It's My Party

"I'm not actually trying to hurt you," Ricardo said back in his conversational tone of voice. "But I'm about to hang you completely upside down, and I want your legs straight. That way the blood will drain cleanly. I don't want anything to pool in your feet."

"Dear God…" Amber whispered.

"And I'm going to bleed you as gently as I can. Two quick cuts on both your neck arteries. I'll pop the arteries and let your heart drain your blood for me. Pretty Amber, I don't think it'll hurt much at all. Such a pretty Amber." Ricardo took a moment to wash his semen from her body and then he climbed off the counter. Out of the extreme corner of her eye, Amber confirmed he was completely naked. She saw him select a rather small paring knife from a rack and also a much larger carving knife. He then returned to stand by the chains and pulley, his body out of view.

"Try to think of this as a joyful occasion. You are a woman and very shortly you will be breastfeeding me. I can promise you that." He made an odd sound, halfway between a hiccup and a giggle, and then his hand came to her throat. Ricardo began long stroking motions along the length of her larynx, half caressing and half probing. Amber could feel his fingers tracing her, memorizing the exact paths of her carotid arteries.

"Don't worry. I've done this before with animals," Ricardo whispered. "Lots of times. Want to know something? The key for a precise cut is to ignore sight and do everything by touch. It's all tactile."

The hands were horribly gentle. Amber in her despair would have preferred brutality, but the hands at her throat were gentle and caressing, gently probing, tracing and fondling her exposed throat.

"You have such a pretty neck Amber," Ricardo said in a whisper. "Such soft, sensitive skin. I love stroking your throat. And your arteries! They're so easy to find. Here, let me show you something. Do you feel me pressing down? I can feel your heart beating now. So fast! Don't be afraid. I know how to use the paring knife. It'll just be two quick snips, one on each side of your throat. There, there little girl. Why are you still worrying?"

Amber couldn't reply. She tried but was incoherent.

"Are you afraid of being hung upside down? Pretty Amber, don't worry about a headache. That would be caused by high blood pressure, but you'll have just the opposite. You'll get sleepy very fast, I think within a few seconds, probably faster than I can hoist you up. I doubt if you'll even feel being upside down. You'll have no sensation at all."

Amber tried to pull against her hair restraint and realized she just didn't have the strength in her stiff neck muscle to tear her scalp off. Not that that would save her. What a fool she had been! She had sacrificed her life for nothing, worse than nothing. Soon her body would be sustaining him, nurturing him, strengthening him. Amber wondered briefly if her friends could ever forgive her for her monumental blunder. She had no way out.

Ricardo started to laugh, and with one hand on the pulse points in Amber's neck, he reached for his small paring knife. He would make the two cuts first with Amber immobilized on the table. He had better control here with Amber's position locked. And once he had her two arteries cut and popped out of her neck, he would pull on the chain and hoist Amber up by her legs. Pretty Amber, she should be grateful for how beautiful Ricardo thought her body was, how beautiful and delicious she would look hanging with her cute feet on top.

"Okay," he whispered as his hand gripped her throat tightly. "Time to go to sleep now pretty Amber. Try not to breathe or move. It'll be easier for you if you don't. Two quick snips…" Amber sensed him position the large carving knife very carefully by her hip, and then his free hand retested the firmness of her breast. Ricardo giggled.

Another moment passed and Amber began to feel dizzy from the strong grip still on her throat. She heard the soft sound of Ricardo picking up the paring knife. He was bringing it towards her neck. A loud claxon began to sound. Ricardo screamed and ran from the room.

Chapter 100.

There was a brief internal struggle as Amber regained her will to live. Her death had seemed so imminent and certain, she had allowed herself to sink into a deep fugue, abandoning her personal identity. And now she had to fight to regain it. What the hell?! The alarm had caused a sense of absolute panic in her adversary. Amber was sure of it. Ricardo sounded terrified. Now what could cause that? And more to the point, this was a chance to escape! But how?! Amber tried to rock and test her restraints. She felt completely immobilized. Was there nothing she could do?

The knife! The large carving knife! Amber had no doubt of its intended use. She had felt Ricardo's hand grab and pull her breast taut. Somehow she knew! Her thoughts before the klaxon were of her body hanging by her feet, her vision fading, her head running with blood, and her last sensation the feel of Ricardo pulling her upside-down breast from her body and then slicing down with the carving knife. So close! It would have been his final act of depravity with her, cutting off her breasts while she was still conscious. So damn bloody close!

