Carlton rolled over with a pained moan. His head throbbed like nothing before. He staggered out of bed to the bathroom and splashed water on his face. God, how much did he have to drink last night? He downed a handful of aspirin while shaving and then dressed casually. Raymond would have some coffee ready in the office.
Grumbling to himself, he staggered into the office and headed for the coffeepot. He had a vague memory of using Rabbit hard last night. He made a mental note to spend a little extra time tonight with her.
Sipping the coffee and glancing at the level of work that Raymond had already compiled on his desk, Carlton grunted disgustedly. How early did that boy get up anyway? A glance at the clock shocked him. It was past two in the afternoon. A sick feeling grabbed at his stomach that had nothing to do with his hangover. Sitting on his desk was Rabbit's collar. He glanced over at Raymond who met his look with a cold look and then dropped his eyes back to the ledgers.
His heart beating faster, Carlton called up the screen to the slave quarters. Sprawled in the bed was a woman that would make almost any man hard with desire. Carlton felt himself stir at her beauty, but it was overwhelmed at the memory of what he had done last night. Where was Rabbit now? She must be terrified.
She's property. He reminded himself. She was disobedient and troublesome and caused you problems. She's someone else's problem now. Forget her. Justine is better for you. You can enjoy her and not get attached.
He picked up the collar and held it for a moment and then tucked it in a desk drawer and turned to the files on his desk, determined to move on with his life.
_________________________
Leah knelt over the plastic basin and vomited a third time. The fingers tangled in her hair, pulled her back up to face her Mistress.
Alexis smiled at her newest slave, "Would you like some water Kanin?"
Leah nodded, "Yes, Please Mistress."
"Everything here is earned, Kanin. Even the water you drink." She gave a short laugh and a flip of her hand, "Except punishment, that is often free. We'll start simple. Lick Miss Dora's shoes and you will get a glass of water."
The fingers let go of her hair, dropping Leah to the tile floor. Feeling, numb, ill and desperate for something to drink, Leah bent over and began to lick the glossy black shoes on the tall, blond woman that stood by her. Alexis did reward her with a tall glass of ice water. She stroked Leah's hair as she drank, filling the glass a second time before taking it away. Lifting Leah's chin, she smiled at her terrified slave, "I will see you at dinner tonight. Miss Dora will explain the training regiment. I expect a good report from you, Kanin." She walked away with the click-click of high heels.
When she was gone, Miss Dora wrapped her fingers in Leah's hair and pulled her down the hall to a locked door, ignoring the cries of pain.
"It works like this Bitch. My sister and I run the training. With you, there are five of you. One of you wins, one of you looses. There are four cots and one box. Whoever finishes the day with the most marks sleeps in the box. The fewest points gets a pillow. Works the same way with dinner. Piss me off and I'll tell Mistress all sorts of tales about you. Got it Bitch?"
"Yes...yes, Miss Dora!" Leah scrambled to keep her footing as Miss Dora tossed her through the doorway into the room. Her bound hands kept her from catching her fall and tumbled into the legs of another woman that looked identical to Miss Dora.
"That's a mark, Kanin," Miss Dora said from the doorway. "A slave always enters unobtrusively."
"Make that two more marks for running into me and for interrupting the lesson," hissed the clone.
"I'm sorry," Leah struggled to her knees, "Please forgive me!"
"A mark for speaking out of turn," Dora said in a bored tone, "And a mark for not speaking in French."
Leah looked around, noticing now the four other women, kneeling at their places, eyes down at their books trying not to be noticed. "But I don't speak French!"
"Mark," Dora smiled maliciously, "All Mistress' slaves speak French. You had better learn it fast."
By the time the women were brought into the dinning room, Leah thought she was going to pass out. She had not been given any food at lunch as a punishment for calling Miss Doreen by her sister's name, Miss Dora. It had been a horrible struggle to try to understand anything that was being said the whole day as commands were fired off in French. Any slowness to react or answer resulted in a single stroke of a whip like cane.
