Sera Ch. 29

"Odette, I think, was a lot like Dolanna and might have been representative of the same kinds of problems, but for the fact that Eleonore was prepared this time around and took a very careful and attentive hand in the raising of her granddaughter. As it was, Odette turned out be a lot like her on the outside- quiet, reserved, studious and very responsible where her education and, later on, the family business was concerned. On the other hand, even Coby couldn't have matched her sexual appetite and only Rebecca's perversion was greater. There was nothing she liked better than to have every orifice that would allow a cock inside to be filled with one. If it were possible that her ears could have been fucked, she'd have... well, you get the picture," Ashleigh chuckled.

"Now, unfortunately, a lot of what information comes from Odette is a little short on detail, probably because of her closely supervised upbringing by Eleonore. I imagine, after Dolanna, she would have been doing her best to mold Odette to the family's needs as effectively as she could, and it's even possible that she may have used her influence on her from a very early age in order to train her mind to self-discipline. Dolanna was sure of it and even Rebecca pondered the strong possibility on more than one occasion. Considering how Dolanna turned out, I suppose one can understand this forced personality structuring, I might even say, for Odette's own good, but it did have the unfortunate side effect of imposing Eleonore's way of withholding, or limiting volunteered information on Odette's semi-reserved personality. That's Rebecca's own descriptive term for her mother, by the way. Even so, Odette was still more forthcoming than Eleonore ever was and she is how we know the story of Eleonore and Dolanna, and of the ongoing friction between them.

"Growing up, Odette was never exactly kept in the dark about Sera, but neither was anything explicitly told to her. Being home schooled and never alone when she left the house, she was never really in a position to endanger the family with any knowledge that kids sometimes tend to blurt out and, by the time she was old enough to mix with other kids in the neighborhood without supervision, she knew enough to understand that her family had secrets and her semi-reserved personality naturally knew to keep them safe. From the accounts, I'd say it was Eleonore's and Dolanna's fighting that probably told her most of what she could never impart to those outside the walls of their house.

"Mostly, it was the same complaints from Eleonore, those of Dolanna's public behaviour. She still seduced women, sometimes bringing them back to the house and sometimes in groups of three or more for wild, drunken, lesbian orgy parties right above her mother's head. Again, at this point she did have her own apartment somewhere and she could have easily had her orgy parties there, which she often did, but it's pretty much a given that she would at times bring them to the house on Adelaide Street simply to spite her mother. And she still carried her Colt, although no longer visibly in its holster, but hidden in the folds of the dresses she'd taken to wearing."

"That at least," Mum put in here, "must have made Eleonore happy."

"Her female attire?" Yes and no," Ashleigh replied with a lingering glance at her youngest sister's cleavage. "It's true she was glad to see her dressing more appropriately, but she also knew that it was only because it made it easier for Dolanna to associate with the women she would then seduce. So it was clear that, although Eleonore had wiped the slate clean of Dolanna's past public indiscretions with the move to Toronto, the problem was far from solved with their new home being nothing more than a fresh field for Dolanna to mess in, so to speak. What made things worse for Eleonore was the amount of time Dolanna often spent away from the house. See, she did still love her daughter and alternated between wanting to throttle her when she was home and worrying herself sick about her when she was gone for weeks at a time. In her own quiet way, Eleonore agonized over this to the point where anybody without the benefit of Sera within them would have developed stomach ulcers."

"I bet," Mum weighed in again. "Probably wondering when she'd find out Dolanna'd been arrested for murder, or murdered herself, or whatever."

"Exactly," Ashleigh agreed, "and one of her biggest worries, naturally, would be over how Dolanna would be out there influencing people without care or caution. Her behaviour wasn't just affecting her, nor was it simply an embarrassment to the family. It was counterproductive to all the precautions Eleonore had always taken to ensure insulation of Sera against the outside world. Dolanna was a danger to Sera, therefore to the household and, maybe worse, there was no way of telling how big a danger she was when absent for weeks on end. There was just no way of knowing what she was out there doing, and that alone would have been... unbearable. Even for me. Imagine how someone like Eleonore would've felt about it?

