Amulet of Self

I'm not sure where I found it.

I was on my way home from work. It was a nice sunny afternoon and I had decided to take the longer route home, wending my way through the woods to take the path along the river. It's only an extra 20 minutes or so, and it beats by far walking along the noisy city streets. I wasn't in a hurry. I didn't have any plans for the evening. And so I just strolled along mindlessly, enjoying the opportunity to relax and let the stresses from the week fade away. I was quite alone. The only sounds were that of my steps on the crushed gravel of the trail, the water gurgling as it slowly meanders by, and the birds chirping as they flitted from tree to tree.

At some point along the route, a glint of sunlight twinkled off something buried in the grass next to the river. It caught my attention, and I bent over to pull back the grass and see what it was. A small silver disc amulet lay there. It bore ornate carvings around the edge of the disc reminiscent of a Celtic knot. In the middle was set a red stone, a ruby perhaps. At one side of the disc a clasp attached the disc to a silver chain.

Reaching down, my fingers took hold of the chain, and I lifted it up. It felt somehow heavy, yet light, a curious sensation. I waved it around a little bit, and it seemed like it dragged slightly through the air. "How odd", I thought.

I cupped the disc with my other hand, feeling the cool metal against my palm. Flipping it over, I found the backside was decorated with a single glyph-like character. I rubbed my thumb over the glyph, wondering what it might stand for. Then I turned it back over to admire the stone again a moment.

I glanced around to see if there might be someone who could have dropped it. But I hadn't seen anyone on this stretch of my walk so far. I mentally shrugged. Then, winding up the chain, I stuffed the amulet in my pocket and resumed my walk.

-----------------------------------

I walked into my apartment, dropped my keys on the bureau next to the door, and closed the door behind me. I kicked off my shoes, tossed my bag in the corner, and turned to look at the living room. There was a couch, a recliner chair, a TV set with game system connected, and a bookshelf holding my small collection of sci-fi/fantasy novels. I sighed slightly and thought to myself, "Netflix Friday again?"

Entering the kitchen, I pulled open the fridge. There was still some pizza from last night, some leftover pasta, a few takeout containers with various things in them. I don't think any of them had spoiled yet. At least I didn't have to cook. I took out the pizza and stuffed a couple slices in my toaster oven and set it to 350 for a few minutes.

My eye caught the half-finished bottle of red wine sitting in the corner of the counter. I had opened it earlier in the week when I was feeling particularly bored. But I had had enough restraint to put the cork back in after just a couple glasses. Now, I opened the cabinet and pulled out a glass. "Might as well finish this off before it goes bad," I thought to myself.

Taking the bottle and glass back out to the living room, I plopped down on the couch and placed the two on the coffee table. I reached for the remote and turned on the TV, switching it over to Netflix to see if any of the available movies caught my eye. I figured whatever movie I happened to be focusing on when the toaster oven dinged would be good enough, so I casually scrolled through the option without really paying too much attention to what the options were.

Ding! The toaster oven clicked, and I found that I was looking at some generic fantasy movie with a title I didn't recognize. "Hm," I thought. It looked somewhat interesting. Might as well.

I put the remote down and returned to the kitchen, took a plate out of the cabinet and fished the two slices out of the toaster oven, getting some oil and tomato sauce on my thumb. I sucked my finger clean. "Mmm, pizza tastes good." I ripped a paper towel off the roll and then carried my pizza out to the couch.

I plopped down on the couch again and reached to hit the button on the remote causing the show to start as I put the plate on the coffee table. Reaching for the wine bottle, I pulled the cork and began filling up my glass. Then I lifted the glass to my lips and took a sip.

At that moment, I noticed something something digging into my leg and felt around curiously with my hand. That's when I remembered the small amulet I had picked up on my walk home. Setting the glass of wine back on the coffee table next to the pizza, I leaned back and reached into my pocket, pulling out the amulet. I turned it over in my hand and studied the design again. The ruby reflected the light from the TV.

On a whim, I decided to slip the chain of the amulet around my neck. As the disc came to rest on my chest, the ruby suddenly grew bright, lit by some interior flame. I looked down at it, tilting it up with my hand. The light steadily grew brighter and brighter until it suddenly flashed and then died out again.

