Hello everyone! We've reached chapter ten, already, and... what a chapter! I hope you will enjoy it and be quite surprised!
Before that I want to thank everyone who support this story and it reached 500+ views! Thanks soooo much! A huge shout-out to ButlerGirlAnime, Kurono Vixen Yami, Maistyria and louise53 for following and favoring, as well as a special thanks to Aservis Roturier for the so awesome and helpful review! I hope to continue gifting you an enjoyable story! :D
Also, I had to change the titles in the contents because the site doesn't allow long titles... and some of my future chapters have longer titles. Nothing vital missing there, it's more for aesthetic reasons that I don't want them cut in the middle of a word.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kuroshitsuji or its characters. I entirely own only my OCs, arcs and ideas/themes not mentioned in any form of the franchise (manga, anime, games, movies or musicals).
Chapter 10: The Tutor, Exposed
Selina closed the kitchen door tightly and then opened the upper window for the cool night air to enter the room freely. With fear in her eyes she approached a picnic basket sitting on the counter, slightly lifted the cover and a horrible odour attacked her nostrils, threatening to spread in the kitchen, if she did not shut it immediately.
"Oh goodness! How is it possible to ruin fresh ingredients? Bard… one day you'll find yourself behind bars accused for poisoning."
Tomorrow was the big day of Ciel's school tournament and the Phantomhive staff would rise early for the trip to Weston school; everyone would go except poor Snake, who unfortunately drew the lot to stay behind and safeguard the manor. Since the whole event would last all day and they would have a picnic, Bard, as the Phantomhive chef, took it upon himself to cook… and he did cook… that stinking thing in the basket.
"Okay, good thing I kept some of the ingredients, let's see if I can make something similar." The woman said and began preparations.
She pulled her hair in a tight, high ponytail and rolled up her sleeves after putting on an apron. She washed her hands and then began working as silently as she could so that no one would wake up and find her in the kitchen in the middle of the night. She was quite tired and knew she had a long day ahead of her, but could never let that nightmare of a food be served to Lady Elizabeth and Prince Soma, in case he joined them, although he was in an opposite team and house in the tournament and school respectively.
She still laughed remembering Sebastian's description of Soma's very 'discreet' entrance in the school and how loudly he called and waved after Ciel, even though the young Earl asked him specifically to not do any of these or show any sign of familiarity between them, because then the whole plan of Soma being there as Ciel's spy inside the Red House would be out in the open and therefore useless. It seemed that the Indian boy was too excited to see his 'brother' after some time and all logic fled from his mind; thankfully, everyone was too dazzled by Soma's demonstration of wealth, to notice the new student of Blue House ignoring the newcomer's happy screams and leaving the scene pretending not to know that Prince.
She was working while trying to picture all this and a happy smile had spread on her lips; she was so focused that failed to sense the familiar presence, nor heard the light footsteps coming closer, not until the deep voice of the demon butler pulled her out of her fantasy and made her jump startled.
"What are you doing in the middle of the night?" Sebastian asked and with his fingers caught the kitchen knife that was flung towards him, aiming for his throat. "Thank you for the warm welcome."
"Oh sorry, I'm so sorry… but you startled me." Selina said trying to control her breath and beating heart. She abandoned the half cut piece of meat and quickly hid her hands behind her back. "Well… actually I was about to cook an edible version of what Bard made for the tournament picnic tomorrow. I… I know it's late but they are all asleep and I won't get caught by Bard; I don't want to hurt his feelings, he was too proud for what he made." Selina was talking fast, in a failed attempt to cover her nervousness as she was backing away from the counter and Sebastian, walking towards her in a really slow, lethal, predatory way.
"Show me your hands." He ordered approaching and looking at her with his cold, even threatening red eyes; he left the knife on the counter and continued towards the woman, who was now retreating with a wild look in her eyes, the look of a trapped animal.
"My… my hands? What about them? They are just dirty from cutting the meat, nothing of interest." She said trying to show she was cool but failed majorly.
