"The Gathering"
XXXIV.
I carried Emma's unconcious body down in the basement.
I tinkered with the equipment she had down there such as the golden force bracelets and anklets she used on me. I figured out how to hold her there suspended in the air as I had been that night all those months ago. I left her fully clothed despite J'sella's protests to strip her naked.
"Can you wake her up?" I asked.
J'sella only smiled. "Of course." She touched Emma's forehead and she stirred.
"Don't touch the tattoos with your fingers," the Ifreet warned as she stood back. "They'll come to life and before you know it, you'll be the one under the torturer’s fingers instead of her under yours."
"Thanks," I said feeling bad. I did not want to torture Emma, but I was running out of options.
"Ray, we are both Houri," Emma said after quickly getting her bearings. "What you are doing is a mistake. Don't listen to J'sella. She hates the Houri as much as she hates you."
"I want you to tell me where Jeanie and Claudia are," I demanded. "The Houri we'll attend to once they are safe."
"Torture me, then. The time it takes you to get me to cooperate and the condition you leave me in will delay you. I will be in no condition to seer for you if you torture me."
"I thought as much. I can’t torture you to cooperate, but I can torture your associates well enough," I said gesturing to her two friends conveniently hogtied, barefoot, gagged and blindfolded on a platform with J'sella taking care to keep them deep in sleep.
"They are gluttons for pain and tickling," Emma replied. "They will get horny before you make them or me feel pressured to cooperate."
"You're bluffing," I said.
"No need for so much banter," J'sella spoke two words in quick unison and the mortals awoke and stirred. The Ifreet drove her nails into their sides and they reacted screaming helplessly into their gags and squirming and thrashing as best they could in their restraints. J'sella was tickling them viciously. She reached under their shirts to tickle their tattooed and sensitive flesh. They screamed and laughed as loud as anyone I had seen tickled but there was no terror in their voices. J'sella attacked their soles and the man's laughed climaxed while the woman's maintained its steady pitch. Ticklish no doubt, but something was odd.
J'sella became listless.
"No fun torturing someone for whom it is no torture," she said before whispering to words to send them off sleeping.
"You see?" Emma said satisfied.
The beautiful Ifreet’s eyes narrowed in a peculiar way I was starting to identify.
"I could reduce you to ashes and you wouldn't care," J'sella stated.
"I would not. Do with me as you wish. I think we are at an impasse," Emma said with a satisfied smirk.
"Not quite," J'sella said her anger flashing. "I can burn your mortal friends alive and you would care, I think. Then I’d let you live so you can go to the end of your days with that guilt."
"You would not dare," Emma said her smirk disappearing. "Ray?"
"Raymond is not my master," J'sella said her anger growing and flames growing from her hands. "I decide and only I. And now I decide to roast your mortal pets!"
"Stop!" Emma cried. "Very well. Jeanie and Claudia are blocking my efforts. But I have had some success locating major Ghul activity. There is a mansion. Five miles south, southwest of Condor’s Point. It’s the only building in the area. You will find their trail there, I'm certain."
J’sella watched her intently studying and judging what she had heard.
"Very well, I believe you," she said and the flames disappeared from her hands.
"This is not the Houri way," Emma said. "This is a Ghul way, Ray. It won't lead to any good. Now release me!"
"I can't have you following us anytime soon," I said drawing near.
"No, come on, I swear I won't track you," Emma said nervously.
"No, you won't. Not for a long while." I said placing my fingers on her sides.
XXXV.
I am Charlotte Anderson.
I fled like the wind after learning Vanessa had been defeated.
I just took time enough to put a jacket on and to pack my hammer.
In the Prime Plane it looked like a normal sledgehammer. If anyone got too curious, I only needed to apply a quarter turn to the hammer and it would disappear from the sight of curious mortals.
The hammer had always found me through the ages. I've always been of Nordic stock. Tall and blond and strong. The hammer kept finding me. I lost track of it's origin. It is just something that has serendipitously found me time and time again. I started calling it Mjölnir after Thor's hammer, but it has none of the legendary powers of the mythical hammer.
Regardless it is still a powerful weapon. I know no wall that can withstand its blow. Only magnificent creatures like a Djinn or an Ifreet can hope to shrug off a blow of my hammer. If I hit a normal mortal at full force it is guaranteed death.
Many have tried to take the hammer from me. They have tortured me and dominated me, but there is no power which would make me forsake my hammer. Even dominated by the cruel Vanessa, she could not get me to relinquish the weapon. Even she understood the weapon was more powerful in my hands.
Melissa was my field leader. I reported to her. I did not dislike her, but if there was a chance at escape I would not hesitate to take it. I was very young and I could gather my own group of Ghuls and lead them into glorious battle on my own. I did not need another Ghul master.
