ULTIMATE DISCLAIMER IN PROFILE AND CHAPTER 1!
ULTIMATE WARNING IN PROFILE AND CHAPTER 1!
AU, OOC.
Hey, guys! I can surely say that this chapter has the moment everyone was waiting for.
I'm sorry for not answering to every reviews so far. School takes my time away. I'll try to catch up with them. But I really appreciate your reviews. Thank you!
So, let's get on with it! Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Meet The Master
The melody of chirps floated into the slaves' bedroom, when Sam woke up. He felt a wild shiver run through his body, but it went away as quickly as it came. He slowly started sitting up, scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"Morning, Sam" he was startled by the foreign voice, but then his memory supplied the name: Mark.
"G-Good m-morning" he stuttered out, trying to get his heart to calm down. "M-May I ask w-what time it is?"
"It's half past eight" Mark answered stepping to the newbie's bed with a gentle smile. "Ramon let you sleep in now, but we usually wake up at seven to do the basics around the house: sweeping up the porch, washing up the dishes, if there are some leftovers and so on."
"W-Who did the cleaning b-before me?"
"It was me" Mark shrugged. "I have the skill for it, but I'm better at gardening. That's why the Master wanted another slave for cleaning. Anyway," Mark stepped to the door, "why don't you take a shower and get ready? I'm sure the Master would like to see you soon. Alex is already cooking his breakfast."
Sam nodded and when Mark left, he started to stand up. The process was slow-moving, as more wild shivers wracked his body. He went out to the hallway to the closet and got a shirt and sweatpants out then he went into the servants' bathroom to have a shower. When he was ready, he hesitantly stepped into the kitchen. He saw Alex at the stove, expertly making the breakfast. The luscious aroma of bacons wafted through the air in the whole room, but instead of making Sam's stomach growl out a pleading for food, the smell caused a slight nausea and a painful churn to it.
"Hey, Sam" Alex greeted him. "Sit down! I'm sure Ramon will be here soon to show you around." Sam silently obeyed, crossing his arms on the table and burying his head in them. After a few moments, Alex's small hand lay on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" the young man asked.
"I-I don't feel s-so good" Sam replied, turning his head towards the other man. Alex laid his other hand on the boy's forehead, worry clearly evident in his eyes.
"Well," the young man muttered "you don't have a fever. When was the last time you ate something?"
"Y-Yesterday" Sam answered. "J-Just before the e-exhibition."
"Maybe some food will help you" Alex said and went to the fridge to look for something. Soon he put a bowl of cereal in front of Sam with a spoon. "Try to eat some! These cereals are not flavored, so hopefully they won't bother your stomach."
Sam slowly straightened out and took the spoon with a trembling hand. He cautiously tried a sip and thankfully, his stomach didn't rebel against it. Sam ate a few more spoonfuls, when Ramon stepped into the kitchen. The boy froze, ready to jump for any order, but Ramon just smiled and waved to him to continue his breakfast.
"Is he okay?" the man whispered when he reached Alex's side, who was getting the food on a white plate.
"He said he didn't feel good" the young man replied quietly. "And he's still shaking."
"You noticed it, too?"
"Of course. It wasn't that hard when he shook my hand. I was afraid that he would get a seizure. Do you think he has epilepsy?"
"According to his medical records, no. He's healthy. Maybe it's just nerves."
"Yeah" Alex replied in a whisper, "but for a day now? It's constant and sometimes it gets stronger."
The two of them sneaked a look at Sam, who was oblivious to their conversation. The cereal stood on the table forgotten, not much missing from it. The boy had buried his head again in his arms.
"Here" Alex offered the plate in his hands, but Ramon didn't take it.
"The Master said to take Sam up to him, so he can look at him and inform him about his tasks" he explained. Alex just nodded and turned the stove off. He disappeared from the kitchen with the breakfast. Ramon stepped to Sam and laid a hand on his shoulder. The boy snapped his head up and looked at him, before lowering his eyes.
"Come on" the man said gently. "I'm gonna show you the house, before I take you to the Master."
Sam stood up and followed Ramon out of the kitchen through a door next to and hidden by the fridge.
"These are the back stairs that we have to use to get to the rooms upstairs in the mansion" Ramon explained. They walked up the stairs and reached another hallway. "This door here" the man walked forward to the corner and pointed at the mahogany door at the end "leads to residence of the Master. That is his bedroom and the bathroom is accessible from inside. The Master will give you the orders about the cleaning."
Seeing Sam's nod, they made their way to the other bend in the hallway, where another door waited for its turn to be shown.
"That door" Ramon continued as Sam peeked around the corner curiously, "leads to the upstairs hallway. This way we don't bump into guests on the main stairs." Sam nodded again, remembering a door that'd never opened in his presence in his old home. Maybe because they never had slaves…
Ramon led Sam back downstairs then through the kitchen. He opened another door on the other side of the room. Sam's jaw dropped a little when he realized they were behind the main staircase. He could catch a glimpse of the main entrance from the doorway.
"This hallway" Ramon pointed forwards "leads to the Dining Room. The back porch is accessible from there for the guests and from the kitchen for us."
"W-What are those t-tables?" Sam asked quietly. A row of tables were hiding right under the stairs.
"If there are events in there, we put the food down there, so we don't have to run through the mansion for them." Sam nodded his understanding and the two of them turned around.
"Ramon!" came a voice in front of them.
