EXTRACT FOR
The Descent
(W. Richard St. James)

"They want the fucking cheese out already?"  Christine had recovered herself somewhat.  She took a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with hot water, a little dish soap, and used it to gargle.  Then wiped off both ends of her digestive system with a paper towel.  "How much can these fucking people eat?  They can't possible be hungry."

"They want Tom."

"They want Tom?"  Christine wasn't buying it.  "Vlad, that is a total crock.  I would believe it, maybe, if you said you wanted Tom.  But who the fuck else is there?  Robbie has already done him, he's done Cassie, Alex has done him.  Nina?  You're in here to get him for fucking Nina? "

"For Vinnie."

That was enough to make her drop her glass.  Fortunately, it did not shatter.

"They are ready and waiting," Vlad added.  "They have been ready for some time now."

"They?"  Christine was bent down to retrieve the glass.  She had made sure that she had turned away from Vlad before she did it.  She stayed down a bit longer than she really needed to, wiping away an imaginary spill, holding her legs wide open for his edification.

"Vinnie and Angela."

"You are fucking shitting me."

"Tom," Vlad said, "can you interpret that remark for me?  It seems to me that you are the ones who have been engaging in those particular activities."

"You are shitting me means that you are not telling me the truth.  As in 'are you shitting me?'"

"Ah, and the fucking?"

"Just there for emphasis."

"So, Christine, you are expressing doubts about the veracity of my statement?"

"Astonishment." 

"Well, come out and see for yourself. Don't bother cleaning up," he added to Tom.  

Tom walked out awkwardly, trying to keep his legs together.  He could feel something, hopefully just Christine's saliva, dribbling down the inside of his thighs.  Was he bleeding again?  He dared to rub behind his balls ??" his fingers did not come back tinged with red.  But they were sticky.  Then he realized that Karina was gone.  Where she had been, in front of the mirror, there was a new device, a pillory, something that made you bend over and then locked your arms and head in place.   Next to it, a tall, slim man, with a leather hood hiding his face, naked, holding a bullwhip.  Vlad was in urgent, whispered conversation with him.   His back, rippling with muscle, was to the kitchen.  He turned a little.

"Oh my God!"  Christine half gasped, half laughed.  Horse cock, Angela had called it, and everyone else had shrugged that off.  But it was no exaggeration.

"Now, Christine, you see," Nina hissed, "your Vlad is not the giant that you thought, after all."

"Vlad is thicker."

"Perhaps, somewhat.  But Vinnie is considerably longer.  Angela must be a very lucky woman."

"It's a waste," Tom said.  "Like oversize boobs.  I tell my wife it's all wasted after the first handful.  How much of that can he actually get in?"

"I presume, my friend," Alex whispered, "that you are about to find out the answer to that question.  Oh, boje moi, look at her!"

A woman came into the room, also hooded, dressed in a leather corset and a huge red strap-on dildo.  She was carrying a little leather flogger, something with a lot of little strands, each about two feet long.  Vinnie reluctantly exchanged the bullwhip for it.

"Tom, I fear that you are in deep yogurt."  Alex's concern almost seemed genuine.

"Better than the bullwhip."

"Somewhat.  Do you see those knots at the end of the braids?  They are designed to cut into flesh, to draw blood."

"This is crazy," Christine said.  "No one ever really gets hurt at these things. 	 What the fuck is going on?  Why is Vlad letting this happen?"

"Vinnie is one of our most important customers.  Beyond that, Vlad is afraid of Vinnie."  Alex was drumming on the table with some intensity now.  It was clear that he was very nervous.  Nina was tugging on his arm, trying to get him to get up from the table, but he would not budge. 

"Vlad is afraid of Vinnie?" Christine echoed, bewildered.  "Tom, let's get the fuck out of here!  Now!"

There was still time, he thought wildly, to make a break for it.  He could run back into kitchen, out the back door, up the hill to the safety of his own house.  Safety?  What safety?  What would happen to Karina?  What would happen to Billy?  Instead, he shrugged off Christine and walked over to the pillory.  He cooperated meekly as Vlad strapped him in.  He screamed at the first lash on his buttocks.  He could not turn his head enough to look into the mirror, but he was sure that he was bleeding already.  Another stoke seemed to land directly on his asshole.  It was so raw already that there was hardly a difference in the pain.  

"Damn this," Vinnie was grumbling, "can't you spread  his legs more?  I can't get to his balls."

"You will have to use the whisk," Vlad said, his voice trying to emphasize that he was the master here.

"Fuck the fucking whisk.  I want to rip his fucking balls off.  First you won't let me use a proper whip, now you want me to use a piece of fucking cooking equipment.  You're a fucking wimp."

