A/N: So, more insight to Sebastian's current situation. I personally think that Sieglinde, being a witch, would see use in Sebastian in ways that Ciel wouldn't since he's no witch.
And many thanks to Carrie, who is a wonderful beta! :)
CHAPTER 2
The young lady was fuming. Puffing her cheeks, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she sat in the car's backseat, staring out the window. Sebastian watched her in the rear view mirror as he drove her back to the house. Driving hadn't taken him long to master, and as they always were out on rather shady businesses – rituals, magic practice, securing the lady's territory – it was better if there were less people involved.
"My lady, if I may say so, doing that makes you look rather childish," Sebastian said, entering central London. As expected, traffic was awful, the weather was awful, and school children crossed the street where no traffic lights were in sight. Simply awful.
"I don't care," Sieglinde said archly. "Why would he not believe us?"
"The Phantomhive boy?" Sebastian's eyebrows shot up and he barely refrained himself from saying 'Are you serious?' "You don't honestly believe that anyone these days would believe you just because they saw the contract mark. Maybe he thinks we're from some sect. Maybe he'll call the police on you."
"On us," Sieglinde corrected. "Us, because you're in this, too. It's because of you that I approached Ciel in the first place."
"And I appreciate that," Sebastian said automatically.
"No, you don't," Sieglinde countered with a sigh.
No, he didn't. It was part of their agreement, so he was taking it for granted and she knew it, too. But just because they were both aware of this fact didn't mean that he should state it. "We cannot give up," he said instead. "We need access to where the bodies were found while the trail is still fresh."
"It's already two weeks old," Sieglinde said, frowning at Sebastian via the rear view mirror. "It's a matter of days until the trail is too faint to detect."
"Then, if I may speak freely, we'll have to get there before the it is too weak."
"I don't think I'll be allowed into Ciel's house anytime soon." Sieglinde rested her forehead against the window. Sebastian wanted to tell her that this would leave prints on the glass.
"Then let us hope that he contacts us quickly enough," he muttered. He knew that Sieglinde wouldn't be up to violating any laws, so breaking in was a thought she wouldn't even briefly entertain.
Upon arriving at the house in Belgravia, the maids opened the door and positioned themselves in the doorway. Hilde and Grete greeted the girl with stoic expressions, but Anne smiled, albeit a little nervously. Sieglinde waited until Sebastian had parked the car, leaving the lightly dressed women to freeze in the awful weather at first, but once she spotted Sebastian returning, she shooed the maids inside, worrying about them catching a cold.
"How was your trip, young lady?" Anne asked pleasantly as she took off Sieglinde's coat and hung it.
"Unsatisfying," the girl grumbled. "Ciel Phantomhive now thinks my butler and I got ourselves similar tattoos."
The corners of Anne's mouth twitched in hesitant amusement. Grete frowned, but as always Hilde had the strongest reaction. "Well, he should have backed you up better, if that is what you left the Phantomhive boy believing. It is in his interest, too, isn't it?" She turned to Sebastian, narrowing her eyes. "Isn't it?"
Being a demon, Sebastian had seen and met his fair share of scary or even frightening things and people. However, since Hilde, angry German women like her ranked so high on this list that it surprised even Sebastian himself. He backed away from her, keeping his expression polite. "Yes, of course. "
"You made the young lady go through this trouble for you and managed to come out empty-handed?" Hilde went on. Sieglinde didn't even bat an eyelash at the woman's outburst. Sebastian immediately knew she wasn't going to help him here. Instead she looked at her nails and then showed them to Grete who inspected them before telling her something in German. Sebastian couldn't quite pick up what it was because Hilde wasn't done with him.
"The young Earl didn't seem in the right state of mind to witness proper proof," he told her. "Even if Mistress Sullivan had cast a sell or if I had shown him that I truly am a demon, his reaction to that could have been less than favourable."
"I don't believe a single word coming out of your demon mouth," Hilde said. She whirled around, her perfume invading his senses. It was a stern and mature scent, and Sebastian had quickly learned to change directions whenever it filled the air.
