The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It was real dark in the lab, and then it got real bright.

A shortish girl stood among the rows of desks, fiddling with a flask. She wore a lab coat; her long brown hair was pinned up in a bun. Beakers, test tubes and other gadgetry surrounded her. Something bubbled.

Another girl entered, not wearing a lab coat. She leaned on the desk, sipping a Coke.

“Whatcha doin, Eve?”

“Can’t tell you.”

“Aw, come on. It’s just us.”

“No. Be careful where you put that.” The girl had put the can of soda on the desk.

“Sorry.”

“Is there something you need, Amanda?”

“Just trying to be personable, geeze. Look it up. Bye.” She turned to go. As she did, a tiny white tablet slipped from the palm of her hand and dropped into the can. She passed behind Eve and exited through the side door, leaving the drink behind.

Eve barely noticed her. She poured something into something else, measured something else. Made a note.

The Coke fizzed.

She finished what she was doing and scribbled in the notebook. The girl normally had a serious face, but now she was smiling—no, glowing. She held up the flask and looked through it. It was a clear liquid that didn’t look any different than water. Then she frowned.

Something smelled off in the room. She looked around, checking her work. Nothing was open that shouldn’t have been, nothing was out of place.

The sound of fizzing came to her ears. She looked at the can of soda that Amanda had left behind, and her brow furrowed. She might have been trying to remember if she’d left the oven on at home.

Then her face smoothed. The lines on her brow faded, but the smile didn’t return either: her face turned neutral and blank, and the dark eyes unfocused. Her head listed to the side, awkwardly, and as the motion continued, her eyes dimmed, then closed. Her knees buckled and her legs folded beneath the weight of her body, and she sank to the floor, unconscious. The flask shattered on the tile beside her, dousing her hand and arm with the liquid.

Nothing happened for a long time except that it was very quiet. It was late; the lab was the only lit room in the building. The clock ticked twenty minutes away.

Amanda walked back in, followed by another woman: tall, with curly brown locks. They looked over the incapacitated girl on the floor. Amanda kneeled next to her.

“Ria. Dump that can of Coke down the sink, and don’t get it anywhere near your face. One breath of that and you’ll go out like a light.”

“I thought you said it would dissipate after fifteen minutes?”

“You want to be the one to test that? I’m not carrying the both of you out of here.”

Ria poured the thing down the drain, holding it at arm’s length.

“Is she ok?”

“She’s fine. Come here, take her legs.” Amanda sat the girl up and gripped her under the arms. Eve’s head slumped forward onto her chest. The bun of long hair loosened and started to come apart. Ria took her by the ankles.

“One, two...” They lifted.

“What’s that on her arm?”

“No idea. I wouldn’t touch it.”

The lab coat fell open and dragged on the tile as they carried her. It revealed tight black slacks and a thin, fitting black sweater.

“Damn, Ms. Tightass dresses hot under all that. Who knew?”

“Those are always the ones.”

They passed into the next room: the rec room.

“Are you sure she’s not going to remember any of this?”

“She won’t remember a thing. She’ll probably think she fell asleep after working for so long. Here, put her in front of the TV.” They sat her on the couch. Eve flopped over onto her side. Amanda took her by the arm and pulled her to a sitting position, then leaned her back on the couch, facing the TV.

“Put on HBO, or something that plays all night and isn’t the Weather Channel,” Amanda said. She took out her cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey. We’re good to go. Yeah. You have all night, if you need it. Yeah. We have to do some cleaning up here, then copy her notes, so, a while. Probably two or three hours at least. Ok. See you then.” She hung up.

“All right, cleanup time.” They went back to the lab, leaving Eve’s sleeping face pointed at the third act of Rush Hour 2.

Eve wasn’t sleeping.

Her eyes opened to the barest slits a moment after the other girls left the room. She didn’t do it consciously; it was more of a motor response, because Eve wasn’t awake either. She was something else.

The liquid had since dried on her hand. But it happened to be extremely water soluble, and not all of it had evaporated: some of it had been absorbed. While she’d lain on the floor of the lab it had soaked through her skin, and while the other girls had carried her, it had reached her blood. From there it was a short trip to the brain.

Eve wasn’t awake, but her mind was. The chemical spread. Synapses fired; signals were interrupted, rerouted. Her brain tried to wake up but her body wouldn’t let it; the sedative kept her down.

Images flowed into her eyes and her brain absorbed them. The images were the end of some kung fu movie. A woman was jumping around, beating the hell out of everyone around her and looking good doing it. Eve’s mind absorbed it.

The next movie came on. It was a black and white movie about an evil hypnotist, a cheesy old thing, a B movie even in its own time. The villain would wave his hands at girls and their eyes would go wide and glaze over. Then they’d follow him away helplessly. Eve’s mind absorbed it.

Hours passed. The next came on—it was softcore porn. 2% plot, 98% sex. Eve’s mind absorbed it.

In the chaos of her thoughts, it blended with the movie about the mind controller.

As the sun came up, it changed to a documentary on film noir, showing clips of all the greats from the 40s. Eve’s eyes finally closed as the drug wore down, and she went to sleep for real.

“Ladies.”

The room got quiet. Ria closed the door.

“I have brought us Twinkies.”

Explosive cheering. Ria tossed them to Amanda and the girl next to her, a bookish type with chestnut hair. That was Erin; she handled computer stuff.

“Thank god. I’m starving.”

“Gimme!”

“So, what do we think?” Ria dropped into a chair across from them.

“I think forget the grant. Patent this shit, sell it to a pharmaceutical company, and live six figures for the next twenty years,” Amanda said.

“What was she working on?”

“Last night in the lab it was something she was going to pass off as some wonder drug.” Amanda sifted through the notes. “Used for psychotherapy, something like that. Cures people with post-traumatic stress.”

“It’s for imprinting,” the bookish girl cut in. “It doesn’t cure them. It opens the mind up, so a therapist can try to replace the bad experiences with something positive, or make them seem less bad. Powerful stuff. There’s stuff like that on the market already—this would be similar, just a lot more potent. If it works.”

“Rad. How about you, Erin? Find anything interesting on her computer?”

“Well,” Erin took out her own notes. “She thinks she has a better version of pretty much everything. Painkillers, Viagra, cancer meds. And if she’s right about even a tenth of these, she’s a genius. There was that, and, an encrypted folder which I’m pretty sure was porn.”

Amanda sprayed chunks of Twinkie across the room.

“She encrypts her porn but not her work? Classic.” She wiped her mouth. “Ok. This is good. I’m going to call a couple friends of mine and have them go over all of this. They’ll tell us what’s worth persuing and what isn’t.”

“Five people? Isn’t that... a lot, for something like this?” Erin fidgeted with the notebook.

“Don’t you worry about that. Me and Ria, we’ve known them for a long time. They’re the brains. We can’t do this without them.”

“The woman speaks truth.” Ria pointed a poor, mangled Twinkie at her.

“What are you going to tell them about Eve?”

“No. We can never tell them how we got this.”

“But... wait, why? Aren’t they friends of yours?”

“Yeah, of course they are. But they’re not cut out for this sort of thing. They’re good people but they don’t have the stomach for this. There’s two of them and they come as a pair: Sandy and Molly.

“Sandy is too much of a softy. Ria, you remember that time she hit a rabbit with her car?”

Ria nodded.

“She cried for two days about it. Animal lovers are soft, man. She’s sweet people but she’s soft. And Molly is the same, you can’t separate the two. You tell one of them and you’ve told the other.”

“I think they’re playing for the other team,” Ria smiled.

“Shut up,” Amanda laughed. “I’m trying to explain this to the new girl.”

“They show up with hickeys all the time but they don’t date or have boyfriends? They always disappear at the same time, and you’ve seen how they look at each other. You can’t separate them. Face it. They ain’t breeders.”

“Ok, whatever. Call them up, get them in on this. Just no mention of Eve. It can only be the three of us that knows about that.”

Erin looked down at the notes. Both Amanda and Ria saw it. They shared a meaningful look.

Or maybe just the two of us. It comes down to it, it’s you and me.

Me and you, if we have to cut and run.

Erin’s solid. Maybe not in a pinch, but as long as we make sure there’s no pinch, she’s solid.

They’d known each other since grade school and they could talk without talking.

“Well call them up, mother.” Ria tossed Amanda the phone.

The sound of a vacuum cleaner woke Eve. Her eyes focused on a television; a morning children’s special was playing. A cartoon bear extolled the virtues of brushing one’s teeth. But she didn’t have a TV in her bedroom. She rubbed her eyes and looked around.

Where am I?

There was a table with a coffee machine, a little fridge, and a janitor. The rec room. The janitor smiled.

“I hate to wake you. I saved this room for last, if that helps.”

“S’ok.” Eve looked down at herself. She was still wearing her lab coat, but it was open. She closed it.

Did you come in for a break and then fall asleep? It had been late, and she’d been burning the candle at both ends lately. Except she had zero memory of doing it. She’d been in the lab, and then—

Her notes. She jumped up and ran to the lab. Everything was still there, exactly as she’d left it. Good. The janitors in this building knew better than to touch anything in a lab. This wasn’t your average university chemistry department—here, it was serious business.

She flipped through the notebook. According to it, she’d finished—but she didn’t remember it, and the flask that should have held the result was empty.

She had the strangest sense of—

Eve blinked. The morning sun was in a different place; it spilled across the desk and warmed her hand—but a moment ago, it had been on the floor. She looked at her watch.

How long have you been standing here?

Twenty minutes, that was how long. Eve rubbed her eyes again—she was asleep on her feet from exhaustion, had to be. She packed up the various chemicals, washed out their containers, and left the lab.

The hall was already filling with people. Good timing—another five minutes and the lab would have been occupied. She hurried along, skimming the notes.

A man bumped into her. She spun and seized him by the wrist, dropping the notebook. He looked at her.

“Um, hi?”

Eve stared at him.

“Ow?”

She blinked.

“Oh, shit, I’m... I have no idea why I did that, I’m sorry.” She let go. “I thought you were someone else.” The man raised his eyebrows and walked away. Eve looked at her hand.

Why did you do that? Her body had moved on its own. She looked around at the crowd, dazed. She had the inexplicable urge to leap into the air and kick someone in the face, or do something else ninja-like.

A girl brushed past; Eve’s eyes were drawn to her. A wave of vertigo washed over her as she watched. She had a vivid hallucination where she reached out, grabbed the girl by the arms, and... what? Grabbed her and what?

Then another flash: in this one, she waved something in the girl’s face, and the girl’s eyes went wide; then they unfocused, then stared straight ahead; then Eve spoke to her, and the girl obeyed. Then she lead the girl away, someplace quiet, where she...

Eve leaned against the wall, breathing. The girl was gone. She looked down at the notebook, still on the floor, and caught something else out of the corner of her eye: her hand had crept down while she daydreamed, and was halfway into her pants. She pulled it out and stared at it.

What... the fuck... was that. The hand had been mostly concealed by the lab coat. That was good. She’d been this close to fingering herself in a crowded hall.

