"Some of them are very old. Some of them only a few hundred years."
"They are all real?"
"They are all mine. Yes, they are all real."
"Does a vampire require weapons?"
"At times," she replied.
"I did not bring my pad. I would like to spend some time sketching you here another day."
She smiled. "All right. And perhaps you would accept a lesson."
"What weapon would you teach me?"
She smiled. "Rapier. It is a delicate weapon." She paused. "Do not tell your mistress."
"Will she be angry?"
"No, but perhaps we can surprise her."
"You would have me stab her?"
She laughed. "No. You could not. Here." She pulled a weapon from the wall. It looked like the swords you see in movies, long and very slender, with a delicate handle and a small bell in front of the hand. I held it in my left hand, and she frowned. "This is for a right handed fighter. I will acquire a proper foil to teach you. This will be a short lesson."
She taught me how to stand and how to hold the weapon, but the handle was wrong, and it felt awkward.
"Try it in your right hand," she said.
I switched. "I am not quite ambidextrous, but I can learn like this."
"Only today," she said. She retrieved a second rapier for herself, and she taught me a few basic attacks and defenses.
"Now we fight," she said.
"What?"
She laughed. "I will not hurt you, and it is metal. You could not kill me with it, even with a great deal of unexpected luck. En garde."
I lifted the weapon.
"Fight."
She let me try to stab her, but of course, I couldn't have touched even a human with her experience, much less a vampire, but she said, "Good. Good," then, "No!" and she spanked my bottom with the sword.
"Hey!" I said, rubbing it, but I was grinning.
"Try again."
Eventually, she slowly chased me all over the ballroom until I was panting before she called a stop. I leaned over, breathing hard, and I knew I was sweaty. She took the foil from me and replaced it on the wall, then returned to me.
"Did you have fun?"
"Actually, yes," I said, straightening. "I have never done that before."
"Then if you wish to exercise with me, this is what we shall do. I shall have clothing for you."
"You are giving me more time than I expected."
"Vampires have time," she said.
"Then I would enjoy that, if you are sure I can not hurt you."
She smiled. "You cannot, and I will not swat you hard enough to bruise, lest your mistress become angry with me."
"Aren't you supposed to stab, not swat?"
She smiled. "You will learn more if I swat."
I roamed the room for another minute, looking at more of the weapons, but I was really working my way to the other end, and then I looked up, staring at the hoop in the ceiling.
"Why are those there?"
"A great many reasons, most of them very innocent. I will see to it you are invited the next time they will be used for something you may enjoy."
"I am not sure my mistress intends to take me into more opportunities for danger."
"You will be safe," she said. "Come."
She led the way back to her office. "Your lunch will arrive soon. Was there more we should discuss? Otherwise, I will work, and you may sketch all you desire. Or have you had enough today?"
"I will stay for a while. Madame Cathalina, do you have, or can you acquire clothing from your... um."
"Earlier years?"
"Yes, exactly."
"I can."
"And can you find two human models, perhaps one that somewhat resembles your daughter and another that resembles you?"
"I can. Why do you ask?"
"Photos. I have seen movies, of course, but I do not know if the clothing is historically accurate, and I do not know how it hangs or how it feels. I do not know if Athena is wearing the same clothing you would have worn."
"This is to be a portrait of me."
"We both know it is going to be more than that. I do not know whether I will incorporate these elements, but if I do, I do not want to make simple mistakes that will catch your eye, even if no one else would notice. And I will want to sketch you in the clothing as well."
"Then it shall be as you desire."
"Thank you."
* * * *
I sketched for several more hours, interrupted by lunch and another walk, this time with her maid as escort. I asked permission to ask the maid questions, and Cathalina spoke to her for a minute or two in French then granted permission.
We stepped away, and I said, "I do not know what she told you not to tell me. I will tell you what I want to know, and then you perhaps can tell me what you think is permissible."
"Yes, Miss," she said.
"So much respect for a blood slave?"
"You are not here as a slave," she said. "Madame has been clear."
"Thank you," I said. "I only wish to know this: what is she like to work for. Can you talk about that without sharing her secrets?"
"Yes," she said. "Do you want to be more specific?"
"I would like you to tell me what you can that will not annoy her. If there are stories you can tell, even better."
And so we walked, and the maid spoke for some time.
I sketched while Cathalina worked, taking the details of her mouth, her eyes, her hands, especially her hands. She took phone calls in front of me, and I took her hands and studied them, drawing them while she spoke on the phone. I turned her sideways and removed her shoes, and she smiled but obediently moved her legs where I put them, and I did a study of each foot, each knee, and then quietly asked her to pull her skirt high enough I could see her full legs. She did, crossing the legs for me, and I did a careful study. When she completed that phone call, she turned to me. "I am up here," she said, pointing to her face. "Not down here."
"And yet you did not stop me while I drew your feet."
