The Underground world hiding in the shadows of the mortal world was filled with evils most humans could not even begin to imagine: fiends that butchered humans, beasts that preyed on the innocent and demons that fed on the blood of mortals. An encounter with these horrors was rarely survived and, even if one was to escape, who could live in peace knowing what vile monstrosities ruled the night? Who could possibly sleep easy knowing that no one was safe and that no one would ever believe the warnings of the dangers that we ignorant beings were forever in?

There were many creatures that stalked the night: werebeasts, witches, sirens, sorceresses and those that barely resemble humans at all like ghouls, trolls and the fey folk of mixed moralities with each specific species of fey. Of course they play little part in our tale, so let us put aside our fears of these monsters and turn our minds to the horrors of a beast that could be lurking in the streets you live or even under the same roof.

Take a seat, my friends, and allow me to tell you the tale of lust, pain and misery.

Allow me to tell you a tale of the vampire.

The scent of blood and decay was nauseating in the human pen pit where three living mortals were cramped into with no room to even sit due to the rotting corpses of victims their captors had fed on when their hunger had grown too much to ignore. The 'pretty ones' had been kept alive; they had the most value. It had been days since they had been stuffed into the pit and the live-stock were beginning to starve after three days without food, only being allowed the minimal amount of water to keep the humans alive but weak enough not to run off.

The unfortunate souls still living were to be sold like cattle to the blood-sucking fiends in the next room, the walls painted blood red to remind the customers of their hunger and desire, to provoke the leaches into paying more for a meal for the poor mortals sold would live out their short lives as walking, fresh bloodbags for the aristocratic pure-blooded vampires to have close at hand when they did not wish to lower themselves to the lesser of their kind who hunted rather than have their meals delivered or close at hand.

The humans were hosed down, washing away filth, before they were presented before the seated monsters to be judged and priced.

The first was a girl, presented naked to the lecherous creatures eyeing her with obvious interest; she was shapely with ample bosom and red hair. Her pretty face was hidden behind a pair of large, round glasses and covered in freckles. The young woman trembled as she stood there: cold, afraid and exposed.

Then she was sold.

The next was a young boy, no more than thirteen by the books of his small, petite frame. He too was presented naked, his porcelain skin on full display for the customers to gawk at as they compared his skin to their own; had they not been able to hear the fluttering of a terrified heartbeat, they may have suspected this child might have been kin. His hair was an odd shade of blue-grey and those eyes of fear, rage and hate were a magnificent sapphire blue. He would make an excellent prize to whomever had the pleasure of owning him. Apparently every vampire in the room had the very same thought as the price for the boy went up and up until an old man with a kindly face stood.

"My master offers... hohoho... Three million." He said and the whole the room went silent before the auctioneer pronounced the boy sold and the bue-eyed beauty was dragged off stage, thrashing and lashing out the entire time until he was shoved in front of the kindly faced old man. The human was not fooled by the old man's white hair, wrinkles and pleasant smile; he knew very well that this man was a vampire like all the rest.

"Hohoho," the old man chuckled cheerfully, "Best clothe and dress you before the master sees you." He beamed down at the angry little thing before him, ignoring the human's rage as the auction continued behind them. "I am Tanaka, the Michaelis Butler. I will be taking you to the master. Do you have a name?"

The boy hesitated before mumbling, "Ciel. My name is Ciel."

"Ciel, if you would follow me?" Tanaka said it like it was a request but the little one knew very well what would happen if he failed to obey. Just because he was brought and paid for didn't mean he was safe from the other blood-suckers in the hall and so Ciel followed the butler who wrapped Ciel in a blanket before leaving the building.

Ushered into a carriage, the human isolated himself into the far corner to keep some distance between himself and Tanaka who simply smiled good-naturedly at the boy. He made no attempts at conversation, only checking his watch ever so often and glancing at Ciel, who was watching the old man intently through narrowed eyes, and just gave him a smile. Perhaps the ride might have continued like that but exhaustion crept over the boy and he dozed off only to jerk awake when the carriage stopped.

With the sun coming up, Tanaka hurried inside and Ciel followed without a word into the dimly lit manor. The building was grand and large, every room decorated with wealth in mind but, as dazzling as it was, Ciel refused to be in awe out of sheer stubbornness. He grumpily hurried after Tanaka to the servants' quarters where the boy was thoroughly scrubbed clean.

