Let it happen.

The light of the strange creature's eyes makes me feel warm and safe. My body lets go, falling to its knees and upon the soft grass. When I feel at my most relaxed-- like my form is weightless, like I could carelessly evaporate into thin air-- the insect-like beast draws away from my face and averts its mesmerizing gaze. But clearly it hasn't finished with me yet, as it climbs up over my skull and to the back of my head. There, it fiddles around curiously, seemingly searching through my long black hair, but for what I don't know.

Then there's a sharp pain at the base of my skull. It wakes me from the haze as I wince and cry out from the sudden sting. I touch the back of my head for the offensive beast, easily feeling it with my fingers. It's definitely...biting me...burrowing fangs, I think...into my neck...the incisors pulsing just slightly, as if pumping poison into my veins. Dizziness racks my brain while my whole body goes numb.

Eventually, disorientation is overcome by calm, and calm is overcome by purpose, as I hear the same voice I heard before, only now it is stronger and more demanding. I listen astutely to its instructions, and start to comb through my hair with my fingers, then place it neatly on my back and shoulders. Afterward, I carefully feel the back of my head for traces of the animal, and as far as I can tell, it is completely sheltered by my serendipitously full mane. Now it can grip my skull, feed me its directives and trade blood for venom totally unnoticed. The animal-- the drone-- thinks this is good. I'm enormously satisfied at that thought, though I don't show it. I'm not to show any signs of my bonding. I am only to do and behave as I would normally until told to do otherwise.

And now, I'm told to stand, perfectly erect and stable for the first time since seeing the star-shaped assailant in the corner of my eye. I feel stable in more ways than one. I'm not responsible for myself, anymore, just responsible for what I'm ordered to do.