"The Good, the Bad and the Ticklish"
XXXX.
"You don't have to do this alone, Claudia," Jeanie told me.
I was tired. So much had to be done and organized.
Being Claudia the Ghul Mistress was not quite what I had expected.
Now, finally, my minions had captured most of the Ghuls and staff that Vanessa had under her command and many had already sworn loyalty to me.
But it did not matter. I would tickle and break each and every one of them. I would bind them to my will and it would be by my hand and my hand alone. I've always thought, if you're going to do something, you mind as well do it right.
"Vanessa is skilled, I am skilled," the Djinn insisted. "I don't sleep. If we worked together we could have them all committed to your cause in a mere day or so. If you do it, I fear it might take you even a week and it will drain you. Maybe dangerously so."
"I can go without some sleep," I said. "Bring them in."
Jeanie shook her head softly in total disapproval.
"As you wish," she said before leaving the penthouse.
She returned a few minutes later with one of the Huntresses. A tall blond girl named Charlotte.
She slept and was kept in silver runed shackles. They were all kept senseless; it was too dangerous to have them conscious. Especially those who had yet to be broken.
In the middle of my penthouse office Jeanie had set up a special rack in the center. I described how I wanted it and she somehow provided me with it. It was made, so the user (I hate the word "victim") could be seated with arms restrained above exposing underarms and allowing easy access to the back. Legs and feet were restrained in the front and legs could be raised for easy access to the feet. The body could also be reclined. I'd realize later that it was a standard design for a professional tickler, but Jeanie let me think I'd somehow contributed to the ages old art.
I thought it was clever and I was quite pleased with myself despite this knowledge.
Jeanie set Charlotte down gently on the rack and began restraining her. She was in her pink underwear and for tickling that would be good enough. To me, it was about domination and not humiliation. I didn't need her naked to tickle her witless.
She seemed like a young woman, but in truth she was probably around my age.
I nodded to Jeanie and she woke Charlotte gently.
The young Ghul stirred and was not surprised to find herself bound.
"I assume you know why you are here," I stated simply.
"You need foot soldiers and you mean to recruit them from the ones Vanessa had," the girl said simply.
"Would you serve me?" I asked. "I would be a fair mistress."
"I think you could have asked me that before placing me in this contraption. I'd serve, but I think you mean to send a message, hence the torture device," she said calmly. She had a sharp mind. She'd be an important asset.
"The message is a hard one," I admitted. "But I need this one to stick."
"Then by all means, go ahead," she said casually before growing serious. "I promise you this: I will not break easy."
"Good," I said up for the challenge. This was the kind of person I'd need backing me up.
I stepped behind her and I observed her back. She had a wide and muscled back but her frame remained distinctly feminine with the delicate curve leading to her waist.
He long blond hair was loose, so I took a brush and brushed it a bit before tying it into a neat ponytail.
I placed the brush in my pocket. It would still come in handy later.
With the ears fully exposed I started there.
She laughed instantly as I gently touched her lobes massaging and tickling. She had ticklish ears and I enjoyed touching them and gathering reactions from her. I went down to her neck and tickled lightly and she clamped her head to each shoulder trying to limit my access to her neck but it was futile at best. I'd simply tickle the other side. She laughed and jumped as I shifted from side to side.
Her armpits were milky smooth and perfectly shaven. I leaned over and nibbled on one side while I dug my fingers into the other armpit. She screamed an shook and her reactions started to have a more desperate air to them.
I went lower to her ribs and her sides and she went wild thrashing from side to side as best she could.
I lifted her legs and saw her feet. Big feet. Much bigger than mine. She had pretty soles although most huge feet are a bit unseemly.
I retrieved the brush from my pocket.
"No!" she exclaimed realizing what I intended.
I cut loose moving the bristles against her soles in a vigorous fashion. She went into a screaming maniacal laughter.
Such ticklish feet. So vulnerable, with so much sole available.
"Stop!" she shouted. "Stop, stop, stop!"
This was the sweet spot. The feet thrashed and the restraints went tight. She was not going anywhere and her more sensitive spot was mine for teasing and tormenting.
In her defense, she did resist. For a long, long time, I focused on her feet and they did not diminish in sensitivity. Her despairing screams and laughter were steady. When she finally gave in swearing her loyalty to me, she was a wreck. Sweat and tears drenched her face and body. Her eyes stared off blankly and Jeanie had to carry her away. The girl could not walk on her own.
I was exhausted. It was a battle of wills and though I had won, I looked at the clock and realized I had tortured her for three hours. This needed to go faster.
