Unruly Servant

Unruly Servant (chapter 24)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Someone was in the young master’s study last night?” Sebastian asked once more and try as he might, he could not hide the look of disbelief from me. All my pervious frustrations with him had been momentarily forgotten and pushed aside, replaced with a fresh bout of them. Of course it didn’t help my case that there was no evidence to support my claims of the intruder. The mess had been miraculously cleaned up the moment the shadow figure vanished, leaving behind a disturbing presence unlike that of which I’d ever felt before. Unfortunately that too faded within the hours prior to Ciel and Sebastian’s arrival home.

“I may be many things, Sebastian, but I am no liar when it comes to these things,” I stated, fighting the growl out of my voice as I continued to press forward. “There was someone in there last night. They were looking for something, what that was I am unable to say. They did a very thorough job cleaning up after themselves.”

“And how was anyone able to get by you?” 

I tried not to appear baffled by this. It was something I hadn’t considered yet. How did someone or, rather, something get by me? Even immortals couldn’t get by another immortal so easily. There would have been some trace left behind, something to inform me of exactly who or what I was dealing with. But there was nothing, just a disturbing notion that something truly powerful lurked in the shadows. 

“Sebastian,” Ciel’s tone was warning, the sound of his voice startling. The young earl hadn’t spoken since we’d parted for discussions in the study and the sound of his voice now came as a surprise. “Tessa has done nothing but prove her worth to us since her arrival and while we can not find evidence to prove her report the truth, we have no evidence to discredit her either.”

He sighed, resting his chin over his hands. “If you truly don’t believe her statement couldn’t you order her to tell you the truth? She is under a blood oath with you, is she not?” 

I wrinkled my nose up in distaste at the notion, but as much as I loathed it if it were the only way to get them to believe me then I’d reluctantly hand myself over to the power of an order. 

The raven haired demon looked at me, but shook his head firmly and turned to his master. “Very well, but if what she says it true then we have a formable opponent, my lord.” 

Formable indeed. 

“I thought you liked a challenge, Sebastian? Afraid someone may be stronger than you?” Ciel goaded. 

“I assure you, young master, there is no one stronger than I.” 

I smirked as the two dissolved into their typical power banter. Of course it would be Ciel to discover something as trivial as testing Sebastian’s power in something so disturbing. I had to hand it to him, the boy didn’t give up easily. Sadly, and as much as I truly did wish to see Ciel find someone who could defeat Sebastian, this game was doomed to end in the demon’s favor. There was no one out there, short of God himself, who could defeat him- and I rather hoped it was not that entity we were dealing with. 

A knock on the door startled all of us into silence. Straightening up, Sebastian crossed the room in three large strides and opened the door for the person. Standing on the other side was a very flustered Mey-Rin, who took one look at the demon and promptly melted into a stuttering mess. 

“Th-there be some.... me-men here to s-se-see the young master, th-th-there isss,” she fumbled, eyes never raising much further than the male’s chin.

Ciel’s brows knitted together at the center of his forehead. It was obvious he hadn’t expected a visit from anyone. That alone ruled out the frequent business partners he met with to discuss the toy company and it’s progress. It didn’t rule out Soma, the prince had horrid timing on everything, nor did it rule out Elizabeth, I wouldn’t put it past the girl to bring herself right back to the mansion after being dismissed this morning. She had seemed rather excitable when Ciel was around, though that was only my assumptions from watching her at a distance- Sebastian had thought it best that I refrain from interacting with her yet.