A Tangled Web Ch. 09

Vera was determined that she should put on a good show, that she should confound Lian's dismal opinion of her and, even if she were going to be abused with the jiba, she would far prefer the gentle touch of a woman to the brutality of the customers so she was more than willing to play along, to make the show as good as it could be and last as long as she could make it. Undoing her own kimono and letting it fall to the floor Vera knelt down before her and ran her hands up the outside of Sangeeta's thighs and onto her hips as if in worship. Indeed, as she knelt down she could not help but remember kneeling in a similar fashion before Xui-Li and, although that was a different world, a different time and, above all, a different woman, Vera knew that part of her was not kneeling before Sangeeta but kneeling before Xui-Li.

Vera was too absorbed in what she was doing to see the silken material of Sangeeta's kimono move farther apart.The smooth, silky flesh of her hips was now directly in front of Vera's face. Making a show of it, making it last, Vera honoured every inch of Sangeeta's body between the waist and the knees with little fluttering kisses. The catcalls from the club, and Sangeeta's response, gave her confidence that she was doing the right thing.

At last she took the end of the strap-on in her mouth. This seemed pointless to her. After all, how could sucking on this wooden rod in any way please Sangeeta? But the symbolism was clear and the crowd loved it. Then two of the other girls brought a box, just short of waist height and fully padded with rich velvet, and placed on the stage. They lifted Vera up, turned her around and bent her over it so that she was sideways to the customers in the brothel. She didn't need to be told to spread her legs wide, to offer herself up and, remembering what she had seen of the shows from the day before, she reached for her breasts and started playing with her nipples.

Then she felt the hard nub of the strap-on resting against her anus. Remembering how the cook had fitted the jiba, and grateful that it had opened her up a bit, she tried to relax, all the while also trying to pretend for the customers that this was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Once the tip had pierced her sphincter, the rest started to slide in quite easily, helped on its way by the generous application of lotion she had used earlier. Even so the feeling of being invaded, stretched, violated, was very real, and she had to work hard to disguise her gasps of pain as gasps of pleasure.

Then, in time to the sensuous beat of the music, almost as if it were a dance, Sangeeta started a slow rhythm, moving back and forth inside Vera. Truthfully, after the initial shock, it didn't feel that bad and, strangely, beyond the initial pain and discomfort, there were some sensations that Vera was not at all sure about. Could she really be enjoying this?

Without changing the underlying rhythm, Sangeeta was increasing the intensity, and Vera knew that she was reaching the peak of her faked climax. She tried to match this, to gasp and moan as if she were also peaking and this, in turn, pushed Sangeeta to greater heights. The intensity of the music rose, the intensity of the thrusting matched it until, with an animal cry, Sangeeta buried the shaft deep inside Vera whose cry of pain was taken to be an orgasm of her own. As the two girls relaxed again the club was a tumult of applause. Vera glanced up into the audience and, as she did so, here eyes caught those of a man sitting alone off to one side. Something in his look, in his cold callous gaze chilled Vera. She saw him catch the eye of Lian and make some comment; suddenly she was scared again.

Indeed, as she picked up her kimono and was putting it on Xiao-Pin arrived and told her not to bother getting dressed. With a concerned look on her face she led Vera to the back of the brothel, down the corridor and into one of the specialist rooms.

"Stand against the cross," Xiao-Pin said gently. "You know the way."

"But why? What's going on?" Vera queried. Xiao-Pin's sympathetic attitude was doing nothing to calm Vera's fears.

"Shh... We're not allowed to talk. Now lean against the cross and stand still."

Vera stood in front of the cross and leant forward until she was resting against it with her arms and legs spread-eagled against the wooden X that made up its structure. One by one Xiao-Pin fastened the straps so that she was held firmly against it and completely unable to move. Then she came round and placed a gag in Vera's mouth.

"Remember, think beautiful thoughts, be strong; it will hurt but it will come to an end," she whispered as she tightened the straps which held the gag in place. And then she was gone.

Vera had only moments to wait before the door opened and the man from the back of the club entered. He came and stood close behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning forward until his mouth was close to her ear.

"I saw you with the Indian girl, I saw you loving every moment. Have you no decency? You're just filth, you're scum, you're dirt," he snarled. "You and your kind, you are an abomination; you are loathed by all honourable people and deserve to suffer, really suffer."

Then he reached for a cat o'nine tails from the wall and started to lay into Vera with vehemence. Her back, her buttocks, her shoulders, her arms, her legs--no part of her was spared and her whole body was on fire with the pain. Her teeth clamped around the gag as scream after scream was forced from her body, only to be muffled by the cloth and leather that filled her mouth.

