Chapter 3

The metallic scent of blood only accentuated the foul death smell eminating from within the building. They had been too late - the girl was dead. The Ripper had been one step ahead of them once again. How? How could he have possibly known - unless? No, that was ridiculous. Lao wasn't as smart as this. But Lucile was was certain it was someone close to them, how else would The Ripper have known about them coming here? Suddenly the door groaned open. Perhaps the killer didn't know...
"C-Ciel?"
Lucile's body went numb at the sight that emerged from within. How? Why?
"Madame Red..." Ciel whispered, his voice breaking from shock.
"Well this was unexpected!" she flustered, "I was walking when I heard this terrifying shriek-"
"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Ciel demanded furiously. Lucile glanced down at him; his small frame was shuddering and his fists were balled tightly. In that moment she pittied him. Ciel Phantomhive - the boy who now had nothing. His parents had been ripped from him, his soul was the property of a monster and now the only family he had left was murdering people. Anger swelled in her heart - this wasn't fair!
Madame Red's smile dropped and she took a step forward, "Alright. You caught me...however..."
"Lucile." Ciel commanded. It was an order but he had to force himself to say it.
"Sir." Without another word she darted towards the woman. Inches from touching her, something hard connected with her side and sent her flying into the brick wall.

"No!"
Sebastian sighed softly as he heard Lucile's scream again. He reached out to knock on her door but thought better of it, not only would it be uncomfortable for him, but she would not welcome the sympathy from him. Lucile was stubborn like that, he knew that although they had an understanding she hated him. The thought made him neither happy nor sad, it was just how it was.
"...Why?" Lucile's voice was soft and fragile from the other side of the door, "How could she...?" Sebastian frowned as he listened to her questions; this was a side he didn't know existed. In his mind, the image of Lucile was that of a strong, beautiful woman with a terrible temper and a patronizing smile. But the voice she now spoke to the darkness with was none he'd heard her speak with before. She sounded like almost innocent and childlike.
"She was all he had left in the world..." Sebastian clenched his jaw and walked briskly away not wanting to hear anymore. Already his image of Lucile was beginning to obscure and morph into something else, it was enough to scare him.
Down below Pluto whined sadly as he did whenever Lucile would wake up screaming. The dog-man was a strange creature - despite the numerous times Lucile had rejected him, he still hated seeing her upset. Sebastian wondered whether they could communicate to each other some how since they were both part of the canine family, twisted as they were.
"Oh, Sebastian, you're up late." Bard commented as the demon butler entered the kitchen.
"Hmm? I'm always awake this time of night." Sebastian said not paying any mind to the chef.
"You hear it too, don't you?" Bard said quietly as Sebastian strode past him. He knew what Baldroy was referring to but ignored him for sake of the conversation he did not want to have. Yes, he was running away. Running from the truths that may be exposed before him, the thruths he wanted to deny and ignore. The thruths that looked him in the eye whenever she did.

Lucile stood in the study ignoring Lao's sexist comments with Sebastian by her side and Ciel in his chair. They were supposed to be discussing the case of Jack the Ripper, a subject neithe Ciel or Lucile wanted to talk about. Ciel's reason because his aunt, Madame Red and her butler Grell had been the Ripper. Lucile's reason however was less traumatic, simply because she didn't remember much of what happened. She remembered the order to restrain them, and being kicked into a wall, seeing Grell covered in red walk out of the shadows with a predatory grin and that was it. She'd woken up with the Undertaker looming over her.
"You must remember something, though." Lao pressured her, Lucile shook her head,
"I don't."
"Perhaps it's for the best that you don't remember." Sebastian said speaking for the first time that day. Both Lucile and Lao looked at him curiously, she knew he knew what happened but when she'd asked him about it he had refused to tell her anything.
"Why can't you just tell me?!" she begged him again, she didn't care how it looked, she had to know. Sebastian shook his head,
"No. You have to remember it on your own." he said simply. Anger boiled deep within her as she cursed him with her eyes; if he hadn't been forsworn by God already she would have made it abundantly clear that he was a demon in a man's flesh. However, Sebastian was a demon thus making any kind of insult or treat Lucile could come up with at that specific point in time useless. Huffing in annoyance she stormed out of the office seeking the only person in the entire damnable house who didn't make her life a living hell.
She found Bard staring comically at a leg of ham awaiting glazing, his head cocked to the side in a confused mannor.
"Curse that man to the depths of Hell!" Lucile growled making the chef jump.
"Jeez, could you warn me the next time you're about to do that? I swear my heart just stopped beating." Bard said as he tapped his chest making sure his heart was still beating. Lucile muttered under her breath and picked up a butcher knife; that smell was on its way and she did not have the patience to speak to him. As the door to the kitchen began to creak open, she hurled the knife. It sank into the door with a thud,
"By all means come in if you want to die!" she yelled at him. The answer came in the form of a heavy sigh and the door closed once more. Lucile sank into a nearby chair and glared furiously at the wall.
"Fighting with Sebastian again?" Bard asked bringing a cup of tea over to her. Lucile huffed,
"It seems that devil takes a great deal of enjoyment out of making me mad these days." she replied. Bard gave her a look, a look she hated because he knew that she didn't mean any harsh words towards him.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you two loved each other." he said then added after wilting under the hateful look Lucile gave him, "Good thing I know better!"
"Indeed." she replied.
"But you know..." he continued, "It may not seem like it since he's so strict and all, but I think he really does care about us in his own way..." Lucile snorted,
"The only thing that man cares about is himself." she replied sipping her tea. Bard shrugged and headed back over to his ham,
"Be that as it may, he's always there when you wake up screaming..."

