Sebastian began to re-train Adalina nearly every day in between chores. Unconsciously, she remembered everything he had taught her. Her mind didn't remember learning anything, but her muscles certainly did.
During some of the times he was re-teaching her self-defense, he would see her hand go to her waist to grab something that wasn't there. It appeared that her arm knew that a weapon was supposed to be at her waist and she kept trying to grab the nonexistent object. Since Adalina didn't remember that she used a whip against attackers, the whip was not at her side.
Once she had gained back most of her knowledge of fighting, he gave her her whip back and began retraining her to use the weapon. It came to her even faster than before seeing as her body had not forgotten those lessons either.
Sebastian was quite pleased at her quick progress.
But he was even more pleased that Adalina finally wasn't scared of him anymore. While fighting each other may not have been the most romantic thing for them to do, it did allow him to touch her again.
He savored each and every second her body touched his, even if those touches were nothing more than attempted attacks against him in order for her to perfect her skills.
Adalina hung up some laundry in the yard to dry, satisfied that she was coming along so well in her training times with Sebastian. The more she worked with him, the more her memories of training with him before came back to her. She still didn't remember anything else, but maybe if she just continued working normally, the rest of her memories would soon return to her.
She picked up the laundry basket that contained the clean clothes and sheets she had taken down that were ready to be put away. Then she started to head inside.
Suddenly, one of the laundry lines snapped off one of the posts. It whipped across Adalina's back, and though it didn't slice very deep into her skin at all, she froze.
The laundry basket dropped from her hands, the clean linens inside sprawling everywhere.
She wasn't in the yard at the manor anymore. Her mind had quickly taken her back into that room where she was whipped when she got caught stealing. Laughter from the men echoed in her ears and reverberated around in her brain.
Her legs gave out and she sank to the ground.
"Adalina?" Finnian said in confusion when he saw the young woman on the ground, the laundry basket toppled over next to her. He slowly approached her. "Are you okay?"
The head maid gave no response. She continued to stare blankly ahead of her.
"Adalina?"
She still did not show any sign that she had heard him or even saw him in front of her. Her breathing was heavy but not fast, as if she was trying to catch her breath after running for a long time.
Afraid of making things worse if he did anything to her, Finnian quickly went to go retrieve Sebastian. Sebastian always knew what to do.
"Mr. Sebastian!" he called frantically.
"What did you do now, Finny?" Sebastian sighed.
"No, it's not me! Something's wrong with Adalina."
Sebastian didn't wait for Finnian to explain the situation further. He quickly went out to the yard and saw the same scene the gardener had witnessed.
He slowly knelt in front of the young woman.
Adalina could feel a small line of blood making its way down her back.
Loud deep laughter filled her senses. Then someone slowly counting up joined the noise. The numbers were drawn out, the person taking his time in between each of them.
Adalina waited for the pain to hit her back again. She waited for more skin to break to join the other lacerations, both healed and fresh.
"Adalina…"
Another voice mixed in with the laughter and the numbers.
She knew that voice. That tender voice.
That's right. She wasn't alone with her captors. She wasn't being whipped. She hadn't been captive for a long time.
"Adalina…"
The same voice broke through the sounds once more.
She focused on that voice, making it her tether to reality. The more she focused on that voice, the more the laughter and the numbers faded away.
Adalina slowly blinked her eyes.
Kneeling in front of her was Sebastian.
His gloved hands were pressed against the sides of her face, gently holding her head in his hands.
"There you are," he smiled.
Adalina lightly pressed one of her hands to his.
Some part of her knew that this wasn't the first time this had happened. She had a distinct feeling that Sebastian had done something like this with her before.
As she met his crimson eyes, she also knew that this experience was not as bad as whatever had happened previously.
No matter what had happened that she couldn't recall, she knew that from now on, she didn't have to worry about losing herself to her past again.
Because even if something triggered a memory, she knew she didn't have to be afraid. Not when she was working alongside four other servants who would do anything to protect her.
Adalina was working outside when noises behind her caused her to turn around. A man with the brightest red hair she had ever seen in her life leapt down to stand in front of her. What caused her concern was not so much his sharp teeth but the large saw-like thing resting on his shoulder.
"To think an insignificant little thing like you would give me so much trouble," the man said with a scowl.
Her brow furrowed in confusion. Was this another person who knew her who she just couldn't remember? She could almost put her finger on it…
"I'm rather glad you appeared on my list! If anyone deserves to reap your soul, it's me."
Adalina wondered if he had recently visited Lau's opium den she had overheard Ciel talking about recently and spent a bit too much time there.
"How could someone like you steal my Bassy from me?! You're just a pathetic human who doesn't even talk!"
She guessed that 'Bassy' referred to Sebastian. What did he mean that she stole him away from him?