And it did. The next one was Jason. He did not say a word. He had already sworn loyalty, but I insisted.
He did not mind. He hopped on the torture device and even helped lock himself in.
"I'm most vulnerable on my balls, mistress. But my feet are a near second," he said coolly as if reciting a menu and the soup of the day.
His feet were huge. Bigger than Charlotte's by far.
I just jumped into his meaty soles with the hairbrush. He laughed loud like a giddy girl. He clearly was enjoying this. I stepped it up a notch, switching feet and occasionally stretching past to hid muscled torso. This pushed him beyond his comfort zone and in a few minutes he crumbled into desperate submission. I think he enjoyed it much more than I did though.
Ten minutes I saw had passed.
There was hope.
They kept coming one after another. Some were quickly dominated. Others like Dana required special attention.
Dana was the commando Huntress. Small of frame but she was a firecracker.
Her demeanor once restrained was different. She was so serious, so businesslike despite her preference for camouflaged underwear.
"I have perfected a secret Tibetan death trance. I can go days in a state of suspended animation immune to all that happens around me," she explained confidently as her face became calm and as expressionless as granite.
Sure enough, she focused and concentrated like no one I have ever seen before.
I decided this was going to be an interesting contest.
I teased her with gentle taunting and teasing. I drew a finger down her back. I gave her a swift unexpected poke to the rib cage. And then I spent some time placing a finger in her belly button and twisting it gently. She just stared ahead with no emotion and no reaction whatsoever.
She could have been a statue.
I observed and admired her technique. I could not have kept a straight face through that. No way, no how. But I wasn't about to let her have the best of me.
I decided that the best way to get around this kind of situation was actually quite simple.
Cheat.
I stood behind her where she could not see me and I waited.
When I believed the tension had been enough I drew near and I nibbled on her ear from behind. Just a soft gently gnawing. I did it on both ears dedicating time and sure enough the marble mask of indifference began to crumble.
Dana jerked ever so slightly when my hands unexpectedly kneaded her rib cage. I traced her entire rib cage feeling in and out of each rib. She held her composure.
I took a feather Jeanie had left on my desk with other tools.
I returned and showed her the long and stiff feather so she could see what I intended.
Her feet were small and petite but the toes long and narrow. She the toenails painted a military green. There were calm and motionless. Here breathing was slow and in control.
I stroked her soles drawing the feather up and down. I had already tickled quite a few people during and before my career as a Ghul. I had never seen anyone of those I had tickled capable of resisting like this.
I caressed her soles with the feather, twisting and brushing around and in between her toes.
And then I did something even I did not expect.
I sucked on her toes. And it took her completely off guard. I felt her leg stiffen first and then it began to tremble. I nibbled gently on her military green painted toes and I looked up at her face. The calm face had flushed red and the eyes stared out in front of her but they were shaking.
She lost it. She screamed and shouted and her entire body shook in unison.
Now any spot was ticklish as could be. Her belly, her underarms, her inner thighs.
She surrendered and promised and swore her loyalty to my cause.
"I swear, I swear! Let me go! Let me go!"
I continued a while. Maybe that was part of getting the message across or maybe it was just me reveling in my little victory.
"I'd like to learn that Tibetan technique some day, Dana," I said as she left.
"As you wish, mistress," she said exhausted.
I had gone twenty-four hours non-stop since then.
And I was tired. Vanessa's network was quite large in reality.
Some were easy to break, others resisted for hours.
I was getting tired but I refused to sleep or rest.
I called in Melissa.
"You called, Mistress?" she said as she entered the office.
"I did," I said.
"How can I be of service?"
"You can take a seat on the rack, if you please," I said.
"Why would that be necessary?" she asked suspiciously.
"I'm breaking each and everyone of my subjects by my own hand. That's you included."
"I've already sworn my loyalty to you," she said defensively.
"So you have," I said. "But I want to pop my subjects open and see what makes them tick."
"That is not fair," she said.
"I think it is," I said. "Do as I say."
Melissa obeyed.
"Will you be loyal?" I asked.
"You know I will."
"You were loyal to Vanessa but you still acted to your advantage to aid her downfall."
"You should thank me for that," she said.
"Thank you," I said smiling wearily. "I can't fully trust you, can I?" I asked her.
"Even bonded to loyalty you cannot trust anyone. Vanessa will betray you in a heartbeat. Has the Djinn not told you this?"
"I know I can distrust you and in a way it makes me trust you. Does that make any sense?"
"Not hardly. Your next question is: 'Can I trust the Djinn?'"
