This file is a part of Elf Sternberg's Collected Works on ASSTR.  The
complete archive of Elf's work can be found on his website at:

http://www.drizzle.com/~elf

The author can be contacted at:

mailto:elf@drizzle.com

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Bloody Beth, Chapter 07

Even as the carriage clattered along the rutted roads of inner Jamaica,
Beth began to wonder if she had made the right decision. She had no idea
what to expect from her visit to the Coke villa, nor did she really feel
experienced enough to pull off an initiation of the lady Coke. She was
not, after all, Amalynn. Her experiences were with a single woman and all
of two men, to none of whom she had had more than a passing commitment.

Wrapped in the gentle costumery of a lady of the night, the corset barely
tightened around her already small waist, she settled back into the seat
and decided that her fate had been set long ago and this was one more
step along the way to whatever Heaven had in store for her.

The torches and candles of the city faded away and night took over.
Tree limbs slapped the sides of the carriage and scratched by as they
rode further and further away from Kingston. Her heart beat a little
faster. Amalynn had been right. This was Daniel walking into the lion's
den after all. Coke was supposed to be at the House of Pleasures tonight
anyway, with Marbry and a few of his cronies, so she was supposed to be
safe. On the other hand, she worried that Lofn, Amalynn, or perhaps the
messenger may suffer for her interception of the Lady's request.

"The Lady." Beth stared out the window. She was a Lady herself. It
galled her to think that the only thing that separated her from the
Lady Coke's life was Marbry and Coke. And yet she knew that she would
never have been happy being "just" a lady of the court. There was more
to life than fawning over prospective men, looking for a proper husband,
bearing children and running a household.

There was, after all, the life of a pirate.

A pair of torches became visible in the distance. The road bore straight
down a gentle hill to the seaside where the Coke villa awaited her. They
clattered through the front gate and into a round forward courtyard with a
simple fountain in the middle. Her heart nearly wept at the sight of the
house; it was so much like her own home had been before Marbry's men had
burned it down. The few inlaid torches, the simple colors, the terraced
upper floor with its outer balcony. The Spanish had known how to build,
and the English had kept their wisdom intact when they had acquired
the Island. This alone could explain the undying enmity between the two
nations; neither could admit that the other had a reason to exist at all.

She supposed the same thing was true among men. The houses of Harcourt and
Coke had long suffered from strained relations. The conflict arose from an
ancient rivalry over a woman, but that was generations in the past. She
could not imagine that both houses would still bear malice toward one
another because of the indiscretion of a past ancestor. She did not even
know the details. She imagined it was completely irrelevant. This enmity
was about money. And now it had become revenge.

The carriage stopped in front of one of the doors. A servant, a Negro
wearing a white coat and gloves, opened the door to the carriage and
asked her to step out. She did so. "How should I address you?" the
servant asked.

"Courtney will do fine," Beth said, giving the name she had chosen. It
meant "One born of the court," although she did not expect the Lady
Jessica Coke to get it at first, if ever.

"Very well, Mistress Courtney." He led her into the villa.

The entrance to the Coke house was appointed with beautiful tapestries on
two walls. As she was led into the main greeting room behind, she spied
fine furniture surrounding a rough and locally hewn table, stained black
as night. The servant led her up creaking, wooden stairs set into a narrow
stone and adobe passageway to the second story. Down a hallway lit with
paltry candles, he paused at a door. Thus far, he was the only person
she had seen. She had imagined that the duke would have many servants,
bustling about, but the house was quiet, the sounds of the Jamaican
forest filling the vacant spaces. The servant knocked on the door. "My
Lady Speer?" he called. That he used Lady Coke's maiden name surprised
Beth, but then that was how she had identified herself to Spike when
she had been captured. "There's a Mistress Courtney here to see you."

"Show her in, Anselmo, and then leave us. We are not to be disturbed."

"Yes, my lady." He opened the door. Beth stepped in, shivering with
anticipation. She nearly jumped when the door closed behind her.

