<i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#bf0080">Joanna was just about to beg Crane not to open the door, to tell Alexander anything to get him to go away. "Please," she whispered, just as the door opened. When Alexander had her wrists caught, she forced her terror to transform itself into derision, at least on the outside. "I forgot to do this last time," she said in pure disdain just before spitting in his face, it landing exactly at the tip of his nose. When he offered Crane the opportunity to choose what to do with her, she laughed. "What, the Vampire Lord no longer chooses his own punishments? Why is this? Does this other scare you or something?" She laughed again, then heard Crane's words. "S-slave? Me? I promise you, sir, I am not playful." Her eyes had widened in terror. The man had touched on the only thing she feared more than death: the death of her independence. THAT was why she fought for abolition.</span></i>