Chapter 26

Sebastian felt his mate stiffen beside him. His eyes glowed demonically, his aura seeping out of him in anger. These mutts needed to back off. The demon barely held back a snarl. They whimpered off with their tails between their legs. "Such cowardly dogs Lord West has raised." Both Luce and Ciel sweat dropped at his comment.

"Yo~ Earl!" They turned to Lau, shocked. The Chinese man stood amidst the bodies of unconscious guards leisurely twirling keys around with a needle. "What? They're not dead." Lau casually chuckled and Luce couldn't help but clap. She was very impressed. The guy was like a real life Master Shifu.

Ciel sighed in annoyance. "Let's just get a move on."

Soon their group found themselves inside West's house, where Ciel was very fussy about keeping quiet, so much so Luciana couldn't help but roll her eyes. He didn't need to tell her how to sneak around. It wasn't her first time breaking and entering. They followed Sebastian's lead to the only lit room inside a dim hallway. 'How cliché...' The door had been left ajar, so it was easy for them to peer inside as they crowded around the opening.

Within the room were two people. One Luce knew all too well and the other was a man in his late twenties with light brown hair. She presumed that to be Harold West. They watched him parade around, gloating over all his fine belongings and boasting of his three year plan. West was the kind of man Luciana did not like. He was conceited, arrogant and stuck-up. The kind of person who thought he was friends with everyone while in reality no one could stand him. She wrinkled her nose. 'I mean just look at Agni.' The man seemed like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. But the question remained; why is Agni here?

"You did a good job." West chuckled, smoking on his cigar.

"And if I help you accomplish this..." The Indian man seemed reluctant, clenching his fists in frustration, "Meena will...?" 'And there's the reason for his actions.' Luciana pursed her lips, understanding the situation. Agni really was a sweetheart – 'To do all that because Soma was looking for that woman...' She sighed. It was just too bad that West was using him. Meena was already married to the man and possibly enjoying her life in luxury, basically a backstabbing bitch- or opportunist, depending on how one viewed it.

Soma didn't spare another moment racing into the room. "Did you say Meena?!" Ciel tried to stop the prince only to be pulled back by Luce.

"Shush kid, you don't want to get involved." She peered at him with serious icy grey eyes that had him stop whatever he was about to say. She was quite aware of the circumstances. Agni was there for his prince and by the looks of it, had struck a deal with West for the return of Meena. Why men thought women were simply things to toss around in bargains was beyond her but that was beside the point. With Soma entering, Agni was put into a tight spot. If Ciel were to interfere as well- she didn't even want to think of what would happen. But contrary to the kid, Soma was a foreigner and not many people knew of him here. It could still be played off as a misunderstanding since it is his servant in there, but if Ciel were to get caught—things would not turn out pretty, after all they had broken into someone's house.

"AGNI! What is going on?!" The prince grabbed onto his servant in question. "You know where Meena is?!"

"Ah, so this is your master?" West seemed amused by his sudden appearance.

"You...you are the one who kidnapped Meena?!" Soma pointed to the man. "Agni, beat this guy!" Yet Agni didn't move. Luciana stared coldly at the situation. The Indian butler was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place. This could have easily been avoided. And as noble as Agni's intention were she couldn't help but frown at his idiocy. He was so easily taken advantage of. "Agni, what are you waiting for?!"

"Agni. Throw out this fussy prince." West grinned mockingly and barely spared Soma a glance.

"It seems they are starting to argue." Sebastian commented stoically, pulling both his master and mate further into the shadows. He was surprised by the uncaring look in her eyes. "Luce?" He whispered into her ear, never before having seen her like that.

"They're all idiots." Her eyes met his for a second before returning to the topic at hand.

"It also seems this has nothing to do with the London underground...meaning this is out of the earl's jurisdiction." Lau added in a whisper.

"Indeed." Ciel did not look forward to reporting it to the yard. "Perhaps we should head home..." The kid looked at the chaos within the room, debating his options. He sighed. "Let's get that foolish prince and go."

"But won't he recognize you?" Lau asked.

"Leave it to me." Sebastian grinned, handing Luciana his coat and proceeded to walk further into the hallway.

She shrugged, turning back to the commotion. "Agni! What's the meaning of this?! – explain it to me at once!"

"I don't want to say anything. Please leave this place." It was his silent way of trying to keep the prince out of trouble, but Soma didn't even understand. The situation continued to escalate. The prince screamed at West, yelling that it was his entire fault. Agni had to pull him away.

"Ugh- he got my suit wrinkled." West straightened out his clothes before adopting a wicked look. "Agni, beat the voice out of him." Shock was written all over the servant's face. "Aren't I nice? I didn't even ask you to kill him." 'Someone should beat the voice out of you.' Luce wrinkled her nose in distaste.

And just as Agni had found the twisted resolve to strike his young charge, a flash of black interfered, stopping his hand mid-strike. Luciana's eyes widened.

"Who the heck is that?!" West screeched, paling while looking at Sebastian's disguise, while she bit her cheeks to remain quiet.

He bowed with his hand over his heart. "I am merely a deer sent to collect the prince." That was it. She couldn't hold it anymore and fell into a fit of silent giggles.

"Oya~ using a stuffed deer..." Lau grinned in amusement, "good one Mr. Butler."

"How is that good?"

Luce fanned herself still laughing too hard to follow what was happening. And in no time she found herself walking back to the town house with Soma and Sebastian's deer head. She looked at the demon, biting her cheeks. Instead of the abdominal snowman, he was the abdominal deer-man. Her fit of giggles returned. "Please take that off," she wheezed. Her stomach was hurting from all the laughter, she couldn't take any more. "I can't take you seriously."

At least Sebastian had done as she asked. It would have looked ridiculous to have him serve tea as a deer. Luce cracked a smile and tried to focus on the conversation.

"Agni's right hand of god...that was formidable." Lau commented, leaning into the armchair. "He was beyond human."

"It's called Samadhi." Soma frowned. He did not seem to be in the mood for anything.

"Samadhi?" Ciel turned to his new maid, seeing if she knew anything of it. But Luce only shrugged. She had never heard of that before.

"It has to do with their religion." Sebastian explained. "It's like entering a trance, isn't it? Humans are strange creatures. Their blind belief that they call strong faith can call out enormous strength from within. The Vikings called upon Odin. The holy knights and the crusaders fought in the name of Yahweh." As Luce thought about it, she couldn't help but see the truth in his words. She remembered reading about the vegetarian festival in Thailand, where people literally walked around in a trance with swords pierced through their cheeks. But such conviction and faith could also lead to a lot of death. 'Like manipulation or even terrorist attacks...' "For Agni...his belief in his one true god allows him to use such a power." That made sense. Agni did view Soma as a god. "It is something we could never obtain, bred from love," His eyes trailed to Luce and her breath hitched, "and belief." She stared at him unable to look away, her heart pounding. 'You must love him a lot...' She felt herself blush as Mey-Rin's words echoed in her ears. "The power of 'faith'." Sebastian's eyes flashed. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to gain her favor.

"Then tell me why..." Soma mumbled in deep depression. "Why did he betray me?- How did he leave me behind so easily?!" His arms swiped across the table, breaking whatever spell Luciana had found herself under.

The teacups fell, shattering and staining the carpet. 'Seriously?!' Her brow twitched and she inwardly scowled at the broken pieces. Soma continued his outrage until there was nothing left on the table and all lay on the floor in shambles. He ran out of the room like the little spoilt child he inwardly was. 'Did he have to do that?' It's not like he had to clean it. She grumbled.

So yeah, I'm back…thank you for the support and I hope you enjoy the chapters to follow!