Page 25 of Bottoms Up
Chapter 8
A few weeks later
Silver
I had no idea why Kirsten told me I needed a supernatural attorney and gave me the contact info of who to hire, but I found myself walking into a meeting in an underground office of The Billiard Club with a gorgeous vampire wearing a skintight business suit with sky-high heels by my side.
“Thanks for agreeing to meet me here,” Marco said. “It’s important we do this away from Julian. You’ll be able to talk to him about it later, but for a number of reasons, he can’t be included in these initial legal discussions.”
We were just across the interstate from the mall, so the drive hadn’t been a big deal. The secrecy, though — the off-site location, the absence of the person most affected — that signaled a problem.
I wanted to skip the small talk and get to the part where someone told me what the hell was going on.
“You’ve done a good job of building a shield,” Marco told me, “but it goes away at night when you sleep, which means I’ve looked through your memories of the week you spent with your brother, and I know you understand a little more about the legal matters involving slaves.”
I kept my voice even. “Okay.”
It wouldn’t do any good for me to get pissed. Kirsten says if you can’t keep them out, they can come in. I would talk to Sophia about how to keep my shields up at night, but for now, he’d been through those memories and there was no way to undo that.
“I have a proposition for you. A way to possibly fast-track things.” Marco looked at my attorney and back to me. “While I could send Julian for testing and free him now, I’ve been reticent to do that because…” He sighed. “Think of a teenager, being slowly given more and more freedoms, preparing them for adulthood. This way, they make small mistakes rather than huge ones, and they’re given more and more responsibilities as they show the ability to handle them.”
“Julian’s never had freedom, and you’re worried he’ll make great big mistakes.”
A tiny nod. “I can send him for a test that will allow him around humans without supervision, but won’t give him his freedom. He’ll pass it with ease and, if you’re amenable, I’d like you to negotiate a TPE contract with him — full control of his finances and time management along with every other aspect of his life. He’ll be my employee with you overseeing him. If things go well for, say, nine months, we’ll look at sending him for the tests that will allow me to sign over my control of him, so Julian is his own man.”
The attorney spoke for the first time. “As a free vampire, being under a human’s control —especiallya total power exchange — will create unwanted complications.”
Marco inclined his head. “Their contract will be written to dissolve once he’s a free vampire.” He looked back to me. “I’ll feel better if Julian still talks to you before he does anything big once he’s free, but he’ll have to be entirely his own man.”
“Benji thinks Julian won’t be as low in the hierarchy as he thinks, once he’s completely free.”
He tilted his head sideways a tiny bit. “Your Benjamin is a smart man.”
I turned to the attorney. “Anything I should know about taking on the responsibility of a vampire owned by someone else?”
“Will Julian obey you?”
“I won’t know until I talk to him. If he signs a document saying he will, then yes, he’ll honor it. I just don’t know if he’ll want to sign it.” I looked at Marco. “He’ll have no choice if you order him to, but it feels as if this should be his decision.”
Marco nodded. “I’ll order him to decide how badly he wishes to be free, but I won’t tell him whether to sign it or not.”
“And if he fucks up, will you hold Silver responsible?” the attorney asked Marco.
Marco met my gaze a few seconds. “If I see the situation isn’t working, I’ll stop the trial before it spirals. If there’s a major failure, the responsibility will lie on my shoulders, for not seeing it and applying the brakes.”
“That being said,” the attorney told me, “my advice is to do whatever feels right. If you’re willing to take on this responsibility and wish to do so, there’s no legal reason not to. Understand, though, the weight of the task you’re being given.”
“He does,” Marco said. “Silver’s been a slave in a TPE situation. He’s aware exactly of what’s involved in a total power exchange, possibly more than if he’d been the Master in such a relationship.” He met my gaze. “I’ll send a sample contract. I know you’ll want to reword it, but I need all elements in Part A included in your final contract with Julian. The elements in Part B are recommended, but optional based on your preferences.”
I nodded. “If I have any issues with Part A items, we’ll talk.”
“It would work best to let her read those items now, while I’m present,” the attorney said.
Marco lifted his phone, worked on it about thirty seconds, and data flashed onto a wall-mounted screen, off to our side.
It said I’d open joint checking and savings accounts with Julian and track everything that went in or out. I’d set pre-authorized permissions for certain purchases, contractually set, but he’d need my approval for anything above or beyond. I’d have access to the list he keeps for his work projects, so if I saw him wasting time, I could check whether he was behind or ahead.
There was more, a helluva lot more, and I agreed with all of it.
