Mistress Denna, still smarting from her BDSM punishment strutted around the platform stage, periodically manually rubbing her buttocks to soothe her distress. Mistress Mercy surreptitiously departed from immediate view. Once she had command of her equilibrium, Mistress Denna announced, "Ladies and gentlemen we are now going to conduct the tests to hopefully admit four new members to der Höllenfeuer Verein. Oh dear, I guess 'hopefully' was a slip of my tongue as it implies failure. None of our candidates are going to fail right candidates?"
The candidates, including Ingrid, shouted a resounding affirmative. Mistress Denna chuckled and exclaimed, "Ah such youthful enthusiasm! It can only portend an exciting endurance test of will power. Now our first candidate chose the name Lucrezia for her alias while in the fantasy world of der Höllenfeuer Verein. Please come up and step forward my dear."
Responding to the command, a beautiful young woman emerged to stand beside the naked Mistress of Pain. Her costume was a shift-style mini dress of a deep purple color. A sleeveless bodice with the neckline tied in the back was all that was holding her garment together. As the audience applauded, Mistress Denna asked, "Now truly everyone isn't Lucrezia a thing of beauty?"
The crowd's applause intensified at that remark. Indeed, Lucrezia's beauty rivaled that of Ingrid's. Mistress Denna added, "I imagine all of you recognize Lucrezia. Yes, she works here at the Café Lola as a server. In that capacity she naturally became aware of the comings and goings of our club and was suitably intrigued. Then last February having struck a friendly regular acquaintanceship with a member got herself invited to our March meeting. She was enthralled, and now here she is prepared to become a full fledge member.
"During the application interview, Lucrezia confirmed that her choice of name was in reference to the Spanish-Italian renaissance noblewoman, Lucrezia Borgia, who was a daughter of a Pope no less! A situation that would not be possible in today's more prudish times."
Everyone duly laughed at Mistress Denna's quip. She continued, "I naturally asked why her? Was it because of this woman's apparent notoriety in history? Our Lucrezia advised that when she was twelve years old, she came across in her history book a contemporary description of the appearance of the historical Lucrezia. To wit: 'She was described as having heavy blonde hair that fell past her knees', which incidentally is a physical attribute that I also personally admire in a woman."
Considering Mistress Denna's own long hair, the audience collectively sniggered at that gratuitous remark. One wag in the audience was heard to shout out, "Who knew?"
When the interruption of laughter died down, Mistress Denna continued, "The historical Lucrezia Borgia in addition was said to have had, 'a beautiful complexion, hazel eyes that changed color, a full, high bosom, and a natural grace that made her appear to 'walk on air'. Her mouth was said to be rather large, the teeth brilliantly white, her neck slender and fair, and the bust was admirably proportioned.'
"For our Lucrezia, that description became seared in her mind as her most desirable physical attributes she could wish for herself. And now here she is all grown up, and as you can see, she has in the main succeeded in attaining such lofty aspirations! True, as you can see, her hair is not quite as long, but it is long enough. And I'm sure the male members of our club would appreciate our Lucrezia's rather large mouth."
Everyone laughed at that ribald implication. Mistress Denna turned to Lucrezia, and asked, "Are you then ready for your test my dear? Are you willing to become a member of der Höllenfeuer Verein?"
"Yes Mistress!"
"OK then. Turn around dear."
Complying to the command, Lucrezia turned around with her back to Mistress Denna, who then undid the knot of the sash of the bodice, and the dress instantly dropped of its own accord onto the ankles. Lucrezia merely stepped out of the puddled dress and was now totally naked save for her high heel stilettos. She then strutted proudly and assumed the acceptance stance at the 'punishment bench', and Mistress Denna secured Lucrezia's hands to the hand cuffs on the arm rests. The crows was cheering wildly interspersed with some wolf whistles.
Everyone in their mind deemed that she did indeed mirror the image of the historical Lucrezia Borgia. As a result, the women of the audience spontaneously shouted out "Looo-Cree-Shee-AAA" and clapped their hands rhythmically. The men in the audience were seemingly compelled to also respond and so shouted out, "Bore-J-EE-y-uh", and likewise clapped their hands. This prompted the audience to repeat the chant several times before they settled down.
