The Dorvak Reckoning 16
The Swiss Alps
1972
The Count telepathically looked through Lorna 3942’s eyes, and loved all that he “saw”. The room was now converted to a dark temple of sorts lit by tall black candles arranged around a painted pentagram on the floor. In the midst of the candles were three black draped altars. Grayson Spender, Trevor Dupuis, and Peter Dupuis laid upon them face up, bound. The Count’s life preserving cylinder stood in the direct center of the pentagram.
However, those were not the sights that brought him the most joy. Instead, it was the sight of Briar Gasdsen Spender, the Bitch...the treacherous Bitch, standing entranced before him in a black, silk gown covered with red runes. She stared at his cylinder, her unblinking gaze riveted to his dead face.
She held a large, curved, golden dagger.
Oh how he longed to play with her....humiliate her. But there was too much to be done to allow such diversions. Tonight he would both pay all past debts and purchase renewed life.
Norma Breckinridge, Angela Dupuis, and the two brainwashed assassins stood between the candles. They wore shorter versions of Briar’s black gown that revealed much of their bare legs. Like Briar, their gowns had plunging necklines, presenting much of their décolletage.
Cassie, the former Daisy, and Janet, the former Rukiya, had pistol holsters strapped to their sides as insurance.
All the women present stood in zombi-like states, farther in trance than even Dorvak’s Process could achieve. They were living flesh robots, existing only to obey their Master.
Lorna 3942 stood at the side of the cylinder, her right hand on the glass. Her eyes were rolled up in her head. She spoke endlessly in a strange tongue.
The Sponsor had rewarded him richly for the last sacrifice. Not only was Spenzini awake and aware, his psychic abilities were supercharged. When the automated train had arrived, he’d awakened. Without any exertion, the hypnotized women on board had immediately dropped into zombie states. It was a hypnotic control far beyond Dorvak’s Process, trigger phrases, and memory avatars. That is why he had the males’ mouths free. It amused him to see them try and trigger his slave women. Also, Spenzini believed his Sponsor would enjoy their screams.
It was all about giving the demon what he wanted, so Spenzini would get his reward.
And Spenzini was eager to please. After this sacrifice, he would walk the Earth, Bad Norma at his side, commanding both a fortune and an army of hypnotized women.
Lorna 3942 droned on and on saying the ancient ceremonial words in a language similar to Babylonian. Truth be told, he hated this part, the mysticism contrary to his coldly objective, scientific mind. But, after his many years, he had long admitted the seeming defeat of Scientific Rationality in the face of all he had witnessed. But part of him held onto the thought that this was not Black Magic, just a different type of Science. A science to be manipulated, the spells and incarnations just a type of mathematics.
The Count listened to his last “Lorna”. He was incapable of benevolent human emotions like gratitude. So when he thought of how well the Chinese girl had served him over the recent years, it was for the utilitarian purposes. His contemplation of her qualities would inform his decisions when the time came he had to replace her.
She shared many qualities with his first Dovarkian slave, the original Mrs. Lorna Dorvak. Like her, she was a nurse with good intelligence. Though he would soon leave the cylinder with its alchemical fluids, it would always be good to have a slave with medical training at his side. After all, he was approaching his two hundredth year.
He thought about where it had begun.
London, England
1886
There could not be more of a contrast between the two men as they sat across from each other in the Dorvak sitting room.
Anton Dorvak was short and somewhat rotund. His face was both mild in features and expression. He wore the white coat of a clinician.
Count Spenzini was tall, his body powerful. His sharp, angular face was dominated by piercing, black eyes. His attire was also black, tailored by Savoy Row’s finest.
Anton sipped his tea, then spoke. He struggled to keep his desperation out of his voice.
“So......you see, Count....with just a tad bit of investment....you could be a part of the greatest neurological breakthrough in medical history.”
The Count put down his cup. The townhouse was nice enough and tastefully appointed. But the absence of any servants confirmed his research. The Doctor had bled his wife’s inheritance dry.
