Valerie Ch. 07

The timer, set for another 90 minutes, counted down relentlessly, neither speeding up in sympathy nor slowing down in cruelty. Time dragged on, the only movement being the heaving of her chest as the tears became sobs whose voice was stifled. She remained silent and still, not so much by force of will, but by force of indecision. She couldn't choose between secret obedience and secret defiance, and thus chose obedience by default.

The timer dinged and she cried out, her heart wrenching, "Oh Master, I'm coming to you, I'm coming to you." She tore the blindfold off and ripped the bathing suit in her haste to rejoin her Master. Shedding her shoes as she went, she crawled upstairs and to the lounge, her leash dragging between her hands and feet, her tears transformed into those of joy. Master and her fellow submissives were seated in their usual places. She reached Charles' chair and kissed his feet.

"Master, I…"

"No. Shhhh. Do not tell me." At her visible confusion, he explained, "This test was for you, not for me. In here," pointing to her heart, "you know, 'I was obedient in this hardest thing,' or, 'I failed in this hardest thing.' Treasure this knowledge, whichever it was. Obedience in this will be a source of strength. In the future, you can tell yourself, 'I was still when it hurt to be so, I can do this.' Failure will become an impetus for the future, 'I failed him in something he knows not, I refuse to fail him in this,' you will tell yourself. The power of this test to you will come from the fact that, 'Master does not know.' Now, choose. You may have pain or pleasure tonight. Which shall it be?"

She looked about the room, trying to get a sense of what they and Master would prefer, but found those frustrating poker faces again. Pleasure was so tempting, having been without orgasm for so long. That was the key, she decided, the pleasure was a temptation. "Master, I choose pain," she said with a shudder.

"Then pain it shall be. But first, is there something important you wish to tell all of us?" His gaze went back and forth between her and Sally.

Not sure how he knew, Valerie looked at Sally as if to ask, "Shall I, or do you want to?" A small motion from her lover indicated that Val was on the spot, not Sally. "Master, fellow submissives, I am deeply and madly in love with Mistress Sally, as she is with me. I have asked her to be with me for all time and she has said yes."

Just making the announcement prompted a return of those wonderful feelings of love and acceptance that they had shared one whole day ago. Sally rose and lifted her to her feet, embracing her and kissing her passionately. The others surrounded the couple, offering their congratulations at their finding each other.

Surmi had an idea. "Master, we should have a handfasting for them. Join them in a ceremony to announce their love in some public way."

"Surmi, I think you're right. What about you two lovebirds? Do you want to declare your love for each other, publicly?"

Sally looked excited. "Master, I'd love to. I even know what I'd like to do, if Valerie is okay with it. Can we have a moment to talk?"

"By all means. The rest of you. In honor if this love, the rest of the night is for Sally and Valerie. I took the liberty of reserving three private rooms at Mephisto's for you if you wish to play more. Tomorrow, Valerie will be yours for the day. I have work issues to deal with. It seems that a certain snack company is facing a reversal of fortunes and there's a small window of opportunity for my firm that cannot wait until Monday. Sunday is a private day between Valerie and myself. Enjoy yourselves."

Off to the side, Sally was talking to Valerie. "Val, do you see yourself as my submissive as well as lover?"

"Oh yes, Mistress, I want both relationships."

"I want that too, but I still want to be Master's."

"Oh God, I would never give that up."

"How would you like to declare our love for each other, your submission to me, my domination of you and our mutual submission to Master, publicly in Mephisto's?"

"I…can we do that?"

"Yes, I think we can. It's auction night in two weeks at Mephisto's. Before the auction, we stage a public scene where I take your submission as a profession of love between us, taking you to your limits. Then, Master, if he is willing, personally auctions us after we publicly renew our submission to him. What does Valerie think of Sally's plan?"

"Oh, Sally, it's wonderful. We should each plan something the other doesn't know about, sort of a handfasting present. I'll give you some special submission that, I hope, you won't expect; you take something from me that I'm not expecting to give."

"And I will extract something from the two of you that I've never taken from your before." Master added, having heard the end of the plan. "I think that'll make a wonderful ceremony. The crowd at the club will love it. Most players are romantics at heart and will be thrilled to know that two players have found happiness. And I expect something from you two that you've never given me before."

