The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Sven Monsterhunter turned on his heel, scanning the nearby area with all of his senses. Something was here, of that much he was certain. “I can’t see you, but I know you’re there.” he told the not-so-deserted darkness. He drew his sword, and something stepped out of the shadows which clung to it as if reluctant to surrender it to the light.

“Greetings, Monsterhunter.” the creature said, its fetid breath reminding Sven of the smell a Vampire made when he put a stake through its heart. “I have a message I wish you to deliver to Kevin Shadows.”

“I’m no one’s messenger boy, creature.” Sven retorted, slashing viciously with his blade. The creature opened its absolutely black eyes, like pools of nothingness from which no light escaped, and the blade stopped, despite Sven’s better efforts.

“But you will be mine.” replied this dark mockery of a human form. Bat-like wings sprouted from its back, spanning an area easily twice its height and half again. The air that these wings moved fluttered the creature’s absolutely black hair, tickling the cruel, twisted mouth, pale flesh twitching only slightly at the stimulus. “You will tell Kevin Shadows that his day is over. You will tell him that it is time for night to fall. You will tell him Luther said so.”

“Over my dead body.” Sven responded. His blade was his own again, the sudden release sending the Pretender-hunter to the concrete.

“If that is your desire.” Luther replied. Sven moved with almost superhuman swiftness, regaining his feet and lopping off Luther’s right arm. The creature laughed as he examined the stump. Within moments, a new hand replaced the one which had been amputated, much to Sven’s dismay. That was the least of his worries, however, as the disembodied arm twitched, bulged, and spewed fetid gasses before reforming into an exact duplicate of Luther. The duplicate removed the severed sleeve, and the two Luthers laughed as one. That laughter was joined by others, as scores of Luthers emerged from the inky blackness between the buildings.

Deanna was awakened by a decrease in temperature. Opening her eyes, she found that she was now in the shadow of the wall behind her. She rose carefully, so as not to overbalance herself. She waddled over to the opposite bench, her belly swollen with more than just an overlarge lunch. She leaned back against the warm stone, brushing a stray strand of silver hair out of her face and behind her ear before dozing again.

Her next awakening was somewhat less polite, as a ball, the size of a basketball but with substantially less mass and emblazoned with the face of Scooby-Doo, bounced off her right temple. Little Evan toddled into view, following his bouncing toy with the glee of one who hadn’t a care in the world. Deanna envied such innocence. Evan’s mother, the alpha female of Transcendents, wife of Kevin Shadows and mother to Evan Shadows, rounded the corner moments later. Her name was Jessica Schiff Shadows, known more informally as Jessie, and though jealousy and sexual competition was absent from the female mates of a single Transcendent male (possibly a survival trait instilled in Kevin’s DNA and his mutagenic venom by Avalon’s magic), she was known to flaunt her dominant status on occasion. Her middle bulged a little bit, not yet as large as the ball Evan so gleefully pursued, and certainly nowhere near as much as Deanna’s current state, but it was noticeably NOT the result of overeating.

“Lying down on the job?” Jessie asked.

“Sleeping off a big lunch.” Deanna replied. As Evan continued down the path, Deanna gestured briefly, and a shallow rise appeared near the corner, just enough to deflect the ball, and therefore the toddler, back towards the two adults. The rubber spheroid rolled to Deanna’s feet, and she kicked it over to Jessie, who returned it as Evan arrived to reclaim it.

“Eating for two doesn’t mean gorging yourself until you barf.”

“I haven’t barfed since the morning sickness stopped.” Deanna replied. “And besides, the doctor said if I didn’t gain thirty pounds before my next visit, he was going to hospitalize me and feed us intravenously.”

“Oh, well that’s different then.” Jessie replied. Evan’s diaper hit the brick path, though it seemed less like an accident and more like an attempt to put himself in the path of the ball. The item in question rolled over the boy’s shoes and was gathered into an enthusiastic embrace, much to the amusement of the two women.

“Are we really teaching him to hunt at so early an age?” Deanna wondered softly.

“Nah, hunting would be if we set him on a chicken.” Kevin said, appearing in the path. Evan, upon hearing his father’s voice, instantly forgot the object of ten minutes’ pursuit and toddled forth in greeting, shouts of “DaddyDaddyDaddyDaddy” pouring from his young lips. Kevin scooped Evan into his arms and surrounded him with an arms-and-wings hug.

“Room in there for me?” Jessie asked. Kevin chuckled and let her in as well. He left one wing open in unspoken invitation, and Deanna joined them. Here was where she felt the most alive. Kevin had lifted her from her boring life as a low-level restaurant employee into a new world where minority species walked among humans without their knowledge, where a young woman could be chased by a titanic hell-cat and live to tell the tale, and where a pair of fangs in the neck could deliver the best orgasm of her life.

At length, the group separated. A chill wind in the air reminded them that summer was coming to a close. Deanna’s nipples stiffened under her top.

