S.H.E (Seduce, Hypnotise, Enslave) Ch. 08

8. The Blackmailer

There was a small gap in between two books that, from the thin layer of dust coating them, hadn't been touched in months. The kind of books you put on display to show off your expertise. There was just enough space. Without disturbing anything, I slipped a wireless camera between them, and returned to my seat. It was already broadcasting, and nobody was any the wiser.

The door opened, and I intentionally relaxed, careful not to look at what I'd just done. All I needed to do was make it out of here without raising suspicion.

"I'm sorry about the delay," said Dr. Stephanie Thorpe, sitting down in her chair across from me. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"No problem at all," I said lightly.

To give her some credit, Dr. Stephanie Thorpe was decent at her job, never talking down to me or belittling my problems in the way I might have expected for a relatively simple case of social anxiety. But all the same, there was something sinister going on here, beneath the surface. And I was determined to expose it.

I was one of only a handful of people on the entire planet who would know the significance of a podcast called Let's Talk Men. So what? It was an unsuccessful podcast with no audience. People made those all the time. But in what turned out to be their last ever episode, Dr. Thorpe had taken it over. She and her fellow guest, Lucy, had contentiously claimed that women had the power to hypnotise men with just a kiss, and then demonstrated on the hosts. Afterwards, the podcast underwent a dramatic overnight rebranding. No longer called Let's Talk Men, it was renamed S.H.E: Seduce, Hypnotise, Enslave. Styled as a radically different kind of self-help podcast, every episode was essentially a step-by-step, tips-and-tricks guide for women on how to hypnotise men, and what to do with that power once you had it. The men who had previously been the face and the voice of the podcast were apparently now her devoted servants, relegated to editing and audio engineering while Dr. Thorpe and Lucy did the talking.

In little corners of the internet, the conspiracy caught alight. How could it not? Dr. Thorpe wasn't exactly trying to hide what she was doing, and it only took one person, one of the approximately three people who had been a fan of the podcast before, to blow the whistle. The internet loves a good conspiracy, no matter how fringe the subculture. As the theories and rumours circulated, the same question was on everyone's mind: was it legit? Was Dr. Thorpe roleplaying some kind of feminist power fantasy, or did she actually have some secret hypnosis technique that could enslave half the population of the world? I couldn't deny I noticed when some idiot would do anything for a girl, just because she fluttered her eyes at him, or jiggled her cleavage in his direction, or yes, sometimes kissed him too. Was there more to it than that? Was all of that a manifestation of some kind of hypnosis power? I decided I had to know. I would be the one to bring the truth to light.

Turned out, analysing hours and hours of footage from other people's counselling appointments was actually really dull. Fortunately, it didn't take me too long to find something interesting. The client was a lady with long, wavy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and even brighter red lipstick on her large, pouty lips. She introduced herself to Dr. Thorpe as Sapphire, a hooker, and when Dr. Thorpe asked her what she came in for, she stumbled nervously over her words.

"I've heard... is it true that... I'd like to learn how to hypnotise a man. Can you help? I've heard a lot about it from your podcast."

"Yes, you've come to the right place," Dr. Thorpe said, warmly. "Who do you intend to hypnotise?"

"I hope you don't think too badly of me..." her voice trailed off.

"The specific morality of your situation doesn't bother me," replied Dr. Thorpe, "so let us proceed under the assumption that I would support you in all your hypnotic endeavours."

She launched into her story. "I've been, um, a sex worker for the last three years, but business has been slow lately, so I'm barely making enough to get by right now. I've been meeting with this one guy in particular. He keeps coming back regularly enough to keep me afloat, but I'm depending on him for income, and I think he knows it. He's started asking me to make a more permanent commitment to him, personally. I want to keep being independent, but I can't afford to lose him as a revenue stream. I figure if I can hypnotise him, I could keep him off my back. Would that work?"

I was surprised, focusing on each of them in turn, when I realised Dr. Thorpe's sympathetic face had turned to skepticism very quickly. She let the moment linger as Sapphire finished her story, making a note in her clipboard.

"I must ask you now, are you deliberately embellishing your account?" Dr. Thorpe said evenly, holding her patient's gaze.

Chastened, Sapphire nodded.

"I can only help you if you tell me the truth," Dr. Thorpe prompted.

