by Van ©2022
		Chapter 5

It was creepy, both in terms of general atmosphere and physical activity.

The creepy atmospherics were provided by Peyton Frazier's Modern Mansion and Kidnapper's Lair.  The place was eerie, at least at night.  Granted, there was no moaning wind stirring gauze-thin drapes that glowed in the moonlight and fluttered like beckoning, hungry ghosts.  All the drapes were open, Modern, and opaque, and the window-walls were well-built and anything but drafty.  Also, because of the minimalist decor, all the moon-shadows were linear, geometrical, predictable, and nonthreatening, giving Heidi's imagination very little to work with.  That said, given the circumstances... creepy.

Creepy-activity-wise, the culprit was Heidi herself.  Naked, box-tied, and ball-gagged, she silently padded (creeped) down the darkened corridor, fully into her impromptu exploration/rescue mission.  She'd started out tiptoeing, then realized that balancing on point on her toes was pointless... not to mention tiring.  Walking on the carpet in her bare feet was virtually silent, as long as she didn't slap her feet when she encountered stretches of hardwood floor and refrained from bumping into things.  Also, the more distance she put between herself and Kassidy's bedroom and it's barely open door, the lesser the odds she'd be able to wake up her sadistic, reptile-eyed, rope-freak of a kidnapper if she tried.  Therefore... no problem... but she was creeping, and was therefore creepy.

So... how to proceed?  Silently opening every door Heidi passed until she found Doc would take forever.  She decided to start by giving herself a better general understanding of the mansion's floor plan.  She assumed she was starting in the "bedroom wing," but maybe she wasn't.  Maybe it was the "guest wing" or the "servants' wing".  After all, Kassidy was technically a servant.  All crazy rich redheads have resident kidnappers and prisoner handlers on their payrolls, right? Heidi reasoned.  And maybe the crazy redhead in question had her very own wing and was keeping Doc close.  Also, assuming she could figure out which one it was, if Doc's door was locked, rescue-wise it would be game over; but at least she'd have a better idea of the layout.  And at some future date, if she could somehow lay her hands on a key, she could try again.  Tonight, if all she accomplished was reconnaissance, at least it was something.  Anyway, assuming she didn't get lucky and stumble across Doc by sheer chance, she'd search for a few hours... then return to Kassidy's bedroom and sneak back into her bed.  No problem.

Padding through the semi-darkness, Heidi carried out her cautious reconnoitering and her mental map of the mansion slowly improved.  There was a humongous Great Room/Party Room, assuming Peyton threw parties for her kidnapping friends... as well as several smaller lounges or sitting rooms... followed by what amounted to a home exercise complex.  It included a home gym with all the usual state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line exercise machines, with all the bells and whistles.  Next was a tiled space with a shower, two massage tables, one of which was a padded, fully adjustable massage chair, a cedar door that practically screamed "I'm a sauna," and a stainless steel tub, one of those Jacuzzi-type hydrotherapy tanks.  The adjacent room had a padded floor and lots of open space.  Heidi decided it was probably a yoga studio, or possibly a martial arts dojo.  There was a weight-bag in one corner and a sparring dummy in another.  The next room was—

"MRRRMPFH!"

Heidi had been grabbed from behind!  And was being held in a tight embrace by a naked woman!  "Naughty girl," Kassidy's voice whispered in her right ear.

Big surprise, Heidi's captor was her recent bed-mate.  She squirmed in her bonds and tried to break Kassidy's hold, but to no avail.  She even tried lifting her right knee, then kicking back with her right heel, but all that got her was a trip (literally) to the floor, and she landed hard enough to temporarily knock the air out of her lungs.

"Mff!"

"You know what happens to naughty girls," Kassidy purred as she tied Heidi's ankles together, "don't you, Sweetcakes?"

Heidi had a very good idea, and was not happy.

Meanwhile, Kassidy had lifted Heidi to her still bare but now bound feet and spun her around to face the way back to her distant point of origin.  She then grabbed the end of Heidi's braid to use as a leash.  "Off we go," Kassidy purred.  "Hop-hop."

Heidi blinked in ball-gagged distress.  She's gonna make me hop?

"I said, hop-hop!" Kassidy confirmed.

