Be Careful What You Wish For (19 page)

 

 

It was cold, dark and dismal. Not a nice place to be. The cage hadn't been used in a very long while. The room was damp and smelly, but the overriding feeling was one of abandonment, and Shadow didn't like that at all.

He might not be a big figure, but he was bulky, fit, muscular. Fitting into the cage was like putting a shark in a goldfish bowl. He hadn't been there more than five minutes and he was stir crazy. He could well understand tigers caged at the zoo, banging their heads against the walls of their imprisonment, hearing the call of the wild, longing to break free.

Richard had taken the warning bell with him. It was usually kept within reach just outside the cage. The lock was secure. The bars thick and unyielding. He couldn't even sit comfortably, his back wedged tight while his knees were drawn up under his chin. And there was nowhere at all to put his arms except pushed right in close to his body where his movements weren't just restricted, there wasn't room for movement at all. Worst of all was that the flogging with the switch had turned him on. Yes, it hurt like crazy; it wasn't his chosen means of corporal punishment by any means. He'd been flogged before, many times in all different positions and situations, but always with paddles, floggers, crop or cane, or if he was excited enough, one following the other. But he'd never experienced the switch. The bite was similar to a cane, but much more whippy, and it did something to him deep inside. He hadn't expected such a powerful reaction. His body rebelled, trying to fight against the pain, and yet at the same time was flooded with the overwhelming feelings of satisfaction. He'd been careful not to let it show, but now, trussed up in the cage, he could do sod all about the urge that continued to grind and growl inside him, setting him on edge, needing the act of fulfilment. And that wasn't good!

His whole body was wound up like a tight spring. He was ready to explode.

‘Yah!' he roared into the silence, knowing that sound could not carry beyond the room, except through the speakers installed.

It had been fun in the past to sit in front of the console upstairs and view a tormented victim through the camera. He enjoyed being a voyeur when Richard had his wicked way.

‘Yah!' he roared in frustration again, begging to be free.

What the hell was Richard playing at? Why didn't he come to release him? How long was he going to keep up this charade? Okay, so he needed to be seen to be punishing him, but enough was enough.

‘Yah!' he roared simply because he could. His voice was the only thing he had left, it seemed, the only way of venting his feelings.

But no one heard, no one listened, no one cared.

And yet suddenly he heard the sound he had been waiting for - footsteps on the stairs. He strained his ears. Surely he hadn't been mistaken. The door was open a crack, and he was sure Richard was there. Perhaps he had never left at all, and this was an exercise in seeing what he might do, how he might cope, just to give him a taste of a punishment and then let him go.

Silence.

And then he heard what he dreaded most - footsteps retreating.

It wasn't going to be that easy then. ‘Richard, Richard, come on... let me out. Okay, so I was wrong. Whatever it is you believe I've done, then I admit it. Please, just let me go, release me from this infernal cage and I'll do anything required to make it up to you.
Please
.'

In a corner of the room the light of the camera blinked knowingly, recording these moments, as if they might be needed as evidence later.

 

 

A plan was evolving with every step Richard took towards the dungeon. He had been trained to analyse problems, collect, store and interpret data, and to deduce the logical or even pragmatic solution to any problem. The sudden turn of events didn't faze him. In fact, things had worked well in his favour.

Finding out about Shadow's devious activities and ways of working to his own advantage meant an end to the relationship they had shared. He was tired of playing his Master. The tantrums and sudden change of mood could be wearing. Yes, they'd had a good innings, they had supported one another since the untimely death of their wives, and the company had been welcome. But Shadow had a habit of moving things along at his pace; pushing him into areas he didn't really feel comfortable in or want to go. The time was right. He would tell him straight. And for the work he'd put in over past months in training Pandora he would pay him off handsomely, but then tell him to go. He'd take him to the mainland, but after that he was on his own. He had friends. He wouldn't be alone for long.

He had entered the hallway leading to the steps down to the dungeon when the phone rang.

Sod it!
He didn't want any interruptions now. His first instinct was to ignore it, but the ringing was persistent, shrill, biting into his thoughts, urging him to answer. It could be Gerard, his Chief Exec; his call was long overdue.

He turned and hurried back to the nearby telephone hung under a mounted painting of one of his ancestors, Uncle George. Absently he stroked a finger along the frame, noting the dust. Shadow again, not keeping up with his chores.

‘Hello, Richard? Thank God you answered. We've received an unsolicited approach and we need your immediate thoughts...'

The phone call lasted some time. He listened long and hard, and wondered why he paid his Chief Exec such a salary when he couldn't handle the initial discussions and prepare a brief for him and the City, but his attitude softened and he issued detailed instructions to his subordinate on what he required, with the assurance he would join him when all the facts were known. He demanded absolute discretion and authorised any action to dispel any unfavourable rumours. He knew his Chief Exec well enough to know favourable rumours would be exploited to strengthen their position in any way they could. He closed the conversation, idly wondering what an unsolicited offer for the business would be worth and how much he could up the ante if it was genuine.

He stood quietly once he'd put the phone down, caught between business and pleasure. It would mean bringing the Ceremony forward, and he'd need to leave almost immediately afterwards. That was a blow. He couldn't take Pandora with him, so he'd need to retain the services of Shadow a while longer and appease him, while making it crystal clear he was not to take advantage of the situation in his absence. It wasn't ideal, but what else could he do?

