The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Nick?” said a gentle voice beside me.

I turned, and saw Emily looking up at me. The petite blonde woman was wearing an etherial blue-white dress that brought out her crystal-clear eyes. A maroon bodice wrapped around her waist and over her shoulders, complimenting the light color of her dress. Before I could compliment her attire, though, Emily indicated the woman beside her.

I smiled and started to speak, but my fiancee’s name died on my lips. The woman standing in front of me had stunning crimson-red hair, dark green eyes, and a slight smile—but Zelasha’s face was angular, with a pointed chin. Emily’s companion had a more oval face, and her eyes were a shade darker.

“Anna, I’d like to introduce Nick; his fiancee is one of the Gypsy Songbirds,” Emily was saying in her soft voice. “Nick, this is Anna, my best friend.”

“Erm, charmed,” I said, taking her hand and trying not to stare. I began to notice other subtle differences in appearance between Anna and Zelasha, but the resemblance was astounding. I noted that Emily’s friend wore her hair down to her shoulders.

Anna shook mine. “Glad to meet you,” she said. “Which one?”

“My fiancee? Um, the redhead,” I explained. “Come, I’ll introduce you.”

The Gypsy Stage was only a few hundred feet away, and several Songbirds were sitting on the steps, wetting their throats. Francine saw us coming, looked confused for a second, then waved.

“Hey, Nick,” she called when we arrived. “Looking for Zelasha? She’s backstage.”

Hearing her name, my fiancee emerged a few seconds later. She smiled at me, but her expression melted into one of confusion as she saw Anna. She ran forward and took my extended hand, but before either of us could speak, Emily began the introductions.

“Anna, this is the one I wanted you to meet—Nick’s fiancee, Zelasha. I’m sorry, I don’t remember your real name?”

The two redheads were staring at each other. They were the same height and build, though Anna was the thinner one. I could see my beloved make a conscious effort not to let her mouth hang open.

“Colleen Harrison,” she said dully.

“This is Anna Mason,” Emily finished.

Zelasha started. “Mason?”

Blinking, Anna nodded.

“Would you be related to—to, um, Dean Mason?”

Emily’s friend nodded slowly. “That’s my father’s name.”

Zelasha’s hand started to tremble in mine. “Oh my, oh my. My mother was named Leah Mason.”

Anna gaped. “You’re my cousin!”

As Emily and I looked on, the two redheads embraced each other in an spontaneous display of teenage-style enthusiasm.

“Oh my god!” Zelasha was exclaiming. “Oh my god, oh my god!! You’ll have to be in my wedding party!”

Zelasha and Anna seized each others’ arms, hopping with excitement. “My sister’s going to be here! And my father! And her family—um, Gina’s family!” my fiancee exclaimed. “You have to come! You can be a bridesmaid!”

Anna nodded, her eyes shining with excitement. “I’d love to! I’ll call my parents! My boyfriend—um, he should be around here somewhere. Where is he?” She glanced at her watch. “Where is he?” she repeated. “He was supposed to meet us here half an hour ago!”

Zelasha glanced at her own watch. “Well, we’re not going on for another fifteen minutes,” she said. “I’m sure he’ll turn up.”

He did, a few minutes later.

Anna greeted the newcomer with smiles. He was my height, had stubby dark hair, and needed to shave. He also had a short goatee which might have looked nice had he kept it up.

“This is my boyfriend, Gavin Strinjom,” Anna said.

I shook his hand readily enough, but felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. My brain flashed back to a conversation from ten years ago that only I remembered. “Her husband’s such an asshole,” Amanda had told me over the phone. “He treats her like property. He won’t let her have any friends.”

“We’ve been waiting for you,” Anna told him, interrupting my thoughts.

“You should have told me to meet you here,” Gavin replied. “I was looking at the Squire’s Stage. It’s not that important anyway—the show hasn’t started yet. We can still get good seats.”

“She did say the Gypsy Stage,” Emily muttered, but Anna had already begun.

