No… It can’t be…

I ducked behind a corner, hoping and praying that she hadn’t spotted me as she came down the stairs and circled around into the dining room.

That’s her…

I peeked out from behind the wall, just for an instant, just for a moment, trying to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. I wasn’t mistaken, she was who I thought she was.

That’s Candace.

The gears in my tiny stupid little brain were stuck again, but not on something vile or hideous this time, but because of just how excited I was to see her again. My heart was thumping and my gears were spinning on overdrive because of her.

My feet were itching to get moving, but I had to stop myself from just running up to her and wrapping my arms around her, I left her for a reason. I didn’t even know what to say to her after everything we went through. For all I knew she didn’t even want me back, and I couldn’t be sure that I wanted her back either.

And I most certainly didn’t have the power to make it a reality, only she did. Her and her sister, Claudia.

She doesn’t know I’m here. She doesn’t want to see me.

My heart slumped in my chest. Candace wasn’t here to see me, she was here to see her sister. She definitely didn’t want or need me popping up to make things more complicated for her than they already are.

But at the same time… I really missed her.

I stepped down the hallway, following the sound of her entering into the kitchen, waiting for her to be fully inside before I peeked around the corner and into the dining room.

What would I even say to her? Hi, I miss you- but I belong to your sister now… that’d just make things worse.

I wracked my brain for possible things to say to her, but I couldn’t quite come up with something that succinctly summed up everything I was thinking or feeling without also making my former master even angrier at me than she probably already was.

Okay, Chloe. Pretend you’re at a convention… just walk up to her… and say hello.

I took a deep breath before stepping into the archway, slowly making my way about halfway down the dining room as I waited for her to come back out.

But when she eventually stepped back out of the kitchen she had her eyes glued to the drink in her hand, transfixed on making sure it didn’t spill as she stirred it.

Great. So much for trying not to surprise her.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my pumping heart before I said anything, watching her bring the drink to her mouth to sip from it.

“Good afternoon, Madame St. Clair…”

She sighed, pulling her drink from her lips and rolling her eyes as she replied. “Good after-”

And then she froze.

Oh no… this was a bad idea.

We locked eyes instantly, and we held each other by the gaze for several moments thereafter. She wasn’t hiding her eyes like she normally does, that fiery look of hers was out for all to see. No contact lens would hide her true self to me anymore, she’s revealed herself to the world around her.

She had gorgeous eyes, one red and one blue, a tempestuous beauty stuck between two worlds, one within and one without. I couldn’t decide what I wanted from them, the alluring escape of the ocean in one eye against the fiery passion of love in the other. They were wide with shock- a creeping horror crawling upon her, staring her right in the eyes like she had just seen a ghost. Like she was watching a murder take place in front of her feet.

She made so many little moves that she herself probably didn’t even realize were happening. Feet tapping. Fingernails scratching. Hair flips abound. Biting down on the side of her cheek and chewing lightly as she did when she was anxious. I had made her anxious without even trying to, just my presence was souring her good mood.

I could pinpoint her gaze to every part of my body that she ended up looking at- my eyes, my hair, my teeth, my cheeks, my tits- her eyes remained locked on my tits for a good few seconds, and I couldn’t really blame her for that.

Candace often spent a lot longer thinking about what she was going to do or say than actually doing or saying it, and she probably didn’t even realize that. She too had gears in her head that locked up at times, trying to figure out what to do. She was fumbling for something to do with her hands, trying to break through this awkward illusion that she was fine.

This was the point in time where one character would cartoonishly drop whatever it was they were holding in shock, but she had missed her window for that, at least as far as making it look authentic and convincing that is. It was still in the span of microseconds, but she stood there for a lot longer than she actually realized she did, before choosing to drop the mug of whatever she was drinking onto the floor anyways.

The house around us wasn’t quiet by any means, but you could still hear the sound of glass smashing against the floor as she dropped it, her hands quickly clasped over her mouth- not out of shock, but sadness.

She had tears in her eyes as she said my name. I could hear the syllables slip out of her mouth like they were thoughts being ejected from her mind without thinking. You could hear the sound of glass shattering through the whole house, but you could only hear her voice sounded out the syllables of my name if you were standing right there in front of her, like I was.

“Sophia?”

She tossed the mug to the ground with a great deal of force, the sound of glass shattering was near deafening, but even through the hands clasped to her lips as she bit back her own tears, I could hear her voice.

And it was in that moment that I realized that Sophia Cavalier wasn’t really gone, the person that I am wasn’t really dead. In that moment, hearing that name slip out of her without thinking, I finally understood how Candace really saw me.

She wanted to correct herself, I could see it in her eyes. She was correcting herself, she was saying the name Chloe in her own head. But I heard what she said, that’s how she thinks of me in her head before she puts things through a filter, that’s why she so often took longer to act than she thinks, she had to translate before she said my name.

She still thought of me as Sophia.

I lowered my head, staring straight down at the floor, fixating on the mess at hand as I avoided her eyes- smiling.

I made sure to keep those eyes of mine off of her for as long as I could, refusing to let her see the tears in my eyes as I dropped to my knees, overcome with a sense of pride in myself, more than happy to hear her say my name again.

“My apologies, Miss… this is my fault, I’ll clean this up right away for us.”

From where I knelt, it sounded like my words were what prompted her to slowly step backwards, letting me move in towards the quickly growing pool on the floor that I now recognized as tea. But I couldn’t be certain that it wasn’t her receding footsteps that prompted me to crawl towards the spill, we were in lockstep with each other even after the two short weeks we had spent away from one another- and those two weeks had somehow felt like an eternity.

Why am I so stupid happy to see you again?

I couldn’t stop grinning, she couldn’t see it but I was definitely smiling. I left Candace St. Clair for a reason, but I was still so happy to see her again. I had done this to get away from her, but it seems that like with everything in life I had failed, and I was so relieved that I had.

Sure she was a liar, a cheater, and a monster- but she still had her iron grasp around me. I was still obsessed with her, and half of a month away wasn’t going to change that.

I was still in love with her, and I was fine with that. I wasn’t the one that needed to change, she was.

I was at her feet, on my knees with nowhere to go now. I had dropped to the floor in an attempt to hide my tears, watching them drip into the pool below, going unnoticed. I didn’t want to clean this up, I didn’t even have so much as a towel to dry the pool with anyway.

As a slave I accepted blame like I ought to, but the mess on the floor between us wasn’t really my fault, I hadn’t been the one to purposefully shatter a ceramic mug onto the dining room tile to make space between us. The liquid rift expanding between us was of her design, and I was the one paying the price for it.

Nothing that was happening to me was my fault, and we both knew that. I hoped she saw that.

Aria had been the one to help me see that it wasn’t my fault, and I held that to heart. I still believed it, I still believed that this wasn’t really my fault, and I said as much to Candace’s face the day we parted.

“I’m not the one who should be getting punished, Master. This isn’t my fault…”

I did what I could, grabbing the broken shards of glass into my hands, trying desperately to fix something that I didn’t have the tools or ability to fix right now, the rift between us wasn’t something that I had the power to fix, that was up to her.

But I still tried, gathering the glass shards into my open and vulnerable hand, glass shards hot against my soft skin, hurting myself as I desperately tried to address a problem that I was powerless to solve.

Oww…

They burned in my hands, scalding my skin, but that was no reason to stop trying. I had to do something about this, even if it hurt me. She didn’t have to fix this mess if she didn’t want to, she could just walk around it.

“Careful where you step, Ma’am. They’re scalding hot and really sharp.”

“Then don’t pick them up, you moron!!” She scolded me harshly, the last of my tears flying from my face as I snapped my head up to look at her, to face her directly. “Drop them before you hurt yourself!!”

My face blushed bright pink as I stared up into her crying remorseful eyes, listening to the sounds of glass clattering onto the floor as I did as I was told, dropping the shards back into the rift below.

There was so much I wanted to say to her in that moment, but I couldn’t. My mouth was shut tight, holding back the noises of a girl who wanted so desperately to tell her how much I missed her. I reeled, not just from the burning heat in my hands as I relieved myself from the superheated shards, but at just how stupidly happy I was to hear her yelling at me again.

“Chloe, I-” She was ashamed of herself, I could tell that she felt terrible for yelling at me, but I understood where it had come from. It made me happy to hear the concern in her voice, to know that she still cared about me after all. She just wanted to make sure I was being safe and not getting hurt.

It was funny to think how such a small moment from one perspective could be so impactful to someone else, how a tiny interaction could be such a big thing to someone on the other side without you even realizing it.

One paragraph becomes four. Two paragraphs become six. Three paragraphs become ten.

What might have been a good eight or so paragraphs from the other side passes by without a thought, before you even recognize the sound of voices from down the hall, speaking to each other through a closed door.

I wish I knew what she was thinking, I wish I knew what it was like from her point of view, but before you know it the moment has passed.

Thump . And then something finally snaps you back to reality.

“What-”

“Just-”

“Happened?”

My master stood behind me, her cane pressed to the back of my head as she pushed forward, lowering my face to the floor, dangerously close to the scalding hot mess of glass and steam below- ready to slam me into the mess her sister had made.

“Master?” I was almost relieved to hear her voice, pulling me back into reality before I did something stupid. “Is Miss St. Clair alright?”

“My sister is in the restroom, vomiting into the sink as we speak.” She did not sound very happy, not at all. “But she says she’ll be fine, no thanks to you.”

“I must have startled her, Ma’am.” I closed my eyes, tears gently dripping into the burning puddle below, just inches from my face. “I was just too excited to meet her…”

“I expect you to first apologize, and then get to work cleaning this up.” She pulled the barrel of her weapon from the back of my head, deciding to smack me in the back of the head with it rather than pushing my face into the ground. “Don’t expect that belt to come off tonight.”

“Yes, Master… I understand.”

The bump on the back of my head was sore as I rubbed it, but it was the least of my worries.

