WARNING! This story is only for adults over the age of 18 and contains Strong Sexual Content. It is intended as a work of fiction for ADULTS only, and the author does not in any way condone similar behavior. If you are under the age or 18 or reside in a state that prohibits such behavior, stop reading immediately!!!
"The Challenge" Chapter One Part One: The Challenge
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Copyright (c) 1998 by mailto:sfmaster@att.net Revised January 2002
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"The Challenge" by mailto:sfmaster@att.net
Chapter One: The Challenge
Part One: A Day in the Life
Thursday June 4, 1998
When Janet finally awoke, Stephanie was gone from her bed. Stephanie's bedroom was nicely furnished with a large bed, dresser, small desk and chairs, and an attached bathroom. Stephanie had used Janet the previous evening, first in the library then the bedroom. Janet lay beneath the sheets, which were a mess from their lovemaking. Feeling her skin, Janet was sticky from her sweat and juices from herself and Stephanie, and she desired a hot bath.
Around her neck was locked a leather collar, with matching bracelets on her wrists and ankles. The collar was chained to a ringbolt set in the wall above the bed, so Janet would not be going anywhere until she was released.
Janet fingered the stripes on her naked body, remembering how during the last week that they had been administered by both Stephanie and Camille. She traced the red marks, wincing when she found a tender spot.
Today was the seventh day of her service to Stephanie, Monday.
"Good morning, Mistress Janet," greeted Camille as she stood in the doorway.
"Good morning, Camille," Janet answered.
"Your week is up, Mistress," stated Camille, "time to release you. Your vacation is over."
Janet stood up from the bed, and Camille first released the collar chain. Then she unlocked the collar, wrist and ankle bracelets. For the first time in seven days, Janet was free of the instruments of slavery. She rubbed her wrists, and looked at herself in the mirror.
Naked, her body was clearly marked from her week in slavery to Stephanie. She saw the marks that the whip and crop had left behind. Her breasts, stomach, thighs, and bottom all bore the marks that she had been used again as a slave.
"Your bath is waiting, Mistress," said Camille.
"Thank you, Camille."
Janet followed Camille to the bathroom, where she had already drawn a steaming hot bath, with soapsuds floating in the water. Gingerly, Janet stepped into the bath. She winced at the hot water, but gradually lowered herself into the steaming bath. The hot water made her wounds sting and smart, but it felt good and sensual in the scented water. She lay back in the tub, almost ready to go back to sleep.
"Ahh, that feels good, Camille, thank you," said Janet as she sat back in the steaming tub.
"You have a busy day planned, Mistress Janet. And Mistress Stephanie is waiting downstairs with breakfast," pointed out Camille.
"Yes, thank you."
Janet was bathed and pampered by Camille. Her sweat was washed away, her skin treated for the marks of the whip. Her hair was washed and set, her nails trimmed and polished.
Then Janet was dressed for the first time in a week, having worn only the collar and bracelets. She put on her panties and bra, and applied perfume between her breasts then behind her ears. Janet then put on a blue business suit, and finished by applying a red lipstick and a light rouge on her cheeks.
Janet looked at herself in the mirror. While she had been a slave just an hour before, she now looked like any career woman. Except she wondered just what most people might think of her career!
"You look very nice, Mistress Janet," complimented Camille.
"Thank you, Camille. It was a pleasure being here for my vacation, and being used by you and Mistress Stephanie. Except that next time, you can use the crop on me more firmly. I won't break," advised Janet.
"I'll remember that next time, Mistress. Breakfast is waiting."
Janet led Camille downstairs, and they went into the dining room. Stephanie had a glass of orange juice in front of her, along with an open copy of the Times.
"Welcome back, Mistress Janet," said Stephanie, rising as she kissed Janet on the cheek.
"Thank you, Stephanie," replied Janet as she kissed her friend back in return.
"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, Mistress," stated Camille.
"Thank you," replied Stephanie.
"Pour yourself some juice, Janet. So, did you have a nice time here on your vacation?" Stephanie asked.
"Yes," answered Janet as she poured a glass of juice from a tray on the table and seated herself, "I was just telling Camille that she could have used the crop on me a little stronger."
