I had never seen Master be so cruel and I didn't understand why. All I knew was that a man was being slowly tortured to death two floors beneath my room. Sometimes I could hear his cries as I was scrubbing floors or folding linens. It made my heart stop each time, and I would strain to listen. To hear what, I wasn't exactly sure. This went on for weeks when suddenly Master ordered me to clean the prisoner's wounds. It made no sense to me. Why heal something you ultimately plan to kill? But, of course, I couldn't ask why. I was a housekeeper, a servant. I had no voice- not in this house.

I had been a servant here for almost three years, ever since I turned eighteen. That was the year my father passed and my mother could not support me and my four brothers and sisters. I was the oldest, so it was decided I would go to work and help the family. I had hoped to go to normal school and become a teacher, but we desperately needed money and my uncle was able to find a live-in servant's position for me. At first I was thrilled. The house was more grand than anything I had ever encountered. I felt like a princess in my own room with my very own bed- a first. My wages were enough and I was able to send it all back home to my mother. Over time, however, I realized that Master was strange and unkind. I was more than a little afraid of him. He never yelled at or struck me, but his demeanor reflected a man who was not to be trifled with. I had seen the repercussions of those who dared to defy him.

I had been here just a short time when the first of the strangers arrived. Rumors among the servants were that this man was a demon and Master was scourging him from the earth. His screams, which to me, sounded much like a normal man's, haunted my thoughts and dreams. His torture was over quickly, though. Within two days, his body was carried out in a large gunney sack. I don't know where he was taken, and I wondered if he had a family and whether they would ever know what happened to him. After that, one would arrive every few months. They never lasted longer than two or three days. I never saw these men, just heard them. And so this is how I carried out my days, trying desperately to ignore the horrible acts occurring just downstairs.

But now, I was going to have to see this new stranger. Not only see him, but touch him and tend his wounds. I gathered supplies from the medicinal cabinet, but I wasn't really sure what I'd need. I had no idea what kind of shape the stranger might be in, so I grabbed two or three of everything I saw and stuffed them in my carryall. As I walked down the stairs to the laboratory, I tried to control my thoughts and my breathing. Rumors of demons resurfaced in my mind and I became aware that my heart was thrumming at an accelerated pace. It seemed as if it were increasing exponentially with each step of my descent. Upon reaching the laboratory door, I took three deep breaths to steady my nerves.

When I finally looked through the paned glass window, he was lying so still, I wasn't sure whether or not he was awake. Whether or not he was even still alive. His wrists and ankles were bruised and caked with dried blood where the irons held him captive. He had gashes about his face and body, blood dripping into pools on the floor. His right eye was a swollen, purple mass beneath his brow. It made me cringe just to look at his battered form chained to the floor.

I slowly opened the door and stepped into the room, the door softly clicking shut behind me. The stranger didn't stir. There was a small metal table between the stranger and I and it was loaded with menacing looking instruments. I averted my eyes quickly, but not before I saw hooks, knives, and rods of all sizes, several stained with blood. I made sure to give the table a wide berth and I eased across the floor toward the stranger. I paused, unsure of what to do. There was blood all around him, no way for me to get near enough to him without kneeling in the dark, inky pools. So, gingerly, I knelt, making certain my long skirts provided a layer of insulation between my skin and the blood on the floor.

Now that I was close, I could see the stranger was still breathing, but they were slow, shallow breaths. His eyes were closed and his head lilted slightly to the left. My eyes scanned his body, accessing the damage. His torso seemed to have taken the brunt of it. It almost seemed as if he were wearing a scarlet sweater, there was so much blood on his chest. Other than the abrasions at his ankles, his lower body appeared unharmed. His blue cotton pants were relatively clean, considering the gory mess all around him. His face was swollen on the right side because of his black eye, but was otherwise unscathed, save a few minor cuts.

