Chapter One-3

2029 Words
Daniel moved to his feet, fixed the drink, waiting for Marcus to continue. The man’s sudden silence was almost deafening. “So?” Daniel nudged him. Marcus eyed him grimly, took a gulp of his drink, then after setting the glass down on the table beside him, he leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, keeping his voice lowered. Walls have ears, he’d explain if asked. “It’s the second girl that’s my problem and why I’m here. Why I need you.” Daniel cast him a sharp glare, “Hold it right there. If you’re trying to pawn some woman off on me you’re asking the wrong man.” “It’s not that, Dan. Not exactly. Just hear me out. Please. These are unusual circumstances.” “I’ve lived my life with unusual circumstances impinging on me and I’m rather glad to be free of them. I don’t even let my girlfriends spend the night most of the time.” He hated the sudden tickle of interest the mention of the girl provoked; an automatic response, he was sure. But he had no interest in some man’s leftover slave. “Please, I’ve come all this way. You need to let me finish.” He didn’t need to do anything he didn’t want. But out of friendship he conceded to listen, although his annoyance showed. “Go on then,” he bit off tersely. Marcus looked at him relieved. “He called her El, just El. I don’t have any other name. His brother Robert was her guardian from the time she was ten. He was her stepfather, had been married to her mother for over fifteen years. She got pregnant during a brief rift in their relationship then died just shortly after the girl turned ten. Robert had grown rather fond of her, so there wasn’t any question that he’d take over her care, although he had no practical experience with children and very little understanding of the girl and what she needed. He kept her in strict boarding schools for several years then later hired a fulltime tutor who lived with them. I gather there wasn’t much interaction between the two. From what little I could glean from Brigitta, the girl was a little odd. Reclusive. Silent. Moody. Which is not surprising given the strict regimen of her life. If Robert had had his way, she would have gone to college, made a career for herself and been adequately pushed into the real world with all the tools she needed to survive.” He paused for a moment but with no comment from Daniel, he continued. “Obviously, there were a few key ingredients missing from such an emotionally empty upbringing…even though the girl hadn’t seemed to need the kind of nurturing most kids need. She was just naturally…odd. I guess that would describe her best.” “And how do you know these things?” “I spoke with the other women at Brauer’s mansion, all of them. A couple, Brigitta in particular, managed to have a few real conversations with the girl, though none would call her close, or even a friend.” “How did she end up with the Baron in the first place?” “Yes, well…that’s what I’m getting to. She was headed to some Ivy League college, which Robert arranged and paid for. She was eighteen, entirely innocent, and the minute she landed in the dorm room she apparently freaked out. He had to remove her, however he had nowhere to take her. With her in school, he planned to spend the next six months based out of London, traveling extensively through Europe and the Middle East. He couldn’t take her with him. He’d closed down his house, let the servants go, and he was afraid to leave her on her own. So, he took her to his brother’s estate, knowing that the man would at least keep her safe. The plan was for Brauer to provide for her, at the same time keeping her away from the D/s aspects of his lifestyle. It wouldn’t have been too hard. Brauer had a ‘vanilla’ wing in the house, a place where normal people could visit and never know that the estate was run by unpaid slave labor. The set-up was quite convincing. I attended one of his parties. Congressmen. White House aides. Labor leaders. Not one guest had a clue that the perky young females dressed in crisp grey uniforms and white aprons lived in crude slave quarters in his cellar and were routinely punished for misdemeanors, or just for sport, if Brauer was in a sadistic mood. It was a fascinating game to watch since I knew the other side of his life. “El was to be as sheltered as Brauer’s houseguests while she was there—and she was for a time. She had her own quarters away from the rest of the house; another tutor was installed; she was even offered daily piano lessons, which she seemed to enjoy. She remained shy and aloof, barely able to hold a conversation. However, despite her seeming detachment from the people around her, she was quite curious. Perhaps she suspected something peculiar about Brauer—who knows what motivated the girl. Maybe something tipped her off, maybe a slip in the game plan. Maybe it was just idle curiosity. Whatever the reason, she began making late night trips through the house, peeking here and there, darting around corners, hiding in shadows like a ghost. First time Brigitta caught her, that is exactly what the woman thought—that she was a ghost. Said it scared her half to death. But she didn’t actually catch her. The girl was off too fast to be cornered. This went on for some time, months I guess. She was quite cagey about her explorations. For days at a time the staff saw nothing then there’d be a sighting, some fleeting glimpse around the corner and gone. I guess it caused quite a stir and much discussion as soon as her pattern was established. In fact, it was a hot topic between Brauer and Brigitta. Brauer wanted to give up the pretense and let her know what he was about, but Brigitta was adamantly opposed, and apparently carried enough weight with the Baron to have some influence. She believes that Brauer was nursing his own fascination for the girl, something he kept well hidden to most who knew him, except Brigitta—she likes to think that she knew him better than anyone else.” Marcus let out a sighing breath and continued. “Brauer was on the lookout for her. He spent some hours after