"I'm gonna have to take out those bodygaurds..." Alois muttered to himself as he sat alone in the office. He was busily jotting down on a piece of paper all of the ways and places he could hit his targets and then narrowing down the ones he thought were good. As much as he hated the idea of taking out people who might not be involved, he rationalised it away as a necessary cost. "They probably sample the merchandise anyway."
He felt as though he had been slacking lately, as not a single Pomeroy had been killed in several weeks. He didn't like that. It felt as though he wasn't doing enough. If only it could be done in one fell swoop, it would be perfect, but that isn't how it was.
Alois had plans for that night, however. His target wasn't going to be home that evening, so the menace intended to take advantage of the fact that Julian Pomeroy now lived alone in order to lie in wait for him. It might take hours. It might even be until morning, but Alois' patience was vast when he needed it to be, but it would soon be tested by a somewhat peculiar day at the estate and it started with a phonecall.
The call was picked up by Sebastian, who redirected it to the office. Reaching for the device, the blonde cleared his throat. "Hello?" he said to himself, practicing as he altered his voice. "Hello? Hello?" Gradually, it got deeper and sounded more and more like his memory of his husband's alias, "Hercule Phantomhive." Fortunately, Ciel's accent was easy for him to copy. It was sort of an odd talent of Alois'. He could easily change his accent or mimic one that he's heard before. In fact, it was only over the past few years that he returned to his native way of speaking. At first, he wanted to appear posh because of his union with Ciel, but since his husband finds it "cute," he's relaxed.
"Phantomhive." he greeted, mimicking his husband's tone perfectly. "This is Hercule."
"Hi, Sir Phantomhive. It's me, Missus. Langtree from down the road?" replied the voice on the other end of the line.
"Oh! The one with the farm, yes? What can I do for you?"
"I know you like to be direct, so I'm calling to ask if it would be alright to install some kind of security measures down on the farm." the woman said. "I'm not sure what that would be yet, but I just wanted you to consider it before I sprang it on you."
The lands that the Phantomhives had owned had shrunk considerably over the years. Only part of them were returned to Ciel by the Queen upon his return to England. It was sort of punishment for fleeing in the first place. Then, Ciel had sold off portions he didn't need and rented others. Missus Langtree was a wealthy woman who was renting from the Phantomhives. She and her husband built a house there before Mister Langtree died and they had a barn with horses and a field with sheep. They thought they would play farmer, but the only one of them who really loved it was Missus Langtree.
"Did something happen?" Alois asked as Hercule. "I would me more than happy to oblige, but I will need to know what exactly it is you will be installing before I can give you a definite answer."
"I can't tell what it is, if I'm perfectly honest. A few of my sheep were killed, you see." the woman said. "It looks like a wild animal got them, but there's nothing big enough around here that should be able to do this. That sort of makes me think it could have been a person, maybe, but I'm also not sure what could make these marks."
"Was any part of them eaten?"
"It looks like it. Not a lot, though. It's been like this for a few days. A couple of sheep end up dead with only a little bit eaten from them. It adds up."
"Have you talked to animal rescue yet? Ask them to see if there's anything in the woods?"
"Yes, but they were just as stumped as I was."
"Hmm..." hummed the menace, thinking about it thoroughly. "Whatever it is, I hope you find it before you lose much more. If there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to call."
"Alright. Thank you so much." Missus Langtree replied. "I'll ask again when I have a plan. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time."
"I appreciate it. Bye-" Alois cut himself short before he accidentally gave the wrong farewell. He was good at what he did and hung up without making a single mistake. Then, he shot his husband a quick message summing up what had just occurred and carried on with his day, completely forgetting about it.
The strangeness had just begun, however, but didn't continue until shadows grew longer along the ground as the sun made its way across the sky. By this time, he had migrated downstairs and sat in the greenroom with his weapons strewn out on the table. He had a can of polish next to them and a dirty rag. One of his pistols was disassembled, and he was in the process of cleaning it and putting it back together. Piece by piece, he very carefully and thoroughly put everything in place and caused it to shine. He liked to clean everything before a mission for two reasons, really. First, so that nothing would jam or misfire, and the second was merely because he found it relaxing.
