[ D. Gray-man | Godchild | Kuroshitsuji ] Desolation Row - II
+ Title: Desolation Row - Chapter II
+ Fandom: D. Gray-man, Godchild, Kuroshitsuji
+ Characters: Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis, Lau, Cyril Kamelot, Tyki Mikk, Rhode Kamelot, Cain Hargreaves, Riff
+ Rating: OT
+ Word Count: 4009
+ Author's Notes: I felt like this was a lot shorter than it was, for some odd reason. Most of it was written at ungodly hours of the night. There's not much to make this really OT, but I figured I would rate it up a bit to play it safe for those of you who have some kind of... thing against people having idiopathic death, or whatever.
❦
They rushed to the ballroom, silent as they tried to catch words in the screams they could hear. Ciel felt his heart in his throat as they came to the banisters of the ballroom's second floor, looking to the grand staircase to view the scene laid before them like a board game.
The gentleman who had been involved in the earlier poker game was standing halfway up the stairs, staring in horror at a writhing, shuddering figure at his feet. It was a man, but there was something wrong with his face; the lower half obscured by something dark, and his eyes bulged grossly from their sockets. His suit was as fine as any other guest's, and if it were not for his strange behavior, he would have been nothing more than another face in the crowd.
As the guests watched, the man rolled down several steps, spasms wracking his frame once, twice, three times before he stopped moving altogether. The screams started again, and Cain moved to check for some sign of life before a strong hand caught his arm from behind.
“You alright, Hargreaves?” Tyki kept his voice low, eyeing the body on the stairs warily. Standing just behind the pair, Lau didn’t seem terribly perturbed by the entire situation, though his smile was absent.
“I’m fine,” Cain responded, though his tone betrayed how unnerved he was.
Cyril came striding down the stairs with Rhode following just behind, motioning to his servants to continue their duties as if nothing were wrong. He knelt carefully beside the prone figure, checking gingerly for a pulse and finding nothing. The minister bowed his head slightly, long hair falling forward over his shoulders in the moments he took to compose himself. The black haired man seemed ready to cry, but finally steeled his visible emotion, wiping a nonexistent tear from the corner of one eye.
At last, he looked up, expression heavy with sorrow as he looked at the guests gathered all around. “Poor soul. His heart must have given out,” Cyril began, though he found himself interrupted by a hysterical woman’s shriek.
“It’s the Earl! He killed him!” The woman stood out from the crowd on the staircase, a finger pointing at the startled Earl Hargreaves. “As soon as he touched him, he fell!”
Ciel and Sebastian made their way to the others as the accusations began to fly. “Did you see the way he jerked around? I heard he keeps a collection of poisons-“
“Oh, come off it!” Tyki’s tone was sharp, though effective. The entire room fell silent, and Cyril suddenly started to his feet.
“My guests! I am very sorry for this trouble. I had hired a display of acrobats for your entertainment this evening, and they are waiting out on the veranda at this very moment. I shall have to tell them to leave, if nobody intends to watch them.” The crowd hesitated, but began to move out the large glass doors as the sound of some foreign music drifted indoors. Cyril's gaze dropped to the body once more as they dispersed, blue eyes showing none of the emotion his expression was conveying.
“Daddy, I thought you weren’t going to invite him to any more parties if this happened again!” Rhode seemed quite cross, looking at the body as if it were a rat someone had crushed on a walkway. “If people die every time he attends, people won’t come anymore!”
“This happens often?” Ciel’s question made Cyril shift almost uncomfortably, a fist held to his mouth as he cleared his throat.
“Now, now. It doesn’t happen often, merely an accident. It has happened once or twice, at the most-“
“At your parties, Cyril. Once or twice at your parties.” Tyki clapped Cain on the shoulder as he spoke, as if signaling his words were not meant to insult him. “This will be forty-five, if I count my 'Cain-did-it's correctly.”
“Tyki! I apologize, Earl, my brother is forgetting his manners.” The Minister was flustered by the younger noble's remarks, granting the lord a chastising glare.
Ciel leaned close to the body, covering his face with a handkerchief as a stench hit his senses. “What is this? This mess, here,” he gestured to the gooey substance trailing from the man’s mouth, spilling out onto his shirt and the carpet.
“Something that causes a black stain on fabrics, I see.” Lau was already on the scene, crouching down to watch it move into the carpet in a slow trail. “It appears that Minister Kamelot will need to replace the rug.”
“It’s a wonder they haven’t hired you on at the Yard, Lau,” Tyki finally released Cain, and the pair knelt on either side of Ciel to get a closer look at the prone form. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say poison. Look at it, still coming out of his mouth and-“
“It’s not any poison I’ve heard of.” Cain’s voice was brusque as he looked the man over carefully, doing his best to avoid actually touching the corpse.
Rhode whistled, hands on her knees as she leaned over to gawk. “That’s saying a lot. You’ve got every poison there is.”
