From Bad to Worse, Part 2

“Yes, master! As you wish, master! How can this slave please you, master? Will master please punish this slave for her disobedience? This slave is here to fulfill your desires, master! This slave will obey, master! Yes, master!” Over and over and over again, Lila said those words, and cheerfully, each time it was to a different man or woman, no one she recognized. She felt strange, like she was outside her body the entire time, screaming at herself not to listen, not to say those words. But she never heard herself. Not even once.

Lila awoke with a start, jerking her body as she fought to rid herself of the nightmare. She heard metal shaking as she struggled, and finally realized she was restrained, spread wide. She blinked her eyes, still seeing only darkness, and finally felt the straps around her head. She tasted leather in her mouth, and quickly learned that there was a bit secured between her teeth. She was hot, sweat covering her body, the temperature in the room stifling even though she was now nude, except for the damned collar on her neck. She was upright, too, and felt metal shackles on her wrists and ankles. She could move her feet freely, and could barely bend her limbs at all; the frame she was secured to was just the right size to make sure she had no slack at all. Either that bastard had had it custom made, or it was enchanted to resize.

A low growl came from Lila’s throat as she finally picked up the captain’s, or governor’s, scent, thick in the room. She finally heard movement behind her, and her captor’s smug laughter. “Finally awake, my dear Lila? You enjoy teasing me even when you’re unconscious. So, did we have some good dreams just now?”

Lila snarled and hissed, jerking her limbs, trying to slip a hand out of one of the shackles, trying to move the frame, anything. Her tail snaked back and forth threateningly behind her, but he only laughed, brushing it with his hand. “Oh, mean girl. Be quiet and stop your struggling, Lila.” Lila immediately went still and stopped her threatening noises, cursing herself when she realized that she had unwittingly followed the suggestion of the enchanted collar, almost without realizing it; it had seemed…natural…for her to submit. “Oh, that hurt, didn’t it? See, even someone as proud and stubborn as you can be tamed with one of these. I’m sure your sisters at your tavern are enjoying them immensely, especially that Darla; she resisted the most; hell, she’s probably shocked herself unconscious a half dozen times by now.”

Lila snarled, her ears laid back, and her tail started twitching. Darla couldn’t handle a collar for long, especially one of these monstrous things; gods, please let them find a way to get these things off before Darla hurt herself too bad. She chewed at the bit, fighting with her restraints; all the while the jerk behind her laughed, snatching her tail and running his fingers along the fur. “Oh, Lila, we’re going to have so much fun together now! You’ll come around soon enough; I’ve been looking forward to breaking you since we first met. And do I ever have the perfect thing in store for you…eventually, anyway. Should we get started with tonight’s fun, my pet? I can tell you’re anxious to begin.”

The bastard’s hands touched her sides and slid upward, taking hold of her breasts. Lila screamed, clamping down on the bit and pulling at the steel that held her firm. She could feel her wrists chaffing already; she’d be bleeding before long, but she didn’t care. This asshole had no right to be treating her this way! She felt his breath on her neck, and then his lips, as he squeezed his hands around her breasts, hard enough to hurt, and kept squeezing, until she finally cried out. Only then did he release some of the pressure, fingering her nipples lightly. “Excited I see…lovely. How about down here?” His left hand left her breast, gliding down her stomach and between her legs. Lila cried out and bucked her hips, but his fingers still slid over her mound and inside her pussy, pressing deep before he pulled them out. “Oh yes, already wet here, too. But I know you, Lila; you like it a little more exciting than just plain sex. Don’t worry, I’m not going to neglect your desires.”

Cursing at him behind the bit, Lila continued trying to slip a hand free, but the shackles stayed as secure as ever, always snug around her limbs. His hands left her body for only a moment before he gathered up her long, midnight-blue hair and tied it into a long tail, which he flopped over her shoulder. Breath quickening, Lila tensed when she heard leather creaking behind her. Son of a bitch! The air was sliced behind her just before her ass erupted in hot, stinging pain across both cheeks. The whip crack rung in her ears, her teeth clamped down into the bit. Lila fought hard not to scream, forcing herself to take in deep, steady breaths. She had dealt with scum like this before and could handle whatever pain he could dish out, no matter what kind of fiendish collar she might be wearing. If she could keep herself focused, she could beat him. Then she’d kill him by inches.

