A

Bargain is Struck

Moving on.

xxx

Ciel Phantomhive's soul. The force that binds my brother to this earthly plane. Fought over in a maddening battle by two demons of the netherworld. The provocation for the war raging between my family and the Trancy's. The lies, the schemes, the abductions and elaborate lures. the moves executed on the chessboard, the thickening plot in our tale - all of it is for a soul. An abstract source of life.

But why? Why go through all this trouble for a soul? Why steal him away when he was already claimed by another? There are plenty of of other wayward souls. I can write a novel how many souls desire revenge or another form of selfish desire. Why go after my brother? Is your master not pure? Does he seem foul in comparison? Or is it something else entirely that I am not seeing? Unable to understand because I am an immature demon?

The hunger for a soul is defined as being worse than any sort of deprivation one can afflict to a demon. two of every five go mad from it. Either their hunger is forever unsatisfiable, or they starve in patience for the soul they crave. In which the unintended are victims of the hunger. Is that what I have to look forward to? Being driven mad by a rabid famine for a non corporeal essence? And serving a master for however long it takes to complete a contract! Stooping myself to humiliating levels, rising to ridiculous heights, going beyond idiotic lengths...for the sake of devouring a being I can easily break like a twig?

What is the endgame? What reward do I reap for servitude? What is the point of serving the human race when they are to be eaten afterward? Or is there no method to the fanatical madness? And it is all a cruel game fate created martyrs for to spice up the provincial human life?

I don't understand it anymore. All I wanted was to end the pain. Obtain the revenge Ciel and I wanted, then let him fade into death with no turmoil to follow. That dream has been postponed for an entire year already. I will not allow Claude, Alois, or anyone to span it into another.

xxx

"Lord Schneizel?" Schneizel excused himself from a group to address the voice. Alois beamed when he answered. "It is you! I thought I recognized you!"

"Lord Alois Trancy..." Schneizel gracefully stifled his revulsion. Blond locks hid his disgust as he bowed. "A pleasure to see you again. You've certainly grown. How old are you now?"

"21, and still in possession of my boyish charms. You're looking well for someone your age."

"You flatter me." Schneizel isn't bothered by stabs at his deceptive age. Alliahnna has made him immune. He used the energetic party as a distraction. "This is quite the party, My Lord. Might I ask what brought it on?"

"It has always been a fond dream of mine to host a masquerade ball. And since All Hallows Eve is alive with ten different festivals at once," The notion was a dreary one. How uncreative coordinators are, "I thought throwing one beforehand would grant the perfect opportunity to meet the noblemen and women as beings other than themselves."

"Ah, I see." Schneizel found it very clever. "Let them remove their masks for a prop, and live the night as they please. Free of judgements - most illuminating."

"I think so. Alliahnna seemed to take to it." Schneizel's lip twitched at her name. "It must be hard for her," The sincerity leaked down his tongue, decaying to rancor, "Always wearing her mask. It must drive her mad to not be able to be herself." He snidely cooed, watching for Schneizel's own mask to crack.

"On the contrary, My Lord, Alliahnna relishes projecting a false front."

"Oh? And why is that?" He slurred angrily. That didn't go as he planned.

"You and I have seen her when the mask comes off." Schneizel's lips parted to a dark grin. He used a spoon to demonstrate, placing it along Alois' neck. "Her smile distracts her enemies from the sickle about to sever your head." It also belies the the feats of which she is capable. Making her irreplaceable to him, and forever his confidant.

xxx

Sebastian darted for Claude, landing a swift uppercut to his chin. Claude recovered, whirling behind him and returning the favor to Sebastian's cheek. The spider lost sight of the raven. He turned to the end of the dock. Sebastian tauntingly welcomed him with open arms. Either one will have to be a bit more serious in their strikes. Otherwise they will get absolutely nowhere and be forced to disobey their master's orders. The butlers took to the air. Furious kicks and punches launched in every direction. Parries and counters rebound the demons. Regaining ground - air in this case - they unleashed a blow ten times the one received.

Alliahnna watched in the cover of forest and darkness, unable to look away as the night was ravaged by their fierce fight. The strength behind their strikes was incredible. Shockwaves shrieked from contact, jolting Alliahnna's marrow. Their godlike speed intense. They'd vanish in the blink of an eye, reappearing on either land, water, or in the air. These are true demons in battle. This is the difference in power. She is an infantile student amongst deities. What a fool she is to challenge either one.

