“What is this?” Devin stood in the middle of the room. “This room is schizophrenic. Look how half of it is going to hell. I don’t get it.”
“Just stop it.” Adele sighed. “Stop the questions and just be.” She hugged herself. “Don’t you feel it? “
“Feel what?” Devin’s forehead was glowing, and he wiped away the perspiration with the back of his hand. His eyes were dark and slightly glazed as he nervously looked around the room.
“The warm embrace. We are welcome here. In this room, at least,” Adele said.
“If you say so.” Devin sighed impatiently. He scratched at his arms as if quelling an itch. “I just know we need to keep going. Quickly.”
“But where?”
“That lady. We should find her.”
“I still don’t understand why.” Adele squinted and saw that his aura was dark and swirling. A red streak was weaving through the grays and blacks like a slash. As she watched, it seemed to seep open.
“What are you looking at?” Devin asked.
“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all,” Adele replied. The hairs on her arms stood on end. “Look at how tall and wide the windows are, yet there was nothing like that when we looked at the house.”
“Maybe we’re in a back wing somehow,” Devin said.
“Not a chance.”
Devin walked around the ballroom and jogged back to her. “I know.” He turned to Adele with a grin. “Let’s try upstairs.”
Adele’s stomach tightened as she followed him up the creaky stairs. “Are you sure these things are safe?” she asked, studying the splintered boards beneath her feet.
“I wouldn’t bring you this way if I didn’t believe it,” Devin said firmly.
“Okay,” Adele sighed, shaking her head. There was no point in arguing or turning back. She was in this far. She had to see it out.
Once they reached the top of the stairs, the tightening in Adele’s stomach shifted into a sinking dread. A wave of nausea swelled through her as the welcoming scent of pumpkin pie was overwhelmed by the cloying perfume of roses. Beneath the flowers was another, more sinister smell.
A sickly-sweet, fetid stench like the rot of decay.
“Devin, we can’t go on,” she said.
Devin ignored her as she yanked her hand. His grip on her was tight, and she could do nothing but follow his lead. He walked down what likely was once a red-carpeted hallway with burgundy, mosaic-patterned wallpaper but was now only a shadow of its former glory. They went past several closed, splintered doors and toward a gleaming oak door at the end.
The door swung open as they approached. Devin entered the room, pulling Adele with him.
Inside, the walls were covered from the floor across the ceiling in golden, patterned wallpaper. There was a large bay window. In the center of the room was a king-sized canopy bed with thick curtains.
Adele tugged her caftan to her nose.
“Ugh, no,” she said. “We’re definitely not going in. I don’t know what’s in here, nor do I want to find out.”
The curtains on the bed appeared to ruffle, and Adele swore the smell grew stronger.
“Come on, let’s get the hell out of here.”
She managed to pull him away. The smell was apparently too strong even for him.
“Don’t you want to see what’s in that bed?” he asked as they left the bedroom.
“Not a hope in hell,” Adele said. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, remember?”
“Right.”
Devin hurried down the hall, his pace growing quicker as he ran. “I know now. I’ve figured out this hall of mirrors,” he said.
“What now?” Adele asked.
“I can’t explain it. Come on.” He pulled her through another door and down a flight of stairs. The smell of pumpkin pie cleansed her nostrils from the stench of the upstairs, but only for a moment as he pulled her along to the main floor. Devin jerked her back through the ballroom and pushed through another door.
Very warm air thick with musky dirt and rose invaded her senses. She was warmer than she had been yet in Harmoni that day and welcomed the heat. Yet at the same time, the odor made her nauseous again.
They were standing in an atrium where the plants and flowers grew higher than Adele could believe. Teetering stalks garnished with colorful petals nearly pushed through the ceiling, searching for brightness from the dark, swirling clouds. Adele instinctively looked at the ground, half expecting tree stumps to slither along the pathway again. But the trees and bushes in the atrium appeared well behaved.
At the far end a dark-haired woman was tending to an enormous rose bush. Devin squeezed Adele’s hand. The woman turned to face them as they approached. Adele gasped.
