Penny Dreadful and the Machines

"Show me," Penny whispered as they broke their kiss, and with a soft smile Karin reached for La Duchesse.

"My bedroom is next door," said Karin, and she took Penny by the hand, leading her through an adjoining door. She had the brief impression of deep greens set off with gold, a tasteful four-poster bed with curtains, the rest of the furniture elegant, before Karin engulfed her again.

Their passion inflamed, they worked at the myriad buttons and catches that held their clothing, interspersed with kisses and sighs and heavy breathing. Around their feet, on the thick carpet, there grew a pile of discarded garments -- Penny's hat and jacket, their shirtwaists, skirts and petticoats.

Hair hanging loose they finally drew breath, standing before each other in only their underwear. Karin, now with a devilish smile, began to twist the base of La Duchesse, winding the wicked clockwork, each inexorable twist heightening the desire between them. With one last twist, the toy was ready, and Karin extended her arm, gently pressing an unresisting Penny down until she was sitting atop the bedclothes.

With an unexpected urgency Karin dropped to her knees before Penny, grasping her ankles and lifting her legs. Then, in one smooth movement she reached up around Penny's hips and grasping her drawers, whipping them down and off, then dropping them, disregarded, to the side. Penny was exposed to her searching gaze, and Karin pushed her legs apart to enable her unrestricted view. She exhaled, heavily.

"If you were mine," Karin murmured, "I would never let you leave this room."

Penny gulped, and then Karin was firm, pushing her flat on the bed and pulling her to the edge, spreading her legs wide and holding her in place. She dropped her head and Penny gasped at the touch of her lips on her inner thigh.

"Oh, please... yes..." she gasped, sliding her hand down and twining her fingers in Karin's hair.

A soft brush of Karin's lips, and Penny closed her eyes in bliss, as the older woman moved closer to Penny's sex, breathing in her scent all the while. She extended her tongue, and gently flicked against Penny's labia, and Penny tensed at the first touch, then relaxed, breathing out an imprecation, and easing herself up towards Karin for more. Karin licked her again, firmer now, and with dextrous fingers parted her lips, opening her to the pleasure to come.

"Are you ready?" said Karin, already knowing.

"Oh, yes," said Penny, and then she gasped aloud as the tip of the toy pressed against her.

And then Karin pressed the button and activated the mechanism, and La Duchesse began to vibrate, becoming Penny's everything. Penny moaned softly, the improved toy much stronger than her own and heat spreading through her at speed. She felt her nipples hardening, and her skin contracting, tingling as it did so, and when Karin slid the toy into her, easing it relentlessly in as it impaled her, she moaned aloud and pushed Karin's face between her legs, entreating her to use her tongue, too. But then, that woman suddenly pulled the toy from Penny, and on looking up, distraught at the departure, and catching Karin's eye, she saw a different, harsher expression.

"No," said Karen, "not until you tell me what I want to hear."

She eased the toy back a little into Penny, and the joy spread through her again. But only for a moment, as Karin withdrew it again, teasing her.

"Who sent you?" said Karin. Penny could only lie there, confused and tormented by lust. Karin played the toy over Penny once more, bending forward to lick her exquisitely, and Penny moaned once more, unable to stop, but somewhere her mind was awakening -- she had been deceived. Karin pulled the toy away again, and it almost hurt, Penny was getting so close.

"Who?"

"I came by myself," Penny gasped, "I promise."

Once more the torture commenced, Karin pleasuring her mercilessly, but now Penny knew it could be withdrawn in an instant, and all the while that wonderful clockwork was winding down.

"Who?" said Karin, more insistent now.

"Please... mistress," and the second word was inspiration from the past, "I promise, I came from curiosity. I was talking to Freddie, and I wondered why you bought the machines."

Karin seemed briefly satisfied, or perhaps she wanted to bring Penny even closer, only then to deny her. She applied the toy again with a will, and Penny was now struggling, her legs trembling as she pushed her hips up, desperate to commune with the toy and with Karin's wonderful tongue. For a minute Karin obliged her, but then yet again the toy was removed, this time leaving Penny panting uncontrollably, the torture almost too much.

There was a moment of stillness as Karin gazed at Penny, her expression searching whilst Penny lay desperate, closer than she had ever been only to be so painfully denied.

