Chapter 26
Like our collaringceremony which swelled from just the two of us to a crazy number when Daddy said I could invite people, almost double the number of people I invited come to the Grand Opening. The only person I made a point of inviting that I don’t see in the crowd is Master Ten.
I guess I should have expected he wouldn’t come, given how ugly things got between him and Daddy over Master Mac’s membership but friction was pretty high between Daddy and Mistress Caddy and she’s here. When we make it into the Nursery, I see Caddy’s subbie, Finn, alongside a bunch of littles on the pirate ship, holding off their Doms with foam swords. Fleur has already been captured and bent over a ship’s cannon for a spanking by Master Javier. She waves cheerily when Daddy drags me away after a quick circuit of the Nursery to make sure everyone’s enjoying themselves.
I get my first orgasm in the hallway on the way to Long Gallery. Daddy’s loving these surprise orgasms at the moment. He pushes me against the wall without warning, drops to his knees, lifts my skirt and tutu over his head, and eats me out until I scream for him.
Daddy kisses me through the afterglow, pushing my own tang across my tongue. When my legs can hold me up again, he straightens my clothes, threads my arm through his, and walks on like nothing happened. I blink up at him, dazed and blissed.
“How many orgasms tonight, baby doll?” he asks conversationally.
“I think we agreed on four, Daddy.”
“Did we? Hmm. That seems a small number for such a big night.”
“Well, I’m a very little girl, Daddy.”
He chuckles. I steel myself for an onslaught of orgasms. It’s a severe hardship.
In the Long Gallery, we find most of the members of Elephant’s Playground lined up for a Hunt. In addition to the Dumbos, caterpillar, and butterfly, there are three foxes, two puppies, a kitty, and something that might be a bejazzled cow. Apple and Skye, who work in the nightclub, walk by hand-in-hand wearing Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum costumes. Mistress Dana herds her flock into line. Tessa prances over, yipping and wagging her tail at Master Chess. Matty and Yummy wait while Daddy unbuckles my Mary Janes, then grab my hands and pull me into the growing crowd of subbies.
A trembling, gray figure, hunched over and trying to make himself as small as possible, shuffles into line behind us.
I tug Yummy and Matty into a ring around Georgie. Our flight won’t let anything bad happen to our mousie.
“Don’t tell anyone,” I whisper to Georgie, my voice almost lost in the hubbub of so many voices. “But I’m secretly a dragon, too. And remember that mice are the only creatures that can defeat a dragon. So you’re safe with us.”
Georgie’s wearing his mouse-face, so it’s hard to read his expression but his eyes are full of gratitude.
Master Ryan, who I haven’t seen at the club in weeks, appears in his top hat and hunting jacket. He slaps his crop against his black riding boot for silence and when the chatter settles down, he says, “Subbies get a two-minute head start. The Hunt is confined to the Long Gallery. Anyone going into the Library is out of bounds and disqualified. If you haven’t played in the Gallery before, there are several secret passageways. You must be with a house submissive to use the secret passageways. House submissives, raise your hands.”
A dozen hands go up in the crowd.
“I mean it about the secret passageways,” Ryan says. “It’s possible to get lost in them. You may only go into a secret passageway if you’re with one of the people holding up their hands. Anyone going into a secret passageway without a house submissive will be immediately asked to leave. This is a safety issue. I expect you all to follow this rule. Say ‘aye’.”
A chorus of “ayes” rise from the cluster of subbies.
“There endeth the rules of the Hunt,” Master Ryan intones in a voice deeper than Daddy’s, somehow. In his normal voice, he continues, “If you’re hunting a subbie that’s not your own, this is a tag hunt. Tap anywhere on their body above the waist and the prey is caught. If you’re hunting your own subbie, I trust you’ve negotiated the level of resistance your prey mounts to being caught. Whether or not your subbie has a safe word, the safe word ‘red’ is in use for the Hunt. If I or any other scene monitor hears the word ‘red’ in any context, play stops until we can check in with the players. Prey, on your marks, get set, go!”
I was listening so closely to the rules that I’m taken aback by the start of the Hunt. I stand there staring until Yummy yanks on my hand. Then I run with my flight, keeping Georgie between us.
Once we get around the corner so the Doms can’t see us, some of the subbies take off in a sprint. I’m sure they’re headed for the hiding places at the far end of the Long Gallery. I drag my flight to the side and grab Austin’s hand before he gets too far away.
His deep brown eyes find mine. He’s wearing a ball gag, so we’re going to have to communicate via signals.
“The Doms will head to the far end of the Gallery. We need a closer hiding place that will fit all of us but is deep so they won’t be able to see us if they take a cursory look.”
Austin nods. He pinches his nose with his free hand.
“Smells don’t bother me.” I glance around at the rest of my flight and Georgie. Everyone’s nodding.
Austin tugs on my hand.
We follow him in a line, picking up Tessa. I feel slightly bad about sequestering another house submissive in our hiding space but if another group wanted her, they should have been faster.