It was the woman that had been crying, but not. Perhaps she was the woman’s daughter or a cousin. She had long, black hair and bright blue eyes and wore a white gown with a red sash around her waist and a bodice strung with red ribbon. She held an old, large watering can.
“I’ve been expecting you.” Her voice was deep and thick, with an accent Adele couldn’t place.
“I know, Mistress Rose,” Devin said as he half kneeled. Adele looked at him in surprise. The gesture felt too—familiar. Rose smiled and Devin stood.
“I did as you asked, Mistress,” Devin said, his eyes locked on Rose’s.
“What do you mean, you did as she asked?” Adele asked, grabbing Devin by the shoulder. He shook her off, his eyes never leaving Rose’s.
Rose smiled. Her red lips were sticky, as if coated with honey. Devin’s aura floated toward Rose, reaching curling fingers toward the dark, misty purple aura that spawned from her.
“Devin is a good boy. He obeys his mistress,” Rose said and grinned. Her aura shimmered.
“Mistress?” Adele asked, trying to avert her eyes from the auras.
“Never mind,” Rose said. “That is what you like to say, isn’t it?” She stared at Adele. Her eyes were cold and glassy, the blue as rich as the tossing ocean off Hermana’s beaches in a summer storm.
“Mistress?” Adele asked again, trying to unlock her eyes.
“Never mind,” Rose cackled, sounding more like a mocking raven than a beautiful young lady.
Rose had an oddly shaped face, and Adele tried to place where she had seen it before. It reminded her of the portraits in the hall, yet had an echo of something else.
“Who are you?” Adele asked.
Rose laughed again. “Why the questions? You’re the ones trespassing in my house, but that’s okay. I was expecting you.” She shook the watering can at Adele. Water sprayed from it, drenching Adele from head to toe with cold, rose-scented water.
A retort formed on Adele’s lips, but she collapsed to the floor before she could say a word.
Chapter Nine
Your inner strength will serve you through a difficult time.
When Adele woke, her head was spinning and her nemesis, the haunting scent of roses, made her want to scream. She sat up, trying to figure out where she was.
She gradually realized she was locked in a cage. The large room beyond was as extravagant as the others, but this time, the expense was on gray granite and multitudes of shiny brackets, buckles, and shackles everywhere she looked.
“No!” she cried.
Her little cell was big enough to pace a few steps alongside the narrow cot inside it, but that was al. There were other cells, maybe six in all, in sets of three facing each other. They were empty.
There were piles of straw and empty shackles attached to long chains. Adele wondered if there would be any other visitors that day—or night, or whatever it was.
A bottle of water was on the floor, nestled into the straw. She eagerly unscrewed the lid and drank quickly, although she wasn’t sure if it even was water.. Her throat seemed slightly less dry then and she was better able to think about what had happened and, more importantly, how she was going to get out this mess.
The door squeaked open, and Rose entered, wearing a black l
eather catsuit. Her eyes shined through the slats of the mask, her thick, red lips unmistakable. She clutched a leather leash, and with a pang in her heart, Adele saw Devin crawling on the floor beside her. He had a large, thick, silver-studded collar around his neck and wore nothing save a leather thong. His scruffy face made him look arousingly animal-like. Rose smacked his ass now and again with a little leather crop that she held in her other hand.
Adele’s heart pounded as they approached her. Rose smiled, tapping the crop against the bars of her cage.
“So, Miss Adele,” Rose purred. “How do you like your visit so far?”
“I’m not sure,” Adele said.
“I think we can help you to decide.” Rose produced a key from her ample bosom. Adele marveled at how the tight leather jumper had a convenient peekaboo diamond cut from her neck to halfway down her breasts.
“We’ll see,” Adele said defiantly as Rose slid the key into the lock and turned it. As Adele stepped from the cage, Rose cupped Adele’s cheeks and kissed her with her thick lips.
“Yes, we will.” Rose grinned.
Adele grudgingly followed Rose, putting her hands into her pockets to check that she still had her obsidian ball. Her herb sack still hung around her neck beneath her clothes. She hoped Rose wouldn’t find it.