Bitch!  Heidi took a tentative hop, as ordered.  Kassidy hadn't tied her ankles too tightly together, probably so Heidi could hop.  She sighed, then took a second hop... followed by a third.  Smack!  Ow!  Kassidy had slapped her on the rear.  Bitch!

"I know you can do better than that, Sweetcakes," Kassidy chuckled quietly.  "Hop to it, as the saying goes.  We don't have all night."

Heidi rolled her eyes, then resumed hopping, this time at a more rapid pace.  Ow! she mentally complained with every rope-encumbered jump.  Truth be told, her ankles really didn't hurt.  It was the principle of the thing.  Hopping as a naked, bound, and ball-gagged prisoner was humiliating... and tiring.  Ow!  Ow!  Ow!

Finally, after an eternity of bunny-hopping (punctuated by the occasional frog-leap, just for the novelty) they'd returned to Kassidy's bedroom.  The naked kidnapper opened the door, Heidi hopped across the threshold, and her naked, bound, and gagged "escape" was back where it started.

Without saying a word, Kassidy led her prisoner (meaning encouraged more hopping) towards the chair laden with the ominous pile of coiled hemp rope.  She then forced Heidi to the carpeted floor—"Mrrrf!"—selected a coil, released its restraining hitch, and set to work.

When the proverbial smoke cleared, Heidi's bondage had been both changed and considerably augmented.

Heidi was still box-tied, but now it was a reverse-prayer-box-tie!  Her hands were palm-to-palm and more-or-less between her shoulder-blades!  And Kassidy had tied her thumbs together with stout cord, then looped more cord around her hands and "praying" fingers!

As for her legs, Heidi was sitting on her butt in a semi-lotus with her ankles tied together and each thighs lashed to its lower-leg in a stringent and elaborate frog-tie.  In fact point of fact, her legs were ladder-tied down their entire lengths, from her ankles to her knees!

And as it that wasn't enough, Kassidy had looped rope behind Heidi's neck and through her box-tie bonds, forced her to lean forward into a severe crunch, then took out all the slack and tied everything off in a macramé-like braid of knots.  She'd crafted a severe shrimp-tie, and the punishing posture was enhanced by a taut crotch-rope that cleaved Heidi's labia and butt-crack and linked the box-tie-bonds behind her back to her crossed ankles in front!

Finally, for no other reason that total bitchiness, Kassidy used more thin cord to bind Heidi's big toes and link them by way of the ropes enforcing the crunch!  That is, she tied the cord around Heidi's right big toe, threaded the cord through the nexus of ropes under Heidi's chin, then tied the other end to her left big toe.  And she pulled out all slack before tying the final knots!  The toe-cords were as taut as the proverbial fiddle-strings, enough to flex and more-or less immobilize her bare feet!  Asshole-motherfucking-BITCH!  Heidi was unhappy.

And oh-by-the-way, while showing off her rigging skills, Kassidy had kept up a nonstop educational monologue.  That was why Heidi now knew her predicament included techniques like the "reverse-prayer-box-tie," "ladder-frog-tie," and "shrimp-tie."  The sadistic bitch also shared what she claimed were the Japanese terms for the restrictive procedures employed, but Heidi was too busy suffering to absorb exotic/foreign vocabulary like katae kote, agura, and ebi shibari.

"I'm going to leave you like this 'til morning," Kassidy purred, "because you were such a naughty girl, but if you make any noise and wake me up, I'll hang you by your hair in the back of the closet.  The door is solid and more-or-less soundproof, just so you know."

Heidi lifted her chin and stared silently at her tormentor.  Silence seemed like a prudent strategy, and she was too distressed to glower or glare.

"Remember, Sweetcakes," Kassidy continued as she spun on her heels, gracefully padded to the bed, and climbed between the sheets, "this is all your fault.  Good girls get to sleep on comfy beds.  Bad girls who wander around the premises without permission sleep on the floor."

The lights clicked off and the bedroom was plunged into near darkness.  As before, the only light was from the pair of blue-green nightlights near the baseboards on either side of the platform bed.

