Author's Note:
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or any of it's characters. I only claim Serena, Asta as well as the demons and descendents that I introduce.
Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium does exist in London. I claim no ownership and have no idea how it works, I just thought that it was cool and fitting for this story.
A Demon's Mate
Chapter Forty Four
Undertaker opened the door leading into the living area from the shop and slid off the heavy robing that was as much a part of his identity as his name. Hanging the black length and trailing hat on the back of the door was mechanical, something he did without thinking, leaving his mind to wander. He remembered that Serena had been inside this space and he wondered what she had thought of his current residence. Did she see what she had expected to see, or did she see through the lie? Did she see that it was a front, something to remind him of the part he was supposed to play for the rest of the world? Did she see the wish that he could be a simple funeral director or even a simple reaper? Could she tell that he wanted no part of the viscous politics and battles that came with being close to his father?
His feet took him to the table that held the pictures and portraits he had kept throughout his long life. The only possessions that he truly had. Each had meant something, each had touched some part of him throughout the years. Some good, some bad. And for each of them, he was the only one to remember anymore.
The picture of Vincent and a child Ciel caught his attention. He wasn't the only one to remember these two as they were, as they would never be again. The urge to smash the glass, all of them was almost overwhelming. Recognizing the familiar feeling, he set the frame down and moved away.
The wall that formed the small kitchen stopped him and he looked through the doorway to the small table and it's one chair. Loneliness was not something new and his eyes drew back to the pictures. They had the function of reminding him of why he didn't leave his shop much and the price he paid when he did. The price of getting close to humans with their short lifespans. But they burned so brightly and every few years the need for warmth would take over again. And soon, too soon after, another picture would join his collection.
Exhaustion pulled, jerked at his awareness as he slumped against the wall. Shaking his head to clear it, Aelius walked to his bedroom while thinking of the last time he had slept. It hadn't been that long ago, he should have been fine for days more. The battle with Jonathan and the emotional toll of seeing his father had drained everything he had. Seeing the Fallen always did.
The door was open, so he could stagger straight to the bed. He had always kept his door closed. No one came into his home. But, Serena had been in here. He could feel her essence just inside the doorway. It didn't come any further in and he wondered if she had been shocked by the space. In this one room he didn't have to lie, to anyone. He didn't have to put things up or act when he was anything but one of them and knew it. It hadn't always been like that. He didn't always understand that he was different than everyone else. Didn't always care that others saw him as different.
The thought ripped open the memories he kept suppressed as exhaustion sucked him under. He tried to fight it, knew what memory it would throw up, but the pull was too strong and he was lost.
*****************A Demon's Mate***************
Ciel saw a black shadow above him as he struggled to pull the hot air around him into his lungs. The familiar guise of his butler was gone and in it's place was the being he had seen so long ago when he was certain he was going to die. Black wings reached for the ceiling and the he heard the tinkling of metal chains as the demon knelt next to him.
"Lord Phantomhive." Thousands of voices coalesced into one called to him. "Lady Elizabeth will be most upset."
"Is...he?" His voice had almost no sound as he tried to speak.
The demon looked back to the body leaning against the wall. Blood covered the area behind the body and most of the head was missing from a single shot. A certain satisfaction welled within the demon and he smirked turning back.
"He's quite dead, as is his demon."
Ciel nodded, the movement causing pain throughout his body. The demon took his wrist and pulled the young man to lay on his side as coughs wracked his body.
********************A Demon's Mate****************
Serena blinked at the small cat that meowed at her through the window of the building Lucifer had led her to. The pretty calico watched them both as the red head turned back to the Fallen.
"Where are we?"
"Lady Dinah's. I thought that you might share your mate's love of felines."
"I told him that wasn't a big secret."
Lucifer only smiled as he opened the outer door and waved her through.
"Don't you have to have a reservation to come here?" Serena asked as they stopped just inside the door.
"Oh, so you have seen it?" His smile turned into a smirk as he pushed her forward from a hand on her back. "Do you think that I cannot get one?"
"The snarky tone was unnecessary." She said under her breath as a smiling woman came up to them.
