The wheels were turning, slowly, but surely for the HELLSING orgainzation. With some projects, it was more so than others. The Pyestock effort was put into effect almost immediately, with Elizabeth pushing the second phase of the poorly constructed plan into it's rightful place. She spoke to Alois for his ideas on how to recruit workers to fill these offices, to which he responded with the suggestion that they should focus their efforts on witches in Gehenna. His reasoning was to push the matriarchal culture of the witches into mainstream culture in Pyestock, which was a good idea, but they also weighed the potential drawbacks.

She also checked on Ciel, who was practically beaming as he, too, spoke to Alois that day. He was pleased with the blonde's ideas being approved and was genuinely happy that things were going well for him. Elizabeth could practically hear his smile through the phone and she knew that the two demons most definitely exchanged some disgustingly sweet words. She was glad. After having heard this was their first time apart other than the few times one of them was captured, she became worried, but was happy to see that things were still going smoothly on that end.

"Don't worry about us." The Phantomhive told her. "Just worry about work."

"But then who else will keep you company?" teasingly questioned the angel.

"I have friends. I just talked to Kristpoherson yesterday." informed Ciel. "He was wanting to know how starting up a second location for Andrea's in Pyestock would work. I wasn't lonely at all."

"So says the man who hasn't slept since his husband left."

"It's uncomfortable. Jim has resorted to hugging a pillow. Things are tough."

"What a disaster..." Elizabeth snarkily replied, not expecting her cousin to give such a serious answer.

"I think it's cute..."

"You think everything he does is cute."

"You've got me, there." the bluenette conceded with a shrug "I won't bore you with that, however. I'll keep that to myself."

"I bet you won't last for five minutes. Twenty pounds."

"I can, too. Going without talking about how cute he is is not a problem. I was just making an observation. He misses me, too, and-" suddenly, the man stopped himself. Quickly, he tried to think of something else to say. "And..."

"And…. You can't even last five seconds without being tempted?" Dame Hellsing teased, grinning as her cousin huffed on the other end of the line. "Ciel, that is adorable."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Lying as always! I thought you used to be good at this?"

"Why would I lie about my husband? It's not wrong to have feelings!"

"Ciel and Jimmy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-"

"Oh, look, there's somebody at the door!" interrupted the Phantomhive, trying his best to ignoring the giggling on the phone. "I'll have to go get that. Goodbye, Lizzie!"

Abruptly, he hung up the phone, sighing with a slight blush. He was fully aware that there was no chance in hell or heaven that Elizabeth will have bought his excuse and was probably still laughing. As it so turned out, however, he was actually correct about the door. With a knock, his butler peeked his head into the office.

"Baldassare is here to see you, sir." Sebastian said, suppressing his puzzlement.

"What does he want?" Ciel questioned, pausing for a moment to look at the other. "What's with the face."

"He is here to see Mister Hercule Phantomhive." the butler replied. "I tried to gently remind him that no such person exists, but he won't have it. He's… Well, to be blunt, he's acting rather strangely, sir. His eyes are strange and he won't stop smiling. He brought two humans with him and not only all of this, the man hasn't said one single swear word since he arrived!"

"That's… Unsettling..." Regardless, the Phantomhive straightened his attire and headed toward the door. "Let's go see what he wants."

He didn't bother to change, as he figured that hearing it straight from his own mouth might persuade Babyface. None of this sat well with the bluenette, however, as the vampire should know that the only Phantomhives were Ciel and Jim. Paired with the bizarre behaviour and the presence of human beings, this was all very suspicious.

The pair walked until they made it to the greenroom, where guests are entertained. Ciel was perfectly alright with skipping formalities, but just by looking at the Girasol vampire, he could see that Baldassare was on his best behaviour. He sat up straight, kept his hands to himself and didn't touch anything, all while wearing a rather pleasant smile. It was "unusual" at best and "abnormal" at worst, leaving the Phantomhive with a look of perplexion.

"Baldassare." he greeted, crossing his arms while leaning in the doorway. His eye very quickly scanned the room, taking note of the two humans. They stood nearby with expressions similar to the one Baldassare wore. This wasn't good. "What do you want?"

