Isabel takes her chance

Chapter 6

"What?" Lilian pauses again. That can't be, doesn't make sense. She has lived in this palace with her master for as long as she can remember. She never leaves him, especially going outside. She sees and evaluates every girl he wants for himself and manages their transfer to the bliss of the palace. "What do you mean?"

"The way I say it. I know you, Lilian." The girl, Isabel, looks her firmly in the eyes. Something in her gaze unsettles the servant of God, a feeling she doesn't like very much.

"It doesn't matter," she says defiantly. "I have more important things to do than stand here." But the girl is pretty. Very pretty. Lilian has looked at enough flesh to recognize the qualities of the body behind the gate right away. "So tell me what you want or we end this conversation right now." The dynamic shifts slightly in Lilian's favor and Isabel takes a step back and holds out her arms.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asks, perhaps a bit defiantly but with a warm smile. "I want a job."

"A job. Like..."

"Like all the girls in this palace." Isabel's smile changes a bit, becoming more urgent but remaining friendly. "I want to be part of your world."

"M-My world?" This throws the servant off her stride. But when Isabel nods, she becomes angry. "It's not my world!" she hisses, not understanding herself what's going on at first, but then she does. "It belongs to him. We're his." The thought of making such a bitchy, smug, arrogant offering to her god makes her sick. "He doesn't take just anyone. And besides, he's the one who chooses his servants. Just because you think you're pretty doesn't mean you'll automatically be accepted into the small circle of lucky ones who can serve him." Lilian's face turns white. She does not know if she has already revealed too much. She doesn't know the feeling of anger well anymore, she's been happy for so long, but she's afraid (also something new) that she's gone too far, revealed too much, put her master in danger."

"I know he kidnaps people," Isabel says now, but sounds calm, almost placating. "He takes what he wants and no one can stop him. He takes daughters from mothers, mothers and daughters from families, wives from husbands, singles, just anyone he wants." Isabel shrugs. "At least he makes sure they're all happy... I guess." Lilian is speechless. She's never thought of it that way. No, she doesn't want to see it that way! She sees how the girls and women are who live here. It doesn't get any better than this. This is heaven, paradise, a Garden of Eden of beauty and security and sexual fulfillment!

"But then what do you want..." She shakes her head.

"Like I said, I want to be involved. To be a part of what's going on behind that golden gate." Isabel leans against the bars and looks deep into Lilian's eyes. The dynamic has shifted again.

"Look at me, Lilian. You know I will please him. I am beautiful and strong. I have prepared my body for him all my life, taken literature classes every day, trained my body in sports and gymnastics for years. Yes, it's true, I know a lot about him and you and what you're doing here. But I don't care about that. I..." Her eyes flicker. "I have my own reasons why I want to be here. And I don't care what I have to do to get it. I just want an audience with him and to explain myself to him personally." Now Lilian has to laugh.

"Why do you think he would listen to you." She spitefully points between the legs of the young and beautiful girl. "You're fuckable, I'll give you that. But he'll make you his silent **** in a second if he wants."

"That's right. And if that's what he wants, then I have nothing to resist him with. Except you."

"What?" But Isabel reaches through the bars and pulls Lilian to her even before the guards can react.

"You can tell him to let me speak Lilian. You have the power to do that." Lilian makes big eyes. "Tell him to let me speak, that's all I want."

"Hey!" Two sexy-dressed guards try to separate the two girls.

"After that, he can do what he wants with me but he just has to listen. For a minute." The guards separate the two but Lilian can't take her eyes off Isabel. What's wrong with this girl?

"Why?" And Isabel smiles. She smiles directly at Lilian. Warmly. Warmly.

"Because you and I are family, Lilian."

"That was a mistake." And Lilian doesn't make mistakes. But yet, here she sits now.

"And yet we are sitting here now" Isabel replies. "I don't think you make a mistake with that." Lilian just looks at Isabel angrily.

