The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

14

The snow had an odd affect. With the sky dark and no moon showing most would think that the city would be dark, but that was not the case. The white that had already landed on the ground reflected light from the streetlamps back into the sky. With the snowflakes falling down around the lights it seemed to make their glow grow three times the size. The night was illuminated with the snow magnifying the man made lights giving Holcomb an angelic glow.

Drew was not in the mood for anything angelic as he drove his car over the unplowed streets to the hospital. He’d been enjoying a night with Donna and her boys when his cell phone rang. With a quick debate as to picking the thing up or not Drew answered the call. Two women had just been admitted to the hospital with signs of Cupid’s Breath withdraw. Drew got into his car and drove over to the hospital and was almost relieved when he saw Ran getting out of his own car.

“I know you!” Ran yelled out when Drew got out of his car.

“Yes,” Drew said feeling it was going to be a long night, “and the next thing you’re going to tell me is that it’s snowing.”

“It is?” Ran stated looking up into the night. “Here I thought the sky was falling.” Turning a little serious as the two walked towards the hospital Ran asked, “I’m going to use my psychic powers and predict that you also got a call from the hospital about two women screaming their heads off.” Ran took a running start and slid on a large puddle of ice that Drew as avoiding.

“More or less,” Drew replied.

“Yeah, Betty and I were having a passionate discussion,” Ran said ending his slide and walking again. “We were talking about something you might be able to help us out on.”

Drew knew he was asking for it when he asked, “What were you talking about?”

“Whether playing ping pong naked could be considered a fetish,” Ran replied seriously. “However we also discussed how it is that in the movies and TV detectives can run around in suits and not rip the crotch of their pants? I can never figure out how they do that. I’ve ripped the crotch in every pair of suit pants I have ever owned.”

Drew watched an ambulance pull into the emergency delivery bay and they pulled out a large fat man on a stretcher. “Well I’ve never had a problem,” Drew replied. “Maybe the pants just don’t fit you right.”

“That’s just it, the last suit I had I paid extra to have it specially tailored to fit me,” Ran said shaking his head. “I was just coming off the stand last week and I ripped the crotch in my pants. I’m just glad jury didn’t notice or I would have lost all credibility.”

“It’s just one of those odd things about you Ran,” Drew stated. Drew smiled, letting Ran go through the hospital doors first. It’s a well known fact that Ran, however odd he is in the rest of his life acts completely sane in court. It’s thrown off more than one defense council to find that the previously crazy forensic technician is completely lucid and not acting odd in any way. It’s the same performance Ran gives the psychological evaluation tester.

The emergency room was crowded with people who were waiting around for news of whoever it was that came in. There was a window with an over worked over weight nurse next to the large double doors that were the portals to good health. Plastic plants were put into fake dirt around padded benches divided into individual chairs. The hospital security was seated behind a large long table in an area with only half the lights working, so it was very dark. Lean against the hospital security desk, chatting with one of the female guards, were two ambulance drivers, who looked far too young to be out of college.

“Ah,” Ran said seeing the young paramedics, “it’s the squad.” Ran went right over to the men. “Eat, drink, and be merry,” Ran said to get the men’s attention, “also tell me are you the guys who brought in the screaming women?”

The guys turned around and looked so similar they could have been brothers.

They were both tall, thin, with square jaws, and thick eyebrows. They looked down at Ran and then at each other. When Drew flashed his badge did the two men start talking, “yeah we brought the two women in.” The one picked up the clipboard from the security table and looked at it. “A Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman from the Orange dorm on campus were brought here at eight twenty-two this evening. We brought in Clarkson and another truck brought in Merman, but we both had the same problems. The women were in serious agitation and nothing we gave them seemed to sedate the women at all. We eventually had to use restraints on them.”

“Where were they in the Orange dorm?” Drew asked.

The EMT looked down at the clipboard again before answering, “Room 321.”

“Thanks,” Drew said noting the room number down, “if we have any more questions we’ll be in contact.”

Ran pulled out his cell phone and pressed a preset number. “Ellen, you’re going to hate me more than you already do,” Ran said into his phone. “Two women Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman, yes that is her real last name, have just been admitted to the hospital going through withdraw from Cupid’s Breath. Since you’re on call could you go to room 321 in Orange dorm on campus and start processing it, please? I promise I’ll be there before the night is out. You say the nicest things to me. I’ll see you soon.”

Ran shut down his phone and Drew just shook his head looking at him. “Let’s find Doctor Smith,” Drew said.

Ran and Drew found Doctor Smith and were escorted back to one of the rooms at the end of the hall. The screams could be heard as soon as they entered the doors to the emergency room. Doctor Smith was not happy as he walked with the detective and forensic technician to the room. “They came in around eight-thirty with all the classic symptoms of Cupid’s Breath,” Doctor Smith was saying as he opened the door to an ear piercing stereo scream.

Doctor Smith had to yell over the women’s screams to say, “The blond woman is Heather Merman and the brunette is Janet Clarkson. I have no way of telling how long they’ve been in this state or how long they’ll last.” The two women were in the nearly dark room screaming and jerking at the leather restraints on their wrists and ankles. Their hair was a tossed and twisted around on the beds that didn’t have any pillows. The bed sheets were kicked to the end of the beds. The thin gowns that the women were wearing had already started to be ripped apart. The breathing tubes were again in the mouth pieces, but the tape around their mouths had come apart giving the screams a peculiar muffled sound.

Doctor Smith closed the door and the screams were quieted a little. “They’re young,” Doctor Smith commented. “If their bodies are resilient enough they might make it through the next thirty-six hours. After seeing what happened to Tina Whetstone I’m almost inclined to give them another dose of Cupid’s Breath.”

“I’d almost agree,” Drew said as the two women screamed particularly loud, “but then they’d just be addicted again to Cupid’s Breath. We can’t keep adding fuel to the fire. We just have to hope that they make it through this.”

Doctor Smith nodded his head in resigned agreement. “Where are their cloths?” Ran asked.

Doctor Smith looked up and said, “They came in without cloths on. I also noticed something else on my preliminary examination. Their vaginal areas were particularly raw with what looked like continued abrasion of some kind.

Janet Clarkson also has bite marks on her breasts. There are also contusions on both women’s necks.”

Ran and Drew just blinked. “They were making out,” Drew said.

Doctor Smith rolled his eyes and said, “It is possible. If they survive why don’t we ask them? Does it really matter?”

Ran put it bluntly, “Think about this, if they were having sex with each other, then maybe whoever used Cupid’s Breath on them was with them having sex. I’ll have you know that it is every man’s sexual fantasy to have two sexually charged women in bed with him.”

“Or more than two,” Drew said and both Doctor Smith and Ran looked at him with questioning glances. “What? I have fantasies too.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Donna that,” Ran responded. “The point is Doc, if a guy was having sex with them, then he might have left semen behind. Do you think that you can get a nurse to see about checking them?”

Doctor Smith shook his head in dislike for the two men. “I’ll get a rape kit together, but don’t expect the questionnaire to be filled out,” Doctor Smith said walking off down the hall away from Drew and Ran.

Ran smiled up at Drew and said, “I’m finally going to get to see a woman’s dorm, from the inside.”

Drew shook his head saying as he walked down the hall, “How did you ever get through life?”

The third floor of Orange dorm was just as cold as the first two floors. The halls were wide, the dorm rooms were small, and the heat was nearly nonexistent. The women in the halls were bundled up in sweaters and jackets, indoors. A cluster of girls were around room 321 as Drew and Ran came up.

“This is a complete waste of time,” Ellen Valachos said from inside the room. Sections of yellow police tape were across the doorframe in an X fashion, and inside two people were moving around.

George Minor’s voice replied, “And yet you’re getting paid for this, so keep working.”

George came out just in time to see Ran come up. Drew pealed off and started talking with the girls around the room. George started filling Ran in on what was going on. “Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman, roommates and lovers, and by the looks of the sheets on the only disturbed bed in there, I don’t think a man was with them.”

“What makes you think that?” Ran asked looking into the room.

“There’s no place to sit,” Ellen said looking at Ran, “dumb white boy.”

Ran looked and the two desks inside were cluttered with books, binders, and papers. One chair had a TV sitting on it and the other chair had a small space heater pointed at the lower of the bunk beds. The top bunk was made up with two backpacks sitting on the red comforter, and the bottom bed was a mess with the sheets and blankets thrown on the floor, and the fitted sheet wrinkled. Ellen was correct, there wasn’t any room for someone to sit, let alone stand. The floor was littered with cloths, piles of what could have been dirty or clean, as well as winter coats and a small refrigerator.

“The sheet,” George said pointing at the lower bunk, “was covered with vaginal discharge. My guess is those two women were going at it since Cupid’s Breath was used on them.”

“Thanks for the info,” Ran replied as George went back to processing the room.

Ran walked up to Drew just as he was getting the story from an older looking young woman. She was chunky and her blond hair was showing brown at the roots. She seemed nervous as she was saying what happened. “I got back from morning classes yesterday around eleven and I heard Jan and Heather in their room seriously going at it. I mean we all knew that the two were lesbians but usually they kept it quiet. Last night I don’t think they let up at all. I’m pretty sure that Sue down the hall pounded on their door around three in the morning to tell them to give it a rest. I’m the RA not their mother, but the two of them having sex like that was getting on our nerves.”

Drew tried to put the woman back on track, “About what time did they stop having sex?”

The woman looked confused for a moment. Ran asked a quick question to help, “When did they start screaming?”

“Eight,” the RA said evenly.

Drew wrote it down and asked, “You’re pretty sure about that.”

“Sure,” she said with a smile, “the Simpson’s was just ending. I just turned off my TV and I started hearing screams form both Heather and Jan, and not the typical sexual screams. It sounded like they were being boiled alive. I pounded on their door when they just kept screaming. I have keys to all the rooms so I opened the door and they looked like they were trying to rip their skin off, they were naked. I didn’t know what to do so I called squad. They came around and took Heather and Jan off to the hospital, I guess.”

“Yesterday,” Ran asked pointing back with his fingers, “do you have any idea where they might have been say at ten in the morning?”

“Yesterday,” the RA said slowly, “that was Monday I think Jan has a break in her classes and goes to the coffee shop in the basement of the humanities building. As for Heather, I’m not sure where she would have been.”

“Okay,” Drew said and then asked, “Did you see anyone come out of their room at any time since yesterday?”

The RA slowly shook her head negatively. “Sorry, to be honest when I heard them having sex with each other it kind of annoyed me. I mean I’ve been here for over three and a half years and I still haven’t had a boy even want to make out with me.”

