Chapter 61

Sunday, October 1, 2006

When Carol opened her eyes, the hotel room was dark. So at least she'd slept until sundown. Her spouses were still snoring away as she carefully slid off the bed and looked at the clock – 1:15 AM. She'd slept for over twelve hours. That explained why she felt so stiff. It was probably time to get the others up and moving for a bit. Their sleep schedule would be blown all to hell, but they had time to correct it.

She left the bedroom and used the phone in the suite's living room to call for a fruit, juice, and pastries assortment from the kitchen.

After the stress of preparing for the party, and the long party itself, she wasn't even thinking when she answered the soft knock at the door, the bellboy's tip in her hand.

"Uh, ma'am, your order," the young man stammered. It was then Carol realized she was naked. Smiling at her unwitting addition to their legend as guests of the Omni, she handed him his money and wheeled the cart in herself.

It was time to start the coffee, and she knew the effect that would have on her spouses.

Harry was the first to come stumbling out of the bedroom. His eyes were only a quarter open and while he winced as he walked, the brace was on.

"Remind me, Baby Girl," he said, "that the next time we throw a shindig like that, we get plenty of sleep beforehand – maybe even a good long nap the afternoon of the party, just to make sure we're ready."

"Yes sir," Carol replied. "I think even Kelly's too old to do that kind of party and feel good afterwards."

"You got that goddamn right." Kelly's voice came from the bedroom, barely above a mumble. "Six Hours, eight hours, okay – but last night was crazy long." She walked out of the bedroom, raised an arm, pointed her nose in the general direction of her pit and tentatively sniffed. "Oh, I'm gonna go run the bath now – you can bring me food and coffee once I'm in."

"As I remember, there's room for all four of us in that tub," Harry said. "Serve us in there, sweetie, and once everyone's got at least a first round of food in front of us, hop in."

"Yes sir," Carol said, happily. She'd had to spend far too much time in a non-submissive headspace the night before. She was happy to hear that her spouses, or at least two of them, were remembering to give her what she needed.

Margo shuffled through, grunted at her, and continued on toward the sound of running water.

An hour and two refills of the tub later, the four of them were clean, tucked into thick terrycloth robes, and sitting in the living room.

"I thought I'd enjoy it more than I do," Harry murmured.

"What – the sex, the drugs, the rock and roll?" Kelly said.

"No," Harry replied, "the peace and quiet. There's no pitter-patter of little submissive feet all around us. This place is so silent compared to the house."

"Well sir, I can run around and around the suite, if you think it'll help," Carol said.

"No darling," Harry replied. "I just didn't realize how acclimatized I'd become to it. I wonder what they're doing at the house."

"If they're intelligent, still sleeping," Margo said. "With Dayna nominally in charge of keeping the house going, I'm not worrying too much. I'm more worried about Minerva – last night couldn't have been easy on her at her age."

"I'm sure she's getting lots of rest and care," Harry said, sipping his coffee.

"Fine," Minerva Cornelius said as the last of the papers were signed. "Now your property belongs to me, and you and your companions may leave."

"You're not giving us a lot of room for luggage, cramming all of us into four cars," Evelyn Carter, one of House Bates' former Mistresses said.

Eddie walked over, slapped her to the ground with one backhand blow, and said, "If I plant you in an unmarked grave, you won't need any fuckin' luggage at all, bitch."

There were no further complaints.

The Dominants and blindfolded adult submissives crammed into the four SUVs and drove away.

Eddie handed Thad a piece of paper. Thad then walked a short distance away from Eddie and Minerva and pulled out a phone.

"Hey, it's me. Need a favor. Load of garbage I need hauled to the dump."

He listened for a moment.

"Yeah, that would be just fine." Then he peered at the paper and rattled off four sets of numbers. "I really appreciate it. My truck's broke down and I can't do the hauling myself." He ended the call, and crushed the phone under his heel, picking out the SIM card when he was done. He walked back to the group, handed the card to one of his people, Ken Anderson, and said, "Take care of it."

"What have you done, Master Newton?" Minerva asked.

