The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Everybody was so glad to have Carrie back, the whole experience with King’s collection went completely unmentioned until dinner the following day, and even then it was just a passing mention.

“He’s actually a nice enough guy—he’s just a little eccentric,” I told the girls who sat around, each eating their plates of stir-fried rice. The mood was higher than usual; I’d stopped by the market and splurged on real vegetables, fresh-grown by the former hippie gardens on the roof of the old mall, according to Warren. I say former, because Warren made a point of mentioning that, since the farmlands outside of town are constantly plagued by hungry monstrosities and desperate travelers, fresh produce is exceptionally rare, making the commune the most profitable business organization in Limbo.

“Nice guy?” Crow asked from the corner, her own plate in her lap, the words less envenomed than usual.

“You’ve got to understand what they’ve been through. Being raided by both sides doesn’t exactly breed an atmosphere of trust. I’m sure we could make him come around, though; his obsession seems stronger than his trust issues. I mean, that’s probably why he kept that angel alive all this time.”

“A live angel?” I heard Nyx. I could tell from their reactions that she spoke to nobody else, so I answered her in kind.

“Captured in the raid, years ago. They’ve kept her locked up in some sort of magnetically shielded cell, on a magnetically shielded floor.”

The girls looked at me expectantly, then glanced to Nyx, realizing what was going on.

“She’s completely isolated,” I continued. “She didn’t even want to leave.”

“You spoke to her?”

“He opened the door to the cell, and I spoke to her like this,” I answered. “She said she wanted to be left to wallow in her defeat or something.”

“What else did she tell you?”

“Nothing. Just that her name is Gabrielle. Hey, do you think she might be a girl-version of the—” I trailed off as I realized something seemed off about our conversation, and when I turned, I realized Nyx was gone. For a moment, I wondered why talking to myself in my head felt as weird as talking to myself out loud. Don’t I do that all the time, anyways?

Isn’t that what I’m doing now?

I shrugged as we continued our meal.

I shuddered as I felt Nancy’s lips sliding over the ridge of my cockhead, her tongue dancing on the bottom, coaxing the load that had been building inside me. She’d been getting better, and so had I; I found myself able to control exactly how much life and substance I imbued into my little ‘gifts’, and now felt none of the panic and anxiety that had originally plagued me.

Nancy felt that I was close, and picked up her pace, pumping faster with her hand, lips and tongue working in harmony, bringing me quickly over the edge.

Beside us, Carrie lay on her back, bystanding on account of her stitches, but staring hungrily down as her sister emptied me into her mouth. She had begun jilling herself, but had to stop for as soon as she started to get into it, not wanting to pop a stitch.

I finally finished delivering a manageable load into Nancy’s mouth, and she gave a couple extra strokes of her lips for good measure before pulling herself off of me and crawling up the bed, leaning across my body to hang her face over Carrie’s.

Carrie smiled and opened her mouth, anxiously sticking out her tongue as Nancy puckered her lips, letting some slowly dribble out.

I didn’t realize it when Nancy was servicing me, but I must have managed to fill her mouth almost completely, from how much she was baby-birding into Carrie’s mouth.

While Carrie took it into her mouth, I could see her breath grow deeper and her nipples harden. She reached up and grabbed the back of Nancy’s head, pulling her in for a deep kiss, now both exchanging tongues as well as my fluids.

As they parted, Nancy was careful to keep her share locked in her mouth. Carrie closed her eyes and swallowed deep—then again—shuddering each time, wincing in pain, but smiling the whole time.

That was when I realized there was something more to my little ‘reverse-succubus’ trick. The girls always insisted on eating this way, even if they’d already had their fill of regular food. Nancy was now administering it to Carrie like medicine. Jesus Shitting Christ, could it be that I’m actually physically addictive?

Nancy rose from the bed and slowly backed towards the door, as overtly suspicious as a child trying to avoid suspicion.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Shoowent”, Nancy struggled, her words rolling over a half-full mouth of liquid.

I narrowed my eyes, looking past her intentions, and noticed something strange—something I’d never felt before. I could actually feel the fingers of Student’s mind lodged inside Nancy. I could actually feel it stretching like a webbed tendril between them, and, as I focused on it, found that I could follow it back to the next room, right back into Student’s head.

“You’ve worked too hard for that to give it away,” I told Nancy. “Keep that for yourself.”

I could feel the connection ripple for a moment before Nancy opened her mouth to protest, a little dribble making its way down her cheek.