Heidi was miserable... and suspected she'd become progressively more miserable until she was released.  Preliminary attempts to squirm for comfort were not promising.  She decided that with considerable effort she might be able to roll off her butt and onto her side, but that might be even less "comfortable" than her current semi-lotus-crunch.

Well, Doc, Heidi thought sadly, I tried.  At least for tonight, it's up to you.

This was the first time that Lori had slept with her wrists crossed and tied behind her back, and she woke to find her shoulders throbbing with a mild ache.  Also, she didn't appreciate the steel collar still clamped around her neck.  It was uncomfortable.  However, despite the steel shackles joined by their hobbling chain, her feet, ankles, and legs were okay.  Go figure.  Anyway, her shoulders and neck were sore and she felt only slightly rested.

Payton Frazier, her kidnapper, had been the first to rise, and the naked redhead climbing from the bed had been what roused Lori from her slumber.  Without saying a word, Peyton had stretched and yawned, then padded into the attached bathroom.  Lori sighed as she lay on her back and bound wrists in the rumpled sheets and stared up at the ceiling.  The drapes formerly covering the window-wall were open and early dawn light was flooding the space.  Wet sounds emanated from the bathroom, the sounds of her "hostess" relieving herself, washing her face, etc.  And then, water began splashing in a steady torrent.  Peyton was taking a shower.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened and Kassidy, Lori's other kidnapper, entered.  She was wearing black boots, blue denim jeans, and a heather gray tank-top over what appeared to be a black sports-bra.  She grinned at Lori and the rumpled bed.

"Good morning, Professor," Peyton's hired muscle and rope-expert purred as she strolled to the bathroom, crossed the threshold, and was gone.  The shower was still running, but now Lori could hear voices as well.  The water abruptly stopped.  Peyton and Kassidy continued talking, but quietly, and Lori couldn't make out what they were saying.  Seconds passed... then the drone of a hairdryer joined the discussion.

The hairdryer stopped... then Peyton and Kassidy trooped back into the bedroom.  Peyton continued on into the walk-in closet, while Kassidy made a beeline for the bed... and Lori.

"Enough lazing around, sleepyhead," Kassidy chuckled, then grabbed Lori and pulled her to her shackled feet.

"There's no need to be so inconsiderate," Lori complained as she was dragged into the bathroom.  "Hey!"  Kassidy had lifted the hem of Lori's sleeping gown up and over her head, leaving the diaphanous fabric bunched and tangled around her upper body and covering her frowning face, then plunked her down on the commode.  Her hands were still crossed and bound behind her back, and the gauze-thin nightie was still tightly clutched in Kassidy's left hand, giving the evil kidnapper additional control.  Lori glared up at her handler through the thin white fabric.

"Well,' Kassidy demanded, "are you going to take a leak or not?"

Glowering with resentment, Lori didn't bother answering the question.  In point of fact, she did need to urinate... so she did.  It was necessary but humiliating.  When she was finished, Kassidy flushed the toilet... then lifted Lori to her shackled feet.  The majority of the nightie remained clutched in Kassidy's fist, so Lori was still naked from the shoulders down, and her handler was using the bunched garment to drag her to the washbasin.

Lori watched with sullen resentment as Kassidy filled an acrylic glass with water, then lowered the nightie enough to expose Lori's angry face and pouting lips so she could drink.  Hydration had been something else on Lori's to-do-list, so she did, in fact, drink, but Kassidy tipped the glass too quickly (or maybe was purposely sloppy) and half the wet contents dripped down her chin and splashed the gathered nightie.  Lori didn't complain... but she was scathingly resentful.

Next, still clutching the gathered nightie, Kassidy dragged Lori from the bathroom and towards the closet... just in time for Peyton to emerge and step to the side, out of their way.  She was now wearing sandals, another one of her seemingly endless collection of attractive designer sundresses, and (Lori assumed) underwear.  The redhead was also smiling her usual lopsided grin.

Lori locked eyes with Peyton as they passed.  "Tell your minion to—Mrrrmpfh!"  Kassidy had stuffed a handful (or rather a mouthful) of gauzy nightie into Lori's mouth, then shoved her to the closet floor.  Lori squirmed and sat up, spat the silky fabric from her mouth, and watched as her nemesis rummaged through what appeared to be a dirty clothes hamper.  "Please, I'll do as you say," Lori huffed.  "There's no need to—"  Lori blinked in horror.  Kassidy had selected two pair of rumpled panties, shook them out—all the while smiling her cold, evil smile—and was approaching.  "No!  No!  Don't you dare—MRRRF!"

