He went to his room, stepped into sweatpants, and made his way to the underground kitchen. It isn’t as big as the upstairs one, but we kept it stocked with the basics. And with our werewolf, ice cream and milk were a basic. “You’re even more angry with me now than you were before,” I noted as I followed him.
“I don’t want to see you punished.”
“Want? No. Need? Absolutely.”
He shook his head, but I couldn’t let this go. “I hurt you. You need to see me hurt. Abbott will know what to do.”
I watched as he scooped the ice cream into the glass, then angrily broke some eggs into it, and finally poured a few splashes of milk. He used a little blender on a stick to mix it all up, and then sat with a fat straw in it and drank. It’d been some kind of chocolate ice cream with a stripe of cherry something running through it. So, it ended up being a cherry-chocolate milkshake. Humans can’t use raw eggs in their shakes anymore, but shapeshifters don’t have to worry about salmonella.
He pulled his phone from his pocket. I hadn’t seen him put it in, but I wasn’t surprised. He keeps track of the security team with his phone. I knew he was going to call Spence before he did, but I didn’t try to stop him.
“Tell Abbott I don’t need to see Gwen punished. It’s okay. Gavin doesn’t need to come.”
“Trust Abbott to know what to do. It’s going to be okay. I don’t know the details, but I know Abbott won’t fuck this up. I’ll tell him you called, and he’ll take it into consideration. He always does.”
“Thank you.”
“That doesn’t mean he’ll opt not to send Gavin. It just means I’m relaying the message.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. It’s going to be okay.”
I already knew what Gavin was going to do to me. We call it thescioglierenow, but it’d been called thedizolvaback when I’d first been turned into a vampire. The Master could kill us with it, or merely punish. How badly it hurt depended upon how far it was taken. Likewise, how long it took to recover also depended upon how far it was taken. He wouldn’t kill me, but I could easily see him putting me out of commission for a day or two. Even knowing Kieran was overseas and I was managing his funds solo, Abbot would order it.
I spent a few hours making sure everything was set so I could be away from it the rest of that night and all of the next. When ten o’clock arrived, the portfolios were ready for me to be away, and I was in a glamorous hunter-green jeweled lounging gown. Ajax and I met Gavin upstairs. I knew it was going to be bad when I saw his face. He didn’t look sad. He looked as if he was anticipating this, and that’s never a good thing with Gavin.
“You’re ready?” he asked.
“I am. Everything should be fine without me being at the wheel tonight and tomorrow night. If it will be longer, you’ll need to notify Kieran.”
“Noted. Stand or kneel and prepare to accept thesciogliere.”
It’s impossible to explain the agony of this punishment. You aren’t actually being dissolved or melted, but it’s close. It’s done with vibrations, altering frequencies until you’re a mess. Literally. When you watch it done, it’s as if a wax sculpture has been left in the sun. The features soften and blur. You know it hurts because of the sounds and facial expressions.
Unless the chastiser keeps you from screaming, it’s impossible to remain silent, at first. Before long, however, the vampire is rendered speechless and motionless, and you can only feel the pain. You can’t express it. It becomes your own private hell. Conscious, but hurting.
I kneeled before Gavin and awaited my chastisement. He didn’t make me wait long.
* * * *
Ajax
I didn’t dare refuse to watch. Gavin scared me far worse than Abbott. I didn’t want to see it, though.
Her screams made me want to cry, want to rescue her, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I felt so damnedhelpless.
When Gavin finally stopped, Gwen was a loose pile on the floor.
“Take her to bed. Abbott’s arranged for extra security while you care for her. Your focus is Gwen until she’s back to one hundred percent. She’ll feed ravenously when she returns. It’s possible she’ll need tochangeyou to keep you alive.”
I’m pretty sure he went into my head to make sure I knew what to do — how to take care of her. I hadn’t done it, but I’d been with my former master when he gave instructions, and when he showed up to further punish someone when they came back from thesciogliere.
Gavin nodded and left. I gathered Gwen in my arms, careful not to hurt her worse than I had to, and carried her to her bed.
Abbott and Gavin were giving me total trust over Gwen’s life. It was true that I’d die a horrible death if I purposefully killed her, or even if I did so due to neglect. But still, her life was literally in my hands.
I arranged her in bed and used my phone to show the outside cams on the large television screen in their bedroom.
