Chapter Text
The Green Witch was perched on a high stool behind the front counter sipping coffee out of a large Starbucks cup when Sebastian and Ciel arrived at her shop the next morning. Her long black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and her simple clothing was all-black once again, accented today with bright pops of silver jewelry. She glanced up from her tablet and smiled broadly when the door chimed. "If it isn't the little trouble-maker!" she called in greeting.
Ciel's ears burned pink. "Hello," he said politely, trying not to show how her teasing always flustered him.
Ms. Sullivan's eyes ran over Sebastian curiously. "You're not poppa wolf."
The vampire quirked a brow at the odd greeting. "No, miss. My name is Sebastian Michaelis; I'm a friend of Ciel."
"Finally, one of you lot has mastered introductions. I'm Sieglinde Sullivan, but something tells me you two aren't here to chat." She hopped off her stool and rounded the counter to grab Ciel's face without preamble. The Were gasped and tensed but didn't pull away as she tilted his head side to side, humming. "I see, I see. Very interesting. I didn't think it would happen so soon though."
"What are you talking about?" Ciel demanded.
Sieglinde ignored his question. "You still haven't taken care of your vampire problem, either."
Ciel shot a look at Sebastian. "No shit. I've kind of put that on hiatus to deal with whatever this," he gestured broadly to himself, "is."
The teenage witch nodded. "Come with me." She turned abruptly, leading them into the dim back room he remembered from last time. Ciel settled himself primly next to Ms. Sullivan at the 'head' of the round table while Sebastian shuffled around like a kid in a candy store, poking, prodding, and examining everything with interest. Ciel rolled his eyes. He was the witch's problem now; she could tell him to stop if he bugged her, which apparently he didn't as she just gathered her things calmly, paying him no mind. She abruptly stabbed Ciel's hand where it rested on the arm of his chair.
"Ow! Why do you keep doing that!?" he shouted, reflexively pulling it to his chest.
"Hand," she said, extending one of hers to take it.
"No, just you just stabbed me freaking again," Ciel grumbled, clutching it tightly.
"Not you." Looking just over Ciel's head, she said, "Him."
Ciel looked up to find Sebastian looming over him like a creep. The vampire extended his left hand over Ciel's shoulder and the witch inspected it thoroughly. The star-shaped wound had faded from angry red to brown and didn't appear to be raw anymore. It also didn't really appear to be healing either, which was kind of disturbing in its own right – not nearly as disturbing as the way it suddenly glowed violet, though. Ciel jerked away again like he had the previous night. "What's wrong with it?" he asked.
The witch let go of Sebastian and handed Ciel the large hand mirror sitting in front of her. "The same thing that's wrong with you, I'd expect."
Ciel frowned and took the ornate looking glass, jumping when he saw his own reflection. He pulled the mirror closer, staring unblinkingly at the glowing purple star in his right eye until it faded. "Weird."
"Very," she noted. She jerked her head at Sebastian, gesturing for him to have a seat. "Why don't you two tell me exactly how you two got those marks?"
Ciel exchanged a look with Sebastian who nodded. The Were sighed and gestured for Sebastian to tell it. He'd been unconscious for most of what happened anyway so his account probably wasn't the most reliable.
As Sebastian told it, he had come to visit Ciel on the full moon as always but arrived to find the house on fire and Ciel missing, a packed bag left by the window. Sebastian found no survivors and no Ciel so he rightfully suspected foul play and set off in search of him. The vampire had followed Ciel's screams to a shed behind the Trancy house and arrived just in time to see Alois preparing to stab him with the star blade. Naturally, he threw out a hand to stop the blade only for it to tear right through him and slam into Ciel, through his eye.
Ciel flinched at that part, reaching up to gingerly touch his eyelid as if to reassure himself it was still there.
Sebastian then described in great detail how he tore Alois and Claude limb-from-limb as they screamed in horrible agony – a wonderfully bloody account which was cut off abruptly by Sieglinde with, "Yes, yes, I get the picture. You made werewolf soup, moving on." She snatched Ciel's hand while he was distracted, holding it up to show that it was perfectly healed. "I take it this doesn't normally happen?"
Ciel blinked at it, forgetting to struggle in his surprise. "Not that fast, no. Normally it would take an hour or two to heal that well."
She nodded. "Just as I suspected."
Ciel practically screamed in frustration at the way she kept hinting at knowing things without ever explaining what was going on. Before he could snap at her, Sebastian cut in with a polite, "What are you thinking?"
She turned to Ciel, her bottle-green eyes luminous even in the low light. "You know how vampires are made, right?"
"Yes, and I'm going to stab you with that little pig-sticker if you don't hurry the hell up and tell me what's going on," Ciel threatened, pointing at the oversized needle she seemed overly fond of tormenting him with.
