A/N Sorry guys for the late-ness I honestly have no excuse for having this done so late, just mind-blocks and procrastination so anyway hope you guys like and I'll be working on the next Ch. as soon as possible!
Ch.8
I woke up to the feeling of something warm on my face. To my surprise, the kitten was literally sleeping on my face.
Well then, someone here slept comfortably I suppose. I thought to myself and then moved the cat.
"Nice friend you got there." a familiar voice said.
I turned and looked at the direction the voice came from. Derrick was sitting on a chair next to the window.
"What are you doing here?" I asked astonished.
"I've been here all night, observing your thoughts. So you finally realized I'm not the bad guy here?" Derrick said amusement filled his voice as he spoke each word.
"I wouldn't get to ahead of yourself Derrick; you were the one who was responsible for Elliot's death." I said anger filled my thoughts.
"No need to think such nasty things about me, after all it is an honor to have been chosen by me to be your contractor." Derrick said.
"How do you know what I'm thinking?" I asked.
"Well you see, I can't read minds or anything that's absurd, I can just, feel it." Derrick said standing up from his chair and walking towards me.
"Well that's a vague answer." I said.
"Then again you always leave your prey with no information don't you?" I muttered.
The kitten started to growl at the Derrick.
"Huh? What's wrong?" I said as I stretched out a hand to pet the kitten.
He just kept growling.
He didn't act this way near Sebastian. So why Derrick?
"I guess animals just don't like me." Derrick said.
"Anyway, get ready, I'll meet you out by the garden in five minutes, it would be best if we were alone." Derrick finished then vanished out the window.
"He does realize there was a door right there right?" I said.
I looked through the drawers and found clothes, "Thanks god! Now I don't have to wear shorts anymore, it is winter anyways." I pulled out what looked like a navy blue shirt, only to notice that it was a dress.
You're kidding me right. Maybe I should have specified what kind of clothes I would have liked.
I looked for any other type of clothes but they were all the same, dresses, frills, ruffles, nothing normal. I ran to the closet across the room only to find shoes, accessories, and stockings.
"You have got to be kidding me right? Damn this!" I yelled softly.
I put on a violet long-sleeved dress, some black knee length boots. I wrapped a bandage around my neck to hide the seal, and just let my hair down, it was wavy like always and seemed to just fall naturally.
"Well at least I won't be that cold." I said and made my way to the garden.
I noticed that the kitten had been following me; he was going pretty slow, so I just waited for him to catch up and then picked him up. He leaped from my hands and then rested on my shoulder.
"I guess he does like me." I said to myself.
I finally made my way to the garden, and Derrick was waiting there by the gate.
"What's with that outfit?" He chuckled.
He was wearing black jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt.
"Sorry if I left all my clothes behind when you attacked me." I said annoyed at his comment.
"Why did you have to bring that?" Derrick asked pointing to the kitten on my shoulder, which had been glaring at the demon.
"He seems to be a good judge of character, so what did you want?" I asked Derrick who seemed agitated at the kitten's presence.
"Is he really bothering you that much, come on, I don't have time to waste." I said trying not to say anything about Ciel plotting something.
"The Queen seems to be worried about you; does she know you're a demon?" I asked.
Derrick shuddered in surprise.
"How do you about that?" He asked.
"Well I am helping out the Queen's guard dog, so I know a lot." I said.
"By the way, I need you to introduce yourself to the others." I said motioning Derrick to follow me back to the manner.
"Like hell I'll go." He said and was starting to walk the other way.
"Derrick get your ass back here!" I demanded, to my surprise he stopped dead in his tracks and walked toward me.
That's right he has to obey my every command! Maybe this had to do with something in Ciel's plan.
"Tch! I'm not going to go with you." he said.
'Damn, at this rate I'm going to be screwed over, I just need to make her think otherwise. I knew she was an interesting person to be contracted, but I didn't know that she would help out that damn dog. I need to get her to stop working with him.'Derrick thought to himself.
"Actually you are, you are my servant, so you have to obey my every command." I said as a smirk crept up the side of my face.
"What makes you think I will?" Derrick said.
I started to untie the bandage around my neck. Once it was off it started to glow red along with the one on Derrick's hand.
"This seal which represents our contract, like you said the more visible the mark, the powerful the bond." I said.
This did not please the demon; I could sense the anger throughout him.
"Well what are you waiting for, come on." I said and a chuckle escaped my mouth.
'This little brat.'Derrick thought.
He started to follow me and once I reached Ciel's study, the door flew open and Sebastian flew out of the room with knives at hand, and then threw them at my direction.
S-Sebas-?!
Everything went by so fast that all I could do was stand there. It felt like the world froze for a second, and then I snapped back to reality to see a puddle of blood at my feet.