"By the time Odette was in her teens, shouting matches between her mother and grandmother were common when Dolanna was home. This alone is an indicator of how Eleonore felt about the situation, not being the type to resort to such emotionalism. Odette even reports having at times found her grandmother quietly weeping over the trouble with Dolanna.

"While Eleonore's relationship with her daughter couldn't be much worse, her relationship with Odette was very close and warm. Odette grew a dislike for Dolanna from an early age, partly because of the way Dolanna pretended the girl didn't exist, but also because of the way she would routinely upset her grandmother, often on purpose. On the very evening of her eighteenth birthday, she came to her grandmother's room. She wanted to be there for her after yet another shouting match that, according to Odette, the neighbors could probably have heard.

"She was there, as Odette related, in her bed and looking completely distraught and at her wits end. She wasn't crying and she wasn't angry, rather at that frustrated point in between. She got up on the bed, put her arms around her and comforted her like she often had in the past, telling her the things she thought would calm Eleonore and relax her. ... It started with a kiss on the cheek. Then another on the lips. When she found Cary suddenly taking her nightdress off for her, she didn't resist, knowing it was really Eleonore who was doing it. Without much deliberation or trepidation, she opened the front her grandmother's nightdress and stuck her hand inside, curiously fondling her matriarch's tits. The sixty-one year old who, according to Odette and our own pictorial evidence here didn't look anywhere near that age, did the same to her.

"She liked the sexual attention- a lot- and she didn't have to be influenced to feel that way about it, either. Odette was bonded by Eleonore that evening, on the very first orgasm of her life. According to her, that was the night the world of sex opened up for her. Her inquisitive curiosity, her life and the way she saw it and the world around her would never be the same. While at the house, she ran around in next to nothing, flashing her grandmother and staff alike with a sort of horny pride. She would often disrobe the staff to compare, fondle and use their bodies, especially the male staff. She said she grew a fascination with the male genitalia and couldn't get enough of playing with it and watching ejaculation with great interest. She tells of a particular incident where she's on her knees in front of two male servants, topless while stroking them off until her chest and face were covered in their semen. She turns around, and there's Dolanna, standing there staring with a 'strangely curious expression', as she put it. Well, it was kind of an awkward moment, considering how those two got along and how Dolanna's sexual leanings went, but it was also to be a turning point in their relationship.

"Having been told by Eleonore of her mother's preferences for women along with some of her past exploits, Odette went out the next day and bought a pair of skintight breaches and a man's white shirt. She found herself knocking on the door to Dolanna's fourth floor apartments the next evening wearing these clothes and nothing else other than her slippers.

"Now, these two never argued, so they never really had any personal issues between them other than their differing views of Eleonore and their mutual unfamiliarity and distrust of one another, This born of Dolanna's refusal to acknowledge her daughter and Odette's return of that treatment in kind, so when Dolanna opened the door... Well," Ashleigh laughed a little self-consciously," not to brag, but Odette was a very attractive little thing and, in those clothes and the innocent, olive branch smile, as she described herself as wearing, it wasn't too hard for her to get her horny, forty-two year old lesbian mother to let her in. In fact, Odette says Dolanna was 'stunned' at the sight of her dressed like that.

"So, there she was, inside her mother's apartments for the first time in her life. They looked at each other for another moment, Dolanna's eyes travelling up and down Odette's body, before she made verbal note of how Eleonore had obviously bonded her. Odette confirmed, taking her turn at a god look up and down her mother's attractive body before Dolanna stepped forward and tore the front of Odette's shirt open. She grabbed her tits, pinched her nipples and looked deep into her eyes, Odette looking back. The next thing Odette knew, she was shown to Dolanna's bed, half forced there and thrown down on top of it where she allowed her mother to have her way with her."

With another little smile, Ashleigh shifted in her chair, explaining, "Odette describes this encounter in detail, sexual accounts being one of the few things she often did describe in detail, but we'll skip over that in the interest of all of us staying out of each other's clothes until we can finish up our meeting for tonight."

