Happy new year to you all, I trust you had a good holiday. Now it's time to forget all about having fun and get back to reading this thing.

Thanks again for the reviews, I hope you're still hanging in there…

Also, thanks to Quitting Time and Max Tomos for suggestions.

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Holly Vega stepped into the room, peeling off her leather gloves, as Jade watched her warily. "If this is about the other night at the Club, Holly," she said, "it was my fault, okay? Tori was just-"

"I won't waste time, Jade," Holly said, briskly. "I'm not here to blame you, or Tori. She made a mistake and you did what you could to cover it. But it can't happen again."

"I understand that, Holly."

"I don't think you do."

"I don't?"

"Look, Jade," Holly said. "I don't know what you've been up to with Tori these last six months - maybe you were having fun, maybe you were just trying it out to see if you liked it, but it's become pretty clear to me that that you're not a sub. Or at least, you're not the kind that Tori needs."

"What? Why?"

"You're not suited. She's too weak, and you're too strong. It won't last. Sooner or later, you'll roll her over. If you haven't already."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Holly said, "I heard what happened this morning."

"This..?" Jade's face reddened. "I didn't hurt her."

"I'm sure you didn't." Holly folded her gloves. "But that's not the point. She lost control."

"Oh, for... It was just a bit of fun, Holly. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

"No," Holly said, quietly, "there isn't."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is you."

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Tori hesitated. Even in her mother's absence she felt guilty. She held the form at arm's length, as though that would lessen the transgression, before she realized she couldn't read it from there. She squinted at the words, unaware of movement behind her.

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"What's wrong with me? I've always tried to be a good sub."

"The key word there, Jade, is 'tried'. Being a sub isn't a job, it's not something you're obliged to do. It's supposed to be something you want, something you crave. You've been willing to do it, maybe for Tori's sake, maybe for kicks, but it isn't you. And there's only so long you can keep it up before your real personality shows through. Like it did in the Club. Like it did this morning. And then you're in trouble."

"In trouble?"

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"Yoink!" Trina snatched the paper from her hands. "Whatcha got there?"

"Nothing!"

Trina looked at the form. "Tori Vega!" she gasped in mock outrage. "This is mom's super-secret stuff! You're not allowed to see this. You'll get thrown out of the Doofus Club and have Mr Whippy confiscated."

"Shut up! It was just on the table, and I was-"

"What is this anyway? Ooh, an application form." She brought it closer. "What little inadequate wants to join up now?"

"Trina!"

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"The club is a very particular kind of place, Jade, intended for a very particular kind of membership. It's not really about sex, or bondage, or letting your hair down on a Friday night. You can go to a hundred other clubs and get all that. The club is about the Sisterhood. It's about power. It's about people who have control, and who like to exercise that control absolutely, and their partners have to be committed to it, willing to take the ride, hand over the reins of their life to take whatever comes. That's where their thrill comes from. The total abandonment of self, the complete abdication of responsibility."

"A lot of them don't seem too thrilled about it."

A trace of pain crossed Holly's face. "No," she said. "But I'm going to change that. That's partly why I'm here."

"I thought you were here to tell me I'm a terrible sub."

"No. I'm here to make you an offer."

What kind of offer?"

"I want to sponsor your membership at the Club."

Jade stared at her in confusion. "You're already sponsoring us, aren't you?"

"I'm not talking about you and Tori. I mean you."

"Me?" Jade laughed. "What as? Some kind of freelance sub? Please don't tell me you think I'm going to be your sub."

Holly shook her head. "No."

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"Whoa!" A glow spread across Trina's face. "Oh boy, this is good."

"What? Who is it?" Tori said, anxiously.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Trina went on. "It was only a matter of time."

"Tell me!"

"I hope you've cleared an appointment at Dimmesdale's to have your collar fitted."

"What?"

Trina turned the form round, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Tori stared in disbelief at the name on it. "No!"

"You must have really opened her eyes this morning, Sis, because it looks like she's got a taste for it."

"But..." Tori stammered. "This takes months! She can't have only just done it!"

Trina shrugged. "What did I tell you when you started this? You need to find out what she wants. Well, now you know."

"But-"

"She wants you. On your knees." She laughed, and pushed the form into Tori's hands. "Welcome to the real Diamond Club, Sis," she said. "Welcome to the sharp end."

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"That's crazy," Jade said. "I'm not a domme."