He was always tense before a mission, but this sort of mission in particular filled him with dread. It was a struggle to keep his cool and not do anything too rashly, so it was best to try and keep himself calm throughout the day. This was merely one of his methods.
Once everything was in place, he held the gun up, aimed it right in front of him, and pulled the trigger, hearing the "click." With that, he smiled to himself before carefully loading the weapon and weaving it into his demonic garb. He was just about to get to his knife when something felt a bit off to him. It was slightly out of his range, however, so he needed a second opinion.
"Sebastian?" the menace called, prompting the attention of the butler, who had long since ceased his dusting as he tuned into the strange force.
"Yes?" Sebastian answered, already knowing where this was going.
"You feel that, right?"
"I do. There are people on your property." he said, finally turning around to face the blonde. "Would you like me to take care of them?"
"Hmm… Don't kill them unless they're dangerous." Alois answered after giving it a moment of thought. "I'd like it if you would call to tell me if there's anything unusual, but if it's just some hunter or camper or whatever that got lost, just send them away."
"Kill hostile trespassers, observe and report unusual activity, or if it is something that is easily rectified, do so?"
"Sounds right."
"Understood. I will take care of it immediately." The butler offered a small bow before moving to leave the room.
"Thank you, Sebastian." Alois called after him. He always thanked the older demon for his services whenever he asked him to do something. It was a behaviour that Sebastian found most unusual in a master of the house, but it wasn't unappreciated. In fact, he found it quite nice to have his work acknowledged. It made him feel better to know that it wasn't being taken for granted.
"You're very welcome, sir." answered the man clad in black before disappearing further into the house. He was making his way to the back door so that he could cross through the garden and into the surrounding woods. In truth, he had known that the group was there for a while, but wanted to see if they would move first. It was actually rather impressive to him that Alois was able to catch a whiff of them from so far away. As a guardian, it sort of gave Sebastian a sense of pride, like he had taught the younger demon well.
He made himself scarce once he reached the forest, honing in on the spot where he had sensed people. Now that he was a lot closer, he could tell a lot about them. For example, he now knew that they weren't human. Once he had a visual, however, he knew a lot more than he really wanted to.
There is no good way of putting this, but what he found there was a group of teenagers with blood smeared on their faces and hands, and in addition to that, some of them were only partially clothed. Immediately, Sebastian could tell what had happened, once he combined this with what he sensed before. Pulling out his phone, he began to text the blonde menace inside while tuning in to the group's conversation.
"I'm freezing my ass off!" one of the youths said, shivering as they all huddled together for warmth.
"Shut up, Lillian! You still have all of your clothes on!" said another one of the girls, who was now wearing a shirt borrowed from one of the boys.
"Well, if somebody didn't drop my phone, we could have called for somebody, but no! Now we have to wait until dark!" harshly growled the first girl.
"How much longer do we have to wait, anyway?" asked one of the lads in the bunch. "I'm hungry!"
"I don't know, maybe you should ask our brilliant 'alpha!'" Lillian snapped back. "First we have to steal somebody's sheep, and now we have to break into a fucking mansion?! Way to fucking go, Brittany. What an amazing idea this was!"
"Hey! I didn't know it would be like this!" another girl replied. Presumably, she was called "Brittany" by the context clues Sebastian was getting. "I didn't know that when we transformed, we'd still think exactly the same! I didn't know that some of us would forget where we put our clothes!"
"You didn't even think to pack any food!"
"Well, you didn't either!"
"But you're supposed to be the leader!"
At that moment, Sebastian received a reply with instructions and finally decided to make an appearance. "Good afternoon." he greeted, stepping out of the shadows. "My, my, you kids seem a little worse for wear. Do you need any help?"
"Yes!" immediately answered Lillian without thinking. The poor girl stood up and regretted her decision almost immediately as she left the warmth of the group and was forced to fight against the chilly November air. "We need help. Lots of it. We've been stuck out here for days!"
"Lilith!" gawked a few of the others.
"Well, it's true!" she said back.
"I would be more than happy to get you all inside and see if we can find something for you to wear." Sebastian quickly butted in before another round of teenaged bickering could begin.
