At Fiona`s property, Zenobia had found that their new home was indeed a nice place to live, but far from being a paradise. The widow was nice and to work on her little farm was far from being hard, but they had soon guessed that Fiona would be shocked severely if they would reveal to her that she and Andrea were in love. Fiona had talked a lot about her late husband and though she had laughed when saying so, Zenobia had seen a sad glance in her eyes when Fiona had complained about the fact that there were now three more concurrents in the battle for the few handsome men in New Hope.
„Three women, and all are prettier and younger than me!“, Fiona had sighed. Of course, they had contradicted and they didn`t have to lie more than just a little bit. Fiona was 38, just four years older than Andrea, and she still was a good looking woman. Besides, Andrea and Zenobia would not be interested in diminuishing her chances to find a decent husband.
However, Zenobia was somehow pleased to see that Paloma seemed interested in hearing about the men of New Hope. Since she was just 19, she would attract other men than Fiona anyway and so, the widow answered her questions quite deliberately.
Zenobia had smiled secretly. So, Paloma was not really in love with her, but she had just encountered the pleasures of the bed with her – maybe for the first time in her life.
„At least, Andrea and I know the difference, for we have both had experiences with men“, she thought when they helped picking the fruits and vegetables, now gossiping about the quiet, but slightly boring life at New Hope.
Had they given the nearby bushes a closer look, perhaps, they would have guessed that boredom was their least problem. Perhaps, they would just have wondered what one of the hunters living in the swamps was doing there. Up to now, none of the people at New Hope would have guessed that Curt was not exactly what he seemed to be.
It had been more than a year ago and back in Miami when Laura had employed him as a mixture of steward and bodyguard. His first duty had been to organise the building of Laura`s hidden mansion in the swamps. Laura had taken great care to keep it a secret. The workers had been brought to and from the chosen place blindfolded, only Laura, Nathalie and he knew how to get back to civilisation. Of course, the workers had wondered about that, but Laura had paid double wages and so, they had just considered her to be an excentric millionaire.
Laura sure was an excentric, but she also was an educated woman. Curt still did not know what she and Nathalie exactly were looking for, but he was sure that in earlier times both would have been burnt as witches. Of course, they did not ride on a broomstick or dance around a fire in the Walpurgis Night, but among the books in Laura`s well equipped library, there were works on magic, astrology and alchemy, too. Besides, there was a big window in the flat roof, allowing to watch the stars by a telescope.
Curt could only read English and a little French, but the pictures in the books mostly written in Latin or Greek had told him that at least some of them were about incantations or similar rituals. And of course, there were the women he had to get for his two Mistresses.
When the mansion had been built and was fully furnished, Laura had sent away everyone except for Nathalie and him. Then, they had revealed some of their plans to him. Curt had been a burglar for some years in his life and so, he had found no problems in committing some thefts in the villages around and to help prepare some strange devices that were clearly meant to restrain persons.
Then, one evening, Nathalie had come to his bedroom and despite her rather cool attitude during the last months, she had definitely tried to seduce him. Curt did not trust the young woman, who, despite the strong resemblance, was not related to Laura. In Curt`s eyes, she was just a spoiled brat who had read too much about witchcraft and who had persuaded the 20 years older Laura to join her silly games. However, Curt also was a man and Nathalie was a pretty woman and so, he had willingly accepted her offer.
He first had thought that Nathalie had just been bored by not having another man around, but it had been a test. The next morning, Laura had entered his room when he and Nathalie still had been lying together. Curt had expected her to scold at them, but instead, she just smiled and asked Nathalie:
„So?“
Nathalie, not caring about the fact that she still was stark naked, had streched and yawned before answering:
„Useful, I think. He`s an able lover and he sure knows what to do in bed. Do you want to give it a try, too?“
For a moment, Curt had expected Laura to drop off her bathrobe and to go to bed with him whilst Nathalie would make notes on how he was doing. He felt a bit like a bull sold on the market.
