Death Becomes Her

"Castor, what have you done?"

I had thought not to visit him, especially given the fact that I had so boldly tossed him out of the room last night. Of course, I also knew he wasn't a man to be thrown out of the room of anyone unless he so wished. So with that in mind, I decided it was safe to seek him out. What I found, however, is not what I expected.

What lurks in the deep dark depths of a man's mind? I was soon to find out. The door opened on what seemed to be its own volition, an eerie gloom permeating the room, the walled shell filled with the scent of sex, liquor and death, my attention easily focused on the reason. The body of a woman, naked and obviously dead sprawled out on his couch.

My revulsion was apparent and I made no further entrance into the chamber of horrors, a macabre, grisly theater of death.

"What have you done?"

"Get out, No one invited you here. Lest of all not to judge me." He grumbled something and rose to his feet, I now seeing he was covered in what could only be her blood. Only then did it strike me odd that he had none on his hands.

Any sane woman would have promptly followed his orders. Would have turned around and run for her life, but I wasn't quite.. sane. It wasn't until he moved into the bathroom that I stepped closer to the dead. Perhaps here a clue would be found. One hand reached out to touch, though it was something I couldn't quite bring myself to do. Did I really want to see what terrors the woman had in the last few ehn of her life? Or was I better off not knowing? The latter, no doubt. But still, temptation over came sense.

I watched from the corner while she rode him, the sexual frenzy of the room an electric vortex of sinful strife. Her fingers were digging into his chest, the under nails of claws catching small dots of blood beneath. As I watched from the inner shadows, I had felt a moment of hatred, of betrayal, the urge to kill the woman intensely overwhelming and I fought for control. When I looked down at my hands, I could see the dagger, my fingers wrapped so tightly around the hilt that my knuckles had turned white where the flow of blood had been restricted. The hand that held steel was no longer mine, but it was one most definitely male.

For a moment I felt dizzy and my stomach dropped a hort or two, the pang of regret so tangible I could almost taste it. The dagger that had been displayed in my hand melted away and I could hear a woman groaning. One steeped in the fabric of ecstasy.

I was on top of him, the tips of my nails biting into his chest, Castor’s chest, even as he rocked upwards into my body. Now, Denarus, now! He was right where we wanted; a man caught unaware, one on the brink of mindless oblivion. Exactly where a man should be. I had taken hold of his wrists, pulling his hands to my hips. So close.. so close! I could feel Denarus behind me, the light of vicious vindictiveness wild and bright, then dulling with death’s realization, the dagger protruding from my chest. He was killing.. me.

No, not me, the woman whose eyes I had become.

Perhaps it had been his plan all along. A thousand realities passed by in that one fleeting ihn. The man had been the woman’s lover, she knew him. They, together, had laughingly plotted the demise of Castor, counting their coins long before gained, but something had gone horribly wrong.

I pulled my hand away, clutching and cradling the one that had so recently touched with my other as if I’d been burned. Only then did I turn towards the bathroom, peering inward, my voice odd, even to me. "Are you hurt? Do you need anything?" I would go, just as he wished, but only after I made certain he was alright.

"Come here." Wraithlike, I moved towards him, he taking me and setting me on the sink before him. "Touch me.. tell me what you see?"

I did not. Having only recovered from one scene, I did not wish to so quickly immerse myself in the cold waters of another.

"Did you see him?" His fingers had curled into fists. "Tell me all that you see."

When I did not comply, he took my hands and pressed them against his chest. "All of it?"

I felt as if I was going to be sick, seeing only bits and fragments of what followed. The fight, the man fleeing, the last shattered breaths of the woman who lay open and raw in a pool of her own blood, in a prophecy of her own making. A crazed Castor, unlike I had ever seen him before, wounded only by his unnerving lack of detail, having been inept in the diligence he was known for. The sensation was agonizing, the spill of emotions almost more than I could bear, the sound of my voice discomforting. It was like a shocking bolt of electricity and I tried to pull my hand away, but I could not. I was forced to see.

"They knew each other well, plan perfected and executed without remorse. She's been watching you, but not so much that you would know. Something happened, went wrong, he's..."

The terror I felt was sure to be mirrored in my gaze, the look of horror frozen on my face. The hand still held to Castor's chest curled into a claw, the protruding dig of nails raking across flesh. "Let go! Let go!" I couldn't breathe, gasping for what little air seemed to be allowed to pass. "It hurts! It hurts!" Only now did I fight against him, tears pricking behind my eyelids. "It wasn't the first, it won't be the last."

He did let me go, separating me from his touch by way of towel, hugging me, but no measure of comfort was gained, even as much as I appreciated it. I knew he was a man that did not offer comfort often.

"If you saw him again could you describe him?"

"Yes. I could stay if you wished. Help you.. clean up."

"No ..go back to the boy. I will come find you. It's not safe for you here."

Caught in the flood of feelings.. I stood there for several moments, unsure if I should leave or not, even though he told me to. I'd only continue to worry if I did go, and probably get on his nerves if I stayed.

I relented to his wish, pausing only when my hand had grasped the knob of the door. "I don't want to leave you here alone, you do know that, don't you?"

"And what do you think you are going to do? Kiss my wounds? I have none. I'm more trained than most assassins. Protect me? You can't protect yourself.. your sentiment is sweet.. and I do wish that that mattered. Do not fret I will take up residence a bit closer to you and Helix."

The twist of knob brought further affirmation that he was right, a nod offered as I pulled the door open and stepped outside, closing it with nothing more than a click. But still I didn't move, hovering just beyond the darkened womb of his room, still undecided. "Do as you are told Astraea, it's what is expected of you." Slave moved past me, having come from one of the other rooms, that being the catalyst that shifted me into motion, not at all certain I was happy about the fact that he would be closer to me.

.. and Aiden.

Tattered Angel

A tattered angel, onward I grope

Forever I wander, looking for hope

Heaven it seems, so far away

Is no place for me, so here I must stay

My wings, they are fragile, and easily tear

For they no longer hold me up in the air

My angelic voice, which used to sing

Cries out for the happiness it once did bring

My halo of gold, is beginning to rust

And my eyes are filled with fear and mistrust

My robes of white, that once were so clean

Have been soiled with the blood of hands unseen

Hath, my faith, is falling apart

For I no longer hold an innocent heart.

I hadn't seen him for days, nor had I heard a word from him. There had been no visits, no notes, no communication of any type. Was this his way of telling me I was free of him? He seemed to have abandoned me. Freedom, once thought the most precious thing was now replaced with trepidation, stabbing thoughts that he had changed his mind. Was that really such a bad thing?

Through the doors of the inn I ventured, steps taken towards his room. I still had time to turn away, to run back to the safety of Aiden, but I did not. Instead I had chose to seek the council of a man I knew would be my undoing.

He opened the door and stared at me with those cold blue eyes, eyes that were so unyielding. "I did not call for you." He closed the door in my face, before he reopened it and pulled me into what could only be described as the most depressing darkened room I had ever been in.

"No, you did not, for days, which is why I have come to call on you." The hood was released, a buoyant flow of red freed from fabrics grasp. "Why are you shuttered in such a dark depressing room?" I had moved from the door to the window, before turning back towards him. "Would you rather I go?"

"Yes." He sat on the edge of the couch again lapsing into silence.

"I see." Obviously it had been a mistake to visit without invitation. I headed for the door, fingers, reaching for the knob. "Do you wish me to return? Am I to await word from you, or would you rather not see me at all?"

"The knife there.. bring it to me." Hold dropped from the door's knob, I turning to gather the knife from the table that lay closer to him then me. The blade was picked up by hilt and offered to him. "Would you like to tell me what's going on?"

He seized my hand with the blade in it and forced me to my knees, his hold threatening to break my wrist if I did not comply. I tried to drop the knife but I could not, its point turned in my direction, steel lost in the layers of cloth, the clothing cut away methodically. First mine, then his.

