Double Entendre: (City of Steel 2) (The Vault)

by Katherine Rhodes

  “He was good about it. He learned how to do it. And it was insanely awesome. We started trying other things, too, after that and I found I liked pain.

  “Problem was, I didn’t know how to do it without hurting myself, or having him actually hurt me. After one particularly bad incident, he refused to do anything other than breath play and a spank. We broke up a few weeks after that.

  “I found a few other guys and rolled through high school pretty unexcitedly. When I finally graduated, I realized I was done with the heat and the sun in Arizona and moved as far away as I could. Pennsylvania seemed good.

  “I was here just about four months when I wound up at a club. Not Imperial, I wasn’t that lucky. It was an old club that’s shut down since. And I got asked if I wanted to go out to the guy’s car for a fuck.

  “Pretty stupid, but I said yes. He asked if he could be rough. I agreed. Turned out he was one of the Baron’s guys and told me all about the Baron and his compound and that they could teach me how to make my pain orgasmic every time. How to play really rough.

  “Young and dumb, I followed him. I didn’t see the outside world again until nearly two years later when Lance whipped me so bad, no one could stop the bleeding. Mistress Faye found me in the room, mostly unconscious and methed out of my head, and called the ambulance. I don’t know if they were going to come back or not, but… there I was.

  “An intern doctor there got the story out of me, getting me to admit I had been whipped as part of someone’s sadism training. He never put it in my chart, but the very next day he escorted Darien in and my life changed in all ways for the better.

  “I spent two years at Wanderer’s End, learning how to be a proper sub. He never discouraged my bratty-ness, or when I learned how to stand up for myself. He’s always teased me that I was one of the most dominant subs he’s ever met.

  “He introduced me to Franz after that, and here we are. Rescuing someone just like me from that fartknocker.”

  Simon chuckled and kissed the top of my head. “Fartknocker. But let me ask you…do you want me to bring in the state troopers and get this guy gone? Like honestly just close him down? I know people…”

  It was so tempting to say yes. “There are people who really enjoy what he does there. Who want every bit of awful he doles out. The problem is those who are there aren’t given the option to leave. They are just never told that’s an option. You’re just wiped clean. I don’t care if the place stands, but he has to let people choose.”

  “That’s an inside job,” Simon said. “I don’t know those kinds of people.”

  “I do,” I mumbled. “Maybe I’ll convince them this has finally gone too far.”

  “Think about it in the morning,” Simon said. “For now, let’s just get some sleep. We’ll be back in the city tomorrow and we work on all the plans we might need.”

  “Thank you for saving her,” I whispered.

  “Someone did it for you. I’m just passing that along.”

  Simon

  The house smelled so bad.

  Everything about this was just so bad.

  Wanamaker dangled a rebreather in front of me. “You want this?”

  “Do I?” I asked, looking over at him.

  “Yeah. Yeah, you do. The girl you pulled out of that house? She’s roses compared to this.”

  Grabbing the mask, I sighed. “That kid. Man. I didn’t know that something like that was a thing, never mind a Goddamn kink.”

  “Rule thirty-four.”

  Wanamaker and I turned to find a woman walking up carrying a carton-tray with three coffees in it. She smiled and held them out.

  “Welcome to your first day on the job, Detective Stathopolis,” the captain said, grabbing the cup from the tray. “And you even brought sugar and cream. Well done.” He pocketed two sugars and three creamers and started to walk away. “There’s another rebreather in the car, Garabaldi, if you don’t want to kill her on the first day.”

  I chuckled and grabbed two sugars myself. “You sucking up already?”

  “I like to run caffeinated,” she said, pulling out her own cup of coffee and one cream, and dropped the tray on the roof of the nearest cop car. She stuck her hand out. “Hi. Sergeant Jupiter Lysithea Stathopolis.”

  I offered my own hand. “Lieutenant Simon Massimo Garabaldi, if we’re going for the full name.”

