The Bard's Daughter

(Disclaimer: All characters are 18+. "Academy" is education for ages 18-27.)

Jerry needed little sleep and woke early to find himself sandwiched between the twins. Jerry used a very stealthy flash step to get to his feet without disturbing what appeared as peaceful rest on the parts of Zoe and Chloe. Jerry watched as the twin nymphomaniacs slept in a state of satisfaction for a moment before using his stealth skills to leave the bedroom.

As Jerry shut the door behind him quietly, he heard the sound of someone boiling water. Jerry crept towards the sitting room where he found Bellanna asleep in the fold out chair with Freynika snuggled up in the orc woman's arms. Jerry was pleasantly surprised to see that Bellanna's level had skyrocketed overnight from a level 15 warrior to a level 45 warrior with a level 18 as a gladiatrix. Though, not as surprised as he was to find a female neko asleep on his sofa.

but for the ears, tail, nose, and whiskers of a feline, the woman would have passed for a human. Her raven black hair glistened in the early dawn light that began to peak through the windows. She wore what looked like a tight leather webbing harness that accentuated the cat woman's limber physique. To Jerry's eyes, the woman looked to be no more than her early thirties. Jerry had not yet learned to account for the regenerative effects of mana saturation on the human body when calculating peoples' age, to say nothing of how the thirty six hour day messes with ones sense of time and the weirdness of the world's calendar. This underestimation of the cat woman's maturity made the sight of the cat woman's nubile teenage daughter all the more surprising.

She was in so many ways a younger version of her mother, same soft skin white as snow, same glistening hair black as coal, same rosy red cheeks, same luscious red lips, same dancer's physique. But their eyes. the younger girl possessed much rounder, wider eyes than the almond shaped eyes of her mother. Where the two really differed was in the nose. While the mother's face centered around feline features, the daughter's nose was quite human. Standing there looking nervously at him, with her steaming mug of what Jerry thought was herbal tea, the young cat girl reminded Jerry of Jane, his half sister back on Earth who was in the midst of deciding which university she was going to attend next fall after graduation. Jerry felt a pang of regret that he would miss it, and hoped that everyone back home was doing alright.

Jerry's train of thought was broken when the girl who was wearing an outfit that looked like someone had designed a school uniform unsure if they were making something for the classroom or the cheerleaders searched awkwardly for a coaster to put her tea on and made sure it was not going to spill before turning towards Jerry and after taking a deep breath and whispering "you can do this." to herself started to kneel. "Master, I..."

"Yeah, uh, I know. It's alright, you don't need to do that." said Jerry cutting her off and taking the girl by the waist and lifting the dainty young girl back to her feet. Jerry brushed a lock of hair from her face and from around her ear. The cat girl giggled and smiled. "What is your name?" asked Jerry.

"Jenina, Master." said the teenager.
"Pretty name." said Jerry
"Does this mean that you are not going to change it?" asked the nubile neko.
"Do you want me to change it?" the young cat girl asked.
Jenina could not hide her surprise at the question. "I. I think I would like to keep my name. It is all I have left."
Jerry gestured towards the sleeping cat woman, "you still have your mother."

"You're right." said Jenina. The lanky young lady struggled to hold back the tidal wave of feelings erupting inside of her, the purple light of The **** Codes' runes blazed around the teenager's neck and navel. "Sorry. Its just that, you are my first." said Jenina blushing and looking down at the floor while her tail wrapped itself around her knee and calf.
"Your first...?"
"Owner. Sorry, Master. I never expected to ever have to do this. Dad and Pops promised me that I would always have someone to protect me from the slavers, but..." Jenina's words died in her throat, the girl shuffled gracefully to where her tea waited for her. The precocious nubile did not take her eyes off of Jerry as she sipped her tea.

"You don't have to apologize so much." said Jerry.
"Sor..." Jenina blushed and looked awkward, which made Jerry bite his own hand to muffle is laughter, the man not wanting to wake the sleepers.
"You're quirky. I like quirky." said Jerry. "Relax. Sit down. Why don't you tell me how you and..." Jerry gestured towards the sleeping cat woman.

"My mother, Kendrhea, owner and star performer Sunny Songflower, hottest and coolest club on Stoneford's South Side." Jenina sat down at her mother's feet, the woman seemed to sense her daughter's presence and curl up to make room for her.
"So, Jenina, daughter of Kendrhea of Stoneford's south side, how did you get here?"
"It is kind of a long story." said Jenina.
"Give me the shortened version." Jerry commanded.
"Well, Master..."

***

"Mom never talks about her early life. All she will say about growing up was that she was bred with the expectation of being sold after her Age-Coming and the immunity demi-pups have from being enslaved wore off, mom and aunt Mehgan don't talk about how they escaped, just that they would not have been able to do with without my uncle Elbort. The three of them made it to the safety of the demi-wards of Stoneford, but then found out that for a couple of pups with no family, skills, or prospects, the only way to survive was stealing.

