“Cutie!” Felicia Fatale’s surprised squeak echoed through the warehouse. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon! I adore your tan!” The two women kissed. “Tell me about Hawaii!”
It took a few moments for Charlotte to catch her breath from Mistress’ passionate welcome back kiss. “Mission accomplished,” she beamed. “Dr. Mayer will do all the surgery for free. He’ll also do the necessary aftercare, because I’ve got him addicted to the magic cigarettes. He craves having me blow that magic smoke in his face. Because he knows it gets his dick really hard, no matter what.”
“That’s wonderful, Cutie! I knew you could do it.” Felicia rolled her eyes as Substrate clamored for more details, but all Felicia could think of right now was being alone with her sexy, tanned Cutie. “I want to hear all the details, but right now… Come and snuggle with me. Everything else can wait.” Suddenly, they were kissing again, hotter, hungrier, and this time, Felicia was the one who came up for air first. Charlotte shot her an inflammatory glance over her shoulder, and headed towards the bedroom with an exaggerated wiggle. The assassin needed no further invitation, and immediately followed her prize. Mission debriefing would wait.
Several hours later, Felicia was watching Charlotte carefully prepare a Dunhill cigar that her boss (and current slave) had given her. She lit it with equal care before handing it to her lover, smiling, “You taught me well. And wasn’t it so nice of Danny to give me this box?”
Felicia puffed on the forty-five ring, about seven inches long, and exhaled through her nose to get the full flavor. Cutie’s boss had excellent taste in cigars—and women. Felicia ran her eyes appreciatively over Charlotte, while the woman posed with an inviting smile, interrupting the assassin’s contemplation of her excellent cigar.
Just then, Substrate burst in. “So tell me how did it—oops!” She turned beet-red at the sight of the naked woman, and quickly covered her eyes with her hands.
Charlotte sighed. This was her least favorite of Mistress’ personae. The super-smart and socially inept teenage girl the other two referred to as, “Substrate.” She sighed inwardly again, knowing that if she wanted one of Mistress’ sexy personae to come back, she would have to deal with this one first. “Well—” Charlotte stifled a giggle as the teen persona took a curious puff from the cigar she was holding. “—it looked like it works great on women. I smoked, Sara got horny and suggestible. I told her something, she obeyed, especially when it came to sex.”
Substrate nodded excitedly, and took another puff from the cigar, causing Charlotte to cock her head inquisitively. “I wanted to see why Felicia likes these so much, OK?” Substrate answered. “I’m curious. Please don’t tell on me.” Charlotte smiled, remembering her own curiosity about smoking when she was a teen. “So how many times did Sara get dosed before it wore off?” asked Substrate.
“Once, and it didn’t, at least not while I was there.”
“If it’s targeted as specifically as I wanted, you shouldn’t notice anything. Once Sara’s close enough to smell you, her cognitive brain goes on hold, and anything you say takes priority. And your pheromones interrupt her usual susceptibility and response to sexual stimuli,” the teen genius explained. “She wants you more than anything else in the world whenever you’re around her.” Substrate was pleased: the formula worked pretty much the same with two different female subjects. Although it was far from a definitive sample size, it augured well that any biological differences between Sara and Charlotte hadn’t affected the drug’s effectiveness in the least. Pleased with herself, she took a demonstrative puff on the cigar. “It’ll wear off if you’re not around for a while, so the next time you see her, you’ll need to dose her again,” she clinically said. Then she leaned forward as she asked, “So what about the guy?” This was the part that held the most interest for her. Girls? Oh, ICK! But boys? Especially cute, famous ones? Her grin grew predatory.
Charlotte’s smile faded. “I had to work on Danny quite a bit. I went through the whole pack of pink Fantasias, and about half the pack of Capri 120s.” Substrate silently cursed herself for miscalculating the impact of the elevated testosterone level in males. Charlotte resumed, “It wasn’t that he wasn’t horny for me, or that he flat refused to follow my suggestions. I just had to work at tying his physical dependency to a psychological one. The end result is the same, though. He’ll do anything I tell him to,” the nurse happily finished.
