Ciel and Lilliana had been running all over the ship looking for Ryan Stoker, or even his wife, to get more information about the rising corpse. So many questions needed to be answered, especially those regarding the actual process of bringing the corpse back to life, even if it turned into a monster. Ciel thought he could get some answers from the Grim Reaper he hired, but she seemed to be just as confused as he was and that troubled him the most. Not to mention that she didn't know that another Grim Reaper other than Katia was onboard and they kept secrets from her. Maybe she wasn't as reliable a source for the Reaper Association as he thought, but she has proven herself to be a worthy pawn in his game of revenge that he couldn't bring himself to call her useless.
The two managed to reach the cargo hold of the ship with a gun, a Death Scythe, and a flashlight in hand. Despite their hunt for Stoker, it didn't stop Ciel from asking her questions of his own. "Why would they want to keep this from you? Seems counterintuitive, doesn't it?"
She sighed. "You would think, my lord, but unfortunately, due to my employment with you, they fear that I'll betray them at the first chance I get. It also doesn't help that within my employment, I'm in constant contact with a demon."
"Sounds to me like you need a better work environment," Ciel said as he examined the area thoroughly with his flashlight, making sure to not leave a single corner unchecked.
"I'm glad you agree," she said with a small sigh. However, she sensed a presence in the room and extended her hand to stop Ciel in his tracks. "Someone's here," she said in a whisper. He nodded and cocked his pistol before they hid behind one of the large wooden crates. He could now hear the clacking of heels and once they believed they had the upper hand, they quickly turned the corner to surprise the person, only to be surprised themselves by a feminine shriek in a blue gown. She was equally surprised that two people had their weapons pointed at her and all she had to defend herself with was a cake and the plate it was on.
"Lizzie?" Ciel said as he put his pistol down and Lilliana tried to quickly hide her Death Scythe behind her back; a futile attempt since it was taller than her.
"Ciel! Careful; you almost shot me," she said with concern still in her voice. She took that surprisingly better than they thought. If any other person pointed a gun at her, she would have most likely screamed at the top of her lungs or even cried.
"You startled me. What are you doing here, anyway?"
"I was looking for you! I told you to wait for me while I got our cakes, but you disappeared. I searched for you and when I saw you and Lilliana running down the hall, I followed."
"And you didn't notice her?" Ciel asked as he looked towards Lilliana.
She knew the pretense of his questioning. "No, I didn't, my lord. I do apologize," she said simply. She must have not been close to them since she never sensed her presence until they came here.
"I don't know why either of you would come down here. This place is dark and horrid," Lizzie said before all three of them heard a thud some distance away from them. With panic in all of their moves and weapons in hand for two of them, they all turned toward the noise, only to find Snake. He was opening a crate that held his snakes, but was frozen in place as he was caught. Though, his snakes did not seem to care and started to slither out.
"'You're just noticing us? We've been here the whole time' says Wordsworth," Snake said in a husky voice before returning to his normal voice.
Ciel looked at Lilliana, who returned an angry glance. "Do I look like a fucking tracker to you?" she barked before taking a deep breath. She couldn't release any anger around Lady Elizabeth or she might accidentally show off her red angry eyes. "My apologies, my lord and lady. I let my temper get the better of me. It won't happen again."
"Pray not," Ciel said before looking back at Snake, who placed a plate of food on the ground while the snakes gathered around it. "What are you doing in the cargo hold?"
"'The food was delicious, so he was kind enough to bring some down for us to share,' Donne answers gratefully," Snake said in a cockney accent at first. Lilliana had to admire that Snake gave each of his snakes an unique voice; when she spoke to them, they all sounded the same to her. In a large group of snakes, it can be hard to distinguish who was speaking. Perhaps there are some things that Snake could teach her about snake charming.
"He's right, the food is exquisite, especially the lovely cakes. I wanted to be sure I picked the perfect one for you: one with strawberries! Here, see!" Lizzie said with a giant smile on her face, but to their surprise, she presented her betrothed with an empty plate. Even she looked confused, but that would soon turn to fear as she heard chewing noises and guttural grunts from right behind her. Everyone looked in utter shock as Ciel pulled Lizzie close to him for her protection and Lilliana stood between the young couple and the monster. However, this one was different from the girl they left behind; it was clearly a man, but with the same blindfold and dressed in his best tuxedo. As it walked towards them, Ciel tried to shoot it, only to hit it in the shoulder.
"There are more of these things?" Ciel exclaimed as Lilliana kept pushing the zombie further away from them. Although she could have killed it easily, she was still curious how a creature like this could exist and thought about collecting its soul for answers, that is, if it still had one. However, with Lizzie and Snake around, it would be too difficult to get answers now without revealing her true nature.