Sebastian was not in the mood for that kind of games and so, without warning, he dashed towards her, grabbed and slammed her on the wall as he pulled her hands from behind her back, pinned them on the wall above her head and caged her legs with his own in a way that she would not be able to kick him or slam her knee in his private area. Selina did not have time to act or say anything; the only sounds she made were those of struggle as for a while she was trying to release herself from the demon, but soon realised he had not moved an inch and so she admitted temporary defeat.
"Have you calmed down? Can I do my job now?" Sebastian asked her coldly as he was towering over her, his face and body very close to hers. Selina nodded without looking at him. "All right, let us see what we have here." He then caught both of her palms with one hand and with the other one, after removing his glove with his teeth, started investigating and touching the peculiar, deep blue flames and purple marks on Selina's forearms.
They seemed like twin purple round seals on her wrists with strange letters and markings inside, lines like thorny vines circled her wrists binding them in a way. Light purple letters mingled with patterns of blue flames were covering the rest of her forearms and, as Sebastian saw, the letters and the words formed a protective spell. A shield to protect someone specified during the initial creation of the spell, and to Sebastian's surprise the specified person was his master, along with a general direction for anyone the boy ordered her to protect and even he, his human name, was included. Selina's skin was soft, smooth and unbroken, since the spell was created by ink that had seeped into her skin like a tattoo. Quite fascinating magic.
He was impressed but said nothing. The blue flames seemed to be clearly decorative as they did not emanate any magic, therefore, he turned his attention back to the seals. They resembled that of a contract, but were not exactly the same. First of all they were not of demonic nature and seemed to have different contracting parties for each seal beside Selina. He could not really understand the markings inside the circles, but he did recognize one very well; he immediately grabbed the woman's throat and squeezed, obviously not hesitating to snap and break it if he had to.
"That is why your sleeves are always down and buttoned, even in summer. And I thought it was clearly professionalism, having the appropriate image… Now tell me exactly what you are and why you have contracts with the reapers. Are you in league with Undertaker? Is that why you wanted a room of your own? Are you contacting him somehow while fooling us with the supposed seal to your powers?"
His voice was dripping cold with the intention of murder, his eyes a menacingly bright red. He squeezed again, enough to make the woman turn her face, that had already started to turn red from difficulty in breathing, and look at him straight in his eyes with her cat-like ones.
"N-no… I'm not. I have… to… stop him, assist you in that!" Despite the iron grip crashing her throat, Selina's eyes did not leave those of the demon's, since she wanted him to see the truth in them and believe her. Either way, she had reached a point where she could not hide any longer. "Let me… speak… please!"
Sebastian indeed saw she was telling the truth and considering that her spells were destined for his and his master's protection and not harm, he decided to give the woman a chance. He loosened his grip a little but left his fingers on her throat ready to squeeze the life out of her if he had to. He could feel the hot blood speedily running in her veins and her chest rapidly rising and falling as she was trying to catch a breath, which was also quite hot landing on his chest, her face all flushed. He found that quite an interesting sight.
"Speak."
"Okay. I'm a witch, a natural born witch." She specified as she saw the mocking smile on Sebastian's lips once he heard 'witch', now he seemed more intrigued. "I come from a long line of natural born witches, males and females, but for some decades now we had become very weak. My generation could be the last one, even though we were more powerful. My mission here is indeed to help you and your master achieve your goals, one of them is to stop the Undertaker from messing with people's life and death while playing God."
She stopped as a cough seized her body, due to sudden hyperventilation, after Sebastian loosened his grip and talking at the same time. It seemed she needed a moment, but Sebastian was not willing to give her a second; he released her throat and slipped his hand at the back of her head, grabbing and pulling her ponytail, forcing her to look at him again.
"The seals on your wrists." He demanded.
"Ouch!" The pain of her hair was like Sebastian was pulling to remove her scalp. "Yes, they are contract seals… with reapers, but with those that also hunt for Undertaker."
"So Grell was just pretending not to know you?"
