Chapter 5

"Good-bye Kate... Be seeing you soon," Sam Dagon put the receiver down softly in its cradle. She was working out just fine. He had been right about staying away. It had been two weeks since that night in the library, and his absence had enabled her to get over the initial shock of her first night at Dagon Manor.

He put a match to the tip of one of his specially blended cigars and leaned back to watch the evening news on the color TV in his suite at the Fairlaine. His business had been completed days ago, but as he was particularly anxious to have his plans for Kate work out just as smoothly as possible, he remained in San Francisco a little while longer.

Giving her the party to organize had been a stroke of genius, he thought. He had figured that that would be just the kind of thing she'd like and he was right.

The phone rang, and he reached out to pick it up. "Yes... Send her right up..." he said.

A few minutes later Dot was sitting dutifully on Sam's lap while his hand searched beneath her short black skirt.

"Tell me more Dot... he urged her as his hand explored higher. "Tell me all about that husband of hers... There's a good girl!"

The cigarette had burned down only about half way before Kate took a long drag on it and stubbed it out.

"God..." she thought... "Everyone else has stopped smoking and here I am, just taking it up! What's wrong with me?"

She looked around the large room that both she and Tim had been using as an office for the last two weeks. She never ceased to be impressed by its beauty and its elegance... but her mind was still often preoccupied with Sam Dagon. What a strange man he was! She hadn't even seen him since that first night. Thank heavens! And yet his ghost seemed to lurk around every corner of the house. But he had called every day to give her complete instructions about what he wanted her to do, acting as if nothing had ever happened between them.

It had been puzzling to say the least, but gradually Kate had begun to forget some of the horror she had felt that night, replacing it with a growing interest in the workings of the huge household. She found that she actually had a lot to do at the beginning... There were many things that she wanted to change according to her own likings and there were many files that needed reorganizing at the start. But she could see that once that part was taken care of she would only have about two or three hours of real work a day.

She had originally thought of quitting but Tim was so taken with the place and caught up in what he was doing, that she knew it would be no use suggesting to him that they leave... without telling him the whole truth about what had transpired that night in the library... and that she could never do!

But something seemed to be wrong between them anyway... something that she couldn't fathom. Tim had been treating her with an almost alarming degree of flippancy for the past two weeks since they had been there, and she didn't know why or what to do about it. He seemed perfectly happy, even ecstatic at times about being in the country and having the entire place mostly to themselves the majority of the time, but whenever they were alone together at night he either ignored her or was down right rude to her. Even her prettiest nightgown didn't seem to help.

She tried to focus all her attention on the upcoming party. Sam had made it clear on the phone that she was somehow being tested by the way she organized this affair and she had been busy for days calling people and sending notes, using phone numbers and addresses from Dagon's private files. Some of the names of the people had really surprised her. Movie stars, politicians, people in the public eye that she had never expected to meet in this lifetime were all invited and so far all of those she had reached had seemed overjoyed at the prospect of a Party at Sam Dagon's. Apparently he gave one big bash every year... and all his friends looked forward to it with great anticipation.

At Sam's bidding, Kate drove into San Francisco one day to purchase several hundred dollars worth of clothes from I. Magnin's and including a special dress for the party. He had insisted she drive the new Maserati he had just bought and, feeling a little self-conscious, she had complied. What an incredible feeling it had been. She had never in her life been able to go into a store like that and know that she could have just about any dress she looked at! She had returned to the house and spread them all out for Tim to see, but he had just grunted and gone off to look at something "of importance" he said. So Kate had taken the clothes upstairs and tried them all on, one by one in front of the bedroom mirror.

Time passed swiftly and Kate consulted daily with Pierre about the party menu and helped him to do the ordering. Help had to be hired for the party itself, bartenders, waiters and the like and Kate attended to that. She had come a long way from waiting on tables at Alfie's!

But at night she slept poorly, beside a snoring Tim, spread out on his back so that she couldn't even hug him. They had made love two times since their arrival at the Manor, but each time, Tim had seemed distant and almost bored. Only the excitement of the party kept her from bogging down completely in a deep depression. That night she would be beautiful, irresistible... strong. Sam was expected back that morning and she would be strong enough to face him, too. An odd curiosity about him had begun to grow inside her especially since Tim had been almost totally neglecting to recognize her as a woman recently. At least there was no doubt as far as that was concerned about Sam Dagon! Her face reddened at the thought of it!

The night before the party when she had longed to have Tim take her in his arms to hold her to him, at least, and tell her what a good job she was doing... Tim pleaded exhaustion and fell asleep almost the minute his head hit the pillows. She knew he couldn't be that exhausted! There just wasn't that much work that he had to do! She turned away and softly cried into the pillow beside his sleeping form, feeling pangs of frustration build in her body. Eventually her thoughts unwillingly turned to Sam Dagon. And equally unwillingly her hand went down to the soft vaginal slit between her thighs where it fingered until she suddenly sighed, her clitoris gently quivering in a tremulous climax, Kate fell off to a troubled sleep.

