Captivated

by ariel emms

Her still bright eyes looked around the room, meeting the vacant stares of the others.  How long, she thought, till that is me.

...........

Ariel had been captivated by Callista from the very start.  Tall, blonde, striking, Callista carried herself with a confidence and vivaciousness it would have been hard for anyone not to find engaging.  Certainly Ariel saw in her the kind of person who just swept up other people and carried them away in her wake.  Being more naturally timid, it was easy to see why Ariel gravitated toward Callista: why Callista was so seemingly keen on Ariel’s company was, to Ariel, less obvious.  Still, they had had a wonderful time together the first few times they had met, and had agreed to meet again.  “You choose”, Callista had said “surprise me, indulge your wild side, i know you have one!”

And so here they were, wandering, pointing to and laughing at the various pieces of bondage equipment arranged around the large room, as though an exhibition or some other event might be taking place.  Callista had raised an eyebrow at Ariel when they had arrived, teasing her “I had no idea your wild side would be THIS wild!”  Ariel blushed, but brushed aside all Callista’s efforts - and there were many - to make her admit how she knew of the location. 

“This one, then”, Callista said once again as they wandered, “go on, sit in this one - or, not sit exactly, I suppose”.  Callista leaned over, her head bent, trying to get a clear sense of exactly how the apparatus was meant to work.  Ariel just laughed and shook her head.

Callista leaped a few steps ahead of Ariel, bounding into a chair that lay ahead of them in the row.  “Hmm, what’s this one”, she said, looking around “It doesn’t seem particularly unusual - except i don’t know what this handle does”, she said, looking curiously behind her shoulder.

“Oh, I know what that does” replied Ariel, catching up and quickly reaching to pull the handle backwards.  Callista’s eyes shot open in surprise and she leaped up, staring down at the dildo now poking upward through a hole in the seat.

“Oh you little imp!” Callista cried out laughingly “You are SO going to get it!”  She grabbed in Ariel’s direction, who squealed and ran off between bits of machinery, dodging to avoid Callista’s clutching hands.  A few moments later she had placed herself on one side of a large standing rack, a huge smile on her face, bobbing and bouncing to keep the security of the frame between herself and Callista.

Callista grinned back at her, dodging first left, then right, trying to grab Ariel.  After a moment, she paused and looked up, inspecting the rack more closely. 

“This one looks fun, Ariel, hang on a moment”, she said, reaching up to place her hands through the silk loops above her.  “OHH!...oh my!  oh yes, this is quite - interesting!” Callista said, arching her back as she stretched her arms high overhead, her breasts thrust upward. 

Ariel looked back at her skeptically. “Oh c’mon, Cally, I’m not falling for that!” she said “If you want to catch me you have to chase me, you won’t trick me that easily!”

“Suit yourself” said Callista, her eyes shut as she smiled blissfully “more for me, then.”  She sagged forward, letting the weight of her body put strain on her arms, pulling them tauter, moaning softly as she did so.

Ariel looked on, a faint look of uncertainty creeping faintly into her face.  “Well, but..even if - even if I did - it..it’s too tall for me, Cally”.

“Mmmhmm?” replied Callista, her eyes still shut. “Yes, I can quite see you wouldn’t want to get on if you might feel at all - restrained”.  Callista opened her eyes, smiling mockingly at Ariel.

Ariel licked her lips doubtfully.  “Um - may...maybe just...maybe just for, for a moment, then - but you have to promise to let me off!”

Callista laughed teasingly, sticking her tongue out for a moment as she straightened, her arms no longer held taut.  “I’ll do what I like!” she said jokingly, freeing her own wrists from the straps and stepping off to one side.  Ariel blushed, giggling, and stepped with only a momentary hesitation onto the base of the rack.

“Hey look” Callista said “there’s a lever here to lower the straps”.  She pushed the lever upwards, the straps dropping down several inches, enough that Ariel could easily slip her own hands through them, feeling the shivery embrace of the silk around her wrists.  Ariel shut her eyes, surrendering momentarily to the delicious vulnerability, the helpless feeling of her arms immobilized overhead.  She tossed her head back, eyes shut, as she shuddered with those familiar  goosebumps rolling over her.  She breathed in deeply, her legs feeling that tiny twitchiness.

Ariel was exulting in the feeling, when she suddenly gasped as she felt the straps tighten and lift an inch or two, pulling just tightly enough that she could no longer slide her wrists free.  “Oh!!”, she cried out, her eyes shooting open to see Callista standing beside her, grinning merrily. 

“Isn’t that even better, Ariel”, she said “Isn’t it luscious, that certain knowledge that now it isn’t just pretence, it’s not just feigned helplessness, you really cannot get down till I let you?”.  Callista tugged just a little more on the lever, pulling Ariel’s arms higher, lifting her heels just off the ground. Callista lifted her eyebrows mockingly, her eyes twinkling.