I grazed off the mortals on my way. I hitched rides with anyone who would so much as turn in my direction. Most men tend to. I'm tall and blond with icy blue eyes and a killer smile. I need only draw their attention and I can easily learn the commands that will make them hand over everything valuable and then words to make them forget or even sleep if it is convenient.
I did not see the arm being drawn over my head as I traveled on the lonely subway car. There were maybe five people in the car. I felt myself be phased a quarter turn and no one was the wiser. The arm tightened around my throat in a choke meant to render me unconscious.
I fought. It was a good hold, but not a perfect one and I managed to breathe and maintain consciousness. Who was it? A Ghul? A Houri tracking my grazing?
I saw the Djinn facing me.
"I'd return you the favor for the hammer," the Djinn said looking at me and holding her fist up. "In fact I think one solid blow to the forehead and you'd go out cold."
"She's going down by my hand," Melissa grunted from behind me as she adjusted her grip.
I could take her, I could get out. Then fight my way out. I could do it. I resisted and I began to gain space.
The Djinn pulled her fist back.
"Back, Djinn!" Melissa hissed. "I have this under control."
The Djinn shrugged and stepped back. I struggled even more facing the challenge resisting the choke that seeked the way to the artery that would cut the flow of blood to my brain.
But the choke hold slowly found its way to close properly and Melissa gained leverage I could not counter. I had not made it easier on her but the choke was now perfectly executed.
"Sweet dreams," the Djinn drew near and patted me gently on the cheek as I faded away into unconsciousness.
XXXVI.
I knew where to find Jason.
He was at his old apartment.
He would not flee. There was no where to flee for his type.
"I knew you'd come for me, Vanessa" he said smiling as he came to greet me. He was naked and wore leather restraints on his wrists and ankles.
"I came because I was commanded to," I replied trying not to admire his fit and trim body.
"Yes, whatever you want. Loyalty to you, to Claudia, who ever... what ever. So long as I am close to you."
He stepped up on a stool and placed his arms over his head attaching his restraints on his wrists to a hook on his wall.
"I'm authorized to torture you, you know?" I said drawing near.
"I'll never serve anyone!" he vowed with mock conviction.
"We'll see about that," I said taking his lead.
I kicked the stool out from under his feet and he fell a step, his body going taut as he held himself up on the tips of his toes.
His strong body was exposed in a helpless desperate position. In the past, I could and many times would leave him helpless and hanging for hours. Blindfolded and even gagged he'd stay there whimpering softly to pass the time.
And he was so ticklish. He laughed like a woman to be honest, but his body was 100% masculine.
If I asked him he would be my play thing for the evening.
But I had no interest in that. I was here for business.
And if he needed special attention to gain his loyalty, so be it.
Besides, Jason was so easy to please.
My fingers ran like a spider's legs up and down his cleanly shaved underarms. He instantly laughed his girl-like laughter. I warmed him up a bit with this knowing how much he enjoyed it. I watched also as his manhood grew confirming what I already knew.
I traced his hard belly with my fingers going in between hills and valleys of his fit abdomen and teasing his belly button with my nails.
I went below his waist ignoring his throbbing excitement.
He remained on the tips of his toes but despite this he could kick me involuntarily if I tickled in the right place at the wrong time. So I fastened the restraints on his ankles to a hook that served that function.
I tickled his soles while his toes struggled to bear his weight and he screamed and laughed as I hi sweet spots on the arches of his feet and on his heels. I tickled his calves and his knees with lesser reactions. And then returned to the soles despite his pleads that I stop.
What was I to do when a masochist begs a sadist to stop?
Pour it on, has always been my philosophy.
I stepped back and studied his shaking form still trembling despite my having stopped the tickling. His cock was erect and eager to be sheathed properly.
I took it like a nurse might and lifted it out of the way exposing his testicles to my attention.
I tickled his balls and he screamed horribly. He was most ticklish there; the sweetest spot of his many spots. My nails on his scrotum drove him mad.
What a place to be most ticklish!
He shuddered and thrashed violently but I would not relent the attention my nails gave his balls.
He climaxed eventually from just my tickling fingers. I knew him quite well. His preferences were quite simple and if he would sell his soul for this, who was I to deny it?
I left him hanging. Wasted, exhausted and spent.
"Do you swear loyalty to the Ghul Claudia?" I asked. It was just a formality. He’d swear loyalty to Donald Duck if I asked it of him.
"I do. I swear and the universe be my witness," he said.
The tickling was never necessary. The threat was never necessary. Jason was passionate for my brand of abuse. A true masochist. A malleable servant.
