A Heavy Rain was falling across the Manor when Nebbie was awakened by the sound of a door opening, he opened his eyes and tried to look over to where Mary had her bed set up. Only to realized he wasn't in his bed, he was in a stranger's arm halfway out the door, Mary was fast asleep in the corner of the room, the Stranger slowly closed the door with little noise, Looking up a the stranger Nebbie found himself looking up at one of the butlers he had seen earlier that day, if he was remembering correctly it was the one who hadn't mentioned Nebbie in the count for the chairs.
"Bad path," Nebbie groaned as his kidnapper made his way down the hall, the butler looked down and jumped upon realizing Nebbie was staring daggers at him.
"I knew you were a Demon," He hissed in a tone one might direct at a person who had murdered their family.
The man looked young-ish, he had that late twenties, maybe early thirties, look with a few grey hairs as though stress was rapidly aging him.
He had mostly dirty blond hair with a few flecks of grey, his hair looks greasy, probably the result of some sort of hair product that hadn't been washed out when it was supposed to.
He had a thin mustache and a stubbly chin, the kind someone who couldn't properly grow a beard had in the hopes of having at least something there.
Nebbie wasn't capable of speaking as of yet so he did the only thing he could think to do, He spat at the man. Frankly he was impressed it came out with enough force to hit the man's chin.
He regretted it immediately as the man dropped him in disgust. His tiny body hitting the stone floor was without a doubt the most agonizing thing he had ever felt in this or maybe even his past life. Despite all his resolve to remain cool he wasn't able to stop the screaming wail that escaped his lips and he began sobbing up a storm, his reward was more pain as the butler kicked at him.
"How dare you," He spat back before picking Nebbie up by the neck like one would a small dog that was trying to bite them "Scream all you want my Isolation Barrier will stop all the sounds you make," Nebbie chose to keep crying and add some flailing as pain pulsed through is body, the stone floor combined with the kick had officially built up to absolutely hurt more than anything from his past life, at least the Goddess had been kind enough to remove the memory of feeling his own death if nothing else.
The butler picked up his pace, Nebbie currently planning to scream until he couldn't scream any more. He expected the butler to take him to some sort of meeting place.
But it seemed he was at most acting without the knowledge of any of the other staff members, at the least others had been in on it but feared Nebbie would remember their faces and were simply supporting the butler from the shadows.
The more Nebbie cried the wetter he felt, judging from the pain either the ends of the butler's shoes had been sharp enough to cut into him or he had landed on something sharp upon the floor as blood began staining his red pajamas, granted it wasn't a very visible stain but it did help him increase the volume of his screams, if nothing else he was make sure the butler remembered their sounds well after he did what he was planning to do.
The butler made it uncontested to the entrance hall when a light flickered to life behind them, Nebbie didn't hear anything but he wasn't sure if it was because of his own wails or if the butlers Isolation Barrier was a two was sound barrier, a double edged sword of a sort, no one could hear him but he couldn't hear them either.
The light was clearly not a part of his plan, the butler slid to a halt and, instead of going to the front entrance, hightailed it to the kitchen.
"They're bewitched," He muttered "I must be the last sane man in this house, they'll thank me when I free them from it's spell," Nebbie's mind was clouded with pain and he wasn't able to, or cared to, listen to the man's excuses.
The Man in question was one Jason Long, Since the day of the Quintuplets birth he had been planning this very kidnapping, He like all others on staff had heard about the potentiality of a Demon being born, and upon hearing confirmation that one of the children was off had been waiting for the story on what they where going to do to be ride of it, very quickly however he had heard people talking about the exciting futures they would have serving the future lord of Demons.
Jason wasn't a very well educated man, but he knew what was happening without a doubt in his heart. The Demon was enchanting his coworkers, one by one they were becoming its thralls.
Luckily he had managed to trick the others into thinking he to was enchanted, he thanked his deadbeat of a father, who had only ever left him a God's Eye Ring, the symbol of his fathers religious, the eye of God, it was clear to him now that God's eye was upon him, and he alone would be to one to send the Demon back to the pits from whence it came.
"There must have been a protective barrier around the hall," He cursed to himself, unaware that the Baby in his arm had started bleeding, not a lot but enough to drip onto his shoes and leave a few bloody prints down the hall, ones that the Night staff he had actively timed his kidnapping around had found.
A perfect plan foiled as though he was interfering with a god, or more accurately a Goddesses plan, a night maid had been smacked with a mighty need for an apple, and had broken her nightly pattern of over ten years for the first time for a quick snack.
She had sounded the alarm at the sight of bloody footprints and, after the alarm had been sent, she couldn't rightly recall why she had come down the way she had, there had been a far faster route to the kitchen.
With multiple staff members looking for what they assumed was an injured thief the commotion caused Mary to wake, and in the time it took the butler to reach the Kitchen She was already speeding into the main hall and following the bloody trail like a hound. The butler ran out the back door, and turned sharply at the sight of Mordecai making his way through the rain, having come out of his shack at the blaring alarm.
