Lucile forced herself to stare at the bodies hanging off the rafters in the street. The stench of death and feces made her stomach roll like the ocean during a storm. What kind of animal could do such a thing? Normally she wouldn't have such a weak stomach, but seeing Lash bleeding to death had made seeing gore traumatic. And this case was particularly bad.
"Come on, move back! Move back!" a police officer ordered as she shoved Lucile's shoulder, not realizing who she was.
"Hey!" she yelled at him furiously. The policeman half turned back to give her a bored look, but upon seeing her glowering at him and Ciel's less than impressed expression, he straightened and looked more awake.
"Apologies, missus, my Lord." he said quickly before resuming his job, getting as far away from the angry Lycan woman as possible.
"Ugh, this is why I despise being amongst the unwashed masses." Ciel muttered under his breath as he strode forward towards the commissioner, Arthur Randall.
"...And from that we can easily assume...Oh, of course you're here." the commissioner grumbled as he caught sight of Ciel. Truthfully, neither party liked each other although they were forced to work side by side to accomplish their goals and bring evil-doers to justice.
"I didn't know we were allowing children to work for us." commented a man with a mess of auburn hair and a thin mustache. Lucile had seen him a few times, they'd spoken once during the Jack the Ripper murders. His name was Fred Abberline; a fairly plain and uninteresting man, however his desire for justice made up for it.
"Abberline." Randall chastised harshly as Ciel snatched the documents out of Fred's hands. Lucile lowered her head to hide the small smirk spreading on her lips, she didn't really like people like him.
"It seems as though you aren't making much headway with this case, Commissioner." Ciel mused mischievously making the elder mutter something under his breath and glare darkly at Fred Abberline, who wilted under the heat.
"I have no intention of turning this situation over to you, Earl." Randall announced earning a smirk from Ciel. Sebastian handed the Commissioner a sealed roll of parchment, orders from the Queen no doubt. Lucile left the boys to talk and went over to where the other policemen were getting the bodies down.
"Miss, you can't be here." one particular officer told her, but after a cold glare from Lucile, he quickly backed down. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. All kinds of different scents wafted over her, decay from the bodies, horses, humans and pie a bakehouse down the road. She analyzed each scent, layer upon layer until she found something suspicious. Cloves and a mix of spices, though they were all ones she could recognize. The scent led away from the crime scene and towards East End. Who ever killed those poor people, and the ones before them were down there somewhere.
"Picked up the scent have you?" Ciel asked as he and Sebastian joined her. Lucile nodded once, keeping her gaze in the direction of the murderer.
"Fetch." Ciel ordered. Lucile ignored the dog comment and set off towards their culprit, Sebastian and Ciel in tow. They hadn't been walking long when a man in dirty clothes ran into Ciel, knocking him back into Sebastian's arms. The man fell dramatically to the ground and cried out in pain.
"What on Earth?" Lucile muttered as she turned back to her master.
"You saw! You saw how he ran into me!" the man was yelling to the people who had gathered around them, "He did it on purpose!" Lucile shoved past two larger men who had blocked her view of Ciel, and stood between her master and the man on the ground.
"You ran into him." she said darkly which only stirred more harsh remarks from the foreigners.
"Get the boy!" someone yelled earning a chorus of cheers. Lucile crouched low, "Touch him and you die."
"Sebastian, take care of this quickly." Ciel ordered the demon.
"Understood." Sebastian replied as he cracked his knuckles and pulled his gloves tighter. Lucile stood up and stepped back towards Ciel, leaving Sebastian to take care of the thugs.
"All the Indians around here have a grudge against you English." one of them growled as he grabbed Ciel by the collar of his coat, pulling a knife as he went. Lucile moved to attack, but Sebastian was faster, simply flicking the man in the forehead. However small the move, when delivered by a demon, it was powerful enough to knock him down. Lucile smirked down at the man and kicked his blade away from him.
"I told you not to touch him." Lucile growled, startling the man, "You're lucky it was him who hit you and not me."
"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked their young master. The Indian thug Sebastian had flicked scrambled to his feet, muttering out insults as he went.
"I'm fine." Ciel replied as his readjusted his top hat.
"After dragging us all the way out here, you just threw us out like junk." the man yelled pulling another knife from inside his dirty shawl.
