The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Author’s note:

This story follows the arc that began in ‘In My Mind, a Serpent’.

The Ancients series explores a world much like ours, but for the few passionate and dangerous immortals who love and hate in the shadows of man’s civilization. The remnants of a primordial race, these Ancients have abilities of which mankind spins myths. People are acknowledged, illuminated, abused, and discarded in the tangle of monstrous intrigues amongst these Old Evils.

My tales will often contain mc, fd, ff, and edi (Extremely Disturbing Imagination). All stories copyrighted.

I do keep in mind those folks who may arrive to this fresh, but you will find a minimum of exposition about what has gone before. The library of my stories and Ancients series characters are referenced at: http://www.asstr.org/~EyeofSerpent/library.html

Years Beyond the Passion

Eye of Serpent

“In nature, there is less death and destruction than death and transmutation.”

- Edwin Way Teale

“I had been crossing and recrossing the line between sanity and madness so many times that I had all but rubbed it out.”

- Roger Zelazny
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Kalymnos, Greece, 2015 A.D.

Euri did a double take.

“Mama, please stop fingering your flower and get dressed. I just talked to Kantouni tower and they’ve landed. They’ll be here in less than thirty minutes.” The young girl flipped her coppery cornrowed hair back as she pulled on a white scarf.

Her mother daydreamed in the sunshine. Leaning against the patio half-wall, her view of the beach and the coiling blue-and-white ribbon of the surf mesmerized her. She slipped her fingers from her yoni and licked them slowly. “English, please. You need practice.”

The thirteen-year-old scrunched her nose, thinking. “Mother, please don’t wax your bearded clam when you should be throwing on some threads.” She grinned.

Fiona Nyx twisted around and glared at her. “Normal English, please, forget the net trash-talk. It won’t impress our visitors, either. I’m not dressed because I’m already more kindled than I need to be. Clothes draping and caressing my body will just worsen the problem. Besides, no one will mind if I don’t wear a thing.”

“Then please put on a bathing suit. This is the first time I’m meeting Miyu and I don’t want you to embarrass him. Americans are shy about nudity. Give me a chance to get him used to us.” She widened doe-eyes at her mother.

“Very well.” Fiona walked into the house. “You might want to take your satdee out of your ear.”

“Oh, blood!” The girl tried to snatch the voice-wand from her ear; had to remove the silk scarf to properly unloop it. She danced over to the mirror beside the front door to restore the scarf carefully.

“In English.” Fiona strolled into the shadows of the bedroom.

“Mmm.” She thought a moment. “Oh, piss, damn! Right?” She fussed with her eyelashes. Licking a finger, she curled a stray lash.

“No!” Came the echo from deeper in the house. “Remind me to talk to Ms. Barclay about your English.”

* * *

Their visitors’ cab came from Kantouni airfield over the high cliff road because of the views of nearby Telendos island. The sun shivered on the blue sea and the eastern mountainside of Telendos framed the descending sunset beyond. The shadows lay too deep to see the famous lady of the cliffs etched there.

The car pulled up to the villa.

Fiona lazed in the doorway in a scarlet thong and string top, while Euri dashed out for her first hug with everyone. She was constrained energy sculpted of chocolate limbs and white sundress.

Fiona rubbed at the goose bumps on her arms. She could not stop smiling and her sex ached to be touched.

“Aunt Corelle! My gosh, in person you don’t look anything like Mother. More vivacious.” Euri jumped into and hugged her. The auburn-haired victim grabbed at her to stay balanced. They both laughed.

“And Aunt Doris.” Euri switched targets, springing into another display of bonding. The squeeze lasted longer this time. “I knew you were prettier than that picture Miyu sent.” Euri grinned.

Doris Connor gave her another hug. “Yes, the one with my mouth open. I hate that snapshot. Jeez, you’re so big.”

Corelle D’Amber scanned the horizon and laughed. White threads of clouds hung in the azure air. “This is so beautiful.” She shaded her sunglasses and found Fiona shadowed in the doorway. She started for her.

The cabby finished stacking luggage and wiped his forehead with his arm. With a wave, he climbed in and drove off.

