Mindgames Ch. 07

Master Jonas sat in the edge of her sleeping platform and put his hand on her inner thigh, stroking her there. Mariah tried not to stiffen. Master Jonas had learned her body as well as she had learned his. He knew what touches would make her burn more desperately. She hated him for it.

He ran his hand slowly down to her knee and then, slower still, back up to the edge of her sex. He repeated the movement over and over, on one leg and then the other, always stopping before he reached her sex, and always holding her gaze. When he moved infinitesimally higher Mariah couldn't help it. She whimpered, and her hips moved.

"That's it, my little slave," Master Jonas said. "Feel me." He cupped her pubic hair and rubbed his thumb on her abdomen. Slowly he moved lower, until he was caressing her labia but not touching the center. The pleasure in Mariah's womb ached like pain. She couldn't help it; she rotated her pelvis.

Master Jonas nodded smugly. He dipped his finger into Mariah's soaking pussy and moved the moisture up to her clit, still holding her eye. She groaned, low and guttural, but he didn't linger there. Instead, he kneeled between her legs and unzipped his pants. "Keep looking at me while you come," he commanded her, and slowly he pushed his penis into her, rubbing her clitoris as he did so. Mariah came almost immediately. She fought to keep her eyes open while the waves crashed over her. Master Jonas moved in and out of her slowly. Mariah had several more orgasms before he looked away and rammed himself into her, crying out as he came. As he often did, he fell asleep on top of her. Mariah dozed too.

They awoke about a half hour later. The wistful look in Master Jonas' eyes remained as he whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her, "That was to show you how it could have been." Then he rolled off of her, pulled up his pants, and almost nonchalantly unbuckled her restraints. Mariah knew better than to move without his permission. He left her so for a minute, until her thighs began to ache from being spread widely without the help of the leather ties. At last Master Jonas gave a thrust of his chin, indicating to Mariah to get up. She did so as quickly as her sore muscles would allow.

"Down on your hands and knees," Master Jonas commanded. Mariah obeyed without thought, her thighs still aching and her pussy still dripping. When Master Jonas ordered her to crawl she did so, ignoring the almost immediate pain in her shoulders and knees. They went through a door Mariah had never been through, to a place she could not imagine.

Present day

Bored, Animal wandered over to Gabriel's apartment, but was not surprised that his friend was not there in the middle of the day. Rose was off looking for yellow ochre again, but he noticed that she had rearranged the furniture in the courtyard. He wandered over to one of the divans and stretched out on it. Very comfortable. He sighed contentedly and closed his eyes.

He jumped awake, confused and horrified Someone was touching him. Touching his inner thigh, over his pants leg, near his groin. There was hot breath coming through his button fly.

Without conscious thought Animal scooted his body back in the divan. "Wha . . .? Rose?" He pulled her head up by her hair. Not Rose. Mariah. He stared at her, wild-eyed, almost panicked. "What are you . . .?" He held her hair in a death grip.

Mariah just stared at him, looking almost as panicked as he. Animal let go of her hair so suddenly that she fell, skinning her knee on a cobblestone. He sat up and swung his feet over to the ground. He pressed his knees and ankles firmly together and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his wrists crossed, protecting his middle. "You mind telling me what you were doing?" he asked Mariah as mildly as he could, although his chest rose and fell with hard breath.

Mariah raised her chin. "I wanted to pleasure you," she said.

Animal snapped, "I'm no innocent outlander, Mariah. Tell me the truth."

Mariah was silent for a minute. "I'm horny," she said at last. Her voice quavered, but she raised her chin.

Animal almost felt sorry for her. "You know I'm not your master."

"Master Gabriel wouldn't mind," Mariah said.

Animal snorted. "Don't be an idiot."

"It's true," Mariah said. "He told me he doesn't fuck slaves."

Animal could hear the bitterness in her voice. His pulse not pounding quite so loudly in his ears, he took a deep breath and looked closely at his friend's slave. From habit he thought of her as the subject of a painting. She kneeled before him in obeisance, but her green eyes glared at him. Her face was framed by her dark, almost black hair, still short enough to frame her face. Her cheeks flushed with emotion, but whether it was anger or embarrassment or shame he could not tell. He knew what the title of the painting would be: "Defeated but unbroken." He couldn't help but admire her, a little. Still, for all her bold colors he was glad she wasn't his. He thought of Rose, pastels and light browns.

