Descent Into Darkness (22 page)

CHAPTER XLIII –
A Darkening Dawn

Red yawned and stretched her long golden brown limbs out from under the duvet, pointing her toes to increase the delightful pull. It was days since Amber had last shared a bed with her and while she missed her heat, it felt good to have the space to herself. Perhaps she would share a bed with Raven soon, and the thought warmed her as much as the morning sun which pushed into the room.

She sleepily slipped out of bed to look for Mistress Raven’s instruction on the colour for the day’s outfit. There sure enough, placed on the dresser by yet another of the faceless staff, was the familiar handwriting on embossed notepaper.

Emerald Green was the order. Red was pleased, it would emphasise her mane of red hair nicely. Mistress Raven had probably chosen it as a celebration of her supremacy over the woman she called Jade, the one who had been at the grand ball the previous evening.

Behind the side door lay the dressing area and, to the rear of it, lay a rack of leathers in a rainbow of all conceivable colours. Retrieving the appropriate colour and matching knee high boots from the rack below, Red started to dress.

One of Red’s duties was the morning security check in the same way that Amber’s detail was the last check at night. So, priceless latte retrieved from the kitchens, Red headed to the surveillance room for the first of her morning tasks.

== ~ ==

Amber lay in one of the guest rooms staring at the ceiling though it refused to answer the questions in her head. Her world was turning inside out, and she was the one doing it. She feared the consequences of discovery and failure, yet each time she wavered, her resolve would edge back. Keep reaching, keep stumbling forward to the light.

The four words flashed through her head once again. “I like you there.” Katarina had said it standing above her – she’d lost count of the number of times that’d replayed during the night.

Even bound and naked as she had been, those words affected Amber in a way that Raven’s commands could never do. Brute force and bullying did nothing for her but depth and unique warmth drew her right in, left her wanting more.

More was exactly what she wanted. Amber also knew that Red and Raven stood in her way.

== ~ ==

Red drew the chair forward and started to flip through the images returned by the security cameras. All was fine, it always was, until the monitor labelled number12 was called up. Red saw the body on the screen. It was surrounded by a large puddle of dark congealed liquid which she knew could only be blood.

Grabbing the remote control, her hand shook as she zoomed in. Immelmann was motionless, still right where they’d left him. Red’s eyes darted to the time stamp. The camera at least was live, the second hand of the clock on the wall still moving.

The chill ran through to her marrow. Dead. And by her hand. Raven needed to know. She would know what to do. With that thought as her crutch, Red hurried out of the room and sprinted down the corridor.

== ~ ==

Her wake up had been a little later than usual and Raven noted that as justification for future punishment. The girl had some skill though, certainly worth persevering with, she had learnt much from the videos she watched. She would in time be punctual too, whether by hook or by crook.

Ripples of delight swelled outwards and Raven congratulated herself on how well her training program had first taken root, then grown to envelope the whore.

The crashing of her bedroom doors being flung open though burst into Raven’s warm afterglow. She sat up angry and alarmed.

“He’s dead! We killed him! Oh shit, we killed him!” Red’s face was white despite the run.

“In,” ordered Raven, throwing open the cage door to push the stunned Katarina back into the cage with a foot to her rear. Raven’s air of calm remained firmly in place but beneath her stomach churned. She grabbed her silken robe, too distracted, forgetting to slide home the clip that would secure Katarina’s cage. As the two women hurried out, the cage door swung slightly ajar.

== ~ ==

The commotion in the corridor beckoned Amber out of bed to investigate and she cracked open her door in time to see both Red and Raven disappearing rapidly around the corner at the end of the corridor. The words that trailed in their wake held the real significance though.

While not entirely clear, Amber could make out enough to realise that the images she had transmitted to Jade were not merely of an attack on Immelmann but of his murder. After grabbing a t-shirt, Amber slipped out of the room and rushed in the opposite direction, bewildered at the speed of events that were taking on a frightening life of their own.