Austin leads us to a huge landscape in a really ugly wooden frame about a third of the way down the Gallery. Daddy told me the secret passageways out of the Long Gallery are a house submissive secret. Members aren’t told about them. If members find them during hunts, they’re not supposed to tell each other. Daddy doesn’t think he knows them all—they’re passed down from house submissive to house submissive during their training period and even the Master of Training isn’t let in on the secret. Which is why the rule about using the secret passageways only with a house submissive is so strict. They evidently thread all the way through the club, letting out in other dungeons, the nightclub, the Trattoria’s kitchen, even the underground parking lot.
Austin and Tessa work together to unlatch the picture. It swings away from the wall, revealing a dark tunnel that starts about waist height.
Before I even consider how I’m going to get up into it, Austin catches me around the waist and swings me up into the tunnel. He tosses Tessa straight in behind me. She grabs my hand and leads me into darkness.
Quick breathing fills the passageway as the other subbies crowd in behind us. The passageway isn’t very high. I have to bend over to avoid hitting my head. Austin and Georgie are bent almost double. Daddy will definitely not want to climb into this vent or whatever it is. I can hear the soft rush of air ahead of us, although the tunnel we’re in is still.
Tessa pauses and whispers, “There’s a grate in the floor ahead of us. It won’t support full body weight. We have to walk on the edges. Follow me, put your feet where I put mine.”
“Okay.” I glance over my shoulder into the mouth of the tunnel. Whoever was last in must have pulled the picture closed behind us because there’s only the faintest gray light in the passageway. Matty’s right behind me, her eyes and teeth glinting with excitement. Georgie’s pressed up against her hip, on his hands and knees, which is smart although I hope he doesn’t rip his fursuit.
“Put your hands on my hips,” I suggest to Matty. “We need to step where Tessa steps.”
Matty nods and grips my hips. Wow, her hands are strong like Daddy’s.
Straining in the dimness to see Tessa’s feet, I follow as she starts to move. I feel the uneven rungs and spaces of the grate under my left foot almost immediately and tuck myself as close to the wall as I can to keep my weight off the grate.
Tessa leads me around a corner and I sigh with relief. Even if Daddy or other masters know about this passageway, once we’re all around the corner, they won’t be able to see us. I can’t see many of them crawling down this tunnel after us. Not very domly.
As I shuffle down the passageway after Tessa, I notice a growing smell. It’s not horrible but it’s not nice, either. It’s stale and moldy, like cheese that’s gone off.
“What is that?” I whisper to Tessa.
“Vent from the Spa,” she whispers back. “We think it might be the pool filters. We’ve told the cleaners and they say they’ve taken care of it but the smell never gets much better.”
I don’t think a pool filter should smell like that. I make a gagging noise.
“No joke,” Tessa whispers. “This is the least-used secret passageway and now you know why.”
“Pee-eww,” Matty whispers behind me.
I nod and cup my hand over hers at my hip. Even though we’re playing and I’m not really afraid of the stinky dark, it’s nice to feel my flight with me, supporting me, in this strange space.
“Everyone around the corner?” Tessa whispers.
I relay her question down the line. The answer comes back quickly. “All good.”
Tessa shuffles a little further and then sits down. “We can wait here. Austin, you got the count?”
“Yes,” he stage-whispers back.
“What’s the count?” I ask Tessa, sliding down the wall to sit cross-legged next to her. There’s stone at my back and under my butt, so we must have moved out of the vent, even though the smell doesn’t get any better.
“Hunts are timed. Thirty minutes. If the Hunters haven’t found us by then, we win.”
“What do you win if Master Chess doesn’t find you?”
Her eyes and teeth glint. “Unrestricted orgasms.”
There’s a collective giggle and several “me, toos.” Hmph. I should have bargained for unrestricted orgasms.
“How often do you negotiate those with Master Chess?” I ask.
“Every week if I can. Sometimes he’s too tense when the time comes and controlling my pleasure is his biggest thing, so I let it go. But whenever he seems relaxed enough, I go for it.”
Dang. My negotiation skills are clearly lacking here. I barely ever negotiate for unrestricted orgasms. More often than not, Daddy offers them to me as a reward for being his good little girl. I need to be more strategic, which is not my best thing when I’m in littlespace. Maybe that’s why I haven’t negotiated for them more often. I’m in littlespace so much of the time now.
Matty elbows me. “You haven’t been negotiating for unrestricted orgasms, either, have you?”
“No,” I admit. “Why haven’t you?”
“Oh, orgasm denial is one of Faolan’s kinks. I’m honestly so grateful when I’m not on it that I never think to ask for unrestricted orgasms. I’m just delighted whenever he gives me permission.”
“Eep. How often are you on orgasm denial?” I ask, trying to keep the horror out of my voice.
“Most weekdays. The only time I’m sure I’ll get orgasms is on the weekends. If I’m having a really bad week, he might give me release just to help keep me from spiraling. No guarantee, though. It’s gotten worse since we’ve been back in New York and he’s been talking with Master J. Ohemmgee, that man loves orgasm denial.”
I choke back my horror and feel a rush of gratitude that Daddy doesn’t keep me in a No O zone all week. “I would purely die.”
