31st October, 16 days until the banquet.
It had been about a week since I’d gotten back on my meds, and well…
I felt a lot more like me once I’d taken them.
That didn’t mean I was clawing to get back into Candace’s good graces because well-
“You’ve been a lot more submissive lately.” My master said as she lifted my chin up to look at her, gazing into my eyes. “I like it~”
“Yes, Mistress.” I barely even had time to say that before I closed my eyes, feeling Claudia press her lips against mine, stealing my breath away from my lungs.
God did it feel good to be me again, it felt like it had been weeks since I was in my right mind. It was like heaven on earth to feel secure in my own mind again- I was absolutely done being Sophia Cavalier, and I think Claudia knew that.
“Very good.” Claudia pulled away, teasing me with her lips as she pulled away without even a single kiss. “Did you do everything I told you to?”
“Yes, Ma’am.” I sighed, my chest full of mixed emotions as I let the moment pass me by- desperately tempted to steal the kiss myself. “I gave the other girls their orders like you asked. Darcey is cleaning up what’s left of lunch, Autumn is tidying the sitting room, and Zenna is getting Lilian ready as we speak.”
“Very good.” She repeated, making sure to be consistent. “And have you dealt with my sister yet?”
“No, Ma’am. Not yet, I-” I stopped, biting my lip as I tried and failed not to sneeze, minimizing the spray by turning away from her at the last moment. “Excuse me-”
“Bless you, slave.” She put her hand on her hip, rolling her eyes. “What’s the hold up with my sister?”
“N-nothing, Ma’am!! I’m-” I paused again, unable to keep myself from sneezing all of a sudden. “I’m just nervous…”
“Nervous about what, my dear?” She smiled, placing her other hand on my cheek, forcing me to look her straight in the eyes- which was her first mistake. “My sister won’t-”
“ Achoo!! ” You’d think after two sneezes she’d expect a third one, but instead she let her get caught off guard by a sneeze straight to the face- with comical timing. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Ma’am-”
She just glared at me, wiping her face clean with a handkerchief, not at all amused. “Okay- first of all- the sneezing has to stop.”
“I’m sorry, Mistress…” I sighed, sniffling back my runny nose. “It’s been happening all morning.”
“Usually I wouldn’t care, but if it’s going to cause problems like this I’m going to need you to get it under control.”
“I’m trying, Ma’am… I just don’t-” I backed away sneezing again, wiping my face with my own sleeve like always. “I don’t know what’s causing it…”
“Well figure it out, and if it’s dust, take care of it.” She scoffed, quickly losing her patience. “My mother is on her way here- her car just reached the front gates- she wanted to visit for a bit before taking Lilian trick-or-treating.”
“Trick-or-treating?” I paused, my heart filling with both excitement and disappointment at the same time. “It’s halloween?”
I generally had no idea what day it was, and I was disappointed to realize that halloween was here and I wasn’t able to participate in it- my first halloween as a slave- how heartbreaking.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is.” She sighed, turning towards the rest of the house as the doorbell went off behind her. “Eugh, out of time. Go make yourself scarce.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” I swallowed nervously, bowing before I turned to leave. “I’ll go retrieve your sister, just like you asked.”
Unfortunately, finding Candace was easier said than done, especially when she decided to hide in the darkest corners of the house by herself. Not that I knew where to look- it was almost like she was avoiding me. “Sulking in the guest bedroom by yourself, huh?”
“I’m not in the mood, Cavalier.” She scoffed, clearly not at all happy to see me. “Please close the door before you- eugh… never mind.”
“What?” I stood there in the open doorway, my hands on my hips as I stared her in the eyes. “Did I do something that’s not to your liking?”
“Yes, actually.” She rolled her eyes, slowly trudging her way out of the bed where she’d been resting. “Yes you did.”
I opened my mouth to say something for a moment before shutting up, lowering my head just slightly as I closed the door. “My apologies then…”
“Was there something you needed?” She quickly slid her tight maroon jeans up her legs, slipping a fancy spiked belt through the loops. “Or did you just come to summon me.”
“Your um… Claudia’s mom is here…” I smiled slightly, happy to see her wearing anything but a hoodie as she got herself dressed in her favorite cuddle blue sweater- the one that I liked snuggling up against back when I was hers. “But yeah, I wanted to ask you something.”
“On with it then-” She rolled her eyes, running a hairbrush through her hair. “Ask away~”
“Why did you hide my medications from me?” I blushed, lowering my gaze towards the floor… out of respect to her. Now that I was back on my meds and thinking straight, I had pretty much fully accepted the fact that Candace really had been giving me my prescriptions, and I appreciated her for that. “Why didn’t you just tell me about them?”
“I was afraid of how you would react.” She certainly didn’t sound like she was lying to me, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt, choosing to believe her. “I was afraid that if you found out I was putting drugs in your food, you’d think I was trying to hurt you- or worse- you’d try to starve yourself.”
