Gah! I saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and then watched the movie with Gerard Butler *drools* (a hot guy whose last name is 'Butler'… Coincidence, I think not!) over five times in a row. I loves it to death! It makes me sob, cheer for Erik le marvelous Phantom, and want to murder Christine Daae every time I watch it, read about it, or daydream about it. Sooooo… because that's my current obsession, be prepared for some possible references! If I can fit them in :P

Enjoy!

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

"Stupid, Sebastian. Stupid, window. Stupid, demon hound," Sam grumbled as she scrubbed the last of the muddy paw prints off of the wooden floor by the window. This was all that damn butler's fault! If he hadn't thrown out her chest wrappings this never would have happened. Now she was stuck cleaning.

Sam pulled back to inspect her work, noticing that she could faintly see her reflection in the shining surface. She nodded to herself in triumph and stood up.

"The paw prints are GONE!"

"Yeah, well, what abou' the rest o' it?" Bard commented idly, walking past her to get to his room.

Sam sweat dropped.

"Yeah… The. Rest. Of. It." She ground out, looking at the remaining mess. It was well into the night and she still had a Hell of a lot to do. How the heck did Sebastian finish this all so fast? He had over twice the amount work to do as she did and he was almost done. And that was when she checked fifteen minutes ago!

God damn it!

Sam plopped down on the floor, rag in hand.

"This is so stupid… No wonder mother always threatened me because of my stupid lack of focus on education, saying I'd grow up to be a maid. I hate this!"

"Still cleaning, my lady?"

Sam's head snapped up with a deadly glare. Sebastian stood there as calm as ever, smug, closed eyed smile in place. Oh, how she hated that smile.

"I think the answer's obvious, Sebastian."

Sam leaned forward and put all of her weight onto her now soar knees to continue patting at the still wet, freshly installed, drywall. The wall seemed pretty sturdy and Sam took a minute to feel proud of herself for being able to construct what in her eyes was a masterpiece.

"You're doing it wrong."

Sam looked up at the black-clad butler with a deadly glare.

"Why do you say that?" Sam grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Sebastian knelt down next to her and examined the wall.

"Because of this…" Sebastian pressed his gloved hand against the wall. Sam smirked in triumph when nothing happened. Slowly though, Sam's smirk dropped off her face and was replaced with a deep scowl. Sebastian's hand was sinking into the wall, bending the freshly glued down wallpaper and turning the dry wall to mush.

"Great, you ruined it!"

"Sam, the wall would have collapsed in on itself within forty-eight hours."

"Uh-huh, you just keep telling yourself that."

Sebastian sighed and shook his head at her.

"With you constructing this wall, it will never be finished… you very well could bring the entire left side of the mansion down."

A tick mark formed on Sam's forehead and she clenched her teeth.

"Well excuse me for not knowing the mechanics of wall structure."

"There are no 'mechanics' to it."

"Shut it!"

Sebastian sighed again and turned to Sam. She raised an eyebrow at him when he remained silent. He simply sighed again and shook his head at her. Sebastian stood up, preparing to leave, when Sam grabbed his hand. He looked down at her, one midnight black eyebrow raised in question.

"I have… a proposition for you."

Sebastian frowned.

"What?"

"How about this. You fix the wall-"

"Sam-"

"Let me finish!" She snapped. "You fix the wall, and I give you something in return. Anything. I'll make the meals, clean, watch over Pluto, anything."

Sebastian sighed but a smirk made its way onto his lips.

"You detest this- remaking the wall- don't you?"

Crocodile tears appeared in the corners of Sam's eyes making them glimmer and her grip on his hand tightened. She nodded vigorously.

"I hate it more than the asparagus cobbler my mother made me eat when I was nine."

Sebastian sighed and looked away from her. Sam sniffled and if it was possible, her watery, silvery-blue eyes seemed to grow even larger and more innocent than they already were. Sebastian grumbled something under his breath about infuriating blondes and nodded in agreement. Sam made a high pitched squeal sound and latched onto him in a grateful hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" She grinned. "I owe you BIG time for this. Anything you want and I'll try my best to help!"

