The noble man and the demon boy

This demon, Contract

~ 2015, London ~
 

He did not fit in here, at all.
 

The alley was dirty, the walls were painted with graffiti and it stank in a way that made him think that the bin men had never bothered to visit.
 

This kind of environment simply didn’t suit him. The fashionable young man in his mid-twenties looked like he’d be more at home on a film set.
 

His name was Sebastian Michaelis and he was the only son and sole heir to the Michaelis family. Having been born into the upper class, he’d never wanted for anything in his life; he was well raised and talented in a way that few could ever rival. His family had always set great value upon him becoming a self-efficient individual who would succeed at anything, so they had always supported said talents. Some days it seemed like there was barely anything he couldn’t do. He was fluent in six languages; he prevailed at horse riding, cooking, hunting and pretty much anything imaginable. Frankly, he was a perfect specimen of a human being.
 

There was only one problem.
 

His health. One year ago he’d started to pass out from time to time without any obvious reason. He’d never had any particular health problems before, so his family had been stumped. Several visits to prominent doctors all around the UK had followed, until finally one of them was able to pin point the cause. It turned out that Sebastian had a rare illness that was not yet well explored and would, at some point in the foreseeable future, lead to his death. It was only a matter of years, though with the illness being so rare, no one could really know for sure. As far as they were aware, there was no known cure.
 

His family had been devastated. Their only heir, whom they had raised so well was about to die and there was nothing they could do about it.

Sebastian however did not pity himself, nor did he care for their sorrow. He’d quickly accepted the truth. It wasn’t like there was anything in particular that was holding him to this life anyway. He had always lived up to his parents’ wishes, not particularly because he was loyal to them or to the family name, but rather simply because a different life style wouldn’t have been any more interesting either, so he hadn’t really felt any need to rebel against them. Not to mention, his pampered lifestyle had made it possible to try out basically anything he’d wanted to and allowed him to observe other people from above. There had been times when he’d taken advantage of his social standing and his father's money and indulged himself in high-class activities, expensive things and women every day, but he’d soon grown tired of it. The only thing that left, was observing other people and their struggles; that was the one thing in life that still offered him some level of entertainment.
 

To him, there was no goal left in his life to cling to, nothing left to aim for. He could do and obtain anything he wanted, so what more was there to strive towards?

So when he’d received news of his ailing condition, he’d felt rather indifferent about it. It just meant that his time for observing other people would be a little shorter than he had expected. But in the end, humans were all the same. He would have no regrets, he felt as though there was nothing left in the world that he had yet to see.

So why not end this life before he was forced to lie in bed all day long, incapable of moving or doing as he pleased because of his illness? Perhaps that was the thing that scared Sebastian the most. Not being able to do anything at all. Death was nothing compared to that.
 

This dark, dank and dirty alley, where nobody he knew would pass by and stop him before he could successfully commit his last task, was perfect for his plan.
 

He took out a tiny bottle from his pocket. Obtaining poison was so easy these days... He hadn’t even needed to use his connections to get his hands on it.
 

Opening the lid and bringing it to his lips, he thought of something profound to say in his last moments, but nothing in particular came to his mind. He felt nothing. He had no last words to give to this boring world, it wasn’t worth the effort.
 

The liquid was a breath away from his lips when he heard a voice hiss in the darkness.
 

"You really want to kill yourself with this? You’re even stupider than I’d thought."
 

Where had the voice come from? He glanced around, but he couldn’t find any trace of another person in the alley. He had an odd feeling that the voice was in his head, but that was impossible. Was he imagining things? Had he lost the plot? Maybe that was what a near death experience was like, allowing final regrets you did not even know you possessed to flash by? Interesting.
 

But the voice continued.
 

"Well, if you want to kill yourself, then go right ahead. I’m not going to stop you."
 

Well, his final regrets seemed to have given up on him rather quickly. Something told Sebastian that something interesting was about to happen. He didn’t know what was going on but he decided to play along. He put the little ampoule down and looked around the alley for any traces another’s presence, but there was nobody indeed.
 

"Who are you?" He asked in no precise direction.
 

"I do not have a name. You can call me whatever you want."
 

This was getting quite amusing.
 

"Can you show yourself?"
 

"..."
 

Slowly, creeping along the alleyway, a dark shadow formed before him. It held no real shape and simmered, seemingly growing darker by the second.
 

Sebastian had never been the type to be into ghost stories, but he’d also never opposed them either. Despite all common sense telling him otherwise, for some reason he just knew that this was real and that he wasn’t just imagining things. It felt so real and there was simply no reason for him to fantasize about such things, even if he was on the verge of committing suicide. It just wasn’t like him at all.
 

"You are not human, am I right? Why did you choose to show yourself before me?"
 

"Accepting the truth so fast? Huh... you are quite an interesting human. I was just hungry and you happened to cross my path. I’m a demon you see, and I’m eating human souls."
 

Sebastian's mouth curved into a smile. For him to meet a demon in his final moments. This sudden turn of events was very much to his liking. Far better than dying because of a mere illness or some common poison. This was much more interesting.
 

"So you stopped me from committing suicide in order to eat my soul? What if I refuse and kill myself right now?"
 

"Tsk. Don't think you’re so special. I can always just search for a tastier human than you. But do you really want to do this? Hasn't your life always been boring the way it was? I can make you an offer."
 

That peaked Sebastian’s curiosity. "What kind of offer are you talking about?"
 

"We can make a contract. I will stay by your side until the moment I decide to take your soul. Wouldn't this fulfill your wish of a more interesting life? You are going to be in contact with a world most humans barely know about, let alone get to interact with. I will also protect your life from any harm other than your illness. In exchange I will eat your soul when it reaches its most delicious condition."
 

The dark haired man's grin grew wider when he realized something. This demon was a liar. But that did nothing to prevent him from fully enjoying the turn of events.
 

"What reason is there to grin about, human? You are really stupid, aren’t you?" The demon's voice echoed, unnerved.
 

"Alright, I’ll accept your offer, demon. Make a contract with me."
 

Out of nowhere a hand shot out from the darkness and palmed Sebastian's left hand, in which he still held the ampoule. It was smaller than Sebastian's hand, but with long, black fingernails.

His hand instantaneously grew warmer and warmer, until it almost felt as though it was glowing. Staring in awe, his grip loosened and he accidentally dropped the tiny bottle containing the poison, allowing it to fall towards the ground, shattering on the asphalt and spilling its contents on the floor.
 

As the demon drew back in on itself, Sebastian noticed that there was a sign in the shape of a hexagram on his hand.
 

"I guess now it’s time for me to take a shape in which I can accompany you without attracting attention."
 

The shadow began to thicken, bubbling and churning within itself.
 

Sebastian was curious as to what kind of shape the demon would take. The shape of an animal? A cat would be nice... Or would he take the shape of a human? A handsome man in his mid twenties, maybe in the formal but stylish form of a butler? At least that was what Sebastian's aesthetics defined as good taste.
 

As the shadow lifted there was a boy standing in front of him; dressed in frilled dark blue clothes and looking like he’d just stepped out of a 19th century movie. His body shape and childish features gave him the appearance of a 14 year old. One of his eyes was blue and the other one glowed a reddish-purple colour. As if that wasn’t odd enough, it also seemed to be etched with the same hexagonal symbol as the one on Sebastian's hand.
 

The taller man stared at the boy-shaped demon child in disbelief.
 

"Why are you staring at me like that? Stop it!"
 

Sebastian began to chuckle.
 

"It is just... if I were you I would have taken a more... impressive appearance."
 

The demon snapped. "You stupid humans have no idea. If you wish to continue talking like this, I can just change my mind and take your soul right now."
 

"I’m afraid that’s against the contract."
 

"Shut up!"
 

The boy turned his head away from the annoying human. They’d just formed their contract and the man was already getting on his nerves. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea in the first place.
 

"So, are you going to give me a name or not?" The demon asked in a somewhat sulky tone.
 

The black-haired man gave him an appraising look. The most striking thing about the demon's appearance was undoubtedly his single clear blue eye. He could only describe it as azure and it reminded Sebastian of the sky.
 

"If you really want me to. Then I am going to call you ‘Ciel’.”
 

He smiled at the demon boy.
 

"Hmph. If you wish so. Then, from now on I will be called "Ciel."
 

At this moment Sebastian knew next to nothing about the mysterious demon that had suddenly appeared before him, beckoning him from the edge of death. He only knew that he was a liar, having pretended that their encounter was an accident despite being so well-informed about his illness. Then again, neither did he know how the demon even knew of him, nor what kind of life awaited both of them.

But one thing did he know for sure. Things were going to be much more interesting from now on.

This demon, Beginning

Now that their life together had begun, the question was: How to hide the demon? According to the contract, Ciel should never leave his side for more than a few hours. Of course Sebastian was not living with his parents anymore; he had a big house on his own in an upper class area of London. The only problem was, that he was almost never alone in the house. There were always several house maids and servants tending to their work and his wiles. He barely did any house work or cooking on his own, even though he was very well capable of doing so. Being born into a rich family, it was just not acceptable to do such mundane tasks yourself. But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t make his own meals when the chance arose. They needed to make up some sort of story. But in all honesty, it didn’t really matter what story they came up with: in the end the boy's attire was just too suspicious.
 

When they’d nearly reached the mansion, Sebastian paused in his step.
 

Ciel threw him a questioning look.
 

“Why are you stopping?”

“We need to do something about your attire.”
 

“I already said; I'm not gonna change my clothes! I like them this way. If you have a problem with them, then that is none of my business” He growled in response.
 

Sebastian sighed. Such a stubborn demon.
 

“I do not mean to say that your style is bad. Even though it is very much outdated, I need to say. But the servants will grow suspicious of you if they see you like that. Nobody wears such clothes nowadays. Do you want them to find out that you’re a demon?”
 

“...”
 

“My point exactly. We need to come up with a plausible story first and find something fitting to wear according to it. I already have an idea.”
 

And Sebastian's plan worked out better than they could have imagined. Not long after arriving, Sebastian received a phone call from his mother; she had apparently been almost moved to tears when she’d heard that Sebastian had rescued a homeless boy from the streets who’d been bullied out of his home and had no known family to speak of. And of course he could give him shelter if he felt responsible for the boy. In return the boy would be enrolled in their service program. Mrs. Michaelis had praised her son for his good-naturedness, to which Ciel had rolled his eyes.
 

They were sitting in Sebastian's spacious and comfortable bedroom. Not only did it have a big bed, but also a comfortable sitting area with a couch, an armchair and a top of the range LED TV. The chimney in front of the TV was just for show; the house was of course heated by modern central-heating. Ciel was sitting on the arm chair and Sebastian was sitting on one side of the couch, speaking on the phone with his mother.
 

When she’d hung up and Sebastian had put the phone away, the demon spoke: “You’re lucky that your parents believe every word you say. And that we found that bin with used clothing.”
 

Sebastian smiled in response. “It was actually a container with clothes donated to children in poverty.”
 

“I don’t really care where they’re from, these clothes are absolutely tasteless.” Ciel hissed in disgust. “Uncomfortable and on top of that itching everywhere! Don't you dare make me wear something like this ever, ever again.” The boy warned, eyes glinting with an undisclosed threat.
 

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be giving out orders, Mr. Butler.” The black haired man grinned. “Too bad that none of the servants clothing fit you. You should have gone with the maid's outfit instead.”
 

Ciel glared at him angrily. “Don't forget with whom you are talking, human! In the end, I will be the one to kill you.”
 

“Oh, I know.” Sebastian quipped with a wicked smile.
 

After arriving at the mansion and talking to the servants, Sebastian had given Ciel some clothes that he’d worn when he was younger. Although the demon continued to wear the eye patch they’d found in the container to hide his eye with the contract sign.
 

It was almost half past midnight now. The servants had already gone to bed and it was quiet. Since the area Sebastian lived in was famous for upper-class family homes, there was no noise coming from outside either.
 

“I guess it is time to go to bed now. Or don't demons need to sleep?” Sebastian suggested.
 

The boy shook his head. “We can sleep if we want to, but we don’t need it.”
 

Abruptly he stood up from his chair. “I do have something else to do, though.”
 

He approached the window sill.
 

“Where are you going?”
 

The demon's eyes narrowed viciously, his mouth curving into something that looked akin to an unhappy smile.
 

“Where do you think a demon would go? I am going to get some food of course. I’m famished.”
 

“You’re going to hunt souls? What about the contract with me?” Sebastian asked, the questioning tone of his voice indicating his perplexed state.
 

Ciel started laughing. A bitter laugh.
 

“You think that just because I have a contract with you I wouldn’t want to eat any other souls? You are quite arrogant. But then again, you are only human.”
 

Sebastian pinned him with a look that begged to differ.
 

“How many souls does a demon need?” He was indeed curious about this.
 

“The quantity is not the question, nobody knows for sure. It depends on the demon. We demons are always hungry anyway. But some demons seem to have higher self-control than others. As I’m a young demon I need more souls than most.”
 

“How old are you then?”
 

Ciel groaned in exasperation. “You’re asking too many questions... I was born in 1875. At that time people had at least some sense of taste.”
 

The boy was about to take a leap from the window when the black-haired man stopped him again.
 

“Whatever is it now?” Ciel hissed, unnerved.
 

“Wait a moment please. I want you to take this with you.”
 

Sebastian began to rummage in one of his cupboards until he found what he was looking for and handed it to the demon.
 

Ciel looked at the object with adept confusion.
 

“This is a mobile phone. Similar to the one I was using to talk to my mother before. If you’re hunting for souls and need to talk to me, use this.”
 

The demon frowned, bewildered. “Are you kidding me? I don't need this human toy, with which you can talk to other humans! I’m a demon!”
 

“So you are capable of telepathic communication?”
 

“...”
 

“Then take it.”
 

Ciel accepted the mobile with a flustered exhale. “You’re really getting on my nerves, human.”
 

“You can call me Sebastian.” Sebastian smiled, amused.
 

“And how exactly am I supposed to use this? And for the record, I AM capable of telepathic communication. At least, when you call my name I can hear it pretty much wherever I am.”
 

“Well, that is interesting. You can’t talk to me over distances, but if I call your name you’ll come obediently running back to me like a dog.”
 

WHACK!
 

Being hit by a demon was really something, Sebastian noted. It surprised him to see the innate power that could be hidden in such a small body. His face would probably hurt for quite a while.
 

After Ciel had calmed down a bit, Sebastian explained to him how the mobile worked and saved his number on Ciel's new phone.
 

Amusingly enough, the demon was really clumsy when it came to using the mobile phone. He also didn’t seem to have much patience, so when the phone didn’t react instantly he almost threw it across the room in anger.
 

Sebastian sighed. He understood that the boy had been born in another century and didn’t exactly have much contact with humans besides eating their souls, but how was it possible for someone so powerful to actually be this incapable?
 

After their surprisingly difficult struggle, the demon finally left for hunting and Sebastian sat down on the bed.
 

He’d not imagined ever returning to this place and he was dangerously toeing the line of exhaustion, but at the same time he felt inexpressibly … alive. It was kind of ironic considering the fact that he’d made a contract with a demon that would eventually lead to his death. However, he couldn’t ignore what he felt deep down.
 

Thinking about what the next months would lead them to, his face split into a smile.

