The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

© 2007, le Duc de Kavaliere

Midsummer Knight’s Dream

Part 22

Act Five, Scene Three

Lawrence Jackson sat down to finish his sandwich in a remote corner near the wine-tasting pavilion. He took another bite, trying to enjoy the grilled cheese and ham—but his thoughts were all jumbled.

It had been so sexy watching Miss Scarlett hypnotize everyone at Nick’s bachelor party. So many had fallen under the spell of that beautiful hypnotist—and then Emily and Jiliana had taken him aside, and Emily had hypnotized him. He’d been so curious to experience it again.

And had he. He’d half expected Emily to start messing with him. That wouldn’t have been so bad, he considered. The gorgeous blonde woman had the most dazzling sapphire eyes—

But then Jiliana had coaxed him into making out with her. Shy brown haired Jiliana. Was that what he’d wanted? Did he want it again? She did have a sweet voice. Her British accent would be attractive if she weren’t so tentative, so timid.

He thought he trusted her—but what would he say next time he saw her? Sorry, Jiliana, I’ll only make out with you if someone hypnotizes me to do it? He couldn’t be cruel...

Oh, dear god, he thought—there she is.

Jiliana was walking through the grove towards him. He shifted over, making a place for her next to him. With a grateful smile, she sat down.

Lawrence opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a single word, Jiliana raised her hand and started swinging her necklace before his face.

Lawrence was thunderstruck. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Mesmerizing you,” she replied.

His heart skipped a beat. Oh, god. She was being sexy for him, so sexy. “Yes,” he said softly, and started following her necklace with his eyes, back and forth.

She smiled—something between excited and hopeful. “You are getting very relaxed,” she whispered to him. “Your eyelids are getting heavy.”

“Yes,” Lawrence murmured, his eyes following the movements of her necklace. He didn’t think he was going to be hypnotized—she had to know he was just playing along—but she was obviously enjoying this as much as he was. How far would they go?

“You are feeling very sleepy,” Jiliana whispered, “very sleepy, and listening only to my voice. You can hear only my voice.”

“Only your voice,” Lawrence repeated, and let his eyelids droop. He felt a strange sense of arousal, and it was so sexy to pretend Jiliana was hypnotizing him...

Her hand wavered—she was so excited she nearly dropped her necklace. “When I snap my fingers,” she whispered, “your eyes will close and you will fall into a deep sleep, but you will still be able to hear my voice.”

“Your voice,” Lawrence echoed. His eyes actually were getting tired from following the swinging necklace. Am I actually going to be hypnotized? he thought. Do I want this?

Jiliana snapped her fingers, and Lawrence closed his eyes. Do I really want her to seduce me? he wondered.

Yes, came the answer.

Lawrence could feel her body next to his; she was practically quivering with excitement.

“You are now in a trance,” Jiliana said boldly. He’d never seen her act this way before, and it was so amazing to hear her say that! “I have put you in a trance. Can you hear me, Lawrence?”

“Yes,” he said quietly.

“What do you think of me?”

“You’re my friend.”

“Did you ever think about kissing me before yesterday?”

Darn it, why did she have to ask that? Lawrence didn’t want to hurt her feelings. On the other hand, he couldn’t lie.

“No,” he said truthfully.

“Why not?” she whispered, close to his ear.

It was so strange having a conversation with his eyes closed. But the cat was out of the bag now—Jiliana had admitted she was interested in him. She didn’t think he was just a fling.

“You’re shy,” he murmured.

“When I wake you up,” Jiliana said mischievously, “you will forget that I’ve been shy. That is erased from your mind. So, tell me what will happen when I wake you up?”

“I will forget that you’ve been shy,” he repeated. He let himself feel it—let himself contemplate being attracted to Jiliana—and was surprised how comfortable that felt. Jiliana was gentle and good-looking. And now there was the added element: she was trying to get inside his head and seduce him. What a minx!

“When I snap my fingers,” Jiliana said, “you will open your eyes and wake up. However, you will know that you have been mesmerized. You are hypnotized, and I have hypnotized you. It feels great, being hypnotized. And when I tell you to sleep and snap my fingers, you will fall right back to sleep. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” Was he really hypnotized? he wondered.

“Wake up,” Jiliana said with a snap.

