Awakening Ch. 02: The Other Side

The following story is intended to be a full story, with many chapters and a longer story line. It will however grow as I have time to write it. It takes place in a world very similar to our own, but much darker in a way. For those who know it, I'm basing it on the world of Mage: The Ascension. Although it starts out as BDSM, with only some reluctance in these first two chapters, I wish to warn the reader that the story is likely to continue on darker themes and will venture into non-consent and other topics that may be offending to you. If so, you may not wish to get involved in this story. At the risk of this being a spoiler, this story will also involve magic. If this is not your thing, you have been warned.

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Chapter 2 - The other side

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Kaim walked into the club at fifteen minutes past seven. He was extremely early, but he needed some answers. Amy's behaviour last week after he returned had been unexpected. He walked up to the bar and saw Damien was sitting there, drinking a beer. Damien nodded at him in greeting and Kaim raised his eyebrows in question, staring at the beer. Damien nodded again and so he walked around the bar to grab himself a beer, opened it and leaned on the counter with his right arm as he took a drink with his left.

"I need to know what happened before I got here." He said, wasting no time on preliminaries.

"Why?" Replied the gravely voice of the club owner.

"She should have been far more pliable after standing there for so long, but she was.. determined." He saw Damien's face twist in a grimace.

"Yeah, that might have been my fault." He was quiet for a moment, then said "It might be best just to you show you. You know I'm not as good at that Mind stuff as you are, but I'll show you what happened if you show me what happened after."

Kaim struggled for a moment to hide his surprise, but kept his face blank. The club owner almost never freely showed his memories, but even less frequent were the times he wanted to check on Kaim.

"What for? Suddenly don't trust me to do my job?"

"Damn it, don't give me that. You know Lucas wants her more than any other in the past and although I have no idea why, I have no reason to doubt him. She's close, but not there yet and we have to have her before it happens. If we fuck it up now it's not just your ass on the line."

A thoughtful silence followed. That were more words strung together than Damien usually did, so clearly this was important to him. "Fine." Kaim said finally. "There's not a lot of time and I need to know to make this work, show me."

He watched as Damien drank the last of his beer and closed his eyes. Kaim set his own empty bottle down and leaned on the bar with both hands, staring at the couches in the distance and clearing his mind. But as he focused his mind on Damien's, it was not the couches that he saw, but Damien's memories of the week before flashed before his eyes at a fast forward pace, filling his mind. Seeing through the club owner's eyes, one with his thoughts, he viewed the events.

——

Damien was walking through the maze, checking in on the various areas to make sure they were empty. The club would soon close. He walked further towards the back and stopped near where Amy now stood alone. Staying carefully outside her field of vision he observed her for a moment. She was squatting down, but as he watched she stood up and leaned back against the cross. She lightly swung her arms in front of herself, worked her shoulders, then squatted down again as if unsure what position was better.

He smiled to himself. Just where they wanted her, weary and not wary. He walked closer, stepping into her field of view and watched as she immediately rose to a standing position again, not leaning against the cross, but for a moment relief flashed across her face. He wiped the smile off of his own face before she saw him. Not quite there yet, then.

He didn't say anything just stepped to within a few paces of her and stood there watching her face.

"Eh.. this guy was here.. and.. he left and now I'm stuck.." She said, trailing off her last words.

"I can see that." He said, knowing perfectly well what had happened before. He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Can you unlock the cuffs and let me out of here, Sir?" She asked, the Sir clearly sounding like an afterthought.

"I can." He replied, but did not move.

She rolled her eyes and his fingers itched to do something about it, but he remained quiet. Not his task, not now.

"Will you unlock the cuffs, so I can go home?"

"No."

She groaned and fell back against the cross, her head hanging back through the gap. After a few seconds she stood back upright, watching him again.

"I know you don't think much of me, but I really need to go to the bathroom and I'm tired. I'm sorry for not behaving like the gold standard subs around here, but will you just let me go? I've played, by your rules, so you won't have to watch an atrocity such as this one again until next month and I'll try to behave better then."