Something’s wrong with you. You need to get out of public view, now. Yeah, that was a good idea. She pushed the weird fantasy out of her head, snatched the notebook, and went to the nearest bathroom. She felt the damp spot as she walked and pretended it wasn’t there; she felt the friction between her legs as the tight black slacks rubbed together and tried to ignore it.

The bathroom was empty except for a Latina girl doing her makeup. The girl didn’t notice her. Eve had another flash: kidnapping her, taking her away, keeping her tied down while she... flashed something in the girl’s eyes...

The girl looked down at her purse. Eve’s body made calculations without asking her first. Base of the neck, not too high and not too low. Too high and you’ll just bruise your hand on her head, too low and you could hurt her neck. And why are you thinking that in the first—

Eve’s hand darted out like lightning and karate chopped the girl behind the ear.

“Hrk!” The girl twisted; her body tilted awkwardly; Eve caught her under the arms as she went down. She guided the girl to the floor, then looked at her.

Eve blinked. There was an unconscious girl on the bathroom floor.

What the hell did you just do?

“Are... are you ok?”

The girl lay on the floor and didn’t answer. Holy shit. That wasn’t her; she hadn’t done that. Her hand had moved on its own; she hadn’t been able to stop it. She’d had a sense of disconnection, and a heartbeat later, the girl had been knocked out on the floor.

Make sure she’s ok!

Eve felt for the girl’s pulse, found it. She was breathing. She was fine. Adrenaline squirted into her veins as she realized what she’d done. You had some kind of attack or something. The reality of the situation began to sink in.

Get it together. You need to hide her. But the other part of her mind whispered: Now you can take her to your room...

She dragged the girl into a stall and sat her on the toilet, leaning her against the wall. The girl’s shoulder sank and her cheek pressed against the wall; she slid a few inches, but didn’t fall. Eve shook her to be sure. The girl jiggled but stayed put. Good. Eve got the purse from outside and put it in the girl’s lap.

Now you need to get the hell out of here before someone comes in. Eve did that. She shut the stall door and left the bathroom.

What if she saw you?

She didn’t see you. All she’ll remember is looking in her purse, then waking up in the stall.

She walked to the exit as casually as possible, clutching the notes. The notes! She tore the notebook open.

You didn’t get any of that stuff on you, did you? Last night in the lab?

She couldn’t remember—she didn’t even know if she’d finished it. That wouldn’t make sense anyway: it was an psychoactive drug, not a narcotic. Not only would she have stayed awake, but she would have remembered everything she saw vividly.

A woman passed her: attractive, mid 30’s, auburn hair. Eve could smell her shampoo. She could strike up a conversation with the woman, lead her to a lab, then try some of the stuff on her—

You need to get home and lock yourself in your room, now.

She did.

Eve paced around her apartment. When she could think, she thought about it from a million different angles, and nothing else made sense: she must have completed the drug, and some of it must have gotten into her system. She’d been imprinted with something, she just didn’t know what—although, every time she saw an attractive woman, she had a pretty good idea.

Maybe you should see a psychiatrist. That was a good idea. A female psychiatrist, and then they’d be alone for a whole hour, and she could—

No. None of that. A male psychiatrist. That was a better idea. Then she could program him to bring her the female psychiatrist—

Cut it out!

Eve shook her head. She kept losing time. One minute she’d be standing in front of the fridge, the next her hand would be on the doorknob, turning it. That was the problem with locking herself in: the locks all opened from the inside.

How long will it be before you black out and wake up with a girl in your bedroom?

Rent a movie, that was a good idea. Something to keep her mind from going off. Just stick to public places. Whatever is wrong with you, you’re not stupid enough to do something in public, right? I mean, you might end up fingering yourself on the sidewalk, but at least you won’t kidnap anyone.

Right?

It was all just fantasy as long as she could keep her hands from doing something like they’d done to the girl in the bathroom. It wasn’t like there was any real danger of brainwashing someone.

Because it’s not like you’re a talented chemist who can make pretty much any drug in the world. Or someone with access to a lab and the materials to do that.

She got dressed for the fourth time that day. There was a funny story behind that: once she’d realized that she couldn’t stop herself from leaving, she’d started stripping down to her underwear to try and keep herself at home. Even her crazy-self wouldn’t go out naked.

It seemed to be working, but then she would blink and she would be dressed again, her hand on the doorknob. Strip, blink, hand on doorknob. She’d done that three times.

She pulled up the tight black slacks, again, and shivered. You should really change into something looser. They were getting harder and harder to walk in. They... rubbed. But her other self liked them, and she didn’t feel like fighting it. She had to pick her battles.

In the hall, Eve passed the girl from next door. She was cute; she always wore baggy pants and a tight top. Trapped in the 90’s but cute. Eve watched her and tried not to notice that they were alone in the hall.

“Hey Eve!”

You need to get away from me. You’re not safe.

“Hey.”

“Wicked cute outfit. You’ve got like a hot librarian thing happening.”

Thanks. I tried to change four times today but couldn’t.

“You too. Except... not a librarian.”

“Going someplace fun? Can I come?” She grinned, digging for her keys.

Would you like to spend the next week tied up in my closet?

Eve tried hard to not notice that they were alone in the hall—or the girl’s neck, as her head tilted—or the way the girl’s shirt got tight against her upper arm as she dug in her purse—or that little piece of skin between her shirt and the low-rider pants—or that they were alone in the hall, and the girl’s back was turned, and no one would know for days if she just reached out—

Eve’s body began to make calculations on its own, the same way it had in the bathroom. Stop. Back away from her. Her legs did the opposite.

The girl turned the key, opened the door, and turned around.

“Nah, I’m gonna go rent something sappy and spend the night in,” Eve blushed.

“Aww. I’m gonna take you out sometime, show you what’s what. The guys would go insane over you. We’d tear the place up.”

“Maybe after midterms.”

You have two seconds to get inside and close that door or I won’t be able to stop myself.

The girl rolled her eyes.

“Ya won’t be young and hot forever!” She winked and closed the door.

Eve walked out, trying to keep her legs from rubbing together. It didn’t work so well.

That night Eve had the most boring dreams ever. She dreamed she was in the lab, mixing chemicals together, creating different things. Some were drugs she already knew and some she invented on the spot. She dreamed that for eight hours. It went on forever; she even remembered the ingredients from each of the recipes. At the end she went into the rec room and lay down on the couch.

She woke up and looked at the ceiling for a long time.

Even your dreams are boring. You work too much.

Hmm. That wasn’t her ceiling. The one in her bedroom was plaster; this was tiled, with long fluorescent lights. She sat up. There was a TV and a little fridge. That wasn’t her bedroom. That was the rec room next to the lab.

She tried to be surprised when she walked into the lab and saw all the things from her dream, but she wasn’t.

She wondered if her other self would let her change her clothes today.

The girls met for a second time. Sandy and Molly had spent a day going over the notes; they sat together, in the same chair, flipping through them.

“Where did you guys come up with this stuff?”

“Our little genius here.” Amanda put her arm around Erin. Erin blushed and looked down.

“Well, she’s good,” Sandy said.

“Real good,” Molly said.

“Can we keep her?” Sandy said.

“I think she might be a savant,” Molly said.

“Can you two break up your sentences a bit? It hurts my head.”

“I’m just sayin.”

“She’s just sayin, and she’s right.”

Ria rolled her eyes and looked at Amanda. Are you telling me you don’t think they’re in the sapphic sisterhood?

I don’t care! They know their shit!

“This is heavy.”

“Groundbreaking, some of it.”

“I’m talking your own private lab and a grant at whatever college you want for as long as you want.”

“Or a job at insert-company-here.”

“Or just patent the stuff and sell it.”

“What do you need us for?”

Sandy and Molly beamed at the blushing genius.

“’It’s too much for one person. Testing alone would be years. But if we split it up, we can reap the benefits while we’re still young. Hell, we could go into business for ourselves. Are you in?”

“Hell yeah she’s in,” Sandy said.

“She is too,” Molly said.

Ria tried not to puke.

“All right,” she said. “Let us know which drugs are the most promising, we’ll make some timetables, split everything up according to expertise, etc. etc. I gotta run. I’ll call ya,” she said to Amanda.

“Later.”

Eve watched the movie she’d rented over and over and over. It was called Murder in Mind and it was about a woman who went to see a hypnotist to quit smoking. The woman was played by Mary Louise Parker. The hypnotist had helped her quit smoking, but then he made her keep coming back, and he gradually rewrote her entire personality. He changed her so much that he used her to marry an enemy of his, and eventually kill him. He made the woman believe it was self defense.

She kneeled in front of the TV, naked, her fingers buried in her sex. Her other self was ok with being naked right now. They both wanted the same thing: to watch. The hypnotist used a gold pocket watch on the woman. Every time the woman went under, Eve came. But the movie was a mystery, and at the end, you find out that the woman has been under, in one way or another, for almost the entire film.

Eve couldn’t get up. She was weak all over. The hypnotist flashed the watch at the woman—the woman got a dazed look on her face. Eve spasmed; her back arched.

The woman blinked—she didn’t know where she was or how she got there. Eve’s lips parted; she twitched. The carpet dug into her knees and her ass.

The woman walked down a hall, doing nothing special; but Eve had seen the end and she knew that the woman was hypnotized then, too. The muscles in Eve’s stomach tightened and relaxed; her ass tightened and relaxed; muscles she didn’t even know existed tightened, and relaxed, and every movement was a tiny, uncontrollable joy.

She couldn’t look away until the end credits rolled. Then she would play it again from the beginning. Sometimes she would pass out, and when she woke up, with the carpet on her back and the sweat drying on her breasts, her hand would still be working.

It was a lot safer than the alternative. She was losing control of herself. The blackouts were becoming longer and longer: ten minutes, then twenty, then thirty. Worse, she wasn’t even completely blacking out anymore. Sometimes she could remember what happened; she was just powerless to stop it.

Earlier there had been a long one: over thirty minutes, where she had gone out and bought black silk pants and a tight, black silk dress shirt. It looked formal and hot and that was the look that Eve’s other self wanted.

The longest “blackout” was almost two hours. She’d called a realtor and rented an old, abandoned farmhouse outside of town. The realtor hadn’t asked any questions; the thing had been empty for years and he was happy to make money off of it, even for a month.

But then Eve had tricked her new self. She’d rented this movie, because she knew her new self couldn’t resist it either. The lines between them blurred as she watched. That should maybe concern you. But it was the only way. It was better than losing control and not getting it back until there was some girl tied up on her floor.

She had to sleep sometime, but she had a plan for that too. The mixture of drugs she had taken from the lab sat on her dresser. There were sedatives, hypnotics, hallucinogens, and some that were all three... some were pills, some were liquid... one was even an aerosol, another was in a small spray bottle... and off to the side were a few syringes filled with heavy duty tranquilizers. When Eve went to bed, she was going to use that last thing on herself, to make sure she didn’t do any “sleepwalking”.

On the TV, a light flashed across the woman’s face. Eve spasmed and blacked out for another ten minutes.

