“I’ll stay too. Not sure why, but perhaps I can redeem some of my past here and now. I’ve lost Eene, but still want her back.”
Adam said, not politely, “Then tell her everything you have done and are responsible for. All of it and soon. If she does not speak to me about her conversation with you in the next few days, I shall tell her everything you arranged for her. Then she can decide what your fate will be. Not like the abuse you helped organize for her but when and if you are permitted to stay here among us.”
***
Eene, Alana and Adam met in his private Study three days later having heard nothing from them on the topic. Perhaps it was now buried in the past and they had decided that it should have no hold on their futures, but he believed otherwise.
“Alana, have you spoken to Eene?”
“No. I have not yet found the courage to have a talk and I am afraid of what her reaction will be.”
“It should worry you. It would me. Please begin, or I will.”
Silence.
Adam said, “OK, then. The men and dates that Alana arranged for you Eene were paid events in which she received substantial amounts of money to pimp you out. She made sure you were roofied with something mild then plied with a sufficient amount of alcohol to make you a semi conscious and a willing partner. She had been an acquaintance of yours since high school but is not really your friend. Whenever Alana needed money she arranged for dates. The last episode was a date gone wrong, according to her, but your abuse was clearly part of the arrangement. I don’t think the degree of abuse was what she contemplated; certainly not the virtual slavery. These are the facts. Alana, do you wish to contest any of this?”
“No. I am so sorry Eene. What I did was terribly wrong. I hope we can move on from these terrible events and still be friends.”
Adam said, “You sound like my parents and Crissy. A simple ‘I’m sorry’ wipes the slate clean. It does not for me but this is Eene we’re discussing. I guess I’m not that forgiving.”
Eene looked at both Adam and Alana, tears in her eyes, and walked away without saying a word.
Adam turned to Alana and said, “Your fate here will be decided by Eene. Personally, I think this kind of betrayal means you should be dropped out of a plane at fifty thousand feet but, then, Eene is kinder soul.”
Adam walked away.
***
Adam did not hear from Eene for another three days, and when he did, she seemed back to normal, demanded that he tell her he loved her as usual and to be given her daily hugs.
Eene said, “Can we talk? I have some things I need to say.”
Adam said, “Of course. And I have a surprise for you. Let’s walk.”
It was not unusual for Eene and Adam to take early morning walks, stroll to a small park and sit on a bench under the large spreading tree transplanted from the forest above.
Eene said, “I want to thank you for the information you gave me the other day; obviously I was never Alana’s friend and feel stupid in being used that way. I never suspected a thing. I guess I’m an idiot.”
Adam said, “Join the club. We’re now officially kindred idiots.”
Eene looked down as she said, “I think, however, that Alana is talented and you should allow her to stay here and work if she wants, and you want, just not in our residence. I do not wish to have any contact with her in the future for any reason. I am not angry; I’m just immensely sad.”
She paused.
“I have another matter I wish to discuss with you that is personal in nature. Do you have time?”
“I do. And I have not shown you my surprise. We need to walk a little further to get there.”
“Is it a pony?”
“No, that’s Christmas, and it may be a zebra instead. Haven’t started my shopping lists yet.”
The two were quiet on their walk but when they arrived, Eene saw there was a park, and above the main entrance in iron script was the name “Eene Birkenstock Park”. In the center was a fountain, beautiful lawns, a profusion of flowers and bird feeders with sugar water for hummingbirds. It was beautiful.
Eene was delighted and ran all around the small park, looking in every nook and cranny for hidden treasures.
“Not a single Easter egg?”
“It isn’t Easter yet.”
“Poor excuse if you ask me.”
There were iron and cement benches but only one reserved just for “Eene and Adam”.
Eene said, “I suppose you want me to come here with you and read books?”
“I do.”
Eene made a sad face, then a happy one and said, “Then I shall! I’m smart you know; I read a lot.”
Adam asked, “You had something you wished to discuss?”
“I do. I have spoken to the ladies, mortal and Immortal and have decided I wish to terminate our current social arrangement. It’s time. I am twenty-six, not sixteen and although you did everything originally to protect me, I no longer feel I need it. At least not like before.”
“You’ve become a mature, high functioning woman and you don’t need me as a pest watching your every move? Have you met someone?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact I have. It is time for me to move on.”
“I see.”
“Doubtful, but let me explain. Would you say that I have given you good counsel in the past on various occasions?”
“Yes, of course. Even the Immortals have commented approvingly and the people of our growing community also love and respect your counsel. I ask your opinion on most things, cooking excluded, though you’re making excellent progress there too.”
“Then I wish to ask your permission … to mate. With you.”
Adam said, “It was not long ago that you didn’t trust my intentions with you, or any man for that matter. It’s why we adopted a more cautious relationship. Has something changed?”
