The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Buster dashed after the rubber ball, the ocean breeze blowing his fur back as he chased.

It was still an hour before sunrise, but this was a workday and he needed to get his run in. This end of Santa Monica Beach was usually packed by 9, so he relished the solitude even if it meant driving in the dark to get here.

There was only one other person on the beach at this hour and he didn’t pay much attention at first. A local maybe or a vacationer trying to max out their time in L.A. But as he neared, he saw that it was a young woman. An attractive one from what he could tell. She was just staring out at the ocean.

He tossed the ball again and kept up his running ... trying not to disturb her, giving her some space, possibly after a long night of partying or a squabble with a boyfriend.

Buster was running alongside him and he fought, and lost, the impulse to stare as he passed her. She hadn’t moved a muscle. Meditating? Running through the night’s events? He didn’t want to be creepy, especially in the near-dark. He thought, if one day he happened to see her again he’d have a ready excuse for jogging up to her—they sort of met before. He liked that idea.

He was well past her when he stopped, working to catch his breath and giving Buster some attention. One last look.

He looked behind him ... and she was gone.

The beach was too deep for her to have headed back without him noticing and there wasn’t a trace of her in the water.

She was just gone.

Erik flopped on his towel with a sandy thud. Denise scurried behind him rubbing her arms and collapsing to her knees.

“C-c-cold.” She moved her hands to her thighs and warmed them vigorously.

The sun was beginning to set and the temperature drop and ocean breeze was signaling the end of sunning for the day. It had been a good day at the beach.

Rea leaned back and propped her arms behind her, checking to see if the pink on her legs was going to turn brown instead of red when she got back to campus. Clara was deep into her book, some title Rea had no clue about, while Leigh just stared out at the ocean, the dipping sunlight twinkling off the choppy waves.

Rea needed this time. Surrounded by friends and away from school and the pressure to please her demanding if distant family she could relax a little. She took in a deep breath of the moist salt air and let it fill her usual emptiness. It was beautiful here. She should have brought a canvas. Lose herself in the blues and green and yellows around her and give them form by her own hand.

She quirked her head. Oh, well, next time. Like the steady diet of failed dates. Yeah, maybe next time. Or the C’s and D’s on her statistics tests. Next time ...

Rea tilted her head and winced, then saw an attractive, thirtysomething woman standing near her, closer than what should have been appropriate since the beach was only a quarter-full now that the tanning peak had passed and the water had turned cool.

She had seen this woman before. Twice. Once last week when she borrowed Denise’s car to escape and soak up some Malibu rays and soothe her stress after blowing a test. They had passed each other walking along the shoreline. The woman had smiled then, it was an attractive smile. Rea remembered it.

By the time the gang had finally made it to the beach today it was past noon and as they got settled Rea recognized the woman standing by an umbrella farther down the beach. She turned and waved. Rea, politely and instinctively, had waved back.

The woman was striking as she looked out at the waves. Thin, but not too thin, blonde hair loosely tied with a scarf into a ponytail beneath the stylish straw hat she wore. And curvy enough to be appealing even to a straight girl like Rea.

She looked down at Rea looking up and smiled, her round sunglasses fooling Rea momentarily into believing she had two huge black eyes. Then she spoke.

“Lovely,” she said, between smiles. “Isn’t it?”

“Huh? ... Oh, yeah. A perfect day.”

The gorgeous babe standing there didn’t escape Erik’s eye and he blurted, “Yeah. We have a three-day weekend. Thought we’d hit the beach.”

“Lucky you.”

“We all go to CSN,” he volunteered. Denise put a protective hand on his thigh.

“CSUN.” Clara didn’t look up from her book.

“I see. Yes,” the woman said, her seductive voice practically dripping onto Rea’s head. Rea couldn’t tell what her eyes were focused on beneath her glasses, but she felt them on her. “It’s beautiful this time of day.“

Then she looked out at the ocean; Rea felt the pull.

“See how the sun dances off the waves.” All eyes but Clara’s turned. “Like a million tiny flashes of light. It can be quite hypnotizing.”

After a long moment, Rea and Erik blinked their heads back around and saw that Leigh was still daydreaming. They laughed, finally snapping Leigh out of it.

“What?” Leigh blushed.

They giggled again and the woman joined them with a singsong laugh that made Rea turn.

“Yes. Very hypnotic. Like this.” And the woman lifted a small, cut-glass pendant from the chain around her neck and twirled it. The light prismed off its edges and sparkles of light found one pair of eyes, then another. Clara put her book down and took off her sunglasses to gaze at it.

Time stood still. Rea once again could feel the mysterious woman’s eyes upon her and she forced her eyes upward. The pendant dropped.

Denise gasped out a laugh, catching it with her hand too late.

“Sorry. That was just sort of str—” She cut off as the woman smiled, stealing it off Denise’s face, which dropped. “Um, never mind.”

“That’s a beautiful pendant,” Rea piped up after a pause. Denise began playing with her toes absently while the others sat in rapt attention.

“Thank you. I’ve had it a long time. It comes in very handy for my inductions.”

“Inductions?” Leigh spoke up, brushing back her auburn hair unconsciously giving the woman a better view of her pretty face.

“Yes. I’m a hypnotist.”

“Really? For real?” Erik’s eagerness forced Denise’s ass closer to him.

