Driving home that fateful night, I had a lot of time to reflect on what had happened. I had made a lot of mistakes, but they could all be summed up in the ultimate mistake of trying to bring harm to Mistress. Not only was it futile, it was wrong. Mistress had seen fit to forgive me and I would be eternally grateful, but I would remember that mistake for the rest of my days, the grave harm I had almost caused.

Then again, it was really no mistake, was it? More like divine providence from the goddess I had always been destined to worship and serve. Mistress had led me down the path I needed to follow to see the light, no, to see the darkness that she called home. I was what I was always meant to be because of those decisions: her protector, her worshiper, her lover… her thrall. For that, too, I'd have to be eternally grateful. I could take solace in knowing that my actions led me on my path into her embrace.

Yes, she was a vampire, once a human like me, given her current form by another vampire, but that didn't change that she was a goddess to me. I would obey her, serve her, sustain her… I was completely hers, to do with as she liked. It had made me confused and angry then, but I now understood why Gail was so willing to give her life for Mistress. It was her purpose to protect and obey, just like it was mine. Nothing else mattered more, no matter how much I had valued it a day ago. And knowing that filled me with yet more love for her, making me more devoted still.

I touched my fingers to my bite mark ever so often throughout the drive, that lasting mark of Mistress' love. It was still so sensitive that I nearly swerved off the road at one point just brushing it lightly. I knew it would fade after a week or so, so I would treasure it while it lasted. But I also knew that there was more where it came from, much more. Once I had gotten some good food and rest, healthy enough for Mistress to bite me again without risk, of course. She wanted me to be healthy before she drank from me again, after all, and so I would have to be.

I was going to need to cover the bite mark for the time being, of course. This had to be my little secret shared only with Mistress and her other thralls. Thankfully, I still had the scarf that I was using to foolishly avoid being bitten this morning. It would continue to cover me and protect me, but for altogether different reasons.

Yes, just this morning I had been there to hurt Mistress and put an end to her undeath. I had thought that her other thralls had been robbed of their human souls, but I understood now that it wasn't like that at all. I was a thrall who would always obey my Mistress, yes, but I was still me, Valerie. Being hers didn't change any of that, it was just that now, I understood what my priorities always should have been. But I was the person I always was, a young woman with a bachelor's degree in journalism, stuck for the time being working at a card store, barely making rent month to month but always supported by my good friend and roommate, Lauren…

Oh god, Lauren. I hadn't considered her at all. She was out of town now visiting her sister, but she was coming back tomorrow, and I had told her all about my plans to confront Mistress at the hotel. She was going to ask questions, hard questions that I would need to have answers ready for. I didn't want to lie to her, she was one of my best friends, but I would have to for Mistress' sake. I had told her too many unsavory things about vampires, about the harm I thought they brought upon the world and their uncaring nature. But Mistress was neither harmful nor uncaring. I was so happy to be serving her, but I was confident that Lauren wouldn't understand that.

The problem, I thought as I pulled up into the parking lot of the suburban apartment complex that Lauren and I called home, was that I'm not sure I was all that great a liar. I had never had to lie like this before, to protect my Mistress or anyone else who was in danger really. I had been building up confidence the entire drive to write back to the New England Vampire Hunters Clamor server, letting them know that there was no vampire at the Seagate Hotel, that Naomi Rennt was an ordinary human woman as opposed to my Mistress who I was now so utterly devoted to. Mistress and I had agreed upon a story to present them with, and that gave me a whole lot of confidence and conviction. But Lauren was going to be on a whole other level, because I would have to talk to her in person.

I was panicking a bit, and I considered calling Mistress. But it was going to be at least twelve hours or so until Lauren got back from her weeklong trip to her sister's house two states south of here, and beyond that Mistress had made it clear that she wanted to be left alone for the time being unless something really critical came up. It was possible that this was going to escalate, but it hadn't yet, so I wanted to try and solve this problem all by myself.

It wasn't going to be easy, though. Any of the escape routes I could think of weren't really going to help. What if I just moved away? Asked Mistress to let me stay in a hotel room? Well, anything like that would just make Lauren more suspicious. I had made it all too clear to her that if I wasn't acting like myself after the hunt, she should suspect that I had been made a thrall. I was too competent a hunter for my own good, it was turning out. I let my loved ones in on too much detail of this, in the interest of what I thought was protecting myself, and them. But I understood now that that was all because I severely underestimated how good it would feel to serve her.