Mum, Sheila and Kitten protested, but Ashleigh refused, obviously enjoying the tease, before reminding them that the details were all there for anyone of us to read for ourselves before going on.

"You may be wondering about Odette's intentions, if not about who seduced who, but since it was Odette who dressed in the provocative manner she knew would get her mother's attention before going to her door, it's her intentions that must be considered, especially considering future events. Not to get ahead of myself, however...

"After um... getting to know one another, they started hanging out and talking. Again, this, in large part, is how we know the history of Dolanna and Eleonore because, at this point, Dolanna begins to talk and relate these histories to Odette. Now Odette was learning her mother's side of things, about how her pregnancy with Odette had come about and all the rest of what Eleonore had never imparted, partly due to the fact that she wasn't a big talker and partly due to the fact that it wouldn't have been comfortable for her to admit to the thing she'd done to Dolanna with Finn Gallagher. This is also when she told Odette of the young nun that had been taken away from her by Eleonore and, that she would bring that up after all that time had passed says a lot about how she must have felt about this nun, no matter how foolish it seemed to Eleonore, or to us for that matter.

"They became friends. Never mother and daughter in a practical sense, and never extremely close friends, but they did talk a lot, share each other's bodies and, although Odette claims that Dolanna never did reveal the location of her own apartment, they did go out and... carouse together on occasion. Odette, as I've said, does go into detail about her own sexual exploits- incredible and excitingly lurid detail I would even say- and this is how we know of her inclusion in some of Dolanna's lesbian orgy parties. One could assume that these orgies were carried out in some place other than Dolanna's mystery apartment while, at the same time, wondering at why Odette never mentioned where any of these otherwise well described parties actually took place. This is something Rebecca zeroes in on for reasons you'll shortly understand.

"You might imagine that Eleonore would, to say the very least, be quite concerned upon learning of these two hanging out together, especially if she knew of Odette's inclusion in Dolanna's dangerously unwise public lifestyle. I know I'd be more than concerned, but if Eleonore did know and was upset about it, Odette never mentioned it. Even when Rebecca asked, she only shrugged with what Rebecca called a 'dismissive grin' and went on with something else. Her answer, if you wanna call it that, makes it seem as though she couldn't have cared less what Eleonore thought, but we know from Odette herself that those two were very close, right up until the day that Eleonore died- much closer than Odette and Dolanna would ever be- and both Rebecca and I find it hard to believe that she'd be so blasé regarding Eleonore's feelings on the matter.

"However her grandmother felt, Odette continued to run with her mother and learned quite a bit from her about the seamy underbelly of Toronto and how to operate in public, meaning of course, how to discretely influence others in public settings. This is how she learned of what a danger Dolanna really was to the family. She told of many an incident where she would drunkenly threaten people by hinting around that she had some power, or ability to make them do what she wanted, and Odette often had to 'clean up after her', as she put it. Worse was when Dolanna actually would influence people right in front of others and have them do things that they obviously would never do on their own. She'd claim she'd hypnotized them and Odette would have her work cut out for her in cleaning those messes up, ironically using the public techniques Dolanna had taught her.

"Odette does say that she refused to participate in some of her mother's exploits, the ones that she knew better than to get involved in. She was well aware that she was expected to head the family once Eleonore passed, and responsible enough to know she'd need her reputation intact for this. One has to wonder," Ashleigh commented with a wry grin and raised eyebrow, "why she'd involve herself in her mother's lifestyle at all. For the reason of getting along, or gaining a fair understanding of her mother? Maybe with the ultimate end goal of possibly reconciling her parents on some level? Maybe out of a horny curiosity of that lifestyle and the fun of living it? Or maybe for some other reason...?

"In any case, her involvement started to peter off within a couple of years until one day, shortly after Odette learned she was pregnant, the police showed up at the house and informed them that Dolanna had been found murdered in her apartment."

