Christian answered first. “No worries. The cost is not an issue for us at this time. Go ahead and have them delivered by hand.” He looked over at Sebastian, who was nodding his head in agreement once more. He knew that Sebastian’s pain was increasing. He tried to shield him from it, but some of it was leaking through. Christian’s, for some reason, wasn’t as bad yet, and for that he was grateful.
“Gwendolyn, why don’t we show you where the opening party will be?”
“Great, I was going to ask if I could see it. I’ll need to have an idea of how the room is set up in order to get the party plans under way. And honestly, I am more than a little intrigued,” Gwen replied while the color bloomed rosy in her cheeks.
Christian winked at Sebastian behind Gwen’s back, as he pulled out her chair.
“If you have any questions about anything,” Sebastian said, “just ask.”
Chapter 6
Gwen could barely contain her curiosity about Eternity. Submission to a strong man had been the focus of her fantasies for as long as she could remember. In life, she was always the strong one, the one everyone turned to in a crisis. Just once, at least, she wanted to have someone else in charge to decide for her, take care of her, and pleasure her. Was that really too much to ask? She hoped not, and it looked like she had more of a chance for her fantasies to come true now than ever before. She would have to see what it would take to get membership, but maybe she could wrangle one as part of her payment. Besides, she was hoping to get to know both of them a whole lot better, and with only a few more days until the opening, that wasn’t going to leave a lot of time.
As they rode down in the elevator and walked to the front of the building, Christian explained the layout of the club. They stepped through large double doors into what was clearly the main room of the club.
“Wow, this is not what I expected. That’s for sure.” Gwen remarked as she looked around the lavish room.
Christian grinned. “Did you think everything would be leather and chains?”
“Yeah, kinda.” Gwen walked into the center of the main lounge area. Decorated with crystal chandeliers, plush ruby carpet and taupe walls, leather sofas, and more of the antique-looking wood pieces, the room was the epitome of elegant.
“If you look a little more closely at the wall art, I think you’ll see more of what you expected,” Sebastian commented. Both men stood off to the side and watched while Gwen wandered around, taking in her surroundings.
Following Sebastian’s suggestion, Gwen wandered over to look at the artwork. She quickly saw what he meant. Whereas in their office and the hallway upstairs was all impressionistic artwork, here the women in the pictures were mostly nude, and in various positions bound, gagged, or connected to different devices. Gwen was a little taken aback. She had fantasized about all of this, but her fantasies didn’t come close to what she was looking at here. A shiver of something, not quite fear, traveled down her spine. She was excited at the thought that this could be her bound and gagged and at the mercy of a powerful dominant or two. The morning’s orgasm, suddenly fresh in her mind, had her wondering how these two men would make her feel. If her morning’s fantasy was any indication, she would be tortured, loved, and experience more pleasure than she ever thought possible.
She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t hear them come up behind her. She jumped a bit when Sebastian touched her shoulder.
“So what do you think? This is where we were planning on having the opening event.”
Gwen turned and looked up into Sebastian’s eyes as she felt the heat of his gaze. “Um, yes…this will be perfect, and there is plenty of room for anything I could come up with. Do you want to have some musicians, or will you pipe in music?” She definitely felt a bit unsettled, which was not exactly the professional image she liked to portray.
“What do you think would be best? In your experience, which works better?” Sebastian backed up a bit. She hadn’t even realized he was so close until that moment.
“Well, it depends. I don’t think many of your guests will be dancing, do you?”
Christian laughed. “No, Gwendolyn, at least not the type you are thinking of. The only dancing will be done by those who feel the lash of the floggers, whips, and canes.”
Sebastian cut in. “What Christian means is that we were planning on having some demonstrations that evening in one of the dungeon rooms.”
“Dungeon?”
“Let me explain. The club is set up with seven dungeons, this main lounge area, and several private playrooms.”
“I see. I think we’ll go with piped-in music,” Gwen answered, but there was uncertainty in her voice. No wonder they had the whole brownstone.
“Eternity is one of a kind. Normally this type of a club would have one dungeon that had lots of rooms, large and small, all filled with different types of equipment to ‘play’ with. We have seven rooms, each with a theme—the seven deadly sins, actually.”
“Yes,” Christian cut in, “we thought it would add some mystery to the entire experience. You can choose a particular room to visit and see demonstrations or just play with your partner.”
Gwen could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she realized that reality was going to be much more intense than her fantasies had ever been. She wondered if she was really ready to take this step. Of course, she didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to. The only time she had to be in the club was for the opening. But would she be able to stay away?
“I’ve got it now. On opening night will all the rooms be open?”
“Yes, that is what we had planned.”
“Okay, so refreshments, music, mingling in here, and then your guests can wander throughout the rest of the rooms.”
“Exactly,” they answered in unison. Gwen thought it was kind of weird how the two of them were in sync with each other all the time.
“Gotcha. Will you need anything for any of the other rooms or just this one?”