"I liked seeing you at my feet. Call it a weakness."
"And you enjoyed knowing I was looking at your legs, perhaps."
"Perhaps."
"Are all vampires vain?"
"Yes."
At three I set down my pencils, closed my sketchbook, and packed everything away. She looked up from her computer. I was massaging my hand.
"Good work?"
"Yes. Tomorrow I will do positions and, if you do not mind, play with your hair while you work."
She laughed. "I have never been so fussed over while working."
"I am done for today, unless you wished something else."
"I shall arrange your transportation. You must message your mistress you will be leaving shortly."
I found my tablet and sent the message.
"You must show me the reply."
"No one trusts me?"
"We do, but this way there is no temptation to you. That would be cruel. It wouldn't do you any good at all, as your mistress can easily find you, wherever you go. But if you are tempted with a false opportunity, she still must punish you if you are led astray."
The reply arrived, and I showed it to her.
"Very good," she said. "You must not leave without showing that reply to me or whomever escorts you to the front door, and once you do, you remain in our possession until the car door closes."
"I understand."
She led me downstairs herself and waited with me until the car pulled up, then led me to the car and handed me inside.
"Until tomorrow."
* * * *
Lady Dunn was waiting for me herself, stepping forward and opening the door. She clipped my leash in place before I even exited the car, and she tugged me into the house. Five steps inside, she undressed me herself, then ordered me to kneel to her. When the opportunity presented itself, I leaned forward and kissed her feet.
"Did she drink from you?" she asked.
"No, m'lady."
"Did she touch you?"
"Only in the manner a friend touches a friend, m'lady. Will we spend the evening together?"
"Is that what you wish?"
"It is."
She tugged on the chain, encouraging me to rise. I knelt before her, and she stepped forward, wrapping arms around me.
"M'lady," I said. "I am your blood slave, your property."
"Thank you, my little blood slave," she said. "I missed you today."
"Should I take shorter days?"
"Take the days the way you must. Did you exercise?"
"This morning for a short while with Ashlyn, and early this afternoon with Madame. Not enough. I would run on the track for a while and then perhaps you have time for a game."
"Of course. Were you going to use your lights?"
"If I run alone, yes. If you run with me, then no."
Later, shortly before bed, she drank deeply from my neck, offering only a small amount of pleasure. I didn't complain, but I lolled, anemic, when she was done.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I took so much."
I patted her hand lightly. "So tired now."
"I'll take care of you."
I was asleep before she inserted the needle, but I knew in the morning from the fresh bandage she had replenished me.
* * * *
It was on the fourth day that something was different. I arrived, and Cathalina met me herself. She led me into the house but told me to retain my outerwear. We passed through the house and out the back, and she took me in a different direction, soon coming to a small cottage.
"Your studio," she declared.
"It is lovely," I said. The structure was delicate and painted a delightful shade of periwinkle. She led me to the back door.
It was a regular cottage, complete with a small bedroom upstairs, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. The living room had a row of windows overlooking a pond. There was a sitting area at one end and a chair and table at the other.
"The tablet is coded for you," she said, "and I am assured you know how to use it. You must follow the same rules you use at home."
"Of course." I stepped to the panel and logged my location.
"I decided simple," she said. "This table and chair, if sitting is good. Otherwise I can find something else if you wish me to stand."
"Seated is fine," I said. "But I want to do some sketches of you in a variety of poses, if that is not too much to ask."
"No, it is not. You may use the kitchen for your supplies. Half the cupboards are equipped for your human needs. The other half are available as needed."
"I need one more thing from you. I am now a temperamental artist speaking to an indulgent patron."
She laughed.
"You must not peek. I need somewhere to store drawings that no one will inadvertently open, and I need you to promise not to peek. I need the same for canvases, and they must remain upright."
"Easily done. I will have something here in a day or two that will suffice."
"This is lovely, Madame Cathalina. You have gone to great effort to provide a space."
She inclined her head.
"Do you know what you will need from the art store?"
"Yes."
"Then this is a short day, and your mistress will pick you up and take you this afternoon. I believe she has other plans for you as well."
"Do I have time with you this morning?"
"Yes, until lunch if you want it, but then I have appointments. You may remain here until your mistress retrieves you, or I can return you home."
"That should be Lady Dunn's decision."
"Message her."
So I did. While waiting for the reply, I took out my sketchpads. By the time I was ready the reply was waiting for me. "Come home for lunch," it said. I showed it to Madame.
Madame Cathalina was quite cooperative. I found a certain amount of pleasure when she obeyed my requests. She caught me smiling and immediately knew why.
"Do you really need these drawings, or are you simply amusing yourself at my expense?"
"The amusement is an extra benefit," I replied. "I do not know yet what drawings I need, but by seeing you in different positions, I get a sense of movement." I paused. "I have been treating you like a human. Oh no, I have been treating you like a human!"
