The Handmaiden's Contract

"I agree," Olivia said, and Erika raised an eyebrow and curled her lips. Olivia wanted to feel them again.

"Excellent. Please put your signature on the right line," Erika said, leaning forward, offering a fresh view at her cleavage as she pushed an inkwell and quill towards Olivia.

The very soon to be former prostitute took the quill, and scrawled her signature on one parchment, then the other. As she finished, she felt a strange relief flowing through her. A hope for some kind of future. But the still burning lust in her loins had helped spur her decision.

As she placed the quill back in the inkwell, Erika smiled, sliding the contract carefully towards herself. She signed her own name upon the left, and then carefully rolled one of the contracts up and tied a gold ribbon around it before handing it towards Olivia. The new handmaiden took it, almost cradling it.

"This is your copy. The other will be given to my clerks who will then handle any contracts or legal obligations you have to the brothel. Me and Madame Arianne have an understanding with one another. In the morning see the clerks to get your first payment. I expect during the daylight hours for you to find a dress more suited to your position on my staff," Erika said, rising to her feet and pushing back her chair.

"Helge will take the other, but my sister should be arriving shortly. Come, let us be ready to greet her," Erika said, raising her hand, and letting her knuckles slide slowly from the side of Olivia's neck to her bosom. The handmaiden felt her desires stirring into flames again, and once the hand had fallen offered a curtsy. Erika smiled, turning and walking towards the study's entrance.

When she stepped out into the hallway, Helge was waiting. Erika leaned in to whisper into the woman's ear, a hand resting gently on her hip. The familiar stony expression on the elder handmaiden softened slightly at that touch, with the slightest part in her lips. Olivia couldn't hear the words, but soon Helge was giving a curtsy and taking the second contract and Erika was moving down the hall again. She hurried to keep up, noting that Helge was not following.

It was not long before they entered another room. The stone here covered in planks of wood, red carpeting covering the centre. There were no windows, but as they entered balefire sconces burst to flickering life. Against the far wall was a large poster bed, sheer black curtains cascading from above. But still Olivia could see the black quilts and pillows.

There were two armoires, each with their own vanity. The one on the left held far more perfumes and cosmetics, but the area on the right had an empty armour stand, and rungs in the wall for a blade. Taking the two sides in seemed to all but confirm the rumours Olivia had heard of the Duchess and her sister.

Nearly floating as she moved, Erika made her way to her own vanity and armoire. She pulled a few rings from her fingers, carefully placing them upon the vanity. She stood there then, turning her head and looking over her shoulder. A repeat of the study, and Olivia chewed on her lip as she watched.

"Come here. Help me with my dress," Erika said, and Olivia found herself starting to give a curtsy. The slight downward shift of Erika's eyebrows though had the handmaiden rising and shuffling forward.

Pausing just behind the duchess, she managed to tear her eyes away from that gaze. Even looking at the open back of her dress, she felt it. Burning into her soul. Scourging away inhibition as she lifted her hands and brushed Erika's wave of silken hair over her shoulder. Stepping closer, the handmaiden found the two clasps at the back of the vampire's dress resting just beneath the exposed shoulder blades. Unsnapping them, she parted the silk, exposing more flawless, snow white skin.

Remembering how those elegant hands had not so long ago slid into her dress, Olivia ran her palms across Erika's back. Gliding over her shoulder blades and beneath the fine silks. Daring to glance up, those balefire eyes were staring at her. Watching her every motion.

She was a gift, she remembered Helge saying. It slowly dawned on her that this was a test. Thinking back to her first few weeks in the brothel, when the other girls taught her how to pleasure another woman, Olivia slowly let her eyes return to the expanse of Erika's back. She let herself appreciate the beauty of the vampire standing before her. From the soft edges of shoulders to the slight rise down the valley of her spine.

Leaning in, she pressed her lips to the base of Erika's neck, feeling cool skin, and the soft brush of hair. Parting her lips, Olivia let her tongue glide over the vampire's skin. She was rewarded with a pleased little sigh, so she began to work her way downwards. Soft kisses trailing the spine, as her hands pushed the dress of Erika's shoulders, and guided the garment down her arms. More and more of her skin revealed to Olivia's eyes.

Down the dress slid, and with it Olivia's lips and tongue. She found herself falling to her knees, and still pulled the dress with her. Downwards until the dress rested on Erika's hips, and Olivia was kissing down the small of her back.