There was a sharp explosive crack, almost like a gunshot, a shrill yelp that sounded like Vinnie as a six year old, and a collective gasp

"Jesus, fucking, Christ."  That was Angela's voice.  "Vinnie, baby, .are you okay?"

"You almost took my dick off!"  The voice was deeper now, anger starting to replace terror.

"Almost, indeed?.  Fortunately, I am a master of the whip."

There was a long silence.  What was going to happen next?  Vinnie would bluster.  He would tell Vlad that he would regret what he had just done.  If he did that, he was not going to leave the house alive.  He would probably not live more than ten seconds after making that remark.

"Come on," Angela said, "let's get on with it.  Want me to loosen him up while you get your breath back?"

"You owe me one," Vinnie muttered.

"Indeed."

Whatever else they were saying was lost to Tom.  He was distracted as Angela plunged into him.  Her dildo had not seemed that big, certainly not compared to Vinnie, but it was big enough.  He was so sore at this point that even a finger would have been painful. He gave an involuntary little whimper, and she slammed into him even harder. "Come on Tommy boy," she was snarling, "get ready to feel what a real man is like!  I can take him all the way, sissy boy!  Shit!"  That last came with the smacking sound of flogger on flesh, not Tom's flesh.  "You fucking asshole!"

"Sorry," Vinnie's voice was calm again.  "Couldn't resist."  Another smack, and Angela was gone.   There was silence, dead silence.  Everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath.  

Karina had trained him to survive this moment.  Karina ??" absent Karina.  She wasn't here to see how well she had trained him.  What had happened to her?  He had not even had time to think about the implications of her absence.  Whatever trouble she was in, he wasn't going to be able to help her if he was dead.  He could get through this.  He had to.  He had no choice.  Remain calm.  Don't let it hurt.  He tried to slow his breathing.

There was a little gasp, and he felt the tip of that huge cock pressing into him.  Angela had already opened him up, Vinnie was long, but not really all that thick..  There was nothing to keep Vinnie's penis from sliding right to the top of his rectum.

"Nice," Vinnie was saying.  Tom felt rough hands stroking his back.  "Hard muscles, soft skin.  Tommy boy, you are really a nice piece of ass.  Too bad you don't have boobs."  Those hands reached down to find Tom's nipples. "You'd be really perfect with some tits."

"Brian was better," that was Alex's voice.  "Brian had a tighter butt."

"Oh, this is just right for me.  So far.  Hey Tommy, if I ever go back to prison, I'm taking you with me."

That provoked laughter from everyone but Angela.

"Okay, Tommy Boy, are you ready to take me all the way?"  There didn't seem to be any point in answering.  Tom felt a little push, not that much really, and that last gateway to his colon opened.  He had felt it open up before.  Angela's dildo had been long enough to poke through a little, Robert had been big enough to poke through a little.  He had actually liked that sensation.  But Vinnie's cock just kept sliding through.  That was a strange feeling, not exactly painful, but unsettling.  He had gotten use to the idea of something sliding in and out of that portal, but this just kept sliding in, deeper and deeper.  Then it began to hurt.  He was having cramps, he felt like his guts were about to burst.  Vinnie just kept pushing harder. 

"Wow!"  That little gasp sounded like Christine.  There was the pressure of bone on Tom's rump.  It felt like Vinnie might be inside him all the way at last.  The pressure eased, then bone slammed into bone.  Vinnie was fucking, as hard as he could, but his cock was so long, so twisted, so trapped by Tom's flesh, that it was barely moving.  Tom had a sudden, horrible premonition that they were going to be locked together, like copulating dogs ??" they would wind up in a hospital emergency room, still stuck together, and photos or x-rays would show up on the internet.  It might even make the local cable news.    Then, finally, the cramps let up, and the flesh within him began to slide back and forth a little, after all.

"Damn!"  Vinnie was fucking more rapidly now, "come on Tommy boy.  What happened to that nice tight asshole?"  

Whack!  He heard the sound of the flogger, felt the rush of air above him, then, the pain on his shoulders.  His guts went into spasm again.

"That's it, Angela!  Keep that up!  Make him milk my cock!  Oh, Tommy boy, you are one sweet piece of ass."

"Sure thing, dear heart!"  The was another whoosh of air, another sharp crack.  Tom braced himself for the pain, but it did not come.  Instead there was a yelp from Vinnie.  Abruptly, the pressure within Tom's gut was gone.  

"Fucking bitch!  What the fuck did you do that for?"

