'A widespread taste for pornography means that nature is alerting us to some threat of extinction.'
- J.G Ballard
The sun shone high in the sky singling mid-day but the warm sun did nothing to fight off the cold and icy end of the harsh winter chill. Snow still coated the Boston streets and Belle couldn't walk to class from her dorm room without a thick knitted scarf, despite having lived in Boston for most of her life she still hadn't forgotten the warm soothing heat of Australia. There was chattering all along the hallway of girls talking about boys and mid-terms, there was laughing every now and again too. Belle French would normally have been studying or reading a thick book cover to cover but not that day. No on that day Belle found herself at her desk with a certain website open; The House Of Scarlet. It was a porn website, that was easy enough to figure out by the title alone. The reason Belle was watching it however, was because Belle needed to decided if it was the right job for her.
The auburn haired beauty peered down to the jet black business card that lay beside her laptop, in bold gold lettering it read.
THE HOUSE OF SCARLET
Jefferson Madden
House Manager
Tel: 910-555-7836
Email: JM
Belle studied English Literature, had an obsession with books, she was only just over five foot and had never been particularly outgoing...was The House Of Scarlet really the place for her? No, it wasn't but Belle didn't really have much of a choice, her Papa couldn't pay her tuition and the mortgage, his slight gambling issue didn't help either. He had always been the best father he could be but when people stopped coming into his flower shop there wasn't much he could do. Belle didn't want to leave her studies, she loved learning although, it was so much money.
The young beauty looked back to the site with a sigh. It was designed along the same lines as Mister Madden's business card with a gold border and a list of options down the side in a thick black font; Log Out, Rooms, Videos, Photos, Multi-Cam, Chat. At the bottom was a red box with private in capitals and Belle could only imagine what went on in private mode. In the middle was a large video screen showing off photos of the girls, sliding from one to the other. She had to admit the girls were beautiful. At the very top of the video screen was the same black lettering where there was a list of names. Red, Tinkerbell, Baby, Ariel, Mulan, Princess, Tamara and finally Cruella. Belle wondered what the girls were like, she couldn't know for sure but Belle thought anyone who used the name Cruella had to have some sort of evil power thing going on. The very end of the line of names was a single question mark and Belle knew that it would soon hold whatever name she chose. She was still debating over that, because it would hold her name she knew that much. Belle went through the cameras of the girls in varying states of undress, another sigh.
"Can I really do this? I have to but can I?" Doubt hung in her mind.
The cameras were in everyone's bedrooms and the rest of the house, there was a shower camera too but Belle doubted that was the only bathroom. That actually brought a smile to Belle's face, knowing that they weren't forced to go about their bathroom routine on camera. For along time Belle just sat there going back and forth through the cameras, it was to be her job and so Belle had to get used to it. Pulling all her composure together Belle finally shut the lid of her cerulean blue laptop and removed her cellphone from the pocket of her tight dark wash jeans. Belle punched in her four digit pin, her mother's birthday, and scrolled through her contacts list until she found her Papa. The phone rang twice before he answered his deep voice filling her ear and calming her nerves.
"Belle, My Girl. How are you? I haven't heard from you in a while."
He sounded so happy to hear from her, and Belle was most certainly pleased to hear his voice. He always managed to calm her, even without trying.
"I'm good Papa. I actually called to tell you I got a part time job for one of my Professors." She lied. "Oh and I'm moving off campus to a house with some friends. Its cheaper and there is more room." Belle did her best to sound like she was excited rather than going to work for a porn website. "I got a scholarship that starts next term too so you won't have to pay my tuition any more."
There was silence for a moment.
"Oh Belle, that's wonderful. What's the job?"
"Just little things, organising some books and helping her out, nothing too stressful really. May have to pick up her dry-cleaning once in a while but I can live with that."
Belle smiled, she knew he would be able to hear it in her voice.
"I'm so happy for you, Sweetheart. You know the French family must have gotten a guardian angel because the shop has been going great lately."
"How about your meetings?" She asked as casually as possible.
At first her father had refused to accept he had a gambling problem but when Belle had told him there was no grocery money yet again because he'd gambled it away Moe French had realised he needed help, he had been going to meetings ever since and Belle couldn't have been more proud of him.
"I haven't skipped any, Angel. I have one tonight actually. Last night I sat with a online casino loaded up for a while and didn't place a single bet, didn't even want to."
"That's fantastic Papa, but you shouldn't tempt yourself so much."
