I was still quite chilled while on my knees and felt a slight friction burn from where they rubbed up against the carpet. But at the same time, I was too overwhelmed and tired to stand. Martin’s taste was still rummaging around in my mouth and it made me want to puke.

 

“I have a proposal,” Master stated to the room. “You have one hour to find a suitable replacement for yourself and whoever finds the best one wins.”

 

I went pale. A way out? Then I thought it over. A way out for only one of us. But if any one of us escapes then they can get the police involved. Surely Master knew that and would put in a safeguard. Or was this all just a joke he was playing on us? Or was it supposed to appear like a joke? Was he turning us against each other? Ughh! There were too many ways this could go.

 

“Your time starts now.”

 

Suddenly I had full control of my body. I opened and closed a fist just to make sure. It was odd to have control again. What was Master’s angle? Who cares, I can just go to the police now and tell them what happened. Well… if I told them exactly what happened they’d think I’m crazy. But I could probably rig up some story about being kidnapped or forced into sex-slavery or something. But… would I be stuck this way? Shit! Ostensibly Master would turn us back if we won. Was playing his game really the only way out?

 

I pulled myself up. Whatever I was doing, I better start because I only had an hour. But where should I even start?

 

I decided to at least get out and took the elevator down, making my way back to downtown. The walk wouldn’t be too far.

 

Martin had left the hotel as soon as Master said go, but Grace had stayed behind. Was this Martin’s way of rebelling? Now that he was given freedom, he was going to take it? Or was he just playing Master’s game for the hell of it? It pained me to no end that Grace was just dawdling behind. Would I have had better luck protecting her if I had stayed? Maybe… But Master had gone to work on her and I doubted anything I could do would put a stop to it.

 

I was contemplating all this on top of where to go and what sort of person I would need to find when I felt hands grab around my waist just as I was passing by an alley-way. Martin had broken off a few blocks back and it was reasonable to assume nobody had seen me get grabbed. I was about to scream for help when I felt something get jammed into my mouth. It wasn’t too dissimilar from a horse bit if that is what I think it is. The leather thing they put in a horse’s mouth.

 

But wait… I felt more than one pair of hands. There was one set grabbing me around the waist and arms to restrain me, and another grabbing me around my head and shoving that thing in my mouth.

 

I felt the latter pair of hands then wrap some sort of rope around me at the waist as the arms let off.

 

Was I going to be sold into actual sex slavery now? Was that even worse compared to how bad my current situation was? Probably… But I guess it was just my luck.

 

A black-haired woman with a ball cap shielding her eyes walked in front of me while the rope and bit kept me restrained from behind. The pressure tightened on my mouth right before the woman pulled up my top lip. I had no clue what she was looking for, but she took her hand off my face.

 

“Not converted,” the woman told whoever was restraining me from behind.

 

“A thrall…” a scratchy male voice said, presumably the one holding the rope.

 

Wait… were these people aware of my situation!? This just went from worst to best-case scenario.

 

“Hehff Eee!” I mumbled through the gag thing.

 

“Hey!” the woman whispered aggressively before clasping her hand tightly around my jaw. “You talk again, and I break your neck.”

 

Hm… That option crossed my mind as reasonable (if only for a moment) compared to a fate like Grace’s. I dismissed the idea though and simply fell still and silent.

 

“You think she has control?” asked the gruff voice.

 

“It’s possible,” said the woman through clenched teeth.

 

Then…

 

Everything went black.

 

I woke up in what looked like a recording studio. The room was covered in foam. Then I took stock of my body and noticed the restraints still on my body. The gag was gone though.

 

There was a window that looked at the tech side of the studio and I saw the man who the voice belonged to sitting in a chair just observing me. The woman was leaned up against a wall but walked over to enter my part of the room once she saw I was awake.

 

She walked up close to me. I didn’t resist, and in fact shied away from her presence, still spoked by the whole situation. She had a knife in hand that she was quickly raising to my neck. I wasn’t sure if the stay still and don’t speak rule still applied so I just acted as though it did, closing my eyes and resigning to the death I knew must be impending.

 

I felt the cold metal against my neck and hoped it’d be quick and painless.

 

But then the pain never came. The flat side of the blade simply rested against my neck.