  We shook and she took a sip of her coffee. “You can call me Lys. I don’t do the Jupiter thing, and I don’t do that Stat thing.”

  “Simon,” I offered.

  “What’s going on here?” She tossed a chin at the house. “I just got a call to come here and not the station. Why is the mask a thing?”

  I held up a hand. “You’re supposed to focus your questions on the crime scene, not on me. But I need to know one thing, and it’s super personal.”

  She gave a curt nod.

  “Are you a Domme?”

  Another curt nod. “I am. Are you okay with that?”

  “Are you part of the Pittsburgh community?”

  She slid her eyes over to me. “Are you?”

  “I’m a trusted advisor, I guess.”

  “Why are you asking?”

  “Mistress Dee, owner of Sadique House, was found dead this morning.” I nodded at the house.

  Lys gasped. “What?”

  “She’s been missing for somewhere around five months, so it’s not pretty in there. The coroner is waiting for us to go in, clear it for the crime scene techs and him to remove the body.” I sighed. “I’m sorry this has to be your first case. I was hoping for a nice day of paperwork and chasing leads.”

  “Mistress Dee. Really?”

  “Real name is Danielle Nash,” I said. I wondered if Donny knew her real name.

  I wondered if Donny was okay. When I got the call, halfway home from Morgantown, Wanamaker told me Donny had found her after she wouldn’t answer the phone, or the door. I felt simply awful that he’d had to find a friend in an advanced state of decomposition. We’d moved as fast as we could to get home and get Lila to Titus’s house. I had to drop Vanity home, and then I rushed to Dee’s address. They had been holding the scene for me so I could get a feel for the crime, for the house and what might have gone on.

  I ducked into the cruiser that was sitting there and grabbed Lys a rebreather. “You’ll probably need this. It’s going to be unpleasant. I’m sorry this has to be the first case you get to try out your new rank, but…death waits for no one.”

  “So I hear,” she answered, grabbing the mask.

  I walked in as I slipped the mask over my head. I let it rest on top of my head until I was inside the door and didn’t hesitate another second before pulling it down over my nose and mouth.

  It was beyond awful.

  There was blood leading up the stairs, just like all of the other scenes. It was a fine mist up the walls and down the hall to the bedroom. It was clear which room she had been found in.

  I heard my new junior partner gag and glanced back at her. She was just pulling her mask down.

  “Should have done that sooner. You don’t get points in my book for being an idiot.”

  “I’m not being an idiot,” she answered.

  I stopped and turned to her. “You saw me put mine on inside the door. That was a cue for you. I know you’re used to being in charge, but being a detective is not about being in charge. It’s about being observant. My mask went on, yours should have too.”

  It was almost possible to see her chewing on her lips behind the mask. She was biting back a comment.

  “Out here, you are in charge, and very few people will question that. But you have to constantly show people that you’re on top of things. You’ve got the badge, you’ve got the know-how. Just apply it. Take your cues from me and you’ll get the attitude in no time.”

  She nodded this time. “I was sure you were going to lecture me about being in charge.”

  “I can’t when you already are. This job is about observation and conn
ecting the dots.” I lifted an eyebrow. “I hope you like a good puzzle sometimes.”

  “That I do.”

  I was about to get walking again but held back. “So, let me ask you one more thing before we walk in there. Have you ever seen a dead body?”

  She tossed her hands up in a shrug. “Is this Stand By Me?”

  I chuckled. “I assure you it is not.”

  She nodded. “I’ve seen a few. Head shots. GSW to the chest. Busted up legs and torsos.”

  “Ever seen a decayed dead body?”

  This time, she didn’t quite nod. “Pictures?”

  “Not the same. And definitely not the same when you know the person. So buckle up, buttercup. She’s been decaying for five months and this is going to be gross.”

  “Come on, Garabaldi!” came a voice from inside.

  Shaking my head, I headed for the door. The coroner was being impatient with me. Doctor Wainwright stood inside the room, rubber gloves up to his elbows, rebreather over his face.

