When Demons Are Redeemed: The Dominant's Muse

Three - The "Job Interview"

THREE

The “Job Interview”

Early one evening shortly after her birthday, which she does not remember sharing with anyone, Catherine’s attention is diverted away from the television screen in her room by a loud knock at her door. In this particular instance, the usual sound  immediately plunges her into a state of paralysis due to  its unusual power in execution, and only her eyes then manage to find the door. Once upon it, they attempt to  acquire see-through vision, but fail. When a second knock breaks the silence without being nearly as loud as the first, Catherine snaps out of her state, walks to the door, and opens it slightly.

"Can we come in?" Tate impatiently asks as he looks down into her eyes, his face towering above the door chain that is keeping him out. He obviously resents the obstruction.

After first feeling relief at seeing Tate, unease now spreads within Catherine  as she returns his look, face up. Being well aware, however, that she is part of a large organization, and, moreover, being as devoted as she is to the chain of command of this establishment, she closes the door, slides the chain over and out, and then opens the door once again in order that the man whom she works for, as well as the man who is accompanying him, enter her small, private world.

"What's going on, Tate?" She then asks, as she sits down at her table. The men remain standing.

"There's a big concert tomorrow night, you know, Incognito?"

"I've heard of them," Catherine evenly replies.

“What? No butterflies? No typical girl-gushing-thing? In high schools and colleges everywhere, the mere mention of . . . ” Zach stops, seeing no response to his words in Catherine’s eyes.

“I don’t go to school,” she then points out the obvious. He has just reminded her that she is not getting a traditional education,  but one out in the real world.

“Girls your age have posters of their idols on their walls, and they get so very excited over them, enthused, stimulated . . .  “ Zach adds, looking around him at Catherine’s walls. They are not decorated at all.

“Zach needs workers,” Tate tells her.

"You want me to deal at the concert?"

"No, I want you to work the concert,” he clarifies.

Catherine gives both men a tired look. "Tate, I don't do that kind of work, and you know that. What makes you think that I’ll change my mind over a concert?"

"Because it'll be amazing money."

"Concert goers pay more? Or is it volume? “

"No, Catherine. Not the concert goers. The bands, the crew,  management . . . "

“Don't they hire escorts? You know that I'm really not interested."

"Zach showed a picture of you, and he says that one of the guys would definitely fancy you, and would pay you very well."

"No. And what picture? You have a picture of me?"

"It pays very well, Cathy," Zach emphasizes.

"It’s Catherine, and I don't care. I don't work that way."

"Catherine, either you go, or you don’t work for me anymore. For us. And that means no money, no food, no home, and no little pills,“ Tate sharply counters, with emphasis on the last item on his list. “Go this once, Catherine, and you still have standing in the chain. Got it?"

Tate’s tone of voice is much sharper than Catherine has ever heard it to be, and the simple reason for that is that he cannot afford to mess up. Consequently, when Zach, who is much higher up than Tate in the Taliano structure, comes to him with a problem, Tate is very much duty-bound, obliged, to find a solution, and, in this case, that solution is Catherine. Zach has already told him that she is exactly what was requested, and, since Incognito and the Taliano family are closely linked, when a member of the band, or of their management, or of the higher echelons of the crew, makes a request, it is up to Taliano people to make it happen. Whatever they request.

Catherine lets out a deep breath and looks in turn at both men. No little pills? That could be painful. But letting a man . . . She quickly pushes the thought away, but nevertheless still feels nauseous. She has no clear recollection of being sexually active, but feels powerfully negative emotions, overwhelming ones, at the mere hint in her mind of such a thing.

Her eyes find Tate’s face once again in order to determine if there is any chance that he is bluffing with his threat to “fire“ her. He has, after all, asked for favours in the past that she refused to grant, and, in all of those past instances, he never carried out his threat, because she is too good of a dealer. A business ace. However, Catherine now concludes that his eyes are most serious about his words. So then, whoever this Zach is, he obviously has much power over Tate, which means that, in turn, Zach has a tremendous amount of power over me.

"Well?" Tate asks.

"Give me a minute,” she replies, looking away, and into herself. She knows that she must quickly think, on the spot, and with emotion cast aside in order to be as objective as possible, even though the men have just presented her with the prospect of such horrific behaviour, as she sees it.

Catherine’s first thought is that, if she were permitted to leave the organization alive, there would be other opportunities in this very city for her to find work as a dealer, now that she knows the way of it so very well. A new employer, however, would not be as well connected and as well established as the Taliano fold. Furthermore, since working for a direct competitor of the family’s is of course a big no-no, even if she were at first permitted to leave, someone from the organization would quickly come looking for her were she to position herself as direct competition, using old client structures. Taliano structures.

And if I ran away to another city to deal there, someone from the fold would find me there as well, since there are Taliano people everywhere. Word would get around. And, well, with even the lowest rungs of the chain living by the Taliano code of honour, since it’s something to hold on to when one has nothing else, then they would find me in their city, and turn me in. Tate does have my picture. Why did I accept to work for the biggest of these organizations? It was . . . It was . . .  A name? She asks herself, frowning.

Catherine lowers her eyes to a spot on the table before her, and, after a moment longer of consideration, concludes that, if she were to say no to this assignment, she would have to leave the city, and, no matter where she ended up, never return to the line of work that she is now accustomed to and that does not pain her. And just what would she do then, on the streets?

A name? Since nothing but another frown comes to Catherine, inner healer breathes a sigh of relief. But should it not be pushing her to face the truth now, in order to heal her? Has it not been long enough? Since it believes that Catherine would most certainly drown when facing the flood -- because power in running, which she has demonstrated, does not necessarily translate into power of swimming and of staying afloat -- it does no such thing.

"Catherine? Will you be there?" Tate asks her, his impatience further growing as he imagines Zach breathing down his neck. Zach, however, is very calm and laid back.

"Yes. Now leave,” she replies. She walks to the door and opens it for the men.

As she waits for the two to exit, she sees Zach send one of his hands to straighten out the left side of his jacket. As he does so, Catherine notices both a knife and a gun there, on him. Both are  usually hidden by that  flap of material that he now repositions back to attention. He looks into her eyes and then leads the way out of the room.

Once they are gone, Catherine pushes the entire situation out of her mind by jumping on it several times until it can be, and is, stuffed into a fashionable suitcase ready to be taken to the concert when the time comes, approximately twenty four hours from now.

Men make the rules  here . . .