"Mr. Adams, welcome back. We have your table ready."
Serena stared back at the Fallen. "Really? I guess Sebastian isn't the only one who likes cats."
The smile stayed in place as he pushed Serena to follow the woman leading them through the cafe.
********************A Demon's Mate******************
It was a perfect day, he remembered that. Strange, he was always himself in this dream but now he stood apart and watched it happen. He could still feel everything as it happened. Clean air, heated by the summer sun but with the first bite of chill had filled his lungs as his mother followed him to the little place by the river that he had claimed as his own. No one else from the village ever came back into the forest this far. Not when the river ran its course next to the small settlement. There was no need to venture this deep when game could be found in the thinner trees and grain grown in the fields and water from further downstream. It was deserted and his. Another world that no one saw but him. And now his mother.
Asta had looked around his secret place with a strange smile on her face. When asked, she had told him that she had wandered through the same trees when she had been young as well.
'Of course you would find this place.' Her fingers had passed over the rough bark of a tree in the center of the small clearing.
'Mother?'
She had laughed. 'I met your father here.'
'Really?'
Asta had moved behind the tree and pointed a spot a little up the river. 'I had run here one night when I was upset with my mother and he was right there. I thought him the moon spirit bathed in it's light.'
She came back around, leaving the shade of the tree's leaves to sit in the sun.
'What happened?'
Asta pulled the boy down to sit with her and wrapped her arms around her son.
'He gave me a gift. A little moon spirit of my own.'
Aelius remembered the feel of her hands as she had stroked his hair. The silver strands he shared with his father and no one else in their home possessed. The same color he found so rare throughout his travels of the world.
Exhaustion had pulled at him that day too. He had tried to fight it's pull, hard to do with the sun warming him and wrapped in his mother's arms. The softer her strokes through his hair became, the further his eyes had drifted close. One last rally and he tried to pull away.
'I can't sleep. Father's coming and you said that you would spend the day with me.'
'I am here. And you should sleep before your father gets here. Right?'
She had hummed as he cuddled back into her side, urging him to lay down in the sun's warmth. He still remembered the way the grasses had moved, bowing to the wind his father made as his feet touched the earth and large wings folded behind him. Aelius had tried to get up when a weight had slid over his body and his mother shifted. One of his father's large wings stretched over the three of them as he laid down on his son's other side. A larger hand and longer fingers, tipped with black nails like his own had taken over for his mother's and relaxed him into sleep.
As his mind went blank, he heard his mother's voice still humming.
Undertaker came back out of the memory with dread pooling in his stomach. His mind ran through dozens of meetings between his parents and one fact stuck out. One thing he had refused to see until it had been shoved in his face.
"He never touched her."
********************A Demon's Mate********************
"So, what do you want?" Serena asked the minute the waitress had left them.
"Straight to the point?" He seemed a little distracted as a small black cat came into the room and pawed at Serena's leg.
"It saves time." She smiled as she leaned back and let the cat jump into her lap.
Lucifer smiled and leaned forward in his chair.
"I want what you want."
The red head glared. "And what would that be?"
"You want me to spend time with my son and so do I. I just have a small problem with him wanting to spend time with me." He folded his hands on top of the table as he spoke, drawing her attention to gloves like Edwin and Lucien wore.
'I wonder if there is like a demon supply store. "All you need to blend in with the cattle".'
Lucifer sighed in irritation as he noticed her attention waver. He snapped his fingers to bring her back to reality. "Could we focus?"
"Sorry."
"It's alright." He smirked, showing teeth. "I'm aware that I am quite distracting."
"Ugh. Do you cop that superior attitude when you're around him too? Because, that may be the reason he's not so excited when you show up."
The Fallen ignored her and forged onward as if she hadn't spoken.
"Last night was the first time he has ever let his venom down to listen to me." Lucifer shifted in his seat. "I admit that perhaps, I should have taken the direct approach from the beginning."
"You think?"
"Attitude is obviously not just my problem."
Serena glared at him as the woman returned and set a cup and saucer in front of each of them, as well as a tiered carousel with little sandwiches. Her glare shifted to the drink.
