Slave of Darkness

by Francesca Lewis

  ‘Is Dr Proctor coming to visit you this evening?’ Judith asked her brother.

  Edward shook his head. ‘Unfortunately not. However, he hopes to be with us within the next couple of days. He will take the opportunity to see how Tabitha and Marianne are progressing.’

  ‘After today I scarcely think that Marianne can be said to have progressed at all,’ Judith observed icily. ‘Did she repent after I left you on the moors?’

  Edward glanced at Marianne, who shifted uneasily in her chair, recalling the way it had felt as he’d thrust his rigid member in and out of her, biting and scratching so savagely in his haste to slake his lust.

  ‘I fear not,’ he replied with a sigh. ‘Tonight we’ll take her to the outhouse.’

  ‘An excellent idea,’ replied his sister. ‘I didn’t like to mention it to you when you first returned, but Tabitha has become increasingly clumsy of late. She claims it’s because her arms are aching due to the exercises Francis prescribed for her. However, I believe it’s her way of showing her annoyance that she is not allowed to meet with John.’

  ‘You mean she needs disciplining, too?’ asked Edward.

  ‘In my opinion, yes. But of course the final decision must rest with you,’ Judith gushed demurely.

  Marianne knew this wasn’t true. Edward and Judith never contradicted each other because they both took pleasure from the same things. The prospect of the outhouse was a fearful one, but this time she was determined that, no matter what, she would endure whatever punishment they had planned for her right through to its conclusion, and not spoil it all by escaping back to the modern day.

  Despite her brave intentions she found her appetite had evaporated, and pushed the rather greasy stew aimlessly around her plate.

  ‘At least Marianne is eating less,’ remarked Edward. ‘That, coupled with the belt she wears at night, has presumably improved her shape.’

  ‘You’ll see for yourself in the outhouse,’ said Judith. ‘In my opinion the difference is very slight. Perhaps the belt should be worn tighter.’

  Marianne fully expected to be led to the outhouse as soon as the meal was over, but her employers kept her waiting, plainly delighted by her increasing tension as the hours ticked by and darkness fell on the house.

  ‘Is this the normal time you retire, Marianne?’ Edward asked her.

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘Then come with us. You will spend tonight in the outhouse with Tabitha.’

  ‘Tabitha’s already retired,’ Judith told him.

  ‘I’ll fetch her from her room,’ said her brother. ‘Marianne, go with my sister. I’m sure you realise there’s no point in resisting?’

  Marianne did realise, but her heart was thumping heavily behind her ribs and she could feel tension in her neck and shoulders. Any fear she felt was coupled with arousal, but once inside the gloomy outhouse, as she watched Judith light two tapering candles and place them in brackets on the walls, fear became the dominant emotion. Driven by an instinct for survival, Marianne inched back towards the door, but Judith saw and slammed it shut.

  ‘Where would you go?’ she asked her companion contemptuously. ‘There is no one near here to take you in. You belong to us, just as Tabitha belongs to us.’

  At that moment the heavy wooden door creaked open again and Edward dragged in a sobbing Tabitha, still wearing her nightshift. ‘She was a little reluctant,’ he said, with a mirthless smile at his sister. ‘As you said, she claims her clumsiness is due to aching arms. After tonight I think she’ll have learned her lesson.’

  He flung the serving girl into a corner and then turned his attention to Marianne, pulling off her dress and her undergarments so she was forced to stand naked, shivering with cold, as he produced the thick leather belt with which Judith had beaten her on the moors.

  ‘Since it’s night time you must wear this,’ he remarked, laying it around her waist. He tugged it tight, his efforts making him grunt, until she could scarcely breathe, before finally fastening the buckle.

  ‘There, that improves your shape immediately,’ he said, his hands roaming possessively over her hips. ‘And now for the other strap.’ Marianne parted her legs a little as he pulled a strap up between her thighs, fastening it at the front and back of the leather belt. Watching her closely, he pulled tighter and tighter until she felt the belt biting into her sensitive sex lips, causing an insidious pressure, a form of stimulation that both hurt and aroused. ‘Now you’re protected from yourself,’ he said with evident satisfaction, before pushing her up against the wall and fastening her arms into two metal rings placed higher than those she’d seen the first time.

