Chapter 11

Show business can't be a Hell of a gig as Kal seems to find out far too often.

Kal strolled into the bedroom to see the massive bay windows casting the last bit of light onto the massive bed. She stood there fully nude with some of the water from the bath rolling off her as if the sweet-smelling bath salts were kissing her the way Thomas would back at the Big Top, and she held back tears at the idea of never seeing him again. She took a deep breath, telling herself never to cry again. She wouldn't let Carter see her cry at all as she let her soft eyes look over the items on the bed.

There was a black and dark green dress in the colors of the Tounsavall Family, and she hated those colors, but she would put on the dress. She had no choice. It was better than going on to the stage with nothing on. And then she saw the high heels, the heels Carter always liked to see her in, but it wasn't the heels which bothered her, not even the choker or the golden necklace with the hammer, bullet, and anvil on the charm of the family. None of that bothers her.

It was the ankle bracelet that made her think about jumping out of the window again. The bracelet was a mark of her slavery under the iron hands of the family. She had seen all the working girls in the w***e houses wearing them, and the only way for them to get it off was for the bosses to take it off.

When the ankle bracelet was removed, they were free, and Kal frowned deeply at it, not wanting to put it on until she heard Carter walk into the room. She didn't look back at him as he moved against her body, one of his hands far to her backside and the other slowly dancing up to her chest. She didn't make a loud sound as he touched her, and he kissed her neck.

"Am I meant to be a working girl?" Kal asked, making Carter look at the ankle bracelet, and then he backed away. He sighed a little as she spun to look at him with the nasty scar, and the hard eyes of the killer started to soften. "Am I?"

"I don't think so," Carter said with a shrug. "The bosses haven't said it, but they want you to put it on. More like they're making a point."

"A point?"

"Kal, you ran from us," he said, "what did you think was going to happen?"

"I'm not a slave, Carter."

"We are all slaves, darling," he said, walking around to pick up the ankle bracelet, "to one thing or another. You knew when you got mixed up in this life, there was no way out."

She watched him open it before he came back to stand in front of her.

"I told you before you hit that stage," he said, lightly pushing her onto the bed and getting down on his knee. He softly took one of her long and smooth feet like he was going to kiss it, and Kal started to cover her face, trying not to cry as he put on the bracelet. "I told you to get away from it all, but now, you know too much, and the bosses didn't let you change masters."

"They," she said, doing everything she could to stop crying before dropping her hands and looking up to the ceiling, "got worse, Carter, you got worse."

"Life is cruel," he said, locking the bracelet and standing up, "makes people cruel."

"Please," she started to beg, "don't let them make me a w***e."

"I'll try my best," he said. "Get dressed; our guests are waiting for us."

"Okay," she said, dropping her head, not looking at the bracelet, and he reached out, pushing her chin up to so they could lock eyes. He smiled; it wasn't even soft and filled with emotions, but he tried his best. He said nothing before letting her chin go and walking away.

He left her alone with the dying sun, and Kal quickly got dressed. She cleaned her face the best she could. She was going to have a black eye for a while, but it wasn't the first time. She put everything on before she walked out to find Carter standing there in a nice suit. They both walked out of the room to find three of the Liongrace guardsmen waiting for them. They walked them down the long hallway and up to the next floor, where they were coming from behind the sky lobby. They crossed through the kitchen with some cooks who were hard at work and came out into the low-lit place with a group of men at the table.

There were about forty-plus tables in front of the stage, and none of them but the one in the dead middle had anyone sitting around it. There were a couple of guardsmen standing at the bar drinking some beers but not getting overly drunk while their boss was at the table.

The young man with thick blonde hair, like the sun had dropped its rays into his hair, jumped up to his feet, smiling at Carter but, most of all, Kal. He was young, somewhere around the age of twenty, but the clothes he wore spoke of wealth reaching back to the old kings of England, while his blue eyes, along with the state of his body, were all the rage in Nazi Germany as of late.

"Wow," Dathen Liongrace Jr said, skipping right over Carter and taking Kal's hand. She put on a lovely smile as he kissed the top of her hand. "The stories are true."

"Stories, sir?" Kal asked, seeing the age of the youth, but there was something else in his eyes. There was a hint of worldly knowledge as his hard father was known for making his four sons strong in the world. Dathen Liongrace Jr might look like a child, but Kal had heard stories of him killing men out in the wilds of Africa. He was known for rushing around the world to get into the ring with other fighters and find danger.

"All the newspapers," Dathen said, grinning, "they all speak of how Aphrodite herself was envious of your beauty, and they aren't wrong."

"Well, let's hope she isn't jealous," Kal said softly, "don't feel like being turned into a tree."

"Very true," he said, and then his face went hard, reaching up to touch her face, looking at the black eye growing. "What happened here?"

"She fell," Carter said, making Dathen look over at him.

"Fell?"

"Yes, sir," Kal added quickly.

"Well," Dathen said, narrowing his eyes hard at Carter, "if she happens to fall again while in my company, then Mr. Umbra, you too will fall right out of my airship. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Carter growled.

"Now," Dathen said, clapping his hands, "I got to hear you sing, my dear."

"Of course," Kal said, being shown to the stage. She climbed up the stage with a spotlight casting onto her as the mic came to life. She grabbed it, almost smiling, as everything felt right in her life. It always felt right on the stage. She was about to start to sing something sad and soft, something she was going to sing for the rest of her life, but the second she opened her mouth, the elevator ding.

Every one spun to look at the black box of the elevator, with no one stepping out. The guards pulled their pistols out, and a few of them headed for the open doors while Carter was rushing for Kal. The heavy breathing stopped them. It sounded like a bull was hidden in the darkness as dark red eyes opened and the tips of long horns started to break the wall of blackness.