Chapter 23: ... and Ends It

Gretchen led Nina to the middle of the floor, and had her stand with her legs spread and her arms behind her neck. She was a beautiful sight, with her heels and stockings accenting her legs, and the sheen of the oil drawing attention to the rest of her magnificent body. One of the other slaves stepped up and handed Gretchen a crop, which Gretchen slapped against her own thigh to draw the attention of the women in the room. A circle of naked women soon stood around them, and Gretchen prepared to speak.

"For those of you who are not part of the lifestyle, this is a slave." She waved the crop in Nina's direction. "As you can see, this is a particularly beautiful example. I thought that it would be a good idea to show you what a slave looks like, what sets a slave apart from other people, and what kinds of things a slave is good for." There were a few knowing smiles in the crowd, since there were other Mistresses present, as well as a couple of other slaves.

"First, please note the collar she is wearing. You will also notice that it is locked on, and cannot be removed by the slave. Only her Mistress can undo her collar. The collar is a visible sign of her slavery." Gretchen reached out with the crop, and started rhythmically slapping its leather tip against Nina's mound as she spoke. "Another sign is the fact that she is shaved bare. While many women shave some or all of their pubic hair, slaves are always kept completely bare so that whip marks, or signs of arousal are always very visible." In Nina's case, the crop was starting to bring a slight glow to her mound, at the same time as it added to her arousal, so both of Gretchen's statements were true.

Gretchen started rhythmically flicking the crop up between Nina's legs so that the flap would smack against her labia, and even put pressure on her clit. Nina knew that she could come if Gretchen kept up the assault, but a glance from Gretchen assured her that she had better not succumb to her desires. Gretchen continued her little lecture as the sound of the crop changed into wet slapping noises; she could see how aroused Nina was becoming.

"Slaves are also supposed to be wet and ready for anything that their Mistresses might desire. You can probably hear how turned on this one is, but she also knows that she is not allowed to come. Slaves have to ask permission for an orgasm, and they can be punished if they come without that permission."

The crop shifted to another set of targets as Gretchen started slapping at Nina's breasts, and flipping the leather tip back and forth over her nipples, bringing both of them to full hardness. The sensation didn't help Nina's arousal, and she nearly moaned at how good the crop was making her feel.

"Slaves also don't normally have names. They exist to be used by Mistresses, so they are simply called 'slave' or 'slut'. Some Mistresses even prefer to call them worse things, so you will hear some slaves called 'cunt' or 'pussy' or even 'hole'." She gave Nina a swat cross her rear with the shaft of the crop, and grinned. "I actually like this one, so I stick to calling her 'slave' or 'slut' or even by a pet name if we're alone together. Of course, I use other names when her tongue is doing wonderful things to me." A ripple of laughter went through the little crowd, and Nina did her best not to react.

"Slaves are seldom praised, but they are punished for any mistakes they might make. What I'm doing now might seem like punishment, but I can assure you that the slut is actually finding it pleasurable. A little pain often adds to arousal rather than detracting from it. I have actually made this slave come numerous times simply by using a crop on her."

"The primary purpose of a typical slave is sexual pleasure." Gretchen looked directly into Nina's eyes as she spoke, and then looked down toward the floor. Nina got the message very clearly, and immediately dropped to her knees, then moved her face to Gretchen's centre and began licking her pussy. Gretchen continued to speak as Nina worked on her, relishing the skill of her tongue. "The slave gives pleasure, but she doesn't ever expect to get pleasure. Pleasure for the slave depends on the compassion of the Mistress."

Gretchen continued to enjoy the skilled tongue caressing her folds, and working over her clitoris as she handled a few questions about the slave lifestyle. She was getting very close to an orgasm, but didn't want to do it publicly, so she suddenly stepped back from Nina, and put a hand on the top of her head to keep her in place. "I invite all of you to take advantage of this slave's highly skilled tongue for the next little while." To Nina she said, "Stay here and service anyone who wants to use you. When they are done with you, get undressed and join me in the sauna."

