Chapter 2: Sympathy for the Devil

*update - republishing chapters to fix story map

The woman’s eyes shot open. She sat up and looked around the chamber. White blocks of stone with thin black veins made up the walls. The ceiling glowed like daylight. A heavy, metal door stood in the wall. She was lying in a small, utilitarian bed. A woman in leather body armor with a long braid of chestnut hair sat across from her bed. Twister and I watched from an enchanted mirror outside the room. We’d captured Malice in our fight against Fractal back at the lab break in. Now she was our only lead on finding Fractal or the other missing artifacts. She pushed her dyed red hair out of her face and turned to face Freya.

“You need not fear. You’re safe now,” Freya said in a warm voice.

The woman’s eyes went wide and her hands darted up to the pale skin of her neck, nervously feeling for fabric that wasn’t there. “Where’s the collar?” She asked tersely.

“It’s gone. You need not fear Fractal controlling you any longer,” Freya answered.

“Well get it back!” She shouted, still clasping her neck.

“I fear we cannot. Fractal escaped with it. But you are safe from him now. This is the Sanctum.”

“But you’re not safe from me. You shouldn’t be in here without the collar.”

“Listen Malice, worry not for my safety. I volunteered to wait here with you because of my toughness.”

“Don’t call me Malice,” she snapped. “That’s her name, the devil. I’m Allison. And you don’t understand. I can’t control her. You need to get out of here.” Allison grabbed the white sheets of her bed and huddled behind them, like she was trying to build a wall.

“Listen Allison, you are among some of the earth’s mightiest heroes. Whatever your destructive impulses, we can check them,”

“No you can’t. No you can’t. You don’t understand. No one understands,” Allison whimpered. She started rocking back and forth on the bed.

“Allison, we’re here for you,” Freya said reaching out a hand to the young woman.

The girl exploded from behind the sheets, her skin a deep crimson and her arms, muscular. Her clawed hand reached out for Freya’s throat. Allison grabbed her neck and slammed her up against the wall. “Just leave me alone,” she growled.

Freya kipped up against the wall and kicked both of her legs into Allison’s chest. The redhead skidded backwards and landed on the bed. “I told you, I’m no fragile maiden.”

The crimson flushed from Allison’s cheeks and she shrunk back down. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not talking to you. Don’t come back without the collar.” She buried her head under the sheets.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Freya left the room. She met up with us in the hallway. “Well that didn’t go as I’d hoped.”

“She’ll come around. We can just give her a little time,” Twister added optimistically.

“I’m not sure she will. Not unless we do something,” I said. “I can still feel the aura of sadness radiating out from her.”

“Well what can we do Sam? She didn’t exactly want to talk. I doubt we could get the collar back without finding Fractal again, and we can’t find Fractal without her help,”Twister said.

I couldn’t help but feel bad for her. I knew what it felt like to have trouble controlling yourself to put it mildly. “I do have one idea. Give me a a bit.” I ran off down the hallway back to my own room. Maybe it was a dumb idea, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.

I turned out of the tall, narrow corridor and into the central nave of the Sanctum. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe I lived here now.

Tree like, white columns lined the walls of the knave. Stained glass windows, depicting abstract patterns cast a kaleidoscope of colors across the ground. Of course the windows just looked out into a void of light. Still not sure how that was possible, but I tried not to think about it. I passed a series of pointed archways, one led to the hall of mirrors, another the library, a third the the entrance to the void beyond time. I still hadn’t been to that chamber and hoped I never would. Then I finally reached the corridor that housed the living quarters.

My room wasn’t much bigger than the chamber she was locked in. But it was bright and clean and safe. It was still a massive upgrade from my old apartment or a padded room in a laboratory. My easel and desk took up most of the room. My twin bed was shoved up against one wall. I grabbed a pad of water color paper, ripping a sheet free and placing it on the easel. I squeezed some paints from their bottles and began mixing them with water.

The painting started with her hair, a vibrant pop of red in the center of the page. A slight flutter of my wrist gave the color a gentle wave to match her hair. Then I turned my attention to tracing her silhouette. I used the narrow edge of my brush to outline her figure. Next I moved to the room. I kept a delicate touch on the dark shadows. You didn’t need to use much dark color with watercolors. Rather than a pure black, I painted the shadows with dark purples and greens. I teased the shadows out into bright colors and then into the white of the page. When I finished and stepped back, the whole scene had a surreal quality, like waking up from a bad dream. The shadows all dissolved into bright colors before fading to white. The fading touch of the watercolor also lightened the scene from her memory, giving it a more ephemeral air. I hoped it would be enough.

