A Price Paid Ch. 05

She whimpered when the light and shadow touched her small breasts and wandered down her belly. When the dress fell to her feet, the sound of her weak sigh escaped her, the sound descending into a wanton groan when the shadows crossed the folds of her pussy, seeming to fill it while the light licked her clit like a dozen tongues at once. They were making her a part of them and a part of the gem. She wanted to be closer. She wanted to see the center. She wanted to see power. She stepped forward and let it all wash over her, let it kiss her and fuck her and draw the strength from her, kneeling before it rather than risk falling she dropped close to it so that it filled her vision. She could feel that, as she peered into it, something peered back. It was an orchestra, she knew, the sight and sound combining to bring her here. There was a conductor in the center and if she peered deeply enough and gave of herself enough, she could see who it was.

She peered deeply through the ripples and waves of light and the rough and sing-song cadences of sound. She fell to it as much as she was pulled now, deeper and deeper into it. Deeper and deeper until the center was before her. It was small, a pinprick to her wide eyes that held nothing but swirling light, but it was still everything. She breathed in and out as she listened and watched. Time was lost to her now and that seemed as it should be.

After a lovely forever, a voice broke the silence, though, whether she heard it or simply felt it in her mind, she wasn't sure. "Do you see?"

"It's so beautiful."

"Do you love the ocean we float in at this moment?"

"I do." There were no worries or cares before her here.

"We float within it together. Do you feel it?"

"I feel it."

"Heat?"

Hotter than anything she'd ever felt, but she would not burn within it. "Yes."

"Passion?"

More than she had ever felt for anyone or anything in her life. "Yes."

"Submission. We feel all those things. They surround us. They consume us. They drive us in all that we do, and even in what we think. But we cannot live in this on our own. We aren't strong enough. If I take the gem away, you will lose all you feel now. You will wake as if this were a dream."

She cried out from a place deep inside her soul, heedless of the prospect of being heard.

"But it is real now and It can be real until you draw your last breath."

"Mistress needs you. She needs you and needs help only you can give Her. You are so important that I am here to give you this chance to be Hers."

It was only then that she noticed eyes staring back at her, mirrors of her own. "Are you Mistress?"

The voice responded as though it were answering the understandable, yet ludicrous question of a child. "I am not. I have power. She is power. What power I have now She has given me. She has made me all I am, and given me love, passion, and submission to Her that lives with me always."

Some small part of her mind that made sense of things beyond feeling could not fathom it and she gave it voice. "Goddess, I am nothing. What could I possibly give Her?"

"What she asks for is all that you are, but I am here for you because She wished it. What is your name?"

"Devin," she said quietly, afraid again that the light, shadow, joy and submission that caressed her would be gone with the slightest misstep.

"I am here, Devin, because She needs you. She called and you have responded. Her need is great. Do you see the center? Do you see the point of light at the center of the gem?"

"Yes."

"She is there in the center. She waits for you."

The voice was gone now. There was now only her and the rippling, roiling sea between her and the center. She tried to push towards it, but, like fighting a tide, a wave of light and shadow pushed her back like a wall rushing forward. Again and again she was pushed away. Desperation and anguish welled within her. Mistress offered so much. She offered bliss. She offered purpose. She offered everything, but She pushed Devin away just when she offered everything in return. The voice told her Mistress needed her, but she was shunned at the last moment. Perhaps Mistress finally deemed her unworthy and her heart broke when she had tried so hard to reach Her.

But Mistress hadn't abandoned her. The caresses hadn't stopped. The light still made love to her and the shadow still mauled her as if she already belonged to it. The song still sang to her. There was something Mistress needed her to see, or do, or be.

She was trying so hard to learn what that was.

She was trying so hard. Mistress offered Devin everything, but She demanded everything in return. Devin was using her will and her strength to try to reach Her as though they were still her own when Mistress demanded all. Devin's heart skipped a beat because, somehow, she knew the revelation was truth. Mistress already owned her. She owned her the moment Devin saw the dancing light from the hallway. Her mistake had been trying to reach Her under her own power with her own will. That was already gone. She just had to admit the truth. The words dripped from her mind to her lips.

