Author’s Note: This story could fit into multiple categories. In case anyone is caught off guard, it has some N/C overtones, some bondage overtones, and other themes. It’s meant to be an erotic fantasy, so if that’s hard for you to believe, it’s probably not for you. Thanks to Blackshang and Cloudy for editing and impression reading.
*
Candace was shaking as she got out of the car. Her grandfather’s old house always made her feel this way. The run-down Victorian building looked like something out of a horror movie set.
The old man is now dead, and with his passing, people begin to quarrel over his estate. Webster was a mean and creepy old bastard, and his will is his last chance to go after his grandchildren, who have all disappointed him in some way.
Her cousin Tom, the man Webster hated the most, was left with two companies. This seemed so amazing that everyone thought the old man was trying to make amends, until Tom discovered that both companies were bankrupt, under investigation by the SEC and other government agencies, and faced serious class-action lawsuits. When the dust settled, he was lucky to get out of it unscathed.
Her cousin Christy was left with a lifetime supply of condoms and birth control pills. Webster hinted in a thinly veiled way that she was messing around too much. And so it happened. The old bastard beat everyone. Except her.
Her mother had always been his favorite child, as he loved his own children. Candice had always been carefully isolated from him. The few times she had been with him, she had always remained polite and quiet. In fact, he gave her the creeps, and when she got older, she always felt like he was taking her clothes off with his eyes. Fortunately, she was transferred to the Tokyo office soon after graduation, and had been abroad for most of his last five years.
So she missed the infamous farce at the annual Christmas party. The old man had lost his temper with everyone, from her mother to her great-grandchildren. Her “flower girl” Aunt Becky believed that the old man was possessed by the evil spirit in the family. She even tried to perform an exorcism on the old man, which annoyed the old man.
Webster Carpenter was malicious, and she wasn’t comfortable living there, even though he’d been in the grave for two years. Still, the house and property were worth $10 million. He stipulated that she had to live there for a year, which shocked her. She had hoped to just sell the house without even visiting it. Fortunately, they had an office in nearby White Plains that she could transfer to for a year. It would be a grueling commute, more than two hours each way. Still, in the grand scheme of things, it seemed like a small price to pay.
The key the lawyer gave her easily opened the old lock and the door opened. As she expected, everything inside was covered with a layer of dust. From the large portrait of her grandfather in the foyer to the slightly worn appearance of the antique furniture, everything was exactly as she remembered it from her childhood. She had hoped that some of her relatives would come and help with the cleaning, but the lawyer dissuaded her from calling. Apparently, they had had a big argument about the furniture and her side of the family didn’t agree with her side. According to him, her cousins were unhappy that she got the house and the furniture. And then there was the matter of the missing twenty-five million dollars. Apparently, cousin Richie thought the money was in the house.
The police arrested him twice for burglary. The cousins contested the will, but Weber had anticipated that. The executor had the right to draw an annuity to defend against legal action. The will was airtight, so everything was settled before she returned to the United States.
Candace knew it was wrong to harbor ill will toward the deceased, but she had to believe that the will was written for just that purpose. To sow discord. Just like the old man.
She piled most of the stuff from Webster’s bedroom into an empty room and remodeled the master bedroom to make it more spacious and bright. Candice also made some changes to the kitchen and living room. She was used to apartment living, so she simply sealed off the remaining forty or so rooms. Her plan was to live in these three rooms and then deal with the others one at a time, carefully recording the contents. She hoped to have some records of the items before calling the auctioneer to get rid of them.
Despite the master bedroom’s new look, she still didn’t find it comfortable and often slept on the couch, especially when winter came and the large fireplace made it the coziest room in the drafty old house.
Candace woke up with a start. She looked quickly around the room. Something had woken her, but she wasn’t sure what, and she felt a chill run down her spine. This old place was creepy, and so was the old man, and she suddenly felt as if someone was watching her.
She was almost convinced that she was imagining it when she noticed that the bookshelf next to the fireplace had shifted. The books were still neatly lined up, but the shelf itself seemed to be leaning outward. Her curiosity overcame her fear, and she stood up. She approached the shelf, and then saw that it was indeed leaning outward. Candace placed her hands on the smooth wood and pulled hard. To her surprise, the shelf opened outward on silent hinges, revealing a dark staircase.
She wanted to check it out, but her fear outweighed her curiosity, so she decided to wait until morning. Candace couldn’t find a latch or catch, so she used a chair to prop the secret door open.
The next morning, she entered the small opening with her trusty .357 Magnum pistol and flashlight, and after a thorough search, she descended the narrow staircase, finding no light switches or overhead zippers.
The staircase led to a large square room, about thirty feet by thirty feet. Unlike the staircase, Candace easily found the light switch and turned it on. Soft, indirect light illuminated the room. The floor was covered with a thick shag carpet. The walls were undecorated but paneled with a light oak that seemed to give the room a sense of warmth. There was a strange chair in the center of the room that seemed to be the only piece of furniture.
