"What's in the boxes?" I asked Ciel as I walked back inside from my training. It was much less about teaching me how to fight now and more about trying to coax my more demonic side out without such extreme circumstances. I had been doing some physical training to start off before – oddly enough – meditating for an hour or so. I was getting pretty sick of introspection after the first hour, and had started cracking jokes about doing something sinful and seeing if that would help. Sebastian was having none if it, he was in full-on teacher mode, and the only reward I got were push-ups.
"Weapons," Ciel replied, tapping one of the wooden crates that now sat in the kitchen. "I had a bunch of them brought over from one of my warehouses."
"Oooh, guns?" I grinned and slid my fingers along the edge of the lid to try and get some leverage; I found a small notch and hooked my fingers in. With a grunt of effort and painful creak from the joints in my fingers, I managed to lift the lid off an inch or so. Not demonically impressive, but more than human. Maybe that meditation was working, after all.
Or, maybe it had been the awesome, albeit short, make out session I had goaded Sebastian into before coming back in. Who really knew.
I kneeled and peered in and was met with a silvery shine.
"Not guns?" I frowned as I stood again. Ciel only gave an amused chuckle and came over to the crate I was at. He pulled the lid off the rest of the way without much hassle, the wood groaning in protest as the nails were pulled away.
"Not guns," he repeated, gesturing to the swords of varying lengths that were laid out on some packaging material.
"Not guns!" I giggled in excitement and quickly grabbed up one of them, a short sword with a broad blade. It felt good in my hands, and I turned to Ciel with a sly grin. "If I stab you, will you be mad?"
"Swordplay? I'm afraid I've had more practice than you," he cracked a grin back, picking up one with a much more slender blade for himself. "But it wouldn't be fair, when I stab you, you'll die."
"If you stab me, you'll die too," I giggled , glancing at Sebastian as he walked in. He didn't say anything and he wasn't even glaring, to his credit, but his mouth had twitched into a frown. Ciel rolled his eyes.
"Why don't I show you how to use this? You didn't do anything other than meditate today, right?"
"That, and a shit ton of push-ups," I snorted. Sebastian shot me a disapproving glance as he walked out with two of the boxes stacked in his hand. "I think a little fun is in order."
"Good!" He grinned. "Let's see what you can do with those Hellsing instincts, then!" He raised his sword to me and shifted his weight back to a steady stance.
"Uhh, just," I suddenly didn't feel so confident. "Right here? In the kitchen?"
"Why not? Fight's aren't nice duels in wide open spaces in real life."
"I guess." I gave a few experimental thrusts and slashes before I shifted backwards, too. "Fine! Keep your guard up!"
With that, I started forwards with a smart and easy swipe; Ciel easily backstepped. I came forwards again with a thrust, which was smacked away, this time. I barely had the good mind to shift back and managed to evade the fast strike that came at me. With a grunt, I countered, my body quickly taking over with skills that I'd never learned. I continued to push forwards, evading the lazy strikes that Ciel gave out and not even managing to come close to hitting him.
For as much as his striking lacked much ambition, he was a damn slippery opponent.
I had backed Ciel up to the wall, now, and slashed widely at him; cornered as he was, the logical place for him to go was right behind me. Sure enough, he disappeared from my slight only to reappear with a mildly surprised expression as my sword followed through with the strike to land against his own blade, raised in defense. The shock faded and his blade was suddenly slipping off of mine and rushing at me at an alarming speed; I managed to roll out of the way as the blade connected with the wall. I righted myself and watched as Ciel pulled it out and turned back to me.
"Impressive, I don't think a human would've had an easy time getting that back out of the wall." He grinned, and then we were back at it again.
"Can I help you?" Phenex said, his voice curt but not impolite. He was scribbling in a journal next to a sketch of a rune; all over the room, in neat little stacks and piles, there were papers with various symbols sketched on them. He was examining one such sketch now.
"No. But you can help yourself," said Sebastian, who was standing in the doorway. Phenex paused and then his hand shot up to catch the sword that was sent at him. He continued to write with his other hand.
"Go entertain your mate?" He glanced at the sword before balancing it – almost impossibly – on its tip on the desk absentmindedly. "I'm busy."
"Exactly, my mate, which you apparently knew about, yet decided to tell only to the one person who didn't understand what it meant, then proceeded to intimidate on the matter."
Phenex paused again, eye twitching. "Actually, I am a little bored sitting here. Conveniently, and not at all related to you standing there, I think a good sword fight is in order." He exchanged the pen for the sword.
"What a happy coincidence," Sebastian replied dryly, a dead smirk on his face as he turned to leave.
