The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

She’s with him.

The thought sent my mind reeling, the emotions I’d been fighting to hold back flooding through like a gushing river through a broken dam. “Oh fuck…” My hand dug into the arm of the couch, fingers clenched tight like I was holding onto a life raft. Then, I was on my feet and heading for the bedroom.

Through the door. Upside down phone on the bedside table. Picking it up. Pressing the power button and holding, waiting for the screen to begin to glow to life.

Why would she? My thoughts were fractured with worry. … how could she? I had been avoiding my phone for a day and a night, but now it might be the only place I could get a clue what Julia had been up to. What she had been thinking.

There was someone coming into the bedroom behind me as I turned and dropped myself down onto the bed, staring at the phone. I had a vague idea that Lena was talking to me. But I wasn’t focused on her. The phone in my hand, slowly illuminating my face as it glowed to life, was the absolute center of my attention.

She’s with him. And they were looking for me. Maybe. The principal had said “we’ll find him”. I wasn’t sure who else Julia could be looking for. I stabbed my code into the touchscreen, so fast that my fingers fumbled it and I had to take a slow, unsteady breath before I did it again.

Home screen blinking to life. Notifications rolling down across the top third of my screen. Message from Julia. Message from Julia. Missed call from Julia. Message from Julia…

I had a dozen missed calls, at least. More messages. I made myself numb and opened the app. I scrolled up, forcing myself not to read them until I got back to the top, where they all began. The time stamp was in the early morning, yesterday.

MITCH! What’s going on?

That would have been after I’d told her we were breaking up, then disappeared from our apartment with a strange young woman. I’d missed several calls as Lena had driven us away. Then more texts.

Where are you?

Please tell me what’s happening?

I could read as her fear and uncertainty turned to anger.

What the HELL! I can’t believe this. Are you ignoring your phone? You asshole. What the hell is going on? Who did you leave with?

Several more missed calls. Several more texts. Her anger turning to uncertainty again. And sadness.

Please... Please tell me what’s happening... I’m so confused. Where did you go? Why did you go?

What did I do wrong?

I felt like I was reliving that night, but from her perspective. Sitting alone in the dark in our apartment with her phone as the only possible link to her missing boyfriend. Her fleeing boyfriend.

The messages continued. Raging at me. Begging me to pick up the phone. To just respond once to a text. To let me know that I was okay. I swallowed, my heart hurting more with every beat. I skimmed to the end. I couldn’t read those right now. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to. I had been terrible to her, but that wasn’t what I needed to know. I already knew that.

I needed to know why she was… Ah. Here it was. Right at the end.

Fine.

She was fed up. I could practically hear her frustrated snarl through the message.

Fine. Just be that way then. Fine. I’m going to find out what’s going on. And I know where to go. Where all of this fucking shit started.

I closed my eyes, clicking the phone screen off with my thumb, and wished that, for once, Jules hadn’t been so smart. But she was. She knew when I’d started acting strange, and she knew that the Academy must be at the root of it all. I rested the cold screen against my forehead and tried to push away the ache in my chest.

“Mitch…” Lena’s voice was close, and I felt her shift on the edge of the mattress beside me. I wasn’t really sure how long she’d been sitting there. Or how long I’d been sitting here, reading and reliving my breakup.

I glanced over when the blonde’s hand brushed softly across my hunched shoulders. “Yeah?” I wasn’t surprised that I felt like crap, but it still felt like I’d been ambushed by the feelings that were pounding through me with my pulse.

“You can’t be like this.” There was a firmness to her voice that surprised me.

I blinked.

“I need you,” she continued, shaking my shoulder a little, like she was trying to snap me out of it. “We all need you. Harrison says that Principal Clayton is on his way here right now, and we need to be ready when he arrives. You need to be ready…” Lena trailed off, eyes flickering between the phone screen and my face. It was dark in here, the curtains still drawn against the morning light. “I know you can’t be feeling good right now, but you’ve got to forget about all of that. You have to be in control.” A small smile. “Can you do that for us? For me?”

A part of me warmed at Lena’s affection and caring, and it struggled with the part that felt stabbed by a shard of ice at my student’s words. For me… I shook my head to clear it. “I can do that,” I croaked. Then, I pushed myself up. I stood next to the young woman in the dark, looking down at her. I wanted to kiss her, to thank her for her firm understanding. I wanted not to kiss her, because my thoughts were full of Julia. Instead, I simply nodded, then strode out into the living room.

We didn’t have much time. But I would make sure we were ready.

Two heads turned my way as I entered. Harrison and Danielle had been sitting in an oddly companionable silence, sipping coffee and lost in their own thoughts.

“Alright, guys,” I said. I rubbed my hands together. “Time to put the rest of the plan in motion.”

Danielle nodded, stood and headed out the front door of Harrison’s suite. She had her own assignment. Harrison and I, meanwhile, had to go over his part in our little drama. He had known what to do on the phone, but I hadn’t wanted to plan too far in advance in case the call revealed new information. Which it had. Lena watched, arms crossed and a slight frown on her face, as Harrison repeated the plan back to me with an indulgent smile.

“I can do this, you know,” he said, patting me on the shoulder.

My mouth made a hard line, but I tried not to brush the comment off too brusquely. While he might give off an air of calm positivity, I didn’t like this man. His actions spoke for themselves. And yet I needed him.

Danielle knocked and Lena let her in as Harrison and I finished.

“Alright.” I nodded to the man, then followed Lena into the short entry hallway to the left of the kitchen.

Danielle was hustling back in, a towel-wrapped object in her hands. She passed it off to Lena when I motioned to her.

“So you got it?” I raised my eyebrows and stepped aside as Lena sidled past with the bundle.

“Sure,” Danielle shrugged, but I could tell she was pleased with herself.

“Good. We may need it. I hope not, though. Hopefully our side of things will go off without a hitch. Can you set us up with the cameras up like you did yesterday?”

Danielle nodded, her face growing serious. “Where do you want everything?”

I hesitated. My plan relied on Danielle’s ability to access the security cameras in Harrison’s suite, but we needed a safe place for us to hunker down and monitor them. Shit, I thought, my mind racing. Things were coming together too quickly, and Julia being thrown in the works had rattled me. Another ball for an already-overburdened juggler to try and keep in the air. Yesterday, Danielle and I had been able to monitor Harrison and Lena’s conversation from the room across the hallway. But, since we didn’t actually have a key, we’d been automatically locked out as soon as we’d left. We didn’t have time to book another room, and it was still too early to check in, anyway.

