Danielle Gray sighed to herself. Another one. "What do you think you’re doing?" she asked in her soft, melodic voice. The man was clearly startled, and turned quickly to face her. She looked at him, leaving no doubt as to whom she had addressed. She fought the urge to shake her head. They’re never as sneaky as they think they are…
"I’m… I’m… just on my way home," Andy stammered, shaken that she had caught his surreptitious glances. The train hummed into the station as it decelerated. Time also slowed to a crawl.
"No you’re not," Danielle said quietly, regarding him fully. She concentrated as she had been taught, reaching out to him. People circulated around him, getting on and off the train, but his legs did not move. She watched him grow increasingly embarrassed; the next few seconds would tell her much. For his part, Andy knew he had been downright rude. Despite his embarrassment, he believed that it would have been even more rude to run away from the woman. He heard the doors buzz, indicating the imminent departure of the train. The buzzing continued after they had shut and the train had begun to move.
"Come here, and sit down." The woman’s soft words echoed in his mind, causing the buzzing noise to resonate with their cadence and pitch. He dumbly sat next to her on the metal grille bench. She was busy writing something in a notebook that she had produced from her briefcase and ignored him for the moment. The young woman stopped writing after a few seconds. Andy hadn’t realized that he was holding his breath, waiting for her to make some sort of motion or gesture. She looked at him, appraisingly at first, but then he sensed something about her gaze… changed. He couldn’t move or speak, and his ass seemed completely glued to the bench. His heart raced as panic spread through his body. Something very strange was happening here…
Danielle watched her captive’s reaction carefully, and quietly said, "Calm down. You’re just sitting next to me. You want to ask me out, and everything will seem like it was your own idea." She smiled to herself. No sense in wasting a perfectly good opportunity.
The buzzing of the no-longer-present train grew louder in Andy’s ears. His heart slowed and his body relaxed as he became aware that he was just waiting for a train, sitting next to this beautiful woman. She pulled a pack of cigarettes from her briefcase, and handed him her lighter. "Light my cigarette," she said, her eyes glittering with interest. He reacted by immediately producing the flame, worrying that he was going to screw up this absolutely golden opportunity.
He looked a little worried to Danielle and that meant she had him. "Thank you," she regally responded, knowing how to play his tethered emotions. "One mustn’t ever forget simple politeness." The man nodded gravely at the pronouncement. She exhaled leisurely, allowing herself to relax and forget, for a brief moment, about the man she currently possessed. "What to do, what to do, what to do with you…" Danielle mumbled aloud. "You were looking at me, weren’t you?" she asked as she resumed her writing, looking down at her notebook while she smoked. He affirmed what she already knew, but it was a detail that had to be attended to. Another train arrived, headed in the opposite direction. She ignored the bustle and continued her interrogation. "You stared at me because I was attractive to you at first glance, and you wanted me. You guys never learn, do you?" She sighed. Time to let him hang himself.
Andy blinked and shook his head. The buzzing noise was gone. "I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rude. I was raised better than that," he apologized as sincerely as he could. "I mean, I know it’s impolite and offensive and… and…" His voice trailed off as he tried to figure out how to avoid making the apology look like a pass. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her. "I guess the only thing I can really do to apologize is to leave you completely alone," he mumbled. He gathered his briefcase, intending to get up and walk to the opposite end of the platform.
That was unexpected. Danielle was sure that the man was being sincere. They never told her that this might happen. "Now what should I do?" she said, half to herself, as the man began to rise from the bench. She touched his arm tentatively. He jumped, startled again, but turned to face her. She reached out for him in her special way. No matter what future actions would be taken, it was clear that she needed to find out more about this guy. She watched him swipe at the air, and stifled a giggle. "Come, sit," she bade him. He stopped in mid-stride, turned, and sat down next to her. Danielle smiled briefly, pleased with her increasing skill. She studied him for a moment. "I hate making decisions on an empty stomach," she said to no one in particular. "I think…" she began, tapping her chin with her fingers, looking skyward, paused in thought. A sidelong glance showed that he was eagerly waiting for her next words. Dani, you’re getting real good at this, she thought. "I think you want to take me to dinner," she finished with nonchalance. They caught the next train heading in the opposite direction from their previously intended destinations. Oh well, showtime… "My name is Danielle," she said, smiling pleasantly with her mouth and making sure it also reached her eyes.