Claude caught her off guard landing on the other side of a bush from her. Her paling apprehension coaxed a malignant smile. She felt an invisible hand grip her soul. Claude weaved sideways. A punch stopped a breath from her quivering face. The breeze hitched her breath. Sebastian retracted the punch, diverting focus back to Claude. He launched in a charge, ramming a shoulder into Claude's chest, and taking them both in the water.

Alliahnna dropped to her knees. Her head hung. Sweat beaded to her cheeks. Her eyes frozen in terror. The drumming of her about to burst heart loosened shaky breaths. The splashing water resounded like the roar of a tsunami. Monstrous waves climbing, demolishing all in their wake. How long...? Alliahnna's spiraling mind rasped. How long has it been building? The fire in Sebastian's eyes - a monster amid the flames - burned in her head.

That night. Over one year ago, on the island meant for demon kind. A contract was to be settled. Humanity sacrificed for a soul long hungered for. Alliahnna was forever consigned to a life eternal. Ciel was in Sebastian's grip. And, in one fell swoop, he was whisked away on a spider's web. A feasible act. Sebastian's seal was severely damaged. The contract waned as it regenerated. His tie to Ciel fragile. In that one brief moment - only seconds more needed to be bought - Claude stole Ciel from him, and sent Alliahnna and Sebastian on a hunt. Sebastian was so enraged. He fell apart. His power tore the island, decimating it, leaving it a stark wasteland. One course remained for Sebastian. One course with several obstacles and contingencies needed to be dealt with.

"That was the day you took him from me, you underhanded thief!" Sebastian snarled. Never will he forget the feeling of carrying not only an empty shell, but the burden of breaking a vow he swore to Alliahnna. "You stole my precious Young Master's soul!"

Black shoes touched to the water's surface. The water condensed to a solid plane. Sebastian and Claude distributed their weight prancing across the pond. The uneven surface caved the longer they stood.

"It wasn't enough though." Claude stated indifferently. He and Sebastian circled each other, not averting their glares for a moment. "I need more than the soul. I needed the body as well. But then you came here with your little protege and caused a ruckus."

"Yes. We retrieved his soul from you. And yet..." Failure and dissolution curdled him, "Something was not right. He was still not my young master! Nor was he the brother Alliahnna coveted!" He was...a sham.

"A human soul..." Alliahnna muttered, unable to rise off her knees, "An intangible collection of strings making demons their marionettes." Alliahnna ripped grass blades by the root. Her hair barred the outside from seeing her emotional turmoil. "Ciel. Alois. Do you see what your souls have done?"

xxx

The hair on the back of Ciel's neck stood. He looked up from his glass, gaping across the ballroom. He heard his name. But no one was near him. Alliahnna?

"Ciel!" He heard his name that time. Elizabeth cupped his hand in hers. Her emerald eyes sparkled to him, "Prince Soma has a treat he's been dying to share with you. Won't you come try it?"

"Oh very well." He gave in with no fuss. Elizabeth would only proceed to cry or beg. "Who am I to deny a Prince.

xxx

Claude's kick brushed the water. A skinny spout skated for the rival butler. Sebastian returned the kick. His own spout collided with Claude's, merging to a large tangle. Claude went for a second try, creating a bigger, more powerful erect whirlpool. Sebastian easily matched him, adding another spout to the lake. Their third attempts resulted in an aquatic dance of three ferocious geysers. Sebastian rose to the air to deal with the annoying waters.

"Ciel Phantomhive lost his memories." Claude's balling fist cracked. "He lost the pain he had lived through. And in turn," Claude slammed a palm to the water's top. Sudden bursts shot up the spouts, melding them together into one momentous malestrom in the sky, "Alliahnna Phantomhive's days as a human ended for no true cause." He leapt to the spout. A thrust to the center and the spout's wriggling tip twisted and darted for the airborne Sebastian. "He life stripped before it began." He poured his weight and flipped backward. Water mist his skin, raging past him and heading for the ground near the manor.

Alliahnna charged at full speed. She launched off the dock. Claude spun too late. Her boot planted to his face. She weaved forward, placing her second foot at his back. Pressure gathered at the sole. She kicked off. The forced knocked the wind from Claude. She was shooting like lightning. Sebastian breached the water as the spout loomed over the shore. Alliahnna sped past the spout. She veered around. She ricocheted off a pine tree's top. The spout drilled the air to tatters. Alliahnna stretched her leg past her head. Her heel swatted the water at land. Grass, water, and dirt erupted into a massive geyser. Waves took shape, swallowing Alliahnna, Sebastian, and Claude.

