Den of Iniquity Ch. 10

Chantelle had seen me!

"Awwww..." breathed the crowd collectively.

"Roger! Come over here! Come on don't be shy. Have a go! Paddle the girl!"

Chantelle was smirking and I looked around and saw my boss and his wife, as well as Georgia and a few of the lawyers and their wives all urging me to take the paddle.

"I'll do it," said Claudio, pushing through the crowd to take it from Johnson's hand. I hadn't noticed him watching.

"Wow," said Annie beside me, "She's 'really' gonna get it now."

"No!" I almost yelled, breaking from Annie and lunging for the paddle. "I'll do it!"

The crowd cheered!

"Jesus!" I muttered under my breath.

Johnson handed me the paddle and I looked down at it. It was lighter than mine, but it could definitely pack a punch. I looked back at Chantelle, then at the waiting crowd, then down at the red ass swaying seductively and seemingly beckoning me to paddle it.

"Go on, Roger. Five to go, and make them good ones!"

I laughed nervously and smoothed my hand over the leather, smiling uncertainly at the crowd. I needed a little time... a pantomime... a scene... time... just a little time... I had to find out... surely I couldn't paddle Sylvia. Could I?

"You all want me to finish off this girl?" I asked loudly, patting her ass with the paddle.

"Yesssss!!" cheered the crowd over the heavy beat of the music.

"This girl?!!! This naughty girl?!!!"

"Yesssssss!!"

I spoke as I leaned over her uplifted ass and picked her head up by the short ponytail that protruded from the back of her hood.

"This one! This one who is so clearly aroused by what is going on?"

I bounced the paddle off her ass a little harder and she groaned as I lifted her head, arching her back.

"Yesssssssssss!!!"

"This one who..."

I twisted her head by the ponytail and looked into Josephine's brown eyes and she smiled at me.

"... so clearly needs serious correction?"

"YESSSSSSS!!!!"

I let go of her hair and her head dropped slowly to the floor.

I looked around the crowd of smiling, excited faces.

Most of them had never seen anything like the things they'd seen tonight. Most of them were amazed at every scene they witnessed, watching with baited breath, hearts beating fast.

Most of them had never even heard of BDSM.

Many of them would come away from this party as changed people. They would no longer accept the mundane. They would be people with ideas, and with plans for the future. Some would file away what they witnessed, to draw on the memory at a later time, and some would forget all about it.

But most would remember everything they saw and even in some small way, it would change their lives.

Would it be for the better?

I hoped so.

"Do iiitttt!!!!" someone yelled over the music.

I looked at Chantelle.

Even she had fire in her eyes.

Something wasn't right.

Why was Josephine smiling?

I pulled her back up by the hair, leaned down to her ear, and spoke loudly enough so that only she could hear.

"Where is Sylvia?"

Her visage changed from erotic enjoyment to a wicked witch in a breath.

She cackled and wiggled her ass.

"Come on Roger, paddle me. I know you want to."

"Where is she?!"

"It doesn't matter now, it's too late. Get on with it and paddle my fucking ass! Your audience is waiting!"

Releasing her hair again, I stood up and darted my eyes around.

Chantelle looked keen to give her a thrashing. Claudio just looked scary. Even Annie had a look of sadistic pleasure in her eye.

Only Johnson looked capable of paddling Josephine without losing control.

I took a stride towards him and handed him the paddle.

"This is a demonstration, not a punishment. Not too hard!" I stated firmly.

He nodded in understanding and took the paddle from my hand. I turned back to the gathering of friends and co-workers, many of whom had no idea what was going on.

I turned to Chantelle, who was smiling at me strangely... almost proudly.

"Come on! We have to find Sylvia!" I yelled over music that had become almost deafening. "She has to be around here somewhere!"

Chantelle looked around but it was pointless. She wasn't tall enough and she started jumping up and down in her high-heeled boots and seeing what she could see.

I smiled at Annie when she did the same thing. I was tall enough to see over most people's heads, but I couldn't really see anything anyway. It was too dark. Claudio strode over at the commotion, while the rest of the audience turned back to watch Josephine's paddling.

"What's going on?!" he yelled.

"We have to find Sylvia! Josephine's sister! She'll be in a hood!" I yelled.

"I'll go this way with Chantelle!" he replied.