“This is my cousin, Colleen,” she said.

Gavin sized her up. “Great. Now I heard the Squire Stage, Emily. Don’t you be putting this off on me. It’s not my fault if women can’t remember directions.”

Zelasha had been about to offer her hand, but withdrew it without anyone noticing. It took most of my control to stop my hands from shaking.

“Colleen and Nick have invited us to their wedding,” Anna told him hurriedly.

“You two are getting married?” he said. “Good for you! We’d be happy to come, if we don’t get lost on the way, of course.”

“Gavin,” Anna began, but he was still talking. Zelasha and Emily exchanged glances.

“I’m sure you can get us front row seats, or do I have to find a map?”

“Gavin!” Anna repeated.

He ruffled Anna’s hair. “Don’t let that redhead temper get out of control now, dear. I’m sorry, everyone—my girlfriend has trouble controlling herself sometimes.”

My right hand curled involuntarily into a fist. How I wouldn’t like to wipe that smirk off his face! Zelasha put her hand over my own; I started counting to ten.

I lost my place, though, when I caught sight of Anna’s expression. Her green eyes had caught fire the same way my fiancee’s did when she got mad. But, before my eyes, the other redhead forced the anger back down, and her expression returned to normal.

I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I have to cut this short,” I said, turning to my fiancee, “but aren’t you going on in a minute?”

Zelasha nodded and smiled—it was completely fake. “Thanks for reminding me, Nick. We’d better get going. Nice to have met you.”

Holding hands, we walked away, stepped backstage, and stopped, facing each other.

“I’m sorry,” I began.

“What an asshole!” Zelasha snorted, her voice much louder than mine had been. She started pacing around. “I mean, the nerve. Doesn’t he realize that assuming someone with red hair has a hot temper is just as racist as prejudging someone because of their skin color?” She looked at me, cold fury in her eyes. “Am I overreacting?” she said, gesturing back at where Gavin had been standing with Anna. “Was that offensive?”

“Damn straight it was offensive,” I said, crossing my arms. “I was offended for you. Zel, I have a real problem with someone insulting my fiancee in front of me.” I took another breath. “Did you want me to hit him?”

Zelasha frowned, then looked up at me. “No. But I am going to have a talk with Anna. Why is she with a guy who treats her like that? No offense, but if you’d talked down to me that way, we wouldn’t have made it past the first date!”

“I don’t know,” I said sadly. “I mean, I understand when your emotions have trouble grasping what your rational mind knows, that you can’t change someone. But why anyone would put up with being treated that way—I don’t understand.”

Zelasha nodded. “Thanks, Nikolai. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said, and brushed a lock of exotic red-auburn off her shoulder. “I love your hair, by the way.”

My fiancee smirked at me. “You’d better.” I embraced her as the rest of the Gypsy Songbirds filed in. “I still don’t get what Anna sees in that ass,” Zelasha continued, thinking out loud. “He’s not even that good-looking.”

“I’m glad you wouldn’t put up with a guy like that,” I said carefully.

“Pshaw,” said my fiancee. “Racist, sexist, condescending—there’s no way in hell.” She paused for a moment. “You know what? I need...” She turned to me and asked for a kiss with her eyes. I pressed her to me, my hand on the small of her back, and our lips met.

As the Songbirds walked on stage, I wondered if it could be the right thing to keep secrets from someone you love. Did Zelasha need to know everything that was going on in my head? Telling her what I knew wouldn’t help the situation, and might hurt her feelings or shake her confidence. Plus, no one could blame me for not volunteering information about something that had never happened in this time line. We had enough problems to worry about without arguing about things that weren’t part of this reality.

But my mind had flashed back to a telephone conversation Zelasha and I had shared in August 1996—a conversation that last year’s time travel escapade had prevented from taking place. I was the only person in the world who remembered what Colleen’s alternate self had told me at the time. She was living in a trailer park with her then-fiance—a man named Gavin Strinjom.