“For real. Hypnotherapy. You’ve heard of it?”

“You help people quit smoking.” Clara sounded less sarcastic than she meant to be.

“I do that. Yes. And other things. It’s all therapy. Most people who are susceptible to hypnosis—and everyone is under the right guidance—find it very relaxing and calming. It may even help you get better grades. Learn to focus better. Although I am sure you all get excellent grades.”

They laughed at that, a little forced. It made Rea think about her classes, her poor grades. She was already on academic probation.

“I know Erik could use better grades,” Denise said, adding a playful punch to his arm. “By the way, I’m Denise. That’s Clara, Leigh and Rea.”

The woman appraised them again before speaking. “My name is Venus.” The name hung in the air before them like a trapped breeze. “Perhaps you’d like to give it a try.” She looked at Rea. “It may be just what you’re looking for.”

“I’m in,” Erik said.

“Me too,” Denise quickly followed. Clara nodded, less enthusiastically. Leigh looked nervously at Rea.

“And you, Rea,” Venus asked in a way that made Rea flush. “How about you?”

“Sure. Why not.”

Leigh nodded to no one.

“Then how about you all come over to my condo. It’s just down the beach. I have a semi-private lot. We can watch the sunset together. Maybe open a bottle of wine or two. That is, if you are old enough?”

Erik laughed again. “We’re cool. We’re all almost 21. Clara is 19, but she doesn’t drink.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” Venus replied lightly. Then she waited for the group to pack up and follow her down the beach.

Rea was leaning on the balcony looking up at the stars. She didn’t know how long she had been standing there as she lazily searched her memory. As it slowly untangled and rewound, her recollections were moving backward.

Venus had hypnotized them. All of them. Rea didn’t turn, but she knew that lying behind her on loungers were Erik and Denise and Clara and Leigh. Blankets draped over them. Their sunglasses were back on despite the night, but she also knew their eyes were open and staring at the glass pendants which hug in front of each of them on stands and strings, twisting gently in the night breeze. The lights from the mini-spots above their heads turning them into rainbow-infused strobes. They each had earbuds in and iPod players on their stomachs.

She didn’t turn. It wasn’t important to see.

Venus had told them about the celebrity next door and the lavish Hollywood parties that spilled out in front of her building as she poured the wine and showed Rea her collection of ... something.

Rea recalled laughing, then the startling silence as Venus hypnotized them together in the living room. Venus’ words and pendant necklace being the only things Rea focused on. Focused more powerfully on them than the slight tug she felt when her ears caught the final “Please, no ...” that left Leigh’s lips before she went under.

As they sat around the table, eyes fixed on the crystal pendant hovering over the candlelight, Rea could sense the hypnotic journeys Venus had sent each of the on.

Her calm, enticing voice telling them to “relax,” to “slip,” to go “blank.” Rea could almost see Erik and Denise float away from the table, wandering without thought through the mind-maze Venus has placed them in. A maze with no exit. Casting them adrift as she turned her focus on Clara and Leigh.

Clara had gone the deepest, the fastest. Her resistance had already been folded up tightly before they ever reached the condo. Her willingness to just ... let go.

Leigh had fought it. Her insecurities trying to hold out against the entrancing call to submit and obey. She had tried to look away from the necklace’s mesmerizing prism of light and fell instead into the warm flicker of the candle. She dropped like a pebble in shallow water.

The two girls moaned. Clara from the revelation of believing what she dared not believe. And accepting. Leigh’s moan was an exhale, a sudden blankness of surrender to a force, a voice, a woman who so easily put her own my out of reach and emptied it.

Venus’ eyes were never off Rea, even has her friends’ minds clustered around Venus like so many fallen leaves around a tree. She felt the tether, the connection with Venus strengthening and tightening. Rea was calm, relaxed. The loneliness of her life being suddenly filled by someone else. Someone who wanted to take her over and fill her.

Rea felt a kind hand on her head. “Look at me, Rea.” Her eyes drifted up and found Venus’ blue eyes sucking her in. She wasn’t lost like Erik and Denise. She wasn’t overwhelmed like Clara. She wasn’t blanked out like Leigh. She was ... joined.

There was a moment, then, she could recall—before the hypnosis, when she stood close to Venus and felt the rush of happiness at having her attention—thinking that this was someone she could fall for and fall in love with, even if she had never known the love of a woman before.

She didn’t turn from the railing when she heard a strange voice at the front door. Venus was talking to someone, but her voice wasn’t the sweet singsong that has seduced her on the beach.

The beach. Venus had walked with Clara the whole way. Rea almost felt jealous at her attention toward her friend. Yet by the time they entered Venus’ condo, Clara never said another word and her usually scrutinizing eyes were pale and unfocused. Rea hadn’t paid attention then. Now, she didn’t care.

Rea didn’t turn as Venus joined her again by the railing, her eyes were still bobbing from twinkle to twinkle in the night sky.

“You’re doing so well, Rea,” Venus said. “Do you enjoy looking at the stars?”

Rea smiled at the compliment, the warm rush of doing something to please Venus, although she didn’t know why. “Yes, Venus.” And another rush of pleasure, another smile covered her. Not yeah. Not sure. But yes. It felt so good to say yes to Venus.

There was a soft brush on her cheek and Rea leaned into it, not needing to see the look in Venus’ eyes ... a look that Venus had never given anyone else.