I paused, nodding for her to continue, keeping quiet as she spoke. The most noise that came out of my mouth was a couple of quiet sneezes, unable to stop myself. Candace really did care about my wellbeing, enough to make decisions about my health to keep me safe.
“Part of it was just me trying to seem tough, I didn’t want you to think I was soft.” Candace’s eyes drifted down to her waist, fiddling with the buckles and the rivets as she kept her eyes off of me. “That was why I kept so many things secret. If you thought I was weak, you’d fight back… I knew you wouldn’t trust me to take care of you, so I did it without telling you.”
“Thank you, Candace… I appreciate that a lot. We’re… cool now. I promise.” I smiled, looking up at her as she finished talking. It made a lot of sense, and even though I didn’t like a lot of it, I respected it. It had worked in the end after all- at least to a degree- I got the medications I needed to keep myself stable without even realizing. “Is that a new belt?”
“Sort of.” She ran her fingers over the spikes and rivets, sighing nervously. “Got it from a friend.”
I giggled a little bit. “It’s not one of mine, is it?”
“I said I got it from a friend, not an ex-” She giggled back, her cheeks getting just a little bit flustered. “Not that we’re exes… I just mean-”
“I know what you meant…” I smiled, opening the door for her as she began to head out. “And for the record… I do think of you as… a friend.”
“Right, friends…” She smiled, stopping in the doorway with me. “Friends…”
I felt those beautiful eyes of hers staring at me, my cheeks just as red as hers were, as I stared back into them with my own. I watched her eyes glance back and forth for just a moment, struggling to take her eyes off of mine, making sure no one was here to see us.
I should have pushed her away right then and there, but I couldn’t. In the heat of the moment, my eyes drifted closed, feeling her lips pressed against mine- stealing a kiss for herself.
After a few seconds, she forced herself to pull away, leaving me stunned. I hadn’t even realized I’d been craving a kiss until it was gone. That very same kiss I was so desperate to steal from Claudia, taken right from my lips… and it felt so wrong and so right all at the same time.
“I’m sorry…” She stopped herself- and me- from going in for more. “I shouldn’t have done that… I’m sorry-”
“I won’t tell her…” I desperately looked away from her, trying to make sure that nobody saw that. “Not if you won’t…”
“Thank you.” She swallowed nervously, forcing herself to turn away and head downstairs. “I need to go, I’m sorry.”
I bit down on my tongue, keeping myself from calling out to her as she walked away. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, the wave of desperate emotion overcoming my body as she left my side, collapsing to the floor in defeat- and apparently I wasn’t the only one who could sense it. I felt the little thing brush up against my hip as I sat there, feeling a familiar itch in my nose as I sneezed again.
Prrrt…
“Come to give me more bad luck, Thea?” I giggled, reaching down to my side to pet the little monster. Yeah, that made a lot of sense, of course I was sneezing- Candace brought her cat with her today. “A black cat on halloween, huh?”
She continued to purr, rubbing her cheeks against my hand, desperate for attention. As much as I hated the tiny atrocities, it was nice to see Thea again. For as long as I’d known her, Candace’s adult black cat had only ever tormented me, and I had always assumed that it was because she hated me. But I could tell by the way that Thea cuddled up to me that she’d missed me.
“I’ve missed you too, Thea…” I smiled, picking her up and holding her in my lap to pet her, despite how badly it was making my allergies. “I’ve missed you too…”
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“You know, I almost thought you two were avoiding me…” Lilith smiled at Candace as she sat down on the sofa next to her, leaving a space between them. “Where’ve you two been?”
“Unlike you, some of us have been busy as can be, mother.” Claudia tapped her fingers impatiently, giving Candace a not so friendly smile for being late. “I’ve been preparing your birthday party for you, mom.”
“And I needed time to think…” Candace sighed, avoiding Claudia’s irritated gaze as she glanced around the room. “Where’s your new slave?”
“I sent her to go get drinks, she’ll be back in a bit.” Lilith set her cane down next to her, placing her hand on Candace’s knee, gently patting it. “There are still a few things I’ve been needing to talk to you two about-”
“Don’t keep telling us that there is a thing-” Claudia interrupted her. “Please just say the thing.”
“It’s no secret that I hate your father.” Lilith went on, rolling her eyes at her daughter. “But even so, I don’t think we should let it affect us. I know you both love your father very dearly, and I want you to know that I love you both just as much.”
“That’s very nice of you, Miss Mariam.” Candace smiled, placing her palm on top of the back of Lilith’s hand. “I’m sorry that things with dad didn’t work out for you, really-”
“Don’t feel sorry, dear.” Lilith giggled, grabbing Candace’s hand and holding it in both of hers. “If things had worked out between him and I, you wouldn’t be here~”
Claudia sat there in silence, nervously staring at the two of them, and Candace noticed. She could see the look of pain on her sister’s face, even if she didn’t know where it came from.
