Page 7 of Mistress A-0002

My brow creased and she stepped out of my arms, closing her lids as she took a few steadying breaths. …My arms…My…watch?

Time.

Time.

How long had I been holding her? Holding. Her. Time. Watch?

The questions barely registered before her eyes opened. Eyes…that looked…different. Intense but rounder? Innocent eyes? Had I seen her like this before? Lots? Never? Fuck, I was too drunk to make sense of how she seemed to transform right before me. Dark hair. Round eyes. Not red. Dark. Hair. Eyes. This was a bad idea. My gut was twisting. My mind was screaming. Bad. Bad. Fucking. Idea.

“Melissa, wait?—"

“Don’t be afraid, Elec.Main Master, Elec. It’s time.Just keep looking into my eyes. See what you need to.What you want.” She stepped forward, closing the distance. Pulling me into the void even more. “We keep doing this, you and me. Do you realize that?” The roundness. The long lashes. Dark hair. Slow breaths. Skin…on fire. Fingers, pushing back into my chest.Pat. Pat-pat. “Don’t worry, I know you don’t. You just can’t help yourself, and that’s okay. Every auction night, you come here. And every auction night…” She smiled as a door automatically slid open beside us. “We find each other right here in this exact location, at this exact time. It’s perfect. Don’t you think?”

My mouth opened but thoughts wouldn’t form as the fog grew heavier.

“Pick me up. Carry me into the room and put me on the bed. I want to show you something.I want to give you what you’ve been waiting for.”

Mistress A-0002

It had never been about love. Sex, yes. Gain, absolutely. Power…bingo. But never love.

Did I love my creation?

…

Did flowers love rain? Did Gods love a sacrifice?

Love was easy. Anyone could love. And more than once. Love was circumstance. Love was willing to surrender. Sometimes not even that. It just happened. Did I love Elec? Of course. Could I destroy him if it benefited me? Of course. But I didn’t want to. Like with any invention there were bound to be kinks. The two of us fought, we argued. It was cause and effect. It was normal given what I’d done to him. The best part was making up. Without question, Elec knew how to do that.

“Keep looking into me. Feel me. See me,Main Master Elec. Who am I?”

He laid me on the bed, pausing just above. There was always a pause. Never full submission. I’d come to expect the delay between orders or questions. Maybe it was robotic, but I’d gotten used to it over the years, and sometimes he was more persuadable than others. Not tonight. Even intoxicated, his walls were high. Not too high for me.

I tisked, moving to click my tongue in that old familiar rhythm, watching as his lids dropped even more.

“You never loved me. You can’t even say my name. I waited hours for you to pick me up before I left. You never came.”

Elec blinked, barely able to reopen his eyes. The memory was the first I’d pulled from him. He’d been so young back then. So…lost. I hadn’t chosen him at that point. It was merely a favor to get answers about my lover’s rebellious niece, but even back then Elec hadn’t been easy to control. But I had managed, and the memory was the only anchor I needed to lock him in this state and in my control.

“Think,” I whispered. “Don’t try to block it out. I waited for you. It was cold and dark. I walked for miles in the rain, carrying a heavy bag. Weren’t you at all worried I might get sick? Didn’t you fear about the stress and strain on the baby?”

A deep groan sounded from Elec as one of his hands lowered just to the side of my face. The other settled at my far hip. The pained expression had my hand lifting to cup his cheek.

“There you are. This is what you’ve been waiting for. Marian told me your father forced you to go to one of those secret meetings.”

“Vivia, I was going to leave and come get you. I swear?—”

“Shh.” I pressed my finger to his lips, making a succession of more sounds, watching his eyes roll as I took him another step deeper. I waited for him to reopen them and his mind to adjust before I continued. “Facts are facts. I lost the baby that night. I would have run away, with or without you. I don’t even love you, but you know that too.”

“Youdolove me.”

“I told you I wasn’t going to marry you. Why do you think I keep running away? It wasn’t so we could be together.” I bit my lip, knowing just what to say to gain even more control. To gethim so worked up, all he knew was the primal need to set her…me…straight.

“Youwillmarry me. You will. I’ll make this right. You’ll forgive me. Vivia, let me fix this.”

“You can’t fix a dead baby, Elec. You can’t force love. You didn’t come. You abandoned me.”

“I didn’t. I came the first moment I could. It was morning. No one was home.”

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