As I walked up the stairs to my apartment on the second story, I realized how hard it was going to be to hide that bite mark from Lauren. I couldn't justify wearing a scarf inside. It would be the most suspicious thing to her that I could possibly do. I had spent multiple rides to the grocery store hammering into her that the distinctive two prick marks, usually but not always on the neck, were the best way to tell if someone had been bitten by a vampire, that anyone suspected of having been bitten should be unafraid of showing their neck if they really hadn't been. I would have to try makeup and see what good that would do. I wasn't completely confident it would cover it up enough, but it was the best option I had here.

I walked into my apartment, catching the familiar scent of the living room, and of the breakfast I had cooked for myself this morning, eggs and toast. I wondered if my diet would affect what I would taste like to Mistress. I would have to ask her about that. I wanted to taste as good as possible for her, after all. I wanted her to call me delicious again, and again, and again, and again.

Alone at home, no longer having to worry about anyone seeing me for the next twelve hours or so, my gay little heart began to flutter once again, as I was able to fully bask in the realization that I was hers, completely hers. I whipped my scarf off and touched my bite mark again, really feeling it up and pressing down on it, causing my knees to buckle, and I nearly fell over, catching myself on the couch. I couldn't hold this in any longer. I was so fucking horny. I wanted to be bitten again by Mistress, fucked senseless by her over and over and over, but in her absence I'd take care of things myself. It would be made even better because I would be pleasing her by masturbating. She had ordered me to every day – it would be doing her will and it would feel so much fucking better knowing that.

I ran back to my room, messily pulling my clothes off and throwing them to the ground. Mistress liked me horny and needy and desperate, she had said, and I was feeling more that way now than I ever could have imagined. I stuck my fingers back in my pussy and began rubbing rhythmically, imagining Mistress on top of me pinning me down, calling me pretty and delicious, condescending to me… As mad as I had been when she talked down to me this morning, I had really loved every minute of it. I loved it when she put me in my place… I imagined her staring me in the eyes and making me blank and obedient just like she liked me, whispering commands into my ear that I would obey without remembering. I imagined her rewarding my obedience with bites on the neck and calling me a good girl. She had so much effortless control over me, and it was wonderful.

I came four times rubbing myself and thinking of Mistress, each orgasm deepening my devotion toward her as I moaned and felt up my own tits. It could only have been better if she was there alongside me for me to worship and fawn over in person.

I stayed in bed a while, hiding under the covers all comfortable and curled up, feeling warm and safe knowing I belonged to her. I kept grinding my pussy against the bed occasionally, and hugged and kissed my pillows pretending they were Mistress.

But by the time it got to be 30 minutes before midnight or so, I realized that I needed to follow Mistress' orders and tell the people on the server our story of what had happened. Still covered in sweat and my own juices, I got up and walked over to my computer.

The server hadn't had much activity since I had shown it to Mistress a couple of hours ago at this point. No one seemed concerned that I hadn't gotten back to the server about the hunt, thankfully. God, it was lucky that my former colleagues here hadn't believed me about Mistress. I really hoped that this would stick, and they wouldn't ask too many questions. Otherwise, it would spell danger for Mistress, and I couldn't allow that. I began typing in the #active-hunts channel, and the following conversation followed.

<valerie_h> sorry to be late updating you all

you were right, there's no vampire at the seagate hotel

met with that naomi lady

she was a human

looked just like the driver's license i posted 2 weeks ago

told her about the whole thing when i realized she was human

we ended up having a laugh about the whole thing and had breakfast together

just got home to write about it

she said no photos though :/

which i know is sus but you all know me by now

would've done anything to get a good photo with her. a bit frustrating but i had to give it up

here's me outside the hotel though later that day

valerie_h uploaded a file: IMG_0890.jpg

<StakeSharpener86> told u it was a bad lead

false positives happen

<Jesus loves me> You need to ask God if the one you're hunting is really one of the undead.

He's never failed me.

<StakeSharpener86> dude u only have 1 successful hunt and u literally saw her biting the guy in the alley

how many times do i need to tell u religion doesn't help us against them

keep ur silver close my dude

<Jesus loves me> It's the cross, not silver. Our Lord empowers us to face off against the creatures of the night.

<StakeSharpener86> its silver dude @draculah8r is it the silver or the cross

<draculah8r> Silver

<Jesus loves me> Have a little faith.