"aunt Mehgan says that mom was the best thief in the whole city. They started out just picking pockets and stealing food, which is how my dad and mom met, but that's not important right now. At some point mom met Grover, a relic dealer who fenced stolen goods for the Donardo Family. Grover is a monkey demi-human, not sure that is important, but I wanted you to have the right picture in your head. Mom found out that you could make a lot of money stealing the expensive stuff people kept locked up in vaults behind guards. Mom was really good at it. Her and her crew stole all kinds of stuff for the Donardos. The capo who ran her crew, Raphiangelo Donardo was the son of the old boss and had a soft spot for demis and always treated my mom and her friends with respect.

"Like I said before. Dad had met Mom when she was a pick pocket freshly washed up and he was a junior patrolman for the city watch, he's human. The way they tell it, it was either love at first sight or a bitter hatred that transformed into a rivalry that burned away at them for years. Usually they tell it with baby talk and making goo goo eyes at each other and it is gross. But fell in love they did. Unfortunately, for a member of the Donardo Family to marry a watchman was not exactly something that was going to be taken lightly by Capos Quorum. But Raphi was sweet on my mom, always treated her like his own daughter, and he knew that dad might be a cop, but that he was a cop on the level. So Raphiangelo went to the gates for my folks and petitioned his father to bless their union.

"What happened next was legend. People still talk about it to this day. Old Boss Donardo made a deal with my mother and gave her an impossible task. A job that no one could have pulled off. The bodies she buried and things that she stole that night laid a foundation that transformed the Donardo Family into the undisputed masters Stonefords shadow economy. It made sure that there was no question that when the old boss passed on, that Raphiangelo would be the new boss of the Donardo Family.

"So, mom married dad. Dad got made sergeant, then lieutenant, then a captain. Mom opened The Songflower, then my brothers and sisters and I came along. The new Boss Donardo became our godfather. I grew up watching Mom singing on the stage in her glamorous silk gowns in the evenings after she spent her days taking care of us. You know, just being a normal mom making sure we learned our music and manacraft. The closest she ever got to her old life was when Boss Donardo would sometimes send over some people for 'dance lessons' and sometimes those 'students' would bring maps and ask Mom for her to 'advise' them.
"I always knew that I was lucky, but it was only when I got older that I started to appreciate how protected I was, how hard my parents worked to insulate their kids against the reality that most demi-humans face every day that a lot of humans do not even think that demi-humans are people with a lot of folks believing that demi-humans and anthro-breeds should not be allowed to be free, people who think we are no better than monsters. I knew people like that existed, but until recently I had no idea just how many people believe that demi-humans should be enslaved as a requirement.

"But when your dad is a watch captain and the boss of a Grand Family tells you to call him pops, then people treat you with respect, or they did. It used to be that humans see you wearing a protection charm with the Donardo Family crest and they would just know to treat you as a person worthy of respect. But things change.

"A few months ago, a new organization started moving serious high end gear through the river ports. This new player, their people would reach out with master crafted enchantments, premium potions, **** that no one had heard off, and maxim-tier out weapons and armor to transform bit gangs into power players overnight. These new guys were not just selling either. The word on the street was that humans, gnomes, demi-humans, and even some elves were going missing on account of someone willing to pay for people, no questions asked.

"Dad's office was clueless, or those with the clues were not talking was what he said. Then this guy with a funny name starts a campaign to be the new mayor promising to confine demis to fewer wards and place harsher restrictions on our movements and implementation of a tail tax on free demi-humans. I did not realize that all this politics stuff was going to affect me.

"I was in academy when they grabbed me. I am a third year at St. Gygax's. It's really prestigious and they did not used to let in demis, but Pops pulled some strings and made the Headmistress an offer that she could not refuse years ago when my sister Dejah wanted to go there. By the time I started, demi-humans had been taking the same classes as gnomes and humans for over a dozen years. Most people were cool with it. Students can be cliquey for sure, but most humans and gnomes just treat us like another group of people, a lot of them a curious and, well let's just say that I work hard to discourage the stereotype that all demis are sluts.

"Anyway, I was in front of my locker changing books from history to sorcery when the gag went in my mouth and the black hood over my head. They tied my hands behind my back and made me walk out what I thought was the service entrance for the school. I was tossed in the trunk with a bunch of my other classmates who were demi-humans. We were in there for what felt like hours. When they unloaded us they separated me out and took me somewhere where I was hung by my wrists, at least they had the decency to enchant the shackles, but when they ripped my hood off, my sister Cara, my brother Tripp, and Mom being brought in wearing spell-proof shackles.

"The only reason they did not **** me then was because I am a virgin, their monster ate my panties and stuck its snout between my legs before they believed me. That did not stop them from making me watch what they did to my mom and siblings. They branded all three of them. 'be brave' was what Mom said before they placed the scroll on her. Tripp and Cara cried, begged, and pleaded with them, but the humans only seemed to get off on their desperation.