Doris took her son’s arm—pulled him alongside her. “Euri. This is your ‘cousin’, Miyu.”

The tall young man in white shorts smiled. “Hi.”

Euri grinned at him. She liked his slender physique and very open eyes. Photos didn’t do him justice either. Miyu in person was more vivid and exciting than the flat images she’d hoarded over time. Taller than she’d believed, too. “Hi. I’ve got three scooters—one’s just for parts—but we could see some things before the sun is completely gone—if you want. Mama says it’s OK.”

The boy’s almond-shaped eyes switched to Doris. “Mom?”

She nodded. “Sure. But make—.”

The two teens bolted for the garage-side of the house, the boy only a half-step behind. Euri leapt a white fence to cut a corner, putting her ahead of the taller youngster. They ran out of sight whooping.

Doris laughed. “—sure you get back before ten.”

Corelle dropped her purse and shoulder bag on the gravel path. Her hands out, her eyes already tearing up, she slipped into the shadow of the house. Fiona stepped out and the two squeezed together. Arms flowed around curves and shoulders. Corelle started sobbing softly. “Ohimgoingtocry—.”

Fiona chuckled. “I had no idea you felt THAT way, Ms. D’Amber. I won’t stand to be slobbered over.”

They held each other. Corelle’s arms pulsed with warmth, strength, and contentment. “I wasn’t planning on it, but seeing you is—.”

“—Good for both of us. I’ve been walking around in a daze, waiting.”

Doris walked up grinning. “The False Serpent and I have been totally useless for a week, thinking about the trip. I’ve gotten an email from Euri every day, sometimes three.” She added her arms to the hug that hadn’t yet broken off. “Two of my favorite girls.”

Fiona kissed her. “Doris.” She put a hand behind her neck and nuzzled her cheek. The three stood out of the blazing sun, motionless. They inhaled each other’s scent.

Fiona slowly let them go.

Corelle wiped at her eyes with her arm. “Fourteen years. Balls. Way too long.”

Almost at the same time Doris crowed. “Euri is so beautiful. What a great kid!”

Corelle added. “You’re so tanned and happy. I love your hair.”

Fiona smiled and touched each of them on the shoulder with a trembling hand. “Welcome. Come inside.”

* * *

The kids crashed before midnight. The three women finally stopped talking about small tidings and began talking about their desires.

Fiona amazed herself by breaking the silence first. “I need you both.”

“Doris and I are willing to move—.”

“No. Right now. I want you both to take me now.”

They went to bed. The unsaid rules kept the noise low. Slow and tender heat boiled away Fiona’s nervousness. She showed them how much she missed them. Nothing was too sacred, or too profane. They celebrated each other’s bodies and tender insight for hours. Sometimes their vows mimicked those of women in exaltation, at strange moments they became like young girls sharing secrets. Each was fortunate to discover that the others had grown larger and more meaningful. As their verve ran down, their ingenuity increased until their pleasure outran the gap of years they had lived apart.

The three slept in each other’s arms.

The Great River rolled and kissed the house gently until dawn.

* * *

Next morning, the three topless women lounged on recliners on the sunny patio. The cool drinks beside their chairs moistened the sun-baked tiles beneath them with dark cloud patterns.

Fiona watched the surf below their vantage. “Anaïs Nin said, ‘Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage’. Yet I feel that my life is so much larger than my courage now that I have Euri. I get shivers when clouds cover the sun. I keep expecting something massive to fall from the sky and crush her. She means so much to me.”

Doris pursed her lips. “That’s motherhood. And maybe the fact that you never expected the thrill of a daughter.”

“I suppose. I’m still—delightedly—not used to it.”

“Trust Doris, she knows.” Corelle sniffed. “She gets the same heebie-jeebies. When Miyu is out with his ‘buds’ and a cop car goes tearing by all lit up, she’s watching to see if her son is in the back seat.” Corelle twirled her shoulder-length hair around a finger. She smiled at Doris, who rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I do that.” Doris shifted in her chair. “OK, new subject. Kids are gone until dinner, so I’m going to bring it up. Euri has asked who her father is, right?”

Fiona nodded and glanced at Doris. “Yes. She’s very irritated that I won’t tell her.”

