Chapter 29: The Prize

Author's Note: I accidentally skipped this chapter the first time I posted. Sorry about the confusion. Here is what was supposed to be up, followed by Chapter 30.

14 November 2025

The chest press clattered a metallic protest as Bob completed his third set. He winced at the realisation that he had released too early and allowed the stack to crash down.

That was irresponsible, he chastised himself. You aren’t done with a task until you’re truly done with it.

The week had been unlike any he had experienced, and the club was supposed to be a chance for him to decompress between the unreal world of the bank and the continued pressure of home. Instead, he had remained far too much in his head, as the physical exertion only served to sharpen the focus of his new duality.

With every rep, he had felt the phantom sensation of Virginia’s skin under his hand back at the office. He pictured her as she was now — no longer merely the teasing PA managing his diary, but also the beautiful slave who existed as an extension of his very will.

Bob learned that he had to work out extra hard to keep the blood flowing to the correct parts of his anatomy when he had thoughts like that.

After he completed his upper body workout, and checked in with his trainer, he retreated to the salt sauna, where he let his mind wander once more. This time, he lingered on Jenny. She had been the catalyst for transforming his life. She was young, attractive, and driven. In many ways, she reminded him of Mary. The good and the bad.

Jenny was fully prepared to trample him, in order to take advantage of his connections to property and to credit. But instead, she was the one who caught the brunt of it. Perhaps there was a certain justice in that, with her deepest desire coming back to bite her in the arse.

She does have a nice arse, he chuckled to himself. Not quite as bony as Rebecca, or as lush as Sarah. If only Mary would understand.

The timer sounded, and Bob slowly trudged to the changing room. He gathered his towel and found an available shower. Under the stinging heat of the spraying water, he indulged one more time in his memories. There was Sarah kneeling on the floor, sucking him off, while Rebecca and Jenny schemed about who should be infected next for him.

For me.

The thought was an admission, and it landed like the weights on the stack.

Why can’t I have whomever I desire? Why can’t I make Mary understand?

Bob turned off the water and let the droplets roll down his skin before he grabbed his towel. Would this be so much worse than what he had already done?

He felt relieved. This was a discovery of a lifetime. Instead of remaining resigned to his midlife muddle, he had the power to change reality.

I don’t have to be weak. I don’t have to accept losing the Mary I loved so much. I can make her love me again.

Bob slipped into a soft pair of blue jeans, and pulled a long-sleeved t-shirt over his head. He liked how he looked in the mirror, and brushed his hair back into place.

He gathered his personal items into his gym bag, took his suit and shirt on their hangers, and strode from the changing room towards the main lobby so he could head for his car.

“Good night, Archie,” he said to the attendant at the front desk.

“Have a lovely night, Mr Edwards. Say hi to Mary. She had a great workout this morning.”

“I’ll be sure to send her your regards,” Bob said cheerily, while he was thinking to himself like hell I will.

The sun had already set, and the last vestiges of light had faded to the west as Bob reached the car park. His thoughts were on home, and how he planned to conquer the source of his discontent.

I can make her focus on me instead of her bloody Pilates classes. I can finally feel like….

"Dad?"

The voice was small, tentative, and decidedly out of place. Bob stopped mid-stride, his heart skipping. He looked towards the car park, his eyes squinting into the gloaming.

"Master!"

This voice was different — assertive and vibrating with intensity. But why were they here, and why were they together?

Bob’s gaze locked onto a small car. Jenny was standing by the open passenger door, her black leather jacket gleaming. But it was the girl standing beside her that made the world around him tilt.

Livy was there, but she was... different. She stood with an unusually erect posture, her hands flat against her sides. As he walked towards them, he saw that she had a dazed expression in her eyes, but also something else. Her mouth was open slightly as though she were breathing heavily, and the closer he got, he could tell that her skin was flushing.

"Livy? Are you alright, dear?" Bob asked, his voice cracking with fatherly concern.

