A/N: Past the 200 review mark! Thank you to all my loyal readers who put up with my long absences and short chapters, I love you all.

Also, I've gotten the largest review I've ever gotten before! And the demand was for …something… I can't quite recall, they weren't very clear on what they wanted from me, but oh well, here is a chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than my characters.

Chapter 28: Father's Warning

"F- father? You're my father?"

The tall demon had crossed his arms and was now setting her with and appraising look.

"Don't act dim." he scolded, "You know what I say is true."

And she did. Ever since she had set her eyes on him she had had a tugging of familiarity on the back of her mind. She couldn't place it and had dismissed as nonsense of course, but the instinctual knowledge of who this man was wouldn't leave her now.

Then the obvious follow up question would be.

"Why are you here?"

Her father sighed as though he was inconvenienced by her curiosity.

"To kill you."

Lilis jerked back and brought herself into a defensive position. The move caused the demon to laugh loudly and hold his hand up. "I'm joking."

Lilis was hesitant to relax again, nonetheless.

"I'm merely checking up on you, once again. You don't know how long it's been since a saw you last. 200 years? 300?"

"Why would you care about my well being?" Lilis asked. It wasn't said in a malevolent voice, she truly wanted to know. She was fairly certain demons weren't running for good father awards so why would he bother?

His answer was simple enough. "I don't. Not yet anyway."

He uncrossed his arms. "But you're different. You have been a curious creature since the day you were born. I'm eager to see what you become."

He tilted his head to the side and murmured absently. "You look like your mother."

The demoness couldn't tell if the statement was a compliment or condemnation. Before she could ask, he continued.

"You're still young, Lilis. I want you to become stronger. As you are, you are hardly worthy of being called my daughter."

"Who says I give a damn about you acknowledging me as your daughter?" she growled at him. "I've been quite alright without you, if you hadn't noticed!"

He brushed off the anger directed at him and ignored her question.

"Become a stronger demon, Lilis. Your life depends on it."

He turned away from her. "I'll be in touch."

In a flurry of pitch black feathers he was gone suddenly, leaving Lilis alone with her thoughts and confusion.

In the morning, when Sebastian knocked on the door to Lilis' room, there was no response. He opened the door and looked inside, half expecting the demoness to have vacated the room in the night, just as she had before.

Instead, he saw the carmine haired woman, sitting in the side of the bed, still in her night gown and in deep thought.

He entered the room casually, as not to surprise her with his presence, since she had yet to show awareness of him.

It wasn't until he was standing directly in front of her that she lifted her eyes from her lap to him.

They weren't the lively amethyst he had come to expect. Right now, her eyes were a pale lavender that broadcasted her weary state to him.

He didn't ask her any questions, figuring she would speak when she chose to. He was confused at the fatigue she showed. It would be a normal sight, to see a human tired after a restless sleep, but she was a demon. He only slept as a luxury on the rare occasion. Was it not the same for her?

"Sebastian."

She practically whispered the name then repeated it in a stronger voice.

"Did you… know your father?"

The demoness had a way of saying exactly the opposite of what Sebastian would've expected. For a moment, he mused over whether or not he should answer.

"Yes." He finally admitted.

Lilis smiled. "I didn't expect to get a straight answer from you." she revealed as she rose to her feet. Her eyes darkened back to their normal deep purple and the butler found himself strangely relieved.

He had been standing close enough in front of her, that when she got to her feet the distance between them lessened significantly. Had they been the same height, their noses would practically be touching.

She tried to move past him, but he shifted left, blocking her exit. When she leaned right, he did the same thing.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired as he kept her between himself and the bed.

She glanced away. "Simple curiosity."

He didn't believe that for a second and refused to allow her an exit. He wasn't really interested in her honest answer. He was enjoying keeping her there. She was still focusing her attention on the wall as though she would burn a hole though it. Sebastian could tell she was desperate to avoid eye contact with him and he realized why when he noticed the red staining across her face.

Well he had a question of his own he decided to finally ask.

"Then answer this question for me. I'm curious and I would like an honest answer, Lilis."

He circled on her so they were eye to eye and grabbed her shoulder to disallow any attempt to turn away again.

"What is your relationship with the Undertaker?"

Similar to Sebastian, that wasn't the question Lilis was expecting, and it caught her completely off guard.

"He's my closest friend." she responded defensively.

"Just friends?"

Lilis blushed even deeper, when the implication sunk in.

Her and Undertaker?

She'd admit the thought may have crossed her mine once every so often. It was to be expected, she thought. After all, they had been friends for so long. Samil was interesting and entertaining, adorably strange most of the time and reliable whenever she needed him. Not to mention, under all that hair, the undertaker had a sinfully enjoyable façade. But even if the thought had occurred to her in the past, they were still…

"Just friends." she confirmed and once more tried to leave, but the butler had yet to move and she remained trapped.

"One more question then." Sebastian continued and his red eyes pierced into her own. "Tell me, Lilis," he leaned in closer and the space between them was practically none existent. "Your thoughts on me? Have you ever thought about it?"

It was obvious. Just like his intentions.