All fell quiet. The pond's roaring waves pacified to gentle laps. Grass and trees were left drenched. The groundskeeper will need to deal with the blemish in the morning. Sebastian arose in the waist deep water, shaking his hair dry. Alliahnna groaned lethargically, rising from the stunted depths. Water soaked her hair to her scalp and shoulders.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Alliahnna tapped her foot. The muscle in her calf was cramping fiercely. "I think my ligaments might be torn, though."

Sebastian snickered adoringly. "An easily remedied injury. A massage when we are alone." Alliahnna's exhaustion coaxed her to nod.

"A demon during a short period of time." Claude's voice projected from nowhere. "Yet here she stands powerful enough to stop my arbitrary attacks. I was hasty denouncing her transformation as causeless. " He sounded like he was talking in their ear. "Ciel Phantomhive was in our possession, prompting you to nurture your powers, and draw them to a particular potential in order to retrieve him." Alliahnna growled at the taunt.

"My Lord's soul which I so carefully cultivated!" Sebastian frothed at the mouth. "Tarnished, crippled, and sullied by your filthy hands."

"As I thought. Her humanity carried the soul's mutual desire. You want a soul that's known its revenge." Sebastian and Alliahnna heard him close by. They just couldn't find him. "Even so..." Water rippled aggressively. Alliahnna froze to a presence at her back. Claude gripped her neck and wrist in a vice, lifting her a couple feet off ground. Sebastian whipped around, gritting his teeth in dismay. "I sense an extraordinary attachment to him that rivals your lust." The fingers curled, bending the bones in her neck. "A fierce obsession with the boy's soul, and a ravenous desire to keep her." Alliahnna winced for one moment. Her steadfast resolve assuaged Sebastian's fret.

"Not surprising. I am a demon after all." Sebastian choked a smirk. "You have a master of your own. You should know."

"Nurture a soul and then feast upon it..." Claude spider crawled fingers across Alliahnna's chest. She stifled the yelp in her throat, "That is what we do." He rubbed his fingers side to side over her stomach. She refused to squirm, give him the satisfaction. "Yes I do know. You too will know of this one day, Child." Alliahnna twisted her neck, throwing a defiant glare at him. "A Newborn's hunger is by far the most dangerous. Adolescent beasts with a taste for blood." Alliahnna lowered her eyes to the water. Looking at her reflection, Claude's word made her ponder. "Reluctance to feast, taken in by hunger, or simply the temptation of the taste. You will come to understand the desire we feel." He put his lips to her ear, whispering hot breath, "Longing to sate your lust. Yearning for a taste of your precious brother." His long, snake of a tongue lapped her outer ear. She growled in revulsion, antagonizing a territorial growl from Sebastian. "Ciel is a very rare soul. As was yours. My master's soul is another one of the rare ones worth desiring- as you've no doubt surmised." Rare does not begin to describe that boy. As for desire: Alliahnna would sooner eat horse dung than have that boy in her mouth. "But you..." Claude shifted the conversation to Sebastian, "Giving a soul that's lost its memory a second chance at revenge? After submitting to a substitution for a number of year? No human soul is worth the trouble."

Sebastian and Alliahnna's revulsion dissipated. Smiles at Claude's ignorance beamed. A materialistic demon declaring an object for satiating hunger expendable. "That's where you're wrong, I'm afraid." Sebastian hummed. "My master is unlike any human you've known. He's a very rare specimen."

"Also," Alliahnna cooed maliciously, "Sebastian and I cannot let it be known that a soul was plucked from him. It was pertinent to get him back."

Sebastian's palm slammed to the water. He flipped above him. Alliahnna slipped free of Claude's hold, twirling daggers to her hands. Claude edged to counter. Sebastian landed behind him. Three dinner knives between his fingers aligned Claude's neck and collar. Alliahnna touched a dagger tip to his chest, holding the other close to her.

"You were right about one thing, though." Sebastian regretted to admit. "I most definitely intend to give him a second opportunity to realize his vengeance." Alliahnna suspected as much. With Sebastian needing to go further, his master plan laid bare. One she's been helping him to orchestrate. "Sadly, I'm lacking something crucial. A worthy target."

