Chapter 13

Mary waited until the couple left before entering. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t meant to intrude…”

“Oh, don’t worry. Mary, this is Romy, who I’m doing a bit of work for. Romy, Mary, a friend of Slave’s.” A pause, as they both worked out how a woman and a dog acknowledge that they’ve been introduced, then Talib cut it. “Romy, can you wait in the other room? We’ll get started in just a bit.”

“Ok. Nice to meet you, Mary.” She left, and the door closed behind her.

“She was in Slave’s reports, wasn’t she?”

“She was. She was even in the dungeon when you came over for supper. But she’s not part of the investigation; she’s completely legal. What’s up?”

Mary took a seat and fidgeted. “I, um, have been asked to open an official channel for regular, personal communication, between the agency and you two.”

“Ok. You’ve done that a couple of times, I can see why they’d ask you.”

“They are willing to fund this, somewhat.”

“Good to hear.”

Silence.

“Mary? What did they ask you to do, exactly?”

“They haven’t asked me to do anything, officially. I could just come over for supper once a week or so.”

“I’m sure we could accommodate that. I’m sure Slave would like to offer you dessert anytime you ask.”

Mary blushed. “Yes… Um, it wasn’t stated that I need to make sure not to blow your cover.”

“ ‘It wasn’t stated’?”

“Yes.”

Talib leaned forward. “Do you believe that coming as a regular social guest would imply to watchers that Slave isn’t as fully under my control as we are trying to convince them she is? That the mere fact that she maintains some of her old friends would imply that she isn’t completely enslaved?”

Mary licked her lips. “The thought crossed my mind.”

“On the other hand, if one of her old attractive, female friends were to sign some form of a contract with me, that would be more of me taking the opportunities to expand my control, and reel in more slaves.”

“Yes, Master.”

“I see. Well then, Mary, I have to ask one question. Do you want to sign such a contract with me? Regardless of the job.”

“I… I shouldn’t answer that today, so soon after being in your training.”

“In other words, yes, but you aren’t sure you’d agree if you got sober. Whatever ‘sober’ means.”

“Um, yes.”

He nodded, then typed a few keys. “This is a standard variant of the Sentient Property contract that I’ve used before. It specifies that you are my Property from the time you leave work on Friday, until late Sunday night, every week. Outside of that time, you are Free, but I may ask you to perform some ‘homework’ for me. I can use any mods I want, as long as they don’t affect your appearance or performance at your daytime job. Of course, you can also visit during the week, either as Property, or to discuss issues that come up. Would that be acceptable to you?”

She grabbed it out of his hands, and looked it over, and apparently found nothing to fault in it. Relaxing, she fell back into her chair. “This would be something you’ve done before, then?”

“Yes. It’s much more common, really, than something like what I’ve got with Slave. This would be something that would give you a reason to come over any time, be normal for any client of mine, and would still look like I was taking advantage of Slave’s friends. And,” He smiled, with a hint of knowledge, “it would be something I believe you would enjoy.”

“Ok.” She signed it, compulsively, then pushed it back at him to sign, and stood up.

“See you friday.”

“What? Oh, right. See you friday.”