((Thank you guys for your feedback! It helps a lot to know how much you guys like this story! By the way, you guys, Caude does something, pretty bad. It doesn't get to anything too graphic, just kissing, but I figured I should warn you guys first so please don't report!))
Kimberly blinked a few times and turned to look back at the young Earl. She wondered if maybe she hadn't heard the boy correctly.
"I asked you if you believed in demons," he asked, looking at her as if it was stupid that he had to repeat himself.
She frowned, looking back at him and trying to figure out the smartest answer to give him. On one hand, if she told him yes, it would make her look rather insane. She would have to explain herself and try to make everything she said sound smart and well thought out. However, if she said no, she would still have to explain herself. She decided it would be easiest to say that she did believe in demons; at least then she could say she only believed in them because of the bible. Talking about religion and sounding like you know what you're talking about always seems to make things better.
"Yes. I do believe in demons. It says in bible that the archangel Lucifer rebelled against God and was sent to hell, becoming the Satan that we know now. Lucifer created demons to carry out his own will((Woot! Go Supernatural! Teaching me about religion XD))." she explained, looking ahead of her once more and continued to lead him through the corridor, "we are almost to the gardens."
She could feel Alois' eyes on her back and bit her bottom lip, she knew it was a long shot. She continued on, smiling with relief when she saw the door that lead outside. She opened the door and lead him outside, glancing over her shoulder at them, making sure they were following her. Indeed they were and so she smiled a bit at them before looking back at the gardens, the bushes and bushes of white roses, different beautiful flowers of all varieties. She smiled as Alois grinned a bit and moved towards the bushes, walking past her to get a better look at the garden.
"You should display your roses better," he said in a slightly singsong voice, grinning a bit and turning to look at her, "Well then, are you going to show me around the garden?" he asked as he turned back to the small pathway that lead into the rows of shrubbery and flowers.
Kimberly nodded slightly and glanced back up at the manor, before turning back to Alois, "Of course," she said, walking to Alois' side before passing him and leading him down the path in the garden, "although, I do agree with you Earl- er, Alois. It would be nice if my brother used the roses to keep our from seeming so gloomy," she agreed with him. She didn't think Ciel would be so jumpy about a boy his age who seemed perfectly fine. She didn't understand what Sebastian and Ciel were so worried about. Alois seemed to be a perfectly normal boy, especially for his age.
She smiled down at Alois and thought of what it would be like if Ciel acted more his age. A small chuckle escaped her as she imagined him smiling and laughing, making jokes and running around for fun. It was the exact opposite of the way he was now. She smiled a bit and tried to stop imagining it - she knew she wouldn't be able to look at him right if she didn't.
"What's so funny?" Alois asked, defensiveness hinting in his tone of voice. She looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at him.
"Nothing, I was just imagining what it would be like if Ciel acted his age, the way you do," she explained, smiling over her shoulder at him. She really did wish Ciel acted his age instead of constantly trying to seem older than he is.
Alois looked like he was thinking over the idea before he began to laugh and grinned widely. He ran over to Kimberly's side and grinned at her, "Ciel would be much more fun if he acted like me, that's for sure!" he laughed, smirking at the idea and glancing around absent-mindedly. Kimberly nodded slightly in agreement before smiling down at him.
"Do you want me to show you a place where I used to take Ciel a lot?" she asked, seeing his crystal blue eyes sparkle with interest. She didn't know why, but she could feel her heart flutter with pride. Maybe he reminded her more of Ciel than she first thought. Though she couldn't help but to feel attached to the boy, she wished Ciel would be the way Alois was: unafraid to act his age. To be himself once and a while.
Alois nodded excitedly, "Sure!" he exclaimed, following Kimberly closely when she took a sudden turn into the hedges. She quickly maneuvered her way through the bushes until they entered a clearing that opened up to a white gazebo, smaller bushes of multicolored flowers, mostly pink and purple and blue flowers, ivy crawling up the gazebo.
"I used to take Ciel here whenever he got hurt. There used to be a path that lead here. When our parents died, Ciel had the path removed, but I still remember how to get to it," she smiled sadly, glancing at Alois to see his reaction to the hidden gazebo.
