[aphrodite]

A slight fear envelopes your mind. This was really happening. Devarion really meant what he said. You push aside your urges to kill the vampire and reply with a simple and submissive 'Yes Master'. Devarion seems satisfied with your response and slowly climbs out of the bed, leaving you there. He picks up a shirt that is folded in the corner, layed neatly on a chair, and puts it on. He heads towards the door, and upon opening it stops for a minute as if in thought. He turns around and catches your gaze.
"By the way, this is MY room, not yours. No one ever told you it was yours. You have been a guest. From now on, you will stay in your own quarters." Devarion says as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. You bang your fists upon the headboard of the bed. That son of a bitch!!! you scream in your head, mentally wishing Devarion dead. You hear a knock on the door in the middle of your rage, and reluctantly let your fists fall to the bed.
"Yes?" You ask in an irritated voice.
"It's Kalira, may I come in?" Comes a small voice. You sigh heavily, though your attitude starts to soften as you walk over to the door and open it up for Kalira. She smiles at you as she walks in with a tray in her hands. Atop the tray is a teapot and two tea cups. You had never been one for tea, but you figure that you will make an exception this once. You and Kalira sit yourselves down on the bed as Kalira pours the tea. You sip on it slowly, the tea still very hot. You both drink in silence for several minutes. Finally, Kalira decides to break the silence.
"Master has been very merciful with you. I hope you intend to learn your place in the next five days." Kalira tells you, careful not to sound like your enemy. Your first instinct is to get angry, but as of this morning, you decided to try and work on your horrible temper.
"I have no such intention." You tell her cooly.
"What?" Kalira questions, her voice surprised. "Do you have any idea the things Master will do to you if you don't?" Kalira asks you.
"Well....no, I don't. But I don't intend upon staying long enough to find out. I'm getting out of here. Very, very soon." You tell Kalira.
"You are a fool!" She tells you. You are taken aback for a minute by her words, as well as her harsh tone. "You are a mortal amongst immortals! He is much more powerful then you! Why are you so stuborn!? You will die!!!" Kalira screams, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. You gingerly reach for Kalira's hand to get her to calm down, but she slaps your hand away. "No!!" She continues to scream. "Why must you do this?!? If you die I will never forgive myself!!" Kalira yells, painful tears pouring down her face. You watch, stunned at Kalira's words.
"Kalira....how would my death by your fault?" You ask quietly. Kalira continues to sob for several minutes, her body shaking slightly. You wait until she finally starts to calm down.
"I...I promised myself..." Kalira says. You look at her questioningly.
"You promised yourself what?" You ask.
"That I wouldn't let another one like you die." She tells you, looking straight into your eyes.
"What do you mean, 'another one'?" You ask, almost scared of the answer.
"Do you think you are the only one Master has ever claimed? You are the latest amongst thousands. They have all died at the hands of Master. Many of them I had befriended. They were much like you. Strong willed and determined to find freedom. But they died trying to find it."
"Is it not better to fight for you freedom and die trying, then to never fight for it, and live in captivity forever?" You ask Kalira. That was one of many principles you had always been taught.
"Usually, yes. But what no one ever understood, is that here.....Here you must lose your freedom in order to gain it. Master brought me here as a slave. Although I am still his slave, he treats me as a friend and allows me to go nearly wherever I wish. Though I am still required to show him respect and do his bidding. But I do not mind, because I truly DO respect him. You will too with time. Why do you judge him so harshly so quickly? Play his game, Elizabeth. If you find you will never gain freedom by playing by Master's rules, then by all means, try to find your freedom another way. But please..." Kalira looks into your eyes, taking your hand in hers. "Please, give this life a chance." You stare deeply into Kalira's pleading eyes. You then take a deep breath and let it out.
"Only for you, Kalira." You say quietly. Kalira's face broadens into a big smile as she throws herself on top of you, hugging you tightly. "But I WILL find my freedom. One way or another." You tell Kalira seriously. She scoots away from you and nods her head solemnly.
"Of course." She replies. You sit in silence sipping your tea, when a question pops into your head.
"Kalira, what exactly ARE we supposed to be doing?" Kalira laughs at your question.
"Come, I will show you your first chore." You set your teacup back on the tray and follow Kalira out of the room. Strangely enough however, you go the opposite direction down the hall then you did the day before. At the end of the hall you reach a dark staircase. You carefully follow Kalira up the stairs, somewhat afraid. Once you reach the top of the stairs you notice that another hallway is at the top, and it looks nearly the same as the one below. Kalira continues down the hall and you follow until she stops at one of the many doors. You note that the door has a half moon carved into the center of it. Kalira takes out a small key from her pocket and opens the door. You follow her into the room but can see nothing due to lack of light. Kalira finds her way through the darkness and one by one begins lighting several small lamps. Now you can see the room more clearly. It is a bedroom and is not decorated much differently then Devarion's, but is different in small ways. You see that everything is dusty, and the bed is an absolute mess.
"Master has a guest coming soon. This is the room he will be staying in. It is your job to clean the place up and make it look dandy. There are fresh sheats for the bed in that closet right there." Kalira says as she points to a black closet against the far wall. "I brought in the cleaning supplies before you woke up. It shouldn't take you too long. I will be working on the room right next to yours, with a star on the door. That is the room his slave will be staying in. Just knock on the door when you are finished, though chances are I will finish before you. If I do, I'll come and help with this room." Kalira explains. Although you are less then thrilled about cleaning house, for Kalira's sake you agree to do it. Kalira nods and smiles before leaving you alone in the room. You look around for a moment determining what you should do first. You then decide to dust. You walk over to the cleaning supplies Kalira left in the corner and take out something that looks like 'pledge' and a small rag. You thoroughly dust all the furniture leaving it sparkling. You smile broadly as you compliment yourself on your work. You then grab a webbing device from the cleaning supplies and start emptying the room of all it's spider and spider webs. You shake the webber out the window once you are satisfied that there are no cobwebs left. Lastly, you strip the bed of it's black sheets and put back on it identical black sheets. You look around the room to make sure everything is in place. It seems to be so you put all the cleaning supplies back where they came from and set out to find Kalira. You knock on the door with the star and Kalira answers almost immidietly.
"You beat me." She says, smiling.
"Oh, well...do you want me to help you with your room?" You ask.
"Nah, I just finished mine. You only took like three hours. That must be a record." Kalira announces.
"Three hours? It only felt like thirty minutes." You comment half to Kalira and half to yourself.
"Time flies when your having fun." Kalira says brightly. You laugh, thinking that cleaning actually wasn't all that bad.
"Well, Devarion should be happy at least." You tell Kalira. She is about to respond, but another voice interrupts her making Kalira freeze immidietly.