Ariel’s mind roiled. “Oh god”, she thought to herself “I’m so - so - oh god, but, really she will - she’s not  - it’s just a joke, i think it’s just a joke, it is, i’m sure”.  But despite herself, Ariel felt that doubt grow in the back of her mind.  And even more despite herself, Ariel felt her excitement grow along with the doubt.

Callista stepped in closer to Ariel, her hand still on the lever.  She leaned in to Ariel’s cheek, her warm breath forthcoming with her words “Exciting, isn’t it” she said “knowing you are here as long as I want you, knowing you can’t leave, knowing...” she leaned in closer to Ariel’s ear, her voice dropping to a whisper “...that I could do whatever I want to you”.  Ariel felt a shudder run the length of her body.

“Now then”, Callista said, smiling ambiguously and stepping back slightly, “let’s see what fun we can have, shall we?”  Kneeling for a moment, Callista slipped two straps around Ariel’s ankles, snapping them into place.  She stood again, leaning to kiss Ariel gently on the cheek, and saying with a smile “We don’t want you swaying, now do we?”

Ariel looked doubtfully at Callista, swallowing nervously before saying “I’m..I’m already on - well, not, not on tip-toe, exactly, but, but this is pulling hard already, Cally!”

Callista’s smile deepened.  “It is, isn’t it?  But you look lovely, Ariel, you really do - helplessness brings out that haunted look in your eyes”.  Suddenly, in a brisk motion, Callista jerked the lever, tugging Ariel’s arms quickly upward.  “Oh, and look, it brought more out in you, too”.  Ariel looked down and blushed to see that her small breasts had been pulled upward with her arms, her firm nipples just barely poking out of her dress. 

“Cally, someone will see!  Fix it, please fix it!!”.  Callista smiled indulgently, and theatrically looked around in every direction. 

“Who will see, Ariel?  There’s no-one else here, no-one in sight, no-one in earshot - scream if you like, there’s no-one here you need worry about.”  She placed a finger on Ariel’s lips.  “Well, almost no-one” she said, the corner of her mouth crinkling upward, as her fingernail began to slide down Ariel’s chin, in a delicate line straight down her throat.  “Besides” she said, the line of goosebumps trailing in the wake of her fingernail reaching the space between Ariel’s breasts “you’re very cute, you have nice breasts, you shouldn’t be embarrassed to show them”.

Ariel swallowed nervously, frozen in place as she felt Callista’s finger drag down further, tugging at her top, slipping it lower till her breasts were completely exposed.  “P-please...please don’t Cally - seriously, please?” she said, as her hips wriggled involuntarily.  Callista smiled mysteriously as she leaned in closer, replying in a breathy voice “why not, Ariel?  You look lovely like this.  And there’s no one around to see - no one to notice...or to help”.  Ariel shuddered.

Please let it be a joke, Ariel thought to herself, a joke, please, let it be that.  She swallowed and said “You’re just - just teasing me, right, Cally?  Just - scaring me?”

Callista stepped back, her face suddenly breaking into a smile.  “Of course I must just be teasing you, muffin!”  She reached up, placing her hand on the lever.  “Anything else would be unthinkable!  If I wasn’t just teasing, you would be in serious trouble, wouldn’t you?  Think of what might happen.”  Ariel felt a slight tugging on her wrists.  “I could do anything, absolutely ANYthing to you”.  Ariel felt the tugging grow stronger, felt her arms stretch in their sockets.  “Or I could call others here, bring men to see you, show you to them...” Ariel’s heels were pulled higher as she swallowed in apprehension “...let them touch you....” heels higher still, chills down the spine, voice lower “...use you however they want....” tiptoes now, straining, struggling to stay balanced “....your body open to them for sex....”  dangling now, toes barely in contact with the floor, struggling to hear “...or worse”. 

Ariel stared wide-eyed at Callista, unable to bring herself to speak, hoping, still hoping against all the evidence that she was wrong.  “But I won’t do that” Callista said in even tones, walking slowly behind Ariel.  “Don’t worry, little cupcake, I’m not going to bring any men here to you.”  Ariel felt a hand grasp her dress as Callista leaned in close, felt Callista’s warm breath right in her ear as, almost inaudibly, she whispered “I’m... going to... take... you... to them”.  Ariel gasped in shock as she moments later heard a tearing sound, felt her dress tug against her body, felt it rip asunder as Callista tore it from her, leaving her naked but for her panties.

Ariel thrashed against her bonds, her body shaking as much as she could make it, futilely struggling to free herself.  “NO!” she cried out, flailing about, “NO!!  It’s not true!!!”.

“Tsk tsk!” Callista replied, her voice suddenly cold.  “Not a good attitude for a soon-to-be slave.”  She reached around to grab Ariel’s chin firmly in her hand, turning her face sharply to the left.  “I think you will find it is true, minnow, it is if I want it to be.  And I do want, minnow, I do.”  Letting go of Ariel’s face, Callista lifted a cell phone to her ear, pressing numbers as she did so.  “I have her” she said “Yes, from the same place as last time, the little one.  Say hello, minnow.” Callista mockingly held the phone closer to Ariel, who simply stared wide-eyed at her, voice frozen.  Callista spoke again, asking “Shall I bring her now?” and Ariel heard a deep voice on the other end reply “I’ll need a half hour to get the buyer here”.  In hopeful doubt no longer, Ariel dropped her head to her chest.  Callista looked dispassionately at her as she flipped the phone closed.

