Creatures Of The Night What Music They Make

After their first night together, others had followed. Not quite as the first one, not with the forbidden taste of blood and intoxicating sweetness of revenge, but still memorable and intense. Each time Tenax would touch her, the same exquisite shiver would run through her, always feeling like the first time. Briga would revel in that abandonment sentiment as if she could finally breathe. Every time was a discovery of sensations, of pleasure like she hadn’t suspected existed. 

Confiding in him, she had opened up more about her past with her four older brothers and how they had forged her character with their playful mercilessness, earning her the name of Briga since she was a child, as in Brigantès, the God of war. How they had died at sea with her father. How her mother had followed from disease, leaving her to care for herself before she could have her married. How she had made a living on her own and earned the respect of her peers in her village with her hard work, only to see her life crushed by perverted Roman soldiers who, one after another, had abused her trust. 

She had told him that in Ostia where she had arrived, she had been abused too. The Commander of the military camp had protected her from some drunk soldiers only to have her chained in his tent, repeatedly beaten and raped until he got tired of her screams, insults and spits, and sent her to Rome to be sold as a slave.

Tenax had listened and, with his attentive silence, had allowed her tears to run, only drying them with a tender brush of his hand on her cheeks when all the sorrow had drained.

There was an undeniable bond growing between them and, just as much, her status as a slave seemed ever more futile. 

So she thought, until Scorpus came along again.

Another day where Tenax had matters to handle in the Subura and Briga had been taken along. At the end of the day, she was resting at a table in the tavern, sipping on a cup of wine while Tenax was dealing with his books in the far back of the premises. 

The place was as calm as a tavern can be on a regular evening, a monotonous ruckus only disrupted by Scorpus at the other side of the room, seated at a table with a woman, sometimes surrounded by admirers, being loud and looking at Briga, obviously trying to catch her attention. 

They had crossed paths since their steamy meeting at the brothel but she somehow managed to avoid being alone with him at any time since then. Scorpus knew something had happened between her and Tenax, for some reason she could sense it by the way he had suspiciously looked at them after their first night together, and after that, by the restrained resentment in his eyes every time he looked at his friend. 

Unwilling to discuss any related or unrelated matter with him in the tavern, she overtly ignored him as long as she could, but, distracted by the liquor, she accidently crossed his glance. Scorpus stood up on the spot and, ignoring the conversations around him, joined Briga and sitted without being invited across the table with a confident smirk. Briga threw him a cold stare over a discreet annoyed sigh. 

“Tenax didn't tell you it's rude to stare at people like this ?” Scorpus questioned after a moment of intense gauging.

Briga remained unmoved as she knew how: “No. He asks me to do it all the time.”

He sneered slightly.

“Even when he fucks you ?” he let out with an ounce of aggressivity.

She smirked in return at the pettiness, slowly taking a sip before retorting teasingly: “Not when we fuck, no. I couldn’t remain so quiet, even if I tried…”

With a disdainful grin, Scorpus let out: “You're pretty mouthy for a slave… I bet that's what he likes about you…”

“And you don't, so all is well.” she said coldly.

“Oh, I like your mouth too, I'd just like it better shut by my cock.” he asserted.

Briga sensed the conversation was taking a turn, Scorpus was drunk, as usual, and getting cocky; the wine aiding too, she felt compelled to somehow provoke him. She straightened up in her chair, leaning her torso gently over the table in a flirtatious manner:

“Would you, now ?”

Scorpus leaned over the table as well, his lips straightening in a wider satisfied smile at her playing along :“Very much” 

“How much ?”

His smile faded instantly under a confused frown: “What ?”

“How much would you pay to see that happen?” Briga articulated.

The charioteer scoffed with disdain: “I'll never pay a slave to fuck !”

Her eyes narrowed with anger for a second; that cursed word, she couldn't bear it and he knew it, but she knew how to push his buttons as well. 

“I'm not yours to dispose of as you please, so it’s not me you’re actually paying. Even a charioteer should know that.” she ironically stated in a calm voice, recoiling in her chair.

He hissed, biting his lips with an irate pout, recoiling in his chair in turn. 

“Tenax is an old friend, you know… All I need to do is ask, and he'll hand you over to me.” he retorted imprudently after a moment of reflection.

“Mmm…” Briga nodded slightly with a light smirk, “He’s such a generous person, isn't he?” she ironically alleged. 