This demon, Abduction

It was almost ten o'clock when Sebastian woke up. He had not set an alarm because he knew the servants would wake him if he was too late for his first appointment. But since he had not intended to even be alive today, he had not prepared anything. However, the only thing scheduled for today was a photo shoot for a popular fashion magazine. Sebastian had no permanent job since he did not actually need to earn money; he only accepted some job offers from time to time to stave off the daily monotony of life. Photo shoots belonged to his ‘regular’ schedule though. He’d been working for the magazine company since adolescence and had pretty much become their own home-grown star. The shoots were usually on Fridays, and today was no exception.
 

When he stood up, he noticed the demon boy sitting on the floor, back leant against the wall, seemingly asleep.
 

Such a weird demon. Talking about demons not needing any sleep but then being fast asleep on the next day. And on top of that he didn’t even have the decency to lie down on the couch. What kind of manners were these? Sebastian made a note to himself to teach the boy some etiquette later.
 

Sighing, he lifted Ciel up and carried him to his own bed. The demon did not even seem to take notice of this. Surely a demon's senses would be rather sensitive? At least that was what Sebastian's expectations dictated. But then again, most humans weren’t even aware of their existence, so why should they have a fitting image of how these creatures acted?
 

He would have loved to see the demon's flustered reaction, waking up in bed because he had been carried by a human, but sadly he needed to get ready for today's photo shooting.
 

*~*~*
 

Despite being end of October, it was reasonably warm outside. Sebastian preferred to commute to work by the tube like a normal person, since it always allowed him the perfect opportunity to observe other people and their quirks.
 

From the train station it was another ten minute walk to the photo studio. In this area of London there were mostly offices and business headquarters, housed in shiny metallic glass cages. Since it was not a tourist spot, there wasn’t much going on and most of the people crossing his path were men and women in business attire.
 

He was just crossing a street when without warning he became dizzy. Ignoring the feeling at first, he continued walking, but suddenly felt as though all the energy had been drained out of his body. It was like a plug being removed, allowing the water to flow out of the bathtub. Only that it was happening very fast. Before he could really get a grasp of what was happening, he lost control over his body, falling down on the middle of the road. Luckily there were no cars around at this hour. His mind was getting foggy and he was on the brink of losing his consciousness. Another blackout.
 

“Oh my, are you okay?” A lady who had been standing nearby immediately hurried towards him with a worried face. Before she could reach him though, two men in suits appeared from nowhere.
 

“It's okay, lady. We'll take care of him. We're his bodyguards. He's got blood circulation problems and this happens once in a while. ”
 

The lady was still baffled by the situation when the two men grabbed Sebastian under his arms and legs and lifted him up.
 

“Should I call an ambulance?” She asked, distressed.
 

“Thanks madam, but our car is parked only a street from here. It’ll be faster to drive him directly to the hospital.”
 

“O-okay. I hope he gets well soon.”
 

Sebastian barely noticed the two men carrying him to the car and laying him down inside; which was strange because he didn’t have any bodyguards. He didn’t like this kind of protection because he preferred to handle things on his own. As a testament to this, even after the discovery of his illness he’d refused to hire any. After all, he’d wanted to retain his independence for as long as possible.
 

Kidnappers. It was obvious. But where on earth had they appeared from? It wasn’t like they could have foreseen this happening because his dizzy spells were unpredictable. So maybe they had just taken the chance, which meant that they might not be real professionals.
 

There was a third man in the car, sitting behind the steering wheel and waiting for them.
 

“Well done, boys. Very fast reactions! Who’d have thought he would collapse on his own? Well, saves us the struggle of capturing him unnoticed. Today's our lucky day.” Turning to Sebastian, he added: “But not yours I guess.” He chuckled, throwing a greedy look in Sebastian's direction as he started the engine.
 

Yes, they seemed indeed rather unprofessional. If the black-haired man had still had the power to grin, he would have done so. But instead he used his last spur of energy to form one name with his lips.
 

“Ciel.”
 

*~*
 

The sun was shining directly onto his face through the curtains, waking him up from his slumber.
 

“Tch.” How annoying. Only half awake, he turned his back towards the sun and covered his head with the blanket. Only then did he wonder why he was lying somewhere with a blanket in the first place. On second thought he also noticed the soft mattress beneath him, which should not be there either. He sat up straight immediately and examined his surroundings.
 

This arrogant human indeed had had the nerve to lay him, a demon, down on his bed against his will. How dare he have touched him without his permission? Ciel seethed. This human did not know his place yet and Ciel would need to teach the man some manners later on.
 

Speaking of his charge, Ciel felt that he wasn’t anywhere close by. He seemed to have taken leave. Scanning the room, the demon noticed a letter lying on the table.
 

Walking to the sitting area, he saw that it was a hand-written note from Sebastian.
 

“Dear Ciel,
 

I hope you had an enjoyable sleep on the bed. :')
 

I'm off to a photo shoot and will be back in the afternoon. Please put on some of the clothes I have prepared for you and try not to act too suspicious. Better stay away from the other servants.
 

Sebastian.”
 

Ciel tried to swallow his rising anger and embarrassment. How dare he? How dare this human humiliate him like that? First the bed and now this letter. He had more important things to concentrate on now, since last night had not been very successful. That was the reason why he’d fallen asleep in the first place. Fortunately his sleep had recovered some of his strength but he knew that he could not go on like this for much longer.
 

The demon opened the excessively grand armoire adjacent to the bed. After their arrival at the mansion, Sebastian had gathered all of his old clothes that were left from the time when he was a teenager and had sorted them tidily into one area of his wardrobe. They were folded neatly and all had their proper spot. It was all very much like Sebastian.

There were not only Sebastian's clothes though. The used clothes they’d found and the frilly blue attire Ciel had worn on his first encounter with Sebastian was also lying on the cupboard shelf.
 

In thought, Ciel let his fingers glide over the tiny blue hat and its attached blue-white striped ribbon that were part of the outfit, when suddenly he heard Sebastian's voice in his head calling out for him.
 

“And this on our first day” He sighed, exasperated. “What a troublesome person.”
 

*~*
 

When Sebastian woke up, he was sitting on a chair, his arms tied together behind his back with handcuffs. His eyes were covered with a piece of cloth, so he couldn’t clearly make out where he was.
 

It was an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city, which had once been used as a storage house. Sebastian was handcuffed to a chair, his back facing the window of a small, run-down room. Opposite from the window a bulky man stood blocking the only door with his body. It was the same man who’d been sitting behind the steering wheel when Sebastian was kidnapped. Except for the chair and the two of them, the room was empty. Sebastian found that his mouth was not covered and that he could talk freely.
 

“Hey. Are you finally awake?”
 

“I suppose I am.” Sebastian responded in a somewhat amused tone.
 

“Ha, you're an interesting guy, having the nerves to grin like that in a situation like this. Maybe your head is still dizzy from that blackout. Do I need to explain to you why you're here?”
 

“I think I am very much capable of judging the situation myself, but since you didn't cover my mouth I’m going to go out on a whim here and guess that you want to have a talk with me anyway. So please go ahead.”
 

The man stared at him with an expression of anger and dark amusement.
 

“So that's what a real spoiled brat from a rich family is like. Just because your parents shit money you think you can do what you want.”
 

Sebastian didn't respond. His smile was not fading away though.
 

“Just waiting for your family to spend their money to rescue your ass as always. That's what scum like you is like.”
 

So this was about money. Of course it was. Frustrated middle-aged men of the lower middle-class were all like that. Hating upon the higher classes was a perfect means to vent one's anger. Sebastian had observed plenty of situations like this before.
 

“I'm sorry to disappoint you Sir, but I don’t particularly feel like waiting for my parents to save me. I like to handle things on my own.”
 

“On your own?” A voice from near the window sounded. “Don't make me laugh. If you can handle this on your own, then why did you call for me in the first place?”
 

A boy stepped from the shadows at the window, seemingly appearing from nowhere.
 

“Aren't you a bit slow? It feels like I have been sitting here for some time now.” Sebastian teased audaciously raising an eyebrow.
 

“I was waiting for him to hit some sense into you, stupid human. But he doesn't seem like the brutal type of kidnapper after all.” The demon continued to banter.
 

The kidnapper stared at the sudden appearance in disbelief.
 

“Wh-where did you come from??” He shouted, bewildered, his eyes flickering from the intruder to his hostage and back.
 

“From the window, of course.”
 

“Don't fuck with me! We're on the third floor! Stay where you are!”
 

“You don't need to believe me if you don't want to,” The demon replied, unimpressed as he gracefully leaped from the window sill, landing soundlessly on the ground. “I'm afraid I need to sabotage your kidnapping plan though.” He commented offhandedly while walking straight towards the man.
 

“Don't you dare come any closer! I've got a weapon! See!!” The kidnapper drew a gun from his pocket and pointed it directly towards the boy with shaking hands. “I-I'm not afraid of using it!”
 

Ignoring the man's words, Ciel suddenly dashed forward, reaching the bulky man in the split of a second, leading said person to yelp in surprise. Having his gun slapped out of his hands, he stumbled backwards until his back hit the door.
 

“You-you monster! Don't hurt me! Stay away!” He hastily searched for the key in his pocket in order to open the door, his only escape route, which unfortunately for him he’d locked beforehand as a precaution.
 

When Ciel turned around to free Sebastian from his handcuffs, the taller one was already standing behind him, smiling.
 

“I used this little ruckus to free myself already. I hope you don't mind.”
 

“How did you-?” The demon asked him, perplexed, staring at the taller man in disbelief.
 

“Oh, it’s rather easy if you know how to do it. While you distracted that guy over there I could reach my trouser pocket by bending my body just a little bit.”
 

He showed Ciel a little hairpin in his hands.
 

“With this it's just mere child's play to open handcuffs.” Sebastian sighed. “But what an unsightly place he brought me to.”
 

“Shut up. What are we going to do about him?” The boy nodded in the kidnappers direction. The latter was already fumbling with the keys and screaming for his two henchmen, who were positioned at the house's entrance.
 

“Yeah, he really is a noisy one. What a nuisance. Just leave it to me.”
 

Sebastian stepped closer towards his kidnapper and with a swift move of his right leg he knocked him out, the sound of his nose breaking and his body crumpling to the floor the only sound that would indicate anything had occurred.
 

“Finally. This is truly bothersome. I can’t believe it's already so late, let's go home.” Sebastian clapped his hands.
 

A sweat drop was forming on Ciel's forehead. So this human would have actually been capable of freeing himself and knocking out the kidnappers on his own? He really didn’t need him. Sometimes he felt like he was a bit too perfect for being a mere human. Instead, Ciel had the feeling Sebastian would make a much more convincing demon than he himself.
 

“Then let's go.” Ciel sighed, irked by the unnecessary turn of events. He stepped towards the window.
 

“You like to misuse windows for doors, don't you? Why don't we just leave through the door?”
 

“There are two henchmen positioned at the house entrance.”
 

“We can just put them down.” Sebastian said with a smirk.
 

Gritting his teeth, Ciel scowled: “Compared to you, I don't need to turn this into some sort of fancy show!”
 

Sebastian looked almost disappointed as he followed the demon towards the window.
 

“So, how exactly am I supposed to get out of here? I can do almost anything, but I'm afraid this isn't part-”
 

Ignoring the man's words, Ciel grabbed the taller one and lifted him up into his arms. With a jump from the window, he left the room in which the kidnapper was still lying unconscious on the ground, and landed on the ground in front of the house a second later.
 

This was one of the rare moments in life that Sebastian felt embarrassed. If it was not the very first one. But it was indeed an interesting emotion, he reckoned.
 

Returning to their home, their first day together had passed and it’d been even more entertaining than Sebastian could have possibly imagined it to be.
 

**************
 

Thank you for your kind comments! *^*

If you have time, please also have a look at Britty's fanart for this fanfiction.^^ I've put a link to it into the description.

This demon, Hunt

She fumbled with her necklace nervously. A beautiful woman in her twenties stood by the roadside, a handful of streets away from the train station. She couldn’t wait where her colleagues loitered as not only had they already claimed this territory, but she was so far out of their league that she didn't even have a ball court. She’d tied her blonde hair up in a complicated knot, hoping that a combination of her hair and all the flamboyant make-up she’d painstakingly applied would help her appear more mature. Her baby face had always caused her problems, but now to go as far as to get in the way of her job? Maybe she wasn’t cut out for this kind of work after all...
 

At long last she caught sight of a man walking in her direction and mentally prepared herself. Her heart fluttered pathetically in her chest, quivering like a chick waiting to be swallowed by a cat.
 

“Um, excuse me, Sir... “ She cautiously approached.
 

As though he’d not seen her in the first place, the man completely ignored her, eyes set forward, briskly strolling past.
 

It was hopeless. If things continued like this, then she’d never manage to make a living down this path. Having been born into a family of drug and alcohol addicts, Jennifer had never had much of a chance in life. Her parents were hardly human nowadays, let alone good role models and her so-called friends had influenced her into making all the wrong decisions; setting her on the wrong path early on. Ultimately, despite wishing otherwise, she’d ended up following in her parents’ footsteps at the mere age of fourteen. Expulsion from school soon followed and after she’d run away from home and tried to make a living by taking on countless mini-jobs; where she’d always ended up being fired because of her unreliability, prostitution had just seemed like the next natural step down the path to destruction. It wasn’t like this would be the first time she’d sold her body for money; she’d already lent some men a hand when the occasion had warranted it and she was in desperate need of cash, but this situation was somehow completely different. This time she’d come here with the sole intention of earning enough money to make it by.
 

Of course there had been moments in which she questioned her very existence. But in her eyes, even so much as the possibility of changing her way of life had been nye on impossible from the outset. It seemed like God simply didn’t want her to do well in life. And she was not strong enough to change it herself. Sometimes she thought she would be better off just ending her life and getting it over with, but she was just too damn afraid and incompetent to do so.
 

Her undoing had simply been blindly following other people’s negative examples. Deep down, she herself knew that she wasn’t a bad person and honestly doubted that she’d ever been one. But as much as she desired to rise from the ashes of her failures, the luck she needed to do so just never seemed to come a-knocking.
 

Clenching her fists, she resolved herself to her plight. Arriving home without any money today would be unforgivable. Perhaps an air of confidence might help her to convince more customers, even if it was just for show.
 

*~*~*
 

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Ciel prowled through the streets looking for prey. It was just past midnight and although a few weeks had passed since the kidnapping incident, he still hadn't managed to consume a single soul. Fortunately, sleeping every day allowed his strength to recover to a degree, and during the day his life with Sebastian distracted him from the hunger more than he'd care to admit. But at night it struck, almost crippling him with its strength; sometimes the starvation was so potent that it felt like he was hovering on the verge of death. Even so, he was still yet to find a victim suitable to be his prey.
 

Avoiding the station as there were too many witnesses around to risk the odds, he aimlessly wandered through the streets, hoping to bump into the perfect victim by chance.
 

Suddenly, the mobile phone in his pocket made a sound. A message from Sebastian. Over the last few weeks Ciel had mastered how to use the device correctly, as well as some of the other whimsical technological devices humans used nowadays. He had to admit that humans did seem to have an apt talent for finding increasingly addictive ways to kill time efficiently whilst expending the least amount of energy possible, and even he had taken a liking to some of those so-called “video-games”. Most of the time when Sebastian was gone, Ciel would find himself in front of the TV playing with his old video games, reading his books or watching TV. When Sebastian returned, they would often play said games together or Sebastian would tell him stories about the human world and how his day had been. Sometimes he'd also take him sightseeing in and outside of London. Once in a while the curious man would ask Ciel about how these places had been a century ago; stories Sebastian was always very fond of hearing.
 