The living room was humming. It was only ten-thirty and already scores of people had arrived as Kate stood near the door watching, welcoming those who entered while a special guard who attended all of Dagon's parties dressed in black tie, stood at her side and carefully surveyed the arrivals for any uninvited interlopers.

Kate was resplendent in her new brocade dress that fit every curve of her body to perfection. Her long legs and thighs were appealingly revealed by its short skirt. The deep burgundy and gold color set off her shining blonde hair to perfection. She felt highly nervous, but strangely in her element. She knew that she was just as beautiful as the most beautiful women who were arriving, some of them international movie stars! And the fact that she had arranged everything made her proud. After a while she began to relax more and to circulate among the guests. She had hardly seen Sam since his arrival early that morning. He had stayed in his rooms and only came down once the party had begun. It seemed odd that he didn't want to have more to do with his own party than that, but it occurred to her that perhaps he trusted her to have made everything the way he had asked.

It looked as though it was going to be quite a party. Music from a famous rock hand floated in from the terrace where beautiful people danced frantically beside the pool. Kate passed from group to group, watching as longhaired youths mixed with staid matrons and young girls flirted with old bearded gentlemen. One famous politician seemed just about ready to pounce on a young girl near the piano. The crowd was swelling by the minute and Kate was happily caught up in the mad swirl of human bodies, smoking, drinking, laughing loudly about her. Several young men tried to flirt with her and someone pinched her, but she was unable to make out just who it was from the row of smiling faces behind her. She realized that she hadn't seen Tim in some time, and her feeling of sadness returned to her, full force. She began looking for him, moving from room to room. He wasn't out on the terrace or in the large dining room where the guests were enjoying a buffet dinner of chateaubriand made to order with onions and capers or oysters, lobsters, clams on the half shell, roasted ducklings, every vegetable imaginable, raw and exquisitely prepared by Chef Pierre. Waiters circulated with trays of drinks which they got from the well-stocked bar which had been set up in the dining room.

There was only one other place that Kate hoped to find Tim and that was downstairs in the cave discotheque. She descended the round circular staircase to the strains of Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones, playing very loud through the many speakers. Then, she stood poised at the rounded entranceway to the small room. Smoke was curling toward the ceiling and there were so many people dancing that she could hardly make out a face. She sniffed. That smoke certainly did smell strange... someone must be smoking a strange kind of cigarette, she thought. Then she thought she made out Tim's tall form over toward a corner of the room. Yes, it was Tim... she started to wave to him... but then she realized that he would never see her through all those people. She stepped down another step, preparing to go in to talk to him, and then she saw that he was bending over... Horrified, she watched as he kissed hungrily the upturned face of a young girl. The girl was Dot!

Kate stood there a moment, her mouth hanging wide in shock. But suddenly in a flash, everything was very clear... why Tim had been acting so strangely for the last two weeks... why he was so tired at night! She could see him clutching at the young French girl as though his life depended on her, holding her low, his hands massaging her behind as they began to move in a slow rhythm to the insinuating music.

Kate turned and ran back up the stairs, hurriedly passing laughing couples who were on their way down to the cave. When she reached the main floor, she had no idea where she was going to go. She couldn't stay at the party the way she felt... it was as if her world had come to an end. Her marriage, her life... everything she had looked forward to as a little girl was gone. She continued to push past people on her way to the main stairway... she just had to go to her room to lie down. Every happy face she saw now, was a reminder of the ugly image of Tim and Dot... kissing obscenely there in front of everyone. What did he care if anyone saw him? It was just ghastly... memories of Dot's smug little smile came back to her. She had always thought that that was just the girl's manner... but now she knew that she was mocking her all along, making love to her husband right underneath her nose! And Tim... A fury rose beneath the pain and seemed to stick like a big lump in her throat.

A blur of faces converged on her and a group of playful people grabbed her up, making a circle around her, just as she was about to go up the stairs.

"What's the secret password?" they shouted... "The password!"

"Let me go!" Kate implored, trying hard to hold back her tears.

"That's it... that's the password!" a young girl screamed and they all laughed and let her loose.

Kate flew up the stairs and to the relative quiet of the second floor. Only a few more steps and she would be inside. She planned to lock the door and to never come out. She would pack her things, just the ones she had come with and she would leave...

But just as she was turning the door handle to their apartment a voice called out to her.

"Kate! What's wrong? Why aren't you downstairs?"

Kate turned to face Sam Dagon. Him! Of all people she wanted to see now... he was the last! He had hardly spoken two words to her that day and now he had to talk! She turned away.

"Leave me alone... Please... just leave me alone!"

