Chapter 15

January 21^st, 2007, Saturday

On the top floor of a downtown Waterloo building

He put down his still-lit pipe, and walked over to the heavy blackout curtains.

For the first time in several years he opened them, and stood in the light of the sun.

“Every bit as annoying as I remembered.”

Out of the sunlight, from the darkened doorway to his office, someone moved.

“You’re awake. I woke up, you weren’t in bed ... I worried,” she said.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he replied. “I decided to think for a while.”

“On the Grimes?”

“Unfortunately.”

The woman, tall and lean, more panther than person, joined him at the window. Her coal-black hair shone in the sun.

“It’s my duty to remind you they are a side issue, and should only occupy your thoughts to this degree should they become more of a threat.”

“And you take no joy in reminding me of that.”

“None at all. Your borderline obsession is understandable.”

Her arm intertwined with his.

“I understand,” she continued, “why they are such an irritating thorn in your side, but focus, my love. No matter how maddening their continued presence might be, they don’t threaten your plan.”

“Not yet they don’t.”

He paused while he closed the blackout curtains, making sure no light but the lamp on his desk and the coal of his pipe illuminated the office.

“Those Nazi morons sent an assassin, the best they had, and the Grimes sent his head back. The mind boggles.”

“Any idea why?”

“The woman, Carol. Her ... whatever it is ... makes putting spies in the Household very difficult. She’s thwarted Roberta’s plans, so she tried to have Carol killed.”

“And that, my love, is why you don’t work that way...” the woman said, her voice calm and soothing.

“Well, there was the fire.”

“That had larger goals than killing.”

“As you say. Currently I’m considering ways to separate them from their support.”

“And you can consider that tonight. For now, come back to bed.”

“In a moment. You go on.”

She left wordlessly.

He sat at his desk, cleaned out his pipe, and made a phone call.

Donna

She had woken up to Jason’s sobbing and found Abby awake as well.

Donna cleared out the women close to him, none too gently, her face a mask of “Shut-Up-And-Do-What-I-Say”.

Abby moved a little closer to Jason, ready to put her hand between his head and the ledge.

Jason was curled up in fetal position facing the circular ledge of the pit, sobbing and twitching, his cock as hard as it could get. At such times he’d been known to knock his head into the wall, hard, and wouldn’t wake up, or remember doing it in the morning.

“Yin,” Donna hissed, “go get Dr. Lowenstein, and I mean now. I want her here in the next three minutes, I don’t care what condition you find her in.”

“What the fuck, Donna?” Yan whispered. “What’s wrong with him?”

“His mother.”

Donna quickly cut her eyes to Yan, seeing the raised eyebrow, before returning her gaze to their husband.

“Look, I don’t know if he’s reliving something that happened, something he’s never talked to any of us about, or whether he’s dreaming something he’s afraid could’ve happened. But he’s turning away, hiding against the nearest wall. Anyone too close to him, well, at least any woman, don’t know how he’d react if a man tried to comfort him, and he freaks out, still completely asleep.”

“So, you think maybe his mother...”

“That relationship is so fucked up in so many ways ... maybe one night she took things further than she already had, or maybe he just lived in fear of the night she would.”

“And the erection?”

“Welcome, sister-wife, to our husband’s unwilling incestuous lust.”

“Fuck...”

“Yeah ... the only sign we’ll see of this tomorrow is he’ll take it in his head he’d like to be on the bottom. He’ll request verbal, maybe physical abuse, and feel better afterward.”

“All without ever admitting why?”

“Sister, I’m not sure he knows why. He knows he has issues with her, and her sexuality around him, but if he remembers these dreams, we’ve never seen any sign of it.”

“Well, at least he’s aware of part of the problem,” Yan said. “Face it, a lot of people aren’t aware they have issues, let alone the origins...”

“True enough.”

Donna felt the doctor squat down behind her, smelled the sex that floated around her like a fog.

“You summoned me?” Dr. Susan Lowenstein said.

“Yeah, think you need to see this,” Donna replied, her eyes never leaving Jason.

Susan

She’d bit back her irritation at Yin’s busting into her cabin and demanding Susan attend Donna. That restraint had been helped by Otter’s leaping off of her, and throwing her robe to Susan as she followed Yin out into the corridor. It was obvious Otter considered the summons serious.

Upon arriving in the master suite, Susan agreed.

Jason calmed eventually, but it was a slow process, and when it was done, Donna, Yan, and Lizzy went out to the salon with Susan.

“ ... and that’s what I know, and what I suspect,” Donna finished as they sipped their hot tea.

“Holy ... that poor kid,” Susan said, almost under her breath.

“So, how much did you know before now?” Yan asked.

“Some,” Susan replied. “Jason and Gloria’s relationship, and its issues, are not a secret ... well, not inside Chorale.”