Drew and Ran just blinked at the young woman, not really believing what they just heard. “So,” Ran said clapping his hands together once, “I need some coffee.”

It was nine-thirty at night, and yet the coffee shop in the basement of the humanities building was still serving drinks to the students around. Every chair at every table was filled, and some students were even seated on the ground with their backs to the wall. Every person had a cup of coffee and most had some kind of roll or sweet next to their open books. No one looked up when Drew and Ran walk in.

“Why are they using outdoor lawn furniture inside?” Drew asked.

“In case it rains, of course,” Ran said and smelled the aroma, “I love the smell of caffeine.”

Drew pulled out his shield and showed it to the two minimum wage earners behind the coffee counter. The young blond woman and the young pimply faced man just looked from the shield to Drew and back to the shield. “Sorry,” the man said, “but we’re not supposed to give special preference to cops.”

Ran grinned and asked, “How about forensic technicians?”

The woman brightened and eagerly asked, “You’re a CSI?”

The smile Ran had dropped like a stone as he said, “Why do people always say that? No, I’m part of the Crime Scene Unit. I’m just working alone at the moment. Does that camera over your shoulders work, or is it just for show?”

“Oh no it works,” the young man said.

“Great we need the tape from yesterday morning,” Drew said.

The young man frowned. “Sorry it’s not hooked up to a tape,” he said. Drew gave a little curse under his breath. The young man then said, “It’s hooked up to a hard drive that holds a full week’s worth. Do you want that?” Drew looked like he wanted to smack the young man.

It was nearly midnight when Ran was finally hooking the coffee shop hard drive to the AV computer at the very end of the hall in the forensics lab. Ellen had gone home, and George was finishing up the paper work while Drew watched Ran work. Just then the door to the lab burst open and Alice Cooker stormed into the lab.

“Why the hell didn’t someone tell me what was going on?” Alice yelled.

Drew leaned out of the AV room and said to the angry woman, “There’ve been two new cases of Cupid’s Breath withdraw, Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman.

Both women affected at the same time in a coffee shop around ten yesterday morning and were having sex ever since. They’re now in the hospital under Doctor Smith’s care. We’re currently hooking up the surveillance recording from the coffee shop to see if we can get an image of the person who used Cupid’s Breath on them. Do you feel better now?”

“NO!” Alice yelled at Drew storming down the hall. “This is my investigation. I’m the one in charge of the Cupid’s Breath case.”

George was right behind Alice as she turned into the AV room. “Cooker,” George said and the woman turned to him, “calm down. This may be your collar but we’re doing the work. I just called you so you would be kept in the loop. I did tell you what was going on. Now please calm down and we’ll see if our witness was accurate in his description of the man who bought the Cupid’s Breath.”

Alice’s jaw was still flexing, but she did seem to calm down and turned to the dark room. The AV room was littered with all types of machines and computers as well as monitors and cameras. Every imaginable piece of equipment that could record or play anything that could capture a sound or create an image was in the room. At the back of the room was the main computer with a large monitor. It was this computer Ran was hooking the hard drive from the coffee shop into.

“Okay, this should do it,” Ran said sitting down at the computer keyboard, “five bucks says we see someone flashing their boobies at the camera.”

“No,” Drew said.

“No,” George said.

Alice looked at George, her annoyance slipping some. George advised, “You might want to say ‘no’ or Ran will think you would have said ‘yes’.”

“No,” Alice said.

The computer monitor glowed in the dark room and Ran clicked on the external hard drive that came up. The screen filled with four black and white blocks, each with a different image. Block one was of the tables and chairs, block two was behind the coffee counter, block three was of a store room, and block four was of a closed door that had a small sign ‘No Admittance Employees Only’. There was a time and date stamp at the bottom of the screen.

“Ten AM on Monday morning,” Ran said enunciating each syllable as he was fast forwarding through the days, “I was processing a burned out car.”

Ran slowed the footage down when the counter was on Monday at nine forty-five. Two students, a boy and girl, were manning the counter, alternating between reading the books they had and handing out the espressos. There were the usual students realizing what time it was and quickly packing up their books and hurrying off. Just after ten a rush of people came to the coffee shop and got cups of coffee to go.

“There they are,” Drew said pointing at the screen as Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman came into view. They walked up to the counter and each got a cup of java. The two women took a seat on the lawn furniture and chatted for a little bit before they each pulled a book out of their backpacks and started reading.

Ran laughed a little when he was proven correct as the two workers went into the store room. The girl pulled off her shirt and then unhooked her bra as the boy dropped his pants and embraced her. “I need to get into the coffee business,” Ran stated watching the two young people go at it on the bags of coffee beans. “I wonder if they knew that they were being recorded.”

“That’s not important, look,” Drew said pointing at block one. Feet were visible in the very corner of the screen. The camera looked out over such a large area that the quality was poor, but Drew knew that it was something. Since Janet and Heather were barely in the frame everyone had to wait until the person came into view.

As soon as the figure came into the camera shot Ran paused it. A few quick clicks of the mouse and computer and block one filled the entire monitor. The quality dropped dramatically. The faces of Heather and Janet turned into cubic depictions that could barely be called a human let alone a face. The profile of the man was even worse with only a few gray and black blocks making up his features. “Who wants me to shrink it back down?” Ran asked.

“Shrink it,” George ordered and Ran obeyed letting the four blocks, number three with the two employees still engaged, fill the monitor.

“Just play it for now,” Alice said.

Ran let the scene play out. A young man with dark hair and glasses came up to the two women, and there were only a few frames where a profile could be seen before he sat down with his back to the camera. The women quickly became riveted to the young man. They touched their noses, then their tongues, and then their nipples. The women then touch each the other woman’s nipples. “This guy is a horn dog,” Ran commented. When the women stopped touching each other they started to fan themselves as if it were extremely hot. Then the women became passive, and then active. They started making out, and the man left the scene.

“Well that’s why there was no semen found,” George commented.

“Keep playing it,” Alice ordered.

In a few minutes as Heather and Janet continued to kiss passionately the two coffee shop employees finished their one sexual experience. Cleaned up and clothed the two workers came out to behind the counter and saw the two girls going at each other. The woman, with their hands still petting each other, looked up at the employees. A quick kiss on the lips and Janet and Heather gathered up their books into their back packs and left, still touching each other in private areas.

“Go back,” Drew said, “see if we can clean up that picture of the guy’s profile.”

Ran scrolled back and got to the side image of the man’s face. “Let me try overlapping the frames a little,” Ran said clicking on the mouse and typing stuff in. The image did become slightly clearer and darker. “Let me put a filter on in and see what I can get.” The image came up, hazy and slightly more detailed, but still not very recognizable.

“This equipment sucks!” Alice declared. “I’ve seen them pull up crystal clear images, but you don’t have what it takes!”

“Why not just insult all of Ohio,” Drew sarcastically advised.

“It’s not the equipment,” George said evenly. “The security cameras are digital with a very low pixel resolution. It wouldn’t matter how up to date our equipment is if the cameras don’t capture the image. This isn’t TV. We can’t get a crystal clear image off of someone’s eyeball. If you want to yell at someone, try picking the person who purchased the cheep security system.”

There was a moment of silence and then Alice let out a breath she was holding. “Sorry,” she said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at anyone. It’s late I’m tired, and no offence but I don’t like Ohio.”

“At any rate,” Drew said, “this vague picture does match the description we’ve got. Since he used the Cupid’s Breath on these two women in the basement of the humanities building there’s a chance he has a major in one of the humanities.”

“Notice how he didn’t go with the women,” Ran said nodding at the figure on the screen. “He had two slaves in the palm of his hand, and yet he let them go. I think Alice is right, he’s focusing on only one person. Maybe he’s homosexual.”

“Oh God,” George said looking closely at the frozen picture. “That’s an eyedropper.”

“Yeah, so what,” Alice questioned.

Everyone else went silent. “Maybe,” Drew offered, “he put the Cupid’s Breath from the two smaller bottles together into one.”

“What are you two people getting at?” Alice cried out.

The three men in the small dark room looked at the woman as if she had just screamed out the last time she had sex. An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and only the hum from the computer’s fans could be heard.

George was the first to speak. “The only reason why this kid would have Cupid’s Breath in a large bottle like that would be because he had that much,” George said and since Alice still didn’t seem to get it he went on. “That would mean he found a way to duplicate Cupid’s Breath.”

“That’s insane,” Alice cried out. “No one in Washington has even come close to being able to duplicate Cupid’s Breath, and you’re saying some country hick kid did.”

“Welcome to Ohio,” Ran offered, “we don’t have much to do around here but think. Apparently this guy thought up a way to recreate the most dangerous drug ever.”

15

Jason felt bad. Not in an emotional sense but the punches he got from Train the night before had reached their peek of pain. That and the soreness from exercising had stiffened his muscles up so it was painful to walk. That’s why Wednesday morning Jason sat down on a cold wooden bench outside. The bench was around a pillar that on top had a light for at night, and around the pillar were cork boards for people to post things like a car for sale or a band coming to campus. Jason was sitting down, massaging his legs when he looked up at the sky blue paper that had ‘Cupid’s Breath’ in big black letters.

Jason lifted up the advertisement for someone’s bike to see that someone was looking for Cupid’s Breath. Jason smiled. He guessed that someone was looking for a cheaper price than the drug dealer he bought his original batch off of. That’s when Jason realized that he could sell his Cupid’s Breath, and make some money. The chemicals technically belonged to the university, but they didn’t need to know. Jason ripped off the number slip at the bottom.

The phones in the science building had been tampered with to the point anyone who lifted up a receiver could hear the conversation on another separate payphone. Since Jason didn’t have his own cell phone he went to the closest building he knew that had phones, the humanities building. All of the phones on the first floor were being used by people in suits, so Jason went up to the second floor to use those phones.

Jason dropped his coins into the slots and punched in the numbers wondering how much he should charge for Cupid’s Breath. Should he charge by the milliliter or by the bottle? The other line picked up, “Welcome to the lucky number hotline brought to you by, you’ll die a horrible screaming death funeral home. You lucky number is avocado.”

Jason scratched his head. “Is this a recording?” Jason asked.

“No, what you’re holding in your hand is called a phone,” the voice replied.

“Is this the number for someone looking for Cupid’s Breath?” Jason asked.

“I’m also looking for a hot babe to be in my bed tonight,” the voice said.

Jason chuckled. “Well then I have the Cupid’s Breath to help you out,” Jason replied.

