Niki graduated college and I finished Supernatural! Sorta. I have season 9 left. I am not prepared for this.

Ciel had returned to the brothel in less time than he believed it would take. It was only mid-afternoon when he arrived, and he slipped into the back ally without looking around first, uncaring if anyone saw him. He just wanted to curl up in his and Meyrin's bed and stay there forever. He took the key from his back pocket and unlocked the alleyway door before he walked in and shut it, locking it behind him. He pushed away the long red curtain that covered the door from view and found the room empty, not surprising, but a little disappointing. But Ciel shrugged, stripped off his shirt and fell down on to the small bed he had shared with Meyrin since he was four. He found that he could not sleep, for his mind was too preoccupied with what had happened that morning to allow him the luxury of sleeping. He closed his eyes and sighed, pulling the blanket up over his head and laid still, letting the memories flow over him so he could deal with them and successfully fall asleep.

How had he allowed that man to get so close without getting away when he could? Well, the answer for that one was easy: because Ciel wanted the money the man carried. He was not overly greedy, but Ciel did have a streak of avarice that had gotten him into trouble before. Not of this level, but he had gotten into arguments with almost everyone who cared about him because of his selfish desires and tunnel vision of greed when it came to what he wanted. Ciel was a stubborn boy, probably learned from Angelina, and had no qualms with doing whatever was necessary to gain what he wanted, a charming trait from Grell. But he at least had the patience and self-control to know when he should stop and just be patient, something Meyrin ground in to him from the start. While he was as good at watching his prey and manipulating people, he had made a fatal mistake today: underestimated his opponent. But now he knew to never assume a person walking the street to be as stupid as the drunken regulars of a lower class whore-house or as air headed as the young ambitious workers just brought in from the brothels. Ciel knew there was no greater goal to this brothel, no shining light to work for. The best a whore got was to be a governess, or Mistress to a member of royalty. Not much other than that, so he almost always assumed the brothel workers were all stupid when he heard them discussing plans to have a family in America or to move to England and marry a soldier.

But that is perhaps what made him so cocky, this assumed position he liked to believe he held over people. He liked to pretend he was above everyone and that no one would ever catch him, something that nearly cost him his pride and virginity today. He would not make that mistake again, at least not on the same level. He now saw the people he was going to con as equal players until they proved themselves to be otherwise. He felt a ghost of a smirk tug at his lips; he would be far more perfect the next time he went out, if he ever went out again. The lingering threat of the man with the vermillion eyes still lingered on the front end of Ciel's memory. He knew the boy was a con artist out to get money, and he could ruin everything. He knew Ciel's face and voice now (stupid stupid stupid!) and could easily tip off the police to his workings. Ciel would be arrested at best and exposed at worst. Exposed to the owner of the brothel was a bad idea, since he could force the Madam to fire all three of Ciel's mothers and toss the boy back on the street to die in the coming winter. That was probably his biggest fear, being alone again and losing his mothers. So he had to avoid the vermillion eyed man at all costs. How the man kept finding him was a mystery to him, perhaps the man was stalking him. The idea made him shudder, and not in a pleasant way.

He heard a noise outside of the door and Ciel stiffened for a moment until he recognized the tones of Grell's voice as he argued with another brothel worker before slamming the door open and shutting it harshly behind him. Ciel lifted the blanket from his head and let his eyes follow the man as he walked about the room, tearing his accessories off and bushing his hair. He was clearly not happy, and Ciel debated making his presence known or just lifting the covering over his head again and letting Grell calm down in his own way. But his planning was cut short when Grell caught sight of him in the vanity mirror and turned to face him, halfway through removing the access blush from his cheeks.

"Brat? You are back early." The man stated, tone stating that he was trying his best not to snap at the boy, despite his ill mood.

"Ran into some trouble. Decided I would listen to my momma for once and stay home." Ciel said back, voice mostly monotone. He knew his referral to Grell as "momma" would alert the man to Ciel's distress, since Ciel rarely used anything but his mothers' first names since he turned eleven.