Though, the zombie was subdued by multiple snakes wrapping themselves around its body, forcing it onto its knees and unable to move any further. "'We'll take care of this for you' offers Wilde," Snake said, though despite the brave tone he portrayed, it was clear he was just as scared of what he was witnessing. With less of a distraction, they noticed the empty coffin it came out of and on the lid was the same Phoenix logo from before.
"He must have brought another corpse aboard the ship," Ciel said, seemingly to himself, but Lillian was able to hear him. "Snake, I need you to guard Lizzie while Lilliana and I–." However, his order was cut short when he noticed Snake staring into another direction opposite of them, almost like a guard dog hyperfocusing on danger. "What are you doing? Did you even hear what I said?"
"'There are quite a few boxes with bird insignia over there,' Oscar points out helpfully," Snake said as he extended his arm in his direction of sight and one of his snakes, presumably Oscar, slithered toward his hand. Ciel and Lilliana hurriedly walked to get a view and they noticed more than "quite a few" coffins. Actually, it was more like quite a few rows of coffins, all standing upright and held back by leather straps. However, that was not the end of their horror; each one of those coffins started to move on its own and struggling noises could be heard from the inside. In little time, they would be able to see the true strength of those straps as, like clockwork, all of the coffins were busted open and more of those monsters slowly started waddling out. No doll looked the same, though the females were dressed in the same white dress and the males were dressed in the same tuxedo. The sound of their moans and grunts filled the cargo hold and they all knew it wouldn't be long before they started going after the four of them.
"Run!" Ciel ordered as he grabbed both humans by their arms and feebly tried to pull them away to safety. Luckily, they both took the hint and ran as fast as they could while Lilliana remained in the back to slice any of the ones that got too close. However, their path was cut short as another horde of zombies from the other side of the cargo hold walked towards them. Soon, the group found themselves surrounded and even Lilliana had difficulty finding an optimal position to protect everyone. She started to slice at the zombies in front while Ciel used his pistol to shoot at the zombies a bit further away. "'Smile, Lily, up here quickly!' Oscar says urgently," Snake said in a both urgent and calm tone. The trio looked up and found that Snake had climbed up onto a large stack of crates, away from the reach of the zombies. Ciel wasted no time getting Lizzie up while Lilliana kept slicing up more and more zombies that, at this point, seemed to be endless. Once Lizzie was safe, Lilliana helped him up, hoping that the zombies were not as fast as she thought.
However, when it was her turn to climb, they tried to pull her up, but there was more force pulling her down. Some of the zombies managed to grab onto her ballgown and tried to pull her down. They all looked worriedly, especially Lilliana, who noticed that Ciel and Snake were losing their grip and might fall down with her. She had to make a difficult decision, but she had to let go to make sure that the others would be safe. She wiggled her wrists free and she fell to the ground on her feet, though she was soon greeted by many unhinged mouths that were ready to take a bite out of her flesh. "Lilliana, please be careful!" Lizzie yelled as she watched in horror, but was relieved a bit to see that Lilliana was actually a competent fighter and was trying to lead the horde away from them. She shouldn't have expected anything less from a Phantomhive maid.
"'What are these vile creatures? Our venom doesn't affect them and they smell simply terrible,' Webster asks in disgust," Snake asked, though he was just as curious as his snakes, who were trying their best to help Lilliana by subduing as many as they could.
"We don't know the details, but we appear to have found ourselves aboard a ship of walking corpses," Ciel tried to explain as best as he could without revealing too much. Though, that alone would have been too much for any human to believe without seeing the proof with their own eyes. However, they felt a large thud below them and noticed that some of the corpses were trying to eat their way through the crates to get to them. As much as Lilliana tried to lead them away, only half did and those that stayed behind wanted a taste of human flesh. "Lilliana! We are in need of some assistance," he ordered, but as he uttered those words, they all heard the sound of teeth biting into flesh. Their eyes widened as they saw that they had cornered her into a wall and one managed to get close enough to bite her shoulder. She grunted in pain as she tried pushing the creature off of her, but as one was removed, another bit her arm.
"Oh no!" Lizzie shouted as she shielded herself into Ciel's arms.
"Send your serpents to help her!" he ordered.
"'We are trying, but there are too many of them,' Oscars says regrettably," Snake said with a horrified face.
They had no choice, but hoped that she would somehow pull herself out of this, but it did not seem likely. She was breathing heavily as more and more zombies started to bite her arms and shoulders and although she could live through these injuries, it was still very painful.
