Descent Into Darkness (15 page)

CHAPTER XXVIII – Dinner Time

The scene was certainly anachronistic to the way she was dressed. Undressed, Katarina quickly corrected herself for she
sat there, legs curled to her left, wearing only a chain around her slender neck, having been left tethered there by Amber.

Expensive silver cutlery was laid on the table, complimented by ornately crafted goblets. The table leg to which she was chained was carved with the artistic panache that only the most skilled craftsmen can display and it proved as sturdy as she feared when pulling on the chain to test it.

The entrance of Mistress Raven was as dramatic as Katarina had come to expect, double doors swinging slowly inwards in invitation for her to sweep into the room. Katarina could only stare up at her as her two attendants fell into step behind and she glided forward, silky black hair shimmering.

The echo of Raven’s heels was dulled by the elegant tapestries that hung along the stone walls, allowing the soft swish of her full length leather gown to add to the drama. Katarina turned her face away to hide any weakness - Raven’s arrival usually meant discomfort, but more likely pain.

A heavy chair scraped back and told Katrina that, for now at least, other matters took Mistress Raven’s attention. She watched as lusciously long legs slid to cross at the knee, allowing a stilettoed foot to dangle and bob distractingly beneath the table.

The tattooed raven depicted on her ankle seemed to dance up and down, attracting Katarina to a delicate ankle bone and sculpted calf. Sumptuous smells drifted down from the table. Katarina’s mouth watered and the rumble of her stomach gave her away.

A plate was pushed before her on the floor. God she was hungry with nothing but cold slop to fill and fuel her. After the arduous exertions of the day she could have eaten anything but this was exquisite. Deliciously fragrant, the dish was visually presented with the care only top chefs aspire to. Katarina was
so
hungry. With no cutlery in sight, Katarina reached forward to sample the work of art laid before her.

A harsh slap to her wrist arrested Katarina’s reach and she immediately snapped her hand away and back to her lap. “You will wait until your Mistress has finished, whore.” The eyes of Raven bore down, a flame of wicked amusement in dark alluring eyes.

Time dragged leaden feet as Katarina’s stomach lurched in need. Mistress Raven feasted above her, occasionally trailing a hand down for a kiss. Finally, a clank from above and Katarina looked, eyes imploring. “You may begin.” With the urgency of acute hunger Katarina lunged at the now cold food in front of her, grabbing handfuls, the artistic presentation devoured.

== ~ ==

The day had been brutally hard. Pushed to the brink of utter exhaustion, Katarina had almost cracked. She had said words she never thought possible and it was only the realisation of Raven’s ongoing malice arriving on the wings of her insect visitors that had pulled her back from the brink.

Even the second education video that Katarina sat through after dinner couldn’t be seen to be relaxing. No phallic intruder this time, she instead sat through the female version of that first anatomical lesson, this time concluding with the image of Mistress Raven.

Katarina’s thoughts drifted to home. There was no one to miss her. She’d rushed to the plane and headed halfway across the world without thinking to tell anybody what she was doing and where. Still uneasy spending nights in the house she’d inherited, she’d been lodging with a friend but that hadn’t gone well and Katarina had often spent a week or more at her uncle’s; they were used to her dropping out of sight.

She had just the basics in the room she rented and her friend might have talked her out of it had she known so Katarina had simply left, sports bag in hand as if heading to the gym, stopping by her house to pick up more things. If she was ever missed, they would likely be able to trace her flight, find where she had gone to at first. But if the cash payment for the long distance bus didn’t stop their search, the hotel on account of the shoot, surely would.

Then there was the van and later the crated journey. Who could tell where they had taken her in that? All Katarina knew was that it was hotter than the place she left so she guessed they had moved her south. That didn’t really narrow it down. South to where? None of the staff spoke in her presence and the people she’d met hailed from all the cruel corners of the globe.

The thought gained definition, she really was lost and alone. She was a toy taken on the whim of an obvious psychopath. She would have to get through it any way she could. Endure and survive first and foremost. Survive the warped pleasures of the woman who dominated the house with her seductively wrapped sadism. She held it oh so firmly in her manicured hands. Katarina visibly sagged, crawling forward with the encouragement of a boot to her ass.