There was a brief pause on the other end. “You’re the one that bought the Cupid’s Breath off the drug dealer,” the voice said and Jason’s grip on the phone tightened. “You’re also the one who recreated it and used it on Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman.”

“How do you know this?” Jason asked.

“Do you know where those two girls are now? They’re in the hospital.” The voice said the words and Jason felt his body go ridged with fear. The voice continued, “Do you have any idea what withdraw from Cupid’s Breath is like? Those two girls are screaming their heads off right now because of you. They have a two thirds chance of surviving and that’s under a doctor’s care.

I don’t know who you are but stop using Cupid’s Breath.”

Jason hung up the phone. His body felt like he’d just submerged into an icy pool. Everything was numb with fear. Who was that? Was what the voice said the truth? Was withdraw from Cupid’s Breath that horrible? Jason wasn’t sure. He’d never let Abigail get that far along. He knew about her headaches, but what else was there? Jason tired to remember the names that the voice had said, and the only one that stuck was Merman. Jason went down to the first floor of the humanities building to the school directory, and was lucky there was only one Merman, Heather, room 321 in Orange dorm. Jason’s worst fears were realized when he walked by room 321 and saw the yellow police tape in the shape of an X over the girl’s wooden door.

Not good, not good at all, was what Jason kept thinking. Were the two girls really screaming in pain? Jason had to find out. The hospital was only five blocks away from the university, but with each step Jason felt the dread and despair fill him. Was he causing pain? Jason felt the bottle of Cupid’s Breath in his pocket, and for the first time he realized that it was more dangerous than just being able to order someone around. The hospital came into view, and Jason wasn’t sure how he could get inside.

“Hi my name is Bob Merman,” Jason said to the male nurse behind the window.

“I’m Heather Merman’s cousin. I was just told she was here.”

The male nurse, a black man with a shaved head a gold cross around his neck and a weight problem smiled sadly and replied, “I’m sorry Mister Merman, but your cousin isn’t in any shape to have visitors.”

“Why, what’s wrong with her?” Jason asked concerned, and not having to act.

The nurse was uncertain of what to do and said, “She’s been exposed to something and is having a bad reaction to it.”

Jason noticed the gold cross around the man’s neck and then asked, “Can I at least say a prayer by her bedside?”

The nurse seemed uncertain for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, but don’t touch her or anything. She’s at the end of the hall, just listen for the screams.” The nurse pressed a button and the doors buzzed for Jason to go through.

Jason was startled when the nurse said to listen for the screams, but heard them as soon as he walked through the doors. The room was at the end of the hall, next to a door that stretched down another hallway with a sign that had ‘Out Patient’ sticking out into the hallway over a hole in the wall. The door didn’t seem to be alarmed, but it could only be opened from the other side. Jason paused for a moment, and then opened the door to the sounds of screams.

It was inhuman, the way the women screamed. Their bodies jerked and their arms strained against the leather straps holding them down. The thin gowns they were wearing had been reduced to tatters around their necks. The sheets on the beds were on the floor and the fitted sheets were being twisted up under the women. The lights were off, and Jason wasn’t sure if he should turn them on. Jason pulled out his bottle of Cupid’s Breath and put a drop on his tongue.

“Heather,” Jason said and then the other name came to him, “Janet, listen to me.” The women immediately, like someone had pressed a button, stopped screaming. They blinked a few times, and their bodies relaxed. The heart monitors over their heads beeped out a steady rhythm that was drowned out by the screams before. The two women’s breathing returned to normal, and Janet gagged a little on the tube down her throat.

“I’m sorry,” Jason said picking up the blankets from the floor for Heather, and draping them over her. “I am so sorry.” Jason picked up Janet’s blankets and put them over her. “I should have tested the Cupid’s Breath further. I should have looked for side effects. I am so sorry to have done this to you two. I swear I will not rest until I figure out a way to break you of Cupid’s Breath.”

The two women looked at Jason with a longing and almost sympathy that Jason felt he didn’t deserve. “For right now you need your strength,” Jason said with a sad smile. “Ladies when I snap my fingers you will fall asleep. You will not wake up until you hear my voice again.” Jason looked from one woman to the other, looking them in the eyes, and then he snapped his fingers. The ladies closed their eyes and slumbered on the beds.

Jason looked at the clock on the wall. It was just before ten in the morning. That meant he had until eight the next evening to come up with a cure to Cupid’s Breath. Jason gently shut the door to the room and walked down the hall. The doors didn’t need to be buzzed out, so Jason just pressed on the lever and out into the waiting room. Jason went over to the male nurse who had let him in. “I didn’t know there was another woman in with Heather,” Jason said, “but they’re both sleeping now.”

“Oh thank God,” the nurse said meaning it. “That’s the power of prayer.” Jason left the hospital saying a prayer for himself that he could figure out what was going on.

16

Ran was having an argument with Alice Cooker. She was seated in the break room at the forensics laboratory eating food from the restaurant across the street. For some reason she didn’t want to hear anything Ran had to say while she was eating.

“This is the first decent meal I’ve had since landing in Ohio, and I’m going to enjoy it,” Alice was saying.

Ran looked over at Jimmy Tomb and said, “This is the woman who burst into the lab at midnight saying she hates Ohio.”

Jimmy looked over at Alice and said in his alcohol enriched breath, “Please leave.”

“Not until I finish my food,” Alice said.

“No, I mean Ohio,” Jimmy replied.

George came to the door of the break room and looked around curious. “What’s going on?”

Ran spoke first, “Alice doesn’t want to hear the lead I have on the Cupid’s Breath case.”

“I’m eating,” Alice commented.

George looked at Ran and asked, “What’s the lead?”

Ran smiled and said, “The guy called me from the second floor of the humanities building.” Alice choked on her food. “He hung up on me after I confronted him with Clarkson and Merman’s hospital stay.”

“You couldn’t have said that?” Alice choked out.

George asked Ran, “Have you told Drew yet?”

“I just got done talking with him,” Ran answered. “He’s on his way over to the phone now. Maybe someone saw who used it. The odd thing is I don’t believe this guy knew about how violent Cupid’s Breath withdraw is.”

“That’s stupid,” Alice yelled, “how can anyone not know about how violent Cupid’s Breath withdraw is? This guy was obviously worried that he would get caught because he figured out you were a cop.”

“I’m a scientist, not a cop,” Ran pointed out.

“Whatever,” Alice said.

“It is possible,” Jimmy commented, “that this guy never let it get far enough to where someone under his control got to the state of withdraw. If there’s no literature on something, and no only knows to tell you whatever it is, then big surprise you don’t know it.”

Alice grumbled. “I still don’t believe he duplicated Cupid’s Breath,” Alice growled.

Ran turned to George and said, “I’m going over to the university and meet up with Drew. I think I’ll suggest that we put round the clock guards on Clarkson and Merman’s room, just incase this guy has a conscious and goes back to used Cupid’s Breath on the women again.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard,” Alice yelled.

“Then you need to hang around Ran more,” Jimmy chuckled.

Alice growled at Jimmy before turning back to Ran. “There is no way this guy would be stupid enough to go to a hospital,” Alice yelled.

The usual good humor that possessed Ran was slipping away. The young forensic scientist turned to George and asked, “Murder is still illegal, right?” Jimmy laughed and George just shook his head, but Alice’s eyes shot death blows at Ran.

Ran walked out of the break room and George said in his stern voice to Alice, “Did you ever think, for one moment, that this person might just have a heart?”

“If we were on the East coast maybe,” Alice said with venom in her voice, “but this is Ohio. You are all a bunch of red neck hicks in my opinion.” Jimmy got up just as George left Alice in the break room. Jimmy went into the coroner’s section of the building but glanced back in time to see George to into his office and make a phone call.

17

Jason sat at the laboratory table before three large stacks of books. Thick volumes full of words and chemical compositions. With sighs each time he turned a page he sounded tired and frustrated. He was rubbing his eyes when there was a knock on the laboratory door. With a grunt Jason got off the stool and went over to the door, and opened it.

“Well I can tell Doctor Miller to not bother sending the National Guard out looking for you,” Susan Roofer said at the doorway. She was wearing a large sweater over her wide body. Her short hair was pulled down and spiked. The backpack on her arm weighed heavily on her body.

“Hi Sue,” Jason said his mind not thinking about classes, “What do you want?”

“What do I want?” Sue repeated with surprise. “I want a hunk of a man to do me all night long. What Doctor Miller wanted was to know where you were.

You missed class. You never miss class.”

“I’ve been busy,” Jason said turning into his lab. “Doctor Miller’s lectures always come straight out of the book anyhow. I’ll just read the chapter and know everything he talked about in class.”

Sue came into the lab, and closed the door behind her. “Jason,” Sue said with a touch of concern, “is everything all right?”

“No,” Jason admitted looking at the stack of books on the table. “Some friends of mine have been exposed to a chemical that is messing with their minds. I have about thirty hours to figure out a cure, or they might die. I know this sounds dramatic, but it’s the truth.”

“What kind of chemical?” Sue asked her scientific curiosity peeked.

“Well it’s a base that combines with human saliva” Jason said sitting down.

Talking about the problem might help. “Then sound waves pass through the gas that is given off. These waves and the smell are then picked up by the human ear of someone else and that someone else is the people that, after about thirty four hours, goes through withdraw of sever pain.”

“This sounds like some kind of serious drug,” Sue said leaning her bulk against the large black table in the middle of the room. “If the person who is affected is the one going through withdraw, without taking the drug, except being exposed to minute smell and sound then most likely everything that happens in their brain is because of natural occurring human based chemicals. The smell might just open pathways in the brain for the sound information to enter. We’re only mammals after all, and smell is how most mammals communicate. If that’s the case you might be able to use that human body program that Doctor Long is working on.”

Jason picked up his head at the name of the professor. “Do you think that Doctor Long would let me borrow his program?” Jason asked finally coming close to a glimmer of hope.

Sue shrugged her shoulders and said, “You can always ask. The worst he can say is, ‘no’. Besides by the sound of things you might be able to hook up the wave form program from the physics department with our chemical composition program and at least figure out what drug it was that these friends of yours were exposed to. You could then recreate the drug and give them another dose so they don’t die, and give you some time to work on a cure.”

Jason felt his mind shifting around and realizing that he could not only come up with a cure, but also come up with a Cupid’s Breath that didn’t have a deadly withdraw. He jumped up and said, “Sue you’re a genius. How do you know all this?”

