"Ah, Miss Hunter, welcome to my home. Please, make yourself comfortable.”
Mary shook the guards hands from her shoulders and walked into the room, sinking down into a plush leather chair just to the right of the desk.
"I've been expecting you for some time my dear, in fact I was beginning to wonder if you were going to find me. We have a lot to talk about."
"That goes without saying, but how about something a little more strenuous than just …talking?" Mary asked, leaning forward to take full advantage of her natural charms.
There was silence in the room as Dante Graves looked at her and for the first time that she could remember in situations like this, Mary started to feel a little uneasy. "An enticing offer my dear, but I'm afraid not one that I'll be taking you up on. You see since our last encounter ended in such, disappointment, I've discovered something that guarantees that this time will be different."
"It's funny, but when you're an evil genius bent on world domination, you never really get the time to enjoy the world first. As I had considerable time on my hands while we relocated my operations I thought I'd indulge myself a little. In fact I came across something that has proven to be most useful, here see for yourself." He tapped a stack of paper neatly arranged at the edge of the desk and Mary reached forward to view the title: Evil"100 things not to do as an evil overlord."
"It's amazing, every mistake I'd made, written down for the world to see, no wonder you were always one step ahead of me Miss Hunter. But now, let's say I've learnt the error of my ways. For example, if you'll look behind you you'll notice that all your guards have been replaced by woman with an above average IQ, considerable training in resisting crude insults and none of whom have any amorous feelings towards members of their own sex."
"Oh, and here, I thought you might like to see a little show we've prepared just for you." Dante said, reaching out and pointing a remote control at the bank of televisions behind the desk. "That's your car I believe? I must congratulate you by the way, you really do have excellent taste in transport, Lamborghini is definitely the new Ferrari. It's a shame they have such reliability problems when it comes to the construction of their fuel tanks."
"What? There's no problem with..." Mary said, only to be drowned out as the microphone in the car park transmitted the sound of the explosion that ripped the yellow Gallardo to shreds echoing through the office sound system.
"As I was saying, a terrible shame, I do hope you were insured. Now what have we here?" Dante asked as the screen shifted to show a view of a backgammon table, the dealer seemingly oblivious to the fact he was being observed. "I believe you know this man rather, let's say intimately, yes?" Mary stayed still, forcing herself to appear disinterested in the scene in front of her, though her heart was in her throat. "No, I don't believe I've seen him before, though I wish I had." she replied, desperately hoping she sounded convincing.
"Well, in that case I would value your insight in your professional capacity." Dante said as four men in jackets with DEA written across the back came up to the table, hands firmly planted on the buts of their guns. "It seems he has been running a rather large drug ring right under my nose in this casino, a terrible shame to see one so young wreck his life but one must consider the greater good." Mary felt her blood boil as she longed to jump the desk and rip his throat out, but she was all too aware of the four guns trained at her from the corners of the room and knew she'd never get close enough to do any damage before she was cut to pieces.
"Now let's see, where were we? Ah yes, now that we've exchanged pleasantries and you're cornered, I suppose I should tell you the details of my ingenious plan, correct?"
"It's very simple really, as we speak twenty teams are heading for secret destinations with enough of the stolen toxin to kill several million people each. At a pre-arraigned time they will deposit the toxin into the water sources of the top twenty bottled water companies in the world. This will lead to the extermination of the middle class in all developed countries within two months, unless of course, the companies involved pay me a substantial ransom."
"That's.....actually, that's really stupid." Mary said, her shock at hearing Dante's plan overcoming her self-preservation instincts for a moment.
"Of course it is." Dante replied, "that's because there is no master plan, no attempt at world conquest, or extortion or anything else. The fact of the matter is, with the way things are going at the moment, I can kick back and relax for the next twenty years or so, live the life of a king off the corporations profits and get legally elected when the people tire of serving evil faceless corporations and decide an evil overlord wouldn't be such a bad thing after all if he went after the CEO's in between torturing the population."
