Chapter 18

Eight pounds of sleek-furred black cat hurtled out of the shadows as Valerie stepped across the threshold; Sammy was already purring audibly as her little face collided with Valerie’s shin.

“She’s never greeted me like that,” Dana scoffed in feigned disdain. Samus had been in her home for around two weeks, at that point, and had taken much less than half of that time to decide that Dana was in her home. She was nevertheless slow to warm up to the new, strange person, even if she had become a known food-giver.

It seemed that any progress Dana had made was now forgotten, with Valerie’s reappearance.

Valerie kneeled down to pet Samus, heedless of the way her collar pulled on the leash still held in Dana’s hand. Dana took a step closer to create a little slack in the leash, in seeming deference to the moment.

Valerie scratched the cat under the chin and examined the collar that Dana had apparently put around her furry neck, as well. It was leather with matte steel hardware, matching her own, in miniature. Sammy’s collar, however, was not padlocked.

“I guess we’re twins now, huh girl?” Valerie told Sammy, who just purred louder and pushed her forehead into Valerie’s hand. “I missed you, baby. I’m so sorry..” The tears that had threatened to spill out when Dana initially brought up the topic of her cat now poured freely down her cheeks.

Several weeks and several lifetimes ago, she had stood trembling on the other side of the steel examination table in the small veterinarian’s office. The tech was explaining the procedure needed, given the thready, white section on the digital x-ray; but Valerie could barely process the words. Samus was curled tightly in her arms, frightened and shivering in the strange environment.

She had maxed out her last two credit cards just to cover the examination fee, guilty over the knowledge that she would be unable to pay them off. The tech slid a treatment plan across the table, and Valerie felt deeply ashamed as she asked about their promise of a sliding scale. Even the lowest rate they could offer was out of her reach. She knew, as well, that there was no point in asking for financing. The bills in her mailbox were enough different colors that no credit agency would deem her worth the risk.

Samus would pay the price for her choices. If Valerie had better supported Heather, had not drained her savings to move, needlessly, in a fit of paranoia… The cruel enormity of the situation settled into Valerie’s heart like concrete, crushing and jagged. She should be the one on the table, she thought, not Samus.

The reprieve felt unearned and undeserved, and the ache of her abdicated responsibility was still an intensely burning acid in Valerie’s heart, despite the wildly improbable lucky break.

Dana rested a hand reassuringly on Valerie’s back, just below her collar. Valerie rose and spun and, for the second time in so many days, buried her sobbing face against Dana’s chest. “Thank you,” she repeated, over and over. “Thank you, thank you, thank you..” Valerie’s tears would leave water stains on the rich grey silk of Dana’s blouse, but neither of the two women cared. Dana wrapped Valerie in a tight embrace.

“I should’ve done more to help you…” Dana whispered in her ear, her voice uneven and near tears, too, after the emotion on display at the reunion.

“Thank you, thank you,” Valerie just repeated, hugging the woman back.

It was Samus that grew tired of the novelty first; with a mildly annoyed flick of her tail, she disappeared around a corner. Valerie calmed and mastered her emotions again after a time; she felt unaccountably embarrassed for the display as she wiped her tears away.

“Sorry— I’m sorry.. Your shirt—” she started, concerned as she stood back, noticing the damp streaks, already drying off-tone, in the silk.

“It’s nothing,” Dana replied simply. She squeezed Valerie’s shoulder, a small but comforting gesture. “Let’s drop your things upstairs and then I’ll give you the tour.”

The woman gestured invitingly past Valerie into the elegantly lit space beyond the door. Dana led Valerie up the stairs to the master bedroom, and then turned to face the girl as she stepped through the door.

“You won’t need that,” Dana said, smiling serenely; she held out a hand toward Valerie’s overnight bag.

The bedroom was not the same bondage-focused cell that Valerie had seen before. Unlike the imposingly functional concrete of that, the bedroom was beautiful and richly understated. It nevertheless didn’t shy away from telegraphing the woman’s tastes.

The wall opposite the door was a nearly seamless, floor to ceiling span of electrochromic glass; even now, nearly noon, it filtered out most of the light from the valley beyond, bathing the room in a dim bluish-purple glow that left the space feeling cozy and intimate. The heavily tinted glass still allowed a crisp view of the valley, all the more interesting for its rendering in dark, dreamlike tones.

