Chapter 1: The Hall

I yawned again.

"I can't believe you're that tired," Michael said, shaking his head.

The yawn stifled, I replied, "I told you that I've gotten used to having my girls with me when I sleep."

"Who inevitably wake you some time in the night for a quickie!" Michael replied with a big grin.

"Be that as it may, I don't mind and actually feel more rested when they do."

"So when was the last time you went without a quickie in the middle of the night?" His knowing smile was in place.

I thought about that. And thought...

Michael chuckled and shook his head. "You honestly don't remember, do you?"

I shrugged. "Maybe when I went to visit my parents last Christmas?"

"That was four months ago."

"So?" I said defensively.

Michael shook his head again and looked back up at the double doors we were waiting next to.

It was Monday morning, the first day of my spring break from school and we were using that time to visit New York City. First, we had a meeting with the Mind Magi Council, and the next day I was to attend the grand opening of the fourth store in the chain that I was partial owner of. The opening wasn't as important as the meeting, but Charlotte — A fellow Master PC User, Part owner in the store chain, and one of my family members — had arranged for a small press conference and photo shoot with a few magazines. The photo shoot was really more to promote the store, so fortunately my face wouldn't be included.

Michael looked back at me as I stifled another yawn. "I thought you said you had dreams of them too, dreams that were very real."

I nodded. "The dreams are shared. I'm there, they're there, and you can feel, see, smell, taste and hear as if everything we did were actually happening."

"So why isn't that good enough?"

I shrugged. "I don't know." I thought about it again and said, "The only other time I slept without being coerced into sex in the middle of the night was when I spent that night in a hospital."

"And when you woke up, that's when you added Anna to your harem," Michael said with a touch of incredulity. "Oh wait. I'm sorry, your 'family'." There was still a touch of sarcasm to his correction, but I overlooked that. We had developed a bit of mildly picking on one another in the forms of wisecracks to relieve tension. Today seemed to be all set for that.

I had just looked at him when he said "harem." It was another term that I didn't care for. Not that I needed a reminder of my situation — as surreal as it was. My attempt at calling it different was my delusion, something I was happy to admit (that it was a delusion) because my girls and I were happy. Why spoil it with terms that might upset someone?

However, I nodded to his statement. I had added Anna to my family and it helped me to recover. I continued with the train of thought that she helped heal me. Michael believed that she only empowered my ability to heal and my talents took care of the rest. It was something, like many of my other talents, which was fully untested. It was also something everyone understood my reluctance to test. Who really wanted to knock themselves about the head or cause any other form of harm to themselves just to see if they would heal like some comic book character?

Besides, I knew he didn't understand. For that matter, I didn't fully understand it. He knew many Mind Magi and what they were all about, but I seemed to defy most of the "rules" regarding their society. Maybe "rules" was more functional in what I was experiencing versus all other Mind Magi. My having parents who were both Mind Magi seemed to have pushed me beyond the norm.

"You know me Michael. I wouldn't just take anyone to bed. I don't do that."

He nodded. He had witnessed on many occasions how women all but threw themselves at me and I would deflect them, most with a soft smile and soft words of comfort and some with harsh tones only because my kind rebuttals were not enough to dissuade them. "But why did you take Anna?" he asked.

I shrugged again. "I somehow knew she could help me heal."

Michael seemed to think about that. "And Savannah?"

"Savannah had been affected by me for months. Ever since I brought her sister, Alexandria, back to her. I don't think anyone could have taken what she did for so long and continue to fight their desires. Besides, Savannah already knew what to expect. She knew long before that day what it would mean to sleep with me and she still chose to do it anyway."

"You almost make it sound like you did it to help her rather than doing anything for yourself."

I looked at him again. "I know what you're thinking. All of my girls have said it before. Any other red-blooded man would take advantage of such situations. But I can't help but feel the connection as something more than just sex. You also know that I would never put anyone in this situation without a way out. I still have a standing offer for all of my girls to be free of me if they choose so."

Michael just grinned and shook his head. "Still, honestly, I cannot get over how much you get laid."

I thought about that. It wasn't how much or the frequency, but the number of women I had who wanted it. I was the only male living with sixteen females. I'm sure most men would have killed themselves in an attempt to keep up with it all and the girls would have felt unloved, maybe bitter. "All that eye candy running around my place and you can't say you've not fantasized."