Up to this moment, he had barely hid his annoyance at both his host and his Sponsor. He wondered if he had correctly deciphered the demonic communication. What use was this upstart alienist to him and his great plans. Hypnotism? Spenzini was already a master of it, for all of its limited efficacy. This was taking him away from his geothermal experiments back at his Swiss laboratory.
But the Sponsor had always proven right in the past, so he did not leave.
”I can see that you sincerely believe that, Sir, but I yet to see the profit for me.”
The shorter man sputtered.
”But wait, Sir....you’ve yet to see the demonstration...my good wife will show you how far I have advanced Scientific Mesmerism.” He looked up the nearby stairs and called. “Lorna..My Dear....ready yourself...you must excuse me Count.....my method of inducing the trance state is proprietary.”
“If you must, Sir....But I remind you...I have an engagement this eve...”
”Count...I shan’t be a moment...Please.....I warrant it will be well worth your time.”
Spenzini curtly nodded, and Dorvak bounded up the stairs. Soon a nearby door could be heard opening and shutting.
The Count always trusted his instincts, and they were telling him to follow. He crept up the stairs and put his ear to the study’s wooden door. He immediately heard a distressed female voice.
”But, Husband... Must I do this? Wouldn’t one of your other patients do just as well?”
Dorvak pleaded with his wife.
”Lorna, My Angel........We have spoken of this.....this Count Spenzini can fund a decade’s worth of my research. You are the best candidate....I cannot take advantage of my patients for our monetary gain. It must be you, My Dear.”
”I know.....but to be put on some display like a sideshow......”
Before she could finish, the Count heard through the wood the tinkle of a music box rendition of Handel’s “Water Music”. Then he heard Dorvak.
”Lorna....are you with me?”
Lorna replied, her voice somnolent and submissive.
”Yes, Husband. I am with you and I am your barefooted servant.”
Despite himself, Spenzini was impressed. Dorvak had instantly asserted dominion over a resistant mind. He had to admit that even his tremendous skill would have been challenged. He tore himself away from the door and tiptoed down the stairs back to the sitting room.
A minute or two later, Dorvak re-emerged at the top of the stairs. As he descended, the Count caught his first glance of the lovely Mrs. Lorna Dorvak, who glided behind her husband like a gossamer fairy. Her face was blank and she looked straight ahead, paying no mind to the steep stairs. It was then the Count noted her attire. She wore a tasteful day dress, but her pale feet were bare.
The duo stopped in front of the Count, who had stood upon the lady’s entry.
Dorvak spoke first.
”Count Spenzini, allow me to introduce my wife, Mrs. Lorna Dorvak. Forgive her seeming indifference, for she is currently in the very deepest of hypnotic trances.”
The Doctor then began demonstrating her receptiveness to suggestion. He made her arm stiff raised above her pinned up hair, stuck a pin in it, and otherwise showed off her entrancement.
Spenzini was impressed.....but not so much by Dorvak’s demonstration. It was more due to his sensitivity to the consciousness of others, one of the first gifts he’d received from the Sponsor.
When the Count didn’t remark, Dorvak spoke.
“You say you are knowledgeable of the Mesmeric Arts, Count, examine her for yourself.”
The Count studied her eyes, then took her pulse. All of this confirmed his suspicions. Lorna Dorvak was more deeply entranced than any subject he’d ever seen. But as impressed as he was, he acted otherwise.
“I believe you, Doctor.. She is deep in trance. Just as any Blackpool stage mountebank could do to her if she was willing to go along.”
Dorvak’s voice stammered in reply.
”I assure you, Sir, this is quite different from any music hall exhibition. Lorna first came to me as a patient, wracked by persistent headache in conjunction with her.....with her monthly indisposition, as it were. Thanks to my process, she is free of these travails. And she is not alone...my revolutionary methods have achieved similar results in other women prone to hysterical disturbance, many who had proven otherwise immune to mesmeric methods. In fact, I have yet to find any member of the fairer sex who can resist my methods. And not one has failed to accept my therapeutic suggestions.
Imagine it, treatment clinics throughout the Land, the Continent.....even America. Charging all a modest fee, but those fees aggregating to a handsome sum. And, I tell you...they and their menfolk will all be happy to pay as we vanquish these pernicious feminine maladies.”