Cain smiled softly, but the others were not quite so receptive to her behavior. The look Ciel gave the girl was one of pure disdain. “Are you calling your dog?”
Tyki hid his scoff with a cough, nodding tactfully. “That’s right, Rhode, ladies don’t whistle.”
“Or stand like they’re digging for clams,” Cyril added absently, rushing off to intercept several overly curious guests.
Rhose looked fit to spit as she settled down to sit a safe distance from the growing stain, watching the liquid as it continued to bubble from the man’s mouth. Despite the large number of people shoving to get a better look at the body, she refused to move, rewarding the few legs that neared stepping on her with a sharp tap. Shoving some of her hair from her face, she watched the men poking about with a sulky glare. Rhode would have loved to get in there and see what was going on, but with so many nobles she knew she had to be as proper as could be. It wouldn't do to put the Minister's good name in jeopardy, but all the same...
The girl sighed loudly. She wished she could do something besides sitting around acting prim and stupid. No matter how ladylike it was, pretending to faint like those ninnies she was supposed to be friends with was out of the question.
Cain slipped his gloves on, pulling back the man's eyelids and checking the color of the flesh within expertly. "Perfectly healthy. Not a single discoloration or burst vessel," he muttered, and the shadow of his butler acknowledged the fact with a soft sound of affirmation.
Ciel found himself watching his fellow Earl from the corner of his eye. The man was younger than he had seemed at first, with his brown hair falling in his face. He had the sort of hair that Ciel's future mother-in-law would deem unacceptable, roaring and menacing about it before slicking it all back with her omnipresent comb. That would make the Hargreaves Earl look absolutely juvenile, Ciel mused, and then realized he had made eye contact with the subject of his thoughts.
Cain's eyes were made of an odd mixture of colors akin to hazel: gold and green, a metal and forest moss. His features were almost delicate, giving his unguarded expressions a feeling of naivete. The moment he felt the younger boy’s gaze, however, Cain’s expression shifted to the no-nonsense look that added years to his appearance. Though the older boy looked back to his butler after a long moment of their silent gaze, Ciel kept watching him.
I wonder… Ciel almost dared to ask the man’s age, but Sebastian caught his attention with a soft-spoken word.
“Master,” the butler reached out carefully, picking lightly at a piece of paper protruding from the man’s coat-front pocket. He had been hovering over the boy's shoulder, present but unnoticed, looking over each detail of the scene until he had found that small anomaly. The man unfolded the paper delicately. Sebastian stared at the paper for a long moment before passing it on to Ciel, eyes narrowed slightly at the odd nature of the find.
There was a strange script on the thin page, a series of lines and dots scrawled in a loose hand. Ciel turned the paper several directions before furrowing his brow, failing to notice that Cain and Tyki were hovering over his shoulders in Sebastian’s stead. The butler didn’t seem to care that the curious pair had displaced him, instead walking around to the other side of the corpse as he looked for any other interesting articles. When Ciel shot him a questioning look over the page, Sebastian nodded minutely. He had memorized the page, as always. Understanding what it meant, however... The butler shook his head in response to a second glance.
The Minister had rushed off, presumably to summon the police, and so Lau was the next to come into possession of the page. He hummed and hawed over it for a few moments before rising to his feet, ignoring the momentary protest from Ciel. The Chinaman only went a short distance, though, stopping beside Rhode. He bent to pick her up like an oversized kitten, hands tucked just beneath her arms before sitting down on the steps with his usual grace, holding her up until he could settle her petite frame comfortably on his lap. Leaning back against him, Rhode made a noise of contentment. She was thoroughly enjoying the attention, especially after the criticism she had received earlier.
Drawing the linen paper from his sleeve, Lau held it before them both, as if he were about to read the girl a bedtime story. “What does the young Miss Kamelot think of this, hm?” He looked down to her with his usual smile, watching her expression. Sebastian saw what the man had almost certainly been looking for as the girl’s eyes scanned the individual marks on the page. It was as if she were reading poorly written words, going over each series repeatedly before moving on to the next. It took her a long minute to finish, and she went over it several times, as if attempting to memorize the notations.
The girl knew how to read the symbols on that page.
Her expression remained quite puzzled, however, and she shook her head, looking up at Lau innocently. “It’s just scribbles, Lau.”
The Chinese man nodded, expression fading to one of mildly exaggerated resignation. “Ah, well. We shall have to turn this over to the policemen from your Scotland Yard. Perhaps they will know what it means.”
Rhode shifted uncomfortably, glancing around as if looking for her father. Tyki was too distracted by his conversation with Cain to notice her dilemma, and so she reached up and took hold of the paper with a stubborn tug. “It… might be a picture!” She turned it so the torn edge was upward, and the lines were directed vertically. “See?”
“Aberline!” One of the guests called the name out with relief, and Ciel stifled a sigh. The Yard was here. There would be no more opportunity for their party to examine the body.
