The Effect of Venom

Summary: When a snake at Soma's birthday party bites Ciel, it's up to a certain butler to put Ciel back to rights. Emotional and Physical Hurt/Comfort, Graphic.

Notes: THE BITING STARTS HERE! Couldn't wait to get to this part. I hope you'll enjoy the rest of this story. I'm so sorry for my absence: I was busy with my original story (not to be presented on I'm afraid; to be published) and showing my academic prowess at college, lol.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Kuroshitsuji, but sadly I do not. What I wouldn't give to have a hot-ass butler at my heels…damn.

After Ciel had been dragged into the house, someone took off his coat and then offered to take Sebastian's coat, but Sebastian politely declined. He probably has an army's worth of silverware in his suit, Ciel thought. Not sure if we'll need it tonight, but with Soma, we can never know. As they entered the foyer, Agni, back from taking the box to it's designated area, lead them into the dining hall.

Once there, Agni announced their names to the room in their native tongue of Bengali. Ciel had never heard anything quite like it, but Sebastian looked on nonchalantly, like none of this, the language, the room, or the people, surprised him at all.

There were no chairs at all. There were, instead, four very low communal tables surrounding the room with gigantic and ornate pillows that 25 beautiful, ugly, fat, skinny, dark-haired, light haired, but nearly all tanned, brothers and sisters of Prince Soma sat on.

Ciel allowed Sebastian to memorize which brother or sister was who, and not worry himself about such an annoying task. After all, tonight was only an appearance—it's not like he would make any life-long friends here. He didn't expect any benefits from these people, save for more exotic products on an open market. No arse-kissing required.

Ciel greeted just about everyone he could around the room, and he was surprised at how different they all were. Some were humble, unlike Soma, some were pompous, some were shy, and some were aggressive. I suppose that's what one receives when you have many different wives, Ciel thought.

Ciel was seated next to Soma, his sister (a black-haired beauty with golden clasps knotted and tied into her hair), and Lizzy sat across from him. Sebastian busied himself with helping Agni serve the large group Agni's magnificent curry, gourmet breads from London specialty shops, and some of the best spicy vegetable casseroles ever to grace a table.

Ciel picked at his food. It wasn't that he didn't like the food presented, but he hadn't been eating well as of late…ever since that Dyers case in Reading. He wanted to forget all about the case and the nightmares that followed suit, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to get the white faces, blue lips, and the putrid smell of the rotting infant corpses out of his mind.

"Ciel?" Lizzy asked, in between mouthfuls of curry. "Are you not hungry? Don't you love this delicious food? Sebastian and Agni have really outdone themselves!" "No, I'm not," Ciel said quietly, pushing a piece of marinated broccoli around on his plate. "I'm just tired, that's all."

"Oh," Lizzy said, obviously disappointed in his lack of enthusiasm. She continued to eat, but took smaller bites, eying Ciel every now and again. Sebastian noticed this too and made a mental note: Ciel would probably want to escape the party before ten, at the very least.

Lizzy tried to strike up a conversation with several of the princesses and princes, all of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, but to her dismay, she found that not a single one of them besides Soma himself could speak fluent English. She tried gesturing and making faces to start a conversation without language, but they would simply stare at her then go back eating the delicious food.

After everyone seemed to have finished the large feast, Soma clapped his hands and said in Hindi, "Wonderful! Now that we have finished our meal, let us join in festivities!" Agni, Sebastian, and various other servants (those that had seemed to have been brought by the other princes and princesses of India) began to clear the leftover food and tables from the center of the large room.

Once cleared, a series of scantily clad dancers walked in, accompanied by several Indian musicians. They situated themselves in one unoccupied corner of the room while the dancers situated themselves in front of the audience, giggling amongst themselves, making seductive gestures at the men and waving their transparent red scarves around like it was some mating ritual.

I thought this was supposed to be a coming of age party, not a bachelor's night out, Ciel thought irritably. He could only imagine what other entertainment Soma had planned for this evening.

The music started and the dancing girls began their routine, occasionally flailing their silks in front of Soma's face, and occasionally giving him a particularly sexy routine. Ciel was subject to one of these dances too, and he immediately flushed crimson turning his head away. But no, the dancer was having none of it! She was a forceful one; with the use of one finger, she turned his face towards hers, and he had no choice but to watch every seductive and sultry move she laid on him.

Ciel, fully embarrassed, turned his eyes away from the girl, and looked at Lizzy. She had fat, angry tears rolling down her cheeks. He had been forced to look at another woman; it wasn't his fault. This was going complicate things. She remained seated, much to his relief. Running out of the room would've caused a distraction and even more embarrassment than Ciel had already suffered.

The dancers finally dispersed out of the room and in came a new set of entertainers: snake charmers. A pair came out, and then finally, an elaborately dressed third. He was obviously not Indian. In fact, his face was incredibly pale, almost white. He was fully clothed in what looked like circus wear, with many snakes wrapped around his arms, his shoulders, and even a very small one wrapped around his ear.

The two snake charmers on either side, each holding one albino snake, began to pull out and play their hypnotic flutes. The snake charmer in the middle, the odd one, his specialty being cobras, began an eye-popping routine of dancing with his snakes. He made them slide down his wiry legs and somehow, without music, save for the two charmers' flutes on either side, the snakes began to "dance," puffing out their bellies and expanding their necks, then waving their bodies back and forth, paying the utmost attention to their master.

The performance was nearly hypnotizing in itself, the music flowing freely and the snakes' bodies flowing with it. The room was silent and in awe of the amazing performance. Their eyes were on the odd snake charmer, and no one else.

This would be their mistake only Sebastian would catch.

One of the albino snakes of the one of the two charmers on either side of the master snake charmer began to disobey its master. In fact, it found the crowd far more interesting than the music or its master. The master simply stopped his flute playing and bowed his head. The snake began to make its tracks around the crowd, but no one seemed to notice, nor did they think that this was something to be concerned about. They were too busy looking at the master snake charmer, his fluid movements, and the movements of his snakes, of interest to everyone.

Out of all the people who were paying attention, it was Sebastian who had spotted the stray snake first. He eyed it and carefully scaled the walls, wondering where the snake was heading and if any of the guests were in danger. He saw it slither under the material of a very large pillow, which a very fat prince sat on.

Sebastian grimaced and hurried forward, trying to follow it behind the guests without being noticed. He lost sight of it momentarily, but whenever he saw the familiar rustle of material and the tail move across the stone floor, he knew whom the snake had slithered behind: Ciel.

Ciel's face immediately went red as he felt the scales slide across his leg and glared at the woman next to him. "Not you too-Augh!" Ciel let out a cry of pain and doubled over in his sitting position, clutching his calf that the snake had abandoned.

Sebastian, always handy with the forks and knives, took three out from under his sleeve, and threw them into the snake's body. It stopped moving. Sebastian came forward and observed his targets: one fork stabbed its head, one fork stabbed its neck, and the other stabbed its belly. Blood began to soak the floor.

A scream echoed around the room, and instead of the scream coming from Ciel, Lizzy, or a frightened princess, it came from the odd snake charmer. After the scream quieted down, the snake charmer made a very odd comment: "Said Emily."

Author's Notes: OMG, I apologize for taking such a long time on this. Please forgive me and enjoy this chapter! :D Read and review! If you've kept up with the Kuroshitsuji manga, you'll understand the relevance of the last line from the master snake charmer.