Head down, avoid eye contact, make yourself smaller, avoid them all.

That was my daily mantra and that was what had kept me alive for twenty-one years. One might see me as a coward but in this world that I lived in, in this world that I had been forced into without a choice, this was my reality. Maybe in some alternate universe, I meant more, I was more but in this world, in this so called sunny south, I was a slave, one of many, an adjunct to a system set in place for generations where the weak served the strong and when you failed to know your place you were killed. It was as simple as that.

Do you know the worst part about the system, it was that anyone could be a slave. That was just the thing. It wasn't like only a particular race or a particular set of people were made into slaves, no, anyone could be a slave. Be you a human, a witch, a vampire, a werewolf or some other species. The balance was always between being safe or not being safe. Today you could be a Lord and the very next day you could be squabbling for crumbs of cheese in a cage with other supposedly lower beings. Just like that, the scales could be tipped against you. But it was more common for people to be made into slaves than for a slave to be granted a castle and live a life of luxury.

Just like the girl who shared my cage with me. She was a very healthy and clearly previously pampered thing. She was already losing some of the color on her cheeks but anyone looking at her would know she had grown up in wealth. She lay huddled in a ball to the side of the cage, her once expensive clothes torn to rags, dirtied and muddy but even now, you could see that it had been made of fine silk. She was sniffling now and she had not spoken much, just crying mostly and asking, no demanding to be taken out. I wanted to tell her that she was no longer one of the elites and she had gotten to the lowest of the low but I really didn't have the energy to do so. It was to be a waste of energy because the more you sympathized with people like her, the more hysterical they got and the more attention they attracted. Most of them never lasted a week in this place. And those who lasted, the masters broke them and from then on, they were worse than common animals.

Did I pity her? No, not really. I felt for her but I didn't pity her. According to her, these three days that she had been here were the worst of her life. To think she hadn't even made an acquaintance with the master's whip yet. It may be so, but some of us didn't even have any other luxury to compare to. I would say my greatest luxury was that one of my previous masters had taught me how to read and write. Oh, that and the fact that I was secretly a witch. Okay, I will admit, I didn't know much about spells and witchcraft but I felt it in my blood, I was a witch. I could do small spells that I had picked up here and there though. If I was exposed to spells and a teacher I would probably be great but even those were fancy dreams because if the master found out I could use my power, he would see me as a threat and my punishment would be great. I had seen what happened to the others who tried to prove strong.

Anyway, back to the girl who shared my cage with me, did I pity her? No. And yet I found myself pushing my dish of bread and a small piece of dried meat to her to eat. I had noticed that she had not been given food ever since she came and she must be hungry. No, I was not being weak, I just didn't want her crying more out of hunger. Yes, that's it. Get off my case.

"Eat." I said simply, watching her. I was sat in a corner of the cage, my knees hunched up to my chest, my arms wrapped around them securing them to my chest. I was used to this but she wasn't. It had been long I made contact with another slave in here, I had no idea why I was giving this girl my food and talking to her. My voice was hoarse from a long time of disuse but she turned to stare at me. Her sniffling stopped and red rimmed eyes looked at me suspiciously. She looked like a mess to be honest and her blonde hair was in muddy, stringy rope like structures.

The girl was human, a delicate little thing. To an extent, I felt bad for her. But still, it was none of my business. If she was going to get herself killed, I was going to stay away from her. She looked from the dish to me, as if expecting me to trap her but I had mastered this game well, I sat and waited. Eventually, her hunger won and she dove for the dish and tore the bread to shreds. She ate so fast and without decorum like a ravenous beast it made me wonder just for how long she had not eaten. A deep forgotten part of me made me feel I should have fed her earlier.

No sooner had she started eating that she was done and she honestly looked less bad than before. The good in me that years of being a slave had hardened throbbed and I felt like I had done something good. I immediately snuffed it. Feelings like that got you killed. I had survived this long, I planned to survive longer.

"Thank you." She said when she was done and pushed back my bowl to me. Her words were refined. She reminded me of the mistress who had taught me how to read and write. Instead of replying, I turned my head and leaned on the bars of the cage, calling off the conversation.

I hated the system and yet here I was, just another slave in the system, my life meaningless apart from serving some potential master. I had been here ever since I was born. One of the oldest, probably the oldest even. Almost all slaves I met were brought in later and if they happened to have children, well then most often the children didn't make it. I was twenty-one years old. And for that long, I had only known this life.

