Master of The City: Danilo Parts 1-4

[jessara40k_lj]

Here's the first section of Danilo - assume I'm pleading for feedback.

Danilo Parts I - XVI

Part I – New Arrival

Danilo had asked permission to enter my territory and I’d agreed to meet him in the Circus of the Damned tonight. I don’t feel the same need to make a show of power as so many masters I’ve seen do, I’m not that insecure. I met him in my living room, Jean-Claude has very good taste, I had made almost no changes to the way he decorated our home. Jean-Claude and Damian asked permission to sit at my feet during the interview and I granted it, but that was my only concession to formality. Danilo on the other hand knelt to me as soon as he entered the room.

“Get up!” I commanded him, not particularly politic, but I always get jumpy around submissive displays. Once he’d stood I continued. “Welcome to St. Louis, Danilo. Did you wish to visit for any special reason?”

“Yes, Lady Anita. I wish to petition you to enter your service. I angered Belle Morte and so had to flee her.”

“What exactly did you do to anger her?”

“Lorn was her favourite at the time and I killed him. He wished to abuse someone I cared for, and the only way to stop him was to kill him, she was never a master.”

“Who did he wish to hurt?”

“My daughter. It was probably wrong to bring her over, but I could not bear to see her grow old and die. Also, our home was destroyed by raiders, I was able to rescue her, but she would not have survived long as a human. I left her with the Traveler, he likes to hear her sing, her voice is the one unusual talent she has, it is wondrous.”

“Just how angry is Belle Morte with you?”

“Not enough to pursue me I believe, but enough that I could not stay at court, or in Europe. I don’t want a territory of my own, but I don’t want to wander America either. You are the only Master of the City that I am certain would not consider my presence a threat, the others are not as secure as you.”

“Why don’t you want a territory of your own?”

“Because then I’d have to worry about holding it, I’d rather serve someone, that way I’m not important enough to challenge.”

“I see.” He hadn’t lied, and as Belle Morte had not made it known that she wished his death he was probably right regarding her level of anger. I decided to see just how much he wanted to serve me. “You can enter my service, but I’m not going to displace any of my existing followers for you. If you want to be under my protection you will have to be a pet. Not necessarily mine, but I will expect you to obey whoever I decide you are to belong to without question, even if I decide to give you to one of the new dead. Do you accept these conditions?”

“Only the one you give me to?”

“And myself.”

“Then I agree. To whom am I to belong?”

“I have not yet decided. For now Jean-Claude can take you to bathe and change your clothes for something more suitable.”

“Jean-Claude take him to my bedchamber to bathe, there should be some silks that will fit him well enough in one of the wardrobes. Spend about an hour getting him ready then bring him back here.”

“As you wish, Master.” I hate it when people call me master, that’s why my pets use that term when they’re upset with me, but Danilo couldn’t know that.

“Go, now.” Jean-Claude rose and led Danilo out of the room. Who would it be fun to offer Danilo to? I sent for Asher, Narcisse, Lucius, Liao, Ji and Michel. They took only ten minutes to arrive and answer my call.

“Danilo came to me and asked permission to enter my service. He agreed to be a pet, under the same conditions as my current pets, but not necessarily belonging to me. Would any of you care to have him?”

“If I might ask Lady, what does he look like?” That was Michel, the others had all met him at least once, at least I assume so.

“Dark red hair, grey eyes, the same height as Jean-Claude, muscled like a dancer. Beautiful of course, he is of Belle Morte’s line.

“Asher, would you care for him?”

“You already share Elaith and Jean-Claude with me, I do not desire more.”

“Narcisse?”

“I prefer to take one lover at a time, and I am with Lucius now.”

“The same applies to me, Lady.” Narcisse wrapped his arm around Lucius’ waist and Lucius leaned into his grip. They were plainly very much in love.

“Michel?” Not in line with protocol, but I favoured him more than the others, he pleased me, and he would be a master one day, I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I knew.

“I am honoured that you would give me this opportunity, but enjoyable as it might be to have a master vampire at my beck and call I dislike red hair on my lovers. I can admire it in the abstract, but not in a proposed lover, I could not tell you why.”

