My Life is Different Ch. 09

But when he spoke, he instantly became more beautiful. It was like he became candy for the eyes. That voice was more delicious than chocolate-covered strawberries. I glanced over at Buffy, Faith and Stephanie, and they all seemed to be enchanted by his voice too. If he were the lead singer in a band, he could make millions with that voice. He'd have sold-out concerts every time he performed.

"Yeah," Faith replied, her voice now sounding odd, as if she were on drugs or something, "Up until now I've only been able to talk to you in my dreams."

"But now you are here in person," Hypnos replied in that gentle, silky-smooth voice.

"Yeah, I'm here," Faith said, her voice still sounding subdued and hollow, "I promised I'd be here, and heroes always keep their word on stuff like this."

"Heroine," Stephanie corrected, her voice also sounding hollow and subdued, "The proper title for a female hero is heroine."

That comment seemed to catch Faith off guard, and for several seconds she didn't reply. When she finally managed to find her voice again, she said, "What are you? An English teacher or something?"

"I'm a writer," Stephanie replied, "I'm published and everything. Words are my friends."

"Perhaps this discussion on the proper use of the honorific 'hero' can wait until later," Hypnos suggested, "A more immediate concern should probably be releasing me from this mystical prison."

After hearing those words, Faith seemed a little bit less drugged and a little bit more focused. She shook her head, furrowed her brow and said, "Yeah, yeah, right. Red, you're my buddy with the witch-mojo. Can you get Hypnos outta there?"

I examined the mystic prison that held Hypnos a prisoner and the more I studied it and focused my mind on bringing it down, the less I felt enchanted by Hypnos's voice. I'm guessing that Hypnos's voice is a lot like a siren's. When people hear a siren singing, it affects them on a deep, visceral level and plays with their emotions. When Hypnos spoke, it had a similar effect on people like Faith and I, however, I was capable of resisting it the more I focused on other things.

The tattoo on my hand hummed with powerful mystic energies as I lifted it up and placed it near the mystic barrier that kept Hypnos a prisoner. It's almost like the Apertor ex foribus got absorbed into my skin, and now the tattoo had the power.

The mystical energies in my tattoo hummed louder and more vigorously as I placed my hand directly against the surface of the mystic barrier. The mystical barrier responded with a vigorous thrumming of mystic energies as well. For a few seconds the two opposing mystical energies seemed to growl angrily at each other, getting louder and louder as one tried to overpower the other.

I focused my will through the palm of my hand and tried to bring the mystic barrier down, but the damn thing was just too strong.

I turned back to Faith and gave her an apologetic look.

"This thing is way more powerful than the mystic barrier I took down outside," I said, "It's been strengthened and enhanced like nothing I've ever seen before. The guys that put this thing up really did their homework. This is really advanced magic."

I studied the mystic barrier from top to bottom and tried to explain it to Faith. She didn't have my grounding in magical studies, so I tried to explain it in layman's terms.

"See these crystals?" I asked, pointing to ten mystic crystals embedded into the floor and ten more embedded into the ceiling.

Faith just looked at me impatiently and I continued in my explanation.

"These crystals are sort of like the batteries that power the whole thing. They're enchanted and pretty powerful all on their own."

Then I pointed to the tuning forks. There were fourteen embedded in the floor, and another fourteen embedded in the ceiling.

"Each of the crystals send out a narrow beam of mystic energy. Then the beam hits one of the tuning forks and bounces off. As it bounces off, the tuning fork amplifies the strength of the beam. And then the beam bounces off another tuning fork, amplifying the strength of the beam even more. And then it bounces off another tuning fork, with amplifies the strength of the beam even more. This happens over and over and over again, making the beams stronger and stronger, and these mystic beams are basically what form the bars of Hypnos's prison. I've never seen a mystic barrier like this! It's way more powerful than anything I've even read about! You could drop a freight train on a mystic barrier like this and it wouldn't even wobble!"

"Okay," Faith said, taking a few steps closer and seeming to be deep in thought, "So the barrier is really strong."

"Yes," I agreed, "It's like if you made bomb-proof bunker out of lead and slabs of concrete, at least ten feet thick. It can withstand almost anything."

"And it's powered by those crystals?" Faith asked.

"And Hypnos can't reach out and touch the crystals?" Faith asked.