"I believe you," said Karin finally, and then she satisfied poor Penny at last, plunging the toy into her and licking her firmly, her free hand grasping her buttock and spreading her, her fingers pressed into her flesh. Penny moaned aloud again, and now her cries resounded around the room. She was helpless after Karin's wicked torture, and her release, when it came, was close to an explosion, tearing her apart, almost painful, almost too much as she bucked and heaved and Karin pressed her down, licking her still and thrusting the toy into her. A second wave, and her cries redoubled, and then a third, and at last she was pleading for the toy to be withdrawn as she sank, shuddering, spent, exhausted, further into the bedclothes.

She smiled weakly as Karin climbed on to the bed and lay beside her, toying with the bows on her corset the while yet not saying a word. After some moments Penny stretched, languid and feline, and looked up at a pensive Karin, wondering quite what to say in that situation. She fell back on her original enquiry, though it was clear that Karin had her own needs to be attended to in the near future.

"You never told me why," said Penny, "you bought our machines."

"My family," said Karin, dragged away from somewhere else in her mind, "has interests in Sweden, in iron ore and silver. I bought the machines as part of our business."

"Yes," said Penny, raising herself up on one elbow, "but why not have them shipped to Sweden? We would happily oversee the process."

"But then," said Karin with a smile, "I would not get to examine first-hand the inventions of the wonderful Freddie. Or I think perhaps I should say, your wonderful Freddie."

With that Penny knew two things. Firstly, the woman was lying. She could not pinpoint why, but her fur was standing on end and her senses were screaming at her. And secondly, Karin had no idea that she wasn't convinced. It was vital that, for the next few minutes, Karin was confirmed in her delusions, and to that end Penny innocently smiled and continued to slowly gather herself, coming down from the wondrous plateau to which the new, improved Duchesse had transported her.

There were other things Penny knew, too. For one thing, she sensed Karin was immensely aroused, and was only supressing her immediate need with a supreme effort. And Penny could also see another parallel with Frau Aufguss. That worthy lady, despite her general desire to command proceedings, would sometimes have an evening where she desperately needed to surrender her control to another, to let them dictate events, and be harsh about it, too. Karin Arvidsson was, unbeknownst to herself, projecting that self-same desire at that moment. And so, Penny took control.

She reached up, and much to Karin's contented surprise, put her hands on Karin's shoulders and eased her back until she was lying on the covers. She then tut-tutted when she looked down to see that Karin was still wearing her drawers. Those, certainly, would be attended to, but first things first. She swung a leg over Karin's waist, and in an instant was bestride her, Karin's eyes widening and her lip trembling. She was, Penny knew, suddenly soaked with lust at Penny's imperious air.

Penny took the woman's wrists in her hands, and spread her arms out, pressing her into the bedclothes.

"Do not move," she said.

"No," Karin gulped, transported to her wildest dreams as if from nowhere.

"No?" said Penny, "is that any way to address me?"

"No, mistress," said Karin, and Penny nodded, satisfied. Her assumption was correct, and would have been easily corrected were it not. But she was right, and she knew the next steps to take with a practised ease, all thanks to lovely Frau Aufguss (though not Angela Colltishaw, who just would not enter into the spirit of things).

Sliding down, Penny strode to the head of the bed, and lifting the lush pillows discovered what she expected -- there, hidden yet ready as needed, were silken strips of material, tied to the bed-posts. Karin was certainly of an immoral bent. So much the better, for it made her weak: if knowledge truly is power, at that moment Penny was very powerful indeed.

"Come here," she ordered, and Karin complied, her breathing heavy and broken once she realised Penny had divined her occasional interests. It was the work of a brief minute for Penny to lay Karin down again, extend her arms, and firmly secure her wrists with the silken straps.

"What are you going to do with me, mistress?" came the delighted, cliched question from Karin, the one that Penny had expected. But, tease the little mouse, or leave her in suspense? Penny decided to tease.

Retrieving the second edition Duchesse she idly gazed at it, and caught Karin following her every move, her every unspoken suggestion.

"I was thinking perhaps you need your own demonstration," said Penny.

"I have tested it already," said Karin.