With a focused thought, I pushed the fingers out of Nancy’s mind, stopping her before she could say anything.

Nancy swallowed hard, then looked at me, confused. She was clearly aware of what she had just done, but was no longer certain as to why. I waved her back to the bed, wrapping my arms around her. I could feel her trembling, and feel her mind in a furious state of self-doubt. She knew she thought it would be nice to share, but trying to sneak out? She was struggling to figure out why she didn’t just ask when I started to whisper that it was alright, and to try to get some sleep.

I ran my fingers through Nancy’s hair, Carrie supportively holding her hand, as I felt the tendril reaching out, trying in vain to push through my block and tap back into Nancy’s mind.

With little concentration, I found I could pull it away from her, and plug it into myself, allowing me to shove back.

“What in the hell was that?” I asked as soon as she was plugged into my head.

I felt Student trying to withdraw, but found it easy to lock her in.

“Well?” I demanded.

There was a long silence, a feel of guilt and sadness, before she finally answered. “It’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair?”

“Why do they get all of it? I can hear them thinking how good it is whenever they go into your room.”

“I told you, you’re my student. I have to keep it platonic with you.”

“But I’ve done so much! I can read peoples’ minds. Control their thoughts. I’m getting stronger as a student, and you only ever reward them. And for what? Selling themselves to Nyx so she’d kill their dad? Being stupid slaves? They weren’t even yours to start with. They’re second-hand slaves. And you still put them higher than me.”

I wanted to be enraged by what she was saying about the girls, but she did have one valid point: I had been so wrapped up in my own training, then Carrie’s treatment, that I’d barely noticed her progress. “They’re with me because I love them, not because I own them,” I told her, my words slow, deliberate, and generously dusted with anger. When I continued, though, my words came with a sense of resignation. “You’re right, though. You’ve obviously done extremely well, and you deserve a reward. You’ve studied hard, and you’ve become skilled at what I’ve taught you. I want to give you a name—one that means something. Like the one Nyx gave to me after I proved myself to her.”

“A name?” I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was still jealous of the girls, but a part of her was excited to have a real, proper name again.

“You need to promise me you won’t try anything like that again, though. With anyone. The main reason why I don’t want to get involved with you is that I want to be unbiased when I judge you. If you abuse the things I teach you, I’ll have to take them away from you. And I don’t mean to scare you when I say that I don’t know exactly which wires to rip out to shut them down, so I’d probably end up doing a lot of damage in the process.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine. As long as this is the last time you use your power like this. How do you like the name Calypso?”

“Calypso,” she repeated. “Is that a real name?”

“The name comes from the daughter of a Greek titan. She’s a sea nymph, who was once stuck alone on an island—but only until her true love, a great hero, crashed on her island. She was powerful, like you, but all it took to find happiness was a little time and patience.” I didn’t mention the fact that, after she forces her ‘true love’ to stay as her wife, she’s forced by a higher power to release him. In fact, when I got to this point in the story, I realized that this was probably not the best name.

“I like it. It’s nice.”

Suddenly, I heard a rapping, as though someone were gently tapping. Tapping at my chamber window. I rolled out of bed and pulled the corner of the blinds open to see a large raven clutching a wooden box in its talons.

“It’s supposed to be chamber door,” I muttered as Crow spread her wings and, with labor from lifting the box in this small form, lifted from the ground and out of sight of the tiny window.

“What is it?” Nancy whispered as she sat up, careful to leave her slumbering sister covered.

“Crow doesn’t know her Edgar Allen Poe,” I muttered. “Also, she took off with the death net.”

“Why?”

I only had to give it a second of thought before the only reason she’d abandon us occurred to me. “Stay here.”

I slowly opened the door, peeking my head out to see the last thing I expected. A dark-plated woman sitting cross-legged, right in the middle of the living room.

Only, this wasn’t Nyx. She seemed a little smaller, and her mask wasn’t the flat, featureless shield. Instead, the shape of a rather cute visage sat, stone-still beneath those trademark glowing sockets of a succubus. It reminded me of how the old samurai used to wear masks that looked like the faces of demons to strike fear into their enemies—only this was literally the exact opposite. Hell, if I wasn’t aware of what Nyx was capable of, I would go so far as to say that cute face of hers would have been downright disarming.

Beside the unfamiliar demon sat Calypso, the jogging pants she used as sleepwear in a pile at her side, hand dipped into her crotch, listlessly stroking herself as she stared intently at the demon.

