After what seemed an age, the beating finally stopped and, although in the empty silence of the church her screams still rang in her ears like trumpets, she faded away into an uncomfortable unconsciousness. Then she felt the strain at her waist loosening and she dropped heavily onto the bench. For a while at least, she had been released.
As the drumming in her ears subsided she could hear Father Thomas talking to someone. She could not hear the other person and could only pick up fragments of what Father Thomas said but Maria could sense fear in his voice.
"I'm sorry, I'm very sorry, yes, I know it was wrong, I thought it would be alright to let her go during the day, I felt sorry for her… Yes! Yes! I'm sorry, I know it was wrong, yes, I know, please forgive me."
Then the drumming in her ears returned. The next thing she knew Father Thomas was standing beside her, speaking to her, but now his voice had changed, it was no longer fearful, it was taunting and cruel.
"So, you want more do you?"
Maria shrunk back in terror.
"I think you do. Ah yes, I can see it in your eyes. You want more! You little bitch, you fucking little bitch. You want more! Whether you do or not, you are going to get it. You have got me into trouble, appealing to my better self. Yes, you are going to get more and this time there will be no release!"
He sat down on the edge of the bench beside her and flexed the whip across his knees.
"I have never seen the whip so angry. I have never felt its power so great. It nearly tore itself from my hands in order to punish you enough, and yet, I can see it has not brought you to heal. Even suffering as much as it can give, the whip has not been enough to save you from your sinfulness. You are a wicked little bitch, that is for sure. This is going to be such a long road. Of course, you will have to stay. Ah yes, you will have to stay. I cannot let you go now. I thought I could, but ah, no, not now, not now I have seen how much it will take. You will have to stay now, oh yes, you will have to stay alright."
"Please Father," she murmured, "please, I have to go to work."
Father Thomas laughed and stood up beside her, he looked down at her red striped buttocks and laughed again.
"Impossible! Now you are mine for as long as it takes."
He flexed the whip again then tapped it against his knees.
"But the whip has a kinder side, my child. Yes, it can bring the most excruciating pain, but it can also bring unfathomable pleasure. It is the bearer of both terror and desire. See how it flexes with anticipation. See how it tenses along its full length at the thought of the pleasures it can bring. It is letting me know that now it is time for you to take its pleasure. Of course you will demand more pain from it, but before you beg for more pain it needs to show you its kindness. Lie there my child, Caleb has slackened the rope around your waist so that you can respond to the gentle delights of the whip. Raise your bottom, yes, I know it is still sore, I can see the red slashes that the whip has inflicted on you, but raise it up, pull it high so that your flesh pokes out between your burning buttocks. Let the whip see your rosy cunt and the dark ring of your beautiful anus, raise it high and welcome its attentions."
Her calves and wrists were still tightly bound, but her waist was free and, although her body ached all over, she eased herself up. Her back ached and she could feel the pain around her waist where the rope had suspended her full weight, but still she eased her bottom higher. She felt the skin stretch against the red marks that the whip had inflicted so punishingly, but she did what she was told.
"Ah, yes, what a beauty. I can see that soft flesh coming into view. What a beauty. Its rosy edges shine with moisture. Open your buttocks my child, I want to see it all, I want to see it gaping at me, show me your beautiful arse."
She eased herself higher and bent her back up in the same way that she had been hung on the rope. She felt Father Thomas's penetrating eyes staring in between her buttocks and wanted to show him more. She wanted him to see her cunt, she wanted to open her buttocks and show him the muscular ring of her anus and show him how it was dilating with the joy of her exposure.
"What a beauty my child. Show it to me and I will introduce it to the kindness of the whip."
She did not know what he meant, but she felt within her an urgent demand that was forcing her to move towards whatever pleasure was there. So, she lifted herself higher and opened her buttocks even wider, squeezing the insides of her thighs apart as far as they would go. Then she began to moan with the anticipation of whatever awaited her. Deep inside she knew she wanted pain but the temptation of pleasure drew her in like the sucking wet lips of a ravenous wolf.
Father Thomas drew the tip of the whip into the firm valley of flesh that puckered between the base of her buttocks and the smooth curves of her thighs. He probed its hard end lazily into the crack and pushed it slightly open, exposing the darkness of her anus and revealing it from the protective pleats of her soft skin. He pressed the sharp tip around its edges and it dilated under the pressure.
As she felt the sharp tip she sensed the pain again, but it was not really a pain, she knew it was only an introduction to something entirely different. She felt the heat of pleasure and her body sought it out as she squirmed her buttocks, trying to find the end of the whip and get it to the centre of her aching muscular ring. The whip bent as he pressed harder and she pulled back a little as the hard edges of the whip's tip bit into the edge of her anus. Then she squirmed some more and as it found the centre of her readily pulsating ring, she pushed hard against it and the end slid in.
"See how he slides in so freely. Feel him tickle your innards. Feel him prickle against the inside edges of your beautiful arse. Is he not indeed a bringer of pleasure?"
"Oh yes Father. I can feel the point. It is so fine and yet it is tracing every sense that I have. It is finding every vein and prickling it as though I was an instrument. Please, Father, more."
Father Thomas pressed the point of the whip in further, he twisted it around, and Maria twisted with it. She moaned with every movement and her mouth fell open, gaping with both anxiety and fulfilment. She wanted to feel her cunt, she wanted to slip her fingers between its wet folds and seek out her burning clitoris, but she could not, she could only ache and suffer the frustration of her bonds. She dropped her tongue onto her bottom lip and let it dribble the spit which ran down and dripped from its end. She raised her bottom as high as she could and submitted eagerly to the penetrating point of the delving tip.
"Father, please smack me. Smack me as my punishment for enjoying the whip. Smack me for enjoying its pain and its pleasure. Please Father, I want to feel your hand across my bottom. I want to feel you punishing me."
"No, my child, you cannot be smacked while the whip is enjoying you like this."
"Please Father, smack me. Please, I need smacking. I want to feel the sting across my bottom. I want to dribble as it shocks me I want to squeeze my buttocks under the shock and squeeze the whip inside my arse. Please, Father smack me. Smack me!"
Father Thomas sighed in despair.
"No, my child. I have told you, no."
"Father, please, please smack my bottom. You can smack it as hard as you want, I don't care how hard it comes. I want it hard, I want to be punished, I want to be in pain. The whip is so exquisite, I need some pain to dilute it or I think I will die. Please Father, smack me hard, smack me for the rest of the night, smack me and don't stop, smack me forever. Please Father, I can't survive without it."
Father Thomas sighed again as he twisted the tip of the whip deeply into her anus. Maria groaned loudly, then submissively bent her head and licked at the pool of spit that was running from her mouth. She drooled and salivated, sucked at it noisily and spit back into it, she felt like the wolf.