Crossings

Notes:

Sati (Setenaya) was a major character in Book 2 of this saga,

Cascade Fire

. Aphrodite is another of her many names.

Mari was the titular character in Book 1 of this saga,

Were-Tigress

.

We crossed the border into Tijuana, Mariano and me without ID, but Obi-Wan taught us well. The restaurant where we ate last night had another branch here and we sought it out amongst all the Chinese restaurants. It was just 2:30 PM and we'd already eaten two meals plus a nice snack, but who's counting when the food is this good? Mariano reacted to his pulque the same way he had last night.

"What's Gstaad?" Callie asked while Mariano was away. I filled her in on everything that happened with Morgan.

"I like her," Callie said, "she seems sweet, innocent and goodhearted like Taylor to say nothing of knockout beautiful and dynamite sexy, I know you've noticed at least that much about her, but I'm not sure about Grace ... I think she wants something she's not telling us, and knowing she has some sort of relationship with Sati is a huge red flag, even if they aren't friendly."

"It's weird that she seems so accepting of me," I said. "I would expect her, and Mike, to be more protective."

"That's another red flag," she said. "I also don't know how I feel about sharing you again."

I thought of Joanna, and Callie saw it in my face.

"You know I don't mean your wife," she said softly. I got up and came around the table to sit next to her, put my arm around her, kissed her. She lay her head on my shoulder.

"That dizzy business from Morgan's dessert is also weird," Callie said.

"I hadn't felt it since this morning," I said, "though that thing from when I first tasted the cognac in Mike's study has come back a few times, and seems to be getting stronger. I don't know if they're related."

Mariano returned, sat across from Callie. "Jess did something to me," he said. "I wasn't supposed to remember until it happened three times, and now it has. You saved my life, she saved it twice, and she's still doing it. I'm so grateful to have met all of you, and I'm so grateful you took me in."

We ordered a lot less food than last night ... we still had leftovers from Morgan's house, and now I was starting to wonder whether we would ever have a chance to eat them - everywhere we turned it seemed there was more delicious food. We skipped the carnitas and tortilla soup but Mariano ordered another bowl of chapulines, which Callie still couldn't bring herself to taste, and that reminded me of Morgan. Some things, especially the cotija, were even better than last night. At 3:45 we departed with another bag of leftovers and filled up on gasoline, which was a lot more expensive than the last time I'd been here 20 years ago.

The highway went past Tecate and Mexicali, never more than a few miles from the border, Mariano driving while I read through more of my grimoire, Callie sitting next to me in the back. The new pages visible to me weren't readable to her, though some pages I'd already understood and communicated knowledge of were. I would hand the book to her while I puzzled over one thing or another, deciphering maybe two more pages before Mariano turned south into farmland, the roads rapidly deteriorating. Callie had already made reservations for us to stay at a resort in Puerto Peñasco tonight and a house on the playa near Guaymas tomorrow. 40 miles of pitted roads past small farms and houses on land irrigated by what remained of the Colorado River, then into the Sonoran desert past what'd once been the river delta to the Gulf of California, the Sea of Cortez, desert the color of sand to the left and turquoise sea to the right, the beautiful sea and sky reminding me of Morgan's intense eyes. I was too distracted by the sights and experience of this new place to keep focused on my grimoire, but just as they had when I was still back home, these new experiences helped form connections in my mind as nature's mysteries slowly unveiled.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," I said. "I've read it many times and even repeated it myself, but I'm thinking Agatha Christie said it better 40 years earlier: 'The supernatural is only the natural of which the laws are not yet understood.'"

Callie smiled, said "Better late than never," and kissed me, which rapidly became us making out in the back seat.

"

¡Niños, No sean picaros!

" Mariano said, peering at us through the rear-view mirror, but he was smiling, and then he turned the mirror away.

Callie giggled, a sound I'd never heard from her before. "Not quite like in Morgan's Beemer, is it?"

"Hey, she got three in the past 24 hours ... you got *SIX*." We smiled at each other and for the first time since before the dark mage, Callie's smile lit up her entire face, the way it used to with me, part of the reason I fell in love with her in the first place. It made me so glad to see again.