As soon as it dried I took it off the easel and headed back to Allison’s room. Twister and Freya agreed to wait outside in case things got ugly. I took my painting and went in. Allison had been sitting on her bed with her legs curled up, facing the wall. She turned towards me with a raised eyebrow. “Oh it’s you. The boy with the death wish. That was crazy, what you did back there. I could have murdered you,” she said.

“You didn’t though,” I responded cheerfully.

“Yeah you got lucky. I can’t control it, which is why you shouldn’t be in here right now.”

I sat on the bed next to her, still holding the painting against my chest. “I don’t think it was luck. You stopped on your own. Because I showed you this,” I said turning the painting around.

Allison snatched it out of my hands and hunched over it. She gently ran her hand over the dimpled paper. “How did you get this?” She asked, incredulous.

“I painted it,” I said, trying to hide my pride. My psychic powers caused me to see images from the minds of strangers. I had been painting scenes like this for years. I made my living selling those paintings. But this is the first time I got to show one of them to the person it came from. It felt nice.

“But how did you see it? No one was there that day besides my family.”

“It’s all you think about. The image was so vivid in your mind, I could see it from across the street. I tried to brighten it a bit. I know it’s a sad memory for you, but wanted you to feel seen. I hoped having this would make you feel a little less alone.”

“You saw it in my mind?”

“Oh right. I guess I didn’t introduce myself. My name’s Sam. I was grown in a lab to have telepathic powers, so I can read and and influence people’s minds.”

“No way. That’s impossible,” Allison gasped.

“This from the girl with a devil inside of her?” I answered, smiling.

“What number am I thinking of right now?” She put a finger to her temple.

I reached into her mind. I saw her thoughts like shards of a broken mirror floating in the void. One shard showed an image of the number “7” in an ornate font. But I also got a strong sense of curiosity and nervousness too. “You’re thinking about the number 7.”

“That’s amazing,” she yelled. Then she seemed to remember herself. She had started to open her posture up towards me. Then she turned and rolled back into a ball. “Thank you for the painting. But you shouldn’t be in here with me. I could turn into a monster and attack you at any second. You should go.”

I don’t know what possessed me to do it but I took her hand. “You think you’re the only person who could turn into a monster at any second.”

She looked up at me. “What do you mean?” She didn’t pull her hand away.

“I was a designed in a lab to mind control people. I still get urges to take people, especially women, and dominate them. Bend them to my will and . . .” STOP. I cleared my throat. “I’m getting carried away. But the point is I get urges to do terrible things. I’m not perfect, I still give in sometimes. But I try to be better everyday. And I’m not doing it alone anymore. Ever since I’ve been with the others here, making better choices has gotten easier. These people have been kind to me and trusted me. I’m sure they can do that for you too.”

She was quiet for a minute after that, looking down. I was tempted to read her thoughts but I resisted. Then Allison finally spoke, “I appreciate that. I do. But I have another creature living inside me. It’s not just my own urges I deal with. I have to resist a fucking demon telling me to destroy everything. It doesn’t matter if people around me trust me. I’m still alone in my head in a tug of war with a devil that I can’t possibly win.”

“That’s why you wanted the collar, isn’t it? It quieted the other voice,” I answered.

“Yes, basically.”

Another long silence stretched over the small room. I finally spoke up, “There might be another way.”

“Like what?” She answered, still sounding glum.

“You don’t have to be alone in your head when I’m around. I could maybe help you control it.”

Her blue eyes went wide and she looked up at me. “Wait Fuck. You really could, couldn’t you?”

God she was pretty. Calm. “Of course only if you want me to. I know it’s a lot to . . .”

“Let’s do it! What do I do?” She cut me off.

“That was really fast. Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

“Yes, Sam. I’m fucking sure.” She sounded almost offended that I asked. “A few weeks ago I agreed to let a mysterious, masked man put a mind control collar on me just so I wouldn’t go another rampage. I’ve been doing this alone since I was a teenager. I’d risk anything to make it stop.”

“Ok. Then just look into my eyes and transform. I’ll try to help you control it.”

“Are you sure? If it doesn’t work. You could get really hurt,” Allison asked.

“It’s ok. I’m tougher than I look. Besides if it gets really dangerous Twister will pull me out.”

