A Demons Mate (Black Butler)

Chapter 44

Undertaker opened the door leading into the living area from the shop and slid off the heavy robing that was as much a part of his identity as his name. Hanging the black length and trailing hat on the back of the door was mechanical, something he did without thinking, leaving his mind to wander. He remembered that Serena had been inside this space and he wondered what she had thought of his current residence. 

Did she see what she had expected to see, or did she see through the lie? Did she see that it was a front, something to remind him of the part he was supposed to play for the rest of the world? Did she see the wish that he could be a simple funeral director or even a simple reaper? Could she tell that he wanted no part of the vicious politics and battles that came with being close to his father?

His feet took him to the table that held the pictures and portraits he had kept throughout his long life. The only possessions that he truly had. Each had meant something, each had touched some part of him throughout the years. Some good, some bad. And for each of them, he was the only one to remember anymore.

The picture of Vincent and a child Ciel caught his attention. He wasn't the only one to remember these two as they were, as they would never be again. The urge to smash the glass, all of them was almost overwhelming. Recognizing the familiar feeling, he set the frame down and moved away.

The wall that formed the small kitchen stopped him and he looked through the doorway to the small table and it's one chair. Loneliness was not something new and his eyes drew back to the pictures. They had the function of reminding him of why he didn't leave his shop much and the price he paid when he did. The price of getting close to humans with their short lifespans. But they burned so brightly and every few years the need for warmth would take over again. And soon, too soon after, another picture would join his collection.

Exhaustion pulled, jerked at his awareness as he slumped against the wall. Shaking his head to clear it, Aelius walked to his bedroom while thinking of the last time he had slept. It hadn't been that long ago, he should have been fine for days more. The battle with Jonathan and the emotional toll of seeing his father had drained everything he had. Seeing the Fallen always did.

The door was open, so he could stagger straight to the bed. He had always kept his door closed. No one came into his home. But, Serena had been in here. He could feel her essence just inside the doorway. It didn't come any further in and he wondered if she had been shocked by the space. In this one room, he didn't have to lie, to anyone. He didn't have to put things up or act when he was anything but one of them and knew it. It hadn't always been like that. He didn't always understand that he was different than everyone else. Didn't always care that others saw him as different.

The thought ripped open the memories he kept suppressed as exhaustion sucked him under. He tried to fight it, knew what memory it would throw up, but the pull was too strong and he was lost.

*****************A Demon's Mate***************

Ciel saw a black shadow above him as he struggled to pull the hot air around him into his lungs. The familiar guise of his butler was gone and in its place was the being he had seen so long ago when he was certain he was going to die. Black wings reached for the ceiling and he heard the tinkling of metal chains as the demon knelt next to him.

"Lord Phantomhive." Thousands of voices coalesced into one called to him. "Lady Elizabeth will be most upset."

"Is...he?" His voice had almost no sound as he tried to speak.

The demon looked back to the body leaning against the wall. Blood covered the area behind the body and most of the head was missing from a single shot. A certain satisfaction welled within the demon and he smirked turning back.