"Correct," I said impressed by her sharp mind.
"The Djinn will serve and advise you faithfully. In addition, she grudgingly likes you. You need not worry."
"Thank you," I said not certain why I found her answer so comforting.
"Was the advice worth getting me out of a session on this rack?" Melissa asked.
"No," I answered. "But it was worth enough to appoint you my first Ghul after me. After myself and Jeanie, you are next in command."
She smiled a satisfied grin and nodded in approval.
"I'm terribly ticklish," she said stepping out of her dress and sitting on the rack. "Be gentle."
"I will," I lied as I strapped her wrists and ankles in place.
XXXXI.
J'sella and I searched the large mansion cautiously.
It seemed quite obvious that it had been abruptly abandoned and it has not been so many days ago.
I found Claudia's clothes that were from the day she was kidnapped. They were thrown into the trash out back.
"There's nothing here," I said as we met ouside. "No trace, no clue."
"I would not say there is nothing here," J'sella said her eyes flashing as she studied her surroundings.
I could sense it too. Someone was watching us.
"Come out, now," J'sella demanded. "I've caught your scent. Show yourself."
A woman appeared.
"I am the Ghul Hanna," said a youthful woman. She was slim, even thin. She had dark hair and thin features with large round eyes that were hazel colored. She wore a tight black exercise outfit.
Dressed like that and youthful in appearance, she clearly seemed young but her demeanor betrayed her years. She seemed inoffensive but her eyes betrayed her with their apparent hardness and cruelty.
"I am Raymond Butler," I said.
"A Houri," the Ghul mentioned.
"So they say," I replied.
"With your Ifreet pet," she stated.
"Ifreet partner," I countered seeing anger build inside J'sella.
"She is not your slave, then she must be your pet," the Ghul said. "You are Houri but you are weak and rebellious. You are and open book to me. You do not know anything. You are a loose end that will cost the Houri more than they hope to gain. I will let the Houri destroy you themselves. Your pet, however..."
"Is mine," I said determined stepping in between her and J'sella.
"Your pet is exquisite," she said looking up and down at the beautiful Ifreet. "The great J'sella. She would satisfy my appetite quite well."
She was a predator. That much I was certain of.
And while I was thinking, I was simply acting the part of prey.
She pounced.
She pounded a fist into the center of my mass that sent me reeling.
She went after J'sella who was more prepared than I was and she turned into a column of fire.
But this woman had her number. She sent torrents of water against J'sella from her fingertips and from the sky as if nature itself conspired against us.
Clouds of steam blinded me as I struggled to get up and retain my bearings.
By the time I was up, it was over.
J'sella was drenched and semi conscious.
The slim woman was wet but with water. She had not even broken a sweat in the fight.
"I'll take you with me. Break you in properly and you'll serve the Ghul cause well," she said caressing J'sella's wet blond curls.
"Wait," I said. I was clearly out of my league but I still had cards to play.
"You should know when to stay down. I'm giving you your life. Don't waste it."
"Let her go," I insisted.
"Why would I want to do that?" she asked smiling at me as if I were a little boy.
"Because I know something you don't know and if I tell you, it would make J'sella seem like small potatoes."
"Would you gamble your life on that knowledge being something grander than the great J'sella?" she asked.
"Would you release J'sella if it was?"
"No... Ray... don't..." J'sella whispered.
"Agreed," she said sensing profit. "I swear by the universe."
"I swear by the universe," I replied feeling a surge jump through me.
"Well then, what is this knowledge?" she asked.
"I, Raymond Butler, am the 38th reincarnation of Hadrian Constantinius. I was Grand Master of the Houri. I killed so many Ghuls they called me Scourge. I led the Houri to their golden age and they called me Savior."
A wave of surprise passed briefly over her face and then immediately disappeared. She looked at me penetrating me with her gaze.
"I missed it," she said shrugging. She cast J'sella to the ground.
"J'sella," I called. "Find Claudia and Jeanie. Make sure they are safe."
The Ghul walked in my direction. I was beginning to understand magic and how it works, but the Ghul simply ran me down and her small fists and thin arms delivered a beating I was not soon to forget.
"Ray!" J'sella cried as the Ghul hefted me over her shoulder as if I was a child's doll.
"I promised to release you and release you I have," she said reaching into her pocket and withdrawing two round metallic spheres. "I leave you a gift. It's of the deadly kind, so don't get too close."
She clicked to balls together and threw them in J'sella's direction.
And then I passed out.
XXXXII.
How to describe tickling Melissa?
First off she is a beautiful woman. She is tall and slim but her curves are well designed.
