End

Author's note: Here's the final chapter of "Slave Girl Emily." Acknowledgments are at the end. It's way too late to provide a summary of the story so far; rather, I'll just say that the end of Ch. 10 left Emily unable to choose among the three Masters who want to own her. Tags: Slave, Bondage, Exhibitionism, Orgasm denial, Teasing, Punishment, Collaring, Straight sex, Lesbian sex.

*****

This isn't subspace. Where is it ... hell? I can't see ... can't hear. Pain ... stimulation - they're the same. Mouth open ... dry ... tongue thick. Need to speak ... can't make words.

Except one.

"Satis!"

I cry. It's my safeword, the one Andrew gave me so long ago - Latin for "Enough!" I've told it to each of my Masters, but I've never used it or understood its true power. In an instant, it changes everything.

It only takes Master a minute, here in Ai's playroom, to lower me to the floor and extract me, weak and trembling, from the ropes, take out the probes, and detach the nipple clamps. He gathers me up in his arms - my head rests on his shoulder - and carries me to the bathroom, where he sets me on the toilet and runs the bath while I pee. He shakes in some bath salts and pulls up his sleeve to test the temperature with his wrist.

I wipe myself and try to get up, but my legs won't hold me. I fall back onto the toilet seat. Master picks me up again - how strong he is! - and lifts me into the bath. He sits by the tub, watches, and waits, saying nothing. I close my eyes, soak, and feel the bathwater work on my sore skin and muscles.

Strength returns to me slowly. Maybe I've slept a little. I open my eyes and he's still there. I know he's been with me the whole time.

Why did I resist using my safeword for so long? It's hard even to remember: half an hour ago was another life. Maybe I believed saying it was a failure of submission, or maybe I thought I was too tough to need it. But the instant I said it, I understood that I had given Master a great gift. In using the power of my word, I had shaped and defined the power I was giving him, and I had given him permission to use all of that power to dominate me. When I asserted the power of the word, I submitted to him utterly.

"I'm okay now,' I say, and sit up. He reaches for a white towel as I stand and step out onto the mat. I'm wobbly, but I stay upright. He pats me dry, not hurrying, and wraps the towel around me. He picks me up again, carries me to the bedroom Mistress Ai assigned us, and lays me on the bed. There's a bottle of sweet almond oil on the nightstand, and he massages me everywhere - back first, then front. It cools and soothes me, but it leaves me aroused and needy again. I'd beg him to make love to me, but I know I have to be patient.

Finished with the massage, he bends down, cups my chin in his hand, and kisses me - all too briefly. He stands, and I raise myself and sit on the edge of the bed.

He says, "They're waiting."

* * *

Mistress Ai chose the date and insisted on hosting the event. She made her slave Shita (who had a fine calligraphic hand in addition to surpassing skill at cunnilingus) make up three cards that read:

TO BE SOLD

by private auction

on Saturday, June 23rd, 2012, at 1:00pm:

SLAVE GIRL EMILY

also known as Famula

.

Payment is due immediately upon winning the auction.

Collaring will take place upon payment.

This lot is sold without warranty

in "As Is" condition.

At the bottom was Mistress Ai's address and "RSVP" with her telephone number. She had Kuso deliver the cards to Andrew, Christopher, and Frederick, with strict instructions (on pain of most unpleasant punishment) to place them directly into the hands of the addressees. It was easy to deliver the cards to Frederick and Christopher: Ai's name brought Frederick out of a partners' meeting and Christopher from seclusion in the library. Andrew was harder to find, since he worked irregular hours and spent little time at home, but the slave finally tracked him down in the break room at Saks.

All three of the men called within a few hours and peppered Ai with questions. They all wanted to know if the auction notice was serious. It was, she said. I fully intended to become the slave of whoever won the auction. They all wanted to know who else had received the notice, and she told them, as we'd agreed she would.

Frederick wanted to know what the point of the auction was, since it was obvious that he could easily outbid a college professor and a store clerk. She told him that outbidding his rivals might not be as easy as he expected. Christopher wanted to know if in-kind goods (for example, the deed on a house) would be accepted as payment, and she said such things would be as good as cash. Mistress Ai had to talk Andrew into attending at all. She explained to him why I was unattached and looking for a Master. He said he had little hope of competing with the other two Masters: he barely made enough to support himself, let alone bid on expensive goods at auctions. She told him it was my earnest wish that he be there, and added that he should not assume that he wasn't rich enough to win. In the end he agreed to come.