Curling into a cage by the bed, Katarina feared for the depths of her reserves. She was vulnerable to start with and it might not take much more. She’d willingly told Raven that she was her life while soaring on the wings of enticement. Too little rest, too little food had lowered her resistance and the constant pressure of punishment was taking her apart, piece by piece. She barely noticed the strutting entry of Raven as sleep already began to drag her into its fitful recesses.

== ~ ==

It was sumptuous. There was no word better fitting to her right now. All those years on the streets, battling and bludgeoning her way up had delivered this sweet reward. Silken negligee eased against silken sheets as Raven sprawled in the luxury of her position.

A girl lay bundled in cages at either side, one willing with an unquenchable thirst for discipline, the other unwilling, here as her project with a strict deadline within which to break her down.

It wasn’t enough though, it would
never
be enough to give her the satisfaction and security she craved to fill the gaping wound torn into her soul. Raven wanted more, she needed it all and, with realisation dawning before her, she knew what she had to do.

CHAPTER XX
IX – Workout Weak

Familiarity of routine was the only comfort Katarina could draw from the next few days. How many, she could no longer tell as days slowly merged together to form an ongoing assault on her fortitude.

Each day began with those first few stolen moments as Mela visited her cage. Sweet beyond words, that momentary touch of another human being, one of compassion and care, was becoming increasingly precious. It set Katarina up for the day and gave her strength when she had little of her own to still call on.

The first day, she soon found, had set the pattern with a cruel work out being the first of the set plays. She thought they would get easier as her fitness levels increased but day by day, unbeknown to her, the resistance of the machines was raised a notch, placing her body always on the edge of implosion.

The video proved an increasingly welcome distraction while Katarina slipped into the zone during each set. It helped to loose herself in the film that spooled continuously, better that than to focus on the inexorable countdown to reward or retribution.

During the third day, Katarina first noticed the changes. Subtle but significant, skilled editing was slowly skewing the slant of the film. The focus, at first, had been on her seizure and how her hopeless struggles had still seen her taken and enslaved.

Day by day it started to change. The focus shifted toward how she climaxed again and again, the voiceover reinforcing how she was both lucky and thankful to be chosen. It made no sense at first. She had been abducted and that was the fact of the matter. As the video looped though and the film evolved in its daily update, the first seeds of doubt broke the surface and peeked into her jaded mind.

Had it really been so bad? Had she actually sub-consciously gone along with it to meet some need even she was unaware of at the time? It was difficult to tell now, everything was difficult. Perhaps it
was
what she really wanted, what she really needed. Sure, Raven was beyond her worst nightmare, predictable only in her unpredictability. She was dangerous but held a dark allure that drew others to her as a Siren drew sailors to their destruction on their rocks.

Katarina found herself mumbling along to the narration as it looped. One eye though was always cocked on the countdown until, again, she could reconfirm that Mistress Raven was her life and earn that precious extra time. The thrill in her loins was anticipated. After all, her body was simply following the verbal stimulus. The build-up and shot of adrenalin that began to accompany her statement of those words though was anchoring the phrase ever deeper.

== ~ ==

Midday feeding time was something Katarina particularly loathed, given as it was by Red. She was stone, without even the looks of Raven. With her it was all channelled aggression and ambition. Athletic in that plastic beach-Californian way, she physically manipulated the bound Katarina with ease. Yet it was formulaic, less naturally spontaneous than Raven and so Katarina learnt quickly.

She learnt when to hold her breath, when to eat, when to drink and the point at which she should brace herself for the blow she knew would come. The routine soon settled, affording Katarina the opportunity to notice a little more of the unfolding dynamic between Red and the woman that accompanied her, Amber.

There was something in Amber that didn’t quite fit. She was different to the others, lacking the disdain. Sure, it was there when needed but it seemed more for show than real.

When Katarina had first encountered the two, they had acted in harmony, comfortable in the way that only longstanding couples are. Something had changed though. Was it the blow that Katarina had witnessed? She couldn’t be sure – after all it may have been part of their normal interplay.

So Katarina watched while she went through the motions, carefully observing, looking for clues. Sure enough the signs were there. No stolen glances, no appreciative smiles, nothing that couples would do. Something had changed and as Katarina’s head was drawn out of the water bowl for the second time of one particular session, eyes accidentally met, a smile was quickly masked and Katarina’s theories confirmed.