Blood? I opened my eyes to see Derrick standing in front of me, his arms stretched outwards.
"Derrick?" I asked and the demon turned to face away from me and at Sebastian.
"Would you refrain from harming Clarissa?" he said to Sebastian who was speechless.
"What's going on?" Ciel asked from inside the study.
"Derrick, you're hurt." I said looking at the knives that were stabbed into his back.
"This is nothing." He then took out the knives and wiped the blood off his hands.
"I'm sorry. I just felt the presence of another demon and reacted as I would for any intruder." Sebastian said apologetically to me.
"Its fine, I'm not hurt at all." I said.
"Yeah well what about me?!" Derrick said annoyed at the fact Sebastian hadn't apologized to him yet.
"Oh that's right," Sebastian started and Derrick stood there waiting for his apology.
"A letter from the Queen arrived not too long ago." Sebastian said with a grin.
I walked into the study and Derrick quietly followed.
"What does it say?" I asked impatiently as I hovered over Ciel trying to read the letter.
After all, I was taller than him, who wasn't?
"Could you refrain from that?" Ciel asked annoyed at the fact that I kept pestering him to tell me the news.
"Fine. Just tell me what it says!" I said sitting across from his desk.
"How are you feeling?" I asked Derrick who had been leaning against the wall the whole time.
"Tch! I'm fine, just annoyed." Derrick responded glaring at Sebastian who just stood smirking deviously at the annoyed demon.
"What day is it today?" Ciel asked Sebastian.
"Oh, it's the 23rd." Sebastian said to Ciel.
"Wow the 23rd already? Christmas Eve is just a day away." I said.
"Why do you need to know?" I asked Ciel who was still staring at the letter.
"The Queen is inviting us to her Christmas Eve ball." Ciel said.
"She wants to meet the one who solved the case about the several murders." Ciel said again.
She wants to meet me? But I didn't even solve the case; well I did, but not really.
"I don't see any problem with it, but what do we do about Derrick? What exactly did the Queen want with Derrick?" I asked Ciel who was standing from his chair.
"I'll think of something, all she wanted was to make sure he was safe. Derrick you didn't attend many of your classes for a period of time right? Nor did you visit your family." Ciel asked Derrick.
"No, I was busy searching for the right person to form a contract with, so I'd been watching this brat for quite some time." Derrick said annoyed.
"Hey!" I yelled.
"Oh then it would be no problem for you to attend the ball right?" Ciel said with a smirk as he and Sebastian left the room.
"Damn!" Derrick said angrily.
"What's wrong with going? And why did you call me a brat, I once came from a pretty prestigious family myself you know!" I said.
"Oh really? Well I'm very sorry, Countess Brat." He said in amusement to tease me.
"That's Countess Stonewell to you! If you thought that I was just all smarts, then you were wrong. I thought you said you did research before choosing your prey." I said to the demon that was still leaning lazily against the wall ignoring my rant.
"Of course I know your background. I just want to tease you a bit, so what are you going to do now?" Derrick asked.
"Well my family did own several companies, but I don't know much about them. My parent's died when I was young, the Queen sent for me to go to this school, so I did. I major in many things that will help me find the murderers. Now that I serve under the Queen, I think I'll continue what I do for now." I said to Derrick who listened to every word, he looked extremely amused.
"What a waste of talent, but I still believe you are definitely interesting indeed." Derrick said straightening his posture and walking towards the door.
"Well how long do you plan on staying here, don't you have to plan on what you're going to wear or something?" Derrick asked.
He isn't such a bad guy is he? He's really showing his true colors when it's just me and him, I wonder why he is trying to hide his true self. I guess I shouldn't pry; after all I have no business to be in his past. He is just another tool to help me get what it is I want.
"Hey, Derrick." I called to the demon that had walked far ahead of me.
"What do you want?" he asked slowing his pace for me to catch up.
"Why didn't you go visit your family, I'm sure they were worried about you." I asked and he sighed deeply.
"I just didn't feel like it, I am a demon, and I didn't know if I should've gone or not, so I just didn't." He said bluntly.
"I'm gonna go take a nap." Derrick said yawning.
"I thought demons don't sleep?" I said confused.
"Normally they don't, but those are the demons that have lived for a long time, I've been turned not too long ago, and besides it's a choice." Derrick said turning to the hall with guest rooms.
"It's already 1 in the afternoon though." I said in a low voice.
How does he know his way around here anyway? I guess he took his time when he was snooping around her?
"Oh that's right I haven't met any other staff here."
I wonder what kind of people there are here I mean there was Snake, but Mey-Rin seemed pretty normal. I'm sure that there aren't that many unusual people here.