As more and more of her flesh and blood was being consumed, she noticed that the zombies that had the most of their fill started acting more calmly and meticulously, as if they were learning how to attack her more effectively so she couldn't fight back. One of them even started to speak, or at least, that's what she thought. "S . . . Soul," it said. Her eyes widened in shock when she heard it speak, but her attention was soon deterred as she noticed the stack of crates keeping everyone else safe was starting to tremble.
"Young master!" she yelled as she tried her best to fight off the zombies, but at this point, she couldn't even raise her Death Scythe to protect herself.
"We're going to die!" Lizzie yelled as she held onto Ciel closely.
"We'll be alright. I swear to you, Lizzie, that I will protect you, no matter what the cost!" Ciel vowed as he hugged her tightly in his arms, expecting for the crates to collapse beneath them. Even if his flesh was torn apart by these creatures, it would all be worth it as long as Lizzie could escape this hell. That is what he cared about most in this situation.
"Well said, my lord," a familiar voice said in the distance, grabbing all of their attention. As if their prayers were answered, they all saw silverware gliding through the air, aiming at the heads of the zombies closest to the crate. At the entrance of the cargo hold was the devilish butler himself with another set of silverware ready for another strike. "Spoken like a true gentleman. I'm very proud."
"Quiet, you!" Ciel said with his usual bratty tone that made the butler smirk. "Quit loitering and get rid of these blasted things. Lilliana has already fallen to them."
Sebastian's ears perked at the second half of that order. "Yes, my lord. At once." He soon flew himself into the air and landed in the middle of the horde. "It is sadly lacking in style, but if I simply need to destroy the heads . . . ," he said as he used his brute strength to slam one of the zombie's heads onto a nearby crate, forcing blood to splatter everywhere. " . . . this is by far the most efficient method." Ciel made sure to cover Lizzie's eyes and advised Snake to do the same so neither of them would see the massacre that was about to take place. Sebastian continued to use his demonic strength to clear the room of the zombies, reveling in the carnage that he didn't have to hold back for. The horrific sight reminded Ciel of the night that he first summoned Sebastian and how he used this same amount of power to eliminate all the corrupt nobles in attendance and made sure each and every one of them felt the pain Ciel endured.
Throughout the bloodshed, Sebastian was trying to find Lilliana, hoping that when Ciel said she had "fallen", he didn't mean she was dead. He knew it would be unlikely she was killed by these things, but he could not be certain how much damage they could inflict. He soon noticed that there was a large gathering of zombies some distance away from his young master and a strong scent of blood in the air, leading him to believe that she was there. In seconds, he tore the zombies to pieces and found Lilliana in a bloody mess on the floor. "Took you long enough," she snarked with barely any strength in her voice. Luckily for her, most of the bites on the bottom half of her body were absorbed by her ball gown that was torn beyond repair. Her upper half, however, was in bad shape with so much blood covering her skin that he couldn't tell how many bites there were.
"My apologies, but your colleagues sure do like to put up a fight," he said as he tried to sit her up with as little pain as possible. He then turned to Ciel and said, "It is done, my lord."
Lizzie and Snake finally opened their eyes, surprised to see that a single butler not only took out a horde of corpses all by himself, but also in such a short time. He too was coated in blood, which was now mixed with Lilliana's as he pulled bandages from his pockets and started to wrap her upper body in them. "Is she all right?" Ciel asked from up above.
"I can still fight, my lord," she said with some painful effort in her voice. "And this is why I hate dresses," she joked to Sebastian as he finished bandaging her.
"Though, it did prove useful for your legs," he said as he helped her up to her feet.
"But it also led to my downfall, literally," she said with a chuckle.
"Though, I must warn you about your eyes," Sebastian said as he pointed at his own eyes. "In dark lighting like here, you can get away with the color."
She inhaled sharply. "It's hard to control with so much blood around, but I'll try," as the two of them walked to the crates holding up the humans.
"Here. Allow me to help you down," Sebastian said as he extended his hands up to help them to the floor, but they noticed how bloody his gloves were and shuddered. "Is something troubling you?"
"Don't touch us. You'll soil our clothes," Ciel said as they saw Lilliana push a couple of crates their way to create a path for them to climb down easily. She may be injured, but she still had superhuman strength on her side, even if they feared that she was already at her limit.
"Indeed. I beg your pardon, my lord," Sebastian said as he looked at his bloody gloves with feigned shame (demons always loved reveling in the blood of their enemies) and replaced his soiled gloves with new ones.
"Do you just have magic pockets that hold everything you need?" Lilliana said with a chuckle, trying to lighten up the mood a little.
"A butler must always be prepared for any, and I do mean ANY, situation," he said with a smile back.
"You couldn't have done all that with a touch more elegance? It was like watching a beast," Ciel chided. It couldn't hurt the boy to show any form of gratitude to his rescuer?
