The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Light and Shadows VII: Fading Light

by J. Darksong & Baltimore Rogers

Ch.3) When I Watch, and I Wait

“Hey! I’m back!” I said with a slight yawn, slipping into the apartment through the ‘secret entrance’. “Hey? Jess? Are you up, baby?” I glanced up at the clock to be sure—yes, it was seven A.M. While I’m not generally an early riser, choosing to do my patrols of the city until the wee hours of the night, Jessica, also not typically a morning person, had adjusted her sleep schedule to mine, choosing to work the late shift at Wendy’s Dinner, usually arriving back home at six-thirty, a half hour before I did. It was actually kind of nice. She sometimes greeted me at the door with a cup of coffee, or breakfast, she’d brought home from the diner. We’d catch up over breakfast, tell each other about our day, then shower together before slipping off to bed together for a little hot passionate loving before drifting off to sleep.

Yeah, life was really good.

A quick check of the kitchen confirmed what my nose had told me—no breakfast waiting today. And a thorough check of the apartment confirmed that Jess wasn’t home yet. Huh. Weird. But not completely unexpected. Sometimes the early morning crowd at Kathy’s ran longer than expected, and she would stay past her shift to help out until things calmed down. Of course, she usually sends me a text message to let me know when she’s held up, I grumbled silently, checking my phone. Nada. Ah, well. I’m not about to play the harping henpecking spouse and jump all over her when she gets home. I’m sure she’s just too busy right now to send me a message. It’s fine. Dropping down on the couch, kicking off my boots, I let out a soft sigh and let myself relax a bit.

I actually kind of hoped she arrived soon, though. Between slam-dancing with the Munn sisters earlier, and getting tossed into a trash dumpster by Arachnae, the human spider, I was sore, dirty, and seriously in need of a shower.

When the doorbell rang, I forced myself back onto my sore tired feet and peered through the peep hole, wondering who in the world would be visiting at this time in the morning.Huh? Jessica? Huh...must have forgotten her key...Unlocking the door, I let my lover in. “Hey, beautiful,” I said with a smile, leaning forward to kiss her. “What kept you? I was starting to worry.“

“Oh? Sorry! Guess I kinda...lost track of time,” she said with a smile. “So, like...I’m home now. And I brought us breakfast!” she said in a high pitched sing-songy voice. I frowned slightly as she held up a small pink and white cardboard box with the name ‘Sweet Tooth’ printed on it.

“Sweet Tooth’s huh? And...doughnuts? For breakfast?” I grumbled, disappointed. Okay, I’ll admit to having a taste for sweets as much as the next girl, but I tried to take care of myself too. I wasn’t vain or anything, but having a ninja master for a personal trainer LITERALLY beating exercise and good nutrition into you on a daily basis for fifteen years tends to make you a bit wary of your calorie count. Besides which, I’d just met one of the bakers, and while everything looked and smelled good, I had trouble believing the woman was capable of tying her own shoes without help, let alone making something as complicated at the box of pastries Jess held. Also, I’d worked up quite an appetite earlier on patrol, rescuing that baker, and had looked forward to something to eat with a bit more...substance.

Jess, however, seemed completely oblivious to my disappointment. “Yeah!” she said enthusiastically, placing the box on the counter and opening it up. “This place...O-M-G, Katie, you would not BELIEVE the selection! They have, like, anything you could possibly think of in there! And best of all, they’re giving them away for free!’

“What? Giving them away?” I asked, frowning deeper. “What kind of bakery gives away free doughnuts? They’d go out of business!”

“Na-uh!” Jess said shaking her head, causing her hair to slip out of the bun she’d tied it in. Reaching into the box, she took out a large vanilla cream horn. “The cute little girl at the store told me. They’re just starting out, so, like, to drum up business, they are running, like, this huge promotion by giving away free samples! So for, like, the first week, everyone gets a free dozen doughnuts in any combination they want. After that, you have to pay...which kinda sucks, ’cause these things are SOOOO freaking good! But, yeah, it makes sense, yanno? It’s like selling drugs, the first one if free, and then they charge you, because by then you’re hooked and you want more, so that’s how they make their money!” As soon as she’d stopped talking, she slipped the pastry into her mouth, moaning and groaning in pleasure in a way that made my clitty twitch.