Sebastian dipped the palm of one glove in the black mess before the detectives approached, turning the stained fabric inside out and slipping it into his pocket as he rose. He saw the quick movement of paper from Lau and Rhode’s direction, and as quickly as he turned, the note had disappeared. The two were smiling as benignly as a pair of waving cats, Lau holding the child steady with a hand on her tiny stomach as they looked out over the assembled gawkers.
Sebastian made a silent note of the paper he had memorized, turning to see Ciel, Tyki, Cain, Cyril, and the Yard officers meet just in front of the body.
“Earl Hargreaves; Earl Phantomhive,” The sergeant acknowledged the pair with a nod, though his tone communicated more intense dislike than respect. “I was unaware you two were acquainted.” He made it sound as if their relationship were on a level with meeting his wife and her lover in the same room, eyes sliding across them and finding the body. Both boys were a nuisance to the law on their own, and finding them together in such a place was comparably unpleasant. “What happened here?”
“That gentleman touched Cain and fell over dead,” Tyki was smoking yet another cigarette, standing beside the detective and looking over his shoulder as if he were some sort of assistant detective in his fine vest and trousers. “Or so the witness said.”
The sergeant seemed annoyed at the man’s comfortable stance. “Witness? Where is she?”
Tyki smiled, shrugging slightly as if he truly felt bad about his news. “She had to leave early, unfortunately. It seems her sensibilities were offended by the whole affair.”
“Who was it?” His face was turning an odd shade of purple, rage swelling the veins in his neck as he tried to contain his temper.
Cyril stepped in before his brother earned a fight, hands out as if he were hoping to avoid any conflict. “Please feel free to ignore Lord Mikk, sergeant. He’s been drinking far too much this evening, and it seems his manners have been affected.”
Ciel tried to recollect how many times the Minister had said similar lines throughout the evening, concluding they were somewhere around three. Tyki’s attention had shifted to his niece and friend, however; a police officer was ushering the other guests from the area, and as the people cleared away and the noise from the people faded, he could see the pair were sitting in their own world. Both had their eyes closed, and their smiles were identically content. Rhode was humming softly, a rather strange tune, but Tyki could only catch bits and pieces.
“Excuse me, Lord Mikk. I need to ask you some questions about what happened here, if you’d help our case along.”
Tyki inhaled deeply from his cigarette, raising a brow as a detective came up to question him. Not bothering to turn away, he blew smoke full into the man’s face, expression a bit smug as the detective coughed harshly.
“Beg your pardon; I wasn’t here when it happened.”
❦
By the time the evening was over, Rhode had fallen asleep in Lau’s arms, and the guests who had been detained by the policemen were invited to spend the few hours left until morning in one of the Minister’s spare bedrooms. Ciel and Sebastian planned to decline the invitation, until the young Earl’s yawns convinced the butler to accept, despite his master's pride. The boy ended up in one of Tyki’s large shifts, and fell asleep as soon as he’d been tucked into bed.
Sebastian was the only person left awake in the house as he walked down the stairs to the scullery. The corridors were dark, and he settled himself on a seat beside the kitchen window without lighting a single candle to break the black night. The butler pulled his soiled glove from his pocket, placing it on the countertop and carefully turning it right side out once more. The consistency of the fluid had thickened, though it was still blacker than ink. It still carried the stench that had bothered Ciel so much earlier, and Sebastian lifted it to his nose to take a deep breath of the scent. It flooded his senses with familiarity. He couldn’t resist a smile, eyes glowing slightly in the darkness.
“Shouldn't you sleep?”
Sebastian barely glanced over his shoulder, already recognizing the voice. The girl sounded tired, but he had a feeling these nighttime wanderings were a habit. “I have no need to. What of you?”
Rhode padded carefully across the kitchen floor, bare feet making almost no sound on the tiles. “I don't want to sleep. It's boring, and there's always something else I can do.” She sprung up to sit on the counter with almost no effort, settling down with her legs crossed beneath her long shift. Her hair was mussed from sleep, sticking up every which way to make her look like a little black hedgehog. She shook a few bothersome pieces from her face before she continued. “No matter what time it is.”
“Do your nightmares trouble you often?” He had caught a glimpse of an odd color to her eyes, and he watched her carefully as she spoke.
Sebastian’s knowing smile seemed to bother the girl far more than his implication. Her slight bristle was well disguised, however, tone as sweet as could be. “Nightmares? I don't have nightmares.”
There it was: a flash of gold. Her eyes had been quite blue earlier in the evening. “All humans have nightmares. You seem to be well acquainted with them.”
“What is that?” Rhode’s tone shifted from defensive to naïve as quickly as she switched topics.
Her change in subject made the butler smile, but he lifted the stained glove to just below her nose as if offering a bloodhound a trail. “A piece of evidence from our little mystery. What do you think that smells like?”
The girl sniffed delicately, flinching at the strength and pushing it back a few inches before smelling it once more. It seemed she would be ill for a moment, but she swallowed harshly. He could hear her stomach turning, her little heart beat faster as she maintained her composure and shook her head. “Rotten eggs- er, sulfur. Burnt meat, burnt hair,” another quick inhale was followed by a sneeze. “Something else. I don’t know, I don’t remember.”