Michael looked at me. At first he had a somber expression on his face. I knew those looks. Living with women taught me how to read such expressions. "You have haven't you?" I had half a smile on my face asking it.

He nodded, slowly.

"You haven't done anything about it. I would have known if you had. I would have felt it."

"Would you? What would be the difference between me being with one of your girls and two of them together, say sharing a strap-on?"

It was rather vulgar coming from Michael, but it was an honest question. He was testing my jealousy. Oddly, I didn't feel any. "The emotions; they would have felt guilty, and if they didn't ... Well, I would just break our bond and wish them well."

"Just like that, you'd let her go?"

I had been staring off in the distance in thought, but turned my focus on Michael again. "Yes. I meant what I said. If any of them found anyone else. I'd let them go. I want them to be happy, not feeling stuck."

Michael had been stoic looking but broke into a grin. "You would have. Still, it's a good thing I'm married."

"You just admitted to having had fantasies about one or more of my girls..."

"Yeah, but they were just that, fantasies. I'm still human, Ral."

I shook my head. "I wasn't accusing you. I guess I just never thought about it. The only marriage role-models I've ever had were my adoptive parents and you know what happened between them and me a few months ago."

"That was different Ral. They were in trouble with something they couldn't have fought off themselves. You were helping them the only way you knew how to."

"Yeah, but still ... I guess I'm feeling guilty about what happened to them."

Michael shook his head. "Don't. You know the difference. Just let it go and chalk it up to having helped them. I'm sure you would help them again if it came down to it."

I nodded. However, deep down I wondered if I would. Those moments I spent with Mom ... I could still remember them as if they happened only the day before. The details, the sensations; they haunted me. I had let her go, broke the bond I forged with her because I only forged it to break another's bond to her. I was freeing her of their control. So why did I still dwell on it? Something about the touch of her skin, the feel of her body under mine. I had my girls. Each of them was unique in what they gave, yet I still felt ... no, nearly craved my Mother's touch.

I felt different for Monique though and I wasn't sure why. She had been more aggressive when being forced to try to seduce me and I had resisted it. Even after I had broken the bond that forced her to do such, she still felt the desire for me and told me about it. I had thought that giving her what she seemed to need and send her on her way would solve it, but only a month later, I had received an email from her. She had broken up with her fiancé and declared her unending desire for me. I had fed that yearning through our continuing emails but fortunately she hadn't decided to just show up to get more of the real thing. I had mixed emotions about that.

Of course, having Mandy bound to me and nearby helped me both when I had my cravings for Mom's touch or just got done reading an especially naughty email from Monique. She didn't know what was going on but accepted my advances nonetheless. It was wrong to use her like that. I knew that and yet hadn't even begun to make amends. Maybe after I got home after the store opening the next day, I would sit her down and tell her everything. Maybe...

I needed to break out of my thoughts. They wouldn't help me at all once we were called in to talk to the council. Looking back at Michael I recalled his reasoning for not trying anything with any of my girls. "You said you were married?"

He looked up. I had been silent for a while. Apparently he too was lost in thought. "Yeah, been married for just over nineteen years."

"I had thought so, but you never said anything before."

"I'm trying to break that habit. I've been keeping my normal life with my family separate from my secret life so much; I hadn't told her or my daughter about my talents, just like I haven't told you or anyone else in our society about my marriage."

"You said you were trying to break that habit?"

"I'm taking a leaf out of your book. Your girls know all about your talents. Of course it would be difficult to constantly juggle so many women, especially living with all of them."

I nodded but watched him hoping he would open up more.

He looked around as if checking to make sure no one else could hear us. There was no one else, except the other Mind Magi in the room beyond the double doors. "I told Katherine about it all just a month ago."

"I'll bet that didn't go over well."

"Well, she didn't believe me at first, of course. However, I had the perfect opportunity to prove I could find anyone I had ever met."

"Who did you locate?"

"Our daughter."

I just grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"She's sixteen and wants to date. I, of course, think she shouldn't date until she's thirty, but she is a teenager and prone to doing what she wants."

"I take it she was at a boy's house?"

Michael nodded. "She had told us she would be hanging out at her friend's, Ashley's, house. That's when I took the opportunity to prove my ability to my wife."

I turned and got more comfortable. Now that we were discussing his family rather than mine, I was getting more comfortable.

Chapter 2 »