Satin Afterglow

Zara looked up from her desk when she heard the buzzer, to see Guy at the door. She sprang up immediately, ignoring Alena's quizzical look, and let him in.

"It isn't locked, you could have just come in," Zara told him.

He gave her an easy smile, his grey eyes flicking from Zara to Alena.

"I thought it more polite to be invited," he replied.

Alena rose from her chair. Guy raised a hand in greeting.

"Hi," he said. "Remember me?"

Alena frowned at him. "Yes, from Richard's poker night. You took him to the cleaners."

"All taken in the spirit, I hope. You win some, you lose some."

"You won a lot."

"Like I said, all just in the spirit of the game."

"Of course. Can we help you?"

Guy's attention returned to Zara.

"Actually, yes," he said. "I have a matter that I think you can assist with."

"We're a little busy, but...," Alena began.

Guy wasn't paying her any attention anymore, fixing his eyes on Zara. He leaned close, his lips against her ear and she felt a little shiver of anticipation, just like she always did when she was with him. He murmured something that she didn't quite catch, and a soft haze settled over her thoughts. She didn't have to think anymore. She could just let her head empty out. Guy pulled away from her, turning to Alena now.

Zara watched him walk up to her desk. Alena hadn't asked him to, but it didn't matter to Zara. She was content to watch the way he moved. She could see doubt beginning to cloud Alena's expression, but then Guy smiled and Zara realized that it was all going to be okay. Whenever Guy smiled, it was always okay. She sighed dreamily.

Alena glanced at her, frowning, then back at the man standing in front of her desk. "Zara?" she called out.

Zara didn't answer. She didn't need to. Guy was here to do all that now. Zara could just stand where she was and watch him.

"Zara?" Alena called out again, this time with more urgency.

"Zara's fine, Alena. She's just going to stand there while we have a talk," Guy told her.

Zara smiled, glad that Guy had explained everything. Surely, now, Alena's mind would be put at ease. Alena shifted her attention to Guy.

"What's happened to her?" Alena asked.

There was something clipped and deliberate in her voice, and Zara felt a little sad. Her boss would need Guy to reassure her some more.

"I wanted to talk about a little setback I encountered recently. I sponsor a gaming tournament team, and it was important that our team was the winner. I will not bore you with the details, but we were supposed to go through to the world championships. It was an excellent chance to put our brand in front of a global audience."

Alena shot a look over to Zara, but Zara beamed back at her to reassure her boss that she was okay. Zara listened contentedly as Guy helped Alena understand his problems. Guy was so helpful like that, so patient.

"And what can we help you with? Repositioning statement?" Alena asked.

"No, nothing like that. The finals were influenced by the addition of a new team member when one of the opposing team became unwell. She was extremely, unexpectedly good at the game, and they won."

"Seems like a tough break. Were substitutions allowed? Are you looking to lodge a protest?"

"They were allowed, and the damage has now been done, so I will move on."

Alena shook her head slowly. "So, how can we help you?"

"The girl who stepped in is a client of yours."

"I'm sorry, I don't discuss other clients."

Alena folded her arms. Zara could see how agitated she was, the way she kept glancing over at her placid assistant.

"Oh, I think you might," Guy told her. "I would value your opinion."

"As I said, that's confidential. Now, if that's all, I'm sorry but I can't do anything more for you."

"I am sorry you feel that way."

Zara felt sorry too. Floating in her head was the delicious idea of working with Guy, having him close to her while they worked on his project. It would mean that she'd see him much more regularly. She was about to say something, when Alena spoke again.

"I've got a lot of work to do. I'd like to get back to it, if you don't mind. Could you see yourself to the door?"

Guy nodded, turned, smiling at Zara as he passed her. Zara was crestfallen, watching Guy leave, but she could see the relief on her boss's face. At the door, Guy stopped, looking back at Alena.

"It is strange...," he mused.

"What?" Alena replied, quickly.

"I cannot understand how she is your client, here, and was also at a gaming tournament, like an irritating thorn in my side."

"I can't help you with that. But it seems reasonable that she could do both."

Guy turned back to her, shaking his head.

"No. I would have thought it was impossible," he replied.

"Why?"

"Because the tournament was in a different universe."

Alena's face darkened with confusion and something else: fear. "Get out," she barked. "I want you to leave."

Guy smiled easily, then said, "Assistant, halt."

Zara frowned. It was such an odd thing to say. She looked over at her boss to see if Alena knew what it meant, but Alena was just staring at Guy, her face like thunder. She wasn't moving.

"So much better," Guy said, going over to Alena again. "Such a wonderful little trick. You have no idea how it has inspired me."

Alena's expression didn't change, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

"Zara has been very obedient, telling me all the comings and goings at your little agency. I think I would like you to be helpful too. Do you want to become obedient?"