"I am powerless."

Despair threatened her again as the tide built against her before crashing against her with such force that she thought it might shatter her, but the power of it cradled her and pulled her down towards the center. Everything she was thrilled at the feelings of power that surrounded her, drawing her to Mistress.

"I submit."

The current flowed faster now. It couldn't be fought even if she wanted to fight it and that added to the exhilaration. Mistress would have her. Mistress was claiming her even now, but there was one more step to take. Mistress could crush her. Mistress could smooth her to glass and leave her with not enough mind to remember to breathe and, if that was what She willed after She took what She wanted, so be it, but Devin would not go back to being nothing when the alternative was to be of service to Her, no matter what was asked.

"I obey."

She screamed it, or felt like she screamed it, as the center of the gem and Her power within subsumed her.

* * *

It was with her now. It was part of Devin and always would be. Every inch of her sang with Mistress inside it. The gem went dim, though there were still flickers of light to be seen. Her power was still within.

"I am Imir Ageko. The other, now almost entirely enveloped in darkness told her. "She is my power, for I am powerless without Her. I submit. to Her in all things. I obey Her in every action and thought."

She could hear her own voice now and Mistress rewarded her now in even simply speaking the truth. "I am Devin Colls. She is my power, for I am powerless without Her. I submit to Her in all things. I obey Her in every action and thought."

Ageko stood, and the newest slave followed suit. "Your employer is an evil thing and Mistress means to see him destroyed."

The words came with a slow nod. "He is. What would She have me do?" Nothing was beyond the lines drawn by conscience anymore.

"He is a criminal who works within the underbelly of the world. He has records of that that he wouldn't wish for others to see. Do you know if they are here, or where they would be?"

"No," she admitted, pained that she couldn't be of service. "I was just a maid. I spent my days cleaning as I went and running laundry about. Even though I was an ignored fixture, he spoke of nothing like that where I could overhear."

Imir was untroubled, "Who in this house would know?"

There was no doubt. "Kav. He is master of the house and has been Mr. Strannix personal servant longer than anyone. If such things exist at all, he would know where they are."

"Is he here?"

"Yes. He would inform us before leaving and he had said nothing."

"She has ordered me to take this house, but I must have what I seek first. Can you take me to him on a path that will lessen our odds of being seen?"

"I can, Imir. Follow, please."

She turned and entered the hall, her eyes adjusting almost at once to the light, thrilling at her obedience, and completely indifferent to her own nakedness. Imir stayed a few paces behind, the chain still wrapped securely around her hand with the gem swaying in time with her steps. If she thought of it, not entirely incorrectly as a leash with Mistress on the other end, it made her happy. The round, supple ass in front of her was almost equally as pleasant. Even that reminded her of Mistress. She occasionally made use of women in order to achieve her goals, but it was always mechanical and a means to an end. But that was before Mistress. She could live on her knees pleasuring that pussy and, more than once, did so until Mistress had to command her to stop. The sight. The scent. The softness. The giving of pleasure to, and receiving it from, Mistress was like fucking the Goddess Herself and it taught Imir to love women.

Devin took her to the end of the hall, down a spiral staircase and through another narrow hall, then left along another that, judging by the muted sounds and clinking of metal Imir decided were two or three other night-dwellers on kitchen duty. Turning right down a shorter hall, she led Imir to a door on their right which was only one of two on that side. The House Master was afforded much more room than the common folk.

Devin turned the knob slowly and the unlocked door gave in as Imir once again prepared to call upon Her power within the stone.

* * *

Light played at his edges of his eyelids like predators surrounding prey, at first as dimples and splashes. The predators moved in quickly though, closing in on him to drown him in a rippling sea of brilliant, nearly blinding red. It was the most simple, vivid dream he'd ever had. And when he opened his eyes he was still dreaming.

