Joseph felt his Master's hands and hesitantly forced himself to meet the human's eyes. His belief that slavery was immoral did not extend to his own position, for in his mind, he was still serving a sentence for the innocents he had killed in the days of his youth. Slavery had tamed a bloodlust that he had once been unable to suppress, one that had been justified by ideals of Vampire superiority. Long ago he had decided that, even if somehow slavery was abolished, he would remain a servant. It was his penance on Earth, to spend the rest of his life serving those he had once thought inferior.

A weak smile crossed the servant's visage as he remembers Alexi's rather rowdy childhood. Both boys had been difficult to keep up with. More than once Joseph had muttered about how he was “too old for this,” but he had loved them dearly, even after he had been forced to treat them as superiors. The words and the kiss sparked something within him, and the elder servant had to force himself not to tear up. Such sentiment was not his place. 

[i]I'm sure you're wondering what I said that frightened the unflappable Master Mois huh?[/i] Alexi had asked. That was a valid question, but Joseph had not been given much time to ponder it, as he had been distracted with his own concern for his younger Master's safety. At the time, he had assumed that Mois was afraid for Alexi's safety in the breaking. [i]Poor Mois has fretted over his brother so much throughout his strange stunts over the years. But come to think of it, there was more to it. Breaking a vampire is relatively safe these days, especially when one could keep them on a short chain. It is much safer for the human now than it was when I was first broken,[/i] the creature thought with a guilty pang in his stomach. 

“Master Alexi, you know full well that you are asking me to watch a man suffer while doing nothing to help him. That will not be easy for me. But I have not disobeyed an order for many centuries, and I cannot start now. But know that we will both lose a bit of our souls by the end of these next few months,” Joseph replied darkly, as he stood and bowed at the hip.