Hello! This chapter took quite a while, I apologize.

Also, I changed the picture for this story, (because apparently fanfiction is making changes that includes pictures...) and I know it is Elizabeth Middleford, but I thought that the picture kind of fits Samantha as well. Please don't hurt me for it! ^_^

Anywho, enjoy. Ciel and Sebastian make their appearance in this chapter!

thewhateverqueen :3

"Jack the Ripper? Hm, that's an interesting name. I think that the queen is setting me up for failure on this one, don't you, Ophelia? It seems like a challenging case. Shouldn't she send her guard dog for this, rather than me?"

"She is sending her guard dog, my lady. Apparently, according to this letter, she wants to see how well you work together."

"Ophelia, why didn't you tell me this earlier? Don't you think that that is an important piece of information?" I propped my chin up on my hands, my eyebrows raised. I stared at Ophelia, who has a devilish smirk playing on her lips.

"I didn't think to tell you until now, my Lady."

"But you read me the letter from the queen! You said that the information about her guard dog was in that very letter!"

"I may have skipped over that part. It was merely an accident."

"Sometimes, Ophelia, I really would just love to cut out your tongue. Let me see the letter for myself." I grabbed it from her gloved hand, and placed it gently on the desk in front of me. It read:

"Baroness Samantha Augustus,

It has come to my attention, and I'm sure to yours as well, that a man by the name of Jack the Ripper has begun to brutally murder young women, by means of slitting their throats before mutilating their abdomens and removing internal organs. We do not know who this "Jack" is, or how to stop him, so that is where you come in.

I am assigning you to this case. I have also assigned Earl Ciel Phantomhive to be your partner. I did this simply to see how well the two of you work together.

I am counting on you two to stop these awful crimes.

Victoria"

Sighing, I folded the letter and sat it neatly on a stack of other opened letters. "Ophelia, please send a note to Earl Phantomhive, to invite him here." I smoothed my hair absentmindedly.

"I could do that, my lady, but the Earl has already sent one, inviting you to his manor." I glared at her in disbelief, while she smiled happily. "In fact, we will be departing for the Phantomhive manor in two hours, so I suggest you let me ready you for the trip. He insists that you should stay for a few days. I have already packed a suitcase for you."

I got up from my chair slowly, and strode over to the study door. Without turning around to face her, I hissed, "Someday, Ophelia, I swear."

"What about it? Someday I'll feast on your soul, I know that. That's a fact that can never be changed. Well, almost never. But we shouldn't discuss this now. We have a visit with Earl Phantomhive to prepare for." She sang, following behind me.

Sometimes I really hate myself for making a contract with a demon with an attitude.

…

"Is that the Phantomhive manor there, Ophelia? Is that where we'll be staying?"

"I believe so, my lady. I trust that Mr. Oliver knows where he's going, so I'm sure that this is the place." We came to a slow stop, and I heard the stable hand and coachman jump down from the front seat, his feet landing in the dirt with a loud smack. He opened the door, a smile on his boyish face lighting up his features.

"May I take your hand, Lady Samantha?" It took all of my inner strength not to blush. Before Ophelia could intervene, I quickly placed my hand in his. He helped me out of the carriage before helping Ophelia as well. I thanked him, and he bowed to me in response, his right hand over his heart.

I, Samantha Rosemary Augustus, have handsome boys of sixteen and seventeen bowing and bending to my every will, and I am just thirteen. I suppose I should not be surprised, but I am, nonetheless.

"Oliver. Do you really have to jump from the seat like a child? There is a step, you know. You are most certainly not a child, even if you do act like one," Ophelia chided, my suitcase in her arms.

"Greetings, and welcome to Phantomhive manor," A voice interrupted Oliver before he could get out one word. "I am Earl Ciel Phantomhive, but you may call me Ciel. This is my butler, Sebastian Michaelis. Welcome, Baroness Samantha Augustus and company." A boy my age, wearing fancy clothes of royal blue and a black eye patch over his right eye, approached me. He tossed his steel blue hair coolly, a coy grin upon his face.

"Thank you very much, Ciel. You may call me Samantha. Calling each other titles such as Earl or Baroness simply subtracts precious seconds from the time we could be using to help the queen and stop the murders, correct?" I smiled genuinely, laughing internally at my own eagerness. "Ah, I have forgotten! This is Ophelia Polonius, my maid. Next to her is Oliver. He is my coachman. It is a pleasure to meet you, Ciel. And you as well, Mr. Sebastian. I am thoroughly thankful that you invited me to stay at your manor. I hope I won't be a burden," I curtsied, a smile never leaving my lips.

