DARK BLISS (Dangerous Games,) (14 page)

“It’s obvious. Her skin’s too dark and her eyes are brown. Redheads almost always have fair skin and blue eyes, sometimes green e
yes but hardly ever brown eyes. If Oberon is really targeting redheads, he’ll know she dyed her hair. I doubt he’d be attracted to her. It might even make him suspicious.”

McQueen and Rock traded glances. “She has a point,” said McQueen.
“Surely Luna realized that. But she went ahead anyway. Why?”

McQueen’s tone made
Rock realized he already understood why. Luna still carried a torch for him. She had set up the sting with the idea of the two of them working together, intimately so.

“
No idea,” Rock replied. He turned to Rory. “Smart girl.”

She blushed with pleasure. “D
oesn’t DARC have any women who are naturals?”

Rock and McQueen looked at each other. “I’ve seen some in the halls,” said McQueen. “But agents? Only one comes to mind and she’s
out of town. Anyway, she’s more of an orangehead, you know? She’s doesn’t have hair like the missing girls. And nothing like yours, which is, well, gorgeous.”

“Well, thank you,” she said, running a hand through her hair.
Rock felt himself bristle.

“We have some
blonde agents,” McQueen mused. “They have fair skin, blue eyes. They might pass for naturals. But by tonight? We’d have to contact them, brief them, persuade them… No, it won’t work. No choice but to scrub.”

Rory drew a deep breath. “Let
me
do it.”

“What?” said Rock.

“Let me be your bait.”

“No, absolutely not!” asserted Rock.
McQueen said nothing.

“Why not?” Rory replied. “
You said you and she were going to do a demonstration. She was going to be the submissive, right? All I’d have to do is to let you tie me up and, well, whip me or, uh, beat me or… whatever.”

“
First of all, I would never whip you. And second, you just
had
a traumatic experience being tied up.”

“
This isn’t the same. It’s in plain view of dozens of people and I trust you not to hurt me.” She tittered. “Well, not
too
much.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. Half a
n hour ago you were calling me perverted because you found handcuffs in my shopping bag.”

“I
was upset. I thought you were planning to cheat on me. All that stuff about a late night meeting. If you’d just shown your toys to me and quietly explained you were working undercover for a federal agency to investigate crimes among the kinky, I would have…” She laughed. “thought you were a complete lunatic!”

McQueen
laughed with her and Rock permitted himself a smile. “You know,” McQueen said to Rock, “what she’s proposing might work at that.”

“No way,” said Rock. “It’s too dangerous.”

“That’s the one thing it’s not. When Luna designed this, she heaped on the security. There will be three undercovers inside the Satyricon and two vans outside with surveillance teams, one in front of the club, the other in the parking lot. Any of us inside see someone suspicious, we tell them and they tail ‘em when they leave. Rory would never be out of sight. Anyway, you know Oberon’s technique. He’s not impulsive, never grabs somebody off the bat. He
watches
… and waits.”

“
This is important to me, Rock,” Rory said, real passion in her voice. “I really want to do it!”

“Why
for God’s sake?”

“
For
my
sake. Those two guys, I would have killed them if I could, but I was helpless, powerless. I hate this Oberon sicko too. I can’t get back at them, but maybe I can help take him down. This would make me feel… I don’t know, strong.”

“Empowerment,” said McQueen. “You want to feel empowered.”

“
Yes, that’s the word. But not just feel it, actually
be
empowered.”

“Might be good for her,” McQueen said to Rock. “Therapeutic.”

Rock saw that McQueen had adroitly aligned himself with Rory. Maybe he believed letting her play sub would be therapeutic or maybe he was just saying it, but in a matter of minutes he’d gone from being an acquaintance to an ally. The more Rock said no, the more McQueen could wedge himself between the two of them.

He sighed heavily. “
Call Littlejohn. See what he says. Make it plain it’s just this one time. After tonight, we’ll have to meet with Luna and decide who we’ll get for our permanent bait.”

McQueen got out his phone. “Rory, I’d like to send a picture of you to the DD. That okay?”

“Oh, sure.” She fluffed her hair and smiled. He snapped a photo and then went outside to make his call. She reached across the table and placed her hand over Rock’s. “Thank you.”

“I’m not happy about this.”

“I know. You’re like Richard, protective. I’m here now because you
are
. But you can’t be by my side all the time. You can’t protect me from everything.”

