Sebastian didn't even flinch or open his eyes as the plate of food flew past his head and splattered against the wall behind him, "My lady, your anger is manifesting quite strongly right now…" He warned. It was one of the strongest emotions demons can feel, and the most difficult to control especially as a young demon.
"The eggs benedict was disgusting!" Her eyes glowed a very vibrant crimson as she launched her tea as well as the tea pot at her butler. "And the tea was dreadful! How useless can you be Sebastian?!"
Ciel did not feel like herself. She was tired, despite waking up to find that she had slept 12 hours, she still felt as drained as she was before she slept. And the food was disgusting, she wondered if Sebastian had forgotten everything that he had learned during his time on the human plane.
"I'm sorry my lady, as I've said before demon pallets are different than human ones. I've been preparing human food for so long, let me try again." He said, swiftly cleaning the mess with a blink of an eye before leaving the room. He returned a minute later with a similar looking breakfast, more hastily made. She didn't care, digging into the meal with no sense of politeness. Along with fatigue, she felt a severe hunger which she hoped to quench.
Sebastian watched her eat, frowning. "My lady, if you're eating to fill your stomach, normal food will not do it. You can eat through the entire world's food without feeling the least bit full." He tried to calm himself down, reminding himself that the lady's hunger and fatigue only exacerbated her anger.
Ciel growled at him, flipping the useless plate of food onto the floor, her eyes glowing crimson. "Why didn't you tell me that before? I'm hungry, what will stop it?"
"Souls." Sebastian said, and despite his best efforts she could hear the annoyance raise in his voice as he spoke. "You can sleep and eat all you like, the only thing that can revive your energy and feed your hunger is human souls."
"Then bring me some, that's an ORDER." She commanded. Sebastian simply looked back at her with a disapproving look. The anger rose to her throat as she spat out, "Didn't you hear me, that's an ORDER Sebastian!"
The servant was at her bedside in a second; looming over her with such an imposing aura she quickly held her tongue. "Your stubbornness and anger is becoming a hindrance to you. I will not take orders from a demon brat if that is what you've become."
Ciel was infuriated by this, "How dare you?!" She raised her hand to slap him across the face, but he quickly grabbed her by her wrist. She winced as he pushed her back down onto the bed, his other hand on her neck, more to hold her down than to choke her.
His eyes glowed a more threatening crimson than hers, shadows around him began to morph and become more darker. That shut her up quicker than if he had told her to. He glared down at her and leaned in, his face inches from hers, whispering instead of shouting at the poor fledgling. "Control. Your. Rage. Now." He instructed, his normally velvet voice was suddenly as sharp and hard as the rocks that broke ships during storms. Ciel simply stared up at him with shocked, scared eyes. "I am here to serve a noblewoman who I came to respect and cherish, not some demon brat who throws tantrums. It's unbecoming of a young lady of your stature to act in such a way." He loosened his vice like grip on her hand and around her neck, gently bringing his thumb to stroke her soft cheek with his glove, his eyes returning back to their subdued crimson color. "I know it's hard, you're tired and hungry, but that is no excuse. Your first lesson will be this, self-regulation. Calm, my lady."
She reflected on his words, looking away as she contemplated this. She refused to look at him even as he pulled away, fixing his collar. He stepped back to clean up the mess that she had made, before leaving the room perhaps calming himself down as well.
She took a minute or two to do a few deep breathing exercises, emberassed of her actions she fiddled with the hem of her nightgown. Sebastian came back with a smile, offering her a silver basin filled with hot water and a towel to dry her face as if nothing had happened.
"Very good my lady, as you get settled I'll arrange for you to get a soul or two to eat." He said, holding her hair back as she bathed her face in the soothing water.
"You can't do it yourself?" She asked, taking the towel and pat drying her face.
"No, my lady… It has been a while since I've had a soul to eat. I no longer have the energy to travel to the human world to acquire souls." He explained, "With experience, you can train yourself to live off of a single soul for a while. But even that has its limits. I've used as much energy as I can."
Ciel looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. He used so much of his energy to recreate her home, and manifest the 3 plates of food she had carelessly threw aside during her tantrum, all being fueled by a soul he ate a long time ago. She smirked as he combed her hair, "You wagered that my soul would last you a while."
