Death of a Master Ch. 02

Valerie arrived home to find Sally in her kennel. Her back was covered in welts. Val's experienced eye judged they'd been made by a single tail whip. There was a rolled up piece of paper tied to the leash clip on her collar. Sally was on her hands and knees, obviously trying to keep from having anything touch her back. Val opened the kennel and looked into Sally's eyes.

"Good evening, Sally."

"Good evening, Mistress."

"I take it Sandra was upset with you?"

"Yes, Mistress. Mistress Sandra insisted on punishing me herself."

"Is that a note from her?"

"Yes, Mistress."

Valerie took the note off the collar and set it aside, not having any real interest in what the sadistic woman had to say. "Come here, Sally, I want to see these closer."

Sally moved to the bed and lay down on it. "Mistress Rachel put some of the ointment on it after she stopped the punishment."

"I see," Val commented as she looked closely at the welts. She could see that a few of them had actually drawn blood at some point. While the beating was more than Valerie herself would have done, it was at the limit of what she would allow someone she trusted to go with Sally. Rachel had done what she promised; made sure Sandra didn't go too far. "I want to get you in to see Helen. These look like they're healing okay, but I should have her take a look, just in case. As it is, there will be no pain play for you for the rest of the week."

"Mistress, will this interfere with my time with Master this weekend?"

"I don't think so. He may have to be careful of your back, but I think he can find ways to amuse himself with you that don't call for whipping your back."

"I hope so. I've missed serving him so much."

"He's missed you too, love. It'll be okay."

A quick phone call to Dr. Helen Waston's answering service had Sally and Valerie put on the cancellation list for an appointment. Valerie had Sally stay in bed while Val fixed dinner. One of the hardest things for Sally to understand as Val's slave was that sometimes her Mistress wanted to do things for her slave. The concept of a Mistress serving the slave was one that many submissives had trouble with, especially the so called lifestyle submissives (as opposed to bedroom submissives). What settled it for Sally was being told, "Listen, slave, this is about what makes me happy, right? So if giving you a back rub (or whatever) makes me happy, then you should be happy with it as well."

After dinner, Valerie put Sally to bed and read the note from Sandra.

I don't appreciate having my punishment of a disrespectful slave interrupted by anyone, especially a stand-in Mistress. This slut was disrespectful of me and needs to be properly punished. That didn't happen. I expect you, her owner, to continue the punishment I started and to whip her until she gives her safe word. If that doesn't happen, I will know the reason why. It's bad enough to have switches pretending to be Mistresses, but to have that bitch, Rachel, be given power to interfere with my decisions is just too much.

Valerie looked at the note, unbelieving that anyone could be so egotistical as to write such a thing. Valerie's one experience with Sandra convinced her that Sandra was an emotional sadist; someone who took pleasure from another's emotional pain, as well as arrogant. The memory of Sandra's glee as she tried to provoke Valerie to disobeying Rachel surfaced anew. Rachel's response, and the assurance she expressed in Val were merely one of the reasons she trusted Rachel so much. Val sat at her computer and composed a response.

I wanted you to know that Sally's punishment ended when your whipping of her ended. I'd already punished her to the extent that I felt she deserved. Allowing you to punish her was a courtesy that I extended, one Mistress to another. Your choice of punishment and your response to having been stopped tells me that I was wrong to extend such a courtesy. You claim that you were going to whip Sally to her safe word; yet if you'd asked what her safe word was, you'd have been told she doesn't have one. Your callousness and unconcern for the safety of a submissive under your control was unconscionable.

Val saved the letter with a promise to herself to look at it again. Valerie knew that frequently the quick response was not the best one; and was often an emotional diatribe that was best not said. In the morning, she saw nothing she wanted to change. Val had the impression that Sandra had been coddled, her faults overlooked, for most of her life. Perhaps she needed to be called on the carpet for what she did.

When Val walked into her office, June handed her the day's schedule, adding, "Ms. Burbon, your doctor's office called and said they have a slot open for you at 2:15. Do you want me to confirm? Your 2:30 could easily be pushed back to 3:30."

"That would be great, June. I'll call Sally and let her know."

