THE COLLECTOR
© Mesmerr
The house seemed to have people everywhere—downstairs, upstairs, outside around the house in both the back and front yards; there seemed to John who had been invited as well that it was one huge moving mass of humanity seething within and without the four walls of the large house owned by the boss of his firm.
John worked for Richard Holmes as an analyst and programmer for their systems department. The firm produced human resource management programs on CD for sale to both government and industry alike. It had proven very successful for the firm in the winning of several large contracts of supply from both sectors. Richard Holmes and his wife had thrown the party as their way of saying thank you to all the people of the company who had made it possible to succeed in such a big financial way.
Being unmarried and not attached, John was there alone. He liked being a free agent, although he had his fair share of involvements, usually short-lived or one-night stands, which was how he preferred them to be. His hobby was mesmerising, which involved anything to do with hypnosis. He had studied hard and long in his spare time and had contrived to produce various CD’s involving subliminal messages, which all worked to various degrees. The thing that kept his motivation running high most of the time was the control trip he felt on whenever practising his hobby, or his art, as he preferred to call it. John took full advantage of every opportunity that happened to come his way. His latest challenge was the refining of trancing someone without their conscious knowledge, and then implanting post-hypnotic triggers unconsciously that he would activate for his own benefit one way or the other when his prey were wide awake.
John had been looking forward to the party for no other reason than the probability of finding more unknowing people whom he could recruit to his growing stable of Mules, as he called them; the name being an abridged version of a somnambule. Since his arrival thirty minutes earlier he had been mingling through the thronging mass of small and large crowds, searching for the first challenge of the night. It was not unknown for him to put several people under his mental control at large gatherings such as the party going on noisily around him. He joined no particular group or crowd, but smiled politely as he sipped his drink and casually observed the faces of all, one by one; looking for the tell-tale signs he had come to know so well. John smiled, recalling several people, both men and women alike who were well on the way to becoming well and truly drunk. Sometimes they made for easy prey and sometimes not. It all seemed to depend on their individual personal traits and characteristics.
He had been watching one young woman and then stopped his ambling toward the large lounge room as he had to make way for her to pass by. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. He smiled as she swayed passed him, high-stepping and very focussed somewhere ahead of her in a determined effort to not appear unsteady on her feet. He watched her as she then disappeared around the corner heading in the direction of the rest rooms. Then he casually strolled along in the same direction.
As he rounded the corner he saw her waiting in a line of four other people, three women and a man who were also waiting to use the overloaded rest room in that part of the house. He then walked over to the bar and grabbed another light drink, watching the rest room as the line diminished to just her. He moved casually, but very quickly. Within ten seconds he was standing behind her, smiling as she turned when she sensed him so close. John studied her eyes quickly as she took in his form in her own way. They were slightly glazed, but still clearly focussed on his face when she glanced from his chest back to his eyes.
He casually leaned forward toward her, as if going to speak and smiled politely. She quickly had to refocus her vision at the closeness of his face. Then, before she could lean back as an instinctive reaction to his sudden closeness, his hand quickly reached behind her neck and gently grasped her there as he blew suddenly, but gently into her eyes. The whole maneuver had taken only three seconds.
The pretty young woman blinked instantly, several times, with the sudden warm stream of breath instantly drying out the surface moisture on her eyeballs. Her eyebrows shot immediately to the top of her forehead with the surprise of his unexpected action. John gripped just a little more on her warm neck, pulling gently at the same time and blew swiftly once more, and once more she blinked quickly several times, the arching of her eyebrows seeming to relax a little. Her blinks slowed a little as he held her, but her gaze never left its compelled lock on his own. Her lips had parted with the gentle shock of John’s first warm quick breath and now held their slightly open position. His gaze never left their point of focus between the centres of her eyes.
John then gripped a little more strongly and blew gently, but quickly once more. The sudden burst of warm, quick air dried more of the moisture on the surface of her eyeballs as he applied another gentle pulling motion towards him. She blinked again, her eyes reddening with the action of dry lids opening and closing over dry eyeballs. She did not resist his gentle pulling action, simply rested her weight against his hand on her neck. Although she still held his gaze her own, her eyelids were now at half mast, each blink becoming heavier and heavier, and when her eyes opened after each blink her lids came only to half of half-mast.
John strengthened his grip just a little more, pulling gently at the same time and blew quickly once again. Her eyes reacted slowly, blinking heavily, rising less than they had the previous time. Still he stared at the spot between her eyes, which were now opened to only a fraction of full. His grip strengthened again and once more he blew, only this time a little more forcefully as he pulled slightly more forcefully on her neck. Her eyebrows had relaxed completely now and after three more very heavy blinks her eyelids did not reopen. John then pulled her gently forward toward him the rest of the way and grinned. She sighed and leaned into his chest, relaxing her shoulders completely as she did so.
