‘That’s done it,’ muttered Marianne, but although she was worried, she wasn’t as worried as she should have been because it had been necessary to get rid of Sandra. Judith wanted her back. She sensed they all wanted her back, and if she missed this opportunity she had no idea when the next chance would come.
Slowly she walked back into the kitchen. At first she thought that everything had been lost while she was getting rid of Sandra, but then she realised with relief that the kitchen had been transformed back to its state in the nineteenth century. Although Judith, John and Tabitha had vanished, the room wasn’t empty.
With an inscrutable smile playing around his lips, Edward was waiting for her.
Chapter 12
Marianne advanced into the kitchen in a dreamlike state. Never before had she been so pleased to see Edward, and never before had he seemed so welcoming. ‘Why did you go away?’ he asked.
Marianne hesitated, looking down at the floor. She was once more wearing her rust-coloured woollen dress and rubbed her hands nervously against her thighs. ‘I was visiting my cousin. She lives abroad with her husband but was here on a visit.’
‘You’ll never leave me again,’ he said slowly. ‘You did not have my permission to go.’
‘Mrs Fullick said I might go,’ explained Marianne.
‘I pay your wages, not my sister.’
‘You weren’t here. There wasn’t time for Mrs Fullick to get a message to you.’
‘In that case you should not have been allowed to leave,’ he replied. ‘You know you’re always meant to be here for me.’
‘But I’m employed as your sister’s companion.’
He shook his head. ‘You and I know the truth of it, don’t we? Why be coy when we’re alone?’
She didn’t answer him. She was almost consumed by her desire for this stranger from the past who’d entirely taken over her life. She waited, knowing he would understand how she felt and how best to deal with her. ‘Come with me,’ he said softly.
‘Where are we going?’
‘To the attic room.’
Marianne led the way, walking slowly up the stairs, her breathing constricted by rising desire and trepidation. She knew she would once more see something strange and terrible in the room and, to her shame, she couldn’t wait to get there. However, she forced herself to walk slowly because she didn’t want Edward to know how great her need was. In spite of this, she sensed he did know and that he was taking pleasure from it.
When they entered the attic, Judith was seated on a chair and Tabitha had been laid back over her mistress’ knees. Dr Francis Proctor was seated on the floor between Tabitha’s outspread legs, his hands playing with her sex, and the serving girl was whimpering, but whether with pain or excitement Marianne couldn’t tell.
Edward drew her to one side of the room where they could watch what was happening. He held her tightly from behind, one arm around her waist and the other over her breasts, pulling her back against his body, trapping her so that there was no escape.
‘What are you doing?’ Edward asked his friend.
Francis turned his head. ‘I’m anxious to see whether the breast exercises have worked. Also, whether or not she now controls herself better. While I examine her your sister will watch her nipples. Should they harden in an unseemly fashion then Judith will strike her with the whip. Tabitha knows this.’
‘No doubt that in itself is enough to excite her,’ murmured Edward, and the arm over Marianne’s breasts pressed harder. Without thinking, she rubbed herself against him as a sweet ache began to simmer deep within her.
‘Keep still,’ he admonished.
Immediately she froze, then heard Tabitha’s cries increase in strength. She saw that the doctor had unfastened his breeches and was rubbing the swollen head of his erection between the servant girl’s sex lips, guiding the head with his fingers and massaging poor Tabitha’s clitoris with it.
‘Your nipples are hardening,’ warned Judith.
‘Then make him stop,’ wailed Tabitha.
Marianne saw the doctor’s spare hand creeping beneath Judith’s skirt and she knew the pair of them were deliberately using the girl to increase their own desire. Ignoring Tabitha’s plea, he continued to manipulate himself against her moist flesh.
‘Her nipples are rigid, doctor,’ said Judith, satisfaction clear in her voice.
‘Then you know what to do,’ he replied.
‘No,’ wailed Tabitha, but her protest was fruitless. Judith flicked the tip of a short riding crop down across the girl’s breasts, and with every blow Tabitha screamed louder, her body writhing.