Tom could feel a lot of weight on his back, fingernails scraping his skin.  There was a higher shriek, probably from Angela.  He could not see what was going on, the pillory had his head locked in so that he could only see the wall in front of him. But he could hear was sounded like a lot of slaps, accompanied by moans.  "Fucking," slap. "goddamn," slap, "bitch," slap ? 

There was a loud crack, of the bullwhip, and a scream of pain that was shriller than the moans, and from a slightly different source..  "My apologies," it was Alex, "I do not have the same expertise as Vlad.  Perhaps it would be wiser for you not to tempt me to use the whip again."

"I am going to take the whip from you," Vinnie was growling in his usual deep timbre, "and I am going to wrap it around your fucking neck."

"Perhaps," Alex said.  "On the other hand, perhaps as you attempt to do that I will employ  the whip to remove your testicles."

There were legs in front of him, very attractive legs, attached to a very attractive pussy that he started to lick.

"You are such a fucking idiot!"  Christine slapped him.  She was busy unlocking the pillory.  She dragged him into the relative safety of the kitchen bathroom.  "I'm sure there's a key for this door somewhere," she muttered, as she locked it, "but they're probably too far gone to find it."

"Am I bleeding?"  Tom was trying to get a look at his back and rump.

"Not really.  Not too much.  Not any more."

He sighed with relief, then, all at once, he was cramping again.  He barely made it onto the toilet before everything he had eaten came rushing out of his guts.  He flushed before he could look to see if it was tinged with blood.  

"That was really gross."  Christine pointedly turned on the fan.  "Shower?"

"Maybe."  He realize that he was coated with sweat, semen, git, shit, blood ??" any bodily secretion, male or female that you could imagine.  "Yeah.  A shower would feel really good."  Actually, the water was stinging his back, but it felt good anyway.  "It is always like this?"

"The dinner parties?  Never like this.  Before tonight, Vinnie and Angela always just watched.  Now I know why.  And I've never fought with Karina before.  Not that it hasn't been coming."

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and then it opened.  Had it ever been locked?  It was Vlad.  He had his clothes back on ??" at least a shirt and pants.  He was still barefoot.  Tom was staring at how hairy those toes were.  The whole foot was hairy, almost like a paw.  The moon had come up, Vlad had changed into a werewolf ??" no, his face was as smooth and inscrutable as ever.  

"Ah, my little maids.  How practical of you.  Come, please, your services are required."

What now?  Tom felt a surge of panic, and Christine was stammering, "our services?"

"Why yes.  There are dishes to wash, tables to clear, rugs to vacuum.  Is that not what you are here for?"

"The party is over?" Tom dared to ask.

"Ah yes, our guests have departed."  

And what about Karina?  Tom did not dare to ask.

"Everyone is still alive?"  Christine was bold enough to ask.

"Well, my little maid, my dear little maid, there are some things that little maids should not concern themselves about.   But, if it will ease your mind, rest assured that all our guests were still breathing when they left.  Whether that will still be true tomorrow," Vlad shrugged, "one never knows, from day to day."

"Vlad," Christine seemed to be truly concerned, "are you going to be okay?  After tonight?  Vinnie was off the wall!"

"My dearest little maid, Vinnie is always off the wall.  It's the way he does business.  I'll do him a favour or two to appease him, and things will be fine."

"What about Karina?"  Tom dared to ask.

"That is a personal matter, a domestic matter," Vlad was very controlled, but his throat was pulsing with irritation.  "I would not ask you, about your private interactions with your wife."

"I'm sorry," Tom stammered.

"I accept your apology.  There are still a considerable number of dishes to wash.  I fear that my wife and I will not be able to assist you.  We have some personal matters to attend to.  Please let yourself out when you are finished.  Oh, I almost forgot.  I must pay you."  Vlad pulled out a thick wad of bills, counted off ten to Christine, five to Tom., and left.

"Christine," Tom was staring at the bills in his hand.  They were not worn and frayed, stained with feminine secretions, like the ones Andrei had used.  Instead each was crisp, brand new.  "They're hundreds."

"That's how he always pays me."  She looked at the wad of bills. "Wow!"

"Think they're real?  They look like they're hot off the press."

"The bank always takes them.  They should know."

"Yeah, I guess."  Tom took another look at the bills.  They seemed perfect.  He started to put his away, and realize that he had no pockets.  Of course.  He and Christine had been naked for so long it seemed perfectly normal.  Other than lack of pockets, there really was no need for clothes ??" except that the house seemed to be getting chilly now.  Christine retrieved some robes from the dining room.  Hers was much too big ??" she looked like the sorcerer's apprentice, as she scurried around reloading the dishwasher

"What can I do to help?"