However, Laura shook her head and meant:
„Maybe later. But if you are pleased, then the peasant`s women sure will be, too. Let`s retire so he can get dressed. We have something to talk about at breakfast.“
To his even greater surprise, Nathalie prepared his breakfast, a job normally left to him. Then, they explained their secret to him – or at least as much as he had to know about it.
Laura lived in constant fear of the year 1867. On May 22th, she would become 40. Since Laura did not care to hide herself – however, Curt had never seen her naked - , he knew that she looked some ten years younger, but he also knew that she did everything that it remained that way for as long as possible.
„Nathalie told me about a secret ritual some year ago. that`s why we retired here, in this wilderness. However, a remote place isn`t all we need. We also need some women.“
Curt could not help bursting out laughing. He had heard about such mad scientists that kidnapped young damsels for unspeakable rituals – in Gothic Novels!
„So, you want me to get you some young girls so you can steal their youth by bathing in their blood?“
However, a part of him knew that this phantastic idea could be the truth. Laura stared at him until he stopped laughing and lowered his eyes.
Indeed, he had partially guessed right. Nathalie ensured him that the women would not be killed or severely injured in the ritual. They would just have to give a pint of their blood each, so they would quickly recover. And after the ritual, he would just have to get them back to where he had kidnapped them.
„Mistress, why haven`t you just paid some women for their blood? Even if you had balanced it out to them in silver, it would have cost a tenth of that mansion.“
„Because it´s not that easy. The ritual only works in the night of the 22th of September, when the stars will be in a special constellation. Besides, we need seven different women – and, we also need a pint of sweat from each of them. Fresh fear sweat.“
Now, Curt was completely convinced that the two women were mad, but they offered him 100 Dollars in gold for each woman and so, since it was not meant to murder these women, he agreed. Nathalie told him more about which kind of females they needed. To his surprise, they were not interested in young girls, but in more mature women.
„They have to be younger than Mistress Laura, but as close to her age as possible. Women of that age have more strength, which is important for the ritual to work!“
They had told him to start looking for appropriate victims immediately, although the 22th of September was some three months in advance. They told him that it would be easier for him to abduct the women one by one. In the meantime, they would keep them as house slaves, restrained and gagged and with no chance of getting away.
Curt`s first victim had been the 35 years old Joanna. It had been a lucky coincidence that she had been on a ship that had stopped near the place where he had just been. Some of the passengers had taken the opportunity to visit the shore and a few minutes later, Joanna had been narcotized and lying bound, gagged and blindfolded in his canoe. When she had regained her consciousness, Curt had already been some ten miles away, deep in the marshes where only he knew where to go.
Curt had not taken part in „training“ Joanna to become a slave, but after a short while, he had only seen her wearing nothing but the iron belt with the attached shackles and the leather band tied between her legs and the gagging collar around her lower face and neck and she had obeyed the orders of both Laura and Nathalie without complaining. They had offered her to him as a part of his reward, but Curt did not like to sleep with women who had no choice.
Instead, he kept his eyes open at New Hope, where he spent some time to build up a disguise as a hunter. There, his eyes had fallen on Scarlett, 36, who worked at the only Saloon. This woman, he had seduced to be his lover and after a few weeks, he had been about to take her with him when the steamboat had landed, bringing with it two women who would perfectly match the wishes of his employers.
The blonde curly Clarissa and a redhead called Niamh used the time the ship would stay, two nights, to sell books to the literate people of New Hope. To their frustration, they only sold two bibles and a hymnal on the first day and so, Curt had worked out a daring plan.