McQueen came back in the restaurant
and handed his iPhone to Rock. “The DD wants to talk to you.”

“Ro
ck here,” he said, putting it to his ear.

“Welcome back, Raptor,”
said the mellow voice of John Littlejohn. He had worked his way through college as a disk jockey and his voice still had a DJ’s smooth, jovial tones.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Oaks told me about his conversation with you. About your friend. This is asking a lot of someone who was just victimized. Do you think she can handle it?”

Rock glanced at Rory’s hopeful face. He fought down his impulse to say she wasn’t.
“She’s a tough girl, sir. I think she can. I’ll keep the session light.”

“Put her on, will you?”

Rock handed the phone to Rory. “This is Aurora Constable,” she said. She listened for a moment. “Thank you, sir. That’s kind of you. You should have seen my mom’s hair,
truly
glorious.” There was a pause and then she said, “Yes. I want to do it very much, sir. The bastards that prey on women, I want to strike them a blow of my own. And if the only way I can do that is to be tied up again, well, I’m ready.”

They spoke a little more and she handed the phone back to Rock.
He put it to his ear.

“This is highly unusual,” said Littlejohn. “But it will let us keep tonight’s sting. That’s important. I also think it will be good for your
friend. She’s very motivated. I’m going to okay this only for tonight. Jaguar tells me there’s more than ample security and I trust you to know if she starts to fray during the session.”

“I’ll be very careful, sir.”

“I’m sure you will. Good luck. Put Jaguar back on.”

Rock handed the phone to McQueen, who listened a moment and then said goodbye.
He turned to Rory and smiled his Hollywood smile. “Welcome to the team.”

She grinned broadly. “Thank you
! Thank you, both. I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t,” McQueen said smoothly.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Rock said grudgingly.

“Well,” she said, extending her arms
and crossing her wrists as if for binding. “Let’s get started!”

They all laughed, even Rock
.

F
or
a B&D club, the Satyricon’s décor was surprisingly conservative: gray tile floors, oak paneling, straightback wooden chairs, discreetly recessed lighting. The attire of employees in the lobby was similarly proper; what you’d expect to find in a law firm. Once through the doors to the play area, however, it more resembled a conventional club. There were some mock columns and other nods to Roman architecture but DC players didn’t need the decorum of ancient Rome to dress up their kinky activities. One or two of those wearing discreet domino masks over their eyes tonight exercised  more power than Nero ever dreamed.

There was a row of stalls on either side of the room, with St
. Andrew’s crosses or spanking benches or similar furniture. At one end of the room was a bar with potted plants and hanging ferns, also a small stage for a band, usually one that played soft jazz, since no one wanted loud music to drown out the sounds of shouted orders or pleas for mercy. There was a larger stage at the other end of the room for presentations and demonstrations. It was bare except for a small stand with some B&D gear and a stout wooden spanking bench.

At
nine o’clock Rock stepped onto the stage. A small crew stood outside the light should he need any help. A cameraman in black stood on stage a few feet from him. A screen above the stage showed Rock for anyone that wanted a closer view.

He was wearing jeans and cowboy boots with spurs,
bare-chested except for a studded leather vest. With his cheek scar and black hair slicked back, he looked imposing and not a little scary. The crowd of about a hundred fell silent. Several people applauded.

He spotted Jaime McQueen, got up in leather gear and—for God’s sake—a military cap, standing just outside the audience, discreetly scanning the crowd. A big black agent named Cobb Jackson was doing the same from the other side. Somewhere else was a female agent whom he hadn’t met yet.
Surveillance teams in two vans with cameras and eavesdropping gear and night vision equipment were parked outside, ready to follow as many as three suspects by car or foot or even bicycle. Everything was in place. Now it was up to him and Rory.

“Good evening, everyone,” he said
in ringing tones. “I’m Dom Miguel and tonight I’m going to give a brief presentation on bondage and discipline. My partner this evening is Roxy, who is, so to speak, a bondage virgin. We’re going to focus on how to introduce a newbie to B&D.”

Rory joined Rock onstage and he could tell from
the audible ripple that went through the audience she made an impression. He had insisted she use an alias and suggested “Roxy,” which sounded like her own name and would be easier to cover if he said it accidentally. She was dressed simply, wearing red heels, a silk white halter top and black shorts. She’d used a scrunchy to put her hair in a loose ponytail.

