The old chains bit into the tender skin of her wrists.
"No! listen to me you cant-" She was cut off when one of the oafs backhanded her across the mouth. The taste of coppery blood shut her up for a moment. Her blond hair was covered in dirt and she was gauntly skinny.
"Listen to me you dolts You cannot just" he hit her again and her vision blurred. Then the smaller one with a red beard picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and walked through a large archway into a town. Her blue eyes looked wildly around. This was much different than the small towns she had been passing through this was almost large enough to be called a city. She Was amazed that the tiny groups of survivors had managed this so soon after the fall. Still, being a slave in a city was no improvement over being a traveler of small towns. It was worse if anything. The man set her down hard on a wooden platform jerking her from her thoughts.
"The city of serrac has only three rules. 1)never assume equality with teh resident vampires 2) the darkness's law is final and 3)You have no proporty nothing not things people feelings, nothing. Everything can be taken from you at a moment's notice. got it?"
"Do I have a choice?" She spat. He grinned showing rows of crooked teeth.
"None lass." She rolled her eyes and snorted in disgust at the man.
"Then kindly get out of my face." That earned her another slap. The imbisle had the gall to touch her and get in her face.
She was 400 freaking years old. Who the fuck did he think he was? The beast! She kicked him then hard in the balls and he threw her onto the ground moaning in pain. Stars danced in her vision and her mouth was filled with dusty earth. She pulled herself into a sitting position and he grabbed her around the neck lifted her up. Then he pulled out a metal collar and locked it around her.
He dragged her to the other man who was sneering at her. His pale skin gleamed in the moonlight and he looked almost ominous with his dark hair and mustache. The other, the red haired one, at least looked fairly human. Though she knew by now that he wasn't.
"I've received an offer for a girl from the darkness. I think you'll be pretty enough. Tomorrow night I'm giving you to the darkness's household." He cackled in his deep rough voice. She would have found the sound amusing where she not so annoyed and worried.
"Tell me at least who the darkness is." The man smiled and pulled her up by the hair to the level of his face.
"The darkness calls himself Angelus, though you had better just call him master."
Now I am probably the only soul who will ever be relived at hearings Agelus's name, but right then I felt as if some half assed human god had answered my prayers. Even if only to spite me. Angelus. Just the name brought shivers to my spine and yet I was excited more than anything. Not about him seeing me as I am obviously being human in front of his souled counterpart was one thing, but this kind of weakness will mean god only knows what to my beutiful boy. Still I do not think he will harm me. 200 years together should make him feel at least a little loyal no? I hope so anyways. I'm not sure what I would do if he just threw me away like some whoring slave. I am his sire and he better respect that. I don't klnow why I'm getting myself so worked up anyways. Most likely he'll taunt me for a few days and then turn me and We'll go on a normal as equals as we always did. The men lead me into our shelter as the sun rises and I pass the day trying my hardest to sleep.
The night came slowly. She rose and the men dragged her off to be "prepared". A squat old woman came and toook her to a bathing room where she was stripped of her torn clothing and dumped in a basin of cold soapy water. The woman scrubbed her skin raw and then picked her up and dumped her in another basin of cold water. Once the soap was off of her the woman cut her long hair to her shoulders. She was dried and brushed and put in a long white tunic.Her nails were cut short and her mouth was cleaned. She was hit again on the was out for mumbling about toothpaste. Her vampire caretakers didn't understand.
"You will not speak ever in your native savage language. You will not speak at all unless spoken to. You will not look anywhere you are not told to look. You will make no sound you are not commanded to make. You will not consort with other slaves."
The list went on and on. Darla looked around at the other slaves and noticed she seemed to be the only one that had retained her head. The others stared mutely at the ground as thought they were trying to disappear. Some of them had shaved heads. She figured those would be the laborers. She thanked god she was at least going to be doing something she was familiar with though she wasn't sure she would be able to stand being raped on a daily basis.
"You all should feel special. You have been chosen as Angelus's personal slaves this month." The girl almost laughed at that. Even as a human she had her old sense of humor and after seeing the world fall away she had given up any guilt she might have harbored.
The fact that they would only be alive for a month was something she knew Angelus would have direct influence upon. He seemed to get bored of toys so easily. She also knew that the lucky ones would be the ones that wouldn't stay alive long.
Finally the speech was over and the slaves were given numbers, her's was 4, and herded into the small room they would sleep in. There were other slaves waiting there. Some had bloody marks on their skin. Some were naked. But all of them seemed ready to die. This seemed to scare the new slaves even more.
4 sighed and found a corner to lay down in. She figured now they would spend their time waiting. Food was passed out, but few people touched it. 4 ate all of the fruit and most of the bread. She didn't want to be so disgustingly skinny when she saw him.
There was no guard at the door because no slave would ever try to escape. There was however a watcher to make sure none of the slaves had died each night. it wouldn't do to have the slaves going and committing suicide on the master.
He noticed that one slave was sitting against a wall in a muscle strengthening exercise. He frowned she had eaten all her food. He frowned more deeply when he saw her change positions completely oblivious to his presence and stretch out her calves.
It had been a week since the slaves had gotten here and they hadn't started their training. The trainers liked to start from scratch with skinny depleted slaves so that they could be molded to suit the master's moods. This particular slave looked healthy. Healthier he suspected then she had looked when she arrived. He also noticed she was clean. None of the other slaves had left the slave room to try to bathe. It was odd.
Most astoundingly though was that she didn't smell like fear and pain and death. She smelled excited. When she finally noticed his presence she smelled like scorn. And he didn't like it.
"Slave, 4, come here" She rose fluidly and walked over to him eyes raised until the last second. like she couldn't be punished for that. He hit her across the face but she turned as he did it as to prevent bruising. He hit her in the stomach and she fell to her knees. She didn't rise until he told her to, but he didn't think it was out of respect.
He put on a collar and dragged her to the punishment room. On the way he passed the master. He hated bowing to the master in front of slaves. it lessened his control, but the master didn't care. As they passed the slave stopped. She kicked his feet out from under him in a practiced move and stood removing the collar. Then she did the most ostentatious thing he had ever seen anyone do. She called the master by name and grabbed his shoulder and insulted him.
"Your sense of smell seems to be pitifully deteriorated" She said "I never would have let that happen."
The master froze and his eyes seemed to pop from his head. The watcher started to apologize to the master and scold the slave, trying his hardest to avoid a beating. He hit her hard in the ribs, heard them crack "shut up" raised his hand again, but the master caught it in the air and threw him into a wall.
The master looked sick and he was mumbling. Finally he grasped to slave and crushed her in his arms. She screamed at him.
"If you break my ribs and further they won't heal right and you'll be the cause of my 5th damn death. How would you feel then?" He instantly let go. She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. The master picked her up and carried her away. She smiled at the slaver, over the master's shoulder, as they passed.