"Okay! C'mon, Annie, we'll go down this side!"

We split up and the last I saw of them was Claudio dragging Chantelle by the hand into the crowd. Annie took mine and pulled me over to the first exhibit and we identified the submissive quickly. It was a guy, so it didn't hold us up.

"C'mon!" screamed Annie, pulling me further into the crowd.

At the next scene a submissive girl was cuffed to a St. Andrew's cross and a large crowd had gathered to watch as her Master flogged her back and ass. He was in the process of unbuckling her wrist cuffs from the big 'X' and turning her around to flog her front. She was hooded too but I was pretty sure it wasn't Sylvia.

"It's not her!" cried Annie, tugging at my hand.

I followed her through the crowd and looked ahead and all around us. "Where were the partners?" I wondered. "God I hope this doesn't get out of hand!"

We arrived at the next scene where a sub was being very lightly caned while her Mistress explained loudly to the crowd about her enjoyment of corporal punishment.

I winced.

The sub was very slim, but light-skinned and wasn't Sylvia. I rolled my eyes and kept following Annie. Up ahead it looked like half the hall had poured onto the dance floor and were dancing like crazy people. The hall had become quite dark, our way lit by soft spotlights over each table and the flashing coloured lights and lasers beaming out around the dance floor.

Progress became slower and I saw Chantelle and Claudio up ahead at our table, waiting for us.

"No sign of her!" shouted Chantelle over the music.

Claudio shook his head and shrugged in agreement.

I looked over to the partner's table, and apart from a few people using it to rest their drinks and watch the dancing, it was empty.

Where was Gardner? Where was Hammerstein? Where were their wives and the gossiping secretaries? Where were Alex O'Donohue and Saul Houston?

Where was Sylvia???

I caught the shape of Alex's head in the dancing throng and then realized with a rush what was happening.

"The pillory!!!" I yelled, pushing onto the dance floor and started to wind my way through the dancing bodies.

As I got closer I could see the top of Sylvia's hooded head, strapped and locked in the pillory by the neck and wrists. She was facing the crowd with her head down and many of those gathered were clapping to the beat of the music.

I heard them chanting, "Cane! Cane! Cane!"

Gardner stood behind her, holding a long cane up in his hand. He was whipping it through the air and apparently preparing to cane her!

The crowd was packed in watching and bouncing to the loud music.

It was almost impossible to push through.

I looked around and saw the wives of the partners, yelling incoherently. Saul Houston and some of the top brass from the company also looked on, pointing and making comments.

Just then Emmanuel Hammerstein stepped up to Sylvia and lifted her head by the back of her hood.

It was Sylvia, all right.

Her blue eyes, though half open and bloodshot, peered into the shadows and light.

I wondered what Josephine had given her.

I tried to push through and was grabbed by my belt. I couldn't go forward.

Someone was stopping me!

I turned around to see who it was and saw Chantelle and Annie looking up at me.

"What's happening?!!" Chantelle screeched.

It couldn't be! I glanced around at the faces... "Who else would be..."

Saul Houston!

"Where do you think you're going, big guy?" he sneered.

Just then I heard Hammerstein yell into Sylvia's ear. I turned towards them.

It was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You're a stupid slut! Maybe this will teach you!"

I had to do something!

Turning around and looking up into his eyes, I took hold of Saul's hairy arm.

He winced as I dug my fingers between the bones in his wrist.

I looked down at Chantelle and Annie, who had noticed what was happening.

"Get him off me!"

They both grabbed Saul's arm and I fought my way forward, grabbing the shoulders of those in front of me. Looking ahead as I strained, I saw Sylvia looking right at me, her head held up in Hammerstein's hand.

Was she smiling???

He let go of her head and it flopped forward. He leaned back up and nodded at Gardner.

This couldn't be happening!

I saw a flash go off.

Someone had a camera!

I had to stop them!

"Nooo!!!" I yelled, pulling forward and bursting through the crowd, escaping Saul's grip.

I careened into Hammerstein and knocked him on his ass.

I fumbled with the latches on the Pillory while looking at Gardner.

"Don't do it! It wasn't her!"

He didn't seem to care.

"It'll be fun anyway!" he replied.

He hesitated only a moment then started swinging back!

He was just about to lay into her when Claudio raced up behind him.