So what now? Her body was completely immobilized. Or was it? There was a little slack in the chain from when Ricardo had loosened it to straighten her legs. What could she do with that? The carving knife! It was still by her hip where Ricardo had laid it. Could she cut herself loose?! Amber felt with her fingers and cried out in dismay. Steel handcuffs and chains!

The monster! Oh, the irony! A miraculous klaxon had saved her, at least for the moment, but she had no way to release herself. Keys? Maybe in Ricardo's clothes. He had departed naked and his pile of clothes was still visible. The clothes were on the floor along the wall about five meters from the counter. Ricardo had probably put them there out of the way to avoid the blood spurting from her arteries.

Amber whimpered. Five meters! The keys might as well be back on Earth. She then thought furiously, determined not to surrender to despair again. She had to escape! But how? As hard as she tried, nothing came to mind, not even something to try. Amber had no choice. With no way to move, she would have to wait for something to develop.

A short while ago…

Time: Sunday, October 3, 2019 1:46 PM

It looked like a beautiful day outside. The bright orange sunlight of the early afternoon was streaming through the transparent ceiling of the bathroom and causing the yellow tiles to glow with a golden light. Jessica was at her usual point for this time of the day, laundry done after two vigorous exercise periods, showering done and waiting for her next cookie.

She had even combed her hair with her fingers and tied it with her scrunchie. Surprisingly Ricardo had forgotten to take it from her. Jessica thought he didn't realize it had sentimental value to her. The scrunchie had been part of her Christmas presents, a completely unexpected present sent by her alcoholic mother, her first contact in years. Jessica had decided to open the small present early and she thought the fabric very pretty. It was the only keepsake she had from her former world.

There was a strange mechanical sound from the artwork behind her and she turned and gasped. The doors! All of them! Every single one of the doors had popped open. And they were all empty. Her mind raced. It's a message! What is it?! Obvious! "I will no longer feed you. It is time for you to go."

Jessica took a deep breath and considered for a moment before deciding that her logic was sound. Then without further delay, she walked to the bathroom door and opened it. The mere presence of her hand on the door control tripped an alarm in Ricardo's central security room. Jessica walked out confidently into the hallway and then stopped to consider. Which way?

An answer was soon provided by the servos. They began to come out of their access ports and gather around her, always staying at least a meter from her feet and all of them aligning themselves to one particular direction down the corridor. "MARVELOUS!" Jessica's mind screamed in triumph. The servos had become her friends, her powerful allies! They would lead her out of the building, and why should she ever fear Ricardo with allies such as these?! With a song in her heart, Jessica began to go where the servos wanted to lead her. After a while she started to add playful skips to her gait. She even started to sing.

Time: Sunday, October 3, 2019 2 PM

The two-kilometer trip from the butchering kitchen to central security had once taken a starving Ricardo an hour to make. He did it now in ten minutes, his fear driving him to an endurance he didn't know he had. It took only a few moments for his flying hands to have his Hidden Eye find the source of the alarm. "JESSICA!" his mind screamed. For a moment he was too choked to breathe.

And she was coming right at him! The witch! Ricardo cried out in horror. She had bewitched the servos into showing her where he was. His servos! She had stolen his faithful servos! Jessica had become the Pied Piper of Servo-land, and she was leading her army to him! What could he do, what could he do?! And what was she singing? His hand reached out and activated the audio sensor of the Hidden Eye. Jessica was belting out a rhythm at the top of her lungs and from the depths of her soul.

"In the year 7510, if God's a-coming, He oughta make it by then. Maybe He'll look at Ricardo and say, FUCK! it's time for the Judgment Day, whoa, whoa, ohhhh…."

Ricardo's mind flipped to a state of absolute panic. The witch was back and all powerful, supremely confident in her abilities. After months of no food and no water, she had decided to return, popping into existence with her all-powerful witch magic and into the center of his lair, stealing his faithful army…

Jessica up-shifted the key. "In the year 8510, God's gonna shake his mighty head, He's goona say, I'm not pleased where Ricardo has been, time to tear him down and start again! Whoa, whoa, ohhhh…."