“I’m sorry that your mother couldn’t be here as well, Candace.” Lilith frowned, placing a kiss on the back of her hand. “My whole heart wishes she was still with us, there are so many things that I wish I could say to her.”
“But she’s not, mother.” Claudia thudded her cane against the floor, her sour face turning red with anger. “Don’t sit there and say things like that, please-”
“Claudia sweetheart.” Lilith knew exactly what had happened, and she could sense how her daughter was feeling. “It’s okay-”
“What’s your problem, Claudia?!” Candace snarled at her, sick of her sister making everything about her. “I know you hated her, but can you please stop making things weird whenever my mom comes up?!”
Thump . Both Candace and Claudia jumped in their seats, hearing Lilith thump her cane against the ground at her feet.
“If you would both just listen to me and let me explain things, you’d see that I’m trying to help patch things up, so would you both calm the hell down, already?” Lilith was already tired of the back and forth between the two of them. “Just shut up so that I can talk, I promise you it’s worth it.”
The sisters paused, nervously making eye contact before relenting- agreeing to listen to whatever it was that Lilith needed to tell them.
“Now I know I’ve never been a perfect mother, but I’ve always tried my best… even if my best wasn’t enough. When I left your father, I made the most difficult decision of my entire life.” Lilith turned to Candace again, extending her hand for her to take. This was obviously as hard for her as it was for the two of them. “I loved your mother, Candace…”
Candace paused, taking Lilith’s hand and squeezing it for support. “What do you mean?”
“Your mother belonged to me, Candace… and I loved her just as much as I loved your father.” Lilith squeezed back, trying her best to stay calm. “When I left him, I decided to leave her too… because if there was anyone in the world I could trust to protect my children from your father… it was her.”
“You didn’t love her…” Claudia hung her head, refusing to believe a word her mother was saying. “How could you have loved another woman… you would never-”
“I’m sorry for not supporting you sooner, Claudia. I refused to accept the idea of loving her like I did, I used it as a shield… to try and convince myself that I made the right choice…” Lilith lowered her head in shame, able to see the damage she’d caused her eldest daughter. “But then you came along, Candace.”
Candace frowned, still holding tight to the older woman for support, even as her fingers trembled. “Me?”
“Part of me still regrets leaving her with him like I did, when I could have brought her with me… but I’m glad I didn’t… because if I had- I wouldn’t have you.” Lilith smiled, letting go of Candace’s hands, a weight lifted from her chest. “Your mother was precious to me, so when she died… I blamed myself for not being there to save her-”
“Lilith…” Candace was on the verge of tears, able to feel the lump in her throat. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“Because it’s never been about me, dear. History is history, it’s all in the past… what’s important now is for you to understand how much you meant to her… both of you…”
“Mom…” Claudia’s voice was weak, trembling as it slipped out of her lips. “I’m sorry…”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart. I love you, and I’d do anything to protect you… and nothing could ever change that…” Lilith gave Candace a smile as she stood up, grabbing her cane to help herself to her feet. “I should have never forced you to suffer like I had to suffer, I’m sorry… seeing the support your little sister always got from her mom- that was what made me realize how wrong I was… I’m sorry…”
“Thank you… I’m sorry for holding onto this for so long…” Claudia threw her cane aside, wrapping her arms around her mom for what could have only been the tightest embrace of her life. “I love you, mom… please… please don’t go-”
“I can’t live forever, dear. Please, don’t let anyone tell you how to live your life…” Lilith placed one hand on Claudia’s cheek, pecking her on the lips just how Claudia liked to say hello. “Live the life that you want to live, can you do that for me?”
“I’ll try.” Claudia choked back her tears, nodding her head. “I promise I’ll try.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Claudia.” Lilith sighed proudly, looking up at how much her daughter had grown. “You have to learn to forgive yourself.”
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What the hell…
I was not very proud to say that I had been eavesdropping on that whole conversation, but I was- I heard every word of it.
Thankfully, the house didn’t have security cameras all over the place, but moving around wasn’t exactly subtle when there was a large gaping hole in the middle of the second floor. I could hear movement downstairs- from the sounds of it, Zenna had just brought Lilian downstairs to see her grandmother, which meant that she was likely leaving soon.
Zenna was right. Our master may be a bad person, but she wasn’t a monster. She had emotions of her own, I could hear them. The strained relationship between Claudia and her daughter was something that carried over from Claudia’s relationship with her own mother. But in trying not to make the same mistakes her parents made, Claudia’s only mechanism was to distance herself.
And that made it that much more painful to love her.
It was funny how I managed to get by unmedicated without doing anything, because now that I was back on them it just didn’t feel right to stand around and do nothing. I sighed, trying not to sneeze myself to death as I let Thea help me clean the guest bedroom. I tidied the floor, made the bed, picked up clothes- gosh I really wish I had a vacuum.