She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Well you may have only started college last year, but some of use have been working at it for years. I seem to only be able to relate to professors, so they talk to me.”

Jason smiled as he grabbed his coat and jacket. “Then you should look for a good looking doctorial student or something,” Jason offered.

“I might be,” Sue countered.

“Is it cold out?” Jason asked.

“It’s snowing,” Sue commented.

18

Drew looked down at Ran, and opened his mouth to speak. Then he closed it.

Drew sighed trying to think of something comforting to say. Nothing came to his mind. After all Ran had just dumped out over one hundred and fifty coins from the phone, and Drew knew that the young forensic scientist would have to photograph, catalog, put fingerprint powder on, and tape lift each and every coin. One of them belonged to the person who called Ran about Cupid’s Breath.

Ran looked up from the white plastic tub he had caught the coins in and said to Drew, “I’m just going to have to keep telling myself that it can’t last forever.”

Drew shrugged his shoulders and said, “Stay positive.”

Ran sighed looking down at the silvery contents of the tub and then back at Drew. “So did you find anyone who saw the person who used this phone?”

Drew shook his head. “I’ve got less than nothing,” Drew said. “Either the people who would have seen him have all gone off to other classes, or those that were around don’t remember anyone out of the ordinary.”

Ran jutted his jaw out in the pose that he was thinking. “Let me give you a, what if,” Ran said. “Now this is just a, what if, mind you. What if maybe, just maybe, the guy we’re looking for is actually humanity major, and used the Cupid’s Breath on someone in the chemistry department to make him more? Think about it, white sandy beaches, warm breeze, with my arm around a woman, and tequila in my hand. This guy used a phone in the humanities building. He also used Cupid’s Breath on two women at the coffee shop in the basement of this building.”

Drew was rubbing his chin. “That’s a possibility,” Drew agreed. “If he can control people why not control someone who can recreate what he would need more, and that way he didn’t have to go back to that drug dealer. So I should start flashing around that picture we got off the security camera to some of the professors in this building.”

“It would be a start of a beautiful friendship,” Ran said.

Before Drew could respond his cell phone went off. He looked at the number, and was unsure of who it was. He answered the call and asked, “Hello?” He didn’t listen long before he shut down the call and looked at Ran. “We need to go to the hospital.”

“Fine,” Ran said looking and sounding annoyed. “But you’re going to help me put on that long sleeve white jacket with leather straps on the back.”

19

Jason was a little relieved when he found that the computer programs were not only easy to use, but also easy to put together. Doctor Long was more than agreeable to let Jason use his program, as long as Jason agreed to give his evaluation of the tutorial. The physics department was more of a hassle to let him borrow the wave form program. For some reason the physics department didn’t seem to care what a lowly chemistry student wanted. Eventually, under threat of telling the EPA about the unshielded radiation sources in the physics labs, the professor who wasn’t even using the program let Jason borrow it.

Jason set up the programs in sequence. First using the human A from the program Doctor Long created Jason used his chemistry program to introduce Cupid’s Breath onto the tongue. Then using the physics program Jason created what would be a manipulated wave form from sound waves going through the mouth, and picking up the scent. Then Jason created a human B that would not only pick up the smell but also the sound from human A. Jason focused on the brain of human B and saw what he dreaded.

Cupid’s Breath created a pleasure pain response. The person using the Cupid’s Breath becomes imprinted on the subject and a pleasure pain response is created in him or her. Jason saw the computer representation of the human brain, and the slight red splotches that appeared on the gray brain. The red was pain triggering. The human brain can’t feel pain, but it sure can interpret the information coming from the rest of the body. Cupid’s Breath makes it so that the person will continue to feel good as long as he or she doesn’t try to deny information from the person they are imprinted with.

Jason felt a pit in his stomach. That was what Abigail was going through at that very moment. Abigail had to accept whatever he said. Otherwise she would feel incredible pain. A dry cotton taste covered Jason’s mouth as a wave of guilt crashed over him.

Jason sped up the computerized brain and watched the red splotches. A message ran across the bottom of the otherwise black screen stating that pain threshold was about to be breached. Jason wasn’t sure what that meant, but didn’t like the sound of it. Fast as a snap of the fingers the brain, the entire brain, went bright red. Jason’s fingers danced over the keyboard and mouse to stop the program and back it up. The experiment had been running for thirty-four hours, give or take ten minutes, and then the brain went bright with pain. Jason backed up the view on the human body, and saw that the entire figure was being wracked with pain. It was like a less personal view of what was happening to Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman back at the hospital. Jason wanted to vomit.

20

Doctor Smith was tapping his foot when Drew and Ran pulled into the Hospital parking lot. He did not look happy. There was a metal clipboard in his hands and a frown on his face. When Drew and Ran came up to him Doctor Smith was in an even sourer mood. “I hate snow,” Doctor Smith said with a sneer. “I hate the fact that now we’ll have twice as many accidents tonight.” Then the doctor looked at the two men, “I hate the fact that things happen without my knowing about it.”

“Let me guess you get five major newspapers a day,” Ran sarcastically said.

“You don’t get to joke,” Doctor Smith yelled the anger in his voice clear and forceful. He looked like he wanted to smack Ran across the face. “Tell me you weren’t the one who used Cupid’s Breath on the two girls in there!”

Ran was shocked and looked over at Drew. Then Ran turned back to Doctor Smith and said, “I have no idea what fruit cake is made of or what you’re talking about.”

“Heather Merman and Janet Clarkson,” Doctor Smith said with clenched teeth.

“About four hours ago the nurse let some young man who fits your general description, except he had glasses, into see Heather Merman. Something about this guy, or you, claiming to be Merman’s cousin. Right after that the girl’s BP and pulse dropped to normal. They’re sleeping right now, and we can’t wake them up.”

Drew looked at Ran to say, “Let’s go talk to the nurse.”

Doctor Smith was walking side by side with Drew and Ran, but Ran was having the fun. “Duh, he was a young kid with a round head, dark hair, and glasses,” Ran was saying in a mocking tone. “No not that young kid with a round head and dark hair, this one was different.”

“You had better shut up now,” Doctor Smith threatened.

“One more,” Ran said trying to hold in a laugh. “I could be like the villain in bad mysteries where I’ll go crazy and confess making you have to shoot me.”

“We all know you’re already crazy,” Drew said not being able to stop himself, “and I would love to be able to shoot you with or without a confession.”

Doctor Smith pulled out his keys and fitted one into the lock on the door to the room. “We’re keeping this door locked from now on,” Doctor Smith said opening the door. “I can’t say if the person will be back, but if he does, he won’t be able to get through this door.”

“We would also like to post some security guards outside, just incase,” Drew said.

“That won’t be a problem,” Doctor Smith replied turning the lights on in the room. “I’ll make sure they have a key to this room too.”

There sleeping in their beds were the two girls. The tubes were still down their throats, and their hair was still a mess, but otherwise their appearance had much improved. The hospital gowns were in once piece and the white bed sheets and white blankets were pulled up to their chests. They looked almost peaceful in their beds.

“Let me get my kit so I can get some samples of stuff that no human should have to handle,” Ran stated leaving the room.

“If you could please stay here doctor,” Drew said in a calm tone, “I would like to go to the security office and see if they have surveillance shots of whomever it was that came in here.”

“Certainly, and I should mention that these girls have about twenty-eight hours before they start screaming again,” Doctor Smith stated and looked down at the sleeping women.

21

Jason looked at the computer and sighed. He stretched out his arms and his back, feeling something pop, and wasn’t sure it was supposed to. The computer program was designed to show a response in the human body, but Jason was trying to work backwards. He wanted a particular response in the human body, and then finds out which chemical would be needed. It was a slow and tedious process, and his brain was starting to get fried.

A knock at the door to the lab broke Jason’s concentration as he got off the stool and went over to the door. When he opened it, he was expecting anything other than what he got. A fat kiss right to the lips, from Abigail, was what Jason got as soon as the door was opened.

“Miss me Shadow?” Abigail asked with a smile.

Jason let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Sorry, come on in,” Jason said letting the woman inside. Her coat hung down, and covered most of her body, but left her lower legs and ankles showing. She was wearing a black leotard like she previously wore. It took a moment for Jason to realize that it wasn’t even a week ago when he first used Cupid’s Breath on her. “Of course I missed you,” Jason stated.

“Well, you should,” Abigail said with a punishing smirk. “You missed out noon meeting at the library. Then I find you’re not even at your room. I’ve been sitting outside your door for over an hour waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry,” Jason stated. “I’m really sorry. I’ve been busy.”

Abigail’s face broke into a wide grin. “I forgive you,” She said and opened her coat. Her legs were covered with the skin tight black fabric, clinking to her skin like a moving shadow. Abigail’s upper body was not covered at all. Her pink skin was exposed to the harsh artificial light of the lab, and her nipples stood out on her chest like minute fingers. She waved her breasts at Jason, and produced the desired response.

“Oh God,” Jason said and covered his eyes. Yes he was horny. Yes he could screw Abigail until the sun came up. Yes Jason knew that she was his slave.

Jason also knew why she was his slave. It was because of Cupid’s Breath that the stunning brunette was his to command. It was because of the drug that would make her scream a thousand torturous deaths in only a few hours that she was there in the lab waving her breasts at him. Jason felt guilt wash over him stronger than ever before.

“What?” Abigail asked a look of concern crossing her face. “Shadow, what’s wrong?”

Jason sighed. He would control his slave once more. “Fletch,” he said and she gave him his full attention, “I have something I desperately need to work on. I do not want you to feel offended by this, but I really have to focus on this project. We both know that I can’t concentrate with you swinging those beautiful breasts around.”

“You don’t have to see them,” Abigail said covering up with her coat. “You could work at your computer and I’ll just suck your cock.”

“No,” Jason said with more force than he wanted, and Abigail jumped. “Abigail, you can to something for me.”

“Anything,” Abigail said with a wide smile on her face. “Anything you want I’ll do it.” It was like a knife cutting out Jason’s heart. Of course she would do anything he told her to. He was imprinted in her mind as her master, and she would receive pleasure each time she didn’t try and deny his command.

“I want you to come here, to this lab,” Jason said looking the beautiful woman in the eyes as he spoke, “at three-thirty in the morning.”

“What, you mean like tonight?” Abigail asked a little confused.

“Yes, please,” Jason said feeling his body tearing itself apart.

A smile crossed Abigail’s face and then she said, “Of course, anything for you. Do you have a preference as to what I should wear?”

“Not particularly,” Jason replied. “I just have to work on this project, and I want you to know I love you.”

