Ciel accompanied his mother and played a few more songs for the guests; he watched from the stage as the staff hurried to and fro to calm the guests and clear Jurogumo’s remains. After seeing that the situation had relatively settled down, they left the stage and started to mingle separately.

“Master Ciel, do you know what happened? It was so terrifying.” A female guest was coquettishly trying to get Ciel’s attention when he passed her table. He stopped and gave a gentle smile.

“Don’t worry Miss Vili, our staff are all experienced professionals. They will make sure that no harm comes to you or the rest of the guests. We apologize again for scaring you”

“Oh, that’s so reassuring. By the way, who is that young man with white hair at the bar? He looks so handsome!” she giggled.

Ciel rolled his eyes in his mind. First day on the job and he’s gotten the attention of who knows how many ladies. Was he really going to lose to his sister in terms of manliness?

“Kou is a relative of mine from my father’s side. I agree that he’s handsome, after all, I can’t say that my father looks ugly, can I?” He turned on his charm full blast, teasing the guest till she blushed.

“Of- of course your father is handsome. You- you are too!”

He got her stammering. Not bad. He leaned forward, his hand on the table, giving her another megawatt smile. “Thank you. I can’t be compared to your beauty, however.”

His face was so close to the guest that she could see how flawless his skin was. His focused gaze that seemed to say ‘you are the only thing in my world’ combined with that charming smile made him look sexy, as opposed to his aloof prince demeanour that was the norm with Ciel. If she had not been sitting down, she would probably have gotten weak in the knees. What was going on? When did Ciel get so HOT?!

Ciel toned down his smile and leaned back. “Please enjoy the rest of the evening Miss Vili.” He took her hand and gave it a light kiss on her fingers before walking away. She stared at his back, her face becoming increasingly pink. It was unknown what she was thinking but it appeared that Ciel had just gotten himself a new fan.

Ciel hummed while he walked to the bar. It had been such a long time since he played the charmer. Fifty years, in fact. When he returned after recuperating from his injuries, he lost that carefree joie de vivre attitude that he had before his convalesce. Added with the fact that just seeing George made him recoil in terror and that he had also lost Dawn, his favourite confidant, he had retreated within himself and became more aloof towards everyone but family. It was nice to let himself loose once in a while.

“You know, if you keep that up, you’re going to have women lining up to see you every day.” Kou had seen what Ciel had done and also the guest’s enraptured gaze.

“You’ll get them too when you walk the floor” Ciel was nonchalant.

Kou rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what do you mean?”

“I mean that smile is dangerous. If you get a crazed fan, who knows what they’ll do to you.”

Ciel smiled lightly. “That’s not going to happen. Besides Sanctuary having great security, there are way better looking people than me. Like Yue for instance.” He couldn’t resist teasing.

Kou frowned when he heard that name, the look in his eyes unfathomable. “You’re right. There are a lot of good looking men here. And you’re one of them. Keep that in mind so that you don’t hurt any guests or yourself.”

“Will do.” Big sister will always be big sister, he supposed. Better to just agree before he got nagged at. By now, some of the more nervous guests had left, the commotion having left a huge impact on them. They were the weaker, milder patrons. The more aggressive, stronger ones had nothing to be afraid of and they were the type to normally be in the centre of excitement anyway.

“By the way, is there a gym at home? I feel really restless and I want to just move about after we get home.”

“There isn’t one. We normally use the one here on the third floor. If you want to spar though, you can either do that at the training dojo in the village or ask any of the security staff.”

“Do you know how to fight?”

“Yes, father made sure that all of us learnt how.” He gave a wry smile. “But no one wants to spar with me.”

Kou looked at him again. “Do you want to spar with me?”

Ciel shrugged. “Why not? We can use the training room tomorrow before we come on duty.” He’d have to remind himself to bring some bandages and ointment then. Even when Kou was a girl, she had not gone easy on him. On one hand, it made him annoyed that he was unable to defeat her but on the other, he was glad that she never treated him like he should be wrapped in wool and needed to be treated with care. That made him feel better.

The security staff were sweeping the area again. He wasn’t sure what had else had transpired but looking at their grim faces, it looked serious.

Kou was also looking at them, his face full of concern. He gave a sardonic smile. “What an interesting first day. I wonder what else is going on.”

“You won’t forget it then. Stay here and carry on. I’m going to see what happened.”

