Limits

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Jude gently shook the still-sleeping Karen and, as she wiped the sleep from her eyes and sat up, handed her a cup of coffee.

"I thought the slave was supposed to make the coffee," Karen commented contritely.

"Well, normally yes but you were sleeping so soundly that it seemed a crime to wake you and you wouldn't want a copper committing a crime, would you?"

"But you're all dressed as well."

"Yeah, I figured you'd want a toothbrush, and we're low on milk so I popped to the corner shop." Jude looked abashed, almost as if she were ashamed of being helpful.

"Umm, well, I'm awake now. How can I thank you for getting me a toothbrush?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Jude said with a smile and, moments later, her clothes were in a pile on the floor and she was back under the covers with Karen.

"My coffee's cold," Karen commented when they resurfaced some time later. "I wouldn't dream of asking you to make me another, so I suppose it's time for me to get up and get on with the day."

"I thought you wanted to stay chained to my bed as a sex slave," Jude joked.

"Can I go to the loo first then, please?" Karen replied carrying on the joke.

"If you have to," Jude said, "but seriously, I'm ravenous. How about you cook us some brunch?"

"Certainly, Mistress. It will be an honour and a privilege."

"Don't be cheeky! Get your butt down to the kitchen immediately."

Karen slipped out of bed, grabbed Jude's spare bathrobe from behind the door and, with Jude following closely behind, went down to the kitchen to start cooking. And there, despite the rather unusual setup, Karen was in domestic bliss. A competent if unadventurous cook, she enjoyed providing for those about her and, as she plated up the mixed grill she had put together and put it on the table in front of Jude, she felt as if she was really providing for her man, or woman, or....

Whilst she was growing ever more comfortable in her relationship with Jude, Karen was still seriously confused as to exactly what her role was. Her rather old fashioned and closeted upbringing had taught her that a woman's place was to serve her man, to support him in his needs and requirements and, in many ways, what she was doing here was simply replacing that mythical man with Jude. After all, Jude wore the trousers both figuratively and literally. Meanwhile Jude liked her to take a 'feminine' role, liking her in skirts rather than pants and wanting her to look 'pretty'. Furthermore she really appreciated the 'gentlemanly' aspects of Jude, the way she held doors for her, the way she looked after her. Similarly she felt supremely at home making Jude's brunch.

But, if it were as simple as Jude being the 'man' in her life, she still wondered what others might think. She knew she would have to keep her new lover secret and that hurt; her heart was singing and she wanted to tell the world. Her brothers and sisters would just be amazed that she had embraced a lifestyle so far from the norm; they would be shocked and horrified into the bargain. As for her work colleagues, most of them had accepted Mel easily enough, but some hadn't and she wasn't, and never could be, Mel. Surely, once they found out, they would use her sexuality as yet another stick to beat her with.

Jude finished her plate and sat back looking content. Karen took this as her cue to whisk the dirty dishes away and start clearing up. As she stood by the sink her curiosity started to get the better of her.

"Jude, err... Mistress," Karen said as she rinsed out the pans prior to putting them in the dishwasher.

"Yes?"

"The cellar... I mean the playroom...."

"What about the playroom?"

"Can you show me around? I didn't get to see it properly on Friday."

"Show you the instruments of torture, you mean," Jude laughed. "What's brought this up?"

"I... I'd just like to have a look." There was no way that Karen was going to admit to her recurrent thoughts about what had happened to Lucy on 'the dentist'. And she surely didn't want to find herself similarly restrained, not to say used, but her curiosity had been piqued and she wanted to see exactly what else was down there.

"Well I'm going to get dressed. You finish off down here and when I return I'll give you the tour. Maybe even a few practical demonstrations," Jude said with a broad grin on her face.

"I didn't mean...," Karen started to protest.

"Uh uh. You started this; you can't back out now. If you're going to get awkward about things then there are plenty of toys down there that might help you to a better understanding of the full benefits of willing obedience."