“You can scream if you want to, pet. I won’t mind at all,” he said, quite smugly. Lila spat a curse at him, earning her another lash, this one across her lower back, just at the base of the spine, right above her tail. Again, she fought back a scream, but damn if lashes there didn’t hurt a lot worse. The whip cut the air again, this time biting her across her right thigh, then again across her shoulders, and a third time along her left side. Lila held firm, grunting, trying to focus herself away from the painful lashes. He wasn’t starting gentle at all; he was putting a lot of power into his strikes. But she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a scream. She couldn’t.

His fingers slid across the welt on her side, making her flinch, and making him chuckle. “Certainly not the delicate flower you pretend to be in the bar…I’m quite anxious to see what secrets I can pry from you. If you promise to tell me something good, I’ll stop.” Lila braced herself as he whip whirled behind her. She waited several moments, breathing quickly, before he lost his patience and struck her again, across her right calf. The frame shook and then Lila felt as though she were falling, but the shackles were still secure on her limbs. She was spinning, in all different directions, even upside down; she couldn’t figure how it was done, maybe something about the enchantment on the frame. The spinning slowed quickly, and she came to rest upside down, disoriented for a moment.

“Lovely view of you from this angle,” he laughed. Lila growled, flinching as the whip cracked just in front of her face, close enough that she could feel the snap of the leather. With another of his sickening laughs, he lashed her again, across the bottoms of her breasts, then her stomach, the top of her foot, her arm, all over, unrelenting, powerful blows slicing at her skin. As the painful blows rained across her, Lila wanted to scream, but she stubbornly clenched down on the bit, growling and snarling. He spun her again, harder than before, sending his whip at her while she was moving. She winced when one lash landed against the sole of her foot, and very nearly lost her composure, almost screaming, when the whip lashed across her pussy lips; she barely managed to keep it to a strained hiss.

Finally the spinning stopped, and Lila was once again upright, breathing hard, head spinning, body screaming in pain, tears streaming from her blindfolded eyes, and teeth firmly clamped around the bit. She could hear the bastard breathing hard behind her, and heard the whip drop to the floor. “You are most remarkable, Lila. I can see that I’ll have to try something a little more potent to hear what I want from you. But first, I think I’m ready for some of what practically every wealthy man in the city has been raving about. You’ll enjoy that, won’t you? ”

Lila weakly shook her head, gasping as the frame suddenly fell forward, jerking to a stop just when she thought her face was going to slam into the floor. The metal frame shook, and her legs dropped downward, and though she should have sagged, her body remained rigidly bent; Lila was sure she felt some kind of force holding her there, but she couldn’t tell what it was, only that it was magic. His hands touched her hips, making the lashes burn. She struggled with renewed vigor, grunting with the effort, feeling what could only have been her blood seeping out around her wrists and ankles. “That’s good, my pet, show me how anxious you are to have me inside you again. I wouldn’t call our little encounter in the dungeon a proper good time, would you?”

Oh, if only she could have hidden a knife on her! She could’ve used her tail to slit his throat with it! His grip on her thighs tightened, a moment later she felt him thrust himself into her pussy, going his full length on the first thrust. She cursed behind the bit, not just at him, but at her own body for getting aroused from the whipping. She had long since been pushing back the pleasure haze, but with his member inside, it flared up, threatening to overtake her. “See, this is what you don’t seem to understand, Lila. This is all you Kerryns are good for. If you weren’t born to be sluts, then you wouldn’t be dripping wet and moaning right now. Anything we do gets you ready for a good fuck; yeah, that’s right, even little miss high and mighty Lila herself.” Gods, could his logic be any more convoluted? Before that line of thought could go any further, his hands snatched her lash-covered breasts, squeezing and pulling them as he began thrusting himself within her. She hissed, biting the bit, briefly wondering if she would bite through it before the night was out, before she filled her mind with nothing but images of the son of a bitch’s body bleeding out from her blades.

“Come on, Lila, don’t be such a sour-puss,” he cackled, slamming into her harder and faster. “In fact…why don’t you enjoy yourself? Stop resisting and start pleasuring me this instant!” he commanded. Lila groaned, doing everything she could not to cry out as the collar’s will fought her own. A shock went through her, though if the bastard felt it he didn’t show it, and she suddenly found herself fighting two against one; both the collar and the cursed pleasure haze wanted to obey him. She felt herself slipping, her mind briefly flashed to a random image of herself in the throes of an orgy before she managed to reign in her wild desires. She had to keep resisting…she couldn’t give in!