Their argument continued on for the next 10 minutes or so, as was typical on the server. Good for me and good for Mistress. The sooner my message was forgotten the sooner we could close this off. But that didn't mean I wouldn't stick around to keep tabs on the hunters here. It made me feel so good to be protecting her, at these fuckers' expense. I had counted myself among them a day ago, but I never would do so again.

I hadn't been so sure about including the "no photos" part, but I figured I'd preempt any questions about that. It seemed like it'd look a lot worse if they asked about it afterward and I had to say then that I hadn't gotten one. Because I knew that it'd be on everyone's minds one way or another. Like I had told Mistress, evidence was everything. But I was also a hunter with two kills under my belt. That, too, meant something to these people. They considered me a reliable ally who was unlikely to be defeated, as much as it felt weird looking back at myself now, seeing Mistress' kind as a one-dimensional evil to be hunted. She probably wouldn't want me doing that any longer.

After becoming confident that this wasn't going to become a problem in the immediate present, I started to realize how tired I was. This had been a big day. I had taken on Mistress, then been taken by her in exchange, a moment I'd always remember fondly but one that was also incredibly exhausting. I had talked things through with her in her apartment, formulated a plan, driven back here, rubbed myself off for a good hour, and handled things on the server. The blood loss was still weighing on me too; I needed something to eat to keep up my strength for Mistress.

I would need to figure out how to deal with the Lauren problem in the morning, but for the time being, I made myself a big pot of spaghetti, ate it, and got into bed. It would be easy to get a long, restful sleep, knowing I belonged to Mistress completely. I was still horny, of course. I would always be at least a little bit horny from now on, knowing I was hers, completely hers… always dripping at the thought of being bitten, cuddlefucked, pinned against the wall. I thought about all of those things as I drifted off for the night.

I woke up at 8:30 the next morning to find a text from Lauren showing on my phone. She was gonna be back here in an hour, after grocery shopping, and she wanted to know if I needed anything at the store.

Oh god, only an hour! I had to be prepared to explain myself to her. I told Lauren I didn't need anything, then climbed out of bed and got some clothes on, nothing serious but just an old t-shirt and sweatpants, the kind of thing I usually wore around the house on a lazy Sunday. Oh yes, today was Sunday; I had work all throughout the week, so it had been on a Saturday that I had planned to attack Mistress. To finish it off, I put on some foundation over my bite mark, and nearly fell down as I felt it. Though it was starting to fade, it was still sensitive as hell and felt wonderful to touch. I didn’t often wear makeup, only for special occasions, but this was definitely a special occasion.

I poured myself some cereal and brewed myself a cup of green tea as I thought it over. I really wasn’t confident in my ability to lie to Lauren’s face, even for Mistress. I’d have to try, but she and I had known each other for years by now. She knew me so well that I suspected she’d catch on easily to anything that seemed unusual for me. And she had very much been in my life when I killed those other two vampires; she knew how I had felt about that. My change in perspective toward Mistress wouldn’t be easily explainable, but I would have to try, for her sake.

I would act casual and confident, and try to pass it off as a normal Sunday. I wouldn’t breach the subject of my latest vampire hunt until she did. So after eating, I lied back on the couch, scrolling through posts on my phone, and waited for my roommate to arrive.

She came in soon enough, looking a bit tired, but also as pretty as she always was. Lauren had medium-length straight brown hair and wore glasses. Right now, she was dressed in jeans and a blue flannel over a black t-shirt. She and I had met back in college, when we had been in one of my literature classes together. We’d stuck together since then, through all sorts of ups and downs in our lives. But this… I couldn’t let her know about this. I had to protect Mistress.

“Hey,” she said, lugging her suitcase through the door.

“Hey yourself!” I said. It was nice to see her. She had been a constant in my life for a long while.

Lauren set down her bag, ran over to me, and gave me a big hug, me gripping her back tightly. “I am so glad to see you back here in one piece! You have to tell me all about the, um, hunt, OK?” Oh, fuck, she was already bringing it up. It made sense; we always talked about these things in the past. She had been terrified for my life every time, knowing what they could do to me. What they had done to me, now… I had told her all about it in the most excruciating detail. How to protect herself, what to look for, all of my knowledge. All in the most unfavorable terms, of course. It made me feel ashamed of myself now. Mistress didn’t want to hurt me. She had shown me what my place truly was.

“It’s good to see you too! You have to tell me all about your trip!” I said. I really did want to hear how she’d been, but also maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to distract her from talking about my own recent experiences. It was worth a shot.

"I mean, you know, not that much to say, really," she said, brushing her hair out of her face in the really cute way she always did. "Judy and I went back to that hot wings place I told you about."

