A/N: It is important that we all thank Carrie for betaing like a boss. She's really fast and I am bad at deadlines.

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

CHAPTER 8

Sieglinde looked terrible, Ciel thought when he saw her. He didn't state it, though, because according to Sebastian she had looked worse just a week ago.

There had been some disgusting potion made from Sebastian's skin and some herbs and for all Ciel knew a rat's tail that Sieglinde had managed to poison herself with. For an antidote one of her maids – who all were witches and nobody had told him that until after he had set foot in the house – had brewed something equally disgusting. Apparently it had helped. Judging by the sceptic looks everybody in the room shot Sieglinde whenever she as much as twitched the girl was far from alright.

"And what do we learn from that?" Ciel asked. He was a little irritated because instead of pursuing his trail, he had to visit Sieglinde. Aunt Frances had practically forced him into the car. Thank goodness that Bard had been able to stop her from driving Ciel here. It would have been a terrifying ride. "Don't brew disgusting cocktails. Why would you do that anyway?"

"One would think you're concerned," Sieglinde drawled. Her voice still seemed a little weak and she wasn't allowed to leave the bed yet. She did seem twitchy, and Ciel felt the empathizing urge to take her out for a walk. This feeling lasted for about a second, maybe even less. He wasn't going to busy himself with a sick girl.

"Not particularly," he thus said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Sieglinde smiled indulgently.

"Mistress," Sebastian piped up from the far end of the room. Ciel didn't miss the hostile glances thrown his way by the maid witches. "I know you are currently impaired, but it is of highest priority that we continue or search. It is possible for Claude to vanish any day. We shouldn't waste time."

The stern-looking witch maid opened her mouth, but Sieglinde was faster: "Of course," was all she said. "I wouldn't have expected anything else from you."

"I would also like to find Claude," Ciel added, and Sieglinde looked pained for a moment.

"You and my butler are going to be best friends if you keep this up."

"We try to," Sebastian said, sending her a smile so fake that even the Viscount of Druitt would have noticed. It was Ciel's turn to look pained. Who knew that the demon could pack so much poison into a single sentence?

Sieglinde seemed completely unfazed by it. "Sebastian, I allow you to continue your search with Ciel. You do not have to listen to his orders if you don't want to, but you are to keep him safe. Do not kill him. Do not get him killed." It told Ciel a lot that she had to explicitly state that he wasn't to die. He felt a little bit ill at the thought that Sebastian could potentially just tear him into shreds. "I want you to inform me of your findings. You are not to neglect your duties as my butler. You will continue to obey me."

Sebastian approached the bed and went down on one knee. "Yes, my lady."

"Don't get on Ciel's nerves. Be a good example of my house." Judging by how she picked up a book from her nightstand and began to read in silence, Sieglinde dismissed them all shortly afterwards. Ciel raged internally over this behaviour but left the room with much dignity. The maids and the blond man left the room in silence, all of them sparing Ciel one last look as if they had practiced it, and then descended the stairs, each returning to their work. With three (or four) people with supernatural abilities gone, Ciel was only left with a demon standing a little too close for comfort and an impaired witch behind closed doors. Speaking of the demon…

Ciel refused to take a step away from the creature. Sebastian was clearly testing the waters. It was a dominance thing, wasn't it? Just because Sieglinde had told Sebastian that he could choose when to listen to Ciel. The boy would be damned if he lost the first round already.

"If you are interested," Ciel said, as nonchalantly as possible (though he felt like he only came off as constipated; that demon got him on edge way too fast), "I have somebody on my list who might bring us a little further."

Sebastian looked down at Ciel, smirking. "I'm interested."

Ciel opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it when a deviant thought entered his brain. What exactly did Sebastian mean? The boy scowled and wanted to shake his head. He didn't though, because Sebastian was eyeing him like he was some sort of prey. "His name is Undertaker. Ever heard of him?"

"I don't think I've had the pleasure."

Ciel descended the stairs, going straight for the coatrack as he spoke. "He is a forensic pathologist. There is also a funeral service that's under his name."

"He will not be allowed to share any details on his cases," Sebastian piped up. As if Ciel hadn't known that before.

"My father used him as an informant," Ciel snipped. "This man isn't particularly lawful. Besides, we're not asking him about his cases, we're asking him if he knows something about Claude."

