He had heard stories about the city just like everyone else he had grown up with, but no one had ever been stupid enough to venture there as they would be abducted before they could blink.

They drove past storefront windows: proudly displaying clothes, electronics and books. Kurt had his face all but pressed againt the car window as he watched everything rush past.

Blaine stopped at a red light and looked over at Kurt. "So what do you think?"

Kurt turned his attention from a gaggle of vampires and their human salves in toe, the latter carrying their masters' shopping bags.

Kurt looked over at him with a grin, "It's amazing!"

This exclaimation seemed to remind the human that he should not be showing how happy he was, as the boy quickly fixed his features in the stoic expression Blaine had come to expect from him.

The light turned green and Blaine sped forwards, swinging the car down a side street which was lined with restaurants and cafes. The vampire drove up a steep incline and into a parking garage.

He found an empty slot and cut the ignition. The men exited the vehicle and headed towards the elevator at the back of the garage.

Blaine hit the down arrow button and heard the lift trundling down the shaft. Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine saw Kurt plucking at the fabric of his linen robe nervously.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just...are you sure people aren't going to think it's weird that I'm in what's essentially a dressing gown?"

The elevator doors dinged open, allowing them admittance. They stepped inside and Blaine pressed the button for the top level.

"Even if they do, they wouldn't dare say anything."

"Because you're rich, right?"

"Because it would be considered suicidal to make fun of a vampire's personal slave; you're a reflection on me so if they make any negative remarks about you, they make them about me."

"So this has more to do with your pride more then it does my own feelings?"

Blaine shook his head, "Prehaps with another master, but not me. I don't care what they say about me, but I'll defend you no matter what."

"Since you're so different, right?"

"More then you know."

Kurt shot Blaine a strange look and was about to ask him to elaborate when the elevator doors slid open, revealing that they were at the level of a sidewalk. Blaine led Kurt out onto the street and they insistently attracted attention.

Kurt tensed up as more and more vampires looked up at them, many of them with hungry, black eyes. Kurt instinctively moved closer to Blaine, hating himself for it. He was supposed to hate these monsters and this one even more so since it had bought him like a slab of beef at the market.

Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and he jumped. The vampire whispered in his ear, "Kurt, you need to relax. You're heart is beating a mile a minute and it's starting to make everyone around us salivate. Not to mention me."

Instead of calming down the human down, these words only made Kurt's heart pound faster. How was he supposed to control his heart?

Blaine let go of his hand and put his arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer to him and began massaging the boy's shoulder.

"It's okay, Kurt, I won't let them near you."

The human took a deep breath to try and calm himself down and was hit with Blaine's scent. The vampire smelled of mint and cinnamon and Kurt took another deep breath, closing his eyes slightly as if to drown in it.

Suddenly, his eyes popped open wide as he realized what he was doing. What the hell was he doing?

Kurt pulled away enough to look at the side of Blaine's face. He had been very careful to break eye contact with the vampire after ten seconds-- the longest it took for one of the creature's to hypnotize a victim, so what was going on?

"Here we are," Blaine whispered, shaking him out of his reverie.

They were in front of a clothing store and Blaine pushed the door open. He put his hand on the small of Kurt's back and led him inside.

The place was huge and held every type of clothing one could possibly imagine. The fabric ranged from extravagate and colorful, to dark and discreet, to dull and drab. The clothes themselves were displayed on both male and female mannequins.

"You want to look around then?"

Before Kurt could answer a female vampire suddenly appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"I knew I recognized your voice, Blaine!" She shouted and with a lightning quick movement, she was over to the count and was embracing him.

"Hello, Virginia."

They stepped away from each other and Virginia looked at Kurt with piercing green eyes.

She looked up and down curiously. Kurt swore he saw her nostrils flare as if scenting the air.

"You have a human now, Blaine?"

"I've always had those, Virginia, but if you you mean is he mine personally, yes he is."

"What's his name?"

"My name's Kurt," the boy said. He was becoming agitated over the creatures talking about him in third person. Of course, by saying anything, the vampress had now turned her full attention to him and Kurt found himself trying to keep from cowering under the intense stare.

Eventually she looked away from him and he finally dropped his gaze to the floor, breathing somewhat heavily at the mental game he had just played.

"Is he really yours?" Kurt heard her ask Blaine.

The other vampire cracked his knuckles before answering, "Legally, yes."

"Only legally?"

Kurt glanced up at the two of them to see that those intense, green eyes were on him again. Blaine's eyes were roving around the shop as if this conversation was one he did not wish to have.

"Why haven't you claimed him pro-"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Blaine said sharply.

Kurt looked back and forth between the two, knowing that he was missing something important, yet having not the slightest idea what it was.

"Now, I came here to get him some clothes, so why don't you let us get down to it?"

Virginia looked like she would prefer to talk at at length on the subject, but decided not to take any chances with her superior.

"Of course," she said.

Virginia waved them off and the men began walking up and down the rows of clothes.

Blaine soon discovered that Kurt was attracted to the crazier ensembles as the human took flamboyant shirt after flamboyant shirt off the racks and held them up, looking himself over in the mirrors arranged strategically around the store for this very purpose.

"H-how many are we getting?"

"As many as you'd like."

Kurt didn't look like he believed him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I just want you to be happy. You know this is the first time I've seen you smile?"

