"Adalina, you are going to practice with Lady Elizabeth today."

Adalina was confused. Surely Sebastian didn't mean Ciel's fiancée who ran around the manor squealing about making everything cute and adorable.

She and Sebastian headed out towards the gardens and there stood Elizabeth, two swords in hand. She looked much different than the young girl Adalina had come to know. She held herself more professionally and looked as if she was attempting to be more of a woman than a girl.

If she thought Ciel and Elizabeth were a good couple before, seeing this made her realize they were practically made for each other.

"I'll leave the both of you to practice," Sebastian said with a small bow.

"Thank you, Sebastian," Elizabeth smiled. Once the butler left, Elizabeth turned to Adalina. "Don't go easy on me. I won't go easy on you."

Adalina noticed that despite her quite noticeable change, the girl's eyes still sparkled as if getting to spar with Adalina was the highlight of her month. The young woman was a little wary about practicing with Elizabeth. If she ended up hurting her, Ciel was going to kill her.

"Oh, and no using your whip today. Sebastian said you needed to work on your sword-fighting skills."

Adalina raised her eyebrows, and obediently untied her whip from around her waist before flinging it away from her.

Elizabeth tossed her one of her swords. Before Adalina even had time to get used to the feel of the weapon, the spar began.

Adalina nearly got her limbs sliced off simply because she was stunned that Lady Elizabeth possessed such intense fighting knowledge. How had she not known this before?

Elizabeth ended up winning all of the rounds between them.

"You're very talented, Adalina," Elizabeth smiled.

Adalina let out a small amused scoff. If she was talented, why had she lost each time?

"Don't take these defeats personally. Not even Edward has beaten me, and he's been training for longer than I have." Elizabeth looked towards the clouds in the sky as her mind began to wander. "I tried to hide this ability from Ciel. I wanted him to always think of me as cute. But you know…I'm kind of glad he found out. I think he respects me more. And I want him to know that I can protect him as much as he can protect me."

Adalina loved the way Elizabeth talked about Ciel. It was clear that she really loved him and only him. It was extremely adorable.

"I can only hope that one day, Ciel will open up to me as well. And there will be no more secrets between us."

If she wasn't a servant who had no place touching nobility, Adalina would've hugged the girl right then and there.

"Take a short break, and we'll go again."

Adalina politely curtseyed before heading towards the servant's entrance at the back of the manor.

"So soft…so beautiful…"

Adalina turned when she heard Sebastian's voice. She looked ahead of her near the bushes and saw Sebastian cuddling a black cat. His face was the definition of bliss. She had never seen him this way in the entire time they had worked together. That was a shame because it was a rather comical thing to witness.

"Warm fur…piercing eyes…gorgeous voice…"

To think that the normally suave demon was sitting on the ground holding the small animal close to his chest with a slight blush on his cheeks. It made Adalina smile a little. Everyone had their weaknesses. Even demons.

Adalina was out in the gardens practicing more of the moves she had been learning from Sebastian during their training times and some other sword-fighting techniques Lady Elizabeth had taught her.

She was unaware of a pair of agitated red eyes watching her. That is until those eyes came out of hiding.

She was caught off-guard by the sudden movement of the intruder and fell to the ground. He quickly pinned her down and she quickly realized that he was extremely strong.

"I've heard stories about beings like you," he said in desperation as he leaned close to her. "I never thought they'd actually be true. But you're driving me to the brink of insanity. Killing you will bring me great pleasure."

His eyes began glowing, and Adalina's heart skipped a beat when she realized that the person on top of her was a demon.

The demon's black fingernails grew into very sharp claws. He raised his hand up above his head, preparing to strike.

"What are you doing?!" she heard Sebastian exclaim.

Adalina took advantage of the demon's momentary distraction and slammed her head into his. He was disoriented just enough for Adalina to kick him off her. She started to run towards Sebastian, but she suddenly felt her arms yanked behind her almost enough to pull them out of the sockets.

The demon pulled her towards him, one hand tightly gripping her wrist behind her back and the other aiming its claws against her neck. If she made one wrong move, he would slice her skin to ribbons.

"I might've known it was you," Sebastian growled.

The demon smirked at him. "Long time, no see…Sebastian."

"And what name are you taking nowadays?"

"My last master named me Nicholas. I've come to grow rather fond of it."

"What are you doing here?"