Danielle. Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful woman. "I’m And-d-dr… Andy," he said, blushing shyly. His heart beat rapidly with excitement.
"Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Andy," she replied with a smile. Men are so damn easy…
He was thrilled that such a beautiful woman had accepted his spur-of-the moment invitation. Indeed, Andy was pleased that he had managed to find the nerve to ask this unknown woman to dinner. He didn’t do things like this very often.
They got off the train near one of the big downtown shopping complexes. Andy followed Danielle faithfully, carrying her briefcase along with his own. Dani walked briskly, her heels making rapid, rhythmic staccato clicks. She stopped in front of Dryden and Hall’s to study the menu board outside the restaurant. After a few seconds, she commented amiably, "This is where we will eat. I like the food here." Of course, he’d think it was his own idea. No sense in taking any unnecessary chances. Andy told her how happy he was that she approved of his choice of restaurant and how glad he was that she enjoyed the food there as much as he did. They were seated, and she ordered appetizers and cocktails for the two of them before the main course. She had already found out that he could afford it, so she felt no obligation to be frugal. Flaunt it if ya got it… Danielle chose a lobster from the tank while he contented himself with the prime strip steak. She noticed that it was getting easier to keep a light grip on another mind while simultaneously enjoying dinner. She briefly recalled her first disastrous attempt a few months earlier.
The buzzing noise that came from the kitchen made it difficult for Andy to talk. He was a little surprised that the wait staff could hear them, but figured that they must be used to the noise. He didn’t say much during dinner due to the combination of the excellent food, the constant buzz (which really detracted from the ambiance of the classy dining room), and Danielle’s attractiveness. He would look at her with wonder; she was so beautiful. When would he wake up from this fantastic dream? Andy listened to her musical voice while she talked about her job during cordials and dessert, smiling stupidly at her throughout. After dessert, he handed over his Visa card and answered some of her questions.
They finally left the restaurant, stepping into a sultry, warm summer night. Andy carried her jacket and both their briefcases. Danielle coolly took a drag on her cigarette as she watched her extremely pliant date hail a taxi to take them back to their original destinations. The driver dropped him off first, as per her instructions. She watched Andy hand the cabbie thirty dollars to take her home with disinterest. She smiled at Andy, and grasped his hand lightly. Filling her eyes with false promise, Danielle softly said, "I promise, I will see you again, Andy. Thank you for dinner." She didn’t know whether that was true or not, but she needed to say something. Besides, in a pinch, he was a nice enough date. The door closed and her dinner companion walked away, whistling happily. But she was still hungry.
The next morning Andy woke up with an enormous headache and a Visa receipt for one hundred fifty-five dollars in his wallet. While ibuprofen would take care of the headache, and he could easily afford the money, it still was not a very good morning. He remembered the previous night’s events down to the last detail, including the reasons for choosing the particular wine they drank. He had definitely enjoyed himself, and Danielle’s company, but… $155.00 worth? What in the hell was he thinking when he had suggested Dryden and Hall’s for a first date? That was definitely overkill, even if she had said that they would see each other… "Shit! A hundred fifty-five bucks and I didn’t even ask her for her phone number!!!" His frustrated yelp echoed in the empty apartment. Andy, you are such an idiot when it comes to women, he swore silently. He just knew he had happily been taken for a ride. "I even gave her money for her cab ride home," he moaned.
Determined to recover some measure of dignity (and sanity), Andy looked for Danielle on the station platform the next day, and the day after that, but he didn’t see her. His stupidity had cost him about two hundred bucks, but nothing else. So, while it may have been a relatively expensive lesson financially, it was not as expensive an experience as it could have been. He decided to count his blessings. Two weeks passed, and he had almost forgotten the whole thing, although the missing money still rankled. He was reading the paper after work at the train station. One of the front-page stories detailed the discovery of the partially decomposed remains of a missing cab driver. Before Andy got much past the "Remains Found" header, he heard Danielle’s voice. "Hello, Andy."
