Kat, Full Novel

Mistress Alexa rubbed her chin, seeming to think, inspecting Kat, before smiling and saying, "Good. Very good. Thank you Cobb. That is all I needed from you."

Cobb bowed. "Then I shall see myself out."

"Please shut the door behind you," she said.

Cobb nodded, made his way to the door, and quietly slipped out of the room.

Leaving Kat alone with her Mistress.

She swallowed dryly, hardly daring to take a deep breath, much less move. She listened intently, listening to the rustling of the chair as her Mistress rose from it, the sound of footsteps behind her. They paused. She was right next to Kat, who didn't dare look up.

Suddenly, she felt slender fingers thread through her dark hair, making her flinch. Her flesh crawled and curdled into gooseflesh, and a shiver rocked her body. She wanted to curl up, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to curl up and be pet, or just curl up and vanish.

"I trust Cobb," Mistress Alexa began, twirling Kat's hair between her forefinger and thumb. "And if he says you did well, then you did well. I'm proud of you."

Kat paused, her breath caught in her throat. Proud? Nobody had been proud of her since she'd fallen into slavery. That funny feeling was back, in her gut. That funny, unnamable feeling. She frowned, but Mistress Alexa didn't seem to notice.

"Tomorrow, I will train you personally," she said. Kat could feel her face pale. "I want you to know how to perform basic paperwork tasks such as filing and compiling. Oftentimes, I am too busy to refile my documents, and Cobb ends up doing it for me. I want you to take care of that from now on."

"Yes Mistress," Kat said, not looking up. Mistress Alexa's gentle hand continued to glide through her hair, and Kat, despite herself, shivered with delight.

"Very good," she said. She patted Kat on the head a few more times, before turning, and heading back to her chair, where she sat with a contented sigh. "Crawl here."

Kat turned and, carefully, one hand before the other, began to crawl across the carpeted floor to her Mistress's feet.

"Look at me."

She looked up, cautious to avoid her Mistress's eyes.

"I said, look at me."

Kat's heart jumped, but she locked eyes with her Mistress. Under her gaze, though it was gentle, and compassionate, Kat felt herself start to wilt. She felt so small. So, so small.

Alexa's lips curled into a smile.

"Good. Crawl up here."

"W-What?"

Kat covered her mouth and gasped at her outburst. Internally, she screamed. Her Mistress raised an eyebrow, but didn't look angry. To the contrary, her smile grew wider, and her eyes, softer.

"Don't make me repeat myself," she said, and though it was worded as a threat, Kat could swear she heard playfulness in her Mistress's voice.

Obeying the command, Kat, shaking, slowly put her hand on the armchair's cushy arm, pushing herself up slowly, keeping her eyes locked with her Mistress, feeling like an ant climbing a giant. Just as slowly as she had the first time, she put her other arm on the chair, and crawled her way up, until Mistress Alexa gently grabbed her and made her sit on her lap.

Kat shook, but Mistress Alexa simply wrapped her arms around the girl and pulled Kat's head into her bosom. Kat could hear her heartbeat.

Tha thump.

Tha thump.

Tha thump.

The rhythmic beating could've put her back to sleep.

The peace was disturbed soon, however, with the sound of crinkling. Kat tried to look up, but Mistress Alexa firmly kept her head down. She didn't put up a fight, simply going back to listening to the peaceful thumping of her Mistress's heart as her Mistress fidgeted with something in her free hand.

"Here, eat this," she said, finally allowing Kat to look up. In her hand was a small square of chocolate, its deep brown hues hitting Kat's eyes like gold. Was this a test? She didn't move, she wouldn't dare. She'd not been given chocolate in years, and it'd been so long that she'd forgotten what it tasted like at this point. Somewhere deep in her brain she must've known, but she couldn't remember. Not anymore.

She didn't move.

Mistress Alexa watched her, and their eyes met for a moment, and Kat could swear she saw something in them. Curiosity, maybe. Pity.

"Very well then," she said. "I shall feed you myself."

Kat felt a blush in her cheeks. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could even utter a word, Mistress Alexa had plopped the chocolate piece onto her tongue. Her thumb rested gently on Kat's lip for a moment, and they shared a look, before the command came.

"Eat."

