Librium

by PJ Bayliss

  Chaise trembled as he listened to Federico’s words. He knew that he played an extraordinary role in his grandfather’s life, but he had no idea just how much of an impact it had been to Federico.

  Peyton rubbed Chaise’s shoulders for comfort as the video continued.

  ‘It was more than a heartbeat. It was a soul, and through our souls connecting, I was finally able to belong to my own family.

  Can you remember those days of growing up? When we read books to each other and you listened to my stories of the old days. Those days when your father, my own son, would travel for many weeks at a time to help build this business. It was my company from the beginning, and he helped me build it block by block for as long as I can remember.

  It was in those days Chaise, when you were just a baby, when I finally realised what was important in my life. Can you remember those days my dear boy?’

  Chaise nodded and wiped a tear from his eye. He whispered, ‘I remember…’ on the zephyr of his breath.

  ‘I remember, Chaise. And that one day when you asked me to listen to your own heartbeat, I realised with horror, that I have never even listened to the heartbeat of my own son.’

  Federico started to break down at this point. His trembling hand drew up to his eyes and he used a cloth handkerchief to wipe the trail of tears from his cheek.

  ‘Chaise, it was through you that I finally realised that in a heartbeat I had lost my very own. All those years of hard work, commitment to my job, this business, the company. Every day I committed myself to doing what I thought mattered, but never once did I realise what really matters.

  All those years have built this family, but they have also eroded it into dust. And memories, like dust, blow away in the wind if you’re not careful with them.

  Never be afraid, Chaise. Never be afraid to look back to discover, learn, and unravel answers. Life your own story, you will never regret doing so in your life. And I know that regrets, like heartbeats, are very hard to take back in life.’

  Federico stood up in the video and walked out of shot leaving a view of his bookcase behind before the camera faded into a circle and turned black.

  Chaise’s presence of mind fell into vertigo as the image fade.

  ‘He’s telling me something Peyton. I just know it.’

  ‘What do you mean, telling you something?’

  ‘A riddle, it’s a clue. I just know there’s something in what he said.’

  The DVD popped out of the player. Chaise looked at it and snapped his fingers. ‘This!’ he pointed to the image on the DVD. ‘This bookcase, where is it?’

  ‘It’s in the room where I set the camera up. Don the hallway, where the casket was.’

  ‘Let’s go!’ exclaimed Chaise.

  ‘Go where?’ asked Gianni. He had entered the garage as the DVD stopped and was standing beside the car with Josephine and Adrienne behind him.

  ‘Err, just go?’ Said Chaise in surprise. ‘What are you guys up to?’

  ‘Your mother wants to shop in Naples. We need the car to get to the ferry.’

  ‘Oh, okay. I think we’ll stay here, if that’s alright?’

  ‘It’s fine. We can’t get any more people into the car anyway. Carlos and Adrienne are coming with us.’

  After a brief chat the family hopped into the car and drove away. Chaise watched the car disappear up the driveway as the garage door started to close. As soon as it clanged shut, Chaise turned to Peyton.

  ‘Bookcase!’

  ◆◆◆

  They entered the empty room at the end of the hallway. Federico’s favourite chair was now sitting by the French doors where his casket once was and the couch was shifted back into the middle of the room.

  ‘Here it is,’ said Peyton as they entered the room. The bookcase was behind positioned the hallway entrance door, a few feet from the corner where another leather chair was placed. It was made from native olive oak and was full of books of all different shapes and colours.

  Chaise stood back and examined it. ‘Hmmm. This is pretty impressive, isn’t it?’

  Peyton agreed and nodded as he continued. ‘Almost too good. It’s like, picture perfect,’ he backed away from it and tilted his head to one side in thought.

  ‘What are you thinking?’

  Chaise looked around the room and back to the bookcase. ‘You’ll think I’m weird, but, it’s not in the right place eh?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘It should be here, on this side of the wall,’ he gestured to the other side of the room, ‘not here, behind the door. That way, it really becomes a display. I mean, it’s beautifully made, so it makes perfect sense to show it off.’