‘Has that subdued her wantonness?’ asked Francis, when the blows were over.
Judith ran a hand casually over the tormented flesh as Tabitha whimpered helplessly. ‘Not really, they’re as hard as ever.’
‘They’re not, they’re not,’ Tabitha protested, but Marianne could see the girl was obviously aroused. This time Judith let the crop fall over the girl’s ribcage, and her breasts quivered violently with each spiteful blow.
‘I don’t think this is going to work,’ said Edward coolly.
His friend didn’t answer him, but now his hand began to move over Tabitha’s hips, caressing her lower body, softly at first but then more harshly. Clearly filled with lust by Tabitha’s moans and cries, he shunted his gnarled erection inside her and she wailed with the shock.
‘Be silent,’ said Judith, her face tight with disapproval. ‘You are honoured that the doctor is willing to use you in this way.’
‘Keep one hand on her belly,’ Francis grunted. ‘Make sure her pleasure doesn’t spill.’
Marianne knew his instruction was impossible for Tabitha to follow. He was thrusting forcefully and Judith was sweeping the crop down indiscriminately over the tortured body, so the girl was being continually stimulated.
Marianne watched, feeling her own body responding as though she were Tabitha. She felt her muscles tightening in anticipation of pleasure, and then the doctor gave a guttural shout as his hips jerked and he emptied his sacs inside the servant girl.
‘She’s coming,’ said Judith, pressing her fingers against Tabitha’s lower belly. Marianne could see the tormented girl’s muscles rippling. Tabitha’s abdomen heaved frantically and her climax was forced from her.
Within a few minutes the doctor and Judith had changed places. This time Tabitha was lying face down over his knees while Judith applied the crop unmercifully. With every blow that fell Tabitha’s screams increased, but at the same time, she squirmed against the doctor’s knees. When Judith finished and threw the crop away Tabitha continued to squirm, clearly trying to obtain sufficient pressure on her clitoris for another orgasm.
Ignoring Tabitha’s needs, the doctor pushed her to the floor, grasping Judith round the waist and dragging her to a corner of the room, lifting her skirts before falling to his knees and burying his face between her thighs. As Judith Fullick started to moan, her fingers buried in the young doctor’s hair, Tabitha remained on the floor. She was sobbing with frustration and Marianne felt pity for her, because she knew Tabitha was no longer of any interest to the couple. They were now lost in their own pleasure and Tabitha, like Marianne on so many other occasions, would remain on the edge of release, her body filled with a desperate yearning that would not dissipate of its own accord.
The doctor brought Judith to several sharp climaxes, one following swiftly on the heels of the other, until she pushed him away. ‘No more,’ she gasped. ‘Not yet.’
‘Come with me,’ Edward called to his friend. ‘We’ll take this one to my room.’
Marianne began to tremble as the two men gripped her arms and dragged her down the top flight of stairs to Edward’s bedroom. Lifting her, Edward threw her into the middle of the bed. Then he pushed her skirt up and pulled off her undergarments. ‘She paid a visit to relatio
ns without my permission,’ he explained to his friend. ‘This is her punishment.’
‘Do you need assistance?’
‘A little,’ admitted Edward. ‘In any case, I’m sure you’ll be interested in seeing her response.’
‘I’m sure I will.’
With casual indifference Edward flipped Marianne on to her front, but her skirts were still rucked up so that her buttocks were exposed. She heard Edward moving around the room, then the doctor put a hand beneath her belly, pressing upwards. Instinctively she lifted her hips, which enabled Edward to part her buttocks, and once more she felt the sensual sensation of oil being dripped into the valley between the cheeks of her bottom.
‘Do you have the beads, Judith?’ Edward asked his sister, who had followed once she’d regained her composure and straightened her clothing.
Judith withdrew something from her pocket. By straining to look over her shoulder, Marianne was able to see it was a piece of twine that had round sewing beads strung to it at regular intervals, and now she understood what was going to happen to her.
