Hello all! Here is the extra story that I wrote for you guys for Christmas. It turned out half-cute (because of little Lydia,) and half-dark (because of Sebastian.) It takes place back when Lydia is six years old and still living primarily at the manor, and Ciel is only one. Remember that this was back when Lydia still had a normal soul.
Please review, and my muse (which I have decided takes the form of a panda) will be inspired to give me more ideas for the next chapter! :D
There was a closet-room down past the scullery that had once been used for storing blackened boots. It was a full door's length, but only wide enough that a man's arms would still be bent at the elbows, were he to place them on either wall. It was barren it those days, and the walls smelled overpoweringly of the chemicals used to shine shoes. There were no lights within. There was a padlock fitted to the door. The walls, the ceiling, even the floor were disfigured with deep scars. That was all. For almost 100 years, Sebastian had lived within.
The demon hated the little closet with a vengeance. There was not much he could do, given that he was prevented from breaking the lock, and forbidden to emerge unless called for by his master. This was his 'room,' his place within the manor, where he was kept when he was not being used. He had not been shut in the closet excessively until Rachel Phantomhive had gained full possession of him from her father. Under her ownership, he spent more time than ever before trapped within the small room, waiting for someone to call him. Sometimes he could wait for days. Unlike her predecessors, Rachel did not allow Sebastian to simply wander around the manor where he worked. If he was not directly engaged in some type of domestic service, she insisted that he be locked away from the rest of the household. The demon had never had such orders before, and he was forever trying to find additional tasks to complete, to avoid being sequestered in the closet once again. Rachel was not easy to fool, however. She was afraid of him. She hated for Sebastian to be near her, and she hated even more for him to be near her children. She believed that he would hurt them. She was not completely wrong in that regard…. Even so, he hated being separated from them. His demonic powers were meaningless if he had no one to use them on.
It was not that Sebastian was afraid of the dark, or of small spaces. He was a demon, and demons did not care about such miniscule human terrors. He simply did not like the closet. That was all. Although the demon was prone to sulking in the shadows when angry, he usually much preferred to be out among people, occupied with tasks. It wasn't that he liked humans in particular, or that he was so devoted to efficiently serving his masters. He simply found that the press of humanity and the buzz of busy-ness helped to keep his mind off his own inner pain, and thus lessened it, if only in feeling. When he was stuck in the closet, he had nothing by which to distract himself. He was alone. They wouldn't even give him any books to read, and he was forbidden from transforming or using his voice in any way. It was then that the fire flared up inside him, insidious as a living thing, a hunter that had been waiting for the moment when its victim was weakest. Senseless pain. Torture. Unable to scream, Sebastian resorted to clawing at the walls around him, and sometimes at his own body, trying to dig the fire out of him. The wounds just healed a moment later, and the blood dissipated. Nothing he did made any difference. It was rare that anyone would walk by the closet within which he was imprisoned- he got the distinct sense that they all took alternate routes in order to avoid it. Still, rarely, Sebastian would hear the quiet pace of footfalls in the corridor outside, which always increased in rapidity as they drew near his 'room.' Notice me. Notice me. Let me out. It hurts. They always passed him by on the other side of the hallway. It was then, more than any other time, that he hated them. He dreamed of ripping apart their souls in hell and hearing their (still-living-unable-to-die-dead-but-not-dead) screams as he threw them into the deepest fires. That day would come, he told himself. He could almost taste it on his tongue, sore from being bitten in agony. For now, he had to be patient. Patient. Patient. He tried not to think about the bitter truth, that no matter how many souls he maimed and devoured, how well he got his revenge on these useless, insipid humans, he could never free himself of the ultimate source of his pain, for it was not human-made. The day would come…. But for now, Sebastian huddled on the floor of the pitch-dark closet, shivering as fire wracked his body, gritting his teeth hopelessly against the need to scream that was almost choking him. He waited for the call. Patience. Patience. Patience. Remember me. Notice me. Let me out. Patience. It hurts.
One day, Lydia found him there.