"Oh, alright," the hooker sighed. Her hunched shoulders slumped, her wide, innocent eyes lost their shine, and her voice was suddenly a lot more brash. The transformation was perplexing to watch. "I'm doing fine," she said. "Nothing special, but I'm getting by. And he didn't ask for a commitment. It's just that... I know for a fact that he's loaded, and I feel like I deserve more from him. He's a stingy bastard."

"Thank you for telling me," Dr. Thorpe replied gracefully. "I will still help you of course."

"You will?"

"Did I say anything in my podcast about never using hypnosis for selfish purposes?"

"Well, no..."

"Then I'm sure your rich client will be able to survive a financial setback or two in your interests."

"Well!" Sapphire exclaimed, "I wasn't expecting you to be so, um..."

"... on board?" Dr. Thorpe grinned. "Hypnosis as I teach it is just a form of sexual control, and I doubt there's anything you could do with it that I don't approve of. Sex workers might actually be the people in this world who need it the most."

Sapphire sighed in relief. "Sweet. So, um... I need advice. It's not really my thing to kiss my clients, and it's been a long time since my last serious relationship, so I'm good with whispering in his ear while he's distracted, but a bit fuzzy on the whole kissing thing. I don't usually go past cursory pecks on the cheek."

Then she blushed. "Wait, shit, I just realised how that sounds. I meant, like, could you teach me some techniques-no, that sounds even worse."

Dr. Thorpe held up a hand, smiling. "The unfortunate thing about my discoveries and techniques is that teaching them properly requires a distinct lack of professionalism. I'm not taking any offense either way, but would you like me to kiss you?"

Holy shit, I thought.

Sapphire just nodded, and Dr. Thorpe leaned in and stroked her face.

"You know my rules," she whispered, so quietly I could barely hear her, "be confident, be seductive, be soft. Like this..."

The two women kissed, softly and sensuously. I could only stare in rapt fascination.

When they broke the kiss, Stephanie added, "I find that you can add to the sensation, tease him that little extra bit to make him mindless, with just a hint of tongue at appropriate moments..."

They kissed again. I watched, spellbound, as their lips roamed over each other's, and after a while it was clear that neither woman particularly wanted to stop. There was a lot more than a hint of tongue involved. It occurred to me that I could have made a killing from leaking this as a softcore sex tape, if it wasn't so important for other reasons.

"Mmmm," Sapphire moaned eventually, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but you're a great kisser."

"You're amazing," Dr. Thorpe purred, "I almost feel guilty for being the one getting paid for this session."

"That's how I get you!" Sapphire winked. She made her eyes look very big and pleading, and fluttered her eyelashes. "Do you feel like giving me a discount yet?"

The two women laughed.

"Is that all it is then?" Sapphire asked. "I mean, no offense, it was great, but it just felt like a regular kiss to me."

"It was," Dr. Thorpe confirmed, "and that's all there is to it. For men, at least."

Sapphire meditated on this for a while, then Dr. Thorpe said "Would you like to know how it feels to be on the receiving end?"

Sapphire looked up. "What?"

"There is also a technique that is capable of hypnotising women," Dr Thorpe explained. "If I demonstrated it on you, you might understand the principles better."

"Oh! I didn't know about that," Sapphire admitted.

"It's on a more recent episode," Dr. Thorpe said, "not to shamelessly self-promote, but-"

"No no," Sapphire shrugged, "those are why I'm here, after all."

"In any case, women can be hypnotised," Dr. Thorpe continued. "I have been hypnotised myself, and I must admit it does feel very, very good to let someone you trust do it to you."

That was news to me too, but the internet at large, myself included, had avoided most of Dr. Thorpe's actual content like the plague, especially after we noticed that her first episode contained a subliminal message track. Nobody wanted to take any chances after that.

"A-are you going to hypnotise me, then?" Sapphire asked, and I thought she was actually nervous now. Or just a very good actress. It was hard to tell.

"Not if you don't want to," Dr. Thorpe soothed, "but I think it would be instructive if you're having trouble grasping how it works."

Sapphire shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno," she said slowly, "I'm very used to being in control of myself and my actions. I don't wanna lose that. Maybe just... a little bit? If that's possible?"