Scorpus tilted his head with an annoyed smile, her satisfied expression getting on his nerves. Of course he knew Tenax was far from selfless and, to his displeasure, she knew it too. He couldn’t believe he was being dominated by a mere slave who seemed way more cunning than he would have thought. Not only did she resist him but she even dared negotiate as if she was in any way at his same level. 

As she suddenly looked intensely to the side, he looked the same way and saw Tenax, speaking to one of his men. Coming back to Briga, she was now staring at him with a defiant air on her face and tilted her head in Tenax’s direction, openly daring him to go see her master. 

The corners of Scorpus’ mouth twitched in a furious expression as he stood up, abruptly recoiling his chair before storming out of the tavern without bothering to call for the whore he had left behind at his table.

Briga took a deep breath and resumed sipping on her cup in peace under Tenax’s interrogative glare that the ruckus had alerted. Seeing his friend visibly frustrated by Briga grew a smile on his face. He didn’t even bother to be curious about their conversation, otherwise he would have probably suspected that Scorpus’s repeated attempts at seducing Briga were more than just a fling. 

Briga’s resistance, which made Tenax so proud, only further fueled Scorpus’s obsession over her. The great Scorpus had been rejected by women before, but he wasn’t that great then. Now, things were different, and if it still happened that a woman would not succumb to his charms, he just disdainfully ignored it with a wave of his hand, he only had to bend down to pick up another willing one just as beautiful. Even patrician women fell for him after all, how could Briga act so shamelessly above her status and refuse herself to him, even humiliating him in the process? That cursed woman with her disrespectful disdain and yet he craved possessing her beyond explanation.

It’s with this same wavering state of mind that he caught up on her days later, coming out of the stables alone, probably running some kind of errands for her master. His head covered so as not to attract attention from the people around him, he followed her discreetly until reaching a corner of the gallery outside the Circus Maximus leading to Tenax’s tavern. There he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her diligently against a wall, hidden from the direct sight of passersby.

Briga huffed in surprise under the shock of her back against the wall before hurriedly trying to identify her assailant under the hooded cape that kept firmly holding her arms. 

Her eyes opened wide, they softened slightly when recognizing Scorpus. He kept her still with the weight of his body against her, so awfully close. His look appeared blurred, as if unable to focus on one point as it happens when one’s mind is fogged by liquor, consistent with the smell of wine emanating from him.

Breathing heavily, his facial features seemed to hesitate between anger and resignation as Briga silently waited to know his purpose with a cold stare .

“How much?” he finally heaved, looking away from her face as an admission of helplessness.

At first caught off guard, Briga lingered on her silent stare until he finally looked her in the eye with a sore face. She hadn’t planned to have her provocations taken seriously by him, even less to have him surrender to her demands.

“Ten thousand sesterces…” she declared without emotion in her tone, “to please me with your mouth only.”

The charioteer suddenly burst into a loud nervous laugh. Her desire to embarrass him was definitely bottomless.

“Are you fucking out of your mind, slave?! I… err…” he broke off with a heavy sigh, biting his lip and shaking his head angrily. 

As if an idea had struck him at once, Scorpus froze and ogled her with a mischievous smile.

“What if I just fuck you right here, right now?” he taunted, pushing her harder against the wall.

Briga grimaced at the pressing body on her, turning her face away from his warm erratic breaths.

”So the great Scorpus needs to force himself on women, like the pig he really is.” she nagged dryly, trying to control her nerves.

”You’re just a slave, I can do whatever I want to you…” Scorpus heaved near her ear, rolling his crotch against her in a lewd manner.

With gritted teeth, Briga gave a try at pulling her arms from his grip but he clinged even harder. With anyone else, she would have insisted, pushed harder, screamed or even bite, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to see Scorpus as a dangerous man despite his behavior. Arrogant and stupid, but not dangerous. A softness in his smiley eyes perhaps, or the inner struggles he tried to drown under gallons of wine somewhat tickled a kind of tenderness in her, she couldn't and wouldn’t say in any way.

She took a chance at following her instinct and let go of her resistance: ”Go ahead then charioteer, do what you have to do.” she hissed coldly at him.

With a grin, Corpus lowered his head and nibbled greedily at the thin skin on her neck, letting go of her arms to grab her breasts and squeeze them over the fabric of her dress. She didn't fight it, struggling to keep her breaths under control with her knuckles tightly shut while he leaned harder against her. For a second he seemed to waver, suddenly remaining still. 