Jessica Speer Coke sat at a desk with her back to Beth. Beth could see
a stylus in her hand and an inkwell on the table. She spent several more
minutes writing, then stood up and turned around. "So, Courtney..." She
saw Beth's face and stopped in mid-sentence as her eyes grew wide. "You!"

Beth crossed the room to silence her before she could cry out for
the servants and guards, but Jessica surprised her utterly by throwing
herself into Beth's arms and kissing her! Startled, Beth grabbed Jessica
and held onto her.

Jessica pulled away. "Oh, sweet God, you... Do you know what you have
done to me?"

Beth blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You... on that ship! I... I couldn't get you out of my mind! I had
never met someone like you! You were so strong, and so civilized all the
same. All that time that you held me and the men, you were so completely
in control and such a woman you were. Not like the leering men and
whimpering women of court, Captain Beth. I... I have dreamed about you
every night since then." Her words tumbled out of her so quickly Beth
could hardly keep up with them. "That was why I called on Lofn. If my
husband could be dishonest, so could I. But after meeting you, I wanted
a woman's touch, a civilized, strong woman. By God, Beth, I think I'm
an invert. I'm so glad--" She stopped. "How did you know?"

"Lofn never received your letter. When it arrived at her house, one of
my spies nicked it." Beth smiled. "I confess that I just wanted a way
into the house."

A realization of sorts crept into Jessica's face. "Is this how your
predecessor got into the Harcourt house?"

"Hardly," Beth said. She pulled Jessica back to her roughly. "And I am
not here to attack you, or this house, Jessica. I came only... I don't
know why I came. I wanted to see you again, too. It was after meeting
you that I couldn't stop thinking the same thoughts you had about being
inverted." She touched her mouth to Jessica's soft lips, and Jessica's
body melted against hers. Jessica's mouth opened and her little tongue
darted out, fencing against Beth's with enthusiasm. Beth could feel her
insides melting with desire.

"Have you... have you ever done this before?" Jessica asked.

"Only with one other woman, and then only twice," Beth admitted. "Like
you, I made use of Lofn's services. There is a girl there, Amalynn;
I think she is the one you would have gotten if I had not caught your
letter. You should visit her if you have the chance."

"I want you!" Jessica gasped.

Beth's sex began to weep with joy... and frustration. "I want you, too,
Jessica, but you are married and I come from a different world.  You will
have to find someone who is available to you more often than I could ever
possibly be." Her hands strayed along Jessica's back, finding the ties
that held her clothing together. "Lofn will always have someone for you."

"Then I want you for this night," Jessica replied, her own hands digging
for the ties to Beth's clothing, tearing off the vest and scrabbling at
the buttons that held her blouse closed. "You do not look like a pirate
with this on."

"A pirate is a criminal, Jessica. To survive, we must be able to hide
in plain sight. I wear what I must to hide."

"As must an... invert." Beth was fumbling with Jessica's clothes, and
Jessica stood back. "Let me." She eased out of her clothes, down to the
underkirtle. She slowed, and Beth suspected she was being deliberately
teasing in taking off the last of her coverings rather than shy. Jessica,
all black hair and black eyes in a face as pale as moonlight, glanced
up at Beth with desire as she slid a hand into the kirtle and parted
it over the shoulders, pushing it down over her large breasts. Beth's
lips pursed by themselves with desire to taste those rounded melons that
Jessica offered her. The kirtle dropped down to the floor and Jessica,
naked, stepped out. She was truly beautiful; only Elaine Harcourt,
Beth's sister-in-law, could outshine Jessica Speer.

"Now let me watch you," Jessica said.

Beth eased out of the corset and dress, dropping each onto the floor
in a heap. Underneath the floor-length dress she wore only a tiny slip
and her sensible, worn boots. She dropped the slip quickly and stood,
taking a deep breath.

The two women eyed each other, four feet apart. Beth could feel Jessica's
eyes upon her, the hungry look that Beth received from every landed man
who cared to look upon her. She was suddenly grateful that her ship was
full of inverts, herself included, because it meant that they kept to
their own interests. Only occasionally did those interests cross over,
and with that thought she hoped that Patrick wouldn't be too sad to lose
her. On the other hand, she thought, she still appreciated his friendship
and maybe she could keep that as well.

