The candles which drip in the dark.
                  ===================================

She snuggled closer to the scamp and said 'Tell me a story, Harlequin'. The 
scamp looked down at her, warm and soft next to him in the bed and 
laughed lightly. 'What sort of story? Dragons? Evil foes defeated? That sort 
of story?'  'No' she said 'Tell me one about *you*.. tell me about when you 
failed miserably with a woman!' Harlequin laughed and said 'I've never 
failed miserably with a woman.. but there was once a time when things 
didn't go according to plan..' She shivered in delighted anticipation and 
bounced up and down in the bed.. 'Yes! That one! Tell me that one!'. 'Very 
well' said the scamp... 'Are you sitting... erm lying comfortably?' She 
moved over and took his hand... placed it on her breast and said 'Yes... I 
am now...'. So Harlequin started his story.

'A while ago, I was spending a lot of time with my computer, and using lots 
of different bulletin boards. There was, and probably still is, come to that, a 
particular bb that dealt specifically with bondage. And I read it regularly... 
and started to correspond with someone who just called herself S. Over the 
course of our correspondence, I got to know her quite well. She was, so 
she told me, in her mid 20's and keen to experiment with bondage. And, 
naturally enough, I was quite keen to help her. We arranged to meet in the 
lobby of a hotel in London. Well, the evening arrived and 8 o'clock found 
me waiting for her.' The young lady in bed with Harlequin nudged him and 
said 'What were you wearing?'  'Oh, the usual... black... black trousers, 
black frock coat, top hat, a cane... and though I say so myself, I looked 
quite striking... Anyway, the mysterious S arrived. She was, as she'd said in 
her emails to me.. mid 20's... long blonde hair bound back in a ponytail... 
quite slim, but not skinny... very long fingernails, as I recall... She was 
lightly made up, and was wearing a white T-shirt, cut low over her breasts, 
and I could make out the slight sparkle of glitter on her chest. She also had 
on a deep red, flowing skirt.'

Harlequin shifted slightly in the bed, one fingertip gently circling a nipple. 
'We went to dinner... she was quite demure... with a nice laugh... her 
voice.. was... well... entrancing. At one moment it was deep and husky - 
usually when she dipped her chin to look at me, and at other times it was 
light, - girlish even. We chatted about lots of different things; politics, the 
weather.. the bulletin board. All very general stuff. Then we started to talk 
a little about what she wanted to try out... she said that it was all something 
new and exciting for her, and she wanted to try a little experimentation. I 
assured her that I knew a little about such things, and would be very keen 
to help her explore what she wanted, and where she wanted to go.' 
Harlequin paused, and laughed a little ruefully.. 'Little did I know...' He 
coughed slightly and continued. 'Anyway, she said that she would prefer to 
go back to her flat, as she would feel more comfortable there than 
anywhere else, which made sense to me'. The girl shifted a little and said 
'And of course, you weren't suprised that she was quite happy to 
experiment with you, only having met you that evening, you being the 
scamp that you are?' Again Harlequin laughed and said 'Well... that's what I 
thought at the time.. but don't forget, we had corresponded a lot with each 
other, and we knew each other very well....' Harlequin paused then said 
slightly ruefully 'At least, I thought that we did'.

He went silent for a few moments, until a judicious prod in the ribs 
reminded him to continue. 'Well, we went back to the flat.. it was in 
Bayswater... very expensive. She had a lower floor flat - you had to go 
down steps to get to the front door.  Consequently, it was fairly quiet.. 
both from what you could hear from inside the flat, and I suppose, what 
you could hear *from* the flat. So... she offered to get me a drink and..' At 
this point he was interrupted again 'What did the flat look like then?' 'Well, 
it was.. different. Very gothic... lots of candles.. mainly black but other 
colours as well. Lots of posters from films, astrological charts.. a real 
mixture. There was a very definite scent in the room... a heady mixture of 
patchouli, which was cut by thyme, with a ... oh, 'far eastern' I suppose is 
the best way of describing it..undercurrent. Now, at this point, I still didn't 
know her name.. I suppose I should have realised then, but she'd always 
managed to turn the conversation away when I attempted to raise the 
subject. She got me my drink... southern comfort - d'you know, she'd never 
asked me what my favourite was, but just seemed to know.. very odd. 

I sipped it - she apologised and said that she hoped it was all right, as she'd 
had the bottle for a long time, as she didn't drink it herself. It certainly 
tasted a little unusual, but I put it down to the fact that, as she said, it 
had been around a while. She moved around the flat, lighting candles.... 
dripping oil into a burner and lighting it. The scent in the flat grew 
stronger... much stronger, and I began to feel a little dizzy. Most unlike 
me... but there's a first for everything I suppose. But then......' 'Yes... and 
then?' Harlequin got another dig in the ribs....

