Chapter Eight

"You sure this is her," the gruff voice followed after a prodding foot that had managed to bring Ciel out of unconsciousness. She blinked slowly, finding that her sight was obscured by some form of cloth bag. Her heart skipped a beat when this registered past the fog, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and allow her mind to process everything that had happened before she did anything drastic. Panic, she had learned, did more bad than good.

She remembered dinner with Sebastian and her aunt clearly and slowly the rest filtered through her groggy mind. The party, the dance with Sebastian, fleeing to the bathroom, the woman- it all slowly came back until she couldn't remember anymore clearly. The rest came in clips, like picture frames making up a rather choppy film. The woman had pressed something to her face, she'd passed out- Ciel could only assume that they had taken her somewhere.

"Yes."

It was the woman's voice that filtered through this time and Ciel tried not to squirm at the sound of it. How the bitch even managed to get her out of the party without anyone, let alone Sebastian, noticing was a mystery. Ciel hadn't noted a window when she'd entered, but perhaps she'd failed to notice it. She hadn't exactly been in her right mind when she had run in there. A pout appeared on her lips at the memory, but she banished the thoughts as quickly as they filtered in. She'd deal with those later when she wasn't tied up and blinded.

"So this is the soon to be Countess Phantomhive... I must admit I'm rather disappointed, I was expecting someone... older," the first voice mused, laden with a heavy Spanish accent.

The bag over her head was torn off, leaving her to blink rapidly against the sudden flood of light that briefly blinded her. The room slowly came into focus, bits and pieces registering before the teen could see the full picture. It was an office of sorts, a private home office if she were to guess. She laid down on the ground near the north wall, facing the entrance at the south end. Paintings and other various antiques scattered the decor to make the place feel official like the tomes holding their place in the bookshelf. A man was leaning against the desk not a foot or so away from her, while the woman who'd jumped Ciel in the bathroom earlier was standing near the doorway.

"Ah, but she has a lovely face. Wouldn't you agree, my mariposa?" He grinned cheeky, as he kneeled down before her.

Ciel's eye narrowed and she lifted her chin up arrogantly, or as much as she could while being in her current position. It wouldn't do to dignify that remark with a response.

The man, a male in his later thirties with darker coloring, merely chuckled at her defiance and reached forward to snag her chin with his hand; roughly dragging her upright by it until she was angled awkwardly half-upright and half-lying on her side. It was painful, but she didn't allow it to effect her features besides the slight tightening of her lips.

"What do you want?"

He tipped her chin future upwards with his pointer finger, forcing Ciel to meet his hungry gaze. "It's simply: prevent the Watchdog from coming back. Your grandfather was enough of a pest, the old dog couldn't keep his nose out of anyone's business. It was a relief to hear his son wouldn't be following in his steps, but you, my sweet mariposa, had to ruin that. We can't have the queen's loyal mutt sticking its nose where it's not wanted."

So that was what this was about. It made sense to Ciel, anyone who was working in the shadows would be afraid of the rise of the Phantomhive household. They'd want to protect their sorry excuse of trades in any way they could. This included, and was not limited to, kidnapping. And all this was occurring before the Queen had recieved her acceptance letter, she could only imagine what lengths they would take after it was publicized.

"You english have this complex, you see, you'll do anything for that Queen of yours. The loyalty is almost sickening," he spat.

Ciel rolled her eye and yanked her chin away from his grasp. "Your morals certainly are rather warped if loyalty is something to be sick over." She smirked suddenly as an idea struck her. "Though if it sickens you so, why do you want it from your men? It seems to me that if they weren't loyal your little pack of rats would turn against you... Perhaps they are even thinking of doing so now."

"Shut up!"

The hand that met her face was enough to force Ciel back down to the ground, the taste of copper biting at her tongue. She swore she heard something crack as well, but she didn't dare yelp or show any form of weakness. Ciel wouldn't be giving him that satisfaction.

"You need to learn your place, mariposa," he bit out. "You're in no position to be talking so bravely."

