The Initiation of Ms Holly (Xcite Erotic Romance Novels) (16 page)

V
IVIENNE’S FLAT WAS EMPTY
. Lorelei shivered and chafed her arms. She couldn’t remember Vivienne’s flat ever being empty. This time of evening the place was always buzzing with activity. It was true Lorelei had returned later than she had expected, but Vivienne had ordered her to stay until the job was done. How was she to know that in spite of Owen Frank’s sleazy reputation, the man was into marathon sex, and not half bad at it either. Fucking him might be an inconvenience, but it was certainly no hardship.

Edward was at work in the study, Alex was teaching a dance lesson, and Aurora was in the dungeon punishing the errant CEO of some bank. No one had seen Vivienne in the restaurant either. Lorelei wandered down the narrow hall toward the back entrance. Sometimes Vivienne sought out unlikely spots to take lovers. It was a kinky thing with her, having sex in unusual places. The only thing she liked better than sex in unusual places was being caught in the act. There were no grunts of pleasure coming from the linen closet, nor the pantry next to the lift.

Lorelei stepped out into the alley where two sleek limos stood ready for the private use of members. One driver was busy reading a novel, the other talked quietly on his mobile. Both offered her a polite nod.

She was about to go back inside when a muffled whimper further down the alley got her attention. Careful not to turn her ankle on the cobbles, she tiptoed behind the limos and around to where the dumpsters from the kitchen sat. As she moved closer, she heard it again, a muffled grunt followed by a whine.

She thought she recognised the faded blue gym suit with the hood pulled up, but it was those ugly pink flip-flops that gave her away. What the hell was Rita Holly doing behind the kitchen bins?

Then a masculine voice mumbled something Lorelei couldn’t quite catch, and she froze in her tracks. Surely Rita wasn’t stupid enough to meet Edward here like this? But hadn’t she just seen Edward hard at work in the study? Vivienne always said the chick was a slut. Lorelei had masturbated more than once thinking about Rita pleasuring the two guards the night she was brought before the High Council.

Whoever she was with, his face was buried in Rita’s cleavage and he was nursing hungrily.

‘I believe in reciprocity,’ Rita said. She sounded strange, like maybe she had a cold. She dropped to her knees and took the man’s insistent cock into her mouth, and suddenly Lorelei could see that the man was Gavin, the guard. Had Rita really liked him that much? Lorelei had always thought him a bit creepy. She watched in confusion as Gavin humped hard. ‘That’s right you little bitch. You love sucking cock, don’t you? And mine’s fully loaded and ready for that dirty mouth of yours.’ He grabbed the back of Rita’s hooded head to pull her further onto his penis thrusting rough and fast.

Rita gagged and sputtered and shoved him back.

Gavin uttered a breathy curse. ‘It’s a big one isn’t it? A filthy mouth like yours needs a big one, doesn’t it?’ He slapped the back of her head. ‘Doesn’t it?’

‘Mph,’ came the reply.

‘You hot little bitch. You need someone to teach you your place. And on your knees, well,’ he thrust hard, ‘that place works for me.’

Rita gagged again and pulled back gasping and sobbing, her hands kneading her breasts with a vengeance. ‘Please fuck me. I need to be fucked so bad.’

‘I’ll fuck you all right, you little chav slut. I’ll fuck your pussy till you can’t walk straight, then I’ll fuck your tight little arsehole.’ He jerked her to her feet and pushed her against the bin with her back to him. She let out an anxious sob. Then he slid his hand down the back of her trainer bottoms. ‘What? No knickers? You’re such a slutty little whore.’

‘I am. I’m a slutty little whore,’ she whimpered, then thrust her arse back at him like an open invitation. But he didn’t mount her right away. Instead he shoved a rough hand further into the trousers between her legs and began to thrust. She went into a frenzy humping his fingers. He chuckled. ‘Oh, you’re gagging for it, aren’t you? All slick and quivery and pouting, you dirty girl. No knickers, no bra, just that soft fabric rubbing up against your twat.’ With a violent tug he ripped open the crotch of her track suit, and Lorelei flinched at the sound of tearing cloth as he exposed Rita’s arse completely, then he began to spank her, hard enough to make her squeal.

‘Hurts, doesn’t it? You like that, don’t you?’ Gavin smacked her again. ‘Tell me you like it.’

‘I do. I like it so much.’

He spanked her until she was properly sobbing.

‘Please, put it in me,’ she begged. ‘I can’t stand it any more. Please fuck me. Make me come, please.’