Thea didn’t seem to mind the mess as much as I did, if anything she was making it worse, but that was fun. I enjoyed her company.
“Oh you think this is funny, do you?” I stood over her, hands on my hips, sassing a cat. “Making a mess and getting your fur all over the place?”
Thea just looked at me, rubbing up against one of the pillows as she listened to me, before turning her head towards the sound of the door opening.
“There you are, Thea~” I could hear her familiar voice before she opened the door, letting the cat run up to her for attention. Clearly I wasn’t the only person Thea had missed. “Come here, you~!!”
Aria Fairmont was the last person I expected to see her, but I knew that golden blonde updo of hers anywhere, and there it was- right in front of me. She’d always loved kittens too, and Candace’s cats loved her to bits. Even if I didn’t.
I saw a similar look of recognition flash in her eyes as they locked onto me, quickly being replaced by a face of pure shock and disgust. Thea scurried away from Aria’s side as the door slammed behind her, leaning back and pressing herself against it like a wall.
I’d always had difficulties reading her in the past, but I easily recognized the emotions going through her head, and they weren’t good. That was the face of a woman who just killed someone, and was still pushing through a tornado of grief and distress, reckoning with that.
At first I mistook the sounds coming out of her mouth as words, before coming to the realization that they were just gags. Aria heaved, inhaling a sharp intake of air and breathing out a mouthful of… nothing good.
“Holy shit- Aria!!” I leapt to my feet, distancing myself from her. I had just cleaned those floors too, and it took a mighty bit of effort to wrangle Thea before she decided to make a meal out of Aria’s breakfast.
“I’ll clean it up!!” She was hyperventilating in her panic struggling to put thoughts together, her facade long since shattered. “I’m so sorry!!”
“What’s the matter with you?” I bit my tongue, trying to hold back any angry comments towards her in my rage. “I get that you don’t like looking at me- but am I really so ugly that you have to hurl on the carpet?”
“I said I’d clean it, I promise-” She desperately forced herself to stand, shaking as she looked at me. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Stay here.” I groaned, stepping around the mess and shoving Thea into her arms as I made my way out of the door. It was supposed to be my job to clean this sort of thing up, but with her own admission, I was making it her responsibility instead. “Don’t let anyone see you like this.”
I stormed down the stairs to the water closet, angrily trudging my way upstairs with enough wet rags to clean up the mess, forcing the job upon her as I got back. Miraculously, she put up with fixing it without a fuss, which surprised me. Knowing her, I’d expected her to try and shove my face into it or something, but no- she was more than willing to clean up after herself.
“Thank you for visiting, I guess.” I sat on the edge of the bed, arms crossed at my chest as I faced away from her, unable to look her in the eyes out of anger. “Sorry that my face made you hurl.”
“I’m so sorry… I was just surprised, that’s all…” She finished up cleaning, setting the supplies aside once she was done, but curiously deciding to stay on her knees on the floor. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” I scoffed, grinding my teeth together at her words, struggling to stay calm. “I live here, Aria.”
“I can see that!!” She whined, her face red with about as much flustered rage as I’d seen from her. “How can you live here?! What happened?!”
“What do you think happened, Aria?” I slowly turned to face her, feeling my anger gently begin to subside as I heard the concern in her voice. “I took your advice… Why, what are you doing here?”
“Apparently vomiting on the floor when I’m supposed to be bringing Thea downstairs.” She hung her head in defeat, looking particularly ashamed of herself. “I’m sorry…”
“Sorry for what?” I let out an amused sigh, feeling Thea climb back into my lap. “Throwing up?”
“For getting you sent here in the first place-” All of a sudden I could hear her beginning to tear up, struggling not to let me hear her cry under her breath. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.”
“What do you mean, Aria?” I frowned, feeling just a little bit guilty for making her cry. “How was it supposed to happen?”
“Not this!! You were supposed to end up in a good home!!” Sobs soaked through her words, cutting her sentences with emotions. “But instead you ended up here!!”
“Aria please, calm down…” I climbed out of bed, getting down on my knees next to her, trying to comfort the other girl. “It’s okay, really. I like it here-”
I extended a hand towards her, but the moment I sat down next to her, Aria whipped her head around. I could see the terror in her eyes for just a second before I felt her shoving me onto my back in front of her, bearing down on me with fierce emotion, the tears streaming from her eyes gracefully dripping onto my skin.
I had no idea how to interpret the sudden tackle, but before I’d had time to think about it, she was sobbing into my chest, just slightly weighing down the chain between my nipple clamps.
“You liked it with Candace too…” She hiccupped, choking on her tears as she lied there. “But it’s not safe here-”
“Whoa whoa, slow down, please.” I forced her off of me as I sat up, watching her sit up next to me. “You’re saying a lot of things right now, but you say a lot of things all the time- and that just makes it worse… slow down.”
