Ciel sighed and rubbed his burning eyes. Maybe Sebastian had been right and too much sleep would affect his entire day. Not that he would ever say the demon was right about anything of the sort. Still, he hadn't felt rested all day. Perhaps the adrenaline had been so strong the night before he was still catching up.
Adeline had phoned to say that she wasn't going to be home for dinner. Ciel assumed that she was still with Undertaker as it had been Sebastian who had taken the call, and he hadn't asked him to elaborate. He wondered what they were having since he'd never seen the funeral director eat anything except those strange bone-shaped biscuits he was so fond of.
"I think we should look into going back to the manor," Ciel said. "Now that the play is over, Silas is dead, and his daughter has fled for the moment, there isn't any urgent need for us to stay in London."
"Of course, young master," Sebastian said.
"I think that would be best," Ciel said. "We can always return if anything happens, but I'd feel more comfortable back at the main manor."
Even though he and Sebastian had just been there two nights' previous, it had been a quick visit. He felt more at ease when he was in the main house.
"I'm not sure what Adeline's plans are," Ciel continued. "Based on what I know of her though she has no other family, or at least none that live nearby. She can continue to stay here until she gets back on her feet, which will hopefully be soon. Agni and Prince Soma will look after her I'm sure."
"I have no doubt of that," Sebastian said. "You don't suppose…that she has developed feelings for Undertaker, do you?"
Ciel considered this. It was a little sudden if she had, outside of that day; she'd only met with him twice. And Undertaker was bizarre. He couldn't imagine him being in a courtship at all, let alone with someone as vivacious as Adeline. Still, he supposed anything was possible.
"He did help us out with the vampires," Ciel said. "And she did seem rather interested in his work."
"A fair point," Sebastian replied. "I suppose stranger things have happened."
Ciel wondered if Sebastian meant them, but he pushed the thought away. That was entirely different. But he wondered if their suspicions were true, and Adeline had chosen to remain for the evening because she fancied Undertaker. If only he and Sebastian could have something so simple, instead of the intricate maze they were currently navigating. He supposed, however, that affairs between two humans were much less complex than those of a human and a demon.
The Earl glanced over at the demon. "I've come to the conclusion that it will be near impossible to track down Marina. Now that her father is dead and she's fully aware that we are after her, I doubt that she'll be doing anything for a while except lurking in the shadows. Even if we could find her we're in no condition to deal with her. She appears more powerful than I'd imagined and that is a problem. So we're going to need to reevaluate our plan of attack in the coming weeks."
"Understood, sir," Sebastian said, bowing low. "If there isn't anything else, I should like to take my leave. Dinner will be ready shortly."
Ciel nodded and watched his butler depart. He really wished that he had had more to show for his hours of mulling over the situation. However, this couldn't be helped. There was simply no other way. He supposed that they could strike out wildly in hopes of defeating Marina, but he knew that would be irresponsible. And though, he wouldn't speak it out loud, part of him didn't want to put Sebastian in harm's way again. He knew the demon could hold his own against anything, but this had been the first time he'd seen a chink in the armor. And that worried him.
He let his thoughts drift back to that morning. It had been an unexpected pleasure, snoozing until the late hours of the morning settled against the demon's warmth. It was certainly nothing he had ever thought to try before, but now that he had, he wanted more. This would be more easily accomplished at the manor as well. There would be fewer chances for people to barge in on them.
Sebastian came to collect him for dinner a short time later. He sat down and half-listened while Sebastian explained the finer points of the meal; lamb with mint jelly, creamed carrots and boiled rice, with cranberry bread pudding with lemon-ginger sauce for dessert. It was all tasty as usual, and Ciel ate but found himself studying the butler during the meal.
Sebastian was performing his duties flawlessly as ever, but the Earl sensed there was something off. He had noticed it earlier too, but had brushed it off as fatigue. This was still odd to him, since he hadn't thought the butler could experience as such. Perhaps he was imagining things.
"I'll be glad to be going home," Ciel commented as he climbed into bed that night.
"I quite agree, my lord," Sebastian replied. "It would do to have some semblance of normalcy restored."
"What is normal?" Ciel asked. "Normal for us, I mean."
Sebastian came over to the bed and leaned down, brushing the Earl's hair back from his eyes. Ciel smiled slightly at the touch. "That's a difficult question to answer. I imagine we're still figuring it out."
They left the next morning for the manor and Sebastian had to admit he was quite relieved. Breakfast had been satisfactory. There was a bit of a chill in the air; autumn was in the air and winter wasn't far behind. He knew the Earl hated cold, but he didn't dislike the season. He always counted it a small miracle if he made it to another birthday, not that fourteen was really anything to celebrate.
He knew his charge would have felt a lot more in a celebratory mood in general if he were returning to the manor with the investigation entirely behind him. However, they didn't have that luxury. Marina was still at large somewhere in the world. The pair knew that they probably wouldn't see a trace of her until people started to go missing again.
Ciel had left a letter for Adeline explaining to her where they had gone if she ever made it back to the townhouse. In it he'd explained their position, that they'd come back at once if anything happened, and he had wished her luck with Undertaker. He didn't understand that one at all, but he supposed to each their own. If anything, perhaps the strange silver-haired man might give her a job in his shop. That would at least alleviate part of her hardship.
"I'm quite glad to be back," Ciel had said as he disembarked from the carriage. The demon had quietly agreed.
Things only continued to get worse for Sebastian as the days passed. It had been about two weeks since the events at the Beaumont Estate. The manor had been so thoroughly burned that no traces of what had happened had been uncovered. Ciel had told the Queen that he believed that Silas might have some connections to those missing campers, but he was confident that the most serious of threats had passed. He knew the young master hated to lie to the Queen, but they didn't know when Marina would come back to seek her revenge.