Cautiously Lorelei stepped closer holding her breath and ignoring the urge to slip her fingers into her own pussy and have a little voyeuristic come along with them. She wasn’t sure why, but something didn’t seem quite right.

Gavin took hold of his cock like he was gripping a sword, and with one hard thrust, pushed into Rita, growling like an angry bear as he did so. Then he grabbed her hips and hammered into her with such force that Lorelei caught her breath at the violence of it. As for Rita, well it was really hard to tell if she was in ecstasy or agony. She whimpered and whined and made little mewling sounds with each angry thrust.

Gavin looked like he was about to burst. His face and neck were now an angry shade of red as he grunted out a stream of obscenities with each thrust. Then he yanked off her hood and grabbed her by the pony tail, twisting it into his fist. She gave a strangled yelp as he yanked her head back toward him.

And suddenly everything made sense. The pony tail was blond, not chestnut, and there was no mistaking Vivienne’s profile. ‘I’m coming, I’m coming!’ She shouted.

Gavin kept shoving into her as though he had every intention of splitting her in two. Then he pulled out of her, shooting his wad up her back and onto her hoodie. While he gasped for breath, he still held her pinned against the dumpster, and when he was done coming, he wiped his cock on the leg of her trainers. ‘Just what you deserve, bitch, a fuck in a back alley, now get out of here. Go home where you belong.’

It took Lorelei a few seconds to realise that, as Vivienne dropped to her knees, onto the filthy cobbles next to the dumpster, she wasn’t sobbing, but rather she was still convulsing with orgasm. Her eyes were closed, her head thrown back and the moans escaping her throat were nothing short of ecstatic. As intimate as Lorelei was with Vivienne, she had never seen her like this before.

And suddenly she realised she wasn’t intended to see. The trance was broken. Heart pounding in her chest, Lorelei turned and ran back past the limos, back into The Mount, nearly twisting an ankle on the cobbles. Inside, she hurried upstairs to Vivienne’s flat, not for the first time, wishing she had a place of her own.

‘The money’s been deposited, and he has the mobile I gave him,’ Lorelei said. Vivienne had called her to the office she kept on the ground floor behind the main restaurant. It was mostly there for appearances, but it was always a quiet and private place to meet.

She tried not to think about what she had seen in the alley not yet an hour ago. Vivienne could pick up on the tiniest signal when something was wrong, and that was often dangerous for people who got in her way. Poor Edward was proof of that. Lorelei forced her thoughts back to Owen Frank. ‘You pegged him right. The man’ll do just about anything for money and tail.’

‘Is he any good?’ Vivienne asked. ‘In bed, I mean?’

Lorelei shrugged. ‘He’s all right. It’s hardly fair to compare when I live at The Mount and get the best.’

Vivienne pulled a compact from the top drawer of the desk and powdered her nose. There was now no sign of the faded sweat suit. Lorelei marvelled at just how quickly she had transformed herself from slutty chav into the Goddess of The Mount. The change was so complete that she could almost wonder if she had imagined the whole sordid incident. ‘You were gone a long time,’ Vivienne said.

‘The man has a lot of endurance.’

‘He’s willing to write exactly what I tell him?’

‘You could tell him you’re Hera and The Mount is really Mount Olympus and he’d write it. Don’t worry. He has no loyalty to Rita, only to himself. He’s just the kind of bloke you’re looking for.’

‘You hinted to him that Rita might have information we need to access?’

‘I did. But if she’s writing anything about The Mount and he knows it, he kept it quiet. I figure he’ll try and access her files, then we’ll know.’

Vivienne bit her lower lip delicately. ‘It would be so much better if we could actually catch her in the act of betraying The Mount. That would end this travesty of initiation quickly and painlessly.’ She grunted. ‘Well for everyone but Edward, of course.’

‘Does that matter?’

‘Not really. I want him to suffer. He deserves it. He knows he belongs to me, and he’ll always belong to me. How can he possibly think she can help him?’

‘But you made the bet.’

Vivienne chuckled softly and examined her nails. ‘You know Edward can’t resist a good bet. Besides, I was bored.’

Later, as they lay curled around each other in Vivienne’s big bed, Owen called. Lorelei stayed on the line long enough to be certain she had made his cock hard and long enough to reassure both her and Vivienne that he was theirs. When she hung up, Vivienne pulled her back into her arms. ‘Well?’

‘I’ll meet him tomorrow night at the hotel again for another fuck. Don’t worry. He’s hooked.’