Substrate’s shoulders had slumped while she mentally castigated herself. She’d managed to increase the sexual urgency inspired by the drug, but she had miscalculated the impact of—”
“What’s the matter?”
Charlotte’s concerned question jolted Substrate from her self-flagellation and diagnosis. “Oh, it’s just that I’m disappointed in the way the formula works on men.” She saw that Charlotte was probably going to say something to cheer her up, so she quickly resumed, “It’s supposed to work just like it did on Sara, but I goofed. Felicia’s gonna be so mad at me…” Charlotte asked why. “’Cause I don’t have enough chemicals to create another batch, let alone rework the formula,” Substrate glumly replied. Sniffling back tears, she took a puff of the all-but-forgotten cigar, only to find that it had gone out. Shoot. I can’t even smoke a cigar right.
Mistress’ obvious pain, even in her Substrate persona, made Charlotte want to cry, too. She took the cigar and sympathetically patted her on the arm. “Substrate,” she gently began, “why don’t you make a list of the chemicals you need and give it to me? After all, I do work in a doctor’s office.” Charlotte re-lit the cigar and handed it back to Substrate after dragging deeply and inhaling the strong smoke. Felicia was right. Sometimes, ya just gotta inhale to get everything a cigar offers, she thought.
Substrate stopped sniffling, “Y-y-you can do that?” The nurse told her that, if nothing else, she could probably get her boss to obtain the chemicals. The teen took a puff from the cigar, brightening by the second, and then threw herself at Charlotte for a happy hug. “Thank you! Oh, thank you!” Suddenly, she remembered that she was hugging a naked woman— who was attracted to Sylvie and Felicia—like in lesbo drive, even if it was just because of the chemical. She hopped back as if the nurse’s body had turned white-hot. “Ummmmm…”
Charlotte snickered. “Don’t worry, I know what that hug meant.” she gave Substrate an affectionate peck on the forehead as she would to her favorite niece. “Now, scoot and bring me that list!” Substrate headed off, smiling, but turned and gave a quizzical look as she reached the door. “Yes,” Charlotte laughed, waving dismissively, “you can have the rest of the cigar.”
“Zank you—mmmmm—for ze—” Lady Sylvie Mes-Méram gasped. “—gift!”
“You’re welcome, Mistress,” replied Charlotte as she blew a line of smoke from a freshly-lit, doctored Capri 120 in her favorite cigarette holder, the 14k gold one, into the face of her boss, Dr. Mayer. He groaned as Sylvie rode him from above and more blood filled his cock. “I know you’ve had to sit on the sidelines while Felicia n’me play. I thought that Danny here—” She took another luxuriant drag, slowly French-inhaled, and this time, she leaned close to his face to exhale the floral-scented smoke he had been conditioned to crave. “—would make for a nice apology,” she finished over his high-pitched moan of pleasure.
“Il est excéllent!” panted Sylvie before throwing her head back with an orgasmic moan. Her body shuddered on top of her immensely attentive stud for several minutes afterwards until she shakily dismounted him, having another small orgasm in the process. His erection slapped her clit when it popped free, making Sylvie moan and gasp again.
“Time to refocus his attention,” began Charlotte, but Mistress gently chided her, saying that it was only fair that she give him his orgasm. Sometimes Charlotte forgot that the Sylvie persona wasn’t as businesslike as the Felicia one. “Of course, Mistress.”
She asked for the smoke that Charlotte had prepared and lit it, taking a glorious first drag, and then, exhaling smoke at him, began to masturbate Danny. She watched, somewhat clinically, as her Mistress had her boss grunting and groaning within seconds, forcefully thrusting upwards, using her hand and the special smoke to drive his arousal. She watched her Mistress smoke, envious of the incredibly sensuous style. I wish I could be that sexy when I smoke.
