Death of a Master

Chapter 7

The Stalker Strikes

Monday morning came as it always did, with the incessant beeping of Valerie's alarm As Val rolled to shut the clock off, Sally lifted herself on one elbow and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Good morning, Mistress," she said as the sheet fell from her torso, revealing the still healing bruises from Rachael's play over the weekend.

"Morning, Sally. You're coloring quite nicely. Show me your ass, slave."

Sally rolled over, throwing the rest of the covers off with a, "Yes, Mistress." The slightly older markings that Valerie had left were well into their purpling stage and Valerie expected them to start fading in a day or so.

"Very nice," she commented. "Get started on breakfast while I shower. If Susan's up, make enough for all three of us."

Susan had spent the night in the spare bedroom. Valerie and Sally had heard nothing and hoped she'd managed to sleep through the night, alone, without the nightmares that had plagued her the previous week. Saturday's play at Mephisto's seemed to do much to alleviate some of the emotional tension she'd been dealing with. Perhaps the healing had started, both hoped.

After a breakfast for the two of them (Susan wasn't up yet), Valerie left for work while Sally settled in to check on the prospects for independent work in her old field. At the Delgrasi offices, June had everything ready for Valerie like she normally did. As June handed Val her appointment list, she commented, "Mary Carstares requested a 1:00 appointment, Ms. Burbon."

"I see. How does she seem, June? Is she handling the new position well?"

"I believe so, Ms. Burbon. She has a secretary already; a young man who looks to be barely out of high school. He did sound professional on the phone."

"That was fast; certainly faster than I managed to find someone. I wonder where she found him? No matter, it looks like a full day. Any word from Dutch on the exact timing of the shoot?"

"Not yet, but I'll be calling him later in the day to check." Both women knew Dutch rarely opened his studio before ten in the morning.

"Good, let me know as soon as you find out."

Valerie's morning passed quickly as she dealt with the minutia of dealing with the advertising for the dozen publications at Delgrasi. After a lunch in her office, she headed over to Mary's office for their meeting. In the outer office, Valerie silently thought June was correct; this guy was barely out of high school. However, he was dressed appropriately and seemed to be on the ball.

"Good morning," he greeted her. "Are you Ms. Burbon?"

"Yes I am," Valerie answered, letting the answer hang to question his name.

"Xavier, ma'am. I'm still waiting for a name plate," he added by way of explanation. "Ms. Carstares is waiting and said to have you go right in."

Valerie nodded and strode into Calvin's old office. Valerie caught herself and forced her thoughts to acknowledge it as Mary's office. Inside, she could see that the new editor of

The Pony's Paddock

had taken her advice to heart and had made the office visibly hers. The changes were subtle, but there; flowers near the coffee machine, a different chair that was a perfect fit for Mary, and a computer desktop of her pets instead of the one of Susan that Calvin preferred.

"Ms. Burb...Valerie; I'm not sure when I'll get used to that. Coffee?"

"No, thank you. Tell me, how did you find a secretary so quickly?" Valerie asked as she sat down.

"Oh, Xavier? He's a pony boy who's done some modeling for articles over the last few months. I'd had a chance to talk with him, covering one of the shoots, and found out that he'd completed a one year degree in office management. I figured, even if he's not great, I can train him to be a good secretary easier than I can train a good secretary to be open minded about kink."

"Mary, that's brilliant. I hope he works out. So, what do you need from me?"

Mary sat back in her chair as she answered. "I've given some thought to the pet product advertisements, and think I need to pursue it as soon as possible. I liked your idea of focus groups being outsourced and wondered if you could point me towards any specific companies; and what ideas you had about the actual questions we could ask."

"There's a couple of good companies you could use. You might even use both, as they have different methodologies and would give you different types of data. As for the questions, let's talk about just what kind of ads you're hoping to carry; that'll drive the questions."

"I thought so," Mary replied, as she turned her computer screen so both could see it. "These are what I'm hoping to get, eventually. With the primary focus being actual pets, I thought..."

The hour passed quickly as the two women mapped out a question strategy that would let them know how people would react to the ads Mary was hoping to draw to

Pony's Paddock

. With the strategy and a list of companies that she could contact, Mary was on the phone as Valerie left (it would take Mary a while yet to effectively delegate such duties). When Valerie returned to her own office, June was waiting with some information.

