Chapter 15: Cold.
The girl sat on a soft, velvet cushioned chair, delicate hands lying atop small thighs. She could hardly hold her eyes open as the maid replaced the bandages on her left leg.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Mey-Rin asked, looking up at the pale girl with a concerned expression.
The bluenette smiled reassuringly as she nodded lightly. "I'm fine, just tired."
The maid smiled brightly as she continued to rewrap Cassie's bandages. "I'm glad to hear you're alright, yes I am! With a wound this bad, I'm surprised you're still able to walk!"
Cassie shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. "It's not as painful as it looks, fortunately. I just have to be careful how I move..."
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get this wound, Miss?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.
The bluenette's eyes widened ever so slightly and she pursed her lips as she tried to think of an answer. She couldn't tell her that she was attacked by a werewolf, it just wasn't believable.
"A-A dog... A very large dog." Cassie stammered, nearly facepalming at her own words. Hell, saying it was a wolf would be more believable than that.
"It must have been a wild one. How strange..." The maid spoke, "Many strange things have been happening lately..."
"Something strange happened?" The younger girl questioned, narrowing her eyes at the maid softly.
Mey-Rin nodded, "It was just this morning! A woman with blonde hair and hazel eyes showed up at the manor and left only a few minutes later."
Cassie's eyes widened and her body began to tremble as her heart skipped a beat.
"Miss? Is something wrong?" The maid asked, worry filling her tone.
Cassie stood as she was about to speak, but the moment she opened her mouth, the wound on her leg started to freeze as if it were turning to ice and an unfathomable pain shot throughout her entire body. She couldn't even scream or cry, she simply fell forward as the world around her dissolved into complete darkness.
Her breathing quickened, tears threatening to slip through her large sapphire eyes. She took cover under the closest tree as she squeezed her eyes shut and curled up within herself, hugging her knees tightly. "Sebastian... please get here soon..."
Just then, the woman with golden hair and emerald eyes appeared on Cassie's right. "He can't hear you, love. He's not here. It's just you and I."
The bluenette's heart raced in her chest as she stuggled to get the her feet. "What do you want from me?! Just go away!" She shouted, running in the opposite direction. The rain made it hard for her to see where exactly she was going, but she managed to avoid hitting the trees.
At that moment, a loud crack of thunder echoed throughout the sky and the girl winced as she fell to the ground.
The blonde was quick to make her appearance as she grinned wickedly at the quivering girl. "You can't run away from this, Anna. Soon enough, you're going to have to face the consequences of what you've done." As the blonde spoke, her form slowly shifted into that of a wolf. "It's fate, my dear." She growled, lunging at the bluenette.
The young girl groaned as she tossed and turned in the bed. She tried to open her eyes, but she just couldn't. She could hear voices around her, but they seemed so distant, she could hardly make out what they were saying.
"Just wake her up."
"She hasn't been getting a lot of sleep, we should just let her rest for a bit."
The other person let out a sigh. "She's been sleeping for hours, just wake her up already."
Half awake, the girl listened to the sound of people talking become more and more distant.
Cassie managed to dodge the werewolf, but ended up cutting her hand on something in the process. While the wolf was down, she used this time to get as far away as possible. However, she didn't get that far because the wolf was already right behind her.
The wolf dashed forward, opening her mouth just wide enough that she could catch the girl's leg in it. She bit down hard, the metallic blood of the bluenette seeping into her mouth and down her jaw.
Cassie let out a bloodcurdling scream as a result and roughly fell to the ground.
Before the woman could harm the girl any further, a man with perfectly tousled ebony hair stood between the two. "You've done enough." The man spoke sternly. "Leave before I do to you what you did to her."
The woman remained in her wolf form as she reluctantly turned around and ran away.
"Cassie."
Nudge.
"Cassie, wake up."
A sigh. "Leave her be, Young Master. Miss Cassie needs-"
"Shouldn't you be somewhere, Sebastian? Perhaps making some tea or something?"
There was another sigh and the girl could feel a cool hand brush over her forehead and flick away the hair from her face. And then the sounds of steps fading away.
The man then turned to face the injured girl. He stared down at her with sad eyes as he lifted her into his arms. "This isn't how I imagined our first meeting to be... I'm sorry it turned out this way, my dear."
