The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It was late, so Julie suggested that Anjolie share a taxi with her back to the Uni.

They travelled in silence.

Julie had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Anjolie still had her memory stick, still with her, in her handbag, and she was holding it close, as she had all evening.

When Anjolie inevitably discovered Cassie’s survey data, Anjolie would know that the cured women had been cheating.

That was bad.

They could use the same techniques in India, and Julie was sure that the cured women would stand out a mile.

That was bad, very bad.

It was also convincing evidence of Eve’s bad faith. If Eve would cheat to help cured women pass the surveys, then what else was she capable of?

Julie felt like she was caught between a rock and a hard place.

If she did not tell Eve, millions of women in India would be at risk.

The FEMA camps in the USA might look like a holiday program in comparison to what would happen to the women in India. This could be very bad for the women in the USA, too. It was clear from the survey results that the women had been changed by the worms, fundamentally, and Julie simply didn’t know if they would ever be allowed their freedom under these circumstances.

Eve’s reputation would be in ruins, Lennox hospital would likely be closed down, and she herself would definitely be looking for another job.

And unlikely to find one: nobody likes whistle-blowers.

If she did tell Eve, then Eve would go ballistic, yet Julie doubted that the end result would be in any way different.

Fuck!

She didn’t have to make a decision yet. But what should she do?

She waved goodnight to Anjolie when Anjolie got off at 4, and continued up to 5, and to her own apartment.

Her heart lurched when she found the apartment dark, and cold.

In relief, or regret, she couldn’t tell.

Cassie wasn’t in.

Another fuck-up.

She turned on all of the lights, and pulled out the phone.

It was 11:00.

She rang Eve’s number, and the phone rang ten times before Eve’s voice-mail kicked in.

At least Eve’s phone was still on.

She couldn’t get any sleep like this. She had to tell Eve.

She rang Eve once more, and, this time, Eve picked up straight away.

“Julie. What do you want? It’s late.”

“Eve, hi.

“Sorry. Sorry to ring so late.”

Julie paused, steeling herself.

“I’ve fucked it up, Eve. I’ve fucked it up big-time.

“Anjolie’s got Cassie’s survey data. And, Eve, we know they cheated. We know the cured women cheated. Anjolie will be able to work out that the cured women are cheating, too.

“Anjolie’s a heartless bitch. She’ll go straight to her government, I’m sure of it. She doesn’t like the infected women, she doesn’t like them at all.

“Jesus Christ, Eve, I’m sorry, but I just had to tell you. It’s all fucked, I’m sorry.

“And Eve, I don’t know where Cassie is. We’re not talking. I’m worried about her.”

Tears began to well up.

“I’ve fucked it all up, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Eve replied, slowly, and calmly.

She sounded tired, and disappointed.

“Julie, thank you for telling me, I appreciate it.

“You did the right thing in telling me straight away.

“There’s no need for any of us to panic, I’m sure that Anjolie won’t do anything before the morning, but please don’t tell anyone else about this.

“Just leave it with me.

“I’ll have to meet up with Anjolie tomorrow morning, and straighten things out with her. She’s a doctor, she’s a sensible woman. I’m sure we’ll work out a solution that is acceptable to all concerned.”

“It’s not nearly as bad as you seem to think. The whole situation is very complicated, and you can rest assured that I will explain it all to you tomorrow.

“And Julie, don’t worry about Cassie. She’s with Doctor Kelly right now at the hospital, and we know about her survey results. Julie, I won’t lie to you. This is a blow, but it’s not an insoluble problem. There is a reason I chose you two for this work, you know.

“Again, thank you so much for calling me, Julie.

“While this situation is not one I was hoping to deal with yet, I must also thank you for your loyalty, which is perhaps more than I deserve.

“I’ll expect to see you in at work early tomorrow morning. Don’t worry unduly, we’re really only just getting started.

“Go to bed now, there’s nothing more you can do.

Julie did feel a bit mollified, but the sense of raw panic she had carried since her realisation had not yet dissipated.

“Thanks, Eve. Thanks for everything.”

“Good night, Julie.”

Julie put the phone down.