“So, as you’ve don’t have any plan that I can technically call evil other than in the general sense of the word, I’ll just be leaving now, right?” Mary said, edging slowly back towards the lift.
“I’m afraid not, you see while I may be a super villain for the 21st century, I couldn’t quite bring myself to give up some of the perks of the job.”
“Now I realise I may not want to know the full answer to this question, but that would be what exactly?”
“Planning an elaborate and excruciating death for you of course, it’s a real job satisfaction moment, makes it all worthwhile. Of course, as I am an educated, streetwise kind of guy these days, I plan to watch you die rather than just assume everything worked as planned, but aside from that it’s pretty much the same as always. Oh, which reminds me.” Dante pointed at the sole remaining henchman, who walked forward and gently passed a bundle of black fur into his arms.
“Can’t do this without the right accessories after all, it just wouldn’t be the same passing a death sentence without a white cat…” He paused, looking down at the sleek, trim, groomed and above all jet-black cat currently cradled in his arms. He jerked his head at the now terrified henchman and waited as the underling scuttled over practically on his knees. “This cat is black. Why do I have a black cat? I mean, you’ve seen this done a thousand times, you know that it’s got to be white, white gives it that proper sinister edge, that certain evil something, a black cat makes me look like a frickin’ witch wanna be. Here, take this, this, this, thing away.” Dante practically threw the cat at the unfortunate man who was already starting to back away. He hadn’t gone more than a few yards when a trap door sprung open and dropped both him and the cat out of sight, to be replaced by a brief flicker of flame that reached into the room, accompanied by a hideous shriek from below.
“Remote control.” Dante said, bringing the unit out from behind his back “such a timesaver, I don’t even have to be sitting at the desk anymore, makes things so much more convenient.” He wandered over to the gaping hole in the marble floor and looked down. “Hey, I don’t remember ordering anything from KFC.” he joked, turning back to Mary who tried to glance around without being too obvious for any suspiciously large panel gaps in the floor. “Oh don’t worry my dear, that would be far too quick a death for you, but as you’re so eager maybe we should just move right on to the main event. I don’t think the starter would be very tasty anyway.” He chuckled, looking back over his shoulder at the flame pit.
He signalled to the guards and all four women fell into rank behind Mary, pushing her forward and making sure she couldn’t find even the slightest opening to attempt an escape. Dante fell into position behind the procession as they walked down a corridor and through a huge set of double doors into a warehouse-sized room. From the walls and ceiling hung large black boxes, the sides closest to the floor open but pitch black, hiding their contents from view. On the floor a silver frame stood upright, two circles of metal with a set of restraints mounted at the two, five, seven and ten o’clock positions. The frame itself was mounted on what looked like a cart, rows of silver wheels on all four edges of the square platform gleaming in the bright overhead lights. All over the warehouse were thin silver lines, crossing and re-crossing each other in a myriad of paths, which seemed to lead from anywhere to everywhere.
“Impressive isn’t it Miss Hunter?” Dante said, arms open wide as he came around from behind the guards to stare straight at her. “Built for a single purpose, to ensure that you can never threaten my organisation again.”
“Wait, I thought you said you were going legitimate?” Mary asked, seeing a possible way out of this mess.
“Alright, fine, it was built for revenge, a small portion of payback for all the misery you’ve put me through over the years. Us so called bad guys have feelings too you know.” Dante snapped. “Oh, and before I forget, as good as that dress looks on you I think I’d be happier if you couldn’t use any of your remarkable little toys, so….” He signalled to the guards and they moved in around her, ripping at her dress and underwear, lifting her up and pulling her shoes from her feet before putting her back on the ground stark naked. The guards stepped back and Dante moved forward, looking over the gorgeous woman in front of him with a critical eye.