"Yes, Master."

"Now, Sally. In this private celebration of your love for each other, this night is for the two of you. Valerie has chosen pain for tonight. That's all she will receive. Do you wish to join her in pain or join me in giving her pain?"

"I love her so much, Master. I would do anything for her. Can I ask her which she prefers?"

"No, you must choose what you want."

Taking a deep breath, she answered, "In that case Master, I'll share her pain."

Valerie hugged her partner, "Thank you so much, Sally. I so want to submit to Master tonight, just Master."

"I thought that would be the case. We're going to have so much fun!"

"Now, Sally, I think that someone here is a tad overdressed."

"Yes, Master, right away, Master." Sally stripped her clothes off like they were on fire. As Val had suspected, the pants had to be rolled down the legs. Sally was as naked as Valerie in 90 seconds flat.

"Now, go downstairs and wait for me beside the St. Andrew's cross."

The two women ran downstairs, giddy like little children about to play a favorite game. The cross held fond memories, being in the room where Valerie was first dominated by Sally.

"Sally, do you remember how scared I was when I asked you to deny me orgasms that day?"

"Yeah, you were trembling because you were so afraid of a woman sexually touching you. But I recall you said afterwards that you swallowed your safe word because you thought I wanted it so much. You want to know a secret?"

"What?"

"I did want it, I wanted to feel you afraid and aroused together. It's such a rush when I can get that from someone. I want to feel that in you again. Do you think it can happen again? You don't fear sex with me anymore."

"I don't know. If I think of something, I'll let you know. Or maybe I'll make that my gift to you, something that terrifies me."

"I love you."

"Okay girls, that's enough girl talk." Charles had walked in with a gym bag of toys. "I want you two on the cross, on opposite sides facing each other."

The two ladies obeyed. Charles first attached their cuffs to the hooks on the cross, locking their wrists and ankles in place. Rope was used to bind their elbows, knees and waists to the frame as well. From the bag he produced a curious contraption of his own design. Two penis gags had been sewn together. He placed each end into their mouths and strapped them behind their heads. This effectively silenced them and bound their heads together. Each had a rubber ball placed in their hands, which they gripped tightly, not wanting to let go.

Blindfolds were added, rendering them sightless. To their breasts, he attached nipple clips connected by chains, but instead of chaining the pairs of breasts on each girl together, he crossed them over to the other girl's breast. Thus Sally's and Valerie's right breasts were clipped together as were their left breasts. They would soon discover that when one flinched, the other would feel the pain in her breast as well.

Charles was looking forward to seeing how they handled their limits. He had only seen lovers whipped together once before and then their close proximity to one another had broadened their individual limits, as if each drew strength from the other without weakening either one. If that happened here, he knew he might not be able to reach their combined limit. He was eager to see if his theory was correct.

From the storage table, he got two long-lashed cats, one for each hand. He usually used double whips to whip one person's front and back at the same time, but the effect would be similar here. He brushed the lashes across their backs, letting them feel what was to come. Then he stood back and waited, letting them stew for a minute or two. He noticed that they had taken advantage of his not tying their wrists to reach as far as they could over the edge of the cross and link their fingers in the hands that were empty, not quite able to hold hands.

Valerie was calm, the waiting not a burden this time. She could feel Sally's fingers, lightly interspaced with her own. She could hear Sally breathe and smell her body, trapped so close to her own. Sally's presence was like an anchor, rooting Val in the present, not needing to worry about what was to come and when it would. Sally, also able to feel and sense her life partner's presence, found herself not worried about the level of pain or how long it would last. She knew Valerie had far more pain tolerance than she had, but could feel her own growing. She started to fidget, anxious to share this with Val.

The lashes started. Charles used a whirling motion that spun the whips in circles that hit each woman in turn. Valerie. Sally. Valerie. Sally. On the first few strokes, they jerked as they were hit, only to hear the other grunt as the nipple clamps pulled against their breasts. It did not take long for each one to lean into the cross as hard as they could and stiffen themselves against causing the other more pain. He slowly increased the tempo and force of his blows, driving them to near constant moans of pain in their gags.

