Taen

"Let's see what this person, midnight13, has to say for themselves. Hope I didn't misjudge this one and pick out the real psycho. Fuck it if I did, I guess." Andie said out loud to the sink full of takeout containers she needed to throw away.

She clicked back into the loader for the game and arrived at the place she had last visited, but midnight13 wasn't around. She thought for a moment that maybe they had given up and that it was probably for the best anyway. While she loved the detailed raven sitting on a gravestone they had used for their profile image, it was probably just some creepy guy trying to trick her. She toyed around with some of the objects in the little clearing, but there didn't appear to be anything of significance from a game perspective and she was about to just close it out again.

That thought lasted for all of about five seconds before midnight13 showed up again and she felt the anticipation building in her. It was just like her to get hooked on something or someone that had only entered into her life the previous day, for no reason. She could feel her pulse race a little as she moved over to say hello to the other player. When she saw the heart emoji reaction, her own heart skipped a few of its rather necessary beats, unless it was wanting her to pass out awkwardly again.

She fumbled through the settings she knew about and could find nothing that resembled a reaction option and wondered how the user had sent the heart in the first place. Then she saw her character be taken by the hand and led to another secret passage in the game that opened into a secluded spot and just stood there. The graphics were still top notch, but she decided that the animation could use a little work as the motion was a bit awkward to watch as her arms swung awkwardly at her side after her hand was released.

"hello", the chat message read.

"hello back", Andie entered, or really warboobs22 entered on the screen.

"would love to meet you", midnight13 responded.

"too fast. slow down", warboobs22 insisted.

"too late for that. i'll send a car for you." midnight13 replied.

"The fuck you will!" Andie blurted at the screen.

Andie fumbled with the laptop, started to type a message, but froze and just closed it again.

She sat looking at the closed laptop then staring at the wall. Adrenaline had started pumping through her, raising goosebumps everywhere, except where it had raised her nipples into painfully hard nubs. She tried to gently rub them down from their heightened state, but it was no use. She stood up and paced around, trying to think. "They can't know where I live, there was nothing in the profile about that. I didn't mention anything, type anything. Fucking hell, I barely had a chance to say anything."

She stripped off her clothes and headed for the shower to just sit under the spray for a while trying to relax and clear her head. She had no idea what she had gotten herself into with this and was more worried than she thought she should be. The hot shower felt good against her skin as she stood letting the stream of water pelt her along her face and chest. She hung her head and let the water drain down. She lifted herself out of the spray and started to turn around which let just enough of the water out of her ears to hear her cell phone buzzing away threatening to fall off wherever she left it, which in her case could have been the back of the toilet with the lid still up.

She shut the water off quickly then stepped out and grabbed a towel and managed to catch her phone that was thankfully just walking across the closed lid, but still threatening to thump onto the floor. She looked at the number, studied it quickly, but it meant nothing to her at all. It didn't even look like a real phone number as it was mostly just zeros. As she brought the phone up to her ear to answer she heard an unfamiliar male voice ask for her.

"Andie? Miss Andie Hawk?" The voice asked. She trembled a bit as she answered, her voice cracking.

"Yes. B-but, who the fuck is this?" Andie asked.

There was a pause, then the slightest of chuckles. "No worries, Ms. Hawk. I'm the driver who was sent to retrieve you. I was sent by midnight13. I would really appreciate it if you would consider coming down shortly, as you don't want to keep her waiting longer than necessary." He answered.

"What the fuck did you just say? The fuck I'm coming outside to meet a stranger in a dark parking lot. Plus, it's pretty late, are you sure she's still taking visitors now?" Andie asked, trying to get herself out of whatever she was in the middle of or at least stall as she dried herself off.

"Love the spirit, I see what she thinks she has found in you." The driver spoke with such enthusiasm, Andie couldn't help but swell with a little pride. "And as for the time, she keeps all hours, time isn't something she bothers much with. If she sent for you, she is most certainly looking forward to you joining her this evening."