I could hear Candace throwing up from the other side of the door before I even got there, and it didn’t make me feel any better about my actions. But I knocked on the door, leaving a slight wet spot on the wood from my still burning hands.

“I said I’m going to be a minute!!” She snapped back instantly, her mood having long since soured. “Leave me alone!!”

She doesn’t want to talk to you, Chloe… you’ve already fucked up enough, say your piece and leave.

“I…” Stutters came from my lips in the place of words. “I’m sorry… I’ll let you be…”

But I couldn’t leave her be, this couldn’t just be where we left things. I was holding out hope that she’d changed, but I still hadn’t seen it from her.

Fuck.

I slumped to the ground, on my knees in front of the door that separated us. We were simultaneously as close and as far away as we had ever been. I pressed my forehead to the door in front of me, one hand clasped around the head of my collar.

I’m really going to belong to Claudia for the rest of my life, aren’t I?

The thought was so much more than terrifying, it was heartbreakingly disappointed. I left Candace’s side for a reason, to teach her a lesson, but she hadn’t really learned. She was really still the same Candace she’d always been.

You really haven’t changed have you, Candace?

I had been right to make the decision that I had made, she really didn’t deserve to have me, no matter how much I missed her.

Claudia expected me to apologize, but her little sister wasn’t the one who deserved to be apologized to.

You still don’t see that, do you?

You’re still waiting for me to beg for your forgiveness.

But I am not going to be the one to come crawling back to you.

I don’t want to hear your voice until you’re ready to show me that you’ve changed.

I didn’t realize how badly I wanted it, but I needed to know that she was going to change, because if nothing ever changed then she didn’t really learn her lesson. She didn’t really miss me.

Thump . Claudia was glaring down at me, pointing me off back into the house to start cleaning before she tapped her cane against the door, trying to get Candace’s attention.

“Candace, dear… why don’t you come into the sitting room and rest…”

That woman right there, she was my master. Not Candace, Claudia.

“I’ll have the slaves clean up, we’ll get you some water, and you can just relax.”

And I was going to do everything in my power to make sure they both knew that.

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I didn’t stick around to hear whatever Candace’s last words were, they didn’t matter to me. What mattered to me now was doing as I was told, putting Sophia Cavalier behind me and being the best slave that I could be.

Sponges, towels, rags. I grabbed them all and I got to work. I got down onto the dining room floor and I scrubbed my ass off, making sure everything was absolutely spotless before retrieving a glass of water for my master’s sister like she had intended me to, delivering it to Claudia.

“Master?” I stopped Claudia in the hallway outside of the dining room, not wanting Candace to overhear us.

“My sister is waiting for me in the sitting room. What is it, slave?”

“I wanted to apologize to you first, for causing such a scene back there.” I held the glass of water out for her to take, letting the cooling aura of the glass numb the sting of my burning hands while I could. “It doesn’t matter to me when this belt comes off, I’m more than happy to keep it on until you say otherwise, but I promise to be a better slave to you from now on.”

Claudia smiled, appreciative but confused. “And where is this coming from?”

“From the bottom of my heart, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath, clasping my hands together in front of my waist. “If anyone deserves me at my best, it’s you.”

“Chloe.” She frowned ever so slightly, lifting my chin with just one finger. “Do you still miss your last owner?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I stared her straight in the eyes and told the truth. “I won’t lie to you, Master. I miss her every day.”

“And if I gave you the opportunity to return to her right here and now, would you take it?”

“No, Ma’am.” I kept my gaze fixed on Claudia. “I miss her a lot, but she doesn’t deserve me.”

“Any master who would let go of their slave is weak, Chloe. Remember that from-”

“With all due respect, Master.” I interrupted her. “There’s more than one way to be strong, and I think we all know that.”

“You’re not like the other girls.” Claudia gazed into my eyes, hers filled with a sense of awe and bewilderment as she stared into my soul. “You’re not a finished slave, are you?”

“A finished slave?”

“There’s still something in you… something that refuses to die.” She clenched her teeth together, her eyes hungry. “And I’m certain it has something to do with that last master of yours.”

“Call me sentimental, but part of me is holding onto hope that she can change… but until such a day comes when my last master mends her ways and shows me that she’s changed… I won’t even consider her a possibility, Ma’am.”

“You think she owes you an apology?”

“I don’t think, Ma’am. That’s not my place to do… I want, that’s what I do. I have no thoughts of my own, only my desires… and that’s all I have- the only thing that can’t be taken from me.”

“That rebellious spirit of yours is going to be your undoing.”

“And I’m ready to face the consequences of that, Master.”

“I can turn any girl into a drone, Chloe. Even you’ll be one in time, girl… just like the rest.”

“I’m sure I will, Ma’am… but in the meantime- I think your sister needs you more than I do.”

“We’ll get to that, but first-” Claudia gently led me back to the sitting room, where Candace was sitting and waiting for the two of us. “Is there something you would like to say to my sister, dear? I think she deserves an apology, don’t you?”

“Yes, Ma’am… she does deserve an apology.” She didn’t, but I was still going to give her one, no matter how hard that was going to be for me. “I would like to deeply apologize for causing you such inconvenience, Ma’am. I’m sorry for surprising you like I did. If there’s anything I can do for you, please… let me know.”

I stepped towards her, taking a deep breath as I bowed, staring up into her eyes to make sure that she knew how I really felt.

“I’m fine.” Candace didn’t look over at me however, she kept her eyes away from me, not wanting to accept my apology for what it was. “Are you alright? You didn’t burn your hands, did you?”

“If I did, it’s my own fault…” I blushed, looking down at my hands as I stood back up. I did hurt my hands, and that was her fault- not mine. But it still made me happy to think that maybe somewhere inside of her she was worried about my safety. “And I’m ready to face the consequences of such a thing.”

I didn’t usually get so angry, and even when I did I refused to show it, but I was sick and tired of apologizing to her for something wasn’t at all my fault.

“I don’t want to hear any more apologies, okay?” She scoffed, keeping her eyes off of me as I spoke, and for once it appeared that Candace actually felt the same way that I did. “It was my fault, not yours.”

No… She didn’t…

This was the part of the conversation where I said something back to her, bowed and did as I was told, but I was stuck on those words. Stuck on Candace actually admitting that what had happened wasn’t my fault. For once she said exactly what I wanted to hear her say, that it was her own fault and not mine.

Candace?

The silence had gone on long enough, prompting Claudia to step in and say something, even if Candace didn’t want to hear it. “Sister, dear. Just let her apologize-”

“I don’t want her to apologize, because it wasn’t her fault, Claudia.” She couldn’t look at me, but she could look at Claudia. She glared at her sister, her eyes hot and angry, voice stuck in a growl. “Let her off the hook, okay?”

Claudia was perplexed. “Is… something the matter, Candace?”

“No” Candace’s cheeks were hot and pink and angry, full of shame and exhaustion. “I just don’t want another slave getting in trouble for just trying to do her job. She’s hurt. That’s punishment enough.”

You stupid idiot… I hate you so much.

There she was, the same Candace St. Clair, being the same stupid arrogant idiot I’d fallen in love with those weeks and months ago- refusing to just give up and be a bad person, she won’t even let me have that.

That’s how selfish she was, she refused to just let me have the satisfaction of knowing that leaving her had been the right choice. She had to actually go and understand what lesson she was supposed to be learning from me, she had to go and actually try to be a better person, and I hated it so much.

“Well, alright…” I felt Claudia nudge me with her elbow. “Hear that… it looks like you might still be getting that chastity belt off tonight, after all~”

“Do you mean that, Ma’am?” I stared up at Claudia, unable to keep myself from smiling at what Candace was doing for me.

You just can’t let me win can you?

“Of course I do.” Claudia patted me on the back, pointing me out of the room. “Now go on, I think Candace needs a while, you’ll get to introduce yourself later.”

“Yes, Ma’am… thank you.”

God damn you, Candace… why can’t you just be an evil monster like your father?

I wanted to just turn my back on her, to walk away from her forever, but I couldn’t. I glanced back at her one last time before I stepped out, the faintest of blushes and the tiniest of smiles painted onto my face as I walked away.

Maybe you can change after all…

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Screams. I had been the only one around to hear it, but I couldn’t have misheard it, those were screams I had heard coming from up there.

Candace looked different when the two of them came back downstairs. They had both bathed, but Candace was neither wearing the same clothes she had been wearing, nor was she wearing something that even looked like it belonged to her.

She was wearing a dress, blue, overly frilly, kitschy, not her style. It was too 50’s housewife to be one of Candace’s. Her hair had been done up behind her head, tied off into some sort of ponytail that she couldn’t have accomplished herself.

And she was hiding her eyes again, not behind a pair of colored contacts, but sunglasses- sunglasses that didn’t do a very good job while they were lazily sliding down her nose, like they were now. She had a purse, I wasn’t sure if she had brought one with her, but she had one now, and it made a soft jingling sound like a bell whenever she moved.

I’d hesitate to say that she was distraught, she just looked so… uncomfortable.

But here I was cowering behind the corner, spying on her and her sister as they came down the stairs when they had better things to concern themselves than me.

“Auntie Candy~!!!!!” Everyone else had just gotten home, and it seemed like Lilian was more than excited to run up to Candace and get a hug from her mom’s little sister.

“She’s so big already~” Candace scooped the girl right off the ground, holding her up and letting Lilian cling onto her. The kid might have been a little bit bigger than what I could carry, but Candace was plenty strong enough to be able to hold her without problem.

It was well into the evening by this point, and half of the family was just getting home, no doubt exhausted from an afternoon of being out shopping.

“Take the groceries into the kitchen and help Autumn get started on dinner.” Claudia directed Zenna to go ahead and move on, taking her daughter from Candace’s arms. “Where’s Josephine?”