"I do apologize, but time was of the essence," he responded nonchalantly. He then turned to Lilliana and asked, "Speaking of time, that is something we do not have much of. Are you able to join us if we continue?"
"Don't worry about me," she said as she started to rip the torn parts of her dress to make it a shorter skirt. "They caught me off guard this time, but I won't make that mistake ever again. To my surprise, it appeared that those things are able to think once they get a bite out of you."
Everyone's eyes widened in fear. "What do you mean?" Ciel demanded.
"The reason why they overtook me was because they started to figure out where my weak spots were and struck there. One even spoke to me, only saying one word: soul."
"Well, we must do our best to stay out of their way before they can do the same harm to us. As unlucky as you were, you were fortunate enough to not have severe bites," Lizzie said, still frightened by the experience, but relieved that it was over, at least, for now.
"R-Right," Lilliana said with a feigned smile as she scratched her head with her hand. Bites like hers would have definitely killed a human, but of course Lizzie would never understand that a Reaper could survive attacks like this.
"Why would anyone bring such a large number of corpses aboard a ship?" Ciel asked as the group started to leave the cargo hold, making sure to stay close to each other to avoid any stragglers getting hurt.
"As to that . . ." Sebastian said before he threw a wave of silverware to the wall, which managed to trap a frightened doctor in his place, and not just any doctor. "I think it is best to ask Dr. Stoker himself."
"Yes, I agree," Lilliana said as she pushed her way to the front. If anyone had the most qualms toward him, it would be her."
"You've got it all wrong! I wouldn't intentionally bring back anyone in that state! How could I know that the bodies in the hold would wake up?!" Ryan said in a panic, but she shut him up by grabbing his arm and locking it behind his back so he wouldn't escape.
"There is no need to spew out everything in such a short time. It will be some time before we reach New York," Sebastian said with a feigned innocent smile that was more unnerving than comforting. "Do please tell us the whole story from start to finish."
"And don't leave out any details," Lilliana said in a less friendly tone as she tightened the grip on his arm, causing him discomfort.
"Please, you have to understand! My wife is in danger! I have to find her!" Ryan blurted out.
"What harm would befall her? Your decaying monsters have all been safely disposed of–," Ciel asked before he was interrupted.
"No, they haven't!" Everyone looked at Ryan with suspicion before he continued. "We don't have much time! There's a giant boiler in the middle of the ship that uses the newest reciprocating engine. The hold is split into two sections to accommodate the boiler room."
"And why does that matter?" Lilliana asked in a threatening tone, giving him a little painful reminder to keep cooperating with them.
"B-Because it means there's an additional cargo area; a hold that's similar to this one, but carrying ten times as many subjects."
Everyone, even Sebastian, looked at him with horror in their eyes. "Y-You can't be serious," Ciel exclaimed.
"That would mean that there are more of the walking dead roaming around the ship and I can make a bet that they are not going to keep themselves hidden in the cargo hold," Sebastian concluded.
"A lot of people are going to die tonight," Lilliana said to herself as she angrily pushed Stoker to the wall, making him cry out in pain. "This would have been some important information to tell me before I even boarded this fucking ship, dammit."
"B-But I met you onboard and I told you everything I knew," Stoker pleaded, hoping to not anger her any more than he already had.
"I don't think it is you she is referring to," Sebastian said before he gently pushed her off of him so he could handle him instead. "Though I do agree that Ms. Kiliamo not knowing about what is happening is frustrating for all of us."
"How would she know any of–," he tried to say, but he saw the blade of her Death Scythe approaching him, signaling him to not speak any further.
"What shall we do?" Lizzie asked with worry in her voice.
"Sebastian, I want you to escort the marchioness and her family somewhere safe," Ciel ordered.
"And the rest of you?" he asked as he noticed one of Snake's snakes wrapping Stoker up with its body, giving him permission to let the man go.
"We'd only slow you down," Ciel said before reloading his pistol.
"I'll stay to protect them. We cannot afford to let Stoker get away from us and I still have some strength to fight. I will not lose to another one of these things," Lilliana said with a determined smile.
"Come straight back once you're certain they are safe," Ciel continued.
"Yes, my lord," Sebastian said as he started to leave their side, but was stopped when he heard Stoker cry out once more.
"Please find my wife as well. I have to make sure that she is safe throughout all of this. I can't afford to lose her again!"
"Again?" Lilliana asked, but was left unanswered.
"I will keep an eye out for her, but my top priority is that of my master's," Sebastian said before running out of the cargo hold.
Once they were alone, Ciel aimed his pistol at the doctor's head and said, "Now then, it's time you gave us more information. First, how can those things be stopped?"
"Wh-What?" he questioned, only to be answered by the cocking of his pistol, frightening him more.