Alena didn't answer.

"Now, let me put you under my control. I have a task for you to perform."

Zara remained where she was, while Guy began to speak to her boss. Zara remembered the words, and it made her feel so very happy to know that Alena would soon be as happy as her too. After a while, Guy took Alena's hand and led her over to Zara. He took Zara's hand too, directing them both to the meeting room. He made sure they were seated comfortably, and then he took both of their phones.

She could see him doing something, but her incurious mind didn't pay much attention. She looked across the table at Alena, seeing the same glassy eyes, the same dreamy expression that she knew she had on her own face. It made her happy inside. When Guy gave her phone back to her and told her to look at the screen, that made her happy too.

He had opened the Qupid app, and she was delighted to see that it was Guy's smiling face on the screen, as if he'd managed to be in the app somehow. He passed Alena's phone to her and Zara felt a little pang of jealousy as she glimpsed his face on her screen too. Alena bowed her head, mesmerised by the screen.

Guy looked from one vacant face to the other, then smiled to himself again. Zara didn't notice him leaving the room. All her attention was on her phone screen. She loved being able to hear Guy's voice, telling her what to do. It made her feel all tingly inside.

---

Kayla was tugging at the hemline of her skirt. It was too short. Lily had picked their outfits, and her skirt was too short, again. The elevator began to rise.

"Why are we dressed like this?" Kayla grumbled.

"It's a business meeting, Kay."

"But we're the clients. We could just rock up in sweatpants. Why the skirt and heels and everything?"

"Because you look hot in a short skirt, Kay. You need to show those legs off."

"Why?"

"Because I'm teaching you how to keep a man interested, like Stefan," Lily replied smugly. "You're so very welcome."

"He doesn't need to gawk at me in stilettos," Kayla shot back.

"Doesn't need to, no. Likes to, abso-fucking-lutely."

"He likes me for my mind."

"Of course he does."

Lily reached over and gave Kayla's bottom a squeeze. Kayla pulled away.

"He also likes you for your tight backside, and the girls," Lily laughed, pointing at her cleavage.

Kayla folded her arms across her chest reflexively, but she didn't reply.

"You're so easy, it's almost not even a sport with you," Lily chuckled.

"Is it just me you enjoy making suffer, or everyone, Lil?"

"It's everyone, Kay."

The elevator pinged and the doors opened. They got out.

"How does Martin cope?" Kayla retorted.

"He struggles with it, a lot. Like a fish in a net."

"Or a worm on a hook."

"No, not like a worm. I haven't impaled him."

"Yet, Lil. Give it time."

Lily swished towards the glass door and pressed the buzzer. Nobody answered. She peered through the door. Alena was sitting behind her desk. Lily could see her talking. Zara was at her desk too, as if they were in conversation with each other. She waited for a few more seconds and pressed the buzzer again. Neither of the two women in the office came to the door.

"Reckon she's still pissed off?" Kayla muttered. "It was a bitch move."

"What was?"

"Taking her to the Lost and Found under false pretences."

"And that's why we're here. I'm going to apologise."

"I hope I've got enough charge on my phone."

"Why?"

"I wanna record this for posterity. Lily apologises for being a bitch."

"You're hurting my feelings."

"You don't do feelings, Lil."

Lily shook her head and then rapped on the glass. There was still no response from either of the seated women as they continued their conversation.

"That's just being fucking rude now," Lily growled.

She pushed the door open and they went inside. Lily stopped.

Alena and Zara were still talking quietly, but as Lily listened, she realized they were repeating the same sentences over and over.

"Do you have the report?" Alena asked.

"It's in your inbox, I...," Zara replied.

Lily stared as the women looped through the same snippet of conversation again.

"Kay, what the hell is going on?" Lily murmured.

Kayla approached Zara, waving a hand in front of her face. Zara didn't react. Quickly, she crossed the floor to Alena, peering into the older woman's face.

"Kay?" Lily muttered.

Kayla stepped back, folding her arms. She regarded the women for a few moments, lost in thought. Alena asked for the report again, and her assistant gave the same reply.

"What's happened to them?" Lily hissed.

Kayla nodded to herself. "It's a hypnotic loop. They're replaying the same few seconds, over and over."

"They're hypnotised?"

"Yeah, they've both been put into a deep trance and their minds looped."

"Is that even possible?"

"This is my world, Lil. This is very much possible here."

"Can you, uh, do anything? How did they get hypnotised?"

Kayla peered at Alena again. She went over to Zara, frowning, then reached towards the assistant's slack face, worming her fingers into the deeply tranced girl's ear.

"They're both wearing these," Kayla said, holding up an earpiece.

Zara fell silent. Cautiously, Kayla held the earpiece up to her own ear.