"No, your present Grell really does not know me. Your future Grell is my present one and that is the one who knows me… and really hates me for a reason that only recently I began to understand."
"Yes, the future Grell already knows that you were with me in the past and obviously he is not happy about it. Anyway, I never imagined that reapers would grow so weak that would work along with humans, even if they were natural witches." Sebastian smirked in a way that showed how much he appreciated that tip for future use.
"Usually they don't. But in the future demons will grow very restless and impatient. Almost no one will have the patience to form a long contract with a human like you have, and everyone will hunt short lived ones, fulfilling very trivial human desires in order to feed from their souls… That means, reapers lose a great number of souls, can't fight all the demons on their own and natural balance is under serious threat. Therefore, they have formed various alliances in order to have some assistance in rescuing at least some souls. One of these alliances is with witches, wizards and every other who can actually fight demons."
"How wonderful… I caught an experienced demon killer! Yet, she claims she will not kill me, because her powers are blocked..." Sebastian seemed amused in a really malicious way.
"I never said all my powers are blocked! Just one, innate in me that could definitely kill you." Selina seemed quite offended by the demon's implied accusation of her lying.
Sebastian kept staring at her, stating he expected more details and to emphasize his point, he tugged at her ponytail again. Selina winced from pain but still there was no threat towards the demon in her eyes, only anger for his behaviour.
"I am the Holder of the Blue Flame. My body or part of it can be wrapped in blue fire, making me quite transparent and I can sink my hands in the chest of any supernatural creature or human with magic, find their spiritual core or soul and crash it, sending my victim to eternal oblivion." She said with no hesitation, fully aware she practically bared herself in front of the demon.
Sebastian chuckled like his amusement was growing by the second. "How delightful! A natural born witch is send back in time by reapers, that obviously hold a grudge against me, to assist my master and I. Conveniently enough, this witch has a power quite lethal to me... and they want me to trust such a creature."
"That is why my power was sealed! As a proof of good will, they negated my power with the armband, which I cannot remove myself, in order for you to not feel so threatened by me. I have no other way of proving my words. You saw and touched the armband, you sensed the blocking..." Selina did not know what else to say to convince the demon about the truth of her words.
"If their intention is not for you to interfere in my contract with young master or kill me then why go to such lengths and block your power? Why send you in the first place, instead of another witch, without a dangerous power?" Sebastian asked coldly.
Selina remained silent for a while, lowered her eyes but soon looked at him again as he pulled her hair for a third time. "My contracts... and possibly this mission too... are a punishment."
"Oh, naughty little witch. Is that why your contracts seem so binding?" He teasingly traced one of her seals with the thump of the hand holding hers in place, making the woman involuntarily shudder at his touch. "What could you possibly do to anger Grell that much?" He chuckled once again.
"My contracts are not with Grell Sutcliff… he- she would rather cut me into pieces than agree in a contract that would eventually sent me here, by your side… she made that clear during training, but at the time I didn't know who 'Sebby' or 'Bassy' was that she always mentioned, while beating the crap out of me. I am bound to follow Mr. Spears' and Mr. Knox's orders as a punishment for… murdering around fifteen humans, who were not related to demons… and never regretting it!" She finished and even now her eyes did not show any regret.
Sebastian burst in a low laughter that started shaking him from deep inside him. "Oh my! Look what I have here… a little witch who turned to stone cold killer. I had already suspected that much by watching how comfortable, even excited you were in front of blood, dismembered bodies and such things on board Campania. How exciting! A true servant of Satan?" He asked mockingly.
He unconsciously brought his body closer, brushing that of Selina's, lowered his face to hers and released her hair as his hand preferred to start gently stroking her neck, jaw and chin or tracing her lips.
Natural born witches were very different from the self proclaimed witches throughout the centuries, and extremely rare to begin with, since the nature of their magic was utterly connected to the purity of their souls. They usually were either white, possessing beneficial powers and serving the good authorities of the world, or black who were the exact opposite. The many witch hunts that had occurred through the centuries were partly because of black ones and their relation to demons, even if demons never considered them anything more than a temporary plaything and food source. But of course, humans were once again unable to distinguish between good and evil and therefore burned many white witches too, along simple humans mistaken for witches or who were disillusioned in believing they were ones.
