Chapter 37:
Horror struck his face as he stepped back into the wall.
"I can't believe it! Do I really have to do that?!"
Sebastian's face grew darker. "If you can't than we will be forced to leave immediately. So please do not hesitate under any circumstances."
"We only have one chance to do this."
"Alright. Let's go."
The two men walked ahead of me, Sebastian holding glasses that he, once again, brought from thin air. The doormen filled the glasses with water and opened the door, bowing and acknowledging us.
The room was surrounded by doctors and nobles, each wearing something more fancier and uglier than the last. The women wore ruffly dresses that showed off their shoulders while each of the men's suit was tailored. The women held their fans to their faces, laughing with pompous giggles and smug looks. I held back a disgusted look as three of us stopped midway in.
A heel clicked in front of us as I turned towards the man who made the noise. His blonde hair was combed to the side and his mustache matched the color perfectly. He held his glass of "Purified Water" in his hand as he stared down at the young master, distrust in his eyes. I even noticed the pin he was wearing on his breast pocket.
"Is this your first visit to the Society?" he asked, his voice just as pompous as his poorly combed hair.
The Earl looked behind at Sebastian and I, hesitation in eyes, but an unmistakable order as well.
He turned back to the man, shaky confidence in his words.
"Th-The complete flame in our chests... shall not be extinguished by anyone. We are..."
The three of us stood tall, our "Phoenix" poses causing some of the guests to turn their heads in our direction. The man in front of us stared us down as we stood with one leg in the air and our hands crooked with our arms up. Hope was building inside of me, hope that we wouldn't be seen as fake supporters for this so called society.
"Welcome to the Aurora Society!" the man standing in front os us welcomed. He also stood in the Phoenix pose. "These are your membership badges, be sure to wear them with pride."
He handed the three of us pins that resembled his. It was a shiny gold, one that only the richest of humans could afford. It was polished neatly, showing the reflection of the person that looked into it.
Sebastian handed me my pin and pinned the young master's on for him. The young master faced away from the man, his face burning with embarrassment. The man walked away from us as Sebastian finished putting on the young masters pin, a smile on his face. My pin rested on my left breast, similar to the males attending the dinner.
"I'm not doing that ever again..." he said, his face low.
"You won't have to. Unless the queen wants us investigating something similar to this and they too have a strange greeting..." I said, a smile displayed on my face.
Ciel's face contorted into one of unamused, face still as red as it could be.
While Ciel was glaring at me, a cackling laugh was heard getting closer to us. It sounded familiar but the person attached to the laugh kept escaping my mind. Ciel heard the laugh as well and turned alongside me to see the culprit behind the laugh. Our eyes widened upon seeing the Undertaker.
"That was the best! HEEHEEHEE! To think that'd you'd ever doing something like that!" He grabbed himself and bent down, exaggerating the plethora of happiness the scene gave him.
"Undertaker?!"
"Saying 'The Phoenix' with such a serious face!" He shook with laughter as the Earl grew furious over being mocked.
"You bastard!"
"Now now, young master," Sebastian said, trying to calm the child.
"What are you doing here, Undertaker? Shouldn't you be at your parlor kissing dead bodies?" I asked.
"Since you so nicely asked, my job. The hospital is a regular customer of mine~" The Undertaker had stopped laughing, giving him an opportunity to speak clearly.
"I'm interested this Society's activities. I'm investigating the illegal experimentation going on here. Do you know anything about the revival of the dead?"
The undertaker placed his nail at the edge of his mouth, smiling and drooling from the high of his amusement.
"Just a second. If you want information then I want my compensation. Let's see... How about you do that pose once more."
"But you were just laughing... and for a minute straight," I spoke.
Before the Undertaker could answer a loud "We are Phoenixes" were heard from the entrance of the room. We all looked over to see a blonde dressed in a fine suit, ruffles adorning the neckline and the wrists. Instead of his knee being bent, however, it was kicked out straight and his arm flourished to the side.
"Sorry I arranged to pose in my own style."
Ciel looked over at Sebastian, fear and disgust on his face. "What is the Viscount of Druitt doing here?!"
"Come to think of it, he did have a doctor's license."
"Who is he?" I asked, clearly missing the reason as to why the young master and Sebastian were not so happy upon seeing his face.
"No one you needn't concern yourself with," he said.
"Seeing as how he looks like he's on his way here I'd say otherwise."