‘Good. I don’t want him brought here. Edward would get suspicious.’ She curled her fingers in Lorelei’s hair and gave her a long, lazy kiss, her tongue moving in small darting motions over Lorelei’s hard palate intimating what she could do to Lorelei’s cunt, if she wanted to. And just when Lorelei was beginning to squirm and grind her bottom against the mattress, Vivienne pulled away ever so slightly. ‘I’m sorry you have to fuck him, darling, but there’s really no one else I can I trust. You understand.’

‘Of course I understand, and I don’t mind. Slumming can be a turn-on sometimes.’ The minute she had said it, she realised her mistake, but it was too late.

Vivienne kissed her again, this time harder, pulling away with a painful nip on her lip. ‘If you tell anyone what you saw this evening in the ally with Gavin,’ she curled her fingers tighter in Lorelei’s hair until Lorelei flinched. ‘I promise you, darling, your punishment will be very long and very unpleasant.’ She lowered her mouth to Lorelei’s nape and bit hard. ‘Are we clear?’

THE GOWN ARRIVED, AS
had the cat suit, in an oblong box with brown-paper wrapping. It solicited the same tense butterfly dance in her stomach and the same dryness in her mouth. This was all becoming rather routine for the delivery man, who offered her a knowing smile as she signed for the package. No doubt her mother’s bloodhound had seen it too, along with her leaving the house in the cat suit, on the Harley. She wondered how long it would be before the woman showed up and made a scene.

A peek out the window before she opened the box showed the coast was clear. Maybe she’d get another day’s grace. Her whole life had turned into a bizarre lopsided tango, dodging her mother’s calls, and wondering at every turn just what Vivienne would pull next. It had been unusually peaceful for several days now. She was enough of a pessimist to figure that wasn’t a good sign.

In the lounge, she opened the box with trepidation, wondering if there was such a thing as a full body chastity belt. But when it was opened she gasped in delight. Folded neatly, in soft pink tissue paper, was a gown of blue-grey silk. The neck line was cut square and low in the back and in the front. It was designed to display her breasts at their luscious best. There were matching shoes, more romantic than sexy, and the accompanying necklace and earrings of opal were set in white gold. There was no note, no message, nothing, but everything fitted perfectly, almost as though it were designed especially for her.

While she admired herself in front of the mirror, her mobile signaled an incoming text.

M sure gown is exquisite on U! Can’t w8 2 C. Limo will pick U up at 8. EXX

This time, instead of being sneaked in the back door, the limo delivered her to the front entrance. Leo met her dressed in a tux that made him look like he owned the whole world and enchanted all the women in it.

He offered her his arm, giving her an admiring once-over as though she were his favourite pet again. ‘My dear Rita, never have I seen such a stunning creature in all my life.’ He laid a warm kiss across the back of her hand, folded her arm over his, and guided her toward the entrance.

She felt like all eyes were now on her, as they had been on Vivienne that first night. Was it only a few weeks ago, her first visit to The Mount? It seemed years. She felt as though her feet weren’t touching the ground. She felt as though she were suddenly a goddess surrounded by worshippers there to do homage. Was this what Vivienne felt when she made her grand entrances?

Thoughts of Vivienne brought the knot back to her stomach. Surely this was too good to be true, at least if Vivienne had anything to do with it.

Inside diners stopped eating and stared, discreetly of course. The waitstaff gave respectful little nods, to Leo, no doubt. They would have known him. And yet, it felt as though they were looking at her with admiring eyes. Not for the first time since her whole adventure at The Mount had begun, the thought that she might have been drugged popped into her head.

When they came to the staircase that led down to the Presence Chamber, Leo stopped and turned to face her, lifting her chin so that their eyes met. ‘You know what today is, yes?’

She shook her head.

‘Is new beginning for you, my darling. Is the day your initiation ends and you become full-fledged member of The Mount. This is a position well deserved, no one would doubt.’

She suddenly felt as though all the oxygen had gone out of the room, and along with it, all of the sound. Even her own breath seemed caught in the claustrophobic confines of her ribs where it raged with her pulse. ‘But what about Lorelei? She hasn’t given me a task yet?’ The thought left a sour feeling at the back of her throat.

‘In the first place, not everyone has to make task for you. Is not required. In the second place, Lorelei is Vivienne’s girl. No one would trust her with such important responsibility. She is, as you say, butt kisser.’ He raised his hand as though he were shooing away a fly. ‘We will not speak of this now. This is a happy occasion. Is not the time to talk such unpleasantness.’ Leo dropped a reassuring kiss along her earlobe. ‘You have earned your place. Now come. We must not keep the High Council waiting.’ He opened the door and they descended the long flight of stairs.

