Our carriage pulls up outside the Kensington townhouse estate belonging to the Viscount Druitt. I sit inside for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts – this was it, I was going to do this, collect my first soul.

Sebastian looks over at me, his face covered in an elaborate mask. It has a large plume of black feathers on one side and a beak at the front. He opted to stay in his butler's uniform - save for a corsage of dark purple roses and black raven feathers – to match his mask, I suppose.

A wry smile is on his lips as he passes me my mask, an ornate gold Venetian facemask with several white and blue roses along the side. It matches my outfit, a long military styled dark navy blue wool coat with gold trimmings and buttons; it is so overflowing with fabric that it actually resembles a dress, much to my chagrin. I wear my usual shorts and matching waistcoat with a white blouse completely covered in frilly ruffles. The one thing I like the most about this costume is the tri corner hat that Nina has designed to match – it has the same black-feathered plumage as Sebastians' mask and a white and navy blue bow.

I tie the mask behind my head and I look over to him.

"Are you ready?" He asks me, that was a loaded question. I think I am but how can one ever be truly sure?

"I am as ready as I am ever going to be." I state – well, at least that much is true.

"Just remember what I taught you and you will be fine." He reinforces.

What he taught me, hm, the words were still fresh in my mind.

"Do not go for the weakest person. It may seem to be the easier option but that's not how we hunt. The more enticing the prey – the more delicious their soul." Sebastian advises me. It was our first lesson in seduction – or rather, how to use seduction in order to track our kill.

I was more than uncomfortable with the subject matter but I did need to know this to survive. I was more determined than ever to get this down so that I may be able to stand on my own. At this point, I was ready – I could start to feel my humanity finally slipping away, although there were some lingering inclinations left over which, according to Sebastian, was only natural. I wanted them to leave me; I wanted to have control over myself again. These remnants of my past only hinder me and I want them gone – this now includes Sebastian.

He continues to torment and punish me on a daily basis – hating me for being a demon – now I want him to go. If that's what he also wants, then he should leave. I think about this as he is trying to instruct me on what to do, I am sat at my desk, watching him as he paces back and forth in front of me, reeling off protocol like he invented it – he's wearing his reading glasses to mark the fact that he's a serious lecturer. Where did he get that concept from, I wonder, as I notice that he's been doing this since he became my butler. He doesn't need his glasses, I don't need my eye patch – I guess it's just one of those things we continue to do to make ourselves feel we are grounded in something normal, whatever that means anymore.

"Make eye contact, hold their gaze and draw them in. Make them feel like they are the only person in the room. Why is this important?"

I groan aloud and place my face flat down on the desk.

"I don't know."

He places his hands down on both sides of my face and bends over.

"I need you to learn this, my lord, how are you ever going to survive if you don't?"

I sit up and make eye contact with him, "Fine. This is important because this is how we lure them into a false sense of security before we attack." Like a spiders' web – those words came crashing into my thoughts, I shake them off as they weren't mine but there they were, in my head.

Sebastian nods, seemingly happy with my response. "Compliment them, not anything too trite but be sweet and kind. The key to this is to make them feel special, like you understand them."

"Why's that?"

"Because my lord, when you can get them to feel like you care, they become more willing. If they are more willing then it's easier to entice and to overpower. Soon you won't need to even think about it. It'll come as naturally to you as it does me and you can attract anyone to you. We can trap anyone with a look, a touch or words, if we have to. We can subvert them and make them ours without even bothering with a contract."

"If you don't need a contract to get a soul, then why did you make one with me?"

"Because, I was bored of sampling the worthless cuisine around and I wanted something I could really sink my teeth into." His eyes narrow as he looks at me, I can feel them burning holes straight into my head. "I worked to make your soul the most desirable it could possibly be." He bends over the desk, his face right in front of mine as he locks eyes with me. Reaching over, he delicately touches my cheek.

