After the Ball

Author's note: This is a sequel to my Halloween contest entry story "Laine Goes to the Ball." While it is not necessary to read that story to read this one, it may increase your enjoyment of this story to read the earlier introduction to Laine and Xanna. Thank you to everyone that enjoyed the original and encouraged me to write the follow-up. I hope everyone likes this one as well.

Laine squirmed in her car seat. The fresh piercing on her clitoral hood still burned. It had been a pain more excruciating than anything she had ever felt. Mistress Xanna had held her as the endorphins had taken possession of her body and mind; the small silver ring she now wore signifying Xanna's possession. She had sat quietly glorying in the sensations back in the aftercare room where she had dedicated herself to her Mistress a short time before. Xanna concluded her business with the organizers of the Ball as it ended. Eventually Laine had recovered sufficiently to drive and she was now following Xanna to her home. She had agreed to spend the rest of the weekend in training and she both thrilled and feared at what that entailed.

With every movement the piercing brushed against her swollen clitoris and sent a shiver of stimulation through her body. She was more than a little scared about what she had gotten herself into, but her body's craving for the dark calm that Xanna could give her outweighed any trepidations. If anything the fear added a delicious tingle to her hunger.

Xanna pulled off the road and up a driveway to a stately old farmhouse. Laine turned to follow, noting the anonymity of the location. It was set back from the road with no close neighbors. No one would be able to hear them... which was probably a good thing.

Laine parked the car and stepped out. She unlocked the backdoor and grabbed her bag. What luck she had brought a change of clothes with her which allowed her to change out of that silly pirate costume, she thought irrelevantly. Her mind was jumping at tangents to avoid the obvious. She followed Xanna into a charmingly decorated wood-paneled living room.

"Please sit my dear. You're a ball of nerves. I'm going to make you a cup of tea to help you relax." Xanna motioned to the blue and cream sofa in the middle of the room. Laine sat down, looking around with curiosity. The room wasn't at all what she had expected, but then what had she been expecting; leather and iron and exotic artwork? It was decorated in rather understated and simple good taste. The raciest thing in sight was a print of Picasso's "Blue Nude" which blended perfectly with the subtle decor.

Xanna went into the kitchen and put on the kettle. She glanced into the living room and saw Laine looking around. She could tell what Laine was thinking and grinned. Laine would be even more surprised by the room Mistress intended to have them wind up in that night.

Xanna quietly slipped downstairs to the basement to grab a few items she needed; a wicked grin on her face as she chose exactly which instruments to use. She clipped her choices to her belt and headed back to the kitchen. She came back upstairs to the kettle whistling and dropped a handful of medicinal herbs in to brew. While the tea steeped she stepped down the hall into another room. She lit a fire in the fireplace and checked to make sure everything was ready in the bed before heading back. Laine's tea was finished. Xanna poured a cup and joined Laine back in the living room.

"Thank you Mistress," Laine said, accepting the cup and sipping the earthy mixture.

Xanna put her hand on Laine's shoulder and she calmed at the touch. She took another sip of the warming tea.

"I want you to get comfortable my dear. I want to get to know my pet," Xanna whispered. Her hands massaged Laine's tense shoulders. "I want you to open up and accept love and pleasure in all of its forms, that's how to find true happiness."

Laine melted at her Mistress' electric touch. She felt Xanna remove the sweater she had put on in place of the pirate bodice she had worn earlier in the night. Her fingers played around the straps of Laine's bra. Laine shuddered, gulped at her tea and leaned back into Xanna's soft and willing arms.

Xanna's nimble fingers removed Laine's bra and began playing with the rosy buds underneath. "Mmmm...I thought about piercing these as well, but I figured I would space out my fun and do it another time," Xanna purred as Laine's nipples hardened to her touch. She took one tender tip between two fingers and squeezed. Laine stiffened at the sudden pain, stifling a small gasp. Then the glorious sensation of slipping into a sea of black velvet returned. She relaxed more deeply than ever before.

Xanna teased then twisted the other nipple. Again the shock caused Laine to tense then fall further into the darkness calling from inside her soul. "Ah, you like that, don't you pet?" chuckled Xanna.

Laine blushed and nodded, looking away in shame.

