The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“My lyrics reflect the conflict inside us all. While geared toward women, they show the conflict with both males and females over how we see the opposite sex. Some see themselves as sex objects, some don’t want to be sex objects but end up that way because of others’ desires, and some make themselves into sex objects by choice, never knowing what really could be come of them,” Christy said to the reporter with a plastic smile that barely hid seething hatred.

“Well, I think I knew a few of those!” the bleach-blonde reporter said with a giggle and a ditzy grin.

“I’d bet,” Christy said, barely audible in the microphone, but loud enough to cause controversy as the interview came to a close and the bell rang to let everyone know that they were off the air.

“Do I look ditzy, giggly, or otherwise not in my right mind to you?” Christy said as she stomped toward Sasha.

“Not in your right mind, maybe—but that’s from rage. You look ready to tear someone’s throat out with your teeth. Not mine!” Sasha replied. “Do you need some water?”

“I don’t trust anything in this place.”

Sasha reached into her bag and pulled out an unopened bottle of water, the cellophane still on the spout. Christy shot her a grateful look and took a sip. “Next time, I do the Sleaze Machine over the phone or with a gas mask on. That—that—”

“Debra Savitch, I believe,” Sasha interrupted, trying to lighten the mood and keep Christy from irking the producers.

“How much perfume does that hussy need? It gets worse every year. Maybe I should have done a double album just to stay out of this for another year.”

“Then you’d be going into something worse than this with no warning of what’s developing,” Sasha said practically. “And this is the best buzz you’ve ever got, if everything in the PR files is true. Rolling Stone might gather no moss, but it gets plenty of headlines.”

“I know, and that’s before my voice hits the airwaves. But the Sleaze Machine? I thought you knew better.”

“The proper name is the Hollywood Express, and I like to have your enemies where I can see them. It’s either do this and face them where we can shape the narrative, or have them digging through the garbage looking for used panties. You know that’s where they go otherwise, and no one gets to see my underwear but you,” Sasha reminded Christy as she helped her out of her stage dress and into her black jeans and t-shirt.

Christy shot her a dirty grin suggesting that the topic of Sasha’s underwear and the removal thereof was of interest to her, but she was all business when she said, “I still don’t know if it’s a good idea to be this exposed, but I can’t argue with the results. My name’s out there with the big divas. Guess I’m more worried that the higher I go, the more people see, and the more they see of me. But it’s good. I have to be on top if I’m gonna survive.”

“That’s the spirit,” Sasha said, squeezing Christy’s hand as Hank and the security detail led them out to the limo. They caught a glimpse of Debra on the way out, wearing a little pink number that covered little of what she had and covered up less of what she was. “Think she knew what the journalistic opportunity was before she couldn’t consider anything else?” Sasha wondered.

“She’s been around long enough, I’d say it’s 50-50. Some will do anything to get on television, and some will do anything to stay there. Jobs are jobs, and I hear a lot of good journalists went down that road,” Christy said with a sigh. She sagged back in the limo and gestured at the driver to take them home.

Trish greeted them at the door with a giggle and more bleached highlights in her hair. “Already done with the Hollywood Express? It’s already up! So how was Savitch? I hear she’s, like, way tough. She discovered Madonna in bed with, like, everyone! That was such heavy stuff, and you got your album rocking!” she said with more giggles before retreating back to her computer.

“You better have been bookin’ gigs, Trish, else you got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do as regards your attitude lately,” Christy seethed.

“Like, duh! Tour map’s in your office, and everything’s ready for your signature. I’ve been putting this together, like, for months! World tour! Start with the US, of course, then Europe again, and then—wait for it, wait for it—I got you a gig at the Tokyo Dome! My God, you’re so huge there, I had no idea! One of their promoters got in touch with me. Fifty-six thousand, in the round, great acoustics!” Trish squealed with a leap in the air. Her sudden change to Valley Girl made more and more horrifying sense.