”This sounds much like Mesmer’s salons in the last century, Sir. Ultimately, he failed. How can you service so many ladies spread across borders and oceans?”
’That’s the prize, Good Sir......My presence is not required. I have created not a hypnotic power for myself.....rather, I have created a process....a methodology that can be replicated on a mass scale. The foot baths and various chemical elements are all inexpensive to acquire. Even a layman could be trained to place any woman in the deepest of hypnotic states, though of course a physician trained in neurology would be best suited to provide curative suggestions. You see, during the initial stage, the patient is given an invocation.....a trigger phrase or sound that instantly returns her to just as deep a trance. So...once a woman has been processed, it becomes the simplest matter to reinstate hypnosis.”
I am so very close to solving all of the remaining issues....I just need an infusion of a modest sum of money to continue. My wife has wealth, but I fear we have drawn heavily from that well. This creates a wonderful opportunity for a smart investor such as you, Sir.”
The Count continued to hide his growing interest.
”You spoke of ‘remaining issues’. What are they, pray tell?”
The smile faded from Dorvak’s face.
”No scientific revolution happens without challenge, Count. First of all, for reasons I do not yet understand, the Process works only on the fairer sex.
Then there is the unexpected side effect. I suspect you have noted that my Good Wife is unseemly in presenting herself to you unshod. She is not to blame. As I explained, the initial induction to trance involves stimulation of certain parts of the peripheral nervous system....the soles of the feet in particular. An unintended result is the subject forming an affinity between her trance and being free of footwear. This affinity continues even after the treatment is over.”
“Anything else, Sir? I am not particularly concerned about those matters.”
Dorvak looked as if he was in pain.
“Yes....I owe you full knowledge if I am to take your money. The Process appears permanent.”
Spenzini’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean, Doctor?”
”Once a patient has been through my Process, Count....she cannot be brought out of it. I have tried and tried. Lorna and the rest.....I tell them to wake...and they go about their life as if they’d never been under. But the reality is they unwittingly remain vulnerable. Once the invocation trigger is implanted it remains permanently placed, hidden in the woman’s deepest mind. Imagine the danger for abuse....should some unscrupulous sort acquire the subject’s invocation. In an instant, the poor woman would be rendered an absolute slave.”
The Count used all his self will to keep his tone mild.
”Yes....I see your concern, Doctor. But, certainly, the good would outweigh the bad....so long as it remains in the hands of a scrupulous and moral fellows such as ourselves.”
Dorvak’s smile widened.
”Then you will help us......invest in my research.”
There was a knock on the front door.
“Count....if you will excuse me...it is the maid’s day off so I must attend to this.”
”Certainly.”
The Count studied the entranced lady. A carnal hunger grew. The thought of being able to render even the most strong willed beauty into his servitude was intoxicating.
Dorvak returned.
”I’m afraid I’ve been called to hospital.....a patient. Could we perhaps finish this discussion, tomorrow?”
The Count sensed the Dark Sponsor’s hand in this coincidental opportunity.
“My Good Sir....I mentioned earlier. I’m taking the train ferry back to the Continent tomorrow. Why don’t you wake your lovely wife, and she can entertain me until your return?”
”It might be three or four hours, Count.”
”No matter....it so happens my advisors have said I should invest....but do so quickly. I fear if we do not come to a full agreement tonight, I’ll be enjoined by them to find a new project. I am intrigued by this opportunity to both profit and help the suffering ladies of the world....I’ll wait for you today if you permit.”
Dorvak sighed. He then bent to speak to his wife.
”Lorna, can you hear me?”
”Yes, Husband. I can hear you and I am your barefooted servant.”
“Good. Now, I have to leave for a bit. You will attend to Count Spenzini here without thought of the impropriety of my absence. He is our friend, and he will aid us in our Great Work. Now when I snap my fingers you will wake..”
The Count, in a jocular tone, said:
”There are many men who’d give anything to have such sway over their womenfolk, Doctor.”
It took a moment for Dorvak to realize the Count had spoken in nearly perfect Hungarian, the doctor’s native tongue. He responded in kind.
