The Music of the Mind Ch. 16

The dance began in earnest now. Each of us opening up further and further to the group our deepest memories, and fears only to find them reflected and soothed by another voice in the song. Each touch from one partner to another rang through the group like a heightening of all our pleasures.

The deep loving touches of Suzan and Ellen, and the passionate fire of Wendy and Tuyen, to the careful slow exploring caresses between Meg and I, they all filled each of us. We were not one, no we were distinctly each ourselves, but between us flowed understanding of our unique beauty, and acceptance of our flaws.

I let my hands roam over Meg's body, her tight stomach and small frame. Eventually I let my fingers slide between her legs to find her wetness had soaked her full soft mound of hair, and had run down onto the sheets. She shuttered as my fingers slid over her clit and the pleasure of that touch raced up through her.

I could feel each of the others in the bond all tremble with the pleasure she felt in that first touch, and that pleasure was echoed in their touches to each of their partners. I slid down her body, reluctantly pulling my mouth from hers, to traverse her body and inhale the musky scent of her sex.

As I took her into my mouth, I could feel her pleasure echoed throughout the bond as the others felt similar pleasures from their lovers. It was such an intense level of stimulation that I felt almost lost in the waves of it. It took all my concentration to continue to gently flick my tongue across Meg's swollen lips to add her pleasure to the rising chorus of passion.

When her orgasm came it was followed by many from the others. I can't tell you who, for by then the lines dividing the pleasure between us had blurred. We were all sharing so deeply and intimately with each other that there was no need to sort though each individuals pleasure, it was more "our" pleasure.

As Meg descended from her first orgasm, I slid up on top of her, our sweaty bodies pressed together. I could feel my cock resting against her wet mound, hard and throbbing with my desire to enter her. I kissed her gently and I could feel her fear rise in her as the memory of the pain, the violation, and the feeling of being sullied and broken came into her mind.

Even as I reached out to sooth and comfort her, love and compassion flowed from all the others in the bond. She was bathed in reassurance, in memories of joyful sexual experiences. Each of them shared their memories of being with me, of my gentleness, and their pleasure. I was touched more deeply then I can describe to you, to know these women had all felt as much trust of me, as I had of them.

Meg's fears subsided and vanished, and I felt her small hands pull my hips toward her. I pulled back only slightly, letting my cock slide down between her legs and into the opening of her sex. Slowly, with the most love and care I could find within myself I let her slowly pull me forward into her.

My pleasure was nothing compared to the shared pleasure of hers echoed through all the others. It was in a sense, as if I entered all of them through the bond, and that they all welcomed me into themselves. It was a feeling of complete trust and union.

As Meg and I began to move together, our mouths kissing, out hands touching I could feel all the other pleasures rolling through the group. I could feel the soul of each of my friends, and the beauty within them. The pleasure of our bodies was echoed by the pleasure of our minds. By the sharing of our most intimate fears and desires, and the acceptance and understanding of each of us of those human qualities we became more then one lost human in the wilderness of consciousness.

We all moved together almost like a flight of birds in the air, flying toward a climax of intimacy and pleasure. Mouths sucking, fingers moving, bodies rocking to a tempo that passed between us like breath.

When I felt the climax coming, it wasn't mine alone, it was all of ours. It was the fusion of all our bodies, all our minds, and all our hearts into a single entity that was more then any of us. It rose like a towering monument to dwarf us, and yet was completely a part of us. The pleasure in a way reflected the potential of us all, as friends, as lovers, and as individuals.

When it came, it was not like being consumed, or overwhelmed, but like coming home. It was complete and absolute bliss. It was the physical release yes, but more then that it was the emotional release of complete harmony, and complete union. For maybe the first time in our lives none of us was alone in our own minds. We were all uniquely ourselves, and yet whole, together.

How long that pleasure lasted is not something that I can describe by time. It was beyond corporeal boundaries, or limitations. When we emerged from it on the other side, and all of us slowly drifted back down to ourselves, we basked in the bond now pulsing between us. There were no barriers between us now. We sat more secure in the knowledge of who we were then ever before, unashamed to be seen, for nothing remained hidden.

