A Night Out

Nobody grows up with a dream to join the town watch. It wasn't a glorious thing, but it paid decently, and all Jess had to do was stand there and make sure nobody got up to trouble in the marketplace.

Yawning, she shifted in place, casting a bored eye over the bustling square. It wasn't unpleasant at all, not really. The summer heat could get burdensome, and in winter the blowing wind would cut straight through one's clothes - but nobody important was out and about, then. Right now was that perfect middle ground, the air just cool enough to be refreshing and the greenery just starting to turn for autumn, with enough mercantile activity so that she wasn't completely bored out of her skull.

Then she blinked. A short blonde lass had skipped up next to her and was looking at her rather insistently. Grinning, too.

"Can I help you?" Jess didn't actually like to talk much while on-duty, least of all to youthful pranksters with no better pastime than to annoy the town watch.

"Of course you can." The girl stepped closer, until her lips were nearly brushing her ear. "The word for tonight is 'turquoise,' dear pet. The Mistress wants to see her favorite toy again."

Jess opened her mouth, half-thought questions fizzling out. Then the trigger word washed through her mind like a roll of silent thunder and her mouth shut again.

The rest of her shift passed by very quickly. At least, that's how it seemed for Jess, dazed as she was. Fortunately, nobody asked her any more questions. She would have been fully prepared to do her best answering them, but distractions would not do. Automatically she ended her day at the guardhouse, placing her hauberk and truncheon on their respective shelves and signing out with the bored clerk.

Then, still entranced, she quietly made her way home, where she shucked off her day's garments and ran herself a refreshing bath. Mistress always did like her to be clean.

When that was done, she had to choose her clothes for the night. Something casual, she decided.

It's not like she'd be wearing it for very long.

Dusk had fallen when she made her way outside again, and the day's coolness had become positively chilly. Jess paused on the doorstep. There was a faint lilt of music in the air. A trade caravan from one of the akir families had set up in the local campgrounds, and were due to stay for a week. Their holiday festivities were always an enjoyable experience.

Jess ignored them. Stiffly, but then with growing confidence, she walked out into the night.

Her feet seemed to know the way, even if the memories were slow in returning. They led her on a zig-zagging path through the town. Some part of her subconscious told her that this was to prevent her from being followed, if anyone were to be made curious by her night-time wanderings.

It was only a few minutes to her destination, anyways. A stately home, but not ostentatious. Jess turned and went down the nearest alleyway, to the side entrance that she knew was there. The same blonde girl from the marketplace greeted her.

"C'mon in." She held the door open. "You know where to go."

The girl was right. Jess knew exactly where to go, and as the door shut behind her was already walking over to the stairs she knew so well. The stairs that went down, down into the depths of the house where not even the town watch could see...

Without thinking, she began to undo the fastenings to her clothes, lifting them over her head and stepping out and suddenly she was naked as a flower.

Jess shivered. She could have been in this place a hundred times, and the moment that she was bare was always the best.

Then, leaving her discarded clothes on the floor behind her (some servant would soon pick them up), she began to descend the great stairs.

She knew what sorts of sounds she would hear coming from the other side of the great door. The Mistress was surely hosting a revel tonight. With a deep breath to steel herself, she pushed the door open.

These were the many servants of the Mistress, cavorting with her guests or with each other, depending on their orders. Most of them were human, of all kinds. The akir were the newest addition to the crowd. Whether they had been invited, seduced, or purchased, Jess did not know. She was amused, on some level, to see that most of them were getting fucked silly. One of them Jess recognized as the daughter of the caravan leader; sweat glistened on her brown skin as she rode a burly wastelander. The akir girl cried out, tossing her head back in ecstasy. Then her partner roughly pulled her over until she was on the ground, ass-up, and began to pound the little slut senseless as cheers came from their audience. Apparently, she hadn't been riding enthusiastically enough for their tastes.

Others were present, too. A few city elves, because that was fashionable. And at least a couple beastkin. The two neko dancers were drawing a lot of attention with their sensual, coordinated movements. It seemed that anyone who wasn't watching the akir maiden lose her composure (and her virtue) was slavering over the exotic beastkin servants.

Jess slipped past all of them, and if anyone paid her any notice they wisely kept their hands to themselves. She belonged to the Mistress, and to the Mistress alone.