“Oh . . . Ok.” She said, looking away. “Wait one more thing. Please put this outside. I don’t want it to get damaged.” She handed the painting back to me.

I quickly ran it back to the hallway. Freya and Twister gave me nods of encouragement as I headed back in. I sat down on the bed beside Allison. This time she turned expectantly to face me.

“Ok. Just look into my eyes and focus,” I said, trying my best to sound smooth. Her gaze stared deeply into mine. I didn’t really need her to do that, but I felt like it added to the mystique. I reached into her mind. I could see she felt excited and nervous. I pushed against a couple fragments of thoughts and gave them a simple command “relax.” Immediately the tension melted out of her shoulders and she began to slump towards me.

“This feels nice,” Allison sighed.

“I’m glad. Now go ahead and let Malice out.”

The bed groaned under the weight as Allison’s body grew. Chords of tight muscles formed on her spindly arms and her baggy clothes stretched to fit her new strength. Her pale skin turned a deep red and horns grew from her forehead.

Inside her mind I could feel her thoughts shatter. The peaceful fragments of relaxation broke apart as a deep hatred welled up inside her. The new thoughts cut away at her mind, their edges sharp and jagged. Kill. Break. Destroy. I could feel Allison getting smaller and smaller inside her own mind as the darkness surged forth. Her body began to tense again. I needed to contain this quickly or she’d lunge for me.

I focused my energy on those jagged impulses. I isolated them from the rest of her mind and let them work themselves into a frenzy. But as their rage grew I gave a subtle suggestion. “The effort of that hate is exhausting. The more you want to kill and destroy, the more tired you feel.” It seemed to be working. I could feel Malice’s will working against itself now. As soon as a shard of thought would fill with blood lust it would dull into exhaustion.

Her eyes had turned a glowing yellow, but they began to droop. I kept going. I started speaking out loud. Again, not something I needed to do. But I wanted to put on a bit of a show. “That’s it. You feel so tired now. It’s getting hard to work up that rage. Hard to think. Hard to remember what you were even upset about. Hard to remember anything at all. In fact harder you try, the more it’s like you’re just pushing those thoughts and memories further and further away. Can you feel that happening now?”

Her horned head nodded, never breaking eye contact with me. “In fact you can’t remember anything Malice. It feels so exhausting to try, so exhausting to think. It’s so much easier to just let me guide you. It’s so much easier to follow and obey my voice, obey my thoughts. If you can feel that I want you to just say ‘yes’, for me”

“Yes” her low voice growled. I could see some of her transformation fading. Her frame was still incredibly muscular, but she’d shrunk closer to normal size. Her horns were shorter too.

“That’s it. You’re doing so well now. You’re feeling so much better now that you decided to stop resisting and just focus on obeying.” I could see the jagged edges of Malice’s mind smoothing into a cohesive image as she slipped into trance. She went under more easily than I expected.

The struggle against Fractal at the lab must have strengthened my abilities. I had pushed them harder than ever before. Regardless Malice and Allison were both totally under my influence now. I saw the vacant smile, spreading across her dazed face. It felt so good. She was mine. I could have her lay back on the bed and spread her legs for me. I could make her beg for me to take her right here. I could . . . STOP. I was there to help and I had to remember that. I couldn’t get carried away.

“That’s it Malice. It feels so nice to obey. You find obeying is all you want to do. It feels so nice to just stop thinking and obey me completely. But you know I can’t always be here. So you’re going to find you have just as strong of a desire to obey Allison.” I felt a kickback of resistance on that one, like the bucking of a wild horse. But it was too late. Too much of her mind was circling the bliss of obedience for her to throw me off now. I suppressed those thoughts and returned them to the shining image of submission I was building. “If you understand say yes M. . .” I barely stopped myself from making her call me master.

“Yes M.” She repeated absently, still staring ahead.

“That’s very good. You’re obeying so well.” I sent a jolt of pleasure through her mind and she noticeably shivered. “Now when I snap my fingers Allison will be in complete control. Allison will be wide awake and able to think and move normally. You’ll still be here, using your strength however Allison wants you to. But you’ll be content to let her move and speak and think for you.” I snapped in front of her eyes.

They blinked and when they reopened, the catlike yellow irises had been replaced by the deep blue of Allison’s usual appearance. She turned her head, looking, around the room for a second. Then she leapt across the bed, pulling me into a hug. “You did it. You really did it. It’s so quiet inside my head!” She stifled a sob of joy.