Her underwear was black lace and it contrasted beautifully with her light skin. She had black hose with a garter belt and black pumps.
She oozed sensuality.
I pulled her shoes off and I admired her feet through the hose. They were about my size just her toes were longer and less round.
I danced my fingers on the sheer hose of her sole and as she said, she was indeed terribly ticklish.
She thrashed and laughed wantonly. Not nervously. Just very loud and very clearly and uninhibited. She was not enjoying it exactly. I was certain she would prefer not to be there, but her laughter was so wholesome, so genuine, so contagious... I just could not help myself and I joined her laughing.
I cut away the hose and I tickled her soft soles with my nails. Perfect soles. No blemishes, no callouses. Just perfectly kept soles. Her toes nails were painted a dark blood red.
They were even more ticklish bare and she laughed even louder.
I explored her body wondering if the feet were the most ticklish. I finally settled on her ribs which were most sensitive. Her trim belly was hard already, but it it tightened even more as I raked her ribs with my nails. My technique was better. I was sure of it. It showed. Melissa was certainly getting my best.
I fit my nails in between each rib and jiggled them with the right pressure. She just laughed and laughed as if she had been told some fascinating joke. I found the kind of laughter simply addictive.
I went on for almost an hour. She was red-faced and sweating and panting for breath. Tears streaked down her cheeks. She would eventually break, but it could still take hours.
I had seen enough of her resistance and I'd gotten to know her better through the ordeal if that made any real sense.
"Say the words and we end this," I told her.
"You only had to ask," she said. "I swear loyalty to you, Ghul Claudia. I swear by the universe. You only had to ask."
I let her go and it only took a few minutes for the sensual, confident and serious Melissa to take over once again.
"There's just one left over, Mistress," she said. "A minor one. I can break her for you if you wish."
"No," I said rubbing my tired eyes. Jeanie had be right. "I'll do it. Bring her and we'll end this."
"As you command, Mistress," she said after bowing and leaving be to my thoughts.
It wasn't easy being a Ghul. I thought about Ray and I shook my head.
Even if she found him, how would she piece together a life with him after all this?
XXXXIII.
Have you ever been awakened by tickling?
It is not an agreeable sensation. At least not for me.
I was awoken from a deep sleep by fingernails on my feet.
I awoke in an instant disorientated and lashing out blows.
They bounced off of Aldo's strong heavy frame he held me in place with an iron grip.
Behind Aldo stood the Grand Mistress. She watched me without emotion through her dark sunglasses. I tried my best to collect myself.
"I thought you would have left already," she said. "That was my command."
"Grand Mistress," I said kneeling humbly before her. "I live to serve."
"Why do I sense you have more to say?" she asked knowing there was much I had to share.
I explained Raymond's actions with J'sella. Capturing me, torturing me and his desire to rescue Claudia and Jeanie from the Ghuls. I retrieved the Hadrian's Gladius which Ray had not seen.
The grand mistress listened intently and held the gladius in her hand with a certain nostalgic longing.
"I see," she said once I had finished. "This explains much. I know that this Claudia is a Ghul mistress now and she controls this city. Jeanie has been dominated by her and serves her."
"I'm supposed to be the Seer," I stated shocked at what I was learning. "How can you know this?"
"A little bird told me," she said with a smile cutting with the gladius through the air.
"A dead little bird."
XXXXIV.
Something was wrong. Something had happened.
I was in daze by the tracks of the station.
I was nabbed by a zealous Melissa who did not hesitate to rub in that she was by better.
They kept me asleep as was to be expected. I dreamed strange dreams.
They awoke me restrained.
"This is the last one," Melissa said. "She was an easy one to capture".
My eyes were not my own, my ears were not my own.
Claudia looked tired. Tired and worn but satisfied.
She wanted my loyalty and I would give it to her eagerly. But she insisted in tickling it out of me.
She tickled and tickled and tickled.
The presence left and I was myself.
And it all came back. The Houri. Her plan. My demise.
"Stop! Stop! I'm going to explode!" I shouted desperately between laughter.
Could those words ever deter a tickler?
"The Houri, a bomb, a bomb!" I screeched.
Something clicked inside. Not a mechanical click. Just a sort of energy switch of some sort.
Claudia was tired and cloudy minded and she did not react.
Melissa was sharper and she understood; she rushed to Claudia and tackled her unceremoniously to the ground.
There was no saving me. Perhaps there was no saving them either.
I wasn't going to the Vault and meeting old friends and that made me sad.
But I was on my way to meet other friends.
A second I lingered and then I was gone.