“It was a mistake, Chloe.” She bit down on her lower lip, staring me straight in the eyes as she spoke. “Trying to take down Candace was the biggest mistake of my life…”
“Aria, calm down…” I frowned, holding her by the shoulders as I continued to comfort her. “What happened to you?”
“I got my revenge, just like I wanted to…” She shuddered, clasping her arms together at her chest to shield herself. “And somehow she still found a way to be the bigger person…”
I paused, leaning my back against the wall as I listened to her speak, opening up the door to let Thea wander off to wherever she was needed- which hopefully didn’t include jumping off the balcony to the first floor.
“I’m Lilith’s nurse now. I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll make this quick.” She reached over, squeezing my hand in hers as hard as she could. “It’s not safe here- you need to leave before something bad happens.”
“Something bad?” I gripped her hand in return. “Like what?”
“Like whatever it is that’s on those tapes…” She stared me straight in the eyes, desperate to find a way to help. “Miss Mariam never let me watch them, so I can only imagine… but I know it can’t be anything good. Candace might be bad… but Claudia is beyond saving.”
“You can’t just say things like that, Aria.” I protested, feeling just a bit of anger at hearing her insult Claudia like she was. “Don’t underestimate her.”
“Listen to me, Chloe.” Aria pleaded with me, now groveling at my feet to try and beg. “I’ve worked for Lilith for a long time now, even if she was nice enough to save me from her daughter’s plantation, I know her well enough to know that she’s trying to cover it all up.”
I swallowed nervously, staring down at her in shock. “She’s trying to cover what up?”
“I don’t know, that’s the problem.” She shot up, not just off of her knees, but onto her feet. “But whatever it is she’s trying to hide, she’s doing it to protect Claudia.”
“You can’t just leave?” Watching her turn around to leave, I stood up and grabbed her, making her face me. “You can’t just show up, say shit, and then walk away- I still have a bone to pick with you!!”
“Of course you do. Because you’re a dog, and dogs always have a bone to pick with someone.” She swiveled around on her heels, pressing a single finger accusingly into my chest, glaring at me. “If you expect me to apologize for getting you taken away from Candace, don’t. I got on my knees and sobbed for you already, but I won’t say sorry for trying to help you- so if you still have a bone to pick with me, that’s your problem. Maybe if you really want to survive, you should think more like a cat, and less like a dog- and stop chasing your own fucking tail.”
“I don’t need a talking to about cats and dogs from a stupid mouse who got her own tail stuck in a rattrap.” Aria was one of the few people I could look down on, being just a few inches shorter than me. “I’ve always hated you, and I should have known better than to believe you were anything worth trusting.”
“Welcome aboard the underground, stupid. Maybe you don’t realize it yet, but the world doesn’t actually revolve around you, you’re just a bug stuck in the gears. Cause as much trouble as you’d like, you’re still going to get squashed.” Aria snarled, shoving me backwards onto the bed behind me before finally snapping back around and leaving. “Stay mad at me for the rest of my life if you’d like, it doesn’t matter. You should have figured that much out already- nobody cares about your feelings. This is the real world, and it’s about bigger and more important things than you. Your fate is up to you.”
I watched in paralyzed awe as Aria walked away, slamming the door behind her and leaving me alone all over again. There was no point in chasing after her, it didn’t matter anymore. We both made our decisions, and there wasn’t anything left unsaid.
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“Hey?” Josephine slowly closed the door behind her, sitting down next to me. I must have lost track of time, curled up in bed alone, because people didn’t often come looking for me- especially her. “You okay?”
“You’re asking a slave- who is here completely against her will- if she’s okay.” I frowned, making room for her in bed next to me. “The answer is no.”
“Fair enough I guess.” Josephine sighed, pulling the covers out so that she could relax. “It’s just us and the girls tonight, if you just want to hang out?”
I raised one eyebrow at her question, still curled up into a ball. “Us and the girls?”
“Lilith and Claudia took Lilian out trick-or-treating, and I think Candace went along to supervise.” Josephine smiled, forcing me under the blankets with her. “Lilian wanted to borrow her cat for halloween~”
“You mean Claudia left you in charge of the slaves?” I giggled, rolling my eyes at her. “How’d you manage that?”
“Not without a little help I guess.” She smirked, pulling out her wife’s cane and giving it a spin. “I think it worked~”
“Congrats.” I smiled, unable to keep sulking for much longer. “Guess my advice has been working, huh?”
Josephine and I had been spending a lot of time together this week, it wasn’t exactly a secret, Claudia just wasn’t here to see it thanks to her work. Usually she was in and out of her office, or at the plantation where she worked.