She felt wrung out.

She still didn’t know if she’d get any sleep tonight.

When Anjolie returned to her apartment, she couldn’t wait to have a look at the treasure-trove of material she’d copied from Julie’s memory stick.

She had a quick leaf through the source-code for the scanner firmware, but there wasn’t much she could do with it. She’d pass it on back to her superiors. She was sure that they would be interested.

She soon noticed the spreadsheet called “cassie_surveys” on Julie’s memory stick, and a little program called “cassie_cheaters” She knew that Eve had been organising groups of test subjects, but didn’t know the reason why.

When she loaded up the spreadsheet, she saw that the test subjects had been divided into two groups, cured, and normal.

The statistics looked the same. That was a good result for the cured women, she thought. Perhaps enduring a worm infection didn’t have any lasting effects, and such women could return into normal society without risk.

But then, way over in the right-hand column of the spreadsheet, she saw a column labelled “cheating detected?”

This was interesting. There was a yes in that column for every, single cured woman, and none of the normals.

She had a look at the cassie_cheaters file.

She didn’t understand the source code, she wasn’t a programmer, but she imagined what that program was designed to do.

The cured women had passed the test, but it seemed that, somehow, they had cheated.

Bile rose up in her throat.

She hated the worms.

She hated the infected women, too, the sluts.

They loved the worms.

They loved everything.

She’d seen the footage from the villages, groups of two or three infected women entering each house, drugging and raping innocent women to force them to join the worms.

It was disgusting, and it was dangerous.

She had always been suspicious of Eve. She had always suspected that she was on their side.

It had been hard, hiding her true feelings for the worms, appearing tolerant and curious for Eve’s benefit.

Getting her sister back seemed to be Eve’s only priority

Eve’s sister could go hang.

Anjolie considered herself a bit more practical. Sacrifices would have to be made.

She thought she had been right about Julie, too. She’d known telling Julie her true feelings about the worms was a risk, but she was glad that she had potential ally.

If the cured women had to cheat to appear normal on a personality test, then there was clearly something very wrong with them.

If the cured women were a demonstrated risk, then they would have to be killed. There was no other way of stemming the infection. It would be painful, but she knew that India could cope with such disasters.

And, if Eve was helping them cheat, then she clearly couldn’t be trusted.

Maybe she should go back to India soon. She didn’t want to be around when Eve’s house of cards began to tumble.

She tried to transfer the files back to her office in India, but her Internet connection appeared to be down.

That was unusual.

She spent some time, plugging and unplugging, and was under the desk when the phone rang.

It surprised her, and she bumped her head.

It would have to be Julie. It was the internal ring-tone, and after midnight.

She must have realised that she’d let the cat out of the bag.

“Hello?” she said.

“Anjolie Lalitha? John Landers here.”

She had met him at the opening of the Cancer clinic.

“Oh, yes sir, I remember you. Good evening to you, sir. Can I assist you with anything?”

“Anjolie, I believe that you have found some evidence of fraud associated with Eve Hunter, and I’m afraid that this has come to her attention.

“I won’t go into details now, Anjolie, but you might be in great danger if you remain in your apartment. Have you noticed anything suspicious?”

Anjolie replied,

“My Internet is not working.”

“I see, that’s not good …,” John said.

Anjolie butted right back in.

“But how did you know about the cheating? I have only just discovered it myself?”

“Anjolie, I’m afraid I can’t tell you. National security and all that.”

Something else had only just occurred to her.

“But the ring-tone. It came from within the building. Where are you?”

John laughed.

“Oh, Anjolie, you are a curious one. We need to get moving, so I’ll have to be quick. You already know that the cancer clinic has national security implications. I’ve been listening in to Eve’s conversations.

“I’m in my office at Parliament House right now. I’m currently patched into the apartment building’s PABX. That’s why you heard the local ring-tone.

“It was Julie that rang Eve to tell her about the survey, Anjolie.. Julie has sided with Eve. I’m sorry, Anjolie, but you and I are the only good guys right now.

“I think the best thing for you would be to leave for India as soon as possible. I can get you some tickets at very short notice, and I think it would be best if you were to leave your apartment tonight.”