"Oh, to have everything the world offers me," she sighed, smiling, as she
closed the distance between herself and Jessica, took the other woman,
now trembling, into her arms, and kissed her. Jessica voiced a sigh as
Beth's lips pressed to hers, their bodies held together, their breasts
crushed together. Beth could feel a warmth in her body, the points of
her breasts and the lips of her vulva at the center of that warmth,
building with her need.

"The bed," Jessica sighed.

"Let me take these boots off."

"No!" Jessica whispered. "No, leave them on. Let me remember that, for
all of your beauty, you are a pirate and must be prepared to run at any
moment. Just, do not run out on me too soon."

"I won't," Beth promised. "I won't." She released Jessica, and the
other woman spun away to part the netting and rest on the poster bed.
Her voluptuous form rolled on the bed like the waves upon the ocean.
The shape of her buttocks and the smooth lines of her calves taunted
Beth, making her wet with her own desire. It was almost more than she
could bear.

She parted the netting and joined Jessica. As she climbed onto the bed,
the other woman took her behind the head with one hand and guided their
mouths together, hungry lips opening and tongues sliding one against the
other, a prelude to the action of their bodies, hot and wet with the sweat
of summer. Jessica's legs wrapped around one of hers and pressed tight,
as if to hold her in place, trap her.

Beth, too, found it hard to resist the passion the other woman exuded.
When she propped herself up on one arm and looked down, Jessica smiled
at her with a wry, delighted grin that begged for more attention.
"Touch me, Beth," she whispered, arching her back just enough to press
her bosom into the air. Beth caressed one nipple delicately with the
back of her hand. Jessica moaned. Beth stroked around the large mound
of flesh, then took to scratching with her ragged nails. Jessica's gasps
made her smile. She liked being the one in control, the one leading the
charge. It was just like this on the Ladder.

She pinched Jessica's nipple and the black-haired woman squealed between
protest and lust. Beth tried again, and Jessica's moans grew.  Beth played
with Jessica's breasts, squeezing them, stroking them, twisting the nipple
delicately. Jessica suddenly crashed against the bed. "Enough, enough!"

"Did I hurt you?"

"You were going to!" Jessica protested.

"Good!" Beth said, pouncing on the other woman. She held Jessica down,
her hands on the other woman's wrists, her legs over the other's
things. "By Jesu, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen
in my life." Even as she said it, images of her sister-in-law, Elaine,
hovered in her imagination just out of reach, much as Elaine had to be
in life. "And I am going to make you want me."

"I already want you," Jessica whispered.

"Want me more," Beth said, lowering her head and kissing Jessica's
neck. She opened her mouth and pressed her teeth to the soft skin of the
other woman's throat, then slowly closed it. Jessica whimpered like an
animal in fear of her life. Beth reached just the point where she might
hurt Jessica, then let go. Without raising her head, she trailed down to
one breast, taking the teased nipple into her mouth and caressing it,
playing her tongue along the hardened nipple.  Jessica had beautiful
breasts, comfortably sized and with a slight droop that made Beth want
to kiss them all the more.

Jessica writhed as Beth made love to her belly, kissing her way to
encircle the roundness of it, kissing her navel, then nipping softly at
the hair that bordered her sex. "Oh, Beth..." Jessica sighed, opening
her legs as Beth pressed her lips to the lips of Jessica's vulva.

Jessica's sex was as different from Amalynn's as any she could
imagine. Where Amalynn had had tiny inner lips, Jessica's were large.
Amalynn's pearl had been tiny, Jessica's was obvious. The smell and
taste were different, too, less sweet, more tangy, but still wonderful
in their own way.

Beth pressed her tongue inwards, and Jessica's sex flowered to full
openness. Beth licked those large lips, letting her tongue dance inside
the most private part of another woman's body. Jessica's belly heaved
with each deep breath she took even before Beth touched her pearl. When
she finally did, it seemed as if Jessica would explode like a keg of
powder put to the match. She trembled in anticipation of each touch of
Beth's mouth, and as Beth put her full attention to Jessica's pearl
the black-haired woman grabbed a pillow and pulled it over her face,
screaming into it obscenities that would make a pirate blush.