Taking the phone out of his pocket and observing the screen, the boy saw that his black-haired charge had sent him a message via WhatsApp, something trapped inside the device people nowadays used to spam each other with trivial chit-chat. What could be so important that he needed to mail him at this hour and realistically, why was he even still awake?
 

He opened the message and a video popped up; showing a sequence of little kittens snapping at a ball of wool and mewling adorably with their tiny high-pitched voices.

The message below said: “Look at their tiny palms! They're perfect!” A heart-shaped smilie followed.
 

Ciel almost dropped his phone in secondary embarrassment, cheeks burning red. How dare the silly human send him such foolish videos that served no purpose more than wasting his precious time that he needed for genuinely important things. Like observing humans whose souls he'd finally get to eat!
 

Ignoring the stupid video and putting the mobile back into his pocket, he heard the sound of drunken laughter close by. Looking up again, he noticed that he was walking past a pub, from which a group of drunken young men had just thrown open the door to take leave. Pushing each other and making incoherent noises while almost tripping over, they tried to make their way to the station. Ciel could smell the piercing scent of whiskey and ginger ale as though he were standing next to them and it sent a shudder of repulsion rattling through his body. But they were in a group, and taking down all of them would create too much of a fuss, even more so because they were still near the pub and headed directly to the station.
 

They were out of question. Still, he refused to believe that there were no suitable victims in the vicinity! Demons could keep going without any food for a long time, but there was a certain limit as to how long Ciel could continue this unnecessary starvation without losing control over his senses; especially taking into account that he was still considered young by demon standards.
 

All of a sudden he felt the faint aura of a grieving soul somewhere in the distance. Following the trail instinctively, it grew stronger and stronger. It was a deliriously delicious sensation, akin to a feast; consisting of a mixture of sorrow, self-loathing and regret.
 

As he neared a crossroads a few streets away from the station, he caught sight of a young woman dressed in gaudy clothing loitering close to the roadside. She was the one, the one he craved. The overwhelming aura originated from her. In his nearly famished state, her scent made his mind foggy, making it hard to control his body and not just devour her soul right away despite being only a stone's throw away from the station's busy nightlife. His mouth became dry at the thought. There was no turning back right now. He needed her; his body demanded it and he couldn't ignore the staggering feeling any longer.
 

Jennifer glanced to the right at a movement in the darkness, another person approaching the crossroads having caught her eye. Noticing that it was only a boy, 14, maybe 15 years old at most, she was initially disappointed before feeling his longing stare burn the back of her neck. He seemed to be in need, trying to keep his breath regulated.
 

Somewhere in the deepest recesses of her mind her morals warned her not to take advantage of a boy this young. But then again, she really needed the money and judging from the boy's expensive clothing he didn't seem to be lacking for it. Well... it wasn't like she planned on hurting him exactly, rather the contrary... She'd be doing him a favour, wouldn't she? Tossing her doubts away, she began walking towards him, reminding herself to appear more professional this time.
 

“Hello love, where are you heading to at this hour? Are you looking for something?” She brushed her fingers across his shoulder, clutching to him as she promiscuously pressed her body against his side.
 

“I think I can help you find what you are looking for.” She whispered seductively into Ciel's ear.
 

Her grieving soul being so close, it took his last bit of self-control to just nod whilst averting his gaze from her. He bit his tongue. Stay calm! You need to wait until she brings you somewhere where there is nobody around! He reminded himself.
 

The blonde girl smiled. “You made the right decision. I'll make sure it's especially enjoyable for you~ My apartment is just a few blocks away from here. It won't take long.”
 

He followed her; leaving the road and the station behind them. After a short walk they arrived at a run-down housing estate. Garbage and cigarette butts littered the pavement and the gutters and the walls were sprayed with so much graffiti that it looked like Elma the elephant had simultaneously combusted somewhere in the vicinity.
 

“This way.”
 

She led him into one of the houses and they climbed the dirty staircase until they reached the second floor.
 

Fumbling with her keys and finally opening the door, they entered the small apartment. It wasn't as dirty as Ciel had expected it to be, considering the state of the surrounding neighbourhood, but it wasn't exactly clean either and there was barely a scrap of furniture to be seen. Leaving the lights off, the girl drew him into her bedroom.
 

Standing in front of the bed, she turned around to look at the boy. “How would you prefer me to-”
 

Except she didn't have time to finish her sentence as the demon had already surged ahead, pushing her onto the bed and climbing on top of her. Taken completely off guard she let out a quiet yelp of surprise as she was thrown backwards, her back hitting the bed as her hair came loose, splaying blonde hair across the mattress.
 

Her eyes went wide open as she blinked owlishly at the boy hovering above her, noticing how his single blue eye had suddenly darkened, beginning to glow an ominous shade of reddish-pink. It was at that moment that Jennifer clocked on to the fact that this wasn't just some normal guy in his teens with far too vivid an imagination. Hell she wasn't even sure that he was even human. And at the same time, with not a care in the world as to who or what was sitting on top of her, she felt with a sense of foreboding relief that her miserable life had finally come to an end.
 

The moment Ciel went to place his mouth over hers to finally suck her soul out of her body, she just smiled at him, accepting her fate and whispered a sad, yet relieved; “Thank you”.
 

The demon froze, stunned as the sight before his very eyes seared through his mind and a memory from long ago, a time which he had tried to bury deep into the depths of his consciousness, hit him with force.
 

The body of a blonde girl covered in blood beneath him. Her curly hair splayed at the sides of her head. A teary, exhausted face blessing him with a warm smile. Vivid green eyes shining with kindness.
 

“It'll be fine. Please, please end this life of mine. Thank you… for everything.”
 

Stunned by the unexpected and unwanted nostalgia, he released the young madam; rising up from the bed as he stumbled backwards in shock. His eyes reverted to their normal colour.
 

It was impossible. In the end he just couldn't do it. Not now. Not to someone who reminded him so much of her.
 

He left behind a baffled Jennifer, fleeing through the window at light-speed, leaving her ignorantly unaware of the fact that she'd barely escaped their brief encounter with her life.
 

*~*~*
 

“You're back quite early today. Was your hunt successful?” Sebastian greeted him as he climbed through his bedroom window into the house.
 

Ignoring him, the demon stumbled past the man and sat down in a corner at the other side of the room, winding his arms around his knees and hiding his face in cradled hands. Sebastian followed him with his eyes, noticing the demon's change in demeanour immediately.
 

“Oh, someone's in a very bad mood today. Don't you want to sit down on the sofa at least?”
 

“Shut up!”
 

“Oh my. What a nuisance. Even though I sent you such a cute kitten video.” Sebastian sighed. “You really do need to do something about your temper.”
 

Ciel didn't respond.
 

“I guess you're not in the mood to talk. So let's call it a day.” Sebastian turned off the light and lay down to bed once again. “Good night.”
 

Silence filled the room.

This demon, Useless

It was a Friday afternoon and Ciel was once again sitting in front of the TV, playing a Computer Game. All of his concentration was focused on the screen as he was only a few clicks away from clearing the game.
 

“You really are enjoying this game, aren’t you? I would have never believed a demon could get so captivated by something as trivial as this. You're certainly interesting.”, Sebastian's voice suddenly came from directly beside his ear.

The demon flinched, as he had not even realized the man had come back from his work, and accidentally dropped the controller. “Game Over!” the screen proclaimed as his HP-bar dropped to zero in the process.
 

“Idiot! Don't sneak up on me all of a sudden!”, Ciel complained, frowning at the taller man with displeasure.
 

The black haired man smiled. “I thought your demon senses would notice me anyway. But I seem to be wrong. Is it always like this or have you gotten weaker lately?”
 

“Certainly not!” Ciel barked at the other. “It was just... I was distracted. Don't you dare do something like this again!” Angrily he turned to look at the screen again. Great, he had to start this mission all over again, thanks to a certain intruder.
 

“Is that so...”
 

Sebastian continued looking at the smaller one in suspicion. Since the night when the demon had returned from his hunt a few weeks ago, seeming quite enraged about something, his nightly hunts had become fewer and fewer. Instead he had gotten used to going to bed early and sleeping until late morning. Each time Sebastian went to work or to a meeting, Ciel was still fast asleep and it didn’t seem like he would wake up any time soon. It also appeared that while his sleeping time kept extending, he grew lazier by the day. In the beginning the demon had accompanied Sebastian when he went downtown from time to time, but it looked as if the boy limited himself to activities using a minimum of physical exercise lately, like playing Video games or reading books. Thinking about it, he reminded Sebastian a bit of a squirrel during hibernation.
 

“By the way... shouldn't you be doing something more useful than enjoying your free time with your master's video games, Mr. Butler? Like housework?” the black haired teased.
 

Ciel looked at the taller one as if the latter had just grown a second head. Where did that ridiculous idea come from?

“Since when are you human my master? And I'm certainly not going to dirty my hands with something like household work. I am a demon.”
 

“So? Wouldn't it look especially cool if you used your demon skills to excel at house work? People would be astonished not knowing that you are not human but mastering the most impossible tasks! You could even turn this into a TV show! Just imagine the viewing figures. This could be a masterpiece!”
 

“...you are talking too much. This is ridiculous. I am NOT going to use my demon skills for something trivial like this.” Ciel responded unnerved.
 

“And what about the deal we made when you moved into my house?”, Sebastian reminded him. “My parents said you could live here if you began working for me as a servant. Do you want them to throw you out before our contract has ended? I'm sure sleeping on the streets would make you dirtier than doing some chores.”
 

“...”
 

“So it is decided.” the man chirped in a good mood and clapped his hand. “Let's see what we can make you do.” He was obviously enjoying the situation a bit too much.
 

*~*~*
 

A few moments later the two of them were entering the kitchen. Sebastian had informed the other servants beforehand, so that they had the kitchen for themselves. Of course Sebastian's parents would not actually throw Ciel out of the house if he did not do any housework. On the contrary: the servants were very surprised when Sebastian told them that Ciel actually wanted to do some housework. According to their point of view Ciel seemed to be more like a homeless kitten, one that Sebastian had found on the streets and now enjoyed taking care of, rather than an actual servant. It was just Sebastian's way of tricking Ciel into doing something he wanted him to do.
 

Ciel stood there with folded arms, putting on an annoyed face due to the unnecessary outcome of events. “So what am I supposed to do now?”, he grumbled.
 

Sebastian put a hand onto his chin in thought. “Let's see... I think we should start with something easy. Like preparing tea and washing the dishes afterwards. “
 

As expected, it ended in a disaster. Not only did Ciel spill the kettle water over the kitchenette and leave dirty spots all over the dishes after cleaning them, he also accidentally broke a glass in anger when Sebastian scolded him for not doing his job properly. After half an hour the kitchen looked as if it had been hit by a bomb.
 

The black haired man was not sure if he should laugh in amusement or twitch his eyebrows at the demon's sheer incompetence. How was it even possible to be this clumsy, let alone for someone wielding demon powers? He really was a case. However, watching the demon's struggle filled Sebastian with amusement. The boy had eventually become Sebastian's new object of observation and, actually, he was by far better than any human the man had ever watched. Humans were all the same; they were grieving over the same things over and over again, each of them searching for a distraction in their life in order to find their own happiness. It had just become … boring. The demon however was a being Sebastian could not fully understand; neither did he search for happiness nor did he act according to any of the patterns that applied to humans. It was fascinating.
 

“I guess I need to show you how this is done properly.”, Sebastian sighed theatrically, reaching for a dishcloth. “Please step back and have a close look.”
 

In just a few minutes the kitchen was once again shining from cleanliness; the dishes had been washed, they sparkled without any traces of dirt and the tea, brewing on its little teapot warmer, gave off a perfect fragrance.
 

Ciel looked at him unimpressed. “Why do you even want me to do these things if you end up doing them yourself anyway?”
 

Sebastian smiled: “Well... to be honest I just wanted to see you fail.”
 

“You insolent moron!!”, the boy hissed in rage. “Remember your standing! You're a mere human and in the end I am going to be the one to take your soul and kill you!”
 

“I know. And I'm thankful about that.”
 

Raising an eyebrow, the demon stared at the taller one in disbelief. “What are you talking about? Why should you be thankful when I am going to kill you?”
 

“It is actually quite easy to understand. I am just glad to have met you. I actually enjoy being with you.”, the taller one responded in all honesty.
 

By now Ciel was staring at the other in bewilderment. Not knowing what to respond to this, he stumbled: “Don't make up such nonsense... You humans are crazy. I will never understand you...”
 

“I can assure you, I don't count lying as one of my habits.”, Sebastian responded, still grinning.” “Oh and by the way, I also think your flustered face is quite cute.”
 

The demon's face turned a shade of red in embarrassment. “D-don't fool around! Idiot! I had better eat your soul early before even more rubbish comes out of your mouth...”, he tried to hide his uneasiness with a splurge of words.
 

That very moment Ciel's outburst reminded Sebastian of something he had wanted to tell the demon earlier.
 

“By the way, there is something important I want you to promise me.”
 

The sudden change of tone silenced Ciel and he gave him a questioning look.
 

“According to our contract you are free to take my soul at a time you decide. However, I want to ask you to take my soul before my illness keeps me chained to bed unable to do anything. When this time comes, please take my soul without thinking about it a second time. I want to die before reaching such a pitiful state.”
 

Silence grew between them. The way in which Sebastian declared his request made Ciel realize the importance behind his words. This man, although he was frequently annoying him with his teasing, wasn’t joking.
 

“...All right.” He finally declared after a while. “If this is the only condition you make, I can accept it.” The demon had turned his face away from the man before him.
 

Sebastian's face split into a smile.
 

“Thank you.”
 

*~*~*
 

When they returned to Sebastian's bedroom, the telephone suddenly started ringing. The man answered and after a few words and nods, he put the phone down again, turning to Ciel: “One of the servants. I got a call from my agency while we were in the kitchen; they're urgently searching for some photo models for their new catalogue this evening. It seems like some of their models canceled their participation at short notice. We had better get ready right now; the shooting will begin in two hours.”
 

Ciel was sure he misheard something. “What do you mean with 'we'? Who else is going with you?”
 

“You, of course.”, the man grinned. “They said they also needed a male model for teenage fashion. The servants immediately thought of you and asked me to talk you into taking part.”
 

The demon threw the taller one a look as if he had suggested warping to the moon and back.
 

“Are you crazy? I can definitely NOT do this. I don't like people staring at me at all and I don't even know how you do these things!”
 

“Actually you just have to stand there and look into the camera. The staff will even help you to put on your clothes, so I think this is something even you could do.”, Sebastian teased. “Also after your disaster in the kitchen, isn't this the least you could do to regain your pride?”
 

“...” The demon still doubted if this job really suited him or if Sebastian just wanted to talk him into something stupid again, but on second thought he had to admit that having spent the last days inside the house had been kind of boring. Besides, he felt quite well today, not having used much of his power lately.
 

“...Fine. I will help you but if it's too much of an effort I'm returning home immediately. Understood?!”
 

“As you wish.”, Sebastian grinned.
 

*~*~*
 

“Ohhh yes! Do it exactly like this! SO beautiful! So graceful! If you could just bend your hip a bit more- YES! Perfect! Ahhh...”
 

