Ciel sat down on his bed and tilted his chin up so Sebastian could button the collar of his nightshirt. The boy looked out past Sebastian's shoulder at a world that was changing so fast in his mind that he hardly believed any of it was real anymore. From where he knelt at his master's feet, Sebastian was eyeing Ciel, calculating.

"Is there something the matter, my lord?"

Ciel looked to Sebastian, whom he had half forgotten was there.

"I am beginning to think this was a mistake." He said slowly.

"Surely you are not admitting to making an error of judgement, young master?" Sebastian said, innocently enough, but with a glint in his eyes that made Ciel scowl.

"Don't be snide." He muttered. "I think we need to leave, go back to the manor. We cannot trust these people, not anymore. You saw what happened with that...that demon sensor contraption."

"I truly would not worry yourself overly." Sebastian said, from where he knelt at Ciel's feet. "They all seem to believe the device simply malfunctioned, and none seemed surprised. It appears Mr Branwell is none too successful in his inventions."

"And then what?" Ciel demanded. "He builds the same thing two, three dozen times and it continues to fail? They are intelligent. They will know. They are going to discover the truth. We are not safe, not anymore."

Sebastian straightened elegantly to his feet as Ciel removed his two rings, the gold signet band and the large, blue-jewel of the Phantomhive family heirloom on its ornate silver ring. He tilted his chin, feeling behind him to lay the rings on the nightstand beside his bed. Sebastian reached a hand behind Ciel's head, untied the eyepatch over his master's eye, and laid it too on the bedside table. As Ciel looked up again, his eyes incongruent, his face hardened.

"What do you think I should do?" Ciel asked begrudgingly, with something that sounded like irritated defeat. Now he was asking Sebastian for advice. He would do better to ask Tanaka, he thought glumly.

"It is not my place to dictate what my master does or does not do." Sebastian replied. "I am merely a butler."

"You never seemed to have that problem before." Ciel grumbled. "But I think we must remain now, at least until this...vampire fiasco has been seen through. Any sudden disappearance now will only arouse suspicion. I think we will have to stay and try to help with this case. I suppose it will all be beneficial to her majesty...so that is a somewhat redeeming factor in this whole debacle. I just think getting so deeply involved in a society that will be less than merciful if they discover your identity was reckless."

"I will stand by your decisions, always, master." Sebastian vowed. "Until the death knell tolls, your decisions I shall faithfully abide by."

Ciel's right eye flashed ultraviolet, the pentagram of his Faustian contract coming to illuminated life.

"You will do everything in your power to keep this situation under control. You will keep us both alive until this is seen through, and then as long after that as it takes for the terms of our contract to be fulfilled. That is an order."

Sebastian bowed low on one knee, scarlet eyes flashing in crimson illumination.

"Yes," he purred. "My lord."

"So, what do we all think?"

Gideon looked up, startled, at Jem's question. He had been staring at his cup, full of slowly-cooling tea, which Sophie had given him over five minutes ago. She was truly beautiful, Gideon thought. And he couldn't help but be mesmerised, and his green eyes trailed her whenever she was in his presence. Gabriel had given up mocking his brother by this point as his infatuated looks and enamoured burbling had become a depressingly frequent occurrence; so the younger Lightwood brother had restrained himself to an exasperated sigh and a despairing roll of his eyes.

"I think we should just go to the vampire woman's clan headquarters." Gideon said, grimacing as he took a sip of tea. It was stone cold. He certainly had been day-dreaming for longer than he had realised.

"I agree," Gabriel added. "If we loaded some vampire guns, take some seraph blades, I don't see why we couldn't get her to speak to us about this issue."

"Because that sounds extremely persuasive and not at all hostile." Will drawled. "Wonderful idea, Lightworms." Both Lightwoods scowled furiously.

"I agree with them." Jem said slowly.

"Traitor!" Will cried. "James, you filthy traitor!"

"All I am saying is that it isn't a terrible plan." Jem said, sending the Lightwoods a grudgingly apologetic look. "If we arm ourselves subtly and don't draw our weapons unless we're attacked. I doubt they will be threatening unless we give them reason to be. But I think Camille will talk to us to avoid a fully-fledged Nephilim confrontation. I think we should try it, consider it a wholly possible idea, at least."