Lawrence opened his eyes. Jiliana was still sitting next to him, smiling expectantly. He’d noticed her girl-next-door good looks when they’d first met, but had never truly appreciated her. For the first time, Lawrence looked at her, really looked at how pretty she was—and she could tell that he was checking her out.

She was wearing a light purple gypsy dress with a gold-colored bodice, and the usual Songbird accoutrements—a white sash around her waist, several bracelets on her wrists, big earrings, a purple bandanna in her hair. Her brown curls shone in the afternoon light as they fell around her shoulders. Her light skin contrasted gracefully with her hair, and her brown eyes sparkled in hope, nervousness... and mischief. She was innocently pretty—but deep in those eyes lurked a seductress who spoke to his soul.

“How do you feel, Lawrence?” Jiliana said softly.

“Great,” he said honestly.

“Are you hypnotized, Lawrence?”

“Yes.” He was playing along—but he was enjoying it, enjoying the idea of shy Jiliana as a secret temptress.

She was smiling. “Do you like being hypnotized, Lawrence?”

He nodded. “By you, yes.”

She took his hand, and he could tell that she was almost trembling. His heart was thudding, too.

“By me?” she whispered.

She’d taken them this far—he risked going the rest of the way. “I like the feeling that I’m... under your spell,” he confessed.

She scooted in closer to him, slid an arm around his neck, and tilted her head, closing her eyes. Lawrence put his arms around her waist, and kissed her.

By the second contact of their lips he knew she was what he wanted. Her kisses were soft, tender, moist, and loving.

After a moment or two of tasting each other again, she pulled back a little, smiling shyly. “I’ve wanted this for so long, Lawrence.”

He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. The British girl shivered, delightedly. “I can finally talk to you about this,” she said softly. “Lawrence, would you ever have noticed me if I hadn’t mesmerized you?”

Lawrence suddenly recalled a thought he’d had the other night—when Miss Scarlett had hypnotized everyone. Jiliana had fallen under her spell too. The hypnotist had coaxed her to sleep, had told her what to think and how to behave, and then had awakened her with a snap of her fingers. It had been so sexy watching Jiliana obey the Southern woman’s instructions...

“I had noticed you, Jiliana,” he admitted. He hadn’t even registered that he had. Was he really hypnotized?

Jiliana drooped her eyelashes, tilting her head, and they kissed again. Then she smiled, looking into his eyes.

“What do you want in a girlfriend?” she asked.

“You,” Lawrence said. He hadn’t even realized it, but he knew it was true.

Jiliana grinned from ear to ear and looked directly into his eyes. “Now tell me—what do I need to do to be a good girlfriend?”

“Be honest with me,” Lawrence told her, remembering how shy she’d been. “I can’t read your mind. If there’s ever anything you’d like from me and I don’t pick up on it, just tell me.”

She nodded. “Or I’ll just mesmerize you,” she added matter-of-factly.

He laughed.

“Lawrence, right now I want you to hold me,” she said, staring at him with her brown eyes. She was confident—so different from they way she’d been when they’d first met—and he wanted to hold her, too.

With a smile, Lawrence lifted her legs over his own, then scooped her into his lap. She giggled happily, and put an arm around his neck as his went around her waist.

She wiggled a little, nestling in. “This is really comfortable.”

“It is for me, too.”

“What do you like about me?” she asked in her adorable British voice.

“You’re sweet, and gentle,” Lawrence said. “You’re smart and mature—and I can trust myself around you.”

“Why wouldn’t you trust yourself?” she asked.

“Well, you hypnotized me,” he said, and she grinned. “I like that you used your—um—feminine wiles on me.” Jiliana’s brown eyes sparkled as a slow grin spread over her face. “I can trust myself with you, because I can let go completely. I know that you’re not going to hurt me, or make me make a fool of myself.”

“Nope,” Jiliana said. “I would never make you do anything silly. I just want you for myself. And now,” she smiled, “I’ve got you wrapped around my finger.”

Lawrence grinned at her. “Yes, you do,” he said, playing along.

“You’ve told me what you like about me as a person,” she said, snuggling up to him, sliding her other arm around his neck. “Now I want you to tell me what you like about me as a girl.”

“I like when you’re confident,” Lawrence said right away. “You know what you want. When you look at me that way it makes my heart do somersaults. ”

She rested her forehead on his, and they stared into each other’s eyes.

“I like your eyes, too,” she said. “You’re so good-looking—and now that you’re looking at me, really seeing me, I don’t want to let you go.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lawrence said.