“Yes, Mr Landers, I do agree. I think going back to India would be best.”

“Good. I’m only across the bridge from you, and I’ll come with my driver and pick you up straight away.

“I doubt that Eve will do anything tonight. You can’t use the Internet, and I think you’ll have a hard time getting an external line.

“I suggest that you pack an overnight bag, turn off all of your lights, and stay in your bedroom.

“I have keys for all of Eve’s buildings, so I can send someone from my staff around to pack for you tomorrow.

“I would suggest that you take a flight tomorrow evening. I’d like to spend the day with you, and take a copy of all of the evidence you’ve gathered. Is that acceptable to you?”

Anjolie felt a surge of adrenaline, but also relief. If Eve Hunter knew her as an enemy, she didn’t want to stay near her any longer than necessary.

And she would be seeing her husband and family soon. She had missed them so much.

“Of course, sir, I am most grateful to you. I shall pack a bag and wait for you.

“Good. Look after yourself, Anjolie, I’ll see you soon. ‘Bye now.”

It didn’t take long to pack pyjamas, a change of clothes, her passport, her purse, and her toiletries.

As instructed, Anjolie turned off all the lights in the apartment, and went to sit on her bed.

When she heard a key in the lock, she stood up and turned on the light in her bedroom. John had been been very quick, but it was only a few kilometres.

When two statuesque women strode into her bedroom, Anjolie recoiled in surprise.

One was a red-head, and one was a blonde

“Who are ...”

She didn’t even get to finish the sentence.

The redhead moved behind, covered Anjolie’s mouth with one hand, and wrapped her other arm around Anjolie’s chest. The blond knelt down to grab Anjolie around the thighs.

Anjolie tried to kick, and tried to scratch, and tried to bite, but they were strong, and experienced, and soon had her prone on the bed. In front of her, the blonde held her on her side in a scissor hold, one leg on top, one underneath, and the redhead moved behind where Anjolie could not see.

Anjolie kept struggling, but didn’t make any progress.

The blonde tried to calm her.

“Shhhh, Anjolie, quiet now.

“Struggling won’t help you.

“Just hold still, we only want to talk. We need to talk. That’s all.

“John’s not coming tonight. Did you know that he’s engaged to Eve? They’re getting married in December. They’re both looking to settle down.

“Eve’s going to be our stepmother.

“He was in Eve’s apartment when he called you. We came around as soon as we found out that Eve needed help.

“Shhhh … Don’t struggle. There’s nothing you can do. There’s no need to do yourself an injury.”

Anjolie did continue to struggle for a time, but she knew it was hopeless..

Whatever these women had planned for her, Anjolie couldn’t do a thing about it.

She relaxed, and found that nothing immediately happened.

“That’s good, Anjolie, that’s good.”

She was rolled a little as the mattress compressed behind her. The redhead leant against her, and she soon felt arms surrounding her from behind, a hug this time, not a hold, and she was now tightly sandwiched between the two women.

“You see, we won’t hurt you. We just want to talk. Just let all of those negative emotions drift away. You’ll see, it’s easy.”

Anjolie did begin to feel relaxed.

A pleasant feeling of warmth began to emanate from her spine, and she began to feel sexually aroused.

She had never understood the idea of fetishes, but as she observed herself, she considered that perhaps she might have some kind of fetish for being under the physical control of others.

That was the only sensible explanation for how she felt.

Her feelings seemed inappropriate and awkward to her.

“Now, Anjolie, we know that you have found some results that look peculiar.

“All that we ask is that you don’t be too hasty. Don’t judge those results until you have given Eve a chance to explain herself.”

The blond in front of her kissed her on her lips, a brief, chaste kiss.

Anjolie made a look of disgust, but she didn’t feel it.

The kiss had been pleasant.

Anjolie found her mind wandering.

She knew that she had caught Eve out. She knew that she had proof now.

But that certainty began to recede.

It was as if it were at the tip of her tongue. But it was drifting away.

The blond released Anjolie’s legs from the scissor hold, and smiled at her. She reached her hands up, and began to gently massage Anjolie’s face with her fingertips.