"Sorry I can't answer that," Thad said, "a boy's got to have his secrets, doesn't he?" He smiled – it was not a pleasant smile at all.

Li Kuan grinned back at him and said, "Madame, it's time for us to go. You have a busy day ahead of you."

"Yes, yes I do. Master Newton," Minerva said, "might I trouble you to come along with us later today?"

"Yes Madame," Thad replied. "I'll bring some people with me as well. Who else is on the guest list?"

"Nancy Velacourt is the only Elder House to side with us so far ... there may be one or two other more neutral Houses I can call," Minerva replied. "I'll see if they're willing to stand in judgment of another Elder House. I plan to leave for their compound at 6 PM. Meet at Dominique's?"

"Sounds like a plan," Thad replied. "I'm going to go talk to the kids now – I've got some vans coming from our place to transport any of them who want to go. The others, if there are any others, we'll give some money, put them on a bus wherever they want, and give them the address of a mailbox I keep for reasons I shouldn't have to explain. They want to let us know where they end up, we can send them more of their money as things get settled. After that – I was already taking the day off. I'm gonna go home, fuck somebody – my wife if she's available – and go the hell to bed. See you at 6, Madame."

As Minerva walked toward the Land Rover, she turned.

"Master Janak, you and Mistress Pinard, as the senior available Dominants of the House, need to be there as well. I shall see you then."

"Well shit," Eddie muttered as he and his people headed toward their van.

"Calm down boss," Alison said. "I'm sure Miss Tamara will give you a nice massage to help calm you down. I'll gladly do my part by blowing you, should you so desire."

As Perry and Bevy started snickering, Eddie growled, "Not one word, not one gawddamn word..."

"I can't promise you everything will be easy – we're very hard on our children – and no matter what you've seen and done, that's how we'll view you, until you prove otherwise," Thad said to the assembled teenagers. "But I can promise you no more mistreatment, no more film shoots, and a chance to make anything of yourself that you want. You want to remain in the BDSM scene, that's fine, you want to stay with our ... House ... that's fine. Whatever you want to do with your life, we'll help you. You just have to be honest with yourself and with us and let us know." He paused, looking at their faces for a moment, wondering just how much of a burden his Karghold was taking on. "Now, how many of you want to come stay with us?"

Knowing submissive psychology, he wasn't at all surprised that everyone raised their hand.

Once he was home, Eddie banned all submissives from the bedroom for a time, so he could be alone with his beloved.

"I don't see why we can't just call Harry and Margo and have 'em show up for the House Wexler thing," Eddie grumbled.

"Because, sir," Tamara replied, "they need this vacation and you know as well as I that if they get pulled into this, it'll end up somehow eating most of their week." She continued to work on his chest muscles as she sat on top of him. "You and Karen, more than anyone, know how much they need this time off."

"True," Eddie said, "but I don't know shit about dealing with Elder Houses or any of that political bullshit."

"You won't have to," Tamara said. "Madame Cornelius will take care of all that for you. All you and Karen have to do is represent the House, and look menacing. I know the two of you are capable of that."

"Still..."

"Sir, how much longer do you intend to bitch and whine?" Tamara asked.

"Until you kiss me and shut me up, silly woman."

"Well then, let me take care of that right away," she replied.

Monday, October 2, 2006

"There was so much about this place you didn't tell me," Margo said as they walked through the frigid environs of Mr. Antiquity's warehouse.

"Why spoil the surprise, dear," Harry said, hobbling along. "Everyone should have the opportunity to see this place with fresh eyes."

"Well, the fittings were thorough, I'll give him that," Kelly said. "It'd be a toss-up as to who measured us more thoroughly – Mr. Antiquity or Mr. Landau."

"Well, are we ready to get out of here and get on with our vacation?" Harry asked.

"Uh, I think the three of us would like to do some shopping," Carol said. "Do you mind?"

"Not a problem in the world, darlings, so long as I can get out of here to someplace warmer ... Antarctica would qualify, but so would right outside the doors," Harry replied. "I'll be at the car, wondering what marvels of kink you'll come home with."

"Fashion show in the suite later?" Kelly asked, looking at Margo and Carol.

