Chapter 9 – Lizzy's visit

"Anne! You've got to keep it together!" Ciel said worringly. He was shaking my shoulder as if to keep my awake. I felt very sleepy. Just then two people came into the room. I recognised Mey-Rin and Finnian.

"What happened?" Finnian asked looking at the broken window and then at me.

Ciel had distanced himself from me and displayed none of the unsettleness of before.

"An assassin shot Anne in her back. Mey-Rin, get water and bandages. Finnian please tell Baldroy to have the guests served dinner and make up an excuse for me not being there."

"Yes sir!"

They both disappeared out the room again, closing the door.

"I'm sorry...I'm messing up your carpet," I said smiling weakly. There was blood on the desk and carpet and I was losing more fast.

"Shut up and hang on!" Ciel almost hissed as he took off his jacket, budled it up and pressed it against my back, holding me against him. I could smell a faint sweet scent of strawberry. Was I going to die? With Sebastian not being here there was no way I could replenish my blood supply. Normally a wound like this would not do much damage, but somehow the thing I had been shot with was a holy arrow. If it had been left in my back I would have been dead within minutes but even now I could feel myself weaken.

"Ciel...I don't think I have much time..."

"Don't talk, you're just wasting your energy."

"I have something...I must say. Ciel...I lo..."

Just then the door flew open and Elizabeth came rushing in.

"Ciel! I heard you weren't feeling well!" She stopped and stared at us in horror.

"What is going on? Anne? Why is she here, dressed like that and look at all the blood?!"

"Quiet down, Lizzy and close that door," Ciel commanded.

I was starting to lose consicousness. There was no way I could tell Ciel my true feelings now, it would have to be taken with me to...wherever it was I would go.

"Anne! Anne!" I could hear Ciel call out my name, but it sounded further and further away until I sunk into complete blackness.

How many times have I woke up like this before? I wondered as I slowly opened my eyes and saw the all too familiar ceiling. Somehow I survived. My back was not hurting anymore. I could see sun rays peeping through the drawn curtains, it looked like a bright sunny day. I should try to keep indoors today... I thought about the events of the previous night and sat up. I felt a bit like I had a hangover and smiled to myself. Who knew holy objects gave vampires hangovers? Or was it the bloodloss? Somehow there was an unpleasant taste in my mouth.

"Good morning Miss Cortez. I see you have recovered," Sebastian said as he entered the room with a cup of tea. As strange as it was I still enjoyed tea.

"Sebastian...what happened last night?"

"The assassin managed to shake me off, but it is clear that you were the target."

"Me? But if I hadn't intervened Ciel would have been shot!"

"The assassin knew you would shield him, the only sure way to get you. Normally your survival instincts as a vampire would make you dodge things like that."

"By "that" I assume you mean the arrow?"

"Yes, it seems to be "blessed". It had holy writings engraved on it and the tip was probably dipped in holy water too."

"That sucks that I am so weak against it... which reminds me...did you force blood into me again?" I asked, glaring at Sebastian.

"I did, eventually. The young master was extremely worried about you and cut himself to give you some of his blood."

Sebastian didn't look happy as he was telling me this.

"What?! He did? That would explain the unpleasant taste..."

"How ungrateful," Ciel suddenly said as he came into the room. He must have heard what we had been talking about. He had a bandage around his hand.

"Cie...lord Phantomhive! I...thank you for what you did. I can't help but not like the taste of human blood, I didn't mean to insult you or appear ungrateful," I said not looking into his eyes. The thought that he cared enough about me to do that made my pulse quicken and a blush spread on my face which I hoped he didn't see. And I almost confessed my feelings to him...

"Is Li...Miss Midford okay?" I asked. Surely she didn't know about the whole demon and vampire business...

"I had her taken away before I gave you blood," Ciel said looking unfazed about it all, "there are things that she is better off not knowing about."

"Yes."

"I had Sebastian keep the cross you were carrying. It is most likely that the person who tried to kill you last night is the owner of the cross as well. The assassin seems to know that you are a vampire and are using weapons geared for exterminating them. Anne, I do not want you to be involved in this case any further. Lau will deal with the drug dens which should be sufficient to quell her majesty's worries in that regard. The London thief seems to be more than we thought and he already knows your weakness. I'm asking you to stand down on taking any further cases until we catch him."

"But... I can't just say no to her majesty?"

"I have already taken the liberty of letting her majesty know that you are still recovering from the warehouse incident and that I would take over any cases in your absence."

"Oh... then what do you expect me to do? I can't just sit at home and twiddle my thumbs while there's a vampire-killing thief on the loose..."

"I want you to learn how to protect yourself properly," Ciel said causing me to glare at him. I took pride in being able to fight and felt very offended.