He reached them, and for the first time, he saw her eyes. The dark hair with its blue and green streaks framed a gaze that was glowing with a bright blue light.

Just like Jenny’s eyes.

He looked at Jenny, and demanded her to explain. "Tell me what you did."

"I prepared her for you, Master," Jenny said simply, her sapphire eyes locking onto his. She stepped towards him and led Livy by her elbow. "Her thoughts are being quietened."

Bob’s eyes returned to his daughter. The girl didn't blink.

“Livy, are you okay?”

Her attention focused wholly on him when she heard him addressing her.

“Yes, sir. I’m good.”

He saw his daughter’s mouth bend into a soft, dazed smile. That wasn’t an expression she had ever given him before, and certainly not since she had grown up.

That was the look of infatuation.

Bob remembered where they were. A public car park where many people knew him and Livy wasn’t the place for this. Especially since his anger level was swiftly rising.

How dare she? How dare that bitch bring my Livy into this?

He fished the fob out of his pocket and unlocked his car.

"Get in," Bob commanded, his voice tight. "Both of you. Into the car. Now."

He yanked open the back door of the black Forester, and waited for his daughter to follow his instruction. She moved slowly but deliberately, climbing into the back seat and taking her place directly behind her father. She buckled her seatbelt, and then simply sat, her hands resting palms-down on her thighs.

Jenny also didn't hesitate. Her submission was reflexive and urgent, as she hustled around to the passenger seat, and slid into the vehicle as commanded. Her black leather jacket creaked softly as she put on her seatbelt. Like Olivia, Jenny sat perfectly straight, her sapphire eyes fixed forward. A small, knowing smile played on her lips while Bob got into the vehicle.

"What were you thinking?” Bob questioned. "What if someone saw? People... people could have noticed."

"They see only what they are inclined to see, Master," Jenny said softly as the hybrid backed out of the parking space, and leapt towards the street. “You were greeted by your daughter and a friend, who went with you in your vehicle. Only we know that the truth is much more complicated."

“Complicated? Is that what you call this? What were you thinking, bringing Livy into this?”

Jenny winced. It was physically painful for her to be on the receiving end of her Master’s anger.

“I’m sorry, Master. I thought you would be happy to have Olivia under your control. I know how much you have missed your relationship with her.”

“You thought? Did I give you permission to think about this?”

Jenny struggled to catch her breath. In the brief moments when he glanced over at her, she was almost shrinking into the seat.

“I’m so very sorry, Master. I won’t think for myself again. Please forgive me.”

While he saw first-hand the impact his anger was having on Jenny, he also caught the reflection of his daughter in the rear-view mirror as he drove. He had driven away from home rather than towards it, and the vision he saw behind him did nothing to clear his mind.

Livy looked like a shadow of her former self. She didn't turn her head to peer out of the window at the passing city, and her pupils had dilated until the sapphire-tinged light seemed to swallow the irises whole.

“You infected her, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Master, I did. May I please explain?”

Bob wasn’t sure what mood he was in to hear her explanation, but rather than snapping at her again, he took a deep breath and nodded silently.

Jenny began talking, and he half-listened as he remained in his thoughts. He didn’t trust himself while he was angry. So he drove while he listened.

And he drove and drove and drove.

The vehicle insistently weaved through the city traffic. In time, Bob had passed out of the urban landscape, and headed towards the darkness.

He looked again in the rearview mirror. Livy remained perfectly still, her hands resting on her thighs. She seemed almost like a pretty little mannequin, but for the occasional blinks of her eyes which concealed the bright blue glow.

"She is transitioning very well, Master," Jenny noted, her voice cutting through his contemplation. "She accepted the virus, and has not resisted it. If I had to guess, she isn't thinking about her classes, or her friends, or her mum, or anything else. She is simply waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” he asked.

“She is waiting for the sound of your voice. She is waiting for you to tell her what she is."