If the Undertaker was no lover of hers, then he had no concerns about crossing the eccentric man. All he needed was a crack, a doorway, a nibble on the line.

Lilis was silent. Her expression showed her reluctance to open her mouth, but whether he had meant to or not, Sebastian had asked her a question that she had to answer and answer honestly.

The situation wouldn't be such a problem if only Lilis could say 'no'.

But she couldn't.

First her head nodded slowly once. The she muttered under her breath the word Sebastian had been waiting to hear.

"Yes."

Lilis tensed, waiting for the (somewhat) unwanted attentions of the demon to begin. So it came as a yet another surprise when Sebastian simply released her and stepped back.

He, of course, was looking like the cat that caught the canary, but he didn't seem about to take any untoward actions.

She eventually relaxed, though she kept the confused expression that was peppered with hints of enduring suspicion.

Sebastian smiled. "That wasn't so hard to admit, now was it?"

She shot him an annoyed look and said. "Just leave so I can change."

The butler complied without a fight and left the room. The door made a soft 'click' behind him and Lilis let out a long suffering sigh.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Sebastian had left a dress for her to wear on the end table.

Sebastian smiled minutely and admitted in his mind, that he was enjoying controlling the demoness' wardrobe.

The palatinate purple dress she wore had a low neckline with an off the shoulder cut. Her arms were without adornment save a bracelet of carved ivory roses that matched the ivory hair piece in her tresses.

He savored the sight of her exposed caramel skin as the woman sat once again, across from his young master. Instead of continuing their form of questioning from the previous evening, a normal conversation was silently agreed upon.

The butler found it interesting, the two seemed to get along rather cordially now that they bore no animosity toward each other. Their conversation was running smoothly as Lilis told stories of her life to the boy. She never gave much information on herself, he realized, but she spoke in vivid detail of centuries past and the young Earl was transfixed.

"It was after Henri III was crowned King of France-" she currently was recalling. "He had a mistress that I had become rather good friends with in court, Jullienne Pelletier. You'd think a king would be enough but she also had a fondness for a young duke named Bertrand Dupont. She was a clever girl and neither ever actually became aware of the other's relationship with the mademoiselle."

"You've met Henri III? How did you manage that?"

"You'd like to know?" asked Lilis, before she tapped her forefinger against her chin in thought.

"Things are more difficult for you humans. As a demon I was never bound by things like a permanent identity. I may be Lilis in the end, but long ago I was Lucinde Fortescue, Comtesse de Chauvigny and welcome in the court of Henri the Third." Lilis reminisced.

"I can hardly imagine how many people you may have been." Ciel mused aloud, happy he had finally managed to glean some personal information from the demoness.

"Not as many as you'd think. For every advantage an identity brings, anonymity brings two."

"Have you met other kings?"

"Kings aren't as interesting as you'd expect, Ciel. Artists, however. I've met many artists in my time. Shen Zhao, Mariotto Albertinelli, Domenichino, François Quesnel…" she listed. "I'm sure you've not heard of a single one of them."

She was right, Ciel wasn't very knowledgeable about dead painters, but he knew of Henri III and that meant Lilis was at least 300 years old. For every bit of information he learned about the demoness, his curiosity in Sebastian increased.

Said butler was standing beside him silently, listening to them converse. But Ciel never asked the questions to his servant that he currently asked Lilis. It was an unspoken rule between them it would seem and Ciel knew he'd probably never ask. He doubted the demon would answer at any rate.

"Sebastian, prepare a meal. We'll have lunch early today." Ciel commanded. Sebastian bowed and went to complete the task.

"What do you know of Sebastian?" Ciel asked, once the butler had left.

Lilis shook her head. "There's nothing I can tell you about your butler that you wouldn't already know, Little Earl."

"Could you find out?"

"It's not so simple."

Ciel's disappointment was broadcasted by his expression.

The young boy's gloom brought a damper upon Lilis' own mood and she thought of how she wished she could help him. But the demoness knew better. Figuring out Sebastian's past would be practically impossible, short of slicing him through with Undertaker's scythe.

The image brought a smile to her face anyway.

"If I ever were to learn something, then I assure you, you'll be the first to know. Who knows? Maybe he'll tell me something willingly."

Ciel didn't really smile, but the corners of his lips tilted upward enough for Lilis to deem it so and she counted it as a successful cheering up.

In the kitchen, Sebastian was preparing lunch at a human's pace. Just because he could do multiple tasks in the span of a few minutes didn't mean he couldn't slow it down every now and again.

While he chopped vegetables, he thought about earlier. Why had Lilis asked him about his father of all things? What had bothered her before he had entered her room that morning?

As he contemplated it all, a small chill ran up the back of his neck. He felt a sense of foreboding that sank into his core.

Without warning he spun around and whipped the knife he had been holding though the air, imbedding it moments later into a shadowed corner of the wall.

Nothing there.

The foreboding feeling lifted as he walked over to yank the kitchen knife from the wall, until he looked down and saw the specks of blood on the ground beside his shoes.

AN: Any criticisms regarding historical accuracy and probability will most likely be ignored. I did my best. Sorry.