The druitt's smile grew upon looking at us. "Oh my, are you newcomers?"
I stood next to Sebastian as Ciel hid behind his back. Not missing a bit, Sebastian answered.
"Yes. We saw the article in the newspaper."
The Viscount sighed and placed his hand exasperatedly to his head. "Madame Samuel's light-lipidness is quite troublesome. To think she'd leak our secrets so easily..."
Ciel's head poked out a little from Sebastian's back. The Viscount saw his little head poking from the back of Sebastian and maneuvered his head to see. He bent down upon looking at his face more.
"Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"This is our first time here, I'm sure you're mistaking him for someone else," I said, only to be ignored.
"But how could I forget such a beautiful boy? Ah, but what a pitiful bandage you have..." He stroked the child's face causing Ciel to tense.
"My father said that if I come here they could heal it," Ciel replied quickly, backing away from the creepy Viscount. He began sweating the more he leaned back.
"Father?" Sebastian questioned quietly slightly behind him.
The doors opened and the lights began dimming around us. I tensed my arms, not liking the sudden change in lighting only to feel a hand on my back and a voice behind me.
"Come a little closer, the meeting's beginning," the viscount whispered.
We all looked to the right of the room where a casket was being carried by four men. They placed it on top of the alter that stood in the middle of the stage, the only place where the most light was.
A man dressed in a white lab coat came walking through the same doors as the men with the coffin, confidence in his steps.
"Who is that man?" I asked the Viscount.
He leaned down between Ciel and I. "He's the founder, Ryan Stoker."
"That's him?" Ciel asked in disbelief.
The area grew even more quiet than when the lights came out. Ryan Stoker raised his arms, a small on his face. The men holding the casket moved behind the alter and into the area where the light didn't shine. I watched the doctor standing in front of the crowd breathe in a breath and loudly praise the Phoenix like many others had done.
As I stood there, a bad feeling in my gut grew. There was nothing legal or morally about what he was explaining. My hands grew sweaty and I held them together to prevent myself from shaking.
"Thank you for coming to today's research presentation of the Aurora's Society's 'Complete Salvation of Mankind Through Medicine," he bowed and continued with enthusiasm, "some of you may wonder what complete salvation is... It's complete health! A healthy body! Healthy teeth! A healthy spirit housed within a healthy body! And finally, a healthy mood! Healthiness is truly splendid!"
Everyone around us clapped while some also whistled with excitement. My two partners sweat dropped over the enthusiasm radiating from the doctor. I, however, grew worried. This was something all too familiar to me. It happened a while ago in the circus. When one became to obsessed over a form of living, they grew blinded to reality. Something that Father happened to go through.
I felt Sebastian's eyes bearing into the side of my head. I knew he was slightly worried over what I was thinking but I couldn't help it. The feeling of death was lingering on my fingertips and I couldn't help but feel in my gut that someone was going to die.
"However," he continued, placing his hand on the coffin, "there's one kind of health issue that we cannot overcome, no matter how hard we try. And what is it, you say... Death. And the great power that will save us from this disaster will be the Aurora Society's medicine!" He pointed towards the coffin that was being opened by the men in the back. "We will now show you the fruits of our research.
"This is Margaret Connor, age 17. The young lady lost her life to an unfortunate accident." As he was talking, the parents of Margaret Connor made their way onto the stage. They were dressed in funeral clothes. The mother weeped into her napkin and the father was her her, almost on the verge of shedding his tears like his wife.
"It is truly pitiful. It was an accident that should not have happened." The men who brought in the coffin quietly moved around and brought in a strange machine. It had many clocks attached to it and the color was extremely dull. "Her death did not only put her but also her family's hearts into bad health."
"She's dead, how can she have a bad heart?" I mumbled, low enough for Sebastian and Ciel to hear.
"I want to save them immediately!"
Ciel leaned over to Sebastian. "Is that a real corpse?"
"Yes. The stench of death is causing my nose to twitch," he said, placing a finger to his nose in an attempt to block out the smell.
My senses didn't recognize the smell but once Sebastian mentioned it I smelled it too. It was bitter and smelled like overly ripened fruit. It caused my nose to twitch in disgust. The smell of the dead officers never smelt this bad. They only ever smelled like old copper and fruit that was on the verge of becoming too ripe.
"Well then," he stretched out his hand to the audience, "I will show you now! The power of medicine!"
The dead body had wires attached to certain parts of her body. Her chest, her head and her arms. Everyone watched in anticipation, some more excited than others.