“I love you too,” Abigail said automatically. “Okay, I’ll be here at three-thirty this morning. I’m sure Karen won’t mind being woken up by my alarm clock.”

“Thanks,” Jason said putting his arm around Abigail’s waist. He felt her warmth through the coat. There was a sway in her walk to the door. He knew that under that coat the woman of his dreams, the woman under his control, was topless. Jason’s dick knew that too, and was making his pants tight.

“Oh hell,” Jason said and swept Abigail down. He held her just above the floor and supporting her back and head he kissed her, deeply. The warmth fired up, and heat radiated in the room. Abigail was fully into the kiss, giving back as much as she got. The sexual urge to take her right there in the lab was strong in Jason, but he resisted. He would have Abigail, but only after he was sure that she wouldn’t die screaming. Jason broke off the kiss, and pulled Abigail back up to her feet, in the same position she was before.

Abigail just stood there for a moment blinking. “Did I just imagine you giving me a great kiss?” She asked.

“I would hope that I’m a little more memorable that that,” Jason joked leading his woman to the door.

“How can I forget,” Abigail said at the door, “I’ll be here at three-thirty tonight, provided I don’t get snowed in.”

“Is it snowing?” Jason asked as if some news of the outside world would be a life sustaining information.

“About an inch so far, and I heard that we’re in for about another three before the end of the night,” Abigail reported.

Jason smiled and gave Abigail a quick kiss on the lips before saying, “Well, be careful coming here tonight. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Abigail said with a grin. “I’ll be careful.”

Jason closed the door behind Abigail and went back to the computer. With a renewed energy he started working with the mouse again.

22

Ran entered the lab with is arms loaded with evidence. Drew, behind the wild youth, also had his hands filled with evidence. Donna and George looked up when the two entered and deposited the evidence on the back all purpose table.

“Donna you’re going to love me,” Ran said to the attractive woman, and then jerked his thumb at Drew, “more than this guy.”

“Not likely,” Donna replied. Her black hair was in a thin paper bonnet designed to keep any stray hairs inside, and not in their sample. She was also wearing a long white lab coat that was open and trailed behind her. Around her neck was a white filter mask, and on her hands were white vinyl gloves. She was obviously working in the room where the DNA was analyzed.

“I agree,” Drew said with a grin, he couldn’t resist, “since Ran is about to give you more shit than usual.”

“That’s bad,” Ran said to Drew and then to Donna said, “of course so is what I’m about to give you. Heather Merman and Susan Roofer, two girls that were screaming their heads off, but now are sleeping like angels. I have devilish feces, urine, blood, skin, and hair samples of those two girls in the hospital that are probably currently under the effects of Cupid’s Breath. Drew knows how good you are in the bedroom and I know how good you are in the lab, so I was hoping you could see if you can detect any anomalies that could be the result of Cupid’s Breath?”

“Let me finish up this DNA sequencing I’m working on,” Donna said looking at the containers of biological and biohazard material. “After that if George gives the go ahead I’ll see what I can find.”

George raised his hands and said, “Go ahead. If you can figure out something, I’d say go for it.”

“God you people are just plane stupid,” Alice said from the doorway to the lab. “The DEA have tried to come up with a test to see if someone is under the effects of Cupid’s Breath, and we haven’t. You’ll have less success than we’ve had.”

George narrowed his eyes and said, “Excuse me, but from what I’ve been told the only people you’ve had to work with are people suffering from Cupid’s Breath withdraw. I would advise you to respect this lab and the people who work in it.”

Ellen walked around Alice and said in passing, “I’m starting to have my doubts about you woman. Don’t make us black people look bad by being stupid.”

Alice turned around and walked off yelling, “You’re wasting you time!”

“It is good thing we work for the county then,” Donna replied.

George nodded at the rest of the stuff on the table and asked, “So what else do you have?”

“A lot more work, God damn it all He created,” Ran replied. The young man turned to the table and started pointing as he talked, “I have here one hundred and sixty-eight coins, of which two might or might not have the Cupid’s Breath primary’s finger prints on them. I also picked up the security video from the hospital that might have this guy’s image on it as well as the Virgin Mary, or a bloody Mary, or a bloody Hell.”

Drew cut in before Ran could become a bigger fool. “We’re postulating that this guy is some kind of humanity major,” Drew told George. “We know that he called from the second floor of the building. We also know that he took control of Merman and Clarkson in the coffee shop in the basement of the building. That suggests that this guy spends a lot of time there. I want Ran to go through the security video hoping to get a better picture of this guy so I can go around to the professors asking about him.”

“Sounds good,” George replied. “Donna, start work on those biological samples as soon as you can. Ran, I want you and Drew go work on the surveillance footage in the AV room. I’ll take care of the coins.”

“Really? That’s a lot of work, and you’re the boss,” Ran pointed out.

“Yeah,” George said picking up the evidence clip board and putting his name down as handling the coins, “and I wouldn’t ask any of you to do something I wouldn’t be willing to do myself.”

“Great,” Ran said running off before George could change his mind.

Drew strode into the AV room just as Ran was inserting the disk into the computer. “Do you think we’ll get a better shot of this guy?” Drew asked.

“I would imagine so,” Ran replied. “I also imagine Betty in a thong bikini, often. The hospital has very good security cameras and recordings. If this guy didn’t try and avoid the cameras then we should get a pretty good image of him.”

The computer loaded up the information from the disk and Ran clicked on the file for the camera pointed towards the end of the hall. A black and white picture appeared of the long white hallway with the checkerboard tiles. Ran rubbed his hands together like he was trying to get them warm on a cold day, and started manipulating the keyboard and mouse.

Images of humanoid blurs flashed by on the screen and Drew couldn’t keep up. Deep down Drew knew that Ran was sane, but that touch of madness did have benefits. One of those benefits seemed to be a sixth sense about things, like the fact that the primary Cupid’s Breath user would call. It didn’t surprise Drew at all when Ran slowed the video image down to normal speed just as a person who looked exactly like the person from the coffee shop video came into view.

“That man must have only one coat,” Ran said in a Scottish accent. Switching back to his normal accent Ran said, “Five bucks says that we see some boobies.”

“No deal,” Drew said as he watched the image of the man go into the room designated for Janet Clarkson and Heather Merman.

A few minutes later the same young man came out of the room. “Yeah that looks like me,” Ran mocked. Ran stopped the image just as the man’s face was in profile, and using the mouse enlarged the area of his head. “Man these hospital cameras are much better than those ones from the coffee shop.

I don’t know if that says something about our location of higher education, or about the place that takes every penny from your pocket just to make you healthy?”

“You’re printing that image, right?” Drew asked.

“Oh yeah,” Ran replied in a deep voice. Ran started up the video footage again at a quarter speed and said as the figure moved in slow motion, “Now I want you to give me passion, deep passion. Hold that secret smile. Yes, I want your secret smile.”

Then just as the man left the room, where the two women were no longer screaming like death in life, he turned to almost face the camera. Ran stopped the image again and filled the screen with the young man’s face. Ran pressed the button to print the image, and said thinking, “If you could read minds, what do you think that person is thinking right now?”

Drew looked at the face of the person on the screen. Drew squinted his eyes and replied, “He looks worried, very worried. I would say he’s very concerned about something. He could be worried that he might get caught at the hospital, but if that were the case why would he even go? I’d almost say that he’s very concerned about one or both of those women in there.”

Ran raised a finger and said, “Playing the part of Alice here. That’s stupid! He is their master, not some good friend! He just wants to keep them as his slaves! Okay I’m back to normal. I didn’t like being Alice.”

Drew smiled when he said, “That makes two of us. Do you think that he went to the hospital to give those women another dose of Cupid’s Breath, just to ease their pain?”

“If that’s true then he’ll be back when this dose wears off,” Ran replied, “and we will be waiting for him.”

“I’m going to go grab those pictures,” Drew said leaving the dark AV room.

“Isn’t it like five o’clock? I mean most college students and professors are gone by now,” Ran said following.

“So are the pictures,” Drew said looking at the printer on the coroner of the table in the main laboratory. He turned to Ran and asked, “You did print them out didn’t you?”

“I did a number of things,” Ran said and a loud burp came out of his mouth.

“That was one of them, and so was printing out the pictures of that guy’s face.”

“Alice took them,” Ellen said looking up from the microscope. “She saw them printing out, took them, and left. I have no idea where she went, but she’s making us black people look bad.”

Ran paused for a moment and then responded, “Oh the ways I could respond to that.” Ellen swore at Ran as he went back into the AV room.

Drew shook his head and asked George, “What does agent Cooker do all day?”

George looked up from the table where the coins were all spread out and said, “I’m not totally sure, but I did see her going through old cases. I’m not sure what she’s looking for, but I did have a talk with her boss.”

“Good, she needs a good talking to,” Drew stated.

“Where’s my wild man?” Betty asked coming into the lab. She had on her street cloths of a tight white sweater and skin tight jeans. Her black hair hung loose around her round head. Betty’s narrow eyes scanned the lab, and then she smiled when Ran came into the lab. “Are you ready to go?”

“No,” Ran replied as the printer next to Drew came to life. “Say, where are we going? I forget?”

“Dinner,” Betty said patiently.

“Oh right, dinner,” Ran said as the printer finished its work. “Um, you’re going to hate me for this.”

“Go ahead,” Drew said picking up the pictures. “I’ll go talk to the professors. You’re probably right that no one will be around.”

“Really, great,” Ran said and then turned to George and asked, “Man everyone is doing my work for me, does that mean someone will cover for me tomorrow when I’m on call?”

“Only because of bribery and blackmail,” George stated getting back to the coins.

“Okay,” Ran said and then asked Betty, “We need to dig up some dirt on Noah.”

23

Jason sat before the computer monitor, his mouth dry and his stomach rumbling. He refused to move from that stool, until the computer was finished running its simulation. He could hear the insides of the computer whirl and then slow down, and then speed up again. He watched his computerized human, and said a silent prayer.

Jason was running the program in reverse, and hoped that the outcome would be what he wanted. It was like throwing a dart in the dark. It might work.

Jason watched as the brain on human B in his program went from bright red to a normal gray, barely any red at all. That minor red might mean a slight headache, but not agony. Then he watched as the wave form program worked in reverse and went back to human A. Then human A in his program magically produced chemicals off its tongue. The chemical composition program activated and three different chemicals were shown to be possibilities.

