Note – This story was originally part of CHYOO, an interactive fiction site affiliated with literotica.com. Unfortunately, the story was lost under unknown circumstances. Since it would be a monumental effort to replace the story on CHYOO, I have decided to re-write it here in non-interactive form.
Incidentally, there are three things you won't see in this story: Penises, toys, and anal sex. That's just how my tastes run, and if yours are similar, then you've found a story you'll enjoy!
CHAPTER ONE: Viva Las Vegas
It was on a business trip to Vegas that my life changed forever. Sure, a few people have life-changing events on a trip to the Neon Empire, but rest assured that mine is fairly unique in the city's history. The big payout on the slot machine is only a footnote in my tale.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Victoria Brown, and at the start of this story I was pretty low on life. I started out on the wrong foot in modeling, which is not a good foot to start on in a fiercely competitive field. I had the physical attributes for it; I've been fortunate enough to combine traits from my Arabic, Italian, and Swedish ancestries into a unique look that gives me naturally wavy black hair, bright blue eyes, and a smooth complexion that requires little in the way of embellishment. Unfortunately, I had the misfortune to hook up with a crooked photographer who not only conned me out of about $5,000 for a piss-poor portfolio, but who also snapped some shots of me changing in his dressing room and posted them on his hidden-camera internet site. Maybe I could have rebounded, but frankly I was disillusioned with the whole concept.
So, with nothing else to fall back on, I became a secretary. It's steady work for decent pay, but my boss is a predatory bitch and my co-workers either leer at me all day or turn up their noses with jealousy, depending on their gender. Good looks are a mixed blessing. Add to these difficulties the fact that the only apartment I could afford in L.A. is an overflow from the college dorms, with all the associated noise problems, and a breakup with a fiancé who I discovered was holding veritable orgies at various hotel suites while pretending to be on business trips, and one can see why I might have been a teensy bit unhappy with my life. At the age of 24, I was cynical, depressed, ad seriously considering becoming an alcoholic.
So leads up to that trip to Vegas. The previously mentioned predatory bitch, Lisa Hayes, had asked me to accompany her to a conference for the first time and I was naïve enough to think that it might be a good thing (which, to be fair, it turned out to be, but not for any of the reasons I might have guessed). I saw myself at her side during meetings with important business figures, mingling with the rich and successful, making the suggestion that turned a deal around and impressed the hell out of everyone present – the standard cliché of the secretary who makes good. The reality was a far cry. Ms. Hayes was hard enough to please in the office, but she proved impossible on the road. No report I gave her was complete, no call was made quickly enough, and when I tried to take some initiative I was reprimanded for "thinking too much". By the third day of the trip, I was ready to walk out and get a job as a cocktail waitress in one of the casinos.
Fortunately, it was on that third day that Ms. Hayes received an unexpected invitation to a formal dinner, and I was left alone for the first time. I hadn't had the opportunity until that moment to explore the Strip, and thought that I probably should. With fifty dollars in gambling funds in my pocket, I started at the Stratosphere and began making my way down the strip toward the Luxor. By the time I made it to the black pyramid, I had ten dollars left, which I dropped into a single high-payoff slot machine.
A thousand dollars dropped out!
For the next hour I visited the tables and worked my winnings, drinking fine wine and living in the moment. Sure, it wasn't very responsible of me, but the lure of Vegas is irresistible sometimes. And to my continued good fortune, I actually continued my winning streak. By the time I was through for the night, I was no less than fifteen hundred dollars ahead!
The thing that was to change my life, though, hadn't actually happened yet.
I immediately upgraded my economy room to a suite, and spent the next hour luxuriating in the Jacuzzi. Unfortunately, I knew my relief from tension was short-lived. The next day it would be back to the grind with work, the stress of dealing with Lisa Hayes, and though I was a little richer for the experience it still didn't change the fact that my job, and my life, were going nowhere. That's not to say that nothing ever would change that fact, though, as I found out when I emerged from the bath.
The room had a small personal safe, into which I decided to place my remaining winnings. Upon opening the safe, I discovered that the room's previous occupant had left something behind. It was a red velvet jewelry case, heavy and obviously holding something of value. I went to the phone to call the front desk and report it, but for some reason I couldn't take the action of lifting the receiver and making the call. Instead, I opened the case.
Inside was a necklace. The chain and amulet were made of a dark, lustrous gray metal, smooth and shiny, heavy to the feel. The amulet itself was of an unusual design: a pair of circles interlocked, with crosses underneath, and at the center of each circle was a large, dark red ruby. It felt warm in my hand.
The chain had no clasp, but was large enough to slip over my head. I had almost done so before I stopped myself. This thing wasn't mine, after all. It had been left by whoever had previously used the room. For some reason, though, I couldn't shake the urge to put it on, wear it, admire myself in the mirror.
I placed the necklace on the bed and removed my clothes (why? I couldn't have answered that at the time). Once I was completely naked, I picked up the amulet and walked to the mirrored wall at one side of the bedroom, looking at my own reflection. Ever since my failed start at modeling, I had let myself go a bit. My waist had softened, my skin tone had dropped a bit, my hair and makeup no longer professional grade. In addition, I was tired from a long day, and my underwire bra had left some unattractive marks on my skin. I can't say I was entirely happy with what I saw in the mirror, even though objectively speaking there was nothing really wrong with me.
I held the necklace up in front of me, watching how the rubies caught the light and twinkled in my eyes. For a disconcerting moment, I felt like it was looking back at me. Slowly, as if aware that I was making a bigger choice than just trying on a necklace, I slipped it over my head and let it rest just above and between my breasts.
A warm shiver ran through me. I closed my eyes and moaned in response to an almost orgasmic pleasure, a tingle that started where the amulet touched me and spread over my skin to the tips of my fingers and toes. The feeling was like being immersed in a pool of warm seltzer, relaxing and invigorating at the same time. My body felt as though it were floating off the ground and glowing with a warm, red light.
I opened my eyes, and beheld a transformation.
It was still me in the mirror, but I had never seen myself in such a way. My eyes had brightened, my hair luminous and flowing. The minor blemishes on my skin had vanished utterly. My breasts, which had always been a bit too large to avoid sagging, were suddenly supporting themselves in utter defiance of gravity. They had even enlarged a bit, and my nipples had hardened into dark red peaks over half an inch long and perhaps three inches wide.
My body had toned, leaving me with visible abs and wonderfully defined legs, which had also gone silky smooth despite my not having shaved in three days. I looked at my hands, and saw that the paper cuts inevitable to a secretary had vanished, and my nails looked professionally manicured. Looking back in the mirror, I saw that my eyelashes had lengthened, my cheekbones had raised just slightly, and my lips had become full, red, and shining wet of their own accord.
I had, in short, become my own idealized version of myself.
The amulet had done this; of that there was no question. Its rubies glowed briefly as I watched, then faded to reflect only the light of the room.
* * * * *
All my exhaustion had fled. I felt not like someone who had just finished a long and active day, but one who had just awakened from a twelve-hour sleep. I couldn't stay in the room; I had to get out. I actually came close to walking out nude before I realized that it would probably be a good idea to dress.
I had brought a formal red dress along, on the off chance that I might actually need such a thing, and I pulled it on quickly. My new breasts needed no support, and so for the first time in ten years I tossed the bra aside. My three-inch heels actually felt comfortable on my feet. I sat down to apply some makeup, but quickly realized that I didn't need any, nor did my hair require so much as a brushing.
