As soon as the van started moving away, Master’s slaves wasted no time rushing him inside. Sofia applied pressure to his nose to stem the bleeding and the three of them struggled to drag him inside. Alicia’s muscles burned as they crossed through the front doors.

“I’ll call an ambulance,” said Alicia, her breathing laboured.

“Not a good idea,” Sofia replied. “A hospital isn’t going to know what to do with him. Not a regular hospital, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...” she said, pausing as they knelt down to lift him onto the reception couch. “I mean his brain isn’t like an ordinary brain. We’re going to need a specialist, someone who’s dealt with people like him before.”

“Do you have someone in mind?” said Alicia.

As it turns out, she did. The phone dialled, and after five rings, Alicia heard the click. She idly thumbed the pages on the worn notebook that she’d taken from Master’s desk. Alicia couldn’t believe how clever Master was.

“Hello?” said a feminine voice.

“Hi, I’m hoping to reach Professor Malik?”

“Speaking.” She had a slight accent, but Alicia couldn't place it.

“Do you have a moment to speak privately?” Alicia traced down the page, through all the combinations of names and phrases. It took her a moment to find the entry she was looking for again. She practised the phrase in her head.

“I’m sorry, if you’re selling something, I’m not interested.”

“Fanatics have their dreams, wherewith they weave,” Alicia said.

There was silence from the other end of the line. Alicia sat nervously and waited. Each moment felt like an eternity.

“Ready to obey,” said the woman on the phone.

* * *

Zoe’s wrists were raw. She had a kink in her neck that was going to take days to completely fade. She’d been tied up in the back of the van for hours. She’d screamed, gnashed her teeth, flailed and tried to escape numerous times. Slade, whose tall muscular physique had once caught her attention now made such struggles futile. Even if she broke free, he’d simply grab her again, and she couldn’t just dive out of the vehicle moving 60 miles an hour or more.

What Zoe was experiencing was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She burned with a desire, nay, a need to obey her Master above all else. More than that, she loved Alexander Bateman, completely and without reservation. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to make him happy. She wanted to obey his commands. But she couldn’t. It was the worst anxiety conceivable.

Every few minutes, Brianna craned her neck around to look at her. Slade never took his eyes off. She saw the look of total adoration in both of them, and once again she was deeply regretting her life choices. Oh sure, they were fun at first. Fulfilling on her every desire, showering her with gifts, great sex, living in a mansion. But it got old. They were so clingy. She’d been dosing them with her scent regularly for her own amusement, but still. Alicia had grown tired of it all long before she had. She was always encouraging Zoe to cut them loose, and they resented her for it. In the end she was right, as usual. Zoe sent the couple on an errand one day, then slipped out while they were gone and never looked back.

“Not much longer now,” said Slade, interrupting her reflections. “It’s not the most comfortable place, I’m sorry, but I hope you don’t mind it too much.” He looked deeply concerned that she might not by happy with her new prison cell.

The van turned in and Brianna found a park easily enough. Slade jumped out and did something she couldn’t see before eventually returning and guiding her out. She was immediately ready to seize upon the opportunity. To scream for help from a passerby. To make a mad dash for the street. But the property that she’d been taken to was fenced off, and there was nobody around. It looked like a two storey house outside the city. It wasn’t rural, not exactly, but she couldn’t clearly see that far into the distance from where she was standing.

Despite Slade’s worrying, the house was lovely. It was a step down from the Jackson residence, sure, but this would have been well beyond the means of an average family. It even had box hedges separating it from the street. You’d have to get up to the second storey to clearly see outside.

“This will be your room,” Brianna said. Zoe quickly realised that they’d selected this one because the window was very thick and couldn’t be opened from the inside.

Slade spent some time removing most of the furniture except the bed. Topping everything off, they’d gone to the effort of acquiring a stainless steel collar and chain. They clamped it shut over her neck and fastened it. She wouldn’t be able to roam more than a few feet from one side of the bed without the key to unlock it, or maybe something extremely sharp to cut it with.

“I’m sorry we have to keep you here,” said Brianna. She was getting visibly emotional. “But you have to understand, this is for your own good.”

“Bateman did something to you,” said Slade. He looked similarly distraught. “To all the women at that place. But we’re just going to keep you here until you get better, ok?”

“Then things can go back to the way they were meant to be,” said Brianna, who was just barely holding it together. “The three of us together. Forever.” The thought seemed to brighten both of them up instantaneously. Zoe wanted to puke.