When she got to the inner sanctum, she found that the Mistress had started without her. And, in fact, that one particular guest was very special, indeed.

"To whom do you belong?"

That was the Mistress, quietly imperious with the assurance of true power. And, in reply, Jess heard:

"I...I belong to the Mistress."

"You belong to me."

"I belong to you."

"Good girl." The Mistress patted her plaything on the head. "Jess, darling," she called without looking round, "come in here and say hello to my latest acquisition."

Jess took another few steps, curious. Then she nearly laughed. On the floor in front of her was none other than the town's own Mayor.

The Mayor was a proud woman. Proud, despite the fact that she had never amounted to much more than the administrator of a backwater market town. True, the place held influence beyond its small size, as the empire was very much interested in the regular flow of trade. Perhaps that was why they had sent someone as clever as the Mayor to take charge.

She had been handsome in her youth, when she'd arrived a decade ago, and she was handsome still. All long legs and statuesque beauty, brains and an iron will. Never married, either. There'd been whispers floating around the town, but none could deny that the Mayor earned her solitude, if that was what she desired.

Clever as she was, she'd proved quite capable of foiling some of the backroom deals that the Mistress had cut with the local merchants. Jess wasn't privy to the details. All she knew was that her Mistress had been very frustrated during some of their meetings.

The Mayor moaned. Oddly, she still had on her blouse; she was probably the only person in the house still wearing a scrap of clothing. She was naked below the waist, though, and Jess saw to her delight that she was being tamed by the Machine.

"P-please..."

The Mistress grabbed the other woman by the face. "Bad girl. What did I say about speaking out of turn?"

Jess giggled as she listened to the Mayor fumble through half-coherent apologies. The Machine whirred between the Mayor's legs. A stout, saddle-shaped thing, easy enough for a woman to straddle comfortably. Nor was Mistress taking any precautions, as Jess saw the Mayor's wrists shackled to the Machine's front. Her legs were similarly restrained; no matter how she might have struggled to get away, her pussy belonged to the Machine.

And the Machine belonged to her Mistress.

"From the top, now." The Mistress patted her guest on the cheek. "Your pussy feels so good."

"Yes. So good."

"Your pussy belongs to me."

"Yes. Belongs to you."

"You love what I do to your pussy."

"Yes. Love what you do to my pussy."

With a snicker, the Mistress turned to look at Jess for the first time. "Heya, pet." Jess squirmed with pleasure. "You're just in time to watch the best part. Oh, Alice, dear," she sang to the Mayor, "tell my friend Jess what you discovered last night."

The Mayor's breath came unsteadily. "I-I found a discrepancy in the pay stubs of the town watch."

"And how did you discover this?"

"The woman who does the figures was on vacation, and I thought that I could do it myself."

"Sandra's another of my creatures," the Mistress said as an aside to Jess. "She helps cover up the little oddities of this town's budget. Like how I give little rewards to my favorites," she winked, and Jess blushed, "or take a little off the top for myself. I'll have to have a word with Sandra. Her carelessness is inexcusable."

She turned back to the Mayor. "Then what did you do?"

"I...I found your name in her papers."

"And?"

"And I decided to investigate."

The Mistress snickered. "This is the funniest part. So how did you go about doing that?"

"I walked down to this house and knocked on the door. Demanded to be let in."

It had obviously amused the Mistress. "You came here all by yourself."

"Yes."

"Without telling anybody where you were going. Why?"

"I was angry."

"And you didn't bring an escort from the town watch."

"Yes."

"Like a silly girl."

"...yes."

The Mistress laughed. "It wouldn't have helped," she informed her guest, "even if you had suspected anything more dangerous than minor corruption. Jess is not the only one of my eyes in the watch. But it was still very, very foolish of you to move against me. You were a foolish girl, weren't you, Alice?"

"Y-yes. Very foolish."

"You are a silly girl."

"Yes. Silly girl."

"A brainless, giggling little bimbo."

"A...no. I'm n-not a bimbo."

Now Jess saw why the Mistress had summoned her. Quietly, she stepped around the Mayor until she was directly behind her, crouching down and waiting for her cue.

"Are you sure?" That teasing voice never failed to run shivers down Jess's spine. "You're not a bimbo?"

