Been a long while since I got around to this. School isn't playing nice, unfortunately.

WARNINGS: The toxicity is spreading. Curiosity is like a nasty disease – it's very infectious and can kill you if you don't take care of yourself. It wars itself against Stubbornness, which is like a stone – impervious it may be, but it is also heavy and hard to carry on and on. What is Alistar to our young lord – a Shepard dog or a wolf in disguise? Read on. Read on and know – everything has a price.

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IX

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Ciel was lead to a large shack of sorts with white-washed walls and a dilapidating roof lined with ceramic shingles, many of which were broken and green with moss. He entered the open door offered to him without a single utterance, still shaken slightly from the events which just transpired. He took only a fleeting moment to examine his surroundings, which determined that this was likely Alistar's private quarters. Ciel kept a sharp eye on the pallid demon, who still fumed silently, pacing back and forth a moment across the open floorspace, upon which was a tanned leather hide of some sort. The space wasn't very big, about the size of a guest room at his manor – yet, in the farthest corner there was a single-burner stove, likely powered by fire, and around the room were several cabinets and bookshelves. The shelves were overflowing so that several books lay strewn here and there, piled discreetly underneath a bed that was at the back of the single room. There were three chairs at the centre, two lining one wall and another on the opposite. Each one was decorated in different kinds of leather – the single chair was the largest, possibly a recliner, and had a soft white fur draped over the back. 'Well, at least it's true that demons are generally hedonists.' Ciel didn't realize how uncomfortable he had been sitting on the bench outside until he spotted the big empty chair, which looked well-used if the dips and wear on it was any indication. His legs suddenly ached to be seated in something, and he felt his posture slip as a sudden wave of exhaustion hit him.

It wasn't until he spoke that Ciel realized Alistar had stopped pacing. "You must surely be tired after such a confusing and taxing day. You are welcome to sleep here – these quarters are intensely private; only Gabriel, myself, and our few-and-far-between guests are permitted to enter here. It is probably the safest place for you to stay while your defences are down." Alistar exchanged a glance with Sebastian. "And yes, your butler will be allowed to remain, though, once again, you are of little interest to me food-wise."

"There are many other ways in which a human can become an interest to a demon." Sebastian said grimly, though he wore a smirk of amusement.

"This is true," Alistar looked toward Ciel passively. "And I do find your master intriguing. However, I also am befriended of the Undertaker, who would surely kill me if I did anything to you." Ciel stood upright with a jolt at the reminder. He totally forgot to ask about that. 'Well, I suppose it's as good a place as any to begin getting things untangled.'

"Speaking of which, how exactly do you know him? And what do you mean, befriended?" Ciel asked, another wave of exhaustion making his legs hurt badly enough to make him sway.

"Before I answer, you are probably better to sit down on something before you fall down." Alistar gestured to a pale, leather-coated chair on the opposite wall as the large one. Disappointed but relieved, Ciel sat down in the chair and instantly felt a pleasant thrill of bliss stroke up his spine like a finger. It was deep and super soft, filled with a material that held the shape of him like a swaddle. It was almost enough to encourage a moan, had he not had his wits about him.

"Better?" Alistar asked, a knowing smirk on his face.

"I have to admit – you demons definitely know something about pleasure. I don't think I've ever felt a chair like this."

"Well, as it was made by yours-truly, I am glad that you are satisfied." Alistar smiled for a moment before turning to a low cabinet on the other wall, taking something from the top. When he turned to face the two guests, he held in his hand a piece of silver jewellery, upon it a plain locket.

"I have known the Undertaker for a long time now. I suppose it would be more accurate to call us acquaintances than friends, what with how we bicker like a cat and dog." Alistar held out the locket to Ciel, who took it with intrigue. "I am a genuine, real-life doctor with a travelling clinic, though I am stationed primarily in Inverness and Canterbury. Undertaker is, then, a frequent visitor of mine when patients I am in charge of die."

"But they...they don't usually die at the clinic, do they?" Ciel asked warily.

"Not usually, no. But I do some...hospice care, for the elderly, and am often on house-calls to see them. It's rather tragic, really, the way humans treat them sometimes. Almost all of those I see have no families or relatives to care for them – they then, like the children, fall beneath my wing and from there they either live out what little remains of their lives, or, as is more often the case, fall into a unwaking slumber, as it were." Alistar now held a chain of gold in his hands. From it dangled a cross, of all things. "I am no stranger to death, and neither am I a stranger to reapers – though rarely do they catch any wind of me. The Undertaker was one of the first, back when he still served." Ciel exchanged a look with Sebastian.

"You knew the Undertaker when he was still an active reaper?" Sebastian asked, hand held thoughtfully on his chin.

"Yes. We met for the first time around four hundred years ago; I was no doctor then, but I still attended the dying sometimes." Alistar continued. " Undertaker was lucky enough to spot me at the scene of a recent death – yet, for reasons I still do not know, he did nothing to engage me." Alistar's brows furrowed in concentration as well as confusion. Even a demon's memory wasn't perfect, after all. " I recall distinctively that he only stopped a moment to stare before he told me something I don't think I can ever erase from my memory:

The burning circle never ends, does it?"

