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His tone towards her made her smile. It was not something new, for males to be frustrated by her. . Her immediate thought was to throw the Shadow into the damn bushes…but she thought better than that, he was stronger and faster than her. “ Sure thing Buttercup, whatever the boss man says.” Cori realized that, at times, her smart mouth was not appreciated and even times it caused great issue. She tried to not come across in this way, but failed so many times.

As Cori walked back to the corner of the yard, she wondered…what would this feel like? Submitting to another even one that was known was difficult… she needed to give up control to Buttercup, not an easy task. She readied herself for whatever was to come next and followed his direction. “ Do not fight this,” she said to herself. Cori chose to bring herself back to when she was human, a time at the river in Connecticut with her then boyfriend. It was a time that she recalled as being serene and she she did not have a care in the world. Then it came…it was like something was pulling on her mind...not just pulling, more like commanding…there was no pain, just a slight haze that came over, and she was summonsed into the home.

Cori saw a quick glimpse of The Shadow, heading into the basement. What is in the basement that he could rob? Maybe he isn’t the brightest thief, maybe… Once she was down there..she watched. Her mind flashed back to a Law and Order episode… duct tape and restraints. It was then that Cori realized that this was not a robbery...not even close. Was The Shadow going to autopsy the man? The mere thought of it brought a smile to her face and she felt exuberant. Buttercup might be more similar to her than she thought…

His voice then came, with another command. Cori knew that she had to follow what he said, she wanted to watch him, she wanted to learn. When upstairs, Cori quickly scanned and moved to what she felt was the master bedroom. Right there on the wall, was the mirror. Maybe it was habit, but Cori stood in front of it for a moment, reaching her hands up to her hair and slicking it all back into place. One thing that she missed, was the fact she could not ever see what she looked like, again.

With one quick move, the mirror was off the wall and she headed back down the stairs… “Here you go Boss.”

Doc nodded absently, “Place it in front of him. But not within kicking distance, and angle it so that he has a really good view of himself. When you’re done, fill that bucket with water. I am going to go collect the rest of the items we are going to need.” With that said, Doc headed back upstairs, collecting a variety of items from several different rooms of the house.

By the time he had returned, she had returned with the bucket of water. Doc started laying the collected items out on the workbench. Among the items were a variety of kitchen knives, including but not limited to paring, filet and serrated knives. Also laid out neatly was a straight razor, a pair of scissors, a pair of pruning shears, some tweezers and a handful of jewelry. He then rummaged among the bins, drawers and cabinets in the basement and laid out an industrial staple gun, hand drill, a couple cans of spray paint and some plumbers glue. Each item was laid out neatly, ready to be used. Picking up the roll of duct he had collected earlier, he started wrapping the plumber’s mouth. He went completely around the head three times before finally tearing the roll loose.

Doc looked at Princess, “Alright.. this is the deal. I want you to stay behind him as much as possible. We do not cast a reflection, therefore, what he will actually see in the reflection will be unnerving. He will wonder if he’s losing his mind. His fear and paranoia will be high; and that amuses me. I don’t care if he does see us.. he’s not not going to live long enough to tell anyone. I simply do not want him to be able to focus on us. In fact, I want him to dread, and yet at the same time, want to see us. Dread it because it means more pain for him. Want it..because then he knows he’s not crazy. A double edged sword.”

Taking the scissors, Doc went about methodically cutting off the plumber’s shirt and pants.. He didn’t even attempt to make neat or tidy cuts. It wouldn’t matter, they would never be used again. Well as clothes anyway. Pulling the remnants of the clothes from the plumber’s body, he tossed them behind the where he was strung up, and brushed his off absently. Dispassionately he finally gave the female a pointed look, “Alright Princess,.. any questions?”

Cori watched him…she made note of every move he made. She also made note of his facial expressions, which were absent. He, like her, could shut it off…or maybe he did not have any of it left to shut off. Humanity…something that Cori knew was being overtaken by the darkness. She realized this when she was in the catacombs slicing up zombies. She did not care, she had no thought in her mind. Her thirst for knowledge overtook her humanity…this was the darkness.

Cori did everything that the Shadow asked of her… without question. He was a stronger vampire, by far and could have taken her out easily. He didn’t though, which made her ponder. Did he see in her what she saw in him? A similarity of sorts?

Cori stood behind the plumber as he so commanded and waited for her next instruction. No instruction came…He asked if she had any questions? She surely did, but now was not the time to pose them. She knew daylight was coming..she also knew that his interaction with her had cost him valuable time. If she wanted him to share more with her, possibly allow her to participate, at a future time… she had to be cognizant of this fact.