"Neither do I," he said to Mariah. "Except my own."

Mariah's eyes filled with tears. She took a deep breath. "Is this the mindgame, then?" she asked. "To never be allowed to fuck?"

Animal did not answer immediately. He didn't know what Gabriel had in mind for Mariah, now that she was healing. "He doesn't mean it as torture," he said at last. "And I think you know that."

He watched the play of emotion on Mariah's face. Regret and fear were slowly replaced by defiance. "Aren't you going to punish me for touching you?" she asked.

Animal fingered the whip on his belt. "Is that what you want? Are you a pain slut?"

"No!" Mariah said, recoiling at the suggestion.

"Good," said Animal with a grim smile. "Because I'm a pansy. Since you don't like being punished, and I'm too lazy to punish you, this once we'll let things slide."

"Is this slave supposed to thank you, Master?" Mariah asked. Behind the sarcasm she sounded unsure.

"Yes," Animal said. "By letting me finish my nap." He lay back on the divan. After a moment Mariah stood up and walked towards Gabriel's apartment. As she started to open the sliding door Animal called to her. When she turned to him he said, "If you ever come near my junk I will punish you, in a way you won't forget. I'm a pansy but I'm not a fanatic."

Mariah remembers

Crawling down the corridor in front of Master Jonas, Mariah thought back to the horseback ride from the fields to the mansion. Like now, then she had had no idea what was coming. She snorted as she recalled how naive and hopeful she had been. Master Jonas flicked her ass with his whip and she increased her pace, her knees and wrists protesting.

It seemed to her and her aching body that the crawl was endless, but rationally she knew they hadn't gone very far when Master Jonas directed her to go through a doorway.

They entered a large cobblestoned courtyard, shaded here and there by trees. Throughout the area slaves were shackled to metal rings set in the ground or wooden posts that stood upright. Humans milled around them, some gazing from one slave to another, others studying a single slave intently. One mistress was checking the teeth of a young male, while another was finger fucking a girl who gyrated while biting the inside of her cheeks.

"This is called the Exchange," Master Jonas told Mariah. "There are several of them throughout the mansion. Slaves are brought here for new assignments, and humans come here to find new slaves."

Mariah digested this information. Master Jonas was done with her, then. She felt a lightness throughout her body. It was hope.

Master Jonas indicated that Mariah should stand up. "Most of the slaves at this Exchange have come straight from the factory and need training." At Mariah's puzzled look, he laughed. "Oh, I've begun to train your body," he said, "but a slave needs to know how to do more than fuck. Most of the slaves, especially the girls, will learn to serve in a household, while they are young."

Mariah looked down. There was so much more she wanted to know. "You can ask your questions," Master Jonas said.

"You said while they're young, Master." Mariah said. "What happens after that?"

"It depends," Master Jonas answered. "Some stay in household service for years. But most, once they start to lose their looks, will be moved along to other jobs. Or they might get sent back to the farm. Nearly all slaves end up back there sooner or later."

Mariah looked around, grateful for the information. She watched a human man making his way among the slaves. He wasn't handsome, exactly, but he gave off an air of cheerfulness. He stopped by a blonde slavegirl who Mariah recognized from the exercise yard at the factory. He spoke to her and she responded, looking down, and then, in reaction to a word from him, back up. He was smiling and she smiled too, tentatively.

Mariah looked away, embarrassed. There was something deeply private about the interaction. She wondered if it would be the same when she was chosen.

Master Jonas had seen the same thing. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he said to Mariah. He took hold of her wrist, circling it with his thumb and fingers. "A kind master to belong to?"

No, Mariah thought. It would be too personal. But out loud she said, "I don't know, Master."

Master Jonas pointed out a mistress who was trailed by three slaves, two girls and a boy. "She trains slaves to be outstanding cooks. There's a waiting list for them, and their owners usually treat them well and keep them for a long time. Maybe you'd like to be one of them?"

Nervousness washed over Mariah. Why was Master Jonas asking her these questions? She would have no choice in the matter. She searched for an acceptable answer. "I want to do what pleases you, my lord," she said.