She hugged him. “I’ve been dreaming of this, you looking at me this way.”

“I like looking at you,” Lawrence said, realizing it was true even as he spoke. “I think it’s very alluring that you got inside my head. But I like you either way.”

They kissed, and held it for a long time. Every so often, he felt her shiver. He couldn’t read her thoughts, but he could tell what the eager look in her eyes and her quick, shy smiles meant.

“Why is it alluring, Lawrence?” she finally asked.

“I like strong women,” he told her. “I like that you’re not afraid to tell me what you want. I think it’s alluring that you did this to me. And I trust you, so I wouldn’t mind playing games with you.”

“May I put you in a trance again?” she asked slyly.

Lawrence looked into her eyes. “Yes.”

She scooted back a little, then held up her necklace again. “Watch my necklace, Lawrence,” she said in a low voice. “Watch it swing, back and forth. Your eyelids are getting heavy, and you’re feeling so sleepy. Three, two, one. Sleep for me.”

He closed his eyes.

“Lawrence,” Jiliana whispered, “Would you like it if I put a spell on you?”

“Yes,” he heard himself confessing. Was this a good idea? Maybe he shouldn’t give up too much at once.

“Lawrence, from now on,” his new girlfriend said into his ear, “whenever I stare into your eyes, you will realize that you can’t resist me. You will realize that you’ve been mesmerized, and that you’re under my spell. You will be so under my spell that you’ll do anything I ask. Is this all right?”

Oh my god, he thought. His heart was pounding—she was making a fantasy come true. “Yes,” he breathed.

“Imagine me mesmerizing you with my eyes,” Jiliana whispered. “Imagine yourself falling into my eyes, falling for me, falling in love with me, under my spell, my hypnotic spell. My eyes are so hypnotic, Lawrence.”

“Your eyes are hypnotic,” he repeated. He really was imagining it. He was picturing the sweet British Songbird staring into his eyes, telling him what she wanted—and being under her spell.

“My voice turns you on too, Lawrence,” she said. “Whenever I talk about mesmerism, you will start daydreaming about mesmerism, and you will want me to mesmerize you.”

“I want you... to mesmerize me.” Lawrence couldn’t believe he was admitting this, and to Jiliana.

“From now on, whenever you think of being mesmerized,” the Songbird told him, “you will think of me as your hypnotist, your temptress. You think of me coaxing you, and enticing you, and persuading you. I tempt you and play with your mind, and you love it. And you can’t resist me, when I stare at you and talk about mesmerism.

“So from now on, whenever I talk about mesmerizing you, you will want me to mesmerize you, and the more I talk about it, the more you will want it.”

She paused to take a breath.

“I want it, Jiliana,” Lawrence said. He couldn’t remember thinking that consciously, couldn’t remember deciding to say it, but it was true.

It was a moment before she spoke again. “And whenever I begin mesmerizing you, whenever I start saying things like ‘you are feeling sleepy,’ ‘your eyelids are getting heavy,’ that sort of thing, you will easily and readily fall asleep. You go into a trance for me so easily, it is so easy for me to mesmerize you, you and I are a match made in heaven. I was meant to be your hypnotist. You were meant to be my subject. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Jiliana.”

“You want me to go on mesmerizing you, and you are very comfortable talking about this with me and bringing it up if you want to—but only when we’re alone.”

Did he want her to hypnotize him more? He wasn’t sure, but the idea was so sexy, of Jiliana looking into his eyes and putting a spell on him...

“Yes, Jiliana,” he whispered.

“On the count of three, you will wake up,” she said, “and you will no longer be hypnotized—but you will remember all my commands, and obey them. One, two, three.”

He opened his eyes. Had he done it because he was playing along, or because she’d told him to?

Jiliana stood up, and glanced at her watch. “I’m sorry, Lawrence, I’ve got to get back to the stage. Do you have the time to walk me?”

His troupe didn’t go on for another half hour after the Songbirds. “Yes, I’d be glad to!” He stood up quickly, and offered her his arm.

But Jiliana didn’t move. Instead, she stepped up to him, and stared into his face. Her brown eyes flicked back and forth, searching his own. Her eyes are so beautiful, he thought, so—hypnotic—

She’d told him that whenever she used her eyes on him he wouldn’t be able to resist her. Had he been hypnotized?