"I'm looking for Hercule Phantomhive." the vampire said, standing up. He was slightly shorter than the bluenette while using a glamour spell to age his appearance. "I must speak with him for business reasons."

"You're looking at him." Ciel answered, watching the other's eyebrow twitch. "What 'business' do you have with me?"

"I have no business with you. I need to see Hercule Phantomhive." Baldassare insisted. It was wrong. Very wrong. As much as the Phantomhive wanted to call him out and tell him that this person did not actually exist, the situation was strange to the point where it was concerning, causing Ciel to reevaluate his course of action.

"What business does this entail? On whose behalf are you here?" he questioned instead. Fortunately, the other man had an answer this time.

"I come here on behalf of Mister Belmont."

Now things were extremely interesting. Richard Belmont was still in custody. He didn't even have a cellphone to contact anyone in his cell.

"What's his first name?" Ciel asked. To this, Baldassare paused. There was a moment of hestitation before the vampire had his reply.

"I come here on behalf of Mister Belmont."

"Alright." the Watchdog said, having had enough. With a snap of his fingers, his butler sprang into action, knocking both human escorts out with one blow each. Baldassare began to stand up, reaching into his jacket and grabbing the handle of a revolver, but Ciel was quicker.

As soon as Baldassare had his gun aimed, Ciel had already grabbed his wrist with one hand and stepped out of his line of fire. With his other hand, the Watchdog pushed up on the vampire's elbow, breaking his arm at the joint.

"FUCK!" Baldassare exclaimed, dropping his gun and doubling over in pain. "Shit! You didn't have to go that far, asshole!"

"You pulled a gun on me. How else am I supposed to react?"

"Kugh..." groaned the other man, before finally looking up. "Wai- Wait… I what?"

"It's right there." Ciel pointed out, forcing Baldassare to follow his finger to the weapon on the floor.

"So I did… ugh…" strangely conceded the vampire, huffing and puffing as he stood back up while grabbing his arm. "Didn't even notice… Guess I oughta thank you, maybe, for snapping me out of… whatever that was…."

"I didn't know you worked for Belmont."

"The fuck's a Belmont? I don't work for nobody other than ME and ME only! Look, I didn't mean to barge in on ya. I don't even know those fuckers. They just sent them with me." Baldassare gestured to the two humans laying unconscious on the floor. "I don't work with no humans."

"The whole situation seemed strange from the beginning. I thought something was wrong with you. Like you were being influenced by something."

"I don't do drugs."

"I mean like some kind of spell." Ciel clarified, sitting on the armrest of a nearby sofa. "Mind control. Sound about right?"

"About..." Baldassare answered with a furrowed brow. He averted his gaze, ashamed that he succumbed to the influence of another. "Were those those people that yer man was talkin' about?"

"Yes. We should get you to HELLSING." the Watchdog insisted. "Tell them everything you know. If you behave, they might even take a look at your arm."

"Always a catch, huh? Can't say I wouldn't want to see those fuckers pay..."

Carefully, the Phantomhive took in the expression of this vampiric mobster. Oh, how his fists shook in anger at the shame he had endured. Baldassare, the head of the Girasol Vampires, who was undeniably one of the most powerful people in all of Gehenna, was captured by and forced to do the bidding of mere humans. It was worse than if a supernatural did it, he believed, as humans weren't supposed to be able to get the upper hand on his kind without the proper skills and weaponry. That said, what was done to Baldassare in order to get him to comply was not only ridiculous, but it was sinister. After much poking and prodding from the HELLSING organisation, it was uncovered.

What happened was, his captures had asked nicely.


A/N: This is a very strange chapter. The last one was, too. This is just a weird arc. There's not a lot I can do about it other than keep going and get to the explanation.

I do worry that things are going a bit slow. What do you all think? Should I speed things up? It might take me longer to come out with chapters if I do things that way, though. In order to do that, I would need to make them much longer. Basically, combine two at a time.

Ah… I dunno… I honestly want to get to the good bits, but I'm actually working in accordance to a flowchart so I don't forget important details or get lost! It's gonna be a wild ride, y'all.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!