Chapter 9

I just want to thank Blotanhunka for editing this chapter, as always he is a good editor.

After the two police officers had finished questioning him and his family, Duke looked at his father and saw a deeply grim and thoughtful look on his face.

"Father, what do we do now,?" he asked, as Girl was still clinging to his right arm.

"Well, Son. We pack up and continue on our way to the company," Alistair said, as he saw that Duke had been gravely disturbed by Peter's passing. When he looked at Girl he saw she was looking like she was about to have a major panic attack, which worried him.

"Master." Susan called to her masterful husband and when he looked at her she felt herself relax at the calm and lovingly reassuring look in his eyes.

"What is it Slave?" she heard Alistair ask her and for a moment she was unable to put her troubled thoughts and feelings into words as she felt a deep stabbing despair in her heart because of Peter's death. This puzzled her since she had only met him after she and her family started the road trip to her husband and master's company.

But yet, she felt close to Peter, who despite his age, had treated her like a lady. This had created a small pang of lust within her for Peter, which shamed her because she felt unfaithful to her beloved master and husband.

Girl watched as her former master walked over to her sister slave and held her in a tight, loving embrace and when she looked at Duke she saw the dark and troubled look on his handsome, youthful face. This only served to make her dread and anxiety all the more keenly felt.

Duke felt Girl tighten her grip on his right arm and when he looked to her he felt his blood run cold with worry for her at the barely contained look of fear.

Then without understanding why, he reached out with his left hand and tilted her head up so he could look her in her spooky, fear widened eyes.

"It's ok Slave, this is just a part of life. I guess I mean this is the first time I have ever seen a dead person in real life but..." He started to say to Girl as he was trying to figure out what to say to calm her down, but yet Duke found himself at a loss for words. Without really being aware of what he was doing, he held her close to him and planted a soft, yet firmly reassuring kiss on her small, pale lips.

After they took a moment to gather their badly shaken wits about them, Alistair and his family gathered their things and made their way to the family car.

Once they were on their way, Alistair pulled over to the side of the road after traveling a mile or so away from the Sea-Vu. He turned, looked at his slave of a wife, seeing she was holding up as best as she could due to the stress of the sudden passing of Peter, he turned his attention to his son and his slave. He saw that Duke had Girl snuggled in his arms as he was slowly and softly running his right hand through Girl's soft, silky platinum white hair.

After watching his son and Girl for a few seconds, he decided it was time for some weed in order to not only help his family relax due to their fear and stress of Peter's unexpected death, but also to put his slightly troubled mind at ease as well.

"Son, and Girl. I know this is the first time either of you have come face to face with the death of someone in real life," he said. He took the bag of pot out of the glove compartment and began to roll a joint as Duke and Girl were watching him with a troubled but keen interest.

"I know this must be hard for the two of you to understand but this is something that happens to everyone."

Susan heard her master talking to her son and her sister slave as he was rolling the joint. She felt comforted by his calm but firm tone of voice as he continued to speak to Girl and Duke. She turned her head and saw the way her son was holding her sister slave while running his fingers through her hair. This casual gesture of affection did much to dispel her lingering fear and worries about her son and his slave.

"I know that, Father, but still it's freaky seeing it for the first time," Duke said to his father. He had finished rolling the joint and held it out to him.

"I know what you are saying, Son, and I don't blame you for being disturbed by this unexpected turn of events."

Girl heard Alistair say this to her master who took the joint from him and she looked at Duke. She could see that he was troubled by Peter's death but he appeared to have his marbles about him which reassured her that her much loved master would be able to help her through this deeply troubling time in her young life.

"Believe you me, Son, if there was some way I could have prevented Peter's death, I would have," Alistair said as he started to roll a second joint. While Duke was lighting up the joint he had made for him, he stole a glance at his son through the Ninja's rearview mirror and saw that Duke understood not only what he was saying to him, but also that he understood the cold hard fact of life that at life's end, Death would come calling, even if he did not like that grim fact about human life.

After taking a long hard toke from the joint Duke held it out to Girl as he was exhaling the spent pot smoke from his lungs. Girl was looking at him with a strange and loving look that chilled his spine at the thought of losing Girl. He had to take a moment to compose himself, then his barely contained terror turned to raw bloody hate and rage towards the Still One, at the thought of him taking his love slave from him.

"I SWEAR! To God that I'm not going to lose Girl! " he snarled under his breath as Girl took the joint from him and began to toke on it. For a moment Duke could have sworn that the Grim Reaper was looking him in the eyes with a strange look that not only stoked his atavistic fear of death, but also puzzled him. He could have sworn that there was something about the phantasm of Death that was strangely comforting.

"Oh my!" Susan thought to herself as she saw that hard and murderous look on Duke's face which not only frightened her but gave her an erotically wicked thrill as she could tell that he was willing to face down Death himself to protect Girl.

Susan smiled a dreamy smile as she felt the love for her son grow even more, for she had seen that same hard and protective look on her master's face many times over the year. This had made her feel safe and loved by her husband.

Duke exhaled the spent pot smoke from his lungs with a slight cough and held the joint out to Girl who took it from him with a strange look on her pale, spooky face that piqued his interest.

"Girl, what is on your mind?" he asked, as he felt himself starting to relax thanks to the weed, as Girl was taking a toke from the joint.

"Nothing, Master," Girl said, after she had exhaled the spent pot smoke from her lungs. She was having a hard time putting her troubled thoughts and feelings into words as she had the blood chilling mental image of her master laying on a gurney, and a sheet being pulled over his dead face.

Duke knew that there was something troubling his slave, as he took the half smoked joint from her. Girl clamped onto his left arm as he could see the look of horror and fear on her pale face which told him there was something that had her really upset.

Susan looked at Alistair as he was smoking the joint he had rolled up for the two of them and she felt a wicked chill run up her spine at the thought of losing him.

When her master held out the joint towards her, she took it, and was about to take a toke when she saw a deeply troubled look on his ruggedly handsome face. It was a perfect mirror image of the troubled look on her own beautiful face.

"What is it Slave?" Alistair asked his slave as she was taking a toke from the joint they were sharing. He could tell from the troubled look in her bewitching green eyes that there was something that was troubling her deeply.