"Yes, but it hasn't been in the hands of one who really knows what they are about," said Penny with a wicked smile, and with that she found a kerchief on the bedside table, and dipped it in the basin of water there, then set about slowly and deliberately cleaning the toy as Karin squirmed with a growing impatience. Once cleaned to her satisfaction, she began winding the mechanism.

"You know," said Penny, twisting the base with slow deliberation, "the woman who designed this surely has other designs in her mind. It is a wonderful thing. I think it might even tame the Australians."

Once ready, she dropped the toy to one side on the bed and leant over, taking Karin's face in her hand and kissing her savagely. With an urgent, muffled moan, Karin responded in kind, a dam breaking within her. She pressed her body up towards Penny, but after only a moment she broke the kiss and sat back on her heels, leaving Karin panting, exposed physically, and even more, mentally. It was time, however, to deal with the pressing issue of Karin's underwear. Penny slipped down to the bottom of the bed, and as Karin watched, transfixed, she reached to her hips, grasping the waistband of Karin's drawers and hauling them down, then off, in one rough movement.

Karin gasped at the violence of Penny's manoeuvre, and surrendered herself a little more, studying Penny's face with pleasure as Penny gazed down between her legs. Penny had much to gaze at for Karin was shaved, her hair just in one strip on her mons, and Penny thrilled at the decadence -- she knew that Karin was splendidly immoral, and this confirmed it. So, Karin was indeed a 'bad girl'? Then she must be treated as such.

Penny took hold of Karin's ankles and in one firm movement spread her legs apart. Karin gasped once more, and she marvelled at the serendipity that had brought this wonderfully wicked young woman into her orbit -- and she had appeared so innocent, too, initially.

"Keep your legs spread," Penny ordered, and Karin could not think to disobey. She guessed what would come next, and Penny did not disappoint, examining the bedposts at the foot of the bed and immediately locating the ties secreted there. She had such fun with her guards when they played tying-up games, but with a woman? With this woman? It promised to be divine.

In a trice Penny had tied Karin's ankles and the woman was spreadeagle, open for whatever devilment Penny had in mind. Sweet cruelty was her intention, but first Karin must be brought fully to the boil, and to that end Penny began to run her fingers gently up the inside of Karin's thighs, a soft caress that made the woman impotently push herself towards Penny for more. Penny made herself comfortable on the bed and the tip of her tongue followed her fingers, snaking over her smooth skin but never reaching the destination.

It was torment, and it was captivating, and Karin gasped and panted and prayed that Penny would finally eat her properly. It was the submissive dilemma -- almost certainly Penny would give her what she needed, but maybe she wouldn't, but if she didn't would a humble, desperate entreaty speed matters or delay them? Or was Penny waiting for Karin to beg, only then to truly please her? Karin gave in.

"Please, please touch my pussy, mistress," she begged.

"I didn't say you could talk," said Penny, and oh, she was good at this, for she did touch Karin's pussy after a moment more, but not how Karin expected. Instead, she brought her hand down with a slap and Karin was sent skywards by the depravity, urgent sounds of desperate pleasure filling the room.

Only then did Penny deign to extend her tongue and lick Karin with a long stoke, from her entrance to her sweetest spot, spreading her with firm fingers to ensure Karin felt every moment. It was almost too much, and Karin moaned as the sensations consumed her.

"Thank you, mistress," she managed, hoarse, and this time, it seemed, talking was acceptable.

Penny then set about Karin with a will, her tongue and fingers lifting Karin to plateau after plateau. She was, however, careful not to let the woman reach her ultimate release, yet after only five minutes Karin was hopeless jelly in her hands, unable to do anything but respond to whatever Penny wished. And then, her eyes widening in savage lust, she saw Penny reach for La Duchesse...

Rather than thrust the toy into her, at first Penny lay it against Karin, along the length of her pussy, the toy vibrating powerfully and Karin straining at her bonds. She felt wetter than ever before, her senses submerged by the overriding nirvana of her own invention in the hands of another. In only moments she would scale the heights, for she could almost see the summit, and...

Penny pulled the toy away, and Karin groaned wretchedly.

"I don't believe you, either," said Penny, before giving Karin the toy again, but only enough to remind her of the pleasure. She then removed it once more. Karin, wild-eyed, could only gaze at her.

"Who is the Waxed Moustache?" said Penny, menace in her voice.

