Minutes earlier, while sitting in the living room of the Butcher house, Blackwood bounced his leg up and down anxiously while he listened to the Butcher brothers joke and laugh while talking about how happy they are to finally be working together again. Initially, they weren't on the same side, as the older brother, Stuart, wanted a clean slate. So, he started working for Matthew Westley in hopes of making the world a better place by getting involved in politics. Alas, it wasn't to be in part of Westley being a no-good excuse for a human being, but also because to the fate that befell him and brought him back here to his younger brother, Barry Butcher. The younger sibling was into crime of the organized variety and was saddened that his family had turned their backs on him. Now they were together and all was well.

"If it weren't for Blackwood, I might not have ever seen you again!" Barry declared, raising a glass. "To Blackwood!"

His brother cheerfully concurred while the man in question clinked his glass against theirs somewhat reluctantly. While the others were cheerful, he was not. He was nervous, both due to his plans and because of his senses. His eye hadn't picked up a supernatural in a long time, causing him to worry about his sight. Blinking rapidly, the man tried to get himself to focus, but his thoughts were difficult to keep track of. Worry occupied a lot of space in his head, causing him to act in a strange way. Fortunately, the other two men assumed that it was just him being strange as usual. Little did they know what was in store for them.

Blackwood's left eye could see things that few humans could, and he could do it at will. Yet, his inability to come across any supernatural beings caused him to fuss over his sight. After seeing the truth, the worry that he had lost that skill almost consumed him. He worried. He worried that what he was seeing right then in front of him was false and the desire to witness the fantastical sights that he once saw with the Scarlet Order was present always.

"Are you alright, Paul?" questioned Stuart, taking notice of his coworker's anxious posturing. At the sound, Blackwood's eye darted the other man's way before staring at him intently.

"Yes..." the blond said, albeit unconvincingly. He very carefully scanned his coworker's face and internally debated as to whether or not he was really seeing what his eye was telling him he was seeing. Wandering thoughts turned to thinking about every supernatural being he could remember and trying to think of one that either suited Stuart, or the man showed "symptoms" of being. When Barry spoke up, he did the same for him as well.

"You don't seem alright…" the large man said. "You look… Jumpy… You haven't been sampling the product, have you?"

"Never. You don't sample what you're selling. That's rule number one." Blackwood stated. "I'm perfectly fine."

"You don't look 'fine'..." Barry pointed out. "You sure you're not on something? C'mon, you can tell us."

"I'm not on drugs. I've just got a lot on my mind..."

"Like what?"

"I couldn't explain it even if I wanted to..."

"Enough of this." the younger Butcher huffed while standing. He glared down, daring to stare directly into Blackwood's eye. "You've been cryptic from day one! Now call me crazy, but I highly doubt that all you really want is a place to stay. You're up to something. What are you planning? I'm not letting you stay here for another second until you explain it!"

Pausing, Blackwood leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees without breaking eye contact. With a chuckle, he asked: "You wanna know? You really wanna know?"

"Yes, I 'really' want to know." Barry snapped back while mocking the other's tone.

"Okay." the blonde conceded. "In fact, I'll show you the next phase of my plan right now..."

In an instant, he caught the pair off guard by pulling a pistol out of his jacket and firing. Two shots went into Barry as he held up his hands to shield himself to no avail. Stuart tried to run, tripping over the coffee table and falling to the floor. He cried out in fear, but it did nothing. He was still executed all the same. Panting, Blackwood put the gun back in his jacket before opening a window. He was an amateur, but he made an attempt for the flunkies who came into the room from the noise.

"Someone shot through the window!" the blonde declared while pointing with feigned distress. Turning his head, he looked out with the others as they looked for a perpetrator, only to spot a woman across the street in a phone booth.

Upon laying eyes on her, Blackwood's brows raised and his eyes widened. It was almost impossible not to smile, but miraculously, he managed. He could see her. Furthermore, he recognised her.

"It's her!" he roared, prompting the attention of the others. "Get her! Don't let her get away!"

Swiftly, the group scrambled and burst through the door into the evening air, only to be forced into a chase when the woman started to run. Quickly, she ran into the forest in hopes of finding cover. She ran while bushes and brush whipped against her legs and while her mind raced equally as quickly in hopes of finding a way out. The bright moon illuminated the humans' way, disallowing her an easy hiding place. Then, she heard twigs snapping in front of her.

They had caught her on both sides and were trying to box her in. Who on earth was she kidding? She was a maid for a hundred years, seldom permitted to leave the grounds of the Wakefield estate, yet she believed that she could best Blackwood. How foolish. Foolish, foolish, foolish- she should have known. What option did she have? She could not run or hide, so where did that leave her?

That is when the first man jumped out and lunged at her. In that moment, she found an answer. If she could not run or hide, she would fight instead. Thus, she did what vampires do best and sank her teeth into his neck. Oddly, he didn't scream right away. Really, he wasn't quite sure what had just happened, nor what was currently happening at the time. It took him a few seconds to get there, but eventually, he realised that he was bleeding profusely and his neck was in pain. Weakly, he let out a shout, but it was too late. It wasn't long after that that he fell to the ground to bleed out the rest of the way.

His attacker stood over him, eyes glowing red and cutting through the dark as Crystal stared down at him. The air smelled of iron, filling the lungs and nostrils of everyone in the near vicinity. A flashlight shined on the woman's face as more people approached, showing the blood smeared around her mouth as she bared her fangs and hissed. As soon as the poor underlings moved again, she lunged, ripping out the throat of another while his friend tried to pry her off. The third was bitten as well, but stopped screaming once a shot rang out.

Not only did blood spout from his neckwound, but oozed from his chest as the bullet passed through his attacker and stopped inside of his heart. Horrified, Crystal looked down, watching nonhuman blood stain her shirt as she ached. Letting go of her prey, she clasped her injury before falling to her knees. Blood sputtered from her lips as she coughed and wheezed, but she wasn't quite finished yet.

"You're supposed to be gangsters!" Complained a voice from behind her. Turning her head to look, she saw a blonde-haired man with an eyepatch holding a smoking gun. "Don't tell me not a single one of you- not a single one has a gun?!"

Slowly, he walked toward the woman with caution, making sure she was too weak to attack. Then, he pointed the barrel of the gun directly to her head. With a smirk, he asked: "Like it? I borrowed the gun and bullets from your former master."

The woman shook both out of pain and out of fear and anger at the mentioning of her master. Wakefield provided money to the Scarlet Order and was in turn presented with custom weaponry of the anti-freak variety. These bullets could and would kill her. Looking down at the ground, she stared blankly at the puddle of her own blood that stained the earth. No matter how hard she tried, her mind was drawing a blank and she was growing colder.

With a chuckle, Blackwood continued: "Say 'hello' to him for me." Then, he pulled the trigger.


A/N: The story will resume normally after this. This was an odd chapter to write. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

This is gonna be good... I feel it...

There's actually other fun stuff I wanna write about, but first, I'm gonna try and mess with y'all a bit.

Fingers crossed!

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!


CHARACTER SHET

Question: "To Ciel and Alois: How's marriage life going for you two" by LOKgirl13

Alois: "Oh, jeez... It's like a dream, as silly as it is to say. I absolutely love it. Things are going wonderfully! Things are similar to before, but also different at the same time. I still get butterflies when we call each other our husband. We're closer and happier than ever~!"

Ciel: "I think it suits us very well. I quite like domesticity, even though we have the occasional nonsense of the supernatural and/or murderous variety sometimes. I feel a lot more secure, although I was never insecure in our relationship before. I don't think this is going to be changing anytime soon, although some changes did occur after marriage."