Death of a Master Ch. 05

"That's a good way to put it; both losses. It can be hard enough on a slave to deal with a forced separation from their Master, but to deal with the grief of his death on top of that is nearly unimaginable. Use Sally to help you. She's a good dominant, even though she's fully enslaved right now. Give Sally authority over Susan; that should help. I want you to plan on being here Wednesday evening. I'll help take some of your edge off. I'll make arrangements for his lifestyle things to be taken care of, as well as planning a memorial. I'll also ask around and see if there's anyone willing and able to spell you with Susan."

"Yes, Master. Thank you, Master; I'm sure I'll need it. I feel like I need it now."

"You can do this, Valerie. Remember, you're not alone."

"Yes, Master." Valerie heard Susan and Sally coming down the stairs again. "I've got to go. I'll stay in touch."

"Mistress," Sally said as she came down the stairs ahead of Susan, "we're ready to go. Is there anything you need?"

"No, Sally, not from here. How's Susan?"

"She's in shock. She shouldn't be left alone."

Susan staggered down behind Sally, her face a mask of pain framing eyes that saw without perceiving. A small bag dangled from her left hand, fingers clutching the strap like a lifeline. Her right hand clutched at her shirt, as if to support the buttons holding it closed. For an instant, Valerie saw herself, in shock from Mike's death and her heart leapt.

Stifling her cry, Valerie ordered, "Come on you two, let's get h…" With a gulp, Valerie swallowed her intended word, "home," and replaced it with, "…back to the house. There's nothing we can do here."

The two lovers led the nearly catatonic woman out to their car and drove her to their home. Tears silently made their way down Susan's face as she sat between her two friends, each with a hand on her leg in support. Half an hour later, they were parked at the base of the walkway up the hill to the front door. The man watching them from two houses down, in a gray sedan, went unnoticed in their grief.

Inside, Susan, operating on a form of autopilot, stripped her clothes as soon as she was inside, joining Sally in that familiar slave routine. Without a word, Sally led Susan to their bedroom, knowing Val had no intention of leaving Susan alone for the night. Once Susan was settled in under the covers, still crying, Sally joined Valerie in the front room again.

"Sally, we need to keep Susan from feeling her freedom right now. She has enough to deal with as it is with Calvin's death."

"I understand, Mistress. Do you want me to be like a top slave to her?"

"Exactly; you read my mind. I can't be here for her 24/7, and she is in no condition to be making decisions for herself. I have no idea how to handle things with her. I know I was a basket case for the first few months after Mike died. I could barely function at work, and if Francine hadn't been there, basically all the time, I'd never have survived."

"I feel just as in the dark as you do. She needs to be able to grieve, however she ends up doing that, while having the assurance of that control in her life she's come to need." Sally looked pensive for a minute. "I never expected to be dominant again. When I had my submission crisis and needed 24/7 slavery, I figured I'd seen the end of my switching days. I hope I remember how."

"Love," Valerie replied, her hands on Sally's shoulders, "you'll do fine. You've known Susan for years and I doubt you ever forget how to dominate. There's a world of difference between not wanting to dominate and not being able to do so."

"You're right, Mistress. Do you want to go to bed, or do something first?"

"Bed. I'm exhausted, at least emotionally. We'll keep Susan between us tonight."

*****

Earlier that evening, the man in the gray sedan watched as Sally left the house in a rush. If she'd noticed his presence, she'd have been frightened, recognizing the face from weeks ago. Having learned from the private detective that Sally never left the house for less than an hour, he felt confident as he approached the empty dwelling. It took less than a minute for the tool he used to unlock the front door.

Once inside, he set about placing his own additions to their décor. In every room, he placed devices designed to keep a home safe and secure. Small and unobtrusive, the micro cameras would go unnoticed over the next several weeks by the three woman that lived in the house. Their pictures and sounds would be broadcast wirelessly to a receiver that would rebroadcast on the internet via an unsecured wireless signal from a nearby house. Each spy camera was place so that it could draw power from an existing household system to charge its internal battery.

