Special thanks to a reader who came up with the nightmare scenario and to Spirit02 for his editing.
~~~
A year had passed since the confrontation with Esmeralda, the Mistress of the Ring of Truth; she had been handily defeated and put into servitude by John Smith, Master of the Ring of Power. Although his power continued to grow, so too did his wisdom. He found himself only occasionally yielding to the foolishness of youth. And with his ever-growing legion of agents he was no longer being threatened, so he set his vast resources upon trying to find the remaining two rings and their masters/mistresses.
His agent corps had doubled in size and was still growing, as too was his strength, which was growing exponentially. He dispatched his agents throughout the world, with instructions to keep a low profile but to watch and report. Discipline was never an issue, but a handful of agents seemed to get a little overzealous and too enthusiastic from time to time, which required one of his lieutenants to investigate and instruct. That duty usually fell upon Chance, Dennis or Elizabeth.
The most important of John's rules is to do nothing to draw attention to yourself or your actions. And although this was preached over and over in the indoctrination classes, every so often new agents made the mistake of being too visible with their mind control ability, allowing it to be witnessed. One common blunder was attempting to seduce the partner, mate or lover while their partner was in the same room. Occasionally, rookie agents might have their target do something so out of character that a friend or acquaintance may question it, such as having the person strip naked in front of a group, or perform oral ministrations in public.
This was usually due to laziness on the agent's part: how hard would it be to have them meet in another room? This type of error in judgment usually had the offending agent pulled from the field and reevaluated. These incidents were rare, but dangerous, and were taken very seriously.
John Smith's net worth was now by all accounts a billion dollars. Reading minds made making smart investments simple. He opened an office in Mountain View where his administration staff kept track of his many philanthropic projects and managed his money and the day-to-day operations of his agents. Although they were like independent contractors rather than employees, he kept files and such for tax purposes.
Dinah Cohen left her law firm and became an employee of
John Smith Enterprises (JSE)
. Her job was to make sure that all legal matters were anticipated and dealt with; if she had time she could work a few cases of her own, but JSE would always come first.
April Martin was the CEO of JSE. Although it kept her very busy, she made time to work on her PhD and would be defending her dissertation in the fall. Dinah still kept her distance and the two rarely spoke, even by phone.
April had been spending the last couple weeks with her mom and sleeping in the guest room as her old bedroom had been taken over by her mother's two wards, Linda and Esme. They were the two bimbofied former mistresses who had accepted their new roles and become good producers. They too kept their distance; Candace seemed to have taken to ruling the bimbos John had converted. April wondered if it had anything to do with her maternal instincts or simply her need to be in charge.
It was then that April began to have the nightmares. At first it was just a few sleepless nights, then troublesome dreams that she never remembered. John was reluctant to coax her to remember them, and didn't want to mess around in her head more than was necessary, worried that he'd caused the harm.
John began traveling extensively and was gone for days at a time. Finding the last two masters or mistresses of the rings was becoming an obsession, April had told him. She may be right, John admitted. April decided that she'd rather spend time with her mother than stay in the big mansion alone.
In that same year Chance took his high school basketball team to the state championships where they won their division. The coach remained in the shadows insisting that it was his athlete's concentration, discipline, and dedication to their sport that made the difference. His starting five were all seniors and were going to good colleges with excellent basketball programs. He would have to start all over again next year with new starters; Chance was looking forward to the challenge.
~~~
It was a long bus ride from Oakland to Los Angeles; the bus schedule said that it would take more than ten hours. Greyhound Bus Lines at one time was the only way to travel. At least, that was what their advertising campaigns used to tout, "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us." That was then.
Today, it is the preferred mode of travel for the people who are afraid of flying, but mostly for those that can't afford to fly. Translation; mostly the poor use this mode of transportation. Those afraid of flying drive or hire limos.
The driver of bus 357 was a no nonsense guy named Gus. He was large white man who looked like he could have made a good living as a hitman for the syndicate, and one look from him kept anyone thinking of hijinks in line. A skinny black kid seemed to have his head on a swivel as he watched anyone and everyone board and take their seats on the clean well-worn bus. It was three quarters full. The clientele were mostly black and Latino, but there were also several Asians, a few Middle Eastern types, a couple of Indians or Pakistanis, and a handful of Caucasians.
