Eight years old? He took you in at eight?<br/><br/>Suddenly William was in the confines of his own mind. The clock of self was being pushed back in rapid spans, quick enough that if she were looking into his gaze she could almost watch the hands of time spinning backwards within the blue eyes. Yet, as people so often do, William had turned his attention from her in this weak moment, shielded that gap of his armor from her gaze.<br/>--<br/><i>The trees in the garden seem to have been plucked by guilty sunsets. The leaves they bore, once green and plump, now lay dried and strewn across the grass in crinkled yellows, oranges, and fiery reds. The days had grown shorter, and the air brought with it the promise of cold rain.<br/>
Though such were the realities of fall.<br/>
<br/>
William had been running, running out across that very field of grass that led itself to the garden of withering flowers. Everything in this building, or on its land, was tended to with miraculous detail, but the change of seasons had come and brushed soft yellow spots of tended grass. Trees were skinned off their leaves, and the bitterness of winter was not that far away. In his youth William considered it not for a moment, but now? Now even this memory told William things that at first he had not perceived.<br/>
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A ball, a simple blue ball of cheap coloring bounced in a young child's hand. The bell inside of it laughed with joy in a soft tinkling voice with every impact. It was a simple thing for a child of eight, yet still did he love it. <br/>
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“Stay outside for awhile” Parents had said.<br/>
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Yet, what boy did such a thing when it was his birthday?<br/>
What boy could resist adventure in what could be perceived as a castle?<br/>
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A servant's door had been left open, small feet clad in small shoes tread inside. Lights were not lit, and the drapes of a soft silk of drab patterns swayed in the cooler breeze from outside.<br/>
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-Bomp- Said the ball as he bounced it off the new surface of the hard floor.<br/>
-Jingle- Laughed the bell as it returned upward for his small hands to catch it.<br/>
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Though he had no word for it, William was amazed by this study he had wandered into. Books stacked upon shelves that reached to the boy as high as the sky itself. Dim lights cast meaningful spotlights upon paintings and art established in nooks and crannies, and it smelled of pages and ink.<br/>
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Blue eyes that had yet to form that turbulent madness of color, lay a steady shine of youthful ignorance, and their attention swirled heavenward. It was like a cave of secrets, every leather bound tome a conspiracy to unravel page by page.<br/>
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-Bomp- Said the ball as William bounced it.<br/>
-Jingle- Laughed the bell inside again.<br/>
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Though it was his grandfather, many of the details were missing from this old memory. William could not remember the face of the man, nor could he remember the dress code to which Grandfather kept himself on that day.<br/>
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It was that hand that the older man reached out that he remembered most. Pale flesh palm up, fingers laiden with rings, and a pair of blue fierce eyes. The way that hesitant child from so long ago resisted giving up his new toy, and the way the older man snatched it away never to be seen again.. That is what William remembered about that birthday.<br/>
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Eight years old.<br/>
--</i><br/><br/>She had kept her feet planted and they were not moving through the hallway, yet like a hound with a scent, William was being tugged in a direction with casual assurance that he knew every millimeter. Near quiet of the workers began to break, large gruff men with large gruff voices forgetting to keep their tones down. The air began to be laden with a mixture of barroom conversations, and snide little comments about the young beautiful pet following at William’s heel.<br/><br/>Yet, there was no heed paid to them.<br/><br/>It was now that perhaps even William himself knew where he<i> wanted to</i>go, and to which scent he was following. When eyes returned to the here and now, and when the memories cleared away from his blue gaze, did he know for certain.<br/><br/>Not only was it her perfume, but it was also the raw scent underneath. Having been that close, having pressed his body against her for only a brief moment, all of it had been cataloged. The products to which had once been loving were placed in her hair. The perfumes. Even the clothing she wore. William was following the Pet’s way from that room she had been caged in since her last Master’s death.<br/><br/>Vivian had assumed right however, and before full Deer Path could be followed to the entrance to what she dared claim as ‘her room’ in<i><b>his</b></i>house, it was Brak who came lumbering out like a giant. Hands slapped together in that<i>clearing the dust off motion.