"Yes, Mistress." Karen wondered what she had got herself into. They say that curiosity killed the cat, well, maybe it wouldn't kill her but it might put this little kitten into some very uncomfortable positions.

Jude came back down ten minutes later to find Karen using a Brillo pad to polish up the wire frame from the grill pan. She sat back and let Karen get on with it. Apart from any other benefits it looked like having Karen around meant that she was going to end up with a spotless kitchen. What's more Karen looked rather sweet in just a bathrobe and bright yellow Marigolds. She watched as Karen finished off and left the grill pan on the draining board to dry.

"Come along then. Let's see what's in the playroom." Jude stood up, went out into the hallway and reached for the key where it hung on its hook. Karen took off the rubber gloves and followed out into the hall.

"Ladies first." Jude unlocked the door and opened it, motioning to Karen that she should go through. Karen started towards the door but as she got there Jude stopped her.

"I don't think we need this," she said, plucking at the bathrobe. "Not quite the playroom dress code."

As soon as Jude said this Karen knew for certain that her trip to the playroom was going to be more than just looking, she was definitely going to get practical demonstrations as well but, after all, she had been the instigator and, although she was loath to admit it, maybe she'd been playing for this all along. She undid the robe, shrugged it off, and went back into the kitchen to drape it over the back of a chair. Feeling a little cold and a little foolish she returned to the hallway, went though the door and down the steps into the cellar. Jude gave her a playful smack on her buttocks as she went by.

"First things first," Jude said as she followed down the stairs behind her. "You had best learn how to light the fire. It's quite simple."

Jude showed her the controls to the integrated gas fire and in no time the artificial coals were heating up and warming the room with their red glow. The main room, the throne room, had little that Karen hadn't already seen. Indeed, Jude must have tidied it on Saturday afternoon. 'The dentist' had been put away along with the various bits and pieces, which had been left on the table.

However, on the other side of the divide it was very different. Karen had got a fair impression from what she had seen through the gaps on Friday. In comparison with the opulence of the throne room, here the walls had been left as bare brick and the floor was stone flagged, which combined to give the room a 'dungeon' feel. There was another gas fire, which Jude ordered Karen to light, but, even when warm, there was no way this room was ever going to be cosy. Also, in comparison to the near empty throne room, this one was quite busy with a chest of drawers, a bench right along one side, and four large wooden structures stored at one end.

At the front, where Jude had replaced it after Friday, was the low bench arrangement Karen immediately recognised as 'the dentist'.She already knew exactly how that was used, how it could hold a girl open and exposed so that the part of her so lewdly presented to the world was her well spread buttocks and all that lay between. She stared at it in such fascination that Jude couldn't help but notice.

"Memories of Friday night?" Jude asked with a smile. Karen just kept silent.

Jude then led her over to the next device, a horse, a little over waist high, similar to the one she had seen in the club. Karen reached out and stroked her hand along the padded top. The leather was beautifully polished and well cared for. Jude explained that keeping it that way would be one of her tasks after the next time it was used. As with the horse at the club, there were adjustable cuffs attached by chains to the four corners. At Jude's suggestion, Karen stretched herself over it so as to see how she could be positioned across the way or, if Mistress so desired, lengthways. At one end the leather surface was shaped with a central ridge. Again Jude insisted that Karen should lie along it so as to experience just how she could be positioned so that the ridge would put pressure on her most sensitive areas.

The third item was a St Andrews cross, two long beams, hinged in the middle like a pair of scissors. Both the crosspieces and the supporting network behind them were held together by butterfly bolts. This meant that, by choosing which of the numerous holes the bolts went through, the cross could be made as wide or as narrow as desired or adjusted so that the angle to the ground went from nearly upright to about forty-five degrees. The beams were well padded and leather covered, with straps at regular intervals to hold the victim in place. What Karen couldn't make head-nor-tail of were the complex fittings around the crux of the cross, until Jude showed how various hook shaped brackets which could be attached, so that the dildo on the end would impale the victim, either front or back, depending on whether she were facing away from or towards the cross.  Karen shuddered at the size of some of the dildos.