“Are we playing catch-up, Deanna?” Jessie asked as the ever-curious Evan climbed onto his father’s shoulders to watch where the wings went.

“Huh?” Deanna asked. Jessie was looking curiously at Deanna’s belly.

“Darn it, you pulled the shadow over yourself again.” Jessie said. Deanna suspected she was watching her mouth for the baby’s sake. “Let your glow out, hon. I could have sworn I saw something.”

Deanna was still getting used to this. She retracted the shadow that hid her aura—a stealth technique that helped them hunt vampires and shield themselves from hostile entities. Looking down at herself, she saw her belly glowing brighter than the rest of herself. As her Pretender sight focused on the bulge in her middle, she could make out a division...two distinctive glows.

“Do twins run in your family, Deanna?” Kevin asked, shifting Evan to a more comfortable carrying position.

“Daddy’s family had a lot of twins in it.” Deanna said. “But I was an only child.”

“It’s okay, Deanna.” Kevin said. “We’ll just have to hope they get along in there. I’m sure you wouldn’t appreciate an internal kung-fu battle any more than they’d appreciate getting kicked by their sibling.” Deanna laughed. “Speaking of which, I’d appreciate it if you’d practice your cleaning spell on the mattress. Our bedroom smells like beer now. I’ve asked you to empty the beer cans before you let our progeny kick them off.”

“Sorry.” Deanna replied, blushing. Evan yawned.

“Come on, let’s go in.”

“No in!” Evan protested, his twenty-three-month-old mind knowing precisely what would happen after that. There was little he could do about it, however, as Kevin switched from “comfortable” to “secure” carrying style and they made their way out of the weather.

“I’m going out as soon as the sun sets.” Jessie announced.

“Take your sister with you.” Kevin replied over Evan’s protests. “She gets out even less than you do.”

“If I take her, who’ll make sure Evan stays in bed?”

“I’ll do it, and Deanna’ll watch.” Kevin said. “She needs to learn how it’s done anyway.”

Jessie had come a long way from the short-haired brunette and obsessive Vampire-hunter she had been in the past. Her silver hair now tickled the middle of her back when her wings were retracted. The Repentants near the butcher shop eyed her with fear, but she made no move on them. The old Jessie would have staked each and every one of them, merely for the crime of having fangs. Walking by that butcher shop was a hard-won victory for her. Certainly the return of her sister from the darkness had been a pacifying event for her, but...somehow, Jessie failed to wrench from herself the hatred that had driven her from childhood to young womanhood. Daemonic evil could be purged by the Transcendent’s bite, but human evil was just a little more subtle, a little harder to extinguish.

A rattling sound to Jessie’s right caused her to whirl, ready for combat. She sighed. This skeleton was made of plastic, and hanging from a storefront.

“I can’t wait for November.” she told her sister, who smiled.

“You’ve been in the trenches too long, Jess.” Suzy chided her.

“Maybe.”

“Look, the Vampires that are powerful enough to make Skeletons and Ghouls are all out of state, and after we smoked Pirondael, they’re not all that eager to pick a fight with us as long as we don’t spread out too aggressively. OK? Relax.”

“Technically, Sven Monsterhunter and his mechanical horse smoked Pirondael.” Jessie responded. They both sensed fear in an alley just off Keechi street. Levitating swiftly across the ground, they quickly found the source of the disturbance—four Vampires accosting a young Succubus.

“You’re behind on your deliveries, Succubus.” one of them said. The Succubus tried to stammer out an apology, but another of the Vampires grabbed her from behind. “You’re gonna learn what happens to bad little girls who break their promises.”

“That’s enough.” Jessie declared. The Vampires whirled, then departed as quickly as their kind were capable. The Succubus fell on her backside and crabbed away from the two Transcendents.

“Please, mistress, don’t hurt me!” she pleaded.

“Relax, we’re not going to hurt you.” Jessie assured the Succubus. “You’re safe now, everything’s going to be fine, okay?” The young Pretender was still unconvinced. She must have only recently come into her powers, for her mind contained none of the confusion of older Succubi and Incubi. Her original personality was still very dominant. “Relax.” she commanded, emphasizing it with a little bit of her hypnotic power. The Succubus promptly passed out.

“You overdid it.” Suzy noted with amusement. Jessie scooped the young one into her arms and the trio departed through a shadow. Jessie laid the girl on her bed and scanned the premises for Kevin.

“He left.” Deanna informed her, waddling into the room as best her massive abdomen would allow. “Got a call on his cell phone. He looked pretty upset.”

“Did he say what it was about?”

“Nope.” Deanna replied. “Who’s the kid?”

“Jessie found a new pet.” Suzy joked. “We were going to ask Kevin if we could keep her.”

“Ask him when he gets back.” Deanna replied.

Kevin maneuvered easily through the hospital, despite its near-lack of shadows. The glamour around him prevented anyone from noticing him unless he wanted them to or affected them directly. Sven was in one of the private suites in the Intensive Care ward, face down on some strange bed that supported his head as he watched a floor-mounted television.