Kassidy had stuffed the panties into Lori's mouth, just as she'd feared she would!  Then, one hand clamped over her prisoner's mouth to keep them there, Kassidy dragged Lori to a dresser drawer, pulled it open, and rummaged inside until she found a long, narrow, summer-weight scarf of white silk.  She used it to wrap around Lori's lower face and head, twice, cleaving her gaping mouth tightly enough to make her cheeks bulge, then tied a knot at the nape of her neck.

"Mrrrpfh!"  Lori was now quite adequately gagged.  All of her complaints, requests, and general remarks would now be totally garbled and largely absorbed!  "Nrrrmk!"

"I couldn't agree more," Kassidy chuckled.  "Now, hold still."

Lori tugged on her bound wrists and blinked in distress, but otherwise remained in position on the closet floor, not out of obedience, but in shock.  This early morning nightmare was getting worse and worse!  She watched as Kassidy produced a coil of hemp rope from somewhere, released its retaining hitch, prepared it for use, then pounced.

Despite her orders, Lori fought her handler as best she could, but to no avail.  When the proverbial dust settled... things had changed, somewhat.

Lori was now naked.  Kassidy had untied her wrists and removed the nightie without ripping it to pieces (somehow)... then used the rope to bind Lori in a tight box-tie.  As previously mentioned, Lori had struggled, but, apparently, Kassidy was expert in the handling of naked academics.  Anyway, Lori was now totally nude, her ankles clamped in hobbling shackles, her arms folded behind her back with a tight, symmetrical web of doubled hemp strands pinning her arms to her sides, yoking her shoulders, and binding her crossed wrists against her mid spine.  The steel collar was still clamped around her neck, and she was gagged with a double-panties-stuffing-cleave gag!

And then, adding darkness to helplessness, Kassidy dropped some sort of light-tight cloth bag over Lori's head and cinched its drawstring tight around her iron-collared neck!  "Mrrrf!"  She was then lifted to her bare, shackled feet and hustled away.  Fortunately, Lori found she could breath through the nearly opaque fabric hood shrouding her head.

Lori's hobbling chain rattled as she stumbled along.  Wherever she was being taken... it soon became obvious it was well beyond the confines of Peyton's bedroom.

Heidi was... to coin a phrase... out of it.  That is, she was just about as miserable as she thought it was possible to be without passing out.  Kassidy had left her in her rerverse-prayer-box-tie-frog-tie-shrimp-tied for hours!  ...through the entire night!  She could barely wiggle, much less squirm, much less stretch and flex her stringently rope-bound but otherwise naked body to achieve some degree, any degree, of comfort.  The only thing she could "do" was drool around her ball-gag and drip saliva onto her rope-cleaved crotch... and that wasn't by choice.

Out of it.  Miserable.  Too miserable to sleep.  Not a happy camper.  Not a satisfied customer.  Not likely to leave a tip.

At some point, somehow, Heidi must have succeeded in dozing off, because she opened her eyes to discover early morning light flooding the bedroom and Kassidy padding towards the bathroom, still naked.  Heidi closed her eyes again and listened to the sound of her kidnapper—meaning her kidnapper and rope-torturer—taking a shower, brushing her teeth, flushing the toilet... whatever.  Then, without so much as a gloating glance in Heidi's direction, Kassidy padded from the bathroom and disappeared into her walk-in closet.  Then, after a brief interval... Kassidy emerged wearing boots, blue-jeans, and a gray tank-top.  And then, still ignoring her naked and hideously bound and gagged sleep-over-guest, the cold-eyed psycho left the bedroom—Click!—locking the door behind her.

Heidi closed her eyes, again.  Maybe she could get back to sleep.  It would be her only escape from her horrible predicament, that was for sure.

Time passed in a miasma of discomfort... if not outright pain.

More time passed.

And then—Click!