"You raped and looted our country!" another joined in before the first man continued, "Now it's your turn to taste the humiliation of being pillaged!"
"Wait!" a new voice ordered just as the thug raised his knife in anger. To her surprise, the man did, in fact, stop what he was doing as the new speaker continued, "We're looking for someone, have you seen this person?" Lucile looked past several men and saw a finely dressed Indian youth and his rather imposing bodyguard walking towards them. The boy was holding a piece of paper with what looked to be a sketch, albeit a badly drawn one. Still, he drew the attention of the knife wielding brute away from Ciel which was something Lucile was completely fine with.
"What do you want, you bastard? Don't interrupt me!" the man hissed though the boy seemed unfazed by the rudeness. He simply continued on through the crowd, a smile gracing his dark skin.
"Are you having a duel or something?" he asked curiously. Lucile raised an eyebrow at this strange newcomer, but as he approached she noticed the smell of cloves and certain spices. Her jaw clenched, one of them was behind the murders. But which one? The boy finally noticed Ciel,
"Are you an English noble?" he asked. Ciel's expression hardened instantly,
"And if I am?" he asked back. Suddenly, the boy's smile dropped and he became serious. The dramatic shift in his moods only made Lucile more wary of him.
"In that case," he said lowering his drawing, "I will side with my countrymen in this quarrel. Agni."
"Yes?" the mysteriously silent man who Lucile had guessed was this boy's bodyguard responded.
"Defeat them." the boy ordered. Lucile instantly stood in front of Ciel, taking her place as his shield while Sebastian would be his sword. The bodyguard, Agni, said something Lucile didn't understand and began walking towards them, unwrapping the bandage around his right hand.
"My right hand, blessed by God, shall be wielded for my master." he said dramatically. Lucile scoffed, I hope your God truly has blessed your hand, fool. You're up against a demon now. she thought bitterly.
"Sebastian!" Lucile called as she sensed Agni's next move, however the butler had also anticipated it. Agni ran forward with a speed she hadn't expected him to have; she dove out of the way just in time while Sebastian took hold of Ciel and leaped backwards. Lucile got to her feet but all she could do was watch the exchange between Sebastian and Agni. She couldn't believe it, this foreigner had Sebastian on the defensive - a demon who could take out a Shinigami. Suddenly, Agni moved several steps back and took a new stance.
"I've hit your vital points several times now. You should already be paralyzed, how can you still move?" he queried, confusion was evident in his voice, yet his face remained stern.
"Hey! We were just passing through here." Ciel spoke up drawing attention away from Sebastian's unhumanlike behavior, "Are all Indians barbarians who discriminate with no distinction?"
"What?" the Indian youth asked, seeming genuinely surprised by Ciel's claim, "You people, did you attack that little one over there for no reason?" Suddenly the men surrounding them paled, none of them wanted to be on the receiving end of Agni's fist. Lucile didn't blame them, after all he was something else entirely. The youth's face changed again as he folded his arms over his chest, "That is not right. This time, my countrymen are at fault. Agni, take the little one's side." Again Agni spoke the words Lucile didn't know and suddenly he began attacking the other Indian men. Lucile drifted over to stand with her Master, but her eyes never left the strange bodyguard. Both of these men were very suspicious. It was obvious that this Agni could kill someone, especially with that odd right hand, however the boy and his mood swings weren't completely off the hook considering Agni didn't seem to move without first recieving an order from the boy. In a flash the crowd that had surrounded them were unconscious on the ground leaving Ciel stunned.
"It's taken care of, Prince Soma." Agni said once the debacle was over. Lucile narrowed her eyes at both of them and then realized what he'd said. Prince Soma...was this boy really a prince?
"Good." the boy said as he bent to retrieve Ciel's lost top hat, "Well then, I was in the middle of looking for someone, so I had better be going. See you." Soma tossed Ciel's hat so easily that the Earl managed to catch it without too much trouble, then turned and continued back the way he'd come, leaving the scent of cloves and spices in his wake, all the while Ciel and Sebastian stared in amazement at what had just happened.
"You'd both better close your mouths before you swallow a fly." Lucile chastised as she glared at the foreigners' backs. She knew so long as these two were in London and bodies kept turning up, they would see each other again.
