Masquerade

"Miss Arneson, what exactly do you want?" Pierre snapped irritably, turning to glare at this woman, his nemesis, who had been hounding him so lately, taking so much energy away from his real interests-- his real *work*-- which no-one must ever learn of. Protecting his secret was taking so much effort now; she was getting too close.

Jane smiled... a predatory, lazily triumphant smile. She kept finding that there were crossovers between real-world skills and things she did in this live-action roleplaying game; and she only hoped that, when she got the chance to do serious interviews as a journalist, that getting people rattled until they made revealing mistakes would be this much fun. Not that, in real life, either of them was actually a vampire with mystical magical secret powers fueled by their vampire blood or whatever. There were plenty of elements of the game that were pure fantasy. But a lot of the social maneuvering would work pretty much the same in real life. Knowing it was a game just let them be a little bit more uninhibited about it.

Now she had him. Her character, Lily Arneson, was about to get the goods on Pierre Sacremont, an annoyingly mysterious artist whose secret project was the subject of a lot of rumors, some of which sounded as if they might seriously interfere with her plans. The other player, Paul, was normally very careful about never meeting her gaze; but she had rattled him, and he'd forgotten and looked straight at her, and now she could use her Dominate power on him.

"I want you to keep looking into my eyes," she said, smiling even more, and holding a fist out to the side on top of her outstretched palm, to signal she was ready to resolve her character's attempt to mentally Dominate his with a round of rock-scissors-paper.

"Damn it," Paul muttered under his breath, and she winked at him. He stuck out his tongue, but couldn't suppress a momentary smile. Jane was relentless and annoying, and they butted heads both in and out of game; but her "I'm beating you" grin *was* pretty sexy.

They threw their signs, and both briefly looked to the side to see them. Paul sighed, and looked back into her eyes. "Good ol' rock..." he muttered, relaxing his hand out of the "scissors" peace-sign shape and putting it down by his side.

"Nothin' beats rock!" Jane agreed brightly, opening her closed "rock" fist and wiggling the fingers at him as if mesmerizing him with waves of magic power from her mind.

Flushed with delight at her success after... really quite a lot of social maneuvering to get to this point-- Paul had been pretty canny up till now-- Jane decided to play the scene for all it was worth. Still holding his gaze, she backed towards a couch. "Now. Let's have a seat and get to know each other a bit better, shall we?"

By the time they reached the couch, Jane knew how she wanted to play it. Just the night before she'd been looking at some websites her roommate had bookmarked about hypnosis; and while they'd been aimed at somewhat naughtier uses, she thought she could imitate the basic style of the patter.

"Have a seat with me, Pierre, and keep looking into my eyes, that's right. It's such a relief to finally sit down with you and just relax, after all this tedious, tiring, dancing around we've been doing, don't you agree? It takes so much effort to be so careful, all the time, and it's such a relief to finally be able to let that go, to have it over with, and settled, and not to have to think about that any more. You've been thinking so hard, for so long, and it's so lovely to stop thinking for a while, isn't it? You can just let me lead you for while, and that's such a relief, knowing this is where you were coming all along but you were fighting it, resisting it, and it feels so good to put down that burden and just give in, now, doesn't it." She nodded almost imperceptibly at this, and saw him faintly nodding back.

"And as you keep looking deeper into my eyes, now, you can imagine walking down a flight of marble stairs, down into a dark, silent, peaceful crypt where you can finally rest, let go, and give in to deep, deep trance. Deeper into my eyes, into my control, with every step, and you will count them with me now. There are ten steps, and this is one: deeper and deeper into trance."

"One..." he breathed in return.

"That's right. Step down the next one now: two. Just letting all your defenses go."

"Two..."

"Very good. Now three, sinking even deeper."

"Three..."

"Four. Leaving your mind in my care."

"Four..."

"Five. Just following my words."

"Five..."

"Six. Following and obeying."

"Six..."

