The XXXperiment

Tonight’s item is this confiscated batch of vials of a strange black fluid. If I told you that blood, sweat and tears went into the creation of this unholy chemical concoction, it would be an understatement. These vials contain the essence of life itself, a borderline supernatural energy, which was not given entirely willingly. In the annals of human experience, pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin. I rather suspect we can’t have one without the other, and together they define and extend our very existence. That was certainly the discovery of one Dr Blackburn. Be careful this story doesn’t blow your mind…

The XXXperiment by Anna Duvall

The naked girl tied to the table took a few deep breaths to try to stop herself from panicking.

‘Dr Blackburn?’ she called out. ‘Are you still there?’

She could see nothing outside the blindfold that earlier she had been happy to wear. ‘Hello...? Is that it? Is the experiment over?’

No answer, only the constant bleeping of the monitoring devices hooked up to her goose pimpled flesh. She strained against her restraints, but they held fast. She was stuck there.

Felicity shuddered, suddenly feeling very cold and vulnerable. Had she done something wrong? Had she just made a fool of herself? Had she been abandoned?

‘Dr Blackburn?’

…

It was just a job. That was what Felicity had kept telling herself.

The summer had stretched out before her like a blank sheet of paper and the enormity of it terrified her. Some classmates were heading off to the South of France, others back home to work summer jobs waiting for them. The best in her class were doing research with the great and the good of the physiology department and with one more year of study to go, she knew she had to get something more concrete on her CV than measuring kids’ feet for back-to-school shoes. Not to mention living in London wasn’t exactly cheap, and there was no way she was working in hospitality! She desperately needed a job.

Of course she had heard of Dr Eleanor Blackburn, she’d been lectured by her. Fast, precise, and unrelenting, Blackburn would have no admittance after the lecture started, no questions until the end of her lectures, and certainly no phones. Despite her fearsome reputation, the module was popular because everyone wanted to say they had attended the Sex Doctor’s class.

It wasn’t as simple as that of course as Felicity would keenly remind her friends when she got the position as Dr Blackburn’s summer lab assistant. There were scales of measurement across science yet a complete absence of a scale for measuring pleasure in its purist form. Sexual pleasure. She knew the work would be outside her comfort zone and she had been right, attaching probes to naked test subjects day in and day out before watching them from behind a glass window into the lab as they were brought to orgasm. Felicity was appalled to find herself aroused by the seizing muscles, the sweat, and the screams.

What she hadn’t expected was quite how charming Dr Blackburn would be. Only an inch taller than Felicity, Blackburn was busty, and her long white, blonde hair gave her an almost pixie like quality were it not for her eyes which burnt like hot coals. She looked ageless, smelt utterly delightful and her clothing was always exquisitely put together. She never called Felicity by her name, instead calling her darling, and quite apart from being aroused at work Felicity found herself dreaming of her boss. What it would be like to be touched by her, kissed by her, used by her. As the summer wore on Felicity woke up more and more in hot, longing, sweats.

Until Dr Blackburn invited her for dinner.

‘Yes.’ Said Felicity, far too quickly.

‘You haven’t even checked your diary.’

‘I don’t need to,’ Felicity was flustered. ‘I mean, I’ve got nothing going on, everyone’s gone home for the summer. Or at least anyone I’d want to spend time with.’

‘You’re a shy girl, aren’t you?’

The lack of a reply spoke for itself.

‘Well, it’s settled, shall we say my place, tonight, at seven?’

All Felicity could do was nod.

She had spent so long trying to choose the perfect outfit that she nearly ran out of time to get an Uber. Finally, she settled on a white off-the-shoulder dress.

She arrived at Dr Blackburn’s house at five minutes to seven, a huge imposing Victorian terrace in the right part of the city. The great black door almost seemed to open itself before she’d even begun to knock.

‘Darling, is that you? I’m in the kitchen.’ Blackburn called. As Felicity walked into the great sparsely lit open plan cooking space, she had the same feeling she got watching some of the Dr’s experiments. Blackburn wore a loose satin night dress that finished just over her thighs, her hair in complete contrast done up in a messy bun. 

‘Here darling, have a drink,’ she said, uncorking a bottle of red wine. ‘Oh, but wait, you don’t drink, do you? How silly of me, I’m so sorry. What can I get you?’

‘No’ Felicity shook her head doubtfully. ‘I’d like to try some.’

Dr Blackburn’s face lit up with a smile that doubled Felicity’s heart rate.

‘Oh excellent,’ she said pouring a large glass. ‘You’ll really like it, it’s an excellent vintage.’

Suddenly it was ten O’clock, though Felicity wasn’t sure how, and they hadn’t eaten though the wine was nearly finished. Felicity couldn’t take her eyes off Eleanor Blackburn, and to her surprise, her gaze was met with the same lustful intensity.