  ‘I guess so. Never gave it a thought until you pointed it out.’

  ‘Don’t get me started on how many things are in the wrong place around this place,’ he looked around the room, ‘I’d have a field day in here if it were up to me.’

  Peyton picked up on his OCD tendencies. It had always been a trait of his and she recalled how his bedroom was always tidy and immaculate. He had an inane sense of order as such, however, she agreed with him this time and she closed the hallway entrance door to enable a better perspective of it against the wall.

  ‘Hang on Peyton!’ Chaise walked over to her and opened the door back up. Then he dashed to the French doors, opened them and walked outside to the lower balcony before coming back into the room.

  ‘It’s missing a room!’

  ‘What? Where?’

  ‘A room, or something, there’s something in behind this wall. Here, come look!’

  Chaise took hold of her hand and went outside to the balcony where he compared the outer wall dimensions of the villa to the interior room wall. He walked briskly back to the bookcase and started to take a closer look at its structure.

  ‘It’s a door!’ he exclaimed, ‘It has to be!’ He fumbled around the sides of the bookcase as Peyton flicked her fingers across books on the shelves. Every now and then she would remove a book from the shelf in the hope it would trigger a hidden latch or handle. She kept trying until she found one book at the end of the shelf that wouldn’t budge.

  ‘This might be it,’ she said excitedly.

  ‘What! What have you found?’

  ‘This book won’t shift. Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier.’

  Chaise smirked, ‘Cunning ol’ geezer! So that’s what he meant by looking back in the video,’ he examined the book closer and removed the other books that were next to it. ‘Hey, check this out, Peyton.’

  He had discovered a metallic, V-Shaped insignia etched into the cover which sat inside a circle like a logo. Chaise ran his fingers over the symbol and mumbled under his breath.

  ‘What are you thinking about now?’

  ‘I’ve seen this symbol somewhere before. It’s somewhere nearby…’

  With a snap of his fingers he cried out, ‘Got it!’ Then he ran out of the room and up the stairs. Peyton heard his footsteps running across the floorboards along with an excited holler of excitement before he ran back down the stairs to her in the room.

  His face was lit up with delight. ‘Check it out! This was in the jewellery box!’

  In his hand was a gold ring with a diamond encrusted insignia in the shape of a V. It was the exact same size and dimension as the V on the book.

  ‘V, for Vallati,’ proclaimed Chaise, with a great big smile. He put the ring on his finger and depressed it into the book cover. A huge sense of relief and satisfaction fell over his body.

  ‘It fits!’

  38

  The laboratory had a polished concrete floor that extended back under the house. It was twice as long as a school bus and three times as wide. This one room, by itself, was roughly the same size as the middle floor of the villa, but its contents were vastly different.

  Chaises eyes opened wide as scanned the room. ‘What the fuck has he been up to in here?’

  Peyton held her hand to her mouth, ‘Oh, my, God…’

  They
wandered about the room almost lost for words. Peyton ran her hands down one of the walls. ‘Nice décor…’

  ‘Yes. Soothing, I guess. Cream?’

  They looked at each other and cried out simultaneously, ‘Vanilla!’

  The walls were painted vanilla, as were the shelves that were beneath white stone top benches. All the furniture was either white, cream, or vanilla - except for a cage in the corner, which stood out in contrast, painted in a dull metallic black.

  ‘Kinky…’ muttered Peyton.

  ‘Definitely kinky. I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover after all.’

  ‘Nope. Definitely not!’ replied Peyton, as she snapped one of the whips onto the counter top.

  She hung it back up on the wall next to the other instruments. A black leather flogger, a studded paddle, and several different sized whips, all hung on purpose-built hooks.

  ‘I get all of that,’ commented Chaise, ‘but this stuff… seriously?’

