Elizabeth Midford
The screams of anguish and terror filled every crevice and pore of my body. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up, and tendrils of electricity raced across my body. Looking out, I could see for miles...Every man, woman, child, creature, and beast that had been damned to an eternity in this godforsaken land of flames and blood.
'Help us...' They cried from below. I was standing atop of a hill, staring at the eyeless corpses crawling towards me.
Their bodies dragged painfully across the grass which was like salt on an open wound. Every cry of pain inflicted pain in my heart and soul. I wanted to help these people... If only I could move.
'Help...m..e...' I was able to slowly move my head to look down at the mangled body at my feet, tugging at my satin dress.
The body was completely destroyed. Sores covered the poor soul, and long gashes dripped blood.
I knelt down, feeling no fear, only pity for this poor creature. Though the body was destroyed, their eyes, the only eyes I seen in this place, reflected the pain they felt. The fear.
"Why...do...you do this...to us?" They moaned quietly. I frowned.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You are...the Queen...of this realm...Save us...Release us." They said, and suddenly the tight grip on my dress loosened, and their hand fell limply to the bloodied ground beside my feet.
The Queen? What on earth did they mean...?
"You are my Queen." A voice whispered in my ear.
I stood up, and turned around to see a beautiful man standing there. He wore a strange outfit, of an unusual type of black and red checkered shirt with a odd blue cloth on his legs. The word 'jeans' came to mind...Though I'm not sure why.
"Who are you?" I asked calmly.
The man chuckled, his eyes crinkling in amusement. I held back a gasp of fear seeing that his eyes were completely black as if his pupils had swallowed all color and life. The black pits of his eyes seemed to stretch on for an eternity, reaching into my soul and withdrawing all my secrets.
"We'll get to that." He offered out his hand to me saying, "Come with me now."
I frowned, staring at his outstretched hand. Though I sensed no malice or ill-will, something felt wrong.
"No thanks..." I said, watching his face to gauge his reaction. Even if I was out of my element here wherever this place was... I was used to assessing people the moment I met them to figure out their weaknesses and their personalities.
He chuckled again, then retracted his hand. "An overall wise decision Miss Phantomhive."
"Miss Phantomhive?" I raised an eyebrow.
"You belong to him. Ciel Phantomhive is to be your husband."
I blinked at him. "Belong? Excuse you, but I belong to no one." I snapped.
The man laughed, revealing rows of perfectly straight white teeth. "I see why he is drawn to you."
"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, disregarding his previous statement completely. I was beginning to feel annoyed by this man's cryptic behavior.
"You are very interesting Elizabeth." He said, suddenly behind my back. I whipped around to find that he was right behind me.
Before I could take a step back he stepped closer, his chest pressed against my breasts, his stomach against mine. He grasped both of my wrists in his large and smooth hands and held them above my head.
The erotic position made a unintentional blush crawl up my cheeks. "What are you doing?" I snarled glaring angrily at him, and struggled to free myself of his grasp.
However, his grip was vice-like, and escape proved impossible.
"Dance with me." He whispered, his cold breath feeling like a blessing in this land of blistering heat.
Suddenly, my hands were in his and his left hand was placed chastely on my waist. We were twirling about, across the bloody ground.
"Who are you?" I asked again. I was starting to get a bad feeling from this entire place.
He twirled he away from him, and I took that moment to speak again.
"Who are you?" I questioned, this time more insistently.
"I am Lucifer." Came his steady reply. I gasped, and ripped my hand away from him.
He smiled. "Are you afraid now?"
"Lucifer?!" I said my eyes widening. I stepped back, shaking. If he was the devil, then this place was-
"Yes my dear. This is what most of your mortals call 'Hell'. However, it's not nearly as bad as it is portrayed by your religions." He made a disgusted expression when he said 'religions'.
"I don't understand..." I said. Now instead of feeling fear, I began to recall my previous memories of the demon in Ciel's house and the ensuing battle...
"Am I dead?" I asked afraid. What would happen to my servants...? They'd be heartbroken...
"No, my dear. This is just a reflection of what is really just a watered down version of Hell for your human eyes." He replied. His left hand reached down and plucked a dead flower from the ground.
"In reality, had you actually witnessed the true nature of this place, you would immediately lose any little sanity you had left in your warm, fragile, mortal heart." Suddenly, the flower blurring before my eyes, and I blinked to fix my vision. I instantly regretted this decision, for the flower was no longer a flower, but a crude thing fashioned to look like a flower.