"What the fuck!?!"

Those were the words that ran through my head. But I hadn't spoken them.

Facing away from me on the other side of the room in the entrance to the kitchen, a young woman had suddenly appeared. She was completely naked and seemed to be looking down at herself. Her hands appeared to be running over her stomach. They lifted up to her breasts, and it looked like she was squeezing them a little.

I couldn't really see, though, from my point of view behind her. I had a very good view of her backside—shoulder-length brown hair, athletic proportions, nice firm legs, and a beautiful, well-formed butt.

"Oh my god..." she said as she bent over a little further.

I could see her legs spread open a little wider. I could tell she was shifting one of her hands down lower. Then I saw the fingers of one hand poking through between her legs. Was she feeling her sex?

"Oh my god..." she said again, this time with a little less sense of wonder and a little more of what sounded like... sensuality?

Recovering from the shock of this woman's sudden appearance, I decided I should probably let her know someone was just behind her. "Um, excuse me?"

She jerked up straight and spun around to face me. Her one hand was between her legs. The other was wrapped around one of her breasts.

My eyes lifted to her face for the first time, and my breath caught a little. Her eyes were a light hazel color, a shade or two lighter than her hair. Rosy high cheeks, a cute little button of a nose, thin lips with just a hint of red, a narrow chin—she was captivating. Her expression was one of total shock. Her eyes looked at me a moment, then quickly glanced around the room.

"What the fuck!?!" she said for the second time.

I just sat there with a complete loss of what to say next. I was staring at her face, trying not to look at the rest of her body. I tried not to pay attention to where her hands were or what they had been doing only a moment ago. My mind, of course, knew exactly where those hands were. The presence of this beautiful, nude woman in my living room was having a strong effect on me. I could feel my heart thudding loudly in my chest. My face felt flush. I could feel my manhood thickening with arousal.

The expression on her face seemed to shift from emotion to emotion. I watched it change from surprise to contemplation to something like understanding as her mouth opened to say a silent, "Oh." Her cheeks flushed red as if in embarrassment. Then her eyes narrowed, her mouth closing slightly. It seemed as if she was thinking, considering... what? Some kind of decision? An eyebrow rose slightly. After a moment, she seemed to have reached a conclusion, her mouth closing, her eyes refocusing on me.

She blushed again and shifted her hands from touching to covering. She must have just realized how exposed she was in front of me. The deepening red of her cheeks spread down her neck to her upper chest.

She straightened up a little, managed something of a flustered smile, and said, "Uh, hi! Uh... I'm... well... I'm Lauren."

I blinked, breathed in. "Uh... hi... Lauren. I'm John." I responded. "How... uh... Where... uh..." I continued in a stuttering fashion, my thoughts a jumble of questions and confusion brought on by the awkwardness of the situation.

After another pause, my brain finally latched onto something that made sense, "Would you like me to get you something to put on?"

She quickly glanced back down at herself and then up at me again. "Yes... please. That would be nice."

Standing up, I quickly tried to negotiate my way around the coffee table, stumbling awkwardly when my foot caught one of the table legs. I managed not to fall, however, and moved toward the hallway, which, of course, Lauren had stepped right in front of when I stumbled. I moved to pass by her, but paused when I saw I probably couldn't squeeze past her without touching her. "Um..."

"Oh," she said. "Yeah." She took a step to one side so I could pass.

I quickly walked down the hall to my bedroom. Once inside, I glanced around thinking frantically about what I could possibly give her to wear. Nothing was coming to mind off the bat. But then my eye fell on the long white bathrobe hanging off the back of the door. I gave it a tug, pulling it off the hook on the door and carried it back down towards the living room.

Lauren watched me approach, still standing demurely with her hands trying to cover herself. Her eyes glanced at the robe, and she smiled. As I stepped back into the living room, I lifted the robe up, holding it open for her, and she turned her back to me to slip first one arm into a sleeve, then another. I pulled the robe up over her shoulders, tugged her hair out of the collar of the robe, and she took hold of the belt, tying it around her waist.