  She felt shamed and humiliated to be standing there, naked apart from the two strips of leather, her hands fastened securely to the wall, forcing her breasts forward and emphasising her curves. The brick wall irritated her sore flesh and she tried to ease herself away from it, but Edward saw her slight movement and pressed against her shoulders, urging her back and making her whimper at the discomfort.

  ‘Don’t move from that position,’ he ordered her. ‘Simply watch what happens to Tabitha. Watch, and remember that after we’ve finished with her you will be dealt with similarly.’

  As he dragged Tabitha to her feet the poor maid began to sob. ‘Don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me,’ she blabbered. ‘I never meant to break nothing. It’s the exercises I have to do, they’ve made the muscles in my arms hurt.’

  Ignoring the pitiful pleas, Judith pushed the sobbing girl to her knees and lifted her skirt. Beneath it she was naked, apart from her stockings. ‘Stop crying and pleasure me,’ she ordered Tabitha. As she spoke, she turned to face the fettered Marianne. Marianne glanced at Edward, who was watching with interest, his gaze travelling from his sister to Marianne and then back to his sister.

  ‘I want her to watch me spend,’ said Judith calmly, nodding towards Marianne. ‘It will do her good to learn that others may have pleasure whilst she may not.’

  Already Marianne was thoroughly aroused. She could feel her juices damp against the leather strap that was now working its way between her sex lips as she blossomed with mounting excitement. She yearned for more stimulation, however light, to help satisfy her needy flesh.

  Tabitha’s head and shoulders disappeared beneath her mistress’ skirt, and Judith kept her eyes fixed on Marianne’s as the girl worked in secret beneath the concealing fabric. Marianne could hear suckling sounds and was able to picture vividly how Tabitha’s tongue and lips must be tantalising her mistress’ flesh. She watched as Judith’s eyes opened wider and her body started to grow rigid. Obviously Tabitha was doing her work well, because soon Judith was flushed and shaking, her entire body trembling with her impending climax.

  Marianne’s breasts ached. Her nipples grew tight and she felt her insides knot with excitement. The constant pressure of the belt against her now erect clitoris was almost unendurable. It kept her at a high level of excitement without ever allowing her pleasure to spill, and she could have cried with thwarted need.

  Sir Edward was now watching his sister intently, but when she finally uttered a suppressed whimper and shook from head to toe he switched his gaze back to Marianne. ‘I expect you wish that was you,’ he said quietly. ‘Tell me how you feel.’

  Marianne lowered her head in shame. She couldn’t tell him. If she spoke the truth she’d be punished, but she sensed he already knew the answer. He knew how much she was yearning for release, how her body was pulsing with desperate desire. He must have understood only too well that the strap, intended to act as a restraint, was in reality constantly titillating her, driving her into a frenzy of frustration so intense that she had difficulty in remaining silent.

  Once Judith’s orgasm had died away she lifted her skirt a little, turning to one side to reveal Tabitha crouching on the floor with her back to Marianne. The servant girl remained on the floor waiting to see what wou
ld happen to her next – and she did not have long to wait.

  ‘Do you realise what you’ve done?’ Sir Edward asked the frightened girl, pulling her to her feet and staring down at her. ‘You have tried to influence my sister with your wanton ways. I can scarcely believe what I have witnessed.’

  ‘But she told me to,’ Tabitha wailed at the injustice of his words.

  ‘I didn’t hear her,’ said her master.

  Tabitha looked at Judith appealingly. ‘You did tell me, didn’t you, ma’am? You wanted me to pleasure you, you said so.’

  ‘I did no such thing,’ said Judith coldly. ‘I’m a respectable widow and consider you a dangerous influence on me.’

  Tabitha turned frantically towards the tethered Marianne. ‘They’re always doing this to me,’ she cried. ‘It isn’t fair. If I disobey I’m punished and if I obey it’s even worse for me. Can’t you help me?’