"But you could be. With the right training. I could get you girls..."

"I don't want you to 'get me girls', Holly! I don't want some poor sap dragging in here so I can give them a beating!"

"Grow up, Jade," Holly said, impatiently. "This isn't the slave trade. These girls want to do it, it's what does it for them. I can think of at least a dozen girls who'd jump at the chance to have you as their mistress. Maybe a couple of dommes as well, after your performance at the Club."

"And what about Tori?"

Holly paused. "You want Tori as your sub?"

"What? No! I mean, what's Tori going to think about you offering to set me up with other girls? She's my girlfriend, for God's sake."

"Discipline doesn't have to be about sex, Jade. Tori practiced on plenty of girls before she met you and it was purely an arrangement, she didn't touch them otherwise. It was no more intimate than giving them a leg wax or a massage."

"Yeah, right. Remind me never to go to your beauty salon. And anyway, what happened to all that stuff about the mystical bond between domme and sub? How we're incomplete without each other, all that?"

"That's all very well, but sometimes you have to be practical. There's no reason you and Tori can't still be a couple."

"Wow, thanks."

"I'm serious. It happens all the time. You each have a sub, you have an agreement, you treat your sessions as... therapy. No reason for it to affect your relationship. Unless you want it to."

"But... why? Why would you want me to do that? You've spent months trying to get me in line, now you're telling me you want me to change. What's in it for you?"

Holly sighed. "I won't lie to you Jade," she said. "Some of us don't like the way the Club's going. We don't like the way Marla's turning it into her own personal fiefdom. She's spoiling the way it was meant to be, what we were trying to do. You said yourself the subs are unhappy. We need to change that. And the more of us there are who don't agree with Marla, the less power she'll have."

"But you've already got Tori."

"She can't handle it. Not on her own. Marla could break her in a minute. I need you there as well."

"I've told you, Holly, I'm not into that. I don't like hurting people."

"It's not about hurting people, Jade. This isn't cage-fighting. It's about domination."

"But I don't know how to do it!"

"Yes you do. I saw what you did to Trixie, and Trixie's as hard as they come."

"I never touched her!"

"Exactly. You didn't need to. You had a grown woman in tears just by talking to her."

"That's not supposed to be a good thing, Holly," Jade said, exasperated. "Who'd want that?"

"You'd be surprised. There are a lot of ways people like their discipline, Jade, and it doesn't always involve physical punishment. I know people who'd pay good money just to be in the same room as you, just to have you glare at them, or insult them. They just want to feel subservient, childlike, controlled. And you like control, don't you?" Holly said, slyly. "That's what you're all about. That's what drives you. That's why you upped the bet, that's why I knew you wouldn't have wanted me to stop the contest. You wanted to have control of it all."

"I got my face smashed in!"

"Yes. But how good did it feel afterwards, to have Danielle on her knees?"

Jade couldn't answer.

"Imagine it, Jade," Holly purred, sensing opportunity. "The next time you go there. It's all about you. You're the one holding the leash this time, you're the one they're all looking at, clicking your fingers, calling the shots. Imagine," Holly played her trump card, "Marla's face."

Jade could feel herself start to weaken. "But," she said, "she'd never allow it, would she? Not if I've been there as a-"

"Already taken care of," Holly said smugly. "I've got enough support to override Marla on this. The paperwork's already done."

"But who'd support me?"

"The smart ones," Holly said. "They know that subs make the best dommes. They've been there, they know what works and what doesn't, they have their own self-discipline. You'd be perfect. You wouldn't make stupid bets like Tori, or lose your temper like Danielle. You'd be in total control of your sub and yourself."

"Tori still wouldn't like it."

"You leave Tori to me. She'll understand. I need you to do this, Jade. For her and for me. I need you to help me turn the Club around. I can guarantee you any girl at the club, just name her."

"But I-"

"Stephanie seems nice. Maybe I'll have a word."

Jade stared at her hands, lost in wonder.

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Tori's world kept on turning, and it seemed that every time it did, she fell from the top to the bottom, like a wet rag in a tumble dryer. She stared again at the name on the application form in front of her.

Jade West.

This couldn't be right. After everything they'd been through, after everything they'd agreed, Jade wouldn't do this, surely? It had to be a joke. It couldn't be real.

But it was. Her name was right there on the page. And worse, her sponsor's name, too.