The sensation of pleasure in Anjolie’s spine intensified, and she arched her back as it travelled up, and down, and curdled in her centre.

There was silence now, but Anjolie felt new thoughts drifting through her mind.

Cassie had been told to find ways to cheat. She had instructed the women to attempt to cheat. She was working on ways to detect cheating, and she had found them. The results were successful, not fraudulent.

The blonde moved forward to kiss her on her lips again.

“Anjolie, don’t be too hasty to judge. Let your thoughts wander. Think back on what you know about Eve Hunter”

She ran her hands through Anjolie’s hair.

That feels nice, Anjolie thought.

Eve Hunter is a good woman. She is a kind woman. She has scientific integrity, and is the world’s foremost expert in defending the Earth from the worms. If the cured women have any residual control from the worms, Eve and her team will work out how to fix them. There is no need to act now. It is entirely possible to solve all of these problems without any violence. We shall see peace with the worms.

“Anjolie. You’re all alone in Australia, and you don’t have your family with you. You’re very stressed, and lonely, and not thinking rationally. Why has Eve kept Julie and Cassie separated from the rest of the team?”

The reason she chose Julie and Cassie was to ensure the honesty and integrity of the whole project. Their investigations will find evidence of scientific fraud, if it has occurred They have already found minor problems with the experimental methodologies, but these are unimportant and will be addressed.

Anjolie began to doubt herself, a feeling she had rarely experienced. She had known with such confidence that Eve was a fraud, and that her careless experiments could lead to an unstoppable outbreak of worms.

But now, Anjolie was not so sure.

Perhaps she was a victim of her own paranoia.

“Anjolie, I think you realise now that there are too many uncertainties to make any kind of judgement. The lives of too many women are at stake. Their future existence rest on your actions. You are in a position of power over Eve, over the sick women, over all of the cured women in India. Don’t abuse that power, Anjolie.

“Show some mercy.”

The twins held Anjolie for a time, and she began to consider what would really happen if she passed a guilty verdict on the cured women.

It was not pleasant.

But the alternative was far worse … wasn’t it?

“Now, Anjolie, we are going to show you something.

“It’s not pleasant. Please, just close your eyes, hold still, and we shall show you the past, and one possible future. See where your actions might take you ...”

Anjolie found her eyes closing, and her thoughts drifting, and, unbidden, memories began to emerge from her mind. They were not her own.

They were sad, so very sad.

She was running. She was afraid. She had been pushed out of the barn.

They had held her down, and injected her with something, and her master had left her.

Her eyes were already red and weeping, the gas had nearly choked her.

Then someone had pushed her out, and slammed the door closed.

She pounded and pounded, but had not been allowed back in.

She screamed at them then, and kept pounding away at the door, when she saw saw smoke begin to emerge from the barn. She ran to the edge of the compound, and took a circuit, but could not get out. The walls were too high, and the gates had been blocked.

The sound of helicopters had been a constant for days, but now that they were in the air immediately above her, and she felt a sense of menace.

She was a sitting duck.

When the first gunshot rang out, she felt as if she had been punched in the chest, and stumbled backwards.

Looking down, she could see no blood, but she felt the pain, and the terror.

His pain.

His terror.

David had been shot.

She had to sit down. She was feeling weak.

She was already feeling the dizziness from a loss of blood, the taste of blood in her mouth, coughing, so much coughing, but not enough to clear all the blood from her lungs.

Her breathing shallow, she felt him slipping away, and had to lie down.

The pain and the terror began to recede, and a feeling of calm began to permeate her consciousness.

There was nothing more to be done now.

David had been shot. David was dying.

She was feeling his last moments on earth.

When he died, she felt nothing. It was not an occurrence, but a sense of absence.

A constant presence in her life had suddenly been disconnected.

But there was no time to recover.

Now she felt the heat.

The fire in the barn across the compound had grown, and she felt the heat as if it were right next to her, burning her skin.

It was not one person this time, but it was many. It was everybody.