The call went on like that for a while and Belle actually forgot that she had originally called to lie to him. He was just so happy to hear her voice and catch up that Belle felt like everything would turn out alright. They spoke for a good three hours since they hadn't spoken in almost three weeks, in fact the call only ended when Belle had to go to class.
XXXX
A few days later found Belle wrapped up in her white knitted scarf with her luggage waiting at the main gate to be picked up. Her cases were a teal color and one of them was completely dedicated to books, there was a little bit of an obsession going on there. Other than her scarf Belle wore a little white beret that matched her coat and a long black jumper paired with light blue jeans. She was just about ready for the cold weather to go away and let spring rule the land. Its not Christmas any more, she thought as she pulled the business card from her pocket for the millionth time to look at it.
Gold seems to be a running theme, she thought to herself, wonder why. Belle focused on The House Of Scarlet written in beautiful calligraphy, it looked almost like a letter from the eighteen hundreds that some kind of lord would have written. Belle was quickly tugged from her thoughts when a pristine black limousine rolled to a halt in front of her, she stuffed the card back in her pocket just as the window wound down revealing a handsome dark haired man with bright blue eyes and a cheerful smile. In a way it was nice to see Jefferson again rather than some random guy just sent to pick her up.
"What made you change your mind?" He asked in a genuinely curios tone.
"I have my eyes on a new book." She responded with a smile.
Jefferson smiled and opened the car door shuffling over so she could sit down. Belle turned back for her, rather large, bags only to find a bald, bearded and short man moving them to the trunk for her. Jefferson introduced him as Leroy before telling her to get in the car. She did. The limousine was spacious and upholstered in rich black leather that Belle was sure was worth more than anything she owned.
Not long after the car pulled away from the gate Jefferson started talking about The House Of Scarlet. He kept his tone soft and gentle like he would somehow spook Belle, really where was she going to go? They were in a moving car and she'd already handed her dorm key in.
"...Some people will probably think I'm a scum-bag praying on young and beautiful girls like yourself." He began while gesturing with his hands. "I'm not. Like my card says I'm the house manager and that involves knowing the girls, knowing who will cause problems and so I'm also the unofficial talent scout." He smiled and Belle returned it. "It just so happens that its the young and beautiful girls who have the talent. My boss is like the Hugh Hefner of the twenty-first century, you should know that. Mister Gold's a genius and far from what the street would call a Pimp. Gold doesn't like people knowing this but he is a good man."
Belle found herself smiling again, Mister Gold huh? Well that explains all the gold writing and the website. A moment later Belle was speaking.
"And what about the pay? It sounds too good to be true."
"That is all up to you, Belle. Nothing is forced, you get to do what you want, The House Of Scarlet doesn't have a script. We track every eye on all the girls every moment of the day. If you bring in money you get rewards. If you have an off week then it drops back down to base pay... but you still get paid." He emphasised the last sentence. "Everything and everyone you do is up to you."
Belle liked that, no one decided her fate but her, despite what she was signing up to do Belle would still have a choice and that made her feel a whole lot better about the situation. She already liked Jefferson and Belle was sure she'd like Mister Gold to, having her own choices still intact made her feel safe and at ease. There was something that worried her though.
"What about stalking? Crazy people?" She asked cautiously.
"Gold made sure that The House Of Scarlet is the most secure site of its kind. Gold has a whole off site team of techs who monitor the site constantly. They are the ones who make sure the site can't be hacked."
Jefferson looked down to his cellphone for a moment, thumbs moving quickly and then he was speaking again.
"Guys, say hello to Belle."
Jefferson turned the phone round so Belle could see the screen.
"Hello Belle." Said three men in unison.
She waved at the screen for a second or two and gave the three geeks a smile. The three men were surrounded by servers and monitors. Knowing about the tech team Belle felt herself relax.
"That's Jeffery, Adam and Emmett, they're the ones that make The House Of Scarlet the Fort Knox of websites." He glanced out the window and then looked back to Belle with his beautiful blue eyes. "Take a breath Belle, we're here."
The car rolled to a stop and Belle stepped out the car with Jefferson right behind her. She gasped when she saw the house she would soon call home. There was a thick natural looking wall that lined the whole property in the middle of nowhere, the house itself was a large Victorian manor house in a salmon pink lined in a deep green, to top it all off was a huge porch with a swing seat that looked perfectly cosy. Belle could see herself being happy there with a nice warm fire and a good book. There was a shed like building just inside the wall that two men stepped out from, the taller one wore a grey shirt and a dark brown waistcoat while the other donned a deep green v-neck.
"Ahh, just the men I needed to see." Began Jefferson. "Belle, this is Gold's chief of security Graham Humbert and his capable deputy Robin Locksley. Sydney Glass must be doing his rounds."