It was like slow motion.

He grabbed the cane in one hand and Gardner's shoulder in the other, spinning him around and twisting the cane from his grasp. I hadn't seen anything like it since my time in the Marines.

"What are you doing, Roger?!!" Hammerstein bellowed at me as his wife helped him to his feet and sneered at me. "This was OUR idea!"

I pulled the photo from my jacket pocket and shoved it in his face.

He was back on his feet.

"Look! Brown eyes! It wasn't her!"

He took the photo from me and looked at it closely.

He held it up to the crowd.

"He's right!"

He looked around for someone.

I'd never seen him angrier.

"Where's Gardner?!!"

Claudio pushed Gardner toward us and Hammerstein showed him the picture.

"What's the meaning of this? This girl's eyes are brown!"

Gardner looked at the photo, astonished. He looked back at us imploringly.

"But, wait a minute! I've been duped!"

"No, you LIED to me!"

"But... but, I didn't know! I couldn't have known! It's not my fault!!!"

By this time I'd succeeded in unlatching the stock part of the pillory and was helping Sylvia to a stool vacated by one of the crowd. Annie was helping her drink a glass of water someone had passed her.

"Look at her," Hammerstein wailed. "She's wasted! And you said she was into this stuff! You said she loved it and she'd enjoy being caned! I knew I shouldn't have listened to..."

Just then the music stopped.

"Heyyy... what's going on?"

I looked at Chantelle and she was looking in the direction of the control room. She was waving her arms around, trying to get Adrian to restart the music.

The flashes of strobe lights and flickers of the coloured spotlights abruptly ceased. The harsh regularity of the overhead lighting made people squint as it was turned back on.

They started returning to their tables.

I heard one mutter, "I think it's time to leave."

I looked around.

Annie and Chantelle were helping an unsteady Sylvia to keep her feet.

They stopped and looked at me.

Suddenly, Josephine burst through the crowd and ran into me, burying her shoulder in the middle of my back. I collapsed, gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of me, and looked up from the floor to see who hit me. I watched helpless as Josephine lunged at the three women, obscenities flying from her mouth.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, noticing the commotion.

"You fucking cunts can't do anything right!" she screamed.

Chantelle backed away when Josephine tore at her face. Annie tried to grab Josephine and copped a backhander across the face, flying onto her ass and across the dance floor.

I coughed as I finally drew breath and struggled to my feet.

Words wouldn't come. I couldn't speak. I limped towards Josephine as she postured to punch Sylvia in the face. With a quick movement, she reached behind herself and withdrew the letter opener from the back of her bicycle shorts? As if in slow motion I watched as Josephine inverted the blunt knife and made to bring it down onto Sylvia with all her strength.

With that sight in front of me, my mind got organized in a split second.

"She's going to kill her!"

I threw myself at Josephine's raised hand holding the blade, grasping her wrist and falling sideways taking her with me.

I was almost sitting on top of her when, at that very moment, a shot rang out.

Everything froze.

Annie's hand went to her breast and she collapsed straight backwards.

I screamed and lunged for her.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"

I don't know how, but I caught Annie halfway to the floor, cushioning her fall.

Chantelle held Sylvia close, looking at Annie and screaming too.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

As I rolled on top of Annie, I saw Jonathan swing into view, his gun drawn and pointing at the ceiling.

"Sorry! Sorry, everyone! Are you all right?"

Effortlessly he picked up a dazed Josephine by the upper arm and shook her with force.

"What were you thinking?" he boomed.

I looked down at Annie. She was coughing and coming awake.

"Are you okay?" I almost yelled.

"Y... yes. I... I fainted I think."

I beamed at the wry smile playing on her lips.

"Everything's okay now. You're safe."

Lifting Annie and myself to our feet, I brushed myself down with one hand while keeping Annie steady with the other around her waist.

A look to my left revealed Hammerstein continuing to argue with Gardner over the rising din of voices in the eerily quiet hall.

I shook my head and glanced around. Most of the people were now watching Hammerstein and Gardner going at it. A real crowd was gathering. Most of the people in the hall had moved forward, trying to find out what all the shouting was about, and why the music had stopped and the lights came on.