Ciel was standing in front of the camera, behind him a clean white wall. He was wearing a black knit cap, a loose gray shirt, tight blue jeans with a belt and short brown boots. Sebastian had been right; the staff had indeed helped him with putting on the clothes and had even insisted to put some make-up on his face to make his skin look neat in front of the camera. The staff putting on his clothes while he had to do nothing was actually very much to his liking. The job would not be so bad after all if it wasn't for that one photographer and his embarrassing behaviour.
 

“Now! Please put your left hand into your pocket and look to the side. Yes! Your expressionless face is magnificent! Could you open your mouth a tiny bit? Very good! Oooh, it gives me the chills!”
 

“Okay, we'll take a tiny break now.”, came the chief's instructions from the other side of the room.
 

Ciel led out a sigh of relief. He had to find Sebastian, who had been taken to another room for his photo session, in order to escape this disgusting man. Also he did not quite know how to behave around humans and having the taller one around to help him out just in case he made some mistake would be a relief. Not that he needed him of course...
 

He wanted to approach the door unnoticed when said photographer suddenly blocked the door. He was a bulky small man with brown hair, sideburns and a moustache and was wearing small glasses that seemed to almost slip from his nose.
 

“It's such a pleasure to meet you! You do have some talent! And you're so beautiful, it's remarkable! But it’s no wonder considering the fact that you were brought here by Mr. Michaelis. I guess beautiful people surround themselves with other beautiful people. It's like a different world, unable to touch for normal people...” His flood of words did not seem to come to an end. Ciel was already considering just taking his leave like he had warned Sebastian before, when another man interrupted the photographer.
 

“Father, it'd be better fer 'ee to rest a bit. Remember 'ee blood pressure!” It was a man with an eccentric hair style; his orange hair was tied into a spiky ponytail and his bangs combed to the left side of his face. Ciel remembered him as the man who had greeted them first upon entering the building.
 

“But I'm okay! I can continue! I want to-”
 

“'ee ‘ealth is more important. I won't accept any protest.”
 

With this he brought the man backstage, much to Ciel's delight. Now all that was left to do was to find Sebastian.
 

“Oh, are you looking for me perhaps?” Talking of the devil, the black haired man appeared just behind him.
 

“Idiot! Don't leave me alone during the breaks! Why are you so late?”, he was greeted by the boy.
 

“Oh my, have you missed me already?”, Sebastian winked. “Even though I hurried so much to pick you up. I was engrossed in a conversation up until now. We are going to have dinner with the staff and the other models in the cafeteria right now, so I thought you would like to come along.”
 

Not even feeling like responding to Sebastian's teasing right now, he just followed the other into the cafeteria.
 

The cafeteria was full of people chatting loudly with each other. Ciel sat between Sebastian and a teenager around his age, who appeared to be a boy, with brown hair hiding his left eye. Close to them sat a slim blonde man talking happily with a beautiful woman with curly black hair, who seemed to ignore Sebastian the whole time for reasons Ciel was unaware of, a gigantic man with a bald head, a silent man with white hair and two small twins.
 

The atmosphere was lighthearted and informal. Since the demon had never been with so many humans at the same time, which made him feel rather uncomfortable, he let Sebastian do all the talking and made sure he never left his side.
 

However, it did not take long until the brown haired boy next to him engaged him in conversation. Replying only in short sentences, Ciel was relieved when finally dinner was served. He barely ate human food, not because it tasted gross; it just wasn't necessary for a being like him. Also, even though human food did not taste bad for demons, it did not taste good either. But it wasn't like he could not eat it for the sake of not standing out of the crowd. Besides, it made the chatty boy next to him shut up eventually.
 

While eating, he listened to Sebastian's conversation with the slim blonde man sitting next to him. He did not understand the meaning of what they were talking about, but the way the black haired man talked to all of the people around him made it obvious that he had known them for a longer time. Of course, it was only natural for them to know each other since they had been working for the same magazine since childhood. But even though they seemed kind of familiar, they had not been enough of a reason for Sebastian to stop his suicide attempts. The demon was bad at judging human relationships but he did know that humans with so called 'friends' were less likely to willingly end their lives. Or were they not what humans called 'friends'? He did not give much weight to humans’ pathetic concept of 'friendship', but it did strike him that he still did not know much about Sebastian's life before he met him. Not that it interested him in particular and he would never ask the other one about it either. After all the only thing that really mattered was the present, wasn't it?
 

When dinner was over, the group disbanded; everyone returning to their respective photo shooting room. Ciel was upset having to return to the perverted photographer again, but fortunately when he entered the room, he found that the orange haired man with the weird accent had taken over the older man's shift.
 

This time Ciel had changed into a long gray knitted jacket over a plain white shirt with a loose scarf around his neck and tight black jeans. After just a few poses, however, the simple work was at an end. The good-humoured photographer suddenly paused, looking at Ciel as if he was lacking something and tried to put it into words.
 

“Is there a problem with me?” Ciel asked, confused at the sudden pause.
 

“It's not really a problem, but I think a different facial expression would look good on 'ee from time to time. How about a great big smile?”, he grinned at him full of expectation.
 

The demon looked at the photographer in bewilderment.
 

“Come on, smile!”
 

“...”
 

“Here, smiiiile.”
 

Clenching his fists, Ciel beamed him his brightest smile.
 

*~*~*
 

It was well past 10 o'clock when they finally set off on their way back home. The tube was crowded with people going to parties or meeting friends, huge groups of them swarming in and out each time the giant metal serpent opened its many mouths at a stop. Ciel was glad when they finally arrived at the station near Sebastian's home and walked through the quiet well-groomed neighbourhood.
 

They had walked half the way to the big mansion Sebastian lived in when they heard the loud meow of a cat. Ciel kept walking; not bothered by the cat's scream at all, only finding himself bumping into the taller one who suddenly halted in front of him.
 

“What is it?”, Ciel asked.
 

“It's a cat's scream and it sounded upset. I’m going to look for the poor thing.” Without waiting for Ciel's reaction, the black haired man rushed into a by-road.
 

“Oi! Wait! Is that really necessary?” The demon sounded bugged, following Sebastian into the side road. The road was leading away from the row of houses, the street and its lanterns and darkness slowly engulfed them as they advanced further in the direction of the sound from before.
 

Suddenly there was a black cat running into their direction. Sebastian kneeled down and tried to attract the seemingly flushed out cat to come to him by making weird noises that made Ciel roll his eyes in distaste. However, cats appeared to like Sebastian's strange sounds, so the cat lumbered towards the man, nuzzling its head into his shirt as if it wanted to hide from something.
 

“Oh my, aren't you a cute one?”, Sebastian whispered affectionately and caressed the cat's dark fur, making it purr. He picked the cat up and turned around to Ciel, smiling at him in joy.
 

“Don't you want to hold this cutie, too?”
 

“No, definitely not! Stay away with that thing!”, the demon demanded; immediately stepping back.
 

“Oh, come on. Why not? With its cuteness it could ease even your temper a bit.”, he continued walking towards Ciel with the cat in his arms.
 

“No, it cou- AA-CHOO!”
 

At first, Sebastian stared at the smaller one in irritation. Then it dawned at him and his face split into a grin.
 

“Don't tell me you're allergic to cats? Well, that is funny! A demon being allergic to cats.”, he chuckled in amusement.
 

“SHUT UP!”, Ciel shouted at him furiously. “Go away with that thing and don't you dare come close to me again anytime soon!”
 

“Too bad, even though I wanted to give you a tight hug when we arrived at home.” the taller one joked , still stroking the cat’s head. Suddenly he was interrupted by a loud bang. It sounded like a shot from a gun, not far from where the two were standing.
 

In shock, the both of them turned round and the cat jumped from Sebastian's arm, fleeing. The sound came from the direction the cat had been coming from and as far as Sebastian knew the path led to an allotment garden.

They started running into said direction, arriving in the garden only minutes after. The bang had come from somewhere around here, but Sebastian did not see much in the dark. At this hour no-one was in the gardens anymore and the lamps had been turned off, the only vivid light thus coming from the street in the distance behind them and from the crescent moon lurking behind the clouds.
 

Halting and taking in the scent around him, Ciel abruptly began walking around a hedge and followed a path leading deeper into the gardens. The black haired man followed the smaller one as he rushed through the labyrinth-like arrangement of plants and sheds, turning right and left here and there.
 

When Ciel stopped, they had arrived at a small clearing. On the grassy ground a man was lying in a puddle of blood; a dark, wet hole gaping in his chest. He had obviously been shot, slowly dying as more and more blood was escaping his body.
 

Sebastian had never seen anything quite like that other than in crime films. The sight was horrifying, making him feel like throwing up, but fortunately he had enough self-control to keep his composure.
 

“Oh my, uninvited observers? Peeping on a lady is no good, you know?”, came a voice from seemingly nowhere. Looking around, Sebastian got sight of a slim man with long red hair floating in the night breeze, sitting on the branch of a tree. He was wearing red glasses and carried a big chainsaw with him.
 

“A demon and a human walking around together?”, the mysterious man who referred to himself as a lady continued talking. “What a rare sight. Is he your prey? You demons really are bothersome creatures, snatching away our souls.”
 

He took a closer look at Sebastian who was staring at the unknown man with a mixture of irritation and interest. “But that one's sure the handsome kind of human. I would like to have a bite as well~”, he squealed in excitement; leaping from the tree gracefully, making no sound as he landed on the grass only a few metres in front of the two witnesses.
 

Grinning, he took a flashy pose and announced: “If I am allowed to introduce myself: I am a god of DEATH.”
 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Merry Christmas everyone! (^o^)/

I am sorry that this chapter is a bit late but I had some trouble with one of my beta-readers, that's why I couldn't upload it earlier. I think my English is still not good enough; that's why I need native speakers to beta-read my chapters. (x__x)

For this chapter I want to thank Britty and my new beta reader Daniel for correcting this chapter so fast. You made my Christmas! (^^)

This chapter is a bit longer than the ones before and I hope you enjoy reading it. This time I added a lot of side characters from the manga. I am curious if you recognise all of them. ★

And again thank you for all your lovely comments! They give me the motivation to keep writing as fast as possible. ^^

This demon, Confrontation

Sebastian and Ciel were facing Grell, standing in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by allotment gardens. Between them lay a man who was almost dead, having been shot by an unknown person who had seemingly run away before Ciel and Sebastian had arrived.
 

Ciel, having realised the situation, suddenly turned around to Sebastian, shouting: “Let's run!” Sebastian, who himself did not have a clue what was going on, decided to follow the demon’s instruction and started running away from the unknown man, with Ciel following him. Before they could leave the clearing though, the red haired Grim Reaper made a huge leap, landing in front of them and blocking their way.
 

“I‘m afraid I can't let you go. Now that I have encountered a demon, I kind of feel the obligation to fight you. Lately I haven't had much entertainment, so let's have some fun!”
 

“Well, I don't have the time to fight someone like you! Step aside!”
 

“Oh my, you’re boring.”, the Grim Reaper sighed. “Demons and Grim Reapers are enemies! We Grim Reapers need to collect the souls of dying people in order for them to be reborn someday, but you demons keep eating them away, disturbing our work.”
 

“I don't plan on snatching away that man's soul! He's almost dead anyway. You don't have any reason to fight me!”
 

“And what about this man?”, he nodded into Sebastian's direction. "You're planning on devouring his soul sooner or later, ain't I right? What if I feel like rescuing him from you? And having some fun with him as a reward...” He giggled, striking a blow with his Death Scythe towards the demon.
 

“Damn Grim Reapers!” Ciel hissed, jumping away before the chainsaw could hit him.
 

The fight had begun. The two non-human creatures were moving quickly; following their battle from a human perspective was difficult. Their huge jumps made them look like they were flying, touching the ground only to lift up again with renewed power. It was a very one-sided fight though; Grell kept swinging attacks at the demon, which Ciel avoided.
 

“Come on, fight back! This is dull!”, the red haired man shouted in disappointment. The demon did not listen to the Grim Reaper though, dodging the next attack from his death scythe again. But against his expectations, Grell immediately turned around after the Death Scythe had missed its prey, and with a quick twist of his right leg launched his next attack. The impact of the Grim Reaper’s high heeled shoes hitting the demon’s stomach sent him flying across the clearing, crashing into a hedge with his back first and falling to the ground.
 

Seeing the weakened boy lying on the ground, Sebastian decided to intervene. A good master had to protect his servants after all, even if said servant was a demon. But before the black haired man could put his resolve into action, Ciel picked himself up and shot Sebastian a furious look. “Stay there! You'd only make things more difficult!”, he shouted, getting back on his feet. The black haired man gritted his teeth; never before had he felt this useless and he hated that feeling more than anything.
 

Grell began walking towards the both of them, playing with his hair in boredom. “For a demon you're pretty weak, aren't you? When have you eaten your last soul? Beating a baby isn't so much fun at all... Let's end this quickly, so I can enjoy myself with your pretty human~”, he winked at Sebastian, who himself stared at the Grim Reaper in disgust.
 

Not answering, the demon realized that just dodging Grell's attacks would not lead him anywhere. He wasn't in good shape to begin with because of his 'diet', and he felt how this fight was draining the remaining energy from his body. He did not stand much of a chance but since he would lose anyway if he continued like this, he at least had to try. However, the Grim Reaper didn’t give him much time to think about his condition or strategies, as he came flying at him once again, determined to end this fight as soon as possible.
 

Waiting for a chance, Ciel continued avoiding Grell's attacks for a while, until he eventually ducked under one powerful sweep of the rotating death scythe. Using the moment his opponent needed to rearrange his body in order to hit Ciel with the chainsaw again, the demon aimed for Grell's glasses. His plan was to hit his face, destroying his glasses and using the distraction to flee together with Sebastian. But he had underestimated the redhead’s superhuman reflexes. Before Ciel's fist could reach the Grim Reaper's face, the latter grabbed his arm, holding onto it and preventing the demon from jumping back.
 

His voice was alarmingly pissed now: “Has no one ever told you not to hit a lady in her face, you brat?! Time to give you a lesson!”
 

Taken by surprise, the demon could not react fast enough. With a swift move, the Grim Reaper swung the Death Scythe in his other hand through the air; piercing Ciel's stomach with it. Blood was spilling onto the ground. Only seconds later the demon also vomited a gush of blood. With a jerk, the Grim reaper removed the chainsaw from Ciel's body, causing a flood of red juice to pour out of the wound. As Grell let go of the boy's arm, he broke down immediately, collapsing into the grass.
 

As he fell down, his Cinematic Record was released from his body; spreading out in front of him. Although unseen from the human eye, it began telling the story of the demon's life from the very beginning.
 

A shadow lurking in a dirty side street in London in 1875. It was a gloomy night in late December. A carriage stopped close by and a formally dressed man and a woman in a bell-bottomed dress stepped out of it, laughing and chatting about today's ball. As the carriage left, the shadow broke free from the darkness, attacking the woman first. Screams filled the night air as she fell down to the ground, her soul being devoured in only a split of a second, replacing the scary look in her eyes with nothing but emptiness. The shocked man yelled in horror as he realised that their attacker wasn't human and he ran away as fast as his body allowed him to, not even glancing at his wife for a second time. He had never been a fast runner but in the face of his death he dashed faster than he ever thought was possible for him. Needles to say it was by far not fast enough to escape the inhuman speed of a demon. Letting his prey run for a while, while his soul released the precious scent of despair, the shadow followed him unnoticed, hiding in the darkness. After some time, the man allowed himself to be lulled into a false sense of security and granted himself a little pause from his running, frantically grasping for air to fill his famished lungs. That moment, the demon released himself from the shadows right in front of the man. The man's face turned pale. While he began walking backwards slowly, he stuttered: “Please! Please not me! I haven't done anything wrong in life! Please! Please spare me!” His soul smelled so delicious as it clung to life hopelessly.
 