I pulled a wad of gauze and antiseptic from the carryall. The smell of the antiseptic burned my nose as I poured it onto the gauze. After replacing the lid on the medicine, I wavered, unsure of where to start. After a moment of deliberation, I decided to begin at the top and work my way down. My hand was shaking as I moved toward his face. What if he startled at my touch? Was he really a demon? I held my breath as the gauze brushed against his brow, wiping away the dirt and dried blood. The stranger did not stir. I continued slowly cleaning his face and neck. He had a few cuts and scrapes, and those I bandaged with gauze and tape.

Next I moved to his torso. The gapes there were much larger. I was afraid the sting of the antiseptic would jolt him back to consciousness. Very gently, I began the process of cleaning and bandaging the wounds on his torso and arms. I was surprised that he still did not move. Finally, I moved to his ankles and tried my best to tend the sores there. I looked him over once more to make certain I had not missed anything. Satisfied with my job, I gathered up the carryall and started out of the room. I had my hand on the door, when I heard him speak. The sound caused me to spin around and look in his direction, fearful that somehow he had gotten loose and was stalking toward me. "Thank you," he murmured from the concrete floor. His voice sounded raspy and tight. I was sure the effort had caused him quite a bit of pain. Shaken, I merely nodded my head once and scurried out the door.

As I lay in bed that night, my thoughts drifted to the stranger. I couldn't imagine how he had feigned slumber while I tended his wounds. The pain was surely unbearable. It was almost as if he knew his movement would frighten me. That seemed an absurd notion though. Why would he care if I was afraid? He was a prisoner who was being tortured by my Master. Wouldn't scaring or hurting me be a way to avenge his situation? And I found myself worrying about his well-being. Had he eaten? Was someone looking for him? How long would he have to suffer before Master finally killed him? It took forever for my mind to finally quiet and go to sleep.

The next morning I was doing the wash when I ran into Nell. Nell was a few years older than I and had been with Master for eight years. She was nice enough, but she loved to gossip and could prattle on about household intrigues for hours. As soon as she saw me, she pulled me to the side. "Did you really have to doctor the demon?" she asked. "Ian told me you did, but I didn't believe him. None of us has ever been summoned to the lab. Besides, what would the Master want to doctor the demon for? He aims to kill it, I imagine. Don't you think?"

I admit I had to agree with her. I'd had the same thoughts. "Yes, Nell. It seems strange to doctor something you are planning to kill. But, I did tend to him, just the same."

Nell looked horrified, "How could you stand to be so near the demon? Did he try any of his trickery on you?"

"No, he didn't. He slept through the whole thing." No need to tell her that he was faking. She wouldn't know what to think of that. Just as I didn't.

She sighed in relief. "Oh, Chloe, you've got to be careful. He's a demon and if he looks you in the eye, he can possess you. Promise me you won't look at his face if you have to go back down there again."

"I doubt Master will ask me to clean him again. I can't imagine he'll last much longer." And somehow the thought made me sad.

I continued with my chores until lunch. I always ate in the courtyard if the weather was willing, and that day it was. The courtyard was a beautiful place full of trees, flowers, and all manner of flora. There was a creek that ran along side the southern border and I usually ate my lunch there at its banks. I had just bitten into my sandwich when Ian came to me with another directive from Master.

"Hello, Chloe. I figured I could find ya out here," Ian boomed as he smiled at me broadly. He was Master's second in command and he ran the lab, the household, and from what I could tell, many of the businesses, too. He was a tall, slender man with light hair and eyes. He wasn't handsome, but he was ambitious and boisterous. I know many girls who would find his sort of man attractive. But, it was obvious he looked down his nose at most of the staff, and he was quite fond of the sound of his own voice. "Master needs ya to clean the subject's wounds and replace his bandages after lunch."

