CHAPTER 27 - "SURPRISES"

In their bed chambers, Damascus undressed and chose a light colored shirt from the closet. Unfortunately his only vest had been ruined, so he decided he would only go out with a shirt and a tie, and he bet when morning came along and William was told what he had done, he would insist on buying Damascus a new one. Damascus didn't really care about that, he was happy regardless.

Happy that he had finally found a woman he loved and cherished. And he wondered if he was the first demon to do such a thing and settle down with a human. Probably not, or indeed have coitus with. He had known many demons including Morning Star and even Master Belial who seeded children. But they probably did so in wicked passion, not loving the partner they were with.

Then what did it make him? Was he hypocrite, a demon that fell from grace, because he wasn't a bastard like the rest? That he respected humans for their kindness, their accomplishment, their determination in the face of adversity? Humans weren't just food. They were intelligence creatures. He knew demons and humans could co-exist, he had proven it on many occasions.

He sighed. He was philosophizing again. But he was right.

He put the thought out of his mind and finished dressing and returned to the kitchen, where Bryan had just finished cleaning up and was now preparing food to take out to the wedding guests on a platter.

"How do I look?" he asked Bryan.

Bryan turned from his task and looked at him. He tilted his head, then left his spot, approached him and commenced in fixing his ribbon tie. Damascus accepted the manservant's help. Sometimes he didn't know where he would be without him. Bryan had been so much help in his recovery.

Once finished, Bryan stood back and nodded, exhibiting a hand gesture for "perfection".

"Thank you, Bryan. You are a…Godsend." Damascus found it ironic that he would be using a word like that, but throughout everything he had been through, Bryan had been there helping him with Kassandra at his side, like an angelic being who has been sent down to help a soul in his greatest time of need.

Bryan smiled and bowed low. "If you harm Lady Kassandra in any way, I will kill you," came a voice.

Damascus's mouth dropped open. "What…did you…say? You can talk?"

Bryan smiled again.

Damascus frowned. "I knew I felt an unusual power within this household. It is you."

"You demons are such a nuisance. As everyone here was human, they could not detect my power level. But when you came, I had to make efforts to mask it."

"Who or what are you?"

"I am a being of another nature who took possession of this body some years back when the host contracted leprosy, a normally fatal and fast working disease that there is no cure for."

"Bryan was dying? But he shows no signs of the disease."

"He did, but I cured him of it, but not without a high price. But if it wasn't for that stupid fool of a master he once worked for, the boy would not have contracted it through open sores and wounds that were inflicted upon Bryan through countless beatings and other insidious means."

"Explain."

"Even though it started with one act of kindness, servicing Lord Smythe brought countless years of mercy for the boy. The man he vowed to repay a debt to for saving him from a life on the street was a heavy drinker and enjoyed beating on the boy, among doing other things. And disgusting things that I will not even tell you about. Lord Smythe was sick in the head, Damascus. And when the man finally died, the boy inside rejoiced. But he was promised in the man's will to Beautiesue. She and William at least took care of him, but as you can see, William likes to drink as well. And Bryan gets frightened when he does, so he is glad I am here to comfort him. And to protect him."

"Where do you come in, and how can you talk?"

"Bryan can talk, he just chooses not to - traumatized by Lord Smythe after what he did to him the first time. The man said if he ever told anyone what occurred, he would kill the boy. From that day forth, the boy remaining with him, Bryan chose to stop speaking, and the old man told everyone that Bryan was a mute when he was first introduced to the family. Since then, he - we - have never spoken."

"The first time," Damascus said somberly. "Are you saying Beautieuse's father abused the boy sexually?"

"There are evils in this world that do not need to be committed by a demon or a ghostly entity to be truly evil, Damascus, especially when a human succumbs to their most heart-felt desires."

Damascus agreed with that. There were many atrocities committed by humanity that he had seen in his two thousand years that disgusted him. In fact, a good deal of them were done in the name of religion. And he found that humans never seemed to learn from their mistakes, repeating them with each new generation. And there were even things humans did that truly aghast him and to sexually abuse a child was one of them. The Ancient Greeks used to do such things, but I had hoped the practice had stopped.

He was a demon, but even he had morals, certain laws he lived by, and not just from what his master had taught him. Some things in life are self-taught and self-governed.

