Ancilla: SOUNDBITE EDITION. (SERIALIZED, MATURE SECTIONS MARKED)

*Gevurah (PART 7, has 1241 words)

After a claustrophobic silence that seems to stretch into eternity, he sighs. "Oh, my eromene. You never cease to amaze me... Promise me you will stop me before I exceed your limits. As your teacher, it is, of course, my duty to push you as hard as you can endure, and then some, but we have somehow become much more than Magister and ancilla, have we not? And as your lover, I want you to delight in me, not suffer me."

I nod. I don't trust my voice.

"Do you really want me to be your master, now? Outside of the bedroom and the circle of light? Or were you just saying that in the heat of the moment?"

"I don't know. I didn't know I was going to say it until it escaped my mouth."

"We're going to need to talk later... although for now, I think it best to not assume you meant it literally. Fear sometimes makes people say things they do not intend, and in translation, the meaning is usually about needing security."

My gaze keeps getting drawn to the tray of needles and sharp things behind me, and every time I force myself to look forward to Magister again, the effort required drains me. A part of me - a large part of me - would rather be running naked down a crowded street right now, pursued by hornets and rabid dogs, en route to jumping off a high cliff into the wild blue yonder, to fall endlessly through thunderclouds full of lightning, until landing at last in a sea full of hungry sharks. Anything but this.

The other part is insane.

"Could you hold me when you do it?" I whisper.

He takes me by the shoulders and kisses me, long and gently. "Yes. Whenever that is possible." His mouth moves to my eyes, my cheeks; I realize that he is kissing me and drinking in my tears. At some point, I must have started crying. I hadn't even noticed. How can anyone not notice when they start crying? Impossible. "It takes incredible strength and courage to face down a phobia, you know. I am honored to have you as a pupil. Sometimes, however, I think you push yourself farther than even I do, my eromene, and I shudder to think to what lengths you will be capable of taking your future lovers if you expect them to follow you into the darkness."

I lean into him.

"I need to make sure before we go any further. Were you really asking me to help you face down your fears by playing with them? If this is what you want, I am willing to go on with the original activities I had tentatively planned. But it will be harsh. I think you will find it an ordeal."

"Yes."

"Very well, then. Take off your clothes."

My hands are shaking too hard to work the buttons on my shirt. He has to help me undress.

"I will do my best to explain technique when I push the needles through your skin, although given your state of mind, your retention will probably not be very good. If you do retain any of this, and it comes in handy later, I am glad to have served you well. The important thing to remember about piercing flesh is that needles slide through loose skin. The safest places to target are those that you can manipulate easily when you pull on them. If you can clamp a part of the body safely, you can most likely pierce it safely as well. Avoid arteries and veins. Avoid tendons. Avoid areas near major organs. Avoid tight skin, to minimize risking damage to muscles and nerves. Some piercings are inherently more painful than others. The more tissue the needle must pass through, generally, the more the piercing will hurt. It will also require more physical effort on your part if you are doing the piercing. You might want to practice ahead of time on something thick and meaty, like a raw steak, or maybe soft leather. And remember, unless you are doing the piercing to install jewelry, the piercing is temporary. The needles must all come out. That, too, can be a painful experience. Jewelry can be put in temporarily as well, if it is removed immediately after play to allow the hole to close back over. So can sutures. Hopefully, you will never need to give a play partner stitches, though. Does all this make sense so far?"

I nod mutely.

"Remember, eromene, that you can use your safeword at any time if this gets to be too much. Would you rather I start with the least painful areas, or would you rather I get the nastier piercings out of the way first?"

"Least painful," I mumble.

"All right. In that case, and I suspect this is going to be more than a little hard to believe due to your not having had personal experience, I need you to open your legs wider to give me some room to work. I'm going to start with the hood of your clitoris."

My legs slam shut.

"I rather figured that would be your initial reaction. It's actually one of the easiest parts of the body to get pierced. The skin is very thin and loose there. It's not the clitoral glans itself that gets pierced - that would be horrifically painful - just the hood. Do you trust me?"

I nod. There is a lump in my throat that won't go away.

"Open your legs."

I force myself to do so. I hope my trembling doesn't cause problems. I try to not think about what will happen if his hand slips due to my shaking.

"Please, don't make me look..."

"No. I won't. You can close your eyes."

I feel the dry, cold, stretched sensation of alcohol on my skin. Then stinging.

"It's in."

That was it? I open my eyes again and look at him with astonishment.

"There. That was a pleasant surprise, wasn't it? This is one of the more common areas to get pierced, at least, in the scene. Some women wear a hoop ring with a ball at the end that rubs against the clitoris. As I understand it, it can enhance certain sexual acts. I'm going to assume, however, that you aren't interested, given your overall reactions so far."

"No," I manage to squeak, "no jewelry."

He nods. "I thought so... Hmm." He brushes his hand up my thigh until his fingers find a needy, drenched spot between my legs, making me gasp. "Your brain might not be enjoying this very much, but it would appear your body has other ideas. I'll have to be careful to avoid the section I just pierced, of course, but that shouldn't present too much of a problem." He kneels in front of me, places his cupped hands under my buttocks, lifts me, and bends down. Then he begins to do impossibly tender things with his mouth. "Go on?"

"Yes," I gasp.

Time stops in place, shaking.

I cry out. "I wasn't expecting..."

"Are you sure you're done?"

And just like that, I am aware of not being finished after all. "More," I say in reply. "More. Please."

He presses his face into me again and resumes working at driving me into yet more ecstasy with his tongue. Every now and then, he pauses lapping near my clitoris to drive his tongue inside me. I am not so far gone that I am past noticing that he always seems to do this when my second orgasm is near.

He doesn't tease forever.