When she came to the movie was ending. That one had been like the first few blackouts—she didn’t remember anything. She let the credits roll without replaying the movie. She was exhausted. Her body had either been flexing, twitching, or getting ready to all day. Time for bed.

She went to the dresser to get a syringe, then stopped. They were missing. She looked beside it, behind it; she ran to the bathroom, checked the cabinet, everywhere. They were gone.

You hid the fucking tranquilizers from yourself! Oh, no. It’s ok. There are other sedatives there, get one of them, fast. Even some sodium pentathol; it’s not really a sedative but you sure won’t be going very far with enough of it in your system.

Eve ran back to the bedroom—

—and then she was standing by the closet, pulling on the black silk pants. She tried to stop—her hands wouldn’t listen. She was fusing with her other self. It’s happening. You knew it would happen. You should have tied yourself up, anything...

The pants slid up her legs like gossamer. She buttoned the silk shirt. And then, the thing that had been moving her body began to move her mind too—she felt her old self pushed aside, tried to fight it—and then something happened, something shifted—the part of her mind that had karate chopped the girl in the bathroom found the part of her mind that tried to stop it, and silenced it.

Eve smiled. She walked out of her room and into the world.

She stalked through the cool evening, looking for prey. The air was perfect; it smelled like trees and grass. Lots of people were out: some couples, some walking someplace, some just sitting, enjoying the last hour before it got cold. She got more than once glance from the men. She ignored them.

A girl from her building passed. She wondered if it would be better to take someone she knew or someone she’d never met. It didn’t matter. The new Eve didn’t make human connections in the same way as the old one. Someone she knew would be easier to get alone, but someone she didn’t know would be safer in case something went wrong.

There was a girl sitting alone at a picnic table, reading. Her hair was amber and tucked behind one ear. Eve locked onto her, gripping the aerosol in her pocket.

Then the smell hit her. A woman. It was like a wave; Eve staggered. It filled her senses. Not the girl at the picnic table. She knew that smell; not just the perfume, or the shampoo, or the musk of the woman herself, but the woman those smells added up to. It had been burned into her brain like everything else that night in the lab.

She spun. She couldn’t tell who it was. She began walking in circles, getting the direction of the scent. That way; towards a girl’s dorm. Eve stalked up the path. The woman had been here recently, as little as twenty seconds ago. Eve turned a corner and saw her.

The woman looked familiar. She was in Eve’s chemistry class; she always sat in the back with another girl. Eve searched for her name.

Ria. That was her name. Eve ran after her. The smell was driving her insane: her hair, her skin, everything. Couldn’t anyone else smell it? The woman wore jean shorts and a tank top, showing off tan skin and long legs.

Eve came up behind her and seized her by the arm.

“You.”

Ria turned, and Eve watched as the look on her face went from confused, to scared, to carefully neutral.

“Um, yeah, me. Do I know you? You’re from chemistry class, right?”

“You did this to me,” Eve growled.

The woman’s face fell for just an instant, then she composed it.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but how about you get the fuck away from me.” She tore her arm away. Eve grabbed it again.

“I know it was you. I can smell you.“

“The next time you do that you are going to be in a world of hurt,” Ria spat. She glared down; she was at least four inches taller than Eve. But Eve didn’t let go.

The woman yanked her arm free again.

“Stay away from me.”

She turned and strode into the building.

Ria played it cool but her heart was doing flip flops. Eve knew. She didn’t know what Eve knew, but Eve knew something.

The weird thing was, she hadn’t even looked angry. She looked... excited? Intense? Yeah, intense for sure. The things she said sounded angry, but her face had been like a kid on Christmas morning.

Amanda would want to know about this, yeah. Ria walked up a flight of stairs to her floor. Whatever Eve thought she knew, she had never actually seen them in the lab. The girl’s eyes had been closed. Ria had checked.

No, Eve had apparently identified her by scent, which, while creepy and bizarre, wasn’t likely to stand up in court. Yes, officer, she smelled like lilac conditioner and coconut moisturizer. I’m sure it was her.

Still, any connection to Eve was bad. They were going to have to ditch the whole plan, cut and run.

Ria caught motion out of the corner of her eye as she dug for her keys. Eve had followed her. Great. Ria unlocked the door then turned to face her.

Eve walked up and stood at arm’s length. Were those silk pants? Wow, what C-grade porn did she walk out of? Her eyes didn’t look right. Eve was smiling, looking right through her; the eyes were crazed, gleeful. That girl was not right.

“Look,” Ria said. “I don’t know what the hell you think is—”

Eve reached out and sprayed something in her face. Ria sputtered, wiped her mouth.

“What the fuck was that?“

“The stuff that dreams are made of,” Eve grinned.

Ria turned to open the door and her legs stopped working. It was like she was balancing on rubber balls. Whoa. Her hand reached for the knob but stopped there. She felt her body lean against the door, then begin to slide down.

Eve ducked under her arm and propped her up like one does for a drunk friend. To a passer by, they might have looked like the best of buds.

She couldn’t move anything but her eyes. She looked down at Eve, and Eve was... What the hell is she doing? Eve’s nose was pressed against her neck. She felt Eve’s chest rise and fall against her, taking deep breaths. She’s smelling you. Oh, god. She’s insane, really insane. Ria couldn’t move. Her body was Jello. Eve put the other arm around her waist to hold her up, then opened the door.

Ria looked around for help. There were two girls walking towards them from one end of the hall, and another at the other end. None of them paid any attention. Ria opened her mouth to shout but no sound came out.

The girls in the hall got closer. They hadn’t even looked. Even if they had, it was a dormitory. Drunk college girls were not exactly a rare phenomenon. You could trip over three tipsy sophomores just walking to the bathroom.

Look at me! She isn’t my friend! She’s kidnapping me!

Eve walked her in. Outside, the two girls passed without even glancing at them. Ria’s head dropped against her chest. She was walked in farther, propped against the wall, and then the door was closed and she was alone with this crazy woman and couldn’t defend herself and oh shit.

Eve let go. Ria slid down the wall into a pile of lanky limbs. Her vision was dimming. Eve crouched beside her and took her chin.

“Don’t worry. This is just until it gets dark, so I can get you out of here without anyone seeing.” She buried her face in Ria’s hair and took a deep breath.

Ria’s thoughts tripped and fell down a spiral staircase.

The first thing she remembered was those little imprints on the back of her eyes, like when you look at the sun or a bright light. It was a while before she could see. She didn’t mind. She wasn’t even sure if she was awake or not. The room was dark except for a soft light that shone only on her.

She would have fallen asleep again if the voice hadn’t spoken.

“Hey, there you are.” The owner came into her field of vision. Eve. She had the feeling there was something important she should remember about Eve, but she couldn’t think of what it was.

“How are you feeling?”

“Good,” Ria said. She felt very good. There was something warm behind her eyes.

“You might be feeling a little strange. I gave you some powerful stuff. Stuffs, plural.”

Ria did feel strange, but it was good. Eve smiled and leaned over her. Her long hair was down. It dragged on Ria’s skin and it felt incredible. Hm, it dragged on her skin? Ria looked down. Oh. She was in her underwear. That was why.

She was in a chair, in her underwear, and her arms and legs were strapped down.

“Why am I tied up?” She didn’t mind, but she was curious.

“I had to, sorry. You fought like a tiger for a while there. You woke up when I was strapping you in, and you almost kicked my ass with just one arm! You’re strong.”

“Hehe. I know. Amanda calls me her bodyguard.”

“I had to give you another dose just to get that last arm in. Then I had to wait for you to wake up again. The whole thing took a while.”

“Sorry.”

“Sorry? Hell, I woulda done the same thing.” Eve’s eyes twinkled. “It is kind of exciting to know that you could kick my ass in a heartbeat if I let you go.”

The hair tickled her thigh.

“Why am I in my underwear?”

“A few reasons. One, I had to give you a few shots, and I’m going to have to give you a couple more later. Two, you’re just really pretty. I couldn’t stop myself. Literally.” She played with Ria’s hair. It sent little tingles across Ria’s scalp and down the back of her neck. “What did you do to me the other night in the lab?”

“Me and Amanda drugged you so we could steal your work. Amanda put something in her can of coke that evaporated into the room and knocked you out.”

“Clever.” Fingers ran down the back of her ear.

“I thought so. I didn’t think it would work.”

“That was it? A tranquilizer? What happened to me wasn’t caused by a tranquilizer. Do you remember anything else?”

“We went in and you were passed out on the floor. There was a flask of something broken next to you; some of it was on your hand. Amanda took your arms and picked you up...”

“Ok. You can stop. I think I understand now.” She walked behind the chair, then came back around the other side holding a small vial of clear liquid. “This is what was on my hand. I’m going to give you some in a little while.”

Ria looked at it. She thought that maybe that should bother her, but it didn’t.

Eve got close again, leaning over. She smiled. Her hair brushed against Ria’s skin.

“Does that feel strange?”

“Yeah.” She squirmed in the chair. Eve stood before her, all black silk, dark hair and smile.

She hopped into Ria’s lap. Ria sucked in a breath. Eve looked down at her.

“You ok? I didn’t hurt ya, did I?”

“No. You’re light. It’s just—” Eve’s weight shifted and she sucked in another breath.

Eve wiggled, getting more comfortable. The silk let her slide around. Ria felt the girl’s ass in her lap. It was soft. That tiny layer of slippery fabric was all that separated their bodies.

“You’re warm,” Ria said. She felt the woman’s nose on her neck and leaned into it. “Why do you keep doing that?”

“Do you mind?”

“No.” She really didn’t.

“Everything that happened that night left an impression on me, deep in my mind, because of the drug. You,” she ran her nose from Ria’s neck to her ear, “are all mixed up in that. I can’t help it. I can’t help anything I’ve been doing, even what I’m about to do to you.”

“What are you going to do to me?” She hoped that, whatever it was, it would feel as good as Eve’s legs did.

“I’m going to make you beautiful.”

“Oh.” The nose ran along her jaw. “You’re not going to give me a face lift, are you?”

Eve laughed.

“No, silly! I’m going to hypnotize you. Girls are more beautiful when they’re hypnotized. It makes me wonder, why don’t all girls want to be hypnotized all the time?”

“I don’t know,” Ria mumbled. She really didn’t.

“Do you want me to make you beautiful?”

Eve’s weight shifted in her lap again. Eve’s hand caressed her stomach. Oh, yes, she did.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to be beautiful for the rest of your life?”

“Yes.“

“I thought so. And I want you to be, too. I want all girls to be. They deserve it. All girls dream of being beautiful, from the time they’re little until they’re old. We’re going to help them all, one girl at a time. Starting with you. You will be my Eve.”

Ria tried to move, to touch her. She couldn’t, she was tied down. She writhed in the chair. Eve pressed against her playfully.

“Will you be my Eve?”

“Yes.“ Eve’s lips did things to her collar bone that they didn’t have words for. Her hands fluttered in the restraints. Eve was slippery warmth all over her; she was a serpent. She slithered up, one silk-wrapped arm dragging on Ria’s cheek, then took Ria by the hair, pulled her head back and kissed her, her breasts under Ria’s chin, and Ria knew nothing but the silk prison of breasts and arms and lips. She strained against the bonds, but the little strips of leather defeated her.

