TDWP: The Devil's Mistress

by bearblue

After Paris, in a world where bioengineering is a fact of life and sometimes a fashion accessory, Andrea Sachs had few options, except to rise to the top and become mistress of her own kingdom. Five years later, her world is about to change again as a plot by Miranda's enemies brings the editor low and into Andrea's realm.

8. Chapter 8

TDWP: The Devil's Mistress Ch. 8

Despite her jokes with Lisle, Andrea had prepared for the moment. She deliberately allowed her body to relax, but kept her expression intimidating and neutral. "Ms. Charlton. You've traveled a long way. Please have a seat." She indicated a chair. It was not a light object, but one of the two identical guards promptly procured it and set it closer to Andrea's desk.

"Oh, it's going to be like that. I see. Fine. Ms. Six. Or do you have some other thing you'd rather have me call you." Emily's tone was aggravated. She grimaced, then glanced at the chair, then at Andrea and then at the chair again. She eyed the brunette narrowly, then, as if the act of sitting were suspicious in itself, she settled into the chair with cautious decorum.

"Respect to the Mistress," growled the Tams, which actually caused the redhead to look up and at the guards. Tams' expression was dark and compressed. Their jaws flexed dangerously. Their hands moved near batons at their belts.

"Thank you, Tam, but this is actually expected. Ms. Charlton and I have a prior acquaintance from a different time and are still in process of setting the rules. She is deserving of leeway.

The guards' gaze slid toward their Mistress in disbelief, and then at the redhead. They then settled back, but their hand still lingered dangerously near the handle of the baton. "As you wish."

"I do wish. Please remember that I have Ms. Charlton under guard for her safety; not because she has done anything wrong." Now the guard looked a touch startled, but they offered swift nods. Andrea said firmly. Then, "Lisle, please take the Tam brothers out to the waiting room for a moment. I am sure Ms. Charlton and I shall be perfectly safe in my office."

Lisle smiled and nodded, "Follow me please." The two guards, identical in features, height, breadth and width, and wholly muscular and dangerous, glanced at their Mistress to check. The brothers were not slaves, per se. They had been genetically engineered and grown to be the ultimate bodyguards; offshoot of a military project to create soldiers. They had found Andrea, rather than the other way around, and had offered themselves to her, which she had accepted in all the ways that meant. They were as much hers as any of the others, just differently so. New picture drawn, they now realized that Andrea had entrusted Emily into their care for a reason; an act of ultimate trust.

Andrea kept her gaze impassive and unworried, but inwardly smiled as she watched the reactions of the Tams. Then the two guards, attitude adjusted, glanced around the office as if they might find bogey men in the walls, as they followed Lisle out of the room, which allowed Andrea's shoulders to settle. Now she could focus and do what needed doing.

Emily, who turned in her chair to watch them exit, now returned her attention back to the woman on the other side of the desk. Her gaze slipped over the brunette, taking in features and style and changes with a canny eye. "That does bring me to why I was dragged from my home and bundled along on this trip..."

"Emily."

"Oh, so you do know me." Emily scooted forward in her chair. "I thought perhaps the reason you might..." her voice began to rise, "... never have called..." and her expression became more irate, "... is that you were dead!" The pitch never reached a squeal, but the emphasis was entirely obvious.

Andrea kept her voice low and calm, "To all intents and purposes."

That caused an inhale of a different kind of outrage, but despite that, the redhead continued, teeth clenched. "Intents and purposes. One call. One email..."

"I could not."

"Could not or would not. Were you in Witness Protection? Doubtful. I recognize I was perhaps slightly peeved with you..."

"Slightly?" Andrea smiled a tigerlike smile and scooted forward now, "You sent me packing out of your hospital room."

"You were going to Paris!" Emily's hands landed on Andrea's desk, flat palmed. She glared, knowing full well that Andrea knew what she meant.

"I did send you...," Andrea said, mollifying.

"Damn it, yes you did. And so I expected you back! I expected you back, so I could tell you how... much..." Emily's eyes misted, but her words were still biting, "... I had to take them in. You did that deliberately!"

"I thought you could stand to go up a size." Andrea let her eyes slide over Emily with appreciation. "I see you finally came to that awareness."

"Do not distract me from this tantrum with flattery. You know exactly why I am distraught! I didn't even get a chance to tell you how mad I was at you and you were dead! And I had to forgive you and you were Dead! Andrea!"

