“No, not really. The experience of subspace is wonderful, but most of us won’t get there without the connection to our partner or partners. There is an energy exchange back and forth between the person giving the stimulus and the person receiving it. If that two-way reciprocity isn’t there, then what’s the point? These lifestyle choices are intended to intensify our relationships. Does that answer your question?”
“I think so, but I’m going to have to think about it.”
“Fair enough. Feel free to talk with me one-on-one later if you would like. I’m always happy to discuss these things. It’s my duty and pleasure to help educate our members. Okay, let’s go back to the rules of the club so you can get out there and have some fun.” She smiled briefly, then her face took on a more serious look. “People do public scenes here. They don’t mind if you watch, but that doesn’t mean that you are invited to participate. So please keep out of scenes that are going on and refrain from talking to anyone who is engaged in a scene. If you are concerned about something you see happening, go and find someone wearing a badge that says ‘DM.’ That means ‘dungeon monitor,’ and that person has been trained to decide if a scene is getting out of hand and what to do about it. Each bottom should have a safeword, and they should all know that ‘red’ is considered the default one. If someone is yelling ‘red,’ but their top is not stopping the scene, they would probably appreciate you finding a dungeon monitor to interfere. Just don’t try to interfere yourself, at least until you’re more familiar with the members and the types of play that they do.”
She paused to answer a couple of questions, then went on. “Another thing to be aware of is scene names. We have a fairly tolerant and open-minded community, but there are still dangers to being public about your kink. Many people have lost children, jobs, and family over the fact that they were ‘outed’ as part of the leather community. For that reason many members choose not to use their real names here. Please do not ask about that or be offended if someone does not want to divulge what they do or where they work. It can be a sensitive topic.”
She winked at Daphne. “Also, please don’t be offended if people pretend not to recognize you. We tend to err on the side of caution.”
By the time the informational session was over, the rest of Daphne’s qualms had drained away. The initial room had been too much like a classroom to walk around mostly exposed. But when they emerged from it, the main social area was full of people. She stared around her in surprise. They weren’t at all what she’d expected. Some of them looked like nothing so much as soccer moms—except soccer moms didn’t usually go around in black leather corsets and thigh-high boots. Many were barely dressed. Breasts were hanging out everywhere, being openly admired, talked about, and touched. For the most part their owners were not the kind of young, skinny clubgoers that you would expect to be showing off their bodies. Daphne’s initial shock at seeing average women in extremely revealing outfits gave way after a moment to a dawning admiration. You had to be pretty confident to walk around like that, even if your physique was perfect. To be willing to show your imperfections—that was fucking awesome.
“Are you okay?” Finn whispered in her ear.
“Oh, definitely.” Daphne pulled off her shawl and handed it to him. Who needed that pretentious club scene in LA? These were her people. She gave him a radiant smile. “This is cool!”
“I guess so.” Finn’s head swiveled to watch an attractive young woman saunter by. She wore what looked like a tight black-leather teddy and a pair of glossy high heels. Okay, they weren’t all soccer moms. Daphne took his arm with a firm grasp and led him to the food table.
Allie, Brad, and Karl came to join them. Allie was wearing a royal-blue underbust corset and a black skirt made of long strips of material with crisscrossed straps that showed lots of leg. She smiled at a few people in the room but didn’t speak. Instead she took a plate and began filling it with snacks. Brad went to the fridge and brought back drinks for all of them.
Daphne went to stand beside Allie. “Can I help?”
Allie smiled at her and glanced at Karl. He nodded briefly and Allie seemed to relax.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I need permission from Sir before I can talk to anyone. “
“Oh,” Daphne said helplessly. She might have found her people, but it was beginning to be clear that there were lots of things about them that she didn’t understand yet. She leaned over and whispered, “Why are so many people sitting on the floor? Does it mean something special?”