Soon, Dr. Mayer was making loud nonsense sounds and fucking Mistress’ hand with gusto. With the cigarette almost finished, Mistress took a long draw on the holder, let a big ball of smoke escape before recapturing it, and reached for Charlotte, who did not resist as Mistress kissed her, exhaling smoke around and into Charlotte. Immediately, she felt the wonderful heightened awareness of Mistress’ presence that the spiked smoke always triggered, and welcomed the rising sexual sensitivity and need. She kissed Mistress back, very deeply, and heard a very loud, throaty, distinctively male groan. Danny was regarding them intently with wide eyes. She wrapped her arms around Mistress, and kissed her again, passionately, wantonly, knowing from her Hawaii experiences that the overt display of lesbian ardor from her would drive Dr. Mayer crazy. Within seconds, Danny was cumming, erupting as if he hadn’t had sex since before Hawaii.
Charlotte closed her eyes and gave herself to the rising tide of Mistress’ passion—and then it stopped! She almost let a squeak of frustration escape, but opened her eyes to see that Mistress was speaking to her boss, whispering in his ear. He looked very sleepy, and had a silly, crooked smile on his face. He blinked a few times when Mistress stroked his forehead. She continued to whisper into her boss’ ear, stroked his nose, and Danny’s eyes closed. A few seconds later, Charlotte could tell that he was definitely asleep. Then, Mistress turned to her, eyes ablaze. Charlotte instinctively reclined onto the bed as she prepared herself to be ravished. Her clothes were efficiently removed, and the world went blurry as she felt herself close around narrow fingers sliding inside. She gasped, and her mouth was filled with her Mistress’ tongue describing gentle, loving circles even as Charlotte’s hips began to move. Mistress was playing her, driving her to the peak, and keeping her there without pushing her off. She sighed, loudly, and her eyes rolled back into her head.
Sylvie broke the kiss and rearranged herself on the bed while using her lips and tongue along Charlotte’s undulating body. With a mischievous smile, Sylvie lowered her mouth to Charlotte’s clit and lower lips, and began to buffet them mercilessly. Her lover’s hips and voice rose simultaneously until, back arched and singing, Charlotte came loudly and for a long time. She finally collapsed back onto the bed, her chest heaving, and barely conscious, let alone cognizant. Sylvie grinned, quite pleased with herself. Normally, she wasn’t into girls, except as business required, but Charlotte had taken Sylvie’s lessons on style and sexiness to heart. It was as much a reward for lessons learned well as it was out of attraction. Besides, I must keep in practice, thought the spy. One can never know the next time one will need to enchant a lady vulnerable in such a way.
“So, Cutie, you know the plan, right?”
“Yes, Mistress… but… but…” Charlotte’s objection was interrupted when Mistress gave her a deep, long kiss. Starry-eyed and out-of-breath, Charlotte still wondered how this would work. All of this had been done to have someone named “Ellen” completely re-built, in face and body. Charlotte had never known why, but since Mistress wanted it, she did as well. It had been her job to get her boss to donate his skill and clinic, which she had done. So far, so good. Earlier tonight, however, Mistress had taken her to a dark room where she had met “Ellen” for the first time. Unfortunately, it turned out that “Ellen” was yet another one of Mistress’ personae. So, if Charlotte were to knock Ellen out using the special cigarette holder that Mistress had given her, she would also knock Mistress out. But Danny had to examine her to figure out what he could do, and Charlotte didn’t think that the Ellen persona would willingly let that happen.
“It will be up to you to watch your boss and guide him,” said Felicia. “The three of us have—some things to discuss. Remember, Cutie, don’t wake him up until she’s out. I know you can do this. Now, come give me a kiss before I leave with Sylvie and Substrate.”
