Reading The Cards

Zelda was very good at her chosen profession.  She had studied for years, learnt the secrets of reading the stars and the Tarot cards, and had a reputation in professional circles as a gifted and talented astrologer.  In other circles, she also had a reputation for her gifts and talents, but those were less well known tot the general public.

 A tall woman with long red/black hair, her early experiences in carnivals had given her a flair for the dramatic in her dress and manner.  She invariable wore the same outfit for her readings – a long, red ribbed coat tied at the front, with a black sheer body suit that showed the red knickers she wore, and red knee length high heeled leather boots.  She found this gave her a commanding air – one which proved very useful in both sides of her profession.

“Madame Zelda?”

Zelda looked up and studied the woman who had walked in.  She was in her mid-twenties, dark haired, dressed in a black top with shoulder straps and a matching skirt that came down to just above her knee, dark stockings and black fabric boots.

“Mrs Morrison?  Please, be seated,” she said as she shuffled the pack of Tarot cards.  Mrs Morrison sat in the chair opposite Zelda, and looked into her bespectacled face.  The astrologist looked into the face of the young woman, as she nervously toyed with the long string of pearls that hung loosely around her neck.

“Please, relax,” she said, “and let the cards tell us what your future holds for you.”  Laying the cards on the table, she noticed that the other woman could not take her eyes off her collar, or her jewel encrusted crucifix that hung around her own neck.

“I see,” Zelda began as she began to lay the cards down on the table, “that you have recently come into a great deal of wealth.  I also see a great change coming into your life very soon.”

Laying the cards down, Zelda pored over them, speaking as she did so.  “You are going to have a great surprise, which will change your life even more than you had dared imagine.”

“Really?”  The young woman looked madly surprised at Zelda’s pronouncements.  “How can you tell all that just from looking at the cards?”

“Look closer and I will explain the mysteries to you.”

Mrs Morrison leaned over the cards, not noticing the small perfume spray that Zelda had produced from under the table and now held over her head.

“I’m afraid you’ll….” Mrs Morrison began, but as Zelda gave three swift sprays over her from the canister her head began to swim and she felt woozy.

“What… what have you done to me?”  She gasped as she first leaned forward, then back in the chair and she fell into a state of deep sleep.  Zelda put the atomiser down and looked at the comatose woman opposite her.

“You young rich fools,” she said as she looked over at Mrs Morrison with her back against her coat on the chair.  “Fall for the same line every time, you do.”  Zelda stood up, walked over to the over side of the desk and pulled the young woman back in her chair so that she no longer had her legs under the table.

“I need to make sure you can’t disturb me first,” she muttered as she produced some coils of rope from behind the black curtain in the room, pulled Mrs Morrison’s hands behind the back of the chair and lashed them together, wrists crossed, so that they were held firmly.  More rope went around her chest, above and below her breasts, and then smaller lengths went around these ropes under her armpits to secure them.  Zelda tested the tightness of the bonds to satisfy herself that Mrs Morrison was going nowhere.

“Now for your legs,” she said to herself as she knelt in front of the sleeping woman, pushed her ankles together and passed a doubled length of rope around them.  Swiftly, skilfully, she bound and cinched her ankles before passing the long lengths of rope under the chair.  Standing up, she went back behind the chair and, picking up the lengths, began to pull her ankles off the floor and under the seat.  Securing the rope to the back of the chair, she produced a length of white cloth and rolled it into a tight band.

Mrs Morrison began to stir.  “Wh…. What happened?  What did you to me?  Why have you tied me up?”  As she struggled to free herself, Zelda laughed softly and took the band of cloth.

“Open wide, Mrs Morrison,” she said as she forced the band of cloth into the younger woman’s mouth, pulling it tightly around her jaws and securing it at the base of her neck.  “My secret is that I am a thief a swell as an astrologer – but I like my victims to come to me, not me to them.  Let’s have a look at what you have tonight, hm?”

The younger woman glared at Zelda as she picked up the large black handbag that was on the floor, opened it and began to empty the contents on the desk.

“Purse…. Keys…. Oh, now this is very nice indeed.”  Zelda took a small silver piece of jewellery out of the bag and added it to the pile on the table.