"You're not bad, especially considering you've never done this before," Ciel smirked. He was getting more and more serious with every swipe of the blade. I, on the other hand, was starting to have a lot more fun with it, swinging in giant arcs that somehow still found their mark and dancing around every returned strike. A sudden movement behind me, and I moved to the side of one of Ciel's thrusts, grabbing his arm and carrying his momentum the rest of the way forwards. There was a soft squelch as his blade sunk into Phenex, Phenex's sword likewise sinking about an inch into Ciel's shoulder as I skirted to the side. They blinked at each other for a moment before they both retracted and turned to me.
"You could do that and you couldn't take care of some humans?"
"Isn't it weird? It's like I feed off of you guys, your energy, the more I'm around you. In an odd twist," I giggled, wagging my sword at them, "I fare better against demons than plain humans!" In the blink of an eye, Phenex and Ciel were coming at me again. I only slid across the counter island and landed, bending over at the waist to move out of the way of the overhead strike. Righting myself and blocking another blow with an overhanded sword, I promptly slapped right in front of me where, sure enough, Phenex had shown up. He was startled for a moment, eyes wide and mouth hanging open as the noise rang out, before I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close. Hooking my foot around his leg, I laced my fingers in his as if we were dancing with my sword at the back of his neck as we swiveled. I snatched the other sword from his hand and dumped him onto the island.
"Two swords?" Ciel grunted. He looked a little weary. "The last person I saw do that…" His grin widened. "Then I won't hold back, for her memory!"
There was barely enough time to block a strong hit, a hit that made my arm shake in effort. Phenex, still in front of me, had maneuvered to gain leverage against the counter. Ciel was sending a heavy slash and me. Phenex gathered leverage. I braced.
Right before Ciel's hit connected – this one, I wouldn't have successfully blocked, I was sure – Phenex aimed and executed a powerful kick forwards. I was sent skidding back, uncut but paying a painful price. Right in the gut, too: if I hadn't been ready, that surely would've been the end. I slammed into the wall in time to process two demons flying at me. Reflexively, I braced the handles of the swords against the wall, blades sticking straight out, and closed my eyes, waiting for impact. It didn't come. Instead, when I opened my eyes, Phenex's claws and Ciel's sword were at my throat, and my own blades… my own swords were at theirs.
"Game, match, and set," I panted, coming out of the slight fuzziness. I dropped the swords. Ciel shrugged and tossed his back in the box unceremoniously. Phenex frowned at me and righted himself, smoothing out his shirt.
"I think you need some work. You're sloppy," he simply said. He turned to head back to his room. I stuck my tongue out at him.
"It wasn't bad for your first time," Ciel started. He picked up the box himself and motioned for me to follow him as he started off to the cellar with it. "Just like we first thought, it looks like you can use a weapon in a pinch. But I wouldn't want to depend on skills like that, would you?" The glance he shot me told me the correct answer was, "no." So, I played along and shook my head at him. "Good. I thought so, too. Especially since you'll be fighting against humans, so you won't have any demonic energy to feed off of. But, I guess the main objective is to prevent that scenario from repeating."
He shook his head with a sigh as he set the box down in the corner of the cellar. I whistled as I came down the stairs after him. It had been converted to a kind of classy looking storage room for the odd assortment of swords and spears and antique pistols and more modern weaponry that now decorated the wall. I knew none of it was decorative.
"Anyhow, the free time you have needs to be spent doing more than basics, now," Ciel continued. I tore myself away from watching the delicate and precise movements of Sebastian as he rearranged everything. "So your training will be less sparring and more practical fighting. Sebastian, do you agree?"
Sebastian hummed in response, not even bothering to look up, prompting Ciel to scoff and head back upstairs. I found my gaze glued to Sebastian again.
Silently, I walked up behind him. He was only just adjusting a rifle of sorts on the wall, but watching his hands move over the gun so sure and delicate made my face burn and set my stomach fluttering.
"Did you want something?" Came Sebastian's annoyed voice. He didn't bother turning around, only continued with his task.
"Yeah," I answered softly. I placed my hand on his shoulder and paused like that for a moment to feel the muscles and tendons and bones swiveling and contracting under the soft grey shirt he was wearing as he worked. He finally seemed to get annoyed and turned before I got the chance to swivel him myself, a mildly perturbed expression over his perfect features.
"What is it?" He asked. I let my eyes flick over him for a second before answering. I seemed to take too long for his liking, and he emphasized, "Lydia?"
"Astaroth." I walked forwards into him, and his expression changed when I said his name.
"What is it, my mate?" He asked again, sounding less annoyed and now more forceful, as if he couldn't wait to hear what I had to say.
"Let me see. Let me look at you," I ordered softly. I reached up to catch his chin to hold his gaze. He seemed to understand and his eyes flickered that deep, beautiful, violent red, his pupils narrowing into inhuman slits. I shivered as my own body reacted with a surge of electric energy.
"Is that all you were after?" He teased, his mouth curling up into a smirk. "Well, if that was all." With that, he slipped away and headed back upstairs, leaving me light headed and buzzing.