Pausing, Olivia felt her breath catch at the visible cleft of the vampire's rump in the slight dip of fabric. Erika said nothing though, and so Olivia, on her knees, slowly pulled the dress from the duchess's hips. Letting her fingers glide downwards, guiding the dress over the swell of her rear. She pressed her lips to each cheek, and earned a quiet murmur from above. Her tongue flicked, and the duchess let out something close to a gasp.

A smile spread across Olivia's features as she glanced up. Erika no longer watched her, but instead had her head bowed, hair framing her features. She was savouring the attentions, enjoying the moments. Almost grinning, Olivia continued her journey. Lips trailing alongside fingers, down Erika's thighs, to her calves, leaving Olivia down on knees and elbows. Her own hips high, as her tongue whipped across the back of the vampire's legs, and the dress finally ended in a puddle of silk, letting the handmaiden see the duchess was barefoot.

Slowly, Erika stepped out from her dress. Her second foot lifted back slightly, the arch grazing across Olivia's cheek. The handmaiden closed her eyes, feeling that skin brushing against her own.

"Pick it up," Erika said, her cool honey voice not shifting at all with the command.

Carefully, Olivia rose to her knees as the vampire turned around. The handmaiden picked up the dropped garment, carefully folding it before looking upwards at the Duchess. At her revealed beauty. At soft curves of her on full unashamed display. Olivia found herself kneeling there, looking up at the woman. Not a flaw that she could see, as if carved from marble and given life.

Erika bent, ever so slightly. Her finger tip settled beneath Olivia's chin and began to lift. Feeling a surprising amount of strength there, the handmaiden got her feet beneath her and rose to her feet. Erika smiled, a sultry smirk far less pronounced than the two vampires in the hall, but no less predatory. She moved to the side, her pale skin standing out so starkly in the dark the balefire struggled to keep at bay. Her fingertip trailed from the underside of Olivia's chin and traced along her jaw line. She leaned in slightly. Close enough that Olivia should have felt her breath.

"Place it in the armoire, bottom shelf. Carefully please, that is Xanderan silk you're holding," Erika said, and flicked her tongue along the shell of Olivia's ear.

Stepping forward, Olivia opened the armoire, showing a collection of gorgeous dresses, all neatly folded upon the shelves. The bottom one was near empty, and Olivia leaned forward to carefully set the expensive dress in her hands away.

As she stood, Olivia turned back around to find the vampire halfway across the room. Her fingertips dragging along the sheer curtains of the bed. Olivia found herself staring at the woman's naked back, savouring the dips and curves of her body. Stepping across the room, she stopped as the duchess partially turned. Her breasts grazing the curtains, nipples just out of sight. The teardrop swells drawing the eyes for a brief moment before more honeyed words came forth.

"Take off your dress," she said, and bit her lip, showing her fangs. Olivia felt yet another shiver of desire crawling along her spine.

Another few steps closer, her fingers sliding the straps of her dress off her shoulders, Olivia thought back to her lessons again. Her arm moved across her bust, keeping up the dress as she slid one arm out. Then switching arms to do the same with the other side. Erika watched with hungry eyes, her fingertips grazing down the curtains, making them sway every so slightly.

The straps removed, Olivia reached under her obscuring arm, undoing the laces of her own garb. Each pull loosening the material around her. A slight lift of her arm had the material starting to slide downwards. Her tongue tasted the centre of her upper lip, as she felt now bared breasts pressing against the inside of her arm. Her nipples erect and pressing into her own skin.

The duchess's eyes dropped from Olivia's arm, following the pull of the dress towards the ground until it caught around the handmaiden's hip. The skirts gliding across the floor. The vampire's eyes flicked upwards, sensing that pounding heart within the woman's breast. The rush of blood through her veins, the pulse of life in the warmth of her flesh. The excitement in her was as easy to read as a book.

Olivia took a step, moving her legs carefully, letting the fabric work it's way further downwards. As the bunched material at her hips began to slip, showing the first signs of her mons, Olivia let her arm slip from her breasts. The handmaiden took some pride as the vampire's fangs pressed into her lips. Even from here Olivia could see the indents of the skin, the glisten of slick ivory.

