Ciel Phantomhive was calm; he had to be. But as he observed the raucous crowd before him with fretful eyes, Ciel could have sworn he felt his viscera turning inside-out. Nearly everyone was yelling to be heard over one another, hitting and pushing each other just so they could get to the front of the crowd to get a better view—a better view of him. Their newest (what did Madame Red call him?) servant of the brothel.

One man in particular had moseyed up to the stage in the spacious lobby as if he held all the time in the world. By his ostentatious attire Ciel had easily deduced that this man was none other than one of London's noble men, as well as a drunkard by the way he staggered forward like a sick man. Ciel cringed in sheer disgust as the noble man suddenly lunged at him in his inebriation, while muttering something unintelligible. He grabbed the boy's ankle, but Ciel managed to kick the foul man's hand away. The noble man merely cackled ominously like it was a fun game, as Ciel wisely moved further back on the stage. Despite his valiant efforts to remain calm, Ciel's body finally acquiesced to the sensations that besieged him. His heart raced faster than he thought possible, sweat oozed from his pores, damping his pitch black hair and soiling his fashionable garment, while his salivary glands set themselves into overdrive as the sudden impulse to vomit had become apparent. Ciel had no idea that someone was carefully watching him or how they smirked as they smelled the stench of fear that clung to him like an intangible cloak from across the lobby.

"Freddy!"

A woman wearing a Victorian styled dress had marched straight toward the drunken noble man. She was fairly attractive for her middle age and her dress appeared to be customized, probably in one of London's more popular tailor shops. Her chestnut hair was neatly coiffed. Somehow the woman seemed to have no problem piloting through the crowd, for they provided hardly any resistance against her. Perhaps this woman was another one of London's well-liked aristocrats? Not that it mattered. Ciel didn't know who she was and honestly failed to give a shit. Keeping up with the aristocracy was—is—his Uncle Sebastian's job.

Sebastian Michaelis…

Ciel vigorously crumpled up the image of his uncle's face. The last thing he wanted or needed to do at the moment was think about that traitorous bastard. Sebastian would get his due punishment eventually. Ciel just needed to concentrate on a plan of how to escape this debasing hell first.

"C'mere… boy!" said the noble man, whose name was evidently Freddy. He partly chuckled (creepily), partly coughed as he reached into his deep coat pocket and extracted a few coins, setting them on the stage with a loud smack. "I said c'mere boy!" he commanded with slurred words. "I wanna 'ave some fun with ya. You see… I'll even pay ya."

"Freddy! I knew I would find you here. What on earth are you doing? Stop it this instant!"

The noble woman had caught up to him by now and firmly clutched Freddy's arm. Even in his drunkenness, her feeble attempts to pull her brother away from the stage proved to be in vain. Freddy just snatched his arm loose, while baring his mildly yellow-stained teeth in frustration from being bothered by what he saw to be an arrogant pest. His eyes narrowed as if he were seeing her from across a wide valley and mumbled, "Eh? What are you doing here, Beatrice?"

Beatrice, the one in question, scrunched her nose and leaned back a few inches. Pungent waves of strong liquor rolled out of his mouth, assaulting the poor woman's sense of smell and sight. Yep… her baby brother had been drinking, all right.

"I could ask you the same thing! Clearly you are drunk!"

"No… no, no, no… I am not drunk. I had'a couple drinks with 'em guys… but I am not drunk!" Freddy said defensively. He retreated from the stage and fully turned around to confront his elder sister. At this point the two of them had entered a rather comical shouting match of who was right and who was wrong.

Meanwhile, the owner of the brothel, who witnessed the whole scenario, tried massaging a throbbing vein in her temple. Gently waving a hand protected by a crimson glove, Madame Red beckoned her trustworthy security guard, who sauntered over to the stage on which his master regally stood. She tentatively lifted the hem of her dress so it wouldn't get dirty as she bent down to meet her guard's eye level.