Eat! Eat! Eat!
 

The demon could not withstand his mighty hunger for a second longer.
 

The man's lifeless body dropped to the ground as the creature had finished sucking out the soul from his body. But it felt like it was still not enough. It was painful. His hunger was painful. As a newborn demon, he felt like he existed for the sole purpose of eating.
 

An old homeless grandpa sleeping on a park bench. A little child who went lost in the streets. A father who worked all night long in a factory to earn enough money to feed his family. The boss of a criminal group. The years went by as he fed on all those lives. It did not matter who his prey was as long as it stilled his hunger for just the split of a second and helped him survive. In the end all humans were the same anyway, being scared or begging for their life in their final moments.
 

1890. It was a night like every single night before as the demon hid in the shadows of a park, waiting for the chance to devour the next soul. He saw the outlines of a girl approaching the park in the distance. She seemed to be alone. As she passed a street-lamp, the light was illuminating her face for a brief moment. Curly blonde hair tied into two pigtails and eyes of a vivid green colour glittering from tears...
 

The Cinematic Record showed all of these memories in barely a few seconds as Ciel fell to the ground into his own puddle of blood. And it was still ongoing. But the only one who had glanced at it for a second was Grell, who had now averted his eyes from it in boredom and approached the demon who was lying on the floor and clutching to the wound in his stomach while howling in pain, to deliver his final death blow.
 

“You're still alive? You demons are quite tough. Too bad you're just a kid, one could have so much fun with your kind~”, he sighed.
 

For Sebastian's eyes everything was happening incredibly fast. Unable to see Cinematic Records, he only noticed Ciel falling to the ground from the red haired man's attack. He knew instinctively that it was best for him to escape now and that was also what the demon had ordered him to do, but he also knew that it was not what he himself wanted. The demon was right when he said humans were selfish and of course Sebastian was no exception. He did not want Ciel to die, as he was the one who had made it worth continuing his life for some more time in the first place. And even though he knew he probably wouldn't stand a chance against a superhuman being even though he was so capable, he at least wanted to do something. Without the demon his life would return to the boring procedure it had been before, so it didn't make any difference dying right now.
 

As the so called Grim Reaper stepped closer to Ciel, Sebastian was skimming his brain for a possibility to distract the former. That bizarre creature was bound to have some kind of weakness…
 

Grell already prepared his Death Scythe for the final blow when-
 

“So you are a so called Grim Reaper? That is indeed interesting.”
 

Taken by surprise, he paused in his movement and turned his head around to the human who had suddenly started talking to him.
 

“I really mean it. I am very interested in inhuman creatures. I would like to know more about you, as well.”, Sebastian continued.
 

“R- really? You really want to know more about me?”, Grell asked perplexed, suddenly sounding shy like a teenage girl who had just been asked for a date by her crush and didn't expect this to ever happen. He lowered his Death Scythe, not caring about the demon to his feet right now.
 

“You foolish human! What do you think you're doing?! I told you to run!”, Ciel coughed. It made an effort for him to speak and he was still unable to stand up.
 

“Yes!”, Sebastian answered Grell's question with an ensuring and charming smile, ignoring Ciel's words completely. “I am tired of humans. I think I am more into inhuman beings right now. Please teach me more about your species!”
 

The Grim Reaper didn't need to be told twice as he suddenly dashed forwards into Sebastian's direction.
 

“SEBASTIAN!!” The demon yelled.
 

But it didn't seem like the Grim Reaper had intended to attack the black haired man. Instead he was taking his hands into his own as he was standing in front of him, wiggling around in delight, squealing: “Of course I'll teach you more about me! I can show you everything I have!”
 

“It would be a pleasure.”, Sebastian replied politely, whereon Grell almost lost it.
 

“Re-re-really?! C-can I ki-kiss you?!”, the Grim Reaper spluttered in excitement.
 

“Please go ahead.”
 

“Waaaah!!!” At this moment Grell was almost exploding. Flirting was one thing, but for it to really happen was something completely different! He couldn't even remember how many years ago his last kiss had been! “Okay! Okay! Here I come! Please close your eyes! It's rude to kiss a lady with your eyes open!”, he demanded with a pouty voice for show.
 

Sebastian did as told. But when Grell also closed his eyes and the black haired man felt the other one leaning in closer, he opened his eyes again. This was the moment he was waiting for! The Grim Reaper was distracted; this was his chance!
 

But before he could act in any way, he saw something sharp being thrust between them, only missing Grell's nose by millimeters and preventing him from getting any closer to Sebastian. It was a silver pruner with a very long, extendible shaft. He turned around and saw a man with short black hair and glasses dressed in a suit standing on a branch of one of the trees surrounding the clearing. Readjusting his glasses the man shortened his pruner's shaft again and instead began to finally reap the soul of the dead man who was still lying on the floor.
 

Finishing his work, he looked at Sebastian and said: “I am sorry to interrupt your conversation. My name is William T. Spears of the Dispatch Management Division of the Grim Reapers. Grell Suttcliff!”, he turned his gaze to Grell, who had meanwhile started staring at William with a pouty look on his face. “You are not doing your work properly again. You are here for work and yet you are starting an unnecessary fight while forgetting your actual purpose for being here. And then you also indulge into an affair while on work! This is against the rules!”
 

“But Will! I was so close! You're not fair!”, the other Grim Reaper whined.
 

Ignoring his colleague, William jumped off the tree, walked towards Sebastian and bowed deeply when he was standing in front of him. He also gave him his business card. “I am very sorry for the disrespectful behaviour of my fellow worker. I hope something like this won't happen again.”
 

With those words he grabbed Grell and started walking away.
 

“Wait Will!”, Grell protested. “There's a demon over there! Aren't we gonna do something about him?”, he pointed into the direction where Ciel was still lying on the floor.
 

William threw a look in Ciel's direction. Recognising the demon, he shook his head.
 

“Don't mind this one. Let's go.”
 

“Wait, you know this demon? Why-?”
 

Not responding, William continued grabbing the red haired Grim reaper out of sight.
 

“Ouch, you're hurting me, Will! Do you need to be this cold to me now that we are finally having some time for just the two of us again? I- OUCH!”
 

Sebastian did not pay attention anymore as the Grim Reapers walked away. He hurried towards the demon, who had been alarmingly silent during the past minutes.
 

The black haired man kneeled down in front of the boy and reached out his right arm to touch him, when all of a sudden the demon took a jump towards him, knocking Sebastian off his feet and making him fall on his back with Ciel on top of him. When a surprised Sebastian looked up at the demon's face, he saw that his otherwise blue eye had turned to a glowing red. He had never seen him like this, but he instinctively knew that this was his real demon side. And judging from the fact that the Ciel he knew would never react this way, he also concluded that his instincts had taken control over this body. The demon's blood was wetting Sebastian's clothes all over and he breathed heavily; not only because of his hunger but also because of the wound in his stomach. His greedy stare pierced through the black haired man.
 

So this was the moment his soul would finally be taken. He had not planned it this way and somehow he even regretted it to happen this soon as he was beginning to enjoy his life with the demon. But it needed to happen sooner or later anyway, so it was not like he was completely disappointed. The demon leaned in on Sebastian, who closed his eyes, waiting for his final moment calmly.
 

As Ciel's face drew closer, Sebastian could already feel the demon's hot breath on him. It made his skin prickle. Only centimetres were left between their mouths. Soon his soul would be sucked out, bringing his life to an end. But suddenly Sebastian felt the weight on him collapse. Startled, he opened his eyes just to find the demon lying on top of him unconsciously. Worrying about the condition of the demon who had just been about to devour his soul, the black haired man checked his pulse. It was weak but he was still breathing. It seemed like he had only fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood. On a second thought Sebastian didn't even know if it was normal for demons to breath or if this was again just one of Ciel's quirks.
 

Taking in a deep breath, Sebastian stood up cautiously, lifting the boy up into his arms. What a night. Even for him this had been almost too exciting, but somehow they had managed to survive. Unlike the man lying on the other side of the clearing. Glancing at the dead body, Sebastian decided that he should better be going. Not only did he want to avoid nasty questions from the police that were sure to turn up sooner or later, but the heavily injured boy in his arms did look as if he could use some treatment. Although Sebastian doubted that a demon could die easily, that so called Grim Reaper’s weapon had indeed done some significant damage to this small body.
 

He also needed to wash their clothes and make up a story for the servants. Besides, the demon owed him some answers when he recovered. Thinking about how to effectively wash blood out of clothes, he left the clearing with Ciel in his arms.

This demon, Bitter Memories

When Ciel opened his eyes it was dark outside. The moon shone through the window into the dim lighted room. He was lying on Sebastian's bed wrapped in the warm white blankets wearing one of Sebastian's old pajamas. It took a moment for him until a faint memory of what had happened before he passed out came back to his mind. There was this red haired Grim Reaper, attacking them. He remembered being stabbed by his Death Scythe, but for some reason he could not get a hold on anything that had happened afterwards. How did they even get back home?
 

When he sat up his head felt dizzy from just the small movement. Feeling incredibly weak he checked his body for the wound the Death Scythe had left on him, but the only trace of the attack was a pale scar over his stomach, that looked like it was old half a life-time, having healed almost completely. Other than that there was no sign reminding him of the attack left on his body. No blood, no dirt, nothing. He smelt like the artificial cream humans used to wash their bodies with.
 

Looking up, he scanned the room for Sebastian, however he didn't seem to be anywhere close by. Feeling a weird sting of...was it worry?... inside him, he tried to toss the strange feeling away. Of course Sebastian was alright. Who else should have carried him here? His starvation and the Grim Reaper's attack did not only seem to have weakened his body but also made his mind foggy.
 

But for some reason he did not even feel hungry at the moment. It was strange. Was this the last stage of a demon finding his death through starvation? First there was the painful hunger and when the hunger was gone and the demon would eventually forget eating, the trap of death was awaiting him? He didn't know. Demons were solitary beings and did not engage with other demons very often. They were born with certain instincts and skills and knew how to survive immediately. Ciel did not even remember how he was born. The only thing he knew was that he was born in the human world in 1875. Of course there was also the demon world but it was nothing one could compare to the human world even in the slightest. It was a vast land with strange alien like creatures wandering around. Sometimes demons dragged their prey down there to have fun with it before devouring it. Maybe the demon world was something that humans would describe with the word 'hell'. But even down there meeting another demon did not happen too often and there was no one teaching them how demons worked other than their normal instincts.
 

That very moment Ciel was torn out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening.
 

“Oh, you're finally awake.” It was Sebastian, carrying a plate with dinner with him. The demon hadn't even noticed his presence. “How are you feeling?” He put the plate down on the table on the right side of the bed and sat down at the couch next to it still looking at Ciel though.
 

“... okay.” The demon answered shortly not wanting to talk about his strange condition he himself didn't really understand.
 

Sebastian threw Ciel a suspicious look which made the demon avert his eyes from him to avoid direct eye contact.

“How long was I asleep?”
 

“Almost a week. The servants were already very worried. I had to keep them from sending you to a hospital.”
 

“A whole week?” The demon was shocked. He had never been unconscious or asleep for such a long time. It was absurd considering that demons didn't actually need rest when in normal condition.
 

“Yes. Making up a convincing story for your condition was really difficult even for me.”, Sebastian sighed and took a forkful of his dinner.
 

Ciel didn't know why but he suddenly felt the heavy urge to have a bite from Sebastian's dinner. Confused he tried to ignore the feeling. How pathetic. He did not need human food.
 

Noticing the demon's stare, Sebastian offered: “Would you like to have a share?”
 

The demon struggled with himself. He really wanted to eat it but at the same time it was weird for him to want to eat human food and he did not know how to explain that to Sebastian. This time his hunger was stronger though. Not looking at the taller one directly he replied. “I don't mind eating it if you want to spare a bit.”
 

Sebastian grinned at the smaller one's obvious behavior. “Well then, I'm going to get some more food from the kitchen. Be right back.”
 

A few minutes later Sebastian returned to Ciel who was still sitting in bed and handed him a plate with dinner. Ciel didn't need to be told twice and dug in. Surprised by how tasty it was, his eyes widened. It did not take long until the food was eaten up. Handing Sebastian the empty plate he actually felt slightly better than before.
 

“Oh my, someone seems to have a great appetite for human food today. I wonder why that is. For a demon you're also very skillful using a knife and fork, aren't you? I already noticed that earlier when we were dining with the magazine’s crew.”
 

Sebastian's well observed remark flustered the demon and he countered: “Before you start making stupid comments you should better tell me how we escaped from the Grim Reapers! I seem to have passed out and I can't remember anything after that idiot of a Grim Reaper stabbed me.”
 

So the black haired man told Ciel how he had distracted Grell, how the Grim Reaper called William appeared and how he picked the other one up. Of course he also didn't leave out the moment when the demon lost his mind and nearly took his soul before passing out from exhaustion. When Sebastian described the moment that could have finally been the end of his life, the demon looked at him in shock. His face showed a mixture of self-anger and … sadness? He looked almost as if he was in pain; as if a memory from the past had struck him. A strange reaction, considering the fact that Ciel was to consume his soul sooner or later anyway. Of course Sebastian noticed it right away and it strengthened his suspicion that something in the demon's past had happened that had turned him into the unusual demon he was now. But if his plan worked out, he would make the demon tell him about it soon anyway.
 

He then continued explaining how he had carried Ciel home and had climbed into his bedroom though the window using the tree in front of it after laying Ciel down in a hidden spot in his garden. He didn't forget to add a comment about how Ciel's habit of climbing through the window had influenced him to having this kind of idea, gaining a hiss from said person in return. After he had climbed into his bedroom, he changed into new clothes and hid the blood stained ones in his cupboard. Then he searched for new clothes for the demon, a plastic bag, a towel and a first-aid kit. After he found everything he climbed out of the window again, stripped Ciel out of his clothes, cleaned the blood with the towel, put a bandage on his wound to stop the bleeding and put the clean clothes on him. After he put the bloodstained clothes in the plastic bag and hid it and the first-aid kit in the shed, he began to dirty their new clothes with mud from the ground. Everything needed to be authentic for his plan to work.
 

He then lifted the demon up into his arms again and rang at his door. Because of their encounter it was already very late and his preparations had again taken another 30 minutes (which was actually very fast considering how many things he had done) and he could bet his mobile was full of messages from the servants and his parents if they hadn't even contacted the police yet. He was slightly out of breath but that only proved his story. When a worried maid opened the door and saw the two of them in this condition she nearly fainted from shock. However Sebastian was quick to explain that after work they had decided to make a spontaneous walk through the park when suddenly a group of drunken teenagers attacked them. He continued telling her that after a quick fight he managed to make them run away but Ciel had passed out from the shock as it sure had reminded him of the time when he was still living on the streets. After assuring her for the fifth time that they did not have any serious injuries and just needed some rest, she finally left them alone and promised to also contact Sebastian's parents, who had already been worried that Sebastian might have collapsed again or even worse, because he himself was too tired to do so right now.
 