As the bus began its journey and the passengers relaxed in their seats he began to read the thoughts of everyone on board. Many were headed south in search of a better life while others were traveling to visit friends and family. As the bus traveled down Interstate 5 towards Los Angeles its passengers amused themselves with video games, texting on their phones, snapping pictures and posting them on Facebook, reading, or sleeping.
There was so much uncertainty in many of their plans, he noted. Most were barely making it, despite being honest and hardworking; others simply lacked the opportunity and the education. A few were simply lazy and looking for an easy way out. For those who thought that way he went into their minds looking for something to motivate them. Once found, he easily changed their thinking and suddenly they were ambitious and imagining ways they could help themselves get ahead honestly.
All would find that the meager amount of cash they had in their wallets and purses had miraculously doubled. And for others with job interviews pending, he implanted them with code phrases which when spoken would activate in the interviewers' minds to regard them more favorably, not assuring them the job, but increasing their chances by as much as eighty percent.
As they made their thirty minute layover in Bakersfield, which was conveniently located next to a popular fast-food chain, they were taken aback when two of its employees approached the bus to take their orders, explaining that it was their lucky day; some philanthropist had already paid for their meals and they could order whatever they wanted. Cheers rang out throughout the bus. Surprisingly, no one over-ordered and when the travelers attempted to tip the employees they were turned down; all the employees had been already been well compensated.
Needless to say all were in great spirits as they returned to their seats, wondering who could be their patron and why he/she would do such a nice thing and yet choose to remain anonymous. The skinny black kid was still munching on his French fries and sipping his soda when the bus resumed its trek southward, smiling as he chewed.
~~~
April started tossing and turning in her bed, dreaming. In her dream she was with John in her room and he was thrusting with gusto in and out of her pussy while playing with her breasts and nibbling her neck.
She closed her eyes, loving the feeling. She felt John harden even further as a prelude to his climax and she began moaning. It was then that, instead of John's familiar grunting, she heard the heavenly moans of another woman, which caused to open her eyes in a panic. She found herself staring into her room's full length mirror and seeing the face of the woman she had been transformed into and trapped inside of over a year ago. Her attention was diverted when another feminine moan of ecstasy echoed, this one different to the last.
She looked down and saw that her nipples were pierced with gold barbells. Looking past them, she saw she was wearing a strap-on dildo and pummeling it into a woman's pussy. There was no specific woman; it kept morphing from one woman to the next. It was from a larger African-American woman, then a skinny petite Asian woman, she saw a couple of her high school girlfriends, Elizabeth, and even her mother. April was freaked out by this, but the final straw was when her mother moaned to her, "Oh baby, that's the spot. I've never felt this good before. Keep going!"
April's moaning and groaning had become so loud that it woke her mother Candace even though she was in the bedroom across the hall. Candace's first thought was, "I'd love to be dreaming about what she is right now." She quickly became concerned when April started to whimper and whine. When April began to scream, Candace raced from her room to investigate. After turning the light on she saw her little girl sitting upright in her bed, sweat pouring off her face, panting as if she'd only barely escaped some sort of terrible tragedy.
She tried to comfort her, "April honey, what's the matter?" All April did was whimper and struggle out of her mother's tender grasp, and snapped at her saying, "Just leave me alone. A monster like me doesn't deserve to be around you. How could I even think of doing that to you?"
Candace tentatively backed out of the room. She and John had discussed this possibility; she moved quickly to her phone. Pulling it from the charger she thumbed her favorites and auto dialed John's number. She heard a sleepy voice that didn't quite sound like John, but he answered. "Candace, what's up?"
Candace words were terrifying, "John, something's wrong with April!"
With those dreadful words ringing in his ears, fully awake now, John looked around at the bus. Most of the occupants were asleep. A few were reading or playing with their electronics. No one paid any attention to the skinny black kid sitting two thirds of the way back on the left side of the bus.