"Some of the hand washing, maybe."  She filled one of the sinks with, hot, soapy, water.  "You know how to do dishes?"

"I'm Mr. Mom."

"Well, good then.  No!  God!  Don't dump the glasses in like that!  Those are a hundred bucks each!"

"What!  Jesus!"  He tried to retrieve one the goblets and discovered. that she'd made the water scalding hot.  He dropped it, fortunately back into the sink, and she gave a little shriek as it crashed into some of the silverware.

"What the fuck are you doing?"  She pushed him out of the way, then collapsed into giggles.

"What's so funny?"

"Listen to us.  We sound like we've been married forever.  One evening, and we've gone from honeymoon to honey do."

"I already have a wife," he reminded her.

"You do?"  She seemed genuinely surprised.  "I heard you were divorced."

"Nope."

"Not even separated?"

"Only by her job."  Even as he said it, he knew it was a lie.  "She's out in the Bay Area on a project."

"How convenient for you."  She softened that remark with a little kiss, but he could sense her disapproval.  "Next time you'll have to bring her along."  Of course, that would make it okay.

"Look," he said, "Miss Manners, what the fuck do you think you're doing with Vlad?"

"Karina knows damn well what I'm fucking doing with fucking Vlad.  Karina fucking hired me, and she told me up front that having sex with them was part of the job.  I even signed a fucking waiver."

"That's legal?  Wouldn't that be prostitution?"

"What, you're fucking worried about fucking legal all of a sudden?  The way it was worded it was vague enough it might be legal."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah, both of them."

"You've had sex with Karina?"

"Half the world population has had sex with Karina.  What, you want details?"

"No, no."

"Do you think you can dry these without dropping them?"

"A hundred dollars a glass."  It was time to change the subject.  He held the goblet up, trying to see what made it so costly.  It was looked as if it were made of diamond, cut to sparkle.  The lighting in the dining room had been too dim, perhaps he had been too intent in emptying those glasses, to fully appreciate their beauty.  "Where the hell does the money come from?  I thought Moldavia was dirt poor.  They certainly have their UN guy living in style."

"Maybe it's like a franchise."

"A franchise?"

"Yep.  My sister's a grad student at MIT."

"Sounds impressive."

"Yeah, she's pretty stuck up about it. Anyway, her advisor is the big name professor.  He's got this nice title, and a big office, and a lab, and a lot of grad students.  The only thing is, MIT doesn't pay for any of it.  'He's expected to bring in enough money to support himself and all his students, pay MIT rent for his lab, the whole bit.  They give him the title, and he's on his own for the rest.  It's a franchise."

"And you think being ambassador is like that?"

"Yep, they give him the title, the diplomatic immunity.  Actually, I think he bought it all somehow."

"He runs in girls."

"Girls, boys, drugs, you name it.  Tom," her voice dropped to whisper, she turned up the water, "I think he does it both ways."

That almost lost a glass.  "Both ways?  How is that possible?"

"Do you know how many missing children there are in this state?  Over twenty thousand."

"Oh."

"Stay away from those glasses.  You can put away the silverware.  We're going to have to count everything before we go."

"Count it?  Vlad's afraid his guests are going to walk off with his silverware?"

"Karina.  Must be the Gypsy in her."

"Roma."

"Whatever. She was brought up to take home little souvenirs, so she assumes everyone else is going to do the same thing."

"That is not true."  Karina's voice, behind them, almost resulted in the demise of a goblet.  "I am concerned that they might be discarded accidentally."

"You're okay?"  Tom looked at her with some concern.  She was wobbling a bit, but that might be due to being very drunk.   One of her cheeks was red, an eye a bit swollen.

"No worse, than you have left me on occasion."

"Karina, I am sorry."

"Sorry?  There is no reason to be sorry.  In time, you will understand."  There was a curse from the other end of the house.  "I must go."

He turned his attention to drying the silverware, carrying it out to chest in the dining room, arranging it to match what was left in the various slots.  It looked as if there were at least twenty of everything, maybe more.  Christine was busy putting away the goblets, dumping the tablecloth in the washing machine, sweeping up the floors, scrubbing the counters.  At last, everything was perfect.  It was time, high time, to go.

"Let's get out of here," he sighed.  There were disturbing sounds coming from the other end of the house now, Karina moaning in passion or pain.  It reminded him of college.  One of the other guys in the suite had had a girlfriend who wailed like that.  The dishwasher had masked it, perhaps, while its own gurgles an whines, but now it was on the drying cycle, only the occasional hiss of a an evaporating drop competing with the keening from down the hall.