“Circumstances?” Kimberley frowned. “What circumstances?”
“As I was explaining to Miss Kingman,” Joanna nodded towards Barbara, “As long as you are guests of the hotel, I cannot address you by your first names. I’m afraid I shouldn’t have referred to you as Elf-Girl either, but it is such a unique name, and it suits you so well. My apologies.”
Okay, this must be another one of those must-follow rules here, Kimberley thought. Still, Joanna had slipped up a little in calling her Elf-Girl. It was nice to know people here were human enough to do that occasionally. “No apologies necessary,” she said. “But I have to ask…who are you and why are you here?”
“Shall we sit?” Joanna suggested, indicating the round table and four chairs in a corner of the suite. “The hotel will be sending up a complimentary meal soon. I am here to answer any questions either of you might have, and to attend to the last little details of your registration.”
Last little details? Kimberley wondered what those could be as she followed Joanna towards the table. The mention of a meal, complimentary or otherwise, had energized Barbara, who all but leaped off of her bed in a swirl of snowy-white robe and a flash of long, trim thighs and hastened over.
“I have one question right now,” Kimberley said to Joanna’s back. “Why are you wearing that collar?”
Joanna stopped and paused a moment before turning. Her professional smile was back. “Part of my job requires it, Miss Jacobsen,” she answered. She said nothing more, and Kimberley decided to push the issue just a little. It seemed that Joanna would answer direct questions, but wouldn’t volunteer anything. This ought to be interesting.
“Another question.” Kimberley smiled sweetly as they sat down around the table. “What part of your job requires you to wear that collar?”
“You are persistent, Miss Jacobsen,”
“Please answer the question.” Kimberly leaned forward, still smiling. “I’m dying to know.”
“Very well.” Joanna seemed to redden a little. “Put most simply, on occasion I can be…ordered…from room service. Sometimes, I am also called upon to assist in…the training of some of the women who have been captured as slaves.”
Kimberley had already suspected something along the lines of “room service”. It was easy to picture a man wanting to try out such an attractive older woman, especially if he’d noticed the collar. The second half of Joanna’s answer, though, took her aback. Maybe it would be wiser not to tease this woman, she thought. She would just as soon not have a ticked-off Joanna doing any kind of assisting in any kind of training she might come in for later.
“All right.” Kimberley held up a hand. “I’m sorry. Let’s get on to those last little details you mentioned.”
“Very well.” Joanna’s smile warmed up again.
They were only a little ways along on the details when someone knocked at the door. “That would be room service,” Joanna said.
“I’ll get it!” Barbara announced, almost jumping out of her chair. Her hair, loose and fully dried now, flowed along behind her like spun gold as she hurried over to open the door.
The complimentary meal had sandwiches made from small, crusty rolls, tossed salads in small bowls, and a crock of some kind of soup that smelled delicious. There was also coffee, hot tea, iced tea and a small bottle of red wine, all loaded onto a metal cart. An elderly gentleman in a black suit smiled and nodded at Barbara before trundling it all over to the table. He never said a word, only smiled and nodded to Kimberley and bowed slightly to Joanna before leaving. Barbara shut the door behind him and then hurried over to inspect the food, pick up an empty plate, and begin loading it up.
“Please, go right ahead.” Joanna nodded towards Kimberley, who had hesitated. “I’m sure that you are both hungry, and the food here is excellent.”
“Oh, wow!” Barbara exclaimed around a mouthful of sandwich. “This IS good!” She looked at Joanna. “Would you care to join us?”
“No, thank you.” Joanna smiled. “I’ve already eaten.”
Kimberley shrugged and began filling her own plate. Maybe Joanna had already eaten and maybe she just wasn’t allowed to eat with the guests, but she wasn’t going to pursue the matter. She picked up her sandwich and took a bite: baked ham, Swiss cheese, a bit of Romaine lettuce and a dab of sweetish mustard…but it tasted like the very best ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce and mustard she’d ever had. What did the soup taste like?
“I have a question…” she said between bites. “An acquaintance of ours said that she was going to sell herself in the slave market tomorrow. How does that work?”
“I’m sorry…” Joanna responded. “I don’t quite understand.”