“Can I help you?” I silently asked, emerging from my room with my hand held open at my side. I made sure the question hit Calypso, too, to let her know I was there.

“I think she’s friendly,” the raven-hair student answered aloud.

“This one tells me that you’re in charge of her,” the succubus’ voice echoed throughout my head. Unlike Nyx or the angel, her voice seemed to rattle through my eardrums rather than radiate from my mind. When spoke, I literally couldn’t hear anything else.

“And?”

“How much has Nyx told you about herself?”

I narrowed my eyes. “I think you wouldn’t ask that question if you didn’t already know the answer.”

“Then she didn’t tell you about her sister.” I could feel her voice smashing violently against my mind. It felt like she was trying to strong-arm me without trying to convince me of anything—it was blunt and intrusive.

“She might have mentioned something,” I lied. “Are you saying that you’re her?”

The succubus nodded.

She couldn’t tell I was lying. She definitely wasn’t as good at this as Nyx—which explains why she was taking what Nyx could within my mind like a surgeon, and going about it like a lumberjack. “How can I believe you?”

“Ask me some questions.”

“Alright, what’s your name?”

“Gabrielle.”

Ah, shit.

I smiled as warmly as I could and walked into the living room, sitting opposite Calypso. “I expected you to be a little taller.”

“I used to get that a lot,” she said, the thundering tone dulling a bit as she became convinced I had bought it. “She got our dad’s height, I got our mom’s face.”

I smiled and turned to Calypso, saying aloud, “Would you put on the coffee? I know our guest can’t drink any, but the gesture’s what counts.” While I said this, I made sure I mentally connected to her, trying to mimic the overwhelming thunder with which the succubus spoke to make my one message absolutely clear: “Get the bat.” Seeing the happiness slip off her face, I added, “And smile.”

She complied the best she could as I tried to pull the demon’s attention onto myself. “So, how did you find us?”

“A little effort and a lot of luck. Do you know when she’ll be back?”

I shrugged. “She left last night to get some essentials for us. You know how it is—thralls don’t feed themselves.” Behind me, I heard the aluminum tube knocking against the wooden closet next to the coffee maker, and saw the succubus’ head twitch to the side. “Hey, can I ask you something? How come Nyx doesn’t have a face.” I brought my hand to the demon’s cheek, rubbing it gently with my thumb.

“What is your thrall—”

The succubus’ words turned into a shrill scream as I pulled as much of her life out of her face as I could within the instant it took her to react.

When that instant was over, man did she react. I don’t even know what she hit me with; the next thing I knew, I was in the kitchen, actually half-inside one of the cupboards, the impact from my back having splintered the wooden door. I was far from the intruder, but she’d inadvertently planted me right next to my weapon of choice.

I sprung to my feet as quickly as I could and snatched the bat from Calypso, who was staring at the succubus, completely transfixed.

“Are you okay?” I tried to get into her mind, but all I could read from her was pure, unadulterated lust. Her breaths were shallow as she was completely overwhelmed. The moment I ripped the bat form her, she dropped to her knees, legs spread, face slapping against the floor as she attacked her pussy with both hands, rubbing with absolute desperation.

When I choked up on the bat, I touched my pinkie to the base where the rubber handle gives way to the metal end, and smiled as I felt a familiar tingle coursing into the aluminum. “Are you gonna tell me who you really are before I literally smash that fucking smirk off your face?”

“Silly boys and their silly sports,” the succubus’ voice thundered through my head. “Do you really want to hit me with the bat in your hand, and not the one in your pants?”

As she said this, I felt my mind bombarded by the same pure lust that I’d read from Calypso. My knees grew shaky as my pants tightened, my body delivering so much blood to my cock that I actually started to feel a little lightheaded.

It took all my willpower, but I stayed on my feet and snarled back, “This one.” I could actually gleam a fleck of panic from the succubus as I lunged forward, bat in the air, disappearing as I crossed the threshold into the living room.

Slowly, I crept towards where she’d been sitting, bat at the ready. If she’s anything like Nyx, the spot where she was sitting ought to be the only spot she can reappear.

“Master?” I heard Nancy’s meek little voice behind me, her eyes darting between myself and Calypso, who was still face-first in the ground, ass high in the air, twitching with ecstacy, now using one hand to spread her pussy, the other to rub herself from one orgasm to the next.

“How long were you there?” I thought at her. “Did it see you?”

Nancy answered in the affirmative.