“Josie?” I paused, thinking it over before saying anything. “Master said that I’ve been more submissive lately…”
“I mean… you’ve been teaching me to be more submissive, haven’t you?” Josie smiled, setting the cane down between the two of us, right there in the open. “Claudia seems to like it-”
“Does she?” I nervously shuffled in place, backing away from the cane ever so slightly. “Does she actually want submission… or does she just think she wants submission?”
Josephine frowned, seeing my reaction and curling her fingers around the cane. “What do you mean?”
“I’m a brat.” I looked up at her, biting my lip nervously. “And I know you want me to teach you how to be a brat, but… what if she doesn’t actually want a brat?”
She took a few moments to think it over, letting the room fall silent around us. “She has drones already… What else would she want?”
“That’s the thing.” I stared at the cane, gazing deep into those terrifying red eyes. “I don’t think she wants drones.”
I took a deep breath, reaching for the cane- only for Josephine to pull it away from me, clutching it to her chest for protection. “Chloe…”
“That’s exactly what I mean…” I frowned, gesturing towards the way she clung to it. “I don’t think she wants to turn her slaves into drones… I think she does it because she’s scared.”
“scared of what?”
“scared of us.”
Josephine loosened her grip on the cane, not enough to put it down, but just enough to hear me out on this. “You think she’s scared?”
“I think she’s terrified.” I blushed, trying not to mention how I’d been eavesdropping on Claudia’s private conversations. “I’ve seen it… she’s just too proud to say anything about it. I don’t think she needs to spice up her love life- I think she needs help.”
“She can’t lead a family on her own after all…” Josie took the words right out of my mouth, curling up into a ball under the blankets, just like me. “And I’ve just been sitting here…”
I didn’t say anything more after that, letting her words speak for themselves. Josephine was smart enough to come to the same conclusion I was coming to, she just needed to be pushed there.
“You can’t say any of this to her.” I watched her turn to me, glaring me right in the eyes as she spoke- and with just three clicks- affixed the jaws of Claudia’s cane to the head of my collar, pulling me just a little bit closer. “Swear to me that you won’t tell her about this.”
“It stays in this room.” I blushed- that was more like it- placing my palms flat on the bed beside me as I knelt. “I swear.”
“We used to have another slave, her name was Bella.” Josephine frowned, tightening her grip on the cane as she talked. “I bought her to be Claudia’s office assistant after her last owner abandoned her… but within a few months.”
“She was dead.” I frowned, nodding. “Claudia put her down.”
“I don’t think my wife likes killing people, Chloe.” Josie checked the eyes of the cane for their glow, making sure it wasn’t recording. “Whenever she can, she buys slaves off of the Zed list… and she sends them to her plantation to work…”
I swallowed nervously, that definitely sounded familiar, but it didn’t make much sense. “Why the Zed list?”
“She had an attachment to her mother’s slave, Charlotte Zed.” She smiled, satisfied enough with my submission and comfortable enough with her control to unclasp the serpent from my collar. “She’s never told me what really happened, but I do know she blames herself for Charlotte’s death.”
“So she buys girls off the zed list to try and save them from death?”
“But they don’t always live…” Josephine nodded, gripping the cane as tight as she could. “I don’t know why she doesn’t allow people in her office, but I think she’s hiding something from me…”
“And that’s why she killed Bella.” I furled my eyebrows in anger, finally putting the pieces together. “She knew too much…”
“You’re right, Chloe.” Josie pleaded with me, desperate to keep me from making a stupid decision. “She’s scared.”
“You need to show her that there’s nothing to be scared of.” I smiled eagerly, staring at that cane in her hands. “Not from you- and not from any of us~”
I knew exactly what I needed to do, I needed to get that cane out of Josephine’s hands, and the only way I could do that was to get her to put her guard down. But that wasn’t too difficult, it was halloween after all~
It was just Josie and the girls tonight, myself included, and everyone crowded around the guest bedroom for once- sitting around and telling scary stories with one another. It was nice… it was really nice.
By this point Josephine knew that there was nothing to fear from us, but that was still to be seen from the man of the house- Claudia was still scared.
And she should be.
✶ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✶ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦ ✶
The evening went by in an instant, and as it got late, everyone turned in for bed.
But after a tiring not if sitting around together, none of the other girls had a reason to go anywhere, so we all just fell asleep in the guest bedroom together. Everyone except for me.
As soon as I was sure Josie and the rest of the slaves were asleep, I gently picked the cane up from the bedside, taking it with me as I left them all to themselves.
It was dark out, but it was halloween, Claudia was still out trick-or-treating with her daughter. The only reason she hadn’t gone alone was because Lilian was terrified of her own mother.
It broke my heart a little to imagine it, but it was her own fault. Claudia’s fractured relationships with her own parents weren’t the cause of her problems- she was. Claudia created her own miseries.
I took a deep breath, easily avoiding the enforcer- who I’d forgotten was even here half the time- as I made my way to my master’s office. Amazingly, I didn’t even need to sneak Nell’s keys from them, because Claudia’s cane housed keys of her own.
