At Your Service

Chapter 23- Dreams

 The witch and the demon were standing in the study after Ansel packed for the trip back to London. "All right. I am going to stand out in the garden. You are going to stand here and summon me." He grabbed Ansel's arm. "You are going to hold your hand out as if to grab mine. Imagine that I am standing in front of you and holding your hand while thinking my name in your head, but it also helps to say it out loud. My hand may feel cold at other times, as I will have just travelled through Purgatory, but not this time."

"Purgatory," Ansel muttered. "You travel through Purgatory?"

Carlisle nodded. "It's quicker that way if I'm travelling from long distances. It's how reapers do their job."

Ansel stared blankly. "Reapers." It wasn't a question, more of an utterance attempting to create understanding.

Carlisle nodded again. "Reapers, like the Grim Reaper. They are to the Grim Reaper like I am to Lucifer: a henchman. They hide in the human world, acting as humans. You couldn't tell them apart unless their energy was very powerful. Even then, it could be mistaken for something else. They travel through Purgatory to do their jobs and to drop off souls when they're carrying too many." He sighed, a little wistfully. "In my service directly preceding this one, I got tangled with a reaper, who then became the Grim Reaper. They taught me how to use Purgatory for travel." He chuckled, remembering their adventure. "It was... a time to be alive. We killed my master together after he broke the contract. The reaper and I had a very brief, um, relationship, but we broke on good terms. They took on their duties as the Grim Reaper, and I went back to Hell to await the call of my next master."

Ansel smiled and nodded. It didn't bother them that Carlisle once had a relationship with anyone else. Like Ashley, this reaper came before Ansel's time with the demon, and what had passed was the past. "All right, let's do this." In the blink of an eye, Carlisle was gone. Ansel walked over to the window and looked down to see Carlisle standing by the rose bushes. He smiled and waved, so Ansel smiled back before concentrating and putting his hand out as instructed. They repeated the butler's name in their head and in whispers as they focused on the feeling of Carlisle's silk gloves and the warm skin beneath, despite never actually having felt it before besides when he put them to sleep, and how gentle his touch always was.

Suddenly, the gloved hand they had been thinking about suddenly slid into theirs. Ansel opened their eyes to see the demon in front of them. "There, that's not so hard, is it?" Ansel grinned, shaking their head. "Good. Now, you will come with me."

Ansel's eyes widened. "Where?"

"Purgatory," Carlisle answered calmly. "You may travel with me as long as you are touching me. To insure that I do not lose you, I will hold you." He suddenly picked up the witch, who wrapped their arms around the demon's shoulders and their legs around their waist. Their faces were now level and inches apart, causing thoughts from earlier to arise in the both of them.

"Your hand is on my arse," Ansel noted dully.

Carlisle simply stared into the witch's heterochromatic eyes. "Sorry, my mistake."

Nothing happened. Ansel squinted. "It's still there."

Carlisle's remained entirely expressionless. "It's still a mistake." He broke character, smiling as he removed his hand so that one arm was locked around their back and one supported them underneath their thighs. "All right, shall we?" He took a step forward, and everything was suddenly pitch black. The space was was cold and filled with whispers and screams. There were slightly darker shadows that appeared humanoid. Ansel focused on Carlisle, who was now in his true form. The only part they could see was his glowing, slitted red violet eyes and white, pointed teeth; however, the witch could feel his fur and claws as he held them.