It was a human heart, with heart strings forming what I originally imagined was the stem. The "petals" were blades stabbed into the sides of it, forming a ring around the circumference.
I inhaled shakily. I needed to get out of here-
"I will allow you to leave when I see fit." Lucifer spoke, crushed the morbid flower into dust in his palm.
"Why am I here?" I asked, tearing my gaze from the knives, which fell to the ground from the heart.
"Because I need you to tell you beloved husband something for me." He replied instantly.
"I'm not-"
"Not as of yet." Slowly, he began to circle around me like a shark ready to eat it's prey. "You will be...You see, even though you were betrothed as mortals, that offer of betrothal still was binding, and that promise carried over to now. When a marriage proposal is offered to a demon, the demon usually will either claim the mortal, or eat them. In your case," He glanced at me. "You were claimed, and now you both are eternally bound until your marriage. There is no one, no mortal or demon that can break this vow."
He suddenly was in front of me, and grasped my left hand bringing it to his mouth and placing a kiss on it. My hand burned where his lips made contact, and I quickly yanked my hand away.
"No one...except for I."
"You...what?" I said. "But you just said-"
"No mortal or demon can break the vow. I fall into neither of those categories, thus I alone can break this vow."
I was silent, and pondered where exactly he was going with this. "So...would you break the marriage vow between us?"
"For a price, my dear." He snapped his fingers, and the crushed flower reassembled itself. It looked like a regular flower once again.
"Price?"
"Have you ever heard the ancient proverb, 'No such thing as a free lunch?' Everything has a price. Nothing is ever truly free. Like you humans...Always following the rules set to you by your human leaders." He suddenly sat down on a chair made of bones, that had not been there a few moments ago.
"Name your price."
Lucifer laughed, a warm hearty sound that still managed to sound scary and evil.
"Not a very good haggling strategy Miss Elizabeth!" He smiled, and gestured to the chair that appeared next to him.
"Sit, and we'll discuss terms."
I breathed slowly, but made no movement.
"Break the vow, and I'll do anything." I said.
"Anything my dear?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Anything." I responded firmly.
A delighted smile crossed his face, and his eyes burned with black fire.
"Excellent." He said standing up again, and making his way over to me. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly I felt an odd burning sensation on my left ring finger.
"Shit!" I cursed, and whipped my hand upward to cradle in my right.
I blew on my hand to cool it, and noticed a black ring with a black diamond. It was beautiful in a dark way.
"What is this?" I asked, and held up my hand to Lucifer who's attention was upon the people at the bottom of the hill, moaning pitiful cries of pain.
"Your ring."
"Why am I wearing a ring?" I snapped.
"Tell your formerly betrothed that you no longer belong to him." He replied, turning his back on me.
"What-?"
"Show him and his butler that ring. They'll understand." He said interrupting me.
"Why-?"
"When that soul told you that you were the Queen of this realm...They spoke the truth."
I remembered the person that had died holding my dress. The blood from their hands was still imprinted upon the bottom of the dress in bloody hand prints that smeared the bottom of the dress and stained it a deep red.
"How am I the Queen of this realm exactly?" I asked, looking around. Everything was becoming blurry...
"You are my soon-to-be-wife, my dear. In order to break one engagement, I had to make another."
My eyes widened in horror. Did he mean-?!
"Yes my dear. You will marry me, and you will live here in this realm until the end of days...with me."
"No..." I said, and stepped backwards. The world around me became blurrier by the second, and I blinked to clear my eyes of the haze.
"I will allow you three days to say your farewells to your loved ones in the mortal world."
Everything began to melt, and change before my eyes and I realized my mistake.
No living mortal eyes were meant to see Hell. And I was beginning to see details that I wished I didn't.
"You should feel honored. I don't often tie myself to mortals. I find them annoying and too fragile for this world." I shut my eyes, as I felt tears begin to sizzle and burn on my skin as they evaporated in the intense and blistering heat.
I heard a hiss, and I heard Lucifer's voice one last time before I awoke from this nightmare.
"Farewell my dear..." He hissed, and began to laugh the evilest laugh I have ever heard.
The screams increased in volume, and I felt hands pulling me downwards...ripping at my skin and tearing into flesh and muscle.
