Stranger Than Truth Ch. 01

Prologue:

Valerie Burbon and Sally Thatcher walked into the house they shared with Francine Traline. It was three weeks since their hand fasting ceremony and sally had been given a ride to and from work by Valerie since Sally's car was in the shop. Francine was sitting at the table that served as dining room table and general do what ever you want desk. The smile on her face was the biggest they had seen since the safe word incident so recently, yet so long ago.

"Francine? What's the occasion?" asked Valerie.

"Val, Sally, I've got good news."

Sally, in mock seriousness, demanded, "Well, don't keep us in suspence. Speak, lady."

She held up a small rectangular piece of paper. Valerie looked close and gasped when she recognized what it was. "Francine! That's a check for 1.5 million dollars!"

Sally was no less shocked. "It's from Hellfire Pictures. Why is a movie studio giving you that much money?"

Francine smiled. "They bought my house. The deal closed this afternoon and they cut the check right there. Now we can pay Fred and Daphne for the house and take possession of the title. Now, I know that my lawyer insisted you sign contracts to pay me back for your shares of the house, but I don't want to see a cent from either of you. I intend to give you two the house as a gift."

Valerie gasped. "Francine, you can't..."

"Oh yes I can. I will have over a million left from the sale of my house. I can easily afford to buy my own place with that. You two have been so kind to me, especially after what I did to you, Valerie."

A silence hung over the room as they all remembered the incident. Valerie hanging, back bloodied and raw from Francine's whip. Francine had been suffering from post traumatic stress, the result of her former boyfriend beating her up after she told him she was a dominant and wanted to play BDSM games with him. No one had realized it at the time and Valerie had been submitting to her friend, when Francine lost control and ignored Valerie's safe word. The resulting scars still covered Valerie's back and legs. The incident also resulted in both Francine and Valerie being publicly outed in the press as 'sexual deviants'.

Valerie sat down next to Francine, putting her arms around her friend. "Francine, I forgave you and I still do. You don't have to do this."

With tears in her eyes, Francine nodded, saying, "Yes I do. Maybe not for you, but for me. I don't feel like I deserve your love and forgiveness. I may never feel like I do, but this will help. Anyway, I love you both, too. I want to do this."

Sally was thoughtful. "And you can, but not now. Mr. Moore was correct on one count." Franklin Moore was Francine's lawyer. "If you give us the house now, so soon after the crisis, it could be taken as an admission of guilt on your part. It might even give someone the ability to challenge the purchase of the house. Plus, you're not going anywhere until your psychiatrist says that you're full recovered from the ordeal. Neither of us is going to give you the chance to kill yourself. You tried once before, not again."

Valerie nodded vigorously in agreement. Francine saw love and firmness in both their faces and did not even try to talk them out of their stances. In truth, she didn't want to. Deep inside, she was afraid of being alone. She knew that her sanity was fragile right now. Nightmares still haunted her at times. Horrible dreams where Harv was beating her while she beat Valerie. She was seeing her psychiatrist, Dr. Gloush, twice a week.

"I know. I'm not ready to be on my own yet. But I will be, sometime. But, when the time is right, you are getting the house. I won't take no for an answer."

Valerie nodded her head. "You won't have to. You're my friend and friends allow their friends to show their love. I understand how important this is to you."

The three ladies hugged each other and went about the normal activities of the evening, little realizing that their relationship with Hellfire Pictures was only beginning.

*

Chapter one

The Experts

Six months later...

Valerie Burbon walked into the offices of Delgrasi Publications bright and early. Erica looked up and smiled as she snatched up the list she had just finished making. The two collared submissives had become good friends in the last several months.

"Good morning Valerie. You are looking delectable today. The temp cancelled, again. So you're stuck with me. Here's your day's appointment list."

"Thanks Erica. Anything I need to worry about right away?"

"Yeah. You've got three secretary interviews back to back."

"Great! I know how overworked I've kept you with all the temporary service secretaries quitting. As much as I enjoy working with you, I can't monopolize your time."