“Is that you, Kevin?” the hunter asked.

“Yes.” Kevin responded. Sven turned off the TV.

“I wish it didn’t have to be like this.” Sven said. “Before you try, young one, I should warn you that four of my Order’s greatest healers tried to rid me of these evil wounds, and came away with their hands burned by darkness. This evil, it feeds on healing power to spread the infection.”

“What happened, man?” Kevin asked.

“A creature called Luther.” Sven replied. “He blames you for stealing away the glory of Vampire-kind, and has bargained for some strange, dark power I dare say could be equal to that of the Transcendents, and also something else.”

“Go on.” Kevin urged.

“If a piece is cut off of his form, it grows with his dark hatred and creates an exact copy of him. I chopped off an arm, a head and at one point the fingers of a duplicate. He even divided in half, like a vicious bacterium, when I stabbed him through the heart.” Kevin could sense that the hunter was not finished, so he waited for Sven to continue. “That’s not the worst of it.” he said. “I held him at sword’s length until dawn, but he did not burn, didn’t even smoke. The full disk of the sun had no effect other than show how truly dark he was, for though his skin was pale, his hair and eyes allowed no escape of light.”

“Day-walkers?” Kevin muttered.

“His bite carries the same results as amputation.” Sven continued. “The victim changes in mind and form until he or she becomes yet another Luther.”

“Okay, that’s just thirty-one flavors of creepy.” Kevin responded, shivering.

“You’re a good kid, Kevin, that’s why I’m warning you.” Sven sighed. “Luther intends your destruction, and unless you’re wilier than him and lucky enough to find a way to beat him, he’ll achieve it. If you fail, there’ll be no one to oppose him, and he’ll have the world as his oyster.”

“Isn’t that always the way?” Kevin sighed. He sensed a sudden despair within Sven, a sense of self-loathing, perhaps for his physical condition.

“I can’t feel my legs, Kevin.” Sven said. “If I can’t continue the hunt, I don’t want to leave here alive.”

“I’ve got an order of dignity for you if you want it.” Kevin said, laying a silver dagger within easy reach.

“Thank you.” Sven said, grasping the dagger’s hilt. “Pen and paper please?” Kevin provided the requested items, and Sven wrote two names, and the accompanying numbers and addresses. “The first one is my lawyer.” he explained. “The second is...someone very special to me.” He yanked off the Odin necklace he wore. “Please inform them for me, and give this to Bianca.” Kevin pocketed the necklace and nodded, then blocked the door with the wardrobe to give Sven time to do his business, and teleported away.

Sven was grateful for the solitude as he pushed himself off the bed to flop onto his back. He gripped the dagger and poised it over his heart, chanting a heartfelt prayer for vengeance as he plunged it into himself. A relieved smile crossed his face as his hands lost their strength, and then he was free.

A roar of rage and hate pierced the quiet of the dawn, and the being inhabiting the body of Delbert Armstrong laughed.

“It seems my one-man army has struck a nerve. Excellent. Be patient, Kevin Shadows, and you will be allowed to die. But first, I want you to suffer. Slowly.”

Luther smirked as Kevin strode across the rooftop to meet him. “Ah, the infamous Kevin Shadows.” he said. “Somehow you seem taller in person than you were described.”

“It’s the clothes.” Kevin replied.

“Ah, yes, sort of a Neo/Sephiroth look.” Luther said. “It suits you, especially since you’ve decided to let your hair grow out. All that silver hair flapping in the breeze seems somehow patriotic, I’m almost tempted to lead my selves in ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”

“And I guess you haven’t figured out a way to buy designer clothes in bulk.”

“Sadly, many of my duplicates must make do with their birthday suits for the time being.” Luther responded. “I am reluctant to simply kill you on our first meeting, especially on a fine day like this.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want it to be you in the first place.” Kevin responded. “You’re not the original.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Power flows through that flesh, and all the other flesh you’ve got hiding in the shadows, but you’re not its source.”

“And you seem to think that matters.” Luther responded. “We are of one mind, and the source has no more power than the duplicates. We are all created equal.”

“Really?” Kevin quipped, as red lightning flashed from his eyes, blasting Luther into a hundred pieces. Each of those pieces grew and changed until it was an exact copy of its parent. Each of the new Luthers was extremely angry.

“On second thought, today is a good day for you to die.” the Luthers said, charging. They had barely taken five steps when blood-red agony shot through them, and they cried out. Kevin stepped back, watching as the Luthers were disciplined.

It is not yet time for him to die, fool. HURT him first, as I have commanded. the Darkness admonished.

“I...will...obey...Master.” Luther gasped. The pain subsided.

“I figured as much.” Kevin said. “You’re a puppet. A one-man puppet army.”

