I had only really ever experienced true, mind melting panic a couple of times in my life. And only twice since Eliza had snatched me up months ago. In a darkly hilarious way, I had actually kept my head during the kidnapping itself, as overwhelming as it had seemed to be. Perhaps it had been the familiarity that Eliza had demonstrated from the get go. That her taking me, kidnapping me, and spiriting me away to her dark dungeon of desire wasn’t born out of some impersonal selection. It had been that demonstrated, hell bragged about, personal connection that had kept me from gibbering panic in those first days I think.
No, the first time had been when Red and her cronies had tried to take me, spiriting me away from the woman who had originally kidnapped me. I could remember the utter helpless feeling of being seized by people who didn’t know me, and who likely didn’t care all that much for me. That, and Eliza’s incredible rescue drama immediately after had crystalized in my head that she was my protector in a weird way. Which made this so much worse.
The second time was right now. And it was bad.
I pressed myself back in the cage, as my mind whirled along with the cool robotic announcements of the perimeter breach from Eliza’s recorded voice. Last time someone tried to take me, Eliza had been nearby. She had rescued me within a couple minutes of me being taken. My wonderful Mistress transformed into a terrifying avenger who had meted out swift, kinky justice to my would be assailants. That wasn’t going to happen this time. She had left. She had left me behind, left me here, and now someone was trying to break in to take me away from her.
I whimpered and tried to hug myself as best I could with my cuffed hands, trying to mentally run through who could possibly be breaking into the house. There was no sounds of shouting upstairs, no calls for identification, or gruff voices calling out for me by name. Which more or less ruled out the cops having discovered me or Eliza. Setting aside my own very mixed feelings about what their presence would have meant, that left two options. Thieves…or…other sorts of thieves.
Krakens.
I drew a shaky breath, feeling like my mind was pin wheeling around on the edge of a precipice. Run of the mill burglars didn’t make a whole lot of sense, now that I considered it. Especially given all the commotion that Eliza’s house programming had put into motion. They would really be idiots to stick around. Stealth was no longer an option for them, and for all they knew the authorities would be en route. And yet…the alarms continued. Somehow I just knew in the pit of my flip-flopping stomach, this wasn’t some run of the mill burglary. Which left…
I wrapped my bound arms around myself more tightly and let out a fresh whimper. The smarmy, sneering face of the man from Bondcon floated up out of my subconscious. The features were a trifle blurry. I hadn’t really paid attention to him that much until I had clued in that Eliza detested him, but the dim recollection was all the more threatening in its vague, glittering malice.
My mind spun as it latched onto the few facts I knew about this Kraken organization, and the menacing prick who had so disrupted Eliza’s enjoyment of me and Bondcon. Eliza clearly didn’t like him, and by extension seemed to not care that highly for the organization either. From the bare snatches of conversation I had overheard, and my own bumbling thoughts, I figured that they were interested in the same sort of non-consensual introductions to bondage that I had experienced. Just in a more…industrial fashion. The way that bastard…Prescott? The way Prescott had looked at me, like some vaguely interesting object or animal that might be of some use to him, underlined the differences in treatment I could likely expect if they found me. Here with Eliza, being a slave meant something a hell of a lot more than it would with them.
I shuddered, hearing the continued robotic announcements, and imagining what might be about to happen. The basement door crashing open, and leering Kraken operatives trooping down the stairs. Being hauled out of my cage, cruel laughter from my new kidnappers as they effortlessly handled my terrified attempts to break free. I harboured no illusions about being able to escape these professional kidnappers and slavers. I…I was going to be found, and caught. Then…I swallowed and closed my eyes, my head lolling against the side of my cage as I grappled with the mental images bombarding my mind.
Then, the strict new bonds, lashed and bound all the while screaming for help that never came. How these Krakens would enjoy my anguish, before they would bundle me upstairs and into a new cage in the back of some van. How they would flee the house, taking me away from my home, away from my Mistress, and to some new place. A fresh start in hellish subjugation, overseen by men and women who would care little for me. For them I would be, at best, a piece of blackmail or bargaining chip to force Eliza to submit to their control. At worst…?
Was she even still able to help me? Or had the Krakens already taken her, waylaid her on the road? Was there anyone even left?
I felt a sob burn in my chest, and barely managed to keep it contained to a renewed bout of shudders and ragged breathing. I tried pressing myself back once more in the cage, as though there were some microscopic bit of space that I had somehow not yet occupied. I was alone, and the barbarians were at the gates.
I don’t know how long I crouched there, terrified of the moment that I felt certain would come when the basement door would crash open. Knowing that my last moments in Eliza’s home…in my home…seemed to be upon me. That the last time I would have seen Eliza would be the tense, worried woman who had promised me that she would be back for me. But who would not be there to protect me from the thieving swine who were probably even now figuring out how to breach the dungeon where I was held. But then, as I shook with a renewed bout of barely repressed terror cries, the robotic voice suddenly cut out. And music began to play.
My head snapped up, eyes wide with astonished disbelief. The guitar and belted out lyrics were familiar to me of course, but that wasn’t it. It was so laughably silly for it to be anything other than a deliberate choice by someone with a wicked, and often groan inducing sense of humour. I dashed the unshed tears from my eyes and sucked in a breath, my heart pounding with the first shred of hope I had had since my plug first went wild. Maybe that meant Eliza was still doing something, somewhere? Maybe that meant she was still protecting me, even if she was still gone from the house.
I took a shuddering breath and slumped down a little in my cage, feeling that sliver of hope pulse against the terror that had been battering my brain, “Kick their asses Mistress.” My whisper sounded unbearably loud in the quiet of the dungeon, and I winced in spite of myself.
But then, almost as if in response to my whispered plea, there was suddenly noise. And movement! I dimly heard the whirring and shifting of machinery. A lot of it seemed to be coming from the ceiling and in some of the walls. Out beyond the padded table on which Eliza and I had had so many enjoyable mornings, I watched with bemused trepidation as a small cage slowly rotated up from some concealed recess in the floor. Several nets unfurled and then were pulled taut, seemingly scattered at random throughout the basement. One of them hovered almost gleefully it seemed to me over the stair entrance to the kitchen, the way it hung from the heavy industrial hooks a testament to its weight. There was far too much noise to match the few prepared out in the open elements that I could see. There was so much more.