The kiss was long and tender, making Charlotte regret what she was about to do even more. Mistress sat on the chair, and suddenly, she seemed to shrink and lose her confident, commanding air. In her place sat an ugly, frightened mouse of a woman. “W-w-what are you going to do to me?” Ellen simpered.
“Nothing,” Charlotte lied. She turned away to insert the nose filters as she had been instructed, then sat on the sofa with Ellen a discreet distance away. “I was hoping to be able to talk with you. I’m a nurse, and I want to make sure you’re all right.”
“Can you get me out of here? Away from them? Please, I don’t have any money yet, but I’m very smart and I’ll figure something—” Ellen babbled.
Charlotte quickly brought the red holder to her lips and blew, causing Ellen to recoil. Her expression went from surprise to fear, and she softly gasped, “Oh, no! You’re… one… of… them…” before pitching forward, unconscious. Charlotte gave her Mistress a peck on the cheek and whispered, “I won’t let you down.” As she went to wake Dr. Mayer, a sudden thought occurred to her. She could determine Mistress’ new appearance and make sure that Mistress would look as beautiful as she was sexy! Charlotte felt an enormous twinge of excitement at the thought of how good Mistress could look, and decided that a stop for some fantasy and masturbation wouldn’t hurt anything.
“Wow,” said Dr. Mayer, “I can see why your friend here would want to make some upgrades. Talk about plain.”
Charlotte had to agree, even if the doctor was being uncomplimentary of her Mistress. “She’s—given me—the job of approving her new face,” she said, waving a cigarette case in front of Dr. Mayer. “And I know that you can do it. I also know that you have good taste and restraint—for a guy. Except for the tit thing. They need to be proportional,” she warned, “or no more smoky fun for Danny.”
“I know, I know,” he fawningly whined. “I’d estimate about a 34C. That’s about what her frame will support.” His nurse nodded in agreement, and the two of them worked for several more hours, just making notes. When they had finished, Charlotte lit a magic cigarette in the short black holder, and told her boss that it was time to go.
He followed her like a puppy, except that he had to stop to adjust the growing bulge every so often. They rode away in his Porsche to a nearby motel, where Dr. Mayer watched his head nurse smoke in that incredibly sexy way he adored while he masturbated to climax.
“See you in the office tomorrow?” purred Charlotte, taking a last drag from a normal Capri 120. She looked at Danny, gasping, trying to recover. He had cum forcefully again, giving her a funny feeling. “Danny?” he made a noise of recognition, and she asked when was the last time he’d had sex with his wife, and found out that he had been relying exclusively on Charlotte for sexual relief since before Hawaii.
This could be a problem, thought Charlotte. Don’t want Lexi snooping around too much just because she’s not getting laid at home. Maybe I should pay her a visit.
“Danny, I want you to go home and spend the day with your wife.” He was about to protest when she sharply reminded him, “No more smoke—EVER—if you don’t.” He nodded meekly. “Goodbye, Dr. Mayer,” Charlotte waved from the door. “See you Friday.” She climbed into the Infiniti and headed back to the warehouse. Mistress would be waking very soon.
“I’m also worried about the wife, Cutie,” said Felicia. “She’s bound to notice that her husband’s having—performance issues. And heaven forbid she finds a stray cum stain.” Felicia puffed on her cigar. “No, I think it’s a good idea for you to turn her into an asset. That’s good thinking on your part. How’s our stock?”
“I’m down to three treated Capri 120s, but it’ll only take one for her,” was Charlotte’s blithe response. “As long as I get her alone—or with Danny, it should be no problem.”
The assassin frowned. They were almost out of stuff, and Ellen’s friend Dennis was at least six months to a year away. “Why do you look so worried, Mistress?” Cutie asked, and Felicia tersely explained. “Well, as soon as Substrate gets me her shopping list,” the nurse replied, “I’ll go about getting Dan and his friends to get what you need.”