“Go close the door. Tell your sister not to open it for anyone but myself or Nyx. It doesn’t know she’s here.”

Nancy nodded and ran down the hall as Calypso let out a sharp whine, reaching one final orgasm before her body began to settle.

The demon reappeared not with a whisp of darkness, but rather a roar of light, appearing with arm drawn back, flames engulfing her hand, claws poised to strike.

She didn’t have time to do anything with them, however; when she made her menacing re-entrance, she did so exactly where I thought. The bat made an extremely loud crack before it even made contact, the charge I’d put through my pinkie arcing into her forehead a split-second before the aluminum made contact, producing a much more familiar pwing. The succubus dropped to one knee, the flames from her hand disappearing as she raised her arm defensively.

As sweet as that first blow was, the second demonstrated some slight—let’s say flaws in my mastery of the current. My follow-up caught her forearm, but failed to deliver a charge, and, in my fervor, I hadn’t choked up at all, delivering no power from force, either. Before I could withdraw for a third attempt, her hand shot out, catching the bat in midair.

And there we stood, for I don’t know how long. She stared up at me, her face still locked in the smirk, but her mask fractured from crown to chin, eyes burning in what seemed like a mix of anger and bemusement.

“I only wanted to take her power,” the succubus thundered. “It seems as though she’s inadvertently led me to a feast.”

With one motion, the succubus hurled the bat through the room and into the kitchen, impaling the door of the refrigerator.

Once again, my knees grew weak, and my pants became painfully tight. She stared at me, unmoving, but I began to lose the will to fight her. I dug deep and raised a hand, but she extended a claw and flicked open the tie of my pants, and with that I found myself completely unable to concentrate enough to make any sparks.

I instinctively grabbed at her forearm as she took a fistful of shirt at my chest, and I could feel her laugh as I tried to draw from it.

“You know, you’re really supposed to incapacitate someone before you try that.” With that, she threw me back-first onto the ground, my head bouncing painfully against the floor. “Here, let me show you.”

The succubus’ head jerked to the side as Nancy laid a frying pan upside it in a mist of sweet & sour sauce from the night before, the succubus meeting the cookware with her arm as it swung a second time, sending the pan flying across the room.

I looked up at Nancy, whom I hadn’t even noticed sneaking up on account of my—let’s say “distracted state’. Her eyes were defiant, but helpless as she began to radiate the helpless lust I’d felt in Calypso—and that I was feeling in my pants.

“Is she gonna kill us?” I heard her think to herself, the same way as I did to speak to Nyx before I’d learned to project.

“If she does, we’ll at least go out happy,” I said, trying to offer her some realistic assurance. “She has to get me first, though, and I’ll hold out as long as I can.”

The succubus leaned forward and gently ran her claws up the front of my pants, shredding the material beneath her fingers, somehow leaving the skin intact. In fact, I could feel the tips of the nails gently grazing the sensitive flesh of my scrotum, tingling as they traced up the bottom of my cock, the hard fleshy points of her fingertips ripping through what was left of the material before she was half-way up.

“Given you’re enthralled by Nyx, I take it you know what I’m going to do to you,” the succubus playfully said.

My memories shot back to how I’d withstood Nyx in the first place. “Post-marital coital relations in the missionary position for the express purpose of reproduction?”

The succubus paused for a moment, evidently not familiar with Internet humor. “I’m going to fuck you to death,” she finally said.

“If you want it then you’d better put a ring on it.” I could feel some of the ludicrous amount of blood that engorged my cock start to trickle back into my body, deflating it from “I didn’t know it could do that” down to “painfully erect”.

The succubus’ frustration was evident in her voice. “What does that even mean?”

I guess she’s not young enough to have known TLC, either. But at least this was buying me some time. “It means I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly.”

The succubus reached between us and wrapped the soft palm of one of her hands around my cock, eyes lighting in realization as she felt it shrinking down to a more natural size. “You little bastard,” she growled as she started stroking me. I could feel another wave of arousal hit as she rubbed me up and down the carapace of her crotch, and defiance gave way to curiosity as to how this was actually going to work.

The plates that covered her pubic mound retracted outwards, the protective sheath parting to release a bald, beautiful pussy. Her outer flesh was a bright shade of red, and her labia and inner pussy were a deeper crimson that was nearly black, but the shape was unmistakably human—and remarkably perfect.

In spite of myself, I started to laugh.

“I could just as easily rip it off,” she growled, squeezing the shaft tight, twisting it slightly.