“I’ll review the contract. You know I’m not a big fan of domes, but one night only in a country I might never come back to, I’ll consider it,” Christy said with a smile that was so forced that even Hank winced at what he saw had happened. Christy’s next words came out in the same gently melodic tone she often used with people she didn’t think she could trust, and Sasha could see how badly it hurt her to do this with Trish. “Since you like that computer so much, you might as well give in and build me a web site. Make sure it has plenty of my music.”

The mere thought of doing nothing but being online and listening to her beloved Christy made Trish hit the ceiling in delight, and she skipped up to her room so euphoric that she almost knocked over one of the maids—unfortunately, she caught her laptop before it hit the ground.

“I’ll need a hacker to get to the bottom of the attack. Are you going to release Trish, or should I return her to the attacker by other means?” Hank said, all business and looking even more vicious than usual.

“Keep an eye on her, but don’t fuss about the hacker. Just get the e-mail address of the booker from Tokyo. Near as I can tell, her loyalty is intact—hell, it might even be stronger and more single-minded. Bet it was just a simple virus. Have one of the tech people check for viruses and erase whatever’s necessary. I think they just wanted bait. I’ll check my things to be sure, but I’m shocked it ain’t happened sooner. Jeff and Herm can handle the tour with their own crews, as long as we have the contact info from Trish’s contacts.” Christy turned to Sasha. “Wasn’t kidding ‘bout the website, though. Just wait until the tour. I’ll have Trish’s replacement help you with that. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”

“If that’s the case, then you know this... means... war,” Lisa said in her best Bugs Bunny voice to try and lighten the mood while stil making it clear that she understood the seriousness of this issue.

“No pranks, Lisa, but I did need that. Didn’t realize as much until now, but the Internet’s bigger than we thought it was gonna be, and y’all know how I felt about it. Edgar’s workin’ overtime, and that’s with competition. Peroxide is goin’ faster than toothpaste these days, and one of the maids complained that she asked a clerk for trash bags and got handed a breast implant,” Christy said sarcastically. Everyone chuckled, but like most of her snark, the humor was only to keep from going mad from paranoia. The strain suddenly showed on her face, and she collapsed onto the couch. Jan plopped down next to her, and Christy let Jan hold her, allowing her shell to drop and her emotions to take over.”

“So, will she recover?” Sasha asked Lisa. “Not for here, but... I don’t want Trish to end up.... you know..”

“Carrieeeeeeeeeeee Myers?” Lisa squealed. Sasha burst out laughing. “She’ll be fine. Christy will wake her up when we hit her hometown—which, I suspect, Christy will make sure we do as early as possible. Fine by me. Phoenix is a nice place—at least the arena is! The rest of it—well, there’s a very good and practical reason we don’t leave the arena. I’m melting! Melting!” This last dramatic pronouncement accompanied her sudden flight upstairs.

As she looked for the right words and the right person to ask, Hank came up next to her and said, “Only one person here covers up her emotions more than Christy. It’s her common bond with her. We all have one. Otherwise, when she tells us what she’s doing, we’d run like hell. I hate Hollywood as much as she does. You have her ambition. Everyone has something. Lisa uses her humor the same way Christy does, but Trish was her best friend—maybe more, but hey, I don’t peek. I’ll leave Herm to the lesbian fantasies and threesomes. My only craving is for Christy. Lisa’s probably gonna be crying all night. How about you. You okay?”

“Just unsettled. Dinner’s on me, though. Going to the gun range is not okay,” Sasha said with a smile.

Hank flushed. “How’d you know about that?” he asked.

“Security plus alpha male equals destroying things when upset, and I know you and guns,” Sasha replied, taking his hand and heading upstairs with him, both of them trying as hard as they could to forget what they both saw.