He smiled, though it obviously wasn't as exciting as he had hoped it would be and ran over to the gazebo and plopped down on the bench inside it, grinning and looked around, "Oh look, Claude! It's a spider!" he exclaimed happily, pointing to the top of the ceiling in the gazebo. He grinned and got back up and ran up and over to Kimberly, "Let's go inside, I want to ask Ciel something!" he said excitedly, still grinning happily.
Kimberly smiled a bit, all her worries about Ciel and Sebastian's warnings leaving her mind, she nodded at him, "Of course, I'll take you back inside," she said, smiling and nodding slightly at Claude, seeing him staring at her as she passed him with Alois. She could feel his eyes on her and felt panic surging through her quickly. However, she tried to push the panic away and decided to confide in Sebastian about the feeling later.
She lead Alois through the hedges once more, making her way quickly until they made it to the main pathway. She smiled a bit and lead him down the path and toward the manor, she still didn't understand why she had connected with him. Maybe it was because he reminded her so much of the Ciel she knew before she couldn't be there for him anymore. She mentally decided to push the thought away and lead him back into the home. She didn't know how, but it had already begun to darken. The sun was starting to set just as she walked through the door with Alois and Claude.
The moment she entered the manor, though, she knew she was going to be lectured by Sebastian again. She didn't know how she knew, she just felt it. She lead Alois back through the corridors until she got to Ciel's study. She turned to Alois and smiled, "I need to do something, so I cannot join you in annoying my brother," she joked a bit, "however, if you need help finding anything, don't be afraid to ask," she said with a smile.
Alois grinned and nodded, "Thanks," he nodded a bit to her before pushing his way into the room, not even knocking or anything. Kimberly rolled her eyes a bit and let out a slight chuckle before hurrying back down the hall. She had remembered what it was she was doing before she blacked out and was pulled to Ciel by Sebastian. She was trying to find that room she had been in with Sebastian. It was such a gorgeous room, but she really wanted to get a routine down so she could visit the room regularly.
As she made her way down the hall, however, she felt as though she were being watched. It was an odd feeling, like something deep inside of her had begun to writhe, trying to gain control. However, when she turned to look over her shoulder, no one was there. She shook her head to rid herself of her paranoia and turned back, walking a bit faster, though. She couldn't help herself, she followed her instinct to lead her to where she wanted to go, though she ended up getting herself lost. She had taken so many different twists and turns that she had forgotten which way she had to go to get back to her normal route. Biting her bottom lip nervously, she turned around to try to retrace her steps. However, she ended up heading down dark hallways and dead ends. She couldn't believe it; lost in her own home. Again.
She turned around at the end of another dead end, expecting to be able to find her way eventually, but what she saw at the end of the corridor made her jump back a bit. A pair of golden eyes stared at her through the darkness. There was only one person she knew of that had those rich, golden eyes, and that was Alois' butler, Claude. She doubted she was in much danger, she had been with him and Alois for most of the afternoon and he hadn't done anything to rise suspicion in the back of her head. Sebastian and Ciel's warnings once again forgotten, she walked confidently forward, towards the golden eyes, "How did you find me? I'm no where near Ciel's study, isn't that where Alois is? Did he get lost?" she asked him, slowly getting closer.
His silence is what scared her the most, he just kept staring at her, unblinking. Unmoving. She slowly stopped as she got within arms reach of him and opened her mouth to say something else to him, to ask him why he wasn't saying anything when the wind was suddenly knocked out of her.
She felt an immense pain in her back and hit her head against the wall. She cried out in pain, gasping for breath as she leaned against the wall she was just thrown against. She looked up at Claude in surprise. She saw him moving closer and she tried to edge away from him. Her eyes never left his, making her stumble a bit and fall, picking herself back up and once more felt herself being pushed into the wall. Only this time, she was pinned there. A hand closed around her throat, stopping any oxygen she so desperately needed. She struggled and clawed at his hand, trying to get him off of her, but she was too weak.
She felt hot breath next to her ear and she stopped struggling, in result, the hand loosened and she could get the sweet oxygen she craved. Panting and trying to collect her thoughts, she heard a deep, calm voice, "So, you and Michealis are close? Well, if he wants you, then I had better get to you first," he said, his bored drawl turning quickly into a growl.