Holly Vega.

She lay on the bed and felt like she was sinking.

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Sweet mother of God, Sal, you won't believe who was just here. Tori's mom. Holly. Not to round me out for laying it on Tori this morning - it's a long story, Sal, but everything I've been through was almost worth it for the chance to see Tori just bend over and take it like that, I mean I love her and everything, but it was a sweet, sweet moment - but to offer me a promotion, of all things. She wants me to be a domme. Can you believe that? The arch-dominatrix Holly Vega has looked deep into my black-hearted soul and decided, in her ineffable wisdom, that I'm more suited to be on top.

I don't know why, Sal. I don't know what she's up to. She sold me some crap about wanting me on her side against Marla, and while the thought of sticking it to that old bitch gets my jugs jiggling, I don't think that's it. And more worrying is that I know for a fact she's going behind Tori's back. She seems to think it'll all be dandy, you know, me and the T fronting up in the Club as a couple of dommes, swinging the leash with a couple of puppies behind us, as if that's the most normal thing in the world - she even suggested we share a sub at one point, can you imagine that? Not for us, I mean, I'll try a lot of things, and so will Tori, but for whatever poor kid gets stuck with us. Tori's bad enough, but me...

I told Holly that I couldn't be a domme because I didn't like hurting people. But that's not true, is it, Sal? You know me. You know why I could never crack the whip.

I could never be a domme because I do like hurting people. I like dominating them. Sometimes I wonder if I hated the girls from the Lake more because I could have been one of them, that that could have been me. I like to think I'm better than that, you know, that they were monsters, but what would I have been like, Sal, given no restraints, no rules, just endless freedom to punish? Could I have held back? Really? Thanks, Sal, that's pretty sweet. I guess you're right. It wouldn't be a challenge, and I do like a challenge. I suppose that's why I did this. Holly thinks I'm a bad sub, that sooner or later I'll revert to type, like the real me will come roaring to the surface and ruin everything for Tori, but she's wrong.

Because that would be a mistake, and the real me doesn't make mistakes.

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The bottle was nearly empty by the time Tori rolled over and felt a sharp dig in her hip. She felt in her pocket and brought out the little brass compass. She stared, glassy-eyed, at it. It seemed so long since Jade had offered her this, so long since she'd made her stupid, empty promise, so long since she'd finally accepted that Jade meant her no harm. And now...

She could hardly breath as the fury built inside her, and she dug her fingers blindly into the case, prising out the last shard of glass.

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I can't deny I'm tempted, Sal, for all the reasons she gave and more. I'd like to dump on Marla, I'd like people to show me a little respect, I'd like to be the one who gets to wear the pretty dress and have someone run around after me and fetch me drinks. I'd like to talk without having to wait for permission, and laugh, and tell Alison her corset's four sizes too small, and sit around like Lady Muck while some other poor sad-sack gets their ass whupped. I'd like all that. But it's not going to happen. Do you know why, Sal?

Because I saw the look in her eye. When she thought I wanted Tori as my sub, I saw the look in her eye. She was thinking about it. I swear to God. That's how she is, Sal. She was ready to sell Tori out to me, like it was up to her. And I bet she could too. I bet if she'd gone home right then and told Tori that's what she had to do, she'd have done it. And that...

Tori can't be a sub, Sal, because in many ways, she already is one. That perky, eager to please, puppy-dog persona she shows at school, that's not an act. That is her. It's this, this is the act, this itchy little strait-jacket of a lifestyle that her mom's fitted her with for her own devices. There's no wonder she was such a bitch when we were doing this for real, no wonder everything had to be so fucking miserable and joyless. Everything had to be about this. We were never allowed to just let our hair down and have fun because she was terrified, terrified of letting it slip. Letting her mom catch her out. She's tried so hard to play the role she's been given in the same way I've had to play mine, only hers is harder, much harder, because she knows what's waiting for her if she fails. In their weird, fucked-up little world, you're either one thing or the other.

Tori can't be a sub, because it'll break her. And I won't let that happen. I love her, Sal, no matter what you say.

So if that's the way things have to be, if one of us has to take the pain, I guess it's gonna be me.

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The remains of the compass hit the wall, hard, as she bent over in agony, face buried in the pillow to muffle her screams. And freed from its prison, the last piece of its cage, the needle turned for the first time in years.

And now, it pointed West.