The house itself was seemingly rising up to defend itself, and me, from the intruders who had broken in. Who had violated the sanctity of Eliza’s home, and my safe space. Like some giant mechanical knight, prepared to defend against the rampaging horde who even now I was certain were searching for ways to come down and find me.
I felt a manic giggle claw at my throat. Clearly a few too many swords and sorcery books on my mind.
A pair of minutes crawled by, the house relatively still in the basement at least, apart from the pounding musical beat of Eliza’s programmed battle music. I absently wondered if any of the Krakens upstairs had ever played video games, or gone dungeon crawling. I had, at least before my kidnapping, and I couldn’t recall a boss fight ever featuring Welcome to the Jungle, but it seemed…appropriate.
Suddenly from above there was a series of loud thuds and thumps, and what sounded like a muffled scream over on the far side of the padded table from me, beyond the door to the bathroom. A chute smoothly seemed to materialize from the upper area of the wall, and a green and black clothed and armoured man came tumbling down the path. I didn’t even have a chance to catch more than a fleeting glimpse of confusion and fear as he sailed off the chute and right into a waiting black latex sack, and promptly disappeared within what became a writhing, squirming mass. Muffled squeals and frantic thrashing continued for a while until the man seemed to finally find the interior breathing valve. A small hose suddenly poked out from the side of the sack, and I heard a grateful inflow of air.
I blinked in astonishment, and then felt a disbelieving laugh bubble up out of my chest. A trap door, into a bondage predicament. The Kraken, for that’s who it had to be, had been taken down by a booby trap. I lived in a booby trapped house filled with bondage gear, designed and built by a maniac. A sexy, loving maniac who I was pretty sure by now I had fallen for hook line and sinker, but even so. It was downright ridiculous.
So I laughed. At least until it started to sound hysterical. The form in the latex sack renewed its frantic struggle, even as I trailed off into titters that threatened to explode once more into something that I wasn’t sure was going to be laughter or tears of relief. But somewhere out there, Mistress Eliza was still protecting me.
I slumped down against the front of the cage, staring with unfocused eyes towards the struggling latex sack, when another chute close to the first opened, and another form plummeted through. This one wasn’t flailing as much, and so ended up being deposited rather neatly into the small cage that had been suspended three feet above the floor. His knees buckled from the force of landing inside it, and the heavy, almost certainly weighted, top of the cage slammed into his back and shoulders. With a muffled cry of pain and frustration he was slammed down into the cage, a heavy locking click reverberating around the dungeon.
I shrank back a little as I saw the man shake himself, and after a brief moment of checking himself over, began to throw himself into the task of breaking free. The cage was a tight fit for him, but he attacked it with such ferocity…
For about thirty nerve wracking seconds, I thought the professional way he went about testing, pulling, and pressing on certain points around the cage meant that he truly knew a way out. That the trap had backfired and deposited one of the fearsome Krakens right into my lap. That this well muscled, stern looking fellow was going to break free, and then come to haul me away. The thought seemed so clear in my mind that I very nearly let out a shriek of fear. Instead, I found myself gripping the bars of my cage, eyes fixed on him, willing him to surrender. To give up and to be trapped. Yet with the fear pulsing inside me that this professional kidnapper knew some trick, some clever maneuver that would free him from Eliza’s automated clutches.
But it was not to be so. After about a minute of throwing his strength and cunning against the cage, he slumped down inside to lean tiredly against the side of the cage, “Merde. I am going to kill that little cochon.”
I couldn’t help but let out a squeak of laughter at that, and the man’s eyes snapped back open. I quailed back a little, but there was nothing in his gaze beyond mild interest in me, tinged with whatever frustration he had just given voice to.
“So you’re the boy?” I noted the French accent this time, enough that it was present, but not doing more than adding a pleasant twist to his words. I nodded slightly in response, not wanting to betray just how skittish I felt. Hell, how trapped I was. My cage was meant to be my safe retreat, but having strangers in the dungeon was not especially enjoyable just then. Sure, he was even more trapped than I was, but my brain wasn’t exactly viewing things logically anymore.
The man sighed and gave another flexing pull against the bars, “Your Mistress is a very clever woman, you know.” He shifted around so that he was partially lying on his side, enough that he could observe the struggling black latex sack, “Clever, clever girl.”
“W-why…” I squeaked, and then cleared my throat, “Why are you being so calm?” I left unasked my other question. Why the hell was this asshole kidnapper treating me like a borderline person?
The man gave a shrug, his gaze flickering with more than mild annoyance for a moment before smoothing out again, “Because I am not in charge of this…how might you say…clusterfuck.” He shook his head with a wry chuckle, “Fortunate for you both I think. I make no claims at being able to figure out this house of horrors your Mistress has designed, but…” he shrugged again with a sigh, “I am better than that cochon.”
I rested my head against the bars, staring up at him as I wondered at the absurdity of holding a quasi normal conversation with someone who had come expressly to kidnap me. I mean, Eliza and I did that all the time, but that was different. Eliza was…well, she was different. I felt the first stirrings of a blush and bit my lip. This was so not the time to go all mushy thinking of her. For all I knew she was in trouble somewhere.
“Why are you guys here?” The question sounded a bit forced, even plaintive to my ears, but better that than shrill panic which was the other possibility at the moment, “W-we don’t have anything to…I mean, I-I don’t understand.”
Sebastian gave another of his Gallic shrugs, and gave the heavy cage a morose shove with his shoulder, “Just part of the negotiation process with your Mistress. Not something either of us have much of a say in anymore.” He eyed me, “Pretty lightly bound for a slaveboy.”
I blinked and kinda gaped at him, “I…she…what?”
“Your Mistress must trust you, no?”
I hugged myself to the cage, my eyes darting away from him for a while. Tracing over the dungeon furniture. The carefully racked restraints prepared for use on me, or any other subbie fortunate enough to find themselves in Eliza’s dungeon.