“Damn you…” he panted heavily, resuming his groping and sucking on her neck in between raucous breaths. But as his exhales became louder and shorter, the pressure of his body felt lighter and his hands hesitant. 

“FUCK !” he suddenly bellowed, raising his head with a fuming look. With his jaw clenched he recoiled abruptly, avoiding meeting her stare before quickly walking away, frantically rubbing his eyes and growling.

With the wall for only support, Briga took some time to catch her breath. She wasn't so sure anymore she would get rid of his advances so easily, his perseverance was becoming somewhat worrying. She had thought the presumptuous amount she had requested would exasperate him for good, but even that didn't seem to repel him completely. The only thought that reassured her at that moment was the certainty that Tenax would never bargain her as a piece of meat. 

***

Claudia had been sent away with an eagerness she and Briga had rarely seen. Only Briga suspected the reason: Tenax had carefully scrutinized her every move that day as she went about her daily tasks, brushing past her whenever the opportunity presented itself, smiling mischievously at her when he did. Even if it was race day at the Circus, he had decided they would stay home. He wanted her and when the light of day started finally coming off, he decided he couldn’t wait any longer.

After dismissing the servant, he had called for Briga from his bedroom, inviting her to proceed to the scarlet tainted bathroom with an overtly equivocal smile, where he had embraced her hastily against the hot stone walls. Exploring her curves with his hands over her clothes, he had devoured the base of her neck with his kisses under her delighted gasps. Reaching for the bottom of her skirt, he had lifted it up until he could reach her bare legs underneath, caressing along her thighs to her crotch. He had then slid his hand under the loincloth, gently rolling the tender flesh of her labia under his fingers. When he had felt the moisture escape, he had inserted his fingers into the slit and felt Briga's grip tighten on his back.

As usual, the expression of her pleasure always increased his own. Always so restrained at the beginning, her moans intensified with the increasing rhythm of his fingers penetrating her. Watching her lose control had become Tenax’s favorite view, and at it he was, admiring her eyelids quiver frantically over her incredible eyes and her lips being bitten in a vain attempt to hold back her whimpers, when someone knocked on the door.

They held their voices and moves, unsure first of what they had heard, but the knocking resumed, soon followed by a childish voice calling for Tenax.

They both sulked while puting their clothes back in place and Tenax came to the door.

“What?” harshly let out Tenax while opening it to a young boy. Briga recognized one of the orphans her master took care of.

The poor kid looked mortified for an instant until Tenax put on a vague sorrowful expression as an apology for his rudeness.

“Tenax,” the boy started, “Lady Antonia is asking for you.”

“Antonia Servilia?” asked a worried Tenax with a sudden bad feeling crawling under his skin.

“Yes, huh, she came by the tavern after the race. She wants to see you at her house right now…”

This did not bode well.

“Something happened?” Tenax kept on questioning with a rising nervousness.

“Well, err… Scorpus lost the race…” the boy added, timidly eyeing at Briga who had joined them.

Tenax looked uneasy, lost in his thoughts for a second. It was never a good omen to be summoned by powerful owners of a faction, even the more when there was money loss involved.

“Alright, I’ll go now.” he said, “You can go.”

“Huh…” the boy hesitated, stomping on his feet with anxious looks at the slave who seemed to share Tenax’s concern from her frowned look, “She wants to see her too…” he whispered.

The puzzlement in Tenax’s expression deepened as he looked at Briga, adding more to her trouble.

***

The Aquiline mount was a beautiful place like Briga had never seen in Rome. So different from the Subura and even more striking at this dusk. The streets were clean and bright and still full of life as if no danger lurked in the dark corners.

That was where the influential and rich people of Rome lived, and the house of Antonia Servilia and her husband, Marsus Servilius, was the definition of opulence.

They were made waiting in a richly decorated and lighted living room, almost as vast as the entire apartment of Tenax. She could see her master was trying to keep his composure, restraining from pacing back and forth during their wait. He thought he knew what this meeting would be about until Briga had been mentioned; the question of how she could have anything to do with Scorpus' defeat wouldn’t stop harassing his mind.

A gracious curly red-haired woman finally arrived, tall and distinguished, her white veiled dress floating around her in soft rustles as she walked towards Tenax with her chin held high and an arrogant smirk on her face.

“I hope you were not too busy, Tenax?” Antonia inquired upon her entry with evident sarcasm.