As the dress slid downwards along her thighs she stepped high, soon leaving it on the ground behind her. The duchess seemed far less concerned of it being on the floor than her own garment. The handmaiden stopped before the other woman, wearing nothing but her shoes and stockings. The vampire turned then, close enough that she could feel the handmaiden's heat, and Olivia should have felt hers. Fingertips reached down, and nails ran against Olivia's thighs through the tops of her stockings. A thumb slid inwards, and pulled gently, and Olivia found herself moving forward until her breasts were pressed to the vampire's own. She couldn't hold in her gasp.

"Take off your shoes," The duchess purred, and Olivia could only nod, on her back foot again. Her lessons had not prepared her for a creature that would reach into her libido and caress it's core. She lifted one foot, feeling incredibly clumsy as she reached out to support herself against on the bed's corners. Her heart hammered harder in her chest as she pulled the first shoe free.

Letting it drop to the floor, she let out a breath and glanced to Erika as she put her foot down. The vampire's gaze watched her, unwavering, unreadable. Those fangs continued to press, making those small indents in the skin. Almost threatening to break through and draw forth the crimson beneath.

Picking up her other foot, Olivia managed to remove her second shoe, leaving her in the stockings. She was acutely aware of them now, the tops pressing against her thighs. She stood, trying to show the same confidence that Erika seemed to. The duchess though said not a word, just watching. Olivia was unsure if she was withering or melting under those eyes.

Finally Erika moved. Fluidly closing the short distance between them and cupping the handmaiden's chin. Her head tilted back, Olivia's lips parted, her eyes narrowing. Watching that delicious curl of lips before they found her own. Soft and slick, they were gentle against her, the tongue that followed gently slithering forward. Olivia felt herself welcoming the deepening kiss, her hands finding hips against her palms.

As breasts grazed one another, Olivia felt herself leaning back. Their lips continued to caress, as Erika's tongue danced with the handmaiden's. Fingers played along her spine, holding her close, the scent of jasmine and cedar consuming her thoughts. A small little moan poured into the kiss, and Olivia knew she was lost to the vampire's whims. The knowledge did nothing to help her find the mere want to fight against it, so she fell into the sensations of a mere kiss.

The door latch sounded like thunder amidst the wet sounds underlying the soft muffled moans Olivia was letting flow. Her eyes widened a moment as she saw the door opening from the corner of her eye. Erika didn't stop though, not until the newcomer had entered properly.

There was a thin string of saliva between their lips that quickly broke as Erika pulled away. That lust stirring smirk quickly returning to her features, before her attentions turned from Olivia, who let her own eyes swivel over.

The newcomer closed the door behind her, clad in armour of blackened steel. She had the same sharp features as Erika, though her body was less slender. The arms visible from the peak of mail beneath her pauldrons to the bracers around her forearms held more visible muscle. Where Erika was soft, this woman was hard. The same balefire eyes watched Olivia, and she felt a mouse before the cat.

Lyra Lyv Drakhel, the thorn to Erika's petals. Olivia's own mistress. The handmaiden stood naked, with no skirts to hold for a proper curtsy. So instead she bowed.

"What is this surprise sister?" Lyra said, even her voice coarser, but no less honeyed. No less sensual and desirable. She was the opposite side of the same coin, and Olivia held in a soft whimper.

"A gift. Someone to make your stays at the castle more pleasant, and I hope, longer," Erika said, her voice not far from where Lyra's had come from.

A strong hand took hold of Olivia's chin. The leather was supple, well cared for, and had a pleasantness of its own against her skin. The bared fingers though were rougher. Calluses from hundreds of years before that would never fade now. The sharp contrast of that single grasp, more so against Erika's own touch, had Olivia letting out a soft gasp as she was lifted to a stand. She had to tilt her head slightly to look up into the new gaze.

The curl of the knight's lips held more humour, but her curious eyes roamed with hunger, and Olivia felt a new shiver coursing up her spine. Her eyes flicked over to Erika, leaning upon her sister's shoulder, bared arms wrapped around her chest. Her tongue gently running along the length of her neck.

It seemed the two cared little for whatever rumours carried on the streets and in the taverns. Olivia was just excited to have been invited into it.

Releasing her handmaiden's chin, Lyra ran her fingertips downwards along Olivia's throat. Her nails were not the clean and manicured ones of the duchess. They were short, uneven, and chipped. They felt almost dangerous scraping along skin in thin lines as they trailed downwards to her chest. The handmaiden let out a soft gasp, eyes fluttering at the sensations. In return she heard a soft purr from Erika, who pressed her lips to her sister's neck.