After the show, Zelasha told me she had something important to say, and practically dragged me back to our tent.

“What is it?” I finally asked. “Is everyone all right?”

My fiancee sighed. “Nick, there’s something you need to know.” She paced around the small room, then started unfastening her bodice. “I’ve been wondering if I should tell you, because it’s so unlike him.”

“Unlike who?” I asked, perplexed.

“Clancy,” she sighed, and stepped out of her skirt. “He told me this morning that he’s in love with me.”

“He told you WHAT?” I could barely believe my ears. “Why that two-faced lying son of a bitch—I could wring his neck!”

“Nick—”

“That’s crazy! What the devil was he thinking? And I was going to have him in the wedding party! Well, fuck that—one of the rules of being a groomsman is you don’t hit on the bride!”

This on top of Gavin’s unwanted arrival. It was the week before our wedding, for Christ’s sake...

“Then he apologized,” Zelasha said flatly.

“He did WHAT?”

“Apologized.” My fiancee was undoing her shirt. “I know, it was totally out of the blue. God, am I stressed.” She dropped the garment on the pile with her other clothes. “Come on. I want you.”

I was still in shock. “I can’t believe that Clancy... I trusted him!”

“Forget him,” said Zelasha. She kissed me soundly, then pushed me down onto our sleeping bags.

We shared a long kiss. “I’m yours, Nick,” Zelasha said earnestly.

Two hours and one furiously passionate lovemaking session later, my fiancee and I separated. Zelasha was joining Anna at a play, and I was off to help Miss Scarlett prepare for her afternoon show.

My beloved pulled me into a kiss when we reached the place where our paths diverged—in front of the archery range. “Don’t kill anyone,” she said seriously. “Let’s talk to him together later, okay?”

I agreed, though I refused to make any promises about what I’d do if I happened to run into Clancy alone.

When we’d met, Zelasha had been a notorious flirt—but she’d mellowed since she and I had entered into a longstanding relationship. It was unthinkable that she’d done anything to lead Clancy on—other than act natural, of course.

I was still furious—and took the drummer’s betrayal personally. I was just about ready to kick his ass into next week.

Meeting Emily put my problems into perspective, though—for the blonde woman revealed that Strinjom had elected to watch the bellydancers instead of join the two cousins at the play.

“What is your friend doing with a jackass like that?” I asked her.

“I don’t get it either,” Emily admitted. “Gavin is such a jerk, but Anna can’t see it. She’s always putting up with him flirting with other women.”

I scowled. Strinjom turned my stomach, but, as much as I’d like to tell Anna to break up with him, I could never tell her why. “We can’t make these decisions for our friends,” I said out loud. “Believe me, one meeting with Gavin was enough for me to dislike him, but Anna has to figure this out on her own.”

The blonde woman frowned. “I thought if she could only meet a man who would treat her right—and I was sure Clancy would be a good boyfriend for her.”

“Clancy?” I said, perplexed.

Emily nodded.

“I don’t think much of Clancy anymore,” I snorted, waving a hand absently in the air. “Clancy went and hit on Zel this morning!”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” the petite blonde woman said. “I told him the other night that he should tell Anna how he felt.”

I stood up and started to pace. “You’re right, that doesn’t make sense. Has he even met Anna?”

“Well, of course, he must have,” Emily said. “I saw him looking at her—I was sure they’d spoken—and I told him to tell the woman he loved how he felt.”

“But...” I began—and the reality of the situation crashed upon me. “I don’t suppose you told him that at the bachelor party?” I asked.

The blonde woman nodded. “Yes, why?”

I sighed, and massaged my forehead. “He must have been acting on a post hypnotic suggestion. Oh, Lord have mercy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the good news is, I can forgive him, because he wouldn’t have made a pass at Zel had he been thinking straight. The bad news is, when you told him to tell the woman he loves how he felt, you got the wrong redhead.”