Men in black turned on the machine. Blue electricity shot around the bulbs at the top of the machine. It made beeping noises as some of its lights flashed around. Soon the lightning grew slightly out of control as it shot down the wires attached to it, attacking the dead body that was attached to it. I stood back in fear of getting shocked only to bump into the Viscount's foot. He didn't notice, however. His eyes were too busy being fixated on the revival of the corpse.
"Come rise from death! Like the Phoenix!"
The corpse began rising and my heart began pounding in my ear. A voice in the back of my head was telling me to run but I knew that I couldn't with the crowd and the young master's ongoing investigation. I watched as the body writhed itself into an upright position. I took a long look of her. She was in a white night gown and a purple blind fold. Stitched adorned many areas, mainly her face. Her had looked like it had been cut open and it looked as if she died from fatal cuts alongside her neck and arms. It even looked as if someone had cut her mouth open for an extra measure of pain. Her blond hair covered part of her blindfold.
"With our medicine, we can overcome death!"
I furrowed my brows and glared at the man on the stage. Nothing could defeat death, not even God himself.
The parents of the girl ran over to the undead body. They thanked the doctor as they hugged her. Happiness was coating every inch of their faces as the crowd applauded for the apparent success of the experiment. Ciel, Sebastian and I stood in confusion, fascination and doubt at what we had witnessed.
"Today, you have witnessed... perfect salvation."
The crowd grew louder as the clapping increased ten folds.
"I don't believe this! You can't tell me he truly resurrected the dead!"
I watched the corpse as it sat motionless for a while. The demonic side of me whispered to me as the couple continued hugging their caught. My eyes widened in worry as the corpse opened unhinged it jaw.
"Watch out!" I yelled.
Before they realized what was said, the dead corpse bit into the mother's shoulder. Her screams caused everyone to go silent. Her blood splattered over the floor while the corpse bit harder into her shoulder, creating a deeper wound.
Everyone froze as we watched the corpse eat her mother without remorse. My eyes widened as my brows furrowed deeper. My heart beat uncontrollably as fear encased my entire being. Screams erupted from around me but I did nothing but stand in shock. Ciel took off his wig, his teeth clenched.
"Sebastian! Celesta!"
"Yes, my lord!"
My mind reeled back into reality. My first priority was to protect the young master at all costs and I was going to uphold that promise.
Sebastian threw his knives at the undead corpse, successfully stabbing her chest and her head. It fell back onto the floor but I could still feel its heartbeat.
"Did you get it?"
"Stay back!" I yelled.
Her body cracked as she got up. Her moaning seemed scratchy and her limbs seemed to not be listening to her mind.
"What is she?!"
"Didn't you stab her heart, Sebastian?!"
"It is a being that I do not understand."
The corpse screamed at us and began making its way towards us.
"'The Aurora Society's reviving of the dead may not be an occult.' I never expected Lau's words to be true."
"Considering what he was talking about, you can only assume that it would be true," I said, shielding the young master with my arm.
"Shit!" I heard the doctor curse. "It failed!" He faced the two men that stayed and yelled. "What are you standing around for?! Take her down!"
They took out their guns and shot at her. She turned around, tongue licking the blood off of her lips and moved towards the men shooting her.
"Stop shooting! If the knives didn't work then those measly guns won't either!" I yelled. But I was too late.
The undead body had gotten to one of the men, killing him before any of us had a chance to save him. The doctor flew from the room, too scared to stay and closed to the doors behind him.
"Wait!" He yelled, stepping towards the area he left.
"Young master!" I yelled. "Unless you want to get in the way of that thing I would suggest you staying with Sebastian and I."
"How the hell are we supposed to take care of that?!" He yelled at me.
"I don't know! I've never seen anything like this!"
"Celesta," Sebastian called, "can your illusion ability work on her?"
"It most likely won't. Her eyes are blindfolded and it looks as if she's moving around based on either sound, sensation or both."
They looked disappointedly at me. We were back at square one with no clue as to how to kill her.
"These guys can't be killed unless you smash in their heads, ya know..."
Hi guys! I left off at this part on purpose! Ronald deserves an entrance unlike any other because he was one of the later bloomers in the serious and, to me, an unexpected since in book of circus he didn't really show up until the end. So I can't wait to update the next chapter because I love this arc with a full passion. Hopefully I'll update within the week. No promises. BYE ^_^
