Red Light Royal

Caring and Cravings

Jade woke up and looked around, confused for a second wondering why she wasn’t dead. Then she remembered the Duke and began to retch, finding a bowl next to her; supposedly for the very purpose of vomiting.

“Aha; she finally wakes!” Dame Dracilla rose from a chair that had been set at the base of her bed. “Thanks to you three, we now have a stable client for the future.” The Dame smiled at her, obviously pleased.

Oh, god, no… Jade began to throw up again, the stench and scenes from last night tormenting her senses. There were kinks and fetishes, sure; but the Duke had something dark and twisted in him. She was sure Dahlias would probably not be able to sit for months without wincing in pain.

“Also, you will be on call for the Dukes person use. So if he orders you here, by Goddess you should be here in less than two minutes with that cute little ass of yours on display.” The Dame took Jade’s hand in her own, like she was a caring mother at a sick child’s bedside.

For a second, Jade could have sworn she saw sympathy there; but the werewolf must have quickly masked it. “Listen,” she states, obviously feeling as guilty as she could for a human. “I will have the more harsher implements removed from your box. He did go too far on my merchandise. I cannot have my lot limping and bruised in the streets; it’s bad for business.”

Jade held her tongue as the nausea subsided. She scoffed a little in her mind; of course we can’t be damaged beyond repair, cutting into your purse with the cost of a witch, didn’t we? She dared not say that out loud though. She didn’t want her food privileges revoked.

“You are required to rest today by the witch we hired to heal you lot; so think of this as your birthday present from me. Dahlias and you are expected to work double the rest of the week to cover your costs for healing. Ruby will join you all the day after tomorrow.” The Dame paused. “She needs more training in obedience if she comes back looking like that.”

And with that remark, Dame Dracilla left her room with a flourish. Jade could see that the cleaning crew had been in to scour the room. She looked over to the tub and shivered, that was one thing she never wanted repeated in her room ever again.

She stood up gingerly and made her way to the door. She wanted to go and check on Dahlias and Ruby to see how they were. Normally everyone tended to stick to themselves in the Dames house, but after last night Jade just felt the need to see them and make sure that the nightmare was really over.

Dahlias was sitting up in her bed, eating a small bowl of broth. “How are you feeling?” Jade tapped lightly on the door as she asked, not wanting to scare her. She jumped a little anyway, sloshing the liquid onto the tray.

“As well as to be expected when one has bones knit back together in a matter of moments.” Dahlias gingerly used her hand to pick up the broth and then dab at the dribble with a napkin, not wanting to get anything on her bed.

Her room was the same light pink that she had on yesterday. The walls had lines of cream in them, making an intricate waving pattern of what looked like flower petals. The floor was the same soft white color, giving the room a childlike glow. Dahlias normal clientele usually liked the doe-eyed beauties of innocence, hence her decorations in the room.

Jade had always been a little envious of the light she had in the room, it felt more freeing and alive than her dark and seductive cage. “About the pear….” She began feeling a little bit sorry for her.

“Never speak of that ever again…. It or the tub..” Dahlias looked pale and like she wanted to hurl up the broth she had just finished.

“Agreed.” Jade sighed and turned. “For what it’s worth; I’m sorry.” She began to walk away, but she heard Dahlias reply.

“We did what we did to survive. Nothing to be sorry about.”

Jade went in search of Ruby next, knowing vaguely where her room was. She was a green one, or to put it simply; a new girl fresh to the trade. All of the greens shared a room until the Dame decided what theme or even color they would be given; but that very seldom happened. Themed and other colors were rewarded with their own room and clothing to use. Once a green brought in enough money they were considered to be moved on, but mostly it was to retire another one of the colors.

The oldest person who had ever been in the Dames employ had been forty seven, and Dahlias was her replacement. They had even looked the same as well, and Dahlias herself was going on thirty five.

Ruby was sound asleep when Jade made it to the green room. Eight of the ten beds were empty. The one closest to the door held a green who was getting ready to go out and explore the city, Jade ignored her and went to the back of the room where she saw Ruby’s red hair poking out from under the blankets.

Getting closer, she could tell Ruby was still sleeping; the soft snoring and rise and fall of the blanket giving it away. Jade sighed and went over, her hand had slipped out of the blankets, so Jade gently picked it up and put it back under. She couldn’t help but hold a gasp a little as she caught sight of Ruby’s body underneath the blankets. It was still covered in yellow and purple bruises.

The witch must have had a hell of a time with her injuries, Jade speculated. It was unfair of the Duke to use the both of them to hurt Ruby more, and Jade hoped the girl did not hold it against them. She shuddered thinking of the bathtub again and left Ruby alone. She wanted to go for a walk out in the sunshine while she still could that day.

The streets were slightly bare as Jade made her way along. She just enjoyed the subtle stillness of the mid afternoon. Most people were rather eating by this time, or escaping the heat. Jade watched the wolves eat in a fine restaurant as she passed, her mouth watering at the smell of the raw meat that they were eating.

That’s odd and f*****g stupid, Jade laughed at herself and shook her head. He must of hit my head something fierce last night to have me thinking like that. She hoped that the mad Duke did not call on her for a while yet. She wanted time to try and forget about what the monster had did to them.

She picked herself up and began to walk faster from the restaurant, not wanting her subconscious to win out over the thought of grabbing one of those rare steaks and chowing down. She continued on and up the street to her favorite bakery.

Mister Fighs had just put out some fresh breads in baskets in the store, making the whole area smell divine. “Good morning, sir! God, I could get off from just the smell alone in here.” Jade inhaled and moaned, making the old man blush deeply.

“None of that now today please, the mate is around; I don’t want ya getting banned from the store now.” He went about putting out more breads, making Jade drool.

“Just for today then; I’ll be a good girl for you.” She winked at him, earning her another blush from the old man.

“What will it be today then?” He dusted off his hands and went behind the counter.

“I’ll take another meat pie, and a cinnamon roll.” She placed her money on the counter and Mister Fighs wrapped up her purchases.

“Honey, we need more currents…” his wife stepped out from the back of the store and saw Jade, she glared at her for a moment; obviously taking in the fact that she worked the s*x district. “You lot aren’t welcome here, scurry along.”

“Come on dear, she is a regular and doesn’t cause any trouble. She spends half her earnings here, and a decent amount of our earnings comes from that.” Mister Fighs looked a little hurt to be about to have Jade banned, but she didn’t mind. She was used to that to be honest.

“That’s alright Mister Fighs, I’ll be on my way.. and congratulations on the child.” Jade said as she sniffed the air over the bread and turned to leave. She went down the road and snacked on her goodies, savoring what was probably going to be the last time she ate from her favorite bakery.

“You’re pregnant?” Mister Fighs turned to his wife who stood in the threshold dumbfounded, staring after the w***e. How did a human smell her pregnancy pheromones?