Master Over You

by Cerys du Lys

  She's fucking smart is what she is. You should see her type; it's like fucking magic. I didn't know fingers could move that fast. Maybe that's why she's so good at giving handjobs.

  "Let's go," I say.

  I get into the driver's side of the car. Chastity hops into the back. Angeline gets in the passenger's seat next to me. The house begins to really fucking blaze around this time. I back up, do a three-point turn, and get the fuck out of there. I never want to see this place again. It means nothing to me. It's even less than that, less than nothing.

  *** Noah

  My name is Noah. I'm not a nice person. This isn't cupcakes and candyland, love.

  You don't know everything about me. You won't ever fucking know everything about me, either. I don't want you to know. Sorry, it'd fuck with your very soul. You probably aren't strong enough to deal with it.

  Angeline is. I love her. I hope you understand. It's not you, it's me. It's not actually me, it's you, but who the fuck cares?

  There's more people like me out there, though. Be fucking careful. I don't mean that in a good way, like, holy fuck, Noah is a dreamy sex god, fuck me like one of your French girls. First off, I've never had sex with a French girl. I feel like they'd probably be snooty fucking whores and I wouldn't enjoy it. They'd enjoy it, because, fuck, it's me having sex with them, but I don't fucking care about that.

  That's not what I meant. There's a monster in every closet, and you need to watch out for that shit. I'm not a nice person, but I don't hate you, either. There's plenty of assholes who aren't nice and will hate you, and they're not going to fucking apologize about it. They'll take you, break you, and sell you to the highest bidder, no fucks given.

  You don't mean a thing to me, but you mean even less to them.

  I don't know what the fuck I'm saying anymore except just watch the fuck out, alright? Be fucking careful. I know you probably don't understand this shit, but I don't have time to explain it.

  I'm going to go spend some time with Angeline. We're watching a movie tonight. Having dinner, too. Real fucking nice. Cozy and relaxing. Chastity might be there. Fuck Chastity. Angeline and I are going to cuddle and eat popcorn and Chastity can have her own fucking chair way across the room with her own fucking bowl of popcorn.

  Chastity's a stupid bitch, but Angeline and I will keep an eye out, don't worry. Yeah, we're kind of twisted and fucked up, but maybe we'll help someone, too. I want to help people. I really fucking do.

  Maybe some day I can stop. We can both stop. Maybe Angeline and I can settle down. Have kids? I don't fucking know. Probably not. That'd be a little fucked up, but it'd be kind of nice, too.

  That's what everyone wants, right? A family? Happiness? Love?

  I'm done. I shouldn't fucking tell you this shit. Get the fuck out of here. Bye.

  *** ???

  "It's done," I tell him. "I told you it wouldn't be as easy as you thought."

  "Are you gloating, Kane? Are you supporting them? Do you think this is funny?"

  I laugh just to get on his nerves. He won't do a thing to me; he can't.

  "I'm saying," I say, "that you can't send an amateur to trap a professional."

  "It would have worked," he says. "If Angeline didn't get in the way, it would have worked fine. We'd have him right now."

  "Maybe," I say. I'm doubtful. I'm extremely doubtful. There's no point in telling him that, though. He can believe whatever he likes.

  "You think I should have sent someone better, then? Set this up better? Who? You, Kane?"

  "If I went, I would have gotten the job done," I say. "I doubt you could afford my price for a job like that, though."

  "Can you still do it now?" he asks. "What do the tapes show?"

  I rewind and replay the digital recording from that day to show him. I'm annoyed that he wasn't paying attention in the first place. I don't get annoyed often, but that annoys me. Mostly, I just don't care. I'm indifferent to all of this. It doesn't matter.

  The video shows Noah driving up. Angeline sits in the back seat, though this is only for effect. He gets out of the SUV, opens the back door, and drags her out on a leash. It's a child's toy, but apparently the amateurs he's hired don't know the difference. They wait near the front door and as Noah approaches, everyone goes inside.