“She’s out picking up your mother, Ma’am.” Zenna smiled at Lilian, heading past the small group as she went in towards the kitchen. “Lilian was too antsy to get home.”

“I can see that.” Claudia rolled her eyes, setting the little one down on her feet between her and Candace. “Go ahead and help out with dinner, leave Lilian to me.”

“Yes, Master… whatever you say~” Zenna did as she was told, paying little mind to Candace’s presence as she focused on following orders.

“So… what now, then?” Candace looked up at her older sister, waiting to figure out what to do while they waited.

“Dinner will be done soon, let us go have a seat in the dining room while we wait for Josie and mom to get back home, shall we?”

“Whatever you say…”

Claudia eagerly led her daughter back into the dining room, and Candace nervously followed behind her, clutching her purse to her waist as she turned her back to me, facing towards the dining room.

“Well don’t just stand there and stare at me, you’re making this weird.” She stood there for a moment and waited for an answer, seemingly from no one. “Chloe?”

“Huh?” I blushed, slow to realize that she was speaking to me even while her back was turned. “I… I’m sorry.”

“What did I say about apologizing?” She scoffed, shaking her head. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“I…” I sighed, stepping out into the hallway from around the corner. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“You of all people ought to know not to waste time on being useless.” She snapped her fingers, gesturing for me to accompany her into the dining room. “Follow.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” I blushed, nervously finding myself at her side for the first time in a while, needing to get something out before Claudia could overhear us. “Why do you keep using that name?”

“Chloe?” She didn’t even look at me as she spoke. “That’s who you are, isn’t it?”

“It is, but earlier you-” I swallowed nervously. “You called me Sophia.”

“If you want me to call you Sophia then fine, but pick a name already, and quick.”

“Chloe.” I chewed on the side of my cheek in annoyance. “I’m Chloe.”

“Good to know.” She sighed, pretending like I had just gone through the effort of introducing myself to her for the first time as we stepped into the dining room together, delivering us into the earshot of my master and her daughter. “It’s nice to meet you, Chloe.”

“So you two have finally introduced yourselves, have you?” Claudia smiled over at us, beckoning for her sister to join her from over in her usual seat at the head of the table.

“She’s a fan, it sounds like.” Candace didn’t miss a beat, circling around the table and heading towards the seat next to her sister, leaving me standing off by myself. “Always happy to meet a fan, I’m just a little bit too busy for autographs and pictures right now.”

“Is that so?” Claudia went ahead and pulled the seat out for Candace. “Last I heard, she wasn’t familiar with you~”

“Well either she was lying or you’ve told her enough to turn her into a fan since then.” Candace sat down, propping both elbows up on top of the table.

“Oh, really?” Claudia stared over at me now. “You haven’t been lying to me have you, Chloe?”

Shit. What am I supposed to say to that?

I had been upfront with Claudia with many other things thus far, but that was one thing I had lied to her about. Of course I knew Candace, she was my former master… but Claudia didn’t want to know who my former master was. She didn’t matter to her.

“It was the magazines, Ma’am…” I blushed, nervously staring down at the squeaky clean floors. “I’ve been admiring her in the magazines for a few days…”

“Well there you have it.” Claudia giggled, rolling her eyes. “Looks like I’m not the only one here who thinks you’re pretty~”

She turned towards her little sister, rubbing her cheek with her thumb, and for the first time since she had been alone with her father just a few weeks ago, Candace looked helpless.

Candace’s normally strong appearance melted into a frown, not an angry frown or one that portrayed any degree of power, but a soft scared frown.

Candace glanced over at me with red embarrassed cheeks for just a moment before looking right back over to her sister, hand still gently caressing her face.

“Thank you, Chloe…” Candace swallowed nervously, still staring at Claudia attentively. “I think you’re pretty too.”

I blushed, smiling nervously as I watched this unfold in front of me. “Thank you, Madame St. Clair.”

“You can either take a seat or leave us be, Chloe.” Claudia kept her eyes on Candace at well. “Elbows off of the table, dear.”

It took me a moment to process what Claudia had just said. I wasn’t sitting down yet, my elbows weren’t on the table, and neither were Lillian’s. She was talking to Candace.

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” I didn’t realize it until Candace replied, but she was the one being spoken to.

She was embarrassed to be doing so, but she took her elbows off the table like she was told, tucking her hands into her lap, a furious blush overtaking her face as she did so.

A disturbing revelation was beginning to unfold in front of my eyes.

Claudia said she could turn any girl into one of her drones, that’s what she had told me at least, but she wouldn’t do that to her own little sister… would she?

I very clearly was not the only person in this room who wanted to make Candace St. Clair mine, because Claudia wanted it just the same.

She just got me, and now Candace is here… how grrr… How greedy can you be? I pouted, sitting down in my seat, elbows propped up on top of the table. I can’t even get away from Candace for five seconds before Claudia goes dragging her back into my life…

“Stop fuming over there, dear.” That time Claudia was talking to me. “Be a good example for Candace and use proper manners, Chloe~”

Candace took offense to that, getting all red in the face at the idea of learning proper manners from slaves, from me of all people.

Candace just glared at me, her face finally full of the anger I was expecting from her. “If your slaves can’t behave themselves, you ought to send them to their room, Claudia.”

“Or I can just put them down.” Claudia grinned, slowly standing up from her seat, cane in hand.

“No, wait-” Candace, for her part, just went wide eyed at the thought of it, catching her sister by the wrist before she could leave her side. “That was a joke. I was joking.”

“Are you sure?” Claudia hummed to herself, grinning at her sister now. “Because it didn’t sound like a joke.”

“Well it was.” Candace let go of Claudia’s wrist. “Please, sit back down so that we can talk… I want to hear about this party you’re throwing.”

Claudia took a good few moments before she said anything further, holding her cane to her chest and staring at it, trying to get up the strength to say what she wanted to say. “My mother is dying.”

Candace’s heart broke inside of her chest, her face as distraught as I had ever seen it. From just one look at her, you could tell that she felt as if her own mother was dying again. “No…”

“She went to the doctor, and they told her-”

“No.” Candace very violently jerked herself out of her seat, letting her chair skid across the floor behind her as she stood up. “No.”

“Candace, dear… sit back down.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She scoffed, incredibly heart-broken and full of unchecked fury at the same time. “Why didn’t I know sooner?”

“We just thought-”

“What, because she’s not my mother, you didn’t feel like I needed to know?”

“Now I never said that at all.”

“Then why did nobody tell me?” Candace was a lot more affected by this than I had expected her to be, and the same was obviously true for her older sister, Claudia hadn’t expected this sort of reaction either. “I’ve been waiting for a call, but nothing. Nobody thought to tell me what was going on- not you, not Cyrus, not father. Not even Lilith…”

“She really never called you?”

“Not that I know of.” Candace had tears in her eyes that she was trying desperately not to let go of. “No.”

There was a long awkward pause between the two of them before Candace eventually turned away, beginning to head out of the dining room and back towards the ballroom.

“Candace wait-”

“I’ve lost my appetite, sis.”

Claudia followed her sister as far as the doorway back into the ballroom before stopping, turning around towards her daughter- still seated at the dinner table, and returning to her side.

“Go check on her.” Claudia let out a low growl, directing me towards her sister without even looking at me.

“Yes, Ma’am.” I stood up from my seat and headed after her, not needing anything more than just that to convince me to check that Candace was okay.

I stepped into the sitting room as fast as I could, finding her just sitting there, staring out the window. She knew I was there, the two of us were so connected that we couldn’t almost feel each other’s presence sometimes. But she didn’t really say anything, she didn’t seem to care that I was checking up on her at all.

“Are you okay, Ma’am?” I remained composed, respectful, making sure to address her as a superior.

“I have certainly been better.” She remained calm, but angry. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I heard-” I turned back to the house behind me, making sure no one else could hear me as I whispered. “I heard screams earlier.”

She averted her eyes downwards, away from the light of day outside and down towards the ground. “Those were mine.”

“Are you hurt, Miss?” I once again made sure to be on alert, not saying anything that I was afraid could be overheard from behind. “Did the mistress hurt you?”

“Sophia, I-” She accidentally let the name slip out of her mouth, gritting her teeth and snarling. “I’m fine, Chloe.”

“Why do you keep calling me that, Miss?” I blushed, giving her a shy smile to make sure she knew that I wasn’t upset, just confused.

“Because it’s hard to separate you from who you were, at least for me.” The reflection of the light glistened in her eyes, her tears glowing under the rays of the sun. “And I know it’s hard for you too.”

“It’s harder than you would know, Ma’am.” I took a deep breath, recentering myself so that I didn’t get emotional. “But I’m trying to get rid of her.”

“Get rid of who, Sophia?” She turned to me, looking over at me with a smile on her face. “Or Chloe?”

There was a brief moment of pause as I thought it over, not yet sure what my answer really was. “I’m not sure.”

“She doesn’t exist, Sophia.” Candace finally stood up, still staring out the window to try and avoid eye contact. “I tried to tell you that… but you didn’t listen.”

“You tried to tell me what, Ma’am?”

“The last night we had together… I tried to make you see that Chloe and Sophia are the same person. You can choose to change parts of you, but you don’t need to get rid of that part of yourself, you don’t need to choose between them, you’re exactly who you need to be. Don’t let some fictional other girl scare you.” She locked eyes with mine, letting me stare into the pretty ocean she held inside of her. “I would be heartbroken to see Sophia go, I know that now.”

“Candace, I-”

“Would you like a hug, Chloe?”

I paused for a moment, my cheeks turning pink. “I’m alright, Miss… I don’t need a hug.”

Candace was silent for a moment, slowly walking towards me from the other end of the room, stopping as soon as she was within arm’s reach of me. “I do…”

I screwed my eyes shut, taking a few quick steps towards her. She wrapped her arms around me, letting me grab onto her for support, holding me in a hug- not possessively, but protectively.