Sebastian had no idea, really, how she'd gotten ahold of a key ring that included the key to his closet. Lydia at that time was only six years old. She was graduating past the helplessness of early childhood, and was learning to do things and go places on her own. Apparently, she'd decided that today should be the day that she explored more of the manor in which she lived. Sebastian didn't know how she had gone about it. All he knew was that he had been curled up in the dark, digging his clawed hands into the floor in a vain attempt to distract himself from the pain, when suddenly, a pattering of very light footsteps sounded outside the door. The demon's interest perked instantly, because these were different- they did not speed up as they drew near his closet, and what was more, they were positioned on his side of the hallway. Abruptly, the door gave a rattle, and then Sebastian heard the clinking of keys being turned in a hand. The curious demon prowled closer to the door. This was not the manner in which he was usually released from his confinement. When Rachel called to him through their connection, he then had permission to vanish from the closet and reappear by her side. Likewise, when she sent him back, he was then obligated to reappear back here, under orders. He could count the number of times in which he had ever been let out through the actual door on one hand. Was this good or….bad? Sebastian moved warily back as the mysterious person finally found the right key, although the room afforded no protection. His mind ran rapidly over everything he had done within the past few days that might have displeased his master, and he bit his lip. He couldn't scream in here….
Then the door popped over, and the tousled, dark-haired head of a very small person was leaning into the room with eager, inquisitive eyes. For a moment, his little master did not seem to realize what she was seeing as her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. Then she opened the door a little wider, and the light fell on the dark shape of the demon hunkered in the corner.
"Sebastian?" Her eyes darted back and fourth across the closet, trying to make sense of the scene.
The demon tried to answer, but found that he couldn't get his throat to open. Before he could think of what to do, the little girl had darted across the room to his side.
"Sebastian, why are you locked in the closet down here? Did you get stuck? Are you sleeping? Are you looking for something? This closet needs some fixing up." The little girl commented, casting her eyes upon the shredded surfaces. Her cloth play dress brushed against him as she came closer. Her curious blue eyes widened. "Are you exploring too?"
The demon shook his head and attempted a feeble gesture. He was still burning.
"'Cause that's what I'm doing, see? I've got these keys to all the doors down here, and I'm finding out what's around! So far there's been a lot of stuff for cleaning, and some things I don't know about. Come on, I'll show you-"At that moment, Lydia attempted to grasp Sebastian's hand and tug him to his feet. He pulled back and shook his head, causing Lydia to tilt her head in puzzlement. "Come on! It's scary in here. Let's go explore!"
Sebastian bit his lip and pulled her hand closer to him. Slowly, pausing in between words, he traced careful letters upon her palm with his finger. I cannot leave, master.
"You cannot….leave?" The demon shook his head. Lydia pulled at his shirt. "Sebastian, why? Who did this?" Once again, he gestured to his throat and his mouth, and this time she understood. "You can't speak? Orders? It's okay, Sebastian. You can talk to me."
This was as good as permission from the child, and the demon felt his throat unconstrict. "Lydia…." He whispered, testing out his voice.
"What happened, Sebastian? Why are you locked up in here? Are you being punished? Can't you get free?"
"I….am afraid I cannot, master. Your mother prefers that I should stay in here, like this. You know that I cannot disobey." Sebastian murmured, rubbing his contract mark with the other hand. Young as she was, Lydia understood at least this much of the demon's nature.
"But what did you do to get put in here? Did you make her angry?" the child continued, staring at the mark as one might look at blood for the first time. Intrigued, and yet repulsed at once. Sebastian shifted his weight against the cold stone floor.
"I did nothing, in particular. This is my room. This is where I have to stay when I'm not working in the household. Your mother has given certain orders, including that I am not allowed to speak or to leave this room without permission. This is where I wait for her to call me," he explained softly.
Lydia's wide eyes widened further, and she leaned toward him, peering more slowly around the room again. "Sebastian….you mean….this is where you are when you're not with us?"
"Yes, master."