"Ms. Burbon, Dutch confirmed that he'll be shooting the ad shots on Wednesday. I've cleared your schedule from noon on so you can eat before the session."

"Thank you, June." Remembering something as she thought over the appointments she could remember, Valerie asked, "When did you reschedule my meeting with Mr. Falstaff?"

"You'll be meeting with him in the morning, Wednesday. Cecile's appointment for then is now Thursday at ten in the morning," June replied, referring to the editor of

Second Skin

.

"Good," Valerie replied. "I don't know what I'd do without you, June."

June's smile at the compliment was her only reaction as she maintained her professional mien. The rest of Valerie's work day passed without incident. She was able to make it home before Sally normally had dinner ready. Val's slave and lover met her at the door, where they embraced warmly. Valerie could feel the marks on Sally's naked back as they embraced.

"How was your day, love?" she asked.

"Very productive, Mistress." The couple entered, closing the door behind them. "I put in bids on a couple of jobs. I'm hoping to hear back early next week."

"How much time do they look to take?" Valerie asked.

"I don't expect either to take more than 20 hours of work. If I were to win both, they wouldn't take more than three to four hours a day between them."

"That's perfect, Sally. Just enough to keep you busy while I'm at work without stealing time from me."

"I'd never want to do that, Mistress," Sally whispered, looking down at the floor.

Valerie lifted the slave's chin. "I know you wouldn't, dear. I can also see how excited you are to start working in your field again."

"Yes, Mistress. It's strange. I quit originally because it felt like my job was taking me away from you. Now, it's different, somehow. I'm not sure what's different."

"I'm not sure either, other than we're not the same two women we were two years ago." Valerie looked up to see Susan, in her usual unclad state, standing at the bottom of the stairs to the second floor. "Susan, it's good to see you. How has your day been?" she asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Not too bad, Valerie. Last night was nightmare free. I'm still having bouts of horrible sadness." Susan's face fell as she walked to the couple. "I miss him so much," she said, her voice choking back tears.

Valerie and Sally took her by the arms, holding her as her body shook. "It's all right," Sally answered. "You'll feel like that off and on for a while, maybe years. When it comes on you, just let yourself feel it. Holding it in is the worst thing you can do." Valerie nodded in agreement, brushing the leaking tears from Susan's face.

The three stood there, Valerie and Sally comforting Susan as her body and heart experienced another round of heavy grieving. Several minutes later, Susan was able to bring herself back from the crying with a wry smile. "On top of all that, I'm finding myself very horny. It seems so weird to feel like bawling my eyes out one minute and needing a cock in me the next."

Valerie shook her head with a smile. "Not to me, it isn't. You didn't stop being an incredibly sexual woman just because...you know," Valerie corrected herself, unwilling to mention Calvin's death specifically. "Have you done anything about the feelings?"

Susan blushed, and realizing she had done so, blushed even more at the thought of the formerly uninhibited slave becoming embarrassed at someone talking to her about her sexuality. "No," she was finally able to answer. "Sally seemed too busy to ask."

Sally smiled, her head shaking. "Susan, feel free to ask whenever you're feeling the need.' With a wink, Sally added, "I have permission to play with you whenever," in a conspiratorial whisper.

Susan looked at Sally's body, noticing for the first time her signs of arousal, the stiffness of her nipples and that first blush of color in her cheeks. Susan's hand reached out to stroke Sally's arm. Sally let herself be drawn into an embrace. Valerie chuckled, speaking over her shoulder as she turned towards the kitchen. "Go on you two. Have some fun and I'll work on dinner."

The two naked women embraced closer, kissing deeply as their hands roamed over each others' bodies. When their embrace broke, Susan whispered, "I need to be fucked, Sally. Please fuck me."