"You're not entirely stupid. You wouldn't transport these things without safeguards. There's another way to stop them besides destroying them, isn't there?"
Stoker hung his head in shame. "Well, yes, there is something. It's stored in my cabin; a special device that emits ultrasonic waves. It can be used to short-circuit the patients."
"Take us to it," Lilliana said in an equally threatening voice. She was in no mood to play around with the doctor like Sebastian would. He had to provide a solution to this mess he created and once this was all over, she was going to need answers from both William and Katia for keeping all this secret to her. The most upsetting thing was not knowing if anyone other than Ciel was going to make it out of this alive. The sooner she could stop the threat, the better she would feel for everyone's safety.
As they had predicted, the rest of the ship was completely overrun by the living dead and Sebastian had to run past many souls who had fallen prey to those monsters. He was surprised to not see any of the Reapers on his way, but was also thankful for that; he did not want to engage in another battle when he had a mission with very little time left to complete it. Though, they probably were busy at other areas of the ship, meaning this massacre was widespread.
In the distance, he could hear the sound of swords piercing flesh and had some idea who could be behind it. Sure enough, he saw each member of the Midford family fighting off the zombies they encountered, but no matter where they pierced or what limb they cut off, the monstrosities refused to back down. Although they seemed to be a bit panicked by the unusual durability of their enemies, they never panicked so much that they lost their rationale in fighting. Luckily for them, Sebastian quickly arrived on the scene and immediately slammed one of the zombies heads to the floor, splattering its blood everywhere. "Are you all right, my lords and lady?"
"Butler! What manner of beats are they?" Edward yelled as he fought alongside his parents in the same rationale they did.
"I know little, but I can tell you how to stop them. You must destroy their heads," Sebastian quickly explained. In no time, they tested his theory and sure enough, each head they stabbed into fell to the floor, lifeless.
"You seem to have the right of that," Alexis said as he swung his blade to get as much blood off as possible.
"Given the situation, I suppose I can look past your disheveled hair and untidy appearance for today," Francis said seriously, though the comment made Sebastian chuckle a bit.
"How very generous of you, my lady," he said with a bow,
"Say, butler, is Lizzie someplace safe?" Alexis asked with rightful worry in his voice.
"Yes, she is with my master and two other Phantomhive servants. I assure you, they are unharmed," he lied. Yes, the humans were unharmed, but it was hard for him to think of Lilliana as injured since she acted as if she only received minor lacerations.
"If they're together, then we have no reason to fear," Alexis said as he turned to his wife, who returned his confidence.
"Agreed. Such a brave heart would never fail to protect its betrothed," she said with a reassuring smile.
"Quite so," Sebastian said with a smile as he placed his hand over his chest. "'No matter the cost'; those were his exact words. They both asked that I escort you to someplace safe, as well–,"
"Out of the question!" Alexis exclaimed, taking him by surprise. "The Midfords are a proud family of knights whose solemn duty has been and will always be to protect England in their time of need. Abandoning her people at a time of danger would violate the code of chivalry."
"A knight's duty isn't to himself, but to his country and its people," Edward preached as he raised his sword high. Though, both men quickly looked to the matriarch for approval, who only sighed at both her family's nobility and naivete.
She looked to Sebastian and ordered, "Return to the children. We don't require any further assistance."
"My lady . . . ," he said, hoping to change his mind so he wouldn't be disobeying his master's orders.
"You wouldn't be doubting our swordsmanship, now would you, butler?"
"Certainly not. I wouldn't presume," he said with a bow.
"Come along," Francis exclaimed and she and her family started running to rescue whoever they could.
Although, Edward had one more thing to say. "Give your master a message. If my sister is harmed, he'll have to answer to me!"
"I shall pass that along, sir," Sebastian said as he watched the trio leave his sight. Though, someone else caught his interest as he saw a pair of eyes watching him from the corner and quickly disappearing. He was quiet as he approached the corner to look on the other side and sure enough, someone was there; someone very familiar. It was Annabeth Stoker, who was covered in blood, but it didn't seem like she was harmed. She was certainly frightened, but he noticed a peculiar thing: in this hallway, there were more zombies heading her way, but she seemed to walk past them without attracting their attention. As far as they were aware, it was like she was one of them. Come to think of it, the same thing happened to him whenever he was alone with the creatures. They never walked toward him unless a human was nearby. At first, he concluded that it was only after humans, but then why did they not only attack Lilliana, but attack her with much veracity?
While Annabeth wasn't looking, Sebastian managed to get in front of her, making her pull out a knife to protect herself, but he grabbed her wrist and pushed her against the wall, forcing it out of her hand. "It seems that I was able to find you."
