Hello. Here's another chapter after about...a long time.
Elizabeth Midford
"Hurry up!" Ciel's voice echoed from downstairs. Suddenly, there was a loud and long snarl from an unidentifiable creature.
Elizabeth grasped the sword tighter and running down the stairs, as best as possible in a dress, she immediately turned to face the beast. However, it wasn't in the lobby where she thought it would be.
In fact, everything was intact besides the doors, which were completely ripped off of the hinges, and the windows, which were shattered.
"Ciel!" She yelled. The manor was eerily quiet, considering that there was a deranged demon stomping around. Perhaps it was trying to sneak up on her...?
Cautiously Elizabeth walked towards the dining room, the doors closed. She could feel her heart beating erratically and and quickly. Taking a calming breath, she flung open the doors...
...Only to find the room empty.
Where on earth did they disappear to? How could a monster disappear so easily?
Just as this thought crossed her mind, a ferocious roar pierced the air. Elizabeth whirled around to see the creature holding Ciel in one of it's strange hooked hands.
Elizabeth immediately took one look at the creature and felt a wave of pure terror wash over her. This monster was indeed from the very depths of Hell. It was not some creature that she could fight and hope to win against.
She had to help Ciel, but felt too weak to carry even her own weight and the weight of the sword in her shaking hands.
"Let-Let him go!" She called, giving a brave attempt at bravado to the creature. It's eyes were the bright red of blood. It's mouth was dripping in blood, and the scent of death emanated from it.
Quite suddenly, it opened it's mouth and let loose a blood-curdling scream.
Elizabeth yelped in pain, and dropping the sword, she covered her ears. When she pulled her hands away, she felt the sticky feeling of blood. The thing's scream was so loud, it had made her ears literally bleed.
"Help me. Please." She muttered dazed, looking at the blood on her hands. "Please..."
The creature took a step forward, the wood cracking under the force of its feet.
"No..." Elizabeth took a shaky breath, her vision beginning to tunnel. "No...no."
The creature raised it's hand towards Elizabeth a suddenly spoke in a voice that was the embodied voice of death.
Come to me...Elizabeth Midford.
Elizabeth felt an odd tugging sensation on her head, and instantly memories flooded her mind without her consent. Of her when she was a little girl, crying over a broken toy. Her when she was 8 and attending the funeral of her grandmother. Her in her preteen years, yearning after her fiance Ciel-
You hold a fondness for this demon?
It spoke suddenly, a hint of amusement in it's voice. Elizabeth watched, slightly fascinated and horrified by the creature's movements.
It moved with the grace and poise of a ballet dancer. It's speed was beyond anything Elizabeth had ever seen. Though disgusting it looked, it still held a strange and eerie sense of elegance about itself.
Slowly, the creature began lift Ciel higher towards the ceiling. Ciel's face was calm and serene. He looked so peaceful when asleep. His emotionless face did not match what was happening to him at the moment. Had he been awake, he would've fought against whatever the creature was attempting to do.
My Lord will be pleased with a sacrifice. A demon of this caliber cannot go unnoticed.
It's face twisted into an even more horrible grin of joy.
How foolish this boy was to think that he'd not be noticed by us. How foolish was his demon friend to aid him in hiding from us. The same demon who has fled from here. How foolish you are to place your faith in him. Can you not see how weak he is?
Elizabeth took a shaky breath, tears blurring the creature before her. "He's...not weak." She murmured, not breaking eye contact with the thing.
It laughed, a laugh that sounded like a thousand knives scraping against a blackboard.
Not weak?! You misplace your faith, mortal!
Again Elizabeth fought against the rising fear in her chest to speak against it. "I have never misplaced my faith. I believe in him. I trust him." She rasped, her throat becoming dry, the tears falling down her porcelain cheeks and landing in splotches on her dress.
You would have done better with me as your demon. We could have formed a contract, and you could've ruled the world. With me at your side-
"Ciel is not my demon." Elizabeth interrupted. "He belongs to no one. He never has, and never will-"
The demon you call "Ciel" has no contract with you?
It spoke in what Elizabeth assumed was a confused voice. "No, I have never held a contract with any of your kind. Nor shall I ever."
