Vox Dominus

"Bro, is that true?"

"Eh?" Seb took out his earbuds and turned around. "Sorry, what?"

His roommate, Ben, leaned forward, almost tipping over his chair in the process. "I said is it true that you made Chelsea Jaeger bark like a dog?"

"I'm tellin' ya bro," Ben's friend, Phil, interjected as he cracked open a beer. "I saw the whole thing. Made her get on all fours'n everything."

Seb cringed. It was bad enough that Ben had decided to do his pregame drinking in their cramped dorm room, but now his "bro" was confirming Seb's worst fear: the rumors about the variety show were spreading. And it hadn't even taken two days.

"Bro, that's fuckin' badass!" Ben slapped his forehead. "Why don't you tell me this shit?"

"W-well, that's not exactly how it happened," Seb replied.

"So..." Ben gestured eagerly for Seb to continue. "What happened then?"

"Eh, well..." Honestly, Seb still wasn't sure himself. He had run off the stage to find Sophia as soon as his act had ended, but she was gone without a trace. By the time he got back to the dining hall, Chelsea had exited too, leaving Miki the sole outside observer. And she was not happy with Seb. To her, it looked like he had taken advantage of Chelsea for his own perverse gratification. Seb spent the rest of the night apologizing and explaining that it wasn't like that, that it was impossible to hypnotize somebody into doing something they didn't want to do. And anyway:

"Chelsea was probably just pretending to be hypnotized," Seb shrugged. "I'm pretty sure she only volunteered to mess with me."

"Huh," Phil scratched his head. "You sure?"

"Bro," Ben slapped Phil's shoulder. "That chick's always playin' these fucked up head games. I know this one dude who pissed her off in high school? She pretended to date him for like, a month just so she could break up with him in front of his family. On Christmas. And she kept the gift card he got her too."

"Bro..." Phil whispered in awe.

Seb chuckled weakly and turned back to his work. But it was no use now: his mind was running on overdrive. Was Chelsea playing some long game to set up his downfall? If she was, it was a mystery to him what she hoped to gain. Plus, he had

felt

something happen that night. Seb wasn't sure what, but it wasn't like his other attempts at hypnotism. It felt different.

It felt...powerful.

He sighed and put his earbuds back in. Regardless, it was probably true that he was in Chelsea's crosshairs now. Hopefully he could avoid her until things cooled off between them.

A knock at the door pulled him out of his anxious cloud.

"Oh shit, hide the beer!" Phil exclaimed.

"Nah bro, the R.A.'s cool," Ben reassured him.

Seb got up and opened the door, expecting their R.A. to barge in and join the party. Instead, greeting him on the other side was a pretty, but all-too-familiar face.

"Hey," Chelsea said, sending a bolt of ice down his spine.

A startled "Oh shit" escaped Ben before he quickly clamped his mouth shut. Chelsea shot a glare at the offending roommate before training her gaze on Seb.

"I assume you're not going to the football game, right?" she said.

"Um. No. Why do you—"

"Good. Then ditch the brodown, grab your coat, and meet me outside. There's something we need to talk about."

Seb stiffened. "I-if this is about Thursday," he whispered, careful not to let the other guys hear. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry and—"

"I

said

there's something we need to talk about," Chelsea hissed, her eyes narrowing. "Alone."

_________________________________

"Whoa," Seb couldn't help but gape as Chelsea led him into her apartment. It was a far cry from the dorms the other sophomores were stuck with. A fully stocked kitchen looked out at an expansive common room, complete with chic furniture, a T.V. almost the size of the wall, and a gorgeous view of the campus below. It was obvious that the four girls living here were used to looking down on the rest of the student body. It was also obvious that they had just finished some pregame rituals of their own: the tables were littered with half-empty liquor bottles, and Seb could identify the red-cup remnants of at least a three different drinking games.

"Feel free to help yourself to whatever," Chelsea said as she slipped out of her coat. "Veronica's mom replaces it every week anyway."

"Um, thanks," Seb nodded, at a lost among the high-class detritus. "Can I, uh, get you anything?"

Chelsea frowned. "No thanks. I want my head clear for what happens next."

Seb paused. He hadn't noticed it before thanks to her coat, but Chelsea was dressed awfully nice. A tight skirt was wrapped around her legs, complimented by thigh-high stockings and a blouse with just the right number of buttons undone. If he didn't know any better, Seb would say she was about to take him out on a date.