Saul Houston was trying to keep Gardner and Hammersein apart and was doing a good job. By the looks on the faces of some of the wives, they thought the whole thing was a big joke. Looking back at Jonathan, I noticed he was tying a gag into Josephine's mouth while she kneeled quietly with her empty hands in her lap. Her head was down.

I could feel my strength returning and I stood up straighter, taking a deep breath.

Someone had to say something!

"All right! Enough!" Chantelle screamed at the top of her voice.

She was standing on a table and the entire crowd stopped what they were doing and looked up at her.

She had a look of incredible determination on her face. Her eyes flashed, looking from face to face. They were inexperienced people who didn't know better. People who made assumptions much like I had when I first arrived here. I wondered what she was going to say.

After scanning the crowd, her eyes came to rest on mine.

"One day, someone came to see me and asked me a question. He asked if it was real."

She scanned her eyes over towards Hammerstein and Gardner.

"A few people have been physically and mentally hurt tonight and that is REAL. That is what happened. And I won't stand for it. This lifestyle is not a game you can play on the weekends. You can't assume people don't mind being hurt. I am a human fucking BEING! Of COURSE I don't LIKE to be hurt. And no one in this lifestyle does.

"It is a MYTH to believe there is such a thing as a pain slut. 'Someone who simply gets off on pain'. Pain is a tool. It is incredibly important to know EXACTLY what you are doing before you inflict it.

"Punishment is STRUCTURED and PRIVATE. It is NOT for public consumption."

Her eyes swept over the entranced crowd.

"What you witnessed here tonight was NOT orchestrated by the Domina Flagrante, but by those with a personal axe to grind and who were intoxicated by the fleeting power they possessed."

I looked at Gardner and his head dropped. His wife slapped him across his shoulder.

I looked back at Chantelle.

"Sylvia Harper has been caught up in a game she didn't even know she was playing. She deserves to be forgiven for her sins, not punished."

She looked down at Josephine.

"There were other agendas being played out here tonight. None of which could be justified. There are those that will pay for this evening's interruptions..."

She looked all around at the open-mouthed faces looking up at her.

"...But you people are not among them. You are welcome to stay and enjoy. If you so wish, the party will go on."

The rising throng drowned out any protesters with a resounding yes vote.

Chantelle waited until it was quiet again.

She cupped her hands around her mouth, directing her voice at the control room.

"ADRIAN! MUSIC AND LIGHTS!"

Then she spun around and glared at those close by. Everyone she was talking to knew it in an instant.

"SALON! NOW!"

In moments, music crashed into the hall like a train. The overhead lights drew dim, replaced once more by the strobes and flickering coloured spot lights.

The slave dancers started gyrating again and people returned to their tables. Looking over their heads, I saw dominants and submissives moving back into position.

I noticed smiles and serious conversations going on. People were ordering drinks and picking at the leftovers. Maybe all wasn't lost.

I saw a few people preparing to leave but not many.

How did she do it?

The look on Chantelle's face as she stepped down off the table and stormed off to the salon made me glad I would never be getting a caning fromher.

Looking down at Annie, I was surprised to see her crying.

I turned her towards me, holding her by the shoulders.

"What's wrong?"

"I should have done something!"

"You weren't to know."

"But..."

I pressed my index finger gently to her lips.

"Hush now."

"I'm going to be humiliated in front of everyone!"

"Chantelle would have to go through me first."

"Only if I'm collared, Roger. Otherwise I'm fair game!"

"Look, didn't you hear her? She wouldn't do it. Not to you. Not in public. And knowing Chantelle, she would make sure she spoke to me about something like that first. Whether you are 'collared', or whatever, or not. She knows how I feel about you."

"Ohhh..." Annie sobbed into my chest, embracing me tightly.

"Come on. Everything will be fine. I wanna see the fireworks!"

She looked up at me and I brushed the tears from her cheeks.

"You really think she isn't mad at me?" she asked, in a small voice.

"I think I know who she's mad at. Come on, let's find out."

I took Annie's hand and led her out through the crowd.

I couldn't believe Chantelle had saved the party.

People around me were enjoying themselves again. More than once people came up to me while we made our way to the exit doors and told me not to worry about things.

It was a bit of a blur though.

I just wanted to get to the salon.

Authors note: Thank you rachel for a wonderful editing job once again. This story would be much more difficult to read without you.