This was true, she was the one bound with belts and laying vulnerably on the floor while he was not. Yet she stubbornly refused to let this affect her actions. Ciel had never been one to willingly be submissive or succumb to the force of someone else. If she was going down it was going to be swinging. Plus she had a few trumps of her own, lurking just underneath her sleeve.

"Now I ask that you withdraw any acceptance letters to the Queen and write a rejection, right now... or we'll have to make you disappear."

Ciel stared blankly at him as she was once more hauled upright into a sitting position, a white sheet of paper and a pen shoved in front of her face. She blinked at the two pieces like they were alien to her, before looking up at the man in front of her with a small coy smile.

"But I already sent the first."

"Don't lie to me," the man bellowed. "My men haven't seen anyone come to the mansion or leave it since you left. No messages have been deliver by your either. So tell me where the original is so that we can destroy it."

"Do you really believe that would stop me from accepting?" Ciel questioned.

He smirked, "The Queen won't forgive your family twice, mariposa."

Ciel didn't even bat an eyelash. If he had meant for that to be a low blow, she was the least bit affected by it. Ciel herself had called her father a coward in the past for turning his back on the family, away from his duty. He'd been born with a great responsibility to take when the time came, but instead he'd walked away from it. It was cowardly and Ciel had held no respect for her father in that sense.

"Now tell me or else your pretty boy toy gets it," he threatened.

Ciel had to bow her head to hide her smirk. She had little concern for Sebastian, the demon could take care of himself just fine. Any harm he took would hinder him if anything at all. True, she was actually curious as to what could happen if he were to take a bullet. Would he even feel the pain? How long did it actually take to heal? The questions lingered, but mainly she only wanted to know who would win that short term battle: Sebastian or the gun?

Clearing the smirk into a wide spread smile, Ciel lifted her head and inclined it to the side smugly. There was nothing about her expression that revealed fear and she knew it ticked off the man more than anything. He wanted a hostage he could hustle in order to get information out of them, but sadly he'd picked the wrong target to do so on. Ciel was, if anything, good at keeping secrets.

"It would be nice to see if little puppies can play with a wolf."

A small chuckle was all her warning, before a boot came flying out to make contact with her stomach. The steel tipped toe dug in at an angle, catching her in the ribs as well. The air flew out of her lungs, flying out of her parted lips in a strangled gasp of pain. Ciel forced herself not to react besides that as the pain slowly began to dull until it matched the many other aches surfacing around her body. She'd just healed from the other incident and Ciel had a feeling Sebastian wasn't going to be too happy to find that she had found herself in a similarly situation.

"Negotiations are over," the man bit out into the phone he was clutching. "Kill him."

If Sebastian hadn't known she was kidnapped before, he'd certainly know now.

As if to further highlight her point, Ciel heard the clear sound of a gunshot ringing out from the speakers embedded into the cell. For a brief moment, Ciel's stomach twisted at the sound of it, images of Sebastian wounded and dying burning into her mind. She could clearly see it now: the scarlet blooming across her chest where the bullet had made it's deadly entrance, his beautiful face twisted up in either shock or pain. There wouldn't be much time if the shot were accurate, if not, it might take a while.

Ciel shook her head, snorting silently to herself for being so dumb. Sebastian couldn't get killed with such a weapon. That would be an insult to the demon race if one of their kind could be so easily done away with by a human weapon. It also wouldn't make sense, he was immortal after all. Immortals just didn't die.

"Damn."

The cruse broke the odd silence that had settled over the room, building a tension so thick it could have been cut with a knife. Ciel saw the man shift from foot anxiously. The news was bad, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, and it was visible in the way sweat began beading at the man's brow.

"I swear I made the shot boss," the man began hastily. "No, I know I made that shot. There was blood and everything... Yet he... he..."

"Spit it out, you useless bastard!"

"He... got back up... and... looked right at me," the male on the other end stuttered.

A large grin broke across Ciel's face and she didn't even attempt on hiding it. The outcome was expected, though she was surprised Sebastian hadn't been more theatrical about the entire thing.