The next day, everyone except Trish was at the table waiting for Christy to come down. When she did, she was almost knocked off her feet by the group hug. She smiled awkwardly; she knew that she owned her staff, and such a shock to their systems would produce this kind of result, but that didn’t make it any less unsettling. She wiggled her hand out and put it up to get everyone’s attention for an announcement. “Y’all should know that as soon as I restored Trish, she saw no ill effects. If anything, she was pissed at the attackers. She didn’t want to wait for the tour, and she left on the first flight out. Can’t say I blame her—I don’t think I need to tell you how she sick she was of the control scene after suffering that level of attack. As for the new threat of the Internet... I’m expanding our ranks. A few of the house staff can function in the real world, and I’ll be letting them go—y’all can totally make your own turkey sandwiches for lunch, right?”

Everyone smiled at the needed humor, and Christy went on, “Now, if anyone else is repulsed by this attack and wants out, let me know now so I can prepare my staff roster. Go over this with your departments. Otherwise, tour team numbers are due no later than one this afternoon. The special private concert for our local tour workers is Friday, after all, and since they’re flying in from all over the country, I can’t leave ‘em hanging. I’ll be in my office going over Trish’s plans to make sure no one snuck any other traps into the schedule, and drafting a list of job requirements for a webmaster, full-time hacker, and technical security. We’re gonna need core staff, not just a new batch of road workers this time. Tour starts in two weeks after all. Don’t worry, y’all, I told the Tokyo Dome I don’t do baseball stadiums. Now stop standing there staring at me and get to work! Y’all gotta be ready by one, y’know.”

Christy swept out of the room, and Sasha shook her head. “How does she do that?” she asked out loud before she could think better of it. “She can be an innocent college girl who’s everyone’s best friend one second, and the next she’s the queen of darkness. I think that might be her most impressive talent.”

“You’ve never had one of her foot rubs, then,” Lisa said, sticking her tongue out.

“Lisa! I wouldn’t have guessed. Does this mean you’re staying?” Sasha asked jokingly, but with an undercurrent of seriousness to her words.

“I thought about it last night, but nope. Trish would be pretty pissed if I walked out on Christy when she needed me most. That’s the thing—right now, we need her, but she needs us even more.”

Nods came from all around, and Jan asked, “Should I tell her it’s unanimous, then?”

“That might scare her. Not that anyone would quit for her sanity, not this close to tour. But you know how much she doesn’t like to admit that we’re...” Sasha trailed off, trying to find the right word for what they were.

“Fans first and employees second is the euphemism I tend to use,” Jan said with a tight smile. “Not the first time someone’s been attacked, but this is the first time someone came close to succeeding at it. This weighs heavy on her, but you’re smart, you all figured that out for yourselves. Look over your staff with care, because if any of them are compromised, and if they hurt Christy in any way, I will be forced to eviscerate them with a katana. Nothing personal, of course. One last piece of advice for you: she’s not going to tighten her grip. Don’t react like she will.”

“But react like she’s gonna be pissed. I better go first. I need to have a long talk with her about how to handle the new threat and just what kind of protection we’re going to need,” Hank said as he went up to Christy’s office.

It was almost one when Hank returned. “Sorry. Had to go through everyone in the database to find our targets and make sure they’re at the private show,” he said with an exhausted sigh.

“And, ah, test your loyalty, by the way you’re panting,” Sasha teased.

“I wish! She’s in a tough mood today. Wanted every little detail, including all the ones you didn’t think of. Just a warning,” Hank said, heading for his room with a huge pile of paperwork to file. Sasha gulped and headed inside. She could tell by the stiff lines of Christy’s body and her dark-framed glasses that Hank hadn’t been exaggerating.

Christy looked up from the papers she was poring over and commanded, “Sit down, Sasha.”

Sasha felt herself growing paler by the second, but soldiered on. “I need a staff of six, not including web staff. I can go with three extra web people until you find a full-time webmaster for the site. Already thought ahead and got five domains registered,” she said, handing over her report to Christy.

Christy read through it, and though she only seemed to be skimming it, Sasha knew she had taken in every word. “Not bad,” she allowed. “And are you going to help me navigate the interviews and TV appearances and still get me back to the arena in time for my little pre-show? How will you be able to arrange things at the next stop if you’re still with me at the first stop?” Her fingers tapped against the desk as she waited for Sasha’s answer.

