Abigail pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath in.

“Todd. Get back in your car and wait.” She exhaled.

“Aiight.” He replied and walked back over to his horseless carriage.

Abigail then glared at Paige. “Can we get some space, this family is about to separate. It’s a private matter.”

Paige didn’t look happy about it but she relented. She took Rina and the recruits a distance away but still kept her eyes fixed on the group.

“Finally, some peace.” Abigail sighed. “It’s good she’s so easy to provoke.”

“So what’s actually going on here guys. What am I missing?” Nick asked.

Everyone in the group's faces dropped a bit and Nick's stomach fell. It can’t have been that bad right? Abigail took a deep breath then looked at him square in the eyes.

“I’ll keep it straight. Have you noticed that all your thoughts of Paige are more positive than they might have been previously? That the things she says feel a bit more impactful, they mean more to you?”

Nick started to sweat, looking at it now he could totally see it. He’d thought that Paige was a creepy doll of a person originally, he even doubted her humanity. Now he thought she was pretty, a charming woman. Even the disconnect between those two thoughts didn’t bother him, his mind simply accepted that Paige was now the charming lady he saw before him. Nick slowly nodded in response to everything Abby was saying.

“Yeah look man. You messed up, letting her bite you once was bad enough. I hear you went and let her bite you all over for at least a few hours.” Abby said, shaking her head.

Nick blushed. “I didn’t really think about it…”

“Uh huh. Men, I tell you.” Abby sighed, earning nods from every woman in the group. “Well buddy. You have Paige in your veins, literally. The weird vampire-monster that she is are made to do this sort of thing, their entire skill set is based around influencing others and gaining increasing control over them. Nasty work they are.”

“So what can I do, surely spending more time around her is only going to make it worse for me?” Nick asked.

“Yep, it’s only going to get worse for you. That’s why we’re leaving you here though, not that we have much of a choice. Your sister is the only chance you really have of getting out of this pickle. For whatever reason my sister seems to have a pretty good opinion of you, so I offered to help get your sister in contact with some people who can help train her in rituals to help you. Also your dad is pretty cool, he doesn’t deserve a thrall of a son.”

That was a lot for Nick to process. He was turning into a slave of sorts, that wasn’t a particularly fun sounding fate. The family wasn’t looking to be in great shape right now. Benny was missing, Nick becoming a slave to a vampire, and Lily was going to have to dedicate her time to rescuing him. At least Henry wasn’t in too bad a spot, it was the little victories that Nick tried to focus on. Nick realised that he was definitely in a tricky spot, what could he do? Now that he knew what was happening to him, could he actually do anything about it?

“I can see that look on your face. Don’t lose hope. Your sister seems like a quick learner, things will be okay in no time. I’m going to slip something into your pocket when we hug okay? It’s a necklace like the one everyone is wearing. Try and wear it whenever you can, it’ll lessen the control she has over you. Though don’t ever let her see it, she’ll destroy it. It won’t be much, but it’ll help you stay focused when you need it.”

With that, Abby gave Nick a big hug and walked over to the wagon. Maddy was the next to walk up to Nick, she pulled him into a tight hug and squeezed.

“I’m sorry this happened, we’ll make it work. We’ll come in and save you as soon as we can.”

“Thanks Maddy, look after everyone yeah?”

Maddy teared up a bit but nodded, following after her sister. Henry and Lily both approached him, tears already forming in their eyes.

“Bit of a rough hand huh?” Nick joked.

“Can’t seem to catch a break can we?” Lily said with a slight smile.

“We’ve been through worse, at least we’re all alive. We’ll sort this out, Benny will be back and you’ll be free. Things will be good. We’ll make them good.” Henry sounded like he was trying to convince himself just as much as his children.

“From indentured servant to slave, I don’t seem to be making great progress.”

“Not optimal, but we’re working with it. It’s my turn to help now Nick, you can trust me.” Lily’s eyes finally wobbled and the tears flowed.

Nick pulled his sister into a hug. “Of course I can.”

Nick’s own eyes began to leak. Henry wrapped the two of them up in his big arms, Nick didn’t look but he could hear the man’s sniffles. The family stood like that for a while, not knowing how long it would be until they’d hug again. Eventually the tears dried up and the family separated. Lily handed Nick a small stone.

“Squeeze it once a day and I’ll know you’re okay. Squeeze it three times when you have Benny, Abby will come down to pick him up.”

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Nick nodded, he didn’t want to speak in case he broke down again. With that the family had to part ways. Nick watched as his father and sister climbed up onto the carriage. He saw that Maddy had Abby wrapped up in a hug, Abby not looking overly pleased about it. Then the carriage started rolling away. Abby couldn’t leave without stirring the pot a bit more though.

“Keep your whore hands off him you bog bitch!” She yelled out at Paige.

That drew a lot of ire from everyone in the area, various groups looking ready to pounce on the carriage. Paige herself looked ready to commit bloody murder, Rina literally holding her back. Abby just grinned and patted the massive stone on the seat next to her, which kept everyone at a distance. As the wagon sped up and headed off down a road into the forest Nick had a thought. What if that stone wasn’t actually a bomb, what if the mark on it was just what made it float? Nick grinned, nobody would be willing to test that theory. Nick then turned around and walked back over to Paige.

“Well, what’s first?” He asked.

Paige smiled at him and he felt a bit more at ease. “Rina, take the recruits back to the Hall. I’ll take Nick with me to the Mistress.”