"Ugh, more tea." The cat in her lap put his paws on the table to sniff the cup's contents. After shaking it's head, the little cat jumped on the table and sniffed the food.
Lucifer smirked as she sneered at the cup. "Welcome to London."
Serena grabbed the cat from the table and settled it back in her lap. "So, what do you want from me?"
"Aelius listens to you." He settled his hands around the cup but made no move to drink any of it.
"What? You want me to tell him that you're not manipulative or full of yourself, with a snarky and superior attitude?"
"You've known me such a short time. There are many facets to my personality that you know nothing of. Besides, he seems to like people with that attitude."
Serena flinched, as he wanted. "You're right and your son has known you much longer than I have. I think that if he's going to listen to anyone about you I think that it would be himself."
"Lucky for me, talking not what I had in mind." There was something in his eyes that made Serena shiver and hold the little cat a little tighter as his eyes started to glow. "I'm sure that your mate would appreciate your working with me."
******************A Demon's Mate*****************
The demon currently named Sebastian watched the steady progression of death that he was intimately familiar with. He knew the steps of this dance better than most. Death had never been a bother to him, having caused unnumbered amounts of lives to end. Humans lived and then they died. Most of them, he was quite happy to end. There was a certain pleasure in being done with an enemy...or an idiot, as most humans were. He knew the gasping breath and shakes as the body tried to save itself, as organs fought to continue, the brain sending frantic signals to live.
An exceptional brain. The mind that struggled so hard to keep up with him, to surpass him. Something that would never happen. It wasn't just intelligence, which the young man below his hands had in spades. What set the demon apart was experience. Years upon years upon years of experience that Ciel could never hope to match in his short, human lifetime.
His fingers followed his thoughts and brushed the fragile skin of his former master's forehead. Impeccably cared for skin, cared for by himself, was soft under his fingers as he trailed down to the eye that use to carry his mark. The despair that had once filled those eyes was long gone. Slowly, the fire that had blazed, keeping the young lord going through pain and death and loneliness was dimming out for himself.
He shook his head, looking at the young man's soul that was still as bright as ever. There was nothing he or anyone else could do to dim that light. His choice had been made years ago, when he choose to save himself rather than fade away quietly. To see the world as it was and to exterminate the evil that he could. It was a small effort, he could say that it was for the queen but the demon knew, it was for himself. Some small attempt to stem the screaming in him own head, but the result was the same. Lord Phantomhive's work for the queen had put him a position to deal with evil and save the lives of humans. Something that was always smiled upon in the cosmic way of things, regardless of the reason.
His fingers moved to lay over the sputtering heart, trying so hard to pump blood and oxygen that it wasn't getting to the rest of the body.
There would be no offer this time as the body struggled to live and failed. The demon had learned his lesson well and there was nothing else that the human wanted.
There would be regrets, things that hadn't been accomplished or taken care of. A family name that would disappear and a fiancé that would be heartbroken by a funeral instead of a wedding. But none of those was enough. The allure of life had faded long ago.
There was nothing to be said as each waited for the ending of their relationship.
The demon didn't know why he couldn't walk away, there was nothing to be done and no reason to wait for the soul to be released. His fingers moved to the human's throat. It would be easy to speed this process up, to make death come sooner and possibly easier. There was no fear in blue eyes as the nails moved softly over sensitive skin, fragile bone and flesh. But still, he pulled back and rested his hand gently over the heart again as a beat was missed completely. There was no need.
"Goodbye, Lord Phantomhive."
Awareness slipped out of the blue eyes staring at him as the chest took one last breath and stilled.
Not quite understanding the feeling in his chest the demon stood from beside the corpse. "Goodbye Ciel."
*****************A Demon's Mate**************
Undertaker heard the bell over the door of the shop ring and set down the wood he was working with. Picking up the nearby cloth, he wiped his hands and headed through the door to the main shop.
The reaper stopped at the red head standing just inside the door. Serena looked around the shop as if she had never seen it before, focusing on anything else. Her hands fidgeted with the bottom of her shirt, betraying the nerves she was feeling.
"I figured that you would be on your way to America by now."