When he finally entered his room he had taken a closer look at Ciel's wound and vetted it thoroughly this time. He also washed the demon and then put pajamas on him after also putting a new bandage on his wound. At least it had already stopped bleeding but he better wanted to make sure. He lay Ciel down on his bed and then finally washed himself. He felt tired but strangely alive. Since his luxurious old style bed was more than big enough for the both of them he lay down next to the boy. Throwing him a second look he really hoped he would wake up soon. Sebastian was dying to find out more about the demon and the supernatural world.
 

The next day he secretly washed the blood stained clothes by hand and also kept an eye on the demon all the time but he didn't seem to show any signs of waking up soon. The days went by and Sebastian continued his normal life while Ciel still showed no signs of waking up. From time to time he checked his wound, washed him and put new clothes on him.
 

“It was fascinating how fast your wound healed!” Sebastian told the demon with admiration in his eyes. “Only one day after the incident the wound had closed and two days later it was healed completely, only leaving a little scar. By now the scar looks like it has healed for half a life time. Your regenerating abilities are astonishing!”
 

Ciel hissed. “No, they are not. It should not leave a scar behind at all. Yet it didn't heal completely.”
 

“Is that because you didn't eat any souls lately?”, Sebastian asked further.
 

Taken off guard, Ciel threw the other a bewildered look, before he replied in an angry tone: “Why do you know that?”
 

“Don't you remember? The red haired Grim Reaper mentioned it before he stabbed you. And to be honest it's not difficult to guess. I came to the same conclusion earlier. You talked about demons not needing any sleep, yet your sleeping time enhanced every day. Also, your senses are getting weaker and you refrain from doing anything that involves too much physical effort even though it should be mere child's play for a demon like you. Now you also start eating human food. I don't know anything about how demons work, but here is what I think.” His gaze bore into Ciel's eyes.
 

“If a demon eats less souls than his body needs, his abilities start to weaken. The longer he continues like this, the heavier the impact. After a while he’ll start relying more and more on the body he chose to take form of. In your case it's a human body. Hence you need sleep and now you even need human food. As to what happens if you continue this I can just guess that you'd either die or turn into a human completely.”
 

Ciel gave the taller one a shocked stare. “Me turning into a simple human? That is impossible!”
 

“I don't know.” The black haired shrugged. “Either way is against our contract though. Also the possibility that you'd die is pretty high and we cannot let that happen. You really do need to have a soul as soon as possible. Why have you starved yourself anyway, if I might ask? During the first weeks you were out for a hunt every day.”
 

Averting his eyes from Sebastian penetrative gaze on purpose, the demon gritted his teeth. This was the one topic he wanted to evade for sure.
 

“I think you should really consider talking about it. Keeping quiet about it until now didn't make it any better, did it? Moreover, please also remember that we are bound together by this contract.”
 

To emphasize his words he showed him his left hand where the proof of their contract was engraved with a black sign. “I would like to know more about the demon who is supposed to eat my soul eventually. Also, I don't have a reason to use your words against you and I have kind of saved your life before, haven't I? I would suggest you begin to trust me more.”
 

The taller one had seen through his facade right at the beginning. Ciel had to admit that it was true that he kind of had the right to know about it, since it had endangered their lives. This time there was no excuse.
 

With a rather sad tone, the demon began telling: “I don't know much about demons either. The only thing I know for sure is that we need to eat human souls and that those souls we eat are forever lost. They cannot be reborn again since they aren't collected by the Grim Reapers. I am afraid when something is truly lost, one can never get it back again. ” His face curved into a painful bitter smile.
 

“At first I didn't mind devouring whoever it was. Men, women, children. They were all the same for me as long as they could satisfy my never ending hunger. Until I met her...”
 

1890. It was a night as all the other nights, as the demon hid in the shadows of a park, waiting for the chance to devour the next soul. He saw the outlines of a girl approaching the park in the distance. She seemed to be alone. As she passed a street-lamp, the light was illuminating her face for a brief moment. Curly blonde hair tied into two pigtails and eyes of a vivid green colour glittering from tears. Her soul gave off an especially delicious smell. It was a fragrance of unhappiness and resignation. He couldn't wait to devour it.
 

It was so late at night that no one else was walking through the park. It was a rather wealthy area of London and judging from her clothes the girl didn't look like her family lacked money. Usually, people would have wondered why a girl like her was walking through a park alone at such a late hour. But Ciel didn't care.
 

When the blonde girl walked past him, he released himself from the shadow he was lurking in and attacked her straight away. She landed on the ground with her back in the split of a second letting out a shriek; her dress splaying on the stony path beneath her. Realizing the shadowy figure above her, her eyes widened in shock at first, but soon her facial expression changed into a smile.
 

“So my wish really came true. Who would have thought this would actually happen? Thank you.”, she whispered and closed her eyes, waiting for the creature to kill her.
 

No one had ever smiled at him, yet thanked him. The bizarre situation made the demon freeze in his movement.
 

When the demon didn't do anything for a few moments, the girl opened her eyes again, staring into the shadow questioningly. “Are you alright, Mr. Monster? Didn't you intend to kill me? Please don't make me wait... I am actually a little afraid. I would be certainly thankful if you could do it as fast as possible.”
 

Irritated, Ciel replied: “Why do you want me to kill you? You are not supposed to do that. You humans always beg for your life.”
 

The girl continued her mysterious smile. “I don't think all humans are the same. Certainly not...Some people prefer dying than continuing their life the way it is.”
 

Growing interested, the demon asked further: “Then why do you not want to continue your life the way it is?”
 

Suddenly the girl’s eyes turned incredibly sad once again. “There is someone in my life who ruined everything. But I cannot get rid of this person.” Tears started welling in her eyes and flowing down her face. “It's rude of me to even think this way. I should accept my fate the way it was given to me like the duty of a proper lady demands. But I cannot even do this much... You see, I've become such a filthy woman.”
 

Ciel didn't understand the full meaning behind her words, but he got the feeling that this girl was different from the people he had devoured before. He couldn't tell why but he did not feel like killing her anymore. There had been moments in his still short life before when he had asked himself if living for the sole purpose of eating was satisfying, but he had never felt the need to change it. Because what else should he be doing besides eating? At this very moment though he just wanted to know more about this mysterious girl and why she was different from the people he had killed before.
 

He let go off her. Confused, she stood up; wiping away the dirt from her dress and looking at the shadow in front of her.
 

“I’ve changed my mind. I don't want to kill you right now. But I promise to kill you in the end if you form a contract with me.”
 

“A contract?”
 

“Yes. I am a demon and we demons can form contracts with humans. If you wish to be killed by me I will do so, but before let me observe your life for a while.”
 

“But you do promise to kill me in the end?”
 

“Yes.”
 

“All right, then I accept your offer. Please form a contract with me!”
 

At this moment a clawed, black hand materialized out of the shadow and palmed her left hand. It felt hot for a moment and when the demon let go off it there was a black sign left on it. The girl looked at it with a certain displeasure in her eyes. “This is not cute at all... But I guess I can wear gloves to cover it.”
 

She looked at the demon. “Can you change your appearance? For example can you transform into a human?”
 

Not bothering to answer Ciel began to change his form. He had never done it before and he also didn't know how to make himself look. Then he decided to take on a form the girl's soul desired.

Just a moment later a boy around her age and height dressed in black attire stood in front of her. His right eye showed their contract sign.
 

“Wow, this is fascinating!”The girl was astonished. A little spark in her eyes was recovered...
 

*~*~*
 

When she took him home, she told him that her name was Elizabeth but he should call her 'Lizzy'. Her home was a huge mansion with a big garden in front of it. Upon entering the garden, she halted though. “I am very sorry, but I cannot take you into my house. My family wouldn't allow me to have a male visitor because of my fiancé...” Her voice vibrated a little, but this time she kept her composure. “Our shed is really comfortable though. I hope that is okay for you?” She gave him an apologizing look.
 

The demon just nodded. Why was she making such a fuss? What was the difference between a shed and a house? He didn't even need a roof over his head to begin with.
 

“But if you need me for anything you can just knock at my window if no one is watching. I-I mean, if you are capable of reaching the second floor that is! But demons can do that, can't they? You know, we humans have a certain image of demons, so please excuse me if I'm saying something weird...”, she blushed as if she had said something stupid. “But please never use the door or the servants will notice you.”
 

This was how their life together begun. When the demon wasn't hunting he spent his time in the shed and Elizabeth visited him almost every day. Then she talked about her friends and what kind of new clothes she got and sometimes she also talked about the human world in general or taught him things, for example eating with a knife and fork. Most of her stories were boring and other than on the day they met she barely showed him her sad side anymore as far as to the point that Ciel thought she was just a common human after all. At first he regretted having made a contract with her and even considered taking her soul right away and ending it. But sometimes there were these moments when she was extremely sad and talked in a way that were riddles for the demon. Furthermore, over time he got used to her chit-chat and it was an effective way to spend the time he was not hunting.
 

One day there was another occasion when she showed him the bitter side Ciel was not capable of understanding. It was an evening and Elizabeth wore one of the prettiest dresses she possessed. What was odd, however, was that she didn't smile at all. In the contrary. When she entered the shed her face was as expressionless as the demon had never seen it before.

“I am sorry, but I won't be able to visit you during the next days...” She just said to him without looking into his face. Her shoulders were shaking slightly and it was obvious that she was trying to keep her composure.
 

“My fiancé has invited me to a ball he has organizing today and he wants me to stay with him afterwards. As a trial for our future life as husband and wife. Tomorrow he will depart on a trip with me.”
 

The demon didn't know what to reply. He barely talked anyway and preferred listening to what Elizabeth told him.
 

Suddenly the blonde girl lost her composure after all; looking into Ciel's eyes with her tear filled ones.
 

“I...I don't want this..Why... why do I need to be engaged to such a person?” The tears streamed down her face as if they never wanted to stop.
 

Without any warning she suddenly threw her arms around the demons neck and rested her face on his shoulder.
 

“Why do I need to be engaged to a man so much older than me? With...without any self-composure or pride.”
 

Her voice was shaky and interrupted by occasional sobs.
 

“I don't want to do this with him... I want to be like the other girls. Dreaming of their wedding with their loved one... I...I want a cute fiancé...someone like you...”
 

She clenched her fists into the fabric of Ciel's top and her tears were wetting his shoulder. He did not hug her back though. Not knowing what she was talking about he was completely over-strained with the current situation and did not know how to respond.
 

After she had cried for a while it was time for her to leave. When he saw her again after a few days she only showed him a fake smile.
 

*~*~*
 

On another occurrence Elizabeth came to him with a big smile on her face. Her real smiles were vivid and bright and reached her eyes; making them sparkle.
 

“I went to a market place with Paula today! There I found something veeery cute and I just couldn't resist! Ta-daa!”
 

Saying this, she presented him a frilly blue attire with a tiny blue hat and attached to the hat a blue-white striped ribbon.
 

“I thought a blue dress would suit you better than your black clothes, so I bought you these.”
 

Ciel did not feel the need to change his clothes but he kind of liked the color of the clothes Elizabeth had bought him, so he accepted them. From there on he always wore it.
 

*~*~*
 

“But then one day Elizabeth came to me and said she would have a guest today and that she did not want me to come to her meanwhile. She said something about that she did not like people seeing her this way and especially not me.” Ciel continued telling his story. “But in the end I was even more interested in what she would be doing and decided to observe her secretly. I thought that maybe she would finally reveal why she was different than other people. So I hid in the shadows when her guest arrived in a carriage and she came to greet him.
 

It was only afternoon but the weather was cloudy, so it was quite dark. When a man stepped outside the carriage carrying a long case under his arm and greeting Elizabeth in a friendly manner I decided to have a closer look. At that time I didn't know that he was just a fencer visiting Elizabeth for a duel. That was also why she chose to greet him alone. She did not like others to watch her duelling. What I didn't take into account were the horses tethered to the carriage though. When I came closer, they bolted upon feeling my presence. Just a few moments later they broke away from the reins. The coachmen fled immediately. I grabbed Elizabeth and dragged her away from the horses, but it was too late for the visitor. One of the horses stomped him to death before both of them ran away. Elizabeth clung to me in horror when she saw the man lying in his own blood on the ground. And that was the moment when they arrived.”
 

Sebastian threw him a knowing look. It was easy to guess who arrived.
 

“Grim Reapers. Two of them. However, at that time I had never seen any Grim Reapers and I didn't know who they were. I also didn't know that Grim Reapers and demons were enemies.

After they reaped the man's soul they suddenly attacked me without any warning. I was taken off guard and their first attacked slashed me right away. Weakened, I did not stand a chance against the both of them and only moments later I lay on the ground almost lifeless. But when they prepared to deliver the final blow, Elizabeth was there and protected me.”
 

His voice took on an intensely bitter tone.
 

“It was almost unbelievable how she defended us from the Grim Reapers with the rapier she took from the man's case even though she was a mere human. I still don't understand why she did not want me to see her fight in the beginning. She was strong, brave and extremely skilled. Yet, in the end she couldn't win against them. They tossed away her rapier and without it she was unable to fight anymore. Ignoring her, they then wanted to kill me at last; striking their Death Scythes at me, but then ...”
 

“She sacrificed herself for you.”, Sebastian completed his sentence.
 

A short silence grew between them. The demon clenched his fists into the blanket as he finally continued talking. “I don't even remember that moment very well. The Grim Reapers were shocked that they accidentally stabbed a human who was not on their list. I can faintly remember a third Grim Reaper appearing; scolding them for their behavior and forcing them to stop attacking us. I think they discussed about whether they should reap her soul or not. But then they decided not to do it because they would have to report her cause of death, which would lead to overtime, as one of them said, and reveal a failure in their work as Grim Reapers. So they just left.”
 

Angrily, he continued: “They knew what I would do afterwards! They knew that I would erase the proof of their mistake! I was weakened, barely alive anymore and I needed a soul to strengthen my regaining abilities. And then I...”

Elizabeth's body covered in blood beneath him. Her curly hair splayed at the sides of her head. A teary, exhausted face blessed him with a warm smile. Vivid green eyes shining with kindness.
 

“It will be fine. Please ... please end this life of mine finally.... Thank you … for everything. I am glad I met you.”

With her last strength, she reached for Ciel's cheek, caressing it reassuringly with warm, soft fingers. The demon couldn't withstand his hunger any longer. Giving in to his yearning and fulfilling Elizabeth's wish and their contract, he placed his mouth over hers; sucking her soul out of her body. Slowly, her fingers became cold. Her vivid green eyes lost their radiance and became dull, but her smile did not fade away until the very end.
 

During Ciel's narration Sebastian had sat down at the edge of his bed, listening to the demon's story keenly.
 

“From there on I only ate when it was necessary. At first I also spent many years in the Demon World to avoid contact with humans other than when I was hunting. But in the end I couldn't stand the Demon World any longer and returned. Through time I realized that it wasn't just Elizabeth who was different. Humans are all different in their own ways. There are those living their life like vermin; deserving their end. And then there are those who aren't. But we demons never know whose life we're consuming if we only eat because of hunger. It is my fault that she will never see the face of this earth ever again...”
 

“So you are having problems with eating because you do not want to kill innocent people?”, Sebastian wondered.
 

Ciel shook his head. “No. It's not that. I am not as ignorant to think that I can judge people. I am just afraid of making the wrong choice again and regretting it afterwards. I am doing this for myself.”
 

A smile appeared on Sebastian's face upon the demon's words. “So why did you chose me as your next contract partner? Because you knew I would die soon anyway?”
 