When the doors swung open at the bottom, a sense of déjà vu welled up inside her as she was led into the centre of the stone chamber. Her eyes locked immediately on Edward in his golden mask. Beside him sat Lorelei and Morgan. Even Aurora was dressed in a gown, black and gothic. One look at Alex brought to her mind a quick flash of him making love to Edward. Leo’s chair would soon be filled. But Vivienne’s chair was empty.

They stood for a moment in front of the approving gaze of the council. The moment grew and expanded to become uncomfortable. It was impossible not to notice the council members whispering among themselves, nor their surreptitious glances behind the curtain. Vivienne was nowhere to be found. The only one who seemed comfortable with the situation was Lorelei. She whispered something in Edward’s ear then excused herself. The silence stretched to the breaking point.

Leo said something in Slavic under his breath, then he motioned to one of the guards. ‘Bruce, bring a chair. This lovely lady has been kept standing long enough.’

From somewhere the guard produced a cushioned high-backed chair.

In the shuffle, Rita hadn’t noticed that Edward had left the dais and was now standing next to her. As she sat, he knelt before her and took both her hands in his. ‘You look like heaven itself, Rita Holly.’ Though she couldn’t see his eyes, she could hear the thickness in his voice that seemed to grow with each word. ‘What’s this magic you’ve worked on me, from the very moment I met you on the train in the dark.’ He kissed her fingers folded over his. ‘I’m undone.’

There was another shuffling about as Lorelei came back into the room with an envelope in her hand. When she saw Edward kneeling next to Rita, she hurried down the steps of the dais and handed him the envelope.

Edward opened it and took out a single, clearly expensive, sheet of stationary. The whole room held its breath while he read it.

Then he exploded. ‘That bitch! That ruthless bitch. She can’t do this. She cannot do this. She has no right.’ He wadded the paper into an angry ball and tossed it across the room. Then he grabbed Rita’s hand and pulled her from the chair. ‘Come on. We’re leaving. It’s done. It’s over.’

‘You can’t leave, Edward. You know you can’t. And it isn’t over.’ Lorelei’s voice rang out above the confusion on the dais. ‘Vivienne has every right to demand this of the initiate. It’s in the statutes.’

Leo laid a restraining hand against Edward’s arm, stopping him mid-stride. Then he picked up the paper from where it had landed at the feet of one of the guards and unwadded it. As he perused it, his face became redder and redder with each word. Whatever he said in Slavic was said with such venom that no one in the room could doubt the general nature of it. He looked up at everyone.

‘Well?’ Morgan asked. ‘What is it? What does it say?’

‘If I may.’ Lorelei plucked the paper out of Leo’s hands, smoothed it meticulously and cleared her throat. ‘As you have all, no doubt, gathered by now, this is from Vivienne, who has refused to be present tonight because this initiation has not been completed.’

A wave of protest broke among those still remaining on the dais, but she raised a hand to silence them. Then, as though she were the mayor of the city with an important proclamation, she began to read.

My dear fellow council members,
I will not sanction the membership of Rita Ellison Holly into The Mount until her initiation is complete, and to the best of my knowledge there is still one task remaining for Ms Holly. That is the task offered up by the head of the High Council.

‘But she’s already had her task,’ Alex interrupted. ‘It’s not our fault that she broke the rules of initiation and had her task nullified.’

‘As far as I’m concerned this initiation is over,’ added Morgan, stomping his booted foot on the floor for emphasis.

Lorelei raised her hand. ‘If you would let me finish.’ When there was silence again, she read on.

Under the Laws of Initiation, chapter 14, subsection 121, an initiation is not complete until the task offered up by the head of the High Council is completed by the initiate, and completed to the satisfaction of the head of the council. Since the rest of the council saw fit to void my first task, Rita Ellison Holly has not completed the task set forth for her by the head of the High Council. When she has completed said task, then and only then will she be a full fledged member of The Mount.
The task set forth for Rita Ellison Holly is this: She shall immediately be conveyed to my quarters. There she shall be stripped of all rank and possessions and shall assume the position of personal slave to Vivienne Arlington Page, head of the High Council of The Mount, London Coven. When she has completed that task to the head of the High Council’s satisfaction, then, and only then, shall she be considered worthy for membership into The Mount.