Unfortunately, this remark only made Kurt frown again.

"You haven't had me that long." Kurt gnawed at his bottom lip before plowing on ahead, "What did she mean about only owning me legally? Is that somehow not enough for you guys?"

Blaine pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed in frustration.

"Don't worry about it, okay?"

Kurt laughed hollowly, "Don't tell me not to worry about it. Why don't you just tell me everything that you people expect out of us?"

"Would you really want that?"

"You mean would I like to be out of the dark during what would otherwise be cryptic conversations? Yeah, that'd be nice."

Blaine nodded, "Okay, fine, whatever. After you find your new clothes, I'll take you to a place where we can talk. Sound good?"

"You swear?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

About an hour later, Kurt had selected his new wardrobe and Blaine headed up to the counter to pay for it while Kurt took out an ensemble to wear the rest of the night.

It consisted of a three quarter length jacket, square collar tunic, skinny jeans, spats and (to top it all) a wide brimed hat with a red feather sticking out of it.

When they were ready to leave, Blaine offered to carry the six, large bags that held the human's clothes, but Kurt refused.

"It might look suspicious, won't it, Count Anderson? Besides, these are mine. Now are you going to explain things to me or not?"

"Yes, come along."

Kurt became guarded again as they headed down the sidewalk. He tried to keep his eyes straight ahead, ignoring the glances that some of the vampires were still throwing their way.

Blaine brought them down a narrow alleyway and to a small coffeehouse. He opened the door for Kurt and motioned him inside.

Kurt ordered the same thing as Blaine since he had never had coffee before and they chose a table at the back so they could speak without interruption.

"If you can eat proper food, why do need blood to survive?"

Blaine set his cup back down, "I can only have liquids."

"Oh."

"Besides, blood's the only thing that holds any nutritional value for my people."

"Then why drink this?"

"Still tastes good."

"So...how else are you supposed to own me, then?"

Blaine cleared his throat, "Before I answer this, you must understand that I don't particularly agree with this notion." He ran his finger around the rim of his cup as he thought of how to begin.

"When a vampire buys a human they legally own them, but that doesn't mean the vampire who purchased the human is fully satisfied. Usually, a vampire doesn't consider a human belonging completely to them until after they've fed from them. There have even been cases of vampires doing business with brothels because they've become attached to a specific whore."

"You haven't?"

He shook his head, "Obviously, otherwise I probably would have caved and be with one of them. You see, I never made the mistake of going back to the same whore. That's how connections usually come about."

"But I thought you said you go to the same brothel every week?"

"I do."

"Have you slept with all of the guys there?"

"Yes, but I rotate them and we never speak, we just do what we must. I give him a tip for his services and go home."

He was quiet, then: "You're right though. Sex is intimate no matter who you're having it with. There have been some close calls."

Kurt took a sip of his coffee and winced at the bitter flavor.

"So, basically a personal slave's job is to have sex with their master? How's that any different then being a blood whore?"

"It's different because you only sleep with one person and no one else. And no, that's not your only job. They're mostly small tasks like shinning your master's shoes or cleaning the room. Like I said though, I'm not going to make you do anything you don't wish to do."

"Then what do plan on making it do?"

Kurt and Blaine looked around to see a large vampire standing there. He was strong with brown hair and hazel eyes that were bordering on black at the moment as he looked master and slave over.

He had a thin human by his side, one might even say skeletal. The human was dark haired with blue eyes which were looking at the other man with reverence. This was the only way Kurt knew for sure that one was a vampire and the other his slave.

Kurt was appalled to see that the human was wearing a leather collar and the vampire held a leash in his hand as if the young man was a dog he had taken out for a nightly walk.

"Nobody invited you to join this conversation, Karofsky."

Blaine's voice held a dangerous edge to it and he saw the vampire's fangs were beginning to descend as if preparing to strike. His eyes were like liquid black orbs as he stared down the bigger vampire.

Karofsky ignored Blaine, focusing only on Kurt.

"How exactly to you plan to keep it in line if you don't claim him, Anderson?"

Blaine shot out of his chair fast as an attacking snake and was between Kurt and Karofsky, back tense and a low growl emitting from his throat.

Karofsky's slave cowered behind his master at the threat, though Blaine didn't even glance his way.

"Get.Out.Of.Here.Now." Blaine's words came out soft and deadly.

Karofsky pulled his lip over his extending fangs and took a step closer to Blaine.

"You don't control what goes on here, Anderson."

"No, but I do," the coffeehouse owner appeared between the two men as if out of thin air.

"I don't condone fighting in here. If the two of you have a problem with each other then go outside."

Blaine and Karofsky glared at each other. Karofsky was the one to back down first, leading his slave out the door.

"Who was that?" Kurt asked quietly as Blaine took up his seat again.

Blaine took a deep swig of his coffee and slammed the cup back down on the table. Some of the liquid splashed over the sides and ran down his hand, but he didn't seem to notice, eyes still fixed on the door.

"Dave Karofsky," he growled, "he's a pain in the ass. He's also the reason I bought you in the first place."

"The one you said would abuse me?"

Blaine nodded.

Kurt looked over his shoulder at the door, though the big vampire was long gone.

"Thank you," Kurt whispered.

Blaine flicked his eyes towards him. They were returning to their usual hazel, but his dilated pupils still took up much of the iris.

"You're welcome."