John then casually looked around to see if anyone had noticed his action with the girl, but no one had. The crowds were still involved in whatever crowds do at overcrowded parties. He knew that to any onlooker he and the girl would look as if they were simply having a private cuddle. He leaned down close to her ear, inhaling deeply of her perfume which stirred him deeply. His lips halted beside her left ear and opened.
“Relax, and let go completely.” he breathed firmly into her ear, strengthening his grip of holding her against his chest by her neck a little more. “Loose and limp, like a floppy rag doll.”
John felt her sigh and sag a little against him, such that he felt safer with his left arm around her waist now, to stop her from collapsing, along with his hand still gripping the back of her neck.
“Relaaaaax, and let goooooo.” he spoke firmly and drowsily again to her, and again pulled her a little more strongly against his chest. Again John felt her sigh and lean into him more heavily. He immediately felt his left arm take a lot more of her weight as she did so. Again his lips opened beside her left ear.
“You feel very relaxed and very comfortable now.” he spoke normally to her. “In a moment I’m going to snap my fingers beside your left ear. When I snap my fingers beside your left ear you will awaken from this very relaxed and very comfortable rest and will feel absolutely wonderful with yourself and about yourself. You will also forget to remember everything that I’ve done and said to help you achieve this wonderfully relaxed, resting state, except that you will seek me out until you find me tonight, feeling very strongly that we’ve met before, and feeling very strongly attracted to me, sexually, and want to spend time with me. Should you hear me say the word, ‘Nice’, you will immediately let yourself go back into this restful state you are now in, only ten times as deeply relaxed than you are right now. And when you are ten times as deeply relaxed as you are right now, you will let me know by saying to me the words, ‘I’m there now.’ And when you are there you will listen and obey each and every word and instruction I give you, so you can continue to stay in this very wonderfully relaxed state for as long as you can. If you’ve understood and agree with everything I’ve said to you right now, I wonder if you’ll lean a little more heavily against my chest to show me that you have, and that you do?”
John smiled and tightened the grip of his left arm as she sagged more heavily him.
“That’s fine.” he said to her. “You’re doing perfectly. Now, When I count to three and snap my fingers beside your left ear, you will awaken and feel absolutely wonderful and remember very, very strongly and accurately to remember to forget everything I’ve said and done with you since I came to stand beside you, and will remember only how good you feel, and how familiar I seem to you as I walk off. One ... two ... three!”
With the number three said firmly John snapped his fingers beside her left ear very sharply.
“Huh?” The girl uttered instantly, then jumped, startled, then straightened, her head turning instantly upward to his face. “What?”
Her eyes were wide and seemed a little confused. He removed his arm from her waist and had already removed his hand from her neck as he had been instructing her during her trance.
“I said, lucky I was here.” he smiled at her. “You would’ve fallen flat on your face—not a nice way to start out on a party.” Then he smiled again at her and turned, walking back toward the room he had been in before he saw her. He could feel her eyes on him as he lengthened the distance between them and smiled to himself, then finally turned the corner and out of her sight.
He walked to the bar and grabbed a fresh drink, then went outside and stood on the balcony looking down on the large, well-lit back yard and pool while he waited for her to go to the rest room and then look for him and find him. Beside the pool were a sauna room and change room. He decided that the pool seemed as large as the ones used for competition. Several men and women splashed and frolicked in the water of the pool, the women squealing and laughing as the men chased and ducked them beneath the water. He laughed aloud as one of the women turned the tables on her man and pushed him violently backward into the water intended for her.
“Looks like fun.” he heard a female voice say with a smile, beside and behind him.
John turned and smiled at her.
“Yes. It does, doesn’t it?” he replied, then turned quickly back to face the pool at the sound of another high-pitched squeal. He heard the laughter of the girl beside him and joined in naturally.
“Say.” he heard her say. “Have we ever met before?”
John turned slowly, taking his time, allowing for his gaze to slowly and deliberately drift around and down to meet hers. Her eyes were wide and staring. She was smiling and sipping a drink from a long-stemmed glass of spirit or wine. He studied her face as she expected him to for at least fifteen seconds before answering with a nod of assent.
“You do look familiar.” he told her. “But for the life of me I couldn’t tell you where we might have met.”
“Same here.” she agreed. “I’ve been wracking my mind, but can’t seem to remember.”
He smiled at her warmly.
“Never mind.” he said. “If I’ve met you before it will eventually come to me where I have met such a nice girl as you seem.”
John could see something happening inside her mind. She simply looked at him, her eyes wide and staring, and her mouth slightly open, lips glistening. Then her eyes fluttered rapidly, briefly, and closed down. He waited, watching her shoulders slowly slump and round and her jaw completely relax. Her right hand which was holding the glass slowly lowered all the way down until her hand tipped forward and spilled the contents to the ground. John reached down and gently relieved her still relaxing hand before it dropped from limp, loose fingers and smashed on the tile surface.
