Chapter 1: Hospitality

Phoenix: Hospital - Wednesday

It's amazing how quickly we adjust. I'd spent less than a week in room 517, and still I felt like it was "my room." Alicia and Amy were my nurses - Amy had switched shifts with the other nurse who'd been working with Alicia (a guy, I've forgotten his name). They were an interesting exploration in contrasts - Alicia, the youthful redhead, barely 18, freckled pale skin, and Amy, an older Asian, duskier skin. Both were short, and slender, with bodies like dancers, or runners. And each was under my control - or at least, that's how it was before the surgery.

"Hello, anh," Amy said, bowing to me. She was wearing her nurse's uniform buttoned up to her neck again.

"Oh Em Gee," Alicia said, putting her hand to her mouth.

I looked at her. "What?"

Alicia just shook her head, looking almost ready to burst. "I can't tell." She shot a look at Amy.

"Oh, come on. You can tell me."

She looked at me, then at Amy, then back at me. "Okay, I can tell you." She looked me in the eye. "You've made Amy a slave, haven't you?" I nodded. Then she looked back at Amy. "He's the new guy you were telling me about at the dojo?" Amy nodded, and Alicia let out a big sigh of relief. "Good."

"Dojo?"

"Yeah," Alicia said, in her usual bubbly manner. "Amy's dad is, like, this serious martial arts master. Got a white belt, which is, like, the most awesome there is. Does something called Vovinam."

"Vovinam," Amy said quietly, pronouncing it slightly differently.

"Right! That!" Alicia nearly bounced in her chair. "I'm still learning, still wearing the blue belt, but Amy's got a red belt! She's practicing swords and staffs and all that. She's really good!"

Amy just stood there, her skin flushing from embarrassment. Her eyes shot daggers at Alicia. "It is unseemly to boast," she said, then turned to me, and bowed. "I apologize, anh."

"Oh, don't be. I like to hear about your accomplishments. I'm impressed, and maybe a little proud." It was true, too! If I hadn't accidentally taken these girls' minds over with the seizures, we probably would have passed each other likes ships in the night. Now we were tied together by circumstance, a deep bond. But isn't that, more or less, how life always works? There are more people in the world than anyone can possibly meet and appreciate, and it's only through random circumstances that people manage to meet.

Amy gave a little bow. "Thank you, anh." I didn't think it was possible, but Amy turned even redder than before. It suited her. She cleared her throat, then changed the subject. "You have taken Alicia, then? She is your property?"

Now it was Alicia's turn to blush. "I wouldn't say property, exactly." She looked away, starting to breathe heavily. "But the dreams I've been having..." She looked at me, licking her lips. "Um, well, my lunch break is coming up soon, if you want me to show you."

I almost said no - I mean, I was just out of the NICU, recovering from major brain surgery. But I didn't want to turn her down. "Um, okay. Just be gentle."

Alicia giggled. "I don't know if I'll be able to help myself. But I'll try."

Amy flashed Alicia a dirty look. "Perhaps we should let him rest, at least for the day."

Alicia stuck her lower lip out in a pout. "Oh, fine." She winked at me. "Tomorrow, then."

"Maybe," Amy stressed.

"Spoilsport!" Alicia stuck her tongue out at Amy.

I just laughed.

Phoenix: Hospital - Thursday

The next day, I finally coaxed the hospital wireless into recognizing my computer. Trust me, if you want to get online in a hospital, reliably, buy your own cellular broadband plan. The services hospitals provide are lackluster, when they exist at all. But I digress.

Along with another healthy dose of weekend spam, there were emails from my 'harem' in Italy waiting for me. Of course, my Italian harem consisted almost entirely of students studying abroad - classmates, were I still there. Instead, thanks to the repeated sudden attacks of the seizures, I was sent home. I wasn't bitter, of course. Okay, maybe a little.