"The one with the green chili sauce?" I asked, going over to the couch to sit down. I motioned for her to join me.

She took a seat across the couch from me and gave me a little nod. "Mm-hm! I know you don't like spicy food, but this is way more your speed, I promise. You've got to come with me the next time I go down there! We can go and get some drinks together."

"Okayyy," I said, sprawling myself out on the couch. And that last part really got me going, though not in the way Lauren was hoping. I could take or leave getting some drinks at a noisy hot wing bar, but on the other hand, if I were Mistress' drink, then…

No, I mean, I had to talk to Lauren right now. Going to visit her sister with her would be a fun trip sometime, and I'd take her up on it. It was just that there were more pressing matters at the moment, though ones that I was desperately trying to think of a way out of. The time to fantasize about all the hot things that Mistress could do to me would come later, once I knew she was safe.

"Yeah, it sounds fun. I'll go with you next time!" I said eagerly.

"Great! Thanks, Val." Lauren paused for a moment, checking some message on her phone. "So how did your weekend go? You look a little exhausted. Is… she dead?" Fuck, I looked exhausted. I didn't think that would show so easily. But between my stressful standoff with Mistress and all of the fucking that had come after, I was definitely feeling the effects. It didn't help that I was probably still missing a lot of blood. But maybe I could use this to my advantage.

"She… Naomi Rennt… isn’t dead. Not undead either, for that matter. Just a regular human being. I was wrong," I said a bit sheepishly. I could channel the shame I was feeling for threatening Mistress into this.

Lauren looked back at me surprised. "Really? You were so sure! All the stuff you showed me seemed so airtight."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess those guys on the server knew better than me in the end. I felt pretty bad about it. She seemed like an alright enough person." Was this convincing? I think I was being reasonably convincing, but I'm not sure I could be a very good judge of that.

"Oh, you met her? Did you take a photo?" she asked. I seemed to sense a tinge of apprehension in her voice and I resisted the urge to wince.

"Ugh, she was really resistant to the idea. Kind of pissed me off. I couldn't get her to agree to one with me. She does live at the hotel. Just some kind of private rich lady renting a room there long term." Yes! This was just as Mistress and I agreed on. I was following the narrative and I was sure that would get me through this.

"But you are sure she's a human?" Lauren asked, narrowing her eyes a little. Fuck, I had trained her pretty well for this.

"Yeah. I saw her reflection… in the doorknob for her suite. No fangs. And she had a pulse and everything. And body heat." I was kind of scrambling to figure all the details of that one out. Not ideal.

"That's good. So how did it like, go? Can you give me the step-by-step?" she asked, waving her hand away from me. Yeah. I had given her the step-by-step of what to ask when I told her about my vampire hunts, so that she'd catch me if I ever became a thrall. Unfortunately, it seems like it was working effectively.

I was tired though, no lie, and I'd have to tell her that. I could at least delay this a bit, I thought. Regroup. Maybe text Mistress – was there any chance she'd be awake at this time? Probably not, but I could hope.

"Oh god, Laurie, can we do this later? I promise I'll tell you all about it later, but I'm just exhausted–" I started, but Lauren cut me off.

"Come on, no excuses, Val. You told me as much yourself! You said I should give you this, uh, 'Turing test' as you called it, as soon as possible. Honestly, I should've called you yesterday morning to check in, but I got really sucked into the book I was reading and forgot and decided to just ask you now. That was probably irresponsible of me. If, god forbid, she actually was a vampire and bit you, you could've been told to say all sorts of things. Or maybe she just put those memories you thought you had in your head!"

She paused for a moment to catch her breath, as I tried to think of something to say. This was pretty bad. She wasn't gonna take any excuses. "Look… I believe you, Val. Don't get me wrong, I do. But these things you've said about all this, they freak me out. I just want to be sure you're safe because I can't get the thought out of my head. I've told you so many times how fuckin' worried for you this makes me. Can you humor me a little bit here, please?"

I sighed. As stressful as this was, she really did care for me. I didn't like lying to her at all. It had to be done for Mistress' safety, but it didn't feel good. "OK, but I really think I might have exaggerated the danger–"

"No, Valerie! You didn't exaggerate!" she said. "Remember when you brought Emily Fogel here after your last hunt? You told here that what had been done to her, to be made a slave to an undead predator, was a fate worse than death. I saw you say that to her face as she was crying and pleading. You believed it. You told her that she would recover, but that what had been done to her was fucked beyond description. I get that this is hard to talk to talk about, I get that you're exhausted, I get that some people on the internet might make fun of you, but I need you to level with me here. What happened at the hotel?"