“Before we moved to New York and I started teaching, it was awful. It made me so angry. Faolan and I had fights about it. It’s the only thing we’ve really fought about. But I’ve settled into it. It actually helps keep me focused during the week and looking forward to the weekends. Like, each weekend is a total break. Something separate from my work week. All I have to do on weekends is focus on me and Daddy and pleasure. I don’t know, it works. We’ll see what happens next month when school breaks for the holidays.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “You’re so courageous. I’d have killed Daddy by now if he had me on O restriction all week.”
Matty giggles. “I thought about it a few times. I got paddled a lot for mouthing off at him when I was needy. But since I’ve settled into it, I’ve kind of come to enjoy it. He edges me progressively through the week so by Friday night, I’m thinking about nothing else. I put everything behind me and we have wonderful weekends together. It’s worth it. But I did have a list of creative ways to kill him and not get caught going for a while.”
“Top of the list?” someone whispers from down the corridor and I realize Matty and I haven’t been as quiet as we should have been.
“The quaking bogs of Rannoch Moor in the Scottish highlands,” Matty says with the certainty of giving something extensive thought. “Most peat bogs are shallow but the Rannoch Moor bogs are really deep. Deep peat bogs are worse than quicksand. They’re hard to see as you’re crossing the moors. Once you go down in the bog, it’s very dark, so you can’t orient yourself. The peat is heavy and compresses your body, making it hard to move or breathe. You drown really quickly. I mean, I didn’t want Daddy to suffer or anything.”
Lots of low laughs from the group, many of whom have sadistic Doms who love our suffering.
“Too bad Scotland’s so far away,” I point out.
“Mmm, it was more practical when we were on Miller’s Island, which is just a hop, skip, and a boat-ride from the highlands,” Matty admits. “I have yet to find a good substitute here in the States.”
“Vermont has cranberry bogs,” someone, I think it’s Georgie, whispers.
“I don’t think they’re deep enough,” Matty says. “But it’s worth exploring. Do you have a list?”
“Oh, yeah,” a deep whisper responds. I think that’s Austin. “Mercuric chloride. I use it in my dark room so I have it on hand. Very poisonous. Central nervous system failure. Like you said, I don’t want her to suffer. At least, not for very long.”
Despite how macabre this topic is, everyone laughs. We’ve all entertained these thoughts. We’ve all been angry and resentful at our Doms. It’s natural, even for masochists.
“But I love her,” Austin says. “More than I’ve loved anyone. Crazy, huh?”
We all agree.
Our whispered conversation stops dead when the corridor suddenly brightens. Matty and Tessa grab my hands.
“Oh, little girl,” Daddy’s voice slithers down the corridor. “Little girl, is this where you’re hiding?”
I almost break. I cram Matty and Tessa’s hands against my mouth to keep from answering him.
“Little girl, I’m coming in.”
I shake my head, then my whole body as adrenaline dumps into my veins. It’s just a game, I remind myself. But there’s something so primal about being hunted that I can’t control my fight-or-flight response. Tessa suddenly wraps her arms around me and I realize I’ve started scooting down the corridor away from Daddy’s voice, nearly bowling her over.
“Little girl, I can hear you moving.”
It’s not me he can hear moving. It’s Georgie, who climbs over me. I get flattened against Tessa as he scrambles away from Daddy’s voice.
“Little girl, what do you imagine I’m going to do with you when I catch you?”
I smash the heel of my hand between my teeth to keep from squealing. I can’t hear Daddy moving over the rustle of Georgie’s fursuit, so I don’t know if he’s really climbed into the small passageway. I hope not. Or if he does, he takes off his top hat. I really like that hat. But if I squeak or squeal or eep, he’ll definitely come in.
“I brought lots of toys to torture you with, little girl,” Daddy continues. “I have a Y-clamp, and the biggest butt plug you’ve ever seen, and my metal-tipped flogger, and—” There’s a roar from the back of our group. “Gotcha!”
“Fuck!” Austin howls. “Not it!”
“You’re all caught,” Daddy says. “Be careful coming out around that grate. It doesn’t look strong enough to bear your weight.”
“We know!” We chorus, high-pitched in our disappointment.
“Damn,” Tessa says as we all start crawling back toward the entrance. “I didn’t think Master Logan even knew about this one.”
“Daddy’s very devious,” I say, commiserating. “He probably found all the secret passageways when we were building the Nursery. I know he spent a lot of time with the architect looking over the building’s plans. Bad Daddy.”
We’re almost to the grate when I realize we’re one short. “Where’s Georgie?” I ask Tessa.
She looks over her shoulder. “I thought he was right behind me. Georgie?” she calls.
No answer.
“He couldn’t have gotten lost,” Tessa says. “That branch of the passageway leads to the Stocks eventually.”
“Okay, you go out. I’ll get him. He knows me. Tell Daddy I’m coming. I’m just taking care of Georgie.”
Tessa chews on her lip. “Are you sure?”
I’m a fierce, white, baby dragon who isn’t afraid of the dark. Dragons don’t leave their friends behind.
I nod and crawl back into the darkness.