Rose led her down a cold stone hallway while Devin crawled beside her. Rose was preoccupied with slapping Devin’s ass now and again with the crop, so Adele followed quietly. Certain that Rose and Devin weren’t watching, she slipped the herb pouch from her neck into one of her pockets.
The tunnel was damp and cool, but nothing like the weather in Harmoni, and definitely not like the weather in Hermana. It was almost a relief to feel a slight moistness in the air despite the thick, omnipresent sense of dread that wrapped around her bones.
Her fear would keep her warm, she surmised.
Rose opened another door with another key that she pulled from a ring in her pocket, and the locked clacked loudly in the quiet hallway. Adele looked down at Devin, but he didn’t take his eyes from the floor the whole time.
Rose pushed the door open, and the trio moved into another dungeon. This one had large torches clutched in stone hands that protruded from brass fixings on the wall. Again, the room was strangely bright although the torches weren’t lit. Incense floated from the corners of the room, creating thick, gray swirls that mingled with Rose’s wandering aura.
In the middle of the room was a huge canopy bed whose opulence gleamed boldly in the dank room. Brass fittings shined in the flicker of the torches, illuminating dancing angels and menacing gargoyles. They copulated with abandon from the clawed feet of the bed to the phallic peaks of the posts.
This bed didn’t have curtains draped from the posts like the one on the second floor. It was also at least king-sized and had a woven duvet of purple and red. The swirling design reminded Adele of Devin’s aura before it turned nearly black. Stealing a look at him, she couldn’t tell if he even had an aura at all. Rose’s aura flooded out from her and engulfed everything with a steady pulsing tremor.
Rose sat on the bed and motioned for Devin to curl up on the floor.
“You may wash.” She pointed to a basin and jug on a vanity at the side of the room. “There’s a chamber pot as well, as I understand your kind still has to learn how to flush out toxins the old-fashioned way.”
Adele opened her mouth to say something and shut it again. She stared at Rose for a moment, but before she could get sucked into her hypnotic glance again, she scooped the chamber pot from the dresser.
“Is there any paper I can use, or is it drip-dry?” Adele asked stonily.
“There’s some paper over by the closet. You can go in there.”
Adele went into the closet, which was bigger than some of the apartments she’d lived in. She looked dismally at the chamber pot, but the call of nature was more urgent than her modesty.
When she finished her business, she left the pot in the closet and returned to Rose, who stood poised by the bed, still clutching the leash attached to Devin’s thick, black, studded collar. The silver buckles and rings sparkled as his aura pulsed in and through Rose’s and reached out to Adele.
“Wash up now, then,” Rose urged as she pointed a long, black-gloved finger toward the washbasin. “You need to be fresh and clean.”
Adele stared at the jug and dutifully stripped. She took special care to fold her caftan with her tools inside it so nothing would spill out. As far as she knew, Rose had no idea she had anything with her.
Adele looked over at the svelte, young lady in the gleaming catsuit, then down at her own middle-aged body. It was her own fault for letting herself get flabby. Too many days of standing around the lingerie store, too many nights in front of the easel. And in the cold, bitter winter of Hermana, even going to the gym seemed daunting.
Never mind, she thought. I’ll get through this.
Adele poured water from the jug into the large ceramic basin. A few folded towels were beside it, so she took a small one and soaked it in the tepid water. She ran the damp cloth along her body, aware that Rose and Devin were watching her every movement. Devin posed on hands and knees by Rose’s legs as Rose patted Devin’s head and ran her hands through his tousled hair like as if he were an animal.
Adele turned her gaze away, jealousy seeping through her. Not that long ago she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be with Devin, yet seeing him being fondled by another woman made her realize that yes, indeed, she did.
She would play along with their little S and M game. Why not?
Adele soaked the cloth again and washed her breasts slowly. She took special care with her nipples, letting the voyeurs enjoy her play.