"Shower and get dressed," I ordered him. "We still have many others to collect this evening."
XXXVII.
I was armed down to my teeth.
Dana was my name, guns were my game.
I had gone and made my stand at a safe house I had secured slowly and secretly after the years. I did not doubt they would find me. My skills were in demand and I did not have the stomach for forming my own band of Ghuls. I liked to be told where the targets were and to simply go after them. Leave it to the masters to decide which those targets were.
But I would not go without a fight. I'd prove my worth.
I had a 50 cal machine gun mounted in the living room and pointed outside. It existed like all my weapons in both planes. The bullets were silver and warded. I had cameras and booby traps set up as well.
I heard them coming. I could not see them though. A magic fog covered everything.
It did not matter. I pointed and I shot. Like my shooting instructor always said, if you can't shoot well, shoot a lot.
And I shot and shot and shot. The smell of gun powder tickled my nostrils and the ringing in my ears was like music.
I shot and shot knowing nothing could approach my safe house in the volley of silver I had sent out like hail.
I heard an empty click and the shooting stopped. No more bullets.
I pulled out a light submachine gun and prepped my side arm. Now it was time to pick up the pieces.
As I prepared to step outside, I heard a click sound from far away and felt a small dart lodge itself in my arm.
Tranq dart.
"Crap," I said to myself feeling my vision start to go blurry. The submachine gun fell from my fingers and I fell to the ground.
A normal dart wouldn't affect me so much nor so fast. There had to be a special mix in the dart. Enough to put down a horse.
Enough to put down a Ghul.
I struggled to get up. Struggled to escape, but it wasn't going to happen.
Melissa strode into the room. She held a long range tranq gun with an infrared scope in her hand.
I still struggled. Couldn't get my tongue to move to make out the words.
"You are quite formidable when it is firepower vs firepower," Melissa said. "You never cease to surprise me there."
"But you only need one round to meet its mark to score," she said.
I reached for the side arm on my thigh with extreme difficulty. Maybe I could just land one 9mm into the center of her mass. Wipe that smirk off her face.
"Or in your case, two," she said lowering her weapon and shooting another dart into my leg.
I heard the click and felt the prick but after that all went black.
XXXVIII.
Emma was spent. She mumbled incoherently. She was bathed in sweat and she practically foamed at the mouth.
J'sella teased touching her bare feet steering clear of the tattoos and playing with her long toes. The feet jerked and struggled weakly.
"How long can you knock her out?" I asked the Ifreet.
"Maybe a day, the mortals more perhaps," she said.
"Would you do so?" I asked.
She cast me an irritated glance but she said nothing. She drew symbols on Emma's forehead and she fell sleep instantly. She spoke strange words to deepen the sleep of the mortals.
She released Emma from the force bracelets and laid her back on a torture rack.
I released the two mortals from the hogtie and tried to make them as comfortable as possible.
I was ready to go when I saw J'sella approach.
She was naked and had the golden bracelets on her wrists and ankles. I had only to power them up and she'd be at my mercy.
I went hard in an instant.
"No time for this," I said.
"You would not have gotten so far without me," she said approaching like a feline keen on her prey. "I want your attention."
"You have that," I said feeling my eyes glued to her. "And you'll have more of it. But we can't let this lead grow cold."
"Your passion grows hot," she countered look mischievously as my loins and the growing bulk there.
I grabbed the control and pressed the buttons to activate the golden bracelets . They went to life pulling her limbs apart suspending her in the air.
"You're helpless, you know?" I asked looking over her perfect body that was the embodiment of pure sexuality.
"Vulnerable," I stressed as I moved her and positioned her eagle spread.
"And so are you," she said teasingly.
"I beg to differ," I said approaching her small feet and tickling her soles. She laughed deliciously and I desired her even more. I pushed her legs out more and I tickled up her legs and thighs. She shrieked and screamed as I reached her hot and moist sex. There she really shrieked as she lost total control. It was as if I controlled her completely. It was clearly torture for her but I could she enjoyed it.
She was right though. Despite my control, it was I who was helpless. I wanted to hold back and prove that I could resist. But I could not. My clothes came off as a reflex. I was hard and did not hesitate. I pulled her lower and I entered her with long and powerful strokes. I reached over and cupped her breasts in my hands. I reached up and tickled her behind her neck running my hands through her blond curls.
I climaxed. Too soon. Too hard. And just demonstrating how helpless I really was.
"You see," she said looking at me and smiling.
"Helpless," I said nodding in agreement.
She beamed at me and I felt an urge to not let her have the upper hand.
"Release me," she asked pleased with herself.
