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“You’re very skittish tonight, but there’s nothing to worry about. I’m here with you,” he said reassuringly, rubbing my shoulders. “But I have to warn you, just about anything goes down there. I’m not sure what we’ll find tonight.”
“I’m good. Let’s go.”
Alexander opened the black door, and a set of long winding stairs came into view. The pulsing bass of house music assaulted my ears. It was shockingly loud, as I hadn’t heard a single trace of it when we were in the hallway or back in the subdued lounge area.
When we reached the bottom of the staircase, an entirely new world opened up before me, revealing a twisting sea of dancing bodies. Some were in costumes, and just as Alexander had predicted, some were wearing normal attire. I also saw a few individuals dressed in leather and studs. However, I knew enough now to know those people were not dressed for Halloween fun but for the lifestyle.
My gaze traveled up from the dance floor to the vaulted ceilings. They were extremely high for a basement, easily eighteen feet tall. Around the edges of the room, there was a caged platform filled with more dancing men and women. My foot started tapping in time to the pulsing music. The urge to dance swelled in me, and I reached for Alexander’s hand.
“Let’s go dance,” I said, urging him toward the dance floor.
“Definitely not. You are not going out on that floor to dance.”
“What’s the big deal?”
“A girl like you won’t be doing much dancing out there,” he said dryly, nodding in the direction of the dance floor. I pinched my face in confusion.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Never mind. We can go up there instead,” he said, pointing to the caged platforms.
We made our way up the short metal staircase leading to the platform. Alexander elbowed his way through the crowd of dancing people until we reached someplace a little more secluded. He turned me around and pulled my back close to his chest. I thought he wanted to dance with me from behind, but when I started to grind myself against him, he made me be still.
“Hang on. I want you to see something first.” I could barely hear him over the music, and I reached a hand up to my ear, gesturing for him to talk louder. He leaned down closer and said, “Look down there. Do you see why I didn’t want you to dance there?”
I looked to see where he was pointing. I couldn’t stop the gasp from escaping me. Down below, in the middle of the dance floor, there was an elevated stage I hadn’t noticed before. Two men were strapping a naked woman to a St. Andrew’s Cross.
Once she was secured, one of the men leaned in to say something to her. Whatever it was, she nodded, and the man stepped back to speak with the other man. They moved out of my line of sight for a second or two before the crowd separated to create a large circle around the stage and the woman on display. The music was suddenly lowered to dull background noise and replaced by a booming male voice.
“Ladies and gentlemen! In honor of the Halloween festivities, Kendra’s Master has decided to grant her wish of a public flogging!”
What? Is this actually for real?
The crowd cheered while I stood there feeling like I had just gone back in time to Colonial America. I scanned the room, half expecting to see stocks and pillory at the ready.
“Alex, this is really messed—”
Smack!
I jumped mid-sentence as the first lash of the flogger rained down on the woman.
“It’s all just part of the show, Krystina.”
“Yeah, but…” I trailed off as another thought occurred to me. “Have you ever participated in something like this?”
“Me? No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I told you–I’m not an extremist. Some people get off on public displays. To each his own, I guess. But that’s not my style.”
“Then why do you come here?” I asked.
“I come for the social aspect of meeting like-minded individuals. Dramatic scenes of this magnitude don’t happen that regularly. The club usually reserves them for special occasions, like tonight, for example. If I had realized today was the Masquerade, I probably wouldn’t have brought you here. It can be a little intense, especially for a newcomer.”
Smack!
The sound of another lashing forced me to look back at the bound woman. I was curious to learn why someone would want to be whipped like that in public. I tried to keep an open mind rather than view it as nothing more than a crude spectacle.
After every few lashings, the man I assumed to be her Dom would pause to massage oil over her reddened backside and limbs. She would thank him profusely, and then he would resume again with the flogger.
Smack!