“Well,” Kimberley elaborated. “We…” she waved a hand towards Barbara, who was too busy eating to talk at the moment “We’re signed up for…evasion and escape, I think it’s called. Basically, though, we’re going to go play hide-and-go-seek in the woods with a bunch of men trying very hard to catch us, and we both know what happens if we get caught.” She couldn’t resist a grin at that. “But our friend is signed up for something else. She’s going right into the slave market tomorrow morning. I want to know why we weren’t told about this…ah…option, and if we’d picked it instead, how would it work?”
“Ah.” Joanna nodded. “Well, it would be quite simple, really. You and Miss Kingman have already paid for your…vacation package here. This suite will be held for the both of you for the duration of your stay here…”
“I don’t see what that has to do with my question,” Kimberley interrupted.
“No. Perhaps not, but please let me finish.” Joanna looked at her a bit sternly.
“Sorry. Please go ahead.”
“As I said…your payment is for this suite and other accommodations here at the hotel; the pool, the spa, and all of the other amenities. Meals are also covered. The two of you may choose to simply enjoy the hospitality of the house and never go out to play hide-and-seek, as you put it.” Joanna took a breath. “Now, if you choose to go out and play, you may very well be captured. Your captors may decide to keep you until your time is up or to release you before that time is up. In which case, you may return here, or they may decide to sell you at the slave market themselves. If they do that and you are sold, a portion of the proceeds from your auction will be credited to your account. In the case of your friend, she has reserved a suite here for only one night. Since she is selling herself, so to speak, all of the proceeds from her sale will be credited to her account.” She smiled. “Is that clear?”
“Ah…yes,” Kimberley gulped. “Except that I still don’t know why we weren’t told about that beforehand.”
Joanna smiled warmly. “Since this is only the second time for either of you, it would not have been offered as an option. What would be the point in telling you?”
Kimberley sighed. Just like last year, she was having to learn things as she went. She looked over at Barbara, who was working on her second…or third…sandwich. Barbara’s blue eyes widened and she shrugged in reply.
She turned back to Joanna. “All right. So now what?”
“Is it still your intention to go out into the woods tomorrow morning?”
“Yes…I guess so. Why?”
“Before you do that, you must register with one of our guides. There is an office just beyond the pool area, at the edge of the woods. Be sure to stop by there before entering the woods.”
“I thought that we were registered already,” Barbara sounded puzzled.
“You are registered at the hotel,” Joanna answered. “Not for evasion and escape yet.”
“Why do we have to register again? Isn’t everything already covered?”
“No, Miss Kingman.” Joanna shook her head slowly. “You are indeed registered at the hotel, but we require every female guest to register before she goes off into the wilds. We must keep careful track, you see, of who is where. In addition, if you are captured, your captors are required to notify us of that, and if you return to the hotel on your own, you must likewise let us know.”
“How do they do that…or we do that?” Barbara asked.
“Before you go into the wilds, a small chip will be implanted, usually in an earlobe. The hotel staff and any…hunters…will have scanners able to read the chip.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” Kimberley shook her head.
“It is a very quick and painless procedure, and the chip will become inert after a certain period of time. Please understand, Miss Jacobsen…” Joanna seemed deadly serious about this. “Previously, the men who hunted you were staff members…professionals. Here, the hunters are not employees, not professionals. They are, rather, men…and some women, I should add…who have contracted with us for their own version of a vacation package.”
“I see that, but…” Kimberley began.
Joanna held up a hand, cutting her off. “Anyone and everyone coming here is carefully screened and evaluated, of course. But…we must still take certain precautions. You do understand, don’t you?”
Kimberley sighed. “Yes, I understand.” She hadn’t liked the idea of being tagged, but she could see Joanna’s point.
“Miss Kingman?” Joanna turned towards Barbara.
“Oh yes! Absolutely!” Barbara nodded. “I suppose if we don’t agree to getting chips implanted in our ears we can’t go and play in the woods, right?”
“Correct.” Joanna nodded. “However, you may still stay at the hotel. Your suite is paid for. There are some women who do only that. However, the hotel has a nightclub of sorts, and both men and women go there.” She smiled. “It’s not unlike many another vacation resorts in that respect.” She looked at Barbara, then Kimberley. “Are there any more questions?”