From kneel to floor I fell, him over me, slipping between my thighs and even in the midnight of the room I could see the same cold creature I had upon our first meeting.

"Stop! What are you doing!" I slapped and pushed at his chest, trying unsuccessfully to roll away. I knew he was a rapist, I’d seen it, but now I saw nothing, my head too fogged with the want of
my own escape.

He pressed himself between my legs and put the blade to my throat. He stared at me, then stabbed the blade into floor above my head, effectively pinning me down.

The calm and quiet madness was felt, the push and punch of my hands to his chest, though softened, they did not totally cease. I continued to whimper, haunting little pleas that whispered around his every move. "Don't .. please.." The touch of his lips to my breast brought a new terror, not because I was afraid that he was going to rape me, but the fact that I might be willing if he continued. I tried to press my legs together, vice like on his body that was set between them. I swallowed hard, trying to fight against the voice of reason, the cry of the cards and the call of all those lost souls before me. "No more." My voice was raspy, no bargaining chip left to offer, save one. "You needed me to find someone for you. I can not if you take what is not yours to take."

"And that is what this is about." He stared down at me, into my eyes and I started to speak again, but he would have none of it. "Be silent now." He licked over my breasts and downward, the teasing trail of tongue a creating a wet path over my body. I did not fight him. I did not deny him, or me.

I tried to keep my eyes open, this small thing making me feel as if I had some semblance of control, but I could not. Finally, my eyes simply rolled back, concealed by pale ivory lids. My hand moved to the back of his head, not in an effort to push him away, or even guide him, it was simply done to make sure he was real, that I wasn't caught in the tangled web of a dream.

So this was what I had been missing. 'No', whispered the cards, 'it's only a small part of it.'

And when he had me exactly where he wanted me, when I had been on the verge of something wonderful, he bid me to get up and ushered me into the bath, I told to kneel in a tub filled with warm water, while he knelt behind me soaping my body.

He seemed to enjoy teasing me, pulling the passion from me, but only enough to give me a taste of what could be. Danger had its high points, as well as its low ones. If only I could have distinguished between the two, safety might not have been as close as I thought.

He touched me, caressed me, kissed and licked over damp skin. I am finding that I am a woman quickly lost to temptations of the flesh and the frenzy felt within explodes outward with little warning. My body trembled and my eyes teared, the ragged panting of my breath colliding with small chokes and gasps, as if breath would never be caught again. And even on the edge of the total obliteration of my soul, I found I wanted more. So much more, my mind a haze of needful wants.

One should always be careful what they wish for.

Just as I began to regain some part of myself, he took me, his thrust into my body not a gentle one.

My cry of pleasured passion hastily turned to one of hurtful agony as penetration broke the cavity of my body. Thoughts shaped and shifted into confused images, tears breaking the boundaries of my eyes, I again doing everything in my power to get away from him. I did not quite understand what had happened and in my innocence, I immediately thought that he had broken his word. I begged him to stop, sobs reigning damply over my cheeks, trying to escape forward, even though he held me fast. It didn't dawn on me in that instant of terror, that he had not taken my most precious prize, instead having found another path to sate his need.

He was laughed at me, a cold and foreboding sound, his arms still holding me tightly, whispering in my ear. "Oh what's the matter little one. Tell me you want me to stop and I will. If only I could have you, I would show you what you missed with that boy of yours."

I was crying.. pain, humiliation and the fact that I was here because of my own actions. I could feel him, every terrifying hort, the thick pendulous predator that had impaled me, no less then if I had been sentenced to the gruesome death high above the cylinders of Ar.

I couldn't talk, words melting with choked sobs, though at least by his body had stilled.

He withdrew from me slowly and let me fall back into the water. "Enjoy the bath, I have a dealing down stairs and then I will finish you off. I like to be on edge when I do business."

"Bastard." It was the only thing I could think to say, slumped in the water, half afraid to rise. He was given a look, or rather, a scowl, I snatching a towel to wrap around me. "I won't be here when you get back."

"Bastard? I'd argue, but its true. Oh yes you will.." He moved towards me, bending down so that he was on my level."What bothered you most? The pain...the fact I did not ask? The fear you felt when you thought I had lied to you because you trusted me, but not completely?" He had turned away from me to grab a box, one he handed out to me. "I had this made for you." Then just as quickly pulled it from my reach. "You are confused, I can see it in your face.. why I did what I did? Yes?"

"You.. hurt me. Would I not be a total fool to trust you completely?" Too late was that lesson learned. I eyed the box but made no reach for it, my hand still grasping the towel around me as if it was the shield between life and death.

He snapped the towel away from me and shoved me back down into the tub. "No one said get up. No, you have too many of my secrets to just walk away and your departure means your inevitable death."

"Yes you would be that fool. Do you wish to know why I have not contacted you?" His thumb moved over my hip and I shuddered at his touch. "I desire you. I desire to have you at my feet. You have told me many a time that you could not take a man into your womb. I promised I would not... until you begged me. It would not be hard to do so. You are a wanton beast; you writhe with the slightest of touch, though you lack experience. You are a natural slave and though you do not wear a collar...you are meant to be a slave. Be cross with me if you must; think that I did that to hurt you. I fucked your ass because I needed to possess you. Even if but for a few moments and had I taken you ...by your own accounts you would have been ruined. I would say I am sorry.. but You were too sweet.. Too tight, and just the remembrance has me smiling. He gave me the box. "Do as you will with this, there is clothing for you in the wardrobe. Dress and go into the djoining room. Wait for me there."

He wanted me at his feet, yet he had removed the brand on my thigh. Perhaps he wished the pleasure of branding me again so he could taste my pain.

"I am not a wanton beast. I was only.. curious as to what I was missing." Not a lie, and yet, not the complete truth either. I could not hold his gaze and looked past him. I didn't understand. Not the desire he said he held for me, or the fact that he wanted to possess me, the first man that had ever wanted to possess me for reasons other than the ability of cards. "Do you think I hold the heart of a slave? Is that why you want me at your feet?"

"Of that I am not yet sure.. Yet another reason I can’t force you to kneel to me. If you heart isn't in it, it would most certainly break you and then...and only then would you be ruined to me."

He handed me the box, within a beautiful silver cuff bracelet. "It's beautiful."

He tipped my chin up and kissed me. "Let me show you how good that really feels. Not soon, as you will probably need sometime to heal."

I kissed him back. Why was I kissing him! Shouldn't I be slapping him? Pounding my fists against his chest? Shouldn't I hate him for what he'd just done to me? Shouldn't I be trying to find an assassin to rid myself of the man? But I couldn't. Even in his cruel desire of wanting to possess me, I found that I too, wanted him. I found that I wanted him to control me. I needed it. I craved it. I'd been born into slavery, far before the collar had actually ever been placed on my neck.

Games People Play

Morning came and as promised, I found myself at the Black Larl Inn for my lesson. I had left a note for Aiden as well as instructions for the slave to check on him often. As much as I hated leaving him, I couldn't help but be ... perhaps not excited, but very curious about my first lesson. Well, maybe a little excited. I moved up the steps and in the direction of his room, knuckles rapping on the heavy door. "It's me."

There was no answer for the longest time and just when I was about to turn to go, the door opened, ushering me in. There was a note on the table. ‘I will return shortly. Make yourself at home, but expect your to be naked when I come back.’ Too, there was a small wooden box.

"Naked, of course." I should have expected it and I knew it wouldn't do to disappoint him, especially on the very first day of my lesson. I think it’s hard for a woman once slave to deny a command. The clasps of garment were hastily undone, then shed completely and laid across the opposite end of the couch. Only now did I move back towards the table and pick up the small box, trying to guess what was inside. I found a set of long thin, deep green gloves that would end at my mid upper arm. I put them on, wondering how silly I looked, a naked woman wearing nothing but gloves. Games, I’m not sure I like them.