"Umm, ten minutes. You caught me in the shower." Andie absentmindedly replied, wondering what possessed her to tell a strange man hanging around outside her apartment that she was basically naked and dripping wet. That was the state she was in most nights anyway, but he certainly didn't need to know that either way.

She fretted everything. What was she doing, she thought loudly enough for the neighbors to hear as she put on her best tank top and jeans, which was pretty much all she owned anyway, aside from her going out gamer and band shirts. She thought about makeup, but remembered how most of her friends teased her about her attempts at girling it up too much. She liked her natural look, and hoped whoever she was meeting did too, especially since she hadn't had a chance to catch up on some necessary yard work around the lawn and bushes.

When she was done, she took two deep breaths, wondered where her tiny amount of common sense had gone, grabbed her personal mace canister and walked out to meet her fate, whatever that might be. She walked out cautiously and was relieved to see a very neatly dressed driver standing aside a long, very impressively conservative looking car. It didn't quite have the look of a limousine from the outside, and it was styled a lot nicer than your typical rental, so she had no idea what she might call it. Her nerves sat on the fence and would have had her running right back inside had she not been so enamored with the fancy car.

"Miss Andie Hawk?" The driver removed his tidy cap and bowed toward her as he reached inside his jacket to pull out a handkerchief and a spray bottle. He puffed the bottle twice onto the cloth and started toward Andie. She reached into her pocket to grasp the personal mace and was about to pull it out when the driver reached for the gleaming chrome door handle and rubbed the handkerchief gently to remove the tiniest of smudges before opening the door.

She relaxed her hand and let the canister drop back into her jeans pocket.

"No need to be so tense, and certainly no need for whatever you have in your pocket. I am no threat to you, and the lady of the manor has no intention of meaning you harm." The driver replied. They call me Jeeves, inside joke. Horace van der Raaf, at your service, Miss. He extended his gloved hand and she offered hers. As he lifted it to his lips for a gentle kiss Andie again tried to figure out what was going on with her world.

......

The drive was uneventful, and thankfully the driver was quiet the entire time as Andie hadn't wanted a ton of conversation at the moment, although the distraction might have helped settle her thoughts. The back of the car was easily one of the nicest places she had ever been, with the softest seats and most comfortable interior. They had even been nice enough to somehow stock it with almost all the snacks Andie could possibly want, but she wasn't very hungry at the time. Her stomach was busy eating its way out of her body and trying out various new knots it must have learned from the internet. She couldn't remember being this tense or anxious or even excited before. She thought she was going to throw up no fewer than three times, but there was something soothing about the ride of the car and the fragrance that hung in the air and she survived, as did the upholstery and flooring.

She had no idea how long the drive took as she was mostly a wreck, but when they pulled up to the gate, and the long, cobblestone driveway approaching the house, she suddenly became acutely aware that her fate sat just a few moments away, waiting for her. Her thoughts swung wildly back and forth between the simple one of what she was doing there, to the more complex one of how she managed to make another ridiculous snap decision that could impact her life in untold ways and then to the random one of whether she could sneak a bag of snacks from the car as she was starting to get hungry again?

They pulled around to a side entrance that was still grander than anything she had seen in real life or could imagine, except maybe the front entrance to Maria's house. But then this was still just the side entrance. She briefly had the feeling that her fairy godmother had worked some magic and she was a princess attending the ball, but she shook that foolish idea from her head pretty quickly as that kind of thing rarely happened and never to her. She reached for her phone and panicked for a few moments when she realized she had zero service, but calmed slightly at the sight of an open wireless network that seemed to go with the theme as it was labeled as Ravensloft. Figuring it went with the avatar on mindight13's character and that she was fucked anyway she connected to it and was relieved when it let her get out so she could check some socials. She still shied away from an all-out red alert to her friends, but made sure to reply to a DM sent a few minutes ago so they knew she was alive. She knew she should have been more nervous, but that phase seemed to have already passed and moved on to some other level.

The driver stopped near a lighted walkway, a low, subdued yellow lighting that had a romantic feel to it, or like the light just off the main street where Jack the Ripper lie in wait. Her mind was being its generally helpful self.