  I switch to another camera to show the interior. The sound comes on then, too. We can hear everything they're saying. It's boring and trivial. The video plays. Noah leaves. Angeline goes. They think she's the girl Noah was hired to grab, but it's extremely obvious she's not.

  In a matter of moments, they're all dead. Noah returns for Angeline and lets her gorge on the blood of the men in the hall. Quite a sickening fetish, but it's hypnotizing to watch her. She's a true beauty, a sanguinary artist.

  I'm almost jealous that she's Noah's. Or he's hers. Honestly, who can tell? Does it matter? Not really.

  When they go to leave and clean up the scene, another girl pops out of the trunk. I don't recognize her, so I'm assuming she's the original girl Noah kidnapped. Who knows what the story is behind that strange twist of fate? It doesn't matter.

  Nothing matters. I wish I could get this across to everyone, but it's impossible. Joy, happiness, pleasure, pain? It's all nothing. The only reason I'm here is because I think it's interesting.

  I don't expect you to understand that. I've never expected anyone to. We all have our own reasons.

  "There's three of them," he says. "The third doesn't look like she's important, but the other two are. I'm sure you could have handled Noah or Angeline separately, but together? I think that's beyond you, Kane. Why should I even bother keeping you around?"

  He's asking the wrong questions. He thinks that he's keeping me around, but I'm here because the idea of being here still holds a passing interest to me. I'll leave once I'm no longer amused. He doesn't seem to understand this, and I feel no need to tell him that.

  Once I leave, I'll need to kill him. It's like a gift; I'd rather it be a surprise.

  "I could," I say. "I'm not interested, though."

  He laughs like I've told some joke. "With enough money, I'm sure you'd become interested really fast."

  Probably not. That's what they all like to think, though.

  I used to be fine with money. You can do a lot with money. It's quite an interesting phenomenon, too. Where does it come from? If you think about it, all we do is print it or mint it. Melt some useless metal you dug up from the ground, form it into the shape of a coin, and be done with it. Create paper from trees, press ink onto it in a certain pre-ordained pattern, and then hand it out to the masses.

  What's the point? People think it's precious, but it's not. If you don't have it, you want it, but once you have it, it becomes increasingly pointless to have more. It's a game of points and high scores to see who is the best.

  How can you say you're the best when I can easily stab a knife through your chest, pierce your heart, and kill you? What is the point of your high score then? I am curious; please tell me.

  No, I don't need money. I have as much as I could ever want, and I have the ability to get more as easily as I like. This business does not have a lack of people willing to trade money for slaves.

  Did you know there are approximately five people born every second? Possibly more now. That's over four-hundred-thousand a day.

  I only need to find and take one of them to make millions of dollars. That's a simplified version, but I hope you understand my point. It's simple economics.

  No, I don't need or want more money.

  What I'd really like is a soul... not for me personally. What do I need that for? I have a strong desire for someone else's...

  I want to see it. I want to feel it in my hand. I want to listen to the sound of it, like a rhythmic heartbeat thump... thump... thumping. Faster. Are you scared? I can see that. Oh, look how your eyes grow wider. Your heartbeat is getting faster. Is that your soul quickening? Will it soon leave your body? Oh, no, don't be frightened, dear. I won't hur
t you.

  Not yet. Not much.

  Yes... give me everything... give me all of it... all of you...

  Soon. Do not worry, darling. I will come for you soon.

  ***

  My name is Kane. They call me the Huntsman.

  Don't worry, darling, I'm not here to hurt you. I've only been hired to kill you.

  Shh, don't be scared. It'll all be over soon...

  ~*~

  A Note from Cerys and Ethan

  ~Cerys

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  -Ethan

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  And you can friend or follow me on Goodreads, too.

  ~*~

  ~Cerys

  Thanks so much for reading this! It's on the longer side compared to anything I've ever written before, but I think it's a really exciting and intense story. As you may have noticed at the end, Ethan and I have some ideas for a potential follow up, too...