To be continued....
XXXX.
"You don't have to do this alone, Claudia," Jeanie told me.
I was tired. So much had to be done and organized.
Being Claudia the Ghul Mistress was not quite what I had expected.
Now, finally, my minions had captured most of the Ghuls and staff that Vanessa had under her command and many had already sworn loyalty to me.
But it did not matter. I would tickle and break each and every one of them. I would bind them to my will and it would be by my hand and my hand alone. I've always thought, if you're going to do something, you mind as well do it right.
"Vanessa is skilled, I am skilled," the Djinn insisted. "I don't sleep. If we worked together we could have them all committed to your cause in a mere day or so. If you do it, I fear it might take you even a week and it will drain you. Maybe dangerously so."
"I can go without some sleep," I said. "Bring them in."
Jeanie shook her head softly in total disapproval.
"As you wish," she said before leaving the penthouse.
She returned a few minutes later with one of the Huntresses. A tall blond girl named Charlotte.
She slept and was kept in silver runed shackles. They were all kept senseless; it was too dangerous to have them conscious. Especially those who had yet to be broken.
In the middle of my penthouse office Jeanie had set up a special rack in the center. I described how I wanted it and she somehow provided me with it. It was made, so the user (I hate the word "victim") could be seated with arms restrained above exposing underarms and allowing easy access to the back. Legs and feet were restrained in the front and legs could be raised for easy access to the feet. The body could also be reclined. I'd realize later that it was a standard design for a professional tickler, but Jeanie let me think I'd somehow contributed to the ages old art.
I thought it was clever and I was quite pleased with myself despite this knowledge.
Jeanie set Charlotte down gently on the rack and began restraining her. She was in her pink underwear and for tickling that would be good enough. To me, it was about domination and not humiliation. I didn't need her naked to tickle her witless.
She seemed like a young woman, but in truth she was probably around my age.
I nodded to Jeanie and she woke Charlotte gently.
The young Ghul stirred and was not surprised to find herself bound.
"I assume you know why you are here," I stated simply.
"You need foot soldiers and you mean to recruit them from the ones Vanessa had," the girl said simply.
"Would you serve me?" I asked. "I would be a fair mistress."
"I think you could have asked me that before placing me in this contraption. I'd serve, but I think you mean to send a message, hence the torture device," she said calmly. She had a sharp mind. She'd be an important asset.
"The message is a hard one," I admitted. "But I need this one to stick."
"Then by all means, go ahead," she said casually before growing serious. "I promise you this: I will not break easy."
"Good," I said up for the challenge. This was the kind of person I'd need backing me up.
I stepped behind her and I observed her back. She had a wide and muscled back but her frame remained distinctly feminine with the delicate curve leading to her waist.
He long blond hair was loose, so I took a brush and brushed it a bit before tying it into a neat ponytail.
I placed the brush in my pocket. It would still come in handy later.
With the ears fully exposed I started there.
She laughed instantly as I gently touched her lobes massaging and tickling. She had ticklish ears and I enjoyed touching them and gathering reactions from her. I went down to her neck and tickled lightly and she clamped her head to each shoulder trying to limit my access to her neck but it was futile at best. I'd simply tickle the other side. She laughed and jumped as I shifted from side to side.
Her armpits were milky smooth and perfectly shaven. I leaned over and nibbled on one side while I dug my fingers into the other armpit. She screamed an shook and her reactions started to have a more desperate air to them.
I went lower to her ribs and her sides and she went wild thrashing from side to side as best she could.
I lifted her legs and saw her feet. Big feet. Much bigger than mine. She had pretty soles although most huge feet are a bit unseemly.
I retrieved the brush from my pocket.
"No!" she exclaimed realizing what I intended.
I cut loose moving the bristles against her soles in a vigorous fashion. She went into a screaming maniacal laughter.
Such ticklish feet. So vulnerable, with so much sole available.
"Stop!" she shouted. "Stop, stop, stop!"
This was the sweet spot. The feet thrashed and the restraints went tight. She was not going anywhere and her more sensitive spot was mine for teasing and tormenting.
In her defense, she did resist. For a long, long time, I focused on her feet and they did not diminish in sensitivity. Her despairing screams and laughter were steady. When she finally gave in swearing her loyalty to me, she was a wreck. Sweat and tears drenched her face and body. Her eyes stared off blankly and Jeanie had to carry her away. The girl could not walk on her own.
I was exhausted. It was a battle of wills and though I had won, I looked at the clock and realized I had tortured her for three hours. This needed to go faster.