“We’re going to have to set up in this suite,” I answered, and I tried to calm myself enough to consider options. Bedroom? No. Harrison and Clayton would be talking in the living room, so the bedroom was just too close for comfort. “The bathroom,” I told her. “Just pile some towels on the floor, I suppose, and get the laptop set up. We’ll watch from there, and we’ll just have to hope that our visitor is too busy for a bathroom break.”

Danielle nodded swiftly and started to walk past me.

“Danielle…” I said, holding up a hand. There was one more thing I needed from the dark-haired beauty.

The brunette paused, looking up into my face. Her pretty features seemed uncertain, but determined. “What’s up?” she asked. She was a real find, I realized. Smart, beautiful, and wanting to do the right thing when she had the chance. Even if she was dragged into a crazy, topsy-turvy, mind-bending situation like this one.

I pulled in a breath, then stepped closer. My hand dropped, both palms caressing her hips.

Danielle’s eyes widened with surprise, then her lips parted in a soft groan as my hands slipped up her sides, covering her breasts and squeezing gently. “Oh…”

“I need to talk to Raven.”

“Lena…”

The blonde turned toward me hesitantly, and I could see she was getting more and more nervous.

“Relax.” I forced myself to relax at the same time, loosening my tense shoulders and turning up my lips in a smile.

She matched it weakly. “Sorry.” Her green eyes were uncertain. “I’m just… I don’t know how I can face him.”

I nodded. Joseph Clayton had kidnapped Lena, brainwashed her, altered her personality and planned to sell her as a sex slave to Harrison St. John. For months, the man had had complete and insidiously invisible control over Lena’s entire life. In terms of people you don’t want to have to face down, it doesn’t really get more frightening than that. “I…” I sighed out a breath and set my jaw with conviction. “I know it’s hard. I know it’s scary. But please trust that I’m watching, and listening. Just two rooms away. And if anything happens, anything at all, I’ll be there to protect you.”

“Like you were last night?” Lena’s voice was dull, not accusing, but I still felt the words land hard. Then, before I could apologize, the blonde shook her head. Her straight hair swished around her shoulders. “Sorry, I know what happened with Danielle and Raven and everything wasn’t really under your control. You did your best. I just… I’m so worried. What if this doesn’t work?”

I didn’t have anything to say, no more assurances I could give. If this didn’t work, we were out of options. So, instead, I just pressed my mouth into a line. “Are you ready?” I asked, feeling the frames of the LucidSpecs digging into my palm as I squeezed my fingers around them.

Lena blew out a breath. Her slim figure was still tense, but less so. Her emerald gaze was a little less stormy. She nodded slightly. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

I unfolded the reading glasses and placed them gently on the bridge of my nose. The world grew ever so slightly sharper, like Lena’s lovely face had snapped into even closer focus. Her lashes fluttered as she looked up into my dark eyes.

“Ah…” The soft sigh came immediately, her mind opening at the sight of me. The face of her professor and Master from each and every online video course.

It made me want to ask a question that I hadn’t had time to ponder. Who was the man from the video recordings? Who was I impersonating every time I wore these glasses? But that was a question for another time. My lips were already moving. “Just relax…” I murmured, my hands brushing against her bare upper arms as she sagged slightly, eyes going wide. “And let your mind drift away… You’re mine, Lena, and you will obey no one else…”

Harrison sat on the couch without fidgeting. Lena was beside him, staring blankly into space. She wore the outfit I’d purchased for her yesterday in the gift shop, a simple navy skirt and pale white button down with the Regent logo on the breast.

Danielle and I watched closely through the hidden camera above the big windows, towels cushioning us on the tiled floor of the huge hotel bathroom. We were sharing a pair of earbuds so that both of us could listen to what was happening in the living room on the other side of the bedroom wall. There was a rock in the pit of my stomach, hard and cold and unyielding. I clenched my jaw and tried to breathe deeply, but all I succeeded in doing was fending off the anxiety for a few more seconds.

The knock came abruptly. It was fast and harsh, and as Harrison came quickly to his feet it was repeated.

Someone’s in a hurry, I thought.

On screen, we watched as the pudgy businessman straightened his suit jacket, rolled his shoulders, and fixed a stern look on his features. It looked out of place on the usually smiling man, but I suppose he couldn’t go into business meetings looking like a happy little cherub. This was his work face. Then, he turned his back to us and walked toward the door.

“Coming!” he called, and I could hear his voice twice, softly muffled through the wall and clearly through my earbud.

His guest abruptly stopped knocking.

From our angle, we could see most of the way to the front door but not quite. Luckily, the camera above the doorframe had a microphone that picked up the sounds of Harrison undoing the lock, turning the handle with a soft click and then pulling it open. More importantly, we would be able to hear what was spoken in the entryway.

But, to our surprise, when the businessman opened the door with a simple, “Come in,” Joseph Clayton strode right past him with the air of a man who owns any room he happens to enter. The tall, athletically-built principal entered our field of view wearing a suit that looked both simple and expensive. It was made of a grey-silver cloth that seemed to lend a golden hue to his tanned skin. His chiseled, wolfish features were hard. Clayton froze when he saw Lena, sitting in profile. He stood very still, watching her closely.

Lena didn’t react, just staring calmly into space. Her face was blank, her eyes blinking slowly every couple of seconds. I wondered how aware she was of what was happening around her. Harrison followed Clayton into the room, and I was just wondering why we hadn’t heard the door close behind him when a third person entered the screen.

Thud. The sound of the door to the suite swinging closed registered vaguely in my hearing, but everything else seemed to slow to a halt.

It was Julia.

My mind spun out.

Why was she here? Did Clayton know I was with Harrison? No, that didn’t make any sense. Thoughts rushed through my head. She was wearing an oversized grey tee shirt and yoga pants that clung to her curves. It was a simple outfit, but casually cute, and I was unhappy for Clayton to have seen my girlfriend in it.

Ex-girlfriend, an extremely unhelpful part of my mind reminded me, but I shook it off. Not now.

As I struggled to rationalize her presence, though, Clayton was rounding on Harrison and gesturing at the silent Academy student. “What,” he said, his anger hot and fierce behind his mask of civility, “is she doing here?” He bit off the words, his teeth practically grinding them together.

I had to give Harrison credit. While the vehemence of Clayton’s words would have made me fumble and hesitate, the Saint of Sales simply spread his hands. “I could ask you the same,” he commented, gesturing to Julia, whose eyes were darting around with evident confusion.

She didn’t speak, though, and I wondered again what Clayton had said to convince her to come with him.

Because of our camera’s fixed angle, I couldn’t see the principal’s face as he stared at Harrison. What I could see was the frown in the set of his shoulders. “I gave you specific instructions,” the man said. “You were not supposed to interact with her outside of the facility until she was completely ready for you. You had no right to take her.” His anger was spilling out. I could hear it in his voice and see it in the tense movement of his head as Harrison slowly sidled around the other side of the couch and the principal’s eyes followed him.