Sebastian was really excited indeed. As a genuine demon, he was really enjoying playing with fire of whatever colour and shape. Currently, it was blue and in the form of a human witch, that for some reason - probably due to the protective spells - did not seem to pose imminent threat to him, even though she was quite dangerous. The game was getting more interesting with the addition of this new pawn... or player.
"Don't be absurd!" Selina's strict voice brought him back to reality. "I have never and never will practice my magic in such a way. I have no intention to turn dark… fully."
"Oh, so you are one of the grey ones, walking on the thin line between good and evil. Doing both according to your whims."
He always found those even more interesting and intriguing since they were difficult, for both sides, to break them to their will, but he had never met one before. Grey witches were considered to be quite strong, since they could use their powers for good and for evil, according to their own desires each time; it seemed like their souls were the only ones that could perfectly balance the two opposites, light and darkness.
"I won't deny it, but that's not the only reason I didn't use my magic in murdering those humans… I would lose half of the fun if I had. They took everything from me… I wanted them to suffer at the hands of a human woman, not a witch. I used my magic only to make certain they had no affiliations with any demon… too bad for them; they didn't… both times." The woman's face was so hard and cruel-looking.
Sebastian lifted his eyebrows in surprise. "You have murdered humans in cold blood twice?" He chuckled as he saw her nodding and that fire ever burning in her eyes. "Who could have thought? Under that mask of beautiful smile and happy laughter, of pretending to care for humans… such a dark, interesting creature was lurking. And I thought I was the only one here."
"What an amazing pair of actors, aren't we?" Selina asked ironically.
"Yes, we are." Sebastian whispered and it was then that Selina realized how close to her mouth his lips were, as she felt his hot, somehow heavy breath landing on her face and how his hand was now caressing her skin in an almost seductive way.
"You have your answers Mr. Michaelis, and your investigation of the spells on my forearms is quite a proof that I mean no harm to you and your master, don't you think? If you don't intend to end me now, will you please release me?" She struggled to keep a straight face and her voice flat.
Sebastian's eyes came back from wherever they had been wandering on her, and looked at her eyes. He had a look like he was a little high on some kind of drug, his eyes burning with hunger for something. He remained silent for a while and then started to get back to his usual, cold self, little by little.
"Yes, of course. But first... break the spell you have cast on me to make me trust you so quickly, clouding my judgement." Again with the threat in his voice.
However, he did not expect the utterly genuine surprised look on the woman's flushed face. "Mr. Michaelis, I know you might not believe me, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Despite the danger my power is to you, I am not considered so skilled in order to perform such a spell... And even if I was, I would never dare to cast such a spell on someone, much less on a demon of your level!"
"So, you mean you were expected to gain our trust solely by words?" He asked.
"And deeds. I was prepared to do so even if I remained at Dankworth's service. The fact that young master took me in, was like a gift. I could prove I am trustworthy a lot faster, and it seems I did, since you let me be in charge of everything and everyone here. I had no need of any spells!" Selina could not stress that enough.
Sebastian - having recovered from his enthusiasm upon learning so much about the peculiar woman - started loosening his grip on her and moving backwards.
"Is there anything else I should know about? Anything hidden under your clothes? Some other seal or something? Should I perform a thorough investigation?" He asked teasingly, casually running his fingers on her left arm, making sure the armband was in place and active... to his surprise, it was.
"I assure you there is nothing else that would interest you on this 'disgusting human body'. Old scars from fighting demons and harsh training by the three reapers in my life that I love to hate." Her voice in such a business like tone, so suddenly, that really pissed Sebastian off and tempted him to see for himself if she was telling the truth.
He managed to resist and complete his interrogation as he should. "One more thing. Why did you insist on having your own room and make it easier for me to spy on you? To prove you had nothing to hide?"
