Island Slave Ch. 05

Carla was in tears, the fear and love clashing in her heart. In her soul, she was sure that Rhiannon was correct, yet the terror of losing herself forever was no less strong. "What do I do?" she sobbed.

"I can't tell you that. Tell me, do you love him?"

"Oh God, yes! I love him with all my heart."

"How about Melanie, how do you feel about her?"

Carla thought for a minute. As she did, she realized that the sadness she had felt all the times she was upstairs was sadness for Melanie as much as it was for Quinn. "She feels like a sister to me."

"I think you have your answer. Love is stronger than fear, after all."

Carla found that as the decision solidified in her mind, the fear eased. It came to her that she would not be able to live with herself if she did not take this chance. Wiping away her tears, Carla nodded her head. "You're right. I think I've known from the first she asked that I would allow her to. I just needed someone to help me see that. I will return and let Melanie know."

"But, not tonight. The walk is long and you must be tired and hungry. You will stay with us for the night and return in the morning. I assume Quinn was on the plane that left this morning?"

"Yes, he will be gone for at least three days. I have time. Thank you for your help, Rhiannon. Tell me, have you ever heard the story of Rhiannon?"

"She is a real goddess?"

"Rhiannon was a Celtic Goddess. I think you will appreciate her story."

Carla, who had taken a mythology class in college, shared the story of the Celtic Goddess who had married a mortal only to suffer an unjust punishment for a crime, infanticide, she had not committed. Rhiannon was intrigued by her namesake's courage and poise in the face of false accusations and by the ready forgiveness she extended when she was eventually cleared of the crime and reunited with her husband.

The next day, Carla returned to the mansion. While the trip back was as long and as tiring as the trip out had been, she was better prepared, with food and water to consume along the way. She was mildly surprised to find that her first thought upon seeing the mansion was, "Home!"

"I guess I am where I belong," she muttered to herself.

"Miss Carla," Bonita called as Carla walked up. "I'm so glad you came back."

"Of course I came back, Bonita. I've come to think of here as home."

"Why did you leave at all?"

"I needed to learn more about Melanie." Carla left out the part about the ghost. She did not feel like arguing about what ghosts were and were not.

"Miss Carla, you can't bring her up with Master Quinn."

"Bonita, his pain will not go away by ignoring it and her. Yes, I know they were in love and that she left him. Unlike Quinn and yourself, I know why she left. Quinn needs to know that as well."

"You will hurt him!"

"Perhaps, but, he is already hurting. His pain is like a splinter that has been left to fester. Yes, removing it will hurt more, but it will be a pain that will end, not one that will hurt for all time." Carla grasped Bonita's arms. "Trust me, Bonita. I love Quinn and want what's best for him. And I promise you, I will not leave him. Now, I think I'm over dressed. I am supposed to be naked."

They two women shared a smile as Carla stripped off the clothes she had borrowed so that Bonita could wash them. Once Bonita had left, Carla ventured upstairs again. In the book room, she turned to the mirror and called out softly, "Melanie."

The ghost appeared in the mirror, sadness etched on her face.

"Melanie, if I let you talk to Quinn, will you promise to give me my body back?"

The increasingly familiar breeze swept past her head, carrying the whispered, "Yes," on it. As it did, the ghost lifted its head and smiled, reaching her hand out.

Carla shook her head. "Not right now. Quinn will be gone for another day. Once he is here, I'll have to prepare him. I want him to know that you will be inside me before it happens."

The image nodded. Her finger reached out to try to write on the mirror. Carla walked up and breathed onto the mirror, creating a small patch of fog. The ghost wrote in its usual backward writing, "Who are you?"

"Do you want to know about me?"

Melanie nodded again. Carla sat on the floor and gave Melanie an account of her life. Carla shared everything with the spirit; her past, her hopes and dreams, her fears and insecurities, her growing love for Quinn. Through it all, Carla found that she was coming to love this spirit, this woman who loved Quinn with a love that was as strong as Carla's.

At the end, she looked at the mirror, into the eyes of the ghost. "Melanie, I'm so sorry that you felt you had you leave him. He loved you, still loves you, very much. He would have forgiven you, if you had just let him know."

The spirit nodded its head with sadness. The whisper came, "Doubted."

