I'm sorry this took so long. I'm not suggesting this is actually what goes on in clubs like this, obviously, but we're writing an adventure story, not a treatise on BDSM, so you'll just have to go with it for the time being. So - why does the Diamond Club exist? What is it for?
And who is the girl in the cellar?
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And also, where's my cake? I was promised cake.
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Holly stood in the street, fuming. Marla's latest lead had been a total washout. She'd done all the usual, laid the silver card on the desk, given her all the spiel about 'exclusivity', the ultimate fantasy, the whole nine yards, and the woman had laughed her out of the office. She'd never been so humiliated in her life.
How could Marla have got it so wrong? She was supposed to be able to spot these women, for Heaven's sake. That was her job. Too many refusals and word was going to get around, and they couldn't afford that. But then they couldn't afford not to try, either. They desperately needed another investor, otherwise they were going to have to raise the membership rates again, and even these deluded old windbags were going to start asking questions. There were already discreet enquiries about when, exactly, they were going to get to meet the esteemed 'President' of the club, the fabled 'E.B.' who's hand-written epistles from Europe, signed in red ink, were read out at the private members' meetings. A laughable impossibility, Holly knew, short of sending them all to Hell.
Which she would happily have done, if her house didn't depend on them.
But then Marla seemed to have lost all sense, treating the Club like her own private circus, running T.T. on whoever she felt like, dishing it out like candy without a thought to the consequences. And in the meantime Holly was left doing all the work, running around, juggling the investors and their counterweights, trying to keep the whole rotten edifice from collapsing around their ears. Because now, Marla had a new obsession.
Jade. Holly had said she'd deal with the situation, but Marla couldn't leave it alone, the sickness that Holly had thought she was helping to cure spilling out into needless cruelty. Holly began to feel desperately sorry for the poor girl - beaten, confused, dragged into a world of baffling moral inversion without a word of explanation, a victim of circumstances beyond her control. She wondered if Jade would ever know what she was, what she represented. Nemesis? Salvation, maybe. Either way, the four of them – Jade, Tori, Holly and Marla – seemed doomed to dance a fool's jig that had started the day Tori's grandfather had packed his bags and left.
She should have taken more care, done a little more research. Maybe approached Jade herself, offered her membership. But instead she'd packed Tori off to school with her lunch money and her fancy speech in her pocket, and when Jade had come trotting along obediently, she'd thought all would be well. But of course, Tori had thought all her Christmases had come at once, and Holly had discovered just how pernicious her grandmother's influence had really been. It was a miracle Jade hadn't left within the week. Or worse.
But she hadn't. At exactly the moment she should have gone, she'd stayed. And alarm bells should have started ringing all over the place. Because a girl like Jade might suffer any amount of indignity and pain for her own gratification, but she'd never stand for being treated like an idiot, not by someone like Tori. And then there was the break-in...
It was painfully obvious that Jade had her own agenda. She clearly loved Tori, a fact for which Holly was eternally grateful - it would have been way too easy, given the circumstances, for Jade to turn her over, break her, do her some real psychological damage. That happened often enough in the game and Jade was more than capable of it. But instead the bond between them seemed stronger than it had ever been, a fierce loyalty that had long since superseded that between mother and daughter. So she was after something else.
The truth.
How does it feel, Holly? How does it feel to be the worst person you know? Claudia's deluded, Marla's probably insane, and the rest of them are lost in a fantasy world that you created. But you, you're different. You know how it should work, you know what's wrong with all this, and yet you're still doing it. You're making it happen. You even gave her the name, for Christ's sake.
Totus Tuus.
You sold your soul, Holly. And for what? Trina rejected you and now you've lost Tori. Even your friends are only loyal to you because of the Club. It has to stop. If you gave it all up now, what would you lose?
Everything. The Club wasn't solvent enough to realize her investment. And she'd have to face David. Have to tell him that she'd gambled everything they'd both worked for, and lost it.
Tonight. Just get through tonight. She allowed herself a good solid minute of cursing, and stepped through the door of the Diamond Club, into madness.
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Stark and simple, they towered above the stage, silhouetted by a soft, red glow.
Three wooden crosses.
Ecce Cruce Domina.
No," said Tori, in horror. "No, no, no, no. We're not doing this. No way."
"Tori..."
"I said no! We're going home."
"No, we're not," Jade said, quietly.
"What?"
"You said we were here as equals. It's not up to you."
"For God's sake, Jade, this isn't about control, or discipline, or any of that crap!" Tori said. "You're my girlfriend. I'm not going to stand here and watch you... up there."
