Chapter 9: When Dani Met Eve

Dani ushered me through the door of her apartment, then closed and locked it behind us. She draped my dress over a chair, and pulled me into a tight embrace. We stood with our arms wrapped around each other for a moment, not saying anything, and then she spoke into my ear. "I am so glad you decided to come back. I should still spank you for making me wait so long, but I am really glad you're here."

I hugged her back. "I imagine you'll find a reason to spank me any number of times, so what's one more? For the record, spankings notwithstanding, I'm glad to be back, and I hope we can make things work between us."

She moved me out to arm's length and smiled into my eyes. "You're only happy because you finally got that orgasm you were craving. I don't recall having one of my own yet."

"I'm sure that you'll make me take care of that problem."

"Damn right you will. For right now, I need to get out of these clothes, 'cause they're still chafing me. I couldn't wear anything tight at first, and even these are bothering me. Eve really did a number on me."

She pulled her t-shirt over her head, then unzipped and dropped her shorts, toeing off her sneakers at the same time. I had my first full look at the results of her whipping, and I gasped at the sight. She was covered from her shoulders to her knees in red stripes, vivid against the white of her skin. It looked like nothing had been spared; her beautiful breasts and her mound seemed to have been particular targets. I walked around her and looked at her back and her ass, and tears welled up in my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

As I came back around to her front, I fell to my knees, sobbing loudly, looking up at her through veiled eyes. "Please Dani, take it out on me. Whip me until you feel better. You didn't deserve this, especially not for me. It should have been me under the whip, not you."

She knelt in front of me, and pulled me into a hug. "It wasn't your fault; it was mine, all mine. I should have been more in control of my emotions, and not taken it out on the staff. I also should never have snapped at Eve the way I did. I deserved everything I got." She eased back, and reached out to wipe the tears from my eyes. "Now, stop crying, or I'll give you a reason to cry. I'm sure you've heard that before."

I grinned, remembering it as one of my mother's sayings, and remembered having heard it from the mothers of other friends. "My mother used to say it, but never did anything about it. In your case, though, I'm not so sure."

She stood and helped to pull me up, then pulled me close for a kiss. "You'd damn well better believe I will. I'm just dying to spank that luscious ass of yours." She reached around me to slap the object in question, and then gave it a healthy squeeze.

I traced my fingers over some of the marks on Dani's chest, and quietly asked, "Was Eve that angry when she whipped you? What did you say to her to provoke her that much?"

"She wasn't angry when she did it. Dominants learn very quickly never to punish someone out of anger, because that can easily cause permanent injury."

I lifted both of Dani's breasts, and kissed the top of each one. "For someone who wasn't angry, she certainly did a number on you."

Dani led me over to the couch and we sat down, angled slightly to be able to look at each other. She smiled a little ruefully, "Eve seldom does anything gently when it involves a whip and a slave; she often gets me to break in new girls, or to demonstrate whipping for pleasure, like what I did to you. You see, Eve doesn't like to dole out pleasure with a whip; to her, whips are for punishment, and other toys are for pleasure. Don't get me wrong—she knows how to do it, and she's very good at it, but her approach is a little different from mine. She thinks that there should be a clear separation in the mind of the slave as to whether she is being pleasured, or punished. I tend to mix the two things up."

"So what did you say to her to make her decide to whip you? It must have been pretty bad."

"It really doesn't matter ... what mattered was the lack of respect that I showed her, and the way I had been treating the staff. I was totally off-centre, all because of you, but that was my problem and I shouldn't have been taking it out on them, or her. Her punishment of me was more an attitude adjustment issue than anything else; that, and because of the lack of respect I should have shown her, just for who she is."

"So, what is Eve to you ... just your Mistress? You seem to have something deeper."

"Being a slave to a very dominant Mistress isn't just a casual relationship. It can be extremely close and deep in an emotional sense. It's not just discipline and sex. It's something that you and I will need to work out, if our relationship is going to go ahead in the way that you're suggesting."

She didn't seem to want to continue, so after a moment I asked again, "And between you and Eve ... what is that?"

I was beginning to think that she wasn't going to answer me, and that I might have to drop the issue, when she said, "Eve is my mother," in a very small voice.

My stunned gasp made her lift her head and look into my eyes, seeing the shock there. She quickly reached out to hold one of my hands, and blurted, "No, no, no ... it's not like that. She's not my real mother. I'm a bit too old for that."