"Her contract is already signed, her service is yours," Erika purred softly, and let her tongue flick across the lobe of Lyra's ear. The knight's smile was hungry, showing fangs and the thinnest glimmer of teeth. Her fingers had stopped to rest in the centre of Olivia's chest.

"Is it now. I wonder, how you taste girl," Lyra said, her eyes dropping from Olivia's face to her body. Sliding over every curve, appreciating her naked form much as the handmaiden had Erika's. But the sight of those fangs showed the danger of it. Still she didn't care.

"You are free to discover at your leisure Mistress," Olivia said, amazed with how calm her voice sounded. She had no doubts that the sisters knew her excitement. They were reading in, flowing beneath her flesh.

"Well mannered. Tell me your name," Lyra said, her fingers curling and gliding over the swell of breast before falling away. She started walking towards her side of the room, leaving handmaiden and sister behind.

The duchess looked with longing to her sister, but made no move. Instead her eyes bore into Olivia, and the handmaiden soon understood why as the knight unstrapped the belt from her middle, pulling off the strip of leather as well as the sheathed sword attached to it. As Lyra placed her weapon up on the brackets jutting from the wall, Olivia hurried over. Her stocking clad feet making very little noise as Lyra unstrapped her bracers.

There was surprise in Lyra's face, when Olivia settled her hands upon her shoulders. The knight rose one of her fine eyebrows.

"Please mistress. This is my duty," Olivia said, and the eyebrow rose slightly further. Her gaze flicked over to her sister, who stood by the bed, letting herself lean against a corner. Her fangs scraping over her right index finger, tongue making the skin glisten. As she met her sister's eyes, she offered a slight shrug.

Biting her lip, Olivia looked over the armour Lyra was clad in. She was used to tunics and occasionally dresses. Buttons and clasps. Wool and linen, sometimes leather or even rarely silk. But steel was new to her. Until her eyes found the straps, and the clasps, some of it hidden beneath the overlapping metal. Her fingers moved quickly then, undoing everything holding the armour upon the elder sister. The skirts first, the shin length pleated leather, inlaid with strips of metal held on by a belt. Beneath awaited a pair of tight black leather pants.

The pauldrons next, then the carefully sculpted and shaped cuirass with its silver coloured embossed design that hinted at feminine curves, though little was revealed from the shape armour itself. She licked her lips, as Lyra raised her arms, letting the handmaiden undo the laces and clasps both that held the armour together. Carefully she pulled them off to show the short sleeved mail beneath.

With each piece removed, Olivia guessed as to how to put it upon the display stand. Carefully, with care, much as she had with the Xenderan silk, she set each newly removed piece upon the display stand. Feeling the harsh metal against her soft hands, another contrast between the sisters.

Next came the mail, sliding over Lyra's head in much less elegant a fashion than Olivia imagined Erika would ever allow of herself. Beneath was a simple linen tunic, laced up the middle. Olivia moved around her mistress, carefully pulling at each of the threads, watching the strip of exposed skin down the centre widen. The handmaiden's eyes widened as she spotted the rippling muscles across Lyra's stomach. She could feel both vampires watching her, but refused to let it deter her. When the tunic was opened, Olivia's hands ran over Lyra's breasts, cupping them through the brassiere, and pushed upwards to her shoulders. The knight rolled her shoulders back, letting the tunic slide off and down her arms, to drop unceremoniously to the floor.

After ensuring the armour was carefully placed upon its stand, Olivia reached for the clasps in the front of Lyra's brassiere. Peeling off that next piece of clothing, revealing the firm breasts of the knight, Olivia let it drop to the floor as well, leaving Lyra in not but pants, gloves, and boots.

About to drop down to work at the boots, she felt those strong hands grasping her rear, pulling her close. Olivia gasped, only to find her lips claimed by the other woman's, their breasts crushing together. She was pushed back until her thighs hit the edge of the vanity, and Lyra didn't stop. Lyra pushed until the backs of Olivia's thighs slid upwards across the edge of the vanity. The handmaiden let her legs wrap around the vampire, and her rump slid across the top, knocking over a few unopened bottles. This time she pushed her own tongue forward, even felt it pass between the knight's fangs.