Reaper's Word

The first thing that Clair did was to take a real shower. She stood in the bathroom with the chair pressed to the inside handle and scrubbed like she'd never scrubbed before. She did everything to feel normal and clean. She also found a pair of scissors and trimmed her hair the best she could. She thought about chopping it really short but didn't.

Clair had found some fresh clothes that fit her well. She wasn't so sure that the house hadn't prepared that for her. These clothes were a pair of black dress like pants and a white turtleneck. It was still cool in the house and this wasn't so bad. She didn't need to worry about being totally hidden. Though she wasn't going to change her habits for three days.

She brushed out her hair and fingered it. The wet mass was heavy and had a slight curl to it. She scrubbed her teeth, flossing and rising. She felt so good to be clean, and she was always normally a clean freak. She would have done a bit more for him if she could be allowed one day every week to do this.

Clair tossed her bad clothes into the chute. She knew that the chutes all came out somewhere in the basement. From there she didn't know what happened to them. She went out the door after checking and went to the kitchen for food. She had a quick dinner. Happy to have milk for the first time in months and that it was fresh. She ate some of the fruit there as well.

"Thanks." She said to the house and moved off. There were actually three kitchens in the house but the main one had most the food and it was huge. She passed two people coming to find some eats and they looked at her,.

"How are you so clean?" The one woman asked.

"Showered, I won the game I played with him." She looked envious. The other woman already slipped into the kitchen. She left Clair and Clair moved off down the hall. She wanted to learn more about this place now that she had time to do it.

However she grew more tired and moved off to find a room out of the way to sleep in, she wanted a bed. Clair found one on the third floor in the left wing. She laid down, a chair against the door and she fell asleep. Was it going to stop Isaiah or the hounds? Not really but she'd get warning and it would stop the humans.

Morning came and Clair opened her eyes, she glanced at the clock. It was almost ten. She'd been asleep for nearly nine hours and it felt good. She felt good, felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Now that she didn't have to be so careful, she could explore and commit more to memory than she already had.

Clair meandered through the house looking at everything, and testing for hidden doors. She found one that she hadn't known before and it led to a room that had no doors at all. It seemed the small crawl space led right in here and to nowhere else. The room was simple and square oddly it had a stereo system setup with speakers along the walls. She moved to the stereo and looked at the CDs there and shook her head. She didn't know how these things got here but they did.

She tested the walls and found one to be a false wall that opened to a closet with different gowns and suits. She laughed a little, this closet had no exit. She looked at some of the intense looking gowns that had to be years old but in pristine condition.

There were far more modern ones as well and some she would never have dared to wear in public. She looked at the tuxes and dress clothes for men. The shelf above had hats and gloves and she took one that reminded her of the gangster hats in the fifties. She put on a tie letting it hang loose and tipped the hat, she grabbed a pair of shoes from the floor. It took her a bit to find one that fit her. In the end she found a pair of closed toed shoes with high heels on them.

She put them on and grabbed a cane from the closet and feeling that she should make the most of her time, she went to the stereo and put in a CD at random. She let it play and moved to the panel with the crawl space. Out in the other room the music couldn't be heard. She went back in and twisted one of the speakers that led her right into a hall. No sound out here either.

She went back in the room and put in a CD she knew and danced to it. A solo routine she'd learned long ago and enjoyed. After it was done she moved back to the closet and pulled out different dresses and tried them on. Looking in the full length mirror there. This was fun, and she'd always loved dresses but no where to wear them.

"Not bad." She said standing in a tight midnight blue evening gown that fit to her body like a glove. It hugged her chest making it look bigger than it was and the soft flare to her hips. A slit in the dress went all the way up to her hip.

"To bad I don't like to show my butt." She said swishing the back of the dress to show skin. She gave a laugh and took it off, pulling out a few others and trying them on. She couldn't get the ball gown to lace up in the back all the way but it was a gold color and made her hair very dark. She tried a pink dress that was so short she didn't think that she could sit or bend without exposing herself. She took it off and grabbed a white one.

This one had a tie around the neck and the straps connected right to the part of the dress that covered her breasts. She tied it up and if she hadn't had her bra on. She wasn't sure how she would have even stayed in the dress. There was a lose tie around the waist and it had a kind of handkerchief bottom, though the front under skirt cut off mid-thigh and the back fell farther to the floor.

Clair was curious to see just how this dress would hold her without the bra so she reached back and took it off with a bit of work pulled it out from the dress and fixed it properly.

"Eek, no quick movements I guess."

her lower back. It was a pretty dress but one she didn't think she could ever wear. She picked up her bra and turned looking at the other dresses. Facing out into the room she sighed and undid the dress she wore. Putting on her bra she grabbed the hanger

she sang

she'd go in the dress just for fun. Why not, right now was her chance to feel safe.

and another rather clingy one. She put it on and it was very nearly see through. Most the dress on the bottom hung to one side. The dress coming all the way up to mid-thigh. It had a tight part

She said and took it off pulling on her normal clothes. She was going to the kitchen to cook herself a meal, a real one, and was going to sit down

___Isaiah___

moving through the passageway. He'd come to a sudden halt as he'd glimpsed the

biting into his arms, digging into skin.

such tight fitting things. If he'd only been able to touch her. He'd have gone right in that closet and dragged her to the floor. As it was he continued to shift as his body grew

Any time she removed her bra she always put it back on not facing the mirror.

the wall and out into the hall behind him. He turned the corner as she disappeared around the opposite corner herself, he went into the room. The scent of her thick in the air. He moved to the closet and

clothes that she wore. He wanted her in these garments. The ones that hugged her body and offered a glimpse of soft expanses of flesh. He moved from the closest, memorizing the ones he'd liked most on

glanced at the ceiling, Gustav was still alive. His mind hard to read but he was a manipulator. His ability to read minds was very helpful as well. Currently he moved swiftly down the hall in the opposite direction

direction of the kitchen. A smell that had never filled the house before. At least while he'd been here, it was the scent of

___Clair___

She wondered how old the frozen pizza was. Couldn't be that old seeing the hell hounds ate everything in the house once the humans were gone. She wondered why they would even bring something like that, but she was glad at

it's here." She felt a kind of warmth from the kitchen to her. It was happy to be being used. Just like the room she'd

and grabbed the knife near her turning. "No need for that, can't touch you." Isaiah said and she relaxed

taught to

the cupboards looking for a strainer. She got one and set it in the sink. She stirred the sauce and

there some reason you are here?" She asked looking over her shoulder to where he stood watching her, his

he gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You, I am still trying to figure out." She took the sauce off the heat. He'd never watched a human prepare food

know

of pasta he was sure she could not eat into a large bowl, and then the sauce over

dead." He gave

Ready for your death but

to leave?" She asked curious as to how one like him got stuck in a house like this. It was clear that he wanted to leave, and he had to have been here for a long time. He was always willing to make a deal

leave if I could, trust me. I made a promise that caused this to happen. I'm much more

you? I don't suppose it's something anyone here can do." She stirred the noodles as

have offered you your life if you could free me." Well, he probably wouldn't kill the one that could free him as that one was permanently going to be bound to him. In exchange for his freedom they took being bound instead. They would be bound to him. Cause and effect, that's how magic worked. How science worked too, kind of funny how close the two were and no one even knew it. Seeing Athena was the reason, it also had to be a woman. Not that that was a complaint to

"What does it take?"

a very specific set of rules and requirements for my release and you are lacking one very