The game continued for a few more days as the duo resumed monitoring Blackwood. There wasn't much to report, after their initial findings, and Daniel seemed happy, much to everyone else's dismay. This was going to hurt him in the end, but the Phantomhives knew that they couldn't let things go on as they are. Thus, they decided that it was time to meet with mister Blackwood and chat. Unfortunately for Paul, however, a chat with the Phantomhives was never a fun experience.

He was sitting at home doing anything but minding his own business. He was still gathering intel on Westley and filing it carefully in a folder that he kept in a small filing cabinet beneath his desk. A digital copy was kept in a flashdrive that hardly ever left his person. Sometimes he would leave the house however, if only to either find more incriminating evidence on his boss or to visit his boss' son. He was obsessed. The man was pouring all of his time and energy into Westley even while not working for him.

After hearing about his increasing "visits" to Daniel's residence, the Phantomhives at last decided that enough was enough. They would have to scare him off. Thus, they paid Blackwood a visit, themselves. The man jumped nearly three feet in the air when he heard the knock on his door, and for good reason. It was nothing good, just as Mister Blackwood had expected, but he didn't expect the two demons to be there. Quickly, he packed away all of his evidence and closed out of everything on his computer before shutting it off. He kept his flashdrive with him as he answered the door, still looking through his left eye, as it had become second nature, now. Paul was very understandably startled when he saw the two men, as they appeared in their true shape before his eye.

"Oh… It's you..." he finally said, calming down a tad. "Hello. To what do I owe the pleasure of having you?"

"Hello, Mister Blackwood." greeted the blue Phantomhive. "It has come to our attention that you have not been attending your regularly scheduled appointments with our doctors. Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Paul quickly stated. The word almost came out in a bark. "I'm perfectly alright. I guess the time has just gotten away from me. You know how that is..."

"What about your eye?" questioned Alois, pointing to the man's face.

"What about it?"

"Your right eye is closed." the menace pointed out, immediately prompting the man to open it.

"Oh. It's nothing. Just a bit of a quirk." Blackwood insisted, but he was not convincing in the slightest.

"You should probably get that checked out." Ciel said. "May we come in? There is more we wish to discuss." The suggestion made Blackwood very visibly nervous, but he had no choice. If he refused, he would definitely look suspicious- or rather, more so. His delicacy and composure had seemed to have slipped away after being left to his own devices, and his mental state was deteriorating.

"Of course." he answered, stepping aside. "Please, make yourself at home."

"Much obliged." the Watchdog said as he stepped inside with the Lion following close by. Once their backs were turned, Paul shut his right eye again and stared at him as he closed the door.

Understandably, he was terrified. He knew they weren't human. He could see it. He could see it clear as day. Moreover, he knew that their organization wasn't exactly a public facility, given that it appeared nowhere on any database he could access, including Westley's. Not even Mathew was so stupid as to leave that information out in the open for his staff to find, even though he certainly way stupid enough to leave everything else out, was how secret that group was. If he set foot in that building again, Paul wasn't sure if he would come out again, and now that these two have arrived to ask him about it, he wasn't sure if he wasn't going to be dragged there this very afternoon.

"What is it?" he asked, refusing to lock the door right away. His guests, however, didn't take kindly to that.

"Oh, it's nothing, really. You're not in any trouble." fibbed the bluenette. "It's just a matter of insurance."

"Oh." Blackwood sighed, dropping his guard. As the bluenette took a seat on his couch. Stepping away from the door, the man sat down in a chair that was nearby in the living room, although he did not take his eyes off the demon. Moving away from the door was a mistake, however, as immediately, the blonde made his way toward the door, and Mister Blackwood heard a click.

"Was that the door?" Paul asked, preparing to stand up again. In an instant, his worry returned. It was very obvious that he was not good at this game.

"Yes." Ciel answered with a chilling amount of calm. "Now no one can bother us."

"Why would they bother us?"

"That depends on you." Pulling out his memo pad, the Phantomhive glanced over his notes on what they had recorded. "Now, let's talk 'business'."

"About the insurance?" asked Blackwood.

"Yes. We'd like you to stop what you've been doing over the past few days." the Watchdog said. He could see in Paul's face the exact moment where his heart dropped. He was pale and his eyes were wide as he stared at the bluenette, completely ignoring the blonde at the door.

"I'm calling the police-" the assistant began as he started to get up, only to freeze when Alois pulled out his gun and aimed it right at him.

"We are the police." the menace replied as the other plopped back down in his seat. "We're the police and then some, and you're in lots of trouble, my good man."

It was silence from Blackwood as he stared up at Alois in shock. This was it. This is where his life ended. He would either die here, or rot in prison. Either way, he was a dead man. His life as he knew it was completely over. He had been caught. He had no idea how. It didn't matter even if he did. The fact of the matter was that he was trapped in a room with a pair of demons and one of them was pointing a gun in his face.