It was a massive piece of furniture, made of dark wood, and placed on a raised metal stand. The back of the chair was straight and covered in soft red leather. The armrests were oddly shaped and also covered in red leather. The legs were oddly shaped, Queen Anne style, but also covered in leather where you could place your cane.
Now that she looked at it, the metal platform seemed to actually be part of the chair; the seat was bare metal, with just a round red leather cushion to lean against. She could see the outlines of several compartments, but she couldn’t find any latches to open them.
The chair was intricately carved with images of lustful demons and ecstatic female faces. The armrests ended in fierce dragon heads. The chair had a spooky feel to it, and she turned away from it to study the only other object in the room. It was a small console with a large red button and six smaller buttons in a row that reminded her of the buttons on the old eight-track player in her grandfather’s car.
She tried all the buttons but nothing happened. She guessed that they might be connected to a stereo or something like that.
After a thorough investigation, she was convinced that the room was just a harmless basement, possibly her grandfather’s AV room. Whatever had once been here, it was now gone.
She turned off the light, walked up the stairs, closed the door, and listened to it click. Maybe when she had the energy to think about it again, she would find out the principle of opening the door. For now, she would rather close the door, even though she knew it was stupid to do so.
Candace suddenly woke up with a start. Once again, she felt someone watching her, but as before, no one was in the room. She was about to close her eyes again when she realized that the secret door was half open. Goose bumps broke out all over her body, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She stood up and wrapped her robe tightly around her shoulders.
She thought she could sense a faint glow behind the stairs, as if the lights downstairs were on. She grabbed her gun and walked slowly to the top of the stairs. There was no doubt that the lights were on in this strange room now.
“Hello?” she called.
Her calls went unanswered, and she felt foolish for doing so. She was alone in the room, but she tried her best to convince herself otherwise. She walked to the empty space on the landing and peered into the darkness.
“Hello?” she called again. She put one foot on the top stair and the bookcase slammed shut. Candace jumped as the entire hallway was plunged into darkness, with only the faint lights in the rooms at the bottom visible. She leaned back into the corner, holding her breath, holding the gun in her shaking hands. Nothing moved, no sound, and when her eyes adjusted she realized it wasn’t even that dark around her. Annoyed with herself for letting her childish fears go to the wind, she began to push on the bookcase, but it was shut tight.
She searched for a lock or latch that would open the door, but after half an hour, having pushed on every ridge in the hallway, she began to panic.
“Breathe,” she said loudly.
No one would build a secret door that couldn’t be opened from the inside, she reasoned. If the passage led to only one room, the unlocking device might be in that room. She remembered the strange control console downstairs and laughed. Of course. The door could probably be locked and unlocked electronically from there. That would explain the console and why the door always opened automatically. It was old and probably malfunctioning. It would also explain why nothing happened when she pressed the button before, when the door was already propped open.
Reassured by her ability to reason, or at least try to appear nonchalant in the face of uncertainty, she began to walk down the steps. At the bottom of the stairs, she turned and walked through the small stone archway into the room. As she thought about this, the lights came on, giving off a soft, warm, indirect glow. She walked over to the strange console and pressed the large button, but nothing happened. She pressed it a few more times, but still nothing happened.
She fought back the panic in her heart and tried to think. It would be Monday at the earliest before anyone would miss her. And even if someone came, they might never find her. She checked the console again. She pressed all six smaller buttons in sequence, but nothing happened.
Frustrated, she pressed the big button again. She heard a whirring sound, then it spun around, firing almost blindly. The long wall farthest from her was spinning. When it clicked shut, she was facing a giant TV screen. When nothing further happened, she approached it, but there were no buttons or dials on it.
After a few minutes of investigation, she returned to the console and hesitantly pressed the big button again. Like magic, the TV screen spun back and the blank wall returned.
When she pressed the button again, the TV screen spun back up. Candace checked the control panel again and saw that the fifth button was still pressed. She pressed it halfway again until the fifth button popped out, then pressed the big button. Nothing happened.
Candace pressed the sixth button, but nothing happened. She had expected this. She pressed the big button and jumped, the screen suddenly lit up, and sound poured out of the hidden speakers. The show was obviously a heavy BDS&M movie, full of dramatic groans and wails. Candace actually smiled.
“Maybe you’re not so stubborn after all,” she said to the silent room, then she pressed the big button again and the show ended.
“But you’re a Luddite,” she added, as she now realized that the way the console worked was very primitive. You pressed a button and then the big button, like on a cash register. Realizing this, she pressed the first button and tried it. The wall in front of the chair spun in a circle, revealing another large screen.
The second door opened, revealing a closet on the wall behind it. It was a closet, and Candace wanted to go look inside, but first she wanted to open the door.
The third key unlocked a small safe-like cabinet on the wall above the console. Candace checked it and it seemed empty.
