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“I can see you’re
equally as taken with your servant, and I can hardly blame you. I bet she looks delightful twisting away from you during a flogging. I can almost envision her struggling with wanting to obey you utterly and that instinctive drive to avoid pain.”

“
No, we haven’t started on flogging yet. Though truthfully, she hasn’t done anything to really warrant one yet. And no, you can’t watch when I do.” He glanced up at Estella and she snickered.

“Oh, I know those days are over. The older I
get, the more I want to keep my servant all to myself. Tristan informed me of the tasting on Monday when I arrived and I almost lost it.”

“I would have paid to see your face.” Aleksi snickered.

“And I would have paid to see yours when he told you. We elder Victorians are carrying the weight of our age with us.”

“I’m Russian remember, the accent is incidental.”

“Oh, Aleksi I don’t think anyone could forget you’re Russian.” She snickered, and Aleksi smirked playfully. It was clearly an inside joke, and seeing that Aleksi had them made a smile slip over my lips. “Oh! I have gossip. Other than me being made Matriarch of Seattle of course, which I think everyone knows by now.”

“You just like hearing it; congratulations by the way.”

“Thank you.” She placed a quick kiss on his cheek. “Oh, I know that look. You’re going to pounce the poor girl when you get back to your room! Well, back to my gossip.
Gregory thralled a sixteen-year-old girl in my city, and a fifteen-year-old boy in Winston’s—paying off the families and keeping it out of the news is costing a fortune by the by. But rumor has it he’s not actually in either of our cities and it was all done to throw council off his trail.”

“Mistress, may I ask a question?” Byron spoke softly, my head whipped around and my brows furrowed—it never occurred to me that I could speak unless spoken to while kneeling beside Aleksi. The realization of my utter submission floored me for a moment.

“Of course,
little love.” Estella beamed at him. “So obedient.” She positively gushed to Aleksi.

“What’s a thrall?” I was envious of
sure timbre of his voice. Estella leaned forward in Aleksi’s lap.

“A thrall is a servant that has no will of their own. It’s done intentionally and it’s done maliciously. The victim is rendered unconscious, usually by drowning or strangling, generally a hairsbreadth from death, and then they’re force fed their new
master or mistress’s blood. When they come to, they have no thoughts or will of their own. They’re not dead, but they’re immortal as long as their master or mistress lives. They cannot disobey, they’re little more than puppets.”

“Is she a Thrall?” Byron gestured to me and Aleksi rolled his eyes.

“
No.” Aleksi replied for Estella. “She’s just naturally inclined to obedience, and she’s not sure if I want her to speak when two vampires are speaking. So she remains quiet.”
He knows you very well.
I stared up at him and shifted uncomfortably. I really didn’t have anything to add either. I was completely content to sit silently and listen to his conversations
. Better that than to break some unknown vampire law and end up with your throat slit.

“Speaking of naturals… Nikolai Zelenko, I heard you will be turning him.” Estella artfully changed the subject.

“Maybe. And the boy asked for one question, he asked two.” Aleksi smirked at
Estella, who sighed.

“Very true, we make things so absolutely horrible for our servants when together.” She nudged Aleksi with her shoulder and stood up. She tugged on the man’s lead forcing him to stand, and without warning she
backhanded him and released the lead. The crack was heard around the room as he collapsed from the force of the blow.

“Thank you, Mistress. I’m sorry, so sorry if I displeased you, Mistress.” He cowered as he knelt on the floor at her feet, pressing his forehead to her bright patent leather pumps. It was ritualized. He slowly rose to sit back on his haunches and he offered her the lead by holding it in his upturned palms above his head. His lip was bleeding an almost steady stream down his chin, neck and chest. Those creamy hazel eyes were far away and glassy as they were fixed on the floor and I couldn’t help but notice his erection now straining against that all too blue fabric. He was enjoying himself quite a bit.

My gaze went to Aleksi and he had for once turned his attention to Byron’s pale, slender, prostrate body. I was jealous of the look of appraisal and appreciation in his eyes. I shifted again on the soft satin pillow and sighed audibly.