"No," I answered evenly having decided my next move.
I could see a touch of fear in her heart.
"What do you mean, no?" she said her eyes narrowing.
I simply let my fingers do the talking. I tickled her sides and she shrieked.
"Enough! Free me!" she protested shaking her head.
I tickled her breasts and her nipples. I teased and tickled, kissed and sucked until they became hard and excited.
Satisfied, I went down to her feet and I nibbled on her toes worshiping them. I licked and nibbled and bit at each toe tugging gently with my teeth as she oscillated noticeably between furious and excited.
I turned her over and the anti-gravity, be it magic or science, kept her taut and comfortable in the air so she was face down and I approached her from behind between her legs. She was growing wet and ready, but I was not quite finished yet.
"Release me, Ray," she demanded. "I'll kill you. I'll--"
I kissed her behind her knees and her threats turned to laughter. I tickled her soles in unison and I enjoyed how her legs twisted frantically. I kissed her her thighs gently tickling and slowly teasing.
I took her buttocks in my hands and kneaded them gently. They were soft and fit neatly in my large hands. She cooed and her threats faded away.
That was until I began to tickle her between her butt cheeks. I started slowly and gently.
"No, don't tickle, don't---"
Again I broke her off and attacked her ticklish bottom aggressively until she was breathless and more excited.
"I want you in me," she said delirious with desire.
"Beg me," I demanded.
"I beg you," she conceded.
And I took her from behind. This time I was in control. My pace was my own. And when she finally came, I joined her.
This time I released her.
"You could have enslaved me," J'sella said.
I nodded. "I know. But I'm helpless..."
"And so am I," she replied.
We kissed hard and passionately and I knew full well I was playing with fire.
I was going to get burned.
And I did not care.
XXXIX.
My name was Sophia Huang.
I was one of Vanessa's Ghul Huntresses. The weakest of the pack. The least experienced.
I wondered if they would even bother tracking me. I was a master martial artist but it had done little good against the Djinn. If I was of no use to the Ghuls under Claudia, I did not mean I was safe. Lone Ghuls are easy target for Houri monitoring our grazing of mortals.
The other alternative? To pretend to be a mortal. To not use one's gift and one's powers. That was not a real alternative. Who can go back to being a mortal after tasting power?
Not I.
So I waited.
I waited at the station where the Djinn had captured me. It was as good a place as any.
And I grazed.
It did not take too long.
I was in a quarter turn, the mortals oblivious to my presence, when I noticed her.
She looked straight at me.
She was slim and serious looking. She was dressed in a grey pantsuit with high heeled shoes that gave her a few inches more height but she was not taller than I. Her skin was of a fair complexion, lightly tanned, and her eyes were covered by some wide and dark brown sunglasses which matched well with her straight auburn hair that she had pulled back in a pony tail that gave her a business-like air.
"Hello," she said.
"You're not a Ghul," I said. "So I assume you are Houri. Come to take me off to the Vault."
"Yes, I am Houri," she said.
"Then I guess we fight and if I win, I run to fight another day."
She smiled. It was a cold smile. A leering smile.
"You'll fight my Djinn, Aldo," she said. "You will not win."
"I'm quite skilled," I countered. "In a fair fight I'll always have a chance."
"Who said anything about fair?" the Houri asked.
I felt a powerful fist pound on the back of my head.
I turned as stars burst in my head and saw my attacker.
He was tall and lean. He had raven black hair framing a square face which showed little expression. He wore a black designer suit, but it did not limit his movements.
He kicked and punched in a flurry of attacks. He did this effortlessly.
I dodged and parried them all and even mounted an attack on him. My blows connected but it was like hitting a brick wall. I realized he was letting me hit him. He could have dodged and parried but he chose not to.
He wanted to counterattack. And he did.
He was a true master. No doubts, no hesitation, no concern for the myriad of variables in a fight.
There was no doubt as to the outcome.
The powerful Djinn finally overcame my efforts to defend myself and he held me in an arm lock face down on the ground. His knee pressed heavily on the back of my neck and I was powerless to escape.
From my perspective on the ground, I saw the two black stilettos of the woman wore step near. Small feet. I figured I'd probably fit in them.
"I guess sooner or later I'd end up in the Vault," I said grunting because of the pressure of Aldo's knee. "I've got friends there. It'll be good to see them again."
"What a nice way of looking at things," the woman patronized before bending over and gently moving my sweat drenched hair away from my eyes.
She smiled her icy smile and lifted her sunglasses so I could see her eyes.
What I saw chilled my soul.
They radiated power. True, raw, primal power.
As I watched those strange grey eyes, they began to glow and they began to focus on me.
I screamed out in terror.