"I'm not!" A hint of indignation crept back into the Mayor's voice. "I'm not a-"

She bit her lip.

"What's the matter?" The Mistress purred. "You're not denying it. You're a giggly little bimboslut."

The Mayor shook her head frantically, a wordless whine escaping her lips. It wasn't her fault that Jess had reached under her blouse and was now tracing delicately under her arms with mischievous fingers.

"Say it. Say you're a giggly little bimboslut."

"I'm not a-!" Her shoulders leapt; her body trembled silently, desperately.

"Say it." There was a harsh edge to the Mistress's voice now. "Say it and it will go easier for you. You're a giggly little bimboslut."

The Mayor still had powerful reserves of inner strength, if her resistance after a long day in the hands of the Mistress was anything to go by. It wasn't until the Mistress reached down and started squeezing her hips that she finally broke.

"Okay! Okay! I'm a bimbo! I'm a bihihimbo!" Those restraints were really being put to the test. Fortunately, Jess knew, the Mistress insisted upon the highest quality.

"That's not what I asked." The Mistress's voice was implacable. "You're a giggly little bimboslut. Say it."

"I'm-" a fit of giggles wracked the Mayor's frame. "I'm a giggly little bimboslut!"

"There, was that so hard?" The Mistress cooed soothingly, not pausing the tickle torture in the slightest. "Just think you could've avoided all this unpleasantness. Good girls do what they're told."

If the Mayor had any remaining objections, she certainly wasn't capable of speaking them. Especially not with the ministrations of the Machine.

Jess knew that there were several different settings, depending on the Mistress's intent. There was the tease and denial stage, useful as a supplement for brainwashing. There was the fast-and-hard fuck. When the Mistress had taken her, though, she hadn't needed any of the specific punishment settings. Definitely not. She'd been a good girl.

The Mayor, on the other hand, needed to be taught a lesson.

Jess remembered the Machine. (Remembered it fondly, indeed. Wanted to ride it again.) The little ball of tendrils placed just so, conjured up and tamed by some clever artificer. And every single one of the little things turned inward, pressed against the pussy of whomever was fortunate enough to be the Mistress's newest project...

It startled her, to see the ruthless side of the Machine in action. Thousands upon thousands of the slender lubricated tendrils burst from its surface, reaching up to trail along the Mayor's inner thighs and between her legs, all the way back to her tight, athletic ass. Within seconds, she was sitting in a bed of miniature tentacles. All slick with the Mistress's own proprietary elixirs, and all wriggling and squirming against the poor, helpless Mayor nestled in their midst.

Jess had a bit of an inquisitive mind; that, the Mistress had not touched when she remade her to be a good girl. What would happen when a bad girl, already being tickled silly by two skilled torturers, was subjected to even more torment by the Machine? She was surprised to note that the Mayor did not shriek with forced mirth as the Machine kicked things up a notch, as her captors continued to work her over. The poor woman was too exhausted to laugh, by this point. Her shoulders quaked silently, but no sound escaped her lips. Every now and then she would gasp, drawing in air, but then Jess or the Mistress would scribble somewhere sensitive and drive her into even greater soundless paroxysms.

Godsf, Jess thought. That looked good. She so dearly wanted to scoot herself forward a bit more, move herself a bit closer to the Mayor's ticklish ass. Even in a punishment session, those tendrils would feel so good on her. But...no, she couldn't. Mistress hadn't given permission. And she'd be very irritated with her if she interrupted a training session like that. Especially when its subject definitely deserved it.

It was a long, long while before Jess withdrew her hands, and only because the Mistress had gotten bored and stopped. The Machine, sensing its owner's desires, rumbled back into a more sedate standby setting.

"Now," the Mistress said, "have you learnt your lesson?"

The Mayor drooped limply in her restraints, panting with exhaustion. Her blouse was beginning to stain with sweat, loose hair dangling across her face. She nodded.

"Good girl." The Mayor quivered; feedback from the Machine, a small reward. "Whenever you even think of disobeying in the future, this memory will come to your mind."

"Y...yes mistress."

"Good girl." Another shudder from the Mayor. Mistress was drawing her effortlessly back into trance. "Your pussy feels so good."

"Yes. So good."

"Your pussy belongs to me."

"Yes. Belongs to you."