"You're taking skin off!" He complained, desperately tugging away from the firm grip of the butler who was having none of Ciel's behaviour. Tanaka allowed the boy to wash his own genitals before washing the little one's hair. The boy hissed in pain as his hair was tugged and pulled before water was tipped over the young human until all the suds in his hair had evacuated. In moments, Ciel was lifted out of the shower, dried and dressed in a simple nightshirt.

"Today, you will sleep," Tanaka cheerfully told the grumbling midget as he led the little human to a simple room in the servants' quarters, "Then you will be taken to meet the master at dusk."

Ciel acknowledged this with a nervous nod, having no desire to meet the thing that had bought him. He climbed into the hard bed and shifted uncomfortably but the sheets were clean and it was definitely a bed. As Tanaka closed the door, the little bundle under the covers quickly dozed off.

"Should we wake him?" a hushed voice whispered from somewhere to Ciel's right but the boy was not entirely quite awake yet, the voices of the persons in the room washing over him without much context. "I mean, master will be angry if he's late."

"But he looks so peaceful," squeaked another voice, a female voice this time and Ciel groaned in irritation at the highness of the girl's vocals. "Looks like he's waking up anyways."

Ciel opened his eyes to find two vampires staring down at him. One was a girl with curled blonde hair and bright, green eyes. She was dressed in a frilly pink dress and wore the sunniest smile. The other was another blond but with sky blue eyes and his hair was a different shade of blond; these two were not related by blood. Or, at least, not by human standards. At any rate, the male vampire wore simplistic clothing which suggested to Ciel that he was a servant.

"Are you OK? You look pale." The girl smiled warmly. "I'm Elizabeth. You can call me Lizzy if Mama's not around. She gets awful touchy about lines of pure-bloods and 'other shite' getting mixed up." The girl sighed with irritation but she was clearly fond of her mother. "Check his pulse, Alois. He looks much too pale."

Ciel got a shock when Alois touched the blunette's wrist: the blond boy was warm, soft and alive. A grin formed on Alois' face as he noticed the younger's surprise. "You though I was a blood-sucker?" The insult earned him a back-handed smack on the arm from Elizabeth who didn't really look too annoyed about being referred as something akin to a leach.

"Don't let Mama hear you say that," Lizzie warned the blond human as Alois rubbed his arm with a false pout. The vampire turned her sights on to Ciel and her welcoming smile returned without hesitation. "You're going to see my brother now," she said cheerfully. "Step-brother," she corrected at Alois' expressed revolt. "Sebastian's not that bad, Alois. Just because his father is... a bit... um... well..."

"Of an arsehole."

"His will matches Mama's," Elizabeth said carefully and she got off Ciel's bed, straightening out her skirts. "Well then. Let's get you up and dressed." The girl pulled Ciel up with strength beyond her build and Alois helped pull off the boy's nightshirt.

"Hey!" Ciel objected as he was stripped, his modesty on full display and he caught the blond servant eyeing Ciel's packaging with obvious interest before hoisting a pair of black, knee-length shorts onto the newest addition to the household. "I can do it myself!" he protested quite ardently but the boy was ignored by the two blonds who managed to get a plain shirt on him and were now buttoning up. "Ow!" Ciel yelped as Alois grabbed his foot and tugged a sock onto the younger's foot as Elizabeth did the same and then added comfortable boots to the simple outfit of a servant.

"There," Alois stood back proudly, his hands on his hips, "Now we match."

Ciel had to disagree; his shorts were nowhere near as short as Alois'.

"We should probably go before Sebastian gets impatient," suggested Elizabeth with a nervous smile and she led the way out of the room. She spoke as they made their way across the halls and up stairs and corridors, "Don't speak unless spoken to. Address him as 'Sir' or 'master'. Let him feed when he wants... it hurts less if you don't struggle." Those green eyes flashed red as she thought about her own hunger but cleared her throat as she continued. "Human meal times are during the day but the kitchen is always open. Bard, our cook, is human so you needn't worry about food being edible. Only leave when you've been dismissed, even if that means loitering and," she stopped in front of a door, "above all, no other vampire is allowed to feed from you."

Ciel nodded.

Elizabeth knocked on the door and opened it. "Brother? The boy is here."

From within the dark room, a pair of red eyes glowed.