"This is where you are all the time? Before my mommy calls you, you're here? And you can't get out?"
"Yes," he murmured. There was a long, quiet pause. Then-
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Sebastian blinked in surprise. Tell her? What good would telling the little girl have done? Her mother would never agree to change his conditions, no matter who brought it up with her. In fact, the knowledge that her little angel had been exposed to such a distressing scene as this would only serve to make Rachel very, very angry…. He glanced nervously at the door. Meanwhile, Lydia was still waiting for an answer. "I….did not think it worth bringing up, master. This is the way I have always lived-"
"But Sebastian!" she protested further. "Aren't you scared down here, in the dark, all alone? Don't you want to get out and come up?"
"What I want does not make a difference. It all depends on what my master desires."
She stared for awhile at his impassive face. "Am I your master, Sebastian?"
He raised his head. "You are," he affirmed, nodding in acknowledgement. "And at this point in time, so is your mother. Someday, when you have taken the contract and have come to the proper age, my ownership will pass to you alone. Then you can do with me as you wish." As the demon spoke, he could not help but wonder, quietly, exactly what that would be. Lydia favored him now, but that was because she was a child and did not understand the full implications of what he was. To her, he was nothing more than a good servant and a kind caregiver. But once she gained knowledge, what would she do? Would she cast him aside like her mother had done? Torture him to keep him weak, like her grandfather? Or perhaps string him out like a marionette, in the manner of her great-grandfather? Sebastian bit his pale lip, and forced himself to look into the eyes of his little master. They contained no malice; only concern. She slipped her tiny hands on top of his larger ones.
"It's okay, don't be scared." She told him bluntly, scooting herself closer to him. "It's okay." After a moment, the demon understood what she was giving him permission to do. He carefully brought his hand up and touched her forehead, bringing his other hand around to the back of her neck. She leaned her head against his chest as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Better?"
"Monumentally so." He told her, playing with her hair with soft fingers. "Thank you."
"Sebastian? Do you have to do what my mommy tells you….no matter what?"
"Yes, I do," the demon murmured.
"Even if you really don't want to?"
"Yes, even then."
"But you're so strong." The girl protested, looking up at him. "You can lift big rocks and disappear and turn into things and move really fast….and my mommy can't do anything like that….so, why do you have to listen to her?"
The demon smiled. It was a rather good question for a six-year-old. "I have no choice. I may possess many incredible abilities, but I am still in a subservient position to your mother and yourself. I have no power over my masters in life, because I am bound to them through this contract, and I cannot break it." He showed her the pentagram seal upon his left hand. "If I try to resist my orders, I will end up in worse pain than I am usually in- which is a rather strong incentive to obey."
"Where does that pain come from?" Lydia asked, tracing a tiny finger down the side of his face.
Sebastian stroked her skin softly, cradling her with one arm like a newborn. "I am cursed."
"Like in the fairy tales?"
"….A bit, I suppose."
"How did that happen? Did you do something bad?"
"….It is something which I prefer not to speak of." Sebastian murmured, closing his red eyes briefly.
She could have forced him to tell her, but Sebastian doubted that the thought would cross her mind. "Oh. Well, how do you break the curse? Do you have to drink some magic water or kiss a princess or go on a quest? I could help you when I grow up!"
The demon smiled slightly, revealing his fanged teeth. "That is very kind of you to offer, master. Unfortunately, the curse which I am under can never be broken. I do not have that recourse."
Lydia blinked. "But I thought that you can't ever die? That's what I heard mommy saying when she thought I wasn't listening."
"That is correct. I cannot die."
"But, then doesn't that mean that you'll live forever….and be in pain all the time? That's terrible!"
"Unfortunately, yes. It will become much worse after the world ends- but don't worry, master, that will not happen for many, many years. Even I do not know the exact time. But it will be far into the future."
He could tell that fatalist concepts such as the end of the world were a bit too complicated for one as young as Lydia to fully grasp. Still, she looked sufficiently alarmed. "What will happen after the world ends?"