"I wanted to make a contract with you because your soul was so sinister, so tainted, it was going to be such a euphoric high, like the very best glass of Absinthe with the perfect cloudy louche – I worked so hard to cultivate you, exact your orders and let you smell the blood of those who wished to harm you – most of all, I could not wait to kill you." He growls. I can't help but shudder under his touch – he has never actually told me how much he wanted to take my soul before now, I don't know why I'm nervous but I now realize where the hatred over my existence may come from.

I decide that it is time to leave the carriage. Sebastian drapes a long black woolen cloak over his shoulders as he gets out first. He slings it partly open, smoothing one side over his shoulder, revealing his corsage pinned to his chest.

He holds his hand out for me and I accept it, walking down the steps of the carriage and down to the ground. He leads me into the front as if I'm some kind of dainty doll but I find amusement in this, I don't know what he was trying to do but I found it humorous enough.

Entering the house, I instantly see the Viscount has exquisite taste – everything is white, white marble columns and floors, white wooden walls and large white roses and lilies in white porcelain vases. Everything looks clean and opulent.

Leading me into the main reception, Sebastian and I see the room is flooded with party revelers, all clad in the most fantastic masks I have ever seen. This was my first Masquerade and I am already enjoying it – I love the anonymity of it all, I could be a demon here and no one would know the difference, in fact, there were many here with red and black faced 'demon' masks on – if only they knew the actual truth.

Sebastian and I stand to the side and watch everyone enjoying themselves. The purpose of being here is that I need to hunt and seduce my own prey – but I need to find someone worthy of my efforts. So far, there wasn't anything I was interested in at all.

My sense of smell is extraordinarily heightened; I am trying to sniff out the very best soul that so that I can trial my newly acquired skills. No one here seems to hold any worth, just the run of the mill – I don't know what I was hoping for? Someone like me, perhaps? I want to taste what Sebastian has desired all of this time – maybe I am being too hopeful?

"My lord…" Sebastian pulls me aside and behind a pillar, standing right in front of me, he holds me close, blocking me.

"Sebastian, what on Earth are you doing?"

"Lady Elizabeth is here." He states. I start to become nervous, Lizzie will blow everything for me but still, I haven't seen her in weeks. I push Sebastian off of me and move him aside. I peer around the pillar to get a better look at her.

She is unmistakable, her golden blond ringlet curls are bundled up into two neat pigtails and her signature cowlick falls over her masked face. She is beautiful in her favorite pink dress that she only wears during parties. She looks miserable as she stands speaking to Paula, her ditzy but meaningful maid.

"Should we go?" Sebastian questions me from behind; I can't help but just stare at her.

"No."

"What do you want to do?"

"I think – I think that if I am to have my first kiss with anyone, I want it to be with her." I couldn't be more matter of fact.

I hear Sebastian chuckle behind me, he's jibing me – I know it.

"My, I wouldn't have expected such sentimentality from you."

"Shut up." I bark.

I have been avoiding Elizabeth since I turned; her overwhelming desire to do anything to please me would feed directly into my desire to devour her. As much as I pity Sebastian for having to be stuck with me, for the time being at least, I hold such sorrow in my heart for Elizabeth – a feeling that won't last long, I know but it's there nonetheless.

She still clings on to the past me, the physical me that had died even before my psychological self did. She knew me when I was just a small child, a little sickly slip of a thing but no matter what, I was happy. I remember being happy. She remembers me being happy.

It must be hard for her, when I returned I was callous and I was cold to everyone around and especially to her. I was only focused on exacting my revenge on those who wished to shame my family name, and me. I wasn't the same and she knew it. She tried her hardest for me; everything she did was to make me smile, to make me happy – to make me the way that I was when she remembered me. That was her first mistake, she tried to change me back to whom I once was – whom I could never be again.

That was also my first mistake, I never told her what I had been through, what I had seen – I indulged her attempts when I should have told her the truth. Perhaps she would have left; maybe even run, but I doubt it.

I know that even if I told Elizabeth everything, she would have just held my hand and smiled; she would have tried her hardest to understand and would have done her very best to assure me that everything was going be all right and that I was safe now. I know that that's what she would have done, had I have given her the opportunity but I didn't.