"You doubted him?" When Melanie shook her head, Carla nodded her head sadly as well. "You doubted yourself, your own love."

Melanie nodded her head. Tears filled the ghost's eyes, matched by the tears filling Carla's. Carla reached out to touch the mirror. As her hand made contact with the glass, she could feel the essence of Melanie's hand and hear the sobs from the other side. Carla left her hand there, crying with her new friend, as the grief poured out for the first time in ages. For an hour, the two women, one flesh, the other spirit, shared the grief that had been held in for far too long.

When the tears stopped, Carla spoke again. "I wish you could talk with me. I want to know so much about you. Why were you so fascinated by being Quinn's slave and being treated so harshly? Did you find what you were looking for after you left?"

She saw Melanie reach for the mirror again, making writing motions. Carla breathed more fog onto the mirror and saw the word, "Humidifier," being spelled out.

"Of course, there's a humidifier in my room. I'll meet you there."

Carla ran down to her room and dragged the humidifier from her closet. It was a hot steamer, used to help clear lungs during an illness. Carla had no idea if such a thing actually worked, being a fan of a menthol vapor rub, herself. She dragged a chair into the bathroom and set the humidifier up to vent directly onto the mirror. Melanie was already there as the steam fogged the mirror. The ghost started writing. Each word fogged back over after a couple of minutes.

With that, Melanie and Carla were able to communicate. Melanie wrote of her love and her submissiveness. She wrote about the fulfillment she felt when she put herself into the hands of another, to be totally controlled. She spoke of subspace and the pleasure she received from pain itself. She wrote of the loneliness that was always a part of her after she left Quinn and the quest for ever increasing harshness and domination to try to drive it from her. She told Carla about Master Greg and his care for her, even when she could not return his love. She tried to explain about the agony and ecstasy that came from being branded (Carla shuddered with fear at that).

Carla slept soundly that night. The next morning, she met Melanie at the mirror after her bath. With the humidifier running, they talked more, telling each other of the things that brought them joy in their lives. It seemed that a love of reading was one of those things that attracted Quinn to both of them. They had their differences. Melanie was much like Carla's friend Sherry, able to enjoy sex as a purely physical pleasure. While plants flourished under Melanie's care, Carla had a brown thumb, capable of killing even the hardiest of plants if she attempted to care for them. Carla stayed there, talking with the spirit until her stomach reminded her that she had skipped breakfast and lunch was due.

"Miss Carla, are you all right? You've been in your room all morning," Bonita asked when Carla showed up for lunch.

"I'm fine, Bonita. I was just catching up on some reading." Carla smiled at her inside joke as the reading she was catching up on had been written before her eyes.

It was during lunch that Quinn returned. When he walked in, Carla leapt up and ran to him.

"Quinn! I'm so glad you're back."

"I'm happy to be back. I'm especially glad at your reaction. I take it I'm not the enemy any more?"

Carla shook her head with a smile. "No, you're not. I have something important to show you after lunch. Come on, have a seat and eat."

Quinn sat at the table and tried to pry Carla's secret from her. Carla would not say a thing. She simply smiled nervously. As the moment of truth (as she was coming to think of it) approached, she became increasingly anxious about how Quinn would react. Would he even believe that her ghost was real? Would he want to talk with her? Would he be angry and hurt? Carla knew that there was a lot of pain trapped inside the man she had come to love. Could it be safely released?

"Well, lunch is over, Carla. What is the big surprise?"

"I'll meet you in your room. I have to prepare it. I shouldn't be more than a couple of minutes."

"Okay, my little slave. I'll play along." Quinn rose and walked to his room.

Carla ran to her room, going straight to the bathroom mirror. Melanie was waiting for her.

"Are you ready, Melanie?" The spirit nodded, but looked afraid. "I know it's frightening. You can do this.Weneed to do this. You won't be alone. Meet me at the full length mirror in Quinn's room. Become visible when I tell you to." The spirit nodded again and faded from view.

Carla walked to Quinn's room, finding him sitting on the edge of his bed. Carla could feel the palms of her hands sweating and there was a lump forming in her throat. She cleared her throat as Quinn looked at her expectantly.

"Quinn, I know that you have been holding in a great pain." When he started to protest, she held up her hand to stop him. "Hear me out, please. I want to help you with that pain. I want to because...I love you Quinn, with all my heart. I would do anything for you."

