The anticipation in the air was like electricity. Baron Michael and Lady Alicia ate their meal leisurely, followed by dessert and more wine, all the while enjoying the mixture of terror and excitement that was obviously tormenting poor Steve.
The Lady shared a joke with the Baron and sipped her wine. Then she turned to Steve, fixing him with her steely gaze. “Would you like some wine, Steve?”
“Not while I am on duty, Ma'am.”
“Your employer has loaned you to me for the present time, young man. I make the rules now.”
Steve frowned and looked to the Baron, who smiled and shrugged.
“Just a little tipple, I don't want you getting drowsy on me.”
“Yes, Ma'am. Thank you.”
She extended one thigh-length red leather boot towards him and pointed her toe in his direction. She then extended the arm holding the wine glass and slowly poured the wine onto the toe of her boot and up towards her thigh.
“There you go, boy.”
“Yes, Ma'am.” Steve got down onto his hands and knees and crawled over towards her. Sticking out his tongue, he began to lick the wine from her boot, following every dribble and drip, his mouth slowly travelling higher until his head was almost in the Lady's crotch.
She stroked and patted his head, stroking his handsome face. “Good boy. Now stand up and follow Jerome.”
Her white rubber-clad servant appeared and led Steve away from the table towards a large open cage a few feet away. Leather cuffs were already in place there. Jerome positioned Steve against the bars, spread eagling him and fixing his wrists in place. Mick could not see Steve's face, only his broad, smooth, muscular back, but he could see the tension in the young man's body.
Lady Alicia stood and slowly walked over. Her high-heel boots made a loud CLOP-CLOP sound as she covered the short distance. She reached up and ran her fingernails down Steve's back, making him jump, then shudder. “Beautiful skin. Truly, Michael, you have impeccable taste, even when it comes to your bodyguards.”
“If you say so, my dear!”
She leaned forward and spoke softly into Steve's ear. “Be brave for me. Your reward will be sweet.”
Steve swallowed and said “Yes, Ma'am.” His voice was hoarse with fear. Just visibly, he was trembling. She kissed his ear, then bit it, gently at first. After a few seconds Steve's eyes closed and he grunted in pain.
Laughing, she walked away from him and took the bull whip from her belt. It was made entirely of wound leather, red and black, and the coils fell to the floor at her side. She extended her arm to her side and took another step back.
Her arm moved like lightning. Mick barely registered the movement before he heard the CRACK as it connected with its target. Steve cried out, jerking against his restraints. His body had gone rigid, shaking with the aftershock. A thin red line lay diagonally across his back, the muscles all standing out starkly.
CRACK! The second strike landed, and once again Steve jumped, all his muscles tensing, but this time he managed to hold in his cry and only a muffled groan escaped him.
CRACK! Again she struck, the thin leather uncoiling and hitting the exposed skin like the tongue of some demonic beast, drawing another strangled sound from behind the victim's gritted teeth.
The fourth blow drew a choking gasp, Steve's body convulsing involuntarily. The fifth made him go rigid as a statue, trembling almost imperceptibly. He started gasping rapidly, fighting for breath before the sixth blow landed, wringing a strangled moan from him.
She struck a seventh time and he arched his back as if welcoming the sting, his arms spread as wide as the shackles would allow, his fingers splayed. His grunt of pain was low and loud.
Alicia stood still, the coil of leather lying on the floor in a twisting curl. Steve sagged against the bars of the cage, breathing heavily. Seven red lines marked his back, angry welts that were starting to glow against his skin. Mick saw a few tiny beads of blood dotting some of the lines.
The Lady wound up her whip and reattached it to her belt. She held out her hand and Jerome brought her a glass of wine. She sipped it as she approached the shaking man tied to the cage. “Well done, my brave young hero.” she said, stroking his arm and side. Holding the wine glass high, she tipped it so that the ice-cold wine fell between Steve's shoulder blades, running down the furrow of his back, across the welts. He shuddered, shaking hard as if going into a seizure.
Alicia handed the wine glass back to Jerome. He replaced it on the table and took the candlestick from the centre of the table, passing it to his Lady carefully so as not to extinguish the flame.
Mick glanced at the Baron. He was watching everything with a calm, relaxed smile. The boys at his feet were mesmerised. Young Jamie's eyes were glowing, his mouth slack, his cock hard against his stomach. Mick wondered if he had noticed, and then realised that he also had an erection himself. It strained against the leather trousers.
The Lady took Steve's chin with her other hand and turned his head towards her, kissing him passionately. She then raised the candlestick and slowly tipped it so that the hot wax fell onto his tortured flesh.
Steve shuddered again, his grunts of pain muffled by the Lady's kiss. His body spasmed as the burning drops rained down upon him, jerking like puppet. His hands gripped the bars for stability as his legs trembled.
Finishing, the Lady handed the candlestick back to Jerome, who returned it to the table. He poured her another glass of wine and she sipped it as she watched her victim grip the cage and shake.
Baron Michael clapped. “Bravo, ma cherie. Satisfied now? Or do you need to totally incapacitate the poor young man to the point where he is not fit for duty?”
Alicia laughed. “I am satisfied, Michael. I don't want to leave you a man short. Though I'm sure this one could easily carry him home for you.” She nodded towards Mick.
Mick smiled proudly.
“Oh, I've no doubt he could. Mick is strong as an ox. I would like Steve to leave here on his feet, though, as he came in. Appearances, you know?”
She curtsied gracefully. “As you wish, My Lord! Jerome, let him down.”
“Help him, Jamie.” the Baron ordered.
