BLACK BUTLERS - Better Of Two Evils (pt. 10)

PART 10 – BETTER OF TWO EVILS

Warning: Graphic content, but nothing too violent or explicit. Consider yourselves warned.

“CIEL PHANTOMHIVE, YOU DAMN BRAT!!!!” Adrielle yelled, with pure rage emitting from her eyes. “SHE CAME HERE TO SAVE YOU!!”

“She came here for her own, selfish reasons, lady Roseville. Let’s not make a martyr out of Evelyn Waldram, for she is everything but one.”

Sebastian was still holding Evelyn’s body in his arms. He was covering himself and that woman with the pair of long, black wings that were growing out of his back. His eyes were completely black too, except for the pupils which were still the color of magenta. His hands had those razor-sharp claws, and a pair of long, curved horns was spiraling up from his head. He looked tad like some fallen angel - beautiful, but deadly, still covered in blood from the wound he bestowed upon his witch. Despite that eerie, evil look, he carried her with gentleness. His lips have whispered, but no sound was audible to others, just to her.

Ciel kept talking to Adrielle. “Don’t mistake her reasons for compassion, loyalty, debt, duty, or anything of the sort. She was here purely for one thing: power. She came to reclaim my butler from me and force her hand to her liking. She came here to end my life.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!!” Adrielle was frustrated. “SHE WANTED TO SAVE YOUR LIFE! SHE DOESN’T NEED SEBASTIAN AT ALL, YOU FOOL! THEIR CONTRACT ENDED A LONG TIME AGO, SHE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A NEED FOR HIS POWER!”

“Then you are the foolish one here, lady Roseville. Sebastian, is she finally dead?” Ciel asked.

“Yes, my lord,” Sebastian immediately responded. She wasn’t breathing anymore, and her heart wasn’t beating. She was dead, once again, and it was his fault this time.

The body was still warm. Her skin was milky-white, a strong contrast to her thick, dark, black hair… but both those parts of her were soft and familiar to him. He knew her scent, her body, every scar, every curve, every single inch of the entity that now called herself “Evelyn”. She was now tainted in crimson, her favorite color. Her blood smelled like iron, or some other metal. She was witch, but she wasn’t immortal… and he was aware that her path would end this way, sooner or later. However, knowing that didn’t make things any easier. On the contrary.

“Are you absolutely sure that she is dead, servant?” Ciel’s voice was sharp. Stoic.

“Yes, my lord,” Sebastian’s answer hasn’t changed.

But how many times will it happen? How many circles of pain, betrayal, and sacrifice will they have to endure until it’s finally over?

“You can get rid of the body. You shall find another meal for me soon enough,” the boy stated, and turned on his heel. The sound of a sudden movement made him stop going back into the chamber.

She was standing on the fence of the balcony, her temporary-obtained, new-found demonic movements were powerful, fast and precise. Adrielle pointed both of her swords towards Ciel.

“Let me remind you of one thing, brat,” she started, in a calm tone. “She was the only one who could have fixed this mess, this shitty situation, and your lousy butler. He was wounded with a demon-blade, much like Claude, and now, there’s a great possibility that the both of them will die because you were selfish little bastard who kept whining, and ordering around for your satisfaction even when you knew that she could have helped. You are the one who choose power. Not her. Keep that in mind when you remain all alone after damn Michaelis rots away.”

“My, my. Lady Roseville is angry. What should I do to ease that anger, I wonder?” Ciel mocked, despite having sharp blades crossed, and almost closed around his neck.

“Go and die,” she said harshly. With the slightest, almost untraceable moment of hesitation, she has closed the blades… but Ciel’s was fast enough to get away on his own – his speed outmatched hers. He dodged just in time, keeping both his head, and his body intact.