"We would love to." Lilian replied as she begun to follow the man through the woods, only to be followed after by the rest of the group. One by one, they stood up and trailed after them, leaving the supposed "leader" of the group lingering behind for a moment before she too decided to follow as well.
Sebastian politely led them through the garden, allowing them to marvel at both it and the building as they approached. The building wasn't as impressive from the back, and it wasn't as ornate or decorated as other manorhouses, perhaps, but it was still the home of one of the most powerful families in the United Kingdom. Obviously, these youths weren't from the area, given their reactions and Sebastian was actually a little bit worried about them sitting on the furniture.
Thankfully, the menace had assisted him. When Sebastian walked into the green room where the menace had previously been, he was somewhat surprised to find that Alois had somehow moved a box of old clothes into the room in the time it took for Sebastian to return. There was no doubt that the menace had gone off to change into something more suitable for one of the heads of the household. He had to represent the family in Ciel's absence after all and he couldn't do that in a pair of shorts and a V-neck.
"Please wait here for the master to arrive." Sebastian said. "It appears as though he has prepared some clothes for you to browse through. There's a bathroom through here if you wish to change in privacy. Would anyone like some tea in the meantime?"
"Thank you, Mister..?" one of the boys trailed off with an arched brow.
"Sebastian Michaelis. Butler to the Phantomhive family." the man stated with a small bow.
"I'd love some tea." another teenager said, hoping the offer was legitimate.
"Right away." With another bow, the butler turned to leave and passed through the door again.
He left them to make themselves decent, although he still had his concerns. Luckily for him, he knew about every single item in that room, what condition it should be in, and where it goes. Should anything go missing or break, he would know about it. Fortunately for him and the Phantomhives both, while some of the teens were tempted, they were all too busy making themselves decent.
All of them took turns in the bathroom, as they wanted to wash the blood off of themselves before they did much else. In fact, they were even hesitant to sit on the furniture. It was all too nice. It was like none of them belonged there, and in a way, they didn't.
"So what's the plan now, exactly?" asked one of the youths. "Are we all going to go home?"
"I can't go home. I'm not going back." one of the others said. "I came out here to stay out here. Freezing my ass off in the woods is a lot better than home."
"Yeah, but how are we going to manage out here without dying?" questioned Lilian. "We've got no food, no shelter, and no way of doing much of anything. What are we supposed to do?"
"I… I don't know..." said Brittany, shaking her head as she stared into her lap. "I don't get it… We should've gotten all the instincts to survive when we transformed, so why..?"
"We fucked up." spoke one of the boys, putting on one of the shirts he found. It was a tight fit, but it was better than nothing. "That's what happened. That guy you found was a bust."
"But we transformed! That's something!"
"Yeah, but what good is it if we starve to death?" Lilian inquired. "Everything was supposed to be better when we were changed! It isn't and now we're all stuck."
"Maybe, maybe not." chimed in a voice they didn't recognise, prompting all of them to turn their heads. Sure enough, standing in the doorway was a rather dashing-looking blonde man in a black suit, leaning against the doorframe. Suddenly, it dawned on the group that the man had overheard everything that they had been saying and immediately, they had to do something. But, the man just held up a hand and waved them off.
"Calm down. I already know what you are. Werewolves, right? I'm guessing you're the ones who killed Missus Langtree's sheep, huh?" he pressed, casually strolling into the room. "I'd appreciate if you wouldn't do that. It's not a very nice thing to do."
"Who are you?" demanded Brittany, standing up with a scowl. "And how do you know about us?"
"Actually, I only know what you've just said and have made a couple of assumptions. I'm not exactly human myself, so I'm able to tell what you are pretty easily. My best friend is actually a werewolf, too, so I kind of recognise the signature. Anyways, my name is Jim Phantomhive. I'm one of the heads of the household. Care to explain what you're doing on my property?"
There was hesitance on the other end. A lot of hesitance. None of the teenagers wanted to confess. Thus, Alois was left with no option but to talk to himself.