Ciel Phantomhive
"Elizabeth?" He asked gently to the woman on the love seat. She'd been turning and mumbling for the last few hours, and the most Ciel could do was continue to tend to her while she was unconscious.
It had been three days since the attack, and Ciel's realization that he, in fact, had feelings for the once lively little girl who was now serious and quiet. They were hiding in one of Ciel's parents' former summer homes. Of course, after Ciel's disappearance, all of his property was sold, excluding the manor since the manor was the servants' home as well as his.
So the summer home was in the name of Greysons. Whoever those people were...
"How is she?" Sebastian asked, entering the room carrying a pot of steaming tea.
"Still the same." Ciel replied in a tired voice. Since he'd carried her to this house, he hadn't let anyone else touch her at all. Nor had he let her out of his sight throughout their entire stay.
Elizabeth stirred slightly, and muttered quietly so that no human would've been able to hear but Ciel and Sebastian heard clearly.
"No..."
Ciel frowned, and saw Sebastian raise an eyebrow. Sebastian then set down the tea set, and poured a cup for him.
Suddenly, Elizabeth's eyes opened for the first time in three days and her mouth opened to let out a blood-curling scream of terror.
Her eyes were filled with pure fear, and held a crazy light in them.
"Elizabeth!" Ciel said immediately reaching her on the seat and sitting next to her. "What the hell-?"
"No!" She screamed, and moved away from him. She pulled her legs up to her chest, and wrapped her hands around them.
"Elizabeth, what is it?" Ciel asked again, only more gently this time.
Elizabeth was staring blankly past him, and at the door behind him.
"I'm going to marry Satan..." She murmured dazedly.
"What?"
Elizabeth slowly looked up at Ciel. He stared into her dead eyes, and felt a strange feeling of fear. She'd seen something bad...
"In order to break one engagement, he had to make another." She stated, almost trance-like, and revealed her left hand.
On it, was a black diamond resting on a black shiny metal band. She held out for a second longer, and then whipped her hand away and held it between her thighs.
"What is that?" Ciel asked frowning. He never recalled giving her a ring.
Suddenly, there was a loud clatter of the tea set as it was dropped upon the ground by Sebastian. Ciel turned around to see his butler with wide eyes, and a shocked expression upon his normally emotionless face.
It was quite off putting to see Sebastian looking so...scared.
"Sebastian, what is that ring? Have you seen it before?"
Sebastian didn't answer, and instead opted to continue staring at Elizabeth's hand which was now resting on her knee.
"Sebastian, I order you tell me-" Ciel began in annoyance.
"That is the Ring of Lucifer." Sebastian interrupted, his voice betraying no emotion. Though his scared expression told a different story.
"What is that exactly?" Ciel felt slightly annoyed by the fact that he knew absolutely nothing of what was going on. Meanwhile, both Sebastian and Elizabeth seemed to have some notion as to what was happening.
"I met the devil." Elizabeth stated suddenly. Both men turned to the woman on the love seat.
"You met Lucifer?" Sebastian said quietly.
"He said I had three days to say my good-byes to the people I love before...before..." Elizabeth took a shaky breath, then slowly spoke again. "Before I return to Hell and I marry him."
"Alright, hold on." Ciel said holding up a hand. "Start from the beginning. You're...marrying Lucifer?"
"This is not good." Sebastian murmured, ignoring Ciel. "What else did he say?" He asked, addressing Elizabeth.
"That's all he said. That's all..."
"What the hell is going on here?!" Ciel burst. Sebastian and Elizabeth turned to look at Ciel, and he immediately felt like a child.
"Lucifer has decided to wed Miss Elizabeth. He put his ring upon her finger which makes their marriage vow binding, and thus, making yours null and void."
"But why-?"
"Let me finish, my lord." Sebastian said. Ciel grunted in annoyance, but complied.
"Obviously, Miss Elizabeth asked for the wedding vow between you and her to be broken. In order for one vow to be broken-"
"Another must be made." Ciel muttered with a frown. He understood now. That was one of the main fundamentals a demon learned. This allowed one demon to take the prey of another. Though more often than not, this never happened. Demons were very territorial of their mortals. A good example of this rarity would be Sebastian's supposed abandonment of Eleanor Manners to the unnamed demon interested in Elizabeth.
