Author's Notes: AHHH. So many people are following and favoriting this story! It makes me so happy! :D
SallyCoombs: Yep! Things are picking up!
LivingforMe: Ch. 6- I actually didn't read the Campania Arc until after I wrote that chapter. I'm currently working through the manga, and its influencing some future chapters however!
Ch. 8- YUS. It was my favorite part I've posted so far. Its pure badass mixed with awkward last minute reactions. XD
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji.
Chapter 10: Her Vow.
Ciel's mind turned faster than he could keep up. His beloved cousin, gone for so long only to return as not only a part of the Shinigami, but as more… All the time she spent caring for him, he never would have guessed. He never would have believed that his sweet cousin could have demon blood in her veins.
But, he had no time to dwell. Because within a flash, Sebastian had a hand in her hair, yanking back her head as he placed three silver knifes to her slender throat. "So…" Isabella drawled with a smirk. "This puppy can bite…" She hissed in pain as Sebastian pulled harder on her hair. Her hands flew up to wrap around his wrist at her neck. "Careful, puppy… puppies may have teeth, but kittens have those and claws."
Sebastian grunted in pain as he glanced at his wrist. When she said claws, she literally meant claws. "This explains the fingerless gloves…" Each of her nails had morphed into large, curved claws, all deadly sharp and currently slowly digging into his arm.
"It saves on having to buy a new pair every time I decide to play." Her voice was coy, eyes glinting between blood red and bright magenta. "Careful. Puppies may be messy, but a proper butler should never allow the floor to stain with blood…"
"Sebastian!" Ciel snapped, having had even of the display the two put on. "Stand down!"
"In case you have forgotten, my Lord…" His voice is stiff, and he never looked up from glaring daggers at the woman in his grasp. "Our contract states that I am to protect you from all threats, even if they are family…and especially if they are foreign demons…"
"Oh, sod off," she snapped. "I have never consumed a soul, and I have no plans to. Do you think I would be allowed near the Shinigami realm were that not the case? I'm no competition for Ciel's soul!"
His stern gaze faltered, reality of the situation setting in, and finally, Sebastian relented, sighing as he released her hair and stepped back. "My apologies, my Lady…"
With a scowl, she unhooked her claws from his wrist, allowing him to pull his arm back. Glancing at her bloodied hands and the blood stained front of her dress, however, caused her to pout. "Oh, what a mess…"
With a sigh, Ciel ordered, "Sebastian, fetch some towels. You and she may change later after this discussion is over."
"Yes, my Lord." With a glare towards the hybrid, he stormed out of the room, intent on fetching towels as quickly as possible.
"I should have expected that," she stated with a light laugh.
"No, that was completely out of bounds," Ciel snapped. "He should know better. I am terribly sorry, Isabella."
"Ciel, you need to stop looking at his actions from the point of view of a human." She lifted her hand and sniffed the blood on her clawed finger, a curious look on her face as her head tilted and eyes flashed magenta. "Amongst the Shinigami and Demon society, I am the equivalent of a leper. Something to be sneered at from afar. Only, I am a leper that is far more powerful than most. Certainly a threat in most eyes."
"More powerful?... How?"
"When you are turned into a Shinigami, any abilities you previously possessed are heightened, along with your senses and strength, even your personality. It's why most Reapers you meet are either extremely closed off or extremely flamboyant. Mood swings at their finest," she stated with a grin.
"Your strengths as well?..."
"Demons cannot be turned usually because only those who were once human can become of the Shinigami… but I had both human and demon blood. And while only my human blood turned, all of my skills increased…"
Sebastian called out from the doorway. "Including your demonic powers."
She glanced back over her shoulders and grinned. "Apparently, I can rival an Ancient. Best keep on your toes, puppy." That's when a towel smacked her in the face, and she pulled it away to scowl at the demon.
"No worries." He gave her a close-eyed smile that looked both innocent and terrifying. "Though you may have the training of the Shinigami, I highly doubt you've ever had a proper lesson with for your demonic powers."
"I know enough…" she muttered, using the towel to wipe the drying blood from her fingers, which had by now shifted back from claws.
"Oh?" Sebastian asked with a grin, slowly striding toward the little hybrid. "How about fire manipulation? Telekinesis? And I highly doubt you have mastered your animal or your demonic form…"
She pouted at his words until he mentioned her animal forms. "I have my animal form mastered! I can turn into a cat at will!"
"A cat?..." Ciel muttered.
"Can you shift with your clothes?" Sebastian asked knowingly with a brow raised.
"Wait… YOU CAN DO THAT."
Sebastian held back his laughter at the sputtering woman while Ciel looked at them in confusion. "Well, how else would you shift?"