"From what I gather, you lot found somebody to turn at least one of you into a werewolf and then you spread it to your friends, thinking you'd form a little werewolf 'pack' and live in the woods?" he speculated, taking a seat in one of the chairs before setting a black folder on the coffeetable in front of him. "But, things didn't turn out like you thought, and you've realised too late that lycanthropy isn't like in the movies, but by then, you were lost in the woods with no way out. Sounds like a few bridges were burned back home, too. Does that sound about right?"
"Y-yeah… basically..." bashfully answered one of the youths, averting their gaze downwards.
"Don't be embarrassed or anything. This sort of thing happens, unfortunately. You're not the first and you won't be the last." Taking a deep breath, Alois tried to gather himself enough to continue. "Have a seat, have a seat! Relax a little. I'm not going to bite your heads off or anything. You're actually in luck, because you just happened to wander onto the property of somebody who can help fix it."
"I don't want to go back home." Brittany stated rather firmly, but the menace shook his head.
"I'm not going to make you. I'm gonna offer you an alternative, as long as you keep your minds open. You've learned that werewolves are real, right? So just hear me out a bit, alright?"
She seemed to relax a bit more, but everyone in the room was still wary of what was going on. Regardless, Alois remained professional and calm. "I work for a secret organisation called 'HELLSING-' We deal with supernatural affairs, both threatening and non-threatening. We're basically the reason why you don't hear about vampire attacks and such all that often. One thing we do is find a place for non-dangerous supernatural beings to live. You following me so far?"
"No." Lilian said bluntly. "Aren't secret organisations like that normally a bad thing?"
"In movies, yeah, but I'm not here to hurt you. There's a bunch of kids outside in the cold with no clothes or food. You want me to just bail on you?" Alois questioned, arching an eyebrow. "There's kind of a procedure to all of this that we have to follow so you don't get in trouble later, sure, but more importantly, I won't be able to sleep at night if I think you're still out there freezing to death."
"What kind of procedure?" skeptically inquired Brittany while narrowing her eyes. She was incredibly suspicious of this man. There was no way that this was true. It was too good to be true. Then again, she was a werewolf, now, so perhaps it wasn't that hard to believe after all. Still, however, she had her doubts. In her head, she was imagining some sort of medical procedure where horrible experiments would be performed on all of them, but no. Instead, Alois reached for his folder and opened it up.
"Filling out paperwork, I'm afraid." the man informed. Just like that, he began picking up paper packets and handing them out. "That's what really took me so long to get down here. I knew you probably weren't registered, so I had to print you off the forms to fill out."
"Register for what?"
"As a supernatural. I'm sorry to put a massive damper on your fun, but supernatural beings have their own laws that they need to follow. One of them is that you must have some kind of documentation for our archives telling us who you are and all that. Think of it like your birth certificate. You're being born into the world of supernaturals, and to get access to all of the cool stuff, you need to have proper documentation."
Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a fistful of cheap pens and held them out. "Yeah, I know it's boring as fuck, but it's a thing. After this, we can get you set up with a place to stay."
"What if we don't fill it out?" asked Brittany. "What if we say 'no?'"
"Good luck in the woods, then." the menace said. "I'll also have to call the organisation to come get you and either make you fill it out, or arrest you." That was partially a lie. If she became hostile, she might actually be killed, but he didn't want to give her any more reason to be distrustful. "You can fill it out and get a place to stay, or you can head off on your own. I tried to help, so my concience is clear, either way."
To her surprise, the girl actually saw her friends filling out the papers on whatever flat, hard, surface they could find. They wanted out of the woods and were willing to fill out a scrap of paper to do it. For the most part, the questions were straightforward, but eventually, there came a question.
"Why does it have 'name' twice?" asked one of the youths, instinctively raising his hand like he's in school.
"The first one is for your given name- the one on your birth certificate, and the second is just what you would like to be referred to as." Alois explained. "Be careful, though. It's basically legally changing your name. It will appear on all of your documents from now on if you change it, and if you want to change it again, you'll have to pay a fee."
"So, if I wanted to put like, any name, I could?" the teen asked.
"Yep. But seriously, pick carefully. That will be your actual name unless you pay to change it again." the demon knew about teenagers and names. He knew that if they weren't careful, they could be stuck with something silly for a while. He also knew that now that the possibility was given to them, it would be hard to ignore.