She heard screams from the barn, but also close, as if she were among them, and she realised that she had begun to scream, herself. Each and every one of them was a lost soul, screaming in terror, feeling the burning of their flesh, the searing of their lungs, the death of hope as the fire consumed the barn, and its human contents, from within.

Those trapped held each other in terror, but there was nothing to do except face death.

It seemed to go on for hours. She felt every sensation, every emotion, of every single one of those poor people trapped inside the barn, raw and unbearable, but then fading.

One by one, each slipped away, first into unconsciousness, and then into death.

There was no mercy.

It had been a massacre.

He wouldn’t have killed his people like this.

They wouldn’t have killed their people like this.

It was murder. That’s what it was.

Murder.

Why wasn’t she dead? Why hadn’t she died with her companions? Why was she still alive?

Anjolie felt as if she were drifting, alone, in darkness, floating in a vast emptiness. She had been that poor girl, she had been that poor, misguided, innocent girl, and now she had to fight to regain her sense of self, to return to consciousness, to open her eyes.

The blonde looked down at Anjolie, kindly, and spoke softly.

“She was saved because she was Australian, Anjolie. She was allowed to come back to Australia. She has been watched every single day since she returned, but now she is safe.

“Those memories will haunt her every waking moment. Remember, Anjolie, remember the faceless evil that kills countless innocents to prevent change. Evil men will do anything to preserve themselves, Anjolie, and will not hesitate to kill, and to burn, and to bury, and will keep killing as long as it takes, just so that they can stay in charge, just so that they can control every one of us.

“Life means change, Anjolie.

“The only way to save Earth from the evils of war, and plague, and famine, and neglect, and hatred, is to embrace change.

“We can do it, Anjolie. We can save the world. Help us, Anjolie, and your life will soon be full of love, and children, and friends, and pleasure.”

Anjolie was still feeling the sense of hopelessness that had permeated that poor soul as she witnessed the massacre, that orgy of death.

She was not able to even contemplate a quiet life after being a part of that.

“We can’t leave you like this, Anjolie.” the blonde whispered to her.

She felt a lump of something cool and moist being pushed into her lower back, around the base of her her spine.

When she felt her head begin to spin, she knew it was venom.

It must have been a lot.

Anjolie became limp on the bed as it claimed her, and lay back, marvelling in horror at the sensations which assailed her.

She couldn’t resist opening her legs, her pulsing pussy feeling painfully sensitive, and wanting to be filled, filled with anything.

She kept her arms rigidly at her sides, and breathed quickly, willing herself into stillness, and willing that quaking pleasure outside of herself..

The two women began to strip her then, quickly, and efficiently, and they had soon removed every item of clothing from her frame.

Anjolie was powerless to stop them, and all of her energy was expended in halting her growing sexual arousal. Every time her skin was touched by one of her assailants, she felt an electric shock of pleasure, and they knew of what they were doing.

It was only when they latched on to her nipples, and began to suckle from her, that she lost control completely.

She made a keening sound as her first orgasm claimed her.

It was powerful.

She felt something moist and smooth being pressed against her opening.

She began to panic.

The blonde was pushing something into her, she couldn’t see, and her body opened itself up to her, and it slid in easily.

Anjolie felt a wash of physical relief flow over her.

She had something to fill herself with now, something to satisfy the powerful urges engendered by the venom.

She opened her legs wider as the blonde began to gently pump it, and she even smiled at the pair who were raping her, encouraging them to press into her a little harder, to move faster, to bring her to completion.

The pleasure was purely physical, but the sense of calm which pervaded her mind was not.

She wanted to feel the sting, she wanted to feel the pleasure, she wanted to give herself to a master.

The sting did not come, but the pleasure kept building.

She wailed as she came that second time, and looked upwards to the heavens.

The twins moved close, and she held them both in a hug, one on either side.

She felt free as a bird, soaring to the heights of sexual abandon she had always denied herself.

There were no feelings of guilt, or recriminations, or fear, or anger.

But the horrors of the past were with her now, and made this celebration of life and liberty bitter-sweet.

When the blonde moved close, Anjolie took her lips, and kissed her, and loved the soft, sweet tongue which entered her mouth.

