This story is a follow-up to The Demonstration and Pride and Punishment.

Vae Victis

The maid opened the gate for Vanessa and Lucilla. Dressed in elaborate gowns, the two aristocrats were led through the torch-lit corridors towards the music.

Vanessa, with a touch of jealousy in her eyes, gazed at the magnificent estate. But for all her resentment, she could not deny that Tiziana's return after her victory over the rebellious slaves was nothing short of triumphant. Lucilla walked beside her with a mixture of fascination and insecurity.

The two young women entered the opulent banquet hall. Vanessa let her gaze wander around the room. Hundreds of aristocrats, patricians, citizens, politicians, military officers, artists and whoever else was of rank and name were enjoying themselves in colorful garments in the huge hall. Scantily clad slave girls wafted among them, bringing the illustrious guests whatever they wished.

In the middle of the hall was a pool of water set into the floor, in which a fountain stood. The light of the torches shone on the lovely drops it poured out. Among the sea of people masterful statues towered majestically above the crowd. But the most peculiar attraction was to be seen at the end of the hall. There, a dozen girls knelt with their necks and hands bound in pillories, silently watching the sumptuous feast dedicated to their downfall.

And there she was. Tiziana, resplendent in a magnificent red gown, stepped towards the pair of new arrivals.

"Tiziana! By the gods, I'm so glad to see you back unharmed. I was so worried about you! Let me congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. All of the Republic is eternally grateful to you and your merits on the battlefield."

They embraced warmly.

"Hahaha, you needn't have worried. As you know, a bad denarius always turns up again. Thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to me. Where did you leave your husband, good Tertius?"

"He feels unwell and won’t attend the celebration. He asks your apologies..."

'Strange, he made a pretty healthy impression when we fucked yesterday...'

A grin flitted across Tiziana's face at the thought of the little adulterous pleasure that could cost the two of them their heads if Vanessa got wind of it.

"What a shame... Please send him my best wishes. And whom do we have here?" said Tiziana, smiling at the girl next to Vanessa.

"Allow me to introduce you to my cousin Lucilla. She turned eighteen just yesterday."

"Oh, happy birthday, Lucilla. If only I had known, I would have gotten you a present."

She bowed slightly. "Thank you. But please rest assured, being allowed to take part in this magnificent celebration is gift enough..."

"Hahaha. Flattering. But that's not good enough for me. Just wait and see. We'll get you something nice."

A slave girl stepped up next to Tiziana, bowed down low and said something to her quietly. Lucilla saw how frightened she was. She liked it. Tiziana listened, rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Please excuse me. I have to take care of something for a moment. Enjoy yourselves. And if you need anything, have a slave girl bring it to you."

With that, she left them alone in the sea of guests.

The patricians helped themselves to wine and walked down the row of the girls in the pillories. They were naked except for a short loincloth around their hips and sandals on their feet. Most of them stared forlornly at the marble floor in front of them.

"Who are these girls?" asked Lucilla.

"Prisoners from the campaign against the slave army, I presume. But I suppose the few here are merely the prettiest. Tiziana's dungeons must be overflowing with captured slaves."

Lucilla stopped in front of a slave in the middle, took her chin in her hand and raised her head. Her pupils dilated. She looked into a beautiful face with one blue and one green eye. The frightened slave was barely older than she was. Still holding her chin, she let her index finger gently stroke her Adam's apple. An itchy tickle went down Alissa's throat.

Vanessa saw that her cousin liked her. She leaned over and whispered in her ear.

Lucilla blushed and turned to her, startled.

"You can't be serious..."

"Haha, but of course I am. Why do you think Tiziana had every tooth pulled out from the girl at the end of the row? So that cowards like Cassius over there wouldn't have to fear for their most sacred parts... don't worry. Trust me."

Lucilla looked around. None of the guests seemed to be paying them any particular attention. Then she turned back to the heterochrome beauty, stepped close to her, lifted her skimpy tunic and bared her sex. Alissa stared at the clean-shaven labia.

"Lick!"

The slave obeyed. A glistening tear trickled down her cheek as the young girl, who had just become accustomed to the sweet taste of freedom, ran her tongue deep between the Roman’s salty labia. She could not understand why this was done to her. The slaves to Alissa's left and right tried not to watch.