“Thinking we might need to combine some ‘family role play’ with his subservience tomorrow,” Donna said. “Get Mohini to play ‘Mommy’ ... figure out some role for you, Yan.”

“Only if you’re sure it will work with everyone else’s roles,” Yan said. “Too serious for us to wing it.”

“He doesn’t deny his attraction for Gloria?” Susan asked.

“Well, he admits she made him exceedingly uncomfortable, and if he wasn’t attracted ... I get the feeling it would be a different kind of ‘uncomfortable’. Jason’s admitted she’s a very sexy woman ... I think, most of the time, that’s as far as he’s willing to go.”

“But he’s also very aware of his love of incest fantasies,” Lizzy said. “And he seems ... comfortable ... with them. Don’t know how many people can get past their hang-ups about that taboo...”

“More than you’d imagine...” Susan replied. “Unfortunately, some of those who most need to get past theirs can’t make the leap.”

“So, you think it’s healthy?” Yan said.

“Dealing with it can be healthy,” Susan replied, “depending on how it’s done. Repressing and demonizing such urges is definitely not healthy. To me it sounds like the way he does it is healthy.

“And for the record,” Susan said, turning to Donna, “pretty sure, psychologically speaking, Jason and Gloria fucking would be bad.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Donna replied. “Just like dreaming an easy fix to things.”

“It’s an understandable fantasy,” Susan said. “If we just do this simple thing the pain will stop and they’ll be all better...”

“How’d you know? That I thought about that...”

“People talk ... and this is a very small boat, relatively speaking. Don’t worry, though, it was all kept ‘en famille’, so to speak.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Otter growled. “Somebody is talking out of turn. Don’t suppose you’re going to tell me who?”

“No, most emphatically no.”

“Fine ... but trust me. I’ll find out. And when I do, subbies will wail.”

Eddie

From her breathing, he assumed Kendry was asleep.

God knew he’d done his best to wear her out.

That he’d worn himself out in the process was a given.

Spooning with her, he gently moved her braid out of the way, so he could kiss her shoulder. Perhaps she’d let him brush her hair out and re-braid it after their next shower.

“Doesn’t make sense,” he murmured, continuing his argument between his world-view and Tamara’s.

And once again he put that argument on hold by acknowledging his wife’s undeniable happiness at the current state of things. Arguing with Tamara was like arguing with the tide. It came in, it went out, and nothing anyone could do would slow it down, let alone stop it.

His mouth tightened at the sight of Kendry’s lingerie on the side of the bed. Eddie had shredded it – at Kendry’s request, to be sure, but still...

It had been nice to let loose, to tear the wisps of fabric away from her, and the incidental damage Kendry had taken in the process hadn’t dampened her ardor, exactly the opposite in fact.

What’s the matter, monster? Don’t like being reminded of what you are? Don’t bother denying it, I know you.

“You don’t know shit,” he whispered. That voice was making itself heard less and less as the months with Tamara in his life grew, but it didn’t go away entirely. That was okay, the voice he could deal with.

The dreams ... not so much.

Eddie didn’t fight going to sleep, even though he knew nightmares of Rachel, and the rope swing, and the tree were waiting for him. Eddie was pretty sure he wasn’t going to be too fun to wake up with.

Thad

It hadn’t been the best of nights.

And at 8 AM, the day wasn’t looking much better.

Curled up in Kjirsten’s arms, Thad’s mind had been filled with ... well, not precisely worry. ‘Trepidation’ felt more accurate.

Not about the kids, or at least not primarily about them ... he was pretty sure that base was finally covered.

“Goddamn, everything’s happening so fast, or it’s not happening at all...”

“Did you say something, Master?” Kjirsten murmured, rising toward wakefulness.

“No, apologies. Go back to sleep.”

It was like being in a firestorm from ‘the shoe that had dropped’, and seeing the sole of ‘the shoe that hadn’t dropped yet’ inches above his head.

And there was his new-found wealth, something bound to cause complications sooner or later. Possibly both.

Thad and Vida had been comfortable between her family money, her job, and his. Things had been less expensive where the kids were concerned, the Karghold spreading expenses like education and extracurricular activities around ... the Newtons had been comfortable.
Now he was, effectively, although things were still crawling through probate for Kjerstin, very fucking wealthy. If nothing else, the wealth from the secret room in the closet could keep him, her, the household, and the seed of a new Karghold solvent for quite a while.

He hated himself for being thankful none of it was in his name ... yet, if ever. He wasn’t going to short Vida a single dime of what was rightfully hers in the community-property state of Texas ... but he wasn’t going to give her a dime more than was rightfully hers either.

“I still love you, Vida,” he said very softly. “I really wish it hadn’t come to this.”

Looking over at Kjirsten, he shook his head. To be fair, to be honest, he wasn’t sure what exactly he felt for Nelson’s widow. He liked her, enjoyed her company, her subservience ... maybe he loved her, he’d probably come to love her in time, if he didn’t already.