“Don’t let her hurt you like I did, okay?” She sighed, whispering into my ear as we embraced. “Don’t let her erase you like the other girls.”

“I’ll try my best, Miss…” I smiled, slowly pulling away from her once we were done. “Don’t let her hurt you either?”

“I’m not fragile, Chloe. If you can do it, I can too.”

“You say that but… I think I make a better slave than you ever would.”

“Oh so that’s a bragging point now, I see how it is~”

“Maybe just a little bit-”

“We’ll talk more after dinner, okay?” Candace cut me off, her eyes drifting towards the doorway into the ballroom, where something else had clearly caught her eye.

“Are you kids okay in here?” Josephine. It was Josephine, and I couldn’t be more glad that it was her walking in on us and not Claudia, because watching the joy in her eyes as she recognized her sister-in-law was endlessly heartwarming, she was almost as giddy as Darcey usually was. “Candace~???”

“Oh my gosh.” Candace blinked, glimpsing back and forth between the other woman and I, taking note of how similar we looked. “You look beautiful~”

Candace quickly stepped towards Josephine, and I knew she was talking to her and not to me, but I couldn’t help but blush. The two of us looked so similar after all.

“I have so much to tell you about!!” Josie grabbed Candace by both hands. “You’re joining us for dinner, aren’t you?”

“Umm.” Candace briefly glanced over towards me, before nodding. “Of course I am.”

“Come on then, let’s go have a seat.”

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As usual, the eating food part of dinner was boring, but what followed wasn’t.

Everyone in the house, save for the enforcer, was sitting down at the table to eat together- including us. I and my fellow slaves sat in our usual seats at the end of the table, none of us allowed to sit at the head. I sat across from Darcey, with Zenna to my right, and Autumn across from Zenna.

On the other end of the table meanwhile, things had been changed up a bit. Claudia sat at the head of the table, she always had and she always would, but Candace was still seated directly to her right rather than her wife, who usually sat in that spot. Josephine instead sat across from Candace, where Lilian liked to sit, having her daughter seated directly to her left. Finally, across from Lilian was her grandmother, Lilith- on the other side of Candace.

“It’s been nice to see you all again, it really has… but I ought to head home now.” Candace was getting antsy to leave, having finished dinner without even saying so much as a word to anyone at the table currently conversing.

“Oh won’t you stay just a little bit longer, honey?” Lilith seemed disappointed by this, trying to convince Claudia’s little sister to stay, which Candace clearly wasn’t keen on doing. “You haven’t said a word over dinner.”

“That’s because Candace here is learning proper manners, mother.” Claudia piped up, glaring condescendingly at her little sister. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes.” Candace sighed, putting on the fakest smile she could as she nodded her head. “That’s correct.”

“Well I wouldn’t want to keep you if you need to go.” Lilith didn’t want to see the girl leave so early, but she understood.

“No no, Candace will stay.” Claudia smiled, nudging Candace with her cane. “Won’t you?”

“Until I’m told to leave… sure.” Candace was not at all having a good time.

“Claudia dear, if she needs to go she needs to go.” Lilith frowned, very easily picking up on how awkward this was for the youngest sister. “Don’t make her stay if she doesn’t want to.”

“It’s not about what she wants mother, it’s about what we all want.” Claudia’s voice was almost whimsical as she spoke. “I want her to stay, so she’ll stay. Isn’t that right?”

Candace sighed. “Yes, Ma’am…”

“Well it’s been nice getting to see you again, Candace.” Josephine slowly stood up from the table. “But I am going to head in for the night, if that’s okay~”

“Take the guest room, love.” Claudia didn’t take her eyes off of her sister, even as she spoke to her wife. “I’m going to need our bedroom later.”

“I suppose.” Josie sighed, but agreed. “Darcey, Autumn, go get the guest bedroom cleaned up and ready. Zenna will take Lilian to bed.”

She turned to us, ordering each of the slaves to go do something, except for one.

“What about me, Ma’am?” I blushed, looking up at her expectantly.

“What about you?” Josephine giggled, gesturing towards her wife. “I think she’s going to need you later too.”

I nodded, indicating my submission to her. “Good night, Ma’am.”

“Goodnight, Chloe~”

That just left the four of us. Claudia, Candace, Lilith, and I.

And Claudia had plans for me.

“So who’d like to go watch Toto do some tricks?”

The four of us settled into the sitting room, though I was less sitting than kneeling, on the floor at my master’s feet.

“This little gem right here is Chloe, say hello Chloe~”

“Hello…” I looked up towards the couch from the floor below, introducing myself to two women that have known me since long before Claudia did. “My name is Chloe, #0000, it’s nice to meet you both.”

I took a deep breath, keeping a smile on my face as I bowed, lowering my head to the floor in front of me, arms tucked into my chest as I stayed prone.

“It’s nice to formally meet you Chloe.” Lilith made sure to be polite, somehow managing to be in on Candace and I’s little secret. It was clear that she wished for one of the two of us to tell Claudia the bad news. “All zeroes is an interesting number, did Claudia give you that, dear?”

“No, Ma’am.” I slowly sat back up, answering questions as I was spoken to. “My previous master gave it to me.”

Lilith giggled, cooing at me. “And can you tell us anything about her?”

I blushed, suddenly making eye contact with Candace. Her stern look melted into one of insecurity and embarrassment more than anything, unsure of what she should be doing.

“Well… she’s really pretty. She had a lot of money, loved cats and hated dogs. She was really into video games, her favorite foods were all pastas, and she drank a lot of iced tea.” I giggled to myself, watching the smile on Candace’s get bigger as she kept hearing me speak. “And I mean a lot of iced tea, they were sweet- just like her at times… but she wasn’t always sweet.”

I looked over at her, Candace, and she looked down at me. She was clutching something to her chest, something hidden behind that dress of hers as she frowned, almost heartbroken to hear me talking about her, but it needed to be said.

“I tried my best to be faithful to her, I tried my best, I learned from my mistakes, I did as I was told. But more often than not, it wasn’t enough. She punished me. That’s why I was hers, so that she could punish me… and that’s what she did. She punished me for something that wasn’t my fault, she made me fall in love with her, and when she couldn’t fully break me- that’s when I got taken away.”

Silence. Deafening silence filled the room. I looked at the first face I saw, Candace’s, wrought with anger and guilt, but she didn’t look at me. Her gaze went over my head, staring at her sister, who stared right back at her.

“Chloe.” I heard my master’s voice from behind, tense and unamused. “Present yourself.”

I turned my head around for a moment to look at her, seeing the malevolent stare in her eyes for the first time. “What’s that, Miss?”

Thump. She slammed the tip of her cane onto the floor beside me, very narrowly missing my ankle as she hauled herself out of her seat.

I hadn’t enough time to look behind me before she was reaching out with the head of my cane, the jaws of the serpent striking, snapping on to the back of my collar with a loud click.

With very little application of force, she shoved my face to the floor, forehead slamming against the ground beneath me. I realized that I had somehow fucked up, but I couldn’t fathom just how severe of a mistake I had made.

Head down, ass up, that’s what presenting oneself to her master looked like- but I couldn’t even get that much right. She slid her foot between my legs, pressing against the metal belt around my cunt with her shoe, lifting my ass into the air herself.

“Master?” All I could manage was calling out to her, scared that I had made some serious mistake that I didn’t yet realize. “Have I done something wrong?”

Candace looked on in horror, trying to get her sister to stop before she did whatever she was about to do. “Claudia, I think she-”

“Silence. Both of you.” Claudia sounded calm, but that masked a deeper darker intention in her voice. “I don’t want to hear another word out of the lips of a lying little half-breed.”

She kept me pinned down with her cane, one knee pressing down onto the backs of both my legs as she reached up to my corset, slowly unfastening and removing it- letting it fall onto the floor beneath my torso.

“Now I can and have put up with a lot in my time. But secrets, omissions, and lies in the name of keeping me in the dark is not something I am prone to letting go unpunished.” She placed one hand on my skin, kneading and squeezing my side with one hand, chills creeping up my spine as she traced my brand with her clawed fingers. “I am many things, but I am not stupid or oblivious. You can not expect to be able to keep secrets away from me forever. One of you breaks or one of you dies, now speak.”

I stared up into the horror in Candace’s eyes, unable to fathom what it was that she was going to do to me if she didn’t get her way soon. “Master please, I’m sorry that-”

“Let go of her, Claudia-” Candace shouted, her face beaming a terrified shade of red. “Don’t hurt her, please.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Claudia snapped directly back at her. “She’s just some slave, you’ve only just met her today. Why should you care what happens to her?”

“You already know why-”

“Then say it!!”

“Because she used to be mine, Claudia!!”

Click. Claudia stood back up, releasing the jaws of her cane from the back of my collar. “Because all that talk of a previous master, she was talking about you.”

Oh no… I was petrified, frozen in place under the gaze of a medusa, still trapped in the jaws of the snake. “Master?”

“I didn’t permit you to speak.” As soon as I began to sit back up, she once again slammed my head to the floor, pinning my head beneath her foot. “I want to have it out with her first.”

“Claudia!!” The sound of Lilith’s cane against the floor was even louder than Claudia’s had been, her voice more stern, the sound of her prosthetic leg slamming onto the ground making her footsteps louder than any other.

“Quiet it, mother. This is between me and-”

“Claudia Rosegold Mariam. ” Her voice carried the same power and force that her daughter and her sister both had, but far more trained and refined over the years. “This is not what I wanted.”

“This isn’t about you!!”

“Yes it is!!”

Crack. That was the sound of someone getting smacked upside the head with a cane, but it wasn’t me and it wasn’t Candace. I felt Claudia’s foot leave my head, and I instantly shot up. I had to see what was happening, and I was not disappointed.

Claudia stumbled backwards, desperately clinging to her cane as she struggled not to topple over. She stayed standing, but she didn’t stay composed- not after her mother struck her with her cane.

