A Demons Mate (Black Butler)

Chapter 33

Serena stood with a scream and threw her arms around the stunned reaper.

"I didn't think that you would be so happy to see me." Ronald pulled away as she laughed.

"Are you kidding? You're being here means that I'm not crazy."

"So, no hard feelings about the...uh...," He tapped a finger against his chest.

"It's not like you were the one who shot me. And there was really nothing that you could have done, was there?"

He smiled sadly and shook his head.

"There you go."

Ronald waved to the other chair. "Do you mind?"

"No! Please, sit."

She took her own seat, a goofy smile still on her face. As she giggled to herself a little, the reaper frowned.

"What's so funny?"

"It's nothing. It's just that I ran into you and I found the townhouse this morning. Everything is kind of working out. And I thought that my plan was stupid."

He looked down to the map sticking out of her book. Slowly pulling the folded paper out, he looked at her markings.

"I figured that I could find the manor by backtracking from the townhouse."

Ronald flipped the map open and picked up her pen from the table. She watched as he drew a line from their current location, down several streets and turns, finally ending with a circle on the very edge of the city.

"London has damn near swallowed it. But the family that has it now, won't sell so much as an acre. The crown has supported their position, saying that their land are taken care of and the family can still afford the upkeep, there is no reason to push them to sell what they don't need to."

"The family that has it now?"

"Surely you know that they are not Phantomhive anymore?"

"Of course. If there really was a Phantomhive family in England, they would be bombarded by rabid fangirls and conspiracy theorists by the dozens."

"By the hundreds." He laughed and handed her the pen back. "I still think that we should have been compensated for the use of our names and likenesses, but what are you going to do? It's not like we can take it to court."

"Ronald...who made Kuroshitsuji?"

"Yana Toboso."

"You know what I mean."

"I think you know that if you just think about it."

"So, he's in Japan." Serena threw her pen down. "I just left there!"

"I'm a reaper, Serena. I don't follow the movements of demons. I don't know where he is now. All I know is that I have not run into him since the end of his contract."

Something about the tone of his voice made Serena nervous. "What happened, Ronald?"

He looked around, obviously uncomfortable. "Things got a little bad after you...left."

She waited but he didn't seem inclined to say anymore. Suddenly a waiter hurried up to their table and set a menu in front of the two of them.

"I apologize for your wait. Can I get you anything?"

The redhead looked up with a smile. "I'll just have a coke."

"Tea, whatever Gerard's special is today."