Paul had followed Leduc's automobile for the past hour, staying a safe distance behind in his own rented vehicle as they traveled the slick wet streets of Paris, crossing the fabulous city of sin. He had not believed the Doctor nor his wife when earlier in the evening at dinner, they had told him of Janet's worsened condition. But they had substantiated his greatest fear… she was addicted, yet to what particular drug Leduc had not said.
My poor, sweet darling… Damn, he had wanted to see her, to go to her so badly, but Leduc had opposed the idea. Seeing him in her present condition, the Doctor had insisted, would only bring her deeper fits of remorse, and presently she needed any thing but that. She was content to rest there and await his return, Leduc had said, but he was certain once she was aware her husband was back from his mission she would want to leave the sanitarium and she was frankly not well enough to do so.
Paul had not pressed the point with the Doctor, but there was something in the mystery enshrouding the whole episode that did not set quite right with him. Why didn't they want him to know even where the sanitarium was located? The handsome Frenchman had actually been somewhat indignant about it, maintaining it would be perhaps easier for him if he did not know its whereabouts. Certainly, Paul felt, that was abnormal procedure… and so he had left and waited in the shadows outside the Leduc villa, intent upon remaining there as long as necessary, until the Doctor led him to his Janet.
Shortly, the Frenchman had left in his limousine and Paul had followed. It was a dark night, raining, and he dare not let his quarry get too much of a lead on him. And then, at last, they were in a less populated, outskirt section of the city when the doctor's vehicle swung into a large circle-drive before a sparsely lighted, palatial older mansion.
Paul parked in the street and waited. Finally, he stepped out into the night and approached the drive that entered the estate. The mansion, itself, sat some three-hundred yards back in, almost hidden behind giant trees and great shrubs. No where, could he find a sign. It might, or might not be the alleged sanitarium. But surely, someone in the surrounding area would know.
He surveyed the darkened street and on a corner a half-block away he saw the dim lights of what might be a commercial establishment of some nature. He headed off toward it.
It was a small tobacco shop. Paul entered and a thin, frail, elderly man smiled at him from behind the counter.
"Des cigarettes," Paul said, pointing toward a particular brand displayed.
"Oui," replied the old man. "Will there be something else?" he inquired in French.
"No, thank you… unless you can tell me where the sanitarium is located around here?"
"The sanitarium…?" The old man thought a few moments, then shook his head. "I fear I cannot help you. I know of nothing like this in the area."
"I see," said Paul, disappointed as he paid the man. Then, "The old mansion up the street… the one that sets back in… do you know who lives there?"
For a moment the little man studied him, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. Finally, he said, "You said who lives there?"
"Yes… who?" Paul repeated.
The old man smiled wryly. "But you are joking with me." He lowered his voice until it was just above a whisper. "Surely, you know… as does every gentleman in all of Paris…"
Paul watched him closely as he made a negative head-shake. "I am afraid that I am ignorant then."
The old man chuckled. "So… I know now that you are not a gentleman of the night… for that is the Palace of Pleasure… once owned by the nefarious Count Leduc. And certainly, you have heard of that foul monster." Paul said nothing and the old man leaned closer until he could smell the wine on his breath. "They say that the most wicked of sensual pleasures may be bought there for fantastic prices… and with the most beautiful women one has ever seen."
Paul swallowed tightly, a knot of fear welling up into his throat. Good Lord! Could it be? He moistened his dry lips nervously. "And the police? Do they know of this… this brothel?"
The little man shrugged. "Who knows? I have heard one might find even people of authority frequenting the Great Room, but I would not know for certain, Monsieur, for I am but a poor man and the likes of me would never be allowed."
"I see," said Paul, taking up his cigarettes. "Well… thank you very much for the information. Good night."
"Bonne nuit, M'sieu'."
Paul walked slowly back to his car. Perhaps, he thought, I'm doing Leduc a great injustice… but then, there were the things that Hans Friestag had mentioned about the Palais de Plaisir and the Grande Chambre… and the fact that the old man had spoken of a nefarious Count Leduc… Dear Jesus! Was it possible that the Doctor was more than just a physician… and had somehow placed his own Janet in this fantastic bordello… forcing her to prostitute herself? But those things had gone out with the dark ages, he thought… God almighty, he didn't know… but he intended to find out… that is if the American Embassy carried any weight at all in France!