"No. Hypnos is inside the barrier, and the crystals are on the outside," I said.

Faith responded by getting a really playful smirk on her face. A heartbeat later, Hypnos's face broke out into an identical smirk. Buffy and Stephanie soon followed Faith's example.

"What?" I asked.

"You wanna do the honors?" Buffy asked, and held up her battle-axe, offering it to Faith.

"Thanks, B," Faith said as she accepted the battle axe from Buffy's hand.

And that's when I finally understood.

The barrier itself was so powerful, you could hit it with an anti-aircraft missile, and nothing would happen to it, but the crystals that powered it, were vulnerable. All you would need it a strong right arm and a blunt instrument to smash them to pieces.

"Aaaaarghhhhhh," Faith yelled inarticulately as she began smashing crystals with Buffy's battle axe.

She smashed crystals and tuning forks one after another, after another, and each time she destroyed one, the barrier that surrounded Hypnos became weaker and weaker.

Faith was really enjoyed herself. She had a huge, ecstatic grin on her face, and several times I heard her laughing as she smashed enchanted crystals into shards of flying debris. She danced and spun around in circles, pivoted and swung her battle-axe again and again. It was actually kind of fun to watch. Faith was really enjoying herself and her joy was kind of contagious.

With the destruction of the final crystal, the mystic barrier flickered out of existence and Hypnos stood there, a free man.

And then, I finally noticed the wings growing out of his back. They were huge wings, with feathers as black as coal. I mean...Hypnos was still beautiful, but those wings reminded me that Hypnos wasn't exactly a man. He wasn't exactly human. He was something ancient, immortal and mysterious.

Hypnos gazed up at the ceiling and spread his wings wide. They were huge and majestic-looking. He flapped his wings repeatedly and he raised himself up off the ground, flying across the room and setting down only when he had cleared the area with the shards of broken crystal.

I'm guessing he didn't want to walk across shards of crystal in his bare feet. That could be painful.

"Faith," Hypnos said, his voice delicious and soothing once again, "I owe you and your confederates a great debt for freeing me from my captivity, but before I can pay that debt, I must first have food. And then I must procure clothing.' "Clothing is second on your list?" Stephanie asked, her arms still crossed in front of her, obscuring her breasts to the best of her ability, "I'd put it at the top of mine."

Hypnos raised an eyebrow at Stephanie and replied, "I have been a captive here for over eleven months, and my captors have not fed me during that entire time. My hunger pains are quite extraordinary."

He sounded so calm when he said it. If I had been starved for months, I'd be a pathetic mess. I couldn't understand how he was being so dispassionate and stoic about it.

"Wait," Stephanie demanded, "If you haven't eaten in almost a year, why aren't you dead? I'm not a medical doctor or anything, but don't most people starve to death in like six or seven days, if they don't get anything to eat?"

Hypnos blinked twice, sighed and then answered, "My kind do not die quite so easily. If you starve me for months, I shall suffer remarkable agony, but I shall not perish. The denizens of my homeland are very nearly unkillable."

That shut Stephanie up, and then we were led down another secret passage to the kitchen.

* * * * * * * * * *

Have you ever seen a person who's been starved suddenly be given access to food? It's actually kinda disturbing.

As Hypnos ate and drank, tears welled up in his eyes and his stomach made pathetic, whining, groaning and gurgling sounds. And when he paused in between chewing and swallowing he would pant, as if the mere act of eating and drinking were somehow exhausting him.

Clothing was a little bit different. I thought that Hypnos's wings would prevent him from wearing a shirt, but he sort of just made the wings shrink down to the size of a butterfly's wings, so he could wear a shirt over top of them.

That solved one problem, although we couldn't find anything that fit Stephanie or Hypnos. I mean...we found clothes that they could wear, but they looked awkward and uncomfortable wearing the clothes we found in the upstairs bedrooms. And there were no women's clothes to be found anywhere, so Stephanie had to go without panties or a bra.

"Even in death, Nathan and Kenneth Blackpool visit indignities upon me," Hypnos complained.

Hypnos had a slender waist, and his shoulders were kinda narrow, but he was tall. Thus, when he borrowed pants from the closet of Nathan Blackpool, they were loose around the waist, but the legs were far too short. The sleeves on the winter jacket were too short too.