“I love you and want to mate with you. I wish to be one of the missing pieces in your life that will always be faithful to you and never betray you or your trust. And I wish to have sex with you. I’ve not had a proper … workout in a very long time. Hana has worked out a schedule for all of us, and Hana, Hecate and I have been told that ‘quickies’ will supplement more meaty dates. We want our turns too but we also wish to set aside more time for Fionna, who as mother of your four children merits additional consideration. She sometimes cries for missing you. Please turn some of your attention to her as she needs you now. Call her and go for a walk in the flower nursery. She loves that place and loves holding hands and getting hugs. She’ll never admit as much though; this new affection should appear to be all your idea.”
“Done, and you’re thoughtful. When did you grow up?”
“Never, I hope.”
Chapter 36
Edward told Anna, Crissy and Francesca there would be no entertainment, except for him, that evening after dinner. There were serious matters to discuss and their many months of search for Adam and his women had failed miserably while their increased insatiable for lust pursuing their unique proclivities and deviant behaviors had reached new heights.
Edward was anxious and frustrated with progress; he wanted to get this project behind him and return to his new pursuits, with or without his personal harem.
Edward, as always, favored using his wife and especially Crissy in erotic pastime, while he gave Anna greater latitude to develop her protégé, Francesca, with greater and greater success. One new discovery was that, while Anna found Edward and Crissy’s attentions as satisfying as she always had, it wasn’t until Edward read Francesca’s Ph.D. dissertation into torture instruments throughout history that Anna’s suppressed, perhaps undiscovered aberrant and abnormal creativity, began to truly flourish.
Edward and Anna had collected a fortune in stolen artifacts, many sold off some for enormous sums of cash over the years, which meant they could finally free themselves from the Victoria Institute and relocate somewhere in the world more suitable to the curious tastes they had acquire
d. They had chosen London as the new location for their private practice and for their long association with various police agencies. If they were careful, their trafficking in antiquities with dealers and museums would go unnoticed. Edward would explain his activities as research for their crime database.
Crates were brought in legally, but not all artifacts were accounted for, and some crates were diverted to their new residence in London for cataloging and sale. The London auction houses, including a new and private auction house secretly run by the St. James family, was a welcome and prestigious addition to the legal antiquities trade in Great Britain.
The St. James family through a series of interlocking offshore companies owned a beautiful multi-story London building renovated for optimal storage of antiquities. Several areas on one floor were specially built to supress loud noises and contained a virtual cornucopia of devices, contraptions and machines for Edward’s use, while other rooms contained tables, updated instruments and an unlimited supply of chemicals and compounds that would enhance pleasure or multiply pain for Anna, Francesca and their sadistic playmates.
Sound could be suppressed but, in the end, that was not what Anna and her new partner really wanted. They wanted, no delighted, in making sure their victims, some willing, most not, were experiencing exactly what they wished them to feel and expressing themselves loudly. Their experiments and role play were cruel and, though their most subjects were paid and handsomely for their willing participation, few of them ever understood the extent to which both unwanted pleasure and pain could be enhanced or suppressed to one degree or another.
Those unwilling playmates were sampled and used, or returned if not playful or willing enough to please their masters, or act in a way the ladies found credible and exciting. It was not enough to merely be in pain, they had to act the part convincingly to get full marks from Anna and her twisted girlfriend.
Anna and Francesca spent untold hours reading and rereading the treatises on torture and suffering, and the instruments and manner of their usage to maximum effect. The instruments themselves were replicated from museum copies on loan, or from narratives in the books on the subject matter themselves, then specs were sent to medical device manufacturers in Germany for replication and refinement. The research and collaboration with certain craftsmen resulted in better instruments that produced more refined and less damaging physical results.
Their research and home projects paid off in huge dividends as the family of four began to make friends in new social circles, though certainly not the upper crust of British society. But some, of course, that they met along the way had sufficient passion and interest, along with the cash, to wish to learn arcane arts from the distant past, updated and modernized. They had their own subjects to use, and use them they did.
Anna and Francesca disguised their zeal for their dark arts as educational in nature only. From their private lectures they met new recruits for playthings seeking dark adventures and for patrons who wished first hand experiences; participatory experiences, like guided tours.
Their collection of instruments and toys included replicas from ancient China, Rome, Greece and the various rulers of minor kingdoms that specialized in the production of pain. These implements were not intended for the extraction of knowledge but for the creation and entertainment of those whose obsessions included watching and hearing pain in real time. There would be no videos permitted, the psychotic nature of the experience could only be stored in the hard drive of the mind. Sexual encounters while watching were encouraged; Anna and Francesca were no exceptions.
Crissy and Edward attended some of the lighter sessions, but sadistic/masochistic ministrations of even Anna’s least cruel shows and demonstrations were not to the taste of either Edward or Crissy. That was Anna’s thing, but Anna and her toy Francesca would perform for Edward and Crissy too. Edward was in charge, and punishments for refusal to do as instructed were the confections that Crissy and Edward enjoyed most.
By comparison, Edward and Crissy were quite conventional with role play, sexual gratification and erotic toys and playthings.