When Janet had awakened, following the brutal murder of Erabas, Doctor Leduc no longer pretended. He had called for assistance and four powerful Moroccans had come to hold her spread-eagle on bed, then the Frenchman had thrown a sheet over her and whipped her with a leather strap for letting the giant have his way with her… lashing her thighs, her buttocks, her stomach, pelvis and breasts… until again she had fainted from the unmerciful beating.
They had aroused her then and taken her to an all mirrored room, some nine-by-nine in dimensions, with but a bed furnishing it. There, she had been left with only a sheet to cover her nakedness and Vailante lying in a corner to guard her.
But before he left her, Doctor Leduc had snarled, "Now, my American bitch, we are through playing games. If you have not reasoned out your fate as yet, then I will tell you. This is the Palace of Pleasure, the most exquisite whore house in the world… and you are now a permanent inmate… until you are no longer of any value to me. In short, my pig, you are now a common whore, and will fuck and suck or whatever else our exclusive clientele asks of you without the slightest hesitation. If you in any way defy me I will increase your drug dosage… then deny it to you until you go mad from the agonies."
"Oh, my God…" Janet moaned. "Why? Why? What have I done to you that you would do this horrible thing to me? My God, please, please, Doctor…?"
"Bitch!" Leduc half-screamed at her, drawing his hand back to strike her, but then remembering that he might blemish his delectable property and restrained himself. "Don't ever address me in any other way but Master! Do you understand me? You are nothing but a slave for the rest of your days… just as I was in your filthy American prison for ten years. Now, we are going to balance that score!"
"Oooohhh, Paul… Paul," Janet babbled almost incoherently.
"You can forget your beloved husband," spat Leduc. "You will not see that stupid oaf again, or anyone, only those whom I send to you!" He still held the strap and now he brought it down viciously against the bed. "Now, get down on your knees in front of me, you big titted slut!"
Still sobbing, Janet obeyed his command, her brain reeling in near hopeless dispair. She looked up at him, her eyes pleading as she knelt before him.
"Well…?" he snarled down at her. "Take out my cock you stupid bitch! What else do you think I could want of you?" He entangled his hand in her long golden hair and twisted brutally.
She whimpered with the pain and reached forward to do his bidding, fearful that he would slash the strap across her naked flesh once more. She fumbled with the zipper on his trousers endeavoring to release his heavy throbbing cock that she had already become more than familiar with.
"Hurry up, pig! Or do you want another taste of the strap?"
"Oh God no… please…!"
"Please, what?"
"Please, Master?"
"Stupid American bitch!" he hissed through leering lips. "You forget to address me properly one more time and I'll brand 'W' for whore on your tits! Do you understand?"
"Yes… yes, Master," Janet stammered in sheer horror, finally fumbling the huge fleshy instrument free to burst out through the unzipped fly. Hesitantly, she wrapped her hand around the thick hardened rod of flesh and Leduc shoved his hips forward causing it to skin back until the smooth red-fleshed head popped out from the thick foreskin a scant few inches from her fear-bulging eyes.
"Well…? You know what to do with it, bitch!" the Doctor leered. "Rub it around your lips, then lick it clean from top to bottom."
She did, looking down the full length of the rigid shaft, sickened by the thought of her mouth being used again as a receptacle of lust for this evil fiend, and of his lewd sperm being pumped down her unwilling throat. Then, she parted her lips, opening her mouth to slide them down over the hardened rubbery head, along the full length of her tongue, the tiny drops of lubricating fluid seeping from it filling the warm cavern between her cheeks with its pungent, salty taste.
Leduc commenced a slow undulation with his hips, sliding the thick cock in and out of her mouth with a wet sucking sound, guided by his hand entwined viciously in her hair.
