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With no questions asked, Elizabeth ushered the three inside and sent them to the parlor while she shut and bolted the door. Once inside, Ciel turned to her and started, "Lizzie, my deepest apologies, but-"
"For what, Ciel? You are obviously in some sort of predicament. If I couldn't help you, what kind of friend would I be?"
"Right, so," Sebastian declared, helping the mummified priestess out of his coat. "Mistress Elizabeth, would you mind so terribly closing that window, lest some passersby hear the tale we are about to relate?"
"Of course!" and she rushed around them, dragging the heavy pane-glass window down and drawing the curtains closed once more.
It was on her return trip around them that she apparently noticed the mummy for what she was and to her credit, she did not screech. Her hands went straight over her own mouth and with a terrified gasp, she threw herself against the far wall next to the piano. Her green eyes were three times their normal size and every speck of color in her face had drained away, leaving her as if she'd seen a ghost. Which, in retrospect, she had, Ciel thought, reaching out and easing her over to the settee and gently pushing her down to sit. "Lizzie... this is...?" he glanced desperately at the butler, "name?"
"Menefer, my lord. Her name is Menefer. She was... is I suppose, a priestess..."
"Priestess?" Elizabeth whispered, her hand finally coming away from her face. "She's a ...a ...mummy!"
"That, too... But knowing that she cannot hurt you surely must be some comfort, yes?" the demon butler pressed, and turning to the mummy, reached out and placed his hands on either side of her face again. That face was finally complete beneath the bandages, Ciel saw with amazement, though it startled him to see Sebastian so casually take those bandages in his fingers and begin to peel them away.
He wondered for a brief second if she would allow him to, her hands coming up and grasping his wrists for a moment; but he whispered something to her in that ancient tongue again and Ciel saw her shoulders visibly relax and wondered again at the cause of her regeneration. Her hands dropped by her sides again, and Sebastian continued, a glorious mop of coal-black curls emerging first and spilling over her shoulders and torso, dusty from the linen, and hanging nearly to her hips.
Ciel sat beside Elizabeth on the narrow settee, both of them riveted to the scene before them, as Sebastian carefully unbound the woman in front of him. Ciel realized with a start, that not only had the mummy filled out, she had also grown taller. She was a startlingly tall woman, in fact, only a few inches shy of Sebastian's six-foot-plus. The two held their breath as they waited for her face to be revealed, and Ciel began to recount the events that transpired at the museum for Elizabeth, as Sebastian worked with the bandages.
Her forehead was tall and unblemished, her skin just shy of brown-a caramel complexion, earth-toned and deep even though she hadn't seen the sun in thousands of years. Two perfectly arched brows appeared, then Sebastian's angle changed and Elizabeth and Ciel lost their view. Sebastian cleared his throat.
"Mistress Elizabeth. Would you, by chance, have a dressing gown or the like for my lady to borrow?"
"Of... of course, Sebastian..." she stammered and then, raising very slowly from the settee with her head cocked to try and see the mummy, she moved toward the parlor door and finally up the stairs to her rooms.
Sebastian continued his unwrapping, and Ciel could see him arranging the woman's hair for maximum modesty, but he couldn't see what was unfolding before the older demon; only strips of dried linen dropping to the polished wood floor beneath them, sand and dust falling free and littering the thick Aubusson carpet there. That strange tongue was spoken again between them, and Ciel did catch his and Elizabeth's names being uttered in Sebastian's sentences. Moments later, Elizabeth reemerged, a white cotton gown draped over her arm and startled gasp escaped her when she saw the woman Sebastian was unwrapping. She didn't say anything else, though, only draped the gown over the arm of the settee nearest the butler and the mummy-if she could still be called that-and reclaimed her seat next to Ciel.
He turned a curious gaze to the older woman, but she still didn't say what had made her gasp, only drew his hand into her lap and waited, her eyes trained on the back of the butler. He found himself squeezing her hand and leaning forward himself, waiting for this huge reveal.
Sebastian was working on her arms now; they stuck out straight on either side of him, the same caramel color and dripping with gold jewelery. Yellow, pink, and blue gold bangles on both her wrists jingled lightly as he moved around each arm; she wore several rings on both hands, and her left arm had a wide gold cuff just below her elbow and a narrow gold cuff shaped like a snake coiled around her arm just above her elbow. Suddenly, what sounded suspiciously like a giggle, erupted from the woman and Sebastian made a remark in her language that resembled a scolding. The giggling died and the hands were snatched in, all the gold jangling prettily at the movement.
Then, abruptly, Sebastian knelt, and the woman was plainly there and alive and covering her breasts with her folded arms and all the hair that flowed down around her body. Ciel lost his breath for a moment looking at her. She was exquisite. An exotic beauty like nothing he had ever seen. He remembered Cybille DeMoreau and how Sebastian had described her cafe au lait complexion and elegant features and he wondered if she was even as striking as this woman before him now. Cybille may have been the love of Sebastian's life, but did she compare to this beauty? And just what had Menefer been to Sebastian when he'd been in Egypt thousands of years ago? He'd called her a "friend". But Ciel had a sneaking suspicion that wasn't all they had been.