“SILENCE!” Luther commanded. “I can hurt you in so many ways. But I will spare you the agony of watching your family transform into more of me, if you agree to all my demands.” With that, he tossed a computer printout to the gravel at Kevin’s feet. Kevin picked it up, and was disgusted by the first five demands on the list. They only became worse as the list wore on. Kevin rolled the paper tightly into a tube, drew a condom from his pocket, and slid it over the paper until it had stretched past the edge. He tied a knot in the end so the paper was well contained, then he grabbed the nearest Luther and draped him over the edge of the building. All the Luthers gaped in horror as Kevin inserted the list in their comrade’s rectum, leaving the tail where he had tied it sticking out.

“Does that answer your question?” Kevin asked. Luther pulled himself to his feet and snarled.

“You’ll pay for that!” he exclaimed as his body began to divide. Two Luthers were standing where one had been, and the paper wrapped in the condom lay on the roof between them.

“It doesn’t take much to drive a wedge between you guys, does it?” Kevin asked. Luther snarled, and was about to charge, but remembered his previous admonishment. “Well, I must say, Luther, I’ve found this meeting to be very informative. I hope the whole lot of you rots in hell, but it’s been an interesting chat.” Kevin said pleasantly before disappearing.

“He needs to be taught a lesson.” Luther said.

“Kevin?” Jessie asked. She stopped short, surprised by the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Sven’s gone.” he said. “There’s someone new gunning for me. Somebody named Luther.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” Jessie asked, turning his head and glaring into his eyes as if to divine the answer there.

“He’s got a power that makes him very hard to kill, and Sven says that’s just in addition to his other, more Transcendent-like powers.”

“What?”

“Somebody used black magic to create a dark Transcendent that can walk in daytime like us, and every time he bites someone or a piece gets cut off or blown off or stabbed, it creates another one of him.” Jessie stood there for a moment, absorbing the implications of this. “Gather everyone, and I’ll explain everything I know about this.” She nodded and went to obey when Kevin’s phone rang. “Yes?”

“You don’t seem to understand that I can be in a thousand thousands of places at once.” Luther’s voice said. Kevin checked the caller ID. The call was from Susie’s cell phone. “It’s actually quite a time-saver. Would you like to talk to your sister?”

“Kevin?!?!” Susie sobbed. “Kevin, please help! He...he bit Daddy! Daddy turned into him! He bit Mommy! Mommy turned into him! Kevin, I’m scared!”

“Sorry, I’m afraid that’s all you get.” Luther teased. Kevin closed his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. He teleported to his family’s house to find it full of Luthers. “For a minute I was almost afraid I’d lost you.” said the one that was holding Susie. “Your sister’s very pretty, by the way.” There were tears in her eyes even as she silently pleaded for Kevin to save her. In truth, he’d been trying since he saw her, but something was preventing him from teleporting her out of Luther’s grasp. “Problems, Kevin?” Luther asked. “Did you honestly think that you were the only one who could prevent teleportation where and when you wanted?”

“Let her go.” Kevin snarled.

“You really should have taken my offer, kid.” Luther said. “What’s an eternity of humiliation and servitude compared with the lives of your family? Now, I’m afraid I wasn’t able to show you this neat little trick during our rooftop meeting, and far be it for me to give you a less than complete picture of what you’re facing.” With that, he sank his teeth into Susie’s neck. She yelped, tears flowing freely down her face. When she opened her eyes again, they were lusterless black orbs. Her hair began to slowly fade to black, and her features shifted, twisting and morphing until Luther stood there in Susie’s panties and baggy T-shirt. “I feel pretty...” the new Luther sang. “Oh, so pretty...” the others joined in, each of them annoyingly off-key in the exact same manner. Another one appeared, this one wearing Kyle’s favorite T-shirt, a black one silk-screened with the letters “KWITCHERBITCHIN’".

“You know, I think that’s all I know of that song.” the Kyle-Luther said. “Just as well, though. How about this: ‘One of sixteen Vestal Virgins/Who were leaving for the coast...”

“And though my eyes were open/They might just as well have been closed.” finished the others.

“What are you getting at, Luther?” Kevin demanded. The Luthers all smirked.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?” they asked. Kevin received a sudden sense of abject terror from a familiar source. With a final defiant snarl, Kevin left his family’s house to appear on a lamppost near Corpus Cristi. Kevin’s mother and sister writhed in the clutches of another hundred Luthers. One of them bit each of the women’s necks, and they transformed, Luther’s features replacing their own. Luther was a disturbing sight in a bikini, almost as disturbing as in a pair of panties and night shirt. Smoldering hatred burned in Kevin’s eyes as he glared down at Luther.

“Now that’s not going to get you anywhere.” Luther called. “And you know what? I’m not finished! Just wait till I work out the enchantments on your gates, then I’ll march on that little palace of yours and make you watch as I...”

Kevin had had enough. His agony-spell, in the form of a crimson energy-ball, flew forth from his fingers, striking one of the Luthers in the chest. To his surprise, it bounced back, striking Kevin instead. Luther laughed as Kevin twitched in the sand.

