Laresa's World Ch. 25: Ben & Horace

Horace saw Ben's confirming gaze and soon a platter of the richest and sweetest fruits rested in front of Laresa. She reached out and timidly chose something small, shaking her head in wonder. "It feels odd not being able to provide for my own needs. I feel . . . lost."

Ben sighed and turned to wrap his arms around her. "W e are going to help you. We need to find out what this has done to you. How much, if any of your powers you've maintained."

Laresa stopped eating and closed her eyes when she reopened them she sighed. "I feel something, but nothing like before. I cannot create things, Master. I simply feel now. I can feel the power of Horace. I know even without him being here if he were near I would feel him."

"First Laresa. . .I am not Master. I am Ben. No one is your Master. You are free Laresa. It may not have been what you wanted, but if you can feel the presence of a Djinn, you are still useful, even if you can't you're still useful. We'll help you find your way in our world." Ben touched her cheek, then pushed a few strands of her hair from her face, tucking them behind her ear. "You're just as beautiful out of the ring's power as within it," he whispered, more to himself than anyone else.

Laresa blushed. "Thank you, Mast. . .Ben."

Ben smiled then rose from the bed. "Abby. Franklin and I are going to leave. Why don't you tend to Laresa, answer what questions you can. Before we go, Horace produce Laresa some modern clothes, in fact. . ." he pulled the medallion from his neck and without thought slid it over Laresa's head. "He's yours to command Laresa," Ben said then turned to leave, not wanting to deal with the woman's shocked expression. Franklin caught up to him and the two men made their way down to the study where they both gazed silently out the window. Each wondered what would happen now that their plans to free other Djinn's using Laresa's power was no longer an option.

Laresa held the medallion in the palm of her hand. The silver chain lay across her hair and she felt Abby lifting the locks then settle the chain against her neck. "Thank you," she whispered to the older woman. "Abby, I know it is a lot to ask, but. . .would Franklin and you allow me to stay here, just until I feel I can cope with this life?" Her words were flat and lifeless, yet her eyes spoke the fear her voice was unable to display.

Abby pulled her back into a warm embrace and hugged her tight. "I'd have insisted it. I'll leave you be now. You and your friend have a lot to discuss." Abby rose and left Laresa and Horace, making her way back to her kitchen where she felt most at home and did her best thinking.

Laresa's attention moved from the door, that Abby had gently closed, to the medallion in her hand. She stared down at it, then up at Horace. "Yes, Mistress?" he asked, lifting one brow and sliding into her mind.

Her violet eyes grew wide and she blushed as his thoughts cascaded with the memories of their past, bringing back images of their joining and how he had made her whimper and plea for more. "Stop that!" she insisted, immediately feeling him retreat. She blinked back her surprise and swallowed. "How rude of us," she whispered, gnawing gently on her lower lip. "I never thought of how they would feel. Very disturbing."

Horace rolled his eyes, slipped to the bed and crawled toward Laresa. She watched him, then pushed him away. "I don't want you to touch me," she told him, sliding from the bed and distancing herself from her genie. It wasn't until she saw his eyes raking over her that Laresa recalled she was naked. She cursed softly, lifted her wrist and then dropped it. Her shoulders dropped as she realized she could no longer dress herself with a simple thought. "Jeans, a white blouse, and sandals, Horace."

A frown crossed the genie's features, but within a second Laresa was wearing exactly what she'd asked for. "Laresa, I am sorry."

She stared at him, her head tilting to one side. "Are you?" she asked. "You came into my ring using a link to me that Mast. . .Ben trusted you with. Granted that was his first mistake. But was your lust for me so great you couldn't help but ignore all the other Djinn I could have helped? Are you sure you are sorry?"

Horace cleared his throat and shrugged his shoulders. "I cannot lie to you Laresa. You know this. I am sorry you are hurting. I am sorry you are free. I am not sorry that you cannot help others. You cannot play the part of a goddess anymore, this is sad, but you also cannot take away the gift of my powers, or those that embrace this life."

"I wouldn't have forced freedom upon them!" Laresa yelled, her fingers clenched in a fist at her sides. "Now I am nothing! I cannot find the key elements. I cannot find the Djinn. I cannot free the Samuels that beg for the right to be normal. You stole that from me! Why? So we could lay together!? We could have done that for years to come as Ben's possessions. He would have allowed us to stay together, but once again you thought of only yourself!"

