The Velvet Caress

by C. P. Mandara

  Retrieving a Q-tip from my holdall I placed it just under the hood of her clitoris, noting that all of the absorbent tip disappeared from view. This meant Marianna was a good fit for the particular piercing I had in mind, and we could go ahead. There was no need for me to delay any further.

  The needle went in and out quickly, the briefest of pinches, leaving a glimmering, curved barbell in its wake. This innocuous item of jewellery now rested upon Marianna's clit, upon a whole nest of delicious nerve-endings, and I was shortly going to send her crazy with it.

  'I thought that was supposed to hurt.' She gave me a look that was almost disappointed. If it had been another place and another time, I might have laughed.

  'I'm only just getting started, precious. I'll save putting a ring though your glans until later. Right now I think we should accompany a smidgeon of pain with a shitload of pleasure. What say you?' I smiled at her amiably.

  'I thought you were here to torture me.' There was that note of disappointment again, I was sure of it.

  'I am, precious, but if I have you screaming the halls down at the beginning of our session you'll have no energy left in an hour or two and you'll just hang limp from your chains.' Giving her a big smile I gently pressed down on her new item of jewellery and she moaned delightfully. God, I could get used to hearing those kinds of noises.

  Mewling prettily in pleasure she then said, 'So what are you going to do in the meantime?'

  I pretended to think about that for a moment, though I already knew exactly what I was going to do. 'Well, I could get out my knife, forceps, pliers and handsaw,' I said, with a deadpan face.

  There was silence for a moment. 'Do you actually have those things in there?' The voice was very quiet now, and there wasn't half the spirit or fire in her eyes that had been there earlier. 'I do,' I said, lying.

  'So you're going to pull my teeth and fingernails out?' She chewed her bottom lip again, this time so hard that she almost drew blood. Now I was the disappointed one. I found I had been enjoying her spunk, even if it had no place here. However I looked at it I had a job to do, and whilst I wasn't exactly best buddies with Matthews, I was going to find out who was behind this. If I had a wife (heaven forbid!) who was dying in hospital, and I was facing a possible prison sentence unless she woke up quickly, I had a feeling that Matthews would do the same for me - though he might protest a little.

  'If I have to.' It wouldn't come to that. Besides, it'd be a crime to destroy a hair upon this woman's head. I might mess her up a little, but in a few days' time she'd barely remember me. Well, apart from every time she orgasmed, that was. I gave her a vicious grin as that thought came into my head and the woman went white as a sheet. Oops.

  Chapter Fifteen - Mark

  It took me over two hours to retrieve those twenty marbles. Up until around marble number eighteen I held it together. After that point I operated on automatic pilot, whilst trying desperately to separate my mind from my body. My mind was telling me I absolutely could do this, my body was on another level entirely. My level of abject misery had reached an all time high, and though that was why I was here, my body was beginning to think that maybe I had suffered enough. My subconscious disagreed.

  'On a level of one to ten, with one being the lowest and ten being the highest, how's your pain threshold right now?' This was from Vivian. Great. That was all I needed; some random chitchat.

  'It's reaching the higher end of the scale, Ma'am.' Amazed that I'd managed to keep my voice steady, I breathed long and slow, trying to keep a lid on the scream that wanted to bubble up through my chest and burst like a rocket from my throat. I was burning up. My body felt like it was being roasted on a spit, and no matter which way I turned the heat was terrible. It was as if I was melting from the inside out; blood, skin and bones turning liquid as they reached fever pitch. My forehead was dripping with sweat, my legs were trembling, and my pulse rate had gone through the roof. I wasn't going to be able to take much more of this, but I knew Sophia would push me to the limit, and I was going to be pretty close to that mark. She'd never bested me before, so I'd just have to hope that today was not going to be her day.

  'I'll bet.' Vivian licked her lips. Here was a woman who loved to see a man in torment. She drank me in with her eyes and the intense excitement I could see there was a little disturbing. I couldn't help but wonder if she looked like this in the operating theatre, when she was slicing and dicing people up for a living. The thought was not a pretty one.