Andrea pushed back the chair and stood up, "I was enslaved Emily! I could not call you."

Emily drew back as if struck, going pale. "What kind of enslaved?" she demanded through clenched teeth.

"The worst kind," Andrea said, knowing the punch could not be pulled. But she did gentle it, "Then a better kind."

"Fuck."

"Well. Yes. Plenty of that. I was… altered for it."

"Do not... Do not!" The outrage was not at all directed at Andrea at that moment. It just was spilling over. Emily moved despite herself.

So did Andrea. "There is more."

"Well, of course there is. It's been years!" They were facing one another now, standing very close. Andrea opened her arms and Emily dropped into them, then wrapped her arms tightly around the brunette. "I was going to punish you."

"Ah, but that is my job now."

"Mistress then? For real." Emily sniffled, but her tone held the softer edge of amusement and amazement.

"Of an Empire. Just not necessarily a country."

"We learned from the best." Emily did not let go. Could not. Nor could she stop the sob from her voice.

"She's here," whispered Andrea. "She's safe. And on her way."

"It was you who wrote..."

"Yes. But the danger. I could not reveal who or where. We did not know who had done this to Miranda at the time. And the danger remains..."

"You did have me gathered." Emily pulled back, but only to glare a little, before dropping back into the embrace. Live Andrea was so much better than dead Andrea. "But not Nigel."

"He agreed to it. He was safer and we need someone inside." Andrea pulled back. "We tried to find Serena."

"She saw the wind blowing before I did. Took an extended leave to go see her family." Emily paused. "We broke up."

"Who are currently denying they've seen her. Broke up as in, because she was leaving or..."

"They would. There is a code word. And no, it was coming down the pike. I am, apparently, high maintenance. We're better as just friends. Blah blah." The hurt was genuine. "If she were to call, though..."

"Thank god. But we will check anyway. And, of course you are, but not any more than any other professional woman driven crazy by a demanding boss. If you want, we shall determine if it were just an excuse." Now it was Andrea who hugged Emily tighter. Then she let her go slowly. "Miranda was worried that..."

"Where is she?"

"On her way. But... Emily..."

The caution in Andrea's voice was enough to cause the redhead to pull back and gaze very seriously at the brunette. "What happened?"

"It's not just what happened, Emily. It's what is. And you may want to sit down."

"Now I know for sure I must not. Tell me and don't prevaricate."

"I found her in the Trade, Emily. Her and the twins." Andrea dropped the bombshell as gently as she could. "The girls were offered to me at top price, meaning they were freshly acquired, and as soon as I recognized them, I knew that something had happened to Miranda as well. She was in the process of transport to whomever had arranged it, but since she was not yet owned, I forced the seller's hand. I have them all, and they are safe."

It wasn't often that Emily grew so enraged that words failed. But she trembled in Andrea's arms. "And..."

"She... They are mine. By law and right and sundry details. In all the ways that means, Emily."

"And..."

"One of the reasons we had you picked up is that we were afraid they'd try it on you."

Tears were sliding down Emily's face. "And..."

"She's okay, but much changed. Like me."

"But is she herself?"

"Yes. Mostly."

"Mostly," Emily repeated, grimly.

"I should hope so. Andrea did time things well, for an unintended rescue," articulated a mechanical voice from behind them. The door clicked shut and the person speaking continued. "On the other hand, in a few hours I shall be more myself. To some extent." Emily jerked back out of the embrace and Andrea let her go.

The redhead spun around, teetering a bit. She took in the sight of the shapely woman at the door. She looked much younger, but it was the white hair and crystalline ice blue eyes that caused Emily's heart to hammer. "Miranda?"

"Perhaps I was not specific enou..." Before she could finish, before Emily even consciously registered what she was about to do, the Brit had shot forward and had wrapped her arms around the silver-haired woman.

"You are not ever to die again!" The redhead ordered as she clung tightly. She turned without quite letting go of Miranda. "And you either!"

"I shall see what I can do," Miranda said, trembling in the clasp. She gazed at Andrea, and then closed her arms around Emily. Andrea watched the emotional reunion quietly. They all knew that if the two women were anywhere else, neither of them would have let their guards down enough to express themselves so visibly. But if there was one thing that even Emily had been aware of, it was that, if indeed all of this was Andrea's, she would never let anything happen to Miranda that could affect her in a negative light. And for some inexplicable reason, especially in light of their mostly antagonistic work relationship, Andrea had always been on Emily's side. That knowledge gave both normally reserved women the freedom to express emotions that would otherwise have remained locked away. "I'm afraid the kidnapping was very hard to avoid."