Belle shook their hands with a smile as they greeted her, she couldn't help but note the perfect level of European accents and Belle found herself loving it. English, Irish, what could make it better? Maybe a Scott, Belle had always loved the Scottish accent but had never met one before.
"You won't have to worry here Belle." Started Graham with a smile in his thick Irish accent. "We have little to no problems here. We only have to turn one or two people away every few months. That only happens if they manage to follow one of the girls home."
"No one gets past us." Added Robin.
"We'll let you get back to it boys." Said Jefferson before guiding Belle into the house.
Leroy past them in the foyer and headed straight up the stairs with her cases, Belle loved the front door with its little squares of colored glass, she would bet that when the sun shone through the door it lit up the foyer with a gorgeous ocean of light. The staircase was made of a dark cherry wood and led up to a landing that looked down over the living room. Jefferson led her into the living room through a large arch to her left and Belle found the house had been completely modernised. The room had a dark hardwood floor topped with a large black 'c' shaped couch that looked up to a wall mounted plasma television above a roaring fire, Belle could feel the warmth and it brought a grin to her face. She could see through to the kitchen via another archway and it looked equally clean and perfect, Belle could grow to like it there.
"We have over sixty cameras." Jefferson gestured to a camera up on the wall giving a full view of the room. "We have them all over because it gives the viewers a sense of actually getting to know you all. None of the cameras are in the bathrooms except one, but you don't have to use that one if you don't want. There's no camera's in Gold's room or office, Victor's room or office and the library."
"Library?" Belle's eyes brightened.
"Yeah, Gold set it up so the girls have somewhere just for them."
"Wonderful!" Then Belle remembered what Jefferson had said. "Who is Victor?"
"I am." Came a deep voice from behind her. Belle spun round to find a tall blonde man with sparkling blue eyes. "I'm Victor Whale, the live in doctor here."
Doctor Whale held out his hand for her to shake and Belle took it quickly, his hands were pale and calloused. He flashed her a smile and Belle took an instant liking to the doctor. He seemed like a loyal man to her, someone who would fight for another no matter what, and Belle was not often wrong about what she found in people's eyes.
"Gold likes to know you girls are well taken care of. With me you have fantastic medical care." He grinned.
Yes, she really did like Victor. He was the perfect level of cocky and sweet. There was however one thing that worried her a little.
"So you just live here... with a group of sexy young girls... all the time?" Her tone was more teasing than concerned and Victor found himself chuckling.
"Its alright, you have nothing to worry about." Began Jefferson but was interrupted quickly by Doctor Whale.
"I'm gay." As if to prove that fact Victor leaned in and kissed the dark-haired House Manager deeply.
"You'd better be after that kiss."
Belle smiled at Jefferson's words, she had to admit they made a very cute couple. Jefferson cuddled into his boyfriend's chest as the blonde pressed a kiss to his lovers mop of dark hair. Victor was ever so slightly taller, Belle guessed that few people would ever notice that but with Belle being so short she had a great sense for height.
The new girl was completely lost in her thoughts until she saw a beautiful young girl in a cherry red pair of shorts and a black tank top matched with six-inch suede ankle boots in a deep crimson, Belle felt suddenly mouse like in her teal converse; I have to put my heals on the second I get to my room. The woman that entered the room was stunning beyond belief and was totally at ease with the mass of camera's that littered the house, she was in her element.
"Do you see how different we are from the basic sites out there? Has Jefferson given you the we're the Fort Knox of websites yet?" Belle nodded with a polite smile. "Oh how rude of me, I'm Red. Nice to meet you."
Before Belle could say or even think a single word this Red character had pulled Belle into a hug, all the auburn haired beauty noticed was a faint scent of apples and cinnamon coming from her hair.
"My real name is Ruby." She whispered into Belle's ear and then pulled back.
"I'm B-Lacey."
"Great name. Why don't you say hello to the boys." Red gestured up to the living room camera mounted high up on the wall.
"Hey."
Belle tried to look confident as she waved to the God only knew how many people that were watching her at that very moment. Suddenly Red clapped her hands together and spoke with an excited grin.
"Well, I think its tour time."