Mordecai called out to the butler trying to ask what was going on and received no reply, he thought maybe he just hadn't heard him due to the combination of rain and the blaring alarm, his thought cut off when the door slammed open and Mary Slid out. He was alerted immediately to the severity of the situation. As Head Maid there were many things Mary would never do. And above all other things was to go outside in her pajamas, that was to say, in her underwear.
He didn't know what was happening, but he knew who she was after.
"He went that way," Mordecai called out, Mary didn't reply and followed suit, easily finding the Man as he tried to run along the outside of the Manor, his speed impeded by the mud, Several staff members saw him pass by a few window, but only a special few saw Mary moving at a blazing speed, easily outpacing the man and getting in front of him despite how much the mud should have slowed her down.
He Slid to a halt, Mary said something but the Man simply tired turning around, only to Find Mordecai barreling through the yard like a freight train. He tried to plan his next move when the closet window opened without his notice, and Madeline jumped out of it, She seemingly just barely missed him. But he realized too late he hadn't been the target when the sound of a child crying abruptly stopped and he was left in a silent void.
He looked over and saw Madeline laying on her back in the mud, Nebbie sobbing uncontrollably in her left arm, beating on her feebly.
Before he could even try to do anything Mary punched him square in the face. Another act a maid wasn't supposed to do and yet something she did perfectly. Easily knocking the man out cold in one hit before turning all her attention to Nebbie.
"Call Doctor Green," Madeline called, when she heard a chuckle from inside the window she snapped back irritably "Not for me you twats, the kids bloodier than a fucking sunday pig,"
Nebbie laughed merrily as his mother rocked him in her arms. The cut hadn't been major and any other bruises or injuries caused by the fall or the kick had been no harder for the Magical Doctor Green than it would be for someone to kiss someone better, in fact that had literally been all the good doctor needed to do. Similar to the four babies of the manor Doctor Green had been born with a Magical Seed, the Healers Seed, and since her seed was fully blossomed she was able to cure just about any small injury, no matter how numerous they might be, with a simple kiss on the cheek.
Madeline was visibly fuming that the Doctor was about to do the same for her, regardless of the fact that she had clearly pulled something after jumping out the window and having not been able to pull herself back up.
"I just landed on a bitch of a rock," Madeline said irritably as the Doctor kissed her better and she got back to her feet. "So, we're gonna beat the shit out of that bastard or what? Cause these jammers where expensive and now there as ruined as an apron after slaughtering a pig,"
"Mary did that plenty well," Zoey noted as she looked across the room, Jason was currently unconscious in a medical bed with Mordecai hanging over him to tell the room when he had awoken.
Mary didn't particularly seem to care that she had knocked him flat, nor that she had and still was walking around the Manor in nothing but her underwear, in fact all she seemed to be bothered by was that she hadn't been able to hear a man who was unhearable.
With him no longer crying Zoey placed Nebbie on the floor, indicating to Madeline to keep an eye on him as he stopped laughing and went back to blankly staring at whoever had his attention at that given moment. Zoey walked over to Mary and looked down at her, nothing but kindness showing in her eyes.
"Mary," Zoey sighed "You did everything thing you could do and in the end where the one that held him up long enough for Madeline to get Nebbie away from him, you should be basking in your heroism,"
"Yeah," Madeline cheered from across the room "You and Me, the Heroic Duo of the Decade, stopping kidnappers and knocking 'em flat on their asses,"
"I should have been prepared," Mary replied flatly "I should have figured one or more members of the staff might try to make a grab at him, by Lord James order or on their own accord," she let out a low groan as she put her hands in her own face "I'm not fit to be a maid, let alone a nursing maid, I can't even feed him properly,"
"He's a special case," Zoey informed her "I love him dearly but he's very likely a reincarnated Demon, if you did feed him the way the other children get feed it would cause…complications for the both of you in the future, since he'd remember the act well into adulthood,"
Mary just held her hands to her face, Madeline made an odd noise but both Zoey and Mary ignored her.
"No fucking way," Madeline murrmered as she watched the scene unfold, chosing not to warn Zoey and Mary in favor of pointing it out to Doctor Green, who had already noticed and was alreadying midway through grabing a camera.
Zoey was attempting to figure out the words to comfort Mary when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, just as it came into contact with Mary's leg.
Mary looked down at the feeling of something grabbing her leg, thinking for a moment that Zoey was attempting to clean the mud caked to them, and instead found herself looking into Nebbie's venomous looking purple eyes. He was standing fully upright and patting at her leg to get her attention now that he had it he held his arms up right in an obvious motion. He had been able to choose and had chosen to request getting picked up by her over his mother.
Mary was frozen for a few moments before she slowly picked him up, once in her arms he smiled and laughed at her before reaching out and touching her face. As he had done so with his mother, he now declared in the only way he could that she was his Mary, and her lord was no longer permitting her to feel bad about her past mistakes.
Mary smiled even as he got dried mud on her face, before quickly turning red upon realizing she was in nothing but her underwear at the moment and Nebbie was dangerously close to kicking her bra off with his merry movements. She repositioned him to keep him from doing just that and apologize to Zoey.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, I need to cover myself," Doctor Green offered up her coat with the promise it would be returned to her the next day and Mary did her best to remove the flush from her face. Nebbie happy to be in her arms,"
Mary rocked Nebbie for a while and then set him down and helped him walk around so Doctor Green could get some more pictures, having only gotten one before Nebbie got too close to Mary for her to comfortably take one.