But she was tempting him with her eyes, and it was so sexy, seeing this side of shy, sweet Jiliana, seeing the minx inside her that wanted him under her spell... and he didn’t mind at all, being under her spell...

“Lawrence, you want to invite me to Nick and Zelasha’s wedding,” Jiliana said in a low voice.

“To their wedding,” he repeated. What was he saying again? Of course he’d love to go with her...

“As your date.”

“As my date,” he echoed.

She flashed a triumphant smile at him, and then it was overwhelmed by her normal, happy smile, and she was giggling, shyly.

“Jiliana,” Lawrence said, taking her hand, “would you like to go to Nick’s wedding with me? As my date?” God, he thought, if she was sexy for him like that all the time, there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

“Yes.” Jiliana grinned back. Lawrence kissed her, and she looped her arm through his as they walked towards the Gypsy Stage.

* * *

Perhaps there is still time to salvage this, Theodore thought as he tramped through the absurd spectacle. Surely his son would see reason: this excess was no good to anyone. But the bottom line was: Nicholas had to be taken back to the straight and narrow. I’ll do it, he promised himself, even if I have to seize him by the ear and drag him kicking and screaming.

There should still be time—the wedding wasn’t until the late afternoon, and it was still mid-morning. Scowling at the map, he forced his feet to keep on trudging through the pageant of tom-fools until he reached his destination.

“You’re the father of the groom?”

Theodore looked down at the pepper-and-steel-haired woman addressing him.

“Not if I have aught to do with it,” he answered.

“Good, good,” the woman said. She extended her hand. “Mrs. Eugenia Harrison.”

“Reverend Theodore Brannock,” he responded, and shook it. She looked him up and down, and the pastor decided she was sizing him up.

“I’m glad to have met you,” Eugenia said. “What are we going to do to prevent this god-awful spectacle?”

Theodore was about to tell her not to use the Lord’s name in vain, but caught himself at the last moment. You catch more flies with honey, after all.

“I honestly don’t know much about your son,” the woman was continuing, “but I assure you, my tramp of a stepdaughter mustn’t marry anyone. There should be laws against stuff like that.”

Brannock nodded. “Please, Mrs. Harrison—tell me what you know. If there’s anything more I could tell my son.”

Eugenia nodded vigorously. “I wouldn’t wish my stepdaughter on anyone, Mr. Brannock. Colleen is either a liar or insane. Do you know what she did? She vanished, into thin air, ten years ago. I don’t know what she was doing, but I have my suspicions. She was in New Orleans, after all. Why would a young woman—who smokes—and dresses like a—well, why would she cut herself off completely? What was she doing that she was so ashamed of? And then she doesn’t contact us until last year, when she announces she’s moving in with your son. I can only guess how they met.”

Theodore had to force himself not to grind his teeth together. His son was living in sin? And if Mrs. Harrison was saying what he thought she was saying...

“She claims to have been in a coma all that time,” Eugenia said, with a special emphasis on the word ‘claims.’ “But I’ve done some checking, and there’s no evidence that little slut was ever in a coma. I’ve checked in New Orleans and in Los Angeles. There are no records of someone of her age and description ever being in a hospital.”

Brannock rubbed his chin. “That is peculiar.”

Eugenia shook her head. “I always knew something was wrong with that girl, Reverend. It wasn’t just her weight. The way she dressed, all dark and flashy, even as a teenager, with disgusting amounts of eyeliner. She was such an embarrassment. I was so terribly ashamed when I had to be seen with her in public. My husband would never understand it... he just doted on her!”

Theodore looked down at the woman, and saw her in a new light. She should have quit while she was ahead, he thought. It had become clear to him that Eugenia was really talking about something else.

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, Brannock recalled the Bible saying, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. No wonder his son’s f... f... the young woman dressed the way she did. Faced with that kind of rejection from a mother-figure, what child wouldn’t rebel? In prejudging her stepdaughter so harshly, Eugenia had created her own worst nightmare.

Theodore remembered what a hypocrite his own father had been. He’d taken his family to church on Sundays like a good Christian man, but had drunk himself into liver failure at 57. As a young man, Theodore had resolved never to be like him. He had promised God he would be an example to his fellow men and not just go through the motions.

“Thank you for telling me these things, Mrs. Harrison,” Theodore rumbled. “I’ll be certain to talk to my son.”

Eugenia nodded emphatically. “Thank you—thank God you’re a reasonable man!”

(To Be Continued)