Sebastian drew the glove back before she had the chance to push his hand away, resting his chin on the palm that was still covered. “Remember? Have you smelt it before?”
Rhode seemed at something of a loss, staring at him silently.
“You said you don’t remember. If you remember something, you recall it from some time before the present,” he began to explain with a certain level of condescension, though it was well hidden by his demure posture.
“I know what remembering is,” Rhode retorted, “and I don’t know. I just know that I’ve smelt it somewhere.”
“Somewhere?”
“I don’t know.”
“And yet you say you do.”
“It was years ago, how should I know?”
“Indeed. How many years does it take to forget such a thing?” He seemed to find this conversation quite droll, watching her with a sidelong glance and the ghost of a smirk. The little angel's facade cracked, revealing something painful, dark, for the smallest of moments. As he watched, her entire body grew taut; her nails dug into her palms until he could smell the blood that welled from the tiny cuts. He half expected tears, or some pitiful gasp of injury, but her reaction managed to surprise the butler.
“You’re not tricking me with your games, demon!” Rhode’s voice was sharp and far too loud, echoing in the kitchen painfully. Both man and child fell silent, waiting for any sign of life or awakening in the rest of the house.
Long minutes passed, and nothing stirred. Sebastian’s expression had fallen slightly, his smile earning a darker edge. “I beg your pardon.”
“I can smell it on you.” Rhode’s voice was low, tone carrying the weight she was obviously used to using with her own servants. “It’s stronger than any other I’ve met.”
Sebastian didn’t seem very impressed, looking to the girl with an amused raise of his brow. “And what does a demon smell like, miss?”
Rhode swallowed her words, letting the silence reign for a painful stretch of time before she finally spoke.
“Tragedy, sorrow, pain, and a machine.”
Her sense of smell was far superior to what he had anticipated; it was no wonder she had recoiled from the vile substance on his glove. The butler almost laughed, an uncharacteristic soft chuckle escaping his lips. “Really, now.”
“You don’t smell like a machine, though.” Rhode’s voice was flat, cold. “But even so, you’re not human.”
“Are you?” Sebastian’s tone was almost amiable, eyes giving off a dim, crimson glow as he spoke. He had underestimated this little girl, and the game was becoming more interesting.
Her gaze flashed gold, and no answer came. After he deemed her silence beyond the point of simple obstinance, the demon tossed the soiled glove toward her lap. The girl jerked backwards, some invisible force flinging it away before it even made contact with her nightgown. It was all in her mind, this power, and he could almost taste the strength behind this small show of force. It was only a hint of what she was capable of, and they both knew it.
Rising to his feet, the butler stepped forward, closing the distance between them swiftly. Sebastian placed his gloved fingers beneath the girl's chin and tilted her face to see her inhuman gaze all the better. It was indignant, spiteful, hateful- and beyond that, some strange fear seemed to reside.
Rhode was frozen beneath his touch, some force of will breaking his spell on her after long, silent minutes. She reached upward, tiny fingers brushing down his temple, hand coming to rest on his cheek. The butler felt a warm pressure at the edge of his mind as she tried to explore, but she found no entrance to the demon's heart. He let down his guard to a small degree, letting her reach only the bare sensation of his power. It was far stronger than any of her pet demons'.
The girl was not one to let such opportunities pass her by. She tried to force her way in with a sudden rush of strength, but the demon's defenses did not budge. He caught hold of that power, and for a bare instant she was hostage as he felt the strength behind those golden eyes, drawing on it to get a taste of her origins.
He felt positively dizzy as he released her power. She was an absolute monster- a delightful, tiny fiend.
"I thought as much," Sebastian breathed the words, fingers twitching slightly as though tempted to take a full grip on her delicate jaw. His control was impeccable, however, and he withdrew gracefully. Rhode let her hand fall from his face, though she did not look away from him. She was trying to puzzle him out, put the pieces together, just as he was trying to define her. His eternity far outlived hers, though, and he had far more experience to draw his guesses from.
The butler's smile was almost demure as he held out his left hand, as if waiting for the darkness to pass him something. If you would be so kind.
Rhode stared at him for a long moment, expression unreadable. He didn't wonder if she had heard the thought. She was simply weighing her options, and deciding if she felt like playing along. The evil of recent ages was so childish in comparison to his own, but at last, she grudgingly complied. It lifted from the floor, not a wobble disturbing its line of travel.
The glove floated to Sebastian's open palm, hesitating for a moment before slapping into his grip as if being surrendered by a petulant brat. There, Rhode sniffed, indignant even in her thoughts.
Sebastian tucked it into his pocket once more, bringing a finger to his mouth and licking the mess as if savoring some delicacy. I would offer, but I doubt lucifugus suits your tastes.
Rhode's sickened expression seemed to support his remark; she couldn't quite suppress her disgust. I don't know.
