Nathan Roulan silently opened the door to the Punishment Room. It was an exact replica of the one he had had in his Toronto mansion, his San Francisco mansion, and the Vegas casino suites. It had the same cages, same neatly organized walls filled with whips, and drawers filled with scalpels. His antique torture devices -- some of them were really quite clever -- had been brought here. He had a new surgical dissection table, complete with drains and thick leather manacles. He had more manacles which could descend from the ceiling, and more which attached to the wall, all of variable lengths.

Nathan was well-pleased at the new installation. It was even more spotlessly clean than the last. There was better lighting with more options ranging to surgically bright to vampirically dim.

The three maids who Mrs. White had pronounced "in need of punishment" were there silently awaiting his pleasure, looking appropriately terrified. They all appeared to be at about eighteen years of age, and were all naked and kneeling on the floor. When he entered, they all cast their eyes down, not looking at him, as all his servants were ordered to do. These were mortals, most of whom were raised at his remote farms in upper Canada to be his food and his slaves. They were all extremely beautiful, as he required all members of his household to be.

Nathan never fed on his household staff (he did occasionally take them to bed,) though he knew Mrs. White, Dr. Robert, and those few other vampires in his employ did. He allowed this, so long as no one was killed or incapacitated so that they could not perform their duties. Mrs. White generally watched over the staff like a mother hen guarding her chicks, so Nathan never worried about them. He would have cared not for the sake of their individual little lives, but for the fact that it was extremely difficult to train good help.

Vaguely he wondered what she considered a punishable offence, deciding that one would serve for tonight. After all, whomever he chose would be briefly incapacitated if not dead and putting three girls out of commission would only make more work for the rest of them, leading to further variations in service and he loathed that.

Nathan looked them over. He noted that one of them had folded her clothing in a neat pile, while the other two had left their uniforms in heaps on the floor. The folder was black and quite tall. She had long hair done in small braids. The other two girls were pale blondes. Nathan put a hand on the black girl's chin and lifted her to her feet. His cool fingers swept over her shoulder, then slipped beneath her arm to stroke her ribs. He noted that her nipples hardened at the small attention. She looked as if she very much wanted to lift her head and look him in the eye but she also did not want to bring a worse punishment upon herself.

"Why did Mrs. White feel you needed to be punished, girl?"

"I broke a tea cup." She just barely kept contempt from her tone.

"On purpose, or by accident. Keep in mind that I am reading your thoughts right now and will know if you're lying."

"It was an accident. And I don't lie…sir."

Nathan was pleased. He liked this girl, the rebellious nature that she was controlling with so much effort appealed to him.

"Did you come from the farms?"

"No."

"An orphanage?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been with us?"

"Two years, six months, and thirteen days."

She just barely kept the loathing for her captivity out of her voice. Clearly this life was not easy for her. Skimming idly over her thoughts, Nathan saw that both Dr. Robert and Mrs. White had punished this girl before, in different ways (Mrs. White was not a user of the whip, but she could certainly be cruel in her own cheerful manner.) She had been hard to train, but her will to live was so great that she had brought her great pride under control once she had learned there was no escape. He wondered for exactly one second why she hadn't been sent to HIM for punishment before, but then became aware that she was a favorite of the other two. They wouldn't have risked losing her to him.

Mrs. White clearly was worried about Nathan and trying to mother him in her own twisted little ways, such as having Henry Bierk done up with ribbons, and now sending this girl to the Punishment Room, knowing she would stand out far above the two blondes. Though his general annoyance was still seething and he did feel the urge to show off his mastery of the lash, it would not be on her.

"You--" he pointed randomly at one of the blondes. They were cookie cutters, it didn't matter why they had been selected for him. "You're excused to Mrs. White. Any punishment she feels you need, she may administer herself."

"Thank you, sir." The girl grabbed her clothing and ran while she was allowed, not even bothering to dress. No matter what Mrs. White did to her, at least she knew she would be allowed to live. The other blonde looked as if she were about to faint, which Nathan found even more irritating. He turned back to the black girl, whom in his mind he had already named Aida after the great Nubian princess of legend. Nathan had a habit of naming people (which Dr. Robert had adopted, though he hadn't seemed to have practiced this on the elf) mostly because it made them easier to remember for himself, and the names of servants and minions were rarely a matter of import.

"Are you a virgin?"

"No." There were thoughts of rape in her mind, but it wasn't by his people. Nathan was mildly surprised that Robert hadn't slept with her, but he had been so preoccupied with Julian and Evan, the lost boys, much of the time she had been with the household. In fact, her arrival had been fairly close to the time of Julian's… Nathan pushed the thought aside. No use dwelling on the past. Julian was gone now, and would not be called back. He was safe. And the only way for him to be safe was to be away from Nathan.

Nathan reached out and lifted the girl's chin, looking into her eyes. He watched the fires spark and die, her anger, her resentment. She hated him, and that fueled him. He kissed her on the mouth, firmly. She didn't melt beneath him, even after several moments of contact. Her posture stiffened. Her nipples were still hard. Nathan fondled one of her generous breasts and she sucked in her breath in a hiss.

"I'd rather you beat me than rape me, sir," she said in a tense tone, but she didn't step away from him.

"What makes you think your wishes hold even the least import?" Nathan said coldly. He pinched her nipple harder. "The expression 'it never hurts to ask' does not apply in my household."

"I know, sir."

"And yet you dare anyway, hmm… dare to tell me that you would prefer a whipping that might take your life to lying in my bed. Really, Aida, I thought I detected in you a will to live that was able to suffer a great deal."

"My name is--"

"Your name is Aida. You can accept that, or I can implant it into your brain. I can also make you willing to go into my bed, or to do anything else I desire."

"I know, sir."

"Do you wish to lose your free will?"

She glared at him. "No, sir." "I think a demonstration is in order." Nathan grabbed her chin and forced a stare. "You will go to my rooms, and you will wait for me there. You will not leave those rooms until I return or send someone to fetch you."

He let go of her. She would do as he ordered, no matter how much she wished otherwise. The loathing seething from her titillated him. He watched her bend over and pick up her clothing, admiring the smooth lines of her body and the sway of her breasts as she did. She turned and left the room without another word, which in Nathan's opinion was quite wise. He descended upon the remaining little blonde.

An hour later, he called for the retrieval of her corpse. He felt…much better.

You're so ill at ease...
A whisper in the trees...