Edward took the beads from his sister and began to ease them into Marianne’s most private entrance. It was an extraordinary and humiliating sensation, making her feel full and tight and giving her an urge to bear down.
Francis Proctor stroked her belly lightly. ‘Remain relaxed,’ he instructed her.
‘I’m getting cramp,’ she gasped. ‘My belly hurts.’
‘It will pass,’ he assured her, continuing to smooth the tense muscles. Once all the beads were inside her, Edward flicked his fingers over her buttocks and she jerked with surprise.
Then she was flipped on to her back. Her sex lips were parted and Edward cupped her there, pressing. She felt herself opening for him, becoming damp, and a few seconds later he placed a very fine strip of gauze over her aroused flesh. Then, with diabolical slowness, he began to drip the oil from the glass bottle onto her clitoris.
Marianne sighed with pleasure. The sensation was utterly exquisite. She could feel her orgasm approaching rapidly and she breathed deeply, preparing herself.
‘I’ll tell you when it’s time for your pleasure to take over,’ said Edward coldly. ‘Until then, you will control yourself.’
Marianne sighed again, but this time with thwarted longing. For a few seconds the relentless drops of oil ceased and she relaxed a little, but then he tipped the bottle once more while Judith lifted Marianne’s head, and she was forced to watch.
Soon the only sounds to be heard in the room were Marianne’s cries of frustration. She could feel her clitoris swelling as her body opened. She was desperate to be filled, to have the yearning doused by Edward – but she had the feeling that this was the last thing on his mind.
‘Her centre of pleasure is engorged,’ remarked Francis Proctor, staring down at the oil-soaked cloth against which Marianne could feel her clitoris swelling. ‘See how clearly defined it is.’
‘Fasten it with a ring,’ said Edward.
Marianne froze as she felt a cold ring of metal being pressed against her, gliding over the lubricated cloth and trapping her clitoris within its circle. Now she truly was helpless, her clitoris unable to withdraw as her climax grew imminent, and she gave a cry of protest.
‘What’s the matter?’ demanded Edward.
‘I don’t know,’ she confessed. ‘It feels so good, and yet...’
‘And yet?’
‘I’m afraid.’
He smiled thinly. ‘But isn’t that what you like?’
It was, and she knew it was what he liked, too. He enjoyed watching her like this, struggling to control herself, afraid of what was being done to her and yet needing it more than she needed anything else in the world. With misleading gentleness, Edward started to massage her aching flesh whilst stroking the piece of thin muslin cloth until she felt the pressure building more tightly than before. Then he slipped two fingers inside her. He knew exactly what he was doing and she squirmed, knowing how dangerously near to coming she was. Then he added a third knowing finger and she went out of her mind with pleasure. Her body heaving, lost in helpless ecstasy, she allowed the forbidden pleasure to take over and revelled in the glorious sensuality of release.
When the muscle-wrenching contractions at last eased, she opened her eyes to see Judith standing over her, the birch twigs in her hand. Immediately Marianne crossed her arms over her breasts to protect them. The men, however, did not intend to allow her any escape. They seized an arm each, pulling them above her head to give Judith an easy target. The birch twigs cut down and Marianne knew how Tabitha had felt because the searing pain was a terrible shock after the delicious pleasure she’d just experienced. She cried out in protest, begging Judith not to repeat the blow. But she heard the men laugh and Judith raised her arm once more.
She thought she couldn’t endure it, but then the vile pain began to excite her and she realised she was about to come again. Even as the convulsions shook her she wept with a mixture of shame and relief, because at least she’d survived and was still here. As for the shame, that was something she was becoming used to as she fully understood what Edward had made her.
With the routine established, Edward, his sister and the doctor relentlessly continued their insidious stimulation of Marianne, and every time they wrenched pleasure from her, Judith would use the birch twigs until even the pain was a source of arousal. Soon she’d lost count of the number of times she’d come.