I hadn’t met this side of the man before. Joseph Clayton was used to being obeyed without question, and I was beginning to see how he reacted when things didn’t go according to plan.

On the screen of Danielle’s laptop, the scene was split in a strange symmetry — Harrison on the right side of the couch, one hand resting on the back, leaning casually; Lena in the middle, prim and upright with her face blank as she stared into the middle distance; Joseph Clayton on the left side, with Julia standing slightly behind him. Now, though it was Harrison who surprised me again.

Harrison scowled, and on his usually open face the expression was oddly unsettling. “You forget, Joseph, that I am the client. I am the one who foots your extravagant bill. I have the right to inspect my property at any time I wish.”

I swallowed down my anger at Harrison’s callous description of Lena, reminding myself that he was just acting. This is the end of it, I thought. You just have to get through this, and then it’s over. One way or another, I knew I would be right.

My focus returned to the screen as Joseph Clayton flexed his hands and his mouth worked silently. I could tell the man was furious at being disobeyed, but after a moment his fingers relaxed and he visibly swallowed down what was probably a solid mouthful of frustration.

“What happened?” The principal’s voice was crisp and to the point. “How did she end up like this? Tell me everything.” He didn’t look at Lena as he spoke, his eyes fixed on Harrison’s face. It was like the two women in the room weren’t even there.

Harrison’s scowl loosened somewhat and he nodded. “Alright,” but then he gestured at Julia. “But who’s this? Another one of your… students? Can I speak freely in front of her?”

Julia’s eyes had narrowed, darting between Harrison and Lena and Clayton, and now she started to step forward, tossing her dark hair angrily over her shoulders. She wasn’t the type to let two men talk about her like she wasn’t in the room.

But Clayton held up a hand, placing it gently on her shoulder. “Please, Julia,” he said calmly, and her eyes snapped to his face. “Let me explain to Harrison what’s going on?”

My girlfriend — ex-girlfriend — frowned, then nodded curtly. “Fine,” she said. “But I’m only here because you told me that this man was going to be able to help us find Mitch.”

On the other side of the screen, Harrison managed to look confused at the mention of my name, but my eyes were locked in on what happened next. The principal turned fully to face Julia, his hand not leaving her shoulder. I could see the confusion in her eyes, and then a flash of nervousness as her trust in the principal suddenly turned to fear.

My heart pounded and I swear all of my instincts were screaming at me to jump up, to do something, to prevent what I instinctively knew was about to happen.

“No,” Clayton told her, and the frown he’d worn for Harrison twitched into a smirk. “You’re only here because I knew this meeting would be stressful. And I wanted those pretty lips wrapped around my cock.”

Julia started to pull back, to open her mouth to shout or cry out… but the principal’s hand was firm and his words were fast and effective as a verbal bullet.

“Sleepy time, gorgeous.”

I didn’t need to hear the special emphasis that Clayton placed on the words to know they were some sort of trigger phrase. I could see the effects. Instantly, Julia’s warm, chocolate eyes opened wide and her flinch backward turned into a leisurely sway. The tension in her expression melted into a placid calm, and then she blinked, slowly, her tongue coming out to wet her full lips.

“Yes, Master…” My girlfriend’s honeyed voice was low and husky and thrumming with the promise of complete submission.

I was in shock.

Clayton’s hand brushed up her neck, fingers curling in her dark hair as his palm cupped the back of her head. He tilted her head back and gazed deeply into her wide, blank eyes. He stared into her face for a moment, like he was judging the contents of her soul. Then, he spoke calmly. “On your knees, beautiful.” His hand was on her shoulder again, guiding her as she fell gracefully to her knees, still staring up into his face.

“Yes, Master…” She knelt before him, her curvy body taut with a quivering desire to please. To please him. The man who had tried to take my free will and had turned my life upside down.

The principal’s hand left her body as he calmly undid his belt.

I was still frozen, my eyes wide with horror but my body stuck in a terrified stillness. Like a nightmare where you can’t move, even as something terrible comes closer and closer with every passing moment.

Zippp.

Somehow the microphones in the other room captured the sound of Clayton’s zipper sliding down, and then the soft clink of his belt falling loose from his hands as he pulled his rigid length free from his silver slacks. It was like he’d forgotten all about Lena and Harrison St. John as he gripped his manhood with one fist and stared into Julia’s dark eyes.

Her lips were parted ever so slightly, her eyes locked on the principal’s.

“Suck my cock.”

My girlfriend shivered at the command, letting out a soft sigh of pleasure. Her eyes gently traced down his body until they locked onto the thick, swaying rod just inches from her sculpted mouth. “Yes, Master…” Then, her lips making a perfect O, she leaned forward and slipped the head of Joseph Clayton’s cock into her mouth.

It was that image that snapped me free from the Gorgon’s stare that had me locked in stone. My mind was racing, my thoughts on the war path. I was going to go out there and I was going to grab the principal by his lapels and I was going to throw him into the wall and I was going to slam my fist into his—

“No!”

I looked down. I had pushed myself up into a crouch but there was a hand on my arm. It was Danielle’s, just like the hiss of warning that had cut through my red-tinged, primal rage.

Her fingers dug into my bicep. “You can’t go out there.” Her voice was low and firm. “You can’t.”

“Ohyeah that’s good…”

I could hear the principal’s voice through the earbud but my eyes were captured by Danielle’s dark gaze. My breath was a soft, rapid pant, my body racing with adrenaline.

“We need to focus on what’s most important.” Danielle seemed to sense I was just an instant away from tearing free of her grip, so she spoke quickly and tersely. “I’m here to help you and Lena catch this guy in the act, on camera, so that he can’t do this to anyone else. If you run out there right now, you ruin Harrison’s chances of getting a confession out of him.”

I clenched my teeth. My nostrils flared as I tried to slow my thoughts and breathe through my nose.

Danielle’s fingers tightened. “Can you do this? For Lena. And for your ex, too. And for anyone that this asshole might do this to in the future if we don’t stop him.”

I swallowed, then nodded.

“Good.” Danielle let go of me and switched her attention back to the screen, trusting me to do the same.

Fuck! I swore silently, clenching my fist tightly and settling back on my haunches. I didn’t sit, but I didn’t spring through the door, either. I set my eyes on the screen, trying to block my emotional reaction to what I saw. My gaze was drawn immediately back to the spectacle — like a moth to a flame, needing to see it no matter how much it burned.