”Your accent is quite good, Count. Yes... I confess....having such potential power is tempting. But, I assure you....I resist such temptation when treating my Good Wife and my female patients.”
”Of course, Doctor. I would expect no less.”
Dorvak snapped his fingers, and Lorna woke. She blinked rapidly, then sat up. She looked at the Count, and blushed prettily. She then withdrew her bare feet until they were hidden by the folds of her dress.
The Count gently took her hand and kissed it.
”If I may present myself, Mrs. Dorvak. I am....”
”The generous philanthropist, Count Spenzini.....it is an honor.”
“The honor is mine, Mrs. Dorvak....I hope I am not presumptuous in asking to stay while your husband attends his Hippocratic duties.”
”Nonsense, Count. I look forward to speaking with an illustrious personage such as yourself.”
Dorvak smiled at him as if they shared a private joke. “Well I must go, there is a handsome cab awaiting me, sent by Hospital.”
Lorna got up and helped him with his coat. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and he left. At the close of the door, she turned back to their guest.
”You must think me a savage, barefooted Hottentot, Count. If I must entertain one such as you, I should make myself presentable.” As she spoke, she poured more tea into his cup. “If you will excuse me for a few moments.”
”Certainly....though I must say you do have as handsome and dainty a foot as I have seen.”
He was pleased to see her both blush and smile. He had sensed her physical attraction to him, and her reaction to his flirtation confirmed this.
”Be that as it may, Good Sir, I shall return momentarily.” She went to her room.
The Count waited until he heard the bedroom door close, then he again climbed the staircase. He went to Dorvak’s study.
Just as Spenzini suspected, the fool Doctor had failed to lock the door. He went in, and soon found the music box. He turned it over and saw the words “Charles Wexler & Sons” engraved on the bottom.
He took a second to make sure he remembered exactly the words Dorvak had used with Lorna. He then went to the door of the master bedroom. He knocked.
”Mrs. Dorvak.....So sorry to impose....but I fear a situation has arisen.”
The door cracked open. She stood on the other side, a woolen stocking in her hand. She looked at his hand and saw he held the music box. A flash of fear crossed her face.
”Count....I must insist....you should not...”
Spenzini pushed a lever, and Handel’s “Water Music” filled the air.
The effect was immediate. The consternation left her face and her lips slightly parted. Her hands left the door and dropped listlessly to her sides, the stocking slipping through now loose fingers.
”Lorna....are you with me?”
”Yes, Count. I am with you and I am your barefooted servant.”
He loved the submissive tone of her voice.
”Good. Now let me into the room.”
”Yes Sir.” She fully opened the door and stepped aside. He entered.
“So....just so I am clear, you will now obey my every command, no matter how what? For instance...what would happen if I wanted you to harm yourself, or your husband?”
”I would obey, Sir.”
”You belong to me now?”
”Yes Sir.” She seemed to think for a moment. “I will be your servant until another gives me my invocation. Then I will obey that person.”
The Count took this all in, realizing his conquest of Lorna would require careful tactics. Dorvak could countermand his commands, so he had to make sure his instructions to the woman were subtle and covert.
He then remembered her attraction to him.
”Kiss me, Lorna.....like you kiss Anton in private.”
She stepped forward, and stood on her bare tiptoes. The kiss was affectionate, but rather chaste.
“Interesting. Tell me, Lorna...what exactly do you feel for your Husband?”
”I...I owe him so.....he cured my horrible headaches. He’s a good man, Sir.”
Spenzini smiled archly at her.
”How sweet......but not very romantic. We must change all that. I need your husband happy. Tell me, has he had you do things while entranced? You know, carnal acts and such, or is he as ethically scrupulous as he maintains?
Lorna showed no sign of shock or embarrassment over this violation of her marital privacy. She just thought a moment before answering in her mild, calm voice.
”He does not, Sir.”
”And his more comely patients?
”No Sir. And he always has me present so there is no question of impropriety with these ladies.”
