"So.. this is the demon hound?"
Ciel smirked and stepped into the waiting carriage. "Indeed," he answered simply.
"And he's coming back to the manor with us because..?"
"Apparently the mutt requires some training at the hands of my capable butler."
Lilliana snorted but quickly stifled her laughter when said capable butler threw a less-than-pleased look in her direction. Straining to keep a straight face, she turned back to Ciel. "That makes perfect sense, actually." She covertly winked at the young boy who chuckled at her. After all, who better to train a demon hound than a demon?
The village bustled with construction and hopeful faces now that the "curse of the demon hound" had been lifted. Lilliana smiled to herself. I guess the little lord's vision of a resort is shaping up.
"If you're finished, can we go?" Sebastian's voice sounded from where he was standing behind their carriage.
"Certainly," a pleasant voice sounded. "Maybe someday I'll come visit Pluto at the estate." The pair had approached the side of the Earl's carriage and Angela looked up at Lilliana. Their eyes met and Angela quickly looked to Ciel and assumed her fake sweet smile. "I thank you, Lord Phantomhive, for allowing me the pleasure of your and your servants' company. It was a truly enlightening experience." Ciel merely nodded at her.
"Goodbye, Angela. Until we meet again," Lilliana smiled sweetly at the fallen angel and began humming softly. She enjoyed the fear and slight panic that crept into the angel's face as she hastily backed away from the carriage. Lilliana's smirk grew and she continued humming, careful not to accidentally summon her magick since Sebastian was on the drivers' seat behind her now. They pulled away and she found Ciel looking at her curiously. Lilliana merely chuckled and shook her head, turning her gaze to watch the countryside she had worked to breathe life into just a few days before rolling by on their way home.
A week had passed. To Lilliana, it had felt like an excruciating eternity. It was becoming so much more difficult to conceal her magick and hide her identity from Sebastian. Her soul was restless at being denied its other half and she was mentally exhausted from keeping herself in check every day. Since using her magick and connecting with the elements in Houndsworth, Lilliana had to consciously keep herself from using it around the manor. This was made exceedingly challenging when Mey-Rin was constantly breaking dishes, Bard was always setting off explosions, poor Finny lacked a green thumb, and Pluto was...well, Pluto.
Sebastian also kept a closer eye on her than he did before, perhaps because he was suspicious about her and Ciel's relationship or maybe he suspected that they were hiding important information from him. Whatever the case, Lilliana could not be alone with Ciel for more than a minute or two before Sebastian would make an appearance, visible or otherwise. His behavior was even beginning to bother Ciel, who had been unable to effectively question her about Angela's reaction to her farewell at the carriage in Houndsworth. Lilliana obviously couldn't tell the little lord that she was a fallen angel, so she had assumed a vague story about the two of them having a disagreement at the beach while Ciel and company were otherwise occupied obtaining the demon hound. Needless to say, Ciel wasn't convinced.
She sighed from her seat on the settee in the corner of the library, her book falling into her lap. Sebastian was lurking outside the library doors again. She was annoyed that he was watching her like she was a criminal, pained that he still showed absolutely no interest in her whatsoever, and frustrated that the uncomfortable pull of the soulmate bond would not allow her any peace. She pinched two fingers to the bridge of her nose, fighting off her weariness and resulting bad mood. Zeela had awoken her two hours before sunrise to inform her that something big was going to happen soon. Something that would test her mind, body, and soul. A trial, perhaps, or just unfortunate circumstances. Either way, it had her on edge the rest of the day.
Lilliana managed a quick nap after tea in the afternoon, though she woke feeling no more rested than when she laid down. Finally, Zeela convinced her to visit the stables and go riding on her favorite mare. She returned for a late dinner several hours later and honestly felt much better even after enduring Ciel's lecture about disappearing without leaving a note. Of course, she should have known it would be the calm before the storm.
She was too restless to sleep, still anticipating the event Zeela had forewarned. When her clock had tolled midnight, Lilliana gave up and went to walk in the moon-bathed gardens. Ciel and the servants were asleep and she sensed Sebastian cleaning Bard's mess out of the kitchen's poor old oven. She paced through the grass away from the mansion, intent on finding the narrow forest path from her soulmate vision. Lilliana was only a few yards away from the treeline when her locket seared her skin and she spun around, coming face to face with sharp teeth, flowing red hair, and a noisy chainsaw aiming for her neck.
Evade. Block. Counter. The words repeated themselves like a mantra in her head as she desperately tried to defend herself like her father taught her to against the reaper's onslaught.
The reaper relentlessly pursued her, just as he apparently has been pursuing (*cough stalking *cough) Sebastian, spouting nonsense in a jealous rampage. She had summoned her dual shortswords, but even those weren't helping her as much as she had hoped. As it was, she was barely managing to dodge his attacks and she wasn't always lucky enough to avoid getting cut. Now, the exhaustion from the past week was catching up to her.