The patterns of light and darkness were still his world, but now he could see their source in the star that dangled above him, and those patterns were reflected back to him in the two sets of eyes before him. His voice still carried the slowness of half-sleep. "What's...?"

Imir's voice was smooth and she'd hoped she was properly conveying the will of Mistress. "What this is is power. See it. See Her Power."

He did. He saw it in the brilliance of the light, a luminescence that he had never seen matched, even in dreams.

"You can't look away and you have no wish to, do you? Feel Her power."

He did. The brilliance seemed to use his eyes as a path to his mind, pressing against his brain, teasing and tormenting it. The light promised rewards beyond imagining if he did and the shadows demanded that he do so.

"Know it." This one will, she realized. Devin craved Mistress before she even realized someone like Her was a possibility. "Surrender and you will know it. Each surrender brings you closer. "What is your name?"

The shadows became more demanding, the light receding slightly in their wake. They pushed, insisting that he answer, whispering to him that he was already owned and doing so was inevitable. "Kav," he said, finally. The light found dominance again and it was like the caress of every lover he'd ever had.

"You feel and know Her power now, don't you?"

"Yes." He sighed as the warmth wrapped around him.

"Do you want that forever?"

Who wouldn't? "Yes."

"Mistress needs you to surrender yourself and then your master to Her. Obey and you will know happiness for all your remaining days."

Happiness forever sounded wonderful and to be surrounded by Her power was indescribable in its perfection, but, rationality intruded. Yes, Strannix could be vile to those who had crossed him, but he rewarded loyalty, and Kav had been well rewarded in his years of service. And what was being asked of him by Her was betrayal. What good was happiness for the rest of his days when the number being spoken of would be whittled down to weeks or days when Strannix returned and learned of what was done, even if it was only the smallest thing?

Her power surrounded him, but he feared even that power could match his. To offer me this in return means She did not want a small thing.

"I...can't." The darkness found prominence again, gnawing at his flesh and bone. Even so, he

found strength in the words.

"You can," Imir said. "You choose not to. She can destroy you. She can destroy your mind, and through me, She will to gain what is required from you." She began to purr, "And I will revel in it because it serves Her. What She needs is more important than you. That is true today and that will be true always. It is true for me, and soon it will be true for you, one way or another."

"No" It was more a plea for Her not to than the expression a belief that it couldn't happen as he felt her power continued to fill the room. There was resolve within him. If nothing else, it was resolve not to be found by Strannix to be a traitor. "I can't help you."

She leaned forward slightly so he could see some definition to her fine features, though the stone still captivated his vision. "But She is loving and merciful. I offer you the chance now to experience Her love." Imir retreated into the shadows once again. "Mount him. Show him the love that She can provide."

The other moved and then Kav felt weight join him on the bed, on either side of his knees, sliding the blanket down his nude body. He slept that way simply because he was more comfortable and now some part of him wished there was some bit of protection between himself and the light. Oh, the mauling shadow and the caressing light was everywhere on his body now. He'd read romance novels where men and women tore at each other in love, hunger, and need, but, while he had loved and been loved in his life, it was never some all-consuming passion. But he felt Hers now. Her all consuming passion was to consume him.

His cock stood straight, almost painfully, wickedly hard now. In his youth it had led him around as though it owned him until maturity and will did its fair share to tame the man and, by extension, the beast between his legs. Now, it was happily complicit in whatever would happen next. The gem shifted towards the headboard and his eyes followed it helplessly, his body increasingly beyond the desires of his will, which frightened him, but less than it would have under any other circumstance. He felt the unmistakable heat of a woman just above him now and felt a drop of her essence wander down his cock. His breath became ragged from that fear and desire and that combination of feeling gave him the strength to speak. "Please." But he wasn't sure if it was his mind begging for it to not happen or his cock begging for it to.