"I wasn't ready to leave yet." She moved over to the wall of urns, still not looking at him. "You never told me what happened to the others."
"The others?"
"The servants."
Undertaker blinked at her for a moment. "Lord Phantomhive provided a generous living for each of them. He gave them one of his properties in the country that wasn't entailed in the estate and more than enough funds to live comfortably. Tanaka took his annuity and stayed close to his daughter and her family in London. The others stayed together for the rest of their lives. Finian retained his child-like personality and was a beloved uncle to Bard and Mei-Rin's children."
"Mei-Rin and Bard got married?"
Undertaker nodded with a smile of his own. "That was interesting to watch. Snake stayed with them for a while before striking out on his own. Lady Elizabeth offered him a place with her household but he turned it down, still self-conscious of his appearance. He took to traveling, something that he found he had missed, only a few years after Lord Phantomhive's passing. He did come back every few years though. I believe part of the reason was that they all kept their ears open for any whisper of a perfect butler in black. Mei-Rin insisted on keeping a room for Mr. Butler in case they ever found him."
"So, they never figured out that he wasn't human?"
"Your mate is quite good at fooling humans. They don't want to think that there is anything else but themselves at the top of the food chain. It was a bit harder when humans were ruled by superstition, but in this age of enlightenment and science..." He let the sentence drift as Serena nodded quickly.
"I was the same. So convinced that the stories I like to read or shows that I like to watch were nothing but someone's incredible imagination."
"So why did you really come, Serena? Your mate could have told you all this. He set a guard on the family before moving on." Undertaker moved to sit on the top of a display coffin.
"Well, he seems to be a little busy right now." The red head stared at the wall of urns.
"True, but this information was vital to your survival?"
"I do care what happened to them." She glared at him for a second before turning away quickly.
"I never said that you didn't." Undertaker looked to the door. "Why is my father outside?"
The red head flinched and hunched in on herself a bit. "He came with me."
"I see."
Serena reached up to a stone on the shelf. It was exactly as described. Beautiful in it's deep purple color with swirls of something other that seemed to pulse with a heartbeat. It was only thought to be decoration the first time she had noticed it. Only a few knew the stone carried another purpose. Such a rare piece, it had never been named. Only a few in the history of time had seen or touched one. Unless they came into a certain funeral parlor to look at arrangements for a loved one.
It shattered easily as it hit the floor and purple turned black and useless. No longer holding the power to keep the Fallen from walking into his home.
"Ah, thank you Serena." Lucifer smiled easily as he moved through the door. "I believe that Edwin is waiting outside for you."
"I'm staying."
Both men looked at Serena as she stepped away from the wall and stood a little taller.
"Oh, I see." Lucifer smiled. "You're trying to make up for the fact that you betrayed my son by getting rid of one of his most valuable protections and inviting me in."
Serena flinched again and looked at the floor.
"Stop it." Undertaker blocked his father's view of the red head. "I know what you're doing. I'm the one that says if I was betrayed at all and I wasn't. I'm sure there is some kind of threat or twisted logic involved. There always is."
The Fallen's smiled dimmed a little but he shrugged and walked around the little shop.
Aelius watched his father move around the sales area and remembered countless meetings and ensuing arguments. Remembered when he allowed people close to him and how his father had found a way to use every single one of them.
"You just don't get it. You don't understand how to do anything that doesn't include maneuvering people where you want them to be. That doesn't make them do something that they don't want to do simply because you want them to do it. You can't see any other way. You want me to be mad at her. To see that humans are weak creatures that will throw away anyone to save themselves. Fine, I already know that, but I would never have pitted Serena against you to begin with. I would expect her to throw me at you instead. I have a better chance of walking away with my throat intact."
Lucifer stopped his perusal to stare. "You say that as if you believe that I would attack my own son."
"If I didn't fit into your plans, if I hadn't been good enough to protect myself, I'm not sure that you wouldn't."
"So, this is what you think of me."
His voice was quiet, still watching for the smallest movement from the other man. "I don't know what to think of you."
"Not always." The Fallen raised an eyebrow. "I remember a time that you were happy to see me."
