Chapter 1 - The Snake

 

Laura froze when she saw the snake.

It slithered on the floor near her bare feet then disappeared into the dark only to strike a moment later. The creature moved with savage speed, wrapping itself around her naked body, ripping at her exposed breast. She screamed then whipped her head around, her teeth bared in a fierce rage. Several of the men watching smiled in surprise. Such an aggressive response was unusual, but welcome.

She continued to glare defiantly into the darkness, listening to the heavy breathing, the clicking sound of tongues moistening dry lips. She could smell their sweat and the faint unmistakable odour of pre-ejaculate fluids. She inhaled a breath through her teeth making a hissing noise like a trapped animal.

They were aroused, getting off on her fear and pain. The air was vibrating with sexual tension. She could feel it seeping into her mind. She could feel the wetness between her legs and the throbbing of her clit. She had never experienced anything like this before. All of her expectations were turned upside down--she wanted them to look at her, to fuck her, to whip her...their lust was feeding her excitement. There was no coyness here, no intellectual ambiguity, no confusion, only instinct and primal emotion.

She moaned at the thought of what was to come. They were going to hurt her, hurt her badly, and she couldn't stop them. Her mind fluttered in a moment of terrified panic and she looked desperately back and forth at the ropes holding her arms then at those on her ankles. They were unyielding, splaying her in an obscene X, crucified her, but not so tight that she couldn't twist and writhe. That's what they want, she realized, they want me to move with the pain. They want to know exactly what I'm feeling.

She imagined how she looked bound inside the cylinder of white light, every inch of her naked body exposed and trembling with fear. She had always been proud of her lithe athletic shape and even now there was a certain pride in showing it, but this was far beyond a matter of bare skin. They wanted to see inside her mind, to feel her terror, her suffering.

They were monsters! She pulled furiously on the ropes again purposely pushing out her chest and narrowing her waist. She could feel their eyes probing into the light and she glared back then sensually stretched her long legs out to set her toes back on the floor. She was now fully open to them and the arched soles of her feet were exposed.

...No choice, she thought miserably as the pain in her arms eased.

The snake moved into the light as if drawn by the white undersides of her bare feet. She tried to jerk them back, but the creature was on her in a blink snapping at her most tender flesh. She screamed again and jerked violently on the ropes. A low-frequency groan came out of the darkness. It was as if the room itself was responding to her agony, literally salivating over it.

Was Peter out there? She wondered. Was he one of them...watching her? I hope he is. I want him to feel their passion, to understand that men want me. I want him to know what I've endured for him. I want him to know the depth of my love. I've never loved anyone else so totally. I want him to obsess over me, to want me so badly that his bones ache.

The whip struck her bare ass and the pain shot up her spine like a jet of molten lava. She threw back her head and screamed as her body convulsed. The snake waited for her twisting to stop then hissed again and struck the other cheek then her leg. She begged for mercy, but there was none. It was 20 minutes before she went limp.

 

Laura woke face down on a soft mattress and silk sheets. It was dark. Someone had tied her arms and legs loosely to the bedposts, stretching her into another X. There was a crushing weight on her back and the unmistakable fullness of a man's hard cock buried in her ass.

Her first instinct was to squeeze her cheeks together and push him out. It didn't work. Rather, the movement signally that she was awake and caused him to push hard, burying his cock even deeper. Instinctively, the muscles in her anus tightened then loosened around the intruder. A rough hand moved under her breasts and squeezed her nipples painfully. She tried to scream, but had no breath and instead jerked her torso off the bed. He used the opportunity to force himself in even further. She fell back flat and he pinched her nipples again and she crowned as before. The cycle continued until the undulating movement of her body matched the pace of his thrusts.

By now, her rational mind had shut down and the copulating instinct of a million past generations took over. They were grunting like animals when her over-stimulated brain released its endorphins. It was like pouring gasoline on a raging fire. She bucked impossibly high in a series of full-body muscle spasms then climaxed. His ending was just as violent--a mixture of unbearable pain and bone-crushing pleasure. They both lay exhausted as tremulous aftershocks rippled through their bodies.

Her mind faded back into a grey oblivion.

Later, she woke with her naked midsection spooned up hard against his groin and his strong arms wrapped tightly around her chest. There was a sharp tingling pain over her entire body and a wonderful soreness in her ass. It was Peter, she was sure of it. For some reason, she felt incredibly safe and secure...loved. It was a good feeling. She wiggled backwards until she could feel his prick then opened her legs and allowed it to slip between her thighs. They were joined together now in a way she never thought possible.

 

"What was it like," Cat asked in an excited voice.

Laura blushed and hugged herself more tightly. She and Cat were like sisters, they didn't have any secrets from each other. Still it was hard for her to speak about her BDSM experience. It wasn't that she was embarrassed; she just didn't have the words.

"It's hard to explain, Cat. You know Peter and I have been talking about it for months, and two weeks ago, I agreed. He sent me to this unbelievable place, and..."

Laura stopped talking and paused to slow her speech. She knew that she was still excited, still high from "the experience." She took a deep breath.

"We were at dinner, having a great time, and out of the blue he just handed me this note. All it said was, '1350 First Avenue, Penthouse. Go now.' I was confused and well, a little hurt. We were having such a good time, you know? I couldn't understand why he..."

"Anyway, like I told you, we had talked at lot about domination and submission, but those were just ideas...talk. It wasn't until we went to see Doctor Samuels that things got serious. I didn't want to go but Peter insisted. And don't ask me about it 'cause I'm not allowed to say anything."

Laura stopped speaking again and closed her eyes. She was rambling again.