Claude was surprised. The method behind his constant interference bore fruit. Micro analyzing suitable competition. "And you are okay with this?" He quizzed Alliahnna. "Allowing My Master and I too be part of the Earl's recovery?"

"It's because of you two his soul is a blank slate! As far as it's concerned, those who wronged us are still alive." The one consolation prize was that Ash and Angela's corpses are ashes in the breeze. "And because my contract to Sebastian was settled and my transformation initiated, his seal no longer recognized me."

"And the revived boy was a shadow of his former self."

"Once our revenge was obtained, Ciel's seal returned to him, and his soul was pacified." She was made a substitute in the pursuit she would claim what Ciel could not. After his apparent death, she was consumed more than ever with a yearning for revenge. Sebastian removed Ciel's seal and placed it upon her. In reality, Ciel ventured on the same journey and acquired its vengeance. "That pacification must be administered one way or another, and you and Alois are the perfect pair to make it happen." She will slap herself for singing praises to this monster.

"As a gesture of goodwill, I will admit the boy is of no current use to me." Sebastian and Alliahnna gawked gobsmacked. "Stealing him was a prelude. It would be time and careful planning that would determine the outcome."

"Time you lost when we arrived." A nagging feeling gnawed at her mind. "But something is adding up."

"Yes?"

"You said you needed both the soul and body." It was no challenge to hear Sebastian and Claude talk amongst their battle. "What use would Ciel's soul have been to you if we hadn't brought his body?"

"Absolutely nothing. That is where time and patience held virtue." He gambled, is what he's trying to say. "I anticipated Sebastian's eventual arrival. You, as I've mentioned earlier, were an unplanned hiccup." Alliahnna normally would accept that as a compliment. But there are holes in Claude's plot he's withholding.

"What precisely were your master's orders?" Sebastian asked for the last time. "Stealing my master from me cannot be all he requested."

"That, and to make you suffer an agony worse than death."

"Is that so?" Sebastian removed his knives, and Alliahnna hers.

"I shattered his leg." Alliahnna pensively tapped her dagger to her chin. "Sebastian, what'd you do to bring this on? I thought you've never met Alois."

"I spoke true. However I doubt Claude will tell me if I asked."

"You would be correct in your assumption." Couldn't blame them for trying. Claude redirected the conversation to its original topic. "That said, it would be pointless to obtain Ciel Phantomhive without his memories of revenge fully in tact." He dug in his breast pocket,, folding his glasses. "I must steal a perfect version of him. One which has known it's final revenge."

A plan unnervingly hued Sebastian's shifty eyes. "Would either of you be interested in a deal?" Claude and Alliahnna ogled him curiously.

xxx

Schneizel, Phoebus, Agni, and Soma anxiously watched Ciel bite into a curry bun. Finnian, Mey-Rin, and Bardroy looked on with hope. Paula, Ran-Mao, and Elizabeth noticed he seemed to take to it okay, but wasn't really having a reaction.

"How is it, Ciel?" Elizabeth leaned to the table. "Does it bring back any memories?"

"And what exactly is eating bread stuffed with curry supposed to make me remember?" He derided her rather inane question. "Besides, I don't even care much for spicy foods anyway." Soma and Elizabeth were the most dismayed. They thought for sure it would work.

"I am sorry, My Prince." Agni deemed the test a failure. Schneizel and Phoebus felt as if they had failed as well.

"Although..." Everyone leaned in excitedly. "The flavor isn't all that bad." Ciel took another bite. It wasn't much, but it was something. That's enough for Soma.

Elizabeth felt she could rest easy. It was the first step of many. She won't stop. "Wait a moment." Elizabeth jogged to a table, then returned with folded garbs. Accessories neatly rested on top. "This is Alliahnna's costume, isn't it?"

"I think you're right." Soma's head tilted confusedly. "What's it doing here?"

"More importantly," Phoebus searched the crowd for her, "When did she leave it here?"

xxx

Headless statuettes sat to a mirror's shelf, lifting three stick candelabras. Lighting the way in the abysmal emerald green and golden brass room. Stone veins snaked the walls. Gnarled limbless stone figures clung in the veins. The flickering candle flames dimly illuminated the gold table cloth draped to the hexagonal dining table. A small bouquet of white roses intertwined in a blood red vase as the foreboding centerpiece.