“I thought I told you to take everything off her?” he asked, a snap to his voice. “Why did you leave the pendant?” And indeed there was a small silver teardrop hanging from her neck, a single light shining against the tanned flesh. “If you want something done right” Dante muttered, stepping forward and, in one quick motion, snapping the chain and throwing the pendant to the ground. “Now I think you’re ready for your last journey. I hope you’ve no lasting regrets.”
With that the guards picked her bodily off the floor and carried her to the frame. Her hands were snapped into position, metal restraints locking around her wrists as her hands were forced to grip a pair of metal handles. Her feet were slid under a set of bars and more restraints added to her ankles. As the guards stepped back a tingle shot through her body and her hands convulsed as a mild electrical current was turned on, not enough to harm her but enough to ensure her own body would add to her bondage by keeping an unbreakable grip on the handles. Finally a thin but sturdy metal belt was cinched around her waist, the cool metal making her squirm as it clicked shut. The belt was attached to a set of four mounting points, two directly above her head, the others dead centre between her spread legs. Satisfied his prisoner wasn’t going anywhere Dante stepped up to a pedestal mounted at the side of the track and positioned a finger over the single red button mounted there.
“Goodbye Miss Hunter.” He said, his mouth twitching into a smile as he slowly pushed the button home. A shudder passed through the frame and for a moment Mary thought it had broken as she felt herself tip backwards. Her hopes were dashed almost immediately as the frame came to rest in a horizontal position, holding her securely in place. The device rolled forward, following the tracks until it came to rest under the first box where it locked into place with a gentle click. The centre of the box above her glowed red, numbers forming against the blackness, changing so rapidly she couldn’t follow them. Gradually they slowed, stopping one at a time until they finally red 06:14. A second click echoed through the silent warehouse and from the depths of the box four robot arms descended, flexing and searching like mechanical tentacles, each arm ending in a closed fist of metal.
The first arm touched her flesh and as if they were called to her by that touch the rest zeroed in on her, coming to rest midway between her hips and neck. The fists burst open and Mary’s eyes widened in horror as she saw the long, flowing feathers embedded in the middle of each ‘palm’. Before she had time to protest the arms dropped down, tracing the contours of her skin with a delicacy that was totally at odds with their appearance. Mary was still in shock from the sight of the feathers, her mind not yet able to process the fate that lay before her and the attack caught her completely off guard. The first bark of laughter escaped her lips before she could catch it, and from that point on she was lost.
Above her the numbers started to change, counting down as the arms went to work. Over and over again they meandered over her stomach and ribs, their patterns always similar but with enough variation that she couldn’t quite anticipate where the next touch would come. With each stroke of those soft, teasing feathers fresh laughter was pulled from the hapless agent, not enough yet to be uncomfortable but more than enough to demonstrate her helplessness against whatever else this diabolical device had in store for her.
Suddenly a buzzer rang out over the warehouse and the arms pulled back, disappearing into the depths of their box as Mary tried to focus on the numbers above her. It took a few seconds but she eventually made out 00:00 blinking at her, as if someone had forgotten to set the clock on a VCR. Even though the arms had withdrawn she found herself giggling even without their touch as her body struggled to recover from its ordeal. The frame that held her hummed into life and started to roll forward, turning as it did so, flipping her body through a hundred and eighty degrees to hold her face down, her hair hanging free as it wheeled on to the next station.
As the frame locked into position the floor under her came alive to show a video image taken from her right, a wide enough shot to show her body in its captivity and the box above her. In the top right corner of the image the numbers reappeared and once more started their random dance. Mary held her breath as they started to slow, fully aware that whatever torment lay in store for her could last for over an hour with the possible combinations the thing could generate. She almost let out a sigh of relief as once more the numbers stopped below the ten-minute mark, this time showing 08:33. The relief quickly faded as she saw what looked like a medieval torture device drop into view.