== ~ ==

She came to enjoy the afternoons staked out in the sun. Of course it was hot, uncomfortably so, but not absolutely unbearable and now she was learning when she could take in the fluids and they were removing the catsuit, the near dehydration of the first day was no longer a threat. Her muscles were stretched for the only time in the day and it felt more than good.

It also brought Mistress Raven to her side. At first, Katarina had dreaded the approach of the unpredictable woman but she was starting to learn her ways. She could also sense things changing but it was difficult to pinpoint quite how. Katarina thought Raven’s breathing quickened, though at first dismissed it as nothing more than the boost of adrenaline. The kiss, no longer tainted with that stickiness of the sugary lip balm, became a sweet moment that Katarina found herself looking forward to.

== ~ ==

Even enduring the hosing wasn’t quite the harsh discomfort she’d first thought. Katarina slowly came to view it like a Korean massage; rigorous yet refreshing. She’d had one once in her previous life and she recalled it during the hosing of her third day. Get a massage, set herself up nicely for the weekend, it had been a good idea at the time.

Shit, how it’d hurt though. She hadn’t spent enough and had gone to a parlour tucked away above a shop, earmarking the money she had saved for the bar. After an hour, Katarina had been spat out feeling like she’d gone ten rounds with a champion boxer. The bruises she saw the next morning refused to be concealed and that evening she’d gone out in dress pants and long-sleeved blouse when her mood really needed that knockout LBD that worked on her so well.

Much better than that she reminded herself.
Much
better as the freezing hose blasted water into her crotch. Seeing the benefit, comparing it favourably was another small victory, another lifeline to rescue her spirit.

== ~ ==

The first morning visit from Mela had been such a heart-warming surprise. It had given Katarina a beacon of hope and had steeled her to endure, even helping form more coherently the idea to escape her torment.

Day two saw the visit repeated, that touch of hands through the bars so welcome as Katarina woke up sore. A minute, no more than that, was all that could be stolen lest Raven discover their connection and punish them both, but it was enough. The tender humanity of it pushed back the torments of both the previous day and the nightmares, setting Katarina back on an even keel.

The kiss to her hand on the third day was sweetness itself. She had a friend in adversity and that counted for a lot. The unexpected noise though froze them both to the marrow. They were petrified in place. It was as if they had met the gaze of Medusa for Medusa had stirred and as Raven turned over, Mela slid quickly away.

It was the last time Mela made a morning visit and the absence gnawed at Katarina as would the loss of a loved one. She needed that brief time, it gave her hope, blew a wind gently beneath the wings of her spirits but she barely saw Mela now as Katarina’s daily routine digested her. Katarina ached for that touch of friendship, that closeness and hung more on the compassion from the woman named Amber who now shone alone as a beacon in a gathering darkness.

== ~ ==

Day by day, the video education of Katarina progressed, teaching her of the world she had been plunged headlong into. She found herself looking forward to those times as an opportunity to recover, a time to learn things that could potentially be useful. It started to make sense as the logic of the hierarchy seemed to fall into place. She was learning what made things tick in the manor.

== ~ ==

By the sixth day, Katarina was watching the gymnasium video with avarice. She could deal with the feeding. She could deal with the staking out. She could even deal with the hosing but the circuit training was the toughest and the film became the crutch that helped her limp through each session.

On day six, it recounted the story of how she had allowed herself to drift into her new life. It explained how her mistress, Raven, had rescued her in the railway station and how Katarina in turn had repaid the debt by assisting her in modelling for the opening of a new store. The victor always rewrites history to tell the course of events as they want it to be remembered but that simple fact was lost on Katarina and the victor’s truths were sinking in – just as Raven had planned.

By the ninth day the perfect storm had found its victim and was battering away at the debris of her resistance. She was so lucky. It could have been anyone but she was the one chosen, a pretty whore and no more, plucked from obscurity. What a lucky girl she was. Endure. Survive. Thrive. Was she really enduring? She belonged to Raven and Mistress Raven was her life.

No, that wasn’t right, was it? Endure, endure, endure.