The Count grunted. “That won’t do at all. A corrupted pawn is far more easier to play. Now, Lovely Lorna, when I snap my fingers, you will feel a sensuous tingle beginning in your toes....spreading up your legs to the rest of your femininity. It will become more than a tingle......it will become a white hot erotic presence. It will induce an ardor you must consummate. All inhibitions evaporate in the face of this feeling. Your passion shall grow, but will find no resolution until I warrant it. Now, begin.”
He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. She looked like she was about to say something but stopped, her mouth agape. She looked down at her curling toes, and her breathing became irregular. Her eyes closed, and she licked her lips. She gasped, and her eyes half opened with a sensual fire. Suddenly she thrust her body against his. Her voice was a tremulous whisper.
”Ohhhh.....please.....please, Count.” She began kissing his neck.
He bent down so she felt his hot breath on her ear.
”Yes, My Dear Lorna, feel the sensations grow.....and spread throughout your body. Almost painful, isn’t it, Lorna?.
You must so need your release.”
”Never...never have I felt such as this........Please, Count......Please.” She was now panting between words and kisses.
His voice became louder, with a tinge of callous disregard.
”if that is what you want.....then call me by my true name. Master. Call me Master, Slave.”
”Master.....Please...Master......Give me my release.”
He moved her trembling body to the canopied bed. They sat, furiously kissing.
Spenzini was tempted. He was, after all, still a man. But he couldn’t be certain that Dorvak wouldn’t return faster than he had estimated. It would not do for Dorvak to find him and Lorna in a compromising position so early in their new partnership. He regretfully needed to end this pleasant interlude.
The Count pushed her back and she looked at him stricken.
”My Dear.....if you want your release, you must listen and accept my words.”
”Yes.....anything Master.....anything...just please....PLEASE!”
He smiled and mildly said.. “Then go ahead.......have your release.”
Lorna’s eyes bulged as her head thrust back, and she emitted a short scream that startled him. She seemed to build towards a second climax, so he held a pillow lightly over her mouth to muffle her. It would not due to have some nosy constable knocking on the door.
Lorna calmed and seemed to be in a stupor, her breathing slowing. She fell back to the bed, her eyes blankly staring at the ceiling.
The Count chuckled. It always amazed him how such prim, upperclass Englishwomen hid such repressed passion. He stood and peered down.
Now came the challenge. From what Dorvak indicated, suborning Lorna would be difficult. Obvious direct commands would be revealed the next time Dorvak used her invocation.
“Listen to me, Lorna. When you will wake from this trance. You will have no memory of being hypnotised by me, or what I commanded. You will tell Anton I unexpectedly had to leave, but I will send a carriage at Seven so that the three of us might dine and finalize our agreement. Understood?”
”Yes Master.”
”Now....Though your waking mind will not remember our love making, the deepest levels of your mind will retain you how I made you feel. Your waking mind will not realize it, but it will forever colour how you see me. You will remain the ever dutiful, faithful wife to Anton. But deep down, you will be loyal to the cause of your Master.
”Now tell me, before just now...has anyone ever provoked any carnal excitement in you?”
”Yes Master.....I was married before....before Anton. My darling Charles......he was a Captain in 157th Light Foot. They sent him to fight the Zulu, but he died soon after arrival from a fever.”
The Count smiled at this tragic information. He’d been taught the utility of using the subject’s dear memories as a control factor.
”Well good news, My Pet. From now on, when you are in my presence or whenever I communicate with you, you will associate me with your dearly departed Charles as well as the carnal release only I can give you. And when I use this...” He held up the music box. “Your Master and your memory of Charles will become one.”
”Yes Master.”
“Now I have a task for you. We must cure Anton’s reticence for using his Method as any virile man would. You love being under his spell....and how you long to make love whilst entranced. It will become your obsession. And when he finally agrees, you will reward him with the most passionate experience of his life. Once he becomes addicted to your entranced ministrations, you will find a new obsession....the thought of Anton mesmerizing and bedding other women. You’ll love the thought of sharing Anton with other beauties. But you must be subtle in all of this, Lorna.”
”Yes Master. I will be subtle.”
He thought for a moment, then held the music box to her half lidded eyes.
”Does Anton use this for the patients he has hypnotised?”
”Yes Master.”