"I do not mind."
"No, that's not what I mean. You are not human. You are a vampire. I need to see how a vampire moves."
"You have spent two years with a vampire. You have seen how we move."
"Can you. Um. Hunt me. Without losing control?"
She paused. "Are you sure? I will scare you badly. It would be a game of cat and mouse, and we know who the mouse is. Even though in your head, you will know you are safe, your hind brain will not."
"Will Lady Dunn be angry if I tell her?"
She picked up her phone and made a call. The two spoke rapidly in a language I didn't recognize. She held the phone to me.
"Hello?"
"Is this something you must do with her, or can you do it with me?"
"Can you hunt me without taking it too far?"
There was silence. "I don't know. Do you need this game?"
"I need to see how she moves. How she hunts. Or not, but I think it would help."
"I will give permission, but I need to speak with her."
I handed the phone back, and they talked for several more minutes before Madame hung up. "How real should this feel?"
"Will you lose control?"
"No."
"Terrify me."
"Run."
I ran.
She was right. It was a game of cat and mouse, if the cat was really fast and the mouse was really slow. She didn't chase me. Instead, she raced ahead of me, cutting me off wherever she wanted. Each time, she hissed at me, her fangs bared, and the third time she caught me, she glamoured me.
"I am going to eat you!" she said, and I believed her.
I ran, and she caught me. I ran, and she caught me. I ran upstairs, trying to hide, and she caught me, then she dragged me, kicking and screaming, into the bedroom, threw me onto the bed, and easily held me as I struggled. She glamoured me again and told me, "I have torn your neck open. You will die soon!"
My hands flew to my throat, and she let me go, cackling. I ran, running for the front door, and I know she didn't move until I was almost there, but then there was a rush of air past me, and she was there. I screamed, "No! No! Lady, save me!"
She caught me, glamoured me, and said simply, "You are safe." She held me glamoured while my heart slowed then she released my mind, but held my arms.
I continued to stare into her face.
"Are you calm, Melissa?" she asked quietly. I nodded slowly. "Is that what you meant?" I nodded again. "Have I permanently frightened you?"
I shook my head. "Water."
She let me stumble to the kitchen on my own, following me cautiously.
"Your lady has not played that game with you?"
"No."
"Most vampires play that game with their blood slaves. Frequently. It is how most of them die."
"Perhaps that is why we have not played."
I drank slowly from my water. Madame withdrew her phone and placed a call, watching me cautiously. She spoke in the same language for a time, then held the phone to me.
"Hello?"
"You called for my help?"
"Yes."
She said nothing for a minute. "Lady?"
"Did you get what you need?"
"I am going to ask her to move around more, but yes."
"You will not play that game with her again."
"Once was enough."
"You and I will also not play. I am old, but perhaps not so old I would be restrained."
"I understand. It's not a game I'd want to play."
"I will see you in a few hours." She clicked off, and I handed the phone back to Madame Cathalina.
I
asked to watch her move around. She could go from still to moving in an eye blink. "Are all vampires so fast?"
"Those over a few hundred years old. I am somewhat faster than your mistress, but you would not be able to tell the difference unless she and I raced each other over a greater distance."
"Physics has laws," I said. "You go from still to moving instantly. You shouldn't be able to do that."
"I step around those laws," she explained. "I very temporarily have no mass, or virtually no mass, but all the force I would normally have. That is why younger vampires cannot do it. It takes time to learn."
"Can you change shape? Become a bat?"
She laughed. "No, nor do I become smoke."
She continued to move around for me, talking to me at the same time. I sketched what I could, but she could tell I wasn't satisfied.
"Not getting what you need?"
"My eyes are too slow when you move at speed, and you move like a human when you move more slowly. I am afraid if I ask you to move like a vampire but at a speed I can watch, it will be a caricature. I would rather not use it at all." Then I said, "Catch" and threw my glass in the air.
She barely moved. She was in one place, then in another, and she caught the glass in mid air, and I knew she did something to catch all the liquid that was going to spill.
She laughed. "Did that help?"
"Probably not, but it was cool anyway."
"I'm pleased to have amused you."
"Can you talk for a few minutes? Tell me about an important time in your life." While she talked, I did a sketch of her with the glass of water. When I was done, I turned it to her.
"Oh," she said. "I like that."
"That's about the best I'm going to get, I think. I'm sure it's wrong."
"A little, but no matter." She handed the pad back. "Will you let me have that one?"
"I'll leave it behind when I'm done."
I thought about what would happen next. "Once I have paint, I'll want to spend some time color-matching. Then I'll do some studies. You won't need to sit for those. After that, I'll figure out the composition, and you'll need to sit for some of them."
She nodded.
"Can we move back to your main hall? I'd like to draw you with some of your weapons."
She smiled, and that was what we did until it was time for me to leave.
Blood Slave Page 30