He raised an eyebrow at her. Did she really think that a speech like that would earn her any favour with him? There were so many things wrong with it he didn't even know where to start. What did Lucas want with her?

"You have new rules. Follow them or you can go home and I know which option I would prefer." He lied finally. Their job would be much harder if she walked away now. Some plans took time. "If it wasn't for Kaim you would be out of here already."

Her eyes widened a fraction for just a second and he wondered what he had said. All of that should have been known to her. What had he said to surprise her?

"Did he not say anything before he left?" He asked when she didn't answer.

"He might have mentioned something about begging him for punishment.."

"Do that then, as his sl~ submissive you should do as he says."

"I can't do that if he's n~!" She began to say, her voice rising, but then stopped and said much softer, "His what?"

"That's the deal. He trains you, or you're out. Did he not say?" He replied, smoothing over his slip. It wouldn't do to call her slave now.

"Right, he did say that, Sir." She said, interrupting his thoughts. "I am his unless I wish to leave in which case my membership will be terminated. But what if he chooses he doesn't want me anymore, Sir?"

Ah, so that's what she was getting at, already looking for a way out. But what to tell her to make her agree.

"That won't happen." He started. "But if", he said more loudly and he took a step forward so that his face was less than a foot from hers. His annoyance was surfacing since she had started to speak. "It happens, I will exempt you from these rules and the playing rule." He continued, unable to suppress a smirk as he thought of Kaim and realised he was pitting her against him. He wasn't sure whether his mirth came from imagining what she was up against or what it would mean for his partner in this affair.

Her eyes momentarily sparkled, but then her face fell and her body slumped slightly. "Fine. Can you.. call him or something?"

—-

Kaim focused his eyes again on the couches in front of him, stopping the flow of images. He glanced at the clock on the far wall. Only five minutes had past, but it did not matter anyway. After what he had seen he knew there was no rush now.

He looked over to his companion. "She was surprised because you said my name. I hadn't told her yet."

Damien opened his eyes, but looked at his empty bottle when Kaim spoke. "Ah. Doesn't matter, does it?" He said.

"It doesn't. If she thinks it gives her an advantage she's mistaken, however.. what were you thinking when you told her you'd give her exactly what she wanted if I was fed up with her? No, don't answer that, I just saw what you were thinking, you thought it would be fun to make my life harder."

Damien's eyes slid up to meet Kaim's gaze and said more sharply "Doesn't matter, does it?"

Kaim sighed, staring in the distance for a moment, then narrowed his eyes at Damien and said curtly, "No, it doesn't."

Silence fell again and both averted their eyes. Staring at the clock, fingers idly tracing the label of the beer bottle in his hand Kaim thought over his plans for tonight, wondering now for the first time if she was even going to show up. Yet he rejected that thought almost immediately. She didn't want out by staying away, she wanted to challenge him. A grin lit up his face as he remembered their interaction a week ago. She had wanted to challenge him then, too.

With five minutes to spare until the club opened he directed himself at Damien once more. Who was still sitting there, seemingly not doing anything. "Did you want to see or not?"

"Yes." Was all the answer he got, but he also saw Damien close his eyes again.

He focused. Sharing thoughts was always harder than listening in on others, but Damien's skills were not sufficient enough to do it that way. So this time he closed his own eyes, latched on to his own memory and opened his mind to share it with Damien.

—-

His eyes scanned the document in his hand. 28 Years old, graduated from college and now did freelance jobs. A phone number listed as emergency contact, with the name 'Vincent', but no designation of who this was to her. For 'relationship status' the box for 'single' had been checked, so no lover. Brother, maybe? She claimed to have one sibling on the document.

He looked over at the paper in his other hand, the more comprehensive report made based on the answers on her club form. She made digital art it said here, under the name 'Absolem Arts'. He read further to discover her parents were no longer alive, but had died during a terrorist attack almost 10 years prior. She still had a sister at the age of 24. Not a brother then.. he mused.