“Good evening,
Roxy,” he said, launching into the patter that the two of them had briefly rehearsed.

“Good evening, Dom Miguel.”
They stood facing each other about three feet apart. Formality was important in B&D protocol. Her posture was straight but not stiff. Her voice was loud. Her poise pleased and slightly surprised him. He wondered if she’d ever acted. Given how much they’d been through together, it was funny how little he knew about the woman. He wanted to change that.

“You’re looking very lovely this evening.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re new to bondage and discipline?”

“Yes, I’ve never done it before, but I’m eager to explore.”

“Well, here is your first lesson. From now on, you will always call me ‘Master.’
Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

“So are you nervous tonight?”

“Uh, a little.” He said nothing and after a few seconds, she hastily added, “Master.” The audience chuckled.
They liked her already.

He nodded. “It’s
understandable that you’re nervous. I’ll do my best to make you uncomfortable.” This was a familiar joke but it always got a laugh. “What is your safe word for tonight?”

“Red
, Master.”

“Very good. Let’s hope you don
’t have to use it. Now the first thing I’m going to do is to tie your hands behind you.”

“All right… Master.”

He turned to the audience. “When I’m with an experienced sub, I usually don’t say what I'm going to do. If I need her to do something with her arms or legs or take a certain position, I tell her that, nothing more. But when you’re with someone who’s inexperienced you should explain in advance. In fact, before you start to play, the two of you should go over the entire scene. Improvisation is fine but you don’t want to improvise with a newbie.”

He turned back to Rory. “And here’s your second lesson
, Roxy. When I tell you something, it’s not your place to agree with me. As my submissive, you’re entirely under my control.
I
decide what happens to you, not you. If it’s something that scares you, use your safe word before I start. I’ll ask what the problem is and you can tell me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

He turned to the audience. “Tone is everything when you’re playing. When I talked to Roxy just now, I was as polite as if we were in an office and I was explaining a task. If she and I had played before, I would use a different tone. Like this.”

He turned back to Rory and spoke
in a stern voice full of authority. “As my submissive, you’re entirely under
my
control.
I
decide what happens to you,
not
you.”

She visibly quailed and quickly said,
“
Yes, Master!
” Then, realizing she’d agreed with him, she said, “I mean, no, Master. I mean, I’m sorry… Master!”

This got a big laugh and he had to suppress a smile himself.
She was a natural performer. This time he spoke to her in the pleasant, civil tone he’d used before. “When you’re not sure what to say, your best course of action is to say nothing. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

He turned back to the audience. “As dominant,
you
are in charge. Or you’re supposed to be. When your sub makes a mistake, like happened just now, ask yourself if it was her fault or yours. I always end by saying, ‘Do you understand?’ That way it’s perfectly obvious to Roxy how she should reply. She messed up because I failed to say that. Now I want to go back to tone for a moment. Part of the pleasure of being a dominant, at least for me, is acting the part. I enjoy playing a wicked lord or despotic captain. But you can overdo it. Here’s what I mean.”

This time he spoke in a voice that was angry and full of menace.
“As my submissive, you’re entirely under MY control! I decide what happens to you, not
you!
” He stopped speaking. Roxy stared silently at him, her mouth set.  Finally he said, “Do you UNDERSTAND?”

“Yes,
Master,” she said in a flat tone.

He turned to the audience. “Did you hear the tone in
her voice just now? She didn’t like being spoken to that way. I don’t blame her. I wasn’t being dominant. I was being rude.”

He inspected the audience, looking at their faces. “
You probably didn’t like me very much either. Scenes get out of hand when the dom loses his—or her—composure.
Never
do a scene when you’re angry or upset or anxious, whether it’s with your sub or for another reason. Does anyone know the time of year when most B&D injuries occur?… No one? I’ll give you a hint.”

He gestured toward the back of the room at the gay couple that owned the club. “
Harvey and Theo always shut this place down several days in April, just before income tax is due.” It was a lame joke, but it got a laugh. The audience
had
briefly turned against him, even though they knew he was just making a point. This was a way to release tension.

“That’s enough on protocol
for now,” he said. “Let’s get to the good stuff.” He went to a stand and picked up a pair of wrist cuffs joined by a short chain. “Roxy, turn your back to me and put your hands behind your back.”

