Black Butler: Demons in our Hearts

Chapter 2: Matters of Pride

"I can’t believe you lost her, a human against a demon and you lost?" Ciel looked up at Sebastian out of the corner of his eye, ever since the fight with the woman he had been a little withdrawn. "Is there something wrong with you or something?"

"Of course not sir, now if you will excuse me I will go prepare the supper." With that the demon butler silently departed from the room.

I wonder what happened that he is so…subdued. Then again I’ve never known him to lose to someone before, much less a human girl, he may be in shock.

The young lord Phantomhive stared blankly down at the reports and letters he was supposed to be going over and then outside where the sun shone thrown the white fluffy clouds that polka dotted the azure sky.

Deciding that he would drink his tea on the outside terrace, Ciel collected his coat before taking the tea cup on his desk with him on his way out the door. There was really some days it was far more enjoyable to be outside than in.

Today was one of them; he sat down on the edge of a stone bench that stood on the edge of the terrace, sitting the tea down beside him.

Forgetting the reason he had come out here for a moment, he leaned back slightly and closed his eyes, letting the sunlight touch his face.

Ciel lost track of the time he sat thus, opening his eyes only when a voice nagged at the very edge of his hearing. I swear…can I find no peace? He stood, fully prepared to yell at Meyrin, his only maid, when he paused. There was on one there.

I’m positive that I heard something, someone speak, I’m sure of it.

Movement at the edge of his vision caught his attention, a swiftly moving shape at the edge of his forest.

"Se…" Ciel paused in his order to the butler, as the bounding shape of Pluto broke through the underbrush, giving chase to the figure. The large white demon hound howled as it made up lost ground quickly.

The young lord couldn’t help the ironic chuckle that escaped his lips, it seemed as though the demon hound that Sebastian disliked so much was a better guard than the butler.

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Kat cursed the sky blue as she tore through the underbrush at the edge of the forest; she had been stupid, so stupid! She shouldn’t have fallen asleep last night, if she hadn’t froze to death when the temperature dropped than this…dog wouldn’t have crept up on her either.

The leaves crackled beneath her feet as she ran, she had lost her boots a few nights ago after she had fallen into the Thames getting out of the way of a runaway carriage, the smell had been unbearable but when the boots shriveled up to where she couldn’t take them off, she had to cut them off.

And now she had no boots. She was cold, tired, and hungry, and there was no end in sight. Why did I quit again, why did I quit the job where I had two meals a day and didn’t have to worry about freezing in my sleep? She felt the hot breath of the dog as it snapped at her heels. Why do I have to do this? The leaves beneath her feet gave way; Kat fell with the hound passing over her to continue forward into the trunk of a tree.

The dog shook its pony sized head, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. It regarded her with bright red eyes, saliva dripping off of the sharp white fangs in its maw. Kat could already feel the dull ache in her ankle and knew she couldn’t outrun the beast now; she closed her eyes prepared for the worst.

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This was not what Ciel had expected.