The Perfect Servant

Chapter 7

^^^Picture is what I imagine young Syla looks like. 

This chapter is super long! Also, It's entirely told in the past. There are occasions in this chapter where I think I made the narration confusing, so if it is let me know. Also, I realized that I've been making the mistake of saying that Syla is awake during the day, but in actuality all humans have adapted to a nocturnal schedule. I'll go back and fix it eventually, but for now I'm much more interested in writing new chapters. Thanks for reading!

...

It was the memory I relived most. The thing, above all other traumatic experiences in my life, still managed to haunt me in a way that left my heart pounding painfully, as if it were trying to escape my chest.

It always started out the same; I was a child of only nine years. I'd managed to escape the chambers mother and I shared again, despite the best efforts of Carmichael and his employees. They could never quite seem to figure out how I escaped. For beings that were hundreds of years old, they weren't smart enough to realize I could easily fit in the air ducts. Though, I did always make it look like I tampered with the doors to our chambers, just so they wouldn't get suspicious.

Losers.

The Air ducts could lead me anywhere in the Obsidian. From the housing units, to the auction house, even to Carmichael's personal office and chambers. More than once I had listened through the air ducts as Carmichael held meetings with other vampires, some as important as kings or Palatines.

I also learned some very interesting things. Shady business transactions, dangerous secrets, some personal things about Carmichael I would rather not know. The worst was when I saw him kiss my mother. I left before I could see anymore of that interaction, but I had been thoroughly grossed out the rest of the day.

There would be no moving throughout the air ducts today though. Rather, I had a very important mission. It took me over twenty minutes to reach the slave holding chambers. 'Holding chambers' was just a fancy way of saying jail cells. There were three different holding chambers; The male holding chambers, The female, and the children's. Though, if children were young enough, they would remain with their mother's until they reached six. There were also other rooms within the holding chambers, but I usually avoided them. Neither the reproduction unit, nor the punishment unit were places I liked going.

The children's jail cells were near the back of holding chambers. There were usually three to four children a cell, but now the cells were mostly empty. Last night, The Obsidian had held another huge Auction party, and most of the slaves had been bought. Another 'shipment' of 'merchandise' would arrive in a few days, but for now most of the cells were cleared out. Except for one.

"Psst, Natalie!" I whisper-yelled down to the girl close in age to me. The petite black-haired girl startled from her spot on the filthy cot on the ground, standing to her feet and glancing around. I made another noise, and finally she looked up. I grinned, waving down at her.

Natalie's sullen expression changed quickly, her eyes lighting up in excitement, and a happy smile overtaking her lips. She jumped up and down, waving enthusiastically up at me. I giggled. Natalie was mute, which had stopped any potential masters from buying her. Normally, avoiding being bought was a thing humans hoped for, but only for so long. If you spend too much time at the Obsidian, well, you earn the term 'unsellable'. If you were an unsellable...you didn't live much longer.

Natalie had been here for eight months. Humans usually became 'unsellable' around 9-10 months. She wouldn't live much longer if she stayed here. I had to get her out somehow, before they killed her.