The final item was a set of old-fashioned stocks. The main component was a solid frame within which various cross pieces could be positioned anywhere from close to the floor up to almost shoulder height, depending on whether the victim was to be held by her ankles or by her neck and wrists.

"These must have cost a fortune," Karen commented as she examined the workmanship and quality of the various items. "Where on earth do you get them from?"

"There are specialist suppliers if you know where to look and, as for the cost, we've found from long experience that it pays to get the best we can afford and all the girls chip in. After all it may be my cellar but they all get to play with them," Jude explained. "Now, come and look at the rest of the stuff."

They went over to the bench, above which various whips, crops and floggers hung decoratively on the wall. Jude pointed out her favourites. Then it was on to the chest of drawers.

"Try the second drawer down," Jude urged.

Karen went over and opened the relevant drawer. Inside was a selection of vibrators and dildos of all sizes ranging from the tiny, as had been used as part of her chastity belt up to the sort of monster, which Beth had used on Lucy. In horror she picked up one of the bigger ones and studied it.

"Is that what you'd like me to use on you?" Jude enquired sweetly. "Do you think you could take a monster like that?"

Karen didn't know if Jude was serious or not.

"Please, Mistress, I don't think I could...."

"No, I don't think you could either. And much as we could have fun trying I don't want to end up damaging my property. I think we should try for something a little more suited to a beginner like you." Jude came over and stood beside Karen and picked out something considerably thinner and shorter. "This is your sort of size, for now anyway. You're a virgin, aren't you?"

"Yes, Mistress," Karen whispered.

"What's that, speak up girl."

"Yes, Mistress, I'm a virgin," Karen said a little louder.

"Shall I wear this as a strap-on and pop your cherry? Shall I?" Jude waved the dildo in Karen's face amused by the wide-eyed look of horror.

"Or maybe," Jude continued, "maybe we should leave that for another day. Maybe I should turn you over and come at you from behind. You'd like this up your bottom, wouldn't you? Oh, you'd pretend to be scared, to play the little innocent, but secretly you'd love it. If you were strapped to the cross then we could both pretend that nasty Mistress was buggering you against your will but we'd both know that wouldn't be true, wouldn't we?"

Karen was unnerved by how well Jude seemed to have read her inner thoughts. She did indeed have dark desires that she was reluctant to admit, even to herself. She would never, ever, willingly submit herself to the indignities that she had seen Lucy put through but if she were strapped down, unable to protect herself then.... The very thought was simultaneously thrilling and repulsive and this conflict troubled her deeply.

"But enough of this talk of penetration." Jude realised she had pushed Karen about as far as she could go, for the moment, and decided to lighten the mood somewhat. She put the dildo back in the drawer and pushed it shut before opening the one above it. "How about we smack that pretty little bottom of yours. Which do you fancy?"

Karen stared at the collection of crops and paddles that lay within the drawer. As with the dildos, the range stretched from the mild to the severe. One, shaped like a leather hand with a wooden handle reminiscent of a table tennis bat was almost comical. At the other end of the scale were thin whippy canes that Karen could tell would sting painfully even if used gently. She was drawn to the 'fly swatter' riding crops with their four-inch square of leather at the end, the ones which had been used during the 'pony race'. She reached in and picked one out.

"Is that the one?" Jude queried, taking the crop from her and swishing it through the air. "Is that what you'd like me to punish you with?"

"I didn't mean...," Karen started and, in truth, she didn't. She had been simply curious but now she realised that she had effectively chosen it. "If it pleases Mistress," she said, trying to cover her confusion.

"Smacking that gorgeous butt of yours will always be pleasing to me," Jude replied. "But let's not rush into things; let's see what other toys we have."

