Reflection

"Not this shit again, seriously," Juri groaned.

Another morning waking up in the big four-poster bed. Another morning that looked like a full night because they were so terribly far from the sun. She was surprised she was sleeping at all, truth be told.

When she was still a topper, she had needed blackout curtains and a box fan to have even a chance of nodding off. Ugggh, now even in her thoughts she started to think like them. Should she be grateful that she was being treated like a mistress instead of as a slave.

What did it say about herself that she was enjoying the perks of being a kept woman and liking lots of hot sex with an experienced lover? Yet she still felt sorrow and gloom like she had all of the darkness she would ever need now.

That much was true, but her days of box fans were done. Juri could put those in the same category as Apple watches, iPhones, and Smoothie King. All of a sudden she felt very small, far too small in the large bed, and the urge to cry was very real.

"Stop it," she hissed to herself, hugging her knees up to her chest tightly, "stop it right now. You don't get to do this."

It wasn't true; not really. It couldn't be true that she didn't get to fall apart because there was nobody left to give a shit about what she did and did not do. The truth was that she was terrified of letting go of any of her control, even for a minute.

If she did that she might not ever get it back again and then she would really be lost. She wasn't ready for that yet; wasn't ready to throw in the towel and believe Marino's assertions that nobody on dry land would believe there were any survivors to look for.

"Asshole," she muttered.

It would have been better if Selene had been there with her to agree. Selene was the one who had taught her how to let her headstrong side out in the open. She should have been there to reap the benefits. Instead, Selene was trapped somewhere with a monster.

Thinking about it made Juri nauseous with guilt. Selene off with a monster and her with Marino. Marino was a monster, he was a vampire he needed blood to survive didn't he? She never questioned where he got his supply from, quite frankly she wasn't even sure she wanted to know.

By every definition he was, but he wasn't the kind of monster Selene was with. He looked human in form not like some grotesque smelly beast straight out of a horror movie. He wasn't the sort that most of the people in that auction went home with, probably, and here she was having the best sex of her life. She felt guilty.

So if she was a better friend she would sweeten up Marino and plead with him to help her friend Selene. What if the roles had been reversed and she had been chosen to be the slave of the monster and not Selene, she would want help to escape its clutches right?

However, when she tried to broach the topic he would either ignore her or give into his lusts. He knew how to touch her and drive her insane with need. She wanted to stop feeling guilty.

But everytime Marino knew exactly where to caress her body she lost all reasoning, the more she looked in mirrors the less she had to like about her reflection. She didn't like this wanton and carnal sex goddess she felt she was becoming.

All her emotions were at war with each other. She needed to find some other release other than sexual for all her anguish and pent up frustrations. In a way she was just as trapped in this house as Selene was bonded to that creature.

There was no use in denying it; it was the best sex she had ever had. She didn't think anybody was having better sex anywhere. And she hated him for it. Juri practically jumped out of bed, sickened by the luxury of it now, and padded across the thick carpet to her mirror.

She had the only mirror in Marino's house. He had gotten it for her as a treat for giving him, really good head. She wanted to ask him if it had something to do with the whole vampire thing but she knew he wouldn't answer.

He didn't answer any of her questions unless he found him somehow personally amusing.

There was cruelty in that, and she wasn't surprised. There was a portrait of her in her room, though, and she wanted to ask him about that, too.

A little voice in the back of her head insisted that he had done it just for her, but that idea didn't compute with the Marino who had been happy to buy her on sale. That was the version of him she held steady in her mind while she dressed and then exited her room.

Keeping things in perspective was important. She wasn't about to fall into Stockholm syndrome if she could help it. Even living in an underwater dark fantasy world, she had to make sure that didn't happen.

"Juri? Juri, is that you?"

She froze at the top of the stairs, her hand poised over the intricately carved banister knob. His voice sounded like music and made her body tingle all over. Damn, she didn't want that kind of reaction! He was the enemy. He just happened to be an enemy who was really, really good in bed.

"Juri, can you come down here, please?" He called again.