Sam noticed that her proclamation of gratitude (something she was sure she'd never let Sebastian hear from her ever again) fell on deaf ears. Sebastian seemed frozen rather stiffly and uncomfortably in her embrace. His usually vividly bright eyes looked a tad murky and his mind looked like it was moving a million miles a second. Sam rolled her eyes and unwound her arms from his torso. He relaxed almost instantly.

Psh, men.

Sam got up from the ground and dusted off her pants. Sebastian stood up as well, readjusting his already perfectly placed tie. Sam felt another mandatory eye roll make itself known and she started to walk down the hallway towards her room. Sebastian cleared his throat in the way that she knew meant he needed her attention. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"Are you by chance heading to your room?"

"Um… yes?"

"You're going the wrong direction."

Sam felt her face go red and she crossed her arms over her chest, turning away from the butler with a loud "humph." Sebastian chuckled and walked up to her, offering her his arm. Sam looked at him curiously.

"Shall we, my lady?"

Sam stared at him skeptically before taking his arm and letting him lead her to the Maid's quarters. Sebastian dutifully and almost prideful began to lead her down the hallway. Sam looked at him curiously.

"You're acting much more civil to me…"

"I could say the same," Sebastian commented, turning down one of the corridors.

"Why?" Sam asked, eyes catching on a particular painting they passed that looked like a blob of leftover paints all dumped onto a canvas. It was utterly unsightly, messy, and unplanned. She liked it. Maybe Ciel would let her take it to the maid's quarters.

"The young master gave me a very stern talking to. I do believe he sometimes forgets that I am the adult and he the child," Sebastian smirked at this. "Though, I will admit the lecture was well deserved… Now I do believe it's your turn to answer, Sam."

"Honestly, my reason is simply Ciel terrifies me…" Sebastian chuckled at her. "It's not funny! I'm serious!"

"Sam, he is only a thirteen year old boy."

"So? He's still really creepy. His lecture gave me the hee-bee-jee-bee's."

Sebastian rolled his honey eyes. The two arrived at the maid's quarters and Sam let go of Sebastian's arm.

"Well, thanks for keeping me from getting lost… again."

Sebastian smiled.

"It was no trouble, I assure you. Consider it my apology for disposing of your chest wrappings."

Sam nodded.

"By the way, the corset is actually pretty comfortable when it's not strung beyond tight. So… thanks I guess."

"You're welcome."

"Sebastian?"

"Hmm?"

Sam rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

"Because we're already on the uncomfortable topic of my chest, I would like to point out that the favor I owe you cannot pertain to sex in any way shape or form. Sorry, you ARE male, so I had to make it clear. Good night." Sam shut the door in his face. Sebastian stood there, eyes slightly wider than usual.

For the second time since he'd met her, Sam had stunned the demon into silence.

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

Ciel looked at the letter in his hand in absolute disbelief. It couldn't be, it just couldn't. How could Elizabeth be… He knew the statistics of the possibility of a young girl being kidnapped and the chance of the kidnapped victim being discovered alive after only a day of disappearance. They weren't good. And Lizzi had been gone for half a day by the time he had opened the letter.

The situation wasn't good.

To make it worse, other girls around her age had also been disappearing. Ciel thumbed through the large, manila, file sitting on his desk. All the girls were from upper-class families and around the same age, but other than that, there was absolutely no connections. No similarities in names, looks, personalities… None of them even lived in the same area or held similar interests. That meant there were no leads.

None of them visited similar areas of the country, other than London every now and again. However, that fact alone wouldn't point to any leads. Ciel had looked through the testimonials of the parents and every one of them had claimed that the last time they had been to London with their child had ranged from two weeks to four years previous, with huge differentials in each family.

The only odd similarity he could pick out was that each victim had been sent a piece of the hope diamond to each victim. Lizzi had given him such a ting, but… If the kidnappers were that smart and really wanted Elizabeth, they wouldn't have put the ring into something she'd bought intentionally to give him. That could mean they were really after him… But then why would Lizzi be missing? Unless she really had just gotton lost in the crowd and was still lost…

Ciel leaned back and rubbed at his temples. This was the absolute last thing he needed.

Ciel heard a knock at his door and looked up.

"Come in."

Sam walked in, brow furrowed.

"I was looking for the bathroom… but I noticed your light was on. Is everything all right?"

Ciel sighed.