"I'm not so naïve now."
Lucifer stood up straighter and Undertaker knew that he had hit a nerve.
"And here I thought you would be more willing to speak to me."
"Perhaps I would have been. If you hadn't pushed Serena into the middle of it. Like you always do. You always want me to be angry at someone else."
The red head looked at him, strangely hopeful that she wasn't going to lose her friend over this.
"I don't understand why you are holding onto her." Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he came forward. "She's chosen her demon. You will get nothing from her. She'll leave soon, hours from now."
"Like all humans will. So, I shouldn't get close to any of them." He stopped for a moment. "But, you'll still be there. Right?"
Lucifer smiled as his son finally understood. "I have long told you that I would be here. If you would come with me, you would never be alone."
Aelius nodded. "Unless you were in the middle of one of your long-reaching plots, or there is some war going on between the Fallen. Or Regina needs something. Then I would still be alone."
"I admit, I do have several responsibilities."
"So, I would be better off taking care of myself. As I have been doing for centuries." Undertaker smirked.
Lucifer waved to the scars that could be seen. "And what a wonderful job you've done so far. Scarred and surrounded by people that would just as soon see you dead if they knew who you were."
"They would not." Serena came forward but Undertaker didn't bother to look back.
"Some would. The same as some of the Fallen and demons would. It really doesn't matter where I go."
Lucifer's mood was quickly falling and Serena could see it just as well as Undertaker. The Fallen's jaw worked to hold words in while he thought of his next move.
He took a breath they could both see and spoke quietly. "I could protect you."
"I'm not a child."
"No, you were much more agreeable as a child."
"Then why are you here? If I irritate you so much."
"Because you're my son!" Lucifer's temper finally erupted as the tempered glow around himself became brighter than the sun.
Undertaker pulled Serena behind him as wind started to blow through the shop. Urns and small pieces flew around the room. Just as suddenly as it started, the storm stopped and pieces fell to the floor as Lucifer calmed himself.
The door opened, causing each to turn and glare at whoever had the misfortune to be coming through at the time. Edwin stopped just inside the door and quickly took stock of the room. He bowed to the Fallen and started edging around the room to his Elder's mate.
"My lady, we need to leave for our flight."
She shook her head. "I'm not leaving."
"I want you to leave."
Serena jerked as Undertaker pulled her from behind him and gave her a gentle shove to where Edwin was coming around the side of the small room.
"What?"
"I don't want you at my back either." He looked at her and Serena could see his eyes for a moment. "I'm not your first priority and that's okay. I know that. But, it makes you a liability with my father around."
"My lady." Edwin pulled gently but tightened his hand when Serena tried to jerk away.
"Let me go."
"I cannot. The Elder has given his orders and they override yours."
"But..."
"Go," Undertaker gave her a little smirk. "He doesn't scare me."
Edwin didn't miss a step as he opened the door and pulled her outside. Lucifer and Undertaker were staring at each other, forgetting the demon and his human burden, as the door shut. She heard the sharp click of a lock as she was pushed into the car that waited on the curb.
******************A Demon's Mate******************
Serena could feel Edwin's power crawling over her skin as they moved easily around the crowds, through check in and breezed past security. People either stayed out of their way or hurried to help when the demon gestured for them. Each seemed to know in some instinctive way that Edwin wasn't to be disobeyed.
Anytime that Edwin had to interact with people, Lucien would step up on her other side to take her arm when his partner let go. Neither was willing to listen whenever she tried to reason with them. By the time they were shown into the clubhouse to wait, Serena had given up trying to take her arm back or talk to either of them.
"When storms rage, a smart mouse finds a hole to hide in."
It was all Edwin had said to her after pulling her out of Undertaker's shop. Lucien had tried to be his charming self, but he wasn't giving into her either. It was the blonde that had pulled her phone out of her hand when she tried to call the parlor and stowed it easily into his pocket.
When the boarding announcement came, they were the first on the plane and seating just happened to put three of them on one side again and the few others in Upper Class on the other. Serena was again put between the two of them but there was no playful bickering between the two demons this time, no light flirting from Lucien. As soon as they were in the air, she dove into the movies and ignored them both.
