Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Blood, Sex and Magik ❯ Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This is a story with an erotic element including a just bit of S/M, and is intended only for adults only. It also has a shoujo-ai (or girl/girl love) plot line, so if any of those things are likely to offend you, I'd advise skipping this story.

Blood, Sex and Magik: Three

The whip's crack was loud in the near silence, as was Jess' cry of pain as the leather tore once again into the flesh of her bare back. Black hair cropped short, her arms bound up above her head, and those long legs secured on the posts to keep her from flailing about too much.

Mustn't spoil things for all the spectators.

Jess heard a few murmurs of disappointment as a hand firmly grasped her chin, and she was gently guided to look up into seemingly bottomless blue eyes. "You shouldn't have let me down that way," the almost divinely beautiful bosomy blonde murmured to her, "it could have been so very good between the two of us, too."

"I don't," Jess managed to rasp out through her pain, "hurt kids."

Those blue eyes narrowed angrily, and the angel face was twisted with a sneer into something very like a demon's. "So be it," she released Jess' chin, moving back. She looked up at the ladies maid who was wielding the whip so well and said, "Another ten, please."

"Of course, ma'am," the maid curtseyed to her formally before she began to limber up her whipping arm once again.

The whip cracked loudly, Jess cried out...

..................

...and with a anguished cry came awake on top of her own bed, tangled up in her cool, clean white sheets. "Only a dream," Jess panted, her throat sore from her cries. 'No,' she thought to herself bleakly, 'not a dream, a memory.'

With some relief Jess noted that she was actually alone in her bed this morning, and felt glad that she wasn't inflicting these memories or their aftermath on someone else. She wiggled her way out of the white sheets and off of the little bed, feeling very much older than her thirty odd years. Dressed only in her boxer shorts she padded across the messy bedroom to the bathroom, feeling the pull and itch of the old scars across her back.

It had all happened to her so many years ago, but still Jess remembered it all vividly. She had been a young punk, too cocky by far, and had been so easily taken in by the experienced Diana. Even knowing now all about how utterly debased that cool blonde was, Jess still felt a quiver deep inside at how beautiful she had been. It was all over and done with, but she still remembered.

"Too bad that beauty hid the rot that was beneath it so well, until it was much too late," Jess muttered to herself bitterly. She looked up at the clock and swore to herself softly, she was going to be late to open up the shop!

A squirt of mint toothpaste and a quick scrubbing of her teeth. Jess grabbed at a washcloth, soaking it in the sink full of piping hot soapy water before roughly scrubbing all of the sweat and the remnants of the bad dreams away. She hesitated as she turned away, the thin scars on her back appearing in the mirror, then continued on. Normally she hid those scars with her magic, but mortal mirrors revealed the truth, always.

She ran across the clothes strewn bedroom, pulling some clean underwear out of a dresser drawer before hopping about the room slipping them and a pair of clean socks on. She wiggled into a pair of her tight blue jeans, pulled a black T-shirt on over her head, then flopped down on the side of the bed to slip her leather boots on.

Jess picked her wallet and keys off a stand by the door and was off.

The young woman was gazing in offended shock at the girlie images hung up in Jess' front window. As Jess unlocked the front door the black haired woman turned to her, and Jess noted that she'd be much more attractive without that pinched expression on her face. Indignantly she said, "Are you the proprietor of this place? You should be ashamed! As a woman how can you have imagery that's so offensive to women in your window?"

With the mood Jess was in right then and there, she wanted to make the lady regret ever having crossed her. Throttling back her temper, Jess merely said to her, "You might want to take a closer look, then." With that, she went inside.

Jess took a quick mental inventory of the little shop, feeling relieved that nothing there was disturbed. She began to clean the needles and other pieces of equipment, letting the sheer regularity of her motions soothe her frayed nerves. The doorbell rang, and Jess' eyes narrowed as the black haired woman walked inside, an odd look on her face.

"Yes?" Jess asked pointedly.

"Those pictures," the woman gestured, "they're... mocking, aren't they?"

Feeling a bit of pleasant surprise that she had actually spotted the subtlety of the images Jess answered, "In a way, yes."

Looking embarrassed she said, "I'm sorry for what I said out there."

"No problem," she smiled slightly as she noted how attractive the girl could be when she smiled and gave a little bow, "Jess Drake, I'm the owner."

"Alice," the black haired woman offered her hand, "Alice Sinclare."

"Nice to meet you, Alice," Jess grinned suddenly, "are you here for a tattoo?"

Alice paled, taking a half step backward as she stammered, "Oh, no! I do NOT like pain."

Jess had to laugh softly. The young woman in her business wear, dressed for success, was quite obviously not here for a tattoo. Still it was fun to tease her a bit. "Sorry," but Jess didn't sound too terribly repentant.

Alice joined in the laughter, her own voice soft. "I'm opening up a business nearby," she explained to Jess a bit sheepishly, "and I was wondering what sort of businesses were around here, so I decided to take a look around."

"Until you ran into my front window," Jess leaned up against her front counter, feeling greatly amused as she continued, "and decided to tell me off about it."

"Well, yes," Alice admitted.

"It's all right," Jess said gently, "it happens." For a moment she wondered what to do, she didn't normally have guests in her shop. Tilting her head to the side she asked her, "What sort of business are you opening, anyway?"

"A..." she hesitated, then Alice continued, "a bookstore."

Jess nodded thoughtfully, "I had heard that the Sisterhood Bookstore was moving." Alice tensed slightly as Jess continued on casually, "I'm glad you're moving here."

"Why?" Alice asked worriedly.

"Because there's some new Naiads and a few Diva press titles that I was looking forward to," Jess explained to her cheerfully.

Alice looked up at her in surprise for a moment, "You mean you shopped at..?" Then she began to laugh, "I have to learn not to judge on appearance alone."

Jess' mouth twisted with a sudden, bitter memory, "I guess it's a lesson that we all have to learn eventually."

By the look on her face it was clear that Alice knew there was something going on with Jess, but she chose not to ask. "Well, neighbor," Alice smiled slighly, "is there a place around here you can get a good cup of coffee?"

"One or two, if you know where to look," Jess said. 'Nobody's breaking down the door this morning,' she mused. With a smile to Alice, "Why don't I show you where, we'll get a coffee, and I'll tell you about the neighborhood."

Alice nodded, "I'd like that."

To be continued...