Fuck me...could a damned pastry be THAT good? She only makes that sound for me when I do that little swirl thing with my tongue...

“Okay, fine...I’ll try one,” I said, reaching for the box. “I really like apple fritters, and I haven’t had one in ages—saaahhh! Shit!” I yelled as the box slipped out of my hand, dropping into the floor. “Dammit!” I hissed, stomping my foot in anger...stepping onto an éclair, causing me to skid and land bottoms up in the middle of the pile of pastries. “Ohhh...shit...perfect. Just perfect.”

Jessica, momentarily concerned about my fall, seeing that I was okay, burst into laughter. “O-M-G, Katie girl! Talk about clumsy! And I thought you were, like, supposed to be, like, lucky or something!” Reaching down, helping me back to my feet, she shook her head. “Well, there goes breakfast. C’mon, baby, let’s go shower and get you cleaned up. After a little sleepy bye, we’ll just grab an early lunch, okay?”

“Okay,” I said, wiping the sweet smelling gunk off my chest. “But it wasn’t funny. You didn’t have to laugh...”

* * *

“Uuufff!” grunted Tawnya as she slammed into the air cushion at the bottom of the three-story drop from the top of the Prentiss Mansion.

Rolling over she knew she would see disapproval on Sioban’s face floating above her. “Tawnya, SERIOUSLY, you’ve got to get your wings out faster. if you hit the ground like that you’ll be stunned; you’ll be a sitting duck.“

Tawnya was getting really tired of this crap. She knew that the “falling flight” thing was one of the toughest maneuvers for a new Tearbearer to get right. She knew that not just because the little redhead martinet up there had told her, but because Angela, Patricia, and Delores had told her too. And, well, so did her Tear memories.

But it was hard. This whole thing—the wings, the flying—it worked by magic. That means that using it required an act of will, of confident belief. It’s one thing when you are safe on the ground and you will your wings to appear and carry you up into the sky, but it’s quite another when you’re falling, in visceral terror, and you have to convince yourself that you can fly.

Tawnya was sick of this. She wasn’t getting it. She didn’t want to do it anymore. It just wasn’t fun. Off in the distance, at the far side of the yard—multi-football-field-sized meadow really—she could see Patricia and Robbie with baseball gloves playing catch, and Nigel and Justine throwing around a frisbee. She would give anything to be there rather than here with this fucking harpy right now. “Look,” said Tawnya, “What’s the big deal? Why can’t I just start with my wings out like I usually do and practice it like a dive and swoop?”

“Tawnya, we’ve been over this, what, ten times? Fifteen times? If you are in a tight space, with a tangle of wires or something, you might need to fall through it to get to where you can fly free. If your wings get tangled, you’re—”

“I know, I know,” said the big girl, mockingly, lolling her head from side-to-side as she sing-songed, “’a sitting duck’.”

“But that’s not the biggest reason. What if you get knocked out while you’re flying, ya big dope? There you are, falling like a rock, wings vanished. And suddenly you wake up. This could be your only hope to save yourself before you make a big, fat-assed splat on the ground. Remember Nike? The first one?”

“God, yes, Sioban. I remember her better than you ever could. I HAVE HER TEAR.”

“Okay, Miss I’ve-got-the-left-tear-so-you-can’t-understand-my-pain, remind me what happened to her?”

“Goddammit! That’s not fair! It really does hurt to remember these things.”