"After the boy contracted leprosy and he began to show signs of it, it tried to hid the scabs and marks by wrapping himself up with more and more clothes, but he knew when his master eventually learned of his condition, he would probably banish him to the streets again to die. This is when I found him, and we made a covenant of sorts. If I could reside inside his body, I will cure him. As he had no where else to go and didn't want to die, he agreed quite quickly. I cured him, but then poisoned his master when I learned what he had done to Bryan. Bryan seemed indifferent to what I had done. Later, he came to live here and was treated properly with kindness and compassion when retained on as their manservant."

"But you said your consummation came at a high price."

Bryan nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. The boy was rather weak-willed, broken by Beautieuse's father, so my presence and consciousness has rather subjugated his own."

"So you buried the real Bryan, and this is you am I speaking with and not him?"

"Of a fashion. We are of one mind now. But he accepts my companionship and he speaks with me on occasion about current events, those he has seen through our eyes, and he does not mind serving others. I - we - rather enjoy it, and it gives us purpose, for which everyone must feel, or life itself is worthless."

"Purpose? What sort of being are you?"

"I once had a name and a purpose, but neither one matters now. I was stripped of everything I held dear and left to wander aimlessly through the Astral Plain disembodied for all eternity, until I learned a new trick - that of host consummation, to conjoin with a human and live again."

"I think I understand, and if Bryan agreed to it, it is an issue best left between you two. However, I have also noticed your eye towards my wife. You have the body a young man and urges…"

"Are you asking if I have any interest in Lady Kassandra because of what I said? My threat, however quite serious then but laughable now, was merely a stance of protection, as I have known her longer than you, as well as you being a demon and I knowing the nature of your kind as be ravenous and wicked."

"As someone once said to me, I suppose I could be considered a good demon."

"There is no such thing."

"I took a secret vow not to harm these people due to their kindness in helping me off that cross. A cross, for which, Kassy told me you removed the spikes cast with a demonic spell. No human could remove them. So don't think I have not suspected you of being more than you claim all this time, Bryan."

"Very good, you have learned that lesson - not everything is as it seems. Your teacher taught you well."

"My Master is missing, in fact, thrown into a purgatory for which there is no escape by another demon, who just happened to be one of his past students."

"There is always an escape to every inescapable cell, but finding it takes the right key." Bryan took a moment to look out the window to the wedding guests outside, then turned back. "And it appears you, Damascus, have found the right key to wash away the stigma of what people think a demon is. You are not all bad, it seems. But like I said, if you harm Lady Kassandra or any of your babies do, I will kill you all."

Damascus stood dumbfounded. "Babies?"

Bryan momentarily put a hand to his mouth, then removed it. "Forgive me, I appeared to let the cat out of the bag. The sickness Lady Kassandra has been having these last few mornings is because she is pregnant. You will be having twin boys."

Damascus's eyes went wide. "How do you know this?"

"Because I can see things you can not." Bryan narrowed his eyes. Damascus felt Bryan staring directly into his innerself. "I have also just become aware by the revelation I have granted you of your wife being pregnant that you will be wondering about your babies' temperment inside her womb. Will they be ravenous and ill-mannered like most demons born or will they fall more to their mother's side."

"Are you a mind-reader, as well?"

"Not exactly, but the inquiry is quite obvious. And the answer is I don't know. Not all demons are inherently evil, especially if they come from two people who are originally human, one of which became a demon by no true choice of their own many years ago." Bryan smirked. "When we brought you home and you were fell unconscious for several days, I played your history through your mind. I wanted to know who you were in case you were a threat to the family. I am very protective of them."

Damascus knew this quite well.

"I know all about you, Damascus. Roman citizen from Pompeii, granted demon hood by your master from an eternal servitude from an agonizing fate of being buried alive inside an tomb of volcanic ash and debris by an exploding mountain offset from your city by the sea. It falls to play to a hidden fear of enclosed places. Your master then trained you to be the demon you are today, minus a few proprieties you picked up from personal experiments you commenced in, all of which eventually failed, but not without a lesson learned. You have a powerful rival who bested you, and he was the one who nailed you to that cross."

Damascus nodded, everything was correct.

"And the rest, as they say, is history. Did I leave anything out?"

"Yes, my unhealthy liking of cats," Damascus said sarcastically.

Bryan cocked an eyebrow. "Indeed. Even I am even confused with that, but we are all different. I only gazed at the major events of your life, including what really happened in the Boarding House two weeks ago. You were lucky she didn't remember what happened when she bumped her head, when she was thrown to the floor, but she could've remembered everything, so I reinforced it. She will never remember it. I see now you are a good man, Damascus, and I know you love Kassandra very much. I find this surprising for a demon because of your species supposed nature as evil-like. But back to the issue at hand. Your sons will be demanding, but nourish them properly and they will grow well."