It was true that Emily Fogel, former thrall of the vampire Kathy Sherman, had been hurt horribly. But Mistress wasn't the same at all. Kathy Sherman had been cruel and domineering and was draining Emily's blood at a fast enough rate that she had been prone to fainting, I had learned. Mistress was none of those things. She was kind and sweet and sexy and powerful and I was confident she'd never take enough blood to hurt me (but if she ever wanted to she could because I was helpless against her and had no will to disobey and that got me so wet thinking about it). Lauren didn't get it at all.

I looked down, tearing up, unable to think of something to say. I needed to do this for Mistress, but… what was there to do? Lauren had so much trust in me, and yet at the same time, she was not going to let up on this, and she simply didn't understand. I was stuck in an impossible position.

But… thinking more, I was able to remind myself that there was a light at the end of a tunnel. No, maybe moreso a darkness – that's what Mistress would prefer. This was becoming more difficult, sure. But I could tell a story. I had a story, maybe not the most well-formed one, but it existed. It might convince Lauren, and then we could move on with our lives, Lauren as she always had and me as Mistress' loyal thrall. And if it didn't convince her…I could work on damage control. But more importantly, Mistress could. That would be an emergency that warranted calling her, and once she was here, even if it was an inconvenience that I'd have to apologize for, to lay out in supplication for, Mistress would be able to protect herself. Once Mistress was done with Lauren, she'd be as obedient and worshipful as I was, and she'd understand. No, there was no need for despair. Very recently, I thought that I could never understand, but I knew now how short-sighted that had been. I needed only to have faith in Mistress and I'd be able to get through this.

I swallowed and looked back at Lauren. "OK. I'll tell you about what happened."

Lauren, with her arms crossed, looking back at me apprehensively, smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"OK, a step by step," I said, taking a deep breath. "So… I drove up to the hotel. I didn't know what I was gonna find. It was pretty nerve-wracking, really." That much was true.

Lauren nodded. She seemed a lot more at ease now that I was willing to talk about this. I thought back and continued. "Got to the hotel. I went in and… there were a couple of women working at the front desk." Mistress' thralls. "I went up, said I was a vampire hunter, and I was looking for a guest named, you know, Naomi Rennt, who I thought was a vampire." Well, that's where I'd stop being able to tell the true story. Now I'd need to improvise…

"What did they say?" Lauren asked. She was leaning forward, listening closely now.

"Well, you know, they said they couldn't help me. Couldn't divulge information about guests, said I was threatening them… you know. I felt a little bad." OK, staying on track, but that wasn't going to last. "They… didn't seem like they were thralls to me, so I practically begged them to just give Ms. Rennt a call and see if she was willing to meet with me. She ended up saying I could talk to her if it was brief, and I was given her room number." So far so good.

Lauren continued listening silently. I looked back at her every couple of seconds to see if she was still following.

"So I went up there, um, one of the people from the front desk followed me also at Ms. Rennt's request. I knocked on the door… and she answered. Looked just like in her photo ID, actually, it–it wasn't faked." I suddenly became highly aware that I was probably using a lot more body language than I did when I talked. Trying to make a point, but it might have looked weird.

"You're really sure? You were so confident in that point. That was like, your smoking gun," Lauren responded.

"Yeah, it sucks. Or, I mean, it's good, I guess. I'm glad she's not… a vampire, hurting people," I said.

"Are you OK?" Lauren asked. "You're getting all sweaty."

"I mean, yeah? I'm just stressed out over this whole thing, I guess," I said. "It's a lot. There was a lot of apprehension, there. Like, was she a vampire, letting me into her hideout so she could, you know, bite me? What if the hotel people had no idea? You get it."

"I think so," Lauren said.

"A-anyways, Ms. Rennt let me in, and she was just a regular person. She let me check her pulse, showed me she had a reflection in the mirror, you know. Had a good laugh about it," I said. Wait. Shit. Did she notice? I thought back to what I had said before. I hoped Lauren didn't notice. I needed to move the story forward.

"She said I couldn't take a photo, though. Private–"

"Wait a sec, wait a sec. I thought you said you saw her reflection in the doorknob?" Lauren asked. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. My heart was beating at a million miles an hour. That one mistake had messed this all up. Mistress was in danger and I had put her there.