She lapsed back into silence, and I knew I would have to drag the story out of her in pieces. "Well, if she's not your real mother, than what is she?"

"I ... I guess you'd have to call her my big sister, since that's kind of the way it started out."

She looked so despondent that I placed another hand over hers, clasping it tightly in mine. "Go on. Tell me the whole story. How did you two end up together?"

She paused for a few seconds, gathering her thoughts, then looked at me for a moment before she started to speak. "My parents were killed in a car crash when I was twelve, and I was placed in a foster home. My foster parents were quite nice, really good people, but they were born-again Christians, and I was kind of a troubled kid. I was just starting to feel my way through my sexuality, and they believed that sex was a bad thing, and only for having children. They had a daughter who was sixteen at the time, and who was quite a bully. She used to beat me up a lot, and didn't like me because I was getting too much attention from her parents. I was pretty fragile at the time, mentally, and I was kind of a small, skinny kid, so I couldn't fight back at her.

"After a couple of months, I hit puberty, and my periods started. I also started to grow boobs, and get a bit of a figure. Their daughter also noticed the changes in me, and decided to start molesting me. It turned out that she was gay, and she made me go down on her but didn't reciprocate very much. She did give me my first orgasm, though, so I guess I owe her that much.

"It all came to a head a few months later. We were in her bedroom, naked, and my head was between her legs, eating her out. Her mother came home early, and caught us. Needless to say, she freaked. Her daughter claimed that I had forced her into to it, and no one would listen to my side of the story. I ended up in juvenile hall, and the daughter got sent away to a Bible school, where she probably found some other twelve-year-old to torment.

"I was in juvie for two years, getting beaten up, or molested, on a fairly regular basis, usually every week or so. I did my best to try to toughen up, but I didn't know how to exercise properly, or how to defend myself, and no one wanted to show me, 'cause then I wouldn't be such a punching bag. The main thing I had developed was a really bad attitude, and I tended to lash out at everyone, even those who might have been able to help me.

"Then one day, Eve showed up. She was there to see one of the guards, apparently a friend of hers. Instead, she saw me in a screaming fight with one of the other girls in the yard, with me mainly getting my ass handed to me, but refusing to back down. I found out later that she stood and watched the whole episode through a window, then asked her friend about me.

"After they told her about me, and she got to know my background, she asked to be my foster mother. They all told her she was crazy, and tried to stop her. One of the issues was that she was only ten years older than me, but she never let any of that stop her. I didn't really get any say in the matter, since they just wanted to be rid of me. They all felt that I would stay there until I aged out of the system, and then I'd either be dead or in prison pretty quickly."

I watched a tear roll down one cheek as she dredged up these painful memories, and I squeezed her hand tighter to let her know that I was still there. She took a couple of deep, shuddering breaths, and then continued her story.

"Eve has a small farm outside of the city, and she had me delivered there. I think she figured that I could do less damage there, and it was away from prying eyes, so no one would see what was happening. The guards delivered me in a juvie jumpsuit, and handcuffs. They dropped me off, took off the handcuffs, and just left. Eve didn't even say anything at first; she just calmly looked me over as she walked around me. I was pretty dirty, my jumpsuit didn't fit very well, and it had stains on it from where someone had flipped my food tray on me during my last meal.

"Finally, she stood in front of me and said, 'Take those filthy clothes off. You won't need them anymore.' I looked her in the eye and said, 'Oh, so you wanna see me naked? You're just like all the other pervs in juvie.' She just kind of smiled, then very quietly she said, 'One way or another I will see you naked, either with or without your cooperation. I need to see whether there's anything to you to work with, or whether I should just send you back.' She didn't yell, didn't raise her voice at all. She just stood there waiting for me to take my clothes off. I thought she must have been crazy."

Dani smirked for a second, the first sign of any positive emotion she had made in quite a while. "I should have learned right then and there—when Eve speaks in that soft, quiet voice, you are in really big trouble. Of course, I was young, really stupid, and headstrong; I charged her, figuring I could knock her down and beat the crap out of her. I ended up flying through the air, landing flat out on my front in the dirt, and I swear she never moved a hand.

"She just smiled down at me, and asked me for my clothes again. I, of course, just got angrier. I got up and went after her again, and I ended up back in the dirt. And again, she just softly asked me for my clothes.