To the left of the door, the bed frame was a functional sculpture of oiled wood and anodized metal that shone dark purple when the light hit it just right. The posts at the four corners rose well above head-height, and then curved inward and twined into something half-way between a canopy of twisting vines and a metal latticework. Nature overtaking technology, but both rendered in exquisitely detailed worked steel. Valerie saw too many convenient attachment points to easily count, and she was equally sure there were just as many she wasn’t seeing.

To Valerie’s right, the wall was composed entirely of minimalist dark walnut cabinetry with glass-inset doors, save for a pair of darkened doorways that she guessed went to an en suite bathroom and a walk-in closet. Diffused light glowed softly from behind each glass panel, showing off an assortment of impact toys, restraints, vibrators, and still more things that Valerie couldn’t easily identify; intimidating devices of leather and glistening steel. Dana had more materiel at her disposal than most commercial purveyors even had on offer, and from what Valerie could make out, they were all of the highest quality.

Valerie swallowed a mix of nervousness and anticipation that each of those, in turn, at some point, would be used on her.

“I, uhm..” Valerie looked down at the bag, mentally processing what Dana was asking for. She lifted the bag towards Dana’s hand, the uncertain movement a question.

“I’ll also take your clothing, and your phone.” Dana accepted the bag from Valerie, and set it on the floor behind her. She crossed her arms and leveled her gaze at Valerie, the corners of her lips teasing a smile.

Valerie handed over her phone, first. Somehow that felt like the most real step of any she had taken so far, and it sobered her. That little rectangle of metal and glass had been her conduit to the world, even if it was a world that was, on the whole, hostile to her. Now, her connection to the outside world was this woman— her mistress, standing in front of her, showing the very first signs of impatience, an almost imperceptible twitch of one manicured eyebrow, while she waited for Valerie to strip.

She wore the same clothes she had the day before— mended sweater and scuffed denim. She had packed her toiletries and clean underwear, but had not thought to bring actual fresh clothing. She pulled the sweater off, eager to show her good-faith compliance with her new role. She hesitated to drop it on the floor; the space felt too manicured for treatment so crass.

Dana solved the problem for her by stepping forward, hand out, to accept the sweater. She draped it over one arm; and repeated this for each subsequent item of clothing, until, moments later, Valerie stood naked, but for the collar that she couldn’t remove. She flushed under Dana’s appreciative, proprietary gaze.

Motion sensors illuminated the closet beyond with elegant, diffuse lighting as Dana disappeared through the doorway. She stepped back out a moment later, Valerie’s belongings no longer in evidence. Valerie stood in the same spot, still feeling somewhat awkward. She was unsure what to do with her hands, and had opted to fold them in front of her; her fingers worked against each other nervously.

She was warm, at least; the air in Dana’s was home comfortably heated against her bare skin. The rich, dark wood of the floor exuded a gentle warmth into the soles of her feet.

Dana stepped up and placed her hands on either side of Valerie’s face, and simply held her that way for a few long moments— a little like the woman was convincing herself that the situation was real— that she was real, Valerie thought. As the moment stretched longer, Valerie started to feel shy; she flicked her eyes away from Dana’s face, and drew back a tiny fraction. Dana stroked a thumb across the girl’s cheekbone, and then slipped her hand down to the locked leather collar and hooked a finger through the dangling attachment ring at the front.

She pulled the girl’s naked body against her own with enough force that Valerie stumbled the half step up to the taller woman; Dana slipped her free arm around Valerie’s lower back to both steady her, and to pull her in even tighter. She unhooked her finger from the collar and slid her hand up to Valerie’s chin, tilting it gently upward. Dana kissed the girl’s soft, parted lips.

Valerie emitted a half-moan, half-whimper at the treatment— not rough, exactly, but forceful, controlling. She felt a stirring and a faint hardness pressing against Dana’s leg. She rested her hands against Dana’s shoulders, gently, not pushing away even slightly; she longed to wrap her arms around Dana and hold her as tightly as she was being held, but forced herself not to. She reminded herself desperately that this was business, not love; that she was property and not partner. Her body, heedless, responded eagerly to the intimacy.

The kiss ended with a smile and a contented sigh from Dana. She stepped back, and again hooked a finger through Valerie’s collar.

“Come along,” she murmured. “Let’s show you around your new home.”