  We can't promise that we'll write it or not, but it's definitely something we're both interested in. We were talking about it and we have some really good ideas for Kane (and a woman we've tentatively named Rebekah Snow). We shall see...

  Generally I add little notes at the end of all my books, and I take a moment to talk about things with the book. Seeing as this book is different from any I've written before in multiple ways, I thought I'd talk a little about the process involved.

  First off, I wrote it with Ethan! Which was really exciting. I've never co-written anything with anyone before, but I've helped Ethan with his writing and he's helped me with mine, so it was fun. We've known each other and been friends for um... forever, I think? Haha. Anyways, it was a lot of fun and I'm glad we had this opportunity to work together. He's definitely one of my favorite people, and I like him, so it was neat.

  The actual writing part itself was really easy and fun, too. I think that we wrote this faster than anything either of us has written on our own. I really liked the collaboration process, too. This is sort of a dorky secret, so I don't know if I should be telling everyone this, but we used to roleplay in online games together, which I think helped a lot. Also, we just know each other really well, too, so there's that. I think I might be Ethan's biggest fan? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don't know. I'm sorry, Ethan. I never meant to stalk and obsess over you...

  But, no, really, we've written stuff together before, sort of. We've played different characters in games and stuff. Neither of us really plays games now, so this was um... years ago? I don't know how long. Maybe five years? I always used to play the weird characters and he'd play the normal ones. I don't know how he puts up with me, haha. (I think it's because I'm cute? I don't know...)

  I'm rambling a bit, but this was all just really exciting for me, and I had a great time working with him. It wasn't even like work, it was just a lot of fun, and I hope we can do it again some time.

  I definitely hope you enjoyed this book, too! I hope you enjoyed both of our parts. For me, it was fun to read it all and see it come together, too. I've read this book a few times now, and I mean... I know that I wrote parts of it, but I still really enjoy it, you know? I think it's a really good book, so I definitely hope you think it's a really good book, too. We both worked hard on it, and our goal was always to make sure that you, as a reader, enjoyed it.

  If you did like it, we'd love if you'd rate and review it, too. It helps us out a lot. Ethan makes fun of me for getting excited over reading the reviews on my books, so I hope you'll leave a review on this one so that I can make fun of him when he gets excited over reading it. He tries to act all cool and aloof and indifferent, but I'm on to him. It's all an act, I think? I don't know.

  I hope you enjoyed it, though! I'd love to hear your thoughts. I think we both would. I will let Ethan do his own little note now, though.

  -Ethan

  I'm not a big talker. I don't know what to say all the time. I'm kind of quiet and I like to do my own thing a lot. That's just who I am, I suppose.

  I love reading and writing, though. I think that might be one of the reasons why Cerys and I get along so well. It's funny because she writes about it a lot, and I completely understand, but some of the couples in her books are content with companionable silence. That might be me and her in a nutshell. We don't have to always talk, but we can be quietly happy together.

  I'm not sure how much detail I'm supposed to go into here, but I'll just say that Cerys is one of the most important people in my life. I don't think I'm supposed to tell you about all of the kinky things we do. This is because she forces me to do them with her. Or not. I might be lying. This is my note, Cerys, so if you remove any of this I'm going to tell everyone. I may or may not have pictures to prove it. Don't ask what I'm going to prove. It's a secret until further notice.

  On to the real note now. I'm not a big talker, but I've always enjoyed writing. I feel like it's easier to express myself in a lot of ways. Along with that, I like reading Cerys's writing because she gets excited about it and I know it's a way for her to express herself, too. Sometimes it's easier to write something instead of saying it. Sometimes it's easier to hide a part of ourselves in our writing, too.

  When Cerys first approached me about doing this collaboration, she said that it'd be fun because I could write the asshole guy's part. I asked her why she thought I'd think that'd be fun. Am I to infer I'm an asshole, Cerys? Is that what you're telling me here?