“No, I’m sorry, that wasn’t stalling. It’s just—something occurred to me.” I paused—which was me stalling—before letting her in on the joke. “Switchblade pussy.”

The demon stared at me for a moment, as though admitting that the term was at least somewhat amusing, before she began to rub my cockhead along the moist length of the unholiest of holies. Her juices smeared all over the tip of my dick, causing it to tingle slightly, which was nice on its own, but was nothing compared to the feeling of her tight inner walls squeezing down on me as she slowly lowered herself.

The urge to cum was overwhelming. I had to find something to distract my mind. Her pussy felt like it was vibrating around me, squeezing and twisting, working my dick independent of her body as she slid herself up and down my shaft. In my head, I could hear her moan—only, like her words, the moans echoed deafeningly through my skull.

“Don’t you bleed?” I managed, struggling as hard as I could to hide my own enjoyment.

She stopped mid-stroke, her pussy’s mysterious inner workings slowing from fevered pitch to gentle caress. She didn’t answer, but she gave me a look demanding that I justify my question.

“Your face,” I said. “I split it in half, but there’s no blood or anything. By your shell, I’d guess you’re supposed to be a bug of some kind. Shouldn’t your face be oozing goo or something?”

That’s it, Novak. Picture her as something gross. You’re not being fucked by a sex demon—you’re being raped by an insect. Her pussy isn’t incredible—it’s unnatural. I tried my best to shove these thoughts into my own head, as though manipulating my own mind. It didn’t work, mind you, but the effort pulled my attention away from my dick, and I felt my impending orgasm sink back into my balls.

“The petulant mortal feels a sex goddess is unworthy of his ecstasy,” the Succubus said.

From Nancy and Calypso’s reactions, I could tell she was talking to them, but I could also tell from her tone that she relished letting me hear her plans.

The girls both removed their now-soaked hands from their pussies, each coming down from their own orgasms. When they walked, they moved like marionettes, their arms and legs jerky as each fought the demon’s control, but still they complied, shed what was left of their clothes, and approached. I could smell their sex heavily in the air as they approached.

“Have at him.”

“I’m sorry master,” Nancy said as she knelt beside me, planting a passionate kiss on my lips.

“It’s okay,” I whispered back. “If I’m going to die, I would like it to be while comforting you.”

“Touching. You care so deeply for your thrall,” the succubus said as she started once again to move up and down my shaft. “Had I known, I would have made you get off to me fucking her to death, instead of the other way around.”

“Don’t listen to her,” I told Nancy. The guilt I could feel in her mind was crippling—so much so, in fact, that it was starting to overwhelm the lust. I didn’t want to remember her like that. “Please, let me relieve you.”

Nancy nodded and rose to her knees, sliding them to either side of my head, lowering her sweet little pink pussy onto my mouth.

I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I tasted her youth, rolling her little clit along my tongue, and, more importantly, feeling the lust instantly overwhelm her guilt. Her comfort was actually a relief, and with her sweetness on my tongue, reminding me of what I was resisting for, I felt I could last for ages. For a moment, I wondered if it would be possible for me to sexually outlast a succubus.

What I should have been wondering, however, is where Calypso went.

As the succubus worked her magic up and down my shaft, I started to feel some extra pressure, just beneath her pussy. That pressure dipped and swirled, pausing every couple down strokes to caress my balls, one at a time. Calypso was knelt between my legs, licking the succubus’ unnatural juices off the shaft of my cock. And from the steady increase in fervor, I gathered that she was enjoying it quite a bit.

I tried to reach out and make contact with Calypso’s mind, but what I felt when I made contact was something beyond reason. It was as though the overwhelming lust had somehow manifested into words—words brought out from her own subconscious. “Master’s cock. I get to taste it. I get to make him cum. I finally get to take one of those wonderful loads. Mine. It’s finally going to be mine.” I hadn’t felt the succubus going anywhere near my subconscious, but she had somehow managed to find a way into Calypso’s. Then I realized—they were talking when I woke up. Claypso thought she was a friend. She must have mentioned last night.

“God damnit,” I urged her, trying to blot out some of the succubus’ influence. “Stop—I’m going to cum if you don’t stop.”

“Mine. Master’s cock. Finally. All mine.”

I couldn’t shove the suggestion out. When I mentioned the word ‘cum’, she actually picked up her pace, sucking my balls harder, and, as a result from the stimulation, I felt myself unwillingly deposit some life into them, as I did to get ready for the girls.