In her office, Val dialed home. "Sally, we need to be at Dr. Waston's office at 2:15."

"Will you be able to pick me up, Mistress, or should I drive there myself?"

Val looked at her schedule, noting she had a 1:30 appointment. "I'll just make it there from here. Drive yourself."

"Yes, Mistress."

Valerie's first appointment showed up shortly after she hung up the phone. Harmony Anders handled all the advertising for Yara's Leather Emporium. Yara's had been Val's first major breakthrough in attracting new advertisers to Delgrasi's publications. For the last two years, Yara's had advertised their leather care products in five of Delgrasi's magazines. By all reports, their internet sales were phenomenal.

"Mrs. Anders, it's a pleasure to see you again. What can I do for Yara's?"

"We've got a new line of products we want to advertise with Delgrasi." Harmony pulled a file folder from her attaché case and passed it to Val. "This is a description of the line," she added with a smile one uses when one has a secret.

Valerie looked at the information and raised her eyes in shock. The file described a set of leather restraint devices including, wrist cuffs, ankle cuffs, blindfolds and something called a restraint web. The web was designed to fit under a bed with four anchor points coming up at the corners of the bed.

"Harmony, this is incredible. I didn't expect Yara's to move into the fetish gear market for several more years."

"We've been tossing the idea back and forth ever since the vote to advertise with Delgrasi. Do you recall I mentioned there had been some resignations from the board over the decision?" At Valerie's nod, Mrs. Anders continued. "Their absence allowed the board to adopt a more forward looking approach to our entire operation. Six months later, we decided to hire a consultant on the fetish community. When we learned that the best leather gear was usually homemade, we saw an opportunity. This line of products is the result of over a year of research and development. We're ready to take the line to the public."

"Well, if these are anywhere near as good as your care products, you'll shoot to the top of the market. Tell me, what did your research show, in more detail, if you could?"

"Of course. What we found was that most leather fetish apparel on the market uses lower quality leathers that are cheaper to buy. There were a couple of exceptions, of course, but they're significantly higher priced. As near as we could tell, they're suffering from higher than normal operating costs or are demanding higher than what we think of as normal profit margins. We intend to sell the products in the line at our regular profit margin. We expect to sell high quality items at the same price as the lower quality competitors."

"Well, we need to design ads that will convey both the quality and value effectively. Have you done any work on specific ads yet?"

"Yes, I have them here," she replied, pulling her own laptop out. We've designed five ads to start with and figure we'll be placing ads in three of your magazines, The Sensible Submissive, Mastering, and Bondage Monthly."

Valerie looked at what she had, nodding at the ads and seeing where they could be tweaked to improve. "One thing I'd suggest is add Leather Digest to the magazines you advertise in. Leather Digest has a significant Goth readership and they'll wear leather collars and cuffs regardless of their participation in a fetish."

For the next hour, the two women worked up the ads that would actually appear in the magazines. By the time they were finished, Valerie had seven ads for the four magazines that she could run past the editors for approval. The rest of the day was more routine and Val was able to leave the office promptly at 2:00. Dr. Waston's office wasn't far from Delgrasi's offices and Val was in the waiting room in time to see Sally checking in. Sally sat gingerly next to Val.

"How are you feeling?" Valerie asked.

"Just a little sore, Mistress. It'll pass."

"I know. I just wish she hadn't gone this far."

"She's Sandra; I wouldn't expect anything less form her. Mistress, she's a very sadistic Domme, but her subs want her that way."

"I just don't like the way she tries to roll over other dominants about their slaves. She should have more respect."

"I can't argue with you there, Mistress."

A few minutes later the nurse called Sally back to the exam room. Over the years the staff at the office had accepted that Valerie and Sally were always seen together. The nurse took the usual preliminary readings; temperature, blood pressure, pulse. Valerie always wondered why they started with the same things, no matter what the visit was for. Helen showed up five minutes after the nurse left.

"Valerie. Sally, is this an after scene visit?"

Val spoke up. "Yes, I let Rachel borrow Sally for a party and there was some significant marking by one of the other dominants. I thought it best to have you take a look."

"Very well, go ahead and strip down, Sally," Helen ordered.