“She doesn’t want to lose me.” I paused for a moment, still mentally off balance at having this rather civilized conversation between two caged prisoners.
“Most dominants who are concerned about that tend to make their property much more helpless.”
“Not her.”
“No?”
“No.” I curled up against the front of the cage, a slight defiant edge to my voice as I jutted my chin out, “She’s different.”
Sebastian grunted. There was a long stretch of silence then. But I didn’t want to return to the maelstrom of my inner thoughts just then, nor did I want this skilled slaver to have uninterrupted time to think on his escape. Stoic he might be currently, but I didn’t feel like I could harbour any illusions.
“So who is in charge then if you aren’t?”
“An idiot. Thus, our positions.” He did his best to gesture towards the squirming latex mass, “Perhaps a question for me. How long have you been with your Mistress?”
I considered for a moment, “Long enough to not want to leave.”
The man snorted, “Well enough.” He jerked a thumb at himself, “Sebastian.”
I stuttered. There was no way in hell I wanted to provide any details to these guys.
The man, Sebastian, grinned at my reaction, “Don’t worry, we already know you. Well, I do at least. Some of us do our research. David.”
I twitched, “Y’know that’s not as reassuring as you might think it sounds.”
“Part of the territory.” I had no idea where he had learned this calmness, but from the tone of his voice he could have been talking with me in some boring office meeting room. Rather than imprisoned in inescapable (I hoped) cages in a sexy, fiendishly clever, woman’s dungeon. “Don’t worry, the research was aimed at your Mistress. None of your connections were scoped for acquisition.”
I swallowed hard. I hadn’t even realized that that might have been on the table, “S-so what h-happens now?”
He shrugged again. All sang froid, as he mused, “This operation is botched. I can’t imagine the cochon leading us to victory. And between the two of us, I would wager you have a better chance of being let out of your cage without consequences.”
I blinked at him, a little taken aback. Was…was he really saying what I think he was? That Eliza was winning this thing? Did that mean she was alright? I felt my heart lighten at the thought, and couldn’t help but give a fragile grin. Sebastian was pensively staring at the wriggling latex mass, which had finally been lowered to the floor and was now rolling around in a small circle. It was a wonder the man inside still had the energy to struggle as powerfully as he was. I had been in something similar, and had found my ability to struggle rapidly deteriorate. Within just a handful of minutes I had been a pile of latex covered subby goo, which according to Eliza had made for a perfect “snuggle slut.”
I swear, the woman could turn me into a stuttering mess with hardly any effort at all, just by cocking her eyebrow and archly asking me questions. She adored wordplay, and could certainly tangle me up in knots. That had been such a wonderful warm morning, even leaving aside the close confines of the latex sack. It had been just a few glorious hours of Eliza pressed against me, with only the latex between us, and murmuring all sorts of squirm-inducing words to get me racing. “Snuggle slut” was a role that I excelled at, in my own humble opinion. I felt my grin flicker as an ache throbbed in my chest, that burning worry which hadn’t entirely disappeared.
We had to win. I wanted my Mistress back.
“Y-you mean you haven’t…you know…?”
Sebastian blinked at me, considering for a moment, “I don’t believe so. But this is a day of foolishness, so I cannot say…” He shook his head and muttered something unintelligible and probably rude in French.
I opened my mouth to respond when there was a loud shhuuunkkk sound from above us, followed almost immediately by a panicked yelp and the sounds of more tumbling. This time I saw the shaft leading down into a large metallic net, one of the ones that had appeared out of the ceiling and had definitely not been in place before, was vibrating with the impacts of someone plummeting fast down its length. A form suddenly slammed into the net, wearing the same black and green armour and fatigues as Sebastian, and was almost immediately well entangled. The net seemed custom designed to stick, snare, and foul up any possible movement. Knowing Eliza, it probably had been.
Lights suddenly clicked on, illuminating the swinging net that had sagged down near to the floor from the weight of the person inside. I blinked in bemusement at the intricate series of hooks and pulleys that the illumination revealed, marveling again at just how much work Eliza had put into this place. I was owned by a kinky engineering maniac. The top of the net had automatically drawn closed from the pull of the weight, completely ensnaring the occupant. Unless the pressure was relieved, or the net dropped from its heavy duty hooks, the new prisoner was going to be stuck.
Then I blinked, looking again at the man who was now struggling against the net while his glittering eyes flashed around the room. They settled on me, and it took everything I had left in me to meet those eyes with the most infuriatingly pleased grin I could muster. Because I wanted nothing more than to bury myself underground and escape that gaze.
“Hang on, I know you from Bondcon – Prescott, isn’t it?” I kept that grin in place, despite the venomous look he was sending my way, and felt a surge of elation fill me, “Nice of you to…uh…drop in?”
From the other side of the room, Sebastian hit his head gently on the bars, and the pile of latex gave a protesting groan. There was a click from the ceiling as the speakers cut in, slicing the music off as though cut with a knife.
“Davey, make any more puns as bad as that and you get a day in chastity,” Eliza’s voice observed. I let out a choking gasp that was half a laugh, and half a relieved sob, at the sound of her voice. She was alright. My Mistress was there, not yet in the flesh, but she was there. Still in control, still in charge of me. Not taken from me by the Krakens. Threats of chastity, hell actual chastity punishment, that was all worth it. I closed my eyes, head thumping onto the front of the cage door, and drew in my first non-panicked breath in a while.
“But, while we’re being punny, hang in there, won’t you Prescott, while I negotiate with your boss?”
Which I thought was manifestly unfair. Though as Eliza had reminded me on more than one occasion, life wasn’t fair. Especially not for kidnapped slave boys with smart mouths. I snorted at the memory of being reminded of that little fact of my life, before glancing back out of the cage.
Prescott, who had frozen at the sound of my Mistress’ voice, had managed to draw the knife from his boot, and was busy hacking away at the netting. Trying to hack away, rather. He didn’t seem to be making much progress.
