Well Met, Demon
When Yui had pictured Thalia's partner, she had imagined someone exactly like the pale-haired woman; someone graceful and gentle and kind.
Well one out of three wasn't terrible.
Sebastian, as Thalia had called him moments ago, was graceful. His every movement was elegant and controlled, like a large predator slinking through the jungle, but there was no gentleness in his eyes when he stared at the group over the top of Thalia's hair. He perused them with a little smile on his face and some awful emotion burning in his eyes, turning them magenta.
Then Thalia pulled away to slide herself more firmly into his jacket. In that moment he blinked and grinned and the flames were gone. Yui barely had a moment to shiver with fear when Thalia grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. "Sebastian, this is Yui!"
"Ms. Komori Yui," Sebastian looked down at her and, in a move so polished it brought stars to her eyes, he bowed and brought her hand to his lips. He kissed her fingers chastely and, after weeks of tangoing with the Grim Reaper every time one of the Sakamaki's got hungry, that soft kiss made her entire face glow bright red. "A pleasure. I do hope my darling is taking care of you?"
"Oh – she's – um!" Yui stammered, tripping over her words until a voice snapped through the air like a bullwhip.
"Excuse me!" Ayato yelled. He stalked forward, jealousy boiling and bubbling in his stomach, mixing with all the other toxic traits inside of him. "Who the fuck is this and why the fuck is he touching Pancake?"
"My apologies," Sebastian said, not sounding at all apologetic. He turned to Thalia and cocked his head inquiringly. "Darling?"
Thalia was momentarily confused, and then her lips parted. "Oh, right! Sebastian, these are the Sakamaki's! Ayato, Kanato, Subaru, Shu, Laito, and Reiji."
She pointed to each brother in turn and Sebastian followed her with an implacably polite smile while he put faces to the names in Thalia's stories. When he got to Reiji he noticed that the vampire was glaring at him. While the other vampires either regarded him with wariness (Kanato), interest (Laito), or complete apathy (Subaru and Shu), Reiji stared back at him with sheer dislike. No, it was something more than that.
The monster that resided in the place of Sebastian's heart bared its teeth. It wouldn't strain against its chains, not for a vampire of all things. Vampires were considered to be on the lower end of the devouring scale, just a step above Wendigos, yet the demon was possessive to a fault.
Thalia shot him a pointed look when he slid a hand higher up her hip and he smiled sweetly back. Over a hundred years together and he still hadn't quite managed to get a handle on his jealousy. She decided to let it slide for now and asked him the question that had just occurred to her. "Sebastian, why are you here?"
"Isn't it enough that I wanted to see you?" He lowered his head and pressed several firm kisses to her soft red cheeks. She squealed and laughed and the monster purred. Hell he had missed her.
Someone cleared their throat. "No offense," Subaru said, "but this is getting uncomfortable to see."
That seemed to break a little of the silence that had formed between the other brothers. "I can't believe Mistress has a lover," Laito cooed, sounding disappointed but not disappointed enough. In fact, he sounded like that was just another challenge. Then he snickered behind his fist. "That's just too bad, Reiji~."
Shu scoffed and walked out of the room, utterly uninterested and unwilling to watch the spectacle. Subaru hung back near the edge of the room, too curious to leave for good but still interested in seeing how this would all play out.
Reiji turned to stare at Laito with icy eyes. "What's too bad?" He questioned in crisp tones.
Kanato, who had been avoiding Thalia ever since the attempted-murder debacle, suddenly gasped and took a step backwards. "High Demon," he whispered, too quietly for any of his arguing siblings to hear him. However a pair of glowing magenta eyes and a flash of beastly sharp teeth pinned him in place.
Then they were gone and he turned to Thalia again. "Shall we take a walk around the grounds, darling? I would like to talk to you."
"Oh, is everything alright? Is Ciel eating okay?" Thalia's eyes went wide with concern. Ciel had been adapting fairly well to his new demonic state but sometimes he woke up with screaming nightmares and would refuse to eat anything remotely inhuman as if he could forget what he'd become. Immortality was both a burden and a blessing on the young child.
Sebastian shook his head. "The young master is doing quite well. I believe he even misses you. So, may I?"
He held out his hand to her and Thalia immediately linked their fingers. Then she gave a guilty start and turned around "Yui!"
"It's fine Ms. Thalia," Yui did her best to look and sound brave despite looking like a fluffy kitten surrounded by hungry wolves. "I'll be fine."
Thalia pursed her lips, torn between her wants and responsibilities. Then her eyes landed on Subaru off to the side. "Subaru! Take care of Yui!"
"What!?" The cry of shock came from most of the brothers including Subaru who could not have foreseen this ever happening.
Even Yui was stunned and didn't struggle when Thalia dragged her over to Subaru and placed her in front of the befuddled vampire. "You will protect Yui and I swear upon all the fires of Hell that if I see one bite mark on her neck there will be consequences. Alright?"
Then she ran back over to Sebastian and the two walked out into the sunset-lit garden. Yui watched them go with a wistful expression, and then she squeaked when eight glowing eyes turned to stare at her. A hand landed on her shoulder.
"Hold on," Subaru muttered and then he picked her up and sprinted away from his brothers.
Why Subaru ya'll may be asking? Well it's because he's the only one who (to my knowledge anyway) hasn't tried to assault her. I know that's a fucking low bar but this is the show these are the standards we're working with people.
I do not enjoy the 'good girl redeems damaged bad boy with the power of her love' trope because a) that's so unrealistic, and b) the bad boy needs a therapist not a girlfriend what is she Jesus? The Buddha? She about to drop some dope ass enlightenment on his sad ass?