I looked into Meg's eyes and saw the tears that flowed there, and realized that I too was crying. These were not evil tears, but tears of both joy and sadness, tears that reflected, blessed and praised our very humanity; tears that held within them all the wonder at what we had just experienced, and the knowledge that we may never experience anything like that again.

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I was nervous as Dimitry and I approached the door of the small town home. The air was brisk, and light was only beginning to fill he sky in the plains to the east. The Flatirons to the west were still just dark silhouettes against the setting moon.

I could feel each of the girls clearly, not far away hidden in the truck. Dimitry had said close physical proximity would lend power to the web we now shared between us. The bond was very present now, and yet not obtrusive. It seemed it could reside in the background, or come to a full connection in an instant.

Each of the girls was now linked to me, and to each other. I could feel their reassuring presence. Each of us had our curtains firmly closed, but the bond seemed to ignore that. Like a conduit that passed through the barriers between us.

I was tired though, only a few hours quick sleep, then more planning this morning had left me running on coffee and adrenaline. I was very nervous, but always now there was the constant reassurance of the web with me, and my friends who now walked with me.

Dimitry walked to the front door and pulled out a key, smiling wolfishly at me in the darkness before unlocking the door. We were greeted by a small bundle of furry energy that jumped and yapped at Dimitry as we entered the door. A small Scottish terrier seemed immensely happy to see him as he chuckled and shut the door behind us, relocking it.

"This is Pavlov, yes I know a silly name but my sister has a quirky sense of humor." Dimity said with a smile as he scratched Pavlov behind the ears. He calmed down quickly as we entered the main room of the house. It was neat in a way that suggested who ever lived here was either a clean freak, or spent hardly any time at home.

Really, what it looked like was the home of someone who had all the resources to decorate however they wanted, but their only reference was magazines and TV shows. I realized that Anna had probably never had a home, and that this space for her was really an idealized dream for her. This place was her shelter, far from the demands of her ageless father and his needs, but still just a fairytale.

Off the main den was small kitchen out of site from the front door. It too was fully furnished, but sterile, almost untouched.

"I say we wait in here for her. When she comes in, you step out and attack her. You must defeat her quickly. She will take a few moments to bring her circle to her. That is assuming she hasn't already raised her defenses for some reason. Once you render her helpless, you must make her unconscious and try to remove the links to her circle.

If you can remove them all at once, they will assume she has died. This will give us a greater advantage since my father will not know what happened to her. If the fight goes on to long, the circle will gain knowledge of us. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "How do I remove the bonds to her circle?" I asked. Dimitry looked at me, his face deadly serious.

"I do not know, this you will have to discover, but you must try to do it."

Great, I thought. I was about to face a powerful enemy with an untried bond with a bunch of women I loved and perform a task I had no idea how to do. Perfect.

We waited for some time, Pavlov running around in excitement before he too realized we were not here for fun, and he went and laid down on his dog bed. I think that hour was the most nerve wracking of my entire life. When at last Anna arrived, the girls hiding in the back of my truck across the way warned me through the bond.

"She's here." I whispered to Dimitry, and he nodded and backed further into the kitchen. Pavlov sat up, his ears perked as if by some sixth sense he could feel the arrival of his master. Something about this worried me.

I heard the key in the front door, and Pavlov leaped up and ran forward to meet the sound. I waited, and heard the door open and the jingle of keys. Then a gentle feminine voice speaking in a higher register, like one does with a pet. The accent was the same as Dimitry's.

"Pavlov, you good dog, did you miss me."

I called the bond to full strength, felt the girls as if they had all joined with me in my mind. I could feel them layering their defenses over mine, protecting me, lending me strength and confidence. We didn't know if we were doing this right, but it was the best we could figure out in the wee hours of this morning.

I stepped out from the kitchen and saw Anna. She stood very still, the dog ignored at her feet, and her eyes locked on mine as I walked out. She was not surprised, and she was not unprepared.

