by Diana Graves
We drove for an hour before finally stopping deep in the thick forest of the Olympic Mountains. We had travelled as far as we could in their hummer and would have to go the rest of the way by foot. I moved easily enough through the rough terrain. The only benefit to not having control over my body was that I didn’t have to think about what it was doing. My mind was totally concentrating on finding a way out of this situation, while their spell took care of the logistics of walking and talking.
The moment I signed those mortgage papers I began to lose control over my body, until even my eyes and vocal cords wouldn’t listen to me. I felt their spell trying to worm its way into my mind as well, but I was able to fight it. I was a half muse after all. Mind control was my business, not that they knew that. But, if I could stop their spell from taking my mind, perhaps I could regain control over my body!
As we came upon a clearing I looked on in awe at the structure that was before me, a large fairy mound. Nanuet took my hand and pulled me along with a smile.
“We’ve been here for some time, actually. Building, harvesting wives and breeding. It was only when we heard about you that we surfaced. My husband wanted you, and I used you as an excuse to bring my daughter back into the fold. I knew where she was all along, you see. She was the reason we chose Washington for our new home. We found the letters that she had written her late sister, god rest her soul, and well, she sold us on its lush beauty and rich culture.” She gestured for the men to go ahead of us. It was girl-talk time. Great…
She cleared her throat before continuing. “You may find intercourse with our husband uncomfortable at first, but you’ll get used to the stinging sensation after a while. You may even grow to enjoy it.” My head nodded, my face smiled, my heart sank. Her face went very serious for a moment and we stopped walking. “The spell will make you appear to enjoy everything he does to you. You’ll laugh, and swoon like a whore, but I know you’re screaming inside. That knowledge is the only thing that makes sharing him with you bearable.” She smiled then, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Come.” And I followed her into the mound.
Inside, the walls were made of smooth rock. The passages were wide and everything was dark, but clean. Ghostly handsome men walked about with smiling women and girls trailing behind them, many with swollen bellies. The larvae and their stolen wives. I wondered if the other ladies were prisoners in their own bodies, as I was, but my ability to read thoughts was hampered by the spell.
We turned a corner and entered the first door we came to. It opened up to a large room full of luxurious furnishings. A small hole in the rounded ceiling provided enough light to barely see anything. Nenet was lying on the bed with her father on top of her. She was dressed in a gown that was spilled open, and by the look and smell of things, we just came in on the tail end of something horrible. Nenet was crying softly and trying to cover herself. She was under no spell. Her father, my new husband climbed off his daughter and came to us.
“I’ll fetch some wine to celebrate!” Nanuet said with too much cheer in her voice.
“Yes!” said the larva as he strutted our way, still nude. He stopped midway and grabbed a robe from the wardrobe. “So, this is Raina. I’m sorry. If I had known you were on your way I would have saved myself and we could have had a proper greeting, but alas, I’m spent. Give me an hour.”
His flesh was ghostly, like the others, nearly transparent. He had a lovely face, meant to attract women for food and for sex. But, I’d seen what he does with his food and I was shaking with horror on the inside. He was a true monster in every sense of the word.
“You know, of all my thousands of daughters over the centuries, I’ve had better than that little thing,” he said to me, leaning in as though it were a secret between us, but talking loud enough for Nanuet to hear. He turned to her as she handed him a glass of wine. “You should have left her where she was hiding. She’s nothing but another mouth to feed, and even if she bares me children, they’ll be frail, like her and her sister.”
Nanuet went still, her face dreadfully stern. “You killed Nelly, Nenet is my only daughter. A mother needs a daughter.”
“And you can’t have anymore, so what good are you to me?” the larva asked.
Nanuet said nothing, but she looked at me from under her thin brows. The look was a mean one, but I wore a dumb smile on my face, as though I found all of this pleasantly amusing—and not at all disturbing as all hell.
“I’m your replacement,” my lips said.
“Yes,” the larva hissed as he took me into his arms and guided me across the room. “You may call me Gan. My true name is much longer and quite impossible for you to pronounce.” My lips were still curled in a happy-happy joy-joy smile that bugged the shit out of me.
I saw movement in my peripheral vision but I couldn’t make my eyes look directly at what was there, they were stuck on Gan’s face, beautiful and alluring. He was sizing me up, much the way Nanuet had done earlier.
“Take your clothes off,” he said, and my hands obeyed. “Oh, good. You’re strong, nice solid core, strong back and legs. Flex your arms for me.” I did, and he felt my muscles, squeezing them and giving me a thoughtful look. “You should work your upper body more. It’s especially important with breasts that large.”
He left me standing there and walked back to get more wine. “Lie down on the bed,” he said with his back to me.
My body obeyed, and as I turned to climb on the bed I saw Nenet holding Mato in a dark corner of the room. He looked in bad shape, and he wasn’t moving at all.
“Why is he still here? I thought you would have killed him by now,” Nanuet said, referring to Mato, I was sure.
“Oh, is he still alive?” Gan asked, but there was no real feeling in his voice. He came to the bed, took a seat beside me and began petting my body.
