Crazy Seduction(erotica)

Henry watched himself being strapped down on a bed that seemed to be able to rotate him 180 degrees. The IV tubes they stuck into his arms would allow this range of motion, so he supposed he was expected to be there a while. They were preparing him to prevent bedsores.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. The drugs they’d stuck in him were exceptionally good at flattening any emotions he might be feeling.

He looked away from his body to the people working on it. The two large orderlies were brutes but very well-trained brutes. Their big hands moved with practiced precision, and while Henry couldn’t feel it, he could see their almost gentle touches to ensure he was secure but not constricted by his restraints.

Henry looked closer at their faces, and he saw their intense concentration. Thinking didn’t seem to be their forte. He reached out and touched one. Shit! Henry saw through its disguise. The orderlies were Ogres!

The one he’d touched pulled back as if stung and looked around. Henry saw it shiver, then it went right back to work with another nervous glance at the fourth occupant in the room, a woman dressed all in white. She was watching Henry’s body with intense concentration as well. She was standing before a machine that was taking readings from him. He couldn’t make heads or tails of what the screen was saying but based on her expression, she wasn’t happy about it. He’d seen that expression before. It was on the face of Mab’s Master Inquisitor. He looked more closely at the doctor. He didn’t need to see through her glamor. She was Fae!

After a time, he grew bored of watching her, and something told him it would be dangerous to touch her to see through her glamor, so he turned his attention outward. The chamber looked like a hospital room except for the lack of windows. This wasn’t a hospital room. It was a prison cell.

A spike of fear shot through him, and that felt… bad. It was a real emotion, so he welcomed it after the numbness. The lady in white snarled something and made an adjustment on her console.

Henry heard a steady but distant drum begin to slow, the sound faint at first and getting quieter. Gradually, he felt himself getting closer, but the sound remained muted like it was coming through a fog bank. His fear began to fade as well, and he realized the woman had given him another drug. She was smiling now, but there was no warmth to it. She reminded him of Walter, the dragon who’d wanted to collect him for his uniqueness. He’d had a total lack of empathy. This woman had none as well.

He didn’t want to be here, so he moved to the door and went through it. Henry found himself standing in a white hallway lined with doors on both sides. He turned and saw he was in room number six. There were four more doors on his side of the hall, so there were twenty cells in this hallway. He crossed the hallway and slipped through the door, but the room was empty. He moved through the wall into the next room, but that one was empty as well. All the rooms on this side of the hallway were empty.

He felt a stirring in his chest and realized it was relief. There were no prisoners on this side of the hall. Crossing to room ten, he found it empty too. He slipped from room to room, seeing they were all empty until he reached his own. The doctor and the orderlies were gone. Little lights flickered on his console, and gentle tones sounded to indicate all was well… or he was dying. He couldn’t really tell, but the latter seemed unlikely. They wouldn’t go to all this effort just to kill him. There were much faster ways.

He made the assumption that the next room would not be empty, so he slipped out into the hall once more and stepped into the door of room five. He found himself out in the hall once more. The sheer intensity of the psychic pain the occupant of room five was experiencing had pushed him clear. There was no mind left, just pain. Unending pain.

Henry collected himself and moved to the door of room four. Inside was a woman, a Human woman, crying due to her great loss. Grief was pouring off her in waves, and Henry staggered under its weight. Everyone had been taken from her. She was alone, and she couldn’t escape the despair her life was filled with. She wanted desperately to join her loved ones on the other side, but she was trapped here.

He dragged himself out into the hall and fought back the tears. Holy shit, these people were in pain! He threw an angry glance up the aisle. What kind of monsters were they to do this?

He hesitated at the door of room three as his emotions felt raw from the previous two. Henry took a deep mental breath, then moved cautiously into the room.

The lights were dimmed for sleeping, but the occupant was awake. He turned his head toward Henry and just looked at him as if Henry was visible. The man’s mouth worked, but he said nothing. He was younger than Henry but gaunt like he’d missed more than a few meals. His hair was long black waves, and he was wearing striped pajamas, which made him look even younger. Faded bruises showed on his lightly bronzed skin as high cheekbones and large expressive dark eyes with long lashes softened his features.

He wasn’t strapped down to his bed, which was better than Henry could say for himself.