Since she was now engaged to the King of the Hell, that demon would obviously no longer bother her.
"To break your engagement to me... You thought it would be a wise decision to become Lucifer's betrothed?!" Ciel incredulously said, turning to face waxen-faced Elizabeth.
"I... I wasn't... thinking-"
"Obviously not-"
"Leave Miss Elizabeth alone." Sebastian interrupted Ciel. He then turned to Sebastian, about to reprimand him until Sebastian continued with his thoughts.
"She's obviously not well. Look at her my lord." Ciel glanced over at his now ex-fiancee, and indeed, it seemed that a certain light had been lost from her eyes. She lost that certain spark that made her Elizabeth Midford. She had always been naturally pale, but now she just looked sickly to him.
"What can we do to fix this?" Ciel pondered, his rational side beginning to take over.
"Absolutely nothing my lord." Was the instant reply from Sebastian.
"And how so-?"
"This isn't your average run-of-the-mill demon my lord." Sebastian interrupted for the fourth time. "We are speaking of the ruler of Hell. The demon who controls the higher demons who control the lower demons who control us. He's the first and only demon who's ever seen Heaven-"
"But weren't there other angels cast down with him?" Ciel asked slightly confused.
Sebastian nodded. "Yes, however as you said, they were and are angels. Which means they repented for their crimes. Lucifer did not."
"Brilliant. Just brilliant." Ciel sighed tiredly, and sat down on the loveseat next to Elizabeth. "So allow me to rephrase my previous sentence. Is there anything we can do to prevent this?"
"To rephrase my earlier statement: Most likely not."
The trio was silent for only a moment before Elizabeth spoke.
"So you're saying I'm going to marry Lucifer? The angel who betrayed Heaven? Lucifer, who fell from Heaven, a place of which I didn't believe existed until mere moments ago, rejected him and now he's going to marry me?"
"Yes, yes, and yes." Sebastian replied. "And as for your disbelief in Heaven, you cannot have one without the other unfortunately. There must always be a balance between good and evil. It's how God created this universe."
Elizabeth blinked in surprise. "What? There's a God?"
"Unfortunately. Though your mortal bibles are flawed in their fictional tellings. He did not create angels or demons. They were the same as him, always there, always existing. Seeing as they were a part of his mind, lesser beings that made up the inner workings of God's mind, there was no reason as to why they shouldn't exist. That's why you have your choirs of angels. Each one is on a different level of importance; Making up different thoughts and emotions. However, I assume even God must have bad thoughts if Lucifer rebelled."
"O...kay then." Elizabeth said. "So, I'm doomed to marrying Satan, no matter what?"
"Of course." Sebastian said with a polite smile. Ciel glared at him until he amended his statement with a sigh. "Of course not."
"What'll we do then?" Elizabeth asked irritably, sounding more like her regular self.
"We'll figure out something-"
"Figure it out quick then! I don't want to marry the Devil!" She snapped. Neither man smiled, for they could see past her false bravado. They all knew that her bravery was just a facade, though no one wanted to point it out.
"Naturally." Ciel responded. Standing up he stretched, his shirt pulling up slightly with his arms, and breathed deeply. "Well, if you have three days we better begin searching for a way to save you." He spoke addressing Elizabeth, whom he noticed was pink in the cheeks. Perhaps she still had a fever...?
"Elizabeth? Are you feeling okay?" Ciel questioned.
"What?" She answered distractedly. "Yes, I'm fine, why?"
"There's a bit of color in your cheeks." Ciel said with a frown. "Do you still have a fever?"
"Uh, I don't-"
"Miss Elizabeth is fine my lord. Besides that she's going to marry the king of demons, possibly become his sex slave, and then perish in a terrible way once he's had his way with her. Otherwise, she's quite well."
Ciel rolled his eyes. "Right. Let's get started then." He turned away from both Sebastian and Elizabeth and exited the room. From behind him, he did not see the polite and knowing smile, along with the wink directed at Elizabeth. The blonde woman smiled her thanks in return at the demon.
It was quite odd how the demon who'd been a demon for thousands of years could understand love from the opposite sex better than the demon who'd only been a demon for a short time.
Of course though, subtlety had never really been Ciel's strong point.
Many apologies for these unplanned hiatuses. Of course, it's worth it whenever you get a 3.5k words in a chapter. You're welcome.