The three in the standoff exchanged confused glances between each other. The dark newcomer finally looked to Ciel as he turned and locked the door behind him. "You," He began in a voice so familiar, Ciel's heart jumped. "Have me confused with someone else." He said this with such confidence that Ciel had trouble thinking of what to say next. He was also still trying to figure out how Alexander knew him.
"You think I have, but that's only because I ordered you to forget." Ciel finally protested, only earning him more strange stares from the other two. He felt so stupid for blurting that. He'd hastily called him out and would look like a fool if he were wrong.
"Ordered me?" The dark man asked, perking a slender eyebrow, "No one has ever dared order me to do anything."
"Ciel, I really don't-" Alexander began, but silenced at the sound of the dark man's irritated growl. Like a cat arching its back or a snake rattling its tail, this was a warning to the other two that this man was ready to strike if provoked further.
Ciel frowned and walked out from behind the counter, eyes narrowing up at the taller man as if trying to see through him. "I order you to remember me." He said firmly. He already looked ridiculous. Why not get what he wanted? He'd barely finished talking when the dark man grabbed and lifted his small body up by his neck. Any human would have kicked and choked for their life, but luckiy Ciel was no such thing. He only winced at the tight grip in those black gloves, knowing his neck was a hair away from being snapped. He stared at the threatening male confidently, deciding that he was very much mistaken.
"There aren't any souls to collect here. You're wasting time." Alexander spoke up, holding a tea tray much like a discus or Frisbee. "And if you don't let go of him, I'm going to slice your hands off." Whether Alexander actually could slice this man's hands off seemed pretty irrelivant to the man strangling Ciel, but he seemed to lose interest in threatening the smaller demon and dropped him. The boy crumpled to the floor, but did his best to scramble away. He felt like a coward and an idiot, but he honestly had no idea what was happening or would happen next. The man stepped more into the light and the shade of his eyes was now much more of a greener gold than Ciel had tricked himself into seeing in his hopes that it were Sebastian. Those eyes glared down at him through his wire rims as his lips parted in a scowl, pointed teeth glinting in the florescent light. Suddenly, Ciel remembered why his voice sounded so familiar.
"You!" He shouted up at the newcomer, pushing to his feet once more with renewed confidence. This man was no threat to him anymore. "Grell Sutcliff." He was proud of himself for even remembering his name.
The man's expression changed instantly from one of anger to an excited smile. Oh yes, it was coming back to him. That smile filled him with disgust and humiliation, "You know who I am?" He asked like an obscure celebrity. He studied the demon more. "Did we have a fling? They've been running together lately."
"You murdered my aunt." Ciel replied bluntly, feeling his irritation rise as Grell's seemed to drop. "Finally stopped wearing a dead lady's clothes?"
"Will made me dress like this!" The reaper protested, tugging at the collar of his trenchcoat with a pout. Ciel rolled his eyes. Honestly, a grown man... "Besides, I wouldn't be caught dead in something so unfashionable." He bent to study the small demon for a moment, "You're that brat who tied-" He shut up immediately and looked to Alexander, who still seemed pretty ready to slice his hands off.
"Grell has been helping me. " Alexander explained as he finally set the tea tray down. "I'm sure you've figured out by now that I'm a demon as well. For over a century now, I haven't been able to form contracts with humans. " He explained, eyes shifting to the staircase. "Grell offered to bend a few rules for me so I could steal some souls to eat in exchange for some... favors."
Ciel felt his stomach twist as his employee spoke. He just came out and admitted he was a demon, but that wasn't what bothered him. "You..." Ciel clenched his fists as he struggled to think up the words he wanted to say as he realized how angry he was becoming. "It was your stupidity and greed that turned me into this in the first place and then you leave me for almost a century to figure this out on my own. Then you come in here to steal my food and tell me you've been giving that garbage favors! Favors? I ordered you to get rid of him and you're doing... God knows what with him. You even went so low as to make me care about you." And with an unhesitant crack, Ciel's hand slapped across Alexander's face. His hand retracted to rip off his eye patch and throw it to the floor, "I'm the reason you can't make contracts. You're already in one."
Alexander could only stare, jaw relaxed in shock as he slowly reached up to touch the growing welt on his cheek. The cheek, once covered with tan freckles had paled even in the few hours he'd been there. His skin tone had evened out and turned creamy white. If he couldn't remember being Sebastian, his body certainly could. He looked down at his hands, clearly noticing the change as his nails began to darken into demonic black claws. He looked back up at Ciel and got to his feet, flexing the hand with a contract hidden under the bandages. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but no words came out. He only walked out the door once more.
