The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

HOSTEL

Chapter Twenty Two — Buckle Up For Takeoff

Stairs. More fucking stairs.

This particular set led from the back of the dance floor to a mezzanine and Alice’s office. Rebecca wrapped her fingers around the cold iron handrail and, as she ascended step by step, found herself staring at yet another ass. But the thing swaying in front of her was hardly the stuff of dreams. Not Emily’s perfect butt, or even an Alice or a Celeste, but rather Edwin’s portly rear end, shaking and jiggling as he labored up the steep flight. Her stomach, already twisting, added another knot.

I’m never climbing another staircase for as long as I live, she thought, casting her glance over the railing towards the sweaty crowd below. She was a stranger in a club full of them, lost and alone and utterly powerless to save herself. There was nothing left to do but climb up, up, up. Again.

“Keep moving.” Amanda delivered another sharp poke to the center of Rebecca’s back, her fifth or sixth such jab since leaving the booth. She clearly got a rise out of doing it, because Rebecca was making no attempt to delay the inevitable. She was being marched to her doom, and none of her allies—not Alice, not Celeste, not Emily—were going to help her.

They weren’t even her allies, now.

Beyond the huffing engine that was Edwin, Rebecca could make out Celeste’s head, wobbling left and right in time with her steps. In front of her, blocked by her girlfriend’s lovely form, was the woman who caused all of this in the first place. Fitting, in a way, that Alice would be the one to lead the way. Leading young women into mindless slavery was what she did best.

What Alice does best? It’s what you do best, Rebecca Sanders. There was an entire club full of hypnotized slavegirls one floor below who could testify to that. Emily, Alice Alice!, Jessica Jessica!, Celeste… Celeste...

I really do love you, Rebecca.” Those eyes. Those gorgeous hazel eyes. Piercing, full of life, more than a little hypnotic. Rebecca fell into them. Celeste studied her with an intense, serious stare. “I”m hopelessly in love with you. I want to be with you forever. Tonight, tomorrow, always. You’re my everything now.”

Goddammit. Why do I always fuck everything up? She’d never been in love. Not with Missy, maybe a little with Emily. Maybe more than a little with Emily. Celeste was supposed to be nothing more than target practice. It was Alice who had to force her into dragging her new companion around Berlin. That smile. That sweet face. That body. The sound of her breathing as she snuggled next to Rebecca on that cold night in their bedroom. Her soft hair… you’re my everything now.

Would they be together? Could they be together? Would Edwin and Amanda allow it? Perhaps they could live together as mindless slaves, fucking each other when they weren’t being triggered and sent off on mindless missions of their own, lovers who carried a secret command in the back of their minds to obey without question…

She reached the top of the stairs, and Amanda gave her another unprovoked shove. This one was hard enough to send her stumbling into Edwin, who half-turned and glared at her. She quickly averted her gaze and resumed a safe distance behind him. Up ahead, Alice was nearly at the door to her office.

No. Amanda hates me. Amanda wants me dead. They’d never let me live with Celeste. They’ll never give me a moment of happiness.

The mezzanine itself continued past the stairs and halfway around the dance floor, providing a little overlook for anyone who was into that sort of thing. Its more practical use, judging from the few clubbers who had ventured this far, was as an unofficial makeout loft, complete with the sort of secluded corners and low lighting that Rebecca herself had used to her advantage many times. Her hand instinctively drifted to the pocket where her trusty pendant, though practically useless at this point, was coiled and waiting.

She let it drop in front of Missy’s wide eyes, just like the TV magicians she’d watched with one hand jammed in her pants. Naked, if the volunteer was hot enough. “Look into the pendant, Missy.”

Missy gasped. The sound made Rebecca’s pussy burn with anticipation. It always did. By now the girl was so conditioned that even talking about the pendant was enough to drop her into a deep trance. Seeing it amplified the effects tenfold, and Missy’s eyes slammed shut almost immediately. “Uhhhnnnn,” she sighed. Her chin pressed against her perky breasts.

“Did you wear your sexiest undies for me, as I commanded?” She was tempted to peek, but relented. Better to find out while her hot new lover did a slow strip tease.

“I… I don’t have… any. I borrowed some from my roommate. She’s…” Her eyes, still closed, fluttered slightly as she floated between being the awake girl who could explain everything and the Deeply Hypnotized girl who had no need to think, much less talk. “She’s got a lot,” she finally said. “I had to obey.”