Sebastian and Claude sat across from each other. Contorted plates and silverware spread before them. Alliahnna, portraying the neutral pillar in the midst of the harsh rivalry, caressed a pair of snow white roses. Their soft petals delicate to her coarse touch. Spectacled, auburn eyes locked in a duel with crimson pools. The smallest sign of weakness was scanned for. Hesitation or lacking resolve sniffed. Neither budged an inch. Astonishing to her, hidden well, she was not frightened. In fact, the foreboding air collecting calmed her. She tugged her red ribbon, coiling it to the floors. Undoing her buttons one at a time, she cast her blazer and vest with the ribbon. Sebastian and Claude used their teeth to free the gloves of their left hands. Their Faustian seals resonated in light outlining glows, raised in respect for the bargain they are to be bound. Equally entrancing pink orbs ignited. Men no more. Alliahnna proceeded to unbutton her undershirt, slipping it to her shoulders, exposing much of her breast and her bat pentagram. A luminescent glow outlined the frightful design. Her opened eyes blazed pink, replacing the girl with her demon. Demons consort in this narrow hall for the moment.

"In accordance to this conclave," She lifted the roses close to her nose, enamored by their sweet aroma, "I shall bear witness to ensure no falsehoods are spoken, and no pretenses are spoken in the future to come." She glanced at both, warning that these word bound them both. Well-known are both demons for discovering gaps in their oaths. Many have been strangled with their own words. "Do you Claude Faustus, Sebastian Michaelis, accept these terms?"

"Yes." Claude murmured.

"Yes." Sebastian echoed.

"Then let us begin."

Alliahnna pinched the stems close. She punctured her thumb to either roses' thorns. Blood leaked to the thorns. The stems absorbed her blood. Ominous purple coated to stark maroon, binding Alliahnna to the proceedings. She tossed the roses to either demon. They set them to the plates. Sebastian boorishly bit into his branded wrist. Meanwhile, Claude sliced his with a knife. They let the blood drip. Droplets stained the pure white petals, transforming the roses to their respective color.

"You and Your Master shall become the targets of My Lord's revenge." Sebastian so declared.

"And once Ciel Phantomhive has obtained that revenge," Claude gently plucked the rose from the plate, "We each shall battle for his soul. The seal." Claude threw his rose to Sebastian.

Sebastian flourished the rose like a sword, accepting the terms laid bare. "We make our pact." He then threw his to Claude.

They held their bleeding wrists above the roses once again. The potent liquid shrouded the luscious red. Decadent violet glossed the petals. In conclusion to the pact, Claude and Sebastian plucked three petals each. The soaked in blood sealed them together at their base. Together they placed the conjoined petals above Alliahnna's ears. Thin blood threads weaved in her hair, locking them in place. And so the three were sworn.

xxx

Alois fragile, pale hands squeezed his ticking pocket watch. Obsessively he stared at the ticking hand. It passed 60 second mark. "One minute. That's all." He forewarned to Claude's impeccable ears.

Ciel hadn't taken his eyes off the feigned boy since the three demons departed. Alois outwitted and made a fool of him once. It shall not happen twice. Ciel's frown spread to dismay.

Alois rigidly reacted to a presence behind him. Claude was at his side, as if he'd never left. "You're back, Claude!" He gushed.

Ciel was quaking in disbelief. Claude returned first. Impossible...does that mean- Before his imagination got the better of him, Sebastian and Alliahnna moseyed to him, wearing smiles saying, Did you miss us? Alliahnna folded hands behind her back, giggling impishly at his shocked expression. Ciel stepped forward. Relief in his eyes confirmed they weren't illusions.

"Losing faith in us already, Ciel?" Alliahnna chortled.

Ciel forgot himself, and frowned disgruntled. "What's the meaning of this?!" He demanded from both. Claude entered the ballroom first. He was not to enter at all.

"I took care of it swiftly, just as you order me to, My Lord." Sebastian slyly educated him.

Alliahnna proudly puffed her chest, "And I ensured their talks didn't disrupt the ball." The loophole was made obvious, constricting a vein in his head.