Sending the black haired man a weary look, Ciel replied: “So you knew it all the time, huh? That it was not a coincidence that I stopped you from committing suicide...” He sighed.
 

“It was just... when I felt your presence by chance someday... you reminded me a bit of her back then.”
 

Suddenly, Sebastian let out a chuckle.
 

“He-hey! Why are you laughing? There is nothing to laugh about!” The demon's face turned a shade of pink for a moment as he stared at the taller one furious.
 

“It's just … you comparing me to a little girl sounds very much absurd.”, he replied in an amused tone.
 

“I am talking about your soul! Your soul!” Ciel spluttered. “I am not caring about human appearances!” Realising his sudden outburst, he turned his head and cleared his throat. “However, I noticed very soon that your soul is also very different from hers. There is this one resemblance though. You both gave off a unique aura of resignation and unhappiness. This is why I decided to observe you for a few days. But then you suddenly decided to commit suicide. You know the rest.”
 

The demon gritted his teeth. “In the end I'm just doing the same mistake all over again! You see where this has almost led us. Nearly the same things keep happening again and I can't do anything about it! I let Elizabeth die and now I almost let you die, too... I haven't learnt anything at all from back then... I am a pathetic demon!”
 

“I certainly don't think so.”, Sebastian disagreed all of a sudden. “Indeed, you are quite clumsy and sometimes your harsh behavior does annoy me. But you are different than all of the humans I’ve grown tired of. You are still moving forward even though you have experienced these things decades, no, centuries ago. Your behavior is resolute and your set of mind is strong. Honestly, I think this is beautiful.”
 

He placed a hand on Ciel's cheek. It felt warm on the demon's cold skin.
 

“I am still here. Neither the Grim Reapers nor you killed me. This is what makes it different from what you experienced in the past. We can still change what is going to happen.” A surprisingly soft smile formed on Sebastian’s face. Not a teasing one, like usual, but somehow comforting, reassuring. “This girl cannot give you her warmth anymore. But I can give you mine.”
 

With a slow motion of his thumb, he began caressing the demon's cheek. It reminded Ciel of the warm hand Elizabeth had touched him with before she turned cold forever. A weird feeling began spreading in his body. Irritated, he slapped Sebastian's hand away.
 

“D- don't touch me! ... I really need to go hunting now...!”, Not looking into Sebastian's face, he rushed to the window, making an attempt of climbing the window sill. But before he could do so, the taller man grabbed his arm to stop him.
 

Ciel turned around, visibly annoyed.“What are you doing? Let go of me! You just said I need to start hunting for real soon!”
 

“It's night time now. That means it's dangerous outside. In your current state you cannot risk going out like this. Let's wait until tomorrow morning. Then we can work out a plan together how your hunting will be successful for sure.” Sebastian words sounded like he would not allow any protest. Besides, his firm grip onto the demon's arm proved Ciel that he was right. If a simple human was capable of holding a demon like him back, it might really be dangerous going for a hunt even for him...

With a displeased sound he went back to bed, folding his arms.
 

“I suggest you rest until tomorrow and then we discuss your hunt. Furthermore, it seems like rest helps your body regenerate a bit.” What Sebastian said was true. It kind of upset him, but he had to go along with the man's plan. Even though Sebastian's presence made him feel uncomfortable right now, in a way he could not describe. He did not understand it.
 

Covering himself with the blanket he lay down, facing the opposite direction of the black haired man. He had to admit that he found a liking to this soft old style bed...
 

A few moments later he noticed Sebastian switching off the light. Then, suddenly, he felt the mattress bent as someone else lay down on it. Starting up, he threw the other a surprised stare.
 

“What are you doing? I am sleeping here already!”
 

Sebastian just smiled. “I am sorry, but I believe this is still my bed. Moreover we fit in here both, don't we? When you were unconscious we also slept like this every night. Or does my presence make you feel uncomfortable?” He grinned at Ciel.
 

“No, definitely not!”
 

Not wanting to admit it, he demonstratively lay down again, his back facing the other. At least he did not want to look at his face, where he was sure another irritating grin had appeared right now. Stupid human! He really needed to hunt again, so that hopefully his body and state of mind would finally return to normal...

This demon, Feelings

The hospital's sterile smell was still in his nose as the demon returned from his hunt the next afternoon. He did not like that smell at all, as it was very intense. But maybe it just felt intense because his senses had finally returned to their normal sensibility, and compared to yesterday he felt incredibly strong even though he had only eaten a single soul. In yesterday's state hunting would indeed have been impossible. Fortunately, in the morning Sebastian had had the idea for Ciel to sneak into a hospital and steal someone's soul there. It had felt kind of shameful devouring the soul of someone who could not even defend himself, but there was no other option. He definitely did not want to die yet, so he needed to clutch at straws. He knew it was selfish, but that was just what he was like.
 

At first Sebastian wanted to come along to help him but this time Ciel had insisted on going alone. It was his last pride as a demon to not allow a human helping him with his actual hunt. But fortunately everything had gone fine. Thanks to his outer appearance he did not look suspicious at all and just walked into the hospital under the pretext of wanting to visit his grandpa; a story Sebastian had made up for him earlier. In a moment when the nurses weren't watching he had taken the chance to sneak into one of the rooms unnoticed and took the sole of an old grandpa, who had not even resisted. Shaking off the thoughts of his hunt, he sped up and reached Sebastian's mansion in no time.
 

*~*~*
 

When the mansion's gate came into view, Ciel saw someone standing in front of it. At second glance he recognised the person as the curly black haired woman they met during the photo shoot. But she wasn't alone. Sebastian was standing in front of her, engaged in some kind of conversation. Even though the demon was still a few houses away, thanks to his returned senses he could see that she was crying. Her furious voice could not be ignored. Although he did not know why Ciel somehow got the feeling he shouldn't be openly watching them, so he hid behind another house and observed the two humans. It was too late though, since Sebastian had already noticed him with his exceptional perception and threw a quick glance in the direction the demon was hiding. Suddenly a smile crept onto the man’s face.
 

“Why are you laughing? There is nothing to laugh about! Have you even listened to me? Why didn't you tell me earlier?”, the woman was almost screaming by now. Unlike Sebastian she hadn't noticed Ciel spying on them.
 

She was really emotional and her face showed a mixture of anger and sadness. Parts of her make-up were smudged from crying.
 

“I know that it was never serious between us... and that it's some time ago...but...but something like that... I at least have the right to know about that!!”
 

She looked to the side. Suddenly it seemed difficult for her to form the next words.
 

“How long have you known about it? Have you ever planned on telling me? If Joker hadn't told me about it, I wouldn't even know right now, I might’ve never known! I mean... We saw each other only a week ago and I ignored you all the time because I didn't know about your condition! Just imagine if... you'd....you'd died the next day... and all I did before was ignore you...!”
 

Her shoulders were vibrating from tears and she was staring at the black haired man accusingly.
 

Suddenly Sebastian placed his hand on her shoulders and threw her a pitying look. “I know that it might not be enough, but please excuse my rude behaviour. I probably should have informed you earlier. But you know... lately I have had a lot on my plate. You should understand that this new situation is not easy for me either. But right now I'm trying to make the best of it. So please, don't make it even more difficult for me.”
 

His words silenced the woman and she stared to the side. She probably regretted her emotional outburst by now.
 

“However, I'm glad that you came here right now.”
 

Irritated, she lifted her head up once again to look at his face. At this moment, he grabbed her waist and drew her closer, kissing her deeply without any warning. First her eyes threw open in shock, but then she replied to his kiss, her eyes glittering in tears. Sebastian then guided her inside his house, but not without throwing Ciel another mischievous glance.
 

The demon felt a sudden rage flood threw his veins. Stupid stupid stupid human!! His anger was so intensive that he felt like kicking something. He could not describe it; he had never felt as enraged before. Clenching his fists, he did not know how to vent out this sudden feeling. Then he saw a garbage bin. On the brink of his mind he remembered not using all of his strength but he kicked it against the house wall, spilling it's content on the street and flushing out a cat which lay on the ground next to it. Unfortunately the cat escaped by jumping into his direction and past him, making him sneeze from his allergy in the process. Then a man stuck out his head from the window and upon seeing the spilled garbage on the floor turned bright red with anger, yelling at Ciel: “You bloody wanker, get away from my house or I'm gonna call the fucking police!”
 

Clenching his teeth, the demon rushed away from the man's house. Not knowing where he was going, he surged through the streets until minutes later he turned into a side street and suddenly bumped into someone smaller than him. The black haired girl he had run into was thrown back and landed on her bottom, the bag she had carried, which had the writing “Tokyo Toys” on it, scattering on the floor. A couple of pocketbooks fell out of it, all with colourful, interesting illustrations on the covers, depicting two people embracing or kissing.
 

“Mein Gott! Watch where you are going!”, she complained in a foreign accent and quickly collected the pocketbooks.
 

When she stood up, wiping away the dirt from the black Lolita dress she was wearing, she noticed the anger on the boy's face. He seemed much more troubled than her and she doubted his mood had anything to do with their little accident just now. “Why do you look so angry? Did something happen?”
 

“Why should I tell you about that?”, the demon muttered still in an extremely bad mood.
 

“Well, that's rude! First you push me over without even apologizing and now you don't even want to tell me why! So much about Brits being Gentlemen!”, she sulked, crossing her arms.
 

“... sorry...”, he mumbled not looking into her face. It was not like he wanted to be rude, but he just did not feel like saying anything nice at the moment.
 

“I guess that's okay for a start. So why are you walking around like this without caring about any consequences? It couldn’t be- Did your girlfriend leave you? My, my, such troubles at your young age. But you seem to be quite hot-blooded regardless of your appearance.”
 

The demon looked at the small girl as if she was crazy.
 

“No, what are you even talking about?”
 

Raising an eyebrow, the girl continued asking: “No girlfriend? Well, what happened then? You know, talking about your anger can help you calm down.”
 

That made Ciel prick up his ears. “Are you sure?”
 

“Of course I am! Let it out!”
 

“...” After a pause the boy began talking about it hesitantly while averting his eyes from her. “...I saw something that made me feel incredibly angry but I don't know why...”
 

“And what was that?”, the girl asked further.
 

“... I saw them kissing.”
 

“Oooohh, that's getting interesting!” Her eyes began sparkling. “Who is 'them'? Do you know them?”
 

“Yes. One of them is my contract par- … 'friend'.”, he corrected himself to not sound suspicious. “And the other one is a woman who works at a magazine we had a photo shoot with last week.”
 

“So that's where the wind blows.” Wiggling an eyebrow, her face split into a devious smile.”I guess you would have liked to kiss her instead?”
 

The demon threw her an irritated look. “No, that's not it. It's just... it's just...” He clenched his fists. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t even know why exactly he was angry, just that Sebstian had be extremely stupid and he definitely didn’t want to kiss that stupid woman, he just wanted her to stay away from Sebastian because- “He is supposed to be mine! Yet he is doing such unnecessary things!” Spurting out those words he stared at the ground furiously as if he wanted to pierce it.
 

Upon hearing those words, the girl let out a squeal and quickly covered her mouth to calm down. “Oh gott, Oh gott! Calm down, Sieglinde! Calm down!”, she reminded herself and took a deep breath. After that she stared at the taller one with eyes wide open in excitement. “I had no idea you swung that way! You should have told me earlier! But if it's like that, there's only one solution!”
 

Having no clue what that weird girl was talking about, Ciel just continued listening to her with a frown.
 

“You have to tell him exactly what you told me right now. Tell him that he is yours! Men shouldn't be kept on a long leash. Let him know where his standing is! Trust me, I've read about this a hundred times already.”
 

The demon was still not very convinced. “Uhm...”
 

“I would so like to see that with my own eyes!”, the girl continued in a delighted voice. “But I promised Wolf to be home for dinner... You have to tell me how it went later! You'll find me on all social media pages under my artist name ‘Green Witch’.”, she told him, reaching into her little pouch and handing the startled boy her business card. “Well then, bye bye! I wish you luck!”

She waved at him and then hastened away, leaving behind a clueless Ciel.
 

*~*~*
 

It was past 10 o'clock when Ciel finally climbed through the window into Sebastian's room. He had spent the last hours walking aimlessly through the streets and collecting his thoughts. He hadn't come to a conclusion but at least his anger had calmed down slightly, even though he was still mad at Sebastian. Furthermore it was already late and he kind of felt like it was time to go home. In a way it was strange. Since when had he come to call that place his 'home'?
 

When Ciel landed on the floor in front of the window sill, Sebastian greeted him with his usual smile. He was sitting on his couch and he was alone.
 

“Oh there you are finally. It seems like your hunting took quite some time today. But at least you seem to be feeling better. What a relief.”, he greeted him, coming closer.
 

The demon threw him an angry look. “Stop your farce! I know you saw me when I returned home in the afternoon!”
 

“Oh my, you are in a bad mood again. Could it be because you saw me with that woman?”
 

“No!! Just shut up!”, he barked at him loudly. Suddenly his anger had returned. Ignoring the black haired man, he opened the wardrobe and quickly changed into his pajamas. He just wanted to go to sleep and not having to talk to the taller one. Sleeping had not only become a habit, but it was also a good way of evading too much contact with people if he wasn't in the mood.
 

While watching the smaller one crawl into the blankets and turning away from him demonstratively, Sebastian continued: “In case you're interested: after I let her into the house, I only talked to her. She went home half an hour later. The kiss was my way to calm her down.” However, he didn't add that it had also been a means to make the demon jealous on purpose.
 

Upon this, Ciel couldn't ignore the man's words any longer. Sitting up again and turning towards the other one, he shouted: “Stupid human! Weren't there any other ways to calm her down?! That was unnecessary!” That moment, he remembered the girl's words again and added. “You're mine after all!” Why was it that his face turned a shade of red after pronouncing these words?
 

Suddenly Sebastian's facial expression turned into a serious one. The mood changed immediately.
 

“I hope you know what you are suggesting with these words.”
 

Swiftly, he sat down on the corner of his bed, piercing the demon with his intensive stare. The sudden change of mood irritated Ciel and he returned his stare with a suspicious one.
 

“It means you don't want me to give my warmth to other people. You want it all for yourself. I think that suits you well. That's just like the little greedy, selfish demon I formed a contract with.” This time he palmed Ciel's face with both of his hands.
 

“And I'm willing to give it to you. All of it. As long as I still have the opportunity to do so.”
 

Sebastian's words hit the demon right between the eyes and made him think. As much as he did not want to admit it, the man's words made sense. Maybe he did want him all for himself. It really was much like him. And the other's warm fingers on his cold skin felt indeed good. But neither of them knew how much longer Sebastian's time on this earth would last.
 

The latter began caressing Ciel's skin with his long fingers. This time, the demon did not push him away. Instead he bit his lip upon the strange sensation that was flooding his body.
 

“Oh my, you seem to like this, aren't you?” The smaller one averted his eyes and mumbled: “... it's not that bad, I guess.”
 

Sebastian's face split into a grin. “I think today I'm going to show you a game humans are very fond of.”
 

Ciel turned his face towards the man. “A game?” A taunting smile appeared on his face. “Then it'd better be a good one. I can be very demanding when it comes to games.”
 

“That I can promise.”
 

With these words, Sebastian leaned in to the demon, but centimeters before his lips could reach Ciel's, the smaller one stopped him by placing his fingers on the man's lips.
 

“Not there...”, he added murmuring.
 

Knowingly, the taller one replied with a smile: “As you wish.”, and instead removed the demon's eye-patch with a swift move, placing a soft kiss on the sensitive skin of Ciel's eyelid.
 