But for now ... she was a tool. A tool he needed to protect his child, his friends, the rest of his family.

Thad contemplated going back to sleep, and after a half-hour, realized it wasn’t going to happen.

If he was going to be awake, he might as well use the time to remind Kjirsten of the order of things.

“Kjirsten, get up.”

“Mmm, uh, yes sir?”

“Go get Valerie out of the harem. Bring her here, and prep that plump pussy of hers for me.”

“Yes, sir, very good, sir,” Kjirsten replied, showing no sign whatsoever that his instruction upset her.

That was a good sign.

He rolled over onto his back, and thought about that other shoe.

About all the other shoes it might potentially be.

Thad was wealthy, in a round-about way. He wasn’t wealthy enough to keep him from worrying though. There wasn’t enough wealth in the world for that.

Donna

She hadn’t been able to get back to sleep after Jason’s nightmare.

And ended up in the cabin where Shelley was restrained.

“Got a question for you,” she said, then waited as Shelley woke up.

Eventually their betrayer was awake enough to focus her one eye and snarl “Whuh?”

“I want you to think about it, the question, your answer, before you say anything. Think hard. Be truthful, at least with yourself.”

“Whuh, cun’?”

“After you turned us over to the Nelsons, is there any reason at all to believe they would pay you off, take you to a country with no extradition, and turn you loose? Knowing what we all know about the Nelson family?”

Shelley’s single eye glared at Donna, only slowly losing that rage-filled focus, and turning up to stare at the ceiling.

Donna sat down to wait.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Shelley heaved a sigh, and turned to face Donna again. Donna wasn’t surprised to see the tears on Shelley’s cheek.

“I’d de fi’ food.”

“Yeah, that’s what I think too. You’re a single person, no organization behind you invested in your continued existence. You’d be one little loose end very easily dealt with.”

“So you god you’ answe’. Now you kill ‘e?”

“No,” Donna replied. “Not even sure I want to anymore. You’re going to be dumped somewhere, just like you chose.”

She got up.

“I just wanted you to realize what would have happened if we hadn’t stopped you.”

Dommi

“I can’t believe this place is this quiet,” Sebastien said. “It’s fucking spooky.”

“It’s Saturday,” Dommi replied. “It gets louder throughout the day, but no sane subbie wants to irritate a sleeping Dom.”

“Have you people never heard of sound-proofing?”

“Sebastien, you know how obscenely huge this place is. Sound-proofing is something we’re retrofitting as we can.”

“Yeah. But for it to be like this...”

“Get over it,” she chuckled. “Let’s head for the kitchen, see what they can scrounge up for us.”

Seated around the family table, the five of them placed their orders.

Dommi considered the other three women – Michelle, Jenny, and Pam.

All of them in their late twenties, early thirties, and all of a type. Generous curves, very dark or black hair, dark-ish complexions – Indian, Native American, or Hispanic or some combination thereof.

Every one of them looking more than a little like they could be Bethany’s older siblings.

“So,” she said, addressing the women, “I don’t think you’ve been here before. What do you think?”

“I wonder how the hell much it costs to air-condition this place?” Pam said.

“A lot, I’d imagine,” Michelle said. “It’s lovely, but...”

“But it feels ... off, like it’s not sure what it is. Home, hotel, dorm, barracks,” Jenny finished.

“Exactly!” Michelle agreed.

Dommi laughed.

“There are days it feels like a barracks, especially when I’m having to train lazy little subbies to their positions.”

“You’re doing the training? Yourself?” Pam asked.

“Yeah ... I love my spouses, they’re fine people, but they’re all too soft on these sluts. The staff isn’t where I’d like them, not yet, but they’re getting there.”

“Uh, about that,” Sebastien said. “I, uh ... I may need to hire some of them away from you ... your family, I mean.”

Dommi had no problem seeing he was embarrassed.

“What’s going on, Bastard?”

“As you know, keeping costs under control is key to a successful business. Well, the average potential hotel employee finds our salary and perq packages to be generous ... until they find out what they might see and have to deal with on the job. Applicants have already signed NDA’s, that doesn’t really worry us, but we’re paying almost twice the industry standard, and damn few potential employees are signing on. We don’t have the staff to open the whole hotel, so we’ve been calling it a soft opening, only putting rooms into service as we have staff enough to provide the level of luxury we promise.”

“So blending the two worlds – boutique hotel and Society-Friendly hotel – isn’t working out?” Dommi said.

“No ... not really. At least as far as staffing goes. We’ve managed to keep the two clienteles somewhat separate – different areas of the hotel, they only mix in the public areas and the restaurant, and Society understands how to play it subtle.

“But you tell a potential private butler, or housekeeping maid, about possible requests and special cleaning issues? Well, it isn’t working out.”

“I didn’t notice any issues,” Dommi said. “Of course, I was barely there.”