Throughout the city, Halloween festivities were taking place. Children were out trick-or-treating under the close supervision of their parents while adults and teenagers threw parties all over town. Sometimes, their worlds intersected, like when kids would knock on the door and an adult stationed nearby would pause from their party to dispense candy. Sometimes, they would intersect in bad ways, however, with teens attending parties they mistakenly thought that they were grown up enough for.
That was sort of the case with this party, in particular. Well-to-do teens and young adults from around London were invited to attend this particular party every Halloween, and there were always some shady characters. From people who's family's have mob connections to people who were old money, they all mingled together for the sake of having a good time. Naturally, it was a rather exclusive event. It was invitation only and security was tight. There was even a bouncer by the door to check possible partygoer's credentials.
"No invite, no entry." the rather burly-looking man said while holding up a hand. He loomed over a group of girls in their late teens, stoic, and unfased as he had witnessed the same tantrum several times that night.
"Oh, come on! I was invited!" one of the girls said as she stomped her foot. Her arms were tightly wrapped around her, as her costume left her a bit exposed. Dame Hellsing would have been appalled to see a person dressed as a promiscuous angel, but luckily, she wasn't there. "Isn't there a list or something you can check?!"
"Nope. If you show me an invite, I'll let you in, but if you don't, you get to party out here." the bouncer calmly replied.
"I forgot it at home, though! I have one! Do you really want me to go all the way back home to get it?!" the young woman indignantly demanded while a few of her friends standing behind her tried to give the bouncer their own invitations. She saw them as they passed her. The bouncer let them in. "Hey! Where are you going?!"
"Sorry, Miley. We'll see you inside, okay?" one of her friends told her.
"You're just going to let me go back by myself?!"
"This party only happens once a year and what if you can't find it? I'll see you if you do, alright?"
"Bitch." the first girl, known as "Miley" accused as her supposed friend retreated inside. "Don't come crying to me when nobody's there to make sure you don't get roofied!"
With that, the young woman had no other option but to go home and try again later. That didn't stop her from glaring at the bouncer as she walked away, but he was unimpressed. Thus began the trek back home. She took off down the street, her tall heels that she hadn't anticipated to be spending the entire night in clicking against the concrete sidewalk. Reaching into her purse, she fumbled around for her phone so she could call a cab. She was freezing and she didn't feel safe out there by herself. All the while, she cursed her friends for ditching her and leaving her to fend for herself.
"Stupid Katrina..." she hissed, still digging. "What a fucking… fucking bitch! She's lucky she got invited at all! If it weren't for me..."
Furrowing her brow, she took her hand out of her purse and looked inside, only for her heart to drop at the sight, or lack thereof. "Fuck!" she swore. "That's just fucking great! First I forget my invitation, and now it's my fucking phone!"
It looked as though she was going to have to walk all the way back unless she could hail a cab. Sniffling, she hugged herself in an attempt to keep herself warm, but it was no use. At this rate, she was sure she was going to freeze to death. Yet, she did not yet know a true chill until one ran down her spine, forcing her to look back behind her.
Abruptly, she turned her head, only to see nothing and no one there. All she could see was the end of the bridge she was making her way across. She just lived on the other side, but it was not at all a short distance, especially in those shoes. Blinking, she stared back into the darkness and tried to form any kind of shape, only to decide that it was the atmosphere getting to her. She couldn't be too careful, however, and wasn't going to drop her guard just yet.
Looking ahead of herself again, she gasped as she saw someone standing there. When her eyes adjusted, she found that it was a man in a costume, but that did nothing to ease her worry. Her diaphragm shook as she tried to gauge just how dangerous this person was and her mind wasn't very optimistic. It was a man with a red cape that covered almost his entire top half when it was closed, showing only a pair of black trousers and matching shoes peeking out underneath. Most disturbingly, he was wearing a mask. It looked like a crimson comedy mask with devil horns and a big smile. She couldn't even see his eyes through it. All there was in their place was blackness. After a few moments of staring, the man spoke.
"Evening." he said, offering a polite nod. "I didn't know I'd be meeting an angel tonight. That's funny."
"Fuck off, creep." Miley snapped, trying to sound intimidating, but not being able to do so in the slightest. The devil in front of her didn't react at all. "I'll scream! O-or… I can get you someone else! Someone better than me!"
Suddenly, a red glow cut through the darkness in his eyes, making it appear as though he had pupils at last. The woman jumped at the sight and took a step back. What kind of mask was that? It was scary. Her heart was racing and even though she was freezing before, she began to sweat. The bridge was dimly lit, causing all shadow to become exaggerated. She couldn't see this man clearly and it was clear to her now that he was here to either scare her or do her harm.