"You certainly have a strange way of taking a vacation, Janet. I know of no other Domme who asks to be a slave for a week. I may ask Blanca to use me sometimes, just so that I don't forget what the whip feels like. But to be a slave again for a whole week! Sometimes I think that you enjoy being a slave more than a Mistress!"
"Really," Janet answered, "I'm sure that my slaves would beg to differ, the way I use them."
"Just so long as you enjoyed yourself," said Stephanie.
Camille, who had prepared a breakfast of omelets, home fries, bacon, toast, and coffee, interrupted them. She served the two of them, then withdrew to the kitchen.
"Mmmm, I'm hungry," said Janet.
"Yes, getting used does wonders for the appetite," observed Stephanie.
"I lost five pounds this week, Stephanie. You really should run a diet center," commented Janet.
"That's an idea, except I wonder if any of the commercial diet centers would let me use a riding crop," laughed Stephanie.
"I don't think that the FDA would approve," replied Janet.
Janet and Stephanie both broke out in laughter together. For a week, Janet had served Stephanie as her slave, in all of the often solemn and serious aspects of slavery. But now Janet was again free, and they laughed and chatted like two good friends.
They made small talk as they ate, consuming breakfast quickly. Just yesterday, Janet had been serving Stephanie. Today, she was restored to being a Mistress again. It felt a little strange wearing clothes once again!
Janet drank one cup of black coffee after another, enjoying the hot bitter taste as it went down her throat, warming her. It was nice, Janet thought, to be served, and not have to serve.
"Thank you Camille," said Janet when they finished, "that was very nice."
"You're welcome, Mistress," answered Camille as she began to clear away the dishes.
Both women rose from the dining room, and Janet followed her friend into the library. Stephanie seated herself behind the desk, and Janet took a chair. How often the two of them were in the library together.
"How does it feel to be leaving?" asked Stephanie.
"Great. Ask me that when I get home," Janet answered.
"What has Tina been doing for the last week while you were here?"
"Entertaining her parents. I paid for them to fly in, gave them a tour of New York City, a Broadway show, and so on, so Tina has been very busy," stated Janet.
"That's very good of you," said Stephanie.
"Thank you. Tina is now my assistant so I think that it's the least I can do for her, don't you agree?"
"Yes. I'm sure that they might have a different view of you if they knew how you used their daughter," laughed Stephanie.
"Quite," Janet answered.
"What else is on the agenda?"
"Paperwork, interviews, reports. Plus I have a report due at my job, so I want to get that done today," stated Janet.
"Janet, I don't know why you want to work," pointed out Stephanie.
"I want to keep busy, I don't just want to be one of the idle rich. No, my job gets me out of the house, gives me something to do, something to look forward to."
"Just so long as you like it," answered Stephanie.
"Well, I have to be going," said Janet as she looked at her watch, and rising from her chair, "thanks again for the vacation."
"Any time," Stephanie answered.
Janet and Stephanie both rose, and walked to the foyer. Stephanie handed Janet her purse and car keys, then opened the front door. It was June, and already quite hot, so even a light jacket wasn't necessary.
"Have a nice day, Janet," said Stephanie.
"Thank you," said Janet as she kissed her friend.
Janet's Miata convertible was waiting at the landing, and she got the keys from her purse. She opened the door, seated herself, started the car and drove off. Revving the engine, Janet enjoyed the sound of the exhaust. Stephanie opened the gate for her, and Janet drove out into the street.
Why go home?' Janet asked herself, I've been in chains all week, I want to drive!'
Janet pulled over to a parking lot and removed a scarf from the glove compartment, and tied it over her hair. Inside was also a pair of sunglasses, and then she removed her cell phone from her purse. She called Tina to say that she was going for a short drive, and to hold lunch.
"Okay Mistress," Janet said aloud, "let's drive!"
Pulling out of Greenwich, Janet found her way onto a country road where she could open the car up, and she enjoyed the sound of the exhaust and the wind blowing onto her face. Never breaking the speed limit (in her position as a Domme, the last thing she wanted to do was to call attention to herself) Janet drove fast and hard.
The car, a red Mazda Convertible, had been a gift from one of her slaves. Jessica had recommended a friend of hers, Helen, to Janet two years earlier. Janet had trained her, but she was never sure if the woman had even liked being a slave. Until one day when the car had been delivered to her house! Janet had accepted the car, and kept it registered for only six months during the year. It had displaced the Toyota in the garage, which now stayed outside.
