How To Kill a Vampire

-ooo-

Ciel stepped into the room fully expecting the worst. Not only that but Elizabeth was already crying when he entered the room and he hadn't even opened his mouth yet. "Elizabeth..?"

She lunged from the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck. Uncontrollably, she sobbed into his chest as he immediately wrapped his arms around her, "Elizabeth..!" He was a little taken aback by her sudden outburst but he would never hesitate to hold her. Although he honestly expected her to be wrapping her hands around his throat..

"I love you! I love you so much!"

Like he hadn't just ripped a man's head off directly in front of her...

"You're the best husband a lady could ask for!"

Yep, right in her line of vision..

"I'm sorry I had forgotten, please forgive me?"

Pretty sure his head landed right beside her...

"Lizzie, darling.. what are you...? What is there to forgive? None of this was your fault.."

"I was so scared.. It was a dark room and I couldn't escape for so long.. I was here but I wasn't here and .. I've failed as a wife and your best friend. Kill me! I deserve it!"

"Elizabeth that's enough..I should've told you.. I was advised by psychiatric profession not to. I wanted you to remember, but the fact that you didn't hadn't changed anything. I still love you just as much as I did the day I first laid eyes on you..."

"But you.. you didn't like me very much when we first met..?"

"What? Why ever would you think that? You were an angel from the moment I first saw you."

Elizabeth wiped her eyes and pulled back slightly as she looked up at him. "You told me you hated me.. then you hit me with your custom made toy train."

"It's all a matter of perspective, dear."

"I had six stitches."

"Ah, but you were cute with your little chin stitches." He placed his forehead against hers.

They shared a labored set of giggles before she cupped his face in her hands. "Show them to me. I want to see them."

Ciel looked confused for a brief moment before he sighed, "Elizabeth.."

"No, no.. you have a lot of explaining to do. Starting with those eyes of yours and ending with your expansion to America." She placed her hands on her hips and stepped back. The way she stood had reminded him of his mother when he'd misbehaved or done something purposely that he absolutely knew was wrong. "Very well then."

2 Days later-

The manor was full of singing and humming as the maids went to work doing what they did best. Elizabeth, for the first time in weeks, was leaving the manor to tend to some lady-like luxuries.

It was Ciel who had mentioned it, he thought she had been cooped up inside the manor for too long so he arranged a day of complete activities for her. First, she was to head to the Ladies Brew, where she would have her hair tended to along with just about anything else she wanted. It was her favorite ladies joint, she just hadn't been able to make it there since her mother fell ill.

Then from there she was to go to a tailors shop in the city to be fitted for a dress that Ciel had designed himself, with help of the tailor of course. She couldn't wait to see how that would turn out.

Of course shopping was a must. She would be escorted around the shopping court and was instructed ahead of time to get whatever she fancied.

Lastly, she would spend the rest of her evening at a resort of sorts where she would have the treatment of her choosing. A soak in the spa and a clay mask sounded lovely to her, she was tempted to try acupuncture as well.

Where had Ciel been during all of this? Up North, meeting with some important business men. Elizabeth had thought since she had been cleared up on everything that she would be more involved in his business affairs but it seemed quite the opposite. She tried not to think about the danger he could possibly be in at this point, with all of the vampires and such.

Worrying was ridiculous, she was married to a demon who could take care of himself. Not only that, he had Sebastian with him. They were fine.

Later that evening, back at Phantomhive Manor-

Elizabeth noted the darkness of the manor from the outside. It was unusually quiet, as she expected some maids to be waiting for her return. She stepped into the manor quietly and also noted that all of the lights were out, it was completely dark. The curtains had been pulled and it was empty as far as she could tell.

She didn't call out to anyone, her instincts advised her not to. Carefully, she walked to where she knew the stairs would be but she nearly slipped. There was something wet on the floor beneath her. She stepped to the side but couldn't escape it. Why was the floor wet?

She slowly knelt down to swipe the contents on her pointer finger. It was thick, almost syrup like. She brought it to her nose and could smell what she thought was igniting fluid. She stood abruptly and the lights came on.

A man stood at the foot of the staircase with his arms crossed. "You must be the lady of this fine establishment..I've been waiting for you."

"What is this.. who are you?" She looked around and found bodies on top of bodies stacked to either side of the room. All of them she recognized as trusted maids and gardens keepers. "What the hell have you done?" She felt the panic rising in her chest. Over half the people she loved had been slaughtered and stacked like firewood in the front lobby.

"No one seemed to know where you were.. so I figured I would wait for you, however I couldn't help but get a little parched during my wait. I don't like to be kept waiting."

"If you're looking for Ciel.. he's not here."

"I know he's not." He smiled and sharp teeth poked out from behind his lips.

Elizabeth glared at him, "You were wanting me alone then.."

"Just thought I would introduce myself as your husbands new business partner."

"Business partner?"

