Comforting Darkness

Chapter 16: The Tutor, An Angel and a Trickster

The following three days the Phantomhive household was rather calm and peaceful with nothing out of the ordinary happening. The staff had been informed about Miranda's arrival and Mey-Rin and Finny were the ones more excited about it, since they were practically interrogating Selina about her cousin with every chance they got. Both were certain she would be charming and sweet like Selina and then hastily reassured her they would always prefer and love her, no matter how her cousin would be. The only thing Selina could do was smile amused by the honesty and naivety of her friends.

Generally speaking, the atmosphere in the manor was very light and fun, making everyone feeling nice. Even Sebastian seemed to be in a good mood and that was evident in his interactions, especially with Selina.

Every time he was talking to her called her name with a smile, and his voice was so sweet and kind that Selina had to stop what she was doing and stare at him for a while, just to make sure that indeed he was the one talking. He was even more gentlemanly and caring to her and sometimes, discreetly showered her with compliments, but not in an ironic way as it would be expected of him. Selina often felt like he was indeed flirting with her, but then reminded herself it was part of the 'newly-wed couple in love' act and responded accordingly also playing the game. However, she was satisfied that Sebastian limited himself only to the verbal part since it would be much easier for her to deal with.

That was the case until one more rainy night after a hot day, when the male demon started giving signs of resuming his games... Unfortunately, the female witch failed to recognize the seriousness of his intentions.

Selina was in her bed trying to sleep but her sharp hearing did not allow her to do so, since the noises of Sebastian clearing the grounds from trespassers were quite audible to her. It seemed that tonight's 'guests' were more determined than usual and somehow they bothered Sebastian; Selina could hear the demon talking while killing them, in a more annoyed manner than other times... Perhaps because they dirtied his clothes. That went on for a good half hour and then five more minutes as he was getting rid of the bodies. He finally finished and came back into the house. Selina sensed him approaching his room and pulled her sheets up to her chin turning on her side determined to sleep as the demon closed the door of his chamber.

A great lightning that seemed to have stricken somewhere close lightened up the room with a thunderclap in tow. In less than a second, a loud crash of glasses was heard from upstairs, followed by a scream and a cry calling for Sebastian. Before she knew it, Selina was already outside her room running for the stairs, sensing the demon running beside her and hearing the other servants coming out of their rooms, sleepily asking what happened. In a flash, Sebastian and Selina reached Ciel's bedroom. Sebastian opened the door with force, almost unhinging it, and both ran into the room while taking in the picture before their eyes.

It looked like the lightning was indeed very close, so close that it hit a tall tree just outside the room's window, broke quite a big branch and the blowing wind threw it through the window on Ciel's bed burying the child.

"Oh my --!"

Was the only thing Selina managed to say with a trembling voice, before running to the bed while Sebastian was lifting the branch. The smaller, pointy ones were all over Ciel's covers pinning him on the mattress and as soon as Sebastian lifted the whole thing, Selina pulled the covers back and grabbed Ciel, hugging and lifting him out of bed like a small child. Thankfully, the boy did not object, on the contrary he willingly hugged the woman and allowed her to remove him from the bed.

Sebastian left the branch to fall back on the bed and was beside them in an instant. "Young master, are you harmed?" A tinge of concern in his voice.

"What happened?" and "Is young master all right?" were heard from the door as the others almost tumbled, entering the room with haste.