“I’m afraid you’re not allowed to use magic to cause me pain, young man.” Luther said. “That privilege belongs to another, and EXCLUSIVELY to him. You just run along home, lock up your castle if it makes you feel safe, but I’m coming, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Kevin rose to his feet, and with his katana beheaded the Luther whose chest had reflected his spell, and only then did he depart. He did lock up the residence, dissipating the little spells here and there that allowed certain places to act as gates to the island.

Let’s just see Luther come here when the gates no longer exist. Kevin thought. He mentally scanned the entire island. No trace of Luther. At length, he allowed himself to fall to his knees. Jessie was at his side immediately. She picked up the cause of his distress as the mental shield he’d tried to erect to keep her from feeling the full brunt of his loss failed.

“He got them, Jess.” he sobbed. “Mom, Dad, Susie, Kyle, Mother and Leigh. He got them. I couldn’t stop him.” Jessie comforted her husband as best she could, but she knew it was a heavy loss to bear.

The dark spirit laughed. Luther was doing well. Kevin Shadows was most likely smart enough to realize that the individuals who had been his family were not “trapped within” Luther duplicates but had simply ceased to exist. All these losses so soon after the loss of his friend Monsterhunter would have Kevin overwhelmed.

The next step was to deprive him of his other friend, Paul. After that, he would give Luther a way to get into Kevin’s palace without the gates, thus depriving him even of a safe haven from Luther’s depredations. Luther would see it as poetic justice, after all the times he and that wife of his entered the lairs of sleeping Vampires and hunted them there, confined by the sun, unable to escape. Yes, Luther would relish that, and that made it so much easier to get him to do the spirit’s bidding.

Evan Clark Shadows sat listening to his Daddy’s heart as the two rocked in the big, leather rocker. Too young to understand the cause of Daddy’s unhappiness, he knew only that Daddy was unhappy. Without removing the thumb from his mouth, Evan reached down to the floor with his free hand and grabbed Bunny, dragging it up into the chair with them. His hand returned, this time questing for the Blankie. Two tries later, it was in the chair. Evan did his best to cover them both with Blankie one-handed, rubbing the smooth border against Daddy’s cheek, then, when that didn’t seem to work, he offered to let Daddy hold Bunny with a thrust of the toy and a childish grunt. Daddy wrapped his arms, then his wings, around the child, and sighed, kissing Evan on the forehead. But Evan wasn’t the one that felt bad, Daddy was. The youngster climbed out of his father’s lap and left the room, wandering aimlessly until he found Mommy. She seemed about to pick him up, but he grabbed her hand and led her to the room with Daddy. His thumb never left his mouth even as he turned his big baby blues up toward Mommy’s eyes. She picked him up and they both joined Daddy in the chair. Evan watched as Mommy nuzzled Daddy and looked into his eyes for a minute. Then Daddy looked down at him and smiled. Evan knew he’d done good. He smiled in return, which caused Daddy to smile even wider. Daddy kissed Evan’s forehead again, and pulled the thumb out of his mouth. It was okay, Evan could do without the thumb, as long as Daddy was feeling better.

Tessa awoke to the sound of her favorite porno. Climbing out of bed, she found Paul watching “Invasion of the Bobbie Snatchers” at a low volume. They were just getting to her favorite scene, where the horny alien took over the female policewoman’s body and was testing it out with a couple of inspectors from Scotland Yard. She began to slowly massage his shoulders, hoping she could redirect some of his arousal toward her. It had almost worked when there was a crash from the kitchen. Having no illusions about his chances against a burglar or worse, Paul pulled Tessa and her slightly bulging belly into the bedroom. They ducked into the closet, and Paul swore as if he were expecting something to happen, like a secret passage opening or something. He dragged her back out into the bedroom, grabbing his necklace off the nightstand as a second burglar burst in through the window. Tessa shrieked. The burglar had wings! Big, black, batty wings!

“Twenty-three skiddoo!” Paul shouted, and there was a flash of light that blinded Tessa. By the time her vision returned, she realized they were no longer in their apartment.

“Where are we?” Tessa asked.

“A friend’s house.” Paul replied. “Come on.” He led her to what looked like a grand reception hall. People were scurrying about everywhere. Tessa noticed that they all had silver hair. Some of them had wings, only these were more birdlike than batty.

“Seriously, Paul, where are we?” she pleaded. “These people aren’t angels are they?”

“Not by a long shot.” said a familiar voice. Kevin Shadows stood in one of the doorways looking like he hadn’t had any sleep. “You going to explain it, Paul, or are you going to make me do it?”

“I’m sorry, Master, they had an alternate means of transportation.” Luther gasped as the agony continued to rock his bodies.

“You should have stopped them.” the Darkness admonished.

“The charm was protected, Master.” Luther continued. “Protected against teleportation-negating magicks.” The Darkness relented somewhat. At length, he decided Luther was not at fault, and ceased his torture.