“Take off your shirt,” Rebecca said. The girl’s instantaneous reaction made her feel more than a little proud of herself. “Are you still roommates with Veronica?”

“Yes, Rebecca.” Missy let her shirt drop to her feet. She was wearing a slightly frilly, electric blue lace bra that made her already perfect breasts into something positively heavenly.

Rebecca, mesmerized, said nothing for a long time. Finally, an idea crept into her head. It would be easy. She knew exactly how she would do it. If she could put Missy into a trance, how hard would it be to do it to someone else? To anyone on campus? Just the thought of it was enough to set her body on fire, and she nearly tore her new leggings in her urge to get naked.

“Missy,” she panted, pulling the mesmerized girl into her arms, “when does Veronica get back?”

Alice unlocked the office door and let it swing wide. She slipped inside, followed by Celeste and Edwin. Rebecca watched the office swallow them whole, vanishing into the darkness. Lost forever, never to be heard from again. Then Alice found the light switch and snapped it on just as Rebecca reached the threshold. She found herself looking directly at Celeste. Her girlfriend watched impassively as she stepped into the room, one step ahead of Amanda’s scolding finger.

Edwin moved to the wall and surveyed his new little kingdom. He rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get started, then!”

To her surprise, Rebecca’s stomach unknotted itself. Her eyes never left Celeste. I may not be the best person in the world, babe, but you are. You are to me. Her fear gave way to stubborn resolve. She couldn’t save herself. But she could still save Celeste..

She had to.

* * *

“Whoa! Hot girl, coming through!”

Grace weaved between tipsy clubbers with ease, twisting and spinning her way back to the bar with a clutch of empty glasses in both hands. She dropped them into the sink with a satisfying ploomp, and without missing a beat, engaged the two hotties who had only arrived at the bar seconds before. Timing was everything, and Grace had it in spades. “Whatcha need, girls?”

“Deux bieres, s’il vous plait! Stellas?” said the brunette, slapping a twenty-Euro note on the bar and pushing it forward.

Grace responded with a well-practiced smile and ignored the note, for now. She also ignored the odd, dazed flatness of the girl’s voice, her slight annoyance at taking orders in French, and the stream of terrible music coming from the DJ, five songs in a row and counting. All that mattered were the tips, and the clock, both of which were advancing sufficiently. Within minutes, the girls had their Stellas and their change, the register had another twenty in the drawer, and she had another tip in her pocket.

The cute sandy-haired boy who followed them wanted three shots of Killepitsch. “You don’t seem like the Killepitsch type,” she said, twirling the ends of her hair. The truth was, they were out of the stuff. A little charm, a little sweet talk, and hopefully she could steer him into something more available. Something she could grab from the bar, instead of-

“It’s for the girls,” he shrugged, pointing to three beautiful girls from the crowd that had poured in earlier. Cute boy or not, all three were way out of his league. “Do… do you have something like it?”

She did, maybe. “It’s in the back room. I’m gonna have to find it okay?”

Cute Boy nodded.

“Don’t go anywhere,” she added, shaking her ass for good measure as she headed to the back room.

As she switched on the light, her eyes instinctively went to the far corner, where Misstre-Rebecca’s friend was still sleeping things off. The poor redhead looked absolutely wiped, and in spite of the rush, Grace took a moment to make sure she was still tucked in and warm. And breathing!

“Mmmmmnnnnnn… can’t… Rebecccc… you… hyp…” The girl’s head tilted to her right, and she fell silent again. Her lips—she had really cute lips, Grace decided then and there—pursed into a cute little pucker, her long breaths passing through with a faint whistle. All good. Drunk, maybe, but nothing serious. She looks like hell, though. Nearly as bad as Rebecca, and Rebecca looked like she’d just picked a fight with a steamroller. “I’m gonna go check on your best bud, sweetie,” she whispered, brushing the redhead’s forehead with one finger. “As soon as I can find this… middle shelf, upper right… oh fuck me! Are we out of it?”

She glanced at Emily again. Tips or no tips, there was something to be said about sacking out in the storeroom, away from the drunks and the shouting and the terrible DJ out on the floor. Funny how everyone gave you smoke breaks, but never nap breaks. So tempted to join you, babe. Close my eyes for a few minutes and relax.