Once more, she swirled the cloth around in the water and wrung it out. She washed her privates, again taking her time to be sure of a job well done. She made certain to wash herself thoroughly to get rid of the sweat from her long walk.
When she returned the cloth to the water, Rose cleared her throat. “Go to the bed,” she ordered. Adele walked over to it and felt a stinging blow on the back of her thighs. She winced.
“Quicker,” Rose said.
Adele climbed onto the bed, vulnerable as her naked body crawled along the thick, soft comforter. Her pendulous breasts hung freely and swung as she turned to sit and face Rose. Devin sat on the floor, his cock pushing against his leather G-string hard enough that the waistband was pulling away from his stomach, and watched the women expectantly. Above his head, the swirling orbs of his aura meshed and mated with Rose’s, looping into her own that was reaching toward them.
Adele marveled at her own aura colors. She could rarely see them unless she was gazing into a mirror. Purple and gray mixed with yellow and orange spilled from her, and a slash of red wormed through the other colors, zigzagging rapidly toward the swirling maze of Devin and Rose’s auras.
Rose brought the crop across Adele's breasts. The stinging slash left an angry, red welt that caused Adele to cry out. “Oh! That smarts.”
Rose brought the crop down on Adele's other breast with a force that pushed Adele back among the fluffy pillows.
“Hold out your arms,” Rose commanded she looked over at Devin.
Devin looked up at Adele. She couldn’t meet his gaze and lowered her eyes. He stood, and Adele admired his firm physique as he walked to the dresser. His tight buttocks were accentuated by the thread of the G-string, and his strongly muscled thighs twitched as he rummaged through a drawer. He produced several pieces of rope and held them loosely in his hands.
He returned to the bed and set to work fastening first one of Adele’s wrists, then the other to the bedposts. Adele quietly let him do it, watching him, watching his eyes without directly looking at him. Devin didn't seem to be Devin. He was hypnotized. Her options were limited for the moment; she had to cooperate to see what would happen next.
“Tie her legs,” Rose commanded.
Devin went over to her ankle and looped the rope carefully
through it. She quivered with a small trill of excitement at the sight of his leather collar and the chain dangling along his firm chest. He molded the rope around the bedpost, using the copulating figures as anchors for his work. He wound the rope around her other ankle and knotted it to the bedpost.
Rose watched from the side, cutting the air with the crop sporadically as she impatiently waited for him to secure Adele.
When he was done, he returned to his position crouching by Rose’s feet. She patted his head, staring at the ropes, then studied his handiwork as she approached Adele, touching the knots, pulling on them to see how tightly they held.
“Nice work,” she praised. Devin nodded.
Rose strutted over to her dresser and opened a little drawer. She returned, producing nipple clamps that she clicked like castanets. She held them before Adele.
“I can't hear you,” Rose said.
Adele stared at the shiny clamps. Her pussy was moist as she anticipated what was next. “Devin, you must always thank your mistress,” Rose said.
“Yes, Mistress,” Devin said from the floor.
“And you?”
Adele stammered. “I-I...”
“You must address me as Mistress,” Rose snapped, holding the clamps closer for Adele to see.
“Yes, Mistress. I know what they are and I know what they are used for, but I still don't know what you want with me.”
“I want to bring you pleasure.”
Adele knew Rose was lying. She could feel it in her bones, that vague sense of distrust niggling at her gut, but she played along with the woman.
Rose leaned over Adele, her eyes gleaming wickedly she massaged Adele's breast with her long, thin fingers.
“Your breasts are so large and beautiful,” Rose said. “You really are a lucky woman.” She reached for Adele’s right breast, rolling it beneath her hand, pulling up the nipple with her fingers. She swirled her tongue around it, sucking and flicking until at last it grew a little more erect.
Rose took one of the nipple clamps and stood alongside Adele. She squeezed Adele’s nipple tightly into a peak and snapped the clamp around it. Adele shuddered, exploring the curious blend of pleasure and pain that jolted through her. Before Adele could say anything, Rose clamped the second nipple. Adele moaned softly as she closed her eyes.
Pisces: Teacher's Pet Page 16