Helena's Turning

Part 4

Helena did not think she could possibly sleep, but lost consciousness several times as the long hours stretched past with just the same wall to stare at. The discomfort in her arms forbade her any long periods of sleep, but she felt grateful for anything she could get. Her waking hours were spent in a mixture of self-pity as she bemoaned her misfortune in arriving at this state, and trying to work out how she could avoid further punishment of a similar nature, and maybe eventually escape the vampire for good.

When he returned to her, she was in one of her brief sleeping spells. Rather than wake her gently, he carefully approached before his lightning fingers snatched at her nipples simultaneously.

She screamed as she jerked back to the waking world, but the vampire only tightened his grip until she was gritting her teeth and every muscle in her body tensed with the pain. He snarled at her, "Are you stupid? I heard every thought you had through the day. Such rebellion will not be tolerated, do you understand?" Helena was still seized by the agony and did not respond, but he now started to twist the trapped nipples and insisted, "Do you understand me?"

This time, Helena managed to breathe the word "yes".

"Yes, what?" demanded the vampire.

"Yes, Master," she managed. He released her nipples and chuckled.

"That was not what I meant, but it is a lesson well-learned, I think. Now, answer my questions properly."

"Yes, I understand you, Master."

"And the other question?"

"What question, Master?"

"Are you stupid?"

"No, Master, I don't think so." His hand struck swiftly, the back of it stinging against her cheek.

"Yes, Master, I am stupid."

"That's better. You appear to suffer an inability to remember vital facts when you are told them, or you really are stupid. So I will teach you properly tonight. Physical influence may stimulate an otherwise dull mind."

With that, the vampire began to take Helena down from her bondage. He did not give her any clothes to wear, however, but once again told her directly to put on a blindfold. This she did without hesitation. Again, he led her through the corridors of his home to a new chamber.

This room felt warmer, and Helena thought that she could hear a fire burning somewhere close by. Beneath her feet there was worn, varnished wood for a floor. The vampire told her to walk forwards and she would come to a large table. She did so, her hands outstretched at first, to feel for the table, but the vampire gave her an order forbidding this tactic and as had been explained to her, Helena was unable to resist the direct order. So it was that she collided full on with the table, it banging her thighs and midriff.

The table, Helena found, came perfectly up to her waist, and she was not surprised when the vampire told her he wanted her to bend over it, resting her weight on the smooth wooden top. It was clearly sturdily built, for Helena could feel the thickness of the wood against her thighs as she did as she was asked. She noticed that this had not been expressed as a direct order, giving her the freedom to refuse if she so chose. She decided that she did not want to risk the consequences of denying the vampire what he wanted. She stretched her naked body across the table's expanse, and when the vampire asked her to do so, she stretched her arms out to either side to grasp the edges of the table. The thickness of the wood made it impossible for her to gain a firm grip, instead her fingers curled over the side of the great panels. The height of the table meant that her feet were taking none of her weight, but rested lightly on the floor. The vampire requested that Helena keep her legs together throughout the following lesson.

"I have here," he explained to the still blindfolded Helena, "A long, thin cane, more harsh than those used by Victorian schoolmasters, but just right for the training of a young vampire. There shall be punishment for any deviation from your current posture, and for any obscenities, blasphemies or other exclamations during the lesson. The object of this lesson is control, and to lose control of one aspect is potentially to lose control of them all.

"Last morning I remarked to you that you had yet to learn to control your body's resistance to physical events. You will now learn the basics of this skill." The calm, easy voice ceased, and Helena could tell where he was, and that he would be in perfect striking position to land a blow to her bottom. Sure enough, the cane whistled through the air before a stripe of pain blazed across Helena's behind. She could not contain herself, and let out a wailing cry. The vampire confirmed that this counted as an exclamation, and that punishment would be forthcoming, before returning to his target. Helena's eyes were beginning to water.

With demonic accuracy, he landed the second blow directly on top of the first, amplifying the pain with the combination. Helena's hands briefly flew from the sides of the table, anxiously reaching back to probe the damage, before she recalled the injunction. It was too late: further punishment had been accrued.

Desperately, Helena tried to gather her thoughts. She grasped at the idea that she was supposed to be learning how to control her body, maybe if she just thought of making her bottom tougher then it would do that and so ease the pain? Before she could frame the idea in her mind, a third impact broke her concentration, and drove a powerful "ugh" from her lips. Again, the vampire added to her total of punishments pending.

Helena knew what she was doing, and thought with all her might of having a tough-skinned behind, but all that happened was that her muscles tensed, and the fourth blow came with just as much pain as the rest. The vampire laughed at her effort, apparently realising how she had approached the problem, and pouring scorn on Helena for such a simple-minded idea. The tears now started to flow feely down Helena's face, and they weren't just tears of pain, but of frustration and humiliation as well.

Helena felt a flush of hatred for this humiliation, and even as the laughter still rang in her ears, she became even more determined to figure out the mechanism by which she could control the body's toughness. She thought harder, but was rewarded by the same effects as last time, as her body tensed up and the blow landed without any change in the level of pain delivered.

As the agonising blow faded slightly, Helena felt for a moment almost serene, as if her thoughts were carried far from her by the pain. In that moment, she simply relaxed her conscious efforts, but something subconscious took over. A new instinctive control came to her from the mutations caused by her transitions lying deep within. It was as if a man blind since birth had suddenly opened his eyes and seen. She had had no way of thinking about how to control these properties until she now became aware of them.

Her surprise and wonder at this awakening was so great that she missed feeling one strike of the cane all together, for as soon as she had discovered the skill, she had protected herself from the cane's attacks. The next blow she felt seemed like a slight scratch instead of the trail of fire that the others had been. The previous hits still blazed, but the last two were hardly noticed. After a third such ineffectual impact, the vampire stopped, and stood back slowly clapping in admiration.

"Perhaps you are a quicker study than your previous errors have suggested. Very few catch onto the trick on their first beating – I'm impressed. Come here."

Slowly, still wincing from the bruises caused by the caning, Helena stood. From where had his voice come? But maybe echolocation would be un-necessary; after all, she had new sensory abilities as a vampire, and her master had emphasised the psychic link between him and herself many times. Maybe this was another test of her ability to focus on these capacities? But she couldn't detect anything to give her a clue, and it had been a direct order. The discomfort at disobeying was growing ever stronger, so that she was frantically seeking some clue as to which direction to turn. It was by pure accident that she discovered that the slightest movements in some directions increased her inward pain, while as she grew 'warmer' the discomfort became less. That was how she could track him psychically. Confident now, she stood properly and turned towards the direction that her sensations were describing. With her arms outstretched in front of her, she advanced more hastily than she would normally if she couldn't see, but the command was still a strong impetus and she could not resist. Consequently, she had no way to stop herself falling when she came upon a low step up that caught her by surprise. She sprawled forwards with a cry, but she did not hit the ground as she expected; her master's hands had caught her and now his arms enveloped her naked body and lowered her to her knees. He untied her blindfold and she saw him standing in front of her, his penis large and erect before her. She had never liked the thought of fellatio, but she knew that she would not hesitate when his demand came. Nervously, she swallowed, waiting for the words, but he never said them. Instead, he silently turned and retreated to an easy chair that Helena could see in the corner. A simple hand gesture made it plain that Helena was not to move.