Chapter 10: Aftermath

Phoenix: Hospital - Saturday Morning

"Alicia told me you'd be here, Eric," Taffy said while they were bringing me my morning meds. "But I can't believe it." She shook her head. "Brain tumor, huh?" I just nodded.

"You two know each other?" Amy asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Taffy worked with my last ex."

"Ooh," Amy said. "A dancer?" She gave me a look like most women did when they found out I'd dated a stripper - one that asked "How did someone like you get a girl like that?" - and I just nodded, wearily. I'd answered that skeptical face too many times.

The tunnel vision started, as did the stabbing pain in my groin, and I started shaking again. "Ow!" I doubled over. It was the worst one yet.

Taffy gave me a dirty look, looking angry. "So, does that mean we're your slaves now? I know what Erin said." She rubbed her temples. "Fuck, my head hurts."

Amy looked bewildered. "Slaves?"

I looked between them. Amy had glassy eyes. Taffy didn't. Now, by this point I was getting very confused - I'd found three women, each immune to me, all of them women I'd known in my earlier life. But not everyone from my former life was immune - Alicia fell under my spell. So, what the hell? Whatever, I figured. I wouldn't need to worry about it after the surgery. How simple life seemed, then.

Still, I didn't want to say anything while Amy was all zoned. So, I just sat there silently.

"Are you going to say something?" That was Taffy. "Or are you just going to sit there like a mute little idiot?" Wow, the formerly friendly female was getting belligerent. This was really out of character for her. I started noticing another pattern.

Rolling my eyes, I gave in. "No," I said. "You're not my slave, Taffy." Then I turned to Amy. "But you are."

Amy looked taken aback. "I am?" Then her features shifted. "I am." She looked like she meant it. She nodded, decisively.

Taffy stared at Amy, then at me, then back at Amy. "Really?" She sounded skeptical.

Amy nodded. "Yes," she said. "I believe I am." The glassy look left her eyes.

Taffy snorted. "Uh-huh. Yeah." She looked me up and down. "You could barely hang on to Erin."

I coughed. "Um, I left Erin." I shook my head in disbelief. "Remember? You spent almost a month consoling her." It was a bad month, after our break-up. "And what's with all the hostility?"

She made a face. "Oh, I don't know." She shook her head, clearing it. "I have no idea what came over me." She giggled. "Sorry?" It was amazing how quickly the rancor drained from her face. She ruffled my hair. "Guess I'm PMSing or something."

There's not much to do when you're hanging around a hospital for a weekend. I could chat with the nurses, I could watch TV, or I could sleep. After checking out what the Saturday Morning Cartoon line-up was, I decided to sleep through lunch.

Phoenix: Hospital - Saturday Midday

I was in Boston, on a small stretch of land called Carson Beach. I wasn't sure how I knew that, but I did. The sun was setting over the city to the west - strange for me, since I was used to the west coast, where the sun set on the beach. There was a picnic blanket laid on the sand; I had a weird feeling I belonged there, so I sat down and waited.

Diana walked up to the blanket, holding hands with a boy, a swarthy guy that reminded me of Tunis. She was wearing a bikini, he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and sunglasses. She seemed startled to see me on the picnic blanket, and turned to the boy. "Dennis? I think you should go." And then, without a word, he was gone. Vanished into thin air.

Diana sat down on the blanket. "Eric? What are you doing here?"

"I don't know."

"Am I dreaming?"

"I think so." I shrugged. "Either that, or I am."

"Is it really you?" She reached out to touch my face. "I can't believe it." A tear trickled down her face. "I've missed you. We all have." She smiled. "Eddie got back today. Ingrid was so happy she creamed herself."

I laughed at that mental picture. "I can't imagine them as a couple. Hell, I can't imagine Eddie getting serious with anyone."

"I've got a more unlikely one for you," she said, blushing. "Me and Shelly."

My jaw dropped. This was getting surreal. "No way." Obviously, I felt, I was dreaming now. I'd wandered out of reality.