It was the bedroom door being unlocked.  The portal swung open and three people strode across the threshold.  They were:

(1) Peyton the psycho medieval documents collector.  She was wearing sandals, another pretty sundresses, and her usual goofy, lopsided smile.  Her ginger-red curls were loose about her freckled shoulders.

(2) Kassidy the reptile-eyed kidnapper, dressed as before.  She had a firm grip on...

(3) A naked woman with her ankles in shackles and her barefoot steps hobbled by the connecting chains.  Her arms were folded behind her back with a network of ropes pinning her upper arms to her torso and yoking her shoulders in a standard box-tie, as opposed to Heidi's hideous reverse-prayer-box-tie (courtesy of Kassidy).  Whoever she was (and Heidi had an excellent idea), her head was completely covered by a cloth hood.  It was Dr. Lori Ryder, of course, Heidi's beloved Doc, but seeing Doc naked (or nearly naked) was a quite recent occurrence, and Heidi had been trained not to make snap judgements.  She'd probably be able to confirm her fellow naked prisoner's identity soon enough.  Anyway...

"My-oh-my!" Peyton gasped, focusing her irritating smile on Heidi.  "You have been a bad girl."

Heidi stared up at the grinning redhead in exhausted misery, not bothering to force any sort of response past her ball-gag.

Meanwhile, Kassidy had loosened and jerked the hood from her prisoner's (her other prisoner's) head.

Heidi heaved a tragic sigh.  The naked, shackled, box-tied, steel collared, and cleave-gagged newcomer was, indeed, her beloved Doc.

Lori shook her gagged head, restoring a modicum of order to her still slightly tousled blond pageboy, then focused on Heidi.  Her gorgeous blue eyes popped wide and she forced a well-muffled scream through whatever was stuffed in her mouth and held in place by her tight cleave-gag.  "Mrrrrf!"  She tried lunging forward, but Kassidy had a firm grip on the ring dangling from the front of the steel collar and controlled her easily.  Then, before Lori could do more than voice an additional criticism of Peyton's hospitality—"Mrrrmfh!"—Kassidy forced Lori to the carpet directly in front of her suffering student.

Heidi watched as Kassidy pulled a double-ended steel snap-clip from her jeans pocket and used it to attach the ring on the front of Doc's collar to the center link of the hobbling chain of her shackles.  That left the naked professor in a semi-lotus pose similar to Heidi's shrimp-tie predicament, albeit less stringent and without the super-abundance of rope binding virtually every part of Heidi's body.  Doc had a lot more wiggle-room.

Peyton and her minion stood side by side with their arms folded under their breasts and smiled down at their naked captives in classic gloating fashion.

Heidi was still too frazzled and spent to do more than stare at her major professor, but Lori was taking advantage of the aforementioned wiggle-room to fight her bonds and squirm on the carpet.  Heidi noted the way Doc's breasts bobbed and shook as she struggled... not that the dangling, fleshy gyrations were either here nor there.

"Well, Dr. Ryder," Peyton purred, "I told you earlier that your graduate student was hostage to your good behavior and cooperation, but based on the events of last night, I have no choice but to make it a reciprocal arrangement."

Both Heidi and Lori lifted their chins, as best they could, and stared up at the smiling redhead.

"Heidi was very bad last night," Peyton continued.  "She tried to escape.  I'm afraid I can't have that.  So... just to be clear... from now on, Professor, you will both be punished when either one of you misbehaves.  We'll take today off from scholarly pursuits so Kassidy can reinforce the lesson."

Heidi and Lori locked eyes and blinked in distress.

Meanwhile, Peyton and Kassidy turned and strolled towards the bedroom door.

"Toland of Consett has waited centuries for a scholar of your reputation to appreciate his writings," Peyton called back over her right shoulder, "so what's one more day?"

And with that, the nefarious pair made their exit—Click!—locking the bedroom door behind them.

Professor Ryder and her student were alone, sitting in front of each other in more-or-less the same uncomfortable pose, naked, bound, and gagged.

Lori could tell Heidi was in a bad way, far worse than herself.  It seemed a safe bet the poor youngster had been in her current predicament for quite some time, probably hours... and there was nothing Lori could do to help her!  "Mrrrf," she sobbed through her gag.  Tears dripped down her flushed and bulging cheeks... and were absorbed by the tight cloth of her cleave-gag.

