Echoes of the Past

Chapter 8

It was getting more and more difficult for Eric to hide what he deemed his inner turmoil from David in his waking life. Every minute they were together, every move David made captivated Eric even further. And more than a few times he caught himself staring at his best friend, breaking eye contact just in time to avoid David’s suspicion. It was becoming brutal.

And the nights were even worse for him. Though better in the way that he could speak freely to the dream version of David, the smaller man took every opportunity to bring him to his knees, metaphorically speaking, making scream for him again and again. It was getting hard for him to distinguish between the waking David and the dreaming one. And the redhead of his dreams liked to avoid talking about the problems with Charlene, too. Eric didn’t know what to do.

Annie was another complication. He saw her as seldom as possible, claiming job responsibilities. That wasn’t a total lie, either. He’d taken on a part-time job specifically for such a purpose. It also helped to keep David from getting suspicious, at least while he was awake. He still made sure he saw Annie at least once a week, though. He didn’t think he could live with the guilt if Charlene decided the blonde had outlived her usefulness and killed her. Annie may be an airhead, but he would do what he had to do to keep her alive.

His only ally, it seemed, was Madame Gwendolyn, and he’d taken to visiting with her regularly now, if only to find some sort of solace from the two Davids in his life. How he’d gone through his existence before without remembering the Earth-shattering orgasms, escaped him, but he’d done it. Truth be told, part of him longed for his ignorance back. But that wasn’t possible.

“You’re going to kill yourself with the schedule you keep,” Gwendolyn sighed as he slunk into the chair in front of her. “What good will you be in your plight if you collapsed from exhaustion?”

“Maybe it would put a crimp in Charlene’s plans,” he shrugged.

“Not a permanent one. And what do you think it would do to David?”

“Which one?” Eric snorted. “The one who doesn’t see what’s happening or the other one who attacks me every night?”

“As if you don’t enjoy it,” she chuckled.

“That’s beside the point.”

Eric had given up being ashamed around her. She was like the kindly old grandma he’d wished he’d had. His own was a bitter old woman who to this day glares at him every time she sees him. He still didn’t understand what he’d done to deserve her derision, but now he knew he had other things to worry about.

“She grows impatient for him, you know,” Gwendolyn said softly. “My spirit guides tell me she takes it out on the girl who you see.”

“Annie?” he winced.

“Yes.” Gwendolyn closed her eyes and sighed, as if what she was seeing in her mind troubled her greatly. “Every night you do not see Annie, she is summoned to her mistress.”

Oh, shit!

“And she is never merciful,” the old lady went on. “She abuses the girl’s body in every way imaginable, the pain and pleasure melding into one excruciating emotion for her.”

“I thought you said she sucked her mind out.”

“She did … when the girl is outside. But when she returns to her mistress, when she enters the dungeons, she is fully aware of the punishment she is receiving.”

“What? Why? What the hell does Charlene hope to get from her through that? She controls her the rest of the time.”

“She gets pleasure from rendering Annie … helpless.”

“Uh … huh?”

“She gains her power through pain and submission,” Gwendolyn clarified. “And Annie has been trained to give her the exact responses she needs to strengthen her power. She is conditioned to put up just the right amount of resistance before she breaks. And Charlene makes her break completely before she’s through.”

Any other red-blooded male would probably get turned on by the image, but Eric just felt sick to his stomach. No matter what anyone thought of her, Annie didn’t deserve to be a power supply for the wicked witch that was Charlene.

“How can I stop her?” he asked pitifully, already suspecting the answer.

“The more time she spends with you, the less time she can spend with her mistress.”

“But the more time she spends with me, the less sleep I’ll have,” he sighed. “I can’t let myself fall asleep while she’s with me. She’ll find out about David.”

Gwendolyn kept her eyes closed and seemed to drift off, though Eric knew she wasn’t asleep, but merely contemplating his dilemma.

“The more time she spends with Charlene the less chance there will be of breaking the hold on her. Even Charlene’s death will not break it if Annie’s mind is completely broken during one of these punishments.”

“Why didn’t Charlene break her completely already?”

“The slow process feeds the power level for a longer period of time,” Gwendolyn explained. “She looked for a strong-willed woman so that she could take her time with it.”

“If Annie breaks completely, will Charlene get rid of her?”

“Not unless you break up with her. But it won’t matter anymore. Once she breaks completely, Annie, the woman she once was, will cease to exist and Charlene will move on to another victim while Annie will be used to keep an eye on you.”

Eric wanted throw up now. How many victims would Charlene go through because of him?

“But, there is a way to buy her some time,” Gwendolyn said quickly. “Charlene never ‘punishes’ her on the days when she sees you, even if it’s only for a short time and Annie goes home without you.”

“She doesn’t?”

“No. Any time you touch Annie, even just a short pat, Charlene cannot use her for … feeding, for lack of a better term.”

“Why not.”

“The spirit guides tell me that Annie is considered unclean for the rest of the day.”

Eric’s nose scrunched up as he processed that information. “But wouldn’t that make her go out and start finding another victim then? If I kept Annie away from her … punishments?”

“Yes,” Gwendolyn sighed. “But she would have to begin anew when she finds a suitable candidate. And that will help Annie’s mind recharge and shore up its defenses. The new person Charlene chooses won’t be trained and conditioned to give the proper reactions for quite some time, which will cause Charlene to lose some of her power.”

Eric didn’t like the idea of putting anyone else in danger, but if Annie was in such a precarious state, he didn’t think he’d have a choice in the matter.

“Her new victim,” he asked hesitantly.

“Will be a female,” Gwendolyn said sadly. “She never wanted a male partner.”

“But, I was male!” Eric exclaimed. “In that lifetime I was engaged to her, I was male.”

“You were a means to an end for her,” Gwendolyn shook her head, opening her eyes finally to look at him. “And she had every intention of breaking you then disposing of you when she was through … after your will fueled her powers and brought her to the highest level she needed.”

“What?!”

“That was to be your destiny back then … and in this one, if she has her way. You would be the fuel to help her ascend to the highest level of magic.”

“To do what?”

“To do what all evil mages dream of: Bring everything in existence to its knees before her.”

Eric gulped and dropped his head into his hands. How the hell did he ever get mixed up in all this?

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

Eric dropped his keys on his table and sighed before he picked up the phone and punched in the numbers quickly. Annie picked it up on the second ring.

“Hey, Annie,” he said lightly, hoping to sound natural. “Want to do something this afternoon?”

“I thought you had to work.”

“I do. But I miss you.”

He could swear he could hear her emit a small sigh of relief.