It was time to start, and I headed out of the Apartment. While Freya and Stacy set upon the tasks I set for them, I knew Cassandra would be setting up a meeting with the Necromancer Guild. I still didn't know what they wanted to do, but my instinct told me it was something large. That would greatly assist in my exit strategy.
As I moved through the quiet streets, I could see people looking around and were on edge around the city. It wasn't just me, I began to notice as I walked toward the warehouse. I saw people with their heads on a swivel looking in corners and even jumping at ghosts. The poor in a city knew when things were going on by instinct, and very few were looking at ease.
It didn't take long for me to reach the warehouse, and I let up only a few of the enchantments as I had planned to leave Melony till later. Now was the time to talk to the slave I purchased yesterday, so I didn't need to disarm more enchantments than that. I also needed to practice before I headed toward the gang. I believe that setting up a schedule that is easy to follow may be imperative. I didn't know if someone was following me, but I knew that someone knew where I worked and lived. That meant that I needed to be extra careful.
I stepped inside and instantly went to my new slave's room. I looked at her with an unreadable expression and looked at her through the cell bars. I went grabbed the key and came back, and I opened the cell with food and drink for the girl and sat down before her. "You have a choice, and I don't really care what you pick. You have to sell to me what you have learned before, after, or during being a slave so that you can prove your worth to me. Suppose you cannot convince me that you are better to keep alive than dead and liability, then I will toss you like wasted gold. Normally I would sell you and try to make back some of the lost gold or at least some silver. Unfortunately, you are either not that lucky or unlucky depending on your ability to sell yourself to me, and no, I don't mean sexually."
This slave girl had been told to think, and I could see the determination on her face. I liked the expression on her face as she was a survivor. Survivors could be dangerous if dealt with improperly, and it told me if I decided to kill her I would have to make sure she was dead, or she would be a liability. The girl took a deep breath and pointed to the food and water.
"Mistress," She began, her voice sounding scratchy, "Can I drink, please? Maybe some food so I can better talk?"
I nodded and gave her the water, and she quickly drank it, not spilling a drop. I then gave her the food, and she took a bite out of the rations, and I saw her close her eyes for a moment, tasting her potential to survive. This woman was expressive, and that was interesting. She looked at me with a smile a moment later, and I saw the slight off-white of healthy teeth as she smiled. "Sorry, Mistress," She said, "You are a Slave trainer, and there is nothing that I can do in your immediate orbit that I could do that other person could not. Based on your style, I normally am best at cleaning and doing menial tasks. I know some tailoring, which has been taught to me in captivity." She took a moment, "I am also very good in bed, I have been told, although I would rather not do that for the rest of my life. Beauty is something that dies with age for those who do not care for you. So that would not be the best route for me to survive. So what I am able to sell to you is my ability to talk, Mistress." The slave girl finished.
I raised an eyebrow at her, and I could see her taking a moment to bite more food. I could see her brain working as best as possible to think of how to explain what she meant, and I couldn't help but laugh. "You want to be a saleswoman for me?" I asked, "Selling my products like slaves?"
The woman nodded, smiling at me, and said, "That is exactly that, Mistress," She said, "I heard that man talking about me and trying to sell various women and men over the short time I was in shops. I believe I could do a better job than him at it and would only get better as I do it more, Mistress," She said.
I looked at her, pointed at her food, and watched as she took a mouthful. I watched her silently and smiled at the woman who tried to sell herself to me as a saleswoman. It was about the best pick she could have identified for someone without many skills. I would need to teach her to read and write, but I would have to do that for most slaves, and I planned on making Zee do it instead of myself. It would be up to the young woman to turn her into a resource instead of a liability.
Stacy was my current sales girl, and Freya wasn't that bad. I looked at her for a little longer and shrugged. "Fine, You did a good job selling yourself with this ability. You will need to learn how to read and write; otherwise, you may prove useful to a subordinate. Be warned," I said, chopping off her much more relieved smile, "You fail to learn I will have strict orders in place with my slaves to have you killed and disposed of properly. Understood?"
"Yes, Mistress, I will not disappoint you!" She exclaimed, and I nodded.
I stood, and I left the cell and closed the door, "You will wait until I finish my business here before I bring you back. That may mean a couple of days staying here," I told her honestly and walked over to the office. I wanted to practice my agility and get myself ready for tonight. I would then visit Melony before heading to Cassandra. I still needed to feed Melony and maybe play with her as well.