Stephanie wasn't nearly so tall, but she was about as skinny as I am, so she was basically swimming in Nathan Blackpool's clothes. Everything looked baggy on her as Nathan's clothes were several times too large for her. The only thing that fit well were the shoes.

"it would be nice if the jerk had hung onto my clothes for me," Stephanie grumbled, "But instead, he burned them in some sort of ritualistic, misogynistic ceremony that was supposed to break my spirit, or some bullshit. The guy was some sort of perverted loser."

"Nathan Blackpool and his father were both very disturbed individuals," Hypnos confided, "They were both utterly lacking in remorse or shame, and neither Nathan nor his father had any capacity for love. Their sex lives were sad and impersonal. They used women for crude sexual purposes, without ever forming any emotional attachments to them."

"Yeah, that's what I said," Stephanie snapped irritably, "He was a perverted loser, and a jerk."

The corners of Hypnos's mouth quirked up at the edges, and I got the idea that he was amused by Stephanie's comments. Circumstances had made them both prisoners in this house, but they were nothing alike.

Hypnos ignored Stephanie's comment and turned to Faith instead.

"Faith, you and your friends have freed me from my abhorrent captivity," Hypnos announced, "And for this it is only fair that you should be rewarded."

Her voice filled with enthusiasm, Faith asked, "You're gonna fix all my problems, right?"

Hypnos nodded and replied, "Everything we agreed to shall come to pass. The human race shall forget that Faith Lehane ever committed acts of an evil or illegal nature. Even written records of your past misdeeds shall be conveniently destroyed or lost forever. Your reputation shall be repaired."

"Wait," Stephanie snapped, "You can do that? You can just play with people's minds and rip memories out their heads? What are you?"

Hypnos turned his head and scowled at Stephanie. He seemed rather unhappy with her choice of words, but he answered her question anyway.

"I am the son of Nyx and Erebus," Hypnos replied, "And while you are sleeping, you are in my realm. I can populate your nights with terrible nightmares, or erotic dreams of libidinous bliss. I can fill your mind with brilliant inspirations, or snatch away your most precious memories. Humans once believed me to be a god, and built temples dedicated to my worship."

Stephanie took a step backwards. Hypnos's voice no longer sounded soothing. Now he sounded cold and menacing. I was starting to wonder if we'd made a mistake by freeing him.

"I guess humans have changed, huh?" Buffy said, moving in closer to Hypnos and distracting him from Stephanie. It looked like Buffy's defensive instincts were kicking in. I think she was ready to defend Stephanie from Hypnos if he got too creepy.

"The old ways are long gone," Hypnos said mournfully, "The temples built in my honor crumbled away centuries ago. Now humans worship performance artists; action heroes on the movie screen, mezzo-sopranos on MTV, NASCAR drivers, and fleet-footed, agile men that sprint across a court and hurl balls into elevated baskets."

"Well, I still think you're pretty awesome," Faith said, "I mean I didn't actually know you existed until I was in that coma. But then you showed up and introduced yourself, and made a kick-ass deal with me. I can see why people used to worship you. You changed my life, H-bomb."

Hypnos raised an eyebrow and dubiously asked, "H-bomb?"

"It's a kick-ass nickname," Faith explained, "I only give those out to people I like. Enjoy it."

The look on Hypnos's face clearly indicated that he did not enjoy his new nickname, however he didn't seem to feel like getting into a discussion about why he didn't like this new nickname.

"Willow Rosenberg," Hypnos said, turning to face me, "You were also instrumental in freeing me from my captivity. You are also deserving of reward. What would you request of me?"

I was caught flat-footed. I had only come to Cleveland and taken down that mystic barrier because Faith was a friend. I wasn't expecting to get any sort of reward. What should I do? Oh! I could ask for a million dollars! Or maybe not. That sounds like something Cordelia would ask for, and did I really want to turn into Cordelia? I'm pretty sure I wanted to avoid doing that.

"I really don't know," I said after a few seconds of hesitation, "Could I have some time to think about it?"

Hypnos responded by pulled a large black feather out of nowhere and handing it to me. Then he said, "Take as much time as you like. When you know what you desire of me, simply hold this feather in your hand and speak my name. If it is within my power to grant your request; and it is something that will not harm me or my confederates; it shall be granted."

