Paint Me Like One Of Your French Men

Painting Twenty-Seven

Vincent was a pro at getting people to lose their cool. He was the best of the best. That's why Lau loved it when he was the card dealer. He was fair but always made it appear as if he wasn't, which led the players to the wrong conclusions, and made Lau a large sum of money.

Tonight he was especially motivated. Why? Because he saw a familiar face. Who's face? Why the face of Claudia Phantomhive. And, Claudia Phantomhive was a bitch if Vincent ever saw one. She was sitting there...right across from his table, making perfectly clear eye contact. She smiled, tilted her glass and took a drink. Vincent ignored her. He dealt out the cards to the people that wished to play.

"Dealer," Claudia smiled. "You're cheating."

"Customer, I can assure you that I am fair," Vincent smiled the classic hospitable grin.

"No, no, you cheated. Maybe not this round but you're a filthy cheat." Vincent got the sense his mother wasn't talking about cards anymore.

"Is there something I can help you with? Perhaps you've had too much to drink," Vincent gave a signal to another card dealer and 'assisted' Claudia off the floor. The two spoke in the stairwell, for lack of a better place.

"What are you doing here?" Vincent got straight to the point.

"I'm here to see my darling boy," Claudia cupped Vincent's face with her hands. They'd seen each other recently...this was the most she'd made contact with him since he'd left the company she ran.

"What is the real reason?" Vincent inquired.

"Your son, I'm here to ask you if you want him," her eyes glimmered with amusement. "For a price, of course."

"What do you mean?" Vincent was obviously skeptical. Diedrich loved the child as if it was his own. Rachel loved it because the kid was Vincent's. They wouldn't relinquish it to Claudia...of all people.

"At the time Diedrich witnessed Rachel giving birth, he wasn't sure if you were alive. He didn't know if you were even on good terms anymore since the two of you had split up. So, the only other person he could think of to name as the godparent, should anything happen to him or Rachel, was me," Claudia explained. Diedrich was an orphan. Rachel hated her family, this was the only logical decision. No, the only convenient decision, since Diedrich had assumed Vincent was dead and/or hated him with every fiber of his being.

"What...what happened to Diedrich?" Vincent couldn't help his voice from cracking or stop the anxiety from building up in his chest.

"Oh, my son," Claudia pulled Vincent close. "There was a crash..."

"No, that can't be right. He was the safest driver I know. He was healthy and full of life. They would never die before me...that's a lie...you're lying..." Vincent couldn't fathom it. Diedrich? Dead? No. No. Absolutely not. It wasn't possible. It hadn't happened.

"I wouldn't lie about this...not this," Claudia, in her abyss of a heart, felt sorry for Vincent. She lacked maternal instinct...but she did feel sorrow.

"My son," Vincent pushed her away. "What are you going to do to him?"

"I'm going to give you Ciel," Claudia laughed as if it was obvious. "For a price."

"What's the price?" Vincent would pay anyting needed to keep him from the grasp of this woman.

"You need to forgive me," Clauda began.

"What?" Vincent took a step back.

"I know you feel disturbed by how I raised you." Claudia avoided eye contact for a moment. "But I know no amount of explaining can justify my actions to you. So, I need you to forgive and forget and allow us a brand new beginning."

"Vincent's face relaxed and turned cold, tundra cold, Antartica cold, so cold you could feel the frostbite cold. "Impossible," he said. "You're going to give him to me freely or I will take him from you."

"You've grown into quite the specimen, haven't you? What if I refuse?"

Vincent picked up his mother by the collar of her shirt and slammed her into the wall behind her. "If you refuse," his voice low, his eyes burning, his temper about to be lost completely, "I swear I will make your life just as much of a hell as you made mine. You won't get that fresh start you want, but something dreadful instead."

"You really are quite the specimen," Claudia smiled. "Well, just to prove to you that I am different, I'll comply. No strings attached. The boy is all yours. I'll figure out all of the legalities on my end. You should speak to him, I doubt he wants to see you, but you have your own son to patch things up with. He's just lost everything near and dear to him. Be careful. You wouldn't want him hating you right from the beginning."

"If he's heard anything about me from Diedrich, I doubt he could feel anything for me but hatred," Vincent released his grasp on Claudia and began to walk up the stairs. Time to meet his darlin' boy.

...

"This will be your room," Vincent flung the door open and gestured for Ciel to take the first step in. Ciel had no intentions of opening up to Vincent, but he didn't mind the thought of sharing a room with Victor. The guy was like a tall puppy. Even Ciel would feel guilty making a guy like that sleep by himself.

"When will you tell me the truth about my parents' relationship with you?" Ciel asked.

"When you're old enough to stop looking at me like that," Vincent poked the space between Ciel's eyebrows. "If you glare too much, you'll get wrinkles, you know?" Vincent retreated to his own room. The day was far too hectic to go back to 'work.'

Vincent took one step into his room and regretted all of his life's decisions up until that moment. This floor was dedicated to him, he should've known there would be paintings of Diedrich somewhere. Why did he forget about that? Vincent sighed. He stood for a minute before taking each painting down. The walls looked barren without them, but he would have to make suitable replacements. Barren walls were better than Diedrich filled walls.

"I can't believe how long it's been since I've visited Ignatius," Vincent sighed once more. He flung the covers off of his bed. These sheets were filthy. Absolutely disgusting. He had to clean them right away but Adrian was sleeping soundly underneath them. He'd been hiding, waiting for Vincent to walk in, so that he could pounce on him. But, the blankets were so warm that he'd fallen asleep before he was able to attempt his first seduction plan. Vincent returned the blankets to their original position and carefully exited the room. There were plenty of rooms. He didn't have to sleep in that one. He could just leave Adrian there all alone.

Or, he could pretend he hadn't seen anything and sleep right in the same bed as Adrian.

A moment of conflict took place within the mind of Vincent Phantomhive as if a former self was coaxing him to just get in the bed and forget all about his cautious nature. He wanted to trust that part of his gut, but it still felt odd. He only remembered knowing Adrian for a short span of time.

"Just this once," Vincent placed his hand on the doorknob, about to re-enter the room, "I'll play into his little game...just this once."