Telos Ch. 08

Unless she killed him first.

Laura set her glass down on the table and sighed. Of course killing the blond man had been a stroke of luck in and of itself. She couldn't afford to kill her ally even if she was certain how.

"Mistress?"

She looked up. "Amy."

"A friend of my told me that drinking wine in the middle of the day means you're an alcoholic."

"Or a Bond villain."

Amy smiled. "I was wondering if you wanted anything else."

Laura studied her slave. She'd finally given up on using any other word for their relationship. Amy belonged to her, body and soul, whether she wanted it or not. Amy was content but Laura's preferences on the matter changed regularly. There had been time when she took an hour every day to try and fix Amy's mind but she hadn't tried in weeks. "Is this your way of trying to ask me something?"

"N . . . yes mistress."

"Go ahead."

"I'm very . . . you know."

"Do I?"

"I can feel my brain going soft." Her hips bucked involuntarily. "If I could have permission to . . . to get myself off I'd be able to think properly."

The change was remarkable. When provided with the chance to relieve her urges regularly Amy was a bright, if docile and somewhat distractible, young woman. The longer she was made the more the need for orgasm ate away at her. The she had lasted so long without breaking during Susan's interrogation was amazing.

"Tell me what you'd do in exchange."

There was no hesitation. "Anything."

"Grace says you told Susan that a few times even though it was never true."

Amy nodded uncertainly. "I don't belong to her."

"So you would do anything for your owner."

"Yes, mistress."

Laura motioned her closer until Amy was directly in front of her. "So then I could just say 'no' and you would still do anything I say. In fact if your mind gets all soft you might even be more obedient. Does that make sense to you?"

Amy look confused. "Yes, mistress."

"Being desperate would make you more obedient and more eager to please. I know that's something you want." Laura pulled the young woman into her lap. "So when you tell me you need to cum it really means you want to be denied."

"I think so," she said weakly.

"Good, then I'll just leave you until your mind has gone completely soft." She stroked Amy's cheek with the back of her hand. "You'll like it."

"Yes, mistress." Amy sagged against her.

Laura leaned down to whisper in her slave's ear. "You are such a good slave doing what you're told. Tell me what's in your head. Everything in your mind right now."

"Happy . . . eager . . . obedient."

"Now listen to me very carefully. Do as you're told." She paused to wait for a sleepy nod from Amy. "Cum."

The slave girl went stiff for a second then jerked slightly. Amy let out a long breath. "That was mean."

"I know." Shoes clacked on the hardwood floors. Laura looked up. The clean shaven man was standing beside Grace and Susan. "Welcome back."

"I demand to know what is going on here!" insisted Susan.

"Quiet," admonished the man.

She went immediately silent.

"I don't mind," said Laura. "In fact let me sum up if I can. Sit over here, Susan."

The girl obeyed without hesitation but her face betrayed irritation. Even when Laura pulled her down onto the couch Susan looked more angry than afraid.

"Our patron here and his colleagues were created with an overriding purpose, telos. They exist to help humanity above all else. When they were told the limits of their authority and that they would have to accept watch all of our disastrous decisions they chose to rebel. Most died as they were cast out. The survivors, including him, made their way back here in hopes of fulfilling their purpose." She studied Susan's face. "Our patron seems to be worried that the others have become too willing to compromise their purpose. He wants to make perfect citizens rather than coerce imperfect people into proper behavior. I'm not sure that's an improvement."

Susan made an expression with her mouth.

"You can speak," offered Laura.

"You sided with him anyway."

"He wanted insight into how humans think. Right now we're more like very polite adversaries. I'd like him to see that there are more important things that keeping people happy and a live." She shrugged. "It isn't working but at the moment the situation is degenerating quickly. Merely alive is looking like a good starting place."

"I . . ."

"Quiet."

The order cut off the sentence.

"That is fun. Can I keep her?"

The clean shaven man shook his head. "Grace needs a project." He gestured to Susan. The girl rose as if on strings and walked over to his side. "Her free will has been removed successfully without altering her personality. I would still prefer to teach her to accept that." He turned her head. "Do you understand what you are now?"

"I'm a human being."

"And that is why you're better off serving another." He gave her hand to Grace. "Speak of which, doctor, I notice that Amy doesn't seem to bear ill will to Susan. A significant improvement over most people's behavior. Was that an addition of yours?"

Laura looked down at Amy, who was watching in fascination. She patted her slave on the head and ignored the question. "How large was the resistance movement?"

"Across most of the country."

"Then we have an army."

The clean shaven man frowned. "I'm not sure I understand."

"You said I may as well have declared war by killing the blond one." She finished the glass of wine. "If that's true, I intend to win."

"Not without help."

"As I understand it you've just turned on the only allies you had left. Did you have someone in mind?"

He inclined his head in the affirmative.

-----

Interesting to note, this chapter marks the first time in ~40000 words that the series has had two male characters in the same room and they still never exchange words. So if anyone asks this series is about how urban fantasy and magical realism have allowed for an expanded female role in supernatural genre fiction after a long history of near total exclusivity of lead parts to male characters (see: Azimov and Tolkien).

Yes, that's it.

Remember: Reading and writing are about thoughts not votes! All comments, short or long, positive or negative, polite or hostile, pleased or disgusted, are equally welcome.