== ~ ==

Like the canary that refuses to fly out of an open cage door in case the cat lurks unseen beyond, Katarina sat hunched in the corner of her cage.

Freedom had been everything she’d wished for but now its possibility lay before her, she didn’t know what to do. They weren’t that careless, they were far too good. It was another trial, another trap, and sure in that knowledge, Katarina remained huddled in her confinement.

Footsteps. Yes, they were footsteps and Katarina congratulated herself in passing another of their tests. The coldness of the steel bars seemed to offer comfort and she pressed back into them, knowing she had prevented at least one excuse to punish her. They wouldn’t flay her as they’d clearly flayed Mela. She’d behaved and stayed in place when every normal instinct screamed at her to flee.

Katarina was pleased with herself. She’d out-thought them this time and assumed the position she knew Mistress Raven expected, head bowed and hands placed on kneeling thighs, palms up. Katarina bent as low as she could to reduce the scraping steel of the cage on her back which grazed her skin as she breathed.

Feet first came into view, then unadorned legs which bent before her. A gentle hand cupped her cheek and Katarina looked up in surprise into the smiling face of Amber.

C
HAPTER XLIV – Torturous Times

The look that held them together was one neither would forget and the touch of Amber’s hand on Katarina’s allowed the electricity to flow between them unhindered.

“We need to move,” snapped Amber, conveying urgency as she swung the cage door fully open. Halfway across the room Amber stopped, missing the sound of feet following her. Turning, she was stunned to see the cage door wide open and Katarina still kneeling inside, head lowered.

“What?” Agitated with the delay that drove the danger of discovery higher, it was all Amber could manage to say through her confusion. She was answered only by a hesitant shake of Katarina’s head.

Amber retraced her steps and crouched again before the dark-haired woman. “Why?” It was a simple question and the concern in Amber’s eyes implored a proper answer but was instead met with yet more silence.

Katarina didn’t, couldn’t understand. This was the mistake. But they might have to wait an age for the opportunity to come around again. It was exasperating, frustrating and Amber said the thing that was in her heart and her last hope to inspire a reaction, “I love you!”

== ~ ==

The two women looked at the lifeless figure at their feet, one coldly impassive, the other agitated and nervous.

They couldn’t trust the staff. He employed them. Raven knew they held Immelmann in grudging esteem. She was also smart enough to recognise the discrete professional dislike with which they answered to her. It was the first time in years Raven had needed anyone and right now she needed Red’s help. They had to cover their tracks and quickly.

Assessing the options, Raven started to plan the rapid remedial work needed so she could keep what she had so recently taken. Pointing, explaining, directing, Raven brought the Californian’s head round to what needed to be done. Red in turn busied herself in the tasks set by her Mistress, relieved to immerse herself in a distraction to thoughts and guilt. Raven turned to return to her room, needing at least to be dressed to begin the challenging day ahead.

== ~ ==

Three simple words broke on Katarina like a hundred foot wave. The welcome weight of promise and the connection to her dreams shattered the walls of possession that Raven had so carefully built. Interminable moments passed. The two women looked at each other again, this time the connection holding the significance of that single expressed emotion.

An exploratory lacing of fingers, skin intertwining with leather, came first then desire bent Amber into the cage to find the lips she sought. The kiss that ensued lasted long and was held deep, both losing themselves in the moment, a moment unusually free of threat and a moment that blasted away all else.

It was the nature of the hallway that saved them. The stone floor between the Persian rugs eked out the sound of footsteps even though feet were bare.

The kiss shattered. Amber darted away, finding what shelter she could behind a tapestry that reached the floor from the wall. Katarina wasn’t quite so lucky, her reactions dulled by captivity and strain and Amber’s touch.

Indecision gripped her. As Raven rounded the corner into the room, all she saw was her pretty whore halfway out of her cage.

Her pent up fury would have moved mountains. Seizing Katarina harshly by the hair, Raven dragged her fully out. She needed an outlet and that outlet would be taken gladly.