She remembered her friends again in one of the backward waves of thought that rippled through her. Yet she continued to stare skyward as Venus stared down at them. Venus put her hand on Rea’s shoulder, forcing her attention away from the stars and completely on the beautiful woman next to her in a luxuriant, black peignoir.

“Thinking of your friends? That’s not for you, Rea. I have something special in mind for you.”

The smile hadn’t left Rea’s face, but it grew from the way Venus grinned back at her. She was pleasing Venus and that was all that was important.

“You like this feeling, Rea? The twilight? Not awake and not asleep?”

“Yes, Venus.”

“Good. Because that is how will want you. Half-aware and half-empty. Never always one or the other. I’ve been waiting a long time for someone like you, Rea. Someone I can share my mind and body with completely.

“Now, look back up at the stars for me. Did you know starlight is very potent hypnotically? It opens you up. Allows you to focus more easily. It spreads all over your mind and shimmers. Do you see? They are so far away, Rea, but see? See them fall, feel them fall around you. So close you can almost touch them, touch the lights. These thousands of lights.”

Rea’s eyes almost glowed from the phantom circles of light around her head. She was transfixed.

“What does it feel like, Rea? To have that shimmering ... sparkling ... starlight ... glimmer on your mind? Floating down and coating your senses ... glinting in the depths of your subconscious. Encouraging you to ... sleep?”

Rea felt as if she were floating, swaying above the balcony with Venus words and a million tiny pinpoints of light softening her awareness, her memory, her self.

Venus kept at her, watching the sweet, delicate blonde succumb. “Imagine the feeling, Rea. And make it real. To have yourself focus ... on how time slows ... here ... how your thoughts become ... heavy ... slow ... like wading through sweet, sticky syrup ... my words gliding easily through your mind. Around those slow, sticky thoughts ... easily navigating to take you ... deeper now.”

Every phrase, every word, every fragment of every word passed slower and slower through Rea’s deadening thinking. And as the lights began to swirl around her head, she felt as if she was being twisted so gradually, spun slowly and teasingly, that her floating body began sinking, boring through the floor and leaving only her sparkle-dulled brain behind.

“And every time a thought becomes obvious, you notice the glimmers of light ... these tiny sparkles in the corners of your awareness ... snuffing it out ... popping. Nothing to distract you ... allowing you to continue to fall ... deeper and deeper ...”

Rea was hypnotized. She was blank. Venus pressed on, taking her even farther away from reality. The reality that her thoughts were completely controlled by someone else.

“Falling deeper and deeper for me, Rea. So very good. Let the starlight spread ... let it coat your mind ... and beckon you into a state of unfettered pleasure ... completely ... utterly ... entranced. And then my voice ... my sexy, singsong voice sweetly in your mind ... whispering to you of slipping ... falling ... dropping. All the while surrounding you with sparkly, intoxicating starlight ... letting it flood your mind. So happy, so ... lost. Dreamlike and wonderful ... colors, feelings, stars dancing with each other in the depths of your being ... as you ...

“ just ...

“drop ...

“deeper ...

“now.”

Her breathing had slowed, her heartbeats so soft within her that she wasn’t even aware they beat at all. But Rea did feel something ... between her legs.

Venus had lubed the large vibrator during her induction and Rea’s involuntary wetness drew a moan from her hypnotist. She forced it up and inside the young woman, who jutted her hips forward slightly and accepted it, too.

“There. Just like that. Honeyed words slipping through your mind ... telling you of obedience ... of joy ... of how good it feels to just ... let go ... and be owned ... Obedient ... Submissive ... to Me. My power can make you do that, Rea. My power is already doing that ... Let go ... and let it sweep you up and ... drop you down ... plunge you down deeper under my control ... into hazy stardust.”

Venus moved in front of Rea, whose body began to shake and spasm from the vibrator and from the recoil of the programming Venus has begun pouring into her mind.

“Look into my eyes now, Rea. See yourself reflected in the million glistening, reflective mirrors of the glittering starlight, coating your mind ... dazzling you, disorienting you ... losing focus now ... too stunned to do anything but look into my eyes and listen ... listen to my words and the thoughts they contain ... too stunned to do anything but follow and obey ... obey Me ... obey my words, utterly and completely ...”

The nod came automatically. The thought of saying “Yes, Venus” too hard for her in her mind-wiped state to utter. Venus ran her hand across Rea’s cheek.

“And as the sparkle dies down and my hand gently sweeps the stardust from your mind, you can allow yourself to surrender ... surrender and open your mind only to Me, to my programming.

“To become Mine.”

Rea shook from the orgasm. The orgasm of acceptance.

Three times Venus dropped her. And each time, Rea could feel less of herself return. In twilight. She floated on the calm, insistent voice, floated into Venus’ bedroom, floated between her legs. She didn’t question why. The answer was there, implanted in her being as if it had always been there. Venus.

There was no panic, no confusion. Venus had deftly cleared her mind of everything but the sweet stroking words and thoughts Venus placed there, just as she opened to the sweet strokes on her labia.

They made love throughout the night. More than sex, less than lust. There was an intimacy there Rea had never felt with any man—not even close, with anyone—and it plucked at her heart with equal tension as the hypnotic pulses that strummed her mind with every single word Venus spoke. Every kiss.