“Yes. It’s a sign of respect to their Dominant or Master. It’s also a way for others to know how a person is identifying that night. Some people are always in the same mode as a top or bottom, but others, like me, are switches. They might be dominant or submissive on any given night. By sitting at my Master’s feet it lets everyone know that tonight I am a slave, and they should ask Sir’s permission before speaking to or touching me.”
Before Daphne could ask how someone could be a part-time slave, Allie excused herself and went to put two pillows on the floor in front of an empty couch. She and Brad waited silently while Karl greeted a few more people. Then he took a seat, and they lowered themselves to the floor on either side of his feet. Finn and Daphne sat on the love seat near them.
Karl took the plate of snacks from Allie with a nod of thanks. “Just so you know, here at The Keep or at parties at Clifftop, Brad is called liege and Allie is allie syn. Their names are more for ritual purposes than for privacy, though. Everyone knows who they are. Have you decided what you want to be called while we’re here?”
Finn looked a little startled. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Daphne, have you?”
“Ooh, a nickname. I love nicknames.” Daphne giggled. “You pick one for me.”
He sighed. “We’ll call you Daffy, then. That fits. Or do you think that’s too close to her real name?”
Karl chuckled. “It’s not like everyone here doesn’t know who she is,” he said. “Or that she works at the local bank and has to worry about her professional reputation. Personally, though, I would call her something a little more—elegant.” His eyes went down her body in a way that sent a shiver through Daphne, even though she knew that was silly. You should be used to men looking at you like that. It’s kind of your profession.
“I don’t see any need to change my name,” Finn said, and began telling them anecdotes of his time working in the music industry and with Daphne in particular. While the men chatted, Daphne resumed her survey of the room. Across from them, a petite blonde sat between the feet of a tall, elegant red-haired woman. The blonde wore a leather choker and a bright-green latex dress that looked barely long enough to cover her panties—if she was wearing any. It was hard to tell, but Daphne suspected that would become clear when she started to stand. Her mistress was stunning in a light-lavender silk top and skintight black leather pants, and the blonde was rubbing her face on the other woman’s inner thigh with such a look of joy that Daphne doubted the girl was even aware of the rest of the people in the room. The redhead absently stroked her girl’s hair while carrying on a conversation with the man seated to her right. They seemed so casual and at ease that they could have been in a coffee shop anywhere in the country instead of in a club filled with kinksters.
After about ten minutes, Daphne caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned in time to see Karl give a hand signal to Allie and Brad. He stood and then assisted each of his partners to their feet. Daphne couldn’t help but notice how suave and in control he looked. He wore black leather pants, a blue shirt, and a leather vest covered in what looked like hundreds of little pins. Daphne hadn’t realized before how hot he was. She wondered if Finn would even notice if she started flirting more with Karl. But then Allie would probably get pissed off, and she didn’t want to upset Allie.
Karl gave them an enigmatic smile and led his two submissives through the door in the far wall. Daphne watched them go.
“That wa
s odd,” she said to Finn. “Where were they going? They didn’t say anything.”
Before Finn had time to answer, sky clapped her hands and addressed the room in general. “Master Karl has asked for us all to join him in the dungeon for the ceremony at this time.”
The red-haired woman and her submissive walked past, and Daphne turned to them. “Ceremony? What ceremony? What’s going on?”
The woman gave her an odd look. “It’s a formal collaring.” To Daphne’s surprise, she clicked a leash onto the leather choker before turning away to join the queue at the door that Karl, Allie, and Brad had gone through.
“Don’t know what’s going on, but I guess we should follow the herd,” Finn said, standing. He tossed their soda cans into the recycle bin and escorted Daphne to the door.
Chapter 4
Inside the other room, Daphne had to suppress a nervous giggle. It looked as though they’d been magically transported back in time. The walls were painted a dark color to resemble ancient stonework. The furniture would have been right at home in the torture chamber of the most Gothic castle you could hope to find. There were wooden X-shaped crosses leaning against the walls to the right and a cage that could easily hold three people to the left. A chain hung from the ceiling in one corner. Against the other walls there were padded tables and benches and in the center of the far wall was a raised dais.
