Chapter 12

"I feel like an addict after getting her fix," said Lucy as she sipped her third cup of tea. The first two cups had been greedily gulped down. "I hope I haven't become one."

"Nonsense, Lucinda. There are absolutely no addicting substances in my herb tea blend," Beth assured her. "I'm not surprised you became anxious when you ran out of it considering the stress you've been under lately. After all, it was the only thing going for you that helped you relax after you fired me. You don't think I'd endanger my child with anything addicting, do you," she added as she sipped her own cup of tea.

"Of course not," said Lucy. She shuddered to think what she might have tried in order to have some sort of peace of mind. "What about this obsession I seem to have with your legs?"

"That's where I cheated a bit using a simple fascination technique. Although all women use the technique both consciously and unconsciously to display what they consider being their best assets I've been able to refine the technique by using subtle suggestions. I understand Karen tried the same technique on you but it failed with subtlety not being her strong point."

"I was wondering what Karen was after when she wanted me to admire her legs." Lucy smiled grimly. It was about the only thing Karen tried that didn't work on her. "So, how do we get her to give up the tape and leave the house?"

"With hypnosis, of course."

"Karen's not likely to sit still long enough for you to hypnotize her," Lucy argued.

"That's true, but I have a bit of a head start with her."

"How is that?"

"As I've told you before I used to baby-sit Karen. Even as a child she was very difficult. As early as high school I'd been interested in hypnosis and had been doing quite a bit of reading. I finally got to the point in my studies where I wanted to have a practice subject and on a lark I asked Karen to volunteer. She was very young and thought of it as a great adventure. I confess that my ulterior motive was to make her go to sleep when she was told to. Eventually I was successful and was able to put Karen to sleep with a posthypnotic command. Her parents never knew how I did it but it made me very much in demand as their baby-sitter.

"When I graduated high school and started college I stopped baby-sitting altogether but even then I kept contact with Karen. In an unfortunate lapse of judgment I told her what I was doing and agreed to train her when she begged me to."

"I understand that part," said Lucy. "How are you going to hypnotize her now?"

"My posthypnotic command to sleep is still in her subconscious mind. My hope is that Karen will still respond to that command and fall into a hypnotic sleep. Once she's in the trance it should be no problem to extract the location of the tape and any copies that might have been made." Beth sighed. "There's only one problem. It's been years since I've hypnotized her so it might not work."

"What if it doesn't work," Lucy asked.

"Then we go to Plan B," said Beth.

"What's Plan B?"

Beth smiled. "I don't know yet. Shall we go?"

"What's so funny," Lucy asked when she noticed Beth suddenly start giggling.

"I'm certain you can't appreciate the humor in the possibility that all four of us: you, Karen, Amy and I all being pregnant."

"I certainly can't," Lucy declared. Her mind reeled at the thought. It was definitely possible. As far as she knew not one of the four women were using birth control. "I uh hope you're the only one who's pregnant," she added.

"Me, too," she said. This time she wasn't smiling.

Coming back to the house was like entering hostile territory for Lucy. She was a stranger entering her own home. The distraught woman wondered if they even cared any more whether or not she returned. Perhaps Barry and Amy even resented having their sex games interrupted by her unexpected intrusion. Had they even worried about her when she rushed out the door?

"Maybe it was a mistake coming back without calling first," said Lucy as Beth pulled into the driveway.

"I called when you were taking your nap. They're expecting us," Beth responded.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders and got out of the car. She wondered whether she should ring the doorbell first even though she had a key. The apprehensive woman certainly didn't want to walk into any more surprises. She didn't have to make that decision because the door opened before they got there.

"Welcome home, Lucy," Karen chirped. "Hi, Beth. Thanks for bringing home our little runaway."

"No problem, Karen," said Beth.

"I'll take it from here," said Karen. "I'll call you later."

"Would you like to come in for some tea, Beth?" Lucy was glad she was coached what to say. She wouldn't have had the nerve to ask Beth without first checking with Karen otherwise.

"I'd love some Lucinda, thank you."

"We're out of tea, Lucy. Don't you remember? Maybe some other time." Karen sounded irritated.

"Don't worry, Karen. I brought more tea. Just relax and I'll take care of everything," Beth said in an assuring manner. She pushed past her former student and was inside.

"It's really not convenient right now, Beth. We were sort of having a family conference." Karen was now acting hostile toward her former mentor. Did she have some sixth sense about what they were going to try?

"That's strange," said Beth. "You're not part of the family and yet you're in a family conference whereas Lucinda is part of the family and yet not part of the family conference. Have I missed something? Have you and Barry gotten married?"

"Not yet but we will be."

"Hey, that's news to me," said Barry as he walked out of the kitchen. "Hi, Mom. Uh, I'm sorry about this afternoon. It was all my fault.

"We'll discuss it later, Barry," said Lucy. "I'll start the kettle."

"We're not having tea," Karen snapped.

"It's still my house," said Lucy raising her voice. "Beth is my guest." The older woman could feel her pulse racing. She wouldn't have been brave enough to defy Karen without Beth being there.

"It'll be your taped performance your bosses at the bank will be watching if Beth isn't out of here in the next minute." Karen turned to glare at Beth.

"Well," said Beth. "I certainly won't stay where I'm not wanted. I'm just curious to know how I've offended you, Karen. I thought we were friends."

"I thought we were friends, too. But you were just stringing me along even though you promised to teach me everything you knew."

"I tried to teach you but you weren't ready to learn certain techniques."

"Shut up! I'm not finished. You weren't teaching me what I needed to know so I developed some of my own techniques and they're working fine. When you found out I didn't need you any more you started working against me because you're jealous of me."

"Jealous? I'm not-"

"Shut up, I said! I know you and Lucy are planning something against me. You wouldn't be here if you weren't. In fact, I knew this fat old bitch would run straight to you this afternoon and I'm not taking any chances. Now, get your lezzy ass out of here before I drag you out."

Beth held up her hands in surrender. "Okay, I'm going. I'm sorry, Lucinda. I won't be able to help you after all." Lucy gaped at Beth. Was this woman going to abandon her without a fight after having built up her hopes? Lucy didn't want to face Karen's rage and revenge. The distraught woman was ready to run out the door again and this time she wouldn't be returning. "By the way, Barry," Beth added as she walked toward the door. "If you have any hope of getting out of this mess you'd better do exactly as I say."

Barry only said, "Huh?"

"What the hell are you talking about? Get out of here," Karen yelled.

"Grab her and hold her, you fool!" Whatever Barry's other faults were he could at least follow a direct order. He immediately grabbed Karen and effectively pinned her arms against her waist. Karen let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Let go of me, you bastard! I'll kill you!" she threatened. She started flailing her legs and squirming while uttering more threats, this time toward Beth.

"What now?"

"Just keep holding her," said Beth. "You're doing fine." She reached inside her handbag and brought out a phallic-shaped gag with Velcro straps. Beth pinched shut Karen's nose and expertly inserted the plastic prick when the girl opened her mouth to breathe. "This model cuts down on the noise quite a bit but still allows her to breathe," the dominant explained. "We don't want the little darling to suffocate but we can't have the neighbors calling the police." She smiled at Lucy. "Time for Plan B."