When Rea awoke, she was in the living room kneeling. Venus was on the balcony talking to her friends already sunbathing and being mind-bathed. Oblivious with their shades on and their minds off staring at the twisting crystals above them in the sunshine.

“Hello, Liz.”

Maya let the short, dark-haired woman enter, neither women hiding their dislike for the other. Maya kept a watchful eye on her as she strolled casually across the room and stopped in front of Rea, who was sitting on her heels, eyes forward and unmoving, in the center of the living room.

The woman looked back at Maya standing at her post by the door and tossed a thumb in Rea’s direction. Maya shook her head no. Liz ran her fingers slowly through Rea’s rich, chestnut hair.

Venus returned from the balcony, leaving behind her four blissed-out captives once again under the influence of the programming Venus has been searing into them ever since they arrived.

“Venus! A full house I see. You really must get Maya to lighten up a little. She’s absolutely dreary.” Venus was only slightly more pleased to see Liz than Maya was. But this was business. “You have some things for me?”

“They’re not ready yet, Liz. But can you inspect them if you like. Rea? Attend. Maya. Bunnyhop. Execute.”

Rea rose like a robot, and walked silently to Venus, standing a step behind her. Maya relaxed, then moved to the couch and turned on the TV.

As she passed, Liz took the opportunity to pet Rea again, and although she quickly resumed her posture of obedience behind Venus, she felt the unease of being pawed by the sneering older woman’s thick fingers.

On the balcony, Liz looked over the catch with seeming disinterest.

“What’s he doing here?” She spat out the word “he”.

“He came with the packages, unfortunately. But he and the blonde will be gone Tuesday. As soon as I’m finished reworking them. They’re too connected. They’ll be missed. The two brunettes are for you. Leigh is unattached. Clara ... I can handle.”

“And this one?”

“She’s not for sale.”

Liz couldn’t contain a snakelike smile. “Oh, really! It’s not like you, Venus. Keeping the prize for yourself. It’s been, what, a year? It’s good to see you enjoying the spoils for once. Still, I’ll make an offer for her.”

“Her name is Rea. And she’s not for sale. But we do have something to discuss.” Venus led them back inside, Rea in tow. Venus stood close to Liz, and the contrast of tall and beautiful against short and plain wasn’t lost on Rea, even though she couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying. She could still sense the friction, the bad vibes.

“Another body was found. Washed up on Santa Monica Beach. That’s the third one in two years. You’re getting careless. And I don’t approve of what you’re doing to them. You think the police haven’t noticed the similarities? This isn’t the way it was supposed to go.”

Liz sighed, unpleasantly. “What I choose to do with them after you deliver them is none of your business, dear.”

“It is my business. It’s also my business when dead bodies show up at my door. One in Oceanside, one in Redondo and now one only a few miles from my home. It’s reckless. And it’s murder.”

Venus didn’t raise her voice. She knew it wasn’t necessary.

“Don’t be naive, Venus.” Liz sighed again. “You know who my clients are only as far as you wish to know. And my ... tastes. You knew that from the beginning. You can stay here in your lovely condo. I do all the heavy lifting. And the disposal. No one, especially the police, are any the wiser.”

Venus stepped closer as Liz’s voice raised slightly. “This is my last delivery, Liz. I’m out.”

Liz twirled away from her, pausing a moment to look at the TV screen and Maya’s eyes plastered to it.

“I see.” She spun back. “Well, I can certainly understand. It’s been a good run. Five years. I have other connections, I’ll survive.”

She walked toward the door before facing Venus again. “Of course, you realize what you’d be giving up. Going back to stage shows? Hypnotizing at business retreats? A church picnic? Such a waste. And it doesn’t pay, does it? It doesn’t pay what I pay you.”

“I’ll have the girls ready by Friday. Then we’re done.”

“Alright. You know where to reach me if you change your mind.” She opened the door. “And you will. Don’t bother with the door, Maya.” There was a laugh as the door closed.

Rea scarcely noticed Leigh and Clara anymore, even though none of them ever left the condo. Venus showered with them, dressed them. But they were three separate, disconnected sponges—wrung out completely and refilled with Venus. And wrung out again.

She knew it was Tuesday ... for some reason. Venus had taken Erik and Denise back to the car and sent them on their way, disassociated from the three friends they no longer remembered even knowing.

Leigh and Clara spent most of the time on the balcony being programmed or, at times, Rea would stand and watch and masturbate as Venus instructed the girls in the Sapphic arts. Rea needed no such instruction anymore. She lived between Venus’ legs or suckling at her breast, soaking in the whispers as she nibbled and licked and kissed herself deeper and deeper under Venus’ all-consuming and mind-softening control.

“Rea. Attention.”

Rea blink-blinked hard, needing her hand to reach down and catch her body as it swayed and nearly fell over. She was kneeling. Had been kneeling. How she had gotten there, how long she had been there—those momentary thoughts evaporated as quickly as her will to do anything but give Venus her undivided attention.

Another wave of awareness passed through her. Venus had wanted her to have a taste of it, to keep it at times. Those waves were coming less frequently now, but this time it made her smile inside. There had been a split-second, maybe as she watched Clara and Leigh dutifully crawl into each other on command, that there was something terribly wrong with what she was seeing and doing. Now, she just smiled at the silliness of her concern. She was being led down, down, down by Venus. And in the dim twilight awareness in which she existed, she wanted to follow.