Julia’s dark hair swayed as she gently sucked the mushroom head of the principal’s length, her lips massaging his shaft. Her face was turned up, her eyes wide and blank and submissive as she waited for her next order. Her hands were on her spread thighs, but as I watched one of them slipped between her legs almost of its own accord. The gorgeous brunette’s fingers began to make circles, pleasuring herself through her dark leggings. I was used to paying close attention to her while we had sex, and the shudder of bliss than ran through her was painfully familiar.

“Now, Mr. St. John,” Clayton’s voice was even, his demeanor completely calm. His face turned up toward Harrison’s, and it was like he entirely dismissed the woman on her knees before him. “You were explaining your situation with Lena…”

Harrison blinked, and it was like he had been entranced as well. He shook his head slightly, dragging his eyes away from Julia. “Indeed,” he said stiffly. “I mean, yes.”

Julia moaned softly, interrupting the man. His eyes drifted down toward her again. Between Julia’s thighs, one hand moved in steady circles. The other hand slid up her body to cup one of her heavy, round tits, squeezing and kneading gently.

“Mmm…” The principal groaned softly, and then nodded. “Go on.” With one hand resting on Julia’s head, Clayton gestured vaguely for Harrison to continue what he’d been saying, the anger he’d expressed on arrival evidently much reduced. It’s hard to stay mad when a gorgeous woman is getting off with her mouth wrapped around your throbbing manhood.

“Right. Ahem.” Harrison gathered himself, then started. “It began at your party on Friday night…” And so he launched into an edited version of events. That he had gone to Lena’s rooms on the night of the party and used the trigger phrases the principal had taught him. That the pair hadn’t been able to go all the way, and so the next night Harrison had called her to the hotel. That last night had been a home run, but this morning when he’d woken up he had found her like this, sitting on the couch and unresponsive. “I called you immediately,” Harrison concluded, “with serious doubts about this whole affair.”

“Yes…” Clayton’s hips were moving ever so slightly, sliding his cock deeper into Julia’s hot, wet mouth. Her head bobbed forward and back, forward and back, cheeks hollowing as she blew the man like a pro. The principal blinked, then, and raised his eyebrows at the other man. “Doubts?” He seemed to be getting distracted now, and I wondered if he was on the edge of cumming.

Shut up, brain, I ordered myself as fiery anger flushed my skin. Focus.

“Doubts,” Harrison said firmly. “I’ve invested six figures into this young woman, waited for months and months, and after a blowjob and a night of sex I’m supposed to believe she just… What? Malfunctioned?” There was righteous indignation in his voice now. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that Harrison St. John was working himself into a fury of his own. “How do I know any of this is real? For all I know, Lena could be acting right now and all I’ve purchased for myself is two nights with the most expensive hooker I’ve ever heard of.”

Clayton, distracted though he was, narrowed his eyes at Harrison’s inference. He worked his mouth, then sighed as Julia took him deep, her nose brushing against his pelvis. “I suppose it’s good I brought this gorgeous piece of ass, after all,” the principal answered slowly, fingers tangling in the brunette’s dark hair.

I blinked, shocked. Even after all I’d seen, I wasn’t used to hearing my employer talk like that.

“Because, beyond being quite therapeutic, she is a perfect case study to demonstrate why my techniques are not, as you seem to suddenly believe, complete fantasy.”

Harrison crossed his arms huffily, but appeared to be listening.

Lena, for her part, remained motionless. She hadn’t moved nor reacted in the entire course of the argument. She just sat quietly, her hands under her legs.

Joseph Clayton continued. “This, since you haven’t been properly introduced, is Julia. She is the lovely partner of Mitchell Sands, the mathematics professor I introduced to you. Not too long before you called she arrived in my office, complaining that her boyfriend had been acting strange ever since coming to work for me. He disappeared after our party the other night, and she came to me demanding answers.”

Abruptly, I felt a surge of relief. He doesn’t know we broke up. If Julia had told Clayton about our breakup, or about my disappearing into the night with a young blonde, the principle might have put two and two together and suspected that I was off with an Academy pupil. But, thankfully, Julia seemed to have kept the details to herself.

Harrison scratched his chin. “What did you do to her?”

The question slipped out casually, but suddenly I was on the edge of my seat.

Would Clayton answer? While we were recording? I knew from experience that he was careful. He was a criminal, after all, catering to the top 1% of the world’s social elite. He’d hypnotized me, his own employee, just to make sure no one got too close inside his business.

“… and as you can see,” he continued in the background, “the techniques I use are quite effective. True, this woman was in an unstable state of mind, so it was easier to penetrate her conscious defenses and mold her subconscious, but to get all this done in half an hour? I’m just glad that I already knew her trigger phrases...”

Just finish spilling it, I thought. Clayton’s words jogged something in my mind, something I should probably be concerned about…? But no, I’m sure it wasn’t important. All that mattered was waiting until I could rush out and slug that smug asshole right in the…

“Only hours ago she was desperately missing her darling Professor Sands, but now…”

I felt it hit me, unexpectedly, the rush of calm and warmth that accompanied my trigger phrase. I blinked, slowly. I was angry. About something.

“… So you expect me to believe that this… whatever it is… is what you do to all of the young women at your Academy?” Harrison’s voice, filtering through honey. I could tell he was fishing for answers. I just hoped Clayton couldn’t.

Not that it mattered much. It just felt so good to crouch here on the floor, watching while Julia moaned and sucked the principal’s cock like a brunette bombshell. Such a good girl… I mused dreamily.

My girlfriend’s hand had slid up under her oversized tee and was obviously massaging her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and somehow that fact was an incredible turn on. I could practically see her pink nipples standing straight out, her fingers slipping over them, squeezing, kneading her pliant tits.

I swallowed, feeling a new flush of heat creep over me. No, some part of me weakly protested. Hot… the relaxed, warm, primal part of me groaned.

The other hand was under the waistband of the dark yoga pants, and Julia whimpered with pleasure as she rubbed her pussy, her mouth still wrapped around Clayton’s thick rod. A wavy strand of chestnut hair had fallen forward beside her face and it swayed in time with her bobbing head.

I blinked, realized that I was sporting a growing bulge behind my zipper, and tried to ignore the urge to stroke it absentmindedly. I forced myself to refocus on the screen. Something important was happening.

“… including body modification and behavioral training,” Joseph Clayton’s voice continued. “So you can see that what I do isn’t just hypnosis or mind control. It’s a complete act of creation.” The man sounded simultaneously proud of himself and annoyed with Harrison for not appreciating his hard work.

I wondered what he’d been saying, but it was hard to think about our plot while resisting the desire to touch my pulsing erection and simultaneously watching Julia.

Her fingers were out from under her shirt and now she was stroking the principal’s rigid, throbbing manhood. She pulled back and her mouth came off with a soft pop.