Selina stared at him for a while. "Why do you hide your seal with your gloves and young master his with the eye patch?" She asked in turn and the demon smirked satisfied. "I have no intention to allow plain humans know what I am, no matter how friendly and innocent they look, so the last thing I needed was nosey Mey-Rin snooping around my things."
The demon nodded and finally released her moving back. "So, let us say I continue to believe you. You are here under orders to assist me and my master, with no intention to interfere when the time comes for master to pay me, you will not attempt to save his soul... Even if you are free to use your power?" She nodded, while rubbing her throat - still feeling the demon's long and strong fingers wrapped around it - and trying to calm down her heartbeat. "I believe you see how hard it is for me to accept and believe that these specific reapers, who would be extremely happy to see me dead, have ordered you not to fight me at all."
Selina, absent-mindedly, loosened her already ruined ponytail and a gold waterfall circled her face. "Yes, that is something I have not quite understood myself. When they first told me about this mission I thought that in the end I would save young master, but as soon as I said it, they immediately cleared the matter to me, although they did not explain me why. And trust me, Mr. Spears seemed very displeased that he had to say 'do not harm the demon, no matter what'." Selina finished mimicking, quite accurately, the stern dark-haired reaper.
Sebastian chuckled. "I can imagine. All right. We will leave the matter as it is for now because I also have my orders from my master, not to harm you in any way, only to observe you… He seems to have taken quite a liking to you."
"You have orders not to harm me? Well, my throat has a different impression."
Sebastian chuckled again. "Well, I deeply apologize but since you had no knowledge of my orders I thought I should use it as leverage and… squeeze the truth out of you, it worked surprisingly well."
"Right, I accept it for now but please, let's not make it a habit, because in that case I might grow some nasty habits too…" She stopped before saying things contradictory to all her previous words, but her blue eyes were gleaming threateningly.
Sebastian was really enjoying this. "So, you will act against your orders."
Selina shook her head. "No, I never said I would gravely injure you, only fight you and scratch you... somehow, if I have to protect myself." Her gaze was still burning but now it also had a cold quality. Sebastian really felt like he was looking at a cat casually warning her opponent not to mess with her.
Both were standing close to the counter; Sebastian leaned very close to her, his ungloved fingers gently lifting Selina's chin to make her not take her eyes off him.
"Fight me? Are you sure you could do that, my little witch?" He smiled devilishly as his face was closing in on Selina's.
The young woman opened her mouth to answer him but she suddenly felt something hot and wet darting and taking a quick taste of her lips. At first she did not realise what it could be; only when she saw Sebastian's face moving away from her and his tongue retreating back into his mouth, her brain managed to register what he just did.
Her eyes opened wide and the blushing she was fighting all this time, now painted her face victoriously. She stepped back trying not to trip over from how disoriented she felt, touched her lips with her fingers and found them indeed wet; that made her eyes open even wider and Sebastian smile in an absolute smug and triumphant way as the previous hunger appeared again in his blazing red eyes. Her heart started beating like crazy again and Selina could only think that she had to get away from the teasing demon right now. She fled the kitchen running and forgetting the making of something edible for tomorrow's picnic.
Sebastian was left alone, completely satisfied with himself, as he had finally started deciphering Selina Clark and accepting, even welcoming, the effect she had on him ever since she dropped the act of the shy and innocent little tutor, struggling to be strict to a stubborn student; an increasing effect, the time and weeks of him being in Weston, therefore away from her, not helping at all. Now that he knew what she is and how she really is…
"Things will get really interesting, my little witch, I promise you that." He said and chuckled to himself as he was removing his professorial robe and glasses, pulled his sleeves up and continued cooking from where Selina left off.
SURPRISE! It might have taken a while but Selina's secret is out! I'm sure some of you must have suspected it already, but... please let me know what you think about Selina's true nature and how might that affect the story and a specific demon! I would be so glad to hear from you.
Once again, thank you very much and have fun... Till next time! Bye! :)