Emily buried her head into crook of Miranda's neck and whimpered. "I am sorry I wasn't there. I am..."

"You could not have stopped it and it would only have meant that you would have been on the block with us." Miranda hugged Emily tighter. "As it is, I am and was very glad..." She drew back enough to look into the redhead's eyes and gave her a single gentle, affirming shake, "That you were not with us. I would have been devastated."

Emily caught her breath as her forehead was kissed gently. Then, inhaled in surprise as her lips were kissed, even more gently. "Miranda?"

"There is much to discuss, not the least of which is current status, how things stand and what it means... But first," Miranda led Emily back to the chair, "... You need to sit. And have something to drink." She cast a glance at Andrea, who accepted the signal and made a silent order, "... and we shall tell you what we know about who did this."

==^==

They were situated more comfortably by the time the explanations were coming to a conclusion. Emily had listened, once Miranda was there, in moderate silence. She had scooted her chair closer to the editor and would, at seemingly random times, touch very carefully and for nearly micro-seconds, as if to see if Miranda were indeed alive, real, tangible. It happened often enough that Miranda finally caught her hand by covering it with her own. Then she held it in a simple clasp, one neither too tight nor too soft.

At which point Emily started casting glances in Andrea's direction, assessing and distressed, but still silent.

The Mistress was reminded that the problem with Emily had never been a lack of emotion or even failure to show that emotion. It had been competitiveness in the work place, to maintain her most coveted spot as Miranda's right hand. None of which applied here.

"When do they take you in for surgery?"

"It's not quite as barbaric as knives and anesthetics these days. More of a, they stick you in a device and you come out newly formed." It was somewhat of a quip, but it made Emily shudder in anger.

"How long? Before you get out?"

"Dr. Montgomery has several things that must be done for me." Miranda glanced at Andrea.

"To you, you mean," the brunette said gently. "It only seems like forever, Emily, but in a few hours, Miranda will be out, if not necessarily fully functioning. She'll need to rest for a day or two."

"I would expect that." Emily said, drawing herself straight. "Is this something that can be observed?"

"Some of it, but not all. We do have observation stations at the medical center." Andrea did not mention how often she utilized the option.

"I would like to see then."

"Of course. We have been thinking of having you stay with us, would you consider it?"

"I have a choice?"

"You, Emily, may have worked for me, but have never been a slave." Miranda said gently, squeezing her hand. "And now, you do not work for me at all."

Again Emily's expression flared into a rage that wasn't directed at either of them. Her tones were clipped. "I choose, then, to stay with you." She looked at Andrea and tilted her chin. "Both of you, as the case is."

"There will be more to discuss then, but you are welcome. I will see to the arrangements." Andrea said.

Miranda gave Emily's hand a final squeeze and said, with surprising warmth, "You will enjoy your closet." She dared a teasing glance at her Mistress. "Andrea has staff with excellent taste."

"Hey!"

For some reason that reassured Emily in ways no other words might have.

==^==

The observation station was situated above the operation room. Emily gazed down through the unopaqued window. Her arms crossed in front of her belly as she watched the doctors move around their stations with precision. Miranda was suspended, upright in a tube, apparently unconscious and floating in a viscous fluid, with many lines and objects attached. Emily knew things weren't random, but seeing Miranda so vulnerable was still disturbing. Mechanical units seemed to flutter around Miranda to some purpose that only the physicians knew.

"Dr. Montgomery is the best."

"So Miranda said."

Andrea's lips quirked in a small smile. She stood close to Emily, aware of the random touches that had accompanied movement around the observation deck. She found it reassuring that the redhead was just as interested in Andrea's tangible reality as she had been in Miranda's.

Quiet had mostly dominated the space, but now that Miranda was fully in the session, the only thing to watch was the professionals at work.

Emily asked, without looking at Andrea, "How did it happen to you?"

"I haven't even told Miranda that."

"Does not change the question." Emily replied. "And we do have hours to while away."

"We do," said Andrea, who finally turned to look at the Brit. Emily's expression was tense and anxious. The Mistress exhaled. "Did Miranda ever talk to you about what happened before I... disappeared?"