The small plug in her ass and the dildo humming inside her pussy were constant reminders of those soothing words stuffed and vibrating—resonating—in her obedient, submissive mind. Even when Venus wasn’t talking to her directly, she heard the words. And obeyed them. Believed them.

“It is time, Rea, my love. Are you ready?”

Rea squeezed the dildos inside her. She had been prepared for this moment. Venus was the sun among so many stars.

“Yes, Mistress Venus.”

“You must submit, Rea. I could tell you how it might feel to let yourself slip into my words again. But you have to tell me that is what you want. I could remind you of how exquisite it is to have me touch you as you need to be touched. But you have to tell me that’s what you need.”

“Yes, Mistress Venus.”

“Yes. You’ve learned the power of that word, haven’t you, Rea?”

“Yes, Mistress Venus.”

“It’s a very powerful word. Yes. And it feels so good to say it. Yes to dropping deep for me. Yes to slipping. Now. Letting you mind go. Completely. Allowing yourself to give all to me. Listening and following. Let my words wrap around your mind ... and squeezing ... in a permanent embrace.”

Rea was deep asleep. Yet still aware enough to see the band of black leather in her Mistress’ hand as she held it out before her eyes.

“It’s your decision, Rea. The last decision you will ever have to make alone. Do you accept this collar. As my slave?”

Rea answered before the weight of the decision—any decision—touched her consciousness again.

“Yes, Mistress Venus.” She nearly orgasmed.

Hands were around her neck, cool and soft, then the smell of leather and a tightening. Tight enough to know it was there. And know why.

A finger under her chin made her stand and the kiss that followed sealed her bond with her owner.

Venus smoothed the edges. Catch and release of everything Rea had known. Yet, it was delicate, there was no rush. She wanted Rea to accept, once pared down to her most basic self, all the suggestions and commands Venus filtered into her willingly. She accepted.

Rea called her parents and told them she had found someone and was dropping out of school and moving to Colorado. She called the school. She called her roommate and told her to keep her belongings. She called her bank. Her friend Shay. One by one, Rea cast away her old life with the promise of a new one, here, with her Mistress.

It mattered not at all that Venus had made her accept it.

There was a whisper in Maya’s ear. Her eyes fluttered and she slowly began masturbating through her bikini bottoms. Then faster. More urgently. Another whisper ... and she stopped.

“Oh, Maya. You’re always such fun. Even if you are a dyke.”

Liz stepped away from the confused Maya, who had the look of someone who came within inches of being flattened by an 18-wheeler before composing herself and settling back into her role of bodyguard by the front door.

Rea was in her usual position in the living room, kneeling. She could feel those hungry eyes on her even from 20 feet away, making her mind spin slowly—emotions that couldn’t stick, confusion and dread—then passing like a puff of smoke as Venus entered. Her mere presence calming Rea into deep obedience once again.

Liz’s eyes noticed the subtle change on Rea’s face as Venus stood behind her. Venus snapped her fingers and two young women entered. Liz wouldn’t have recognized them had she not seen them briefly before. Leigh was a natural beauty, but with her curled hair, colored cheeks and pale blue eyes she was almost the equal to Rea. Clara, on the other hand, was transformed. The normally furrowed brow was soft with a hint of a smile beneath it and her makeup and hair made her look doll-like. They each wore matching short-shorts, pressed tightly into their clefts, and skimpy tops. Liz couldn’t resist a slight squeeze to her breast as she glared at them like a wolf.

“Yes, very nice indeed, Venus. Nicely packaged items to be sure.”

Venus handed Liz a file folder. “They’re all ready. Both were students. They only kept occasional contact with their families. I’ve arranged their ... absences. The other two have been removed without any recollection of their existence.”

“Thorough as always, Venus. I have a buyer for one. Little Clara may entertain me for awhile until I find a suitable price. The money has already been deposited in your account.”

“Then we’re finished.”

Liz hardly reacted. “You haven’t reconsidered? About Rea, I mean.”

“No.”

“Ah, well. You deserve a reward, Venus. A very sweet one.” Rea felt a chill, not knowing why. Liz moved toward the door and Maya stepped aside. “Oh, just in case you change your mind, I’ll be moving again soon. I’ll be sure to give Maya here my new number if I see her at the club.”

Liz gave Maya a false smile before looking at Venus again. “I’m surprised you still let her out of her cage now and then. But you always were a softie. Good-bye, Venus. And ... good luck. Come along, girls. Activate slave sequence. Follow me.”

Liz waited for Maya, seething, to open the door and walked out with the two mindless playthings following behind her in perfect unison.

They had finished making love again, although to Rea it was like one long, passionate kiss that lasted hours. She kept her eyes riveted on her Mistress, who lay back and looked up, smiling that smile Rea knew so well so fast.

“Rea,” she said, not moving her head. “I’m thinking of moving away from here. Somewhere far away.” She looked over at her slave. “Would you like to travel?”

“Yes, Mistress.” The phrase giving her another shudder, but from the inside.

“When we’re out, you won’t call me Mistress, Rea. Just Venus. And I’ll get you some pretty chokers, so you won’t be seen with your collar. But it will be there. It is there. It’s there as surely as if it were tattooed onto your skin.”