For once, the meticulous hit woman was too stunned to speak, but her face glowed, and she threw herself into her Cutie’s arms. “That little brat!” she finally exclaimed. “She never told me about you two having discussed that!” Charlotte opined that Substrate was too worried that Felicia would be mad. “Why?”
“Because the formula wasn’t perfect on males, I guess,” was Charlotte’s reply.
“Substrate!” Felicia called.
It always amazed Charlotte how much Mistress’ body language and bearing changed between her various personae; moreover, each personality was consistent. Gone were the icy calm, careful movements, and the steely, calculating glint in the eyes. Mistress now seemed gangly and awkward in her own body, and her face showed a bright-eyed naïveté. “Yes, Felicia?”
Substrate had appeared, but only briefly because there was another change. Somehow, Mistress stood taller; she was more —physically imposing. “It’s only because of you that we’ve gotten this far,” Felicia gently said. “I can’t hold you responsible for missing a small number out of a million or more reactions. The amazing part to me is that you got enough of them right to help our plot along. And in such a short time.” Mistress blushed at the praise, even though she continued to speak as Felicia. That’s interesting, thought Charlotte. “My Cutie here has figured out a way to get you more of what you need. It’s up to us to use it judiciously. So, you see? I couldn’t be mad at you.”
“OK,” Substrate smiled, looking much less depressed. “Can I work it out a little better before I come up with the shopping list? I may need to change some ingredients or the amounts.”
“Certainly, dear,” Charlotte answered, “but I may not be able to get certain things.” It surprised her when Substrate waved dismissively, telling her that what she needed was available in almost any college lab storeroom.
“We have time, Substrate,” interjected Felicia. “Go figure out what you need to. Any time within the next two weeks would be great.” She turned to Charlotte. “Cutie, how are you going to do this without money? It’s going to look a little strange if the good doctor starts spending like a drunken fool in addition to doing all this charity work.”
Charlotte had anticipated this question, and hoped that Mistress would approve of her solution. “I already need his wife, right?” Mistress nodded. “Lexi is the trophy wife of a plastic surgeon, and she has a trust fund. A big one.” Mistress’ face showed dawning comprehension. “Between that and the sex, I should be able to get access to a chemical storeroom or two.”
Felicia grabbed her Cutie and kissed her. Couldn’t have ordered a better co-conspirator. She’s hot, smart, and mine . “C’mere, babe,” husked the hit woman. “Let’s have some more alone time.”
“Yes, Mistress,” Charlotte smiled.
“Charlotte! What are you doing here?” Alexis Finch-Mayer exclaimed in surprise. “Come on in!”
“Oh, I hadn’t seen you in a while, and when I ask Danny about you, it’s always, ‘she’s fine.’ Thought I’d drop by and see what ‘fine’ means,” answered the nurse. Alexis was blonde, lean, and gorgeous to an almost ridiculous degree, although she was thirty-three now. Any physical flaw that Alexis may have possessed at one time had long since been taken care of by her husband, highlighted by the natural-looking 38D breasts. Danny was a tit man, after all. Just looking at Lexi would be enough to cause anyone to wonder why Danny pursued his affair with Charlotte, but to hear Danny tell it, the truth was surprisingly simple: while Lexi had the face and body of a sex goddess, she had the sex drive of a post-menopausal woman. Simply put, Danny wanted sex more often than she did. Well, Charlotte dryly thought as she followed Lexi through the house and onto the pool deck, I’m about to change that.
“Have a seat, Charlotte,” Lexi smiled. “I’m sure I can find you a bathing suit if you want to hang out at the pool.” In addition to her physical gifts, Lexi was a very sweet person, not at all like several of her neighbors who were the epitome of stuck-up, bitchy, trophy wives. Today, Charlotte felt more guilty than usual when she was with Lexi, but she consoled herself by remembering that she wasn’t here to make Lexi evil. They sat by the pool chatting, like female friends do.
