Crossings Ch. 01

"Real Amazons, Real Magic", Book 3: "Crossings" begins here, immediately after the events of Book 2: "Cascade Fire".

1. Departures (part 1)

California gets so many fires, especially in late summer. This was earlier than peak season but fire crews know all about rapid response and containment, especially near populated areas, even in foothills like these. Fortunately for us there were also back roads, some unpaved, and our route from the trailhead with the nice lake view was not the same one the fire crews were using. We stopped at a coffee drive-thru 10 minutes later in one of the small Interstate-exit suburbs just north of Redding. We would go to Weed, return the Kia, then meet over lunch.

I drove the Kia with Callie beside me and Dani behind. No one else knew how to drive a stick, and remembering Sati's divination not so long ago, thinking that made me sad.

"I saw about 1/4 of the dark mage's book," I said. "I didn't understand it at the time, but I can recall parts now, and I keep remembering more. I want to share it all."

"Helluva way to ask to get laid, Bob," Dani said, smiling wryly.

"You know what I mean," I said softly.

"Sorry, I'm just being a smartass, sometimes I can't help it," Dani said, still smiling, kind of a doleful smile, but she reached to caress my neck and shoulder.

"Are you sure?" Callie asked me.

"Everything," I said. "Even what we didn't share before. Dani, and everyone, needs to know how to make a portal."

"What's a ... oh yeah," Dani said. "That's how you got away from me with Jess that night. I was really pissed, it was like the first night I figured it out about Sati, and I wanted to be on your team."

"It's also how we got inside that house with Taylor and Mariano today," I said, and she nodded. "I've only showed Callie and Jess before now. I'm sorry ... I should've shared with you, too."

"We thought you were Sati's," Callie said.

Dani nodded. "I probably was," she said. "Being with Sati, it was like she sent a kind of madness. I wanted to think she was all about love and our best interests, but ..."

Her voice broke. Callie reached back because Dani was crying.

"I'm so sorry," Dani said between broken breaths. "I wanted to believe ... I wanted ..."

"Dani, honey," Callie said, stroking Dani's lustrous black hair, "it's OK. It'll be OK. We all wanted to believe, and she took all of us in. I'm sorry, too, about so many things." She was almost but not quite looking at me.

"I wanted to believe," I said. "In a way, Sati saved me. She literally pulled me from the gutter at the lowest point of my life, and she brought me to you, which may be the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Callie patted my leg, slid her hand up and down near my knee, then nodded to me, sadly, which I took to mean that she agreed to share everything. Dani continued stroking my shoulder, which felt really nice, then leaned forward to Callie and kissed her slender, strong neck.

"I expect you to make it up to me," Dani whispered to both of us but reserved her neck kisses for Callie, which was probably a good thing because it was giving Callie goosebumps which turned into wild shivers when Dani's tongue touched, which wouldn't have been such a good thing for me while driving.

* * *

Jess drove Mariano in Callie's crossover SUV. "I've got you now," she said, grinning.

"Thank you, Jess, for doing ... what you did back there," he said. "You saved my life."

"It wasn't just me," she said. "You being open is what made it possible. I don't honestly understand everything that happened, it was like something just came over me, but I liked it, and I'm so glad I could help you."

"I'm in your debt," he said, his eyes on hers as much as they could be with her driving.

"I have some ideas about how you might pay me back," she said, grinning again. "I'm guessing we'll both enjoy them, but it might mean something coming over me again."

"Anything you want," he said. "I'm yours."

She was silent a minute, deep in thought. He could see some echo of those thoughts play across her expression. "It'll mean you'll have to do as I say," she said, "sometimes do things my way even though you might not want to."

"That's what my teacher at the sanctuary said."

"I'll make sure you don't regret it," she said. "I'll take good care of you, but you'll have to trust me even if it gets weird, maybe more than it already has."

Mariano took a deep breath. Jess could tell he was thinking about what had happened at the sanctuary, from which he'd been taken and enslaved.

"You saved my life," he repeated. "I'm in your debt."

"I need more than that ... this isn't something I've done before, not the kind of thing I'm used to doing, you can help me fulfill a fantasy I've had for a long time. The magic I'm learning will help, but there's more. I need you to *want* me to be doing what I want to be doing with you."