"What do you mean he got up? If you shot him he should be de-."

"Shit!" The other voice swore. "He's coming this way."

"Get out of there, you worthless shit," Ciel's kidnapper ordered. "Return at once or else I'm going to kil-."

"Good evening."

The suave voice that cut him off made Ciel smile widely. She could never say with such honesty as she did now, that she was glad to hear his voice. The expression her kidnapper wore just made it all the more entertaining- the icing on the cake. His face had drained completely of blood in a matter of seconds, leaving him looking unusually pasty. The sweat on his brow looked as if someone had turned a faucet on; streams of sweat trickling down the sides of his face. His eyes were the best though. Ciel particularly enjoyed the way they seemed to bulge out of his head at her demon's voice.

"I am Sebastian Michaelis, Ciel's boyfriend... I hope she hasn't been troubling you," Sebastian's voice continued through the phone, a detectable hint of smugness interlaced in the velvety tone. "Hello? Is something the matter?"

The grip the man had on the phone tightened considerably and Ciel suspected that if he held any tighter the plastic that made up the cover would crack under the pressure. The idea was amusing, but she had more pressing issues, like figuring out how to let Sebastian know he had to get her without alerting the man and getting a beating.

"Allow me."

Ciel jolted at the voice that floated through her mind. It was distinctly male though it held a hint of femininity that suggested youth. So a young male...? She didn't have much longer to ponder over this before she felt a presences blanket herself. It was familiar, as if something from within her soul was surfacing up from the depths.

"Woof."

The words moved from lips working on their own and the voice floating from her throat was definitely not her own. Ciel was floored with confusion as the presence faded away. What had that been. She dared not think possession, a realistic person would never jump to that conclusion.

Then again a realistic person would never believe in devils.

There was a short tense pause of silence in the room, before finally Sebastian spoke once more, his smooth voice filling up the room. "Understood. Right away. I'll come for you soon... so please wait a bit longer."

The line was cut off with static, the annoying buzzing replacing the demon's voice. Her kidnapper didn't move so much as a muscle, while Ciel could barely contain her relief. Whatever had just happened to her had obviously been what was needed. Sebastian had understood it and at this point that was all that mattered.

Orders were barked out in spanish the moment the man snapped out of his stupor. The words were harsh and undecipherable to Ciel who had elected not to take the language. Now more than ever she wished she had. It might have come in handy to know what the man was saying, though it was easy to guess that the words had something to do with preventing Sebastian from ever reaching her.

Outside the room she could hear people running about, arranging themselves in front of the door to the private office. Ciel could count twelve sets of footsteps, but she suspected that there might have been a few more besides those. Even if there were more however, she didn't fear it. A whole army wouldn't be able to take Sebastian down.

Or at least she hoped as much.

The shuffling died into a dead silence rather quickly, the only noise echoing throughout the place was the loud ticking of the grandfather clock. It marked off each second, with a rhythmic tick, tick, tick. Each drifting one marked off another passing moment, another long moment that Sebastian hadn't fulfilled his promise. But there was not even a second of doubt in Ciel, she knew he'd come. It wasn't debatable. The demon did everything he said he would. He didn't lie. He would come.

Tick, tick, tick.

Ciel had lost count of each passing sound from the clock by the time it was joined with another sound. The whisper of shoes brushing against the floor seemed like deafening thunder in the silence. The tension rose with each one, until it coiled in the air so thick one could have cut it with a knife.

They didn't stop, only grew closer. There were no dramatics: no loud screaming, unearthly cries of pain, or gunfire. Only deathly silence, broken by the steady footfall of an approaching stranger.

Until finally there was a knock on the door.

"Wh-Wh...Who's there?"

Ciel watched with increasing smugness as her kidnapper stuttered and trembling before the unknown entity on the other side of the door. The pistol in his hand was poised at the double door entrance, finger trembling on the trigger. What little Ciel knew of guns, it wasn't hard to figure that he wouldn't be able to get a straight shot in that state.