He turned his eye back to his former fiancee. Elizabeth was gripping his hand so tightly, it would have been painful but for the fact that he was a demon. He gently cupped his other hand over the top of hers and she looked at him finally, wonder and absolute bewilderment etched across her pretty face. "I cannot comprehend it..." she breathed, turning her eyes back to the priestess, whose huge brown eyes were trained on the top of Sebastian's head.
He was to her hips and reluctant to begin that stretch of territory before she had on some semblance of clothing. He stood and snatched the gown from the arm of the settee and helped her wriggle into it, then free her mass of hair from it, and tugged at the seams till it fell against her body properly. She may have been the same size as Elizabeth, but she was decidedly taller, and the gown that touched Lizzie's toes only fell to the priestess' calves. She muttered something to Sebastian and he smiled up at her and nodded. "Mistress Elizabeth? Would you mind terribly preparing tea? My lady insists that she is famished."
Elizabeth stood and brushed the wrinkles from her skirt and folded her hands demurely in front of her. "I do not mind at all. However, I would appreciate it if you finished this... task... in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I feel very awkward indeed having it performed in my parlor. Though you may tell your lady that I have never seen a more beautiful woman in my life-" she glanced down at the earl- "and I doubt the Earl Phantomhive has, either."
"I shall relay your compliments, my lady. And we will retreat to a more private setting. I will clean up our mess here post haste, I assure you. And thank you, very much, Mistress Elizabeth." Sebastian graced her with a rare genuine smile, and she nodded curtly, suddenly ashamed at the brash tone she had taken with him. She had found herself very self-conscious, at the deeds that she had allowed unabashedly in her parlor, and at her own appearance when faced with the exotic beauty of the woman they had brought from the museum. She made her way into the kitchen as Sebastian led the Egyptian upstairs to a guest room, and rummaging in the pantry, found what she needed to throw together an acceptable meal for her.
Moments later, she ascended the stairs with a tea service for one and a plate of finger sandwiches. Pausing to knock, she waited for Sebastian to call "enter" before she proceeded into the room. Menefer was perched on the edge of the high Victorian bed, the gown bundled up around her shapely thighs, and Sebastian knelt before her, finishing with the last of the bandages on her right foot.
The skeletal mummy Ciel had described from the museum was a luscious whole woman now, and she grasped the quartz pendant at her throat as if her life depended on it. And mayhaps, it did, Lizzie thought, bringing in the food and tea and pouring a cup for the woman. She eyed the sandwiches suspiciously and Lizzie picked one up and held it out to her. She glanced between Sebastian and the English woman, and Sebastian smiled and said something in her tongue, presumably assuring her that the food was safe. Gently, she took it from Lizzie's hand and held it to her nose, sniffing it; Lizzie tried not to be offended since she knew this was probably the first time Menefer had ever seen such food. She bit into just the corner of the bread and waited for several seconds before she began to chew. She soon decided she liked it, and practically shoveled the rest into her mouth before reaching for another.
"She'll need a bath. And I will try to find something more suitable for her to wear," Elizabeth said, turning to leave the room.
"Mistress Elizabeth?"
"Yes, Sebastian?"
"You have truly been a wondrous help to both my master and myself. I sincerely thank you."
"If it had been anyone else, Sebastian, I assure you, I would not." She smiled at him. "But I've always loved you both. You know that. I'll prepare a bath for ...Menefer. Paula will be home soon and I need to think of what to tell her. Perhaps that Ciel is a descendant of the Earl Phantomhive... I do not know. I'll think on it." With that, she left the room, Sebastian still kneeling on the floor and Menefer devouring her sandwiches and tea.
"What do we do with her, Sebastian?" Ciel asked from the doorway minutes later. "She cannot come to the Void when we return home, can she? Did you not tell me only humans and demons can go there, and humans not for long? She is certainly neither human nor demon... and we've yet to discover how she's healed so quickly."
"That being said, young master, we ourselves can only remain on the surface for so long... We need a contract or we'll have larger problems than the local authorities."
"What are you saying, Sebastian?"
"It means we have a week to secure a contract or we'll be hunted by far worse things than the London police."
"You said we can come and go from the Void as we pleased."
"And so we can, my young lord, but not indefinitely. We can walk the Surface for a few days, but we cannot remain here without a contract."
Ciel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Then, I order you to find us one. Secure our time on the Surface until we can sort out this matter with your... 'friend'."
Sebastian stood and bowed at the earl. "Of course, my Master."
Turning, he spoke a few things to the woman still perched on the bed, and she leaned around the demon butler to peer at the boy standing in the doorway. Then, returning her gaze to Sebastian's, she nodded, and Ciel found himself intensely curious about that exchange. With a pat on the head to Menefer, Sebastian turned and made his way out the door. Lizzie arrived seconds later announcing that the bath was ready, and gently approached Menefer and helped her to her feet. This humble side of Elizabeth was a bigger shock to Ciel than the mummy had been, he decided, and incredibly alluring. He shook his head and headed back down to the parlor to allow the women some privacy. He wasn't shocked to find that Sebastian had cleaned the mess away before he'd left; the carpet was pristine and the floors shining. Ciel sat on the edge of the chaise and leaned back. He was asleep before he could pick his feet up from the floor.