"What was that?" the man asked, his voice low and hostile. "What is with you lot? At the first sign of trouble, you always offer someone else in your place. It's pathetic. I haven't said anything of the sort, but already you're shouting 'go rape the other girl.' Just what do you take me for? A monster like everyone your disgusting family?"
Instinctively, the woman turned the opposite direction to run, immediately regretting her choice of shoe. Before she could take her fourth step, her ankle wobbled and gave way, but she did not fall to the ground. Instead, the devil caught her, scaring her further by appearing in front of her once more. Eyes going wide, she tried to let out a scream, only for the man to cover her mouth before setting her upright.
"Don't do that. I'm not going to assault you." the demon informed, the redness of his eyes was gone and was back to black. "I just have a few questions. You're Miley Pomeroy, right?"
Hesitantly, the girl nodded. "Right." continued the man clad in red. "You're the daughter of Julian Pomeroy, whose next in line, right? Sorry about the loss of your grandfather, by the way."
"You know about that?" the girl asked, once the hand was taken away.
"It was on the news. I know who killed him, though."
"He had a bad heart."
"And the killer took advantage of that. They went in disguised as a nurse. It just so happens that the nurse who was last seen in his room wasn't recognised by anyone who worked at the hospital. Don't you find that fascinating?"
"What do you want?" Miley demanded, now realising that something was even more amiss than she had expected. If this was a mere pervert, she could understand it, but this was something else entirely.
"I need to clarify a few things." Reaching into his jacket pocket, the demon caused the girl to flinch, that is, until he pulled out a memopad.
"You've been going to the airport quite a lot recently." he continued. "Why is that?"
Instead of an answer, he was met with a question. "Are you a cop?"
"No. Just a regular ol' N'er-do-well like all the others."
"If you're not a cop, then I don't have to answer you."
"Actually, you do. You just don't know it, yet." With a gloved hand, the man pointed to the side at the railing of the bridge. "You can't see it at night, but it's a pretty long drop until you hit the water over there."
"Are you threatening me?"
"No. Just foreshadowing for if I don't like your answers."
Stiffening her posture, the woman swallowed and held on a bit tighter to the strap of her purse. "So I've been going to the airport a lot. Big deal. I'm just picking people up. It's no big deal."
"Well, it sort of is, actually, given that a lot of them are illegal immigrants. I don't' care about that, though. I care more about your bit in this."
"If they get deported, it's their own fault."
"But harbouring a fugitive is yours. Again, though. I don't care about that."
"Then what are you getting at?"
Reaching into his cloak again, he slowly pulled out a small booklet and held it up to her view. At first, she had no idea what it was, but then the light caught the metallic print of the cover and her eyes went wide. They darted from the book to the man and stared at him before looking to her left. "I don't know what that is."
"You don't?" inquired the demon before pausing to glance at it, himself. "It's a passport, Miley. More accurately, it's a fake passport. The woman I got this from was sadly deported, but before she went, she told me where she got it. She said you're the one who gave it to her."
"What woman?"
"I can't say."
"Then there is no woman."
"You're right, there's several." the demon informed. "All of them illegal immigrants who said that they talked to someone online who would get them passports so that they could come over here and start a better life. The stories all went the same way from every single one my people talked to. Next thing they know, the girl they met at the gate had them carted into a truck and one, two, three! They realise that it was all a scam and that they were really talking to a human trafficking ring. Sound familiar?"
Pausing, the woman looked down and thought for a moment. Eventually, she decided to look up again, but when she did, her confidence was shaky. It was obvious to the other that is was fake. "It wasn't my idea. All I do is go meet them. I don't do the actual stuff."
"You lied to them, Miley."
"They were illegal aliens!"
"You lied to them." the man said again. "You lied to them. They trusted you to help them find their way to a better life and you knowingly led them to a new hell. Just what do you think happens after you get paid for your work and go home, huh? Have you ever thought about that?"
"It's their own fault for getting tricked in the first place!" the woman angrily barked. "If they had just tried to come in legally, they would've been fine! And who the hell falls for that anyway?! It's not my fault they're too stupid not to trust people online!"
After her outburst, everything was quiet. Dreadfully so. All that could be heard was the whoosh of the cars driving past and Miley's laboured breathing. Then, after a lengthy pause, the devil spoke softly. "Is that how this works? They were trafficked because they're stupid?"
Unsure of how to answer, Miley at least that backing down wouldn't work. So, she dug her feet in further and replied: "Yeah! If they had any sense, they wouldn't need to come here in the first place! And then they find a deal online, see the low price, and think that it's legit? How stupid do you have to be? It's not like they were ever going to amount to anything anyway. At least they're able to make money-"
She cut herself off as soon as she looked up and saw the devil. Her stomach fell and suddenly, her throat was dry at the sight of those angry, red, glowing eyes. The mask's smile was gone, now, and replaced with a deep frown. It just stood there, staring at her silently as she shook. Miley knew that she needed to run, but she couldn't. Her legs felt like gelatin and her shoes appeared to be glued to the pavement. Then, the colour began to drain from the devil's face. Yes, the red of the mask seemed to melt away, followed by the cape, turning black as pitch right in front of Miley's eyes.