“So” said Callista with chilling nonchalance “thirty minutes.  How ever shall we entertain ourselves?”  Callista tapped her fingers rhythmically against one another, as she looked around the room.  She pronounced after a moment “Oh, what luck - I have an idea.  Do you like art, chicklet?  There’s so much we didn’t get the chance to find out about each other, so much we never will now - but I like art, I’m something of an artist.”  Callista took a few steps to the wall beside the rack, looking casually at the set of whips hanging from it.  “You can be my canvas, won’t that be nice, duckling, your lovely white back striped with red.”  Callista selected a bullwhip from the wall, hefting it in her hand like a connoisseur.  “Well made, this one, flexible but real weight behind it.”  Callista uncoiled the whip in measured movements as Ariel, transfixed, was unable to take her eyes away.  “In the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, pumpkin, this whip can cut through flesh to the bone.”  Callista paused, looking up at Ariel.  She smiled like ice.  “Do you think I know what I am doing, pumpkin?”  Ariel swallowed hard, trying to speak, managing only the smallest of nods instead.  Callista nodded encouragingly in return.  “Quite right, cupcake, I’m something of an expert, I have had practise - lots of practise.  See that chair?”  Ariel forced her eyes across the aisle to a leather chair, then jumped in surprise as the leather strip flashed past her, the crack of the whip screaming in her ears.  She was surprised to find her eyes shut - and when she opened them, to see the six inch long slice in the leather seat across from her.  She swallowed in dismay.

Ariel jerked in her bonds as she was surprised by a sudden pressure on her back, feeling the faintest relief as she realised it was only Callista’s fingernail.  She felt it trace a six inch line across one shoulder blade.  “Here, I think...” Callista’s voice said, as Ariel’s heart dropped and her skin grew chilled.   “...And here...” Callista dragged her nail in a line just above Ariel’s hip. “...And here.  That will do to start” she said, her nail shivering along Ariel’s upper leg.

“Now then”, Callista said “Nothing too debilitating or disfiguring, I think, don’t want to reduce your price.”  Callista’s voice grew faintly dimmer as she took several steps back, gauging the distance.  “But still, something to remember me by, don’t you think, min...............”  Callisto’s voice suddenly vanished, cut short mid-sentence. 

“Well done, Little One, one more captured and locked away where she won’t present any danger in future” a serene voice said.  A majestic figure walked calmly from the shadows, pausing for a moment to stare down into the pit where Callista now lay. 

Ariel smiled shyly, looking round.  “Thank you, Mistress.  I am sorry, though, Mistress, I really really had hoped you were wrong this time, I mean, you never are, Mistress, but still, she seemed so nice at first, I really wished there was some mistake.”

Lady Alt smiled understandingly.  “I know, Little One, you always like to see the best in people. You left it an awfully long time before signalling, I was beginning to think you might never drop your head.”  She reached up to Ariel’s cheek, smiling at her.

“How did you know where to position the rack, Mistress?  She might have taken the cat-o- ninetails, then she wouldn’t have stepped so far back, Mistress, she would actually have struck me.”

Lady Alt smiled reassuringly.  “I would never have let that happen, Darling, you know that.” She stroked Ariel’s cheek gently with the backs of her fingers.  “But it was her eyes, if you must know, Little One, the cruelty in them.  The cat is best if one wants to cause real pain, cause it quickly, really hurt the subject - people have died from the cat, you know.  But that was not her style.  She was the type who wants to measure the pain out slowly and watch it.  I knew she would take the bullwhip.”

“Mistress, someday we have to try to find the people further up the chain, don’t we, the ones who Callista and the others like her take their victims to?”

“Perhaps, Darling, yes.  But we’re doing a service now, and I’m not willing to risk my property too much”.  Lady Alt looked fondly at Ariel.

“Oh, and Mistress?”

Lady Alt raised an eyebrow, her lips barely managing to contain the teasing smile trying to escape.  “We are full of questions today, aren’t we, Little One?  Very well, you have done a good job, one more question, as a reward.”  Her hand brushed softly along Ariel’s jaw.

Ariel blushed, biting back her own smile.  “Well, Mistress, I, I..I only wondered, um - were...were you planning to let me down soon, Mistress?”

Lady Alt laughed merrily.  “Soon enough, Darling, soon enough.  She was right about one thing, after all - you ARE quite lovely like this.”  Ariel looked with fond devotion at her Mistress, giggling along with her.

........

In the pit, Callista regained consciousness.  Her still bright eyes looked around the room, meeting the vacant stares of the others.  How long, she thought, till that is me.