"But as soon as the rune marks appeared on their throats and bellies, they were just resigned to it. They did not resist or fight or anything. They just bent over and took it, smiling when they were told to smile, begging for more when commanded to beg. All the while the men enjoyed themselves treating my family like a thing to play with.

"After they had finished with them, the men commanded them to get ready to meet a traveling merchant who was going to take us away. The man arrived wearing robes from one of the Shoguntai clans, but I could not tell you which one, but considering the man looked like he was Coprian, I doubt that he would know either. The man inspected my family like cattle before buying Mom and Tripp. Cara apparently was not skilled enough to warrant the same price as Mom and Tripp. 'Her bard skills will need work before she is ready for sale. Pretty faces are cheap in The Commonwealth. If you want to lower the price on her to a half-chain, then I will want to take her off your hands.' But the man doing the selling said that 'Letting you look at these goods at all is a personal favor. My associates would be mad if they knew I was letting someone else poach their stock, but we have history. So, Herr Nakitomi, but if you agree to go up on the virgin's price, then I can knock a few links off of her whore sister.' They haggled for a bit, and Nakitomi was promised good prices on an upcoming batch of fresh virgins, eventually, Cara went into a card that disappeared inside of the man's satchel.

"I will never forget the feeling of that man's hands on me. How his fat fingers handled me like I was not even a person. How I wanted to vomit when he touched my ears and told me that 'I have a client who just loves breaking virgins. I see that you don't have any piercings. He is certainly going to change that. I was going to have you changed into a two piece tunic before carding you, but I think you look perfect as you are in your school uniform. Here is what is going to happen, Jenni.' I remember my heart skipping a beat when I heard my nickname come out of this man's mouth accompanied by his rancid breath. 'You are going into The Card, and when you come out again, it is going to be in a far away place where fursons are definitely not persons.' I hated the way he chuckled at his bastardized version of the popular anthro rights chant. Even if Mom and Dad never let us go down to the protest marches, it is hard to argue against the idea that fursons are persons, unless your only definition of a person is someone who is immune from The **** Codes. 'After you are sealed away, I am going to bind you, I am going to make you a ****, but you won't know it. You are not going to feel a thing until after I sell you. Your new owner is going to summon you fresh from this moment with the knowledge that you have never felt another man's bindings on you. I have no doubt your Master will enjoy showing you many firsts, some will be more painful and degrading than others.' the bald bastard just shrugged, kissed me on the forehead, then I felt like I was falling into darkness where I felt like I was going to drown before I appeared in this room with my mom and those two greenskins. They were screaming and jumping up and down all excited about how they won me on a full triangle in Mini-Maze. I was too distracted by these strange new feelings to get all of the details.

"I could sense you, from the moment I appeared in this place I could feel you like iron feels a magnet. I could sense that you did not need me at that moment, but I knew that if you wanted me, that pull would drive me running towards you. I just felt it. I felt a lot of new things.

"Being a **** was always built up as this thing of nightmares, that getting bound to an owner was a fate worse than ****. But now that it is here, I dunno. I feel, not good, but, like, its like I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. I know that it is just a highly complex Joint Working of Divine and Arcane magic integrating itself into my mind and soul through a protocol that was intended to be used on monsters but works on demi-humans, but it feels good to be a good ****. Which has not been that hard up to this point..."

***

"Jenni!" cried out the cat woman on the couch before she sprung to her feet, balanced crouched on the back of the sofa with a pair of knives in her hands and glared at Jerry.
Over the course of listening to Jenina telling her story, Jerry had gone from standing to sitting on the armrest of the couch to squeezing next to Jenina to having the teenage girl snuggled in her owner's lap. Kendrhea awoke to see a strange man she did not know with his arms wrapped around her daughter.

Kendrhea growled and prepared to kill, it was only the crackling purple energies of The **** Codes that held back her lethal strike. Kendrhea put away her knives as she leapt to tackle the interloper. By the time the cat woman realized what she had done, Jerry was pinned underneath the assassin turned lounge singer.

"Mom!" Jenina cried out. "What are you doing?"
It took a moment, but Kendrhea's body caught up with her instincts and she felt the mystical bond connecting her to this man, this man Kendrhea realized to whom she belonged. "Let's get something straight, Master." said Kendrhea, pronouncing the last word with a sneer. "I don't care if we are your property, if you **** my daughter, it will not matter that I'm bound by The **** Codes. If you hurt her, I will find a way to make you pay."

For Jerry's part, the man was admiring Kendrea's stats, along with the rest of the woman.
Level 141 Thief, Level 140 Assassin, Level 125 Bodyguard, Level 118 Gambler, Level 102 Bard, Level 98 Dancer, Level 85 Concubine, Level 75 Homemaker.
A truly remarkable woman in a very sexy neko body.

(How do you think Jerry would respond to Kendrhea's threats? Leave your thoughts in the comments.)