Haunted

Haunted (Chapter 8) Ascention

"A demon?" Sarah repeated, incredulously.

Timmy looked anxiously at his big sister, not quite understanding the concept of "demon" but knowing it probably didn't mean something good, and his little hand tightened around the cuff of Alois' jacket.

Sarah stared at Ciel wide-eyed, clearly having never considered the possibility that whoever killed them might not neccessarily have been human. "...Do you think so?" she asked, frowning in thought. "I suppose it would explain how we never saw who killed us..." She glared at Ciel, suddenly suspicious. "Wait, what gave you that idea? How can you be so sure that it was a demon?"

Ciel smiled, a touch sardonically. "I suppose you could call it personal experience," he said. "I have my... reasons." His expression became grave again. "That's as far as my knowledge extends, though. I have no idea who killed you, aside from the fact there is a high possibility that it was a demon. Trust me, I wish someone would tell me who did it almost as much as you do..." He ran a hand through his hair distractedly, the slight tinge of violet beneath his single eye indicating that he was still tired.

"The being who took your lives was, indeed, a demon."

The velvety voice rang out unexpectedly from the shadows behind Sarah, and Sebastian materialized silently out of the gloom. Nobody had even noticed him move. Sarah, too, was obviously taken aback, as she jumped violently at the sound of his voice. She turned round to look at him, fear gradually seeping into her eyes.

"How would you know that?"

Alois' eyes widened suddenly, making the connection, and loooked at Ciel to see that he, too, had figured it out. Sebastian smirked down at her as he stepped forward, and placed a gloved hand on her translucent shoulder. He leaned forward and spoke softly, but clearly, in her ear:

"Because, you see, it was I, under direct orders from a previous master, who killed you."

And he smiled, just wide enough to reveal a neat little set of fangs on his upper jaw.

Timothy whimpered softly and cowered behind Alois, trembling in fear. Alois stared at Sebastian looking visibly shocked, while Ciel cursed loudly and slapped his palm across his forehead, mentally kicking himself for not realizing the culprit had been under his nose the entire time. Claude looked silently on, his expression the usual mixture of boredom and disdain.

Sarah didn't scream. She didn't wrench herself away from him in terror, as anyone else might have done. In fact, she didn't even move. Perhaps it was because she had realized by now that he could no longer do her any harm. Instead, she looked down, and closed her eyes solemnly.

"I see," she said.

"You're not afraid of me?" Sebastian asked, amused.

"I'm not," Sarah replied calmly. "I'm already dead, after all. What could you possibly do to me now? No longer can anything in this world do us any harm. So no, I'm not afraid."

Sebastian nodded, still smiling. "Indeed," he said, removing his hand from her shoulder, and moving in the direction of Ciel. He halted abruptly, however, as he felt the young apparition catch hold of his wrist. He looked down at her, one sculpted eyebrow raised in question.

"Just tell me one more thing," Sarah said, her mask of calm indifference slipping slightly, and failing to conceal the sorrow etched into her pale face. She gripped his wrist more tightly. "Why did you do it? What made you want to take our lives?"

Her voice cracked slightly, as though she was trying not to cry.

The demon closed his eyes, and smiled again. "I did it because I was ordered to," he said simply. "There was no other motive behind my actions, nor any human sense of hatred." He opened his eyes again fractionally, his irises burning a pale fushia. "I am not like you creatures. I merely fulfilled the contract I had sealed with Harry Macdonald, nothing else." And he walked away, jerking his arm out of her grasp as he went.