"Carla, I don't know if I can return your love. I lost my heart years ago."

"I know. Melanie left you and it tore your heart out. I think you do love me, Quinn, even if you can't see it yourself." Carla held her hand out to him, pulling him to his feet. "There is someone you need to meet." Carla pulled him until they were both standing in front of the mirror. "You can come out now," she said to the mirror.

The confusion on Quinn's face vanished, to be replaced by anguish, as Melanie made herself visible to both of them. He staggered back, his hands raised protectively, until he backed into the bed and sat on it hard. His head was shaking as he muttered, "No, it can't be. She's dead, I know she is."

Carla knelt before him. "I know she is, Quinn. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am that she is and how sad her death made me when I read about it. However, her spirit stayed behind because she needs to talk to you one last time."

"Why, why did she wait so long?"

"You weren't ready. She needs a willing subject to inhabit, someone who loves you as much as she does and is willing to risk everything for you. I am willing to let her use me if you want to talk with her."

Quinn collapsed into Carla's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. Over her shoulder, Carla could see Melanie crying as well. Carla held Quinn until the tears had slowed. Then she took his hand and helped him to his feet again. She led Quinn to the mirror where Melanie waited. Carla reached out and touched the mirror.

"Go ahead, Melanie. You have my permission."

Carla felt a small shock on her hand. Then she felt something moving through her body, something not quite there, yet all encompassing. Her vision seemed to waver and distort until her point of view changed. She seemed to be looking at her body instead of from it. Her sense of touch seemed to be fading as well. When the movement stopped, Carla looked at the two people in the room. Quinn was standing, holding the woman's hand gingerly, as if afraid to break it. The woman was Carla, yet it wasn't. Carla could see a second person overlaid on her body, she could see Melanie there. It was then that Carla realized that she was now the image in the mirror and Melanie was in her body. She smiled as the two started to react to one another.

"Master," Melanie whispered, "I am so sorry that I left you. I never meant to hurt you."

"Melanie, is it really you? Can it be true?" The fear in his voice was palpable, fear that he was dreaming and that he would wake with the pain of losing her once again fresh.

"Yes, my love, it is truly me. I've waited so long for someone who could love you as much as I do, someone who would allow me these few minutes."

Tears sprung to his eyes again. "Oh God! Melanie, I'm so sorry I drove you away. I misunderstood what you wanted..."

Melanie put her fingers to his lips. "No. That's not why I left. You gave me everything I could ask for. It is I who should beg for forgiveness. I betrayed you, not on purpose, but never the less I did." At his confused look, she explained. "The artist, I paid him with poses for him to paint for himself. He took me Master, I let him bind me and then he took me as if I were his slave. I betrayed you."

"No!" Quinn took her tightly by the arms. "Did you agree to let him fuck you?" When she shook her head, he went on. "Then you didn't betray me, he raped you. Why didn't you tell me? I would have dealt with him."

"I was so ashamed, Master. I thought it was my fault. I believed that I had given myself to another and I wanted you to claim me again. That's why I begged you to brand me."

"I didn't know. If only I had known."

The two collapsed into each other's arms, sobbing with grief. Carla could see the pain that filled both easing. Two lost souls had found one another. The couple stood there, seeking comfort in each other's embrace, for nearly half an hour. They pulled back from one another.

"I wish we could share more," Quinn sighed.

"I can't stay, Master. This is Carla's body. It would not be right for me to use it like that."

She had gestured towards the mirror as she spoke. In the mirror, Carla nodded and mouthed something. Melanie broke free of Quinn and moved close enough to the mirror to breath on it. Carla saw a fog appear in front of her and smiled, both at the fog and at Quinn's approach. She used her finger to write in the fog. "Go ahead, one last time."

Melanie gasped. "Are you sure, Carla? This is your body."

Carla wrote in the new fog that Melanie created. "Yes, let him have you as he did."

Tears came to both their eyes. "Carla, I can't tell you how much this means to me. Are you really sure? You know how muchyouwill be hurting afterwards."

Carla nodded, raising her finger to write again. When a new fog had been breathed out, she wrote, "May I watch?"

Quinn answered. "Of course you may. Thank you for this incalculable gift you have given us. I'll move the mirror into the basement room." Quinn was surprised to find Carla smiling and nodding. "You found my little dungeon?" Carla nodded again. Quinn simply shook his head in wonder.

