Chapter 56

Galena woke before Regina did. With all she had on her mind, she wasn't surprised, and after a moment's reflection, called room service and ordered coffee. Carol had reassured her often enough that the family wasn't going to begrudge her any expense, so long as she didn't go completely crazy but still, after years of living just above the poverty line, she had a tendency towards frugality. She didn't want them thinking she was taking advantage of them ... but Carol had reassured her on that account as well.

She didn't know how she'd gotten so lucky, but she wasn't going to ask too many questions.

While she waited by the door, listening for the approach of the bellboy, she looked at Regina softly snoring in the bed. The night before had gone well, and she was hopeful that things would continue to go well once Regina woke up.

After her coffee had arrived, she got out her laptop and went online to contact Oliver and Felicia.

"G-girl: Reggie and I won't be in today"

"Olivier!: you finally admitted your homosexual yearnings and are spending the day in bed?"

"G-girl: funny, coming from our resident gay"

"Furiousfelicia: still — you didn't answer the question"

"G-girl: something like that but not really"

"Furiousfelicia: color me confused"

"Olivier!: that's a shade of fuchsia"

"Furiousfelicia: ew, hate fuchsia"

"Olivier!: hate fuschia! fuchsia is the new black"

"G-girl: black is the new black, fuchsia is the old atrocious"

"Olivier!: philistines, I am associated with philistines"

"Furiousfelicia: so what's up with you lately? And now with Reggie as well?"

"G-girl: if you really wanna know, come join us for breakfast — Omni, room 812, asap"

"Olivier!: sure, fuck Friday!"

"Furiousfelicia: pick me up?"

"Olivier!: sure, see you in fifteen"

"G-girl: cool, I'll get Reggie out of bed"

She shut her system down and went to the bed.

"Reggie honey, time to get up. Oliver and Felicia will be on their way here in a few."

Galena was concerned about how Reggie would feel 'the morning after', as it were, but was relieved when her friend smiled sleepily at her.

"Guess I better get a shower then — I smell like I got fucked good last night."

"Yes you do," Galena laughed, "and from what we gather, yes you were."

"Yes I was," Reggie sighed, sliding out of bed and heading for the bathroom.

Margo had gone to work, as had Lisa and Jackie, leaving Camille, Carol, Kelly and Harry in bed asleep. Billy, Usagi, Dayna and Candy were sitting in the kitchen, taking the day off, as it was Friday and if Anna didn't have enough cleaning to do, she refused payment, something Harry had made plain shouldn't happen. They really had nothing to do till those still asleep woke up.

"Spades?" Billy asked.

"Sounds good," Candy replied.

"I'll go get the cards," Usagi added.

"Madam, I need a favor. I'm going to need excused absences for the following students — me, Regina Downing, Felicia Farrell and Oliver Christopher.

"Yes Madam, it's going very well so far..."

Harry smelled them - a rich, overly ripe odor of decay, sweet and rotten - before he saw them. He walked into the bedroom and they were tangled in chains suspended above the bed, the mattress stained and soggy from the blood and the fluids their decomposition was producing. Their eyes were bulging, tongues swollen in their mouths, hands frozen in their futile attempts to free themselves from the glistening strands that pierced their flesh, to loosen the metal links that crushed their throats, skin pale blue and white — the life strangled out of all of them by the monster he saw before him.

She stood in the doorway to the bathroom, a thin, gauzy negligee only serving to draw attention to the tanned, lithe body beneath it, smooth and firm, always willing for just about anybody at all. Her blue eyes twinkled beneath her curly blonde hair, cut short to hang about her head like a glowing aura.

He didn't have to see the blood-soaked chains at her feet — he knew it had been her before he was even aware of it. Angie would have been more vicious, more personal about things, and there was only one woman he could conceive of that would do such a thing simply because it would clear the way for her to get what she wanted.

"So," she said, her voice soft and sultry, "it took you long enough ... so long ... too long. Didn't I leave you a clear enough trail, lover?"