To be continued...
XXXIV.
I carried Emma's unconcious body down in the basement.
I tinkered with the equipment she had down there such as the golden force bracelets and anklets she used on me. I figured out how to hold her there suspended in the air as I had been that night all those months ago. I left her fully clothed despite J'sella's protests to strip her naked.
"Can you wake her up?" I asked.
J'sella only smiled. "Of course." She touched Emma's forehead and she stirred.
"Don't touch the tattoos with your fingers," the Ifreet warned as she stood back. "They'll come to life and before you know it, you'll be the one under the torturer’s fingers instead of her under yours."
"Thanks," I said feeling bad. I did not want to torture Emma, but I was running out of options.
"Ray, we are both Houri," Emma said after quickly getting her bearings. "What you are doing is a mistake. Don't listen to J'sella. She hates the Houri as much as she hates you."
"I want you to tell me where Jeanie and Claudia are," I demanded. "The Houri we'll attend to once they are safe."
"Torture me, then. The time it takes you to get me to cooperate and the condition you leave me in will delay you. I will be in no condition to seer for you if you torture me."
"I thought as much. I can’t torture you to cooperate, but I can torture your associates well enough," I said gesturing to her two friends conveniently hogtied, barefoot, gagged and blindfolded on a platform with J'sella taking care to keep them deep in sleep.
"They are gluttons for pain and tickling," Emma replied. "They will get horny before you make them or me feel pressured to cooperate."
"You're bluffing," I said.
"No need for so much banter," J'sella spoke two words in quick unison and the mortals awoke and stirred. The Ifreet drove her nails into their sides and they reacted screaming helplessly into their gags and squirming and thrashing as best they could in their restraints. J'sella was tickling them viciously. She reached under their shirts to tickle their tattooed and sensitive flesh. They screamed and laughed as loud as anyone I had seen tickled but there was no terror in their voices. J'sella attacked their soles and the man's laughed climaxed while the woman's maintained its steady pitch. Ticklish no doubt, but something was odd.
J'sella became listless.
"No fun torturing someone for whom it is no torture," she said before whispering to words to send them off sleeping.
"You see?" Emma said satisfied.
The beautiful Ifreet’s eyes narrowed in a peculiar way I was starting to identify.
"I could reduce you to ashes and you wouldn't care," J'sella stated.
"I would not. Do with me as you wish. I think we are at an impasse," Emma said with a satisfied smirk.
"Not quite," J'sella said her anger flashing. "I can burn your mortal friends alive and you would care, I think. Then I’d let you live so you can go to the end of your days with that guilt."
"You would not dare," Emma said her smirk disappearing. "Ray?"
"Raymond is not my master," J'sella said her anger growing and flames growing from her hands. "I decide and only I. And now I decide to roast your mortal pets!"
"Stop!" Emma cried. "Very well. Jeanie and Claudia are blocking my efforts. But I have had some success locating major Ghul activity. There is a mansion. Five miles south, southwest of Condor’s Point. It’s the only building in the area. You will find their trail there, I'm certain."
J’sella watched her intently studying and judging what she had heard.
"Very well, I believe you," she said and the flames disappeared from her hands.
"This is not the Houri way," Emma said. "This is a Ghul way, Ray. It won't lead to any good. Now release me!"
"I can't have you following us anytime soon," I said drawing near.
"No, come on, I swear I won't track you," Emma said nervously.
"No, you won't. Not for a long while." I said placing my fingers on her sides.
XXXV.
I am Charlotte Anderson.
I fled like the wind after learning Vanessa had been defeated.
I just took time enough to put a jacket on and to pack my hammer.
In the Prime Plane it looked like a normal sledgehammer. If anyone got too curious, I only needed to apply a quarter turn to the hammer and it would disappear from the sight of curious mortals.
The hammer had always found me through the ages. I've always been of Nordic stock. Tall and blond and strong. The hammer kept finding me. I lost track of it's origin. It is just something that has serendipitously found me time and time again. I started calling it Mjölnir after Thor's hammer, but it has none of the legendary powers of the mythical hammer.
Regardless it is still a powerful weapon. I know no wall that can withstand its blow. Only magnificent creatures like a Djinn or an Ifreet can hope to shrug off a blow of my hammer. If I hit a normal mortal at full force it is guaranteed death.
Many have tried to take the hammer from me. They have tortured me and dominated me, but there is no power which would make me forsake my hammer. Even dominated by the cruel Vanessa, she could not get me to relinquish the weapon. Even she understood the weapon was more powerful in my hands.
Melissa was my field leader. I reported to her. I did not dislike her, but if there was a chance at escape I would not hesitate to take it. I was very young and I could gather my own group of Ghuls and lead them into glorious battle on my own. I did not need another Ghul master.