“Merely irritated?” Corelle asked.

“Do you have any idea what an ‘irritated’ Ancient is like?” Fiona’s mouth quirked in an almost-grin.

“Yes,” voiced Doris and Corelle at once. They all laughed.

“And that’s it?” Doris stretched out her gold-painted toes to caress Fiona’s leg.

Fiona shrugged. “Of course not. Euri has probably already compared notes with Miyu—over the satdee, or the net. I won’t tell her, so she feels that she has a right to find out for herself however she can. In a sense, she’s right.”

“But—.” Doris started.

“I don’t want her to know until she’s much older. Nevertheless, if she can find out, I have to be content that she’s old enough to know.”

“Does she have a right to know, even when she’s older? I don’t like the implications.” Corelle asked.

Fiona paused. She reached a hand and stroked Corelle’s arm. “She has a right. Yes. But I haven’t told her that, in my plans, ‘much older’ is about a hundred, not twenty.”

Doris offered. “Those two have compared notes. I broke the encryption on Miyu’s satdee. That’s why I brought it up.”

Corelle groaned and put her palm gently over her eyes.

Fiona chuckled. “Tough on Miyu to have a mom that’s a security whiz.”

“Hey, I’m not proud of it. I didn’t tell Miyu particulars about his father because I didn’t want to say anything about the Beast. It’s hard to talk about the one without the other. But I feel I’m under considerable disadvantage with my son. Mothering a wily thirteen-year-old Ancient that all the other kids think is ‘more delish’ than Goddess and the Skale Klimbers put together makes me crazy.”

Fiona winced at the reference to the young media sensations. “Euri is already treated like a ‘princess’ on this island. Few don’t know her or want to know her better. It was different when I was a girl.”

Doris and Corelle broke up in spontaneous laughter.

The Ancient Serpent pouted. “Well, it was.”

They stifled their amusement.

Doris cleared her throat. “I have a suggestion. I’ve been thinking. If I let something slip to Miyu—.”

Fiona and Corelle stared at her.

“—that is true, but which they could misinterpret. That way, they’d have an ‘answer’. They’d think they had a step up on us. The issue is dealt with indirectly. Later, you could explain the actual details. Euri couldn’t accuse you of lying.”

They all traded glances. Fiona stood up and leaned on the half-wall. She studied the surf.

Corelle admired her ass in the scarlet thong. She loved the cornrow styling of Fiona’s auburn hair and the garnet beads patterned there. It reminded her of how clever her old boss was at finding ways to offset her plain features.

Doris was content to let everyone consider her suggestion.

“What do you think, Ms. D’Amber?” Fiona said without turning.

She shrugged. “I’m not a mother. I know nada about kids.”

“Dung. What do you think?”

Doris watched them.

Corelle sighed and laced her fingers together. “The Beast isn’t actually dead. It can’t be killed. It was a ‘wound’ in the River, an aberration. You sealed the wound. But it could return.”

“If someone conspired to that level of atrocity again. Correct.”

Doris watched Corelle.

“If I stood in your shoes, I don’t think I’d tell her. If I were in hers—I’d be fucking pissed to find out when I’m a hundred years old.” Corelle gestured. “Somewhere between those two positions is a solution. I don’t have the right answer, Fi.”

“But you wouldn’t tell her.”

“At thirteen?” Corelle shook her head. “No. Where would you begin? ‘I’m sorry, Euri. Your father was a monster that I destroyed in order to save the world. Afterwards, I discovered I was pregnant.’ So what do we call that, ‘unsafe dance’? I can’t begin to guess how to clarify that to her.”

Doris added. “But if she thinks the Crane was her father, because I confide in Miyu that after a ‘dangerous trial’ of the Great River, his father was killed—then the three of us pregnant—.”

Fiona sighed. “Yes. That’s clever. It could work. I hadn’t thought of it from that aspect. Partial truth is such a risky hypocrisy. But Euri would wonder why I had made such an issue of not discussing it.”

Corelle smiled grimly. Her cheek twitched. “My miscarriage.”

“We don’t have to get that truthful.” Expression surprised, Doris studied Corelle. Fiona turned around, sadness in her mortal eye.