Sally stood and stripped off the little bit of clothing she was wearing (under her dress were no under things). The welts on Sally's back were revealed and Helen started examining them closely. The doctor's expression was its normally hard to read self while she did her examination. Once she'd finished, she signaled for Sally to dress again and turned to face the two women.

"Sally, Valerie, while this is beyond what I'm normally comfortable with, you should heal just fine; the aftercare was good and should prevent any permanent scaring. However, no impact play on the back and buttocks for at least a week. There's no point in making it any harder on your body than it needs to be. I also want to prescribe a course of antibiotics; you can't take chances with formerly open wounds like this."

"Thanks, Doctor," Valerie replied. "Should being restrained on her back give us any trouble?"

"I wouldn't think so. In fact, tight restraint would be best so she can't rub the scabs as much on the surface beneath her. Sally, you should try to sleep on your stomach if you can."

"Yes, Doctor, I have been."

"Good. Anything else I should know about?"

Both Val and Sally shook their heads and Helen made the note on her laptop for the prescription to be faxed to the couple's pharmacy. They split up again; Valerie heading back to work while Sally retrieved her prescription (being unmarried meant it was difficult at best for them to pick up each other's medicines) from the pharmacy before heading home. At her office, Valerie finished her day's work and was home only a couple of hours after Sally arrived. From there she called Charles.

"Master, I have some information about Sally you need to know."

"Oh, will it affect my play with her?"

"Yes, Master, somewhat. Mistress Sandra whipped her back pretty hard Tuesday afternoon; hard enough to draw blood in a couple of places. We saw Helen Waston today and she's ordered that Sally refrain from impact play on her back and butt for at least a week. She also has a course of antibiotics she's on, just in case."

"Anything else?"

"No, Master. Helen did mention that if she's restrained on her back, tighter would be better than loose."

Charles chuckled at the comment, knowing that any restraint he put Sally in would be very tight indeed. "Very well, that shouldn't interfere with my plans much. Deliver her here yourself. Have you made any plans for the weekend?"

"Not really. I thought I'd take Saturday to get ahead at work and get ready for the trip. We leave early Monday morning."

"Do you know much about pony play, Valerie?"

"Not really, just what I've been able to pick up from Calvin Freshin and his secretary."

"You'll find it interesting, but I have doubts that you'll embrace it any time soon."

"If it's anything like being Rachel's dog, you're right, Master," Valerie laughed in response. Valerie spoke from first hand experience, having spent a morning in dog play with her friend. Valerie found the experience extremely humiliating and not at all arousing. If not for having been pleasing to her Mistress at the time, she would never have submitted to it.

Friday morning, Sally's back was looking even better, though the uninitiated wouldn't have thought so. Only someone who'd dealt with bruising on a regular basis would know that the increase in the number of colors in the bruises was a sign that healing was taking place. Bruises that remain the same bluish color for days are actually still bleeding under the skin and could be a sign of a serious problem.

At work, Val had instructions for June. "June, prepare a to-do list for me tomorrow. I want to get everything I can done in advance before I'm a thousand miles away from the office. The less I leave undone the better."

"I'll get on that right away, Ms. Burbon. Here's your day list."

Val's list of appointments was long, with every hour of her day filled. She and June had tried to schedule as many things in advance of Val's leaving town for a week as they could. She only had ten minutes to get settled in before the first people arrived. With her first cup of coffee poured, she braced herself for non-stop work. Lunch was at her desk, an Italian salad delivered by her favorite salad spot, Green's Eats. By the time 5:30 rolled around, Valerie was exhausted, but satisfied that everyone she needed to see before next Friday had been seen.

Sally had dinner already on the table when Val arrived home. Valerie relaxed while she ate, contemplating how she would deliver Sally to her Master. Charles had left no specific instructions, so she wanted to make it something special for Sally's rejoining the ranks of Charles' submissives. Several of her favorite ideas had to be excluded because of Sally's back and ass (her first thought had been a tight corset). She smiled wickedly when she came upon the perfect idea.

"Come with me, slave. It's time we prepared you to be delivered to your Master."

"Yes, Mistress."

