"Are you quiet comfortable young master?" the tall butler questioned as he looked at the young earl through the flickering of a candle flame. The young boy looked up from the vast ocean of satin that surrounded him in waves and made a small nest about his body.

"I am quite comfortable yes, you both may take your leave" he said his eyes playing connect the dots between the candle wielding butler to the maid that held the evening tray of tea that he had just finished taking part in. The pair bowed in unison and exited the room closing the door behind them with a barely audible click.

"They have been prowling the grounds for a good thirty minutes or so Mr. Sebastian" The red headed maid whispered looking up at him through ridiculously large frames that sat perched upon her nose.

"yes and now that the light has left the earls window they will soon move in to attack, so no time for dawdling off to your duties Miss Maylene" He responded quietly and old black eyes watched the small body dissever into the shadows that threatened to swallow the hall. The dark preyed just outside the glow of the small frame, waiting, lusting to take the house over. Inhuman ears picked up the faint sounds of the other three that remained awake around him.

"Ha" the curling of lips revealed sharp canines belonging to an unearthly face, with the shake of his head black strands of his hair fell across eyes black as deep space, pale skin becoming luminescent. With a breath the flame was no more. "This is the true strength of the Phantomhive servants"….

"Another one down" she sighed watching bodies fall down across the lawn like dominos on a gamers table. "My goodness a lot of them showed up tonight" unveiled eyes swept over the piles of guns laying around her feet, her gaze training on the five that were still standing in their posts along the top of the roof. Heals clicked echoing loudly as swung around two more rifles in hand, everything became one smooth movement as she dropped to her knees, the gun meeting her shoulder and the bullet rushing through the air to meet its target. "Trying to run from me is useless you fools" she dropped the emptied gun and rolled over the ledge her body falling down the side of the building with a rush.

Reflexes rivaling that of the quickest feline she fired the man made man slaughterer as she fell. Closing her mouth she grunted she landed into a pair of wiry arms, brown eyes met blue as Finny smiled at her. "Caught you Maylene!" he smiled swinging her to her feet and she smiled tousling the blonde headed child's hair.

"Perfect Finny, your timing has become absolutely flawless" Movement caught the corner of the ex assassins eye and she pushed the boy to the ground her body covering his as bullets whistled by "Bloody bastards!" she snarled as they nicked the stone walling of the house. "It takes forever to keep this large building in shape and they are not making the job any easier!" she looked down at the slender boy she had sent into the dewy grass beneath her "are you quite all right?" she asked and he nodded flushing as she rolled off and the pair began to crawl along the hedge line.

BANG!

"Goodness that must be Bards new toy!" she sighed as the ground trembled beneath them making pebbles dance across the garden "We are all going to have our work cut out for us in the morning" she sighed and looked over at the child beside her as she listened to shouts of confusion. "Do me a kind favor and please throw me towards the front entrance Finny" she sighed and he nodded excitedly…

Sebastian watched the man run towards him yelling such profanities as slaughtering the Phantomhive and taming the queens guard dog. He didn't lift a finger but merely watched as blood exploded from the man's left ear and he fell to the ground like a marionette with cut strings. Black orbs watched uniformed maid smirk as she reloaded her pistol all in the midst of flipping upside down. The foundation shook and the butler sighed using a white hanky to brush dust particles that had landed on his shoulders, he looked at the two corpses that cracked and landed beside him with a sickening thud, two latest victims of Bards prototype war machine.

"That one definitely causes two much of a disruption and not enough outcomes" he murmured scratching down notes on an order form "needs more work before being mass produced"….

Lightening another cigarette Bard grinned as he gripped the handles of the cannon based machine with heavily gloved hands. He nodded in greeting as his female co worker dropped down behind him to reload her own choice of weaponry.

'how many bloody people did they send out in this group, they keep seeming to multiple like rabbits!' she swore silently and reached into her apron pockets, her thudding heart coming to stand still as not only was she out of cartridges but the only thing nestled inside the cloth was a envelope. Peeking at the seal on the letter she swore the mark on her thigh throbbed violently. It was a seal that stirred many different feelings inside of her like that of a witch's cauldron. Something she saw on a yearly bases but for some reason she felt that this year something was going to happen, and it wasn't necessarily going to be a good thing. 'this is not the time Maylene!' Turning away quickly she grabbed at the metal box waiting by Bards feet…

The esteemed butler walked down the steps, stepping over the bodies strewn across the once manicured lawn as he watched the three silhouettes that stood along the stone walling of the Phantomhive manor. The intrusion had been stopped, the young master had remained asleep and he hadn't had to lift a finger. This was the personal army he had hired for young Ceil Phantomhive, a three person army that any militia would pay anything to have. "Good job you three…now we have some cleaning to do before we turn in for the night" he removed his jacket and gloves "So let's get to it"