I could see her in the plane of sound in my mind, but she looked unlike anything I had seen before. Her note was surrounded by a buzzing wall of sound that looked like a million angry bees.

We lashed out at each other at the same time. I formed a ball of sound and flung it at her. Each of the girls added to it, more of the same thought as we had agreed earlier. It raced out like a flaming ball of magma only to hit her protection and be ripped apart and flung away. Her attack was different though.

It was though she reached out with that buzzing swarm and lashed at me with a long tendril of it. I could feel the power in it, and it rocked me back, tearing at my combined defenses like a knife. I could feel the pain and madness in it, and it echoed through the bond as the girls felt it too.

I continued to hurl the balls of thought at her, but her shield deflected them while she continued to lash at me with those terrible strokes. I realized like many other times, I was going to have to adapt our strategy if we were going to survive. I called on all the girls to push there attack into an energy just outside us, and to hold the single though to paralyze there.

As they did this the buzzing sound began to form around me. I could see a look of concern cross Anna's face across the room. I reached out with my mind, and as though I wielded a sword, grasped the sound and slung it at her. It tore a great gash in her defenses. I was startled at the power and ferocity of the blow I had struck her.

Her face now was frightened, and she renewed her attack even as I doubled my own. Still, I was loosing, she had gained too much ground on me early while I struggled to understand how to fight this new type of battle, and at the rate our defenses were disintegrating, I thought she could hold out longer.

I began to feel panic; I couldn't let the girls be harmed. I couldn't fail, or Jill would be left with her captors. In desperation I shot a small plea for help to Dimitry. It was instinctual, like a drowning man calling for help.

He did not lend his strength to the fight; he simply stepped out of the kitchen and stood staring at his sister, smiling. The blow to her could not have been more profound. For a moment she faltered in shock at the site of her dead brother, the screen faded for a moment, and in that second I tore it aside like a sheet off a clothesline in a hurricane. I hit her with a ball of thought to freeze, then to sleep. She fell to the floor like a rag doll.

I raced into her mind, down through the layers seeking the connections to her circle. They were like small scars on the instrument of her mind, they added extra strings that harmonized with her instrument and then vanished into nowhere. I grasp all of them and pulled them free sending as strong a note of pain as I and the girls could muster down them as they snapped free and vanished.

The scars where they had been attached I healed like I had healed Dimitry's mind. Then I pulled back out and into myself. The room spun, and if not for Dimitry grasping my shoulder I would have fallen.

I could feel the fatigue of the girls through the bond, which I now let retract to a more reasonable level. They were all joyous though, as was I, at our apparent success. As I steadied he let go of me and rushed to his sister. He checked her pulse, then looked up at me and smiled.

"She is alive."

"Yes, and fine. Though I hope the pain I sent down the connection to her circle made them think otherwise." I said as I stumbled over to a pristine antique chair and sat down. Dimitry nodded, and I realized there were tears in his eyes.

Tuyen pulled the car around, and we loaded her into the back of my truck. It was crowded back there with me and several of the girls crammed in under the camper shell. Note to self I thought, buy a van.

On the drive back to Suzan's I gently probed her mind, and kept her in a deep sleep. I found not one scar like Dimitry's but no less then four. All of them to ensure her obedience, and limit her desire for freedom. I shuttered to think of what might be lurking under one, much less all four.

We carried her into the couch, and sat down, all of us tired and feeling the effects of the loss of adrenaline, and lack of sleep. Tuyen spoke up first.

"What do we do with her now?" she said looking around at us. We had laid her on the couch, and Dimitry had placed her head in his lap and was gently brushing the hair out of her face.

"I think you should try to heal her Mike." He said looking up at me.

"Dimitry, she has four of the scars you had, Remember what happened when I healed just that one in you. Plus, we all need some rest." I said almost pleading. He looked back down at the face of his sleeping sister for moments, sliding an errant strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear before speaking again.

"I know you are tired, all of you are. But if you help her, then she may be able to tell us things that will help tonight." He said.