"There's already more," he said, taking a deep breath. "When I asked back in that house whether it was too soon to say I loved you, I meant that."

Jess looked at him, recognized his hopeful expression for what it was, felt herself smiling, felt something warm within her respond, felt something else warming.

Mariano continued: "If this is something you want, I'm yours. I've met your friends, they are good friends and true, and I've always known about these things. I'm sorry Taylor is gone. But I trust you."

Jess hadn't realized she was tense, took a long breath of her own, relaxed her shoulders. "It's too soon for me, Mariano dear," she said, "but ... likewise." Then there was silence between them for a minute. "Excellent," she said quietly.

Mariano took another deep breath. "In the house, you mentioned wanting to take Tlazolteotl's part. At the sanctuary we knew her by a different name, an older name, gentler like all our stories: Chalchiuhtlicue. I wonder if she acted through you?"

Jess shrugged, her mind on other things. "In the car with either of us driving isn't the best place to start, but if you're ready I can maybe take a little bit of a shortcut."

Mariano nodded.

"I need for you to look at me and say it aloud," she said.

"I'm ready to do anything you want," Mariano said, she glanced at him and caught his eye.

"Excellent," Jess said again, whispered something under her breath, then said to him "To start with, you won't be able to remove your seatbelt. Go ahead, try your best, I want you to."

Mariano reached for the release, his hand getting partway there before a feeling permeated him, a kind of fuzzy buzzing dizzy tensing sensation, as if his reality was bending, his mind bending with it, stretching, looping, his vision clouding over. Then the sensation faded and he found his hand back at his side. He tried again with the other hand and the same result, and then again, concentrating harder, with both hands. He couldn't remember anything that happened between when the sensation started overwhelming him and when he found his hands back at his side. One more time, faster, but all that did was make the fuzzy sensation come faster, too.

"Good boy," Jess said, smiling.

Mariano looked at her like he was utterly lost.

"Is this OK with you?" Jess asked.

"What have you done to me?" he asked.

"Just the seatbelt," she said. "You've given me your trust and I want to keep it, I don't want you to ever wonder whether anything I do with you will be something you won't want, even if it's at a level you don't realize yet."

"I guess it's OK with me then," he said. "This is so strange."

"Good," she said. "Ready for more? Right now you're in a place where you'll do anything I ask, but I want to go slow, to make it safe and good for you. I won't make you do anything unless you ask me to, and I'll ask if you're ready each time. If you don't want it, for any reason, at any time, I'll stop and you'll be back in total control of yourself."

Mariano nodded.

"You need to look in my eyes and say it aloud," she said.

"I'm ready," Mariano said.

"Ask me nicely," she said, "even if it might be uncomfortable at first."

"Please tell me what you want, and I'll do it," he said, and Jess glanced over, smiling, caught his eye again.

"Good boy," she said, "you're doing very well. I want you to unzip your pants."

For Mariano it was like someone else unzipped his pants for him. His hands moved and made the necessary motions outside his conscious control.

"Now pull your cock out," she said, and as his hands started moving, he said 'Stop', and his hands stopped. He looked at her, reached to his crotch, his hands under his own control, and slowly pulled his cock out.

"Is this ..." he began.

"Are you OK with this?" Jess asked. Mariano's cock was already at half mast.

"I don't ..." Mariano began, and trailed off.

"You'll stay like this until you answer that question, yes or no," she said.

"Isn't there some other way?" he asked, but she was silent. He thought about everything she'd told him. He already knew she had powerful magic but this went way beyond anything he thought he understood about her or anyone else, she might have even channeled a goddess for his benefit, and he hadn't been lying when he told her he trusted her and even that he felt love for her, and she hadn't done anything she'd said she wouldn't, always giving him the option to decline, even stopping when he asked her to.

"Yes," he said.

"Good boy," she said, smiling. "Don't do that again ... I appreciate that you want to help, but if you want to do this, you have to do it my way. Ready for more?"

"Yes please," he said, looking into her face. Jess glanced to see that his eyes were in hers.

"Good boy, you're learning," she said. "Now close your eyes. You'll find that you can't open them again. And get fully hard." She snapped her fingers.

His eyes slammed shut and his cock rose to full mast.

"Try to open your eyes, try your best," she said.

