A/N: Your eyes do not betray you, this is indeed a new chapter! I hope you enjoy. Thank you for the reviews and the favs/alerts!

Let us all bear in mind that Vincent and Rachel are demons in this fic. I unfortunately cannot go for the loving parents characterisation. There isn't very much known about Rachel except that she was a nice person, and only so little more is known about Vincent, but he never seemed to be an innocent person, so… I basically made these characters darker in order to match them with their demon status.

From now on the chapters will be beta'd again! Special thanks to Carrie who is awesome.

Chapter 7

"There are rules," the demon says into the silence. Sebastian watches his every move, well, he'd like to, but the only thing that moves are the demon's lips. Everything else is completely still. Vincent isn't even blinking. "We work differently. Our children are independent once they've hunted all by themselves for the first time. Until then I am his father." Vincent tilts his head to the side. "And I had hoped that my son didn't have such bad taste."

Sebastian wants to be affronted, he really does, but he figures that this isn't the right time for hurt pride. "So this is a 'meet the parents'?"

Vincent purses his lips. "Watch your tongue, human," he says pleasantly.

The train has yet to stop. It clatters along endlessly and Sebastian isn't sure whether he's still on his way home or not.

"I do not care for the child because it isn't something we do." Vincent's features even out. The smile loses its charm. "I am merely tracking the progress he is making. Or rather the lack of it," he amends dryly. "I cannot spot a mark on you."

"Yet you called me his contractor," Sebastian says.

"I did." Vincent bares his teeth. "I know you are a doctor. Surely you can figure this out."

Sebastian immediately understands. "I don't think it is in your son's interest to force me into a contract." Never mind that this is what Ciel has passive-aggressively been trying to do in the last weeks.

"I do not care what is in my son's interest."

"Of course you don't," Sebastian answers without missing a beat. He must be suicidal at this point. However, he remains calm and collected on the outside. He even allows himself a small smile. "What's in it for you?"

"Ah," Vincent says, leaning back and crossing his legs again, "I think I'm starting to see why my son's chosen you." He leers at Sebastian. "You might reek of him, but you aren't bound to him. In fact, you don't have to form a contract with him."

"But I can form one with you?" Sebastian asks.

The demon grins. "If you don't want to form a contract with my son you can just allow him to consume your soul. It saves us all a lot of time. I myself am not interested in your soul."

"What's in it for you if I form a contract with your son?" Sebastian asks again.

"You needn't worry about things that don't concern you."

If there is one thing Sebastian hates more than anything else, it's when somebody keeps things from him that clearly involve him. Whatever happens to Ciel or Vincent after Sebastian's death does concern him because Vincent is making Sebastian's soul his business in order to achieve his own goals.

"Ciel will be free from you," Sebastian recalls. "And you will be free from him." Sebastian doesn't see why this would cause Vincent to meddle in his son's affairs. "There is something I'm missing, isn't there?"

Vincent shrugs elegantly. "Let us not discuss me. We should, however, discuss you." He looks Sebastian up and down. "I want you to know that there is no way to escape death."

Sebastian waits. He hears the threat in the demon's words, but he wants to see what it is.

"A contract will provide a faster and less painful death than what I am going to do to you should you decline."

Sebastian nods. It's getting harder to remain calm. "If Ciel himself decides to let go of me, would I still be in danger?"

Vincent smirks. "Why don't you try that? I'm sure the results won't be different from what you've achieved since you met my son." He gets up; the train is still clattering on. Vincent takes a step toward him and leans down slowly, watching as Sebastian unconsciously pushes himself into his seat. "Do not disappoint me, human."

Sebastian blinks and then he's standing in front of his apartment.

Looking around, he expects to see Vincent smirking at him, but the demon isn't there anymore. And Sebastian's heart will surely calm down any second now.

Just when he wants to fish his keys from his pocket, he hears a giggle. The man called Undertaker is standing at the turn to his flat, grinning at Sebastian. "I don't think you want to go in there just now."

"Is there a reason as to why not?" Sebastian asks, feeling irritation rising and replacing his fear. This is definitely too many orders as to what he should and shouldn't do for one day, and all of them have to do with things he cannot quite grasp. It's frustrating. He sincerely hopes that Undertaker is going to tell him that there's a leak or something similar in his flat, and that this is why Sebastian cannot enter yet. It would be a surprise, but at least it wouldn't be supernatural.