Now the group seemed a bit more excited to participate. It was like this was some sort of game to them, but to Alois, it was absolutely serious. The man sort of assumed that's how all of this was. A game. They didn't seem to understand the ramifications of their actions just yet. Even though they were quite literally out of the woods, they would soon learn that the freedom that they expected to obtain simply doesn't exist.
"After you're done, just give them back to me and I'll hold onto them for the time being." Alois instructed. "Unless you think you can hold onto it until tomorrow."
"Why tomorrow?" asked Lillian.
"I can't really let you guys back outside without anything set up yet in good conscience. I think it would be better if you had a hot meal and a good night's sleep. I'll take you where you need to go to turn that stuff in and fully register in the morning. Is that alright with you lot?"
"I'm good with that." the girl answered. "I'm Lillian, by the way."
"I'm Brittany." said one of the other girls.
"Taylor."
"Sierra."
"I'm Shane." said the last one, prompting the Phantomhive to smile.
"Nice to meet you all!" he replied. "I hope I'm not being too forceful. Not having a place to go to is rough and having to fend for yourself at a pretty young age is even worse. I've been there before. I should probably tell you how this is gonna work, though. You don't just get a housing assignment overnight. It could take some time."
"Where are we going to have to stay, then?" Brittany questioned. "Is there a place for that, or..?"
"There is. It's sort of an 'in-between' for supernaturals. You basically just stay there and learn about how to deal with your condition and all the rules of the towns we send you to until you receive an assignment. It's called 'Phantom house,' and it's rather nice."
"What about the places we'll get to live in?"
"There's two towns that you might be assigned to. Gehenna and Pyestock." Alois explained, counting them off on his fingers. "Gehenna is in London while Pyestock is a few hours away. Unfortunately, you won't really have much control over where we send you, though. It's sort of just 'whatever is open,' basically. You might not end up in the same house or even the same town. There's ways around that, though. There is a bus that goes between them."
"I don't want to split up, though?" Brittany said. "None of us do! We'll have to be put together!"
"That's something you're gonna have to work out with the housing agent. I'm authorised to help register you, but I don't decide housing assignments. Sorry."
"What if we got jobs and bought a flat in London?" the girl questioned. "Could we do that?"
"Sure, you could. You could even move back in with your parents if you wanted. Either way, you still need to register. Then, when you get a place, you need to update your information so it has your current address."
"I don't want to do that." stated Lillian, speaking up. "No offense, but I don't want to live with you."
"What? Why?" the first girl questioned.
"How can I trust that you'll remember to pay rent and all that stuff if you couldn't even plan this?"
"I didn't know what all we needed and didn't have money for all of it."
"Okay, so how are we gonna get a flat, then?"
"We'll get jobs."
"I still don't think I'm sure about that. I'm just gonna have a house in one of these towns, here." With that, Lillian began checking a few boxes on her paperwork, probably indicating her intentions. To this, her friend narrowed her eyes and gave her a nasty look.
"You're too little to live by yourself. I'm the oldest, so I have to take care of you." Brittany declared, folding her arms, but her logic was countered by the blonde menace.
"If you're too young to take care of yourself, you might possibly be adopted by a family in Gehenna that will take care of you." the demon stated, folding one leg over the other as he leaned back in his chair. He could tell what was going on and he did not like it one bit. After a few minutes of listening to the group interact, Alois had decided to do everything in his power in order to keep the younger of the two werewolves out of a situation that she's obviously indicated she's not comfortable with. "There's a lot of species that can't have children naturally, so if you go about it that way, you might actually find a place a lot faster."
"I'll have to think about that..." the younger girl replied. "Can I change it later if I don't put anything?"
"Yeah, you can. Just talk to the people at the office and they'll help you find the right person to help you with that." Alois told her, all the while, he could tell he was being glared at.
"I don't think that's a good idea." said Brittany. "You don't want to live with a stranger."
"I'm certain if Lillian is old enough to decide to run away from home, she's old enough to decide what she believes is best for her." the devil advocated on the younger werewolf's behalf.