  Marianne didn’t dare respond. She was in no position to help Tabitha, and besides, it was obvious that the girl, like herself, did gain pleasure from these sessions of intense punishment mingled with moments of sweet sexual release.

  Edward pulled a mounting block forward from one corner, sat himself down on it and then pulled the struggling Tabitha over his knees before immediately beginning to spank her with the flat of his hand. At first the blows were light, scarcely marking the pale flesh, but gradually they increased in strength until Tabitha was squirming frantically against him, trying to evade the blows. He continued remorselessly, striking again and again, his hand rising and falling while Marianne watched, hypnotised by what was happening.

  Eventually, when Tabitha’s buttocks and upper thighs were glowing bright red, she was turned over and, despite her protests, her master started to slap her belly until that too glowed with heat.

  By now Tabitha was weeping, the tears streaming down her face as she implored him to stop hurting her. Then, as Marianne wondered how much more the girl could endure, her crying changed to a moan, which she realised was one of pleasure. Marianne was almost beside herself with frustration. She’d already watched Judith climax and now she was having to watch while Tabitha writhed in ever increasing ecstasy as the stinging heat spread through her body until she was shuddering violently, uttering despairing cries of forbidden pleasure.

  When her body was at last still, Sir Edward pushed her upright. Marianne yearned to feel Edward’s mouth on her breasts, to feel his tongue tracing the outline of her nipples and his fingers tightening around them, but still she was ignored. She was left fettered to the wall, poised on the edge of a shattering climax that refused to come.

  ‘Did you see her pleasure spill?’ Sir Edward asked his sister, with studied indifference.

  ‘Yes, all too clearly.’

  ‘It didn’t...’ protested Tabitha, but Judith slid a hand between the poor girl’s thighs and drew some of the moisture that had seeped there over her flat stomach.

  ‘On the contrary,’ she said coldly, lifting her glistening fingers. ‘I think this betrays you.’

  Sir Edward eyed the serving girl thoughtfully. ‘You become even more debauched as the years pass, Tabitha,’ he said slowly. ‘I thought Dr Proctor had taught you better control.’

  ‘I don’t know why it excites me so,’ she sobbed. ‘It isn’t my fault.’

  ‘That’s what Marianne says,’ retorted Edward, glancing over at her. ‘Isn’t that true, Marianne?’

  Marianne looked at him despairingly. ‘I may have said that,’ she confessed.

  His lips curved in a half smile. ‘You’d like to spend now, wouldn’t you? How fortunate that we’ve tied you in the way we have. It means you can do nothing to satisfy yourself. At least you may learn some self-control tonight. As for Tabitha, we’ll see how she copes with this punishment, since the last one resulted only in giving her pleasure.’

  He held out a hand and Marianne heard a strange clicking sound. Tabitha heard it, too; with a scream, she hurled herself into a pile of straw in the corner of the room. ‘No, I can’t bear those,’ she cried.

  ‘The doctor gave them to us,’ said Judith. ‘He knows what’s best for you, Tabitha.’

  Tabitha was arched backwards over the mounting block, her legs splayed apart with her sex totally exposed to the watching Marianne. Judith pushed her back a little until her hips were on the top, and the back of her head was resting flat against the floor out of Marianne’s sight. Edward advanced on her, as she whimpered quietly.

  Marianne’s mouth went dry. Suspended from Edward’s hand were what looked like several rounded pebbles joined together by a piece of cord, and he carefully parted Tabitha’s sex lips with one hand whilst slowly feeding the first of the pebbles inside her vagina. Tabitha tried to move her hips, attempting to make it impossible for her master to insert the pebbles, but Judith simply laid herself over the girl’s lower body so she was unable to move a muscle and then, very lightly, she tickled Tabitha’s clitoris. This caused her to open up even more and her muscles spasmed involuntarily, drawing the pebbles in.

  Marianne tried to imagine how it must feel for Tabitha to have them inside her, to feel their round smoothness against the sensitive walls of her vagina. When she was abruptly pulled upright, standing with only a tiny piece of cord hanging between her thighs to show that the stones were inside her, Marianne watched in fascination. She almost envied the wretched girl because Edward was palpating the flesh above her pubic bone, first pressing and releasing it and then rocking his hand from side to side in a movement that Marianne remembered so well from when the doctor had examined her.