“When I told you to patch up your relationship with your sister, this is not what I wanted, and you know it.” I was only sitting up for a couple moments before suddenly Lilith was pointing her cane at me. “The poor doll is positively terrified at the thought of what you’d do to her if you found out who she was, and your sister-” Lilith was now pointing her cane straight at Candace. “Your sister has her own motivations for keeping quiet about it. She’s only just sent the girl away from her, she clearly doesn’t want to think or talk about her right now, and Candace surely doesn’t need to be berated for that.”

Claudia stared at her mother, her face bright red as she turned towards her little sister, a sincere tone of concern in her voice as she spoke. “Candace?”

I felt like a bystander watching a soap opera playing out in front of me, even more powerless than normal as I watched Candace jump up from her seat, helpless to stop her as she ran past me and into the ballroom behind us.

“Wait.” Claudia reached towards her, but stopped herself before she could get into Candace’s way. “Wait…”

“Should I go check on her again, Ma’am?” I looked up at her, my eyes pleading for forgiveness. I knew I had screwed up, and I wasn’t about to deny that. The only way forward was submission, to fully and honestly offer myself to her on the promise of being hers and not her sister’s. “This is my fault, what can I do for you to help fix this?”

The ire in Claudia’s eyes as she pointed them at me was beyond any earthly conception of rage. Loud glimpses of softer condescension and confidence went up in flames, making room for unbridled fury targeted in my direction. “I wouldn’t.”

My mind bit down on me like a pit of snakes, venomizing myself for being such an imbecile. How could I let this happen? My fangs, sharp like a canine and weak like a puppy dug into my bottom lip as deep as they could go, drawing my own blood into my mouth like a vampire all in the name of shutting myself the hell up.

If I had just been honest and faithful to her this wouldn’t be happening. She might have killed me over it, but at least I wouldn’t be seeing the betrayed looks on their faces burned into my vision when I closed my eyes. If I had squealed like a pig when it was appropriate for me, I might be dead, but at least someone would be happy. At least Candace wouldn’t be screamed at by her older sister. At least Candace’s screams wouldn’t be ringing in my ears from afar, helpless to stop whatever torture my new master had thought it appropriate to inflict upon her.

Claudia’s sharp gaze flittered up to the open doorway, tailing the sound of a loud thud from the ballroom outside. It was unlike the sound of a cane being thumped on the floor, and even more unlike the sounds of glass shattering, littering the floor. But one thing was certain, it was more important than having to stand over and babysit me.

Her wedges clacked along the floor, but not as fiercely as her cane. My fingernails against the floor were the pitiful echo of a more powerful woman, crawling after her. I was at her side, and I was going to stay there until she told me otherwise.

Claudia let out a quiet gasp, quickening her pace as she reached the ballroom. Candace had tripped and fallen over, tumbling onto the floor in the middle of the wide open space for seemingly no reason at all.

She whimpered, clutching onto her hip as she sat slumped over onto the floor. Her eyes flitted across the room, desperate to latch onto anything that wasn’t the eyes of her quickly impending sister, beginning to rush to her side.

“Let me help you up, sweetie.” Claudia stopped, staring at her little sister from the other side of some invisible barrier as her mother got to Candace’s side first.

“Thank you…” Candace smiled, letting Lilith take her hand, gently helping her back up to her feet. “I’m sorry for making such a scene…”

“Nonsense.” Lilith gently placed her hand on Candace’s shoulder, trying to help comfort her, and it did a lot more than just help Candace, just in ways that only she could understand. “I’m sorry for being so distant.”

“Miss Mariam-”

“Call me Lilith, please…” Lilith held her close, trying not to be distant with the girl. “There’s no need to be so formal.”

“I’m fine, I’d feel weird calling my father by his first name too.”

“Then you’re always welcome to call me mother, if you’d like.” Lilith smiled, holding out her cane for Candace to take. “You’ve only got so long before I’m gone.”

“Miss Mariam-”

“Candace?”

Candace blinked nervously, curling her fingers around the cane as she pushed it back towards Lilith’s chest. “Thank you mother… I’m gonna miss you.”

“Tch.” Claudia scoffed, curling her fingers around her own cane, murmuring to herself. “Of course she would.”

“Master?” I turned up to face her, kneeling at her feet. “Please…”

“I’m going to take mother home, then.” Candace smiled, refusing to look over at her sister as she spoke. “We’ll have to finish catching up some other time.”

“That’s fine.” Claudia spoke robotically, her voice turning monotone. “I’m sorry for snapping at you like I did.”

“It’s okay…” Candace might not be willing to look at her sister again, but she was more than okay with looking over at me. “But I’d still like to have a word with her before I go.”

I blushed, nervously glancing up at Claudia, avoiding her own sister’s gaze by funneling her rage towards me. “Ma’am?”

“Make it quick.” Claudia sighed, tapping me on the back with her cane. “Don’t hurt each other… you still belong to me, got it?”

“Got it, I promise.” I smiled, bowing just slightly. “Thank you.”

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We went into my bedroom, Candace and I, leaving Claudia behind us for just a moment- and I was just glad I hadn’t already gotten myself killed.

I never thought it would happen again, but here we were, just the two of us. Candace and I, sitting alone together.

Candace sat on the bed next to me, sighing to herself, trying not to irritate her hip after falling down. “So… how is it here?”

“It…” I stared down at the ground, unable to look directly at her. “It’s nice, Ma’am…”

It was terrifying, in all honesty. I lived moment by moment, scared of what was going to happen to me, and I was equally as scared of Candace’s rage as her sister’s fury.

“That’s good. I was worried that maybe she had hurt you.” I briefly glanced over at her, seeing the smile on her face for just a moment before we both looked away from each other again. “I’m glad you’re doing well.”

What is this? Where’s the anger? Where’s the resentment? Where’s the punishment?

I was so conditioned to expect cruelty from her and her family, and I was trembling with anticipation as I waited for retribution for what had just happened. For making a scene and getting her in trouble with her sister all for refusing to be honest with my new master.

But even more so, I was certain she was still angry about our last night together.

“Are you not upset with me?”

She continued looking away from me, her hands clasped together in her lap as she spoke. “Am I supposed to be?”

My eye twitched as I shot my glance over to her, locking with her eyes and holding eye contact unable to keep away. My retinas burned looking at the soft look in her eyes, something which stung more than staring into the sun itself. “Ma’am… I humiliated you in front of your family for a second time, remember?”

“Of course I haven’t forgotten.” Those eyes of hers refused to get angry, not even for a moment. “Is that supposed to matter?”

“Is it not supposed to matter?” I closed my eyes, still feeling her soft calm gaze burning me. “You were angry enough to punish and torture me the first time. What, do I just not matter to you anymore?”

“Of course you still matter to me, Chloe-”

“Then how is this at all the appropriate reaction, Ma’am? How is this-”

“I’m not upset with you, Chloe.” I felt her hand on my shoulder, desperate to feel her gentle touch turn into an angry possessive grasp that never came. “I don’t have the right to be.”

“Why…” I opened my eyes and stared her down with an angry glare, snarling between my murmurs. “Why aren’t you punishing me again?”

“Do you want to be punished again?”

“No, but-”

“Then don’t ask to be.” She tightened her grip on my shoulder, not to intimidate me, but to comfort me. “I think you’re punishing yourself enough.”

I lowered my gaze, staring down at my feet again, gently pressing myself into her, sitting hip to hip. “I’m not the one who’s punishing me…”

“You’re not being punished, Chloe…”

“How is this not punishment, Ma’am?”

“Because being punished would imply that you’ve done something wrong, and you haven’t.” She reached over, taking my chin with her other hand and lifting my gaze up to meet hers. “What happened between you and me is not your fault, it’s mine. You aren’t the one who deserves to be punished, I am.”

I sat there in front of her, quietly gazing into her eyes, wondering what was going through her head. Candace’s hand slid from beneath my chin, finding its place resting against my cheek. “Ma’am, I-”

“Call me by my name, please?”

“…Candace?”

“Yeah. That’s the one… at least for now…”

“Do you not want me to-”

“It’s not about what I want, it’s about what I deserve.” Just like her eyes, the palm of her hand was like fire on my skin as she held it there, softly and gently. “A really long time ago I told you to address your superiors with titles… so please, just call me Candace… at least until I deserve your respect again~”

“But when will that be?”

“When you and you alone decide that it’s time for it to be.”

“Candace…”

“You’ve heard of the phrase- Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Haven’t you?” She smiled, gently caressing my cheek with her hand, the hand on my shoulder gently doing the same with my neck. “I’ve fooled you once, don’t let me do it again.”

I blinked nervously, biting my lip as I tried to internalize the words that were coming out of her mouth. “Candace… what are you trying to say?”

“Last time I fooled you into thinking you were the one who needed to apologize… but you never should have been the one to say sorry… that should have been me. I should be the one apologizing to you.” She smiled, retracting her hand from my cheek and reaching into her dress to retrieve one of the necklaces dangling around her neck. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m sorry for punishing you for something that wasn’t your fault.”

The necklace… I stared at it as she pulled it out and held it in her hand, finally seeing the apology gift that I had made for her after so long. “You got the birthday present I made for you…”

“About five months late, but yeah… I did.” She smiled, admiring it. “Thank you.”

“I wish I could have gotten it to you on time.”

“That would have been nice, but hey- it’s still the second best birthday gift I’ve ever gotten~”

“Oh yeah, and what was the best?”