Then Eve got up. Ria whined.

“I need your other smell,” Eve smiled. She kneeled down between Ria’s legs, but Ria’s ankles were tied too and she could only whimper, hoping that some tiny bit of the woman might accidentally rub against her.

“Relax your hand,” Eve whispered. “I’m going to put something delicate in it.” Ria tried but it was hard, so hard, and the silk arm was between her legs, and then she felt it: the woman’s breast was in her hand. She melted, and Eve smiled as the wetness came.

Then Eve’s head was between her legs, Eve’s cheeks slid between her thighs and they may as well have been silk, they were that smooth—and if she could have moved she would have been bucking and flailing, but she couldn’t, and some part of her mind knew that if she went along with this she would never have control of herself again, she’d be controlled by this woman, but then she felt the tongue and it didn’t matter.

She spasmed and her hips jerked up, then back; she forced them up so Eve could get in, then the tongue would flick and she’d lose control of her body—and when her eyes cleared she’d have to bend her hips up again so Eve could get back in. Every time she came Eve’s hands would tighten around her thighs, the nails digging in.

“That’s what I needed,” Eve breathed, and licked her.

Ria thrashed. The hands squeezed her thighs. The tongue licked. Ria came again; her eyes were fogging over, too much exertion, even the wood of the chair felt like it was massaging her ass, and something in her knew that it was just the drugs but there was the tongue again and that something in her mind was washed away in a warm, powerful wave.

It happened again and she grayed out—not quite fainting but not quite there either—and when she came back to herself her legs were raw and her body was tired.

Eve’s face rested against the inside of her thigh. She looked exhausted too. She kissed sometimes, little kisses like sprinkling rain, but mostly she just lay there, breathing Ria in.

“Good girl,” she mumbled into Ria’s skin. Ria felt a low throb at the compliment but was too spent to answer. “I was going to wait until later to do that, after I’d made you beautiful, but I’m glad I didn’t wait, because you’re beautiful right now.”

She climbed back up into Ria’s lap and stroked her hair.

“Now we’re going to do the rest. You’ll feel what I felt that night, but it’ll be better for you, because I am going to focus you. You won’t be out of control like me.”

Ria wondered how being a tool of something that was out of control was any better, but she didn’t think any farther than that.

Eve reached over the tied girl, her breast gliding against Ria’s cheek. Ria moaned. She wasn’t having an easy time with the talking. She felt a sting on her arm and looked down. Eve was holding an empty syringe. She’d injected her with something, right into the vein.

Eve pressed a button on a remote control. A bright red light began to flash into her eyes. She looked at it. Something in her recognized that it looked the same as the imprints on the backs of her eyes when she’d first woken up.

“I’m going to stay in your lap while we do this. Is that ok?”

Ria nodded.

“I want to feel it when you finally let go.” She kissed Ria’s ear. “Look into the light.”

Ria looked into the light.

Amanda didn’t pay much attention at the next meeting. She let the rest of the girls talk business. She watched a squirrel through the window.

Ria wasn’t there and no one had seen her for days. She’d been to Ria’s room three times, called everyone they knew in common. Ria had vanished off the face of the earth. That was fine, but, if Ria felt like vanishing off the face of the earth and had only one person in the world to call, it would have been her.

“What do you think, Manda?”

She looked at them and they looked at her.

“About what?”

“About how we’re splitting this all up. Erin is going to take the psychoactives, Molly will take the painkillers—”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

The rest of the girls traded glances.

“Maybe she got cold feet,” Erin said.

“She didn’t get cold feet.”

“Maybe she did and was too embarrassed to tell you.”

“I just said she didn’t.”

“Well, I mean, who knows. Maybe she met a guy, or decided to go back home for a few days or something.”

“She didn’t.”

“How do you know?”

Amanda only looked at her.

“We’ll look for her,” Sandy cut in. She didn’t get the weird subtext that was happening between Amanda and Erin, but something was up. Nothing bothered Amanda and Amanda was bothered.

“Yeah. We’ll hit the usual places,” Molly said.

“Have you checked her car?”

“Her car has been in the dorm parking lot since the last time we met,” Amanda said. The squirrel got scared by something and ran back up the tree.

“Well, wherever she is, she’s fine,” Sandy said. “I mean, Ria used to be a frigging kickboxer. She could kick all of our asses without spilling her drink.”

“I know,” Amanda said.

“I think she met some stud who hasn’t let her out of bed for two days. A real Adonis. They’re probably making babies as we speak.”

“I think she’s been on a two day bender and is probably puking her guts out in the bathroom of some dive bar.”

Sandy and Molly talked on their cell phones from opposite sides of the campus, looking for Ria.

“You’re right. There isn’t a stud in the city who could keep her busy for two days. She’s probably passed out somewhere. You gonna hit the bars?” That was Sandy talking.

“Yup.” And that was Molly talking. “How about you?”

“I don’t know. Her dorm again, I guess. This is pointless. You know her. Her and Amanda. They do whatever they want to. But Manda’s panties are in a bunch about it and they’re not going to get unbunched till we find her.”

“Are you wearing your ring?” Molly smiled into the phone.

Sandy blushed.

“We’re in public...”

“Put it on! Keep your hand in your pocket. That’s what I do.”

“Ok.” Sandy slipped on her engagement ring and walked with her hand tucked into her jeans. “This is pointless too. We should just tell everyone. Everyone at once. We could make fliers.”

“I haven’t softened my parents up enough yet. They’d flip.”

“Mine too, and I can’t give my father a heart attack until he gets his pension.”

Both girls fingered their rings and smiled. They carried them with them always, but only wore them in private. Sandy entered Ria’s building and climbed the stairs.

“We could elope.”

“A little log cabin somewhere?”

“You know it.”

She opened Ria’s door and Ria was there, having sex with another girl in the middle of the floor. Sandy froze.

The two women stopped and looked at her. It was Eve, from chem class. A two-way dildo dropped to the floor.

“I am so, so sorry, the door was unlocked and holy shit am I sorry.” She blushed and shut the door, then leaned against the wall outside. Holy shit.

“I gotta call you back,” Sandy whispered into the phone.

The door opened. Ria poked her head out.

“Hey,” she smiled.

The other girl poked her head out, beneath Ria’s.

“Hey,” she smiled.

“I think I forgot to mention how incredibly unbelievably sorry I am,” Sandy said.

“It’s ok! Come on in.”

“No, I’m going to go. Amanda’s been looking all over for you, though. Give her a call if you get a chance. Later. Not now. Do whatever you want right now! Heh! I’m gonna go.”

“Aw, all right.” The girls whispered to each other, then Eve went back inside.

“C’mere,” Ria winked. Sandy stepped over.

“I had no idea you were, you know,” Sandy blushed. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that! I just never figured—”

Ria reached out and drew a finger down Sandy’s cheek. There was a liquid on it; it left a trail on her skin.

“Hey there, hi, hands to ourselves, heh,” Sandy laughed. Wow, Ria is high as a kite. And what was that on her finger? If it wasn’t sweat, then it was... yeah. “I’m going to go. You guys pretend I never interrupted.”

She turned and rushed down the stairs. At the bottom she wiped her cheek. It evaporated quickly, and it might have been her imagination, but the skin tingled a bit. She took out her cell phone.

Across campus, Amanda answered.

“Yeah?”

“So, um, I found Ria.”

“Where is she?”

“Oddly enough, in her room.”

“That’s it? In her room? What the hell’s the matter with her? Did you tell her pick up her goddamn phone and call me?”

“I did, but, she’s kind of busy at the moment. She’ll probably call you later.”

“Busy how?”

“Ask her. It’s none of my business.” She entered the small park between the dorms.

“Is everyone smoking crack? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Sorry. I’m suddenly feeling less enthused about all this snooping around.”

Amanda waved her hands in exasperation.

“Was there anyone else there?”

“Yup. That girl from chem class, the genius. Eve.”

Amanda stopped dead.

“I’m coming over there.”

“Um, I really think you shouldn’t! Just give her a little while and I’m sure she’ll whoa.“ A wave of vertigo washed through her and almost knocked her over. “Whoa. I think I need to... sit down.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I don’t... oh, wow.” She stumbled to a park bench and dropped into it. A light breeze blew through her hair. She could feel it, all over her. It was like she could feel every individual air molecule as it passed through her clothing. “I’m feeling really weird, Manda.” If she’d been standing up, that light breeze would have knocked her over. It tickled. “Heh.”

“Sandy?”

The grass looked really green. It was extra green. She looked at her hands. They were really pretty hands.

“I have really pretty hands,” she said. One of them drifted to her cheek, where the faint tingle had all but gone. “Did Ria... I think Ria dosed me with something?” Her hand felt strange on her cheek. “Why would she do that?”

“Where are you?”

“In the park. There’s lots of pretty people here.”

“Don’t move. I’ll be right there.” Amanda pulled her sneakers on and dove out of the building. The park was about a quarter mile away. She could cover that in less than two minutes.

“Hey look, it’s Eve!” Sandy’s voice bubbled through the phone. “She’s pretty too.”

Amanda froze.

“Sandy, get up and come towards my building right now. Run. Do not talk to her. Do you understand?”

“Hey, Eve!”

Amanda ran, keeping the phone to her ear. Sandy giggled through the receiver. Then there was a bump and sounds of motion as someone else took the phone.

“Sandy?”

Someone breathed on the other end.

“Is this Eve?”

No answer. In the background, Sandy chirped: “Wheee!”

“Eve, I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but—”

The call was disconnected. Amanda snapped the phone shut and broke into a full out sprint, leaping over grass and the old cobbled pathways of the college. The few people that were in her way got the hell out of it.

She did the quarter mile in less than ninety seconds. In the middle of the park she stopped, her hands on her knees. There were lots of people there, but none of them were Sandy.

Things got blurry for a while there. Sandy never quite passed out, but, the rush of thoughts and images got to be so much that they ran together, mixing up and changing like oil on the surface of water. There was grass and trees and Eve, standing in front of her, looking deadly ravishing in a tight silk dress shirt, smiling down at her, holding out her hand... and then there was wind blowing through her hair and a road, and she felt the sun on the seats and laid her head back... and then there was a farmhouse, and they went inside... and then there was darkness, and her mind made patterns in the black because it wasn’t ready for sensory nothing... and then Eve undressed her and sat her in a chair, and she felt something on her wrists and ankles.

The rational part of her brain watched and took notes, but didn’t do much else. When she felt her clothes come off, down to the bra and panties, she thought: That was cool of her. Classy villains always leave people wearing a little something.

Ria stood and watched them the whole time, wearing a silver belt that accented her hips and nothing else.

Eve’s voice asked her questions and she answered them. Then it was quiet. It didn’t occur to her that she was restrained until her nose itched and she couldn’t scratch it.

“My nose itches,” she said to the darkness. Eve appeared and scratched it. “Thanks.” She looked at Ria. “What’s wrong with Ria?”