"So...what IS going to happen next?" he asked.

"You're going to have a seat. And then you're going to answer my questions honestly." She crossed her arms. "I can make your life very miserable if you don't."

Seb swallowed. "Undoubtedly."

"Okay." Chelsea exhaled, then sat across from him. "What I want to know is...what exactly did you do to me during the variety show?"

Seb blinked, taken aback. "I, um, what do you mean?"

"I mean how did you convince me to act like a puppy on stage in front of everyone?"

Seb's pulse quickened. It couldn't be. Did he actually...? "Um, I-I didn't know I 'did' anything to you. I thought you were acting."

Chelsea let out a hollow laugh. "I wish."

"Um. I guess I probably hypnotized you then, right? I mean, that

was

what I was trying to do."

"That's not it. I did some research after the show. There's no way someone like you could've put me under with a single word like that. And you definitely shouldn't have been able to, um," she fidgeted, "to make me do things against my will. Hypnosis doesn't work like that."

"Then...what do you think happened?"

Chelsea hesitated. "I think..." she bit her lip. "I think you, like...mind-controlled me. Or something."

There it was. The answer that Seb had forced himself not to consider. The impossible possibility that made too perfect sense to be true. Of course, there was a part of him that longed for that to be the case. What amateur hypnotist wouldn't want to be able to control peoples' minds? But reality didn't work that way.

Did it?

Chelsea's anxious gaze brought Seb back to the present. For the first time, he realized she looked just as nervous as he did. He cleared his throat. "Okay. Mind control. That's. That's a possibility. I guess."

"So, you'd never done something like that before," she intuited.

Seb let out a shaky laugh. "N-not that I'm aware of."

Chelsea looked down. "Do you think..." her voice trailed off.

"I'm sorry?"

She crossed her legs. "Do you think...you could do it again?"

_________________________

"Let me get this straight: you want me to try and...take control of you?" Seb asked, anxiously swiveling back and forth on Chelsea's desk chair. The two of them were in her room now, behind a door that Seb couldn't help but notice she locked.

She sat on the bed across from him now, smoothing the soft, floral-print comforter with her hands. "Y-yeah. I mean, that's the only way we're going to figure all this out, right? Think of it as a science experiment. Or something."

"Uh huh." If Seb was a scientist, this was not his idea of a laboratory. He could count the number of girls' rooms he'd been in on one hand, and they never got any more comfortable for him. The intimate atmosphere felt like it magnified every sound and gesture, making them heavy and cumbersome with meaning.

Or maybe he was overthinking things. Seb did that when he was nervous.

It

was

a little surprising to discover that Chelsea wasn't the neat freak he assumed she was. Her desk was a mess of textbooks and loose papers, her floor littered with piles of clothes arranged according to a system he was sure only she could decipher. He guessed being a 4.0 student

and

queen of the social scene didn't leave much time for cleaning.

"Do you, um," Chelsea's words snapped Seb back to the present. "Do you remember how you did it the first time?"

"Sort of?" Seb crossed his arms, trying to replay the events in his head. "It was like...this part of my brain opened, and this wave of power just came rushing down through me. And then my voice got all...I dunno..."

"Compelling," Chelsea finished, then looked away when Seb's gaze met hers. "D-do you remember what caused this change?" she stuttered.

Seb hesitated. What was he supposed to say? That the sudden reappearance of his childhood friend had caused him to snap? That the first girl he fell in love with, a girl he once thought he would spend the rest of his life with, had for some reason shown up at a school she didn't even go to, stumbled into his pathetic hypnosis show, and inspired him to discover secret mind control abilities?

No. He couldn't tell Chelsea that. But that didn't mean he was without an answer. "I don't know if there was a specific trigger," he said. "But I do remember what I was feeling at the time."

Chelsea leaned forward. "What?"

"Focus. And clarity. And above all else...desire." Seb felt heat rise to his face, but noted with some satisfaction that his subject suffered the same reaction. She fiddled with the hem of her blouse, sitting in flustered silence for a moment before she spoke again.

"Th-that settles it then," she cleared her throat. "I'll give you a challenge. You try to get me to do something I normally wouldn't do, and I'll try to resist it. And we'll, um, see what happens."