"Do share, brat. I need something to kill right now." The man growled, ripping the laces from his boots.

"I doubt killing anything would satiate your temper. What has you so ravenous for maiming this time?" Ciel asked and Grell threw his heeled boots at his pile of shoes.

"Oh no no no, dear brat. I asked first. You tell me, I'll tell you." Grell offered and Ciel nodded with a sigh.

"Tried to con this guy out of some money but he saw right through my act." Ciel said and Grell waited for the rest. Ciel had failed before, but he never acted like this afterwards. "He read it the wrong way though. He thought I was a street walker." Ciel said carefully, his words like pin drops against the pregnant silence that followed.

"Did he touch you?" The question that followed was not a question so much as a demand, a cocking in the gun Grell had become. Depending on how Ciel answered the question, he'd be firing the weapon and Grell's temper would flare out of control. He was cocked and ready to be fired, all barrels loaded and each bullet sharp and read to tear into some flesh. Ciel knew he had to be careful, or Grell would be sleeping in prison tonight.

"Not in the way you are thinking." Ciel stated and quickly clarified when Grell coiled tighter, gripping the knife under his vanity desk. "He didn't touch me...you know, there." Ciel said, blushing as he did so, but continuing to speak. "He just kissed my neck. Maybe he bit it, I can't really remember, but see, no harm done." He assured gently, tilting his neck for Grell to inspect. He felt like a lion tamer in that moment, trying to calm an angry and protective male lion who was starving. It was like stroking the angry animal, hoping that the beast would calm in time for Ciel to save it from being put down. "I'm fine, just shaken up." Ciel assured again as Grell carefully inspected his neck, looking for any sort of evidence he could use to go out and kill someone.

"Fine." Grell finally stated. "But you aren't going out again for at least a week." He stated.

Ciel stared at him. "You're grounding me?" He asked and Grell nodded.

"I'm grounding you. You can still explore the brothel, but no going outside." Grell glared when Ciel started to mount his protest. Ciel sighed and conceded.

"Not like I wanted to go back out anyway." He muttered and Grell visibly relaxed. He was no longer a cocked gun ready for firing, more like a tired house cat. "So, what had you so ready to strangle the next person who crossed your path?" Ciel asked carefully and Grell groaned loudly.

"It's nothing that really concerns you, yet, but it's such bothersome news for those of us working here. Mind you, I heard it from a regular client of Angelina's, so I'm pretty sure this is not one of my 'wild rumors' as the rest of you like to accuse me of." Grell warned, waving his finger at the amused child.

"Get on with it, you fruit." Ciel stated.

Grell rolled his eyes. "Call me a fruit again and it will be two weeks. Now, shut up, I'm trying to tell you." Grell said. "Now, where was I?"

"You heard something from a regular client of Angelina's so it's probably true." Ciel reminded, crossing his arms over his chest in a patient manner.

"Right! Now stop interrupting. Anyway, I heard that the owner of our brothel recently had to pull out since he could no longer fund it, leaving the Madam to run everything. Well, she found someone knew in an English nobleman who bought the brothel for his...son I guess. I wasn't listening that well, but anyway, the brothel has a new owner and from what I heard, our Madam is getting fired or demoted or something, since the new owner wants to run the brothel and actually be here." Grell stated, half excited and half annoyed.

Ciel knew this was probably highly distressing news. The old owner had never even visited, he just gave the Madam the money she requested to make purchases that were too large for the payments the workers received. Usually a brothel owner would do just that, give money for the brothel's Madam to buy things for the workers or fund expansions. But now the brothel had been purchased by someone completely new, and this person wanted to come to stay at the brothel as well as run it himself. And the Madam was going to be fired or demoted to a normal working prostitute like Angelina or Meyrin? The idea was almost impossible, but then again there was money involved and money made the most impossible things happen like turn water to wine and men into women. It seemed everything had its price, and this time the price was paid in full so the new owner could do whatever he wanted. And with a new owner came the terror of the brothel cutting. Whores who did not make the weekly or monthly quota of visitors were often cut from the brothel and caste out, and if everyone was at least meeting the minimum, then those who barely made it were removed.