Alright Preyboy, let’s see what you can do…
I unlocked the door to the vestibule, stepping inside and glancing towards the door, my one way to freedom. For a moment, I considered making a break for it, but no… not tonight. I stepped into Claudia’s office, keeping the lights off to lower suspicion as I closed the door behind me.
There has to be something in this room that she doesn’t want anyone to find… what is it?
I looked everywhere, but there just wasn’t anything here to see, just a ton of boring insignificant paperwork- documents to be shredded. The drawers were filled with sweet nothings, all of them, even the one that housed my leftover belongings. Darcey had been in here dozens of times and not discovered a thing, there wasn’t anything here to be found… at least not out in the open.
Tapes. What did she mean by tapes?
I sat down at her desk, thinking it over as I fiddled with the cane in my hands. I remembered that one thing. It was my only lead to go by- some sort of tapes.
There’s no way… right?
Assuming they were VHS tapes, she’d need a VCR. A VCR would need a television, and a television would need…
A remote.
I turned Claudia’s cane around in my hands, looking it over for buttons- knowing I was onto something the moment it hit me- it was perfect, too perfect. It literally couldn’t be so simple, anytime something was this perfect it was always too good to be true.
There’s no fucking way she’s that stupid… There’s no way…
I squinted, struggling to read anything from this stupid device as I pushed through my terrible far-sighted vision in the dark no less, but sure enough…
Click .
I pressed my thumb into the most conspicuous button, holding it down for a moment… before hearing a faint buzz- like the sound of an old CRT television, from the wall directly on the other side of the desk.
A false cupboard .
All it took was using her cane to unlock the hidden handle to open it up, and before I knew it I was face to face with what looked to be a small television stand, one that slid out from the cupboard to find itself directly in front of Claudia’s desk, right there for her viewing pleasure, blocking the view from her desk to the door. I slid the TV out, already turned on thanks to the remote built into her cane, complete with a VCR and everything- and that was when I finally found her collection of VHS tapes.
I counted them, each and every one of them- taking note of the number written onto the side of each tape… and that letter that showed up on all of them- B.
I remembered what Autumn said, that the letter Z was for slaves who’d been put down… and as I counted each of the nineteen tapes, I remembered my fellow slaves and their numbers.
Darcey was 0003. Autumn was 0004. Zenna was 0005… and Bella was 0006.
I placed my finger on the far left tape, 0006Z… knowing it must have something to do with her, plucking it off of the shelf and carrying it with me to the VCR, gently sliding it in-
And it didn’t go in… there was already a tape in there.
In a hurry, I ejected the tape, paying little attention to it as I set it down on the desk, desperate to see what was recorded onto the one marked with Bella’s number.
And I was not disappointed…
It started out bad enough, a sex tape of this girl- who I could only assume was Bella- and Claudia… but it quickly devolved from there. I desperately reached for the remote, stopping the footage in its track as I realized that I wasn’t just watching any sex tape.
I was watching snuff.
I was watching the last intimate moments of a girl who was about to be murdered on video, by Claudia… and that was when I knew I had to turn it off.
But something still bothered me.
I rewound the tape, making it look like I had never even touched it as I slotted it back into the cupboard. It didn’t make sense- that wasn’t anything to hide- of course it was snuff.
Claudia wasn’t confident, Claudia was scared. If she was already planning on killing someone, why not make something out of it. Claudia didn’t like killing people… or else she wouldn’t save so many people from the Zed list… would she?
What is she really hiding?
I sat back down at her desk, picking up that last tape, the one she’d left in the VCR- god, who owns a VCR these days - and I examined it. This one, unlike the rest of them, had a title.
0001Z: Charlotte’s Parcel .
I was already this deep into it. This was my only chance. I slipped the VHS tape back into the tape player where it had been, forced to rewind it on my own before I could watch any of it. Whatever this was, it had been watched recently, and Claudia had left it in without rewinding it.
I didn’t rewind it too far, I wasn’t planning on watching the whole thing- I just needed to see the end. I took a deep breath in, and then out, and then I pressed play.
Oh no.
The moment I saw it I knew exactly what this meant- this was exactly what Claudia had been trying to hide.
Oh no…
I clasped both hands over my mouth, tears streaming down my cheeks as I saw who exactly Charlotte Zed was- because she was just like me- a girl with two names.
I had belonged to Candace, so my number was 0000. Elizabeth belonged to Cyrus, 0002. Darcey was 0003, Autumn was 0004, Zenna was 0005, and Bella was 0006. Claudia’s slaves, Cyrus’ slaves, Candace’s slaves… they were all family- and 0001 was no different.
She was family.
I knew she was family, because I recognized that face, I recognized those eyes. I’d seen them before, I’d seen them hundreds of times before. Day after day I’d seen those eyes, but only in paintings…
That’s Candace’s mom.