  ‘You’re to keep walking around the room,’ said Edward. ‘Your muscles must be tightly clenched all the time in order to prevent a single pebble from escaping, but at no time must you spend. You are to walk for five minutes. After that time they will be removed.’

  ‘I can’t,’ cried Tabitha. ‘I’ll spend, you know I will.’

  ‘I know no such thing. The doctor tells me that if his treatment is working you’ll be able to accomplish this.’

  ‘But I can’t,’ she sobbed. ‘No girl could.’

  ‘Indeed?’ Sir Edward turned to Marianne. ‘I’m sure you’ll manage it when your turn comes,’ he said with a smile.

  All at once Marianne remembered that when they’d finished with Tabitha this was going to happen to her, and the realisation nearly triggered her orgasm. For a moment her head rocked back and, as her breasts moved forward slightly, Edward watched her keenly, stepping closer and placing a hand over her belly to test for the contractions of a climax. But he applied no stimulation and finally, to Marianne’s relief, the moment of danger passed. Despite her frustration she was grateful because she knew she would have been punished even more if she had come.

  ‘Start walking,’ Edward repeated, looking at his fob watch, and Tabitha began to move slowly around the room. Marianne could see from the frown of concentration on Tabitha’s face how difficult it was for her to walk, keep her internal muscles clenched and at the same time not take pleasure from what must have been the most intense torment.

  After a few minutes Tabitha’s breathing had become shallow. Her breasts were tight and the nipples scarlet peaks of desire, and at one point Sir Edward reached out as though to touch them, before withdrawing his hand. ‘No,’ he murmured, ‘it would be unfair. The pebbles alone are enough for her to contend with.’

  Marianne watched as Tabitha tried to walk more slowly. ‘She’s making it easier for herself by going at that pace,’ said Judith and, picking up a riding crop, she struck Tabitha sharply across the buttocks. With a squeal Tabitha began to walk more quickly round and round the gloomy room.

  Marianne could tell Tabitha wasn’t going to last the full five minutes. Clearly Tabitha knew it too. Abruptly she stopped and stood with her legs apart, then suddenly, in front of all of them, she started to tremble. The trembling turned into a violent shaking as
her pleasure was finally forced from her, and she came with a scream of despair.

  Reaching down, Sir Edward tugged on the cord, pulling the whole string of pebbles out of the girl in one movement that made her gasp. ‘You’ve learned nothing,’ he snarled. ‘I shall tell Dr Proctor when he comes. I’m sure he’ll be as disappointed as I am.’

  Tabitha crept into a corner, trying to cover her naked body with her arms as though desperate to protect herself from yet more forbidden pleasures, but she needn’t have worried because both Judith and Sir Edward were now turning their attention to Marianne. Sir Edward unfastened Marianne’s hands from the rings and she moaned as the blood surged back into the numb areas. Before she had time to recover from that, she was thrown roughly over Edward’s knees and felt his hand rising and falling against her flesh, just as it had fallen against Tabitha’s, until her buttocks and thighs were burning. Next, just as he had with the servant girl, he turned her over and when he struck at her softly rounded belly she screamed at the erotic pain suffusing her. She could feel the blood coursing through her veins; feel her flesh swelling as the deliciously forbidden tightness mounted.

  ‘Put her over the mounting block,’ snapped Sir Edward.

  Astonished by the speed with which it was all happening, Marianne struggled violently, but was helpless against the combined strength of brother and sister. Within seconds her head was on the floor of the outhouse, her legs lifted high on the mounting block and her thighs parted as Sir Edward began to separate her sex lips in readiness to fill her with the string of pebbles.

  ‘No,’ she complained frantically. ‘I won’t let you do that to me. I don’t want it. Let me go. I want to go home.’

  As soon as the words were out, a mist began to fill the outhouse and she realised she was leaving them. To her surprise Edward suddenly knelt beside her, and although his body was blurred his voice remained clear.