"Many things will happen," he told her, shifting her weight in his arms. "But the one of most concern to me is that I will have to go back to where I came from, and stay there forever. I will no longer be able to leave and come to this world, because this world will be gone."
"You mean you'll go home?"
The demon growled lowly. "It is not my home. It is a prison created for my kind."
"I thought this was your prison?"
"This is nothing." Sebastian declared, tracing a finger over a deep scratch in the floorboard. He listened to the wooden gash sing out in pain as his claw dug into it and made it deeper.
Lydia watched his hand silently for moment. "So what is the place where you come from like?"
Sebastian grimaced. "It is a world of fire. My pain will be incalculably worse there than it is here," he informed her, and left it at that. Even he knew that it would not be a good idea to try to explain the horrors of hell to a six-year-old.
Suddenly, Lydia hugged him. He was so startled that he had to stop himself from reflexively pushing her away. "Poor, poor Sebastian," she whispered in distress, nuzzling the side of his face. "I wish I could help you! Is there really nothing anybody can do?"
"No, master….no one can change my fate," he murmured, leaning tiredly against the wall with the little girl still attached to his waist. "However, your light helps to reduce my pain in the present time. I am grateful for that."
"Sebastian….who cursed you?" Lydia's muffled voice asked softly. Sebastian stiffened, as though the mere mention of him would bring that spirit upon them. Even though, technically, he was already here, a tiny seedling within the little girl who clung so trustingly to the demon. That was the annoying thing about living in this world- he couldn't go anywhere without that spirit already being there, although it was invisible to him. He lowered his face until his pale lips were almost touching the top of her head.
"He lives in you….but I am going to cast him out. He cannot have everything. You are mine."
"What?" she piped up in confusion. Sebastian ran his fingers through her straight brown hair.
"Perhaps you'll understand when you are older."
At that moment, a door creaked open down the hallway. Lydia jumped and Sebastian jerked back, having temporarily forgotten where they were. After several tense moments, they heard a pair of footsteps walking away down an adjacent hallway. Relaxing in relief, Sebastian glanced quietly down at Lydia, who was hiding her face in her cotton play dress. He wondered if he had frightened her. "Master, you ought to sneak away now. If I am discovered with you in here, I will be in a great deal of trouble, as will you. Make sure to put the keys back from wherever you stole them, so no one will notice them missing. You must not mention to anyone that you found me in here, all right?"
After a moment, Lydia curled stubbornly into his side. "Why don't you come with me? This closet is a scary place. It will be all dark if I close the door. And if I go, you won't have my light."
"Please, master," he whispered anxiously as he heard another door grate open down the corridor. "I will be all right. I am used to this. I will get out eventually. But your mother must not find out that you were here- it's very important."
"Okay, okay!" she replied, rolling to her feet. "But Sebastian- be careful!"
"I will," he promised, although he had no idea what he was supposed to be careful of. He allowed her to hug him again, and then she slipped out the door, closing it slowly behind her. He heard the padlock click back into place, and listened as the tiny footsteps darted away and disappeared into the surrounding silence. After a few more moments of intense listening, the demon slumped back against the wall and closed his eyes as the fire began to wind back through his veins. She was such a tiny girl, and there was so little she could do….but still, it gave him an inexplicable sense of security to know that she wanted to help him. As the darkness crept back into his eyes, Sebastian bit his lip hard and felt the blood run down his chin. She will be mine.