Mariano did as Jess asked. His eyes stayed firmly closed. Mariano exhaled strongly.

"I know, it *is* strange, isn't it?" she asked. "I've never done this before, either."

Mariano nodded.

"You have to answer aloud," Jess said. "I know you can't look in my eyes now, but you still have to do your best, within my instructions, to do anything I tell you. Yes or no?"

"Yes," he said quickly. That was a really easy answer.

"I like it when you tell me yes," she said, and saying so caused its own surge of arousal for her, as if it were returning from him. "Now I want your ears to hear only what I say to you, nothing else, not the car, not anything. Tell me when you feel that."

Mariano's hearing faded quickly. "I can't hear anything," he said. "I can't even hear my own voice."

"But can you still hear me?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Good boy," she said. "Any time I say 'Good Boy' to you, I want you to feel pleasure, to enjoy when I say that to you, to look forward to the next time I say it, to know that I will only say it if you do something I approve of, but only when I want to. Anytime I snap my fingers, I want the pleasure you're feeling to spike higher. Say 'Yes mistress' if you understand."

"Yes mistress," his voice said, louder than before, as if trying to hear himself.

"Are you still OK with this?" Jess asked.

Mariano exhaled sharply. His arousal was getting in the way of conscious thought.

"Yes," he gasped.

"Yes mistress," Jess corrected.

"Yes mistress," he replied.

"Good boy," she said, and he felt a warm wave flow over him.

"That's so nice," he said.

"No talking unless I tell you to," she said, but him saying that felt so good for her, another thing she hadn't expected.

"Yes mistress."

"Good boy," she said again, and she could see his reaction.

"Are you ready for more?" she asked.

"Yes mistress."

"Ask me," she said.

"Please, mistress, anything you want, I'll do it."

"Good boy," she repeated, and glanced at him to see the wave wash over, Mariano wriggling in pleasure. Their little caravan with Kelsey and Bob was coming up on a clump of I-5 traffic.

"I'm going to put my hand on your cock," Jess told him. "You'll remember what that feels like, it'll feel so good, you'll remember how hot I can make you, you'll remember that I won't let you come until I'm good and ready."

"Madre de Dios," he said under his breath. "Yes mistress."

"Interesting choice of words," Jess said, "but I didn't give you permission to talk except in response to my question. So now you'll have to wait. Feel your hard cock throb as it waits for my touch, so gentle, so pleasurable. You want that again, don't you?"

"Oh yes mistress," Mariano said immediately, gasping.

There was a truck in the left lane ahead, passing another as the interstate wound its way uphill, a line of cars stacked up behind, waiting. It took two more minutes before they slipped past that lead truck, Mariano's cock throbbing, leaking precum now. Jess' breathing was getting uneven, like Mariano's.

"I want you to feel only my touch, nothing else, and only when it touches your cock," she said, her eyes on Bob's rented Kia ahead of her, slipping behind it into the right lane. "You may not move your hands or arms to touch yourself."

"Yes mistress," Mariano said.

"Can you feel anything right now ..., wait, don't answer that, just ..." She moved her hand to his neck, his shoulder, dragging it down his upper arm to his upper leg, then finally just a single finger to the tip of his cock, which wasn't so simple since it was throbbing every few seconds, dodging unpredictably. He didn't seem to react to her touch until then.

"Can you feel my touch?" she asked.

"Yes mistress," he said through a little gasp.

She removed her hand. "Tell me every place you felt it."

"Only one place, my penis," he said, "just one finger, on the tip."

Jess smiled. She leaned over, wrapped her hand around him, but he was small, much smaller than Bob, and she wanted more room to play, so she grew him more than an inch. He groaned.

"You're having the biggest erection of your life ..." she said.

"Yes mistress," he agreed, though she hadn't finished speaking. She let it go.

"... because of what I'm doing to you. But you don't get to come until I say," she said.

"Yes ... mistress," Mariano said, his voice and even his body shaking.

"The only thing you can feel is my hand on your cock and the only thing you can hear is my voice," she said. "These are the only things in your world right now."

"Yes mistress," he said.

"You're shaking," she said. "Stop that. Stop moving. My hand on you is the only thing that gets to move."