"Yes, Mistress." Nina could see several women who were looking at her with interest, and one of them stepped up as soon as Gretchen moved away. Gretchen didn't recognize her as a fellow dominant, so she guessed that it must be one of the gay women.

The woman looked down on Nina in more ways than the obvious, as she conveyed her contempt in her expression. Nevertheless, she spread her legs and grabbed a handful of Nina's hair, pulling her face in for some satisfaction. "Make sure you do a good job, slut." Nina immediately went for the woman's clit, not wanting to prolong this humiliation any longer than necessary. She did her best to make the woman come as quickly as she could, hoping to be able to join Gretchen for a much more satisfying time.

Her efforts were actually rewarded fairly quickly, as the woman started pulling her in tighter in only about two minutes. Nina was about to add to the stimulation by using her fingers, but the woman suddenly tightened her grip and started humping her hips into Nina's face as her orgasm coursed through her. Nina used her hands to hold the woman still, and finished her with a few firm swipes of her tongue over the entire length of the woman's pussy.

The woman finally released her hair and stepped back, then smirked as she once again looked down at Nina. "Not bad. Maybe I'll come back for more later on."

Before Nina had a chance to wipe the juices off her face, a young girl appeared in front of her. When she looked up, she could see a collar on the girl's neck. Rather hesitantly, the girl looked at her and quietly said, "M-My Mistress said I could have you do me, and she even gave me permission to come. Is ... is that okay?"

Nina smiled at her, and decided to be gentle with the frightened girl. "As long as your Mistress gave you permission, it's fine with me. I don't want to get the two of us in trouble."

"Yes, yes ... she said it was all right. She said I've been really good lately and I can have this as a reward."

"Well then, let's see what we can do." Nina reached out to wrap an arm around the girl's hips and to squeeze one side of her ass, using it to pull her in closer. She used her other hand to start playing with the girl's pussy, finding it open and wet. She rubbed over the girl's labia, massaging each of the lips gently between her fingers, but avoiding the girl's clit for the moment.

After a minute she slid two fingers into a very wet channel, rubbing all over the inside of the girl's vagina. She crooked the fingers a little, finding the rough patch on the front wall of her vagina, and using it to both stimulate her and pull her in closer. Nina's lips aimed for the girl's clit, and she started licking it firmly at the same time as she rubbed her fingertips over the girl's G-spot.

The young slave rose up on her toes, arching her pelvis toward Nina's devilish mouth as she moaned loudly, momentarily overwhelmed by the combined sensations. Her reactions drew the attention of several of the other women, and a small group moved closer to get a better view of what was happening.

Nina decided to prolong the girl's pleasure, at least compared to the previous woman. She slowed the movements of her fingers, and used her tongue to give rapid flicks to the girl's clit, but with only very light pressure. To the girl it felt like a butterfly was flapping its wings over her clit. Her arousal soared, but she didn't know if it was enough to push her over the edge. All she realized was that she had never felt anything like it, and didn't want it to stop, even as she was trying to reach for an orgasm that now seemed to be farther away than a moment ago.

Nina's fingers continued to massage the girl's G-spot, sending tremors through her pussy. The girl was panting, her eyes tightly closed, and one of her hands moved to Nina's head, pulling it in tighter. She wanted Nina to work her clit harder, but Nina resisted the pull, maintaining the light pressure, driving the girl very slowly to the orgasm she so desperately wanted and couldn't seem to find. The women watching could see how aroused the girl was, and were surprised at how focused Nina seemed to be, as if her sole purpose was to bring release to the young girl. A couple of the women began squeezing their own breasts and pulling their own nipples without realizing what they doing; they were simply reacting on a base level to the erotic sight before them.

The young slave's hips were bumping at Nina's mouth, trying to increase the pressure on her clit, trying to get Nina to make her come. The girl was moaning steadily, and gripping Nina's hair a little tighter. She brought her other hand up to try and steer Nina toward where she wanted the most stimulation. Nina resisted for a bit longer, then decided to go for the kill. She used the fingers in the girl's pussy to pull her toward her mouth, then flattened her tongue and pressed it firmly on the girl's clit, swiping it from side to side. At the same time, she curled her fingers inside the girl's pussy and rubbed them quickly over her G-spot.

