Page 13 of Mistress A-0002

“You have to consider why you want to change your path to one like ours. Do you want to know what happens when thewrongperson gets access to these kinds of skills? Tomyskills?”

Jett swallowed hard.

“They stop breathing?”

I threw him a look, staying quiet.

“What else happens, Mother?”

A smile tugged at the side of my mouth. “You cannot begin to imagine. What I did to you on auction night was nothing.”

“Will you show me?”

I lifted, resting my elbows on the table as I steepled my fingers just under my lips. Darkness covered me as I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes to slide into that space within me that basked in candy-coated chaos. To have people under my control was pointless if I didn’t occasionally use it for a bit of fun. Today, it was a lesson to my son. Power was pointless if not paired with patience. There was a right time for everything, and fate just happened to present me with a ‘special’ client during this very crucial moment. Special…was just that. Special. Expendable. A time bomb just waiting for me or Elec to pull the trigger. They were the pedophiles. The child molesters. The harmers of innocence. At least Elec and I could agree on the need for their eradication. We sure as hell couldn’t agree on June.Bitch.

Opening my eyes, I watched Jett’s gaze leave me and shoot to the table. His skin dropped a shade of color, and his fear increased the longer I focused on him. The table shook with his trembling, and I could see his breaths quickening. My arms came down, and I let my stare travel across the room until I came to stop on Clay Blessing. Master Nine-oh-two was laughing with one of his acquaintances, eating his French toast as if the crux of his core desires weren’t about to pour from his skin. He wanted the blood of children. To spill it. To defile what Elec and I wanted so desperately to build up. But his kind had no idea how deep our plans went. His perverse friends thought they were safe at the Gardens. Anything goes, after all. Well…secrets sealed the fate of sinners. Not all secrets were judged the same. It was the entire reason we allowed them in. For fun. For sport. For murder.

“Mother?”

“Do you see that man, Jett? The one at the far table, laughing and picking up his coffee?”

Jett’s head turned in my peripheral.

“Mr. Blessing? The food guy, right? He owns all those companies.”

“The food guy,” I repeated. “His name is Clay Blessing. Did you know why Clay is at the Gardens? He likes kids. Preferably tiny, little babies.”

Silence.

“Likes them? You mean…”

“That’s right, Son. The younger, the better. Men like that, they can’t be trusted with the future of our circle. Even though he’s not in it, he has access. That’s enough. We monitor him in the outside world. He gets nothing like that here, although he thinks somedaysoon he might. It’s a lie. He’s here for me. For Elec.” I glanced at Jett with stoic, empty eyes. “Will he be hereforyouto destroy too, someday? Or will you be on his side? A bad seed? A sick embarrassment?”

“Never. I’dneverhurt children.”

“Children are no-tolerance. That doesn’t mean that’s the only thing that will condemn you. If you cross the wrong line, you’re no different than him. You know the rules. I expect you to follow them. Otherwise…you never know what will happen.” I pushed my glass of water over, watching the quick moving liquid run towards Jett. He jumped from his chair to stand, but his gaze didn’t leave me. He was paler. Breathing heavier. I turned back to Master Nine-oh-two, tapping my finger against the table.

Tap-tap.

Tap.

Tap-tap-tap.

Tap.

Tap-tap.

Multiple heads turned in my direction. My face dipped down and my stare stayed cut up and fixated to only one person. Clay’s eyes slowly pulled from Jett and he moved down, taking in the rhythm of my fingers. From my tapping digit to my disgusted expression, his gaze locked right on mine. My hand flipped, exposing my palm upward, lifting. Lifting. Holding. Holding. Holding. I licked my lips, evilly smiling as his dazed stare watched me so intently. Quickly, my fingers snapped into a fist.

“Control. Power.”

I turned my attention to my son as commotion broke out. Glass shattered in the direction of Clay’s table, and a blur I knew to be the monster flew up from the chair. Jett’s eyes were wide and filled with shock as he looked at me, but not because Mr. Blessing was clawing his skin from his face. He saw what I knew he would.My secret.

“Take a good look around. More than half this room is ready for whatever command I wish to give them. One look and snap,and they’ll begin tearing themselves apart any way they can. That’s just this room. You can’t imagine my numbers. To know and not act. That is where the true power lies. Today they’re safe. Mr. Blessing is not.”

More chairs scattered as the Master spun and ripped his nails into his face. Despite the writhing, his eyes never left me for long. I picked up my fork, stabbing it into a piece of sausage. The man was no different than a puppet. He picked up his own fork, stabbing it into the wide orb full of fear. I brought the sausage to my mouth, waiting as he jerked the utensil back, dislodging his eye from the socket. Shouts echoed. Masters not under my spell tried to get close to the predator. I took a bite, chewing as Clay yanked the fork down. A Mistress fell to the floor heaving, but I barely noticed as he broke through the nerves, biting into his own eyeball.

“Unbelievable. Just…amazing. Kill him, Mom.Kill him.”

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