"Be a dear, Claude, and please escort those two from my wonderful establishment. They are testing my patience and I don't have the time and desire to confront those noisy buffoons."

Claude said nothing in return, just nodded in agreement.

"Thank you darling," Madame Red purred as she seductively stroked her lover's chin.

Everyone watched with relief as the two still arguing siblings were hurriedly escorted from the building. Ciel was grateful and prayed he never had that awful man as a client. Dear lord… the fact he was even praying about it to a God he didn't believe in just proved how far he had fallen. After Madame Red completed her smooth introduction of their newest member to the crowd of impatient customers and gave orders to the brothel staff, she then addressed Ciel.

"As the owner of this fine establishment, I would like to personally welcome you, Ciel Phantomhive, to the Happy House." When she spoke it was with a tone that practically overflowed with practiced joy that caused Ciel's stomach to turn. This woman, he thought, is dangerous. "Now I know you're new here and everything may seem overwhelming, but I want you to know that as long as you stay and obey the rules in place you will have my full support. If there is anything you need—anything at all—then please don't hesitate to inform either me or my secretary immediately. Is that understood child?"

Ciel stared at the brightly dressed woman for a few seconds before replying in a sullen voice, "Yes, of course I understand. I'm not an imbecile."

"No. Of course not. I never said you were, did I?"

Ciel repressed a grin. Madame Red sounded rather testy now. Must have hit a nerve. She must've known how she sounded at the moment because she cleared her throat before continuing.

"Anyway, my dear Ciel, I have taken the liberty of assigning you a tutor. I know what you're wondering and I will expound on the subject. This will not be your average tutor. His duty is to introduce you to the other servants, staff members, and educate you about our clients and their specific predilections. It will also be his duty to demonstrate to you on how to satisfy our clients. There's a reason for our building's name, after all. Now that I have provided you with the basic explanation, are you ready to meet your tutor?"

He wasn't. He was far from being ready. But Ciel swallowed hard and nodded anyway.

Madame Red sidestepped so Ciel could see what was behind her, and with a sweeping motion of her hand stated, "Ciel, I would like you to meet our very best servant, Alois Trancy."

And there he stood in all of his bumptious grandeur. He approached Ciel, unafraid and sent a smug grin his way while grabbing Ciel's trembling hands between his own steady ones.

"Yep, that's me," he said lightheartedly. "Alois Trancy. I'm also known as The Golden Emperor, among a bunch of other lame names. But you can just call me Alois if that suits you better." He released one of Ciel's hands, observing as the lad's dark blue eyes warily followed the path of Alois' fingers until they gently landed on Ciel's cheek, caressing it. "Won't you give me the pleasure of saying your name?" he said in a sensual drawl.

"I'm Ciel Phantomhive," he stated in a monotone, not wanting to reveal how he actually felt through his speech.

Nevertheless, he flushed a little deeper with each stroke, making Alois grin a little a harder. Already he can visualize everything he would do to this new pet that has been generously presented before him. If Ciel had a difficult time with such low level touching, then Alois could only ponder how the boy would handle whatever it was his tutor had in store for him. Just the thought of it made Alois want to leap out of his skin in sheer excitement.

Poor bastard would probably faint upon contact. Too bad. It'll leave him wide open for me to have my share of fun…

Oh, how he eagerly awaited the opportunity to violate Ciel's delicious little ass and force that exotic tongue to work… The images he conjured up were enough to make Alois swoon with hunger of a sexual nature, the craving for automatic release scratching at the precious spot between his thighs. But not yet. Now isn't the time. Instead, he purred Ciel's name, loving the way it rolled off his tongue. It tasted like the most exorbitant sweet wine one could find. If Heaven was ever a physical being, then this is how it must have appeared.

"Welcome Ciel Phantomhive."

And then, Alois Trancy did something so natural, so insignificant, but that would affect Ciel in a most peculiar way so he would never soon forget that he was now officially in Hell.

Alois laughed.