“I’m glad you’re here, though,” Lexi said, leaning forward and lowering her voice. “It’s probably nothing, but—has Danny seemed at all—strange lately? Have you noticed anything—different about him?”
Charlotte started, worried that Lexi had finally figured out that Danny was having an affair with her. “N-n-n-no,” she stammered. “How do you mean?”
Lexi hesitated. “Oh, it’s probably nothing. It’s just that… well, Danny’s been really weird like when we have cigars and brandy. He looks at me funny,” she complained. “And then the other night, he asked me if I’d thought about smoking cigarettes again.”
Sounds like Danny’s compunction is getting a little out of hand. I’ll need to fix that—or maybe not. Relieved that the affair wasn’t what was bothering Lexi, Charlotte seized on this as the opportunity she was looking for. “Actually, Lexi, that kinda might be my fault. See, I found this—” She pulled out her gold holder. “—and I thought it would be fun to play with, so I’ve been smoking these special floral cigarettes.” She put one of the loaded Capri 120s into the holder, and posed for Lexi. “See what I mean?”
Lexi laughed, “You look so old school, like 1920’s glamour! Is that real gold?” Charlotte nodded and showed her the stamp. “I guess Danny must be wondering what causes a person to start smoking as an adult,” Lexi concluded.
“Well these don’t smell or act like normal cigarettes,” Charlotte said, lighting herself. Boy, isn’t that the truth! She exhaled in Lexi’s direction. “See?”
Lexi sniffed the air. “Kinda like roses, I think. Let me smell it again…”
A half-hour later, Charlotte had Lexi staring adoringly into her eyes and shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “So now you don’t mind that Danny and I are having an affair, do you, Lexi?” Charlotte purred. She loved this part.
“No… I don’t… mind,” was the mesmerized reply.
“And we’re still very, very good friends.”
“Yes… Very good... friends.” Lexi smiled vacantly.
“Are you really horny now, Lexi?” The woman’s frustrated groan answered the question well. “Why don’t you keep that feeling for your husband when he gets home? I’m sure he’ll appreciate it,” Charlotte smiled, and then paused. Since Lexi was completely agreeable, maybe she could find out why such a hot body was frigid. “Why don’t you have sex more often with Danny?” she asked. “Tell me the truth.”
“I like to ride and Danny never lets me anymore,” Lexi complained. “I cum easier, more often and better when I ride.”
Charlotte barely suppressed a squeak of empathetic comprehension. Until the magic smoke, Danny had been pretty much an on-top-thrusting-at-you type of guy. “Is that all it is?” Lexi confirmed that it was the heart of the matter. Well, I can certainly fix that for her, she thought, but it’s going to have to wait until later. Right now, I need to get out of here before Danny gets back. She’s going to obey me when I need her to, and that’s what I came here for.
“Well, Cutie, this is it,” said Felicia. “You’ve been so wonderful these last two months. A better lover, facilitator, and friend, I could not have found.”
Charlotte blushed. “I only wanted to please you, Mistress. I’m glad you’re happy.”
“You’ve made me very happy, Cutie. You always make me happy,” was Felicia’s reply. They kissed again, tongues dueling, hands stroking, and Charlotte was left breathing heavily.
“Zat was magnifique,” said Mistress’ sexiest persona, the Lady Sylvie Mes-Méram. “I could not let Felicia ’ave all ze fun. I like kissing you, too.”
“Thank you for everything you’ve taught me about style and being sexy.”
“You are such a good student, chère Charlotte, zat eet was not difficult. You will take excéllent care of Ellen, oui?”
“Yes, Mistress,” Charlotte affirmed. The two women kissed each other on both cheeks in parting, and Charlotte detected the change in Mistress’ bearing that said her Substrate personality was now in control. “Hi, Substrate,” she greeted the teen genius.
“I guess I gotta go with the others,” she dejectedly began. “But I wanna stay here with you! You are, like, so cool, even if you do like girls.”
