She closed her hand just a little, just enough to make him feel the pressure. “When I let go, you will do three things. You will fetch me a length of rope. You will tell me your safeword. And when you return with my rope, little assassin, you will kneel to me.” There was no hint of doubt in her voice.
Victor stared at her, then nodded, barely, he was focusing on the feel of her hand clenched around his throat, something no one had done and lived for much longer afterwards. Once he was released he went to a closet across from his room where he kept things he used on his jobs and retrieved the shortest length of rope he owned which was 5 feet. He closed the closet then returned back to the living room. Victor handed her the rope then knelt before her. “Vampire,” he said, by way of telling her his safe word. Victor was uncertain, this was most definitely not familiar ground for him and he had never, since leaving the Institute given himself up to anyone.
Stepping right into his personal space, Summer trailed her fingertips down his face. “See? You can be obedient. But that still leaves the previous infraction.” She stepped back again, running the rope through her hands, not looking at Victor. “How many lashes, do you think, will be enough for that? Take your shirt off while you think.”
Victor’s jaw clenched and he worked a muscle when she talked about his obedience but he stayed still. He quickly unbuttoned his shirt then cast it aside, the muscles in his back tense in anticipation. “10…I suppose,” Victor said, his now grey eyes dark in defiance. It was that look that always had gotten him in trouble as a kid.
“Only ten,” Summer mused. “It’s true, it was the first time. Link your hands behind your neck.” She smiled, a kind of smile she’d never shown Victor before. Anticipatory. Hungry. Cutting. Laying a finger over his mouth, she leaned down, holding his gaze. “You have a strong will, little assassin. I like that. Don’t cry out, and you may earn a reward. Every sound earns you another strike.” She stepped behind him, sliding the rope through her hands again.