"S-Sebastian?! Oh, am I glad to see you!" she said with relief in her voice. "I'm so sorry about the knife. I thought you were one of those creatures."
"So it seems," he said with some suspicion in his voice as he got a closer look at the knife. The blade's color was green, which was an unusual color for any human-made sword. Though, the hue was familiar to him and his kind.
Noticing his gaze, she immediately grabbed his attention as she said, "Have you seen my husband?! I can't find him anywhere!"
"Do not fret, my lady. He is under my master's care. Dr. Stoker was equally worried about you." She sighed in relief as he finally let her go and she immediately went to grab the knife from the floor. "I must ask where you obtained a weapon like that? It has the most intriguing design."
"Oh, this?" she asked as she placed it back in her dark purple, leather sheath. "It was gifted to me by an old friend. I don't know where he had it manufactured. I try to keep it on my person at all times for protection and I'm glad I did tonight."
"Right," he said, not completely buying her story. "Now, if you would be so kind, please follow me so we can reunite you with your husband."
"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed as the two of them ran in the direction of the cargo hold. He knew that Ciel wouldn't stay there for long, but he knew he couldn't be too far away from there. He tested her ability by running at an unusually fast speed for humans, but to his not-so-surprise, she was managing to keep up with him, though with some difficulty. He couldn't quite shake this uneasy feeling he had of her, but had to wait until the right time to confront her about it.
The third-class floor of the ship was a complete bloodbath. Corpses were scattered everywhere and none of them were the zombies that took their lives away. Blood was splattered at every corner of the room and broken bottles and furniture, a sign of the passengers trying to defend themselves, were everywhere. Ronald and Katia were busy collecting every soul in the room, but she noticed that Ronald was showing a bit of sympathy to those he had drinks and danced with. One in particular was the brunette girl he got close to and that had delivered Annabeth's letter to him to give to Katia. He made sure that he was the one to collect her soul. "See? This is why I couldn't promise we would meet again," he said to her corpse as he reaped her soul and stamped his booklet of files with the COMPLETED stamp. "No deviating from the list, I'm afraid."
"I truly loathe this assignment," Katia said as she tried to collect multiple souls at the same time. It was straining on her, but they had to get through them as quickly as possible. "We've collected so many souls already and it's only just the beginning."
"This would probably go a lot faster if all three of us were here. Do you know when Sutcliff will arrive?"
"No idea. All I know is that she is gonna find a way to get here. Though, she is known to be fashionably late so she can make an entrance."
"Didn't I read in someone's file that an iceberg was approaching the ship?" Ronald said as he looked through the booklet.
"And you think she'll be on it?" Katia asked, but she retracted her statement. "On second thought, that would be the type of entrance she would do."
"Well, we might as well meet him at the front of the ship. There's going to be no chance that we'll get through this without overtime and there's nothing I hate more than overtime."
"The administrators are really asking a lot out of us on this one. All of these collections should really have been assigned to more than three Reapers," she said as she collected the last of the remaining souls in the room.
"Well there ARE four Reapers onboard. Wait till Sutcliff hears about this," he said as the two started walking out of the room.
"Trust me, she'll be just as furious as you were. I wanted to tell all of you; really I did, but William made me promise not to so neither of you would get distracted with your duties."
"But it still hurts, ya know, that you would hide things from us. I get to follow the rules and all, but what harm would it have on us to know she's here?"
"Possibly you pawning off your work to her?" she snided. "William warned me she would choose serving that brat more than collecting souls. I'm not sure if she is even trying to do her job during this time, but it is definitely not her priority."
"Wouldn't she get reprimanded for it, though?" Ronald said with a defeated sigh.
"If she was assigned to it, yes, but it is her time-off."
"Time-off, shime-off! It's not fair; I don't remember the last time I got a vacation and she gets them so often!"
"You do realize that her last 'vacations' were her processing multi-day assignments, right?"
"Regardless! When this is all over, I am asking Spears for a month-long vacation. I think I have done more than enough to earn it after tonight," he said as they reached the open deck just as the ship sailed directly into an iceberg, causing it to shake viciously. Any living soul held on tight as they rode out the earthquake on the sea while the Reapers kept their footing with little problem.
As they predicted, they noticed a blur of red jump onto the deck and slash any nearby creatures with his chainsaw. "Right on cue," Katia said with an exasperated sigh as the two of them approached their colleague.
"It's about time you got here," Ronald said with a snicker as he helped eliminate the remaining zombies so the three of them could chat.
"Ronnie! Katia! Good, I don't have to look all over the boat for you two. That would be exhausting," he said as he approached them with glee.
"Yes, that would be exhausting," Katia repeated sarcastically. "Not the fact that we have to collect over a thousand souls tonight."