He had washed and put oh his best clothes before entering the ship where the two women were sharing a cabin. Of course, they had not let him in, but he had told them about his Mistress, who was an excentric millionaire and also a bookworm. Since this was the truth so far, Curt had sounded quite convincing and the two had been keen on visiting her at her remote mansion the next day. Curt had hummed and hawed a bit, then, he had told them:
„I know that my Mistress would also love to have some conversation with people who are more literate and educated than, well, than me, for example. But her mansion is quite hidden and remote and so, if we go there tomorrow, you could not stay for more than an hour until you had to leave again. So, may I dare to ask you if you could accompany me now. Then, we could be there within four or five hours. You could spend the night in Mylady`s guest rooms and I would get you back here tomorrow evening.“
After a little debate, Clarissa and Niamh agreed. Since none of them trusted the ship`s stewards, they took their two bags containing only their books and some laundry with them, which of course comforted Curt`s plan.
The two women had been totally unsuspicious on the trip aboard of Curt`s canoe. Even when he had told them after a while that, since his Mistress lived in constant fear of thieves, he would have to blindfold them, they accepted it as being a typical spleen of an excentric rich woman. Perhaps, they already counted the money they would get.
„Just a few more steps, Ladies“, Curt introduced Clarissa and Niamh when the boat had reached the mansion`s little jetty and he was helping them leave the canoe. Still giggling and gossiping, they had allowed him to lead them to the veranda where he had finally taken off their blindfolds.
However, as soon as they had spotted Joanna, naked, bound and gagged, they had showed that they were more spirited than the obediend raven haired woman. The blonde had let out a scream and ran for the canoe whilst the redhead had started to run into a different direction.
Curt had expected an escape attempt and so, he could grab Clarissa`s wrist before she could get away. She screamed and fought, but though he was of course stronger than her, it took him all his strength to wrestle her down and to tie her in a hogtie. When he finally rose, her screams and curses echoed over the small island the mansion was build upon, but Curt knew that the farests would swallow every sound.
He now went for Niamh who had run over the meadow, since Nathalie, holding a rifle, was blocking the path to the jetty. However, the redhead knew nothing about the swampland. As soon as she had reached the water, her feet got stuck in the mud and she sank deeper and deeper, despite her struggling. In the end, she had no other chance than to accept the line Curt threw to her. When he pulled her back into savety, her boots remained in the mud.
Once save, she once again tried to fight him off, but soon, she was tied like her companion. When both women were lying side by side on the veranda, they continued screaming and scolding and so, Laura ordered Curt to gag them.
„And be imaginative!“, she told him.
Curt bent over Clarissa who at the same time tried to crawl away from him, cursed him in a way that would have made a more sensitive man blush and spat at his face. Curt grabbed her arm and turned her on her back, trapping her between his legs. Now, Clarissa really tried to bite his legs, but his long leather boots prevented him from getting hurt. Curt crumpled up her skirts, revealing her white lacy knickers. Clarissa screamed and wriggled like an eel, but he grabbed the silky underwear and ripped it from her with a brutal yank. Clarissa gasped and fell silent for a moment when her crotch was exposed.
Quickly, Curt let her go, grabbed Niamh`s scalp and began stuffing her mouth with the ripped underwear. The woman fought and gurgled and grunted through the intruding mass of cloth, but finally, she was gagged with her friend`s knickers and Curt could start to finish off her gag with one of the iron masks Nathalie now handed to him.
Usually, these gags were quite effective in preventing someone from intelligible speech, but they were not really choking. But since Niamh`s mouth already was filled with a pair of knickers, the intruding pear shaped plug compressed the stuffing in her mouth to an almost unbearable level. Niamh`s cheeks ballooned and her now faint and throaty groans told that the knickers now were touching the back of her throat. The redhead retched and fumed and tried to wriggle the mask off, but finally, Curt could close the padlock in the back of her neck. Now, the gag prevented her from moving her neck from moving more than just a bit and she had no chance of getting the gag off without help, even if she had been untied.
„Uuuuhhmmmmm! Mph!“
„You bloody bastard, you deserve to die, you-“
Clarissa continued her vocal protest until Curt had ripped Niamh`s light green knickers from her and had stuffed them into the blonde`s mouth. When Clarissa had the gag mask tied around her neck and her lower face, too, Curt just waited for a few minutes.
