Madam Red unnerved him.  It was quite a feat, actually.  He had to admit that.  To unnerve a demon, that is.  It was something that was exceedingly hard to do, on the account of them being... well, demons.

The reason for this was because she chased after him.  It was in a demon’s nature to seduce.  Not be seduced.  Not that she had seduced him or anything.  That would be absolutely ridiculous.

But still, the fact remained that she unnerved him.  He didn’t like being unnerved and thus tried his absolute best to avoid her whenever possible.  However, sometimes it was unavoidable, and he couldn’t be rude.

That wouldn’t do.

“Sebastian!  Well, fancy meeting you here!” Ciel’s aunt cried, latching onto his arm (she also groped his rear, but he politely pretended not to notice).

He forced himself to display his usual, somewhat-amused but mostly fake smile.  “Aah, Madam Red.  You are doing well, I hope?”  Though I won’t mind at all if you contract the plague and drop dead.

She grinned up at him, dragging him in the general direction of a nearby cafe.  “Oh, very well!  Especially now that I’ve got my hands on you!”

... oh shit...  “Is that so?” he asked, starting to sweat a little.  Thankfully, they were heading toward a public place...

She pushed the door open, dashing his hopes.  It was a sparsely populated, unpopular cafe.  There was only one other person in the room; the waitress.  He almost wanted to cry.  Almost.

Demons don’t cry.

“The usual!” Madam Red sang to the waitress before dragging Sebastian toward the darkest possible corner of the room.

He was tempted to run away right then (especially when she groped him again), but decided to take it like a man.  It wasn’t easy, but he’d do it.

He sat down for tea with Madam Red, Demon Molester.

xXx

She peered into his face as he glanced out the window.  A smile tugged at her lips for a moment.  A sad smile.  This man... he took such good care of her precious Ciel.  It was only fair that she reward him in some way for it.

He was truly a fine man.  She’d said it before, she’d say it again.

Sebastian, as far as she knew, had been there to protect Ciel and save him from death, torture, pain...  Sebastian was her Ciel’s rescuer.

He was Ciel’s hero.

Reddish brown eyes slid away from the window, likely because of her silence, and he lifted a black brow.  He pasted on that fake, polite smile (yes, she knew it wasn’t real; you didn’t see the things she’d seen and still not be able to tell such things).  “Madam Red?  Are you quite alright?”

She smiled back.  “You’re taking care of him, right?  He’s doing okay?”

The other brow lifted to join it’s twin.  “... he is fine.  Why do you not just ask him for yourself?”

Angelina laughed softly, sardonically.  “He’d never tell me if he was really okay or not.  He’ll pretend to be, he’ll think it makes him strong... but he’s just a scared little boy forced to move around in a grown-up world.”

Sebastian eyed her thoughtfully for a moment.  “Hm...  Well, you’re right... and you’re wrong.”

She blinked, but he went on before she could comment.  “He is a scared little boy, and he’ll never tell anyone if he’s really okay or not.  But no one forced him to take up the responsibility that he has.  He chose to do that on his own.  He wanted to.  He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.”  He smiled gently, a little fondly, like an older brother speaking of their silly little sibling.  “A respectable choice, to be honest.  A mature one.”

Angelina stared at the dark-clad butler.  She almost couldn’t wrap her mind around it... but it would appear that... that this stranger, this man that just suddenly appeared out of no where...  He knew Ciel better than even her.  He cared about Ciel more than she did.  He protected Ciel better than she would ever be able to do.

She was so completely selfish, doing what she did every night.  The blood on her hands would never go away, no matter what sort of soap she used, or how often she washed them.

She couldn’t protect Ciel, or care about him, the way Sebastian did.  Not like this.  Hell, she shouldn’t be allowed to touch him with the hands she used to slaughter women.  He was pure.  She was not.

Perhaps it was better if Sebastian-

“Madam Red?”

She snapped her head up, blinking dazedly at him.  “Thank you,” she whispered, before she could stop herself.  “Protect him from everything, no matter what, okay?”  She got to her feet and leaned across the table before he could move to rise.

A beat later, she pulled away, her kiss lingering on his lips, and walked out of the cafe.

Soon, it would all be over.  She could feel it.