“We can continue the plan without the human.” he said. “I have a means by which you can enter Kevin’s palace and claim one of his apprentices as you did his family.”

“So many to choose from...” Luther thought aloud, and with relish. “He couldn’t possibly defend them all...”

“Actually, I have someone specific in mind.” the Darkness said. “Someone whose end would hurt not only Kevin, but also the young woman who started his Vampire-hunting career, or have you forgotten her?”

“No, Master, I haven’t.” Luther replied, thoughts of devastating the Vampire-hater making him giddy with anticipation.

“Feeling any better, honey?” Jessie asked.

“I’ll survive.” Kevin responded.

“Come on, I want to show you something.” she said, pulling Kevin to his feet. She led him to her private room and pulled back the curtains on the canopy bed. The smell of fear hit him before he got a good look at the bed’s occupant, a young Succubus with medium-length dark hair. She looked almost like an Asian teen cosplayer. “I was going to show you earlier, but we got...distracted.” Jessie said. “She was being bullied by a bunch of Vampires. We showed up and they ran.”

“And you brought her here to protect her.” Kevin concluded.

“Just look at her, isn’t she adorable?” Jessie asked. Kevin understood now. Jessie’s maternal instincts had latched onto the childlike Succubus as something that needed protection.

“What’s your name?” Kevin asked the Succubus softly. Her only response was to hold onto the bedspread for dear life. Kevin placed his hand on her head and brushed her mind. Strangely, the confusion that usually accompanied a Succubus or Incubus mind brush was absent. This one was young indeed, barely a handful of human meals in her life if his senses were to be believed. There was also a gnawing hunger, coupled with a sense of self-loathing but also a strong fear of death.

I’ve been hearing reports lately of starving Succubi. Kevin transmitted to Jessie. Some kind of excess of conscience, the way I hear it.

Not exactly a survival trait when you’re a Succubus. Jessie thought back.

No one’s going to hurt you, little one. Kevin thought, this time into the mind of the Succubus. Jessie won’t let that happen, and I’m going to back her up on that. You’re safe. You have my word. He mingled a sense of calm into his mind-voice, and the Succubus’s quivering body began to relax. “There you go.” he said. What are we going to do with her? he asked Jessie.

We could make her one of us, so she doesn’t have to feed on the essences of others to survive. Jessie suggested. The Succubus’s eyes widened as Kevin produced a silver letter opener and opened the vein in his neck. Kevin began her transformation, then passed her to Jessie to finish her off. Dual apprenticeships like this were rare in Vampires, and this was a first for Transcendents, but there were several overt advantages, at least for the teachers, chief among them being time.

As the new Transcendent drowsed and began to sleep off the remainder of her transformation, Kevin watched her mental and physical evolution with interest. The interactions of the various genes carried by the mutagenic compounds in Transcendent and Vampire venom was a source of fascination for him. Jessie smiled as she rubbed the place where the neophyte had bitten her. At least they’d managed to take his mind off Luther for a while.

“How exactly does this charm work, Master?” asked one of the Luthers, examining the pendant on its black, velvet cushion.

“First, the one from whom your power flows must place the charm around his neck.” the Darkness said. “So, that means that the original Luther will have to hie his bony ex-Vampire butt in here.” The four Luthers in the room growled, but bowed their heads.

“My bony butt is on its way now.” they said. “If it were anyone but you who said that...” Delbert’s obsidian eyes narrowed, and the Luthers fell to their knees in agony.

“I don’t like threats, even hypothetical ones.” the Darkness said. It released Luther only so he could continue his journey. “Now, once the charm is around your original’s neck, you need only command it where to go.” Luther’s original self walked in, though it was difficult for anyone without the especial sense of energy, be it light or dark, to tell. He picked up the charm and slid it over his head.

“Commend me into the presence of Suzy Schiff.” Luther commanded. A pool of darkness appeared beneath Luther’s feet, and he fell. When he landed, it was in Suzy’s bedchamber. Grinning evilly, he rose to his feet, much to Suzy’s horror. “Greetings, milady.” he said. “I invite you to join me...” Suddenly, he felt a sickening lurch and floated up above the floor. As he rotated head-down, he caught sight of Kevin at the door.

“Sorry, we don’t want any.” he said, and Luther was levitated out the window. Luther swore vehemently as the earth seemed to fall away from him. He failed to reach escape velocity even as the stars clarified overhead, and he began to fall. The thin air tore at his clothes, and he began to feel overheated. This was only the beginning, as Luther experienced re-entry firsthand.

“That was way cool, man!” Paul exclaimed. “Seriously, you launched him right out into space...”

“No, I didn’t.” Kevin replied. “I couldn’t exert any influence over him at that distance, so he didn’t get to escape velocity.”

“Well, that just means he’s crispy on re-entry, right?”

“More like vaporized.” Kevin responded.

“Why don’t you look happy about it?”