She was just a forgery, a pale imitation of a real thing – the imitation of a demon, but not a demon. She was made in Claude’s image, but she wasn’t the real deal. Her own power was induced by the power of the demi-contract, but that was that. They both knew it wouldn’t last, and especially not now… when the witch was gone. In addition, the brat was a real demon now, and his own speed and reflexes were twice as good as hers. She has slashed throughout the air, and nearly got him this time, but Ciel disappeared again, at great speed, and switched the place he was standing on for another.

“And you are in MY territory, Miss Roseville. The parlor trick is disappearing, it’s wearing off, and you are turning back to human. Whatever time she has bought you… it’s running out. I can tell you are feeling it too. So… Sebastian…”

“No,” another cold voice interrupted the fatal order. A long, thick white thread reached towards Ciel, and the boy had difficulty do dodge it skillfully. Especially when the second one appeared next to it. The threads were elastic, and kept moving through the air like in a hand of a puppeteer. Claude has aimed again, in a really fast manner, and things became more complicated for the Young Count. It was becoming really hard to avoid them. Ciel looked down towards his servant.

“Sebastian!”

But his shout came too late – the Spider demon has already captured the demon Boy, and Ciel was trying his best to break free from web that was forming around his body. In some other time, and some other life… this would have made Claude really content. Almost ecstatic. But… he didn’t feel anything now. The boy was just an empty shell, a soulless monster such as himself, or Sebastian Michaelis. The essence of his soul was changed, modified into something… vulgar, corrupted and inedible. Claude simply didn’t have the same desire to devour this creature, despite the previous allure he once possessed. He wondered how it must have been for Sebastian all of this time.

“Don’t let him escape, Claude!” Adrielle cheered, and Claude just nodded towards the girl. He pressed the threads tighter, and held the prey in his grasp.

“Sebastian! Release…” Ciel tried to give an order, but he never got to finish it.

A scream echoed throughout the air. A scream so powerful that it froze the blood of every single creature that has heard it. Then, that blood flowed. Black blood showed, dripping from Ciel’s ears. The same was happening to Claude. Adrielle has covered her ears with her hands, but it didn’t help. Blood was coming out of her ears as well as theirs, only hers was red, and human now. It has started coming out of her nose too.

Ciel started shouting in unison. It was painful, terrible, and it seemed like it will never end.
Sebastian was still holding her. His face was the closest to the source of the scream, so he took the biggest damage. His ears, his nose, his lips, his eyes… were all covered black, gleaming liquid. His pain was enhanced, but he still held the body, and kept watching the young Countess.

She was dead. He made sure of it… but her corpse was screaming, her mouth were opened, as well as were those pupil-less eyes… because something has triggered, and reanimated her. The soul wouldn’t leave, for the soul was Anima clausa… so this was just a side-effect to it all. For an ancient curse from a few millenniums ago. He should have known.

After an endless agony, the screaming has stopped. Adrielle’s eyes were filled with tears, but not because she was sad, or angry, or happy. No. Those tears weren’t caused by emotions, they were caused simply by that horrid scream. She has wiped them away and rubbed her eyes.

Claude has handed her a handkerchief, and she has started wiping the blood from under her nose, and from under ears. Claude has taken her down from the balcony in a single jump – something she wasn’t able to perform anymore on her own because the power had finally drained off in her.

“Well played, Eve. Well played…”, Ciel’s voice came from a distance.

The witch looked towards the boy. Sebastian helped her to get on her feet, and she leaned towards him. He lowered his head down, his lips softly separated as he uttered the name. The first name to give them pain. She has pressed her hand against his cheek, and caressed the rough skin of a demon. She was the one who uttered the second name in response. The name that gave them despair. A hot tear slid down her left eye. The red lips parted.

“Do you really remember?” she whispered a question.

“I do…” Sebastian removed the tear from her face, and tasted it. “For how can I ever forget?”

He has grabbed a handful of her hair, and pulled her towards him. It was a savage move, so unexpected, so raw and primal. He licked his lips. She did nothing, she just kept standing in his grasp, unable to move, and unable to look anywhere but into his eyes.