Sebastian smiled, glad that his mistress was in a good enough mood again to tease him. "Yes, my lady. Though, a petty human soul I suppose will suffice for the both of us for now."
"Make it quick, I'm very hungry." She said.
"Let me get you changed first." He said, walking to the closet.
Ciel stopped him, "No, food first." She instructed.
Sebastian sighed, "Very well my lady. I shall arrange for your meal immediately." He bowed, and exited the room.
Ciel didn't know how long she had waited for him. It felt like hours. She tried to go back to sleep, she tried drinking the tea that was left in the tea pot he had left her, both of which did nothing for her hunger or fatigue. With her impatience mounting, she made her way out of her room. She thought against going out in just her nightgown, but who else lived there other than Sebastian? Also, she doubted that there was any need for decency in hell. She wandered through the halls, Sebastian got the layout of her mansion exactly right, again. She was about to return back to her room to wait for Sebastian, when she sensed two presences in the foyer.
Upon investigation, she found Sebastian with another man. The stranger wore a long black leather coat and a black hat, a mis-west American style that she only seen in books. The demon looked back at her with striking blue eyes, lighter than hers, reminding of her of the frosted lakes in London. No, there was only one eye she could see. As she moved closer, she saw that his right eye was covered with an eyepatch of black leather. This shocked her the most, and she resisted the urge to reach up and touch her own right eye covering. The demon simply stared at her for some time as she made her way down, stopping at the top of the steps of the grand staircase. Instead of bowing like an English gentleman, he simply lowered his head and tipped his hat.
"Sebastian, who is this?" She asked, hesitant in her approach.
"Ah, my lady." The butler said, pretending to be shocked at her appearance, "this gentleman… He has no name." He said with a simplicity that shocked her.
"No name?"
"That is precisely what I, and all the other demons call him." The servant ushered to Ciel, "No Name, this is Countess Ciel Phantomhive." He introduced.
Ciel locked eyes with the no named demon again as she finally made her way down, her bare feet feeling cold against the black floors. "Why does he have no name?..." She inquired.
Sebastian broke her eye contact with him, placing his hands behind his back, "All in due time my lady, but first you must eat, you must be hungry." He smiled, "No Name has brought the souls."
Ciel's eyes widened, right on cue she heard her stomach growl, making her blush.
"My my, what kind of butler am I to have left my mistress hungering. I must hurry in my preparation." He said, looking to the unnamed demon. The man raised his eyebrows, handing Sebastian a little brown bag no bigger than one used to hold coins. Ciel wondered if that is where the souls are, in such a small thing? And just like that, Sebastian disappeared to the kitchen. He must have been very hungry as well.
Ciel sighed, looking up at the stranger. She no longer felt uneasy with him, why should she? Sebastian seemed to trust him, and Sebastian trusted so few people. "Come, let us go to the kitchen." She said to him.
He simply nodded and followed the young lady. She observed as she was walking beside him that he was very taller, maybe even a few inches taller than Sebastian. She looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. "You're a man of few words I see."
He cracked a smile, nodding.
They entered the dining area; the mahogany tables and chairs were now an unknown sort of black wood, and only one plate set for her at the head of the table. She sat down and watched as the man sit as well, taking his hat off and running his fingers through his chestnut colored hair. As he did, she couldn't help but stare at the patch that covered his eye. Growing tired of the silence she tried to strike another conversation, "So, how did you acquire that?.." She asked, not wanting to dance around the subject of her curiosity.
The man simply looked at her for a moment, before Sebastian came from nowhere and placed her newly made breakfast in front of her. "Here you are my lady, eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce and Canadian bacon."
Ciel was so hungry she wasn't sure which of the three forks she picked up to devour the meal in front of her. The more she ate, the fuller she felt, the more alert she became and the more energetic she was.
She observed as Sebastian simply slid a chilled glass of beer into no name's hand. He gestured a salute with the glass, before drinking. "I hope you didn't try to strike a conversation with him my lady, for you see he cannot speak."
Ciel stopped eating for a moment, looking between Sebastian and the nameless demon. "Why can he not speak?..."
No Name looked up at Sebastian, and performed a few hand gestures that she recognized as sign language. Ciel remembered a time when Sebastian tried to incorporate sign language as a part of their foreign language studies, but she declined it, opting for French. Perhaps this is why he was inspired to do so.