"Oh, don't remind me! Just thinking about it is making me regret saying yes to this mission."
"Wait, you had a choice?" Ronald asked, making Katia laugh a bit.
"Oh, now that I'm here, I wanted to try something I saw on another ship many years ago," Grell said as he grabbed Ronald's hand and dragged him towards the absolute front of the ship.
"I-Is this really necessary?" Katia asked as she followed them and watched as Grell climbed a couple bars of the railing so he could be a bit taller than Ronald.
"This is absolutely necessary. I would much prefer doing this with a handsome gentleman, but Ronnie will do," Grell said as he positioned Ronald's hands on his waist and told him to match his height on the railing.
"I don't know how to feel about that," he said as he did what his senior said while Grell extended his arms in romantic glee.
"Now, let the sea breeze caress you. Feel it running all over your body and dancing through your body," Grell said as he fully embraced this romantic moment with a less-than-ideal partner. "Can you feel it, Ronnie?"
"Is . . . Is this some new form of hazing I'm not aware of?" Ronald asked as he turned to Katia, who only shrugged.
"Be quiet and just play the part," Grell said with anger before returning to his romantic daydream. Though, Ronald's lack of enthusiasm for the bit ruined the moment for him. "Ugh, you're giving me nothing to work with, so just forget it."
As they climbed down the railing, Katia had to ask, "What even was that about?"
"Oh, well, the last time I was on a boat, I saw this couple do that exact move and it looked so romantic. If the boat didn't sink, I'm sure they would have been a cute couple, but that boy was on the To-Die list along with 1,500 other people."
"Blimey," Ronald exclaimed as he looked at his booklet. "We don't have time to play around doing whatever that was. Look at the collection list!" Almost like magic, the pages of the booklet seemed to be flipping on their own, revealing the hundreds of souls that were yet to be collected.
Grell sighed. "As Reapers, our first priority must always be soul collection," Grell said as he brandished his chainsaw. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"
"Oh, by the way, I have a little surprise to tell you," Ronald said as he put his booklet away for the time being. Katia looked at him with worry, but he continued by saying, "We had an interesting run-in with your favorite butler earlier."
Grell squealed. "Bassy is onboard?!"
"Yes sir and I'm sure he is dying to see you," Ronald said with enticement, making Katia a bit confused.
"Oh, we must find him soon! I won't let these filthy creatures lay a hand on his handsome body. If anyone is going to turn my man into a crimson mess, it's going to be me," he said as he gleefully jumped all over the deck until he reached a hallway leading indoors.
Before he could follow, Katia stopped him. "I thought you were going to tell her about Lilliana."
"I thought about it, but I believe this was the better approach. After all, you saw how determined Sutcliff is to work on the job. He may rush through it to find his Bassy, but that means he will collect more souls in a shorter period of time," he said before hopping onto his lawnmower and following Grell's lead.
Katia was shocked. "Huh, that was . . . surprisingly genius of him."
Sebastian and Annabeth were heading away from the cargo hold when the ship hit the iceberg. As he had predicted, they moved away from that location, but he wondered where they were headed as a group. Dr. Stoker must have revealed some information on how to end the bloodshed. Sebastian asked Annabeth where they could be headed and she said they may have been headed to their cabin. As she led the way, the pursuit came to a halt when they both felt the immense shaking from the collision. "What the hell?" Annabeth asked as she leaned against a wall to keep her balance.
"Just lovely," he said as he waited for the shaking to stop. Once it did, they both ran outside to see just what had caused the damage: there was plenty of debris on the open deck and chunks of ice were scattered around the damaged area. A look at the water below showed even more debris and chunks of ice floating by as they passed by. However, he knew that most of the damage would be directed more towards the lower decks of the ship and he knew he had to act immediately before any harm could fall onto his master and the rest of the group. After all, a Grim Reaper can only do so much when a room would fill up with water. Sure, she could survive in freezing water for a long time, but it would take no time for the others to drown if there was no other way of escape.
With little hesitation, Sebastian and Annabeth ran to the control room, hoping at least one person was alive to keep the damage to a minimum, but he couldn't sense any living souls nearby. As they entered the room, Sebastian quickly flipped a switch to activate the watertight doors while she looked in horror at the carnage the monsters did to the crew. "These poor people," she said to herself as she got close to the captain of the ship and hugged him, not minding that his blood was dripping onto her dress. Her compassion for other people may have been admirable if she actually knew the man before his death.
"This should keep the water out for a while," he said as he noticed the bulbs on the ship's map up above the switch flickering on, though not all of them lit up. Presumably, that was where most of the damage was located. "And yet, with most of the crew in the wheelhouse dead, this will prove to be a beastly night."