The man paused mid-sentence and looked down at her. “Did I say you could stop, slut?” His voice was a low, dominant growl, and I could see Julia’s body rock back under the force of it.

“Ohpleasebaby…” It was one word, a desperate request, and I could tell that my girlfriend was resisting the urge to lean forward and just let his cock slide between her full lips once again. But there was something she wanted more. “Please, Master… I just want your cum so bad…”

Her words should have shaken me. This was Julia, after all, the woman who charged into the bathroom to spit out my seed after a blowjob. Only now she was begging for my boss’s cum like…

Like a hot, bimbo slut, my relaxed mind filled in, and I didn’t have the energy to fight the assessment.

“Mmm…” Joseph Clayton’s murmur was pleased. His hand stroked through her thick, dark hair again, making her gasp and then purr. Once more, he seemed to dismiss Harrison like the other man wasn’t even there, all his attention on the writhing woman at his feet. “How bad do you want it, gorgeous?”

A fire lit up in Julia’s eyes and she rose on her knees, one hand slowly sliding up and down his length while her thighs clamped down around the other one. “Sooo bad, Master…” she moaned. Her tongue came out, slowly licking up his shaft. She swirled around the red, needy head, groaning with pleasure. Her eyes stared up into his face adoringly. “Please cum for me… Cum for your sexy little fucktoy… All I want is your thick, studly cock in my mouth and your hot, sticky cum down my throat.”

Fuckkk… I swallowed down the wave of arousal that surged in me. The warmth was a fuzzy, comfy blanket over my mind, but it didn’t stop me from imagining it was me that Julia was speaking to. That it was my cock she stroked reverently, my eyes that she was gazing up into with a smoldering lust. My essence that she craved as she took my prick between those soft, willing lips.

My boss grunted, tensing, and the stunning brunette knew he was close.

She rubbed the tip of his cock across her cheeks, kissing it reverently. Her second hand had joined the first, all of her attention on the principal as she jerked him off and opened her mouth wide. “That’s right, Sir…” she gasped. “Give it to me… Cum for your mindless, obedient fuckdoll…”

“Oh yeah…” Clayton grunted.

Then, he was cumming, and his spasming cock shot jets of white spunk out across Julia’s tongue.

“Ohmygawd…” My girlfriend managed a single moan of ecstasy before she lowered her head and covered the firehose of seed with her mouth. She swallowed eagerly, her body trembling as she groaned again and came. She wasn’t even touching herself, but her thighs clamped together and her entire body clenched and let go again.

My own manhood was hard as a rock, pressing against the restraining cloth.

The sexy brunette gulped down my boss’s essence and then slowly, lovingly slurped her way up the length of his rod, shivering and staring up into his face with wide-eyed reverence. She planted a soft kiss on the underside of his slowly drooping length. “Thank you, Master…” she murmured. Then she trailed off and there was a second of silence that stretched out long. Julia’s face slackened as she leaned forward, like she was falling upward into Clayton’s bright eyes.

It was Harrison who interrupted the moment.

“Ahem.” His face was tinted pink, but with embarrassment or irritation I couldn’t tell. “All well and good, Joseph. But that doesn’t help with my Lena problem.”

Shit! I shook my head, trying to focus myself on the situation at hand. I could feel the fog of my trigger phrase slowly lifting, and was grateful that Harrison had kept his head. It was strange to have my thoughts return to normal, and for the shock of what I’d just witnessed to begin to really hit me.

The principal’s head swung toward the businessman, slowly, like he was also returning to reality. “Indeed…” His voice was distracted for a moment, then he nodded firmly. With swift movements, he pulled his slacks back up and redid his belt and zipper. Brushing his hands quickly down the front of his jacket, he reached down and helped Julia back to her feet.

My ex swayed slightly, then blinked up into his face and smiled slowly. “Thank you, Master…” she purred.

The man grinned his wolfish grin, one hand slipping down her back and squeezing a handful of her bouncy ass in those dark pants.

“Ohhh…” Usually Julia hated being grabbed like that, but now she leaned forward into Clayton, her hands on his shoulders and her body shuddering like he’d just rubbed his fingers across her clit.

“You’re welcome,” the principal grinned down into her flushed face. “Now…” and here he glanced over at Harrison. “Watch,” he ordered the man, before turning back to Julia. “You’ll forget what just happened, do you understand?”

“Yes, Master…” Julia barely blinked as she looked up into Clayton’s eyes. Her voice was soft through the earbuds. “Forget…”

“You will question nothing.” His hand was casually massaging one taut hemisphere of her ass.

“Question nothing…” She groaned, practically rubbing herself against him.

“Who are you?”

Julia’s thighs squeezed together. “Your horny, obedient plaything…” Her voice trembled as she felt an obvious pulse of bliss.

“That’s a good girl. Forget for me, now.”

“Forget…”

As Julia’s eyes slammed closed, Clayton released her abruptly and stepped back to a more appropriate distance. “And… Wakey time, gorgeous…”

I watched in disbelief as the woman’s lashes fluttered and she blinked back to awareness. Her expression was confused for only a moment, a finger rising to her lips like she felt the ghost of a sensation, and then she shook her head ever so gently.

Her dark gaze turned slowly from Clayton, who was watching her impassively, to Harrison, who was acting as if he worried she would remember what had just occurred. She frowned slightly, worked her mouth like there was an unpleasant aftertaste, and then opened her mouth to speak.

She raised her eyebrows at Harrison and asked politely. “Excuse me, can I use your bathroom?”

I could see the uncertainty freeze Harrison’s features for a split second, before he realized there was nothing he could do. “Of course,” he said smoothly, and gestured. “Through the bedroom, just there.” There was nothing else he could do, really. Any hesitation would lead to questions.

“Thank you.” With a quick nod, Julia walked swiftly toward the bedroom door, leaving the screen.

We were left with Harrison and Clayton, still standing at opposite ends of the couch, and with Lena sitting quietly between them, staring into the distance. My heart pounded in my ears. I forgot about the two men, and even about the girl I was supposed to be watching over.

Julia would be here in four or five seconds.

Four.

I heard the entrance to the bedroom open with a gentle creak. Danielle and I locked eyes.

Three.

I heard Clayton’s voice, speaking to Harrison through my solo earbud — “… enough proof for you...?” — but I wasn’t really paying attention.

Two.

I tugged the earbud free and blinked, trying to figure out what to do.

One.

The handle to the bathroom door turned with a soft click. The portal swung open. Then, the woman I loved walked through, saw two people crouched over a laptop in the middle of the tiled floor, and opened her mouth to scream.