"Lucile!" Ciel cried furiously as Lucile coughed. She wanted to tell him she was okay, but impact had left her winded and wheezing. 'Where in God's name did that kick come from?' she thought just as a figure emerged from the darkness of the crime scene. He was dressed in black pants, a white long sleeved shirt with a brown vest over the top. She thought that perhaps it was Grell, but this Grell had long crimson hair and sharp shark-like teeth.
"I never did like that bitch of a woman." he sang, "Ha ha, I made a joke!" Madame Red giggled at the terrible pun,
"Oh you're so very funny, my love." she said. Lucile gritted her teeth and slowly stood,
"You bastards..." she coughed making them look at her, Grell's grin dropped instantly,
"Why won't you just die?" he asked. To that Lucile smirked,
"Did you really think a kick that weak would kill me?" Using the wall as support, she glanced over to where Ciel was still standing staring wide-eyed at her.
"My dear," Grell said suddenly, "I'll deal with her, you kill the boy." His movements were too fast for Lucile to follow and it was far too late to react when she saw the great chainsaw hurtling towards her head. 'This is it. This is how I'm going to die. No miraculous escape, no magnificent battle - just a chainsaw to the head after a lame insult. Typical Lucile.' she thought bitterly to herself as she clenched her eyes shut and waited for the impact. The impact that never came...

"Why don't you just tell her?" Baldroy asked as Lucile's scream echoed through Sebastian's ears.
"And tell her what? That I saved her life, and then she went into a frenzy and attacked everything before I knocked her out? I'm sure she'd love hearing that from me..." he replied sarcastically, "No. She has to remember it by herself."
"Why did you do all that for her anyway? You don't even like her..." Bard's cool blue eyes pierced Sebastian's crimson accusingly. He knew what the cook was getting at; why save the life of a person you claim to hate, unless you don't actually hate them? The truth was Sebastian had no idea why he'd stopped Grell's Death Scyth from ripping Lucile to shreds, but he had. His body had moved on it's own, fueled on by fury.
'You!' Grell had cried in betrayal as Sebastian took the blow from the chainsaw in his shoulder,
'Why?' Lucile cried feebly behind him. Sebastian glowered at the Shinigami,
'Why?' he echoed, 'Because I am the only one allowed to hurt Lucile Conte, and I will kill anyone else who tries.'
Yes, he'd said those words without knowing what they really meant and it wasn't until a few days later that he realized. It wasn't out of annoyance that someone else was playing with his toy, he wasn't petulant like that, it was because he simply hated that fact the someone else was touching her, hurting her and making her scream, someone who wasn't Sebastian.
"Why indeed." Sebastian replied cryptically, "However if you're insinuating that I have romantic feelings for our Lucile, you're terribly mistaken."
"Insinu-what? Tsk, doesn't matter. I may be an idiot about some things, but I understand human emotions better than most. I see how she looks at you, how she acts around you. She hasn't realized it yet, but she loves you. Why though I have no idea, er no offence, but I have to do what I can to change her mind."
"You are an idiot." Sebastian said dismissively. Humans, why did they enjoy making fantasies up out of small insignificant things. The sole reason why Lucile acted differently around him was because she knew what he was, and he knew her little secret. They had one thing incommon, that did not mean she...Sebastian shuddered, he couldn't even think about the possibility of Bard's accusation without feeling sick.
Sebastian frowned as Pluto started whining more so than usual - something was wrong. Without a word to Baldroy, Sebastian stood abruptly and went to the window where he saw the fading shadow of a wolf running towards the town.

