A Deal

"Hmm..."

Beneath the gray clouds that ceased their downpour, there sat a figure that was almost skeletal in their limbs, and positively ethereal in their features.

"Should I have approached differently... but they would've noticed me otherwise—besides, with how cautious he is, if I gave notice, he'd do a background check, only to find nothing... well, no skin off my back. Just my neck I suppose..."

Olivier stared down upon the panicking butler who searched for a corpse, unaware that the corpse wasn't a corpse at all, but rather a monster come to court the living and the Duke. Chuckling at the misfortune a little bit, he smoothly stood up, brushing off the dirt that stuck to the wet white shirt and damp slacks, his feet pale and bare as he stood upon the roof.

"Tsk, and those shoes were so nice too—cheap yet good in style and condition... how annoying. Why'd he have to be so violent..."

...From a person so seemingly mystical and untouchable, they really were decidedly comfortable lounging about on the roof of the man who killed them.

Of course, they couldn't really die; not after their father's obsession...

The pretty face twisted a bit, the sharpness making the frown harsh, like a keenly drawn blade; they disliked such thoughts of the past, so why did it have to intrude upon them at this moment?

'...It's probably because I met him again...' Olivier thought, the frown softening into a gentle smile that made them appear rather girlish and young despite their harsher features and true age.

'My savior... how you've grown...'

Olivier recalled the cold gaze and the grasping hand of his savior, the ice that spread before shattering, as if malignant. Such frostiness within those eyes, such emptiness; such sadness too.

The red lips widened into a smile of desperate obsession, the eyes warm but crazed at the same time, and a hint of pink finally appeared across the pale cheeks.

"Ah... how should I go about eating you up, Master... or should I instead serve myself to you on a silver platter first? Hmm, to be eaten by the Master... how adorable..."

The only words that could properly describe such a horrifying being was obsessive insanity.

"Hmm?"

Olivier perked up at the sight of the erratic butler running back into the house, no doubt calling to high heaven the Duke's assistance in finding the body of the mysterious visitor.

'Too bad he's so slow... cause his master's already here.'

"So this is where you were, brat. I thought I killed you too easily, especially after bragging about having a "special constitution"..."

Olivier turned his head and grinned in a way that was quickly becoming his signature to Alexi, before smoothly replying, "I'm just thankful Master listened to me well enough to remember my phrasing. Indeed, this servant is well pleased."

"...I haven't even hired you though, who're you calling Master?"

The boy simply laughed, the thin and almost sinewy body standing up from the previous sitting position to turn and face him, an expression that was almost arrogant upon his deathly pale face.

"You will."

The assurance was rather disturbing, if Alexi was being honest, but when would he ever admit to being so?

"...What are you," he inquired, though the inquiry sounded more so like a threat than a question to any sane person's ear.

"Hmm," Olivier hummed, the grin still stuck to his face as he replied doggedly, "Your future assistant of course, Your Highness, Grand Duke Alexis Eldritch Michaelis of the Michaelis Sovereignty."

"...Is money what you want? Status, fortune?"

"Money?" he echoed while tilting his head, a trait that now seemed to be a habit to Alexi. "I have no need for it, though I welcome it I suppose. Status... well, not really—too much of a hassle. Fortune?"

He laughed at the last one, a high, clear spattering of notes that both annoyed and intrigued Alexi, as it seemed to be with all the things he did.

"My lord," he chortled heartily, "what greater fortune is there, than meeting such a magnanimous being!"

"Cut to the point," was his curt reply, and almost immediately the laughter stopped, as of it were a dream that Alexi had awoken from, only to see a silver eyed monster.

"What the Hell does an immortal being wish to do with me? Will you not outlast me, as those eerie eyes of yours say?"

The placid red lips curved up, the silver eyes becoming crescent moons as a rebuke Alexi never expected met him, as he was certain this was but a ploy for more power.

With the skies beginning to clear behind him, the moon illuminated his silhouette, making those silver eyes even more eerie, an air of mystery overlapping reality in a manner that was decidedly quite novel.

"I want to make a deal with you, Grand Duke. Will you listen to me?"