Jason looked at his program. This was something he deep down wanted. He wanted to keep Abigail as his slave, but not subject her to the trauma of going through withdraw when he had to let her go. Jason rewrote the program to he could keep control over her mind in an almost exact way of Cupid’s Breath, but without the pain. Now the computer was telling him that three different chemical compositions might do the job.

Jason looked at the three different compounds and wrote one off right away.

It was a poison that would kill him as soon as it hit his tongue. That left the two remaining compounds, neither one as harmless as water. Jason wrote them both down, automatically writing it as its chemical structure.

Returning to his original program Jason plugged one of the chemical compositions in, and let the two computerized humans do their things. He watched as human A was exposed, creating a smell, and then creating a waveform for human B. Human B’s brain reacted. Mental functions shut down.

An error message in a bright red band scrolled across the middle of the screen. ‘Warning subject has expired.’ So the compound kills whoever hears it. That’s bad. Jason put a line through that compound.

Next Jason tried the third compound on the simulation. It was the same, until human B was exposed. The brain didn’t shut down, not completely, and only temporarily. Jason put his face right up to the screen so it filled his vision. He looked at the computer readout and put it together in his mind. He was sure that the human B was in fact almost exactly has he had hoped. Jason sped up the simulation and after fifty-three hours the brain returned to normal, with almost no pain registered. Just to make sure Jason ran the simulation again, and again. After the third time Jason was sure. This new compound would in fact do what he wanted.

Jason smiled and sat up with a smile on his face. He could create this new Cupid’s Breath, and keep Abigail as his slave, for fifty-three hours at a time. Not only that, it seemed to work much like Cupid’s Breath would. If what he saw on the program was correct, the person who heard and smelled the human A would be imprinted with that person. The human B in real life would accept anything human B told them, without resistance by dimming down that part of the human brain that would filter out stimuli.

There was one last thing Jason had to do, test to see if his Cupid’s Breath point two, would counteract the withdraw from the original Cupid’s Breath. Jason ran the simulation of the original Cupid’s Breath and sped up the brain of human B. When the red appeared Jason winced, but then activated the simulation of his Cupid’s Breath point two. Almost as soon as the human B was exposed to Cupid’s Breath point two the red went away. It should work. If everything in the simulations was correct then Jason had not only found a way to cure the women in the hospital but also Abigail of the devastating withdraw from Cupid’s Breath, but also found a way to keep them as his slaves.

Jason just ran one more test of his simulation. He exposed someone to the original Cupid’s Breath, and before they started going through withdraw he exposed them to Cupid’s Breath point two. A smile crossed his face when he ran the program and saw that no red pain indications appeared at all. Then pain hit Jason, the pain of hunger. Jason left to get something to eat, with a smile on his face.

Jason came back to his lab later on, and fired up the computer. When Jason plugged the compound into the program to see what chemicals would be needed to make his Cupid’s Breath point two, the computer came back with ten possibilities, with sixteen different ways of combining them. With a quick trip to the chemical storeroom Jason was ready to go.

It was nearly ten o’clock at night when Jason realized that he had yet to do any other homework for any of his other classes. While his chemical cocktails were cooking he started work on his other studies. He was working on his valence calculation homework when his fourth batch was finished. Jason ran the compound through the equipment and shook his head. It was exactly the way it should be. Of course he was going to run the other twelve compounds, just to make sure, but Jason was sure that he had created Cupid’s Breath point two.

A knock at the door to the lab woke Jason up from a nap he didn’t realize he was taking. The knock was harder, and Jason looked around to see where he was, and then remembered he was in the lab. A burning acrid smell was also in the room, and that woke Jason up fully.

“Hang on,” Jason called out and went to the hotplate where black encrusted beaker sat. Using a pair of tongs he took the heated glass off the scorching burner and set it on the cooling rack off to the side. Jason turned off the hotplate and shook his head. He would have to rerun the fifteenth experiment, later.

A glance at the clock told Jason it was just past three thirty, and he knew who would be waiting for him. He opened the door and embraced Abigail with both arms. She was in her trench coat and eagerly accepted Jason’s arms as they kissed with passion and fire.

“You were asleep, weren’t you,” Abigail said with a smile, still in Jason’s arms, but no longer kissing.

“Yeah,” Jason replied. “I just put my head down for a minute, and I was out like a light.”

“I can tell,” Abigail said walking into the lab, “there’s some crust around your eyes.” Jason was embarrassed as he dug out the pale yellow encrusted crud from the corners of his eyes. “Oh man,” Abigail said waving her hand in front of her face, “what are you burning in here?”

“I’m not sure,” Jason said. “It burned before I could test it.”

“Is it toxic?” Abigail asked turning to Jason.

“I don’t know,” Jason answered truthfully.

“Well let’s call it an aphrodisiac then,” Abigail said and then threw open, and off, her coat. She wasn’t wearing anything but tennis shoes and socks. Her smooth body moved like a swaying rope towards Jason as she tossed the coat onto the long black table. Her hips moved side to side. Her breasts had a gentle swing to them. “I hope you wanted me down here at this ungodly hour for a reason,” Abigail said.

“I did,” Jason replied and glanced at the clock. There was more than enough time. He pulled Abigail’s head down to his and kissed her full on the lips. He stuck his tongue into her mouth and felt her do the same. He pressed his body up against hers and she shoved her pelvis up against his crotch. Jason’s dick was already getting hard.

Jason broke off the kiss as his hands instinctively went to Abigail’s breasts. He was squeezing them, and rolling them around in his hands. “There’s something else I want to do,” Jason said.

“Anything,” Abigail responded a little breathless.

“Suck my cock,” Jason stated. A bright smile crossed Abigail’s face and she went down, straight down, in front of Jason. “Play with your pussy while you give me a blow job too,” Jason said to his slave. She gave no response as she opened Jason’s pants with one hand. Her other hand was between her naked legs fingering her hot wet pink slit.

Abigail engulfed Jason’s semi hard dick into her mouth. She drew rod out, and each time it became more coated and more rigid. Abigail was loved it. The feeling of the hot rod in her mouth, getting hotter, and getting stiffer was one of the most sexual things she had ever felt. She scraped her teeth along the sensitive skin and felt Jason shudder with delight. Abigail was also enjoying it, and the fact that she had three of her fingers inside herself. She was already hot and wet, but now it was running out of her, dripping off her fingers as she shoved them into her pussy. Jason told her to play with her pussy, and that was just what she was doing. He didn’t tell her to masturbate, which she could easily do. Abigail knew where her G-spot was, but she didn’t want to climax, not yet. She wanted to have an orgasm at the same time Jason climaxed. She wanted to wither in pleasure with his seed in her mouth.

Jason remembered why he needed Cupid’s Breath to begin with. He would never have been able to get a woman to do this to him otherwise. Soon, he would be able to have something even better than the original. He could keep Abigail as his slave, and make her suck him off at any time he chose. As Jason felt his semen start to come he though about how good it was to be the king.

Abigail felt Jason’s dick twitch, and knew what was about to come, him. She pulled out just enough to keep his head in her mouth, and sucked hard. She looked up at him, just as the seed hit her teeth. That’s when she really rubbed fast inside her body. Her climax came as Jason’s load shot into her mouth. Her back arched, and her body was immediately engulfed in ecstasy like gasoline lit with a match. Abigail reflexively inhaled and some of Jason’s white went down her throat into her lungs. It ruined the mood. She was gasping and chocking while her body withered in pleasure. Her legs shook while her lungs contracted. She felt her body being picked up and held as she was in the throws of pleasure and the agony of suffocation.

Abigail finally coughed up enough to be able to breathe again and found herself in Jason’s arms. His dick was still hanging out of his pants, but now soft after its performance. He was holding her naked body in a supporting fashion so she could still cough, but not in his face. With her face red and her body no longer shaking she tried to breathe regularly again.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked, concerned.

Abigail coughed again and nodded her head. “I’m okay,” she said and shook her head a little, “but let’s not do that again.”

“Oh come on,” Jason said joking, “Do it again.”

“How about we do something else,” Abigail said and Jason realized that she was defying one of his commands. “How about I’ll model some panties for you, only panties, which by the way I’m still not wearing, but I wish I was.

I am freezing in here.”

“Well it is winter and we are below ground,” Jason said letting go of Abigail, pulling up his pants, and going to his coat. “So what’s it like outside?”

“Snowing, still,” Abigail said wrapping her arms around her body. She reached up to her head with one hand and started to rub her temple. “Man, when I give you a blow job I think I almost blow my brains out,” Abigail said and started rubbing her other temple with her other hand. “I’ve got a killer headache now.”

Jason pulled the bottle of the original Cupid’s Breath out of his coat pocket and was about to undo the top when he paused. He wanted to see just how quickly withdraw took hold. “That’s what you get for coming here wearing only shoes and socks,” Jason replied. “Really, I wouldn’t have minded opening you like a piece of delicious candy.”

Abigail looked at Jason with a mix of pain, annoyance, and love. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to the sides of her head. “Oh God this is worst than before,” Abigail said.

“This has happened before?” Jason asked concerned that withdraw came at another time.

“Yeah, basically whenever I’m with you,” Abigail said with a pained smile. Then a shudder went through her body and a painful grimace crossed her face.

“Shit,” she said through clenched teeth. “Shit,” she said again.

“What? What’s going on?” Jason asked very concerned now. He came over to Abigail and she wrapped her arms around him, and held him close.

“Ah! God!” Abigail yelled as her arms jerked. Her breathing was labored and came out in gasps and hisses.

Then she screamed.

Jason couldn’t open the bottle of Cupid’s Breath fast enough. He deposited his woman on the long black table, and she didn’t lie down, but jerked and withered. Abigail’s screams were almost as loud as Heather and Janet from the hospital. Her skin was riddled with gooseflesh. Abigail’s fingers were opening and closing from clenched fists to open claws. Her jaw was clenched tight. Her arms jerked and he legs jumped. Abigail’s face was a bright flush of red.

Jason put a drop of Cupid’s Breath on his tongue and said, “Abigail, Fletch, listen to me! I’m going to go get a doctor!”

Abigail stopped jerking and her hands relaxed. One hand went to her head, covering her still closed eyes. “Wait,” she said holding up her other hand.

“I don’t need a doctor. Whatever it was has past.”

“I don’t like this,” Jason said being truthful. “This is the second time this has happened to you, and this is the worst one yet.”

Abigail sat up, sweeping back her hair from her face. “I don’t want to go see a doctor,” Abigail stated. Jason came over to her and pulled her coat around her shoulders. There was a silence for a moment and then Abigail said, “I’ve never told you about my father, have I?”

