The Whipping Girl

Chapter 11- Scandalous dealings

The weekend passed uneventfully. While cleaning up the yard, the girls squabbled and sniped at each other more than he had ever seen them do before. Kali was just being her typical, bitchy self, but both Sabrina and Angel were being more sensitive to it than normal, giving Kali reason to escalate the affront until she could stomp off dramatically. She finally picked up the hint and stomped all the way to her room, giving Sabrina and Angel privacy to continue their own fight.

"Angel, I really want to you consider the training. It is how you earn respect among these women, and we need their respect."

"I have considered it Sabrina, and I don't want to do it. We already have Sumiko's respect, because she has enough wisdom to respect those who are different from her. Don't you think that part of the reason Sumiko doesn't mind you sharing her clients is that you are not running the same kind of show that she is? Trying to fraudulently present me as a slave like that won't endear you to them. They would see right through the facade."

"It doesn't have to be a facade. I mean, we already have a little of that kind of dynamic going. Maybe this is just the next logical step. You can't tell me you didn't enjoy our little scene down the runway. I mean, you couldn't wait for me to fuck you as soon as the guests had left."

Angel paused a long moment, absorbing the dual-wielded attack against her self-image. "I don't think of you as my master, Sabrina. Kali and I are grateful for your generosity, but if staying here gives you the idea that you own us, we can certainly find somewhere else to live. And yes, I did enjoy our play acting on the runway, but it was just that, play and acting. I am no one's slave." She said the last with such finality that he knew the conversation was closed. Sabrina, on the other hand, hadn't picked up the hint yet.

"It doesn't have to be all the time either." It was as though Sabrina hadn't heard a word of Angel's protest. "If you get trained by Sumiko's crew, we can just put on the show during parties to impress the guests. I just want you to learn the poses that dog woman did. The crowd loved it, and they would be great for showing off the chastity belt's features next time we get them in stock." Sabrina was getting excited again, completely dismissing Angel's sigh of disbelief at her audacity.

Sounding miffed, Angel retorted "I'll tell you what. I will go through the pose training, and only the pose training, if you go through it with me." Angel's challenge rung excitedly in the air while Sabrina pondered the deal. While she was clearly fond of the idea of whipping Angel into shape, Sabrina wasn't quite so keen on letting anyone whip her.

"Fine. Deal. I'll see if any of Sumiko's crew will be willing to clear their schedule for us next weekend," she eventually concluded in a cool voice, as though settling a contract negotiation.

He tuned out the rest of their boring chatter while he was watching clips from the bondage tree that he had missed on Friday. After watching Angel and Sabrina leave together, he spent most of Monday morning in his attic making themed montages from the party videos. He had just finished an artful tribute to his beloved Angel when he saw Greaseball’s car pull into the drive. He decided to make his way to the yard and listen to the whore get her daily dose of dick.

He heard the new voice even before he saw him on the camera. It was thickly German accented and sounded rough. “This whore better put out or you’re in big trouble,” he said menacingly, just loud enough to hear though the gate as they walked up to the front door. He heard knocking, then the door opening, then nothing for a while. They eventually came out onto the porch for their ritualistic burning of herbs before getting on their knees to offer lustful prayers to Satan. The stink made his nose twitch and his eyes burn. Greaseball was trying to cajole Kali into the hot tub again, but she was protesting that she hadn’t yet replaced her swimsuit.

“That’s ok,” he said brightly. ”It will be just like last time. You can swim in your panties.”

“I don’t think so. I remember how last time ended up,” she said coldly.

“Exactly, that’s the idea,” he said hopefully.

“I’m not going to screw all of your friends. What do you think I am, your whore?” Kali was pissed. The camera caught the dangerous flash of her eyes, and those of the German who was glaring angrily at Greaseball, who was starting to fidget. Greaseball pulled Kali away from the German and toward the hot tub conspiratorially. German stared after them with a menacing glare and his fists clenched in a way that did not mesh with his scrawny build and shockingly blonde, spiky hair. The scariest thing about the kid was the fact that he looked as though he had walked off a Nazi poster advertising the perfect child.

“Listen Kali, I wouldn’t ask this of you if I wasn’t in trouble. I know you aren’t my whore, and I’m really sorry for making you think that, but see, the thing is, I owe this guy a lot of money. I didn’t do so well at the tables this weekend, and he sort of fronted me a lot of cash. I thought I could get it from my parents when they got back into town, but they got all pissy with me about it and said they weren’t going to support my gambling. Like they would have even missed the money. When I explained the situation to him, he was actually pretty understanding about it. Said he had just moved to this country and didn’t know any pretty girls yet. He asked if I had a girlfriend, and when I told him about you, he was really interested in meeting you. It seems he has a thing for girls with pierced tongues, you know? So listen, if you can just do me this one favor, I swear I’ll make it up to you. There is a new horror flick coming out this weekend. We can go see it ten times in a row if that’s what you want. Just please, I need this from you,” he begged.

“Absolutely not! You cannot sell me at a poker game to cover your losses. I can’t believe you thought I would play along with this. If you lost the money, then why don’t you put out for him? Get out of here! And take your pervy friend with you!” The last line she spat directly at the Nazi poster child on the porch.

German advanced on them looking angry. “You said she would put out no problem. If she won’t, you owe me my money right now. Pay up, or I will take what is mine,” he threatened in that rough voice.

Kali backed away from him, looking frightened. Greaseball had already proven himself unreliable defense for her honor. This time she didn’t even look to him for help before she moved away from the pair. She ended up near the pool edge with few options for escape. He watched tensely as both of the boys approached, like wolves stalking a cornered deer.