Lucile was not happy. In fact her mood was light years away from it. How the hell was this even happening?! It took every ounce of willpower not to throw both of them out, but Ciel had to keep up appearances and these two, even if Lucile had her suspicions, were dignitaries. So she stayed silent behind Sebastian as Mey-Rin, Finny, Bard and Tanaka all crowded around the Prince, listening to him describe his homeland, and glared.
"So, you brought your servants with you this time?" Lao remarked as he joined the trio in the hallway.
"Yes. We have a guard dog to protect the manor while we're away now." Sebastian stated with a secret glance to Lucile. She clenched her jaw; if he made one canine joke or insult she would kick him clear down the stairs. She was not in the mood for his teasing today, not with a possible murderer in the house.
"Well, that must be a relief." Lao said completely oblivious to the underlying tone in Sebastian's voice and the storm cloud brewing over Lucile.
"Excuse me." Lucile said softly and after making a quick bow, she went to her bedroom. Normally she liked staying in the London townhouse since she got her own room, however her annoyance and frustration was making it impossible to enjoy herself. So instead, she began pacing back and forth around her small bedroom, occasionally glaring at the door or glancing out of the window. She had half expected Sebastian to pay her a visit due to her unexpected and unprofessional departure, but after an hour it was clear he wasn't making an appearance. When she realized that, Lucile stopped dead in her tracks. Normally such disobedience would require punishment as soon as physically possible, which for him would be almost right away, but there she was, standing in her bedroom alone, awaiting a punishment that wasn't coming. It was confusing, very confusing, and honestly it left her feeling a little hurt and dejected. That only confused her more. So, giving up on wearing a groove into the floor, she went to find the butler herself. Walking down the dimly lit hallway, she was abruptly joined by a being she had no intention of speaking to. Ever.
"I'm deeply sorry to disturb you, my Lady, but could you point me towards the kitchen?" Lucile didn't bother with pleasantries, instead she just kept walking down the hall.
"I'm not a Lady. I serve Earl Phantomhive." she spat back, "Follow me if you want the kitchen."
"Have I offended you, my Lady?" Agni asked her as he kept pace beside her, the tone of his voice indicating that he was genuinely worried he'd done something to upset her. Little did he know that his, and the boy prince's just being there was enough to aggravate her.
"Not particularly, however you did attack my master whether it was an order from your prince or not." Lucile stopped walking to look the tall Indian man in the eye, "Other than that, I just don't trust you." Agni closed his eyes and sighed deeply,
"I am not unaccustomed to distrust." he said sadly, "Before Prince Soma saved me I was...well...not worthy of trust. Sometimes I still think it would have been better if I'd died, but I owe my life now to Prince Soma and so I will do whatever he requires of me."
"Is that your way of apologizing for trying to hurt Ciel earlier today? Do you realize that if, by some miracle, you'd managed to hit him with that right hand of yours, you could have seriously hurt him?" she accused though the chances of Agni even laying a finger on Ciel while she and Sebastian were there were very, very slim. Still it was the principle of the matter; Soma and Agni tried to hurt her Ciel. They should be thanking every single one of their Gods they were still alive.
"No, it was not an apology. I won't apologize for following the orders of my Prince. My hand was blessed by the Goddess Kali, so yes, I am aware of what my power could have done to your Earl. He is, after all, a small frail boy but-"
"He's not just some delicate flower." Lucile growled darkly, startling the man, "Ciel Phantomhive is the successor to the Phantomhive legacy, the head of this household, the owner of the Funtom Company and the Queen's Watchdog. You have no idea of what that boy has seen and been subject to so don't you ever imply that he's a weak child again." By now Lucile had backed Agni up against the wall and was leaning dangerously close to him. She hadn't even realized she'd done it, but the wolf side of her knew exactly what she was doing. She'd cornered her prey and was ready to go for the kill. Memories flashed in her mind - Sebastian standing before her, the left side of his coat dyed crimson, and a flash of bright red. Yes, she remembered now - this uncontrollable anger, she'd felt it before when Sebastian had intercepted what would have been a fatal blow from Grell's death scythe. She'd felt this fury when Angelina had gone to attack Ciel while both Sebastian and Lucile were incapacitated. Then it had taken over her completely, the only thought in her mind was to protect her young - to protect Ciel. She remembered kicking Sebastian out of the way as easily as kicking cushion, the force caused the chainsaw death scythe to fly out of Grell's hands before she tackled the Shinigami to the ground, hard. She hadn't stayed on him long and quickly sprung to her feet, changing form while she sprinted towards Angelina Dalles and Ciel.