All three men asked if they could talk to me, and her answer was no. I wanted to remain in seclusion until the day of the auction.

Daniel called and asked if he could attend and bid; so did the repulsive Freddy from the New Year's Eve party. Mistress Ai said she was very sorry that she could not permit them to either bid or attend. She received a number of similar calls from would-be Doms (mostly fantasists and psychopaths, she said), and she left it to her slaves to fend them off. It seemed that my auction was the talk of the New York BDSM community. At my request, Ai invited my mentor Kevin to attend as a friend and witness. Four of her slaves would be in attendance (the fifth slave, Anma the masseur, had to be in Melbourne for a cardiology conference). Inkei and her slave girl, whom she called Asoko, would serve refreshments, Shita would assist in the playroom, and Kuso would tend to the needs of guests in the bathroom. Amanda would be with me. We spent the days before the twenty-third playing and planning.

I spent some of the time questioning Amanda on the subject of her money. She was maddeningly vague about it, but between what she told me and what I learned later, I managed to work out that Daniel and Karen had been depositing twenty thousand a month in a brokerage account for her over the past four years, a total of not quite a million, and with extra deposits made as presents, Daniel's clever management, and his access to insider trading information, the value of the account had grown to somewhere around three million. Daniel and Karen had performed some complex legal maneuvers, which I never did fully understand, to evade the taxes Amanda would have had to pay if the money had been simply gift. Further, they had made a final deposit of one million the day after Amanda left. I impressed upon her that the money was really hers, even if she believed she belonged to me, but it was hard to get the point across. She seemed to have almost forgotten what money was for. But when she learned that she could have an apartment in Manhattan or a house in Brooklyn, she got excited and started to study online property listings - though she was far from realistic about what she could afford. It was strange to think that I could easily wind up living in a home owned by my slave.

Much of my free time I spent playing with Mistress Ai and her slaves and learning new things: about fire and ice, the properties of different floggers (hair brushes, wooden spoons, martinets), and new kinds of role play. I studied Ai's technique as a Dominant. Sometimes I caught myself wishing I could be her slave, though in my more sober moments I realized she was more valuable as a friend. She rarely punished her slaves or even issued commands: the force of her personality was such that they watched her attentively and tried hard to anticipate her wishes. For her slaves, life was strenuous but mostly painless.

Seeing how fascinated Amanda was by Inkei, Mistress Ai assigned him to her for the duration of our stay. They satisfied each other at least once a day, usually more, and Amanda even managed to lure him into the bathroom once or twice. It occurred to me to wonder if their attraction was more than sexual, and they might make a couple, but when I hinted at the possibility to Amanda, she became agitated and clung to my side for the next five hours.

Ai helped me think through my relationship with Amanda. I had been content to allow it to take its own course, but she rightly insisted that that wouldn't do. I would have to make rules for her and set her to work, and we'd all have to understand in advance what constituted an infraction or a failure to perform. For the time we were with Ai, I was allotted a share of the household chores to assign to her. Kuso was normally in charge of both the apartment's bathrooms, but Amanda was given one of them to keep clean. She was given a share of the laundry duties as well, and the kitchen floor as her sole responsibility.

On Ai's recommendation, I made Amanda go naked in the apartment like Ai's own slaves. Ai's slaves also ate

comme animaux de compagnie

, as she delicately put it, and I had Amanda eat the same way. I required her to get my permission for any sexual activity, including masturbation (which I now learned she practiced enthusiastically several times a day), and also to give me an orgasm at least once a day. I forbade her to consume her own excreta, figuring that this would enable me to better monitor that particular kink and keep her healthy. She was a little disappointed, but admitted that Karen and Daniel had imposed the same rule. We had other rules as well, and we typed them up and printed them out. We were evolving a contract.