"Oh I apologize, allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Augustine Ricardo.. the twelfth." A condescending smile spread across his lips as he gave a slight bow. "I don't expect you to honor me with a warm introduction yourself, but that's okay because I know who you are, Mrs. Midford-Phantomhive."

"Why do I smell igniting fluid?"

"Very keen you are.. You see..." He stepped toward her with one hand in his pocket and the other assisting with his speech, "I thought I could really get things off to a good start if I were to bring back some sentimental value in this new relationship Ciel and I have. And what better than to honor his parents' death, which was a shame mind you, with his wife's own demise? And by another fire? Who would've thought. I'm so creative aren't I? He's lucky to have me as a partner really.."

Elizabeth took a step backward to match every step he took toward her until her back hit the wall. "You're not going to.."

"Oh but yes..."

His was nearly nose to nose with her and there wasn't much she could do about it. To her left was a stack of dead maids and to her right was...a sixteenth century Spanish suit of armor that she had begged Ciel not to purchase for decoration purposes. It was authentic, which meant the sword was real...

So, how do you kill a vampire?

"The igniting fluid is mixed with the blood of your family here.. so perhaps he'll smell it all the way up north, you think so?"

She moved, but not for the sword as he had expected her to, instead she grabbed the helmet and bashed him over the head with it. He fell to his knees briefly, just enough time for her to grab the sword and swing it fast enough to scrap his collar bone. He was fast, very very fast. He could dodge her like child's play and she knew it.

"Leave now and you'll live."

"That's big talk coming form a tiny human woman."

She swung the sword at his chest and he moved but slipped and fell to the floor. Perhaps his elaborate plan would be his downfall. She brought the sword down on his hand and severed it from his arm. He let out a scream and swiped at her with his left arm throwing her across the room and into a glass display counter. She held tightly to her sword and wiped the blood from her forehead.

"Damn woman! My hand, you took my hand!"

"Leave now and you can keep the other one!"

He started toward her with anger in his eyes, "You're hurt, all cut up. I could just finish you off easy and lite this place up." He held tightly to what was left of his wrist and growled. Glass shards were protruding from her arms and body making her bleed from just about everywhere. Despite the pain she climbed to her feet and gritted her teeth. "If you don't leave now, You'll lose more than your hand. I'll take your head!"

"Is that right?!"

He continued toward her with teeth exposed and he was slightly drooling. Just as he came upon her he stopped and turned his head sideways.

"Now..? Really?"

"...what?"

"We'll have to continue this later...so sorry, M'lady. Do wait for me though?" He smiled and flew out the nearest window, leaving shards of glass behind him. She dropped the sword and fell to her knees. A pool of blood was forming around her and she had to make it to the storage room, where the medical supplies were kept.

Unable to stand at all, she crawled leaving a large snail trail of blood behind her. It must have taken her until midnight to reach the upstairs storage room, she heard the clock strike so many times she lost count.

In the storage room she knocked over shelves and busted open containers in order to find the tools necessary to pry the shards of glass from her body. She bandaged herself and leaned against the wall for awhile, until she could feel her strength building back up. Once she could stand she made her way back down the stairs into the front lobby. The clock read five a.m. and the sun was coming up through the curtains.

No one knew when Ciel would be back, his schedule was pretty unpredictable. The front door opened and it wasn't who she expected it to be. "Bard? Where have you been?"

His mouth was agape and he dropped the bags of fresh groceries he had been carrying, "I took the night off.. what..what happened here..?"

"Vampires." He ran a hand through his hair and looked around as if assessing the damage.

Elizabeth couldn't remember much after that. She wasn't sure if she had passed out or.. she just wasn't sure.

The next night-

Elizabeth woke from her slumber next to a sleeping Ciel. She rose up with a throbbing headache and aching bones. She vaguely recollected the events that had occurred the last time she was awake. Maybe it was all a dream? Her bandages told her otherwise.

An arm gently wrapped around her waist and pulled her back into the soft mattress. "Rest.." He spoke with his eyes still closed. "I've rested enough.."

"No..not after what you've seen." His deep blue eyes opened slowly and just barely. "You need all of the rest you can get."

"The girls.."

"They're gone... I'm sorry."

"Why would he..?" She whispered while trying to hold back the tears. Ciel stroked her cheek with his thumb and kissed her forehead. "Don't think about it.. just sleep.."

She clung to him and tried not to cry. Ciel pulled the blanket over them and pulled her close as if he weren't the slightest bit angry. But truth be told, he was livid.

He was so livid in fact that he found the only thing keeping his anger under control was Elizabeth's presence. So in order to refrain from taking further action he crawled into bed with her.

Sebastian said he would take care of the manor and it's clean up, along with Bard. Strategically, they would have to come up with a counter attack, but for now he was fine sleeping under Elizabeth. He was thankful though he didn't know who or what to thank really, he was just glad she was still alive.