“Nothing’s wrong with her,” Eve smiled. “She’s under my control now. She won’t do anything unless I ask her. Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Yeah.”

Ria stood, her hands behind her back, on the balls of her feet, like models do to make their legs look better. She was on display: a functional mannequin.

“Are you going to do that to me?”

“No, little one.” Eve ran a finger down her shoulder. It gave her goosebumps. “Ria told me everything. I know you and Molly weren’t involved. But I still need you to help me with something. A couple somethings.”

“Ok.”

Eve wheeled something in front of her that looked like a dentist’s light. Actually, it was a dentist’s light—the base and reflector from one, anyway. The rest was Eve’s own invention. The light was dark.

“I’ve been working on a theory,” Eve said, adjusting it a few feet from Sandy’s face and pointing it directly at her eyes. “I got the idea from epileptics. If they see a light flash at a certain frequency, their brain wigs out and they have a seizure. I got to thinking, maybe something similar would work on a normal brain.”

“You want to give me a seizure?” The rational part of her brain identified that as a bad thing but didn’t do anything about it.

“Of course not. That’s just where I got the idea from. I think a pulse of light could be used to do other things to the brain, and I’m going to try it out on you.” Her fingers walked up Sandy’s arm. “Look at the light.”

It flashed blinding whiteness. Sandy’s right leg kicked out, or tried to; it was tied down.

“Whoa!” she giggled. “That was weird.” It had been like at the doctor’s office, when the doctor taps your knee with that thing to test reflexes.

“Didn’t hurt?”

“No, it felt... nice.”

Eve adjusted the frequency. It flashed again. Sandy’s hands opened and closed.

“Heee! That tickles.” It was like a soft hand made of vapor and electricity had reached through her body and massaged her hands from the inside.

Eve turned a knob. It flashed again.

Sandy’s hips jerked.

“Oh... wow...” She blushed. Eve looked at her. A damp spot had formed on the girl’s panties.

“Neat!” Eve said. She knelt next to the girl and felt the damp cotton fabric. Sandy moaned; her head leaned back against the chair. “Not what I was trying to do, but neat!”

The blush spread down Sandy’s neck, across her chest, and down her arms. Her chest heaved; her breasts strained against the bra. The invisible hand massaged her from the inside.

“Would you like to see that one again?”

“...yes... please...”

“Then you need to look at the light, sweety.” The girl’s head tossed against the back of the chair. She couldn’t. Eve took her head gently and pointed it at the light. It flashed.

“Ohmygod.“ Her body fought the chair; her hips ground into it, back then down, then forward then up, painting the wood with her juices. Her arms flexed in the restraints. She needed to touch. Couldn’t touch. Needed to touch. Plaintive noises escaped her throat.

Her captor blushed too. She kneeled next to the thrashing girl and threaded their fingers together, so that they were holding hands. Sandy squeezed tightly and moaned. Then Eve let go with her right hand. Sandy felt the panties be pushed aside.

Eve’s fingers slid into her as the light flashed again and her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out—her hips thrust upwards, attacking them, then relaxed as they searched... they searched, oh shit, they searched...

...she quivered, not daring to move, not wanting to interrupt them... they slithered within her, taking their time, teasing her... and then they found the spot and she screamed, her entire body locked up with the orgasm, rising off of the chair, and she almost crushed the hand that held hers...

...then relaxed, trying to recover, but the fingers did it again, and this time the chair actually jumped around on the floor as she bucked... then the light flashed and her eyes rolled up... her body was falling, out of control... no matter where her hips went, the fingers followed, both Eve’s and the invisible fingers from the light,

and when it happened again, she felt her mind disconnect, and a long black tunnel full of pleasure and whispers rose up to greet her.

She floated in the ether of almost-awakeness for a while, maybe two. Hands caressed her cheek and a moist towel swabbed her forehead. Her skin was cool from the drying sweat. She opened her eyes.

“There you are,” Eve said. “I was worried for a minute there.”

Sandy smiled. I wasn’t.

“Not just about you, but about me. Whatever... happened to me, I have trouble controlling myself when I’m around a girl in... the state you’re in. I almost turned the light on myself just to see what it felt like. But you gave me a pretty good idea.”

Sandy grinned.

“I had to finish you off so we could do the rest. Hope you don’t mind.”

Sandy shook her head. If Eve hadn’t touched her, she was pretty sure she would have exploded, and that would have been messy.

“I think I have the right frequency now. Look into the light.”

Sandy did. It flashed. Her eyes lost focus and her lips parted. Her mind felt like it had splintered into a thousand pieces. She couldn’t think.

Eve held an orange in front of her face.

“You want this,” she said. She held it there for a few more seconds, then removed it and waited for Sandy to recover. It took about sixty seconds.

Sandy blinked.

“What happened?”

“I think we had a successful test.” Eve scrutinized her. She was holding an orange in her hand. Sandy’s mouth watered.

“Can I... can I have that?”

“This?” She held the fruit up.

“Yes.“ Sandy needed it. It was all she could think about.

“No, because right now the taste of this orange might do the same thing as the light did to you before. That was just a test, so I wanted to fixate you on something harmless. Nothing’s more harmless than fruit!”

Sandy stared at it, wanting.

“It’s not permanent, don’t worry. Look at the light again.”

Sandy couldn’t. She could only look at the orange. Eve held it in front of the light to draw the girl’s eyes there, then it flashed again.

When her vision cleared, Sandy was looking at Ria.

Ria stood there, her dark curls about her shoulders, stark naked except for the silver belt, hands behind her back, smiling. Her eyes weren’t quite blank, but the old Ria wasn’t home, either. She looked at Sandy because Eve had told her to. She would do anything Eve told her to, now. Her thoughts were Eve’s thoughts. Those incredible kickboxer’s legs belonged to Eve. That dark little bush of pubic hair, those breasts that exercise kept firm, those belonged to Eve now.

Sandy had never seen anything more perfect in her life. She wanted to be that. She needed to be that. She needed to stop thinking forever so Eve could think for her.

“Make me like that,” she breathed. Ria’s glassy eyes looked at her.

“I don’t think you want to be like Ria, not exactly.”

“Yes I do. Please.”

“Ria can never wake up on her own. She will be like that, if not forever then at least for years, thinking nothing but what I tell her.”

“Yes. Like that. Please. Please.“

“No, little one. Part of me wants to, but the old me won’t do it. The old me liked you; she thought you were cute, and she won’t scoop out your thoughts like that.”

Sandy whimpered.

“The line is getting finer every day,” Eve mumbled. “But liking someone, really genuinely liking them, is a deep emotional tie. The new me can’t squash that yet. In a few days, I think she’ll be able to. But for now, you’re safe.”

Sandy shook her head. She didn’t want to be safe. She wanted Eve to own her, forever.

Eve undressed as she talked. Silk fell in a slippery pool at her feet.

“As it is, I can’t stop myself from taking you over for at least a little while.”

The light flashed.

When Sandy’s vision cleared she was naked, and so was Eve. She wasn’t tied up anymore but she didn’t dream of running. Eve straddled her, leaning forward. Her breasts were against Sandy’s chin; her arms were wrapped around Sandy’s head and her hands were tangled up in the hair in back.

Sandy’s head was back and Eve looked down at her. She couldn’t see, feel or smell anything but the woman on top of her. She came, looking at her owner, and her owner, seeing her let go, did too.

Amanda ran to Ria’s room and kicked her door in, then to Eve’s and kicked her door in, then to Sandy’s and kicked her door in, and then she out of doors. They were all unlocked anyway.

Her friends’ rooms had been untouched, but Eve’s room had been empty—completely empty. Even the light bulbs were missing.

She called Erin.

“Why are we meeting in the lab?”

“Because when I taser Eve, I don’t want a bunch of witnesses watching.” Amanda took the taser out of her bag. It looked like an oversized remote control with two prongs of metal jutting from one end.

“Um.”

“Same goes for Ria or Sandy, if we see them first.”

“UM.”

“Listen to me. Eve has gone off the fucking deep end. I mean she’s totally cracked. She did something to Sandy and Ria, drugged them or something. That’s where Ria has been for days, and that’s where Sandy is now.”

Erin just looked at her.

“Call her.” Amanda tossed her phone over. “There won’t be an answer. You want to go look for her? I already did. You’re not going to find them, either of them.”

“Have you tried Molly? You said they were inseparable.”

“I don’t need to, she’s already called me three times looking for her.”

“Ok. I think you need to slow down a bit, Calamity Jane.” She put her hand on Amanda’s arm. “Are you maybe getting nerves? We’ve never pulled anything this big. It’s understandable.”

“I was on the phone with Sandy when it happened,” Amanda hissed. “I heard... you should have heard her. She went from reality to living on Planet Pink Flowers in about five seconds. And she said... she said Ria was the one that dosed her.”

Erin paled.

“That’s not... I mean, giving someone something to make them hallucinate, lose touch with reality, whatever, that’s easy. But making them do something... I mean that’s like serious CIA, KGB shit. I don’t think...”

“Eve’s a genius chemist. She can make anything that’s makable. And you saw the notes, she invents shit. She took Ria and gave her god knows what for days. It’s the only explanation.

“And I had an idea, earlier, about what might have pushed her over. Remember the stuff she was working on in the lab? What would happen to someone if they got some of that in their system?”

“Well... like I said before, it opens up the mind, completely. Anything she experienced would be basically branded in, an imprint. That’s why it’s so dangerous. It’s only for hardcore therapy—the shit is definitely not recreational.”

“Eve had some of it on her hand when we found her.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” Erin gaped. “Amanda, that stuff will soak right through someone’s skin. How much was on her?”

“Her hand was covered in it.”

Erin paled. She was getting good at that.

“Oh my god.” She flipped open her laptop. “You said you sat her in front of the TV, right? What channel?”

“HBO. But her eyes were closed. She was out like a light, man.”

“Did you go back and check to make sure her eyes were closed?”

“Why the hell would I do that?”

Erin pulled up the schedule for that night’s programming.

“Ok. Rush Hour 2. That’s the one with the hot ninja chick.”

“So, what, she’s going to go crazy and start protecting us from ninjas?”

“The hot chick played the villain, Amanda.”

“And? Watching a kung fu movie doesn’t teach you karate. What’s next?”

“Some old movie about an evil hypnotist who entrances young women. Then... oh hey, porn.”

They looked at each other.

“Mind control and porn.”

It got extra quiet in the rec room.

“What does that mean?” Amanda said.

Erin didn’t answer.

“Erin, what does that mean?”

“Do you want me to spell it out?”

Amanda sat down.

“You don’t think she... I mean, Ria?”

They looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to say it. There was no need to.

That’s what will happen to us if she gets to us first. Mind control and...

“You got any weapons, anything for self defense?”

“Mace, in the car.”

“Go get that shit. We’re going bitch hunting.”

Amanda got up and started going through her gear. She’d come to the lab for another reason: there were all sorts of goodies hidden away in those bottles of chemicals, and she’d taken a few. Erin pulled the door open and ran into Molly.