“Relax,” the rows of bottles whispered to her. “Just relax.” Just the thought of a nap break sucked the tension from her muscles. It was nice to dream of things like that. To relax, to just “close your eyes, Grace. Sleep. Relax. Watch. Sleep. So tired, Grace.” Giving you orders. Giving you commands. My voice. The customer’s voice. You must always obey the customer’s voice. You must do what the customer wants, Grace.

The cute boy wanted Underberg. She was getting it for him. She was doing what the customer wanted. She was following a command. She heard, and obeyed. “Obey,” she whispered. “I hear, and I obey.”

She sank slowly to the ground, bending at her knees and coming to an awkward rest atop a box of paper napkins. She slid a hand into her pants, just enough for a quick touch. A quick brush against her damp panties, enough to Nnnnnnn… fuuuuck yesssss. The yellow club lights were so pretty to look at. The lights, and the voice, and Rebecca’s tongue on her clit… her own hands pushing up her boobs as she moaned softly, her burning pussy crying out for more, always more, please Mistress, more, more! I obey! I must always obey!

“Yesss… fuck… more… Mistresssssss…” She unzipped her pants, the better to get a hand in there and really get to work, and her eyes rolled into her head as she picked up speed. “Mistress. Mistress. Misssss… nnnnnnnyessssss…” She lost track of the bottle. Of time, for that matter.

“Grace?” Peter’s voice broke the spell, and she pulled her hands away from all of her sexy bits. The entire room smelled like sex, but Peter didn’t seem to notice. He put his head through the doorway. “Did you go in here? Ah! There you are!”

“Sorry, sorry!” She stood, hoping that her pants wouldn’t slide to her knees. They stayed in place, and she shuffled towards the far wall. “Just looking for where we keep that bottle of <drink>. And checking in on Emily here.”

“She’ll sleep it off,” he said. He was fully inside the storeroom now, but paid Grace no attention as he hunted down and located the needed bottle. “Also, I need to ask you something.”

By now, Grace had her pants zipped and buttoned up. It was safe enough to step under the light bulb at the center of the room, even if her panties were still very, very soaked. Holy shit I need to get laid tonight! Maybe Peter would do her the honors. He was fairly handsome, if a little on the rugged side. As long as he has a dick that can fill—oh shit he’s staring at me!

“Oh, thanks for finding that! It was driving me fucking crazy!” She reached out and took the bottle from his hands. “What else did you want?”

“Alice has something very important for you to hear.”

* * *

“I have an idea.”

Amanda slid into a chair. “You have an idea? Edwin, the stupid girl has an idea. Oh, this ought to be good.”

“You’ve just been full of good ideas tonight, haven’t you?” Edwin grinned. He held all of the cards, and he knew it. He leaned against the exposed brick wall and rested a foot against it. “Go ahead. Make it entertaining.”

This is it. This is my last stand. “I know,” she began, stumbling over her words. “I don’t… I can’t guarantee that you’ll do this for me, I know that. But I want you to let Celeste go. After you hypnotize me, I want you to put her under and erase her memory of all of this. Please.” She switched her gaze between Edwin and Amanda, searching… praying for even a hint of compassion. “It’s my fault. She’s my fault. I got her into this, and she doesn’t deserve to be a slave. You have me, and you have all of the girls downstairs. Just from… I dunno, one mind controller to another? Let her go.”

“Celeste, come here.” Edwin patted his leg, the way Rebecca did when she summoned her golden retriever. Celeste responded in much the same way, rushing to his side and leaning against him with a dazed smile on her face. “Take off your jacket and sweater, please.”

“Yes, sir.” Off came the ill-fitting jacket, which was probably stolen from Emily’s bag. The sweater—Rebecca’s gift to her—followed. For a moment, Celeste was caught within its folds, her boobs jiggling, everything above her shoulders a mass of writhing arms and yarn. Even in the face of everything, Rebecca couldn’t stifle a little smile. Celeste was so cute. She couldn’t end like this. Their story couldn’t end like this.

“Just let her go? You want me to let go of this?” Edwin placed his hands against Celeste’s hips and drew them upwards, lifting and then releasing her breasts before coming to rest on her shoulders. “This little mindless fucktoy? And what do I get out of it? Hmm? What do you have to give in return?”

“Just me, I guess. Like I said, it seems like an honorary thing to do. You guys won. Isn’t that worth anything?”