Forty-five minutes later, he was back in his car, checking his cams. As he scrolled through his images, he smiled at the views he had of every important area of the house. While he hadn't tried to wire any of the hallways, he had eyes now in their bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, dining room, and, most importantly, their basement dungeon. Soon, he would know everything about the bitches. Then they would be his.

*****

The next morning, Valerie and Sally let Susan know how things would be for the near future. They made sure Susan understood that the arrangements, with Susan being a subordinate slave to Sally, was contingent on her agreement. That agreement was not merely given, the arrangement was grasped at with an eagerness that could only be called desperation. As Val left for work, Sally was taking Susan through the house, explaining the rules and how they would apply to her.

Valerie's day at work was difficult. The upcoming meeting at Sylvia's Switch was not something that could be put off, so taking time off was out of the question, no matter how much Valerie wanted to just crawl into bed and sleep. June would be invaluable during the next week, keeping Valerie focused while she was at work. Subscribing to the belief that you can't be close friends with one's coworkers, June had never grown close to any of the staff at Delgrasi and thus, was not as deeply affected by Calvin's death. By the end of the day, Valerie had a presentation ready for tomorrow.

At home, Valerie found Sally and Susan on the couch, the latter's face tear streaked and long. Sally prompted Susan to join her on the floor in front of Valerie.

"Good evening Mistress. Are you okay?" her slave asked.

"Yes, Sally. Thanks for asking. How are you, Susan?"

Susan bit at her lip as she asked, "Mistress, may I speak freely?"

"Of course, Susan. What is it?" Valerie crouched down to be eye to eye with her.

"I…I'm not…" There was a pause as the grieving woman considered her words. "I don't think I'm ready to be someone else's slave. It's too soon Mistress."

"Susan, it was never my intention to make you my new slave. I only wanted to give you a submission to be comfortable in while you grieved and considered where to go from here."

"It feels like…like I'm just throwing him aside," she gasped as the tears flowed anew. Valerie took Susan in her arms and held her through another round of heartbreak, patting her back as she did. As the sobbing eased, she gasped, "Like this, named and collared, I keep looking up expecting to see Him."

"I'm so sorry, Susan. I had no idea it would make it seem like he as dying to you again and again." Valerie turned to Sally. "Sally, in the drawer where I keep our keys, you'll find one for Susan's collar. Calvin had me keep hold of a spare. Could you get it please?"

"Of course, Mistress."

Less than a minute later, Sally returned to find Val and Susan on the couch. She handed the key to Valerie and sat down on the other side of Susan. Valerie deftly unlocked the collar around Susan's neck and removed the symbol of her slavery to Calvin. As she did, more tears flowed and the two held her until they stopped.

Valerie looked Susan in the eye, reassuring her with, "Susan, don't think you have to leave if you'd rather stay. You're our friend, regardless of your submission or lack of it. I've been through the death of a loved one, and I don't think you should be alone."

"Thank you, Mis…Valerie. I don't want to be alone right now."

"Good, then you'll stay. Since you're not a slave, you should probably put some clothes on; unless you enjoy nudity for its own sake."

"I do, but I want to distance myself as much as possible from…"

"I understand," Val assured her when Susan's search for the words threatened to overwhelm her with grief again. Valerie recognized that Susan's desire for the distance was probably more of a need. "We'll set you up in Francine's old room while you're here, though you're welcome to spend the nights alone or with one of us, whichever you prefer."

"Mistress," Sally asked, "what's my status with Susan?"

"Good question. I doubt Susan would feel comfortable as a guest Mistress." Susan's shaking head confirmed that assessment. "Let's do this. You're to treat Susan as an equal, but not a slave. Unless I've ordered otherwise, you can accept or deny anything she asks of you, and she of your requests. Neither of you can give the other orders, but you can ask each other for anything I don't specifically forbid you, Sally. Is that clear enough?"

"Yes, Mistress. Thank you."

"Okay. Susan, you do whatever you want for now. Sally, I assume dinner will be ready soon?"

Sally nodded and rose to check on its progress while Susan rose to dress and settle her things in the guest room. Valerie took some time to relax in front of the TV. The emotional toll was enough to drive all three to bed early, where Susan chose to sleep with the other two in a failed attempt to keep the nightmares at bay; though their presence was enough to enable her to weather them successfully.