"I might ask you the same question. How are you here and you haven't killed this girl yet? Can't you sense her? It's driving me mad."

"Release her, or I swear, it will be the last thing you do."

"Turning on one of your own in defense of a human? And a pure human at that?" The demon laughed a little. "My, how things have changed."

"Release her now."

Nicholas's sharp claws began squeezing Adalina's neck which caused small trickles of blood to begin to flowing down her skin. Rage surged through Sebastian at the sight of Adalina's red blood contrasting against her pale flesh.

"I never thought I'd see the day you were willing to kill for a pure being," Nicholas said with malice edging his voice.

Sebastian's eyes began to glow bright pink as he pulled out several silver butter knives.

Adalina slowly moved her free hand down to her waist where her whip was tied. While Nicholas was distracted with Sebastian, she managed to get it free and hold it tightly in her hand.

Sebastian ran towards the two of them and freed Adalina from the demon's hold. She flung her whip towards Nicholas, but he caught it with his arm and pulled her towards him. As soon as she was close to him, she kicked his legs out from under him. His surprise at the girl's ability to defend herself was enough for Sebastian to pin him to the ground.

"If you ever come after her again…I will make you feel pain that you didn't even know was possible for you to feel," Sebastian growled.

"You've gone soft, Sebastian. What kind of demon are you if won't even kill a pure being?"

"A demon who has self-control. You could learn from me. This woman is very important to my master. If she dies, his soul will become weaker, and I have worked too hard cultivating it for something as little as this to destroy that now."

Nicholas smirked. "I see. Well, then…I suppose I'll be returning now. I hope that soul is worth it."

"It will be."

In the blink of an eye, Nicholas had disappeared.

Sebastian got up off the ground and went over towards Adalina. "Are you all right?"

Adalina nodded a little.

"You handled that rather well. I've never seen a human do that to a demon before. I suppose he wasn't prepared for it either. Nicholas is a rather weak demon, and he wasn't completely in the right state of mind. You always continue to surprise me."

Sebastian gently put his gloved hand to the side of her face. Adalina leaned into his hand, remembering how much she loved his touch. It was a lot better when the fabric wasn't in the way though. His touch seemed more sincere when he touched her without his gloves on.

The young woman took a small step closer to him, meeting his eyes once again. They pulled her in more than they ever had before. She didn't remember them ever being so mesmerizing.

He had just fought off another one of his own kind in order to protect her. If he did that, then surely he…

She leaned her head up towards him.

Sebastian's eyes widened a little and he placed his hands on her shoulders, ever so gently pushing her back. He couldn't kiss her now. He loved Adalina, but he didn't know if he was ready to give up all of his power and become human for her.

"Make sure you take care of the wounds on your neck."

Adalina watched his retreating form as he headed back inside the manor, her heart sinking.

He had just rejected her. She knew he had feelings for her, and she had been rejected all the same. Taking into account what the Oracle had explained, she knew that the reason for his rejection was because he didn't want to give up his demon powers. While he may have had feelings for her, his desire for his power came first.

How could she have been so stupid? Of course Sebastian would choose power over her. He was a demon. Even if a demon fell in love, power was more important than anything.

She had done it. She had fallen for his charms and had just gotten hurt in the end. She should've known that falling for him would lead to nothing.

And now she had put him in a terribly awkward position.

She should never have gotten caught up in the demon's web.

As time went on, a very thick tension rested upon the manor and everyone noticed, especially Ciel.

Sebastian and Adalina hardly ever looked at one another, and Sebastian didn't talk to her very much anymore. He didn't even give her chores or orders and he never trained her.

"Is there something going on with you and Adalina?" Ciel asked his butler.

"Nothing that you should concern yourself with, my lord," Sebastian answered.

"If you say so."

Ciel had no idea of the constant battle raging inside Sebastian's mind. Should he change into a human? Should he stay a demon? Did he really love Adalina? Did he only think he loved her?

Now that he had pushed her away, he didn't know if it even mattered anymore. She would never desire to initiate a kiss with him now. She wouldn't even look at him anymore. The kiss had to be of her own free will, and it was going to be a while before she was certain she wouldn't be rejected again.

Why had he had to share memories with her? If he had just left everything as it was, he wouldn't be in this position right now. He would still be the same unfeeling demon he always was and wouldn't be thinking about possibly having to become a human.