Lucilla closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She moaned slightly. It was like heaven. Vanessa watched with satisfaction.

"... yes... yes..."

A surge of pleasure washed up the patrician from her sex, up her spine to the base of her skull. Slowly she stepped back as translucent threads trailed from her vagina to Alissa's lips.

Lucilla got down on her knees and looked the terrified girl in the eye once more. Then she grabbed the slave by her tear-stained cheeks and gave her a long kiss.

"I see you're having a good time with my spoils of war."

A grinning Tiziana stood behind them.

"I... I've never seen anything like this..." said Lucilla, turning to her hostess.

“Hahaha, believe me when I tell you that war, truly the game of highest stakes, has so much more to offer. This is nothing but a mere foretaste…”

"Oh please, Tiziana, please tell us about the campaign.”

She looked into the girl's piercing blue eyes. They burned with curiosity. Tiziana smiled. She knew exactly how she felt. Some of the guests had joined them and listened intently to Tiziana's accounts.

"Well, as you know, my legion was under the supreme command of Crassus. For many weeks, we fought small skirmishes with the slaves, but time and again they evaded us. On their march south, they left a terrible trail of devastation behind them. They burned down every estate and murdered every citizen they could get hold of. I saw them. With their ears and tongues cut off, their eyes gouged out, they lay dead in front of their villas.

Finally, at the river Silarus, we caught up with them and the slaves lined up for battle.

My legion, together with the Secunda and Tertia, had the task of tying up the bulk of the slave army, while the cavalry was to strike the enemy's flank and rear. Though I prefer being hammer to being anvil, but in war you don't always have a choice.

The slaves charged at our lines like wild beasts. They knew that everything was at stake. But they didn't break through. Our line held firm and we gutted them one by one with the gladius.

I remember one girl in particular. She was a blonde Celt who wore nothing but her checked cloth pants. She struck at my shield like a madwoman. If I had given her the slightest chance, she would have sliced my head off immediately.

"Wait... you... you were in the front line?"

Tiziana nodded.

"Suddenly our horns sounded to the right. The cavalry had flanked the enemy and rolled up the field. They drove their horses through the enemy lines like mad beasts, hacking down anyone in their path. The white froth ran from the mouths of the frenzied animals as they skittered their hooves across the blood-stained grass.

I was still fixated on the wild Celt when suddenly a white horse sped past behind her. A spatha flashed and all at once the girl dropped her sword and shield as her head left her neck and landed at my feet. I stared at her naked body falling to its knees in front of me, blood spurting in a fountain from her severed neck. Then the headless corpse collapsed."

Lucilla's eyes lit up.

"The cavalry attack had achieved its desired effect. The enemy formations were on the verge of collapse. The last straw was their leader’s death. I saw him die. And I will never forget the sight. Surrounded by our dead, with burning breath, he fought like Mars himself. Not for a moment did he think of giving up - of delaying the inevitable at the cost of his honor. Finally, our legionaries surrounded him and stabbed him to death. Impaled, kneeling on the blood-stained field of glory, his sword still in his fist, he raised a last war cry, until he finally had a blade thrust through his heart.

I wept when I saw him perish. For believe me when I tell you: He was no slave. He was a king whom fate had thrown into chains. And naturally, his pure will to power shattered them. By the gods, I wish I could have gotten to know this man. And I wish just as much that I myself will be granted a death as noble as his..."

She sighed and briefly looked thoughtfully at the floor.

"With his death, the rebel army collapsed entirely. They broke formation and the butchery began. We slaughtered the fugitives by the thousands. The slaves poured into their camp, where the old, the weak and all the others had waited for the outcome of the battle. Our auxiliaries cut off their escape route. Never in my life have I seen so much blood. The gods alone know how many we slew. Thousands. Thousands and thousands. They raised their hands as our steel cut them down mercilessly. We hacked our way through flesh, muscle, sinew and bone. I... I can barely remember what happened. It is as if my memory has been erased.

I only remember finding myself in a wide field at sunset, my arm aching, bathed in blood from head to toe. Dead and dying as far as the eye could see. I couldn't turn in any direction without seeing mutilated corpses. The dead lay so close together that one could no longer see the ground.