Sieglinde laughed. "Feisty. I like it." She carried on explaining at her own pace. "Then you know that a significant amount of vampire blood has to enter the human – or in this case, werewolf – system at the moment of death for the magic to take hold and change that person into a vampire, yes?"
Ciel hadn't known all that specifically, but he had gotten the general idea of vampire blood healing dying people from Sebastian's garbled tale of what happened to him, so he nodded anyway.
"And you also know that the dagger I gave you syphons a vampire's magical energy away, correct?" Ciel nodded again, an idea forming in the back of his mind. "Well then, I'd say this was a one-in-a-million chance occurrence." She paused to let Ciel finish putting the pieces together himself before nodding. "Exactly. The dagger killed you like any normal dagger would have, however, in the process, it also went through Mister Michaelis. Again, under normal circumstances that much vampire blood-magic would have turned you into a vampire … if you hadn't been killed by a vampire-draining dagger."
Ciel blinked at her. A headache was forming behind his eyes as he tried to grasp all the twists and turns. "Shouldn't I just be … dead, then?"
"I'm assuming Sebastian here immediately yanked the dagger out of his hand, ergo your head, right?" Sebastian nodded. "Well, then. That certainly doesn't meet the criteria of 'long enough for the magic to work' now does it?"
"Time out," Ciel called, putting his hands together to make a T. "You're saying I died because I got stabbed, and then I was healed by Sebastian's blood, but I'm not a vampire because, what, the dagger is somehow syphoning away this invisible 'vampire magic' shit?"
"Essentially, yes. You're trapped in transition. Any time the vampire contagion, for lack of a better word, flares up to heal you or tries to push your body over the border from biological to magical, the dagger's magic sucks it away."
He believed that about as much as he did Sebastian's kooky idea that a person's soul traveled around in his blood, but nodded anyway. "Okay, so if all that is true, what's wrong with Sebastian? He's not transitioning and it doesn't seem to be killing him."
"He didn't get stabbed in the head," Sieglinde pointed out. "He got a brief poke in a non-fatal area. If it weren't for you, his hand would have already healed."
"Me! How's it my fault?" Ciel sputtered.
She sighed. "Do you even listen? I didn't say it was your fault. His magic is trying to turn you and it can't. If this were a normal transition, you'd either be fully vampire or fully dead; the end, connection closed. Because of your situation, you can't die or transition and the connection between you is stuck open."
"We're … connected?" Ciel asked, looking at the vampire to his right. Sebastian shrugged, clearly as confused as he was.
"Honestly!" Sieglinde huffed. "Don't either of you know anything about magic?" Ciel shook his head. Sebastian held up his pinched fingers to indicate 'a little.' She sighed again. "Yes, you're connected. Transitions draw on the sire vampire's magic to heal and complete the transformation. Once the fledgling vampire completes his metamorphosis into a beautiful blood-sucking butterfly, his own magic takes over. Since you," she pointed at Ciel, "will never be a butterfly, you," she pointed at Sebastian, "will always be on the hook for healing his boo-boos."
Ignoring her condescension, Ciel blinked as the implications of her words sank in. "Are you saying that I'm still a werewolf?"
"Fully."
"And that I can't be injured or killed?"
"So long as you're still attached to that big battery there, no. Not by outside means, anyway. Biological things like diseases will probably still happen, though."
"And what does that mean for me?" Sebastian asked, staring at his marked hand.
She eyed him thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "Not much, I'd expect. You may have to increase your feedings a bit to keep up with the extra magical expenditure of caring for your new pet but unless he's exceptionally clumsy, he shouldn't be much of a drain."
Ciel bristled. "I am not his pet!"
"Potato, potatoe, short stack. He's stuck taking care of you for the rest of your natural life whether he wants to or not so maybe you should try to be a little grateful, hm?"
Sebastian gave him a smug look which Ciel returned balefully. "Like hell," he muttered.
Sieglinde snorted daintily. "Something for you to work out later then, huh? Fine. Now about your vampire problem."
Ciel rolled his eyes. "We just finished discussing my vampire problem."
She waved him off. "Do you want my help or not?"
"What do you mean?" Ciel asked, confused.
"You were all gung-ho about killing your stalker two months ago," she said, throwing up a hand. "Have you changed your mind or something?"
"Why would I want to kill Sebastian if he's taking care of me? Wouldn't that be counterproductive?"
She paused and tilted her head. "Yes it would. I would advise against doing that."
"But you just said –"
"I believe you two are talking about two different things," Sebastian interjected.
