darkness5

She didn't have to see him or hear him to know he had appeared behind
her. She smiled softly.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" she said, still watching the young
man and woman who laughed in the garden beneath her window.

Firm hands rested on her hips, drawing her back possessively and she
felt his hard body against the length of hers. Below, Constance
squealed as Peter gave her backside a friendly swat, and Jessica
smiled again. In her gown of royal blue, Constance was a vision, her
skin rosy and her golden hair shining in the moonlight, while Peter,
wearing white as always, for the master preferred this color for him,
was an angel with dark hair and eyes against alabaster flesh. Jessica
turned from the window and accepted a kiss. She stepped back and held
out her skirts, whirling around once.

"Do you like, Master?" she asked. "I dressed for the occasion."

He nodded at the red velvet that hugged her bosom and waist before
flaring over her hips.

"I like," he said.

She returned to his arms.

He said, "You are not afraid, are you, Jessica?"

"No, Master," she said, and she meant it.

How far she had come in just a few short weeks. She was a new
creature, forged in the fire of her master's love, ready to be
perfected with that final deadly vampire kiss.

She had a family again and she loved them all. Her Peter, whom she had
immediately forgiven for participating in her punishment. After all,
hadn't he been punished because of her? Even as her own bottom had
burned from the heavy-handed spanking, she had massaged oils into
Peter's welted flesh.

She could do nothing to help Constance, though, and her anger flared
at the memory. Brought from the convent, Constance had been covered
in bruises and scratches. Father Martino had beaten her until she
bled and her bottom, her legs, breasts, her whole body had all been
damaged by the priest's leather strap. Jessica had begged her master
to heal Constance, as he had once healed her, and she had held her
frightened friend while her master's tongue worked its magic. She had
felt no jealousy as that magical tongue had done more than heal
Constance, but had brought her immense pleasure, and Jessica had held
her friend while Constance had shivered in orgasm and had kissed her
and calmed her afterward.

And Jessica loved her master. His name was Colin and he had lived
four centuries now. He claimed to have met her before, twice, but she
had been someone different each time. She wasn't sure she believed
such a thing, but she did feel she had known him forever.

"When I am what you are," she had asked him. "Will you still be my
master? Will you still spank me?"

"Of course, my love," he'd said. "Have no doubts. I could not give
up spanking you now."

"But, I'll be stronger. Will I still feel the punishment?"

"Even more intensely, love."

"Ooh, I like the sound of that."

She looked up at him now, into his dark blue eyes. She was ready.
She loved him. She trusted him completely. Alone amidst the candlelit
lushness of their gold and scarlet bedchamber, she tilted her head as
he lifted her hair from her neck. A hand on her bottom and another at
the back of her head, he leaned in and drove his sharp teeth into her
vein, sucking, drawing the very essence of who she was from her
lifeblood.

She made little gasping sounds as she felt this kiss all through her
body. She began to swoon. It was at this point that he usually
stopped, but not tonight. Tonight he continued to feed and her mind
left her, she was with him, and she saw him, a young man, not a
vampire. She saw a crowd of men and women, in strange dress, like
actors in some ancient play, weeping, as a priest led them in prayer
over the body of a young woman. The priest finished; the crowd
dispersed. All except Colin, her master, who remained alone in the
graveyard and wept openly upon the newly carved stone as night fell
and a shadow rose behind him in the moonlight, creeping closer and
closer...

Honey-wine filled her mouth and she gasped loudly, the sudden thirst
burning her throat, she reached out to the source of the drink and
held it to her parched mouth. Her eyes flew open. She was in her
master's arms, her mouth clamped to his neck, and now it was she who
drew the life from him. He held her as he sat passively and allowed
her to take all that she needed from him, until she was sated and
strong and she kissed his lips and laughed for joy.

She pulled away from him and twirled, her skirts flying around her
legs as she did. She ran to the window, where the waxing moon smiled
down at her and her fair angels still laughed and played in the
sparkling garden below. As earlier, she felt her master's hands on
her hips and she grinned. Slowly, she bent forward, raising her
bottom in sumptuous invitation, resting her arms on the broad
windowsill. She heard him laugh slightly before he raised her skirt
over her hips to expose her bare bottom.