Knowing it certainly couldn’t hurt, Henry tried to speak to him. “Hi, can you see me?”

The man twitched then licked his lips. “Are you the devil?”

Henry was shocked as the man could actually see and hear him while he was all floaty and out of body.

“No! No, I’m not. Why would you think that?” he asked.

The man gestured up at his head then down to his feet. “The horns and hooves.”

So, he was in his true state when he went out of body. “I’m a Satyr, not a demon,” Henry explained.

“Oh, I’ve never hallucinated a Satyr before. Maybe my meds aren’t working anymore,” the young man mumbled.

“You have hallucinations?” Henry asked.

“Duh, I’m having one now, so yeah. I see all kinds of crazy shit! It’s why they put me in here,” he admitted.

Henry had a thought.

“I have a friend who can see through glamors and see people for what they really are. Maybe you’re not hallucinating. Maybe you’re like her. My name’s Henry Gable.”

“My hallucination now has a name,” the young man said quietly in surprise.

Henry wasn’t sure what he could say to convince him. He’d start with the truth.

“I’m actually strapped to a bed three rooms that way.” He pointed to the left wall. “They’ve doped me up to keep me asleep, but that just makes my mind slip out and wander. What’s your name?”

The young man in pajamas blinked in surprise at him. “DJ. People call me DJ. The nice ones do. Most people call me fucking asshole, god damned thief, dirty beggar, and fun names like that.”

Henry realized DJ might have been living on the street. “Were you homeless before they brought you here?”

Eyes too weary for the face they were in watched him carefully. “You know, none of my hallucinations ever asked so many questions.”

Henry had a thought. “Sorry. My friend, who sees through disguises, can see the real being inside. The orderlies here aren’t Human. They’re Ogres.”

The man laughed. “Yeah, they are big and ugly, so ogre is a good description.”

Henry just looked at him. “No, real Ogres, as in not Human.”

It was the young man’s turn to stare. “What- what do you mean?” he choked out.

Henry moved closer as DJ seemed to be frightened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just… magic is real.”

DJ screamed, and Henry stared in shock. The young man was terrified. He moved closer still and reached out a hand to calm him, accidentally touching his hand.

Henry was in a cafeteria.

He looked around and wondered how he’d gotten here. He looked down and couldn’t see his body, so he knew he was on a mental walkabout.

Then the memories came crashing back. DJ! He was-

A ripping sensation made Henry scream, and the cafeteria exploded. Tables and chairs flew outwards, away from where he was floating in the middle of the room. A stack of trays was suddenly airborne and spinning in all directions. All the notices were ripped from the bulletin board, and the blackboard placard leaning against the far wall shattered into pieces.

Henry’s eyes snapped open. Someone was fucking with Wild Magic, and he knew exactly who it was.

He needed to speak with DJ, but first things first. He turned to face her direction and disappeared from the cafeteria just as the two Ogres burst into the room to look around in dismay.

The boardroom in the lower level of VRL was filled with people, which wasn’t typical for the late hour. The group that filled the room was also somewhat atypical. There was representation from VRL’s management team, namely Camila (CEO), Sigrid (Head of HR), Roy (Head of Security, Marisa (Henry’s Executive Assistant), and Mahati (External Legal Counsel).

Also present were Mary, Meixiu, and Lorelei Reichenbach, who was invited by Roy as a precaution.

When she arrived, she spotted Raymond and Eleanor sitting at the table with pleased smiles on their faces.

“You!” she exclaimed.

“Friends of Meixiu!” Eleanor said quickly, gesturing to the young-looking woman before they could be sung into oblivion again.

Lorelei watched them suspiciously.

“We also found some information you may need to protect yourself from the Council. I called in a favor with a contact within the administration to find out who they might have assigned to hunt you. Almost all local agents are tasked with finding and eliminating the New York serial killer, but there were two open cases in Europe. One of the agents was working in Germany when they were re-tasked with something here in New York. As you’re here, she might be here for you. I have an image of her-”Material © NôvelDrama.Org.

“Let’s see it,” Roy said as he joined them.

When Minkah’s face appeared on Raymond’s cell screen, Roy swore, and eyes went to him.

“It’s the woman from the museum! The one who bumped into you!” Roy exclaimed as he stared at the image.