What they hadn’t anticipated was her having the ability to defend herself. She had not backed herself into a corner, but rather had moved to the nearest object she could use as a weapon. She picked up the long metal pool skimmer and adopted a defensive stance. Once in hand, she nimbly maneuvered herself away from the water’s dangerous ledge and into the barren grass where the medical table had been. She dared the boys to come within reach of her metal polearm. Greaseball was the first to call her bluff. He held his hands up and walked toward her saying, “Come on Kali, don’t you think this is a bit extreme? We just want to have some fun. It doesn’t have to be like this. It can be nice and pleasant if you let it. You’ll even enjoy it, like you did last time, if you just calm down.”

The reminder of the last time Greaseball had brought a friend was not the pleasant, calming memory for Kali that he had assumed it would be. She swung the pole hard and made contact with the back of his head, knocking him forward. She expertly reversed the direction of the swing to follow up with a blow to his face that immediately blossomed into a bright red rose of blood that spurted from his broken nose. German thought he could use the distraction as an opening and rushed Kali. She had barely recovered from the impact with Greaseball’s face, but was still balanced enough to sidestep German's rush and catch his head in the net as he passed her. She forced him to the ground in his moment of wrong-footedness and stomped on the pole hard enough to bend the hollow metal rod. At first he thought she had broken his neck, but was surprised when the scrawny German was already regaining his feet. Kali recovered the net before he could get a firm grip on it. She wisely used the split second of time to reposition herself on the bramble-guarded runway. Here, her reach weapon had a firm advantage over his bull rush technique. German backed out of her reach and examined her carefully. She held her ground steadily, eyes darting between him and Greaseball alertly. Finally, he decided to stick with his tried and true method, this time with a running start to hurdle the worst of the brambles. Kali was ready for him, and quickly braced so that his flying leap landed him crotch first on the end of the pole. He shrieked and doubled over as Kali fell back with the shock of his body weight flying at her. She landed in the brambles on the other side of the path, and was scratched and bleeding by the time she recovered her feet. The two battered boys, one looking horrified at the blood gushing from him and the other laying in a fetal position on the runway, finally decided they'd had enough.

“GET OUT!” she screamed at them.

“Come on man. I need to go to a hospital. Come on! I’m going to bleed to death if we don’t go now. Get up!” Greaseball had come to collect his buddy, while Kali stood on the porch step brandishing the pole, wary of any tricks they might pull.

They left together in a panic. Once she was alone, Kali burst into uncontrollable sobbing. She collapsed onto the porch step and buried her face into her knees, which she held against her chest protectively. The sobbing was so intense that it wracked her body and deprived her of much-needed oxygen. This time her sobs did not anger him. For the first time, he almost felt sympathy for the stupid, pathetic cunt. She was learning the consequences of her whorish ways.

After a long while, Kali composed herself and realized that the yard reflected the struggle. Sabrina and Angel would freak out on her for trashing the place. She hastened to fix the trodden thorn bushes and clean up the splatters of blood in the grass. There was not much that she could do about the pool skimmer though. It was ripped through, and the pole was irreversibly bent from her stomping on it. She decided that losing it would be better than letting Sabrina find it, and carried it out to her car to hide it later.

She was still cleaning up the mess when Sabrina’s Mustang unexpectedly pulled into the drive around 3 pm, a good six hours before her normal appearance. Kali looked around the yard in a panic to see if she had missed anything obvious, then quickly settled herself into a chair near the pool and pretended she was casually sunbathing near its mirrored surface. Sabrina burst through the gate, half entangled with a pretty Asian woman he thought he recognized from the party. She didn’t see Kali at first, and deeply kissed the woman in her arms. Kali coughed politely, startling the couple. The Asian woman quickly disengaged from Sabrina, looked demurely at the ground, and blushed with shame. Sabrina left her standing by the gate to have a private word with Kali.

“Listen, I have a guest who wishes for a private consultation. Can you clear out of here for a few hours?” Sabrina asked. Her harsh tone made it clear that she wasn’t giving Kali a choice. The bitch picked up on the tone and over-reacted to it.

“Does Angel know you’re bringing clients home for private consultations now?" Kali asked stingingly. "I mean, that is cheating on her, you know.”

“Angel knows my business is what keeps a roof over her head, and yours, so I suggest you get moving and be grateful that I’m letting you return to sleep here tonight.” Sabrina said scathingly, and that sent Kali off in a huff. He soon heard the familiar rattling of her broken down junk heap squealing down the street.

Sabrina returned to calm her shaken guest, and decided to start a little slower with drinks in the hot tub. She busied herself in the kitchen for several minutes while her guest changed into a bikini in one of the nooks. Sabrina returned in her own bikini, which was little more than a wide black strap that wrapped behind her neck and over her voluminous breasts to meet itself between her shapely thighs. On a silver tray were several steaming cups of clear liquid that made the Asian woman cry out in delight.

“You have Sake!?” she exclaimed and eagerly took a sip of the aromatic beverage.

“Indeed, I have quite a collection of sake actually. I thought you might enjoy a sampler tray of some of my best. I will leave it to you to figure out which is which.”

The ladies spent the time gently stroking each other in the bubbling water as they got drunk on the sake, the Asian girl accurately guessing each’s origin.

“So tell me Tenshi, why didn’t you go to Sumiko with your needs? It is my understanding that you are her favorite. I’m sure she would have fulfilled your desires.” Sabrina was holding the Asian’s back against her chest, with her legs wrapped around her so that her heels parted the woman’s thighs. Her hands reached around to her soft, dark nipples to pinch them gently while they conversed. He finally recognized her from the party; it was Sunflower, now out of the artful ropes.

“I love Sumiko, and she is my mistress, but she is gentle with me, like a porcelain doll. She treats me as an apprentice to learn her skill with ropes. She is always trying to teach me new things, which I love, and I am eager to learn, but...” Sunflower broke off, unwilling to say anything even remotely disparaging about her beloved mistress.