Not long into their flight, Serena felt a shadow lean over her and flinched. She still refused to look up though.
Edwin pulled the earbud out, prepared for the angry strike from the red head and shoved a phone in her hands before she could get another shot.
Serena looked at the unfamiliar number for a moment before lifting the phone to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Serena." Undertaker's giggling voice came over the line. "Haven't you figured out by now that hitting a demon won't get you very far?"
Her hand tightened on the phone. "Are you okay?"
"You make it sound as if I am incapable of defending myself."
"It's not that."
"I know. I told you not to worry. He's already left."
Serena still felt someone leaning over her and looked up to see Lucien. "Do you mind? I know that you can still overhear but I would like some illusion of privacy."
The demon raised his hands at the venom in her voice before disappearing below the wall between them.
"Thank you." She said before turning back to the phone. "What did he want?"
"Don't worry about that. Are you already on the plane?"
"We're already in the air."
"Good. Aren't you excited to be going home?"
Serena was quiet, hunching over the phone and wishing that there was privacy that she wasn't going to get. Her voice was harsh when it finally came out. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, Serena. My father admitted that he threatened your demon. For an modern woman, you're learning a rather savage lesson. You've never been under the rule of a king or queen. You have people in charge but they don't own you. You don't understand what it means to obey or die, that sometimes, there is no other option." It was quiet for a moment. "I'd rather you obeyed."
"It wasn't just that." Serena tried to find the right words. "There was something in his face, in his eyes when he talked about you."
"Don't, Serena. Don't ever trust that. No one ever sees Lucifer's truth. I'm not certain even Regina sees what he's really thinking. My father has had untold millennia of experience manipulating what people see, what they think. If you saw something in him, it was because he wanted you to see it."
"You honestly don't think that your father cares what happens to you?"
A sigh came over the line. "I'm sure he does, in some way. And there's another lesson for you in this. My father said it himself, he has several responsibilities, as most people do. Several factions, demons, people that he has to balance, just like everyone else does. Unless you're a hermit who only looks after yourself, there will sometimes be someone or something that is more important, that must be taken care of first."
"So, it's better to believe that you're never first?"
"With my father, it is. There is always another motive for him, always another reason. One does not survive so long, nor rule a world unto itself, without the ability to make people see what you want them to see. All the different peoples that look to you. For that, multiple motives and manipulations are necessary for survival."
She was quiet for a moment, thinking about what he had said. "If you know that, why are you so angry with him?"
Miles in the air, an ocean beneath her and moving farther away, Serena could still feel the flinch through the phone.
"I see that my introspection has backfired on me." He said softly with a laugh. "And there is no answer that I can give you."
"Can't? Or no answer that you're willing to say?"
"You are not nearly as subtle as others we both know. However, I will give you that point. And with that, I'm going to end our conversation here."
"Why?"
"There isn't time."
"I have hours on a plane with nothing to do."
Laughing came over the line. "That doesn't mean that I don't have things of my own to do. I was working on something before you and my father burst in here and disrupted my schedule."
"Oh, right." Serena laughed sheepishly. "Sorry."
"That's right. You should feel guilty. My entire day was interrupted because you just couldn't go back home without seeing me one last time." Giggling came over the line. "I'm quite flattered."
A blush burned up her face and Serena had a feeling that Undertaker knew it. "It's not like that!"
The red head looked around and saw the rest of the plane had stopped to look at her. Her blush deepened and she huddled into her seat trying to ignore the people around her, as well as the laughing coming out of the phone.
"I hate you."
"No, you don't." She could hear the giggle in his voice. "You love me."
"I don't know why."
"Oh, you admit it. Should I have stopped Edwin from whisking you away?"
"I..." Serena stopped as the phone was pulled out of her hand. "What the hell?"
"Goodbye." Lucien said as he ended the call and handed the phone back to Edwin who was standing in the aisle. Turning back to Serena, the demon held out her earbuds and pressed play on the screen in front of her with a smile. "We still have about six hours before we land."
Serena kept glaring as the blonde disappeared behind the wall separating their seats.