“I know he’s an artist,” Jason offered from his memory.

Abigail smiled at him and then pulled her coat on. She moved down to one of the stools and Jason moved one over next to her, and sat down. “He’s a one handed graphic artist,” She offered. She moved her left wrist and said, “He lost his left hand to a misdiagnosis by a doctor. Dad, he got a lump on one of his knuckles. The doctor in his infinite wisdom declared it to be arthritis. For a month Dad took the pills, and did the soaking, but the lump just got bigger, and more painful.”

Jason put his arm around Abigail and held her close. She put her head on his shoulder while she continued her story, “After a month Dad called the doctor, and over the phone, without even looking at Dad’s hand, claimed that it the pills were not powerful enough. Dad got a new prescription, but the lump was so big by this time it was affecting the rest of his fingers. It was a cancerous tumor.”

“Dad,” Abigail continued saying, “went back to the doctor after his prescription ran out, and thankfully the quack wasn’t there that day, so Dad had to see another doctor. This young doctor, barely out of medical school took one look at Dad’s hand and ordered a biopsy. They had to take Dad’s hand off at the wrist so the cancer wouldn’t spread. Thankfully it was his left hand so he could still use the mouse at his job of putting together catalogues and weekly advertisements. I still remember that first Thanksgiving where Dad always carved the turkey, but that year Mom had to do it. Dad couldn’t hold the knife and fork at the same time.”

They were quiet for a moment and Jason just held Abigail tighter. “Some doctors are good at their jobs,” Jason offered. “I love you, and don’t want you to be hurt.”

“I know, and I hate it too,” Abigail said. “I just can’t help but feel that when I go see a doctor he’ll get it wrong, like that asshole did with my father.”

“How about we make a deal,” Jason said stroking Abigail’s hair. “If this ever happens to you again you’ll go see a doctor.”

Abigail didn’t respond right away. “If this happens again, okay,” Abigail said. “It’s like when you drink. You really enjoy it, but you know you’ll suffer when it’s over. I really enjoy sucking your dick, but man the side effects are bad.”

“Maybe it’s something in my diet,” Jason offered. “Come one I’ll walk you home.”

Abigail picked up her head and looked around the lab. “Aren’t you working on something?” She asked.

“Yes, and I fell asleep doing it,” Jason stated. “I need sleep, and so do you. I’d rather sleep in my bed than on that table. I tell you what why don’t we meet up at three for a late lunch or early dinner?”

“Can we make it four for an early dinner,” Abigail said, “I have a class that goes until three-thirty.”

“Sure, meet me at the student union’s lounge then,” Jason said getting his own coat. “By the way, the whole nude flasher thing was very hot.” Abigail smiled wide as she was wrapped up in Jason’s arm.

24

Donna was tapping her foot when Ran walked into the lab. Her otherwise beautiful face was marred by a frown. She had on a white lab coat and goggles were pushed up on her black hair. As soon as Ran looked up to see her he knew she was waiting for him.

“You owe me,” Donna said pointing her finger at him.

“I,” Ran said in a slow speech, “probably do.”

Donna sat down and said, “I was on call last night, and amazingly without a single call even if it did snow five inches outside. So I was stuck here until ten with nothing to do except deal with your shit, and urine, and skin, and blood, and hair samples. Anyhow, I think I came up with a test to see if someone has had Cupid’s Breath used on them.”

“I would ask if you were kidding, but your two boys have taken away any humor you once had,” Ran said taking off his coat.

“Not today,” Donna said waving her finger at Ran to show him to not joke with her. She got up and went to a small stack of papers on the corner of the table. “I found that both girls have in their urine an increase in serotonin. Now that could mean that they have carcinoid syndrome, but somehow I doubt that girls as young as these have tumors in their bowels.” She turned around and saw Ran just standing there. “Come here,” she said waving with her arm.

Ran walked over and looked down on what appeared to be strips of paper. “I’m guessing those aren’t pH strips,” Ran said.

“No, they’re not,” Donna said. “I did use glossy picture paper that I’m not sure why we have, and coated them with the reagent. Dip these yellow ends into someone’s urine and if it turns red then that person is under the effects of Cupid’s Breath.”

“Donna, I understand why Drew loves you,” Ran said sounding serious. He opened his arms wide as if to hug her, “I love you. I love you so much I want to kiss you all over.”

“Oh get away from me,” Donna said pushing Ran away with her hand on his face.

“Hey,” George said from his office, “no fraternizing at work.”

“Kill joy!” Ran called out.

“You,” Drew yelled from the doorway. “I am so glad to see you.” He was heading straight for Donna and Ran.

Ran opened his arms wide as if to embrace Drew. “I’m glad to see you too,” Ran stated with a smile. Drew pushed Ran to the side with a hand to Ran’s head. Ran staggered and looked over as Drew gave Donna a kiss on the lips. “Why does everyone go for the head today,” Ran said out loud. The wild young man looked over to see George watching the two people make out and called out, “Aren’t you going to tell them to stop fraternizing at work?”

“He doesn’t work here,” George said.

“Damn you people,” Ran said. “DAMN YOU!”

“If you’re done,” Drew said still holding Donna close but no longer kissing. “We need to get over to the university. There was practically no one there last night, except for the coffee shop and I struck out there.”

“Should we wait for agent Cooker, a.k.a. Alice who escaped wonderland?” Ran inquired.

“George,” Drew said, “could you please tell agent Cooker that we’ll be at the humanity building at the university if she needs us.”

“Not a problem,” George replied from behind his desk.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Donna said privately to Drew. “I’ve got the boys but if you want to come over tonight for a PG rated movie you’re more than welcome.”

“Sure,” Drew said and the two gave each other a quick kiss before Donna went off down the hallway. Drew sighed, bracing himself, and looked at Ran.

“Let’s go.”

“Oh one thing,” Ran quickly stated gathering up Donna’s test strips. “On the way,” Ran said in a sexual voice, “I’ll tell you what Donna did for me. Oh it was great. I loved it, every moment of it.” Drew smacked him up side the head.

25

Jason ran the last tests on the last patch of possible Cupid’s Breath point two, and felt like he was wasting his time. When the results came back and they were negative Jason was sure that his fourth batch was exactly what he wanted. His fourth batch would be the new Cupid’s Breath, provided it worked. He would need to test it. He whipped up a small batch of his Cupid’s Breath point two and put it into a small white plastic bottle with a dropper top and a cap attached to the bottle by a strand of plastic.

There was also the pesky side effect that Cupid’s Breath point two had in common with the original Cupid’s Breath, it was toxic. His new stuff could only be taken a maximum of seven times a day before a person started to kill off brain cells. Jason decided to limit his possible dosage to five times a day. Not that he would need to use it on anyone other than Abigail, but first he needed to test out his Cupid’s Breath point two. Jason would do that, right after class.

Sue was saying, “Where can a woman find a good looking man around here?”

“The PAC,” Jason said automatically. They were leaving the experimental class and both smelled like noxious chemicals.

“The physical activity center,” Sue said and stuck out her tongue at Jason.

“Are you making a comment about my weight?”

“No,” Jason said thinking quickly, “if I was making a comment about your weight I would say something like, ‘How many Twinkies have you had today?’ I was just offering some advice.”

“I’ve had four Twinkies,” Sue confessed. “Okay, okay I get the hint I need to stop eating so much bad stuff and maybe find time to exercise. Well, I at least can check out the PAC.” Changing the subject Sue asked, “So how’s it going with those friends of yours?”

“I’m very close,” Jason said and then had an idea. “I just need to test it out. Would you care to be a volunteer?”

“No,” Sue said a little too quickly. “If I didn’t have a sudden urge to go run ten miles I might, but no.”

“Darn,” Jason said looking out the window to the sky heavy with dark gray clouds. He heard the students in class. There was predicted another four to eight inches of snow about to hit Holcomb. If the snow was over eight inches then classes would be canceled. Everyone was saying that of course it would snow that much on the weekend, so it could be cleared out for classes by Monday.

“Good luck finding a guinea pig,” Sue called out as she went into the ankle high snow.

Jason went down into the basement and looking down the very long hallway saw the unmistakable figure of Karen West. She didn’t look happy when she caught sight of him, and appeared to quicken her pace. Jason set down his backpack and waited for her, and waited for her, and waited.

“Damn this is a long hallway,” Karen said when she was finally within earshot of Jason. “Did they make this so long in order for you scientists to get some exercise?”

“I don’t know,” Jason said with a smile.

“We need to talk,” Karen stated.

“Let’s talk in the lab,” Jason offered and opened the door for her to go in first.

“You’re such a gentleman,” Karen said and then when Jason closed the door continued with, “who’s a real asshole some times.”

“What?” Jason asked confused.

Karen just looked at the little man, as if her narrowed eyes and evil look could convey what was in her mind. “Jason,” Karen said slapping her hands together, “I have no problem with you and Abbey doing whatever it is you do together. I don’t care that she left our room wearing only a coat last night. What I do care about is the fact that when her alarm went off at three in the morning it woke me up too!”

“Oh,” Jason said realizing why the muscular woman was angry, “sorry.”

“Here’s an idea,” Karen offered, “why not have Abbey sleep with you, every night. Why not start tonight?”

“I was working on something here last night,” Jason tried to make Karen understand. “Abbey needed another dose of Cupid’s Breath at four in the morning. I’m sorry she woke you up. The good news is that I might have found a way that won’t happen again.”

Karen stared at Jason and then said, “Keep going.”

“I made up a new kind of Cupid’s Breath. I’m calling it Cupid’s Breath point two for now. Hey, I deal with science, not creativity,” Jason offered as an excuse. “Anyhow I need to test it on someone before using it on Abigail. Hey, you’re here, do you feel like offering yourself up for science?”

Karen kept staring at Jason. Finally she took a breath and asked, “What will it do to me?”

“Every simulation I’ve run shows you’ll only have to obey everything I say,” Jason said realizing how it sounded.

“Only,” Karen repeated. “What are the side effects?”

“None that I’m aware of,” Jason offered.

“What does withdraw feel like?” Karen questioned.

“According to the computer it might be a slight headache,” Jason stated.

“And how long will it last?” Karen asked.

“It should last theoretically fifty-three hours,” Jason said pulling out the small white plastic bottle from his pocket. “I promise I won’t make you do something embarrassing like running through the campus naked.”

“No, that would be fun, not embarrassing,” Karen said in a low voice to show she was thinking. “Okay, just as long as you don’t make me some lazy sex slave who only exercises by having sex.”