He looked up at her, trying hard to be cool, trying to hide how pleased he was at her unexpected arrival. He was thrilled that she remembered who he was. It was a sunny day and both of them had sunglasses on. Danielle didn’t have her white clinician’s jacket with her and she had changed her hairstyle. Andy decided that he liked her hair the other way better, but the well-tailored jacket and skirt she wore made her look quite the young medical professional.
Danielle gathered all the charm she could and smiled at Andy. She wasn’t in a very good mood, having been forced to adjust her boss’ attitude earlier in the day. The dressing-down he had started to give still bothered her, even if she did make him stop. Then there was the bitchy new female patient whom she’d had to turn over to another therapist. Danielle had been unable to communicate pleasantly with the cunt, and the power was no help there—it only worked on men. Now, here was Andy: how convenient. Nobody in the coven had told her that she couldn’t give him a little push.
Andy smiled and opened his mouth to speak, but a very large insect buzzed around his ear at that moment. He shook his head to shoo it away. It cannily stayed just out of sight somewhere behind his ear. He pretended to ignore it so he wouldn’t look silly to Danielle. She smiled and continued, "I’m very happy to see you again, especially after the beastly day I’ve had at work." Andy took a quick swipe at the irritating buzzing noise. "I want…" She paused. The buzzing became fainter, then returned louder than before. "I want to go to a happy hour. Take me to RC’s for happy hour," Danielle finished, her voice modulated by the damn insect’s buzzing. She had just accepted his impromptu offer for a happy hour! Andy’s blood ran a little faster and he felt a little giddy, flushed with the success he was having at asking her out. Twenty minutes later, they were downtown at RC’s, sitting by the man-made duck pond. Andy bought some appetizers and two frozen strawberry daiquiris.
An hour later, Danielle’s mood had improved considerably, and Andy was beginning to bore her. There was a pause in the conversation. She broke it by saying, "I really shouldn’t keep you too long tonight." He shook his head to disagree, then took a vicious swipe at the air. She giggled, explaining that the bugs left her alone because they didn’t like her perfume. If he thinks that it’s bugs, so much the better: it made for a good cover story. She suggested quietly that he had urgent things to do.
Andy looked at his watch. "Oh, hell. I do have to run," he said, getting up from their table. "I’m so sorry Danielle, but I have some things I need to take care of at home, and I had completely forgotten about them. I need to get them done before it gets too late." The words tumbled out in a helter-skelter stream, then he froze for an instant. Andy hesitantly asked, "See you soon?"
Dani was prepared for this. Evidently, she had given him a bit more of a push than she’d thought. No problem, she could cover this up without too much trouble. She smiled graciously and said, "Yes, you will." She figured that he was the type that would probably feel a little guilty about leaving her in such a hurry. She whispered "guilt" just to make sure he thought that he was reacting normally. Andy surprised her by buying her a second daiquiri before he scampered to the station to catch the next train home.
When he got to his apartment, Andy immediately started cleaning the kitchen, something he had promised himself he would do when he got home, but then he had run into Danielle, and they had gone to a happy hour and… At any rate, he was home now, and the kitchen had to be done. Eventually, he went to bed very content because he had gone out with Danielle a second time, and completely cleaned the kitchen. He woke up a lot less happy, with a huge hangover, another Visa receipt, and he still didn’t have her phone number.
"Danielle Gray, line two. Danielle Gray, line two." The soft broadcast voice interrupted her flexion of her patient’s knee. "Just a moment—you can relax for a little bit," she assured the middle-aged man. She reflexively checked the clock: only three-thirty. The week had dragged on far too long already and it was only Thursday. The thought crossed her mind that the phone call could be from that cute Brendan guy she’d snared last week. Maybe he was responding to her prompt for another date this weekend. Her rising hopes collapsed when she heard the "Hello, Danielle" delivered in a very familiar, cool, faintly accented tone. She sighed.
"Hello, Gina," Danielle said, trying not to let her disappointment show over the phone. "No, I never have to work late… Yes… That’s right… Well, what about him? No… He’s going on vacation starting Monday, so I thought I’d ask that… Tonight?!!? I don’t…" She sighed in resignation as the voice on the other end tersely explained the meaning of "tonight."