Sioban softened some. She landed beside her troubled partner. Then she stiffened, NO! Gotta be tough! She’s got to learn this so that I don’t lose another partner. Wait, no. That didn’t happen to me. That’s a Memory. She took a breath and resumed her lecture. “We have these memories for a reason too. Now come on, put on your big girl pants and dive into that memory. Remember what happened to her. Remember why this is important. I want to hear a running commentary from you...NOW.“

Tawnya sighed, she might as well. The bitch wasn’t going to leave her alone until she did it. So she let herself drift, back...back...back to the Battle of Britain. “I’m over the English Channel,” she said, “Yeah, I’m Nike, Edna O’Leary, out over the English Channel with, um, Lady Britannia...Dame Athena Smythe, who was apparently actually pretty good at this mentoring stuff, unlike some people I could mention.“

“Cut the comedy, She Hulk.”

“Alright, alright. She’s. uh, I’m, like, scared, but excited too, really pumped actually. I’m carrying two specially outfitted Tommy guns and four bandoliers of ammo, I’m chasing those damned Messerschmitts and Junkers all over the sky. Oh Good Gawd, Sioban, those old warplanes are SO FUCKIN’ COOL!”

“Stop stalling,” said the redhead, “you know where we’re headed, hurry up and get there.”

“Sure thing, Commandant Klink. Just give me a sec....Okay, I’ve nailed a bunch of them by now! Eight kills. Aww, but they can’t make me an ace because I didn’t catch ’em on camera. Well, that and because I’m a woman. God it musta sucked to be a girl back then! Anyways, the planes are faster than us. They’ve got more fire power. But I’m way more maneuverable, and I’m a pretty tiny target, besides that. Hey, whaddaya know, boss lady, there’s actually an advantage to being a pipsqueak.“

“Har-dee-har.”

“OH SHIT! I took a round to my shoulder but...but I’m still up. It spun me around though and I lost one of my guns. Having trouble holding onto the other one too...ooookay, there it goes. DAMN that hurts. Time to go home. Oh crap. Another round. This one got me in the stomach. It’s funny, it’s bleeding a lot worse than the shoulder wound, but it hardly hurts at all. Actually the shoulder doesn’t hurt anymore either. Can’t...feel...anything...really.... Okay I went away for a while. I just woke up again, wow it’s really windy all the sudden, hard to open my eyes, but I gotta. OH GOD NO! The whole fucking English Channel is about to hit me like a fly swatter I’M GONNA DIE! I can’t help it, I’m flinching, shutting my eyes, bracing for impact...Wait...What’s going on?...I still haven’t hit yet!...Why haven’t I hit-UMMMMMMPH. Oh...shit. That’s it. She’s gone. YA HEAR THAT? I’M GONE. ARE YOU FUCKIN’ HAPPY NOW?!?“

Tawnya couldn’t help it, the memory, the horror of combat, the pain, the fall, the impact, the oblivion. It was too much. The tough athletic girl started to cry.

“Aw, jeez,” said Sioban. She reached up and hugged Tawnya’s shoulders Goddess, I’m like a little child next to her, but she’s the one that’s crying! Sioban pulled the larger girl down to her own shoulder, kissed the top of her head, and whispered to her, “Shh, it’s okay, honey. Let it all out. You’re okay. We’re at Angela’s place. You’re not hurt.“

“Don’t you tell me I’m not HURT!” cried the big teenager, “Why did you make me DO that?”

“I want you to think about what happened...there at the end.”

“I get it. I get it,” said Tawnya, “She...she coulda saved herself. She had plenty of time, but she...she panicked. She didn’t get her wings out.”

“That’s why we have to do this. And even then it won’t be enough that you can just do it on command. It has to be instinctual. It has to be like a reflex. I don’t want to lose you, kiddo. Understand?”

The big girl wiped her eyes and nodded her head.

“Now,” said Sioban, back in lecture mode, “look back in Patricia’s memories. Remember the time that she knocked me off of that very roof with a two-by-four. She didn’t even tell me it was coming. She told me it was an eyesight drill. I had to find and count all the animals in the yard between the house and the woods. It got up to seven, and then she cold cocked me. Do you see it yet?”

“Yeah. She thinks you’re a spaz. She’s right.”

“Gee thanks, meathead,” seethed Sioban. “Anyway, I still got my wings back out before I hit. That’s what we’re aiming for.”

