Silence and awkwardness settled in the beautiful room like a suffocating blanket in the middle of summer and I stared ahead at my hands, still fondling the little piece of cloth that said I was free after this.

I mulled my options over in my head, analyzing everything with a keener focus than usual in these situations. So many questions rushed to my mind and for the first time since I was a slave, I was more than curious about my new mistress and everything that surrounded this place.

I didn't know much about the politics in Lakaiyah. All I knew was, I was in the Southern Regions, the Lord here was Lord Kyryaan. You can't really blame me. When you've been a slave all your life, nothing else seems to matter apart from your survival. What does it matter who rules the regions? What does it matter how they are? Well except it did now and I mentally smacked myself in the head from never paying attention on those rare moments when other slaves would talk, discuss and giggle at length about the heads of the various regions of Lakaiyah.

It was just my bad luck that my mistress lived in the same mansion as the Lord of the Southern Regions and from her carriage and that grand reception downstairs, she was very important here. A thought snuck into my head, wondering who she was to him but it quickly snuck back out. It was none of my business. I was here to train the doll and try to survive long enough to my freedom. Freedom, it had such a hopeful taste to it but I knew it was much more complicated than anything.

It wasn't just enough to be free in this world. Even if I got free, how would I survive? Under the clutches of a master or a mistress I was safe from anyone else but out there, anyone could have access to me, be it vampires, werewolves, witches, fae or any other creature. Humans were known to even be as barbaric as the vampires themselves. I know I thought a lot and I spent too much time analyzing the bad aspects of life but I had grown up that way and it was the only thing that kept me sane. When you thought about the bad things and sort of expected them, you were less likely to be disappointed when it happened. Hopeful people always got disappointed. I had seen it one too many times as a slave.

And the doll beside me was too hopeful for her own good. Speaking of which, I needed to stop calling her doll and maybe find out her own name seeing as I was going to be training her and all. I dragged myself away from my thoughts, letting my eyes trail around the room and back to her.

My eyes skipped over a large Queen Sized bed with white covers and too many stuffed pillows, red velvet cushions, the color of blood surrounding an expensive looking glass table, a huge dresser laced in gold with the shiniest and most expensive looking things in it that I had ever seen that overlooked a very wide mirror that had writings, inscribed around the edges with what seemed like a moon-like circle right at the very bottom, to two locked doors to the side, one which probably led to a closet and the other which probably led to an adjoining bathroom, gold laced blinds and off to the side, a large human sized cage that would have looked brand new if not for the piece of hair stuck to one of the bars and some blood. I shuddered at the sight and quickly dragged my eyes away from it.

It set a sinking feeling in my stomach and it reaffirmed my previous analysis that Lady Karayan was not one to joke around with. She was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. I couldn't assume whether she left the cage there with the hair and the blood as a warning or she really didn't care but both of those psyches were dangerous on their own. When my eyes where done with the mild analyses, I came to the conclusion that this was Lady Karayan's room.

Why would she bring us here on the first day? Was she testing us? Was this a game that she played whenever she bought a new slave? See if they will steal? And then settle with the satisfaction of murdering that same slave. Is that what happened to her last slave? The one with the straight auburn hair in the cage? I shudder again, set my resolve steely and removed my mind from the situation, looking for the doll.

The girl, now that the mud and grime had been washed away was blonde and she was very beautiful. She had a childlike pout, naivety written all over her delicate face and her vivid blue eyes were staring around in awe mixed with fear. I rolled my eyes. We had no possessions with us, after all, we were possessions ourselves.

All we had were the auction gowns on our bodies and for me, the piece of cloth that claimed I would be free after this. Without wanting it to, it had quickly become my greatest treasure. The doll had wandered off a bit into the room and she was at the foot of the bed, touching the wood there and just when her soft, delicate hand was reaching towards the white covers on the bed probably to feel it, I decided to intervene.

"Stop right there." I ordered firmly and my order startled her so much that she jumped back and let out a fearful mouse-like squeak. This time I face palmed without holding myself back. This was going to be a tiresome one. Despite that, against my will, something warm bloomed in me and I felt pity for the doll. She looked like she was going to cry and the same spirit that possessed me to give her my food in the cell was now the same spirit that possessed me to talk in a softer and warmer tone, speaking these words to her:

"I never meant to shout at you but never touch your mistresses'' sheets unless they ask you to. Many of them hate it and they will either burn the sheets you touched along with the hand you touched it with or they will kill you." I said as sympathetically as I could but my voice was still kind of firm and the girl shuddered and sniffled, letting her head down and nodded, not looking at me in the eyes. Normally, I would leave it like that as these were the most words I had spoken at a time to somebody in months but somehow, I felt like I should say more.

