The Moderate [a Vampire/Slave story]

~2~ The Moderate [a Vampire/Slave story]

Chapter 2

"Hayden? Can you hear me?" a voice asked nervously. I shook my head, trying to clear the rebounding voices that were getting into my head. I opened my eyes to hear a gasp.

"Master?" I rubbed my eye tiredly. "What are you looking at?" Her gaze was fixed on something, it seemed to be somewhere on my face.

"You! Your eyes!" She pushed me in front of a mirror.

"They changed color, that's all," I retorted, not really caring. My right eye was bright yellow and my other eye was violet. I immediately missed my orange eyes, and when I blinked, they were orange once again.

"Woah, why do they change so fast?" I asked.

"I'm checking out why..." she flipped through a huge book, taking time to read each page briefly. Patience was not a great quality of mine as I was tapping my fingers along the wall anxiously.

"Umm, Hayden?" she tapped my shoulder.

"Yes, Master?"

"You're not a normal Moderate."

"What are you talking about."

"The chemicals in your body....wait, how do I explain this? Okay, so there are two types of Moderates. One's a regular Moderate. They run 4 times faster than the normal human, need blood every few weeks, and have abnormal sense of hearing and smell. The other type is superior to the first type of Moderate. The other type is called a Flat Moderate and they can usually read minds and change their appearance if they wanted. Unfortunately, with you, something happened so that you can't choose your appearance, your body controls it. The good news is that your eyes are the only part of you that are changing involuntarily."

"Oh...." I replied softly. I was scared. "But what if I don't want to change the way I look?" As much as I liked how skinny Miss Pent was, I still felt better in my own skin. I didn't look forward to changing identities like she switched clothes.

"Oh. The chemicals eliminated that ability. Your eyes are the only thing that can change, I think. But they just change by nature," Master explained. I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tomorrow we're going to the VAB," she announced. I shifted the weight on my feet timidly.

"Master, may I ask you a favor?"

"Yes, dear," she turned to look at me.

"Can you tell them I'm a boy?"

"Now why would you want me to do that? Your hair is too long and you look so feminine!" Miss Pent seemed genuinely surprised.

"I don't like being sold for sex, so if I was a guy, the male masters won't be interested in buying me," I explained.

"I'm not gonna think this through cause I know there are flaws in your plan. But okay!" Master said. I laughed.

"Can you cut my hair?"

Miss Pent looked baffled. "Um okay.."

"Why?" she reached over for her scissors. "I like your hair!"

"Really?" That caught my attention.

"Yeah, I never met a human who's hair turned from brown to blonde gradually," she started snipping casually.

It was making me nervous, the sounds of the scissor chopping away the hair I had despised for so long.

"Done!" Master held out a mirror for me to observe my hair. It was very boyish, exactly what I needed.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" I hugged Miss Pent. She grinned and waved a hand, meaning it was no big deal.

Strange things began happening though. My hair, or what was cut off, began to make a hissing noise. Lake smoke started rising from my chunks of hair on the floor. Then when the smoke was gone, all that was left were dove white feathers.

"That's strange," Miss Pent commented. She shrugged and picked up a feather, turning it over and observing its smooth ivory colored stem. As if they didn't exist at all, the feathers turned to fine particles of ash. Master cupped her hands together and blew the dust out of them. A belated look came onto her face.

"I suppose there are mysteries in this world that we, as supernaturals, can never solve. I think I shall go to bed," she told me, shaking her ringlets out. They hung limply at her shoulders.

"Of course, Master," I replied passively, and accompanied her upstairs. I helped her change into her white nightgown and read stories to her until she fell into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, I pulled an all-nighter, or almost did, by thinking about tomorrow's dreaded events. I shivered and pulled the blanket over my shoulders.