His fingers latched onto her nipples, pinching them, pulling them as he rolled her breasts together, slowing into a harder, if slower, pounding rhythm into her pussy, his balls slapping against her. “You keep surprising me, Lila! So strong for a cat-slut! Don’t disobey me again, slave! Pleasure me! Work those hips, squeeze yourself around me you little bitch!”

Lila groaned, doing her best to snap the bit with her teeth. Her head was a mess of anger, rage, and overwhelming desire to obey. The collar had become more subtle; she could feel it watching, waiting, and something like a whisper inside her mind. She swore it was using her own voice, compelling her to obey the command. She willed herself not to listen, tried to think of anything else, especially slitting the bastard’s throat, but she couldn’t overcome it. She felt her body betraying her, and her mind was following, her mental defenses crumbling under a raging torrent. Not long…she couldn’t hold out much longer…no…Then it stopped in a sudden electrical burst, which blanked her mind and left her quivering while the asshole kept pounding away into her pussy.

“Bad girl, Lila,” he said, swatting her butt cheek with his hand, a loud slap sounding as her flesh stung. “You know better than to disobey my orders. I was considering being nice to you tonight, but you’ve forced my hand.” He ramped up the speed of his thrusts, slapping her ass several more times, making it throb in addition to the burning lashes that already covered her body. Somehow, Lila kept herself from screaming, though hot tears still streamed down her face.

Within a few moments she felt him come, from the sound he made and the fact that when he tightened his grip on her breasts, it felt as though he very nearly crushed them. He thrust into her a few more times, filling her with his seed, before he finally pulled out. He moved around in front of her, snatching her hair and lifting her head, then rubbed his manhood over her face and the bit, filling her nostrils with the mixture of their sex scents, and enough of the mess onto the bit that it was seeping into her mouth. Though she managed a week hiss, he only laughed, dropping her head without a care.

“Don’t you feel better now that you’ve had a man inside you, Lila? You’re a slut, you aren’t complete unless you’re getting fucked, after all. Now…” he started, adjusting the frame so that she was upright again, and putting his hands on her shoulders. His fingers slid across her sweaty skin to the collar, and he leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on her neck. “Since you’re still resisting me, Lila, I’m forbidding you to sleep tonight. Don’t worry, the collar will see to it that you don’t have a pleasant night’s rest; maybe that’ll make you a little more agreeable tomorrow. Oh, how I’m looking forward to getting all of your slut friends in check tomorrow! I’m sure they’ll enjoy themselves a lot more once they’re properly motivated.” He slapped her ass hard, rocking her in the frame, leaving her wincing. “Good night, my lovely pet!”

Lila heard his footsteps retreat across stone, then a heavy door close, followed by a lock clanging shut. Groaning, she sagged in the frame, barely registering the raw burning around her wrists and ankles. With him gone, she suddenly felt exhausted, mentally more than physically. The collar, whatever demonic magic had been used in its construction, had found a way into her mind and wasn’t letting go. She knew she couldn’t keep resisting it; that last assault, coupled with the haze, had very nearly broken her defenses. The bastard had prepared well for capturing her, and if the warlord was really passing out so many collars like the one she wore, none of her kind stood a chance. She had to get out now; she had to find a way out of the collar and get back to her family at the tavern.

Taking a long, slow breath to gain some kind of center to her focus, Lila wiggled her hands and feet, and thought of escape. She was an expert at slipping out of any kind of normal restraint, her father and the other guild members had made sure of that. This seemed to be a simple design, but from her earlier experiences, she was sure it was anything but. Probing the metal with her fingers, she felt smooth edges, and no obvious seams or any ridges that could indicate a locking device, and when she shook her arms, she heard nothing clinking like a dangling lock. That was some serious craftsmanship, even if magic weren’t involved; slave collars that had hidden locks could go for upwards of five-hundred gold coins, more if exotic metals were involved. With her feet touching nothing, all she could tell was that the shackles on her ankles were just as smooth. Damned blindfold…there had to be something that he didn’t want her seeing…

Lila continued trying to wiggle her way out for what felt like a long time, until what stamina she had finally failed her. She was still hot and sweaty, but now mostly exhausted. Her thoughts drifted, and she let herself hang limply, slipping toward sleep. Without warning the collar sent a painful, short jolt through her, making her yelp, and snap awake. That son of a bitch! He really wasn’t going to let her sleep! Lila chewed angrily at the bit, cursing. Things just got a lot harder; if she couldn’t rest, she’d be in on shape to resist him or the collar by the morning. She had to think of something, some way to keep her mind and her will as her own. It was going to be a long night…