The butler's sharp canines were visible as he smiled.
❦
+ Fandom: D. Gray-man, Godchild, Kuroshitsuji
+ Characters: Ciel Phantomhive, Sebastian Michaelis, Lau, Cyril Kamelot, Tyki Mikk, Rhode Kamelot, Cain Hargreaves, Riff
+ Rating: OT
+ Word Count: 4009
+ Author's Notes: I felt like this was a lot shorter than it was, for some odd reason. Most of it was written at ungodly hours of the night. There's not much to make this really OT, but I figured I would rate it up a bit to play it safe for those of you who have some kind of... thing against people having idiopathic death, or whatever.
❦
They rushed to the ballroom, silent as they tried to catch words in the screams they could hear. Ciel felt his heart in his throat as they came to the banisters of the ballroom's second floor, looking to the grand staircase to view the scene laid before them like a board game.
The gentleman who had been involved in the earlier poker game was standing halfway up the stairs, staring in horror at a writhing, shuddering figure at his feet. It was a man, but there was something wrong with his face; the lower half obscured by something dark, and his eyes bulged grossly from their sockets. His suit was as fine as any other guest's, and if it were not for his strange behavior, he would have been nothing more than another face in the crowd.
As the guests watched, the man rolled down several steps, spasms wracking his frame once, twice, three times before he stopped moving altogether. The screams started again, and Cain moved to check for some sign of life before a strong hand caught his arm from behind.
“You alright, Hargreaves?” Tyki kept his voice low, eyeing the body on the stairs warily. Standing just behind the pair, Lau didn’t seem terribly perturbed by the entire situation, though his smile was absent.
“I’m fine,” Cain responded, though his tone betrayed how unnerved he was.
Cyril came striding down the stairs with Rhode following just behind, motioning to his servants to continue their duties as if nothing were wrong. He knelt carefully beside the prone figure, checking gingerly for a pulse and finding nothing. The minister bowed his head slightly, long hair falling forward over his shoulders in the moments he took to compose himself. The black haired man seemed ready to cry, but finally steeled his visible emotion, wiping a nonexistent tear from the corner of one eye.
At last, he looked up, expression heavy with sorrow as he looked at the guests gathered all around. “Poor soul. His heart must have given out,” Cyril began, though he found himself interrupted by a hysterical woman’s shriek.
“It’s the Earl! He killed him!” The woman stood out from the crowd on the staircase, a finger pointing at the startled Earl Hargreaves. “As soon as he touched him, he fell!”
Ciel and Sebastian made their way to the others as the accusations began to fly. “Did you see the way he jerked around? I heard he keeps a collection of poisons-“
“Oh, come off it!” Tyki’s tone was sharp, though effective. The entire room fell silent, and Cyril suddenly started to his feet.
“My guests! I am very sorry for this trouble. I had hired a display of acrobats for your entertainment this evening, and they are waiting out on the veranda at this very moment. I shall have to tell them to leave, if nobody intends to watch them.” The crowd hesitated, but began to move out the large glass doors as the sound of some foreign music drifted indoors. Cyril's gaze dropped to the body once more as they dispersed, blue eyes showing none of the emotion his expression was conveying.
“Daddy, I thought you weren’t going to invite him to any more parties if this happened again!” Rhode seemed quite cross, looking at the body as if it were a rat someone had crushed on a walkway. “If people die every time he attends, people won’t come anymore!”
“This happens often?” Ciel’s question made Cyril shift almost uncomfortably, a fist held to his mouth as he cleared his throat.
“Now, now. It doesn’t happen often, merely an accident. It has happened once or twice, at the most-“
“At your parties, Cyril. Once or twice at your parties.” Tyki clapped Cain on the shoulder as he spoke, as if signaling his words were not meant to insult him. “This will be forty-five, if I count my 'Cain-did-it's correctly.”
“Tyki! I apologize, Earl, my brother is forgetting his manners.” The Minister was flustered by the younger noble's remarks, granting the lord a chastising glare.
Ciel leaned close to the body, covering his face with a handkerchief as a stench hit his senses. “What is this? This mess, here,” he gestured to the gooey substance trailing from the man’s mouth, spilling out onto his shirt and the carpet.
“Something that causes a black stain on fabrics, I see.” Lau was already on the scene, crouching down to watch it move into the carpet in a slow trail. “It appears that Minister Kamelot will need to replace the rug.”
“It’s a wonder they haven’t hired you on at the Yard, Lau,” Tyki finally released Cain, and the pair knelt on either side of Ciel to get a closer look at the prone form. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say poison. Look at it, still coming out of his mouth and-“
“It’s not any poison I’ve heard of.” Cain’s voice was brusque as he looked the man over carefully, doing his best to avoid actually touching the corpse.
Rhode whistled, hands on her knees as she leaned over to gawk. “That’s saying a lot. You’ve got every poison there is.”
Cain smiled softly, but the others were not quite so receptive to her behavior. The look Ciel gave the girl was one of pure disdain. “Are you calling your dog?”