A single straight arm of steel connected to a revolving wheel, and all around the edge of that wheel were stiff, pointed feathers, angled slightly to ensure maximum contact with the skin. At the top and bottom of the wheel were two thick paint brushes, each almost three inches across. The wheel descended until the tip of the brush touched her skin just above the small of her back, then the wheel started to spin on its mount, dragging the feathers across her body, the speed of the wheel changing at random as it worked.
As the feathers danced across her back Mary found herself twitching in her bonds, the laughter back full force as the ticklish sensations coursed up and down her spine. Once again she found herself slipping into a rhythm, the tickling enough to force the laughter but not yet enough to register as anything more than an annoyance. That lasted about a minute, then with a gentle whir the wheel moved downwards, passing over the small of her back and down until it rested on, or to be accurate, between her cheeks. There was a momentary pause as if the machine wanted her to be fully aware of what was about to happen, then it kicked into high gear, the wheel turning at a steady speed, the arm that held it moving gradually from side to side, ensuring that every inch of her backside was given equal attention.
The reaction was instantaneous. Mary threw her head back and howled, muscles straining against her bonds as she fought for freedom, the tickling now more than she could stand as it passed far beyond her comfort zone. The machine had been well designed though and no matter how she fought she couldn’t move so much as an inch away from that thrice damned wheel. Her laughter rose, becoming more and more frantic, and despite herself she started to plead, to beg for some sort of relief, of mercy from the machine. Every time the wheel passed between her cheeks she thought she was going to pass out, the feel of those feathers against such an intimate place was devastating, their stiff caress made all the worse for the sweeping touch of the brushes.
Far above, seated in a large black leather Laz-y-boy chair on a metal gantry, Dante watched Mary’s reaction on a large television panel in front of him. His right hand rested against a remote control and, with a flick of his index finger, he switched to a close-up shot of her face, drinking in the sight of this woman who’d foiled so many of his plans in the past with her eyes screwed shut, mouth open wide as she gasped for air around the reaction of her own body to this unique form of torture. Though he was alone in his eyrie Dante couldn’t resist commenting to himself on what he saw.
Mary shook the guards hands from her shoulders and walked into the room, sinking down into a plush leather chair just to the right of the desk.
"I've been expecting you for some time my dear, in fact I was beginning to wonder if you were going to find me. We have a lot to talk about."
"That goes without saying, but how about something a little more strenuous than just …talking?" Mary asked, leaning forward to take full advantage of her natural charms.
There was silence in the room as Dante Graves looked at her and for the first time that she could remember in situations like this, Mary started to feel a little uneasy. "An enticing offer my dear, but I'm afraid not one that I'll be taking you up on. You see since our last encounter ended in such, disappointment, I've discovered something that guarantees that this time will be different."
"It's funny, but when you're an evil genius bent on world domination, you never really get the time to enjoy the world first. As I had considerable time on my hands while we relocated my operations I thought I'd indulge myself a little. In fact I came across something that has proven to be most useful, here see for yourself." He tapped a stack of paper neatly arranged at the edge of the desk and Mary reached forward to view the title: Evil"100 things not to do as an evil overlord."
"It's amazing, every mistake I'd made, written down for the world to see, no wonder you were always one step ahead of me Miss Hunter. But now, let's say I've learnt the error of my ways. For example, if you'll look behind you you'll notice that all your guards have been replaced by woman with an above average IQ, considerable training in resisting crude insults and none of whom have any amorous feelings towards members of their own sex."
"Oh, and here, I thought you might like to see a little show we've prepared just for you." Dante said, reaching out and pointing a remote control at the bank of televisions behind the desk. "That's your car I believe? I must congratulate you by the way, you really do have excellent taste in transport, Lamborghini is definitely the new Ferrari. It's a shame they have such reliability problems when it comes to the construction of their fuel tanks."
"What? There's no problem with..." Mary said, only to be drowned out as the microphone in the car park transmitted the sound of the explosion that ripped the yellow Gallardo to shreds echoing through the office sound system.