"Very well," Dr. Thorpe held out her hand, "I promise to hypnotise you as lightly as I can, and when you wake up, your mind will still be completely your own. Does that seem fair?"

They shook on it, and Dr. Thorpe used the linking of their hands to pull herself closer to Sapphire. She placed her other hand behind Sapphire's neck.

"Now," she purred, "just relax, and try not to fight it. You will be safe in my hands."

Sapphire nodded, and closed her eyes. Dr. Thorpe began kissing her softly and passionately as she had done earlier. Dimly, I wondered how this technique was supposed to be different--nothing particular showed up on camera. But I was more concentrating on the hot women making out, with no idea that I could see them.

Whatever Dr. Thorpe was doing, it was working. Sapphire's shoulders slumped, her breathing coming in more relaxed sighs with every kiss. At one point I think I saw her eyelids flutter with pleasure, even though they were closed. Dr. Thorpe cooed softly at her the whole time, telling her to relax and let go.

When Sapphire slumped sideways onto the couch, mumbling incoherently, Dr. Thorpe seemed to decide that she'd had enough. She stroked Sapphire's cheek, murmuring "it's alright, just let yourself drift back awake now... that's right, come back to me..."

Sapphire's eyes flickered open. "Whew," she breathed, "that's a real headrush."

"Isn't it just?" Dr. Thorpe beamed.

"So, like, that's what men feel when we kiss them?"

"As far as I can tell it's exactly like that, yes."

"Damn," Sapphire mumbled, "this might sound stupid, but I totally get it now."

"Not at all," Dr. Thorpe reassured her. "Do you think you could put it into practice now?"

"I think so," Sapphire said. "Thank you, Doctor!"

They ended the session hugging warmly, and Sapphire practically skipped out of the office. I felt bad for the rich dude she was about to rip off. Poor guy probably just wanted a blowjob, and now he was about to lose his free will and most of his money over it. Well, if I was going to warn anybody else, save them from a similar fate, I would have to keep reviewing the tapes.

**********

The week that followed was full of incriminating evidence, which I painstakingly catalogued.

There was a husband and wife duo, who were supposedly in for relationship counselling. I was hardly surprised when the wife started kissing him, but my eyebrows shot up when Dr. Thorpe joined in too. They quickly overwhelmed him together, lulling him into an obedient sexual trance.

From there the true purpose of their appointment became clear: the wife and Dr. Thorpe were training the husband to enjoy eating pussy. They had him on his knees stroking his dick, while the wife sat in front of him with her legs spread, letting him look, inviting him to taste. From their discussion, I gathered that the husband was very resistant to this idea, or he'd started out that way. Programming him had taken a long time, and apparently in this session he was close to giving in. The wife started fingering herself in front of her husband, then withdrawing her fingers and offering them to him so he would taste them. After every taste, Dr. Thorpe would encourage him to stroke faster, offer some teasing caresses elsewhere on his body. It was clear they were making him associate the taste of her pussy with his own pleasure, and I had to admit, it looked scarily effective.

Eventually, their little game got to the point where the wife started inching her pussy closer to her husband's face, as Dr. Thorpe commanded him to stroke harder, to start getting ready to cum. I knew what was going to happen before it did. The wife placed a hand on the back of her husband's head, drawing him down to her pussy, letting him taste her, breathe her in. At the exact same time, Dr. Thorpe ordered him to cum, hard. He moaned into his wife's pussy as she stroked his hair, and they both cooed in his ears to submit, to enjoy the taste, to lick.

He did lick, briefly, as his orgasm reached its peak. It wasn't much, but it was enough for the women to celebrate. Dr. Thorpe declared triumphantly that if the wife kept reinforcing this behaviour throughout the week, he would likely only need one more session. The two women high-fived before waking him up. He seemed confused and disoriented, but I saw to my dismay that he was licking his lips as they left the office.

There was a man who needed to deal with recurring nightmares. Dr. Thorpe hypnotised him, and when she interrogated him, he admitted that they were intensely sexual dreams about a co-worker he had no interest in--due to her weight, he claimed--so they came across as nightmares.