Corelle nodded. “Doris could ask Miyu to keep it quiet because it bothers me to talk about my miscarriage. Same incident, after all—and the nasty complications were gruesome enough. I think it would cover the issue of your discretion with Euri.”

Fiona walked back to Corelle; took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Another true thing offered to shield my girl from a darker truth. I will think about it. I’m blessed by you two. Thank you. You’re a better ‘me’ than I was. I think I told you that you would be.”

They embraced. Corelle shivered. Doris stood and, with fingers, traced ancient patterns along Corelle’s spine. The River eddied around them.

Corelle murmured. “I remember you saying so. I was hard to convince.”

They kissed.

Doris smiled at the two of them. “Would anyone like me to wait on them hand-and-foot? Maybe bark like a dog? I also do a mean foot-worship mambo.”

“She’s also very distracting.” Fiona smiled at Corelle; kissed her again.

“Oh, yes. The older she gets, the worse she gets.”

“Better, you mean,” huffed Doris. “I plan to get even more distracting.”

Fiona pulled Corelle along, and took Doris’ hand, helping her up from the chair. “Let’s go down in the orchard and play strip poker. Winner takes all.”

Corelle laughed. “We don’t have cards.”

“Oh?” Fiona tightened her grip on both of them. “I’ll make you see them.”

* * *

“It’s not fair.” Euri pulled the rest of her clothes off and tossed them on a rock.

Miyu stretched his naked body in the sun, arms above his head, but his casual stance was a cover for his quick glances at Euri’s warm chocolate curves. She was much more mature than last year’s birthday pic.

And he loved it.

He didn’t try to hide his erection. Nude beaches weren’t so rare here. “Have you asked Tapestry? She teaches me about the folklore of the Blood. She likes to help, but any time our talk gets close to the topic of my father, she puts me to answering a different old riddle.”

Euri pulled the scarf from her hair and tucked it under her shoes. “Yeah. I’ve talked to her at length on the satdee. She started my Ancient clan lessons, but Nicki’s been tutoring me this year. I’ve asked both of them. Tapestry said, ‘ask your mother, it is not my story to tell’, and Nicki says she doesn’t know.”

She looked up and caught him ogling her ass. She stood and put her hands on her hips. “I’ll let you feel it, if I can touch your cock. I’m really curious.”

He coughed and switched his gaze to the horizon. “Ah. I’d rather barter for something else.”

She grinned. “OK, what?” She held up a finger. “No sex.”

“No.” He looked back at her and his expression told her that particular idea hadn’t crossed his mind. “I’d like to see your real eye. Could you remove your optic appliance? I’d let you do pretty much anything in trade.”

Her expression grew curious. “Really?” She added a string of dead words.

He bit his lip, quickly covering his envy. “That’s the old tongue, but I’m no good at it. You said something like ‘my hard-on is too big’?”

She covered her mouth with both hands to block a husky giggle. Her eyes twinkled with merriment as she failed to stifle the musical sound.

His face flamed. He started to walk towards the surf.

“Hey, Miyu!” She danced up quickly at his side. “I didn’t say anything about your cock. I said, ‘you’ve got more guts than sense’, or literally, ‘your brave heart is bigger than your head’. Don’t be angry, it’s a compliment. People who know about my eye are supposed to be scared.”

“I’m not scared. You and I are friends.”

“Yes, we are.” She put a hand on his shoulder and they stopped short of the waves. “Different mothers, different fathers, different ancestors, and different Blood perhaps, but always friends. When I said, ‘no sex’, it was about me, not you. I’m not quite ready.”

“We might have the same father,” he offered very casually.

She leaned closer. Her hand tightened. “What?”

He swallowed, looking into her eyes, breathing her salty perfume. “Our mothers both got pregnant at exactly the same time. I’ve done some research. Y’know, asked people little questions here and there without giving anyone the idea of what I’m interested in.”

She nodded.

He reveled in her scrutiny. “And we know they were good friends. I think it was probably an orgy. They might not even know who our fathers really are. It would take six or seven guys to keep up with them.”

She chewed her lip in disappointment. “Oh.”