“You know he is,” Nanuet said. She came to the bed also and looked down at me with scorn. “We took him to keep Nenet compliant, but now he’s a distraction. Finish him.”
Gan stroked his hand down my stomach. “You think killing your daughter’s lover will help your mother-daughter relationship?” he asked.
A scream of betrayal ran through my mind, and my lips asked, “Lovers?” letting me know that I was slowly regaining influence over my body.
Gan and Nanuet looked at me with questions in their eyes. I was made to be a submissive partner, a toy, a plaything, willing and pleasant only. I was not made to ask questions.
“What did you say?” Gan asked.
“Lovers?” my lips repeated just as I was asked.
“I thought you said that contract was solid, Nanuet!” he roared. He stood and towered over her.
“And I thought you said you would kill him and I’d have my daughter!” she screamed at him. “You get a new lover, I get my only daughter! That was the agreement!”
He slapped her hard enough to send her across the room, and she didn’t get up.
“I see the errors of my ways now,” he began. “I’ve kept you too long. I’ve given you too much freedom, and you’ve grown bold beyond your place. You’re spoiled.” He strolled over to her and picked her up by her hair. She looked up at him with one eye, as the other was drenched in blood seeping from her hairline. “This is my fault. I’ll fix it,” and with those last words he attacked. His face became more transparent as he opened his mouth impossibly wide and took in her entire head. Her screams were muffled, but I could see through him. I could see her skin falling in against her skull. Her eyes, tongue and lips shriveled to nearly nothing. She fought him in vain, scratching, kicking. Soon the kicking became weaker, slower. He sucked her dry, taking in everything she had, and her body collapsed in his arms, becoming an empty shell. She was a mummified version of her former self.
The fact that I was able to turn my own head to watch it happen was good and horrible at the same time. While he was regaining his composure I forced my body to sit up, and it wasn’t easy. The spell was wearing off, but not fast enough. He turned
to find me trying to get off of the bed.
“I told her she couldn’t trust that damn warlock.” He shrugged. “A compliant you would have been nicer, but I can take on feisty any day of the week,” he said with a smile.
“I,” I tried to say.
“Yes, dear,” he came to me mockingly and held me in his arms, acting as though he wanted to hear what I had to say, but he didn’t. He was having fun with me.
“I-I can do this,” I said, and I dug deep inside myself and forced my flame out. I pushed it out with clenched teeth. I screamed with the rush of it coming through me like a damn jet engine. It was white and so hot that it ate half the bed within seconds.
Gan was still holding me when the flames burst from me like I was a living blowtorch. When they died back down as I commanded, he was still there, laughing.
“Whoa!” he shouted. “You’re HOT!”
“Shit,” I said.
Gan laughed hard and threw me to the floor. The fire had eaten his robes. He stood over me with the look on his face that men have when they know they’re about to have their way with you. I began backing away from him, and he got on all fours to crawl after me. He was playing, like this was some kind of game to him. I was dead serious when I kicked him in the face to keep him from grabbing my legs.
“Stay away from me!” I shouted, and he only laughed harder.
I had to think of a way out of this clusterfuck, but in moments of great panic, thinking was harder than usual. He was just another fae; ancient as all hell, but still, he was just another fairy-kin. And, that meant iron and steel weapons could kill him. A lot of good that information did me in the middle of an underground room, naked and completely unarmed. I had two talents; pyrokinesis and mind control, and of course this bastard would be flame-retardant.
I opened myself to his mind. If I could read it, I could control it. But, there was nothing there. All I heard were the inner screams of the captive women; calm and compliant on the outside, but going mad from physical and mental abuse on the inside. They weren’t under a spell as I had been, only threat of death. To some, that’s just as effective. I’m not one of those people. Better to die.
His mind was impenetrable, his body immune to fire. He was my perfect match, able to take everything I could dish out. Some demigoddess I turned out to be.
Nenet was still holding Mato in the dark with her back to us. I penetrated her mind and I was happy to find that gianes didn’t have all the talents of their fathers. Her mind was open to me, but it was full of nonsensical things; panicked half thoughts and gibberish. I calmed her mind, made it empty so that I could fill it back up again with my will. I could use her as a puppet, but I needed to distract the thing in front of me first.
“You should just kill me,” I said.
“You think you’re the first to beg me for death?”
“I wasn’t begging,” I said with a stubborn glare in my eyes. “It was a helpful suggestion, that’s all.” I used Nenet to search the room for any sort of metal object that could be used as a weapon. She moved quietly and out of view, while I kept my eyes on the handsome thing in front of me.
He finally grabbed hold of my leg and was pulling me closer. “You’ll be begging me soon enough.”
I was running out of time. I had Nenet digging through drawers and cupboards, but there was nothing, just dainty expensive trinkets. Shit! In fear and urgency I had her delve desperately into the nightstand and she cut herself. She pulled a long thin letter opener out of the drawer. It could do some damage, but not enough to kill him, just enough to piss him off. Even so, it was useful. I sent her back to Mato’s side and offered him the blood running down her hand. He was barely aware of it at first, but soon animal instinct came into play and he bit down hard and fed from her. I kept Nenet quiet through the pain, but it was hard to focus on keeping her screams silent when Gan was so close to taking me by force. With a tight grip on my hair, his free hand traced the warm inside of my thigh, moving up and forcing my legs apart with his inhuman strength.