“Oh yeah,” Sebastian said dryly from a corner of the room. “‘I’ve met the woman and she’s not all that’, my arse. If we both end up being fired for this, I hope someone like Miranda gets hold of you and makes you regret the day you were born.”
“Don’t be stupid, neither of us are getting fired,” Prescott responded pompously. “We just have to get out of here.”
“Good luck,” The words seemed to spring out of my mouth without conscious thought. I gave Prescott two thumbs up as he glowered at me. That face had haunted my nightmares on more than one occasion, and it was a manically confident grin that accompanied my words. It had to be. That, or cowering. And I wasn’t going to cower in front of Prescott.
Prescott silently glowered at me for a moment longer and then returned to attempting to hack through the net that held him. Sebastian shook his head, and looked back over at me.
“So, how is your Mistress treating you, day to day?” He let out a dry chuckle, “Given our positions, she seems rather…intense.”
“Don’t talk to the property you idiot,” Prescott snapped, leaving off from his futile cutting to fling verbal barbs at his supposed comrade, “You’ll give him ideas above his station.”
Sebastian’s eyes, placid and reserved up until then, suddenly flashed with Gallic fire, “D’you have any idea the position you’ve placed us in? What we do to teams who fail at something this important? Merde, at least realize that…make your peace, cochon.”
With interest I saw Prescott pale just a little bit, before the bluster came racing back in, “That’s nonsense. We still have assets outside. They’ll come in and get us out. We can still get this done, and this…this smart ass can be taught to respect his bloody superiors!”
“Oh I already do,” I shot back, “But, y’know, actual superiors.” I stuck out my tongue.
God, but the adrenaline had really put me in a mood.
“You’ve got a smart mouth slave.” He did his best to leer at me from his position, knife sawing away at one of the metallic cords, “You wanna know what smart mouths get you in Kraken training facilities?” His grin got more villainous, “You wanna foretaste of what your life is gonna be like? I can let you know, since that’s where you’re gonna end up. You, and that bitch of a woman too if I have anything to say about it. Just one more anonymous slave. That’ll wipe the smirk off your face.”
It took a lot, but I kept smiling, even though I wanted to shiver with fear. I was sure as hell not going to pass up the chance to needle him. He didn’t seem to have the self-control to follow his own advice not to talk with me anyway, "Big words from a guy in a net!"
Prescott’s face flushed. He began to hack away again at the net as he snarled in return, "Says the guy in a cage!"
"Yeah, but I chose to be in here." I said in the most careful, talking to an idiot, sort of tone, and took great satisfaction from Prescott angrily muttering curses and redoubling his efforts to struggle free from the net. I contented myself with watching him calmly rather than retreating into the back of my cage, which just seemed to piss him off even more.
“We were supposed to keep you relatively untouched, since your owner was going to be working for us,” Prescott attempted to gloat, “But I think I’ll get a dispensation to work on you. There’s a couple of our trainers who are experts at working over smart ass slaves like you. By the time we’re through with you, your ‘mistress’ probably won’t even want you anymore. Won’t that be a fun day, huh? Watching that bitch toss you aside, and leave you to be a Kraken slave. I’ll make sure you get sold off to somewhere appropriately intense. Someone who will appreciate the opportunity to break you even further.”
I fought down the urge to give a hot retort. To scream back that Eliza would never abandon me like that. That he could shove his threats, and his attitude, and everything else right up his arse. Instead, I forced a contemplative face. It took a hell of an effort.
“I wonder which bits of kit Mistress Eliza is going to use on you when she gets back…?” I tapped my chin with a finger, making an obvious circuit of the dungeon with my eyes, “So many options to communicate her displeasure.”
Prescott scoffed, "She'd never dare lay hands on a Kraken."
"Wanna bet?" I gave him a grin, and then recalled a line that just seemed to fit, “You tried to kidnap what she rightfully stole. And I don’t think that ends well for you. Heh, maybe she’ll even let me watch.”
Prescott just couldn’t seem to help himself. Every new jibe, every insouciant refusal to cower before him just made him darken with frustrated rage even more. It was like he’d never had anyone talk back to him in his life before. Or at least, always been in a position to punish his inferiors or subordinates harshly in response to any perceived infractions. But now, here he was. Caught up and imprisoned, bringing him down to my level.
“Don’t flatter yourself slave.” Prescott bit out between clenched teeth as he strained against the net, “You’re a commodity. You don’t matter to actual people anymore, beyond being an object for their amusement. Not me, not him,” he jerked a finger at Sebastian, “And not your Mistress.”
“Didn’t you see how that attitude worked out for those girls at Bondcon?” I blinked, and cocked my head in what I hoped was an infuriating manner, “Mistress Eliza doesn’t quite see things that way dummy.”
Prescott scoffed.
I shrugged, hardly believing I was being so calm, “You’re a hell of a lot braver than me if you can shrug off Mistress Caitlin.”
“We have a mutually beneficial relationship with Caitlin. She wouldn’t…”
“Yeeeeaaaaah,” I delighted in interrupting him, “But you just pissed off one of her friends. I kinda have the feeling she takes that sort of stuff personally.”
Prescott glowered at me again, and then deliberately went back to hacking away at the net. Ignoring me and my needling. Which was just as well. Keeping up a confident front was draining, and I was glad enough for the break.
After a few minutes of quiet, Sebastian returned to asking me calm questions from his stressed position inside his cage. I had a far roomier one, and I couldn’t imagine being as big as he was and getting folded into such a small space. But he seemed to accept his situation with a certain c’est la vie approach, and had clearly decided to kill time by talking to me. Prescott, he did his best to ignore.
Even with our initial chat before Prescott had dropped in (Eliza’s threat didn’t count for internal jokes after all), I was still a little hesitant. But the questions weren’t really all that probing, not trying to ferret out information about Eliza and I, so far as I could see. He asked me about Bondcon, what I had enjoyed doing or seeing there. Evidently Sebastian had gone a couple of times in years past on his private time, and so had asked me about particular booths or shows that I might have seen. As conversations went between prospective kidnapper, and prospective kidnapee, it was downright civilized. I found myself relaxing by increments as I talked.
Of course, it couldn’t last forever.