'And then the room started to go a little dizzy... she stood in front of me, 
smiling quietly to herself... I attempted to rise, only to fall back into the 
comfortable chair.... and I passed out.'  His companion screamed with 
laughter - 'You! Pass out! You never pass out!' 'Well, no, not from just 
drinking, but even scamps pass out if they've been slipped something in 
their drinks..' Harlequin coughed, with just a slight trace of embarrassment, 
as his companion curled up in the bed, laughing... 'You mean she slipped 
you a Mickey Finn and you didn't realise it!!!' 'Yes, yes yes... that's right.. 
and you *did* say you wanted a story where things didn't work out as they 
should.... and if you keep this up, I shall stop!' She grinned at him... poked 
her tongue out, and motioned him, by way of squeezing his hand over her 
breast, to continue.

'Well... when I woke, it was obviously in her bedroom. I was on a very 
comfortable bed, but the lighting was not bright.. in fact, it came from 
candles... a lot of them, providing flickering, wavering light, but enough to 
see by. The next thing that I noticed was that I wasn't wearing any clothes.. 
not a stitch! I tried to move my hands, but found that I couldn't. I looked 
up and could see that they had been cuffed, and the cuffs were attached to 
the bedstead. Ditto for my feet as well. It was at *this* point that I realised 
that things were not going quite according to plan - it was her that should 
have been in this position, not me! Then I heard a rustling... I looked up as 
far as I was able, and could see her, S, walking into the room. She was 
dressed in a white basque.. knickers.. stockings.. the works. But what I 
noticed most of all, once I'd gotten over the sight of a riding crop in her 
hand, was the smile of quiet triumph on her face. She laughed softly, and 
came and sat next to me on the bed. One carefully lacquered nail traced a 
sharp little path from my throat down to my navel. She leaned closer and 
said 'Well, I've won my bet, and a lot easier than I expected to!' I asked her 
what she meant.. apparently a small group of about half a dozen read the 
emails and so on from the bondage bulletin board and had decided that, 
having read a few responses that I'd given publicly, that they wanted to 
turn the tables on me. And S was the one voted to do just that. So, I 
shrugged, as best I was able and said 'OK, I admit it.. you've got me, and 
you've won. Can you untie me now please?' She just laughed and said 'Oh 
no... oh no.... that was just the first part of the bet.. we've got the rest 
of it to do now...'

She lent forward, and as he craned his neck for a kiss, she just licked his 
lips... and kissed down the side of his jaw.... He felt her kisses and hot 
breath as she kissed and licked downwards, to his nipple. He felt her teeth 
grazing it... biting lightly, while the fingernails of one hand scratched 
across the surface of the other one, making them hard. He felt the stirrings 
of an erection, as she bit and scratched a little harder. He moaned and thrust
his hips forward... to be rewarded he thought as she sat up again. Then the 
scamp felt the end of the riding crop stroking the inside of his thighs... up 
and up and up.. then across his balls and down the length of his cock. He 
looked up into her eyes... and she smiled down at him... 'I didn't actually lie 
to you, you know.. I do want to experiment.. but just not quite in the way 
that you thought'. So saying.. her head dipped, and he felt the tip of his 
cock being sucked into her mouth.. the tip of her tongue circling around 
the end... and as he grew harder, the touch of her teeth, nibbling slightly... 
just a tiny bit harder than he was fully comfortable with... then he gasped as 
she took him further inside, sucking deeply on him.... his erection swelled 
and grew to full hardness... and as it did so, her teeth clamped down hard - 
very hard - on the tip of his cock. He cried out, pulling against his bonds, 
but to no avail. Laughing, she sat up again. He could feel her saliva cooling 
on his cock... and he sighed in resignation... it was her play, and she'd made 
it quite clear she was going to do exactly what she wanted, exactly her 
way.

'Dear me... its starting to get hot, isn't it?' The scamp just kept quiet.. he 
hadn't felt it himself, but if she said it was getting hot, then hot it was 
getting. She placed a couple of the candles on the bedside table, so he 
could see her more clearly. Slowly, she reached behind her, and fiddled 
with the clips or bows on the basque. Standing, she let it drop to the floor. 
She cupped her breasts in her hands, toying with the nipples.. watching him 
in his frustration.... Again, she knelt at the side of the bed... he could feel 
one of her breasts warm and heavy against his side.. she whispered in his 
ear 'Do you want to suck and lick one, darling Harlequin?' He heard her 
laughter, gentle and warm as he nodded. She leant across him.. her breasts 
a scant inch from his face, and as he moved his head upwards, poking out 
his tongue a little, she moved back, keeping the distance the same. 'Oh, 
don't just nod... say Please, Mistress S'.... the scamp laughed ruefully, and 
grinned into her eyes... 'Please, Mistress S' he whispered.. She lent down 
once more, this time allowing him to lick and suckle, first on one nipple, 
and then on the other. All too soon, she sat up again, running her 
fingernails down his body, scratching lightly. She held his erection in her 
hands, and again he felt the nails digging in - not painfully hard, but just 
hard enough so that he knew that she was the one in charge.