He got out and gently opened the door to let Andie exit and stood to address her.

"Miss Hawk? Andie if I may, your future awaits inside." Horace said in a dramatic tone.

Now she really was going over all the crazy scenarios she had dismissed. What future business could she have with this stranger from a game, and who was it, and where the hell was she now?

After entering through the side door, he led her down a large corridor that blended into the much larger main corridor just off the open foyer that was three times the size of her apartment, at least.

"Follow me, Miss Hawk." Horace said politely as he turned into the main part of the house off the foyer and stopped at two imposing dark wooden doors. He knocked twice, paused, then knocked once more.

"Come in." Said a dark voice that rattled Andie with its resonant timbre. Distinctly female, but coated with a thick resin of power and control. Andie trembled a little feeling it continue to reverberate through her.

The doors were opened to reveal a softly lit study that could double as the public library in her town with its expansive shelves neatly packed with volume after volume. All perfectly arranged, presented and offered to its visitors as they walked by, almost coming alive with the words inside them. She had never felt the power of the written word so acutely as she did in that room.

Horace made a slow sweeping gesture for Andie to continue in as he bowed and left them, closing the door behind him as he did. The doors were so perfectly balanced and constructed that they barely made any sound at all as they shut her inside. Even the clicking of the latch disappeared into the cavernous space without notice, as she now thought so would her screams and cries for help as the panic set in again, alone with her mysterious stranger.

"Please, Miss Hawk, come over here and have a seat with me. No need to be frightened, assuming that was what was keeping you glued to the floor over there." The woman spoke, her deep voice carrying a slightly softer tone than when addressing her servant, but still raising goosebumps along every part of Andie's skin. These were good goosebumps Andie realized as parts of her relaxed while other parts took up the mantle of anxiety and anticipation.

She shuffled over to the corner where the woman sat, conveniently the farthest from the doors to slow her escape. While she had settled down a bit, her brain was still fueled by the residual adrenaline and her flight response was on high alert. As she drew closer, the familiar fragrance from the car reappeared and it fought with her good sense to take complete olfactory control and lead her to an uneasy relaxation.

"Please, come. Sit here." The woman pointed at the overstuffed chair across from her as Andie finally made her way close enough see her in detail.

She sat reclined, yet with near perfect posture, rigid and firm, but somehow seeming relaxed at the same time. Or maybe it wasn't exactly relaxed, but comfortable at least, Andie thought. She wore a long dress with at least enough of a slit to allow her stocking clad leg to dangle out as it sat across the other knee. The stockings were patterned, but richly, not like the trashy looking ones from Walmart that Andie might use for Halloween. She felt her gaze lingering on the long lines of the exposed leg, perfectly toned, with just the right amount of slump that a proper thigh should have when crossed in that manner.

The woman looked very tall, even seated, with the lines of her body accentuated by the slenderness of her figure and the point of her black high heels drawing out her legs longer that Andie thought possible.

She knew she was staring much too long now and made haste to settle her behind in the chair to reduce her awkwardness. The woman across from her either took no notice of it or appreciated it more than Andie expected. Of course, this was the person she had just chatted with on a dating app game, so she decided to not be surprised by anything for the next few moments.

"That's better, now I feel like I can actually speak with you." The woman said, uncrossing her legs and switching sides, the hem of her dress shifting and drifting farther up her leg for a moment. Andie caught the hint of the upper band of her thigh high stocking and melted at the thought of how seductively she could be dressed. She hadn't really thought much about being with, or taken by, a mature woman before, but then she had also never met a woman quite like this, never mind having a sit-down conversation with one. The woman fluffed her dress a little to regain her modesty. "Silly me, you don't even know my name. Divinity, Divinity Cross. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Miss Andie Hawk."

Andie had almost processed the woman's name until she ran through the phrasing of her statement. Finally? Andie had only played the game for a day or two, how long could the woman have been waiting, maybe a few hours?