Prescott swore suddenly as a jerky sawing motion snatched the knife from his hands and sent it tumbling to the ground.
“Making a mess means punishment.” I chirped.
Prescott opened his mouth with a snarl, but was cut off as the basement door suddenly let out a loud grinding sound. The telltale sign that the locks had just been disengaged. All three of us turned and looked towards the stairs, our quarrel forgotten. Who would be coming down those stairs? Would it be these other Krakens that Prescott had been on about? Come to rescue their colleagues and snatch me away? Or would it be…?
“Honey, I’m home!” Eliza’s voice sang out to me from the entrance, and that very nearly ended me and my composure right there. I seized hold of the bars of my cage, pressing my head against them as well, and let out a groan that was some combination of joyful relief, worry, and residual panic. But that I could hear her voice, really her voice this time, was like a soothing balm to my overtaxed brain.
My Mistress was home.
I closed my eyes for a moment in thanks, and when I opened them again there were more people in the basement. Two of them were attired in similar fashion as Sebastian and Prescott, a man and a woman, and quickly moved off to where the latex sacked individual had ended up to begin freeing him from his confines. That they were unfurling a large bag that was packed full of restraints didn’t seem to bode well for him, or for Sebastian and Prescott. I didn’t pretend to understand the politics of that, but seemingly these new Krakens weren’t intent on coming for me, and that was enough for now.
There was another woman there, blonde, attractive, and with a gorgeous elegant figure. In well tailored clothes, with glasses perched on her nose in a very flattering manner. But she didn’t matter. None of them did.
Even as my eyes flicked over them, my heart was already hammering as I saw the figure striding over towards me. Dressed in the same casual attire she had departed in. Still just as gorgeous as always, but now fairly radiating satisfaction and smug confidence. A far cry from the worried and distracted woman who had locked me in the dungeon earlier this morning. I started to shake, a fragile half-giggle tripping out from my lips. It was over. It was over and my Mistress had beaten them. She had won.
Eliza crouched down in front of my cage, and I felt that deep ache in my chest as I saw her expression. The fierce, triumphant protectiveness. The care. The confident, domineering grin that never failed to delight me. Those cool eyes that could flame so hot when they met mine.
The lock snicked open and got tossed to the ground.
I was already moving, even as the cage door began to swing aside. I pushed through it and then I was there. My head pressed into her chest as she knelt down in front of the cage. Her arms around me, gently stroking my head. I kept one hand to steady myself on the ground, the other was curled tightly around her leg, hugging myself to her.
“Hi there sweetheart.” Her words came softly, almost crooned into my ears, “I told you I was coming back.”
“I…” I tried to clear my throat and failed, “I thought…” I couldn’t clear the images from my mind. What I thought might have happened to her. What might have happened to me.
“It’s okay Davey.” Her hands tightened around me for a moment and then pulled my head back so that I could see her eyes. They were shining, “I told you before didn’t I? Back at Bondcon? I will never let anyone hurt you, or take you away from me. And I will always come for you, my gorgeous sweet boy. You are mine. Always.” She reached a hand in and gave the tag on my collar a flick. It gave a soft metallic jingle, “My name on you and everything.”
My face was a raging scarlet, even as my chest tightened up once more as my mind flicked back to those terrifying moments at Bondcon. When she had rescued me. Knelt next to me, comforted me, and eventually made me exactly that promise. I was hers, and she was mine.
Her hand trailed through my hair, and then came around to cup my chin, “Tell me you understand that David.”
I nodded jerkily.
“Out loud Slave.” Her voice was gentle but firm.
“Y-yes Mistress.” I blinked and essayed a small little smile, “I…I understand…”
“Good boy.” I gave a thankful groan as I felt her hands run through my hair again, and again, “What do you think, can you stand up for me?”
I felt like I could have kneeled there forever. Instead, I managed a nod, and she attached a leather lead to my collar, “That’s my brave boy.” She almost seemed to hover over me as I slowly clamoured to my feet, giving a low moan as the security plug shifted around in my rear. I had been so narrowly concentrated on my impending kidnapping that I had hardly felt the thing until just now. But it was there, and buzzing away contentedly to remind me that I was right where I was meant to be.
Standing upright also reminded me that I was definitely wearing a chastity cage, and that despite all the mental anguish I had been going through, my cock was still very cognizant of the catsuit, plug, and cuffs. And Eliza. She never failed to provoke a response…
I paused for a moment, mastering myself and my traitorous body, and then turned to her, “We have nets in the ceiling? And chutes? And…and…traps??” My voice sounded a little plaintive, “When did all those get installed?”
Eliza grinned and ruffled my hair like I was an adorable little pet, “I have a degree in engineering, a kinky brain, money, and plenty of spare time. At least, before I brought you into my life. Why wouldn’t I have this set up?” Her eyes were twinkling now with amusement, “Did you ever really think you stood a chance?”
I shook my head, partially in response and partially in disbelief, “I…I don’t have a response for that. Uhm, Mistress.” I flushed, and Eliza chuckled and flicked my nose.
“I’d have a robot kink butler if I could be arsed to programme the fucker. As it is…” She yanked me tightly to her by my collar, “You’ll just have to do, won’t you slave?” I opened my mouth to respond and she kissed me. Hard. Yet with her particular Eliza sort of sensuality. I always was a fan of her kisses, but this one was something else after the mental strain I had just been through. It was wonderful. She was wonderful. I moaned and returned the kiss as enthusiastically as I could, feeling myself melting a little into her arms. I felt her tilt me down a little, and giggled into her lips as she held me in place. God but that felt good.
She pulled away a few moments later, a hungry smile blooming on her face as we shared that small intimate little moment. Then she gave me a softer kiss on my lips, another on my nose, and slowly turned with me on her leash so that she could go back over to where the Kraken kink swat team was sorting itself out.