Sieglinde looked between the two males, mouth widening into an O of understanding. She laughed hysterically, making Ciel grimace and want to cover his ears. "This really is too good," she said, wiping away a tear. While Sebastian was always at the top of his Shit List, this little female was certainly giving him a run for his money. The Green Witch leaned over the table to invade Ciel's space and ask: "You did the monster mash with this guy while thinking he was killing your friends? What kind of therapy do you need, kid?"
Ciel gawked. "I can't believe you just said that."
"And I can't believe you're porking a man who looks just like your dad, but do you seriously think he's the killer? Seriously?"
"Um," he looked between her incredulous face and Sebastian's amused one, suddenly feeling unsure of himself. "Yes?"
She threw up her hands and stood, pacing. "I do not know why you put up with him," she told Sebastian. "He's a cute little runt but he better be amazing in the sack to make up for his issues."
"That he is," Sebastian said, deep voice rumbling with amusement. Ciel threw him a pained expression, begging him to shut up. Sebastian snickered and patted him on the head, earning a glare.
"Are you trying to tell me there's another one of these lunatics out there?" Ciel demanded, jerking a thumb at Sebastian and ignoring his petting. He honestly didn't know if he could handle the thought of a second murderous, clingy hell-beast breathing down his neck.
"Yep," she said, flopping back down. "There are a surprising number of them out there actually but only one other one who's focused on you."
"Thank God for small favors," Ciel muttered.
"Since you're having no luck finding the vampire on your own, how about I make it come to you, hm?"
Ciel perked up. "You can do that? Why didn't you do it before?"
"Why didn't I sic a murderous vampire on a pack of paranoid werewolves who would blame me for everything and kill me on sight? Gee, I wonder." Ciel pulled a face. Yeah, they probably would have blamed her for everything if they thought she could control the vampire, even minutely. There was a time when he would have argued that his pack was level-headed and fair, but that time had long since passed. He could now say from personal experience that werewolves are completely intolerant and borderline paranoid. "I trust you brought the dagger?"
Ciel cocked his head when Sebastian pulled it out of his jacket and handed it over. "This thing can hurt me. You didn't think I just left it lying around, did you?" Sebastian explained. Ciel shrugged. He hadn't thought of it like that, but it made sense. He probably would have done the same thing.
"Excellent. I'm going to use this to create a beacon to lure the vampire in. The creature is already drawn to baby-wolf and this was pretty intimately acquainted with him so it'll make a good substitute."
Sebastian looked like he was about to name something else that had been 'intimately acquainted' with Ciel but was silenced by a dirty look. To prevent the vampire from saying anything, he asked, "Why not just have the vampire come directly to me?"
Sieglinde slanted her eyes over to him, hands setting up her spell tray automatically without pausing. "Ignoring the fact that I'm about to light this on fire, do you want a murderous vampire to show up in the room while you're on the pot or in the shower?" Ciel shook his head. "Didn't think so. Using people as beacons is generally a bad idea, no matter what you're trying to attract." Ciel nodded, not interrupting again. He watched in rapt silence as she sprinkled pink salt over the blade, dipped it into a glossy liquid, blew incense over it, and plunged it into an empty bowl where it immediately burst into flames. She was muttering something under her breath the whole time. Her words sounded foreign and Ciel doubted he would have been able to understand them if he could hear them. The flames stopped abruptly when her chant ended and Ciel was strangely gratified by the overtly magical display; it more than made up for the less-showy performance when she read his blood last time.
The Green Witch lifted the dagger by its handle and flicked it. The black color of the blade slipped down like oil, flung off by the motion to reveal gleaming gold. The unnatural sight made the hairs on the back of Ciel's neck stand up as his brain tried to process what just happened. She extended the blade past Ciel to Sebastian, who took it gingerly. "I would suggest keeping this away from Ciel as much as possible, otherwise I might as well have just used him." The vampire nodded.
"How long will it take?" Ciel asked.
Sieglinde threw up a hand. "Hours, days, who knows? The pull will get stronger and stronger until it can't be resisted. The vampire might show up immediately or might fight against it for weeks. Only time will tell."
Ciel's brow twitched. "That's helpful."
The witch's expression darkened. "Not as helpful as the bill you're about to pay."
"B-bill?" he asked, taken aback.
"I'm a business, shrimp, of course there's a bill. You think I do this out of the goodness of my little heart?" Ciel blinked at her. She scoffed and turned her attention to Sebastian. "Cash or credit?"
Walking out to the car a few minutes later, Ciel grumbled, "I can't believe you just gave her five grand."
"Would you rather I had bartered my services to her as payment?" the vampire asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Tch, like I care what you do. I just meant I can't believe she charged that much." Ciel folded his arms and scowled at the ground.
