A/N: Hello! New Chapter! Sorry, it took so long to update. I was searching for a new beta reader and so now, I finally have her. So, thank you dear 8silkytresses.

Thank you to all that have favourited and followed this story! Your reviews are very much love and appreciate! I love to have more, though. ;) THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Credits: smart-blonde-the-oxymoron (And others)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

CHAPTER 9

It was raining and night time at the Barrymore family mansion.

"With that, the case is at an end," mumbled Ciel with his hands clasped behind his back, looking out the window of his room. "We'll leave the village as soon as the rain lets up."

Sebastian blinked once and nodded. "As you wish."

Finnian watched Angela standing in front of a window.

"Miss Angela."

A bolt of lightning illuminated her face, revealing a satisfied smirk.

Hermione was sitting in the kitchen, a glass of milk in her hands. She was remembering the end of her fifth year. The year that Sirius had died, murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange. The year that she had first felt the war was near, looming over them like a shadow. The day had been tiring and she felt emotionally exhausted. Burying the dog had reminded her that Sirius had never had a proper burial, his body being forever lost behind the Veil. Hermione sighed and brought the glass to her mouth when she heard someone coming into the kitchen.

Hermione turned, lowering the glass and greeting the new arrival. "Mey-Rin."

The maid jumped a bit and looked up. "Lady Helena."

Hermione smiled sheepishly. "Sorry if I startled you."

"N-No. It's fine." The maid waved at her.

Hermione nodded. She then looked curiously at Mey-Rin. "What are you doing here at this time of the night? I thought you'd gone to sleep."

"Well... I need to go check on Lord- Mr. Barrymore and maybe send some food for him," Mey-Rin answered.

Hermione nodded slightly and drunk the remainder of her milk.

"Umm... Lady Helena?"

"Yes?" questioned Hermione.

"I was hoping that... Would you go with me? The prison is very scary and so dark..."

"Of course." Hermione smiled, stood up and set her glass in the sink before following Mey-Rin to the prison.


"Let me out! Let me out! Please let me out!" Henry Barrymore pleaded to no one.

"He'll come! He will! The Devil Dog will come to eat me!"

He gripped the prison bars tightly, shrouded by fear.

"Please! I'm begging you! You must... You must let me out of here!"


"WAAAHHH!"

Baldroy, Tanaka, and Finnian bolted down the stairs of the prison. "What is it, Mey-Rin?" Baldroy asked once he entered the prison, out of breath.

Mey-Rin raised a shaky finger and pointed at the blood splattered prison cell.

"Henry Barrymore... is gone," said Hermione quietly, eyes still at the gaping hole in the prison wall.

"H-Hey, this is..." Baldroy couldn't get his word out, the ubiquitous cigarette at his mouth dropped.

"It looks like he was dragged out," Hermione murmured. She turned to the three male servants and said, "Ciel and Sebastian must be told about this."

Hermione helped Mey-Rin stand up. Before she could ascend to go to Ciel's room, she heard the sound of footsteps echoing above her. She looked up and saw Ciel and Sebastian followed by Angela.

"Master Barrymore!" Angela gasped, horror-struck.

There was a pounding at the door. Angela started, turning abruptly. She ran up the stairs, followed by the others, and the sky-blue haired maid flung the door open.

A man stumbled into the mansion. "Lord... Lord... Devil Dog."

"Devil Dog?" Everyone echoed.

There was a growling crack of thunder and howling sounded through the rainy night.

"The small, white-haired dog is a good dog. The black dog is a bad, disobedient dog. As the cat meows, the day falls," chanted the kneeling village, their voices a mixture of extreme fear and worry.

Sebastian, Ciel, Hermione, Angela, Mey-Rin, Finnian, Tanaka and Baldroy quickly arrived at the stone half-dome.

"What had happened?" asked Sebastian.

The villagers ignored him and continued chanting. Baldroy scowled and asked a kneeling woman in front of him, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Lightning flashed and revealed a bloody Henry Barrymore, causing all the servants to scream. Ciel and Sebastian looked at each other. Sebastian walked forward, bending down to observe the body. He picked up the mangled bloody stump that had once been Lord Henry's arm.

"L-Lord Devil Dog!"

"Lord Devil Dog, please forgive us!"

Angela gasped before fainting.

"Miss Angela!"

Finnian rushed forward and picked her up, cradling her unconscious form.


" 'With that, the case is at an end.' " Sebastian mocked. "Having declared such a thing, this is rather unfortunate, is it not, young master?" Sebastian asked sarcastically.