Zoe didn’t reply immediately. She came to a decision. In order to get out of this mess, she was going to have to earn some latitude. She was going to have to put on a show for them. She thought back to what Alicia had done to her the day prior and smiled. It was such a delicious betrayal. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe it so badly that I did believe it. She started channelling her emotions. She was going to need them.

“You don’t understand. It’s not that I want to go back… I have to. I can’t help it. I wish...” she said. She could feel her eyes getting red. “I wish I could stay here with you. You were always so good to me...” she continued. She managed to start crying, and was secretly thrilled with herself. “It’s s-so hard to resist...”

Zoe could see them soaking it all in. The seed was planted.

“Do you know what he did to you?” said Slade.

“I’m not sure… I was at the hotel… the bar… I don’t remember much… Please, please let me go back!”

“We’re going to get you through this, Zoe, we swear it.” They both came up and hugged her tight. She let out just a tiny trace of the scent. Brianna’s nipples and Slade’s cock both hardened. Zoe smiled.

The next few hours passed relatively quickly. There was always one of them staying with her, making sure she wasn’t doing anything funny. Brianna had gone out to fetch some supplies, and he’d tagged in to keep watch. It was more than that, though. Slade was staring at her hungrily. His eyes couldn’t help roaming over her. She stretched out on the bed and rolled over to her side to give him a different view. They’d fetched her some books to keep her occupied, but didn’t want to risk anything with internet access. Zoe pretended like she couldn’t notice his gaze.

They briefly let her out of her collar to roam around the room. She was relieved to have that small degree of freedom, but she wasn’t sure what good it was going to do her just yet. When she looked out the window, she got a chance to more thoroughly reconnoitre her surroundings. Jesus, this is practically the middle of nowhere, she thought. It’s like the outer-outer suburbs or something. She noticed a man jogging around the block. I wonder if… she thought, then made note of the time.

Around 10pm, Brianna swapped back with him. When she thought that Zoe was sleeping, she walked right up close and drank in the sight of her. She started breathing heavily, and Zoe realised that she was touching herself as she stared. A few minutes later she hurriedly moved out of the room, trying not to make too much noise, then locked herself in the adjacent bedroom. Zoe could hear the twice-muffled sound of Brianna moaning into her pillow.

Although she wasn’t being honest with them, there was one thing that was definitely real. She needed to go back. As she slept, she dreamed of being back in Master’s arms. Of being at his side. Of having him inside her. Waking up from it was torturous.

“He’s definitely stable, but it’s impossible to know how long it might take for him to start responding,” said the Professor.

Professor Ami Malik was not an imposing figure, being perhaps five feet tall and rather slender. She dressed very modestly, and it was obvious to Alicia that the two of them were not the same kind of slave. She was also slightly terrified of being here. She’d been obviously uncomfortable from the moment she walked in. She obeyed, but she did not strive to please. Alicia despised that about her.

Master slept. One of the meeting rooms had been rapidly renovated into a makeshift hospital room and Ami had brought some equipment to monitor his status.

“Can he hear us?” said Lauren, one of Master’s other slaves that Alicia hadn’t met before that day. There were at least a half dozen other staff members currently performing their duties as ordered by Master before he’d left this morning. They would obey their master above all else.

“I can’t be certain with the equipment I have here right now. He may be able to, particularly as he starts to become more and more conscious.”

“Are you certain he’ll recover at all?” asked Sofia.

“I believe he will, but I can’t be certain of anything. I should have a better idea of how well he’s responding to the treatment tomorrow. All we can do now is wait.”

“Perhaps he won’t. What will we all do then?” said Jan, with a big smile on her face. Alicia was confident that even if she wasn’t still under orders to look happy, she still would.

“Oh you shut up Jan,” said Lauren. “If you had your way you’d have smothered him with a pillow by now.”

“Oh, how I wish I could.”

“Um, can I please go now? I really, really need to get to a meeting,” said Professor Malik. When she saw the disapproving look from the slaves around her, she quickly continued. “I’ll come back later, I’ll make sure he gets better, I just need to go, this is really important, I...”

“Master commands that you stay and watch over him for as long as it takes,” said Alicia. Ami’s body tensed up and she stared blankly ahead.

“I will obey,” she replied. Just as soon as the words left her lips, her body relaxed again. She let out a long, defeated sigh. “Well, I guess that settles it.”

Alicia found herself enjoying the power, perhaps a little bit too much. Her years with Zoe had given her a taste for it, but never before had she been able to wield it so directly. She felt a pang of renewed sadness at having lost Zoe again, but she was confident that just as soon as Master got better, they’d hunt her down. Whatever it took.