“I shall not say anything to Sumiko if you don’t wish me to, you can speak freely. I just want to understand what it is you want, so that I can better serve you,” cajoled Sabrina.

“Spoken like a good slave,” giggled Sunflower, appreciating the irony.

More like a good saleswoman. Sabrina punctuated the momentary silence with a hard twist of Sunflower's nipples, making her moan.

“But what, Tenshi?” she asked, making it clear that silence would be followed by more of the punishment.

“Sumiko’s favorite is Mary. She is her precious redheaded step child, and she loves to beat her and play rough with her. I have asked for similar treatment, but she is unwilling to punish me. Mary is feisty, unruly, and disobedient, so Mistress is trying to teach her the manners of a slave. I was brought up from a young age to be a slave, and have been taught to be obedient and respectful my whole life. Even in play, I cannot disrespect Mistress the way Mary does. She is foul to Mistress, spitting at her and saying horrible crude things that enrage her. I cannot say such things, so Sumiko does not punish me the same way as her."

He was enthralled by this insight into the women’s relationships, and the idea that a woman could be so ingrained to be a good slave that she wasn’t even capable of acting out in order to get the punishment she desired.

“Sumiko has long known of my desire, but has until now been unwilling to allow any of the other Mistresses in her circle to fulfill my requests. She worried that she would lose status among them if she was forced to ask another to train a slave for her. When she met you, she felt that you might be able to help me. Since you are outside of their ranks, I can visit you without the circle becoming aware of her inability. That is why I came this Friday. To meet you, watch you, and decide if I wanted you. If you agree to train me as I desire, Sumiko has offered her expert services, free of charge, for one party a month. You should know that such an offer is a great honor. Sumiko’s favor has been fiercely fought over by many powerful players in the business. You should also know that Sumiko’s wrath is boundless and burns long in her heart when aroused.” The last she said in a convincingly fearful voice of compassionate warning, rather than as a menacing threat.

Sabrina pulled her into a deep kiss, then stood and dragged her out of the tub by her long hair. She forced Sunflower onto her knees in the grass, and used her makeshift leash to pull her through the brambles at a fast trot toward the Bondage nook. Sadly, most of the toys had already been cleared away, but Sabrina spotted the whip Kali had long ago twisted around the branch and forgotten to clean up. She used it to chase the slave in circles around the tree, making a game out of tagging her through the branches, while she tried to duck behind the trunk to escape. Sunflower was obviously delighted by her punishment and moaned from the sting of the whip when it caught her. Her high-pitched cries echoed through the neighborhood, rebounding off the buildings to come back to him hauntingly. He watched her nimbly climb the branches to find a spot where she was guarded from the whip by sticks and leaves. She giggled as Sabrina’s whip became hopelessly entangled in the mess.

Sabrina cleverly used Sunflower’s obedience against her. Soon, Sunflower had broken off a long flexible branch and was handing it down to Sabrina, who caught her wrist and pulled her roughly out of the tree, snapping intervening branches. Sunflower landed gracelessly on her hands and knees like a dog, and Sabrina kicked her roughly, sending her sprawling on her face in the dirt.

Sunflower's cries mixed prettily with the rhythmic thwacking, as the makeshift switch found every tender place on her beautiful body. He stroked himself happily while he admired the thin welts surfacing all across her smooth skin. He didn’t even look up when Kippers yipped, even though he rarely ever barked. It wasn’t until he came bounding over that his attention was pulled away from the screen to see Kali walking across his back yard like she owned the place.

Chapter 12- First encounter

“I found your dog,” Kali called out casually, just loud enough for him to hear her over Sunflower's tortured beating in the adjacent yard. He hastily zipped up his pants and got up. He all but ran over to her and led her away, though it was too much to hope that she hadn’t noticed the erotic sounds spilling over the fence. There was no way around it; he would have to bring her inside to escape the telltale noises. He also didn’t want Sabrina to hear Kali’s voice coming from his yard.

She followed him inside, all too aware of the scene she had walked in on, and the power she now held over him. They walked into the dining room, which had been left mostly unused even when his grandparents were alive. They had taken their meals separately in their own areas of the house, and only used this room for stuffy dinner parties with their snooty friends. To a trained eye, the room was decorated in symbols of wealth, but had a homey, comfortable feel with an old country theme to those less attuned to the fine art and superb craftsmanship. The table was still set with the placement holder dishes his grandmother had always insisted on. They had grown dingy with dust. He searched around the room for any incriminating clues about himself there, but could only see the ghosts of his grandparents' personalities looming about the room. She was staring silently at him, forcing him to make the first move. He could feel she was baiting him, letting him dangle on a hook like a helpless worm.

“So, um, what do I owe you for finding my dog?” he asked lamely.

“So that’s how you’re going to play it, huh? I catch you with your hand down your pants listening to my sister-in-law fucking her client over the fence, and you think I'll just walk out of here if you offer me some money?” she asked incredulously. He hated her. She was so dramatic.

“Ok, then,” he said carefully. “What is it that you want? An apology? I am sorry I was eavesdropping on your sister-in-law, though in my poor defense, she was not taking pains to prevent the neighborhood from hearing her…tryst.”

“Fair enough,” she said with a wry smile. “I’ll tell you what. I won’t tell Sabrina about our pervy neighbor, and even give you a tip about when to sit outside, if you do something for me in return.” She said conspiratorially as she grabbed one of the fancy, high-backed chairs. She spun it around to straddle it like a bar stool, so that he could see her mouth through the patterned cutouts while her shit-brown eyes peeked over the top.