But even as Julia stepped into the room and saw us, I was moving. I was on my feet and springing forward, my hands outstretched. The stunning brunette was pulling in a panicked gasp when I crashed into her, knocking her a step backwards into the door and closing it with a soft thud. One hand clamped down over her mouth, the other catching her wrist as she lashed out instinctively.

I did it all as gently as I could, but I felt her curves up against my taut muscles as I pressed her into the door with my body. It was such a powerful, familiar sensation that I almost jumped back like I’d touched a hot stove. I couldn’t have said why I did what I did next.

Maybe because I didn’t have time to explain. Maybe because I was still a little out of it. Or maybe because, deep down, watching Julia become a mindless, obedient sextoy had been one of the hottest things I’d ever seen.

“Sleepy time, gorgeous.”

My voice was low and husky, adrenaline shooting through me. I saw recognition in Julia’s shocked, brown eyes for just an instant before they widened and I felt her body relax against me.

“Mitch…” Danielle’s voice behind me, but I couldn’t give her my attention.

My ex was blinking slowly, and I suddenly felt her body move against mine. A very deliberate shimmying movement intended to rub up against the bulge that still strained between my legs. Then, I felt her tongue on my fingers, and when I loosened my grip on her mouth in surprise she leaned forward and sucked my thumb between her lips.

“Mmm…” she moaned softly, swirling her tongue around the digit. Her eyes flashed into mine, and there was a different kind of recognition now. She recognized that I was the man who had just entranced her. And that meant… “Yes, Master…”

Her voice reached into my core and wrenched my lust back up to the fore. For an instant, all I could do was fuzzily wonder whether I was going to fuck her standing up against the door or if I would throw her down on the bed a few feet away and fuck her from behind.

“Mitch!” It was Danielle’s hissed whisper that brought me back to reality. Her desperation cut through the last hazy clouds that fuzzed my mind.

What are you thinking, man? I demanded of myself, taking an abrupt step back and pulling away from Julia. She and I couldn’t be doing something like that right now. There was no time, and my boss would be expecting her back in just a few short minutes. Even more, how could I conscience taking advantage of her after all the hell I’d put her through?

But there was no time for those questions either. Julia, in a strange twist of fate, was forcing my hand.

“Do you think we got enough?” I asked Danielle. My voice was fast and low. “To turn over to the authorities? To blackmail him? Whatever we decide?”

A moment of hesitation. No, her glance had shifted to the screen. She was listening to Harrison and the principal in the other room. “Yes,” she said slowly, frowning with concentration. “Your principal just told Harrison he doesn’t understand… that after five months of hypnotic conditioning, Lena should be a fully functioning sex slave. That sounds enough like a confession to me.”

We have him!

I turned back towards the bathroom door but Julia was stepping closer. Her hands were on my arms now, tangling herself up in me, begging to be touched. I knew she’d follow me if I left, and I glanced around desperately.

I saw Danielle, and seized on an idea.

“Jules, angel,” I murmured. I stepped close, and cupped the woman’s cheeks in my hands. She stared hungrily into my face, and I knew it was the wrong time to say something profound and emotional. I shot another glance over at Danielle, then met Julia’s smoldering gaze. “See that hot babe over there? I want you to go down on her until she’s climbing up the walls.”

Then, as my girlfriend’s attention switched to the busty, dark-haired salesgirl standing behind me and Danielle gasped in surprise at my words, I slipped past Julia and into the bedroom. I shut the door behind me, blocking out the rectangle of light. The bedroom was dark, with blackout curtains keeping the early morning sun at bay. I strode around the corner of the mattress, and paused with my hand on the doorknob. I could hear the low murmur of voices beyond the wooden portal.

Twisting my wrist, I shoved the door open and strode into the room beyond.

It was time to make Joseph Clayton pay.

The bedroom door hit the wall with a bang behind me.

I was coming in hot, and I wasn’t being quiet. It was only as both men turned to me with shocked expressions on their faces that I realized I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I hadn’t planned far enough ahead, hadn’t expected us to get even this far without being derailed. The plan ended at Get Joseph Clayton to confess on video.

“You!” The principal took a half step back. His expression was shocked, but it also had an edge of irritation. Like I was getting to be a nuisance.

It was that expression that did it. I’m a nuisance to your fucked-up, evil business model, am I?

I surged forward again, fueled by the anger that had been building in me for days. Since I’d first learned that Joseph Clayton had tricked and manipulated me. Since I’d realized the depths of his twisted little world. Since I’d seen him turn Julia into a brainwashed plaything.

My fist cracked into his cheek. That was the first thing I felt and heard, before realizing that I’d taken several long steps and hit Clayton with a furious right cross.

It had the weight of my arm and shoulder and hips behind it, and the man’s head snapped back. He staggered, letting out a muted shout of surprise and pain.

“But—!” I heard Harrison start to protest, then cut himself off, like his brain had short circuited and he didn’t know what to say.

My other fist came up and sank into Clayton’s ribs, a dull thud and a solid sensation that rippled up my wrist to my elbow. I’m sure my form was awful, but I made up for it with enthusiasm.

The air whooshed out of my boss’s lungs and he sagged, tripping back over the arm of the sofa and falling heavily. His eyes were wide, and there was a glint of fear in them.

I liked it. I wanted him on the ground, panting and groaning. I wanted him to pay for what he’d done to Julia, and to the other girls. And to me, as well. But I froze, uncertain even in my rage if I had it in me to jump on a downed opponent to keep hitting him.

My hesitation was all the opportunity the other man needed. The glint of fear turned to a cunning gleam, and his finger punched up in my direction like a spear. “Professor Sands!” The words were somewhere between a rasp and cough as he pulled in a lungful of air. But it was enough.

Instantly, I realized my mistake. Why had I held myself back? No… I tried to fight it, tried to force my muscles to move, but half of me was questioning why I would want to.

“Professor Sands…” Clayton dragged himself away and into a sitting position, still pointing at me like his gesture was somehow keeping me at bay.

I blinked slowly. Equally slowly, a frown spread across my face. Was I really moving through honey, or was time just changing its pace? I took a step after Clayton, staring down at the man in his silver-grey suit.

“Professor sands professor sands professor sands…” He was running the words together rapid fire, so they weren’t making any sense anymore but were just verbal missiles. Vaguely, far away, I could feel them hitting my mind like bullets out of a Gatling gun. Silent thud thud thud thudding. Tearing apart my anger and my conviction and my will and scattering my thoughts.

“Mitch?”

Lena’s voice.

I heard her questioning tone as I swayed sideways into the couch and put a hand down to steady myself. Like Julia, Lena was still entranced. But not by Clayton. By me. My fist was clenched, but I wasn’t sure why. I unclenched my fingers and instead gripped the arm of the sofa. I frowned at the principal as he shoved himself to his feet, shaking his head in confusion.