Heeding the witch's advice to keep the dagger away from Ciel, Sebastian secured it in the cargo hold of his black SUV before joining Ciel up in the front. "She did provide useful information," Sebastian pointed out. "And she gave me a lucky quarter." The vampire held up the ordinary coin in question. Her only instructions had been "Don't lose this. It will determine your future one day." Ciel made a rude noise, clearly thinking that Sebastian had been had. Sebastian grinned slyly. "No? Why don't we talk about your daddy issues, then?"
Ciel choked.
---
They drove around town all day as they debated on where to wait for the vampire to show up, eventually deciding familiar ground would be best. With no further ado, Sebastian returned them to his house. Ciel stared at the pretty white and sage exterior, trying for the millionth time to wrap his mind around the idea of vampires in suburbia. It looked so normal from the outside.
Sebastian moved the dagger into his rarely-used front sitting room, wedging it between couch cushions where Ciel could reach it quickly and easily if needed. Obviously, that was a last resort backup scenario; Plan A was for Sebastian to hear the vampire breaking in and rip his head off before the creature knew what was happening. Having seen (or not seen, as was more accurately the case) how quickly Sebastian moved, Ciel thought Plan A was lightyears better than trusting his own fumbling fingers to somehow find, raise, aim, and drive in the dagger before the vampire grabbed him.
The two retreated to the back of the house to wait. Ciel knew Ms. Sullivan said it could take days or even weeks for the vampire to show up, but he was sitting on pins and needles, growing tenser by the second as he waited for it to happen any second.
"You're going to hyperventilate," Sebastian warned without looking up as he cut raw chicken breasts into strips. Ciel flinched at the unexpected sound of his voice. "Why don't you cut up those potatoes?" The vampire suggested, lifting his elbow to indicate a perforated plastic bag on the white stone counter. "We'll make French fries to go with your chicken fingers."
"But what if –"
"Then I will kill him, wash my hands, and continue cooking your dinner. You have absolutely nothing to be worried about, Ciel." The vampire dumped the chicken into a bowl of beaten eggs and stirred it around with the fingertips of one hand before dredging the pieces through a flour mixture. Ciel felt himself relaxing as he watched Sebastian's calm, methodical movements. If the vampire wasn't worried, he shouldn't be either. Frazzled nerves soothed, he pulled a large, wooden cutting board off the wall and set about slicing the potatoes into even wedges. Sebastian nodded his approval and pulled out a second skillet, putting it next to the first on his gas range and filling both with oil.
A polite knock sounded on the front door, making both men pause and exchange a glance. That was unexpected.
"Do you think it's him?" Ciel whispered, not moving a muscle.
Sebastian hummed thoughtfully, staring in the direction of the front door even though there were too many walls and corners between them to see it. "I doubt it. Rampaging vampires generally don't knock." The doorbell chimed, followed by another polite knock. "Hell of a time for Girl Scout cookies, though" he muttered. "Stay here; I'll get rid of them."
Ciel nodded and waited a solid 3.5 seconds before following right after him. He poked his nose around the corner just in time to watch Sebastian open the door. His mouth fell open at who was on the other side.
"Yes?" the vampire asked politely.
"Hello, handsome!" Grell purred, draping herself across the frame.
Sebastian's face twisted in confusion and Ciel walked up cautiously behind him to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. "Grell?" he asked incredulously. Her slender frame was backlit by the vibrant orange sunlight, red hair practically glowing. It felt so surreal he almost pinched himself.
Grell's red lips parted in a wide smile. "Heya, kiddo! I just knew you made it out."
Sebastian looked from Ciel to the redheaded stranger and back. "You know him?"
"Her!" Grell snapped. "And yes he certainly does." Grell crossed her arms over her flat chest. Sebastian could be forgiven for his confusion considering her very masculine attire today consisting of a white button-up with black vest, slacks, and flat brogues. Aside from her long red hair and flawless makeup, there was absolutely nothing feminine about her look which struck Ciel as slightly odd.
"How did you find me?" Ciel asked warily. "And more importantly: how did you make it out?" Sebastian had said no one was alive inside – does that mean Grell wasn't there … or wasn't alive?
"Are we going to stand in the door all day or what?" Grell huffed.
Ciel looked up at Sebastian, who looked as skeptical as he felt. The vampire jerked his head toward the parlor and Ciel nodded. "Yeah, alright. Come on in." He backed slowly into the front sitting room, claiming a seat on the sofa next to the hidden dagger. He rested his hand casually on the seam of the couch cushions. Sebastian stood in the doorway, keeping a keen eye on Grell, who claimed a club chair. Grell looked the same as she always had and her vivid green eyes seemed completely unaffected by the bright light, so she obviously hadn't joined Team Vampire, but that didn't mean she hadn't been working with the mystery vamp all along. Ciel perked up. Speaking of vampires … "Grell, where's Aunt Ann?" If his assumption about Grell being dead had been wrong, Ann might not be dead either.
