A Demon's Toy

Seven

::One Month Later::

It had been one month since I was adopted into this “family” that kept the Hunt Estate up and running. I had yet to learn what exactly Sebastian was (he didn’t really give me much to work with on guessing), but as time wore on that grew less and less important to me. He had never fully explained to me how he’d known where I was. Anytime I questioned him about it, he would get this little smirk, and tell me, “I am simply one hell of a butler.”

After the first few days of being here I came to realize the three other maids here were completely avoiding me. They refused to make eye contact with me and would scurry out of the room as soon as I entered. It was because of this fact that I grew close to the tall, quiet butler, Alderin. Although he remained silent throughout most of the day, doing everything he was ordered, I discovered he was actually an outgoing, comical guy who was a huge bookworm in his spare time.

We bonded quickly after learning we had much in common. One main thing we always agreed on was his twin brother, Axel. Axel was the younger of the two men and the complete opposite of his brother. Where Alderin was quiet and obliged to every command, Axel wouldn’t shut up at all. Plus, he never got his work done around the estate and it shocked me that Coraline had yet to fire him. Not only was he a complete jackass, but he flirted with all the maids as well. Including me. Actually, he probably flirted with me the most which made the other women jealous, but they never dared to say anything about it to my face. They would just glare daggers at me from the corner of their eyes when they thought I wasn’t looking. Of course Axel was too ignorant to understand he had the moves of a dyslexic second grader. Plus he just couldn’t get it through his egotistical brain that I was NOT interested in him.

I had my eye on someone else entirely. Unfortunately for me, after my first day here, he had been nothing but harsh and impatient with me.

“Miss Ember!” My eye twitched at the familiar snap of a particular British butler that I would have liked nothing more than to strangle. Ever since I first came here, he had only called me by my last name once which I still found extremely odd. Especially considering the fact he called all the other maids by their last names. And trust me the maids took note of that. Now he had resorted to calling me ‘Ember’ when I kept telling him to call me Lux. Obviously, he had listened so well.

I stood up from my kneeling position on the floor where I had been scrubbing the marble tiles like some twisted, less romantic version of Cinderella. I brushed off the front of my outfit and knees before checking to make sure my headdress was still covering my ears. Since today was Friday, the outfit was colored a deep blood red with silver lacing. One of my less hated outfits I had to wear. I turned around to face the 6’1” head butler and Coraline’s fuck buddy. Yeah. That one hadn’t taken me too long to figure out. Plus Alderin and Axel had clued me in about it along with me being able to eavesdrop on some of the maid’s conversations in the showers at night. Having cat ears could be a plus sometimes. The only thing was Sebastian was unaware of the fact that I knew.

“Yes, sir?” I ground out between clenched teeth. Every time I was trying to finish out my chores, he always interrupted me just to inform me of the rest of my chores I still had left to finish by dinner. Or to tell me what a horrible job I did on something.

“Mistress Hunt has requested that you come with me while I go out and run her errands,” Sebastian answered in a cool demeanor. Before, there might have been a ghost of a smile playing at his full lips, but not anymore. Why had he changed so suddenly?

I quirked a brow in curiosity, but did not dare question something Coraline ordered. Not when I had been put on her list of favorites. It was a short list that only consisted of me and Sebastian at the moment. I nodded my head in understanding and bent down to grab the handle of my cleaning bucket.

“Leave it. I’ll have Alderin order one of the other maids to finish your chores while you are out,” Sebastian ordered.

“How long do her errands typically last?”

“Typically, for me alone, less than a day, but since she has INSISTED you come along,” he sighed irritably. “It may take, at the very least, five days.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. I opened my mouth to say something about how ridiculous that was when Sebastian lifted a white gloved hand to silence me.

“Pack for at most of seven days. I will meet you in the foyer.”

With that he pivoted on his heel and disappeared around the corner. I had the strong urge to grab out the scrub brush in the bucket and throw it at the back of his ridiculously, well combed head.

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic about the trip. You might get my hopes up,” I grumbled under my breath. I set the cleaning bucket back on the ground knowing this would only cause the maids to hate me further. Not because they had to finish my chores along with theirs, but because all three of them had an unhealthy obsession over the British man.