Bob gripped the steering wheel even more tightly at that reminder. He had been granted power over his daughter. Over his precious Livy.

And even though it might curse his wretched soul to Hell, a part of him was excited by that.

Well in the distance behind him, his life as a Senior Director at the Bank of London was waiting. The house in Fulham was waiting. Mary was waiting.

But the merging of reality and fantasy was right here.

Jenny was sitting to his left, knowing that she had once again been in the darkest crevices of his mind and had granted him what he truly desired. And directly behind him were the glowing eyes of the girl in the backseat.

"Master?" Jenny asked softly. "Where are we heading?"

He had barely paid attention to the towns as he drove. Greenwich. Bexley. Thong. All of the familiar landmarks of his life - cities and structures, lighted storefronts, suburban sprawl - had thinned in the darkness, replaced by the skeletal shapes of trees and the rhythmic flash of cat’s eyes along the road.

"Away," Bob finally answered, his voice sounding foreign to him. "Somewhere completely private. I need to finish this."

Jenny nodded, the deep blue glow of her own eyes reflecting in the windshield. "St Mary’s Island,” she said. “At this time of night, we should have the park all to ourselves. No lights, no people. Just us."

Bob followed the road markers towards the Medway Tunnel, and then let Jenny direct the final few turns. He pulled near a stand of trees, where the SUV could be swallowed in the darkness. He killed the headlights, leaving the car bathed only in the pale, ethereal light of the moon and the gemstone glows of his passengers.

He turned off the engine. "Out," Bob commanded.

He stepped out into the cool night air, the scent of damp earth and pine filling his senses. Jenny climbed out of the passenger side, and stood quietly by the bonnet.

Then, the back door opened.

Olivia stepped out. She didn't shiver in the cold or look around. She simply walked towards Bob and stopped exactly three feet away, her body swaying slightly.

Bob felt the weight of the humid air, and heard the sounds of the Medway along with the ticking of the cooling engine. He looked at his daughter in the pale moonlight.

She truly was beautiful.

Bob was afraid to touch her, but he hated to hold back.

“Livy, darling, tell me how you feel." He wasn’t trying to issue a command, but he suspected she would hear it the same way an underling would receive it at the bank.

Olivia tilted her head. The movement was alien, devoid of the self-conscious fidgeting that had defined her in her teenage years. "I feel… different. Quiet." She paused, and then a shiver racked her frame — not from the cold, but from the internal surge of the virus responding to his proximity. "I feel good," she purred, the sound vibrating deep in her throat.

Jenny watched from the edge of the bonnet, her arms crossed over her black leather jacket. Her sapphire eyes were fixed on Bob, tracking his reaction.

"The virus has filled her, Master," Jenny whispered. "She isn't resisting. She is embracing it. Her biology has accepted that her only purpose is to reflect your will."

Bob looked at his daughter. The blue and green streaks in her hair — the rebellion of her former life — seemed dull and irrelevant now compared to the brilliant glow of her eyes. He realised then that all he had to do was to touch her and claim her. Jenny and the virus had already done the work. She didn’t have to be merely his daughter. She could be his.

"I don’t know if I can," Bob said quietly. “She’s my daughter. My little girl.”

“So tell her that, Master,” Jenny said calmly. “Hold her, and tell her.”

Bob didn’t think. He just followed. He wrapped Olivia in his arms, and held her against his body in a warm hug. He sighed, closed his eyes, and stroked her hair on the back of her head.

“I’ve got you, Livy. You’re my little girl, and you always will be.”

He felt her shudder in his grasp. Olivia’s body arched, a soft, high-pitched whimper escaping her as the virus locked the command into her. The blue light in her eyes flared brilliantly before settling into a steady, permanent glow. Any remaining conflict - any fear that may have travelled with her during the drive - evaporated instantly, replaced by a flood of chemical devotion so intense she nearly collapsed.

"Yes... Master," she breathed in a husky voice. “I’m your little girl. Forever.”