Amanda was a naturally meek and tractable person, and punishment was almost never necessary. During this period, I only had to punish her once, after I caught her violating the excreta rule one morning. After I'd supervised her cleanup, I consulted with Ai about an appropriate punishment.

"Of course it's necessary to punish her," she said, "but you deserve much of the blame for this infraction."

"How's that, Mistress?"

"As her Mistress, it's up to you to see to her needs, and Kuso tells me you've been neglecting them."

I wilted a little.

"It's difficult for me, Mistress."

"Is it too distasteful?" Ai asked.

"I think I can deal with that," I said, "but It's a hard thing to do to someone you care about. It feels like abuse."

"But it's not abuse," she said. "It's the thing she needs from you most, after love. It's the price of keeping her with you."

"You're right, Mistress. I owe it to her, and I'll make myself do better."

"As to her punishment," said Ai, "I suppose that corporal punishment wouldn't work any better with her than it does with you."

"I think you're right, Mistress," I said.

"Orgasm denial?" she asked.

"That would probably be effective. She's been getting four or more orgasms a day, between Inkei, me, and frequent masturbation. I don't know how she does it."

"I think one day without orgasms would be enough," Ai said. "Any longer would be cruel, given what she's used to. Or maybe twelve hours, with teasing."

"Twelve hours," I said. It was almost exactly nine in the morning.

Amanda was in the bedroom awaiting her sentencing. I sat beside her, held her hand, and told her what her punishment would be.

"No orgasms at all, Emily?"

"No orgasms, baby."

"Oh." She looked desolate, and I came close to relenting. But of course that would have been the beginning of the end of our relationship.

I put my arms around her thin, naked body. She huddled against me, seeming very small, though I wasn't all that much bigger than her.

After a few minutes, I turned to her, nuzzled her ear, and let one hand drop to her left breast. I toyed with her nipple and her little barbell. She sighed and leaned into me, and I listened to her breathing get deeper.

I turned her head towards me and kissed her. I let my hand return to her breast, and when I sensed her kiss growing more passionate, I thrust my tongue into her mouth and reached for her pussy. She was already wet as I massaged her outer labia, and she was wetter as I probed into her with a finger.

"Oh," she sighed - a frustrated sigh, because she knew what was coming but couldn't bring herself to pull away.

I laid her down on the bed and teased her labia with my tongue. How I loved the dark pink of her and the unearthly whiteness of her skin! I tongued her opening and teased her clit, the softest possible lick, and she responded, hips moving, saying, "Emily,

please

..."

I closed my mouth over her pussy and jabbed my tongue into her clit, knowing it would be too much sensation, but she couldn't resist; she writhed and cried out, "No,

please

!" I could sense the orgasm building inside her - she always came so easily! - and when she was almost there I sat up and said, "I think you have some work to do in the kitchen."

"Yes, Emily," she said dejectedly, and slouched away to see to the kitchen floor. I almost cried at the sight of her rounded shoulders. I sat on the bed for a long time, breathing in the scent of her that remained on my lips.

When Amanda was done in the kitchen, I was waiting for her with a wand vibrator.

"It's time for my orgasm," I said, and made her stimulate me with the vibrator and then go down on me till I'd come. I felt mean and worthless, and my orgasm was stingy and feeble. Then I made her lie down on the bed and teased her with the vibrator, not letting her come, till she was weeping and pleading. The rest of the day went the same way. I made her give an orgasm to Inkei, used my mouth, hands, and various toys to tease her, and kept her with me so she couldn't masturbate in secret. As the punishment went on and she became more desperate, I became more aroused despite (or maybe because of) my empathy for her, so that by eight or so I was nearly as frustrated and needy as she was.

As she tried to eat dinner from her dog bowl, ass high, I played with her pussy and a butt plug I'd put in her, making her whine and squirm. By the time she'd eaten all she could, it was almost nine.

I took her to the bedroom. "How do you want your orgasm, baby?" I asked.

"Would you do it, please, Emily?"

I got a double dildo - the kind that has a sharp angle in it - from the playroom. I undressed and spent the last two minutes of her punishment lubricating the dildo. Then, just as the hour ticked over on the bedside clock, I inserted one end of the dildo into me, turned Amanda onto her stomach, and thrust into her from behind.

