Chapter Nine

The Mercedes swept through the quiet London streets, heading north.

Slumped against the cool leather, Susie felt her heart pounding in her chest as she dabbed her skirt clean of the sordid encounter with tissues passed to her by Raoul. She waited for him to say something, but he didn’t speak, or even look at her.

As the car kept heading north, onto the motorway, she realised they weren’t going back to the house in Richmond.

‘Where are we going?’ she eventually asked.

‘To begin your acceptance,’ Raoul replied enigmatically.

‘My acceptance? But what about clothes? I need to go to my flat first. I need to tell my friends, my family, say that I’ll be away.’

‘You have no need of such things now,’ he said in an offhand manner. ‘They are of your old life. We are your new life. We will provide your clothes, your food, and your sanctuary. We are your friends and your family.’

‘No... I - ’

‘We are all you need. This is of your choosing. You wanted to join us. You have proved to us and to yourself just how much you wanted to be with us and now we accept you, gladly.’ He almost smiled in the darkness, a momentary glint of white teeth against his dark skin. ‘Now there is only acceptance, and initiation.’

‘Initiation?’ Susie didn’t like the sound of any of this. ‘What does that mean?’

‘You will see... soon.’

All the time they talked the car was speeding away from friends and family and, more importantly, away from the paper and the only people who knew of her situation and who might have been able to help her. Susie realised she was truly alone, and was more afraid than ever. She tried to sink back into the seat and make herself inconspicuous as the car smoothed into the darkness and the butterflies skittered in her tummy.

The journey lasted an hour, no longer. The first half had been motorway, the next ten minutes or so were main roads, and then the driver turned away from the streetlights and civilisation, heading up a series of increasingly narrow lanes, until at last he slowed and turned into a wide gateway. Immediately the countryside opened out, and Susie was looking uphill towards a huge mansion that sat on the crest of the rise, at the end of a very long gravel drive that glowed silver in the moonlight.

It was well after midnight as they entered the building, which was mostly in darkness, though dim lights showed her the scale of the imposing entrance hall and the massive sweep of the wooden staircase.

There were a few people about, young men in dark baggy suits and a few girls, all young, all pretty, all wearing identical plain white dresses. None of them was Sophie.

Susie turned swiftly to Raoul.

‘Your training starts now,’ he said levelly. ‘There will be time for other things later.’ He nodded curtly over her shoulder and she turned to find two smiling girls beckoning her. They were clearly younger than she was, but as they took her by the arms and led her away their confidence and self-possession gave them the air of being older, wiser and more experienced.

Susie walked between them up the wide stairs. Along a landing they went, and into a room lined with three beds on each side. Several more young women sat around. Her escorts led her to a bed in the middle of one row, made up and ready; on it was a neatly folded towel and a plain white cotton dress, just like those everyone else was wearing. On top of the dress was a tiny pair of white cotton panties.

She was just about to attempt befriending the girls who’d escorted her when a door at the far end of the bedroom pushed open and a short stocky figure in the regulation black suit stomped in. It moved like a shadow in the dim light cast by the bedside lights, and held a flat leather strip that whistled as it swung through the air and cracked loudly when it landed - on bedclothes and bed-rails at first, and then on legs and bottoms.

‘Okay you lot, get into bed!’ the figure shouted gruffly. ‘Into bed now, the lot of you!’ The strap flicked spitefully across exposed thighs as the girls scurried to obey before they paid the full price.

‘So, you’re the new one,’ the aggressive newcomer said to Susie, and then with surprising speed strong fingers grasped her chin, holding her still for a moment, then moving her face from side to side for inspection. With the leather strap dangling from one wrist, the free hand reached up and roughly mauled Susie’s unprotected breasts, and as she tried unsuccessfully to cringe away, she realised the loathsome creature was in fact a woman!

The fingers and thumbs dug painfully into her cheeks and breast and pressed her inexorably back onto the one vacant bed, her dress riding up her thighs and exposing her panties.

‘No, no, no,’ chided the woman. ‘You do not turn away. You do as you’re told - all the time. You are always available, that’s why you don’t need any more clothes than this,’ and she disdainfully pulled Susie’s damp gusset aside and thrust one finger into her to demonstrate the point. She snorted with derision and licked her lips, leaning closer until her rugged face was almost touching Susie’s, and Susie could smell her bad breath. ‘I can see I’m going to have fun with you, little missy,’ the bully hissed under her breath so only she and Susie could hear. ‘My name is Savage - Ms Savage to you.’

With that she straightened abruptly and addressed the rest of the small dormitory.

‘Now remember,’ she barked, ‘it’s late and I don’t want to hear a peek out of you... any of you. Got it?’ There was a subdued murmuring of understanding from faces respectfully downcast. ‘Good!’ and with that the stocky woman stomped out and slammed the door shut.

Susie sat up on the bed not quite believing what had just occurred. ‘Don’t - don’t you mind any of that?’ she asked generally, meaning the brutish behaviour of the woman.

‘Discipline is essential,’ one of the girls who’d led her up to the dormitory said quietly. ‘Ms Savage is discipline. We all need discipline.’

Susie shook her head in disbelief.

‘You’ll learn,’ the blonde said, and her companions nodded agreement. ‘You’ll learn to respect and enjoy, and to serve with a glad heart.’

‘To serve with a glad heart,’ echoed several voices.

Susie could hardly believe what was going on was real. She’d read about mass brainwashing and seen it on quite a few television documentaries, and now it appeared she was looking it right in the face.

As the girls settled down she padded through to the small adjoining bathroom, was somewhat disconcerted to find a flannel and toothbrush with her name stamped on them, but was glad to use them anyway, and returned to bed, draping her scanty clothing over the foot of it. She looked anxiously for somewhere safe to put her precious and incriminating handbag, and was grateful to stuff it in her plain wooden bedside cabinet.