The Krakens evidently worked fast. By the time I was on my feet and looking around, the man from the latex sack had been pulled out, stripped of most of his gear, and placed in a green armbinder, green collar, and black hood. He was standing mostly still near the door, while the single male Kraken who had come down finished cuffing his legs. Sebastian had been pulled from his cage, and was engaged in quiet conversation with the blonde Kraken woman while the other Kraken flunky, a muscled, blocky woman with dark red hair cut in a short punk style, was busy strapping Sebastian’s unresisting arms into an armbinder.
“…heard me on comms, I tried to warn him,” Sebastian was saying, “It’s not my fault I got stuck with this…this…”
“Your conduct will be taken into account at the Review Board.” Vanessa told him soothingly, “I’m quite sure the Board is likely to go easy on you. Perhaps a week, no more than two, in corrections. But you will be returned to the teams, and this account will be considered closed. No black mark on your record.”
Sebastian gave a nod of thanks, his calm reserve flowing back over his stance and bearing, even as the armbinder was cinched tightly closed. The woman who had finished binding him had to practically stand on tiptoes to collar him. After one failed attempt she gave him a light kick on one calf, which was enough of a hint for Sebastian to kneel down to be hooded and collared. She snapped a leash to his collar, urged him back to his feet, and then handed him off to her male colleague.
As she turned back around, her eyes snapped onto me. I felt on display as they quickly flickered up and down my form, dwelling for a moment on my face, and then moving to Eliza and then away. The professional once over was unnerving, as though I was being sized up in a pair of seconds for the precise sort of restraints that could be applied in the most efficient and speedy manner. But there was no malice from the woman, like there had been with Prescott’s vindictive attention. Just the consideration of a professional kidnapper who knew her business. Nothing to worry about at all, right?
God but she could probably break me in half. The thought flitted through my mind as I watched her move, the smooth fluid motions outlining just how fit she was. Hell she probably was some sort of powerlifter. I thought about what things might have been like if she had been in charge, given the way she moved and her apparent quiet competence.
I shivered. Probably just as well, all things considered.
As she turned back to Prescott, shaking out another armbinder, the man in the net began spluttering with angry incomprehension. A slow smile traced up one side of the redhead’s face. I blinked. She was enjoying Prescott’s humiliation.
“Why aren’t you taking her?” He stabbed an accusatory finger towards me and Eliza. I crowded a little closer to my Mistress almost instinctually. One of her hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me tightly. I stared wide eyed and shivering from that protective embrace at the man who had been a chief feature in my nightmares, and swallowed hard. They weren’t going to turn this around were they? Eliza had won, had beaten them, they wouldn’t…
“Because you blithering idiot,” the blonde woman snapped, “Contracts and promises matter a hell of a lot more in this business than petty personal pride or grudges.” She gestured for the male Kraken near the stairs to join them, “I can just tell the former Team Leader here is going to be trouble. Please assist Rox in dealing with him.”
I looked over and down at Eliza. She was confidently surveying the scene, like a lioness luxuriating after a hard fought hunt had been won decisively in her favour. She strode closer, pulling me along beside her. We could almost have been out for a leisurely evening stroll, with her arm wrapped around my waist. I shuddered a little as we came closer to the now struggling knot of Krakens, and the blonde woman, but Eliza’s grip remained firm on me. She wasn’t letting go. She wouldn’t let me go. I was safe. Prescott was a filthy liar. I pressed back into Eliza a bit more, feeling a bit of tension leach away.
My Mistress wouldn’t abandon me. I blinked, eyes a little scratchy. I was safe again.
“I quite like having a team of bondage minions.” Eliza’s grin sharpened a little as the two Krakens found the release mechanism for the net which dumped Prescott unceremoniously onto the floor, “Want a cup of tea Vanessa? Maybe…something stronger to celebrate?”
The blonde woman, Vanessa, made a small moue with her mouth, “I’m still on duty alas.”
“I’ll have some!” I piped up, adrenaline and the giddy realization that I wasn’t going to be taken away giving me the sort of brash courage that would normally make me flush brilliant red to even consider it.
Eliza gave an amused snort and clamped a hand over my mouth as Vanessa eyed me, “Shush slave. The Mistresses are talking.”
I flushed a little in response, enjoying the tactile sensation of her hand tightly covering my lips. Eliza leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheek. I felt a rush of warm tingles flowing from the spot all through my body, and gave a pleased shiver.
“So this is your boy, hmm?” Vanessa gave me as thorough a once over look as I had ever experienced, even more so than the redhead, Rox. At least, since encountering Caitlin at Bondcon. I felt myself flush under her gaze, but leaned a little into Eliza and remained upright and more or less without the trembling I might otherwise have felt in my limbs.
“Yes.” Eliza didn’t seem to feel the need to elaborate the point, and Vanessa gave a considering nod to her. I felt a little thrill of pride at Eliza’s confidence in me and my status, and squirmed to stand a bit straighter. I swear Eliza’s lips nearly twitched into one of her crooked grins, but her hand just tightened over my mouth again. The two women turned back just as outraged squawking from Prescott announced that the man was indeed, not going quietly. The two of the traded soft conversation while I closed my eyes, not especially wanting to watch at the moment. I much preferred to simply bask in the Eliza’s presence.
“Don’t go drifting away on me David.” Eliza’s whisper caught me off guard, and I gave a little squeak of surprise at the feel of her lips brushing my cheek, “This is important for you to watch. I don’t want any doubt in that silly head of yours about your safety with me, alright?”
I opened my eyes and gave my best puppy dog eyes, but she just snorted, “Eyes front slave.” But she pressed herself into me a bit harder, as though to reassure me and herself, so that made things better.
Prescott had been stripped of all of his gear, as the other two had been, but had also lost his tunic, undershirt, and was in the process of losing his military style cargo pants. I saw him try to shove the man away, only to have Rox slam a fist into his solar plexus. Prescott went down wheezing to his knees, with Rox giving him a satisfied smirk, and the male Kraken yanked his trousers off with a growl of frustration, “Don’t be such a prick.”
“Fuck you!” Prescott snarled through his wheezing, “You can’t do this to me you bastards, don’t you know who I—mmmggghhh!” His words were cut off when Rox slammed his head down into the padded surface that he had fallen near. She held his head down with one hand, and used the other to hold both of Prescott’s hands behind his back. The nearly naked man struggled frantically against her. Somehow Rox made the whole thing look easy.