Master’s slaves took turns watching over him along with the Professor. Conscious or not, they were very keen to see that he was in the most comfortable position possible, and fiddled with his pillows and the blankets until they were satisfied.

Alicia had the evening shift, and took special care to shift his weight periodically to avoid bed-sores. The pair cleaned him with a sponge bath very delicately, and Alicia wished he’d wake up then and there to just ravish her on the spot as she was cleaning his cock. Almost as good would be if he simply gave her a command – any command that she could obey. She felt a delightful little tingle pass through her at the thought of fetching his clothes for him, or opening a window at his beckoning, or anything really.

At one minute to ten, Sofia walked in the room and started pulling sheets off him.

“What are you doing?” said Alicia.

“Don’t worry Alicia. Master’s orders.”

Alicia instantly relaxed. She would obey her master above all else. Sofia pulled down his pants and started rubbing his cock.

“What did he order, exactly?” she said gently.

“Oh, it’s just his 10pm blowjob,” said Sofia. “I pleasure him with my mouth every night at the same time unless explicitly ordered otherwise.”

“Oh,” Alicia replied.

Alicia was sad for her. Master wasn’t even going to be awake for his 10pm blowjob. She’d never heard of it before, but it sounded like the kind of thing that would please her superiors, so it definitely excited her. Master’s cock started responding to the friction, which was close enough to an order for Alicia. She immediately moved up to help.

“You can’t possibly be serious,” said Ami. “You’re not really going to...”

“Ami, Master commands you to move him into position to receive his blowjob,” Alicia said.

“I will obey,” she responded. She helped Alicia prop him up with some pillows and move his legs out. As soon as she was finished, she relaxed once more. “Oh god please stop! This is absolutely disgusting, I...”

“Master commands you to kneel down next to his cock and masturbate until you cum. You’re not to take your eyes off him until you do.”

“I will obey,” she said.

Alicia had never felt so powerful in her life. It didn’t belong belong to her, but that didn’t make it any less intoxicating. She was a conduit for Master’s will, and if she got a little bit of extra enjoyment out of it while he was recovering, there was no harm done. If her read of Master was correct, he might even be pleased by it. She relished the thought, and prayed that he was at least partially aware of his surroundings.

Professor Malik dropped to her knees as commanded and pulled down her pants. She’d obviously been dressed for work when Alicia summoned her here. She started slowly teasing herself at the edges, gently brushing over sensitive spots. She had the hyper-focused look that Alicia had come to recognise on her face from ordering her around. Master’s power is absolute, she thought. Maybe she’ll learn her lesson here. I hope she doesn’t, though. Alicia’s smile got even wider.

Sofia had already started hungrily devouring Master’s cock. She moved fast, then slow, teasing with her lips, then taking it all down her throat before retreating again. Sofia barely showed signs of gagging. Alicia was extremely impressed with her oral technique, and she made a mental note to find a suitable dildo to practice on. Ami’s eyes never wavered from Master as she writhed and pleasured herself. It took a minute or two before she’d really started to enjoy herself, but her blank expression of pure focus had quickly given way to moans of passion.

Unable to warn her, Master came over Sofia’s face. She managed to move in position to catch the second spurt in her mouth, then started gathering the cum off her face with a finger and drank as much of it as she could. Ami was still masturbating furiously.

Alicia felt something. A pressure in her skull, not entirely dissimilar from what she’d felt from Master before, but more diffuse, spread out, as if it lacked purpose. It was unpleasant, but not unbearable.

“Can anyone else feel that?” said Sofia, her face and hair still a mess.

“That must be him!” Alicia replied. “Ami, Master commands you to stop now.”

Professor Malik immediately stopped masturbating.

“Oh god,” she said, breathing extremely heavily. Then, as soon as she got a hold of herself, she lurched up to her feet and immediately started reaching for a syringe on the table next to them.

“What are you doing?”

“I need to block… look, it’s complicated, but this will stop what’s happening.”

“But doesn’t that mean he’s getting better? You said he might do this,” Alicia replied, the pressure starting to worsen slightly.

Ami carefully pushed the needle into the port on the base of Master’s head and started gently administering it. The port was normally obscured by hair, and Alicia had never noticed it until the Professor started treating him today. She could guess who had put it there, and why. She knew that Professor Malik had worked there when Master escaped.

“It’s a good sign,” said Ami, taking the needle away. “But if we don’t stop him from overexerting again now, we’ll be back at square one, or worse.”

In the morning, Brianna fixed her up a delightful breakfast. One tangential benefit of being locked up there was that breakfast-in-bed was mandatory if she was to be fed at all. It was just how she used to have it – pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. She gratefully gobbled it all down, and the couple looked so thrilled that they’d made her happy.

