The Telltale Heart (2 page)

One of the masked gentlemen pulled a woman onto his lap and fondled her teats as he watched the shackled woman squirm and writhe beneath the expertly applied lashing. Her skin was never broken, the lashes more of a slap than a true whipping. Her screaming had ceased and now she moaned like a woman on fire with desire. It barely held his interest. All of his attention was focused on the nearly-naked young man.

He sat in a winged, red-velvet chair and stared. The young man must have felt his burning gaze because he turned and their eyes met. The young man's smile held a wealth of understanding and a promise. He knew what Edmund wanted. All thoughts of cutting purses or prigging the gentlemen of the club fled as Edmund watched the young man sashay across the red carpet.

He stopped in front of Edmund, his cloth-covered cock thrust inches from Edmund's face. “See something you like, guvner?” He asked in a Cockney accent.

Since the other men were pawing the women, Edmund did not hesitate. He took the young man's cock and balls in his hand and gently squeezed.

“So it's like that, it is?”

“Yes,” Edmund breathed. “It is just like that.”

The young man held out his hand. “Would you be likin' a little privacy?”

Edmund nodded and took his hand. “What's your name?”

“Thomas, but you can call me Tommy.”

“Lead on, Tommy.”

Tommy took him through a doorway covered by a red hanging. It led to another stone corridor. There were many closed doors on this corridor. Tommy opened one and they went inside. Two candelabras blazed from the top of a dresser. An enormous bed beckoned. Tommy pushed Edmund down on it and pulled off his boots. “Won't be wanting these now, will you?”

Edmund whispered. “No, guess not.”

His breeches followed and his small clothes. Tommy stood in front of Edmund and untied the cloth bag holding his genitals. Edmund drew in a breath. His blood pounded through his veins and his cock leaped to attention. Tommy laughed. “I guess you be likin' what you see, eh guvner?”

“Yes.” Edmund's voice was raspy and thick with desire. He sat up and pulled Tommy's head down. The kiss they exchanged heated Edmund's already blazing blood. Their tongues entwined. Tommy's lips were soft, and then hard and demanding. Edmund stroked Tommy's cock, now thick and engorged. When Tommy stepped closer, Edmund closed his eyes for one moment, his rapture complete. He took Tommy's cock in his hand and guided the red tip to his mouth. Edmund licked the head and tongued the tiny hole at the end. Unable to put off the moment any longer, he sucked the entire cock deep into his mouth and throat. Tommy grabbed the back of Edmund's head and groaned. “That's the way of it.”

He held Edmund's head hard and pumped his cock in and out of Edmund's open mouth as Edmund trembled with excitement. Tommy suddenly popped his cock out of Edmund's mouth. “That's quite enough. You'll have me shooting me load in your mouth if you keeps that up.”

He knelt in front of Edmund and grabbed Edmund's stiff cock. “Looks like you be ready. Want to fuck me, my lord?”

He climbed onto the bed, bent over and pulled his butt cheeks open. His anus was slightly open and a little red. Edmund felt like his cock was going to explode. He grabbed Tommy's ass and squeezed both cheeks.

“First let's grease you up, guvner. The jar, there on the night table. Don't want to hurt little Tommy now, do ya?”

Edmund opened the jar and liberally applied some slippery unguent to his cock, and then he push a lubed finger full into his butt.

“Ah, yeah. Now you be ready.” Tommy said, holding his ass open. “But don't you be forgettin' to give me a reach around.”

This all felt like a dream to Edmund. He'd come here expecting to associate with rich, drunken nobs, and here he was in a luxurious room with a beautiful young man. It was like a dream come true. All his previous encounters had been quick gropings done in a back alley or in the dark of his room. It was wrong to desire men. He knew that, but he'd never been interested in women. Apparently, here in the Hellfire Club, anything was possible.

He pressed the tip of his inflamed cock into the open mouth of Tommy's anus. It slid in about an inch and he moaned aloud. The feeling was indescribably pleasureable. He grabbed the round, firm, smooth globes of Tommy's ass, squeezed hard and shoved his cock in deep.