The combination was more than the girl could take and she yelled, then started shaking as her orgasm completely consumed her. She curled forward over the top of Nina's head and held on for dear life as the orgasm seemed to go on and on. Nina could feel the girl's fluids running down over her wrist, and could taste her on her tongue as she attacked the girl's clitoris. She sucked hard on the little bud, pulling it to her tongue, and working its sides with her lips and its tip with her tongue.

From the way the girl was reacting, Nina was fairly certain that she had gone straight into a second orgasm, and she felt pleased with herself that she could give the young girl such pleasure. She slowly pulled her fingers back from the girl's pussy as she felt the hands in her hair begin to relax. She could tell that the girl was a little unsteady on her feet, so she moved back a bit and held the girl's legs as she stood, then wrapped her arms around the young slave. She could feel tremors going through the slave's body as the aftershocks of the orgasms went through her.

Nina hugged her gently for a moment until the girl took a deep breath and stepped back a little. She looked up at Nina with what seemed like awe in her expression. "Thank you, oh thank you. I don't know if I've ever come like that. Your Mistress was right about you."

Nina smiled at her, then caressed the side of her face. "I'm glad it was good for you. We aim to please."

"Oh, yes, yes. It was amazing." She moved a hand toward Nina's pussy. "I'll try to be as good for you. I'll make sure I do my best." She moved back into Nina's embrace as her fingers started to play with Nina's labia.

"As much as I'd love to see what your tongue and your fingers can do, I'm not allowed. Your Mistress gave you permission to come, but my Mistress hasn't given me the same permission."

The girl pulled her hand back as if she had been burnt. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"You're not half as sorry as I am. My husband got me so turned on this morning before he left, and I've been horny all day. I'm desperate to come, and I'm hoping my Mistress will let me very soon."

The young girl's eyes had widened as Nina spoke. "You-you're married? To-to a man?"

Nina grinned at the girl's confusion. "Yes, I'm married. I'm still married, even though I'm a part-time slave. It's a long story, but let's just say that I'm discovering myself, and this is part of the journey." She leaned forward to give the girl a kiss, then stepped back to see if there were any other women she would need to service. There was no one near her, so Nina bid farewell to the young slave and made her way to the locker room.

She nearly tore her stockings in her haste to get them off. Gretchen's invitation to join her in the sauna carried with it the hint of some mutual pleasure. Nina moved quickly across the inner gym en route to the sauna, not wanting to keep Gretchen waiting. She was looking forward to finally having an orgasm and did not want to give Gretchen any reason to make her wait any longer. As it was, her thighs were wet with her secretions, and even walking was having an effect on her engorged pussy.

She pulled open the door to the sauna and stepped through, then stopped dead in her tracks. She felt her mouth fall open, and she gave a strangled gasp—there was another slave on her knees, between Gretchen's legs, her head moving busily as she was obviously eating Gretchen's pussy. The feeling of jealousy that hit Nina was both powerful and unexpected. She knew, deep down, that Gretchen could use any slave she wanted, for whatever purpose she wanted—but seeing someone else with her beloved Mistress shocked her, and outweighed all the logic telling her that this was to be expected.

Gretchen looked up when she heard the door open, and her eyes narrowed at Nina's outburst. She knew in an instant what was happening—the jealousy was plainly evident on Nina's face. Gretchen was almost surprised that Nina hadn't pulled the other slave out of the way. As it was, she knew that she would have to punish Nina for acting like this. In the next moment, she decided that she could use Nina's punishment as both a demonstration, and an object lesson. She also knew that, for Nina, the punishment was going to be harsh, as she had been quite enjoying the slave's ministrations until now; the girl had a good tongue, and plenty of enthusiasm.

