"So."
"So."
Blaine shifted awkwardly on his feet, now dressed in an old white t-shirt and jeans, and looked up at Burt and Carole.
"Um…what should I do…master?" The last word was more of a question than the question itself. Now that he had been bought, Blaine was scared. At least before, he knew what was coming. Sure, he knew a few things about living with vampires, but they were mostly rumors and almost none of them good ones. Nobody really told him much about what exactly happened after the sale was made. Nobody had thought he would have to know.
In that moment Blaine forgot to not think about his friends that he had when he was younger and the school he attended. He sighed. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he was learning about the weaknesses of a vampire, when really it had been less than two months. In less than two months, Blaine went from being poor and on the run yet comfortable to belonging to a rich family that he was scared of. Because while the McKinley Clan seemed to be the nicest out of all the clans and kingdoms that Blaine had heard of, they were still vampires. They were still to be feared. And obeyed.
Instead of responding to his question like Blaine expected, Burt laughed a bit and a smile pulled up at the corners of his mouth. "Well, on the ride back to la casa de Hummel, I'll explain how things are going to work. And don't be scared, it's going to be okay. Kurt's nice, as long as you keep your hands of his clothes. It doesn't matter than he has Marc Jacobs himself to personally design for him, he still treats those clothes as though each one was worth a million dollars." Burt smiled at the thought of his son, and Blaine couldn't help but offer a small smile back. It seemed Blaine was going to be better off than he expected.
After a few seconds, Burt's grin disappeared, and he grabbed Carole's hand motioned for Blaine to follow them with his free hand. Slowly the trio weaved through the crowd until they reached a side exit of the building. It may have been minutes but the time that Blaine spent out in the cold felt like seconds. His head was still fuzzy. Blaine had expected to go to a human farm or get picked up by a small family. He had never expected anything like this to happen. And Burt had asked him to sing! And then, on top of that craziness, Burt had paid double the last bid for him. 100,000 kisos. Then Burt had mentioned something about Kurt.
Being the only active prince between the three clans meant a lot of schooling was used to learn about Kurt. Because Kurt was the future. Kurt was the prince who would take over for his dad and lead the next ruling generation of vampires. Blaine had seen pictures of the boy and Blaine wasn't going to lie – the boy was kind of…hot. The first time Blaine saw a picture of Kurt was one of the first times Blaine had felt that dizziness in his chest and that…feeling…in his body. Kurt was hot. Blaine wasn't going to lie. The fact that Burt went specifically out of his way to mention Kurt, and not Finn (who was his stepson) or anyone else made Blaine curious – it probably meant that he would be seeing Kurt. Personally. In the flesh. Great.
Just as the thought ran through his mind, Blaine saw a car roll bye to pick them up. It was a black car of some sort of model (Blaine wasn't sure what) and as it rolled to a halt in front of him, Blaine almost felt as if he was being kidnapped. Which he wasn't. He had only been sold into livelong slavery. Those two things weren't the same.
Blaine tried to distract himself by studying the car. It looked like a normal, if not roomy, car, but as Burt motioned for Blaine to climb into the back seat, Blaine saw that it was anything but. The car's to back rows were faced towards each other with a table in the middle and drink holders between the stuffed seats. There was a minifridge and then there were Burt and Carole climbing in afterward and shutting the door. Once the car started to move, Burt focused his attention on Blaine.
"Remind me what your name is?"
"Blaine. Blaine Anderson, Sir."
"Okay, Blaine. You're going to be my son's 18th birthday present. You are his. I understand that it's not exactly…appealing, persay, to be owned by someone, but that's how the system works. You are his. So you can call me sir, and you can call Carole Ma'am, but the only one you should be calling 'master' is Kurt. That's only if he wants you to call him that. Understand?"
"Yes, Sir."
"As much as I hate to remind you…you do know what, legally, he's capable to doing to you right?"
"Anything and everything, Sir."
"Okay Blaine – you don't have to call me 'Sir' everytime you speak."
"Sorry, S…umm…."
"Burt."
"Sorry, Burt." Then there was a smile. A faint one between the two men, but it was there.
"So Blaine – here's how this is going to work…"
A half an hour later, Burt announced that they were at the Hummel's mansion. Well, Burt called it a house, but the size of the building was much bigger than any 'house' Blaine had ever seen. Beyond the iron gate that went around the perimeter of the property, the road disappeared into some trees, and, after another five minutes of driving, exited the dark-tree-tunnel to drive into a garage.
The few seconds Blaine had gotten to see the place before driving into the garage was enough to see what the outside looked like.
Blaine had been expecting walls of stone and black shutters, but the reality was different. While the house was grey, it wasn't made of stone, and the three – no four, Blaine reminded himself. Burt had shown him a map of the manor – story building didn't have shutters. Rather, many of the windows (at least on the ground floor) were cracked open. The dark surrounding the building made it hard to see, but Blaine had seen pictures that Burt brought with him. He let Blaine keep the pictures for reference and also gave Blaine the maps that Burt had used to teach Blaine about the house.
About twenty minutes before, Burt had pulled some maps out of his pocket and spread them out. There were four maps, one for each story and Burt had color-coded and labeled them so that Blaine could easily tell what was what. "These blue things," Burt said, tapping a few blue marks on each of the maps, "are doors. If you ever forget what something is, flip the map over and it will tell you. Now, each floor has a sort of…purpose. The basement, which is underground, is used for recreation. There are movies and games down there, so if Kurt ever says you can go off and hang out for a while, feel free to go down there. Just make sure you clean up. The first floor has the garage, the living room, the dining room and the kitchen. All the normal, public rooms are on that floor. The third and fourth floors are where the bedrooms are. Carole's and my room, along with Finns room – do you know Finn? He's my stepson. Third in line to be my replacement, after Carole and Kurt – and Kurt's room is on the fourth floor, along with some guest rooms. Understand?"
"Yes, Mr. Hummel."
Mr. Hummel. Burt. Sir. But not Master. Never Master. Master would be Kurt's name for him, if the younger vampire so chose.
The car parked in the garage, and Carole, Burt and Blaine got out.
"Carole, honey? Would you go check to see if Kurt's asleep? His birthday isn't for a couple more days, and I don't want to ruin the surprise."
When Carole disappeared, Blaine turned to Burt. "Um…Sir, Mr. Burt Hummel…where should I stay? For now. Until 'the surprise.'"
Burt smiled down at the nervous younger boy. "We have a small room in the basement, and because Kurt never goes down there, it would be convenient to have you stay there. It's a squeeze though. Is that okay with you?"
Carole returned. "He's asleep."
Blaine smiled up at Burt. "Sound's perfectly fine to me."
