"Master Cold..." It was a prayer, relief, and everything all rolled into one. Her eyes slowly rose up from the ground, looking at the icicles that hung from her guillotine while hoarfrost covered every surface, except where her body was thrown back from the blade that still shook from the impact.

A tired voice startled her, Meris. "I won't ever be your master, Love."

Sonja gasped and her head snapped around to see Meris standing over her mother's body, a two-by-four in her hand. One end was stained red with blood and Sonja looked down to see a puddle forming underneath her mother's head.

"Meris?"

Meris, naked as her, dropped the wood and threw herself at Sonja. Sonja tried to catch her, but Meris just slammed into her with arms and kisses.

"Oh, Sonja! I thought you were going to die. I could hear you but I couldn't move, this heat... this horrible heat kept pushing me down until suddenly it got really cold and I had to save you!"

It was a flood of words but Sonja warmed up in her lover's kisses and she wrapped her arms around Meris, sobbing from the brush of death she just experienced.

"I love you, Sonja, I love you so much and I never want to see you like that again."

Sonja could only sob as Meris held her tightly.

Eventually, Meris' words slowed down, but not the kisses. Between gasps for breath, Meris started to ask questions.

"What happens?"

"Why did your mother do that?"

"Why couldn't you move?"

"Where did that explosion come from?"

For each one, Sonja tried to answer to the best of her ability, not keeping anything from her lover. Even when she stumbled on the efforts to explain Master Cold, she kept speaking until Meris grunted.

"The ghost... right? The one that keeps doing things for us?"

The last word shocked Sonja, "Us?"

Meris squeezed Sonja tightly, "I remember feeling this cold when I needed to find you. It was just a breeze, but it kept getting stronger. And then it started keeping me away from Betty while you were suspended. After a while, I stopped worrying how it happened and just let it push me."

Sonja cried some more, this time in happiness. Her master took care of Meris just like her. It was a strange feeling but a good one.

Meris pointedly look at her mother. "What about her?"

"I... I don't know. I think she is possessed by someone who wants to kill me."

"The heat?"

Sonja shook her head, "Never mind. She... the ghost seems to be always on fire. Hot. She made me weak, even when I tried to move."

"And the... Master Cold is the icy feelings I get?"

Nodding, Sonja took a deep breath, "She said that he was going to kill me, but then she tried just now. She... she was going to cut off my...." She couldn't finish the thought. Kissing Meris, she changed topics. "Master Cold hasn't tried to kill us. He was the one who got me Betty and the others for you."

Meris bit her lip, "Does this mean we should trust him?"

Sonja chuckled, "Only as long as he saves us."

"Good, now what about her?"

She thought a long time before Sonja answered. "I don't know, but I think we should tie her down until we have a chance to figure it out."

Sonja looked around, "How about the guillotine, that way if she is possessed, we can threaten her with the blade."

Meris nodded and they scrambled to their feet. Working quickly, they reset the guillotine and lifted her mother into place. The best position seemed to be on her back, looking up at the blade, so they rolled her over and stuck her head through the hole. Fitting her head into the bracket, they pushed it into place. Meris found a padlock and locked the bracket in place, preventing Gweneth from escaping. Sonja tied her mother's legs into place, spread out and tightly bound before they both tied her arms down. Finished, they stood back and looked at her.

"Sonja?"

"Yes, love?"

"We have your mother in a guillotine and four naked girls in the back. Do you think we are going too far?"

Sonja took a long hard look at Meris who grinned back. Then burst into tearful laughter. "Oh fuck!"

Meris joined in, hugging Sonja tightly as she laughed.

Sonja's sides hurt by the time they stopped, their mirth breaking the hushed mood over the workshop.

"Now what?"

Sonja paused for a moment, "Lunch? Then figure it out?"

"Yeah... breakfast actually."

"Okay, breakfast. You can serve me."

Meris arched her back seductively, "As you wish, Mistress Sonja."

"Don't tease."

"But Mistress..."

"I'll give you 'Mistress!'"

They ran up the stairs, giggling and ignoring the women behind them. Sonja needed a respite before they figured out what to do with any of them.

>>4371
Beginning of Chapter 27.