"Definitely," replied Margo.

Thad Newton was glad in so many ways that he'd taken that Monday off. His wife had been busy elsewhere when he arrived home, but a cute little submissive giggled as he picked her up under his arm and hauled her into the bedroom.

Afterwards he had indeed slept – he'd slept for ten hours straight and then showered, called for food, and gone into his office to spend some much needed time dealing with Karghold business.

So he was at his desk when one of the disposable cell phones in his desk began to ring.

"So, you've hauled that load of trash to the landfill for me?" he said into the phone. "Good. Thank you so much."

Since he wasn't wearing shoes, he crushed that cell phone with a paperweight from his desk.

"Anderson," he said into the intercom, "come to the office – I've got something else for you to deal with."

Thad Newton looked at the SIM card in his hand and thought just how wonderful technology could be.

While watching his spouses model their purchases from Mr. Antiquity's, Harry reflected that the changes in his lifestyle over the intervening months since Carol had come into his life had both an upside and a downside. The three lovely women parading kinky fetishwear in front of him? Definitely an upside. The growing-ever-more-painful boner they and their purchases were giving him? More of a downside. He sighed. If they were at the house, he wouldn't have to do a thing. More than several very willing someone's would have been more than happy to help him with it. As it was, he'd just have to deal with it himself.

So the fashion show continued while Harry slowly stroked his cock. The women were taking bets which outfit would cause him to 'pop', and it was Carol who won with her bet on Margo's new bustier, panties, and boots outfit. All three items were made from beautifully dyed red leather, with lots of very nice but for the most part completely unnecessary silver buckles.

Not wanting to worry about making a mess, Harry had gotten a towel out of the bathroom and laid it out long-ways in front of him. As Margo walked into the living room in the red leather ensemble, Harry's eyes glazed over and a long, thick stream of semen launched from the tip of his cock.

Carol did a quick arm thrust of victory and then rushed to pick up the towel and wipe her husband's cock before she had to change into her next outfit.

Thad Newton had secrets, just like the head of any House. He had secrets, and every time he turned around it seemed he was acquiring more. There were plenty of members of his Karghold that thought getting involved with House Chorale was a bad idea, and when he brought the teenagers from the Bates ranch in, those who felt the alliance was unwise only found further justification.

He addressed the kids from the former House Bates while members of his Hold scrambled to find room for all of them.

"You're going to be educated," Thad said. "That's part of the deal here. You will go to school, you will study hard, you will learn, and on top of all that, you will earn your keep. You will not do so on your back. Trust me, there are plenty of people here who wear our collar – submissives to please us sexually is not something any of us are lacking. Your meager talents in the art of seduction aren't going to interest us. What will move mountains with any of those holding the leash here is an absolute willingness to do as you're told in areas that aren't sexual. You're going to be watched so closely that you won't be able to have sex even if you want to – not until both your academic and sexual education meets our standards." He stopped to rub his hands in his hair. "Look, any of you who want to opt out, go ahead and do it now. Save me and my Hold the trouble of finding out the hard way that you don't have what it takes. We'll give you money, take you to the bus station, send you wherever you want to go."

None of them took him up on his repeated offer.

In the moments when it was just him and Vida, he could be honest – he didn't expect half of the underage Bates submissives to stay more than a week. He was sure the rest of them wouldn't last three months. The children of the Karghold were, for the most part, raised from birth with the Hold's traditions, rules, and regulations. The newcomers were at least of a submissive mindset, but they were runaways who had sold their bodies, and more importantly their self-determination, for a place to sleep and food to eat. His best hope was that they would somehow adapt to the rigors of classes and discipline as just part of submission to a different Dominant. They were all going to be undergoing a modified form of the Hold's normal sexual education – the entire Bates group was so deficient in anything passing for a standard education that he couldn't see allowing them to focus solely on the sexual education courses like any other child of the Hold. They were going to be working their butts off in both curriculums, or they were going to face stiffer and stiffer punishment until they shaped up or accepted a ride to the bus station.