Xanna's hand tightened around Laine's breast and the other grabbed her chin and forced Laine to look her in the eye. "I don't want any shame or embarrassment. If you like something you respond, 'Yes Mistress.' Do you understand?"

"Yes Mistress."

"Yes Mistress, what?"

"Yes Mistress, I understand. I will answer you directly in the future." Laine croaked as she tried to catch her breath.

"Good girl," Xanna cooed and Laine felt giddily happy at the words.

One of Xanna's hands went down to her belt and brought up a short chain with small rubber covered clamps on each end. She continued to stroke Laine's breasts with her other hand as she placed the clamps on each nipple. Laine's whole body jerked in Xanna's lap; the pain ripping through her until she felt like she was shattering from the inside. At the apex, when she felt as if she were going to break apart, a wave of euphoria washed through her being. Laine's eyes filled with sharp tears that released with the flood of relief.

The room grew less distinct around Laine. The only things that seemed real were the couch underneath her, the searing pain focused on her chest and Xanna's arms holding her close. Xanna's fingers continued to play with the chain connecting the two clamps, causing Laine to repeatedly gasp and shudder. Her hand dropped lower and pulled off Laine's jeans. Xanna pushed back the lace panties and touched the piercing on Laine's hood. Laine's clitoris was swollen and throbbing from the continuing stimulation and at Xanna's touch she couldn't stop the orgasm that had been building. She cried out and her juices sprayed over Xanna's wrist.

Xanna lifted her hand to Laine's face, stern fire in her eyes. "Normally, I would punish a pet for cumming without permission. But I suspect you have had too few to really control yourself so I will be lenient. Clean up your mess." She pushed her damp hand to Laine's lips.

Laine licked her fluids from Xanna's fingers as the other hand went back to her massaging her mound around the still fresh piercing. They slipped around to her pink pussy lips. "I suspect I am the first woman to ever touch you." Laine nodded in response, her mouth still busy at its assigned task. "How many men have you been with? Xanna asked

Laine finished swallowing the last drop from off of Xanna's nails. "Three Mistress," she responded, trying not to blush again.

Xanna gave her encouraging smile. "Three. Go on. What did you do with them?"

Laine bit her lip and stumbled, "My first was my high school sweetheart. It was your typical prom night story; fumbling around in the backseat of a car looking over a quarry. It lasted about 30 seconds. We broke up about a month later. My friends are still pissed at me about it, but he broke up with me because I wanted to go to college instead of staying home while he worked at the rail yards. The second guy I met my second semester at State... he had some idea what to do. Or at least he did compared to my first boyfriend. Unfortunately it turned out the reason he was any good was he was practicing on more than one girl and we didn't last. The third..."Laine trailed off, not able to prevent blushing again. "The third, poor thing was my study partner in Contract Law. We fooled around a couple of times after finishing our work up and one day we went all the way. I'm pretty sure...I'm pretty sure it was his first time. He was so embarrassed afterwards he could never look me in the eye after that. And I was so embarrassed by him being embarrassed I just...kind of shut down. That happened last year. "

"My friends didn't exactly help either," Laine continued. "Two of them married right out of high school and the others are all engaged or dating the same guys they have since Junior year. We're from a small town where everyone settles down early with someone they have known forever. Only one of them other than me even went to college. They don't understand what it's like to try to date around a job and school and as for sex...forget about it. We might as well all be celibate for how much we talk. Maybe we all are for all I know."

Xanna's arm tightened around Laine and she nuzzled her neck. "My poor girl. You shouldn't feel ashamed. So what if your experience is...minimal. There is no shame in that. It means I get the joy of introducing you to more things myself."

Xanna's hand travelled again down Laine's back. She tugged at the waistband of Laine's panties and pulled them off. Laine shivered as her naked skin was exposed. "In the future, when you cross the threshold into the house I want you out of your clothes. A pet should appear naked before her Mistress. Do you understand?"

"Yes Mistress, "Laine said.

Xanna's left hand began playing with Laine's piercing again. The right went down her back, a finger gently stroking the welts she had created earlier. Xanna parted Laine's cheeks and ran a fingertip to the tiny puckered hole of her ass. Laine froze in shock. She had never had anyone touch that area before and the cold terror of the unexpected act was chilling.