I didn't know who my parents were or if they had been slaves. They were most probably dead anyways. I was alone in this world and I took care of me. I worried about me and that had been enough for twenty-one years. I expected nothing of others and I was good like that. People only did stuff for you if they wanted stuff in return. I had learnt that at a very young age when one master of mine, the worst of all had been seemingly nice to me only for me to pay him back for his niceness with the fruit of my womanhood. That was life I lived.

How many masters and mistresses had I had? Seventeen. Most often, I was not classy enough for them to keep me on as a handmaiden, neither did I have skills to be top chef. So, what they did was recycle me. I was mostly sent in to train new slaves on the way to be and when my work was done, I returned back here, ready to be sold again. Master had fetched quite handsome sums over the years from me. I could buy my freedom back with the number of times master had sold me but master was greedy. I had paid the debt of my life in full to him but here I was, still a slave instead of being free. He made too much money from me. So much that he went against the rules keep me. But who would know? No one cared enough to tell him to let me go anyways.

I turned to look at my cellmate, she had fallen into a light sleep. I crawled across the cage and tore a piece of her dress as quietly as I could and wrapped it around a wound she had on her leg saying a small healing spell I had picked up over the years. Of course I cleaned it first. She looked like a nice person. It would be a shame for her to die of an infection. I quickly crawled back to my corner and closed my eyes.

It wasn't like I helped her much anyways, if she was to die in this place she would still die. Anyway, whatever.

The next day, the master woke us up before dawn and other guards hit the cages with iron bars waking everyone up. My cellmate woke up startled and panicking. I was used to this. For them to wake us up like this, it means there was an emergency buyer and the buyer was important. Some other slaves in nearby cages knew this too and they were already somewhat preparing for it. I rolled my eyes. Here we go again.l,

The guards let us out of our cages and led us in single files to the public baths where we were made to strip and icy cold water was poured on us for us to clean ourselves. It was a whole annoying process. For some reason, my cellmate stuck close to me. I rolled my eyes and went about my business.

When we were done, we were led to other rooms where beautiful dresses were kept. Each of us would wear a dress so that we would be presentable for whatever August visitor they had coming in. I dressed quietly in a pale grey dress, not caring to impress while my cellmate dressed in a pale pink dress. Clean and dressed like this, one could easily see that she had come from riches. For a second I wondered what had happened to bring her here. I shook my head, telling myself not to care and waited for the guards. After a while, they came, gave us food and when we were done eating, they led us out to the showing area.

For some reason, I was nervous, and my new cellmate standing wide eyed and curious beside me was not helping things. I shrunk back, trying to make myself smaller.

We waited there for a while and then I heard it, the click clack of expensive shoes followed by others, presumably guards.

"Lady Karayan. Welcome. It's been long our establishment was blessed with your presence." I heard the master say sickenly sweet trying to get into the graces of the woman. For some reason, I knew this woman was very important. Which is why I kept my head down.

"Well, I won't be here long." The woman's silky, perfectly articulated words travelled across the air. I kept my head down. She moved along the line of slaves, observing and I made myself even smaller, my heart beating fast in my chest. No matter how many times I had gone through this, I never quite got used to it.

Soon enough, beautiful red shoes moved past me and stood in front of my cellmate.

"She looks soft. Too soft for this place." The woman's voice commented. Vampire. This woman was a high class vampire. I suddenly felt really bad for my cellmate. If she was chosen, she would either be used for food or broken beyond recognition. Against my better judgement, I rose my head and stared at the woman. With high cheekbones, a perfect pouty lip and silky, long red hair, she was perfect. Her beauty had me so struck that for a second I forgot where I was and she turned to look at me.

"Who is this? You are bold." She said in interest. I immediately put my head down as my heart beat fast.

"Lift your head mortal." She called in a commanding voice. I raised my head. I wasn't afraid of her, but I had to pretend to be.

"Interesting. This one. Who is she?" She asked my master, turning her gaze for a second. For some reason, her hand was holding my cellmate's jaw. The poor girl was trembling. I felt myself go angry. But I had to control myself. I didn't care remember? The master rushed up to us, eager to sell me again. I looked at him with disgust.

"Oh, her, Gabrielle. She is the oldest here. We mostly send her in to train new slaves and if after a while a master wishes to keep her, he may or if not, she can be sent back." The master explained, practically bowing and yet bouncing on his feet. Just how important was this Lady Karayan?

"I see." The woman said and looked back to me as if trying to figure me out. I kept my expression neutral. Something I had perfected over the years. The woman smirked as if amused.

"I'll take her. With this soft little thing here. I'll take them both. My men will arrange the paperwork." The woman said in finality and giving me one last glance, she turned to leave. My cellmate was shaking like a leaf.

So the woman had bought my cellmate and I. This was.... unexpected.