Together they moved on to the next drawer.  At first this appeared to be a jumble of leather, rubber and chrome but as Karen rummaged through she began to make sense of the contents. Apart from various cuffs with their attached 'D' rings, there were numerous gags of various types. Karen immediately recognised the ball gags; they were similar to the one Jude had used on her, back at the club. The ring gags were less obvious but when Karen picked one out to examine it Jude showed her how it worked, how, by forcing the mouth open it prevented the wearer from making any articulate sounds. The bar gags all had 'D' rings either end, making them look like the bits from horses' bridles. It didn't take much imagination to see that, whilst not as effective at silencing as a ball gag, these were more about control.

The final drawer contained a few odds and ends including the tails that the 'ponies' had worn during their race. At Jude's bidding, Karen picked one up and examined it. It consisted of two component parts so that the tail part could be used on various differing sizes of butt plugs, depending on the whim of the person fitting it. The tail itself didn't just affix straight to the plug but had a hard rubber strip which ran up between the buttocks to give the impression that the tail came from the base of the spine as it would on a real horse. There were four actual tails, three of which matched the hair colour of Beth, Lucy and Kathy. Karen wondered whom the fourth tail belonged to.

"So then, now that you've seen the toys in the playroom, the only question is where do we start?"

"I'm not sure...," Karen started.

"Whether you are sure or not is of no relevance," Jude retorted somewhat sharply. "You asked for this and it's too late to back out now. I intend to suitably restrain you and then spank your bottie, understood?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"However, as I'm a kind and generous Mistress I will allow you to choose how you will be restrained. You have seen the options; which one would you like to experience?"

As ever, the hardest part for Karen was to actively participate; as long as it was something that was done to her, she had the excuse that she was powerless to prevent it. However, if she were to choose then her complicity would be implicit and, as such, she would have to admit to herself that she actually wanted all these perversions. Sure, she knew that this tangled logic wouldn't stand close scrutiny, but it was important to her.

"Come along, now, don't keep me waiting," Jude said as Karen just stood there unable to make a decision. "Or maybe you'd like me to choose for you?"

"Yes please, Mistress," Karen felt safe again.

"How about ‘the dentist’? That seemed to grab your attention earlier," Jude suggested. Karen merely nodded meekly.

Jude went over and pulled the contraption to the middle of the room.

"Lie down. I know you understand how it works."

It was a bit awkward at first. With the main base coming only to the small of her back Karen had to support herself with her feet but, when Jude knelt down beside her and started fastening the straps, she was soon secure and going nowhere. There were four straps along each arm, the first just beyond the shoulder and the last fastening over the wrist. These were augmented with two much wider straps across her body, one just above and one just below her breasts so that, whilst she was free from the waist down, she was firmly secured above that. Then Jude took each ankle in turn, lifted it up, over her head and fastened it to the cuff that hung from the upright post. She was now bent double and spread wide open. Karen couldn't fight the desire to close her legs but it was futile; there was a little play in the chains but her position was fundamentally fixed.

"Now what else shall we use?" Jude said as she went back over to the chest of drawers. Karen craned her head to see but, whether by design or accident, the chest of drawers was beyond her very limited field of view. A few moments later Jude returned, put some bits and pieces down on the ground and knelt down beside her.

"This will do for a start; help to concentrate your mind." Jude leant forward and lifted up Karen's head so as to blindfold her. Although the blindfold was made of leather, the inside was well padded with soft velvet and, as it was fastened with the Velcro strapping, it proved to be light proof and Karen could see nothing. Jude was right, the blindfold did seem to focus Karen's thoughts and make her more aware of her body and the contorted shape it was held in.

"Open wide," Jude ordered. Karen did as she was told and felt the soft rubber of a ball gag filling her mouth. Once again Jude lifted her head to fasten the strapping behind her.

"Can you breathe?" Jude asked before putting Karen's head back down and Karen nodded in reply.

"Here's the bell," Jude added and Karen felt her hand being opened and something round and hard being placed into it. "You remember how to use it?" Jude queried and, once again, Karen nodded.

