Taking a deep breath, she pulled the towel free, baring herself completely.
“I’ll take that for you, little Mistress,” Kalis rumbled, whisking it away. Leaning closer, he murmured in her ear, “Would you like me to use the blindfold protocol? Would it make you less nervous?”
“Um…no. No, that will be okay,” Jillian murmured. After all, none of the other bodyslaves was blindfolded and the three Mistresses seemed completely at ease with their bodies. Maybe nudity was just more accepted in their culture and it was no big deal to get a naked massage from a big, muscular man.
“Very well, little Mistress—I’ll start with a warm towel to loosen your muscles if I may?” Kalis asked.
“Sure, that would be nice,” Jillian agreed. She turned her head to one side on the small pillow at the top of the table, which molded at once to fit the side of her face and cradled her neck gently. It had a faint floral scent, like lavender and lilac and some other fragrance she couldn’t name, but which was delicate and sweet.
Kalis laid a hot, damp towel over her back and shoulders and buttocks, which really did feel nice, Jillian thought. She was trying not to feel so on edge but it seemed weird to get a naked massage in the same room as three other women—none of which she really knew very well. But since they all seemed perfectly comfortable, she tried to project the same image—though inside she was still as tight as a wire.
“Now then, let’s get started with some lapsong oil,” Kalis murmured. Taking the towel away, he poured out a generous palmful of some pink oil and rubbed his hands together briskly before placing them on Jillian’s shoulders. “Hmm, you’re so tense, little Mistress!” he remarked in a low voice. “Let’s see if we can do something about that, all right?”
“Um…okay,” Jillian murmured. She was doing her best to loosen up, but she had never had a massage from a man before—especially not one as big and muscular as Kalis. In fact, she hadn’t been touched intimately by a man in over two years, since her ill-fated marriage with Brad had ended, so she couldn’t help feeling nervous.
“Easy, little Mistress. Seven Hells, so very tight,” Kalis growled softly. He rubbed his big, warm hands up and down her spine and over her shoulders using firm, steady pressure but not digging any deeper at first. It seemed to Jillian that he was concentrating on relaxing her before he truly started the massage.
And to her deep surprise, after a moment, it actually seemed to be working.
Slowly, her knotted muscles began to loosen under the big Kindred’s hands and her breathing—which had been tense and shallow—began to even out. She felt a sense of dreamy calm stealing over her as the soft flute music played in the background and the Kindred’s big hands caressed her.
“There you are, little Mistress,” Kalis murmured soothingly as he rubbed even more of the warm pink oil into her bare body. “That’s right, just relax and let me take care of you.”
“You…you don’t have to call me ‘little Mistress,” Jillian murmured. “I’m Jillian—just Jillian is fine. Or my friends call me ‘Jilly.’”
“Couldn’t call you that,” Kalis objected mildly. “It’s disrespectful to shorten a female’s given name. But I suppose I could call you Mistress Jillian, if you prefer.”
“I’m not really your Mistress, though,” Jillian protested, but without heat this time. She was feeling calmer and calmer the more he rubbed, she thought—it was like his big, warm hands were magic.
“Why don’t you want to be my Mistress?” Kalis returned. He didn’t sound offended, just curious, Jillian thought. “I’d be a very good bodyslave to you,” he added.
“Well, for one thing because I can’t own another person—it’s awful,” Jillian said. “And for another thing, you’re a big guy and kind of scary—especially after Mistress Douche-bag—I mean Douchenbag told me that you’re registered as a ‘deadly weapon.’”
“That’s just because of my time in the Blood Circuit and my other form,” he murmured.
His long fingers had found their way to her shoulders now and Jillian could feel him working on some of the knots she always seemed to have from all the chopping and slicing and dicing she did. When she had been an executive chef at The Palms, she’d had line cooks to do most of the prep work. But Pat-ar was a much smaller restaurant and she had to pitch in to get everything done and make sure the lunch and dinner services ran smoothly.
It was nice to finally get a massage after all this time—especially a really good one, like Kalis was giving her. How in the world had a huge, muscular warrior like him become a massage therapist?
“What is the ‘Blood Circuit’?” she asked dreamily. She was feeling more and more relaxed, making it possible to ask the questions she’d been wondering about the big Kindred almost from the moment she’d first met him. “I mean, is it some kind of ultimate fighting thing or what?”
“I guess you could call it that,” Kalis rumbled thoughtfully. “It’s pretty ultimate since two males go into the arena and only one comes out alive.”
“Wait…so it’s a fight to the death?” Jillian asked, opening one eye to look up at him.
“Mmm-hmm…” It didn’t seem to bother him to answer her questions, he still sounded calm and relaxed.
“So…does that mean you…you had to kill people?” Jillian asked, feeling a bit less calm.
“Opponents. I had to kill opponents, little Mistress,” he murmured. “And not all of ‘em were what you’d really call ‘people.’ I fought plenty of non-sentients as well—beasts…monsters…that kind of thing. If you’re wondering how many, I lost count around two hundred.”
“Two hundred?” Jillian’s voice squeaked a bit, going high on the last word and she felt considerably less calm than she had.
“Mmm-hmm,” Kalis rumbled, still sounding perfectly fine. “Couldn’t help it though—my Mistress had ordered me to fight and if I hadn’t killed them, they would have killed me. Understand?”
“Um…I guess so. But…you don’t seem like…like a…” Jillian couldn’t get the words out.
“Like a killer?” Kalis finished for her. “Any male can be turned into a killer, little Mistress, if his life or the life of the female he loves is threatened.”
“I…I guess so,” Jillian said again, doubtfully. But how did you start in the first place? I mean, fighting and…and killing in the, uh, Blood Circuit?”
“Ah, well…I’m afraid it’s not a very happy story, but I’ll tell it if you really want to know,” Kalis said. He was working his thumbs into the knots in her shoulders, right on either side of her spine now, and Jillian thought she had never had a better massage in her life. He could even teach her old massage therapist, Helga a thing or two!
“I do want to know,” she assured him. “And I also want to know…oh, that feels so good! Want to know how you transitioned from fighting to…to this.”
“To serving, you mean? Ah yes, well that’s a whole other tale,” Kalis rumbled. “But I’ll start with the first one, if you please, little Mistress.”