At the same time…these feelings he had were the most exhilarating thing to happen to him in his long demon life. It was no wonder humans constantly looked for companionship with others. He wanted to experience these feelings…but he didn't want to have to face the consequences of having them.

Adalina was busy completing her chores, trying her best to stop thinking about her Almost-Kiss with Sebastian. But it was useless. That horrible moment kept forcing its way into her mind and consumed her thoughts.

She passed by Ciel's study when she heard voices inside. She paused for a moment to listen because the voices were unfamiliar. It wasn't Sebastian and it wasn't Baldroy and the voices were too deep to belong to Finnian, Mey-Rin, or Ciel.

One of the voices chuckled lowly. "Some Earl, huh? He's nothing more than a kid."

"Pretty pathetic, if you ask me," another added.

"We gotta get out of here before that butler sees us."

"We're gonna be rich," a third man laughed.

Adalina disregarded etiquette and burst into the room to find five unfamiliar men inside. One of them held Ciel against his chest, his hand clamped firmly over the boy's mouth so he could not call for help. His jacket had been flung off and his shirt was ripped open.

All five men turned to look at her with sick grins.

"Whoa, Lukas wasn't kidding," one of them smiled. "He does have a good-looking staff."

Lukas sent these men?! Why was that Reaper so determined to kill all of them? She could understand wanting to kill Sebastian since she was aware of the mutual hatred demons and Reapers shared, but why go after her and Ciel too? Just for being associated with a demon?

Another one smirked at her. "That body could be put to so much better use, hon."

Adalina looked at her captive master. She met his eyes and he gave her a small nod that she only noticed because she was looking for it.

The head maid looked down at the floor. Then without moving her head, her eyes looked up at the five men with a murderous glare.

Before any of them could question the sudden change that had come over her, she quickly untied the whip around her waist and went in for the attack.

Using her whip, her fists, and her instinct, none of the strangers had a chance against her. She wrapped her whip around one man's neck tightly as he struggled for air, dodging and delivering attacks as she held him with her weapon. She used his body to protect herself and hit the other men until her human shield passed out. She then tossed the limp body away from her and continued to attack. Multiple limbs broke when she kicked them and twisted them the wrong way.

The young woman did a back flip and kicked one of the intruders in the face in the process. Breathing heavily as she stood up again, she punched the last one without turning to look at him.

"Ad…Adalina…"

At the sound of her master's pained voice, Adalina quickly turned and went over to a weakened Ciel. There was a small red stain seeping through the back of his opened white shirt. She knew it was inappropriate of her to see her master in a state of undress, but she was not about to go get Sebastian. It wouldn't be the first time she had ever seen Ciel shirtless anyway since she had previously helped him dress when Sebastian had 'died'.

She tentatively lifted his shirt up and wanted to throw up upon the sight that greeted her. It wasn't that she was disgusted by the blood but by the sheer cruelty of what the men had done to him.

They had carved open the brand on his back he had received during his month in captivity.

Adalina gently lifted Ciel up into her arms, careful to avoid the wound. If she ever ran into Lukas again, she would do whatever it took to make him suffer the same pain he had indirectly inflicted on her master.

One of the men weakly lifted his head up and attempted to inch towards her. "What kind of servant are you?"

Keeping Ciel firm in her arms, she kicked the intruder as hard as she could and then stomped on his face, breaking his nose.

She was a Phantomhive servant.

She carried Ciel to his bedroom and set him down on the bed. Then she motioned to him that she would return shortly.

Being particularly cautious about running to Sebastian since she had been avoiding him for the better part of the last week (and he had clearly also been avoiding her), she retrieved some cloths, cream, and bandages so she could care for his injury.

Then she returned to Ciel's room and helped him take the stained white shirt off.

With one of the wet cloths, she dabbed at the wound to clean it. Ciel tensed in pain but didn't stop her.

She then lightly rubbed the cream onto it to help it heal faster before securing a small bandage over top of it that wouldn't stick to it.

After the wound had been taken care of, she helped him redress.

"Thank you," Ciel said quietly. "You handled all of this very well. I'm very impressed that you managed to take out all of those men."

Adalina politely curtseyed in acknowledgment.

"Have Sebastian take care of them."

Adalina curtseyed again albeit hesitantly, something that did not escape Ciel's notice.

"Is there something wrong between you two?"

Adalina gave him a small smile and shook her head.

Because unlike Sebastian, she could lie.