The Artifact Ch. 03

I kept myself from smiling as I realized that he had wanted me to be patient and composed; to give nothing away as I absorbed knowledge without giving anything away. I waited quietly for him to continue.

His gentle laugh flowed as I waited for him to continue. I knew that he was trying the limits of my patience, trying to make me break down. I didn't give him the satisfaction as I continued to quietly wait for him to get to what we were both here for.

Finally he said, "Today, you should have learned three things. What did you learn?"

I began to deliberately answer him as I said, "First I learned that if I don't pay close attention, I can miss a lot of things when I read peoples' minds. I'd read Wendy's mind and never even seen anything about her sister, despite the fact that it was a large part of her life."

I continued with, "Second, I learned that if I'm not careful, I affect people with my mood alone. If I'm sexually excited I get others excited too, even if it's not what I intend."

I was a little less certain of the third lesson that the artifact had tried to impart, as I tried to maintain my confidence. "Third, I learned that I'm able to affect things physically, not just mentally manipulate people, but to move and change things with my mind."

The old man's eyes glowed brightly with approval as he said, "You have done well; but we need to go over how our presentation made us appear to the evil one."

To let him know that I understood his plan as a trap, I said, "You had me purchase this cross to make him think that I wasn't bonded to you. You also masked all but a tiny portion of your power to make him feel less threatened. Finally you had me tell him a story that made him think that I was unaware of the pieces of power and thought that my good fortune was just luck. I'm sure that he thinks that it will be easy for him to take advantage of me."

He appeared surprised and pleased as he said, "You understand. You will need to be careful, but you should win without any real problem. Your real danger will come after you win."

The old man arose, and bowed out of my presence, warning me, "Consider carefully what I've told you lord. We'll watch over you as much as we can; but, there is real danger on the horizon."

As the old man left, I realized that I was quite tired, but not at all sleepy. I decided to go back downstairs and get a drink as I thought about what I had been told. I noticed that the advertisement for the show that was scheduled had a canceled sticker over it as I walked into the bar. I wondered what had happened as I found a booth to sit at.

The waitress that came up to me was young and cute, with a really big smile. We flirted quietly back and forth as I ordered, but I wasn't looking to get over on her, just to pass the time. When she went to the booth next to mine to take their order, I overheard something that caught my interest.

"I can't believe that the sum-bitch just up and died." The older of the two men said.

"I can," The younger man replied, "I just don't believe that it was a heart attack. I was sure that he'd be shot by a jealous husband. He was only just over fifty and hadn't ever been sick. I sure didn't see it coming."

The first man looked over at him, incredulously saying, "You're kidding, he was only five foot six, weighed three hundred pounds, smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and the only exercise he got was fucking any women he could get to hold still for thirty seconds."

The younger man looked over at his companion and asked so quietly that I wouldn't have been able to hear him without my ability, "Did he ever get you laid?"

The older man smiled as he answered, "A couple of times. I used to wonder how he was able to find all those hot women and to convince them to fuck him, let alone anyone he pointed out."

The younger man smiled as he said, still keeping his voice low, "Every time I booked him in here, he'd get me the hottest woman. That's the reason I'd keep booking him in here. It wasn't because his act was so good."

His older companion chuckled as he replied, "I thought as much, he really wasn't all that good. So, what are you planning to do about tomorrow?"

The younger guy looked puzzled as he replied, "I've talked the main stage manager and he can't help me. The agency will look around to see if he can find something tomorrow, but you know what it's like on Sundays. I probably won't be able to get any in here until at least Monday."

When the waitress came back over, we began flirting again, but his time I added enough volume for the two men to hear me as I asked her, "So what happened to the show that was supposed to be here tomorrow?"

"Manny had a heart attack after the last show. He was shaking hands with a man who'd seen the show and he keeled over dead." She told me.

She began to chuckle and stage whispered to me, "The two guys in the next booth are panicking. They're trying to find someone to take his place, but its Sunday and they'll never find anyone."

"Maybe I can help them," I told her, "Let me talk to them."

I stood beside her as she grabbed my arm and took me over to the next booth.