The only illumination in the room came from a single spotlight, which was directed at the center of the stage. Karl stood in the light with Brad and Allie kneeling on either side of him—no, their names were liege and allie syn, Daphne reminded herself. It struck her as romantic and playful to use nicknames, although she didn’t think she liked “Daffy” for this setting. She noted that there was nothing playful about the group on the stage at the moment. They looked extremely formal, kneeling with their backs straight, their hands clasped behind them, and their eyes looking down.
Following Finn’s lead, Daphne stepped to the left side of the door as soon as she had entered. “Are you going to be able to see anything?” Finn asked her.
“I hope so. I really want to watch this, whatever it is.” More people were coming in, so she stepped in front of him and leaned back against his chest, pretending she was being crowded. She watched the group, which was oddly quiet and solemn, as if they were starting a church service instead of an evening of kink at a community dungeon. She marveled at the pomp and ceremony that this community seemed to thrive on. It was almost like theater. She didn’t understand the thing about submissives having to ask permission to speak to or hug their friends. But Allie obviously put herself intentionally into this situation, so there must be something about it she enjoyed. Daphne snuggled back into Finn to watch, smiling as his arms went protectively around her.
sky entered the room and shut the door firmly. The crowd parted as she walked through the center of the room toward Karl, coming to a stop just before the steps up onto the stage. They regarded each other for a moment, then sky went down on one knee.
“Sir, the dungeon is yours.”
Karl inclined his head toward her, and she stood, retracing her steps to go stand next to the door as if guarding it. “Thank you, sky. And thank you all for sharing our special evening.” He raised his hands briefly, and Daphne could just see that they came to rest on liege’s and allie’s shoulders. “As many of you have watched over the course of the last year, my partners and I have been working to form a cohesive leather and poly family. allie syn and liege have placed their trust in me to be their Master, and I have been blessed by their service.”
The crowd began clapping softly, but it died down quickly as if they understood there was more to come.
Karl leaned toward liege. “liege has served his probationary period with honor, not only to me but also to my girl allie syn as she has explored both sides of the power exchange dynamic. You will notice the steel cuff that he wears on his left wrist.”
liege raised his left hand high into the air and held it so all in the room could see what Karl referred to. He wore a solid-looking gray metallic cuff that she guessed was at least three inches in width. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought it might have been built onto his wrist since she couldn’t see any clasp from her vantage at the back of the room.
“Let all know that it stands as a symbol of his commitment to allie syn, as her submissive.”
A short burst of applause washed through the room. Daphne could see that every eye was riveted to the action on the stage. liege lowered his arm and returned to his original position.
Karl continued to speak. “allie has also successfully completed her probationary period of service and has honored me by expressing her interest in continuing her training.”
Edging slightly to the side to get a better view of what was happening at the front of the room, Daphne saw Karl turn toward allie. It looked as though he put a hand to either side of her face and tipped it up until they were staring into one another’s eyes. She strained to hear Karl’s softly spoken words. She thought he said, “allie syn, are you willing to continue our partnership? To learn more of what it means to be a Dominant to liege and a slave to me?”
allie’s voice was husky with emotion. “Yes, Sir. I do.”
Reaching into his left pocket, Karl removed a length of some sort of chain which he reverently placed around her neck and secured with what appeared to be a small lock. Then he bent at the waist and kissed her soundly. The cheers lasted longer this time.
“I can’t see, damn it. What was that, a necklace?” Daphne asked Finn impatiently.
He patted her shoulder. “I don’t know. I can’t see it either. You’ll just have to wait and find out later.”
The man to their left, whose name she couldn’t remember, leaned toward them and whispered, “It’s her permanent collar.”