"He gave you a note..." Cat reminded her gently.

Laura stayed silent. Retelling this story even to Cat was more difficult than she imagined. The incident was surreal, like a waking dream. Describing what had happened and how she felt in the cold light of day was impossible.

"What did you say to him when he gave you the note?" Cat asked. She wasn't going to let Laura derail her tale now. She was into it.

"...Nothing," Laura answered softly. "I knew that this was it--my moment of truth. Either I was in or I wasn't. I was afraid though and I thought about leaving him for a minute...seriously. Instead, I just put down my glass and walked out. I was disoriented I guess. I don't even remember the cab ride across town. I wanted him to understand how committed I was to him...how much I loved him, but I was scared and a little dazed.

"I'd never had gone through with it if it wasn't for Haven."

"Haven?" Cat asked.

Laura turned red as she realized that she'd said too much.

Cat moved closer to her and put her arm around her friend's shoulders. There was something different about her...in her eyes. Laura looked up and smiled.

"I got in the elevator and pushed the button. When the doors opened, I was staring into a dark foyer. I thought about just pushing the down button but it was as if my arms were made of lead. I just walked straight ahead into the darkness. I don't know how I did it or why. I was petrified. I just put it everything out of my head and obeyed..."

"Obeyed?" Cat asked, surprised.

Laura ignored her. "Someone came up behind me and put a hood over my head."

Cat blinked twice...a hood! This story was getting a little too dark. She had not had any idea that Laura had gotten into this stuff so deeply. It was freaking her out a little.

"Somehow the hood made it easier, you know, the anonymity..."

Cat nodded, but she didn't know. She felt better being hooded... How could that be? She couldn't imagine what had possessed Laura to go through with it.

"They stripped me and walked me inside then someone tied ropes around my wrists and they lifted me up. I was helpless at that point. I couldn't run or say anything. They spread my legs and tied my ankles."

Cat pulled back and stared at her, now truly astonished. She knew that Laura was wild and had always been into kinky stuff, but she never imagined it had gone this far. She and Peter had only been seeing each other for a few months. How could she have agreed to this? How could she have fallen so hard for him? This was nuts.

"When they took the hood off, I could see the outlines of men watching, the glow of their cigarettes. It was dark, but I felt that the room was big with high ceilings."

Laura stared blankly forward, retelling it now in a detached, robotic way.

"...I thought the whip was a snake at first. It was long and black and it moved like a snake. I was scared and confused... They laughed when it touched me the first time. It felt as if something had taken a chunk off my body and I got mad. I don't remember much after that."

"Later, I ended up in bed with Peter and..."

"You made love after all that?" Cat asked incredulously. "He forced you to..."

"He didn't force me! It wasn't like that. It wasn't as if it was Peter and I anymore. It was more as if we were two animals touching each other in the dark. I belonged to him... I...I never did it like that before." She paused and dropped her eyes.

"I passed out when I climaxed, Cat. It was something else."

"I just hope you've left him for good," she said fiercely. "I would never put up with that kind of shit from Diego--stripping you in front of other men, showing you off, whipping you. Who the fuck does he..."

Laura stared at her absently then smiled.

"I haven't left him, Cat, and I'm not going to. You don't understand, he owns me now. This is what I want. I've never felt anything like this before and I'm not walking away from it. He may...push me away, but I'm not leaving him, ever. I feel sorry for people who will never feel this...this...." She looked at her friend and realized that she had said too much.

"Like I said, it's hard to explain."

Laura got up suddenly and started pacing the room.

"You can't understand, Cat. Everything is different now between Peter and me. Ever since that week, we've been...intimate and I don't mean sexually. We're just together. I don't know why, I just feel as if something is joining us together now more strongly than ever. I love him, but love is not even the right word anymore. Everything is too intense to describe with those old words. Everything has changed. It's as if I'm on a different planet, as if I'm a different person. It's amazing."

Cat stared at her in total disbelief. Despite her wildness, Laura had always had her feet planted firmly on the ground. She needed to be that way. Her acting career was just getting hot. Something like this could derail it.

"How can you love someone that treats you like that, Laura?" she asked incredulously. "Are you on drugs? Is this some kind of Stockholm syndrome?"

Laura stared back in frustration.

"You need to snap out of it," Cat added, "get yourself out of this...this masochistic bullshit. How can it come to a good end? He had you whipped for fuck's sake!"

Cat shook her head in disbelief. She didn't know what else to say. She had heard of people diving head first into BDSM, but she had never actually seen it up close. Now her best friend had somehow gotten involved. She had voluntarily subjected herself to a destructive lifestyle that seemed totally, well absurd.

"I'm not a fool, Cat," Laura said calmly. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I have gone nuts, but you know what, I'm happy. I don't care if that means I need to be a sex slave. I with, really 'with' the man I love and I don't care what you or anyone else thinks of it.

"Maybe you should worry about your own choices, Cat. You and Diego don't seem very engaged with each other these days. How much longer is that going to last? Maybe he's looking for something else as well. Maybe you should think about how far you would go to hold onto him."

The two women stared at each other defiantly then Laura fell into the couch and took her friend's hand.

"I know it's hard to understand, Cat," she pleaded. "Shit, I don't understand it myself, but it feels glorious. It feels...shit, I don't know. I'm happy, please just be happy for me. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to you, but I'm not going to give it up...to give him up."

Cat hugged her friend thinking about what she'd said about her relationship with Diego. How far would I go to hold onto him? She asked herself miserably, knowing that Laura was absolutely right--as a couple, they were in big trouble.