My mouth tasted of iron. My fingers were numb. My ears were ringing. I almost collapsed from exhaustion. A legionnaire handed me his water flask and I rinsed my mouth out.

And yet I had never felt so alive. I felt life like never before, surrounded by so many who had lost theirs. And then it dawned on me. Like a flash of lightning, the realization went through my skull: the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is... to live dangerously!”

One of the guests raised his cup and exclaimed:

"To our noble hostess, to the brave legions, to victory!"

They all raised their glasses, cheered and drank while the music kicked in all the louder. Tiziana enjoyed every moment of reaping the sweet fruits of her deeds.

Hours passed while the cheerful patricians continued to carouse, drink, eat and have their way with the captured slaves. Tiziana was pouring herself some more wine when a handsome man in a blue toga caught her eye. She had never seen him before. Someone had probably brought him along. There was something peculiar about him. He stood a few tables away. Their eyes met. She smiled.

Suddenly, Tiziana heard someone clearing her throat to her right and turned away from the man. Lucilla stood next to her and timidly looked at her, a grinning Vanessa behind her.

"Don't worry, she won't bite. Go ahead and ask her..." she urged her cousin on.

"What can I do for you, my dear?"

Lucilla swallowed and alternated between looking at Tiziana’s face and the floor.

" I... I was really impressed by what you were telling us before. About the battle... and... I told Vanessa that… I've never seen a... a beheading... and Vanessa said I could ask you if... if you could... show me one..."

Tiziana looked at Vanessa and saw her winking at her, as she put a piece of pineapple in her mouth. The patrician turned back to the girl.

"Hahaha. My dear, nothing easier than that. Give me a moment..."

Lucilla's eyes sparkled with joy.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I'll never forget this!"

"You are welcome! After all, I still ow you a present."

Then Tiziana beckoned her body slave Mara over and whispered in her ear. The slave listened attentively, bowed and walked out of the room. A few minutes later, Mara and three other slaves returned. In their midst, they pushed a three-meter-high construction on golden rollers covered with a red cloth.

Both the guests and the prisoners looked at them in amazement. A murmur went through the room. The slaves pushed the ominous surprise into the middle of the hall next to the water basin and flipped up the golden rollers with a small mechanism. The heavy device now rested firmly on the marble floor. The servants bowed and stepped back. Tiziana took advantage of the general attention, moved to the center and clinked her glass with a small fork. The musicians stopped playing. The room fell silent.

"Honored guests, on this illustrious evening we celebrate not only the victory over the rebel army, but also yesterday's birthday of young Lucilla here."

Lucilla stepped up beside her as the guests raised their glasses and offered their congratulations. The girl bowed slightly and thanked them. Even though the attention made her nervous, she excitedly awaited what lay under the cover.

"However, the age of eighteen comes not only with privileges, but also duties. This includes judgment with a firm hand. And, if necessary, with the sword of Iustitia!"

With these words, she pulled away the red cloth and uncovered the guillotine.

"Uuuuuhhh"

Applause rang through the hall.

Lucilla's jaw dropped. The cold blade shimmered in the light of the torches. Everyone stared at the exotic machine. Even the captive slave girls in their pillories could not avert their gaze. They were spellbound. Tiziana turned to Lucilla and pointed to the prisoners.

"My dear, you may decide which of the captives shall pay with her head..."

It took Alissa, still fixed in the pillory, a moment to realize what Tiziana had just announced. Panicked, she tore her gaze from the cold blade to Lucilla. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked directly into her piercing blue eyes. The girl grinned mischievously. Alissa immediately cast her gaze down. But Lucilla had made her decision.

"She!"

With a slight hand gesture, Tiziana gave the order. Elena and Mara stepped towards the helpless prisoner in the pillory. Her heart grew heavy.

"No... no... wait!"

Fascinated, the guests and slaves watched as Alissa was freed from her wooden shackles and dragged towards the guillotine. She tried to stand on her feet, but her legs could no longer support her. She almost fainted.

Helplessly, the slave looked around at her companions. But they just stared back, equally distraught. Then she scanned the rows of patricians. Someone had to help her. they would not do that... they could not let this happen. But the faces of the aristocrats revealed nothing but mockery, curiosity and lust. Open-mouthed, Alissa turned to the triangular blade. She swallowed hard.