Curse myself. I didn't care about others and there were reasons for that. Almost everyone I cared about either left or ended up dead. Plus, it was a whole burden to care for someone because I was possessive and a worrier. I had succeeded in not caring about anyone in so long but something about this doll reminded me of a frightful chicken about to be slaughtered and it didn't sit well with me. I sighed, and against all the warning signs in my head, I beckoned for her to come. When she came, her head lowered down immediately but I could still hear her sniffled. It bothered me for some reason. She was slightly taller than me, maybe by an inch or two so I could easily look up at her.

"Raise you head." I commanded softly and she did, looking at me with those vivid blue eyes, her eyes brimming with tears. I had never had a child and I had never thought about having one but I knew that if I had a child, their tears would bother me like the doll's tears bothered me. I drove away the thought from my head, denying it. I refused to care about this girl. So, I hardened my expression and changed the tone of my voice. She needed a firm hand and not babying.

"Rule number one of being a slave: Never ever assume anything about your master or mistress." I spoke, my words ringing into the room. She perked up, wiping her tears with her wrist and I nodded in response. I may as well start her training now. If there was one thing I had learnt as a slave, it was this. Especially with vampire owners. Vampires were the most unpredictable of the lot.

"I don't understand." She said in a small voice after a while. I held back my sigh.

"Our mistress ordered the other slave for us to be placed here. You were about to touch the bed. You were assuming that if she walked in here right now, she won't hurt you for that. You don't know her, or what she wants. You should never assume a thing about your master or mistress. If she says sit, you sit. If she says touch, you touch. You do this if you want to stay alive longer than this night." My voice sounded strange to my ears, talking for this long. But I suppose with this doll I was going to have to talk more than I liked. I talked a lot in my head but outwardly, I was as quiet as I could be. Wary mostly. Life had trained me to be.

The dolls eyes widened at my statement but she nodded.

"I understand now." She said. I nodded back simply. After a while of awkward silence, I decided that I might as well know more about her.

"What's your name kid?" I asked her and her nose scrunched up in distaste when I called her kid that I almost cracked a smile in amusement. Instead of that, I guarded my emotions, letting my face be neutral. I couldn't care about her. I really couldn't.

"My name is Elisa. And I'm not a kid. I'm fourteen." She said with fire and I wanted to laugh. I really wanted to. But I didn't. She was a kid, she looked like a kid, she acted like a kid and I felt bad for her to an extent. It was interesting how different our lives were. I had been under fourteen, twelve actually when my master at the time took away my innocence as a woman......

No Gale. You will not think of that. I chided myself. I dragged myself away from those dark thoughts which had long been buried and forced a smile at her, Elisa.

"If you say so kid." I replied. She huffed but a small smile formed on her face. Probably the first ever since she became a slave and something warm and motherly bloomed in me again. I quickly killed it.

I had more to ask her but before I could, the doorknob twisted open and the door was pushed aside to reveal our mistress with a smile on her blood red lips that easily looked evil. Emotion bled from my face and my spine became ramrod straight and alert. Even Elisa had lost the joking air she had just now. The girl was a fast learner; I would give her that.

"Ah, my two new slaves. My doll and Gabrielle." She greeted simply, that same smile on her lips as she closed the door behind her and walked into the room. I didn't miss the curiosity in her eyes when she called my name. I didn't miss the way her eyes darted around the room as if checking if we had touched anything. I kept my vision straight and focused. When she was done with her analysis, a satisfied smirk replaced her smile.

"I wasn't gone too long. But I'm here now. Did you touch anything?" She asked, looking straight at me, probably listening for our heartbeats. One thing I had learnt, working for vampires was to control my heartbeat even when I was lying. She didn't know that. I didn't have a reason to lie now but it was a necessary skill.

"No mistress." I said and Elisa said the same words just after me.

"Good." She smirked and went to her dresser and sat on the chair there, her eyes glinting with some unknown knowledge.

Something really felt off about her and I couldn't place my finger on what.