She was still blushing. "Yeah." She looked at me. "Hey, we miss you. And you left us all full of sexual frustration. At least we can take them out on each other." She winked, then ran her hand through her hair. "Fuck, I must miss you. Why would I be dreaming this?" Shaking her head, she added. "I wish I knew what was going on with you."

"It's a tumor," I said. "I'm having brain surgery on Monday."

The blood drained from her face. "Surgery? Oh no, Eric." She leaned over and pulled me into an embrace. "You better get through this."

I leaned in and gave her a kiss. "I will," I smiled. "I've got that raincheck." She snuggled in, closer to me. I reached up and undid the top of her bikini, and helped her down on the blanket. Slipping my thumbs underneath her bikini bottom, I slid it down her legs. She shivered, and gave a little ecstatic squeal, and leaned back, opening herself up to me.

"Oh, fuck, Eric," she said, looking up at me. "You have no idea how much I've been wanting this."

I climbed on top of her, and gave her another kiss. "Me, too." I started kissing down her body, her neck, her chest, her belly. Meanwhile, one hand started caressing her chest while another reached inside her. She squirmed, making happy noises. The beach faded away - we were floating in the darkness, surrounded by stars. I took that to be a sign, and withdrew my hand, thrusting into her. She moaned with pleasure.

"Ah, Diana!" I cried out as I came in her. As it was a dream, she also came with me.

Then we collapsed into one another. She looked at me with wonder in her eyes. "You called me 'Diana'."

"Um, yeah." I smiled, a bit puzzled. "That is your name."

She gave me a playful punch in the shoulder. "No, silly. I mean, you didn't say 'Dee.' You said 'Diana.'" She pulled me close to her and gave me a long, deep kiss. Apparently, I'd done something right. "Eric, I..."

Then she started fading away. "No!" I reached after her. But it was too late.

Phoenix: Hospital - Saturday Afternoon

I woke up to Amy's face. Her mouth was in the shape of an 'O'. "How did you do that?"

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Do what?"

"I was just in here, checking your lines, and then all of a sudden," she blushed. "I felt a jolt of pleasure in my flower. Eventually," she continued, shyly, "I blossomed."

"You mean you came?" Apparently, I had also - the erection from the earlier seizure had gone away. My first "wet" dream since high school.

She made a face. "I hate that word. So vulgar." Then she nodded, still blushing. "But, yes, anh." She gave a little bow. "Thank you."

"Um," I said. "You're welcome."

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so." I shrugged. "I guess you could finish checking my lines, or whatever?"

"Of course," she said. She reached over me to fiddle with the tangle of IVs. I got her chest shoved right in my face. I thought to myself how nice it would be if she just unbuttoned a few buttons. Then I felt this pressure in my head, followed by a release. It gave me a sense of deja vu.

Amy broke away, standing up. "I feel strangled," she said. She buttoned her uniform about halfway down. A little peek of a black, lacy bra. "There. That's better." She saw my eye line. "I see it pleases you, too, anh."

Then there was a shy little knock at the door. "I will answer that." Amy walked decisively over to the door and opened it.

Erin was standing there. She was dressed normally - of course, normal for Erin was a scooped neck tank top, and a short black skirt. She pulled a white handkerchief out from her ample cleavage and waved it. "Hi, honey," she said, looking sheepish. "Truce?"

I sighed, and smiled. "Yeah, angel." I looked at Amy. "Can we maybe get a little privacy?"

She gave a little bow and said, "Yes, anh." She left and closed the door.

Erin turned to me after watching her leave. "Oh my God. You took her, too?!"

"Not my fault." I shook my head. "My doctor, too, kinda." I blushed a little. "But it looks like Taffy's immune."

Erin turned to me, eyes wide. "Really?" She sat down on the bed. "So it's not just me?"

I shrugged. "Looks like it. Taffy and Jordan both." I mused. "But it worked on Alicia."

"Wait. Taffy and your sister?"

I nodded. "Well, yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Just those two. Not that I've been going out and wandering the streets."

Erin looked a little guilty. "Really?"

I leaned forward. "You're not telling me something." I was suspicious. "You think there's a link?"