"What is it, Alex?" the man asked, as Alex stopped by them.
"The Master wants to see Sam" as Sam heard this sentence, a frightened tremor ran through him, feeling some dread sneak into his heart. Oh, God…
"Thanks" Ramon said and waved for Sam to follow him. They walked to the door leading to the Dining Room. The short trip was enough for Sam to become anxious and nauseous again. "You're alright?" Ramon asked a bit worried, but Sam just nodded. He crossed his wrists and threaded his fingers out of reflex and bowed his head. Ramon opened the door and they stepped in.
The room was simply decorated: cream-colored walls with a few golden patterns on the edges, a French window looking out to the left side of the yard. The room opened up to the Great Ballroom to Sam's left, with no door, one step leading up to it. Sam saw huge windows inside for the one moment he dared to look up. The long, oval table was enough for twelve people, but only a man was sitting there eating his breakfast from a simple white plate. On the other places cream-colored plates had been put, all of them decorated with a golden streak on the edge of them. There was a smaller chandelier above and two candleholders on the table with three unlit candles in each, the iron parts were painted in gold.
Sam was led next to the man and they waited for him to finish his meal. Sam looked at the man from the corner of his eyes. He was tall, well-built, he had short blonde hair, the tresses elegantly spiked. Round eyes sat on high cheekbones that made an oval shape out of the attractive face. He had full, pink lips, a little grease from the bacon shining on them, like a strange lip-gloss, but that just made him more eye-catching in Sam's eyes. The strong jaw was starting to take up a square shape, so the face slowly started to lose the boyish features.
Soon the man put the fork and the knife down and wiping away the grease with a napkin he looked up at the two slaves next to him. Sam saw jade orbs looking at Ramon, but then the boy quickly lowered his gaze onto the wooden floor.
"So?" came the silent question from a deep, slightly gruff voice. Sam could easily imagine the full lips parting and letting that voice out, elegantly forming the words. He felt his face heat up, but willed his blush away.
"Sir, this is Samuel" Ramon introduced the boy. Sam frowned inwardly, not letting it show on his face. Sir?
"So he's the new slave for the cleaning" the man nodded as he stood up and stepped in front of Sam. "Did Ramon show you around the house?" he asked the boy. Sam startled from the question, but answered obediently:
"Y-Yes, Master."
"You can leave the Master" the man said quickly. "Sir is enough. The others call me that, too. The Master title is just for the guests. I don't really like it."
Sam felt his shaking worsen for a moment, but nodded anyway.
"Alright" the man stepped closer. "My name is Dean Winchester. I hope you will fit into my home and amongst the others."
"P-Pleasure to m-meet you, s-s-sir" Sam stuttered at the title, not really sure if he's doing something wrong, if he says it to the Master.
"See?" the man smiled gently. "It's easy. Now, to the orders" Dean turned serious. "The day for the slaves starts at seven in the morning. Your job then is to sweep up the porch, clean the table here, in the Dining Room and then tidy up my bedroom. If I see that you're working well, you're gonna be the one who wakes me. For now if I'm not awake by the time you come up to do your job, you call for Ramon. There is no retreat, but after I've gone to bed, you have to keep the noise down.
"You are going to wash the dishes after every meal and every afternoon you let fresh air in the bedrooms, the Dining Room and the Great Ballroom. The hook for the windows in the Great Ballroom is in the cellar under the Servants' Quarters; make sure you put it back there after you're done immediately! Before lunchtime you do the laundry, the washing machine is in the Servants' Quarters. Twice a week you wash the bed-linens as well. In the summer you can hang the clothes out in the backyard, but in the winter you have to use the dryer.
"In every month you have to polish and clean the parquet on the porch. And be careful with the wood! Ramon will help you with that; it's his job as well. Finally, once a week you clean up the tiles of the entrance hall. You understood everything?"
"Yes, s-sir."
"Good" Dean nodded. "For this morning, your job is the entrance hall, since Mark already did a bigger cleaning of the mansion. So, your first week shouldn't be that hard."
"Y-Yes, s-sir."
"Ramon will keep an eye on you and reports your progress to me. Alright?"
"Yes, s-sir."
"Yes, sir" Ramon replied as well.
"Great" Dean smiled satisfied. "Ramon! Give Sam a bucket and some rugs, so he can start on the entrance hall! I'll be in the backyard."
"Right away, sir." With that Ramon led Sam away into the back hallway and back to the Servants' Quarters.
"Alex, Mr. Winchester just finished" the man informed the younger man, who was sitting at the table. Alex quickly ate the last bite of his breakfast and jumped up to do his job. Ramon stepped to one of the counters and opened it. He took out a smaller bucket and put it into the sink, starting the tap to fill it with cold water. During that he dug out a rug and put it into the bucket then gave Sam another one.
"This is a spare one if the first gets too dirty" he explained. "Try to wring it out as much as you can! You can't clean the tiles with too much water.
"O-Okay" Sam nodded. "C-Can I have a-another?"
"Why?"
"T-To put the bucket o-on it."
Ramon smiled gently and gave another rug to Sam without a word. He closed the tap and gave the bucket, too, to Sam.
"Alright, get to work!"
"Y-Yes, sir."
With that Sam left the Servants' Quarters, not seeing the minute shake of Ramon's head at the title.
TBC
So, everyone happy? :D
Do you want me to put up the plan of the house on 4shared . com? I made it myself.
Alright, see you soon!