little girl lying on the middle of the field. Her clothes were discarded, her shoes nowhere to be found. She had bite marks and bruises on her neck and shoulders, with her hair cut from the scalp, making it impossible to guess her hair colour. Her left arm was twisted ever so terribly behind her back, and her legs were pushed open, as though a wild animal tried to push its way inside the girl.
"What in bloody hell?" Grey cringed at the reeking scent.
Phipps pressed an index finger on the girl's throat. "She's dead."
"Just now," Almeison told him, still shivering under Grey's tailcoat. "I found her still breathing. Only seconds before you arrived, she passed away."
"Did she mention a name?" Grey asked, returning back to her.
She shook her head in distress.
"That's okay," he soothed her. "It wasn't your fault." Again, he wrapped his arms around her and leaned his chin on her head, matching his breathing with hers. He could still tell that she was shaking; from the dead girl or the cold, he could not tell. If truth be told, this was his closest chance of intimacy with her.
"Grey," Phipps interrupted; his voice serious. "Remember your place," he whispered.
Flinching, Grey loosened his arms around her and gave an apologetic smile. "I am sorry for the intrusion, Your Ducal Serene Highness."
Almeison blinked, and then turned to Phipps. "I want her taken back to the Frome Manor."
The two Charles glanced doubtfully at each other. "Your Highness?"
"You heard me." She winced and went to climb up the pit, where the horses were waiting above. "Take the girl and bring her back with us. Make sure no one knows about her, but only the three of us. Perhaps I will let Earl Phantomhive and his butler in the secret, but not now. Alright?"
"Are you serious?" Grey scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "We could get accused of killing this girl!"
She gave him a defiant look. "Are you afraid, Earl Grey? Even if we did get caught on this farce, who is to say that we killed her? Can you imagine the Scotland Yard accusing a German duke's daughter of murder of a little girl? Can you imagine someone standing up and declare that Queen Victoria's niece was at fault?" She smiled sweetly as Grey frowned. "I thought so, too, Earl Grey."
"You should stop flaunting your title, Allie," he suggested, as he assisted Phipps in stuffing the dead body inside a sack.
"Title is for our convenience. Additionally, it can be used for manipulation. I think you need your lessons about it."
"I don't need lessons." He helped Phipps on hoisting the sack over his shoulder. "Besides," he continued, "I don't need to manipulate someone. With my superhuman good looks, I can bend everyone at will." He let out a sarcastic laugh.
Almeison opened the door so Phipps could gently drop the sack inside the carriage. "What news from the manor?"
Grey stared at her and said, "We have some company this evening. You might want to use your charms to beguile Lord Frome again."
"I found this." Phipps walked up to her, holding up a long iron pipe with a circular end. "Shall I bring this along?"
She examined the pipe briefly, recounting that she was unhorsed because of it. Someone must have thrown it at her. "No, leave that. If we are doing a favour to Earl Phantomhive, we will let him find that thing by himself. Sooner or later, he will pass by here, given that he visited the Scotland Yard this morning, right?"
"True." Phipps nodded and helped her inside the carriage. She sat on the farthest corner of the small room, away from the reeking corpse of the little girl. "Forgive the foul smell, Your Highness." Then, he turned to his partner. "Stay with her, Grey. Make sure she has everything she needs."
"Of course." Grey shrugged and went in, sitting beside Almeison. He smirked at her. "So, no more hugs from me, huh?"
She rolled her eyes at him, wrapping his tailcoat closer to her. She sneezed. "Ugh, gesundheit."
He blinked. "What?"
"It means 'health'."
He shuddered and leaned back against the cushioned seat. "German is such a strange language."
Outside, Charles Phipps was leading the white carriage out of the misty forest. Beside him, Almeison's Friesian horse was following quietly, his hot temper already subsided. When Phipps glanced inside the carriage, he found Grey and Almeison asleep, leaning against each other's shoulders. The scene made him smile.
Suddenly, the rain did not seem too bad after all.
The horse-drawn carriage carefully halted where the forest bended. The rear wheels were sunk deeply into the mud, while the horses obviously shivered from the cold. Let's get this over with. Sebastian swung his legs off the coachman's seat and held up an umbrella, before fetching his young master. Ciel wrapped his dark blue coat around him and stepped out. He cringed as his boots made a squishing sound.
"Be careful on your steps, young master." Sebastian assisted his master, as Ciel brought out the case files and began to read through the details.
"Anne-Sophie Frome, nineteen years old, was raped and murdered on this very place." Ciel flipped to another page, which showed a black-and-white image of a naked woman, her face buried deep into the ground and her arms behind her back. "She was found tied up, and her hair cut from its very roots."
"Are there any evidence left?"
Ciel nodded. "Her clothes were found a few meters away from the scene," he said and looked down on a particular patch. He knelt and pushed two fingers on the muddy ground. Then, he felt something hard. "A ring," he announced, holding up a diamond ring from the ground.
"Just like yours, young master," Sebastian remarked in amusement, as he observed the ring.
"It doesn't look important at all." Ciel growled and stood up, wiping his hands on Sebastian's black trench coat. "Either way, I don't trust Nathaniel Frome about that burn stamp on Anne-Sophie's back."
"A snake biting its own tail symbolises rebirth, a never ending cycle, just like the legendary phoenix." Sebastian had scoured through books last night, and was amazed to learn that humans believed in those kinds of superstitions.
Lightning flashed above, and the rain poured harder.
Ciel shivered under his coat. "Let's get out of here, before I catch a cold. We can continue investigating when this storm is done."
Nodding, Sebastian guided his young master back towards their carriage. With a whip of the reins, the horses bolted and turned around, leaving the crime scene behind them. The carriage was creaking with every step taken by the horses, until they got stuck into something hard. Sebastian bumped his head at the impact, and growled in irritation. He heard his master complain from within the carriage. Still growling, the butler slid off once again from his seat and went to investigate.
He knelt beside the front wheel, pulled off his white glove, and began to pull out whatever was stuck on the wheel. He grunted and took out a long iron pipe, covered with mud and rainwater.
"What is it?" Ciel asked impatiently.
Sebastian pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the mud away. His ruby eyes suddenly widened.
"Young master, you might want to see this."
"What?" He opened the carriage door and poked his head out.
"This." Sebastian showed the pipe for his master to see. He watched closely as Ciel's blue eye widened in realization.
"Where did you get that?"
"It was stuck on our wheel. A piece of evidence, I assure you."
Ciel took the pipe from Sebastian's hand, and examined it further. He could feel the coldness of the iron and its warmth at the same time. He remembered how that iron used to burn at the circular end, how a group of people forced him back on a stone cold table, and how that blazing iron was forced into his skin. He had screamed so terribly that night, tears gushing out from both of his eyes, calling desperately for someone to help him. But his parents did not come, and certainly no God came to save him.
It was the demon who came.
His hands closed in on the circular iron on the end. It reminded him of something else.
The mark of the noble beast.
*Gesundheit – Health (German's way of saying "Bless you")
Author's Notes: Hooray for an early update! *throws confetti* I have escaped the clutches of schoolworks, so here I am with a new chapter! Quite a short one, yes; but we'll get to some tensions soon.
*Emmanuel Park - You know, writers like us have an opponent with the enemy called "School". Thanks! Glad you like the previous chapter, despite the cliche cliffhanger XD
*Cleah- The usually self-centered Grey plays around with a child. Yana, please make this happen.
*Guest- Thank you as well! And I am glad you're enjoying the updates! :)