In any other circumstances, Jade would have agreed. She had no desire to be 'up there', and the thought of making Tori watch was sickening. But the alternative was worse - to be led ignominiously out of the Club in defeat, knowing she'd probably never find out the truth. Tori's antics had ensured that the Club would close its doors to them forever after tonight - they were too much trouble, two grains of grit in the lube of 'domination'.
"It'll be okay."
"Okay?" Tori echoed. "How can it be 'okay'? It's crucifixion, Jade! You do know what crucifixion's for, don't you?"
"Oh come on, Tori," Jade said. "Look at them. Look how they're built."
Tori stared at her in disbelief. "I don't give a shit about the quality of the woodwork, Jade! I'm not going to feel any better knowing you're going to meet your maker without getting a splinter in your ass!"
"That's not what I mean," Jade hissed. "This isn't some shoddy crap they've knocked up in five minutes. These are professionally built."
"So?"
"So, someone must build them," she said, "which means someone must use them. Not even this Club's stupid enough to flat-out murder people on stage, Tori. There's padding on the shackles, for fuck's sake, and I'm pretty sure the Romans didn't go to all that trouble. Ridiculous though it sounds to you, and me, and anyone with an ounce of common sense, this is an actual thing that people do." She looked back at the stage, and bit her lip. "And if they can do it, so can I."
"Oh, my God. I knew it."
"What?"
"You actually want to do it, don't you? You want to prove you can do it."
"No!"
"What is it with you?" Tori demanded. "Why has everything got to be about the 'challenge'? Why can't you ever just walk away?"
"Because there are things I need to know!"
"Like what? What are you going to find out up there? The only way you're going to find Sally by doing this is if she's already dead and you end up joining her!"
"Tori!"
"I'm sorry, Jade, but I can't let you do this."
"You promised me."
"I... What?"
"You promised me that whatever happened tonight, you'd back me up."
"I didn't mean this!"
"I know it's not exactly what I was expecting but..."
"Where's my mom?" Tori looked around, angrily. "If this was her idea-"
"Forget your mom, Tori. This isn't about her. Look, Marla's coming."
"Ah, ladies," Marla glided up to them. "I see you're admiring our little set up."
"I-" Tori started to say something, but the heel of Jade's boot came down on her toe.
"Why are there three of them?" Jade said, without preamble.
"Three..?"
"Cat and Hayley aren't here, so why three crosses?"
"Oh, that. Well," said Marla, "it occurred to me that having you compete against each other hardly proves anything, does it? All it means is that we get the best of a bad bunch. So I decided to give you something to measure up against."
"Measure up against?"
"An experienced sub. One who might... test you a little."
"You're making someone else do this?" Tori said, incredulously.
"I'm not making anyone do anything." Marla sounded surprised. "People just like to please me. I suppose it's just my natural charm."
Tori was about to venture an opinion on Marla's natural charm but Jade interrupted. "Who is it?"
Marla smiled. "An old friend of yours."
Jade looked over her shoulder. Across the crowd, she could see a familiar figure limbering up.
Trixie.
I'm sunk.
"So?" Marla was saying, "do I have your consent?" There was a mocking tone to her voice. "Or should I tell Trixie that she wins this round?"
There was a slight groan from Tori, who recognized a button being pushed when she saw it. Jade looked from Trixie, to the crosses, to the pained expression on Tori's face, and finally back to Marla.
"On one condition."
"Condition?" Marla echoed. "This is a trial of your submission, Jade. You're hardly in a position to be making demands."
"I think I am, Mistress," Jade said, sourly. "Because without me, you've got no show, have you? If I don't do it, I'm guessing Amy won't do it, and all these people are going to be pretty disappointed."
Marla considered this. "What's your condition?"
Jade glanced at Tori, who looked cautiously hopeful. "We stay dressed."
"Dressed?"
"As we are. And no one touches us while we're up there. I don't want anyone gawping and groping at us. This is just about me, Amy, and the cross."
She heard Tori grind her teeth in frustration. Marla shrugged. "Very well," she said, dismissively. "You can keep your clothes on, such as they are. What you wear is up to your domme, anyway. You'll have to take the boots off though, they'll interfere with the trial."
"Fine."
Marla pushed the form in front of her. "So?"
Jade took the pen.
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"No. That's it. We're leaving."
"Like hell we are."
"What?"