"Oh, she's lurking around somewhere," Grell said with a wave of her hand.
Ciel's breath caught. "So she's not –" he cut off, unable to say the word.
"Dead?" Grell supplied for him. "Heavens no. It takes more than a little fire to kill a vampire."
Ciel's shocked eyes darted to Sebastian. "You never told me that!"
Sebastian's brows rose at the Were's accusatory tone. "Why would I? You know the only thing that can kill a vampire is magic."
"Yes – but you said no one was alive – and I thought that meant –" Ciel stammered. He looked back at Grell, "So she's okay?"
"Of course. She's madder than a hornet that all her clothes got burned up, but otherwise she's fine." Grell leaned back and twirled a lock of hair.
Ciel slumped in relief. "Thank God. I thought everyone had, you know." Tears prickled at his eyes.
Grell clucked her tongue. "You poor little thing. Yes, she's alright; you're not alone. I'm sure she'd be delighted if you wanted to move in with her."
"You didn't answer his questions," Sebastian pointed out coolly. "How did you make it out of the fire and why are you here?"
Grell blinked up at him. "Simple: I wasn't there. Neither was Ann for that matter. We went out for ice cream after Ciel stormed up to his room and came back to find the whole place up in flames. She went in to try and save anyone she could but Rachel and Vincent were already dead; Ciel was missing."
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "How convenient."
Grell clenched her jaw. "It's the truth."
"And you happened to stumble upon the correct house to find Ciel two days later?"
Grell made an ugly face at him. "The obvious place to find that little squirt was with his boyfriend. We just asked around about you until someone told us where your house was. It's not like you live far away."
Sebastian still looked unconvinced and Ciel didn't blame him. Something was definitely … off. Another knock sounded on the door and both men froze, eyeing it warily.
"Isn't anyone going to get that?" Grell asked brightly. Her usual manic grin was rubbing Ciel in all the wrong ways today. Sebastian looked at her darkly and the knocking sounded again. Ciel gestured for him to go get it. He would be fine alone with a human for a few minutes.
"Oh, hello," the familiar voice of Angelina echoed through the foyer clearly when Sebastian opened the door. "I'm here for my nephew."
"In here, Ann," Grell called, forestalling any response Sebastian might have had. Aunt Ann stepped inside uninvited, eyes locking onto Ciel. She moved toward him only to have her bicep grabbed by Sebastian in an iron hold.
Ann tugged, frowning when she couldn't break free. "What is the meaning of this?" she snarled. "Unhand me!"
Ignoring the open door, Sebastian scowled down at her. "You're the one we're looking for, aren't you?"
Ann redoubled her efforts to break free. "What are you talking about? Let me go. Ciel!" she pleaded.
Ciel's eyes were wide as he watched Sebastian and Ann struggle. "Aunt Ann, what's he talking about?"
"I don't know. Just call him off already." She ceased her struggles, glaring up at him fiercely. Sebastian now gripped both of her upper arms tightly. "I just want my nephew."
Sebastian chuckled darkly. "Yes, I'd say you do. Enough to kill for him. Enough to take everything from him. Enough to make sure he's so completely alone in the world that he has no choice but to cling to you."
Ciel scooted back on the sofa, pressing his back against the arm as he instinctively recoiled. "Ann?" he asked, a horrible idea forming in his mind.
"You didn't count on anyone seeing the bodies, did you?" Sebastian asked calmly, as if what little was left of Ciel's world wasn't going to hell in that room. The raven-haired man leaned down to stage whisper in her ear, "But I did."
The effect was instantaneous. Ann went rigid in his grip, then slackened as she breathed out the faintest unamused laugh. Her lips curled in a wry smile. "So you know, then."
Sebastian bared his teeth in a sharp smile. "Why don't you explain it to the class? I'm sure Ciel would love to know why you killed his parents."
Ciel shook his head. "No. Aunt Ann, please no."
She looked pained, though Ciel suspected it had more to do with getting caught than any real guilt. She tried to take a step forward but was brought up short by Sebastian, who smiled as if daring her to try something. She snarled at him, face softening as she turned back around to look at Ciel. "Pumpkin –"
"Don't call me that!" he shouted, curling in on himself.
Her red brows drew together. "I only did it to protect you. You know that what Vincent was going to tell the elders would have been bad for you. They would have killed you, all of you."
"Or they could not have!" Ciel shouted back. "Did you ever think that they might have listened?"