"Yes, Gina… I can wait for him at the station and bring him straight from work… Yes, we’ll be there tonight." Danielle hung up the phone, her mood having turned rotten. Great, just what I fucking wanted, a damn coven meeting tonight, she sourly thought. And with me at the center of it. Sometimes it seemed that this deal wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
Andy was working late in the office trying to give himself some breathing room before he went on vacation. It was almost seven o’clock and the sun was beginning to set. There was a knock at his door, a very rare occurrence so late in the day. He figured that it was just security checking the partially opened door and noises during their rounds. "Come in," he said, not bothering to interrupt his study of the debugger as it flickered through the code on the screen.
"Andy—hi! I was waiting for you at the station, but you didn’t show up," Danielle said. There was a faint tinge of urgency in her voice. Andy spun his chair and stood quickly, as much out of shock as some vaguely remembered homily about seated gentlemen and ladies. "We have to go now. We’re already late," she said, sounding slightly disturbed. He gave her a strange look, because he didn’t remember making any plans for tonight at all. The loose disk drive in one of his machines began its annoying buzz as it vibrated against the frame, gnawing its way into his consciousness during the awkward silence. I really have to get that thing fixed, he resolved.
Dani rolled her eyes as he looked at one of his computers. She really didn’t have time for this. "You kept me waiting, so I thought I better check for you in your office. I thought you might have been tied up with work and forgot our dinner date at my place." She put a little extra emphasis on the last six words.
"I’m sorry, Danielle, but I guess I just sorta lost track of time," he apologized. Andy shut the debugger down and prepared to leave the office for the day. Dani just handed him her things as they left the building, scurrying to catch the next train headed away from the city. "So what were you planning for dinner?" he asked, trying to start a conversation during the trip.
Danielle didn’t hear him; she was trying to figure out exactly what she was going to say later, and why she should make any special effort at all. She suddenly became aware that Andy had been talking to her. "Mmmm? Oh, I’m sorry, Andy. I was just thinking about… some things," she said. She didn’t say another word to him until they got in her car. She told him, "It’s about a fifteen minute drive from here, so we’ll be there in a little bit." She was getting a little nervous; Andy wasn’t like the last guy she had done this to. Dani had mixed feelings, but the decision had not been hers to make. She glanced at Andy, who was still oblivious to the real objective. The false dinner date was firmly imprinted on his mind.
Andy watched the scenery pass in silence as they got off the highway, then entered a ritzy subdivision. The large, expensive homes on their large, immaculate grass and tree-filled lots simultaneously impressed and intimidated him. If this was where Danielle lived and had grown up… The car turned down what appeared to be a wooded lane. It quickly stopped at two ornate iron gates stood in the way, illuminated by the headlights. A private street in a wealthy subdivision, he mused silently. We must be going to her parents’ house. He got a little nervous at the thought, but he was also pleased that she thought enough of him to bring him to a dinner with her folks. The gates were opened quickly by a pair of the most athletic-looking security guards he’d ever seen. Danielle slowly drove along the wooded street for about a minute, saying nothing. He couldn’t see any houses beyond the trees, and then discovered why there were no houses in this part of the subdivision. An enormous stone mansion stood in the clearing, small garden floodlights illuminating its facade. The gates were for thisplace. Andy was so shocked by its sheer size that he barely noticed the other cars in the circular drive. The elaborate and creatively lit fountain in front scarcely rated a second glance. He let a long, low whistle go. She parked and got out of the car in a hurry. "The others are waiting for us. Come on, Andy," she urged, trotting up the staircase leading to the manse. Carrying her things, he tried not to trip as he took in the sight of the house and grounds.
When Andy got to the patio, he shook his head in amazement. It could have been a patio restaurant in some old-fashioned luxury hotel. All that was missing were the tables, umbrellas, and a wait staff. It ran the length of the building, and was at least forty feet wide, bounded by a very carefully sculpted stone railing overlooking the drive and the "front lawn." Any further study would have to wait as Danielle hit the door chime. The front door opened after only a few seconds, revealing a handsome young man. "Welcome, Mistress Danielle. The others await you in the sitting room, and your things have been set out in your chamber," he said with the professional tone of a butler. Mistress Danielle? Andy cocked his head, wondering how formal this little dinner would be. Danielle just tugged on his arm to pull him inside. She ignored his unspoken question, and he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. The net result was that Andy said nothing.