"Lucile?" the voice was like a silver rope pulling her out of her darkness. Lucile blinked once and then once more, Agni's terrified face came into focus. He wasn't the one who had called her back though. Lucile forced herself to take a step back and allow the Indian some breathing space.
"I sincerely apologize for her rude behavior. I'm afraid our Lucile has not yet grasped controlling her anger very well." Sebastian commented politely as the wolf inside Lucile growled fiercely at his words. Still she regained enough of herself to understand the underlying tone of his voice. He was telling her to calm down before she hurt someone.
"You don't need to apologize." Agni disagreed to both Lucile and Sebastian's surprise, "She was merely protecting your Lord. I said something I should not have, her reaction is justified. I offer my apologies and will excuse myself." With a slight bow, Agni made a hasty retreat towards the stairs leaving Lucile and Sebastian in the hallway.
"What was that?" The butler asked once Agni was gone. Lucile still hadn't fully recovered from her sudden bought of fury and clutched her hand tightly to hide the shaking.
"I-I don't know." she replied honestly, "Thank you. For coming when you did."
"I couldn't let you kill him." Sebastian said softly, "I didn't want to clean up the mess." Lucile, instead of feeling the usual urge to punch him whenever he said something smart, smiled and laughed quietly.
"Wh-What in God's name is that?!" the red lady cried in utter terror at the sight of the huge black wolf that had seemingly appeared out of no where.
"I believe you know Lucile, Aunt." Ciel responded, ice in his tone but Lucile couldn't have cared how he spoke. All she cared about was killing this threat if it came too close to her Ciel.
"Lucile? You can't expect me to believe that this...this monster is Lucile Conte. She's right over there being shredded by my...love?" Angelina Dalles gasped as she turned to see what she thought was Lucile dead and instead found Sebastian pulling Grell's death scythe from his shoulder and said Shinigami scrambling to his feet uttering a string of profanities.
"You are aware of what Lucile's job description is, are you not? Among many other things, her main role is to be my body guard. That means if you threaten me, she'll step in." Ciel continued confidently. Angelina laughed and held her arms out to the side,
"Am I threatening you, my sweet nephew?" she moved to step toward Ciel but stopped mid-step when Lucile snarled viciously at her.
"I wouldn't make any sudden movements if you want to keep your limbs." Ciel replied airily, "And yes, I would say that coming at me with a knife is a threatening gesture. Oh, and trying to kill my body guard and butler would also be considered as malicious intent." Angelina was trapped, Lucile wasn't going to let her anywhere near the boy and Grell was busy with Sebastian. She had no more moves left to play. Except one. Anger.
"Even if I explained, a brat like you could never understand!" she yelled, pointing a long, bloodstained finger at Ciel, "A brat like you...You should have never been born!" Lucile sensed the elder woman's intent before she made her move, it was like a signal predators put out just as they're about to attack. Lucile dove just as Angelina lunged forward, knife in hand towards Ciel.
"Young Master!" Sebastian called out just as Ciel cried, "Lucile! Don't-!" But it was too late and Lucile was far too out of control to listen to her master's orders. In her mind there was only black and white; a threat was attacking her child. The threat had to be eliminated. Lucile crashed her muscled body into Angelina's and the two females fell to the ground, the wolf's jaws ripping and tearing soft flesh as they went.
"No!" someone screamed but she couldn't be sure who. As her strong jaws clamped tight around the woman's neck, Angelina somehow mustered the strength to stab Lucile in the side with the knife she was holding as a last attempt to survive. Lucile's anger spiked as the cold blade twisted inside her, she clenched her jaw and felt the satisfaction of muscles, bones and oesophagus being crushed. Blood pooled in her mouth and wet her muzzle but she held tight as the body spasmed beneath her. She didn't let go until Angelina Dalles had choked out her last, gargled breath.