 

“No noted reaction,” the woman said aloud, presumably for the man’s benefit. “Is there any irritation or itching?”

 

It took me a moment to realize she might have been referring to me. “Me?” I asked, shocked.

 

“No… the other infected person in here,” the woman replied with an eye roll.

 

“Take it easy Kara,” the man said through a speaker system.

 

I thought about the question the woman, Kara, had asked me. I suppose there was just the slightest itch.

 

“It itches just a little.”

 

“So minimal allergic reaction to the silver…” The woman narrowed her eyes. “Do you know why you’re being given so much control?”

 

“Yes.”

 

There was a moment of silence before she continued, “And that is?”

 

I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t form the words.

 

“Looks like a typical NDA clause Trevor,” the woman said, finally relaxing a bit. “Can you tell us where your controller is?”

 

I stayed silent, although I was screaming on the inside. Then I realized something. Master might have put a restraint on my speech, but he had also given me an objective to satisfy.

 

“I have a hotel we can go back to…” I said, hoping the woman would understand. “To continue things…”

 

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”

 

“Probably a recruitment tactic,” Trevor surmised.

 

“Well no duh,” said Kara with another eye roll.

 

“What’s… going on?” I asked, finally feeling comfortable enough to raise my voice.

 

Kara looked at me. “Sorry babe. The less I tell you, the less your controller can do if we mess up.”

 

I nodded sympathetically. It made sense.

 

“Well from the looks of it our goals line up,” I said.

 

“You are a fresh one aren’t you,” the woman mused.

 

“I just put my costume on a few hours ago,” I hinted, hoping she’d understand my meaning.

 

“This could be our chance, Kara. She’s not been broken yet. We can use her,” Trevor said while Kara seemed lost in thought.

 

“Not sure <i>she</i> wants to be used… but anything to get me out of this costume,” I said firmly. “But like I said… I’d love to take one of you back to my hotel room.”

 

“This is our shot. It could be him, Kara—”

 

“I know! Just… let me think.” Kara paced in deep thought.

 

My heart was pounding. Could Master see what was happening? He’d demonstrated how he could see certain things before based on what he’d said when he talked through Martin, Grace, and I. But how far did that extend? These people seemed like they knew what was up, and from the looks of it were prepared to help me out, possibly even taking out Master. And honestly… if they failed I’d be satisfying my mission of bringing a suitable replacement. I’m sure Master would look kindly upon me bringing him a vampire-hunter… either that or he’d decidedly not. It was a risk, but I felt as though I was going to come out on top in most situations. This could actually work, I just have to get back before the---

 

The time limit!

 

“What time is it?”

 

“Why do you care?” Kara said, tossing my question aside and continuing to pace.

 

“My hotel room expires at a certain time, so if you want to come I would need to make sure it was still open.”

 

“If the time limit was up your controller would just retake control and we’d know.”

 

“But we need to act fast Kara,” Trevor chimed in.

 

“Jesus Trevor! You think I don’t know that?” Kara yelled. “But what happens if one of us is compromised? Then everything we’ve done is pointless.”

 

“Still… we might not get another shot at this,” Trevor grumbled. “I wanna see him gone as much as you do.”

 

“Fine.” Kara stood still for the first time in a while. “I’d rather be the one to take him out, would I be out of place for you to bring?” she asked me.

 

“Put on something cute, and I’d love to take you home.” I wish I didn’t have to speak through code like this, but I’d work with what I had.

 

“Which hotel?”

 

“Holiday Inn… just a few blocks down the street.”

 

“There’s decent cover across the street. I’ll be able to survey things and execute worst case scenario options from there,” Trevor said.

 

“Fine. I’ll suit up.” Kara said glumly as she left the room and then the rest of the recording booth.

 

“Cheer up kid. If things work out, he’ll be dead and whatever he did to you will be over,” Trevor said to me before getting up and following Kara.

 

Not too much afterward, Kara reappeared in a cocktail dress. Her hair was done up in a tight bun, and her makeup was convincing enough that she could have been a part of the nightlife that I happened to stumble upon.

 

“I sure hope this works kid… Because if this goes south, we’ll all be seeing the inside of a body bag,” Kara said as she began untying me.