I entered my office, and I brought my desk in front of the door. Then I started to strip my clothing and begin to practice. Slowly I felt the Agility mana move through me, and I purified it and strengthened it slowly. It was a slow incremental strength gain and wasn't anything drastic like when I broke through. Still, I enjoyed the slow increase in strength and flexibility.
I lost myself in the ever slower movement and let the time fly till I was finished. Now I was sweating, and my agility was feeling slightly light. I stood and grabbed my clothes, and headed down toward the showers after straightening out the office. Minutes later, I was in the shower, and I washed myself down and made myself look good. Tonight I would meet with the Necromancers, and I would be making them an offer to help them.
I moved back to the front and looked around, finding nothing and deactivating the enchantments that stopped the secret room from showing up. I still left a majority up in case of invasion, but I doubted I would be attacked at this moment. Still better safe than sorry with the illegal goods Melony seemed to be at this point in time. She had a powerful backer like Cassandra in me, and I wasn't about to let him know I had fooled him.
I walked back inside and grabbed some food and water for Melony. I would have to feed her and find out if she was lying or not. She might not even know the full truth, which could have been a problem, but I could always be right just as much as I could be wrong. I was following instinct at this point and no longer ignoring that need to run I had been ignoring for weeks on end.
Now was the time to act, and as I opened the secret room, fully dressed with food in my hand and wet fur and hair, I stepped inside. I smiled as I looked at the mess and opened the cell. Melony was moaning, and began to feed her forcefully. I put fresh Agility mana into the devices torturing her and forced her to drink before locking the cell. It was very mechanical, and I never said a word to the woman. I treated her as an object, and my smile was the same one I had shown her while questioning her.
Melony was writhing in pleasure and pain of repeated orgasms, and I wouldn't interrupt that as it slowly broke her mentality. I walked away, closing the door before heading out of the warehouse and activating the enchantments. I felt the enchantments reactivate, and I left slowly, heading towards the Bloody Candies headquarters.
As I walked, I felt a slight itch under my skin and looked around. I felt like I was being watched, and it began not long after I left the warehouse. My skin pricked, and I didn't like it, obviously. I remembered the good old days of being a mafia boss and began to do normal evasion and disappearing tactics I learned over the years. Although I wasn't in a car, I could still mix into a crowd even if my snow-white hair stood out. I could always rub dirt or something into my hair to turn it brown temporarily.
The person following me seemed to be good at it, so I changed my mind. I walked through the streets of the city and slowly began to eliminate those that could be following me. Then I noticed a small body as I moved past an alleyway. My reaction was immediate, and I moved quickly toward the person.
Instantly the scratch of instinct was gone as I moved to confront the person, and they began to run. Whoever this was, though, wasn't stronger or faster than me as I powered my body with my agility, drew my claws out, and moved with a speed that only those at the B rank or higher could see. I easily caught up and appeared before the cloaked figure with a smile on my face.
"Look what we have here," I said, grabbing the small body that was running away after following me. The person was cloaked and forced the hood off their face before they could even react. A small black boy's face greeted me as I smiled at him viciously.
"LET GO OF ME!" The boy cried, "Your Crazy Cat, LADY!" The boy screamed, "UNHAND ME! I'M BEING ATTACKED!" he continued to scream, and I pulled out a knife from the sheath and placed it against his neck, silencing him.
"Better," I said with a soft purr. "Since I am a crazy cat lady," I began reusing his words. "I will not be letting you go until you answer why you were following me."
The boy was looking down at his neck, trying to escape the knife. "I-I-" the boy stuttered, "I man with a scar down his eye paid me a gold coin to keep an eye and report to him. He wanted to know where you went after you left the warehouse each day. He wanted me to follow you, and I am the best at tracking in our group, so the leader told me to do it. The amount of food we could get for a week was too much to pass up." The boy said with tears dripping down his eyes. He looked at me, hoping to see sympathy.
What he saw made his fear grow as I looked at him with cold, unfeeling eyes that couldn't give a fuck about his plight or those of his supposed group. I looked at him as if he was dead and thought about the positives and negatives if I just killed this kid here and now. I decided it would be more painful to kill him now. With the look of fear on his face, he would never follow me again, and I smirked as I finally said, "You can walk away with your life. I do not care what you tell the man, but if I see you following me again, I will leave you bleeding to death among the sewage."
It was a small mercy, and I put my knife away and tossed him aside his back, hitting the wall. I jumped up, and I looked like I had disappeared to the boy. Instead, I followed him, wondering who was asking about me. It was time to learn more about my opposition.