Mariano struggled with this. Jess wasn't moving her hand just then but he was more than an inch longer than he'd ever been in his life and every inch of him was hard, close to the edge. Jess pinched the head between her thumb and forefinger, hard, and he moaned.

"Yes mistress," he said, and now, away from the edge, he was calmer.

"I'm establishing control over your autonomic systems now, do you understand?"

Mariano hesitated. He didn't understand, he could only guess, he wanted to say "yes", because she liked it when he said "yes", but couldn't do so honestly, so what came out of his mouth was just a groan.

"Autonomic functions are those you have no voluntary control over," she said, "but I'm going to take control of them. Do you understand now?"

"Yes mistress," he said.

"Good boy," she said, satisfaction in her voice, moist heat in her center. She glanced to see him writhing in pleasure, then pinched him again, eliciting a deep groan.

"Quiet. Stop moving." She removed her hand. There was a stack of paper napkins in the console between their seats, she wiped her hand with one -- Mariano was slick with precum.

He breathed slowly, in and out, visibly trying to still himself, which made Jess want to just squirm.

"Let your body become still, let your reactions to my words, my touch, be separate from your body even as they overwhelm your mind. You will feel exactly what I want you to feel, what I tell you to feel, but only in the way I tell you to feel it. Do you understand? When you tell me, honestly, that you understand and are ready to comply, say 'yes mistress'."

Mariano's body slowly became still, but remained tense.

"Let your body relax," Jess told him. "It'll make all of this so much easier. Just let it happen, it's something I want, it's something you want."

Mariano was trying, that was abundantly clear, but equally as clear was that he'd never done anything like this before and didn't know how.

"Start with the muscles in your feet," Jess suggested. "Let all the tension there drain out." This is exactly what she'd hoped to avoid by using a spell rather than an induction ... she was afraid she might get too sleepy herself, a very bad thing while driving. But he'd committed to her and she could do no less than fully return that commitment.

"Explore your feet, thoroughly, find any tension there, seek out and release it, moving upwards to your ankles."

Mariano *was* relaxing. Another clump of traffic was coming up ahead. They crossed over a bridge and started uphill again, waiting for the truck traffic to clear. She reminded herself that truck drivers were professionals and did the best they could, sometimes she just had to be patient. Deep breath.

"Your calves," she said, her voice deliberately calm and steady. "Your calves are relaxing, that rising wave of relaxation is coming up over your knees, to your thighs. Let it come, let your muscles relax. You're doing so well. Now flowing over your hips, your belly."

Mariano was lean and well-exercised, short by the standards of American men but still half a foot taller than her. She liked him and he liked her, a woman and a man. Goddess, she was horny.

"Your chest, your heart, such a nice place to relax, so much there to relax. Feel everything, feel my words echo in your mind, feel that wave of relaxation flow up your body to your shoulders, down your upper arms, past your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, so many muscles in your hands, let them relax, let them quiet, let them hear my voice, feel my voice, respond to my voice. Then your neck, your chin, your jaw. I like your jaw, Mariano, I like it very much, and it's relaxing so well for me now, into your cheeks, your eyes. More muscles around your eyes, on your face, your very expressive face, your strong hands, your feet, than anywhere else in your body. Let them relax. Your forehead, your scalp, let them all relax, flow into each other, let my voice flow into them, take residence there, so relaxing."

Jess felt like she'd been gazing into Mariano's eyes intently for at least 20 minutes, like she'd done in a senior thesis psychology experiment just over a year ago. It'd gotten so intense for her, so intense for her partner. They hadn't been intimate, but she'd absolutely gotten herself off that night.

Mariano was completely zonked. As the driver, she was trying not to be. "Can you hear me?" she asked him.

"Yes, mistress," he replied immediately.

She was tired of driving. She touched a hand to his cock, which wasn't as hard as before but was still mostly erect. Snapped her fingers.

Mariano's body spasmed.

"Separate your body's reaction from your mind," she said. "Feel your reaction to my voice, my touch, feel it permeate you, separate it from the muscles of your body, so relaxed now except for whatever I stimulate directly." Mariano was completely hard again. Her finger gently circled his tip except when she had to recapture it when his cock jumped away.

"I want you to feel my hand on your cock, as if it's physically touching you, exactly the way you want me to touch you most, but you can't come, you don't get to come," she said, then withdrew her hand.