They left the house and entered a black car. The chauffeur, Bard, looked at Sebastian in his rear view mirror silently until Ciel cleared his throat and gave the man the address. His staff had found out where Undertaker lived as well as his working schedule. According to that data, he should be at home.

"Let us out here," Ciel muttered when they reached their destination. Undertaker's townhouse was just a block away, but Ciel didn't feel like alerting the man to their presence. He unbuckled his seatbelt and waited, but Sebastian simply got out and didn't open the door for the boy. Feeling a little bit ridiculous, Ciel exchanged a glance with Bard in the rear view mirror. The blond man looked about to do the job himself, but Ciel told him to remain seated. In the end, he glared at Sebastian through the window until the demon found it fit to open the door for Ciel. Climbing out of the car, the boy huffed.

"Is it that hard?" he asked sarcastically.

"I only open the door for the Mistress," Sebastian said primly, but raised an eyebrow as if in challenge.

"Well, you'll be opening the door for me too from now on," Ciel spat. "It's good manners."

"You are aware what kind of person you are talking to?"

"I don't care what you are," Ciel said, realizing at the same moment that this was a lie. Nevertheless he went on: "You're playing a human. You're a butler right now. So act like one." With that he stomped away, hoping that Sebastian wouldn't grate on his nerves any longer. After a few seconds, Ciel turned around and saw Sebastian following him silently.

When they were at Undertaker's house, Ciel thought of what he wanted to say before he rang the bell. It didn't take long for the grey-haired man to open the door. Upon spotting Ciel through his thick fringe – however that was possible – his lips twisted into a wide smile. Now that he was standing directly in front of the man, Ciel was surprised by the lack of wrinkles he found in the man's face.

"Young Earl," the man croaked. "You look just like your father."

"Undertaker," Ciel said stiffly. "I am here to discuss business. Please let me in."

The man giggled weirdly but stepped aside so that they could enter. Ciel wiped his shoes on the mat but didn't take them off. He let Sebastian take off his coat for him, though. They both followed Undertaker into a light-flooded living-room. Ciel looked at the man dressed all in black. Talk about contrasts…

"Can I offer you anything?" Undertaker asked as they entered. "Tea? Biscuits? They're homemade."

"No thank you," Ciel said. "We don't want anything."

The grey-haired man hummed noncommittally. "And who is your interesting companion?"

Sebastian straightened his posture. "Interesting?"

"That man is Sebastian Michaelis, and he is someone else's butler," Ciel said. He didn't know why he felt the need to clarify that Sebastian didn't 'belong' to him, but there he was.

"I see…" Undertaker asked them to sit. He himself remained standing, even though there was a seat facing the couch on which Ciel and Sebastian were sitting. "I take it you're asking for information. I usually have a fee, but this one time I'll let it slide, because this…" – he motioned at nothing in particular – "… is already interesting enough. Ask away, good child."

Good child. The boy barely held in a snort.

"You knew my father?" Ciel asked.

"And who told you that?"

"A man named Diedrich. Is that a problem?"

Undertaker chuckled. "Not at all. Diedrich thinks I'm a killer, though. It still makes me giggle to think about that…"

"My father," Ciel interrupted. "How well did you know him?"

"Oh I knew him," Undertaker said. His strange emphasis made Ciel frown, but he didn't dwell on it. "I've been working closely with Vincent for years. He was a remarkable man. And very greedy. He wanted everything and everyone." As if reminiscing on something, Undertaker guffawed. Ciel sent the man a look of dismay, but it seemed lost on him. "Surely you know that the crime rate dropped significantly in the last six years? That was because he wanted the underground. And he hauled the most important criminal into his boat and controlled it from thereon. Indirectly. But still."

"You make it sound like lowering the crime rate hadn't been in his intention," Ciel said.

That made Undertaker clutch his sides because he started laughing so hard he couldn't even stand upright. It took him three full minutes (Ciel had checked) to calm down again, and even then giggles were rippling through his body as he wiped away tears of mirth.

"Your father was a great man. But he was no good man. His friends loved him, and he revelled in it."

Ciel had almost expected that, to be honest. He forced himself not to think about that yet. Any feeling he had about that was shoved aside without much ado.

"And you are just going to say that out loud?"

Undertaker tilted his head to the side. "Why not?"

Ciel sighed. He was going to have to watch that man, wasn't he? If somebody else received that kind of information… "My father seems to have had a lot of charm."