Lost in lust, he stroked in and out aided by the sucking of Tommy's talented body. When he forgot, Tommy reached back and grabbed his hand, pulling it around his body to shove his cock into it. Edmund stroked Tommy's cock as he fucked his ass. It was a totally new and wonderful sexual experience.

Edmund forgot everything he'd planned, his entire attention on the immense pleasure coursing through his body.

When he erupted into Tommy's back passage, he gave Tommy's cock two quick strokes and felt it buck in his hand. Warm, thick fluid ran through his fingers as both of them fell to the bed moaning with euphoria.

It took him several moments to recover. When he did, he rose slowly to his feet and began searching for his clothes, his double mission—prigging a few purses and looking for a likely candidate for Cam's experiments—suddenly remembered. “I have to go.”

Tommy reached out and stroked Edmund's now limp cock. “Too bad, guvner. Thought we might enjoy an evening together.”

“I have to help my cousin. She needs a subject to test out her newest invention.”

Interested, Tommy sat up. “Your cousin an inventor. What has she invented?”

Edmund waved his hand in dismissal. “I feel sure it's nothing you can help me with. Unless, of course, there's a client of this club with a bad ticker.”

Edmund pulled on his breeches, plunged his feet into his boots and searched for his shirt. Where had it fallen?

“There might be such a client,” Tommy said as he arranged his cock and balls into a tight package before cramming them into the velvet bag.

Edmund stopped searching for his shirt. “Is he here now?”

“I heard someone mention a special client they had to take extra care of cause his ticker weren't all that sound. I think they sent him into Sloppy Mary's room. She's older and knows lots of tricks and how to be careful.”

Edmund found his shirt, buttoned it and held his coat out to Tommy. “Assist me, please. It fits too tightly for me to get into it without the aid of a valet.”

When he was fully dressed, cravat tied, coat on, he pulled Tommy close. “I want to see you again.”

“Join the club, guvner. I be indentured to it. Can't leave, you know. They own me.”

“Why that's barbaric.”

Tommy nodded and shrugged.

“Can you find me the gentleman with the bad heart?”

Tommy took his hand. “Follow me, but this could be a very sensitive matter, you understand.”

They entered the stone corridor, walked by three closed doors to a fourth. Without knocking, Tommy pushed it open. A frumpy, middle-aged woman, naked, knelt in front of a handsome, well-built man. His cock was out and she was gently stroking it. The man's eyes were closed and Mary's middle finger was deep in the gentleman's ass.

“Sorry to be a bothering you, Mary, but this gent says he has an experimental cure for your client. He's the gent with the bad ticker, right?”

The man on the bed opened his eyes. ‘You have a cure for me?”

Edmund was trying hard not to stare at the gentleman's enormous cock, but he wasn't doing that well. It was gorgeous. “Yes, I mean not me, my cousin. She's an inventor.”

The gentleman pushed Mary away. She let go of his cock and popped her finger out of his bum, then the gentleman shoved his flagging erection into his trousers. “Is it a new drug?”

“Well, no,” Edmund said. “It's more like a mechanical device that makes your heart beat in a more correct fashion.”

“I must see it,” he said. He rose abruptly and stuck out his hand. “I'm Drexel Rayne, the Duke of Severn.”

Edmund was briefly awed, then he took the offered hand and shook it warmly. “It's a pleasure to meet you, my lord. I'm Edmund Torrington.”

The honorable Nugent Templecombe sat on the throne in the center of the red room, a special room in the Hellfire Club devoted to the kinds of games Nugent liked to play. A young woman lay on a table, her legs tied open, her breasts tied tightly between two ropes forcing them to jut straight up; her naked sex was open and exposed. “Whip her cunt,” he told the masked man holding a riding crop.

The woman moans were a cross between fear and excitement. Nugent knew Angelique enjoyed the punishment, no matter how hard it got and was likely going to have several orgasms the minute the cunt slapping started.

He climbed off his throne, dragging another slave by the chain attached to her collar. Her hands were tied behind her back, and it was likely she was not enjoying this nearly as much as Angelique. No matter, she belonged to him and the club. His cock was out and rising steadily as he watched Angelique's cunt redden with each slap of the crop. “Slap her clit,” he ordered the punisher.

