White Maid (Rewrite)

His Butler, Freeloader (Part 1) & The Undertaker's Assistant

....YEARS LATER

She'd crash landed.

She knew that almost instantly.

Angelica felt her head pounding, and pain blossoming throughout her body. Nothing had ever been more painful. Her mind felt like it had just been ripped apart and haphazardly stitched back together again.

She gave one unwilful shiver, her body numb as she attempted to pull herself to land. The cold water of the Thames weighed her down. Her wings- feeling like the heaviest part of her, dragging her down. Her clothes were no help at all- heavy coat and warm dress dragging her further into the water. Fear pulsed through her body, and she thrashed against the weight, only succeeding in being dragged down further.

Tiny bubbles escaped her lips, and her silver eyes began to flutter shut.

A name popped into her mind. It was gone as quickly as it had appeared, but something about it had given her the strength to flap her broken wings one last time, the force propelling her upwards from the water, and onto the edge of the sea wall. She choked- half screaming and coughing as her nails dug into the salt stained wall.

The cold winter air was freezing, and she cried out as she pulled her body up fully onto the pavement. Coughing up water, she looked around desperately before staggering to the nearby alleyway, attempting to pull herself together.

Angelica's legs quivered, unable to hold her weight, and she tumbled into the countless bins and barrels, knocking the contents from them, and frightening a small black cat from the scene. As her body hit the dirty cobble of the alley, she felt her body begin to shut down. Everything becoming cold then hot, then cold again.

A warm fuzzy feeling settled over her like a blanket, cocooning her in it's warmth, and she remembered being tucked into bed at night by her father when she was small. As her vision began to blur, and tiredness overwhelmed her, she forced her eyes to stay open a few moments longer as she pushed her hands against the ground, fingers digging into the gravel and feeling the tiny grains become trapped underneath her fingernails.

A shadow made her eyes flick up, met with a pair of curved dark boots and a tall figure with a lopsided top hat and flowing cape. Almost resigned to the fact she was on the verge of death, Angelica whimpered, letting her head rest against the ground, wincing at the cold.

"H-H-Help... me..."

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she saw flashes in her mind before she lost consciousness, falling into sleep with what sounded like a flurry of voices calling out to her.

At Midnight...

As the door to his young master's room shut, Sebastian Michaelis set the candelabra aside, not needing the candlelight to navigate the manor in the lateness of night. The funeral of Madam Red had taken place just a day ago, and the young earl was suffering greatly from nightmares. Naturally his butler had been there waiting when he woke with a glass of warm milk and honey to soothe his mind before leaving him to sleep once more.

Sebastian's steps down the hall were all but silent, and a heavy aura of demonic boredom hung in the air. Despite the latest event, things had been rather tame, and the demon in the butler was growing hungrier than it had been before. Everything had been quiet, the only interesting part of his day being the routine grooming of the cats hoarded in his closet. Stepping outside onto the terrace, still as the cold night air blew in his face, his immortal ears caught the sound of tiny mewing- a kitten in distress.

Without wasting a moment, Sebastian vaulted over the terrace side, following the distressed cry. Towards the back of the treeline, he found a tiny kitten stowed away in a makeshift den of brambles, some paces away- a wolf was feasting on the carcass of what was presumably the kitten's mother. The wolf turned to snarl at him as he approached, lips curled and coated in dark red blood. The demon allowed his eyes to flash at the creature, and it snapped at him before running away, dragging the corpse of the animal behind him.