Lucilla enjoyed every moment of the spectacle, which was happening solely upon her will. The slave flinched as her naked breasts were pressed against the cold bench. The servants closed the shackles around her wrists and ankles. A moment later, they tilted the bascule horizontally, the trembling girl on top. Only when her feet left the ground did the girl awaken from her stupor.

"No! Wait! Please don't do this!"

But it was already too late. They pushed her towards the lunette. Wordlessly, Mara stepped to the other end of the machine, took Alissa's head by the cheeks and placed her throat on the lower half of the wooden circle. A shiver ran through the slave as her neck was placed under the steel blade. With a quick move, Mara let the lunette snap shut. It was done. Now all that kept Alissa's head on her shoulders was Lucilla's whim.

Enraptured, the guests continued to stare at the girl. They talked in whispers. Some stepped to the foot of the machine and, with dripping vaginas and taut cocks, tried to catch a glimpse under Alissa's skimpy dress. The quivering girl watched as Mara put a pillow in front of her and placed her hand on the leaver.

Fearing that she would lose her head at any moment, Alissa screamed at the top of her lungs:

"Mistress, I beg you! Don't do this! I didn't kill anyone! I cared for the wounded. I never touched a weapon! Please! Please let me live!"

Lucilla listened and turned to Tiziana.

"Your decision, Lucilla. Give the sign or let her go. Her neck is yours."

The young patrician turned back to her birthday present. The sight was intoxicating. As if in trance, she stared at the beautiful heterochrome girl beneath the blade. Alissa, meanwhile, was almost losing her mind in fear.

"Mistress, if I have done anything to displease you, I beg you to forgive me! Forgive me! I will do anything you wish! Anything! But spare my life!"

The slave began to tear at the shackles. She tried to lift the lunette with her neck and pull her head out from under the blade. But it didn't move a bit.

Vanessa giggled as she watched her futile attempts to free herself.

" That won't help, my dear..." she murmured silently.

Lucilla continued to stare at her with a crazed look. She enjoyed playing fate. To hold a life in her hands. For a moment, she felt like a goddess judging a mortal. One last time, she looked the exotic beauty in the eye.

"Off with her head..."

"No! No...!" Alissa sobbed as the mechanism clicked above her. A final scream echoed through the hall, only to be cut off a moment later. The blade descended onto the girl, slicing mercilessly through her bare nape. Her head fell abruptly from her neck, spinning and rolling across the floor towards Lucilla. As if struck by a blow, the decapitated body tensed convulsively as it sprayed a long red jet from its arteries.

The slave watched open-mouthed as the world turned over. Finally, she found herself lying on the floor, her right cheek pressed against the cold marble. Motionless, she stared at the blood-stained ground in front of her as she tried to understand what had just happened. Suddenly, she felt herself leaving the ground.

Lucilla had approached her, picked up her head and looked into the slave's dying eyes. The aristocrat enjoyed the girl's helpless, gentle face for another moment before giving her a long, warm tongue kiss. With Lucilla’s tender lips on hers, Alissa left this world.

The guests were amazed. Thunderous applause went through the hall as Alissa's blood flowed across the floor seeping into the pool. The fountain shot the red water beautifully into the air.

A slave girl approached Lucilla and held out a silver tray to her. She carefully placed Alissa's head on it.

Tiziana enjoyed every moment. The applause was for her. Her hospitality, her celebration, her glory. She savored every moment as she glanced through the rows of guests. There he was again. That handsome lad. But he wasn't applauding. He didn't look happy either. He stared silently at the slave's head as it was held up on the tray.

The music started again. The beat of the drums and the intoxicating melody of the flutes echoed through the hall. The air grew ever thicker as the wine flowed abundantly. An intoxicating sea of power, decadence and sadistic pleasure. Several aristocrats started dancing in pairs.

Tiziana gave the order to take the dead girl away and dismantle the guillotine. Lucilla was to be given the slvae’s loincloth and sandals, her only possessions, as a small souvenir. Then, grinning, she searched the crowd for the strapping stallion she had seen earlier. He watched as they dragged the headless girl away. Without hesitation, she strode towards him like a predator and took him by the hand.