Showing a polite smile, Tenax bowed slightly his head at her : “Of course not, Antonia. You summoned me?”

“So, here she is…” resumed the mistress of the house going towards Briga, overtly ignoring Tenax, “the cause of our predicament.”

She smiled but there was no mistaking it for kindness by the scornful tone she had used.

“Predicament ?...” hastily questioned Tenax feigning ignorance, wary of how Briga was reacting to Antonia’s approach. To his relief, the patrician woman finally turned to him.

“Oh… you weren’t at the race today, that’s right, you haven’t seen it.” she retorted with irony, “Scorpus made a fool of himself today!”

Tenax pouted smugly: “Well… he has lost in the past already, I”m sure he will get over it…”

“He did not just lose, he didn’t finish it at all!” cut off Antonia with a rising anger in her voice.

At Tenax’s decomposing expression, she kept on: “He was completely drunk, he couldn’t even keep a straight line on the tracks before collapsing in his chariot!”

He suspired deeply at the information while rolling his eyes, clearly thinking “Damn, Scorpus…”

“He mentioned your slave's name among his incoherent and drunken ramblings, asking why she keeps on resisting him!” she kept on, turning back to Briga and tilting her head to the side with a cold smile. “Now, why does YOUR slave, Tenax, get in the way of OUR victory?”

As Tenax was reflecting on how to come out of the situation, Antonia slowly advanced further towards Briga who had kept still, holding her hands in front of her, looking at the woman with the most emotionless face she could put on. But as she came closer, planting herself in front of the slave, Briga felt a tension build up in her shoulders.

“Hmm… I really don’t see what’s to be so obsessed about…” let out softly the Roman woman, reaching for Briga’s chin and inspecting her face with an unveiled disdain.

“Don’t touch me.” coldly spit out the slave, harshly moving her head away from Antonia’s grip with an angry look.

Antonia opened her eyes wide with outraged disbelief and swiftly slapped Briga across the face in a sonorous blow. Tenax let out an uncontrolled gasp before watching Briga’s face turn into an expression of primal fury and her body tensing, about to snatch at the woman who recoiled with a fearful look. 

In a swift movement, Tenax interposed himself between them and addressed Briga with a strained face and an icy tone: “Go wait for me outside…”

The furious gaze of her master revolted her as first effect, but she complied nonetheless, unwilling to put him in an even more difficult situation, but the Gods be witness, she was dying to rip this woman to shreds.

“I beg your pardon, Antonia.” Tenax bowed slightly at the woman, trying to regain her aplomb while watching Briga leave the room with an undisguised relief.

“You better tame that beast, Tenax, or I will!” she scolded, frantically straightening and fixing her dress which didn't need it.

“I’m sure a little frustration won’t kill Scorpus, he’s a grown man.” lightly declared Tenax, eager to steer the conversation away from his slave’s behavior.

“I couldn’t care less about Scorpus’s ego!” she hissed back with a furious look, “I care about what his little craving for that girl will cost us! You are going to fix this, Tenax.”

He looked at her with a hardly dissimulated wariness in his blue eyes, holding his breath in anticipation of what the Roman woman would demand of him.

“Put your slave in Scorpus’s bed before the next race. If he’s still useless by then, I’ll make sure he won’t be a burden to our faction anymore, nor to any other faction for that matter...” Antonia demanded in a threatening voice, turning back and imperiously leaving the room without waiting for an answer.

Now they were both furious, and none of them uttered a word while walking back to the Subura, carefully avoiding each other’s gaze. Tenax led Briga to the tavern where only a few drunk men lingered, the rest having deserted the place to go and sleep off the rest of the night. Ignoring his handymen guarding the place, he promptly went directly to the back side of the betting counter, the most isolated part of his establishment, and stopped, his hands on his sides with his head low, waiting to feel Briga’s presence behind him.

“You can’t act like that with these people.” he started, breathing deeply to maintain a calm trône. At her silence, feeling her angry stare tickling his back, he turned around and faced her with eyes darting with anger. “You hear me? Patricians aren’t to be fooled around, even less when they’re faction owners AND senators like Antonia’s husband! These are powerful, dangerous people that will ALWAYS have their way!” he ended up almost yelling.

Tenax could literally see the anger inflating inside of Briga’s eyes, and he should have stopped, he knew only too well how unable to think she was at the moment and yet, all kinds of fears were clashing inside him at that moment, he was unable to control himself.