I took a moment to be grateful that she’d shrunk down from her hulking size, otherwise she’d have crushed me. Then I hugged her back. For the first time I understood why Twister liked being a hero so much. Suddenly Twister and Freya were in the room hugging us too.

* * *

Allison and Freya stretched on opposite ends of the training grounds. A thin layer of sand covered the stone floor. Tall columns of fluted white marble lined the edges of the chamber. As they reached the soaring ceiling, the fluted veins broke into a network of delicate white branches with bright sunlight shining down between them. The surreal beauty of the Sanctum never got old.

I stood next to Allison. “You sure you wanna do this? Freya’s crazy strong.”

“Damn straight I am. I haven’t had a breakdown since our session the other day. I want to see how in control I really am now. I may not know where Fractal’s going next. But If I can control my powers in a fight, then maybe I can really help you guys. Besides if something goes wrong I know you’ll help me.” Allison smiled at me. I was still getting used to seeing her smile so much. She had been despondent when we first rescued her. But two days had passed since I used my powers to suppress Malice. Ever since, she had been like a new woman.

I gave her a quick hug and then scurried out of the sparring ring. I joined Twister on the sidelines.

“I’ll bet you a week’s worth of patrol duty that Freya wins,” Maria said with a grin.

I looked at Allison’s slender form warming up, then remembered how much it had hurt when she hit me before. “Yeah I’ll take that bet,” I answered.

“Is that because you really think she can win or because you like her?” Maria asked with mock incredulity.

I felt my cheeks redden. “What? No, what? Don’t be ridiculous. I mean sure she’s pretty but I just want to see her succeed that’s all,” I said meekly

She began playfully poking my side. “Sure it is.” She laughed

I could see Allison eyeing us with a hint of sadness. I didn’t understand why she looked that way, she’d been so happy a second ago. She couldn’t have heard our conversation from there. But then she turned away from us to face her opponent.

Freya clapped her hands together to start the match and began walking slowly towards Allison. The red-head morphed immediately into her demon form. She was smaller than she had been in the basement fight, though her reflexes were still unreal. She closed the distance in a flash. Allison swiped upwards with a clawed hand, but Freya pivoted around her too quickly. The veteran hero countered with an elbow to the side.

Allison skidded backwards. I kept a careful watch on her eyes, but they stayed blue. It looks like one hit wasn’t enough to break her self control. As her momentum broke she landed in a crouch. Then she scrambled across the ground, throwing up a handful of sand.

Freya lifted her hands to shield her eyes and as she did Allison lunged and tackled her to the ground. Allison loomed over the other woman. “Yield!” She growled.

Freya responded grinning, “Why would I do that? It’s just getting fun.”

The demon girl answered with a flurry of downward blows, but Freya pushed and batted them away with her bracers. Some hits landed, but Freya avoided a critical impact. All the while she muttered under her breath. “Fury of the storm . . . Let your winds fly . . .” I couldn’t hear all of it from the side lines. Then she yelled “Howl!” And a burst of air erupted from her body.

Allison shot up into the soaring heights of the chamber. Freya quickly rose to her feet and leapt into the air after her. She wrapped her arms around the other woman’s chest and spun in the air, positioning herself on top and Allison on bottom. Then the momentum of the wind burst ran out and the two began plummeting back towards the ground.

I knew she could take an impact like that but I still winced as Allison’s form crashed into the stone ground, sending a massive cloud of dust through the chamber. When it cleared Freya was straddling Allison, pinning her arms to the ground. And Allison was laughing, uncontrollably.

She looked up at Freya through squinting eyes as the smile spread across her whole face. Slowly she transformed back to her normal self. When she finally caught her breath she said, “I give. I give.”

Then Freya got off of her and helped the younger woman up. “That was a fine contest indeed. Challenge me again whenever you like.”

“Maybe I will.” Allison answered happily, as Twister and I walked up to join them.

“Why were you laughing so much? Hit the ground on your funny bone?” Twister asked.

“I was just happy. Even slamming into the ground like that, which hurt like a mother, it didn’t make me lose control. I could feel Malice getting angry but she settled back down.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly I didn’t know if my suggestions to Malice would hold or not. I hadn’t tried to give someone a lingering suggestion like that since I escaped from the foundation. And I hadn’t gone back there to see how well the suggestions stuck around.