Daphne thanked him, blushing at having been overheard. Then she rose as high as she could on her tiptoes, but there were still too many people standing in front of her to see. She briefly considered asking if she could climb onto Finn’s shoulders. But the atmosphere in the room was far too solemn for that. She swore softly and tried leaning to the side to see if she could improve her view.
Karl had now turned to face liege and placed a hand on each shoulder. “liege, do you wish to continue your partnership with me and remain my submissive as well as allie syn’s?”
Brad’s head bowed and came back up in a solemn nod. “Yes, Sir. I do.”
Karl’s hand dipped into his right pocket this time and once more emerged clutching what appeared to be a length of chain. He placed it around liege’s neck and secured it. Again, he bent at the waist and placed a quick kiss on liege’s lips before standing upright and turning back to the crowd.
The clapping continued until Karl raised his arms and signaled for quiet. The room went silent much faster than Daphne would have guessed possible. “Thank you all for your love and support. We will get out of the way now and let you get to the fun.”
Everyone in the room started forming a line to congratulate the trio on stage. Daphne could barely make out Karl’s voice telling allie and liege, “You are both free to speak with and hug everyone present until we start our scene.”
After congratulating Karl and his subs, the group began moving furniture until it was evenly scattered around the room. Finn and Daphne stood to the side, watching. Finn twitched a little as if resisting the urge to go and offer his help, and the glances he kept giving Daphne told her as clearly as if he had yelled it through a bullhorn that he didn’t want to leave her alone. At least he was feeling a bit chivalrous toward her, she thought. He might not want a relationship with her, but it was a start. When the room was reset, he led them to two chairs set against the wall near one of the smaller padded tables. Nearby, liege was laying out odd-looking things from a dark-blue duffle bag. Other people were either claiming spots to play or settling themselves to watch the action. Daphne had a sudden thought. “Would it be okay if I sat on a pillow on
the floor instead of in the chair?”
“Sure, I guess.” Finn rose and walked over to a pile of cushions in one corner. He brought one back for her but then stood holding it, looking confused.
Daphne took it and waited for him to sit down. She placed it between his feet and lowered herself onto it, nestling up to him with a leg on either side. Finn cleared his throat the same way he had in her room just before they left for the club. She smiled, pleased with herself, and was surprised when he reached down to caress her hair. His hands on her head caused an unfamiliar warmth and tickle in Daphne’s belly, and she leaned closer, settling herself to observe the scenes that were being set up around them. In several corners, naked people were being tied to the large crosses. Underneath the chain she had noticed earlier hanging from the ceiling, a man was encasing his submissive in an elaborate network of ropes.
In front of them, allie cleaned the table and placed a sheet over it. The table had a raised square section in the middle that was probably three feet square with a rectangular padded step on two of the opposite sides. At a hand signal from Karl, allie put away her cleaning supplies and knelt in front of him. His right hand wound its way into her hair and suddenly clenched a handful at the back of her head. Daphne leaned forward, staring as allie flinched and gasped, lurching forward a bit. But then Karl’s hand relaxed, and allie’s eyes fluttered, a small smile spreading across her face as she seemed to melt into him. Daphne strained to listen as Karl bent over and spoke into allie’s ear. It wasn’t easy to catch, but Daphne thought he said, “You are mine, pet. You belong to me.”
allie sighed, nuzzling his thigh. “Yes, Sir.”
Mesmerized, Daphne watched as Karl helped allie to her feet and then stood back, nodding to her. allie seemed to understand the nod, because she bent her head and began slowly removing her clothing, folding each piece carefully and placing it on the floor next to the table. Within seconds she stood before her Master wearing nothing but whatever it was that Karl had put around her neck during the ceremony. Daphne took the chance to get a closer look at the necklace, glancing over at where liege was kneeling on the other side of Karl. Both pieces seemed to be made of three individual chains spun together in an intricate and beautiful pattern and closed with a small metallic lock.
The Masters of Falcon's Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4