A crimson blush dusted her cheeks while Sebastian happily stated, "It means that she must shift in the nude." Glancing at her slyly, he added, "That can be quite awkward when wanting to get through doors or communicate with others…"
Isabella fumed and made gestures as if to strangle the demon while Ciel blanched. Shaking his head, he sighed. "That is a mental image I never wanted to have… Changing the subject, Isabella." Her attention quickly shifted back to the young Phantomhive boy. "What exactly happened with your father? I know he…abused you… for awhile, but why did he try to murder you?"
"Try isn't exactly the correct term…" she muttered. "According to the Undertaker, I was technically dead. My human self died for about two weeks before my demon half finally finished healing my body enough for me to wake. Even then, I wasn't well enough to move for about another week."
"Hmm…" Sebastian replied. "Impressive." His eyes, though, seemed distrusting of her story, narrowing as he watched the woman continue to speak.
"Thankfully, I didn't rot while 'playing dead' as Undertaker put it. And thanks also to the fact that the Undertaker knew about my demon blood and that I was actually healing." With a shudder, she added, "I do not want to think about waking up immobile in a grave."
"So, that was the secret he refused to tell us," Ciel stated. "That you were of demon blood."
With a nod, she continued. "Once I woke, I was taken by… a certain Reaper I knew to the Shinigami realm. He had been talking of having me join for a while, but we had been waiting. My father finding out my heritage and trying to murder me just sped up the process."
"What were you waiting for?"
She smiled sadly. "I was waiting for you to grow older. I had planned to try and keep involved with the Phantomhive family, with you, after I turned, but things just grew so complicated… By the time things were smoothed over amongst the Shinigami, I felt it better to let you all continue to believe me dead than to drag up the past."
Ciel's brows furrowed. "Smoothed over?..."
"Let me guess," Sebastian interjected with a smirk. "Some of the other Reapers did not take kindly to a demon joining their ranks?"
Her eyes rolled as she sighed and slumped in her seat. "You have no idea… They thought the moment I joined, I would start swallowing every soul I saw. I wasn't even allowed topside without a babysitter!" She pinched the bridge of her nose while continuing. "If William hadn't of caved last minute, I would have missed Ciel's eighth birthday."
"Wait," Ciel asked in confusion. "You were there?!"
"I watched from afar… Never missed a single one, just like I promised!" She smiled brightly at the boy. "William understood how seriously I wanted to keep that promise, and he always did what he could so I would be free to visit…" She looked away, her eyes sad. "I was late that day…" Ciel stiffened, realizing what day she meant. "And a mix-up in the offices filed me as going to complete the job, instead of visiting as I applied for… William found out after I had left and found me there, digging through the wreckage."
"What happened was something neither of us could have fixed," the young Earl stated firmly. "What's done is done."
"Ciel…" she began, her voice hesitant. "As a specialist, any jobs involving demons in the area are directed to me…including any murders committed by a demon." The boy stiffened, his visible eye going wide. "I guess I arrived just after you had left with Sebastian… I was watching the films… I saw…" Tears began to stream down her face. "I was a mess that month, trying to track you down, and to find you in that way, to see what those monsters did—"
"Stop!" His hands slammed down on the desk in front of him, glaring at the teary eyed woman before him. "Just… stop. The past is just that. There is no use fussing over things you can't change." His face softened a bit, but kept the same sharp edge to it. "A member of the Phantomhive household should remember that. Never show your weakness, never hesitate. You are a Phantomhive, Isabella. Remember that."
Her head tilted, and she hummed softly, a warm smile growing on her lips. "My, you really are Uncle Vincent's son…" Slight shock resonated in Ciel's eyes, and in that moment, Isabella rose from her seat. "How foolish of me to forget my promise to him, but its time I rectify that."
"What do you mean?" Ciel asked as she strode around the desk next to him. He stared up at the taller woman whose playful and happy smile never left her face.
"I swore my life to serve the Phantomhives, to protect the house and any future generations should I live beyond normal human years…" An amused glint flashed in her eyes as Ciel blanched over the implication that his father knew of her demon heritage. "I swore to be a Phantomhive pawn, a knight on the chessboard, for as long as I exist, so long as my trust is not betrayed by the head of household. But you, dear little cousin…."
She fell into a kneeling position, and continued. "I swore to protect you, Ciel, to be your pawn, even if you betray me. I will abandon any others who incur my anger or resentment, but I swear, I shall be your knight and pawn till the end…" Her eyes lifted, the blood red irises meeting his midnight blue. She reached out to him to cup his cheek with one hand as he watched her in shock, while the other brushed his fringe from his face before lifting up his eye patch to reveal his contract seal. "...Earl Phantomhive."