I turned to the hall where all the servants stayed, it was quite big.
"Let's see, there is Mey-Rin's room, Bard? Finnian? Tanaka? Wow, there are a lot of people here. I wonder where Snake stays."
I looked to the corner of the hall and saw something move in the shadows.
"Huh? What's that?" I quickly ran to the corner before it disappeared from sight.
"Oh it's you." I said as I saw the familiar snake.
"You helped me last time; I'd like to thank you for that. Would you mind showing me to Snake, so I could thank you properly? I still don't know your name." I said to the snake which led me down the hall.
"Wow you really know your way around here huh? I still get lost on the way to my room."
The snake stopped in front of a door which had been located on the far end of the hall. I knocked on the door lightly to make sure that someone had been in there.
"Who is it? Says Emily." I heard Snake say.
"It's-" I started before I was abruptly cut-off.
"Oh Clarissa, come in. Says Wordsworth." Snake said.
"How'd you know it was me?" I asked as I opened the door.
Holy mother of god!
Once I opened the door to Snake's room, there was an abundance of snakes scattered everywhere.
"It wasn't hard, says Wordsworth. Dan told us. Says Wordsworth." Snake said.
"Dan?" I asked confused at the name given.
"Yes, I am Dan, says Dan." Snake said motioning the snake next to me to come inside.
"Oh so his name is Dan." I said leaning against the door.
"You can come in if you'd like to. Says Dan."
"No thank you, I just wanted to thank you properly for helping me out. I want to meet more people around here, so I'll see you guys around." I said turning away and closing the door.
A room full of snakes…well that's normal-ish right? For him it is I guess.
I walked out of the servants' quarters and found myself deep in the manor. There was a room for practicing to shoot firearms, a room filled with books, and another room that I couldn't quite make-out what it was. I opened the door to find large sandbags hanging from the ceiling.
How lovely, to think such a refined home would have something like this. Well considering he is the Queen's guard dog, he must have had to have some training. But looking at him it looks like he wouldn't even be able to move that big of a sandbag no matter how much force he puts into his blows. Using a gun, well that is his strongpoint. At least I found the library, maybe that's where he does research and such.
"Well I've spent enough time down here; I'll go see what everyone else is up to." I went out of the manor and explored outside.
After all the land surrounding the manor was just as big as the manor itself, actually bigger.
So many gardens in here, I wonder what kind of person could tend to them, they must be really responsible, and uptight.
I turned at the corner to roam along the other side to find someone on a ladder trimming the trees.
Huh, that wasn't so hard. I think I should let them do their work, I wouldn't want to interrupt.
The person on the ladder glanced over in my direction and in a flash he was down and running toward me.
Holy crap! How did he get down that quickly?!
I then tried to think of a place to hide but it was already too late, the boy was already an arms' length away from me.
"U-Uh Hello." I said unsteadily.
"Are you alright? The last time I saw you, you were so pale. What happened? Do you feel better?" the boy asked.
Wow he talks fast, and asks a lot of questions.
"Y-Yeah, I feel fine, a lot better actually, and um, I'm not quite sure what happened exactly." I said to the curious boy in front of me.
"S-So you're the gardener here huh?" I said trying to think of another topic.
"Huh? Oh yeah, the name's Finnian, you can call me Finny." he said with a smile.
He stood up straight and I noticed that he was taller than me, not by much but he still was. His hair was a golden blond and he had bobby pins parting his bangs. He had big green eyes and a smile so big.
"My name's Clarissa, you can call me Clary if you'd like, Finny." I said returning a smile, which made his eyes light up.
"Now we can be friends!" He shouted and grabbed my hand leading me somewhere.
"Uh where are we going?" I asked as he started to run faster.
"I want you to meet everyone else!" He said elated.
He kept on running and I tried to keep up with his pace. He stopped in front of what looked like part of a cage, but the other half was underground.
"Plu-Plu!" Finny yelled into the bars.
He got a growl in response.
"U-Uh I don't think whatever is down there likes me so much maybe I should go." I said trying to release is grip on my wrist.
He didn't budge.
"That's weird Plu-Plu doesn't act this way towards people." Finny said trying to figure this out in his head.
Meanwhile I heard a sort of hiss near my ear.
"Oh, does this Plu-Plu not like cats?" I asked motioning towards the kitten on my shoulder.
"What a cutie I didn't even notice him!" Finny said eyeing the feline on my shoulder.
"Plu-Plu doesn't like him I guess." Finny said.
"I think they can get along right?" I said
"Who is this Plu-Plu?" I asked trying to see inside of the dark cage.
"I'll take him out, you just wait." Finny said running off in another direction.