“I despise you… for all you’ve done. For all you’re about to do…” Sebastian whispered. Their lips have almost touched. The witch started chanting, in that eerie tone of hers.

“To access my oldest Contract
I revoke the Eldest Spell.
Heed my call, oh Abellona…
Bring him to me, back from Hell…”

The ground started shaking. It felt like a minor earthquake.

“He was taken, made another’s;
He no longer serves to me.
Remind him of who I once was,
Make him conscious, make him see…”

The poem was continuing, and while so, a large force seemed to press Sebastian, and bend him. It seemed like an invisible hand caused him to lower down, down in front of the woman, until he fell on his knees, and bowed down. His teeth were gritted, and his fists clenched.

“So… this must be… what she was talking about…” Adrielle whispered, shocked.

“I was aware that Mistress Waldram was an Anima Clausa… but this…”, Claude was surprised too. “I wasn’t aware that Michaelis… or her… were under the Abellona’s Curse. It is… truly…”

“Wait, what does it mean?” the red-head wanted to know. “What, or who is Abellona?”

“According to myths and legends… she was the first witch to ever walk this world. It may be exaggerated but… according to various sources, her power was so grand that people called her Mother of All Witches. She is considered to be the First Witch, almost a deity. Also… it is believed that she was the first one of her kind who made a contract with demon. Surely, you know of Faust? First human to enter a contract with the devil? Hence the term “Faustian”. Well, this is the same thing, but Abellona was the first witch to enter a contract with demon. The powers were mixed, new sorts of contracts, such as demi-contracts, and triumvirates, were formed… all in all, it has started with her.”

“Oh…” Adrielle gasped. Ciel was looking at the two creatures in the distance, and he couldn’t decide whether Evelyn and Sebastian hated each other, or had affection towards each other. There were too many factors thrown in to decide. He sighed.

“So… Evelyn is using Abellona’s curse to revoke her previous contract, and make Sebastian obey her again? How’s that going to make her his official Mistress again, over the power of your Never-Ending Contract?”

Ciel responded: “I have asked this question before, upon learning about her powers in the first place. Sebastian’s answer was... intriguing, to say the least. My butler and Evelyn have been in many contracts, not just in one. So, let’s say that she is asking for supremacy as his most frequent, and most demanding master. The cumulative amount of her power is… exceeding everything else in his line of contracts, when measured. Those two… are practically condemned to one another. It’s all thanks to that curse, of course.”

“What?!” Adrielle froze, and her eyes widened. Claude wasn’t talking at all, he was staring at Evelyn now, and pieces of mystery seemed to fall to their places. Adrielle was looking at Ciel.

“You are saying that they have had ANOTHER contract prior to her Faustian contract with Sebastian?! That’s impossible! She wasn’t even a witch until she married Robert!”

“She was born a witch, but her powers were either taken away or blocked away by her mother. That Seer, Natasha. When Mistress finally awoke, she took her revenge on her mother and hexed her. That’s why the older witch… is buried alive in a living nightmare in Funeral Parlor,” Claude deduced, finally adding to that strange conversation.

“I know that! But I am saying, she couldn’t be in a Contract with Sebastian multiple times because she only had one contract with him to begin with!”

“He told me there were multiple contracts,” Ciel corrected her. “And here’s how. She can die, despite being a witch. But every time she reincarnates…”

“When she WHAT?!” Adrielle was starting to lose her patience.

“Reincarnates? Meaning, is born again?” Ciel offered, and he was losing his patience too.

“…” Adrielle blinked, annoyed by how complicated things were in general. Witches and their damn magic.  

“She is the Undevourable One. He is cursed to enter the Contract with her, but not to devour her. In every life they meet,” Claude raised an eyebrow. “That must be one Hell of a curse to deal with for Michaelis.”

“Wow. Oh my… wow. That sucks for him. It really… sucks…” Adrielle suddenly felt sympathy towards Sebastian. “That Abellona really knew how to hold a grudge. But here’s the real question. Why… were Sebastian and Evelyn cursed in the first place?”  