/
Lydia did not stay away, however. She came back a few days later, and then again, and then again. For two months, almost every night, the little girl would sneak herself down to the closet past the scullery, usually in the evenings, when her presence was no longer required by her mother. She could not unlock the closet door, and stealing the keys again would have been too risky, but she would sit right outside the door and speak softly with the demon enclosed inside. She brought along books, little beginning primers, which she would read to him as animatedly as she could. Sebastian allowed this with a sense of vague amusement, but really, he was glad for her visits. He liked talking to her. After a few nights, Lydia figured out how to slip her tiny hand underneath the doorframe just far enough that Sebastian could reach out and hold it. Needless to say, this helped immensely. Lydia behaved kindly and carefully around him even when she met him outside of the closet; she stopped her habits of protesting her bedtime and running away when he tried to bring her inside. It dawned on Sebastian that his little master felt sorry for him- a sentiment to which he wasn't sure how to react. For thousands of years, the demon had been the subject of loathing, fear, disgust, hatred, and anger on behalf of humans, but never pity. It unbalanced him. This little master was proving to be very different, after all. Even so, the side of Sebastian which screamed in pain and cried out for rest told him to take what he could get. If Lydia wanted to be charitable toward him, who was he to stop her? He accepted the presence of the little voice outside of his 'room' every night, but still, he wondered at it. And when the time came for Lydia to let go, and Sebastian gasped in pain as the fire came spearing back into his body, he wondered at the soothing little cadences from the other side of the door, intending nothing but comfort. Where did the child find it in herself to comfort a demon? It's okay, Sebastian. I'll help you. Don't worry. Soon, you'll see….soon, we'll get you out of here….
He thought she was merely rambling, of course. Childish fantasy, lip-service. She meant well, but she was too young to fully grasp the severity of the situation. She was playing with him. Sebastian understood how it all worked. What was a six-year-old going to do to help him? As different as she was from other humans, the demon knew that she would sooner or later grow bored with this little game of visit-the-prisoner, and move on to more exciting things, and leave him behind. He had seen this same scenario play out again and again with his former young masters. When they were small children, they cuddled up to him and treated him more or less like a family relation. They were still so fresh from that place that they did not know what it was to hate. But as they grew and became able to understand the adult world, they watched the way their parents and real relatives treated him, and then they turned cruel. Even Rachel had not always hated him; before she'd turned five, she had been quite fond of taking him out on picnics to the lake and trying to climb on his shoulders. But she wouldn't remember any of that now. Only a few months afterward, she wouldn't even touch him. Sebastian did not care what they thought of him- they were merely humans, after all, and would be gone within a season- but still, he had learned never to trust in the affections of a child. Lydia was coming to the age where she would begin to turn, and the demon watched warily for signs. They always did, in the end- they grew up, and they never remembered how he had cared for them as children.
There came a series of nights then, in the second month, when his little master did not come to him after dinner like she usually did. Sebastian had been locked in the closet for quite a few days at that point, since Rachel had left the manor with her husband and put Tanaka in charge of Lydia. The demon dispiritedly assumed that the child had given up hanging around the scullery every night for his sake. Reading to a thick door could not be very exciting, and she probably had more appealing things to do. He couldn't say that he hadn't expected it. Even so, he had grown accustomed to cooling his pain with her light every evening, and the absence of it drilled into his spirit like an auger. He had been slumped against the wall, trying to tone the flames down to a manageable level, when he heard those footsteps again. He stilled his body and listened as they came directly to the closet. Instead of a voice, however, the next thing Sebastian heard was the grating of a key in the lock, and then the door was flung open so quickly that he barely had time to register the little shape before she hurried in and knelt by his side. She was wearing a lovely golden nightdress, and her hair was pulled back into that tiny bottlebrush of a ponytail. Her little face was flushed. Unable to hold back, the demon reached up and desperately wrapped his hands around her arms, pulling her into his shoulder as he tried to control his heaving breaths. Lydia was very still, letting the demon have what he needed. After awhile, she whispered, "Sebastian." The demon pulled back a bit, gazing at the floor. "Lift your head up."
Still unable to speak, Sebastian obeyed in puzzlement. Then she had seized his hand and endeavored to pull him to his feet. "Come on, Sebastian, I've got something to show you. You can leave the closet. It's okay. Come with me!" Mind swimming in confusion, he stood up and followed her out of the hated room, down the hall, and to the right. Lydia's excitement was palpable in the air as they hurried along, the tiny child seeming to know exactly where she was going. They ducked through tapestried doors and mounted staircases and peered out into corridors to make sure they were empty before proceeding. Finally, the glowing child and the curious demon arrived at their destination after descending a staircase near the main part of the house. There was an ordinary-looking door in front of them, and Sebastian reached out to hold it open for his master. But the little girl shook her head, and led him under the stairwell. There, in the midst of the shadows, lay a reddish cherry-wood door with the appearance of having had the dust just recently wiped away from its surface.
