Author's note: This story intentionally plays on religious themes. If the blurring of the line between sex and religion isn't your cup of tea, this story may not be for you.
Dominic stepped into the hotel bar. He leaned on the bar, ordered a beer, and cast a glance around the room. He surveyed the talent in attendance, feeling their minds practically reach out to his "special gift".
There was a pair of slightly older women at the bar. A quick peak in their minds showed that they had known how to party well in their college days, even sharing a man together on a particularly drunken night, but they had long since settled into milder patterns of PTO meetings and work trips. Dominic knew he could nudge them pretty easily back into a more adventurous spirit with a simple mental argument of "reclaiming the glory of youth for one crazy night", but a glance over their bodies made him reconsider. He was in the mood for more youthful talent tonight.
Dominic cast his glance back around the bar. Out in the lobby, he could see a wife with her husband checking in. The husband wasn't really a problem, of course. In the past, he had nudged the husband to get rip-roaring drunk, then pass out in the hotel room. Then he nudged the wife towards frustration at her husband and to go "find someone who treats me right". Of course, "treats me right" usually ended up with the woman stumbling back to her hotel room to wash the cum off her face or out of her mouth. A peek inside the woman's mind, however, and Dominic saw that she was already having some extramarital experimentation. In fact, she was a little worried that she might have caught a bug and was delaying sleeping with her husband while she got tested. That crossed her off the list too.
Dominic was about to take his search for talent for the night to another bar, when his eyes fell on the woman in the back. She was dressed in a dress that did absolutely nothing for her frame, she was nursing a glass of white wine, and her makeup was done very plainly, but there was something about the mental energy she was putting out that caught Dominic's third eye. It was a sort of pent-up energy... a deep, plentiful well of sexual energy. It was intense and beyond the type of thing that Dominic normally could instill in a mind, even with his gift.
Dominic ordered a beer, sat near the woman, and probed her mind. She was a religious woman, about twenty-five years old. She had never been with a man and had broken up with multiple men for "moving too fast". Her deep-seated religious fervor had held back her sexual urges, but hadn't removed them. They'd been collecting inside her mind... festering. She sometimes acted out with porn and masturbation, which she had felt guilty about, which further drove the repression that fueled this hidden fire.
He considered her again, wondering what she was hiding under that modesty. He perused her memories until he found one of her naked and in front of the mirror. Immediately, Dominic knew that this was what he was going to do tonight. She was a vision to behold--even if no man had yet done so.
Dominic drank his beer, looking through her mind like most people would look through a magazine. He did this just about everywhere he went. Dominic was something of a world traveler, ever since his gift had manifested. He went to lavish hotels, traveled to exotic locations, and enjoyed the company of women everywhere he went. There was never really any better entertainment for the evening than a properly-motivated woman.
The trick was to find out how to motivate them. Dominic could not simply command and they would obey. He had to suggest and they had to agree. He could make the suggestions strong, but the stronger they were the harder people tended to push back. It was nuanced and, if not done right, dangerous.
Dominic remembered an evening in London when his suggestions had been enough to get the woman into bed, but not enough to participate in the particular activity he suggested. She had recoiled, yelled, and Dominic was forced to check out early, lest he draw too much attention to himself.
He turned again to the woman in the corner. Her name was Rebecca. Even now, she was praying. Dominic could hear the words as they passed her brain, "...thank you for the opportunity to..."
Dominic turned his attention to that particular section of her brain. He could see a sort of belief that was stronger and more defined than almost anywhere. There was less of a question of faith and more of absolute certainty. She held the conviction of her religion as firmly as she held that the sky was blue. Dominic surveyed the collected knowledge in her brain on the subject. He found visions, prophets, saints, and--most importantly of all--a game plan.
Dominic finished his beer, suggested to the bartender that it was on the house (which the bartender quickly offered to him), and went back to his room. With distance, the connection was weaker, but that was okay. He could still read her thoughts now that he had a sense of which of the many surrounding brains was hers.
Dominic grabbed the pen and paper in the room, wrote out a draft, scratched out a few pieces, added some, consulted his phone briefly, borrowed a few elements from the lore inside her mind, and finally wrote out a completed, clean statement. He chuckled, thinking that a stronger suggestion would actually work better in this case. Then, Dominic sat back and watched through her own eyes as Rebecca finished her drink, paid, and went up to her room.
Rebecca's room was on the fifth floor. Dominic was staying on the sixth. He wasn't directly above her, but he was close enough to get a strong connection. That was good, but he had been prepared to deliver his suggestion from outside her door if he needed to. Instead, he could do it from the comfort of his own room.
Dominic sat down, his script in front of him, waiting for the perfect moment.
--
Rebecca used the keycard to let herself into her room. She locked it behind her. Her eyes grazed over the "Do Not Disturb" sign. She thought about how many unmarried women had probably defiled themselves in this room with this very "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the door. She thought about the depraved, unholy sex they had probably had here. Rebecca shuddered, thinking about how lucky she was that she had been saved from all that. She directed her thoughts elsewhere, lest the devil tempt her with them.
Rebecca was in town for a work conference. She never liked staying in hotels, feeling the temptation to act out just because she was away. She was to be holy at all times, even when away.
Some day, she would have a husband and probably half to spend less time focused on resisting temptation, but the good lord had not blessed her with that yet.
Rebecca had felt guilty about having the glass of wine alone. Her faith was not against alcohol, but it felt indulgent to do so alone. She wondered if she should pray for forgiveness or not.
Rebecca went to her suitcase and removed her bible. She sat it on the desk and sat in the chair. She would read for twenty minutes, then shower, then pray, then go to bed. Rebecca went to open the book.
As soon as her fingers touched it, it happened.
A flash of light exploded in her mind's eye. She could still see her bible with her physical eyes, but her imagination was pure light. She gasped, but before she could actually react, the voice started.
It was loud, commanding, and completely in her mind. She knew this, but the words were as clear as day.
"REBECCA. BE NOT AFRAID." She was afraid, but also there was a thrill of familiarity to the words. It was happening! It was happening to her!