“I never told you, huh?” She smirked, letting go of both my shoulder and the necklace as she relaxed. “That night you arrived at my house, you arrived in a box for a reason~”

“Because it was your birthday.” I giggled, rolling my eyes at her. “And I was your birthday gift~”

“Exactly.” She sighed, reaching into one of the pockets of her purse and retrieving something for me. “But speaking of birthday gifts… I have something of yours, and I think you deserve it back~”

I held my hands out, letting her place the trinket into my hands again after so long. “The bell…”

“It’s yours, a visible reminder of how well you’re doing.” She retracted her hands, slowly standing up from the side of the bed. “So that you can see it around your neck, and know that I’m thinking of you… and that I’m proud of you~”

“I-” I stared at it in my hand, smiling and clutching it to my chest. “I don’t deserve to wear this, Candace.”

“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to.” She smiled, standing in front of the door, ready to head out. “That’s the beauty of being away from me… you get to choose whether or not you deserve to wear it~”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve said my piece. I’ve said sorry. I’ve apologized…” She sighed, her face red with both shame and happiness. “It’s up to you to decide when and if you want to forgive me… you’re the one in control now.”

“Candace, I…” I smiled, holding the little bell in my hand, hearing it chime just a little bit. “Thank you… I appreciate it a lot.”

“Don’t mention it~” She winked at me, gently tugging her hair out of her face. “Anything else you need from me before I go?”

“Still no kiss goodbye?”

“I don’t know about you, Chloe. But I know for certain that I still don’t deserve one.”

“Sophia.” I stopped her, holding the bell between my hands in my lap now. “For now, call me Sophia.”

“A pretty name for a pretty girl. I like it.” She giggled, smiling at me with that pretty face of hers and those gorgeous mismatched eyes. “When can I go back to calling you Chloe, then?”

“When you deserve to~”

“And when’s that going to be?”

“I don’t know, Candace.” I smiled, blushing just about as hard as she was. “That’s up for you to decide~”

“Fair enough, Sophia .”

I sighed, looking down at my lap as she opened the door, my smile quickly fading. “Is this goodbye, then?”

“I don’t know… not if you don’t want it to be.” She opened the door, stepping into the doorway, her back to me. “Do you want it to be?”

“No. I don’t think so…” I smiled, my gaze still fixed straight down into my lap. “Will you come visit sometimes?”

“I think I can do that, yeah… but in the meantime-” She stepped through the doorway, slowly closing the door behind her. “Be a good girl for your new master~”

I opened my hands, staring down at the bell, happy to have it back. “I think I can do that~”

“See you later, Sophia~”

“See you later, Candace…”

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And that’s how one of these would usually end, with me and Candace saying something short and sweet to each other.

But that would feel disingenuous. I don’t belong to Candace anymore, and it just didn’t seem fair to end it on her and I.

“Master?” I bit my bloodied lip as I stepped out of the dumbwaiter and into the bedroom. “Is everything alright?”

Claudia sighed, sitting on the edge of her bed, glaring at me. “Come here.” She lifted one hand, motioning for me to join her with her fingers.

“Yes, Ma’am.” I did my best to remain positive and respectful, smiling at her as I approached. “Am I in trouble, Miss?”

“Yes and no.” She frowned, pointing at the floor in front of her feet. “On your knees.”

She had her cane at her side, and I took note of that as I got down into a vulnerable position in front of her. “Like this, Ma’am?”

“Skirt up.” She flicked her fingers at me. “Hands out of my way.”

“Yes, Master.” I curled my aching fingers into my frilly skirt, holding it up to make sure it didn’t obstruct her. “Whatever you say.”

“You shouldn’t have lied to me.” She slowly got down onto the floor in front of me, staring at me with a stern look in her eyes.

“You said it didn’t matter. She doesn’t matter to us, Master.” I pressed my tongue against the holes in my lip, pressing against the bloodied interior of my mouth. “You told me you didn’t want to know, so I didn’t want to tell you.”

“It should have been common sense for you, Chloe. You’ll be punished for this.” She reached down, her fingers brushing past the skirt. “But we’ll get to that later, for now… I just want to have you.”

Click .

I felt the chastity belt sliding down my thighs once it was unlocked, prompting Claudia to grab it by the lock and tear it off of me, sending it soaring aside and tossing it onto the floor.

I blushed, swallowing nervously as I smiled up at her. “And you have me, Master.”

“I know I do.” She stood up, climbing back into bed. “Now come on, let’s fuck already.”

“Are you sure, Miss?” My heart was being squeezed inside of my chest. “I thought you were-”

“Do as I say and strip, Chloe.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am…”

The gloves, the leggings, and the garterbelt all came off, taking the skirt with it. The nipple clamps stayed on, but I wasn’t the only one to undress. She sat on the edge of the bed, forcing me to watch her take her clothes off, leaving me waiting to see her body.

“Now now, be patient.” She began to remove her suit jacket, undoing each button on her slim green garment one by one. “It’s not like you’ll ever be starved for savory images of my body darling, you are a form of sex toy after all, enjoy the moment.”

That snide cocky attitude of hers was infuriatingly attractive, begging to be fought. She set her jacket aside, doing the same with her matching pair of trousers before moving to the buttons of her undershirt.

“Put these away for me, dear.” Claudia had a hungry smirk on her face as she handed off her folded two piece suit and yellow dress shirt, her shoes and socks set aside. She was taunting me now, starving me for just a little bit longer to make me desperate.

My head may have been filled with romantic thoughts about her little sister, but that didn’t exclude me from thinking the same about Claudia. It took Candace months to get to this stage with me, but her sister had gotten here in the span of two weeks.

She was a cold-blooded fiend, but she was hot and feisty, domineering. She somehow wore yet another layer beneath the two shirts she had taken off, and only once she was stripped of her undershirt and shapewear was she finally down to her lingerie, which she wore beneath her clothes at all times.

I had never seen anything quite like I was seeing strapped around her waist however. She had been wearing this strange sort of harness beneath her clothes the whole time, it hung onto her by decoratively winding around her legs, coiling around her thighs and her hips and coming to ahead at her crotch.

“You’re in for a treat, snakefood. Preyboy here isn’t just a walking implement.” She spoke down to me, talking about her cane, which evidently had a name. “She’s a sex toy.”

Cane in hand, she slowly unscrewed the head of the implement, opening up the hollow compartment inside of the long tube that housed toys inside of her cane. She tipped the cane towards her hand, and out slithered a peculiar looking metal rod, shaped like the neck of a snake and ending at the head.

She screwed the smaller metal rod onto the plate at the front of her waist harness, attaching the head to the rest of the snake. Now that it was complete, it really did make it look like she had a snake coiled around her waist and her thighs, searching for prey. I had never seen one like it, but I knew exactly what it was, a strap-on.

“Cute…” I bit my lip and my tongue, shooting myself in the foot by downplaying the appearance of her fancy metal strap-on straight to her face. Yeah, Sophia is definitely still in there.

“So you want cute, do you?” She licked her lips, for a moment looking and feeling like a snake as she coiled her fingers around the chain between my clamps. “How about you let me show you cute~”

The nipple clamps themselves were also like decorative little serpents as they bit down on me, digging their fangs into my areola as the other woman violently yanked on them, slamming my back against the wall beside her bed.

“Nnngh…” I hissed back at her, staring into those hypnotic eyes of hers as she slowly brought her face to mine.

“Slave.” She stared into my eyes, licking her fangs. “You know what happens if you fight back, don’t you?”

“I die, Master.” I swallowed nervously, wanting so desperately to bite her before she bites me. “You’ll swallow me whole.”

“That isn’t quite on my list of methods I use to subjugate my slaves, but you get the idea.” She giggled at me, turning my head to the side just slightly as she ran her coarse tongue over my cheek, coating me in a light film of venomous saliva. “Be a proper slave and obey, try to have fun as you’re put in your place, or fight back and die.”

“I can obey, Ma’am…” I winced, trying not to let it get into my eye, my words like acid on my tongue as I spoke them, degrading myself for the sake of survival. “I’m good at being obedient.”

“Then we’ll have no further troubles tonight, I’m sure of it.” She opened her mouth, sinking her sharp fangs into the skin of my neck to illicit some hellishly aggressive whimpers from my lips, unwilling to put up a proper fight for fear of becoming her next meal rather than her toy. For as long as I could, I would prefer to stay her rape doll rather than a corpse she poison and toss out. “What are you, Chloe?”

“I’m a slave, Master…” I pinched my eyes shut, whimpering desperately as I fought to keep myself from attacking back. “I know my place.”

“Who do you belong to?” She giggled, gently licking my right earlobe as she whispered. “And who don’t you belong to?”

“I belong to you, Master.” I bit my lip, dining on my own blood as the previous bite wound I had inflicted upon myself reopened. “I belong to Claudia Mariam, and no one else.”

“Enough with being facetious, Chloe. Out with it.” She hissed angrily, yanking on my nipple clamps to punish me for my own words. “Technically correct isn’t good enough here, use common sense. I want to hear her name.”

“Candace… Candace St. Clair!!” I felt the words slip from my lips just in time for her to bite down on my earlobe with her teeth, dragging the answer screaming from my lungs. “I’m yours and not hers, I swear!!”

She picked me up by the nipple chain and again slammed me into the wall. “Swear to who?”

“To the highest authority I can, Miss!!” I hissed back, feeling the heat bubbling up inside of me once again. “Be it God or otherwise-”

“Who is the highest authority in your life, slave?”

“You are, Ma’am!!” I squealed, murmuring barely coherent syllables between phrases as she menaced me with her gaze. “I swear to you.”

“Finally, the correct answer.” She cackled just slightly, kneeing me in the crotch as hard as she could before yanking me from the wall, slamming me face down onto the bed beside us. “Don’t forget that.”

“I wouldn’t, Miss… I promise-”

“Stop your incessant squeaking, rodent.” She climbed into bed next to me, putting her hand to the back of my head and slamming my face into the sheets below, cutting me off from any substantial amount of air. “My sister had her chance with you, and from what I’m hearing, you blew it.”

“ Fuck!! ” I squirmed beneath her, failing to stop just a single expletive from slipping from my mouth as she forcefully pinned me down. “I’m sorry!!”