She gasped at the words but was too paralyzed where she stood to fight against him. She felt her wrists being grabbed and pinned above her head, Claude's breath moving down her neck and shoulder. She tried to cry out but felt a pair of rough lips crashing against hers. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to free herself from the man's grip, refusing to kiss him back. Tears rushed to her eyes and she tried to become smaller, trying to push back into the wall and somehow free herself but most of all, trying to keep him as far away from her as possible.
She felt his grip on her wrists tighten as her struggling continued and made a risk. She decided she needed to call for help. She didn't like where things were going, so when he pulled away from her lips and attached himself to her neck, she let out the loudest scream she could make.
"Sebastian!" she screamed, thrashing against Claude. She called out his name as loudly and as many times as she could until Claude once again slammed his lips on hers to shut her up. That was when she felt Claude being ripped away from her. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Sebastian, though the lighting was dim, she could still make out his glowing crimson eyes, and right now, they were horrifyingly pissed. She felt relief wash over her as she felt Sebastian pull her away from the wall and into his arms.
She heard his voice, smelled his scent, she immediately let the feeling of safety wash over her, "Kimberly, I want you to stay behind me. Stay close," he instructed her. She slowly nodded and stayed as close as she could to him, remaining behind him as she tried to wipe her tears away furiously.
She could hear Claude, his voice sounding just as calm and bored as before, "Sebastian Michealis, you really can't blame me," he said, though there was no hint of emotion in it, "you've wanted to do that for a long time, haven't you?" he asked, she could just imagine his face, his eyebrow raised as he looked at Sebastian with disgust.
She heard the growling voice of Sebastian, his tone changing completely from being concerned and loving towards Kimberly to being furious and disgusted with Claude, "You're wrong, Faustus. What a disgrace! To think you call yourself a butler! A butler does not attempt to defile a Lady!" he growled, glaring at him. She gripped the back of his tailcoat at the thought of Claude 'defiling' her. She shuddered with disgust and fear and bit her lip hard to stop more tears from escaping.
Sebastian turned and picked Kimberly up gingerly, bridal style, "I will deal with you, Faustus, later," he promised as he walked past him with Kimberly in his arms. His eyes flashed a fuscia as he passed Claude and held Kimberly close to his chest. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and her head hid in the crook of his neck, she didn't want to look at Claude, too frightened of him to do anything but think of how much she'd like to see Sebastian kill him right then and there.
After they had turned down a few more hallways, Sebastian whispered in Kimberly's ear, "You can look now, he's gone," he reassured her, smiling softly. He was trying to make her feel better, no matter how much it failed, he obviously simply wanted to make her feel at least a bit better. His expression changed from soft and gentle to serious yet kind, "You cannot tell the young master about this."
Her eyes widened a bit at this order and frowned a little at him, "But Sebastian, he deserves to know who it is he is showing hospitality towards!" she said in a loud whisper. Being grabbed by the throat combined with screaming made her voice shrink considerably.
"I understand, however, if the young master knew this, he would immediately reject having anything to do with Alois Trancy and therefore go against her majesty's orders and the Phantomhive reputation would be destroyed. I will deal with Claude Faustus and make sure he understands who it is he is messing with," he explained, kissing her forehead gently and setting her down at the end of a hallway, standing her up straight and cupping her face in his hands. He moved her head from side to side to look for bruises and was glad to see Claude hadn't caused any marks that would be too noticeable. There was a mark on her neck, however she could put her hair down and cover it easily. She could change to hide the bruises forming on her wrists and her lips hadn't been too badly bruised despite how roughly Claude had kissed her. She sighed a bit and nodded in understanding. She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.
"Thank you Sebastian," she thanked him in a voice that was barely audible.
"Now come along, dinner will be served any moment now," he said with a smile as he lead her down another hallway, one she recognized as the hallway that Ciel's study was in. She sighed a bit and looked down at the ground as they walked, side-by-side, to the dining room.
Sebastian warned her about Claude. She didn't listen and now look what happened. What was Alois like behind that childish mask?
((Thanks so much for reading this chapter, you guys! I hope you enjoyed it! I warned you about Claude, so I apologize if you were offended, however, I would appreciate feedback of what you guys thought of this chapter in the comments! Thanks so much!))