"Now, the Burning Circle is a commonly known feature of Gehenna –it is what inspired the nine circles of Hell, even though there is only one ring – however, it is also used commonly as an analogy for the give and take effect. The circle is actually fed by angelic power, and isn't made of fire at all. It's like a barrier, meant to keep demons trapped within Gehenna; however, in order for the barrier to be kept up, it must be fed by angels on both sides of it. As a consequence, it's actually not that strange to see angels in hell." Alistar explained almost sheepishly, as if embarrassed by the confession. "But, of course, there's a price to pay when you dump something so pure into a venerable shit-hole of angry demons and hedonistic sin. So, to help them out, there's a small sanction of demons who are, shall we say 'owned' by the angels and used to guard them."

"Each side has to sacrifice something in order to keep things in check." Ciel surmised out loud.

"Yes, and unfortunately it is quite a literal sacrifice." Alistar said with a sigh. "I still do not know entirely what he meant by mentioning the burning circle at that time, but he did not pursue me nor alert anyone to my presence. It was a strangely peaceful moment between our kinds of live-and-let-live. We have, since then, bumped into each other off an on, but mostly we encounter each other nowadays when I arrive on house-call to a body that has already died."

"How is it, if I might ask, that you avoid the reapers with such a job?" Sebastian asked, clearly impressed.

"I make up for my blindness with advanced senses, even by measure of our kind." Alistar replied. "I know they are coming long before they get there. Besides, I may not be able to alter my appearance very much, but I can conceal my energy sufficiently that it takes an experienced reaper to see through me."

"Someone as experienced as Undertaker." Ciel interjected, pondering. "You said you have a clinic in Inverness?"

"Yes, I am chiefly stationed there – in fact, I was planning on taking you there in the morning. There is another acquaintance of mine there who may have some information about these recurring ghouls. What's more, I can expect to meet the Undertaker there – he is meant to be doing a fitting for a bedridden patient of mine. In this fashion, I should think it would be easy for you to kill two birds with one stone."

"Awfully considerate of you." Sebastian remarked suspiciously.

"On the contrary, we simply have similar interests in mind as regards this case." Alistar clarified. "I have been meaning to see this acquaintance for a while now. He is, shall we say, a...special, former patient of mine." Alistar smirked at something only he understood. "As for Undertaker, I have some personal business to attend with him anyway. So, really, I am doing this for my benefit as much as yours."

" I see." Ciel remarked with a smirk. A yawn quickly followed.

"You need to rest, little human. Your body will be in no condition to travel so far if you do not rest yourself sufficiently."

With this, Sebastian swiftly set to work preparing his master for bed, apologizing at not having a change of clothing prepared. The bed on the far wall was clean (and as far as Ciel could tell, mostly unused) and very soft. It took no time at all for him to fall asleep, leaving his butler in a more or less private space with his half sibling.

"You are a strange demon, I will grant you that." Sebastian began. "But at the end of the day, you are not very different from I. Thus, I must confess that I do appreciate the...benevolence, you have shown my master and I thusly – however, your kindness is, to put it bluntly, unneeded." Sebastian narrowed a crimson gaze at the demon before him. "And unasked for."

"I understand your concerns and why you would be suspicious of me." Alistar replied calmly, having seen this coming a ways off. "However, your suspicions themselves are unneeded – and unfounded." Sebastian's gaze hardened at the other's challenging tone, as if daring him to testify any evidence of ill-will. "I have my own purposes for doing as I will – if those purposes happen to benefit your master, so be it."

"That is not what I meant – and we both know it." Sebastian replied with a smile that was all teeth.

"Ah, yes. I suppose it isn't generally in the nature of our kind to give away things for free." Alistar turned his back to the other demon as he fiddled absently with something on the same low cabinet as before. To anyone else, it would seem a mindless or ignorant thing to do – but between the demons, it sent a strong and nearly insulting message, though not an untrue one: This is my domain. You can not harm me here.

"Yes, in that regard, I suppose you are right to worry." Alistar replied after a moment. "But I will ask nothing of your master that he will miss or which he will not give me willingly. I do not generally ask for food – that is, souls – in exchange for my services."

"Then what is it that you do ask for, if not something so valuable?"

"Tch." Alistar made a disapproving noise. "While the soul is definitely valuable to the human and demon, I have always failed to see the grander purpose behind crafting them so artfully. But then, I am hardly more than a scavenger myself, picking on the sick and dying."

"I suspected that was the purpose of your peculiar profession." Sebastian smirked, clearly satisfied to be proven right.

"Yes, for the human patients I serve." Alistar turned back around to face his companion, holding a chess piece – a white rook. Narrowing his tawny gaze at the piece, Sebastian's suspicions turned a different direction entirely, though he wisely kept them to himself.

"This is all I ask for, in return for the information I have given your master. This small piece is all I ask for – nothing more."

"And whom do you take to be that on his board?"

"Whom? Don't make me laugh. I've already said I want no soul, no life." Alistar clarified with a toothy smirk of his own. "All I want in exchange for my givings is that which he would not miss anyway – that which defends him more than even you, that which protects him from you." Quirking a brow with a frown, Sebastian hesitated before asking, "And that would be?" Alistar only smiled wider, holding out the rook for the other demon to take. He took it somewhat reluctantly, examining the piece in his hand, which was now an inky black.

"His innocence."

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Ok, so next chapter might not come until after holiday. Apologies for this wait!

What will happen next, I wonder? Fufufufufu... Also, who is Sebastian's and Alistar's father, and what has he to do with any of this? Well, you'll find out in the next bone-chilling chapter.

Until then, fare thee well for the holidays!