For several more ehns I had wandered about the room, looking and touching, trying to get a better hold on the man I had chosen to teach me. Sort have chosen, he had offered first. When I thought I had seen all I could see, I moved to the couch and laid down, sight turned up to the ceiling before eyes closed. It wasn't that I was tired; so much as I was trying to open myself to all the new possibilities that waited. And such realizations were vast.

"My my, my how beautiful you look sprawled out." He had seemed to come from no where, his hand taking mine. "Are you ready to begin?" Without waiting for my reply, he pulled me towards the window, a large window that faced the street. "We are going to play a game. A game of perception. If you are correct you will be rewarded.. and if your wrong.. you will be punished. Shall we continue?" I was pressed against the cold glass of the window, forced to look down.

"I understand. Please continue." Which would come first.. reward, or punishment. How apt a pupil would I be?

"Look down. How many people are in the street? Tell me what you’re thinking. Tell me what you see."

"I see people doing their daily tasks, some selling, some buying. But I do not see them enjoying it. There, the lady selling bread. She frowns far too much for a baker, and she's too thin, which tells me her wares might not be all that well made. All in all they seem an unhappy lot. What is it you see?"

"What I see is the baker.. she is young and frail.. her skin an odd shade. I would agree with her lack of skill. She has too, a notice on her door that she has not seen yet from the bank. They’ll undoubtedly be taking her shoppe." He turned me around to face him. "What is it that you can do for her?"

"Do for her? I don't believe I could do anything for her. I can not offer hope where there is none, for that would be lying."

"And why is lying so bad? There is nothing wrong with lies, it is the intention upon which you lie."

"Because lying defeats the purpose of the truth in my cards." Simple enough for me, I'd never been one for telling people things that weren't true. "You think I should lie to people? What

would that accomplish?"

"Your cards hurt people as much as they help. So it is better for you be honest and cause harm? And you call me cruel."

"If I'm honest, then they can perhaps change their future for the better. If I lie, I would be taking that possible change away from them."

"Yes but what if you tell that woman ... that poor dear something poor in her cards. You would watch her give up hope. Fall to darkness.

"I always make it a point to tell people that the future I see is a future only possible if they continue to walk the same path they do now, that they hold the key of change in their hand, they simply have to find the right lock to change their destinies."

He was touching me, confusing me, oh why did he have to touch me! "You're afraid aren't you? When I am finished with you, I will show you what happens when you always tell the truth." He leaned over me and kissed down my back.

There was an instant of terror when I thought I was doomed, instinct pushing me to wiggled away. But I hadn't gotten far, not far at all when the first flash hit her. "You raped her." Quiet were the words, again recognizing my precarious position. "Yes, you frighten me, but you've always known that. You've known that as much as I've known that you can be cruel when you wish it, as well as tender. But you will not rape me, for then I would be of little good to you. You'll not take what you cannot replace until you are done with me. I'm worth much more to you with my virginity in tack then as just a another slut in your bed." Or at least I hoped. Bold words for a woman on all fours with man behind her. What was wrong with me! I shouldn't even be here! But neither could I leave.

"Get dressed before you become more like her than you wanted to be. We are going to talk to your little baker friend." I did dress, and quickly.

"Why are we going to see her? Do you really think I can help her, or are you hoping to see her fall?"

"We are. And I know what's going to happen and as surely as if I have your gift. She is going to hear your cards tell her of her fate. She's going to cry. You’re going to tell her that she can change it ... but she's not going to believe you. She'll be dead by morning. It's part of your lesson. I want you to see just how much you can affect one person. How your actions can sway."

"Then why go at all? Why put her through that? Why not just simply allow her to continue on, oblivious to what awaits her." I already knew the answer, or at least suspected his motives. He wanted to prove himself right, and if the cost was a woman's life, so be it. Why would he care? I, however, didn't possess the inclination to intentionally harm. "You are cruel, perhaps the cruelest man I know. I do not wish to have the woman's death on my conscious. So you shall win. I will.. lie to her." Such trouble I had in the words I had just spewed.

"Because this isn't about her, this is about you. About what you will need to know. And yes.. though it will cost the life of a woman it may save the lives of many like her. It will give you and understanding beyond those cards. How many of those that you have read for ...are dead now? Did you really think everyone can stomach the things that you say to them? And just because you do not know they died doesn’t absolve you of guilt. And if it does.. it surely makes you the cruelest woman I know...perhaps you should just spread your thighs to me and we can spend the day making cruel babes." I wasn’t really sure if he was kidding or not.

My thoughts turned to Red. The woman I had known as a slave, one of the only two slaves I had ever read for, dead, just as I had foretold, by way of betrayal. It had been from that moment forward that I had promised myself I would never read for another slave, ever. "Perhaps those that I have read for in the past have turned their lives around. How can you be so sure any have died?" Knees weakened as he leaned in and licked my throat, the sensation of tongue making me shiver, not with revulsion, but with need, even though I wasn't sure what it was I needed. "I told you, you win. I will lie to the woman if you take me down there. I shall not be an accomplice to her death." At least not knowingly.

"Because I know people. I know people and how they break and what it takes. I know that you hold more power than you should with as little control as you have over yourself. No. I do not want you to lie her. You will prove me wrong.. you prove me that I do not know. Let’s go.. Let's go my dear.."

Maybe he was right, perhaps I should just let him take me, then I would never have to worry about reading for anyone ever again. "Girls. It's a part of the curse, I can only have girls. The first child would be the one to receive the.. gift." But whether it was a gift now was highly debatable. "And as such, I shall never have children." I was speaking of his causal comment about making babes.

"No.. you won't. I bet you'll have a boy.. fill this cunt of yours. It's growing late. Do you to go back to your boy?"

Sweet kings, why had I agreed to do this? I was even now, in such a short time, ready to give into him. "So I don’t have to read for the baker?" I exhaled a deep breath and nodded. "If my lessons are over I am ready to go back." I had turned to go.

"No not... just yet." He grabbed me by the hair and leaned me face down into the couch. "What have you learned today?" He tossed my robes upwards and unlaced his leathers, kicking my legs widely apart.

"No!" I tried to shift further forward and get away from him, even as much as I wanted him. Crass man! Fingers dug into the furs, furs that wrinkled in my hand as I clung to them. He wouldn't, I was sure of it, and I only hoped I was right. But oh, at that very moment, how she wanted to be wrong.

"Close your eyes.. close your eyes and see her. See what I did to her." If only he would stop touching me.

My eyes closed, the image of a blond woman trying to crawl away from him. Her eyes were dazed, her fear tasted, even though she hadn't screamed. "You enjoyed her. You thought you were going to have her again. She despised you, I can feel her hatred, her fear. You were not careful with her, you hurt her." Fingers cut even deeper into the furs, sweat beaded in small glimmering droplets, and just when I felt the over powering escape of repletion, I realized who it was. And just that quick it was gone, the vision erased, as I fell into the vast knowing of what a true orgasm was. Initiation complete.

"You want me to don't you.. You want me to take you." It was whispered in the shell of my ear. "I could take you right now. Fuck you hard.. Make your legs shake." Even though he had stepped back away from me, I found I could not move.

"Well that was worth letting you go back to the boy. Clean up and go home to Aiden. I will see you tonight."

"Tonight? But I thought we were done for the day, what happens tonight?" I could still feel the pulse between my legs, the throbbing aftershock that still was sending small little vibrations through my body.

He kissed me. It was not the chaste kiss of innocence that Aiden had offered me. Where Aiden's kisses were tender and unsure, Castors were hard and demanding, forcing me to respond. He filled my mouth with his tongue, kissing me in a manner that not only claimed me, possessed me, but branded my lips in a way that no other man ever would.

Aiden, my sweet Aiden. He could never know, nor could he suspect. I left the room of one man, to return to another. What have I become.

The Hand of Fate

And a black beast enamored with 'loyalty' shall reside over the people, one that governs the lands under the will of the white, fabricating lies of mountain's sorrows. And to him, the reader shall travel, without the wary eye of he who is ever watchful, alone in her pilgrimage of forbidding news.

