Sylvie watched in confusion as the nubile blond woman in the abbreviated uniform greeted Sylvie's mother with a fawning servility far surpassing the courteous deference of an ordinary valet. Sylvie's confusion increased as her mom, LaVernia Cristobal, received the same treatment from the two women at the doors of the dark Victorian manse. Sylvie followed her mom up to the wraparound porch of the house. The deferential women wore obscene parodies of doormen's uniforms, and Sylvie noticed that they watched her intently. With great trepidation, she followed her mother into the house's richly-appointed anteroom.
"Mom, what is this place?" the 21-year-old, fresh out of accounting school, asked.
"Well, dear, you know how I've always been a little vague about the family business," LaVernia replied with a mischievous grin.
"The import company?"
"Yes. Would you like a drink?" LaVernia asked Sylvie as a pretty girl in a tiny maid's uniform handed the still-striking 42-year-old a Scotch and water without having been asked.
Sylvie, who'd never been offered alcohol by her mother, shook her head nervously. A thin lock of brown hair strayed from her coif, dangling beside her glasses.
"Yes, well I've never explained quite what it is we import." The older woman gestured for her daughter to follow as she passed into the next room. Sylvie felt a sinking feeling in her gut.
"These, Sylvie, are the imports." Along both sides of a long hallway were rooms like jail cells, full of scantily clad young women. Sylvie stared, open-mouthed but wordless. LaVernia took her hand to guide her down the hall. Tall topless women in black leather thigh boots, short shorts, and black leather versions of police officers' caps patrolled the hallway with riding crops.
"You see," Sylvie's mother continued, "these women are the finest sex slaves, imported from all parts of the world and brought here for only the most discriminating consumers." Sylvie observed each cell in stunned silence. In one, a woman, perhaps Chinese, naked except for a pink feather boa, rubbed her crotch with both hands and moaned while down on her knees. In the next, a dark-skinned beauty pressed herself tightly against the back of a tall blonde whose breasts she fondled. Both of them looked expectantly at the mother and daughter outside.
"Of course we do keep an ample domestic stock as well," LaVernia continued, rounding a corner now.
"Mother!" Sylvie suddenly pulled her hand from LaVernia's grasp, having somewhat regained her wits. "What are you talking about? This is the family business? Sex slaves?"
"Yes, darling," LaVernia replied in a placating tone, but Sylvie would have none of it.
"Sex slaves? That's so wrong!"
"You didn't think it was wrong when it was paying for your college, and your car, and those fancy clothes." LaVernia ran her fingers along the sleeve of Sylvie's silk dress.
"I didn't know. Anyway, you have to let these women go!"
"Let them go, my dear?" LaVernia chuckled. "and do what? These women desire nothing else in life but to be sexual playthings."
"Our training program insures that," she added with a wry grin. "Our clients are all sufficiently wealthy to support the girls. If we simply let them go, they'd just be grabbed up and kept by random strangers."
"You're talking like they don't have minds of their own," Sylvie responded, near tears. "What about consent?"
"Consent, darling? I just told you, these girls want to be sex toys. But here, let's not argue. Why don't you ask them yourself?"
Sylvie hesitated, but LaVernia immediately flagged down one of the guardswomen and had her open the nearest cell. The petite, doe-eyed youth inside wore only shackles around her neck, wrists and ankles, connected with a thin silver chain that looped through rings in her nipples and clitoris. She shuffled out into the hallway at LaVernia's summons and stood before LaVernia, eyes downcast.
"Slave," LaVernia said tenderly, "this is my eldest daughter, Sylvie. She is concerned that you and the others may not really want to just be silly little fucktoys." A shocked expression appeared on the bound woman's face. LaVernia stroked her head affectionately. "Why don't you go over there and let her know how you feel?" LaVernia punctuated this suggestion with a light pat on the girl's behind.
The slave shuffled over and knelt at Sylvie's feet, nuzzling her head against Sylvie's crotch. Sylvie flushed bright red. She couldn't look up at her mom.
"You don't...." Sylvie stammered, "don't have to...." She gulped. "What do you want to...." Before she completed a sentence, Sylvie suddenly realized that the slave girl at her feet had been joined by two others, ringing her flanks, who must have been released while Sylvie was unaware.
Sylvie had been with girls before, in college. A few experimental flings, and even one attempt at seriously dating a woman in her gender studies course. She felt, likewise, that domination and submission were okay among consenting adults, and that prostitution should be legal. Still, trafficking in slaves was another matter, entirely. So was having her mom behind it.
Gasping, Sylvie said, "get up." The naked women around her rose.
The 21-year-old tried to steady herself and asked, "What do you want? In life, I mean?" The only response she received at first was a trio of confused stares. The pneumatic brown-skinned girl on Sylvie's right then smiled and began squeezing and fondling her large tits. The Nordic-looking blonde on Sylvie's left then leaned her head on Sylvie's shoulder and began fingering her own crotch with her left hand, softly moaning. The petite girl in chains sank back down, now on all fours, and began licking Sylvie's leather pumps.
"No, stop," Sylvie protested. She realized, with a thrill of fear and guilt, that she had become wet. The women halted their activities, looking up at Sylvie for further instruction. "Don't you want to be free?" The three responded with blank looks. Facing out past them but still not quite meeting her mother's eyes, Sylvie cried out, "Send them back!"
Three of the dominatrix guards strode up, stilleto heels clicking on the hardwood floor, and ushered the slaves back to their cells. Sylvie trembled as she realized what she had just ordered.