Secret Weapon

"H-how did you get them?" Could they be mine for the taking?

"Well, I--" He frowned. "I don't, I don't know." He twisted his ear. "I don't really like to think about it. I know I got them somehow, but if I think too hard about it, they stop working for a while. I sorta figured out it was a warning of some sort; whoever or whatever gave them to me didn't want me digging into them."

I felt like I wanted to cry.

"Oh no, it's ok!" he said, seeing my expression. "I'm sure you'll...well, I don't know, but, um, I can keep using mine on you, ok?"

"Whatever. We should probably get back to that party."

I felt depressed, satiated, and pissed off all at once. Feeling so many things while getting dressed isn't the best condition for memory; I completely forgot my old clothes in Josie's room. Idid leave her a note promising to wash her sheets for her, but just barely.

We sauntered back into the party on slightly better terms. I would never be over the fact that Rowan had what I wanted and didn't know how or even why, but at least I had his looks.

We stole a quick dance and then I took a look around. "That's funny, I would have thought Anna would be back by now..."

"You know her sexual habits?"

"Don't look worried. She lives down the hall from me; those walls arepaper thin. Whodoesn't know her sexual habits? She's usually done by now. What are she and that Hadley guy up to?"

"Oh, Hadley?" He laughed and speeded up our pace. "That asshole's been experimenting with witchcraft. I'm the resident mind control expert on the track team, so he asked me for some tips. I keep telling him, you needwilling victims for the sex slave spell. That idiot never listens; don't worry, he's harmless."

"Wait, but, Anna's pretty damn willing." My heart leaped into my throat. "Oh no, she's not safe with him. Come on!"

I ripped myself out of his arms and tumbled backwards. Picking myself up, I threaded my way through the dancers and made a break for the door. I clattered through the kitchen, down the stairs, and out the door.

"Bailee!" I heard faintly, but I kept going. I only hoped I could get back to Swainin time.

My heart pounded and my muscles pumped lactic acid into my bloodstream. Why, oh why was I so out of shape? Why had my stupid embarrassment andmodesty kept me from working out? Shit! Heels were not helping; they were taking me slightly to the right...

I dodged the tree branch just in time and managed to jump back on the main path. The gravel was getting under the balls of my feet and cutting holes in my toes.

"Bailee?!"

"Rowan? This way!" I couldn't see him but I hoped he could follow my voice. I'd tired him out a bit and he'd had a meet today but he was still tons faster than I was, so it wasn't long before I heard sneakers pounding on gravel right beside me.

"Damn, how far away are these stupid dorms?"

"Freshman dorms-huh-are-ugh-a half mile from-uhc-the rest!"

"Bailee, are you gonna have a heart attack or something? We can slow down."

"But Anna, I can't—heech—leave her with some creepy-huh-guy!"

"He's harmless, don't worry. She's a bit of a slut, right? So they'll have sex, big deal."

He grabbed my arm and forced me to slow down. My calf muscles started twitching, and my side started stitching.

"Hey!" I tried to break free, but his grip was iron sold.

"So they'll have sex, so what? Fuck,we had sex. We should be having more sex now!" He slid my body up against a tree and started planting wet kisses on my neck.

"OK, normally I like it when a guy gets aggressive when he's horny, butnow is not the time!" I shoved forward, hard, with my hands and my knee. I think it was my knee that did the job.

I found the path again and started sprinting and didn't stop and didn't look back.

Finally, Swain loomed large and I grabbed the door away from some drunk guy wearing white and gray and took the stairs two at a time.

"Anna! Anna!" I started shouting as soon as I hit the third floor. "Anna! Anna, don't do anything! Say no!"

Room 326. I pounded on the pine. "Anna!" I tried the knob. The door fell open.

I couldn't even gasp. It was too...well, not horrific, like bloodbath or anything. Just...shocking. It was Anna, doing what she did best, only, with more vigor than I had imagined that any human could possess.

"An-mmlph!" A hand slapped my mouth and stayed there. I punched at the hand, but in vain. The other one reached around and grabbed both of my wrists, pushed them down.

The guy on the bed, it had to be Hadley, was grinning like the Cheshire cat having an orgasm. Anna supplied the sound effects.

She was...she looked strange. Familiar. I stopped struggling and squinted at her. I couldn't quite place why her naked, shining body should have such a...Why did she look so--

"I channeled her off you, slut."

The hands holding me dropped me and shoved me. I stumbled into 326 and gasped for air.

"C-channeled?"

"That's why she looks so much like you," said Hadley, advancing. Subconsciously, I backed up every time he took a step. I felt cold concrete on my shoulder blades.

"Yeah, Ro got you going and I channeled Anna off of you; that's why you two look so alike. She's the visual representation of your sex drive. She's your inner slut."

Ro...got me going...My ears started to burn and my stomach knotted scarves.

"Rowan? You set me up?"

He leaned his lanky, athletic form against the inside of the door. One hand turned the lock.

"Don't get me wrong. I do really like you."

"You do this to people youlike?"

"Hey," broke in Hadley, "I didn't actually do anything to you. I actually didn't do anything to Anna, either."

"You call increasing her three cup sizes and turning her into a mindless whorenothing?"

"OK, nothing she wouldn't be happy about if she had any say in things."

"So there's nothing--"

"Nothing you can do, that's right. We'll be taking her with us." He glanced over at Rowan. "Hey man, who knew herbs and spirits and shit could do fucking awesome crap like this?" He grinned.

"Uh, w-what are you going to do to, uh, me?" I winced as Hadley put his hands up on the wall on either side of my face, blocking me in with his body.

"You? I think we're gonna give you ataste of the bliss Anna is experiencing."

I glanced past him, where Anna was riding the fingers of her right hand and pulling on the nipples of her much expanded mammaries with her left. Shelooked happy...no! I couldn't live life as a toy, as a plaything, to be used or discarded...

"Rowan, please! Don't let him! You have your powers, right?"

Anna giggled.

"And who do you think gave him those powers?" He nodded to Rowan.

Rowan went cross-eyed with shock. His head snapped up with fierce determination. He nodded and reached behind his back.

"We start," Hadley boomed, "by calling a nympho spirit from the ether!"

Still leaning over me, Hadley spoke some garbled sentences. The air around me grew thick, hardening into something evanescent, something that needed a host...

"Bailee, run!" Rowan threw open the door and grabbed me out from inside Hadley's arms. He shoved me out into the hall, slammed the door shut, and re-locked it.

I ran.