The council chamber erupted into chaos, but Rita hardly heard it. Edward was yelling something about broken rules. Lorelei was yelling something back about Vivienne’s demand being perfectly legal under the codes. None of it mattered any more. It was over. This was more than even she could endure, and if no one was willing to stand up to Vivienne, then Rita had a snowball’s chance in hell of ever completing the initiation. While the world around her was in chaos, she turned and fled up the stairs. She took the back door and caught a taxi at the end of the street.

As the cab sped away from the waterfront, she looked out the window feeling cold and numb. She had enough, she reassured herself. She had everything necessary for a good story, so why did she feel so awful. They deserved it. They all deserved to be exposed for letting Vivienne get away with such blatant breaking of the rules, for letting Vivienne hurt and humiliate her.

And Edward … Suddenly the world outside the window refracted with the welling of tears. Edward deserved it most of all. She forced thoughts of him out of her head and tried to occupy herself by planning the story, the writing of which would now fill her time.

Rita Ellison Holly. Why had Vivienne referred to her as Rita Ellison Holly? Granted, she hadn’t used her family name in a long time, but there were no Ellisons in her family that she knew of, and even if there had been, Vivienne couldn’t know that.

She paid the taxi driver and got out of the cab before she noticed the waiting limo. Alex had her by the arm and was guiding her toward its open door before she knew what was happening. ‘No,’ she balked. ‘I’m not going to be that bitch’s slave. Now leave me alone. I’ve had enough.’

‘I know you have, darling, and I’m so sorry.’ Suddenly she was engulfed in Edward’s arms, ‘but please just hear us out. Just get in the limo and listen. Then if you still want to end it, I’ll understand.’

‘You let her do it.’ Even as she spoke, she allowed the two men to guide her into the limo. ‘How could you let her do this to me?’ She gave Edward a hard shove with the flat of her hand.

Alex intervened, pulling her away from Edward and holding her tight. ‘He had no choice, Rita. I know you don’t understand now, but it’s true. Please you have to trust him. You have to trust that Edward –’

‘Shut up Alex. You’ll only make matters worse.’

‘Make matters worse?’ Rita half shouted. ‘How the hell could matters get worse? How?’

‘Trust me,’ Alex said, holding Edward’s gaze. ‘They can.’

Inside the limo, the driver offered her a shot of whisky, which she downed without a second thought, then she sat glaring at the two men, pushing Edward away when he tried to take her hand.

‘Listen to me, Rita. Leo, Morgan and Aurora have gone to plead your case before Vivienne. That’ll buy us some time.’

Rita exploded. ‘Doesn’t anyone ever just tell that bitch to fuck off? And what is someone like her doing in such a position of power in the first place? Has she got you all by the balls?’

In spite of her evident anger, Alex forced a half smile. ‘I guess that’s one way of putting it.’

‘Why would I want to be a part of an organisation where I have to kiss her arse whenever she demands it? Tell me why?’

‘Because you’re the tipping point, Rita, don’t you see?’ Edward grabbed her hands this time and held them so tightly she feared he’d crush her fingers. ‘You change everything. I can’t explain it to you now. You’ll have to trust me, but if you pass the initiation, you break Vivienne’s hold.’

‘Oh, so I should do it for The Mount? Is that it?’

Edward took her face in his hands and kissed her. And in her mind’s eye, she heard Alex saying on the DVD; ‘Kiss me like you’d kiss Rita, and she’ll know you were thinking of her.’ My God, it was true. When Edward kissed her, it was like he was giving her life, breathing into her a fullness she could barely contain, and yet she hungered for more. When he kissed her, she wanted to devour him, to take him into herself, to fully possess him in ways she couldn’t even possess herself. It made no sense, and yet it was so.

When he tried to pull away she anxiously pulled him back to her, at that moment unable to imagine her mouth without his. For a second he tensed and resisted, then he yielded to her, blessedly allowing her to live just a little longer. ‘I’m not asking you to do it for The Mount.’ He pressed his words breathlessly against her lips. ‘I’m more selfish than that. I’m asking you to do it for me, because you’re all I can think about, because I want to be with you, and this is the only way I know to make that happen.’

‘She’ll never let me pass her task. Surely you know that.’

‘That’s why the others are with her now.’ Alex’s reply shattered the moment.

Edward released her and straightened his jacket. ‘They’re negotiating a length of duration, the parameters for your service to Vivienne and her treatment of you. Plus one of us will be in her apartment with you at all times.’

‘And can’t she just say no to all this negotiation? Following the rules has never been her forte.’