In addition to the "Bates teenagers", Vida saw how heavily other operations were weighing on her husband. Tradition in the Hold was that while most decisions were open to discussion and debate, there were some powers granted to the heads of the Karghold that weren't questioned – they were the prerogatives of those who had fought their way to the top. Thad had been exercising those powers a lot in recent days, and the strain was telling on him.

Not to mention that several younger men were eyeing the position of Chieftain. She wouldn't mind it so much if both of them had to step down, but heading the Karghold with someone other than Thad wasn't her idea of a good time, and simply volunteering to step down wasn't in her nature. If someone beat Thad and took his position, they'd be bound to honor any agreements made under previous leadership, but House Chorale might find it a much less friendly alliance than they'd enjoyed previously.

Not that Vida would normally be worried – Thad could hold his position ... if he wasn't overstressed and short of rest. Unfortunately, even with his long sleep, he was both and that made the whole proposition a crap shoot.

They had given him a little time to recover before continuing the show, for which Harry was profoundly grateful. By the time the final outfit had been modeled and appropriately appreciated, all of them were thinking of food.

"Steak work? Steak good for everybody?" Kelly said as the other three nodded. "Fine, Muldoon's and let Nick pick up the bill, Persian Gulf Surf Club and we pay for it?"

The vote was for Persian Gulf, so an hour later they were enjoying the ambiance and relaxing with cocktails, waiting for their steaks.

At Dominique's, people were gathering for the trip to dissolve House Wexler.

"Master Newton, Mistress Velacourt, you already know these gentlemen ... Master Janak and Mistress Pinard of House Chorale, this is Master Werchan of House Malmedy and Master Gemmler of House Tall Pines."

To Karen, they both looked like prosperous Texas businessmen – suits and ties and cowboy boots. Both Werchan and Gemmler appeared to be in their fifties, with Werchan having a rather sizeable beer gut.

"Pleasure to meet you, gentlemen," she said. Both of them nodded to her politely.

The two newcomers insisted on taking their own trucks, so she and Eddie rode with Madame Cornelius and Hans in the Bentley.

"Where's Li Kuan tonight?" Eddie asked.

"I left her at home on purpose," Madame Cornelius replied. "She became overly excited at the thought of dealing with Wexler and an excited Li Kuan is sometimes ... problematical."

"Werchan and Gemmler sure are a chatty pair," Karen observed.

Minerva smiled. "They are not happy in the least to be involved in the dissolution of an Elder House. Not that they wish to shirk away from their duty to Society, but it is a serious matter, and that other Houses are having to take notice of Wexler's impropriety is disturbing. Like me, they remember the days when no House would ever expose itself to potential public scrutiny by doing something so rash. Too many tongues around to wag about their underage porn. Our Society exists in an uneasy relationship with conventional society. If we become too visible, the people who help insure we are not noticed will no longer be able, or willing, to do so and we will come under some very unwelcome scrutiny." Madame Cornelius looked at each of them, eyebrow raised, and said, "There is no House of any size that can afford to be examined that closely."

Karen almost protested that Chorale had nothing to hide and then thought better of the idea.

"So, they are here to strip an old and respected family of its status because its activities threaten that uneasy relationship," Minerva continued. "They do not play well with others, their Houses have neither needed to nor wanted to for many years. But unlike Fruehauf and her cronies, Werchan and Gemmler will not turn a blind eye to such things simply because it is easier for them to do so. They are not happy men, and they are not having a good day." A tiny smile crossed Minerva's face. "Although there was some interesting profanity, in both German and English, when I presented them with the evidence of Wexler's wrongdoing..."

Thad and the five other Karg rode in silence on their way to the Wexler compound. Six months before, any proper member of local Society wouldn't have even thought of asking for a Karghold's help – now he was 'one of the family', with even Minerva Cornelius considering the Karghold just another House in the alliance.

"Be careful what you wish for..." he muttered under his breath.

Ken Anderson chuckled. "Boss-man, you should've known that ... as I remember, you were in a similar mood for weeks after you won your fight to become Chieftain."

"You're not helping, Anderson," Thad growled.