He watched the puffing of her cheeks beneath him as he shoved his throbbing prick between her clasping lips. His grin widened with each thrust into the trapped face, as she groaned in degraded submission between his legs. She was going to make a good whore all right. They would pay a fortune to get at such a magnificent creature, once he had her trained properly and completely subjugated to the weaknesses of the flesh.
Janet labored in a semi-stupor. She could see the tufts of dark pubic hair curling out around the base of his penis where it left the open fly. Her mind wandered hopelessly, and then she thought of the horrible end that had come to Erabas, but she didn't dwell upon it… it had been too ghastly. At least, she was still alive, and right now, nothing seemed to matter except to get this despicable ordeal over with, and to do that she had to please this insane monster.
She commenced sucking to please him, running her tongue wetly around and around the slimy, lubricated head, and flicking the tip teasingly into the tiny open slit of the moist glans, until she could feel it palpitating as if it had suddenly acquired a separate life of its own and would erupt at any moment into a great gushing torrent of sticky, white sperm that would flow into her mouth and throat in a never-ending stream of memory. Oh God, she would never forget this as long as she lived, it would stay with her forever and ever, blotting out any chances for happiness with her Paul… should she ever see him again… Then, the nucleus of an idea sparked in her brain as from the corner of her eye she saw Vailante watching them with taut-eared interest. Maybe… just maybe, she would see him again! Perhaps, there was a way… It was a gamble… a long gamble… but what did she have to lose? Maybe… just maybe…!
Suddenly, she began to suck with a trace of renewed hope, even as the very helplessness of her servile position again aroused masochistic sensations erotically in her belly. Her head bobbed furiously over his thick shaft of flesh as she sucked to end it, sucked to milk the hot, sticky semen from it until he whimpered for her to stop. He groaned and twisted above her, raining obscenities down at the top of her golden, bobbing head, and watching with lewd delight the oval shaped lips straining at his cock in a maddening frenzy. She sucked hungrily, her mouth salivating as it had never done before, and then, she felt him jerk and groan above her as he held her head by her hair and rammed deep into her throat. His cock continued the jerking motions and spewed with a vengeance the hot, acidy jets of his sperm deep into her gullet. Janet groaned as she sucked and her adam's apple bobbed in rapid rhythm, swallowing the gushing stream squirting hotly into the warm moistness of her mouth. She clasped her lips in a tight elastic ring around the jumping prick, swirling her tongue in circling motions about the throbbing head. She wanted to suck it dry, to hurt him, to punish him for the bitter torture he was inflicting upon her. His groans of pleasure, mistaken by her for pain, incited her to greater effort. It continued gushing into her wildly swallowing throat unceasingly, until she thought it would never end, and then he loosened his hold of her hair and his heavy cock gave one last final spurt and began to slowly deflate in her mouth.
"Enough… put it away, bitch," he ordered, his breathing coming in heavy rasps.
She did and he backed away from her, his prick sliding from her glistening lips with a wet sucking noise and leaving a trail of semen following behind it. He leered downward, "You are improving, but you have a long ways yet to go," he chuckled aloud. "Perhaps you had better practice here on Vailante… if you think you can get next to him." Again, he laughed. "I warn you, if you do anything to excite him before it's time for your performance, he has been instructed to attack… and he will tear you to shreds, ma chere, just as he did that cur of a Moroccan whose giant cock you seemed to enjoy."
Janet stared at him. "Per-performance? What performance… Master?"
Leduc grinned. "You and Vailante, bitch… and I only hope for your sake that Erabas hasn't stretched that tight little pussy of yours too much." He went to the dog and patted his huge head. "My faithful friend likes his bitches nice and snug around his cock."
Janet said no more, merely hung her head.
"Now, get into the bed and stay there. I will send you a large glass of medication, and I would advise you to drink all of it. It will make the evening easier… perhaps even pleasurable for you."
With that, he left her, and slowly Janet got to her feet, throwing herself onto the bed to sob half-hysterically.
Later, one of the Moroccans brought her the amber-colored liquid, a large glass of Leduc had said, and she drank it all… knowing in the back of her mind that she was going to try her plan, as obscene and as far-fetched as it was… yet, she had to do something, and this, perhaps, was her last hope…
Oh God, I must pray… pray that it will work!