At that moment Alderin entered the room, but stopped upon seeing me standing in the center of the room with a look of bewilderment and anger on my face.

“What’s wrong?” Alderin worried coming to stand before me.

“I have to go on a five day trip with Sebastian. Maybe seven,” I quietly uttered. Alderin’s violet eyes widened.

“That’s not good,” he breathed.

“Tell me about it,” I grumbled scratching at my ears through the fabric of my headdress.

“So what are you going to do?” he asked readjusting my headdress after I had officially pushed it sideways to better scratch at my ear. Only him, Axel, and Sebastian knew about the fact that I was a neko. I had told Alderin of my own accord after he had confessed that he and his brother were shifters. Axel, unfortunately, had been listening in on the conversation at the time when I had told Alderin. I still didn’t trust Axel to keep the secret, but I had no choice. Thankfully he had yet to use that against me in any sort of way so I was able to relax after a while.

“I don’t know. Go, I guess. Coraline ordered it.”

Alderin’s eyes snapped down to look at mine.

“Coraline ordered it?” he repeated in shock.

“Yeah. Remember? I’m kind of on her list of favorites,” I reminded him.

“I know, I know,” he sighed twirling a strand of my black hair around his finger. “It’s just odd I suppose. I figured that since Sebastian would be going out to run her errands, she would get you to fill his place.”

My eyes widened; my lips curling into a disgusted sneer. “There is no way I am tending to that woman’s sick, demented needs.”

Alderin laughed, his hand dropping back to his side. “I didn’t mean you’d be filling THAT place. Typically, if it gets TOO bad to the point where she can’t wait for Sebastian, she grabs me or Axel since we’re the only other guys here. I don’t think she’s ever used a maid. Then again even if she has, it’s not like the maids would confess to it,” he admitted.

“Have you….?” I prodded curiously. Alderin shook his head. The tight feeling in my chest loosened a little. It wasn’t because I liked Alderin and would be jealous; I just hated the thought of her using a sweet man like him for her sadistic games.

“No, but she has used my brother once before. He didn’t come out of his room for the rest of the week. I never have gotten the full story about what happened that night,” he quietly said glancing around to make sure his brother wouldn’t just pop up out of nowhere.

“I wonder why Sebastian is able to handle it so well…” I mused.

Alderin shrugged. “You should probably go pack though before Sebastian comes back here to yell at you for not being ready in time,” he smiled exposing a row of beautiful, white teeth. His incisors were just a tad longer than the rest of his teeth due to the fact that he was a canine shifter.

I nodded, wrapping my slender arms around him in a quick hug before jogging off to pack some clothing for the trip. I threw in a few of my maid outfits just in case we still had to look the part as servants even outside the house, but the rest of my suitcase was filled with my comfy, personal outfits. I was excited at the same time I was dreading it.

I was excited because it would give me the chance to be outside the house and not feel obligated to have to wear these god awful outfits. Not only that, but it gave me the chance to maybe learn more about the mysterious butler that was Sebastian.

On the other hand, I dreaded it because I knew Sebastian would give me nothing but the cold shoulder all week probably blaming me for the fact that the errands would take longer than usual.

I sighed grabbing up my suitcase with both hands. It dropped to the floor with a thud. With a grunt I hoisted it off the floor and began my ascent up the stairs making sure to lock my bedroom door before leaving. God only knew what those maids would do to my stuff if I left it unlocked. Upon reaching the top step and swinging open the door I saw Sebastian standing with his back to me in the middle of the foyer. At the sound of the door being opened, he half turned to gaze over at me through his ruby red eyes. He closed his pocket watch and slid it back into the hidden pocket of his jacket.

“Are you finally prepared, Miss Ember?” he asked blandly.

“Yes, Mister Michaelis,” I sneered. If he was going to act snooty and formal, then so would I.

He arched a trimmed, black brow in amusement before turning on his heel to head out the doors.

Oh yeah. This trip was going to be just freaking dandy.
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