Horace closed the distance between them. He wrapped his hands around her arms and dragged her against him. "I am yours to command now. You can still lay with me. So what if the other Djinn must find their own destinies. You and I can be together forever. You can be my Mistress. I your slave," he bent his head to press a kiss against her neck, "tell me that isn't what you desire. Tell me that you don't long to feel me deep inside you again, over and over. Tell me the truth Laresa and you know I can fulfill your every desire."

She leaned into him, then pushed away. "Stop it!" she hissed. "Don't use your magic on me!" she commanded, once more feeling his power pull away from her. "I want to help others. I still can feel your powers and I think Ben is right, there may be more to me than I realize. I need to talk to him. You and I. . .I can't even deal with that right now. I don't even want to talk to you, but I am not stupid. I need you now more than I ever have before." Horace smirked, but said nothing else. Laresa ordered him to follow her down to the study, where she sought out Franklin and Ben.

The two men turned from their mirror positions next to the window, neither having moved or spoken since entering the room. Ben left his place and made his way to Laresa. He took her hand, held it tightly and squeezed it. "It still amazes me that you look the same, yet you are different. You feel different, but just as beautiful."

Laresa smiled, blushed, but continued to hold her former Master's hand. Franklin joined the group, taking a seat across from the couch that Ben and Laresa claimed. Horace remained at Laresa's side, a look of jealousy and disgust written on his face. "Abby's agreed to let me stay here, with you and her," Laresa said to Franklin. The older man grin. Ben also smiled.

"Laresa that is a wonderful idea," he exclaimed. "I have a small home in the suburbs of Chicago and I can come out here and visit you, show you the city, help you. . .I mean if you'd like."

Laresa turned her attentions to the young man and smiled back. "I'd like that Ben. I'm going to need a lot of help. But right now. . .I want to try and see what powers I do or don't have. I want to try and help the other Djinn, though I know it is going to be even harder to now than it was before. I hope with Horace's help, however. . .we can still accomplish something."

Franklin gave out a cry of excitement. "I am so glad to hear this Laresa! I wasn't sure what you'd want to do, but I think you are still a big part of freeing others. How can you not be? You are everywhere in History as is Horace. How could you both not be a part of the puzzle?"

Horace said nothing, crossed his arms and remained silent. Laresa turned her attentions back to Ben.

"My ring, may I?" she asked.

Ben chuckled. "How rude of me. It is yours after all isn't it." He slipped the amber jewel from his finger and pressed it into Laresa's palm. She stared down at it and then pushed it onto her hand. "Horace, do you have the teardrop?" she asked.

Horace opened his palm and dropped the bauble into her upraised hand. She studied it, rolling it between her fingers. "It's so small, yet there is something there. There is a power still buried inside. Did you feel it?" she asked Horace.

"Yes, Mistress, I did."

Laresa frowned at the title, but chose not to mention it. "I am going to concentrate on your key item, while holding onto my teardrop. I want you to come into my thoughts and travel only the web of concentration that is on the teardrop," she told Horace.

He agreed and as Laresa closed her eyes she felt him enter her again. This time she welcomed him, readying herself for the invasion. She concentrated on the diamond that she had found earlier. She knew its shape, texture, size and weight. She felt Horace slide along side her, learning all about his own key item. As he concentrated on it, he balked and disconnected himself from Laresa.

"What are you doing?" he demanded of his Mistress.

Laresa sighed, then turned to him. "I was channeling your power through me. I wasn't going to take the diamond. I wouldn't free you without permission," she hissed back. "The stone is in the safe, isn't it?" she asked Franklin.

"Yes. You saw it?" he asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.

"Yes. I could have commanded Horace to take it, but in so doing he would have lost his freedom. I think with Horace's help I can find other items. I need him though. The Society was built with my powers. I don't have that kind of power anymore, but through Horace I can generate some power using his. Channeling through him."

Ben stared at her in confusion. "I don't understand. Horace is just a Djinn, isn't it?"

Laresa smiled. "I do not know Horace's story, but he is not just a Djinn. Only he can tell you his story. It is not mine to share even if I knew it. He is powerful though and I think I can instruct him on how to build this newest device that will aid the Society. In the wrong hands though. . .You do trust the Society, don't you?"