Molly stood there, her hand out in the air, where it had previously been on the doorknob. Amanda whipped around and pointed the taser at her. Molly dropped her bag, wide-eyed, staring at the weapon. No one moved. They looked at each other.

“What the hell!” Molly shrieked.

“Quick! Who was your boyfriend in freshman year of high school?” Amanda gripped the thing.

“Um, Chad Rollins?”

Erin rolled her eyes.

“It’s not Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Hi, Molly. Our leader is feeling a little jumpy.”

Amanda put the thing down.

“Hi, Molly. Sorry.”

“What the hell!” Molly gaped.

“I think you broke her.”

“There was a thing,” Amanda explained.

“Can I come in or is someone going to jump me?”

“Come in. What are you doing down here this late?”

“Looking for Sandy. She comes here sometimes to work. Not much, or, ok, ever, but she came here once, and I tried everyplace else. Have you heard from her?”

“She said something about going to the library or something earlier,” Amanda lied. She shot Erin a hard glance. Do NOT mention Sandy. This situation is delicate enough without a rampaging lesbian in the mix.

“She didn’t say anything about that to me.”

“I dunno then. Erin, go get your thing.”

“Roger.”

Erin left them. The click of the door was loud behind her. The hallway seemed longer than usual. She held her phone like a weapon, looking over her shoulder. Stupid, but she couldn’t get the idea out of her head: Ria, staring, pupils dilated, maybe tied to a chair, maybe just laying there, as Eve... she pushed the thought away.

What’s Ria thinking right now? Is she thinking at all? Erin had downplayed the effects of the drug to Amanda. Amanda was freaking out; she’d almost tasered Molly, for Christ’s sake. She didn’t need to hear that a drug like that could change a mind permanently.

If the person were hypnotized first, it would be just like painting a painting. You could literally direct those thoughts and those thoughts would be burned in. Picasso knew shit about art. If Eve had really done it, that was art. Ria was her canvas, and maybe Sandy too.

When she passed the intersection of halls she looked both ways, like when crossing the street. It was dark in both directions.

She wondered how Ria had been caught. There was no way Eve had overpowered her. Ria could wipe the floor with anyone on campus. She must have been drugged, and it must have been sneaky, because Ria wasn’t stupid either.

And Sandy, taken right in public. In the middle of a crowded park. Jesus. Erin understood why Amanda preferred the abandoned lab: if Eve could do that in the middle of a crowd of people, then being alone, here, was the only place they were even.

She threw open the outer doors, got her purse from her car (parked in a handicapped space, but who cared at this hour), and gripped the mace like a life preserver. She looked around. The pavement was dark and empty.

Where are you, Ria? Are you tied up in some dank basement, or are you following Eve around because she doesn’t need the ropes anymore?

Are you happy? Will you recognize me? Or will you grab me and hold me down with that kickboxer’s body of yours—

No. No one would be holding anyone down. They were going to stop this.

She slammed the car door and stalked back in. Ria was her friend. Of course Ria would recognize her. If she tried to do anything crazy, well, they might have to taser her too, but it would be out of love, until they could find a way to undo it.

Did it... hurt? Did you fight, or did she give you something so that you couldn’t fight? Or something that made you... not want to fight.

She passed the intersection of halls, looking both ways again.

Or something that made you... and she tried not to think the next part but it was right there, made you want it. Goosebumps rose on her skin. Mind control and porn. Don’t kid yourself. That’s all Ria is thinking right now.

She imagined her friend looking at her with uncontrollable lust—literally uncontrollable—and reaching out to her—

Her hand touched the rec room door and there was a sound behind her.

She spun. The hall was empty, all the way down. Nerves. You’re seeing boogeymen everywhere. Or, ok, her brainwashed friend everywhere. She reached for the knob again and it happened again, this time from another direction.

She narrowed her eyes at the area the sound had came from. Was that... she squinted... a pebble? Did someone throw a pebble down the—

Something heavy landed on her—or rather, landed right behind her and grabbed her in the same motion, knocking her arms down and pinning them to her sides. The mace dropped to the floor and rolled away.

It was arms, a woman’s arms—they wrapped around her. They spent only a split second to get their grip, then tightened like a vise. Her elbows dug into her sides. She was in a bear hug from behind. The force of it knocked the wind out of her—it had happened so fast, she hadn’t had time to yell.

Eve. She was in the fucking ceiling, holy shit—

She threw herself backwards—no chance of bending forward, back was the only way—but as she did her feet were lifted off the floor, and all she managed was a weak little push, not enough to throw Eve off balance.

Her legs kicked uselessly, her feet just two inches from the carpet. Two fucking inches! That was all it took to neutralize her entire body. She opened her mouth to yell for help, and that’s when she realized she couldn’t breathe.

As if responding to that thought, the arms tightened even more. She couldn’t get any air, not even a teaspoon. She looked at the rec room door for help. It was a foot away—twelve small inches. Her friends were right on the other side, and she couldn’t make so much as a peep.

She slammed her head backwards, hoping to catch Eve on the jaw, but Eve had smartly ducked her head to the side. Eve did everything smartly. The pebbles... that was her positioning you. She played you like a fiddle.

She needed air. The thought went from an observation to an emergency in a heartbeat. She’d spent her entire life breathing and now she wasn’t. Her legs flailed, kicking up, down, to the side, hitting lots of nothing.

“Try not to panic. Your body will want to panic, but just try to relax,” Eve whispered in her ear.

Erin thrashed. She flexed her entire upper body and got nothing. She had no leverage. The need for air became dire.

“Easy now. Take a deep breath.” Eve’s lips smiled against her shoulder. “Just kidding.”

Fuck you!

“You’re going to be fine. It takes a whole four minutes to die from lack of oxygen—you’ll be out for less than ten seconds. Then your new life will begin. It’s going to be wonderful, I promise. By this time tomorrow, you’ll thank me.”

You WILL thank her, oh shit, Ria did and Sandy did and you will too, oh shit, mind control and porn, just move anything, if you could just move anything—

Spots began to form before her eyes. Eve’s breasts pressed against her back. She looked at the rec room door. It was so close. It sat there and did nothing at all.

Her body began to get that feeling of disconnection, and then she knew it was over. The spots grew to a gray sheet over her eyes. Her struggles weakened, then stopped.

In that last second before fading, her mind tried to bargain with itself.

Maybe it won’t be that bad.

Maybe it’ll be temporary.

At least you’ll be with your friends.

Her head dropped against her chest.

Is this the last thing I’ll ever think as me?

It was, but she never knew it.

Erin went limp.

Eve felt it. It was an interesting feeling, the letting go. She laid the girl down on her back and took out a small, clear mask. There was a tiny canister in front, and a rubber strap designed to hold it over a mouth and nose. She fixed it over Erin’s face. The gas started to hiss.

Erin’s eyes fluttered. Her oxygen-deprived lungs sucked in the drugged air—at that point, her body would have tried to breathe pancake batter.

Her chest rose and fell. Eve placed a hand between Erin’s breasts, feeling the life within her capture.

Erin’s eyes opened halfway, and almost focused—then the gas took effect. They unfocused and remained that way, half-lidded.

Eve kissed her cheek, then her lips, then fixed Erin’s hair. It had gotten a little tangled in the struggle. She looked at the girl with something like love.

“My girls are all so beautiful.”

Erin was dragged off down the hall, her arms and hair trailing out behind her.

“It’s something to consider,” Molly said.

“Ria isn’t gay.”

“I’m just saying... I was at Ria’s dorm, when I was looking for Sandy. I talked to a couple of the girls there. They’d seen Ria, with another girl, acting kind of... well, it’s not my business, or yours.. and normally I’d never say it, but you’ve been so wigged over this... I’m just saying, if she’s been acting weird lately, maybe she’s, you know, discovered a side of herself she didn’t know was there.”

“Ria isn’t gay.”

“Ok, but, people saw her.”

“I have known her since the third grade. I held her hair when she was puking at prom and she taught me how to ride a bike. She is not gay.”

“But Manda, how can you know for sure?”

“The same way I know that you and Sandy are gay.”

Molly’s face turned a deep crimson.

“What makes you think—” she stammered. “I mean Sandy’s just a, you know, we’re—”

“It’s ok, kid. Sorry to out you two like this. But the situation kind of demands it.”

Molly looked at her hands. The mortified blush stayed, but she smiled.

“Ok, we are! There! She’s my girlfriend and we love each other and we’ve been going out for the last four years and we came to this college because this is the only state we can get married in! There! Deal with it!”

Amanda laughed.

“There’s nothing to deal with! I’m happy for you!”

“I said deal with it!”

“Ok!”

Molly nodded.

“That felt really good,” she said.

“I’m glad. We’ll have a party or something for you two later.”

“We have rings!” She took out her engagement ring and put it on.

Amanda laughed again.

“Stop it. You’re ruining my ‘dire situation’ vibe.”

“Yeah. About the cloak and dagger stuff. Care to let me in?”

“Not really, Molly. But I’d like it if you would let me and Erin walk you home tonight.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. I’ve got nerves. I’d rather you not be out alone.”

Speaking of which, where the hell is Erin?

She got up and opened the door. She poked her head out and looked around. The hall was empty. But as she was about to go back in, she saw it: Erin’s mace, on the carpet, right next to the door, and no Erin in sight.

No fucking way.

“On second thought, let’s go right now.”

“What about Erin?”

“She can catch up.” Erin would do no such thing. Amanda kept it cool for Molly’s sake. She ducked out and snatched up the mace.

“You are starting to give me a—” Molly pulled the door closed behind them, then pulled her hand back like she’d been shocked. ”Eeeeew.“ She wiped her hand on her pants.

“What?”

“There was something wet on the doorknob.”

Amanda turned white.

“Come on. Now.”

“Hey! You are freaking me out. Tell me what’s going on or I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’ll tell you as soon as we’re in my car, ok?”

Molly stood with her arms crossed.

“Fine.”

Amanda rushed down the hall, not quite running but almost. They passed the intersection of halls.

“I think we might have got you and Sandy mixed up in something, and I’m sorry. We’ll—” Molly was no longer with her. She turned around.

Molly stood about twenty feet back with a goofy grin on her face, staring into space.

“I saw a turtle,” she sighed. She staggered sideways to the wall, seemed to enjoy bumping into it, and slid down into a pile of grinning girl.

SHIT. Amanda ran back.

“None of that, come on, we gotta move.”

Molly showed no signs of doing any such thing.

Screw it. Carry her.

Amanda kneeled and scooped her up. Molly touched her nose and giggled. “Beep!” She wasn’t too heavy. Just outside to the car. It would take thirty seconds.

As she turned to carry Molly out, she caught motion out of the corner of her eye. She turned back.

Eve walked around the corner from the intersection of halls, stopped in the middle of the wide hall, and faced them. She wore black silk dress clothes and resembled like the world’s hottest banker. They looked at each other.

Amanda put Molly down and took out the taser. Molly noticed not at all; she drew imaginary lines on the wall with her finger.

They stood about ten yards apart, looking very much like two cowgirls about to draw—except both of their pistols could only be used up close. Real close.