“I’m going to have you anyway. What else?”

“You could…” She tried to think of something, anything that might make sense, fully aware that nothing she came up with was likely to satisfy either of them. A name popped into her head, and she ran with it. “Madison Cooke.”

“I’m not interested in trades, Rebecca. Now, if you’re finished…”

“No, it’s not like that. Madison Cooke is the kind of hot girl that can convince other people to do anything, buy anything, believe anything… Anyway, Alice hypnotized her and then let her go back to her old life. Her job is to send other girls here to be enslaved. So instead of one slave, Alice gets dozens. See? Celeste could be like that. Free will, but still working for you.”

Edwin cocked his head, letting her offer filter through his brain. He seemed to like it. “That’s… not a bad idea. Something for the future, maybe.” He pushed away from the wall and crossed his arms. “You’re smarter than you look. Maybe I’ll send you home one of these days to collect more slaves.”

“I am really good at it.” She let her voice drop, almost without thinking, and continued, “I’m a lot like her. I can be very convincing. Some girls just have that voice. Soft and sweet, slow and pretty. Like music, light and soft, in the back of your head. Whispering things.”

She watched as Edwin’s arms loosened and slid to his waist, barely linked by his broad, limp hands. He was staring at her. “People hear Madison’s words and they want to listen to her. She’s so pretty. So, so pretty. So soft and gentle.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Amanda starting to lean back in her chair. Unlike Edwin, she was blinking heavily. Her mouth hung half-open as her chest rose and fell in a slow, relaxing rhythm. “She had the most beautiful eyes. So beautiful, like jewels. Shiny, pretty, beautiful sparkling jewels. Watch them. Look into them. So pretty. Her voice washing over you like a warrrrm waaaaave on a relaaaaaxing beeeeeach.”

Edwin’s hands dropped to his sides. He was leaning forward, just slightly, glazed eyes locked onto hers. She couldn’t see Amanda from this angle, but turning to look meant tearing her gaze away from Edwin. She couldn’t risk it, now. “Deeper and deeper,” she said, her voice sliding out of her body with smooth precision. “Deeper and deeper into her eyes, into her voice. Listen to her words. People want to do whatever she says. Whatever she wants. It’s so relaxing to do whatever she wants. Whatever I want. I’m like her, relaxing and pretty and beautiful, so beautiful. Listen to my voice.”

“Y… ye…” He opened his mouth several times, but nothing came out.

“Yesssss. You can say it. It feels soooo good to say it. Feel the words slipping away. Soft and sweet. Yesssss… listen to my voice. Only my voice.”

“Yesssss… I want to…” His head dropped to his chest. “Voice…”

“So beautiful. So pretty. So relaxing. Close your eyes, now. Close your eyes, and sleep. So tired. Sleep. Tired. Sleeeeeep.”

“Sllleee…” his eyes rolled into his head, and he fell silent. Behind him, Alice and Celeste stood motionless, watching the scene play out without comment or thought.

Rebecca was beside herself. Excitement pulsed through her veins. Her feet felt like they were floating a good six inches above the floor, riding on a cushion of air and astonishment and… power. She’d done it. Holy shit! All she had to do was put Amanda fully under and then…

“Nice try, Rebecca.”

She turned to look at Amanda, and came crashing back to earth.

The older woman rose to her feet. Her eyes burned with evil. “But that’s all it’ll ever be. All you’ll ever be. A nice… try.” She quickly covered the distance to Edwin and slapped him across the face. The sound of the slap was enough to make Rebecca wince. “Wake up!”

“Wha?” He looked around in confusion, face turning bright red as the realization of what Rebecca had done sunk in. “I… Mandy, I…”

“Shut up, Edwin. I told you she was a massive cunt. And a dangerous one!” She turned to face Rebecca. “Now, cunt. It’s my turn to play.”

* * *

Keys in the lock, turn, jiggle a bit… and… all locked up.

Grace withdrew the key and let it fall against her chest. Wearing the bar’s keys around her neck made it much, much easier to wear her favorite pairs of tight pants. No bulging pockets, no sharp edges digging into her thigh, no painful interruptions on those nights when she closed up shop by riding one of the hot club boys—or girls—who hung around until closing time for that very purpose.

The cool metal felt good against her flush, sweaty skin, and she pressed a trembling hand to her chest. Every movement felt good. Every touch. Every passing second.