"W-Who are you? W-Where are you taking m-me?" Cassie asked between struggled breaths. The pain of the wolf bite mixed with the large loss of blood was draining the girl of all her energy. She was minutes from losing consciousness.
"Don't worry." He spoke with a calm, soothing voice. He then placed the girl on the ground underneath a large tree so the rain wouldn't soak her anymore than it already had. He put his hands over his ears as he spoke, "Close your eyes and cover your ears like this. You won't be able to see or hear the storm."
Cassie nodded as she did what the man said. And he was right. She couldn't see or hear anything. However, that did not help at all for the immense pain she was feeling in her leg.
The man stood up as he smiled sadly down at the girl. He spoke even though he knew she could not hear him. "You're going to be okay, love... That bloody demon will protect you while I watch from the sidelines... I promise that with time, that will change." He turned around, his back now facing her. "As for now, we'll have to part ways. Goodbye, Cassie."
"That's it!" Someone huffed, causing the girl to squeeze her eyes shut.
Suddenly, coldness flashed over her body as someone pulled the blanket away from her. "It's time to wake up!"
"Young Master, please-"
The pale girl's eyes fluttered open and she ended up staring at a familiar bluenette and his butler.
"How are you feeling?" Sebastian asked, quickly taking his place by the girl's side.
"I'm fine." She mumbled. She felt hot now, unbelievably hot and for the first time.
Sebastian glanced at the girl with something more than a casual look. Ciel frowned as well, his eyebrows knitting together and faster than Sebastian could, he leaned in towards the bluenette to place a cool hand on her forehead.
"You seem flushed." He spoke quietly. "Maybe we should get a doctor..."
Flushed? For whatever reason, they both looked at Sebastian for confirmation - or perhaps permission - but he simply shook his head. The raven butler gently swept the girl's hair behind her ears as he motioned for her to lay back down. "You need to rest."
"Rest? She's been asleep for eighteen straight hours!" Ciel muttered, scrunching his brows as he gazed at his butler.
A smirk spread across the butler's face as he spoke. "Six of which you slept with right beside her."
"Shut up." The boy mumbled, looking away as a rose pink blush painted his porcelain cheeks.
"You stayed with me the whole time?" The girl asked, staring at the embarrassed earl.
"Of course." He spoke silently. "I was merely worried about your well-being, that's all."
Cassie couldn't help but smile as she hugged the blanket close to her body. "Thank you, Ciel."
Hours had passed since Cassie tried to fall back asleep, but she was unable to. She just lied there, staring blankly into the shadows of the room.
Sebastian wouldn't allow Ciel to sleep with her in fear that he might catch a fever as well. So, the girl just lied there all alone.
Her body was shaking horribly from the coldness she felt and no matter how tightly she hugged the blanket around her body, she just couldn't get warm.
Several minutes had passed and Cassie finally came to the conclusion that she was not going to go to sleep. She threw her legs over the edge of the bed, carefully stepping onto the cool oaken floor as she exited the room and began her search for Sebastian.
With every step there was a small limp that nearly caused her to lose her balance on several occasions. So, she leaned against the wall towards her left as she made her way down the dark, narrow hallway.
As she approached the staircase, she could hear the voices of two people talking to each other. Curious, the bluenette cautiously peeked over the railing to see who it was.
Her gaze landed on Sebastian and the man whom she had encountered the night she was attacked. She narrowed her eyes at them as she tried to listen to what they were saying.
"...rissa. I know where she is. She's gone under an alias and she lives in the area. In fact, she was the cause of Cassie's first abduction. I caught her following me down here one day, so I took it upon myself to figure out just what it is that she wants." The man with emerald eyes spoke with a solemn expression.
The girl's eyes widened as she realized who exactly they were talking about.
"Clarissa." She thought. The mere mention of the woman's name sends chills down the young girl's back. She feared that woman almost as much as she feared those masked men who tortured her for all those weeks.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes slightly. "If you knew of this, why didn't you say anything before? Are the two of you working together?"
The other man chuckled softly as he ran his fingers through his ebony locks. "Believe me, it was hard for me to even spare the woman's life when I learned this information. I only kept quiet about it because I was under the impression she just wanted to find Cassie. But of course, it's not as simple as that."
"So what exactly is it that she wants?" Sebastian asked.
The man stared intently at the raven butler as he spoke. "She wants to kill her."