"You are wise beyond your years," Damascus said thankfully.

Bryan chuckled. "I would hope so, I am over ten thousand years old."

"Ten thousand years old?!" Damascus said rather too loudly and clamped a hand over his mouth. They both looked out the window and the open door, but the guests' were having such a good time, no one had heard him. He sighed relieved. "Tell me, you know my history, tell me what happened to your body?"

"I was very outspoken about the governing council that was established at the time where I resided, they were cruel and heartless and abused their powers condemning countless members of my kind to wander aimlessly, disembodied, for their opposing views of their rule. So they saw fit to silence me and concocted a serious charge of conspiracy against me, stripping me of my status and title, and threatened to do the same to all my supports if they did not denounce me. To save themselves, they did."

"This story sounds familiar." And Damascus immediately recalled the biblical story of Judas Iscariot. One man in Jesus's trusted circle of twelve apostles who betrayed him to save himself from Roman prosecution from spreading the word of the Lord. A story of this affect did pass through Pompeii at one point two thousand years ago, but he couldn't remember all the details as it was so long ago. But it was to put fear into Roman citizens to not follow Christianity. Later, the Roman Emperor Constantine openly accepted Christianity, converting Roman society nearly three hundred years later. "So your followers left you to rot."

"Not so much now, as some lobby behind the scenes for the wrongly accused. From what I hear, there have been many of my kind since who have been wrongly accused of crimes and condemned like I have, all because they have been outspoken in their views against the High Ruling Council. They wander the planet now hoping for some form of salvation from their eternal misery."

Damascus looked away for a moment, a thought occurring to him. And he didn't know where he got it from, but he said, "Are you what's known as a Fallen Reaper?"

Bryan looked shocked. "Correct. Have you heard of us?"

Damascus shook his head unsure. "In another time, in another place…perhaps. But my mind plays tricks on me sometimes, that I believe are delusional thoughts, therefore I cast away. During moments of reflection or retrospection, I believe what I am experiencing is in fact a dream, or that I am replaying my life…"

"Do you mean you believe you have done something like this before?"

"Yes, that I have done all of this before. Even talking with you, although when you spoke I was still shocked."

"Events are remembered not necessarily by what took place, but by feelings and perspective, and everyone experiences things different and insignificant things are often forgotten because they are often of no important to the overall experience. Time is not linear as many believe, much like memories." Bryan smiled. "But to answer your question. It is quite simple. Don't think about it. Live for the moment. The human brain is a very powerful tool, and eventually every tool must be rested or it will wear out, burn itself out, and even the brain must sleep, even if only for a moment. I have observed many humans experience this phenomenon, but then shake it off and continue on with their lives."

"But could there be something to it?"

"Like what? That this whole world is nothing but someone's dream? And if this someone wakes up it will disappear as will everyone the person has imagined throughout his life - wink out? Forgotten? I say, this is talk for philosophers. Leave it to them. You probably heard the term 'Fallen Reaper' at one point during your journeys, and it had no significance to you then, and you merely forgot about it until now when I described myself and what I did as a profession."

"So what does a Reaper do?"

"A Reaper is a go-between, transfixing through the living and the dead. When a person is set to die, we show them a record of their entire life, showing them what their mind has forgotten. For example, let's say for the sake of argument, you are experiencing a dream. For a person who is about to die, they will also dream - experiencing their entire life in a very short time. It must be done this way, for the human brain can not live for long without blood and oxygen, and without them both, the cinematic record will not work."

"Could this be my cinematic record playing before me?"

"That is highly doubtful. If it were so, your cinematic record would have ended at Pompeii. No, cinematic records are reserved for humans only. Animals and insects and other creatures on the planet are too stupid to understand it, so we don't bother with them. Humans are the only species on the planet that can comprehend the concept of death. All other species merely live in the present not thinking of the future."

"But I am also human. I have feelings, thoughts, experiences. And I can understand the concept of death."

"You are philosophizing again. Demons devour souls, they don't have one of their own."

He could debate this or he could just let it drop for now. He decided to let it drop. Perhaps later when they were alone again and had more time they could pick up on the discussion, but he had wedding guests waiting. But he did wonder about one thing: "Will it be possible for you to give Bryan's body back to him someday?"

