Chapter 42: Danny POV
The storm raged the next day and night. I walked the hallways, checking on Lady Phantomhive and the young Master, bringing tea to Mey-Rin who stayed in the sitting room instead of going to bed in her own room. Finnian and Baldroy were playing a rousing game of cards in their common quarters above. I finally paused in all my rotations and sat on the small settee facing the front windows, on the second floor. I could see the gates, down the tree lined lane, the wooded areas protecting the outside of the Manor main Estate, swaying and cracking as the thunder once more lit the sky up.
Two piercing screams and a lightening bolt hitting close to the fountain all happened at the same time. I thought I had heard it coming from different places and got up, leaned over the railing and yelled down to Mey-Rin, an eye also on Lady's door.
"Oh! Mr. Hyde it almost hit the house!" Mey-Rin said, gathering her skirts and quickly climbing the stairs. Her face was pale and as she got to the landing, another lightning flash lit up the stairway. She hurried up to me and I placed an arm around her.
"I thought I heard Lady Phantomhive as well, we should check to make sure she is alright."
Mey-Rin nodded and as we knocked and stepped into the Earl and Lady's bedroom, the young Master came running to us. "Mama - it's Mama!"
Mey-Rin hurried to the Lady's side, and I bent down to soothe the young Master. I had done the same the night before. "What is the matter?"
"The baby! I think the baby is coming!"
I looked at Mey-Rin and at the Lady and back down at the young Master. "Alright, it could be just pains. However, Vincent, run up stairs and tell Baldroy to fetch the Doctor. Tell him to take my horse - Helsing is not afraid of this kind of storm, so he will be fine to ride into town. Understand?"
The young Master nodded and looked at his mother for a moment and then ran out of the room. I heard him open the door to above and walk up the unfamiliar steps.
"Mey-Rin, did you help deliver the young Master?" I asked as I came over. The Lady was indeed in pain, and I looked down at her for a moment. I could hear a heartbeat past the two in the room. It was quick and small - the baby!
"I assisted the Doctor, Mr. Hyde."
The wind shifted and was hitting the windows harder now, and I turned to Mey-Rin. "Light the candles - I don't trust we have lights in this storm. The more we can get, the better we can see. Prepare water bowls and grab towels. Have Finnian assist."
"Shouldn't we wait for the Doctor?"
"I don't think the baby will wait." She nodded and darted out, and I sat next to the Lady, taking her hand. "Lady Phantomhive, we are fetching the Doctor, but I sense your baby is going to be gracing us with its presence before the storm lets up." I brushed some of her hair from her eyes and watched as she winced in pain. "I will deliver your child. I helped my own mother deliver my two sisters."
"Ciel! Where is he!? He is going to miss the birth of his child!"
I bit my lip and help her sit up. "Yes, that may be so. However, we can't wait for him either. Please, let me assist you, where do you need to go?"
"The bath, I need to go to the bath." I nodded and helped her stand and walked her to the door, unhanding her so she could do her business in private. Mey-Rin came back with the young Master and Finnian, all were holding candles and towels. Finnian held a bowl of water out like he was afraid he would spill it.
"Wonderful - place them on the side table. Finnian, please, bring the table over here, to the side. Ah, perfect, thank you," I said, directing the group.
"Bard went to the Doctor's," Finnian said. "He will be fine?"
I placed a hand on his back and patted. "Yes. Take the young Master and go down the hall. Wait and watch - we have a child who is determined to come."
The Lady stifled another cry and I smelt the unmistakable smell of blood and I shuffled the men out. Mey-Rin hurried to the bath and brought the Lady out, who was crying for the Earl.
"How could he have gone? He should have been here!"
"I know, my Lady," Mey-Rin said, easing her into the bed. "We all thought we had a bit more time. But this little one has it's own mind." She stripped the bed of the blanket and brought them up to help the Lady sit up better. She untucked the bedding and gathered it around the Lady, readying it for when we would have to deliver the child. "The candles, Mr. Hyde, do hurry," she added as another lightning hit close and made her jump.
I took my jacket off and rolled up my sleeves, striking another match and light a row of smaller candles. I placed them before the large mirror near the bathroom entrance and it helped give more light. "Throw the curtains open, Mey-Rin - we need the lightning to help as well." She looked at the windows and hesitated. "Now, Mey-Rin."
I watched the Lady and counted, listening to the heartbeat and wished beyond anything I could call both the Earl and Sebastian back to the Manor. But I couldn't and I stood counting, as then another groan came from the Lady. Mey-Rin took over, mopping her forehead. I looked down at my hands - still gloved. I bit my lip. How could I deliver the child and not be able to really feel as I did it? I unsnapped my right glove and pulled it off. My hand was unblemished and I placed it on the Lady's stomach, feeling the child move a little.
"I'm going to look," I said, moving to pick the sheets up. "Move your legs, wide," I brought a lantern closer and I pressed against her legs, knowing that she both was hesitant because I was not a Doctor, and by all accounts, I was a man. "Please, I have done this before. The Doctor is on his way, I am sure. But this baby will not wait."
Lady Phantomhive gripped the sheets and spread her legs wider. Mey-Rin mopped her brow and was also breathing hard. I blocked it out and concentrated on the baby. The child was coming quick, and I reached up inside the Lady, feeling for the harder parts, the head of the child. I nodded as I eased my fingers out.