I’d seen enough to know where this was going. I reached for the remote, desperate to turn the tape off as quickly as I could-
Thump .
I watched in terror as the television forcefully slammed into the cupboard, feeling the cane slip from my fingers, and before I could do anything else I heard three clicks.
Click. Click. Click.
And my master’s cane was pressed firmly against the front of my throat.
My mouth hung open in utter desperation, my tears still streaming from my eyes as I looked up at her, standing on the other side of her own desk, with tears in her own eyes.
“ Why?! ” Claudia was practically screaming, her cane gripped tight in her hands. “ Why can’t girls like you just be good?! Why can’t you just let dead women rest in peace?! Why did you have to ruin this for me?! ”
I could feel my hands make their way over my head, holding themselves up to make myself seem vulnerable- defenseless- nothing to fear. I had never felt so purely terrified in my life until just this moment, staring down the length of the weapon I was sure would kill me, sobbing my eyes out.
“Claudia…” I stared into her stormy blue eyes, able to see how much pain she was in- hoping she could see the same in me. “Please…”
Claudia just stared at me, her finger on the button, ready to electrocute me. “Please what, slave?”
“Please…” I slowly closed my eyes, unable to take it any longer. “Have mercy…”
Click . I could feel the fear in her as she pressed the button, certain that the sound of her clicking the device would be the last I’d ever hear.
And then I felt the jaws release.
I sniffled back my sobs, gently lowering my hands and opening my eyes, trying to see what was going on. “Claudia?”
“Preyboy doesn’t have enough power to kill a slave.” She stood there, looking down at the screen as it continued to play the tape, clutching her cane to her chest for protection. “The reason I don’t like carrying the controllers on me is because I don’t want to accidentally shock someone to death… not again.”
I watched in horror as the other end of her cane made its way over the desk, sliding open one of the drawers- and inside were the controllers to each of the slave’s collars, my own included.
“If I wanted to kill you, I’d need to use one of those… but I don’t.” Claudia slid the drawer closed as fast as she opened it, retracting herself over the desk. “That’s how she died…”
I could tell by the way she said that, aimed towards the screen, that she was talking about Candace’s mom- Alecia. She was just like me, Sophia and Chloe at the same time.
“You mean…” I sat up straight in her chair, nervously looking down towards the controllers before looking back up at her. “It was an accident?”
“Me having sex with my father’s slave was on purpose… but her death wasn’t. If you keep watching you’ll see it too… you’d eventually get to the part where I’m leaning over the side of the bathtub in tears… but you don’t want to- trust me.” Claudia pressed a button on the cane, pausing the video. “I don’t like watching it either.”
The world was spinning around me, staring up at her in total fear. “Then why keep it?”
“Because that’s my punishment for killing her… I have to watch it happen.” Claudia’s eyes fluttered to the ground in absolute despair, tears sliding down her cheeks ever so slowly. “Daddy never forgave me.”
I just sat there, frozen in place, as Claudia retrieved the tape from the tape player. For a moment it looked like she was about to break it in half, her eyes flashing with anger- like she so desperately wanted to do it- but she couldn’t. Claudia held the tape to her chest, sobbing like a child as she clung to it.
My heart squeezed inside of my chest, looking towards her as she dropped to her knees in front of the television. “Master?”
“Stay back.” She snapped at me, her crying eyes red with fear. “Don’t you dare take a step towards me…”
I swallowed nervously, desperately searching for anything and everything I could do to save myself- gently lowering myself to my knees on the floor next to her, bowing my head. “Yes, Master.”
Claudia was stunned. Here she was expecting me to turn on her in an instant, ready to defend herself. But instead… I decided this was the time to kneel.
“I went to my father for help as soon as I could, but it was already too late… she was already dead- and he would never forgive me for that.” She set the cane aside, getting what she needed to say off of her chest. “It was almost funny, you know… Daddy would abuse us for doing something wrong, but in that moment… he decided I wasn’t even worth raping anymore…”
She slowly stood up, putting the tape back into the cupboard where it belonged hidden away, and I just watched her, continuing to kneel- fearful of my own life.
“He punished me by taking the security camera footage and putting it onto this tape, just for me… so that I could see exactly what I did wrong.” Claudia gently pushed the television back into the closet with the rest of her things, closing and locking the doors. “My punishment for accidentally killing my own step-mother was being forced to sit and watch all two hours of it… and pleasure myself… to touch myself where my father once had but would never again.”
THUMP . She slammed the bottom of her cane into the ground in the loudest, most forceful strike I’d seen or heard yet.
“There. You’ve heard my confession. If you tell my sister about this, you are dead.” Claudia took a deep breath, crouching in front of me, the eyes of her cane already glowing- making sure I knew it was recording. “If you really want to live… you ought to give your confession now~”