Heidi knew she could also use a good cry, but instead, mustered her remaining strength, gave her bonds the best wiggling test she could manage, then winked at her major professor.  It was all she could think of to reassure and comfort her beloved Doc.

Lori continued crying, but she was reassured... even if she didn't know how she could show it.  Lori was also fiercely proud of her student.  Heidi was strong, so Lori would have to be strong as well... and not lose hope.

Time marched on as machine cycle followed machine cycle.

It was approaching absolute certainty (94±5% and climbing) that the "DiD Sisters" of the Lewis & Clark chapter of the ΔΙΔ sorority were, indeed, planning another of their infamous, nefarious, and highly entertaining "duct tape raids," and their target would be the next meeting of the L&C Delvers' Society, a student club dedicated to meeting on a regular basis and wasting their valuable study time playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.  Most of them were female and all of them were at least a little nerdy, so they were worthy targets of ΔΙΔ's attention.  That said, Sally knew there was no real enmity involved.  Making duct-tape mummies out of nerdy undergrads was just an excuse to blow off steam.  The same went for mummifying hot cheerleaders, foxy athletes, and other Lewis & Clark coteries of comely coeds.  The DiD Sisters were equal opportunity pranksters.

Anyway, Sally was pretty close to compiling a detailed report on the upcoming raid (complete with video surveillance records of incriminating planning sessions) and handing the file off to Inspector Tori Ballantine of the Lewis & Clark Campus Police.  Tori would probably let the raid happen, then swoop in and rescue the Delvers, apprehend the ΔΙΔs, let the Sisters cool their heels in handcuffs in a basement holding cell for a few hours, then let them off with a warning (another warning).  That was Tori's usual practice, anyway.  If the Delvers wanted to press charges, Tori would probably diffuse the situation by reminding the AD&D enthusiasts that they'd gained valuable experience being Damsels-(or Dudes)-in-Distress that they could use concocting future gaming scenarios.  The Inspector had an excellent track record of "fostering good student relations."

Meanwhile, as usual, Sally was multi-tasking at a hectic pace, keeping a proverbial eye on her ever growing and simultaneously shrinking list of things-to-keep-a-proverbial-eye-on.  However... former item #629: a History graduate student who had checked out an unusual number of valuable documents from the Raffish Archives of the F.E. Campbell Library, had rocketed up the list and was now item #3: the unexplained absence/disappearance of a History graduate student and her major professor.

Neither Dr. Lori Ryder nor Heidi Haas, Ryder's Teaching Assistant and the greedy library patron who had initially landed herself on Sally's list, had shown up for work on Monday.  That is, Professor Ryder missed her lectures, her office hours, a scheduled lunch at the faculty club with a fellow professor, and a mandatory History department faculty meeting, and Ms. Hass' was a no-show for all her Monday classes.  It wasn't like either of them.  Their colleagues and friends were trying to decide if they should become concerned.  The e-mail messages and phone calls were flying fast and furious, but everything addressed to Dr. Ryder and Heidi Haas was going unanswered.  Also, neither visage had pinged the campus surveillance system's facial recognition software since the weekend.  It was too soon to call the pair "Missing," but Ryder and her protegé were growing ever more conspicuous by their unexplained absence.

It was now Tuesday, morning classes were about to commence, and there was still no sign of Ryder and/or Haas.  Enough was enough.

Sally dropped Item #3 from her list and upgraded the matter to an "Informal Investigative Case File," devoting more of her resources and following standard police protocols (except for the wait-a-full-48-hours part).  She was keeping a keen omniscient eye out for both women, was monitoring their communication accounts, and was combing through recent campus and off-campus surveillance camera records, attempting to reconstruct their recent movements.

It was probably nothing.  Such things were usually nothing.  That said, it was exceeding unusual for a Professor of History to blow off her responsibilities, her graduate student to skip all her classes, and the two of them to go on an impromptu shopping spree, an unannounced backpacking expedition, or a romantic liaison at a secluded health spa.

Sally would keep an all-seeing eye on the situation until it was resolved.  She had plenty of 1's and 0's to squander on tracking down Ryder & Haas... and she loved a good mystery.