"As I was saying, a terrible shame, I do hope you were insured. Now what have we here?" Dante asked as the screen shifted to show a view of a backgammon table, the dealer seemingly oblivious to the fact he was being observed. "I believe you know this man rather, let's say intimately, yes?" Mary stayed still, forcing herself to appear disinterested in the scene in front of her, though her heart was in her throat. "No, I don't believe I've seen him before, though I wish I had." she replied, desperately hoping she sounded convincing.
"Well, in that case I would value your insight in your professional capacity." Dante said as four men in jackets with DEA written across the back came up to the table, hands firmly planted on the buts of their guns. "It seems he has been running a rather large drug ring right under my nose in this casino, a terrible shame to see one so young wreck his life but one must consider the greater good." Mary felt her blood boil as she longed to jump the desk and rip his throat out, but she was all too aware of the four guns trained at her from the corners of the room and knew she'd never get close enough to do any damage before she was cut to pieces.
"Now let's see, where were we? Ah yes, now that we've exchanged pleasantries and you're cornered, I suppose I should tell you the details of my ingenious plan, correct?"
"It's very simple really, as we speak twenty teams are heading for secret destinations with enough of the stolen toxin to kill several million people each. At a pre-arraigned time they will deposit the toxin into the water sources of the top twenty bottled water companies in the world. This will lead to the extermination of the middle class in all developed countries within two months, unless of course, the companies involved pay me a substantial ransom."
"That's.....actually, that's really stupid." Mary said, her shock at hearing Dante's plan overcoming her self-preservation instincts for a moment.
"Of course it is." Dante replied, "that's because there is no master plan, no attempt at world conquest, or extortion or anything else. The fact of the matter is, with the way things are going at the moment, I can kick back and relax for the next twenty years or so, live the life of a king off the corporations profits and get legally elected when the people tire of serving evil faceless corporations and decide an evil overlord wouldn't be such a bad thing after all if he went after the CEO's in between torturing the population."
“So, as you’ve don’t have any plan that I can technically call evil other than in the general sense of the word, I’ll just be leaving now, right?” Mary said, edging slowly back towards the lift.
“I’m afraid not, you see while I may be a super villain for the 21st century, I couldn’t quite bring myself to give up some of the perks of the job.”
“Now I realise I may not want to know the full answer to this question, but that would be what exactly?”
“Planning an elaborate and excruciating death for you of course, it’s a real job satisfaction moment, makes it all worthwhile. Of course, as I am an educated, streetwise kind of guy these days, I plan to watch you die rather than just assume everything worked as planned, but aside from that it’s pretty much the same as always. Oh, which reminds me.” Dante pointed at the sole remaining henchman, who walked forward and gently passed a bundle of black fur into his arms.
“Can’t do this without the right accessories after all, it just wouldn’t be the same passing a death sentence without a white cat…” He paused, looking down at the sleek, trim, groomed and above all jet-black cat currently cradled in his arms. He jerked his head at the now terrified henchman and waited as the underling scuttled over practically on his knees. “This cat is black. Why do I have a black cat? I mean, you’ve seen this done a thousand times, you know that it’s got to be white, white gives it that proper sinister edge, that certain evil something, a black cat makes me look like a frickin’ witch wanna be. Here, take this, this, this, thing away.” Dante practically threw the cat at the unfortunate man who was already starting to back away. He hadn’t gone more than a few yards when a trap door sprung open and dropped both him and the cat out of sight, to be replaced by a brief flicker of flame that reached into the room, accompanied by a hideous shriek from below.
“Remote control.” Dante said, bringing the unit out from behind his back “such a timesaver, I don’t even have to be sitting at the desk anymore, makes things so much more convenient.” He wandered over to the gaping hole in the marble floor and looked down. “Hey, I don’t remember ordering anything from KFC.” he joked, turning back to Mary who tried to glance around without being too obvious for any suspiciously large panel gaps in the floor. “Oh don’t worry my dear, that would be far too quick a death for you, but as you’re so eager maybe we should just move right on to the main event. I don’t think the starter would be very tasty anyway.” He chuckled, looking back over his shoulder at the flame pit.