"Hmmmm...I'm guessing by your reaction that you have never done any sort of anal play," said Xanna with a slightly sinister chuckle.

"No Mistress," Laine mumbled through clenched teeth, her body rigid with fear. Xanna's finger continued to trace along the outside of her hole, teasing it slowly. It twitched at the stimulation and Laine felt a cold shudder that resolved into a tense aching. A fingertip went past the opening and her whole body spasmed. Xanna pulled her hand a way for just a moment and Laine relaxed, but not for long. Xanna pulled out a tiny jar and dabbed a small amount of the contents on her finger and moved her hand back into place.

Laine felt a slick sensation on her backside then Xanna's finger went inside of her again; the slippery lubricant assisting against the struggling muscles. Laine let out a whimper, her body not knowing how to respond to this new experience. "Relax dear. Don't fight it. Don't fight ME. Just feel," Xanna whispered in her ear.

Laine unclenched her teeth and forced a stop to the panicked jerking of her body. She felt the pull of the sweet and calming darkness telling her what she already knew; obeying Mistress Xanna would bring deep pleasure and blissful release from her internal dialogue. Now that she was awakened to that bliss, that close approach to the void, she craved it beyond anything. She let herself slip in to the soft grey world. Her fear transformed at once into desire. Beneath the terror she could feel what Xanna was doing to the sensitive nerve endings and her body's response. She felt an unfamiliar, but not unpleasant gnawing hunger stir to life. Laine's glutes writhed on Xanna's hand. A moment later she cried out as an orgasm rippled through her surprised body. It was different from any she had ever had before; as if she had been shaken by catastrophic seismic forces and left intact.

Xanna cradled the girl to her bosom as she let Laine rise and fall in shuddering waves of ecstasy. Laine cried and came and collapsed and came again and again. The permanent knot between Laine's shoulders began to untie and her stiff neck felt nimbler then it had in years. Laine's eyes again filled and flooded with tears of relief. Xanna kissed the tears away, knowing that they were not from sadness but born of feelings beyond words. Laine shook violently as another climax seized her wholly. Xanna stroked a few more paroxysms of pleasure out of her but slowed her finger's work and in a few more moments removed it and held Laine close.

Laine's shaking slowed down as Xanna comforted her confused and still somewhat shocked body with gentle strokes and pets. "Good girl, yes just relax. That felt good, didn't it?"

Laine dazedly nodded her head then remembered to add, "Yes Mistress."

"It makes you feel like such a bad girl to want these things, doesn't it pet?" Xanna whispered in her ear. Laine nodded again. "But then by doing them you become my good girl and that makes you happy, doesn't it dear?"

Laine grinned gleefully and responded, "Yes Mistress. I want you to take this bad girl and make her good."

Xanna smiled down on Laine as she got to her feet. She unfastened several items from her belt and placed them on the coffee table. "Finish up your tea, then put these on. In the future they will be waiting for you on the table in the entryway."

Laine gulped down the last of her tea and looked on the table. There were two sets of cuffs, one for her wrists and one for her ankles, similar to the ones she had worn earlier in the night at the Ball. Sitting next to them was a simple strip of leather with a buckle on the back and an O ring on the front. Laine looked at the collar and couldn't contain a shiver at its implications.

Laine felt Xanna's hand on her shoulder in the familiar comforting way. She was outwardly affectionate, but her face was set in a stern expression. "This is your training collar. When you have it on, I expect total obedience. No questions, no recriminations and no explanations. Once we are done and the collar is off you can ask me whatever you want. And of course you can always stop by giving your safeword and removing the collar. But while it is on-I am in control. Are you able to give me that trust?" Xanna's tone and eyes softened with the last words and the hand on her shoulder gave her a gentle squeeze.

Laine was torn. A part of her cried out that she wasn't an inferior person to be collared and treated like a pet or... she ran away from the word... a slave. How could she do that even temporarily; to be demeaned and made subservient? She was close to panicking just at the suggestion. Laine raised her head to answer and met Xanna's eyes. The strength and emotion there made a very different argument. She remembered Xanna saying that real power was in being willing to give it up. She didn't believe Xanna thought she was inferior, but she couldn't stop herself from stammering, "Does this make me less of a person?"