Predictably, Dr. Thorpe had a different idea. First she tried convincing him that his co-worker's unattractive qualities weren't actually that bad. Airbrushing them, really. When she suggested that he ask his co-worker out, he fought it a little harder, so she tried a different tactic. She took down his pants and started stroking his cock, telling him to concentrate on the feeling, and concentrate on the dreams he was having, associating the two in his mind. She teased him mercilessly, until he was begging to cum, at which point... the microphone couldn't pick it up, but I guessed she was telling him to imagine this happening during his dreams, with his co-worker in place of Dr. Thorpe. At any rate, he gave in and came all over her hand, and in his post-orgasmic daze, Dr. Thorpe told him that his recurring dreams would continue. From now on, they would cause him to cum this powerfully, and this messily, until he tried asking his co-worker out, acting on his 'newfound feelings'. She cleaned up, woke him, and sent him away none the wiser.

There was a stressed out wife and mother of three, Emily, who came in by herself and asked Dr. Thorpe to help her manage her stress. After probing her with questions, the good doctor decided the husband must be at fault, and the wife slowly came around to the idea. Predictably, Dr. Thorpe suggested that she use hypnosis to solve all her problems. Apparently a hypnotised husband was useful for doing extra chores around the house. I realized, with a sinking feeling, it wasn't the first time she'd solved this exact problem in this exact way. She'd only taken over the podcast a couple of months ago, but how long had she been practising?

Emily had a pretty understandable skepticism about the whole venture, so I got to listen to Stephanie explaining that it worked, and how it worked, in plenty of detail. Just to prove it, she called in her secretary and had him debase himself for her amusement, getting naked and masturbating right in the office. It was stomach-churning to watch, but in other ways it was perfect! Just the kind of comprehensive breakdown I needed for my evidence.

"But how do I hypnotise him without raising suspicion?" Emily said finally. "I mean, it's not normal for me to kiss him and then order him around. What if he catches on?"

"If you don't feel confident that you can hypnotise him on the first try," Dr. Thorpe instructed, "there are ways of tilting the odds even further in your favour." She brought a sleek, black recording device out of her pocket. "Record your voice on something like this, repeating suggestions of relaxation, obedience, and so on, then kiss him and play it back for him while he's already drowsy, or even asleep."

"Will that work?" Emily asked.

"Absolutely," Dr. Thorpe confirmed, "his subconscious will still hear everything, and being asleep ensures that he won't be able to fight it. If you start by convincing him it's all a sexy dream, even better."

I was dumbfounded. This woman was layering conspiracies on top of conspiracies! How many men would end up slaves to their wives at her hands?

As I trawled through her week of appointments, I counted over a dozen patients she hypnotised, almost as many as she saw for normal counselling. This was war, and hardly anybody even knew we were fighting it. The only weapon I could provide was this evidence.

Except... the sly voice in the back of my head reminded me, except, she'll do anything to avoid this information getting out. Instead of going public, I could demand a price. I could have a hypnotist at my beck and call. That presented some opportunities. I sat down and really thought about what she could do. Sure, it would be nice to see her lips used for a different purpose, but why stop there? She could hypnotise other women, after all. Maybe she could make them obey my commands. She might not want to do it, but would she have a choice?

I grinned as I edited the footage together, a plan forming in my mind.

**********

Friday was the day Dr. Thorpe left her office to record the podcast, so I chose that day to sneak back in and collect my bug. It was easy, really. I only had to wait for the secretary guy to go to the toilet or take a break, or something, and I just walked right in. There were no security cameras in here, so once I'd retrieved the bug, I just kicked my feet up until Dr. Thorpe came back.

She had the kind of attitude where nothing fazed her--a good quality for a psychologist to have, I guess--so when she eventually came back to her office, and saw me already sitting there, waiting for her, she looked only mildly surprised.

"Oh, Adrian!" she said. "What are you doing here? Did I mis-schedule an appointment?"

Not willing to let her get a foothold in this conversation, I opened immediately with, "I know you hypnotise people and control them."

She froze, one hand still on the doorknob. "Oh yes?" she replied evenly.

"I've been recording you," I added, showing her the camera as proof, "you and all your sessions with your clients. I've seen everything."

"Ah," she said, and her expression darkened considerably, "so it's like that, then."

"Yes, it is," I said, simply.

She folded her arms. "What are your intentions, now you have this evidence?"

"Well, something like this would ruin your whole career," I pondered casually, "and that would certainly be a tragedy. Don't you dare think blocking my exit will stop me, either."