"You deserve everything I'm about to do to you! How dare someone like you get in the way of our love!"
The man started up the saw so it moved around in deadly circles.
Clearly, this man was not completely sane. And the weapon he held in his hands made him even more dangerous.
Adalina skillfully dodged the saw as he attempted to bring it down on her.
She quickly grabbed her whip tied at her waist. The two engaged in battle between whip and chainsaw.
Adalina did her best to dodge the mysterious weapon and attempt to take it from the man's hands if she could. The saw came too close to her several times and while it didn't do any serious damage, she did pick up a lot of wounds.
The young woman flung her whip at him and caught one of his hands. When he yanked on it, she used the propulsion to swing herself up onto his shoulders. She carefully dodged the chainsaw when he tried to hit her with it while she was on top of him. When he threw his hand up, she grabbed the chainsaw from him and tossed it away from them.
The added weight on his shoulders caused him to lose his balance, and they both went crashing down to the ground. Adalina retrieved her whip and went to crack it towards him again. However, a long pole appeared out of nowhere, and the whip wrapped around that rather than heading for the man.
When Adalina looked up, she saw a very stoic man dressed in a suit standing atop one of the tree branches.
"Honestly…" he said in a deep monotone voice. He retracted the tool letting the whip fall slack again. He then nimbly hopped down from the tree to stand beside the redhead. When he got a good look at Adalina, he politely averted his eyes.
Adalina looked down and saw that her maid uniform had been shredded in several places by the man's strange weapon during their fight. It didn't reveal anything extremely indecent but definitely more than was appropriate. She crossed her arms over her chest in embarrassment.
The stoic man removed his suit jacket and handed it to her, still not looking at her. Adalina slowly took the jacket from him and put it on to cover herself, wondering who these two men were and why they carried such peculiar tools and had strange abilities.
"Please forgive us," he said in the same monotone voice. "Grim Reapers are usually not so unprofessional."
Had she just heard that right? Grim Reapers?
Surprisingly to her, she accepted it quickly. If demons existed, why not Grim Reapers?
"My name is William T. Spears. We have never officially met, but you've run into one of our Reapers before, a Lukas Everett."
Adalina looked at him blankly. She didn't recall ever meeting a Lukas Everett or even a Grim Reaper before. But then she didn't recall a lot of things.
William glared at the redhead. "What do you think you're doing, Sutcliff?"
The mention of the surname made her realize why the man seemed so familiar. This guy was the awful butler who had worked for Ciel's aunt, Madam Red!
He was actually a Grim Reaper all this time?
"I'm working!" Grell insisted. "Really, Will, I am!"
"Is she even on the list?"
"Yes! Ronald informed me of who she was when he saw her name! He told me my darling Bassy was in love with her!"
"You know as well as I do that demons do not love, and they certainly don't love humans."
Even as William said it, he didn't believe his own words. If Sebastian didn't love Adalina, he wouldn't have punched Lukas in the face on her behalf or come to seek his help only after she had been hurt. How the demon had fallen in love, he didn't know nor did he care.
"Let me see your list," William demanded.
Grell obediently handed him his small book full of the names of humans whose souls needed to be reaped.
William glanced at it before calmly but sharply hitting Grell with his pruner.
"What was that for?!" Grell exclaimed.
"The soul you are supposed to reap is Adaline, you incompetent fool. This is Adalina. Didn't you work with this woman before?"
"Ronald was the one who led me to believe it was her."
"You are both idiots. Though your time spent at this manor was strictly forbidden, you should have at least known you were attempting to reap the wrong soul. Go back to the Grim Reaper Dispatch. You are going to be seriously demoted for this infraction."
"What?!"
"Meanwhile, I now have to work overtime, and I so loathe overtime." William turned to Adalina and gave her a small bow. "My apologies for the grief he has caused you. I am now in your debt. If you need anything of me, I shall comply to your wishes within reason." He handed her a small business card with his name on it before turning back to Grell. "Get moving."
"But I never got to see Bassy!"
"You're not going to be seeing anyone for a while."
William grabbed the back of his coat leapt into the air with him.
"Bassy, my love!" Grell called as he was taken away. "I shall return for you! Wait for me!"
William rolled his eyes.
He spared a glance back at Adalina for a moment. She was rather impressive for a human. To do what she had done with a Reaper was no ordinary feat. She had a will to survive that far surpassed any other human he had seen before. When the time came to reap her soul, that Reaper was probably going to have to face quite the challenge. He would have to make sure to assign one of his more experienced Reapers to her.
Adalina looked up and watched the Reapers go. Their earlier words ran through her head over and over again. The possibility was slim, but if Grell was speaking the truth…was Sebastian really in love with her even if demons didn't love?