"I like working with you too. Take a look at the second appointment."

Valerie looked at the list and started. "June," she whispered. June Humbol had been Valerie's secretary at Bradford and Gashune when she had been outed as a player in the BDSM world. June had quit in protest when Valerie had been fired for "moral turpitude" but had also told Val that she could not see June's kids anymore. Their friendship had effectively ended that day.

"I see. She is a good candidate I just did not expect her to apply, not here."

"Why is that? It would seem that she thinks you're a good boss."

"After her reaction to my being a submissive, I would have thought that she would avoid this place like the plague. Well, I will have to see what she has to say for herself. It's not like she can avoid 'sexual deviancy' if she works for Delgrasi in any capacity. I notice that you're not on my schedule."

"No, Master has no special instructions for me today, at least not in advance."

Erica was also a submissive, though she preferred the term slave, and her Master, Damien, expected her to be in submission 24/7, including at work. Valerie would sometimes monitor Erica to see that she was appropriately obedient. Today, it seemed, there would be no need to do so.

Valerie was feeling very frustrated by the secretary hiring process so far. She had interviewed only nine people in the months she had been working at Delgrasi, and had found that eight of those people had little or no work experience in the field and seemed to think that being into kinky sex was all the qualification they needed for the job. The one with experience had ended the interview herself when she found out just what Delgrasi published. Every secretary from one of the temp services in town had quit within a week or had to be fired. What was it about an adult magazine company that made it so hard for people to be professional?

Delgrasi was the foremost publisher of high quality fetish magazines in the country. They currently published twelve titles dealing with subjects from leather, body art, and homosexuality to magazines on travel and cooking geared towards the sexually adventurous. They had hired Valerie as the advertising consultant to their advertising clients. The quality of ads has always been a sore point in the sexual magazine field and no less so at Delgrasi. Already, some product and service providers had responded to suggestions that Valerie had made and altered their ads to be more mature.

What Valerie needed was a secretary who was fully qualified and didn't mind being exposed to sexually themed material, both in ads and magazine content. So far, every applicant had satisfied only one of the two criteria. She was beginning to despair that one such person existed. Calvin Freshin, the editor of The Pony's Paddock, had solved the problem by hiring his personal submissive as his secretary though Susan was not happy doing it (Calvin was a dominant just like Valerie's Master, Charles Vanquil). Maybe June would work out.

She made some notes about her lunch appointment while she waited for the first applicant of the day. This was the first attempt on Valerie's part to lure a vanilla advertiser to one of their magazines. Global Travel was a premier international travel agency that was capable of arranging vacations and business trips for large and small groups with equal equanimity. Road Bound, Delgrasi's travel magazine, had no major travel agencies as advertisers, something Val considered to be a major reason for its low readership. Attracting Global Travel would be worth while in two ways. More readership, once it was learned that the only fetish travel magazine had a real agency as an advertiser, and once Global was on board, other agencies would have to advertise as well or eliminate themselves from a significant market of travelers.

There was a knock on the door and Erica cracked the door to announce, "Ms. Burbon, your first applicant, Brad Nunchez is here." Erica rolled her eyes to signal that this one would be a problem.

"Show him in, please."

Mr. Nunchez was not off to a great start. He seemed to think that he could apply for a secretary's position wearing jeans and a pull over shirt. Valerie had never seen someone who actually swaggered, but Brad did just that. The worst thing in this person's presentation of himself was the way he looked at his potential boss: open, undisguised lust.

Valerie stayed professional and rose to greet him. "Good morning Mr. Nunchez. Have a seat."

She held her hand out to shake his. He took it, but instead of shaking, he gripped her hand hard and tried to force it downwards. Val held her ground and watched his face. She saw a flash of anger and then he released her hand and sat down. Valerie returned to her desk and opened his application. Erica had scribbled, "clearly unqualified," on the top.

Closing it again, she leaned back and asked, "Mr. Nunchez, tell me why you think I should hire you."

"Because I am a Master and you are a slave. You will do as I tell you."