"Seven. Deeper and more obedient."

"Seven..."

"Eight. Knowing that you are in my power now."

"Eight..."

"Nine. Feeling the last traces of resistance leave you."

"Nine..."

"That's right. And, ten. Completely under my control."

"Ten..."

"Yes. Tell me that you are completely under my control."

"I am completely under your control."

"Very, very good. Now, Pierre..." Jane leaned forward until her lips were *almost* touching Paul's. "Tell me *all* of your secrets."

Jane listened attentively as Paul told her about Pierre's secret project... which wasn't really very directly useful to Lily Arneson, but it was a bit scandalous and she could surely use that somehow. Most of the rumors she'd heard about it were pure speculation, and really she wouldn't have gone after Pierre nearly so strongly if she'd known this was all he was up to.

But, Paul was *awfully* cute as a mind-controlled zombie. He kept that perfectly blank look on his face the whole time, he was really getting into this. Jane started to see what her roommate found so hot about the idea of hypnosis.

What if he really were hypnotized?

At first it was just an idle thought. But as time went on and Paul stayed so *perfectly* in character-- not even cracking a smile-- Jane started to wonder if maybe it were actually true. Maybe she *had* hypnotized him! She started to try to think of ways to find out.

"That's very, very good, Pierre. You feel so good about telling me all of your secrets. And now, when I touch your forehead, you will feel every thought and idea vanish completely from your mind, leaving you blank, empty , and open. Now." Jane leaned forward and touched a finger to the center of Paul's forehead. He stared blankly back at her.

"Every time you feel me touch the center of your forehead, you will return to this state, and any thoughts that may have begun to form in your mind will dissipate and vanish. Do you understand?"

"Yes..." he replied quietly.

"How do you feel about this command?"

The moment his lips began to move to answer her, she tapped the center of his forehead, and a slow confused look spread over his face.

"Deeper and deeper," she said. "So completely obedient."

His features settled a bit.

"How do you feel about obeying me?" she asked.

Again, as he began to answer, she reached forward and touched his brow. He once again looked vaguely confused.

"You must obey me. Say it."

"I must obey you," he replied, looking almost relieved.

"That's right. Now, in a moment, I'm going to wake you up. But after I do, whenever I say 'look into my eyes,' you're going to look into my eyes immediately, do you understand? It's going to happen before you think about it, and you won't be able to stop yourself."

"Yes..."

"Yes. Now, you will wake up when I snap my fingers... remembering this as a perfectly normal conversation that you feel good about. One, two, three." She snapped her fingers, and Paul blinked.

"*So* good to finally have a chance to really talk with you, Pierre. I do appreciate your candor." Jane stood up, and started walking to the door.

"Um... yes. You too," Paul replied, haltingly. He stood up also, looking around the room.

"Oh, actually, you know, there was one other thing I was curious about," Jane said casually, turning back towards Paul. He raised an eyebrow, but continued looking around as if he'd misplaced something.

Jane stepped back towards him, taking a large, ornate ring out of her handbag, and setting it on the table in front of Paul. He looked at it, as she'd intended.

"Look into my eyes," she said firmly. Paul immediately looked up at her, with an air of surprise.

She leaned forward and tapped the center of his forehead.

All the focus went out of his eyes.

"*Good*. So very good. Deeper... and deeper... and deeper. That's right. And just sit right back down on the couch again, letting me guide your body... that's right." She took his arm and led him back to his seat.

What to do with him now?

Looking at her blank, mindless... completely edible prey, thinking a little like Lily and a little like those websites her roommate liked so much, an idea came to her, and she laughed. Paul continued to stare, expressionlessly, and she laughed more.

Jane reached into her purse and took out three small red squares of paper.

"Now. In a moment, I am going to wake you up again. And you are going to drink my blood, three times."

He didn't so much as breathe quickly at that. He was completely gone.