“Hold that thought,” Rox muttered, giving a grateful nod to her partner as the man cuffed Prescott tightly with a pair of steel cuffs. “Now don’t twist. I don’t think you or your potential playmates wants an ugly scar down here.” Prescott whimpered a little into the ground as Rox flicked out a small, sturdy looking switchblade and artfully sliced his underpants off in a pair of cuts.
“Would you care to use any of my gear?” Eliza asked casually, her grip on me betraying only to me just how not-casual she was feeling about watching Prescott get his just deserts, “I can suggest a few things if you would like?”
“Thanks, but I think Rox has things well in hand,” Vanessa gave a small sigh as Prescott gave a whimpering howl as the male Kraken fitted him with a chastity device. Rox meanwhile waited until she was given a thumbs up before firmly pressing a lubed plug into Prescott’s rear. The half strangled moan that the man made was clear enough for me. First time being plugged. Though, going by what seemed to be everyone’s attitude about him, I had my doubts that it would be the last. Rox, it seems, had similar ideas. She leaned down and whispered something into Prescott’s ear. The man practically squealed and tried to rear back.
“N-no, you cannnffuccckkkkmmmgg…!” Rox slammed him back into the ground, cutting off whatever protests he had planned to make, and grinned, “Pretty sure I’ll get my turn. And we’ll have a long, long talk, you and I. Something about proper career paths, I think you said last time, right?”
Prescott gave no answer to that apart from another muffled barrage of threats and moans, all made through a scrunched up face into the padded floor.
I wanted to cackle with relieved laughter.
Both Krakens hauled a struggling Prescott back to his feet. The male held him in place while Rox snatched up another armbinder and began yanking it none too gently up his arms. Prescott tried to struggle, then swept a savage scowl around, over Eliza and I, and then centered on Vanessa.
“You can’t do this to me, you up jumped moron. D’you have any idea the consequences that I can rain down on that pretty blonde head of yours? A month in the training cells will be the least of your worries once I let them know how soft you’ve gone!” Prescott raged as Vanessa stepped closer to him, “I’ll see you stripped and collared with a fucking Kraken on that pretty skin! Right next to that bitch and her slave! All three of you right where you belong! Bound and squealing at my fee—hgghhhmmgghh!!”
Vanessa shoved a large ballgag into Prescott’s mouth, cutting off the rising diatribe against everyone in the room. Rox assisted from behind in yanking the leather straps of the gag tightly before buckling it closed.
“Sweet silence.” Eliza murmured next to me, just loud enough that Prescott probably got to hear. He was gabbling into his gag, but the size of it made any speech unintelligible. I gave a nervous titter of laughter, and even managed to maintain my posture when Prescott’s furious glare tried to pin me in place.
Vanessa stepped back and straightened her attire, a small triumphant grin flickering across her face. She watched Prescott splutter and rage as the armbinder was cinched tightly into place, and her two goons began locking his feet in fetters.
“You’ve no idea how long I’ve wanted to shove that into your big mouth, you ass.”
I was watching all of this still with a half-disbelieving sense that this had to be some sort of hallucination or dream. Even with Eliza next to me, pressed into me, it made not a lick of sense that there were Krakens in the basement who were at least for the moment on our side. Some sort of sorcerous shenanigans had seemingly happened, an agreement of some sort between Vanessa and Eliza that was over my head and well outside my lane.
I contented myself with leaning back against Eliza, and giving a small moan into her hand that was still wrapped around my mouth. Eliza watched them for a moment longer and then drew me back and away from the hubbub of the room. The adrenaline was seeping out of me now, leaving me with a wrung out, trembling sensation throughout my body. I was starting to crash, and my normal shyness around strangers was beginning to reassert itself.
“I feel like I got slipped something,” I muttered as her hand relaxed from my mouth, “This all feels like some wacky hallucination. A kinky swat team?” My sputtering laugh had a slightly shrill note to it, and I bit it off before it got out of hand, “Are…are you sure you didn’t give me something Mistress?”
Eliza frowned at me, “You know I don’t like drugs Slave.”
I felt my face heat, “Sorry, I know. I know, I just…” The words tumbled to a halt as I gestured with my bound hands at the mass of Krakens half a dozen paces from us. Words failed me, once again, and I settled for giving an imploring look at her. I hardly knew how to identify the jumbled mess of emotions swirling around inside me at the moment. There wasn’t the faintest chance I’d be able to explain it to Eliza in words. Fortunately for me, she didn’t need my stumbling explanations.
Eliza wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled herself around to my front. The fact that I overtopped her in her casual outfit by a couple of inches meant absolutely nothing by now in terms of our dynamic. Hell, the look in her eyes usually made me wobbly at the knees anyway. It was odd, but I somehow felt just as submissive staring down at my Mistress as I did when I was on my knees looking up at her.
“I know today has been a lot Davey,” her voice was gentle, almost a caress on its own, “I still have to sort a few things out with Vanessa, and make sure everyone gets on their way properly. But I think you’d do better away from the crowd just now, hmm?”
I nodded, managing to mumble a “Yes Mistress. Please.”
Eliza nodded firmly, “Then I want you to go upstairs to my bedroom and wait for me until I’m done. You can get that big hood that you love so much, and just wait for me there, alright sweetheart?”
I nodded again, my eyes now darting over to the still free Kraken kidnappers, “What about—?”
Eliza’s eyes flashed ever so briefly, and her voice was momentarily hard. Reminding me as if I could ever forget that underneath the surface lurked that steely willpower and fiery temper that made her such a fearsomely protective woman, “No one left free in this house will even think of touching you David, except me.” She gave me a comforting squeeze, her eyes warming almost immediately, “You’ll be fine. I’ll see you up there in a bit, and you can show me all your hurt places that are in need of some tender loving care.”
I grinned in spite of my nerves and leaned into her for a moment, “Might be a long list Mistress.” I got an answering squeeze around my waist and then a gentle spank on my rear.
“Off with you.”