“I see. Liao? Ji? I understand you two prefer to share your lovers.”

“Yes. We do and...” Liao began the sentence then stopped for Ji to continue it.

“we would be glad to own Danilo. We...”

“thank you for your generosity.”

“Then you two stay here, the rest of you can leave if you want to.”

xxXxx

I led Danilo to Anita’s bedchamber. I hate being away from her, but if it pleases her I will obey, and it does please her, it makes her feel better about me if I do not cling to her or others who belong to her as I did when first she rescued me from Alessandro. He watched me the entire while as if I were a puzzle to be solved.

“If I might ask, how do you feel about being Anita’s pet?” I began to run a bath for him before I answered.

“I am content. She is wonderful, kind and generous. She protects what is hers with everything she has. More importantly, at least to me, she is affectionate. It isn’t so much the large things as the small things. The way she is willing to touch me when I need reassurance and the way she holds me to her when I’m scared. And the worst she’s ever hurt me was after I first gave the city up to her, without asking her how she felt about it. All she did was kick me in the face once. Even when she has to punish me it’s never more than a single blow, it’s always the knowledge that I’ve displeased her that hurts more. And she doesn’t consider hurting me a part of sex, not the way some did.”

He climbed into the bath before he spoke again.

“She doesn’t hurt you at all during sex? And is affection so important?”

“Well, a few scratches and bites, but...not the sort of thing intended to hurt me, the sort that just gets lost in the pleasure, and I do as much damage to her during sex as she does to me. It is nice not to have to be careful of her.

“And yes, affection is that important to me. I’d do anything for affection, sometimes when I was a lot younger I’d be grateful to be abused because it meant my master at the time would hold me close afterwards, and it was the closest thing to real affection I’d ever gotten.”

He was silent for a while after that comment, but once I’d told him to wash his hair he wanted to continue questioning me.

“Does she still discuss new lovers with you, even though you’re her pet now?”

“No, but she hasn’t actually taken any new lovers. She says that six is enough.”

“Six?”

“Me, Asher, Elaith, Damian, Micah and Nathaniel. She called Michel to her bed once, but he didn’t please her very much.”

“Why did she trade five vampires for Narcisse and Lucius if she wasn’t going to take them to her bed?”

“Because the vampires she gave to Pilescu had raped me at Alessandro’s orders. She wanted them to suffer, and she knew Pilescu would ensure that better than she could.

“Also...Narcisse had holy water damage on his arm, she wanted to see if she could heal it. When she succeeded that meant that if Asher wanted her to she could heal the damage he’s suffered.”

“But he didn’t want her to?” By this time Danilo was rubbing conditioner into his hair.

“I cannot talk about that. She has offered but he refused for now.” What I didn’t say was that Asher was afraid Anita wouldn’t want him if he let her remove the scars.

“You say you cannot talk about it, why would you know the reason that Asher refused?”

“Because she sends me to his bed about two nights in the week, he is affectionate as well. That might be the real reason I fell in love with him so long ago, he showed me true affection.” I left to get some silks for Danilo to wear, black would do well enough, in the future whoever Anita gave him to would dress him. I was sitting on the bed waiting for him when he came out of the bathroom, and his clothes were lying on a chair.

“Come here, and I’ll dry your hair off for you.” He complied and I took the towel from his hand to begin working on his hair.

“I don’t understand, Anita shares you with Asher?”

“Yes.” I shifted slightly, I’d been with Asher the night before and he’d left me with five inches of metal inside me. “I think as much as anything it’s to give her some time when I’m not clinging to her. She also sometimes calls us both to her bed together, or she calls me and her Nimir-Raj to her bed together.”

“I...hoped that she would want me herself. I know she found me pleasing in appearance when she first saw me, even though she refused Belle Morte’s offer.”

“She prefers to have some emotional connection or power linkage to her lovers under normal circumstances. You are lovely, but she feels neither of those things for you.”

“Oh. Do you sleep here during the daylight hours?”

“Yes, except when I’ve been lent to Asher for the night.”

“Do you have any idea who she’s likely to give me to? And can you give me any advice for pleasing them?”