"I knew you'd come to me sooner or later." he said from the shadows as Lucile returned to her human form. With lightening speed she had pinned the creepy man against the wall, her hand tight around his throat.
"Violent little She-wolf, aren't you? I admit, it excites me." the Undertaker grinned manically. Lucile's hand tightened around his throat,
"Tell me what I want to know and I won't kill you." she growled. The gray man laughed,
"Kill me? Now there's a curious thing - can you kill death, Pretty Wolf?" Lucile frowned,
"Kill death; you're crazy old man." She spat, again he laughed,
"Old you say, old? I am offended." Lucile growled, she wasn't getting anywhere with this lunatic. Glowering at him she pressed herself closer to whisper in his ear,
"To answer your question, I don't know if I can kill death but I'm willing to give it a shot." She felt him smile against her shoulder,
"I like you, Lucile Conte." he whispered huskily making her stomach drop, "You're different from the others, violent, angry; you're like a storm brewing in the distance waiting for that one push to send you over the edge." Something as soft as a shadow snaked across her lower back and down her thighs,
"You're so absorbed in your fury that you don't seem to realize you're naked..." his lips brushed against the crook of her neck as he spoke. Instantly Lucile leapt backwards and desperately covered herself with her hands. The Undertaker laughed again,
"Did you think I was trying something?" he asked curiously moving to take a seat she didn't notice was there until he sat. Lucile frowned and looked down, her body was covered in a black shadow-like cloth.
"You're very beautiful but I fear I would actually die if I were to take advantage of you." he grinned, "If not by your hand than by that bastard's."
"What are you talking about?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest,
"Nothing, nothing. You wanted to talk to me, come sit and talk."
Hesitantly Lucile made her way over to the offered seat and sat down, all the conviction and anger she had before was gone and she was left feeling vulnrable and very feminine.
"You wish to know what happened that night you lost your memories, correct?" he asked, Lucile nodded meekly, "Tell me, girl, how did you get that seal on your neck?"
"I've had it since I was a child - it's the Mark of the Moon, the Lycan seal. A Lycan can't breed with another Lycan and produce a healthy child, and so during the Blood Moon the females breed with a human male of her choice, and vise versa, producing a human child compatable with Lycan genetics. At seven they're bitten and are reborn into the pack. A seal forms where they were bitten and serves as a sign of which pack they belong to." she told him.
"May I see it?" he asked standing and walking behind her, Lucile nodded and he brushed her hair over her shoulder. She listened quietly to his accelorated heartbeat as his finger traced the outside cross in towards the shield, around the full moon and each individul vine that surrounded the monkshood in the centre.
"I haven't seen this mark in a very long time..." he whispered in awe. Lucile lowered her eyes, strangely enjoying the feeling of his fingers dancing over the seal.
"This is the mark of the Aconitum pack, named so because of the herb that goes by many names - aconite, blue rocket, devil's helment, monkshood...wolfsbane." The Undertaker gushed, "The Queen of Poisons."
"I am aware of my pack's name...and that I am the last. I'm reminded of that fact every day." Lucile said swatting the Undertaker's hand away from her, "I'm not here to talk about my past."
"But your past is linked to the answers you want to know. The Aconitum Pack was quite famous in it's day as one of the largest packs, and often reffered to as the first. Lycan royalty if you will. The Alpha male, Marius, was the strongest Lycan in history. He had the strength of the Gods, or so they said. What most don't know was that his children inherited this power, the power to become stronger than anything on this earth for a period of time. However, like all power there was a weakness, that weakness was the user could not control himself. He would not be able to tell friend from foe until the time was up or someone managed to stop him."
"You're saying I'm the decendant of Marius because I bare the Aconitum seal? Ridiculous." Lucile scoffed dismissively.
"Is it." he replied mysteriously, "Tell me about your parents."
"I-I don't know anything. I was left at the steps of Phantomhive Manor when I was a baby with nothing but a letter stating who I was." she admitted. The only thing she knew about her past was that she bore the seal of Aconitum and she was the last, everything else she had had to research.
"Think about it. Lycan's cannot birth healthy Lycan babes, thus they breed with humans and turn their children at age seven. You bore that mark since birth." he urged.
"That's impossible." she argued. The Undertaker began twirling around the room like a madman,
"Wrong!" he sang, "It is possible. On one night in every centurary there comes a very special moon, your kind call it the God's Moon. On that night, one full blooded Lycan child can be born of two Lycan mates."
"That's...that's not...It can't be!"
"However," he stopped dancing and became deadly serious, "the birth results in the death of both parents. Because wolves mate for life. I cannot tell you what became of the remaining memebers of your pack, but I can tell you that you, Lucile Conte, are the only decendant of Marius Wolfsblood and the cause of your lost memory was due to that power that flowed through his blood and now flows through yours. You are the key."
"The key? Key to wh-"
"So this is where you ran off to."
"Sebastian?"