Chapter 27: Sebastian POV

I was Hungry.

I had denied that it was indeed the Hunger of a Soul and not the Hunger of having Danny secretly in my arms, for too long. I struggled a week after the private dance, the night of laying beside her, her flesh so smooth and silky, yet burning too hot. Her eyes had settled into a warm red, by the morning and if the Master had not called when he did, I would have taken her, hard, fast, needfully. She deserved tenderness - not because of her sacrifice and I wanted to thank her with every fiber of my being for ultimately protecting my Master, but because she had been hiding so long, she deserved to be treated as a woman. A Lady. The week I waited before telling my Master of the changes that were going through, I fought with myself.

Was it my place to also reveal that Danny was in fact Daniella? The Master assured us that there was a place for the Tutor, and the young Master blossomed under her tutelage. I kept the more intimate details of how that alone had affected the Master and Mistress' private affairs. Perhaps 1910 was a good year for the whole family. Would the Master be mad that I stole into her room and watched as she slept, much as I did when he was a child? How would the Servants react was more a burning question. Baldroy and Danny had taken up talking about the past war experiences they had, Danny's so long ago, yet so fresh in her everlasting memory, and Baldroy found comfort and ease in the the fellow American. Mey-Rin had watched as Danny taught her how to balance a book on her head, her posture straighter now. Mey-Rin taught Danny the tricks she used to get around the Manor under her heavy glasses. I had found that particularly interesting; how the Humans always adapted to their surroundings, to whatever they needed to do. Finnian had diligently found new varieties of the flower she loved, and had made a new arrangement of them to place in her bedroom each week. Danny was part of the house, in more than one way, and the presentation of the male Mr. Hyde, to the true, female Ms. Hyde, troubled me.

My Master, astutely, had called me out on my out of character distance. It was not a lie I was withholding, and he was indeed more important to me then even the newly forming Demoness I was watching with delight. His Soul was mine, yet… Daniella's whole being could be mine as well.

"I asked you a question, Sebastian."

I blinked at him, "I'm sorry my Lord, I heard something."

"Oh you are not escaping with that line," he said. He turned down the path and looked at me. "I asked how the Tutor is coming along with preparing Vincent for possibly going back to school."

"You do not wish to keep him on as a Tutor?" I asked, surprised.

"There are changes about him," he said as he looked at the trees above. "I feel there is something powerful about to burst from him. I fear he will try to Mark my son," he finally said, quiet and with some sadness. I was brought back to the many nights we had argued when he was younger and even after a few years of us being together. It was the struggle for keeping his mind on why he summoned me, why he took the Contract, and the very Human need to exist. I saw in an instant how hard it could be for the Master to want his son to simply exist and not have the pain of our contract.

"Yes, there seems to be some powerful changes occurring," I finally said. "There was an incident the night we came back from the King's Ball," I started, cautiously. We rounded a group of trees and stood near the clearing. The same one where I took Danny and she saved the young Master from Grell's Scythe. Where she had sunk her own Scythe into his body and had poured more of herself into him then I had ever imagined a creature would do after knowing the child for such a short time. Already there was a deep connection between the two.

"The incident, Sebastian?" the Master prompted after what I thought was a breath of silence. I turned and saw the impatience in his face. I had been lost in thought.

"Nothing too severe, just I saw some of the power that has been creeping up," I hedged. "The Tutor seems to have been tapping into some rather powerful part of… himself."

The Master put his hand on my chest and stopped me from walking on. "Drop the cryptics. No one is out here but us Sebastian. Speak plainly - is my son in danger to be around such a creature you don't know about. What can he do? Will he be struck by the fancy idea of taking his life - does he see his saving as a claim? I need to know! Lizzie thinks we are with child again," he added, the wild look in his eyes searching mine. "For my sake - for my safety - I need to know."

"Demons are usually Made, as I was," I started. "The rarest of Demons are those who Fell when the Highest Demon Himself fell from the Angels. They don't walk among Humans, fearing that they will be punished. That is the story we are told," I added. "Humans becoming Demons is a slow process, one of eating the Soul, and almost the perfect Possession. But that is not what happened to the Tutor." I paused and looked over the clearing. "He chose to become something other than a Reaper on that cold day. He didn't mean to choose Demon, I am sure, but for the briefest of moments, all that was stripped away and he was Human. Gloriously Human…"

I drifted into the memory of watching his eyes open and the pale blue peeking out, and in the next flutter, a muted green, and then the small spark of red, the building of the hue, shimmering even as his own body heated and his transformation began.

"Like his body is a cocoon," I muttered.

"Sebastian," my Master called me again. "You have some interest in this, I see. I am not sure if it is a purely speculative one, or something akin to gaining an extra power yourself, but the Tutor is becoming a Demon. He is becoming something dangerous. You protect me, but you crave me. You stand beside me in times of need, yet sometimes I wonder if we did not have a Contract, if I would be abandoned easily to the whims of those who seek to destroy me, seek to control the Underbelly, even the King himself - trying to control me."

I turned and gazed at him, seeing the burning of passion in his eyes and the fire of our Bond. I knelt down, a humble servant in the time of crisis. "You, my Lord, are above all the most important thing I possess. I will serve you until the end."

The end which I wish to end, and other times continue this dance, dragging it out even more, enjoying the life you are creating that I get to enjoy as well. The pleasures of the Soul and the Emotions, feeding me, keeping me focused slowly… but… focus. Ah, yes, there was my deep need. I licked my lips as I raised my head, his eyes bright and determined as mine were. For different things. Always different things.

"Find out what you need about his transformation. If there is no further information, then make plans to protect me - my family. Even if, Sebastian, that means destroying him."

I gave a subtle nod and in an instant saw and felt the delicate flesh of Danny. I would sooner have to destroy her, banish her as my own destruction, than actually place my claws into her flesh.

"My Lord, if we could also redirect our own affairs to our arrangement?"

He turned away and sighed. "Yes, so there it is. I did hear another kidnapping and children found murdered in much the same manner as I was." He paused and looked at me. "But you knew that. And yet you are not begging to book us a trip to the Americas."

I met his victorious gaze with my steady one. "I heard several were here in England, my Lord."

"Blasted," he muttered. "Ah, but my son - we should also investigate how he was possessed."

"Humans," I chuckled. "Faced with a possible end, you always try to find another avenue."

My Master sighed and turned around to face the way we walked. "What of my own wishes?"

"You gave them up when you took the Contract."

"When you forced my hand."

I chuckled. "I did not cry out to be saved."

"Demon."

I smirked. "Yes?"

He sighed and walked a pace away from me, before me, so in my grasp and so tempting. I felt the longings rise and embraced them. So long had I put them aside to be caught up in the other delights - the fleshly delights and the tempting emotional delights. But the Soul…. It cried for me to consume it, to make the choice and to take it without proper fulfilment. And like waking from the dreams I had let myself sink into, I saw with utter clarity what a Soul was to a Human - a burden. My only mission was to unburden them of the weight.

"You are dripping with desire," the Master said finally as we were on the edge of the woods. "My promise to you is we will investigate these kidnappings. These murders. And if, when, they are true, and my desire of so long ago is satisfied, I will give myself. It was what the Contract was promised, and that is what I will do. You have entertained my whims for so long. But, not yet, Sebastian. Go and do what you must, but this is not my time."

My claws grasped the air between us and I surged into the sky, black, lusting, panting, the deep needs of my true self eating the small parts of my other self, the Human loving, Tutor enamored, self. I clung to my duality, and devoured.