She gave him a pitying expression. "Werewolves? Listen? About outsiders? Honey, I don't know what lies those mongrels have been feeding you but werewolves don't listen, understand, or tolerate shit!" She unconsciously pulled against Sebastian, expression pained. "They would have killed you for being with him and I refused to let that happen."
"She's right you know," Grell chimed in. She was leaned back comfortably in her chair with her legs crossed, examining her nails casually. "Your aunt did you a favor, kid."
Ciel blinked at her. "How can you say that? She killed my parents."
"Not just your parents," Sebastian noted. Ciel paled. "That's right; she killed all the others, too."
Ciel swallowed, face hardening. "It was you." He didn't ask; he stated it. If she had killed her own sister to 'protect' him, strangers would have been no small matter. "I was fool for ruling you out."
It was her turn to look shocked. "You suspected your own aunt?" Ciel's lip curled at the note of hurt in her voice. How dare she act offended when she was the culprit all along?
"Of course; you are a vampire. Naturally you were a suspect regardless of your degree of relationship to me. I crossed you off because you didn't come to town until after the first two murders … or so I thought." He burned her with a dirty look, hatred smoldering in his blue eyes. Ciel practically kicked himself for not considering the possibility that Ann and Grell could have snuck into town weeks before anyone knew and lied about it. "What did you hope to accomplish, Ann?"
Her red eyes widened. "I only wanted to protect you."
Ciel's eyes narrowed. "I doubt it, so I'll ask again. What did you want, Ann?"
Her face contorted disturbingly. "I wanted you!" she practically screamed, voice full of pain. Only Sebastian's grip on her held her up.
Ciel scowled. "What the hell does that mean? You wanted me?" Ann looked way, not speaking. Ciel looked over at Grell, who pantomimed zipping her lips and appeared disturbingly amused by the whole situation. Ciel frowned, watching her closely out of the corner of his eye as he turned his attention back to Sebastian.
At Ciel's look, he shook Ann slightly. She kept her lips stubbornly sealed. "Well, if you're not going to talk, maybe I'll venture a guess, hm?" Sebastian purred in her ear. Ann squeezed her eyes shut. "I think you were so hung up on Ciel's father that you wanted a second shot at him. You were going to use your long-lost-love's son as a substitute despite the fact he is your own nephew. How disturbing."
Ciel made a fact of disgust. That idea was revolting, and from the furious look on Ann's face it wasn't correct. She whipped her head around to spit in Sebastian's face. "You're sick."
He smiled brightly, ignoring the mess on his cheek. "Why don't you enlighten us, then?"
"He should have been mine! I was going to marry Vincent, not my sister – me. I love Ciel as my own child. I would never hurt him," she said firmly, with dogmatic conviction. There was clearly no doubt in her mind that what she had done was right.
"Aunt Ann," Ciel whispered, stunned by her outburst.
"Don't you see how much I love you, pumpkin? If I were your mother I would never have let any of those filthy mongrels touch you. All I ever wanted was to protect you. Why don't you come back home with me? We can live together like we were always meant to."
Ciel's heart sank. Ann was clearly delusional. There would be no forgiveness or apologies here, no fixing what she had done. There was only one solution. He licked his lips and met Sebastian's eyes. In a flash, his hands were around her throat and Ciel was in a mirror position across the room with Grell's fingers digging into his own neck.
"Ah-ah-ah," Grell chided Sebastian. "Let Ann go or the kid gets it." Sebastian froze, not releasing his grip on the female vampire. Grell started humming and tightening his fingers. After a second Ciel recognized the tune and widened his eyes: Pop goes the Weasel.
Sebastian slackened his fingers enough for Ann to shout, "Grell, no!"
"Sorry, Ann dear, but I'm not going to let him end you." Grell relaxed his own grip enough for Ciel to gasp in a breath before tightening it back down as their stalemate continued.
Ciel struggled ineffectively. He scrabbled at Grell's hands and kicked her shins, eyes bulging from the pressure – and the sudden realization of what Grell was. "Vam-pi-re," he wheezed against the fingers crushing his windpipe.
"Very good," she giggled, smiling her Cheshire grin.
"But – how?" Ciel spared precious oxygen to gasp.