The next slap of the crop hit Angelique's clit. The punisher followed it with several more then stopped for a moment. Angelique squirmed and moaned. Her clit was huge, swollen and red. Nugent shoved the trainee to her knees and grabbed her hair to guide her mouth to his cock. “Suck.”

Obediently, she took his half-hard organ into her mouth. She licked and tongued his cock, but all her efforts went for naught. Nothing could make him harder. He pulled her hair and she cried out. Since her hands were tied behind her back, she couldn't put them out to save herself a hard fall when he shoved her aside. He took his cock into his own hands and tried to make it hard. He stood over Angelique and watched as the punisher slapped her tits and her cunt. This form of arousal no longer worked. He was going to have to dream up something else. When Angelique spasmed in an obvious orgasm, he told the punisher to let her up. “She likes it too much,” he grumbled. “Set her loose.”

He knew what he had to do to find satisfaction, and he hated himself for it. Tommy would have to be punished. The sight of Tommy's reddened buttocks and hard cock would make him able to perform. His disease was getting worse and worse. Before long, he would only be able to enjoy sex with men. He was a pervert of the worst kind. When he inherited the Duke's position and title, he would not be able to produce an heir.

Frustrated beyond all bearing, he strode the hallways of the club naked save for the red velvet bag holding his cock and balls. He opened doors on the private rooms searching for Tommy. They were all occupied save one. He didn't care if he was interrupting anyone's pleasure. This was his house of pain.

It occurred to him as he completed his search of the private rooms, coming up empty, he would need to hire several more handsome young men. More and more of his special members were finding Tommy a fun and arousing playmate.

When Tommy could not be located, he went to his private quarters and sat on the bed. The club paid him well, but not nearly enough. And it was so demeaning to have to rely on this kind of income to maintain his lifestyle. The Duke was on his last legs. Everyone knew it. If only he would stick his spoon in the wall, Nugent would have everything he'd always dreamed of.

Determined, Nugent dressed and strode out the rear door of the establishment. Maybe it was possible to help Severn along. The Duke did like to frequent the club, thanks to Mary and her technique of gently stimulating his gland. Severn could find release without putting too much strain on his heart. Well, Mary was no longer going to be available and possibly the next time the Duke came to the Hellfire Club, he would go straight to Hell.

* * * *

Edmund led the Duke and Tommy through the streets of the Nichol. The sun was coming up. The streets reeked of urine and feces along with spilled beer and garbage. Tommy had taken the same liking to Edmund as Edmund had taken to him. He refused to be separated from Edmund, saying he had fallen in love. Edmund could not decline his company. He wanted a repeat of their lovemaking, and if Tommy wished to tag along, so be it.

The Duke took out an embroidered handkerchief and covered his nose. “I say, how much further?”

“Right here,” Edmund said as he stepped into a dark alley and descended a step flight of stairs.

“Your home is in a cellar?”

“We live above, but the laboratory is here.” Edmund hoped Cam would still be at work in the lab. She often worked until dawn. He hoped today would be one of those days.

When he unlocked the door, she greeted him with a smile. “Edmund, you have returned. I have great news.”

She then noticed his companions. “Who have you brought here?”

“This is Tommy. Uh…hard to explain. I'll tell you about him later. And this is the Duke of Severn. He has a bad heart, Cam. I told you I'd find you someone for your experimental trials.”

* * * *

Drexel had begun the journey with hope in his heart. A cure would mean everything. That his disgusting nephew would inherit his lands and title was such a terrible prospect, it could not be thought of rationally. But, as they dived deeper and deeper into the awful slum called the Nichol, his hopes flagged. Who could live in this kind of squalor and produce anything useful to mankind much less a device that could cure his bad heart?

When his new friend Edmund Torrington led them into a cellar, he was sure it was only to kill him for his watch and jewelry, but he followed the man down the stairs willingly. If he were to die, what would it matter how that was accomplished?

Then he saw Edmund's cousin. She opened the door with the light of the newly risen sun on her face. She was so beautiful, his heart literally skipped a beat. She stripped off her leather cap and a flood of golden curls cascaded down her back. Her eyes were spring green and her figure inside of the manly garments she wore exquisite. For a moment, he was spellbound.