The Masters of Falcon's Fantasies [BDSM Menage Fantasies 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (5 page)

“This is a private membership-only club, which is why we can allow people to have sex on the premises. People come here for other reasons
,
too, though, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you all about. We practice BDSM here. You obviously know a little about this, since you’ve come tonight, but I’m going to assume that you don’t all know the same things and go over the basics as if you’d never heard any of it before. Bear with me if this isn’t new information. It probably is to someone.”

She paused and beamed around the room again. “Feel free to stop me if you want to ask questions. I’ll be covering ground pretty quickly. So to start: I am a masochist. Basically, that means that I enjoy pain. Some people call me a pain slut.” She giggled. “That works. There are a lot of masochists here, but we have various degrees and kinds of stimulus that we like. As far as I know, none of us enjoys stubbing our toes or slamming our fingers in car doors. That is a completely different phenomenon. It’s also different from things like cutting, which I’m not going to go into here. That is a whole area of mental health that I am not qualified to discuss. What I can discuss is the fact that many people enjoying giving or receiving pain, and what the rules are in this club for engaging in that kind of activity.”

She looked around the group
,
and when no one seemed to have questions, she continued. “In case any of you don’t understand what I’m talking about, let me explain it this way. It is not so much that we enjoy pain for pain’s sake, but that we love the sensations we feel from the endorphins released when pain is applied. It can let us experience something that is often called ‘subspace,’ which is an altered mental state. Imagine the best high possible but with none of the legal, moral
,
or physical risks.”

“So this is just a way to get high?” One of the men at the table raised a hand, frowning skeptically.

“No, not really. The experience of subspace is wonderful, but most of us won’t get there without the connection to our partner or partners. There is an energy exchange back and forth between the person giving the stimulus and the person receiving it. If that two-way reciprocity isn’t there, then what’s the point? These lifestyle choices are intended to intensify our relationships. Does that answer your question?”

“I think so, but I’m going to have to think about it.”

“Fair enough. Feel free to talk with me one-on-one later if you would like. I’m always happy to discuss these things. It’s my duty and pleasure to help educate our members. Okay, let’s go back to the rules of the club so you can get out there and have some fun.” She smiled briefly, then her face took on a more serious look. “People do public scenes here. They don’t mind if you watch, but that doesn’t mean that you are invited to participate. So please keep out of scenes that are going on and refrain from talking to anyone who is engaged in a scene. If you are concerned about something you see happening, go and find someone wearing a badge that says ‘DM.’ That means ‘
d
ungeon
m
onitor,’ and that person has been trained to decide if a scene is getting out of hand and what to do about it. Each bottom should have a safeword, and they should all know that ‘red’ is considered the default one. If someone is yelling ‘red
,
’ but their top is not stopping the scene, they would probably appreciate you finding a
d
ungeon
m
onitor to interfere. Just don’t try to interfere yourself, at least until you’re more familiar with the members and the types of play that they do.”

She paused to answer a couple of questions, then went on. “Another thing to be aware of is scene names. We have a fairly tolerant and open-minded community, but there are still dangers to being public about your kink. Many people have lost children, jobs, and family over the fact that they were ‘outed’ as part of the leather community. For that reason many members choose not to use their real names here. Please do not ask about that or be offended if someone does not want to divulge what they do or where they work. It can be a sensitive topic.”

She winked at Daphne. “Also, please don’t be offended if people pretend not to recognize you. We tend to err on the side of caution.”

By the time the informational session was over, the rest of Daphne’s qualms had drained away. The initial room had been too much like a classroom to walk around mostly exposed. But when they emerged from it, the main social area was full of people. She stared around her in surprise. They weren’t at all what she’d expected. Some of them looked like nothing so much as soccer moms—except soccer moms didn’t usually go around in black leather corsets and thigh-high boots. Many were barely dressed. Breasts were hanging out everywhere, being openly admired, talked about
,
and touched. For the most part their owners were not the kind of young, skinny clubgoers that you would expect to be showing off their bodies. Daphne’s initial shock at seeing average women in extremely revealing outfits gave way after a moment to a dawning admiration. You had to be pretty confident to walk around like that, even if your physique was perfect. To be willing to show your imperfections—that was fucking awesome.

“Are you okay?” Finn whispered in her ear.

“Oh, definitely.” Daphne pulled off her shawl and handed it to him. Who needed that pretentious club scene in LA? These were her people. She gave him a radiant smile. “This is cool!”

“I guess so.” Finn’s head swiveled to watch an attractive young woman saunter by. She wore what looked like a tight black
-
leather teddy and a pair of glossy high heels. Okay, they weren’t all soccer moms. Daphne took his arm with a firm grasp and led him to the food table.

Allie, Brad
,
and Karl came to join them. Allie was wearing a royal
-
blue underbust corset and a black skirt made of long strips of material with crisscrossed straps that showed lots of leg. She smiled at a few people in the room but didn’t speak. Instead she took a plate and began filling it with snacks. Brad went to the fridge and brought back drinks for all of them.

Daphne went to stand beside Allie. “Can I help?”

Allie smiled at her and glanced at Karl. He nodded briefly and Allie seemed to relax.

“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I need permission from Sir before I can talk to anyone. “

“Oh,” Daphne said helplessly. She might have found her people, but it was beginning to be clear that there were lots of things about them that she didn’t understand yet. She leaned over and whispered, “Why are so many people sitting on the floor? Does it mean something special?”