"Hilde, dear, leave it be," Sieglinde finally said. "It is Sebastian's problem, not ours. I believe Ciel would have thrown us out anyway. It was the wrong moment to reveal ourselves. Besides," she added as an afterthought, "Sebastian cannot lie to us."
"He damn well can," Hilde spat. Sieglinde most likely let it go because the insult wasn't directed at her. Then again Sieglinde always went easy on everyone, even on Sebastian despite her mistrust in him. To be fair, the whole staff usually exceeded at their assigned tasks, so Sieglinde never had any reason to be cross with any of them.
Except…
"Where is Wolfram?" the girl asked, perfectly in time with Sebastian thoughts. The demon wondered if she had somehow read them. He wouldn't put it beyond her.
"Sulking," Hilde said, pursing her lips.
"Still?" Sieglinde looked at the general direction of the kitchen (hidden behind several doors) and then at Sebastian. "He's really serious about his sulking."
"Every day for at least two hours," Hilde informed the girl. "Especially when the demon gets to wake you up in the mornings or bakes you something."
Sieglinde brought a hand to her forehead. "This is no contest. And it's not like Sebastian is going to stay forever."
That was the wrong thing to say. Three pairs of eyes snapped to Sebastian. Even Anne seemed angry. Sebastian barely kept himself from rolling his eyes. One of the things Sieglinde had contracted him for was the protection of her life. After having met her household staff, though, Sebastian had at first wondered why she'd need him when she had vicious beasts like the people living here, ready to rip anything apart that looked at Sieglinde the wrong way. While he received an answer to this question soon after, he still found himself wondering about that at times. "Your mistress' actions are her own. She knew I was going to be her death before she agreed to the contract's conditions. It is her business, not yours."
They played this game from time to time. Many accusations would fall, and Sebastian would ultimately remind them that he wasn't here because he'd forced Sieglinde into a contract, but because she'd called him, knowing very well what she was going to sacrifice for this. As a result, Hilde, Grete, Anne, and Wolfram – when he wasn't busy sulking – would tolerate him until the whole discussion began anew. But a year had passed since he had first set foot into the house, and Sebastian noticed how the hostility gradually faded. It wasn't nearly as strong these days as it had been a year ago. Sebastian was glad about that. He'd been on the verge of killing all of them back then, Hilde first. Things like that didn't leave a good impression with the contracted.
Sieglinde decided to leave Wolfram to his sulking as long as he got around cooking sometime soon ("And he better add a Black Forest Cake to that!"), and went upstairs, her maids following her. She motioned for Sebastian to come, too, and the demon already guessed what she needed him for. Climbing up the stairs he took of his gloves and his jacket, which he folded and put on the bed upon entering Sieglinde's room. The girl sat down by the vanity, Hilde undid and brushed her hair while Anne was presented a ridiculously large collection of nail polish to her. Sieglinde took in the variety with big eyes and then selected something that glittered rather obnoxiously.
Grete made him sit on a chair not too close to the women crowding the girl. She brandished a pair of scissors big enough to chop off a finger. Sebastian dearly hoped that she didn't plan on doing that. "What will we need, Mistress Sullivan?"
Sieglinde glanced at the demon briefly before watching Anne filing her nails. "Saliva, a fang, some skin. I never got to see what his hair does when used in potions, so I'd like you to cut off a few strands. How do you feel about a blood sample, Sebastian?"
"I bleed a lot," Sebastian said easily.
"Then fetch a vial for a blood sample, Grete. Oh, and if he feels like it, ask him for some tears."
"Tears?" Sebastian repeated, trying to keep the incredulity out of his voice.
Sieglinde grinned widely. "I found out something truly awesome! When your tears are used in a potion, one is able to see in the dark!"
"You don't need these kinds of potions these days, my lady," Anne said after a moment of hesitance. "Everything is lit at night."