“Because each and every one of those atoms is enchanted to grow a new body. Each and every one of those atoms is going to become a new Luther.”

“Yikes.” Paul muttered.

“I have to go.” Kevin said.

“No, you can’t!” Jessie exclaimed, putting herself in his path. “You can’t face him! Especially alone!”

“Luther’s going to dog us until I’m dead.” Kevin said. “But he’s gonna know he’s been in a fight before I go down.” Jessie slapped him, hard.

“Now you listen here, Kevin Shadows.” she said, her eyes blurred with tears. “I don’t care if I ever kill another Vampire again. I don’t care if I ever leave this house again. But I am NOT going to be your widow, you understand me? I got a taste of that when we all thought you were dead, and I am NOT going through it again. I’m going to have my husband HERE and in ONE PIECE, do you UNDERSTAND ME?”

The bruise on Kevin’s cheek vanished as if it had never been, but he rubbed it anyway. He looked at Jessie as if she had suddenly started speaking in Latin. Then, just as suddenly, he laughed and kissed her passionately.

“You’re a genius.” he told her, then headed for his workroom. The last thing anybody heard before the door closed was “My wife’s a fucking GENIUS!”

“What’s that all about?” Paul asked.

“Sounded to me like I gave him an idea.” Jessie replied. “He’d better not get himself killed carrying it out though.”

The sky was black with the wings of Luthers. Kevin flew purposefully through this gauntlet of winged hate. It seemed Luther didn’t appreciate being launched into orbit. It was the proverbial needle in a haystack. Kevin was looking for ONE Luther, the original, the source of all of them. On the roof of a large, corporate high-rise in Bangkok, he found him. Luther didn’t give him much of a chance to talk. As soon as Kevin landed, he was knocked to the roof. Four of them picked him up, holding his arms and legs.

“Fuck the plan.” Luther said. “Fuck slow torture. Each and every one of me is going to kick your ass, Kevin.” Kevin wrestled one arm out of a Luther’s grasp and popped his jaw back into place. In the blink of an eye, he was the size of a Pixie, flitting above the assemblage for a moment before resuming his normal size, outside the Luthers’ grip.

“That could take a while.” Kevin said.

“Yeah, so what? I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.”

“Before you commence the beatings, there’s just one more thing I want to say.”

“There’s no time for last words. Like you said, this is going to take a while.”

“Yeah.” Kevin replied, producing an engraved ceremonial dagger and slipping it between Luther’s ribs. “’Till all are one.” One of the Luthers backhanded him, and only his quick hands stopped him from flying off the ledge.

“Haven’t you been paying attention?!?!” the Luther demanded.

“Haven’t you?” Kevin responded. Just then, the original Luther cried out in pain as his body emitted a pulse of energy.

“What did you do to me?” Luther groaned.

“Do I have to spell it out for you?” Kevin asked. “I should think I’ve given you enough hints already.” Luther looked down at the knife in his heart. Just below the hilt were the words “There can be only one.” Luther’s body pulsed again, and the approaching Luthers slowed, straining against an invisible force. “Oo, Walking Against the Wind, I love this routine!” Kevin chimed. The third pulse overwhelmed the Luthers, and they stumbled backwards until they encountered the original, fusing with him. He stumbled backwards with their combined momentum, falling flat on his back. Other Luthers began to tumble as well. The pulsing increased in pace.

“I’m not dividing! This can’t be happening!”

“Oh, the reason you’re not dividing is because the dagger feeds on your enchantment.” Kevin said. “The very thing that helps you do that whole Agent Smith routine is what’s going to help you pull yourself together.”

“Ack!” Luther exclaimed. His arms were becoming heavier than his strength could lift. The roof beneath him cracked, then collapsed as more and more of his duplicates joined with him. He fell through each floor as he encountered it. The pulses continued. He hit the basement floor with a crash. “What’s happening?!?! Why can’t I move?!”

“Luther...” Kevin called, emerging from the shadows in a Darth Vader costume. “It is your density.” Luther groaned. The costume disappeared. “What? I don’t know how to break the Law of Conservation of Mass like your master does, so...this isn’t going to be a pleasant reunion.”

“Your family will become part of me as well.”

“They ceased to exist when you bit them.” Kevin said. “I sensed that much.” His eyes narrowed. “I hated you for that. Really, truly, honestly, sincerely hated you.” He closed his eyes. “Then I realized I couldn’t let myself give in to hate. If I did that, I’d never be any better than you.”

“No better than me? Ha! You’re the one who barges into Vampires’ resting places and stakes them in their sleep, you coward! Even if they do wake up before you kill them, what chance do they have, cornered by the sun, out-powered, out-classed, doomed to dusty death.”

“You ask what chance they had?” Kevin scoffed. “That’s easy. The ones I killed CHOSE to feed from humans, when they could EASILY obtain their sustenance from any local butcher shop.”