I held the note received by Psyche, unsure of what he would do when he found his tool had been forbidden entrance. Rence crumbled beneath my fingers, the grip on the returned note riddled with wrinkles. Haste was made through the streets of Ar, towards the Black Larl inn, the door closing so poignantly behind me. I could feel the cold talons of doom already rendering over my flesh.

A direct path was taken up the stairs and to his room, where digits curled, even as the knot in my stomach grew larger. I had failed the very first task he had commanded be done.

The decline of breath brought with it a light headed emotion that I couldn't seem to control. Knuckles rapped on the outside of the door, then fell to my side, my opposite hand still holding tightly to the object of my agitation. As the miasma of decay swelled around me, I knew I would be forced to admit to the deficiency of my rebuttal, half expecting him to break his word of harming none. "It's Astraea, I've come to talk to you, I've received a letter back from the woman you requested I read for." I elapsed into silence, awaiting him to either open the door or send me away in light of tarnished promises.

The door open and he reached out, pulling me into the room, then shoving me back against the quickly closed door. "Don't speak of my business in the hallway. Perhaps you are too use to being common. Free yourself of that lest you find your precious Aiden ran through." He left me there, turning to reclaim the chair he had no doubt been sitting in before I interrupted him. "I hadn't expected to see you so soon. Come sit. Would you care for a drink? So tell me, what is this news that brought you a day early?"

I had flinched, both inwardly and outwardly at his chastisement, simply thrusting the letter out in his direction. "She has refused me and thinks, as do you, that I am a charlatan. She had too warned me not to involve myself in the workings of what she called.. the Pent. And she thinks I was sent to her by way of Maleficarum. I wrote back to assure her she was mistaken, but I do not see her seeking an audience with me any time soon. She is a stubborn woman. I have failed you."

"Sloppy, Sarce would punish her for that." He seemed to be speaking to himself and not me, as next his question was directed. "Maleficarum? What is this Maleficarum?"

"I have read for this man, Maleficarum, and seen what lies beneath his flesh. He is not of one mind, a certain insanity afflicting his senses. There are times I think he can hear the voices I do, though his are not drawn by way of a gift, they are drawn by something in his past. The last time I read for him I believe I saw something akin to fear in his eyes, fear of me, that I might reveal something he would rather keep hidden. Lately he has kept company with a woman, a money lender, who I have also read for several times. Her name is Salome Damar."

"Remove your clothing, You can keep it against you for modesty."

Modesty was something long past, something that respectable women worried about, in hopes it would bring them a good match. I had no such inclinations, for my life was unlike others. I thought for a moment he wished to punish me, but when he returned he was bearing a box, a gift. a beautiful sari, a pin and a purse heavy with coin.

"I had planned for you to use these when you accompanied me to the Theater, but I think that I will allow you to miss this one. Take your fellow out. However before you go I want to see what you look like in them."

"Gifts? You give me gifts? But I failed in my effort to read for the woman. I can give you no tale of the cards, no impressions imparted." I glanced enviously at the sari, as well as the pin, both things I would never be able to afford on my own. Even the purse was looked at with awe, knowing I could not take it, but neither could I deny his claim. One garment removed, another donned, the pin attached as well, I now the finished product of his personally dressed doll, standing before him.

"Have you not ever heard the old expression .. never question a Trevian bearing gifts? That is your opinion not mine. You got me the information I need and then some. You did so without even meeting the woman and I am very impressed. You misunderstand the situation. I just had to gain leverage over you in order to make you work for me. Would you have done so had I not been so strict with you?" He touched my lips with the tip of his finger, I resisting the urge to back away. "You are a vision. This boy is lucky to have such a girl as you. Tell me do you love him?" He lifted my knuckles to meet his mouth and kissed them. "You enjoy your time with him.. and though I do not know you well don't be a bitch and avoid using the coin. It'll make me angry. You of all people would know what I am like Angry."

Often the war of the righteous found comfort in the betrayal of worded prose. "No, I would not have worked for you under any other circumstances. I care for him very much, and yes, perhaps I do love him, but I do not think he returns my affections. I believe he thinks of another, perhaps it is she who holds his heart."

I had been given leave to depart, gifts in hand I moved to the door. "I take it our business is finished then?"

It was then he seized me, but not so hard she could not pull away, turning to face him. "This boy of yours.. might I tell you some secrets about him. You have done for me.. might you allow me to do for you?" H did not await my permission, words rumbling forth. "Your boy, is unused to women in the romantic sense. His previous appointments as a guard have been with women of substantial worth. Essentially, bitches. The woman he worked for prior to you was Lady Heavyn Lee Saint of Port Kar their appointment was brief. I don't have much information on that as he was of no interest to me when he was with the Karian. I do know that he's sent a message to the

Lady. Upon it's interception it told of you. So he does not hide you. He might just be shy. He's very young ...You could always strip down naked and attack him." Would he be shocked to know that had crossed my mind?

"No my dear.. they are not done. You will be on my payroll for sometime. Give Castor a kiss." He turned his cheek to me, as if he were some long lost uncle I was happy to have claimed.

"You leave no stone unturned, do you? Privacy is a matter of record with you and none are safe from the eyes of your enacted justice." It was said as more of a realization, though their was the inescapable drip of sarcasm. "I shall wait to hear from you yet again then, on the next task you set in place for me." I wanted away from him, as far and fast as my feet would carry me, but he grabbed me before I could get out of the door.

"I changed my mind stay here." I was pulled back into the room and he closed the door behind me, pinning me against it. "Do you find my revolting? The things that I do for this city? The things that you have seen in me?"

I was trapped but not speechless. "I find you a man fascinated with his own wickedness. One that wipes away the scars of sadness with cruel actions. But no, I do not find you revolting." My back pressed into the inner side of the door, as if only by this deed I could slip through the tangible fabric of matter and disappear beyond. "Is it really the city whose burden you bear, or merely an excuse to practice your vicious retribution? I see a man who works for no power but his own." Sometimes I really talk too much.

"Fascinated by his own wickedness..." he laughed loudly, whether at me or my words I wasn’t at first sure. "You're a very strange woman, the judgments that your gifts afford you don't keep you lacking in the reality of things. And what do you know of me. of the masters I serve? Did your gift see through me to them? To their hearts? I think not. And who is this am I exacting revenge upon... in these vicious retributions? Illuminate me with you vast knowledge child? You think my dear brother made me what I am? Do you think that someone hurt me so deeply that I must hurt others? Oh but if it were that simple little dear. You can not slide me down into a category, label and sort me. You're skill is not as what I thought it was, but it's definitely lacking that. You struggle to keep me from believing you fear me, you think that is what I need. To be feared. No Fear is not requisite. Do you do this to your beau.. think you have him all figured out because of what your sad little slips of rence whisper to you? Do you know what goes beyond these things?"

"The loss of faith, one that once meant so much, that now springs skyward from the root of lies. "I am what I am, no more, no less and I do not admit to what I am not. One does not need any gift to see that you enjoy hurting those you believe are either beneath you, or have done you some harm in the past. You count on the good faith of others, holding hostage those they love with threats. As for Aiden, I do not have him figured out, he is one of those that can not be read by me. Perhaps that is the attraction. His touch does not send me into a mindless trance, for their is nothing evil to see." I bit my lip in effort to cease the rambling words that poured forth far too easily while in his presence. And still, I continued. "Do I fear you? Yes, you are a man everyone should fear. But since you have such a panoramic view from your place so high above we common drones, perhaps you would like to tell me, what does go beyond these things? I am ever the eager student." More so because I was still trapped between him and the door, unable to escape.