"Feel Her power." Imir's voice was the last thing he heard before Her hand held his cock and Her body descended upon his

He felt it. His maleness was wrapped in it. His maleness wanted it. His body bent towards Her in that moment and his hand found Her hips as She pounded Her ass down upon it. His grip loosened incrementally with every thrust. When She rose She took some of his strength into Herself. Weaker and ever so much weaker with each thrust until he was sank fully into the bed. The gem only showed him light enough to define the darkness and shadow around her form. They ruled it now as they began to rule him. "Ohhhh..." He came with the power of youth, shooting seed into Her as though he could drown her as the light filled his gaze again. This was Her love. He resisted. She took, proving to him that She could. She could empty his body and mind at will.

Once the orgasm ebbed, another began to build. She could take him and destroy him, but, instead, She continued to give him pleasure and love like he'd never felt before and didn't think was possible. The center of the gem beckoned. She was there. She waited for him. "Faster. Please, faster," he pleaded.

She complied and he rushed to the center of the gem.

He was helpless. He was inside Her and She wanted inside him.

"This will never end." Ageko promised. "Her love will never end and She will be within you always. All you have to do is admit to Her that you are powerless."

It was already true. He was a puddle that couldn't lift himself from his bed if the manor was on fire. "I'm...powerless." He poured more of himself into her and She came with him at the sound of the admission. The fear of Strannix was still there, but it was nothing compared to Her warmth and acceptance.

"Tell Her you will submit."

It was easy now. It was easy because what was left of his rationality decided that death was worth this. "I submit."

The ecstasy in the sound of Her orgasm triggered another within him. He felt Her hands on his chest now, bracing Herself against him, her right hand over his beating heart. He took Her hips, feeling the great gift of touching Her.

"Tell Her you will obey."

"I will. I will obey. I will obey. I will obey." He kept chanting it even as the center of the stone filled his mind.

* * *

From Kav's room it was a short trip back upstairs to Strannix's office. Once Kav, still as nude as Devin, lit the lamps and, once he could see his way about, he went to the chair behind the desk and ran his thumb on the underside of the right arm, feeling for the nub of wood he knew was there that would slide back and let the key that was there drop into his hand. Turning, he pulled five books on the six shelves in sequence, each coming forward before a click was heard. Once the final click was heard, it was followed by the harder thunk of metal on the left side of the bookcase releasing its hold. The bookcase slid to the right easily, revealing a large safe within the wall. Opening it to reveal half a dozen large, leather-bound ledger books, Kav stepped back.

He stepped away and allowed Imir to take his place there. She took one of the books and paged through it . It was what Mistress sought. Contained within it were the locations of all his establishments, what depravity or vice they dealt with and how much they made. Another section was a list of prominent citizens who decided to partake in those vices, how much they spent, and how much they owed. "This is everything?"

"There may be evidence of more recent contacts or endeavors that haven't been formalized in the ledgers or contracts that have yet to be signed and sealed. But the ledgers should cover the majority of his activities."

"Those other records are here?"

"Most likely," Kav told her. "Or in his office in the merchant district."

"If any exist there, She will want those as well," Imir informed him. "You will see to it."

"I will." In truth, it would be his profound pleasure.

"I'll take these now in the event he tries to come back for them." She believed he probably had more pressing issues to contend with at the moment, like staying out of Mistress's reach.

"If he does return?"

Mistress had instructed Ageko regarding the most obvious possibilities, trusting her to handle the unusual because Her servant was clear on the goal. "Tell him they were taken by the order of queen and court. Tell him they already pursue him. If leaves any idea as to where he might go, you will know how to reach me. In the meantime, you are to behave as normal until I call upon you again."

"I understand."

She sat the ledger on the desk and glided to the desk and touched his face. He was a bit on the old side with a belly given to him by age over sloth, but he wasn't unattractive. To Ageko, all that belonged to Her were sublime in their beauty. She caressed his cheek. "When I return these to you, that will be your cue to take them to the queen. Years of his horrid deeds and your mere knowledge of them weighs on you. You must cleanse yourself of the burden to cleanse your soul for the day you meet the Goddess."

After tonight, he was certain he already knew Her. "I will."

"You will share all you know and will do so with the conviction of truth. Know that doing so is what Mistress demands."