Hello again my lovely readers, and thank you so much for reviewing/following my horribly complicated tale of two brothers and a boy stuck between them.

There is something I rather forgot to warn y'all about; Yaoi will be a feature of this fic. It is such a common thing in this fandom I completely forgot to mention it. Oh well.

...On that note: I rarely, RARELY ship SebaCiel when Ciel is human. RARELY. BUT, this...MIGHT be an exception, but only if it is requested. And in the event that it does move that direction, then don't expect kittens and rainbows. Sebastian is a demon. From Hell. Ciel is a human he is contracted to eat. Somehow, that doesn't end well no matter how I visualize it. It's a bit like pairing a human with a starving vampire. (Hint, hint) Doesn't sound like it would end well, does it?

But at the expense of appealing to the fandom as well as making this an interesting story, I may decide to put them in some...situations. HOWEVER, if you want a full pairing between the two, you'll have to ask for it, otherwise I just don't have the inclination.

Thank you for your understanding.

Moving on!

I have done something different in this chapter than what I typically do in my BB fics exclusively, and added the lyrics of a song to the BOTTOM of the chapter, since I get complaints when I put them at the top. (Oddly, the BB fandom is the ONLY one I've ever had issues with in that dept, but whatever. ) My reasoning? Because the song in question is far too perfect for this fic, and foreshadows as well as gives valuable character insight that I can not otherwise explain in the writing itself due to the...clandestine, nature of Sebastian's character. If you aren't happy with it, you can always just skip over it, and no damage is done.

Ok, NOW we move on.

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CH IV

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Ciel was filing through his papers the next morning, thinking about what his butler had said the day prior.

There are things mortals are not meant to know about.

He could understand that, at it's fundamental roots. But whether Sebastian liked it or not, he was still a child by age. And children were quite well known for wanting to do precisely the opposite of what they were told not to do. To know what was forbidden for them to know. He was no exception – the fact that he now knew there were things he wasn't supposed to know about made him want to know them all the more. But Sebastian's grave warning stood in his path, a rocky wall with thorns overgrowing it that he daren't climb unless he was prompted to do so.

There are creatures you are not want to meet – and neither am I.

His curiosity could wait.

"Your tea, my Lord." Sebastian entered with cart in tow, bringing him his mid-morning tea and a light snack he cared not to listen to him drone on about as he typically did.

"How is Alistar doing?" He asked casually as he sipped his tea, which was a rather fine blend of Earl Grey.

"He is healing fine, but far more slowly than he ought to." Sebastian remarked with a frown. "His bones refuse to mend properly. How on earth they ever managed to get the nails into his bones in the first place, I don't know. It would take someone of considerable strength to be able to do so." He looked down at his master. "Someone of inhuman strength, if I were to be the judge of it." Ciel looked up at him then. "Yet, he insists that all of those who attacked him and strung him up on the cross were human" Ciel's eyes hardened.

"You think he's hiding something?"

"No, not necessarily." Sebastian explained. "I believe him when he says that all of them were human. However, that does not necessarily mean that they were all mortal." Ciel's brow went up in confusion.

"What do you mean, they weren't all mortal?" Sebastian's silence prompted him to ponder the idea, upon which he came to a startling realization.

"You don't mean to say –" He began, his voice catching with the shock of it.

"Yes, I am afraid that our cultists may have successfully rendered a corpse. Perhaps it was a human that stuck him with the nails, but it was no mortal man that drove them into his bones, particularly not at that angle."

"Have you spoken with him about it?"

"Not yet, no." he smirked devilishly then. "As it would happen, our guest quite fell asleep at the windowsill last night, and has yet to come out of his slumber. I would wake him, but I would much prefer to keep that mess out of my purview for now, seeing as demon-inflicted wounds heal much more slowly than human-inflicted ones."

"I see. You suspect he'll attack you if you startle him." Ciel thought to what Alistar had said at last night's supper. "Being as he's mostly blind, I don't think I can blame him for being defensive in situations like that."

"Indeed, I don't blame him either." Sebastian remarked, removing Ciel's plate as he finished consuming the small cake he'd been given. "Particularly as he is wounded right now." Ciel watched Sebastian carefully, wondering what the purpose of mentioning that was.

