Hey everyone! School is starting again tomorrow, weekend's over, so I think I won't be posting for a while. Maybe you'll see a new chapter Friday, or otherwise it'll be Saterday. Enjoy the chapter!

promocat: yeah, she has a really sad life, hasn't she? But don't worry; things will get better for her! (only not in this chapter... oops...)

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Chapter 4

So apparently I skipped the last day of school before vacation started. Oops.

I was relieved, though, because I had no idea how I would face Ciel the next time I see him, so I had a week extra to prepare myself.

The only downside was that I had nothing to do in the vacation. I lived in a place in the middle of nowhere and I was one of the only teenagers here. And one of the only women. There were hardly any children here, but the village I lived in wasn't exactly a good place for children.

And guess who was the mayor?

'Dad, can you help me with the light in the bathroom? It's broken.'

My dad made some sort of annoyed sound and said in his low, always impatient voice: 'Go fix it yourself. I'm busy.'

I sighed and left his office. My father had been that way since forever. I thought it was because my mother died when I was born, but my grandmother kept telling me that he was always mean and cranky to her as well.

At three 'o clock I went to his office again, this time to bring him his tea and the mail we got. When I put it on his desk I saw him looking at me as if he wanted to slap me and I shivered at the thought of him actually doing so. Lucky enough for me, he didn't. Probably because he was too lazy to get out of his chair.

I stayed when he read the letters we got, mostly because he usually wanted me to throw them away as soon as he'd read them.

But this time, one of the letters made him furious. 'Fucking… That bitch!' My father stood up from his desk and as a reflex, I stumbled backwards, too afraid that he would take his rage out on me.

He didn't. Yet. 'Sending her people to check if our village is okay? OKAY? Our village has never been better!' he shouted angry, throwing his cup of tea on the ground. 'That bitch thinks she can do anything, she should be the one to be killed by the demon dog! Not my people!' He screamed even louder now and I thank God for the fact that our house was far away from the other houses. But I also cursed him for it. Because no one could hear my screams as my father grabbed me and beat me until he'd calmed down. The worst part about it was that he never seemed to regret it.

'Go clean that up,' he said cold, pointing at the tea on the ground.

As hasty as I could I walked towards the tea cup and picked the pieces up one by one. I was trying to fight my tears, because if there was one thing I didn't want to do, it was to cry in front of that man.

I put the pieces in the pocket of my pullover and left the room to go and grab something to clean the tea up. As I walked to the kitchen, I finally started to cry, but hated myself for doing so.

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The next day my father put on a suit that looked way too fancy for a day in the office, but I didn't question it. I wouldn't even dare. I brought him his morning tea and went straight back to my room without saying a word. I wished that would bother him at least a bit, but I knew full well it didn't.

I was laying on my bed reading a book when the doorbell rang. Knowing that my father wasn't going to answer it, I put the book down and ran downstairs. I had no idea who it could be, but since my father dressed up, I guessed it was someone here to see my father.

I did not expect to see Ciel, his butler and his house staff.

'Ciel?' I said, more surprised than I'd ever been. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

Ciel looked just as surprised as I was, but he asked a different question. 'What happened to your face?' He frowned his eyebrows and I saw his butler doing the same. Great. Just fantastic.

Then the three idiots noticed me. 'Clarissa!' Mei-Rin said happily. Then she took a good look at my face and her smile faded. 'What happened?'

I touch my cheek, trying to cover the bruises that I knew were all over my face. But I knew that was no use. They had already seen it. 'I fell down the stairs,' I answered, but I knew it sounded like a lie.

Ciel looked at me for a few more seconds before changing back to cold, emotionless Ciel. 'Anyway. We're here for Mayor Barrymore. Is he present?'

I nodded, somewhat happy that I wasn't the main focus anymore. 'I'll shall bring you to his office.'

As I lead them to my father's office I could hear Ciel and Sebastian speak to each other, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. The three other servants however, who were walking behind Ciel and Sebastian, we're talking so loud that I bet even my father could hear them.

'This is a beautiful house, yes!' Mei-Rin said.

'I-I still think this town's creepy,' Finnian said. 'I don't trust this at all.'

I smirked. They had no idea.

I dropped the house staff in the kitchen and told them they could look for something to eat and then continued the road to my father's office with only Sebastian and Ciel. We reached my father's office and I knocked twice before opening the door. I stood still beside the door so that they could easily walk passed me, because I really didn't want to be up front when they saw my dad.