Xanna embraced Laine. "No, no, never dear. Being submissive doesn't make you lesser or weak or a bad feminist or any of those negatives running through your head. It's the way you are and it isn't wrong. I want to help you understand that."

Xanna kissed Laine and helped her to her feet. Laine stood up straight, took a deep breath and picked up the set of ankle cuffs and buckled first one then the other. She followed with the wrist restraints, feeling the smooth leather circle her slim hands. Xanna looked on encouragingly as Laine picked up the collar and examined it. She ran her fingers over the surface. It was coarser then the leather of the wrist restraints, but thinner. The buckle was more elaborate, but not ostentatious. The O ring was simple and utilitarian. It wasn't heavy. It seemed as if minutes passed as Laine took in all the details, but it was really only a few seconds; her sense of time already fading away as she slipped further and further into twilight. She took one more sharp breath and put the collar around her neck.

Xanna gave the order, "Kneel!"

Laine obeyed, dropping to her knees with her face to the floor.

"Keep your back as straight as possible, bend at the waist and lift your palms up."

Laine adjusted her posture, changing from a slumped position to her one where her back was bent over at as close to a ninety-degree angle as she her body would allow and lifted her palms out in front. Xanna leaned over and attached a leash to the O ring. "Head up pet and follow Mistress."

Laine got up on her knees and crawled after Xanna fighting down the feeling of humiliation. Xanna had said to her earlier that she rarely ever made her servants crawl so she knew that this was a test. She was surprised as her shame and embarrassment passed rather quickly into a sense that on her knees serving was where she felt right. She felt a peace she had never known. The part of her that had always been perennially dissatisfied and frustrated was purring like a kitten in her breast. Every step took her deeper into the soothing darkness.

Xanna led Laine down the hall to a door and opened it. She tugged at the leash for Laine to follow. Her knees sank into a plush deep black carpet. Laine raised her head and looked around and couldn't stifle a gasp of shock, "It's beautiful Mistress." If she had been surprised at the front room this one was even less what she had been expecting. Other than the carpet and the black metal light sconces the room was stark ethereal white. The curtains were like gossamer wings covering a white Roman shade on the window. A huge white four poster bed dominated the room. Across from the bed was a fireplace with a white marble mantle. A fire was merrily burning, sending patterns of shadows around the room. The hypnotic flickering of the fire made it even easier for Laine to clear her mind of her nagging concerns and just relax in her servitude.

Xanna was so delighted at Laine's reaction she decided to allow her speaking out of turn to pass- this once. She would soon teach her new pet when to speak and when to remain silent. Xanna could see Laine drifting further and further into subspace. It was time to push her over the edge.

"Kneel."

Laine prostrated herself at Xanna's feet in the position she had been instructed to use. Xanna leaned over and released the leash. She ran her hand over Laine's hair. "From now on, you will only speak when ordered to answer a question. Do you understand?"

"Yes Mistress."

"Good girl," Xanna patted her head and Laine glowed inside.

"I want you to tell me what you are feeling. Describe it to me," Xanna said, her tone of command mixed with a touch of curiosity.

Laine paused for a moment then began, "It feels like I'm floating in an endless pool of blackness. But it isn't frightening. It's...soft. I don't know if that makes any sense."

Xanna patted her head again encouragingly. "Go on, it's soft?"

"It's like velvet cloth or an enormous blanket and I keep sinking in it and...it feels so good. So comforting and welcoming I want to just keep sinking. I'm sorry if I'm babbling Mistress."

"Not at all my dear. So it feels good to sink into the darkness?"

"Yes and...it feels like it wants me to go deeper. But I'm scared...I'm scared to lose myself."

Xanna smiled. She lifted Laine's chin up and raised her to her feet and led her over to the bed. "Isn't it just as likely you will find yourself in the dark?" Xanna asked. She stroked Laine's cheek gently and Laine's heart sang. If she could descend and not erase the person she was, but instead learn more than the darkness was a gift. A gift she couldn't thank Mistress enough for bestowing.

"Lie down on your stomach spread eagle," Xanna commanded. Laine obeyed, noting the chains attached to each bed post. She stretched out her limbs on the enormous mattress. Xanna moved around, connecting each of Laine's cuffs to the chains.