“You are forgiven,
little love.” Estella cooed
as she took the lead from Byron’s outstretched hands. Aleksi’s lips parted slightly, and that electric gaze darkened as he looked on the two with pure lust and
I for the first time in months felt jealousy well up inside of me. “Don’t you just love masochists?”

“Always,
” Aleksi answered
as Estella slid back into his lap. Byron sat beside me again trembling as his tongue worked the bleeding wound. I nervously ran my fingers back through my hair and attempted to smooth my bangs.

My attention wandered over the riser, it was almost full now, there were only two empty seats—one of which was Estella’s judging by the bright blue pillow beside the little throne. Leslie was actually in Tristan’s lap now and they were whispering softly to each other while she played in his loose golden curls. It was clear that they adored each other, my attention went back to Aleksi and Estella who were seated similarly.
They look like lovers.

“Well, unfortunately, I should get to my seat. It looks like Maria has finally decided to grace us with her ladyship’s glorious presence. I’m in town until Tuesday, we really need to catch up.” She beamed at him before slipping out of his lap and giving Byron a rough yank on the lead.

“Of course. Are you coming to opening night?”

“I wouldn’t miss you dancing for the world, ‘
leksi.” She kissed his cheek and walked away without looking back. Aleksi stared after her for a moment and smirked. I stood, Aleksi had a tight grip on the lead so when I rose to full height it choked me a little and made his attention snap to me.

“Autumn
,” he whispered my name in warning.
Don’t do it, sit back down
.
I tried to step away from him, but he held on tight before he started to wrap the lead around his hand forcing me closer to him. I don’t know why I stood or pulled away. Maybe it was because I wanted to be noticed, I wanted his attention and I didn’t have it so I did something that would get it.

The moment he had me close enough he grabbed the collar and pulled me back to kneeling beside him on the pillow. With the addition of his fingers wrapped around the layers of lace and leather, I could hardly breath. And the way he glowered at me with that little twinkle in his eye assured me that he knew exactly what he was doing.

“When we get back to the room.” That was all he whispered to me before Tristan stood and walked to the middle of the riser and the room fell silent, but Aleksi didn’t let me go.
You wanted his attention, now you have it.

Tristan welcomed everyone and said a few words regarding the explosion and council’s new involvement with the incident. He looked regal and every bit a ruler as he stood tall and discussed the rules that Kendra had broken. I knew them already, I had everyone explain to me multiple times why she needed to die.

“For all of these crimes—with the consent of her
sire—she will be put to death!” The room erupted in cheering, everyone seemed to welcome Kendra’s death. Aleksi released me and stood, letting the red lace lead fall to the floor as I panted. I gathered the strong lace in my hands as I watched him walk away from me without a look back.

“I consent, willingly to Florence, Orego
n’s Elder’s agreed upon Justice,” Aleksi declared loudly as he stood beside Tristan. Colette appeared from seemingly nowhere wearing a ballet pink surgeons mask, and a matching leather apron with gloves up to her elbows. She was leading a very naked, very pregnant, very dirty Kendra through the crowd to that raised table. Colette danced around the table as she secured what was once my friend to the metal surface with silver chains. Kendra shrieked with the click of every lock. There wouldn’t be a gag, and I knew why. Tristan was sick of everyone calling him weak, so he was going to prove to them all just how wrong everyone had been.

Colette as the executioner bordered on obscene as she walked around Kendra in her little ballet slipper pink leather apron and mask. From under the table, she produced a large knife and brandished it before Kendra’s eyes. She slid the blade across Kendra’s bare bulging stomach prompting screams about ‘the baby’ from the captive vampire’s lips. Colette didn’t break the skin, she was just teasing her. Aleksi and Tristan walked forward to stand around the table, the knife was pressed into Aleksi’s hand and he made the first cut that drew blood. He slit her open across the hips, and she screamed bloody murder. Her shrill cries overtook the room while her blood started rushing out of the precise slice. The knife was passed to Tristan and Aleksi walked back to his seat beside me. His attention fixed on Kendra with tight lips as Colette rooted around inside of her body with her tiny, little, pink gloved hands.