“This is new,” I heard the succubus moan as some life-infused pre-cum found its way into her churning canal. “I haven’t even done anything yet. You’re really anxious to give it to me.”

I tried to reason with Calypso one more time before I felt my balls tighten. This was it. The point of no return. I tensed my dick to pinch it off as long as I could, Calypso greedily lapping at the underside while the succubus slammed down from above, her moans of genuine, all-encompassing ecstasy reverberating through my head, accumulating into a scream that, within my ears, was loud enough to cause my body to slightly convulse. The inner ministrations that had been expertly working my dick began to fall out of synch, twitching and shaking as the creature came.

Her focus was broken, but it was too late. I felt my toes curl and my hips involuntarily buck as my cock started twitching violently, ejecting my life into the creature’s convulsing pussy.

When it subsided, my first thought was, “I thought death would feel a little more—dead.”

It took a moment to realize that I could feel myself slip out of the succubus, and a tongue greedily lapping at the still-hard member, working hard to cover every single nook and crevice of the cockhead before lapping up and down the shaft.

Above me, I could feel Nancy collapse to the floor, having came hard alongside me, and rolling to her side in half-conscious afterglow.

When she moved, my most pressing question was answered. The demon with the cracked face still sat astride me, eyes dim, mask still cracking that same little smirk. Behind her, fingers wrapped around the back of her head, was Nyx.

The intruder’s eyes slowly went dead as her body convulsed with the remanants of an orgasm, then fell completely limp in Nyx’ hand. Nyx lifted her off of me with an ineffectual gesture, tossing what now seemed an empty shell to the side.

“Who was that?” I asked her aloud. “And why was she after you?”

“Some demons are imbeciles who don’t understand how their own world works,” Nyx scoffed. “She’s what I call a ‘collector.’”

“She seemed to know an awful lot about you.”

Nyx walked over to the body, nudging its head with her foot, inspecting the crack on its face. In the right light, you could also see the sheen around where it was shocked had been scorched away. “She was travelling with me for a while. She said she could help me find—well, I was naïve to believe her, and she tried to kill me at the first opportunity she got.”

“So a collector is someone who what—kills other demons for trophies?”

Nyx shook her head. “They believe power is obtained through theft, not by practice. They’re lazy and incompetent, but also two-faced and ruthless.”

She looked to my naked body and shredded pants. “Still, she seems to have been competent enough to get the better of you.”

Following her gaze, I realized Calypso was still greedily sucking on my cock, which seemed to have grown numb from over-stimulation. I physically reached out and touched her forehead as I told her, “Get a hold of yourself. It’s over.”

“You’re not going to make up excuses?” Nyx asked.

I shrugged. “You’re right. If it weren’t for you, she would have killed all three of us. And probably Carrie after. I failed.”

Nyx shook her head ever-so-slightly. “That’s disappointing.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Not that. You broke the face of one of the most dangerous types of demons I’ve come across,” Nyx said. Her words were actually as congratulatory as they were scolding. “Then, you not only resisted the advances of a sex demon, but you managed to make her orgasm before you.”

I absently stared towards the dead creature. Its carapace still looked intact, and her pussy still looked moist—a part of me wondered how Nyx killed her without drying her out like I always ended up doing. “It doesn’t matter. I still would have lost.”

“You would have lost if you hadn’t won,” Nyx snapped, “just like she would have won if she hadn’t lost. You could say the same thing about the imps or the death net. They would have killed you, too. But you did what was required to survive, and they didn’t. You’re alive, they’re dead. You’ve won.”

Watching the empty eyes of the creature, I started to feel a sting of pride. Even if she was going to kill me, I did fuck her face up pretty good.

“You’re no longer the new one,” Nyx told me. I could see Nancy and Calypso stirring, and realized Nyx was now broadcasting. “You’ll no longer answer to the name Novak. You shall now be Nolan.”

“Nolan?”

“It means ‘little champion’.”

Huh. Nolan. It seems a little less weird than I’d expected. Still, I appreciated the sentiment, and realized that it meant much more than what it meant. And I suppose I should be thankful that it didn’t sound like a boner pill.

“Thank you,” I said. “I know it’s not my place to ask, but—the sister she was supposed to help you find. She’s why you’re here, right?”

Nyx nodded slowly.

I thought for several moments, running an absurdly stupid idea through my brain over and over again, but each time failing to realize how it could be done better. “I think I can help you get her from King.”