“I feel kinda like we’re in the Old West,” Eve said. Her eyes flicked to the taser. In her own hand she held a clear mask, like the ones firemen use to give oxygen to people. There was a small metal canister attached to the front.

“Where’s Ria,” Amanda said through her teeth.

“Carrying Erin to the car. Don’t worry, she’s not coming back in. I like to hunt alone.” She smiled.

“Whatever you did to her—and Sandy—it doesn’t have to go like this. I’m sorry for what we did. We’ll destroy our copy of your work. I’ll even help you patent it, then no one can steal it. But this, this is insane. It stops here.”

“I can’t stop, even if I wanted to. I tried at first, but I’m not even that person anymore.”

“Eve, I know that something happened to you in the lab, and I’m sorry about that too—”

“My name isn’t Eve anymore. It was getting too confusing; every time I had to explain what had happened to me, I kept having to say ‘my Old Self’ and ‘my New Self’. So I picked a new name. I’m Happily now. Eve is past tense.”

Molly cackled.

“You can’t name yourself an adverb!”

Molly and reality were not the best of buds at the moment.

“I don’t know where it came from, but I like it,” Eve went on. “There’s a kind of power to it, even though it’s silly, don’t ya think?”

“Can I call you Hap?” Molly chirped from the floor.

“You can call me whatever you want, little one,” Eve smiled at her.

Keep talking. That’s how the villains always lose in the movies. I bet, subconsciously, that’s why you’re doing it. You’re probably TRYING to lose and you don’t even know it.

Eve took a step forward.

“I’m trying real hard to work this out Eve, or Happily, whatever,” Amanda said. “You’re not giving me a whole lot of options.” She gripped the trigger. Eve took another step forward.

You can’t talk to her. She is totally gone. Look at her eyes.

“How about this. Give me Ria. You can keep the rest. Just give me Ria back and we’ll call it even.” Now you’re bargaining? That was fast.

“I’m going to. At this time tomorrow, you and Ria will be together. Giving me a massage, actually.”

Amanda bared her teeth.

“Ria will do the left side of my body, and you’ll do the right. I’ll be on the floor, on a towel, so you two can kneel next to me. It has to be on the floor, because, at this time tomorrow, just touching my skin will make your knees weak.”

Amanda’s stomach did a thing that it had once done when she’d leaned out a tenth story window. The image was so vivid.

“You’ll be naked, both of you. Partly because I like to look at my girls, every inch of them, and partly because it makes it easier for you to wash yourself after you cum.” She took another step forward.

“Ria cums with just a word from me now, but I like to touch her instead. I like to feel my girls when they let go.” She took another step forward.

“This morning I was playing with Ria, trying different things (don’t worry, she loves it). I put one hand on her ass and the other on her stomach, then said the word to make her cum, and felt the different muscles flex when she released. You should have felt her, Amanda...

“It’s like a symphony. Everything tenses, and almost sort of vibrates... then when she lets go... That is life, in your hands, when you feel that. I’ll let you feel it later. I’ll let Ria feel you, too, because I can tell she’s curious, even though she can’t say it.”

Amanda grinded her teeth. Eve was less than ten feet away now, but she was walking slower. She strutted, placing one foot in front of the other like a model. It made her thighs touch with every step, whispering soundlessly in the silk.

It’s just to psych you out. Don’t picture it. It’s not real. But her mind took off with the image in the instant before she could stop it. There was Ria, standing on those long legs of hers, looking straight ahead, a thin sheen of sweat all over her—

And then Amanda realized: No, she’s not saying it to psych you out. She’s being honest. She needs to share it with someone and she’s sharing it with you.

“It’s not just around her hips, it’s everywhere. I tried with one hand on the back of her neck and the other on her chest. Same thing, different muscles, just as amazing.” She was almost close enough for Amanda to reach out and get her—almost. But she stopped there.

“And her body... Wars have been fought over bodies like that. I can’t think even about it... or about yours, without shivering.”

Amanda breathed through her teeth.

“I’m sure you’re having a good time describing your little fantasy porno, but how about you get a little closer so we can get this over with,” she said, as coolly as she could.

Eve smiled, then looked her up and down.

“You’re bigger than me,” she stated.

I am. So why are my hands shaking?

“I’m going to have to have Ria carry you out,” she concluded.

Amanda screamed and dove at her, aiming the taser at her midsection. Eve stepped sideways and brought the mask up. Amanda twisted her face away from it and spun. Their positions were reversed. Amanda crouched.

“You have no idea what it feels like to be that free, Manda. You’re the leader, I can tell—you spend so much energy holding on tight to yourself, to keep control.

“When you let go, it’s going to be so much more wonderful than it was for the others. All of that will be gone, you’ll never have to go through that awfulness again. You’ll just obey, and it will be beautiful. You can never do anything wrong, because your will isn’t your own. You can never make a bad decision. You won’t be able to say it, but every part of you will thank me.”

“Don’t call me Manda,” she growled.

Amanda faked right and dove left. It almost caught her: Eve jumped up and to the side, the taser missing her stomach by a half inch. They spun and their positions reversed, but Eve was off balance—yes!—and Amanda knew she had her—

—but something tripped her and she was pulled off balance too—she twisted, grabbing at the air, pinwheeling—she looked down and there was Molly, grinning up at her.

“You feel like sunshine,” she beamed.

“Molly no!“ She wrenched her leg away, turned—

The mask was on her face. It hissed.

She chopped Eve’s wrist away and coughed. The mask clattered down the hall. Eve stood back, holding her arm.

“Ow!”

Amanda coiled to lunge again, but her body decided to sit down instead.

The sound in the hall got far away. Someone had turned the volume way down. Her head felt like it had been filled with cotton. Gee, that stuff works fast.

Something heavy hit her back. Oh—that was the floor. She’d fallen over. Her eyes pointed at at the ceiling.

Well, that’s that.

Eve straddled her. Those silk thighs were against her sides. Eve kissed her lips and she felt her own lips part, inviting her in.

See you soon, Ria. I hope I recognize you.

The mask was over her face again.

“You need this, more than any of the others. You’ll see.”

It was stupid to fight. She couldn’t fight. Happily was ever after her.

“Oh, that’s clever,” she mumbled into the mask. “You’re funny.”

Her eyes closed.

She had a dream of bucking, writhing, flailing pleasure—hands held her down, women’s hands, more than one—she was on a bed, being pressed against it—her ass ground into the mattress—her wrists were pinned over her head and her ankles were pinned too, all with hands—

—except she was really awake, she knew she was—it just felt like a dream because it was so unreal.

It took four women to hold her down, and the fifth was Eve, on top of her—but she wasn’t trying to get away: the hands were holding her because her body was out of control with pleasure—they held her so that she wouldn’t hurt Eve when she thrashed—they protected Eve from her, and herself from herself.

Eve was wearing a two way dildo—her face was flushed, she could feel it within her as she tried to get closer—she’d given herself the same drug she’d given Amanda, and every inch of her skin was alive, inside and out—she could feel the thing slipping within her, every tiny movement of it—

And she was almost scared to put it into Amanda, because once she did she would be tied to this woman and her bucking hips—but her girls would protect her and she needed this—she’d watched them let go one by one and she needed this—

She kneeled over Amanda so that their hips lined up. Amanda twisted and writhed—she wanted to let Eve in but she didn’t know how to stop herself long enough—Eve reached down, tried to position it—

They both froze as it touched Amanda’s lips, and then it slid in—and for a moment all four women together almost couldn’t hold her.

Eve felt it push up into her and her mouth opened—the sensation was too much, it was everything, and she felt herself fall, her face against Amanda’s breasts,

and then she pushed back down, pushing it into Amanda, but Amanda pushed back, harder—she tried to control the motion but she couldn’t—Amanda was wild, a crazed thing—

She was being thrown around, losing control, and then she knew she had to get it out, she couldn’t control it, but then it was too late—Amanda thrust up—and when she came all the energy went out of her body—

and her face lay there between Amanda’s breasts, in the sweat and the smell of the woman and she felt her eyes gray over—she came again and she was limp, lying on Amanda, her arms useless on the bed—

—she tried to push back but every time she did Amanda would twitch, or writhe—and the thing would carry the motion up within her, and her muscles would let go, spasming, not listening—

—her hips were pushed up again, going wherever Amanda’s went—and Amanda thrust up again and her eyes rolled up—

—and the last thing she saw was the side of Amanda’s breast as her eyes clouded over—

—the world retreated down a long dark tunnel that smelled of woman and sex, and the last thing she felt was her own boneless body as Amanda pushed the thing into her again.

When Amanda came to her senses she was tied to a chair. The drug had worn off; she was sober, and Eve hadn’t brainwashed her. No flashing lights, no drugs except that uber ecstasy-type stuff that Eve had given the both of them.

She did the mandatory ten minutes of struggling, straining against the bonds, using all of her strength to try and break the straps, willing them to break, visualizing them breaking like they teach you in positive thinking classes, then accepting that the little leather straps were stronger than her.

Goddamnit.

“EVE!“ she yelled. She’d had it.

“No need to shout,” Eve’s voice smiled from behind her. She walked around the chair and faced Amanda.

“If you’re going to fuck with my head then hurry up and do it. I’m sure I’ll be just as good of a sex toy after.” She smiled, tight-lipped, to show how little of a fuck she gave.

“Sorry about that.” Eve actually blushed. “That was pretty stupid of me. The girls had to carry us both out after. But I’ve been thinking about you for so long, I couldn’t help it... You’re the one that created me, you know.”

“Well not everyone can be proud of their kids.”

“I’m serious. That’s why I’m giving you the choice.” She pushed Amanda’s knees together and sat on her legs, pressing them together between her thighs. Amanda could feel the black-clad girl’s heat through the nearly nonexistent material. “None of the others got one.”

Amanda’s jaw clenched as she imagined Ria, in that same chair, not being given a choice.

“Ok then, let me think. I choose to be let go?”

“No, no. I’m sorry. I told you before: I can’t let you go. Literally. Eve would let you go, but Happily won’t.”

“That doesn’t sound crazy at all.”

“I’m letting you choose how it happens, Amanda.”

“Like in Ghostbusters, right? They get to choose how to die?”

Eve pointed her thumb over her shoulder at what looked like a dentist’s light.

“If that flashes in your eyes, it’ll sort of disconnect your mind. Put you in, well, a trance. After that I’ll give you the stuff that was on me in the lab. Not a little dose like I gave Sandy and Molly—that was just a tiny bit, and I diluted it so that they’d just trip out for a bit—but a dose higher than the one I got, and then, your mind will be fixed on me forever.”

Amanda didn’t have a snappy comeback for that one.

“I’m letting you choose to do it of your own free will... or the other way.”

Amanda tried not to show how hard her heart was beating. This was it. Eve was serious and she knew it. Her mind would never be her own, ever again. If Eve told her to jump off a bridge, she would do it, and she would thank her for the privilege. She would be owned, completely.

She had a hard time imagining it, now that it came down to it. It was like trying to imagine one’s own death. She wouldn’t die, of course, but the part of her that used to make decisions for itself would be gone forever.