“May we be bound together by this sign until the very end.”
 

Until the very end.
 

###########################

So this is already Chapter 8... time went by so fast. Next chapter is already the last chapter!

I'm so happy that I finally managed to get this far with a fanfiction. It will be the first multichapter fanfiction I really finished.

Thanks to all of you who are reading this and who gave me the motivation to continue with this story!

Stay tuned for the last chapter!

In this chapter there are again two characters from the manga. I like putting them into the plot to help Sebastian's and Ciel's bond to strengthen in the end. x3

This demon, Farewell

~ Several months later, London 2016~
 

Even though it was end of October the morning sun shone through the window warmly, tickling the demon's skin and waking him up from his sleep. Even though he did not need sleep and since that day several months ago he had devoured souls on a sparse but regular basis, it had become a habit he found to enjoy. Sitting up he glanced to the side, finding a still sleeping Sebastian next to him. A little irritated he touched his smart phone lying on the night stand next to the bed and checked the time. 11:23 am.
 

Well, that was unusual. Normally Sebastian was an early riser. He always got up before Ciel and woke him up later; sometimes he even prepared breakfast before he did so. Since the day Ciel was on the brink of starvation and tasted Sebastian's meal, he had found a liking to sweet human food which did not even change after his demon senses had fully returned, so Sebastian enjoyed making him desserts from time to time.
 

Of course there had been mornings when he stayed in bed until Ciel woke up by himself, but he had always been awake before him. On top of that it was past 11:00 o'clock and they had planned to visit a market at the Thames today. Since Sebastian had told the servants not to disturb them when they were in their room on a free day, nobody had come to wake them up neither.
 

Worried, he put a hand on Sebastian's bare upper body to check his breathing. It was a little irregular. Wasn't a human's breath very regular when they slept? But his face looked relaxed, not showing any signs of a nightmare.
 

“Sebastian!!”, he began shaking the taller one, almost yelling his name by now. Suddenly the black haired man's body began to shake from a chuckle until he finally opened his eyes and sat up, still laughing. For a moment Ciel still looked at him with a mixture of confusion and worry. Had the man turned insane?
 

“Oh my, your worried face is quite a sight. As I imagined it, I think I could get used to it.”, said person grinned.
 

“S-stupid human!”, Ciel spluttered, his face bright red from embarrassment when he got a hold of the situation. “I'll kill you!”
 

“Oh, I already know our contract terms. You don't need to tell me.”
 

Still flustered, the demon hissed: “Shut up. I've had enough of your fooling.”
 

Sebastian smirked. “Last night that sounded completely different though. I wonder why you can only be honest in times like that; you still seem to have a problem with being true to yoursel-”
 

That was the moment the man was kicked out of the bed with just a tiny jolt by the demon.
 

“Ouch.” Sebastian held his elbow, which hurt a bit from the drop.” Is that how you treat an ill person?”
 

The expression on Ciel's face had turned into a kind of sadistic smile. “Oh, I think a bit of pain is good for you sometimes.”
 

*~*~*
 

A few minutes later Sebastian helped Ciel put on a warm winter coat they had bought some weeks ago when the days had begun to gradually become colder. Although London had been blessed with sunny autumn days, the wind was rather icy for October.
 

The demon was in thought. How dare Sebastian make him worried like that! It was not funny! They lived together for around a year now and Ciel had experienced several of Sebastian's breakdowns since then. According to the servants though his breakdowns were by far fewer than before he had met Ciel and when he took his medicine regularly, sometimes a whole month passed without Sebastian having a blackout even once. However, it was a fact that the medicine only fought the symptoms and not the illness itself. Hence, it advanced every day and nobody knew how much time was left for the black haired man. It could happen in a few years, next week or even today. So how could he make such stupid jokes about his own situation?
 

Sebastian finished buttoning up Ciel's coat, noticing the pensive expression on the boy's face. “When we get to the market better make a happier face or children will get scared seeing that gloomy expression of yours.” It was his way of distracting Ciel from bitter thoughts. He bent down and placed a kiss on Ciel's eyelid before helping him put on his eye-patch. Since the demon still did not allow him to kiss him mouth to mouth, this had become his replacement.
 

“Mhmm...”, came the demon's monotonously mumbled reply.
 

*~*~*
 

It seemed like the good weather had attracted quite a few people to visit the market. It wasn't particularly crowded but not sparsely visited either. Here and there were some locals who visited the market on a regular basis in hope to find valuable antiques, but most of the people were tourists who had passed the market by chance. When they arrived at the market Sebastian took his hand.
 

“Hey, what are you doing? We're outside!”, Ciel protested. They had agreed on not showing their relationship in public, not only because it was embarrassing for Ciel but also because their apparent age difference would surely lead to controversies.
 

The black haired man smiled at him. “I want to make sure you don't get lost. Also I think for the others you look more like my little brother.” He grinned.
 

“Hmmpf...” Ciel mumbled but did not draw his hand back.
 

The Thames was calmly flowing next to them and some hundred meters behind, the Tower Bridge stirred into today's clear blue sky. Looking at the pompous bridge, Ciel still remembered the time when it was built and it reminded him of the fact how old he actually was compared to humans. Living together with humans on a regular basis he almost forgot about it sometimes... Yet at the same time it also reminded him of the immeasurable amount of time that still lay ahead of him in contrast to all the people around him.

Then he was shaken off this thoughts by the taller man showing him something.
 

The market did not only offer antiques but a variegated mixture of all kinds of goods. Old children's toys, magazines, books that were sometimes even older than the demon, jewelry, t-shirts and much more. Sebastian was particularly interested in the antiques though. Ciel only followed him around since he wasn't really in the mood for shopping right now. Actually he enjoyed old markets but today he just did not feel like searching the booths for something. For some reason his mind felt a little too restless.
 

After half an hour the weather changed abruptly. Grey clouds covered the sky and without the sunshine it immediately felt like the temperature dropped some degrees. A chilly gust of wind blew the demon's hair into his face. The other visitors began leaving one after the other.
 

“Oi, Sebastian. Let's go home.”
 

The black haired man didn't respond. This very moment he seemed to have found something interesting.
 

“Look at this! Doesn't it suit you very well?” He held an antique looking ring with a bold blue stone on the front in his hand. Ciel looked at the stone.
 

“It looks like it's worth much more than it says on the price tag. It doesn't seem to be a fake either. I wonder why they sell something like that at this market... I bet the seller thinks it's fake.”, he responded in a quiet voice. His face turned into a grin. “So you really found something valuable on this market. I guess you are good for something after all.” In spite of his words he was really happy for the other one and his mood brightened a bit. The bad feeling he had about today had been wrong after all.
 

After the man payed the ring, he returned to Ciel. “Then let's go on looking around. Maybe we'll find another treasure like this.”, the demon said in an unusually positive tone and turned around when Sebastian took his left hand and stopped him.
 

“What is it?” Ciel asked irritated.
 

Suddenly the black haired man knelt down in front of him. “I'm afraid the ring won't fit on your ring finger because you're so small. We'll have to make do with your thumb then.”, he said in a slightly teasing voice and slid the blue ring onto the demon's finger.
 

“Wh-what are you doing?!”, Ciel spluttered in utter disbelief while his face turned scarlet red and he looked around nervously. “Are you totally insane now?! There are people watching!” Quickly pulling his hand back, he turned away from the man. When would he finally stop doing such stupid things? And at a public market of all places! He wished the ground would just open and swallow him right now.
 

Sebastian chuckled, making Ciel look at him again with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. “It seems you have become fully aware of human customs, haven't you? I just wanted to give you this as a present. It's a sign of my gratitude. Thank you for being at my side until the very end. 'Until death do us part.'” His grin proved that he made fun of the custom Ciel had seen on TV a few times but on the same time the demon got the feeling that he was also being serious.
 

“Just stand up again!”, the boy ordered ashamed and turned his back towards the grinning man once more to hide his face with his hands for a moment. This was undoubtedly the most embarrassing moment of his life. He would definitely need to let Sebastian pay for this when they got home... But what was even worse was the fact that in spite of his embarrassment he suddenly felt in high spirits and his heart had begun to beat faster, which convinced him even more to DEFINETLY let Sebastian pay for this nonsense.
 

Trying to calm down and to somehow regain his dignity, he coughed into his fist. “Let's just go to the next booth already.” He demonstratively walked ahead and began looking through a box full of knickknack.
 

Sebastian started following him with a grin on his face. The demon hadn't refused the ring and still wore it, which spoke volumes. And seeing his flustered face in public was absolutely worth getting up today and visiting the market, even though Sebastian actually hadn't felt very well this morning. He had hoped to find something similar to the ring and his hope hadn't been crushed. It was this resolve that had enabled him to get this far.
 

Meanwhile, Ciel rummaged through the box without actually paying attention to what he was looking at. His embarrassment was gradually declining, leaving a stupid smile on his face. Luckily the taller one couldn't see his face right now because the demon absolutely did not want to be seen this way, especially not by him.
 

Then a colourful kid's hair-band in form of a cat caught his attention. That was the chance he’d been waiting for. Payback!

“I think I found something that would look really good on you, too.”, he said tauntingly and started turning around, when suddenly he heard a loud thump.
 

From the corner of his eye he saw Sebastian falling onto the ground and suddenly Ciel's body froze. He saw people running towards the man lying on the ground. But it felt unreal. So unreal, as if he was watching it through a window glass, but it wasn't part of the actual world. The sound of an ambulance. Men dressed in bright yellow jackets picking an unconscious Sebastian up and into the vehicle. The shocked and agitated voices of bystanders talking to each other. Everything sounded dull and far away, as if he was underwater...
 

*~*~*
 

Sebastian woke up to the sight of a white hospital wall. Noticing that his arms and upper body were connected to a machine next to him through cables and tubes, he tried to move but his body felt incredibly heavy and numb and it took him a lot of effort to lift his arm up just a tiny bit.
 

“Please don't move around so much. It's better to store your energy.”
 

A friendly nurse had entered the room or maybe she had been there the whole time while he had been asleep. She walked around the bed so that Sebastian could see her and smiled at him. Then she began explaining how he had collapsed at the market and how he was brought here by an ambulance. She also told him that they would have him stay in the hospital until he had recovered and that she and the doctors gave their best to make this happen as soon as possible. But her body language and the pitying look she gave him spoke volumes. It was obvious that she knew he would not recover anymore. At the same time Sebastian also felt that this time was different than before. He had collapsed several times previously and had been brought to the hospital afterwards, but he had never felt this … weak. So the time had finally come... The time he had despised so much. Where was the demon?
 

His parents came to visit him a few hours later. Sebastian knew his mother was trying her utmost to not break into tears in front of her son, but she could barely keep her composure. His father spoke to him reassuringly, but the look in his eyes was sad. When they went home he felt exhausted.
 

*~*~*
 

Some time later Sebastian noticed the door being opened once more and he thought the nurse might have come back. However, the fact that nobody greeted him with a fake happy voice told him that he was wrong.
 

“You eventually came to fulfil your promise? And you're even using the door! So the time with me did teach you some manners.” he greeted him with a tired smile on his lips.
 

Ciel didn't reply. When Sebastian looked to the side he saw a shadow lurking at the right side of his bed. So that was the demon's true form. Others would have thought death himself had come to take them away. And in some way that wasn't even completely wrong, Sebastian thought amused.
 

Suddenly the shadow deformed and shortly after that the boy he came to know was standing in front of his bed again. He was wearing the blue dress with the tiny hat he had worn when they had first met in the dark sideway. Back then he had almost killed himself and now, once again, he was on the verge of dying. But this time for real… And forever. That blue Victorian outfit sure had witnessed many deaths and a lot of grief. Was Ciel thinking that as well? He wondered. On his left thumb glittered the ring with the blue stone Sebastian had given him earlier. He didn't wear his eye patch so the taller one could see their contract sign that was still engraved into Ciel's right eye. The demon kept a straight face but his sky-coloured eyes looked incredibly sad. Only once before had he seen him like this - when the demon had told him about his past.
 

When their eyes met Sebastian gave him a warm smile. Not a teasing one like he used to every so often over the last year but a real smile. Then he closed his eyes. He didn't want to make the farewell last any longer than necessary to prevent it from being more painful for the both of them. He was ready now. He had lived another year since the day he had planned to end his life and it could easily pass as the best year for him. As strange as it sounded, that time, with his illness growing stronger and death more and more inevitable, he had felt more alive than ever before. To think that a demon, of all living beings, had caused this was truly amusing. It had been fun. Watching him fail at simple tasks; teasing him; listening to his stories of the past, stories about the demon world; seeing him pout, shout, grin; caressing his cold cheek; learning and experiencing so much normal humans would not even think of – he did not regret a thing.
 

As he saw his contract partner close his eyes, Ciel leaned in to him and finally placed his mouth over Sebastian's. It was the first and last time he felt the others' soft and warm lips on his own...
 

*~*~*
 

When Sebastian opened his eyes again he was still in the hospital bed surrounded by the machines keeping him alive. His lips curved into a knowing smile.
 

“Liar.”
 

*~*~*
 

The demon sat on the roof of a house opposite the hospital. From there he could see the man's figure lying on the bed through his window. Suddenly he heard someone landing on his feet next to him.
 

“So you couldn't do it in the end. You're a really weird one. Exactly like Will told me.” Ciel clenched his fist. A familiar looking Grim Reaper with long red hair had appeared next to him. He was carrying a book with him which most likely contained information about the next person's soul he was to reap.
 

“I wonder if it's okay for you demons to act against your contract. Also, don't you think he is upset with you lying to him?”
 

The demon stood up. “At least this time I didn't lie to him completely.”, he answered in a sad tone. “Also I don't mind lying if it means I can reach my goal. This time I won't make the same mistake...”
 

A grin crossed Grell's face. “That's certainly true. I wouldn't be here otherwise~”
 

The demon threw a last glance at the man he had spent the last year with before turning around and walking away from the edge of the building. Slowly his shape darkened and deformed, leaving no trace of the boy’s figure, and merged with the shadows.
 

Until we meet again.
 

*~*~*
 

At the corner of his eyes Sebastian noticed the lights that came from the machine he was connected to blinking and turning off one after another. His first thought was that the electricity had turned off but the light in his room was still working. Only his machine's energy supply seemed to have been cut. The odd thing about this was that there was no alarm. For safety standards every machine was controlled by another one and if one turned off an alarm would be sent to the nurses who could react immediately. But it seemed like precisely those two had been cut off from the energy supply and their emergency supply didn't turn on either.
 

The moment the realisation sunk in, he turned his head towards the window just in time to see Ciel's figure standing on the opposite's house roof top turning around and slowly leaving his sight.
 

He smiled and closed his eyes the moment he could not see the demon anymore, but in his mind he could still see him.
 

So in the end you kept half of your promise. You were right; you really did make my life interesting. Maybe... maybe next time I will cherish my life more. Please make sure to be my observer then.

Until we meet again…
 

*~* The end *~*
 

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This is the first time I've completed a multi-chaptered fanfiction.

Thank you to everyone who read this! It was fun writing down my ideas! *__* I hope I can finish more fanfictions in the future~

Please also have a look at the drawing Britty dedicated to this chapter:

http://nazu-chan.deviantart.com/art/Until-we-meet-again-591572563

I'm looking forward to your comments how you liked the ending or what your thoughts on the story as a whole are.^^