He wanted to see that light back in her eyes. “Of course, you’re so dark. There were few Ancients that dark alive at the time. But I know them all.”

“No, that’s not the key.” She shook her head. “I’ll tell you a secret. Mother and I really look very alike. She says I look just like her older sister. The skin color isn’t so odd as you’d think. Mother can change her coloration—shed her skin to a different color. This is her natural color. She changed it long ago when she left the Maghrib. She’s thinking about changing back someday, but I like the fact that we’re different. Makes me more mysterious.”

“No kidding! That’s wild.” He rubbed his neck.

“Right. Blood secret between us, OK? Not that it is a big-deal ability. It takes a few months to change anyhow.”

“Sure. That’s so cool. You’ll be able to do that.”

She grinned. “Yeah. But don’t you like this color?” She curved a hand under her breast.

He nodded, not trusting any words. At his suggestion, they decided to cool off in the ocean.

* * *

“So can I see it?” Miyu sat a hand’s width from Euri’s hip on the towel. The sun was higher. The ocean roared on the small white beach.

She twisted towards him. He tried not to look at her nipples. They seemed bigger now.

“It’s too dangerous. You might—.”

He waited. “Might what?”

She hesitated again. “I’ve never done it with anyone around except Mother. It stirs the River and inflames all your emotions, good or bad. If I messed up, you could get hurt. Or you might hurt me.”

He tilted his head. “I know you wouldn’t hurt me. How could you get hurt?”

“If you got so pumped up that you felt you had to have me—right here, right now.”

He couldn’t hide his smile. “You think you’re irresistible?”

“No. But I don’t know what’s deep inside you. Most people don’t. Do you?”

His face settled. He forced a smile, hoping she wouldn’t realize how close that was to the truth and how much it hurt. “I see. OK. Never mind.” His voice sounded brittle.

The ocean and the beach laughed at each other for a while. The birds overhead squealed their discoveries of edible debris washed ashore. The breeze was warm, but Miyu felt chilled now that his whole plan was dead. He didn’t blame Euri, or his mother.

Life sucked.

He decided he would have a good vacation anyhow.

“Tell me.”

He started from his thoughts. “Huh? Tell you what?”

She sat up and twisted to face him. Her face was stern and older looking. “Tell me how I can help. Something’s not right.”

He grinned and laughed to show her how wrong she was.

She folded her arms, daring him to lie.

His smile fell apart. He looked at the horizon. “It’s not my Mom’s fault.”

She relaxed and waited.

He sighed. “Euri, I don’t have a father, and that’s not so bad, lots of kids don’t. But I’m not connected to the past the way you are. Mom studies the old ways with Tapestry and Hekate, learning about the Great River, but your Mom is the Serpent. You’re part of an unbroken river into the past.

“My gosh, every Ancient has heard of the Glance That Kills. Your mother Danced against the Last Dragon.

“Me? I’m no good at the old tongue. I’m not hardy or very in touch with the River. My strengths haven’t come to me. I haven’t manifested the River in any big way. I can’t go to Mom and ask about what comes next in my life because she didn’t grow up with this. I learn my heritage like a human would. I’m reading books when I should feel something.

“A father would tell me these things.”

Euri’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me you aren’t pissed because your mother is part-human.”

“No. No. Please—.” The anguish of her accusation crimsoned his face.

She nodded and relaxed. “OK. Good. I had to get past that. Go ahead, I think I see where this is going.”

He swallowed. “Well, last year I overheard my Mom with Aunt Corelle. It seemed that Aunt Corelle showed increasingly stronger response to the Great River—much stronger the last few years. Anyhow, they whispered about how it was probably your Mom, the Serpent’s eye, that passed something unique along to her that empowered what little immortal blood she already had.”

Euri smiled. “And when I told you that exposure might ‘pump you up’, it confirmed your idea that I could bring your Ancient heritage to the surface.”

He nodded. “Yeah. It made sense.”

She took his hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m sorry. It never occurred to me that you might be having this kind of trouble. Your mom is like a best friend to me—as well as to my mom.”

“I think she’s great. But she doesn’t know what I need to know.”