The two sit in Lilian's office if one can call it that. A medium-sized room, filled with folders, the profiles of the girls who live here, a large, expensive PC running feeds from the palace and a display of where her master is at this moment. In front of her are the plans for the next day. She is already behind schedule, all thanks to the girl in front of her. Lilian sighs.

"Now we're here already" murmurs Isabel, looking restrained. "Can I please explain myself?" Maybe it's the surroundings or the looks she's gotten from the girls they've encountered on the way here. Or maybe it's just a tactic. No matter what it is, Lilian must take care of this matter. Sullenly she realizes that she is curious. And she is angry with Isabel for taking her attention. She can't answer it, but either way it's better to clear the matter up quickly and then get on with the important things.

"Okay," she says simply, leaning back in her comfortable, expensive chair. "You said we're family? I find that hard to believe. And even if I did, I don't remember my life before my God, and that's just fine." Lilian pressed her lips together. This was not a smart move. She is not used to having negative emotions and thoughts.

"I wouldn't want to remember either if I were you. The world out there, it's... normal. Not bad but not good either. Here, on the other hand..." Isabel looks around. "It must be nice here. No negative emotions and thoughts." Lilian gives her a nasty look and Isabel looks to the ground. "But we are family. For real."

"How is that possible?" asks Lilian simply. She is very tense but Isabel lets her stew a bit longer.

"I've been looking for you all my life," she says. "I'm twenty years old now, and I've been trying to track you down since I was thirteen."

"Why?"

"At first I didn't know. I just knew that you disappeared from our family and when I tried to find out why, I came across a lot of interesting things."

"What things?"

"For one thing, that you just left without saying goodbye. Nobody knew why. You had no quarrel and a good standing in the family. You had no reason to leave. That made me curious. Secondly, you made me aware of the disappearance of at least two hundred other girls." She continues before Lilian can ask anything. "That was a really fantastic story. So many girls and women just disappearing from their lives and no one seems to care. I investigated where they all disappeared to. Some I didn't find but most point to this palace."

"You shouldn't tell me this if you want to try to construct a story out of it," Lilian says coldly. "He will crush you like a fly on the wall." But Isabel quickly shakes her head.

"I don't want a story. Like I said, I want in on it. Because of you." And finally, Isabel comes clear. "When I found you I did some research. The stories I heard were just incredible. And then I found you. On one of the shopping trips in Paris when he took half of fashion week. 37 models." That's what Lilian remembers. She leans forward in her chair.

"Okay. I believe you. Back to us. You said we're family and you're here because of me. I have to tell you though, I don't want to leave here. I don't need you to save me. I'm fine here. And if you're a danger to him, then..." Isabel seems hesitant, has to swallow.

"No, Lilian, I don't mean it that way."

"And I find it hard to believe you. If you know so much, then you also know about his power. I can't be related to you. I've lived here for... a long time."

"You are my great-great-grandmother, Lilian," says Isabel, sounding sad. Lilian also becomes silent.

"That is..." She feels bad because at the edge of her consciousness she realizes that this is the first moment in her life when she thinks only marginally of her God.

"That is, I have experienced my mother, her mother, and her mother's mother trying to find you, not finding you, and on top of that, becoming very sad."

"Isabel...I can't...my master..."

"It's okay" the other girl says quickly. "They are all dead. I am the last of our family. And I have dedicated my life to the woman who is still here, will always be here." Isabel laughs sadly. "Even though we could be more like sisters, couldn't we?" Lilian just stares at her relative. Of course she will have this outrageous thesis tested. But something inside her tells her that it is the truth. And Isabel doesn't want money, she doesn't really negotiate for that. She just wants...

Her mouth is dry. Her head hurts. Her eyes itch. Lilian is on the verge of shock. She has never felt like this before. Inside she is empty. And it hurts. It hurts to know that she has caused suffering to her family. It hurts to see Isabel here now, in front of her, sad, confused and uncertain. It hurts to know that her fantastic life will now be... different. Besmirched. Lilian has to swallow hard at the thought. Because yes, all this hurts. But even more it hurts that she has betrayed her God. She has not thought of him. Try as Isabel might, Lilian made up her mind a long time ago. "So you want to what? Stay with me?" Isabel nods.