Tawnya mumbled, “Actually, I’m just aiming to get my chance to hit you with a two-by-four.”

Sioban laughed, “Hey, I’ve got super-hearing too, jerkwad. C’mon. Back to the top of the roof. Let’s do it again.”

Tawnya groaned but followed her tormentor back up to the roof.

* * *

“Oh! Like, hi, Lacikins!” Melissa, the receptionist said cheerfully from her desk, her normally flawless brown hair looking more than slightly tousled, her cheeks somewhat flushed, her voice breathless. “Nice to see y-you...I didn’t k-know you were back in town!“

“Um...yes, I’m back,” she said with a smirk. “And I got your message. I called you back an hour ago to say that I was coming over...remember?”

“Huh? You did?” she asked vacantly, frowning slightly. “Oh...yeah, that’s right! Sorry...must have forgotten to write it down...I think I lost my ink pen somewhere...”

Lacie blinked, caught somewhere between concern and bemusement. Walking over to the desk, she slid a hand down to the side of her head, and pulled the small red pen from behind her ear. “Um...you mean THIS pen, Mel?”

“OH! Thanks! I was looking for that!” she cheered, taking the pen eagerly. Taking her note pad, she carefully wrote, speaking the words aloud. “Lacie...returned call...arriving...at nine o’clock...” she said, closing the pad back up, and smiling at her friend. “So...um...like, what can I do for you?”

Lacie groaned softly, resisting the urge to snap. Barely. “Can I go in and see her now, please?”

“Oh! Like, um...the doctor is still like totally busy,” Melissa replied, sitting up, attempting to look professional, “but it shouldn’t be much longer. In the meantime...help yourself to some doughnuts! They’re fresh!”

“Yeah, thanks,” Lacie mumbled softly, taking a bear claw, chewing it idly. “Hmmm...not bad. These are pretty good,” she said, devouring the pastry with enthusiasm. “Hmmm...’Sweet Tooth’s?’ Don’t think I’ve ever heard of them before.”

“Oh, yeah, they like, totally opened up just a few days ago,” Melissa gushed, rocking slightly in her seat. “They have THE BESTEST doughnuts and junk! They’re, like...almost better than SEX!”

Lacie grinned, licking her fingers. “Well, I guess that depends on how good the sex is,” she said with a chuckle, “but these things are really good. I’ll have to remember to bring some home with me.” She glanced up as the door opened, and a young blonde woman made her way out of the office. “Okay, looks like Eva’s free now. It was...interesting talking to you, Mel. See ya!”

“See ya!” Melissa replied as Lacie slipped inside, closing the door behind her. Alone in the office again, she sighed. Keeping up conversations with people was so hard! She much rather enjoyed spending her time doing other things...except she was ‘on the clock’ at work, which limited the kind of activities she could actually do. The itch between her legs reminded her, however, that there was ONE thing she could do at work, as long as she was careful. Taking the vibrator back from the bottom drawer of her desk, she slid it deep inside her needy, horny little snatch, sighing in contentment at the sensation of being filled, and turned it up to high.

“Lacie! You’re back!” Eva said warmly as she entered, walking over to hug her, kissing her softly on the cheek...then again on the lips. “Mmmm...I’ve missed you, hon.”

Lacie, a bit taken back by the amorous greeting, merely nodded. “It’s good to be back. California was a nice diversion for a while, but I’m happy to be back home again.”

Eva nodded, standing there, staring at her, smiling. When she didn’t say anything, Lacie prompted her. “So...what did you want to see me about?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Your phone message? You called and left me a message saying that I needed to see you here at your office?” Lacie stated, staring at her normally sharp friend with concern, seeing the look of confusion on her face. “Any of this ringing a bell, Eva?”

“Um...well...kinda,” she mumbled, scowling, walking around to her desk, searching for her appointment book. “I’m just a bit...distracted...just give me a sec, okay?”

