Teena: A House of Ill Repute (24 page)

We were shown through into a lavishly furnished rear room overlooking a garden that made up for in style what it lacked in size, with an ornamental stone fountain in the middle of a pond forming the focal point. It was all very predictable, but nonetheless elegant. A third uniformed footman appeared and served drinks to Erik and myself, and I waved him away when he made to approach the girls. I had allowed them a relaxant brandy before we left the hotel, but I didn't want them drunk for what was to come.

Hardly had I sipped at my wine - not an easy feat, given the rigid nature of the lip opening in my mask - than the door opened again and Archibald himself appeared. He was dressed conservatively, but I could see the flush of anticipation in his cheeks and his eyes darted over the girls as he approached me and bowed.

'Everything is ready, your ladyship,' he announced. Whether or not he believed I was nobility I neither knew nor cared, but if he guessed at my deception, he gave no sign of it.

I nodded to Indira, who ushered the girls towards the door. As if at a given signal, one of the original footmen appeared and bowed them through.

'Now then, Mr Henderbrick,' I began in what I hoped was a passable 'noblewoman's voice, just to make sure there are no misunderstandings concerning our arrangement...'

He blinked, but nodded.

'Good,' I said. 'Well, my assistant here, Mr Johannson, is sworn to protect my person at all times and will shoot anyone he considers to be endangering my safety. That is, he will shoot to kill, you understand?'

I saw Henderbrick swallow heavily as he again nodded.

'We are also expected back at our hotel by a certain time in the morning and, if we fail to arrive for whatever reason, word will immediately be given to the rest of my men, who are staying nearby. They know precisely where we are, and if we do not return safely they will come straight here and make quite a nasty mess, both of you and your friend and of this house.'

'I understand,' Henderbrick said, blinking faster now. 'But I assure you, Madame, you will be perfectly safe. You are my guest here and no one will harm you in any way.'

'And that goes for my girls, too,' I said firmly. 'There are certain limits, beyond which I do not allow anyone to go. I think I explained these to you previously?'

'Of course,' he said. 'Absolutely. And now, if your, err, lady assistant is competent to prepare the other, err, ladies, which I'm sure she is, perhaps I could offer you another drink.'

I looked down at my glass, which I had barely touched, and shook my head. 'Perhaps a small cigar, though,' I said, 'if you have such a thing here, that is?'

Erik had not exaggerated in his description of the converted cellar dungeon. Indeed, I quickly realised he had probably only seen half of it, for there were several chambers beneath the house, two linked directly to each other and five more leading off a narrow passageway I saw also led to a flight of steps, at the top of which I could just make out another door. Presumably it was an exit leading directly to the open air, which was a common enough arrangement and enabled supplies such as wine and cheese to be delivered directly without the inconvenience of having tradesmen tramping through the house itself.

Three of the smaller rooms were still in use for cool storage areas I observed as Henderbrick led the way along the passageway, passing their open doors, but the owners of the house had given over the vast majority of the space down here to the enactment and enjoyment of their fantasies. The remaining two smaller rooms had been arranged as dressing areas, with racks of costumes of every imaginable kind, whilst the two large interlinked chambers were clearly the stages upon which the performances took place, and as much thought, if not more, had gone into them as had gone into Carmen's subterranean theatre.

As we walked through into the second of these cellar rooms, I realised there was a figure standing at the very far end, the shiny black leather of his outfit rippling slightly in the flickering lantern light as he moved towards us. He was unmasked, but from the neck down he had been laced into a cat suit that looked as though it had come straight from the pages of a nineteen seventies fetish magazine. I smiled behind the anonymity of my mask. As I had observed many times before by now, some things never change and there are few genuinely new ideas, just variations on a few old, tried and trusted ones.