Lilliana's arms shook slightly with the effort it took to block Grell's attack. She was not as well-versed in physical attacks as she was in offensive magick, though she was still reluctant to release her magick while so close to the manor. It was stupid, but a part of her held onto the fear of how Sebastian would react to such a revelation after being kept in the dark for so long. Would he even give her enough time to show her mate markings or would he see her as a threat to Ciel and immediately try to kill her?
Her momentary distraction allowed her opponent to gain the upper hand and shove her backwards. She quickly recovered, rolling to her feet with her blades at the ready. His face twisted in a sneer as he looked down at her. She knew she looked a mess and had several cuts on her arms and bare feet. A particularly nasty gash on her side was oozing blood and causing a distracting amount of pain. Still, she hesitated to summon her magick to heal herself.
"Ha! I can't understand why you think you have a chance with my Bassy!" He swung his scythe at her again, chuckling as she desperately leapt to the side to dodge his attack.
"You're so weak and human! My Bassy is much too classy for you!" Another swing. The reaper was getting worked up now and the young witch was beginning to have difficulties dodging his attacks while trying to block out his words.
"How could you ever hope to compete with someone like me for Bassy's love?" Lilliana cried out in pain as the scythe caught her leg. She tumbled across the ground before coming to a stop against a tree. She vaguely realized that their fight had reached the forest at the boundary of Ciel's estate. Lilliana was utterly exhausted and struggling against the wounds on her body and in her heart. The reaper was only speaking her own thoughts, after all. Somehow she managed to stand, head bowed against the pain and humiliation.
"Really, it's not as if you have any right to even try to claim him!" The reaper was in front of her now, bringing his scythe above her head with both hands. He was so gleeful at the prospect of ending this pitiful girl's interference that he missed seeing her body stiffen at his words. The noise from the scythe increased in anticipation of reaping a soul as the reaper's arms began to swing down at the prone girl's neck.
"Uh- What the hell?!" The reaper shrieked when he felt something stop his descent. He looked up and saw that there was something brown wrapped around his wrists. His eyes widened when he realized it was branches from the tree the girl had pressed her palms against.
Grell struggled against the branches, to no avail. His efforts lessened when he noticed something unusual. It was very faint, but he could hear something, like a whisper. The girl in front of him raised her head, glossy black hair eerily reflecting the full moon's light, though that's not what unnerved him the most. Lilliana's emerald green eyes, so similar to the reaper's own, were glowing with an unnatural light. It was then that he noticed her lips moving and became aware of the strange language that fell off the girl's tongue.
Lilliana stood tall and proud as she locked eyes with the helpless reaper. No more, she thought. The elements she was connected with responded to her emotions and began to manifest themselves around her. No more. The wind whipped her hair while the earth beneath her rumbled and a pit opened beneath the panicking reaper, who was now only held by the tree's branches around his wrist. No more! The elusive fifth element, spirit, strengthened and fortified her battered mind and heart. I will fight for my soulmate!. A deceptively gentle dripping noise indicated the hole beneath Grell filling with murky water. That left..
"Listen well, reaper." Grell's head immediately snapped in her direction. "It may be true that I am not worthy of Sebastian. It may be true that I am nowhere close to his level. It may even be true that he will never accept me. But-..." Here she paused, taking a deep breath before again fixing her luminescent emerald eyes on the reaper. Grell squawked in alarm when she was suddenly engulfed in flames. They ate away at the hem of her dress, then her sleeves, even around her torso. Suddenly the flames grew to completely hide her from view.
From behind the flames, her voice reached him, clear and strong. "I do have every right to claim him." She released the hold on her magick, broadcasting her soul's truth into the night, just as the flames extinguished themselves and revealed the young witch's figure in the moonlight. Grell's eyes threatened to pop out of his head as he squawked in absolute disbelief. The fire and her magick left her in a crimson halter top that stopped just below her breasts and a low-slung black lace skirt that was cut at an angle from mid-thigh on one leg to her knee on the other. The moonlight illuminated the witch's porcelain skin and revealed her inky black mate markings that almost seemed to crawl across her skin. Her green eyes still glowed with magick and confidence while her silky black hair whipped around her. Blood still dripped from several of her wounds and gave her the appearance of a warrior goddess.
Grell squirmed and whimpered as she drew closer to him. "Take a good look, reaper. Do you still dare to claim my mate?"
The reaper dissolved into panicked shrieks and begging. Lilliana began to chant in her ancestors' tongue which only served to increase the reaper's panic. The ground closed beneath him and the wind quieted, not that he noticed. Finally, the branches released their hold on him and Grell crumpled unceremoniously to the ground, along with his scythe.
"Be gone," Lilliana commanded. The red-headed reaper, his face blotchy and snot dripping from his nose, stared at her wide-eyed for two seconds before he grabbed his scythe and ran as supernaturally fast as possible away from the Phantomhive Estate.
Lilliana took a deep breath in and held it, eyes sliding closed, before releasing it and the magick she had summoned. She still felt the remnants of the boost to her spirit and that's honestly the only thing that kept her from collapsing in exhaustion and pain. Damn reaper, she cursed internally. Opening her eyes again, she wearily turned toward the manor and took a few tired steps before she abruptly froze. A few yards away, crimson red eyes glowed in the darkness.