I thought that I was protecting her but now I realize that I was in fact protecting myself. I couldn't bear to harm her or to make her sad – I could never be the boy she once knew, grew up with and came to love, despite all of her efforts. I couldn't bear to break her heart like that, maybe it was sentimentality as Sebastian had put it but it was a feeling that I have held onto since my return. I loved her, in my own way and I knew that she loved me.

"This is the last thing I can do for her, the last gift I could give her." I reason aloud. I start to walk over towards her, I can smell Sebastian following behind me, I wish he wouldn't but I know he doesn't want me to do anything reckless. She is still talking to Paula, and she looks seemingly sad for some reason, after all, she was at a party – something Lizzie loves.

"My lady, would you care to dance?" I ask, bowing slightly in front of her and holding out my hand.

"No thank you." Her voice is distant and sad.

"Please forgive my mistress Sir; she has been all out of sorts these last few weeks." Her brown haired maid tries to explain to me. Doesn't she recognize me? Of course not, I'm wearing a mask. Straightening myself out again, I move closer to Elizabeth and think about what Sebastian had taught me. I smile and hold her gaze.

"Apologies my lady, I could see that you looked sad but I only wished to share a dance with the most beautiful woman in the room, again, my apologies." I reach out and lightly stroke her cheek as I try to pour on the charm; I'm not very good at this but Lizzies' eyes light up – seriously, this is working? I can see her skin flush and her eyes look away coquettishly – all good signs.

I extend my hand again, "My lady, if you will please indulge me?" She curtsies and takes my hand as I lead her out into the dance floor. I slip my left hand around her corseted waist and grip her left with my right as we begin to dance. A waltz, it is appropriate. Elizabeth is studying my eyes, they must be blue for the moment, and I know she wants to ask me something but she keeps biting her lower lip to stifle it. As we turn I glance over to see Sebastian, leaning against a marble column, watching me with an amused smile on his face.

"There's something – um, familiar about you." So she has decided to ask, "Have we met before? Do I know you?"

I smile, "One question at a time Lizzie."

She stops.

She breaks away from me, studying my eyes and the smile on my face – now she knows who I am. Lunging towards me she throws her arms around my neck, squeezing me tightly.

"Ciel! Ciel I've missed you so!" She squeals, and I don't fight her off, as I normally would do; I just let her embrace me. I can smell her skin, salty but sweet like salt-water taffy from Brighton beach, I will miss you Lizzie. Letting me go, she looks at me again. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you wearing your eye patch?"

I don't have an answer for that, not a pre-prepared fake one anyway. Instead, I take her by the hand and lead her out through the ballroom and into the immaculate courtyard.

There are grey marble benches on the side next to the oval manicured trees. I bring her over to one and sit her down. I can hear her heart thumping loudly in her chest. She is nervous, although I don't know why. Sitting down next to her, I take her hand as we look up at the moon, large and full, bursting at the seams. We sit like this for a moment and then I release her hand, taking both of mine behind my head I unravel the knot from the strings of my mask and take it off.

"Were you sad because of me?" I wonder aloud to myself, she looks over at me, she has heard.

"You have been so distant lately and Sebastian wouldn't even let me see you."

"I wasn't really feeling all that well." I lied; her face went from worry to joy in a matter of seconds.

"Well, you're here now and you look well – that's all that matters." Her smile is like a beacon of light, I suppose now is as good as any to attempt my first kiss.

I scoot over closer to her, I can hear her heart pounding ferociously as I hesitate, what should I do, should I lean forward, take her face into my hands, God, I hate this. I decide that the best option is to just turn to her, which I do. Her eyes are as big and as bright as the moon; I reach over behind her head and tug at the ribbon that attaches her mask to her face. Unraveling it, I draw it down, sitting it on my lap. She looks at me with a mixture of such joy and sadness in her vivid green eyes, I can see the tears starting to form.

"Don't cry please Lizzie." I try to soothe, I don't understand where this is coming from.