“Uh…no. Not at the moment.” Kimberley looked at her friend. “Barbara?”
“None for me.” Barbara shook her head.
“Very well.” Joanna stood. “If either of you think of anything else, just use the phone. Dial ‘0’ for information.” She nodded to Kimberley and Barbara in turn. “Good afternoon.”
“Wow!” Barbara exhaled after Joanna shut the door behind her. “That was quite a performance. Kind of ice-queenish, wasn’t she?”
“Kind of,” Kimberley agreed. “I wonder how much of it was just a front, though. You saw the collar she was wearing.”
“Couldn’t miss it.” Barbara nodded. Then she laughed. “I wonder how often she gets called as room service. She’s very professional, very proper and very distant…and a man would see that collar and start to wonder…and then one night, he picks up the phone.”
“Yes. I can picture that,” Kimberley agreed. She tried a bit of the soup. It was laden with delicious vegetables, but had no trace of meat in it. She herself was wondering what Joanna would be like stripped of everything but that collar.
“But did you catch that one bit…some of the hunters are women?”
“I caught it.” Kimberley nodded. She took another spoonful of soup. “Cat mentioned it, too. What do you think of that?”
“I’m not sure I’d want to get captured by a woman.” Barbara yawned and stretched. “A woman might be a bit too cruel, you know? You still up for this?”
“I’ve come this far,” Kimberley answered. “How about you?”
“Me? I’m game.” She yawned again. “Or rather, I will be tomorrow. I’m kinda sleepy right now.”
Kimberley pushed the now-empty bowl away and took one of the small salads. She was a bit tired herself, but more hungry than tired at the moment. “So take a nap,” she suggested. “I’ll wake you in time for dinner. Maybe we can even check out that nightclub.”
Barbara yawned again, hugely. “All right. Sounds good to me.” She stood up and stretched. “But let’s not stay up too late tonight. I wouldn’t want to fall asleep on the trail tomorrow.”
“You do that, and I’ll leave you behind.” Kimberley smiled, but she wasn’t completely joking. She intended to make anyone trying to capture her work very hard at it. She was Elf-Girl, after all. She had the beginnings of a reputation to protect.
Barbara padded barefoot over to her bed and flopped onto it, face-down. She moved once to put a pillow under her head, and then was still.
Kimberley sat quietly in the chair, devouring the salad. There was already some kind of dressing on it, slightly sweet and slightly salty at the same time. She finished it quickly and had a little more of the wine. She felt pleasantly full now, and more than a little sleepy herself. Perhaps she could get dressed and have a look around the place, but somehow it seemed to be too much trouble just now. A short nap, on the other hand, sounded very good, and not too much trouble at all. The last thing she did before collapsing onto her own bed was leave a wake-up call. If the dinners they served here were as good as the lunches, she didn’t want to miss one. It might be awhile before she had a chance at another solid meal.
“Are you sure about this?” Barbara asked plaintively, still holding the one dress she had brought against her body, as if it would change her friend’s mind. It was dark red, cut low in front, and low in back, and it ended a handspan above her knees. Kimberley had seen her wear it before. It would cling to her body in a way that made men’s heads turn, in a way that Kimberley always thought should cause whiplash, and the material was fine enough to erase any doubts as to whether or not she was wearing a bra. Barbara always looked gorgeous in it.
Kimberley did not like that dress at all. “Absolutely certain,” she replied. “We’re just going to dinner, not to a nightclub.” She pulled on her other boot and began lacing it up.
“We could still look nice,” Barbara almost whined. “But you didn’t bring any dress at all, did you?”
“Not a one,” Kimberley agreed with a grin. “Just clothes for the trail, and that’s how I’m going to dinner. Any man who sees me tonight will know what I’m here for. If you wear that,” she pointed at the dress, “They might get the idea that you were just looking for some action tonight.”
“Well, so what?” Barbara rejoined. “You might like the attention, too.”
Kimberley stood up and smiled. “I think I’ll get plenty of attention as it is. Look at me.” She did a pirouette. “I’m dressed for the trail, obviously. How many guys are going to look at me and get curious about me? They might even come over to our table, try to strike up a conversation, try to learn something about me that might help them catch me later. Think about it.”