"The pleasure is all mine, Samantha. It is no problem, you will not be a burden. Sebastian, will you please take Samantha, Ophelia, and Oliver's suitcases, and show all three to their rooms? I will be waiting in the garden for afternoon tea. It would make me happy if you would join me, Samantha. Sebastian?"

"Yes, my lord." The butler bowed before taking our bags. We followed him into the large manor house. When we were left alone, Oliver in his own room, and Ophelia and I in mine, I could finally speak my mind.

"Good grief. I don't know about you, Ophelia, but I'm going to become very tired of being polite very fast." I sat down on the bed, rubbing my temples. "That boy, Ciel, there's something odd about him and his butler. Did you take a look at that man, Sebastian? He looks a bit suspicious. What do you think?"

"I agree, my lady, with everything. I have looked closely at him, and you are right. He just seems too perfect."

"Indeed. I'm just worried…You know why. He, what if he's…" I wrung my hands together on my lap as I sat on the bed.

"Understood." Ophelia nodded. "What are my orders?"

"Investigate this Sebastian Michaelis. Figure out why he's so perfect. Use whatever means that you must." I undid the invisible buttons on the bust of my dress to reveal my pale stomach. The demonic black symbol around my bellybutton began to glow an intense blue. "That is an order!"

Ophelia bowed, her hand over her heart. "Yes, my lady."

As Ophelia redid my buttons, I sighed loudly. "Let us go to tea now. We wouldn't want to keep them waiting, now would we?"

…

"Today we have a jasmine tea, served with petit fours and scones. Enjoy." Sebastian served us our tea, with little of Ophelia's help.

"Mr. Sebastian, you should have let me help you prepare tea! I would have loved to assist you." She called out sweetly, almost making me gag.

"Oh, no. You are a guest. I could never ask you to do such a thing."

Ophelia smiled shyly. "I insist. I am a maid, I should be able to help with these things. Please let me help you next time, okay?" Sebastian nodded once, a faint smile present on his face.

"If you wish, madam." I watched and listened to this spectacle in disgust. Was this how she was going to coax information out of him? By acting like a silly, clueless girl? I never thought that she, of all people, would do such a thing.

"Samantha, what do you know of this case?" A voice brought me out of my thoughts. Ciel sipped his tea casually, looking at me intently with his bright blue eye.

"Not much more than you already know, I suppose. I have no one to investigate, no leads to follow, if that is what you were wondering."

Ciel chuckled. "That is okay. I have someone to investigate. A man by the name of Aleister Chamber, the Viscount of Druitt."

"Ah, the one who is always throwing parties?"

"Yes, indeed. We, Sebastian, two acquaintances of mine, and I, have come up with a plan to see if he is the one who is kidnapping and murdering the women."

"Acquaintances? Shouldn't I know who they are, since I am your partner?"

"Oh yes, I do apologize. They are my aunt, Madame Red, and Lau. Lau owns an international trading company. Both of them help me when I am on missions for the queen on occasion. I'm sure that you will meet them soon."

"I see. Now, do go on. What is your plan?"

"We will attend an upcoming party that the Viscount of Druitt is hosting. I will be dressed as a girl, and my job is to get his attention, to see if he will try to capture me."

"Don't you think that I should be the one to try to get his attention, since I am actually a female, and you are not? Why go to the trouble to dress as a woman when you have one sitting across the table from you?"

"We do not want to put you into any danger, Miss Augustus."

"Well, I thank you for thinking of me, Sebastian, but I am stronger than you think I am. I will be fine." I argued, upset that they would not let me take part, simply because I am a girl and I might get hurt. What do they take me for, a child?

"No, I insist, Samantha, you let me do this. We have already assigned you an important role!"

"Oh? And what is this important role?" My temper was flaring.

"You will keep watch, and alert Sebastian if the Viscount takes me. It is very important. We would never make you completely useless, Samantha, I promise." I only rolled my eyes and took a bite of a petit four.

"I dearly apologize for my mistresses' behavior. She does not like the fact that others look down on her because she is female. She'll get over it eventually." Ophelia offered a weak smile, stepping closer to me to put a hand on my shoulder, wordlessly telling me to stop slouching and sit like a lady.

Unhappily I obliged, sitting up and crossing my legs nicely.