  When she angled her head to assess me I knew something was afoot, and more importantly, something I would not like. Blinking a few times, probably wondering exactly what she could get away with where I was concerned, she then turned to Sophia. Clearing her throat loudly, to make sure she had everyone's attention, she then stood up.

  'Maybe we could spice things up with a bit of abrasion play, Sophia? I could get my knives out, run the edges here and there, and then apply some of your delightful oil to soothe the sting.'

  You fucking bitch, I thought. There was no question I would safe-word at that. No one was dipping a knife into my flesh for fun. Sophia already knew what my limits were in regards to that, so I wondered what she would do. She'd already pushed me over the edge, but whether she would test the boundaries of our arrangement remained to be seen. If she did we would no longer be friends, but maybe that wouldn't concern her. Whipping or no whipping, there was only so much I was prepared to take.

  Sophia motioned for Vivian to sit down with a wave of her hand, though she had a smile on her face. She then turned to face me, although I wouldn't look at her. My gaze was firmly upon the floor, where it was supposed to be, and there it would stay.

  'My, you are on form tonight, Vivian. I don't think that breaking out the knives would be a good idea, though. If I'm going to use the Cat later it would be just a little too cruel, don't you think?' Sophia pursed her lips and looked pointedly at Vivian.

  Clearly her friend did not think that at all, judging by the look on her face, but she gave in gracefully. 'How about the pinwheel? Could I at least try that?' Risking a quick glance up to Vivian's face, the petulant, pleading look I saw there made me want to take a set of knives to her skin. Bet she wouldn't be quite so cocky after a couple of hours with me at the helm. Feeling white hot fury rip through me, because I was pretty sure Sophia would answer 'yes' to her request, I tried to think of all the ways I would torture Vivian if I ever had her at my mercy. They were many, varied, and incredibly evil.

  'Yes, I think the pinwheel would be acceptable.' Sophia frowned slightly as she said it, but the end result didn't change. My worst fears were realised. The woman was going to stick needles into my flesh and then smear chilli and menthol oil in its wake. If I thought I was in pain now, the kind of agony I would feel in a few minutes was unimaginable.

  'Be a dear and go and fetch the pinwheel, pet.' Vivian made a sharp movement with her finger and didn't even bother to look at me. Having a strong urge to sink my teeth into her flesh until I drew blood, I bottled it and did as I was told. Crawling towards the toy box, I began to wonder if the wait for the Cat would actually be worth it. My 'absolution', as it were, was coming at a decidedly high price.

  When I reached the chest I knew exactly where the Wartenberg wheel was, but I messed around pretending to locate it for a moment or two. Needing to clear my head for what was to come, I concentrated on getting my shit together. Focus on the pain, concentrate on your breathing, relax your body, and remove yourself from it. My fingers closed around the cold metal of the pinwheel's handle and then the slow-motion mode that I'd been operating in sped up. If anyone thought I'd been slacking I would be punished. Could they punish me more than they already had? Well, that was anybody's guess, but I'd try to limit the damage where I could. Placing the handle in my lips I scurried back to Vivian on my hands and knees, noting that the cool metal soothed my burning lips somewhat. It was the calm before the storm. Prepare yourself, Matthews. This is going to get ugly.

  Whe
n I offered the pinwheel up to Vivian her eyes brightened. The unholy gleam was back and I was at her mercy. Lucky me. I could already guess where the thing was going and I had reason to be thankful I was still wearing the damn cage. At least Sophia had thought to spare me that. Plucking a marble from the jar, which was thankfully a small one, Vivian made sure she gathered a good dollop of the remaining goo from the bottom of the jar upon her glove. Brandishing the pinwheel in her right hand and the marble and ointment in her left, the woman set to work.

  Starting on my backside, she ran the spikes of the pinwheel upon my reddened, burning flesh. Now the chilli and menthol had a chance to seep beneath my skin, and that was really pleasant, let me tell you. Vivian studied my face the whole time. She wanted to see how long it would take the impressive façade I was maintaining to break. Little did she know that no matter what she did to me, there was no way I would break under her hand. My pride wouldn't allow it. Sophia would have that dubious honour before the end of this session was out. She was used to picking up my pieces.