Rea leaned over and kissed her Mistress deeply, felt the soft hand combing through her hair.

“You enjoy the twilight, my sweet slave. I can see it. You liked my art collection too. Do you remember?”

“I remember ... some of it, Mistress. You showed us. Showed me. When you first brought me here.”

“You paint, don’t you, Rea?”

“I ... I remember, Mistress. Hard to remember.”

“Ahh ...” Venus laughed softly. “Well, I remember. And even in twilight, you can be creative. I’ll buy you paints and canvases. It will be interesting to see what you create out of the twilight. Once an artist, always an artist, Rea. I can’t take that out of you nor would I want to. You make me very happy.”

Making Mistress happy. Rea’s own happiness depended on it. And it soothed her.

Rea’s awareness was bubbling to the surface, and she could see her bedroom in her home ... the walls covered in paint, broad strokes and finite details, blues and greens and yellows. She let out a sigh of recollection, of pleasure from a different source.

Venus’ eyes sparkled to see it. She nuzzled into Rea’s neck. Rea moaned from the feeling of her Mistress’ lips there. She had fully embraced the calm of being not quite awake and not quite asleep. Venus cooed into her with approval as Rea touched her wetness.

Venus whispered: “I think I love you, Rea. I wonder, do you love me?”

Rea didn’t need to weigh the gravity of the words, but they touched her to her core. Yet, she held still. There was something else.

Venus sighed. “You’ll know the answer some day, Rea. And you’ll tell me, won’t you?”

“Yes, Mistress Venus.”

She answered as if just saying the word “Mistress” would make her cum again, would make her collapse into the warm arms around her again, would simply deflate her awareness a little more ... again. She touched her Mistress’ cheek.

“Why, Mistress?”

Venus lifted her head off the pillow, leaving a red bite mark on her slave’s neck.

“Yes, Rea? You have a question?”

“Yes, Mistress. Why ... me?”

Venus’ frown was purposeful. Then her blue eyes steeled.

“Oh, Rea. You are able to ask that, my beautiful slave? I knew you were the perfect one. To ask that now. There is more to you than anyone will ever know. But I will know. As programmed as you are, you still have a soul. And, to answer your question ... because I wanted you.”

Rea hadn’t appreciated what had come out of her own mouth. A thought, not seeded in her mind at Venus’ hand. She needed to know from somewhere back, back there. Venus had chosen her. Venus’ answer satisfied her. There would be no more questions.

Rea could feel the warmth on her skin as she lay prone on the balcony. Her skin was tanning—Mistress liked her tanned—but it was also well-oiled and supple. Mistress had told her she would be gone most of the day and, even though Rea had already forgotten, she did hold in her awareness that she was to have two, two-hour hypnosis session, one before and one after lunch.

As the second session was finishing, she didn’t hear the doorbell. She was deeply entranced, deeply following and accepting the programming, believing as she listened that Venus was there whispering in her ear.

The door opened.

“She’s not home, Liz.”

“Oh, I know that, dear. That’s why I’m here.”

Liz stepped past Maya’s hip as she tried to block the doorway. Liz grabbed Maya’s arm firmly. And whispered.

“Mooncloud. Program one.”

Maya blinked once. Then stiffened, her jaw went slack. Liz looked at her approvingly.

“Oh, Maya, I so love seeing you like this. But ... Obedience program, Maya.”

“I obey.”

“Of course you do. So well-trained.”

Liz went back out into the hallway and returned with a box. From it, she pulled out a thick, sharp-stubbled, ten-inch dildo.

“Insert this. All the way in. And fuck yourself until I tell you to stop.” Maya took it and lifted it to her mouth. Liz grabbed her hand. “No. Dry. Insert it dry, pet. I don’t mind if you bleed.”

Maya obeyed, grunting as she forced the huge phallus into her pussy and began fucking herself.

“Now, where is the lovely Rea?”

From the deck, Rea came in, still trancy from her hours of programming. She recognized Liz, but didn’t question how. She barely noticed Maya humping the rubber cock.

“There you are. How are you, Rea?”

“I’m fine,” she said softly. Then Maya grunted again. “Maya ...”

“Oh, don’t disturb her, dear one. I came to talk to you. Attention, Rea.”

In her hands were two pieces of paper, and she scanned them, flipping them over. Rea was on her way to the shower, but she had been addressed. She held still. She felt the unease return, from somewhere distant. That first time she was petted by this woman. It wasn’t a caress. It was more like an owner petting her dog. Rea tried to hold that memory, but it disappeared as Liz stepped close and eyed her.

Something wasn’t right. Her nipple was pulled, roughly. The woman’s smile was empty, meaningless. Not ... right. Mistress should be here, not this woman.

“Sleep, Rea.”

Rea tilted her head.

“Ah, well. How about ... Dustcrop, program one? No, starbright, program one.”

Liz stepped closer to Rea, and she had a momentary impulse to back away. But her programming was too firmly embedded in her mind. She was at attention.

“Special command for a special girl, eh?” She flipped one of the pages over. “Venus de Milo, program one.”

Rea gasped. She felt her twilight awareness slip away, dropping at her feet and splashing into a million droplets. Her other nipple was pulled and twisted, the pain and pleasure swallowing up her will to resist.

“There we go. But you need to be much deeper for me, don’t you, Rea?”