"Her name's not 'Lillian.' It's 'Lilith."
"I don't want to go by that anymore." Lillian stated. "I don't know what I want to go by anymore, so I'm just gonna use my name. I just… I dunno..."
"You want something better than you've already got, don't you?" the menace concluded for her, earning a nod as the girl took in a shaky breath.
"I want to go home, but I don't want to go back there." she said. "I don't have a home to go to."
"It's alright. You're safe, here." He hit the nail on the head, it seemed. Alois didn't feel entitled to any details, but assumptions could be made with the information he had. "I'm not gonna make you don anything that you're absolutely opposed to and I'm not going to hold you against your will. As long as you follow the rules and turn in the right paperwork, I don't really care what you do. It's your life, so do with it what you will."
For a few moments, Alois watched them without receiving a response. He didn't need one, however, so he wasn't too bothered. His attention was only piqued when one of the boys, Taylor, stopped writing and started glancing his way.
"I'm done." the lad said softly, nudging the packet across the table.
"Alright. Let me just look it over." Taking the paper from him, the menace looked it over to make sure everything was filled out. Pulling out a pen, he clicked it and made an alteration. "Species… They want you to say 'werewolf,' not 'human'. Could the rest of you make sure you have that down?"
There was a strange look on the teenagers' faces at that. Alois understood it. For a long time, it was hard for him to really accept that he was no longer human. He still felt human. He still looked human. But he wasn't human. And they weren't human. There wasn't a single human in that house to be found.
It wasn't just the change of a label that was so disquieting, however. It was a drastic change in one's very perception of oneself. Going from "human" to "werewolf" or "human" to "demon" dramatically changes a person's lived reality. Worse, unlike a mere label, which could be altered with the switching of words, there was no changing this. There was no going back. Jim had to accept to this and adjust. With time, the younger supernaturals before him would to. In this world, once one's humanity has been truly lost, one can never hope to get it back again. Thank God or goodness, or whatever power that governs the universe, however, this did not mean that one stopped being a person. Not being a part of "humanity" as a species did not mean that one had no "humanity" as a concept and philosophy.
In time, the younger ones would come to understand. It would be hard for them, though. Alois had experienced demons helping him along with the knowledge that he did not chose this for himself, but these kids didn't have that. They only had each other. As support, it might be useful, but as guidance? They would be lost for a while. Alois could only hope that they ran into some senior lycanthropes at Phantom House that would be willing to help them along.
"I'll go get my seal." the man said after making his corrections. With that, he stood up and left the room, only to return a short while later with a stamp and a pad of purple ink.
"This seal won't look like most of the approval seals you'll see on other people's paperwork." he explained, already anticipating some confusion. It wasn't a purple or green Gehenna crest, or a black or red Hellsing family crest. Instead, Alois stamped the coat of arms of the Phantomhive family onto the lad's papers in all of the appropriate spots, being very careful to make sure he didn't miss anything. "It's because you're getting approved here instead of there. If the person at the desk gives you a weird look, tell them to check the approved seals and you should be fine. It's uncommon, but it's valid. So don't worry if you see somebody else's paperwork and it doesn't match."
"Anything else we should know?" asked Taylor, genuinely curious. He leaned forward with his elbows on the coffeetable as he scooted closer from his seat in the floor. "Like, do you know anything about being werewolves?"
"A bit. My best friend is one." Alois replied nonchalantly while taking a packet from one of the girls and looking over it. Turning through pages, he continued. "He owns a shop in Gehenna called 'Andrea's.' He's the bloke to go to if you need clothes to fit your werewolf forms. He specialises in clothes for supernaturals. There's actually an instruction manual for being a werewolf that you can buy in town, or I think even at Phantom House. If you don't want to spend money, though, you could always get a library card."
"Why didn't we get any instincts when we transformed?" asked Brittany. "The moon came up and we changed, but we were still the same on the inside."
"That's because that's not how lycanthropy works. That's how it works in movies." the menace said with a somewhat sympathetic look before stamping a page. "The only thing that changes is your body. Your brain stays the same. Well… Maybe not the only thing, but everything else is just side effects."
