Part two just for you. Hope you like it.

It was only a few hours ago that the whole unpleasant mess had begun. An intruder dressed all in white and wearing a hood over his face had broken into the Phantomhive manor while everyone was out, and had laid in wait for the young lord to return, striking early in the afternoon when he and his butler were in the main hall.

Of course, Sebastian immediately moved to take care of the problem, but the stranger somehow seemed prepared for an attack by a demon by countering with what Lord Phantomhive recognized as a Seraph Blade; a weapon, according to the lore Phantomhive had read, that was forged by angels and was one of the few objects ever created that had the potential to kill a demon.

"Sebastian! The blade!" Ciel shouted in warning, but too late. Once the blade touched Sebastian's skin he howled in agony, a very inhuman like sound, and collapsed on the floor, which allowed his assailant to take several more lunges with the blade, causing deep gashes and black smoke and blood to spring forth.

For several moments the butler was completely incapacitated. Lord Phatomhive, after sitting stunned and watching the proceedings, made to run but the assailant soon abandoned his merciless attack on Sebastian and caught up quickly to his intended target. Phantomhive attempted to defend himself with his walking stick but was soon overpowered and knocked to the floor, with his attacker looming over him and reading to bring his blade down on him. This stranger likely would have succeeded in his task had his left arm not suddenly detached from his body at that moment.

Though the intruder had known how to best Sebastian in a match, he had not counted on the sheer force of will the butler possessed. Despite his grievous and painful injuries Sebastian had managed to use a serving tray as a discus and thrown it with enough force to sever one of the stranger's arms. The blade dropped to the floor and the intruder used his other hand to try and staunch the bleeding from where his arm used to be. Both he and Lord Phantomhive looked over to see a badly bleeding, slashed Sebastian barely standing but with enough rage and determination in his blazing red eyes to stop a bull in its tracks. The attacker, now completely disarmed in more ways than one, thought better of his plan and decided to turn tail and run, leaping through a nearby window and taking off across the front lawn. Normally Sebastian could have caught him easily, but his injuries made it impossible for him to remain standing now that the imminent danger had passed, and he fell back to the floor, twitching and senseless from pain.

After the shock wore off Lord Phantomhive realized then he had a very unique problem on his hands. The rest of the household staff would return soon, and they would have questions, and there was so much that had occurred that he could not explain to them. Sebastian usually took care of these things, but the young Lord had never dealt with a truly injured demon before. He had seen his butler take several bullets, including to the head, but had spit them all out again within moments. This however, he was not getting back up from, and that concerned Ciel greatly.

Moving quickly, Phantomhive took the seraph blade and hid it in the library. He then took the severed arm and placed it in a bag and then in the ice box, counting on Bardroy not noticing it was there. By the time he was done with all of that the staff had returned. Mey-Rin screamed when she saw Sebastian lying on the floor, covered in blood. Phantomhive took control immediately. He didn't give any details, only saying that an unfortunate accident had taken place, and like good servants they hadn't asked any more questions. Ciel ordered Finnian and Bardroy to carry Sebastian to his room and sent Mey-Rin and Tanaka to fetch bandages and hot water. While the servants set to cleaning and bandaging his numerous wounds, Ciel had gathered every old tome he could from the manor's library, looking for information regarding Seraph blades and who would use them, as a way to prepare for what was coming, for he was quite certain this was not over, especially since his line of defense, his butler, was down.

Once Sebastian had been cleaned and patched up as best as the household staff could manage, and been stitched and administered healing herbs by the real Tanaka, their Lord dismissed them and he settled into a chair beside Sebastian's bed with his stack of books to read. What he read was not comforting. According to what little information he had, a Seraph blade basically had the same effect as a weapon dipped in acidic poison to demons. All the tomes agreed; a Seraph blade, if a demon survived it, would cause wounds that would not heal quickly, debilitating illness, confusion bordering on madness and above all, excruciating pain. This condition could last anywhere from days to weeks depending on the severity of the wounds. There was little to no information on who would have access to these blades, but after watching his butler's outburst Ciel was beginning to wonder whether the real threat would come from outside the manor or from within.

But all was quiet now. The cats in the room, who had darted off the bed once Sebastian had begun to show his true colors, were tentatively returning, leaping back onto the sheets and positioning themselves beside their caregiver, somehow knowing not to lay on him and harm him further.

A slight rap at the door drew Ciel out of his reverie, and he quickly put his eye patch back on. "Come in" he called, turning his attention back to the pages in front of him.

The door cracked open and Mey-Rin leaned her ginger head into the room. "Excuse me Sir" she squeaked. "I just wanted to stoke the fire for you."

"Yes, do" Phantomhive replied, glancing at her briefly to decide whether or not she had heard anything earlier, and deciding she hadn't went back to his book. He had only just begun to notice the room was going cold.

Quietly, as he kept reading, Mey-Rin slipped into the room, occasionally stealing glances at the butler sleeping nearby. She loaded more wood onto the fire and stoked it until it was burning bright. Then she slipped up behind Phantomhive's chair. "Will there be anything else sir?"

"No, thank you" he replied, again without looking up.

She hesitated, but then asked. "Is Sebastian alright, sir?"

Ciel gave her his full attention then, ready to chastise her for speaking out of turn, but his words stuck in his throat when he saw her face. Even with her glasses he could tell she was genuinely worried as she stared at Sebastian. In spite of himself, Ciel felt sympathetic towards her. "He's healing" he said simply. "But he'll need time."

She nodded. "It's good of you sir, to sit with him. I think he'd appreciate it if he were awake." She curtsied quickly and then left the room.

Lord Phantomhive watched her go, then shook his head and continued reading. Oddly enough, it wasn't until that moment that something occurred to him. The intruder, when he had had his arm severed, had not screamed. Hadn't made a sound, in fact. Not only that, but the amount of blood he lost should have been exponential, certainly enough to keep him from darting across the manor's lawn and making good on his escape. It wasn't much to go on, but it may be an indication as to what had attacked them; Ciel could not imagine anything human not at least making a noise when losing a limb. He picked up another book and kept reading.

Outside, hiding in the bushes, wearing a black cloak over his white tunic and trousers to keep from being too visible in the darkness, a lone figure kept a close watch on Phantomhive Manor. Only a watch though for now. The time would come to strike again soon enough, and patience is and always has been a virtue.

I like a good tease. Hang in there, more coming. Thank you for all the comments so far and thanks for reading.