But both of them were hardly through. Beth continued to lick Jessica's
pearl, although lightly at first, and the other woman rocked port and
starboard with her body's pleasures. Beth loved the sounds she made,
the feel of her quivering need against her mouth, the sight of her
breasts bobbing back and forth with every heaving breath Jessica tore
out of the air.

When finally she relented, Jessica had reached climax three times. She
lay in the bed, her hands splayed on the covers flexing uncontrollably,
her body shaking with past exertion. "Oh, Beth, oh, Beth," Jessica
said. One unsteady hand reached up to caress the other's cheek. "I think
I love you."

Beth felt a strange tremor roll through her. "I... I don't..." She'd
never heard anyone say that to her before. Not any of the men who she'd
slept with in the past. Not Amalynn. "Really?"

Jessica smiled. "I... maybe. All I know is that you made me feel things
that I have never felt before." She touched Beth's breasts, which hung
like heavy fruit from the girl's kneeling form. "And I want you to do
it again."

"Maybe I--"

Without warning, the door to the bedroom slammed open. "Well, well. So
this is the reason you have refused me my rightful visits." The Duke
of Coke strode in, two men with him, all of them armed with pistols.
"So you're dallying with someone else. Stay where you are!" he shouted
as Beth glanced around, looking for an escape. "You aren't leaving."
He pointed to the window and gestured toward one of his men. "Close
that." To the other he said, "Watch her." He reached into the bed and
pulled Beth out by her hair.

Beth snarled and scratched at him, but he pressed the pistol up to her
neck. "Ah, ah, Lady Harcourt. I wouldn't do that. Or do you prefer Bloody
Beth?" He smiled and tossed her away, sending her sprawling across the
wooden floor.

"Edric! What..."

"Silence you monster!" the Duke shouted. "Making a cuckold of me with
this criminal, and a laughingstock if it should ever be heard that I
was cuckolded by a woman. You are supposed to be my wife!"

"And you are supposed to be my husband! Instead, the day I get here I
find you fucking one of the servant girls! You spend your days playing
cards and your nights up at Lofn's!"

"Such is a man's right," he replied, smugly. "You have no place to
speak." He gestured to Beth. "Ciro, tie that one up. That chair over
there. And make sure she's secure. I don't want the scourge of the
Carribee' to get loose." He chuckled. "Marbry will want to talk to you
before we make you disappear forever."

Beth offered only token resistance to the man who hauled her toward
one of the heavy chairs and began to tie her to it. She was not about
to throw her life away, and she could not outrun or outfight three men
armed with guns. She grunted in pain as he tied her wrists together;
he had made the ropes so tight that she would lose circulation in her
hands if she moved them at all. She was surprised, but only mildly,
that he did nothing to her, considering her nakedness.

"Leave us." The two men dutifully left the room, leaving the three
of them alone: Beth restrained, Jessica cowering on the bed, a sheet
drawn up over her naked body, and Edric, Duke of Coke, holding a gun on
the two of them. He walked over to Beth and examined the knots holding
her. "Adequate," he pronounced. Beth turned her head away, trying not to
look at him as he ran his hands along her chest. "You're quite lovely,
Elizabeth."

"And you're a bastard, bankrolling the man who killed my father!"

"What?" Jessica gasped from the bed.

"Your husband paid Marbry and his men to have my father and me killed
and our household burned to the ground!" She spat at him, but he deftly
dodged. "The Duke of Harcourt, murdered by your mercenaries."

"You have it wrong, Beth. Marbry killed your family for the money.
When he couldn't find it, he found in me a willing bankroller. I can't
say I was upset to hear of your father's demise, but I was not the cause
of it. Now you, back from the grave to avenge his death. But, you're
a pirate now, Bloody Beth. No one will miss you when you're gone--
except perhaps your fleas." He turned his back on her and walked over
to Jessica. "And you, you bitch. How dare you refuse me for all these
months while you pine for this unwashed criminal?"