"Is that right?" the devil asked as the ends of his cape began to flare. It seemed as though his entire body was burning as black flames slowly began to engulf the man before her until finally, he held out a hand. His gloves were now fingerless and his blackened fingernails were long like talons. Shiny, black horns began to poke out of the fire as it began to die, soon followed by a pale head of hair.
"Is that right?!" the devil demanded again, his voice now booming. All at once, Miley Pomeroy's strength returned to her and she ran.
She ran as fast as she could in those shoes, the cold air seeming to slash at the inside of her lungs, but she did not get far. In an instant, the demon appeared in front of her and the flames were gone. Suddenly, she understood. She knew what was happening. This man looked exactly as the devil should look. He had horns, claws, and a tail, but he was also beautiful. That face was not the face of a horrible monster, but instead that of a handsome, yet cat-like young man.
Her eyes widened as she stared back at the dangerous red glare that the demon wore and she opened her mouth to scream. It felt as though all of the air had been sucked from her lungs, however, as she simply couldn't muster a sound, even as the large talons reached up toward her face. She was completely powerless. How foolish she was to agitate a demon. If only she had been wiser.
"My name is Jim Macken," the demon told her, "and I'm the idiot who killed you!"
Gripping her head on both sides, he twisted it violently in a fit of rage until a loud crack rang out across the bridge. Then, there was nothing but the sound of Alois' heavy breathing. Brows furrowed, eyes wide, and teeth grit and bared, he stood there, waiting for a retort, but nothing came. Time passed and his senses came back to him. The glaze over his eyes melted away and he saw the woman's head in his hands at an odd angle and her body loosely "standing" as it was still attached. For the first time during one of these wretched tasks, he got nervous. This wasn't according to plan.
He was supposed to jump off of the bridge and drag her down with him. He didn't need air, but she did. It would have looked like she drowned herself. Yet, with an injury so severe, there was going to be a police cover-up involved, much to his chagrin, but the scary thing was, he didn't even know what he had done at first.
Just as abruptly as he had killed her, he disposed of the body, throwing it off of the side of the bridge like a sack of garbage. With any luck, the drop was bad enough that her death seemed plausible, but that was a little bit optimistic. Looking over the edge, he watched as Miley Pomeroy fell into the water below. Anyone else wouldn't be able to see it through the murky blackness, but his eyes could until the moment she became completely submerged. That was it. It was that quick. It took only a few unkind words and one swift motion for her life to come to a complete end. The whole purpose of talking to her was to discern as to whether or not she was directly involved in her family's business. If his intel had been shown to be false, he would have left her be, but alas, she mocked him and all else like him. She was the one who signed her own death certificate. All Jim did was remove her from the playing field to make things more fair.
Turning away from the ledge, he began the long walk along the bridge, himself, sensing no one nearby. The flames returned, giving him back his cape and mask so that he could stay a bit warmer until he reached the car. It was far from the crime scene and he knew just the spots where he wouldn't be picked up by any cameras. Despite wearing a bright red cape, he disappeared into the night, leaving behind a body to be found washed up along the river a few days later.
Until then, he would go home and unwind. He needed to relax his mind after his little misadventure, but he would be getting back far earlier than he anticipated, given how the evening turned out. He had expected to get the woman while she was leaving the party, but this worked out better, in a way. He still had the problem of the police, but that could wait until later. Right then, he wanted to change into comfortable clothes and sit in the comfort of his own home.
Others, however, weren't so lucky. The party at the training base trudged on and his husband dealt with his own mayhem. The more time passed, the drunker and stupider the recruits became. Ciel could have sworn that he had sent roughly half of the base back to the barracks by then, but there was still a sea of people up until the wee hours of the morning. In truth, he was thinking of committing a murder or two, himself. The first few belligerent drunks were only a mild annoyance. Little did he know what was to come.
At the next fight that broke out, he slipped for one moment and pried them apart with a bit too much force, sending them both flying backwards quite a ways. In truth, he was rather embarrassed, but he couldn't let it show. Instead, his face remained stoic as always, but internally, he was struggling to maintain his composure.
"The next two idiots I see fighting, I'm going to pick you up by the collar and throw both of you outside flat on your faces!" he ended up coming out with. It wasn't exactly the "cool and composed" threat he was going for, but he had no choice but to roll with it.
"You threw me..." one of the recruits gawked, rubbing his tailbone. In response, the bluenette simply made his way over to him and bent down at the waist to address him.