"You love what I do to your pussy."

"Yes. Love what you do to my pussy."

"Good girl." The Mistress brushed a few strands of hair away from the Mayor's face. "Yet coming to face me all alone? That means you are very foolish."

"Yes. Very foolish."

"You are a silly girl."

"Yes. Silly girl."

"A brainless, giggling little bimbo."

"Yes. Little bimbo."

"Now, Alice," the Mistress said, "you are going to say two things. The first is that you are a toy of the Mistress. The second is that you love being the Mistress's plaything. You will repeat them, and each time you speak the words will become even more true. You will continue until I say stop. Ready? Good girl. You may begin."

"I am a toy of the Mistress. I love being the Mistress's plaything." She quivered as the Machine rewarded her. "I am a toy of the Mistress. I love being the Mistress's plaything." Quivering again, bless the Machine. "I am a toy of the Mistress..."

The Mistress stood. "Come along, girl," she said to Jess. "We'll leave this one until the mantra really sets in. In the meantime, we have some catching-up to do..."

Jess followed eagerly as the Mistress led her into her private bedchambers.

She didn't know how many shared the Mistress's bed. All she knew is that when she was with her Mistress, she was cherished like nothing else. "Oh, yes," she breathed as the Mistress gently pushed her over to the bed, trailing kisses down her collarbone and then further down. The Mistress loved to use her mouth on her most trustworthy servants. Her lips, her tongue...

Jess didn't have to be quiet when she came. Everyone else in the Mistress's house was busy with the same sort of business.

Afterwards, she rested in the Mistress's arms. "Do you want me to...?"

"No, dear, not right now. In a bit. I'm content to just hold you for a while. Tell me, how was your day?"

And Jess told her everything that had happened, the mostly mundane and trivial doings of the market. Which vendors were new, which ones might be amenable to persuasion. The Mistress listened. That was another talent of hers: she actually listened.

"Good pet." Jess smiled, feeling the warmth of that compliment wash over her. "Do you like your job?"

"It's alright, Mistress," Jess answered truthfully.

"When I caught you, and I made you mine," the Mistress asked, "did that put any greater ambitions in your head?"

That was something Jess had to think about. So many of the memories she had were buried, gently concealed until she was called back to the Mistress for a night. "I can't say, Mistress," she said at last. "It's possible, but...if it is your wish, I shall serve as I always have."

The Mistress caressed her thoughtfully. "I may have need for you," she mused. "It depends on how quickly I can run my new servant through her conditioning. It wouldn't be wise to let her walk free, especially when she may throw off her chains before I can reinforce them properly. Like I do with you, in more subtle ways."

Jess giggled.

"And there is also the issue of her influential friends." The Mistress tapped a finger against her cheek. "If she should meet up with someone who knew her before, and act even the slightest bit different...no, that would draw too much suspicion. I'd have to pull up stake, maybe start all over in another town. Not appealing at all. I think, all things considered, our dear Mayor deserves an early retirement." She smirked. "Yes, that'll be the best option. Keep her around just long enough for her to tell people that she's been rethinking her life, wants some quieter occupation for her time. Maybe I'll have her say that she wants to see the world. That would get her nicely out of the way."

The Mistress chuckled to herself. "And then who knows what'll happen to her? Maybe I'll train her up and sell her. Maybe I'll keep her with me as a personal pet. Maybe I'll just spend weeks giving her such tender attention, putting every kind of hypnotic trigger in her mind. That does sound lovely, doesn't it, girl?"

"It does," Jess moaned, "oh, Mistress, I would love to take her place!"

"And you shall."

"Hm?"

"Take her place, I mean. As Mayor. There are definitely strings I can pull to make it happen. The long and short of it is that I need someone in charge of this place who is...pliable to my needs." She smiled down at Jess. "I know I can trust you to more faithfully represent my interests than that giggling bimbo in the other room."

"Oh, Mistress!" Jess could hardly believe her luck. To serve in such a role! "Will, um, will you prepare me for what I must do?"

"Of course I will, silly girl. There is technically an examination, but one that you should be able to pass without trouble. And from then on, all that you would have to do is follow my instructions."

Not every servant was permitted to passionately embrace the Mistress. Jess was one of the exceptions. The Mistress liked it, she knew, when she showed her happiness so openly.