In The Bleak Midwinter

“Well I’ll be fucked, they gave me a newbie. A blow-in newbie. On the only night of the entire feckin’ season that actually matters.” Sean Colman spun his chair away from his console, eyeing the young man who’d introduced himself a minute ago. He had a fucking orientation packet under his arm, and he kept eyeing the screen showing their subject, before hastily averting his eyes.

“Look, if it’s a problem-” The young man cut off as Sean waved his hand, and visibly twitched as the woman on the screen let out a few muted squeaks, the speakers making the sounds echo through the room. Reaching behind himself, Sean pressed the button to spray her down, and increased the speed of the cycles. She was tough, this one; it was time to move the show along.

“Feck it. Every winter solstice, those arseholes think they can have their fun, then take off the robes and leave me here while they go finish their holiday shopping. Feck it, and fuck them.” Sean waved at the empty seat next to him, a silent command, as he spun back towards the console and screens. “So what’s your name, Mr. Yank?”

The chair beside him squeaked. “Er, Jack. Jack Quinn.”

Sean nodded in acknowledgement, focused momentarily on the screen and console. He thought Tess, Theresa, Tiffany, whatever her name was, would appreciate a change from water spray to electric shocks. He had a reputation to maintain, and he didn’t want the guys saying he couldn’t get a proper response out of his woman. Then he swiped to minimize the image of her to the lower corner of the main screen, and turned to face the kid.

“Well, 'Jack-Jack' Quinn. You may be new, but you know why we’re here. Outside of this room, and the rooms like it across the globe, people have the luxury of believing science. They get to believe that the reason the days start getting longer after today has to do with the tilt of the Earth as we move around the sun.” Sean shrugged. “And they’re right. Except for the part where they forget the bitches with enough power to shift our orbit so it never gets warm. Or change our atmosphere so it gets too warm. Elementals, goddesses, whatever you wanna call them.”

Jack didn’t say anything, so Sean continued.

“For hundreds of thousands of years, nature and ‘the elements’ kept men scrabbling in the dirt. Animals. Until we found a way to leash ‘em, and use their own power against them.” Sean tapped at the computer a bit, pulling up a series of images as he spoke.

“Spring.” The screen showed a young, slightly plump woman, curled up on the ground, cum dripping from all her holes. “Sex. Sometimes... fertility.”

“Summer.” The screen flashed with a voluptuous blonde woman, her mouth and eyes wide open in a scream of pleasure too intense to bear. “A personal favorite of mine. Pleasure.”

“Autumn.” An older woman this time, her mouth also open in a scream. Her eyes betrayed that the scream had nothing to do with pleasure. “Pain… and sometimes death.”

“And, the season of the hour…” Sean swiped so that the live video of the raven-haired woman currently hanging in the courtyard was maximized. “Winter: Denial. Desire. Need.”

“God…” Jack’s voice was an almost-horrified whisper as he stared at the real-time image of the woman, suffering right before him. “I’ve done the training, but why does it have to be so…”

“Sexual? Brutal?” Sean shrugged. “We’re 21st century men, using 21st century technology, working from a guidebook that had its last major revision in the 12th century. But it works, and the ‘nicer’ ways… well, that’s how you get the little ice age. That’s how you get global warming. This isn’t nice, or neat, but it’s what lets billions of people live modern, happy lives.” Sean shrugged again, then grinned. “Besides, it can be fun.”

Jack still looked a bit ashen, as the woman’s muffled, despairing moans started to fill the room again. Sighing, Sean muted the sound and blanked the screen.

“Look, lad. It’s important work. We’re here to witness, to clean up, and to stop any mishaps. You don’t even have to take part in the… ‘prep,’ if you don’t want to.” Sean paused, then decided to try to inject a little levity. “Although you stick around a few months, find yourself with a chance to be balls deep in whatever hot little rod-polisher they found, I think you’ll change your mind.”

Jack cleared his throat, and Sean though he looked a little better. “Right, er... Mishaps? What should I expect?”

Sean grinned. “Small stuff, mostly. Usually technical. Right now, the speakers outside are getting cold, so the ritual chant is higher pitched than it should be. That kind of thing. There hasn’t been a major breach in, oh, more than a hundred years. The O’Leary girl, back in your country; mother caught wind, interrupted the ritual, ended up burning down the better part of a city.”

Jack looked taken aback. “Chicago…?”

“Yeeeep. And several other places across the world with fires, back then, if I recall right.” Sean chuckled. “Don’t look so worried; we’ve come a long way in selecting sacrifices. Like today’s.”

He nodded out at the window, towards the courtyard.

“Cold-hearted little bitch, entirely focused on moving up in her job over anything or anyone else. Her attending physician is one of ours, recommended her; perfect fit for Winter.”

Jack fell silent again at the reminder of the woman outside. Sean didn’t know how to handle someone so uncertain about what they did here. Finally, to break the silence, he cleared his throat.

“Look. Winter can be harsh. Autumn, too. But I told you I liked Summer, right? Take a girl, usually young, her body primed for pleasure, and push pleasure on her. Too much pleasure, until she breaks, and you still keep going.” Sean pulled the video file that had flashed across the screen before, of the leggy blonde. “Maybe this will make you feel more at home, eh?”

Suddenly, a feminine voice with a Texas twang filled the room.

“No. Too sensitive. Please, no moooore. God, too much, pleAHHHHH!” The blonde woman’s back arched, as what was clearly not her first orgasm overcame her. 

Sean skipped the video ahead, to a point where the girl wasn’t talking any more, just crying and moaning between heaving breaths as the men worked on her. He had to raise his voice, to be heard over the cries.

“Maybe it’s true what you Yanks say; maybe everything is bigger in Texas!” He looked back in time to see the woman’s impressive bust heave, as she took a gasping breath to allow for more shrieks as she experienced the horrible, painful pleasure.

Jack shifted in his seat, adjusting his pants. But he still looked… discomfited. Finally, he stood from his seat. “I’m going to go get some coffee. Or, tea?”

“Sure. Bring some back for me, yeah?” Sean leaned back, focused on the video as Jack left the room. “Cold as tits in here.”