"Like what?"
"Increased appetite is actually a thing, but you won't get any kind of bloodlust and urge to kill people. Meat is preferred, though. My friend actually goes out to a butcher shop in London to stock up once a month. He still likes it cooked." Strangely, the menace wondered as though this was a lot like having to sit down one's children for "the talk." He couldn't even begin to imagine what puberty must be like for a teenaged lycanthrope. Kristopherson was immensely lucky to have been bitten as an adult.
"Increased amounts of body hair outside of the full moon is also a thing." he added. "That includes girls, too. Nobody in either town will bat an eyelash, though. There's people with goat-legs running around, after all. That includes female ones, too."
"Ew!" a couple of the teens said. It was mostly Brittany and the boys, however, so Alois simply rolled his eyes at them.
"Let's see… What else..?" Alois mumbled aloud, ignoring them. "My friend says that he feels anxious about two days before the full moon and that that seems to be pretty common… Also, he says to take the day off work the day after. I imagine you probably found out how sore you get from changing and changing back."
"I'm still sore." Lilian replied before handing her own papers in as well.
Taking them, Alois chuckled. "Have a bath later and soak. You'll feel better. Sebastian's getting some rooms ready for you to spend the night in. I also figure you're all pretty hungry, too… Try to stay awake long enough for supper if you can. Don't fall asleep in the tub, you can still drown."
As much as the menace would like to be warm and welcoming to the group, they had turned up at a terrible time. Had it been any other day, Alois would have been more noticeably hospitable, but there was an implied distance between himself and the youths, no matter how hard he tried to close it. These kids were exactly the kind of kids that he wanted to be helping. Yet his mind had trouble with doing just that. Still, he was determined, and if there was one thing notable about the menace it was his tenacity. He kept at it and muscled through, getting all of their papers filled out and stamped, as well as making sure all of them were safe for the night and prepared for the morning. No matter how unenthused he was about having to potentially alter his plans for the evening, or how little mental energy he had to spare, Alois felt obligated to help and was going to make sure that they were properly taken care of first. Julian Pomeroy might just get away for a second time.
After everyone was settled into their rooms, Alois enlisted the help of Luka and Revy to keep an eye on them, just in case. All the while, Sebastian was preparing food. As more time passed, however, the more the blonde's anxiousness began to manifest. Pacing back and forth in the office, he looked up at the clock on the wall approximately every two minutes in hopes that it would make time move faster. He didn't like the idea of leaving Sebastian, Luka, and Revy alone with the youths, so he needed to wait on Ciel to come home so that he could be handed the baton.
"Don't you think it's a little weird?" one of the lads asked, having just stepped out of the bath. Two hours had passed and everyone was still trying to get settled in.
"What do you mean?" asked the other boy in the group.
"This place? And that guy? Isn't it weird that we just happened to be in just the right woods to find him?"
"Kinda. Maybe the universe is looking out for us, finally. Is there any hot water left?"
"I dunno. You'd have to try it out."
"I'll do that while you think about the weirdness of coincidence."
"You're not worried?" the first inquired further. "What if he's making all that shit up and he's part of a government agency that wants to dissect us? What if he thinks we're crazy and is just gonna call the cops on us after playing along for a bit?"
"Then we'll bunk off."
"Maybe… I don't really know anything anymore, though, so anything is possible… We could be in deep shit and not even know."
"We're all super strong werewolves. What's the worst that could happen?"
"We get stranded out in the woods and slowly starve to death?"
"Shut up."
The teens were chattering on and on about their situation. It was understandable. They didn't know the menace and had never heard of "HELLSING." They had no proof that any of this was even real. The only proof they had was the fact that they know that they're werewolves. After all, they transformed, so that had to be true. It that was "truth" however, what else was "reality," now?
They would soon find out. Either they would adapt well, or they would struggle. It was completely out of Alois' hands. All he could do was give them the tools they needed and allow them to sink or swim.
Eventually, the man's prayers were answered as he sensed his husband approaching the office door. "I'm home." the bluenette greeted as he stepped into the room. "How are our guests managing?"