She held the girl's head in place with one hand, and pointed to the middle of the floor with the other. Glaring at Nina, she said, "Stand there. Face the other wall, hands behind your head." This put Nina fully on display for the other three women who were in the sauna. They had been watching Gretchen and the young slave, and one of them had even been idly sliding a few fingers through her own wet folds. She had been working up the courage to ask Gretchen about using the young slave when Nina had abruptly entered the sauna. Now there was another naked body in front of her, displayed completely. This one was gorgeous, but the look on her face was of abject fear; it was obvious that she knew she had done something very bad.

Meanwhile, Gretchen tried to re-focus her attention on the orgasm that she had been building toward. This young girl really did know her way around a pussy, and Gretchen thought that she might want to borrow the girl again sometime. She could feel the first twinges of the orgasm approaching, and she gripped the girl's head a little tighter, positioning her mouth right over her clit. Gruffly, she said, "That's it, slut. Suck my clit, nice and hard ... now, three fingers ... hard and fast ... work that pussy."

When she felt the fingers ram into her, and at the same time felt the slave suck her clit right between her grasping lips, Gretchen went over the edge with a shout and started coming very hard into the girl's mouth. The slave kept working both her lips and her fingers, and Gretchen shook with the strength of the orgasm. Her grip on the girl's head tightened even more as she pulled the mouth tighter to her pussy, trying to keep the feeling going.

She slumped a little as the orgasm fled, relaxing her muscles, and loosening her hold on the slave's head. When she moved her hand off the girl's head the young slave slowly pulled her fingers out of Gretchen's pussy, then applied her tongue to everything she could reach, cleaning up the secretions, feeling Gretchen twitch as she worked over the sensitive tissues.

Gretchen slid back on the sauna bench. "That's enough, slut. You're finished. I'll have to tell your Mistress how good you are at that, and thank her for loaning you to me today." She reached out to run fingers through the young girl's hair, then cupped her face and smiled down at her. "Before I turn you loose, you can help me with a problem that just presented itself. Not all slaves are as good as you." Gretchen swung a leg over the young slave's head and stood, then stepped in front of Nina.

She stared into her eyes for a moment. "Do you know what is going to happen, slut?"

When Nina heard the edge in Gretchen's voice, she knew in an instant that she was in real trouble. She cast her eyes down, afraid to meet her Mistress's gaze. "I am going to be punished, Mistress."

"Damn right ... and do you know why?"

"For being jealous, Mistress."

"Correct again. And why should I punish you for that?"

Nina's voice caught as she began to speak, so she had to try a second time to get the words out. "Because ... because you are Mistress. You own my sexuality. In the gym you own all of me. I do not control what you do for sex."

"Correct. You finally remembered how this works. However, it seems obvious that you forgot a few minutes ago, so you should have to pay for that. Do you agree?"

"Yes, Mistress. I deserve to be punished."

"I'm glad you agree, so we can start right now." She turned to the other slave. "You can assist. She needs all that oil cleaned off of her before I punish her. Give her a good birching. Don't hold back, but make sure you don't make her bleed, or you'll get it too."

Gretchen watched as the young slave gathered up a collection of wet twigs, and got them arranged in her hand. She started swatting Nina's back, at the level of her shoulders. Gretchen watched for a minute to see how well the girl was doing. When she was satisfied that the girl was using the right level of force, she said, "Good. Keep going just like that. Shoulders to knees, both sides. No harder than that. I'll be back in a minute."

For Nina, being struck with the bundle of birch twigs wasn't painful, at least not yet, but it was very humiliating. She was being beaten by a girl who was several years younger, and the beating was being administered in front of three complete strangers who were watching everything raptly. One of the women seemed fascinated by what was happening, and at the same time she seemed to find it very stimulating—her fingers had been busy in her pussy since before the birching had begun.

Nina felt a flush spreading over her entire body, and knew it was from embarrassment, and not the stimulation of the rough birch twigs.

The slave worked from Nina's shoulders all the way down her back, as Gretchen had instructed. Many of the strikes by the twigs were turned into long scrapes, and Nina surmised that this slave had experience with using the birch twigs to both remove sweat and oils, and to act as en exfoliant. She seemed to spend extra time on Nina's ass, and was hitting it a bit harder, but Nina decided that it wasn't a good time to raise any objection.