"I–I did," I clarified, speaking more quickly without thinking. "I saw it there first, then asked her to show me again in the mirror in her room just so I could be sure."

Lauren looked terrified, and slid a little bit on the couch away from me. No! I wanted to shout out. I wanted to fix this. This was bad. I couldn't have Lauren lose her trust in me. Because I loved her, and for Mistress, of course…

"Valerie. I need to ask you this straight up," Lauren asked, with deadly slowness and precision of words. "Are you lying to me?"

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just shook my head. My mouth couldn't generate words right now, not even for Mistress. I was a bad fucking liar and Mistress was going to pay for it.

Lauren stood up, looking panicked but also determined. She wasn't looking straight at me and her eyes were darting around the room. "Valerie… she's a vampire, isn't she?" she asked.

"N-no!" I managed to blurt out. Not remotely convincing, probably. "How can I prove it to you? Anything!"

Lauren looked at me with a horrible frown on her face. "Val… you could tell me what really happened. I think I know you well enough to tell when you're lying."

"O–OK," I said, taking in a huge deep breath. "OK. I'm sorry. The whole thing was just really weird. She was a vampire, OK?" I was just making shit up one word at a time at this point. Anything to get me out of this.

"But. She got away! I wasn't able to kill her and she escaped." I nodded and put on my best forced smile at Lauren.

"OK, sure," Lauren said, sitting back down with an annoyed sigh. "Tell me the step-by-step." She was giving me a look of absolute seriousness on her pretty face. Was I going to lose her? I really didn't want to lose her.

As I opened my mouth to speak, she held up a finger. "But hold on. Maybe this can be simpler, if what I think happened really happened." I could see the slightest hint of tears welling up in her eyes, but she was doing a good job of maintaining her composure. I just wanted to embrace her right then, but that obviously would not have helped.

"Are you sure you got away safely? I'm a hell of a lot more worried about you than I am her. For a year and a half you've been going on these, well, they're pretty close to suicide missions, Val! If not for your life than for your free will. I've stood by here and supported you because you've known what you're doing, but… I mean…" She looked away for a moment, clearly holding back tears.

"Are you sure she didn't bite you, Valerie? You're not her thrall now? Her little… thing, for her to use? You don't want her to bite you some more? She's not your goddess, Mistress, whatever? You don't…" She hadn't been saying this stuff very sexily, but she altered her tone, loud-whispering and leaning her head towards me for greater effect. "You don't worship her?"

Energy running high, my thoughts consumed with Mistress' well-being and the thought of giving myself up to her, Lauren painting a wonderfully hot image in a way she couldn't even imagine, I couldn't help but give up the smallest of gay little moans.

And with that, Lauren's eyes widened, and I knew there was absolutely no way out of this now. She stood up in a flash, scrambling for her phone and stepping back toward her bags on the floor and the front door.

"No–no, wait, please, Laurie! I–I can explain, I swear!" I said.

"Explain what, Valerie? That shit I just said, it's–it's just the shit that Emily Fogel kept going on about, worshipping her goddess with a blood offering, it's fucking nonsense! And the last time I talked to you about this, it horrified you too! It didn't make you horny. She took you, Valerie, and I have to try and do something about this! Find someone who might be able to talk some sense into you, I don't know if it's possible but I care about you, Valerie, just like you care about all the people you helped and avenged."

"I–wait! No, look, I don't need help!" I said. "I promise you I'm fine!"

"Fine? Valerie, you're a victim of supernatural mind control. That's the furthest you could possibly be from fine." She looked me dead in the eyes, not angry, just disappointed.

"I… am," I said. The game was up. There was no use in denying that now. But maybe I could convince her to stop doing whatever she was thinking of doing. Maybe, just maybe, hoping beyond hope. "But it's fine. It's good, actually. I'm hers and I fucking love it. I'm sorry for lying to you, but I have to protect her. It's like you said. She's my Mistress."

Lauren turned her head around. "I need to go. I can't listen to you say shit like this. It's too sad."

"Please! You don't understand. She's a sweet and kind Mistress and I'm hers! She hasn't hurt me, I swear!"

The front door slammed, with Lauren and her bags gone once again. I heard the sound of her footsteps quickly descending the staircase. I was alone in the apartment.

I'd follow her, yeah. I needed to know where she was going, if it might hurt Mistress. I didn't want to lose Lauren. I loved her. I loved Mistress. But first, I took out my phone.

<Valerie Hawthorne> Mistress, my roommate knows I'm yours. Please help me.