We had sandwiches in the car for dinner, the ones Grace's chef made from last night's dinner, and they were wonderful. The sun set and we reached Puerto Peñasco as it was getting dark. The resort was as lovely as any resort should be, but the neighborhood was more varied - modest improvised homes just outside walls around lavish villas. Our resort was gated and had high walls all around. Nearly everyone we saw inside who wasn't wearing a uniform was light-skinned, well-coiffed, and spoke English.

"I thought this was *MY* country," Mariano muttered. "Who let all these gringos in?"

"Where's a good place in the neighborhood for breakfast?" I asked the concierge, and as he started to answer, I added "where the locals eat, not the tourists." He had darker skin like Mariano, who'd come over to stand beside me, listening. He and the concierge shared a glance, Mariano nodding to him.

"I know a place," the concierge said, smiling, and wrote an address in the margin of a brochure for an upscale cantina.

Callie had reserved us a nice two-bedroom suite and we let a porter carry our bags, not that we had much. The suite didn't include a washer and dryer, so I asked the maid who'd accompanied us to wash my bundle of clothing from Morgan's car.

"They're a bit messy," I said.

"We'll take care of it, señor," she said.

"Join me on the deck?" I asked Callie and Mariano after the porter and maid departed. "It's elixir night." We each brought swimsuits and I brought the bottle, which we got charged corkage for, but they provided shot glasses. They didn't have pulque.

"By the pool," Mariano said, his voice somewhat distant. Our resort was not waterfront ... it was three blocks away and about 1/4 the price. He found a chaise next to a little table, stuffed a napkin into his pants, and sat down.

"What is this drink?" he asked.

"We got it from Sati," I said. "I don't actually know what's in it but it's the most delicious liquid I've ever tasted, and it has certain ... health benefits."

"Forgive me for asking, but I'm learning to be careful," he said. "Jess taught me that."

"Do you want to tell us?" Callie asked, gently.

"I think you know some already," he said, "I only learned the rest in Tijuana ... Jess made sure I wouldn't remember until this ... thing happened three times. It's the same as in the dark man's basement ... I get all sweaty and I feel her hands on me and then I ... fountain, and his curse gets pushed away for a few hours. Pulque might work better than tequila, but I don't think it'll be permanent, either." It looked like he wanted to say something else, but also didn't want to.

"Is there more?" Callie asked.

"Sí," he said, sighing. "I'm not allowed to have sex with anyone until I'm cured, and I'm not allowed to ... touch myself. I thought about trying, but whenever Jess has told me I couldn't do something, I haven't been able to whether I wanted it or not even when she told me to try my best, so it's easier this way."

"Sneaky little minx," Callie said, shaking her head in admiration. "She put a geas on you. I do so love that girl."

I poured us each a shot. "To Jess," I said, raising my glass, then filled my mouth, focused on making sense of the taste, which was as incredible as always. When Mariano took his own drink I could tell something was happening ... he started trembling, got a big bulge in his pants, and then groaned, almost like he was in pain, but we could both feel what was going on inside him and pain had little to do with it. He didn't try to get up. His trembles turned to spasms, his hands gripping tight to the arms of his lounger, he groaned and then he was coming in his pants, hard, really hard, so hard he ... blacked out. Callie and I looked at each other. He was breathing, his body still trembling, and he felt better inside than since I first met him. Callie put her hand on his arm.

"Mariano," she said softly, "are you OK?" I was looking around to see if anyone else noticed, but at this hour the pool was deserted. It was another 45 seconds before he stirred.

"Madre de Dios," he whispered.

"Are you OK?" Callie asked him.

"I'm a mess," he said, "but I feel better. What was in that drink again?"

"Sati wouldn't say," I said.

"I never asked," Callie said.

"Good thing we brought swimsuits," I said, "but I really don't want to make this a habit." I walked with Mariano to the restroom and he cleaned himself in a stall, then came out wearing his swimsuit. I'd changed into mine, and when we emerged I saw that Callie had changed into hers, a one-piece that admirably complemented her athletic figure. I'd never seen her wear it before, and of course she looked wonderful. I sat with her.

"We can go swimming another time," she said. "It's getting late and we have another full day of driving tomorrow, plus I have another idea what to do tonight."

"We're going back to the room," I said to Mariano.

"Good," Mariano said. "Mexican kids don't swim. I never learned."

"Do you want to learn?" Callie asked.

"Not tonight," he said. "Maybe another time? I think you have other priorities." He winked at her, grinning, and she got up and hugged him.