He looked away from her, his eyes drawn to his spouses and the Household's submissives — silent and rotting above the bed they'd once shared. He wanted to kill her. He wanted to blow her brains out of her head so they'd settle over the pristine bathroom like a crimson rain, then bend her cooling corpse over the edge of the tub and fuck her — one last act of desecration as her soul went to hell. He wanted to take her dead body out into the back yard and burn it, turn the grill into a crematorium and let her ashes float away on the breeze. Afterwards, while the flames were still hot, a final smoke, a final drink ... and douse himself with gasoline before leaping onto the grill and going off to join all his loved ones that she'd taken from him so cruelly.

But he didn't have a gun, and he knew better than to get close to her. She'd always had an effect on him that it had taken more willpower than he could summon in that moment of shock and horror to counteract. If he got close to her he'd have to taste her lips, feel her arms around him again, feel her beneath him, clawing and yowling as he plunged his cock into her.

So he stood, frozen between the corpses of everyone he'd loved and her.

"So, Nancy — what have you been up to?" he asked, his voice surprisingly calm given the scene.

She sauntered across the floor, her feet leaving tracks in the blood.

"Just getting rid of the competition," she replied. "Harry? Harry are you all right? Harry, wake up honey!"

She was close enough and amazingly, he found himself able to act. He reached out with his hands, determined to snuff the life from her, to choke her till there was nothing left inside her to produce evil like he saw in the room before him — he would end her before she could ensnare him again.

A sudden blinding pain in his testicles loosened his grip on her throat and she backpedaled away from him ... he blinked, and then blinked again as the world he saw had no relation to the one he'd been living in.

He was curled up on their bed, one leg up, the leg with the brace on it still straight out before him, nuts in agony, Kelly was at the end of the bed holding her neck as Carol and Camille came awake on his left side towards the center of the bed.

"Kelly, are you all right?" Carol asked. Kelly rubbed her throat and nodded.

"Sir, please, don't blame yourself," Carol continued. "Kelly, I should have warned you — I should have warned the whole household — Harry can be violent when he's having a nightmare, and it's best to wake him very carefully."

"Sweetheart," Harry rasped, "did I hurt you?"

"Not nearly as bad as I think I hurt you, Harry," Kelly replied. "You didn't really have time to tighten down too hard before I freaked and kneed you in the nuts. You were whimpering in your sleep, and I couldn't seem to wake you up by talking to you — I didn't yell because I thought I'd wake up Carol and Camille — so I got on top of you to shake you awake. Then your hands shot out and grabbed my throat, I freaked and slammed your ballsack with my knee, you let go and I scooted back away from you."

"Well thank God I didn't hurt you any worse than that," Harry groaned. "I don't ordinarily find myself thankful for getting a nutshot, but in this case I'll make an exception."

"Well, now that we're all awake, I'm going to go get your breakfast started," Carol said. "The two of you lay here and recover — Camille, well, you just stay there."

Kelly snuggled up close to her husband's side and they lay there in silence for awhile.

"Do I want to know what you were dreaming?" she asked, finally breaking the silence as he stroked her shoulder.

In that way dreams do, the details had already faded away.

"I don't remember, sweetheart, but I am so sorry I tried to strangle you."

"Harry, quit worrying about it ... I'm much more concerned with whatever got you that riled up in your sleep."

"Probably just another dream about you-know-who," he replied, the agony in his testicles finally easing to the point where he could breathe without pain. "Remind me to ask Eddie if he's gotten a line on her whereabouts yet."

An hour or so later, when Galena had finally finished telling her tale, she looked at Felicia and Oliver expectantly.

"Reggie, you're sure she's not just yanking our chains or suffering from a drug-induced delusion?" Oliver said.

"Not unless her delusion fucked me so well I'm still tender this morning."

"Well, thanks for finally filling me in on what was going on," Oliver said, "but for anything more than juicy gossip, you can count me out. Nine more months of hell and I'll be out of high school. Very shortly after graduation I and my Fundie-fascist family part ways forever."

"Oliver, you know you could have done that earlier ... hell, you could still do it now. You're seventeen, there's nothing holding you there," Reggie replied.