“Yes. It’s a sign of respect to their Dominant or Master. It’s also a way for others to know how a person is identifying that night. Some people are always in the same mode as a top or bottom, but others, like me, are switches. They might be dominant or submissive on any given night. By sitting at my Master’s feet it lets everyone know that tonight I am a slave
,
and they should ask Sir’s permission before speaking to or touching me.”

Before Daphne could ask how someone could be a part-time slave, Allie excused herself and went to put two pillows on the floor in front
of
an empty couch. She and Brad waited silently while Karl greeted a few more people. Then he took a seat
,
and they lowered themselves to the floor on either side of his feet. Finn and Daphne sat on the love seat near them.

Karl took the plate of snacks from Allie with a nod of thanks. “Just so you know, here at
The Keep
or at parties at Clifftop, Brad is called liege and Allie is allie syn. Their names are more for ritual purposes than for privacy, though. Everyone knows who they are. Have you decided what you want to be called while we’re here?”

Finn looked a little startled. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Daphne, have you?”

“Ooh, a nickname. I love nicknames.” Daphne giggled. “You pick one for me.”

He sighed. “We’ll call you Daffy, then. That fits. Or do you think that’s too close to her real name?”

Karl chuckled. “It’s not like everyone here doesn’t know who she is,” he said. “Or that she works at the local bank and has to worry about her professional reputation. Personally, though, I would call her something a little more—elegant.” His eyes went down her body in a way that sent a shiver through Daphne, even though she knew that was silly.
You should be used to men looking at you like that. It’s kind of your profession
.

“I don’t see any need to change my name,” Finn said, and began telling them anecdotes of his time working in the music industry and with Daphne in particular. While the men chatted, Daphne resumed her survey of the room. Across from them, a petite blonde sat between the feet of a tall, elegant red-haired woman. The blonde wore a leather choker and a bright
-
green latex dress that looked barely long enough to cover her panties—if she was wearing any. It was hard to tell, but Daphne suspected that would become clear when she started to stand. Her mistress was stunning in a light
-
lavender silk top and skintight black leather pants, and the blonde was rubbing her face on the other woman’s inner thigh with such a look of joy that Daphne doubted the girl was even aware of the rest of the people in the room. The redhead absently stroked her girl’s hair while carrying on a conversation with the man seated to her right. They seemed so casual and at ease that they could have been in a coffee shop anywhere in the country instead of in a club filled with kinksters.

After about ten minutes, Daphne caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and turned in time to see Karl give a hand signal to Allie and Brad. He stood and then assisted each of his partners to their feet. Daphne couldn’t help but notice how suave and in control he looked. He wore black leather pants, a blue shirt
,
and a leather vest covered in what looked like hundreds of little pins. Daphne hadn’t realized before how hot he was. She wondered if Finn would even notice if she started flirting more with Karl. But then Allie would probably get pissed off, and she didn’t want to upset Allie.

Karl gave them an enigmatic smile and led his two submissives through the door in the far wall. Daphne watched them go.

“That was odd,” she said to Finn. “Where were they going? They didn’t say anything.”

Before Finn had time to answer, sky clapped her hands and addressed the room in general. “Master Karl has asked for us all to join him in the dungeon for the ceremony at this time.”

The red-haired woman and her submissive walked past
,
and Daphne turned to them. “Ceremony? What ceremony? What’s going on?”

The woman gave her an odd look. “It’s a formal collaring.” To Daphne’s surprise, she clicked a leash onto the leather choker before turning away to join the queue at the door that Karl, Allie
,
and Brad had gone through.

“Don’t know what’s going on, but I guess we should follow the herd,” Finn said, standing. He tossed their soda cans into the recycle bin and escorted Daphne to the door.

Inside the other room, Daphne had to suppress a nervous giggle. It looked as though they’d been magically transported back in time. The walls were painted a dark color to resemble ancient stonework. The furniture would have been right at home in the torture chamber of the most Gothic castle you could hope to find. There were wooden X-shaped crosses leaning against the walls to the right and a cage that could easily hold three people to the left. A chain hung from the ceiling in one corner. Against the other walls there were padded tables and benches and in the center of the far wall was a raised dais.

The only illumination in the room came from a single spotlight
,
which was directed at the center of the stage. Karl stood in the light with Brad and Allie kneeling on either side of him—no, their names were liege and allie syn, Daphne reminded herself. It struck her as romantic and playful to use nicknames, although she didn’t think she liked “Daffy” for this setting. She noted that there was nothing playful about the group on the stage at the moment. They looked extremely formal, kneeling with their backs straight, their hands clasped behind them
,
and their eyes looking down.

Following Finn’s lead, Daphne stepped to the left side of the door as soon as she had entered. “Are you going to be able to see anything?” Finn asked her.

“I hope so. I really want to watch this, whatever it is.” More people were coming in, so she stepped in front of him and leaned back against his chest, pretending she was being crowded. She watched the group, which was oddly quiet and solemn, as if they were starting a church service instead of an evening of kink at a
community
dungeon. She marveled at the pomp and ceremony that this community seemed to thrive on. It was almost like theater. She didn’t understand the thing about submissives having to ask permission to speak to or hug their friends. But Allie obviously put herself intentionally into this situation, so there must be something about it she enjoyed. Daphne snuggled back into Finn to watch, smiling as his arms went protectively around her.

sky entered the room and shut the door firmly. The crowd parted as she walked through the center of the room toward Karl, coming to a stop just before the steps up onto the stage. They regarded each other for a moment, then sky went down on one knee.