And it did. The next one was Jason. He did not say a word. He had already sworn loyalty, but I insisted.
He did not mind. He hopped on the torture device and even helped lock himself in.
"I'm most vulnerable on my balls, mistress. But my feet are a near second," he said coolly as if reciting a menu and the soup of the day.
His feet were huge. Bigger than Charlotte's by far.
I just jumped into his meaty soles with the hairbrush. He laughed loud like a giddy girl. He clearly was enjoying this. I stepped it up a notch, switching feet and occasionally stretching past to hid muscled torso. This pushed him beyond his comfort zone and in a few minutes he crumbled into desperate submission. I think he enjoyed it much more than I did though.
Ten minutes I saw had passed.
There was hope.
They kept coming one after another. Some were quickly dominated. Others like Dana required special attention.
Dana was the commando Huntress. Small of frame but she was a firecracker.
Her demeanor once restrained was different. She was so serious, so businesslike despite her preference for camouflaged underwear.
"I have perfected a secret Tibetan death trance. I can go days in a state of suspended animation immune to all that happens around me," she explained confidently as her face became calm and as expressionless as granite.
Sure enough, she focused and concentrated like no one I have ever seen before.
I decided this was going to be an interesting contest.
I teased her with gentle taunting and teasing. I drew a finger down her back. I gave her a swift unexpected poke to the rib cage. And then I spent some time placing a finger in her belly button and twisting it gently. She just stared ahead with no emotion and no reaction whatsoever.
She could have been a statue.
I observed and admired her technique. I could not have kept a straight face through that. No way, no how. But I wasn't about to let her have the best of me.
I decided that the best way to get around this kind of situation was actually quite simple.
Cheat.
I stood behind her where she could not see me and I waited.
When I believed the tension had been enough I drew near and I nibbled on her ear from behind. Just a soft gently gnawing. I did it on both ears dedicating time and sure enough the marble mask of indifference began to crumble.
Dana jerked ever so slightly when my hands unexpectedly kneaded her rib cage. I traced her entire rib cage feeling in and out of each rib. She held her composure.
I took a feather Jeanie had left on my desk with other tools.
I returned and showed her the long and stiff feather so she could see what I intended.
Her feet were small and petite but the toes long and narrow. She the toenails painted a military green. There were calm and motionless. Here breathing was slow and in control.
I stroked her soles drawing the feather up and down. I had already tickled quite a few people during and before my career as a Ghul. I had never seen anyone of those I had tickled capable of resisting like this.
I caressed her soles with the feather, twisting and brushing around and in between her toes.
And then I did something even I did not expect.
I sucked on her toes. And it took her completely off guard. I felt her leg stiffen first and then it began to tremble. I nibbled gently on her military green painted toes and I looked up at her face. The calm face had flushed red and the eyes stared out in front of her but they were shaking.
She lost it. She screamed and shouted and her entire body shook in unison.
Now any spot was ticklish as could be. Her belly, her underarms, her inner thighs.
She surrendered and promised and swore her loyalty to my cause.
"I swear, I swear! Let me go! Let me go!"
I continued a while. Maybe that was part of getting the message across or maybe it was just me reveling in my little victory.
"I'd like to learn that Tibetan technique some day, Dana," I said as she left.
"As you wish, mistress," she said exhausted.
I had gone twenty-four hours non-stop since then.
And I was tired. Vanessa's network was quite large in reality.
Some were easy to break, others resisted for hours.
I was getting tired but I refused to sleep or rest.
I called in Melissa.
"You called, Mistress?" she said as she entered the office.
"I did," I said.
"How can I be of service?"
"You can take a seat on the rack, if you please," I said.
"Why would that be necessary?" she asked suspiciously.
"I'm breaking each and everyone of my subjects by my own hand. That's you included."
"I've already sworn my loyalty to you," she said defensively.
"So you have," I said. "But I want to pop my subjects open and see what makes them tick."
"That is not fair," she said.
"I think it is," I said. "Do as I say."
Melissa obeyed.
"Will you be loyal?" I asked.
"You know I will."
"You were loyal to Vanessa but you still acted to your advantage to aid her downfall."
"You should thank me for that," she said.
"Thank you," I said smiling wearily. "I can't fully trust you, can I?" I asked her.
"Even bonded to loyalty you cannot trust anyone. Vanessa will betray you in a heartbeat. Has the Djinn not told you this?"
"I know I can distrust you and in a way it makes me trust you. Does that make any sense?"
"Not hardly. Your next question is: 'Can I trust the Djinn?'"
"Correct," I said impressed by her sharp mind.