Tears of joy, and of horror, and of wonder ran down her cheeks, and she lay back down. The blonde lay her head across Anjolie’s chest, and the redhead on her lap, and Anjolie gently patted and stroked them both with her hands.

They lay like that for quite some time, and Anjolie again felt the soft touch of all of the ideas which had passed through her head during the twins’ strange visit.

The two women gently raised themselves off the bed, and the redhead kissed Anjolie on the forehead, and pulled up the blankets to tuck her in.

“We shall leave you now, Anjolie.

“Think upon what we have said.

“Sleep now, Anjolie, sleep …”

A warm, comfortable feeling crept up her spine. When it reached her neck, her face prickled, her eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.

When Anjolie awoke, she was alone in the apartment.

Sunlight streamed into her room through that huge picture window.

She still felt filled.

When she reached down, she felt something sticking out of her pussy, and she felt around it with her fingertips.

It had a lump on the end.

She grabbed it with her fingers, and gently pulled it out.

She looked at it in fascination.

It was a green jelly dildo, still slick with her lubrication.

She had never seen one before. She knew that if she had seen such a thing yesterday, she would have thrown it away from her in horror and revulsion.

Today, she regarded it with pleasure, and ringed her finger and thumb around it to measure its girth.

She smiled at the erotic possibilities.

She had changed.

Somehow, she had been changed.

She enjoyed a few moments of peace before the horrors shown to her the night before returned to her, the memories of death and pain crowding into her head.

The memory stick.

She looked over to see it sticking out of her computer.

She knew what it represented.

A surge of nausea rushed from her stomach into her craw, and she began to salivate.

She had no choice but to jump out of bed and rush into her bathroom.

Grabbing the toilet seat, she leaned over the bowl, and heaved, purging the remains of last night’s dinner from her body, and it splashed heavily.

Several times more her stomach contracted, expelling whatever remained, and even when it was empty she continued to heave, only to spit foul-tasting bile into the chemically fragrant water.

Her face had reddened with her body’s effort to rid herself of her sickness.

But Anjolie knew that the sickness was not of her body, but of her mind.

What had she been contemplating?

How could she allow that to happen to her own people?

And herself, a doctor?

Shakily, she stood up. Her eyes were teary and red. She rinsed out her mouth, cleaned her teeth, and washed her face and hands in cold water.

She took the horrible thing away.

She threw it in the microwave, slammed the door shut, and turned it up to high.

Two minutes ought to do it, she thought, as the memory stick began to spark and crackle.

She couldn’t go back to India right now.

Anjolie knew then that the lives of millions of women were hanging by a delicate thread, and if she were not circumspect, that thread could snap, plunging the world into a holocaust of unimaginable proportions.

The knowledge felt heavy upon her shoulders.

But she was lonely, oh, she was so lonely.

She knew some other Indians in Canberra, and she had played tennis with them, and met up for the occasional meal. But they knew nothing of the worms, and were only interested in finding a career, finding a husband, making a start in life. These concerns seemed so shallow to Anjolie now.

She wanted, she wanted so much, to go to the hospital, to give herself up, to give herself to the worms. Her time with the twins was frightening, at first, but so very intimate. She felt closer to the twins now than she did to her own husband.

But she knew that this was selfish.

She owed him so much. When this was all over, she vowed to give him the closeness that he desired, to love him, to give herself to him totally. She had finally realised that this was the only way to have a meaningful relationship.

One must commit oneself utterly.

But she had work to do, and people to heal, and the world to save.

She could at least start to make a few real friends.

Maybe she’d ring Julie, and ask her out for lunch.

It was a start.

Julie was the only one that Anjolie thought that she could still trust.

At least Julie was still human.

Cassie woke in the morning, feeling physically tired, but mentally refreshed.

Three of the worms had detached themselves in the night, and she still had a worm on the back of her neck.

She still felt like herself, although she had not felt this well, or this contented, since she was a child.

Sheyda and Maryanne were in bed with her, and gazed at her, and she felt their loving admiration as if it were her own.

Sheyda spoke.

“Cassie, I must go. My master will be leaving me soon. Thank you for coming to visit me.”