In short order the mirror was in the dungeon. Melanie dragged Quinn out of the room right after they had set it up.

"Quinn," she started. Quinn looked at her in surprise. She had never called him by name, not since she had agreed to be his slave. "Do you love Carla?"

"Yes I think I do, my dear. Are you jealous?"

Melanie laughed. "I'm dead, for heaven's sake! I can't be jealous. All these years, seeing you in pain, lonely and unable to move on has been so painful. I have wanted you to love another for over a decade. Don't let her go, Quinn. Talk with her. Communicate with her better than we did. If we had only told each other what we were really feeling. Don't let that happen."

"I won't. I've missed you so much. I'll miss you when you go again."

"I know you will. This time, we will have said good bye properly. I'll wait for both of you on the other side, whenever it is."

"You won't be hurt if I don't rush."

"I'll be hurt if you do rush," she answered with a playful slap.

"Oh ho, the little slave has become uppity. I think you need to be punished."

"You're right Master, I do. What do you intend to do?"

"Come with me."

Quinn dragged Melanie/Carla into the dungeon, shutting the thick door behind them. He pulled her to the whipping post and bound her hands above her head. She looked over her shoulder to see Quinn retrieving a cat and Carla watching from her vantage point in the mirror. Carla gave a thumbs up signal and Melanie turned away again.

When the first stroke hit her, she gave a small cry. More strokes followed as Quinn laid the lashes of the cat across her legs, ass and back. Shortly, Melanie was crying in pain, writhing under the kiss of the lashes. Stripes appeared with each stroke, deep red in color. In the mirror, Carla winced at each one, knowing she would be sore for days, yet admiring the way that Quinn delivered such harsh strokes with obvious love.

Quinn stopped and felt Melanie's cunt, finding it wet with her juices and sweat. He inserted the handle of the whip into her and fucked her with it. Soon Melanie was thrusting back against the handle, moaning with desire. Just before she came, Quinn stopped, leaving her hanging at the post, begging for release. Instead, Quinn picked up a paddle and started to spank Melanie on the ass. Each blow brought a cry of pain, mixed with a moan of need. Soon, her ass was a solid mass of red and Melanie/Carla's body, was sobbing in pain and unrealized desire.

Carla saw her head turn to look back and there it was. The vision of the painting was staring right at her. The battered body with the turned head that radiated pain, desire and love simultaneously. Unlike with the painting, the vision did not frighten her. Carla understood that, for Melanie and Quinn, this was fulfillment. This was the expression of how much they loved one another. She knew it would be different for Quinn and herself, but that was all right.

Quinn had dropped the paddle and his pants. His hard cock was pressed against Melanie's ass as he leaned against her. Melanie begged for Quinn to fuck her, to take her brutally and without mercy. After nearly a minute of such pleading, Quinn thrust himself into her, forcing a mixed cry of pain and ecstasy from her throat. He thrust against her repeatedly, and in spite of her cries of pain, Melanie thrust herself back, forcing him as deep as was possible into her. They came together, her cunt milking his cock, both screaming their pleasure to fill the sound proof room.

As they hung there, the orgasms fading, Melanie looked back at her Master. "I have to go, Master. Take good care of Carla. I love her..."

Melanie's declaration of love for Carla went unfinished, or at least Carla did not hear it. She felt a tugging and then found herself racing towards her body. Suddenly, she hurt. Her back, ass and legs were on fire and her arms were aching

"Oh my God! It hurts, Quinn, it really hurts."

"I know. Let me take you down. I have some ointment for the pain, if it's still good."

Wincing as she hobbled over to the bench to lie down, Carla remarked, "I don't think I will ever be able to deal with receiving this kind of treatment myself."

"I know. I would never want to inflict this on someone who did not want it."

"Quinn, I want to stay, to be with you forever."

"I want that as well. I love you Carla Baxter. I love you as much as I loved Melanie."

As Quinn and Carla kissed, Melanie Thiesman, invisible to the two of them, smiled and let her spirit respond to the call that had been tugging at her for the last few minutes. A light that only she could see opened up and she floated towards it, joyous and complete, knowing that the man she loved, and the woman she had come to love, would be happy together, the pain finally gone.