I grazed off the mortals on my way. I hitched rides with anyone who would so much as turn in my direction. Most men tend to. I'm tall and blond with icy blue eyes and a killer smile. I need only draw their attention and I can easily learn the commands that will make them hand over everything valuable and then words to make them forget or even sleep if it is convenient.
I did not see the arm being drawn over my head as I traveled on the lonely subway car. There were maybe five people in the car. I felt myself be phased a quarter turn and no one was the wiser. The arm tightened around my throat in a choke meant to render me unconscious.
I fought. It was a good hold, but not a perfect one and I managed to breathe and maintain consciousness. Who was it? A Ghul? A Houri tracking my grazing?
I saw the Djinn facing me.
"I'd return you the favor for the hammer," the Djinn said looking at me and holding her fist up. "In fact I think one solid blow to the forehead and you'd go out cold."
"She's going down by my hand," Melissa grunted from behind me as she adjusted her grip.
I could take her, I could get out. Then fight my way out. I could do it. I resisted and I began to gain space.
The Djinn pulled her fist back.
"Back, Djinn!" Melissa hissed. "I have this under control."
The Djinn shrugged and stepped back. I struggled even more facing the challenge resisting the choke that seeked the way to the artery that would cut the flow of blood to my brain.
But the choke hold slowly found its way to close properly and Melissa gained leverage I could not counter. I had not made it easier on her but the choke was now perfectly executed.
"Sweet dreams," the Djinn drew near and patted me gently on the cheek as I faded away into unconsciousness.
XXXVI.
I knew where to find Jason.
He was at his old apartment.
He would not flee. There was no where to flee for his type.
"I knew you'd come for me, Vanessa" he said smiling as he came to greet me. He was naked and wore leather restraints on his wrists and ankles.
"I came because I was commanded to," I replied trying not to admire his fit and trim body.
"Yes, whatever you want. Loyalty to you, to Claudia, who ever... what ever. So long as I am close to you."
He stepped up on a stool and placed his arms over his head attaching his restraints on his wrists to a hook on his wall.
"I'm authorized to torture you, you know?" I said drawing near.
"I'll never serve anyone!" he vowed with mock conviction.
"We'll see about that," I said taking his lead.
I kicked the stool out from under his feet and he fell a step, his body going taut as he held himself up on the tips of his toes.
His strong body was exposed in a helpless desperate position. In the past, I could and many times would leave him helpless and hanging for hours. Blindfolded and even gagged he'd stay there whimpering softly to pass the time.
And he was so ticklish. He laughed like a woman to be honest, but his body was 100% masculine.
If I asked him he would be my play thing for the evening.
But I had no interest in that. I was here for business.
And if he needed special attention to gain his loyalty, so be it.
Besides, Jason was so easy to please.
My fingers ran like a spider's legs up and down his cleanly shaved underarms. He instantly laughed his girl-like laughter. I warmed him up a bit with this knowing how much he enjoyed it. I watched also as his manhood grew confirming what I already knew.
I traced his hard belly with my fingers going in between hills and valleys of his fit abdomen and teasing his belly button with my nails.
I went below his waist ignoring his throbbing excitement.
He remained on the tips of his toes but despite this he could kick me involuntarily if I tickled in the right place at the wrong time. So I fastened the restraints on his ankles to a hook that served that function.
I tickled his soles while his toes struggled to bear his weight and he screamed and laughed as I hi sweet spots on the arches of his feet and on his heels. I tickled his calves and his knees with lesser reactions. And then returned to the soles despite his pleads that I stop.
What was I to do when a masochist begs a sadist to stop?
Pour it on, has always been my philosophy.
I stepped back and studied his shaking form still trembling despite my having stopped the tickling. His cock was erect and eager to be sheathed properly.
I took it like a nurse might and lifted it out of the way exposing his testicles to my attention.
I tickled his balls and he screamed horribly. He was most ticklish there; the sweetest spot of his many spots. My nails on his scrotum drove him mad.
What a place to be most ticklish!
He shuddered and thrashed violently but I would not relent the attention my nails gave his balls.
He climaxed eventually from just my tickling fingers. I knew him quite well. His preferences were quite simple and if he would sell his soul for this, who was I to deny it?
I left him hanging. Wasted, exhausted and spent.
"Do you swear loyalty to the Ghul Claudia?" I asked. It was just a formality. He’d swear loyalty to Donald Duck if I asked it of him.
"I do. I swear and the universe be my witness," he said.
The tickling was never necessary. The threat was never necessary. Jason was passionate for my brand of abuse. A true masochist. A malleable servant.