  The pinwheel ran across my back, shoulder blades, and slowly, very slowly, down my arms. Vivian was wasting her time there. No one had thought to apply the oil to them. It also ran across my stomach, chest, and up the side of my neck. Not to be beaten I even angled it, so she could apply a little more pressure there.

  The whole time she was working I didn't hear a sound from her lips. The other ladies liked to talk to me, and some told me what they were about to do before they did it, but not Vivian. She had always treated me little better than an animal, and I suspected the same could be said for all the men in her charge. Someone had done a number on that woman a long time ago. I'd bet money on it. Still that was her problem, not mine.

  My problem was trying to get the lady to hurry up. Everyone had a limit and mine was fast approaching. I was gritting my teeth so hard I wouldn't be surprised if I lost a few fillings in a minute. Up and down the damn pinwheel went. She even had the audacity to use the damn thing on my face. The tips of my ears, my cheeks, my nose, one by one those pins tracked their way across me. Her eyes tried to burn their way into mine, even though they were dipped respectfully to the floor. It was obvious she wanted to see me in pain. After a good ten minutes or so of this treatment, and the sound of chair legs scraping and nervous whispers, I wondered whether Sophia would intervene. It was another minute or so before I heard the delicate cough I was waiting for.

  'Vivian, darling, I think he's probably suffered enough. Be a dear and finish your turn. Margo has been waiting very patiently, haven't you, sweetheart?' Margo nodded, and I knew both would be looking pointedly in my tormentor's direction.

  'Oh, you spoilsports,' said Vivian, sighing heavily. 'Fine, I'll finish up and be a good girl.' There was another sigh, which had Sophia rolling her eyes, but Vivian was as good as her word. She took less than sixty seconds to complete her task from that cough, but she made use of every single one of them.

  First she motioned for me to stand up, and I did so obediently. Then she took the pinwheel to my balls and boy did she do a number on me. I couldn't watch what she was doing, but if you can imagine someone running a cheese grater down some of the most delicate skin on your anatomy, you would probably get a rough idea of the pain I was in, provided you added in the fiery muscle-rub style mixture, which she then applied as liberally as she could. The pain was utterly excruciating. I was doing my best to imagine myself down at the bottom of the ocean, somewhere near the North Pole, freezing my ass off next to a glacier. It wasn't helping much, but at least it was keeping my brain occupied.

  The pinwheel then went under my legs and up through the crack of my ass. Spike by solid spike, nice and slow, with plenty of pressure, followed by the molten marble of fire. My eyes were now watering, but there was little I could do about it. It was taking every single ounce of willpower I possessed to stand still and take it. A lesser man would have grabbed the woman's throat and throttled her to within an inch of her life, and let me tell you that the thought was tempting. Just before I thought the pinwheel might actually be embedding itself in my ass, due to the fact she'd pressed it down so damn hard, I felt the marble being slid inside me. My eyes closed tightly for a moment, but just a moment, and the hiss that escaped my lips was bitten down upon but not disguised completely.

  'At least I saved you the trouble of chasing it,' she remarked. 'You may thank me now, pet.' She patted my head, waiting for me to obey.

  It took me a couple of seconds to get my fury under control, but somehow I managed it. Returning to my knees, I crawled over to the bitch and kissed her feet with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. Love thine enemy, even when the woman is clearly a deranged demon from hell. When she patted my back to indicate that my job was complete, I moved on without a backward glance.

  To this day I can't remember what Margo did to me. I was vibrating with an unholy anger that thankfully gave me the strength to carry on, when perhaps I would have fallen. So maybe I had Vivian to thank for something, but that woman had better hope she never laid eyes on me again.