“Asher or Narcisse would be the
obvious choices, but I’m not sure she’d be willing to share Asher, she already lets him borrow me and Elaith. Narcisse has this thing about monogamy, like the Dragon does, and he’s with Lucius, which leaves Lucius off the list. She favours Michel, apparently he’ll become a master at some point, I don’t really know much about his tastes, I was only with him the once willingly, but I can’t imagine he’d be too unpleasant. Well except for the fact that he isn’t a master yet. Liao and Ji like to share their lovers, usually they prefer a threesome, but they aren’t too bad. I don’t know about Meng Die’s preferences or Faust’s.” I’d managed to get most of his hair dried off when I heard her voice in my head.

“My pet, get Danilo dressed, and bring him here now!” I barely stopped myself flinching. It couldn’t have been an hour – could it?

“You need to get dressed now,
Danilo. My master just called for your presence.” My tension must have communicated itself to him for he hurried into the silks and walked down the hallway with me rapidly. We passed Damian on the way, he smirked at me, and made a point of slapping me on my ass. “She seems a bit displeased.” He whispered it to me. Danilo looked shocked.

“Why did you let him do that? You are still a master and he is not.”

“And we are both Anita’s pets. At the moment she favours him, she is... disappointed with my behaviour. It displeases her when I act like a pet, particularly in public. She is not so disapproving of such behaviour from Damian or Elaith. But I...embarrassed her in front of her police friends.” Inside I squirmed at the memory of the horror on her friends’ faces when I curled up at her feet in the cinema, and the fury I felt radiating from her as she pulled me up to sit beside her.

“Besides, you know Damian doesn’t like men, that was as likely as not ordered by Anita.” He was blessedly silent as he continued along the corridor with me. When we reached the living room we both went to our knees, I know it pissed Anita off, but it was an automatic reaction.

“Jean-Claude, go and wait for me in my bedchamber.” I stood and turned to leave making my way back. As I left I heard Anita speaking to Danilo.

“I’ve decided to give you to Liao and Ji, but first...”

xxXxx

“I’ve decided to give you to Liao and Ji, but first you need to swear your loyalty to me. I assume that you expected this?”

“Yes, Anita.” I turned my head so that the big pulse in my neck was towards her before beginning my oath. “I swear fealty and service unto you until such time as I am released from my oath. I will serve you with all I am and have. I vow myself to you.”

She came to me, bent over me to take a mouthful of blood then offered me her wrist. Placing her hand on the back of my head as I bent it to take a mouthful of hers in return she spoke. “As Master of the City I swear to you my protection. My blood you have drunk, my flesh you have touched. You are mine.”

Afterwards she raised me to my feet and pushed me to Liao and Ji, I never could tell them apart, even their powers are identical. One of them grabbed me by the wrist and began to drag me out of the room and along the corridors.

I couldn’t really believe the way Jean-Claude was acting, how could he be so submissive? I knew that the council had declared him to be Anita’s personal pet...but most pets weren’t that broken. Did Anita abuse him in some other way? He’d made a point of talking about how wonderful she was, how she never hit him more than once when she needed to punish him, never hurt him too badly in bed and was affectionate towards him. But...if she was so wonderful why did he act as if he were new dead?

We’d reached their bedroom, the one who didn’t have ahold of me opened the door.

“In.” and the other one pushed me into the room and down onto the bed. I felt both of their hands on me, stripping the thin silks from my body.

“We’ll have to...”

“get you some more appropriate clothing...”

“if you’re going to be our toy. But...”

“for now, we’ll...”

“try you out.”

They were very demanding, but not unpleasant, Jean-Claude had been right about that. I tried to make it last the rest of the night, to put off finding out what they considered appropriate clothing, and they pinned me between them as dawn approached.

xxXxx

Notes: This section describes my very warped ideas of Anita and Jean-Claude’s sex life. You don’t need to read it, you can pick up the story from the next section if you want to. The entire purpose of this section is to showcase Jean-Claude’s new submissiveness.

Part II – Bed Games

I waited on my knees at the foot of the bed for Anita, it’s how she’s come to like me to wait. When she came in she just sat on the bed and held out her feet as a cue for me to undress her, I buried my face in her groin once I’d gotten access to it, if she didn’t want me to pleasure her in that way she’d tell me. Once I sat back on my knees, my face slick with her juices she spoke to me.