“ Buttercup, continue with what you are doing..my questions will come later. I merely want to watch you.” Cori gave him a slight smile and waited for him to get to work. She watched him intently all while pondering why he called her Princess. Maybe she came off as a bit privileged, at times, but certainly not tonight, not with him.

Doc nodded, so be it. He wet his hand in the bucket of water and started flicking water on the face of the plumber. It wasn’t long before the plumber began to stir. It was a slow movement of the head, followed by a sharp rigid tightening of his body, as the plumber realized that he couldn’t move his arms. Doc moved behind the Plumber’s range of sight. The Plumber had been hanging long enough to make the strain of the arm and shoulder muscles break into his semi-unconsciousness.

The Plumber’s eyes flew open, as realization dawned that not only could he not move of his accord, but he couldn’t cry for help either. The Plumber saw his reflection in the mirror, hanging from a beam in his own basement. For all he knew, he was all alone. Alone and hanging, unable to make a sound, other than a weak gurgle. He began to writhe, rock and buck as he tried to loosen himself from his bounds. In a span of less than ten minutes the plumber once more hung limp and compliant.

Once Doc was satisfied that the plumber’s burst of fight, had been expended, he spoke from behind him. “About ******* time you woke up Robert.” He paused, letting words register in the Plumber’s mind. The plumber’s head shot up, he valiantly tried to turn his head to see behind him. But the plumber’s arms were trussed upwards, and it blocked his field of view. The plumber not even questioning the mirror, studied it wide eyed as he looked for the source of voice. “Very good Robert. Use the tools at hand.” Doc’s voice was patronizing. “Do you know why you are in this situation? Hmm? Any ******* clue? … No?” His voice changed from patronizing to cold and abrupt. “You pissed me off. You tried to **** my business over.”

Doc waited for the tell tale recognition to show in the plumber’s eyes. “Yes Robert. You tried to shake me down with your little plumbing scheme. It didn’t take long for me to catch on to you. But week after week, while you thought you had me fooled. I was stalking you and it all culminates tonight. Tonight we’re going to play a game. One you probably played a child. It’s called Operation. You will be playing the part of the patient, I will be playing the part of the surgeon, and Princess here, will be my lovely surgical nurse. Let’s start shall we?”

Moving into the Plumber’s field of view for the time, Doc selected the pairing knife off the workbench. “We’ll start with an ‘X’ incision.” He lowered his voice some, “Because you don’t have retractors.. Nurse will have to staple the folds of skin back, in order to expose the abdomen properly.” Doc inserted the paring knife into the plumber’s right shoulder, slowing slicing downward to the left hip.

Doc tutted. “Moving isn’t going help you any.. its just going to require nurse to use more staples.” As the plumber writhed to get away from the blade. Doc was unmoved as he did likewise to the left shoulder to the right hip. He laid the pairing knife down, collected the industrial stapler and offered it to Princess, a crooked smirk on his face, he did so.

Cori stood behind the plumber and watched him in the mirror. What she saw on his face was not fear, but terror. The sort of terror that freezes you and renders you unable to speak...she saw this, and more. Cori realized that as the plumber struggled her smile widened… a small streak of regret entered into her mind, which was quickly extinguished…knowledge, this is to obtain knowledge, she thought.

The Shadow spoke to the plumber as if he knew him. She should have realized this, being he knew the whole layout of the plumbers home. When he called him by name..her assumption was proven. This was not just a random attack, The Shadow knew him..and he was getting revenge. Cori had never been vengeful, at least not as a human. After she was turned, the need for vengeance grew in Cori. She wanted to slaughter her sire for not giving her the choice in her turning, she wanted revenge. The thought of this lessened until it was merely an afterthought. It seemed that The Shadow did not push his vengeance to the back of his mind..he wanted to exact it..and Cori was thrilled that she could watch.

It was then that she heard the invite, from The Shadow. He was going to allow her to participate and he did not seem annoyed about it. Cori was use to slicing up bodies, she was use to reaching into their body cavity and pulling out their organs..one at a time and examining. She had never seen the inside of a human, up close..let alone one that was alive. Cori wanted to scream and jump about in excitement, but now was not the time. her role was to assist and observe...and quite possibly learn.