"Besides, aren't those potions highly toxic?" Hilde asked disapprovingly as she parted the girl's hair into several sections. "We are talking about things coming from a demon. I'm not sure if you should ingest skin tissue and pulverized fangs, even if it is for research's sake."
"Well," the girl said cheerfully, "these potions are still enhancing in their character, and having a demon willing to give you samples is an opportunity you don't want to let slide." She watched as Grete placed a cotton pad in Sebastian's mouth and cut a few strands of hair. She made a surprised sound when she saw it growing back at once. Grete then removed the cotton pad and put it in a plastic cup. She considered Sebastian for a long moment. He told her that he could remove a fang by himself (lest she pull the fang, and that wasn't only time-consuming, but also highly annoying), so she grabbed a knife and pushed up Sebastian's shirt.
"I must say," he began, once he'd spat out his fang, already feeling a new one replacing it, "nobody has ever used me as a live pantry."
Sieglinde blinked slowly. When it came to Sebastian, she always thought twice before speaking. It was something that he'd never seen her do with the other witches or Wolfram. "I hope you don't feel… humiliated?"
Sebastian smirked. "If I had a sense of shame, I might." Grete peeled off a strip of skin from his lower arm, but Sebastian ignored the uncomfortable sensation as best as he could. He also didn't look down, because he was sure that Grete hadn't managed to spare his dress shirt. "I am happy to help you with your studies, my lady. Besides, I agreed to this, did I not?"
The girl nodded. "That's true." Hilde braided sections of her hair and pinned it all up into something very becoming, and Anne finished painting the last nail. "How do you want to proceed?"
He knew exactly what she was talking about. "I suggest we wait a few days, but not too long. If Ciel doesn't contact us by then we will either have to knock on his door or set foot in that bedroom without his permission. There is no other way. I apologize." He felt a tug in his veins that told him that blood was being taken from him. His shirt must be a mess.
Sieglinde looked uneasy, but she didn't say a word about waiting for Claude's next trail if Ciel didn't let them into the house. It was a beginning, and Sebastian was sure that she wouldn't have been so silent about it a few months ago. When Anne and Hilde released her, she took a small vial from a drawer in her vanity and got up, approaching him. Sebastian could still feel the blood leaving him. How much was Grete taking, anyway?
Sieglinde held the vial under his eye. He looked up at her, then back at the hand that held the vial. "I might just be too proud for that."
"You've given me a tear before," Sieglinde pouted, as if that was reason enough. They had been in the same situation, Sieglinde being too curious for her own good and demanding a tear. Sebastian had indulged her back then, not actually thinking that anything could be brewed with his tears. Nothing about him was poisonous on its own, but it seemed that if you mixed it with the right ingredients, they could wreak havoc.
After a moment of silence (in which Grete finally finished drawing his blood) he forced tears into his eyes, letting them run down his face, holding Sieglinde's gaze. The girl broke the contact in order to catch the drops in the vial and then closed it. "Thank you very much," she said. And smiled.
Sebastian felt the tracks dry on his skin. He looked down at his bloody dress shirt. Grete was filling the blood into little bottles. She must have taken more than a pint.
He unbuttoned his shirt as he left the room, leaving his gloves and coat there. Once he arrived in his own room he heard the doorbell ring. He couldn't possibly answer the door without a shirt on, and frankly didn't feel like being nice and sociable just now, so he first went to his closet and picked out a fresh dress shirt, a tie, a jacket and a pair of gloves. He dressed quickly in case he was needed, and, sure enough, Sieglinde knocked on the door as he was slipping on his gloves. "It's the police. They're asking for you."
"So Ciel did call them," Sebastian mused, suppressing a sigh.
The girl nodded. "Deal with them. I don't want them poking around."
Sebastian checked himself in the mirror before nodding. "Neither do I."
So, how did you like this chapter? I hope you enjoyed it, because I found it intereting to write Sebastian in this contract and away from Ciel. Don't forget to tell me what you think!