This posed the biggest problem for Meyrin, since she barely made the quotas and never really had any returning customers. It was not that she was unattractive, she was just shy and not very bold when it came to her looks or what she was doing for a living. Her number had certainly improved since Ciel came along, probably because Ciel was now a purpose she gave herself in her work, but she still barely made it. She had only two returning customers and that was a far cry from most other girls in the brothel, who had up to four, or Grell and Angelina, who had upwards of ten returning customers any given week. This also meant the most problem for Ciel. Ciel did not work at the brothel at all, nor contributed to its income, meaning he was a freeloader and unwelcome. The new owner could easily turn him away and caste him out with nothing or force him into becoming a worker.

"Worried about getting caught, brat?" Grell asked as if he had read Ciel's mind and the boy nodded.

Once again Grell looked Ciel up and down with a careful eye, taking in the naked chest the boy sported and his long legs. Grell smirked and made eye contact with his adopted child and chuckled. "So why not join us in the business before the owner gets here? I'm sure you'd get plenty of customers in no time." He said and Ciel rolled his eyes.

"Do not flatter me." He snapped and Grell shrugged.

"One day you are going to wake up and realize just how pretty of a boy you are, dear brat. And I'm sure you'd make an even prettier girl if you felt the need to pursue a career like mine as a true actress." Grell said.

"Both are a waste of my time and talents." Ciel responded, laying down again and covering himself in the blanket. "So let's both make the world a better place and ignore this ever happened, okay?" He said and Grell growled.

"You think it's such a bad career choice to be a prostitute?" He snapped and Ciel shrugged under his covers.

"I wouldn't know. I didn't choose it." He snapped back, letting his temper get the better of him.

Grell was about to yell at him, he could feel the man rising, when the door once again slammed open. In stepped a very confused and slightly worse for a wear Angelina. Grell's temper instantly flew away at the site of Madam Red returning early, and Ciel poked his out from the blanket to see what the fuss was about.

"Oh. So you are here." Angelina stated, looking at Ciel.

"Yeah...?" Ciel asked, unsure about her tone as he sat up, letting the blanket fall from his form. "And?"

Angelina quickly stepped in to the room and shut the door before adjusting her gloves and hat. She cleared her throat and dusted her dress off. "I apologize for alarming you, I was just coming back to the brothel with a very nice man I met two days ago, when I spotted a client standing by himself. I thought it was strange, since some of the girls were looking at him like he had grown a third head or something. Anyway, I decided to see for myself this man and let me tell you, he is a handsome one. I almost forgot I had a client with me if he had not been attached to my arm." She stated, still dusting off her dress and finally moving to dusting her hat.

"Does this story have a point, Angelina?" Ciel asked, crossing his arms again at being interrupted from his nap attempt. Or his argument with Grell, which was always fun.

"Hush, I was getting there." Angelina chided and once again proved that sometimes Grell picked things up from the massive gossip. "Anyway, seeing how handsome he was made me wonder why he was alone and the girls were avoiding him, so I walked up to him and asked him why he had come to Black Lace. Well, not until after I introduced myself, since I do have manners, unlike some of a petty street walking whores this brothel houses...anyway, getting slightly off track there, where was I?"

"You asked the mysterious handsome man why he was at the brothel." Ciel said with an aggravated sigh. Really, both Grell and Angelina did this so much it was an annoying routine. But Angelina had a tendency to lengthen her stories with rumors or embellishments, something she probably learned in her time as a noblewoman and having to fill time and breathing space with words.

"Yes, right. Anyway, when I asked him, he said he was looking for someone. So, like a true noblewoman, I offered my services in finding this person, since I know everyone in the Red Light District. Which reminds me, Grell, did you know Angela is pregnant again?" She asked, turning to Grell.

"No! Is she really?" Grell asked incredulously.

"Angelina! Focus!" Ciel yelled and Angelina looked back at him.