"The Djinn will serve and advise you faithfully. In addition, she grudgingly likes you. You need not worry."
"Thank you," I said not certain why I found her answer so comforting.
"Was the advice worth getting me out of a session on this rack?" Melissa asked.
"No," I answered. "But it was worth enough to appoint you my first Ghul after me. After myself and Jeanie, you are next in command."
She smiled a satisfied grin and nodded in approval.
"I'm terribly ticklish," she said stepping out of her dress and sitting on the rack. "Be gentle."
"I will," I lied as I strapped her wrists and ankles in place.
XXXXI.
J'sella and I searched the large mansion cautiously.
It seemed quite obvious that it had been abruptly abandoned and it has not been so many days ago.
I found Claudia's clothes that were from the day she was kidnapped. They were thrown into the trash out back.
"There's nothing here," I said as we met ouside. "No trace, no clue."
"I would not say there is nothing here," J'sella said her eyes flashing as she studied her surroundings.
I could sense it too. Someone was watching us.
"Come out, now," J'sella demanded. "I've caught your scent. Show yourself."
A woman appeared.
"I am the Ghul Hanna," said a youthful woman. She was slim, even thin. She had dark hair and thin features with large round eyes that were hazel colored. She wore a tight black exercise outfit.
Dressed like that and youthful in appearance, she clearly seemed young but her demeanor betrayed her years. She seemed inoffensive but her eyes betrayed her with their apparent hardness and cruelty.
"I am Raymond Butler," I said.
"A Houri," the Ghul mentioned.
"So they say," I replied.
"With your Ifreet pet," she stated.
"Ifreet partner," I countered seeing anger build inside J'sella.
"She is not your slave, then she must be your pet," the Ghul said. "You are Houri but you are weak and rebellious. You are and open book to me. You do not know anything. You are a loose end that will cost the Houri more than they hope to gain. I will let the Houri destroy you themselves. Your pet, however..."
"Is mine," I said determined stepping in between her and J'sella.
"Your pet is exquisite," she said looking up and down at the beautiful Ifreet. "The great J'sella. She would satisfy my appetite quite well."
She was a predator. That much I was certain of.
And while I was thinking, I was simply acting the part of prey.
She pounced.
She pounded a fist into the center of my mass that sent me reeling.
She went after J'sella who was more prepared than I was and she turned into a column of fire.
But this woman had her number. She sent torrents of water against J'sella from her fingertips and from the sky as if nature itself conspired against us.
Clouds of steam blinded me as I struggled to get up and retain my bearings.
By the time I was up, it was over.
J'sella was drenched and semi conscious.
The slim woman was wet but with water. She had not even broken a sweat in the fight.
"I'll take you with me. Break you in properly and you'll serve the Ghul cause well," she said caressing J'sella's wet blond curls.
"Wait," I said. I was clearly out of my league but I still had cards to play.
"You should know when to stay down. I'm giving you your life. Don't waste it."
"Let her go," I insisted.
"Why would I want to do that?" she asked smiling at me as if I were a little boy.
"Because I know something you don't know and if I tell you, it would make J'sella seem like small potatoes."
"Would you gamble your life on that knowledge being something grander than the great J'sella?" she asked.
"Would you release J'sella if it was?"
"No... Ray... don't..." J'sella whispered.
"Agreed," she said sensing profit. "I swear by the universe."
"I swear by the universe," I replied feeling a surge jump through me.
"Well then, what is this knowledge?" she asked.
"I, Raymond Butler, am the 38th reincarnation of Hadrian Constantinius. I was Grand Master of the Houri. I killed so many Ghuls they called me Scourge. I led the Houri to their golden age and they called me Savior."
A wave of surprise passed briefly over her face and then immediately disappeared. She looked at me penetrating me with her gaze.
"I missed it," she said shrugging. She cast J'sella to the ground.
"J'sella," I called. "Find Claudia and Jeanie. Make sure they are safe."
The Ghul walked in my direction. I was beginning to understand magic and how it works, but the Ghul simply ran me down and her small fists and thin arms delivered a beating I was not soon to forget.
"Ray!" J'sella cried as the Ghul hefted me over her shoulder as if I was a child's doll.
"I promised to release you and release you I have," she said reaching into her pocket and withdrawing two round metallic spheres. "I leave you a gift. It's of the deadly kind, so don't get too close."
She clicked to balls together and threw them in J'sella's direction.
And then I passed out.
XXXXII.
How to describe tickling Melissa?
First off she is a beautiful woman. She is tall and slim but her curves are well designed.