“What the fuck?” Clayton’s hand was on his cheek, which was already reddening where I’d slugged him. His eyes darted between Lena and Harrison and me, calculating, like there was a theorem here to be described but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Like he was analyzing all the variables and drawing them into a single equation.

I saw movement in my peripheral vision, Lena rising to her feet and lunging forward, like she was going to —

“Paralysis Protocol!” Clayton barked, his voice like a whipcrack, swinging his attention to her.

My eyes followed his sweeping hand, and I saw Lena suddenly freeze, going completely still with one hand stretching out toward me and the other right between the cushions, grabbing the object that Danielle had fetched from downstairs earlier. Her hand pressed it into the shadow of the cushions, and I realized that I was the only one with an angle to see it. Then, to my astonishment, I saw that Harrison, too, suddenly stiffened.

What the fuck was that?

I looked back from Harrison St. John and into Lena’s green eyes, could see the confusion behind them as she struggled to move and was unable. You’re mine… You will obey no one else… That was the order I’d given Lena, the best shield I could think of in case Joseph Clayton came to reclaim her.

And it had failed.

“I don’t know quite what’s going on here,” my employer’s voice was rough. I was watching him again. Dully, with no spark of resistance in my mind. “But it seems like someone naughty has been sneaking around showing people my subliminal programming videos.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Harrison, then he glared at me. “Is that so, Mr. Mathematics? Did you show Harrison one of my videos?”

I swallowed. I felt so warm and comfortable. And he was asking so politely. I nodded gently. “Mhmm…”

The principal was fuming, but also confused. “Why?” he demanded. “How?”

I decided to answer the obvious question first. “Because he wanted to fuck Lena.” The look Joseph Clayton gave me was so surprised that I felt the urge to clarify. “And she didn’t want it.”

Clayton blinked at me. His face closed angrily. “I don’t care what she wants!” he exclaimed a moment later. “And I don’t care how you got involved in all this! I should have just wiped your mind like I did with all the rest of them. Why did I think it would be a good idea to have a semi-autonomous man running around?”

The principal appeared to be getting quite upset, but I wasn’t sure what was wrong. Everything was so easy and calm. Nothing to get riled up about. But my employer didn’t seem to agree. I’d never seen him like this. Usually, Joseph Clayton was the perfect model of strong, confident, alpha behavior. But now he was practically rambling.

Was it because his plans had come under fire? Was this why his net was so tight, because he couldn’t handle not being in complete control?

“… media started poking around. I needed someone around in case I had to deflect attention…” His eyes were wild now, accusing, like I had dared to create all of the setbacks that plagued him. “But you were just supposed to be a tool! An average man in a position of relative authority so that the girls would get accustomed to accepting their programmed gender roles. And you were doing so damn well…”

I just blinked, and his heaving chest slowed. His scowl deepened as he pressed his lips together, silencing himself. Then, it turned up until his mouth was just a hard, straight line. His moment of surprised hysteria was over, I realized. And, with it, my only opportunity to catch him with his guard down.

I felt a dull disappointment, but couldn’t bring myself to truly care. It was easier this way. To just relax and let him take control. Let him take care of everything.

Clayton’s stern, cut off chuckle was what brought my wandering mind back to the present. “I suppose I should thank you, Mitch. You’ve reminded me of a vital lesson I should have already known. Trust no one, and suspect everyone.”

I blinked. That didn’t sound like a very relaxing way to live. But I was too calm to worry about it. I shrugged and glanced away, hoping that was an okay response. Lena’s eyes were still aware, I realized. She was awake and aware but trapped in her own body, which obeyed Clayton’s instructions completely.

It made me wonder…

“What did you do to her?” I knew that somewhere, deep down, there was a part of me clawing for control of my body. But my tone was dull, idly curious. Was I stalling? Trying to give myself time to break free? Or was my brain still just catching up to events?

It’s strange, being trapped in your own mind.

“Ha.” Now the principal had a smirk twisting his lips. He was watching Lena as well. “Well, professor, there are the trigger words I share with my clients,” he gestured at Harrison St. John. “And then there are the trigger words that are automatically embedded in anyone’s subconscious mind when they watch my online Academy courses. That’s why our friend Harrison is affected, as well. Because you somehow got him to watch a course.” He paused, growing thoughtful. “I suppose that’s how you got him to join this whole…” He looked around and opened his hands in a gesture that seemed to take in the entire room, each of us, and the strangeness of it all, “endeavor? Ambush? I really don’t know what you were trying to accomplish.”

I shrugged. “Yes…” No point in denying it. Clayton had won, of course. But it was okay. Because he’d probably brainwash me and make me forget it all.

“Well, who’d have thought...?” The man shook his head pensively, touched his cheek gently with his fingertips, and winced. His eyes flared up and he glared at me. “I’ll be sure to figure out what exactly is going on here after I get you back to the Academy. I’ll crack open your mind like a walnut and then wipe it clean.”

I nodded slowly. That sounded about right.

The principal narrowed his eyes, glanced at Harrison and Lena. “And you’ve ruined a business transaction as well…” He trailed off, staring at the businessman. “Though I think I could find some uses for both of them.”

I could see the ideas sparking behind his brooding gaze. What a strange thought, to be having ideas for yourself. Who needed them? The bombardment of triggers was still hitting me, and I felt like I was falling backward into a large, fluffy blanket of warmth.

“… may even let you see your girlfriend one more time before you forget all about her.”

My eyes refocused. My boss was still talking, but I’d zoned out for a moment.

So calm…

So relaxed…

Clayton grinned. For maybe the first time, I saw an ugly side of his usually polished features. “I’ll keep you around as a teacher, and you’ll never question me again. And maybe I’ll keep her around, too. I could use a secretary.” He tapped his chin thoughtfully. A sadistic smirk. “No… A student. You can teach her, prepare her, and then, when she’s ready to sell, I’ll let you remember what you’ve done. You’ll lie awake at night and wonder how it could have happened. Then, instead of getting rid of her, I’ll just make you forget. And we’ll do it again, over and over.”

I realized, dully, what it was, the thing I was sensing in the principal’s words and actions. It was a deep desire to control, certainly, but also to hurt. He loved breaking people, bending them to his design, and this school of his was just the excuse that let him do it. A deep, angry part of me wondered if this was it. If all of the sneaking around, compromising my relationship, breaking up with Julia, practically kidnapping an international business mogul…

All of it had just been to end up back under the thumb of the man who’d started it all.

Where was the justice in that?

“Speaking of that sexy little girlfriend of yours,” Clayton’s voice suddenly had the slightest hint of concern, which then rose into uncertainty. “You must have seen her just a moment ago. What did you do with her?”

