Part 3

Rebecca frowned when Victoria and Serge came upstairs. Serge was presentable enough, despite the blood stains on his shirt, but Victoria was well... naked.

"Victoria Valorian." Rebecca said, in an extremely motherly voice. "If you want to continue being welcome at this manor, you will put on clothes before you leave your room. I'm not going to let the men leer at a naked girl in front of her own husband."

"Since when did you care about being naked?" Vicky asked dismissively. "You raped me when we first met, and continued to do so for 5 more years on a regular basis. Or do the words 'stop it' mean nothing to you?"

Marv and Jack were already gone before Vicky even finished her sentence, and Hamlin retreated to a safe distance, closing the doors of the room. Heather remained seated firmly in his chair, and continued to smoke.

"I had hoped to have this conversation more privately with you, Victoria, but you're intent on having it in front of our lovers. So be it." Rebecca said, standing up and dusting off her hands. Rebecca blinked her eyes, and vines burst out from the floorboards, and restrained Vicky securely into a chair, while Rebecca slowly walked up. "Serge, I'm unfortunately going to have to discipline your wife for disrespecting me." Rebecca smiled as she held out her right hand and a whip appeared in it. "In this manor, you will only address me as Duchess. Do I make myself clear?"

"Fuck you!" Vicky shouted at her.

"Wrong answer." Rebecca said, cracking her whip against Vicky's bare skin, causing her to scream in response. "This is a blessed whip, by the way. I can't kill you with it, but it might make you wish you were dead." Rebecca cracked it again across Vicky's body, causing another scream. "Let's try this again. You will call me Duchess."

"You're a maniac..." Vicky panted. "Duchess."

"Good. Let's continue." Rebecca said, stroking Vicky's cheek softly. "Heather, cover your ears. Hamlin, don't tell anybody."

Heather nodded and left the pipe hanging from his mouth, but covered his ears. Hamlin winked at Rebecca, which slightly unnerved her. When did ever wink? No matter.

"Victoria, Sergei, there is something I neglected to tell you about vampirism because I didn't know about it either until I was cured myself." Rebecca continued, dragging a chair over and sitting in front of the still tightly bound Vicky.

"What's that?" Vicky asked. Rebecca raised her whip and Vicky winced before quickly adding "Duchess?"

Rebecca put the whip back down and smiled. "A supercharged libido. You're almost always in the mood aren't you? Both of you?"

"We've both been insatiable." Serge answered, looking morose. "Corpses more times than either of us can count, random travellers, priests, some days we don't even sleep. And of course... the incident."

"Yes." Rebecca said. "She died with a smile on her face though, didn't she? Jessica Vindicar, to think you would get fucked to death. Remember, Marvin did like her so he'll probably try to stake you if he ever finds out."

"Duchess, do I need to remind you she propositioned us." Vicky said, grinning.

"You never did care for me though, Victoria. You fucked that loser so hard her heart stopped but it was always 'stop' and 'don't touch me' with me. Why was that?" Rebecca asked, leaning back.

"You're not my type Duchess." Vicky said, struggling against the vines. "Jessie was. Now look at my husband Sergei, what do you see?"

Rebecca looked over at Serge. "Well he's scrawny, short, looks... no. You couldn't. You aren't." Rebecca looked completely grossed out, but then became thoughtful. "I won't let you eat any, but I do have a solution for your unique problem."

"You mean it?" Vicky asked, her face flushing red. "Really? My family always tried to cover it up, you know. They wouldn't let me."

"Maybe I should have just killed you, you freak." Rebecca said with disgust. "As long as you are useful to me, you will have two, and only two. I assume Sergei does not share your proclivities."

"No, I can take care of my own problems, Duchess." Serge responded.

"Good. Victoria, the second you cease to be useful to me, I will kill you. You frankly disgust me and if you weren't such a useful assassin I'd have killed you on the spot for telling me that."

"I can't help it Duchess." Vicky protested.

"I know." Rebecca said, in a much gentler tone. "But I want you to work on it. You only get two, because nobody deserves that. Remember, if either are even harmed..."

"I get to see a sunrise. Got it." Vicky said, nodding her head. "But what happens when they..."

"I told you. Only two." Rebecca interrupted. "You have 6 years to get over your problem. By the time you're done with them they'll be too broken to be employed elsewhere anyway. Sergei."

"Yes Duchess?" He replied. "What do you need?"

"If you ever catch her with any others, kill her immediately. Understood?"

"What?" Vicky asked. She screamed in pain when Rebecca whipped her again.

"You do not speak out of turn. Do you understand Sergei?"

"Completely, Duchess."

"Serge... you wouldn't..." Vicky said, looking at her husband with tears in her eyes.

"You're a sick person, Victoria. Sometimes the cure is death." Serge replied emotionlessly. "I love you Vicky, but sometimes love is painful."