Valerie was determined. She knew that every time she moved under the lash, she caused her lover pain. The thought tore at her and she stiffened like a board, holding firm against the movement that would inflict pain on the woman she loved. This had the effect of increasing the pain she felt, as the lashes struck hardened muscles, not yielding tissue. In much the same way that an oak breaks and a blade of grass bends, Valerie put herself in greater pain for Sally's sake.

Sally knew instinctively that she couldn't remain stiff and take much of the whipping they were getting. She, instead, pulled against the rope binding her and pressed herself so hard against the cross that she left indentations from it on her skin. By doing so, her jerks were not enough to pull the chains tight, sparing Valerie that extra ration of pain. This did cause the force of the whips to inflict pain on both sides of her body, not just her back.

Their concern for each other, ironically, kept both women out of the zone, that place where the submissive can sublimate the pain to a nearly pleasurable sensation by focusing on the pleasure it is giving their dominant. In spite of this, they endured twenty minutes of the whips before Charles stopped to make changes.

The gags and clamps were removed and each woman was released, turned around and rebound facing out. He added a hood over each of their heads, leaving the blindfolds inside the hoods. The two hoods had long collars that covered their entire neck area; protecting that sensitive area from damage from the whips (he knew that with two whips, his accuracy would be a little off). These hoods were also of a special design, each having eyelets along the back, allowing him to lace the two hoods together, making an artificial Siamese twin. Taking a double headed dildo with a flexible joint, he stuffed one end into each of their asses, using generous amounts of lube. Charles took a careful look at the red marks on Sally's front side, making sure none were more serious than a mild whip mark.

As he backed off, he told them, "You have permission to talk to each other. But, you may not ask me for mercy." He went to the intercom at the far end of the room and, speaking too low for them to hear, asked that a meal be brought down and left outside the door of the room.

While they waited, the two talked.

"Sally, how are you doing?"

"Other than my back is killing me, I'm great."

"Oh, please don't make me laugh, it only hurts when I laugh…and breathe…and talk…and do almost anything else."

"Why pain, after a week of no orgasms?"

"The pleasure felt like a temptation, so I resisted it. Wish you were on the other side of the whips yet?"

"No! We're in this together, to the end. You know what I do wish?"

"What?"

"That you could be on the other side of them. I so want to submit to you like you submit to me."

"I can't Sally, I just can't," she whispered, crying at being unable to give her lover something she desired.

"Don't. It's okay. I shouldn't have asked. That's a safe word issue for you. Forget about it."

Valerie wouldn't forget about it. She remembered Mike, giving up for her, suffering for her. He had wanted children and she was infertile. At the time, she couldn't accept adoption, taking a child that wasn't hers. He'd never pressed her, giving up a dream for her sake. She wished she knew how to give that much of herself to Sally, to suffer for what her lover wanted so badly.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the return of the whips, striking each in turn, much as before. With their mouths free, each was able to give free reign to the pain that struck them over and over again. Both were crying almost immediately, torn at the screams of pain uttering from each one. As each blow hit, their bodies were shoved into one another, forcing the artificial cocks deeper into their asses and back. Their asses were being fucked by the whipping of their bodies.

Charles had not started softly this time, hitting them with full strength from the first blows. While Valerie was screaming in pain, her screams were cathartic, pushing her past the pain of each individual stroke. But, while Sally started at that level of scream, hers became more and less. More intense and desperate, less a release than a declaration of agony. She felt her limit approaching but wanted to go beyond it, to let Valerie have the intensity she wanted and could take.

Valerie heard the difference and was fearful that Sally was going to do just what she was doing, ignoring her safe word limit for Val's sake.

"Sally, it's too much for you, safe word," she cried in between her screams.

"No. I can take it. You deserve your limit."

"Damn it, it's my limit, not yours. Safe word or I will!"

"Don't you dare! I can handle it, I can han…" at which point, Sally lost coherency, screaming and sobbing uncontrollably. She had passed her limit and couldn't even get her safe word out.