Will sighed. "Fine, but I'm still considering you a traitor, James Carstairs."

"How will I live with myself?" Jem smirked, helping himself to a biscuit.

Ciel, much to his annoyance, was still being forced to train by Charlotte. Jem and Will were being innumerably easier on the boy than they had originally been. Firstly, because they did not want to overexert him and exasperate his asthma. But, secondly, they simply liked him more now. Any "initiation" process had been passed and, though he was spoilt and unnervingly shrewd, Will and Jem had grown to like the boy and his unusual butler. Perhaps it was the presence of the Lightwoods, whom both parabatai hated – Will due to long-enduring bitterness and Jem mostly out of loyalty –, that made Ciel seem almost pleasant in comparison.

Whatever the reason, Will and Jem were more lenient and merciful in their training; or as much as shadowhunter training allowed, anyway.

"Do you...is this odd?" Will asked Ciel, who was currently swinging his cane at pressure points on what looked to him very much like a tailor's mannequin in an attempt to get acquainted with his cane with his cane as a weapon. "All of this," Will elaborated. "Demons and angels, vampires and warlocks. We grow up with it. Is it strange, learning about it for the first time?"

Ciel stopped and leaned on his cane, grateful for a merciful excuse to catch his breath and rest his aching arms. He hadn't realised how much effort wielding a cane would be. It was so light to walk with, but brandishing it was an entirely different story.

"I know you said that nothing much surprises you, - evidently; I don't think we've ever had a mundie adjust so well, except Sophie and Thomas perhaps. Agatha was a bit more startled, I've been told. But you really are remarkably...accepting of our world." Jem said, gesturing Ciel to sit down beside he and Will on one of the benches that ran the training rooms perimeter. Ciel took the seat gladly.

"To us, learning how to cure a vampire bite is like learning to write your name, it's second nature. But I don't suppose mundanes have much use for things like that. What is it like? Learning about demons and things?" Will enquired curiously.

Ciel was just pondering how to give a truth-based answer without the phrase "I am actually rather accustomed to demons; my butler, for one" when he was saved answering as Charlotte appeared in the doorway.

"Boys, I need to speak with you about..."

"Where are the Lightworms?" Will asked. "They are supposed to be helping. They aren't earning their keep at all."

"They are downstairs writing to their sister about the recently-discovered cause of their father's death." Charlotte explained hesitantly.

"Which was what?" Jem asked.

Charlotte looked firmly at Jem, studiously ignoring Will, and said the words that made Will's heart soar: "Astriola."

"What is that?" Jem asked curiously.

"I'm so very glad you asked!" Will cried jubilantly and began to sing;

"For years I've told this tale of woe,

And always met with jokes,

Of the fatal consequences

Of cohorts with demon-folk.

One day you're sleeping with a Shax

And the next thing you have found;

One is lying, struck with demon pox,

Some six feet underground.

So forgive me if I sound quite smug,

As I'm fearing that I might,

For the time has come for me to say:

I told you I was right!"

Jem burst into spontaneous applause then dissolved into laughter. Will was rarely more pleased that when he could make someone he cared about laugh, and Jem was beside himself, tears in his eyes.

"I had come to ask you to be considerate, but clearly that is a waste of my breath." Charlotte said. "And Jem, I expected better than you."

"I do apologise, Charlotte." Jem gasped. "I think I had better excuse myself to get a drink."

Though a tactful escape, this consideration was tainted somewhat by the fact Will could still hear his peals of laughter when he was downstairs.

"What is demon pox?" Ciel asked, thoroughly baffled.

"It is an awful disease," Charlotte answered firmly, before Will could say anything. "Which is the fatal result of having...intercourse with a demon."

"Like...demonic syphilis?" Ciel offered, and Will snorted. Charlotte sighed.

"All I ask is that you are vaguely thoughtful. This is a sensitive topic, Will. Gabriel and Gideon are still mourning."

Will smirked. "Oh, I shan't be anything less than my usual, polite self. I shall be just as tactful as I always am."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Charlotte sighed again, and left the room.