A fourth button opened a sliding panel in the roof. Chains, ropes, and even a black free-floating restraint chair, all slowly lowered down. Additionally, two sections of the floor slid back, and a large horse and Maltese cross both rose and locked into place with an audible click. She noticed that there was also a large screen embedded in the ceiling, directly above the chair.
She reached the stairwell, but the door still seemed to be closed. Candace went over and opened the closet. Inside, neatly arranged were whips, handcuffs, collars, tight latex bodysuits with appropriate cuts, masks, stiletto heels, handcuffs, bondage gear, and various vibrators and dildos.
“Good God, Webster, you must be a freak,” she said, shaking her head.
At the back of the wardrobe she found another button set into a square of brass, and when she pressed it a small box, like a cashier’s drawer, extended out, about waist height.
Pressing the button a second time closes the drawer, and pressing the button a third time opens it again.
She left the closet and returned to the control console. As she checked, she noticed that the safe she thought was empty actually contained only a piece of paper. She pulled the paper out and examined it. It was a crude drawing of a stick figure with only a few words on it. It was a drawing of a closet and a stick figure.
1. Locate the button on panel B (on the back of the wardrobe) 2. Place the laundry in the tray. 3. Close the drawer. 4. Locate button C on the lower right corner of console A.
There is no indication of what the button does.
“This makes me feel weird,” she said to the empty room.
She placed the note and the gun on the chair and began looking for the button that would open the door. After a few minutes of searching, she became frustrated and her fears resurfaced. She looked at the closet, then at the note on the chair and shrugged.
Candace took a deep breath, removed her sheer robe, and pressed a button. When a drawer appeared, she put her robe in and pressed a button. The drawer closed, but nothing happened. She walked over to check the console, but no new buttons appeared.
She went back to her closet and pressed a button, and it opened, revealing her robe. Candice felt stupid, but she took off her bra and panties and put them in the drawer, and still nothing happened.
“Shit,” she said out loud, wondering if there was something wrong with the electronics. It was just bad luck. Then another idea occurred to her. Maybe the tulle robe and lingerie weren’t heavy enough? She opened the drawer again and placed a leotard and a pair of stilettos. This time, she heard a whirring and clicking sound as the drawer closed.
“Bingo!” she said excitedly, rushing to the control console.
There, behind the sliding panel, was a blue button. She pressed it and heard a soft hissing sound behind her. She turned around quickly but didn’t see anything unusual. Pressing the button again yielded no response.
Frustrated and angry, she went back to her closet and pressed the buttons. She felt small and vulnerable, and she wanted her clothes back.
“What the fuck is going on?!” she exploded when the button was pressed but the drawer did not appear.
She mashed it a few more times, but nothing happened.
“Junk!” she yelled, kicking it until her bare feet hurt. She turned and walked back to get the gun, which was still on the chair. As she approached the gun, she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. Could that be the sound she heard when she first pressed the blue button? She hurried over and found a small slot, similar to the one that old adding machines used to print cash receipts. Apparently, the paper had come from a slot in the base of the chair.
The paper was another crude diagram. With a stick person and the chair.
1.Sit down 2.Locate red button, behind panel X 3.Depress button
She examined the diagram and found that the red button was supposedly behind the carved dragon head on the right armrest. No amount of pushing or prying worked and it seemed to be totally solid and part of the chair. She shrugged and sat in the chair. Nothing happened at first, but after several tense moments, the Dragon’s jaw opened and a small red button, mounted on a silver fixture extended.
Candice shrugged and pressed the red button. From hidden apertures, felt lined, steel manacles snapped out, imprisoning her ankles and her arm.
“What the fuck? Oh shit.”
She struggled and struggled, but no amount of pressure seemed to make any impression on them. She pressed the button again, and screamed curses at it, as the button slowly withdrew and the dragon’s mouth closed.
With her free hand, she tried to find some way to open the manacle imprisoning her hand, but it was no use. Eventually the adrenalin wore off and she slumped.
“All right girl, you’ve got to think. Think, think, think,” she said aloud.
This technology is ancient. Everything has to be just right. The wardrobe button failed, until the weight was right. She thought back to the diagram. The stick figure had been sitting upright, with both arms on the armrests. Maybe it wouldn’t work, unless all the manacles had sprung? Her gun was on the floor, where she had placed it before sitting, but no amount of stretching would allow her to grab it, and even if she could, then what? She would be just as likely to hurt herself as free herself taking potshots at the manacles.
Candice debated for a long while. Eventually, she reached a conclusion: she would have to let her other arm be captured. Before she actually did it though, she made herself mentally review, one last time. She did have a hand free, but without tools of some kind, she was held fast. Everything else in this bizarre room seemed to be triggered only with specific input. She could keep her arm free, but in doing so, it might never trip whatever device there was to get her out.
With a resigned sigh, she placed her arm on the other armrest. She didn’t even jump when the manacle caught tight. She waited, but nothing happened.
“Shit,” she exclaimed.
A million wild thoughts ran through her head, but they were panic inspired and she eventually clamed herself. She found herself speaking out loud, as much to have sound as to keep things clear.