The next morning, Sally and Susan worked together to get Valerie off to work. It was clear to Valerie that Susan was trying to avoid thinking about her loss. She knew Sally would be there for whatever the grieving submissive needed, and was able to concentrate on the upcoming meeting at Sylvia's Switch. With the meeting at 10:00, she had a couple of hours in the morning to make sure she was sure of the three options she'd be presenting.

She left early enough to make sure she arrived a little early and was shown to the conference room. Quickly, she made sure her laptop would interface with the room's technology and set up her presentation. After ten minutes of waiting, several people entered the room.

Mr. Jintila stepped up to shake Val's hand. "Welcome, Ms. Burbon. We hope you have a solution to our problem. Let me introduce our staff. This is Harvey Glastid, president and CEO of Sylvia's Switch," he said, pointing to a graying haired gentleman in a three piece suit. "Nelly Ophenhiemer is our VP in charge of sales and advertising." The short red head nodded her head with a smile. "Gavin Marshall is in charge of developing the new product line." The wirey man with the bald head gave her a brief nod as he opened a large case filled with a variety of toys. "Miss Thetis will be recording everything." The secretary looked up from her laptop with a, "Ms. Burbon."

"Thank you, Mr. Juntila. It's nice to meet all of you. We should get right to business. Mr. Marshall, why don't you start by showing me, and anyone else who hasn't seen them yet, the new product line."

"Of course, Ms. Burbon. I believe you're the only one here who hasn't seen the line yet, but to refresh everyone else's memories, I'll go over everything. The initial release will include a baker's dozen new products, all designed for more…intense play than anything we currently offer. To that end, we have four new flogger designs, three new paddles, a new line of restraints, a new crop; and we're offering for the first time, two cane lines, a line of single tails and a tawse."

As he spoke, he pulled each item out of the case and set them up on a table against a side wall. Valerie could see from the outset, that these were good, though not high, quality toys. Clearly Sylvia's wasn't intending to compete with any of the specialty houses, but was planning on providing quality merchandise at a reasonable price.

"As you can see, the four flogger lines represent toys made from four different materials known for bringing more oompha to impact play. The deer hide suede still has some softness to it, but is capable of a fairly strong impact and leaving redness that will last for several hours. The cow hide flogger is another step up, making it our first flogger to truly produce a stingy impact as opposed to a thuddy one. You could leave some lasting welts with it, if you wanted to. The rope flogger takes things up another notch. The quarter inch nylon rope falls are quite capable of leaving that bruising the more serious bottom likes to have when he or she is finished playing. The last model, we almost didn't include. My understanding is that rubber is intensely painful and not very popular, at least among submissives. Our researchers said that eighth inch rubber strands felt like being hit with chain link. Of course, we intend to offer all the models in a variety of lengths and colors, as well as offering the rope floggers with and without knotting."

As he described each one, he handed an example to Val to touch and feel. Valerie brushed each against her arm, getting a feel for the new products (and wincing at the fall of the rubber against her arm). As she handed the last flogger back, she nodded for him to continue.

"Our current line of paddles aren't designed to be truly painful. True, they're sturdy enough that someone can, if they hit hard enough with them, give a little bit of pain to the recipient, but I doubt the effect would even serve as sufficient punishment for a wayward youth." Like many people outside the lifestyle (and some inside it), Mr. Marshall attributed more to the instrument than was actually true. He was unaware that even their current line of paddles were capable of significant pain, if used the right way. He continued explaining, "The new paddles are completely different. Anyone spanked by one of these will know, and remember the experience. First is a traditional frat paddle," he added, as he handed Valerie a wooden paddle made of varnished wood, three quarters inch thick. It was four inches wide and a full eighteen inches long. Valerie was sure anyone who'd ever seen the paddling scene from Animal House would recognize the design. As she handed it back, he continued. "The other two are very similar in design; the only difference being the presence or lack of holes." The paddles in question were more square in design, about nine inches in each dimension, but made of the same varnished wood as the frat design. "Both of the solid designs will be available with one of five different words carved into to wood. If sales and demand are good enough, we might offer custom designs for the carving."