Sebastian and Christian exchanged glances, but it was Sebastian who answered this time. “Just here. We’ll leave this room to your capable hands. The other rooms will be completed before the end of the week.”
“Excellent.” Gwen wondered how many times they had opened clubs like this. She doubted that they really needed her. They knew exactly what was required. “Now that I’ve seen the space we’re dealing with, I’ll be able to finish up all the planning rather quickly. Thank you for your time and for dinner.” She didn’t really want to leave them yet. Gwen didn’t know why, but it felt so good to be around them, as though she belonged with them.
“Well, before you leave us,” Christian said, as he headed toward the door at the other end of the room, “would you like to see one of the dungeons?”
Gwen hesitated. Did she? Who was she kidding? Of course she did. “Okay. I’ve never been in a dungeon before.”
Christian chuckled. “Don’t worry, we won’t do anything to you that you don’t want.”
“What?” Gwen couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice.
Sebastian and Christian exchanged looks. “Don’t mind him, Gwendolyn. He’s only kidding. It’s just a tour, and only if you wish.”
For a few heartbeats, Gwen thought they had been reading her mind, but that would be impossible. “Lead on.”
As she crossed the room and approached the doorway, she wondered what she would see. Would it be like the pictures hanging in the lounge or something else? Curiosity was warring with trepidation as she followed Sebastian and Christian through the door.
They stepped into the room, as they had with the main club room, and let her look around.
Sebastian was the first to break the silence. “If you have any questions, just ask. This is the Pride room, and the equipment is geared toward that, as you can see.”
“Uh huh.” Gwen had never seen any of these things up close and personal. She had seen some pictures on the web, but being able to touch and feel was entirely different.
As she stood in front of a large wooden X, which was about six feet tall, Sebastian stopped next to her.
“This is one of our St. Andrew’s Crosses. The submissive would step up to it and let their hands and feet be attached by the restraints at each of the four ends. Then depending on who is playing, they are flogged, caned, or whipped, or whatever else they and their partner decided upon.”
Gwen couldn’t take her eyes off the cross. Already she imagined what it would be like to be attached to it, to feel the tongues of a lash against her back. “They do it right in the middle of the room with other people around?”
“Yes, that is the purpose of places like this. Most people can’t afford to have this equipment to play with. We supply that.”
“I see.”
“And then, of course, there are people who just want to watch, or learn, all of that goes on here. We have security and surveillance in each of the main dungeons, but not in the private playrooms. No one will be hurt more than they want to be, believe me.”
“This isn’t your first club, is it? Or at least you’ve been into this stuff for a while, haven’t you?”
“Yes, we have, Gwendolyn,” Christian answered. “For many years we lived the life. Then we worked in a few different places before we decided we wanted to run our own establishment.”
“Well, that explains a lot, then. I have been wondering if you really need me at all. You both seem very knowledgeable already.”
Once again they answered in unison, “We need you more than you know.” They exchanged a look. Christian backed off a bit. Sebastian took Gwen’s hand.
“Gwendolyn, we really do need your expertise. We want to make sure this is a huge success, and we both know you are the right woman for the job. I hope you’re not reconsidering.”
“No, of course not. But I had been wondering.”
“Good, we’re glad to hear that.” He let go of her hand as they continued to wander around the dungeon. He seemed to be content to let her explore, although she could feel that something was wrong. Sebastian looked ill to her, where he hadn’t yesterday. But it was odd. He seemed fine. She also noticed that Christian kept stealing glances at the two of them but stayed to the other side of the room. He didn’t look too happy about that, either.
The walls were painted black. More of the explicit pictures were present, but there also were assorted whips, floggers, canes, and cat-o’-nine-tails. Besides the large cross there were two padded tables and what looked like a horse that was used in gymnastics. All the equipment had attachment rings and chains, handcuffs, and leather restraints on the walls near them. There were freestanding screens that separated the areas from each other, giving the semblance of privacy. In the center of the room was a slightly raised platform with chains hanging from the ceiling. Gwen couldn’t even imagine what those were used for.
“Those chains are for a type of suspension,” Christian pointed out as he crossed the room and stepped up onto the platform. He demonstrated how a person would be attached and then lifted off the ground either by their arms and legs.
Gwen had heard of suspension but could not understand how someone could subject themselves to that. Just the thought of it made her cringe. “This must be amazing when it’s filled with people.”
“Well actually, it is never very crowded. These clubs are exclusive and members only. Without an invite or membership, you don’t get in. We keep the number of clients in each room restricted as well.”
“That’s smart.”
“Yes. Well, the whole point is to give people the space to act out their scenes or fantasies. If we don’t have satisfied clientele, we won’t be very successful.”
“Very, very true.”
Gwen felt a bit overwhelmed by it all, but knew she had plenty of ideas for her fantasies now. But then she looked at her watch and realized how late it was. She needed to get going.
“This was been very eye-opening. Thank you so much for giving me the tour. But I think I’m going to have to call it a night.”