“Eva,” Lacie said worriedly, walking over to the desk to meet her, “I’m a little concerned. First Melissa, now you, are acting really scatterbrained. Is something going on? Did something happen while I was out of town?”

“Yes...no...” Eva scowled deeper, thinking, trying to remember. Why was everything so jumbled? “Dammit, you’re confusing me. Just...give me a second.” Closing her eyes, she thought back, trying hard to remember. “Ummm...I told Melissa to call you yesterday...that I needed to speak to you. I’d just met with Jessica DuMont...”

“Jessica? Katie’s Jessica?” Lacie asked, her concern sharpening. “Why? What happened to her? Is Katie all right?”

“Yes! I remember now,” Eva said triumphantly. “That was it. Something happened to Jess and Katie...but they’re both okay now. I fixed it.” She frowned. That...sounded right. And it made sense, didn’t it? “Yes, I just wanted to let you know they were both okay.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Lacie sighed. “Honestly...sometimes I think that her luck is just as bad as her brother’s. What happened, anyway? Who was it? Someone I’ve faced before, or someone new?”

“I dunno,” Eva replied with a shrug,” it doesn’t matter anyway, it’s taken care of. C’mon...tell me about California. Did you go to the beach?” she asked with almost giddy interest. “Did you see any hot girls in string bikinis while you were there?”

“A few,” Lacie replied with a smirk, “all of which were much too young for you.”

“HEY!” she scowled, crossing her arms and tossing her hair. “You’re just as old as me. And we’re both damn hot for girls our age.” She giggled slightly. “Guess that makes us cougars, then, huh?”

Lacie couldn’t help it, she laughed...then giggled, her laugh going up an octave higher than she’d intended. She blinked, shaking her head. Huh? What was...that was kind of...weird.

“So, like...wanna go hit a club or something later?” Eva continued on. “I mean, Big Gene’s out of town, anyway, and you’ve been cooped up at home for days. C’mon. Let’s go out and pain the town pink tonight!”

“Um...you mean red?”

“Yeah...of course...what did I say?”

“You said paint the town ‘pink’.”

Eva giggled, shaking her head. “No way. I didn’t say that. That doesn’t even make any sense!” She sighed softly. “Anyway...I have to work until, um...later. Wanna meet up at your place?”

Lacie considered. A part of her was worried, almost to the point of obsession, about her husband...but he’d told her flat out not to get involved. Well...the least I can do is give myself a little night on the town to unwind and have some fun.

“Okay,” she said after a moment. “Let’s do it. It’s a date.”

* * *

“Hi, honey, I’m home!” Veronica said loudly, stepping inside her house, kicking off her high heeled pumps with an audible sigh. She hated the damn things with a passion. If possible, she would arrive at the office in her usual black tabi, or at least a pair of comfortable sneakers... but no, senior level executives had to set an example for the rest of the office staff, and if the men had to put up with suits and ties, she had to learn to deal with confining dress skirts and high heels. At least her husband was sympathetic to her plight enough to indulge her occasionally with foot and leg massages to ease her torment. And, of course, she repaid his attention with thorough ‘massaging’ of her own in HIS favorite spots.

“Honey? Are you here?” she asked again, making her way to the kitchen. Parker glanced up at her, face and clothes lightly dusted with powdered sugar, his expression somewhat embarrassed. Roni sighed inwardly, glancing around at the six or seven boxes of empty discarded doughnut boxes scattered about the room, and the half empty gallon jug of milk on the counter. Uh oh. He’s binge-eating. That’s never good. Something must have happened to upset him. The last time he downed this many sweets in one sitting was years ago, back when we tried to rescue Patty Sellars and Angie Prentiss... Walking around to his side of the table, she leaned down and kissed him softly, on the lips, smiling, licking a bit of the sugar off her own.

“Hi, baby. Rough day at work today?”