“I’m listening,” he said cautiously. The anger built in him at being coerced by this whore into doing her bidding. For a moment the terrifying/hopeful thought that she would ask him to fuck her crossed his mind. The slut hadn’t gotten her fix today, maybe she was craving some cock. He could tell by her eyes and her wide spread legs that she wanted him and enjoyed having power over him.

“Sabrina, that’s my sister-in-law over there, kicked me out of the house while she conducts business with her client. We just moved into the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, and I don’t really know anyone out here yet. There is nothing fun to do by yourself in town, and I left in such a rush that I forgot my cell phone on the other side of that fence. I propose that you entertain me while they get freaky over there, and I will keep my mouth shut about you perving around our fence. Deal?"

He saw no way around it. He made her stay put while he slowly fetched drinks from the kitchen. His heart was racing and the anger was building in his ears. He had been so stupid to be caught unaware by that trespassing cunt. Now her filth was soiling his grandmother’s expensive cushion. He vowed to wash all of her pussy juices off of it once she left, in honor of his late grandmother’s memory. He returned to the dining room to find her browsing the decorations and snooping into corners.

“Here, I hope you like iced tea. It’s all I have,” he said and set the glass on the table to avoid any inadvertent contact with her. He stepped back and settled against the wall opposite her prying eyes. “So, entertain you how, exactly?” he asked suspiciously.

“Nothing like that Perv, just talk to me or something. You’ve got to have some interest in me. I’m your new, spunky neighbor girl. I know I’m interested in you.” She flashed him a flirtatious look, “and your gorgeous Lassie over there, what’s her name?” she asked to break the tension she had created.

“His name is Kippers, and he doesn’t usually jump the fence, though I have seen him chase squirrels over it on occasion.” Kippers wagged his tail when his name was said and brushed against his legs for petting.

“Oh, I’m sorry Kippers. I found him a block over and recognized him from the many walks you like to take him on in front of our house.” Damn, he had been seen after all. “I called him good girl the whole way home. I guess seeing a collie made me think of Lassie and I just assumed.” She started upon saying the word collie. “My name is Kali, by the way, not spelled the same as your dog though. It’s K A L I.” She looked like she felt silly after spelling out her name to him like a kindergartener.

“That’s an interesting name.” he said, trying to keep her talking about herself.

“Yea, well, it’s a name anyway,” she said dismissively. “What about you? Do you have a name?”

He felt that a lie here would be too easy for her to eventually figure out, even for a stupid girl like Kali. “Nathaniel. N A T H A N I E L.” he said in a mocking voice, as though speaking to a slow child. He gained a small bit of control back with the insult, and enjoyed watching her squirm in embarrassment while he slowly spelled out his long name.

“Well Nathan, what do you do for a living to pay the rent on such a nice place?” She asked. Being called Nathan sent him into a quiet fury, and he had to resist the urge to smack her across her whorish face. He picked up his iced tea to help resist the temptation, feeling as though he had lost what little ground he had gained. He knew she would continue calling him Nathan even if he insisted, and he refused to give her the pleasure of knowing that it bothered him.

“I’m independently wealthy, for the moment,” he said tersely.

“What’s that mean? Like you’ve got so much money you don’t have to work?” she asked skeptically.

“Pretty much,” he said, and left it at that.

“If I were independently wealthy I would still work. I would just do something I love. Don’t you have any hobbies or passions?” she said the last with too much suggestion in her tone, making her advance sickeningly obvious.

“I was an art major, perhaps I’ll return to that once I’m bored,” he said, feeling as though he were giving too much of himself away.

“Art, huh? I actually get that. Art is probably the only thing I really do get. I recognize some of these pieces, you know, from museum exhibits. Any one of them is worth more than I’ll probably make in my entire life.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I’m guessing you’re an art major too, then? Our school has a great reputation for putting artists into business, rather than leaving them to starve in the contemporary market.” He figured the wrong guess would help conceal the intimate familiarity with her life he had already acquired in the short time she had been here.

“Well no, I’m not in college or anything. My sister Angel is, though. She’s a nurse already, but is getting another degree or something. She does behavioral research about sex.” She let the last word hang heavily in the air. It rang through his mind like a warning bell. At a loss for how to change the conversation without giving her too much, he remained silent for too long. Kali took this as an opening to expound upon the subject.

“She does some kind of research where she measures how sexually fulfilled a woman is, and compares it to her health and the quality of her relationships. I’m not sure what she uses to measures such things, but I imagine it’s a dildo in the shape of a thermometer.” She laughed heartily at her own joke. He smiled tersely. While he was mildly interested in Angel’s research, insomuch as it connected to his beloved, he was desperate to change the subject.

“I am more interested in cinematography than paintings or sculpture. I inherited the pieces around here and treasure them, but they do not hold the same significance to me as they did to their previous owners.” There, mention of his dead relatives should sway her from stripping off her clothes for a few moments out of simple common decency.

“Art holds significance to everyone that views it. For you, this art is significant because it reminds you of lost loved ones, your family, and your beginnings. How can you think that is not profoundly significant?” she said in a misty, emotional voice that was filled with a true passion for the subject.

He let her gush about the wonders of art for as long as he could pull it out of her, hoping he could avoid the topics of sex and his personal life until Sunflower had her fill of abuse at Sabrina’s merciless hands. He had drifted off into contemplating the last position he had seen Sunflower in, with her face pressed into the ground and her legs spread wide in the grass with Sabrina standing over her, one foot pressing into her cunt…

“Woah, fella! Art is fabulous and all, but don’t let it go giving you ideas,” she said mockingly as she addressed the tent growing in his pants. He snapped back to reality with a dousing feeling of vulnerability and shame. He had lost control of himself, and worse, had given it to this whore. Of all the worthless sluts in the world, why did it have to be her that had found Kippers out of bounds? Any decent human being would have knocked, or at least left embarrassed upon catching him masturbating, but not this filthy cunt. She used it to extort information about him, to gain entry into his home - his home for god’s sake. The anger was building, and it reddened his face. She mistook this for a shy blush and backed off a bit.