She did so. He turned to the audience. “You notice I didn’t say ‘please.’ We’ve all been conditioned to be polite but scenes are a time when you can drop the social
niceties.” He fastened the cuffs around her slender wrists, thinking back to the moment only days before when he’d cut the cords around them. She was no doubt thinking the same thing.

“Now you can always ask your sub if that’s too tight,” he told the audience. “I usually don’t because I don’t want to undermine the pretense—and it
is
a pretense—that she has no say. If I can slip two fingers under a strap, I know it’s all right.”

He picked a black blindfold from the stand. “Now we come to the blindfold moment. Most of us like blindfolds. However, some subs don’t. It makes them anxious. If yours does—and she may not know it herself—find out befo
re you do your scene. Usually even a nervous sub can get used to a blindfold over time.” He spoke to Rory, who still stood with her back to him. “Roxy, you tried on a blindfold before you came here. Is that right?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Did it bother you in any way?”

“No, Master.”

“I’m going to blindfold you now. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

He turned to the audience. “You see, I let her know what I was going to do but in a way that didn’t invite her permission. No chance for her to say ‘okay.’ She’s got her back to me but now she knows exactly what to expect. If I put on the blindfold without giving some kind of verbal alert, she might jump or squeal when I touch her. That doesn’t ruin the scene but it’s something to avoid. In a little while, she’ll have plenty of other opportunities to jump or squeal.”

The audience laughed quietly.
The blindfold was soft leather, a domino without eye holes. He slipped it over Rory’s eyes and released the elastic strap. “Roxy, I want you to turn a little so the audience has a good view of your blindfold. I’ll help. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.” He took
her arm and guided her so that she faced the crowd. She looked fantastic, her bound arms hidden behind her back and her hair bunched by the blindfold so that she seemed to have a bright red halo. He was glad he wasn’t wearing leather pants; his hard-on would be all too obvious. He imagined he wasn’t the only male in the audience to have one right now.

“In movies, blindfolds are usual
ly either scarves or duct tape. The problem with scarves is tying them in back. You have to really tie them tight or they’ll slip off. If your sub has a lot of hair like Roxy here, it may slip anyway. Duct tape is excellent, especially if you’re into realistic scenes, but eventually you have to pull it off and that can hurt. I like fitted blindfolds like this one. Easy to put on, easy to take off. It conforms to the face and completely shuts out light. The elastic will hold it tight.”

He looked out at the audience. “Okay, now that I have my little sub helpless, what do I do with her? She’s just starting out so we don’t want to get into
anything too rough. You can have a lot of fun with an ice cube or a feather but I’m going to skip that. Instead we’re going to explore that Victorian stand-by, spanking her little bottom till it turns red.” Rory blushed at this. He gestured at her face and added, “Her cheeks down there will be almost as red and pretty as her cheeks up here.” This got a loud laugh.

When the laugh faded, he
said, “Roxy, how long has it been since you’ve had a good spanking?”

That got another laugh. She got a louder one
when she said, “You mean today, Master?”

He hadn’t expected that and he had to
guffaw along with the audience. In a serious voice, she added, “Actually, Master, I haven’t been spanked since I was a little girl.”

He turned to the audience. “So it’s been a long time and that tells me I should probably anticipate involuntary resistance. That means I need to do something about her hands
because once she’s had a few whaps, she may try to protect her ass. Of course I could command her to take her hands away. That in itself could make a nice scene but not tonight. I could re-tie her hands in front of her but I don’t want to do that either. Instead, I’m going to collar her and then pull her hands up so she can’t protect herself.”

He took a black leather collar from the stand. “Roxy, I’m going to put a collar around your neck. I’ll be careful not to make it too tight.
Understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

Rory’s neck was elegantly slender. He slipped the collar on and buckled it in place, then attached a short chain to a metal ring on the collar and another ring on her wrist straps. He drew the chain until her hands were raised to the small of her back and turned to the audience. “The next thing to decide is what position she should be in. She could just bend over but she may try to move away when I hit her. Remember, she hasn’t been spanked since she was a child. I could have her kneel on a chair but her hands are tied and she might lose her balance and fall. Or I could have her lie face down on a table. That’s an ideal position but I’m going to go one better and put her on this handy piece of furniture.” He gestured at the spanking bench several feet off.