"Quit playing games! The both of you!" Sebastian dispensed further play and extracted a thick stack of papers from his coat. Ciel eyed him and the papers suspiciously. The serious glower on Sebastian's face coerced him to take the papers. He flipped to title page to a protracted biography. Ciel Phantomhive, being the title. "What's this?!" It was a report of sorts. Pages upon pages of information on him, Alliahnna, his activities over the years. "It's as if they've been investigating me! Us!" He paused on the page of his father, Vincent Phantomhive, accompanied by a photo of the man before the flames consumed him. "And our father as well…" He locked horrified eyes to Alliahnna who was impassive to the news. "How long have you known about this?"

Alliahnna solemnly closed her eyes. "About a year ago, my suspicions of them blossomed. Only in the recent months did I put the pieces together." She placed hand to the frothing boy's shoulders, steadying his shaking form. "I wanted to be absolutely sure before I told you. Lest your hands be stained of innocent blood."

"Then that means…" Ciel launched his dagger glare across the ballroom. He bit hard to his lip, refraining from a foolish outburst, "It-was-HIM!" Venom salivated. "He's the one!" Ciel's family, his pride, his sister - everything was because of Alois Trancy. "Alliahnna...can I count on you to drag this mongrel on his stomach, and drop him at my feet so I may exact my vengeance?" Rage twisted his face. He was a demon himself.

"Of course you can." She secretly glanced at Sebastian, stroking the flowers. He nodded and touched the rose in his breast pocket. The pair faced Alois and Claude. Despite his smile, Alois was not pleased.

"Care to explain why Sebastian is still alive? Or why Alliahnna's pretty little face isn't torn off the bone?" More of a demand than a request. Claude remained silent. "You botched this. How sad." He crooned, stealing Claude's rose. It was enough to make Aois laugh. Claude failed. Those words in the same sentence is hysterical. "You failed me! What shall I do? I'll have to punish you now." He's been looking forward to this.

"Your Highness, you did not order me to kill Sebastian Michaelis. Nor was Alliahnna Phantomhive mentioned in your orders." Alois was caught off guard by his argument. Claude returned his rose to his pocket. "All the arrangements have been made. Day into night. Snow white into crimson. Lies into truths." He flipped his hair, "Indeed. I am a trancy butler." Alois pressed his back to the wall, trembling in the omnipotent stare of his servant. Claude brought his face in close, hot breath tickled his lips. "I am going to make one Hell of a feast out of you."

The tension subside as the pianist initiated the next dance. Soon the rest of the orchestra followed, and the dance floor blossomed with people. Alliahnna relaxed to a wall, fanning her drenching sweat. She would need a massage and shower after this one.

"Where on earth do you keep disappearing to?" Schneizel scolded. He and Phoebus glowered with knuckles to their hips. "We've lost count as to how many times you've vanished."

"Oh, really? I'm sorry." She blushed shyly, rubbing the back of her head. "I went nowhere special."

Sebastian strolled behind her, resting hands to her shoulders. "I can assure you she was in the best of hands."

Schneizel and Phoebus grimaced. They exchanged disconcerted stares, arriving at the one conclusion to their frequent disappearing. "Alliahnna..." Schneizel cleared his throat, pulling her between him and Phoebus. They huddled close, lowering their voices to a whisper, "We can appreciate you are grown and in a relationship. But...maybe...possibly..." Alliahnna was lost. Schneizel was too squeamish to finish.

Phoebus motioned a finger, beckoning her ear. "Can you and Sebastian not wait until you return home to be alone?"

"HUUUH!" Her head exploded cherry red. Steam puffed out of her ears. Sebastian twisted, laughing into his hand. "THAT'S NOT IT AT ALL!" Schneizel and Phoebus jumped back, cowering in each other's arms. "WE WERE TALKING WITH CLAUDE!"

"Claude was there?" The two men glanced in his direction. Claude noted their glance and bowed. "ALLIAHNNA! You're into that?!" Schneizel's voice cracked. Sebastian was pressed to the wall, keeling over in laughter.

"SHUT UP, SCHNEIZEL! I swear I will tell Lydia about your Feast of Fools belly dance!"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me!" They collided foreheads. Lightning surged between their glares. Phoebus attempted to quell the fighting. It wasn't going too smoothly.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth lost track of Ciel when the dance started. She hoped to get in a dance before the night ended. Who she found unnerved her. Without looking where she is going, Elizabeth bumped into Lord Alois Trancy himself.

"Lady Elizabeth. Shall we dance?" He didn't leave her much choice. He led her onto the floor, sweeping with the flow of the dance.