"I had to write the report for the police."

"You had to... Oh." Andrea was oddly warmed. She didn't realize that a part of her had even wondered if Miranda had looked for her after. But of course she did. Of course. She had said so. But to hear it from Emily...

She turned back to look down at the woman who had changed her life in so many ways. "I look back now and realize she was just so relieved she had to share. And happy, because Runway was still hers."

"Before Irv managed to taint it."

"We will take care of him." Andrea said firmly. This time she took the other woman's hand in hers and gave it a squeeze, which was returned.

"Yes," hissed Emily. "We shall."

Andrea started to pull away, but the Brit held on, so she stopped. "She said something that upset me. So I needed some time away and, you know, I just couldn't go in and think with all that noise."

"They found your phone in a fountain."

"The people who took me, took my phone. My purse. Everything I had on me."

Emily nodded, her expression grim.

"Do you want to sit down?"

"Not yet." She nodded at the tank. "When the cover comes down, I'll be ready."

"Okay." Andrea exhaled. "I really hadn't gone that far, so you know. I wasn't intending to run away or anything like that. Though I was upset. The phone probably would have ended up in the fountain anyway, from that perspective."

Emily offered a mild laugh.

"It wasn't even that dark. It's just... one moment I was walking and the next, I felt this pain in my neck. When I woke up, I was..." Andrea cocked her head. "Well, you don't need to know that."

Emily turned to stare at Andrea and said, flatly, "What are you not telling me?"

"You already asked me not to tell you that part. So I will not. I will not hurt you that way. It's past and done."

Emily turned away now and stared hard at Miranda. "Something like this... it's not done just for kicks. And there are the willing and it just doesn't make sense, unless..."

"Someone was out to get me?"

"Yes."

"I've found that there are only a few ways this happens to the unwilling. And it is always expensive."

"Narrows some of it down, but who would ever...You were a … and now, don't take this the wrong way, Ms. Six."

Again, Andrea's lips twitched in amusement and she remembered one of the things she'd found attractive about the Brit. "I shant."

Emily clicked her tongue at Andrea, but continued. "You were not exactly a somebody."

"Until I was Miranda's assistant."

"Until."

"I had thought about that. The only other richest person I knew was Lily and she would never."

"Never?"

"No. Not in her nature."

"We didn't think so either."

"You looked very hard for me, didn't you."

Emily, still looking away, just nodded as she fought another sudden onset of tears.

"When I was found by my Mistress and released from certain programming, I was finally able to think on the topic in a sensible way. I came to the conclusion that there was a very short list of possibilities. All of them targeting, not myself, but Miranda. I also came to a conclusion that I might not have been the original target. With that in mind, I quickly realized then that, for me, it did not matter who had done it." Andrea stepped closer and this time turned Emily to face her. She wiped the slow tears away gently. "In that moment, the only thing that mattered was that, like Miranda, I was so very grateful that it was me and not you."

Emily crumpled, finally. Andrea drew her in and held her, for a very long time.

==^==

"We managed to get the blocks successfully removed. I have her undergoing most of the major reprogramming while she is still recovering, so that all you have to do is the command level stuff. She will have full use and range of her language capabilities," Addison said, as she gave them the immediate run down. She glanced at both Emily and Andrea, seeing them not as separate interested parties, but as equal partners, even though she had just met the Brit. The undercurrents were definitely there, and for all intents, they were a united front for Miranda. "I'll have the full feature list for you, Andrea, when she can report it.

"The basic slave commands have been hard-coded to your voice pattern, Andrea, so now Joe Anyone can't just go around giving her orders. We enabled the fight back protocols. You'll want to get her in the gym so she can train up to them. Physically, she'll be just peachy, definitely primed and ready in a day. The standard stay-healthy nannites are and were fully activated, so that is a plus and will help speed recovery. Her sexual features clock is now at," Addison looked at the clock and then the two of them, "... two and a half hours, with the standard one week limit.