I stared enraptured, I couldn’t look away. After a few seconds, Colette produced a small wriggling form. It was alive. I glanced to Aleksi, who stared in Kendra’s direction with bright blue eyes that were a million miles away. The baby started crying, its wails joined with its mother’s as in my periphery Colette hacked away at Kendra’s body with the baby in one hand. Tristan joined her. Every glint of steel coaxed a new kind of desperate cry from her lips.
Apparently snow storms in Brazil and lighting strikes are more common than we thought.

The slaughter lasted for what seemed to be hours, and during it all I was numb. I disconnected from everything, and I think Aleksi did too. What did it all mean now? It’s one thing to say you want nothing to do with a life you helped create, but I had always imagined it would be different when faced with a child’s actual existence.

When the screams died down, and the room was clear of vampires looking paler than I thought was possible, I brought my gaze to the mass of disarticulated red
chunks that remained on the table with the operating mirror. I couldn’t make sense of what it was that I was looking at so I took my attention elsewhere. Colette was approaching with the little
writhing, pink wrapped bundle. At some point, she had washed her hands and the little pink, mewling creature swaddled in a soft, powder, pink blanket.

“It’s a girl,
with unspectacular, green eyes,” Colette said triumphantly as she held the bundle out to Aleksi. He didn’t even acknowledge Colette.

“I’ll take it…her,
” I spoke softly as I rose on my knees.

“No!” Aleksi growled. “Call a nanny
, find out whatever the fuck Elizabeta wants to name it, and get it the fuck out of my sight.” His words were angry, but his tone seemed desperate and sad. I looked around the room, it was only us three and the cleaning crew. I didn’t understand why he was so upset, he should have always known this was a possibility.
It’s his rape baby stupid. He might have had sex with Kendra without protest, but it wasn’t completely willingly. He was forced to be there against his will.

“Aleksi, she’s part of our family now! We have to include her, we have to be kind to her. She’s just a little thing. She looks a little like him doesn’t she? I
remember when he was this small,” Colette rambled as she soothed and rocked the baby with surprising expert ease.

“I… I need to be alone.” Aleksi stood and left out of the now cavernous ballroom while Colette shook her head.

“Oh! Do you think he’d want to name her after his mother? This lovely lit
tle girl is blonde like she was,” Colette continued to chirp.

“I…I don’t think so. I…” My eyes fell on the small child in Colette’s arms. It seemed really healthy for something six months old.

“I guess I’m making a call to Elizabeta, will you come help me? My
cell phone is in my room, and she’ll need formula.”

“S-sure.”

“We’re going on a walk with your daddy’s lover. She’s probably the only one whose mourning the loss of your bitchy
maman
,” Colette cooed to the baby as she started walking back through that empty hall, I followed holding my own lead.

We stopped at the kitchen where Colette ordered formula to be brought to her room. And then we wound our way through the halls in near silence; every now and again Colette would say something to the baby, she was uncannily good with infants apparently.

“Did you have any children?” I asked softly trying not to make too much noise after she asked one of the staff randomly walking down the hall to bring a crib to her room (because apparently they kept those at Crimson Hill). She paused for a moment
before starting down the hall, leaving me to scurry after her.

“One child. I had a little boy, with eyes so pale blue they were almost clear.” She sighed. “But he died shortly after birth.” She added quickly as she paused at a door. “I need you to go in and ask Evan to come help me.” I blinked at her, it was clear that
on the other side of the door someone was having sex, or at least very vocal foreplay. I furrowed my brow, I thought Evan was really into Colette.

“O-of course.” I nodded as she unlocked the door for me and cracked it open.

After a moment of gathering all of the bravery I could muster, I walked into the room.
You should never go into a room unannounced.
Squinting into the darkness I could barely make out the three figures on the bed. Once my eyes adjusted to the dark, it was obvious who those three forms were. Evan’s ginger hair was unmistakable even in the twilight as he lay back on the bed with Leslie and Tristan on top of him. Tristan was feeding from Leslie’s neck as he took her from behind. She was really enjoying herself, moaning loudly as she pinned Evan to the garnet sheets, bucking him into her body. I cleared my throat, but Tristan didn’t stop he instead glared over his shoulder at me before he kissed Evan’s lips, I could almost see the blood passing between their mouths.