Mato healed quickly with fresh blood running through his body like liquid life. He was standing and seemed very aware of himself and what was going on. Gan was seconds away from entering me when Mato, with his vampire speed was suddenly standing over us. He hit Gan in the head, beating him over and over again with his fists until his beautiful face was busted inward, a messy heap of goop, and still Mato beat him. It was a ferocious attack, massive overkill. In the end Mato was left panting on the floor. What strength he had gained from Nenet was nearly spent, but Gan was dead.
ESCAPE
I GOT DRESSED immediately. I was completely sick of being naked. As a child, being nude meant running through the woods or swimming in dark waters late at night. I would lay on wet grass and look up at the stars with my brothers. Bask in the cold rain. It wasn’t dirty or sexual in the least. Being naked was natural and freeing. But, I was beginning to associate it with pain and humiliation. It was a strange change in perspective. A regretful one.
Nenet still sat where Mato left her after he drank his fill of her. My hold on her mind never slipped as I moved around the room. I was trying to find something to cover Mato from the sunlight when we made our escape. He would be better off resting and leaving under the cover of night, but I wasn’t waiting until dark to get the hell out of dodge.
“Goddess damn it! I burned half the bed. All we have to cover you with is whatever Gan has in his wardrobe,” I said.
“I just need something to cover my hands, head and neck. The rest of me is clothed enough to keep the sun from touching my skin,” Mato said. “Nenet, come here.” She didn’t move. I glanced over at her sitting there, but went back to rummaging for the items we needed.
“Nenet!” He ran to her side. His face held fear when he saw her deadpan expression. “They have done something to her!” he shouted at me.
“Shhh,” I said. “She’s fine. She’s safe in here,” and I pointed to my head. “I have control of her.”
“Let her go,” he said, no demanded. I don’t do demands.
“She can’t handle this right now. She can’t function in this place. It scares her too much.”
“Let her go,” he demanded again.
“I don’t think you’re getting it, Mato. Unless you want to carry out a crying hysterical woman over your shoulder, I have to keep my hold on her.” Which, was actually a lot easier than usual. Perhaps it was the locket around my neck, or just skill gained over time, but this mind controlling thing was becoming nearly effortless. “The only exit I know of is the way I came in here, and we’re going to walk right out of here, all calm and nonchalant-like. We can’t do that if she’s acting crazy.”
“I will tell her to be calm. She will listen to me.”
I pinched the bridge between my eyes and took a deep breath. I could have stood there and explained to him what I saw when I looked in her mind, erratic nonsense. But, we didn’t have time to waste. Instead I threw a long scarf and some socks at him. “I couldn’t find gloves, socks will have to do.”
Mato put the socks in his pockets and laid the scarf over his shoulders. He wouldn’t need them until we left the mound. Thankfully, he was pale enough and handsome enough that without really looking directly at him, in the darkness of the halls he could pull off as a larva. Nenet and I walked behind him as the other kept women did. No one questioned us on our way through the halls and the exit wasn’t guarded. A pinch of luck every now and then was a good thing, so why did I feel like that was too easy? We walked out and into the woods as soon as Mato was completely covered. Nenet was mine and Mato was blind, so I was our eyes as we climbed through the Olympic forest. Nenet moved ahead of us, and I kept a tight grip on Mato’s hand, guiding him over the thick of it. Taking the path the larvae had created would have made our trek easier, but I didn’t want to risk running into any larvae or their human servants.
Mato’s hand soon became hot in mine. Smoke rose from his clothes. He wasn’t going to last much lo
nger in the sun, even covered. He needed shelter, fresh blood and a long rest, but all we could do was push on. He might have been holding back the urge to shout as the sun burned him through his clothing, but he couldn’t stop his body from reacting to it.
“Raina,” he said with strain in his voice.
“Just keep moving.”
“I cannot,” and he fell to the underbrush. I stopped Nenet with a thought and came down to him.
“I can’t carry you. I’m not strong enough.”
“Leave me then,” he said.
“Well, that’s not an option,” I said. “Nenet, help me carry him.”
It was probably less than a hundred feet to the road, but it took us what seemed like an hour to get there, winding through the thick ferns and climbing over moss covered logs. It was physically the hardest thing I’d ever done, and the only thing that kept me going was my personal desire to live. I kept thinking, tomorrow I’ll look back on this day and smile because I survived. But, first I had to survive.
I set Mato down at the edge of the woods. “Stay with him,” I told Nenet, and I made my way to the road.
It was Friday evening and most main roads were probably lousy with traffic as working stiffs made their way home for the weekend with a fevered rush, but this road, whatever road it was, was dead.
I stretched up to the sky to relieve my aching muscles, and then looked back at the others. Nenet was sitting by Mato with a blank face, and he was shaking under all his clothes. Smoke was still rising from him. I needed to do something fast, and only one thing came to mind. I walked back to them and bent down in front of Nenet.