"These are good, and quite different from your other lines. Your design people have done a good job, as well as your research team. What else do you have?" Val asked.

"Thank you. Our new restraints aren't all that different from the old ones. The previous models were fur covered leather. Essentially, we've taken the fur off and given the client the leather. Of course, we've had the leather finished, as it will be visible now. Additionally, we've added the option to make the collars and cuffs lockable and will be including high quality padlocks with that option. The new crop will replace the old fur covered foam head and soft leather shaft with a stiff leather head and a leather covered wooden shaft. It will be offered in the same head shapes as the old one.

"For our new products, we wanted to offer something that stands out as different from what other companies have to offer. Because of that desire, we stayed away from the usual cane materials; bamboo, rattan, plastic like materials such as lexan and such. Instead, we found two materials that we haven't found being used in canes. The first is aluminum. Our research has shown that the hollow metal can has a distinctly different feel from other materials, but is still capable of the wide range of impacts canes are capable of. Our second idea comes directly from the popularity of glass dildos. For safety's sake, these canes are always a full inch thick. Like most thicker canes, it provides a much thuddier than stingy impact and is actually the one designed for lighter play."

Valerie hefted both canes and found the metal cane surprisingly light, no doubt the result of being hollow. The glass cane, as she expected, was actually very heavy. She expected the weight would influence how it was played with. She silently wondered how many of these would end up being used as long dildos instead of canes. "Exactly how was your research done, if I may ask?"

"Not at all. We started with some focus groups of dominants and submissives. Based on their initial ideas, we designed some preliminary designs. We then had those tested by other dominants and submissives, and based on the feedback, ended up with our current crop of toys," he added, seemingly oblivious to his own pun.

Valerie stifled a giggle at the same pun, saying, "Thank you, please continue."

Moving on with his presentation, he started again. "Our single tail probably doesn't actually qualify as a whip. We wanted to avoid the true whip design with the differentiation between fall, cracker and such. This whip is really a leather switch. The entire length can be used for impact. A true whip requires more training and experience than we expect most of our client base to have. Our tawse isn't much different from anyone else's, with the exception that we've given it three, instead of two, slappers. Research indicates the feel of the impact isn't all that different from the typical version."

"Thank you, Mr. Marshall. I can see that a lot of thought has gone into developing a distinct line for your product expansion. I'll be presenting three different, potential solutions to your marketing problems. The first possibility isn't an advertising or marketing approach at all. If Sylvia's Switch were to incorporate a second business model under the general corporate umbrella, the issue would, for the most part, vanish. Because you wouldn't be offering the new line of toys under the Sylvia's Switch name, you wouldn't suffer any image problems with either line. There are significant advantages to this approach beyond addressing the issue at hand. One of note is cost effectiveness. Incorporation isn't an expensive process, and you'd probably still use the same physical locations for both corporate entities. On the downside, you wouldn't be able to draw from existing clientele, but would be entering the market as a brand new player. While the more savvy consumer may know of the relationship, your average consumer wouldn't. It's doubtful the new line would be profitable in the first few years, and you'd still be seeing the loss of your existing customer base."

Harvey Glastid shifted in his seat. "Yes, we considered that option as well. Our projections were that a new venture would take upwards of ten years to show a profit, under advantageous assumptions. We were hoping for something with a more immediate profitability."

"I understand perfectly. Our thinking at Delgrasi was that this was the least hopeful of the options, but we didn't want to exclude it out of hand. Our other options are specifically marketing ideas; or rather, one idea in two forms. Tell me, have you come up with a product line name for the new toys?"

"That's a sore point for me, Ms. Burbon," Nelly Ophenhiemer replied. A couple of the others glared at her, but she fixed an icy stare at them until they looked away. "We don't have a name for the line because we never developed a name for the current line. The current selection has always just been called the, 'Sylvia's Switch line.' My predecessor never considered the implications of allowing the company name and product line's name to be the same. Now we're stuck."