It felt so good to obey.

After a moment, the next piece of the puzzle slid into her brain. She reached beneath the bar and found the paper and marker that Peter had thoughtfully left behind. Ignoring the customers in front of her, she quickly scribbled down a note, then paused. English? English is good. The boss speaks English. I’ll add it. More scribbling followed. The marker’s fumes tickled her nose, and somehow even that was arousing. She fought the urge to yank down her pants and put the marker to a creative new use. Shick shock shhhick.

Satisfied, she propped the pad against the back bar for everyone to see. The results were immediate—mostly loud moans, peppered with curse words from five different languages—but Grace ignored it all. If anything, the complaints made her feel even sexier. I’m putting the boss ahead of…into mmmmmm… my own desires. Fuck, that’s hot…

She crossed to the front of the bar and eyed her handiwork.

Eine Pause machen, in ein paar Minuten wieder da!

Taking a break, back in a few minutes!

She pressed against a customer. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” He was staring at her keys, and the alluring canyon just below them. She patted his hand and smiled. “Be a good boy and stay here, and when I get back, I’ll show you something else you can tap tonight.”

“Okay,” he responded, but she was already moving away, new orders in mind, her promise to him already forgotten.

* * *

“Agent Celeste! Front and center!”

The brunette stepped forward and clicked her heels together. “Yes, Mistress!” The excitement in her voice didn’t match her blank expression, or her robot-stiff body language. “I await my orders, Mistress!”

“Just stand there and look pretty for a second.”

Another heel click. “Yes, Mistress!”

“We’ll fight you. You know that, don’t you?” Rebecca stared down her enemy. “Have you ever been hypnotized, Amanda? That little voice in the back of your head. The one you used to turn Emily on me. The little part that remembers everything. We’ll turn on you, too. Not tomorrow, but eventually. So fuck you. You’ll never have what I have, even if you force me to give it to you.”

She looked at Edwin, who immediately turned away, shielding his eyes. “Afraid of me now? You should be. You both should be. I don’t need machines to get what I want. So go ahead and trance me! Enjoy it while it lasts.” Go down fighting. Better than nothing. “Or let Celeste go, and let the back of my brain go to sleep knowing that she’s going to be okay. Your choice, Edwin. You’ve got the hypno-screen.”

He held up the device, looked at it, then looked at Amanda. He tilted his head again. “She’s got a point, Mandy.”

“Oh, so you’re going to side with her now?”

“MANDY.” The sound of his voice took everyone, even himself, by surprise. Only the two mindless slaves remained firmly in place. “Mandy,” he said, lowering his voice. “She’s right. The more hypnotists we have, the more slaves we can create. “We’ll keep you here”— he nodded to Rebecca—“we’ll send Celeste back to America, and we can send Alice out to start up a new hostel in another city. Madrid is supposed to be ripe for the taking. Can you speak Spanish, Alice?”

“No, Master. A girl can learn, though.”

“Let Celeste go,” Rebecca added, “and I won’t fight you. Ever. I’ll go downstairs and hypnotize every person on that dance floor. Won’t feel guilty about it at all. But only if the girl I love goes home on a plane tomorrow with no memory of this.” She sighed, conceding to the reality before her. “No conscious memory of this, anyway.”

A long, eternal moment passed. The three of them formed the corners of a triangle, with a mindless, mesmerized brunette standing in the center of it all. Rebecca held her breath. She suspected that the others were doing the same.

“Fine. Let’s do it your way, Rebecca. As long as I can put this fucking night out of my goddamn mind forever. Agent Celeste, look at the woman standing in front of you.”

“Yes, Mistress.” The brunette pivoted as if on rollers. “I obey.”

“This is Rebecca Sanders.”

“This is Rebecca Sanders,” said Celeste, and Rebecca felt what was clearly an intended emotional punch. Her girlfriend’s voice, normally sweet and dripping with desire, now reduced to blandly acknowledging her presence. Whatever Edwin had done to her, it had sunk in deep. She braced herself for what was sure to come next.

“She is a stranger to you.”

“She’s a… stranger to me.” Emotion danced around the edges of her beautiful hazel eyes. “Y… yesss.”

Amanda’s grin widened. “You hate Rebecca Sanders.”

