AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Laney, Sandra and Elise nearly convulsed as the startling information settled on them. Their eyes opened wide in fear. Even Jason and Matthew appeared stunned. Apparently this surprising bombshell was something Erik found out totally on his own. Perhaps it had just come to him—one of those unexpected jolts out of the blue. It left them all jolted now.
“You’ve used us, sir, for your merry pleasures,” Erik went on, with a clear accusation
in his voice.
“And your pleasure as well, I might add,” the old man quipped.
“But this was your plan: to allow us access to your house, deliver us your book, and then see what crudities we’d devise for the entertainment of yourself, and finally your friends. Is that not so?”
“My world speaks for itself, Mr. Priestly. I did not cause the storm that damaged your boat. I did not steer it in this direction—that would be akin to playing God, who I am not. The fact that you appeared here, accepted my hospitality, and then submerged yourselves in my own personal fascination with sadomasochism, I don’t consider that my doing—but yours.”
“I can agree on an overt level. But I also believe that you directed more of what transpired here than you let on, Mr. Barth—the first manipulation being the lie about your identity.”
The old man snickered. “True. I’m a shrewd man. A little mysticism never hurts to entice the minds of impressionable people.”
“So, you hand out that journal of your imaginings to everyone? It’s an obvious blueprint of your bizarre desires.”
“Which became your desires, my friend. Or are you trying to disown your last week, making your behavior my fault?” Barth eyed him with contempt as the physical shell of an old man became more like that of a robust master. “My book is a blueprint for the truth about Master/slave relationships. I may have led you to the water, but I did not make you drink. You lapped the darkness freely, and let it quench your thirst. Until you came here, you didn’t even know what your longing was about.”
“But…” Erik narrowed his eyes on Barth, “is that longing something real, or simply a product of this place?” he stared around looking suspicious of everything he saw.
“Oh, sir, that I cannot say. You’ll have to answer that for yourselves.”
They looked on with wondering faces, as Erik tried to move the argument, though he found little ammunition left to load his guns. Even so, something malevolent burned inside him—and that something seemed to fire Jason and Matthew as their previous musings on the subject returned to them with curious clarity.
Devane—Christian Barth let them off the hook. “Yes, I’ll agree, I devised this past twenty-four hours quite meticulously. I’m not sure novices could have pulled off the event without some assistance, so I made sure the slave presentation went according to plan. I would hardly bring my friends here unless I could guarantee the show they expected. You think that is devious, I suppose it is, but I did not see any of you throwing off the game in disgust or boredom.”
Barth’s points only stirred the angry fires in all three men, but it gave them no words to counter with.
“Of course, now that it’s over, you can leave, if you like. Your boat was made seaworthy over the last few hours. The ocean is manageable, and should remain calm. There are no storms in sight. You can pack up your belongings and leave right now, or you can wait until morning. It makes no difference to me, or…” he stopped.
“Or what else, Barth?” Matthew asked.
He old man snickered, “Or, you can stay and finish the book. There’s a chapter left. That is, of course, if you have the guts to see it through. As I see it, gentlemen, slaves,” he nodded to them all, “there is undeniably one thing about your experience that is fact, no matter how hard you might try to deny it or ignore its impact on you, it will never leave you. If you leave now, you’ll always wonder, there will always be a question about that final chapter. If you go now, the opportunity will be lost. Sure, you could try to reclaim it in another venue, but there is no place in this world like Marquis Island, and no time like the present moment. The choice to stay or go is yours.”
He’d said all that he would say; and having made his point clear, he turned again and left the house without another objection from the six who were standing motionless near the hearth.
Chapter Eleven
Once Christian Barth left the house, Jason, Matthew and Erik disappeared from the living room going in different directions without explaining their behavior. The three slaves were tossed into a void of attitude and feeling, left alone in costumes that seemed to be increasingly more annoying with each second that ticked by on the mantle clock. Though the aggravation produced by their garments hurried them into this frustrating and nonsensical in-between, it also submerged them headlong toward their sordid sexual cravings.
Then, as though it were a homing beacon, the book lying on the mantle engaged their minds, luring them back under the spell that had so completely named their days and their hours spent in bondage. It had defined their feelings, their sex, every second of their lives for nearly two weeks. And now, Christian Barth come to life? His words both in the book and in person left them terrified, even as their power to seduce drew them to this mysterious man.
An hour passed in silent vigil with the three too terrified to speak, when Laney, strutting on her spiked high heels, finally moved to the fireplace and rested her hand on the cover of Barth’s slim leather book, perhaps hoping she might divine the contents of the last chapter through osmosis.
“I don’t want to know what it says,” Sandra said plainly.
“No?” Laney looked a little bewildered.
“Would it make a difference if you knew what it said, or not?” Elise asked.
“Of course it wouldn’t,” Sandra declared, “haven’t we moved with everything that book has said? Hasn’t it been imperative that we take each step it suggested? Has it mattered what that step was?”
“I’m not arguing,” Laney defended herself, “I’m just curious.”
“I don’t want to know,” Sandra repeated. “If we hear it read, and I have a feeling that we will, I want it to be a surprise, another shock. I already know I won’t go where it leads, if I know what it says in advance, my mind starts to meditate on the message. It means more coming directly from our masters. Don’t fuck with the process, Laney.”
“Well, it’s all a moot point, Sandra,” Elise said in exasperation. “The masters of the house seem a bit disturbed.”