"No, you're forgetting my father's incentive program," Oliver answered. "Five thousand dollars for every year I stay in the upper ten percent of the class, ten thousand for every year I was in the upper five percent. Things go as I plan, that sanctimonious fuck is going to hand me a check for ninety thousand dollars the day I graduate. As soon as that money's in my account, I tell them I'm gay while I'm on my way out the door and they can all go to hell. Now, after that ... well, we'll see where I land. I've considered moving to the coast, but that's so cliché. I may well stay here in the area, just so I can embarrass my family in person.

"You say there's no problem with homosexuals in this group of yours?"

"Not that I can see. Two of the movers and shakers are lesbians, most of the women and several of the men are bi, there's a gay House for Christ's sake!" Galena said.

"Plus there's my brother Eric and his lover," Reggie added. "He's how I found out about Gee's involvement in the first place."

"Yeah, and my people are curious about that..." Galena said. "How likely is he to open his mouth again — perhaps somewhere he really shouldn't?"

"Don't worry about that ... before he told me, he swore me to secrecy that I'd only talk to you about it," Reggie replied. "Trust me; he doesn't want anyone to know about his involvement in this scene anymore than your friends. That he's gay is an open secret, but this kind of thing ... well — there are still some closets he's very comfortable being in."

"All right..." Galena said, her mind eased somewhat.

"Well," Oliver said, having a much better read on the situation than Galena or Reggie, "I think I'm actually going to go enjoy a day of freedom. I assume you'll give Felicia a ride home, Reggie?"

"Uh, yeah, sure..."

He made the rounds, hugging each of them and was gone.

"Damn, he sure left in a hurry," Galena said. "Well Felicia, what about you?"

In a flash the thin girl was on her knees in front of Galena.

"M-m-may I p-p-p-puh-puh-please-" Felicia said in her ever-present stammer.

"Sweetie, use sign language, it's all right," Galena said kindly.

"May I please lick your pussy?" she signed.

Galena spread her legs and Felicia began to kiss her way up her thigh.

"Not at all unexpected," Reggie said.

"Ummm, what do you mean?" Galena sighed.

"Wow, you really are that oblivious," Reggie said, sliding out of her chair and starting to undress Felicia.

Danny de Vere was impressed. He'd known he would make the deadline — he'd brought in enough help to make it a certainty — but he hadn't imagined that all the rings would come out so well. He had finished giving the last one a final once-over less than two hours before and they were all as flawless as if he'd made all of them himself.

The Dominants' rings were silver bands with a gold chain design across the upper quarter, with a large faceted ruby inset in the center, flanked by large inset pieces of black onyxes. The submissives' rings were silver bands with an o-ring, in gold, flanked by two ruby chips and those flanked by black onyx chips. Danny found the symbolism, those who wear the collar and those who hold the chain, quite fitting.

When Carol and the rest of her household came by to pick them up he was more than pleased by their reactions ... and with the bonus that was paid for his and his co-workers' hard work on such a short schedule.

"Geez Carol, don't you think three hours is a little much prep time?" Harry said as the family ate at the Bangkok Inn.

"Beloved husband, not when an hour of it's getting everybody in limos and travel time to the club - we're coordinating with several other Households, and all of us are supposed to arrive on target at the same time," she replied, taking a break from scarfing down her peanut chicken. "I figure this way we all get food, we all get dressed, we have plenty of time to run back for anything anyone might've forgotten. I mean, c'mon Harry, getting this many people all moving in the same direction at the same time is like herding cats."

Harry looked around him. Everyone had come to the restaurant by taxi. They'd ended up occupying all three private rooms at the restaurant, the members of his House and their allies packing them to the gills in preparation for their pirate raid on Port Dominique. Bags with costumes and props were everywhere, people were laughing and talking, the food was hot and plentiful and at 8 PM the limos were going to arrive and the loading would begin. Chatsirree had already had to ferry David Wilcox and Mistress Claudette back to their homes for forgotten props and costume pieces — it looked like they'd been lucky and that was all the last minute running back and forth that would be required.

"Sweetie ... just ignore me when it comes to things like this," Harry said, sighing. "You're much better at this kind of logistics than I am."

"Don't worry, sir, I do," she replied, grinning at him. "This is one of my specialties, and I won't let you talk me into letting us look bad."