"I let you drag me into this, Kyra. I let you bring me here and trail me around like a puppy, so all your little friends can poke and laugh at me, and call me a slut, and all that other crap that gets them off. And I did it because I love you, and I want you to be happy, and because you want to impress Aunt Claudia and get your hands on her money."
"Amy!"
"What? You think I don't know? I'm not an idiot. I know why you crawl around her all the time, why you let her say crazy stuff about me when you think I can't hear."
"But I don't mean-"
"I know, Kyra. I know you don't believe the stuff she says. If I thought for a minute you did, I wouldn't let you near me with a ten-foot pole. But the point is, I do it for you. And now I finally have a chance to do something, something that doesn't just involve staring at the floor, or answering stupid questions, or dancing like a dog, something that Aunt Claudia couldn't do if she had a crane and a team of horses to get her fat ass off the ground. So you're going to have to suck it up and watch me. That's what you can do for me."
"Please, Amy..."
"If Jade's doing it, I'm doing it."
"Jade?"
"We had a kind of... pact. Well, not a pact, exactly. An understanding."
"And what if she doesn't do it?"
"Oh, she'll do it, all right," Amy said. "And I'm going to make sure she doesn't do it alone."
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"Is that it?" Tori fumed.
"What?"
"Your one condition is that you get to keep your damned pants on? Out of everything that's wrong with this, that's what you're concerned about?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because it's the little things people do, Tori," she said, coldly, "that rob you of your dignity. Now hush. I gotta go talk to Trixie."
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"Trixie!"
"Jade." The Russian accent was heavy but friendly. "How are you, my little tovarisch?"
"Never mind that," Jade snapped. "What the hell are you doing? You don't have to do this!"
"I know. I was asked."
"Who by? Marla?"
"Marla wouldn't dare ask me. She asked Danielle, and Danielle asked me, and I said yes."
"But why?"
Trixie shrugged. "For the challenge."
"Don't let Tori hear you say that."
"Besides, I want to see if you can beat me when you don't get to whisper in my ear."
Jade reddened, and Trixie laughed. "Don't worry, I don't hold it against you. Sometimes you have to do anything to win. Would you like me to give you some tips?"
Jade blinked in surprise. "You've done this before?"
"Of course. Never up there," she raised her eyes, " but then, gravity is no harsher off the ground than on it. Less so, if you think about it."
"What?"
"Do they teach you nothing in school? Ah, of course not. The performing arts."
"Hey!"
"So, the important thing is to alternate the weight between your arms and legs, rest each in turn."
"Legs?"
"There is a footpeg for you to stand on."
Of course. That would explain the measurements. Trixie seemed to sense her surprise.
"This isn't supposed to be torture, Jade," she said. "It's a test of balance and stamina. It's surprisingly good for the back and shoulders. And of course," she added, solemnly, "we get to follow in the footsteps of Our Lord Jesus Christ."
"Er…"
Trixie laughed again. "I'm joking with you," she said. "I am not a – what's the word? Basket case. But it's true about the exercise. It's a very good workout. Look at me."
"What about you?"
"How old do you think I am?"
"Um..." This was one of those trick questions. "Thirty... five?" Jade ventured.
"Forty-six."
"Wow."
"Danielle keeps me young."
"And you couldn't just go to the gym?"
"And where's the fun in that?"
"You think this is fun?"
"Not now, maybe. But it used to be." Trixie smiled. "And it will be again. They can't keep this up for ever. One day the Sisterhood will fall, and the Club will be ours again." She tilted her head, questioningly. "Would you like me to let you win?"
Yes, oh, God, yes please, Trixie, let me win.
"No."
Damn it, West.
"Good," Trixie nodded. "That is how it should be." She reached out, and brushed the side of Jade's face. "Take care, my friend. See you on the other side."
"Okay, I…" Jade hesitated. "Trixie," she said, "will you do something for me?"
"Of course."
"If anything does happen tonight-"
"It won't."
"But if it does, would you look out for a girl called Stephanie? Blonde, about so tall, dressed as a sub. I saw her earlier and I'm worried about her, I think she's… I think she needs to get out of here."
"I'll do that."
"Thanks, Trixie."
"Now go. The challenge awaits."
Jade turned and left, pausing only to cast a last glance at the woman behind her.
Trixie. The last of the Titans. A giant in a world grown small.
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By the time she'd made her way through the crowd, Holly was incandescent with fury. "What in God's name are you playing at, Marla?"
"What? You didn't want the Olympics, so I had to arrange something else. I don't see the problem. We've used them before."