"I guess he is a dog or something considering he doesn't like cats' that reminds me, I can't keep calling you kitty forever right? Hopefully you don't get on the wrong foot with Plu-Plu." I said grabbing the kitten from my shoulder and holding him in front of me.
He purred softly as I pet his head then leaped from my arms and in the direction of where Plu-Plu was kept.
"H-Hey! Wait!" I said running after him.
Geez! How much more trouble are you going to put me through!
I quickly caught the kitten before he reached the bars.
"You're a real gym you know!" I said scolding the cat.
"Maybe I should call you that from now on." I said to the kitten and the kitten meowed in acceptance to the name he was given.
I walk away from the bars, waiting for Finny, to come back.
Now that I think about what kind of animal would they have to keep confined in an underground cage, with such a little opening?
Before I could give it more thought Finny came into sight, it looked like he was having trouble with whatever was on the other side of the leash he held.
"Hey Finny, need any help?" I yelled so that he could hear me.
"No need!" he yelled back and pulled forward.
He sent the thing on the other end flying throw the sky. I only caught a glimpse of what it was, well it was silver looking. After a few seconds, he came back down but a lot closer than where he originally was.
"What's that!?" I yelled looking at the silver figure fall from the sky.
"It's Pluto; well I call him Plu-Plu." Finny said standing ready to catch it.
"You're not going to try to catch it are you!?" I asked still looking toward the sky as the figure grew bigger and bigger.
It's like a gigantic wolf or something!
"I suggest you move away a few feet Miss Clary." Finny said his arms still outward to catch the wolf-like dog thing.
At this point I couldn't really tell the difference. I quickly ran to the side waiting for what was next. The silver wolf came down faster and faster until it finally came down. I didn't see what happened next, because we were surrounded by dust and dirt. Once it finally cleared up the wolf wasn't there anymore.
"I could've sworn…that there was a giant wolf here right now." I said choking on the remaining dust in the air.
All there was, was Finny and a man next to him. He had red eyes and silver-white hair.
"Aww Plu-Plu did you have to turn back?" Finny said frowning at the man next to him.
"T-That's Pluto?" I tried to ask steadily, raising a shaking finger to point at the man.
"Yup." Finny said with a pout.
"It's much more fun when he is in his wolf form though." He continued.
"S-So he can turn into a wolf and a human?" I asked still amazed at what happened.
Who the hell are these people, Finny has inhuman strength, Pluto a dog, err, human, thing. Snake has a room of snakes and he looks like a snake himself. I think the only normal person here is Mey-Rin despite her always happy state.
"He doesn't bite come on closer!" Finny said motioning me to come closer.
I did, walking with caution, there was still some debris from when the wolf form of Pluto hit the ground. Now that I was closer I could see that Pluto was uncomfortable with Gynx. I put Gynx down next to me and told him to stay, not like he would listen, but this time he did surprisingly. Pluto looked at me, like if he were deducing if I were trustworthy or not.
"H-Hi." I said to Pluto who was still unsure.
He then smiled and gave a friendly growl.
"He likes you." Finny said petting the top of Pluto's head, which made him howl with affection.
"Well I better get going; I need to ask Ciel about the plans for tomorrow." I said picking up Gynx and turned to Finny who was playing with Pluto.
"Alrighty! If you ever wanna hang out I'll be here!" Finny said as he waved goodbye.
I then quickly ran off to avoid any other surprises. Was there such things? As 'no surprises' in this place, of course not. When I got back into the Manor, it seemed empty. I looked around to find any sign of life but there wasn't anyone. Then I bumped into someone.
"Ow!" A familiar voice said.
"U-Uh sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." I said apologetically.
"It's alright." Mey-Rin said.
"Oh, Mey-Rin, it's just you. Where is everyone?" I asked wondering where everyone had gone.
"Oh they are in the front parlor. Ciel's fiancée, Elizabeth, came for a visit." Mey-Rin said.
"Oh maybe I should avoid there then, I wouldn't want any misunderstandings now would I?" I said.
"Good idea, just go straight, and then make a right turn at the nearest study from here, and you should be at your room without passing the parlor." Mey-Rin said.
"Thanks!" I said as I ran quicker than usual.
I didn't know Ciel had a fiancé? I wonder what she's like, but I can't run into her right now.
"She said to make a left turn right?" I said trying to remember what the maid's instructions were.
"No it was right, or was it? Argh! I'll just go with left. That's the first thing that comes into my mind anyway." I quietly ran faster and made the left turn.
I was at a dead end but there was a door on the side.
"I'm sure that's the way I have to go right?" I said as I opened the door.
When I fully went in I could've sworn I was in hell.
Hope you guys like it! Please review and keep reading!