It'll be a pleasure," Sally replied, her eyes gleaming with desire. She kept hold of Susan's hand and led her to the bedroom. Sally, well experienced in reading the desires of submissive lovers having started in the lifestyle as a switch), could tell what Susan wanted but hadn't stated explicitly. She guided Susan to lie at the end of the bed, her arms outstretched. From the toy box they kept under the bed, Sally strapped black, leather cuffs to Susan's wrists. Ropes were tied between the cuffs and the head of the bed. Sally put a padded spreader bar between Susan's knees, forcing her legs to remain open, and secured it to the bed frame to prevent Susan from seeking her own pleasure against the bed..

Once Susan was secured, Sally started caressing the woman's body with light touches. Susan writhed under the sensual contact, her body becoming increasingly needy as Sally went about her pleasant task. Soon Susan was trying to thrust her ass and pussy out in search of contact of some kind. She was moaning and tugging at the cuffs on her wrists. She looked back over her shoulder, pleading with her eyes. Calvin had trained her to not plead out loud unless invited to.

Sally, worked up herself, pulled the strap on from the box, inserting the shorter end in her own pussy. She rubbed the long end, an eight- inch long latex cock, against Susan's cunt, teasing her with a lack of the penetration she desperately wanted. Only when Susan had been reduced to a whimpering mess, did Sally thrust the cock she wore home, penetrating Susan with all eight inches. Once she entered Susan, she wasted no more time with teasing, but fucked her with hard, fast strokes; her hips twisting to give her own cunt and clit the stimulation she needed for her own desires.

Susan thrust back as much as she could given the extent of her bindings. Her well teased body responded sharply to the sensations being inflicted upon it and her climax arrived quickly, and hard. Sally didn't stop just because Susan came, but continued her fucking until her own orgasm hit her, with Susan's second following seconds later.

Both women recovered slowly, Sally lying atop Susan. Sally reached forward and undid the Velcro on the wrist cuffs, letting Susan flex her arms for the first time in nearly half an hour. She extracted herself and removed the strap on, before releasing Susan's legs from the bound spreader bar.

"We should shower, Susan."

Rolling over slowly, Susan nodded her head in acknowledgement. The pair took a quick shower before joining Val for dinner. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, bringing the morning in short order. Valerie, as she parked her car, noted that Mary's car was already on the lot. "Strange," she thought to herself, "she was here later than I was and returned before me."

As she entered her office area, she asked, "June, do you know when Mary arrived?"

"No, ma'am. She was already here when I arrived. She even beat her secretary in," Val's assistant answered, concern evident in her voice.

"Not good, so not good. If she's not careful, she'll burn herself out. Keep an eye and ear open. I don't want to lose her." As Val entered her own office, she muttered under her breath, "She needs to take care of herself."

Any empty time Valerie had had at the start of the week was gone now; lost in the flurry of rescheduling to make time for attending the photo shoot at Dutch's. Mary faded from Val's mind for the rest of the day. It was only as she was leaving, that Mary returned to Valerie's attention when she saw the new editor's car still in the parking lot. Valerie turned around and walked to Mary's office, finding the inner office door shut and Mary's secretary gone. Valerie walked in without a word. Mary looked up, dark circles under her eyes.

"Mary, if you look like this on Tuesday, I shudder to think of what you'll look like by the end of the week." Valerie took a seat in front of the desk. "What's going on?"

Mary sighed heavily, her breath rushing out as if forced by a bellows. "There's just so much that needs to be done. I don't know where he found the time to do it all."

Valerie shook her head sadly. "I seriously doubt that there's much that needs to be done in one day." Valerie looked at the paperwork Mary was working on. "Like this, for instance. The budgets aren't due for another week. You don't need to have your projections done tonight..." Valerie suddenly thought of something. "Wait a minute. Mary, isn't this something you did

for

Calvin? Why haven't you let

your

secretary handle that?"

Mary leaned back in her chair, shaking her head. "I'm responsible for the budget for

Pony's Paddock

. It's not right to shove it off on someone else."

Valerie stood up, deftly shoving Mary's name plate into the folder and closing it. "Mary, that's called delegating. Good Lord, Mary, do you honestly think I go over each and every number in my budget? That's what I have June for. That's one of the reasons Calvin had you. Let Xavier deal with it in the morning. You need to go home and get some rest. You're not doing anyone any favors by working yourself so hard." Valerie took Mary by the arm, moving her to her feet. She led the unresisting woman out of the building and to her car. Go home, Mary. Get some sleep." Noticing the accumulated fast food containers in the car, she added, "And eat some real food. That stuff will kill you."