"Is he dangerous? To me or the other servants?" Ciel asked intrepidly, curious about it from the time he'd let the demon in his home.

"I don't believe he wishes any of you harm, no."

"But?" Ciel prompted, knowing there was more left unsaid. Sebastian only smirked in a 'you got me' kind of way.

"However, a wounded animal is always unpredictable, my Lord." he replied. "Demons are not unlike them in that way. Many of us would rather lick our wounds in solitude, for keeping the wrong kind of company with severe injuries could prove... particularly fatal, if you understand my meaning." Ciel nodded.

"Indeed I do." He said, sighing. "How do we minimize the chances of injury, or worse?" Sebastian chuckled lightly.

"I doubt he would intentionally kill you." He said with confidence. "However, I would avoid startling or surprising him. It goes without saying that one is better not to frighten him, but as I am the only one capable of causing him grievous injury right now, I find it doubtful that any of you would be able to do that." His smirk became a flat scowl. "Though, despite that, he seems confident enough to let me check his wounds, and furthermore doesn't mind showing me his body exposed."

"And what's that mean?"

"It means he is either very trusting and naïve, or he is considerably more powerful than I initially thought he was." Ciel thought on that for a moment.

"You two are brothers, right?"

"Yes. But I am confident that that has nothing to do whatsoever with his apparent trust in me." Ciel nodded, recalling what Sebastian had said about familiarity between demons.

"So he's either blinder than we thought, or strong enough to kill us all. Lovely." The Earl muttered sarcastically. "Guess it's a good thing he isn't very vicious. In fact, he seems...benevolent." Ciel said strangely. Sebastian chuckled again, though this one was darker.

"Indeed, he seems to have an even temperament, and certainly has a fondness for humans." Again, Ciel sensed something unsaid.

"I grow tired of your clandestine talk. Come out with what you have to say, or don't bother speaking." Sebastian nodded in understanding, an eerie grin coming onto his face.

"I merely meant to imply that perhaps he is not as kind as you might envision. True enough, he is an...odd, example of our kind. But he, like me, is still a demon beneath his outer facade." Sebastian's gaze locked with his master's for only a moment before Ciel broke away, understanding that staring into his servant's eyes was often a bad idea, for a number of reasons. "Best you not forget that."

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Alistar woke up around the time lunch was being served outdoors, and opted to join them outside for a little sunlight as he stretched his tired muscles, his healing bones refusing to offer him reprieve from their dull, constant ache. But the pain was ignorable for now.

"Afternoon, Ciel." Alistar greeted pleasantly, coming to stand beside Sebastian in an eerily familiar manner. Curious, and knowing where his limits were at, Ciel decided to inquire a bit about the man's strange behaviour.

"You always come to stand beside him like that." Ciel observed as he ate his lunch. "And it is only ever Sebastian I have seen you do it to. Granted, I have not known you long, but it seems strange that a demon of your...capabilities," He went with that, rather than strength, for he didn't know for sure yet if Sebastian was right about him. "would approach another demon that way. Then again, I'm hardly an expert on the matter." He watched Alistar carefully as he pondered a reply.

"Hm...all right. I don't see the harm." He muttered to himself, drawing up some kind of placid composure. "I am a doctor in the human world because I was once in service as a healer in my own." Ciel's eyes widened in surprise at this. He was a servant? "I served demons of a higher rank, working as their healers, among other tasks. You might be tempted to say that I held a position not unlike what your butler does, for some of them, at least." A flash of some unnamed emotion passed through his carmine gaze. "That is why I am habitually honest, even to my fellow fiend." He glanced at Sebastian meaningfully. "I was brought up as a lesser demon, despite my breeding, and have been taught my entire life not to lie, not even to those I am not required to keep an honest vow to."

"I see." Ciel said, feeling a conflicted mixture of emotions. It hadn't even occurred to him that demons could be servants to other demons.

"That certainly explains your complacent attitude when I am examining your wounds." Sebastian muttered. Alistar smiled bitterly.