"Lizzi's missing. She ran from her carriage when she was in Islington and vanished into the crowd," Ciel's eyes narrowed. "God, what was she thinking?"

"Does Sebastian know?" Sam asked, taking a seat on the edge of the Earl's desk and picking up the manila folder, running her finger over the cover. Ciel nodded.

"He gave me this as long as a letter from the Queen."

Sam opened the folder and began to pick through it.

"Ciel, what's a Hope piece?"

He held up his hand and gestured to the two rings.

"The Hope Diamond. It's a blue diamond that is said to bring ill fortune to the wearer. Only a hand full have ever been discovered. One of the larger ones was long ago cut into many pieces and scattered throughout Europe."

Sam nodded.

"Isn't that what Elizabeth gave you?"

He nodded.

Sam sighed.

"Well then, isn't it obvious she's with whoever took all those other girls?"

Ciel winced.

"It's not 100% confirmed."

Sam rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Rich people."

"Sam, would you mind doing me a favor?"

Sam looked up from the documents and different witness testaments to raise an eyebrow at him.

"That depends on the favor."

"Come with me and Sebastian to Islington."

"Why?"

"I don't want to go searching alone."

Sam raised her eyebrows again, this time in confusion.

"Didn't you just say you were going with Sebastian?"

"Earlier, I told him that the Queen's wishes to find the other girls came first. The first and most logical step to this would be to interview the victims' families but…"

"…That wastes time and you really want to look for Lizzi but don't want to have to eat your words," Sam smiled smugly at him, hopping down from her seat on the admittedly comfortable desk. "So you want me to come with you so you can ditch Sebastian."

Ciel smirked but his eye twitched.

"You really are much smarter than Sebastian gives you credit for."

It was Sam's turn to twitch.

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

Sam yawned and stretched, looking out the window of the carriage. The seats were soft and plushy, nothing like the last carriage which had been hard and wooden. She'd even fallen asleep in that. She was going to have a ridiculously hard time staying awake in this one. Sebastian looked at her in amusement as she absent mindedly traced patterns in the frost on the window.

"Young master, why is Sam coming with us?"

Sam sent him a sleepy glare.

"Does it matter?" She grumbled.

"Sebastian, you will leave to question those who knew the victims and come up with a suspect list. Names… Addresses… Then raid the crime scenes. I'm sure three hours will be sufficient."

Sam's silvery-blue eyes widened and she turned to look at Sebastian. Three hours? It would only take that long? Getting that kind of information usually took investigators weeks, months… possibly years.

"While you're doing that, Sam and I will be out taking care of some trifling business. Nothing important, I just didn't wish to walk around alone at night. That' all there is to it."

"I see," Sebastian answered politely, but with a small smile.

"Get on with it," Ciel ordered.

"Yes, my Lord."

To Sam's utter shock, the carriage door sprung open and Sebastian stood on the edge. He turned to her with a small, almost mocking, smile, and turned back to the rushing by outside world.

"I will be seeing you later then, master… my lady." And he jumped, landing gracefully on the dirt road, coat tails fluttering behind him. Sam watched him briefly, eyes closing as she shook her head.

"He's such a show off," she mumbled, trying to hide another yawn.

Ciel raised an eyebrow at her. Sam rolled her eyes at him.

"What?"

"Sam, you don't find it odd that Sebastian just jumped out of a moving carriage and landed completely unscathed? You just think he's showing off?"Ciel snorted. "Maybe I over estimated your intelligence."

Sam's eyebrow twitched.

"Please. Of course I think it's odd. Everything he does is odd. His ability to control Pluto, his perfection, his glowing eyes…" She slowly trailed off, eyelids half closing and mind looking like it was working at a mile a minute. "But… whatever. Whatever Sebastian is- and don't just say 'one hell of a butler'- because I know somehow, he's something more than that…"

"So."

Sam looked up at him.

"So?"

"So what are you going to do about it?" Ciel asked, raising a delicate, dark blue eyebrow. The strawberry blonde looked like she was in deep thought. She put a finger to her chin and tilted her head to the side.

"Nothing."

Ciel looked at her, incredulous.

"Nothing?"

Sam nodded.