"Sebastian will teach you when he has time. I think for this purpose it will be better if you stay in Phantomhive manor for the time being."

"What?! You can't put me under house arrest! I am fine!" I said getting up out of bed and then spectacularly fell on my face.

"I'm fine!" I quickly repeated, sitting up rubbing my nose. I looked up and for a fleeting moment saw a smile on Ciel's face, but it was gone so quickly so that I wondered if I didn't hallucinate.

"You are not invincible as a vampire, Miss Cortez," Sebastian said, "even after having received blood it will take time for you to recover from wounds caused by holy objects. It would be wise to heed the young master's advice and stay put for now."

"Fine..." I groaned.

It has been a week since I started living in the Phantomhive household. Rudolph wasn't very happy about me asking him to run things for me at home while I was here, but in the end he realised that no amount of nagging was going to change things, especially with Sebastian around. Two days later Lizzy had come to visit and wanted to know what I was doing there. Ciel and Sebastian had been out at the time and I was struggling for words when Finnian said: "That's easy, she and Sebastian are dating!" I didn't know who looked more surprised, me or Lizzy, but I decided to play along and Lizzy seemed to have fallen for it.

"Finnian," I said to him later, "if any of this gets to Sebastian I am SO going to strangle you."

"Oh...er...I was just trying to help you out you know. There aren't many acceptable reasons for you to be staying here. At least now Miss Midford won't be suspicious about you and the young master."

"What?" I asked. Did he perhaps know something?

"Well, you know you are a young lady and he's a young gentleman. With you staying here it could lead Lizzy to think that something is going on between the two of you."

Eventually the story did get to Sebastian. Lizzy wasn't one to mince words and congratulated Sebastian on our relationship one afternoon while we were all having tea in the garden. Ciel choked on his tea and Sebastian was helping him while he coughed.

"I think it is so romantic that Anne is staying here so that she can have more time with Sebastian, considering he is always busy serving you, Ciel. I'm surprised Sebastian even had the time to open up his heart to someone," Lizzy continued, not noticing the commotion she had caused.

"You should give him some time off some time you know."

"There is no need for that Miss Midford," Sebastian interrupted sounding not too pleased, "my master comes first."

I was gulping down tea and looking everywhere but at Ciel and Sebastian. I noticed Finnian behind a nearby bush. He noticed me and quickly ducked away. If I was him I'd make sure I'm far away from the mansion for the rest of the day. Sebastian isn't the forgiving sort.

I was hoping the rest of the tea-time would go smoothly, but Lizzy had other ideas.

"So Anne, was it love at first sight?"

"Er...what?" I stared at her in horror. Why was she asking me this in front of Ciel and Sebastian?

"Come one, it's just us here! No need to be shy! I must say, if I didn't have Ciel I might have fallen for Sebastian myself."

"Lizzy, that's enough," Ciel suddenly said. I could hear he was in a bad mood.

"What are you getting cross for Ciel? You know you are my only love," she said happily, grabbing his hand. I could see clouds were forming, if someone didn't do something the two of them might end up quarreling.

"Um...Lizzy, what do you say to the two of us taking a walk? Then we can have some girl-talk?"

I glimpsed at Ciel for a moment. He was clearly upset. Did it make him so mad to believe that Sebastian and I are dating? Sebastian on the other hand...was smiling...now that wasn't good... I felt a shiver going down my spine.

"Oh, yes! That will be great!" Lizzy said, practically boucing as she came to me and pulled me up from my seat, almost making me drop my tea-cup. It was only because of my superb reflexes that I managed to get it safely down on the table.

"Now that is it just the two of us, will you tell me?" she asked when we were a short distance away.

I looked over to where we had come from and noticed Ciel glaring at us while Sebastian was saying something to him.

"Um...you mean about the love at first sight thing?" I asked. I would have to be very diplomatic here and remember that Sebastian's hearing is quite good.

"I wouldn't say what we have is love at first sight."

"Oh, so you didn't like each other at first? What changed that?"

"If I have to call it something...I would say it was need."

I was thinking of the fact that I needed Sebastian's blood to survive.

Lizzy gasped.

"Oh...so you already, you know?" Lizzy asked with wide eyes.

"What?! No, of course not!" I stammered and then realised that what I said made her come to that conclusion.

"I didn't mean 'need' in that way Lizzy, it is just that I...found something in Sebastian that I need. Something I can't survive without."

"That sounds so romantic!" she sighed, "You know that Ciel and I had been promised to each other from birth. I so much want to see him the way he was before the accident, but it is so hard to please him. I know he cares about me though. That much is evident in the fact that he came to save me from that horrible place..."