Grell threw up one hand dramatically, still gripping Ciel's throat firmly with the other. "A long, long time ago – no, let's not start there. That's not interesting to you at all. Once upon a time, my best friend agreed to carry a baby for me." Ciel blinked at the unexpected response. What could this possibly have to do with –? Grell's theatrical dialogue cut off his pondering. Her grip loosened slightly as she spoke so he wouldn't pass out and rob her of her audience. "It wasn't my baby, of course, as my kind can't reproduce like that, but it didn't matter. She was carrying a baby and it was going to be mine. We were all very happy until one day when her childhood crush finally noticed her. They fell madly in love and were going to be married, but she had a deep, dark secret: she never told him she was carrying another man's baby." Ciel inhaled sharply, eyes going to Ann who stood statue still in Sebastian's grip, face blank. "The selfish little girl didn't want to lose her shot at being a princess so she went out and killed my baby." Grell's voice grew distorted as her fangs extended. "Bad girls need to be punished so I showed her just what it felt like to lose the thing you wanted most." Grell pulled Ciel to her chest, one arm wrapped around his stomach, the other around his throat. She leaned down to breathe into his ear, "I ripped her open; pulled out that womb she didn't seem to value, and beat her empty head in with a brick." Ciel shivered, making Grell laugh. She stood back up and finished airily. "Naturally the little tart wouldn't have learned anything if she died, so I fixed her all up and we continued being the best of friends ever since. The end."
Ciel stared at Ann in horrified silence, at a complete loss for words. Her wry smile returned at his dumbfounded expression. "I told Vincent what happened and he left me. The man I've loved for my entire life left me because I died. He told me there was no place for a creature like me in pack life; it 'goes against their rules.' So you see, I do know your precious pack better than you."
Grell rolled her eyes. Up this close and paying attention, Ciel could see that they were contacts. Very good contacts, but colored lenses nonetheless. "This is all very entertaining, but let's get this show on the road, hm? Let Ann go or I kill the little kitty. Nothing personal, kid, but I don't fancy letting your hunka-man rip her head off."
"Don't you dare," Ann snarled. Sebastian, however, was abnormally calm.
"Sorry, dearie. If I have to pick between you and short-stack, I'm picking my bestie every time."
"Why are you doing this?" Ciel shouted. "You don't care about me. Why are you even here?"
Grell huffed. "Enough talking."
"No," Ciel said stubbornly. "If I'm going to die, I want to know why."
"I'm here because Ann was supposed to just grab you and go but she got in over her own fool head, that's why," Grell snapped. "She wasn't happy with just taking you; she wanted to make sure you liked her and wanted to go." Her sharp nails dug into Ciel's skin and drew blood as her fingers closed around his throat. "And that's enough of that." She turned her attention to Sebastian, announcing, "Let Ann go. We're taking the kid."
Sebastian smirked. "No." He popped Ann's head off like a Barbie doll's, staring Grell straight in the eye as if saying 'Your move.' The redhead let out an inhuman cry and crushed Ciel's throat with a single squeeze, flinging him aside to lunge at Sebastian.
When Ciel's eyes reopened a few minutes later, he was on the floor practically under the sofa looking up at Sebastian and Grell grappling and tussling. The sunset had finished fading and the large picture window was now a black mirror. The two vampires lunged and retreated, flickering in and out of Ciel's vision with their speed. Grell knocked Sebastian into a chair, the legs of which snapped under the force. Sebastian retaliated by flinging Grell into a curio cabinet, which shattered and gouged the drywall. Ciel desperately wanted to help but could barely see them as they darted around. Finally, his chance came. They had their arms locked together, hands on each other's shoulders, fangs extended and snapping as they alternately pulled and pushed, each trying to get the upper hand. It was as good of a shot as he would get. Ciel shoved his hand under the couch cushion to grasp the handle of the handle of the star blade and sprang up, using his momentum to drive it through the center of Grell's back and into her heart.
Grell wheezed, wide eyes meeting Ciel's reflection in the window. Sebastian released his grip on Grell's arms and the redheaded vampire fell to her knees, gasping as if all the air in the room had been sucked out. She scratched ineffectively at her flat chest before falling back on the dagger, making Ciel gag when the tip of it popped out her front covered in gore. Neither man made a motion to remove it.
---
The next morning, Ciel went to visit Elder Harrison. He brought with him the heads of Angelina and Grell, helpfully severed by Sebastian whom Ciel was careful to leave out of all his accounts. Harrison convened the others so Ciel could tell his story to the group at large.
As Ciel told it, this whole mess was revenge, pure and simple. It began thirty years ago with the pack's rejection of Angelina after her transformation into a vampire. Ann was tired of being spit upon by the people she had hoped to call family and finally snapped, dragging another vampire in as an accomplice. She murdered the younger generation indiscriminately to punish their parents and lit Phantomhive manor on fire as a double-pronged attack to both kill the man who rejected her and murder an important Were leader. As for what the witch said about Ann being after Ciel, it was a simple misunderstanding as Ann was after all the Were children, not just Ciel whose blood was used in the scrying.
"And that is why," Ciel said, "We need to foster better relationships with outsiders. This whole mess would have been avoided if we were more tolerant. We cannot continue to live in isolation."
