So~ here's ch.10!

ok, I'm gonna warn you now that in this chapter there is a lot of dialogue and info all at once—but don't worry, the next chapter is definitely going to have a nice Sebastian x Ciel moment. :D

well, anyways. Enjoy! PLEAZE R&R! \( ^_^)/

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Chapter 10: Dead But Alive

Ciel looked back and forth between the two men. Kyou looked concerned and Shiloh simply looked puzzled. There was obviously something important and concerning about this Loren character.

"Loren who?" Ciel asked.

Shiloh sighed and looked away from Kyou. "Loren Knight, Alessandra's father."

"He's dead isn't he?"

"Yes, he is dead—."

"He should be." Kyou cut in. His expression almost looked grieving.

Sebastian studied the situation and the weight of the heavy atmosphere. "Why do you say it like that?"

"It's because his Cinematic Record has been missing from our documents for years now. I didn't think much of it at the time—I thought that it had simply been misplaced, since it is very easy to lose track of everything. But then I also thought of the possibility that someone stole it or..." He trailed off.

"You think he's alive." Sebastian finished.

"It's highly impossible, but yes, that thought did cross my mind."

Ciel sat there taking in the conversation. "You know for certain that he died?"

Shiloh answered. "I know completely. He died in a fire at his manor; there was nothing left of him but bones and ash."

Ciel's visible eye narrowed with suspicion. "So why did you not save him—you are under contract with Aless or did she just let her father die?"

"Aless would never let anyone die if it were possible to save them. And as you probably know, I am not under her influence. I need not follow a command unless I am willing."

"So you let him die, even when she begged for you to save him?"

Shiloh chuckled. "I believe you are twisting the story around. May I tell you the truth behind the Knight family and this occurrence?"

Ciel stared into those silver eyes. "Very well."

Shiloh took a seat on the bed. "First off, when it comes to my contract with Aless the only thing I am required to do is to keep her alive. Everything I do is for her sake; I could care less about anyone else."

"Is that not what every contract is like?"

Shiloh glanced at him smirking. "Yes, but would you let me finish?"

Ciel leaned back into the chair and kept silent. He just wanted to know what all of this talk of Loren was about and why he was such a huge concern when he was already dead.

"I let her father die because it was in her best interest. You see, it was Loren's younger brother Christopher who started the fire."

Ciel's eye widened. His brother killed him?

"He murdered him because he wanted to be the head of the First Knight Company. Loren knew this, that Christopher would eventually destroy his existence along with Alessandra's for his own selfishness." He sighed. "But Loren was never the type to hurt people for his own gain, everything he did benefited not only himself but the people around him. Though his brother possessed contempt towards him he still saw him as his brother, even if they weren't related by blood. He just didn't have the heart to send him to jail or cut off their ties."

Sebastian smirked. It was completely pathetic and so very human—to be caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to decide the better path without hurting yourself or another. Though there was no better path in this regard, it was a double edged sword and either way he was going to get cut.

"I don't mean to interrupt again, but you said that they're not related..." Ciel said cautiously.

"Loren was the former Earl's adopted son." Sebastian answered. Most of what Shiloh was saying he already knew. He did the research after all.

He continued to inform his master. "Laurence, Loren's father, had found him completely abandoned. Being the way he was he brought him in and raised him as his own. The reason why Loren is the family head and not the original son is because Laurence and his wife had a divorce when the brothers were around the age of ten. Loren stayed with his father and Christopher with his mother."

"I guess that explains a lot." Ciel stated. "Pardon my rudeness, I interrupted again."

"It's fine." Shiloh nodded and continued. "So, Loren chose death and his daughter's safety above all else. Because the First Knight Company has ties with various morgues he was able to make a deal with one of the Undertaker's and fake Alessandra's death by using another child's corpse as a substitute."

"Loren seemed to know of his brother's motives for quite a long time." Ciel stated.

"He did, he had quite the talent when it came to judging ones character. He actually spoke to me prior to his death about what was going to happen and that he put his trust in me to protect his daughter."

"But if he cared about Aless so much then why did he not get rid of Christopher—so that he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself over something so absurd?" Ciel couldn't get his head around why Loren would die so easily and hand the family Company on a plate to the man trying to kill him.

"Well, he's always found little hope in living ever since his beloved Rose died." Shiloh's eyes glimmered. "He had a very strong attachment to her and once she past he was nothing but an empty shell, though he would always do his best to put on an act for Alessandra's sake. Even then nothing seemed to spark any emotion in him anymore. He wanted to die, but not by his own hands. I myself took care of Aless most of the time because he didn't want her to see the worst side of him."