The unexpected cheering prompted Lucrezia to smile and put herself at ease. Remembering how Mistress comported herself at the 'punishment bench', she was determined not to wuss out. Her hair did not come down to her knees, but it did drop down to the middle of her derrière. For the evening she had defiantly let her hair down to its full length. Consequently, as she reached the 'punishment bench', she flipped her hair to her front side to clear the way to receive the fifty lashes unobstructed by her hair. Then she replicated Mistress Denna's look of hauteur to complete her preparation.
Mistress Denna was also smiling in reaction to the crowd's rambunctiousness. This was promising to be a splendid evening indeed. She hovered over the instrument table, and finally selected a slapper. This slapper was not as ornate as the one Mistress Mercy used on her, and it was not as wide, but otherwise it was essentially the same instrument of pain. Still, since the surface area of this slapper was smaller, the resultant tinge of pain would be less intense.
Mistress Denna raised the slapper above her head to display it to the audience. Then as she reached in striking distance to Lucrezia she rubbed the slapper against the skin of Lucrezia's buttocks. She leaned over and whispered into Lucrezia's ear, "The first blow will really sting. But just keep in mind you can prevail, and the other blows won't be so bad. Be brave."
Then Mistress Denna struck the first blow landing squarely in the middle of Lucrezia's ass. The delivery of the blow seemed particularly vicious, and the sound of the smack was very pronounced causing the onlookers to cringe and gasp. Now Mistress Denna was a very experienced Dominatrix, with a lengthy list of private clients who regularly sought her services. In addition, she was in demand throughout Europe for demonstrating her expertise in BDSM events. In fact, a few weeks prior she had been a headline model/presenter at Boundcon, the premier bondage and fetish fair in Munich, Germany.
Consequently, Mistress Denna knew how to put on a good show. For a swing of the slapper, she drew back both of her arms, as if she were to replicate a tennis player's two-handed backhand swing. Now a tennis player would hold both hands on the racquet to affect a more powerful forceful backhand swing than if only one hand was used. Mistress Denna, though, only gripped the handle of the slapper with one hand. She positioned her other arm and hand in such a way so as to give the illusion she was gripping the slapper with both hands. In her swing, she maintained the image that she was utilizing both hands to produce a maximum force swing. Her deception was so convincing, that even the long time members of der Höllenfeuer Verein, who were cognizant of Mistress Denna's skills and talent were fooled. They momentarily were incensed that Mistress Denna was seemingly employing undue force against a hapless Lucrezia. The collective consensus after that first blow was that the restaurant waitress was not going to make it.
One person who was not fooled, though, was our Ingrid. She paid close attention to Mistress Denna's swing and observed the deceptive motion. Ingrid did not attribute any nefarious motive on the part of Mistress Denna. She just assumed that was the Dominatrix's normal method of delivering a spanking swing. However, she did conclude that Mistress Denna was deliberately restraining the force of her blows. She surmised that would be a reasonable policy of the club in presenting the initiation ceremony. Thus, she became quite confident that when it came her turn, there would be no problem for her to endure the test. Mistress Denna's swing was certainly gentler than anything Talmann had struck at her.
The other person that was not fooled was Lucrezia, herself. Naturally from her position, she was precluded from witnessing Mistress Denna's swing, and thus could not be intimidated. She had her mind psyched as to the pain she could endure, and the blow proved to be in her range of tolerance. She grunted a little more vociferously than Mistress Denna in the demonstration, but otherwise exhibited no sign of real distress.
After the first five spanking strokes, Mistress Denna paused momentarily to provide a respite for Lucrezia. Her ass displayed a developing pink tinge but was not as red as Mistress Denna's ass was at this same juncture of the demonstration. Thus, the audience began to realize the spanking delivered by Mistress Denna was not as fierce as it seemed on first blush. But then again everyone's body marks differently. So, who can tell? In any case it was then the collective consensus of the audience that the supposed beleaguered Lucrezia could pass the endurance test after all.