"Poorly, but teenagers are kind of like that." the menace jested, trotting up to his husband in order to give him a hug. Wrapping his arms around Ciel's middle, he sighed as the other man held him back, placing a kiss to his temple. "Other than that, they're fine."
"Are you planning on going out, tonight?" the other asked, arching a brow at Alois' suit. It was one of the work suits that the duo bought in bulk- not at all suited for entertaining guests.
"Sorry, but I was hoping I could. Can you manage things here until I get back?"
"About when will that be?"
"Probably late." the menace replied, pulling away from his spouse, only to see Ciel's true thoughts on the matter written on his face. Needless to say, the Watchdog was not keen on the idea. "Please? For me?"
"Don't pull that 'please? For me?' nonsense." Ciel huffed, pitching his voice higher in a mocking fashion as he quoted the blonde. "You know I can't say 'no' when you do..."
"Where you going to say 'no' in the first place?"
"...No…" the Watchdog admitted, rolling his visible eye. "This job is important to you, so I cannot keep you here for my convenience."
Smiling softly, he reached up and moved a lock of hair out of his husband's face. Of course, Ciel couldn't refuse him. Alois had been planning these attacks for a while, now, and the elimination of this family was something that he deemed his personal responsibility. Alois honestly and truly believed that the world would be a better place without the Pomeroy's, and everyone around him thought he was right. So Ciel wouldn't deny justice to him or those he was fighting on the behalf of. Still, Ciel had to be the doting husband and kissed him lightly.
"Be safe." he said to the menace. "Come home in one piece, alright?"
Alois giggled as the other man kissed his cheek. "I'll do my best. I'm sorry we might not get to hang out a lot tonight."
"That's okay. You need to do what you need to do. I'm sure I'll be alright by myself for a little while. Is there anything I need to keep in mind before you go?"
"Like what?"
"I have no idea how to interact with teenagers."
"You interact with Revy all the time."
"Yes, but that took a lot of practice." the bluenette explained. "And Revy became a lot more entertaining after he grew up some. How old are these kids?"
"Most of them are fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen, while there's only one or two that are around thirteen or fourteen."
"So… 'teenaged,' then? That doesn't tell me much."
"I forgot what all they wrote on their paperwork. Sue me." Alois replied. "But more importantly, let me go. I need to leave pretty soon."
"Alright. But one last thing." With that, the bluenette squeezed the menace in his arms a little tighter and held him like this for a few seconds. He released him with a small grunt and moved his hands down to hold onto Alois'. "Alright. I might survive on this for a while."
"That's good to hear. I'll see you later." Turning the tables, Alois wiggled his hand out of Ciel's grip before holding on to the bluenette's. Holding it up to his lips, he kissed the other man's knuckles before letting go again and starting to walk out the door. "Try to have sinner with them so you can answer any questions they might have!"
"Alright. I'll do that." the Watchdog answered. "Love you."
"Love you, too, baby. Don't stay up for me."
That was insulting. Of course Ciel was going to stay up. He and the menace both had trouble sleeping apart, and there was no way he could fall asleep while wondering how the blonde's mission was going. Alois offered his beau a small wave as he walked down the hallway, all geared up and ready to go. Once he turned the corner, however, the bluenette's smile faded. He knew that although Alois was grinning on the outside, his emotions were twisting and turning on the inside. Alois himself didn't have a means of explaining the way that he felt. All that he could do was do the job to the best of his ability and then come home to deal with the aftermath. Every time he left, however, he left his husband worrying about whether or not he was going to make it back safely.
A/N: This honestly has nothing to do with the actual plot as it currently exists in my head. I just wanted to explore the idea a bit before I moved deeper into things. Might be able to spin it. Might not.
I just wanna know about and talk about the systems in place for this kinda shit. I also want to think about other stuff, but if I explain it now, it'll probably be beating you over the head with it. So I'll just let the chapters do the talking.
Ah... I dunno what else to say...
It's kind of interesting that the response so far to Johnathan in the last chapter was "oh yeah, that guy exists." Hopefully you'll care more as he shows up more. It all depends on my own skill, basically. If I write shitty, then the response will be kinda lukewarm, won't it? I'll do my best, though!
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