It cocked it's head at Elizabeth, and dropped Ciel's body.
Then we shall make a contract now. What is it you desire, mortal?
"I-" The creature was completely focused upon her, and she could feel the malice and death that radiated from it waves. It made her sick.
"I will not." She spoke with a brave voice for the first time to the monster.
You will not...?
"I refuse. Leave this house. Now."
It laughed again, this time throwing it's head back and splattering blood across the walls from it's mouth.
How amusing! A mortal refusing a contract... with me?!
Suddenly, Elizabeth fell to her knees as it's hateful rage was directed at her. It caused her physical pain all over her body. It felt as if she was burning up.
"In the name of God, you will leave this house!" She screamed desperately, not realizing her exact words.
The monster suddenly froze.
What are you doing...?! It yelled inside her head.
"I command thee, in the name of the Lord God from the Heavenly thrones above, that you leave here!" She spoke again even louder, the veins in her neck popping out.
The thing stumbled slightly, and roared it's displeasure.
God cannot save you. It snarled.
'You're right..." Elizabeth thought, rather than spoke. Both her and the monster were surprised seeing as her voice inside her own head was loud and commanding. Her voice sounded like a thousand harps playing the same perfect note. She sounded brave and strong. 'God cannot save me...Only I can."
She held out her hand, in front of the creature and clenched her hand tightly into a fist.
How is this possible?! It yelled, as the ground around it cracked revealing a dark hole beneath. No mortal should have powers such as these...This should've been impossible.
"Go back to your rightful place...in Hell, burning with the rest of your siblings."
NO!
The thing clawed at the ground in a desperate attempt to hold on to the wooden ledge. Elizabeth walked over to it.
From the pit, she could hear the anguished cries of people burning. A wave of nausea passed over her as she caught the scent of pure unadulterated evil.
I will find you and take your soul for myself! I will never stop until I have your heart and soul in my hands! It yelled, spraying her in the face with the blood from it's mouth.
The blood hit her face and dress, and sizzled against the cool fabric, and her soft cool skin. She could feel the hot inferno from down below as if she was standing right in it even though she was far away from it.
Elizabeth somehow found her strength to look down at the creature. Placing her right foot on it's clawed hand, she used it as leverage to bend over and whisper in it's ear.
"I have no heart." She said, smiling sadly. "I lost it long ago...to a man who'd never love me."
Suddenly, the creature's face went slack-jawed as Elizabeth stood up and rammed the heel of her shoe onto the thing's clawed hand.
It released it's grip on the ledge, and fell into the black hole screaming curses at her. The moment the thing disappeared, Elizabeth fell to her knees at the edge of the still open pit into Hell.
The screams and cries of the damned echoed up to her from below to where she knelt in a pool of blood.
Whether it was hers or not, she was unsure.
Ciel lay in the same place that he was dropped previously, and the rest of the household were no where in her sight.
"Ciel..." She muttered, staring at the fiery hole. Had she created that...? She needed to help him...what if he fell in...?
Ciel stirred slightly, then suddenly shot to his feet. Blinking a few times, the wounds he had began to heal before her eyes.
There, he was safe and healing. Good.
"Elizabeth." Ciel was suddenly holding Elizabeth, for she had finally collapsed. Her entire body was weak and weary. She was unable to find the strength to pull herself up on her feet and away from Ciel's strong arms. Instead she settled for trying to find out what she'd done.
"What...did I-?"
"Quiet. Don't speak." He interrupted, cradling her. Had Elizabeth been awake and not so tired, she'd slapped him immediately for holding her so intimately and closely to him.
"But...how did...this..." She slowly stopped speaking as the last of her remaining strength failed her. She could merely stay awake and relax into Ciel.
Ciel. He was okay.
Gently, he put his hands under her legs and under her back and then stood up, carrying Elizabeth.
"I can...walk." She murmured quietly.
"I don't think so."
He carried her through the destroyed front doors, and down the cracked stone stairs.
"Stop treating...me like a...child." She whispered, and attempted to swing her legs to the floor.
"I'm not treating you like a child. I'm treating you as an injured human."
"But...I'm not hurt..."
Ciel pursed his lips. Contrary to what she what may believe, Ciel knew that there was something wrong with her. She was as pale as a dead body, and though there was no visible sign of injury, something had happened.