  Yes, she said. I was crushed.

  No, she said, I was lying. Oh, alright then.

  I made part of that up. She did think it'd be fun, because sometimes I'm odd and ramble to her about this sort of thing. In addition to that, she wanted to write Angeline's parts because Cerys is crazy.

  Honestly, I really like Angeline, though. I like Noah, too. Chastity's fine, I suppose. I don't hate her. I think she's just misunderstood and strange, but so are Angeline and Noah. I think all the characters go well together, though. It's not a love triangle, but something different and more.

  I had a point there and it got somewhat lost, but I'll get back to it right now.

  I had a lot of fun writing this with Cerys, because I have a lot of fun with Cerys doing everything. We're both more on the quiet side. I think we could both spend the entire day together without saying more than a few words to each other, and still be happy about that. There's more than words involved in our relationship. There's thoughts and emotions and a different under-standing. That's what made this the most fun to write, in my opinion.

  When I read her sections, I understood what she wanted to go for. We talked about a lot of this, too, but it's more than that. I felt like I knew what she was going for and why she was writing something the way she wrote it. When I wrote my parts in response to hers, I tried to play off of her concepts and feelings, to build it up more. When she replied to my parts, it grew bigger, too. It's not that I understood what she was going for, but that we both understood what the other person wanted to do.

  Writing this with her wasn't just one of the most fun things I've done, it was one of the most emotional, powerful, and intense things, too. Like is mentioned throughout the book, this was a raw, real, and rough experience. I felt passionate and excited while writing this book, and I saw Cerys when she felt the same passion and excitement.

  I would love to do another collaboration with her. I hope we get the chance. If you enjoy this story, and lots of people enjoy this story, we'll be bringing you Kane the Huntsman and Rebekah Snow sometime in the future, too.

  We're waiting to see how well-received Master Over You is before we commit, but either way I think we're both going to end up working together again in the future. It's not work so much as an intense connection. If I could
choose anyone in this world to have an intense connection with, it'd be Cerys. She's definitely special to me.

  I hope you enjoyed this book as much as we enjoyed writing it. I can't wait to do something like this again. It's an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.

  (Cerys Note ~ I love you, too, Ethan! Mwah ~.^ )

  Master Over You Extras

  Here's some Master Over You bonus content that we thought you might enjoy! (Requires an internet connection to view, and works best on an HD color Kindle or other HD color tablet. May not be viewable on black and white versions)

  Master Over You Book Playlist on YouTube (Music)

  Interview with Ethan & Cerys

  Master Over You Teaser Images (Noah, Angeline, Chastity, and more)

  Like the Official Master Over You Facebook Page

  Alternate Cover for Master Over You (Dark Undress)

  ~*~

  You can also view all of these at CerysduLys.com/MasterOverYou

  Sample (Sweet)

  Please enjoy this sample from the BDSM erotic romance novel, "The Billionaire's Paradigm: His Absolute Purpose," by Cerys du Lys

  ~*~

  Snow fell in fluffy white flakes outside, covering the empty streets in a heavy winter frosting. I stood inside behind the library's counter, warm, staring at it. It was a Friday afternoon and the library was almost entirely empty. No one wanted to go out during the storm, and honestly I couldn't blame them. I didn't want to go out in the storm either, but this was my job and...

  And almost everyone else had called out sick. The weather reports claimed a record-breaking seventy-eight inches and the news anchors kept going on and on about how this hadn't happened since 1921 in Silver Lake, Colorado. Apparently back then they received seventy-six inches in twenty four hours.

  And on, and on, and on. Numbers. Forever.

  I liked the news as much as the next person, but didn't they always exaggerate the weather? It was hard to tell sometimes. When they called for rain, it didn't rain. Sun begot rain, and snow became a wintry mix, and nothing ever truly turned out like it was supposed to.