"Thank you, Steven," Dani said to the young man, who only gave a short nod of deferent acknowledgment in return. She turned to Andy and said, "I have to get ready." There was no smile on her face, no hint of warmth. "You will go with him, and follow his instructions for now," she commanded. A loud buzz vibrated inside his skull in the cool, dry foyer. That was the precise moment Andrew Davidson realized that Danielle had been controlling him. Their earlier so-called dates had been nothing but illusions planted by the woman who walked rapidly up the stairs. Steven turned in the opposite direction. Andy fell into step behind the young man, legs working automatically. He watched himself obey her command as if he was an uninterested, uninvolved third party. Whatever she had done, however she had done it, Andy couldn’t make his legs stop. Steven lead him down a set of stairs to a dungeon-like room. Steven pointed, and Andy walked in the room. When the lock clicked, he regained command of his legs, but bounced off the sturdy wooden door when he rushed it. His shoulder began to throb immediately.
He pounded at the door, screaming, as much in frustration as in anger. Andy was definitely locked in, effectively jailed for the moment. He looked around the room for an escape. There was a cot and a toilet, but nothing that could even be remotely considered a weapon without ripping the toilet out of the floor it was set into. He tried to think his way through his predicament, searching the otherwise-empty room for something that would help him escape. Andy figured that Steven was also being controlled by Danielle because the man had acted too "professional" for his young appearance, and had called her "mistress." Fear welled up in him as visions of whips, chains, and other devices related to sadomasochistic practices filled his head. He swallowed hard, taking several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. There was no evidence of anything like that in the room, which would have been the perfect place for torture, sexual or otherwise. His analysis came to a quick halt as he heard footsteps approach the door. He tensed, ready to spring at the person who entered.
The door opened slowly. Before he could get a clean shot at the person, Andy heard a female voice say, "No. Don’t move." His contracting legs locked, freezing him in a slight crouch. "My name is Gina," the woman said as she entered. He regarded her with malice dripping from every pore. She laughed. "I’m sure you would like to kill me, but, as you can see, you can’t move from where you are." Gina paused as his frustration and fear grew. "I can guarantee you that you’re not here as part of some bondage game." She laughed again, this time with an evil edge. A chill sped down his spine. It dawned on him that she was reading his mind. He was too angry and upset to notice any details about her. She wore a black robe, and her black hair was swept back in a loose bun. He felt another, colder chill, as her attire and demeanor suddenly scared him to death. She seemed unperturbed by his obvious agitation, and spoke again. "I need some information from you about the first time you saw Danielle."
"You’re the mind reader," Andy spat at her. Anger flared in Gina, but it passed very quickly. She had had this exact conversation far too many times. They always expect too much… She sighed impatiently. "Well, yes, but there’s a lot in your mind. You can relax, and let me find out what I want to know or—"
"Fuck you," he thought at her, as "loudly" and as evilly as he could. "I’m not gonna let you have jack shit. You’re gonna have to work for it, bitch." His head exploded on the heels of his closing thought as a shower of bright sparkles blinded him from inside. Then he felt a sledgehammer impact against his skull, but heard no bones break. Andy screamed as his brain burned with the sensation of a white-hot poker being drawn slowly from one side to the other through his head. His knees collapsed and his body curled inward, seeking to get away from the intense, horrifying pain. The pain forced tears and screaming sobs out of him as he went into convulsions. The pain abruptly vanished, leaving him sobbing and retching on the floor. "Or, we could do this the hard way," Gina said idly, her nonchalance penetrating his misery. He heard her heels click across the floor, then the sound of the door shutting and locking. After several long minutes, Andy had recovered enough to drag himself away from the puddle of vomit where he had fallen. He groped along the floor, feeling for a wall, anything. He was blind, but managed to find the toilet and rinse his face. Then he crawled into a corner, where he cried until he had no more tears left.