Supreme confidence versus pure panic, Ricardo was lost. Jessica's face, her clean clothes, her well proportioned body, Ricardo could see the well-developed muscles in her arms and calves. No sign of starvation on this witch, oh no, just the sign of supreme confidence.

"In the year 9595, I'm kinda wondering why Ricardo is still alive, he's taking everything we had to give, and he ain't put back nothing! whoa, whoa, ohhhh…"

The Jessica witch was coming straight for him, and he was defenseless. Wait! Amber! She had pleaded with him to be his girlfriend. He remembered pressing into her soft beautiful ass, anointing her with his semen. "We can do this again if you want," she had offered sweetly. Why did he turn her down? Yes, his girlfriend Amber. She might know how to fight a witch. Yes! His beautiful Amber, she might know. That's what he needed. And it would be so nice to have a girlfriend, so different. Ricardo would have someone he could rely on.

The singing witch of doom and her servo army were now less than a quarter kilometer from the control room, and she was skipping like Dorothy of Oz on the Yellow Brick Road and coming straight at him! Ricardo turned from his console and fled.

Time: Sunday, October 3, 2019 2:15 PM

The door to the kitchen flew open. Amber sensed a person nervously running in. No, not just nervous. This was shear panic. It took a moment before she caught a glimpse of a naked man at the edge of her vision, and she was then glad she had not cried out for help. Ricardo! She had never seen him like this. Was this her opportunity? "Weigh every response carefully," she thought. "Look at him! He's going to want to talk to me. Go with the flow. I might get my chance!"

Ricardo came to stand by the chains and pulley. "What do you know about witches? Do you know how to kill them?"

"What?!" Amber thought. She almost laughed, but in a deadly serious voice she said, "Are you fighting them too?"

"What?! You know! Tell me!" he screamed.

"Ricardo, it's not that easy, but maybe together we have a chance. Why do you think I came to you?"

The man gasped, unable to reply.

"Ricardo, think! I tried to come to you as your girlfriend. I even tried to bring Whitney or Kiyoko to you as a present. Didn't you see how I tried? We've been fighting witches too."

"Yeah, I saw…" Ricardo panted as he caught his breath. Man, he had really fucked this one up, but maybe there was still hope. And in forty days he would be a god. In the meantime, if he trusted Amber, maybe together they could defeat the wicked witch of the west Jessica.

Ricardo paused, fighting down his panic and considering his options. It did make a certain sense. And after the wicked witch was dead, he could even send Amber out to get some food, that is, if he trusted her. Whitney would be nice, but maybe Amber could find him some oatmeal and ice cream too. And how Ricardo would love to eat a bagel. Or even a simple bun. What a world of difference a simple bun could make. It could turn a Jenaro-patty into a Jenaro-burger!

But the demon inside him felt so confused. Trust Amber?! Trust anybody?! That was such an absurd idea. But wasn't this different? This was love. Or was it? Was this love? For the first time in his adult life, maybe Ricardo could learn what love was. Amber wanted to be his girlfriend. She wanted to please him. Didn't he remember?

His hand were stroking her naked buttocks as he thought. Finally he said, "I don't know. This is such a change."

Amber sighed. "I have so much to share with you, our battles with the witches."

"There's more than one?!" he roared.

"Oh Ricardo, what do you think?! And I came to you willingly! You never gave me a chance to explain!"

"Sorry!" he blurted out, and then he gasped. He had just given a true apology, perhaps the first one since childhood. The demon was totally bewildered. Had he really just apologized to a hoof pussy? What was he becoming?" "I don't know," he whispered, answering his internal question out-loud without realizing it.

"I can't force you to take me," Amber whispered back. "Ricardo, do you want me as your girlfriend?"

"But I don't trust you," Ricardo whined. "I never trust anybody." It was a cry from his heart, a sound he never let anyone hear, not even himself. But he did now.

Amber sighed. "Oh, you can still keep me tied. I don't mind. Would that help? I still want to help you as much as I can."

"Really? You would do that for me?" He felt so puzzled. "Why?"

"Because I want to be your girlfriend!" Amber decided to push a critical issue before Ricardo realized the circular absurdity of her response. "Keep him off balance!" she thought to herself. "Don't give him time to think about this conversation!" It was time for a little misdirection.