"But this tragedy was the result of letting an outsider live among us!" the oldest elder complained.
"No, it was the result of treating her poorly. My mother lived among you peacefully for over twenty years as a human because you were respectful of her. Ann snapped because you rejected, used, and tormented her for being different. You snatched away her happiness and held her at arm's length because she could never be like you." He looked around the room, meeting every man's eye and daring them to argue. No one did. "That is why I'm traveling to Queen Victoria to discuss this matter in person. Hopefully the next generation of werewolves will be more tolerant and this situation will not be repeated in the future."
"You have no right!" one named Jones objected. "Your father may have been District Leader but you're just an uninitiated pup. How dare you speak to us like this? You think you can march up to the queen and demand an audience like an equal just to shame us? We won't allow it."
Dark blue eyes narrowed. "You shame yourselves. This tragedy was a result of the older generation's mistakes. It is up to the younger generation to ensure it never happens again. I'm not here to ask permission; I merely came as a courtesy to let you know the situation has been resolved and explain what caused it. If you'll excuse me, I need to be on my way."
"Wait – what happened to Alois Trancy and Claude Faustus?" Wright shouted. "They've been missing since the night of the fire."
Ciel lifted his brows, the picture of innocent surprise. "Have they? That's news to me, but not entirely surprising. We did have a murderous vampire roaming around, after all."
"Either she got them or they ran off together," Harrison muttered, earning him a few dirty looks. "What? You know how close those two were. Old Trancy never would have approved. I probably would have beat it too if all my friends had been murdered."
Ciel smirked and hefted his bag of heads. He walked out without another word.
Sebastian watched the whole exchange from a tree outside, garnet eyes twinkling with amusement. Werewolves truly were entertaining creatures. He wanted to follow Ciel to the Were Queen's den (wouldn't that have been a hoot?) but the little Were drew the line at leading an outsider to their innermost inner sanctum of little wolfy secrets. Turns out the shrimp still held a shred of respect for his people after all.
Sebastian waited for his return. And waited. And eventually moved on. Contrary to Ciel's frequent accusations, Sebastian was not a stalker and let him go peacefully, though he very much would have liked to follow.
Ciel kept in loose touch over the years. An email here, a phone call there. Just after moving back into his Italian home, Sebastian learned that Ciel had not only taken over his father's position as District Leader but surpassed him as Regional Leader as well. Good for him. Contact petered out over the next few decades until Sebastian was certain Ciel had passed. It had been, what, fifty years since he'd last heard from him? Werewolves weren't terribly different from humans in lifespan.
The vampire still smiled fondly as he thought back on their brief few months together. To hell with being branded a stalker, if there was one thing he regretted it was not giving into his desire to follow that entertaining little Were boy around for the rest of his life whether Ciel wanted him or not. Sebastian's mind kept wandering back to him as he stared up at a flight board, trying to decide where to go next. One couldn't go to Hell without passing through Atlanta, Georgia so he thought it was the perfect place to start his newest leg of life.
Nassau or Cancun? he pondered. It was the dead of winter and Sebastian was sick to death of snow. He'd rather tear off his own head than go north again.
After a futile hour of watching destinations flip by with nothing catching his attention, Sebastian sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets, freezing when he felt a familiar quarter in his pocket. He pulled it out and really looked at it for the first time in ages. He had carried it with him every day since Sieglinde Sullivan had told him it would "determine his future" but it had yet to do anything at all. It was ordinary in every way and Sebastian would not have been surprised in the least to learn the little witch had only been teasing him with her weird sense of humor.
Lips quirked into a crooked smirk, he looked back up at the boards, determined to finally put his 'lucky' coin to good use. "Time to put up or shut up," he murmured to it. "Heads, the Bahamas; tails, Mexico." With that, he flicked it high into the air, watching it flip and spin. As his eyes followed it back down, they snagged on a flash of brilliant blue. He caught the coin mechanically, not looking to see what it landed on; all his attention was focused on the slender young man checking a bag ten feet away.
"Thank you very much, Mister Phantomhive. I hope you enjoy Toronto," the gate agent said cordially.
Sebastian stopped breathing when the familiar ashy-haired figure turned and walked past him, cerulean eyes locked onto his boarding pass. There was no mistaking it – this was Ciel. The original Ciel. His Ciel. Young and perfect and alive, not a day older than the last time Sebastian had seen him. The vampire looked down at the back of his left hand, which still bore a blackened star-shaped scar. He hadn't seen it glow in ages, but the connection must still be active and keeping Ciel trapped in transition.
Blazing red eyes flicked up to where he'd seen the blue-eyed man disappear and his face spread into a toothy grin. "Winter in Toronto it is."
The End