For a moment, Valerie stared at him in shock, unable to believe that anyone would be that stupid. Then she chuckled once, set his file to the side and forced her face to take on a hard edge.

"I can see that this interview is over. You are clearly unqualified for the position. Don't let the door hit you on the way out."

His face went angry and he stood, putting his hands on her desk. "I said, you are a slave and you will do as I say. Now get on your knees!"

Valerie came to her feet as she saw the door to her office crack open. "Mr. Nunchez. Clearly you have no idea what D/s is all about. You should check out some of our publications. As for me, I am not your slave. I submit to a very small group of people and you are not on that short list. Your demands border on attempted criminal enslavement, a class A felony in this state. And don't even think of threatening me with some kind of punishment, because I will have your ass thrown in jail so fast that you will have road burns on your face. Now, get out of my office and this building."

Valerie could barely contain the laughter that was trying to get out as the look of utter shack filled his face. Erica opened the door and pointed towards the exit as he stumbled away. Once he was gone, Erica closed the door and the two submissives broke out laughing.

"I can't believe he tried to dominate you. What was he thinking?"

"I'm sure I do not know. Did you see that swagger. Not even Master swaggers like that. He doesn't have to."

"I loved the way you suggested he check out our magazines. He really does need to bone up on the lifestyle."

"Well, I'm oh for ten now. I may hire June just because I know she'll be professional."

"Well, you need a secretary, not a fetish expert. This company has plenty of those." Erica giggled at her little joke. "I better get back to the desk. Can I tell Master Damien about Brad?"

"Please do, everyone needs a good laugh. I'm telling Master Charles."

Valerie wrote Charles a quick note about the would-be dominant 'master Nunchez' in the time left over from the aborted interview. She found that there was a reminder that she was to report to the house after work. Like most of Charles' remote orders, there was no reason given or clue as to what was being planned. Her pussy was dampening in anticipation of submitting later today.

Erica showed June in and Valerie rose to greet her. "Welcome Mrs. Humbol."

June shook Valerie's hand while requesting, "Please, June."

Once they were both sitting, Valerie started the interview. "June, obviously I know your qualifications. You are an excellent secretary and have the added advantage of already being familiar with my needs as an advertising executive. What I need to know is, given how we parted last time, why do you want to work with me and for Delgrasi publications?"

"Fair question, Ms Burbon. I have never had a problem with you professionally. The issue that came between us was my fears for my children. Those fears are still there. I know that submissiveness is not contagious, but ideas are. That you may influence my children...," she held up a hand to forestall the Valerie's interruption. "whether you intend to or not, is not something I can take even the slightest risk of. It's not that I have a problem, personally, with the fact that you allow people to whip you and use you for a sexual toy. That's your private life. And I'm not so much a prude that I would be unable to work for this company. I just need to be paranoid about my children."

Valerie thought for a moment. She remembered the concern she had a certain Sunday afternoon about children in a park. Charles had made it clear that he would have been disappointed with her if she had not brought the subject up. Was it really unreasonable for June to take such draconian measures to protect hers?

"That's fair. I won't say that it doesn't hurt that you could not trust me to keep your children safe, but it is your job as their mother. I don't expect that protectiveness to interfere with our professional relationship in any way. Since you're the first qualified applicant out of eleven that was willing to work for a publisher of fetish magazines, you're hired. I'll get the paperwork started right away. Erica can get you the forms you need to fill out. I'm not sure I can get you the same salary that you made at Bradford and Gashune, but I will try."

"Thank you Ms. Burbon. When shall I come in to start?"

"Tomorrow works. You'll be working with Erica for a couple of days to familiarize yourself with the company and our magazines. By Monday, you should be up to speed enough to start the real work for me."

"Thank you again, Ms. Burbon. I'm looking forward to working with you again."

June left to talk with Erica and Valerie started to fill out the paperwork to have June hired. She included a special note requesting a higher starting pay for June, based on her long work history with Valerie in the past and her competence. She was about halfway through the forms when Erica knocked and stuck her head in again.