His hands urged her legs apart and without warning he plunged his cock
deep inside her. Sensation beyond any mortal feeling drove her and
she moaned as he fucked her hungrily. He slapped her rear, stinging
her, the pain, like everything this night intensified and she fought
from screaming. Below, Peter lowered Constance's gown over her
shoulders, tearing tiny buttons away, and over her ripe breasts.
Constance threw her head back and bit her lip as Peter's mouth closed
over one rosy nipple. Jessica watched them as her master plunged into
her again and again, and smacked her aching bottom till it burned.
Finally, she did scream. And scream. Constance raised her glazed
eyes to Jessica's window and smiled dreamily as she pulled Peter's
dark head to her breasts.

Jessica stood up straight and turned to caress her master's organ
before he hid it behind his trousers. He smiled at her.

"Well?" he asked. "Did you still feel it well enough, my little
connoisseur?"

She smiled back at him. Her bottom reverberated with the sting of the
spanking. She lifted his hand, as she always did after a spanking,
and kissed the palm with great tenderness and reverence. He caressed
her mouth and cheek.

She said, "Master, you and I have forever now...forever! But there is
one thing I must do before I can truly begin this new life with
you..."

"I know, Jessica," he said. "We'll go now."

He opened the window and took her in his arms. And then they moved
through the night and he showed her how to tread the breeze as they
glided through the woods, not stopping until they stood outside the
doors of the convent. He kissed her once and slipped inside, leaving
her to begin this as she chose. She made her way toward Sister
Angela's room and heard the nun moving around inside. Her anger
flared as she thought of this woman who had turned her and Constance
and so many other girls over to Father Martino. She reached for the
door, then stopped as the nun's thoughts became audible to her.

*When I was in charge, I was strict. I never hesitated to paddle a
naughty bottom if I saw fit. But I never inflicted such tortures on
my girls as that evil man does!*

Jessica was surprised to hear this from Sister Angela. She listened
further. The nun was afraid of Father Martino. And she despised him!
But she didn't dare defy him...she herself had been beaten by him!
In fact, the bastard had beaten all of the nuns, even the poor old
ones like Sister Rose! Sister Angela had tried to defy him in the
beginning but he had covered every inch of her hidden body with
bruises until she could barely even walk. Finally, desperately, she
had surrendered all of her power to the fiend.

Jessica shook her head slowly, then opened the door to Sister Angela's
room. The nun looked up and Jessica caught her thoughts again. She
was sorry to see Jessica, prayed she had escaped. Jessica smiled
kindly.

She said, "Sister, I've returned and I'm ready to face Father Martino
now. Will you please tell him that I'm waiting for him in the
chapel?"

She saw the shock on the nun's face before she turned away and went to
the chapel, where her master waited for her in the shadows behind the
altar. Suddenly the doors flew open and Father Martino barreled into
the room, his dark robe closed around him with that horrid leather
strap at his thick waist.

"So, harlot!" he boomed. "You have decided to return and seek
forgiveness, have you?"

"I have come to receive that which I deserve, sir," she said quietly.

"And so you shall have it!"

"Indeed I shall," she whispered.

He tore the strap from around his waist and said, "Strip, harlot! I
will whip the devil from your evil body!"

Jessica stepped back and opened her eyes wide in innocence.

"Evil? Do you think?"

She ran her hands over her breasts, lingering, and said, "I think it's
a rather nice body."

She almost laughed at the look on his dark face. For a moment, he
seemed unable to move, unable to speak, then he brought his black
brows together and advanced on her.

"Witch! Whore! You seek to tempt a man of God!"

Her fingertips slipped beneath her dress to caress her bare breasts as
she said, "Surely I present no temptation for a man whom God has
filled with holiness!"

Father Martino raised the leather strap above his head. Before he
could lower it on her, the master stepped from the shadows with the
speed of a shooting star, and grabbed his wrist. Twisting the wrist
painfully, he brought the priest to his knees with a *thud*. The
priest groaned, then looked up in terror at this man who held him,
knowing that this was not a mere man.

"You mean to harm what belongs to me?" her master asked, drawing out
each word with deliberate slowness. "How dare you!"

He squeezed the priest's hand tightly, crushingly, until Father
Martino yelped. But when her master reached for his throat, Jessica
stopped him.

"Wait, Master, please! I wouldn't have him die so easily. I would
have repentance from him. Please, allow me."

Her master nodded and let go of the priest, who tried to scuttle to
his feet again. Jessica approached him and grabbed him by his dark
hair. She yanked him to his feet and he gasped at the pain. He had
to be a whole foot taller than she and she laughed at the fear in his
eyes.

"Take off that robe," she ordered.