She could hear herself crying out, but not in an attempt to make them stop. She was begging for them to continue, pleading for more as she became totally lost in the terrible perversions they were practising on her. Even through the mist of exhausted, slated lust she realised she was as much a part of this as they were. Without her co-operation it would not have been possible and the realisation seemed to free her.
‘No more,’ she eventually begged, as she watched Judith raise the bunch of birch twigs yet again. ‘Please stop now, I need to rest... I’m exhausted.’
Edward shuffled on the bed and moved between her thighs. She felt his erection probing at her entrance and, with a sigh of relief, reached up to draw him inside her. ‘Oh yes... yes please,’ she mumbled, almost incoherently. ‘Take me, fill me... I need you.’
She was so lost in the excitement of the moment her mind scarcely registered the fact that the door was opening, until she heard a completely unexpected voice. ‘Marianne! In God’s name, what are you doing?’
The doctor and Judith pulled her upright while Edward remained kneeling between her thighs and she looked over her lover’s shoulder across the room. There, staring at the scene, his mouth gaping with shock, was Steve.
‘What’s happening?’ he cried, beginning to back away from the bed.
‘He’s seen us,’ Judith whispered in Marianne’s ear.
Marianne couldn’t believe the other woman was right. ‘Wuh – what’s the matter?’ she asked Steve, then groaned as Edward thrust inside her, making her shoulders arch back.
‘Who are these people?’ Steve yelled. ‘And you, what’s happened to you?’
‘I...’ she stopped. She couldn’t think of a word to say.
‘You lied to me!’ he raged. ‘I knew there was something terrible happening but you denied it. Now see what’s happened. It’s too late, isn’t it? They’ve taken you away from me.’ With that, he finally found the strength to storm from the room, slamming the door behind him and turning the key. Only then, once he’d gone, did the room change and, with shocking abruptness, Marianne found herself alone.
Deserted by her companions from the past, she rushed to the bedroom door and began to tug frantically on the handle, but it refused to open. Not only was the door locked, it was also very well built and she knew she had no hope of breaking out.
She wondered exactly what Steve had seen when he’d burst in. Obviously he’d seen something, that much
had been clear, but she couldn’t believe he’d been witness to the absolute depravity of the scene. As he had no direct link to the past, she thought it unlikely that he could have seen more than a faint outline of figures, albeit figures from a different age.
Giving the door one final frustrated kick she turned her attention to the window. Flinging it open, she stared out and saw she had no hope of escape that way either. There was a sheer drop to the courtyard below, and it was a drop that could probably kill her. Even if she lived, she’d be severely injured. She wasn’t sure why she was quite so desperate to escape, but there had been something about Steve’s fury that frightened her.
Seeing him emerge from the house, crossing the cobbled slabs, she waved her arms frantically. ‘Steve! Steve!’
He looked up, shading his eyes against the sun. ‘It’s over,’ he shouted. ‘We’re finished. After what I saw I never want you near me again.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ cried Marianne. ‘Why did you rush out the way you did?’
‘I saw them! Those weirdoes all over you. It’s disgusting!’
‘There’s no one here,’ she yelled. ‘Let me out. We’ve got to talk.’
‘It’s this bloody house. It’s possessed you, just like it possessed Judith Wells. Oh yes, Sandra told me about her.’
‘You’re mad,’ cried Marianne, but he turned his back on her and went over to the old stables. When he returned he was carrying a can of petrol, and in an instant she realised what he intended to do. ‘No Steve...’ she cried, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. ‘You mustn’t. Where will we live?’
‘You won’t need to live anywhere,’ he shouted back. ‘You’ll be dead. And I hope you rot in hell, you and your fucking phantom lovers!’
‘Come up and talk to me,’ Marianne begged, trying to calm herself, the enormity of his threat making her feel nauseous with terror. ‘We can’t keep shouting at each other like this. We can work this out.’
‘We don’t need to keep shouting, and there’s nothing more to be said.’
Slave of Darkness Page 20