I knew Lizzy was referring to the place where the girls were turned into dolls. I recalled that Ciel and Sebastian came to rescue me as well, but didn't say anything to Lizzy. The feelings I had when I saw how she was clinging to Ciel's arm then... I was having similar feelings now and realised that it was jealousy. At the same time I felt guilty, because I realised how much she cared about Ciel as well.

"Yes..." I said, and barely heard her prattling on while we walked along the rose bushes. Thankfully today was overcast, so I could bear the daylight.

Later Lizzy finally left and I couldn't help but let out a sigh.

"Tired already?" Sebastian asked, "you are aware that we have training to do tonight?"

Oh gosh. He still had that smile on his face...

"Er...yes... I haven't forgotten. Ciel didn't say anything and told Sebastian to follow him to his study. Ciel was clearly still in a bad mood and Sebastian was ordering everyone around more strictly than he normally did. Later when we practiced self defence he didn't go easy on me.

"So, you and I are now apparantly dating?" he said as he threw several knives at me which I dodged perfectly.

"Not my doing, Miss Midford wanted to know why I was staying in the Phantomhive manor and then Finnian decided to 'help out'."

"I thought it must have been something like that," he said thoughtfully, "I will make sure to have a word with him later."

"Well, it does serve its purpose, doesn't it?" I asked, "it's not like it matters anyway."

The next moment Sebastian had me pressed against the wall.

"Since it doesn't matter, it shouldn't bother you if I do this then," he said and kissed me.

I was too surprised to do anything. Why was he doing this?!

"Mnng...Sebastian! What are you doing?" I manged to say when his lips left mine, but he didn't let me go.

"What are you getting worked up for? You said it doesn't matter?" he asked. His face was right in front of mine and his eyes appeared like they could see right into my soul. I felt all sorts of feelings welling up inside me which I didn't understand. I was feeling very confused now. How could I have similar feelings towards both Sebastian and Ciel? Is it bloodlust in both cases? But I shouldn't be craving human blood anymore...so what is it I am feeling for Ciel now?

"Sebastian...I..." I looked into his eyes and was unable to say anything else. What was it that I was seeing in his eyes?

"Please do think before you say something like 'it doesn't matter'," he said and let go of me. With that Sebastian simply smiled again and purposely changed the subject.

"We have found a lead on the thief assasin. He seems to be part of a cult that are set on ridding London of the unclean."

"A cult?"

I wondered if my 'father' had been involved in it too? I recalled the mannequin talking about replacing what is 'fleeting' with what is 'eternal'.

"We will be investigating a church tomorrow which might be the base of their activities. It might be best if you don't accompany us."

"No way, I want to go too!"

Sebastian gave me the look, the one that said he wasn't going to tolerate any resistance.

"I refuse to give in! I don't want to sit around doing nothing all day and night, I want to be involved. I want to help Ciel."

We glared at each other.

"No."

"I am going. Period."

"I said no."

"You can't make me stay."

"Are you sure about that?" Sebastian asked, smiling sinisterly. I knew he was capable of making me unable to leave the mansion so I decided to resort to other means.

"Please...I will not go into the church, but I need to be there and help where I can. I hate feeling this useless."

Sebastian eventually sighed.

"You will be the end of me woman...fine, you can go with but you have to do as I say."

I was hiding outside the church in some bushes with Finnian while Ciel and Sebastian snuck inside. I noticed that Ciel looked very determined to get in here and couldn't help but wonder why. Was it really just about the cult/thief case? I couldn't help but feel uneasy about this. Was the assasin/thief's target really me? Or was this all to get Ciel to come here? Or perhaps Sebastian? I was surprised that he could enter a holy building without trouble.

"Finnian, do you think they're alright?" I asked after about two hours had passed. It was quiet as night outside. The only disturbance had been when a delivery man came to drop off some milk and one of the nuns received it. She was flirting blatantly with the man and he made some crude jokes in return. I had no idea that was what nuns were like...

"I'm worried," I said after another hour, "I'm going in."

"But lady Anne, Sebastian's orders..."

"What if they really are in trouble Finnian? Could you live with yourself if you ended up doing nothing to save them because of 'orders'?"

"I...see your point...well, where should we start?"

"This place is quite big...let's try this door which the nun came out of before..."

After some time we had take so many turns and gone down severl corridors and were quite lost. I could feel a certain 'oppresiveness' about the place, perhaps because it is 'holy ground'? I had wondered if I would suddenly go up in flames or something, but so far it just felt like I've been carrying a mountain on my shoulders physically which made my movements sluggish.

"Is that...chanting I hear?"

"What? I don't hear anything," Finnian said while listening. O, of course. He wouldn't know that I'm a vampire and have superior hearing. Just then another noise caught my attention. The only reason I paid attention to it is because I heard 'Sebastian'.

I snuck closer to where I had heard the sound.

"Oh...harder...ahhhh...Sebastian..."