Makeover

ESMERALDA

"You mean human women choose this for themselves?" I asked Vivian after she explained to me what a prostitute was.

"Well, not always. Some women are forced into it, like slaves. Others do it because they find no better way to feed themselves."

"But how can they earn enough to make it worthwhile, when they need to compete with pleasure-slaves? No matter how little they charge, there will always be a cheaper option."

Vivian shook her head.

"That's precisely it. Slavery is illegal in Jacob's country. There is no such thing as pleasure-slaves. Human prostitutes have no competition, except among themselves."

The idea of slavery being abolished wasn't as shocking as it should have been. After the way I saw Jacob regarding Vivian, it almost seemed expected that he should come from such a place, and I already heard that such places existed, though so far away from here as to be unreachable.