Regaining his composure, he said, "I will not bow down to you, witch!
You and your...demon...demon..."

"Lover. Demon lover. I believe that's the word you're looking for,
worm. And you will do what I tell you to do."

She grabbed his hair again and brought him to stoop before her, then
quickly, sank her teeth into his neck. When she let him go again, he
fell back to sit on the floor, but he eyed her hungrily. She smiled.

"Come here," she said.

He was intrigued by the bite. She saw that two parts of the man
fought over whether or not to obey her.

"Oh, you will obey me, worm, and be happy to do so."

He began to stand, but she said, "No, worm, come to me on your knees."

Again he hesitated. She reached out then and slapped his face so hard
that he fell to one side. When he recovered himself, she slapped him
again. She took hold of his hair and pulled him forward to crawl
across the floor, then pulled his head back and moved in close to him.

"Never, ever make me wait for you again!"

Still holding on to him, she bit into her finger, as she had seen her
master do, and pressed this to the priest's lips. He began to drink
and his eyes shut in a near swoon. She knew how addictive the vampire
blood was. She raised her other hand and slapped his face again, hard
enough to push him away from her. A bruise began to swell at his
cheekbone. He choked out her name and she raised a foot to kick him
in his broad chest, drawing a grunt from him.

"Never soil my name by bringing it from your worthless lips," she told
him. "You may call me Mistress."

All resistance left him now.

"Mistress, let me have another taste, please!"

She kicked him again and said, "And never speak to me unless I tell
you to!"

His look was desperate. She read his thoughts. Such confusion there.
He wanted to beg her for more blood. And yet he still had enough
self-possession to be deeply embarrassed by his weakness. She preyed
on this, ordering him to his feet again, and she could feel his
humiliation as he stood there, aware of his height and age and
masculine strength, and his powerlessness, his submission to this
small, pretty young female who now commanded him.

"Now, take off that robe," she said.

He obeyed and stood before her naked, his hands moving toward his
groin.

"Hands at your sides," she said.

Again, he obeyed. Jessica took the leather strap, remembering how
painfully it had marked her, and she let it caress the naked and
trembling man as she walked around him.

"Kneel," she said.

He knelt before the altar and she placed his hands atop his head.
Standing behind him, she raised the strap high and brought it down
with a resounding *crack* upon his broad rump. He gasped through his
teeth as a fine white line appeared on his flesh. She brought the
strap down a second time and a third, then beat him in earnest,
pausing occasionally to admire her work. He moaned and cried out in
pain as she beat his ass and legs and back with all of her immortal
strength. Tears rolled down his cheeks as a cut of the strap opened a
tear in his skin and blood began to trickle from his right bottom
cheek and down his leg.

"Mistress, no more, please!" he sobbed.

Jessica went round to face him. His face was red and streaked with
tears.

"I know I didn't just hear you speak to me without permission!" she
said. "I must be mistaken! I could not have heard such a thing!"

Father Martino lowered his head and wept bitterly. She ran her eyes
over him and felt no sympathy as she recalled her own pain and the
welts that had covered Constance's lovely body and the vision of him
beating sweet old Sister Rose that she had stolen from Sister Angela's
mind. She was stunned, suddenly, to see his cock had hardened like a
small tree trunk since she had commenced beating him.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you, worm?"

He looked fearfully at her, but said nothing.

She looked pointedly at his cock and said, "You put that filthy thing
down or I'll tear it out at the roots!"

Suddenly she swung the strap and caught him across the head of his
penis. He screamed. Instinctually, he turned away, but she grabbed
him by the hair on his chest and pulled him back around again.

"Turn away again and I..." She smiled suddenly. "I won't come back."

His eyes widened and his face reddened. She laughed, knowing she had
read him correctly. She doubled the strap then and slapped his cock
again, laughing as it began to wilt and retreat.

"That's a good, obedient boy," she crooned, even has she continued to
punish his shrinking organ. "Perhaps next time, we'll get you to
raise it as I slap it."

She stepped back and brought the strap down on his chest,
crisscrossing him, inflaming his nipples. She beat his chest and his
belly and the fronts of his thighs until he was a mass of welts and
bleeding bruises and choked sobs and tears. She dropped the strap
finally and took his chin in her hand, squeezing painfully.

She said, "You were entrusted with the welfare of orphaned girls and
you abused that trust. Your reign of terror has ended, pig."