She bargained with herself. She imagined ways out. She imagined letting herself become a slave and then escaping later. But she would never want to escape, not once Eve took her. No. That wasn’t the way out.

“Is that all?” She faked the courage. “Fuck you.”

“Not so fast. I have some people that want to talk to you before you decide. Ria, Erin, come here.”

Oh, no.

Ria and Erin appeared out of the gloom and stood beside Eve. They were naked except for thin silver belts that hung about their waists, just above the hip. They looked at her. Eve walked back behind the chair.

“Hi, Amanda.”

“Hey, Manda.”

Amanda looked at them. They looked the same. Nothing different about them except for the fact that they were naked and smiling at her. She turned her eyes to Erin. She couldn’t look at Ria.

“You two wouldn’t mind untying me, would you?”

They looked over Amanda’s head, to Eve. Eve shook her head.

“Guess not. Hey, by the way, nice rack, Erin. No one would ever guess, the way you dress. Guys go crazy for the fair skin and beauty marks. You should show cleavage more often.”

Erin smiled, kneeled down, and kissed her knee.

“Erin?” Amanda looked down at her.

“Yes?”

“Get the hell off of me.”

Erin looked to Eve, confused. Eve nodded.

“Do what she says, Erin. Go back to your closet.”

Erin took her rack and left. Amanda laughed.

“She has a closet? What, where she stands all day waiting to be called like those robots from The Jetsons?”

Silence.

Oh, shit, she really does have a closet where she stands all day waiting to be called like those robots from The Jetsons. You’ll have one too.

She forced herself to look at Ria.

“Hello,” Ria said again.

Amanda turned her head away.

“Jesus, Eve... can’t you let her talk like a normal person?”

“Ria, speak to Amanda the way you would have before you were mine.”

“Hey, babe,” Ria smiled. She looked more like herself. Amanda was grateful.

“Ria, I’m having a really weird day.”

“I know. It’s ok. It’ll be over soon.”

“Are you ok?”

“Yes. I’m better than ok, Manda. I feel awesome.”

Amanda looked at her. She stood with her hands behind her back, on the balls of her feet.

“Ria wouldn’t stand like that.”

“Sorry.” She put her arms at her sides.

That was better. She still didn’t look quite like Ria—maybe it was the part where she was naked—but at least she looked less like an automaton.

That’s not her, you know. Not the Ria you knew.

Amanda knew.

You’re going to pretend it is anyway, aren’t you?

Amanda was. It was all she could do.

“Did it hurt? What she did to you?”

“No. It felt wonderful. It was like going down a long slow slide into a warm pool that felt like forever.”

Amanda swallowed.

“She doesn’t make you worship her or call her Mistress or anything, does she?”

“No, nothing like that, except she does make me call her Happily now.”

“Did you... I mean, did you fight it, baby?” Tell me you did.

“When she first kidnapped me I fought. But then I went to sleep and when I woke up everything was peaceful, and I felt like I was outside myself, and I didn’t realize it was happening until it had.”

Super. Amanda looked into her eyes. There was one last question.

“Are you happy, Ria?”

“Yes.” The eyes didn’t lie.

That was too bad, because kidnapping her best friend was one thing, but making her happy about it was too much.

“Ok, I decided. Fuck you, Eve.”

“Don’t say that,” Ria kneeled next to her. “She’ll drug you then tape your eyes open and make you look.”

“Sorry, kid. But the idea of being forced to fuck my best friend is too much for me.”

“I won’t make you do that.” Eve put her hands on Amanda’s shoulders.

“Oh, then it’s ok, because if you can trust anyone, it’s the person who kidnapped you.”

“She’s telling the truth, Manda. Happily doesn’t lie.”

Actually, that was true. She couldn’t remember a single time when Eve—the old one, or the new one—had lied.

“I’m not saying you won’t fuck other people.” The hands tightened on her shoulders. “Because you will. Including me, and anyone else I ask you to. There’s a lot of work to be done.

“You and Ria are the strongest and the most well known. You’ll bring back other girls for me, until I can find a way to turn my inventions into... mass production. But for now, you’ll have to bring them one by one.

“Sometimes that will mean separating a girl from her boyfriend. You’ll seduce him, while Ria overpowers the girl once they’re apart. Sometimes you’ll have to pose as a lesbian, and overpower the girl yourself once you’re alone. It will be different for each girl.

“But you have my word. I’ll never make you do that with Ria.”

Amanda closed her eyes. There wasn’t any way out. Even if she broke free and escaped, all of her friends belonged to Eve now. She’d live the rest of her life knowing it was her fault.

You can’t feel guilty if your decisions aren’t your own.

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight shut.

She felt something on her arm. Eve was swabbing it with alcohol. She felt the needle on her skin.

“Wait.”

She opened her eyes. Eve pulled the syringe back.

She looked at Ria and Ria looked back with those dark brown eyes. She knew that wasn’t Ria, not really. But it looked just like her. But it wasn’t her. But it looked just like her. Ria would never steer her wrong.

She made a decision.

“Ria. Baby. I need you to do something for me. If there’s any of you left in there, you’ll know how to do it.”

“What?” Her eyes flicked to Eve and Eve nodded.

“Lie to me. Tell me it’s not permanent.”

Ria’s eyes changed the tiniest bit. Something tugged at her. She was looking at the only person in the world who could recognize that look. She was going to lie, and Amanda was going to pretend to believe her. It was like the games they’d played as kids.

They looked at each other and understood: it was the only way.

“It’s not permanent,” Ria said. Her eyes felt wet. A lock of hair had come loose and dangled on Amanda’s forehead; Ria tucked it behind her ear.

“Tell me that the old Ria would have chosen this.”

“I would have chosen this.”

“Tell me that, right now, you’re the same Ria I’ve always known and you’re asking me to do this.”

Ria choked up. Eve hadn’t programmed her to deal with a conversation like this. She couldn’t say it.

But if she didn’t say it, Eve was going to do it the hard way. Amanda was always in charge. Eve respected her enough to give her this option. It was Amanda. She was the only one of them that had earned this option.

“It’s me, it’s Ria, sweety,” she sniffed. “It’s the same me you’ve always known. I beat the shit out of Tommy Walton in fifth grade because he pulled your hair. I dumped Jim Schwartz in the eleventh grade because I knew you liked him more, and I never told you.

“It’s me, and,” she wiped her nose, “and I’m begging you to do this, because even if you escaped by some miracle, I never can, not anymore, and this is the only way we can be together.”

Amanda looked up at her.

“I thought I said to lie to me,” she half-smiled.

Ria laughed and cried at the same time. They shared a look.

“Do it,” Amanda said. She looked at the light.

It flashed. Her hands clenched into fists.

It flashed. Her nails dug into her hands.

It flashed.

The hands went slack.

Epilogue

Sandy and Molly were having the same dream. They were on the floor of a broom closet, making love. Molly was on top and they were struggling with each other’s clothes. But in that dreamlike way, their hands wouldn’t work quite right and they couldn’t work their own zippers.

They rubbed against each other instead, feeling each other through their clothing.

It began to get brighter. Sandy pressed her fingers against the crotch of Molly’s jeans; Molly moaned. She nibbled Sandy’s nipple though the shirt. Sandy grabbed her, pulled their bodies together, and they kissed.

It got brighter still.

Their eyes opened at the same time.

They were on the floor of a broom closet.

“Um.”

They looked around at the small room and at each other.

“Hey baby? Why are we making out in a closet?”

Sandy looked at the girl on top of her and laughed.

“What are we wearing?”

Molly had on a pink T-shirt with a picture of a sunflower on the front. It was so tight her nipples showed.

“Holy shit, I haven’t worn this since like, tenth grade.” She looked down at Sandy. Her eyes went wide and she grinned. “Um, ok, you think that’s bad? Look at yourself.”

Sandy did. She was wearing a pajama top. It had pictures of little dancing zebras all over it.

“Did we do a whole lot of drugs last night?”

“I can’t remember. How did we get here?”

“I can’t remember either.”

They got up and dusted themselves off.

“Stand still,” Molly said. There was something pinned to Sandy’s shirt. It was a note. They looked at it, then at each other. Molly opened it.

“Sorry about the clothes. I dressed you in whatever I could find.

“In each of your pockets you’ll find two thousand dollars in cash. Use it to buy a train ticket, a plane ticket, whatever you want—but you need to get out of the city, as soon as you wake up.

“Something big is going to happen here soon. I let you go this one time, but the next time you see me, I probably won’t even recognize you—not as friends. So you need to go.

“I’m not sure why I’m letting you go. I think one of those stupid movies I watched must have had a happy ending.

“Love, Happily.”

“P.S—I didn’t do much to change you, but I did do a couple of things. One of them was to make sure that you’d believe this when you read it.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Who the hell is Happily?”

“I don’t know, but I seem to have the overwhelming urge to get the fuck out of Dodge. Like, right now.”

“Me too.”

They kissed, clinging to each other.

“Shit, where are our rings?” Molly felt the pockets frantically. Sandy laughed.

“Look at your hand, sweety.”

They were already wearing them.

“You know what? Fuck this. We are getting married, as soon as we get off the train. We did not move to this state so we could run around and hide.”

“Train conductors can marry people, right?”

“You’re thinking of ship captains, baby.”

“So we’ll take a boat.”

It was a Friday night, and the local college theater was packed. The audience was mostly college kids, with a few high school seniors who were either trying to be cool or were dating someone from the college. The previews were showing.

In the projection booth was a freshman girl who worked there on the weekends to pay for film school. Someone knocked on the door and she answered it.

Three women stood outside: one tall, the other average. Behind them was a dark haired women wearing all black.

“You’re not supposed to be back here. If you go out and to the left—”

The shorter one reached out and sprayed something in her face.

“What the mmmNN!“ The taller one reached out and grabbed her by the head, putting a hand over her mouth and nose, cutting off the sentence.

She panicked and kicked, and then... she stopped. Her body felt like jelly. Her knees gave out and she smiled as it happened.

The taller one felt the smile against her hand, let go, and eased her to the floor. The women entered the room.

“Ria, guard the door. Manda, take care of her.”

Amanda took off the girl’s shoes, unbuttoned her pants, and pulled them off, wiggling the girl back and forth to get them out from under her. The girl grinned at the ceiling.

Eve did something to the projector.

The theater went dark. The crowd hushed, then started to mumble.

The screen flashed in a blinding pulse. The room fell silent.

Eve’s voice came through the speakers.

“All of the men in the room will get up and leave. You will go to the refreshment stand, or the bathroom, or outside to have a cigarette if you are a smoker. You will not come back into this room until ten minutes have passed. Go, now.”

A long, slow procession marched up the aisles as everyone with a Y chromosome left the room. They left behind girlfriends, fiancees, wives, first dates. Every woman and girl in the theater sat still: unmoving, eyes glazed.

When the men were gone, the screen lit up again. It showed a woman with dark hair, wearing tight black silk. She smiled at them. The women watched.

“You are all beautiful, so beautiful, each and every one of you. All of my girls are beautiful.”