“My pet, is there anything in particular you’d like me to do with you tonight?”

I knew that my shock was showing – Anita’s my master, it’s her right to decide what we do in bed and she always had before. But I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to ask for something I hadn’t realised I needed until Anita was brought over. I crawled over to the chest she keeps by the door, it contains sex toys she sent me to buy – which was rather embarrassing – and the things I brought back from Pontoise. I pulled what I was looking for out of it and took them over to lay out on the bed: short heavy chains to link to my collar and cuffs; lighter chains to be attached to my nipple rings; a vibrator; a double ended dildo in a harness, and something we hadn’t used before, a little harness that would go around my dick and keep me from coming. Anita glanced down at them then looked into my eyes.

“Tell me what you want, I can’t tell from this.”

“I...I want you to take me, use me for your own pleasure then leave me wanting.” I couldn’t bring myself to meet her eyes as I spoke and I knew I was trembling slightly – perhaps a lot. I could hear the outrage in her voice when she replied, I didn’t need to see it on her face.

“I won’t do that to you Jean-Claude. I won’t abuse you like that!”

“Please ma petite, it is something I need.” As I begged her to give me what I needed I couldn’t believe that I was begging my master to take her pleasure of me, it was totally humiliating, and that just made it better, that she could make me beg her to abuse me. Except she wasn’t making me beg, I was doing it without any prompting from her and I was almost coming in my pants at what I was doing. Until Alessandro brought her over I didn’t realise just how much I need to be dominated.

“You forgot something. A gag. I don’t want to have to listen to your voice.” Anita’s voice was cold, distant. I stopped speaking and ran to obey her, coming to kneel by her side offering the gag to her, a ball-gag, it was the first one I saw.

“Put it on. Good, now strip for me.” She used the vibrator to bring herself to climax while I obeyed. Next she tossed the harness to me and ordered me to put it on.

“Help me into this contraption.” I guided the smaller end of the dildo inside her before fastening the harness around her waist and thighs, then she locked my wrists to the collar and hobbled my ankles using the thicker chains. Next she attached the thin chains to my nipple rings, and held them in one hand and finally she pulled the gag out of my mouth.

“Suck on this, and do a good job because that’s all the lubrication you’re going to get.” I obeyed instantly, coating the dildo thickly with saliva until she jerked my head up off it. She pulled me up onto the bed and tethered me there using the chains attached to my nipple rings, then she pushed me so my knees were underneath my body and my face was pressed into the covers. She pulled the plug Asher had left in me out, then thrust into me violently. She set up a hard fast rhythm that hurt and punished me until I felt her convulse above me in orgasm, then she began thrusting again, slowly this time, hitting my prostate with every thrust. It almost felt worse than when she was hurting me, and it lasted at least twice as long before she came for the fourth time that night.

xxXxx

I pulled out of Jean-Claude, hearing him groan, the first sound he’d made since I’d taken the gag out of his mouth. I unfastened the chains attached to his nipple rings from the bed then kicked him off it, keeping hold of the chains so I could control him. He fell loosely, made no effort to spare himself. I couldn’t understand this need he seemed to have to be dominated, but I’d give him what he needed, and if it was enjoyable for me so much the better.

I hesitated, wondering for a moment what to do next, then I knew. Taking the harness from around my waist and pulling the dildo out of me, I slid the vibrator into him and switched it on, eliciting another groan that I rewarded with a slap across the face. I pulled on the chains in my hand until Jean-Claude struggled to his knees and pressed his face into my groin. Words were unnecessary, he gave me another demonstration of just how good with his tongue he is until I tired of it and pushed him off me. It was about an hour before dawn by that point so I unbound him, well, all except for his cock and helped him stand.

“Clean everything up and put it away then get dressed.” He got that done in half an hour and curled up on the floor at the foot of my bed waiting for dawn. I went to the door and opened it so my bed companions would know it was permissible to enter. Damian was first to enter, he stripped and lay beside me on the bed, wrapping his body around mine. Micah followed not long after, then Nathaniel and my other leopards. I drifted off to human sleep surrounded by their warmth.