“Yes, Sir!” Jamie leapt to his feet and rushed over to Steve's sagging form. As Jerome released the shackles Jamie held onto Steve's waist, helping to keep him upright. Steve's arms dropped limply to his sides and he took a step back away from the cage. Jerome brought him a chair and Jamie guided him to it. Steve sat on it reversed, his muscular arms hanging over the back.
Young Jamie stood at Steve's side, stroking his hair and gazing into his eyes with wonder. Steve smiled up at him wearily and began stroking the boy's thigh. Jamie chuckled as Steve tickled his testicles, embarrassed by his erection. They spoke quietly to each other and started kissing.
The Lady smiled, raising her glass in a toast. “Now that, my dear Michael, is truly romantic!”
Sometimes a sub will contact a Dom person, on-line or in real life, and that person will behave in ways that are different to vanilla folk. And so they should. If subs wanted guys who act in familiar ways they would stick with vanilla men.
The problem is this: What is the difference between Dominant behaviour and plain, old fashioned bad behaviour? If you're a subby and some Dominant guy sends you a message on-line that says “Tell me what are you into, scum!” is that the way he is supposed to talk? And are you supposed to accept that?
I can only give you MY answer – there is no single authority on what is or is not proper BDSM behaviour, we make up our own rules – and my answer is NO, that is not right.
Just because you are submissive that does not mean that ANY Dominant guy has the right to dominate you even if they do not know you. If I choose to speak harshly to one of my subs, that would be a right that I have by virtue of the fact that he has given me that power, by prior agreement, as part of the negotiation process by which he became my sub.
If I meet a new sub guy for the first time and start telling him what to do, belittling him, insulting him, that is NOT me demonstrating my innate superiority. That is me acting like an arsehole.
So what if a relationship has been established? Suppose you are sub and you have met a Dom you feel you have something in common with, and you start seeing each other. What is an acceptable way for him to behave?
Can he treat you in a way that no-one else is allowed to? Yes.
Does that mean he can do anything he likes to you? No.
Is he allowed to lie to you? For example, if you find out that he has a partner/wife when he told you he was single. Does he have the right to be dishonest?
No.
Does he have the right to break promises? To arrange a meeting and then not show up without any explanation? Are you supposed to accept that as normal behaviour for a Master/Dominant?
No.
Suppose he begins a relationship with you and then drops off the face of the earth – doesn't contact you, ignores your messages, ignores your existence – Is that a test? Is he testing your submissiveness or commitment by seeing if you will keep the faith even while he treats you like crap?
No. He's just being a cock.
Hold on, you say, maybe it's like the story of Abraham. God tells him to sacrifice his only son to prove how strong his faith is. Abraham says “Yes, sure, no problem, c'mere sonny, God told me to slit your throat so be a good boy and hop up onto this pile of wood while I sharpen this here knife.” and the angel steps in and stops him right at the last second. Maybe this wonderfully mysterious Dom guy is testing me to see how much crap I'll take? Then, when he sees how committed I am, he will reward me for it by acknowledging my worth to him and treating me as his valued servant?
No. He's just neglecting you and doesn't have the common decency to let you know that he's lost interest. All that stuff about putting you to the test is a load of bullshit. If I had been Abraham I would have told God to shove it. “You want me to do what? Uh, no thanks. No deal. You can take your new religion, your twelve tribes and multitudes of descendants and ram it all up your omnipotent backside. Come on, Isaac, we're going home.”
Calling yourself Dominant does not give you an excuse to treat someone like dirt. OK, the sub might get off on arrogant, selfish Tops, but that arrogance and selfishness ONLY applies to the BDSM aspect of the relationship. The sub is still a person, a human being, and essentially the two of you are actually equals. Yes, really. You think you REALLY control him? Watch him tell you to fuck off, and then walk away from you.
Hurting someone by spanking him is one thing. Hurting him by receiving his devotion to you and then dumping him by text message is something entirely different.
My version of Domination and control is not the only kind, of course. Some subs like to be treated only with disdain. There are guys who want to be told they are worthless scum, and it makes them hot. There are guys who want to be “cash slaves”, or have a fetish for being blackmailed. It's not my place to tell them “Your kink is not OK.” but I reserve the right to have my own opinions about the type of guys who are happy to take advantage of them.
Some guys like a bit of psychological domination, or “mindfuck”, in fact good, deep Dom/sub has a healthy dose of this. Manipulation can powerfully reinforce the roles and make the whole thing more authentic. BUT! It has to be within a fundamentally consensual, respectful framework.
A BDSM relationship – if you want it to be more than just a bit of kinky sex now and then – is just like any other relationship. You have to have mutual respect. You have to have good communication. You have to be on the same wavelength.
Domination is NOT an excuse for being arrogant, rude, selfish or deceitful. It is NOT a shield to hide your insecurities behind. It is NOT exploiting someone's inexperience or vulnerability for your own gratification. It is NOT a way to avoid apologising when you make mistakes.
Submission is not about throwing away your self-respect. Being shat on from a great height is NOT the fair price you pay for the honour of being a slave. If someone is acting like an idiot, or a coward, or an arsehole, I'm sorry but it probably means that he is.
A Dom should be interested in you. He should care about you. Unless you are really dense, you should be able to sense if that is the case or not. If your instincts tell you that something is wrong, you need to talk about it. If he isn't prepared to talk, he isn't worth talking to. Or anything else.
Choose your Dom carefully. You want someone to look up to, to serve, to deserve. First of all, make sure he deserves YOU.