He signalled to the guards and all four women fell into rank behind Mary, pushing her forward and making sure she couldn’t find even the slightest opening to attempt an escape. Dante fell into position behind the procession as they walked down a corridor and through a huge set of double doors into a warehouse-sized room. From the walls and ceiling hung large black boxes, the sides closest to the floor open but pitch black, hiding their contents from view. On the floor a silver frame stood upright, two circles of metal with a set of restraints mounted at the two, five, seven and ten o’clock positions. The frame itself was mounted on what looked like a cart, rows of silver wheels on all four edges of the square platform gleaming in the bright overhead lights. All over the warehouse were thin silver lines, crossing and re-crossing each other in a myriad of paths, which seemed to lead from anywhere to everywhere.
“Impressive isn’t it Miss Hunter?” Dante said, arms open wide as he came around from behind the guards to stare straight at her. “Built for a single purpose, to ensure that you can never threaten my organisation again.”
“Wait, I thought you said you were going legitimate?” Mary asked, seeing a possible way out of this mess.
“Alright, fine, it was built for revenge, a small portion of payback for all the misery you’ve put me through over the years. Us so called bad guys have feelings too you know.” Dante snapped. “Oh, and before I forget, as good as that dress looks on you I think I’d be happier if you couldn’t use any of your remarkable little toys, so….” He signalled to the guards and they moved in around her, ripping at her dress and underwear, lifting her up and pulling her shoes from her feet before putting her back on the ground stark naked. The guards stepped back and Dante moved forward, looking over the gorgeous woman in front of him with a critical eye.
“I thought I told you to take everything off her?” he asked, a snap to his voice. “Why did you leave the pendant?” And indeed there was a small silver teardrop hanging from her neck, a single light shining against the tanned flesh. “If you want something done right” Dante muttered, stepping forward and, in one quick motion, snapping the chain and throwing the pendant to the ground. “Now I think you’re ready for your last journey. I hope you’ve no lasting regrets.”
With that the guards picked her bodily off the floor and carried her to the frame. Her hands were snapped into position, metal restraints locking around her wrists as her hands were forced to grip a pair of metal handles. Her feet were slid under a set of bars and more restraints added to her ankles. As the guards stepped back a tingle shot through her body and her hands convulsed as a mild electrical current was turned on, not enough to harm her but enough to ensure her own body would add to her bondage by keeping an unbreakable grip on the handles. Finally a thin but sturdy metal belt was cinched around her waist, the cool metal making her squirm as it clicked shut. The belt was attached to a set of four mounting points, two directly above her head, the others dead centre between her spread legs. Satisfied his prisoner wasn’t going anywhere Dante stepped up to a pedestal mounted at the side of the track and positioned a finger over the single red button mounted there.
“Goodbye Miss Hunter.” He said, his mouth twitching into a smile as he slowly pushed the button home. A shudder passed through the frame and for a moment Mary thought it had broken as she felt herself tip backwards. Her hopes were dashed almost immediately as the frame came to rest in a horizontal position, holding her securely in place. The device rolled forward, following the tracks until it came to rest under the first box where it locked into place with a gentle click. The centre of the box above her glowed red, numbers forming against the blackness, changing so rapidly she couldn’t follow them. Gradually they slowed, stopping one at a time until they finally red 06:14. A second click echoed through the silent warehouse and from the depths of the box four robot arms descended, flexing and searching like mechanical tentacles, each arm ending in a closed fist of metal.