"This child is trying to come quick."
"Oh why did Ciel have to leave! He is missing the birth of his child! I just want him here!" the Lady screamed even as another wave of pain washed over her. I agreed with her, the Earl should be there. But there was nothing to turn back time, even as the Lady pushed, grunting and her nails biting through the sheets. She threw back her head and gave a primal scream, the scream of a mother laboring, of a child being born, a mother whose body was taking over. I heard the young Master at the door, his breathing and tears tearing me from the scene in front of me. And Finnian then dragged him back, and I focused. I focused on how I helped my own Mother through the same pain.
"I see the head," I whispered and then said it louder. The Lady pushed again. I reached to help the child turn its face and then it slid out. I reached again and through the next push the baby was in my hands, the cord wrapped around its leg. I unwound it. "I need some string - some twine. And towels. I need towels," I said as I brushed the baby's face and reached into its mouth, clearing it.
"Is it… will…" Mey-Rin asked even as I was wrapping the child as she tied a piece of twine around the cord.
"Why isn't it screaming! What is wrong!" Lady Phantomhive said, panicked. I looked up and met her wild eyes.
"Your baby girl is going to be alright."
"A girl? A girl…" she said, laying back for a moment. She sat up and groaned and winced. "Why isn't she breathing? I still don't hear her screaming!"
Mey-Rin moved back to the mop the Lady's brow again, she was trying to get her to stop reaching for me and the baby as I moved off the bed. I rubbed the newborn, and leaned down, giving some breath to her. "Oh come on, little one, you wanted to be here so badly, now is not the time to be shy." I looked at the Lady as she was sobbing and Mey-Rin was crying as well. "Please, forgive me, she isn't crying. I must do this," I said. I turned away a little and held the baby to my chest. Her heart was fluttering, and her lungs were trying to gulp air. I rubbed her back, and then smacked her bottom. Her body was startled and she opened her mouth wider and soon a scream came out. The first gulp of air went into her body, and then another scream came out.
"My baby!" the Lady said behind me, I looked down at the screaming child, her face scrunched up as she screamed, tasting air for the first time. "My daughter."
I wrapped her back up, watching and listening as the new Phantomhive made herself clearly heard. I smiled, stroking her little chin and cheeks. She was so precious, so beautiful. My eyes fluttered as a new smell, a stronger one, overtook me. I held the baby further away and looked at her as if she was suddenly offending me. But it wasn't only her - the Lady was finishing giving birth and the new source of blood and the new, bright Soul all surrounded me and I felt myself panic. I stumbled over to the bed and placed the child next to the Lady.
"I need… I have to clean… many pardons, my Lady," I stammered, backing away from the scene, backing away not as quickly as my heart told me I should. I felt myself lick my lips, the smell on them as I balled my hands into fists, yanked open the door and bumped into Finnian, who was holding the young Master. I panted and looked away, my hands clawing into my own skin.
"Is Mama… is she alright," he asked, his hand reaching for my pant leg as I walked by. "You're covered in blood - is she alright?" he asked again, panic rising.
"It's just normal," Finnian said, gently lifting the young Master's hands off the back of my shirt that had been untucked. "Let the man clean himself. Mey-Rin will let us know when we can see them both."
I saw Vincent from the corner of my eye and his own eyes widened as he took his hands off me. I pushed past them and rushed down the hall, gripping the stair rail and pausing in front of the large portrait of the Earl's own parents.
"You have a granddaughter," I spoke to the Earl's dead parents. "She will be a wonderful force - oh!" I doubled over in pain and gripped the rails, feeling it splinter under my grip. I had to get out of the area, the blood seemed to seep into the air and I looked down at my hands, tearing my one remaining glove off. My usually dark Mark was painfully burning.
I rushed downstairs, pausing to wash my hands in the kitchen sink, scrubbing them, biting my lip as the pain subsided a little - I was further from the smell, although it lingered - and searched wildly for the cellar entrance. It was the door between the pantry and laundry and I yanked it open, the darkness seeming to yawn before me and I flung myself down into, welcoming the coolness as it surrounded me. I bursted out of my skin, a feeling of floating in the water, and dove into the cool of the darkness, panicking that I had hurt one of them in my blind craze. The deeper I went, I was able to gather myself and in the small flashes of the now distant lightning, I saw a cage, and chains, a tray I knocked over scattered tools and I glanced down. I had to get into safety. I climbed into the cage, pulling the door shut and gathered the chains, wrapping like a blanket, even as my mind, my body, my hunger, told me to leave them be, leave them and go back.
My brain screamed in agony and I tried to distract myself by counting. Pain hit every side of my bones. My muscles twisted and turned as hunger tore through my very being.
"I will not eat the child. I will not eat Vincent. I will not eat the help. I will not eat Lizzie."
It was my mantra I said over and over and I felt my body give into the darkness and settle once more. I turned into my own mind, clawing at my own mind. I didn't move from my post, even as the pain was telling me to satisfy my need, even as I felt my red eyes darkened to dull pools. This hunger was utterly maddening. But I dug still deeper and embraced the darkness of my confines. I couldn't leave in case anything were to happen to my Lady, my young Master, and the manor.
As I pulled, or was pulled, into the darkness, my mind flashed across all the things I could do, and then stilled as I once more saw my dead siblings linger in my sight. It was utter torture.