"No .. this is not a matter of revenge or me believing I am higher or mighty than others.. You are quick to call me an elitist, quick to make presumptions and be fearful of me. But I have already shown you what you need to know of me. You rely solely on one sense and not your others. You walked in here sure that you had not done what I wanted and looked shocked when I gifted you. You're so sure I am going to hurt you or your precious Aiden, so truly who is your worse enemy ..me or you? Let me help you Astraea.. let me teach you things"

"A man that believes in nothing, should not be so proud." Was he really monster, or merely man? And was the difference actually that.. different? "What can a man like you teach me? I have learned from you generosity, but only when it accompanied a gain on your behalf. You seek to use me for your own ends, and then dare say that I judge you. You give me no choice but to judge. Do you even have a single person you trust? One that you know would die before plunging a dagger in your back?"

He moved back away from me. "Go."

"As you wish." The door was pulled open, a momentary pause as if I were caught in a suspended state of animation. I had wanted to stay something else, but had thought better of it. "I'm sure you'll be in touch then, when next you wish my services."

"I said Go." His fist slammed down atop the table with a terrible roar. And in that moment, I felt.. pity.

My hand dropped away from the knob, abandoning all thoughtful reason that this was indeed my chance to escape. Instead, I turned, refusing his request to be gone from his room, from his sight. "Tell me, I wish to know, what is it you wish to teach me, and why you would think I would be an apt pupil beneath your hand?" One step had been taken forward, though I had shrunk back to my previous position when he'd hit the table with such unnerving force. "What is it you see when you look at me?" Nothing in my tone was condescending, only the evidence of curiosity.

"You’re a being of perception and that is my stock and trade. That Is what I do. You are not entirely wrong about me, but not entirely correct either." He had charged at me and I was sure he meant to slap me. I could feel the hatred, but was he me he hated? Or something else. He pulled me off the wall and dragged me to the mirror, standing behind me as he peered over my shoulder. "I see something vague. Something ever changing add if you don't learn to reign yourself in, to channel yourself you will not ever be anything other this. I do not wish for you to become me. That is not your way. You will evolve into something else, but there are things I can show you. But that is not what you want.. so just go. It takes all of my control not to break you, so just go."

I did not seeing what he was seeing. I not see the woman that could grow, only seeing the child that continued to hold the cards as my only friend. "You can teach me this? The ability to reign myself in? It tires me, draws out both my energy and my emotions when I see things. How could would you teach me to control this?" His command of go was ignored, as well as the words of breaking me. No other ever knew what quite to do with me. Perhaps he was privy to some secret I was not.

"You've already resigned yourself to the failure of this idea I would not hope to change that for you. How could I teach you to control this? Who better to teach control than a master.. than a man who controls.. utterly."

He walked away from me, but I continued to stand there, gauging my reflection in the mirror. I am many things, even fool, at times, and I knew beyond a reasonable doubt that he would devour

me if I allowed it. But he did have a point, and the factor of control had quickly gained my attention. "I have not resigned myself to failure. I am a mold in progress, but whose hands do I dare trust to mold me? How do I know I can trust you? How do you know that you can trust me?" Playing with fire had never been one of my favorite games, for sooner or later the bearer always got burned. But how bad I was to be burned I would try to keep to a minimum.

"You don't. You don't know and more over you won't believe even your own eyes.. and I don't know I can trust you. There are no guarantees in life. I have resigned to deal with things when I have to. When I am betrayed I counter.. when I am not ..I reward. We can help each other.. teach each other. But I am not going to beg you and I am not going to listen to you tell me about myself when you know little."

"I have not asked you to beg, you do not seem to be a man that begs for anything." I moved to sit on the couch, resigned to learn what he had to offer. "What is to be my first lesson?"

"What is it that you wish to learn? Comfort. I will teach you comfort and before you ask me what that means don't. I can no more explain it than you can. When you touch me or I you... are the visions horrible?"

Deliverance, I had made the choice, the crossroad of life stepped over, and in an entirely different direction than I would have thought only a day ago. "Yes, flashes. I do not seem to transfer the good things, only the bad, those that are embedded deeply, those that are too full of horrid emotion to ignore. I never feel happiness, only a sadness that seeps into the darkest corners of our being. It is why I do not touch ... anyone. Not the offering of a hand, nor the comfort that contact can bring. I have only ever been encased in my own prison, the bars having been hastened by my own design. Sometimes it even.. hurts."

"If I could make that go away for the two of us...would you allow it?" He opened a drawer beside him and took out a gold medallion. "Remove your clothes. If you feel you need to be covered some what.. You are welcome to hold the wrap over you, but take most of it off and lie back.."

"How is it I always end up naked with you?" Or maybe it was just the thought of being vulnerable around him that bothered me most.

"Why does it bother you so much.. do you think that I might take you by force, even though you know I know that it would most certainly ruin you? Does the touch transfer through clothing?"

"No, it does not transfer through fabric. The contact must be made flesh on flesh." I had undressed and moved towards him at his request, though there were several long harrowing seconds of hesitation. He wanted me to sit naked on his lap. It seemed learning was not to come with limitations. I had been a slave, but not in the usual sense. I had not been an ornament that warmed the laps of men. I was not the malleable being that other slaves laid claim to. I was.. different.

I sat, stiff and stone like, unsure what to do or how to act. His hand was upon my back, though separated by a barrier of cloth.

"You said to me that I am cruel and vicious, but would it surprise you to know that I only did this because of things I tweezed out of your psyche. You and I are not so different in the methodology. Do you know that I learned from you by your mere coming along that you valued this boy's life. That the moment I saw that you were alone it became a means with which to control you. Had you brought him...things might have gone differently? One of the primary reasons I threatened Aiden is because your protective nature will allow you to do no wrong to me when his life is held in the balance. Noble.. but stupid. For that I envy you. I wish I could be that stupid."

"And by simply telling me this, you lose the only element that bound me to you." I was still sitting stiffly upon his lap, trying to not to move, the boundaries of my own making now open for temptation. "In some ways, perhaps we are not so different, but unlike you, I do not know how to pick a person apart, to get them to bare their soul to me. My way though more subtle, is perhaps less effective. It is the cards that act as my familiar, my open door to the world I would not otherwise be able to see through. Yes, some times I can tell by touch, but that isn't always possible. The cards however, even if they do not reveal the full truth, never actually lie."

"Of this I am aware, but I am hoping to build a new one. One that puts us on more an equal playing field."-

"Why...honestly do you fear being nude with me."

"It is not that I fear nakedness around you, but the temptation of what it can lead to."

He did not try to fondle me or caress me, he simply sat there and continued to talk. "You have a gift my dear that goes beyond your extra sensory abilities; you just have never tapped it. You can tweeze these things out, it's a matter of desire. Is that what you are afraid of ...desire? I can teach you desire. I can teach you seduction. I can teach and you will go home to your Aiden everything you are right now. A virgin.. a fortune teller.. and you will go to him much more. The choice is yours.. and I though I am sure you have seen this in me and know what I am capable of, I will not force you. You have but to say stop and I will. I want ...." His lips moved to whisper in my ear. "You to be that person Astraea."

Such candied words, seeking to put me at ease I was sure, did bring such a blush to pale ivory flesh. No doubt it looked as if someone had lit a match and set me aflame. "Does one really teach desire? I have always thought that was an emotion not to be learned, but experienced, something that came from within."

"True.. true enough. I suppose I would teach you the thing you lack. Confidence.. You lack it so much it ooozes out of you. You try so hard to look fearless but I can smell it on you."

Muddled thoughts were held in pause, before I continued, turning to look him straight in the eye. Strange things about the eyes, so cold and calculating they could be, yet there was always something that reflected truths untold, as well as lies. "I have to admit to curiosity. You would leave me a virgin, no matter what? Your desire would not gain the upper hand over common sense?"

"No, not no matter what. I would leave you a virgin as long as you so desire to be one. Should you bid my favor I would take you without remorse. I am not a man of emotion. I assure you of this. That is where you went wrong when you spoke to me of past cruelties. I did not care of old haunts and foul memory. I am guided by reason. Though YOU may not understand mine." He leaned and whispered. "Do tell me.. Do you wish this lesson or shall we skip this one."