Once more, she bit into her finger, then, forcing his mouth open, she
let two tiny drops spill onto this tongue. He moaned for more, but
she let go of him. She smiled as she held out her finger toward her
master, who had watched in silence, allowing her to take the vengeance
she needed. He came to her now and took her finger between his lips,
sucking gently, and she looked at the priest who watched in envy
despite the pain that wracked his entire body. She kissed her
master's lips as they held her finger, then she turned back to the
priest.

"Do you want to see me again?" she asked.

"Yes, Mistress."

"I will beat you again, if I do decide to come back."

"Yes, Mistress."

She said, "Here's what's going to happen. You will kneel right there
until you hear the morning bells chime. You will think about all I've
said to you and done to you and about how you can best keep me happy.

"When the bells chime, you will don your robe and you will go to
Sister Angela. You will kneel before her and apologize for all
offenses against her and the sisters. You will explain to her that
you are seeking penance. You will ask her to summon all of the
sisters and to meet you here in the chapel. Then, you will hand her
this leather strap and you will beg her to punish you as she sees
fit."

She paused, watching the emotions cross the priest's face.

"After she has beaten you, you will...you will drink from her fountain
of holiness! And then you will crawl on your knees...no, on your
belly. You will crawl on your belly to each of the sisters and you
will beg forgiveness for your sins against them and you will ask each
to punish you in whatever way she wishes."

She could see his mind working behind the horror on his face.

"You have something to say, worm?"

"No, Mistress...only...only, I don't know if I can bear it."

"Do you want me to come to you again?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Then, you will bear it. And you will give no longer need an office
or a bedroom. Your duties will change as of now. You no longer have
any control over the girls. That now reverts to Sister Angela. You
will take on whatever chores Sister decides to assign you. And do
tell her that you are interested in the most difficult. Part of your
penance, you know. Kitchen duties, scrubbing floors, laundry...we'll
let Sister decide. You can sleep where you work.

"And if I should ever arrive here and find you unmarked by punishment,
or not marked well enough, I shall leave immediately and never return.
Do you understand all that I have said?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"Good." Jessica turned to her master and asked, "Have you anything
further for our friend here?"

Her master approached the kneeling Father Martino, looming above him,
making him cringe in his fear. He grabbed the priest by the penis and
dragged him to his feet, making him scream once again.

"My love has a heart of gold," he said. "You are fortunate she has
agreed to punish you for your crimes. Let her tire of you and you
will become mine to deal with and, I assure you, you will feel much
more than the gentle strokes you felt today."

With a final cruel squeeze, he dropped Father Martino back onto his
knees. He turned then and held out his arm to Jessica. With a smile,
she took it, and they left the chapel, never looking back.

Back in the white garden, in a blaze of red velvet, Jessica danced by
the fountain and laughed.

"I feel so free! And happy!"

"You are not free of me, Jessica," said the dark man who wrapped his
arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Free of you? I'm free with you, Master!"

She kissed his mouth, tasting him, lingering at his lips until she
heard soft footsteps behind her. She turned and smiled at Constance,
then went to embrace her.

"You never have to worry about that ogre priest again, love," she told
her friend.

"And you won't ever leave me again, Jessica?"

"Never."

Jessica lifted a soft golden curl from Constance's neck and wrapped it
around her finger. She leaned forward and ran her tongue along the
warm skin until she found the pulsing vein. She closed her mouth over
this sensitive place. Just a tiny bite. Just a tease. Just
something for Constance to think about during the long day.

She lifted her mouth and kissed her friend's soft lips.

"Don't stop so soon, Jessica," Constance murmured.

Jessica grinned and slapped Constance's bottom hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Only because I love you."

Constance rubbed her smarting bottom but her pout turned to a smile
that she couldn't hide.

"No need to hide the smile, love," said Jessica. "Though, I must
admit, I do love the pout. Perhaps tomorrow night I shall have Peter
spank you thoroughly so that I can watch your lovely face the whole
time."

"Jessica!"

Jessica laughed and turned back to her master, stepping into his all
encompassing embrace.

"We should sleep now, Jessica," he said.

"So soon?" she said, echoing Constance.

He gave her bottom a hard squeeze and said, "We have tomorrow night,
my love. And the night after that. And the night after that..."

He pinched harder and she shivered. Pain filled with pleasure;
pleasure filled with pain. Forever. This was her world now. And
love. Mustn't forget love.

"I love you, Master."

He kissed her again, and smacked her, and it was everything. She
needed nothing else.

The End