“You can’t overpower them so stupidly when you’re nothing. Remember your place!” he let out ragingly and out of breath.

The change in Briga’s eyes from anger to deceit was instantaneous, her jaw dropped as if she had been hit in the stomach. That is how she had received his words at the moment, physically reflecting the decomposition her mind was going through.

Tenax fleetingly grimaced in remorse at this expression he had never seen on her face before, but it was too late, he couldn’t unsay what had hurt her. 

Briga felt betrayed, again, and that was not an unfamiliar feeling for her, except she had carefully watched their relationship evolve with suspicion and awareness this time. And she had let go of her doubts, she had acquired the certainty that he was the man who would never think of her as a lesser person for they were so similar in their resilience. But she had been wrong. Whatever she did, or said, or think, she was a slave, and that seemed to be now the root of who she really was for Tenax and all the likes of him. Everything else was mere decoration. 

With a resigned pout, he called for Dacia:

“Take her home, I have to find Scorpus.” he ordered dryly, imperiously looking down on Briga who had put back on her cold mask with the neutral look she used to have before they had become close. 

Before Dacia could agree, Briga retorted sharply: “Yes, master.”

Tenax froze, almost in shock at her words. Never had she resigned herself at acknowledging him as her master, nor had he ever really expected it from her despite what he had demanded of her the day they had met. She had said it in such a direct manner, as if these were common words in her mouth. He knew it was in reaction to his own demeaning words that did not match his thoughts at all, and he really hoped she didn’t mean it either.

This was not the time, however, to dwell on the subject, and he made no protest at her cold, silent departure.

***

Silence was all he found when coming home after his mildly successful search: Scorpus was found dead drunk in the training room of the charioteers, snoring so loud he could be heard from outside, and completely unresponsive to Tenax attempts at waking him up.

Dacia’s guarding presence near Tenax’s apartment ensured him that Briga had not gone anywhere, and yet, upon entering it, the sounding emptiness of the place struck him deeply. Although everything was in its place, the air felt dry and the darkness heavier than usual.

His first instinct was to go see Briga that he foolishly thought would be waiting for him in his chamber; after all, that’s where she had spent all her latest nights, but she wasn’t there. So he went towards her room, suddenly seized by a hint of panic at the thought of finding it empty too. Opening the door in precipitation, he let out a relieved sigh when seeing her there, laying on her bed.

There was no way to say if she was sleeping or faking it from the door, all he could see under the faint night gleam was her back gently rising and falling at every breath she took.

But there he stood for a moment, pondering if he should approach or just let all the hurtful words fade into the night. He chose the latter, unsure on how to address Antonia’s demand with Briga or even with himself for the moment being, which would just add more bitterness upon an already draining evening.

That was a decision Tenax would regret for the next couple of days.

Briga had come out the next day acting more distant than ever. Like in her first wild days beside him, she would just disappear from his sight every time she wasn’t needed, and when addressed to, she would comply without showing any emotion and a mechanical “yes, master” was all she would ever say.

But time was running, the next race was two days ahead and she still didn’t seem any more forgiving. Perhaps it was better that way, if he really thought about it in an incongruous burst of divine optimism. The prospect of pushing her into the arms of another man made him nauseous, even more so knowing what she had endured in the past, but the man in question was Scorpus and somehow it reassured him, he was his friend and despite all his bad habits and manners, he was not a wicked man. But he also thought that Scorpus was no match for Briga, and should she refuse to submit to him, he was the one in danger in every turn of évents. He and Tenax’s ambition for the future for that matter, and having Briga defiantly acting like the obedient slave she wasn’t, was probably the best time to see things happen as they should.

He almost laughed at himself for such silly thoughts. His life would probably be a lot easier if he didn't have feelings for that woman. How could he ever demand this of her, how could he come up with an alternate plan in such little time?

The Gods, should he ever pray to them, had decided to ease things for him somehow. In a trickster way however, as they should.

The day before the race, a messenger knocked on Tenax’s door, bringing a summon from Scorpus addressed to him and Briga for that evening. Tenax did not have the opportunity to meet with him in the meantime and was planning on finding him to try and talk some sense into him. 

Although still not believing he would succeed there either; he knew too well the stubbornness and pride of the charioteer, but he did not know what else to do. And out of the blue came this message, as if the odds had finally turned in his favor.