The worms of the three women joined their communications tendrils, and Cassie kissed and suckled at her companions, enjoying again that stream of physical pleasure.

Jane interrupted them as she appeared at the end of their bed, with a robe for Sheyda.

“I’m sorry, Sheyda, but your time is now. Come with me, and you will be ready to rejoin your family very soon.”

Sheyda blew them both a kiss, and put on the robe. The black tendrils drew themselves up into her body.

Jane handed Cassie her clothes, discarded last night in the cancer ward, and left, her arm around Sheyda’s waist.

Cassie’s clothes had had been freshly laundered, and smelled nice.

Breakfast was brought in for the hosts and herself, but Cassie did not talk. The task ahead had begun to flow through her mind.

After a shower and a change, she took the lift down a floor, to visit the infected women again.

She visited each woman in that room in turn, and asked them many questions.

One by one, each woman’s master would relinquish control, and Cassie would talk to the unencumbered woman of the future, of their families, of their goals in life, of their memories. She badgered them, and insulted them, and encouraged them, and flirted with them.

The women were often teary at the loss of their master, but each one really did try her best to assert her usual personality.

Sometimes Cassie tried to make friends.

Sometimes Cassie tried to make them love her.

Sometimes Cassie tried to make them hate her.

In the end, Cassie got under the skin of every one of them, and began to know them.

It was a skill that she had, she’d had it all of her life, and it had set many people against her before she had learned to use it with care.

She had too much personal integrity to use it all the time.

She had never tried it on Julie, as her relationship with Julie had seemed too sacred for such blatant manipulation.

Perhaps her life would have been simpler if she had got inside Julie’s head early on, Cassie noted to herself dispassionately.

With each woman, she noted all of her responses, and was alert for signs of oddness, or off-ness, of the uncanny valley of a human being that had been touched by an alien intelligence.

After each interview, Cassie would lie down with the woman, and they would hold each other.

Cassie could see the evidence of the woman’s master taking control of her once again, as the woman smiled, and gave herself up as she returned to the pleasure of a servitude well rewarded.

Tendrils would emerge, and their worms would communicate.

Cassie could gaze into her subject’s eyes, and feel as if in love as their masters kept them in a state of pleasurable fascination. Tendrils of thought were drawn from her as the worms pored through her personal analysis of each woman’s tell-tale residue of infection.

Cassie’s critical eye gave the worms a means to train their charges, how to control a woman into a taught conformity, how to leave her in a state in which she could exist, undetected, amongst other, clean, humans.

Cassie was in her element.

She worked twelve hours straight, but the work was invigorating, and she revelled in the knowledge that she had gained when so many women had given her access to their souls, to their innermost secrets, to their very sense of self.

She returned to the hosts at dinnertime, and she knew the moment when dinner had been served.

There were three plates laid out, and some wine, and the food looked hot and delicious.

For the first time, she was able to talk to all of them.

Two were hosts, and two were milk.

There was Maryanne, whom she had already met, and Tania, the other host, and Margaret and Eileen, the milk, the women who fed the hosts.

They had been the first patients of this clinic, and all had been terminal patients with inoperable cancers.

None of them officially existed any more.

Each of them had been selected as someone who could leave the outside world with minimal consequences.

Just like me, Cassie thought, without rancour.

The worms liked milk-fed flesh, and took a lot of blood from Maryanne and Taylor so that the young ones could grow quickly.

Maryanne and Taylor needed a lot of calories, and fed from Marie and Dana, and also from the other infected women who regularly came to visit.

Cassie was lactating, too, and always enjoyed the feeling of intimacy when she fed the hosts. It was a pure pleasure, feeling the suckling, knowing that one’s body was providing enjoyable sustenance to such a beautiful, gentle woman, and all of the masters she carried within herself.

The hosts came to the dinner table, but did not eat.

All were obviously very happy, and talked of the many women who had visited them in the past before being cured and sent home.

The worms shared the minds of the infected women with the hosts, and everyone present had become a student of human nature in one way or another.

After dinner, Cassie joined the hosts and the milk on their bed, and enjoyed a torrent of pleasure as the worm on her neck communicated with the others.