Master Jonas laughed at that. "It's a pity you didn't feel that way when we first met," he said. He tugged her closer to him, brushed her hair away from her ear, and whispered, "It's time for your punishment for that day."

Mariah's blood ran cold. It took every ounce of her energy not to try to pull away. When he had first chosen her, and she had disobeyed him, he had told her he would end her. But surely he hadn't meant it, after the time he had spent breaking her body. All that effort would be wasted.

Master Jonas pulled Mariah by the wrist inexorably to the middle of the courtyard. There was a platform there, perhaps two feet above the ground. Like the rest of the courtyard, it had metal rings on its floor and scattered upright wooden posts.

Master Jonas stepped onto the platform and pulled Mariah up behind him. He turned to her suddenly, so that their faces were almost touching. She started to back away but the edge of the platform stopped her. He bent and whispered in her ear, "Do you remember how it felt when I fucked you earlier?" he asked, and he touched her breasts lightly with his fingers.

"Yes, Master," Mariah said, and already, with just his breath in her ear and his hands on her breasts, her pussy was burning. That sensation competed with the fear that coursed through her body.

"Would you like me to whip your breasts?" he whispered to her.

After the smallest hesitation Mariah said, "Only if it pleases you, Master."

Master Jonas leaned away from her. "It is such a pity what I must do to you." He licked his lips. "I'm not going to whip your breasts."

"Thank you, Master," Mariah said.

"And I'm not going to torture your pussy."

Unsure, Mariah said, "Thank you, Master."

Master Jonas smiled. "I'm going to whip your wrist."

"My wrist, Master?" Mariah had seen slaves beaten on the bottom of their feet, or on the palms of their hand. But her wrist seemed . . . benign.

Master Jonas nodded. "I'm going to whip your wrist, right here." He took her hand and touched her lightly where a blue-green vein stood out on her lower arm. "I'm going to whip it over and over, until you start to bleed there. And then I'm going to do the same thing to your other wrist." He picked up her other hand and touched it in the same spot. "And then I'm going to attach your arms to a spreader bar so that you can't use them to stop the bleeding. And then I'm going to leave you here, and watch as the life drain out of you." He dropped her hand and smiled. "Such a waste."

Mariah involuntarily took a step back, horrified. Her foot touched the edge of the platform. I want to live. His hand was still holding her wrist. She brought it up to her face in a quick movement and bit his arm as hard as she could. He yelped and released his grip on her. She turned and jumped, running through the courtyard, dodging the shackled slaves, trying desperately for the door they had come through. A guard stepped in front of it. "Now, now," he said, and caught her, and held her. When she struggled, the guard deftly turned her around so her back was against him, crossed her arms in front, and grabbed each wrist from behind. She was bound by her own arms.

Master Jonas had come down from the stage and was walking to her, slowly, a slight smile on his face, while the guard held her tight. "Please," Mariah begged him. "He's going to kill me."

"Hush, now," the guard said. "Be good."

Master Jonas nodded to the guard, and grabbed Mariah by the hair. The guard let her go. Master Jonas lowered his arm so that she was bent double, and then started to walk back to the platform. When Mariah stumbled he simply dragged her until she was able to find her footing. His grip on her scalp was so tight that she could not struggle. She thought she heard jeers and catcalls, but maybe it was just the blood rushing in her head.

Master Jonas pulled her up onto the platform and quickly secured her feet to shackles and her arms to posts. Struggling was useless. She was overpowered.

Master Jonas's whip wrapped around her wrist, leaving a red mark. It only stung, but Mariah, having no other way to fight, screamed with all her might. Another strike. This one cut her a little, on her forearm, where the lash crossed the previous mark. She was still screaming. She pulled frantically on her bindings, but they were secure.

The next lash fell on her other arm. With all her might Mariah tried to form words. "Help me!" It came out as a screech. "I don't want to die!" Then, all she could do was scream.

When her noise stopped as she took a quick breath, there was silence. The whip had not fallen again. Mariah opened her eyes which she had not realized had been shut. A short, silver-haired human woman was on the platform, her hands on her hips, glaring at Master Jonas. "Do you have permission from the Bearer to kill her?" Blood leaked from Mariah's forearm towards her shoulder.

Master Jonas looked down, red-faced. "I was just having some fun, Corinne," he said.

"This is not the theater, young man," the mistress said. "If you've come to leave your girl at the exchange, leave her now."

