"Sebastian." The butler turned to address his master, whose head was poked around his office door. Ciel emerged from the room. "Where is Will?"

"He will be up momentarily. He has sent me to attend to some business on his behalf."

"Very well." Ciel said, and closed his door behind him. "I will come with you."

"Very good, my Lord." He said, and the pair set off to the room where Jem rested.

"What business has Will asked you to carry out?" Ciel asked.

"It would be improper of me to say, my Lord."

"However, since you answer to me and not Will Herondale, you should be free to discuss."

"He merely asked me to pass on a message to Mr Bane and Ms Loss. And to fulfil any needs they may have, collect supplies they may need, the like."

"Naturally." Ciel added.

"He seemed to be under the impression these were somewhat difficult orders." Sebastian commented, smirking.

"Clearly, he hadn't been acquainted with a Phantomhive butler before." Ciel said, amused, as they stepped before Jem's door. Ciel sighed. "Do this quickly."

"Yes, my Lord." Sebastian replied, and knocked on the door.

Magnus appeared in the doorway and Ciel moved into the room, followed promptly by Sebastian at his heels, as the warlock moved to hold the door. Catarina opened her mouth to protest to the strangers in the room whilst Jem rested, but Ciel spoke first.

"We are here at Will's request. He shall arrive shortly."

He looked to Sebastian, handing over the conversational reins.

"Master Herondale wishes to tell you the following:" Sebastian began. "Firstly, as my young master said, that he shall be here to attend to the situation himself presently. Secondly, he asks you do nothing drastic until he does arrive. He asks also that you do your utmost to assist Master Carstairs. And, lastly, that you relay any needs or jobs onto myself, and I will have them seen to at once, of course."

"Pardon my asking, but who exactly might you be?" Catarina asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

"I might be Earl Ciel Phantomhive," Ciel provided, sounding rather put out he was being asked such a question under his own roof. "And this might be my butler, Sebastian."

"Catarina Loss." Catarina introduced herself. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Well, Phantomhives are nothing if not hospitable." Ciel replied coolly.

"That is rather a large claim from rather a small boy." Catarina observed.

It was highly fortunate that at that moment, Will burst into the room. Ciel's pale complexion had flushed an angry, chagrined pink and Sebastian seemed to be looking to his master for a sign he should break Catarina's neck. However, Will's entrance broke the tension enough to allow the fury in Ciel's face to subside back into something like thinly veiled embarrassed anger.

"Magnus! Catarina!" Will exclaimed. "Do it! Give him the demon blood!"

"Are you certain?" Magnus asked. "You are absolutely..."

Will nodded his head sharply. "I am positive."

"Very well. In that case, we need some supplies and a few books. It may take a while."

"We do not have a while." Will protested. "Jem does not have a while!"

"I would be happy to oblige in that way." Sebastian added.

"These are not exactly regular ingredients. We need all the available information on this process – Ragnor can provide a lot of that. We need candles and, most importantly, we need a bottle of demon blood."

Ciel's heart stopped.

"What?" he croaked out.

"It will be performed as a kind of sacrifice ritual. We will summon a demon, take some blood, inject it into Jem and then..." Magnus looked to Will. "And then we wait."

"Can we just summon any demon?" Will asked.

"The greater the demon, the better. The more human the form, the higher the likelihood Jem will survive the procedure." Catarina explained.

Sebastian looked down to his side as he felt a hand grab his wrist. Ciel's small fingers turned his palm out and began to tap away at the skin. A dash. A dot. Three dashes. 'No.'

Sebastian nodded, and Ciel's chest caved, yanking Sebastian from the room, who made excuses about setting off to complete Magnus and Catarina's requirements before allowing himself to be tugged outside.

"Stop thinking it." Ciel said, slumping down onto his bed. "You will not do it."

"It would not be fatal." Sebastian countered. "What is a little blood, my Lord?"

"I am not concerned about that. It...the ritual?" Ciel's mind tore itself from the present and his back slammed into a wooden table, his face hot and slick with sweat and tears. Then a sword plunged into his chest, blood soaking his skin instantly. He fell back into reality, into the present, in an instant, blinking into the wide, concerned eyes of Sebastian.

"I don't trust it." Ciel gasped. "I don't trust them."

"Will may lose Jem, the only person he really has."

Ciel didn't have to say what he was thinking; he might lose the same thing.

"Do you not think you are being selfish?" Sebastian asked.

"That is not your place to say." Ciel said. "Go and collect the other things they requested and I shall...I will think on it." Ciel placed his foot on Sebastian's knee and allowed his shoes to be removed, to be dressed into his nightclothes. He took off his eyepatch and sat on the chest at the end of his bed.

"I shall return when it is time for the ritual and you may tell you what you bid me do." Sebastian said. Ciel nodded but didn't reply and heard the door click closed.

Will glanced as Sebastian and Ciel left, paying no attention to the reason as to their swift departure. He went over to the basin of water on the washstand, dipping in a cloth, which he wrung out and held lightly against his parabatai's forehead.

"I'm sorry, James." He said quietly. "I don't know what to do. Please, you have to survive this. Not for me – though a little bit for me – but for Charlotte and Henry and whatever girl you fall in love with you and your ancestors who you'll no doubt teach to play that infernal violin and my kids will make jokes about it forever, just like I do, even if they don't actually mind it. Just like I do." He smiled, and sat back on his heels. "You have to live. I have to horrify your future wife by teaching your children my demon pox song."

Magnus and Catarina exchanged a look at the sight of the two boys and Magnus began his fire message to Ragnor, requesting thorough and detailed notes on the ritual procedure. Catarina bent her head close to read over his shoulder and add things. Will gave a dejected sigh, and the two Downworlders glanced simultaneously over at him.

"I cannot imagine that." Magnus said quietly, half to himself. "Loving someone that deeply. No regard for risk or constraint, obstacle nor limitation. Going to hell and back. It...mortals are curious. I envy them that naivety."

"You'll understand one day, and wonder how you could ever have been so cynical." Catarina said. "I'm sorry about Camille."

Magnus waved a hand. "Damn Camille." He said dismissively, and resolutely ignored the clench in his heart.

Ciel awoke in his bedroom, the room as black as pitch. His mind was halfway through demanding the reason as to his being woken at such an ungodly hour when he remembered. The ritual. He flew into a seated position, the back of his head smacking sharply against the headboard behind him. Like someone waking from a nightmare, he pulled his knees up, taking in breaths, startled. But Ciel was not waking from a nightmare; he was waking into one. In the darkness, a single bloom of orange-yellow candlelight illuminated a pair of crimson slit-pupilled eyes.

"Sebastian." Ciel gasped, coughing to steel his voice. When he continued, his breathlessness was gone. "What are you doing, sneaking around? You could have just woken me, you know."

"My apologies, young master." Sebastian replied, inclining his head slightly. "It is time, my Lord."

Ciel nodded and swung his legs to his side, positioning himself on the edge of the bed. He began to stand as Sebastian stepped before him, indicating he should remain seated. He placed the lit candlestick on the floor, tying a dressing gown around Ciel's waist and draping a blanket around his narrow shoulders.

"You would not wish to catch a chill, my Lord." Sebastian explained and Ciel got to his feet, tugging the blanket closely about him. "What do you permit me do?" Sebastian asked.

"Give him the blood." Ciel replied. "Stay alive. However, we have to explain. Everything."

"But..."

"That is an order." Ciel pressed coldly.

Sebastian nodded, bowing deeply onto one knee. "Yes, my Lord."