"Yeah, about all that. It's great to meet you too, but how long have you been trying to meet me?" Andie said without hesitation or much thought.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry for my choice of words as I had not intended to frighten you. I was hoping to make this a more welcoming encounter." Divinity replied.

Andie stared at the legs that were more of a distraction than she expected before lifting her gaze to meet Divinity's

"Wait, I'm not sure what is going on here. You're the one from the game? I mean, you're attractive and all, but how desperate do you think I am?" Andie paused while Divinity shifted in her chair, uncrossing and crossing her very long, slender, toned stocking clad legs again as the upholstery swallowed a bit more of the hem. Andie continued along. "I guess you assumed how desperate I might be since I was playing a dating app game and responded to your request. Of course, you think I'm that desperate." The mom tried to stifle her building laugh, and coughed to cover it a little. Andie continued along. "Wait, you're smiling. It's a very attractive smile, but why are you smiling? What's so funny? Am I being played here. I knew that something was wrong with all this, who put you up to this? This is just great, now what?"

As Andie prattled on, the mom couldn't hold in her laughter anymore, but regained her composure finally, returning to her stern expression.

"You're simply wonderful, Andie, don't let me unnerve you. I could sense something with the way you were chatting and playing the game. You're such a prize"

"I've never been called that before, a catch, sure, but a prize? And wait a minute, we haven't even chatted that much either." Andie paused, but could see she wasn't going to get what she wanted in response, so she pressed on. "So, what next then?" As Andie returned to her anxious state, staring down the mom as much as she could, but being unable to hold her gaze very long and being tormented by the line of her legs, still just sitting there, an occasional flick to the tip of the crossed over shoe tensing the calf muscles and tightening the cords along the leg. It was a controlled fidget that looked to be more deliberate like a lure being used to pull her in.

"A lot of that depends on you, of course." Replied Divinity, simply, her tone measured and relaxed.

"To be honest, while I think you're very attractive and all, I'm not sure I'm looking for a relationship with someone a bit older than me, or maybe more than a bit if I can assume." Andie said, sheepishly at her last statement, wondering if she had crossed a line.

"Oh, dear me again, please let me explain." Divinity started, uncrossing and crossing her legs again, but making no effort to restore herself to her initial state this time leaving her legs free to stare at Andie again. Andie's eyes ranged the entire stockinged landscape, again noticing just how fine the material was that clung tightly along the slopes. Even for regular stockings, she was used to the drugstore nylons with their mottled appearance of inconsistent color and density, but these were exquisite. "I simply want what is best for my daughter, and I thought the two of you would make good company so I decided to ask you here. To perhaps stay with us for a while as a companion to her."

"Stay? For a while?" Andie said in disbelief, almost willing herself up from the softest armchair she had ever inhabited, but the pull of the legs in front of her kept her glued in place. Resigning herself to the temporary loss of willpower, she continued. "Let me think this through a bit first. Say I decided to stay, what next then?"

"What next, yes." the mom said as if they were in the middle of a business deal about to go horribly wrong. "Very good question. Cissy, would you be so kind as to come in here, please?"

From beyond the slightly cracked open, heavy wooden door appeared a petite, in most places, girl dressed in all black, some of it lace, some of it knit stretched variably across body parts, and some denim. Andie hadn't heard the door crack open and had no idea how much of the conversation had been overheard.

"Good, you obeyed my request to dress nicely for our guest." the mom said.

"Demand." Cissy responded curtly, walking in around the door and greeting their guest with a shrug, staring through her as if inspecting the generic sculpture sitting in an odd shaped niche along the far wall.

"Hi?" Andie offered.

Cissy acknowledged Andie with another shrug as she sat down in an opposing chair almost dislocating an eye ball while they rolled dangerously close to the back of her skull. Andie smiled through the adrenaline that was starting to build in her again, this time with more purpose. The rest of the encounter should have pushed her over the edge, but for some reason Cissy's greeting was what really kicked her flight response into high gear. There was something about her, something almost familiar that raised some kind of internal alarm.