“Yes ... Mistress ...”

“Yes, Goddess. You will call me Goddess, Rea. Not the Goddess Venus. Not the Goddess of Love. But just Goddess. Your Goddess.”

“Yes, Goddd-essss ...”

“Excellent. Such a powerful trance cue. Drop deeper, Rea. All the way down. Deeper than you have ever been before. Obey. Drop. Drop. Drop. Deeper. And even deeper. All the way down for me.”

Rea could feel the tether pulled and snap. She tumbled. Venus’ words, her face, her voice growing more distant as these new thoughts, new words, that sneering face dominated her psyche. There was a battle going on inside her head, and Rea felt like a bystander watching it, feeling it happen. Programming, instructions, commands being tossed around and pushed deep. Obliterated and reformed.

Goddess was in control. There was no acceptance, no illusion of choice. The words were forced in, roughly, cruelly, leaving nothing behind. She felt the burns against her lips, the rough stubble, the acrid taste of unclean womanflesh from behind on her tongue. The hard nub she sucked on blindly, until the milky goo filled her mouth and sealed her fate.

Rea stood at relaxed attention as Mistress made phone call after phone call. She didn’t remember when Venus had returned or what she had been doing even the briefest moment before. Mistress was acting strangely, Rea could tell. She wanted to please Mistress, kneel between her legs and satisfy her. But Mistress’ only words, her only thoughts had been of Maya and why she wasn’t home.

The empty closet, no note, no word of where she was. “No, it’s fine. Just checking. Thanks, honey.”

Rea could almost see tears in her Mistress’ eyes as another call to a friend had ended and Mistress looked upward, pained. She then gave Rea the saddest smile she had ever seen from her.

“Rea? Attend me. I need you close. I may not be home very much tomorrow and I need you at your very best for me tonight.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

And the “Yes” made Rea reach up and stroke the collar around her neck and coax the wetness out from between her legs. She had but a single feeling as she gazed at her Mistress.

“I love you, Mistress.”

Venus beamed.

Venus approached her and, following a soft kiss to her cheek, firmly pinched one of Rea’s taut nipples between her fingers and pulled her toward the bedroom.

Rea’s eyes popped open without a blink. She didn’t think to look at the clock to find it was 3 a.m. or to think that the short, heavy-set woman standing in the doorway was the same person who had programmed her to awaken and obey at that exact time.

And not think.

She undid the buckle on the collar under her hair and let the leather fall. But instead of feeling lighter, she felt heavier. The invisible hold of her Mistress was off her. The feelings of belonging, of love, of togetherness was gone. She was alone. And without those feelings, she was left with only obedience and the commands that had been branded into her mind only hours before.

She rose, and the soft body next to her barely moved with the mumbled, breathy sigh, “Good slave.” Then stilled. Her feet barely felt the cool wood under her feet as she approached the woman—Goddess.

“Did you perform all the tasks you were commanded to perform, pet?” she whispered.

“Yes, Goddess.”

“Any difficulties? She drank the wine?”

“No, Goddess. Yes, Goddess.”

She had poured the wine and spiked it. She obeyed the new commands, which cast a thick cloud around the twilight Mistress had always kept her in. And the orgasm that followed her obedience blotted out any thoughts as to ... why.

Liz purred, allowing herself a quick, deep stroke between her bare lips exposed beneath short skirt she held up. “You’re doing very well, pet.” And a sigh. “Good girl, Rea.”

Rea spasmed, the sudden onrush of an orgasm, her hands clenching and knees bending slightly. Her head fell back ... and Liz’s did too. Liz’s body was obeying her own programming. But although Liz began to bask in the glow of an immediate, intense climax, Rea’s body hung on the very edge ... unable to reach the tipping point.

Liz panted out, “Wonderful.” Rea shook and twitched. “Disengage Program G.” And Rea held still. “Not yet, pet. Not until we’ve finished. Engage Program V.”

As Rea obediently spun around and moved forward, the haze of her four-hour slumber finally lifted ... and she was in twilight again. Aware of who she was and who lied in bed in front of her. But she was programmed, controlled. She was obeying. The sweet, loving twilight was being painted over with every step she took.

She moved to the dresser, opened the drawer and covered by socks was a small, black box. She lifted it out, opened it—obeyobeyobey—removed the small vial and syringe from inside. A hand took the vial from her, but she held up the loaded syringe and moved toward the bed.

She knelt. Then she hesitated. Rea blinked at a recollection, something so frail and thin she could barely see it in her mind’s eye. But it made her stop, made her look down at the sleeping, drugged woman and feel a swell of yearning. She looked at the plastic tube in her hand and the building emotion inside her was suddenly swept away. She stared at it. She had a single thought, not hers:

“If you begin to think, your strongest thought, your compulsion will be this: Help Mistress Venus.”

Yes. Help Mistress. This will help Mistress. This will make Mistress feel good. This will make Mistress happy. I obey Mistress Venus.

And Rea drove the syringe into Venus’ neck. As she pressed the plunger, Venus’ eyes opened just as the muscles in her jaw went dead.

“Rea ...?” She barely got the name out before her eyes rolled back—her lids fluttered—then fixed forward. Unblinking.

Liz stood in front of the bed.

“Eyes on me, Venus. As if you have any choice.”