"Ain't my job, Boss – according to you and your lovely wife, my job is to make sure nothing can get tracked back to us."

Thad spared a glance for the man beside him in the front seat. Ken Anderson was their resident tech guru. He was also 6'5" and looked like he could bench-press Buicks.

"That and kicking anyone's ass that needs kicking," Thad said.

"Well, that too, Boss," Anderson agreed.

After another round of drinks, the Grimes' food arrived. Not that the food was slow in hitting the table, but everyone was slurping down their cocktails pretty quickly.

For the next twenty minutes or so, there was no conversation at the table, just the sounds of happy carnivores in a feeding frenzy.

Once the plates were cleaned and after-dinner coffee ordered, Harry leaned back a bit and said, "I've made an executive decision – we're extending our vacation through next Monday. I've already called Nick to postpone dinner with him and Randy until the following Saturday."

"Not that I'm complaining, oh husband-o'-mine," Margo said, "but any particular reason why?"

"Yeah ... but it's a surprise."

"So you're just going to sit there and be smug and secretive?" Kelly said.

"Yep, sure am."

"Fine," Kelly replied. "Just for that, I'm calling a promise due."

"Oh shit," Harry said.

"Don't worry, it's not too bad," Kelly chortled. "Tonight, once we're back at the hotel, we're going to take our usual place in the back of the bar and get very pleasantly smashed. You are going to do so in the nude – with your naughty bits mostly concealed by the table. You're going to get to bring each of us off while we sit on the table in front of you – skirts and no underwear, ladies. The trick is going to be, can you do it in-between visits from our waitress who, with the size of the tips we'll be leaving, should be most attentive?"

"I like you," Carol said. "You're evil."

"Yes I am, sweetheart," Kelly replied. "Yes I am."

House Wexler's compound wasn't the equal of House Fruehauf's – the house was smaller and the submissives' quarters were much less comfortable. The garage, however, was a wonder, and filled with very expensive toys.

No one in the living room was thinking about that too much at the time.

"You have dishonored yourself, your House, and all of us," Master Werchan growled. "This whole business is goddamned disgraceful. If you have any defense, I'm sure we'd like to hear it."

Marie Wexler and the rest of the Dommes of House Wexler sat silent. They knew that Minerva Cornelius was insulting them intentionally by letting a man speak for their group, even if he was the head of an Elder House.

The silence stretched on between the two sides until Master Gemmler had had more than enough of it.

"Gus, if I may," he said, deferring to Master Werchan.

"Go ahead, Abe," Master Werchan replied.

"The way I see it, you have several choices," Abraham Gemmler said. "You can let us buy you out – and you're not going to get anything close to a penny on the dollar. You do that, we'll make sure you live comfortably for the rest of your lives – wearing collars."

Marie Wexler stood up and said, "There's no way we'll ever agree to that!"

"Good, Marie, I was hoping you'd take one of the other options. We turn you over to the police – there's even more evidence here in your home that'll help put you away for child pornography, probably for the rest of your lives," Abraham continued. "Or you disappear completely, never to be seen again."

"How could you possibly enforce that?" Marie sneered.

"Dead cunts tell no tales," Gus Werchan said. "I know we all have things about our Houses that we wouldn't want exposed, but you really went whole hog with the stupid shit. If the police had become involved before we did, they would have found things about our Society that we never want known sitting in the same goddamn computers with the evidence of your little child porn operation. We would have all been under a microscope then, all because you couldn't be happy with a legitimate porn racket."

"It's getting harder and harder to make money that way," Marie Wexler said.

"Not our fucking problem," Abraham said. "Our problem is how to handle your fuck-up. So, what's it going to be; the police, the grave, or do you want to reconsider the collar?"

Minerva wasn't surprised with Marie Wexler's – and the other Dommes' – decision. They were all going to take the collar and disappear into the care of Houses Werchan and Gemmler. She was more surprised when that was all the two Masters wanted from House Wexler's property.

"We didn't do any of the work," Gus Werchan said. "We just got to deliver the spanking – that's enough for us." He looked back at the house and outbuildings. "This is a pretty place – you might want to offer it to your new leaders. I hear they're planning a place in town, but some place like this might be good to have as well. Whenever you have the paperwork ready, you come on around – they'll sign whatever they need to sign."