When the slave had finished with her back, she stopped to place the bundle of twigs into a cold water bath, and took up a fresh bunch, arranging them in her hand before she stepped up to Nina again. She looked into Nina's eyes for a moment, seemingly trying to convey a message that she was only following orders. Nina locked eyes with her for a moment, dong her best to convey her understanding, and then set her gaze to a point on the wall, between the three women who had been watching the proceedings.

The slave stepped to one side, raising the fresh bundle, and started in on the front side of Nina's shoulders. The first few strikes hit along the top of her shoulders, and the upper part of her chest. In short order, Nina's breasts became the targets, and once again it seemed that the slave might be hitting a little harder. Nina heard a gasp from one of the three watchers when her nipples became the focus, and she bit her lip when one of her nipples got momentarily caught between two twigs; the poor little nubbin got squeezed hard, then harshly pulled and scraped by the bark before it sprang free from the twigs' grasp.

The slave continued with the birching, working from Nina's breasts down over her rib cage and on to her abdomen. When her mound became the target, she did her best not to flinch, and she heard another gasp from one of the watching women. As the slave was working over Nina's upper thighs, Gretchen re-entered the sauna, and watched as the last few strokes were delivered. She looked at the flushed colour of Nina's body, and nodded her head at the slave. "Good work. Go find one of the other girls and have her reward you."

The slave smiled to acknowledge Gretchen's largesse, and decided to beat a hasty retreat to collect her reward. She did not want to be anywhere near Gretchen when punishment was being meted out. Gretchen turned to Nina, her expression completely blank. Nina did not even try to meet her eyes; she knew she was about to be punished, and was certain that this would not be a simple spanking. Gretchen stepped up to her and put a finger through the D-ring on the front of Nina's collar, pulling her face forward until they were nose to nose.

When Nina finally locked eyes with Gretchen, she wasn't sure what she was seeing. It didn't seem to be anger, and she knew that Gretchen would not punish her if she were angry. She finally realized that it was deep disappointment. Before she could react, Gretchen turned and started pulling Nina toward the door. As soon as they were out of the sauna, she spun to look into Nina's eyes again, and once more pulled her up close.

Quietly, so that only Nina could hear, but with a steel edge, Gretchen spoke. "I had planned for us to have a little fun, starting in the sauna. I was going to give you that orgasm you've been craving; I was even going to give you a few more since you've been a good girl today. But you've ruined that now, and I have no choice. You know I have to punish you, and you know I have to make sure you don't enjoy it, don't you?"

"Yes, Mistress." Nina could feel her eyes starting to fill with tears, both from her fear, and her shame at what she had done to her Mistress. "I am so sorry, Mistress."

"If it had just been you and I and the other slave, I might have let you off with just a spanking, although I would have had to use a paddle, and you wouldn't have enjoyed it. But you did it in front of guests, and they all saw how you reacted. That means that I have to punish you in front of everyone; that humiliation will be part of your punishment. You're lucky that I promised never to let someone else whip you, or I'd be passing around a crop and inviting everyone to take a swipe at you."

Nina blanched at the thought of being whipped by strangers. Being whipped in front of them was bad enough, but she knew that Gretchen would never inflict any real damage on her; others would not be quite so careful. "Thank you, Mistress. I will accept any punishment you deem appropriate."

"Yeah, well you're not going to have any say in the matter." She cocked an eye at Nina. "Or are you planning to walk out of here and relinquish your pledge to me?"

Nina gasped and her mouth dropped open in shock. She had not for one moment even thought of avoiding what was about to happen to her. She trusted Gretchen to know how far to take the matter, and what punishment to mete out. She was certainly afraid of what was to come, but she wasn't concerned that it would go too far. It was a moment before she could find her voice. "No, Mistress ... never. I love you, Mistress ... I wouldn't run away. Punish me, Mistress, please." She dropped to her knees in front of Gretchen, her eyes cast down, and this time the tears did fall from them.