"I'm sorry Ciel, it's just that – this is perfect. I missed you so much and here you are." She wept softly, her tears starting to roll off of her cheeks. I gingerly place my hand on the side of her face and use my thumb to wipe the fresh tears away. I know eventually I was going to have to hurt her, I just didn't expect it to be in this way. I as I stroke her cheek, I realize that this will have to be the last time she ever sees me – it would be much too hard on her otherwise. She watches me study her face and she places her hand onto my wrist as I sit frozen, memorizing each freckle and each feature - trying to take it all in.

"Ciel?"

I don't know what comes over me but I lean over and I kiss her full lips. She breathes out into me as I move my hand from her face to the back of her head, bringing her closer into me. My tongue starts to take on a life of its own as it breaks the seal of her lips and enters her mouth. She struggles a little but then subsides as I search deep within her – ah, there it is – this taste, this sweetness that I find within her. I pull her into me tightly, using my other hand to wrap around her tiny waist – she tastes delicious, like all of my favorite desserts. I can't help myself as I start to devour her from the inside, drawing out her essence, sucking it from the very depth of her - she is heady and addictive. I start to feel her body go limp in my arms but I just cannot stop.

"Young Master, stop." Sebastians' voice is firm as he snatches Lizzies' wilted body from my grip. I can feel my eyes have switched over to the demonic ones as I glare at him angrily.

"You interrupted me." I snarl at him, I couldn't help it.

"You were about to kill her."

"Isn't that the point?"

"Ciel, I cannot let you kill her." His tone is strict as he gathers her in his arms, and starts to walk back into the house, I watch him as he goes trying to calm down my bloodlust. What was that? It was intoxicating. Standing to my feet, I dust off the folds of my suit coat; I place my mask back over my face and tie it. Collecting Lizzies' mask I quickly follow Sebastian in.

Finding an empty room wasn't actually a problem in this grand townhouse as I soon found out. Sebastian had darted into one rather quickly and I closed the door behind us. He delicately laid Lizzie out on top of the bed as gently as he would do a china doll, to which she did at that moment, in fact, resemble.

Then it hit me – Lizzie!

"What have I done?" I gasp as I rush to her side, leaning over her, I check to see if she's still breathing, she is – good, I haven't killed her. "Sebastian, will she be all right?" I am more than worried about her.

He places his hand on my shoulder as I stand over her, watching her chest rise and fall.

"She will be very confused when she wakes but she will be fine."

"You stopped me just in time." I sigh, then it dawns on me, I whip around to face him, "What took you so long, why did you let me do that to her!"

"I wanted to see how far you would go – if you could do it."

"You knew? You knew I would do this to her?" I spit as I throw myself on top of Lizzies' lifeless body. I would cry but for some reason I can't, there are no tears forming in my ducts but I do know that I am upset, Sebastian used her as bait, another way to torment me – hasn't he had enough?

Sebastian comes over to me and pulls me off of her, I kick and fight but he has many years on me so my efforts go unnoticed. "I could have killed her!"

"I would not have let you do that." He finally speaks as he puts me down on a nearby chair.

"When will you stop punishing me?"

"My lord?"

"I didn't want this, to be a demon; I wanted you to take my soul – I wanted to die – why are you punishing me for my existence?" I cave in. He has been tormenting me all along and for what? To get back at me over something I had no control over?

Sebastian kneels down in front of me, taking my face into his large hands.

"I am not punishing you Ciel, I am trying to teach you – isn't that what you ordered of me?" His voice is measured and calm as he speaks.

"What are you trying to teach me?"

"Soon, perhaps sooner than you realize, you will start to lose whatever is left of your humanity. These feelings you have now will be nothing but a distant memory that you will never reflect back on. Why are we here? We're here to hunt and to capture your prey, not to play happy families. She is the last thing that holds you back in this world and you have to let her go."

I know that Sebastian is right; I am starting to shed my former self faster than I would want to but - but to use Lizzie as bait to see how far I would go? I give up and stand to my feet, I side step Sebastian and walk over to Lizzie. She looks like a sleeping princess from one of the fairy tale stories Madam Red would read to us as children. I have nothing else for her, nothing to offer – I didn't want this to be the last thing she sees of me but at least I can go without a fuss.