Andy didn’t know how long he whimpered and rocked in that corner. The memory of the pain was enough to leave him helpless. His vision started to return gradually after a while, but only enough to distinguish large blurry shapes at first. He heard, rather than saw, the door open, and backed as far into the corner as he could. His legs kept working, trying to propel him away from the blur. Fear knotted the rest of his body. "Oh god, you’re a mess," Danielle exclaimed with disgust. At least, the voice sounded like hers. "Steven!" Another set of footsteps, heavier this time, obviously in response to the summons. "Get him some clean clothes and a wash basin," she ordered, before leaving the room and closing the door. "Clean him and dress him yourself, if necessary."
Clean and dressed? For what? Andy struggled to his feet. A wave of nausea hit him, his balance failed completely, and he pitched into the wall, sliding back down its cool surface. Although his eyesight was still improving, he couldn’t see well enough to make a run for it. But he knew that he had to get out of there. He forced himself to stand again, fighting vertigo, fading vision, and his unwilling body. Whatever was going on with Danielle and Gina, Andy knew he didn’t want any part of it. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, clearing the fog and pushing the pain away, allowing him to see well enough to run after a few more minutes. Breathing deeply to steady his pulse and racing thoughts, he closed his eyes, replaying his path to the dungeon. Then he reversed it, carefully tracing his route to freedom in his head. He hoped that once outside, he could buy some time to deal with the next part of the escape. Andy doubted that there were enough guards to seal the perimeter of the grounds, but it would still take some planning to evade them.
Andy visualized Steven entering the room, since everything hinged on being able to disable the servant quickly. The plans and actions repeated themselves in his head until they were fixed in his memory. He stood at the side of the door, listening and waiting… The door opened and a loud buzzing noise drained his hope. Danielle, not Steven, had opened the door. She said something (lost in the buzz) which caused his legs to collapse underneath him. "Gina said you were going to try something," she explained. Fucking mind-reading bitch, he thought sourly. She put the wash bowl down, then threw some jeans and a T-shirt onto the cot. "Clean yourself up, and put on these clothes." Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz, went the inside of Andy’s head. His hands automatically unfastened his dress shirt, then undid his belt. He was a spectator in his own body. "No, wait." Danielle’s imperative halted his undressing just as he pulled his underpants down. "Turn around and face me." A flush of anger and embarrassment rose in his face as he obeyed her spoken command, disregarding his own mental imperatives.
Danielle walked over to him, and looked very carefully at his body. He’s no prize specimen, that’s for sure… She ran her hands over his chest, pushing at the not-especially well-defined pectorals, pinching his biceps and digging her fingers into the slight roll above his waist. She raised his arms to study the sinewy curves. Then she knelt and lifted his shrunken penis, clinically inspecting it and the thick patch of pubic hair that surrounded his balls. She pressed her hands against his thighs, checking the muscle tone. She noted his lack of arousal, so she teased his cock, trying to make him erect. Andy wasn’t responding. "Oh, rats," she thought, "he’s not going for it." She thought about making him respond so that she could check out the equipment, but there wasn’t time for that. Dani stepped back. "All right, you may finish getting ready." He stepped out of his underwear, then turned his back on her. It was clear that he did it on purpose. While she may have been able to watch, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to give her any more of a show than necessary. "Shy and modest to the end," she clucked with mocking amusement.
In any other situation, with someone as attractive as Danielle, Andy would have started to get aroused. Her clinical, evaluating manner just humiliated him. His blood had turned to ice because of her last two words. The end. So he was destined to be a sacrifice in some demonic ritual. The washcloth slowed to microscopic motions. He decided that they were just going to have to wait until this particular victim was ready. "Hurry up and get dressed," Danielle said, annoyance creeping into her voice. His washcloth sped up to match the rhythm of the fast-paced buzzing in his skull. No, he wasn’t going to make them wait. When he had finished dressing, she said, "You will follow me and be silent." Rage, rendered impotent by the denial of both action and voice, seethed inside him. Andy was completely frustrated, reduced to watching himself walk behind a woman from his dreams who had become the bitch of his worst nightmare.