He reached into the bed and grabbed Jessica by the ankle. She screamed,
until he grabbed her and clamped one hand over her mouth.  "Silence,"
he hissed. "You're about to do your wifely duty." He threw her onto the
bed and began to unbuckle his breeches. They fell to the floor and he
kicked them off. Jessica watched, fear in her eyes.

He descended on her, the full weight of his body holding her down to
the bed. Beth turned her head away, but she could not ignore the screams
of "No!" as Edric took his wife violently. She could not drown out the
creaking of the bed, the sobs of the woman she had just made love to, or
the groan of satisfaction as he released his lust into his unwilling wife.

Beth heard Jessica's contempt. "You bastard."

A slap, followed by the thud of a body against the floor. She finally
turned to see Edric kneeling on the bed, his shirt covering his
buttocks. "You will show me the proper respect as your husband, dear
lady. I bought you. Your family would be on the streets starving if it
weren't for me."

"And to think that I once thought of you as a good man." Jessica's
trembling voice shot through Beth painfully. She heard the voice of a
broken woman.

Edric paused to pull his breeches back up and belt them on. "Now then.
I suppose I'll have to take you to the basement. One of my men is
already on his way back to Lofn's to tell Marbry of your capture. It
should not be too long now." He opened the door and addressed one of
the men waiting outside. "Two men, now. Take the piratess down to the
basement and have her locked up. In the cellar." He grinned darkly.
"Facing the wall. Oh, and check her boots for knives and lockpicks. In
fact, take them off of her."

Minutes later, Beth was hauled into a small room behind a locked door.
The room was apportioned to be some sort of wine cellar, but it was
clear that it was also meant to be a prison. They pulled her to a wall
and thrust her arms into steel shackles, which were locked tight. Her
naked body faced the cold, wooden wall that lined the cellar. Its rough
bark was no less cruel to her skin than the memory of Jessica's sobbing
voice. It was cold down here. She wondered how long she would have to
live and if Spike could ever mount some kind of rescue.

She waited. Then, a rattle at the door told her that Marbry had finally
come. But instead, she heard one set of footsteps and one voice. "So,
Elizabeth Harcourt," the Duke of Coke rumbled, his voice like gravel. "I
have been looking forward to your final day." She could feel the heat
of his body close to her skin.

"I hope you rot in Hell!" she snarled.

"For what I am about to do, surely." His hands touched her hips, and with
horror she realized that he wasn't through with his night of ravishment.

"You can't," she begged. His touch made her swoon with disgust.

"But I can," he said. "You are helpless, Lady Harcourt, and after we
have tortured the coordinates out of you, you will probably be dead as
well." His groin, still clothed, pressed against her buttocks. She lurched
back, trying to hurt him. His slap against her skin made her groan.

"I hate you," she said. "Hate you to the ground."

"Good," he growled. She heard the unbuckling of his belt, and the rustle
of cloth as his breeches fell to the floor. "With your tastes, I bet
you've never known the true touch of a man."

"Enough," she said. "And they were both gentlemen, unlike you!"

"Pity," he said with his unctuous tones. "Tell me, though, do you like
what your fellow inverts on the Ladder enjoy?" His erection prodded
between her cheeks. The shame he meant to visit upon her sickened her
to the core; if she had had anything in her belly, she would surely have
lost it already. "I guess not."

Without grease, he pushed his hard shaft against her anus. If she would
not let him in he meant to tear his way into her. He pushed even as
Beth clamped down, desperate to keep him out. His hand wrapped around
her throat, choking her. His blunt tool pressed against her tender
flesh. "Let me in, damn you, you may live long--"

The unmistakable sound of a shot popped through the tiny cellar. The
Duke gurgled once, painfully, and fell away from Beth onto the floor.
"I killed him. I killed him!" Beth turned to see Jessica standing there,
a pistol held in both trembling hands, a final wisp of smoke still
curling from the barrel.

"Get me down!" she said. "Please, Jessica?"