Seb stiffened, the possibilities flashing through his mind for a brief moment. But if he wanted the best chances of success, he should approach this like a real hypnosis session, and let the subject set the terms. "Do you have a specific, uh, thing you want me to make you do?"

"Well, it should be something that you, um, desire, right?" she gripped the sheets, thinking. "How about this: if you...if you can get me to strip naked right here, right now, you win. But you're no allowed to touch me!" She quickly added. "You're only allowed to, to, um, talk to me, okay?"

Seb folded his legs onto the chair, wondering if Chelsea had noticed he was already hard at the thought of her naked standing before him. He took a deep breath, anxiety and anticipation colliding with every beat of his heart. The mysterious feelings were beginning to stir in the back of his mind again, the dark, hungry waters pressing against the floodgates. Aching to be released.

"Yeah, I...think I can work with that," he said.

______________________________

"Compelling," Chelsea finished Seb's sentence for him, instantly regretting it the moment the word left her lips.

But it was true, wasn't it? In all the time she spent thinking about that night, she couldn't find a better way of describing the sound of Seb's other voice. It wasn't coercive, or coaxing, or even controlling. It simply stated truths: inescapable, undeniable, utterly compelling truths. Truths that flowed effortlessly into Chelsea's brain, flooding her mind, enveloping and dissolving her thoughts until following Seb's commands felt as easy and natural as water is wet.

Easy. Natural. Wet. "D-do you remember what caused this change?" she asked.

Seb ran his fingers though his hair. "It don't know if there was a specific trigger. But I do remember what I was feeling at the time."

"What?"

"Focus. And clarity. And above all else...desire."

Chelsea felt the color rising to her cheeks. What did he mean by that? That night, did he desire to put on a good show? To get back at Chelsea for embarrassing him? Or...or could it be that he actually desired...

Chelsea shivered. God, this was unbearable. It was like he was already in her head, and he wasn't even trying. She had to get a grip. She was Chelsea Jaeger, dammit—she'd never lost her cool over a guy before, and she wasn't going to start now. "Th-that settles it then," she said, trying to reassert command of the conversation. "I'll give you a challenge. You try to get me to do something I normally wouldn't do, and I'll try to resist it. And we'll, um, see what happens."

Something flashed behind Seb's dark, thoughtful eyes. But as soon as she caught a glimpse of it, it was gone, like a glittering fish disappearing back into the depths. "Do you have a specific, uh, thing you want me to make you do?"

"Well...it should be something you desire, right?" Crap. A million horrible, delectable thoughts crashed through Chelsea's mind. It didn't help that she was sitting right where she had spent her entire Friday night, rubbing her brains out as she imagined Seb doing the same with his voice. The more she had tried to plot the best course of action, the further she spiraled into sordid, humiliating fantasies. And the worst part was, she had no way of knowing if those thoughts were themselves subtly planted by Seb during the show. What if this was part of his plan all along? What if he meant to entice her with a brief glimpse of his power, then let her stew in a fog of arousal until she came crawling back to him? She could be doing his bidding without even knowing it, brainwashing herself with dreams of being on her knees before him, a sloppy smile on her face, head filled only with thoughts of pleasure and obedience, pussy and mouth drooling for his...

Shit. Chelsea bunched the sheets in her fists, fighting the yearning inside of her. She couldn't give into temptation: she had to stick to the plan. She already had a challenge in mind when she woke up this morning, something to entice Seb without surrendering her pride entirely. "How about this: if you...if you can get me to strip naked right here, right now, you win. But you're no allowed to touch me!" She quickly added. "You're only allowed to, to, um, talk to me, okay?"

That should be adequate. She had noticed the way his eyes had been clinging to her—how he had watched the sway of her hips and glimpsed the hint of cleavage peeking from her blouse. Heck, the mere suggestion of a full-frontal showcase had been enough to produce a prominent bulge between his legs, evidence which he tried and failed to hide. All by design.

"Yes, I...think I can work with that," Seb said before closing his eyes.

Chelsea adjusted her position on the bed, squaring up and adopting what she hoped was a defiant pose. Even if this was her idea, she wasn't going to give in just like that. It was still possible that the variety show was a fluke; it was possible that Seb wouldn't be able to break her. That would be a victory in itself: it would prove that she was still a Jaeger. That all the high expectations and hard lessons of her childhood weren't for nothing. That—

"Take off your clothes,"

Seb commanded.