After enjoying a nice drive, Janet aimed the car for home. It would be nice just to keep driving, without a care. But Janet Davis, Dominatrix, had responsibilities to fulfill. Just as Stephanie would now be sitting down to her paperwork, Janet would have to attend to hers. Tina would have her complete schedule. Slaves to be trained, reports read, interviews. Janet had discovered that the life of a Domme was a busy one!
Tomorrow, Janet and Jessica would be attending a fundraiser in Greenwich for a new cultural center. Janet, being a member of Greenwich society, had made a contribution, and was now expected to make an appearance.
To give Janet a cover in Greenwich, Jessica had arranged a part-time job for her at one of the companies that she owned stock in at their corporate offices at a nearby office park. Janet was now a woman of means, who owned an estate, and had a job also.
Actually, Janet thought, it was good to wear a suit again, and going to work a few hours each week. She had an office, and a secretary, and put to use the skills and experience that she had gained from her own work experience. Janet had remembered the advice that Erica had given her, and had taken it.
Janet swung her car into her driveway, and punched the button for the gate. She drove inside, and up to her landing. While Janet may have been on vacation, she didn't have any bags when she was serving Stephanie as a slave.
"Mistress Janet," greeted Tina as she opened the front door.
"Tina."
"Did you have a nice time at Stephanie's?" asked Tina.
"Yes, Tina," Janet answered as she entered the foyer, and Tina closed the door behind her.
"Your schedule in on the desk in the library, Mistress."
"Thank you, Tina," said Janet.
On top of the printed schedule was a greeting card, Janet opened it, and found it was a thank you card from Tina's parents. When Janet looked up, she saw that Tina had entered the library and was looking at her.
"Did you and your parents have a nice time?" Janet asked.
"Yes, Mistress, thank you. We had a wonderful time. But how did you get those tickets to that show? They've been sold out for months," said Tina.
"Let's just say that someone in that theatre happens to be my slave, Tina."
"Thank you, Mistress," Tina walked over and gave her Mistress a hug and kiss.
"You're welcome, Tina."
"Mistress, can I show you something?" asked Tina.
"Sure."
"During your vacation, I was cleaning the paneling here in the library, and I found something," said Tina.
"What was that?"
Tina walked over to the wall, and began to knock at the wood. She banged away, until a section sounded different than the others.
"It's hollow, Mistress. Like there's something behind the wood," suggested Tina.
"You're right, Tina," said Janet.
Janet banged away at one section at a time, and established the boundaries of the open area within.
"Interesting," mused Janet, "in the movies, there's usually a catch somewhere."
Janet pressed away at one spot and another, and finally her efforts were rewarded when the paneling clicked open.
"Hmmm," said Janet, "success!"
"I wonder what's inside?" asked Tina.
"One way to find out," said Janet as she opened the panel further.
"A safe!" said Tina.
Janet tried the handle, and found it was securely locked. She turned the combination lock a few times, and the door still stayed closed.
"Locked. Damn!" exclaimed Janet.
"Perhaps you should call Mistress Blanca," suggested Tina.
"Not a bad idea," Janet answered.
Janet picked up the cordless phone, and punched in Blanca's number. She was surprised to find her lawyer on the other end.
"Janet, what can I do for you?" asked Blanca.
"I'm glad to get you in the office."
"Just back from court, what's up?"
"Found a wall safe in the library, that's locked. Did you know if Erica ever had a safe?"
"No, but it wouldn't surprise me," answered Blanca.
"Any ideas on how to get it open?" asked Janet.
"Sure, Sing-Sing is just over the border," laughed Blanca.
"Remind me to spank you when I see you next."
"Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, let me go through my Rolodex file and I'll find someone in Greenwich to help open it...There we go."
Blanca gave Janet the name of a company in Greenwich to call.
"Thank you, Blanca."
"Glad I could help, have to go. Clients coming in," said Blanca.
"Bye," said Janet.
Janet heard the connection cut on the other end, and she replaced the phone on its cradle. She looked at the number she had written down on a notepad.
"Are you going to call, Mistress?" asked Tina.
"I don't know," Janet answered, looking at the safe, "can I be alone Tina?"