The creation of pain was more ancient and satisfying for Anna and Francesca, while the creation of intense and exquisite pleasure was more modern and fetishistic for Edward and Crissy. Then there was the whole father/daughter dynamic from which each derived immense erotic satisfaction; Crissy considered her real father to be a weak, dominated shadow of a man, always wanting what her mother would never provide him in terms of physical affection and satisfaction. By contrast Edward, though laden with many egregious faults, was, by comparison, strong in her mind; he was the kind of male who got what he wanted either by asking, earning or taking. What he wanted sexually he got from her, not through force, but through force of personality. He found her weaknesses and exploited them whenever he could. He was honest, forthright and candid about his many perversions and could tell Crissy what he demanded of her; she was receptive and always complied. Edward had long ignored his own wife; Crissy was Edward’s mate now and the two were of one mind and persuasion.
Both Anna an Edward both got what they wanted over time through trial and error, but it was a modern fiefdom where only he ruled. All his women were confined to the Residence under the dictatorial direction of Edward. It made Crissy wet just thinking about such strength and control. Even Francesca did as she was told, and if some sexual act of dominance by Edward was called for, Crissy would watch or assist, making Anna sit and watch while Edward took whatever he wanted, even things Anna thought were exclusively hers.
Crissy was now second in command, and the other two, long felt by Crissy and Edward to be dangerous together, were watched carefully.
“Tonight, we dine together as one family united,” Edward began. “But we are faced with problems, problems I do not yet know how to resolve quickly, quietly and thoughtfully. As you know, we have always been careful; a family of three until we found Francesca to complete what had always been missing. We are not family by blood; we are not even the family that Adam preaches about, those bound solely by love. We are instead bound by need, by common belief that we are not a part of the world in which we are forced to live. We are connected by what resides within us that the outside world does not see or experience as we do, nor can or will it. We are outlaws; creatures who are not meant to be a part of a society whose strictures we do not accept.”
He paused.
“We are threatened by the one Anna and I once called son and Crissy once called friend. Francesca does not know this creature but if he were to discover us, and our true ways, there could only be two outcomes possible. Either he must kill us, or we must kill him and his entourage. So, as we speak tonight, I cannot say that I know which will befall us, but what I do know is that for a very, very long time he has not been able to locate us and we, conversely have not been able to find him. Either he has elected to leave us be, or we remain hidden to him and can only hope he will eventually leave us to our life as we shall to his. I would, if knew where he was, go after him with all the resources available to me and end his life and the threat I believe he poses. The issue which causes me great consternation is that I do not know his mind. I would know better what to do if I did.”
Edward looked around at impassive faces waiting for what was to come next.
“I believe if I can find him, I will to kill him to end this constant burden of threat. It is the only way for the four of us to fully achieve peace of mind. Otherwise he will attempt to pick us off and destroy us one at a time. The loss of even one of us will destroy what matters most to me; the rhythm and pattern of our lives. Crissy and I are a pair, connected by bonds of devotion to the life we have discovered. We do not wish to give up this joy.”
He turned to Anna and Francesca sitting at the table side by side, holding hands.
“Concomitantly, Anna and Francesca have met and I believe are likewise bound by a life so rare and unique that, in my mind, the death of one would certainly be the death of the other
. It is like the last of a species; the last pair alive.”
He continued, “My wish is to do at least two things, perhaps three. I wish to continue the search for the Marco Polo Cache, a goal I believe we all have in common. It exists on two levels. I wish to find and possess these rarities and to make those who oppose us suffer. But I also wish to find Laura, force her to talk, then deliver her to you two and watch while you do your work not for the extraction of information, which she will readily give up, but for pain I wish her to experience over the longest period of time possible. I wish it to last a very, very long time and I will invite guests from our small circle of intimates and treasured friends who share our values, and who desire to be a part of the entertainment, fulfilling wild fantasies for their pleasure. On this do we all agree?”
All nodded.
“Second I will to terminate the life of the man I once called son. While Crissy Chance has fulfilled every expectation and more, this man who bears my last name is a shameful product of two whom Anna and I killed long ago. He is a sheep, a small hinderance who could not follow directions or learn his lessons.”
Edward thought then paused.
“After that, if I am sated; I wish to steal his fortune and kill his closest friends; the two women he adores most.”
“And the three others known to be with him, Gaea, Eene and Alana?”
“They are a waste of resources, know nothing and only widen the chance of being caught. Perhaps in the future, we may pick them off. For now, they are extraneous. I wish to rain death and pain on Adam St. James, and will begin, where possible with his women. We shall end with him.”
“How?”
“We shall make contact, then we shall discern what he knows and his true intentions.”
“He will not forgive us for Misti, assuming she still lives and is not consumed with madness.”
“We shall assess that when we speak. How do you all feel about this?”
Anna said, “We have no choice. We must draw him out in any way possible to assess him and his plans. After that we act.”
Crissy Chance Page 27