"I think it would be within your best interest to listen." Ciel calmly insisted. "We wouldn't want to ruin that chair of yours, would we? Don't worry, we'll make this as brief as possible." Following more silence from the other man, the Watchdog felt compelled to say: "Please nod if you understand."

Slowly, the assistant nodded, never taking his eyes off that gun. He had never even seen a gun in real life before, and now one was pointed at him. They only seemed like the sorts of things that only appeared on television, but then again, so where demons. Blackwood tried to hold completely still, but his hands and legs trembled with fear.

"Good." the Phantomhive stated. "Now, we don't take issue with you messing with Mister Westley. Far from it. The only time we take issue with it is when our bosses take issue with it, and we have no inclination to inform them of your actions at this time. However, we do take issue with one detail, and that is your involvement with Daniel Westley."

A thin layer of sweat began to coat Blackwood's skin. Stray droplets collected here and there before running down his cheek, but Paul wasn't sure if they weren't tears or not. His whole body felt weak, and as he was reminded of Daniel, he felt sick. It was as though the gravity of what he had done just hit him. It was disgusting, and he knew it. He simply shut that out as he focused solely on himself for the past few days. Even now, he was worried mostly about himself. His actions could very well cost him his life if he wasn't careful. It wasn't worth dying for. Neither of the Westleys were, to Blackwood. He wanted his revenge, but he didn't want to pay for it! No matter how much fun it was crushing his boss or how exciting it was claiming Daniel, Blackwood was too weak to own up to it. Disgusting. Truly abhorrent.

The demons were unimpressed with both his actions and his character, and wished to kill him, but knew better. If they did, Daniel would not be pleased with them, and then their friendship would be at risk. They would not commit the crime if they could not pay the price. They knew better.

"What we cannot forgive is your use of Daniel in your plot." Ciel informed the terrified man. "It's one thing to tear down one's nemesis, but it's another to use innocent people in one's plot. Moreover, it's typically not a good idea to use someone who is affiliated with people who know are potentially dangerous."

"Amateur." scoffed the menace. "You're not very good at this. You can see us, can't you? Why would you risk it? It's very arrogant to believe that you're somehow above being caught. You didn't even try!"

"Indeed." his spouse concurred, nodding before he carried on. "So, here is what we would like from you: we would like you to not continue your relationship with Daniel Westley, as you are only using him for nefarious purposes. In addition, we would like you to give us copies of the data that you posses so far."

"Why?" Paul managed to question. His voice cracked and he cowered as the blonde stepped closer.

"As leverage, of course." Ciel calmly answered as his husband ordered the assistant to stand up. Alois patted the man down, finding his flashdrive in his pocket.

"This it?" the menace asked, earning a nod from Blackwood.

"Yes, that's it. That's all of it. Take it." the cowardly man responded, holding his hands up.

"You don't mind if we check, do ya?" Alois questioned further with the barrel of the gun kissing the side of the assistant's head.

"No! Not at all! Help yourself! The computer is in my office!"

"Good man." quipped the blonde. "I'm gonna need you to come with me, because I'm pretty sure you've got a password on there, don't you?"

Blackwood nodded rapidly as Ciel stood up and straightened his suit. "If you would please lead the way, Mister Blackwood?" he invited, gesturing with his hand.

Slowly, the assistant made his way toward the office with both demons following closely behind him. He held his hands up the entire time until he got there and leaned over to turn on his computer and put in the password to unlock it. He then stepped out of the way as Alois handed the flashdrive to his husband, who then pulled up what was on it on the computer. Ciel skimmed the device, looking over what all was on it, nodding to himself and occasionally saying what type of documents was there.

"Well, I certainly knew that he was laundering money, but not this much!" chuckled the bluenette as he looked over Westley's finances. "I knew he was a criminal, but this is heinous."

"Actually, that's probably not from laundering…" Paul sheepishly pointed out.

"Oh? What then? Bribes? Tax fraud?"

"No, the stuff further down is fraud." Blackwood explained. "That money is taken directly from the council."

"Parliament? Government funding?"

"The, uh… The Convention of Twelve." The words that the assistant had just spoke stopped the Watchdog dead in his tracks.

"He… what?" Ciel pressed, still facing toward the screen. His tone was no longer relaxed, and the fact that Paul couldn't see his face really made the assistant worry.

"H-h-he's been taking it from the Round Table." Blackwood repeated. "I-I don't know how or where he gets it, but tha-that's what he said..."