"Good bye, Lizzie." Leaning over, I place my lips onto hers and then I stand again, regarding her kind, innocent beauty. I truly did love her, in my own way.

Walking past Sebastian, who holds the door open for me, I know that this will be the last time I see Elizabeth but I will always remember her, even if I lose every ounce of myself and become the demon I'm surely meant to be. I will remember you, Lizzie.

Walking back into the party, I can feel my annoyance and anger towards Sebastian start to wane. I don't know why but I feel lighter, cheerful and excited. Was this the thrill of the hunt.

Sebastian follows behind me as we weave in and out of the mingling crowds to find a good vantage point. I know what I am looking for, someone dark with a past I could exploit – after tasting the sweetness of Lizzie, I now hungered for something more dense and savory. Walking and scouring, I stop dead as I see her, causing Sebastian to nearly crash into me.

She is a little taller than I, long jet black hair with a bow on her head band, skin so white it looks like freshly fallen snow, full ruby red lips that never smile and crisp blue eyes with a withdrawn far away look. She wears a superb ebony ball gown with little pearl embellishments along the seams and the sleeves - her dress is so becoming, it compliments her dark features flawlessly. I have never seen anyone so beautiful in my whole life.

She is standing by a column looking more than a little disinterested in the conversation she is a part of. She glances over to me, as if she could sense me watching her – she bats her eyelashes as she smiles faintly, and then she turns away. Was she summoning me? Teasing me?

"Her dress is so cute." I mutter and instantly furrow my brow at that ridiculous remark. Why would I say that? Perhaps it was just nerves, even though I am the stronger being, looking at this girl makes me nervous.

"My Lord?"

"I chose her - I want her." I whisper over my shoulder to Sebastian.

"Excellent choice master, I can smell her from here – intoxicating, isn't she?"

I don't bother to respond as I push people aside to get to her. I could smell her too, it was prevailing and exhilarating – it drew me to her like a pull from the chest. She's perfect; she looks as desperate and as sullen as me.

I approach her and press my back against the pillar, waiting for her to finish her conversation, not wishing to interrupt, as I want her full attention. I listen to her melodic voice, it's deep for a person her age – I can tell there was a darkness lurking behind it. Sebastian stood a distance away from me, watching me – I must be a sight, I am just simply enjoying listening to her speak. His eyes narrow on me, as I glance over at him – what was his problem? Was I doing something wrong?

No matter, I bow my head slightly and close my eyes in an effort to listen to her better but she seems to have stopped. Has she departed? No, I can still smell her pungent soul near me. Suddenly, I can feel a soft touch on the palm of my hands and I look over, there she is, leaning against the column and pulling me. I follow her as she leads me out into the hall.

"I've been watching you." She starts.

"Have you?" I titter.

She nods curtly and looks around, "Where's your little blond friend?"

"She wasn't to my taste." I smile, looking straight into her eyes – holding her gaze as instructed. She comes closer to me, I have a better opportunity to breathe her in, my mouth waters - if Lizzie was an appetizer, then this is the main course and dessert.

"What is to your taste then?" She seems to be seducing me; which is a wonderful change of pace to what Sebastian had taught me – I think I will just follow her lead.

"I think you would be more suited to my palate." I let the words roll off of my tongue, languid and purring. I can see her breath hitch in her chest as I move closer to her. "What's your name?" I ask her, pulling her over to the wall and leaning against her, my normally small figure would typically be no match of anyone but I was different now, stronger and more powerful. I nuzzle her throat as I inhale her decadence. I can feel her heart beating into my chest as I stand so close to her – I hold back my overwhelming desire to tear her apart and demolish her soul right here and now.

"My name is Alice, Alice du Bois – what's yours?" Her voice is like velvet as her breath brushes the fine hairs on my neck and falls over my shoulders.

"My name is of no consequence." I smile at her as I move away from her abruptly, what I want to do I know I can't do here. I take her hand and tighten my grip around it as I playfully drag her along the corridor and back outside to the moonlit courtyard.

She giggles as though she thinks that this was nothing more than a game – well it is to me Alice, and it's one I will win.