"Touch yourself," I commanded, and fucked her hard. It didn't take long for her to come with ear-piercing shrieks that went on for nearly a minute.

I held her in my arms, and she said, "I love you, Emily."

I said, "I love you too, baby." Then I took her to the bathroom, where I did what I had to do. After that I put her to bed, and Ai, seeing the state I was in, suggested that I spend some time with Inkei. I've never been a size queen, but I have to admit that an hour or so with him both soothed my nerves and bolstered my self-esteem.

That was the first time I ever punished Amanda, and, mysteriously, it brought us closer together, like everything we did during the time we spent under Ai's care. Even though I longed for a Master and was anxious about the auction, still those days were idyllic. By the twenty-third of June, I knew I had a friend for life in Ai, and I was determined that Amanda would be a non-negotiable part of any contract I signed.

* * *

At around one o'clock on the day of the auction, Andrew, Christopher, Frederick, and Kevin arrived at Ai's apartment within a few minutes of each other. Inkei and Asoko served drinks and refreshments in the living room while Mistress Ai and Shita prepared Amanda and me in the playroom. Kevin sat cross-legged on the floor and watched. Ai had already made me up extravagantly, with extra dark eyes, dark red lip gloss, a pale foundation, and black nails on both hands and feet. We took our clothes off and Shita carried them away. Ai tied me in intricate and elegant knots and suspended me from the ceiling with my head as high as a man's. I was upright from my head to my knees, legs spread wide and lower legs tied up behind me. My arms were bound as in a straitjacket, but behind my back. My left hand was bound to my right arm, my right hand free. It was scary and exciting being so exposed, and surprisingly comfortable. Ai tied Amanda's legs together at the ankles, above the calves, and around the thighs. She laced her arms together behind her back and bound them tight to her body. She laid her on the floor beneath me, on her side and facing forward, slightly bent at the knees and waist. Her sad girl tattoo gazed wanly into my crotch.

Mistress Ai said, "I've had the slaves warn everyone that they must not speak a single word or make a sound in the playroom. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Mistress," I said.

She lit candles and dimmed the lights. She blindfolded both Amanda and me with eye pads and ropes and fitted ball gags into our mouths. She put a marble in my right hand: if I dropped it, the auction would stop. Then she went to get the men.

I heard the shuffling of feet, but nothing else. I listened for breathing, coughing, anything, but could hear nothing. It was easy to guess that they were staring at Amanda and me in astonishment - Mistress Ai had a flair for the dramatic. I wished I could see their faces, but it was my own choice to be blindfolded.

Ai spoke. "Welcome to the auction of the slave girl Emily. I'm going to explain some things about this lot and how the auction will work. This slave, a twenty-three-year-old female, comes with a one-year contract, renewable on mutual agreement. What you see here is exactly what you will get. Aside from a few nugatory items, she has no possessions of her own except one, the slave girl Amanda, also known as Mouche, who is exhibited here with her. Amanda is Emily's unalienable property. By purchasing Emily as a slave, you implicitly accept the presence of Amanda, much as you would if Emily owned a cat or other pet. You will have no rights over Amanda or her relationship with Emily, except insofar as you negotiate them with Emily. If this is not acceptable to you, now would be a good time to excuse yourself from the auction."

She paused, but I heard no feet moving. My skin prickled as if I could feel their stares.

She continued. "Each of you has been given an envelope with a numbered card inside. During the auction, Emily will know you only by this number. You may offer one bid only - you will not have an opportunity to revise your offer. Your bid will be in two parts. The first part is a touch. You will be permitted three minutes during which you may touch Emily with your hands, wearing latex gloves. During those three minutes you'll be with her in this room, alone except for Kevin and me. You may touch her only with your hands. You may not speak to her.

"The second part of your bid is a promise. Your promise must be sincere and heartfelt. You may not promise money or any tangible property - nothing with even the smallest monetary value. It must be a single promise, not a list. After the touch ceremonies have concluded, you will write your promise on the back of your numbered card, replace the card in the envelope, and give it to me. I will read the promises to Emily, and then she will evaluate the touches and promises and choose the winning bid. If you have questions, raise your hand. I'll accompany you to the living room and answer your questions there."