  To the left of the whips were some shelves where there were half a dozen gas masks of various shapes and sizes. Some were made of rubber, a couple consisted of leather with large shining silver spikes protruding from the skull. On the bottom shelf sat a thick cotton strait-jacket alongside a couple of other costumes.

  'All that's missing is a maid's outfit...' he joked.

  'Don't stress, I have one if you need.'

  Peyton whistled in bewilderment at the collection of kinky paraphernalia around the room. She’d never seen anything like it before. At least, nothing like it in the flesh. She ran her fingers over an old fashioned wooden yoke propped up next to a surgical dentistry chair.

  'This is something else all right. Do you think it’s like a museum?’

  Chaise tugged a white linen cover of some furniture and it fell to the ground.

  ‘Nope. I somehow doubt it’s a museum,’ he stared at the machine that was hidden beneath the cover. It was painted matte black and had a large black metallic box with a dial at one end. From the box, there was a polished stainless steel shaft with a screw fitting at the other end. It was housed in a solid steel frame and looked sturdy enough to defend the front line of a football team. He flicked the switch on the box and the engine hummed for a moment before slowly moving the shaft in and out. It gradually built up speed and eventually ended up thrusting to and fro at a steady and consistent pace.

  ‘The Subordinator,’ Peyton said, reading a name from a small metal engraved sign on the side of the frame.

  ‘Subordinator? Yeah, I can imagine what the subordinate would be…’ he smirked.

  Peyton giggled at his pun, but she knew the machine was no joke. It was a serious piece of kit with its solid steel shaft plunging into the void with relentless ease. She wondered where the various attachments were hidden and if she might have a chance to put it to the test.

  ‘Can you hear me?’

  ‘Huh?’ woke Peyton. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I asked if you could hear me, or is that machine too noisy to hear anything?’

  She shook the daydream from her head, ‘Yes, it’s a bit noisy. Sorry about that. What’s up?’

  ‘Come look at this.’

  Reluctantly she flicked the switch off and pulled herself away from the machine to see what Chaise had discovered. He was standing next to another machine that looked like a battery charger beneath a set of three computer screens.

  ‘What on earth…?’ gasped Peyton. ‘That looks like one of the electrode plugs.’

  ‘Yup. I think this is what we’ve been looking for,’ he smiled and waved his hand about the room. ‘All of that stuff is a bit of a bonus though.’

  They continued to examine the device on the counter. It was an old vacuum tube variable power source that glowed with an orange light when turned on. Several wires were connected to a row of banana plugs on the front of the machine, each wire connected to a small snap-lock plug.

  ‘It looks like something from the X-Men…’ she muttered.

  ‘I was thinking the X-Files, but it definitely seems to be the thing we're looking for. Look at those plugs!’

  Peyton was rummaging about in a small box with several connectors and metallic bits and pieces. ‘Is this a plug?’ she held up a small silver object.

  Chaise looked at what she was holding and smirked, ‘You know damn well that isn’t a plug.’

  ‘Go on!’ she boasted in a smug tone. ‘Tell me Chaise, what is it used for?’

  He sensed the playful tone in her voice. ‘I think you’d learn faster if I showed you.’

  Peyton handed it over to him with a defiant smirk. It was yet another one of her friendship-zone bluffs, however, right now she was comfortable with losing the first hand.

  Chaise polished the metal surface on his shirt and then squeezed one end of the device. It opened wide like a crocodile’s mouth and back shut again under the force of a spring. He depressed the clip several times in front of her eyes to test that it worked fine before touching it to her shirt.

  He trailed it over her shirt as if finding the right spot on her body. ‘It goes... here, I believe…’ His mark was established with precision due to her excited and erect nipples. She gave out a sigh as Chaise trickled it around her nipple in tiny circles.

  Peyton swallowed back her enthusiasm, ‘Interesting, how do you use it?’

  Chaise squeezed the clip open and pressed it against her breast. ‘Like so…’ he replied, slowly depressing the clip as he spoke.