Did she dare open myself up and allow him in. There was not doubt that what he could teach her would be profitable, and perhaps I might even teach him something as well. "I hear lust is an all consuming thing. A person does not always think past the moment of pleasure. If I did find this.. rapture that I have heard of, and I asked for you to take me, you would, and I would be ruined. That is what scares me the most, that I, the apprentice, under the tutelage of a Master would break. Then I would have nothing of worth for anyone. I would beg your promise that no matter what, you would not take from me what can not be returned. If that is a promise you can make me, then yes, I wish this lesson."

"No... I will make no such promise.. if you fall you fall all the way. That is the cost. Remember this if you learn nothing from me. There is always a cost. You would not be ruined and thinking that way is death. You would simply be something other than you are." He pulled my arms behind my back. "The first and most important rule of seduction, or any manipulation is to be in control of yourself. You must learn this, when to stop, when to reign yourself in. You ask for limitations, guidelines. Rules. I follow no rules. Take the lesson or leave it and me."

Such assurities would not be found in the faith of man, or the faith of vision. Could curiosity simply be quelled by such acts? And then there was Aiden, who might well hate me for the decision I made. There were no rules in his eyes, in his world, but I had followed the rules all of my life. "But you would not take me fully unless I asked for it? Is that what you are telling me? That you would only strip me of my virginity if I asked for it? Verbally?" I would know the full outcome of my worst fear before agreeing.

"Unless you asked for it, verbally. Your body asks for the taking even now. But bodies are susceptible to things that minds are not. When your voice speaks of need. I will take you. Not a moment before." He took my choice away from me.. or at least the burden of agreement. "I want you to return tomorrow.. tell this Aiden that you have sought out a scribe to teach you of Arcane theory, and you are now his student. It will give you an excuse to see me without him. Go to him now and enjoy your night with him. Eat drink and be merry. I will see you in the morning." And then he kissed me, a sheer bit of cloth set between our mouths.

He pushed me off of him and bid me to dress. I didn’t look at him for had he seen what was in my eyes, he just might have decided that lessons would be learned this very night. "Then until tomorrow. Do be careful."

"You as well.."

The First Meeting

The meeting, I suppose went better than expected, this proven by the fact that I am able to write another entry in the quiet comfort of my room.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, or how I was even going to talk myself out of it, given the chance. I believe in my mind he’d already marked me as charlatan, as so many who don’t understand do. The inn was empty by the time I arrived, by his doing or coincidence I didn’t know, but I somehow suspected that he wanted us to be alone, that he wanted me to know that there was no one to help me.

At first I was ignored, he pretending as if I wasn’t important or interesting enough to take notice of, but eventually he did turn in my direction gesturing for me to be seated, his eyes so blue, so cold and so appraising of my abilities.

I had brought with me no guard, none that might be ensnared in the viperous web of propaganda and poisonous retribution. If I was to be arrested, I was determined to take none to the impaling stake with me.

"It is good to see that you are not late."

He wasn’t Arian as I thought he would be, his voice oddly accented by some foreign land, a dialect I could not place. Neither was he an ominously large man, but he did wield the wand of the rich and powerful an aura that could not be denied.

"I am not a woman who is ever late." I had already decided that I would not play the part of victim before him, I would not whimper and beg for my life, thus giving him any satisfaction he might be so inclined to pull from me. It was better to face the darkness then to hide like a cowering child. "Why did you send for me?"

"You have been conscripted because of your gifts to provide information on the whereabouts of a few people I am searching for. Failure to provide this information will cause your arrest. Before we begin you will answer of me a serious of question. First what is the nature of these...tricks that you do?"

Phantoms fled and demons fed, all within the space of a few short ihns, I looking directly into the eyes of the man who harbored both death and lost souls. It was his eyes that intrigued me, or perhaps terrified me the most, so deeply blue and soul less, frozen wastelands that led only to more inner emptiness, and for a very brief moment I almost felt sorry for him.

The room seemed suddenly too warm and too small, the mask of the monster not yet falling away. "The nature of what I do is simple. You choose a card and I tell you what the card means.

It's past, present or... future. A future that might come, but only if you continue on the path you have chosen for yourself now." I had paused, unsure of how to proceed without bringing doom down upon me. "I do not believe I can help you locate anyone. Perhaps though, you would like a reading?"

"So it IS a trick. You're nothing more than a charlatan.. Masquerading as a seer? That is unfortunately Lady Astraea.."

The harvest was at hand, the woven web of complexity sticky with the oils of ignorance. It had taken him only a fraction of an ihn to reach over and snatch a handful of cloak and hair and pushing my head to the top of the table.

"You have misunderstood me. I am neither a liar or charlatan. The cards.." Dare I say it? Share the secret that had so far been buried and indisposed? ... "….Talk to me. They tell me about you, but only after you have touched them, chosen them. I cannot divine where someone is." At least I didn’t think I could. Such a thing had never been asked of me before.

"Then you are not any good to me, your so called gifts are born of lies and not the teaching of Priest Kings.. and It is my duty to rid this world of you. Would you like it quick and easy ...or slow...and painful?"

Held within my own apocalypse, I found myself caught beneath a mortal coil of muted terror. Where voice once reigned, now small gulps of slowly swallowed tears ruled. "Wait." The soft plead had found freedom, from my throat though nothing more was immediately forthcoming, my hand raising in a white flagged surrender. "Don't kill me." How easily the words seemed to tumble from the tremble of my lips, lips denied the kissing of a man, the sweet serrations of love, or the soulful spills of want’s denied. "I will do it, whatever you wish, but do not kill me." I found I wanted life, even the lackluster one I commanded, over the nothingness of death. "Just tell me what it is you wish from me and I will do it." My fear, its talons so icy and scathing, was something that could not be denied, not with every treble of breath.. with every cold metallic taste so bitter on my tongue. "Who do you wish me to find?"

"Oh please do not lie to me little girl... You've already told me that that you can not help me so doing so now makes you even more of a liar. I think my only recourse is to kill you?. Don't you think?"

His ploy had worked well its casting of terror. "However I am very busy today I think I'll kill you tomorrow." He released me, then turned me and set me on the table. "This is what we are going to do little liar...since I have to write a report about how you can not do what I need you to do. We will go up to the room I have and you will sit with me while I write." The tide had turned, the monster receding, he even offering me his arm in escort fashion. One I declined.

"Your room? I can't go to your room." Here at least I might be seen. There, I might well be ruined, and it wasn't my reputation I was worried about.

"You say this as though you have a choice." Again he grabbed my hair and dragged me up the stairs to his room as if I were nothing but a paga den animal, tossing me inward once we’d reached his destination. I was just a woman, captive by darkness and caught by the clawing need of another, by no choice of my own. "Take off the cloak and make yourself comfortable you'll be here awhile."

He removed his jacket, a man well armed beneath, a man that took no chances. I removed my cloak as bidden, but held it up in front of me as if it were some sort of impenetrable shield. "You can't keep me here. I'll be missed. People will start looking for me when I don't return. How long do you plan on holding me hostage?" Bold words for a woman so recently begging for her life.

"You know we all have duties and it was foolish of you to not bring your guard to do his. Though I would have killed him. It was still foolish. What was his name again?"

"You aren't being held hostage... You are being arrested for fraud. Where you will be taken before the Arian counsel and under penalty of pain the slave you will sent away will tell them that you are the charlatan I said you are. And you will be sentenced to death. I will present your public record and the notes I have on the legal documents binding you to Agamemnon Sarce and that will be enough. So please... don't bother wasting your breath.. It annoys me. You can either come here and keep me company and make this as pleasant an experience as its going to be or you can stand there and continue, and possibly be thrown out the window. I have no problem with either though I must say it would seem that the possibilities of coming here and appeasing me.. and the potential for me setting you free seem greater than you being thrown out a window."