He watched and he waited. Almost five minutes passed with several deep sighs leaving her mouth during that time. At one time he thought she looked as if she was going to collapse, so relaxed she seemed to be becoming, and readied to catch her, but she didn’t. She just stood there, seemingly deflating by the passing second. Her mouth hung well open, with her head leaning well forward towards her chest. A small trickle of saliva began to dribble slowly from the left corner of her mouth.
“I’mmm .. therrreee.” she sighed with the softest breath.
“That’s fine.” John smiled. “You’re ... doing perfectly. Now, listen very carefully. Whether you are in trance, like you are right now, or whether you are wide awake, as you will be when I snap my fingers, you will do whatever I suggest you do, feel whatever I suggest you feel, and experience anything I suggest you experience, and you will be compelled to comply by another part of yourself that is ten times stronger than you are. You will know I am controlling you and you will try to resist, but you will find that the more you resist, the more you will add strength to that other part of you who is making you comply. And under the greatest silent protest inside of yourself you will think and act and do as you are told. You will also remember all of this, but should you try to tell someone you will find that although you can think of what to say you will not be able to say it. If you are intelligent enough to understand all of that, I wonder if your right index finger will move in some way so as to let me know that you are, in fact, an intelligent human being after all.”
After several seconds John watched smiling as her right index finger jerked twice. Then he snapped his fingers sharply and watched the life force slowly begin to fill her frame once again in a series of ever-deepening breaths, until finally, she stood tall and erect beside him, and, staring directly into his eyes, her own glowing hostile like two brilliant orbs. John grinned. Let the games begin, he smiled to himself as she drew breath to speak.
“You must be crazy!” she snapped angrily at him. “What are you? Some kind of control freak? Or are you just plain drunk?”
“Neither.” he answered with a smile as he raised his glass to his lips and sipped his drink, waiting for whatever was going to come next. This was the challenge, and to him, there was no challenge like no challenge. Her eyes glowed with rage. She was fuming. He knew she could remember every single word he had said to her while she was tranced.
“You must be mad!” she hissed angrily, confidently at him. “Do you, for one minute think I’m going to do any of that stupid shit you raved on about? I don’t know how you even got me to damn well listen! I’ve got a good mind to see the boss and get you fired! I know where you work. I wonder what he’d say if he knew the truth about you-that you were some sort of pervert who goes around trying to mentally coerce women into becoming slaves!”
John just smiled at her, which seemed to instantly infuriate her. Her breasts were heaving up and down with each breath becoming deeper than the last in her growing fury.
“Go ahead,” he grinned at her. “But before you go, please kneel in front of me right now and do what you already know I want, right to the very end please, without spilling a single drop.”
John’s smile widened as her eyes bulged with sheer ferocity and blinding rage. Her fists clenched and unclenched as her body shifted weight from one foot to the other, but without actually going anywhere. Her shoulders began to turn, but her feet remained firmly planted where they were.
“Unnnngh!” she grunted with sheer effort at trying to leave, but not being able to. Then slowly, but surely, she began to sink to her knees before him. “Nnooo!” she hissed, but continued to sink lower and lower until she kneeled before him. “I won’t! You can’t make me! Nnnoo! I won’t!”
But she did. John watched smiling as she reached up and unzipped his fly, shaking her head the whole time. And she continued to shake her head from side to side and grunt and mumble her protests the entire time she carried out his wishes, exactly, and accurately, the tears of her rage and frustration streaming down her face from the commencement to the completion of her allotted task. After she had re-zipped his fly she slowly rose to her feet and straightened in front of him, although her shoulders remained slumped and rounded in defeat. Her gaze remained fixed firmly on the ground at her feet.
John smiled.
“That was wonderful.” he said, regaining his breath and handing her a card. “Please write your name, address and phone number on this card and bring it back to me.”
“I .. I don’t .. have .. a pen.” she whispered a little breathlessly after her effort on her knees.
“Go and find one.” he replied. “I’ll wait here. Don’t take too long, please.” He watched as she moved slowly away from him. Not worried in the slightest he turned back feeling very relaxed and returned to watching those in the pool engage in their water sports and having fun. The girl returned within a few minutes. He turned as he heard her approach. He face was downcast, although when she raised her eyes to look at him he could see some of the fire and fight had returned to her face. She handed him the card. He took it and placed it in his pocket.
“Why are you doing this? How can you ..... I don’t believe this shit! I don’t!” she stammered in sheer frustration.
John smiled warmly at his latest mule, noticing her face soften a little as he did so.
“Accept it.” He said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. “I’m going to be around for a long while, but for now, relax, go back and enjoy the party, and, for the time being, forget you ever met me until I speak to you again.”
With that said, he placed his other hand over her eyes and closed them down. Then he leaned into her ear and whispered; “Remember to forget you’ve even met me, in fact, until I have need of you again. Then I will speak to you, and then you will remember everything. And, you will come. Wait three minutes now and awaken feeling really great about your life and yourself, then go back and have the time you wanted to have when you decided to come to this party.”
And with that John then released his hands from her eyes, turned, and left her there breathing quietly, peacefully, and returned to the party, already searching on the way back for mule number two.