"What are we going to do?" she asked. "Ryan is in terrible danger if he has to deal with a sinking ship on top of everything else."
"Then it is up to me to assess the damage and plan accordingly," he said before taking off his tailcoat and gloves. He made sure to keep his Mark of the Covenant hidden from her, but his demonic black fingernails were in view. Though, she either did not notice them or wanted to comment on them. "I shall return shortly," he said as he neatly folded his coat and rushed to the nearby railing.
Annabeth followed him in confusion, but once she saw him climb the railing, she started piecing it together. "Wait, you are not seriously considering–," she tried to say, but her question was answered as he bravely fell to the murky water below. "He has to be crazy," she said as she raced to another area of the ship, hoping to find a glimpse of him and figure out what he had planned.
Some time passed and Sebastian managed to pull himself all the way to the top of the deck, his clothes soaked and tightly fit onto his body as he gave himself some time to catch his breath and let some of the water drip off of him. He went back into the control room to give Annabeth some idea of the damage the ship took. However, she was nowhere to be seen, which he chastised himself for. He should have known better than to leave her all by herself when his suspicions of her were strong, but he had no way to secure her here, even if he simply asked her to stay. Still, he had no time to search for her now; he had to create a plan based on the information he discovered. "There are likely three, no four, compartments that are full of water, which means that in less than an hour, the ship is going to sink."
However, he could hear footsteps approaching him and quickly got dressed. He turned around suddenly, hoping to recognize the figure, but he didn't realize there were more than one set of footsteps approaching him. The next thing he knew, he saw Annabeth splatter some red liquid onto him, which blinded him for a second before he heard the moaning of zombies approach him. He was quick to wipe off the liquid and get his defenses ready before any zombie got close to biting him, though they were a lot closer than comfortable. Before, the zombies never tried to go after him unless a human was nearby, but now he had to use more effort to protect himself since it was clear he was their target. Despite the large number that accumulated in the room, he was quick to dispose of them, though he was a bit distracted by the smell of the liquid that was on him. Although now it was getting mixed with undead blood, he did notice that it was indeed blood that was splattered on him, but not just any blood.
Annabeth, who was a bit worried that he was quickly killing the zombies with ease, tried to leave the room, but he managed to push her up against the wall like before, but this time, he wasn't going to let her go so easily. "I think you have some explaining to do, Mrs. Stoker."
"C-Calm down, Sebastian. You don't want your bloodlust to take over and hurt me by accident, do you?" she asked to say innocently, but her wording was odd.
"I'm sure you'll be fine," he said as he put his bloody glove in her line of sight. "Now tell me how a human like you managed to obtain Reaper blood?"
"Reaper blood? I don't know what you're talking about," she said, but he put a knife to her throat.
"I've had enough of your innocent act. I think you know a lot more about these creatures than you are letting on. Now, I'm not sure if your husband knows as much as you, but you used Reaper blood to get them to attack me, knowing they wouldn't without it. Now, let me repeat my question one more time," he said as he put some pressure on the knife, forcing some of her blood to drip down. "How were you able to obtain Reaper blood?"
With a defeated sigh, she said with a sinister smirk, "Just like my knife, I have an old friend who gave it to me. It was difficult to obtain such a valuable item; Reaper blood is a cure for all ailments. It's a shame that I had to waste that much on you,"
His instincts were justified, but he still had more questions. "Being alone with you, I have noticed something unusual about your scent. You keep surrounding yourself with others to mask it and even now, you splattered blood on yourself to avoid detection, but you don't smell human. Who are you?"
"I don't think I am ready to reveal that just yet, but I can give you one piece of information: apparently, these things are attracted to things with souls, something you don't possess," she said before he quickly noticed her using her free hand to grab her knife to stab him. He quickly jumped out of the way before she could strike, but this gave her an opportunity for escape.
"I don't have time to play these games," he said as he threw silverware at her direction to use as a distraction before grabbing her again, but she managed to see past his plan and dodged in time.
She looked at him with a cocky smile. "I bet you would have given this to your bleeding Reaper girl if you knew I had some Reaper blood. Though, a Grim Reaper would feel intoxicated if they drank a large amount of it. I'm sure you want her to stay sharp while she protects your young master, so there is no way for her to heal fast enough. How unfortunate," she said as she ran to the railing. "Though, you might want to keep an eye on her. The only thing that entices those creatures more than human blood is Reaper blood, meaning your young master could be in more danger than you realize." With those parting words, she jumped down to the water below, leaving Sebastian with worry that her warning could be legitimate and needed to return to the group as soon as possible.
How are Ciel and the others going to manage a sinking boat full of the undead? How will Lilliana recover from her injuries? Who is Annabeth Stoker? Reviews are appreciated!