== ~ ==

Amber’s heart pounded in her refuge until she feared it would either be heard or explode, giving her away. She could only guess at what was unfolding so close by but Katarina’s wail said enough, and it was all she could do to stay hidden, fists clenching, throat tight.

She had to stay still if she was to win through, if
they
were to win through. And so she held her breath, emerging only when she was sure of the silence and safety, making her way back to her room to start the routine of the day as if nothing had just ripped at her heart.

== ~ ==

Katarina felt alive. Senses heightened, she was awake to the dangers which headed her way. Raven’s spell had been broken but now was not the right time so she complied, struggling only to the degree she felt was expected.

She was dragged again to the gym, not the destination she had anticipated. This was different and Katarina knew enough to be concerned. It was well founded. The thin chain Raven fed through the rings in her nipples foretold of what was to come. Katarina shook her head in denial but the other end was attached to the treadmill regardless.

There was no lengthy preparation this time. No catsuit to squeeze into, no running shoes and Katarina took that as encouragement. The rigid routine had been broken and the spontaneity suggested things were happening that were out of control.

“I need to be busy today. You will run, whore.” There was urgency in Raven, that wasn’t normal. “If you know what’s good for you that is,” she added, the threat of failure explicit in the flick of the chain from Katarina’s nipples.

A loud peel of bleeps and the treadmill started. With the first tug on her breasts, Katarina started to jog, careful to precisely pace herself to match the running belt.

It wasn’t fast and Katarina knew it was a pace she could maintain. With each stride the chain bounced, pulling agonisingly on the recent attachments through her nipples. Her bare feet quickly blistered on the unforgiving rubber. It was to be the hardest of all her sessions.

== ~ ==

Stepping back, Red finally acknowledged that the room was cleaned to her satisfaction. She’d already moved the body of Immelmann deep into the manor. The staff never went there and it allowed time to attend to all those other details that urgently needed to be dealt with, one of which was the IT system. Red made her way back to the surveillance room to make sure all was still well.

As the 3
rd
of her reports was running, Red found herself chewing on her nails for the first time in years. It had been a nervous habit in childhood but, like many things in her life, it had been discarded as she joined the race for physical perfection so prevalent on the beaches of her home state. When nervous it resurfaced and it was joined this time by the incessant twitching of her foot as data scrolled up the screen.

The anomaly came on the 4
th
report. She almost missed it as her mind wrapped itself in the knots thinking of possible consequences of last night’s frenzy.

The web traffic monitor showed a huge amount of activity incoming that evening and, checking the timing, it was explained by website hits in and around the slave auction. That was all fine and dismissed. Red’s focus had drifted once again until the outgoing spike showed the unusual activity just before midnight.

Curious, she scrolled back. It bore no relation to the auction and slipping back into her abandoned profession, the former IT professional started to dig.

It was far from easy and the user had been careful. To the untrained eye, it would have been enough to pass scrutiny. Red’s expertise though took her further and natural curiosity matched her sense of self-preservation.

The protective layers were slowly stripped back. The traffic had been an email and the attachment was large. Red’s heart rate quickened, fearing what the next level would reveal.

Perhaps it was an automatic virus check, they sent packets of data back to the vendor for analysis, nothing worrying in that. In her heart though Red already knew and that fear was soon confirmed – it was an email and the file extension on that email was for video.

The email address of the sender was unfamiliar but it was someone in the manor. Skilled as she was Red couldn’t decode the receiver and the file itself was already gone. The dead end was frustrating. She sat there, curiosity not yet extinguished. There had to be another way to find out what it was, who had sent it and to whom.

Red’s eureka moment came quickly, dormant skills slowly waking. Plunging back to the keyboard it wasn’t long before she had the answer. The sender hadn’t been as quite as careful as she thought she had been after all. The video file started to play from Amber’s personal temporary files cache and rising to her feet as she watched, Red knew what she had to do.