It was just after noon when I awoke, Jean-Claude would be waking up in an hour and a half just as Asher would. I stepped over him, bending to remove the little harness from around his cock, and walked through to the bathroom where I showered, adding the shower was one of the very few changes I had made to the décor. I had developed a different sense of style while dating Jean-Claude, and now my wardrobe was very different to what it had been before I met him. But I would never lose my taste for black jeans even if now I teamed them with silk shirts or shirts covered in lace rather than cotton T-shirts. Today I wore a deep purple silk shirt with my jeans, I didn’t wear blue jeans anymore, not really. And I’d started wearing boots on most occasions, today’s pair being knee high suede with inch high kitten heels.

I treasure early mornings, they’re the only time I have when I don’t have to be Master of the City, and I’m as likely to sleep at night as during the day. But I really miss my morning cup of coffee, blood just isn’t the same. I have to mark a human as my servant, even if it’s only so I can taste coffee again, I can’t through Micah or Nathaniel. I’ve never actually fed on humans or animals, even when I was new dead my status was too high for that and my morning snack today was one of my new leopards, a cab driver called Brad.

My followers would be horrified if they learned that the Master of the City still practises with guns, so I do it before any of the vampires are awake, there’s a long empty room in among the old dungeons, I practise there. I also practise sword-fighting with Damian, Jean-Claude and Asher and hand to hand methods with some of Elaith’s harem, I want to learn them as skills. I really don’t want to ever have to depend on pure strength, I’m stronger than Jean-Claude physically now, heck I’m stronger than Elaith, but there could always be someone stronger. Anyway, it’s fun and it helps me relax.

When they woke up Liao and Ji asked me to give them time to get Danilo properly dressed as their pet and I granted them permission to do so. I even lent them Jean-Claude to help if they needed it. When I told him of my decision he asked whether I would grant permission for him to give Danilo a tour of the Circus and perhaps St. Louis if he wished it later. I told him that of course I would, it was good to see him willing to suggest leaving the same building as me of his own accord. Apart
from that it was a normal night for me. I think that I have it a lot easier as Master of the City than Jean-Claude ever did. No vampire would ever risk entering my territory without permission. And I don’t have to settle as many quarrels as he apparently did. My vampires are also incredibly law-abiding; RPIT is almost out of business, at least when it comes to vampires.

xxXxx

Part III – Clothing

I was sandwiched between my new masters
when I awoke. I still couldn’t tell which one was Liao and which one Ji. The one in front of me had his leg wrapped over my own, crooking my knees towards him and his arm across my ribcage, while the one behind me had his leg over my waist and his arm across my shoulders. I was pinned down fairly effectively, so I relaxed and considered the ways I had been used the previous night while waiting for them to awaken. It hadn’t been too unpleasant, but I am unused to pleasing a man, or two as the case may be, all my previous lovers had been female and it was apparent that I had a lot to learn.

They finally woke at about five in the afternoon, but they didn’t speak to me until I began to dress.

“No. Do not...”

“put everything on. Just...”

“wear the pants. Did...”

“you bring any clothes with you?”

“Yes, they’re in a hotel room. The hotel’s got my credit card details so they’ll keep the room open for a while. I’m not sure exactly how to address you. Do you wish me to call you master?”

“No, of course...”

“not. Even Anita isn’t called master in St. Louis, not...

“as a general rule. Only when we have guests who must be impressed or...”

“insist on the formalities. Use...”

“our names.”

“I would, but I cannot tell you apart. Is there any way that I can use in future?”

“Yes, Anita decreed that we are...”

“each to wear only certain colours. I am Ji and she limited me to green, blue and purple.”

“I am Liao and I am only permitted to wear red, orange and yellow.”

“We are both permitted to wear black or white...”

“as long as we wear at least one large garment in the distinguishing colours.”

“Thank you.”

By this time they were both dressed, and so was I in what little I was permitted to wear. Liao was dressed in black jeans with a red cotton poet shirt while Ji had chosen a navy suit. They were both wearing black dress shoes. They told me to stay until they returned for me, they’d send a shapeshifter for me to feed on and to send for the rest of my clothes, the clothes I’d been wearing when I arrived had been delivered here while we slept.