“Listen,” she said with understanding in her voice, “I know I’m hot, and it’s only natural for guys to want to fuck anything with a warm hole, but I have a boyfriend, OK?” she asked, as though he were the one dry humping a chair in front of her.

“Ok. No problem,” he said, glad for the ready excuse to reject her advances, while inwardly shocked that she still considered Greaseball her boyfriend after their exchange in the yard this afternoon.

She looked momentarily disconcerted by his ready acceptance of the barrier, as though finally catching on that he hadn’t been returning her flirtations. Her posturing changed; she became a pouty girl lounging against his fine art rather than the streetwalker trying to score a John to pay for the night’s crack fix.

“What kind of cinematography?" she asked. "Any horror stuff? Maybe I’ve seen your work.”

“No, not horror. Not much of my work is in circulation. It’s mostly artsy stuff, the kind of crap they make you do for class projects. You know, five black and white scenes, no words, ends with a big black screen that says Fin and touches on the deep underlying tragedy of modern, upper-class sociability. I doubt it would appeal to you,” he said flatly.

“I guess not,” she agreed, going mute with a disappointed look, sad that they had not struck a chord with a favored topic for her incessant blathering. He saw a chance to turn the tables in the conversation and get some information out of her. He wasn’t interested in her, per se, but maybe he could get her to talk more about Angel.

“So why did you move out to this particular neck of the proverbial woods anyway?” he asked casually, as though also growing uncomfortable with the silence between them.

“It was Sabrina’s idea. She wanted the house for its yard. She has business gatherings there. Plus it’s pretty close to the university for Angel, so she can get people to give her rides until Sabrina gets her a car,” she answered eagerly, glad to break the silence with a topic she was familiar with.

“Your brother’s wife is willing to buy her a car? That’s very nice of her,” he said casually, fishing for more information.

"I thought you might have guessed by now," she said knowingly. "Sabrina isn’t into husbands.”

He gave a precisely long enough pause before saying, “I see. Legally?”

“Actually yes, though I doubt it would hold up in a court around here.”

“Probably not. How long ago?”

“Officially only a year, but they have been together for three I think. I’m not exactly sure on that. I just know she met Sabrina while she was away at school. Father would have killed her if he had known about them. I didn’t find out until I moved into Angel's dorm room when he passed away, and they had been together for a while before that; I’m guessing about a year. Sabrina wasn’t rich back then. She was just selling stuff at college sorority houses and bachelorette parties. I guess that’s how they met, but I never asked. It was a while before Angel finally told me they were lovers, but I had picked up on it the first time I saw Sabrina look at my sister, so I wasn’t exactly shocked, you know. Father had never let her date boys, and made her go to an all-girl’s Catholic school. With a school like that, she was destined to be a rug-muncher, huh?” He smiled at her crudeness, which made her smile brightly in return and she visibly opened up to him. Her posture changed, her folded arms went loose to her sides, and her shoulders relaxed. She lifted her chin and tried making eye contact with him.

“Do you guys get along well?” he asked, trying to sound interested but casual.

“I guess. We don’t really fight much anymore. We are really different people, you know. I mean, she is my sister so I love her, but we have some bad history that makes it hard to get close. Still, she is always there for me when I need her, and she has sacrificed a lot to take care of me since Father passed.” A deathly silence settled over them for a moment, and when he responded it was with a funeral whisper, “Do you mind me inquiring into his passing?”

“He suicided.” She said flatly. The words floated off into the air and diffused around the room. “On my birthday,” she added after the long pause. There was no proper response for that. He knew saying “I’m sorry for your loss” would sound insincere, and asking “was it your fault” would have been inappropriate. Aside from that, he was at a loss for words. The silence gave Kali time to relive her memories. Eventually, with a cracking voice and wet eyes, she said, “I wish I had felt sad for him, or even scared of a future without him. Instead, I just remember feeling relieved that he had finally gone.” After a moment, she realized she had just said such a thing to a complete stranger, and hastily gave a false-sounding excuse to cover herself. “He had cancer and suffered for a long time before he went, so I was glad his pain had finally ended, you know.” Her eyes darted around the floor, voice devoid of the passion it had held in the previous sentence.

Again the room went quiet. He opened the sliding door to check whether the show at the bondage tree had ceased yet and heard a blessed silence. “I think your sister-in-law has finished with her, uh, client now. Perhaps you should get on home, find your cell phone, and give your boyfriend a call to talk it over, OK? I’m not sure I’m really the right person for you to open up to about this subject.”

“Yea, I guess you’re right. I’m sorry I burdened you with my crazy. Thank you for the tea and the company. If you ever want to talk about art with your spunky neighbor girl just come knock on the door, okay?”

“Will do. It was a pleasure to meet you Kali. Goodbye.” He said with a tone of finality, as he walked her out the gate she had come in through. After he latched it closed, he swiftly retreated into the house and went straight for the basement. He spent the rest of the evening in his cage, venting his rage at the trespassing, blackmailing bitch.

Chapter 13- Metamorphosis

The visit had convinced him of something he was surprised he hadn’t already worked out. He needed microphones in there so he wouldn’t have to spy by the fence and would be able to hear all of the naughty confessions and yelps that were now concealed to him by the jets. Then he could stay inside in his protected attic and get sound with his stations. He spent Tuesday shopping for the perfect equipment to bug the scene, flashing his university ID and claiming it was for his thesis project to get his cinematic degree, a claim that likely kept the place in business in this area. He waited until Kali left the house in her car, guessing it was to go get a replacement for the pool net she had disposed of when finding Kippers last night.