The door opened in a dramatic sweep, revealing Sebastian in his full glory and, if Ciel squinted around him enough, a glimpse of the pile of bodies outside the door. Ciel's eyes lingered on the dead, wondering how Sebastian had killed them without making a sound. It developed a sense of awe in her for her demon. Said devil offered a mock bow, his signature smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth.

"Pardon me, I'm here to retrieve my date for the evening."

Her kidnapper lowered the gun, first a look of disbelief on his face and then amusement. The man chuckled to himself as he dropped his armed hand to his side. The room rung with his laughter, before he peeked out of one eye to look Sebastian over; the amusement not yet gone from his face.

"And here I was expecting a monstrous man," he chuckled. "Your nothing more than a pretty boy Romeo."

"What are you really?" He asked, lighting a cigarette. "A hired guard for the mariposa? A hit man?"

"Just one hell of a boyfriend," Sebastian smirked as Ciel rolled her eyes at the pun.

"Well I have no intentions of fighting you," the kidnapper paused, reaching down to Ciel and grabbing her by her hair. He yanked her harshly upright, drawing a suppressed yelp from her pursed lips. "I'll be taking Miss Phantomhive with me."

Sebastian's eyes narrowed dangerously and Ciel swore she saw a glint of scarlet touch his irises. "I'm sure we can work out an alternative."

Her kidnapper laughed, drawing the barrel of his pistol across the curve of Ciel's neck and her jawline. The cold metal nipped at her skin as the gun drew closer to her lips, where it teasingly followed the line of her full bottom lip. Ciel flinched at the touch, but tried to remain impassive outwardly.

"Negotiations won't be open. I'll be taking her with me," he stated, before dropping his voice to a soft murmur. "I suspect such a lovely mariposa would catch a nice price in the market, but don't worry she won't feel a thing by the time I turn her over to those perverts. The drugs pumping through those pretty veins of hers will be keeping her brain-dead, like every lovely doll should be."

Ciel flinched as the gun moved upwards and along the side of her nose, till the barrel was edging up the corner of her eyepatch. The velvet material came undone by the nudging of the gun and she had just enough time to squeeze the eye closed as the patch slipped away from her eye and fluttered down to the ground.

"Shame about this eye, but the rest of her will make up for it. I'm sure there are quite a few buyers looking for a girl who can double as a young boy," he snickered, tapping her side. "Not a single curve."

A low growl left Ciel's lips, she did to have curves. They weren't anything developed of course, or overly accented, but it wasn't as if she could help that. Still she resented him even more for saying that and, call her vain for doing so at such a time, the current situation didn't merit any worry so personal insults she'd take.

The gun tightened in the man's hand, pressed threateningly against her temple. "Now let us through or I'll shoot her."

Ciel stiffened about the same time Sebastian lazily eyed the gun. Once more Ciel had to remind herself that this was Sebastian and that he'd probably dealt with situations similar to this in the past. Actually if Ciel were honest, he'd probably dealt with situations much worse then this before. She'd never asked Sebastian about his past, or about his time with the other Ciel, but she made a mental note to do so. It would be interesting to hear about her other self's experiences.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that."

There was an ominous click of the gun, as the safety was removed.

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to shoot... you."

A round was shot, followed by another, each blast of the gun making Ciel's ears ring as she squeezed her eyes shut. She expected it to be herself, but by the time the noise died down, she felt no pain and felt very much alive.

"I believe your man already shot me once this evening and, forgive me for saying this, but I do detest the idea of having to extract another bullet."

Ciel smirked as she watched Sebastian lean over her kidnapper, his smile strangely polite as he flashed it at the shocked man. Her kidnapper looked in a state worse for wares, his eyes bulging out of his head as he forced himself to swallow hard. With a practiced air of slowness, Sebastian rose a gloved hand and pressed a bullet at the man's temple.

"Bang."

A/N: Thank you for being patient with me and for all the support. You guys are AWESOME! (and yes that required all caps).