“I’ll try to stay away from that,” Jason offered.

“And make it quick I have class in an hour,” Karen replied.

“Okay,” Jason said flipping off the plastic cap and putting the dropper over his tongue. He let one drop, which tasted disgusting, hit his tongue and then he looked at his expecting subject. “Karen, my name is Jason,” Jason said.

Karen just blinked her eyes. He rolled her eyes as if she were searching for something in her mind. “Did it work?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” Jason said confused himself. She wasn’t acting like a zombie or a love sick puppy. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Karen said. “Did you mix it up? I mean give the bottle a little shake first?”

“Karen, get down on your knees,” Jason said.

Immediately, as fast as gravity could pull at her Karen fell down onto her knees. “Whoa, that was weird,” Karen said doing a mental check of her body and a smile on her face.

“What did it feel like?” Jason asked.

“It was weird,” Karen said trying to figure out what she actually felt. “It was like as soon as you said to get down on my knees my mind and body just did so. There was no question of why, or even an acknowledgment that you said something, just wham I’m on my knees.”

“Fascinating,” Jason said.

“Can I get up now, this floor is really cold,” Karen asked.

“Let me try something first,” Jason offered. “Karen, the floor is not cold. It is warm, very warm. The floor feels like it is ninety degrees Fahrenheit.”

Karen put her hands to the floor, and felt around. “Now you’re really freaking me out,” Karen said. “You told me that the floor was warm, and I can feel it. The floor is warm. If I didn’t know that you told me that the floor was warm, I would assume there was some kind of heater under me.”

“Okay Karen stand up,” Jason said.

Immediately Karen stood up, her hair bobbing at the speed she shot up at. “I know a number of people who would pay a bundle to be on either end of this,” Karen said.

“The either end of what?” Jason asked.

“You are so naïve,” Karen said with a shake of her head. “I know people who would love to either be controlled like this, or be the controller. It’s a power thing.”

“Okay,” Jason said skeptical, “I might be naïve. Now then, we did the test where you have to do anything I say, and think whatever I say. Why don’t we try the remember anything I say. Karen, how did we first meet?”

“Abbey brought you over to our room about a week ago,” Karen said thinking.

“No, Karen that’s wrong,” Jason said with a sadistic smile on his face, “the first time we met was at lunch time over a month ago. There were no more seats available so I had to sit across from you. We struck up a conversation. That was the first time we met.”

“This is kind of fun,” Karen said with a smile. “If I didn’t know you just told me that I would swear that we did meet in the food court like you said.”

“Good because the next test is to erase part of your memory,” Jason said and before Karen could protest he said, “Karen, you will forget that I told you our first meeting was at the food court. You will believe that the event actually happened. You will erase from your memory the fact I told you it happened and believe you experienced it. You will also forget that I just made you forget this.”

Karen blinked and then asked, “What were we just talking about?”

“The first time we met,” Jason said with a grin.

“The food court, right,” Karen said nodding her head.

“And what was the second time we met?” Jason asked.

“Abbey brought you to our room,” Karen said. “I didn’t realize that you were the Jason she was talking about.”

“Now for the say part of the test,” Jason offered. “Karen, whenever I snap my fingers you will say, ‘I want to be fucked by you.’ It won’t matter what you’re saying or doing, you will have to say, ‘I want to be fucked by you’ whenever I snap my fingers.”

“Oh now you’re getting close to that razor’s edge my friend,” Karen stated.

Jason smiled and snapped his fingers. “I want to be fucked by you,” Karen said automatically. “Damn it all to hell,” Karen said. “I didn’t want to say that.” Jason snapped his fingers again. “I want to be fucked by you,” Karen said unable to control herself.

“Okay this time,” Jason said, “try to resist saying it.”

“I have been. I want to be fucked by you,” Karen said after Jason snapped his fingers.

“Okay,” Jason said thinking, “we’ve done do, think, say, remember, forget, so now we just need feel and believe.”

“Feel, didn’t I do that with the floor?” Karen asked.

“I was counting that as think,” Jason said and snapped his fingers.

“I want to be fucked by you,” Karen said unable to resist. “Okay now you reached that point where no jury in the world would convict me of kicking your ass.”

“Oh Karen, you love me. You love me more than you’ve ever loved anyone in the world. You’re heart is bursting with love for me. You will forget I told you to love me,” Jason said testing the feel part of his list.

Karen’s face instantly went flush. “Jason, I want to be fucked by you,” she said with a suddenly dry throat. “Jason, I love you. Damn it, this is the Cupid’s Breath isn’t it. You’re making me love you.” Her body was alive swaying towards Jason as she pulled at her cloths. Her eyes held a lust and love only seen in passionate partners.

“No I’m not,” Jason said with a smile. “I’ve made you forget how much you love me until just now.”

“Oh God,” Karen said lowering her head and looking at Jason through half closed eyes, “I am so jealous of Abbey right now.”

“Do you want me,” Jason taunted.

“Yes,” Karen said in a husky voice.

“Do you want me to kiss you,” Jason said enjoying this.

“Oh God yes!” Karen yelled.

“Karen you don’t love me any more, your feelings for me are the same as they were before I used Cupid’s Breath on you,” Jason said.

Karen blinked a few times, and then straightened her cloths. “You’re an asshole you know that,” Karen said looking at Jason. “You made me love you, and then you took that love away just like that. Christ, it was down right painful.”

Jason felt a little guilty and said, “Karen, I want you to forget that I made you love me, and forget I just made you forget.”

Karen blinked and then waved a finger at Jason. “You just did something to me,” she said trying to remember what it was. “What did you do to me?”

“Do you really want to know?” Jason asked.

Karen’s face fell. “Did I keep my cloths on?” She asked.

“Yes, all of them,” Jason offered.

“Then I don’t really need to know,” Karen said. “Please continue with your testing. Just keep in mind that I have to be in class in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay, just to clarify, you are heterosexual, right?” Jason asked.

Karen pursed her lips before answering. “Yes, I’m straight,” She said, “and to my knowledge, I’ve always been this way. However, you might have changed that.”

“Oh I plan to,” Jason said with a grin. “Karen, you believe that you are a lesbian. You believe you’ve always been a lesbian since you’ve reached maturity. Any man you’ve been attracted to was overshadowed by your attraction to another woman. The idea of a dick inside you sickens you, but a woman’s pussy excites you. You’ll forget that I made you change your sexual preference and that I just told you to.”

Karen quickly said, “I have another one of those blank spots in my head. What did you just do to me?”

“Hey you’re lucking I didn’t make you forget about clothing,” Jason said. “Karen, tell me, if you could have sex with anyone in the world who would it be with?”

“Angelina Jolie,” Karen said quickly.

“Really, you wouldn’t want to have sex with a man?” Jason asked.

“Hell no,” Karen said sticking out her tongue in disgust. “I’d rather have a nice smooth body, with full lips, and a hot pink slit for me to lick.” Karen paused and then asked Jason, “Did you make me gay?”

Jason laughed. “I might have made you believe something contrary to your original beliefs,” Jason confessed. “Now that you know this, how do you feel about men?”

Karen let out a mix of a groan and sigh, before saying, “I still won’t want a man in bed with me. I’d rather have a soft woman touching me than a hard man. It would have to be a fairly muscular woman mind you, but that’s why I like Angelina Jolie.”

“Okay, Karen you believe your sexuality is whatever it was before I used Cupid’s Breath to change it,” Jason said.

Karen paused and then said, “Okay I just was really enjoying the vision of a naked Angelina Jolie, and now I don’t feel anything.” She looked at Jason and asked, “So am I back to normal?”

“You’re back to normal, more or less,” Jason said, and then snapped his fingers.

“I want to be fucked by you,” Karen automatically said. “Except for that,” Karen stated without humor.

“Yeah, except for that,” Jason admitted. “Can I keep it please?”

“You may not,” Karen said as in disbelief of what she was hearing. “I don’t want to start saying, ‘I want to be fucked by you’ every time you start snapping your fingers to a jazz tune.”

“How about this,” Jason said, “I need to test the long term effects of this Cupid’s Breath point two. So I promise I won’t snap my fingers until after fifty-three hours, just to test to see if any commands are still in effect.”

“Well okay,” Karen said reluctantly, “as long as you promise. Now if you don’t mind I have to get to class.”

“Yeah sure,” Jason agreed grabbing his backpack. As they left together Jason said, “You know you still have to obey me for the next fifty-two hours?”

“Oh yes,” Karen said nodding her head. “I’m counting down the hours until Saturday at four o’clock.”

“Well how about I help you out a little,” Jason said as they walked through the snow. “Karen, you will be able to recall perfectly every lecture and every thing you’ve ever read. In fact you’ll be able to recall anything from your memory in perfect detail from now on.”

“Whoa,” Karen said, “head rush.” She put her hand to her head and then looked at Jason, “Damn, you’re good. I hope this lasts after that Cupid’s Breath wears off.” As they were about to part ways Karen stopped and said quietly so only Jason could hear, “Thanks for not putting things in my head I didn’t want. I do know that we first met when Abbey brought you over, but for some reason I can still remember how we met in the food court. It’s like a paradox. Oh well, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.” Karen walked off and finally Jason felt a little tension he had loosen. Now he just had to make it to the hospital, and take care of Heather Merman and Janet Clarkson.

26

Ran and Drew met up at the coffee shop in the basement of the humanity building. Ran ordered a double large cappuccino while Drew went for a rarity, black coffee. They sat down at the outdoor lawn furniture and both looked tired and defeated. Drew sipped his drink and Ran took a large swallow of his.

“I feel marginally defeated,” Ran said putting his feet up in one of the other chairs.

“You look it,” Drew commented. “I take it you didn’t have any luck with any professors on your floors.”

“I kept having them ask me, ‘are you sure he’s in my class?’ No, I’m not sure, but hell is he?” Ran stated.

“For some reason I had professors asking me if I was sure he was a student,” Drew commented.

They were both silent for a while and then Ran offered, “Do you think the dean would go for us doing a urine test on every student in the school?”

“No,” Drew flatly stated. “We’re supposed to keep this quiet. I don’t think the dean would be very appreciative of us stating that somebody has a mind controlling drug and is using it on the student population.”

Ran sighed and sipped his drink. “So we’re at a dead end,” Ran stated.

“Yep,” Drew agreed. “Who knows we might get lucky tonight if he comes back and gives those girls in the hospital another dose.”

“Well I’m on call tonight, so if he does I’ll let you know,” Ran offered.