Disclaimer: The people and incidents in this story are purely fictional: any resemblance to real life is strictly coincidental. As to the places, everyone knows that San Francisco is a myth, and we want to keep it that way!
Katie kept looking at herself in the mirror, she couldn't quite believe what she was wearing. When James had told her that they were going out to buy her an outfit for the New Year's Ball, she hadn't expected anything like this. In the ten months that they had been together they had been to several of the monthly D/s parties held in San Francisco. As a Master, his attire was always formal, I.E. black tie and coat, but as his sub she wore whatever he wanted her to. Of course, being a sub, her attire always included a collar with her Master's name on it, as well as wrist cuffs. So far, she had gone to parties wearing as much as a robe that covered her from the top of her head to her feet, (which ended up completely open by the end of the night); to as little as her Halloween costume where she had gone as a tiger, wearing just body paint.
In this case James had taken her to the nicest store in town and literally dressed her from the skin out. He had started with black silk (not nylon!) stockings, and a black lace garter belt. Then to her surprise, a pair of white French cut silk panties. Normally she was never allowed to wear panties, unless, of course he had a reason. It took quite a while to decide on the rest of her outfit, but he finally picked out a floor length strapless black dress. The bodice had slender, almost invisible stays, which held up the dress and molded it to her body, and the front was cut into a deep "V" to show off most of the insides of her breasts. One side of the slightly flared skirt was slit most of the way up her thigh. On the front of the dress, starting from her crotch and fanning up and out was a burst of silver and diamond-like sparkles. The whole thing was topped off with a short-waisted jacket, also black, as were the low-heeled pumps he had selected to complete her outfit.
As Katie studied her reflection, she appreciated the other accessories James had chosen. Tonight she was wearing her stainless steel collar. The highly polished metal offset the black of the dress and complemented the sparkles on it. Her cuffs for tonight were also stainless steel but looked like ordinary bracelets. You had to look closely at them to see that they were locked around her wrists and not about to slip off.
She had carefully applied makeup and her hair was pulled up and back so her collar showed to it's best advantage. Looking in the mirror one last time she noticed James standing behind her looking too. "Beautiful. That is the perfect outfit for tonight. You couldn't look prettier."
Katie spun around once for his inspection, then stepped close to him. Putting her arms around his waist, she snuggled against him and gave him a tight hug. "If anyone had told me that I would ever wear anything as nice as this I would have told them that they were crazy! Thank you so much sweetheart!"
James gave her a long close hug before stepping back and giving her a swat on the ass. "Come wench, or we shall be late for the ball. Your coach awaits."
It was a beautiful night to be driving to the city: Cold but cloudless, and a full moon to light their way along the highway. The drive to San Francisco was a good two hours, and after exiting the highway it was another fifteen minutes before they reached the party site. James carefully threaded his way though the narrow streets of the SOMA district to what looked like nothing more than an old warehouse. Pulling up into the driveway, James stopped in front of a large roll-up door. Getting out of the car he walked up to and knocked on a smaller door set to the side. A small panel opened and James showed their invitation. The panel snapped shut, and as James got back into the car, the large door started moving up. Driving into the building, James parked the car. He got out and walked around to the trunk where he removed a few things that Katie couldn't see. Then he rounded the car to open her door.
As Katie moved to get out he stopped her. "I need your feet first, pet." When she swung her feet out of the car towards him, she found out what one of the items from the trunk was. James pushed her dress up out of the way and fastened a narrow padded leather cuff around each ankle. A chain, about three feet long, connected the two cuffs together. She realized then that she was to be hobbled this night. Helping her from the car, he spoke again, "Hold your hands out." As she complied, she looked down to see him attach a short length of chain between her wrist cuffs. As a final touch James clipped a stainless steel lead chain to her collar. "You are dressed so finely that we can't have you mistaken for a Domme tonight."
She followed a short way behind him as he held her leash lightly in his hand and led her to the admission table where two members of the guiding body of the group sat. James again produced his invitation and handed it to them. Even though the man behind the table knew James well, he still followed the procedure.
"Names!" he snapped out.
"James and Katie Wilson, Orangevale," James replied.
"Since?"
"Me, nineteen ninety three, her two thousand one." The woman who was also behind the table looked quickly at her records then nodded.
With a smile the man looked up at both of them and spoke again. "Great that you could make it tonight James, Katie." Then looking mostly at Katie he continued, "I'm sure that this will be a very interesting night for you."
As they walked to the freight elevator behind the admission table, Katie leaned close to James and questioned in a whisper, "What did he mean by that?"
Lifting the gate to the elevator, James just smiled and replied, "Don't worry about it. You'll find out."
When the elevator rose to the third floor of the building, the noise of the party washed over the couple. The crowd was larger than Katie ever had seen here, but the building was so big that it was far from crowded. At each end of the long hall was a stage with a very large screen over it. Similar screens were positioned in the middle of each of the sidewalls. She knew these were for the projection TV system, but right now they were currently showing just a light show. On either side of and below the screens on the sidewalls were an array of suspension frames, 4x4 frame-works hung with chains and leather straps for holding the sub, ladder like sets of horizontal bars and the large "X"s of St. Andrew's crosses. At this early hour of the evening most were still empty, but here and there, small groups clustered showing that an apparatus was in use. One thing Katie had never seen before. In the center of the hall another stage had been set up. This one was round, about twenty feet across, and about five feet off the floor. On it were two upright 4x4's about eight feet tall which were topped by a cross beam. As she and James passed this stage, Katie looked up into the rafters and saw spotlights that could be trained down on the stage, but for now it was dark and empty.
Moving into the hall, James and Katie were greeted by several of their friends. Many of the women "ooh'ed" and "ah'ed", complementing Katie on her dress. Katie was careful to remember the conversation rules. Doms could speak to other Doms and to subs, and subs could then reply to them. Subs could talk to other subs as they wished, unless one was gagged. While most Dominants didn't really stand too fast on these rules, it was always better to remember them, as there were some stuffy enough to insist on it.
James led her over to the bar and buffet table. At the bar he got them each a drink, then, as she held the cups, he made a heaping plate of snacks from the buffet table. Motioning Katie to a table near by, they sat down and enjoyed the food and drink. As they nibbled on their snacks, several friends stopped at their table to chat and catch up on all the things that had happened in the last months.