Bryan, or rather the entity, frowned. "I am afraid not," he said. "Our consciousness's are too well blended for such a radical divergence, and Bryan doesn't wish it. He feels safe."

"So, realistically, you have stolen his life."

"Does it bother you?" Bryan's mouth crooked into an uneasy smile. "You steal souls to live, so you have no avenue to debate the right or wrong of it. I can see how much you struggle to keep your hunger under control and how the urge to feed gets worse everyday. But even those souls you devoured in the Boarding House won't satisfy you for long. Will you eventually go mad and devour your new family as well?"

"I have made a vow not to harm them."

"And how long will that vow last? Even with as many souls as you had at Roanoke, you could only have sipped the well for so long before your demon need to feed took over. Survival is instinctive, and often it overshadows even sanity. You can sense my full power now, correct?"

Damascus nodded. "It is massive," he said, and he found himself licking the inside of his lips.

"Your hunger has dwindled slightly, my friend, but I can still see it burning in your eyes. Without more souls to strengthen your resolve, you'll soon succumb to your needs. And I will be waiting."

"You will be waiting?"

"Now that you know the power that I hold, you will eventually fall and attempt to devour my spirit. It is enviable. Like a carrot being held just out of reach of a horse."

"Why do this?"

"Because life is a series of choices and challenges. And I want to see how long you can hold out."

"You could have let sleeping dogs lie and continued to live as you were, having me always suspect you."

"But what would be the fun in that? And if you tell anyone that I can speak, all this will end." Bryan picked up a round serving platter with crab cakes that was on a table. "When you do come to your demon senses, we will speak again. In the meantime…"

Bryan smiled, and tilted his head slightly, as if returning to the mild-mannered, mute, innocent manservant Damascus once knew him as, and then he walked outside to serve the wedding guests.

Damascus wiped his mouth. Indeed Bryan's power was very massive and he no longer masked it. It was like a beacon of light at the end of a long tunnel, that if Damascus chose to seek, and if he could defeat Bryan, would give him an awesome amount of power, and more so to defeat Decco with ease.

But the question was why. Why didn't Bryan continue to mask his power? Bryan was not malicious, so why tease him with his power. Damascus didn't buy that. There was something else going on.

Bryan broke his silence for a reason, a reason that left Damascus confused at the moment. Bryan wanted Damascus to know something, and it wasn't just how powerful he was.

Bryan was very protective of the family, but he could have still protected them under the guise of a mute manservant.

No, Bryan had challenged him. It wasn't an out-right challenge, but Damascus could see it now.

But it would have to wait until later, he had wedding guests.

"I have had enough of this tediousness," Ciel demanded. "I will not wait all night and near into morning for this Reaper to watch Sebastian's dreams while we stand here freezing our - "

"Brother," Lukas said, "there's nothing we can do." He put himself in front of Ciel, to stop him from once again doing something foolish. The last time Ciel had lost his patience, Mathu Kelvin had thrown Ciel back into the others like a bowling pins. "He's too powerful for any of us to confront."

"Perhaps we can reason with him rationally," Abberline suggested, and he stepped forward. And began to speak before he could be stopped. "Mr. Kelvin, I wish to know your grievances towards Sebastian Michaelis. What exactly has he done do you?"

Mathu Kelvin looked up at the detective. "This is beyond you, Inspector," he said. "Why are you even here? Ah, oh yes, you came with that young man whom I killed."

"Yes, and when Spencer Von Strauss has learned what you did, he will demand answers."

"The guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time, as simple as that."

"You used him to demonstrate your power, that is the truth. He was a victim of your arrogance."

"Inspector, don't antagonize him," Lukas said.

"Lukas Phantomhive, it is obvious here, that once he fulfills his revenge, he will not allow any of us to live. I am simply demanding answers to questions I have, so when I meet my maker, I will have no doubts."

"Of course you will have doubts, Inspector," Kelvin said. "You're doubting the situation right now. All your logic is still attempting to reason out that this is really happening, wondering if things of this nature can not happen in an orderly world. Well, Inspector, things are not so orderly as you may believe they are."

"And I have accept this fact, Kelvin," Abberline said firmly. "What I doubt is your reasoning. There is something else going on that you are not telling us. If you really wanted revenge on Sebastian Michaelis, then killing him while he is defenseless is the perfect opportunity. He'll offer no resistance."