"You all right, Sebastian?" Lydia asked, letting go of his hand to reach inside her pocket and pull out another key. He gestured to his throat. "Oh yes, you can talk now. I forgot." She tiptoed forward and deftly unlocked the door. "Come on," she whispered, and disappeared inside. The demon glanced all around him a moment longer, then followed her in.
He honestly did not know what he had been expecting. He really hadn't had time to form any expectations at all, being so suddenly freed from his long captivity. Yet what he beheld when he entered through the mysterious door was nothing less than a furnished, comfortable little room. There was a bed near the window, well-dressed in dark red-brown sheets. A wooden nightstand perched next to it, a lamp glowing softly upon its surface. There was a desk and chair over in the corner, with a view of the second window, and a slim dresser stood against the wall, empty drawers hanging open sparingly. On the wall opposite the bed hung a painting of a river. The demon stared around the room in bewilderment, until he felt a tiny hand tug at his sleeve. He peered down into the eyes of his master, who suddenly looked much more self-conscious than he had ever seen her look. "Do you….like it?"
"Yes, I do," Sebastian answered honestly, "but….why are we here?" Then Lydia laughed, and the nervousness in her eyes vanished.
"You silly! This is your room now. I've prepared it for you."
"What?"
"Well, Tanaka helped too. He helped me carry up the furniture I found in the basement, and arrange it in here. Then I made everything match and I found some bedsheets and paper and pens and books and a pitcher and washcloths and pajamas and pillows and everything else you'll need! I had to clean the room out first. It was hard, because I've never cleaned anything before. I read about how to do it in a book. You have to do it with a broom. This room got so dusty, I couldn't even see the door!"
"Master did all this….for me?" Sebastian murmured, looking around much more slowly at everything in the room. "I can live here?"
"Yes!" The little girl exclaimed, her blue eyes crinkling up as she smiled. "I hoped you'd like it, Sebastian. It took me forever to decide on the furniture. Come see, come see…."
The demon allowed himself to be led around the softly lit room as Lydia happily explained to him about how she'd chosen each piece of furniture and why she thought it was best. ("If you want to be a cat, you can curl up in here, see!") Inwardly, he was very still. This room was his? He could live here now? This was what his little master had been doing since she'd discovered him in the closet? Her small, fleshy hand clung to his, while she used her other one to open drawers and stroke the wooden surfaces gently, an ethereal kind of pride radiating from her figure. Finally, she flopped down on the bed and kicked off her shoes. "And now I'm tired." She announced, burying her face in the covers.
Sebastian sat down tentatively next to her. "Master, if I may ask, how long have you been at work preparing….this?"
"Almost two months." Lydia replied with a laid-back yawn. "When I found you in the closet like that, I knew I had to do something. As long as you're in this world and not back where you came from, I want you to have a good place to live. You'll like it much better here, I know." She pushed herself upward and offered the ornate key to the cherry-wood door to him.
"But your mother…." Sebastian murmured, taking the key, and Lydia flopped back down and smiled.
"I asked her if I could move you someplace closer to my room so I could call you when I need you. She said all right, as long as I kept you out of the way. And this is out of the way. I didn't even know this room was here at all until I started exploring! Also, it's right by my room, just two floors underneath and to the left a little bit. So you can come and visit me now."