"The boy's having a talk with a parent, it seems," is what Undertaker says, and Sebastian cannot even take the time to be surprised. Instead he groans.

"Not you, too."

Undertaker shrugs and points at his eyes. Then he disappears round the corner. Sebastian follows him with no small amount of reluctance, but on the other hand he doesn't really want to meet the other parent.

They enter Undertaker's flat and Sebastian finds it to be rather chaotic. They have been moving in the last week, yet there are many boxes lying around. They are filled with sketchbooks and drawing equipment though, so Sebastian guesses that Undertaker's flatmate was supposed to put them away. Said flatmate is sitting on a large couch in the living room, barely using up any space because he's making himself small as he sits hunched over his drawing. He barely looks up.

"What are you?" Sebastian asks mainly Undertaker, but should that other guy – Gregory, wasn't it? – feel the need to express that he isn't human, he may do so.

"Reaper," says Undertaker, pointing to his eyes again. They must be a distinguishing feature. Grell's eyes are brown, if Sebastian recalls correctly. But they have been violet or blue before. And now that he's thinking about it, Sebastian is pretty sure that Grell once wore what Sebastian had thought were yellow-green contact lenses, but Anne had asked him not to after he'd shocked an elderly patient into cardiac arrest.

"Human," Gregory says blandly. "Undertaker, you aren't a reaper anymore."

"I sure am." Undertaker cackles. "Just because I'm not a reaper on paper doesn't make me less of one."

"That doesn't matter. You are a reaper on the run." Gregory lifts an eyebrow. "I honestly don't know why we rented this flat."

"Because we needed one?" Undertaker tilts his head to the side.

"This is a discussion I shouldn't be listening to," Sebastian cuts in carefully. "Why are you on the run?"

"Oh, and that's something you are allowed to know?" Gregory asks in a monotone voice, not even looking up from his drawings.

"Behave," Undertaker says pleasantly. He turns to Sebastian. "I did things that I shouldn't have done. Like him." And he gestures at Gregory whose face goes politely blank.

"Wow," he says at length, his pen pausing over his sketch. "That came out wrong."

Sebastian doesn't feel like giggling over cheap jokes like Undertaker right now. "You spared his life?"

"Bought him some time," Undertaker says with a shrug. "Irrevocably. That doesn't mean I'm going to give them a chance to find either of us so we're running."

Sebastian wants to ask how Undertaker did it. His thoughts immediately go to Claude and his expiring contract with Alois. Sebastian doesn't want to feel sympathy, after all Claude brought it upon himself in the end, but he wonders if there is a possibility to erase the contract without concluding it.

"Grell Sutcliffe is a colleague of mine," he says.

"We have three other flats," Gregory mutters, as if that says everything.

"See why we need them now?" Undertaker asks his flatmate. Gregory levels him with a silent look before returning to his sketches. The silver-haired man shrugs and goes to the kitchen. "Want some tea? I'll tell you when mummy dearest is gone, but I fear it'll take a while."

A few minutes later Sebastian accepts a cup of tea from Undertaker. The man sits down and leaves Sebastian to his thoughts. Grateful for this, Sebastian leans against the kitchen counter, sips at his tea and thinks of contracts. There is something he will have to do to not lose his life this early. However, it doesn't really matter whether he says yes to a contract or no, because both options will kill him.

Sebastian sets the cup aside and covers his face with his hands. Knowing that his days are counted feels terribly restricting. Who would have thought that he'd have to experience this so early? This is all Ciel's fault. Naïve little Ciel, strutting into his life and expecting Sebastian to bow to his every whim. Trying to force a contract upon Sebastian.

"That brat," he mutters to himself, fondly of all things, dropping his hands.

But maybe it's Sebastian's fault, too. He didn't throw Ciel out; let himself be intimidated by the young demon. He bought him clothes and allowed him to go to work with him. He gave him free reign instead of allowing Grell to take care of the problem. Hell he started liking the boy. That he was living in Sebastian's flat, clattering the pots at four in the goddamn morning, that he wanted to hold the doctor's hand, his childlike wonder over daily things. He wonders if Ciel will be distraught when Sebastian dies.