I realized I was standing close behind her—so close my nose could pick out the delicate scent of her hair just in front of me. And then she turned, looking up at me, less than a foot away. I looked into her eyes, mesmerized by the depths I could see in them.

She tilted her head, smiled, and said, "Thanks!"

Then she stepped away toward the couch. "Mind if I have some pizza? I'm a bit hungry."

"Uh... sure. Yeah, help yourself." I smiled, watching her sit down behind the coffee table. "Would you... would you like a glass of wine too?"

"Yes! Thank you!" She picked up one of the two slices and took a bite, flashing me a smile as she chewed.

I turned to the kitchen and went in search of another wine glass. I had two. But they didn't match. And I hadn't used the other one in awhile. However, it took me only a moment to fish it out of the cabinet. I took a moment to give the glass a quick clean and then headed back into the living room.

Lauren was on her second bite as I picked up the wine bottle to fill the glass for her. Setting it on the table, I decided I should probably sit down and eat as well. And that's when I realized that I only had the one couch. There wasn't anywhere else to sit. And the couch wasn't all that big of a couch. Yes, there was space for two, but just barely.

Noticing my indecision, Lauren patted the spot next to her and smiled, "It's ok. Come on sit down and eat."

So, I moved around the coffee table and sat down, feeling the side of my leg and my shoulder press against hers as I did so. I tried to shift a little bit to give her more room, but there just wasn't any more space.

She giggled a little and patted me on the thigh. "It's ok. Really. Relax."

I'm not sure how I could relax. Here I was sitting next to this beautiful woman who had appeared naked out of nowhere just a few moments ago. She was wearing a robe now, but that's all she was wearing. And I could feel the warmth of her body against my side. It seemed so surreal, so bizarre. I wondered if I was in some kind of dream. And to top it all, the bulge in my pants had thickened to the point of being uncomfortable and embarrassingly visible.

I reached forward to take the other slice of pizza and my own glass of wine, taking the opportunity to lift myself off the couch slightly and try to shift things around a little. Then, leaning back, I tried my best to relax and eat. The episode on the TV had continued, already deep into the storyline, but I couldn't really grasp much of it. The images seemed familiar. I recognized the characters. Their actions and speech, however, mostly eluded my attention. My mind was focused on trying to eat my slice of pizza as casually as possible, as if it was the most normal thing to do to be relaxing on the couch, casually eating pizza.

I took a sip of wine and decided to venture a question. "Lauren, where did you come from?"

She was already working on the crust of her slice, chewing firmly. I waited a moment until she swallowed. Then, turning her head to look at me, she put her hand on my thigh again and held still a moment. I looked back into her eyes again, losing myself in them.

"Let's maybe not ask too many questions just yet." And then a moment later, she continued, "I'll tell you this: it was the amulet that brought me here. But you've already figured that out, right?"

Yes, I was pretty sure everything that was going on started when I put on the amulet. I glanced down at it, noticed there was still a faint glowing in the red stone it bore.

Lauren popped the rest of her crust into her mouth and chewed, turning back to the TV and taking a big gulp of her wine to wash down the last bite of her pizza. She put the glass down and took a deep breath.

Turning back to me, she shifted her whole body to face me more directly, one leg bending up under the other. Her arm rested along the back of the couch. I noticed the shift in position caused the robe to pull open slightly, exposing the upper valley between her breasts. I tried my best to keep my attention on her face, not wanting to be caught gawking at her cleavage.

"Look... Um. This is a little... well... awkward and all. But I know... Um... How do I say this?" She paused. Her cheeks were flushing again.

"You see, I know... Well, I'm a little nervous about this, but I know I did it. And something about this is just, well... Maybe it's the amulet, or maybe I'm just really curious. But I'm kind of interested, and I think I actually want to... And... Well, I know what she did... what I will do..." She smiled then bit her lower lip, cheeks flushing a deep rose, and rolled her eyes. "And you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"Um, no. What are you trying to say?" I responded.

She studied my face a moment longer, her eyes moving around focusing here and there. Then she leaned forward, close to me. Her eyes looked deeply into my own. My breath caught in my throat at her closeness.

"This," she said, and then she pressed her lips against mine and closed her eyes.