She gave me a little encouraging push, and I shuffled my way towards the basement door. Prescott had been further restrained, a tight isolation hood buckled snuggly into place, matched with a thick, tight collar and several more straps around his torso to further secure him. I gave him and the male Kraken a wide berth as I headed for the stairs. The two already bound forms of Sebastian and the other nameless flunky who had ended up in the sack were standing there, near the door. I found my steps beginning to stutter to a halt as I confronted the need to get by them. Which would involve getting close to Krakens. Despite having talked with the man while we were both caged…I just…I couldn’t…
Just when I thought I was going to stumble to an embarrassed halt or need to implore Mistress Eliza to get them to move, Rox was suddenly in front of me. She gave no hint at all that she had seen me struggling, but simply stepped in front of me for enough time to collect the leashes of Sebastian and the other man. Once in hand she pulled them firmly away from the stairs, clearing my path to the safer realm of Eliza’s bedroom. Almost as though she had always meant to collect them. Apart from an instant where I thought Rox might have glanced my way, she seemed to almost deliberately ignore me and my presence. I sent a silent thank you her way, grateful beyond words that I wasn’t the centre of any Kraken’s attention, turned back to receive another firm shooing gesture from Eliza, and then scampered up the stairs.
When I reached the top I gave a small groan at all the new scuff marks and dirt that had been liberally tracked and strewn all over the previously pristine floors of the kitchen, and what I could see of the hallway. Thankfully it didn’t seem like Prescott’s team had managed to do much more than give me a few days of extra cleaning work. Nothing was broken or too badly marred by their presence. From what I could tell, a hard week of scrubbing would remove any trace that my home with Eliza had been invaded at all by the Krakens.
My security plug thrummed as I entered the hall, and encountered another Kraken woman standing near the door. I managed a glance through the open portal behind her to see a large van pulled up with its open rear facing the house. Inside three bound and hooded forms had been locked in place on benches that ran along the sides of the vehicle. Their bondage was identical to that of Sebastian and the nameless fellow from the latex sack, easily identifying them as the other half of the failed kidnapping. Six Krakens to deal with one me. Who the heck did they think I was?
After a moment’s thought I amended that. Who did they think Eliza was, that they hadn’t brought more?
The woman at the entrance was slimmer than Rox, though still sporting a tough, atheletic build. She had close cropped hair, dyed a dark purple, and turned back into the house as I entered the hallway. She gave me a professional once over, the same sort of clinical gaze that Rox had deployed below, but somehow more unsettling. Maybe it was just a different sense about her, maybe it was that I was being stared down by a Kraken goon while I was alone. But I froze for a moment in my tracks, my still frazzled brain screaming at me to run, until the Kraken broke eye contact and turned slightly, saying something quietly into her radio. I padded by her as quickly as I could, always making sure I kept her in my vision as I rounded the corner and began to mount the stairs two at a time. That made the rising buzz of my vibrating friend most interesting to feel, but I couldn’t bring myself to allow a moan until I had reached the top of the stairs. Safely away from any more Krakens, to my mind.
I chanced a look back down the stairs, but the woman had resumed her post at the end of her conversation and was resolutely not looking in my direction. I stared for another few moments, marveling still at the weirdness of an organization like the Krakens existing, let alone being interested in acquiring me. Leverage or not, I still found it…odd…to be the centre of so much attention. Apart from Eliza’s attentions of course. She was…different. Better.
I noted more dirt and debris had been left up here as well, including the remains of a net that looked quite similar to the one Prescott had found himself in. I giggled a little. An absolute bondage maniac. I was living in a house shaped bondage trap. I was owned by an evil kinky genius. Brilliant.
The plug rose for a few moments more as I approach Eliza’s bedroom, but just as it was reaching the edge of comfort, it suddenly cut down from the budding roar of “How Dare You Slave!?” to the purr of “Good Slave” mode. I let out a loud moan of thanks, looking around surreptitiously. My entire time here, and I could count on one hand the number of cameras I had actually found. She clearly had them, since she had shown me enough video of me or the two of us, both in her video scrapbook and just random bits throughout the day. But she was a whiz at hiding this sort of stuff. Exhibit A through Z: the bondage traps. But I had no doubt now that Eliza was keeping an eye on me, and gooey feelings crept up inside as I entered the bedroom.
Even here hadn’t been untouched, and I let out an angry growl as I surveyed Eliza’s most cherished bondage gear flung about with abandon. The wardrobe they were normally kept in had been opened up for some mysterious reason likely only known to one of the bound idiots downstairs. Why they had thought she would keep me in there was beyond me, but they shouldn’t have needed to rip everything out to see that. Shaking my head at Kraken idiocy I quickly began to clean up the mess, picking up each piece of bondage kit as carefully as I could before re-arranging all of them in their proper places. Mishandling or misplacing Eliza’s favourite toys was not something I wanted to repeat today, and she deserved a hell of a lot more than returning to a torn apart bedroom. I paused only to remove the hood, one of my favourites, before I shut the wardrobe door and shuffled over to the bed.
Flopping down on it, the full weight of the day suddenly seemed to crash over me. I found myself clutching the hood tightly to my catsuited chest as I clenched my teeth. Hard. Strangling whatever it was that was trying to escape from my vocal cords. Running my hands over the soft leather of the bondage hood made things a little better, a small anchor of normalcy for me amidst the maelstrom of the day and my own emotions. I hoped that Eliza wasn’t going to take too long.
We’d been home for less than 48 hours, and the joy of Bondcon had been fractured for me. Not removed, I still would probably be able to delight in most of the memories in a while. But the happy afterglow of winning that obstacle race, of the wonderful stalls and shows…hell, even Red’s company by the end of the event, all of that had been subsumed by this jarring attempt to destroy what I had with Eliza.
I curled up on the bed, my eyes staring in the direction of the door, but unfocused. Doing my best to be lost in happier memories of what we had gotten up to in the room, and less on how close I almost had come to being taken away by the Krakens.
I wanted everyone else out of the house. I wanted my Mistress up in the bedroom with me. I wanted, more than anything, for things to be back to normal.