He walked over to where George was talking with another guard. His father was nowhere to be seen. He frowned when he looked at George. The man looked worse for wear and his suit was also grimy. It was obvious that he was tired and Ciel was sure he could smell blood.

“George, are you ok?”

George looked up in surprise. He raised the right side of his lips and gave an ironic smile of understanding. “I’m fine. It just looks worse than it actually is.”

“You should still take a break and a shower. You look like something the cat dragged in.”

“I do, don’t I? But we’ve got so many things to do right now I’m not sure if I’ve got the time.”

At this point, the guard who was listening in interjected. “Ciel’s right George. Go take a break. There’s no point if you push yourself when we’re all able to take care of this. It’s not your responsibility alone.”

George sighed and rubbed his tired face. “All right. Thanks. But call me immediately if anything happens. I’ll be down in an hour or so.”

They watched him go. Ciel turned to the guard, Koekuk, to ask “Where’s my father?”

“Master Gin went to the staff lounge. I think Scarlet is there too.”

“All right, thanks” he turned to leave, heading for the staff lounge. He found both his parents there, together on the sofa. Scarlet was sitting on her husband’s lap and massaging his temples while his father just held his mother, arms around her waist and his head on her shoulders. Jurogumo’s death had caused an unprecedented uproar and after everything was over, it was now nearly one. Most of the guests were not in the mood to stay so it was no surprise that both his parents were together at this moment. His father looked exhausted and there was still worry in his mother’s eyes.

“Are you all right, father?” he asked after knocking on the open door softly.

“Ciel. Yes, I’m fine. I just finished convincing your mother.” Gin raised his head and gave his son a smile but did not release Scarlet or move her off his lap. “I don’t think I’ll be going home tonight. Anansi has gone missing and in the wake of what happened earlier, I have to think the worst.”

Ciel ignored his parent’s stickiness. He was used to it anyway. “Do you mean Jurogumo’s death? George, Fionn and the rest will find him, right?”

“If only it were that simple… Jurogumo managed to split herself and was attacking a barrier point. If Anansi does the same, the barrier could collapse at any time. Then we might have to handle more than just dread hyenas.”

Ciel’s eyes widened. This really was more serious than he expected. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“Mmm. I need you and Kou to escort your mother home. First thing tomorrow, take the twins to Master Seki’s place and get what I ordered. Inform him that we may need more of them. We’ll work on what we postponed earlier.” While Gin had gotten rid of the spiders earlier, he was not taking any chances. His son was intelligent and would understand anyway.

Ciel gave a nod and turned to his mother. “Let’s go, mother. We can help father better if we’re well rested.”

They stood up and Scarlet reluctantly slid out of Gin’s embrace. She looked into his eyes and caressed his cheek. Gin caught hold of her hand and held it between his hand and cheek. Looking at the worry and love in her eyes, he gave a gentle smile and placed a kiss on her forehead before releasing her hand. “Go.”

Scarlet gave a nod, kissed her husband on the cheek and turned to follow her son who had fled at the intimate look between his parents. They picked Kou up at the bar and went through the portal back to Time Valley. For the time being, they settled Kou in a guest room; it didn’t feel right to put him in Dawn’s room, not yet anyway. After leaving a change of clothes and toiletries for Kou and seeing to it that his mother went to her room to get some rest, Ciel could finally catch a breath and return to his own chambers.

A quick shower and change later, Ciel lay in bed, restless and unable to sleep. Too many things had happened back to back and now, while the body was tired, the mind refused to shut down. Jurogumo’s death and what happened to the barrier was worrying. If the barrier really fell like what his father was worried about, then dread hyenas really were the least of their problems. Terror lions, fear falcons, panic wolves… creatures that fed on negative energy and in turn spread the same energy out. If these creatures managed to enter the club, it was not what they would do to the guests that worried him. No, it was what would happen if they used the club entrances as exits to the human world. Humans wouldn’t be able to see them but they would sense them. And slowly, they would be irritable and snap easily at their loved ones; or they would grow paranoid and suspicious of others. Rage, jealousy, depression, self-loathing, hate… no, these creatures could not be allowed through the barriers of Sanctuary.

As worried as he was, Ciel had no choice but to force himself to close his eyes and sleep. As he told his mother, they were of better use rested. When he drifted off, he seemed to have dreamt about the warm embrace of a shivering man, a damp sensation on his shoulder and the soft feel of hair through his fingers.