He worked quickly to fit the mikes into hollows near the camera stations, and felt it would be prudent to get them around all of the windows that he could reach so he could keep ears inside the house now that Kali had made contact with him. He would need a heads up if they started getting suspicious of their ‘pervy’ neighbor. He returned to his attic in time to check all of his equipment and make sure the audio synced with the video before Kali’s rattling junker pulled up. As he predicted, she came trotting in with an almost identical net to the pole arm she had defended herself with. After she returned it to its place near the pool, she stopped and put her ear up to the fence just opposite where she had found him. He clearly heard her say “I can hear you breathing you know. You might as well talk to me if you’re going to listen to me anyway,” and waited to see if her bluff worked.

So that’s why it always seemed like women were psychic. They just pretended to know stuff. Say it confidently enough and a man will feel caught every time. He leaned back and grinned at having outsmarted the cunt. When she was convinced he wasn’t listening, or at least not admitting to it, she stripped down to her new bikini and slipped into the pool where she did a few laps along the water’s surface. After she had stretched all of her muscles and felt pretty good from the exertion, she took advantage of her apparent privacy by climbing up onto the pool’s ledge where so many women had been pleased recently. She started by moaning loudly as she ran her hands over herself, and when that didn’t provoke any noticeable reaction, she pulled a long silver dildo out of her pile of clothes and turned it on. The buzzing was picked up by the microphone and unpleasantly drowned out her moans. She used the vibrator to bring herself to a loud and showy orgasm on the pool’s ledge. He was mildly amused, and even somewhat aroused by her blatant whoring toward him. She was such a stupid, oblivious slut that had no idea who she was flirting with.

The rest of Tuesday passed uneventfully until all of the women were home and having a late supper in the dining room. Sabrina brought up the fact that she needed Kali to stay home and clean up the yard by herself this weekend so she would pay her a little extra.

Kali was still stinging from Sabrina’s harsh treatment the afternoon before and said flippantly, “I can’t, I have plans with Derek.” To him this was an obvious lie, but neither of the other women had any inkling of the bloody scene that had transpired between them.

“All weekend?” Angel asked skeptically.

“Yes, all weekend,” retorted Kali, “So you’ll just have to clean it up by yourselves.”

“You know,” said Sabrina to Angel, completely dismissing Kali after finding out she wasn’t useful anymore. “With Kali gone all weekend we could just invite them to stay here. Kali, would you mind terribly if a couple of women slept in your bed Saturday night? Assuming you’ll be gone for the night as well that is.”

He could tell that Kali was caught in her lie now. She had nowhere to go for the weekend, but must have figured she would come up with something and went with it. “Yea, if you’ll let me.”

Sabrina turned to Angel and nodded emphatically. “I guess so,” agreed Angel reluctantly, based more on Sabrina’s coaxing than any notion that the decision was wise. The conversation turned to Sabrina’s work schedule and Angel’s hard day, while Kali twisted her spaghetti around her fork until the noodles broke from the tension, then finished early and went to her room to pout about her miserable lot in life. When the lights came on in the yard, she emerged out onto the deck almost silently and stood stock still, listening intently. She crept on her tiptoes to the fence and sat down against it to listen for any tell tale hint of his presence. She waited there for over an hour, occasionally talking to him. He couldn’t tell if she had convinced herself he was there, or that he wasn’t, but she started talking to him like a dramatic girl writes in a journal. She punctuated her ramblings and confessions with questions to him. It almost seemed as though she were hearing answers to her questions in her head, because she would continue the conversation with him/herself as though she had received an answer. He began to seriously wonder if this girl was a little unstable as she sat alone, in the dark, talking to a fence because she thought her pervy neighbor was sitting on the other side stalking her.

Wednesday came with more fighting when again Sabrina brought Sunflower home and tried to get Kali to clear out. This time Kali threw a tantrum fit for a small child, which culminated in an overturned table, a shaking Sunflower, and Kali’s tires squealing down the street. Sunflower apologized repeatedly for bringing strife into Sabrina’s home, and try as she might, Sabrina could not convince her to relax again. Sunflower ended up leaving unsatisfied, which was the last straw for Sabrina.

Later that evening when Kali finally returned home, she found Sabrina and Angel waiting for her, one unified force against her. She apologized to Sabrina for scaring her client and interfering with her whoring. The women took turns berating and insulting the volatile girl until they felt her spirit was thoroughly crushed. Only then did they allow her to lock herself in her room and cry herself to sleep.

Thursday morning, Kali emerged into the yard with her hair in a towel like usual, and set about working around the yard to get it ready for tomorrow’s party. She worked fast, refraining from her usual drug abuse, either because she was afraid he was there on the other side of the fence, or because she had just bitten the hand that feeds and needed to get back into Sabrina's good graces.

He grew bored watching her work and decided to take Kippers for his daily walk. He liked to walk down to the small park near his elementary school because his third grade teacher Mrs. Kippers lived across the street and he sometimes got a glimpse of her washing her car, or playing with her children, and probably grandchildren by now. Admittedly, Mrs. Kippers was less fun to watch now than when he was in third grade, but old habits die hard. He sat down on the swings and watched her front door while Kippers sniffed around the sandbox and licked the sweet sticky faces of small children, who giggled and fell in love with the friendly dog. Her car was in the drive, her door was closed, but her shades were open. She never left the shades closed when she was home during the day, and opening up the house to the sunlight always made her smile. He used to time his dog walk to the precise moment that she flung open the drapes and opened the shades to see the dawn spilling inside just to see her smile in the fresh light. He had changed his routine only recently, to accommodate Angel and Sabrina’s schedule, and still missed seeing her smile every morning. Sometimes he would even let her see him. She would recognize him with a small wave and a neighborly smile that showed she remembered her students even now. It seemed, however, that today was an inside day for Mrs. Kippers.