I have always been concubine of my own making, my cards a prison that kept me cloistered as well as any locked door. Except perhaps his. The little blood left in my face instantly drained to my toes.It was only with a second glance to the window that I had found little comfort in my.. Options. I did move to sit near him, my out of reach, fingers interlocked tightly beneath the grip of cloak. "In one breath you promise my death and in the next you propose that I please you."

Silence again stalled what might have been said, I looking straight ahead, though thoughts were on the painful extinguishing that was sure to snuff out my life. I’ve never been a fan of pain. "What would you have me do? Entertainment by the cards you believe lie?"

"I said for you to entertain me not your rence, have you no personality .. save those cards? Nothing to speak of? "

Apparently, I did not.

"Fair enough take off your clothing." He hadn’t even looked at me, still writing that damnable note. "Be quick about it you're already boring me the least you can do is be pleasing to the eye."

Astonishment glittered in eyes of green, I immediately rising and backing towards the wall. "I.. can not." Bring pleasing to his eye had never been part of my plan. No, death would be quicker than my immediate, forseeable future. No cards needed for that. "You don't understand. I am.. a virgin.I shall remained dressed."

Only then did he look at me and smile, a smile as evil as any I’d ever seen. "You a foolish wench. Do you think by any span of the imagination I care what you think about? What you will and will not be doing? Take your clothes off or I will take them off for you."

I could tell his patience was wearing thin with me, his annoyance beginning to show.

So pure blooms the flower that is sewn by the seed of innocence. I made no move to step towards him, even in recognition of his agitation of my non compliance. "I am a free woman of this City. You can not simply demand I undress for you pleasure. Call a slave if you wish for eye candy. If you want me to entertain you with cards or conversation, then I shall." I was still holding the useless shield of cloak in front of me so there was a constant of something tangible to set between us, something that gave me a thimble full of courage. "I could read for you, if you like. Are you not at all curious as to what my divination holds?"

"You think so... really? Free? The words Free and Woman don't go together fool ... women are not free, they will not be free. He rose, advancing on me, pulling the stiletto from his sleeve. "Let me tell you of what your divination holds. My name is Castor Minos. I am the hand of the Initiates. I have made far mighty more important people than you beg for their lives, disappear right off the planet. Do you think for five ihn that your little parlor tricks mean shit to me? Fool Yourself.. go on.. Into thinking doing anything other than what I say in this room will make a bit of difference."

Simplicity was often found in duplicity, even if it wasn't the best action to a reaction forth coming. How I wished I had the power to evaporate into the wall, to be consumed by brick and mortar, to hide in the light that even now filled the room. My eyes fell to the implement in his hand, then rose again, only to fall prey to the cold blue gaze he'd settled upon me. "You are a bully, a man that takes by way of fear. You intimidate those not strong enough to stand up to you, an act that can only come to a bad end for you. I need no rence to whisper your fate, it is written in your eyes." Most prophets of doom know when to shut up. It seemed, however, that I had not learned that lesson, a woman currently possessed by virtue and truth. But if I were to die, as he had promised, it wouldn't be fawning at his feet. No, I would be cowering standing up.

I could feel the rent of my clothing, he again holding me by my hair. At any moment I expected to feel the cut of razor sharp blade, one that would set me free from the nightmare I now wandered in. But that did not happen. There was no pain of steel, only the remnants of tattered clothing about my feet. When he had finished with my garments, he pulled me towards the slave hooks embedded in his floor and tied me with the tatters of what had once been my robes, constraining my throat and both my wrists. The nakedness of soul was almost as sorrowful as the

nakedness of body, one that bore the brand of previous enslavement on my left thigh. "I know who I am, what I am, and my future far better than you." I though he would leave me, but he did not, instead sitting on the floor next to me. "Were you as noble with Sarce? Surely you simply sucked him off for his signature on your manumission papers... and the bank notes in your name."

I didn't kick, nor did I scream; only the smallest tell tale sign of resistance when he’d pulled me along and fastened me to the hooks. My problem now was to find a more comfortable position. "I did not even know the man Sarce's name at the time of our meeting, nor did I for more than a turning after that. He asked nothing of me, he simply paved the way for me find faith in my freedom. My manumission papers were signed by the man that had previously owned me." I was trying to look behind me, to see where my precious cards had fallen among the rubble. I could hear them screaming their anger at being separated from their Mistress? Surely. They needed me as much as I needed them.

"You doubt my word? Why would I lie about something you could easily find for yourself?" He showed me the papers, papers saying that I had been bought from the Gein’s and was a natural born Sarce cousin and that I had an account with a notes in it that made me wealthy in my own right. But of course the account had not been touched a sizable deposit had been made. "You know what I think little lamb? I think that I have been lied to, yes? But it wasn't by you was it?"

Carnal iniquity warred with puritan sensitivity, a game that I vowed to win if given the slightest leniency. The papers were scanned, the expression on my face fouled in surprise, though just as

quickly masked. At least as best I could, under the circumstances. Why had he done it? Why had he not told me? My lips closed in response to his questioning, neither wanting to lie to the man, nor wanting to get the bearer of those papers in to trouble. "That is why you called me here? Not because you think me a charlatan, but because you think I have some connection to the Sarce's?" I didn't know whether to laugh, or to cry, or simply keep facade of unemotion.

"No, I called you here for what I told you I called you here for. You were conscripted by High Initiate Phelps. He ordered me to make contact with you. Find out what your powers hold and if you are as Sarce, a child of Shiva and Gaia.You'll forgive me, for what I am going to do, but I promise it will be quick."

I was appalled at what he did next, checking me to see if I was indeed the virgin I told him I was. Forgiveness, a word the weak dare not stain with demon tongues. I flinched, then held perfectly still, my mortification at being examined so apparent. Never had anyone dared to touch me so intimately. It was not a touch that invoked pleasure, but one that left me with the sensation of a thousand ants crawling over my flesh.

"Tell me something Lady Astraea. Was it more that you were afraid I would take you by force that you would not show me your body naked or that you did not want me to see the brand?"

"I was a slave, this is not an unknown fact. I have been naked in the presence of others when I was a slave, though not often." Which of course left only one choice. "Why else would you command me to remove my clothing? And when I refused, cut my garments away from me? You do not believe I am what I say, so what protection would I otherwise have from you?"

The words were quietly said, I now having turned my head back towards the floor, denying him of any satisfaction he might have at seeing me in my current vulnerable position.

"Are we having the same conversation? Are you listening when I speak or are you using the time that I speak to think of new ways to hate me? I do not care what you think. But since you do not listen worth a shit.. I will repeat myself. I said I was lied to but it wasn't by you, was it. And my reasons for stripping you naked, well you needn't know those. In your ignorance you have no right to them." He left my side and when he returned he had a medical pouch that he was unrolling.

"I heard you." One glance, however discreet was shot his way, wishing I had something to veil my nakedness with, something to hide me from the eyes of sin itself. "But I do not understand what it is you wish me to do about it." The calling of the cards had ceased though the bond was not broken, the living oracles of rence merely biding their time before they would destroy.

He removed a syringe and injected me in the area right above my brand. After some moments it was with perfect precision that he cut into the flesh, the one piece of my fate that could never be concealed, removed. There would be nothing left of my slavery save a thin line of scarred tissue.

"Take the coin out of the bank and close the account. Pay a scribe to change your name lest people call you kin of his. Have his name taken from your papers.. I can not hide these forever. He left you some holdings, an Inn he stole from a woman named "Forstus" She's to be the free companion of my brother. I would get rid of everything he gave you. As quickly as possibly nothing good came from that man ever."

I was bandaged and he secured me new garments, though he had yet to free me.

"Why help me now, when you were so quick to call me a charlatan only an ahn ago?"

"Because this was never about what you believe it to be and maybe one day when you can make your own decisions and form your own ideas.. and aren't so taken with novelty you will understand. People are not so simple as the fold of cards.