Don't tell me you wouldn't feel a little resentful if you were forced to leave behind what I was forced to leave behind - not only the beauty of southern Italy and the Mediterranean, but also the girls that had first been impressed into my 'harem.' I missed them all, and from what they said in their emails, they most assuredly missed me too.

I remember laughing at an indignant email from Marissa - my first victim or recruit or concubine or whatever you want to call it. Even now I still haven't really found a term I really find agreeable, at least not without digging into the lesser read parts of the Oxford English Dictionary. Marissa had been taken when I had a seizure during a wet dream, and spent the next several days getting exposed to more and more seizures. To be frank, she wouldn't have been my first choice - she was a nice enough girl, but she was small-chested and had eyes of two different colors, which was damned unsettling to say the least. Marissa's email had been indignant because Diana had been the first of my harem with whom I'd communicated via dreams. And the last. I hadn't really done it on purpose, and had no idea how to do it again. Apart from her complaints, Marissa spent a lot of time talking about her breasts, and how she felt they were tender and maybe getting bigger. I figured it was just wishful thinking, maybe some of it influenced by the wet dream that first claimed her.

Ah, Diana. Out of my conquests among my Italian students, Diana Baker was certainly the most beautiful. Like a slender porcelain doll, her eyes were clear blue glass, her face more expressive than almost anyone around her. She always looked less real than everyone around her, but still brimming with life. I never quite figured out what color her hair was - it was long and golden, sometimes red, sometimes brown, sometimes blonde. Diana had also emailed me about the shared dream, and was looking forward to trying again. I shot her back an email telling her that, with the tumor being taken out of my head, I was pretty sure that it was a one-time thing. She also told me more about how she and Richelle - her roommate - were hooking up. They'd both missed me, so they were taking out their feelings on each other.

Then there was an email from Richelle, which read like fan fiction, describing everything that'd been going on between herself and Diana. She was the first person I'd let in on the whole mind control thing that hadn't been affected - though she soon would be. Once she was affected, she took to it enthusiastically. She talked me into "hypnotizing" her - though the trances I could make them get was far stronger than any true hypnotic state. She was as thin as Diana, but shorter and more well-endowed on top. Until I tranced her out of it, she'd resented her "freakish, porn-star" chest her whole life. Her hair and skin were darker than Diana's - her skin dusky and olive, her hair a deep brown. Since I'd left, she'd gotten a tattoo on the inside of her left breast, over her heart (she sent a picture), a weird stylized 'k' which I imagined stood for "kajira," the trigger word she'd selected for herself. I made a mental note to look that word up, then I decided to just send her a message asking what the word meant to her.

The next email was from Bobbie. Bobbie and I shared a birthday - one which was coming up the following Monday. Bobbie had a real 'girl next door' look, with dishwater blonde hair and a full figure, easily she weighed as much as Diana and Richelle put together. She was the only one who shared with me her thoughts about Demetrius, the hypnotist that had taken my sister and others. It warmed my heart when she said I've met lots of men in my life, and you're the only one I trust with this kind of power. She seemed to agree with Erin that the guy was probably evil. But I'd had the tumor cut out, I'd lost my connection to the power I had. I had no idea what I was going to do about it. I dropped her a line telling her my doubts and concerns.

Finally, there were emails from Edward and Ingrid. Ingrid was a bookish, withdrawn redheaded girl who looked like Brigid Brannagh. Edward had a movie star's looks, and a wandering eye - one could charitably call him a player. I'd put Ingrid in another trance (trigger word 'ginger') and more or less gave her to Edward. It looked like they were poised to become a couple, both were exploring the trance, and enjoying each other's company. I never thought I'd see Edward settle down, but looked like he found a situation where he could feel comfortable (with a little help from me, I guess), or at least an arrangement where he could seriously get to know someone. It was adorable. I didn't consider either of them members of the 'harem' but they were a part of it as much as anyone.