Kat closed her mouth slowly and, delicately, began to chew the chocolate. All at once the flavor hit her. It was like seeing an old friend she'd forgotten about, reconnecting, rekindling a flame. The sweetness of the chocolate, its smooth richness, it washed over her tongue in waves. It was good. Damn it was good. She couldn't help but let out a tiny, satisfied hum, as a small smile crept on her face.

Mistress Alexa looked down at her, a pleased grin on her face. "I think that's the first time I've seen you smile here. Thought you'd like that."

There it was. That strange, strange feeling, except it was powerful this time, hitting her as though she was standing in the waves of the ocean. It washed over her, filling her insides, and making her squirm. She still couldn't name it. It felt wrong to feel. It made her uncomfortable. Whatever it was, she wished it would stop.

Try as she might, she didn't see any trickery here. As she licked the chocolate from her lips, she found herself bathing in the feeling, the weird emotion she couldn't name. Something about the way her Mistress held her, something about the chocolate, the look in her eyes, something was making her feel this way. Something about the Mistress.

None of it really made sense.

She swallowed, and, oddly, rested her head back on her Mistress's chest to listen to her heartbeat again. It was a bit of an awkward position, but it was... soothing.

Yes, it was soothing.

So soothing, in fact, that she started to drift once more. Mistress Alexa's soft, gentle touch on her head, the way she cradled her, the beating of her heart, it was enough to put Kat to sleep.

So, she rested her eyes, and drifted off.

Kat, Chapter Five

She'd woken up in her bed that morning, warm under her sheets. How she'd gotten there was a mystery to her, but she felt... comfortable. Warmth welled within her, and despite herself, groggy with sleep, she smiled and cuddled her pillow, just happy to be in such a soft bed. Her hair fell in front of her face and she could feel sleep pulling her back again.

Before she could drift off, however, a knock came at the door.

"Kat." It was Cobb's voice.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, just managing to keep herself in her bed. "Yes?" she called back.

"Put on your uniform and meet us in the dining room downstairs."

"Yes S-" she paused. "Okay, Cobb."

There was clearly a smirk in his voice when he said, "Very good."

She brushed her hair back and looked around. Her room was dark, so it must've still been early. Though small beams of blue were starting to filter in through her curtains, so it seemed about right. Six, she guessed. She sat up, stood up - a tiny bit too fast - before throwing her uniform on, brushing her hair with a small brush that sat on her vanity, and heading out of her door.

She stepped out and headed down the stairs, taking a left and heading into the dining room. It was a fairly large room, with a long table set with at least ten chairs, a long table runner of rich red and gold running down its deep oaken center. At its center was a glass vase filled with potpourri, and on the walls were grand paintings of battles and castles and mountains and such. The three windows on the wall let gentle light filter into the room, the first rays of the morning sun, aided by the lit, lambent chandelier overhead.

Her Mistress sat at the head of the table, already eating, and when Kat entered, she wordlessly looked up and pointed to the right of her, where another plate was waiting for her. She came forward, took a set, and nervously eyed Mistress Alexa. Her Mistress simply looked back at her, then to her food, and nodded. Kat, mouth watering, started to eat.

In her Mistress's hand and on the table beside her were graphs, charts, reports. Kat didn't bother trying to find out what they were. It was none of her business, and the food was far too good, besides. Eventually, Mistress Alexa set her papers down and turned to Kat with a gentle smile. "How's breakfast?"

Kat paused in the middle of a bite, setting her spoon down slowly. "Good, Mistress."

Alexa simply smiled and picked her papers back up, continuing to read. "Good."

For a while, they ate in silence, not necessarily comfortable, but not uncomfortable either. Kat took small bites, but quickly, and soon her plate was empty. She set her utensil down, and sat back in her chair, looking around at the walls, the windows, the paintings, anywhere but her Mistress, really. Mistress Alexa seemed to finish when she finished, however, and Cobb stepped in and took their dishes away, leaving them in each other's company. Kat noticed for the first time that Mistress Alexa was wearing her hair down. Its auburn color glowed in the orange light. Kat couldn't help but appreciate it.

Mistress Alexa reached out and touched Kat's hand, making her wince. Still, she kept her hand beneath her Mistress's.

"Hey Kitkat."

Kitkat? Kat blinked.

"How'd you sleep?" Mistress Alexa continued.

Kat thought on it for a moment, picking her words very carefully. "Very well, Mistress. Thank you."

She smiled. "It must be nice to have your own bed now."