‘Do you enjoy working with me, Felicity?’

‘Yes, very much.’

‘I did wonder if you were cut out for it.’

‘So did I.’

‘You’ve come through wonderfully.’

‘Thank you.’

‘How are you finding it?’

There was a pause.

‘It’s been an eye-opening experience’ Felicity giggled.

‘Sex is nothing to be embarrassed about.’

‘I know.’

‘And neither is sexual pleasure, especially in women. Did you know only 64% of women said they always or almost always orgasm during sex compared to 91% of men.’

‘Oh really?’ Felicity’s voice seemed small inside her own mouth.

‘That’s 36% of women who don’t orgasm during sex.’ Blackburn gave a sigh with a hundred meanings. ‘I make myself orgasm at least once a day. Twice if there’s time.’

Felicity didn’t know what to say. Her thoughts were too much for her to articulate.

‘When was the last time you orgasmed, darling?’ The coals in Blackburn’s eyes burnt furiously.

‘Never.’

‘Never? Do you mean to tell me you’ve been working for me all summer and you’ve never had an orgasm yourself?’

‘Well… no.’ Felicity looked down at the floor in shame.

Gently Blackburn raised her chin.

‘Would you like too?’

The kiss was firm and intense and everything Felicity had wanted for months. They broke apart and she nodded her head.

‘Well come with me, I have a lab downstairs in the basement. I can’t experiment on myself as its non-ethical, but we can certainly experiment on a willing subject like you darling.’ Blackburn explained, leading Felicity by the hand down the stairs.

The walls were bare brick and wet, glowing with the light from the dim energy saving lightbulbs set in great intervals in the ceiling. Water dripped somewhere from the street above. A wooden table stood in the centre of the cavernous space that lay under the Victorian house.  Felicity recognized the table immediately, recognized the restraints. This was a homespun version of the laboratory conditions. Dr Blackburn took her work home with her, it seemed. She felt a flutter in herself. Her dress loosened from the back, and she realized that Blackburn was unzipping her, caressing her neck as she did. With a steady hand Blackburn helped Felicity onto the padded table where she knelt on all fours. Her wrists and ankles were restrained with padlocked leather straps. Felicity could feel her arousal, feel herself leaking down her thigh as the sensors and probes were placed all over. The needle, taking her blood to measure hormone levels, penetrated her skin.

Then, the blindfold was put in place, a black silk band tied behind her head.

She could hear the machine being wheeled over, into position.

‘You know what’s coming, don’t you?’

Felicity nodded. She’d seen similar experiments conducted in the lab. Now it was her turn.

She gave a brief gasp as she felt the machine probing, searching for a way in, then she half screamed instinctively as the mechanical member inched inside her. It filled her up, her face contorting as it drove into her before exiting, only to strike out again. Then came the sound of the electric buzz and Felicity could hardly breathe for ecstasy. The vibrations were unrelenting and unforgiving, constantly holding her pleasure level whilst the mechanism rhythmically filled her.

The heart rate monitor by now was squealing at a blistering pace.

She could hear herself. Hear her body responding.

Her hands clenched as she bucked uncontrollably.

‘I can’t…’ Felicity managed. ‘It’s so much. Oh god!’

The mechanism increased its speed.

‘Keep going!’ Blackburn called. ‘You’re doing so well.’

There was nothing to do but keep going. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t think. She just had to keep going.

‘F**k, oh f**k…’ Felicity cried out.

‘Do you want me to stop?’

‘No, god, no, please, no.’

Felicity could feel a trembling in her core, trying to break out, the relentless stimulation, the unrelenting brutality of the mechanism. Her thighs began to shake, then her legs and arms.

‘Oh god, I’m gonna…’ She didn’t finish the sentence. The shaking became total full-body spasms and were it not for the restraints Felicity would have collapsed as the most guttural animal sounds escaped from her lips. The heart rate monitor was screaming.

‘That was excellent, darling, most excellent’ said Dr Blackburn as she walked over to Felicity’s still trembling body. ‘We’ve collected some really good data there, well done.’

The scrape of metal wheels on cobbled paving indicated the machine was being moved away. Felicity waited for more words of praise, or instruction on what was going to happen next, but nothing came. Minutes passed. She’s left me, she thought. Left me like this.

…

Felicity’s pulse began to quicken, and her heart thundered. What if the doctor had suffered an accident? Or simply abandoned her? Had she made a mistake in trusting her?

She tried repeatedly to escape her bonds, but the straps had been buckled by expert hands. Oh God, she thought, how many others have gone through this? What have I done?