The look on my face must have registered with some degree of shock because he smirked a bit before adding, "Master is starting him on a new round of experiments next week and wants to make sure he's in good condition before getting started. You'll need to attend to him each day til then."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Ofcourse," was my dutiful reply. With that Ian took off back towards the house to attend to some matter. I looked down at my barely eaten sandwich and realized I no longer had much of an appetite. I put my lunch back into my bag and stood up. Without another glance at the white, fluffy clouds floating over head, I walked back to the house and studied the ground.

I entered the lab with my carryall and looked at the stranger chained to the floor. Blood had soaked through many of the bandages on his chest, but I could tell his eye looked much better than the day before. The blood on the floor had dried, thankfully, so I didn't have to worry about staining my only other skirts. I knelt down beside him and fished fresh gauze and antiseptic from the carryall. Careful to not look at his face and trying to heed Nell's warning, I began removing bandages from his torso and cleaning the wounds. I was no expert, but I thought they looked much improved. They were definitely smaller and not as deep as they had appeared yesterday. I had just finished redressing the first gash when he spoke. "What's your name?" he croaked.

Without thinking, I answered, "Chloe." Still I did not meet his gaze.

"Thank you, Chloe." His voice sounded strained, a mix of pain and frustration.

"You're welcome," was my nervous reply. I kept my eyes averted and moved to the second bandage. The blood had dried to the bandage, so when I pulled it off it tugged at the raw flesh. I saw him flinch and heard a small gasp escape from his lips. I froze. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this."

He moaned slightly before answering, "It's alright. Please. Continue."

So, I went back to work redressing the wounds. Neither of us spoke again while I finished his torso and then his arms and wrists. I still had to clean his face and was unsure how to do this without looking at it. I figured I'd take my chances with demonic possession rather than Master's wrath for not doing my assigned task.

I lifted my eyes and was taken aback by what I saw. His eye was still swollen, but much less than the day before. I could not believe how much he'd recovered in just one day. His face looked almost healed. And then I noticed how beautiful he was. He was easily the most handsome man I'd ever seen, even with the swelling and discoloration. Although his hair was dark, his eyes were the color of a frozen sea. His facial features were perfect. His nose, brow, and lips looked as if they could have been sculpted by angels themselves. I almost sighed as I took him in.

He noticed my staring and gave me a half smile. It only improved his appearance. I immediately looked back down and could feel my embarrassment creeping up my face. When I finally looked back up, he was staring at me. It made me more nervous than I already was. I wracked my brain to come up with something remotely intelligible to say. I finally came up with, "You must be hungry. Have they fed you at all?"

"Just a little," and for a split second I thought I saw a smirk. "I think he is trying to prolong our time together," he replied. His brows pulled together when he spoke the second sentence and I saw the anguish in his lovely face. I pulled my half-eaten lunch out of the carryall and offered it to him. He nodded his head slightly and I carefully lowered the sandwich to his mouth. He took a small bite, chewed for a few seconds, then swallowed with a gulp. We continued on this way in silence until he had eaten the remainder of my sandwich.

"Are you thirsty?" I asked. I was already moving to the sink before he could reply.

Giving him the water was much harder than feeding him the sandwich. I finally got a little water in his mouth and he sputtered and coughed as he choked it down. I used clean gauze to dry his face.

"Thank you, again, Chloe. You have been extremely kind, and you didn't have to be." Then he gave me another half smile. My heart ached. I had to get out of there and away before my eyes betrayed me.

"I will be back tomorrow to tend to you again." With that I stood and walked to the door.

"Good-bye, Chloe," he called after me.

Once I had cleared the door, I ran up the two flights of stairs to my room. I shut the door and then leaned back against it. My eyes brimmed with tears and I sank to the floor. I could not bear to keep caring for this man while knowing his fate. It was too hard, but I didn't see any way around it. I had to follow Master's orders. And I had to keep it together. The stranger had enough to worry about without having to witness my soft frailties. After a few moments, I stood and dried my face on my skirts. Then I walked back out into the hall and continued with my afternoon chores.