"You see, when I was younger, I hated when people would judge someone because of what they were, how rich they were, what they looked like… I'm not about to become a hypocrite, cursing Sebastian while hating all those phonies," Sam rolled her shoulders and stretched. "Besides, no matter how much he annoys the CRAP out of me, I do like him a bit. Either way, he hasn't done anything to truly harm me and he wanted to, he had numerous chances to do so by now."

Ciel said nothing, only gaped at her.

"So… say Sebastian was-"

Sam raised a hand to stop him.

"I don't want to know." She smiled, putting a finger to her lips. "It's more exciting if it's a secret, don't you think?"

Sam raised a hand and clenched a fist in determination.

"I fought off Claude when I was little, so Sebastian should be no trouble!" She grinned, winking in Ciel's direction.

"Claude?" Ciel repeated.

Sam waved her hand at him dismissively.

"Nothing, nothing. Inner joke…"

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

"She said she lost Elizabeth somewhere around here…" Ciel scowled, a vein appearing on his forehead. "But why did we need to bring him?"

Sam nodded in mutual agreement, sending Pluto a scathing looked when he made an almost quiet woof. She still hadn't forgotten all the times he'd tried to maim her.

"I believe it was our dearest Sebastian's idea," she bit out. "He said something along the lines of throwing him at the enemy for a distraction so we could escape…"

Ciel rolled his eyes.

"Honestly… As if either of us has the strength to throw him… even when he's in human form…"

Sam nodded. Pluto looked up at her and she looked down at him. He was dressed in a nice looking suit, why, she had no clue. He would only ruin it. Ciel sighed and looked at the demon hound.

"You're a dog. You can at least distinguish scents, can't you?" He rummaged through his trench coat pockets and pulled out a red strip of fabric. "This is the ribbon from Lizzi's present."

Pluto leaned in to sniff it and sneezed. He scratched at his ear and starting pawing at a small clod of dirt. The vein on Ciel's forehead grew in his frustration.

"Why you… Is Sebastian the only one you'll listen to?" Ciel glared.

Sam held up a finger to stop his angry tirade.

"I have an idea. I've gotten Pluto to do what I've wanted once- yes, it brought great chaos and destruction- but he still listened to me…" Ciel raised an eyebrow at the strawberry blonde as she bent down on one knee in front of Pluto. "Pluto…"

The demon hound looked up at her, tilting his head to the side curiously.

"If you listen to Ciel…" Sam smiled wide, fake. "…I'm sure Sebastian will praise you later."

At that moment, Pluto's nose twitched and his eyes lit up. He turned and sprinted towards a dark ally, pulling Ciel- who was holding Pluto's leash- behind him. Sam smiled and ran after them.

"See! Told you it would wor-" She paused when Pluto stopped. He was tugging on his leash incessantly, trying to get closer to a small, obviously female (considering the pink bow in its hair) dog.

"Don't start rutting here!"

Sam giggled at Ciel's choice of words. There was a high pitched sigh and Sam tensed, looking around the ally. Was there someone…?

"Oh, my! A gentleman in rut? My heart's going pitter-patter!"

The female dog ran away and Pluto gave a sorrowful howl. Sam followed Ciel's gaze to the top of one of the tall buildings. There was someone up there, she noticed, biting her lip. That person had long, flowing red hair and was wearing a red jacket that in her opinion seemed distinctly feminine. Then again, from this angle, Sam couldn't tell if it was a male or female that had spoken. But whoever they are, they sound like a horny prostitute,she thought with a slight smirk.

"I am a hunter of love. My heart is ablaze at the sight of the studly prey before me! Red with heat, sending sparks flying!"

Ciel gasped, images of Madam Red falling slowly backwards as blood spurted from a large cut on her chest filled his mind.

"Red…" He whispered.

Sam stared at him, worry clouding her silvery-blue eyes.

"Ciel… Are you…?"

The young Earl's eyebrows slanted downward, adding to his hate filled glare. Sam shut her mouth and stared back up at the mystery person.

The red clad person turned around, revealing what Sam thought was indeed a man, albeit a very feminine one at that. His pointy teeth and yellow-green eyes flashed in the moonlight.

"I spy a gorgeous man!" He exclaimed.

T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

I bet you'll never guess who this dashing he/she in red is!

Or maybe you will… very easily actually*sweat drops* No Phantom of the Opera references :( Oh well! Until next time my wonderful readers!