"Not with the hoists!" Holly hissed. "What happens if something goes wrong up there?"
"Relax, Holly. I have extra staff on hand." She waved towards one of the black-clad security guards.
"These clowns?" Holly said. "They're not trained to do anything!"
"I'm pretty sure they can handle a block and tackle, Holly," Marla said, sharply. "And the medic's on standby."
"No," Holly said. "You've gone too far with this. What the hell is this supposed to achieve?"
"It's a trial, Holly. It's not supposed to 'achieve' anything. It's very pointlessness is the point, you know that as well as I do."
"This is about her, isn't it?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"For Christ's sake, I said I'd deal with it."
"And you're not doing, are you?" Marla snapped. "Instead she's running around all over the place making us look like fools with that stupid daughter of yours. So now I'm dealing with it. She needs discipline."
"This isn't discipline, Marla, this is just victimization! And you of all people should know about that."
Marla turned on her. "Victimization?" she snarled. "Don't you dare talk to me about 'victimization', Holly. These little tramps want this! They're begging for it, it's what gives their pathetic little lives meaning. But I didn't ask for it, did I, Holly? I didn't get to sign a consent form, I didn't get a say. I didn't get to choose what your mother did to me in that filthy little cellar. So no, Holly, this isn't 'victimization'. They're getting everything they deserve."
"Please, Marla, for the love of God, you have to let it go."
"Let it go? She took everything from me, Holly!"
"And I'm sorry! Jesus, Marla, I've spent the last twenty years trying to make it up to you. But it's not their fault!"
"Yes it is! Because if they weren't so… spineless, so fucking docile, then people like your mother wouldn't exist! No, Holly. The trial is going ahead. No one else is complaining. So if you want to stay, and support your daughter - silently - then be my guest. Otherwise I'll have security escort you out of the building."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me."
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There was an awed hush as the three subs and their dommes approached the stage, the crowd drawing back to leave an empty space, a pool of light surrounding the six figures. There was a uneasy atmosphere among the six of them, Tori and Jade's previous encounter with Danielle still hanging in the air, but still the feeling of being on show made them draw closer, close enough for hushed whispers to go unheard by the crowd.
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"You okay?" Jade murmured to Amy.
"Yeah. You?"
"I've had better days."
"Who's she?" Amy's eyes flickered sideways toward the statuesque figure of Trixie. Trixie saw them looking and acknowledged them with a nod.
"Trixie," Jade said. "Or Theresa. She's all right. She's kind of a friend."
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"I can't believe you're letting her do this."
"I didn't have much choice."
"Me neither. What in God's name are we even doing here, Tori?"
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"You know, you would feel much better if you apologized."
"She attacked me!"
"She defended her girlfriend, Dani. We've been through this. What did you expect her to do?"
"Right, fine. If it makes you feel better."
"Not now. Not here. But there is something you can do for her."
"What?"
"Tell Holly Vega to find a girl called Stephanie. Take her home. Keep her safe."
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Silence fell completely as Marla took to the stage. She stood triumphant for a moment, Nero addressing the Coliseum. "Ladies. Dommes. Members of the Sisterhood. Welcome."
She moved, the click of her heels on the stage audible across the room. "Tonight, we have a trial. The final trial for our two new applicants, Mistress Tori and Mistress Kyra."
A light smatter of applause rippled through the room, tempered by the memory of Tori's outrageous behavior. "Some would say the ultimate trial," Marla went on. "For what better way to prove your devotion, what deeper act of submission, what finer path to resurrection and rebirth in the service of your mistress than this. Behold the cross!" She made a sweeping gesture across the stage. "The very symbol of sacrifice, the test beyond all tests! Igne natura renovatur integra!" This time there was a cheer, and it occurred to Jade that you could shout practically anything in Latin and people would cheer. Marla seemed pleased with the effect, and her eyes gleamed with an unpleasant intensity. She gestured to Kyra, Tori and Danielle. "Ladies, you may take your places."
The six of them ascended the stage to a murmur of excitement from the crowd, and Jade got her first look at the base of the cross. There was a platform resting on the stage itself for her to stand on while she was restrained - behind it, driven into the wood of the upright, was a short, stubby length of wood no wider than a broom handle. This, then, was the footpeg. It didn't look comfortable, but then it wasn't supposed to be comfortable. Marla said something she didn't quite catch.
"What was that?" she hissed to Tori.
"You need to stand on the stool."