His eyes glanced toward the demon with the gun for a split second and was able to register the shock on Alois' face. The menace, despite his better judgement, turned to look at his partner for a moment, and both he and Blackwood watched as Ciel exited out of the computer and took the flashdrive. The man straightened his back in silence, placing the memory stick in his pocked while taking a moment to collect himself. Blackwood was ignorant to the gravity and magnitude of the situation like the two demons did. It was one thing to steal from the taxpayers, but it was another issue entirely to steal from the Round Table Conference. It was something that could not go unreported.

"I think we're done here." Ciel finally said, turning around. Although he smiled, his face was dark as though he hid a grimace underneath. "Remember, Mister Blackwood: It is in your best interest to heed our advice. It would really be a shame if something were to happen."

"L-like what?" the assistant asked as the bluenette turned to walk out of the room. As he watched him, he took his eyes off of the blonde for a second, leaving him open for the blow to the head that Alois inflicted with the butt of his pistol. He fell to the floor in pile. Once he knew the man was unresponsive, Alois quietly stepped over the man before leaving the room himself and shutting the door behind him. Once that was done, the Phantomhives left the flat without any other disturbance. They had left the place just as it was when they arrived, apart from the unconcious man in the floor in one of the rooms.

The pair walked in silence through the building and all the way to their car. They did not speak. They didn't even look at each other until they were safely inside the vehicle. Once there, they discussed what was going to happen next.

"What now?" questioned the menace.

"About what?"

"Anything. Do you think Blackwood will talk?" the blonde clarified, causing the bluenette to pause.

"I don't think he'll talk." the Watchdog answered. "He's too much of a coward. Besides, he's already in too deep. He can't go back now."

"What about Westley?"

"We tell the Round Table."

"But if we do that…" Alois trailed off for a moment, not wanting to finish his sentence. He knew very well what might happen. He just wasn't sure if he wanted it to. Too much was already going on.

"I know." Ciel said, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "I'm not sure if we can stop it."

"We could keep it a secret. Pretend we never heard, y'know?"

"If they find out we did that, then we'll be in hot water. I'm not sure if they'll cut us any slack with this."

Both men sat in silence momentarily, taking it all in. This was bad. Neither of them were fond of Westley. They knew he didn't belong on the council since his first day. That said, they liked Daniel. Daniel didn't deserve any part of this. He didn't deserve scum like Blackwood, and he didn't deserve this.

"What now?" the menace asked again. "Where too?"

"Home." replied his husband. "We'll report to the Round Table when we get there."


A/N: Yikes. Ah... this is bad. I feel like this advanced rather quickly. Oh well... What can ya do?

I've been having a serious problem with updating, lately. I've been kinda bummed. I've actually talked about discontinuing the series after the Scarlet Order storyline on Tumblr as a result. Talking about it helped. What I realised is that I've been really, really afraid that people think DLTP is boring. I'm afraid to sound attention-seeking, but I really need feedback so I know that people actually read this! Three chapters have gone by with just crickets in response, so it's been sort of discouraging. It's like just I'm throwing words out into a void. Hello? Is anyone there? I have no idea.

I also had this sort of epiphany that this is what kills a lot of fanfic writers. There's no response, so people just give up. It doesn't matter what their traffic stats say. It doesn't matter how good fics actually are. "Oh, no one's saying anything, so I guess it's boring" and they give up. I looked around and it's pretty common. The more reviews people get, the more frequently they update and the longer the fics are. That's actually why DLTD was so long. I only meant for a handful of chapters, but it ended up being longer because I had encouragement! It kept it alive.

The best way to keep the fics that you love going, to have them update more, and to have better content is to review. It keeps up the author's morale. Otherwise, they get that feeling like when you're talking about something that's really exciting and interesting to you, but you slowly begin to think that nobody is listening or thinks you're boring, so you just kinda stop talking. That's basically what it is, but it's written lol.

Aaahh... I feel like I'm whining a lot... Wasn't my last A/N asking for reviews too? Man... I feel kinda pathetic... Very needy... I'm sorry about that. I just feel kinda down, sometimes, y'know? I still have a shit-ton of more stuff, so I don't wanna quit. I don't wanna quit for a long time. "This series has gone on so long that people are tuning out. God, I'm so boring. I should wrap it up soon..." Guh...

Hell, if y'all have ideas for storylines, give 'em to me. I wanna hear that. I have used reader ideas in the past. It is not new. Come to think of it, I haven't done a beach arc in a long time... I should do that... That "tradition" started because of a comment a reader left. It works. I've even altered endings because sometimes, reader speculation is better than what I had planned. Keep me on my toes.

I'm sorry. I know this is probably not what you wanna hear in an author's note. What DO people wanna hear in author's notes? I've been posting what I used to put in the A/Ns on Tumblr, so I'm never sure what to say anymore. Maybe I should try to get back in the swing into doing them regularly again? I want to get back in the swing up updating more than once a week, too. Baby steps, baby steps...

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!