Ciel's one eye widened. "Hold on a second. You've known her since she was only a child—so who made the contract between the two of you?"

Shiloh smiled. "You got me there, but I have no interest in telling you. After all, this game would get boring if you knew all the answers."

Ciel smirked at that. It was refreshing when he found someone who also liked a challenging game, and not the usual board game but a real life situation with ups and downs. It seemed like all demons had that trait—a thirst for games.

"Well," Ciel began. "Now that I know a lot more about Loren Knight, why does his cinematic record concern you so much?" He asked Kyou.

"It concerns me because a human's record doesn't just disappear. We have tight security and many other Death Gods that organize and keep track of things..." His eyes shifted away. "My only explanations are that Loren was either not dead from the start, has reincarnated or been resurrected—either way, he's somehow alive."

As Ciel listened to Kyou the only word that popped into his mind was—'absurd.' How could this man be alive? There was just no way.

He couldn't accept it, he had always told himself, ever since his parents' death that 'once something is lost, you can never get it back.' And here they were trying to figure out how Loren had come back from the dead!

Ciel flinched, startled at the sudden feel of a hand rested on his shoulder. He looked up to see Sebastian looking at him fondly as he calmed down his light trembling, he had no idea that he was shaking lightly.

Sebastian looked away from the boy and back to Kyou. "What is it that you really want to tell us? There's a reason why you brought up this man called Loren."

Kyou looked up into Sebastian's scarlet eyes. He always got that strange feeling in his stomach whenever he came into close contact with a demon and since he didn't know Sebastian it made him feel ten times worse.

"I brought him up because I think he's been involved with Phoenix."

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"What could they possibly be talking about? It must be pretty bad if Shiloh sent me off." Alessandra muttered to Leo.

"I honestly don't know." He looked past the books through the shelving, meeting her eyes. "But I know whatever Shiloh is doing it is in your best interest. My Lord always thinks of what is best for you."

Alessandra sighed and pulled out a random book. She read the cover and snorted. 'Lie To Me'...how ironic.

"Leo, you say that everything he does is for my sake—but that's coming from you, it never comes from him. How do I know he actually means it if he doesn't tell me?"

Leo smiled. "Al, I've known my Lord for centuries and he has always thought that actions speak louder than words. You can take back an insult and say you were joking but if you punch someone in the face you can't really take that back, can you?"

Alessandra nibbled on her lower lip. "Well, you can always let them punch you back." She countered.

"You would seriously let someone punch you back? That sounds nothing like you. If you gave that person the chance you would defiantly give it back to them ten-fold." He was grinning hugely, he knew he was right.

"Okay, fine. But let me remind you that I'm a girl and girls like to confirm things and be reminded with words—not actions."

Leo smirked to himself and mumbled. "You say that but I'm positive that you would like his actions along with his words."

"Did you say something?"

"No nothing at all."

Her eyes narrowed. He had obviously said something but she had no clue what it was.

She walked around the book shelves and made her way to the back corner of the bookstore, where she found the fictional 'Gothic Literature' section with stories about angels, demons, vampires, fairies, basically anything supernatural. She grazed her fingers against the bindings, stopping at a title that caught her interest.

"I've been meaning to read this." She said to Leo as he made his way over to her.

She pulled out the small book and let him read the title. "The Vampyre? It's a pretty short story though isn't it?"

"It is, but I don't exactly have the time to read Shakespeare."

She took the book with her and went towards the front counter where a middle age man stood behind the counter. She handed the store clerk the book along with the exact change.

"Will that be all for you today, miss?"

"Yes, thank you."

When she was done she followed after Leo who was waiting outside, a blank expression on his face. She looked up into his jade green eyes.

"Leo, what's the matter?"

He never answered. She looked at him concerned and followed his eyes to see what he was staring at.

There across the street and a couple of blocks down was a large crowd of people, along with what looked to be Scotland Yard. Her eyes widened when she thought of the possibilities of what it could be.

"Don't tell me." She whispered frantically and ran off towards the crowd.

Leo blinked out of his daze, as Alessandra left his side. "Al, wait!"

She ran up and snaked her way through the crowd to get another look. Everyone was mumbling frantically, there were also gasps and quite whimpers that could be heard. She pushed through the crowd until she came to the front.

"Excuse me." She got the attention of one of the officers. "What has happened here?"

"This isn't a place for children." He simply said.