Standing now at inspection before Lady Alexis, Leah caught bits and pieces of the conversation as her several years of university French was quickly coming back to her out of sheer necessity.
It seemed that gypsy looking girl they called Delilah with the lush body had gotten many marks that morning for something, but lessons and training had gone well. Leah wasn't sure if she understood Lady Alexis reply but she thought she had said half food, cold water.
The next girl in line was a petite blond with long ringlets and a childlike face and figure. Miss Dora had called her Bebe. She was reported on and awarded full food, a pastry for something that Leah missed and hot water.
Primrose, the third woman in line was a sweet looking woman that Leah would have thought to seen as a kindergarten teacher in the real world. There was a rapid fire conversation during which the woman dropped her head lower and lower in humiliation until one sister pulled it back up by the hair. Lady Alexis told her she was to have full food and eat it all. The threat of what would happen if this did not happen went beyond Leah's vocabulary, but whatever it was seemed to terrify Primrose. She was given cold water and extra training.
The woman next to Leah had almost no hair on her head at all, just a dark brown fuzz. Of the five of them, they had her arms bound for the inspection. The list of her infractions for the day was long and Lady Alexis did not look pleased. Panther, as Alexis called her, was ordered for no food and cold water.
Still confused Leah tried to stand as perfectly as she could, trying to remember everything Master had taught her. Miss Doreen began to rattle off her report in French, but Lady Alexis held up her hand.
"In English, I think. Kanin should know what she is punished for, I think." She ran her fingernails over some of the welts and smiled at the whimper and shiver that Leah could not hide.
"She received 14 marks during the day. She is slow to answer and respond. She daydreams and stares at the other slaves. Her French is atrocious."
Lady Alexis smiled, "Did she try to speak only French after she was told?"
"Yes, Lady Alexis," Doreen muttered sullenly.
"What a good girl, Kanin. Such an excellent start. A full dinner, a pastry for being a good girl and hot water."
She stepped back and looked at all the slaves, switching back to French, "Eat well my loves. Panther will have the box tonight." She swept out of the room.
Doreen and Dora moved into full action after Alexis left, getting the girls seated as a maid served the dinner. Leah realized that half food meant half a plate and full food meant a full plate. Panther was forced to sit and watch.
After dinner came bath time. The other mystery was solved. Lady Alexis decided at inspection if you were allowed a hot shower or chained and sprayed down with cold water.
The sleeping room was dismal. Four metal cots were arranged around a trunk sized metal box with a lock. Leah was horrified to see the two trainers take Panther and force her into the trunk, folding her into a fetal position and forcing the lid shut and locking the box.
Bebe moved to the best cot and arranged herself comfortably on it, stretching out her leg for a manacle to be fastened to it. She was given a pillow and a blanket. The other two women demurely took their places on the cots, each getting a blanket and their foot locked to a manacle that was attached to the floor. Numbly, Leah moved to the last cot and curled up on the scratchy canvas. The metal of the manacle snapped around her ankle and she thought she might scream.
When the lights went out, it was solid darkness. She could hear Panther crying in the box. Master! Leah cried silently to herself, Master! Please come get me, Master!
The next day, Leah was shaken awake by one of the twin trainers. Panther was released from the box. They were given buckets of hot water and brushes and directed to scrub their room and the box. Leah noticed that Bebe was somehow exempt from this duty was brought into an outer room to have her hair done.
Primrose sidled up to Leah and whispered, "Where are you from?"
"New York. Where are we?" Leah glanced over her shoulder nervously. She could see Miss Dora smoking while Miss Doreen braided Bebe's hair.
"I don't know. Somewhere in Europe I think. How did she get you?"
Leah felt a catch inside her of fresh pain and tried to blink back the tears, "Master sold me to her."
Primrose gave her an odd look, "You sound like you care for him."
Leah glanced back at the doorway, "I-I don't know. It wasn't like this."