Grunting and moaning, the two women squirmed on the floor. Curt hoped that they would soon accept the impossibility of an escape, but these women continued their futile struggles with vehemency.
„Take them to the training room“, Laura ordered, taking a sip from her tea cup as if nothing had happened.
„Teasing or punishment?“, Nathalie asked with considerable glee.
„Hm – both, I think. Maybe, you should help Curt with that. I am very satisfied with his work, but I think you have the edge in funny ideas.“
So, Nathalie accompanied Curt as he carried the struggling Clarissa over to one of the rooms. There, some cupboards contained all those strange items Curt had bought, stolen or built during the last months. On one of the walls, there were three horizontal rows of eyelets attached to the wood, with some five inches between two of these eyelets. One row was little above the floor, one at about three feet and one at six feet. From one of the cupboards, Curt took some iron clamps with a leather upholstery. Then, he turned Clarissa, who was lying next to him, mewing and staring daggers at him, and turned her on her belly. He tied two of the clamps around her ankles. They looked like handcuffs, but instead of a chain, there was only an eyelet welded to them. The leather upholstery allowed Curt to tighten the cuffs without hurting Clarissa.
Then, Curt loosened her bound feet and tied her right ankle to one of the eyelets in the lowest row with a padlock. Then, Nathalie helped Clarissa to stand up whilst Curt kept her left ankle in an iron grip. Clarissa moaned through her stifling gag and squirmed, but then, she fought to keep balance as Curt brought her left leg more and more to the left side, forcing her to stand with her legs spread. When he had found a position that was straining, but would still allow her to remain standing on her feet, he padlocked her left ankle to another eyelet. When he looked up again, he smiled when he saw that Nathalie kept Clarissa pinned to the wall by pushing her hands against the blonde`s breasts, squeezing and groping them in the progress. She fumed and looked at them with a mixture of fear and anger.
Taking two more cuffs and padlocks, he freed her hands and tied them to her sides to two eyelets of the upper row, forcing the woman to stand spread eagle with her hands tied to the sides of her head. There was little give in the cuffs and so, she would not be able to move much, let alone reach her head with her fingers, no matter how hard she would try.
Curt now went to fetch Niamh, who had indeed managed to crawl a few yards towards the boat, despite being hogtied. When he brought the struggling and moaning redhead into the training room, he could see that Nathalie had already cut away any bit of clothing from the immobilized Clarissa with some scissors. The stark naked woman, whose boobs were heaving and who was covered with a sheath of sweat, was now blushing, her face nearly as red as Niamh`s hair.
Soon, Niamh was tied in a similar way left to Clarissa and Nathalie had stripped her completely, too. Both women could not do anything to hide their assets from view, but had to remain with their backs tied to the walls and their legs spread. Still, they furiously screamed through their gags.
Curt now reached behind their backs, but only to remove those eyelets that were pressing at the small of their backs. It took him some effort to srew these loose and the two captives definitely didn`t like his hand touching their sweaty backsides.
„A mixture of pain and pleasure, the Mistress said. Do you think that`s appropriate?“
Nathalie showed her hands to Curt. In her left, she held four wooden things that looked like clothpegs. But these had little teeth honed to it, making them look like little crocodile heads. In the other hand, she had two ostrich feathers.
Curt nodded, curious what Nathalie had in mind with the latter. As expected, she used the clothpegs to clamp the two captive`s nipples, causing some muffled protest and rustling of their cuffs. Curt could see that she first played with each nipple before attaching the clothpeg to it, obviously enjoying her victims`s helplessness.
Then, Nathalie took the two geathers in each of her hands and began to tickle and caress both women`s pubic area.