I though for a few minutes. He had a point, she may have valuable information. Still, last time I had healed one of those scars it had whipped me out for half a day. Still, I didn't have help then.

"Okay, tell you what, let's try one, and see how it goes. If it is too much, then we keep her sedated until this is all over. Agreed?" Dimitry paused for a moment then nodded. I looked around at the others, and they all nodded one by one. It was funny; I had already felt their desire to try to help through the bond, so it was more a ritual formality for Dimitry's sake then anything to ask them out loud.

We all found a comfortable position around the room; I called the bond to me, instantly all my friends were with me, and we all sat for a moment savoring the communion, and shelter of the bond. I reached out and called Dimitry's note to me, sending him the image of him helping us. He relaxed, and allowed me to pull him with us into her mind.

I don't know what the experience was like for the others, but I realized most of them had probably never been that deep into someone's mind before. I felt surprise, shock, and a strong understanding from Ellen. In fact as Ellen looked at that deep subconscious plain where the scars where, I could feel her suddenly have ideas snap together in her mind about the workings of the human brain that had plagued her for years in her work.

Suddenly I realized something and I let my joy and laughter ring out through the web. I conveyed images to the group of how I had healed Dimitry's scar, and the consequences after. Then I conveyed that I wanted Ellen to take the lead on this, and I would support her with the rest of the group.

I could feel her shock, but I just let my confidence ring forth, and sent the image of a web through the group. I was not the leader. We were all equals here, and all of us could harness the power of the others to do good work.

Before we could begin, I told Dimitry to rise up, and to wait. When we healed the first scar she would wake up, and he could be present in her mind to comfort her, explain to her what was happening, and to put her back to sleep if necessary.

Watching Ellen work on the scar was like watching a delicate dancer compared to the way I had handled it. She worked the edges, probing under each, gaining an understanding of what was there, and how it related to the others. It took time. Eventually she sent the image to us that she could not remove just one, they all had to go at once.

This frankly scared the hell out of me, and several of the others, but she sent us images to explain how she wanted to help with the onslaught that would come and it was pure genius. We all agreed. Dimitry was told, and we set to work.

When the Scars came off under Ellen's care, it was not like when I had torn Dimitry's free, but more like they just gently slid off under Ellen's care. I could feel the rise of emotion then, and feel Anna come awake. I could feel Dimitry paralyze her far up in her consciousness, and then I was consumed with lending my aid to Ellen.

The substance of what spilled forth from Dimitry's mind when I removed his scar was piled up memories from growing up. Essentially a stock pile of hurts, wrongs, and more importantly, needs. All children want to explore, want to grow, but most of all want to be loved. Neither Dimitry nor his sister had a father that loved them, nor any real childhood to speak of.

Under Anna's scars were the same obedience issues, but also ones of pain, loneliness, isolation, and abandonment. She had been the more gifted of the two siblings, and as such had been worked harder by her father. The emotions that came pouring out of her were the result of these long years of need that had been ignored.

As the rush came, Ellen harnessed all of us with more skill that I would have though possible, and used the power to slow the release to a trickle. Then, each emotion that poured out was met with all of our understanding, and then our shared experiences of that issue.

In a sense we shared out upbringings, our childhoods, our pains and joys with her as each one of these erupted from her mind. In a very real sense she was able to draw on our life lessons, our victories, our defeats, and how we healed from these things. To be blunt, she got 30 years of therapy in about the two hours it took to let all that mess out.

But it was more then that too. In sharing this we shared ourselves with Anna. Not to the degree we had to establish the bond mind you, but enough so that in moments she came to know each of us, then to believe in us and trust us, then even eventually to feel we were long time friends.

Realize this was not deception, this was truthful, and genuine understanding. We came to appreciate her, to feel her pain, to accept her for her faults and flaws, and to praise her for her strengths. In the time we spent in her mind, we gained years of understanding. In the end, I knew whatever happened to Anna, that I would care about her, and help her as I would any of my friends, and I knew she would welcome this support.