The command in her voice startled the young woman, who immediately jumped
to obey. In moments she had the latches of the cuffs open and Beth fell
to the floor, exhausted and nauseous.

"I can't believe I killed him!" She was hysterical.

"Don't get used to it," Beth growled. "It's not a nice habit to have.
Jessica, you can't stay here."

Jessica was still stunned, her body shuddering, her eyes refusing to
fix on anything at all. "But where will I go?"

Beth smiled. "Care to be a pirate?" she asked. This was getting to be a
habit. "Come on!" She took Jessica's hand and began to lead her out of
the room. "Where are my clothes?"

"In my bedroom," Jessica replied. She led Beth back to the bedroom.
Her clothes were still in the heap where she'd left them. She pulled
them on hurriedly. "We must get out of here!"

"No." The duke's hoarse voice startled both of them.

"You're alive!" Jessica screeched. And indeed, he was standing. Blood
soaked his shirt. He stood without his pants, but he was not standing
strong.

"Alive," came the croak, "but dying." At the door leading to the stairs
the duke stood, his hand holding a trembling pistol. "And you are going
to die for your treachery!" He squeezed the pistol even as Beth shoved
Jessica out of range.

The bullet tore into her arm, hot pain flashing up her shoulder. She
ran for the door and kicked it, smashing it against the Duke's face.
He flailed backwards into the other room. Beth followed him. It was
some kind of office, probably his. He had fallen onto his back. Beth
seized the sharpening knife she spotted on his desk. "Now, Duke, go to
Hell." She cut his throat viciously. His blood erupted over her hand as
he grasped as his neck.

His death was soon complete and Beth wiped her hand on his shirt.

"Help me, Jessica," she said. "I need to bind this wound, and-- Do you
know where he kept his important papers?"

"Down there," Jessica said, pointing at one corner of desk. Beth found
a drawer and opened it.

Beth dug out a stack of yellow documents and scrolls. "Here it is! My
father's map!" She unrolled it and looked closely. "And the path to the
gold is clearly mapped! Without this, Marbry will never be able to beat
us to my father's mine!" She grabbed Jessica and kissed her.

Jessica tensed, then relaxed. "My life will never be the same."

"No," Beth agreed. "It will be better!" The sounds of a carriage and
the clatter of horses soon had her attention. "Marbry! We must get out
of here. Is there a way out the back?"

Jessica nodded. "This way. Past the stables."

"Let's take the horses, then," Beth said. Jessica led her down the
stairs and out the back. They crossed the darkened rear court to the
stables. In the dark, they took out two horses even as they began to
hear shouts from the main house.

"Ride to the beach," Jessica whispered. "Follow me!" She led Beth down
a narrow horse trail to the beach. "Where to now?"

"The Harcourt House," Beth replied. "Let's go." At a quick trot they
made their way to Beth's house. "My house."

"You really are Elizabeth Harcourt?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. And my brother and his wife are on the Jacob's Ladder. My
father named it after him." She told the story that she had come to
tell a dozen times in the past six months. It pleased her to tell it,
to assert her identity not as Bloody Beth, but as a lady of the court,
descended from royalty and nobility. She had the map and the coordinates,
and now it seemed that nothing stood between her and realizing her dream
of regaining her family and her heritage.

"I never knew he was so... involved."

"Your husband?"

"Yes," Jessica said. "He was quite loving when we married, but he moved
back to Jamaica four months later. He arranged my marriage through
letters, and he did save my family from poverty. Maybe it was all a sham."

"I can't answer that, Jessica. All I know is what I saw, the man who drank
and whored and beat his slaves, who profited from killing my father and
who paid men to kill me."

Jessica nodded. They rode in silence until they reached the Harcourt
House and the cove where the Jacob's Ladder awaited them.
  _________________________________________________________________

Original document is available from:
http://www.drizzle.com/~elf/bloodybeth

Bloody Beth
is Copyright (c) 1989-2000 Elf Mathieu Sternberg. Distribution limited
to electronic media not-for-profit use only. All other rights are reserved
to the author.