"This gentleman thinks that he can help you with your problem with the show," She told them when we stood in front of them.

They both looked up at me and I bold slid into the booth beside them. "I can do a good show for you for tomorrow night."

The younger guy looked at me and asked, "What kind of act do you have?"

I smiled as I told him, "I do a little sleight of hand, tell a few jokes, read minds and do a very fast hypnosis. It's fun and a little sexy. It'll be perfect for an adult crowd."

The young man looked at his companion who asked, "Can you give us a demonstration?"

I thought about it for a moment, scanned the waitress and then smiled. "I think that I'll be able to show you something."

I waved the waitress over. When she got back over to us I stood and whispered in her ear, "I know what you want, and I'll make sure that you get it."

I'd read her mind and found out that she wanted to dance in the show. She'd tried out before, and done quite well but she'd been second best. I worked on her to make her glow on the inside so that she'd be the first choice next time.

I motioned the younger of the two men to stand and told her, "This is your boyfriend for the next sixty seconds. Let him know how you feel."

She reached over, grabbed him and began kissing him. She pressed into him so tightly that it seemed as if she was trying to fit herself into his clothes. Her hands grabbed his ass, pulling him even closer as she ground her boobs into him. When her sixty seconds were up, she suddenly pulled herself away as if startled.

The other member of the group looked at me and asked, "It seems that you can do the hypnosis, what else can you do?"

I looked at him for a moment and smiled, "You're wondering if I can actually read minds and if I could, would I be able to give you what you want with my sleight of hand. Check your inside coat pocket."

There was a smug look on his face. I'd not gone anywhere near him, so he was convinced that I wouldn't have been able to put anything in there. There was a confused and frightened look on his startled face, and he froze for a second. He then jerked his hand out of his pocket, pulling out a pair of women's underwear.

There was a puzzled look on his face for a moment as he held the panties out in front of himself. We all stood looking at them until a puzzled expression came over the waitress's face. She tried to be discrete as her hand went to her skirt, feeling her ass. A moan/screech left her lips as she grabbed the undergarment from his hand and ran into the women's restroom.

"I'm impressed," the young man said, handing me his card. "Come to my office tomorrow, after ten am and we'll sign the contract."

I nodded as I turned to walk out of the bar. I stopped by my table and left a sizable tip. I waited by the restroom for the waitress to appear. When she came out, I asked her, "Can you describe the guy who was shaking hands with the performer when he had his heart attack?"

Hearing her description, I knew that it was the evil man that I still had to face. It appeared that he was a victim of the man who was trying to kill me as well.

"I'm not sure that I'll forgive you for what you did to me in there," she said to me.

"I used the time to make sure that the next time you audition, you'll get that job as a dancer," I told her. "Thank you very much."

"In that case I forgive you," she said as she kissed my cheek.

****

I went back toward my room, thinking about everything that I'd learned over this very long day. I'd been wondering why I decided to put on a show, doing something I'd never done before, in front of a live audience. I figured that the artifact wanted me to find out about the murder: but why?

The answer must be that the performer had one or more pieces of power. The evil man had tracked him down and prevailed in the struggle, which meant that he was even stronger now than when I'd first scanned him. I knew that I'd have to be even more careful now than before.

I wonder how long it had taken the evil one to track him down and isolate him. I had a feeling that the only reason that he was moving so fast with me was because he felt that I still was unaware of the full implications of having pieces of power. He must figure that he can quickly win our battle before I even know that we were going to fight. Since he hadn't bonded with his pieces, I hoped he thought that I hadn't yet bonded either. I idly wondered how often the pieces of power bonded with their host, and how long it usually took.

I got back to the room and got undressed. It would be a tight fit sliding into that king size bed with the three girls, but I figured that I was willing to make the sacrifice. As I lay there spooning behind Julie I thought about the scope of things that I had learned over the past nearly year that I'd had the artifact; and the speed that things were now changing. I knew that things would never be normal for me again, and as I allowed myself to relax into sleep, I was glad.

****

Many people requested that I submit this chapter as soon as possible, so I wrote it as quickly as I could, hoping to be able to submit it in time for it to be up in time to be my Christmas gift to you; Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

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