Silence

Chapter 5

Sebastian's eyes glowed pink. "Yes, my young lord."

The room began to darken.

Inside the head maid's quarters, Adalina sat in a ball in the corner with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands covering her ears to block out the agonizing screams from inside the foyer.

How had those men even managed to find her? She never thought that those men would be able to find her here much less attempt to take her back with them. She had just always assumed them to be dead or thought that they had believed her to be too much trouble to seek out after she had escaped.

Two hands touched her own, and she flinched as she opened her eyes. She found herself looking into the crimson eyes of Sebastian. He gently pulled her hands away from her ears.

"There is no need to worry, Adalina," he said in a tender voice. "They will not hurt you ever again."

Adalina had a pretty good idea of what he had done, but she didn't have any desire to know the details.

Sebastian helped her up off the floor. "Adalina..." he started cautiously. "If it is all right with you, I would like to understand what happened to you and why you were so afraid of those men."

Adalina looked away from him.

"You will not have to say anything. I'll be able to see it."

The young woman looked back up at him. If she was being honest, it would be nice to have someone know what she had gone through and understand why she never spoke. And for reasons she couldn't fully explain, she did trust Sebastian. She wondered if she was being foolish for trusting a demon, but he had yet to give her any reason not to trust him.

She slowly nodded her head.

Sebastian removed his gloves, and Adalina let out a small gasp when she saw his black nails and the purple design on the back of his left hand.

"Do not let this worry you," Sebastian told her. "It is simply proof of the contract with my master. I need you to take my hands."

Adalina hesitated for a moment, questioning if she should really go through with his plan, and then slowly put her hands into Sebastian's awaiting palms.

"Close your eyes."

She did so.

"Now think about what happened to you in the past. Why were you so afraid of those men? Why do you no longer speak?"

Adalina grimaced as her head began to hurt a little. She forced herself to think about all of the horrid things she had endured in the past several years before coming to work at Phantomhive Manor.

Sebastian's eyes glowed bright pink as he began to see flashes of various images of Adalina's life.

A teenage Adalina peeked out of her room in the very small house she lived in. Big intimidating men stood at the door, one of them holding her father's shirt in his fist.

"Where's the money you owe me?" he growled.

"I...I just need a bit more time," her father stammered. "Just a little more time, and I'll have everything."

"You've had enough time. Get me my money by tomorrow."

"That's...That's not enough time. Please..."

"Well, you should've thought of that before you gambled it all away to me. I'll be here tomorrow, and if I don't get my money, you won't live to see another day."

The scary man released her father and stormed off. Her father sighed heavily as he leaned against the door.

The teenage Adalina backed against the wall of her home terror-stricken.