"Well, we went at it for another ten or fifteen minutes. At one point, I almost got a hand on her. I never saw what she did, but I ended up with her holding my hand and me on my knees in the dirt screaming blue murder. It felt like she had torn my wrist, but in reality she had done absolutely nothing to me. She bent my hand a little more, making me cry out, and then quietly said, 'I can keep this up all day, and you will only end up in pain, and you could get hurt. I am not here to hurt you; I don't want to hurt you. I want to help you, but first you have to let me. The first step is for you to get out of those filthy clothes.'

"I finally realized that she had won this round, but I vowed to get her at some point. I started to undo my jumpsuit, and she let go of me and stepped back. When I was naked, she made me put all of my clothes in a metal drum, then poured something on them and threw in a match. As they went up in flames, she looked at me and said, 'That was the end of your old life. Your new life starts now.'

"She made me follow her over into her barn, and into a horse stall in one corner. She picked up what I thought was a small belt, and fastened it around my neck. I didn't really understand what was happening until she locked a chain onto the collar, and I screamed at her to let me go. I started to attack her again, but I was right at the limit of the chain, and she just stepped back out of reach.

"She stood and watched for a minute while I went crazy trying to get out of the collar, cursing her up and down and calling her every name in the book. I had learned a lot while I was in juvie, but she just stood there with her arms crossed, and watched me until I started to run down. Then she tried to explain that were bottles of water in the stall, and a bucket in the corner to use as a toilet. I just kept yelling at her, and she finally just turned and walked away, closing up the barn for the night. She left me there with no food, until the next morning."

I got up to get us both a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and was a little concerned when Dani didn't even seem to notice that I had moved. I realized that she was deep into her reminiscences, so I let her continue the story without any interruption.

"I woke up early the next morning, and the longer I waited for Eve to come into the barn, the angrier I got. When she finally appeared, I picked up the toilet bucket and threw it at her. I think she was expecting me to do just that, because she simply stepped out of the way and all the shit in it just flew past her. None of it got on her, which of course just made me even angrier. I was literally filled with rage, and I didn't know why, or where it had come from, or whom to direct it at. Eve was trying to help me, trying to be nice to me, and all I could see was someone I hated for no good reason. Looking back I think it was the humiliation of being naked and chained and wanting to hurt her, but failing miserably at it.

"She just stood there, out of my reach, and listened to me howl and curse and yell until I started to wind down. Then she started to speak in that calm quiet voice of hers. 'I understand how you feel, I really do. You've been wronged in more ways than I can imagine. I know what happened to your parents, and what has happened to you since then. I can't make any of that go away—I wish I could. What I can offer you is a new chance at a good life, but it all depends on you. Are you willing to do your part?'

"I just stared at her for a few minutes, since I didn't want anything to do with her. She didn't move; she just calmly watched me. I finally asked her what she meant. She didn't hold anything back, figuring that I would probably accept it better if she hit with me with everything up front. 'I will take care of you, including giving you a place to live, and feeding you well. I will give you the best education that money can buy. I will also help you channel that rage into something more constructive; for one thing, we need to work on your physical conditioning. You're in poor shape, and eating that juvenile hall crap has made you flabby. You will earn to look after yourself and keep yourself physically and mentally fit.'

"I asked why she was doing this, and what was in it for her. I remember asking her if I was going to be naked the whole time and living in the horse stall to amuse her. 'You will live here until I think you have earned a proper bed, and a place in the house. That day will come when you have learned to show me a little respect, and to keep yourself clean. Until then, you will be treated harshly, since you seem to like learning the hard way. If you screw up, you will be punished; if you do well, you will be rewarded. It's a very simple proposition.'

Dani smiled again, somewhat ruefully. "I distinctly remember the next few minutes of that conversation. I sneered at her and asked her how she intended to punish me, since I was already naked and chained up in a horse stall. She walked over to one side of the barn, and came back with a whip. 'You have earned your first punishment, for throwing that bucket at me. When I have finished with the punishment, you will clean up the mess, and then clean yourself up, or you will go hungry for the day.'

"She shook out the whip, and smiled at me ... that calm, devilish smile that I came to know so well. In the next second, I learned what real pain was as she snapped that whip right around me and onto my ass. I was absolutely stunned; I remember that I didn't even scream until she hit me a second time, from the other side. I tried to move away ... tried to get into a corner ... put my back against a wall ... none of it worked. I found out how good Eve is with a whip. She whipped everything she could see, regardless of how much I tried to hide. She striped my back, my ass, my stomach, even my tits. I finally just curled into a ball and started crying. I was sure I was bleeding from everywhere, that I was about to die at the hands of this crazy woman.

