Echoes of the Past

Chapter 9

Annie grinned at Eric before giving him a short peck on the lips and bouncing out of his car. He waved half-heartedly at her when she turned around for a last look then darted into her house.

Phew! Okay, that means she’s safe for one more day.

He drove back home after that thought, relieved that he wasn’t working that night. His eyelids were already drooping and he fought to keep them open the short drive back to his place. He decided that he really needed to get some sleep as soon as he got home, though he doubted he would have any success. David always seemed to show up just when he could least spare the sleep. When his building came into view he actually breathed a sigh of relief, though. He did need to talk to his best friend and tormentor tonight.

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“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Eric huffed, flopping back onto his bed.

“Aw, poor baby,” David cooed as he hovered above him. He was dressed in a powder pink satin robe with a matching feather boa. “Want a back rub?”

“Can you at least try some subtlety before you ravage me?”

“Oh, where’s the fun in that?” David smirked. He moved back though and gave Eric some space for a change.

“This schedule is a killer,” the dark haired man sighed and closed his eyes. “Gwendolyn’s right. I’m going to collapse from exhaustion before this is all over.”

David remained silent but Eric felt deft fingers ghost over his bare chest. He half-expected the redhead to suddenly straddle his hips, per his usual MO, but David kept his touch light and teasing. It was, ironically enough, a very welcome change from the norm. Eric craved a sense of closeness with his best friend and cosmic soul mate, and he was beginning to think he’d never get that.

“Can I ask you something?” he murmured dreamily.

“Mm hmm,” David hummed.

“How did we get caught up in all of this?”

He heard David suck in a deep breath as he contemplated his answer. If only he could ask the waking David as well. That one at least could keep his mind on a conversation without attacking him.

“My sister is an insatiable, power-hungry lunatic who wants to kill the only person I ever loved in order to take over the world,” David finally replied. “No way would I let her do that.”

“Even if you have to spend eternity protecting me?”

“There’s no one I’d rather spend it with.”

Eric smiled and let David’s soft caresses lull him into a calm state. If he wasn’t already asleep, he’d be snoring by now. David hummed a soft melody while he touched his dark haired dream lover.

“What are we going to do?” Eric asked without opening his eyes.

“The only thing we can do,” the redhead replied softly. “Play the cards we’re dealt.”

“But the deck’s stacked against us!”

“It always has been. We’ve come through before.”

“But now we know what she’s planning,” Eric pointed out.

“I always knew what she was planning. She still manages to circumvent my magic somehow, though.”

Eric sighed again and felt himself drift peacefully off to sleep.

“You do need your rest tonight,” he heard David whisper in his ear. “We’ll have other nights, though.”

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His mind was still hazy when he opened his eyes some time later. He didn’t know what woke him, though. He vaguely noted that it was still dark outside his window, so it couldn’t possibly be time to wake up yet. A shadowy figure moved on his right hand side and his eyes slowly drew to that area. But he felt so lethargic and dazed he couldn’t move his head.

“Don’t try to fight it,” the evil female voice advised coldly.

Charlene?! Fuck!

He willed his body to move, run … do something. But it didn’t obey his urgings. Instead he lay motionless with labored breathing.

“I wouldn’t have woken you,” she continued, still keeping herself out of view. “But I needed you semi-conscious to complete the spell.”

Spell? What fucking spell?! Does she know I’m the one she’s looking for? Oh shit! Where the fuck is David when I fucking need him?!

“You’ve been such a naughty boy,” Charlene said huskily. “All over my Annie like that.” Her voice turned possessive when she spoke her slave’s name. “I haven’t been able to … use her like I need to.”

So that’s what this is about! I thought she was supposed to find a new slave!

“I found a suitable substitute,” she answered his unspoken thought. “But she’s not fully trained yet, and I’m growing weaker than I’m comfortable with.” She lit a match as she spoke and a fragrant candle suddenly glowed next to him. The scent was soft and … mesmerizing. He felt his senses dull as his eyes refocused on the ceiling above him. “Breathe it in deeply, my ancient brother,” she taunted as she walked around the bed and lit another fragrant candle. “You can’t escape it anyway. And it smells so … inviting, doesn’t it?”