Surprise turned into pleasure. Her sweet breath filled my mouth, sending a wave of excitement through me. After a moment, my own lips responded, pressing back. My heart threatened to burst through my chest. A surge of desire flooded my stiffness. Everything fled my mind as it pondered the most fascinating combined sensation of softness and firmness pressing against my own.

Then she pulled back, cheeks blushing again, and flashed me a smile.

I had the wherewithal to put my pizza and glass of wine on the coffee table before shifting closer to her and pressing in to kiss her again, this time taking more of the initiative. One of her hands came up to cup the side of my head. I slipped one arm behind her shoulders, cradling her frame, as my other hand found its way to her hip and stroked up along her side. She sank back into the couch a little, and I shifted forward a little more. My hand ran up the side of her back, then back down her side, over her hip, and down along the outside of one leg, feeling the contours of her body under the robe. Her hand slid through my hair, holding me close to her as the kiss continued.

This time I pulled back from the kiss and looked into her eyes a moment. I could see a fire there, a yearning. She pulled me back toward her, and I gave her a quick peck on the lips, pulling back again. Then I kissed her chin, one of her cheeks, the line of her jaw. I dipped lower, and she tilted her head back as I pressed my lips against her neck. Nibbling her flesh a little here, lightly dabbing her skin with my tongue there, I worked my way slowly down her neck, kiss after kiss, until I reached her upper chest.

I pulled back again to look into her eyes as I brought my hand up and traced the edge of the robe down along the collar, feeling the smoothness of her skin. She watched me intently as I pulled the material to the side, exposing her left breast. My hand cupped the perfect roundness, squeezing it slightly. Then, leaning down, I slipped my tongue out and gave her nipple a firm lick before wrapping my lips around it and suckling. She gasped, "Oh my," and gripped my hair more firmly. Her chest rose and fell as her breathing deepened. The delicate scent of her chest filled me with excitement. My tongue swirled around her nipple as I suckled on it.

I shifted a little so that I could pull the robe open more fully, exposing her other breast and most of her tummy. My hand began exploring her body, softly squeezing the other breast and dancing around over her abs, around one side, and back up again to the first breast. I switched my mouth to the other breast, repeating the treatment I'd given the first.

Lauren cooed and moaned softly, just letting me explore her body. "Mmm... that's nice..."

My lips tugged gently at her right nipple, pulling it out, then letting it spring back. I nuzzled her breast with my nose and kissed the soft underside of it. Shifting a little, I planted a kiss in the valley between her two breasts. The soft inner curves of each breast pressed against my cheeks. And I moved lower, kissing, nibbling, slipping my tongue out to give her little licks as I moved down her tummy.

Her breathing deepened further, and she shifted her hands down to untie the robe's belt before pulling the robe fully open, exposing her whole body. I slipped off the couch onto my knees and planted a couple more kisses around her belly button as I moved between her legs. She seemed to know exactly where I was going and slid her bottom forward to the edge of the couch, lifting her legs up and spreading them out to either side.

I knelt there between her legs relishing the sight of her sex a few inches in front of me. She looked down at me, a look of anticipation on her face. I turned to kiss the inside of one thigh, then turned back to kiss the other. Then in one fluid motion, I dipped forward, slipped my tongue out, and gave her one firm lick from the base of her pussy up across her lips and ending with a firm stroke against her clit.

Lauren sucked in a deep breath and then let out a sound that seemed to be a cross between a moan and a cry. Pulling back slightly, I gave her a moment and then dipped in to give her pussy a second lick. I relished the slick, moist feel of her labia, the rich taste of her arousal, the scent of her sex, and the sound of her voice as she muttered, "My god..."

I pressed in with my tongue again and began a steady, rhythmic stroking up and down through her lips. I concentrated on the flesh surrounding her clit, but tried to avoid touching it directly again for a little while. I licked up along one side of it, then back down, and then up again along the other side. Over and over again, I repeated the motion.

Lauren watched me for a while, but then her eyes closed, and she tilted her head back against the back of the couch. Her mouth fell open, letting out little moaning and cooing sounds. She hooked her hands behind each knee to pull herself wider open for me. Her hips picked up a rocking motion, trying to thrust up and down against my tongue.