This needed to be sorted. He turned and strode with renewed vigour to the steps leading to the dungeon below.

 

 

It was an extraordinary feeling of exhilaration, and yet at the same time an overwhelming sense of peace that lifted and held Pandora. At first everything had distanced, voices came as if from a long way off. She was aware of her surroundings but then less and less so as they paled into insignificance. It was hard to find words to describe the experience. It was more about feelings... floating... flying... with a weightlessness that defied all reason.

She couldn't make sense of it, but then again, she didn't have to. She felt calm, allowing herself simply to drift and be held and taken to whatever shore she might find herself washed up on. The feelings she held were like the sea, coming in waves, gentle, rocking, lifting, gliding, flowing. She wanted it to go on and on and on.

But then something stopped her.

Something snagged her mind.

A thought tore free from the safety and warmth of the cocoon and continued to prick until she took notice. Something wasn't right. She didn't know more, but she should explore, and as the path of reason began to find a way, slowly she started to surface through the bubble of blue, to the realisation of the thought that was now troubling her.

She lay in a nest of cushions on the sofa. It wasn't a room she was familiar with, and it took some minutes before she remembered the way she had been taken from her own room to this with a blindfold, believing it to be Shadow leading her. That's what didn't fit. In all these months always, always it had been Shadow who would come for her. Dream Catcher never did.

And this was different; more different because of how her senses had been aroused, and the acts performed between them born out of love. She was sure he loved her, and she was equally certain there was stuff going on between Dream Catcher and Shadow, stuff she didn't understand. Shadow's whole persona had changed. It was like having two people in charge of her instead of one, both living in the same body, both equally capable, and yet one so loving and one so cruel.

She wasn't sure how long she had been lying on the sofa, but it was strange no one was with her now. That was also different. She lowered her feet to the floor, knowing she was still held by the power of sub-space. Her mind kind of drifted in and out of reality. She wasn't certain about what was dream and what was real any more, but she knew she was thirsty.

She passed a desk, surprised that Dream Catcher would have so much paperwork stacked in an in-tray, when he seemed such an ordered kind of man. Beyond she caught sight of a curtain. Perhaps it hid a kettle, something to drink. She drew it to one side, and then caught her breath. A computer had been shielded from view, but it wasn't so much that as what she saw on the monitor that shocked her. It was a small, rather dark room, with all manner of things cluttering the space, and a cage squatted in the farthest corner with what looked to be a man huddled inside.

The figure was knotted, the picture confused. She reached to turn up the volume, and then drew back suddenly at the sound of a voice she knew. Dream Catcher! He entered the frame from the right, already speaking as he approached the cage.

‘So, do you think you've learned your lesson?'

The response from the cage was muffled and she couldn't hear properly.

‘That's good news. But now things have moved on. Plans have changed, and you need to be aware of the part you'll play in them, and the way it'll be for the future.'

Again she missed the reply.

‘This isn't a discussion, damn it, so listen well.'

She'd never heard Dream Catcher angry, and there was almost a snarl in his voice. But then, with an effort, he seemed to calm himself.

‘I've allowed things to slide for too long, but now you'll remember what I tell you. There is no going back. The past is gone. We are approaching a new year, and with it the dawn of a new age. Business necessitates that I bring forward the Ceremony, so there is much to do in the changing of arrangements. Then I will need to be away. It need not concern you where I'll be or what I'll be doing, or indeed who I am going to see. Your sole function in my absence will be to look after Pandora.'

For a moment she lost the trail of words in her confusion. They were discussing her. Or rather, Dream Catcher was putting the man in charge of her while he was going away. No, she needed him with her. He couldn't go away now, no matter what the reason!

She wasn't thinking clearly. Her mind was a fog. There was something she wasn't getting, just out of her grasp. But then as she watched Dream Catcher turn a key in the padlock and the door of the cage swing open, she gasped in surprise at the figure unfolding, struggling to be free.

Shadow!

What was Shadow doing locked up in a cage?

What hold did Dream Catcher have over him?

What was their relationship really about?

She was missing vital information. But then again, her confusion was such that there was every chance she was completely misinterpreting the situation. She stepped back to the sofa, and by the time Dream Catcher returned she had fallen into an exhausted sleep, from which he woke her with a steaming mug of cocoa before leading her blindfolded back to her room.

 

 

It was the first day of a new year. Dream Catcher and Shadow entered her room as the sun spread its soft warm glow across the heavens.

Abi had known they would come. The night before helicopters landed on the beach, and shadows moved through the velvet darkness, touched by fingers of moonlight as they made their way up to the house. Far off she'd heard voices, many voices which hung in the air, creating an electric atmosphere of excited anticipation, stirring her into a hopeless state of panic and arousal as she tried to prepare for this day.

Dream Catcher and Shadow stood in the archway, watching her face light up like a child on Christmas morning, eager to open her first present. Used now to the order of things, her attention was caught by the large black case held in Shadow's hand. To his right Dream Catcher's arms were filled with a long suit or dress cover, and what looked like a small jewellery case.

‘It is time. The hour fast approaches when we will each make our commitment to the other, and we will be bound together as One. Are you ready to commit yourself to us, slave?'

Already Abi was kneeling on the floor at their feet in the submissive position, just the way she had been taught. ‘I am ready, Masters, to please and to serve you forever.'