Sebastian poured her a cup of her morning earl grey tea. "That is what happens when you cross King Lucifer, my lady…" He said, the delighted tone in his voice suddenly disappeared, replaced with a solemn animosity when speaking about the king. "His voice, the sight in his right eye, even his name was revoked by the king…"
"How cruel…" Ciel said softly, looking at no name as Sebastian spoke. The demon refused to look over at either of them, simply playing with the now empty glass, turning it again and again on the table. "What was your crime?..."
The man did a few more signs, and Sebastian translated as he poured the man more beer, "He spoke out against the king in his presence, and so he removed his tongue… He looked at the king disapprovingly, and so he took his right eye…" He stood by Ciel like a loyal servant as he continued, "And he simply took his name to humiliate him… A demon with no name is hardly a demon at all…"
The nameless demon frowned, finally looking to Sebastian. He flipped Sebastian his middle finger, a gesture that Ciel didn't need a translation for. She covered her mouth to hold her giggle, only imagining Sebastian's expression.
"You seem to know each other quite well.." Ciel said, finishing her plate of breakfast, still hungering for more.
Sebastian predicted this, setting the plate aside on the dinner cart and bringing her a plate of dessert. It was chocolate mousse topped with whipped cream and drizzled with a caramel syrup. "Of course, my lady, I was the one who created him…"
This threw Ciel off, looking up at him in shock. "You created him?..."
"Yes. He's one of only 2 fledglings I have." He elaborated, pouring her more tea.
"Well I must say I'm surprised at you Sebastian…" Ciel brought the tea to her lips and took a sip. "Though I must say despite my shock, I could imagine you being good mother."
This caused the brunette demon sitting at the table to smile, trying not to laugh as he looked at Ciel with admiration.
Sebastian looked less happy with the little quip. But he quickly recovered, "Well then I'm glad you find my maternal abilities adequate, for in demon terms you are about newborn baby, my lady." He said.
Ciel frowned up at him, not replying for he had won this round. Taking a dollop of mousse and eating it quickly, she found that it had a taste of foulness to it. It must be the soul… She could taste the years of alcohol abuse, dirtiness, and all around filthiness of the heart. But the young demon could bear to keep eating, for she felt stronger and the fatigue has begun to disappear more and more. "You mixed the soul with the food?" She asked.
"Yes my lady, though you can eat a human soul directly, that practice is known to be harder. That is why it is common practice to infuse the soul into food, with the added bonus of making the less delectable souls more palatable." He explained.
Ciel noticed as No Name drank, the golden beer glowed slightly every now and then. She looked down to her tea and saw the distinguishable glow as well. "I see."
No name got up and tipped his hat to Ciel, tossing his empty glass to Sebastian, making him catch it and giving the demon a grin. The young lady could see that little words or signs needed to be exchanged between them, looks and smiles portrayed their years of connection. He left the room, fixing his hat back on his head.
"Where is he going now?" Ciel asked curiously.
"I haven't the slightest clue." Sebastian said, cleaning her table setting. He excused himself, explaining that he needed to go on with a few chores now that he had a renewed energy. Ciel nodded, allowing him to leave, but asking him to leave the teapot behind for her to finish.
As she continued to drink the warm, semi-sweet concoction, she thought of what Sebastian said… If it was all true, the king of this world was a tyrannical, powerful bieng. To remove a man's right eye for looking at him with anger, taking his ability to speak for talking against him… And the worst thing taken from him is own name. Even in the human world, a person's name is holds a great value. Taking that away is similar to taking away someone's identity, someone's being.
She finished her tea, soaking in all that she had learned about her new life as a demon, setting her empty cup down on the porcelain saucer. She realized that she had to learn to adapt… As much as she would like to think she can survive on her own, she couldn't. And given her earlier emotional out lash at Sebastian, she realized that she had a lot to learn. She hopes she could learn this all before the king demands an audience with her, or she might find herself a, missing eye, a missing voice, and a missing name…
Thanks so much for even reading. I hope you like the new OC I introduced, No Name. He's the gentleman on the bottom of the image that is this story's cover picture, for all of you who are curious to who that was. :P Please tell me your thoughts, if you like or don't like my cover image (all rights go to the artist's whose individual images I've used. I do not hold credit for them, all I did was collage them together and added a filter) and if you have any critiques or ideas, let me know!