Chapter 16

The secluded mansion was in an upscale and exclusive part of town. Veronica rang the doorbell. A maid answered and when she identified herself, the heartbroken woman was led through several rooms then down a set of stone steps into an underground dungeon.

She paused, fear rising afresh in her throat as she glanced around the stone walls. S & M apparatus of every kind, steel cuffs, chains, racks, whips and other assorted implements of torture hung from the walls and ceiling. But it was the three figures who stood waiting which caused her to gasp.

Betty stood to one side of the room while a giant of a hooded man clad in black leather, slowly slapped a leather strap across the palm of his hand. To his side was a woman, middle aged, perhaps once attractive, but her face now angular, creased and hard from years of administering her special sadistic abilities.

Veronica thought of turning, retreating up the stairs, running, but the maid had already shut the door with a click of the lock. Besides, there were Brittany and Matt to think of. Sadly she accepted her fate. Veronica was trapped. She had run out of options. There was nowhere she could go, nothing else she could do.

"Veronica, my sweet, come meet Bruno and Mistress Katrina."

"I... don't understand. I did what you wanted. Brittany and Matt are on their way to South America. I came as I was told."

"Yes, of course you did. But then you had no choice," smiled the blonde. "You have done what I wanted, but only reluctantly. I don't want that Veronica. What I want is for you to live to please me. I want you to crawl at my feet and beg. You see, Veronica, I'm no longer interested in you simply as a lover. I've decided to make you my slave."

Veronica's frightened eyes swept over the other two figures then back to Betty.

"Betty, I've told you, I'll do whatever you want."

"Yes, you have," smiled Betty, moving to the fearful mulatto and running her fingers through Veronica's hair. "And you will. But when Mistress Katrina and Bruno finish your training, you won't just comply, you'll beg to do anything i want, anything!"

Betty walked past Veronica to the stairs, a large key in her hand.

"I'll be leaving you now in their capable hands. How long, Mistress?"

"She is small and weak. Six weeks at the most. Our methods are most persuasive."

"Betty, don't do this please! You want me to beg, I'll beg! Please don't do this!" cried Veronica.

"After your training is finished you'll thank me... as a matter of fact you'll thank me for everything... including giving your body to whomever I choose, whenever i choose and however I choose."

She started up the steps.

"Do you want her branded?" asked the mistress.

Betty turned, a gleam in her eye.

"Yes, My initials should do nicely. B.R.S."

The mistress nodded to the hooded figure who selected the three metal letters from a tray and affixed them to the tip of a specially modified poker and placed the tip in a fire which roared in a small cauldron.

"Do you wish to watch?" asked the mistress.

"I'm afraid Rhonda and I have plans involving a certain sweet young thing and her father. It should be quite enjoyable. I'm sorry you'll miss it, Veronica, but I'm sure that Mistress Katrina and Bruno will keep you entertained."

"Betty, please, no!" cried the defeated woman as Bruno ripped her clothes from her. She tried to resist but the brute slapped her senseless then threw the naked woman face down across a padded rail, exposing her quivering buttocks.

"PLEASE, BETTY, PLEASE!" screamed Veronica hysterically, her hands and ankles chained quickly to the floor.

"I'll be back in six weeks," smiled Betty to the two dungeon masters.

"She'll be ready," replied the mistress.

Veronica tried to focus her mind away from the glowing poker. She tried to visualize Matt and Brittany, safe and happy and starting a new life together. But a single lash of leather across her back broke her reverie of escape, and terror flooded throughout the beautiful but helpless naked woman.

As Betty turned the key and stepped through the door at the top of the dungeon stairs, she paused, then, smiling, exited as the stone walls reverberated with the piercing, mindless shriek of agonizing pain and the sizzle of burning flesh.