Freya and Twister both congratulated Allison on her newfound control and welcomed her to the team before leaving the chamber. But Allison caught my arm and gestured for me to stay. Then it was just me and her.

“Sam I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me,” she said.

I looked down awkwardly. “Oh of course. I was happy to do it.”

She took my hand. “You can’t know what it means to me. I feel like I’m in control of my own mind for the first time in a very long time. You’re amazing. Twister’s very lucky.”

I cocked my head to the side. “What does she have to do with anything?”

“Well she’s just lucky to have you is all.”

I stammered, “Oh you think she’s my . . . You think we’re. . . Oh. No, no. We’re not. . . We just go on missions together. We’re not like a thing.”

“Oh ok. Good. I wanted to be sure,” her face lit up.

“Why did you ask?”

“I’d just been thinking and I had an idea. But I was worried you might be taken.” She blushed so hard, I thought she might be about to transform.

“Thinking of what?” I asked, feeling my own nervousness build.

“Well you helped me get my demons under control. I thought maybe I could do the same thing for you,” she said in a squeaky voice.

“How would you do that?” I asked, my mind racing.

“Well you told me about how hard it was for you to keep your urges under control. I was thinking I could maybe give you a safe outlet to explore some of those feelings.”

“Allison, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I asked, my head already filling with fantasies of her naked body.

“You said you had an intense desire to . . What was it, dominate women and bend them to your will? That doesn’t sound so bad to me. Maybe we could just have some fun with it. Only if you want to of course,” She said, voice cracking a little.

Only if I want to? That still may be the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. I wanted to take her on the floor right there. “Of course I want to. I just don’t know if you understand what you’re agreeing to. I’ll be so deep in your mind your won’t be able to tell where my suggestions end and your own thoughts start. I’ll make you love obeying me so much you get wet just from doing what you’re told. I’ll break your mind open until you can only think of how desperately you need to fuck me,” I said, finally managing to stop myself before I said anything even worse.

She looked up at me with those robin blue eyes and took a step closer. “That all sounds hot to me, Sam. If you go too far I’ll tell you.”

“Ok great,” I said, trying to conceal the noticeable tightening of my pants. “So . . Um when did you want to do that?”

“You tell me. You’re the one in charge,” she said playfully.

Then I lost my self control. I reached into her mind and gave her a command. “Then follow me to my room.”

“Follow to your room. . .” She repeated dreamily. I don’t know if she parroted me because she knew it would turn me on, but it very much did.

Blessedly we didn’t run into anyone in the hall. I closed the door to my room behind us. “Now get on the bed,” I willed the command into her mind. She accepted it easily. I could already see fantasies of us forming in her psyche.

“Yes sir,” she said as she dutifully sat on the edge of the bed. I sat beside her, facing her. I gave her another command. “My touch feels amazing. The more I touch you the better it feels. The more sensitive place I touch the better it feels,” I spoke it aloud for the mystique. Then I gently brushed a finger over her hand.

Allison shivered. “Oh damn. That’s um, very strong.”

“You haven’t seen anything yet.” I placed my hand on her cheek, pulled her close and kissed her. She felt warm and inviting. After a moment I tried to pull away, but she came with me. She opened her mouth and our tongues met. She wanted this as badly as I did.

Finally she tilted her head back to breathe. “If you wanted me to stop you shouldn’t have made it feel so good,” she whispered just inches from my face.

“Oh I don’t want you to stop. But I’ll be setting the pace, especially since you can’t move now.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” She whined, freezing in place.

“I never claimed to be fair,” I smirked as I gently leaned her back on the bed. I took one of her hands and brought it to the corner of the bed, then did the same with the other. I spread her legs next, then leaned above her, holding up my weight. My shadow fell over her helpless form “Last chance to turn back before it gets serious, pretty girl,” I cooed.

“Do I look like I’m going anywhere?” She asked, tensing her immobile arms for emphasis.

“That’s what I like to hear.” I slipped my fingers under her tank top and teased her breast. She released a sharp gasp of air, as I felt her nipple stiffen at my touch.

“You know that would feel better if you took my shirt off,” she said between heavy breaths.

“Oh I know. But I want you to beg.”

“Hmm make me,” Allison said, sticking her tongue out.

“With pleasure,” I smirked. I made a show of sticking out a finger and gently tapping it into the center of her forehead.

Her eyes rolled up to follow it. The longer I held it there the stronger the pleasure grew. I could see her muscles tighten, her back arch as she struggled to move. Her struggles sent tiny vibrations shaking through the mattress. Finally she let out a little whimper.