After the show, Emily and I were on our way to meet the cousins when we ran into Cleo shopping at the Celtic jewelry store. The African-American woman asked our opinion on a pair of earrings. Having no fashion sense, I deferred to Emily.

As they were speaking, Anna and Zelasha arrived, and my fiancee gave me a peck on the cheek.

“How was the play?” I asked.

“Marvelous,” she grinned. “Is it dinnertime?”

“Sssssh,” Cleo said, and motioned us all into a corner.

“What is it?” I started, but she indicated with her head.

Saoirse was headed for our booth, walking more quickly than was usual for her—with Gavin striding alongside her.

“Seersha?” we heard Strinjom saying. “Now that’s a beautiful name.”

“Thank you,” the flaxen-haired Songbird told him. “I’m flattered, I really am—but I’m gay.”

“Hey,” Gavin said. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

With a sigh, Saoirse turned in another direction and quickened her pace. Gavin put his hand on her shoulder.

That was too much for her. Saoirse turned to him and ordered him, loudly, to leave her alone. She wasn’t afraid of making a scene, and all the bystanders looked in her direction. Gavin turned, scowling, and muttered “what a bitch.”

Anna gasped, and Emily took her hand.

“What visions have I seen!” Anna said. “Methought I was enamored of an ass!”

Gavin heard, recognized her voice, and spotted us as we emerged from the jewelry shop. “What’s this?” he asked, hurrying over. “What did you say?”

Anna looked him up and down. “It wasn’t a dream!”

“Anna, what’s going on?” he asked, anger building on his face.

“I WAS enamored of an ass,” Anna said, “but no longer! It’s over, Gavin!”

Strinjom crossed his arms. “You’ve GOT to be kidding.”

“Hell, no,” Anna said. “You can take your sorry ass away from here—I never want to see you again. I’ll catch a ride home with Emily. If I ever hear from you again, you’ll find out what a redhead’s temper is REALLY like.”

“Look, bitch, you are NOT going to break up with me,” Gavin snarled. “Get off your high horse. I was bored with you anyway. You can’t fuck worth a damn. If anything, you’re lucky I put up with your fucking temper all this time—”

He grasped for her wrist, and my fist cracked across his jaw. He lost his balance, and stumbled into an apple cart.

Everyone around us hushed. Emily and Zelasha took Anna’s arms, and led her back. I stood, arms folded across my chest, staring at him. In my peripheral vision, I saw Cleo and Saoirse join hands.

Gavin straightened, and looked at me with hatred in his eyes. His jaw was clenched so hard I thought his teeth would crack. We were about the same height, though I was a few pounds heavier.

The standoff probably lasted half a minute, though it felt like hours. Finally, Gavin backed away, turned, and walked towards the entrance.

Everyone started to breathe again.

Zelasha slid her arms around my neck, and her soft lips brushed against my own. She spoke softly so that only I could hear. “Thank you,” she murmured, her green eyes locking on mine. “My midsummer knight.”

“Clancy,” came Zelasha’s voice, “Could you come here? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

The drummer felt himself blushing. Oh, whatever prompted me to hit on an engaged woman right before her wedding, he thought. I’ve made a total ass of myself. What kind of humiliation has she got planned now? If only I could take it back!

Clancy stepped out from backstage, and saw Emily standing next to a gorgeous woman—red hair down to her shoulders, green gown, a wonderful, beautiful face.

“My cousin,” Zelasha said.

“Anna, this is the guy I told you about,” Emily was saying. “Clancy, this is Anna, my best friend.”

“Hello,” Anna said, extending her hand.

Clancy took it, but forgot to shake. After a moment, he hastily raised the woman’s hand to his lips, and kissed her fingers.

“And she’s single,” Zelasha added.

Oh god. What was he going to say? He felt like he was going to make a fool of himself if he opened his mouth. What was he thinking? He was standing there speechless. Anything would be better than this!

“I hope being a musician doesn’t count against me,” Clancy said lamely.

“I love musicians,” Anna said.