“U bstrd – il gt u fr ths” Mrs Morrison screamed out as Zelda emptied the rest of the bag on the table, and then placed the items she didn’t want back in.  Coming behind the bound woman, she then removed the long strings of pearls and stood by the table, admiring their beauty.

“Now, Mrs Morrison,” she said as she turned and looked at the captive, staring her in the eyes.  “Here’s what is going to happen.  I am going to hypnotise you so that you remember nothing of coming here tonight, and then an associate of mine will take you home, and leave you there, bound and gagged.  When you wake up, all you will know is that someone has robbed you, but now who or how.”

“U cnt d th,” Mrs Morrison screamed at her, but Zelda just laughed.

“Can’t I” she said as she leaned over the younger woman and stared into her eyes…

The next night, another young lady walked into Madame Zelda’s office.

“Madame Zelda?  I am Denise Lohare – we have an appointment for tonight?”

“Of course we do,” Zelda said as she took Denise’s hand.  Another tall woman with long dark hair, she was wearing a red satin jacket, a black Basque top with a white lace trim, a leather knee length skirt, dark stockings and 3 inch heeled shoes.

“Please, be seated and we will begin,” Zelda said as she indicated the other chair to Denise.  The younger woman sat down, placing her handbag on the back of the chair and saying “I want to know if I am going to be lucky and meet the right man.  What do you say the future holds for me?”

“Let us see what the cards say,” Zelda began as she shuffled the deck, and dealt a few on the table.  “I see… very interesting….”

“what do you see?” Denise asked as she leaned over the table.  “Well, this card,” Zelda replied as she held it in front of her “Is an indicator of a great surprise for you soon.”

“Really?  How can you see that just from the cards?”  Denise asked as she leaned further forwards.  At the same time, Zelda stood up and raised her perfume atomiser over Denise’s head.

“Like this,” she said as she sprayed the young woman three times with the contents.  Denise looked up, her lips forming an “O” shape before she fell back in the chair, unconscious.  Zelda walked round, took the handbag off the back of Denise’s chair and placed it on the floor, before taking rope and starting to lash the young woman’s hands together, palm to palm, behind the chair.

More rope went around Denise’s chest and secured her to the back of the chair, before Zelda pulled her jacket down and exposed her shoulders and upper arms.  More rope was tied around her ankles, and then secured in its own right to the back of the chair, before a length of cloth was used to gag the still unconscious woman,

“Let’s see now,” Zelda muttered as she emptied the contents of Denise’s handbag onto the table.  “Money – always useful – keys and very nice jewellery as well.  Credit cards as well – we can make use of them before she realises in the morning….”

“gnnn..  wh hpnnd?  Wy cnt I tlk….”

“Ah, Denise,” Zelda said as her captive began to stir in her chair, “I was wondering if you were going to wake up.  Time to go back to sleep now, I’m afraid…..”

Zelda weaved her magic over the still slightly comatose woman, who slumped back into the chair.  A large man walked in, picked up the chair with denies still in it, and carried her out again.

Sitting back down, Zelda reflected on the way she worked in her “other job”.  She’d realised a long time ago just how susceptible women, especially lonely and vulnerable ones, can be to seek advice from astrologers like her, especially wealthy ones.  So she had devised the scheme whereby she picked her victims from those who made appointments with her.  At some point in the reading, she would drug them, bind and gag them, then take the contents of their purses.  When they came round, she used her skills of hypnotism to “make them forget” they had come here, before the few men she trusted took her victims back and robbed their houses as well.

It had worked well for many years, and she lived well after her “associates” took their cut.  She sat back and laughed to herself at her own cleverness.

The next night was normal clients.  “I won’t be needing you tonight, Clive,” she had told her guard, and at the end of the evening she was clearing up when the sound of the door opening caught her ear.

To her horror, she saw standing before her Mrs Morrison and Denise Lohare – but both were different.  Denise had her long hair platted, and was wearing a black PVC sleeveless top and trousers, with knee length black leather boots that had a tiger print on the front.  Mrs Morrison was wearing a black PVC bodysuit and leather boots, with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and black leather boots.