“That’s the thing. He doesn’t really know. He can’t remember,” Ciel sighed.

“The fuck?” Adrielle was mortified now. “It’s all really fucked up!”

“He is cursed to forget his masters over time. I mean, he remembers fragments, events, faces here and there… but Evelyn… he remembers her the most. Not all about her, but most of things about her. They are usually bad ones, and bring him distress, or even pain. Why? Even he doesn’t know. He is not sure why it has to be her over and over. He assumes it has something to do with Evelyn being the descendant of Abellona, for there's a great possibility that she is, but he is not sure.”

“I’ve heard about that part,” Claude stated. “A demon who entered the first contract with Abellona… didn’t held his end of the bargain and wanted to forcefully devour her or something like that. Maybe for her power, maybe for her soul. Maybe for both. Anyway, she has repelled him, barely escaping… and in vengeance, she has crafted that infamous curse. Any witch from her lineage who dares to enter a contract with demon, any kind of demon… is going to end up cursed as badly as the said demon. It makes sense that Mistress Waldram is one of Abellona's descendants. Especially since she can channel her power so well.”

“Dear Lord,” Adrielle shuddered. “Hell really hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

“Indeed,” Ciel cocked his head to the side. “Who knows how and when Evelyn met Sebastian, and how their first contract looked like… but each time, with every new contract, he is left hungrier, more frustrated, and more desperate. Over time, I’d dare say it will even drive him mad. Honestly, I am surprised he is still sane, if we can say so. But I guess that, the fact that Evelyn’s life usually ends in some kind of tragedy, brings him some amount of fairness. Balanced scales. Call it as you will. She usually dies a really painful, and slow death.”

“That's sick. But that’s why you wanted her killed,” Adrielle stated. “Because, if that part was full-filled, and if she died… you would remain his Master until her next incarnation. And she ultimately wouldn’t be able to take him away from you, because you'd be more prepared.”

“Unfortunately for me… she will always manage to take him back, only if she wants to - like in this case. Her claim… although under the curse, and enormous amount of power… is the strongest, comparing to even of all of his previous human masters combined. Or a single, demon-master that would be me. I knew that I didn’t stand a chance unless I got rid of her.”

“But you did. She has died,” Adrielle whispered. “And twice, if we keep counting. First, by her own decision. She threw herself in the flames.”

“That was to trigger the curse,” Claude explained. “She activated the first seal of the Curse when she incinerated her body. She suffered something called The Witch’s Death – being burnt the same way as her ancestors, including Abellona - at a stake.”

“But then… she had allowed Sebastian to kill her again. Wasn’t that supposed to reincarnate her or something?”

“It should have, but it seems that she found a way around the rules. Through her infamous blood magic, could be. All I know… is that it was just another trick. And if he was aware, I don’t know… but, by drawing his claw through her heart, Sebastian triggered his part of the curse – the part of magic which recognizes it as Demon’s Betrayal. He practically agreed to re-enter the Cursed contract when he did that.”  

“He was forced to do that. BY Ciel. Or have you forgotten?” Adrielle remineded them bitterly. “It was you who helped him trigger that part of the curse. Splendid work, my lord. Just magnificent.”

To her surprise, Ciel chuckled. Sebastian was still kneeling in front of the Crimson Countess, but his eyes met Young Master’s gaze, like he was reading his mind.

“Better of two evils, huh?” the boy mocked. “Well, well. It seems that the game… was lost from the very start for me.”  

His servant didn’t have an answer for that statement.

“Stand up,” the witch’s voice resonated. After he did, she put a hand of his shoulder and she spoke his name… his real name, and Ciel knew… that he no longer claimed ownership over the demon that was once Sebastian Michaelis.

The Crimson Countess pointed towards Ciel.

Now released from any bonds, any shackles that previously held him tied to his Young Master - that creature he almost couldn't recognize as his butler, it rushed… the witch smiled… and suddenly… everything turned pitch-black.