„Uuhhmmmmm! Nnnnngggg!“
„Mmhhhhrrrrrrrrr!“
Both Clarissa and Niamh squirmed and moaned, now blushing even deeper from the humiliating procedure. Curt was fascinated, but he also knew that Nathalie could not go on like this forever.
„In an hour or so, your arms will hurt“, he said. Nathalie looked up to him with a smile. Since his „test“, she had never again went to bed with him, but there was still some tension between them.
„Stupid, I have of course considered that little problem.“
She pushed the quills of the feathers into the gaps of the floor`s planks, taking care that the fibres still touched the two women`s loins. Of course, „teasing“ was an exaggeration for that swift touch, but it would be a constant reminder of both their helplessness.
When they had left Clarissa and Niamh, Laura had told Curt to get Scarlett the neyt day like they had planned before. The next morning, Curt had left and reached New Hope around noon. As he had expected, the ship`s crew was not that concerned of the two women`s disappearance, since they had left with all their luggage and the steward had found a letter, together with 20 Dollars, telling him that they had decided to stay with a local woman and to take the next ship in four months. Actually, Laura had written that letter, but of course, the steward only recognized the female handwriting and considered it to be Clarissa`s or Niamh`s.
Scarlett`s abduction had been just child`s play. He had secretly visited her in her little chamber and after some passionate sex, when the exhausted woman had soundly slept, he had simply narcotized her. Then, he had bound and gaggd the already naked Scarlett, wrapped her into a blanket and brought her to his canoe unseen.
During the next few weeks, he hadn`t been at the mansion very often. He had no problem with seeing that obviously Clarissa and Niamh still refused to obey and were kept thoroughly restraine and had to endure several humiliations by Nathalie and Laura. He also had no feelings towards Joanna, but Scarlett sometimes looked at him as if she wanted to say:
„Why, Curt? I loved you, so why have you done that to me?“
He avoided her the best he could, but now, he had the same problem with Rose. Obviously, it was not a good idea to start a relationship with his potential victims. Anyway, the 22th of September was only one week ahead and then, the ordeal for these women would be over.
So, he had agreed upon looking for the last two remaining victims. He knew that he had to be careful for the other people at New Hope would soon be suspicious about the disappearance of too many of their women. Of course, they would not find the hidden mansion, but they would be alert of anyone that looked suspicious.
Curt had already decided that Fiona would be an ideal victim, but now, he had seen that she had some guests, too. The Black and the Mexican were too young, but the brown haired one looked as if she was in her thirties. So, if he would be able to get these two in his hands, it would be a total of seven women – enough for Laura`s strange ritual.
***
Travelling the Everglades by boat was indeed much better than having to walk, but neither Virginia nor Caroline appreciated the continuation of their involuntary trip. Again, both girls were tied with their hands cuffed behind their backs and with leather belts pinning their arms to their torsos. Again, their necks were tied to the stick with the forks on both ends. Though it was not especially heavy, their shoulders now ached from being continually yoked.
When they had not stopped asking Wilson about what would happen to them, he had gagged them both with rags stuffed to their mouths, secured by cloths tied between their lips. For hours, they were now sitting in Wilson`s long canoe which he staked through the bizarre world of the South Floridan swamps.
Suddenly, when they were on a brook with a slight drift, Wilson raised his head. Then, he reached for his rifle.
„Supper“, he whispered. Then, he steered the boat to the side, jumped from board and disappeared between the trees. It had happened so quickly that it took the two bound and gagged girls some seconds to realize what had happened: when jumping to the landside, Wilson had involuntarily given the boat a push with his foot. Since it was a light canoe, this had been enough to push it into the brook where the stream caught it. Slowly, but steadily, the canoe now was moving away from the position where Wilson had left.
„Uuuhhmmmmmm! Mhhmmmmmm!“
„Mph! Uhhhrrrrrrmmmmm!“
The two girls screamed into their gags. After a few seconds of joy and relief about Wilson being absent, they had realized that sitting in a small boat whilst being bound and gagged was not a very secure thing. However, there was no sign of their abductor, no matter how much they moaned and groaned.
