Thank you to everyone for your reviews, favorites and follows. I apologize for my delayed update but I have found myself busy with classes and determining how to play this out. Now my ideas have settled and I present chapter 12.

By midnight both butlers arrived at their usual forest meet up. After exchanging pleasantries and a kiss Claude explained what exactly would be occurring. They would be staying the night at his family's estate and the spider demon hoped that his parents would accept their relationship and allow them to remain together. Seeing as they were a rather high ranking family, it was expected of him to mate with one of similar stature. That proved to be a setback.
"I apologize in advance for my father. He may be rude and intrusive on some subjects. I ask you to please remain polite, regardless of what he says." The spider demon wrapped his arms around his mate's waist and pulled him closer before whispering into his ear. "I promise I will repay you greatly for this."
Sebastian felt a small smile pull at his lips and he kissed the other's cheek. "I shall hold you to that promise."
"Of course. Now, shall we go?"
Sebastian nodded and held Claude's now ungloved hand as they made their way through the forest to the portal that loomed nearby. Portals were quite troublesome to create, causing the two demons to instead use a portal that remained nearby. Portals were fickle things, appearing one place one moment before disappearing. Their patterns were tricky, but were patterns nonetheless. Once you managed to figure out exactly where a portal would be travel became a breeze. It was much simpler than going through the trouble of creating your own portal. In fact, the only demons capable of easily maneuvering from the human realm to the demon realm were the royal members of hell.
Within a few moments they stopped, sensing the portal nearby. Portals disrupted the air around them, causing an unusual frigid air to assault you. To any humans it would cause them to change course, attempting to escape such a strange and uncomfortable sensation.
Suddenly Claude stopped and glanced over at Sebastian, studying him for a moment before gently cupping his cheek.
"This is the last chance for you to change your mind."
The raven demon gave him a confused look.
"Whatever would I change my mind about?"
"Us. Given that my parents do accept you as my mate that means that we will be even further into this mateship. Are you certain that you wish to be with me as a permanent lover?"
"Why on earth would you ask such a ridiculous question? I told you that I wished to be with you and I do not lie."
"I am aware. I merely wish to be certain that this is what you truly desire. I do not want to force you into more than you are comfortable with. I can never see myself with someone other than you, nor do I ever wish to. I want to know that you feel similar and if you do not than I shall accept that."
Claude's words were met with a soft swat on the chest.
"Such gibberish is unnecessary. I am certain that I wish to be with you. Why else would I leave the manor at absurd hours of the night? I even went as far as to lie to my Young Master."
The spider demon pressed his lips against the other's gently before allowing a slight smile to taint his usually stoic face.
"That was merely a precaution. I am glad to find that you feel towards me as I to you."
Sebastian snickered and closed his eyes, smiling gently. "You are far different than you allow yourself to appear."
"Ah, now I can say the same to you."
"I suppose you could."
"Not that I do not find this conversation to be amusing, but we mustn't dawdle further. The sooner we arrive at my parent's estate the sooner we may leave."
"Agreed."
Without allowing any further disruptions the twosome ventured into the portal, allowing their demon forms to consume them as they felt their surroundings change suddenly. An eerie feeling of weightlessness breezed through them for only a moment before their feet touched earth again and they glanced at one another.
Amused smiles grew on both of their pale faces as they took in the other's true form. A demon's real form was considered unsightly to humans; undesirable, or at the very least that was Sebastian's thoughts on the subject. Claude on the other hand thought differently. He believed that humans were much too tainted, too unattractive. In his eyes only a demon's true form could even begin to capture true beauty. They held a sinister angelic appearance, some much more than others. They were fallen angels, after all. That gave them the grace and beauty of the angels along with the seductive and cunning nature of a force considered impure. He had always wondered how beautiful a being could truly be, that is until his golden eyes settled on Sebastian's demon form.