Once more her fingertips scratched along his inner thighs, up and along his 
still hard erection. Slowly, she straddled his body, positioning herself above 
his cock, and using her hand, guided him into her slippery warmth. Bracing 
herself on his chest, she started to move up and down - very slowly, so that 
he could feel the coolness of the air against his cock as she moved up, and 
then the heat as he was engulfed again. She began to move faster and faster 
- her nails digging into his shoulders.... she could feel herself being filled,
opened with each thrust. Her orgasm was beginning to grow inside 
her... and she could feel the scamp thrusting as much as his tethers would 
allow.. so she slowed down again.. one part of her mind noting with 
amusement his almost howl of frustration..... She lent forward again, letting 
her breasts brush over his face while she licked sweat off his forehead. Then
she started to move on him once more, taking her time, using him to satisfy her
own needs - feeling the orgasm building inside her, and crashing over her,
sending ripples of pleasure through her body. Floating, she enjoyed each ripple,
until finally they faded, and past...

Harlequin watched while Mistress S stretched out, and picked up one of 
the candles. A black one, quite thick, part of his mind registered. He looked 
up at her face, looking strange and unreal illuminated in the flickering light 
of the candle flame. Again she started to move slowly up and down on his 
erection.... and he was torn... part of him desperate to orgasm... part 
wanting to continue, giving himself into her power, existing to satisfy her. 
He shut his eyes.. feeling, living the sensations... then the air exploded out 
of him with a gasp as he felt an extremely hot, burning sensation on one of 
his nipples for a brief second, before cooling against his skin. He opened 
his eyes, in time to see her slowly and deliberately tilt the candle, watching 
the hot wax drip and stream downwards, splattering onto his chest... again 
the hot, almost burning sensation, quickly replaced with a gentle hardening, 
cooling, mingling with the almost perfection of her movements on him... 
the grinding of her groin against his... 

'Watch, Harlequin' his Mistress said to him, in that husky voice he was 
becoming used to. He opened his eyes again and saw her take a second 
candle, a red one this time, and tilt it; the wax dripped and dribbled onto his 
skin, and he cried out again at the very intense pain, which as soon as he 
had registered it, was fading. It was replaced by a tautness as the wax 
hardened, tight on the hair on his chest, making it painful to move, or to 
breath too deeply. Slowly, she moved down his body, sometimes dripping 
the wax rhythmically, so he was able to time his breathing, and prepare for 
the pleasure/pain, but as soon as he was able to gauge the rhythm, she 
would change it. He was dimly aware through all of this that she was 
dripping wax over his chest, then his stomach and on downwards. He 
braced himself as the sensations, sharp and intense came one after another, 
but even that, and the knowledge of where she was heading did not prepare 
him for the hot stream of wax which landed on the tip of his penis and 
trickled down the length of it, cooling as it went. Once more, that deep, 
almost hypnotic laugh. She carefully placed the black candle back on her 
bedside table and knelt between his legs, watching him. She looked 
beautiful, there in the candle light. Then she looked down - he almost 
laughed as he saw the little pink tip of her tongue poking out of her mouth 
as she concentrated. One hand around the base of his cock, and she said 
almost to herself 'Start to breath deeply - get into a rhythm. It might make 
it a little easier for you'. And so, he started to breath as deeply as he could,
given the pain that the hardened wax on the hair on his chest caused him. 
As he inhaled, she tipped the candle, and he bit his bottom lip so as not to 
scream aloud as the molten liquid fell onto the very tip of his erection, 
dripping down it. Sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging them, but he was 
bound, and unable to wipe his forehead. He started to get into a rhythm  -  
when he was ready, he would take a deep breath, and hold his body taut, 
and at the moment he had filled his lungs with air, she would pour the wax, 
and he would scream aloud. Then it would begin again. And again, and again.

He did not know how long it lasted. It could have been minutes, or hours. 
Indeed, he was not even sure when she finally finished. He was vaguely 
aware that she was lying against him, pulling cold drips of wax off his 
chest, ripping out the hair as she did so. He moaned and looked at her, 
turning his head as much as he could. Then she laughed that girlish laugh 
and said 'Are you ready for me to take the cast off now?' He registered the 
weight of the cooled wax on his erection and nodded, saying 'Yes Mistress 
S, I'm ready'. She leant across him, opened her cabinet draw and took out a 
very sharp knife, which glinted in the flickering light of the candle flames. 
Very carefully, she cut down the length of the wax cast, and he could feel 
the edge of the knife against his skin, grazing, but never cutting it. 
Carefully, she pulled the cast open, prising it away from the curly hair which 
was embedded in it, laughing as he winced at the sharp, tearing pain, and she 
had eventually freed it completely. She smiled, innocently, and looked down at 
him and said 'I think this is going to make a very fine mold, don't you?'

'And then? And then? What happened next? Did she let you go?' Harlequin 
grinned down and said 'Eventually she let me go.... after she had made it 
quite clear that she'd had her wicked way. But I count myself lucky - very 
lucky indeed!' His lady of the night looked up, slightly puzzled and said 
'Lucky? Why lucky?' Harlequin laughed once more and said 'If I'd left 
playing around with a computer for another couple of years, I might have 
met her via the Internet, and alt.sex.bondage, and who *knows* what 
might have happened to me then?'

Harlequin looked down and grinned.... 'Is that the sort of story you 
wanted?' Her reply was muffled as he started to kiss her, and his hands 
began to roam once more.