Lydia buried her satisfied face into the warm covers again, and Sebastian lapsed into thoughtful silence, staring at the dark cherry red of the walls around him. This seemed almost too good to be true. If Lydia had ever shown signs of cruelty toward him before, he would have thought that perhaps this was a trick. But the demon could tell when a human was lying, and there had been nothing but pure honesty in his little master as she showed him the room. So it really was his. She had gone to all this trouble to prepare a place for him, and now he could stay here. Pajamas. She had gotten him pajamas and pillows and a bed, and he couldn't even sleep. He suddenly felt like laughing at the thought of how outraged his former masters would have been to see this room. He lay down next to the child, and stroked his pale fingers softly along the patterns of the quilted bedspread. She was an odd one. She was not just playing with him, he realized. She was actually trying to be kind to him, without expecting anything in return. Normally, this would have displeased him, as kindness was a virtue and virtue of any sort was to be fervently discouraged in humans, especially young ones. However, Sebastian was a self-serving creature if he was nothing else, and if her kindness would get him his own room and a lessening of his pain….The demon had long ago realized the quandary which Lydia and her nature posed to him. Allowing her to grow into the goodness which was intrinsic of humanity went against his own nature as a demon; it also meant that her soul would be much less likely to be corrupted as an adult. If she ultimately entered into Heaven upon her death, he would then be unable to eat her soul. However, Sebastian had a nervous feeling that if he were to actively encourage vice in Lydia as he had with his former masters- fostering hatred and resentment in their family circles, inflating their sense of self-importance, and enticing them with wealth and status symbols- then Lydia would eventually come to scorn everyone, including him. She would see him as nothing more than a supernatural, all-purpose slave, and would close the 'doors' of her soul to him. This would be problematic as well, as it would increase his pain while she was alive, though ensuring him a meal upon her death.
Sebastian had been so busy pondering this that he hadn't noticed his little master slowly dropping off to sleep beside him. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyes fluttered for a few moments, then lay still. Smiling a fang-toothed smile, he nuzzled her forehead for a moment and grasped her tiny white hands in his own, letting his body relax against the mattress as the light in her skin began to redirect into him and dissolve his pain. It was akin to the feeling which humans must experience upon quenching deep thirst. He liked this fragile, tenuous relationship with Lydia. He didn't want to risk it. All the same, he knew that the girl was going to die someday, and if he couldn't get ahold of her soul then she would be of no further use to him. But this new development opened up new possibilities- Sebastian realized for the first time that Lydia might not turn on him, after all. Slowly, the demon began to think of a way to have his cake and eat it too. He was aware that he was beautiful, persuasive, and intriguing. He could be sweet if he needed to be. The trick would be simple. As Lydia grew up, he would make her attached to, even dependent upon him, while simultaneously encouraging her to dislike and think herself superior to other humans. The fact that she would have an exclusive contract with him, a powerful supernatural being, would probably help this process along. In this way, he could make his little master dark without turning her against him. Indeed, many humans before her had fallen prey to the enticing voices of beings like himself, convinced to 'love' the very thing that would one day drag them to hell. She trusted him. She wanted to please him- tonight had made that much obvious. He would stay by her side. He would whisper in her ear, softly pointing out the flaws and shortcoming of those whom she was supposed to 'love'- her mother, her father, and her brother, especially him- while all the while never allowing her to see the utter ugliness which lay behind his own beautiful mask. Lydia would soon care for him alone. He would do it cleverly, sweetly, quietly….and she would follow him willingly into the darkness. He would have one more to join him in the shadow of his eternal curse.
Outside the window of his new bedroom, the moon began to rise above the treeline. Surrounded by the false light which the moon emitted, Sebastian pressed his pale lips softly against the forehead of the sleeping child, imagining how that soul would taste…. Stirred slightly from her slumber, Lydia cracked her bright blue eyes open and peered up into the demon's face. Smiling a smile of childish affection, she tenderly hugged his right arm closer to her chest, where the heart beat, and dropped off to sleep again. For a long time, Sebastian stared hungrily at her tiny form as the moon rose higher in the sky. Eventually, he closed his eyes as well in imitation of sleep, petting the child's face gently and imagining that his black fingernails left smudges of burned soot up and down her perfect, glassine cheek.
Wow, Sebastian...you're kind of evil. O.O