Kat froze. How did she know? In the care of her old Master, she'd slept on the floor almost every night. In the basement. In the cold. Only to sleep with him to... sleep with him. In fact, sitting at a table seemed a little strange to her. She was used to eating off of the floor. Eating at a table seemed almost foreign to her, despite her knowledge of doing it in some previous life, in some previous time.

Kat looked away sharply. "It is, Mistress."

She felt Mistress Alexa squeeze her hand softly, saying, "No need to feel ashamed. It's understandable. Here, why don't you come stand behind me. Can you braid hair?"

Kat quietly nodded.

"Good. Come braid mine. I want to tell you something."

Slowly, Kat stood and pushed her chair in, before taking her place behind her Mistress and, with shaking hands, tenderly pulled her hair out from behind her back and split it into three different sections, starting to fold them together. Mistress Alexa purred happily and leaned back, sighing.

"My company," she said, "Is multifaceted. I own several lines of BDSM items, four slave Auction Houses, a publishing house, and several popular websites. I have, of course, delegated much of my authority, but that is beside the point. The point is, I make a lot of money."

Four Auction Houses, Kat thought. She felt her stomach twist. How vile a thing to own. She grimaced.

But Mistress Alexa continued, "But the most important thing I own actually takes a loss almost every single year. And that, Kitkat, is a rights watch organization. For slaves, specifically."

Kat paused. A... what? She'd never heard of such a thing. Mistress Alexa turned slightly and eyed her.

"Is everything okay?"

She shook her head. "Yes Mistress."

Mistress Alexa waved a hand. "It's alright. Continue. Anyway," she said, leaning back again and letting Kat get back to braiding, "Did you know that it is illegal to beat a slave unjustly? That corporal punishment is allowed, but abuse is not? Some people are unaware of that fact."

Kat swallowed, but remained silent. Something in her Mistress's voice filled her with hesitation.

"Article five, subsection twelve, paragraph three of the United States Thirteenth Amendment Act states that 'no slave shall be unjustly abused in a cruel or unusual way.' Another section defines corporal punishment and abuse, but that's not important. What is, is that some people do not follow these rules."

She stretched her arms out and yawned, cracking her knuckles and settling back into her chair.

"I abhor these people, Kat. And I seek to bring justice to them."

As Kat finished the braid, her Mistress turned around and locked eyes with her, forcing her to stare into those beautiful hazel marbles. "I don't know who your last Master was, but I assure you, if it were up to me, he would face justice for his crimes."

There it was again. That feeling. It compelled her this time, and she, for just a moment, pondered opening up to her Mistress about her past. About what had happened. About her Master. But it was only for a moment. In a flash, the temptation was gone, leaving her standing there silent, awkward.

Mistress Alexa chuckled. "Don't worry sweetie. You don't have to say anything."

Minutes turned to half hours turned to hours turned to a full day, and it was nothing but paperwork and learning business acronyms. It had dragged on and on, and her Mistress felt more like a boss than anything at points. Kat thought her mind would melt at one point, when they were discussing proper labeling procedures for important files versus unimportant files. Still, she tried to pay attention. It was better than letting her mind wander.

Of course, her mind ended up wandering anyway. When it did, though, it wandered back to this morning. Her Mistress's words rang within her mind. You don't have to say anything bounced around like an angry ping pong ball on the sides of her brain. Her Mistress had known. Known what was going through her mind. Known what she was tempted to say.

But eventually, she would always come to, sometimes on her own, and sometimes with a little slap on the behind and a small scolding from her Mistress for daydreaming. It always made her jump, but over time, she found it helped her come back to herself when her thoughts got too far from her.

She could feel some piece of her returning to her, in rare moments of clarity. Some piece that knew her previous Master had been too harsh. Some piece of her that knew her Mistress was right, and honest. Some piece of her that felt she deserved better. But that part of her, she thought, was long dead. She was catching the remnants, like the smell of an apple pie after it had already been devoured.

She knelt before her Mistress's door, thinking. The smell of dinner was fresh through the house, giving it a homey feeling. Vegetable lasagna, garnished and plated beautifully by none other than the Mistress herself, who, it turned out, had a fondness for cooking. That part had nearly made Kat laugh.

It seemed absurd that her Mistress should be anything but a one dimensional character of rage and hatred. Why she still refused to use Kat, Kat wasn't sure, but it was getting uncomfortable, how nice Mistress Alexa was being. It wasn't right. It couldn't be right. They were monsters. Owners were monsters, all of them.