Jade did so, turning to face the crowd, and felt an unfamiliar feeling sweep over her. Stage-fright. She had stage-fright here, of all places. Her palms were sweating.
"Ladies," Marla's voice boomed. "These are the rules. Your subs do this in your name. They are your responsibility. If you agree, then you may step forward and secure them. Once they are in place, the trial begins. Your sub will remain in place until either of you use the safeword." She smiled. "This is a test not just of their resolution, but of yours."
"Don't you dare," Jade muttered, as she saw the tiny glimmer of hope in Tori's eyes.
"The trial will end when only one sub remains on their cross. The others will be judged accordingly. Ladies, please prepare."
Tori moved as though her limbs were made of lead. "I can't believe I'm doing this."
"It'll be fine," Jade said. "Come on. Let's just get it over with."
"But why? Why do we have to do it at all?"
"Because... if nothing else, they can hardly throw us out after we've passed the 'ultimate test', can they? How's that going to look?"
"But we don't care about being thrown out!"
"We have to keep our foot in the door, Tori."
"But-"
"Please."
Tori sighed in resignation. "Arms," she said, dully. Jade lifted one arm into position, and Tori set to work on the buckles.
There was something about the way Tori yanked at the straps, the heavy breathing, the hard set of her face, that reminded Jade of something. It took a moment for her to realize what it was - the times when Tori had punished her in anger, with that grim determination that said she believed, in some way, that Jade deserved it. It seemed so long ago, so unimaginable, that to catch a glimpse of it now shocked her.
"Other arm."
She lifted her other arm into place at the command, and felt the leather on her wrist. Spread like this, it was almost erotic, being helpless before Tori's suppressed fury, and she was forced to confront the uncomfortable truth that part of what had attracted her to her original plan in the first place was the danger of it, the excitement of laying herself at the mercy of someone who had no reason to treat her kindly and every reason to hurt her, just to see what would happen. It's exactly that kind of recklessness, she chided herself, that gets you into situations like this. But she couldn't leave it like that.
"Tori..."
"What?"
"Tori, please."
Tori stopped what she was doing. Jade hesitated, suddenly embarrassed. "I love you."
Tori's expression softened. "I know you do," she said. "And I love you too. I'm just… worried about you."
"I know. But it's all going to be okay. We beat Danielle and Trixie, remember? And that was all about pain. This? This is just hanging around for a while. Piece of cake. Walk in the park."
"But-"
"Some people do this for fun, Tori. Hell, even I'd rather be doing this than, I dunno, watching drag racing."
Tori managed a half-smile. "Then I promise I'll never make you do that," she said.
"Your humble slave thanks you kindly."
That got a snort out of the other girl. "If I ever thought you were that," she said, "then I need my head examining." She reached out and tightened the last strap. "Okay, you're done." She stood back, and sighed. "Please be careful, Jade. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you."
"I will."
"And use the safeword."
"Yes, Mom."
"Jade!"
"Now wish me luck."
Tori leaned in and planted a kiss on the other girl's lips. "Break a leg," she whispered. She paused. "Only don't actually break a leg or anything, I don't want you to-"
"I get it. Now go."
Tori stepped reluctantly away from the cross, and signaled to Marla that they were ready. Jade closed her eyes for a moment, and wondered what her dad would make of it all, sat at home with his book and his pipe, his back to the picture, still trying to make sense of the world. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do...
Music began. Not even Handel's 'Messiah', either, Jade noted, which might at least have added a touch of class to the proceedings, but 'O Fortuna', it's stomping familiarity entirely in keeping with the dreadful melodramatics of the scene. As the music began to swell, Marla appeared at the front of the stage, and addressed them directly for the first time, her voice raised.
"Subs, you know what is required of you!" she announced. "Perfer et obdura! Dolor hic tibi proderit olim!"
She turned to face the audience. "Let the trial begin!"
Off to the sides of the stage, black-clad figures began to haul in earnest, and the sound of heavy chain thrashing though the pulley had a brutality, a coldness, that set Jade's teeth on edge. She felt the cross begin to rise.
Faces. She could see faces, picked out by the lights, upturned, watching. Tori and Kyra, close together, their expressions anxious and fearful. Danielle, dignified but nervous. Holly, with a look of resigned desolation, flanked by two security staff, and Marla. Marla's expression was the worst of all. Marla was… waiting.
As the cross rose, she became aware of something else, too. A sound behind the music, beyond the clank of the chains, something other than the thud of her heartbeat in her ears. Something that stirred memories.
They were chanting.
And the fear began to rise.
