“Of course, Master Mois,” the head slave replied as he stood up from his chair. He went to the kitchen and personally constructed an egg salad sandwich from the stockpile kept in the massive fridge. At any one time, they had enough food and ingredients for twice the number of slaves that lived here, and that wasn't including all of the non-human delicacies that the slaves often ate. 

He returned after five minutes with the sandwich and some fruit punch, and set them down in front of the human. He was about to turn and leave when he took another look at the worry and fatigue on Master Mois' face. [i]He is no longer a child. I cannot protect him, or Master Alexi for that matter, as I once could. Why in hell did he have to choose such a dangerous profession? If one of the rebel magicals doesn't kill him, the stress will surely shorten his life. And that's already so short as a human.[/i]

Knowing his master well enough to know that he would not mind, Joseph stood behind him and began massaging his neck and shoulders.

“Your muscles are quite tense, Master. It is not healthy,” was all he said in explanation.

~*~*~

The rage within the vampire captive threatened to boil over again. Erik had struggled with anger management problems for his entire two and a half century long life, but now it was as though his emotions were tripled in intensity, and longed to rail at the human with the slightest provocation. He snarled at the human before regaining his composure once again.

“First of all, you're a liar. Thousands have died from the suicides related to this procedure. It might not be directly from the application of it, but it's as a direct result. Secondly, you cannot tell me that there is not a single magical that has managed to resist the temptations until the bloodlust, or the equivalent for their species, killed them,” he growled back, somehow managing to keep his voice level, though clearly angry. The truth was, he was terrified about the second point, terrified that that was exactly what this damn human was saying, that no one had managed to resist the urge to feed, even on the disgusting potion.

“Thirdly, even if you were completely telling the truth, and there had been no deaths. What hard breaking is, is worse than death. Would you want to completely relinquish your will to another? Do you honestly think your beloved Joseph is happy here, constantly putting your needs before his own? I doubt you are familiar with the illegal writings of the Underground, but a hundred and fifty years ago, there was a Night Elf named Feldora who wrote, 'It is better to die free than to live as a slave.' I have lived by those words since before she wrote them, and I will die by them if necessary.”

Erik did indeed make a mental note of the information on his toga. He found it mildly interesting, even touching, that Joseph had chosen such an appropriate piece. Nor had he cared about his shirt, not really. The indignity was worse than the loss of the old ratty thing. If anything, the idea of Alexi having one specifically made for him was laughable, given that the original was so cheap. But he did not bring those things up, for he would not give the human any opportunity to change the subject.