Valerie waited until Mary was in her car, then sat in her own until Mary had actually left the lot. At home, Val found a message from Charles on her personal email, telling her to report to his mansion Wednesday evening, prepared to send the night. Val smiled at the thought of submitting to her Master, and spent a good portion of the evening in gleeful anticipation.

The next morning, Valerie, overnight bag in her trunk, drove to the office to face a more than full day; so it would seem. Her morning was non-stop meetings, most rescheduled to the morning to allow her the afternoon to be spent at Dutch's. June had her lunch delivered to the office, allowing Val to eat in half the time she normally took (Valerie rarely ate in the office, a tactic that prevented overwork and burnout). By half past noon, Valerie was in her car, driving through the light rainfall that had started an hour earlier.

Valerie, arriving at Dutch's studio at one, was the last person needed for the session to arrive. Dutch was already setting up one of the frames in a cross configuration. "Valerie, good, you're just in time. You know Frank and Melissa?" he asked. At Valerie's nod, he went on. "Mr. Harris and I were just talking about the shots. I think we're all on the same page, so we'll start right away."

The session went well into the afternoon, with each arrangement having numerous pictures taken, sometimes to generate ads for different magazines with different appeals, sometimes to correct problems that wouldn't have shown up in the original draft drawings. Contrary to what the uninformed might expect, neither the models nor the observers experienced any sexual arousal.

Advertisement photography, unlike pictures destined for erotic magazines, simply wasn't sexually stimulating. A single picture in an ad might take several poses and reposes, with the models doing essentially nothing between shots. An added factor is the purpose of the photos in an ad. The photo is intended to showcase the item being displayed, not any erotic content or the models' beauty. Unless the item being advertised was something specifically designed to

cause

arousal, visible evidence of arousal was specifically kept out of the shots. While it was true that sex sells, it was the hint of sex that sold, not the presence of sex.

By six that night, the photos were done and Valerie had a CD with the finished shots. The next few days would see the photos transformed into actual ads By the following week, the ads would start appearing in Delgrasi publications. Mr. Harris was pleased with the work that had been done and promised to stay in touch with Valerie as the week went on. By seven, Val was parking in her usual spot at Charles' mansion.

Valerie retrieved her overnight bag from the trunk and walked up to the front door of the house. Judging from the fact that Herman answered the door after one knock, Val assumed he had been waiting for her.

"Miss Valerie, have you eaten yet?" he asked.

"No, Herman, I haven't had the chance."

"Then Master Charles has instructed that you join him in the dining room," Herman replied, standing aside to allow Valerie to enter.

"Thank you, Herman," she said. Knowing he would've passed on any special instructions, Val didn't ask if there were any.

In the dining room, Valerie found Charles and Nadine sitting side by side. That Nadine was naked was not a surprise. Valerie smiled at the casual intimacy the two shared. Valerie knew the two shared a special connection that even they were unaware of so far. Just the fact that Nadine was the first slave Charles had who was in the mansion full time said much. She knew the story of how they met would be a fascinating one when they finally shared it.

"Valerie, take a seat here," Charles ordered, pointing to the chair on his other side. Valerie sat and joined the other two in their meal. Like most meals at the mansion, this dinner was a fairly simple one; a roast with vegetables and baked potatoes. Other than the collars both Valerie and Nadine wore (and Nadine's nakedness), nothing about the meal would have told any observer that there was a Master/slave relationship between Charles and the women. Conversation was much like one would find around any dinner table in any home in the US.

Valerie was fidgety by the time dinner was over. She'd been ordered here for a night of submission, and so far there hadn't been any, at least not from her. Throughout the meal and conversation, Valerie's imagination ran wild, trying to anticipate what her Master had in store for her. The tension was broken as Charles pushed his plate towards the center of the table.

"Valerie, go downstairs and strip. I want to find you kneeling next to the table in play room three," Charles ordered. Val knew that Cherise, a recent addition to Charles' staff who had worked at a resort that catered to the sexually adventurous, would be dealing with the clean up from dinner. Play room three was the room with the medical table.