"Kay, shit, wait. What the fuck are you doing?"

"Easy, Lil. I'm just seeing what the earpiece is doing."

"What if it, I dunno, wipes your mind or something?"

"It won't."

"It might."

"Relax. Look, if I turn into a mindless statue, just pull the earpiece out, okay? That's the thing about hypnosis, the subject naturally rouses from trance eventually, anyway."

Kayla popped the earpiece into her ear. Lily stared at her.

"And?"

Kayla frowned and then her face went slack, her eyes staring straight ahead.

"Kay?" Lily snapped. "Fuck, Kay?"

Kayla didn't respond. Lily reached up to her friend's ear quickly, but Kayla caught her by the wrist and grinned.

"I am fucking deeply hypnotised to obey Lily," Kayla laughed, retrieving the earpiece. "That was absolutely priceless, the look on your face."

"You absolute fucking bitch," Lily snapped.

"It's so nice to see that you do actually care."

"Just tell me, and don't fucking do that again."

Kayla grinned, pleased with her performance, and went over to Alena, extracting the earpiece from the other woman. Alena fell silent too.

"That's so much better," Kayla said. "The looping was beginning to creep me out."

"Well, I'm fucking creeped out," Lily seethed. "I dunno how you can be so calm."

Kayla ignored her, picking up the little grey dome on Alena's desk. She weighed the earpieces in her palm.

"That's ingenious," she muttered to herself.

"What is? What's going on Kay?" Lily growled.

"The earpiece is looping, so they were looping too. It was stuck on an instruction."

"You mean it's programming them?"

"Yeah. I think this dome thing has something to do with it. It's a voice assistant."

At the mention of the last word, a little light pulsed briefly in the top of the dome. Kayla hesitated, then smiled to herself.

"Assistant, what's the weather like today?"

The light pulsed again, and Kay held an earpiece up to each of her ears. She laughed.

"That is absolutely fucking genius, Lil."

"You mind bringing me up to speed?"

Kayla put the grey dome back down on Alena's desk and turned to her.

"Seems the earpieces and the voice thing are linked. You tell it to do something, it makes the wearer do the thing you want."

"Why?"

Kayla shrugged. "Why not?"

"You seem pretty relaxed about it. Is this just normal in your world?"

"Mind control's a thing here, I guess this is just automating it."

Kayla walked back over to Zara's frozen body and tucked the earpiece back into her ear.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lily asked.

"I think so. When I used the assistant, it stopped trying to loop. I think we can use it to bring them out of trance."

She inserted the remaining earpiece into Alena's ear then stepped back, regarding each of the vacant faces in front of her.

"Assistant, spell the word 'trance'."

There was a pause, and then both woman found their voices, chiming out, "T... r... a... n... c... e...," in unison.

"Fucking hell," Lily gasped. "Will they do anything we ask?"

"Maybe."

"Let me?"

Kayla shrugged. "Be my guest."

Lily cleared her throat. "Assistant, how are you feeling now?"

"So horny," Zara murmured, in unison with Alena confessing, "I'm really aroused."

"It must be part of the conditioning," Kayla mused, "A reward trigger for accepting commands. I'd say that...."

"Assistant, orgasm now," Lily interrupted, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

The effect on both women was immediate and spectacular. Their bodies arched, fists clenching, as a tremendous orgasm ripped through them. Lily looked on, wide-eyed, as they trembled and groaned, until they finally relaxed back into empty living mannequins.

"Lil!"

"What? It's fine. They seemed to enjoy it. Isn't that right, ladies? Just tell me if you have any complaints. Assistant, orgasm now."

"Lily!"

Each woman's body shuddered again as another colossal orgasm ripped through them.

"They'll just go and go," Lily observed.

"Yes. You have complete control over them, Lily. They're in some programming mode. They'll do whatever you want."

Kayla held up a finger in front of Lily's grinning lips, silencing her. Lily sighed, then relented.

"You are such a fun-sponge sometimes, Kay."

"We need to work out what happened. We need to work out why they are under control."

"Just ask."

"What?"

"Alena's the boss. I bet she'll be able to tell you, and tranced like this, she won't be able to lie, right? Worth a go?"

"I guess."

"Assistant...."

Kayla shot her a look, but Lily just said, "Go into the meeting room and sit down and wait."

The hypnotised women rose obediently from their desks and filed into the little meeting room.

"I thought we should get them away from the glass door. It all looks pretty peculiar," Lily explained.

They followed Alena and Zara into the meeting room. Kayla sat down between them and took the earpieces out of their ears. She turned to Alena.

"Alena, you will respond to my voice. I am in control. Nod if you understand."

Slowly, Alena nodded. Zara remained motionless, her blank eyes staring directly ahead.