She remembered the absence of light. She remembered the sound of a beating heart. She remembered being held. She remembered screams. She remembered crying.
Her mistress.
The maid's eyes shot open.
"Cathy!" Fresh tears poured onto the young girl's cheek as she wrapped her slender arms around her servant's neck. Catherine winced as the material of Lizzie's sleeve came in contact with her wound.
"My Lady Elizabeth, it probably isn't best to touch her, she has just been shot." A voice said. Elizabeth gasped and moved away, apologising. As she retreated the source of the voice was revealed.
Mischevous eyes, ebony hair, silky skin. Sebastian Michaelis, of course.
"Catherine, are you feeling alright?" A new voice asked. She saw a middle-aged man in a suit, perched on a chair by her bed.
"Miss Catherine, this is Dr Scott Downham, we called him in to tend to you." A teenage boy said, in the doorway.
"Catherine, you were shot in the neck and have been asleep for the past 27 hours. Do you remember anything at all?" the doctor said, calmly. The maid slowly shook her head.
"Oh Cathy! You almost died! You almost died for me! I feel absolutely awful, how can I ever repay you!" Lizzie's voice piped up, eyes red and puffy from crying. The teenage boy walked forward and took the blonde's arm.
"Elizabeth, perhaps it's bed if you retire now, you'll only upset Catherine." The boy began to lead her away.
"No!" Elizabeth shouted, "It's my fault that she's in this state, I should stay with her!" Her emerald eyes filled with tears.
'Elizabeth is crying, I must help her.' Catherine thought and she lifted her head.
This, was a bad idea. Pain shot through her neck and throughout most of her body, making her shriek.
"Easy, easy." Dr Downham said, cradling the maid's head and resting it back on the pillow. "It's best that you don't move your head for a while, it was very surprising that you survived being shot in the neck. The bullet got lodged in your windpipe, no normal person would have survived this, you're very lucky. So it's best you rest for the next few days."
"Speaking of the bullet," Sebastian chimed in, "What did you do with it?" Dr Downham reached for a folded cloth on a small table beside him. He unfolded it to reveal a gleaming, silver bullet, almost clean apart from a few spots of crusted blood. It was the size of the doctor's little finger.
"Th-that was in your neck?" Elizabeth asked, pointing at the deadly object.
"As I said, it was very surprising you survived this, considering the size of the bullet." The doctor continued. "Catherine, can you speak?"
Catherine opened her mouth and spluttered, the tendons in her neck straining.
"Maybe you should wait to ta-" Dr Downham started.
"Se-Sebastian." She whispered. The butler stared at Catherine and raised his eyebrow, smirking. The pair continued to stare at each other, words left unspoken. Lizzie was still crying and the doctor was puzzled.
Meanwhile, his grip still strong on Elizabeth's wrist, Ciel watched them. He was afraid, terribly afraid, afraid that Lizzie's prophecy was going to come true, that he was going to lose his butler, the man h-he.. loved, to someone else in the blink of an eye.
He loved him. The earl loved the demon. The prey loved the hunter.
Ciel's breath quickened as he tightened his hold on Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth, we should go." He said, firmly.
"But-" Lizzie said through her sobs, staring at her fiance, confused.
"Now, Elizabeth." Ciel gritted his teeth. "We should give the happy couple some space." The young boy shot Sebastian a cold glare as he pulled Elizabeth out of the room. The demon stared after his master, unsure of what had just happened. Dr Downham was even more puzzled than earlier. He sighed and stood up.
"Well," He said, "I'll leave you two in peace. Call for me if you need anything."
"Thank-you, Dr Downham." Sebastian smiled as he left, taking the doctor's place in the chair.
"I-I should be with E-Elizabeth." Catherine croaked.
"It's alright, Catherine, I have asked Tanaka to take care of them bouth." Sebastian took one of her pale hands in his gloved pair.
"Is Ci-Ciel going to be alright. He seemed angry." Her voice was high-pitched and breathy, she was obviously struggling.
"He'll be fine, I'll go back up to him once you're asleep." The butler's voice became more serious. "But before you do, I feel we have a few things to talk about, I have a question for you."
"Sebastian, I thought we'd finished with the questions." the maid wheezed.
"You may have done but I didn't get any of the answers I needed. It's just one question, promise me you'll give me a proper answer."
"Fine." She sighed.
"How did you know about me?"
"My father." She sighed again and cleared her throat. "When I turned three years old, he would tell me your 'eternal butler' story every night. After a while I started to idolise you, you were the soul character in my favourite story and when I found out you actually existed, I had to find you, no matter what. My father drilled that into my mind from a very young age, in fact, his last words were 'Look for Sebastian'." A small tear rolled down her blanched cheek. The demon wiped it away with his finger.
"I see," Sebastian said, "Evidently, my brother wanted you to be safe after he was executed. He wanted you to find me and be protected by me if things went south. I can't believe he trusted me with his daughter, he barely knew me." Sebastian chuckled. "Charles, why did you have to fall for her? You're not as smart as you acted, brother."
"What do you mean he barely knew you? You were brothers."
"Don't get us mixed up with humans, we are demons after all. Family isn't important to demons. I was 187 human years older, when he was born I was fending for myself, he meant almost nothing to me."
"How could you say that about your brother?" Catherine scoffed.
"As I said, don't get us mixed up with humans." Sebastian smirked. Catherine rolled her eyes, wincing in pain, but it was worth it. The butler suddenly picked up the bullet beside him. Catherine looked confused. He studied it for a while then threw it up in the air and caught it.
"This, Catherine, is a demon bullet."
"A what?"
"A demon bullet. It can kill demons permanently if shot in the right place." He placed a finger in the middle of his forehead. "Here." He sighed, "It can easily kill a human but angels are immune to it. The facts that you are a mix and that it hit you in the neck are the reasons you didn't die."
"But why was it heading for Lady Elizabeth?"
"Lousy aim."
"Who was it meant for?"
"You are stupid aren't you." Catherine glared at him. "I don't think you understand, Catherine, you're being hunted."
Author's Note
This chapter came earlier than I had expected. The reason it was going to be late was because I have a friend who looks through each chapter to check for mistakes and gives me a second opinion before I release it, they are away for a couple of weeks without wifi and I didn't want to release a chapter without their consent because I'm always worried that it's bad. :(
So this is the first chapter I've released without checking with them first which makes me extra nervous about it. :/
awesomeninjamonkey & meow cats r awesome: I'm glad you liked it, hope you like this one too! :)
Anonymous Guest: Thank-you for trying to help but as I explained it wasn't because of writer's block just an unaccessible editor! I will let you know if I do get writer's block, which is inevitable. Thank-you again for another kind review, at some point I would like to read one of your stories because if your reviews are that good I can't imagine how amazing your stories would be!
In other news I watched Book of Circus and Book of Murder, because I couldn't wait another year until they may or may not release a dub for both, and they were amazing! A little annoyed that we gained another "Mathilda" for Sebastian with Beast, can he just marry Ciel already!
Anyway, please leave your feeback and the next chapter will come soon :)