“Smaller creatures on the bottom, bigger creatures on top. The weak are beneath the strong, Chloe. Listen well thrall.” She ran her fingers over my ears, pinching down on the spot where one of them had been surgically pointed. She pulled on it, simultaneously demonstrating her superior power and ensuring that I could hear, and was listening to, her voice. “All of my slaves have had their ears pointed, whether in or out of the house- like goblins, gnomes, orcs, and most especially elves.”

“Yes, Ma’am… I’ve noticed.” I bit back my pride like a much smaller and weaker snake as I spoke, mumbling through the blankets. “Why do you do that to us?”

“Because I want to make it clear to you and anyone that sees you that you are not human.” She squeezed my outer ear as hard as she could before letting go. “My daughter sees these ears, and she has been taught to quite literally believe you to be less than human, and I plan on keeping it that way- so that she isn’t exposed to the idea that these atrocities are being done upon people , but livestock. That’s what you are- livestock.”

She dropped me, running her hands over my sides as she continued hissing sourly pointed insults into my head. “You are an asset, a possession, property. My property- and I do not want you to be mistaken for belonging to any other, do you hear me?”

“I hear you, Miss.” I swallowed my dignity whole, doing my best to appeal to her. “I hear you, and I understand.”

“Look at me, Chloe.” She bit down on my ear with her fingers, pulling on it in an effort to roll me onto my back, gazing up at her rather than lying face down. “She doesn’t have you anymore, I have you.”

“You have me… and you’re worried.” I blinked nervously, batting my eyelashes as I soaked in her words, staring up at her in confusion as I finally felt where this was coming from. “You’re worried about Candace taking me back…”

A little bit of Claudia’s glassy scaled facade broke away in that moment, shedding off of her to reveal a more human motivation behind her actions. Fear. Fear of losing something that’s rightfully hers to someone that doesn’t deserve it. I could read her now, just a little bit better, now that I knew how she ticked- how her brain worked.

She’s privileged . She thinks having me is her right and that having me taken away and given to someone beneath her goes against the natural order in her mind. For all her talk of being more accepting and growing to be a better person. Claudia was still a bigot.

She thinks she’s owed something she’s not. She’s a snake, someone who slithers in and wrecks things, the natural hierarchy in her mind is something that when shaken, threatens to tear her apart from the inside.

“If I can’t have you, nobody can.” Survival of the fittest, the most natural order one can adhere to. She was on the top, and I was on the bottom. It was only through her that creatures like me, lowly little monsters and scumbags trying to upset the rightful order, could be permitted to live. Under her rule. “I’ll sooner end you than hand you over, Chloe. That’s how much this little arrangement means to me, girl… Understand that.”

“You’ve only just met me-”

“That means nothing. Not to me.” She hissed, bringing herself closer to me. “You’re mine… so please, right here and now, be mine.”

She loomed over me like a predator, leaving no inch of room between us. Her fingers interlocked with mine, equal if not for her palm being atop mine. The metal head of her strap-on rested upon the exposed skin of my navel, her knee pressing into my crotch again, softer this time.

Venoms mixed, salivas boiling hot against each other, her lips pressing against mine. Not sharp, not coarse. Soft. Human. We kissed, my breath slipping away from me moment by moment, stolen from my body by her, my new owner. Master. Slave. It all clicked together. It all felt right.

Being here with her right now, despite the journey it took to get here, it felt right. It felt right to be beneath her, it felt natural.

My fingers twitched, the backs of my hands glued to the surface of the bed as hers slipped away. The nipple clamps found a place between her fingers as she tightened her hands around my breasts, squeezing them harder than the miniature serpents could bit, kneading into them as she slipped her tongue through my lips, dancing in my mouth like a snake being charmed.

“Let me in…” She pulled away, licking her already wet lips to savor the taste of blood coming from my mouth. “Spread your legs.”

“Please don’t hurt me…” I let my sores bleed, keeping myself physically and emotionally vulnerable, spreading my legs, letting my heart spill out of me as a desperate plea. “I should have told you sooner… I just couldn’t bring myself to do it… I’m sorry…”

I could feel her grin growing wider, even through closed eyes. She took one hand off of my body, curling her fingers around her cane and bringing the head of the all powerful serpent straight to my lips.

“Speak into her superior ears, Chloe.” There was a small click and a short hiss, a crackling sound coming from the head of her cane as it activated. “Speak to her, leave a message for Candace.”

I hissed loudly, biting back at the cane, knowing that it wasn’t my master. “I can’t do that-”

“Yes you can. I’m telling you to, and be honest about it this time.” Her hypnotic gaze was only barely shielded by my closed eyes, but her voice was more than controlling, it was pulling me like a string. “If you want to have me inside of you, then speak directly to her from here beneath my grasp, within my fangs- pretend I’m not here.”

“But you are here, Master. I can’t just-”

“Don’t hide yourself from me, slave. I own every part of you, including your mind. If you want to be forgiven, then cut it with the squeaky little secrets, and speak.”

“We just spoke, Miss. I don’t know what I’d say to her-”

“Tell her what you think, Chloe… I heard your stories about her, and that was while she was here, that was straight to her pretty little face. Say what you can’t say to her face, Chloe… tell her what you think.” She again pressed the device to my lips, waiting for me to give in to her will, ready to strike. “You left her , Chloe… not the other way around. You left her for a reason, because of what she did to you, I heard you say it. Have some fun at her expense… Punish her.”

I felt the metal strap-on pressed against my vulva, ready to push itself into my waiting cunt, slowly but surely getting wet and ready for her. Ready to be taken and ravished.

“I’ll get my way with you no matter what. You made a mockery of my family by embarrassing her on the world stage- and I will punish you for that, Sophia Cavalier. But don’t let that fool you into thinking you don’t deserve just a little bit of revenge, just a little bit more before you call it even. You may be a slave, but you’re mine.” Her words were egging me on, giving me the idea that just this once it was okay to bite back, not at her- but at her sister. “She’s done so much to hurt you, my slave… and like the crippled little thing getting revenge on her high school bully, your anger comes from somewhere- so let her have it.”

“I’m sorry…” I started and stopped, clenching down on my words as soon as I felt them slipping from my throat- and then I let them go. I let her have it. “I’m sorry, Candace… I love you and I miss you, but…”

I whimpered excitedly, like a little animal being led by a chunk of meat tied to a string, eagerly following after the feeling of her serpentine steel member pressing against me. “But this is as good as you’ve ever given me… and I didn’t need to be put through two months of hellish abuse and borderline neglect to get here.”

“Very good my little pretty~” Claudia murred happily at me, massaging one of my tits to encourage my continued submission. “Keep going~”

“Fuck… I’m sorry… but I can’t just forgive you for it all.” I growled under my breath, face hot with rage just thinking about everything I’d been through to this point, towering over the thoughts and feelings I couldn’t have the courage to confront my former master with. “I don’t know what was real and what was fake, and I still don’t know… all I know is that this is where I am now, and this is who I belong to. Being Sophia never did anything for me, but being Chloe… being Chloe keeps me safe. Being Chloe is what she wants from me… not Sophia… nobody’s ever wanted Sophia, but people want Chloe.”

“I want Chloe~” Claudia licked her lips, pressing the head of her cane to mine, letting the fangs brush against me. “Go on, tell me who you belong to… Tell her who you belong to.”

“Not you, Candace… not anymore.” I swallowed the last of my sobs, letting her hook my lip with those jaws pressed against me. “I’m sorry… but I belong to her now.”

“And cut.” There was another small click, and the metal jaws of the beast clenched down on my lip, sucking out a pained squeal from my lips, piercing through them in two spots- leaving snake bites in my lower lip. “Very good~”

“There. I’ve denounced her. Happy?” I was crying, my tears rolling backwards down my temples and onto the bed beneath me as I let out a volley of soft but pained sobs. The fangs of the snake dislodged themselves inside of my lips, leaving me with a pair of fancy new piercings. Candace had left me one on my nose, but Claudia had given me two. “I can’t stand this, I can’t stand being the centerpiece of infighting between your stupid family squabbles anymore. I’d rather be burned through with venom than die of a broken heart. So if one of you psychopaths is going to kill me, will you please just do it already?!”

“Oh please… don’t underestimate me like that darling, I’m only letting you speak and scream at me like this because I’m enjoying seeing you in pain.” She set the cane beside me on the bed, the crackling hiss still ticking away inside of it like gears. “You know already how much I hate you for what you did, Sophia. But like my other slave, I’m not going to kill you… just like I didn’t kill that high school bully of mine, I’m going to make you my drone~”

“And what will you do to me when you fail?!” I snapped back, as angrily as I possibly could, utterly failing to let go of the fight in me. “Make up your mind already. Am I the bully or am I the bullied, which is it?”

“You’re a feisty little nothing that shouldn’t have left the facility, that’s what you are- nothing. You’re my nothing. The only reason you left the facility was because you were already doomed to die.” She hauled me up by the chain connecting my nipples, slamming me back down onto the bed. “Maybe Candace didn’t know this, or maybe she did and she just tricked you into thinking otherwise, because she sure did insist that you were in a better place. You’re only alive because I bought you. You’re not fully trained because they didn’t want to waste their time on a slave set for death row, if I hadn’t bought you- they would have had you killed.”

I whimpered, my rage bleeding into my words. “You’re lying to me!!”

“I’m not.” She whispered back, calmly. “I’m not lying to you. I’m telling you the cruel truth of your existence. Nobody wants you but me.”

“That’s not true…” I shook my head, trying to free myself from the thought. “…Is it?”

“Chloe.” She spoke calmly, tapping me on the forehead to get me to open my eyes for the first time in a while. “You’ve worked awfully hard to get that belt off this last week. Don’t you want to come tonight?”