"As you know, this will bind you to me... forever. With each drink, your emotions will bend more and more towards me, until with the third taste of my blood, I will become the most important thing in the world to you. You know this will happen, but you will be unable to stop yourself, because you must obey me."

"I must obey you..." Paul replied faintly.

"That's right. And Paul, although you know this is a game, you will find that your emotions are responding just like Pierre's. This will help you get into your role. You will forget that I told you this, Paul, but as you tear each of these pieces of paper that represent drinks of my blood, you will *feel* the change in your emotions towards me, no matter what you think you want. Do you understand?"

"Yes..."

"But just to make it extra fun, you're going to start off feeling every bit of annoyance you've ever felt towards me. I'm your nemesis, and you know I have it in for you. You hate me. But you can't stop yourself from drinking my blood, because you must obey me."

"I must obey you..."

"That's right. And your emotions will remember *just* how to respond, but you can forget..." she tapped Paul in the forehead, and his eyes unfocused even more.

"And one, two, three, awake." She snapped her fingers.

"Huh," said Paul.

"I do so love our little chats. I hope you'll consider my offer. And, of course, put in a good word for me with your friends."

Paul shook his head, as if trying to clear the cobwebs. He scowled. "Not very likely. Are we finished here? You are welcome to see yourself out."

"Oh, absolutely." Jane got up and headed towards the door again. Then she turned. "There's just one more thing..." She pointed towards the three squares of red paper on the table. "Take a drink of my blood."

Paul looked at the table, then up at her, the distaste growing even stronger on his face. "Sure, of *course* I'm going to blood-bond myself to you." He picked up one of the squares. "I'd say something here about unpleasant things I'd sooner kiss, but I'm sure you can use your imagination." He tore the square of paper, then looked at it in surprise.

Jane smiled at him. It was *almost* worth losing to her, just to get to see that sexy triumphant grin of hers. Maybe it was just that he had to look at her mouth to avoid looking into her eyes and letting her character get a chance to Dominate him. He wasn't going to let that happen again.

He briefly wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips, but he couldn't imagine a situation in which either of them would actually go for that unless they were both very drunk.

"Now you've had your fun. I trust you'll be going?"

"First, look into my eyes."

His surprised eyes were right there, looking straight into hers. She laughed, held his gaze for a moment, then deliberately looked away, laughing more. "Now take another drink of my blood."

"You've got to be the crazy bitch you've always acted like if you think I'm going to drink this one," Paul said, picking up the second square of red paper. "That would give you just a *bit* too much leverage."

He tore the square, and once again looked down at it in surprise.

"Yes, it would, wouldn't it?" Jane nearly purred.

Pierre began to realize... and Paul began to realize... just how much trouble he was in. He stood up and began backing away.

"You'd better take that last one with you," Jane said. Paul picked up the last red square of paper.

He was backing slowly away from her, and she was advancing on him, stalking him like the sexiest cat he'd ever seen. From somewhere, the image came into his head of her pushing him onto the couch, straddling him, celebrating her victory over his character with a victory over his body. It was an embarrassing image, but even more embarrassing was that it was making him hard.

"Look into my eyes," she said again, and he immediately locked gazes with her. Damn it.

She'd backed him in a circle, and back up against the couch.

"I'm Dominating you. Throw scissors again. Lose to me," Jane said.

Paul's arms moved without him really thinking about them, in time with Jane's as they threw rock-scissors-paper for the challenge. They brought their hands up, but he didn't look. He couldn't look away from her.

"Rock beats scissors," she said. She leaned forward, and he fell onto the couch.

He lay down, as she came forward, and she straddled him.

"Last drink," she said, still holding his gaze, so intensely.

He slowly brought the red square up between them.

"Drink," she said. "You're mine now."

Still looking helplessly into her eyes, he slowly tore the third red square.

And infinitely slowly, knowing he was aching more for it every second, she leaned down to bring her lips right down to his, and kissed him.