The Crystal Cavern

Xander pulled his truck into the parking lot of Domes Cave National Park. He had always liked cave diving and crawling around in dark, wet, tight places. (Get your head out of the gutter, seriously!) But today was extra special as he was meeting a friend. He got out of his truck and took about 3 steps before a shadow covered him and a loud flapping sound could be heard as the feminine form of Veo came crashing down into the ground next to him in the perfect 'superhero landing' pose.

The angel folded her wings onto her back and stood up with a smile "Hi Honeybun" she said excitedly. "Thanks for inviting me, how have you been?"

Xander smiled and gave his old friend a hug, it had been about two months since they had last seen one another at the end of their cruise. "I've been good, the last few months have been good to me. Done a lot of traveling, met an old friend, even had a bit of a spiritual awakening at another national park."

Veo smiled and hugged her old friend "That's great!" she said genuinely as she took her old friend's arm. "Tell me all about it!" The two spent the next hour catching up on the events of the last two months while waiting in line for the cave tour to begin.

--

The cave tour, of course, had the usual mix of people. Young and old all crammed in a long single file line into a cave that a normal sized person can barely navigate. Of course there were more than a few guests that caught his attention. The first was a young woman probably in her early 20's, brown hair just past her shoulders, wearing a pink miner's hat. Her hair was disheveled enough to imply she had been wearing the hat all day. That and her perfectly white t-shirt was covered in cave gunk. But that shirt fit her body perfectly and showed off all the right curves. Xander rather enjoyed watching her squeeze through the crack that served as the entrance to the tour.

The second girl that caught his attention was younger than the first by a few years and was with a group that appeared to be from a local college. She was very petite and thin, and seemed to lack the muscle of the girl in the pink hat. But her defining feature was her hair, it appeared to be a mix of blonde and brunette, almost like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be, up in a perfect ponytail that bounced gently as she laughed with her friends.

But the best view of the whole tour was the rangers! It's hard to imagine, but somehow government ranger work seems to draw in the most attractive people. In this case the two rangers that were guiding the tour, one in the front and one in the back, could not have been more different.

The ranger leading the group had introduced herself as Ranger Amber. She looked to be about mid 20's with long black hair that she kept in a braid. She had a small but fit frame, you couldn't really see it due to the uniform that she wore, but that uniform would get a bit tight when she would bend down to crawl through the opening of the cave. And her smile was electric.

The other ranger, Ranger Stephanie, was in her mid 30's. She had a much broader body shape and stronger, more muscular, features. She had bright red hair that would have seemed unnatural if it wasn't for her stereotypically pale and freckled skin. She was definitely the more serious of the two and would be bringing up the rear of the tour once they were all inside the cave.

"Are you enjoying the view?" Veo said with a giggle, giving Xander a gentle elbow to the side.

"Hell yeah!" he said with a grin as they got closer to the cave entrance. "Like you didn't notice the entire squad of football jocks going into the cave earlier."

Veo shrugged casually with a smile "I may have noticed one or two."

Xander laughed a bit and was about to give her another jab when they were cut off by Ranger Stephanie "I'm sorry miss, I don't think you'll be able to make it through the cave. There are some very narrow passages that I just don't think you'll fit through." The ranger was referring to the angel's rather large, always on display, blackened wings coming out of her back.

Veo just smiled. "Don't worry about me, I'll be just fine." she said as she moved toward the opening to the cave.

But before she could reach it the ranger grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her away a bit more forcefully than was needed. "No..." the ranger scolded "you won't. You're going to get stuck and we'll have a heck of a time getting you ooouuuuuuutttt..."

The ranger's voice trailed off as her eyes fixated on a hypnotic orb in the middle of Veo's hand, which the angel was holding directly in front of the ranger's eyes. Veo's hypnotic orbs were different than Xander's. Whereas the incubus's orbs were a swirl of color that entranced the person with the ways the colors blended together, Veo's were a pure white orb that pulsated as a way of fixating the attention of the person looking at them. Ranger Stephanie didn't really stand a chance. In less than 5 seconds she went from berating the angel to staring dead ahead at the orb, while her arms slowly sank down to her sides and her head teetered forward a bit as if she was trying to get her mind closer to the orb. Her face was completely slack, almost to the point of expecting her to drool, although that never happened.

Xander, however, was smart enough to cover his eyes while the angel put the ranger under. He did allow himself a little peek of the young woman staring blankly at the orb while Veo explained to her that she would be completely fine in the cave...and that the young ranger would spend the rest of the trip in a relaxed, hypnotized state. Xander just grinned and gave a half hearted complaint "Isn't that supposed to be my job?"