If only Sebastian could talk him out of a contract! It would save him from an early death. Maybe he could appeal to Ciel's feelings. If they became good friends…

Sebastian's eyes widen. There is the plan he needed.

OOO

"What a pleasant surprise," Ciel says without meaning it, not really. "What brings you here?"

"Not you, boy," his mother says abruptly. Ciel finds himself mildly surprised by how much their relationship has cooled down since he left for the human realm. It was expected to happen, that's a stage every demon goes through, but it still manages to come unexpectedly. Ciel wants to sigh. His feelings are confusing.

"What is it then?"

Rachel checks her fingernails for flaws. "There are things that need my attention. You could say I was in the area."

Ciel doesn't miss how intentionally vague his mother is. It may have to do with him leaving home, but they all know that Ciel will come back to claim his father's legions for himself. That has always been the plan. If Ciel finds the suiting mother of his children, she will then do what Rachel is currently doing.

"If it is something dangerous I think I have the right to know."

Rachel tilts her head contemplatively. "It isn't dangerous per se... There is a reported case of unnatural things happening to a few demons." She continues before Ciel can ask the question: "There isn't much to say about it."

Ciel shuts his mouth and decides not to be too curious. If it is something big, he will definitely hear about it sooner than later.

Rachel gets to her feet elegantly and goes to stand by the window. "Do you feel attached to your human?"

Ciel frowns at this question. "That is the unnatural thing? Growing attached?"

"Yes," his mother says through her teeth, disgusted. "But not only. Feeling protective of your human is not a problem. Desiring your human is not a problem. Becoming friendly with your human is. Forgetting that you are contracted is. If you feel overly attached to this human I suggest you run while you can. There will be terrible repercussions otherwise."

Ciel does not say that he doesn't know where 'overly attached' begins.

"You might start to feel pity towards the human," his mother continues. "You might begin to value the human's opinions or start to question yourself for having to kill them. There is nothing to question. We survive on human souls. We shouldn't deny ourselves for one puny human."

"Yes, mother."

She turns around to look at him. "You never answered my question, boy."

"I do not feel attached to this human," Ciel says immediately, even though a sinking feeling inside him says differently. He wants to correct his mother and tell her that 'this human' has a name. He wants to ask her whether it's normal to stay with a human, trying to persuade him despite feeling that a contract might never happen because Sebastian is stubborn and it's terribly annoying. He wants to know if it means that he actually is attached when he follows Sebastian to work, that he genuinely wants to protect him from older demons in sheep's clothing, from demons like Alois. He wants to know if this is going to get worse.

But his mother is the wrong person to ask things like these.

"I shouldn't be giving you advice anymore," his mother says. "But I suggest that whenever you form a contract, make sure that it isn't on time. It would give the human enough time to manipulate you if your mind is weak."

"Humans are below us," Ciel says, but it sounds more like a question.

"That doesn't mean that they cannot use our weapons against us if they do it correctly." Rachel lets a few seconds pass. "You shouldn't interact with this human anymore."

"I'm not attached to him," Ciel repeats.

She hums noncommittally. "We might never see each other again. When you return to claim your father's legions I expect you to beat him."

"Yes, mother." Ciel doesn't mention that Rachel herself won't be around by then to see it.

"You are so tiny." She sighs. "I doubt you'll make it." As she starts to become thick black smoke, she smiles at him tightly. "I must leave now. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, mother," Ciel says obediently, knowing that this is the last time he will be able to say these words.

A few minutes after Rachel has vanished into thin air, Ciel hears the front door being opened. He swallows thickly and turns to see Sebastian entering the living room, hands clasped behind his back, and Ciel vaguely thinks that he should run. Find another human. There's more than enough of them out there, he'll find a good one.

"I have a deal for you," Sebastian says. It sounds like a sigh.

Ciel doesn't run. At that moment, it feels like a mistake.

So that happened.

I am already writing the next chapter, but I cannot tell you how early or how late I'll post it. Don't forget to share your thoughts and have a nice Sunday :D