Alessandra narrowed her eyes annoyed. "Look here, sir." She pulled out a white letter with the Queen's emblem completely visible on the red wax. "I am Alessandra Knight and I have recognition from the Queen, so inform me of the situation or I will have you removed from your position as assisting officer." Her voice resonated with superiority.

His eyes widened and he immediately apologized. "Forgive me Miss Knight. There has been another Phoenix victim. We just found him a moment ago when the residence were saying that he never opened shop."

Her eyes slightly widened. "Thank you." She left the scene fighting her way through the crowd once again. She needed to go tell the others. She made a quick run and—.

Bang...

She ran right into someone and lost her balance, she would have fallen flat on her face but a hand wrapped around her arm stopping her.

"That hurt." She mumbled quietly.

"Are you all right?" A silky voice asked.

She looked up into a dazzling pair of sapphire blue eyes. He had ruby coloured hair that framed his face and a newsboy cap placed on top of his head.

"I'm fine thank you." She said as the man steadied her.

"You should be more careful. You're lucky that you bumped into me and not someone else, they probably wouldn't have handled it the same." He smiled.

"I'm very sorry." She bowed.

"It's fine." He paused for a moment. "You should be more worried about other things." He said quietly.

"Excuse me?" She questioned, his words almost sounded like a threat.

"What I mean is." He recovered. "That you seemed to be in an awful rush and you wouldn't want to waste too much time apologizing to me when there is something else you appear to be worried about." He closed his eyes and smiled.

"Oh, I see. Well, I apologize again." She waved and ran off.

The man stood there and opened his eyes. The gentle blue had been replaced by crimson red. He pulled down the front of his hat to cover his eyes.

Oh, my little kitten. You have no idea how worried you should be.

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Alessandra continued to run in long strides, hurrying as fast as she could to tell the others of the new development.

She glanced to her left seeing something white in her vision. It was Leo's hair.

"Don't go running off by yourself again. If anything were to happen to you Shiloh would have my head."

"I'm very sorry." She panted. "How did you catch up to me so fast? I never saw you behind me when I left."

He made a sound that sounded like a growl. "You can give me some credit—I'm a demon to you know."

"Sorry, I tend to forget."

He rolled his eyes. "That just makes me feel so much better." He said sarcastically.

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Ciel looked at Kyou confused; even Shiloh looked caught off guard. "Why would Loren be involved with Phoenix? From his description he doesn't seem like the type who would help in a list of murders."

"He could possibly be being forced into it as well." Kyou countered. "But this is all just a premonition I had."

Sebastian turned to look at the silver eyed man. "What do you think Shiloh...Shiloh?"

Shiloh sat on the bed completely still, his expression was unreadable and his eyes looked glassy. "It's Aless. She is very frantic about something." He stood up and looked out the window to see her and Leo running up the street and into the brothel.

Footsteps were herd and than a load bang when the door opened, hitting the wall.

"Shiloh." She panted. "There's been another murder."

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When they arrived at the scene of the crime there was still a crowd along with Scotland Yard. Mr. Randal stood outside of the scene of the crime, talking with another officer.

"Let us through." Ciel said with authority.

Randal turned to look at him. A sneer was plain on his face. "The Queen's watch dog yet again—I see you yet to solve this case. You even brought an incredibly large party with you."

Ciel smirked. "They all have their specialties."

Ciel made his way in first along with Sebastian. Alessandra and Shiloh followed, when Kyou and Leo stayed outside.

"The same pile of ashes and evidence." Alessandra mumbled.

Sebastian bent down and picked up the paper which once again had a poem written on it with smooth cursive writing.

"I've always been waiting.
Waiting for you.
Waiting for death.
But it never comes."

Sebastian smirked, letting Ciel read it. "Sounds closely related to the conversation we were having earlier. Wouldn't you agree, Young Master?"

"Yeah."

Ciel knew what Sebastian spoke of. It sounded like Loren. He had always been waiting for death, waiting to be reunited with his beloved, but it never came because he was alive once again.

It was obvious now. Loren was allied with Phoenix, and whether it was his choice or against his will he had still lent his assisted in committing the crimes. And he would pay for it.

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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter to some extent, I also hope there wasn't anything too confusing... :P

*sigh* I should hopfully put up the next chapter and have a sketch of Phoenix before school starts—which I am not looking forward to D:

Maybe if I work hard enough I'll be able to put up two more chapters before my daily visits with hell (school) again. = =

Again, PLEAZE REVEIW! It keeps me motivated! ( ^_^)b