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I can tell when you block everything, and that probably gives me as much information as I’d get if you just let it out.
This is going to take some getting used to. Helping you torture someone for the sheer joy of torturing them is tempting, but I’ll have to decline. Should we have need to torture someone for a legitimate reason, I will look forward to teaming up with you to do so.
I’ll torture him whether you help or not. Really good feedings, for me, happen when people are viscerally terrified, and the best way to make that happen for most people is to let them know how they’re to be tortured, and then to follow through.
* * * *
Ryan
I would’ve killed the eagle if I’d have gotten to him before Etta, but I couldn’t bitch about her turning him into a slave. Those Terms of Engagement that the Slayer Council and Concilio had negotiated were clear that naughty monsters can either be killed or enslaved, and that the Concilio prefers enslavement, not merely for the financial benefits, but because of the incentive this gave other monsters that it was wise to toe the line. Those unafraid of death were often terrified of the kind of enslavement the Concilio allowed. I’ve often wondered whether George Orwell based some of 1984 off of the Concilio’s methods of keeping their vampires in line.
My research told me Etta nearly always had multiple slaves that she’d taken custody of rather than outright killing them. If we were to be an item, I’d have to be okay with that because it seemed this was a big part of her nutritional diet.
I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of slavery, even for the monsters, I told her. I understand it’s a deterrent, but so is death. It isn’t something I intercede on because it’s legal for supernaturals to enslave each other, and humans are never legally enslaved, so that takes it out of my purview, but actively participating? I shook my head because I was at a loss for what else to say.
I’ve been a slave when I’d done nothing wrong except not be strong enough to fight for my freedom. Tortured in ways you can’t imagine for no reason, put to work every waking minute with no days off, and required to sexually service anyone who wished to use me, no matter the time of day or what I was doing at the time. I’m hard on my slaves, it’s true, but I see to it a system of rewards is in place — opportunities to earn tasty food rather than disgusting fare, occasional chances to earn a few hours of free time per month, and so long as they’re trying to follow orders and be a useful asset, a mostly comfortable surface on which to sleep. These were things I was not afforded for decades, and I’d done nothing wrong. This eagle deserves the sentence I’m giving him. I have no pity for him, though I will help him find a purpose to the rest of his life as a slave. A way to live with the consequences of his actions.
I’m not turning you down, exactly. I need to consider what will and won’t work for me. As I said, I can look forward to working with you to bring down a monster who needs killing.
And if I choose to enslave the monster? To almost kill him, and then bring him back as mine?
Thankfully, I had an easy answer to this one. Slayers slay. We kill. If he’s my kill, if I’m bringing you into it, then he or she will need to die. If it’s your hunt, and you bring me into it, then you’ll decide whether the prey is killed or enslaved.
I hope all our dilemmas are so easily logicked through.
Most of the time, it’s easy to forget you haven’t been speaking English for years.
She was silent a few moments, and I had the sense she was telepathing someone else before she said, Patience tells me I can’t use logic as a verb in that manner. She says it should be logicize, but then she says not to use it, either.
Not many people use it. Logicked would be better than logicize. Honestly, young people tend to make words up as they go these days, so you can probably get away with it, but for me, it reminded me you’ve been speaking Latin and French for the past couple of decades.
Also German and Turkish. A little Russian. I worked with a speech coach before my arrival, so my accent should be almost nonexistent. To most, I should sound American. I get caught up on idioms, though, despite the fact I tried to bone up on them.
Your accent is fine, and I’ll help you with idioms as we come to them.
Good to know, and thank you. I have nothing similar to offer.
I don’t want our relationship to be transactional, Etta. No keeping score.
I’m not sure I’m capable of refraining from doing so.
Then that’s something we’ll work on.
Chapter 24
Etta
My two tasks while residing with the shifters were to work with Kelsey on her abilities and level of control, and to train the mongoose so he could act as an appropriate spotter. Thankfully I was back in the coterie house in about a week. Back with my people.
Venom met me at the back door when I arrived, and he pointed me towards a shiny black car. “It’s one of Marco’s personal vehicles. He’s assigning it to you until you purchase one of your own.”
I shook my head. “My driving lessons were postponed after Marco and Cora’s crash.”
“You’ll begin with an instructor tomorrow night, but you’re going to drive this car tonight, through this subdivision and the next, and then on the main road to come back.”
I accepted the key fob he handed me, pulled my keychain from my purse, and added it. I have keys to the coterie house, TBC, and most every other business we own. What was one more? Once it was on, I turned to the car and hit the little unlock button on the fob. Some things don’t have to be explained.
“That isn’t necessary,” Venom told me. “If you have the fob on you, it’ll unlock when you pull on the door handle.”