Straight to the big wigs huh? Nick readied himself mentally, while his faculties might not be entirely his own, he could still give it his best effort. Rina gave him a smile and a pat on the shoulder before leading the three ever-silent recruits off towards one of the larger buildings in the settlement. Paige linked her arm through Nick’s and led him directly towards the cathedral, looks like he was walking straight into the dragon’s den. Nick was ready, he had everything he’d ever need to handle this situation. His questionable wit, perhaps even more questionable than it had ever been, would see him through this. It had gotten him this far, which might not have been a fantastic situation, but he was alive and doing his best.

Nick was even more awed by the grandiosity of the building as he approached it. From afar he could appreciate the magnitude of the building, but it was only up close that the sheer detail was made apparent. Each stone was perfectly polished, each window had a unique pattern combining into large, more complex imagery. The experience was moving enough that it let Nick forget the troubles he was facing, the minute details of his life were nothing before this testament to human creation before him.

Wait, human creation. Were the people around him human? Abigail seemed pretty happy to say they weren’t. Paige was definitely a vampire, but she had been a human before that. If a majority of people here had undergone the same ritual she had, did it mean they were also something other than human? Nick noticed that the people around him had changed. Now it was mainly people not wearing masks. They all had pale skin like Paige, though there were differences. Some of them looked positively sickly while others looked like people who just needed to get out in the sun a bit more.

Were these people humans? Did it matter if they weren’t? What did it actually change? It was a lot for Nick to think about, definitely another existential problem for him to mull over in his free time. There were certainly more fun questions to think about though.

“Can ya’ll have children?” He randomly threw out at Paige.

“Jumping a few steps ahead there aren’t you?” Paige said, covering her face with a hand.

Nick blushed but tried not to get distracted. “I mean, I assume everyone else is having kids. Are the Executioners?”

“No. Conceiving in the Complex is already a hard process. Us that have gone through the ritual have forsaken our reproductive abilities. Though that means we can have plenty of fun.” She said with a grin.

That certainly got a reaction from Nick. Nick did his best to breathe his way free of the less than wholesome thoughts and instead considered the wider implications of what Paige had just told him. It meant that the population of Exes could only grow by bringing in new people, which could be why they seemed so concerned about reputation. It also meant there would be no potentially non-human children scurrying about for him to morally contemplate about. That made things a bit easier. Wait, were there kids that went through the ritual? Now that wasn’t something Nick was sure he could handle.

Nick instead stopped thinking and immersed himself in the building's interior. It was very wooden; bannisters, stairs, doors. It was all dark wood. Nick found it very fitting for the atmosphere. He found himself not as big of a fan of the insides as the outside. The light didn’t quite make it into the building and left the place full of shadows, which Nick also thought was pretty fitting for the faction that owned it. While it was all very fitting, it didn’t mean he liked it. He had grown up in the age of open plan living, the era of less walls than more. The dark, cramped spaces of the cathedral weren’t his cup of tea.

Paige led him around the maze of a building and eventually came to a grand staircase, which Nick loved. It had a blood red carpet running down it, held in place by golden rods. While it was very ominous and Nick revelled in it, it was fancy, it painted a clear image of who he’d find at the top of it. Paige took on a sombre and refined air about her, but Nick paid it no mind, he bounded up the stairs like a kid.

Nick was no master of social interaction, and he’d never claim to be close, but he knew what was happening here. Paige’s attitude change would be reflective of the meeting he was about to have, if he fell into the pace that was being set he’d be out of his depth. Of course, he was definitely completely out of his depth no matter what, but if he was going to have any chance of not getting rolled he needed to set his own pace. It was a tried and true tactic of most people, if you wanted someone to take you seriously you had to present as such and make sure the conversation had a serious air about it.

Nick had no real agenda going into this meeting, but he knew that Paige and Paimon most certainly did. This whole ordeal was setting something up, the regal setting, the attitude shift in Paige, Nick was supposed to be feeling inferior. If there was something Nick could take pride in, it was being able to maintain a completely disrespectful attitude no matter the circumstances. While Nick certainly was feeling inferior right now, he wasn’t going to let anyone take advantage of that. Hell no, Nick was strong independent man, slave or not. They may have him in a tricky spot, but they could never chain his free spirit!

When they reached the top of the staircase they were met with a large door. Golden banding detailed the hunk of wood, leaving it looking more like a piece of art than your average piece of wood in a hole. Paige stepped forward and knocked firmly on the door.

“Come in.” The feminine voice caressed Nick’s ears.

Paige opened up the door and held it for Nick. He entered a room that felt like a study of sorts. There were shelves filled with books and scrolls. Paintings filled the space on any wall that didn’t have a bookcase or display on it. Strange items were held in glass display cases, the items calling out to something deep within Nick.

That’s when Nick laid eyes on the woman sitting behind a desk on the other end of the room. Nick audibly gulped. The woman had pushed her chair back from the desk, letting Nick see all of her. Her crossed legs made Nick’s heart beat twice as fast, her dark dress that clung to her body made it beat three times faster, her ample cleavage brought that up by another multiple of six. When he looked at her face it felt like his heart was trying to claw its way out of his chest. Framed by long wavy red hair, her face looked like it was carved from stone. Not a feature was out of place, it was as if an artist had created it. Her red eyes pierced straight through him, leaving him feeling out of breath.

Saying that he was out of his depth was perhaps putting it too lightly.