With the lightened mood they had all nearly forgotten about Jason, until Mordecai Spoke up.
"He's woken up," Mary quickly picked Nebbie back up and moved as far away from Jason as she could, when he was conscious enough to be aware of his surroundings he panicked and tried to get out of the bed, Mordecai easily stopped with just two of his fingers, resulting in a fairly comical looking sight.
"Jason Long," Zoey called out to get his attention, "You have a lot to answer for,"
"Lady Zoey," Jason long cried out desperately "You have to hear me and understand, that Demon it has you and the rest of the Manor under its spell, you have to destroy it before it uses this Manor to build an army and begins taking over the minds of the rest of those who live in this country,"
"I am not, or have I ever, been under a spell," her reply fell on deaf ears and Jason began screaming phrased he had been told by his mother would repel demons, to his credit the first phrase made Nebbie's hair curl, on the second Nebbie let out a mighty sneeze, and on the third try Nebbie made a noise of great discomfort and pulled himself closer to Mary," If nothing else Jason had proved without a doubt that Nebbie was inarguable a Demon, or at least something akin to one,"
Before he could try a fourth incantation Mordecai used a third finger to cover the man's mouth.
"I'm fully aware Nebbie isn't human, but he is a baby, and more importantly it's possible he isn't a demon, or at least not fully one. He could just be a vessel for the demon, a human baby born with Demon blood, or countless other things. And even if he is a reincarnated demon of unknown origin, his origins are just that, unknown," Zoey aprached and made sure she was looking the man in his eyes before she continued.
"For all we know he could just be a demon who was murdered for the crime of being a demon and crafted that spell in his final hour in the hope of being reborn into a life where he wouldn't be threatened just for being an inhuman,"
Jason tried to reply but no words made it past Mordecai's finger.
"It's rare, impossibly so, but humans with unnaturally colored eyes and hair aren't unheard off, and the Demon Lord Seed might itself have been the potential demonic effects the spell warned off, he may only look the way he does because he was created on a biological level to host the seed,"
Mordecai moved his hand away when it was suddenly bitten "Why would you take such a foolish-" James demanded was silenced with a smack from Madeline.
"Maybe you've forgotten, but your talking to the Lady of the manor, more so the Lady of the entire Southern province of Bellmuze,"
"No, I'm talking to puppet whose strings are being pulled by that demonic child over there," Jason laughed, "What are gonna do kill me, my family will notice my disappearance, if you try to keep me captive the same thing will happen, let me go and I'll tell everyone about you, I'll come back with a mob and burn your Demonic essence from this earth," Nebbie was wondering what their plan was himself when Doctor Green informed both him and Jason of it, holding up a small red vial.
"This is Dragon Rum," Doctor Green said simply "Just this little bit right here is said to be so hallucinogenic that its illegal in every country, from the highest mountain in the Jotun peeks to the deepest valley of the Alfheim crevasse you won't find a single creature of any race, Human or Inhuman, that would listen to the babbling insanity of a man with Dragon Rum in his system, and believe me this little bit here will have you going for days.
"You'd drug me?" Jason demanded, only to earn a laugh from Doctor Green.
"Yeah, and when we hand you over to the law enforcement office in Iron Hills and give them this as to why you where detrains, along with how you tried to kill one of the lady of the lands newborns because you thought it was a monster due to a unfortunate birth defect that causes white hair and odd eye colors in one i every few hundred thousand children," Doctor Green turned to Lady Zoey before adding "I know it's not an plan your to found of but it's the only way to stop him from harassing and injuring Nebbie again so-"
"Do it," Zoey said without hesitation, the room was quiet. Zoey was a lady of the land who was well known for her kindness and above all how fairly she treated others, more than a few members on staff had been hired on as a second chance after having tried to steal from the estate or as a form of community service for crimes that involved using illegal substances, some like Madeline where immigrants who she had helped get out of war torn countries. Mary was perhaps the only person on staff who had been hired purely because of her status, and that had more to do with her mother being the head maid of Zoey's old home than anything else.
So her, of all people, agreeing to falsify a crime was, if nothing else, proof that a mother would really do anything to keep their child safe, even stain their own hands should the need arise.
Mary wished her lady a goodnight and took Nebbie with her back to one of the bathrooms. After a moment another maid arrived with a pair of silky Pajamas for Mary and a new Red Onesie for Nebbie, who realized too late what Mary was about to do.
"I apologize," Mary said without any real hint of feeling bad about what she was doing, But we are both dirty and at this time I can not leave you alone with anyone else who isn't busy dealing with that man, so we'll have to share a bath, think of it as training, after all a proper lord never bathes themself after all,"
"No," Nebbie screamed out mentally as Mary began filling the bath she turned and found him desperately attempting to waddle away, as she got closer Nebbie continued screaming inwardly, his legs failing to save him as his inescapable fate drew closer.