Our suite had two bedrooms, each with its own full bath, a family area between with a small kitchen, table and chairs, TV, comfy sofas. Callie and I went to our bathroom door together.

"You first," she said, motioning to the large shower, joining me a few minutes later. I was already soapy.

"Brrr ..." she said, and turned the temperature up.

"Ouch," I said. "I guess you like it hot." She had her back to the water, her hands on me, soaping me up more, especially around my still-shaven groin, then she stepped into me and washed my back from in front of me, pressing herself close, which of course made me hard as hell. I began soaping her up, too.

"No coming in here," she said. "This is just for warmsies."

I lifted her from her wonderful ass, our soapy bodies slippery against each other, raised her up and lowered her until I was inside - it was so much easier with my augmented body, I was still trying to figure out what I was capable of, but it seemed to be a lot. She was already plenty wet. She wrapped her gorgeous long legs around me and moved herself up and down.

"Well, maybe I get to come, but you don't," she said. "Now hold still." And between my support and her moving up and down on me, she worked herself into a real lather, eventually pressing herself down onto me the way she loves, and of course I love it too.

"I love you, Bob," she said, gasping, her eyes deep in mine, then came, shuddering and moaning, her head moving to my shoulder as she worked herself harder. Eventually I lifted her off my still-hard self and we cleaned up that much more. She stayed longer to wash her beautiful long hair and told me not to come back in because she had a surprise for me. I dried off and went to our bedroom. She'd set out some candles and I lit them. I heard a hairdryer running in the bathroom. The candles were bright enough that I turned off the lights. I got into bed and under the covers, going to her side of the bed first because Joanna likes to get into a warm bed, and I figured Callie did, too. Time passed and I was starting to nod off. Eventually the door opened. Callie was wearing the same thigh-high hose with crotchless panties and garter that Morgan offered her last night, the same kind of barely-there heels Morgan wore herself, and a sort of sheer half-bra that supported her breasts without covering much. Her breasts looked bigger,

much

bigger. She had long fingernails, red lipstick and nail polish, longer wavy teased hair, and what looked like a ruby in her navel, basically Callie had figured out every fantasy I'd ever had about a woman and made them all come true. She closed the door behind her and fondled the doorknob between long fingers and nails. I started getting out of bed, but she pointed at me with one long-nailed finger.

I froze. I could feel her magic coursing through me, and I could choose to fight it, but honestly, if something like this ever happened to you, would *you* fight it? She walked over to the bed, a little unsteadily ... Morgan might be used to heels like these but I'd never seen Callie wear anything like them, and while she had a considerable natural grace, they were probably as precarious as they looked. In those heels she was over six feet tall, and those long, graceful, shapely legs I already loved looked even longer and more amazing than ever. She looked down at me, smiling, my cock tenting the covers, then sat down next to me, languorously, teasing me with her motion. She drew the covers away and rested her hand on my stomach, almost but not quite brushing my cock, those long nails pumping me like a cat.

"You don't get to move," she said softly. "You don't get to talk, you don't get to do anything at all unless I tell you to, and when I tell you to do something, or even motion it, you will do it immediately, without thinking. Do you understand?

"Yes mistress," I said. Wait, where had that come from?

"Yes, goddess," she said, digging her nails in. They were sharp, and it hurt.

"Yes goddess," I agreed, wincing.

"I own you, slave," she said.

"Yes, goddess."

"I've changed a few things about myself, and you're going to like them," she said.

"Yes, goddess."

"Don't interrupt," she said, digging her nails in again. I wanted to reply but now I couldn't.

"Good slave," she said, and I felt a wave of pleasure flow through me. "I'm stronger now, even stronger than you. You are helpless to my will. Tell me you're my good slave."

"I'm your good slave, goddess," I said. She crooked one long-nailed finger at me and my body sat up. She raised her finger and I got out of bed while she sat down, legs apart, she moved her finger and I followed it until I was standing in front of her. She pointed down and I sank to my knees.

"Adore me, my sweet slave," she said, and I crept closer. She put a leg over one of my shoulders and leaned in, clutching me to her. I focused on her pleasure through her crotchless panties, using everything I'd ever learned, everything I knew she loved best. "Mmmmmmmmm," she crooned. She'd been lubricated before, but I could feel more trickling over my tongue now, tangy and fragrant. She ground herself into me, her heel jabbing into the middle of my back, her sounds coming closer and louder, tracking the excitement I could feel growing within her. Her clitoris hardened, her hands moved to rest on my shoulders, squeezing, soft and strong, so strong. I sucked her clit between my lips.