Something to do with that pit she'd opened...
Somehow, Elizabeth Midford had managed to open a portal to Hell itself. Either this drained her of her energy...or something more sinister.
Ciel couldn't get the image out of his mind, seeing her fall to the ground, not attempting to break her fall or anything, caused something inside of him to break.
Seeing her hurt because of his world, made something inside of him hurt.
Though he'd been formerly human, being a demon for those few years made it much harder to discern emotions. So the emotion he was feeling now...?
Was it guilt that he dragged her into his world? Was it guilt for leaving all though years? Was it guilt for letting that monster hurt her-
His dead heart seemed to flinch, which was unusual considering that demons controlled every body part, and Ciel did not authorize his heart to jump as it did.
Her. Elizabeth.
Looking down at the small blonde woman in his arms, he felt a wave of emotion pass over him. What was it-?
Protectiveness. Endearment. Attachment.
He almost fell when he somehow recognized these emotions without much soul-searching (Which is morbidly ironic, as he has no soul...).
But there was something else there too. This was an emotion he'd never encountered before. It seemed familiar in an odd sort of way though from where it originated from was another question altogether.
He began to sift through the memories of his human past. He remembered everything clearly and perfectly-
His parents. When they were still alive. That was an emotion similar to what he was feeling about Elizabeth now. Though what he felt about her was slightly different...
"You love her."
Ciel whirled around to William, Elizabeth's butler. Though her butler was in fact dead-
"Yes, I killed him. His soul was nice. I planned to take her soul-" Demon William gestured to the dozing Elizabeth. "-But then realized that her soul had already been claimed by another."
"What?" Ciel responded, a little bit undignified. "I don't understand you."
"Well, to simplify things for you youngling, time in Hell is much faster than time on Earth. I was in Hell for approximately 562 years, 98 days, 6 hours, and 54 seconds. And I just managed to pop back to where you two are."
Ciel tightened his grip on Elizabeth as Demon William took a step forward.
Demon Will chuckled. "I could smell her beautiful soul for miles. Her soul is so...enticing." He licked his lips, and stared longingly at her sleeping face.
"However, when she last spoke to me, I realized that a claim had been laid upon her by another already."
Ciel narrowed his eyes.
Demon William laughed. "You were the one that claimed her boy!"
Ciel's eyes widened in shock. "What on Earth are you-?"
"You claimed her when you were human. You were supposed to be wed, but I can obviously see..." He cast an appraising glance at Ciel's left hand. "That that did not happen."
"The marriage pact between you two that was supposed to happen, still exists. Neither of you completed the pact, but that didn't make it disappear. Not by a long shot. It's still there. Just as your love for her is."
Ciel frowned. "So...you'll leave her alone then?"
Demon William chuckled darkly. "I can't make any promises. Her mortal body looks just as appealing as-"
Ciel's eyes turned pink, and he subconsciously snarled at the demon.
"Oh well. I was too late sadly..." The demon saluted Ciel sarcastically. "Farewell youngling. Until we meet again." With a slight wave, he erupted into flames and disappeared into the night.
Ciel breathed a sigh of relief, then looked down at Elizabeth.
The demon had said he loved her. It seemed almost too easy, that a demon of his caliber would leave Elizabeth alone just because of a silly thing that it called "love".
Ciel didn't believe in love...Though if that demon did, he better start to as well.
Love...He studied Elizabeth's face. Is that what he felt for her?
She looked so serene, just like the other night in the cemetery. Huh...she better not make it a habit, this passing out in the face of death and fear.
He smiled to himself, and again felt that unusual feeling in his heart. Looking at her made him feel this way. He sort of liked this feeling. If this was what love was, he decided he wanted it.
Slowly, and gently, he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead. Again his heart moved of it's own accord, stuttering inside of his chest.
The demon part of him was extremely pleased with Ciel's decision to make her his. And though he might be putting her in danger with his love, he'd also protect from any harm.
That was when Ciel Phantomhive found out how to love again. That was when Ciel Phantomhive fell in love with Elizabeth Midford.
A little bit of fluff for you as compensation for my late and irregular updating. I love you. Sorry.