  That was a really bad sign if he was wearing those gloves.

  Noticing that I spotted his gloves, he held his hands up, wiggling his fingers. “Yeah. It’s really this bad. Come on. Let’s do this woman justice and get her back to my office so I can give you answers.”

  Stepping into the room, the flies were overwhelming. They buzzed and hummed and swooped, and I wanted to turn and leave immediately.

  “Watch your step. We’re just finishing up putref—”

  “Finish that statement and I’m going to cold-cock you, Doctor,” I snapped. “I don’t need to know the details, as much as you like to share them. I’ll read your report.”

  There was clearly a smirk behind his mask. The bastard loved grossing people out. He and Killian had regular contests as to who was more disgusting—and he won every time.

  I needed my stomach to not be roiling to handle this.

  Taking another step into the room, I nearly puked anyway. There was no way to tell what this woman had looked like, ever. The process of death was disgusting, and this was one of those times I kind of wished I had picked a different vocation.

  Lys walked in, and I heard her gagging.

  “Don’t puke in my crime scene!” I barked.

  Wainwright chucked an empty evidence bag at me and I whipped it open and held it up for her. She slipped her mask off and heaved up breakfast.

  “Thank you,” Paul said. “You can keep the bag.”

  I held it out to Lys. “You hang onto it.”

  “It’s clear…you want me to walk around with my own puke in a clear bag?”

  “We’ve all had to do it,” Wanamaker said from the door, and behind his own mask. “You’ve been hazed early, Stathopolis. Count yourself lucky.”

  “Lucky I get to tote around my own vomit. Thanks.”

  Paul and the captain were smirking again, and I stepped in a little farther.

  “Okay, let’s get this done,” I said. “What can you tell me? And, for the love of God, Doctor, skip the part where you say ‘the body was in an advanced state of decomposition.’ I am perfectly aware of that.” I swatted away a few flies.

  “Stepping on my toes, Detective. So, starting at step two, the fingerprints are unusable for full identification. Dental records will be matched. However, we presume this to be Danielle Nash, the owner of Sadique House, based on the fact that this is her house. There are signs of severe trauma on the body, and by the location and type of wound that can be seen on the body, it seems like they are straight wounds, from a knife or a sword. There is a massive loss of blood and…”

  “Wait, how can you tell there was a massive loss of blood?” Lys asked.

  He picked up his foot and pointed to it. “Blood trace hangs around. There’s none. And from the unnatural position of the body—and don’t tell me you sleep like a mummy in a tomb—the body was brought here from somewhere else, in the house most likely. She’s been here five months, but I can give you the approximate time of death once I examine her back at the office, plus or minus six hours. Aside, that’s really all I have right now. I’ll have a lot more information later. And the CSI will have more information for you as well.”

  “Can we open the windows yet?”

  “Not until CSI gets those flies,” Paul said. “You can check out the rest of the house while I get them in here to get all the pictures we need of this place.”

  “How’s Donny doing?”

  Paul grunted, “He’s home. Resting. He didn’t do too well with the whole thing. I think he made it out before puking, though.”

  “Let’s get the CSI in here and we can get the rest of the house checked out and get back to the station,” I said, motioning Lys out of the room. “Good luck with that, Paul.”

  “Yeah, I should have fun with the CS and the fact they need the whole mattress,” Paul answered.

  Lys looked back. “Do they really?”

  “Totally do. That far gone? Half the evidence has been soaked in.”

  She made another gagging sound.

  Vanity

  Crack!

  The sting of the whip sliced sharply across my back, and it let me float into subspace. The pain pushed me out of awareness and pushed away everything that had happened in the past three days.

  Offering to go talk to the Baron was dumb. Going was dumber. Being in that hellhole again was a nightmare.

  Crack!

  Finding Lila hiding had been a blessing in disguise. I had been able to focus out, not in. But still knowing what she had been through, knowing that Baron was still up to his bullshit with people who trusted him was also a trigger.