"That wasn't a 'throw,' cadet." he said. "If you want me to show you how I throw people, I will be more than happy to oblige. One less fool I have to deal with doesn't hurt my feelings in the slightest."
With that, he stood up straight and returned to his spot along the wall, grumbling under his breath the entire way. Once there, he stood with his arms folded across his chest, wearing a scowl that was king amoungst all scowls. He did not look at all happy to be there and that was because he loathed each and every moment.
Most of the time, he was simply bored out of his mind, but at others, he was unfortunately obligated to deal with unpleasantness such as drunks, drunks fighting, drunks getting too "amourous," and preventing drunks from damaging HELLSING property. Ciel had no interest in this party before he arrived and now, he was actively hoping for an attack in order to make it come to an end. Tapping his foot impatiently, he held up his wrist to check the time on his watch. Much to his dismay, it had only been a few hours. Thank God, the crowd was thinning somewhat, but it simply wasn't enough. Ciel wanted to go home.
After what felt like days, Ciel felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Upon observing the device, he found that he had a message from his husband, telling him that his mission was a success, although there was a blunder that may require a little bit of "persuasion" of the police, but Alois had gotten home safely. That's really what Ciel wanted to hear.
"So I take it that you're not coming to the party, then?" Ciel sent back. "Lizzie must have misheard you." It took a while for Alois to respond, but he had good reason.
He introduced the palm of his hand to his forehead scrunching his brows, squeezing his eyes shut, and frowning with a loud groan emanating from his throat. The blonde had just changed clothes and sat down on the sofa in the master suite's front room when he was reminded of his fib. He had forgotten all about it, but more importantly, he had forgotten that Elizabeth tells Ciel absolutely everything. The Watchdog was probably wishing death upon himself by then and the idea that he had been waiting on the menace made Alois feel immensely guilty. He felt guilty while lying to Elizabeth, sure, but his husband had caught him in a lie and oh, how it made the blonde feel worse when he was already feeling the after-effects of a mission.
"It's alright if you don't come." the bluenette preemptively messaged him as it had taken quite a while for the blonde to reply. "You're probably tired and that's fine. I'll be home later."
"Ugh..." Alois groaned, pressing the phone to his forehead as he lamented the message. He thought about it and he thought about it hard. In all honesty, he was surprised at himself. The way he felt wasn't as low as he had felt before. He was still angry, sure, but he was relaxing quite well until Ciel's text. Perhaps he could handle a party, but then again, he didn't know anyone there and Ciel probably wouldn't want to be left alone. As much Alois hated to acknowledge it, Ciel really wasn't much fun at events like those. He couldn't blend in and he couldn't have a good time. The blonde Phantomhive loved his husband. Truly, he did. Yet, he didn't really want to have to handle that sort of negativity that night. It would only bring them both further down.
"Sorry, I told Lizzie that so she wouldn't know about you-know-what." Alois confessed. "I don't really want to go, if I'm honest. Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?"
"Yes, that's fine." Ciel's manner of texting was hard to read, at times. Without inflection and facial features, he always appeared to be rather grave. Alois couldn't tell what he was actually feeling at all. "Don't stay up for me. I'll be back as soon as possible."
"I believe you. I love you, honey~!"
The bluenette couldn't read the mess of emojis his husband sent him, but assumed that they were good, since they were mostly hearts. "I love you, too, Jimmy." Alois had also added the image of a lion at the end of his message, so Ciel copied him the best that he could and somehow managed to figure out how to add a dog to his. The gesture made Alois snort with amusement and smile for the first time since leaving the house.
"Cute." he said aloud to himself before uttering a sigh. Leaning back on the sofa, he let his arm dangle off of the side and closed his eyes. Eventually, his phone fell to the floor, the sound muffled by the rug beneath the seat, as Alois drifted into the first dreamless sleep without Ciel in several weeks.
A/N: This did not turn out like I thought it would. Not surprising, since I wasn't able to type for several days. I kinda lost the traction I had, so it kinda went off in a different direction. It happens.
Also, I'm sorry for the delay! I should have had this up on Wednesday, but my harddrive died~! I'm not even on the same computer. I'm borrowing this laptop until mine is fixed. We got a new one and installed it, but the keyboard is also busted, so it needs replaced too. What can ya do? At least I'm able to write and that's a relief. I was getting very anxious. I had nothing to do!
I literally did homework, I was so bored. That's how bad it was.
Anyways, I'm back now, so it should be business as usual.
Uh... Uh... let's see, what else...
I feel like I should put Dafydd in a chapter because a lot of you commented on how he's still so thirsty. He's sleazy. Don't talk to him. He's only after Alois again because his ex dumped him for another guy whose a lot nicer than him.
That's all I got for now.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