She sighed and shook her head, idly tracing the small collar around her neck with her thumb. That was what she was now. A slave to monsters. The metal was cold, but it didn't bother her anymore. At least it didn't bite.

Her Mistress had commanded her to wait at the door for a moment. She wasn't sure what Mistress Alexa was doing, but that strange feeling came back, filling her mind with a strange warmth. Butterflies fluttered within her, yet she wasn't quite sure why, and despite all her attempts, she couldn't get them to flutter away.

Just then, her Mistress's door opened, and she looked up to see Mistress Alexa standing above her, dressed in a plush red robe with a golden emblem on the side. "Come," she commanded."

Kat crawled, head down, into the room. Mistress Alexa walked over to her bed, sat down on it, and snapped, pointing to her feet. Kat crawled to her, kneeling before her. Mistress Alexa looked down at her for a moment, and then, stretching out her toes, said, "I could use a foot massage."

Kat eyed her feet. They were small, soft looking, pretty in a way. Her toes were painted a deep scarlet, and she had a little tattoo of a heart on her ankle. For a moment, Kat considered refusing, if only to see what her Mistress would do. But now was neither the place nor time for such foolishness.

So, gently, Kat took her Mistress's foot in her hand and began to massage her sole. Mistress Alexa purred quietly. "Mmm, good girl."

Kat sighed quietly - hopefully quietly enough that her Mistress didn't hear, she thought with a nervous start - and continued to rub her Mistress's foot.

"Tonight," Mistress Alexa said, "You will sleep with me."

Kat paused, just long enough for her Mistress to notice, before she forced herself to keep going. Mistress Alexa looked down at her, frowning sympathetically. "I just want you to get used to it," she said. "You need to become acclimated to sleeping with your Owner, because you will be doing it quite a bit in this house."

"Yes Mistress," Kat stammered, trying to focus on her work.

"Get up here, my feet are fine," her Mistress said. Kat swallowed and gently let go of Mistress Alexa's foot. Here it was. The moment she'd known was coming. Shakily, she pushed herself up onto her Mistress's bed, before, as her Master had instructed her many times before, she placed her head down on the foot of the bed, and stuck her ass up, exposing her panties beneath the ruffles of her uniform.

Her Mistress watched with a raised eyebrow, and when she spoke, there was a mix of amusement and pity in her voice. "So that's how you sleep?"

Kat blinked. "Mistress?"

Mistress Alexa shook her head. "First of all, get out of your uniform. You can't sleep in that thing."

Cautiously, averting her eyes, Kat pushed herself up to her knees and did as she was told, pulling her uniform up by the skirt and over her head, rustling her hair as she did so. When she brushed her hair back with her fingers, she found her Mistress standing at the foot of her bed, looking down at her with an outstretched arm "Give me that."

Kat held it up to her, and her Mistress's fingers grazed her own as she took the outfit from her. Then, Mistress Alexa turned and walked over to her wardrobe, hanging the uniform on a hanger and setting it on the rack. Kat watched, naked save her panties, and for a moment, thought about covering her breasts with her arms, if only to preserve a modicum of decency.

She didn't hide them for long. Her Master had always slapped her when she tried, and even though she was a little cold, the memory was colder, and so she put her arms down beside her and waited for her Mistress.

After Mistress Alexa had finished hanging up Kat's uniform, she turned and strode back to the bed, sitting down behind Kat and running a finger up Kat's spine. She shivered as Mistress Alexa's hand reached her neck and gave it a little squeeze, before gently running down her back. Her fingers tickled the small of Kat's back, making her gasp, before Mistress Alexa let her hand fall even more to cup Kat's behind. Kat fought off a flinch.

"Here," Mistress Alexa said, "Go lay up there."

Kat followed her finger with her eyes. She was pointing to the head of the bed, where plump pillows in red silk pillowcases seemed to call her name. A weariness hung over her from the mind numbing day. Still, she knew, it wasn't over. This is where it would happen. Not at the foot of the bed, but at the head. At least she'd have pillows. She crawled over to them and slowly laid down, facing away from her Mistress.

Then, she felt her gentle hand once more on her back, and her warm breath on Kat's ear. "Just so you know," Mistress Alexa whispered, "I have no interested in sexual intercourse tonight."