She thought about screaming, but would anyone hear? And if they did, did she want a complete stranger seeing her like this – naked, ashamed, afraid?

‘Sorry to keep you, darling,’

Felicity almost wept. ‘Oh, thank God – I thought you’d left me!’

Dr Blackburn tore away the blindfold and patted her gently on the shoulder.  She did not release her from her bonds, however. ‘Just preparing for part two of the experiment, darling.’

‘Part two?’

‘Oh, you don’t think I was only interested in pleasure, do you? I am now going to put you through unimaginable pain, all the while reading your responses. I am so very close to a scale for pain and pleasure, the Blackburn Scale if you will.’

‘Unimaginable pain? What the hell do you mean?’

Blackburn ignored her. She pressed a button on the monitoring system and suddenly the sensor pads across Felicity’s body ignited with a painful electric charge. She screamed violently. To her horror she watched as her discomfort manifested itself as a black liquid drawn from the needle in her skin into a the first of several empty vials waiting to be filled.

‘The essence of pain my darling. Stress hormones, mixed with Oxytocin and dopamine. I’ve been working so hard to get the ratio correct. I give you pleasure, and I take your pain. I feed on your pain. It sustains me. Would you believe, darling, that I’m nearly a hundred years old? This secretion could provide me with eternal youth. Thank you so much for your assistance in my refining the recipe. Thank you also for your physical contribution.’

Electric shocks of ever-growing proportion burnt through Felicity’s body like a bristling fever. She cried out, but the tears only made it worse. All the while the essence of her pain poured from her and was collected for Dr Blackburn. More tortures followed, the pain subsiding only for it to strike again.

‘You can’t do this!’ Felicity screamed, her muscles seizing, her body pouring with sweat. ‘Please stop! You can’t do this, you’re evil!’

‘I’ve heard it all before, darling.’ Blackburn flicked some switches and powered down the device. ‘That’s it. Experiment’s over.’

That was it? ‘I’ll tell everyone about this,’ she stated, trying again to break free of the restraints. It wasn't an empty threat. ‘I’ll warn everyone who’ll listen about you.’

Blackburn smiled cruelly. ‘No, I don't think you will, darling, not if you want me to keep private the video of you… enjoying yourself…’ she indicated a hidden camera in the ceiling. ‘Recorded purely for scientific purposes, of course.’

Felicity flushed with anger, and not just for her own mistreatment. ‘How many others have you blackmailed like this? Answer me. How many others have you done this to?’

‘A few,’ Blackburn admitted. ‘But you were the best, darling.’

Felicity thought for a moment before saying, ‘I'm not ashamed of what I've just done. But I am ashamed of being taken in by you, and I won't let you blackmail me into silence.’ She eyed the vials. ‘What you're doing is wrong, very wrong, and when I get off this table I’m going to expose you.’

She waited for a reaction, for the first time in her life strangely proud of herself. Confident.

‘Oh dear,’ Blackburn sighed. ‘I’d hoped you were going to be more malleable. But still, I have a contingency for every scenario. Why don’t you look up?’ The smile was maniacal now.

Straining from her awkward position on all fours, Felicity tried to look up as indicated. Her eyes doubled in size as terror seized her body. Above her shone the blade of a guillotine.

“It’s okay, you’ve got such a pretty head, I won’t waste it.” Doctor Blackburn said, opening the doors of a large cupboard behind her. It did not contain lab equipment. Large jars lined the shelves.

Felicity nearly passed out in fear at their contents. Severed heads. They each contained severed heads. The severed heads of several of the test subjects she’d seen over the long hot summer.

Felicity gasped - was this really happening? -  she tried so hard not to scream, not to give the evil doctor any further satisfaction.

‘They always like to say that the moment of death is painless, that you wouldn’t feel it, but do you know something, darling? My research has found that in the last split millisecond, everything goes off the scale.’ Dr Blackburn finished ominously before adding. ‘Oh, I should ask… any last words?’

‘You’ll go to hell for this,’ spat Felicity.

‘I know, darling. And my appointment is well overdue.’ 

The blade fell swiftly. Felicity’s head followed.

…

An anonymous telephone call alerted the authorities to the depraved experiments conducted by Dr Blackburn. I am pleased to say that Felicity was her last victim. The evil doctor is now the oldest resident of Bronzefield’s Women’s Prison, and judging by the latest photos she’s now starting to look her age…

We took possession of the fruits of Blackburn’s research. The life energy contained in these vials – more than just bodily fluids, it is anima itself - is too sacred to waste on mere vanity.

We were not able to clamp down on the doctor’s terrible research, however. Dr Blackburn’s work was published from prison with Felicity given a posthumous credit. The Beauty Industry is said to be very interested in her work…

Stay young and beautiful and enjoy your nightmares!