He removed his shirt and I could see the lines of scars past, scars not won in battles of steel, but won in the war of wills. Whose will was yet to be determined. Numbers ranged from one to six, as well as the world ‘Loyalty’.

"You have sinned, many times over, the plague of betrayal brought down around you. Memories, keen to their insight, have faded with time, but the acute sharpness of pain is still harbored, and the outcome can only be ..." I paused, eyes distant in the recount of what once was and what was yet to be. And just that quick, the words were gone, the whispers stilled, the vision ended. For some moments I stared at him, unsure exactly whose voice had been speaking. "What are the numbers for?"

"The only man who can tell you of those number is the one who put them there and you will meet him soon enough." He stepped beside and unlocked one of my hands, commanding me to touch the scars that riddled over his flesh.

Mourned are those that live with the retribution of others, survivors of a fate they may never understand. I did not wish to touch, the transference of flesh and the images it would bring terrifying me.

"I was not asking you." He grabbed my hand and set it to the carving of the word. "Touch it...tell me what you see."

And within the space of a moment, a life time spanned in a non existent play, one only seen behind the then veined lids, lids that fluttered as eyes moved beneath. I had tried to pull my hand away, had tried to keep from touching him, had tried to resist the scene that came in short lived reels, I the memories captive audience. "He is your brother, the one that carved the word into your chest. Blue eyes so like yours, but your sibling has not chosen the path you now dare tread. He comes, he waits, with a woman at his side, with hair the color of mine. New life bleeds within her and he may well be your undoing."

Cold, such a chill that engulfed me, so much so my complexion had drained of color, lips pale. Death was so close. With a strength I hadn't know I possessed, my hand was snatched away, fingers curling inward, it cradling it against my breast. Eyes opened, the reflection in glassy green orbs dulled, momentarily forgetting where I was. "Release me, please, I have to go."

"So you do have powers beyond those cards, I thoughts so." He looked at me the way a hungry predator first observes his prey before totally consuming it. "I am afraid not. You're too valuable to me, however you needn't be left on the floor like a common slut. You did well for me today."

Invisible chains, those that tether us to sightless realms were not so easily escaped from. Once I had been freed and allowed to sit on the couch, a fur was grabbed and held up against me for modesty's sake. Not that he hadn't already had an eye full, but if I had my way, he wouldn't be getting any more glimpses of me naked. "It doesn't happen with everyone. I can't.. read many by way of touch, only a certain few. You just happen to be one of those few. May I dress?" The gilded glaze of dullness had worn off, island green eyes now clear and insightful once again. "You do not plan on letting me go? I am not valuable; there is nothing more I can do for you, nothing more I can tell you."

"No, remain nude. However you may keep that fur for your modesty. I know it makes you uncomfortable to be naked before me. I promise you that you virginity well remain yours until you cross me."

"People will be looking for me soon. I left your letter in my room. They will know where I have come."

"Is that supposed to scare me? Let them come; they can explain to the High Initiate and the Administrator why they did not turn you in for being a witch. If it even gets that far which I doubt it will. I'll probably just kill them. It’s easier and cleaner that way."

Behold the fortune teller's glass, so pure in its crystal complexity, eyes into the unknown, and one that can shatter with a single slip.

"You should now rest.. yourself. You are obviously tired and if you do not calm yourself you force me to cut out your tongue. Which will make your telling me things very hard."

I swallowed, my stomach suddenly feeling as if it were filled with sharp edged razors. Would Aiden come searching for me? How would I ever explain if he found me naked in another man's room? How would he save me? Or more importantly, how would I save him. "I would ask that you promise not to kill a dark haired man that might come looking for me. Spare him and I will give you no trouble. It is a small thing, one life in trade for secrets shared."

"This Aiden? Your guardsman yes? I can not make you any promises but I will not attack this man unless it is necessary to protect my own life or keep you here. Additionally I will not kill him...I will just incapacitate him is this acceptable?" He removed from me the fur and offered out his hand. "Let me see you."

Once again the slave was marked, by not the searing touch of fiery brand, but the touch of one that wished to lay claim to the talents seen as truth. "Acceptable." It was better I take what niceties were granted then fight for that which I could not win. I stood, the fur dropped from my body to fall at my feet, nothing more than a stage animal being appraised and assessed. With the escape of touch, light was shed upon the dark heart of the man that kept me captive. It was instinct that had forced the reason from me, one that would be met by punishment. I had not accepted his hand when offered, a sound stinging smack to my backside the only warning I might well receive.

"Continue to cross me. Continue to disobey and you will find me a hard man to be around."

"You punish me for crimes you commit. You remove my brand, only to mark me with the chains of emotional submission."

"I am glad you now understand the score. You have a choice to make Astraea.. you will work for me. Do as I tell you from Alpha to Omega.. with no hesitation, no question. You will do it. No matter what you think you will suffer.. you will do it. Or you will suffer me. You will hang from slave shackles in the room Aiden occupies as he lies bleeding on the floor sinking into death.

You will watch him die.. as he watches me take from you this gift you hold so precious... as you he watches me rip away your maidenhead. He will die knowing there was nothing he could do to protect you. And when I am finished I will let all of my men have you, and when they are done I will have a Karian paga den owner keep you there as a coin box girl." He had brushed the blanketing coils of hair from my face, so gentle a touch in so beastly a man.

"Or you can do as I say. Yes you may not like it, but you will remain a virgin. You will retain your gift. You will earn more coin than you could on your own and your man will never be the wiser of you dealings with me. So too will I see that no others come after you for any crime. Choose now...I grow bored of you by the ihn."

The telling words of a dark destiny revealed, an oracle of a pious fate proclaimed by the hand of white. There was half breathed moan, one that suffered the trials of silent consequence without success. No move was made, the flashing taunt of pictures pealing through my head. "And he shall come, not on the backs of beasts, but burdened upon the backs of men." My fingers uncurled from the palm of the hand nearest my cheek, digging into the softness of the fur beneath. Droplets of perspiration dotted my forehead, the quiet chant said beneath the veil of consciousness. "And with the rise of the black breath comes madness, debauchery, the loss of faith. Only agony awaits in the City of Dust, for it is there the souls of many will have their retribution.They come. They seek. The immortals of the of the mountain watch. They watch you."

"Yes or No." He sighed and grabbed me by the hair, opening the door into the hall way and tossing me out, naked. "I'll be seeing your little friend soon enough.. but you.. You aren't even worth killing."

Insanity was but a sufferance of touch, his, and one I had tried with all my might to wriggle out from under. "Yes! I will do as you say." The words were stained with piteous cries, palms laid against the door. "Do not hurt him, and I will do as you wish." A slave hurried by, one that had avoided his room like the plague. "You've simply to tell me what it is you wish." The selling of soul traded for a life, one that would never know my sacrifice.

The door opened and he pulled me back inside. "Dress yourself. You have work to do."

He handed me a note with the name of Psyché Domminae upon it.” You will get this woman to let you read her cards.. You will come back and tell me what they say and your impression of her."

I nodded mutely.

"Do you have any need for anything? Coin? A place for you and this guard to stay? Anything at all."

Future doom meant present reassurance. Silent tears escaped from the corners of my eyes, I dressing in zombie like fashion, slow and dazed, dizzied by the events that day had wrought.

"Were will I find this Psyche woman?"

"She is one the most prominent slavers of Ar, She has a very large house in the Fulvian hills district. So too you could seek a scribe to help you locate her." He turned to look at me. "Did you hear what I asked you about your needs?"

Beware the red tainted viper, the madman; the pinioned point of dagger's thrust. "I heard you, I need nothing from you, save your promise that you will not touch Aiden. Nor will you have anyone else do you foul deed." Assuming that I was now dismissed, I began to move past him and towards the door.

"The promise comes from you and your behaviors Astraea. I will see you in two nights."

I hoped not, that perhaps a blade would find the black beast’s heart. Yes, I was ever the optimistic.