He pulled out his iPad and checked on the yard. He didn’t see Kali in any of the cameras and tried the attic cam in case she was hiding in a blind spot. He was mortified to see a very close up view of Kali holding the attic cam and looking at it closely. It was set roughly back down and she sat down at the computer. He didn’t need to see any more until he had sprinted the five blocks back to his house, Kippers easily outstripping him in the mad dash. He pulled himself up just short and caught his breath while he looked again. He could see just enough to see her still sitting at the desk. Angel was prominently displayed on the screen in front of her.

He had to be stealthy, something he was very good at most of the time. He mustn’t underestimate her either. That was Greaseball’s mistake, and he had learned from watching it that she would not hesitate to strike when provoked. He could use that to his advantage. First he needed to get the drop on her. He set Kippers to heel and play dead while he snuck through the gate, then in through the whisper-quiet sliding doors. He kept an eye on her to see if she reacted to any of his movements, but she was entranced by his tribute to her sister.

The way up to the attic was a creaky stair that he could not possibly pass without alerting her, which was one of his favorite features of the cave when his nosy grandparents wondered what he got up to all day. Now it threatened to destroy him as he stood on the other side of the noisome barrier. After gathering some minimal supplies, he crept soundless into a spot that would be hidden from view when she inevitably descended. Eventually, it seemed she felt she had overstayed her welcome and came bounding down the creaky stair.

He waited for just the right moment and then pounced her from the side, knocking her off the stair to come tumbling several feet to the floor under his body weight. He wrapped her face and head in his jacket and held it tight to prevent her from seeing, breathing, and screaming all at once. He had her arms pinned down and forced them together behind her back roughly. He cuffed her wrists with a pair of novelty cuffs his grandparents had bought to keep him under control when his rampages threatened to destroy their precious possessions. They served him well now as they effectively disarmed the feisty whore. He grabbed the short chain between the cuffs and lifted her to her feet roughly. He held her up on her tiptoes so it would be harder for her to kick out at him and dragged her backwards through the house to the basement stairs.

These would pose a unique challenge for the blindfolded, backward-walking girl to navigate, and would put him at risk of a good hard kick. He dragged her around until he found something to use as a rope to tie her legs together. He had finally settled on an extension cord and tied it tightly enough that she could not separate her knees or ankles, and certainly could not kick out at him. He forced her to hop backward down the stairs while he stabilized her with the handcuff chain. At one point she missed the step and started going down. He tried to catch her but she kicked out, catching him hard with her heels. She thrashed on the stairs for a moment like a fish out of water as he recovered himself and decided it was time to stop being so gentle. He grabbed the extension cord wrapped around her ankles and simply pulled her the rest of the way down the stairs. Her face slammed into each stair roughly, which had to hurt even through the jacket. Once clear of the stairway, it was simple enough to drag her over the smooth floor to the cage.

He locked them in together and stashed the key before untying his jacket from her head.

“What are you doing in my house, whore?” he asked in an insane sounding voice that dripped with the promise of violence regardless of her answer. She didn’t speak; just stared at him in shock like a deer in headlights. He slapped her hard across the face to snap her out of it, then again because it felt really good to hurt this bitch that had twice invaded his privacy and trespassed on his property. He assaulted her with questions while he searched her body roughly. He pulled all of her possessions off from her, and even found a small knife hidden in her boot. “Did you think you would use this on me you fucking cunt? Did you come over here to stab me?” his fury oozed through his voice. Kali still didn’t know how to respond. He stripped her naked, ripping where he had to in order to get around the restraints. He checked her very carefully for other hidden weapons and took away everything she owned, just in case he had missed anything. Never underestimate a captive. He had taught his grandparents that lesson multiple times and knew there were ways to escape even he had not thought of yet.

“Why are you here, cocksucker?” he demanded and kicked her hard when she didn’t respond. The fury in him was burgeoning into the familiar irrational rage, and he started repeating variations of the same question over and over again, with new vilifications of her in each rendition. He was losing a little more control with each escalating question, and he wasn’t even pausing to let her answer any longer. He grabbed the extension cord and yanked it off her legs, inflicting as much damage as possible in the process. He grasped onto a long doubled over loop and started using it to beat Kali’s naked body that had curled up into a protective fetal position that left her back, thighs, and ass exposed to his makeshift whip as it landed punctuation marks in his diatribe. The whipcord laced her body in long red tendrils of welts that crisscrossed her dark skin. Kali’s screams eventually overrode his questioning, and he mercifully turned his blazing hatred and violence onto the cage bars, probably saving her life.