"May I have the pleasure of this dance?”

Surprised, he looked at her, but before he could say anything, she pulled him forcefully towards her and danced with him among the other couples. Graceful as swans, they turned and twisted to the pleasant melody while Alissa's young blood was mopped up next to them.

With sparkling eyes, she looked at the prominent jaw of her captive partner.

 "Tell me, stranger, are you enjoying my celebration? You look a little pale."

"The wine is good. So is the music..."

"I like your accent. You're not from around here, am I right?"

"No, where I come from, girls don't get their heads chopped off for amusement..."

 "Hahaha, sounds like a boring place. And yet you've come all this way to my humble domus..."

"I'm accompanying Senator Cassius. He invited me. However, he hadn't told me about this place's idea of... entertainment."

"When I saw you before, I didn't think you were so tender-hearted..."

She came closer. The scent of her perfume caught his nose. Almost whispering, she spoke into his ear.

"Let me take your mind off things. Come with me. Let's go far away, through sun-drunken delight, away into distant lands where no dream had yet seen, into hotter souths than artists ever dreamed of, where gods in their dances are ashamed of all clothes. Where we no longer feel our heavy shoulders. Where you can forget the girl and I can forget the war.

You feel it, can’t you? Lust. The sweetest nectar granted us mortals. So wonderful even pain heightens it. Come. Let's drink our fill of the greatest pleasures that life offers us while we still can..."

As if hypnotized, he stared into the patrician's glittering eyes while his crotch arched. Slowly, his gaze wandered down to her lips. All the pleasures they promised…

But suddenly he heard it again. The sound of the blade cutting through Alissa's spine. The hairs on his neck stood on end. He exhaled, raised his head and regained control of his senses.

Still dancing with her, he smiled.

"You know, Tiziana, you're one of the few people I've met who really live up to their reputation. Truly, you are more predator than human. But believe me when I tell you: I would rather be on my knees kissing the hands of the girl you just had killed than share your bed you for a thousand nights. For even though you have the appearance of a goddess, you have the disgusting heart of a hellhound."

The song had finished. The audience applauded as the dance partners bowed to each other.

The playful look in Tiziana's eyes was washed away. She let go of him and forced herself to bow slightly. Her face turned white with anger. For a moment, he thought she was going to rip his throat open with her teeth.

"Well, looks like it's too late for you and the slave girl. Maybe you shouldn't wait so long next time, for we often have far less time left than we think. Anyway, I hope you and Senator Cassius have a great time boozing up my wine…

With that, she turned on her heel and left him standing alone.

Vanessa, who was having her vagina licked by a pale red-haired slave, saw Tiziana leave the room in a rage out of the corner of her eye.

"Did you see that?" she asked Lucilla, who was being pampered by a brown girl to her right.

"Mmmh... Mmmh... no..." she moaned with her eyes closed.

With glowing eyes, Tiziana beckoned Mara towards her. The slave hurried after her.

"Change of plans. We'll replace the stable boy with that bastard in the blue toga."

"But... mistress... how are we going to...?"

"Think of something, or your head rolls next..."

Mara turned white as a sheet, bowed and hurried back into the hall.

Hardly any of the guests had paid attention to them. Carefree, they kept on boozing until late into the night.

*****

Vanessa slowly opened her eyes. Her pulse thundered in her skull. She was lying on a soft pillow with her cheek in a small puddle of saliva. Then she noticed the arm wrapped around her shoulder touching her breasts. She turned around and recognized the man Tiziana had been dancing with lying in bed next to her. Both of them stark naked.

At that moment, the door was pushed open and Tiziana, the praetor Quintus Arrius and half a dozen city guards burst into the bedroom.

"Seize them!"

"Keep your hands off me you bastards!" shouted Vanessa, as the men grabbed the naked girl and her surprised bed mate.

"You bitch! I know you're behind this! What did you drug me with?"

"By the gods, Vanessa... I would not have expected that from you… adultery… may the gods have mercy on you…”

“No! That's a mistake. I don't know this man! I haven't done anything…!”

Tiziana grinned slyly as the naked couple was taken away…