"anh?" Amy came up to me. She blushed. "Alicia was talking to me about you and she mentioned something about hypnotism. You put her into some sort of trance." Amy gave a little bow. "If it pleases you, anh, can you do that to me?"

I looked up from my computer. "Um, yeah. I guess. Why?"

"It will let you mold me to your wishes," Amy said. "Also, Alicia tells me it is very pleasant." She blushed again. "Will you do it?" She gave a little bow. "I am sorry, anh, I do not mean to push."

"It's okay, Amy." I set the laptop on an end table and patted the bed next to me. "Come here. Sit down." She sat down, instantly, and looked intently at me. "Um, well, okay." I took a deep breath. I wasn't sure if this would work without the extra special whammy of the seizures and the tumor. She was still staring. "Imagine how Alicia felt when she was in a trance, imagine how you'd think a trance should feel. Feel yourself under my control, ready to respond to my words."

Her eyelids flickered. " ... yes..."

"I'm going to count down from ten to one," I said. "Each number will bring you deeper. When I reach one you will be as deep as you can be, completely ready to obey my every word."

" ... obey..." She was starting to breathe heavily.

I counted down. By the time I got to 'one' she collapsed onto me, her head tumbling forward into my shoulder. Go figure, it worked. A 'new mail' sound piped up from my computer. I leaned over to glance at it - it was an email from Elise. The subject line said You should be dead! A chill ran down my spine when I read that. A little flustered, I turned back to Amy.

"Amy, think of a word that will make you happy. A word you wouldn't mind me using to bring you back into this trance. When you decide that word, simply say it to me."

"Bian," she said.

"Okay, Amy. Whenever I call 'Bian' in the future I want you to fall into a trance like this one, ready to respond to me, ready to obey. Oh, and if I call you 'Bian' as part of a sentence, just obey that sentence instead of falling into a trance. Will you obey?"

" ... yes ... obey ... duty..."

"Good girl," I said. "Now wake up."

She stirred awake, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "That did feel good, anh," Amy said, pulling herself to her feet. She gave me a slight bow, once again. "Thank you."

I glanced back over at the computer screen, and flipped it closed. Death wishes could at least wait until I was out of the hospital.

Phoenix: Hospital - Friday

"How's my favorite patient doing today?" That was my neurologist, Dr. Parry. Despite being in her late twenties, she looked like Miss Teen Neurology - a girlish, dimpled face, the body of a cheerleader. Long blonde hair framed her face. Every time I saw her, she reminded me of a teen girl playing dress-up.

I gave a wan smile. "Recovering, I guess."

She walked up to me and started looking at the staples on my skull, probing and prodding them with her latex-clad fingers. "These are looking good," she says. "We should be able to take them out in about a week."

"It's a date," I sighed.

She blushed, and winked at me. "So, like, coffee and staple removal? Or dinner?" She giggled. "That's not a real date!" She stuck her lower lip out in a pout.

I gave her a strange look. "Do you want a real date?" This was one of the side-effects I didn't think I'd ever get used to - the women finding me attractive, and being so open about it. It wasn't all women - just those who'd been within the spheres of influence during my seizures.

"Um," she said, turning redder than before.

"So," I said, "will I be out of here by Monday."

"Monday? Why Monday?"

"It's my birthday." I grinned at her. "If you want a date, you can come to the party." I didn't even know what was going to happen on my birthday, but I knew my family - I assumed there'd be a party, probably thrown by my busybody of a sister, Jordan.

"Oh. Oh! Okay." She blushed again. "We weren't going to keep you past the weekend." Then she gave me a sheepish little smile. "A party? I'd like that."

"Great! It's a date." I smiled at her, and maybe blushed a little bit too. "I'm not planning it, but it's probably safe if you come around sundown." I wrote my address down, plus my telephone number. She pulled out her cellphone and immediately started keying it in. "My sister's arranging it," I said. "I hope it'll be a pretty casual thing," I said. "So don't worry about being dressy."