He took one more look at the first paper, trying to memorise as much as he could from it, focusing on her limit list. It certainly made things easier these days when their targets told them exactly beforehand what they did.. and didn't like.

He set the files down for a moment and rubbed his eyes. This job had been sprung on him far too late to be well prepared. It's not that he couldn't do it, but for the past 4 years now he had only dealt with easy targets and other jobs.

Before Damien had joined their operation, they had sought their charges at other locations and he had often had to employ more difficult tactics, but with the addition of Damien and his club it had become far easier to scout easy victims. Those with natural submission. Not that those girls and guys lacked spirit or fight or gave in easily, but there was often still that undercurrent of natural obedience.

Whenever they had to take girls now that Damien would describe as 'brats', Damien would also be the one to take care of them. Not only did he have useful skills in Correspondence and Forces magics, he was also a sadist at heart and enjoyed the task. So why then, had Amy at the last minute been dumped in his lap by Lucas? Why not follow the usual order of things and have Damien take care of her?

A buzzing disturbed his musings. He glanced next to him. His phone was displaying Damien's caller ID. He declined the call and checked the time. After 1am. A sliver of respect for Amy nestled in his brain. She had taken a long time before calling for the owner's help.

He stood up from his cross legged position and left the private play roo, entered the glass maze from the back and made his way over to her. She stood against the cross, eyes closed, head leaned to the side to rest against one of the boards.

He observed her for a moment. Her breathing was even, rhythmic. Her hair covered half of her face, but he could see one eye and for a moment he saw her eyelid flutter. Not sleeping then, pretending. This annoyed him, but he buried the feeling. This was no time to be acting out of emotions. For a moment longer he stood, regretting the fact that he was not allowed to use his talents.

He stepped up to her, staying just a pace away, then raised his hand and with measured strength slapped her across her left cheek. She yelped delightfully and he noted with grim satisfaction that her skin had turned a light red. She opened her mouth, a torrent of words already plain behind her eyes, but he raised his hand again and said simply, "Don't."

The word was unnecessary as her mouth had closed and she flinched the moment he had raised his hand again. When she realised he wasn't hitting her again her features turned into a glare.

"Clearly, contrary to popular belief, you can be taught." He said derisively, a bit of his annoyance filtering through his control.

She huffed, but said nothing.

"You know what I want to hear from you and I will not listen to anything else before that. I also refuse to hang around here much longer, so either you hurry up or I leave you here the rest of the night. Your choice."

"You can't do that." She said haughtily, apparently reaching the limit of her self control. "I've had plenty of time to think here and this isn't right. Isn't this place all about safe and consent? Well, for your information, since you seem incapable of coming to this realisation yourself, this isn't consent, you're just blackmailing me. Also, I deserve at least a safeword, it's 'eclipse' for your information. Now untie me or I will use it."

He didn't move a muscle. Not in his body, nor in his face, although he desperately wanted to grin. Little spitfire. Grinning would send the wrong message, though. Half a minute passed with them staring at each other. As he watched her, his mind filled with all the plans he had in store for her.

"Eclipse!" She yelled out, as if it was some sort of spell. Its only effect was that it shattered his thoughts, which for some reason annoyed him again.

He gave her one last look, then turned around and began to walk away. As he did, he felt a wave of despair come off of her, that he could not have blocked even if he had known it was coming. At the same time he heard her call out.

"No, stop." And then much softer, "Please".

He stopped and turned around, looking at her, but not coming closer. She seemed much smaller now, her head slightly lowered, yet her arms crossed stubbornly across her chest. As he looked at her she unfolded them, and hung them back by her side, although he noticed her hands were clenched into fists.

"Please punish me.. Sir," she said in a quiet voice.

It was enough to make him walk back over to her, but although this might have been enough several hours ago, it wasn't now. He gripped her chin in his right hand, squeezing lightly and looked her straight in her eyes.

"Just because you say please doesn't make it begging." He said coldly.

"No.. I don't know what you want.. I don't~" but he cut her off by removing his hand and slapping her across her right cheek, harder this time and growling, "Do not lie to me!"