At last the whipping was over and she slumped, held in place by the straps. The rustle of cloth behind her warned her of what was coming next and it was no surprise when she felt the man's penis pushing at her sphincter. Although he was smaller than the jiba, or indeed, Sangeeta's strap-on, he was far more violent and, once again, she felt the feeling of violation as he thrust himself inside her anus. Fortunately he had little more staying power than 'loudmouth' and, after half a dozen strokes she felt him climax inside her.

With a final snarl of 'filth' he withdrew, buttoned himself up and left.

Maybe Lian did have some compassion after all because it was Jia-Li who came to unfasten her, Jia-Li who led her to the kitchen where, along with the cook, she bathed Vera's body with a soothing lotion and it was Jia-Li who took her off to bed, cuddling her in her arms and kissing away the tears.

Vera was a battered and bruised girl when she woke the next morning and a solicitous Jia-Li went with her to breakfast. They were busy ladling out their porridge when the cook came over.

"How are you this morning?" she asked Vera.

"A bit sore, Mistress," Vera replied.

"I bet you are; that was some beating you took last night. Take your tunic off, let me have a look."

Vera did as she was told and the cook looked her over.

"Well, there's no lasting damage but I'll ask Lian to keep you away from the rough ones for a while. There's only so much a girl can take, after all."

"Thank you, Mistress," Vera said with real feeling.

"Well, you won't get too many customers with your body all bruised like that," the cook went on. "That bastard pays well for his pleasures but he doesn't pay well enough to do permanent damage."

With a slight shudder at the implication that, had he paid enough, he would have been allowed to do permanent damage, Vera thanked the cook again and took her bowl over to the table where she gingerly sat down to eat.

"That man, the one who whipped me, cookie seemed to know him; she seemed to be saying he's a regular customer," she whispered to Jia-Li.

"Yeah, we've all suffered him at one time or another. It was really bad luck that he was here on your first night." Jia-Li replied.

"But he'll be back..." Vera went on.

"Yeah, he'll be back but he'll choose another next time. There will be others but it's rare that you get hurt that badly," Jia-Li reassured her.

"But what about Xiao-Pin? I saw her beaten twice," Vera said

"That was different; she angered Lian with her attitude and paid the price. Look, as cookie said, it's not good business for us to be damaged. There aren't many who'll pay for sex with a girl who's covered with bruises. We may not like being here but they consider us their property, and in general they look after us. Now eat up your porridge."

And with that the conversation ceased as the two girls polished off the food before them.

Later they were relaxing in the dorm when Sangeeta came over.

"Guizi-Nui, Lian wants to see us right away. Come along."

With a sense of 'what now?' Vera followed Sangeeta through to the main lounge where Lian was waiting. They went over and bowed before her.

"That show you did last night... I got quite a few comments. It seems that our customers rather enjoyed watching the two of you together. I'm going to make it a regular feature. It could still do with a little work, though. Get up on stage and run through it and we'll see what can be done."

"Please, Mistress," Vera said urgently. "I'll need to oil myself and, after last night...."

"Don't be stupid, girl," Lian said derisively. "This is just a rehearsal; we won't actually stick anything in you, after all I want to keep you fresh for tonight."

"Of course, Mistress," Vera said with relief.

"Now then, the bit where you knelt before Sangeeta, where you were pretending to worship her, I want more of that. Our customers like to see a round eye on her knees. Maybe it should be you who fits the strap-on. Let's give that a try."

Rehearsal or not, Vera and Sangeeta still had to go through the motions and Vera spent most of the morning kissing Sangeeta's feet, kissing her groin area and fellating the strap-on. Lian's suggestion that Vera should fit it worked, as did many of her other suggestions. She might not be pleasant to work with but there was no denying that she knew her business. As Vera lay across the padded box and Sangeeta eased the strap-on up and down the crease of her buttocks as a substitute for the real thing, Lian looked on critically. She suggested that they try having one of the X shaped restraints on stage in place of the box but, after Vera and Sangeeta had gone to the trouble of taking the one from the specialist room and erecting it on stage it was found that fastening all the straps spoiled the flow of the performance and they had to take it back again.

By the time they had finished, both girls were quite exhausted but Vera had to admit that, when they were called upon to do it that evening, she would be a lot more confident.

"You don't have to do it for real, you know," Sangeeta said as they walked back to the dormitories.

"What do you mean?" Vera queried.

"I felt your tongue probing my bi. You don't have to; the customers will never know that we're faking," she replied.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to...." Vera blushed furiously.

"Oh, don't apologise. I mean, its not as if I didn't like it or anything; in fact you're pretty good and I quite enjoyed it but you don't have to, not unless you want to."

"Well, if you enjoyed it...." Vera started, wondering where this conversation was going.

"Yeah, I did, and it's not as if we get many pleasures in this game. I'm just saying you don't have to, not if you don't want to."

At this point the arrived at the dormitories and the conversation lapsed.