The young man - for the figure proved to be male - stopped a few feet in front of us and bowed stiffly, not that he could have done anything other than stiffly in that get-up, which I could now see was little more than a collection of corsets sewn together, and probably as restrictive as that damned dog suit Megan had forced me into. Pottinger again, perhaps, I reflected, but this youthful fellow looked anything but aggrieved at being constricted so. His fresh cheeks were flushed and his eyes, although looking just a touch unfocussed, gleamed with what could only be anticipation.

'May I introduce my young friend, Contessa?' Henderbrick said with a formality that was almost ludicrous. 'Paulie, this is the Contessa Sadie Christa di Ventura, our honoured guest for this evening.'

Paulie bowed again and extended a black-gloved hand, which I took lightly in my own white-gloved one and then released, perhaps a shade too quickly.

'Delighted, Contessa,' the young man trilled. 'Archie has told me all about you, of course.'

I made a harrumphing noise in the back of my throat. 'No one could tell you
all
about me, young man,' I said in the haughtiest tone I could muster, 'excepting for myself, of course. My clients know only what is necessary for them to know; no more, no less.' It sounded ridiculous to my ears, but the effect was right on the nail.

Paulie flinched visibly and Archie stiffened.

'Apologies, Contessa,' Archie declared. 'I'm afraid young Paulie here is a little raw. I'm sure he meant no offence.'

'In which case there is none taken,' I replied smoothly, 'but I nevertheless think that a salutary lesson is required before we proceed any further. I cannot tolerate any indiscretions and I am sure you would prefer for the proceedings not to be marred by youthful inexperience.' I eyed Paulie with a steely gaze he could not see.
You wanna learn, buster, I'm gonna teach you and then let's see how fucking eager you are
. 'Do you have a cane?' I demanded. 'A good stout one, the longer the better.' I was already eyeing a piece of equipment to my left, a sort of vaulting horse, except the arrangement of straps on its legs and sides indicated that anyone who went over it was supposed to stay over it and not continue to the other side.

Archie, who had noticed the slight turn of my head, was quicker on the uptake than I'd expected him to be. 'Of course,' he said, turning and striding across to a rack from which hung a variety of sticks and crops. 'Perhaps you would care to correct Paulie's attitude whilst I go through and change into something more suitable?'

At this point a penny dropped somewhere in Paulie's head. His eyes grew wide and round. 'I - I say!' he stammered. 'I say, Archie old man, that's a bit rich, surely. You can't mean—?'

'Be quiet!' I snapped, my voice echoing around the brick and stone walls like a manic tennis ball. Paulie actually jumped as I pointed one gloved finger at him. 'You want to be a part of this,' I said silkily, 'then you will learn from the very beginning. Besides, that leather will offer you more protection than my girls will be afforded later on. Plus,' I added wickedly, 'I'm sure you've been beaten before, at school, no doubt?'

'Well, err, yes, but never by a - a...'

'Never by a woman, no,' I said it for him. I allowed myself a smile that he could not see. 'Perhaps the experience will be good for you,' I added evilly. I had seen the way he had been eyeing me as opposed to the way he looked at Archie. Whether he yet knew it or not, I suspected this young man's preferences leaned away from the female sex, but then the English public schools system had much to answer for in that respect. 'Just consider this an extension of your education,' I said as Archie handed me a long bamboo cane. 'The Contessa's finishing school for effete young men, if you like. Now drag that horse this way and let's have you over it. Normally I would have my girl strap you down, of course, but as she is still engaged with her other duties, perhaps your master here would do the honours?'

Archie looked surprised at this, but quickly recovered and nodded, managing not to look too eager, even though I suspected otherwise.

With Archie's help the whipping horse was quickly manoeuvred into the central area. I examined it, nodding my approval at the craftsmanship. Good solid joints, nailed and bolted through, the heavy top padded and covered in tough looking leather, the weight of the whole thing more than sufficient to prevent it bouncing around from the bucking struggles of its victims. I tapped the top of the padding with the bamboo rod and nodded at Paulie. 'Up, you snivelling wimp!' I barked. 'Get yourself on here and be quick about it.'

