Page 156 of Heart of Stone

“You’re awfully skittish tonight, but there’s nothing to worry about. I’m here with you,” he said reassuringly, rubbing my shoulders. “But I have to warn you, just about anything goes down there. I’m not sure what we’ll find here tonight.”

“I’m good. Let’s go.”

He opened the black door and a set of long winding stairs came into view. The pulsing base of house music assaulted my ears. It was shocking loud actually, as I hadn’t heard a single trace of it when we were in the hallway or back in the subdued lounge area.

When we reached the bottom of the staircase, an entire new world opened up before me, revealing a twisting sea of dancing bodies. Some were in costumes and, just as Alexander had predicted, some were wearing normal attire. I saw a few individuals dressed in leather and studs, but I knew enough now to know that those people were not dressed for Halloween fun, but for the lifestyle.

My gaze traveled up from the dance floor to the high vaulted ceilings. The ceilings were extremely high for a basement, easily eighteen feet tall. Around the edges of the room, there was a caged platform that was filled with more dancing men and women. My foot started tapping in time to the pulsing music. The urge to dance swelled in me and I reached for Alexander’s hand.

“Let’s go dance,” I said, urging him towards the dance floor.

“Definitely not. You arenotgoing out on that floor to dance.”

“Why not?”

“A girl like you won’t be doing much dancing out there,” he said dryly, nodding towards the dance floor. I pinched up my face in confusion.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Never mind. We can go up there instead,” he said, pointing to the caged platforms.

We made our way up the short metal staircase that led to the platform. Alexander elbowed his way through the crowd of dancing people until we reached a place that was a little more secluded. He turned me around, and pulled my back close to his chest. I thought he wanted to dance with me from behind, but when I started to grind myself against him, he made me be still.

“Hang on. I want you to see something first.” I could barely hear him over the music and I reached a hand up to my ear, gesturing for him to talk louder. He leaned down closer and said, “Look down there. Do you see why I didn’t want you to dance there?”

I looked to see where his finger was pointing. I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped me. Down below, in the middle of the dance floor, there was an elevated stage of sorts that I hadn’t noticed before. A naked woman was being strapped to a St. Andrew’s Cross by two men.

Once she was secured, one of the men leaned in to say something to her. Whatever it was, she nodded, and the man stepped back to speak with the other man. They moved out of my line of sight for only a second or two before the crowd separated to create a large circle around stage and the woman on display. The music was suddenly lowered to a dull background noise, and replaced by a booming male voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen! In honor of the Halloween festivities, Kendra’s Master has decided to grant her wish of a public flogging!”

What? Is this actually for real?

The crowd cheered, while I stood there feeling like I had just gone back in time to Colonial America. I scanned the room, half expecting to see stocks and pillory at the ready.

“Alex, this is really messed –,”

SMACK!

I jumped mid-sentence, as the first lash of the flogger reined down on the woman.

“It’s all just part of the show, Krystina.”

“Yeah, but…” I trailed off as another thought occurred to me. “Have you ever participated in something like this?”

“Me? No,” he said with a shake of his head. “I told you – I’m not an extremist. Some people get off on public displays. To each his own, I guess. But that’s not my style.”

“Then why do you come here?” I asked.

“I come for the social aspect of meeting like minded individuals. Dramatic scenes of this magnitude don’t happen that regularly. The club usually reserves them for special occasions, like tonight for example. If I had realized that today was the Masquerade, I probably wouldn’t have brought you here. It can be a little intense, especially for a newcomer.”

SMACK!

The sound of another lashing forced me to look back at the bound woman. I was curious to learn why someone would want to be whipped like that in public. I tried to keep an open mind rather than view it as nothing more than a crude spectacle.

After every few lashings, the man that I assumed to be her Dom would pause to massage oil over her reddened backside and limbs. She would thank him profusely, and then he would resume again with the flogger.

SMACK!

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