"Let me whip her first," Master Jonas said, almost pleading. "She's nothing but a torture cunt. Let me mark her so all will know."

The mistress looked Mariah up and down. "She's young," she said. "Looks like she just came from the factory."

"She did," Master Jonas said. "I broke her in."

The mistress sniffed disdainfully. "You must have botched it if she's to be made a torture cunt so young," she said.

"No!" Master Jonas said. "It's all she's good for, I tell you. She just tried to run away from me. Anyone here can tell you that."

"Is that true, girl?" Mistress Corinne asked Mariah. "Did you just try to run away?"

Mariah tried to put every ounce of humility she could find into her battered voice. "Yes, mistress," she said.

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"I don't want to die, Mistress," Mariah said, and tears ran down her face and her knees buckled so that she was supported only by the shackles on her arms.

Mistress Corinne said to a young slave standing near the platform, "Anna, untie her and wrap her wounds."

She turned back to Master Jonas. "I'm sick to death of you people ruining perfectly good slaves. You've no respect, that's what. Leave her, and get out of here."

As Mariah was freed from her restraints she saw Master Jonas glaring with hate. But he was looking at Mistress Corinne, not at her. Without a word to her he turned on his heels and walked away, even as soothing hands began to put bandages on her bleeding wrist.

Present day

"There you go, pretty thing, drink, grow and be strong," Gabriel murmured to the marjoram plant as he watered it on the windowsill of his clinic. He sighed when he heard the door to the adjoining room open. His posted hours were over.

"Excuse me," a querulous voice called to him. "Can you help me with a pimple on my belly button?"

Gabriel answered without turning around, "Exercise, think pure thoughts, and drink a gallon of water a day."

"I think I'll just pop it," Animal said as he ambled into Gabriel's office.

Gabriel nodded. "That might work too." He put down his watering can, picked up a bottle of diluted bleach, and began to spray his countertop and wipe it down. "To what do I owe the honor of this visit, oh pimpled one?"

When Animal didn't answer Gabriel glanced over to him. His grin gone, he was staring moodily at the spray bottle, apparently lost in thought.

Gabriel, finished with the countertop and took a broom and dustpan from the closet. When he began to sweep the floor Animal broke from his reverie. "You should get Mariah to do that for you."

"I'm perfectly capable of cleaning up for myself," Gabriel responded, and continued to sweep.

"She should do it for you!" Animal said. "She's well enough now to attend to her duties."

Gabriel looked up, surprised, to Animal's glare. "You forget. She is a patient under my care, that's all. I have no duties for her."

Animal stepped toward Gabriel and grabbed the top of the broom handle. "Whether you call yourself her master or not, she has no other," he said tersely. "If you don't start acting like it, you'll lose her."

"What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, surrendering the broom to Animal. "The Bearer gave her to me. No one would try to take her."

Animal leaned the broom in the corner of the room and turned back to Gabriel. "The Bearer won't stop a human being from disciplining a slave who acts out," he said. "Sooner or later she's going to goad someone to punishing her beyond your skill to heal."

"You're wrong," Gabriel said. "She's smarter than that."

"I'm not wrong," Animal said. He stared at Gabriel, unrelenting. "And you know it."

Gabriel pictured Mariah the first time he had seen her, outside the wall, running away; the horrible punishment after she was caught that nearly killed her; and the confrontations she seemed to seek with human beings at every opportunity, provoking them, provoking them, provoking them. He expelled a breath, and nodded, slowly.

"Look, brother, you're a fine healer, a great one, no one disputes that," Animal said. "But you're not a vet. You don't understand slaves. They might look like humans, but they're not." He tapped his head. "It's just fluff up here for them. It's all feelings, wants, needs." He held up his hands to silence Gabriel's protest. "If you want to keep Mariah safe you have to make sure her needs get met."

"I do," Gabriel said. "I'm healing her. I make sure she has healthy food, exercise, whatever freedom of movement I can give her . . . "

"What she needs," Animal interrupted, enunciating slowly, "is a good fucking."

Gabriel took two steps back, bumping into the counter. "No," he said. "I would never. Never! I've told her that already."

"So she said," said Animal, his face carefully neutral. "An hour ago, after she tried seduce me while I was sleeping."