"Shower and get dressed," I ordered him. "We still have many others to collect this evening."
XXXVII.
I was armed down to my teeth.
Dana was my name, guns were my game.
I had gone and made my stand at a safe house I had secured slowly and secretly after the years. I did not doubt they would find me. My skills were in demand and I did not have the stomach for forming my own band of Ghuls. I liked to be told where the targets were and to simply go after them. Leave it to the masters to decide which those targets were.
But I would not go without a fight. I'd prove my worth.
I had a 50 cal machine gun mounted in the living room and pointed outside. It existed like all my weapons in both planes. The bullets were silver and warded. I had cameras and booby traps set up as well.
I heard them coming. I could not see them though. A magic fog covered everything.
It did not matter. I pointed and I shot. Like my shooting instructor always said, if you can't shoot well, shoot a lot.
And I shot and shot and shot. The smell of gun powder tickled my nostrils and the ringing in my ears was like music.
I shot and shot knowing nothing could approach my safe house in the volley of silver I had sent out like hail.
I heard an empty click and the shooting stopped. No more bullets.
I pulled out a light submachine gun and prepped my side arm. Now it was time to pick up the pieces.
As I prepared to step outside, I heard a click sound from far away and felt a small dart lodge itself in my arm.
Tranq dart.
"Crap," I said to myself feeling my vision start to go blurry. The submachine gun fell from my fingers and I fell to the ground.
A normal dart wouldn't affect me so much nor so fast. There had to be a special mix in the dart. Enough to put down a horse.
Enough to put down a Ghul.
I struggled to get up. Struggled to escape, but it wasn't going to happen.
Melissa strode into the room. She held a long range tranq gun with an infrared scope in her hand.
I still struggled. Couldn't get my tongue to move to make out the words.
"You are quite formidable when it is firepower vs firepower," Melissa said. "You never cease to surprise me there."
"But you only need one round to meet its mark to score," she said.
I reached for the side arm on my thigh with extreme difficulty. Maybe I could just land one 9mm into the center of her mass. Wipe that smirk off her face.
"Or in your case, two," she said lowering her weapon and shooting another dart into my leg.
I heard the click and felt the prick but after that all went black.
XXXVIII.
Emma was spent. She mumbled incoherently. She was bathed in sweat and she practically foamed at the mouth.
J'sella teased touching her bare feet steering clear of the tattoos and playing with her long toes. The feet jerked and struggled weakly.
"How long can you knock her out?" I asked the Ifreet.
"Maybe a day, the mortals more perhaps," she said.
"Would you do so?" I asked.
She cast me an irritated glance but she said nothing. She drew symbols on Emma's forehead and she fell sleep instantly. She spoke strange words to deepen the sleep of the mortals.
She released Emma from the force bracelets and laid her back on a torture rack.
I released the two mortals from the hogtie and tried to make them as comfortable as possible.
I was ready to go when I saw J'sella approach.
She was naked and had the golden bracelets on her wrists and ankles. I had only to power them up and she'd be at my mercy.
I went hard in an instant.
"No time for this," I said.
"You would not have gotten so far without me," she said approaching like a feline keen on her prey. "I want your attention."
"You have that," I said feeling my eyes glued to her. "And you'll have more of it. But we can't let this lead grow cold."
"Your passion grows hot," she countered look mischievously as my loins and the growing bulk there.
I grabbed the control and pressed the buttons to activate the golden bracelets . They went to life pulling her limbs apart suspending her in the air.
"You're helpless, you know?" I asked looking over her perfect body that was the embodiment of pure sexuality.
"Vulnerable," I stressed as I moved her and positioned her eagle spread.
"And so are you," she said teasingly.
"I beg to differ," I said approaching her small feet and tickling her soles. She laughed deliciously and I desired her even more. I pushed her legs out more and I tickled up her legs and thighs. She shrieked and screamed as I reached her hot and moist sex. There she really shrieked as she lost total control. It was as if I controlled her completely. It was clearly torture for her but I could she enjoyed it.
She was right though. Despite my control, it was I who was helpless. I wanted to hold back and prove that I could resist. But I could not. My clothes came off as a reflex. I was hard and did not hesitate. I pulled her lower and I entered her with long and powerful strokes. I reached over and cupped her breasts in my hands. I reached up and tickled her behind her neck running my hands through her blond curls.
I climaxed. Too soon. Too hard. And just demonstrating how helpless I really was.
"You see," she said looking at me and smiling.
"Helpless," I said nodding in agreement.
She beamed at me and I felt an urge to not let her have the upper hand.
"Release me," she asked pleased with herself.
"No," I answered evenly having decided my next move.