“I… I hate… hate… yes, Mistress. I…”

“It’s okay, baby. Just let go. Do it for me.” Rebecca curled her lower lip beneath her teeth. She watched as the faint light faded from Celeste’s eyes.

Her expression soured. “I hate Rebecca Sanders,” she hissed. “I hate Rebecca Sanders.”

“Very good. Now in a moment, you’re going to get dressed.”

Whatever resistance remained in Celeste’s mind evaporated for good. “I will get dressed.”

“You will go to the U-bahn station and wait for the next arriving train. It will take you to the airport.”

“I will go to the U-bahn station and wait for the train. It will take me to the airport.”

That’s not exactly how you get to the airport. Rebecca raised a finger, offering to interject with the correct directions—Amanda clearly didn’t travel nearly as much as she did—but the woman ignored her.

“When the train arrives, Celeste. Listen to me carefully. Obey. Always obey. When the train arrives…”

Oh shit oh shit oh shit!

“…you will throw yourself in front of it. Understood?”

“Yes.” Her open mind accepted the words without complaint. “I will throw myself in front of it.”

Rebecca reached for her in a blind panic. “Celeste, no!” She got a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, only to have it yanked away by Amanda. The older woman planted a knee in Rebecca’s injured leg, and she crumpled helplessly to the ground. “No! Amanda, no! Celeste, listen to me! Listen! I… goddamn it… CELESTE!”

But the brunette was already going through the motions of getting dressed, calmly pulling her sweater over her head. She had the look of a sleepwalker, calm and utterly blank. She reached down for her jacket as Rebecca struggled to get back on her feet. A shoe slammed against her back, sending her sprawling to the floor.

Edwin remained where he stood. “Mandy,” he said, shaking his head in a way that said not again, Mandy, not again. “That’s a little much, isn’t it? Come on.” He moved to block Celeste from leaving, but she brushed past him as she zipped up her jacket, and he relented. “You can be a cold bitch sometimes. You know that?”

“Celeste! Wait… gah! Get… get OFF OF ME! CELESTE!” Rebecca squirmed, ignoring the pain in her upper back, desperately trying to work herself free. “HELP! SOMEBODY! OW!”

“Dammit, Mandy.” Edwin had the device in his hand. He tinkered with it until it began to glow. “Move over, I’m going to trance her before she brings the entire place down on us.”

“Shut your mouths and listen, both of you,” Amanda grunted as she worked to keep Rebecca pinned to the floor. “Once you’re hypnotized, I’ll send you out to catch Celeste and bring her back in. She’s walking slow, you’ll be running fast. But you won’t catch her unless you cut the BULLSHIT and stop playing around RIGHT NOW! Edwin, block the door.”

She waited until he did so, then lifted her foot.

Rebecca rolled onto her side and stumbled to her feet. She rested a hand against her injured back. “Fuck you, Amanda. Fuck both of you.”

“You’ll be fucking more than just the two of us when I’m through with you. Alice! Get your ass over here!”

The Irish woman was by her side in an instant. “Yes, Mistress, what is it?”

“Drop her into a trance,” she snarled. “Do it now.”

“Mandy, uh,” Edwin held up his device. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I want her to lose to the woman she beat, that’s what. How’s that for irony, Rebecca? You beat Alice only to lose out to me in the end. Your own pet turned against you. Enjoy that thought, you cunt, because it’s the last one you’re ever going to have. Alice! Stop dawdling and DO something with her!”

“Yes, dearie.”

Rebecca could sense how close Alice was to her. A foot, maybe, or less. Hovering over her, the way she did on that very first night at the club. Here they were, full circle, and nothing had changed.

“Goodbye, Alice,” she whispered.

Her former mistress ignored her. She moved closer, until their noses were inches apart. She took a breath, then another. Staring into Rebecca’s eyes. “Listen carefully, Rebecca…”

Sleep Rebecca. Just say it. Just say it and get it over with. Do it so I can save oh God Celeste Alice hurry hurry! She could feel Alice’s breath on her skin. The wub wub wub of the club music rattled the flimsy office door. Someone—Edwin, probably—stifled a little cough, and why is this taking so long just say it Alice goddamn it!

The air around her face cooled, and she cracked open an eye. Alice was slowly backing away, her pale blue eyes never leaving Rebecca’s. Another step, then two.

Is… did she just wink at me?

“Peter!” Alice shouted. “NOW!”

To be continued