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking," Karen said, watching the line of naked women as they were marched out, "what are your plans for them?"

Gus smiled. "A lot of pain, a lot of dirty, hard work. It's amazing how miserable someone can be, cleaning out hog pens ... with a spoon."

Karen walked over to where the former Dommes of House Wexler were standing under a tree, waiting for vans to take them to their new homes. She admired the hastily appropriated collars and chains that all of them wore.

"You bitches are going to have so much fun – do enjoy the rest of your lives, okay?" Karen said before walking away. She was very sure that any court in the land would view the fate of the Wexler women as true slavery, and when she remembered the faces of the children they'd filmed, she realized she didn't care.

Eddie stood, looking into the garage, almost in a reverie.

"There had to be some serious gearheads in that group," he murmured.

Three motorcycles – a Ducati Diavel Cromo, a Harley Davidson Electra Glide, and an Indian Dark Horse – and four sports cars – a red '57 Corvette convertible, a black '64 Jaguar Roadster, a stunning purple '94 Lamborghini Diablo, and a metallic blue Ferrari 458 Spider – sat in the bays. The rest of the garage was fully outfitted to work on the vehicles – a point which had Eddie running into the house.

House Wexler's submissives were spread out between the dining room and the kitchen, sitting around and waiting to hear what was going to be done with them. Hans stood in the dining room, Andre in the kitchen, watching them. All of the former House's submissives were men, and Eddie had rarely seen a more destitute group. Fifteen forlorn guys, all looking like they'd lost the most important person in their lives. Maybe they had, Eddie wasn't one to judge, it was just impossible for him to imagine a life under the hateful group of women that were waiting outside.

"Got a question, guys," Eddie said. "Who does the work maintaining the cars and the bikes in the garage?"

Two men raised their hands.

"Would you like to continue taking care of them?"

The two looked at each other, then the older of the two, perhaps in his mid-forties replied, "Not for you, not for any of your friends either. Fuck you."

"Okay – I guess that answers that question. Fuck you too." Eddie turned and walked out.

He found Madame Cornelius, Karen, and Thad sitting on the patio, talking.

"What's wrong with those guys in there?" he asked, sitting down.

"You mean the gentlemen whose lives we just completely uprooted?" Minerva replied. "The ones who are going to be taken away from their home and the Mistresses they adored? Are those the people you are referring to, Master Janak?"

"Uh, yeah, those would be the ones."

"Never imagine that the life you know is the only life there is," Minerva said. "They were happy, or at the very least, they were institutionalized. We have taken that away from them." She paused, shaking her head slightly, and staring into the distance. "I know of some Houses that they would fit into very well – my week will be busy finding them new positions.

"I am leaving Hans and Andre here," she continued, "to watch the grounds and begin the work of cataloguing. I trust your young computer genius is available?"

"Uh, not today, Madame," Eddie replied. "I can arrange for him to take some time off, God knows he's got enough leave squirreled away. He can be out here sometime tomorrow. Now, I don't know if you've thought of this or not, but keep the subs away from the computers, and don't fiddle with them until Perry's had a chance to look them over. I'd hate for someone to either intentionally or accidentally erase evidence or any other valuable information."

"A good point, Master Janak," Minerva said. "Well then, does anyone else have anything we particularly need to tend to before we leave? I am quite tired this evening."

"I'll drive you home, Madame," Eddie said. "Karen can follow behind and pick me up at your place."

"I'm going to stick around a while longer," Thad said. "At least until Werchan and Gemmler get those bitches out of here."

"Very well," Minerva said. "Master Janak, shall we go?"

Eddie Janak had rarely been more uncomfortable than he was on the drive back into town – it wasn't a short drive, either. The Wexler compound had been out to the northwest quite a distance, and it was a very quiet drive back.

Until they were only twenty miles outside the city; then Madame Cornelius said, "Enough awkward silence, young man. Tell me, how are you liking your new life?"
Eddie fought to overcome his surprise.