She held his hand for a moment more, using the River to sense his sorrow. Thoughts fell into place for her in a new way. She’d been pressing her mother for six years about her father. Euri thought her reasons good enough from her point of view. Personal associations between Ancients were often dangerous. Mishandling a first meeting was usually enough to get in bad grace with an Ancient. Why shouldn’t she know who her father was?

Was he a bigger Evil than PerZeus? Or Spider? She thought she could handle knowing that sort of thing. She had a hard time seeing her mother having a kid with a rotten bastard.

But here was Miyu with an emptiness worse than her curiosity, and more important to the man he would become. His situation threw hers into clear light. She’d been immature. Mother had already agreed to tell her someday.

Miyu needed to know now. He needed to grow; was ready for it. She could feel it. It was as if the River whispered in her ear.

She looked at his subtle features. She enjoyed the line of his shoulders. The faint tracks of white sand across his upper arms rested like salt on the rim of a margarita. She wanted to lick the crystals from his skin.

She grinned; understanding that using the River to take his measure had raised her lust. “Miyu?”

He tilted his head to look at her.

“What about asking my Mom? Same effect, more experience, less danger.”

He flushed and studied his toes. “Naw. It was a selfish idea. I’d rather not bring it up.”

“I’d ask her for you. You’re not scared, right?”

“Ah.” He swallowed and squinted at the bright water. “I can ask you because we’re friends. Going to her wouldn’t be right. I’m feeling bad enough now. If she says ‘no’, I’d be sure she was insulted or I was being stupid. And I really don’t know how my Mom would take it. It might hurt her feelings.”

Euri opened her mouth to protest, then stopped. She shifted on the beach towel, thinking.

He pointed his chin at the surf. “Let’s swim.”

“OK.” She laughed and sprang for the waves.

They blunted the rolling foamy waves together. Two naked sprites played under sun and wind, laughing in no small part because they needed to.

* * *

She smelled blood.

It was dark. Euri moved towards the light, walking into a long room with a hundred candles burning to chase at the shadows. There was a greenish bronze throne at the far end. It was beautiful and littered with red pillows, but empty.

Everything felt old. The gorgeous Asian carvings on the walls twisted in the partial light.

Welcome.

Her eyes snapped to a particular shadow the whisper came from. A lovely old ornamental lattice in bronze stood there. Intricate and complex, it must have weighed a thousand kilos.

Daughter. Come into the dark. Your friend needs your assistance. There is a way you can help Miyu. I will show you.

“Come out where I can see you.” She regretted the words as soon as they passed her lips. Then she wondered why she was afraid to see what was there. She knew somehow it really was her father, but something was wrong in this room.

Really wrong. What was it?

Trust—you are not ready for more power if you do not trust. Come forward. Or come back when you are braver.

Her face flamed with shame—but she willed her foot not to take the next step closer. For a frantic moment, she contested with bolder parts of herself. She took a big breath. “You know what? I’m going home now. I’m going to remember this—and don’t expect me to come back, either. Trust works both ways. My Mother didn’t raise a stupid girl.”

She turned her back and walked away.

Then she woke up in her room and knew what she should do.

* * *

Miyu roused from deep sleep. A warm hand rested on his bare chest, right over his nipple.

He peered up into the dark.

“You were right.” Euri’s voice was husky. “You need to know a little more. It’s a dangerous question, Miyu. You have to be very brave.”

He blinked; sat up reaching with a hand. His fingertips pushed into the cushion of her breast. Shivers of sparks danced through his groin. “What did you say? What are you talking about?”

She slid a warm smooth thigh over his abdomen and cock. Her hand pressed him flat on the bed again. His heart raced, then she was sitting on his stomach.

She was so warm. His blood hummed. His voice broke. “What are you doing? We can’t do this—.”

“Shhh.” He heard a smile in that gentle sound. “Not sex. I’m going to show you what you wanted to see.”

“Now? Someone will catch us.” Shocked at how scared he was, he cloaked his fright with parental limits.

“Tell me to go away, and we’ll never talk about it again.”

Her voice was so quiet. So steady. He couldn’t believe how fast his heart pounded. His hearing reported the hammering in his chest as loud enough to wake the dead.

“Tell me to go.” Her voice was soft.