Tyki hid his scoff with a cough, nodding tactfully. “That’s right, Rhode, ladies don’t whistle.”
“Or stand like they’re digging for clams,” Cyril added absently, rushing off to intercept several overly curious guests.
Rhose looked fit to spit as she settled down to sit a safe distance from the growing stain, watching the liquid as it continued to bubble from the man’s mouth. Despite the large number of people shoving to get a better look at the body, she refused to move, rewarding the few legs that neared stepping on her with a sharp tap. Shoving some of her hair from her face, she watched the men poking about with a sulky glare. Rhode would have loved to get in there and see what was going on, but with so many nobles she knew she had to be as proper as could be. It wouldn't do to put the Minister's good name in jeopardy, but all the same...
The girl sighed loudly. She wished she could do something besides sitting around acting prim and stupid. No matter how ladylike it was, pretending to faint like those ninnies she was supposed to be friends with was out of the question.
Cain slipped his gloves on, pulling back the man's eyelids and checking the color of the flesh within expertly. "Perfectly healthy. Not a single discoloration or burst vessel," he muttered, and the shadow of his butler acknowledged the fact with a soft sound of affirmation.
Ciel found himself watching his fellow Earl from the corner of his eye. The man was younger than he had seemed at first, with his brown hair falling in his face. He had the sort of hair that Ciel's future mother-in-law would deem unacceptable, roaring and menacing about it before slicking it all back with her omnipresent comb. That would make the Hargreaves Earl look absolutely juvenile, Ciel mused, and then realized he had made eye contact with the subject of his thoughts.
Cain's eyes were made of an odd mixture of colors akin to hazel: gold and green, a metal and forest moss. His features were almost delicate, giving his unguarded expressions a feeling of naivete. The moment he felt the younger boy’s gaze, however, Cain’s expression shifted to the no-nonsense look that added years to his appearance. Though the older boy looked back to his butler after a long moment of their silent gaze, Ciel kept watching him.
I wonder… Ciel almost dared to ask the man’s age, but Sebastian caught his attention with a soft-spoken word.
“Master,” the butler reached out carefully, picking lightly at a piece of paper protruding from the man’s coat-front pocket. He had been hovering over the boy's shoulder, present but unnoticed, looking over each detail of the scene until he had found that small anomaly. The man unfolded the paper delicately. Sebastian stared at the paper for a long moment before passing it on to Ciel, eyes narrowed slightly at the odd nature of the find.
There was a strange script on the thin page, a series of lines and dots scrawled in a loose hand. Ciel turned the paper several directions before furrowing his brow, failing to notice that Cain and Tyki were hovering over his shoulders in Sebastian’s stead. The butler didn’t seem to care that the curious pair had displaced him, instead walking around to the other side of the corpse as he looked for any other interesting articles. When Ciel shot him a questioning look over the page, Sebastian nodded minutely. He had memorized the page, as always. Understanding what it meant, however... The butler shook his head in response to a second glance.
The Minister had rushed off, presumably to summon the police, and so Lau was the next to come into possession of the page. He hummed and hawed over it for a few moments before rising to his feet, ignoring the momentary protest from Ciel. The Chinaman only went a short distance, though, stopping beside Rhode. He bent to pick her up like an oversized kitten, hands tucked just beneath her arms before sitting down on the steps with his usual grace, holding her up until he could settle her petite frame comfortably on his lap. Leaning back against him, Rhode made a noise of contentment. She was thoroughly enjoying the attention, especially after the criticism she had received earlier.
Drawing the linen paper from his sleeve, Lau held it before them both, as if he were about to read the girl a bedtime story. “What does the young Miss Kamelot think of this, hm?” He looked down to her with his usual smile, watching her expression. Sebastian saw what the man had almost certainly been looking for as the girl’s eyes scanned the individual marks on the page. It was as if she were reading poorly written words, going over each series repeatedly before moving on to the next. It took her a long minute to finish, and she went over it several times, as if attempting to memorize the notations.
The girl knew how to read the symbols on that page.
Her expression remained quite puzzled, however, and she shook her head, looking up at Lau innocently. “It’s just scribbles, Lau.”
The Chinese man nodded, expression fading to one of mildly exaggerated resignation. “Ah, well. We shall have to turn this over to the policemen from your Scotland Yard. Perhaps they will know what it means.”
Rhode shifted uncomfortably, glancing around as if looking for her father. Tyki was too distracted by his conversation with Cain to notice her dilemma, and so she reached up and took hold of the paper with a stubborn tug. “It… might be a picture!” She turned it so the torn edge was upward, and the lines were directed vertically. “See?”
“Aberline!” One of the guests called the name out with relief, and Ciel stifled a sigh. The Yard was here. There would be no more opportunity for their party to examine the body.