The words cascaded through Chelsea like a tidal wave. She felt her hands go to her blouse, ripping a couple buttons free before she was able to stop herself.

"You stopped," Seb raised his eyebrows.

Chelsea blinked, her sense of balance returning. "Uh, yeah, I did." She exhaled, not sure if she should be proud or disappointed. She was definitely showing more than a hint of cleavage now, but her clothes had stayed on. Which meant she had won. Right?

"How did that feel?" Seb asked.

"It was...different, I think," she answered. "It didn't, like, make me go all space-y like before, but I definitely felt...something."

Seb thought for a moment. "

Take off your clothes.

"

Chelsea's hands jerked up to her blouse again, but her strength returned faster this time, allowing her to resist before she disrobed further.

"You recovered quicker that time," Seb observed. "Like you were ready for it."

"Y-yeah," Chelsea muttered. Goddammit. Why didn't he look more concerned? The Seb she was speaking to just moments ago would be a puddle of nerves by now. So why were the eyes surveying her so cool and calculating?

And why did it make her heart beat faster?

"Hm. Interesting," he mused. "So far we've proven that I have some sort of preternatural power of suggestion, but it's not as simple as flipping a switch on your brain. Maybe it works like hypnosis. At the variety show, it could be that I created an effect similar to a shock induction: overloading your senses so you had no choice but to follow my command into trance. But here, you're expecting it, so it doesn't work as well."

"Sure, that sounds...right." Chelsea's eyes narrowed. Seb was speaking academically, but she saw that glint in his gaze again. This wasn't empty hypothesizing: this was a blade being sharpened.

"This also shows that my suggestions can be resisted by a subject's willpower. And I bet someone as smart and confident as you has pretty high mental resilience."

"Thanks," Chelsea crossed her arms, allowing herself a confident smirk. "But flattery will get you nowhere. I've cut down plenty of guys who thought they could sweet talk me out of my clothes."

To her surprise, Seb returned the smile. "

But what if I tried a different strategy?"

Chelsea's pulse skipped a beat. "Uh...y-you can try...but..."

"What if I tried something a bit more subtle? A bit more soothing? A bit more like a progressive induction?"

"P-progressive...?" This was weird. She wasn't used to the voice being so conversational. She felt like she should answer back, but...was that what he wanted? Shouldn't she be resisting what he wanted? The conflict made her dizzy.

"It's okay. These are rhetorical questions, Chelsea. You don't have to answer me. You don't have to think too hard. You can just relax and listen."

Relax and listen. That was okay...right? There was no harm in just listening.

"It feels good to listen doesn't it?"

Chelsea smiled.

"There, see? I can tell it does. My voice makes you feel so good. So relaxed."

Chelsea's arms slipped to her sides. Seb was right. His voice

did

make her feel good. And she

was

feeling very relaxed.

No. Wait. This was a trap, wasn't it? She should fight. But fight what? He didn't give her a command, he was just...just...

"What's great about relaxing and listening is that it's so easy and natural. Your body just does it automatically, without you even having to think about it. You can just let your mind wander, let all the stress and strain of the day just drain out of you. It's as easy as breathing in and out. More and more relaxed with each inhale and exhale."

A long, involuntary sigh escaped Chelsea. It was just like Seb said. With every exhale, her muscles loosened, releasing the tension they been storing up. And each time she inhaled, she could feel the relaxation floating into her, making her thoughts languid and airy.

"That's right. In and out. Just relax and listen."

Relax and listen.

"It feels good to relax and listen."

Chelsea's eyelids fluttered. It felt so, so good to relax and listen.

"It feels good to relax and listen and obey."

Huh? That didn't seem...right. But that's what she was doing, wasn't it? Relaxing, listening and...and...

"Say it with me Chelsea: it feels good to relax and listen and..."

Chlesea exhaled, the final word reverberating from deep inside her chest. "Obey."

"That's right. It feels good to relax and listen and obey. You like to feel good don't you?"

Yes. God, yes.

"It makes sense then that you also like to relax and listen to my voice, right?"

It was too hard to think of a reason why not.

"And that must mean you also like to obey."