"One final touch," Jude said sweetly and Karen felt her nipples being played with; immediately they responded, getting harder and more prominent. Jude suddenly stopped and she felt a hard pinch on each of them, a pinch that went on and on and on.

"Perfect!" Jude said and Karen could almost hear the smile on her face. "Isn't this fun?"

Fun is not a word Karen would have used but she couldn't deny the intensity of the experience. Unable to see, unable to speak, unable to move, she had no way of preventing Jude from doing anything she wanted or even anticipating what that might be. The twin points of pain from her nipples were far from unbearable but seemed to be connected by little wires direct to her nether regions. She felt open, she felt exposed, she felt vulnerable; much as she trusted Jude, did she trust her this much, trust her enough to give her this absolute power over her?

Suddenly Karen's whole body shuddered as, out of the blue, she felt something, presumably Jude's fingertips, trailing down the inside of her thigh. Softly, gently and, above all, teasingly, Jude stroked and caressed her upper thighs and groin. All the time she kept up a running commentary but she really need not have bothered. Karen's whole world was centred around her groin. She was so focussed on the sensations from a million nerve endings along her inner thigh and the creases at the top of her legs that Jude's commentary was relegated to a background murmur. This half and half was far worse than she had expected; far better to have nothing than this teasing that left her nerves screaming for more. If only she would just stop teasing then Karen could feel the start of the orgasm that was gathering, an orgasm that would prove to be as earth shattering as every other she had had at Jude's hands.

On the other hand, if, as she suspected, she was to be spanked with the crop, then why, oh why, wasn't Jude just getting on with it. The crisp clean smacks with their purifying blend of pain and pleasure would be easier to deal with than this teasing, this endless teasing.

Jude ran the tips of her fingers along the very edge of Karen's nether lips and Karen couldn't help but respond by straining against her bonds, trying to push herself towards her tormentor, trying to open herself up further. A few muffled squeaks of frustration escaped through the confines of the gag.

"Ooh, you like that, don't you? Look how slick and ready you are," Jude commented as her fingers eased the lips apart. "Are you ready, ready to be spanked?"

Karen was dumbfounded by the question. How could she answer, she was gagged and unable to speak. She felt Jude's fingers pinching at her sensitive flesh and the frustration levels spiralled towards boiling point.

"Well, are you?" Jude prompted.

"Yes! Yes!" Karen cried out, but, of course, all that came out was unintelligible.

"Can't quite make out what you're saying." Jude said sweetly. "Was that a yes?"

"YES!" Karen screamed almost in rage but again no actual words emerged.

"I think that is a yes but I think you're not quite ready, there's one more thing to be done."

Jude withdrew her fingers and stood up. Karen wasn't sure whether she was happy or sad; her flesh certainly missed Jude's touch but at least the teasing had stopped. It wasn't long before she heard Jude kneel back down.

"Now then, this will go much easier if you can just relax," she said.

Relax! How on earth was Karen supposed to relax? She was as taut as a bowstring, physically, mentally and emotionally, and the last thing possible to her was to relax. Then she felt something blunt pushing at her sphincter and that just added to the tension. She wanted to cry out to Jude to be gentle, that she had tried with candle, quite a thin one, and had only been able to take a couple of inches, but there was nothing she could do, nothing to stop it, nothing to prevent Jude doing whatever she wanted. She tried to grit her teeth but the gag prevented even that.

At first Jude was having trouble getting even the tip of whatever it was past the tight ring. Karen could feel that it had been well lubricated but she was too tight, she was too tense. Then the tip overcame the resistance and she was being forced open, forced wide, wide open. At first it was merely a different sensation but it soon moved on to uncomfortable and that discomfort moved on to pain. She bit down harder on the gag; she couldn't resist it, she couldn't fight it, all she could do was lie there and take it. This was so, so different from her experiments with the candle; there she had been in control and had known from the start the size of whatever was being put inside her. Now she was deep into the unknown; how far would Jude push her, how far would Jude expect her to go?