Sally followed Val to their shared bedroom. There, Valerie laid Sally on the bed and retrieved several items from their upstairs toy drawer (most of their toys were stored in their basement). When Val showed Sally the set of four matching padlocks, Sally let out a small whimper.

"Mistress?"

"Yes, Sally. I'm locking you."

Sally's pussy had been pierced with eight rings for as long as Valerie had known her. The rings could flip over each other in pairs. When Valerie put the padlocks on the rings, Sally's cunt was effectively closed; nothing larger than Valerie's little finger could slip inside Sally's pussy lips. With soft caressing motions, Valerie flipped each pair of rings closed and snapped the padlock on them. The touching brought moisture to Sally's nether lips as her breathing increased in pace. Once they were all locked, Val spent another few minutes playing with Sally before she pulled her up.

The next addition to Sally's attire was a set of chain linked nipple clamps. The normal process of encouraging them to stand at attention could be bypassed as they were as erect as they were going to get from the arousal Valerie had already inflicted on Sally. On the chain, Valerie hung the key to the padlocks, so that Charles could choose when and if to open Sally's cunt. A ball gag, Sally's leash, a blindfold and a snap link were added to Valerie's purse, while Sally's attire was finished with a knee length jacket.

In the car, Valerie asked, "Are you scared?"

"A little, Mistress. Not of Master, but of myself."

"Yourself? How do you mean?"

"I'm afraid of letting Him down."

"Sally, you could no more let Master down than you could let me down. You've been wanting this for over a year. I think you'll knock His socks off. Just accept what he gives you and obey what he tells you and you can't go wrong. That's what you always told me."

Sally looked sheepish at the reminder. "I know. I guess I'm just nervous."

"Now, that's understandable. I still get nervous when I'm on my way to serve Him. Once he starts using you, the nerves will fade and you'll slide into your slavery."

Once Val had parked at the mansion, she helped Sally out of the car and removed her coat, putting it in the back seat. Valerie gagged Sally, as well as blindfolding her. Her hands were clipped behind her with the snap link and her leash attached to her collar. Val then carefully led the blind slave up to the front door of the mansion. As expected, Herman answered the door.

"Ms. Valerie, it's good to see you. Master Charles is waiting for you and Miss Sally in the lounge."

"Thank you, Herman."

Valerie led Sally through the hall and to the lounge. Charles was sitting in his favorite chair, waiting with a cup of coffee. Valerie led Sally right to in front of his chair.

"Master, may I present the slave Sally, here to serve you in any way you wish."

"Thank you, Valerie. You can leave now. Be back to pick Sally up at four, Sunday afternoon."

"Yes, Master."

Val left, heading home to relax before an extra day at work tomorrow. Saturday would see Valerie working until the late afternoon putting things in order for her absence. Sunday, she would pack for both herself and Sally so they could relax and get a good night's sleep before arriving at the airport at three in the morning to catch their flight. Sally, of course, was in for a far different sort of weekend.

Charles sat and looked at the naked slave before him. Sally trembled slightly, though not from any chill. She had no idea who was looking at her or what was planned. She did know that she would allow anything at all to happen, subject only to it being safe in her eyes. Her nipples ached from having been in clips for so long. She concentrated on keeping her breathing regular, fearful of going into hyperventilation. As the minutes passed, her arousal, which had eased some, started to grow again; her imagination starting to fill in the blanks her senses couldn't.

Charles reached out and stroked one thigh, watching as Sally's head went back and a hiss escaped from behind the gag. As he continued, she leaned slightly into his hand, begging wordlessly for more touch. Charles switched legs, giving the other the same gentle touches that served only to increase Sally's desire. He waited until she was trembling to stay on her feet to reach up and pull the chain between her breasts. With a gasp of pain, she tried to kneel, only to unbalance and fall where Charles caught her by her breasts.

With her breasts in his hands, he squeezed them and pulled on the clamps. Sally moaned in pain and writhed in her torment. In spite of her pain, Sally thrust her tits forward, encouraging her Master to play all the more. He accepted her invitation and tortured her chest for several more minutes; until he saw tears escaping from beneath the blindfold. At that point, Charles grabbed the clamps and took them off, letting blood run back into the squished nibs. Sally squealed in pain as her breasts underwent this renewed agony.