Valerie's cry of, "red light" and Charles' cessation came at the same instant.

"It's not for me, Master, it's for Sally. Let her down please, let her down."

"I know Valerie, I know. She'll be all right." Charles took Sally down from the cross, carrying her to the toy table and lying her down on a cleared off spot. The woman was shivering, her body having a nervous reaction to the overload. He took Valerie down as well telling her, "She needs you. Comfort her; let her know it's all right, that you're there."

Valerie went to her lover and held her, the pain from her beating seemingly not noticeable. "Sally, I'm here, we're together. I love you, girl, I'll never leave you."

The shaking woman, sobbing with grief babbled, "I'm so sorry, I ruined it. I tried to keep up, I thought I could. Don't hate me. I tried, I tried."

"Shhhh. You silly sub. You don't have to be the same as me to have my love. You have to be you. Don't you ever go past your limits for me. You can deal pain better than I can, I can take pain better than you can. We complement each other; we don't have to be identical. I love you the way you are."

"I still want to join you in your pain tonight, but I don't want to hold you back."

Charles had come over. "Sally, your limits will not hold her back. If you had used your safe word, only your pain would have stopped, Valerie would have gone on to her limit. That's what you want, isn't Valerie, to go to your limit in play instead of punishment?"

"Yes, Master. I love going to my limit, seeing where it's moved to. I guess I'm a safe word junkie."

"As long as you use your safe word, there's nothing wrong in that. How are you feeling now, Sally?"

"Better. I don't think I can handle any more pain tonight though. I don't think I understood just how far out there Valerie's limit was. I wish I could share her pain more, but I can't."

"Actually, Sally, I think you can," Charles said, "We just need to think of sharing in a different light. I want you two to go to the recovery room and take a 15 minute break. Then meet me at the stocks. I've thought of something special for the two of you."

The two women went to the recovery room and Valerie made sure that Sally lay down on the bench while she rubbed baby oil into her sore and abused body. Sally was moaning in pleasure as Valerie's hands kneaded the knots out of her muscles.

"I thought I was going to be the one who had issues with using her safe word. What were you thinking?"

"I just didn't want to ruin it for you. You seem to thrive on the intensity from the pain."

"Sally, you could never ruin it for me. And it's not the pain; so much as it's the pushing. Everything I do at work is so controlled, never too much, carefully planned to sell the product or whatever. With Master, you, and the others, I can let go, see how far I can push myself. I just love finding the boundary and seeing if it will give just a little this time. Master allows me to do that. So do you. Knowing it's something he enjoys too makes something that is fun, simply wondrous and erotic. That's why I love that I have so many who will use me. Each takes me places that I don't go with others. I don't think anyone could take me as close to orgasm and pull me back like you do. What's the best part for you?"

"I just love the mind games. That's why I'll disobey on purpose sometimes. The anticipation of punishment or intense play is almost as good at the play itself. Once Master took one hour to deliver just 25 lashes to me. I was blindfolded and gagged, and could hear him playing games with me. He would run the whip across my back or legs, letting me know that it was there, ready to whip me. The waiting, for each stroke, it was a high that was so intense. I was close to cumming just from waiting for the strokes. I know that waiting drives you mad, but for me, the waiting is a more intense thrill than the whipping itself."

"I shudder at just the thought having to wait minutes between strokes. I swear I'd safe word in by the time I was waiting for the fifth stroke. What's the best part of dominating for you?"

"Feeling the fear and the trust roll off of my submissive. When someone is frightened of what I am doing or might do, yet still gives me the trust to allow that terror to come from me, I practically melt inside. You do that for me so well. Last night, I could feel the terror of disappointing Master when I told you I was going to send you over the edge and pull you back. You let me do that anyway, not knowing yourself if it was even possible. When a sub gives you a gift that great, it's a wondrous feeling." She sat up, placing her hand on the bite mark from the previous night, looking on Valerie with deep affection, "I know that you'd give me anything I ask for, in and out of a scene, and that's so precious to me. From the moment you gave me your dignity so that I could keep mine at dinner, I was doomed to fall in love with you, a doom I would have chosen in a heartbeat if I'd been given a chance."