"Yes, Mistress," replied Tina.
Janet sat down in the chair, after Tina had closed the doors behind her. She stared at the paneling, suddenly full of fear and apprehension.
"Damn you, Erica," said Janet to herself.
It had been two years since Andrea had written Janet to say that Erica had died in a traffic accident. Janet had learned that the name of her Mistress had been Sharon Taylor; from the newspaper article that Andrea had sent her at the time.
Or was that really Erica's name? Janet sat back in the leather-covered chair and realized that the name that Erica had died using might not have been her real one either.
Erica Riken. Alana Peters. Sharon Taylor. Janet wondered just how her Mistress had known just who she was at any one time.
Now she stared at the safe. The smart thing to do, Janet thought, would be to close the panel, and forget that it was even there. But Janet had always wondered what other secrets that Erica had kept from her.
Janet remembered the haunted look that Erica had when she last saw her, when she was driven away by Mistress Monique years ago. There had been a look of impending doom on her face, of fatalistic acceptance of something.
"I shall not pass this way again, Janet. I just have to go, I'm sorry," Erica had said.
Remembering Erica's last words to her brought chills up Janet's spine. She had only seen a person look that way when they had been diagnosed with a serious disease, knowing that they were going to die. Was that what Erica had been keeping from her, and why?
Suddenly, Erica's stated reason for her giving her estate to her two slaves, that she was getting married and starting a new life, seemed pretty hollow, which Janet did not question at the time.
But now, two years after Erica's death, and after having established her own reputation as a Dom herself, Janet looked at the safe and knew that she would have to open it.
Janet picked up the phone and pressed the buttons for the number.
"Hello, my name is Janet Davis, I live in Back country Greenwich. I have a problem, I need a safe opened........."
After a brief conversation, the locksmith said that he would be over shortly. Janet replaced the receiver on the cradle, and stared at the safe. She wondered just what Erica had placed within. Would she find dust, papers, money, or something else?
It was the unknown that was what worried Janet the most. For the first time in years, of having lived her own life as a Dom, Janet now wondered if Erica could reach out from beyond the grave to affect her life somehow.
"Mistress, are you all right?" asked Tina.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought, Tina. I'm fine. Good thing you're wearing a normal outfit, we're about to have guests. I've called a man in to open the safe."
"Have you read the interviews yet?" asked Tina.
"No, I was lost in thought."
`Worrying about the contents of the damn safe,' Janet thought to herself.
Janet attended to paperwork for a short time, then the gate buzzer sounded. Janet hit the button, and a truck drove up to the landing. A man in a uniform got out of the truck, and Janet greeted him at the door.
"Someone called about a safe?" he asked.
"Yes, that's me," Janet answered.
"Where is it?"
"In the library," said Janet, as she directed him inside the house.
He looked at the safe, turned the combination lock around a few times, and turned to Janet.
"Can you open it?" Janet asked.
"Sure, just have to get some tools. Have it open in no time," he smiled.
Janet watched from her desk, pretending to read her papers as he set up his tools then managed to open the safe in less than a half-hour.
He showed Janet how she could reset the combination, told her about the manufacturer, and she wrote a check for him. Janet was again left alone in the library, except the safe's open door both attracted and repelled her at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, Janet finally looked inside. The safe's door gave no indication just how big the interior really was. There were two shelves holding the contents. On one were some manila folders & envelopes.
But on the other, in chronological order were a series of date books, neatly beginning in 1980 and continuing to 1992. Janet removed the first volume, and opened it. There, in Erica's distinctive handwriting, was her diary.
The Diary of Alana Peters 1980
Janet's blood suddenly ran cold. Here was the answer to the question that she had posed to Stephanie a few times in the last couple of years. Would she ever know Erica's secrets?
Now Janet knew that the name that Erica had used when she had been in submission to Janet years ago had been her real one. A chill went though Janet as she suddenly wondered what else she would discover about Erica. If the first page contained a bombshell like Erica's real name and identity, what else did the Diaries contain?
Years ago, after Erica had departed, Janet had asked Stephanie if she would ever know Erica's secrets. Now she held Erica's diary in her hands, feeling as if Erica were again in the library with her.
"Be careful what you wish for in life," Janet said aloud, "you just might get it."
End of Challenge CH01 PT1