“Of course I do…” I swallowed, staring angrily into her eyes, sick of being insulted and mistreated. “But don’t change the sub-”

“The only word I want to hear starting with that prefix is submission, Chloe. You do want to submit to me, don’t you?” She licked her lips, pressing the head of her strap-on directly onto my labia. “Don’t you want me to make you come?”

“Yes. Anything to get away from this, yes.” I closed my eyes again, rolling them back into my head as I arched my body for her. “Please, Master. Make me come… I just want the pain to go away.”

“Then come for me.” She whispered seductive hisses into my ears, swallowing my mind in her all encompassing lust. “And when you do, make sure to scream loud enough for even Candace to hear you.”

“Yes, Master.” I growled angrily, waiting for her to cut to the chase and finally put her money where her sharp little mouth is, and stop rolling her tongue when she should be making me scream. “I’m yours.”

It might not have been a real penis, but it was as good as one as it slithered its way inside of me, pounding into my soft wet little cunt as it pounced, like a snake, striking me where I was weakest. It might not have been real love and affection, but it was just as good as the real thing in the moment.

She could read me like a book just like her sister could. I’d found my weakness, and so had she- making me the sniveling little bitch of a much stronger woman. If nothing else, Claudia had that over her sister, the strength and desire to hurt me as deeply as she needed to to keep me in line. Claudia wasn’t afraid to break me like her sister had been. She was very proudly focused on erasing who I was and turning me into someone else.

I turned my palms face down on the bed, curling my fingers into the sheets below as I felt her fake cock slide up my imprisoned little flower at last.

“You do want to be subjugated, girl.” She hissed through her own moans. “That’s what you are, a husk waiting to be put under the right master, and that master is me. That’s what I want~”

“Shut up and do it, then!!” I growled angrily, wishing I could spit in her face without coughing on saliva and blood. “Don’t pretend like you’re any better than I am, you just have more power and money and less decency-”

“That’s not how a slave should speak to her master is it, puppet?” She squeezed my tits with both hands, ramming her strap-on up my tight little pussy even harder this time. “Don’t answer that. Fix it. Speak to me like a slave should.”

“Break me then!!” I shouted into the poisonous air around me, every part of me in pain. “I’m not ashamed to say it anymore, I’m more than happy to call myself yours, Master. You just have to earn it first.”

“What did I just say?!”

“Is this not how I should speak, Ma’am?” I opened my eyes, glaring directly into hers. “Do you not want a fight?”

“I shouldn’t have to fight!!”

“Your sister fought for my submission!! ” My lips curled into a mischievous smile, eagerly awaiting her anger and fury. “ And she didn’t complain about it- she fought and she WON.”

“Do not go and compare me to her, slave.”

“And why not?!” I couldn’t take this any longer, I couldn’t just curl up and die, I was too far to just let go now. “I heard the screams!! I know what you did to her, and I’m still not afraid of you. So if you really want to prove yourself better than whatever she is, then fucking fight me.”

"I ought to-"

“You ought to what?!” I snarled, sick of hearing her voice and not feeling her body. “Don’t telegraph. Don’t say things, just do them, I am begging you. If you want me then take me!! I want this too!! I want you to win, I swear on you, I want to be yours. I just want to be broken, is that too much to ask?!?!”

Claudia was furious at me, but before she could get another word out of her lips, I cut her off. I hacked up a ball of blood and saliva from my mouth and I spat in her face, giving her the most literal insult that I could possibly give her from this position, and it was more than enough to give her pause.

“You’re unlike any slave I have ever met, Chloe.” She froze, hovering over me in utter disbelief. “I have never in my life thought I’d meet a slave so brazenly disobedient as to spit directly in my face while still somehow begging to be put under my heel.”

“Still just talk-”

“Hold your tongue before I cut it out of you, rape doll.” She brought her hand up and then back down, smacking me directly in the face. “Just enjoy the ride… you’ve fucking earned this.”

Slam. I shrieked, feeling her pull out and then forcefully slam into me, pressing all the way up to my cervix. I was going to die once this was all over, but until then I might as well enjoy myself.

And she didn’t stop with one, or two, or ten. She fucked me and she fucked me hard. No warmup, no foreplay, no words- just bitching a girl inside out over the metal snake wrapped around her hips.

I snarled, mewling happily at the influx of pain and suffering. My hands released themselves from the blankets below, more than eager to participate.

This was the power I still held. I didn’t just have to lie down and take it, I could participate. If she was going to finally give me what I wanted, I was going to finally give her what she wanted.

I grabbed my thighs with my hands, curling my nails into them as I hoisted them towards my torso, spreading my legs unnaturally wide so that I could eagerly take her fake cock.

You scratch my back, I scratch yours. You give me a world where I can have my submission beaten and bitten out of me on the end of your string and I will give you that submission. Earn my submission and I will bend over for you. Fight me and win and I will be the greatest loser you’ve ever played.

I want to present myself to you, as vulnerable as can be. I want to bend, and break, and bounce. I want to find myself sobbing as I pulsate around your cock. I want to be your bitch. That’s what I was saying to her.

I kept my knees pulled as close to my chest as I could, keeping them out of her way, letting my cunt be eaten out by her serpent.

I whimpered, squealing loudly as she pulled the chain tight, just about ripping my nipples off as she forced me to hold the chain in my mouth, keeping me quiet and happily subdued.

The metal ribs of the strap-on rubbed against the interior walls of my vagina, letting myself be as thoroughly violated as I could, violently and incessantly.

I hung onto that little cherry, curling it into my metaphysical hand for as long as I could, not ready to give it up until it was pried out of me. I was going to be forced to come, even if it was the last thing I did.

But even I could last very long while having my most sacred site brutally pounded by an eagerly depraved empress.

“M-Master…” I whimpered for her, the first thing out of my mouth once I had given in, ready to be her bitch- she earned it. “Let me squeak and scream and beg for you, Master… I swear I’ll be worth it in the end. Bitch me inside out and I’ll lovingly bend over, I swear. I- I- I want it so badly… please… I’m a good girl-”

“I’ll be the one to say whether you’re a good girl, now come like a bitch and scream.” She snarled angrily, wrapping her fingers around the front of my collar and bucking her hips as hard as she could one last time, raping those well earned screams out of me at last.

I popped, arching my back and squeezing onto my thighs as hard as I could as I contracted around the metal serpent. I rode it out, fast and hard, coming onto her cock.

There wasn’t a hint of shame in my voice as I screamed, loudly and proudly, just like she wanted me to, finishing happily- like a broken bitch should, sobbing and moaning.

She was a goddess, stealing it from me like a grave robber, biting into my cunt and raping me into submission. She loved it, we both loved it, she even moaned. But once it was all said and done, once I was raped out of breath and had my cunt popped open on her metal strap-on, all the excitement and happiness and pleasure eventually had to fade away. Leaving me wallowing in just one thing, fear.

“I’m a good dolly, I swear!!” I buried my crying eyes behind my hands as I sobbed, instantly flooding with regret at every action I had taken in the name of earning myself a pitiful little orgasm. “I’m not trying to be a problem, Ma’am!! I don’t want you to get rid of me like she did, I don’t!!”

I bit down on my newly pierced lips, convulsing into a pathetic puddle of sobs and near pissing terror, covered in my own vaginal fluids.

“I want to be your obedient little rape puppet, Master, I promise!! I just can’t control myself!!” I curled my fingers into my hair, ready to pull out chunks of my own hair. “I want to bend over for you!! I want to make you happy, Master… I don’t want to die. I’m so scared that you’re going to kill me!! All I want is to be protected and cherished, I swear!!”

“When I say bark, you bark.” She sounded strangely calm, menacingly so. “Now bite your tongue so that I don’t have to hear your pathetic sobs.”

“Yes, Ma’am…” My heart thumped in my chest, pulling my hands from my eyes as I bit down on my tongue as hard as I was comfortable with.

“Behave. Quiet your soul, calm your loins, and don’t move a muscle unless I tell you to.” She pulled away from me, slowly beginning to unstrap the device from her waist. “I raped you into submission, the least you can do is obey.”

“Mhmm!!” I whimpered through closed lips, nodding my head as tears rolled down my cheeks. “Mhmm…”

She sighed, slowly sitting me up and pulling me into her lap, staring at my body as she did so. “Mine.” She took a moment, smiling as she nodded for me to respond.

“Yours.” I let the word roll off of my sore tongue. “Yours…”

“You begged to be made a bitch, so you’ll sleep in the cage tonight.” She placed one hand on my cheek, pulling my lips to hers for a kiss, one that lasted more than a few moments. “Stay faithful to me above anyone else, and I won’t kill you…”

“Yes, Master…” I smiled, the taste of her lips sour on my tongue. “Thank you.”

“Now get out of my sight.” She curled her hand around my collar again. “Do that again and you’ll be raped to death, rather than submission.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am…” My heart sunk, having really hoped she would do it again sometime. “Anything you say… I promise.”

“Now go fuck off.” She snarled back, rolling her eyes as she got out of bed, pulling me onto the floor and dragging me across the room to the dumbwaiter before violently tossing me inside. “Goodnight, slave.”

“Goodnight, Master…”

And just like that, I was alone again. Sleeping in a cell inside of a house that I couldn’t call my home, curled into a ball as I sobbed my heart out.

She fucked herself to an orgasm after she was done with me, I had no doubt about that, but it didn’t make it better at all.

I didn’t know what to think. Candace. Claudia. I wanted to be with them both.

I was caught between them, two women fighting over me. Both of them wanted me, but neither of them deserved me, neither of them wanted me for who I really am. They just want to have me.

But they can’t have me, not like this.

I couldn’t end this on short little goodnights or goodbyes with Candace, but I couldn’t end it on Claudia either. There was only one way I was ever going to be able to end this chapter of my life.

Alone.

I was madly and desperately in love with two gorgeous and powerful women at the same time.

And I couldn’t possibly feel more alone.