"She stopped whipping me then, and I heard her walk away, then come back. I remember that I cried for a long time. It wasn't the whipping—the pain from that faded fairly quickly, because she had never even broken the skin. No, I cried at being alone in a world where people hated me just for who I was, where people whipped me simply because they could, where no one cared about me; I cried for being so lonely that I ached deep down inside. I cried for a very long time.

"My connection to Eve started in the middle of that. After she put the whip away, she sat down beside me, and pulled me into her arms, and hugged me very tightly. I didn't lash out, didn't try to push her away; this was a woman who had just whipped me half to death, and now she was hugging me. The last person who had hugged me like that was my mother, and that had been years before.

"I just let her hold me, and hug me, and I cried out all my anger and my fear and my hatred of the world. When I finally calmed down, I fell asleep in her arms. I don't know how long she held me like that, but when I woke up I knew it was hours later. I was covered with a blanket, and I was warm; I suddenly felt safe for the first time in years, even though I was still chained up in a horse stall. I remember that I rolled over and saw Eve; she was sitting in a corner of the stall on a bale of hay, reading a book.

"The first thing she did was to ask me how I felt, and I nearly started crying again; no one had actually cared how I felt in over two years. I couldn't even answer her at first because I was so shocked. I just kind of mumbled something. She got up from her seat, and came over to kneel in front of me. I thought she was going to hit me when she reached out a hand and held my chin, forcing me to look into her eyes. 'When you speak to me, you will do so in a clear voice, using complete sentences and you will look me in the eye. When I ask you a question, you will answer in a complete sentence and you will use that same clear voice while looking me in the eye. Do you understand?'

"Once again, I was blown away. Here I was expecting to get hit, and she was giving me a lesson in diction and deportment. I straightened up a bit and said, 'Yes, I understand how I am supposed to speak.' I think I actually impressed her a little, because she actually smiled, then asked again, 'Once again, how do you feel?'

"I said, 'I feel hungry ... uh ... what am I supposed to call you? I don't know your name.' She stopped for a moment and thought, and she actually said, 'For now, I suppose that you may call me Mistress.' I had no idea what that word meant. I only knew it as an old way to address an unmarried woman, but I wasn't going to argue with her. For the first time in my life, I said, 'Yes, Mistress.' I saw her smile again, and she stood up, looking down at me. 'Now, ' she said, 'we need to address a few issues. I am not surprised that you are hungry, but you have a mess to clean up from throwing your toilet bucket at me. I will go and prepare some breakfast for you, and you can start in on the cleaning.'

"While she was talking, she walked out to the middle of the floor, and picked up another length of chain. She attached it to the back of my collar, then removed the one that had been there. 'You may now move freely throughout the barn, but the chain isn't long enough to let you leave.' When I looked up, I could see that the chain was attached to a large ring that ran all around the barn, under the loft. I was now hooked to what looked like a big dog run.

"'There are cleaning supplies in the closet over there by the big sink, and there is a shower in the back corner. When you have finished cleaning the mess from the bucket, then clean the bucket itself. Finally, clean yourself—take a shower and wash your hair. You'll find everything you need by the shower. While you're doing all of that, I will go and prepare some breakfast. Will eggs be alright, or would you prefer something else?'

"I couldn't believe that she was actually asking for my preference; once again it was something that no one had done for at least two years. I actually stood up straight, and said, 'Yes, Mistress. Eggs will be fine.' She walked out of the barn, and I decided to get busy, because I certainly did not want to piss her off again. I scrubbed the floor until there wasn't a trace of anything left, and then scrubbed the bucket until it was shiny. After I put the bucket back in my stall I headed for the shower, and discovered that there were two horses in the barn, in their own stalls. With all my ranting and fighting, I hadn't even noticed them before. I stopped to rub each of their noses, and I fed them a handful of oats from a bin outside their stalls. I was thankful I was getting eggs, but was afraid that I might be rationed to oats as well.

"The shower was huge, but not enclosed. I think it was actually for washing the horses, but it was hot and there was soap and shampoo, and I got clean for the first time in days. I felt really good when I was done, and I looked up to see Eve coming back into the barn with a tray. She set everything down on a little table, and then talked to me while I ate. She had made the most delicious omelet with a big slice of ham and hash brown potatoes and toast with juice and coffee. I thought I had died and gone to heaven; the food was the best I had eaten in years.