Victor pressed his lips to Jefferson's plump pink ones once more before welcoming Belle, or Lacey as they would now refer to her, to the house and then taking his leave. Red took charge after that, leading Belle though the house with Jefferson just a few steps behind them, every now and again she'd point out new rooms; the most surprising of which was the sauna. A sauna? They have a sauna? Soon enough Ruby came to a long winding staircase that hugged the wall and was made of the same dark wood as the set of stairs Belle had seen upon entering the house, mansion more like, added Belle's mind helpfully. She followed the scantily dressed woman down the stairs and into a large gym, the walls that ran the width of the room were lined with mirrors while the walls marking the length of the room had been painted in a Persian green that made the room look relaxing and natural. Varying machines were dotted around the room but it was the woman of Chinese origin working out over at the punch bag and a pale purple clad female running on the treadmill that caught Belle's eye.
"Mulan, Princess, our new recruit arrived." Said Red over the sound of Mulan's punches.
"Oh, hey." The dark eyed woman panted as she stilled the punch bags movements and turned to face Belle. "Welcome aboard, I'm Mulan."
"Lacey. Its nice to meet you, and thanks."
Mulan had smooth skin and long dark hair tied back in a tight ponytail. It was clear that she could do some serious damage if she wanted to and in that moment Belle made a mental note to stay on Mulan's good side, I like my face arranged the way it is thank-you-very-much.
"And I'm Princess." Princess moved over from the treadmill and gave Belle a little wave.
"Let me know if I can help you with settling in, if I'm not in my room I'm probably here." Mulan gestured to the room around them, It was only then that Belle noticed the camera mounted up in the far corner.
"Thank you, that's very kind."
Jefferson suddenly piped up and it made Belle jump a little, to be honest she'd forgotten he was there since he hadn't looked up from his phone since Red started her tour.
"Mulan brings in the main girl on girl viewers with the help of Princess here."
Good to know, Belle hadn't thought she'd have to do anything like that, she had no attraction towards women at all and started to panic a little until she remembered what Jefferson had said on the drive over; nothing is forced, its all up to you. With the memory of those words Belle calmed herself down.
"Yeah, don't go stealing our act." Giggled Princess.
A time later Mulan went back to her punch bad and Princess vanished off to get a shower while Jefferson and Red led Belle back up the stairs and through into the kitchen, it was equally modern as the gym and living room and Belle quickly noticed a tallish woman with shoulder length dark hair and a skin tone lipstick munching away on a blood red apple. She wore, probably the most conservative outfit she had come across so far, even Belle wasn't that conservative, the dark-skinned woman had donned a long-sleeved lime v-neck and black skinny jeans.
"Who are you?" It was more of a demand that a question and Belle found Red answering for her.
"This is Lacey, the new recruit."
"Be nice to her Tamara." Jefferson added, not looking up from his cellphone.
Ahh, so that's Tamara, The House Of Scarlet's resident bitch.
"She looks like a librarian."
Tamara sneered before taking another bite out of her apple and walking off out the room. A moment or two past and then Red rested a comforting hand on Belle's shoulder and spoke.
"That's Tamara, and she thinks you're competition. You should take it as a complement."
Belle was no match for her, not really. Tamara was gorgeous and elegant looking with an edge of rebellion like she was the villain of some fairytale while Belle was just... well she was just Belle. Next Belle found herself led out of the house to a gargantuan pool via the patio doors and she did have to ask herself if this house went on forever, before she could get much further with her thoughts on the house a hand was thrust in her line of sight by yet another stunningly beautiful woman with red hair and the brightest smile Belle had ever seen. Mentally shaking herself Belle shook the cheerful redhead's hand.
"I'm Ariel, so glad you're here. I love it when we get new people."
A spoke quickly as if demonstrating her excitement. Just like with Victor, Jefferson and Red, Belle took an instant liking to Ariel and found herself quite happy to discover she had so many natural friends at The House Of Scarlet.
Red asked Ariel where the others were and Ariel quickly answered that they were all in their rooms before going back to sunbathing by the huge curved pool in her little pink bikini. Belle's feet started to yell at her as they climbed the stairs to the houses second floor, it was like she'd walked a mile around the house. As they were climbing the stairs they passed Victor who informed them that Cruella had left a few moments ago and meeting her would have to wait, not that its a bad thing, he'd mumbled under his breath before vanishing off into his office. Belle found herself wondering if Cruella was worse than Tamara, Belle decided it was best not to think of that.
Suddenly Red came to a halt before a large white wooden door that held the letter 'T' coated in green glitter.
"Don't worry, its only her and Baby left and then that's all of us." Red told her before pushing the lettered door open. On the other side she found a blonde with her hair piled up on her head in a bun and in nothing but her emerald lingerie sat before her computer. "Sorry Tink, didn't know you were doing a show, just wanted to introduce you to Lacey."