Sebastian dipped the palm of one glove in the black mess before the detectives approached, turning the stained fabric inside out and slipping it into his pocket as he rose. He saw the quick movement of paper from Lau and Rhode’s direction, and as quickly as he turned, the note had disappeared. The two were smiling as benignly as a pair of waving cats, Lau holding the child steady with a hand on her tiny stomach as they looked out over the assembled gawkers.
Sebastian made a silent note of the paper he had memorized, turning to see Ciel, Tyki, Cain, Cyril, and the Yard officers meet just in front of the body.
“Earl Hargreaves; Earl Phantomhive,” The sergeant acknowledged the pair with a nod, though his tone communicated more intense dislike than respect. “I was unaware you two were acquainted.” He made it sound as if their relationship were on a level with meeting his wife and her lover in the same room, eyes sliding across them and finding the body. Both boys were a nuisance to the law on their own, and finding them together in such a place was comparably unpleasant. “What happened here?”
“That gentleman touched Cain and fell over dead,” Tyki was smoking yet another cigarette, standing beside the detective and looking over his shoulder as if he were some sort of assistant detective in his fine vest and trousers. “Or so the witness said.”
The sergeant seemed annoyed at the man’s comfortable stance. “Witness? Where is she?”
Tyki smiled, shrugging slightly as if he truly felt bad about his news. “She had to leave early, unfortunately. It seems her sensibilities were offended by the whole affair.”
“Who was it?” His face was turning an odd shade of purple, rage swelling the veins in his neck as he tried to contain his temper.
Cyril stepped in before his brother earned a fight, hands out as if he were hoping to avoid any conflict. “Please feel free to ignore Lord Mikk, sergeant. He’s been drinking far too much this evening, and it seems his manners have been affected.”
Ciel tried to recollect how many times the Minister had said similar lines throughout the evening, concluding they were somewhere around three. Tyki’s attention had shifted to his niece and friend, however; a police officer was ushering the other guests from the area, and as the people cleared away and the noise from the people faded, he could see the pair were sitting in their own world. Both had their eyes closed, and their smiles were identically content. Rhode was humming softly, a rather strange tune, but Tyki could only catch bits and pieces.
“Excuse me, Lord Mikk. I need to ask you some questions about what happened here, if you’d help our case along.”
Tyki inhaled deeply from his cigarette, raising a brow as a detective came up to question him. Not bothering to turn away, he blew smoke full into the man’s face, expression a bit smug as the detective coughed harshly.
“Beg your pardon; I wasn’t here when it happened.”
❦
By the time the evening was over, Rhode had fallen asleep in Lau’s arms, and the guests who had been detained by the policemen were invited to spend the few hours left until morning in one of the Minister’s spare bedrooms. Ciel and Sebastian planned to decline the invitation, until the young Earl’s yawns convinced the butler to accept, despite his master's pride. The boy ended up in one of Tyki’s large shifts, and fell asleep as soon as he’d been tucked into bed.
Sebastian was the only person left awake in the house as he walked down the stairs to the scullery. The corridors were dark, and he settled himself on a seat beside the kitchen window without lighting a single candle to break the black night. The butler pulled his soiled glove from his pocket, placing it on the countertop and carefully turning it right side out once more. The consistency of the fluid had thickened, though it was still blacker than ink. It still carried the stench that had bothered Ciel so much earlier, and Sebastian lifted it to his nose to take a deep breath of the scent. It flooded his senses with familiarity. He couldn’t resist a smile, eyes glowing slightly in the darkness.
“Shouldn't you sleep?”
Sebastian barely glanced over his shoulder, already recognizing the voice. The girl sounded tired, but he had a feeling these nighttime wanderings were a habit. “I have no need to. What of you?”
Rhode padded carefully across the kitchen floor, bare feet making almost no sound on the tiles. “I don't want to sleep. It's boring, and there's always something else I can do.” She sprung up to sit on the counter with almost no effort, settling down with her legs crossed beneath her long shift. Her hair was mussed from sleep, sticking up every which way to make her look like a little black hedgehog. She shook a few bothersome pieces from her face before she continued. “No matter what time it is.”
“Do your nightmares trouble you often?” He had caught a glimpse of an odd color to her eyes, and he watched her carefully as she spoke.
Sebastian’s knowing smile seemed to bother the girl far more than his implication. Her slight bristle was well disguised, however, tone as sweet as could be. “Nightmares? I don't have nightmares.”
There it was: a flash of gold. Her eyes had been quite blue earlier in the evening. “All humans have nightmares. You seem to be well acquainted with them.”
“What is that?” Rhode’s tone shifted from defensive to naïve as quickly as she switched topics.
Her change in subject made the butler smile, but he lifted the stained glove to just below her nose as if offering a bloodhound a trail. “A piece of evidence from our little mystery. What do you think that smells like?”
The girl sniffed delicately, flinching at the strength and pushing it back a few inches before smelling it once more. It seemed she would be ill for a moment, but she swallowed harshly. He could hear her stomach turning, her little heart beat faster as she maintained her composure and shook her head. “Rotten eggs- er, sulfur. Burnt meat, burnt hair,” another quick inhale was followed by a sneeze. “Something else. I don’t know, I don’t remember.”