"So everything went well?" Margo asked Galena as they ate.

"Yes Madam — of course Carol will still have to talk with the two of them, and they'll both need Lisa and Jackie's help, for different reasons — and Felicia may need Tamara's aid as well — but I'm confident I'll be leading them both on leashes for Samhain. Reggie agreed to see Dr. Lowenstein, and I'm assuming that if Carol feels Felicia needs to as well, that'll be okay?"

"Of course," Margo replied. "I know better than to second-guess our hoodoo woman."

Galena sipped her wine, careful not to overindulge. "Oliver — well, Oliver was going to be an odd man out anyway. We may see him after graduation in May, but where he would fit in and in what role ... that's a set of very good questions."

She paused. "What really surprised me was Felicia's reaction. I never even dreamed she'd had a crush on me for years. Girl's talented ... she may not be able to speak without stuttering but there's nothing wrong with her tongue otherwise. I thought she was going to leave me a shuddering mass of protoplasm on the floor — and I would've been happy to let her, if we hadn't had to get out of there by extended check-out time."

"Next time, don't worry about it. Keep the room for another night."

"Madam!"

"Really Galena, you're part of the family — start thinking like it. You're not a guest, you're not here on sufferance or as a favor to anyone. You're here because we love you, you're one of us, and we want you to be happy."

Galena hugged Margo. "Thank you, Madam," she whispered into Margo's ear. "Might I request the privilege of some time with the four of you some evening soon?"

"Certainly," Margo replied. "Andrea too?"

"Only if I don't want to be strangled in my sleep," Galena answered. "She still has her sights set on Harry, and my life wouldn't be worth a penny if I got between her and him."

"Damn Greg, when we allied with House O'Shaunnesy, I had no idea there were so many of you!" Harry said, visiting them in the restaurant.

"Five families under one House," Greg replied. "I sometimes wonder how we keep it all together."

"Benign disregard for your more anal-retentive tendencies goes a long way towards explaining it," Mistress Evangeline O'Shaunnessy replied. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Master Grimes."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mistress O'Shaunnessy," Harry said.

"Please, call me Evangeline."

"Then I'm Harry," he replied. He looked at the seven Dominants and sixteen submissives. "I'm curious — how did your House come together?"

"I'll take this one, Greg," Evangeline said, cutting her husband off with a smile. "The Dominants of our House all used to at least be acquainted with each other in college — hell, Dorothy, Eva, Cleo, Emily and I were sorority sisters. We all went our separate ways after graduation, Greg and I got married and started playing around in the scene, ran into Emily and her crew at a party. It turned into old home week and she told of running into Vaughn and Eva at a club in Dallas when she was visiting some friends there, then they moved back here for Vaughn's job. Turned out Cleo had played with them as far back as our college days and had heard Dorothy was in the scene as well. It was so damn strange realizing that all of us had, in one way or another, ended up in the same part of Society without knowing about many of the others ... sort of like 'Six Degrees of B&D'.

"It quickly became apparent to Greg, whom you may have noticed has a thing about organization and order that we were never going to be invited to any of the reindeer games, so to speak, as little separate households, so we got together one night and decided to form a House. Silly us, we put Mr. Prim and Proper there," she continued, sticking her tongue out at her husband, "nominally in charge and have been playing together ever since."

"Sounds vaguely similar to the way our House formed," Harry replied. "I asked because I've talked with Carol a lot about the ways groups come together in this lifestyle, and it's left me curious.

"Well," Dorothy Mallon said, "asking about a House's history is one question almost no one will ever take offense over. People being people, they like to talk about themselves."

Finally all was said and done, costumes donned and props distributed, plans finalized and phone calls made to insure everything at the other end was ready. The limos began to arrive and the swarthy band of cutthroats got on board to head for the club.

The performances on stage were so loud and entertaining that no one observed the bloodthirsty brigands make their way from the service entrance and up the stairs to the Governor's quarters.

No one saw more of them creep up and overcome the staff at the bar, changing clothes with them and then tying them up.

No one was paying attention as a small band of heavily armed pirates took the front doors and the staff that guarded them.

The first any of the patrons of Port Dominique knew of the conquest was when the music stopped and Margo's voice came over the speakers.