Sebastian had found his condition deteriorating by the day, if not by the hour. He struggled to remain his impeccable self and that he was still accomplishing, but he found it more and more difficult to remain impassive. He had no aversion to pain, but this was unlike any he'd experienced so far. It was as though this constant ache had settled deep within the center of his very bones, needling when he least expected it.
Relations with the young master had also become less enjoyable. He pressed through it because despite the fact that it was becoming uncomfortable to be touched, underneath that it felt good and was still what he wanted. The worst was when the Earl paid any attention to his neck, the site of where Silas's fangs had pricked him. He ignored it, knowing that if he declined, it would arouse suspicion. And he didn't want Ciel to know.
Still…he knew that eventually he might become unfit to fulfill his duties as butler, and he wondered what would happen then. What would become of him? Would he even be a demon anymore, or something else?
Sebastian had been alive for a long time, but given the animosity between demons and vampires, the two often did their best to stay out of one another's way. He knew he certainly would have if this particular clan hadn't intersected with his master's work. Dead humans made little difference to him.
As such, there was little to no information regarding demon's clashing with vampires. Most of the time, one or the other party ended up dead. The result was always gruesome and bloody as either tried to inflict as much pain and damage as they could to the other. He had never heard of a vampire attempting to turn a demon, or of a demon becoming a vampire. He didn't even think it were possible, which explained why his body was reacting so poorly. It was attempting to assimilate to the change and appeared to be failing.
It was extremely shameful what had happened to him. What he had allowed himself to happen. He understood of course, that he had had a choice. He could have let Silas take the young master; he could have spared himself this predicament. Ciel hadn't even commanded him to come to his aid, but he'd been compelled to do so. Not because of the contract, but something deeper than that.
He spent more and more of his time resting often with Ciel, which was again unusual, but he did find that the Earl responded well to this. The younger didn't seem to mind this new stance on being idle. It irked Sebastian in a way to be so unproductive, especially since his to-do list ran endlessly through his mind, even when he was doing nothing, but sometimes he just found himself uncharacteristically exhausted. He reasoned that he would appear less so if the activity itself wasn't too taxing.
At least, I won't have to grow fangs, he thought. This was true; he was already more than well endowed in that department.
However, he found himself proved wrong once more at dinner, where in the middle of serving the dessert he found a sudden stabbing agony inside his mouth. He ignored it as best as he could until he'd set the Gâteau au Chocolat in front of the Earl and then excused himself.
Grateful that sweets would distract his master from almost anything, he hastily made his way to the nearest mirror. He examined the interior of his mouth, noting that his fangs were all still in place, perfectly straight, sharp, and white. But now there were more of them, protruding from the gums above those already there. These were different, slightly cone shaped, tapering, long and sharp like icepicks. They poked at the inside of his cheeks and lips, drawing blood.
Then, as quickly as they had appeared, the fangs began to disappear, retracting back into his gums like a cat's claws retract back into its paws. The pain ebbed to a dull ache and Sebastian let out a heavy sigh. This was getting ridiculous. Perhaps he would yank all the teeth out if they dared to surface again. He swallowed the blood and went back to the dining room.
Sebastian stood there, wondering how long it would take before the change became permanent. The other thought on his mind was whether the young master would invite him into bed again that night. He'd done his best to keep activities light for the most part that week, but Ciel now had a habit of asking if he'd like to stay with him as he had that first morning after the battle at the Beaumont Estate. Though he'd been a little confused at first, he had grown to feel a certain enjoyment at embracing the Earl as he slept. Given everything that was happening, he felt a certain comfort in staying close to the other. He knew how quickly it would disappear if his condition surfaced.
Ciel finished his dessert and declared he wanted to go to bed early. Sebastian followed up the stairs, toward the bathroom, noticing a soft rushing noise in his ears. He couldn't remember when it had started, but it refused to go away, even when he shook his head and cleaned his ears. Maybe he had left a window open somewhere; it was windy and his demon hearing quite sensitive.
Sebastian ran the bath and undressed the Earl, hoping that the fangs wouldn't reappear. That had been the first real physical change to occur, and he found it worrisome. He found the soap and began to wash Ciel's hair. He paused halfway through, considering something, then leaned forward and pressed a kiss against the young master's damp neck.
Ciel sat up a bit straighter in the water, and he turned to look at Sebastian his eyes widened slightly. Sebastian drew back with despair clouding his mind. The rushing noise was even louder now and as he stared back at the Earl he knew exactly what it was. It was the sound of his master's blood as it pumped through his veins.
Sebastian finished the bath quickly and put the Earl to bed, shutting out the curtains and leaving the room with the briefest of goodnights. He had realized that if he concentrated on the sound he could almost feel the heartbeat of his master inside himself. It was odd and vibrated throughout his very being. He'd had to get away though the sounds didn't stop, and he became aware of others as well as he passed Tanaka in the hall. Different blood patterns and heartbeats. And it all sounded heavenly.
A/N: Thank you to all my lovely readers. It's Thanksgiving here, so I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. If you are one of my awesome peeps not from the USA, of which I am excited to have many, I hope you have a pleasant day as well.
Dardar1: You'll just have to wait and see. Sometimes you just have to throw stones at more powerful characters. ;)
Aservis Roturier: Thanks for reviewing! It's heading in a different direction than I had originally thought for this story. Truthfully I wasn't sure how everything would turn out, but I am happy with the results. :)