The plum haired demon felt his breath catch in his throat as he gazed at the slightly smaller demon standing beside him. His normal butler attire had switched to what appeared to be a black leather, skin tight shirt and pants pair topped with a pair of knee high black shoes that hosted a heel that appeared to be unbearably high. Lovely black, segmented horns curled from his lush black hair and large midnight black wings protruded from his back, flapping gracefully in the suddenly cold air.
"Lovely…" Claude found himself unconsciously uttering the words, his eyes greedily taking in his mate's body.
"Pardon?' Sebastian inquired, his eyes roaming the spider demon shamelessly. He quite liked what he saw. Dark horns with a purple hue arched from his head, forming a small swirl higher atop his head than Sebastian's own. His clothing consisted of similar black, leather attire, although there were white designs lining both his shirt and pants, giving it the appearance of several giant spider webs strung together. In the middle of both was a purple spider. Although the spiders themselves held no significant value the color did. Only demons of high ranking were allowed to wear such a color.
"Never before have I seen a sight lovelier than this." The spider demon purred, resisting the urge to forget his promise to his parents and instead spend the night indulging in his beautiful raven.
"You flatter me, although I believe I have the pleasure to see the more magnificent view." The Raven demon smiled softly as he felt a strong arm snake around his waist and pull him closer, enjoying the close proximity between his mate and himself.
"Mmm." Claude hummed softly as he escorted Sebastian down the black streets, ignoring the looks they were receiving from other demons. A dull light filtered from above, symbolizing that night had fallen here as well and dark, looming buildings lined the sides of the gravel road. Some served as shops while others were houses. Despite the fact that night had fallen the streets were full of demons. Seeing as demons were considered angels of darkness it was only natural that they preferred the soothing cover of dark rather than the irritable glow of light.
The spider demon pulled Sebastian even closer to him as he caught others stares on them both, slowly studying them. This was his way to show any other demon within sight that Sebastian was his and his alone. That way any wondering eyes would stray away. While demons were persistent they certainly weren't stupid. None of the low ranking demons around would dare attempt to steal a Spider's chosen mate, not ones that wished to live, that is.
Sebastian glanced around warily, fully aware of other demon's gazes on him. His appearance was rather feminine, despite him being fully male, and that never ceased to gain other demon's attentions. While he was certainly stronger than the other demons surrounding them at the moment he found Claude's presence to be comforting. While the raven's own outward appearance was attractive and what some would refer to as enticing the spiders was anything but. The other was certainly handsome, although what stood out more was his intimidating and cold nature. Surely that in itself would scare off any demon that dared to muster up the courage to speak to either of them. They were not here for social business; merely work and quite frankly they did not like disturbances. Perhaps those were traits they had gained while serving as a butler.
It appeared as though luck was in their favor for the moment for they happened to appear rather close to the spider manor, whether or not this luck would remain throughout the night was meager at best.
The crimson eyed butler felt his mate stiffen slightly as they stepped onto the spider property, a large plum manor looming only feet from where they stood. A part of Claude told him to turn back now, a foreboding feeling nestling within his stomach. If he had been human the spider demon believed that he would have felt sick.
Sebastian having felt his love suddenly tensing up glanced at him.
"Surely they cannot be that terrible."
"I can assure you they are. I must admit it does not help that you are unaware of your ranking in hell."
The raven demon switched his gaze to the ground and he muttered.
"Yes…. It truly is a pity. I'm afraid that I was left alone when I was a mere child. I have not the slightest idea of what my rank would be." Had Claude been paying close enough attention he would have realized the lie in Sebastian's words.
"A pity indeed." Golden eyes closed in frustration and Claude sighed lightly. "I suppose there is no use dwelling on that topic. We will simply have to see how things play out from here. I can only hope that my parents are in a good mood today. Especially my father."
Sebastian nodded and kissed Claude's cheek in silent encouragement.
With one final sigh the spider demon led them into the manor, the sense of dread illuminating from the manor setting the perfect atmosphere for the events that were yet to play out. Pity to the raven and spider for falling into such a trap, it appeared as though the spider so used to doing the trapping was now to be the one trapped. An ironic fate indeed~.