"Val, your next applicant is here."

"Damn. I forgot about her. Send her in, I'll break the bad news to her myself."

Erica showed the redhead in, introducing her as, Mary Carstares. After greeting her and sitting down again, she opened the file that Erica had prepared for her. What she saw was an inexperienced young lady fresh out of school with a BA in business management. There were several glowing letters of recommendation from former teachers and from her employer during her internship. One line from the internship caught her eye. "Ms. Carstares has an uncanny ability to see the implications of future decisions that borders on psychic. Anyone in a position of having to plan for the future would do well to have this professional young lady on their staff."

Valerie thought a moment and then addressed the young lady whose nervousness was visibly increasing as she sat in the silence. "Ms. Carstares, I'm afraid that the position of secretary has been filled already. I do apologize for not calling you in advance to let you know. That said, your resume is very good for someone right out of college. I'm especially impressed by the comments that Mr. Silverman included. Are you willing to take another position with the company, even if it is a less paying position?"

"Yes I am, Ms. Burbon. I have been interested in both publishing and sexuality for some time. Working here would give me a wonderful addition to my resume, even if I don't stay with the firmin the long term. What position were you thinking of offering me?"

"I'm not certain yet. I'll have to talk with the vice president and see what we have available. Your secretarial qualifications are well represented. Tell me what your interest in sexuality is and why it qualifies you to work at Delgrasi."

"I have an incredible curiosity to understand sex in all it myriad forms. I am a subscriber to all your publications and find them incredibly fascinating. On a certain level, I want to experience everything about sex that I can, though I am aware that some things are impossible for me to experience and others I need to take great care in. This qualifies me to work here because I will not be embarrassed or insulted by exposure to any form of human sexuality. This means that I can discuss any ad or story without balking or being judgmental."

Part of what she had said rang alarm bells in Valerie's mind. "You said that you can talk about any form of human sexuality without balking. Does this include sex with children?"

The look of horror on Mary's face was enough, by itself, to allay Valerie's concerns. Her words reinforced that. "I'm afraid I will have to leave. Pedophilia is not human sexuality, it is monstrous. If you will excuse me?"

"There's no need to go. Delgrasi feels the same way. I just wanted to make sure that 'anything' did not include that. I've had to deal with the effects of sick people whose idea of sexuality crossed moral lines." Mary sat down, a look of relief clearly displayed on her face. "Would you mind waiting here while I check out an idea that just occurred to me?"

"Of course ma'am."

Valerie walked down the hall to Calvin's office. Susan was in the outer foyer working on the computer. While Susan was good at not showing her emotions on her face, Valerie had picked up on her unhappiness within a few days of starting at the company. Unlike Valerie, Susan lived in a 24/7 Master/slave relationship with Calvin. Prior to Mr. Freshin's need to replace an outgoing secretary, Susan had lived in her Master's home as a full time kept woman. Valerie had lunched with Susan a few times and she was open about how much she enjoyed being totally dependant on her Master for every part of her existence. Valerie did not think that she would ever want that level of total submission, yet she knew that for Susan, it was right.

"Susan. Is Mr. Freshin free right now?"

"Oh, Hi Valerie." Susan had permission to call the other submissives in the company, Val and Erica, by first names. "He's in a meeting right now, though it should be done in a matter of minutes. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, it's something that I may be able to help you with. I just had two qualified secretarial applicants back to back. I hired one and the other is in my office right now. Do you want to go back to being His house slave?"

"Oh God, yes! You don't know how hard it is to be so forceful out here." Susan's eyes were brimming with tears. "I'm just not cut out for it. I'm not like you."

"I know. How does he feel about this arrangement?"

"I don't think he likes me out like this either. Things that are my responsibility don't get done around the house. We don't play as much as we used to. I think it weighs on Him."

At that point, Calvin was exiting his office with another gentleman.

"All right Mark. Get some new photos to go with the article and we should be able to include the article in the November issue." He noticed Valerie and smiled. "Valerie. It's good to see you. What brings you down to my little neck of the woods?"