"Jim…" the bluenette murmured, shock clearly evident on his face. The menace had appeared before him, yet he was clearly not the menace he knew through his actions, and even his appearance.

Alois held up his weapons; a pistol in each hand. He and his entourage readied their weapons while Ciel simply stood there in awe. He was frozen. What on earth had they done to his love? They were cruel. They sent Alois here deliberately, didn't they? Ciel would now have to fight the Macken.

So be it. The Phantomhive readied himself, getting into a fighting stance with his eye locked on the pendant around Alois' throat. If he removed that, then the menace would be free. As the group opened fire, Ciel and Elizabeth jumped out of the way, evading the bullets as they sprayed into the night air. With this, the Jacks scattered as well, circling around the pair on all sides. On instinct, Elizabeth grabbed the handle of her sword, prompting the attention of the bluenette.

"Remove the amulets. Don't kill them." He instructed, much to the woman's confusion, but regardless, she obeyed.

When the Jacks started spraying again, she moved forward, attacking them head-on. With a slash, she cut through the collar of the Jack of Clovers. She removed it completely without leaving a single scratch on the surface of their skin. They fell in an instant, leaving an imprint around their frame in the snow when they landed. Sensing danger to her side, she swung her blade, blocking a bullet, and continued to do so until her opponent realised that this wasn't working.

As soon as they let up, she charged, preparing to swing. Unfortunately, she underestimated this opponent. While the others were untrained, this was Alois Trancy. He ducked, evading her weapon while taking on a crouching position. Immediately, the woman flicked her wrist, adjusting the blade in her hand so that it was facing downward. Elizabeth swung her arm down in a stabbing motion, attempting to bring it crashing down on top of the menace.

"LIZZIE!" roared the Phantomhive, alerting her attention and stopping in her tracks. Her eyes widened, meeting his. His eye was aflame with panic as she froze, realizing what she was about to do. Obviously, holding back on an opponent was something that she was not used to.

BANGBANGBANG!

Pain wrought through her body as the bullets pierced her, dying her coat crimson. Black Jack had shot her in the side while she was open. All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and when the menace swung his leg, he kicked the woman in the other side, sending her flying. When she landed, she immediately tried to sit back up, ignoring the reddened snow around her as her wounds sealed themselves shut. Ciel had just gotten done disarming a Jack when he saw the display.

Elizabeth could have killed Alois just then. Thank goodness Alois was still in there somewhere. That was his resourcefulness shining through. While it saved him that time, he had now shot his boyfriend's cousin and she did not take kindly to that. Moreover, his cleverness would make him more difficult to defeat. Incidentally, Ciel was snapped from his daze when the Macken opened fire at him while he was distracted. Leaping out of the way, he allowed the bullets to hit one of the last two Jacks other than the menace, knocking off their amulet in the process. These were ordinary bullets. There was no way that they would arm someone as dangerous as Alois with real bullets when his loyalty could still possibly be wavered.

There was an idea. If Elizabeth was still partly conscious, then why wouldn't Alois be? Ciel sheathed his sword before straightening his back, putting his hands up as he addressed the other demon.

"Jim!" he called out to him. "Jim, it's me! Ciel! Snap out of it and stop shooting!" His eyes widened and he ducked as the menace charged him and swung his leg around for a powerful kick, missing the bluenette by a hair.

"He's not going to listen!" Elizabeth declared, removing the amulet from the Jack of Diamonds. "He's a demon! The power in the amulet is not directly opposed to his type of energy! He's not fighting it!"

"How can you be sure?!" Ciel shouted in reply, continuing to evade Black Jack's strikes. Alois' kicks were powerful. Merely blocking them was almost like being hit by a truck, and his punches weren't any lighter. How could Ciel expect any less, though? The man did break two pairs of antifreak gauntlets designed to withstand the force of up to four tons.

Elizabeth nearly rolled her eyes as she disarmed the remaining Jack, being unable to assist the bluenette at that moment due to the proximity of his opponent. She didn't want to hurt them, after all. Then again, her cousin was having a rough time. Alois' resourcefulness expanded even into close-quarters combat.

He swung at the bluenette's head, gun still in hand. When the Phantomhive moved his head ot the side in order to evade, Alois pushed the button on the handle that released the empty magazine, striking his beau right in the face with discarded metal. He then swung his arm to the side, hitting the man's head. Ciel Phantomhive was being overwhelmed by a demon that was younger than him! The bluenette had fought a dragon before, but he couldn't fight off a lion.

Black Jack slid the butt of both of his guns down on top of his belt. It held more magazines stocked with ammunition. He reloaded and opened fire on the watchdog at point-blank range, firing off half of his rounds into the man's body before he could recover.

"Ciel!" shouted the Hellsing woman, averting he attention from the contents of the van. She drew her sword again, furrowing her brow with a fierce look in her eyes, forcing the Macken to turn around and face her.

Immediately, his hands brought themselves upward, attempting to use his guns to block the blade. With a single slash, however, they were both cut in two like tissue paper. He looked up at his opponent, mouth agape as she thrust her blade, aiming straight for his chest. She was right on top of him, but she missed. She did hit something, however.

When everything came to a standstill, she found her blade buried to the hilt into the Phantomhive's shoulder. The man grit his teeth, his eye wide and nostrils flaring as the wound sizzled at the contact with a sacred blade. He had pushed the menace to the side, forcing him out of the way, but couldn't dodge himself due to the bullets still in his body.

Gently, the angel removed her blade, sliding it out of Ciel's flesh while inadvertently causing him deeper discomfort. The man clutched at his wound as Elizabeth's visage contorted with alarm at what had occurred. She quickly tried to gauge as to whether or not he was alright, despite knowing that a hit to the shoulder wasn't going to kill the Phantomhive. It certainly would take a few days to heal, however.

"CIEL!" The woman called. "Ciel, are you alright?!" she demanded, cupping his cheek. Her eyes widened at the expression on the man's face as he looked up at her.

"That… was a finishing blow." He grunted, brow furrowed. "You could have killed him… You tried to kill him!" his volume grew and his eye flashed crimson, causing the angel to jump.

"I didn't mean it…" Elizabeth insisted. "When he shot you… I-I panicked! How else was I supposed to react?!"

"You don't try to kill the man I'm in love with!" Ciel roared, standing up. He took a towering stance over the woman, glaring down at her. Despite being injured, he was genuinely frightening. The poor woman didn't know how to respond to this.

Ciel was angry. Intensely angry. She didn't have to worry much longer as his attention shifted elsewhere. Looking up and to the side, he looked for the menace, but alas…

"He got away…"