The stretching reached a crescendo and Karen was close to tears when, suddenly the width narrowed and she felt her sphincter take a tight grip. She remembered the plugs that had been attached to the tails, how they had had a Christmas tree shape and now she knew for certain that one of those Christmas trees was inside her. The feeling of being stretched to breaking point was gone to be replaced by a full feeling; this was bigger than whatever had been attached to the chastity belt but not unbearable.

"There, that's better," Jude said as she stood back up again. "Now don't go away, I won't be long."

Karen heard Jude's footsteps receding and now she was all alone. Bound, gagged and blindfolded, all she could do was listen to the multiple songs her body was singing. The throb from her pinched nipples, the fullness from her behind, the unresolved tension from her nether regions all demanded a resolution; being left alone was the cruellest thing Jude could have done. In her mind she was begging Jude to just get on with it; she would gladly take anything, anything at all rather than be left alone like this.

Jude was so silent that she never heard her return which, of course, was the intent. She barely heard the swish before her buttock exploded with fire. The actual strike probably wasn't that hard, but the sheer surprise made her buck and struggle against the bonds which held her. She needn't have bothered; they were far stronger than she was, and she could do nothing to stop the next blow, or the next, or the next. Jude was a Mistress of the crop and the blows stung rather than hurt, but they were relentless and incessant and in no time Karen felt as if she had sat in a patch of stinging nettles. As the fire turned to an inferno Karen fought against the straps and chains only to find how, ironically, they helped inasmuch as they gave her something to fight against, somewhere to put the intensity of the sensations.

In her mind she could see how obscene she must be looking, how, with her legs wide open, her sex gaping and her bottom filled with the butt plug, with her nipples clamped and her ever reddening buttocks presented to the world, she could have no dignity; she had become what she despised, a depraved slovern, a wanton slut, a bad, bad, bad girl. But, as she wallowed in this self-loathing and welcomed the thrashing that such a one as she surely deserved, she also felt an elation, a freedom, an exaltation. For all the pain, for all the discomfort, she had never felt anything so strongly. It was as if she were alive for the first time. Here, bound and held, she could accept her needs, needs that had been suppressed for so very long.  She was floating, floating away in a multicoloured spiral of pain and pleasure, of good and bad, sweet and sour, heaven and hell. The relentless pounding on her buttocks was driving her higher and higher until she could take no more but she had no choice, she had no choice, she had no choice....

She had no choice but to surrender to the intensity of it all.

Jude sensed that Karen had reached her zenith so she stopped, put down the crop and knelt down to hold and cuddle Karen as much as she could, given the bonds that held her quaking body. Once Karen's climax started to subside she reached round as gently as she could behind Karen's head and undid the gag and the blindfold. Karen blinked from the light and flexed her jaw as Jude kissed her gently and soothed her as she would a baby.

"That was... that was...," Karen started.

"Shh. Don't try to explain," Jude said. "Now let me sort you out."

After a final kiss Jude reached for the nipple clamps and undid them. As the blood returned, they hurt far more than they had when the clips were put on and, now that she was coming down from the high, Karen was beginning to be aware of just how battered her body was. It wasn't just her backside, which felt as if she was on fire, a bad case of sunburn was the nearest she could compare it to, but her limbs were cramped from being held in this bizarre position and from having strained against the bonds. With the nipple clamps free, Jude knelt back up and went round to behind Karen and reached for the butt plug. It came out easier than it went in, mostly because Karen was more relaxed. Jude put it carefully to one side before returning and undoing the chains that held Karen's ankles. Moments later Karen was being helped to her feet. Karen reached round behind herself and rubbed her bottom.

"I rather fancy a walk in the park," Jude said as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "We'll need to find you some clothes though."

"All I've got is the dress and that's getting a bit manky."

"Yeah, we'll have to go to your place on the way. Tell you what; seeing as how we've got to take the car we'll make a day of it. Let's go to Beacon Fell. It's a lovely day and we could do with the fresh air. Come along. You can clean up in here when we get back."

And with that the two women left the playroom and went back upstairs.