The first arm touched her flesh and as if they were called to her by that touch the rest zeroed in on her, coming to rest midway between her hips and neck. The fists burst open and Mary’s eyes widened in horror as she saw the long, flowing feathers embedded in the middle of each ‘palm’. Before she had time to protest the arms dropped down, tracing the contours of her skin with a delicacy that was totally at odds with their appearance. Mary was still in shock from the sight of the feathers, her mind not yet able to process the fate that lay before her and the attack caught her completely off guard. The first bark of laughter escaped her lips before she could catch it, and from that point on she was lost.
Above her the numbers started to change, counting down as the arms went to work. Over and over again they meandered over her stomach and ribs, their patterns always similar but with enough variation that she couldn’t quite anticipate where the next touch would come. With each stroke of those soft, teasing feathers fresh laughter was pulled from the hapless agent, not enough yet to be uncomfortable but more than enough to demonstrate her helplessness against whatever else this diabolical device had in store for her.
Suddenly a buzzer rang out over the warehouse and the arms pulled back, disappearing into the depths of their box as Mary tried to focus on the numbers above her. It took a few seconds but she eventually made out 00:00 blinking at her, as if someone had forgotten to set the clock on a VCR. Even though the arms had withdrawn she found herself giggling even without their touch as her body struggled to recover from its ordeal. The frame that held her hummed into life and started to roll forward, turning as it did so, flipping her body through a hundred and eighty degrees to hold her face down, her hair hanging free as it wheeled on to the next station.
As the frame locked into position the floor under her came alive to show a video image taken from her right, a wide enough shot to show her body in its captivity and the box above her. In the top right corner of the image the numbers reappeared and once more started their random dance. Mary held her breath as they started to slow, fully aware that whatever torment lay in store for her could last for over an hour with the possible combinations the thing could generate. She almost let out a sigh of relief as once more the numbers stopped below the ten-minute mark, this time showing 08:33. The relief quickly faded as she saw what looked like a medieval torture device drop into view.
A single straight arm of steel connected to a revolving wheel, and all around the edge of that wheel were stiff, pointed feathers, angled slightly to ensure maximum contact with the skin. At the top and bottom of the wheel were two thick paint brushes, each almost three inches across. The wheel descended until the tip of the brush touched her skin just above the small of her back, then the wheel started to spin on its mount, dragging the feathers across her body, the speed of the wheel changing at random as it worked.
As the feathers danced across her back Mary found herself twitching in her bonds, the laughter back full force as the ticklish sensations coursed up and down her spine. Once again she found herself slipping into a rhythm, the tickling enough to force the laughter but not yet enough to register as anything more than an annoyance. That lasted about a minute, then with a gentle whir the wheel moved downwards, passing over the small of her back and down until it rested on, or to be accurate, between her cheeks. There was a momentary pause as if the machine wanted her to be fully aware of what was about to happen, then it kicked into high gear, the wheel turning at a steady speed, the arm that held it moving gradually from side to side, ensuring that every inch of her backside was given equal attention.
The reaction was instantaneous. Mary threw her head back and howled, muscles straining against her bonds as she fought for freedom, the tickling now more than she could stand as it passed far beyond her comfort zone. The machine had been well designed though and no matter how she fought she couldn’t move so much as an inch away from that thrice damned wheel. Her laughter rose, becoming more and more frantic, and despite herself she started to plead, to beg for some sort of relief, of mercy from the machine. Every time the wheel passed between her cheeks she thought she was going to pass out, the feel of those feathers against such an intimate place was devastating, their stiff caress made all the worse for the sweeping touch of the brushes.
Far above, seated in a large black leather Laz-y-boy chair on a metal gantry, Dante watched Mary’s reaction on a large television panel in front of him. His right hand rested against a remote control and, with a flick of his index finger, he switched to a close-up shot of her face, drinking in the sight of this woman who’d foiled so many of his plans in the past with her eyes screwed shut, mouth open wide as she gasped for air around the reaction of her own body to this unique form of torture. Though he was alone in his eyrie Dante couldn’t resist commenting to himself on what he saw.