It was almost an hour later that Alex arrived. He was a wolf, which surprised me somewhat. When I asked he explained that Anita was still Bolverk for their pack, and so the wolves that didn’t mind donating blood served her as pomme de sangs. How a vampire can hold a subordinate position in any shapeshifter group – much less a group of animals she has no affinity for – is beyond my understanding. But apparently Anita takes care of all the dirty work for Richard, the local Ulfric, even though he broke up with her and they’ve dissolved the triumvirate links, just because she feels she owes it to the wolves. She also owns the local wereleopards, which is closer to normal, most Master Vampires with their own territory control the local shapeshifters that they can call, but she uses their terminology, she is their Nimir-Ra, and she claims one of them as her Nimir-Raj, her consort.

I fed quickly from Alex, taking as little as I could and then gave him my hotel keys with information on where to find my room. By the time he got back dusk had fallen and my masters had returned to play with me a bit more, they wanted to refine my skills at fellatio. The lesson was interrupted when he delivered my clothes, I’d only brought two suitcases and Liao and Ji wanted to go through them immediately. I was a bit disturbed by how little of my wardrobe met with their approval. I’d
brought two pairs of tight black leather pants, they were acceptable, provided I did not wear anything with them, and so were seven silk shirts, in black and shades of blue and green. But nothing else passed muster. I was very nervous at the
thought that they would be choosing what I wore in the future.

Just after ten Jean-Claude knocked at the door and entered when he was bid to. He was wearing the same sort of thing he wore when he’d been given a free choice of what to wear, save that he was barefoot: black linen pants, a dark blue silk shirt and a black satin jacket cut close to his body. I was very jealous, and yet I almost saw a flicker of envy on his face when he saw how little I wore. He was wearing a silver collar and cuffs at his wrists and ankles, perhaps he envied me that I did not have to wear such visible reminders of servitude. If his envy had another source I did not want to know.

“I’m supposed to help you find appropriate clothing for Danilo?” It sounded like a question and Liao nodded in response before Jean-Claude continued. “As none of us can drive Anita told Stephen to take us where you want to go. Shall we set off now?”

They didn’t bother to respond verbally, just started walking, when we got to the car Jean-Claude sat beside Stephen in the front passenger seat and Liao and Ji sandwiched me between them in the back. It shocked me when he automatically fastened his seatbelt, why bother? After all vampires don’t need to worry about dying in car crashes. When he realised what he’d done and noticed the way I looked at him he bowed his head, letting his hair fall into his face before speaking.

“Anita insists that everyone in a car with her wears a seatbelt, it’s become a habit.”

I didn’t have any answer for that and we remained silent for the rest of the journey. The first store we went to was fairly normal and all we got there were pairs of jeans, tight enough that there was no way I’d be able to wear anything underneath. Liao whispered to me that it didn’t matter how long they were, as the legs would be cut off anyway. I ended up with seven new pairs of jeans, five black and two dark blue. No one paid that much attention to Jean-Claude there, instead they listened to what Liao and Ji had to say, humans can’t usually tell how powerful a vampire is so they probably didn’t realise that I was a master.

When we went to our next stop, a firm specialising in making bespoke clothing, marketed for vampires it was different. Apparently Jean-Claude is one of their most valued customers, and so is Anita, although she’s never actually come in to be fitted for anything. They had to work from what Jean-Claude told them about her sizing, which makes me wonder just how obsessed with her he must be to be able to do that. For all that it was made very public that Jean-Claude is no longer anything but Anita’s pet the assistant who attended us spoke to him for the most part, rather than to Liao or Ji. They still acted as if I was little more than a doll to be dressed how they pleased. But Jean-Claude only questioned what Liao and Ji chose for me once.

“You do not seem to be considering what Danilo would wear if his presence were required on a formal occasion. Forgive me if I am presumptive, but Anita does not approve of clothing that is so...sexually provocative.” Considering that they hadn’t chosen anything that covered more than the bare minimum of skin in this shop that was a reasonable concern as I hardly expected to be permitted to wear jeans, let alone cut-off jeans, on a formal occasion. But a master vampire should not be deferring to lesser vampires, and that is what my new masters were, Jean-Claude’s inferiors, and mine.