Veo let the orb fade away and began to slide her body through the narrow opening of the cave. "I got this one, at least until your powers regain themselves..." she said as she slipped into the cave and out of sight.

Xander gave a devious grin as he leaned in and stole a kiss from the hypnotized ranger, then copped a bit of a feel before sliding into the cave, thinking to himself "Oh have I got a surprise for you, my dear friend."

--

Veo's confidence aside, the ranger was right about the cave being difficult to navigate. It was extremely cold and there were situations where a person would have to slide their body sideways at an angle just to get through. It didn't hinder Veo in the slightest, but it made for quite a long trip through the narrow passages. It also did not allow a lot of time or space to talk. All the while the much more relaxed and calm Ranger Stephanie trailed the group, obeying Veo's posthypnotic suggestion to simply relax and enjoy herself.

The purpose of the tour, which lasted nearly two hours, was to get a large domed cavern that was covered from top to bottom in one large natural crystal. It was located just at the end of the tour, and when they finally reached it there was a visible exit that people could walk through. Xander and Veo finally had a minute to talk so he decided to brag to his best friend. "You know...I actually managed to get my orbs working again recently."

"You did?" She asked excitedly "That's great! How big of an orb were you able to create?"

Xander shrugged a bit as he looked around the room, gauging the crowd "about softball sized, nothing special" he said with a grin. The crowd was winding down, the group of college students was still there as well as a few other random people, and of course the two rangers. Xander glanced at Veo with a smile "In fact I bet I could put this whole place under with just one orb..." the confidence in his voice was almost a challenge.

Veo laughed a bit and leaned in with a devious grin "Oh really? You think you have that much power now, is that it incubus? Well then... by all means... drop the room!" She said with an evil grin as she leaned back in her chair to watch the show.

Xander smiled as he opened his left hand rapidly, using the force to spark a hypnotic orb into existence. The orb flashed with colors that were easily noticeable in the poorly lit cavern. Veo, of course, was shielding her eyes but couldn't help but notice just how bright the light was and glanced for a second before covering her eyes again. "That is pretty nice...but anyone that hasn't noticed what you're doing is about to. You had better hurry up!" She teased.

By now both rangers, as well as the remaining patrons still exploring the cave, had noticed that something was going on over by Xander. Xander held the orb up and looked at it with a smile, then held his hand out toward the crystal wall of the domed cavern. The instant the orb touched the wall, the entire dome lit up with the colors of his orb. Being one solid crystal structure, sliding the hypnotic orb into one part of it turned the entire cavern into a swirling light show of energy.

The sudden shift from the mostly dark room to the brilliantly lit light show took Veo by surprise. She might not have been looking at the orb but she couldn't shield her eyes from the whole room. She tried to look away instinctively but it was no use, the entire cavern was one giant hypnotic orb. It only took a few seconds for her hand to slowly lower to her lap and her face to take on a relaxed, focused expression. She seemed to just stare out into the cavern as her wings sank down against the bench she was sitting on, and her shoulders slumped to her side. Xander gently walked up to his friend and waved his hands softly over her eyes. The view was always lovely...seeing her sitting there with her eyes open and staring off into space blankly. Then watching as his hand waved over her eyes, obscured from view, only to reappear completely closed.

The angel sat on the bench, completely limp with her chest rising and falling slowly and gently with every breath. It would have been quite a show, but Xander was too distracted to notice as the rest of the room was also feeling the effects. The first to fall under the massive light show's spell was Ranger Stephanie, which wasn't hard to understand since she was pretty much already hypnotized thanks to Veo. She had slipped from her seat atop a rock formation and slid to the floor, staring up at the crystal dome. Her hat slowly fell from her head and revealed just how bright her red hair really was.

Beside her stood Ranger Amber with her hands limp at her sides and her mouth wide open. Almost unnaturally wide. Xander assumed she was probably in the process of yelling at him when she succumbed to the hypnotic effects of his orb. Her eyes, however, were completely blank and staring into the swirl of colors around her.

The girl in the pink hard hat had been in the middle of trying to scale one of the larger boulders, which explained why her white shirt was completely filthy. As the light show swirled around her she simply let her body relax against the boulder, laying on it like a cat might lay on a ledge, one arm and one leg dangling off the side. Her slack relaxed face laid against the wet, dirty rock.