From her position on the floor, Nina couldn't see the look of longing that passed over Gretchen's face. The last thing she wanted to do was punish her slave. She had been looking forward to watching all of the other women leave so that she could lock the doors and have the whole gym to herself with her slave. She had wanted to spend a hedonistic evening in bed, or on the massage table, or in the sauna and the showers, making each other come until they simply were too exhausted to continue.

However, Nina's display of jealousy had left her no choice. She had to show that even her favourite slave could get punished harshly for such transgressions. And, it meant that Nina was not going to get any orgasm this evening; she might be giving them out to others as part of her punishment, but she certainly wasn't going to get one of her own.

"Get up." The command startled Nina, but she leapt to her feet, knowing that any delay in responding might only make her punishment worse. When she stood, Gretchen grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the edge of the plunge pool. "In you go, and you had better touch bottom before you come back up." Nina hated the plunge pool, but knew that she had no choice. She clamped her mouth closed to avoid screaming at the shock of the icy water, then stepped off the side. She sank all the way down, even folding her legs at the knees to ensure that she stayed under long enough to satisfy Gretchen. When her feet finally brushed the bottom of the pool, she kicked herself up toward the surface, and climbed out without too much haste, knowing that Gretchen could easily make her do it again.

She must have satisfied her Mistress, as Gretchen took her by the arm and led her to the middle of the floor. One of the slaves was standing there with various items in her hands, and by her feet. Nina risked a quick glance and could see that the slave had several cuffs, a short bar of some kind, and at least one flogger.

Gretchen looked at the items the slave had assembled, and nodded her head in agreement. She took a pair of cuffs from the slave and told her, "Cuff her ankles, then attach the spreader. Take it out to about three and a half feet." As the slave knelt to comply, Gretchen took one of Nina's hands and wrapped a cuff around her wrist, then did the same with the other wrist. She clipped both cuffs together, then lifted Nina's hands over her head, and behind her neck. Nina heard a click and realized that her hands were now clipped to the back of her collar. The arch in her arms, and her back, brought her breasts into prominence; at the same time, she was now powerless to cover herself against anything.

She felt the cuffs going around her ankles, then heard a couple of clicks as the slave attached something to them. Nina's position made it very difficult to bend her head to see what was going on, but a few seconds later she felt the slave pushing against one of her ankles, and she spread her feet apart. The slave kept pushing against her foot until her feet were quite widely spaced, then Nina heard another click. She tried to move her feet back together, and discovered that they were locked into position by something. Her position now meant that all of her body was easily accessible for anything. A cold finger of dread seemed to be moving slowly down her spine.

Several of the women had been watching the proceedings, thinking that maybe Gretchen was about to give another demonstration. When Nina was fully restrained, she turned to face the group. "What you are about to see is another demonstration, this time of the harsher side of what it can be like as a slave. I had not planned to do this, since I hadn't expected that any of the slaves would need to be punished, least of all this particular one. This one very seldom puts herself in a position where punishment is required. Unfortunately, she made a serious error a few minutes ago, leaving me no choice but to punish her."

Gretchen turned to the other slave and held out her hand. Nina heard something clinking but dared not look to see what Gretchen had been given. She turned her back to Nina and held up the objects in her hand. "It is not uncommon to decorate slaves with clips such as these. Most slaves find them to be arousing, and they can also be quite decorative. These, however, are intended solely for the purpose of punishment, as they are usually quite painful." As Gretchen turned back to her and reached for one of her breasts, Nina knew that she was about to have her nipples clamped, likely with something that had teeth, from the way that Gretchen was talking.

Gretchen played with her left nipple, rolling it in her fingers and pulling on it. Nina would normally have found the treatment quite pleasant, but this time it filled her with dread. When Gretchen was satisfied, she moved a clip in place, and stared into Nina's eyes. This type of clamp was spring-loaded, although it was also equipped with tension adjusters. Gretchen let it snap onto Nina's nipple, and the flash of pain made Nina suck in a deep breath. She managed to not cry out, but couldn't stop the moan that escaped from her lips. She had never felt anything so painful on her nipple; the clamp definitely had teeth, as she could feel them digging into her flesh.