"Shut up," Ciel ordered.

"What about Miss Angela?" Sebastian asked.

"We've put her to bed for the time being," Mey-Rin answered. "It's no wonder she's tired out."

"It's so heart-wrenching. It's unbearable," Baldroy continued.

Finnian looked at the door with worry.

"This village completely isolated itself from the rest of society, fearing the curse of the Devil Dog. The existence of the Devil Dog was supposed to have been a farce Lord Henry created in order to rule the village," Ciel voiced his thoughts. "However, that same Lord Henry has now..."

"Those bite marks... Doesn't it seem as if they really are the Devil Dog's work, just like the villagers say?" Baldroy wondered out loud.

"Maybe the Devil Dog was angered by Lord Henry doing all those bad deeds in its name." Mey-Rin gave her opinion.

"Well, it seems certain that this was not the work of humans," Sebastian said with a mysterious smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Baldroy exclaimed.

Hermione started out from her thoughts when she heard Sebastian's statement. Her eyes widen slightly as fear slowly crept into her. What if there are dark wizard here? She wondered.

Sebastian noticed Hermione's reaction and frowned slightly. "Lady Helena, are you alright?" Sebastian asked.

"Hmm? Oh. Yes.. Yes, I'm alright. Just a bit tired," Hermione replied. "Maybe I should go to sleep now. Today has been quite hectic." Hermione stood up and went to her room wordlessly. Everyone stared at her unusual behaviour.

Ciel frowned slightly. Usually, she would have said something to Ciel before leaving. She seemed distracted.

Sebastian frowned, wondering what could make her as scared as he had perceived her to be, the image of her face from a few minute earlier imprinted in his mind.


Sebastian buttoned up Ciel's night shirt. "What is troubling you?" Sebastian asked.

"Your little revelation earlier. If it was not the work of a human, I hope we won't have another red-haired Reaper coming out of the woodwork," said Ciel, his right eyes covered by his bangs.

"I really am impressed by your capacity for learning." Sebastian smirked and stood up. "However, there is no need to worry. Mey-Rin's deduction wasn't all that far off. The one who was targeted was Lord Henry. It is unlikely that anyone else will fall victim." said Sebastian while hanging Ciel's jacket.

"Even so, I cannot leave things like this," Ciel said, frowning.

"Is this your beautiful loyalty to the Queen?" Sebastian asked sarcastically.

"No. Not just that," Ciel admitted, smirking. "Normally, there wouldn't be much of interest here, however, seeing you teased by a dog certainly has some merit."

Sebastian closed the door of the closet and turned back to Ciel, an amused smirk on his face.

"You really have learned, have you not?"


Knock! Knock! Knock!

Hermione lifted her head from her hand. "Who is it?" She asked, her voice sounded hoarse.

"It's Sebastian, my lady. May I come in?"

Hermione sniffed and wiped away her tears. She stood and looked at the mirror to check that the evidence of her crying was gone, but couldn't do much about the puffiness of her eyes. She opened the door and looked at Sebastian who was standing in the hallway holding a glass of milk.

"For you, my lady." Sebastian offered the glass to Hermione.

Hermione thanked Sebastian and took the glass. She walked back into her room, gesturing for Sebastian to follow. He closed the door behind him as Hermione set the glass on her nightstand, empty.

Hermione stared at Sebastian with one eyebrow quirked up in a silent question.

He sighed. "I noticed that you were quite distracted just now., so I came here to make sure you are alright."

"I'm fine. I'm just tired," Hermione said, her eyes emotionless

Sebastian frowned. "You are lying."

"Why do you say that?" Hermione challenged.

"Because your eyes are puffy and red. You were crying, were you not?" Sebastian replied.

Hermione stared indifferently at Sebastian before she letting out a heavy sigh. "I suppose I can't expect to fool a demon, can I?" She teased half-heartedly. She sighed again. "I was just remembering something," Hermione admitted.

"What were you remembering?" Sebastian asked.

"There was a massacre in my school."

"A massacre?" Sebastian frowned.

"Yes. It happened in the middle of the year. I was in the library with my best friends when we heard the screaming. We ran to the source of it and found a hallway littered with bodies. There was blood everywhere.

Hermione paused. It wasn't a lie or the truth. But it was enough to satisfy Sebastian's concern without revealing more than she'd like. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I was terrified, so much that my two best friends had to pull me away. When we were walking along the bloody hallway, I saw that one of my closest friends was among the victims. I cried out but didn't stop because my best friends dragged me away from there."