When the rage burned itself out for the moment and he could gather himself again, he simply stepped out of the cage and left her there. He had to work quickly before Angel or Sabrina came home. He first grabbed the camera from inside the hot tub, to give any drips he left time to dry before anyone was home to see them. It was useless there anyway. Then he used Kali’s keys to go in through the back door. He found her room and rummaged through it until he found what he needed. Her phone was sitting on her bed, plugged into a charge cord. He grabbed it, but left the cord, tucking it under the bed as though it had been carelessly dropped there and forgotten. He found a duffle bag and collected about two weeks worth of clothes, including the sexiest outfits she owned, and leaving all her granny panties and sweatshirts behind. He looked around for the types of personal things she might like to have with her when away from home, and spotted an old stuffed owl sitting perfectly centered on her pillow. That seemed unlike the chaotic and messy Kali. He grabbed it and stuffed it into the bag, sure it was somehow important to the child. He grabbed her jewelry box, and a romance novel that was lying open upside down on her bed so that the spine was folded in half and ruined. He spotted a half-finished crossword puzzle in one corner and packed it. He grabbed toiletries from the closest bathroom to her room, hoping women were as logical as men and that he was grabbing the right toothbrush. Just in case her recent rash of fighting was indicative of such things, he made sure to pack stuff for her menstrual cycle and even swiped extras from a different bathroom. He went through Sabrina’s drawers until he found her money sock. He pulled $500 out of it and left it laying out on the bed in plain view. When he had everything he needed, he made a sandwich, leaving a crumb and jelly smeared plate sitting out, and a peanut butter and jelly covered knife stuck to the countertop. He took the sandwich home with him along with the duffle bag, the latter of which he threw over the privacy fence rather than risk being seen holding such a conspicuous item. In seconds he was out of their gate and onto his own property, casually crossing his own front yard to nonchalantly enter his house through the front door. Still squeezing the sandwich in one hand, he fumbled around the attic until he found a voice recorder. Then he found the old poker set from the first floor fireplace. The set had been saved from the cattle ranch his grandmother had grown up on, and eventually took over, and it included the actual branding iron they had used to mark their stock. He grabbed this in his free hand and carried it downstairs.

He watched her as he set up the room for what was to come. He had a short time window within which his plan would work and he could not miss it. He positioned the underwater camera so that it caught the entire jail cell in its view, but not much of anything from the other side of the cage wall except his shoes if he stood too close. She was struggling to her feet and had managed to get onto her knees, arms still cuffed behind her. She had been crying while he was gone, and her face was now ugly, blotchy, red, and puffy. He had found an acetylene torch and set it out next to the brand.

“Listen closely,” he said slowly, with every ounce of his willpower keeping him in check. He would not keep letting this cunt-faced bitch take his control away from him. “As a little girl, you have often dreamt of becoming a famous actress right?” he asked expectantly. When she didn’t answer he stood and yelled, “Right!?” at the cage bars, a hint of the earlier anger leaking through his calm façade. She nodded slowly, terror haunted her face and held her tongue mute.

“Good, I have a script for you. You will repeat it over and over into this recorder until I like the sound of it. It must sound casual, excited, and somewhat indignant. Think you can manage that?” She nodded again.

“I brought incentives. If you do well you can have this sandwich. If not, you will be treated like a cow in a slaughterhouse.” He held up the brand in front of her to let her get a good look at the end of it. Sometimes the design was called O-in-a-hole, sometimes rafter circle, but to him it looked like a pair of spread legs taking the head of a cock. In reality, it was simply two lines intersecting at 90° with a small circle inside the angle. “My grandpa once told me that this brand had been a part of the family ranch for a very long time and was often used on more than cattle back in the slave trading days.” At the time, the solemn anecdote had shocked and horrified him, but at this moment it provided some very useful inspiration, and he silently prayed a thank you to his grandfather’s spirit for sharing their family history with him.

“I have written out your lines, and you have one hour to go over them until they are perfect or you will be branded. I will be right here to direct you. Just think of it like a voice over for a cartoon scene and you’ll get to eat, ok?”

She nodded again. He read her lines to her over and over again until she could repeat each one with the proper tone and inflection. She needed some encouragement to get the shaking out of her voice, and as the deadline started to approach he lit the torch and began heating the brand in its flame. In the end he ended up with what he thought would be a passable message. He was almost ready to leave when she said pleadingly, “Why are you keeping me like this Nathan? What do you want from me?”

“My name is Nathaniel. N A T H A N I E L. Remember, cunt?” He hated being called Nathan, and now he was the one in control; he was the one with power over her. He decided to exercise that power right now to teach her obedience and to make her respect him enough to call him by his rightful name. “I even spelled it out for you, so that even your dim witted whore brain could grasp it, and yet you didn’t. Are you really so stupid that you just cannot say such a long word?” He was letting his control slip. He heard his voice crack and he had advanced on her, holding the heated brand in front of him like a supernaturally long, rigid cock. He paused, trying to fight back the rage that threatened to overwhelm him again.

She knelt perfectly still, eyes fixated on the brand, not blinking, not breathing. She respected the brand. It was time she respected him the same way. He unlocked the cage and darted at her, scoring a solid, hissing hit on the side of her left thigh before she could react. Her cries were deafening, and she pulled away from the hot iron, but it was too late. The symbol was now a part of her body forever. She was now his, forever.

He left her sobbing in agony while he left the house to finish his plan. He drove to the pier and waited until it was exactly one minute until 7 pm, when the last cruise ship of the night was to set sail. He stood close to it but apart from the crowd. He selected Angel’s name on the speed dial, and was unsurprised to get her voicemail since she was in class at this time and wouldn’t answer a phone call. After Angel’s prerecorded message, he played Kali’s message into the speaker.

“Hey Angel. Listen, I’m sorry about the last second notice, but I’m going on a cruise with Derek and his parents for two weeks. Don’t worry, they are responsible adults and all that. I figured you guys could use some time without me in your hair, and I could use a luxury cruise with my rich boyfriend. I forgot my phone charger and my cell is probably about to die in a few minutes, but I doubt I would get good reception on the open ocean anyway, so I guess I’ll talk to you in two weeks when I get home. That is, if I decide to come home from the tropical paradise that awaits me.” The horn of the 7pm ship departing was magnificently loud in the background as Kali said “My ship is leaving, I’ve got to go. I love you Angel, and I guess Sabrina too, if I have to. Enjoy your vacation away from me as much as I will enjoy mine away from you guys. Au revoir!”

He wiped the phone clean then tossed it into the unobserved luggage of a latecomer getting his tickets hurriedly checked and hoped it would be a few days until anyone found it. He whistled happily as he drove home from the pier, eagerly contemplating all the ways he was going to enjoy his reward.