“Correction, Substrate,” Charlotte giggled, “I like both. Now, c’mon, give me a hug before Felicia gets impatient.” Substrate did, and shot her a goofy, teenaged grin as she walked away. The nurse sighed unhappily. It was time. “Ellen, where are you?” sang Charlotte, more to discern if that persona was in control than anything else. A sob coming from an adjoining room told her that Ellen was now controlling Mistress.
She walked in to find her cowering in the corner. “Are you going to k-k-kill me now?” Ellen stuttered, her eyes filled with fear.
“I’m a nurse. I don’t kill people,” Charlotte answered. “And my lover would never make me do that.”
Ellen gasped. “You must be Felicia’s lesbian lover, Cutie!”
Charlotte was flattered that Mistress had considered it important enough to share that with her mousy persona. She also felt compelled to correct, “Bisexual,” with a sigh. Why do they always assume that it’s one or the other?
“Are you—brainwashed—like John was?” Ellen probed. Charlotte asked who that was, trying to get the frightened woman to relax enough so that she would drop her guard, and distracting Ellen enough to avoid answering the question directly. To Charlotte’s surprise, Ellen blushed deeply. “Ummm… Ummm… I was the one to test Sylvie’s mesmerizing gas.” Intrigued, Charlotte encouraged Ellen to talk about it. The mousy woman recounted how it had all happened. When she got to the point where Sylvie had taught her to smoke, she gave her captor an odd look.
“Would you like a cigarette?” Charlotte offered. Ellen hesitated, and Charlotte laughed, “Don’t worry. I’ll open a brand new pack.”
Ellen took a long drag from the Capri 120 that Charlotte offered. “Thank you,” she said. It was immediately apparent that Sylvie had coached both women. Charlotte remarked on it and after watching the other woman for a few drags, Ellen agreed. She finally resumed talking about her reluctant role in the mesmerizing gas plot. Despite herself, Ellen found herself opening up to “Felicia’s Cutie.” She had another Capri, and revealed her embarrassment at having a one-night stand. When the other woman responded with empathy, and without judgment, Ellen allowed herself to speak about the guilt she felt over having orgasms with an ensorcelled guy whom she basically used.
Charlotte hugged Ellen in consolation, who didn’t flinch. “But Ellen, sex is one of humanity’s most basic and powerful drives. You really shouldn’t feel guilty about having sex and enjoying it.” Charlotte grinned, “After all, the human body is wired to work that way. As a neuroscientist, you know it’s true.”
Ellen nodded, and felt a slight smile come to her face for the first time in months. The nurse’s presence was calming, and Ellen welcomed the chance to interact with someone who wasn’t constantly threatening to kill her. She seems so… human. Ellen finally screwed up her courage, and asked, “Would you let me go?”
“And have Felicia come back and find you gone? No thanks,” Charlotte replied. “But exactly where would you go, anyway? You’re a convicted felon and by now, you’re in violation of parole.”
She’s not gonna kill me, but she’s not going to let me escape, either. Ellen also considered what “Cutie” had said. The woman was right; nobody would believe that she had been held captive for almost four months, and that’s why she hadn’t seen her probation officer. Suddenly, a fine, odorless spray hit her in the face as she was musing. The nurse was looking at her with a regretful expression on her face. Ellen saw the red cigarette holder and realized—
When she came to, she was lying on her back, surrounded by people in surgical masks and gowns. She was in an operating room! A half-hidden face leaned over her, holding a mask, and he was placing it over her nose and mouth! Her arms and legs were bound to the table as she attempted to struggle free. A gloved hand gently grasped hers, and suddenly, Ellen realized what was about to happen. She relaxed, breathing deeply and regularly of the gas in the mask. Her thoughts faded quickly, and she felt her body becoming heavy and numb. These were the very last moments of Ellen Dyson’s life, and Charlotte’s comforting grasp made it… much… easier… to… let… go…