He now looked genuinely frightened, but more frightened of disobeying me than he was of what was about to come. Actually, I realised he was in a state of complete shock at the rapid turn of events, and the quicker I had him immobilised the easier this was going to be, for me, at any rate. As for him, well, I hadn't got him into this, so as far as I was concerned, it would do him good to be on the receiving end before he got to being on the giving end. The only way to appreciate what a cane or whip can do is to experience the effects firsthand.

He struggled to haul himself up, but eventually sat straddling the horse. I motioned to Archie with the cane and he quickly moved in, dragging Paulie's ankles back and buckling them into the heavy straps. Initially the young man tried to keep himself in a semi-sitting position by using his hands to support his upper body weight, but as soon as I saw his ankles were secure, I rapped him smartly across each set of knuckles in turn. He got the message and laid himself down so that his head hung just over the front end. A few seconds later and he was stuck in that position, his wrists buckled to the forward legs.

I smiled to myself and jabbed the tip of the cane at the wide strap hanging midway down the side facing me. 'And that,' I ordered curtly.

Archie nodded and quickly drew the leather band over the small of Paulie's back, walking around to the far side to bring up the matching strap with the buckle.

'Good and tight,' I commanded. 'I don't want the little gobshite to be able to twitch so much as an inch.'

Paulie turned his head, an expression of sheer terror on his face. 'Please!' he wailed. 'Please, Contessa, I think... I think I've changed my mind!'

I laughed and flicked the cane against the bottom of the front leg nearest me. Paulie flinched and would have jumped, but for the broad strap that was now buckled tightly across his back.

'Changed your mind, have you?' I mocked. 'Well, I haven't, so that's just too bad. Archie, you may now go and change.' I looked up at the ceiling. 'One final thing, first. This place is probably soundproof, but my ears are a little sensitive today, so perhaps you would be so kind as to gag the whelp?'

I could see Archie's excitement level was mounting and he was only too willing to oblige. Yes, I could see our host was starting to enter into the spirit of things, and Paulie's predicament and impending punishment was as much of a turn-on to him as if he was one of my girls. Ah well, I thought, it takes all sorts, and whatever poor Paulie got in the course of events, it would be a bit less for Milly, Molly and Mandy to endure. The only problem was, when Archie forced the leather wedge gag into his young friend's mouth and finished buckling the strap behind his head to hold it in place, I saw he was now more than a little reluctant to leave.

'You go ahead,' I urged him, patting his shoulder. 'I'll just be warming him up and I'll leave him here for you to give him a couple of good swats when you're properly attired, yes?'

Archie hesitated, but then nodded enthusiastically. 'Oh yes,' he breathed, 'yes indeed. Most kind, Contessa, most kind.'

Paulie stared at him, his eyes bulging above the gag strap, and made a plaintive mewling sound, but if he thought that was going to do him any good he was very much mistaken. I waited until Archie had departed and then walked over to stand alongside the helpless figure. I shifted the cane from my right hand to my left and then ran my right hand gently over the leather-covered target area.

'My, my, Paulie,' I chuckled, 'but you have such a pretty bottom. The leather suits you so well and the strap across your middle has much the same effect as a corset does on a lady. There's many a girl would be pleased to have such a nicely rounded arse. Are you sure you're really a boy under all this, Paulie, eh?'

He nodded vigorously, trying to say something through the gag, but of course the only sounds he could make bore no resemblance to intelligible speech.

'Yes,' I said, deliberately drawing out the ritual, 'this is a very pretty body indeed. Reminds me of someone I know, as a matter of fact. Hmmm, I wonder if we oughtn't put you into petticoats and stockings and then let Archie punish you along with all the other naughty girls, eh Paulie?'

This time he shook his head so violently I thought he might be in danger of inflicting permanent brain damage on himself.

I patted his head. 'No, maybe not,' I said reassuringly. 'Not this time, anyway, though I suspect you might like it, eh you naughty young thing? I'll wager the thought of being made pretty and then sucking on Archie's fat cock makes you feel all hot and sticky, doesn't it?'