A Demon's Toy

Sebastian yanked the dagger from my hand and held both of my weapons high above his head as I jumped trying to reach them. It didn’t help that he kept moving and pushing me away at arm’s length.

“Alderin!” Sebastian called still deflecting my advances. Alderin, the man from before, appeared from behind one of the columns to stand before Sebastian.

“Take these away,” Sebastian ordered handing the tall man my daggers. It was then that I noticed Alderin was just a couple inches taller than Sebastian which shocked me a bit.

Alderin took the weapons and disappeared through the large entryway in front of us. I started to follow after him only to be yanked back by the collar of my trench coat.

“Excuse you!” I snapped rounding on him. Sebastian merely glared down his nose at me.

“I specifically recall mentioning in my letter that tardiness will not be tolerated,” he reminded me in his overly pompous British accent.

“Oh yeah? Well you can take your tardiness rule and this letter—” I plucked the now crumpled letter from my back pocket and waved it in his face—“and shove it up your tightly closed ass!” I growled shredding the letter to pieces in front of him. The pieces floated high up into the air before slowly drifting down to the floor.

Sebastian brushed off a piece that had caught on his coat. His calm demeanor pissed me off even more.

“Who are you? How did you find me? How do you know who I am?” I spat through clenched teeth.

A mischievous smile spread across the butler’s handsome face.

“I am simply one hell of a butler.”

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Sebastian took great pleasure in seeing the anger flare to life inside her pale yellow-green eyes. It hadn’t been that hard to find her honestly. Especially considering the sources and skills he had at his disposal. Sebastian could find anyone or anything.

“It doesn’t even matter. I’m here to decline your offer, Mr. Michaelis,” she sneered with a satisfied smirk.

“Follow me and I shall show you to your room,” Sebastian ordered as he headed for the door under the left arm of the staircase.

“Are you deaf or just plain stupid?” the petite neko woman snarled at him, chasing after him when he refused to slow his steps.

He swung open the door to reveal a set of stairs that led down into the darkness.

“I said I’m not doing it,” she repeated still continuing to follow him down the stairs. He flipped the switch on the side of the wall to light up the stairwell.

When he reached the bottom of the staircase, there were three hallways that branched off from the last step. The hallway to his left held the four showers for the maids to bathe themselves. The hallway to his right held the four half-sized bathrooms and then the hallway straight ahead held the eight single bedrooms; four doors lining each side.

“Well, at least the walls are painted a pretty shade of red,” Ember murmured under her breath to herself.

Sebastian smiled and led her to the first door on the left. He swung open the black door to reveal her new home. He didn’t expect to hear any more complaints after she saw the room. Ember glanced up at him warily as she brushed passed him to step inside the room.

The inside of the room was painted a soft, pale green almost matching the shade of her eyes. The twin-sized canopy bed rested against the far right wall of the room. The sheets were a deep forest green with a black comforter and metallic silver pillows. The mesh fabric of the canopy was colored a sheer black.

Off to the left was the large, wooden wardrobe where her uniforms hung. On the bottom of the wardrobe were a few drawers where some other personal clothing items were stored. Beside the wardrobe was a white vanity with a tri-fold mirror and a small, padded stool for her to sit on. Some cosmetics had already been provided for her. If there was anything else she wanted, it was her job to buy them on her one day off a week.

The basement flooring had been renovated, changing it from a cold concrete to smooth, wood paneling. In the middle of the floor was a large rectangle, black plush rug that stretched from the bed to almost touch the wardrobe. Then against the wall, a few feet away from the entrance door was her desk where she could study or whatnot.

His eyes glanced around the room before falling back to her to admire her. A small smile of amusement curled his lips when he saw her look of awe.

“Are you sure I’m here as a maid and not a guest, maybe?” she breathed brushing her finger tips along the smooth top of the wooden desk.

“Mistress Hunt likes to make sure her workers are comfortable and feel at home in her estate,” Sebastian coolly lied. Ember slid him an incredulous look from the corner of her eye. He held back his smile loving how clever she was.

“Right and I’m the Queen of England,” she scoffed.

“Please get changed, Miss Kensington. I shall be waiting for you in the foyer,” Sebastian informed her before pivoting on his heel.

“Wait.” Her soft, frightened voice stopped him in his tracks. He shifted his torso around just enough to gaze back into her yellow-green eyes. Her tiny hands were playing with the rim of her baseball cap. He bit back his smile knowing she was probably concerned about her ears being exposed.

He rested a palm on the top of her head, startling her, and making her glance up.

“There is a headdress with the outfit if that puts you at ease,” Sebastian told her.

Her eyes widened infinitesimally before she bobbed her head up and down. A relieved smile spread across her face.

Sebastian took a step towards Ember making her body grow stiff. He leaned in close to her, his breath washing over her cheek.

“Always be sure to wear the headdress when around Mistress Hunt. She does not take kindly to strays living in her home.” He was amused to see her cheeks flush red from carefully controlled anger.

Sebastian left the room closing the door behind him with a small smile. Having her here would be quite an adventure.

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I watched in barely suppressed rage as Sebastian left. How dare he call me a stray when he was the one who practically forced this job on me in the first place! I ripped off my baseball cap and flung it on the floor. I didn’t even want to be here, but it had been obvious as Sebastian continued on his merry way down the stairs to show me my room that he would not accept no as an answer. And if this “Mistress Hunt” was so against strays then why hire ME in the first place?

I kicked the bed frame in anger before falling face first onto the impossibly soft mattress. The anger instantly melted out of my body as I found myself rolling around on the bed purring. I’d had a sense from the very beginning that he knew what I was, but had only just now been able to confirm those suspicions.

I sat up on the bed with a sigh. I should probably change into this uniform of mine before he yelled at me. I padded over to the wardrobe and threw open the doors to see a row of the same fashion of maid uniforms. Only each uniform was a different color in order to coordinate with each day of the week.

My right eye (along with my ear) twitched when I pulled out the color for Tuesday. It had large white puffy sleeves with a deep sapphire blue gown. The lace edging of the outfit plus the apron was colored bright neon pink. The outfit was obviously meant to send anyone who saw it into a seizure. I measured the length of the frilly skirt by eye and deduced the fact that it ended just short of mid-thigh with thigh high sapphire blue stockings. At the top of the stockings was a bright pink bow. Once more my eye twitched. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the shoes that went with each of the outfits were only flats. The headdress was, thankfully, a plain white.

I slipped the outfit off the hanger, grabbed the flats from the bottom of the wardrobe, and snatched the headdress off the shelf. I slammed the doors closed wondering why I had followed Sebastian down the stairs instead of walking right out the door.

Maybe it was the mysterious air that he surrounded himself with when he was around others. Or maybe it was because I was still curious to find out what he was exactly. It could EVEN be because of the fact that he was right and this way of living would be better than going back to how I was surviving. I was ninety-five percent sure though that the main reason for me staying here was because of the fact that I knew if I had left…well…he probably wouldn’t have allowed me to walk down the front steps let alone out the front door. Of course I would never admit to him that I was staying for the fact that he was right.

Ever.