The group of college students, all mostly male athletes and their one petite female friend with the mix of blonde and brunette hair, had been in the process of posing for a selfie when the light show started. One young man was even still holding the phone out in front of the group. All of them were huddled together, completely relaxed with blank expressions on their faces. The funny part was that they were all staring at the camera, waiting for the flash. Xander wandered over towards them and took the phone from the young man's hand. The moment he did the man's arm sank limply to his side. Xander couldn't help but laugh at the fact that as he moved the camera, the stares of the college students slowly followed it. As if the camera itself had some hypnotic power over them. He held up the camera and said with a smile "1... 2... 3... " and then took the picture as he said more forcefully "Sleep!"

The moment the camera flashed and the word 'sleep' rang through the cave, all of the college students collapsed at once into a massive pile on the cave floor. Fortunately the sole young woman in the group ended up relatively on the top of the pile with only one young man face down on her left breast. Lucky bastard.

As the group fell he heard a few more sighs and looked around to see both rangers slumped together asleep on the cave floor. "Ooops..." he commented before looking at the phone to see the picture. It was perfect...at least as far as the young woman's expression was concerned. The flash happened to hit her just as her eyes were about half way closed and her body was surrendering to gravity's pull.

A small message popped up on the phone asking 'would you like to share this photo?' Xander nodded and texted it to himself, as well as posted it to Facebook. Which also prompted the phone to ask 'would you like to name photo?' Xander couldn't help but smile as he typed in 'tranced in the crystal cave.' and then set the phone down on top of the man who was previously holding it. He looked around the cave with a contented grin. "Now...what to do with all of you?"

--

About twenty minutes later, Xander had finished giving his hypnotized victims their suggestions. Veo was still deeply asleep on her bench, but she had one college student massaging her entire right arm from her shoulder to the palm of her hand, while another student massaged her entire left arm. Another college student was massaging her left foot, while another massaged her right. He wasn't going to let any of them massage her legs or chest, there was a shred of decency in him.

Not enough decency, however, to stop from taking advantage of the situation with the girls. In the middle of the shining cavern he sat against one of the rocks, to his left was Ranger Amber, dazed and blankly rubbing his arm. To his right was the girl in the pink hard hat, rubbing his other arm. He would take turns massaging and kissing one girl, then move to the other. After all, you can't play favorites.

In front of him was the oldest of the group, Ranger Stephanie, and the youngest, the petite college girl, both doing a harem style strip tease... at least as best as they could, given that neither of them knew how. When they were done, they would switch places with Amber and the girl in the pink hard hat. It would be a glorious afternoon.

--

About an hour later Veo and Xander left the cave and entered the sunlight. Xander hated the sun for various reasons, but after spending 3 hours in a dark cave he was almost literally blinded by it. He held his hand over his eyes as he spoke to Veo... "You can wake up now... remembering the orb... and how nicely I used it... And how enjoyable your four jock massage was. But you can forget everything else I did in the cave while you were under... 1... 2... 3... Wide awake."

Veo took a deep breath as her eyes focused again and she looked over and started to laugh at Xander who was clearly having trouble seeing in the sunlight. "Easier to use those demon's eyes in the dark eh?" she teased playfully.

"Yeah no kidding. But... I did prove I could use my orbs again!" he said very proudly.

"Yes you did... and I have to admit... those college boys were really skilled with their hands. I wonder what they do in their free time." The devious grin on her face made Xander roll his eyes, knowing she was teasing him.

"They are college boys... I'm sure they spend a lot of time using their hands... " he tried to finish with a dirty joke but ended up being too embarrassed to come up with one in front of his angelic friend. "I'm really glad you could join me today, though. I have missed you the last few months. It's been kind of lonely, although needed."

Veo stopped and hugged him "oh honey... I'm always here for you, no matter what you need. Alright?"

Xander smiled "Alright." He patted his friend on the back between her wings as they started to walk towards his truck. "Hey, would you care to road trip with me for a while? It's been ages since we have road tripped together!"

Veo couldn't help but smile "Of course!"

To say that getting an angel's wings into a pickup truck is difficult would be an understatement, but she seemed to slide right into the chair and fold her wings behind the seat with ease. Xander just shook his head at how easily she managed to do that, as they pulled out of the national park and came to a crossroads.

"Which way were you thinking of going?" Veo asked looking down both stretches of the highway.

"I don't know... lets let fate decide." He took out a small crystal he had bought at the gift shop, set it on the dashboard and spun it. As it slowly came to a stop the decidedly sharper edge pointed to Xander's left. He looked down the road and slowly pulled out onto the highway. "North it is!"

Veo smiled as she turned on the radio and blasted heavy death metal through the surprisingly impressive speaker system. Xander just cringed at the angel's music tastes as the trunk passed a sign that read "New Chicago - 219 mi."

The End... For Now.