"Feature 17 was tricky, tricky. They set some serious modifications. She only has a short range of options up the scale because of some serious hard-coding and dangerous safeguards. I didn't dare touch it until I can get a specialist to take a look. Which, of course, I can't do until you get whatever the hell this situation is, straightened out. As you know, Andrea, she was at seven, which means that whatever they had planned, they wanted it to hurt her in more ways that merely the physical. It barely avoided mindless compulsion, and left only enough that she retained a sense of self and, of course, the usual problems of prolonging denial. We've raised it to four, but that's as far as we can go." Andrea narrowed her eyes and was about to argue, but Addison held up her hand. "Be sure to remind her that denial of needs on any level is a bad idea. We got her to a four, but when we tried to get higher, those damn safeguards started to trigger. Like I said, I didn't want to take any chances. I've never seen anything like it. Obviously, whoever did this had no desire for her to have the capacity to monitor and adjust her own hours. But from a capacity and normalcy perspective, a level four Feature 17 is completely manageable given the time frame.

"As long as she stays on schedule, and has the list of healthy and acceptable candidate partners and I assume your personal willing access, everything will be fine." Emily blinked, and her expression narrowed at the doctor-speak and the obvious implications, but she did not otherwise say a word. Addison continued, "Also, we can expand the hours later, up to two weeks, with some neural programming, so that part is non-invasive. We did some minor fixes and she's still fully functional."

Addison, flipped the chart page. Andrea was aware that she was simplifying and would provide more detail later. "You need to be aware that she can procreate, either way. We have established a basic prophylactic inhibitor, for the phallus. It won't neutralize the actual ejaculation, which you can expect to be about the usual copious amounts, given the standard programming." Addison glanced at the Mistress with only the slightest shake of her head and Andrea just offered a smirk in return. It was another of those physical fantasy features that were notoriously ubiquitous among those who had been bioengineered. Emily suddenly had questions, but held her peace, if not her expression. "We expect her to be a multiple, based on the programming, which was not reversible, so plan accordingly." Andrea nodded, and eye-promised to explain it later to Emily. "The count, however, should be neutral or close to zero, unless you or Miranda request otherwise. Her egg count was regenerated with the original bioengineering, but the inhibitor was already active there. Given the discovery, we can guess that whoever made the original request had some plans for motherhood, for themselves or someone not Miranda, it looks like, so, that's a motivation to consider while you figure out who was doing what."

Andrea growled low in her throat, but Emily just grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

Addison was not oblivious, but ignored it as she continued. "Andrea, I know you've probably already got an idea of who is behind this. When you find them, smack them down hard. You were right about the trap. They intended her to hurt. We readjusted the phallus nerves and the bio interface so she will experience pleasure, rather than pain, guaranteed."

This time it was Emily's turn to, if not growl, express extreme non-verbal displeasure.

But Andrea was exhaling in relief. "Thank god they didn't try it."

"Who didn't try what?" Emily demanded.

"Jayden and Miranda. Jayden's our toy expert. She loves them and they did have plans. But, we now know it would have been excruciating for both of them. Miranda, because it would have hurt and Jayden, because it would have hurt Miranda."

"I see. She is on this... 'playmate' list?"

"Yes."

"I will want an introduction as immediately as possible. I will want to see the list. Will I approve?" Andrea might have, before they'd entered the room, argued that it was none of Emily's business, but instead she nodded. After all, Emily was on the list too.

"You will. Jay has her priorities straight. So to speak." Andrea let go of the armrest she'd been clenching with her other hand. The only reason the indentations disappeared was that the armrest was of the puffy sort. The brunette was ready to move on. Anything else she could read in the paperwork. "When can we take Miranda home?"

"I'd like to keep her here another six hours, just to make sure she wakes up okay and all the stats are what they should be. She rests and recuperates tonight and tomorrow day. No heavy lifting. No heavy pushing." And now Addison pointed and for emphasis shook her finger at both of them. "No sex. Twenty four hours." She dropped her hand. "Report any weirdness otherwise. Headaches, body aches. She should feel otherwise fine, good enough to hug, but not enough to fool around."

"I do get the message." Andrea said.

"Do you?" Addison's firm gaze swung from one woman to the other.

Emily blinked as she realized that was being included in the no sex command and unconsciously straightened in her seat. "Of course."

"Good. I'll make sure Miranda gets the message too." Addison's smile reached her eyes. "We'll send some medication for any swelling, that sort of thing. We tried to be as unobtrusive as possible, but pain is pain. Now," Addison paused to see if they had any questions, but like most worried loved ones, they really only wanted to get Miranda home so they could hover. "I'll send the rest of the report in the paperwork, Andrea. You two go home and rest so she can be greeted by people who don't look like they've been dragged through hell. Go. Shoo. Out."

==^==