The cackling laugh drove up Rea’s spine and she straightened. She obeyed Venus ... Goddess ... Venus. This will help Venus. But something was wrong. The thoughts in her head were foreign. Venus wasn’t moving, couldn’t move. And Goddess was ... enjoy it.

“Rea. Obey. Finger Venus. Now. Obey.”

The covers were pulled down, bare legs exposed, and Rea began rubbing Venus along her folds slowly and sensually. Teasing and stimulating as she had been taught to do. This was right. Right?

“There. That should help you. Time to discuss your future, Venus. All those clever triggers you’ve given Rea and all the other playthings that I have bought from you over the years. You think I didn’t pay attention? Didn’t try out the ones you implanted and I discovered myself?”

Liz began stroking herself in rhythm with Rea’s strokes inside Venus’ open flower.

“Venus, I was this close to having my new pet here empty that bottle into your lovely body and I’d be done with you and your potential complications for good.

“But I realized you’re much more useful to me alive. I’ve never been the hypnotist you are, not even on my best day. I merely picked up the pieces of the minds you shatter so effortlessly and box them up and deliver them. I didn’t have the time or the patience to train all those pink minds and hot bodies you supplied me with. I learned a great deal from you, Venus. Your methods, your triggers. I had my fun with poor, unaware Maya so, so many times.”

Another laugh and Venus’ eyes nearly widened more than they were capable. Rea dipped two fingers inside her and forced the wetness from her. Rea’s focus had narrowed on her task—pleasing Venus. It was all that mattered in that moment.

“However, I don’t have your lyrical voice, your attractive flytrap of a body or your creativity to loosen and mold even the most stubborn minds. So ...”

Liz moved to the other side of the bed and grabbed Venus’ head roughly to face her.

“... so I will break you, Venus. I will make you my pet. Useful, devoted and controlled. Oh, I’ll let you keep your beautiful home. Your lifestyle. You’ll need those to seduce the kind of girls I want. But all your prey will be caught, programmed and released to me. They won’t even pleasure you. You’ll keep nothing for yourself.”

Something forced Rea’s eyes upward, to her Goddess, as she smiled back. A smile that was knowing as powerfully as Rea was unknowingly weak.

“Most of all, sweet Rea. You’ll never see her again, but I’ll let you remember her. Oh, yes, I will. All the while, she’ll be with me. And there won’t be anything you can do about it except ... feel the emptiness. The only other feelings you will have are the ones I put in your head. Should be fun, yes?”

The body beneath Rea stiffened slightly and she mistook it for arousal. But it was far from it. It only made Rea finger her harder, faster, deeper.

“I’ve learned so much from you, Venus, in our five-year partnership. It’ll be one-sided from now on. Rea is already mine. You did so well with her it was no effort. And the pets you have given me have always been ready for service.”

She leaned in, eyes almost touching.

“But this time ... this time I will thoroughly enjoy erasing your soul. Shall we begin?”

It was hours later when Rea glided off the bed and joined her Goddess. Liz had been thorough. She had continued to program Rea as she programmed Venus. Venus came six times—the drugs were out of her system—and she responded to Liz’s programming and the rewards for obedience that it brought.

Rea’s twilight had been turned off.

As she followed her Goddess out of the room, Rea turned.

She looked at the sleeping woman on the bed, not knowing why. But she gazed at her through glassy eyes—joy and sadness swaying softly together in her consciousness. A beautiful woman. Someone worth loving. But an owned woman. Goddess’ newest pet.

She turned away.

The winter sun had shifted, and even though the beach was shorter here than in Santa Monica for his daily jog, he liked the sunrise view over his shoulder from Point Dume this time of year.

He threw the ball as far as he could, giving Buster plenty of room to run after it. As he jogged along, he noticed a solitary figure at the edge of the water, the low tide splashing her feet.

He stopped, gawking at the woman hard, not believing his déjà vu. It was a different woman from the one he saw six months earlier and miles down the beach. But her stillness, her unwavering stare at ... nothing ... gave him a sudden chill.

He approached her carefully, even as Buster scampered back with the ball in his teeth. The woman’s wrap fluttered in the morning breeze, which also blew back her curled, auburn hair and exposed her vacant eyes.

“Excuse me? Are you okay?”

His voice didn’t register on her face.

“Hello? You okay?”

He reached up to gently touch her at the elbow and the young woman didn’t flinch. She must be tripping, he thought.

“What’s your name?” He stepped around to face her and look her in the eye. “What’s your name?”

“Leigh.” Her voice was distant and cracked with hoarseness.

“Okay, Leigh. Are you on something? Have you taken something? What are you doing here?”

There was the slimmest flicker of life on her face.

“I’m going ... I must go swimming. I must ... go under.”

“You know, I think maybe you should just sit down for a minute.”

He slowly pressed her shoulders, forcing her down. As she sat, her legs opened and he could see dark, red splotches of blood between her legs, staining the yellow panties she wore, and smeared just inside her thighs. Thighs that were bruised and welted.

“Oh, God ...”

He checked her arms ... more welts, fresh scars. He saw rope burns and bruises on her wrists. Her partially exposed breasts were uneven and distended. He searched her young face, oblivious to him, for the pain her body must be feeling.

Leigh only looked out—out at the freedom the open water dared to offer her in her fractured mind.

He dialed 9-1-1.