  My first instinct was to run here, to run to Laicy and to beg her for the whip. I’d held off running there because of Lila. She had to be cared for, turned over to Titus who could help her, reform her, teach her how to be a submissive only for what she consented to. She’d be with him for nearly a year, just learning.

  Just the way I had been.

  Crack!

  “Stop thinking, Vanity.”

  I hung my head. She was right. I was thinking. I wasn’t letting her take me deeper into subspace.

  Crack!

  I started to wonder if seeing her today, in this frame of mind, was the right thing to do. I was a mess in the head, and I couldn’t seem to find my subspace.

  There was a thread of fear in me that he was going to learn how to be Dom to keep me happy, to try and convince me to give up Laicy. But Laicy…

  I had fallen in love with her just as deeply as I had with Simon.

  A hand dragged over my pussy. I opened my eyes and didn’t remember having a blindfold on.

  “You’re not letting go today, love,” Laicy whispered in my ear. “You’re not listening to me either when I’m directing you to stop thinking.” Brushing a finger over my clit, she nipped at my ear at the same time. “Punishment time, my little subbie.”

  Fuck. I’d screwed up. I should have just waited for Simon to get home tonight and see what his surprise was.

  The wand pressed against me and shot me most of the way up to a climax. I started shaking and swearing, pulling against the ropes and ties Laicy used to hold me against the St. Andrew’s cross.

  She was good at this, but this time she wasn’t going to use her talents for good.

  Just as I was about to come, she pulled the wand away and walked around where I could see her from my place on the cross.

  “You’re not going to come, Vanity. Not until I say you can. You don’t want to give over to me, I’m going to take it from you. You know yourself better than this.” She leaned against one side of the cross and pressed the wand on my clit again.

  I yelped, and I could feel the tears in my eyes already. It was only another few minutes before I was ready to come again, and tried to stop from pulling on the ropes. I couldn’t, though, and she was too good at reading me. She moved the wand away again, and I whimpered.

  “Vanity, you know I can keep going for hours.”

&nbs
p; I nodded, my body angry but calming down again. “Yes, Mistress, I know.”

  “Will you talk to me about what’s going on?”

  “Yes, Mistress.”

  The wand was back, and it was on the next higher setting. It buzzed and hummed, making my whole pussy respond—but it was taking longer this time. It crossed a threshold that found pain and I sobbed hard, gasping for air. I wanted the pain to keep going. It felt amazing and I could feel my body ramping up and up again.

  Laicy pulled the wand away. I cried out from the loss of the sensation and started crying. I wanted more. More.

  “I’m going to make you come, love. And I want you to think about why I punished you. And why you came here to me.”

  I didn’t have a chance to answer her before it was back, and the pain shot through me, my clit resisting the vibrations, while welcoming them at the same time. I couldn’t see for the tears and I could barely breathe for the thick pain in my sex.

  Why had I come here today? Was it because I was seeking escape, a place to just not be for a while? To float unaware? Or had I sought a different kind of escape, the kind that tried to erase the moments of the day, tried to cover the horrible things I saw and remembered from time at the Baron’s house. The kind that helped me avoid facing a reality I didn’t want to remember.

  Moving her hand, just a little, Laicy yanked the orgasm out of me, sudden and overwhelming. I screamed through the climax, tears streaming down my face, pulling on the ropes hard.

  Slowly, Laicy gentled me through the peak and then within just seconds, she had me unhooked. I flopped into her arms. I didn’t know how, but she got me onto the bed and adjusted me into the bedding, pulling a blanket over me. She was gone for a moment, and then was back with a tube of arnica to smooth over the welts on my skin.

  “We’re stopping. I would have stopped sooner, but I thought you would say your safe word,” Laicy said. “You are not in the right frame of mind to be a sub today, babe. Baron and the house screwed you up, and this is not good for you.”