  'Pet? Pet, come here, darling. Come here sweetheart.' I had no idea how many times Sophia had to repeat those words, but they echoed over and over and in my head, swirling through jumbled thoughts and fractured pictures, before eventually I managed to make sense of them. As I finally obeyed her instructions, crawling forward to rest at her feet, I wondered if she would have something else in store for me before the whip. I sincerely hoped not, but my thoughts and wishes didn't matter here. This is how Jennifer would have felt at Albrecht, and you would have left her there. Although I wouldn't have had much of a choice in the matter, the words were true.

  Sophia motioned for me to put my head on her lap, and I did so gratefully. She then bent down gracefully to whisper in my ear. 'Do you want to safe-word, Mark? I think you've probably had enough, darling, but it's your call.'

  It was my call and if I'd been thinking half clearly I should have put a stop to things then. Unfortunately my brain was high on endorphins and I was seeing red. I wanted that Cat, and I would go through hell and high water to get it.

  'No. Let's continue.' The words were firm. Had I said them with the merest tremor Sophia might have called it, but I think even she was curious to see how much of this torment I could take.

  'Have it your own way, Matthews, but you'll regret it.' Lifting her head she peered into my eyes and gave me a long stare. This was my last chance to escape the room. Did I want to take it?

  'Understood.' So I'd regret it. Sometimes it was better to do something and have regrets, than be too afraid to do it at all. Sophia had taught me that a long time ago.

  'You haven't changed.' She gave me a bittersweet smile and her voice held a hint of something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Was it regret? I mentally shook my head. Sophia didn't know the meaning of the word.

  Clapping her hands above her head to get the attention of the crowd she then said, 'Ladies, it's time to put him out of his misery and cool him down.' When no one made a move to put me out of my discomfort she rounded them up like a rodeo star. 'Quick, quick, ladies. I know you're not afraid of getting messy. After that we can move on to game number two. Now I know you're going to enjoy that, because I'm pretty excited about the prospect myself.

  Twenty-odd women then descended on me, to smooth gallons of freezing cold plain yogurt upon my body. They even removed their gloves to get as up close and personal as possible. Did I enjoy it? Kind of. It was like a really enthusiastic, albeit messy massage. It involved equal parts of pain and pleasure, depending on who was doing the massage and where. When they'd finished with the yogurt they took great pleasure in hosing me down, with ice-cold water, of course. Then they set about oiling me up with olive oil. In no time at all the burn had dissipated to a bearable level, and dare I say it, I was almost feeling relaxed under their mostly gentle but firm hands. I'm a tactile person, always have been, and the soothing feeling of skin-to-skin contact helps me to unwind. The effect wasn't
quite as good as it could have been, due to the fact I had no idea what Sophia had planned next. I could only hope it wouldn't be any worse than what I'd suffered so far.

  Less than thirty minutes later I was dressed from head to toe in a black rubber suit, complemented by a leather bondage hood that had just one hole. That hole was for my mouth. So I was in a world of darkness, with my nose covered. This I could almost cope with, although this kind of play certainly wasn't one of my favourites. Alas, things got worse from there on in. The ladies saw fit to reapply both sets of cuffs, but this time my hands were fastened behind my back, to make me feel just that little bit more vulnerable and uncomfortable. If that weren't bad enough a sodding gas mask complete with rubber hose was placed over the hood I was already wearing. This made me mightily uncomfortable, even though there was no valve fitted and I wasn't breathing under pressure. There was still only one way for the air to come in and out, but I didn't expect for a moment that it would be that simple. This was another of Sophia's games, and there would be a catch somewhere along the line. I wondered how long I would have to wait in order to find out.

  'Doesn't he look gorgeous in black?'

  'What a helpless, pathetic little thing he is.'

  'Are we going to feed him something or are we experimenting with breath play?'

  Although their voices were very muffled and I had to strain hard to hear each little word, I could just about make out the conversations going on around me. It would have been a lot kinder if they'd given me some earplugs. The last thing I needed to know was what they had in store for me. I already knew roughly what they were capable of, and that was a hell of a lot more than I was comfortable with. I hoped Sophia knew what she was doing.