"Oh no, it is okay. I understand. I feel that way about being treated like a child." Ciel laughed softly, folding his hands with his elbows on the table and resting his chin on them. "It is perfectly fine." His smile seemed fake, and practiced. I couldn't help but feel upset, perhaps he was truly angry with me. Or maybe he has trouble with producing a genuine smile. Who knows?

"Fine, okay. You will dress as a woman, I will stand watch and alert Sebastian if you and the Viscount go missing. I can do that. Ah, we have an issue. Ophelia, you did not pack any party-appropriate dresses, did you?"

Ophelia shook her head. "No, my lady, I did not. I apologize."

"Do not worry about that. My fiance, Elizabeth Middleford, is very fond of dresses. I'm sure she would be delighted to let you wear one of her many outfits for one night. Although, we do not want her knowing about this charade…Hm, that could pose as a problem. Sebastian, any ideas?"

Ophelia interrupted quickly. "It is no problem for me to run back to the estate and get you a dress, my lady. It would not take me that long."

I nodded. "That is true. Later I will tell you exactly which one I would like, alright?" Ophelia nodded as well and stepped back. "Problem solved. Wonderful. Is there anything else we need to discuss about the party?" I cocked my head to the side, a small gesture I had picked up from my sister when I was younger. Whenever I asked her about it, she would say that it made women look more innocent, and would make them more attractive to men. I wasn't looking to draw in Ciel, but I simply do it without thinking. With that motion, I saw a sly grin and something I couldn't quite identify in his eye, for just a moment.

"No, I do not think so. It is not until Wednesday, and it is Monday today, correct? We can discuss more about it tomorrow. Does that sound okay, Samantha?"

I smiled. "Yes, that is perfectly fine. Shall we finish our tea, then?"

"Indeed. I'd hate to leave you alone, but I do have some work that I must accomplish for the Funtom company today. If you would like, perhaps you could sit in my study with me, and keep me company? It is entirely your decision. I understand that you have your own business, as well…" Ciel stared at me with a slightly curious expression.

I bit my lip, trying to decide what to do. "I actually do not have anything for my company that I have to accomplish…So, yes, I suppose I will keep you company. I have an excellent book that I am currently reading, perhaps I could sit and read that for a while. Will that be okay?"

"Perfect, yes, that would be fine."

And so started my friendship with Ciel Phantomhive. He is a quite curious person. When he smiled I could tell that it was not genuine, it was simply there to humor me. The somewhat saddened expression in his eye on occasion confused me to no end. I wondered for the longest time what troubled him, why he could not truly smile, why it never reached his eyes.

…

It is the night of the Viscount's party. The evening before, Ophelia had literally ran back to my estate to fetch my royal purple gown, complete with matching shoes and hair ribbons. She fixed my hair in tight curls, the ringlets tumbling down my back.

When I was completely ready, I realized I was finished very early. I decided to see how dressing Ciel up like a woman was going for both he and Sebastian. As I approached Ciel's bedroom door, I heard groans and muttered curses. I stood there at the door for a moment, confused. Then I knocked on the door briskly, calling out, "Ciel? Sebastian? Is everything okay?" There was silence immediately after that.

It took a minute or two, but the door finally opened, and Sebastian stood in the doorway, smiling mischievously. "Everything is fine, Miss Augustus. I was simply tightening my little lord's corset." I burst into a fit of laughter, my cheeks turning bright red, redder than the blush Ophelia had applied. Ciel appeared next to the butler in the corset and boxer shorts, looking very angry, his cheeks red as well.

"It is not funny! How do you survive wearing these things all the time?" He had a crazed look in his eye. I noticed that he was not wearing his eye patch, his hair was just covering the right eye.

"After a while I got used to the pain. It's really not all that bad anymore. The first time I wore one was awful, though. I sounded a bit like you did earlier. By the way, those noises were quite beautiful. I really thought you were being murdered in there."

Ciel did not find that very amusing. Sebastian, however, continued to smile. He looked very pleased with the torture he inflicted on his little master.

"You're lucky I'm not murdering you at this very moment."

I giggled. "Ooh, Ciel, I'm so scared! Sebastian, help me! I'm terrified!" I put my hands on my hips, laughing softly. "Now, finish getting ready. I don't have much patience and I hate waiting! Au revoir! See you later." Waving over my shoulder, I walked back from where I came. Maybe staying at the Phantomhive manor wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would be when I first arrived. It was turning out to be quite an entertaining visit, to say the least.

But I am more scared than anything about going to the Viscount of Druitt's party. What if I am the one he will target, instead of Ciel? I would have to just wait and see how things played out, no matter how frightened I was…