Chapter 5

Sweat dripped from me as I stepped oof stage after my last song. Stepping backstage was like stepping back into a cage. My bliss left my body as his hands wrapped around my waist. Being onstage...was like flying. I'm a performer- I have always been a performer but this wasn't performing. This was living. Everything about it was lively, bright, free, and energetic. It was perfect because it didn't have to be perfect.

Everything else in my life has always had to be perfect, one misstep and you could be replaced before you had the chance to apologize. Human slaves are worth far less than other dominated species, wolves, weaker vampires, all manner of creatures. Humans are good for little to them- most don't make it to be an entertainer and once you're there the work is long and hard and perfected. We may be highly-priced but we are still only the best of one kind of slave, the lowest tiar at that. We are easily replaceable. A human may spend their fortune on us while a vampire or shapeshifter may drop that kind of cash on a whim, expecting only to be entertained for a little while. Very few of us make it out of our first master, it is easier for them to kill us than to go through the effort of selling us but if you are perfect, talented and obedient like I have been than just maybe, with a large amount of luck, amass enough interest to be sold and traded and passed around as I have been. I am the perfect slave, a perfect performer, a perfect doll. Performing makes me sick, like the tightening of chains around my neck, but this- that- feeling...that wasn't like anything I've ever perfected. It was beautiful.

He holds me tight, bruises are forming under my dress, escorting me from person to person all greeting me with the same eyes. The eyes of men and women who want only what you can give them. They look at me if a way where, perhaps if I hadn't known the look so well, I would have mistaken their expressions for those of kindness and genuine care. My master plays right into them, booking interviews, taking business cards, speaking for me. I shake hands, smile, laugh when expected. My night falls back into the same dull reality I've always know, I'm performing; I'm doing what is expected and nothing more. I don't really see anyone's faces after a while, they all blur together. I'm tired of smiling and laughing but what tired me means nothing. I am guided to someone different, familiar but not. He is not a blur.

I look at the vampire before me. I drop my smile, shocked, but a sharp nail to my arm skin puts it back on my face. I can't believe I'd see a vampire here, amongst people, with no one between his teeth. My mind begins to race, I wonder if he is a buyer but his eyes are oddly colored, not red or menacing. He doesn't have that same hungry look like every other person here. In fact, his demeanor is so calming I feel as if he embodies all that is good about humans. I can't help but stare at him, staring at his kind face. My master breaks my gaze with his own ugly eyes, which have grown more disgusting by the day. "Dr. Cullen is a representative of the hospital." Master continued to speak but honestly, I didn't hear any more. This vampire is a doctor. Despite his instincts- he is a doctor. That kind of self-control is admirable, I relate to being strong-willed, to refusing what you have been forced into. I respect this vampire- the first to ever receive any true respect from me. I catch bits and pieces of the conversation but what amazes me most is that Dr. Cullen actually talks to me- or tries too. Everyone else seemed to know to direct their questions to him but Dr. Cullen would ask me a question, look me in the eyes, and even when my answers were stolen by my master he would continue to direct questions at me. At some point, it is brought up that we are to have some sort of fancy dinner party " a small token of gratitude" as Dr. Cullen put it, on behalf of the hospital receiving the funds from tonight. The press would not be present which is a large relief for me and a bit of a disappointment for my master though I feel I've spent enough time in front of their cameras tonight. It is Dr. Cullen, his family, my master and I, the hospital staff, and their families and some other important people who will be attending. Master has picked out a rather expensive looking dress. At first, it sounded like another few miserable hours of false smiles and laughs and marks from masters fingernails but I can't help but be intrigued by the idea of a vampire family. I've been a slave to covens- to groups of 3 or 4 vampires traveling and feeding together- but never have I heard of a family of vampires. The covens I've seen were only for efficiency and security, never born out of genuine care for one another. The idea of a vampire family, vampires who do similar to this one, gives me genuine happiness. It is nice to believe that others fight their slavers too.

I suppose that's one thing being around vampires has taught me- even they are slaves to something- their thirst.