"Indeed. I am trained well. Had my prior masters not been so dedicated in teaching me," He emphasized the word 'teaching' in a way that seemed like it held more meaning between them than it did with himself. "You would probably not be as intact as you are now."

"Enough with that." Ciel intervened, sensing the potential for a dangerous conversation to take place.

Just then, a long, trilling sort of whistle could be heard in the distance. The sound seemed curious to Ciel, who couldn't recall any bird he knew of that made a noise like that, but even more curious was Alistar's reaction to it, for his posture went rigid, expression at attention and half-sighted gaze directed at the noise.

"What was that?" Ciel asked, more because of the demon's response than a reaction to the noise. Sebastian, also, became alert, though also more as a result of their demon guest's strange behaviour. Another bird-like call could be heard from a ways off, though it had a decidedly different nature, for it was long and mournful, not unlike the call of a peacock or a pheasant, though derisively more melancholic in it's note. Alistar's head cocked to the side slightly at the noise, listening intently for it again after it passed. After what felt like a full minute, the call sounded again, slightly closer.

"Again, what is that?" Ciel announced once more, looking to Sebastian for some kind of clue. But the demon's face was scrunched up in confusion, though wariness lied beneath his darkened gaze.

"I am not sure myself." Sebastian said quietly.

Suddenly, Alistar went into motion, moving at a hasty but easy pace toward the edge of the garden area they were in, attention focused on the treeline in the distance from which the call had sounded. It came again, but seemed to be moving away this time.

"Alistar..." Ciel was about to ask what the matter was, but was quite unexpectedly cut off when the pale demon returned the call, using the same bird-like tone as the one in the distance. Quite unaccustomed to hearing such noises come from human-shaped bodies, Ciel quirked a brow in bewilderment at the man. The call from afar came back, closer again this time.

"What on earth is going on?" Ciel asked in unpleasant confusion. Alistar then turned to Ciel, seemingly excited by something.

"I am afraid I must depart you sooner than I thought." He said, bowing. Now more confused, he demanded an answer.

"What on earth do you mean?" The call sounded again, closer yet. Alistar turned to the noise before bringing his attention back to Ciel with his bewilderingly soft smile.

"That call belongs to one of my own." He explained. "It is a way for my mate and I to contact each other when we are far apart, as we often are." Ciel's mind went back over his sentence twice, putting things together slower than he'd of liked.

"Mate?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes." Alistar replied simply, again looking towards the forest. "He is calling me now. No doubt he is wondering where I have been all this time. I can sense his worry." Ciel looked over Alistar, a strange emotion creeping upon him. The call sounded again, and Alistar replied to it once more. His voice, even while emitting an inhuman noise, carried a longing in it's tone that made Ciel's gut clench uncomfortably. His mind chose then, of all times, to catch up to itself again.

"Wait, he?!" Alistar chuckled.

"I suppose the human equivalent would be to call him my husband." Alistar said sheepishly. Ciel's attention was momentarily distracted when he seen something fly over the crest of the treeline, a grouse-sized, apricot-coloured bird who's general shape was somehow both hawkish and pheasant-like at once.

"Is that him?" Ciel asked. "Yes, yes it is." Alistar replied, his expression softer than he'd of thought possible for a demon. It made him unsettled, somehow. He turned back to Ciel with a courteous bow.

"Thank you. For housing me and for freeing me from what would have been a slow and painful death." He looked between Ciel and Sebastian, rising.

"What of your injuries?" Ciel asked, unsure if he was alright leaving yet.

"I should be fine, now that he is here." Alistar indicated with a nod to the bird now circling the canopy, calling mournfully. A tightness gripped Ciel's chest.

"Then go." Ciel dismissed. Sebastian looked over at his master with an unreadable expression. Alistar gave a long glance back at him. "You shouldn't keep him waiting." Ciel said softly after a moment. Alistar nodded, turning back. A silvery sort of energy emitted quite suddenly from him then, and in the next moment Ciel was left to watch with bafflement as his form shrank and transformed into a bird of similar shape to the one flying overhead, a long, sleek, curled crest resting atop his hawkish head, and two ribbony, peacock-like feathers streaming from his long, wedged tail. He turned red eyes onto the two one last time, as if uncertain he should go.