  It clipped onto Peyton’s nipple securely through the material and sent a burst of pain rocketing through her bosom. She discretely bit the tip of her tongue to compose herself as calm and collected as possible.

  Composure was required on Chaise’s behalf as well. Watching her willing acceptance of the clamp onto her nipple sent a burning fuse of passion through to the very core of his body. He knew her pain was real. There could be no denying it given the force he used to open the clip, but her resistance to its manipulation was remarkable. She didn’t flinch, clench her teeth, or move a muscle as he applied it. It was infuriating.

  Sensually infuriating.

  He released the clip and placed it back into the box. ‘See? Easy to use, isn’t it?’

  Peyton nodded, ‘Very educational,’ you seem to be reasonably educated in such things of pleasure.’

  Pleasure?

  Chaise gulpled and couldn't believe the game she was now playing. He’d only just discovered the secret dungeon of kink of his deceased grandfather, and now he was considering sex in the same location. However, as Peyton eluded before, everything was laid out in a clean and pristine manner, like a museum, and that single thought removed all his doubts.

  ‘Educated, maybe, but I believe it pays to have more practical experience in certain circumstances. Don't you agree?’

  ‘Yes, it pays to have experience. Plenty of experience,’ she pursed her lips up tight and stroked her chin. ‘But I wonder…’

  ‘Wonder what?’

  ‘I just wonder if you prefer to share your experience, or if you'd rather have the experience.’

  The whites of his eyes flashed in surprise. Her proposition was a complete turnaround from his typical stance, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be on the receiving end of the stick or if this was the time to succumb to her.

  He posted his argument for the “against”. 'Well, Peyton, the thing is it takes quite a proficient and skilled individual to dish out such experience.’

  Peyton smirked and placed the palms of her hands on the bench behind him to effectively lock him in. ‘Oh dear, dear Chaise. You have to trust me when I say this,’ she leant forward to whisper in his ear, ‘I am more than proficient in this trade.’

  Chaise never noticed the rubber hose she had in her hands. Nor did he notice the slip knot she’d managed to tie and the fact that one of his wrists was now placed in the loose loop of the snare.

  Peyton tugged the rubber hose tight and quickly flicked the running end of it around his other wris
t in a loose half-hitch. Seconds later he was bound up tight with his arms secured behind his back.

  ‘Peyton! What do you think you’re up to?’

  ‘What does it look like I’m doing?’ she replied with a growl. ‘Giving you a lesson,’ her fingers scurried over the zipper of his pants and she quickly unbuttoned his jeans.

  Chaise’s mind rushed for a possible retaliation and he stuttered, ‘But, but hun, we’re just friends!’

  Peyton stood upright and glared at him face to face. ‘Fuck this friend zone shit, you’re in my territory now!’

  Chaise swallowed his fear and tried desperately to locate his sense of composure as Peyton’s fingers returned to his belt line. Within seconds, she’d completed the job and thrust his pants down to the ground where they gathered around his ankles. With his shoes on, there was no way they were going to travel any further. And with them gathered at his feet, he was also bound to move nowhere either.

  Excited nerves of pleasure crawled up his spine as he watched his friend continue. Without skipping a beat, she grabbed another rubber hose from a nearby bench where several gas Bunsen burners were positioned by racks of chemical glassware. Her precision was uncanny and Chaise couldn't help but wonder how long she’d been planning to use them.

  ‘You seem to be quite resourceful for this lesson.’

  With a smirk, she lit a match and set one of the Bunsen burners alight while grabbing a stainless-steel test tube holder. ‘I don’t mind using all the resources at hand. Sometimes, I even run out of them, but only with exceptional students.’

  Nervous ticks immediately jumped to his chest and he started to regret the clamping of her nipple. He didn’t realise this was a game of monkey-see-monkey-do.

  Chaise noticed the metal tongs were changing colour and becoming red hot under the flame.

  ‘So, err, what are you going to do with that clamp then? Or shouldn’t I ask?’