She blushed. "Um, yeah? I think so." I just looked at her until she spilled. "You know the Goose Egg?" It was a bar and grill near the Audubon, we'd gone there a few times. I nodded. "Well, I found out they have a hypnotist on First Fridays. 'Demetrius' or something. He's good," she shook her head. "Knows a lot of his stuff. Pulled me, Taffy and your sister all up on stage." She sighed. "After, he came up to each of us, said he thought we were good subjects. Was flirting and all that, kind of a player. Sleazy, you know?" Tilting her head in thought, she added. "Tried to trigger me under, but it didn't work." She gasped. "Or maybe he just made me THINK it didn't work. He talked to each of us separately. Taffy and your sister both kinda have a crush on him - they said they gave him their number. Maybe he did something to us?"

"Maybe," I frowned. After all, not everyone who has these powers are going to have seizures like mine. Still, what could I do about it? Surgery was coming up Monday, and it's not like I could control what was happening. "But what can we do about it?"

"But, but ... Well..." She flustered. "Stop him!"

"How? Why?"

"Obviously he's the bad guy!"

I laughed. "Maybe he isn't. Maybe he's not so bad." I shrugged. "Maybe he's like me. Or maybe it's a coincidence."

She frowned. "Maybe..." Clearly, she didn't like this idea.

"Look, after my surgery this," I waved my hand in the air, "this is all done with. I'll probably be in the hospital for a few weeks. So, what can I really do?"

"Well, uh," she said. "What if it doesn't go away?" She looked at me, tenderly. "I think this is a part of you, now."

I groaned. "Fuck, I hope not."

"I always sensed you had some kind of power," Erin said. "Remember?"

I remembered rolling my eyes at her New Age ramblings, back when we were dating. But after this past week, I regretted tuning her out. "Not really," I said. "Whenever you talked about 'sensing' something my mind wandered." I shrugged. What, I was going to take her seriously when she talked about auras and dreams and 'sensing' things?

"Idiot," she said, sticking her tongue out at me. "Well, I sensed something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. It's not exactly specific." She shrugged. "It's just ... you have a lot of power. You always have. That's what attracted me to you." She took my hand. "You're the good guy, Eric. And this 'Demetrius' guy is a sleazeball."

"Thanks, angel." I sighed. "I guess." I slumped into my bed.

She leaned in and kissed my forehead. "You're welcome, honey." Then she mused. "If there's you, and Demetrius, I wonder if there's other people out there with powers." She laid down, snuggling up to me. "I'll bet there are."

I thought about Elise, and her business card, and how I could hear what happened through the phone, while Edward couldn't. "Yeah. I think you're right."

Phoenix: Hospital - Sunday Morning

Family visited again the next morning. It was a quick visit - Antonio needed to get back to work the next day, so was preparing for the long drive back out to Los Angeles. Jordan had also 'liberated' my laptop from my house, so I was able to connect to the 'net for the first time in forever (there was an Internet café© in the student housing in Naples, but I was too busy exploring Italy to care about email).

Jordan hang behind after my dad and Antonio left, chatting with Taffy, whispering and giggling like high school girls. I had a feeling I knew what they were talking about. "Hey," I said to them, "Erin told me she dragged you guys to an awesome hypnosis show the other day?"

They looked at each other and started giggling again. "Yeah," Jordan said, blushing. "It was neat."

"So, tell me about it."

Taffy giggled. "Well, it definitely wasn't PG-13." Jordan was still blushing. "Right, Hel?"

"Um," Jordan stammered. "Yeah."

"And the hypnotist guy?" Taffy fanned herself. "Hot-tie!" Jordan nodded shyly, beside her.

"Well, I guess I know what kind of guy is the 'controlling sort, '" I said, sticking my tongue out at Jordan. "Am I right?"

I had to laugh as I flustered Jordan. "Yeah." She was blushing, and I swear I could see her nipples poking through her shirt. I tried not to stare - I mean, she was my sister. But she caught me staring, and gave a strange little smile, and started running her finger along them. It was weird, like she was flirting with me, or at least showing herself off. What the hell did he do to her? A shiver ran down my spine. Maybe Erin was right about the guy.