"It was all he did, from morning to evening." Undertaker shrugged. "Charm people."

"That criminal you mentioned earlier," Ciel began, "who is he? I heard my father had a small group of close friends. Have you met that man?"

"Oh, yes."

They waited. Nothing followed.

"Would you tell us his name?" Ciel prodded further.

Undertaker blinked. "What? No. Why should I? He has a reputation to keep up. I cannot go around telling everyone his-…"

"It's Lau."

Both Ciel and Undertaker turned their heads to Sebastian. The demon seemed very sure of himself, and Ciel felt himself relax a little. Lau. He was sure he had heard it before. He would remember that name. Maybe it would help him in the future.

"It is…" Undertaker said slowly, clearly amused.

"He is not going to help us on our search," Sebastian said to Ciel. "I've sought him out already. He refused to help, but he seemed to know something."

"He always knows something," Undertaker piped up. "He's almost as good as I am."

"What makes you better than him?" Sebastian asked.

Undertaker shrugged. "The dead are very good at telling the truth. And I have seen many of them." He looked between them. "You are certainly no regular butler," he said to Sebastian. "What are you two looking for?"

"Who," Ciel corrected. "The murderer of my parents."

It was hard to read somebody's expression when half of their face was covered. "Is that so?" the grey-haired man croaked, sounding elated.

"I am coming to you with this because Diedrich said my father trusted you. I will trust you, too. Do not make me regret it." When Undertaker only smirked, Ciel went on: "We have a name, but nothing to track and no clue whatsoever about this person's future plans."

"You came to the right place," Undertaker said. "I can help you, but you have to give me a little bit more than that."

"He likes to go by the name Claude Faustus," Sebastian said.

This made Undertaker pause. "Claude Faustus, you say?"

Now that sounded promising. Ciel leaned forward in his seat a little. "Do you know him?"

"I've heard of him," Undertaker said vaguely. Ciel didn't have time for that kind of game.

"What do you know?"

The smile returned to the man's face. "Ah, I'm sure that nothing I know will help you any further with this case."

"But you know something," Ciel said. He gestured at Sebastian who caught on immediately. "Please don't make us do it the hard way."

"The hard way…?" Undertaker must be lifting an eyebrow now. "What if I enjoyed that?"

Ciel made a disgusted noise and Sebastian merely blinked. "But," Undertaker continued, holding up one hand, "I can tell you this: Going from your father, there is a certain kind of person that fits Claude's preferences. I do not know the man personally, nor do I wish to. Vincent told me enough about him."

Ciel was silent for a moment, letting the information sink in. Then he got up. "Thank you for your time."

"Thank you for coming," Undertaker replied, showing them to the door. Outside, Ciel rang Bard to come and pick them up. The pathologist had been a disappointment. He knew much more than he was letting on. Perhaps if Ciel visited him alone once again? And what the man had said about Vincent…

"The thought is obvious, which could be why it didn't occur to me earlier," Sebastian said, breaking Ciel out of his thoughts. "We just need to find someone like Vincent."

"Then let's start with all the business sharks out there," Ciel muttered darkly.

Sebastian either chose to ignore this or didn't know what to reply. "Undertaker said he was greedy. It wouldn't be wrong to describe Claude as the embodiment of greed. Of course he would look for people like your father."

"Vincent," Ciel interjected, looking at the floor.

"… Pardon?"

"Just…" Ciel gritted his teeth. "Just Vincent."

There was a moment of silence, in which Bard brought the car. Sebastian opened the door for the boy this time, but Ciel didn't really acknowledge it. When they were inside, Sebastian fumbled around until he found the button for the privacy screen.

"There are a few people we could investigate," Ciel finally said. He'd have to find somebody to do that for him. Vincent Phantomhive had also filled several notebooks on with cases and remarks about different people. Ciel had not seen the small pile since his father's death. Maybe Claude had taken them with him?

"We cannot wait for Claude to come to us, because he never would," Sebastian said. "For all we know, he could be in Seoul right now. Or New York City."

Ciel thought about that for a moment. "We cannot afford to wait for him to come to us, but we can wait for him to make a mistake."

That certainly seemed to get Sebastian's attention. "How do you plan on doing that?"

Ciel smirked. "You'll see."

Undertaker will always have at least one appeareance in my fics. I love writing that guy! On another note, don't forget your reviews! =D