" So the record shows," He said in a telepathic sort of voice. "I really hate goodbyes." With no more and no less said, he took flight, feathers shining with opalescent iridescence as he set off to converge with his lover, the two chattering with the same whistled trill as before as they swiftly disappeared beneath the trees.

"Well." Ciel said after a moment. "That was certainly unexpected."

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The next day, Ciel received a letter from her Magistrate, inviting him to investigate another report from all the way over in Scotland. He read the letter, recalling that the queen hadn't actually given him any orders yet to investigate the corpses.

"Damnit. Now we'll have to put our other investigation on hold. Although..." He read over the contents, looking at the files attached to it.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"Have a look at this." He handed Sebastian the contents, and he read them over carefully.

"More cult activity, huh?" He smirked. "Sounds like it could be related."

"Yes, but all the way in Scotland? Northern Scotland, no less. And why ask me to do this? I don't have any legal jurisdiction there. That's Yard territory. Any dealings I found would have to go through them." Ciel looked at the letter suspiciously.

Apparently, there had been several murders attributed to cult activity in Inverness, a small town located on the other side of the Grampian mountains. It would be a rough ride up there, and it would likely be snowing this time of year. There's no guarantee they'd make it through the passes, unless they took the long route up the coast. But even that had it's perils, for the Scottish coastline was known to be stormy this time of year, and with sheer cliffs abounding...

"Can you make it through the mountains?"

"Of course, but the passes are likely to be closed due to foul weather."

"There are always ways around the passes. How long would it take to get there?"

"If we left tomorrow morning, about a day and a half."

"A full day?" Ciel asked incredulously.

"Well, with the weather as it is at those altitudes this time of year, I'm afraid I couldn't push a horse much faster." Ciel sighed in resignation.

"If that's the best you can manage with a carriage I don't think I can complain." He stated, rising. "We should leave tonight, if that's possible. I'd rather we sort out what the relevancy of this case might be to our own as soon as possible."

"I shall prepare for our trip now, then, and we can leave after supper."

"That's fine. Now go."

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"Before we leave, my Lord, I feel it relevant to relay to you my findings in todays newspaper." Sebastian remarked as they headed out to the carriage.

"You pick now to bring this up?"

"I only acquired this knowledge moments ago, having not looked through the entire paper until then."

"Alright then, go on with it." He handed Ciel a section of said paper.

"It appears that people have been going missing in the mountains of late – in fact, the disappearances began the same time that the crucifixions did." Ciel looked over the papers, finding his statement accurate.

"So then they really are connected." the Earl muttered. "All the more reason for us to make haste, then. But why wouldn't the Queen let me know about the disappearances? Surely those could be connected to the murders."

"I am not so sure of that." He came up behind his master, indicating with a thin finger to a section of the paper. "Of those recovered, all have been killed by some kind of animal. They've sent hunters and policemen to find it, but apparently it has been hiding in the folds of the mountains, too deep for anyone to reach in the poor weather."

"Do they have any suspicions as to what this animal might be?" He asked, even as he read over the article.

"They believe it is an escaped big cat, but I am not sure that a pet would be able to live in the mountains on it's own, especially not with winter closing in."

"That's probably why it's not on the front cover. They expect the creature to die as it begins to freeze." He thought a moment, stopping.

"My Lord?"

"This animal – it is supposed to lie deep in the mountains, yes?" Sebastian smirked at his hesitant tone.

"Yes, and so far none of the missing persons have been recorded to have been taking the common roads. They've all been on foot, out in the wilderness." Ciel sighed a bit in relief.

"Come then, it's getting dark." He said as Sebastian helped him get in. Once inside and settled, he tapped the roof to indicate they should go.

'There's something going on here, and I don't like the looks of it.'

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Short chapter!

What will become of Ciel and Sebastian in the mighty Grampian mountains? What sort of creature lies in wait? And who is this mysterious cult that keeps killing people? Read on to find out!

(PS. A review telling me where I could improve or where I have made a plothole is greatly appreciated whenever applicable. I tend to miss those.)

Until next time, lovely followers! I bid you Sayonara!