“Are you Madame Zelda?”  Denise asked.  “Yes, I am,” Zelda replied relieved that they showed no signs of recognising her, “Why do you ask?”

“Grab her Shirley,” Denise shouted, and before Zelda could react the woman she knew as Mrs Morrison had come behind her, grabbed her arm with one hand and slapped the other over her mouth.  Denise walked over and grabbed the frightened Zelda by the labels of her long coat.

“We’ve heard about your system, Madame Zelda, and we’re here to relieve you of your gains,” she said with a sneer in her face.  “Hold her still, Shirley.”

Zelda watched as Denise let go, and walking over to the table reached under and retrieved the atomiser.  “Hold her by both arms, Shirley,” she said as she walked back, and took Zelda by the chin.

“No, please, don’t, I’ll cut you both in….” she began to plead, but Denise gave three puffs of the contents directly into her face, and Zelda quickly slumped into unconsciousness.

“Does that smell familiar to you?”  Shirley said as she lowered the limp body of the astrologer to the ground.

“Yeah,” Denise replied, “Where have I smelt that before?  Anyway, let’s get this little lady secured before we raid the place.”

Searching the room, Shirley found the pile of ropes hidden behind the black curtains.  “Kinky,” she said to herself as she picked a length, doubled to over and, rolling Zelda onto her stomach, placed her wrists in the small of her back and began to tie them together.  She then took a longer length and, with Denise’s help, wrapped it around her upper chest so that her arms were held tightly to her side.

As Shirley lifted Zelda’s legs up and started to tie her ankles together, Denise looked up at the table where the thief had been looking over some of her gains over the last few days.

“Denise,” she said as her companion wrapped rope around the red leather of Zelda’s boots.

“Hmmm?”

“When you’re done, have a look at those pearls on the table and tell me if they look familiar.”

“Why?”

“I think they’re mine – I had them on when I was robbed two days ago.”

Denise glanced over at the table.  “You’re right – they do look like your pearls,” she said as she turned back and continued to bind Zelda’s ankles together.  “You have a closer look while I finish this off.”

Shirley stood up and walked over to the table.  Examining the contents of a box lying there, she let out a gasp.

“What is it,” Denise asked as she pulled the bound ankles of Zelda down and secured them to her wrists, leaving the astrologer in a tight hog tie.

“Zelda has been a busy little woman – not only are these my pearls, but your credit cards are here too.”

“You’re joking,” Denise shouted as she stood up and walked over.  “I had them last night when I was robbed – but I could have sworn I was attacked at home.  Come to think of it, how did you know that rope would be over there?”

“I…. I don’t know,” Shirley answered, her chin in her hand.  “You don’t think she robbed us, do you?”

“It would fit – we’re both a bit woozy about what happened the last couple of nights.  Do me a favour Shirley – go back to the car and get the special gag.  I think we need to have little chat with Madame Zelda when she wakes up.”

Zelda slowly came round, her mind groggy and her mouth filled with something that tasted absolute disgusting – like hard plastic or rubber.  She also realised she couldn’t move.

“Those two women,” she thought to herself as she raised her head, only for it to be pulled sharply back.

“You’ve been a very naughty girl, Zelda,” Denise said as she waved a pile of bank notes in her face.  Zelda tried to call out, but the large leather pad over her mouth was securely buckled, and the large rubber ball that was attached to the pad filled her mouth at any rate.

“You robbed me and Shirley, didn’t you?”  Denise shouted, and Zelda nodded her head.  “Your dumb luck we planned to rob you then,” she sneered as she let the bound woman’s head fall to the wooden floor.

“We’ll be taking our stuff with us along with everything else,” Shirley said as the tow PVC clad women stood up.  “My strong advice to you is to get out of town by this time tomorrow, and never come back.”

“Otherwise,” Denise continued, “We may have to visit you again and make it a permanent last visit.  Understand?”

The two women knelt down and tested the bonds as Zelda looked over her shoulder.  She realised that, for once, she was the victim rather than the robber, and that made her angry as well as worried.

“Goodbye, Zelda,” Shirley called as they left her bound and struggling on the floor.  Zelda had no idea when Clive would get back, but she was certain of one thing.

It was time for her and them to move on, before her own fortune was cut permanently short.