"This be Cap'n Margo of the good ship 'Chorale' — the port be ours, me hearties!"

Then the attendees' evening was disturbed by raucous celebration as the groups at the door and bar revealed themselves as the scurvy scalawags they were, and Governor Duvalier was brought down from her quarters in chains.

There was a brief attempt to take the Port back as members of the staff mounted an assault from their sleeping chambers, but the sight of the Governor sitting naked atop a large barrel marked 'Gunpowder', a rather realistic looking cannon pointed straight at her, brought their insurrection to a halt and they were taken prisoner as well.

A big show was made of all the staff agreeing to turn pirate, changing their vaguely French military costumes for swashbuckler outfits, and then the music was back on, the acts continued, and Port Dominique became Port Chorale for the evening.

As the last act that had been interrupted finally finished, no others having started, Margo declared a round on the house, to much cheering.

Then the next piratical-themed acts began and the club returned more or less to normal.

"Now then, have you been a good Piglet this week?" Harry asked.

"Yes Master ... this slave has not climaxed, no matter how great the temptation. To be extra-safe she has not even touched herself in a sexual manner, for fear she would yield to the urge and disobey you," Gloria answered as she knelt on the floor of the club before him.

"Good little Piglet," he said, looking down at her. He really wouldn't have minded fucking her at all, and was in fact looking forward to doing so repeatedly at some point in the future, but he was surrounded by lovely women that hadn't stolen over twenty-thousand dollars from the House.

"You may bring yourself to an orgasm ... one orgasm," he said.

She looked up at him, the surprise plain in her face.

"This slave is to receive no ... help ... to do so?"

"No Piglet, my House doesn't fuck filthy little animals like you. When you work your way up from subhuman cumslut, we'll gladly take your body and use it for our pleasure. The most help you'll receive from any of us now, however, is allowing you the privilege of satisfying us with your mouth while you get yourself off. Would you like that, or do you prefer to go it alone?"

He grinned evilly. "Or perhaps you'd like to complain again and go another week without any satisfaction?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she asked, "May this slave pleasure you while she fingers herself?"

"Certainly," Harry replied magnanimously.

Tattie had gone to Dominique's with some of her new friends that evening, and walked over to the Chorale table, amazed at the lengths her adopted family would go to, just for the fun of it.

She found Margo with Dominique's face in her cunt, head thrown back in ecstasy. Harry had Piglet sucking his dick, Kelly was locked in a torrid 'sixty-nine' with Candy and most of the rest of the family were similarly engaged. Carol however was being Margo and was doing her best to regally survey the sexual chaos that surrounded her.

"Hey Tattie, here with some of your new friends I see," Carol said as she approached. "Have I told you lately how happy I am to see you out and about?"

"You and me both, kiddo," Tattie answered, sitting down beside her. "So tonight you're the head bitch in charge?"

"Pretending to be, yeah ... not that hard really, I have such good role models in Margo and Kelly."

"I wanted to discuss something with y'all — when everyone is a little more sober and clear-headed. How about a late Sunday brunch somewhere nice, my treat?"

Carol smiled at her, reached into their bag and found the notebook that was never far from Margo. "Looks fine, we have nothing else planned other than recovering from what should be a relatively low-key party — just the G & P folks and the Pessino family."

"Good, let's say noon, at the Hotel Grand."

"Writing it down in ink," Carol said, as she did so. "So how are the kids, how's Julie?"

"The kids are amazing ... Vashti shows a gift for design, Svetlana for the actual nuts and bolts of making a piece. They're both pretty good at both, but I'm just ecstatic about the progress they're making. In other areas ... well, Julie's working hard with them, but there's so much they don't know, as far as reading and writing ... much less arithmetic, Lord, she has her work cut out for her. I've already given her one raise, and with the hours she's putting in, I'm strongly considering another. She seems tireless when she's working with them, but then at night, after they're in bed? God, the poor woman is exhausted. Perhaps I should hire some help for her-"

Tattie was cut short as a long line of people, manacled together at the ankles, came marching in the front door. The clanking of the chains could be heard everywhere as the line just kept coming, finally ending with two pirates, their House Fruehauf brands visible, prodding the prisoners along.