The morning’s fantasy was once again fresh in her mind. She felt warm and knew she needed to get away from them before she did something stupid like ask for a demonstration. She would swear that she could hear their voices in her head, as they were in her fantasy. She needed to get out of there now.
Sebastian looked paler and seemed to be using the edge of the table to hold himself up. Unsure of what was going on, she couldn’t dwell on it.
“Yes, of course. We didn’t mean to keep you so late.” Christian looked a little concerned as he answered her. “Shall I lead you out?”
“No problem at all. This will help me as I’m planning. I definitely have some new ideas after seeing the space.”
“Great, I can’t wait to see them.” Sebastian turned to Christian. “Why don’t you take her down, and I’ll meet you back in the office.”
Christian nodded, seeing the wince of pain cross Sebastian’s face. “No problem.”
“Thank you again, Gwendolyn. We really appreciate all of your work.”
“You’re quite welcome. Good night, Sebastian. I’ll be in touch soon.”
Chapter 7
After seeing Gwendolyn to her car, Christian hurried back to his friend. Sebastian had broadcast pain loud and clear back in the dungeon, something he had never done before. They both had been experiencing increasing pain and lessening of their powers recently. Neither could go out in bright sun without feeling the burn, but that wasn’t even the worst of it. No longer able to eat food without getting ill, it was harder and harder to pass for human.
I’m coming, Sebastian. Is there anything you need? He didn’t get a response. Not a good sign at all. He opened the office door, expecting Sebastian to be sitting behind the desk, but he wasn’t there.
Sebastian, where are you? Are you okay?
I need blood, and soon. I am in the Pride room.
I’ll bring some, but it’s going to be cold. Christian went to the back bookcase and pushed on a hidden lever. The shelving unit slid over, and he quickly typed in the combination on the keypad, and the door swung wide. Christian’s first stop was the refrigerator, where he grabbed a bag of their blood stash. No time to even throw it in the microwave, he needed to get to Sebastian. Christian smirked to himself. They were far too civilized to drink from a person except in the heat of passion. It had been years since they’d had to drink blood at all, but this curse was definitely getting the better of them.
He poured the blood into a large travel cup and headed to the dungeon. He wasn’t sure what he’d find, but he hoped that Sebastian wasn’t in as bad shape as he sounded.
Sebastian was lying on one of the padded bondage tables when Christian entered the dungeon.
“Hey, I have your fix.”
Sebastian struggled to sit up on the table. To see him suffering was hard on Christian, harder than his own pain. Over the years, Sebastian had always been the strong one. It was ironic that now Sebastian was losing his powers faster.
Christian handed the travel cup to Sebastian and watched his friend take long swallows from the cup. He could almost see the color come back into his face. The pain that he had been unable to block had eased as well. They could both “breathe” normally.
“Bloody hell, that was close.”
“What happened?”
“When Gwendolyn felt fear, it radiated through me. My heart felt like it was being stabbed, and my whole body went weak. If we breathed, I would say I couldn’t have.”
“Shit. I felt the pain, too, but not like that. But you were standing next to her.”
“It might have been that, but being close to her helped with the pain. Something else is going on here.”
“Can you make it back to the office?”
Sebastian glared at him as he stood up without his usual aplomb.
“Yeah, well, you looked like death about five minutes ago.”
“Let’s get back to the office. We need to figure this out.” Christian agre
ed and followed Sebastian into the elevator.
Once they were in the office with the door bolted, they entered their hidden lair. It had been expensive and time-consuming to build but definitely worth it. They no longer had to leave the protection of Eternity. Everything they needed was within the walls, and the wards on the building added to their protection. Magic ensured that unless an invite had been issued, no one would even know the brownstone existed. Gwendolyn hadn’t realized that it was why she had never noticed the building. The invisibility ward would change slightly after the opening. All those who had invites would know it was here, but unless they purchased membership, once they departed, their memory of the location would fade.
Their living area was spacious and had all the modern accoutrements. Their kitchen had the latest stainless steel appliances, but the rest of the apartment was filled with antiques from their family estates back in England. The living room, dining room, and twin master suites looked very close to how their rooms had been before they were turned. The apartment only lacked windows, but with their deteriorating health and the weakening of their powers, they needed a home that was thoroughly secure. But they didn’t see why they shouldn’t have the luxury that they were accustomed to. Their hidden “lair” had become a safe house, and not only for them, but for any of the other vampires who needed it in an emergency. They hoped that their private domain within Eternity would soon be the home they shared with Gwendolyn.
Christian sat in one of the chaises, facing Sebastian as he stretched out on the sofa. He just watched the other man for a few minutes.
“So are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Bloody hell. I was there, remember?”
“All I can tell you is that when Gwendolyn felt fear and withdrew, I felt instantly drained of all energy.”
“How is that possible?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well don’t you think we’d better find out?”
“Of course. Once I have been fully restored I’ll go through the old tomes and see what I can find.”
Twice Bitten Not Shy [Vampires of Eternity] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4