"Who?" Karin struggled, confused. Her mind and body were separating, but Penny knew the answer to that, and she slid the toy into Karin as she licked her again. Karin moaned again and felt the rush of the oncoming train, but again, of a sudden, it was denied.

"Who is the Waxed Moustache?"

"I... I don't know," said Karin, "please mistress, it hurts."

For a last time, Penny went down on to Karin, now moving the toy smoothly, deeper into Karin, her tongue moving firmly and fast. The black spots were in front of her eyes, the trembling in her thighs. And so Karin almost screamed when, oh torture, thy name is woman, Penny stopped again.

"Who?" she demanded, but the confusion on Karin's face being genuine, she changed tack, "and why did you really buy the machines?"

The second question seemed to strike home, though Karin didn't answer. Penny gave met Karin's gaze, and with finality, pressed the button on La Duchesse and stopped the mechanism. Karin bit her lip in frustration, and she begged again, but Penny merely shook her head.

"Very well," Karin gasped, the confession grudging, "they are for the Bank of England, the gold room there. I am tunnelling in."

Oh, the audacity! Penny was shocked.

"And securing the gold would bring the Empire crashing down, thought you?" said Penny, "and what would replace it? Which foreign power do you work for?"

"No," and Karin seemed confused again, "I just like gold. But please mistress, please. I have told you. You cannot leave me like this."

Penny looked down at the woman, lithe and seductive as she lay tied helpless to the bed. She considered, for a brief moment, assenting to the woman's heartfelt plea. But no, for after all, she had had hers.

"No, I must leave," said Penny, "and alert the constabulary."

With that, she scooped up her clothes and slipped from the room, Karin all the while growing more desperate, and more inflamed -- and in her agony she realised Penny, gorgeous Penny, truly knew about torment.

And so it was, that just hours later, the City of London police discovered the rented shop on Bartholomew Lane, London East Central, and the tunnel leading from the basement towards the Bank of England. Freddie Patterson was summoned to switch off the machines that were diligently extending the tunnel without human agency, and England's gold reserves were thus saved.

The Scotland Yard detectives investigating the crime made no mention of the condition in which Karin Arvidsson was apprehended, or where they had acquired their intelligence from -- least said, soonest mended. And so, after a nine-day wonder in the cheaper type of newspaper, the story died away, and Britain turned its face towards the twentieth century. La Duchesse, meanwhile, was slated for a November launch on the American market, just in time for Christmas...

* * *

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon. Penny waited by the little bandstand next to the Serpentine, children running to and fro under the gaze of their governesses. At the water's edge, grandfathers launched model sailing boats into the water alongside their grandsons, and several gentlemen discreetly glanced at Penny in her white summer dress as they passed. They went unheeded, however, for Penny only had eyes for one man -- Freddie, the tall, blond man in the grey Norfolk jacket walking diffidently towards her with an oriental lily and a first edition of Ada Lovelace's Sketch of the Analytical Engine.

With another man, the book might be seen as a blunt attempt to disrobe the lady, but with Freddie the gift was genuine, his excitement divided equally between seeing Penny, and seeing her pleasure on receiving the gift. She, for her part, was determined to lead him gently into her embrace, there to remain forever. Elsewhere, however, things were not so sunny...

Willem Mortensen wanted little from life -- time with his young daughter, a holiday cottage on Bornholm, krebinetter for his Sunday lunch. Modest ambitions all, but ones receding beyond the horizon as he strode, his heart sinking, towards the reed-ringed mere on windswept Jutland. He picked out the tweed shooting jacket, and next to the most terrifying man he had ever met, young Johannes, the loader for the day. He slowed when he approached, knowing better than to interrupt his employer's sport.

Stopping several metres behind the man in the tweed he knelt, trying to ensure the ducks couldn't see him. Johannes looked back, concern etched across his features, his eyebrows raised in a silent, urgent question. Willem answered his unspoken question with a mournful shake of the head, and then he raised his own eyebrows and directed a look at the back of the tweed-clad man, desperate to gauge his mood.

"Willem," said the man with a hostile calm, "I can hear your eyebrows waggling. I presume you have news for me, for I can think of no other reason for a person to interrupt me when I issued strict orders that I was not to be interrupted."