"Of course, forgive me. I got a little distracted. Anyway, he said he did not have a name but he had a description, so I told him to tell me about the person he sought and, let me tell you, he gave a very detailed description of this person. And I instantly knew who it was so I came back to our room as quick as possible to see if they person he wanted was here or not. But the person he seeks is here, so now all I have to do is deliver the message." Angelina concluded and Ciel motioned for her to finish her story.

She looked Ciel dead in the face and her lips firmed into a straight line. "There's someone at the front to see you, Ciel." She stated and Ciel felt his heart stop.

"I...w-what...for me?" Ciel babbled as a shirt was thrown at him by Grell.

"Yes. For you. Now, hurry up, dear." Angelina stated, helping the confused boy into his shirt and leading him down the hall. Ciel was scared now. Someone had seen him and reported him. Now he was going to be arrested and his mothers would either disown him or be kicked out of the brothel for harboring him for so long. He fought against Angelina and broken from her grasp.

"No." Ciel stated and Angelina looked at him unbelievingly.

"Why not, sweet heart?" She asked gently, seeing the fear pass over Ciel like a drowning wave.

"I don't want to be taken away." He whispered gently and Angelina smiled, pulling the boy close to her chest. She stroked his hair gently, the way she had when he woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares of the bombs crashing and the fires that consumed London during the wars. Slowly he felt the fear ease from his body, and he loosely grabbed on to her waist and her arm, burying his face into her shoulder.

"No one will take you from me, dear one." Angelina assured. "Nor Grell, nor Meyrin." She cooed softly, stroking the boy's hair. "It is not the police who are here to see you. And you know as well as I, if this man harms or threatens you, Grell will quickly relieve the man of his ability to call himself a man." Angelina said in a light tone that had Ciel chuckling.

"With that scary bread knife of his." Ciel stated, barking a laugh at the mental image. "Such bravery." He stated, pulling away from the older woman and wiping his eyes.

"That's it, dear, stiffen up. You have nothing to fear. Even if this man was to take you away, I'm sure most of the whores here would look the other way while Meyrin and Grell found a good place to bury the remains. He offended a good number of them by refusing their company, and you know how these magpies can get." She said and Ciel raised his eyebrow.

"Why are you making me meet with him? Aren't I supposed to be hiding?"

Angelina sighed but nodded. "Yes, dear, but he already knows you are here. He has a very detailed idea of what you look like and now where you live. So I have little choice right now."

"Okay. Let's go." He stated and Angelina led him to a side room away from the lobby to prevent Ciel from being seen again. Ciel understood, Angelina had told the man to wait in one of the private meeting rooms while she fetched Ciel, just another way the older woman was protecting Ciel's identity at the brothel. She stopped in front of the peacock room, one of Ciel's favorites to look at because of the colorful decorations, and opened the door. She turned back to Ciel and put a gloved hand to his face.

"If anything goes wrong, just holler. I will be right out here in the lobby." She whispered to him and Ciel nodded before switching places with her and walking into the room. He shut the door behind him and braced himself for what he would find beyond the peacock blue curtains that hung in front of the door, giving the room the feel of a private place. He took in a deep breath and turned with purpose, striding through the curtain, pushing it aside as he did.

"Someone was looking for me?" He asked, eyes still looking anywhere but right in front of him.

"So this is where you live."

Ciel's eyes widened and his head snapped forward, only to find the vermillion eyed man in front of him, sitting on the emerald green fainting couch that had peacock feathers sticking up from it that made the man look like he had a full peacock tail spread out behind him. The image fit with the cocky smirk and raised eyebrow he sported and Ciel remained frozen to the spot.

"I...you...how?" Ciel babbled again and the man chuckled before standing, offering Ciel his hand.

"Perhaps introductions are in order." He said and Ciel took his hand confused.

"I...I guess. I'm Ciel Phantomhive, I guess you could call me the son of the brothel." He said slowly.

The other man nodded. "I am Sebastian Michaelis, I guess you could call me a British Nobleman."

I like reviews. And cliff hangers.

Love,

Petra Jade