“True. Tell us...”

“what then would you...”

“suggest?”

It was Ji who spoke first, and Jean-Claude’s response was very surprising to me considering his personal taste in clothing.

“Something more ‘normal’, closer to human standards of formal wear. Or something like what he was wearing when he swore his oath to Anita, perhaps in a colour that looks very good on him.”

They seemed to consider his words for a few minutes, then began discussing something with the assistant. Eventually they decided that I’d be wearing heavy brocade pants with a loose shirt of thin linen woven with gold thread on formal occasions, not that I was consulted, nor was Jean-Claude. They ordered two pairs of the pants, one in a blue green, and the other in a golden green and four of the shirts.

Once we’d gotten back to the Circus they left me in their quarters with Jean-Claude, just left us there, like children. They couldn’t order him to stay with me, but they ordered me to wait for their return. Jean-Claude hesitated before settling down on the bed, curled up like a cat and I decided to join him.

xxXxx

Part IV – Explanations

Danilo sat beside me on the bed, he seemed most uncomfortable around me, but Anita had told me to make sure he settled in, and that meant I had to answer his questions, no matter how awkward they might be. He didn’t seem to want to be the first to speak, so I started the conversation.

“Would you like me to brush your hair out for you? I always find that relaxing.”

He started when I spoke but agreed, if I wouldn’t mind. Why would I mind brushing someone’s hair? Besides Danilo’s more powerful than I am without the power I got from Anita if that mattered here. I went to get the brush then sat behind him and started brushing his waist length hair beginning at the ends. He sat stiffly for a while then he relaxed under my ministrations. I’d almost worked right through his hair before he spoke to me.

“Doesn’t it...upset you that you used to be Master here, and now everyone seems to ignore you?”

“Not really. I only ever wanted power to be safe, Anita is perfectly capable of keeping me safe, and she isn’t abusive, not intentionally anyway.”

“Not intentionally?”

“She...doesn’t really understand how much I adore her. She has a tendency to condition her affection on how much we comply with her decisions, it doesn’t matter now, at least not for me.”

“So, if you let her dominate you, and submit to her without question then she’s kind, but not if you have opinions of your own?”

“Not exactly. One of her leopards, Nathaniel used to be a mess. He needed someone to tell him what to do almost constantly, she doesn’t really like that. She does prefer her men to have some independence, but she doesn’t like it when people argue with her...worldview, or do things she thinks are very wrong. And she doesn’t really understand how I want to submit to her.”

He turned to me, so I couldn’t continue brushing his hair and took hold of my chin.

“You want to submit to her? But...you’re a master vampire.”

“Yes, but even though I am a master I’m submissive, at least sexually. I always have been, and with someone I know won’t abuse me, or not too badly, and will protect me I tend to be submissive in other ways.” The complete lack of understanding in his eyes told me that I wasn’t getting through to him, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t likely to talk about this. He remained motionless for a few minutes, then he reached to take the brush from my hand.

“Turn around. I’ll brush your hair out for you now.”

“It might be better if I lay down instead.” I matched actions to words, stretching full length along the bed on my stomach, by now my hair falls to my knees when I’m standing. He murmured his approval, and ran his fingers along my back before he lifted an armful of my hair to begin brushing it.

“Does Anita make you wear these?” His other hand wandered to touch lightly on my collar, then to the cuffs at my wrists.

“No, it was my idea. I thought it would make the transition easier if there was some visible symbol that I belong to Anita. It seems to have worked, although...”

“Although what?”

“Even before Alessandro captured me some vampires acted as if Anita led the triumvirate, I know that there were at least five occasions when a visiting master came to her for permission to enter St. Louis, not to me. She always directed them to me and made a point of telling them that it was none of her business whether I granted them permission to enter my territory or not. It didn’t damage my power-base too much.”

“Oh! There’s something I’ve been wondering. Why does Anita hold a subordinate position in the local werewolf pack? She doesn’t have any mystical connection to the wolves anymore, and even if she did I’d expect her to rule them.”