I could see a touch of fear in her heart.
"What do you mean, no?" she said her eyes narrowing.
I simply let my fingers do the talking. I tickled her sides and she shrieked.
"Enough! Free me!" she protested shaking her head.
I tickled her breasts and her nipples. I teased and tickled, kissed and sucked until they became hard and excited.
Satisfied, I went down to her feet and I nibbled on her toes worshiping them. I licked and nibbled and bit at each toe tugging gently with my teeth as she oscillated noticeably between furious and excited.
I turned her over and the anti-gravity, be it magic or science, kept her taut and comfortable in the air so she was face down and I approached her from behind between her legs. She was growing wet and ready, but I was not quite finished yet.
"Release me, Ray," she demanded. "I'll kill you. I'll--"
I kissed her behind her knees and her threats turned to laughter. I tickled her soles in unison and I enjoyed how her legs twisted frantically. I kissed her her thighs gently tickling and slowly teasing.
I took her buttocks in my hands and kneaded them gently. They were soft and fit neatly in my large hands. She cooed and her threats faded away.
That was until I began to tickle her between her butt cheeks. I started slowly and gently.
"No, don't tickle, don't---"
Again I broke her off and attacked her ticklish bottom aggressively until she was breathless and more excited.
"I want you in me," she said delirious with desire.
"Beg me," I demanded.
"I beg you," she conceded.
And I took her from behind. This time I was in control. My pace was my own. And when she finally came, I joined her.
This time I released her.
"You could have enslaved me," J'sella said.
I nodded. "I know. But I'm helpless..."
"And so am I," she replied.
We kissed hard and passionately and I knew full well I was playing with fire.
I was going to get burned.
And I did not care.
XXXIX.
My name was Sophia Huang.
I was one of Vanessa's Ghul Huntresses. The weakest of the pack. The least experienced.
I wondered if they would even bother tracking me. I was a master martial artist but it had done little good against the Djinn. If I was of no use to the Ghuls under Claudia, I did not mean I was safe. Lone Ghuls are easy target for Houri monitoring our grazing of mortals.
The other alternative? To pretend to be a mortal. To not use one's gift and one's powers. That was not a real alternative. Who can go back to being a mortal after tasting power?
Not I.
So I waited.
I waited at the station where the Djinn had captured me. It was as good a place as any.
And I grazed.
It did not take too long.
I was in a quarter turn, the mortals oblivious to my presence, when I noticed her.
She looked straight at me.
She was slim and serious looking. She was dressed in a grey pantsuit with high heeled shoes that gave her a few inches more height but she was not taller than I. Her skin was of a fair complexion, lightly tanned, and her eyes were covered by some wide and dark brown sunglasses which matched well with her straight auburn hair that she had pulled back in a pony tail that gave her a business-like air.
"Hello," she said.
"You're not a Ghul," I said. "So I assume you are Houri. Come to take me off to the Vault."
"Yes, I am Houri," she said.
"Then I guess we fight and if I win, I run to fight another day."
She smiled. It was a cold smile. A leering smile.
"You'll fight my Djinn, Aldo," she said. "You will not win."
"I'm quite skilled," I countered. "In a fair fight I'll always have a chance."
"Who said anything about fair?" the Houri asked.
I felt a powerful fist pound on the back of my head.
I turned as stars burst in my head and saw my attacker.
He was tall and lean. He had raven black hair framing a square face which showed little expression. He wore a black designer suit, but it did not limit his movements.
He kicked and punched in a flurry of attacks. He did this effortlessly.
I dodged and parried them all and even mounted an attack on him. My blows connected but it was like hitting a brick wall. I realized he was letting me hit him. He could have dodged and parried but he chose not to.
He wanted to counterattack. And he did.
He was a true master. No doubts, no hesitation, no concern for the myriad of variables in a fight.
There was no doubt as to the outcome.
The powerful Djinn finally overcame my efforts to defend myself and he held me in an arm lock face down on the ground. His knee pressed heavily on the back of my neck and I was powerless to escape.
From my perspective on the ground, I saw the two black stilettos of the woman wore step near. Small feet. I figured I'd probably fit in them.
"I guess sooner or later I'd end up in the Vault," I said grunting because of the pressure of Aldo's knee. "I've got friends there. It'll be good to see them again."
"What a nice way of looking at things," the woman patronized before bending over and gently moving my sweat drenched hair away from my eyes.
She smiled her icy smile and lifted her sunglasses so I could see her eyes.
What I saw chilled my soul.
They radiated power. True, raw, primal power.
As I watched those strange grey eyes, they began to glow and they began to focus on me.
I screamed out in terror.
To be continued...