“I could—I do have a lot lined up. Should get someone to do that. Good call,” Sasha said with a blush.

“That’s the same thing I told Hank. As much as all of you want to do things yourself—and as much as my instinct is to let you do things yourself—we’re going to need more staff. You’re allocated ten, and the webmaster will get five, who will be under your jurisdiction ‘til we get the webmaster set up. This private show is a new thing, but we need the road crew up and running from day one. Without Trish, we’re short-handed on the direct arena contact, which means it’s harder to get our own people in. Three thousand had the credentials, fifteen hundred answered the invite. The theater’s the perfect size—heck, I don’t even need to have the mics enhanced. I know, I’m not keeping them all, but everyone needs their staff filled out. First time doin’ it this way, and on top of that we’re adding the new cyber positions at the event today. Jan’s already in overdrive getting everything ready.”

“Holy shit! So it’s going to be like backstage, but a lot bigger. Do you have the voice for it?” Sasha asked after some trepidation. She knew the numbers; this was going to be a huge tour, which meant that everything had to be perfect.

“This theater’s known for its perfect acoustics, and I’ve practiced in it when I get the chance. But I’m seating by credentials so the best prospects get the biggest dose. That’s what took forever. Jan did some phone work when calling the invites and settin’ up airfare—don’t worry, advance sales and record sales more than covered. Here’s the list of all attending. Pick forty to go up near the front, and you’ll take your staff out of those forty.”

Christy handed Sasha a thick stack of dossiers, and Sasha took it with a growing sense of numbness. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and the extent to which Christy was pushing her control, but she understood why. The stakes were raised. She didn’t dare trust anyone on this tour without having them under her spell. She remembered the backbreaking work that the road teams did, even in PR, so she knew how much turnover they would have to prepare for. She went through, back and forth, then froze dead in her tracks and dropped the paper with a thud. “Bree Sanderson, Chicago? My sister’s coming here? And you didn’t ask? And you didn’t tell me? I know she’s deep under, I know she’s how I ended up here, but she’s still my sister! You can’t just take her away without asking me! What happened to no secrets? I know you’re under stress, we’re all under stress, and shit has gone crazy, but this was something I needed to know from the start!”

“The offer to leave is open if you’re that angry about it. Yes, Jan invited your sister, along with two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine other people who have been working for me and spreading the word. Your case is special—hell, it’s unique. You’re the only one here with a sibling in the network. I avoid families attending together for reasons like this. You slipped through the cracks, and I’m glad you did. I should have looked closer and remembered to tell you. You have a right to feel deceived. The only thing is... PR’s the only department she’s suited for. I can’t turn her away at the door, not unless you want your parents asking questions and her breakin’ down everything you’ve created here. You can sit with her if you want, if it makes you feel better. You’ll fall asleep with the others. I’ll process you again, then someone can take you home, and you can define where home is for them. Do you want to call her? She should be here tomorrow.”

Christy was trying to soothe her, but she wasn’t going to be soothed so easily. “That’s a hell of an oversight. But... you don’t act alone, it’s been a while, I can understand why she’d be invited. I know how much I’ve grown your name, and I know how much viral marketing Bree’s been doing—my parents sound like her now, she’s got them so hooked. It makes sense. Someone should have said something, maybe you, maybe Jan, but... just take her off the list. Let her show up, don’t get me wrong, but knock her out cold, let her enjoy dreamland, and let her wake up back in her own bed with just the memory of a great show. I’m sure you could add an extra date in Chicago just for the girls she’s sucked in.” She forced a smile.

“Illinois Assembly Hall, April 5th,” Christy said with a grin. “Sold out just on student tickets. Not her alone, but mostly her. She’s dedicated, just like you. I’ll talk to Jan about the mix-up, but we need to move on.”

Sasha understood the brush-off—more, she realized that she was in too deep; she would be with Christy for the rest of her life.

She didn’t bother calling Bree. The last thing she wanted was her sister getting jealous because she had blocked her from getting a job, even if it would be for her own good.