“Say please,” I prodded.

“Please,” she squeaked.

“Please what?”

“Please take my clothes off.”

I leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You forgot to say Master.”

She replied with another whimper. So I reached into her mind and doubled the strength of the pleasure. Allison convulsed under the weight of the pleasure, managing to buck her hips despite the freeze suggestion. The gentle vibration in the bed grew to a steady rocking. “Please Master.”

“Good girl,” I pushed another thought into her mind, this time not saying anything out loud. I froze her completely, thoughts as well as body. Then I quickly stripped all of her clothes off, exposing her pale, freckled skin. I took a moment to appreciate her beauty. The pink of her nipples and clit stood out against her pale skin like roses in a field of snow. Even frozen like this I could feel the desire radiating from her psyche, the heat rising from her skin. Then I unfroze just her mind.

“What!? When did I? How did you?” She wriggled in place, biting her lip. I could hear the surprise in her voice.

“I’m magic,” I said casually as I began pinching and twisting her nipple. Her breaths shortened.I could feel her chest tightening.

“Yes Master,” she moaned. I could feel myself practically bursting out of my pants at that one.

I reached down to tease her clit. “Now pretty girl, you’ll find that my every touch narrows your focus. You can only think about how desperate you are to fuck your Master. Even the slightest touch drives wild.”

“YeshMasder,” her words were starting to slur now. I went slowly at first, slipping one finger inside her. The wet warmth of her arousal greeted me hungrily. I sped up as the intensity grew. Her hips matched my rhythm. That seemed to be all she could move.

“Now tell me what you’re thinking about?”

“Need to fuck Master. Need to fuck master,” Allison gasped.

I sped up again. “Can you think of anything else?”

“NoMasder,”

I smiled. I slipped a second finger inside her. Immediately her body rewarded me with a shudder of pleasure. But I wasn’t done. I kept teasing and teasing her. I kept going until I knew she was at the edge. “And now you can move,” I said, releasing her binds. She was on me in a heartbeat. Her lips pressed to mine with fervor as her hands feverishly undid my pants. In another heartbeat we were both naked and she was straddling me. The limber muscles of her legs pressed me down into the sheets.

I hadn’t considered how strong she was when I came up with this idea. She had me genuinely pinned to the bed, not that I minded. Then she jumped down to her discarded pants, extracting a condom before pinning me again. Allison stretched it over me. Without pausing for a moment, she slid me inside of her, whispering “must fuck Master.” Mentally I could hear those words repeated in her mind over and over. The primal drumbeat of need had driven every other thought out of that pretty little head of hers.

I could hear her sloshing around me as she pushed my cock deeper into her. I dug my fingers into the soft flesh of her hips and pressed upwards to meet her. The sounds of her gentle moans echoed off the stone walls.

Her red hair fell around my face like a curtain, shutting out the rest of the world. For that one moment it was just her smiling face and me. Every move of her hips sent another lightning bolt shooting up my spine. Even though she had me pinned down, I felt so in control, so free.

I held out as long as I could, which I don’t think was long. I gasped out a moan, letting go of my restraint. As my hips bucked upwards, I could feel her clench around me. Feeling me finish pushed her over the edge. She gave a couple long, last thrusts before collapsing down onto my chest. She lay there for a minute, I felt the heaving of her breath and the warm, sticky sweat of her skin.

I pulled her off me and into my arms. My influence lifted from her mind. She looked up at me, beaming. I still hadn’t gotten used to that smile, and I didn’t know if I ever would. “Fuck. . .That was . . . nice,” she panted.

“Now I’m the one who doesn’t know how to thank you,” I said, still holding her, clutching her body to mine. For the first time I felt like I could be myself with someone and I never wanted to let her go.

She laughed softly. “Maybe you could thank me by doing it again sometime?” Allison lazily draped one leg over me, further entwining our bodies. Finally the rhythm of her breath slowed to a gentle cadence.

“Deal,” I sighed. I ran a hand slowly though her crimson hair and felt at peace. We laid that way until we fell asleep.

To Be Continued (With a New Hero) In: Harder, Better, Faster, Dumber

Author’s note: Sam and Allison seem to have forged a special bond, but will it survive Fractal’s revenge? You can find out today over at https://subscribestar.adult/hypnogriff, where the rest of Fractionation is already available.