His cock was hard. He was embarrassed and scared. Thinking was difficult. He forced a deep breath. “Stay.”

There was no warning. A ruby sun rose up over the horizon of his anticipation.

He swam in light. There was no up, no down. There was no world. He was bewildered. Alone. Trapped.

He swallowed nervously, only to discover his throat was gone. He grabbed at his neck, only to find his hands were gone, too. His entire body was gone.

He stared downward and the bloody clouds of the sky swirled with his fears. He snatched his gaze away and horizons danced in drunken array, overlapping and all wrong. There was no right direction. Only wrong ones. The fear choked his existence. “Euri! Please. Stop. Close your eye. I’m lost. Euri?” He looked for the way he had come. Nothing.

Nothing.

He willed himself to move. Nothing. The crimson whirl around him threatened storm. Shades of blood rolled and shook at distances he found no way to judge. He examined his other senses. Heard distant lightning. Tasted his own fear. Felt that vibrations at some infinitesimal level chewed at his secret being.

Chaos. If there was a way out. He didn’t know it. He’d never find it. He was only human. Not really of the Blood. He didn’t belong here. He was weak. He was nothing. Even Euri was so much more than he that she pitied him—and then he used that sympathy—begged her into trapping him here.

Trapped.

How could he live with that? He was nothing. He was a fool. He was dead. He did everything wrong.

It sounded like the closing storm murmured. The glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time you fall.

?Euri?

Bright flashes crested a swell of shapes. Soft thunder followed. Tiny mouths chewed at his phantom hands and feet. The vibrations of light and sound blended and faded. Rather fail with honor, than succeed by being untrue. Your friend’s courage allows you the chance to fail. Honor that courage and seek to be strong enough to fail seven times, yet rise eight.

?Euri?Is that you?

Softer still, a breathy whisper. Be true to your own way, your word, and your friend.

The storm front caught him up and twirled him like a leaf.

Euri. She trusted him. She showed him her secrets. Told him her needs and fears. Euri. He was important to her. They were born of the same times, maybe even the same father. He could live with being a human if she was still his friend. Mom was his friend. Aunt Corelle. Aunt Fiona. Dara. Louisa. Dr. Adler. Tapestry. Hekate. Nicki.

Nicki.

He laughed, thinking of what Nicki would say about dying in bed with Euri sitting on his chest. Euri. Sitting on his chest. His laugh—.

—broke the world of nothing into sensations of warm girl sitting on his chest.

He shuddered and took a breath. Blinked. His blood sang and the River was all around them. There was no crimson light.

Euri groaned and slipped to his side.

He reached for her. Found her holding her head. “You OK?”

“Give me a minute.” She sounded as if she spoke through pain.

He massaged her shoulders. Large hard knots lodged in her shoulders and neck. He silently swore. He begged her to do this. Thoughts fell into place for him in a new way. He’d pressed others for answers he might need to find for himself. That wasn’t how he wanted to live.

Euri suffered through her spasm and headache. She squeezed his hand and slipped from the bed.

“You OK?”

“Yeah. That was harder than I thought.” She sounded tired. “Did it help?”

He smiled and tried to recall exactly what had happened. Crimson shadows. It seemed to last forever. He panicked. He remembered his hands itching and being more worried about Euri. “Wonderful. It made a big difference. We’ll talk about it in the morning. This is going to be a great vacation. Thanks, Euri. You’re the best friend I ever had.”

* * *

Fiona moved back from the whispers on the other side of the door and slipped down the hall to her room. There was so much information in the world today. So many things that she had never thought about at such a young age. There existed so many ways to discover enough information to place oneself in harm’s way.

To be thirteen today was a challenge she understood too little.

Innocence was a pleasant dream that served only as long as the breadth of life kept its distance.

She slid silently into her room and closed the door. She leaned back on the cool wood. Her daughter had made a decision and then stepped across a line without asking for help, without hurting herself or those she loved.

Fiona smiled. And I can’t live each decision for her. She grows. I dread the things I never want her to have to do or decide. I cross and recross the line between freedom and constraint so many times I don’t know the flavor of my love. I do know I’m very proud of her.

I’ll sleep on that.

END