The people in the line ranged in age from some that looked like jailbait to some in their late forties and early fifties, by all appearances, with the majority seeming to be in their thirties. All of them were wearing nothing but loincloths, and pouches on cords around their necks containing their papers.

As the two submissives of House Fruehauf came up to the table, one of them, a skinny, cruel-looking woman said, "Which one of you is in charge?"

"I am," Margo answered, pushing Dominique away from her lap. She turned and smiled at Carol. "Sorry, I'm getting a nasty feeling this is not something we need to be playing role reversal on."

"Completely understandable Madam," Carol replied.

"You say you are a House that accepts refugees," the Fruehauf sub said. "We bring you some, with Mistress Wilma's compliments. Do with them what you will."

"How many?" Margo replied, her mind racing furiously. If she refused them, Chorale lost face ... but where would they find enough room for them all?

"Fifty-three ... and please don't feel you have to take them," the woman continued. "Feel free to turn them out on the streets. All I have been ordered to tell you is that the Houses they formerly belonged to no longer require their services. Good night, enjoy your little pirate games."

With that the woman tossed a key down on the floor, and she and her male companion turned and walked away.

Margo sat and looked at the crowd of submissives, all of them staring at their feet, and she wondered what in the world was she supposed to do. The number of submissives under her own roof, already to grow by one that night, the lack of space in general, December still over two months away — no room, no time, no way around it that she could see ... it all overloaded her and she found herself seriously considering walking away from the whole situation.

Sheila had volunteered to either be on call or to sit with Jason Friday evening, whichever he preferred.

Jason was no fool; he remembered her well from the party and wouldn't have traded the chance to spend some time in her company for all the porn on the internet.

After comparing their tastes in films, he'd been happy to discover that she enjoyed horror movies and that they both had a love for the modern classics, so they'd settled down on the couch with John Carpenter's "Halloween" and "Halloween II", a big bowl of popcorn and their sodas.

Sitting side by side with Sheila for the roughly three hours it took to watch both films was the longest he'd ever touched a girl — even if it was just their arms and legs ... and to be more accurate, frequently just their elbows and knees.

Jason found himself quite happy with his mother's new state of affairs ... not only was she acting more like a regular mom, but there were definitely benefits for him as well.

"Madam, if I might?" Carol asked.

Margo just nodded dumbly.

"There's an immediate meeting of our House and its allies Dominants in Dommi's office — sorry Harry, have Camille help you with the stairs. Candy, you and I are going to take these people and start interviewing them — try to figure out what we just had land in our laps."

She turned back to Margo. "Madam, I'll be taking the day planner, making notes on everyone, Candy will add in her insights as well. This is going to be okay — you and the others go talk now." She walked over and picked up the key. "Angela, find us a place, hell, make us a place to talk with these folks — Candy, go help her. I'll get them unshackled."

She looked back at Margo, who had yet to move, although all the other Dominants were standing and waiting for her.

"Madam, move it!"

Margo got up and headed for the stairs.

Marcus Hurley's hands were flying as Laurie translated.

"All right, it's obvious they're trying to swamp us, make us look bad in public, eat away at our support. They've thrown us their refuse, probably a few embedded spies as well, hoping that either way we handle it they gain an advantage. If we turn these subs aside, we look like serious hypocrites and the lie is given to our stated policies. If we take them in, maybe the elder Houses will learn something."

As he wound down, Thad Newton came out of a hurried conference with his wife.

"If there was some way we could know who among that crowd were really just fed up with life under the elder Houses and which ones were moles ... well, in reality, the disaffected won't be a problem, provided we can find room for them. They'll work because it's all they've ever known. Even a submissive who balks too much at instructions from their House can be thrown out to fend for themselves, so tradition is on our side should any of them take that course. Plus I have to believe we'll be treating them better than they were treated at their previous homes. The spies, on the other hand ... Vida and I have a ranch out near Talmidge. We could ship them out there and put them to work — any work — and they'd never learn a thing except how hard being a ranch hand is — and again, if they refused fair labor, we'd suffer no public relations hit for cutting them loose."