Unfortunately my father had already seen me. He looked at the guests and then walked towards me to slap me in the face. 'Who the hell is this Chihuahua?!' he shouted, slapping me again. I had to do my best to hold myself still, trying to abandon all emotions. 'Did I ask you to bring this kind of rubbish into my house?!'

Sebastian and Ciel didn't even look shocked. I could say I was surprised, but I wasn't. I had to admit that this time, I liked the fact that they didn't seem to care. It made this less embarrassing and it also made me feel less vunerable. I never wanted anyone's pitty. 'Chihuahua?' Sebastian repeated, apparently the only thing that he found odd.

'Can't you even do simple things, Clarissa?!' my father shouted, slapping me again and again as if my mistake would disappear if he just hit me often enough. As if hurting me enough would bring mother back to life.

Then I saw Ciel's face twitch and then he looked at Sebastian with a serious face. 'Sebastian,' was the only thing he said with a serious, stern tone.

I closed my eyes as my father's hand came down to my face once again… but this time, I didn't feel it. When I opened my eyes again I was Sebastian standing beside my father, holding his arm so that he couldn't hit me again.

My father wasn't impressed. 'What are you doing, you filthy Doberman! Trying to bite my head off, are you? Let me go!'

'I ordered him to stop you,' Ciel said, making everyone in the room face him. His face showed a slight hint of anger, but it was mostly disgust. 'I presume you've got the letter,' he went on, sitting down on the chair in front of my father's desk. 'My name Ciel Phantomhive.'

My father's eyebrows rose. He pulled his hand free from Sebastian's grip, but didn't hit me again. He turned towards Ciel now, walking closer towards him, finally leaving me alone. 'You mean that you're the one Her Majesty sent? A toy poodle like you?'

Ciel closed his eye and smiled a little smile, even though it wasn't really a happy smile. It was more a wicked, amusing smile. As if he was rather enjoying himself. 'Do you not like small breeds, mayor Barrymore?' I knew he wasn't just talking about himself, but also about me. He opened his eye at the end of the sentence, just so he could give me a glance. I could see the picture he had of me change as I looked into his deep blue eye.

But I wasn't sure if it was for better or for worse.

My father mumbled something that no one could hear and then said: 'Clarissa, go get some tea for our guests. Now.' He sat down behind his desk, looking at Ciel as if he was the most disgusting thing he'd ever seen.

I knew that look all too well.

When I arrived at the kitchen, Mei-Rin, Finnian and Baldroy had made a mess of the place, so I asked them to please go and take their stuff into the house as I cleaned up. After that I made tea, only to return to the office, where a staring contest was going on.

When I tried to put tea in the cups, I could see my hands shaking. All the people I was scared of the most in one room really freaked me out. I really had no idea how I was going to pour tea in three cups neatly.

Then Sebastian was suddenly standing beside me. 'I'll take care of this,' he whispered in my ear, taking the tea cup over from me as if they were bombs that could explode any moment.

I took a step backwards, looking at Sebastian as if he'd just turned into a frog. Was he being… kind to me? Or did he just not want to waste the tea? I liked to believe the first, but I knew I couldn't be entirely sure.

I did get something out of this situation, though. I now knew that Ciel indeed worked for the Queen, as in the Queen. My father wouldn't listen to anyone, especially not a kid, if it wasn't about a case of national importance.

My father was reading some files that I assumed Ciel had brought with him, but after a while my father put them down, looking annoyed. 'It's not worth discussing,' he said, folding his arms. 'No matter what the terms, I can't sell this place.'

Wait… What? 'Sell this place?' I repeated, immediately regretting it. I covered my mouth with both my hands, but the words had already been spoken.

My father looked at me with that disgusted look I knew so well, but something seemed to redeem him from getting angry. As I looked at Sebastian, who was looking at my father as if he would like to eat him, I understood what put him off.

'Let me hear your reason,' Ciel said to my father, ignoring me and my father's reaction to my words.

Sebastian handed both my father and Ciel a cup of tea and I was surprised when he handed one to me as well. I wasn't used to getting anything.

I knew what my father was going to say before he even opened his mouth. 'The curse,' he said sinister.

I rolled my eyes. Typically my father to begin about the curse again.

'Curse?' Ciel repeated, not as shocked as a normal fourteen year old would be. But then again, it was Ciel, I suppose I was used to it by now.

