“Yes, well, some people have strange ideas,” Torris said neutrally. “But are you sure you’d rather dispose of the Kindred rather than sell him? His reputation as a champion in the Blood Circuit makes him quite valuable.”
“Not anymore,” Mistress Douchenbag scoffed. “He’s too old to fight now and I can’t sell him to any other Mistress as a bodyslave because of what happened last week. Why, it was the talk of every Yonnite in the market—all my peers know about that horrible beast he changes into!”
“Yes, I had heard about that from my own Mistress,” Torris admitted. “A massive Ursus was it?”
“Huge!” Mistress Douchenbag exclaimed. “He burst the pain collar right off his neck—his last Mistress never said anything about needing an expanding one, you know, so I chose a cheaper model because you know how expensive those collars can be!”
“Having worn one all my life, I know a little something about pain collars,” Torris said dryly.
“Anyway, I haven’t dared to put another one on him or to turn my back on him ever since I saw him change,” Mistress Douchenbag said. “I haven’t gotten a wink of shuteye in over a week for fear he would murder me in my sleep! And since everyone knows about his condition, there’s no selling him—not even to that little humanoid idiot, ‘Mistress Jillian’. So we must get rid of them both—at once!”
“But what would you have me do with them, Mistress?” Torris asked. “At any moment your two friends are going to wake up from the dose of sleepytime I put into their tea and you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
“Have several of the bodyslaves bring them through my private tunnel to my stall,” Douchenbag answered. “I’m close to the Dark Market—we can dump them in there and let fate take care of them. They won’t last long on the wrong side of the barrier.”
“I don’t have enough bodyslaves to bring them both at once,” Torris objected. “The Kindred alone will take six of my strongest to carry—he’s build like a Tenebrian ox!”
“Well then, dispose of the female first,” Mistress Douchenbag directed. “Oh, and be sure you take her clothes and all her other things with her—I don’t want any traces left behind. Of course, there is the matter of my ion-scoop…” She sounded like she was deliberating.
“Do you wish me to get it for you from her clothing before we take her?” Torris asked.
“No…no, let it stay among her things,” Mistress Douchenbag decided. “I can always say that she stole it and ran into the Dark Market to try and evade me if any of this ever comes to light. And I think I’ll take a little vacation back to Opulex as soon as you leave with her—just to be on the safe side.”
“Understood,” Torris said. “We’ll bring the woman and dump her first and then come back for the Kindred. They’ve both had enough molock oil that they shouldn’t wake up for a while.”
“Not until it’s too late, anyway.” Mistress Douchenbag snickered nastily. “This will teach that nasty little female to be so self-righteous! I hope she enjoys her time in the Dark Market—short though it will probably be!”
Though he was drugged and unable to move, Kalis tried desperately to open his lips and protest this idea. He could survive the Dark Market—well, if he could regain the functions of his body, he could—but Jillian would be in terrible danger. Anyone who entered the Dark Market was considered fresh meat and the rightful prey of whoever got to them first—a female alone without someone to protect her had next to no chance of survival.
But even as he thought this, the drug in his system seemed to grow stronger and he felt his consciousness fading.
No! he thought. No, I can’t pass out—I must be awake to protect Jillian! Please, Goddess…
But then even his hearing seemed to fade and he knew no more.
13
Jillian woke up in a dark, dirty corner, naked and covered in massage oil and gritty dust and dirt from the hard surface she was lying on.
At first she had no idea of what was going on. Her last jumbled memory was of having Kalis’s hands on her and the intense orgasms he had given her. But she’d been lying on a massage table in the opulent rose-gold relaxation grotto, surrounded by pampered Mistresses. Her current circumstances couldn’t be more different from her former ones.
Look at me, she thought, peering around the gloomy, dirty, dusty corner, but not attempting to rise yet. Naked and dirty in the dark—guess I’ve come down in the world. Whatever world this is. Am I still on Prius Six? Am I still in the market?
She blinked owlishly, trying to make sense of what was going on around her. Her vision was blurry and she couldn’t seem to see anything further away than her own extended arm and hand.