Her underwear was black lace and it contrasted beautifully with her light skin. She had black hose with a garter belt and black pumps.
She oozed sensuality.
I pulled her shoes off and I admired her feet through the hose. They were about my size just her toes were longer and less round.
I danced my fingers on the sheer hose of her sole and as she said, she was indeed terribly ticklish.
She thrashed and laughed wantonly. Not nervously. Just very loud and very clearly and uninhibited. She was not enjoying it exactly. I was certain she would prefer not to be there, but her laughter was so wholesome, so genuine, so contagious... I just could not help myself and I joined her laughing.
I cut away the hose and I tickled her soft soles with my nails. Perfect soles. No blemishes, no callouses. Just perfectly kept soles. Her toes nails were painted a dark blood red.
They were even more ticklish bare and she laughed even louder.
I explored her body wondering if the feet were the most ticklish. I finally settled on her ribs which were most sensitive. Her trim belly was hard already, but it it tightened even more as I raked her ribs with my nails. My technique was better. I was sure of it. It showed. Melissa was certainly getting my best.
I fit my nails in between each rib and jiggled them with the right pressure. She just laughed and laughed as if she had been told some fascinating joke. I found the kind of laughter simply addictive.
I went on for almost an hour. She was red-faced and sweating and panting for breath. Tears streaked down her cheeks. She would eventually break, but it could still take hours.
I had seen enough of her resistance and I'd gotten to know her better through the ordeal if that made any real sense.
"Say the words and we end this," I told her.
"You only had to ask," she said. "I swear loyalty to you, Ghul Claudia. I swear by the universe. You only had to ask."
I let her go and it only took a few minutes for the sensual, confident and serious Melissa to take over once again.
"There's just one left over, Mistress," she said. "A minor one. I can break her for you if you wish."
"No," I said rubbing my tired eyes. Jeanie had be right. "I'll do it. Bring her and we'll end this."
"As you command, Mistress," she said after bowing and leaving be to my thoughts.
It wasn't easy being a Ghul. I thought about Ray and I shook my head.
Even if she found him, how would she piece together a life with him after all this?
XXXXIII.
Have you ever been awakened by tickling?
It is not an agreeable sensation. At least not for me.
I was awoken from a deep sleep by fingernails on my feet.
I awoke in an instant disorientated and lashing out blows.
They bounced off of Aldo's strong heavy frame he held me in place with an iron grip.
Behind Aldo stood the Grand Mistress. She watched me without emotion through her dark sunglasses. I tried my best to collect myself.
"I thought you would have left already," she said. "That was my command."
"Grand Mistress," I said kneeling humbly before her. "I live to serve."
"Why do I sense you have more to say?" she asked knowing there was much I had to share.
I explained Raymond's actions with J'sella. Capturing me, torturing me and his desire to rescue Claudia and Jeanie from the Ghuls. I retrieved the Hadrian's Gladius which Ray had not seen.
The grand mistress listened intently and held the gladius in her hand with a certain nostalgic longing.
"I see," she said once I had finished. "This explains much. I know that this Claudia is a Ghul mistress now and she controls this city. Jeanie has been dominated by her and serves her."
"I'm supposed to be the Seer," I stated shocked at what I was learning. "How can you know this?"
"A little bird told me," she said with a smile cutting with the gladius through the air.
"A dead little bird."
XXXXIV.
Something was wrong. Something had happened.
I was in daze by the tracks of the station.
I was nabbed by a zealous Melissa who did not hesitate to rub in that she was by better.
They kept me asleep as was to be expected. I dreamed strange dreams.
They awoke me restrained.
"This is the last one," Melissa said. "She was an easy one to capture".
My eyes were not my own, my ears were not my own.
Claudia looked tired. Tired and worn but satisfied.
She wanted my loyalty and I would give it to her eagerly. But she insisted in tickling it out of me.
She tickled and tickled and tickled.
The presence left and I was myself.
And it all came back. The Houri. Her plan. My demise.
"Stop! Stop! I'm going to explode!" I shouted desperately between laughter.
Could those words ever deter a tickler?
"The Houri, a bomb, a bomb!" I screeched.
Something clicked inside. Not a mechanical click. Just a sort of energy switch of some sort.
Claudia was tired and cloudy minded and she did not react.
Melissa was sharper and she understood; she rushed to Claudia and tackled her unceremoniously to the ground.
There was no saving me. Perhaps there was no saving them either.
I wasn't going to the Vault and meeting old friends and that made me sad.
But I was on my way to meet other friends.
A second I lingered and then I was gone.
To be continued....