My father put on his 'look at me, I'm telling a scary story'-face as he said: 'This village has lived alongside its dogs for years. Those who interfere shall face the curse and its consequences. Even Her Majesty can't change the horrible things that happen here.' My father had stood up during his speech and even looked a bit proud. He was sure he'd scared the kid of by now.

But he didn't know Ciel Phantomhive. 'Oh. How interesting,' was Ciel's reaction.

My father frowned, angry again. 'What?!'

Ciel folded his hands together above the table. 'Let's have a long, nice look at this village and its so called 'curse',' Ciel said, amused but unimpressed by my father's scary story. I almost laughed. My father did have to do a lot better than that if he wanted to scare emotionless Earl Ciel Phantomhive away.

XxX

Ciel and his staff slept in the spare rooms on the ground floor and because of the sudden guests, I thought I would have a problem with cooking dinner tonight. Lucky enough for me, Sebastian had brought food so that I didn't have to go into town to buy extra food. He even asked me if he could help prepare the food. But the way he said it made it clear that he was only giving me the impression that I had a choice, when I actually didn't have one.

We were silent as we cooked, both barely said a word. I didn't say anything because A, I still didn't trust the guy (he was a murderer, that hadt changed) and B, because I didn't really have anything to say.

When the silence was broken, it wasn't me, but Sebastian. 'Mayor Barrymore is your father, correct?' he asked as he took the chicken out of the oven. I wasn't surprised when he didn't use the oven gloves. I started to think he was indestructible.

'Yes,' I answered, clearly not happy with the answer. 'Yes, he is.'

Sebastian was silent for a moment, but then opened his mouth once again. 'Does he always… abuse you?'

I was surprised when my mouth opened to answer his question. I had no obligation to do so, but I still did. 'Not always. Only when he's angry, or sad, or drunk.' I frowned. There were barely any moments when he wasn't at least one of those things.

'That doesn't sound like a healthy father-daughter relationship,' was his reaction.

'No shit, Sherlock,' I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Don't you ever think about… running away?' he asked as he started to cut the chicken.

I shrugged, still not sure why I was talking with this guy so naturally and normally. Where had my sences gone? But I had to admit that - even though this conversation hadn't been going on for long - I quite liked talking to this murderer. 'Of course I do think about what.' I sighed. 'But I won't.'

That surprised him. He looked at me with a confused look and I must saying; that look was priceless. 'Why not? I really don't think that a young woman such as yourself will have a bright future here. Don't you hate that man? Don't you wish he was dead?'

I looked at him in horror. What? Was he offering to kill him for me? 'No!' I almost screamed the word. 'Of course not!'

Now Sebastian looked like I just turned into a unicorn and was singing God Save The Queen while dancing around wearing a dress made of children's' hands. 'Why not?'

'Because he's my father! No matter what he does to me, that won't change!' I only noticed that I was screaming when I could hear the dogs from the village bark. I knew I shouldn't leave the window in the kitchen open. That the villagers couldn't hear didn't mean the dogs couldn't.

Sebastian looked at me with a look of fascination in his eyes, as if he couldn't believe I was real.

'What?' I asked when he didn't stop looking at me with that strange look in his eyes. 'Why are you staring at me?'

'So pure,' he said softly, even his eyes seemed to change shape. For I second I thought his eyes looked like cat-eyes, with slit pupils and all. But it must have been my imagination, because my whole body was a mess. I could feel my heart flutter in my chest as he looked at me like that. God, he was so hot…

Clarissa, snap out of it! Serial killer, remember? I resisted the urge to slap myself in the face and shook my head, trying to focus on something else.

That also brought Sebastian out of his thoughts. I thought I could hear him mumble: 'So pure. And so… disgusting,' but I wasn't sure. I hoped that wasn't what he said, because my picture of him was just changing for the better.

I remembered what Ciel said a few days ago. 'Those who steal and those who get stolen from'. Maybe Sebastian and Ciel were just a bit too extreme in staying on the good side of faith, but did that make them bad? Maybe Ciel has a good reason for hiring such a talented killer as Sebastian. Maybe it has something to do with his parents…

His parents.

Oh. I suddenly understood why Ciel didn't care when Sebastian murdered every single one of the kidnappers. 'Don't you hate that man? Don't you wish he was dead?' Sebastian had asked me. And maybe I didn't hate my father, but that didn't mean that Ciel didn't hate the people who murdered his parents. A child with a heart full of hatred… No wonder Ciel was the way he was. Now there was only one question I had to ask myself.

Could I forgive him for what - who - he was?

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