dark tailing her journeys. He finally met her face to face in one of his dungeons. He found her fingering the equipment with a great deal of interest. And strangely, she was naked at the time. The rumor that had been circulating about the house was that their midnight elf had tossed her nightgown aside and had been running naked through the corridors. Brauer confronted her and—this is strictly hearsay—she told him that she wanted to be like the other women in his house. He grilled her, trying to find out what she’d learned of his lifestyle during her late night jaunts. She confessed that she’d seen dozens of punishment scenes, watched Brauer’s slaves eating from dog dishes, peered in on their communal baths, even witnessed a variety of s****l situations. She knew every secret passageway and hidden staircase in the house. Nothing escaped her notice. “One thing led to another and she became Brauer’s newest girl. He resisted—Brigitta was adamant that I know that. But the girl would not back down from her desire to be enslaved. She wanted simple clear cut rules; she craved someone who could tell her what to do; and she was shameless from a s****l point of view. Brauer was not about to turn the girl down when he had a readymade slave in El who needed little training and asked for almost nothing. She seemed to thrive in the most austere circumstances…the more ascetic and rigorous the better. She became sexually adept and craved punishment—obviously she was masochistic—and she spent long hours with Brauer involved in both activities. Sometimes he just liked having her around. She started out living in the house with the other slaves, but over time, she gravitated to the kennels where she stayed when Brauer didn’t have need of her. “Her service to him continued for at least four years—but I’m guessing it was longer than that. I’m not totally clear on the timeline. No one seems to be able to pin it down. As close as I can figure, she’s twenty-five, twenty-six, maybe a little older. Doesn’t really matter, I guess. When I arrived at the estate to inspect the grounds, I found El in the kennels. Brauer’s dogs had already been taken to a breeder.” Marcus lifted a brow, adding scornfully, “Interesting that he made immediate provisions for the animals, but made very little for his slaves, and none for El.” “And she’s there now?” “She is. I tried to talk her into sleeping in the house. But she refused. Brigitta tells me she hadn’t lived in the house for over a year. Wouldn’t step foot in it unless she was on direct orders from her master. The last six months of his life he was quite sick so she wasn’t summoned even once. She was fed and otherwise left to her own devices.” “So she’s been locked up for six months?” “No. Once it was clear that Brauer wasn’t long for this world, Brigitta, along with the other slaves, decided to keep the kennels unlocked. El was well aware that she could move back in the house if she’d wanted to but she stayed there sleeping on a concrete floor with nothing but a flat pillow and an old blanket—mind you, the kennels were heated so she was hardly cold at any temperature. She ate from dog dishes as she had before. I gather that she helped care for the dogs while she was there…” “And was she used as their b***h?” Daniel shot off the question before Marcus finished, then he waited, paying as close attention to the man’s body language as he did the verbal reply. He wanted the truth. He could usually tell if Marcus was being straight with him or fibbing. “No, I’m quite sure of that,” his friend came back without blinking an eye. “One kink that Brauer didn’t touch. Though he liked to use the kennels for certain slaves, ones like El who craved that kind of sparse environment or others he was grooming as human pets. Some were sent there for punishment, but for El it was home. She saw no need to change her life just because Brauer was sick. But with the doors now unlocked she had free reign of the estate. She could be seen roaming the gardens in the day—something familiar to her. She often helped the gardener with his chores, even before Brauer got sick. But now, she was roaming at night. She had ways into the house that no one knew about and sometimes spent hours searching through the mansion, almost as if she were on a mission to find something important.” “Anyone ever ask her?” “She rarely gave anyone a direct answer to any question—Brauer, maybe. But he was too sick to care about anything. I understand that some nights she watched him sleep, though she’d tiptoe out of the room if he stirred. She didn’t want to be seen, still afraid to violate her master’s rules. Since his death, the kennel remains her home, the estate her playground. She wanders it freely with not a stitch on, which has proven a particular problem for the heirs. They don’t see the charm in that. They’re appalled, and they want her gone, along with every last vestige of Brauer’s b**m life.” Marcus chuckled darkly. “Isn’t it strange…they’re quite like the Baron in their own way. Not one ounce of real concern for the girl, she’s less human to them than she was to Brauer, another unwanted piece of property to be thrown away like useless garbage.” He shook his head, putting a bit of sadness into his expression. “She needs a place to go, Daniel,” he looked toward the man and didn’t say another word. The silence between the two was heavy and forbidding, until Daniel finally spoke. “Surely you don’t mean for me to take her?” Marcus jumped on that immediately. “I’m not going to beat around the bush. That would be the perfect solution.” “Man, you’re crazy!” Crazy yes, the idea was almost laughable, although his heart seemed to be burning up at the moment. Damn Shelly Monroe for sticking a knife into that broken place. “It’s not crazy at all, Dan. You may think it’s a stupid idea, and to some it would seem so. But I can’t think of a better man to help her out. And that’s all it is. A few months, get her acclimated to the real world. Teach her a few social skills.”
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