“Ughn,” Parker grunted, glancing away, taking another creme filled doughnut from the box in front of him and devouring it before nodding. “You could say that. I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Roni nodded, knowing already how this would play out. “That’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to—“

“I mean, where does HE get off dictating to me?!?” Parker fired off suddenly, hands clenched into fists. “Barking orders to me... to ME, as if I was some low-level peon, whose sole purpose in life was to run errands for him?!? I don’t care if he IS the goddamned owner of the company, I’m a fucking Vice President! And I earned my place, starting from the ground up! I do NOT need to be treated this way!”

Ah. Eugene. That explained a lot. “Honey, I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” she began. “You know he doesn’t think of you like that—“

“Oh no, he doesn’t think of me at all!” Parker fumed, grabbing and devouring another doughnut. Roni sighed deeply. Parker’s supercharged metabolism would burn off all the calories he’d consumed and more without a problem—one of the benefits of being a speedster, she thought ruefully, not having to watch what you eat—but even he would start having issued from all the sugar he was ingesting at this rate. She was torn between wanting him to vent out what was bothering him, and stopping this before it degenerated even further. He was clearing still in his ‘mad’ stage, and anything she said counter to what he was feeling would only start an argument. And her own day hadn’t exactly been pleasant; she wasn’t up for a long drawn out fight right now.

“Sweetheart, why don’t you just tell me what this is all about. What did Eugene ask you to do?”

“Ask me?” Parker bristled, turning to glare at her. “No, baby, he didn’t ask me. He dictated, ordered, demanded, commanded—but not asked! I wasn’t given any choice in the matter. Which was all well and good, because if I HAD been given a choice in the matter, I would have told that crusty old Scottish bastard to shove it up his ass!”

“Bloody hell, Parker!” Roni exclaimed, taken aback by the level of animosity from her normally playful, and laid back husband. “What did he have you do, rob a bank or something? The way you’re acting, I’d think he’d tried to get you to do something illegal or immoral!”

Sighing deeply, pouring himself a glass of cold milk, he shook his head. “Nope. Something illegal or immoral I might have understood. If it was a good enough reason, I suppose I might have even went along with it. What he asked for... demanded of me... was the worst thing he could have possibly come up with.” He sighed, closing his eyes. “That bastard... he made me give up the prototype for my Peacekeeper project... the ‘Omega Beam’ gun... and turned it over to Grimalde.”

“WHAT?!?” Veronica snapped, standing back up from the table. “Nigel Grimalde?” she asked, incredulously. “The same Nigel Grimalde that we—“

“Yeah, the same,” Parker replied sullenly, draining the glass. “He admitted it flat out... said it was a ‘necessary evil’ but one that had to be done. He planned to meet with that devil himself a few hours later to make a trade of some kind.” He shrugged, slamming the empty glass back down to the table. “He was going on and on about gambits, and portents, and chess moves and such... about how Grimalde was a bloody choir boy compared to his brother Duncan... that if nothing else, the man had ‘honor’. A code that he lived by. Bah. I think the old man is off his bloody rocker!”

“Nigel... Grimalde...” Veronica repeated, scowling, the past coming back at her again. That certainly explained her husband’s ill mood. She sighed deeply, trying to understand why Gene would put them in a situation like this. Tried, and failed miserably. Damn. If there is a reason for having to deal with the ‘Devil Incarnate’ himself, I sure can’t see it. Maybe Grimalde has him over a barrel somehow... I dunno. All we can do at this point is just trust that Eugene knows what he’s doing... that he has a plan of some kind.

“Come on, baby, you’ve had enough of these for a while,” she said after a moment, taking the box of doughnuts away from him, snagging a frosted cruller for herself, and popping it into her mouth. “Mmm... damn! Those are really good. I can see how you finished... one, two...eight boxes of them.” She smiled softly. “But it’s been a rough day for both of us. Let’s go get undressed from our work clothes, take a nice hot relaxing shower together,” she purred, leaning down to kiss him again, “and see if I can’t find something to get your mind off everything that’s happened today?” She giggled softly, feeling him respond to her nearness, feeling her own arousal spike suddenly from his reaction. “And... mmmm... I think I know JUST how I want to spend the evening...”