"Um, thanks," I said as I took the feather from him. I still didn't know what I should be asking for, but when a powerful, godlike immortal promises to do me a favor, I figure that's got to be a good thing.

Buffy wasn't sure what she wanted either, so she also ended up getting a black feather, and a promise that Hypnos would grant her wish later when she knew what she wanted.

"What about me?" Stephanie asked.

"What about you?" Hypnos responded, "These other women brought down mystical barriers and fought against deadly adversaries in an effort to free me from captivity. The two warrior-women fought a murderous jötunn and killed it in fierce combat. What have you done that merits reward?"

Stephanie stuffed one hand in her pocket and pointed the other one in Faith's direction, "I showed your warrior women how to work the secret passages in this house and led them to the secret prison cell where you were locked up. That's worth something, isn't it?"

Stephanie, Buffy, Faith and I all stared at Hypnos to see what his reaction would be. For a few seconds, he seemed uncertain how to respond. And then he laughed.

And laughed, and laughed, and then laughed some more. He seemed quite amused, and it took him several minutes to get his laughter under control.

"Very well, Stephanie King," Hypnos finally said, a mirthful smile still on his face, "What would you desire for your heroic actions in assisting Faith Lehane?"

Stephanie got a look on her face and seemed indecisive. I don't think she was expecting Hypnos to give her anything. She probably just wanted to argue with him about how valuable her contribution was to the rescue effort. She struck me as the type that enjoyed engaging in verbal battles. She might even have been disappointed that Hypnos surrendered to her argument so easily.

"Um, safe passage home?" Stephanie suggested.

"Safe passage home?" Hypnos asked.

Stephanie nodded in agreement and elaborated, "The streets of Cleveland are a lot more dangerous than most people think. Nathan and his creepy father might be dead, but this town is still full of nasty things lurking in the dark. Some sort of bodyguard or something to get me home safe would make me feel a lot better."

"Of course," Hypnos said, still smiling that mirthful smile of his, "You shall have your safe passage home."

So saying, he raised his right hand and touched his index finger to Faith's forehead. Faith immediately passed out and fall backwards, falling flat onto Nathan Blackpool's bed. Then he raised his index finger to Stephanie's forehead. She also passed out, but when she collapsed, she missed the bed entirely and ended up on the bedroom floor.

"What the hell?" Buffy exclaimed and picked up the battle that Faith had dropped. She brandished it, as if she were about to chop Hypnos's head from his shoulders.

"I have done no injury to the writer of stories or to the slayer or vampires," Hypnos explained calmly to Buffy, "I have merely placed them both into a deep slumber. The two of them shall share a dream of heated sex, libidinous passion and mutual adoration. When the two of them awake, Stephanie shall have deep feelings of love, sexual attraction and admiration for Faith. Faith shall have feelings of true love and sexual attraction for Stephanie. She shall feel a strong urge to protect Stephanie from the many threats that can be found on the streets of Cleveland."

I looked down at Stephanie's sleeping form, also at Faith. They were both breathing, and looked healthy, but I somehow felt it was wrong the way Hypnos was casually manipulating them both.

"You can't just go around manipulating people like that," I protested, "I mean, forcing people to love each other is-."

Hypnos interrupted me in mid-sentence and said, "Faith Lehane has never been in a loving relationship with another person before. Neither has Stephanie King. They had both experienced troubled childhoods and have great difficulty in trusting others. Without my intervention, neither of these women would have ever been able to experience an affectionate, romantic, trusting relationship. By manipulating them, I am actually doing them both a great favor."

"Well, yeah, but..."

And I tried to think of a counter-argument, but I really couldn't come up with anything. Faith had gone over to the dark side, and Hypnos had already manipulated her for the better by bringing her back to the side of the good guys. Maybe manipulating Faith into a relationship with Stephanie was a good idea.

"Well, okay, I guess that could work out for the best," I said, finally giving up and surrendering to his argument.

"I'm still not convinced," Buffy said, her knuckles white as she retained a tight grip on her battle axe, "I mean, you're playing God here. Maybe Faith should be allowed to make her own decisions. You're just jamming Faith and Stephanie together like two plastic Barbie dolls that you bought from Toys R us. I think that maybe you should wake Faith up, and ask her..."

That was as far as Buffy got. Hypnos made a barely noticeable gesture with his hand and suddenly Buffy was passed out on the floor too.