“Because she feels that she owes the wolves that, their Ulfric is kind and fair and just, but he is not ruthless, that is sometimes necessary, to keep the pack safe. Anita has given her protection to some of the pack members, and so she serves as his Bolverk, to keep them safe. She was lupa until we finally dissolved the triumvirate. It took her insistence that there was no mystical connection between her and Richard any longer before the pack would agree to let Richard choose a new lupa. He’s destroyed his power-base in the pack pretty effectively.”

“If the triumvirate has been dissolved...did you all remove those jewels set into your skin we’ve heard about?”

“Yes, but I wear Anita’s insignia in a different place now. If you’ll lift my jacket and shirt at the back you’ll see it, in the small of my back.”

He raised my jacket and shirt as I had suggested and ran his fingertips over ma petite’s insignia. I shivered under his touch and, bracing himself with one forearm on my back and the other hand on my thigh, he dropped his head to lick in the same place. Immediately I felt his tongue on me I threw him off and leapt away, I ended up huddled against the wall on the opposite side of the bed from him.

“What is wrong, Jean-Claude?” He held his hand out to me and his voice held only mystification, and some hurt.

“If I overreacted then my apologies, but...your behaviour just now reminded me of something that happened while I was in Alessandro’s ‘care’.”

“And what happened there damaged you so badly? Please, come sit beside me, my word that I shall not sexually assault you.”

“I realise that, I know my behaviour is foolish but...” I trailed off, then I slowly walked towards the bed and climbed on it to sit by Danilo.

“Anyway, I don’t think Anita would be willing to share you with me, would she?”

“She would most likely kill you for touching what is hers. I do not mean to be so... weak.”

“You were raped, repeatedly. I confess, I do not quite understand what is different about this time, but I cannot blame you for your reaction.”

“Before, when I was abused, it was always with my master’s permission, this time I was stolen away from Anita, it makes a difference.”

Danilo hesitated, then he reached out and pulled me to him, I did my best not to stiffen in fear, but when I did he stopped pulling me and let me calm down. Eventually I ended up leaning against him, relaxed into his body while he stroked my hair.

“Is that why you were so uncomfortable while you came to visit me when you were waiting for a chance to petition the council, because you only felt safe beside her?”

“Yes, but the Dragon forbade me to join them while they hunted and Anita had ordered me to make contact with old acquaintances, so I did. It helped that Asher was there with me the first time, and Damian was there the second time. They both belong to her as well, and that helped. Was it so obvious that I was uncomfortable?”

“Not really, but...you didn’t show the same confidence you used to, and in a way that was enjoyable. Will I be allowed to move freely here?”

“It depends on what Liao and Ji decide, but eventually yes. You’ll be able to move as freely as you wish given how they require you to dress. If you wish it I would be willing to show you around, our home or St. Louis, whichever you prefer, Anita has already granted permission for that.”

“I did not thank you for making sure that what I am to wear on formal occasions doesn’t leave me mostly naked. Do you choose how you dress or does Anita?”

“Anita is the one who decided that she didn’t want me to wander about half or mostly naked, that’s why I suggested that Liao and Ji pick out something that covered a bit more skin for you for formal occasions. I dress as I did before Anita became a vampire, but when we first got back from the council I tried dressing as a sex toy, in minimal clothing, again to make my changed status clear. She found it distasteful.”

“Why would she find the chance to see your beautiful body distasteful?”

“She didn’t. But she didn’t want anyone else to see me mostly naked. That means she prefers me to cover up my body. She could have chosen to make sure none of my skin could be seen, it would be within her rights, and I think she would have, except she’s the council’s representative in America now.” Suddenly I sensed her calling for me. “Forgive me, but I must leave, Anita requires my presence.”

I left, hurrying to my master’s side – even if she won’t let me call her that in public (in front of the humans) she is my master. She was awaiting me in her study, and I could sense Asher’s presence and Damian’s, but not that of her new acquisitions, they think of her as almost a goddess and that makes her uncomfortable, she certainly couldn’t ask them for advice.

xxXxx