And so the pattern for the next stage of Vera's life was set. She soon got to know her customers, to become an expert in deciphering what they really wanted. There were the shy ones who, in the privacy of the rooms, hid their shyness behind aggression and the confident ones who, when it got down to it, only wanted to talk. Time and time again Lian reprimanded Vera for taking too long, for not getting the customer back to the lounge quick enough but, as it became apparent that the ones she spent time with were the ones who came back and left generous tips when they did, she was eventually forgiven. The 'black and white' show with Sangeeta fast became a hit with the regulars and was often called for. Whether for devilment or because pleasures were few and far between Vera made a point of always 'doing it for real' and she loved it when Sangeeta responded.

One by one Vera picked up regular customers; 'daddy smack bottom' was one of the first and Vera was pressed to endlessly think up new ways in which she had been a naughty little girl. Even though his smacks stung there was something sweet about him and Vera rather enjoyed it when he asked for her. As Jia-Li had prophesised she managed to avoid any further serious beatings. They were relatively rare and Lian was keen to keep her unmarked for the 'black and white' show. However, in amongst the humdrum, there were two incidents which did stand out.

The first involved one of the bigger braggarts who, as he quaffed his wine, was full of boasts about his prowess and how masterful he was. He took Vera to one of the specialist rooms and she feared the worst but, as soon as the door was closed, he was down on his knees in front of her, crouched down, kissing her toes.

"Please, Mistress, your slave begs to be of service," he said meekly.

For a moment Vera was completely taken aback but her quick wits came to her rescue and, taking all the insults she had had to swallow and turning them around, she berated the customer for his feebleness before strapping him to the cross and giving his buttocks a good caning. Then she fastened the strap-on around herself and gave him what so many others had given her and was slightly surprised when he climaxed as she did so. Whilst she derived absolutely no sexual pleasure from the act, there was a certain satisfaction in turning the tables for once.

Later on, as she was serving the wine to the braggart's group of friends, she heard him boasting again of his prowess and he even turned to her to support his story. Hiding the truth behind confused blushes she gave the impression of backing up his story without actually doing so. His gratitude was shown by his repeat business and generous tips; once again Vera was winning favour.

The other incident concerned one of the quieter customers, one who liked to sit sedately with his wine and meal for a while before choosing one of the girls for a gentle session. He was a big favourite and all were keen to serve him. One day, as he relaxed, he was reading a newspaper and, as Vera refilled his wine glass, she caught sight of one of the articles.

The headline read 'Rebel General Hung' and the article described how General Chang had been captured in a raid and, after a short trial, condemned to death for treason to the state. Vera, absorbed in reading the article over the customer's shoulder, completely forgot about the wine until, with a cry, the customer jumped up from the table, his clothes a sodden mess where the wine had spilt over him.

Naturally Vera was in big trouble for this and received a severe caning right there in the main lounge in front of the man and all the other customers. This, along with Vera's profuse apologies, appeared to mollify him, although Vera knew that Lian was going to make her life hard for a day or two. All this was small payment, however, for the slip of paper that, in the confusion, she had managed to tear from the newspaper and secrete in the pockets of her kimono.

That night she slipped out to the latrines and, in the dim glow of the night lights, attempted to read the article. Her heart was thumping in her chest as she deciphered the characters; the article described in some detail how the British had raided a rebel compound and had captured many of their top command. It then went on to list the crimes of General Chang and the subsequent death sentence upon him. Towards the end of the article it went on to say "Also captured in the raid and suffering a similar fate are...."

And there the paper was torn.

Again and again Vera read and reread the article as if, next time, it somehow would yield more clues. She had done the sums; the raid must have been on the same day that she had been captured. She remembered the sense of being followed, the sense that Major Strickland was on to her. Had he indeed followed her to the rebel headquarters and, if he had done so, if he had led the raid, whom else might he have captured? A small glimmer of hope flickered within her. Maybe Xui-Li had survived. Maybe, just maybe....

But no, it couldn't be. Xui-Li had been due to be shot that very morning and, even if that had been interrupted by the raid, surely a leader like her would have been amongst those hung along with General Chang. Sniffing back her tears, she told herself to stop being silly. Xui-Li was dead, there was no doubt about it, and, even if by some miracle she had survived, then their last meeting had been far from propitious. No, she had to come to terms with it; she would never, ever, see Xui-Li again.

She slunk back to the dormitories and secreted the newspaper article in a safe place before slipping back into bed next to Jia-Li. Somehow, ever since Jia-Li had been so kind to her in those early days, they had ended up most nights curled up together and, whilst Jia-Li would never be another Xui-Li, this was a warm companionship in an otherwise harsh world. However, as she snuggled up to her friend, her thoughts were elsewhere, of a different time and a different place. Whatever happened there would always be part of her heart which belonged to Xui-Li.