"This weed sure is nice!" Tim pulled Dot still closer to him and did a lewd imitation of the latest dance step. Around them in the tiny "discotheque" couples embraced, some were wildly necking on the sofa that lined the dark room. Dot slowly pulled Tim over to one of the sofas, and he let himself be led. The smell of marijuana was thick in the enclosure of the cave, adding to the euphoric sensation he was experiencing. He lay back on the fur covered couch and closed his eyes, pulling Dot down on top of him.

He could hear little soft moans every now and then coming from the couches around him and it began to dawn on him that the group in the small cave was going to turn into an orgy. Excitement sparked through him as Dot's hands went tentatively down to his already bulging crotch. He had never participated in a real orgy although he'd always wanted to... and now he was going to get a chance! Then, vaguely, he remembered Kate... He hadn't really thought about her since he'd been downstairs... what if she were to come down and find him?

"Hey, baby..." he mumbled in Dot's ear. "This looks like it's gonna turn into a real thing!"

"Of course," Dot said... "It is understood... all those that come down here..." Her hand rubbed in slow motion at the bulk of his cock beneath the material of his pants. "Do not worry, mon cher... They are closing the door now... no one else will come!"

Tim breathed a sigh of relief and cast a glance around the smoky room. It seemed as though he had been down there forever... It was wonderful! Some of the most beautiful women he had ever seen were there... and now many of them were partially undressed.

"Oh, brother!" he said... He couldn't believe his luck. Ever since he had been at Dagon Manor, things had been going his way. And it was about time. True, he hadn't done much writing, but that would come... there was plenty of time, he reasoned. Besides, his outlook on life was changing so much that he might want to write about something completely different. It would take time to think it out.

Dot had been taking up every spare moment he had since that first day in the maze of hedges. He had never even dreamed that one woman could think of so many different ways to do it! Whoever started that stuff about French girls knew what he was talking about. What really got him though was that she wasn't jealous. He could tell she was crazy about him and yet she was always talking about other girls to him, asking him about what he did and what he liked to do. It was exciting as hell! And now she finally pulled through with an orgy.

It's a good thing Kate is all hepped up about her new job, he thought. It annoyed him to see her changing, wearing all those fancy clothes and acting so damned efficient, but at the same time, he couldn't really complain... It gave him more time to be with Dot.

Tim's fly was unzipped now and his big cock rose obscenely from his pants, while Dot's hand playfully moved up and down the smoothness of its length.

As his thoughts grew more and more vague, Tim abandoned himself willingly to the erotic French girl. He could hear the unmistakable sounds of love-making coming from assorted couples around him, and he knew he would be good for as many combinations as they could throw at him. His hand slipped up the back of Dot's dress and encountered her bare flesh. A shiver went through his body as his cock jerked wildly in Dot's hand. She wasn't wearing any pants!

"Well, tomorrow is your birthday, isn't it?" Sam Dagon lit the last candle on the huge cake that he had prepared. "And it is now..." he paused looking at his pocket watch, "two minutes to midnight. We can begin the celebration very shortly. I can't tell you how worried I was that I wouldn't locate you before midnight!"

"Sam... this is so... strange..." Kate felt her flesh crawling... He had insisted on bringing her to this room in a wing of the house that she had never seen. Her protests had done no good whatsoever and she had had to swallow her tears and follow him down the hall and up the back stairs. They had passed some members of the party who were wandering about the house and they had wished them a pleasant evening. Kate was upset and embarrassed because she knew that they thought that she and Sam were lovers. The room was filled with gaily wrapped packages and in the center of it stood a large oak table spread with every delicacy imaginable, including the birthday cake.

"But I don't even remember telling you..."

"But you did... We all forget things sometimes... Don't worry about it. What is important is that we enjoy this life while we are still among the living!" Sam deftly opened the champagne bottle and filled two crystal glasses to the brim.

Kate took hers, her hand trembling when she touched the slender stemmed glass to her lips.

It was all too confusing. She just didn't understand anything anymore. The more she thought about Tim downstairs with that girl, the angrier she got. And heaven knew what they were doing by this time! And now this! She looked around her... all those packages couldn't be for her... It didn't make any sense. It was true her birthday was the next day... and she was almost sure that Tim had forgotten... God! They hadn't even been married a year.

The champagne sparkled its way down her throat and hit her stomach. She realized that she hadn't had anything to eat at all that day. The party preparations had taken every moment she had and she was too nervous to eat anyway.

"Kate... I want to tell you how very pleased I am with what you've done. You've done an excellent job. I have had other assistants... but none with your... how shall I put it?... flair."

Sam Dagon sat comfortably across from Kate watching her carefully. He guessed what had happened that had upset her so. All he didn't know was at what point in the discotheque orgy she had caught Tim.

Well, he would make her stop thinking about that soon enough, he thought.

"I'm sorry you've had to go through these few rough days, my dear," he said, knowing his words would have a double meaning for her... "But I assure you, it will be smooth sailing from now on in!"