It did smell inviting. He felt his resistance to her will slowly seep from him as he pulled in deep gulps of the heady scent, his vision getting cloudier with each one.

“Now you’re almost ready to let me in,” she chuckled. “I’ll make sure the thought of touching her repulses you so much it won’t matter how often you see her. You won’t let her near you. And I’ll be able to use her anytime I need to. I’ll even leave the spell open … just in case you give me anymore trouble.”

She then started chanting something in a language Eric couldn’t understand but the candles slowly dulled his mind to a point where he no longer cared. When she was finished, she blew out the candles and the smoke wafted through the dark room.

“Sleep,” she whispered, and his mind could do nothing but obey.

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Eric woke with monstrous headache and a deep sense of dread he couldn’t explain. He could swear he had a nightmare involving Charlene but he just couldn’t remember it for sure. Dragging himself out of bed he went through the motions of getting ready for the morning ahead of him, looking forward to his weekly morning meeting with Gwendolyn. He was just tucking his shirt into his pants when his phone rang. He reached over and grabbed it.

“Hello?”

“Baby?” Annie’s sugary sweet voice sounded much too chipper for the early morning. In fact, his stomach turned as he remembered he would have to see her later on that evening, though why he felt such a violent reaction eluded him.

“Uh … h-hi.”

“We’re still on for tonight, right?” she asked.

The bile threatened to escape his stomach and charge out of his mouth. Why did he want to hurl just thinking about seeing her? Still, he knew he needed to do it to keep her safe.

“Of course!” He infused his voice with false cheer. “I’ll call you when I get home from work.”

“Can I just see you for a few minutes this morning?” she asked in a pleading tone.

This morning?

“Annie, dear,” Charlene’s chilling voice wafted through the line from the background. “I came over early … to give you a lift back to my house.”

Damn! He was too late!

Annie whimpered softly before speaking into the phone. “Uh … I guess I’ll be busy anyway,” she said ruefully.

“Annie, do you want me to come over?” he asked urgently.

Charlene was closer to the phone now and he heard her whisper something though he couldn’t make out what she said.

“Yes, mis-Charlene,” Annie said back to her in a distant, reverent tone. “I understand.” Then she sniffled and got back on the line. “I’ll see you later tonight, babe,” she said to him before hanging up abruptly.

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“She has … altered you,” Gwendolyn said without preamble as he sat down at the table in her office.

“Excuse me?”

“She’s been inside your mind,” the old woman said as she stared off at the wall behind him. “And she cast spells on you.” She refocused her gaze on him pityingly. “Oh dear, Eric. She keeps her hold on you even now.”

“She what?” he shrieked. “When? How?”

“Most recently, my guides say.” Gwendolyn swallowed hard. “And they tell me even now she has Annie in a thrall, milking as much power as she can to regenerate.”

“She’s not breaking her, is she?” he demanded.

“She stops just short of that,” the old woman said sadly. “The other she chose is highly spirited and she was too weak to train her properly because you kept her from Annie for too long.”

Too weak to train her properly?

“This new … slave,” Eric’s stomach flipped on the word. “How powerful will she make Charlene?”

“Not nearly as powerful as you would make her,” she shrugged. “But she will eventually provide much more power than Annie ever did.”

“So, when she finishes the training and the new slave is ready to serve her?”

“Then she will consume Annie completely and leave her a drone,” she replied, answering Eric’s deepest fears.

“And the spell on me?”

“It is in place to keep you from interfering with … her plans for Annie. Not that it will truly be necessary after this morning.”

“You mean … ?”

“She is already strong enough to complete the new slave’s training.” She shook her brassy, bleached head morose. “And, Eric?”

“Huh?”

“The new slave is a single woman with no ties to anyone close by.”

The meaning was clear and he felt sick. Charlene now had an unlimited supply of power living in her dungeons … where she could take her time feeding off her without any interference from anyone. And soon Annie’s mind would be broken … forever.