"Oh, hello, My Lord!" She squeaked nervously. Ciel tugged Alliahnna from her argument, pointing to the dance floor. "Forgive me for bumping into you! I...I was just trying to find Ciel!" She tried to wiggle from his embrace. He held on tighter, flashing a mocking grin at the fuming Alliahnna and Ciel.

"That little tart!" Alliahnna bit her lip.

Ciel handed Sebastian the report, storming to the dance floor. will not be outdone by this Trancy prat. And he certainly will not permit him to dance with his fiancee. "What's this? Is My Lord actually going to dance?" Sebastian taunted.

"Snowballs are surviving in Hell." Alliahnna stifled a laugh.

"Shut up!" He snarled. It boggled the minds. Ciel Phantomhive volunteering to dance. Perish the thought.

Although the effect is funny, the cause was nauseating. Alois' vile hands on Elizabeth. Ciel dancing with another woman in order to keep a close watch over him was hard. What he will not do for Lady.

Speaking of Ciel, Claude erected his rose, assuring their oath was firmly in tact. Sebastian touched his rose and returned a nod. Alliahnna tapped the floor petals. Her hard stare warned him not to step out of line. Claude cast a charmed smirk her direction, then attended to the guests.

"As tempting as it is to find humor at my brother's expense, I'm going to get some air." Paua and Phoebus were disappointed. They wanted to see Alliahnna and Sebastian dance at least once. Maybe at the next ball.

xxx

Alliahnna wandered onto a balcony on the ballroom's second level. The crisp night air was heaven for her headache. Her sore muscles tingled. Running hair behind her ear, her fingers brushed the flower petals. She stroked them pensively, becoming sad when she remembered what they symbolized.

In place of the deceased Angela and Ash, Alois and Claude are to be the targets of Ciel's revenge. Once achieved, a battle will be waged to determine who claims his soul. As witness to the pact, Alliahnna is obligated to abide by the terms set. Treating Ciel as a trophy sickened her. But if it helps him in the long run, she's willing to go along with it for a while longer. However, should Claude break their bargain, and Ciel become a martyr for the demon's greed, Alliahnna will end Alois. Take what Claude has hungered for as he took Ciel from Sebastian.

'A newborn's hunger is by far the most dangerous.' Alliahnna touched her lips. Ciel's blood touched her tongue not too long ago. The rapture choked her, thrusting her into an ecstasy enough to subdue her. After which, whenever he is close and she can smell him, his scent is enough to drive her mad. 'Longing to sate your lust...' She put her hands to her ears, writhing, 'Yearning for your brother's soul.'

"No...I won't...I can't..." Footsteps derailed Alliahnna train of thought. Sebastian joined her on the balcony, closing the door to muffle the rowdy crowd. "Sebastian? What's wrong?"

"Lady Alliahnna Phantomhive, it is a beautiful night." He placed a hand at his ear, gesturing to the whistles of the breeze, and the hum of the music from below. "Music is all around us, wrapping us in it's buoyant cloak." He bowed with an arm folded behind his back, and opening a palm to his Lady. "Would you honor me with a dance?"

"Ugh...I..." Alliahnna nervously held her hand from his reach. She and he haven't danced before. Well, not intimately. It was so sudden. Her cheeks flushed bright pink as she met his gaze. His warm, charming smile relaxed her. His eyes pulling her in. How can she refuse. "I would be delighted." Happily she curtsied and lent him her hand. She placed a hand at his shoulder. He wrapped a hand to her back.

The music's tempo glided their feet. The world danced beside them. The breeze evolved to a strong gust, whirling leaves and flower petals around them. The manor faded to obscurity. The moon's vibrant beams followed them as they spun across the balcony. The music enveloped them, jettisoning them to their own portion of fantasy. The was no manor, no spiders, no masters. Only them.

Sebastian led her in a twirl, moving his chest to her back. He guided her into another spin, bringing her into his embrace. Protecting her in his arms. He tenderly leaned her back, interlacing his fingers to her long navy locks. Their glossy eyes met, transfixed in each other's gaze.

"I do believe this is our first dance." He muttered. "Not quite how I planned it. But the results are aweinspiring."

"How is it you always know how to make me smile?" Alliahnna stroked the backs of her fingers to his cheek, placing long hairs behind his ear.

"If I cannot pacify my love's wrath, what kind of butler would I be?"

"Mine." Their lips met in a tender kiss. And so the tumultuous night came to its conclusion.

Till next time.