"Hey Lacey." Greeted Tink without taking her eyes from the screen, there was a ping and Tink smiled. "Oh yeah, girls you're going to want to leave the room for this next bit."
She informed them as she began to unclasp her delicate bra. Red shut the door quickly and glanced up at Jefferson for a second with a look that said you talk for once, I've done everything else! He must have understood because his voice soon filled the long hallway.
"Tink, or Tinkerbell is rather popular with businessmen so she's normally busy at lunch and when everyone gets home from work." He explained. "Tink's very sweet though... just, not when she's working."
With that he turned and knocked on the door directly across from Tinkerbell's room. That door was made of the same white painted wood but held a 'B' in yellow glitter, Belle was sensing a theme and looked down either end of the hall to prove her hypothesis. As she expected there was a 'R' in red at the far end that Belle assumed was Red's room, opposite that was a pink 'A' then a second 'T' in orange, a 'M' in silver, 'P' in a lilac color and finally 'C' in black.
Just as Belle turned her attention back to the door a young blonde pulled it open. Her hair was wet an she was wrapped only in a towel.
"Baby this is Lacey." Said Jefferson in a here's your topic, discuss style tone.
"Ah, fresh meat. Its about time we had some of that." Baby smiled. "I'd love to stay and chat but I have a show to do. Lacey, you want to grab a drink later?" She asked raising her eyebrows.
Belle nodded and told the young blonde that a drink sounded great before the door was closed, only to open again a half second later.
"Em, Jefferson I don't want to sound like I'm nagging but Gold still hasn't paid me for that threesome last week."
A look of realisation crossed his face.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Baby, Gold doesn't even know about that yet. I forgot to tell him, I'll deal with that now for you."
Baby smiled and shut the door again, Jefferson gave them his apologise and then departed.
"As you can gather that was Baby, she gets all the Sugar Daddy action because she still looks like she's fifteen. She may look sweet and innocent but she's really not."
"How old is everyone then?" Asked Belle curiously.
"Cruella is the eldest, she's twenty-seven, then its Ariel at twenty-six. Tamara's twenty-five. Mulan, Princess and Tink are all twenty-three. I'm twenty-one and Baby is nineteen." She smiled. "Why?"
"Oh its nothing. Just... well I expected all of you to be no older that twentty-one. Don't really know why."
"Well, how old are you?"
"Twenty-one."
Belle answered with a smile, in hindsight she'd probably expected every one to be from off campus and so that meant them all being her age or younger, Belle had never expected to find people who had made a real career at The House Of Scarlet.
Red soon guided Belle down the hall to the very end room, and opened the letter bare door. Belle knew that soon it would hold an 'L' for the name she'd chosen. Her suitcases rested softly on the large bed, larger than any she'd ever slept in. In fact the whole room was larger than any bedroom she'd come across, at the very end of the wall adjacent to the white door was a desk and Belle found herself looking around for the little black camera, it only took a second to find perched above her door like the raven above the pallid bust of pallas.
"You're right next to me, so if you need anything you know where I am."
Red wore one of those smiles that filtered into her dark eyes and Belle knew that the other girl was trying to comfort her, thankfully it worked... a little anyway. This was to be Belle's room, no, Lacey's room. Belle didn't belong there but maybe Lacey could. She needed her mind to be a million miles away from that subject and so she asked.
"Where did Jefferson go?"
"The right side of the second floor is Gold's personal wing, his bedroom, his antiques room and so on. The library is also down there. Basically that wing has no cameras. His office is next to Victor's downstairs, those rooms don't have cameras either."
Belle felt reassured at the reminder that there was a space off camera, and a library too, what could be better... not having to do it at all Belle's mind screamed.
"Most of the time you won't notice he's here. He can be ruthless and a monster at times but he never does anything to hurt us, the only one of us I've ever heard him yell at is Cruella and she had it coming. To be honest he makes us all feel safe. He takes care of us. Anyway, I'll let you settle in."
With that Red left Belle alone with nothing but her thoughts, her Papa would never approve of The House Of Scarlet, never, not for one second. However, it was the only way she could still go to school without her father going bankrupted, if she made as much money as Jefferson said she would then Belle would even be able to help him with the mortgage. Moe French had raised her alone after her mother died, helping him when he needed her was the very least she could do. He was her father after all. Deciding it was best not to think of that Belle turned her mind down a different road and onto the mysterious Mister Gold, she imagined a man who looked much like Jefferson did but with less product in his hair, she knew he'd be older than Jefferson Madden but other than that Belle knew nothing about Mister Gold.
With a sigh Belle indulged in her musing as she started to unpack and set up her new life at The House Of Scarlet.