Sebastian drew the glove back before she had the chance to push his hand away, resting his chin on the palm that was still covered. “Remember? Have you smelt it before?”
Rhode seemed at something of a loss, staring at him silently.
“You said you don’t remember. If you remember something, you recall it from some time before the present,” he began to explain with a certain level of condescension, though it was well hidden by his demure posture.
“I know what remembering is,” Rhode retorted, “and I don’t know. I just know that I’ve smelt it somewhere.”
“Somewhere?”
“I don’t know.”
“And yet you say you do.”
“It was years ago, how should I know?”
“Indeed. How many years does it take to forget such a thing?” He seemed to find this conversation quite droll, watching her with a sidelong glance and the ghost of a smirk. The little angel's facade cracked, revealing something painful, dark, for the smallest of moments. As he watched, her entire body grew taut; her nails dug into her palms until he could smell the blood that welled from the tiny cuts. He half expected tears, or some pitiful gasp of injury, but her reaction managed to surprise the butler.
“You’re not tricking me with your games, demon!” Rhode’s voice was sharp and far too loud, echoing in the kitchen painfully. Both man and child fell silent, waiting for any sign of life or awakening in the rest of the house.
Long minutes passed, and nothing stirred. Sebastian’s expression had fallen slightly, his smile earning a darker edge. “I beg your pardon.”
“I can smell it on you.” Rhode’s voice was low, tone carrying the weight she was obviously used to using with her own servants. “It’s stronger than any other I’ve met.”
Sebastian didn’t seem very impressed, looking to the girl with an amused raise of his brow. “And what does a demon smell like, miss?”
Rhode swallowed her words, letting the silence reign for a painful stretch of time before she finally spoke.
“Tragedy, sorrow, pain, and a machine.”
Her sense of smell was far superior to what he had anticipated; it was no wonder she had recoiled from the vile substance on his glove. The butler almost laughed, an uncharacteristic soft chuckle escaping his lips. “Really, now.”
“You don’t smell like a machine, though.” Rhode’s voice was flat, cold. “But even so, you’re not human.”
“Are you?” Sebastian’s tone was almost amiable, eyes giving off a dim, crimson glow as he spoke. He had underestimated this little girl, and the game was becoming more interesting.
Her gaze flashed gold, and no answer came. After he deemed her silence beyond the point of simple obstinance, the demon tossed the soiled glove toward her lap. The girl jerked backwards, some invisible force flinging it away before it even made contact with her nightgown. It was all in her mind, this power, and he could almost taste the strength behind this small show of force. It was only a hint of what she was capable of, and they both knew it.
Rising to his feet, the butler stepped forward, closing the distance between them swiftly. Sebastian placed his gloved fingers beneath the girl's chin and tilted her face to see her inhuman gaze all the better. It was indignant, spiteful, hateful- and beyond that, some strange fear seemed to reside.
Rhode was frozen beneath his touch, some force of will breaking his spell on her after long, silent minutes. She reached upward, tiny fingers brushing down his temple, hand coming to rest on his cheek. The butler felt a warm pressure at the edge of his mind as she tried to explore, but she found no entrance to the demon's heart. He let down his guard to a small degree, letting her reach only the bare sensation of his power. It was far stronger than any of her pet demons'.
The girl was not one to let such opportunities pass her by. She tried to force her way in with a sudden rush of strength, but the demon's defenses did not budge. He caught hold of that power, and for a bare instant she was hostage as he felt the strength behind those golden eyes, drawing on it to get a taste of her origins.
He felt positively dizzy as he released her power. She was an absolute monster- a delightful, tiny fiend.
"I thought as much," Sebastian breathed the words, fingers twitching slightly as though tempted to take a full grip on her delicate jaw. His control was impeccable, however, and he withdrew gracefully. Rhode let her hand fall from his face, though she did not look away from him. She was trying to puzzle him out, put the pieces together, just as he was trying to define her. His eternity far outlived hers, though, and he had far more experience to draw his guesses from.
The butler's smile was almost demure as he held out his left hand, as if waiting for the darkness to pass him something. If you would be so kind.
Rhode stared at him for a long moment, expression unreadable. He didn't wonder if she had heard the thought. She was simply weighing her options, and deciding if she felt like playing along. The evil of recent ages was so childish in comparison to his own, but at last, she grudgingly complied. It lifted from the floor, not a wobble disturbing its line of travel.
The glove floated to Sebastian's open palm, hesitating for a moment before slapping into his grip as if being surrendered by a petulant brat. There, Rhode sniffed, indignant even in her thoughts.
Sebastian tucked it into his pocket once more, bringing a finger to his mouth and licking the mess as if savoring some delicacy. I would offer, but I doubt lucifugus suits your tastes.
Rhode's sickened expression seemed to support his remark; she couldn't quite suppress her disgust. I don't know.
The butler's sharp canines were visible as he smiled.
❦