Lucile growled as Grell stepped towards her, her golden eyes glaring a warning into his green-yellow ones. Suddenly, something touched her underbelly making the she-wolf jump back in surprise. Sprouts of something that looked like a film reel were pouring out of Madam Red's body; on each section played a different part of her life. In the dormant part of her mind, Lucile knew what it was. It was a Cinematic Record. She'd read about it once in a book. It was then, with that tiny piece of knowledge that the animal side of her began to stalk back to her cage and the real Lucile come back into the light.
Sebastian heard the scream from his room at the other end of the house. He put down the report he was reading and frowned at the door, still slightly unsure of what he'd heard. And then, just as he thought that perhaps he was hearing things, it happened again. This time it was louder and more painful than before. Quickly he rose from his chair and made his way up the staircase, not worrying about light or his jacket and gloves. In hindsight, he should have remembered both items of clothing. Everyone had gathered in the hallway outside of Lucile's bedroom still in their sleeping clothes, their faces puffy and hair messed up. Even the Indian boy prince and Ciel had joined the scene. Panic shot through the demon, could something terrible have happened to Lucile? Bard was the first to notice Sebastian's approach,
"Thank God you're here." he said running a hand through his blonde hair.
"What's happened?" Sebastian asked looking to anyone who could give him and answer. Bard shook his head,
"Dunno. But something has her petrified." he replied jerking his stubbled chin towards Lucile's bedroom. Sebastian stepped into the small gathering, Lucile's door had been ripped open in such a rush it was almost off it's hinges and inside she was wrestling within the clutches of Agni, the Prince's manservant.
"Let me go!" she cried, "Let me go! I don't want this in my head!"
"My Lady, please just calm down." Agni was saying but Lucile kept on crying out the same thing over and over.
"Get away from me! All of you - get away!" she screamed at them and then she saw Sebastian standing in the doorway looking completely bewildered and concerned. Her face changed from absolute terror to relief. Elbowing Agni in the stomach, Lucile managed to break free of his hold and ran straight to Sebastian, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck. The action took him so much by surprise that he dropped to one knee to stop from dropping the girl.
"Make it stop." she whispered just loud enough for his ears, "Please, make the memories stop."
"What's wrong with her?" Ciel asked, although sleepy, he was still very much concerned about her.
"Please, Young Master, and everyone, go back to bed. I'll take care of it." he told them gently. Prince Soma, Tanaka and Agni were the only ones to leave at first until Bard told Finny and Mey-Rin that Sebastian had it covered. Only Ciel remained standing in the middle of the hallway in his nightgown, a single candle as the only light surrounding him.
"Sebastian." he said still waiting for an answer.
"I don't know." Sebastian replied. It was true that he didn't know for sure, but he did have a feeling it had something to do with what happened to Angelina Dalles, "Go back to sleep, my Lord, there's nothing you can do right now."
"If you say so." Ciel huffed, obviously displeased at being dismissed but made his way back to his bedroom nonetheless, leaving Sebastian to care of an hysterical Lucile. Taking a breath, he lifted the girl into his arms and carried her back to her own bed. But even as he set her down on the covers that had been hastily thrown about, she refused to let go of him.
"I-" Lucile began quietly, "I murdered her...I murdered Angelina, Ciel's own aunt. I ripped out her throat right in front of him..."
"You protected him." Sebastian said trying to be comforting, "I would have done the same thing, you just happened to beat me to it for once." Lucile leaned back to look at him, her face was paler than normal and it almost looked like she was crying.
"I remember the Cinematic Record, Sebastian. She wouldn't have hurt him...If I had been in control I would have known that. She never would have hurt him..." Sebastian closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He had seen the Cinematic Records too, he'd seen how much she loved her sister and Vincent, how much she loved her nephew. But that certainly didn't mean that she couldn't, or rather wouldn't, have tried to kill Ciel.
"What if you're wrong?" he asked still trying to comfort the girl, "What if she really could have tried to kill him?"
"What I'm right." she replied. Sebastian suppressed a groan, this was going nowhere. He should have known she would be annoyingly stubborn on this.
"Lucile," he said gently and he laced his fingers through hers, "Angelina Dalles was a murderer. She helped kill innocent people. She wanted to kill you and she wanted to kill Ciel. Honestly, and this really is the truth, if you didn't kill her I would have." Lucile lowered her head, "Why do you care so much about Ciel when you're just going to eat his soul anyway?"
"I don't." Sebastian replied lifting her chin so he could look at her, "I care about you."