"Can you at least untie my neck?" she asked in a pleading voice. "It hurts so much. Will you lie with me and pet me? Will you show me I'm your girlfriend?"

"Amber! Are you crazy?! Do you think we have time for that now?!"

"Yes, I think so. And besides, it's the only way." Amber blinked. Should she have said that last part? No. It was too close to the truth. But it seemed to work. Her hair was released, and Amber cried out as her neck was at last freed from the cruel restraint. Ricardo even loosened the chains. Her arms were still secured behind her back with handcuffs but she could now move them a bit. And Ricardo was even turning her on her side. Marvelous! Amber grunted from the pain in her stiff muscles. It was an effective mask to her growing optimism.

Amber then blinked at the colossal mistake she was making. She had to keep the game moving! Keep talking! "Do you want to make love again, or do you want to talk first?" she asked, trying to sound as eager as possible for more sex.

"Amber! There's a witch coming straight for us! We need to talk!"

"Okay! Accept me as your lover! Lie with me and let's talk! I'll tell you everything!"

The Jessica witch could be here at any moment. Ricardo climbed onto the table without hesitation and lay by Amber's side. Her face was downcast, staring at his naked body. "Wow Ricardo, you have a really sexy body! And this knee pole is keeping me nice and open for you. Do you want to stick your penis where it wants to go?"

"You crazy cunt!" he screamed in frustration and fear. Ricardo gripped her hair and jerked her head up to force her eyes to meet his. "We'll fucking later bitch!" he said in a commanding tone. "Now speak!"

"Gotcha!" Amber replied with a thought.

Time: ?

It was the strangest beach Ricardo had ever been on. Nice sand actually, nice ocean too, and the sun and the sky were the colors of old Earth. And the trees, and the houses beyond the trees, so many normal-looking houses. After all the time with the strange architecture, the sight of the old familiar homes touched his memories of what life used to be.

This was all so confusing. How did he get here? And how could he leave? Ricardo had been walking for what, one hour? No, more. Two hours? Yeah, maybe. And he was back to where he started. Did he circle a small island? But the rising sun was always over the ocean. Weird…

He sensed a presence and whirled around. It looked as if he were alone, but… "Amber!" he called out. "I can feel you!"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Where?!"

"I'm not manifesting a body. You couldn't hurt me, not here, but I don't want to tease you by giving you the opportunity to try."

"I don't understand. What is this place?"

"Do you remember Toshi?"

"What?! Slimy bitch Toshi?! That sinkhole for cock meat? Yeah, of course I remember! Is she still alive?"

"She grew up in Japan," replied Amber with a thought, ignoring his question. "This is Irino, one of her favorite places. This is a dream of Irino, Toshi's dream."

"I don't understand a word of what you said. And how am I… And why am I here?"

"I'll be more precise. This is a memory of Irino, a memory Toshi shared with me. You are here to die Ricardo. I am your executioner, and I will die with you. Another woman"

"Another witch?!"

"No. There are no witches, just as there are no lies within the link. Search within yourself Ricardo. I know how difficult this is for you. I've seen your memories of Jessica, how you tortured that poor girl. And to answer your question about Jessica, I have no idea why she sings so confidently of your death."

"You lie!"

"Look inside yourself Ricardo, if you still have the ability. The demon, it's become almost all of you. It's taken over almost everything, but there's still a small part of you that remembers being called Ricky. Don't you remember? Think back deep into your childhood."

"No!"

"It's Ricky who will understand the need for your death. As a young child, you still had much good in you. Think of the time before your demon. It's Ricky who will understand why there are no lies within the link. It's simply impossible."

"No!" Ricardo wailed.

"Do you want me to leave? I don't want to torture you. I'm simply here to kill you. And unlike the death you planned for me, your death will be truly peaceful if you want it to be, and it will be without physical pain. And if it brings your demon any satisfaction, know that I will die too."

Ricardo paused in wonder. "You'll die for me?"

"In a sense. I'll die for your death. The other woman I tried to mention, her name is Lucia. Perhaps you saw her briefly in the tunnel before Christmas. She taught me how to do this. Our minds are not just linked. We are locked. It might take days for our bodies to die. Outside of this dream, we are still on the butchering table back in your awful kitchen."