"Very good, Inspector. You are essentially correct. I am here for another purpose."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Enough!" Ciel interrupted loudly. "I have had enough of this! Sebastian is my butler and he obeys me! He has slept enough!" Ciel ripped off his eye patch and threw it asunder and suddenly his covenant became to glower a purplish-red color. "Sebastian, I order you…awaken now!"

"Save it boy," Kelvin said. "He was rendered unconscious by a power greater than your covenant bond."

Suddenly a surge of awesome power repelled Mathu Kelvin back several feet, and when he landed, he blinked with utter shock. "What the hell!"

"What happened?" Lukas voiced.

Ciel smiled smug. "Indeed, Mathu Kelvin," he said, his eye continue to glower, in-turned fists on his hips. "You are mistaken. There is no more powerful bond than that between master and butler."

Mathu Kelvin returned to his feet, dusting himself off. And then he smiled smug. "Do not be so proud of yourself, boy. Your butler is still asleep. This power did not come from him."

Ciel gazed down at Sebastian and saw him still unconscious, and a good deal of his conceit faded. So what repelled the Reaper? But he shook his head, and held it up high. "My words still held weight, so even unconscious, Sebastian heard me and knew what I wished. And he obviously does not want you to see anymore of whatever he is dreaming."

"Once again, your arrogance is unfounded," Kelvin said, and his eyes floated around the area as if looking for someone. "It would happen that a certain someone survived my efforts to eliminate him."

Renfrew Phantomhive appeared before him, between him and Sebastian, his blue translucent effervescence as brilliant as ever.

"Renfrew!" Lukas said ecstatically happy.

"You Phantomhive's don't die so easily," Kelvin said, his eyes narrowing with slight annoyance.

"I would hope not," Renfrew said, giving Lukas a passing glance back and a smile. He then returned his attention back to Kelvin. "I allowed you a glimpse into Sebastian's history, but no more," he proclaimed.

"You allowed me? You are a ghost, I absorbed you. How did you survive?"

"Are that naïve, Kelvin? I am a being of pure energy, like yourself when you fully embraced your Fallen Reaper counterpart. I merely used your energy to reform my physical body."

"Clever boy." Mathu Kelvin looked annoyed as if he should have know that.

"Or perhaps you didn't know as you are not as knowledgeable of such things as I am. As I am older. With experience comes knowledge and with knowledge comes the power to do certainthings. Now, tell me the truth, what is you true purpose in being here? To cause destruction, to kill Sebastian Michaelis?"

Kelvin laughed. "You assume much ghost, for that is not the reason why I am here. Believe it or not, I am here to help Sebastian Michaelis."

"You are correct," Ciel chimed in, "we do not believe you. You have done nothing of the sort to make us believe otherwise. What could you probably offer us as believability of your intent?"

Kelvin reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue gem chip. "This is a piece of the Hope Diamond, the same as in your family ring, Ciel Phantomhive. It has a dark power greater than any comprehension. This is yet another piece I found in my search for more pieces that was broken off the original diamond…"

"And…"

"Sebastian Michaelis will need it."

"For what reason? If he needed a piece of the Hope Diamond, he could have used this one." Ciel held up his left hand where the Hope Diamond ring sat around his thumb. "My piece is larger."

"It is not the size of the piece that matters, Ciel Phantomhive, it's the history within it. And this piece of the Hope Diamond has seen more dark history that any other piece of its make. But it will take too long to explain it fully to you. Regardless, once I give this to Sebastian and explain its use, he will know why."

"And this is why you have returned from Hell? You didn't escape then?"

"No, I was given a reprieve if you will. I was sent my Sebastian's master Morning Star."

"Lucifer."

"Correct. There is something, or rather someone, Sebastian has been searching for, but has been unable to find. But Morning Star has found him and now the power or the key to open the door has been handed to me."

"Key?" Lukas stepped forward. "But I thought I was the key to open this mysterious door?"

"You are the holder of the knowledge, Lukas Phantomhive, albeit the Key Master, Ciel it the Gate Keeper - the mark of the beast on his back is "the door". But there is one more element - this. This is the power source for the others to work, otherwise they remain dormant. With all three, the door can be opened."

"No!" Renfrew protested. "I won't allow it! The door can not be opened! Or He will escape!"

"Not even you can stop his return now," Mathu Kelvin said. "And like every rebirth, every summoning, a sacrifice must be had." And he looked at both Ciel and Lukas Phantomhive. "But that will not be up to me to decide. Ironically, the ultimate choice will be up to Sebastian Michaelis."

"What do you mean?" Renfrew said.

"Now who is the one being naïve?"

To be continued…