Spenzini made a note to pay the Wexlers a visit and obtain a duplicate piece. Better yet, he would buy them and their inventory. That way he would be the only locksmith to the minds of Dorvak’s women.
There was the sound of hooves on cobblestone outside the window. Spenzini was relieved to see it did not herald Dorvak’s return. He knew though that could soon change. He was about to leave, but then found himself staring at the deeply entranced woman.
Spenzini, like all great criminals, was a gambler.
”Now Lorna....great news...your Charles has returned from Southern Africa. Show your beloved what special thing you can do to reward him for his noble service.”
Lorna sat up, and swung her feet to the floor. She then began unfastening her lover’s pants.
It was well past midnight before Spenzini returned to his suite at The Langham. The dinner had gone well, with Anton displaying no awareness of the seeds Spenzini had planted in the mind of his Good Wife. Much food and drink had been enjoyed.
But the idea of soon having such a quick, efficient method of mind control within his grasp was more intoxicating than any champagne.
But first things first. His Sponsor obviously wanted him to go down this path, but the Count had spent enough time away from his great endeavor, his experiment in Geothermal Energy. This hypnotism project would have to wait.
Suddenly, the lamps went out. The room filled with an acrid odor of spoiled eggs. Spenzini tried to sit up, but instead felt himself falling......first onto the bed, then through it. He felt like he was rapidly plummeting down a great height.
No...he wasn’t falling. A giant, invisible hand was pulling him.
The Count screamed, his iron will and courage melting.
Soon he saw he was traveling through grey, alien landscapes filled with impossible angles and corners.
The Count kept screaming, his genius intellect dissolving by the second..
Finally, he saw he was dropping towards a gigantic entity. It mostly consisted of the face of a slobbering idiot. Not a trace of intelligence were in its vacant eyes. It was surrounded by tentacle-like appendages, each ending in a human mouth. These smaller mouths kept up steady stream of incomprehensible gibberish.
The Count screamed, now nearly utterly insane.
The idiot face spoke.
”I HUNGER......I GIVE YOU GIFTS......YOU MUST FEED ME. PLAY YOUR GAMES WITH EARTHFIRE.....BUT NEVER FORGET....YOU MUST FEED ME!”
Suddenly the Count, his wits somewhat restored, realized he was again on the soft hotel bed, curled into a ball. It took all of his will, but eventually his sobs and shaking subsided. The smell of rotten eggs dissipated, and was replaced by a more familiar stench. He looked down the bed, and saw his bowels and bladder had emptied.
He then realized there was a persistent knocking. He got up, and threw on a dressing gown. He opened the door and saw the concerned face of Tarkington, the Langham’s night manager. A burly bellboy stood behind him.
”Count.....there have been reports of screams from the other guests.....is all well?”
”My apologies, Tarkington....I.....I have been unwell. Fever dreams I suspect.”
“Sir, we have a most reputable physician on retainer, do you wish that I call upon him?”
”No.....no.....I do believe the fever broken. But I fear that Housekeeping should be called.”
Tompkins crinkled his nose, the smell of excrement finally reaching him.
“Of course, Count. I will see to it, personally.....and I’ll have a hot bath drawn for you.”
Spenzini tipped the men, and was left alone.
He heavily sat in a chair.
That was when he saw on the desk sat a packet of papers. He walked over and picked up the document.
Traces of the spoiled egg odor emanated from the pages.
At the top was a cover letter:
“Count SPermit me to say how very much I enjoyed our conversation just now, though I fear it was not to your liking. Please find along with this missive some suggestions on how to improve upon our new friend D’s Process. You will find it quite advantageous for us all, both in improving the Method’s efficacy and providing all that is due to me.
Do not disappoint me.
Yours Truly,Your Sponsor”
The Swiss Alps
1972
Lorna 3492 was concerned. Her Master had been unresponsive to her thoughts for the past few minutes. She tried again, thinking:
”Count....it’s nearly Midnight.”
She was relieved when he finally responded to her. Keeping her hand on his glass cylinder, she announced to the other four hypnotized women in the room:
”Our Master bids that we commence with the sacrificial rites.”