Ben and Franklin both looked at each other before answering. "We trust the majority of them, but there are some that aren't trustworthy. You know that. We don't need to remind you of the past."

Laresa shuddered. "No you don't. But there are evil Djinn too. Ones that have given their souls to the most evil of Masters and love every second of death and destruction they rain down upon man, so to know the Society has members that are just as evil doesn't surprise me. Horace what I need you to do is take my teardrop and my ring. I want you to mold them into a disk about this size," she held up her fingers and made a circle with them, indicating the size of a large coin.

"Then I need it encircled with a band of energy, your own will suffice for this is just a shield to keep the disk from slipping out of a handle that Ben can hold. Again you may enter my thoughts and see what I am thinking."

Horace frowned, not wanting to be a part of Laresa's plan, but knowing he had no choice. He took a deep breath and accepted the ring and the teardrop in one palm. He squeezed his fingers shut and stared hard at his hand. The others watched and in time when Horace's palm opened the disk was there just as Laresa had pictured it. Two amber gems sat in the center. The point of the teardrop rested under the circle of the ring's gem. Gold embraced the jewels. The surface and edge of the disk were both smooth. A shimmer of energy circled the disk. It created an invisible link to a hoop of gold that was molded to a small rod that served as a handle. Laresa took the item and smiled at Horace. "Thank you," she told him.

"Your wish is my command. There is no need to thank me. It was my destiny to serve your whims," Horace answered. A look of contempt crossed his face. "I never thought I would be forced to help free the Djinn."

"I never thought you'd be the one to free me," she answered back. "We both have destinies to fulfill. You can return to the medallion since you have no desire to be with me at this moment."

Horace slipped away and Laresa sighed. "Ben this will help you find other key items. It is similar to the supposed hoax of using a forked stick to find water. This works the same way. You have much of the research you need for Djinn at your headquarters. Together we can use that research and travel to the places where we feel the key element may be. Once there, this," she nodded her head to the device, "will tell us where the item is. It is only a matter of retrieving it that could prove difficult. With the power of a Djinn however we can easily take the item and use it. . .the trick is. . .we won't know what Djinn goes with what key element."

Ben grinned wide as did Franklin. "One step at a time, Laresa," Franklin said. "May I?" he asked.

Laresa handed him the device and watched him examine it. "Horace can find you another Djinn. Now that I am mortal, you can have two. If you think about it. . .each of you can have two. So we could free three Djinn or at least try to begin searching out their key elements."

Ben stared in wonder as he watched Franklin study the device. "The Freedom Finder," he whispered, reaching for the device and then holding it. He turned to Laresa. "Three? But what of you Laresa? You too, could have two genies, and Abby as well. We could really start freeing them now?"

"We can try," Laresa answered.

"Another chapter in your life. . .one you're willing to give in service to others again?" Ben asked.

Laresa smiled. "I think I've always been meant to serve, whether as a Chieftain's daughter, as a Djinn, or as a mortal."

"Then let us find genies to free and start a new chapter to your life," Franklin said and watched as Laresa called forth Horace.

"Your wish is my command," Horace answered after Laresa made a wish that would change the lives of many.

Author's Note:

This concludes the Chain Story: Laresa's World. I want to give a big thanks to the following writers for joining this chain: Daniellekitten, Tseranc, Black Tulip, Darkniciad, deathlynx, and SEVERUSMAX. It has been my pleasure to write with them. Each one has contributed to the story of Laresa in ways that have boggled my mind. I may have come up with the concept, but together we all gave her life. The final chapter is written; the chain is complete, but Laresa's World will never truly be over. Each writer has the freedom to write off shoot stories of life for Laresa before her freedom was achieved. Life within the Society. . .that is a new adventure and one that will be just as exciting no matter who writes it. I will write an off shoot of Laresa later on in the future (focusing on Ch. 21 - Martin) as well as continuing the life of the Djinn with Horace. Will he run into Laresa again? Who knows.

Thank you to the readers who have kept Laresa at the top of the Chain Story category for so many months as well as other awards/recognizations this chain story received because of you, the readers.

Thank you everyone. I've enjoyed the ride. ~ RedHairedandFriendly