"I want my family back, Lilian. That's not your real name, by the way. In real life, your name is..."

The banging echoes loud and shattering through the nightly room. In a second the tense mood is completely overturned.

"My name is Lilian" hisses the addressed in an icy tone that surprises herself. "My name is Lilian. That's my name." Isabel looks at her counterpart dejectedly, but is calm. "And I've had enough of your games. I don't care if we're family. I don't care about the world out there. I don't care about you. I have a role here. I'm important. I am valued. And I'm responsible for something that couldn't be more important to me." The temperature in the room drops a few degrees at the tone Lilian strikes. "Good, I believe you. Deep inside me I know you're right. But this is not me. I am another person. And I like it here. I like the person he made me."

"I didn't mean..." stammers Isabel. "I didn't mean to accuse you."

"Then what did you want?"

"I don't want anymore... I want to..." Lilian won. Isabel is no longer strong, instead reminding her more of the **** girls she receives here from time to time. But unlike them, she will not send Isabel upstairs to the master.

"You want to be here with me? With your family?" She doesn't give her counterpart time to answer. "You can forget that. I serve my master and you have no place in my life."

"I know." This surprises Lilian. "But give me a chance. Please. I... I just wanted to tell you the truth, not lie to you. I've made up my mind, too. The same decision you made." Isabel stands up, tightens and clenches her hands into fists. "I want to be here, with you. If I have to submit to your master to do that, then so be it. Here, anyway, life is better than..."

"Shut up!" That was the worst thing the girl could say and Lilian let her feel it. "This is not about me! Or you! Don't you still get that?"

"But if I submit to him..."

"That's not your decision! Do you think I would just let you live here without presenting yourself to him? He decides what happens to you? You want to live here? Okay. No problem. But don't think for a second that I care about you. You are a grain of sand in a whole galaxy that my God created for me! You want to live here? To serve? For the privilege? I am not the one who decides what happens to you. And certainly not you! You think it's so easy, but you're wrong. What if the master decides he wants you mute? Or blind? Dumb and blind you will stagger through these corridors without ever seeing a friendly person again! What if he wants to hang you from the ceiling? Just used to clean his divine dick? What if he decides you have to live as an animal? An inferior girl in the pigsty I will build especially for you?" Lilian hisses in anger. She is angry at the audacity with which Isabel wants to buy her place. But she is also angry because she realizes, deep inside, that she is right. Lilian also wants Isabel in her life, the grain of sand is big enough to be seen even in the galaxy. But this must not be! But before she can react, Isabel speaks.

"Just give me a chance...Lilian. I've worked all my life for this moment and I'm betting everything on this chance. If he wants to destroy me then he can." A lonely tear rolls down her cheek but her eyes fix on Lilian. "But it's worth it to me. And I know...I suspect..." She shakes her head. "I know he wants me, healthy and at his feet." Then she drops to her knees. "I'm begging you, Lilian. Please let me be with him. Let me prove myself to him and earn my place here. Then we'll be together and...I'm sorry. I will prove myself to you by serving him. You will be proud of me. And then maybe we can..." Lilian raises her hand. She has made up her mind and speaks before she can regret it.

"Not another word." And Isabel is silent. For a long time the two girls stare at each other. "Guards!" Immediately, two of the sexy policewomen step into the room. Isabel stares at them fearfully. For long seconds, Lilian ponders the fate of the girl... her... relative. "Take her... somewhere. Tomorrow morning we will..."

"Thank you Lilian! Thank you for..."

"Don't thank me too soon...silly girl. Maybe this is your last night as a functioning human." But it's already too late. The thought of seeing this strange chance pass already doesn't please Lilian.

"Or it's the beginning of something good," says Isabel as she is led outside.