As the staple gun was handed to her, her hands trembled a bit. Not out of fear but out of anticipation. She moved from behind the plumber so that she could get a better place to perform her task. Out of pure habit, Cori took a breath… She had the staple gun in her right hand and she raised it to the cest of the plumber, whilst gently folding the large triangular fold of skin back...she immediately felt the thirst rising as his blood trickled down her hands as she peeled him. she had to fight against the urge to dive her head into the man's chest and feed. She paused a bit, took another unneeded breath and raised her right hand, with the staple gun. She placed four staples on each side of the triangular fold of skin, securing it to the man's chest. The screams that he let out sounded like music to Cori...his struggle and movement only caused her to work faster and use more force. She Took each piece of skin into her hand, gently..before forcefully stapling the piece, again, to the man's chest. When she was done, she took a step back to examine her work. The folds of skin looked like flower petals that had just opened...what they revealed was, glorious.

Cori turned, placing the gun upon the table..”It is all yours Buttercup.”

Doc watched as Princess took her job to heart. With an eye for symmetry and neatness, she stapled the flaps of abdomen to the plumber’s sides. When she finished she saucily handed the staple gun back to him. He couldn’t help but grin at her briefly, maybe her inviting herself along wasn’t such a bad thing after all. He laid staple gun back on the workbench, switching it out for the roll of duct tape.

The plumber seemed to have become resigned to his fate. His head was down, chin tucked into his chest, eyes shut tight, tears leaking through the lids. It was as though he thought, if he didn’t see it, it wasn’t happening.. and he would wake up and it would all be a dream. But Doc wasn’t about to let him have that easy an out. Grabbing the duct tape and moving behind the strung up male, He grabbed the plumber’s hair and yanked the plumber’s head backward. Using the mirror to make the head was at the right angle, Doc began wrapping the head and arms with duct tape. After several rounds, Doc was pleased that it was in the right position so that with eyes open, he would no doubt see his reflection.

Replacing the duct tape on the workbench, Doc picked up the tweezers and pair knife. Now that the plumber’s head was secured, all that remained was for the plumber to view Doc’s handiwork. But that wouldn’t happen if he kept his eyes shut. Dispassionately and with quick effective strokes, Doc use the tweezers to pull the eyelids up and out, as they were excised from the body with the paring knife. “There.. all better. Nothing to block your view now.”

Using the paring knife, Doc pointed out yellow masses found within the abdomen. “This.. is fat. This is the fat that kills. Why You ask? Because this is the fat found in and about the organs. Making the organs work harder, strain even.. This yellow thing.. here..” he poked it with the butt of the knife, “This is your heart. Hint. It should not be yellow. Not even remotely. By the looks of it .. you’re were a walking dead man. Luckily I got to you before you croaked. Because then I would have had to take my displeasure out on your wife.”

With a few quick flicks if the blade, the connective tissue that held the intestines in the cavity came spilling out. With the intestines no longer in the way, the kidneys were exposed. Among the items that he collected from the kitchen, were bread ties. He took them and tied them around the renal artery and vein leading to each kidney. Effectively blocking all blood flow to and from the organs. The plumber wouldn’t feel the pain, so much as know, that with the blood flow cut off, the kidneys would die. And die quickly. That was Doc’s main goal. Fear. The plumber knowing the fear of dying by increments.

As she watched The Shadow at work, Cori could do nothing but stand in awe. She took a deep breath, out of habit, and began to absorb everything he did. He had thought this out, in great detail. From the mirror, to the tools that he used..even down to the bread ties that he wrapped so tightly around the plumbers arteries, to stop blood flow. It was not that the procedures that he performed were difficult, it was that he was methodical in doing each and every one of them.

Cor thought for a moment about what she did to the zombies in the catacombs. She sued the same materials and basically sliced them the same way, time and time again. The only thing she did differently..was when she got into their body cavity. Cori liked to get her hands into them and feel about, searching for any stray projectiles that she had sunk into them earlier. Her methods were not as precise and well planned out as The Shadows, and she was giddy in the fact that she was able to observe, this evening...able to learn.

Cori stood there, her blonde hair falling a bit out of the tight bun that she always wore...blood from the plumber drying upon her hands. A quick bit of remorse came over her..not so much for the plumber, but for his family. What if his wife that The Shadow spoke of came home..what then? the thoughts made her become more aware of her surroundings..made her body become more rigid, as it always did when she felt like uncomfortable. She shook her head a bit, which made her hair fall into her face. Then, it was gone..the thoughts that had circled around just a few seconds earlier were gone.

Cori was not sure if she should speak, but her curiosity always got the best of her. “ So what happens next?” She says in a low tone to The Shadow.