Luther’s density continued to increase as more and more of his duplicates were forcibly reunited with him. Think of what you ask of us, Shadows. Luther thought at Kevin as his mouth ceased to work properly. You’re part human, so tell me...what if some animal-rights group started murdering anyone who refused to become a Vegan?

“That’s not the same.”

Isn’t it? Luther asked. I’m rather inclined to disagree with you there, Shadows. Tell me, which do YOU prefer? Meat or vegetables? Assuming you don’t see anything wrong with eating meat, would you willingly stop eating it just because somebody else says it’s wrong, and are willing to kill you over it? Maybe you should study human history. The Aztecs killed and ATE people because that was their only source of meat. There weren’t a lot of game animals in that mosquitoes’ paradise they called a city. Cannibalism still happens in places were game is scarce, even though humans could EASILY obtain what they need from the tubers and legumes that grow in the area. Why do humans love meat? Because it’s richer, much more fun to eat. I bet there’s not a kind of meat you don’t like that wasn’t prohibited by social engineering. The Vietnamese get along fine on dog meat, but YOU were TRAINED to find the very thought of it disgusting. Now look at Vampires. Humans aren’t just our food, they’re our lovers. Sometimes we keep them, allowing them to become like us. The bite of a vampire is sex distilled into a fine liqueur fit for the gods. YOU would force us into an eternity of bestiality. What would your parents think of THAT?

The pulses increased in pace. The concrete beneath Luther’s body was cracking severely now. A few more duplicates and he would collapse that, then it would be on to the bedrock below.

I can’t hear you. Luther sent. This silent treatment doesn’t become you, Kevin. How would you feel if someone threatened to stake you for having sex with females of your own species? How would you feel if suddenly you were forced to either go celibate or bone sheep and cows for your pleasure? What if some weirdo made human/human sex a capital offense?

“Humans don’t kill their lovers.” Kevin said. “And they don’t screw their food either.”

Vampires aren’t the only race whose food and sex are linked. Luther thought. We’re just the only ones you PERSECUTE! His body fell through the concrete as the foundation powdered beneath him. Still more and more of his duplicates tumbled in through the holes above.

“News flash, Luther, we go through Ogres like popcorn. Incubi and Succubi are kept mostly in check. Were-beasts are just shy of qualifying for a place on the Endangered Species List...if revealing their existence were allowed, that is. Thing is, Vampires have a certain noticeability. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re both a nightmare and a wet-dream. Maybe it’s their community spirit. Whatever it is, when a Vampire goes down, everyone takes notice, like if you die of West Nile or anthrax, suddenly you’re on the news...granted, with Pretenders, it’s the underground, but you get the idea. Then there’s the problem of perspective. White man gets killed in a shootout with police who happen to be white, boring. Black man does the same thing, it’s front-page news and labeled a hate-crime. Wolves kill caribou up in Alaska, it’s nature. They kill a cow just outside Yellowstone and it’s a crime against nature. You Vampires hunt down humans, you call it survival, I call it harvesting the innocent. I kill you for it, I call it defending humanity, you call it persecution. It’s all perspective. You come after my family, I call that personal. Just what, exactly, am I expected to do about it?”

Whatever you have to do. Luther responded. I did what I thought I had to do. What more can be expected of us? Luther closed his eyes as their mass became too great to keep open. I estimate a couple more minutes before I am one again. he thought. What happens then?

Your mass gets transformed into energy. Kevin responded. Then dissipated in the form of light.

An interesting fate. Luther thought. Eventually the flood of Luthers ceased, and his body began to glow. The brightness was like a sustained version of the flash a nuclear bomb makes as it goes off. For nearly an hour, Kevin sat in the light, wondering what alien beings in the fifteen-degree area of the night sky directly above would think of the sudden brightness thousands of years in the future as it reached their worlds.

“Well, you did it.” a voice said as the light faded. “I never expected you to defeat Luther.”

“You’re the one who was pulling the strings.” Kevin snarled.

“Yes, and I told him to go after your family, your friend, your sister-in-law...the list would have gone on until you were the only one left.”

“I suppose you want a piece of me now?”

“One step at a time, boy.” the voice said. A figure stepped into the moonlit circle. “I’ve taken the measure of your talents this night, Shadows. Before I’m done with you, you’ll beg me to kill you and send your soul into the ninth pit of Hell.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Kevin responded. “I beat your cat-thing, I beat your Evil Transcendent Version of Agent Smith, and I’ll beat you too.”

“A minor demon and a vengeance-minded puppet.” the figure said. “You have no concept of what is in store for you, Kevin Shadows. I doubt your all-too-human brain could even comprehend it. For now, enjoy the respite you’ve earned for yourself. It will not last long.” The being was gone like a passing shadow across the moon, and Kevin stood alone in the midst of the building.

“Who put sandpaper in his jock strap?” Kevin muttered, before ascending the path of Luther’s descent and returning home. There was a worried wife to comfort, a son to raise, and at least three babies on the way. He was going to have his hands full for quite some time, enemies or no.