Zoe had an idea.

“Oh god, I’m not feeling well,” she said. Brianna looked at her, extremely concerned. “I need… I need to...” she said, then started stumbling towards the entrance to the room. She tugged against her collar, and let out an exasperated grunt.

Slade immediately responded. He unlocked her collar from the wall and led her out of the room by the chain. All the exits were locked of course. Even the telephone line had been disconnected. Zoe went into the toilet and knelt in front of the bowl. Slade let her in alone – it was a completely dead end after all. She kicked the door shut behind her, right in front of Slade. She made a retching sound, then stuck a few fingers down her throat. She focused on the most disgusting things she could think of. The fake retching became real retching. She hurled into the bowl.

“Are you ok?” she heard through the door.

“I… I think he was giving me something...”

Another seed was planted. Throughout the day, she started getting hot and cold on them. She’d beg to be let go one minute, then pretend to be conflicted the next. She found that acting plausibly was quite a simple matter when inconsistent and incoherent behaviours were a feature, not a bug. In the afternoon, she stopped asking to be let go. She started acting more sweetly towards them.

“Could I...” she said. “Could I have some privacy tonight?” she said. Once again, she let out a small trace of scent.

She could see the expressions softening on their faces as they considered it.

“I know you can’t trust me to leave yet, and I understand. I don’t really trust myself right now. But...” she said, electing to let the sentence go unfinished.

The couple looked at each other. She could tell they both wanted to do this for her. They wanted to believe, just like Zoe had. Brianna nodded. Slade nodded back.

“Ok,” said Brianna. “Ok, we can do that. Oh god Zoe, it’s going to be so wonderful when everything is back to normal.”

“Just the three of us,” Zoe said. “Forever.”

Although they didn’t chain her back up immediately, they did leave the collar on, and she had to carry the chain around her barren room with her to prevent it from loudly jingling. Satisfied that they weren't about to burst into the room and spot her up to no good, she checked the clock again. She moved over to the window and waited.

With the light on inside, she assumed that anybody from the street at night would be able to see in to her rather clearly. At approximately the same time as the day before, she was relieved to see a jogger darting between street lights. She glanced at the door again, then back outside. She hiked up her dress, dropped her panties, and stuck her ass out at the window. She felt more than a little bit ridiculous, but if this worked, she might be out of here much sooner than she’d originally feared.

After a few moments of wiggling, she turned and flashed her breasts. The jogger was standing there, staring. She’d never been more pleased to have a man gawking at her in her whole life. She blew him a kiss, which snapped him out of it. Embarrassed, he averted his gaze and started running again.

She wondered if she could talk them into giving her some art supplies.

Alicia approached the bound girl slowly and her heels clacked loudly against the cold concrete floor of the basement. The girl tensed up and started struggling against her restraints.

“Good morning Grace,” Alicia said.

“Mmmhhhmmh!” she replied.

It was a far cry from the improvised bondage she’d used to capture her. Alicia was positively delighted to discover that Master had a full-fledged dungeon underneath the office, and she decided it was the perfect place to keep Grace for now. His wishes were very clear, and they couldn’t allow her to get away until she’d been... enlightened. I must obey my master above all else, she thought.

She walked up and removed the gag.

“Let me go! Alicia, please, you can’t let him do this to us, to Zoe!”

Alicia stared at her.

“Oh Grace, sweet, innocent Grace,” she said.

Grace had been out like a light since Master shut her up yesterday. She had no idea how long she was going to be asleep for, but she’d taken the opportunity to move her from the car down to here once they had Master inside and called for help.

She walked to her and grabbed her struggling head, then kissed her on the neck.

“Zoe understands now. She knows what it means to serve our Master. And you’ll know what it means soon as well.” She slowly licked her cheek, moving upwards, and planted another kiss on her forehead. The more Grace tried to get away from her, the more it turned Alicia on.

“Get the fuck off me!” she screamed.

Alicia let her go, and she dropped down to the ground again. Alicia walked over to a large table and examined her options momentarily before settling on a riding crop. She walked back over, and she saw the fear appearing in her eyes.

“No, please, please no...” said Grace, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“You should save those tears, Grace. You might need them soon.”

Alicia approached her again and raised her hand. Grace flinched and hid her face away from her as best she could.

The door to the room opened. Alicia turned look.

“Alicia! Master has started to wake up!” shouted Sofia.

Alicia turned to look at Grace again.

“Sorry. We’ll have to continue this conversation later.”