Tears escaped from Hermione's close eyes and Sebastian walked forward, standing before her.

"Apparently, a group of dangerous criminals was in the school indiscriminately killing all the students and staff school. We called the police, but the bridge that leading to the school had fallen down." She stared into empty space, her eyes glassy and hollow as she relived the horrors of her past, continuing to speak almost automatically. "Feeling that he had little choice, one of my best friends made a plan to kill the criminal's leader. I didn't want him to do it because it could've got him killed. Fortunately, his plan worked and he survived." Hermione covered her face with her hands, sobbing hard. "And since then, I haven't been able to forget about that. I used to have nightmares about it. But recently, I haven't had any nightmares from that incident and I had mostly forgotten about it. B-But, today, the killing triggered my memory."

Hermione cried for the second time that night, Sebastian standing awkwardly in front of her. He wanted to comfort her but he was afraid of her reaction. Sebastian had accepted the fact that Hermione was his soulmate, and he wanted to avoid any form of rejection from her. In the end, he decided to do as instinct demanded and reached out his hand to stroke her hair. Suddenly, Hermione flung herself at Sebastian, her arms wrapping around him. Sebastian was startled but managed to steady her with his hands gripping her arms. Then, slowly, Sebastian wrapped his arms around Hermione, pulling her imperceptably closer and consoling her.

After a while, the sound of Hermione crying stopped. Sebastian looked down and saw that she had fallen asleep. He carried her to her bed and set her on the covers. He removed her shoes before pulling out the covers and tucking her in. Hermione snuggled into her bed. Sebastian smiled softly and took the glass before turning to leave. Before he could go, he felt someone grabbing his hand. He looked down and saw Hermione's hand held in his. Hermione looked up at him, her eyes pleading.

"Don't go," Sebastian heard Hermione say

"Yes, my lady," Sebastian replied softly.

He set the glass down again and sat on the bed beside her. Hermione nestled against him, and he absentmindedly stroked her hair until she fell asleep.


Finnian was walking down one of the deserted hallways, candle in hand.

"I wonder if Miss Angela is all right..." He mumbled.

A sound like heavy footsteps and creaking echoed around him and he froze, eyes wide. Finnian blanched and shuddered. "A-A-A ghost?"

He heard a high-pitched and screamed before being suddenly hugged by Mey-Rin. "M-Mey-Rin?" asked Finnian while looking down at her

"Finny, did you hear that just now?" Mey-Rin asked, shaking.

"Y-Yeah, is that..."

"The late Lord Henry may have returned..." said Mey-Rin.

They both screamed, Finnian with absolute fear and Mey-Rin with a huge smile.

"Mey-Rin?"

Mey-Rin puffed out, "I have quite a soft spot for scary stories and things like that!" She shivered. "I'm shivering with excitement!"

Finnian deadpanned.

"Let's go, Finny!" said Mey-Rin, hanging on Finnian's arm.

The two continued forward, Mey-Rin with her hands clasped under her chin. "Ah, it's so scary. Too scary!"

"It is rather," Finnian moaned.

The two rounded the corner and saw the door to Angela's room was cracked open. Mey-Rin looked at Finnian expectantly and the two walked over to peep through the crack. Finnian eyes widened in horror.

Angela was lying on her bed, smile widely and her purple eyes closed.

"Ah, that tingle." She laughed quietly.

A shadowed figure licked his lips. Finnian flinched back.

"Wait. Do it more slowly." Angela chastised her voice light.

He lay on top of her, naked. Angela smiled wider. "Good boy. That's a good boy."

The man licked Angela's neck and she moaned slightly. Mey-Rin blanched and sprung away from the door, nose bleeding. She held the hem of her dress to her nose to quell the bleeding and looked back into the room.

"Th-The shock was just too much! Miss Angela really is quite the forceful one. If the young master saw her like this, what would happen then?" Mey-Rin contemplated, straightening her glasses.

"Oh! Afterward, it would be even more steamy," said Mey-Rin before looking at Finnian. "Finny?" She asked, voice mixed with worry and confusion.

Finnian stood away from the door, stick straight and fists clenched. He let out a small sob before dashing down the hall.

"Finny!"

Finnian ran out of the mansion, heading towards the forest.

"Miss Angela... Angela..."

Images of Angela underneath the strange man passed through his head. Finnian let out a strangled howl of anguish and continued running. Trees fell around him, making loud bangs and raising dust clouds as they fell to the ground.

Mey-Rin looked out into the slowly falling forest as Finnian ran, holding a cloth over her head. "How fierce."