"AHHHHHHHH!" she shouted, convulsing, and a rush of euphoric disorientation swept over me. My eyes were open but there was no longer anything I could focus on, as if the room was flowing around me, nothing to make sense of but flowing colors, gentle motion, and her sex, me lapping and licking and pulsing until she removed her leg from my shoulder and pushed me away.

Her breathing slowed. She smiled at me, relaxed, content.

"You are so good, slave," she said. Pleasure and spinning desire surged at the unexpected praise.

"Thank you Goddess," I whispered.

"Soon, you will cum inside Me," she said, "harder than you've ever cum before, and you will cum repeatedly, ecstatically, continuously. I will tell you when to begin cumming, and from now on any time I tell you to cum you will do so instantly, helplessly. You will build to an orgasm so great that it will make the rest of your life seem meaningless. Your cum will fuel my growing power, and as you give it freely and blissfully, you will rejoice to know that I am happy with you as I receive it. I will force all the cum from your body into mine, and when you have none left to give and you've cum and cum long beyond and I've finally instructed your orgasm to End, you will sleep and eat and regain your strength until I want more. Stand." She snapped her fingers and I felt the jolt and stood.

"Tell Me you will serve Me joyfully, no matter what I ask."

"I will serve you joyfully, Goddess, no matter what you ask," I heard myself say.

"Tell Me again." [SNAP] The tips of her sharp nails rested against my balls.

"I serve you joyfully, my Goddess, no matter what you ask." Pleasure surged through me.

"Again." [SNAP] She pinched Her nails together, just a little. A flush of pleasure followed.

Uhnh. "I serve you joyfully ... my Goddess, no matter ... what you ... ask."

"Goooood," she said, pinching tighter, and even through my fog of growing pain and tumbling ecstasy, the approval I heard in her voice triggered yet another massive wave of pleasure.

"You're becoming so conditioned," [PINCH and SNAP]

"So responsive," [PINCH and SNAP]

"So compliant," [PINCH and SNAP]

"So ready to submit." [PINCH and SNAP]

"Tell Me." [SNAP]

"Oh Goddess, yes, whatever you wish," a voice that sounded like mine said between gasps.

She pushed me back a step and stood before me, still three inches shorter even in those heels.

"You will feel my nails dig into your balls, again and again, even as my hands explore your chest, your back, your ass, your cock, controlling everything they touch, more and more, creating acceptance, submission, joy no matter what pain or pleasure your body feels. You are my pet, my puppet, My slave. And you want this so much, to serve my perfect form, my perfect desires, My perfect purpose." She wrapped her hand around my cock, aching, wanting, helplessly engorged. I floated in swirling fog, shivering, trembling, quaking, void.

She reached behind my neck and pulled me closer, thrust her tongue into my mouth, squeezed my cock, dragged long sharp nails slowly down my back and ass while I continued to feel them dig into my balls. Then she let go my cock and took one of my nipples between two perfect nails, pulsing it gently between sharp tips, my knees almost buckling, the perfect pain and waves of divine pleasure taking me that much further into Her control.

"You will feel My nails pinch your nipple, both your nipples, again and again, even as My hands continue to explore your body, controlling everything they touch, deeper and deeper." She hooked Her leg behind mine, raised herself on me, engulfed my cock with flawless precision into Her perfectly hot wet sex. Squeezing, squeezing me. Harder. Harder. So painfully hard, waves of ecstatic divine pleasurable pain washing over me. Then it was as if Her perfect pussy began pulsing around me. I cried out, again and again.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Godddddddddddessssssssssssssss," I managed to moan across several breaths.

"I will count down from 3," She whispered, low and sensuous, every syllable, every intonation tuning my entire nervous system to the perfect pleasure of Her perfect voice. Nibbling my earlobes, another assault on senses already far beyond overload, Her perfect pussy continuing its irresistible conquest of my cock, Her perfect hands brushing agonizing pleasure across my back and shoulders and ass, again and again and again, Her perfect phantom nails pinching my balls and nipples, again and again and again, me supporting her weight from under her bubblicious bottom just as I had in the shower as she slowly, slowly, slid up and down my shaft, squeezing me.