I felt the warmth of the morning sun on my back as I tried to corral my hazy mind and wrangle an answer. “… Danielle…”

Clayton’s tone was sharp and harsh. “Danielle? There’s someone else in this suite?!”

The gears of my mind spun slowly. Shouldn’t have told him that, one part of me commented frankly. She was the only variable left. But most of me was just numb and vaguely happy. “Mmhmm…” I hummed easily.

“Danielle…” The principal squinted. “Has she seen the videos?”

“Mmhmm…”

“Ah. Good.” The self-assurance had returned. “Then all I need to do is—”

That, of course, was when Danielle — stripped down to nothing but a thong and a lacy bra, both pink — stepped into the bedroom doorway and said in a small, defeated voice. “Please let me go, sir. I really have nothing to do with this.”

Oh, I thought. My last companion had given in. It really is over…

Joseph Clayton had won.

The moment was short.

But, for me, it was full of painful expectation. Danielle didn’t know Clayton, didn’t know what he was capable of. He knew that she’d watched his videos and had been subliminally programmed. He would never let her go.

But he might play with her a little first.

The principal of the Brighton Barnsworth Academy let out a gentle chuckle. His mask slipped back up immediately, the mask of a charming, successful entrepreneur without a sly bone in his body. “Hello,” he said, “come on out.” He smiled disarmingly. “I think we’d all better have a little chat.”

Danielle took several steps forward shyly. Her hands were raised, awkwardly trying to cover herself even as she left the shelter of the doorway. I wondered why she would do that. Clayton owned all of us, anyway. There was no sense hiding from the man in charge.

“What do you want to chat about?” A strand of the young woman’s dark hair fell across her face as she ducked her head self-consciously, and she seemed to debate for a moment before lifting the hand that covered her bra and tucking it back. She hastily covered up again. “Can’t you just… let me go? I promise I won’t tell anyone. I don’t even know what’s going on…”

She took a couple steps closer, edging around behind me. Her shoulders were hunched and she was poised on the balls of her feet, ready to bolt. Even as she asked Clayton for mercy, it was clear that she was uneasy.

The man’s frank gaze swept up and down miles of bare skin. He shrugged easily, his tone friendly. “But you have to see where I’m coming from… Where would you go, I wonder? You can see that something is amiss, here. Can I be certain you won’t go straight to hotel security? No…” he mused. “It really will be safer if you just stick around while I sort all of this out.”

The slim brunette sidestepped lightly, circling around the couch. Lena was actually only a few feet away from her now, swaying a little but otherwise unable to move, unable to resist, her own body turned against her. Her green eyes were bright with awareness and frustration, but I would have bet she couldn’t see the same feelings in my dark ones.

I felt dulled and slow, my thoughts sluggish and insubstantial. Idly, my gaze wandered down Lena’s figure, over her perky tits in that white button down, along the line of her back and legs in that figure-skimming navy skirt. And then, for the second time, my eyes landed on the object clutched in Lena’s hand, hidden from Clayton by the back of the couch.

Oh! Hello there…

It was a taser. The one I’d sent Danielle to retrieve before Clayton arrived. Just in case, I’d told the Regent employee when she’d mentioned that her ex had accidentally shown her the code to the cache of security gear downstairs. So Lena has something to protect herself with if things go sideways.

“Huh,” I muttered slowly as it hit me.

Danielle wasn’t just nervously circling away from the principal. She was inching her way closer and closer to Lena. My face turned slowly up toward the brunette’s, and I saw that my toneless comment had made her worried. Her eyes widened. I noticed, this time, as her gaze twitched a nervous look at the taser in Lena’s hand and then back up toward the principal.

Unfortunately, Joseph Clayton noticed it, too. His eyes narrowed. “What’s all this now?” he demanded. He took a step closer.

This is it, I thought. And deep down inside me a tiny, barely kindled flame of hope died.

At that instant, however, Danielle made her decision. She darted forward, dodging the corner of the coffee table and leaning down, ripping the small device from Lena’s frozen fingers.

“Paralysis Protocol!” Clayton snapped. His voice was cold and hard as ice.

Danielle’s lithe young figure, all pale skin and pale pink lingerie, vaulted over the couch in a smooth movement, her legs tucked up like a parkour gymnast. The woman barely slowed as she landed with catlike grace, coiled back on her haunches as the tall, grey-suited man took a stumbling step back.

“What—?” he started to demand.

Then, like a striking snake, Danielle launched herself forward. She ducked under the man’s grasping arms and jammed her ex-boyfriend’s taser into the principal’s ribs.

There was a crackling, buzzing sound.

“Aaaagh!” Clayton’s body convulsed once and then he tipped backward like a felled tree, fists clutching at nothing and groaning through clenched teeth.

The dark-haired woman pulled back and punched again with the weapon. Again the sound. Only this time, in response, the man’s groan was weak and his body flopped back limply.

I blinked. My mind was moving slow. “Danielle…” I managed to mutter as she crouched over Clayton’s prone form. “How did you…? You watched the— Oh…”

As the truth sank into my brain, some small part of my mind did a very unprofessional victory dance in my boss’s direction.

“You’re not talking to Danielle right now,” Raven said, and her bright white teeth flashed my way in a cheeky grin. “But…” she purred. “Who knew that I’d sooo enjoy roleplay?”

Some part of me must have known what I was doing.

That’s what I mused on as I slowly regained the ability to marshal my thoughts. My body still felt clumsy, slow to respond, but that was only to be expected. I’d been hit with enough mental tranquilizers to take down a metaphorical rhinoceros.

Raven was humming to herself as she took the ropes we’d used to tie Harrison last night and wound them around Clayton’s wrists. The principal’s tie was used as a gag. Even tied up, his words were still dangerous.

I watched, slowly figuring out what it meant to think clearly again. I was still untangling what had happened. Maybe it was just a sliver of my subconscious, but it seemed to me that a part of Mitch had still been calculating, still been calm and collected while the rest of my mind took a vacation to Trance Town. Or whatever I should call it when my trigger word punches me right in the IQ. I had sent Julia to play with Danielle, after all. And I knew that that was the only surefire way to bring out Raven.

Ah well. Maybe I was a genius. Maybe I’d just gotten lucky. I would believe it either way.

I’m not sure exactly how it worked, but after several minutes Lena and Harrison seemed to regain control over their own bodies, as well. Maybe once they saw Clayton out of commission their minds could no longer justify following his command.

Or maybe not. Really, don’t ask me to explain. I’m not any sort of expert.

As soon as I was able, though, I stumbled out of the room in search of Julia. It didn’t take an expert to know that I had some explaining to do.