"I have been tolerant of your disrespect and your purposeful defiance so far - and note that will change - but do not lie to me. I can see you have enough experience to know what to do. This is your final warning."

He could see her jaw clenching and her knuckles turning white where she clenched them tighter, but he was through with her challenging him for the moment. He detested lying, even something such as this. She should have been tired and at least trying to obey for the moment, but here she was still wilfully being obtuse. Perhaps she sensed his rising anger, though, because a moment later she visibly relaxed and she lowered her eyes.

With a slight thud she fell to her knees, holding them apart so he could see underneath her dress and she clasped her hands behind her back. She held her back upright, but kept her eyes lowered. He would have smiled, but he suspected this was simply another act and not anything heartfelt.

"Please punish me, Sir," she said in a level voice.

He shook his head, then remembered she couldn't see. "Not good enough."

He saw her pale, whether from fear or anger he could not tell without his magic. It took a minute before she slowly lowered her upper body down until her forehead touched the floor. She moved her arms slightly so that an arm was on either side of her, reaching back, like the position he and Damien had put her in when they met. Not quite what he was after, but it would do for now.

In a soft voice he heard her mutter, "Please punish me, Sir".

He didn't answer right away. He took a moment to admire her finally on her knees before him without him forcing her physically. He felt his blood heating as satisfaction filled him. Before he could answer she spoke again, her voice markedly less composed.

"Please, Sir, please punish me if that's what you wish, but please untie me."

Her hands were fists once more and he thought he saw her upper body shake for a moment. He thought he should feel sorry for her perhaps, but the sounds of her heartfelt plea was so erotic to him that his cock stirred in his pants and he momentarily forgot what he was supposed to be doing.

"Now there's a pretty sound", he murmured. He crouched down by her side and taking the key out of his pants pocket, undid the locks on each cuff, then the cuffs itself around her ankles. Then he paused and swore under his breath. There was one more thing he was supposed to check.

"Don't move." He said and for a wonder she stayed where she was. As quiet as he could possibly manage he undid his belt and slipped it out of its loops. He wrapped the buckle end around his hand. This was so not his thing, but he had been taught certain lessons came through hardship. He took a deep breath in, the lashed out with the belt across her ass hard.

She howled and a moment later her arms came up to cover her backside best they could, but she actually stayed in position. He waited only a moment before striking again, this time at her upper back since her ass was covered by her hands. Another shriek, followed by sobbing as she let herself fall to her side and curled up, keeping her back away from him. He had not held back by much and he doubted the flimsy dress had done much to cushion the blow. He slowly slipped the belt back into his pants, but left it undone, while she visibly recovered.

"You may sit as you wish now", he said and watched as she pushed herself upright, then hugged her legs to her chest. She was looking at him with eyes that shone brightly and traces from her mascara ran down her cheeks.

"You're smart enough to figure out yourself what that was for. Now, I'm sure the owner will want to close up this place soon, so your further punishment will have to wait. I will expect you here next week Friday and be here early."

She nodded, but said nothing.

"As for your safeword. Yes, you should have a safeword, shouldn't you? But know this, you have the choice of being with me or not being a member. I will not stand for you using that word whenever it's convenient for you. So if you use it, I will assume you wish to end our agreement. You'll be free to go.. and never return."

She swallowed visibly, but again said nothing.

"Finally, among the myriad of things I plan to teach you perhaps the most important is respect. To me and to everyone else here. Which means that the word "Sir" better come naturally to you soon. To make sure you know how to differentiate between everyone else here and me you will call me Master, is that clear?" He said, still speaking softly, but not gently.

"Yes, Master." She muttered, clearly annoyed.

He knew he should have reinforced it right then and there, but he was quietly enjoying her already returning spirit. Yes, Lucas wanted her, but he could wait a while. Nobody said he shouldn't enjoy his work first.

"Get up." He said and watched her rise from the floor, her dress and makeup distinctly more disheveled than how he had seen her earlier that evening.