Caroline suddenly tried to stand up. Desperately, Virginia tried to balance out the shaking canoe, but it was too late. Despite their frantic attempts to prevent it, the canoe keeled over and the two bound and gagged girls were thrown into the water.
It took Virginia some moments of squirming, flailing with her unbound legs and screaming through the rag stuffing her mouth until she realized that her head still was above water. The stick swam on the surface and so, their heads were still up in the air. Of course, it didn`t have much buoyancy, but it was just enough to allow her to breathe. Some moaning from behind told Virginia that obviously Caroline was save from drowning, too.
However, being save from the ultimate threat did not mean that they were in a comfortable position. Their heads were held above the water, but tied as they were, they had no chance of getting their arms free and to get loose from the stick. Nearby, Virginia could see the sinking canoe.
„Uuhhmmph! Mhhmmmph!“
Virginia realized that their only chance to survive was to get closer to the shore. She had learned to swin and she knew that Caroline had done so, too. So, she started to move her legs, trying to get the stick to move in the direction she wanted. Obviously, Caroline had understood her intention, for she had stopped flailing about and had joined in helping to steer their stick.
After a few minutes, they reached some reed and Virginia could feel the ground under her soles. Moments later, Caroline seemed to have found a place to stand, too, but then, they heard a cry:
„Fuck! What the hell? Ey, girls, where are you?“
It was Wilson, obviously seeing what had happened. Though they could not talk to each other, both Virginia and Caroline made the same decision: if they made themselves noticeable, their predicament would continue. Maybe, Wilson would even punish them for sinking the canoe, although it had actually been his fault. But if they would remain hidden between the reed, he would perhaps not find them and think they had drowned. Later, they could leave the water and try to free themselves. And then, they could find their way back to civilisation.
They waited for what seemed hours until finally they could hear no more sounds of the man searching for them. The las cry they had heard some distance away and so, they thought that they were save to get ashore now.
With some difficulties, the two girls finally managed to get out of the water. But now, they were still bound, gagged and tied to that damned stick! They threw themselves to the ground and suddenly, Virginia could feel Caroline`s feet at her back.
„Mhm?“
„Uuhhmmph! Mph!“
With considerable effort, Caroline pushed against the belt tied around Virginia`s upper body. Virginia understood and moved her numb arms. After a while, their combined work allowed her to get the belt over her shoulders and to move her arms. Now, it was quite easy to get her cuffed wrists to her front. She yanked the cleave gag down her chin and spat out the wadded rag. After some panting, she croaked:
Drawing by hugues66
„I will get myself free and then, I will help you, dear!“
„Mph!“
Since the leather thongs had become wet, it was not that difficult to loosen her neck from the stick. Virginia massaged her aching neck and streched her body.
„Mph! Uuhhmm!“
A little reproachful, Caroline insisted that she first freed her before she could comfort herself. So, Virginia quickly ungagged her friend and freed her from the stick. When she had loosened the belt, too, Caroline also brought her bound hands to her front.
„Phew, that`s better. But what shall we do now?“
It was a good question. They still had their hands cuffed and they had nothing but their dripping wet clothes. In addition, they only knew that they were somewhere in the swamps of South Florida and none of them had the slightest idea where the next village was.
„Well, at least, we won`t die from thirst. And perhaps, we can even find some fruits. At least, we are in a forest. Let`s start by getting away from here. I don`t want to meet that Wilson once again!“
„But where to?“, Caroline asked with a trembling voice. Her friend had always considered Virginia to be the brave and confident and she knew that if she didn`t say something comforting, Caroline would start to cry.
„We will follow that brook. Sooner or later, it will mouth into a river and that river will lead us to some village or town.“
She had said so with much more confidence than she actually had, but Caroline nodded and so, the two girls began their way down the brook.
***