I felt kitten shift against me as Mum almost imperceptibly nodded at this development.

"They said she'd been strangled from behind with a length of rope. The length of rope itself wasn't found at the scene, but the marks on Dolanna's throat were consistent... Though they could tell there'd been a struggle, there was no forced entry and none of the neighbors heard anything that would have been out of the ordinary, considering Dolanna's parties. Nobody heard anything, nobody saw anything and the only reason they found her body was because of the arrival of one of Dolanna's girlfriends who'd had a key. Because of the lack of forced entry, she was a prime suspect for a little while, but no charges were ever laid and it was a mystery that was never solved."

"Did Odette ever admit to it?" Mum asked.

"We don't know it was Odette," Ashleigh replied with an expression that plainly spoke of some very strong suspicions on her part that it certainly was.

"Oh, come on, Ash. The only other reasonable explanation is that Eleonore found out where her apartment was and had someone take care of it before Dolanna ruined all of her efforts with Odette."

"Yeah," Ashleigh confirmed with a nod and a knowing grin, "I've thought of that. I've even thought that it could have been both Eleonore and Odette, and that it was planned right from when Odette first visited her mother's apartments dressed in those tight breeches, if not shortly after. It would explain Eleonore's seeming lack of concern over Odette's inclusion in her mother's exploits, but we don't know for sure that she wasn't concerned. Odette never told Rebecca either way how her grandmother felt about that, and no, she never admitted to any involvement in Dolanna's murder on either hers or Eleonore's part, so we really don't know."

Mum snorted in reply, "I think we can safely assume their involvement, if not both, than at least one or the other. They had strong motive, Odette had opportunity and both she and her grandmother had the means to get the job done. They could have sent anybody, a total stranger with precise instructions who would probably have completely forgotten all about meeting either one of them, or anybody or anything connected with them before he even did the deed, which he also probably forgot about after it was done with."

"It was Odette," I ascertained.

Everyone looked inquisitively at me, my brunette aunt with that raised brow of expectation that silently asked for elaboration.

"Let's face it," I shrugged, "when you choke somebody to death with a rope, you do it from behind. Where your victim can't see you," I explained while meaningfully pointing at my eyes with my middle and index fingers. "A necessarily wise precaution that only Eleonore and Odette would know to take and, since there was no forced entry, Dolanna probably knew her killer and let her in. Most likely Odette, since she'd gained her mother's trust, and I'm sure she lied about her mother never having told her the location of her apartment for the very reason you've already mentioned, that being the fact that she likely would have mentioned that detail along with the details of the orgies held there. Unless she had reason not to."

Sheila countered with, "But what if Dolanna attended those orgies at somebody else's residence?"

"She may have attended some of them elsewhere," I answered, "but not the ones Odette went to. If she was concerned about her future reputation, she would have only attended the orgies where she would have had at least some control over who all was there and what information they could leave with. Dolanna's apartment would have been that place. Also, hosting these orgies would be one reason Dolanna would have her own apartment to begin with."

"And besides," Kitten added, "if she was that concerned about her future reputation, why was she running with her mother at all unless she had some ulterior motive?"

"For fun," Ashleigh supplied. "Don't forget Odette's perverted sex drive and how attractive her mother's lifestyle would have been to her."

"Sure," Mum agreed, "but she could have had that lifestyle without Dolanna, in a way that would have been under her control and a lot safer. I think you even mentioned back when you were telling us about Rebecca that she and her mother hosted sex parties of their own."

"Right," I said, elaborating with, "I think Odette's involvement in Dolanna's life may have started out innocently enough, mostly out of a horny curiosity about sex with her mother and the things her mother had to say but, once she started hanging out with her, it probably became clear just what a danger to Sera and the family reputation that Dolanna really represented. And since Dolanna wouldn't have listened to her daughter about that stuff anymore than she did her mother, Odette gained her confidence well enough to wait till the proper time- likely when she knew she wasn't carrying her Colt- and killed her, making sure there was no trace of her at her mother's apartment all along. Problem solved once and for all."