</i>Scar sitting there like a pale worm upon left cheek, broad smile upon broad  lips offering jovialness to an otherwise brute set of features. Brak was a monster despite his new set of clothes. Brak was a beast despite the respectful and calm manner to which he looked upon his ‘Boss’. These facts were clear in the way the large man looked at Vivian. No, Brak didn’t see her as a woman, or even as a pet, the hunger in those dark eyes was that of fucking her.<br/><br/>“Three ‘em ‘ooms are ‘ocked up tighter than a nun’s ‘utthole” - Brak announced with no heed to a light company as a woman nearby.<br/><br/>-Tak- The walking stick lifted only slightly, but like a gunshot it struck the floor with no concern of scratching. It sounded like a gunshot, a single punctuated sound that echoed off already half emptied walls.<br/><br/>“That is enough for today gentlemen. The travel was long and hard on each of us. Brak, take them to town, see to it they fill their bellies and don’t get too drunk. They have work in the morning.”<br/><br/>“‘ot it Boss’ The large man said over his shoulder while lumbering away. In contrast to the stead, calm, even tone, the sudden boom of the barreled chested Brak filled the house with thunder. “‘Ou hear’ ta man! Put it down, move out!” Where the men had begun to dissolve into the clusters of tired workers, almost instantly Brak had them back into almost military standards as they began to shuffle out.<br/><br/>Only now, when Brak gave one last look… lingering look at the woman… were they alone as the brute departed.<br/><br/>Carefully, as clockwork as could be managed, the man slowly turned to Vivian once again.<br/><br/>“His name is Brak, and I hired him for one specific reason. He scares<i><b>the hell </b></i>out of the others. When he wasn’t much older than twelve, he raped and murdered his mother and sister. Rumor has the fucking happened after they weren’t alive anymore. Though a monster by any measure, he is loyal and true to his word.”<br/><br/>There was something painful about the words. Something deceitful. Something not right. Perhaps it was the weight of this telling, but shoulders slumped a little as both hands were placed upon the top of the silver headed walking stick.<br/><br/>“Each of them are chosen for what is coming, and I would advise you not to disrespect me in front of them. If they think your leash has slipped from my grasp they will be tempted to try to do the same. Those men are not animals you wish loose Dear Pet, not even for a moment before I can regain control.”<br/><br/>Vivian wanted to remain planted in the spot, wanted to stay where she was to show some sort of power? She demanded that<u><i>her</i></u>room not be touched?<br/><br/>Click.Click.Tap.<br/><br/>A slow circle around her, shark like, predatory, was begun by William.<br/>Click.Click.Tap.<br/>The sound of his shoes and that sticks tip against the ground.<br/><br/>“When I first took possession, do you know what my first thought was? It was to burn this place to ash and cinder. To wrap chains around the doors, bar the windows, and set it all to ruin. I had even considered making sure the staff was still here… so that every single…”<br/><br/>Now he was before her, neck craning lower to set his gaze against hers. There always seemed to be motion in those blue eyes of his, but now they were a torrent. There was no control, no soft swirls of gentle seas, no the squall that the man felt had reached his voice. It was dark, dangerous, the tone of a man who would hire an incestious rapist for his own gains.<br/><br/>“...scrap of<i>him</i>lay scattered to the winds. Now though? Now I have a woman acting like a child, stomping her foot, saying that the way things will be by her word. Oh, but not just her room, but two others as well.”<br/><br/>Anger seethed from beneath the oceans trapped inside of himself, boiled the edges of his gaze with bubbly white, and the thing underneath it all… that thing below the vision that he showed the world looked back at her from inside himself.<br/><br/>“I shall let you have your room, under the condition if summoned you attend with haste. Myself or no worker shall enter, bother, or even knock unless we must drag you from it. I am not a man who cages his pets in the barn.”<br/><br/>Chains on that monster inside of himself were wrapped again, pulling the threat down into the depths of ocean blues. Regaining composure, those calm steady words, and the careful way to which he spoke.<br/><br/>“The other two, let me think. One must be the study, oh how Dear Grandfather loved that place. Not a thing out of place, or even noise.” An almost sad smile at the remembrance of the ball.<br/><br/>“The other? Lavatory? No. He would be too ashamed to make that a special place for you two. His bedroom perhaps? That I can not let you have my sympathy only extends so far.”<br/>Click.Click.Tap.<br/><br/>Again he was circling her. Again he hunted the waters.<br/><br/>“I can, however, offer an arrangement if you are keen on keeping such treasures from my grasp. I will give you the night to collect anything you wish from the Master Bedroom, store it in either the study or your own room. Anything left by the morning is forfeit.”<br/><br/>Click.Click.Tap.<br/><br/>“There is a price for this though Dear Pet. Undress. Stand naked before me so I may see what I have truly inherited, and I will allow you to do this.”