Old World Magic Ch. 23

I nodded silently but did not approach, sensing that she needed the space. I put my hands out wide, unsure of how to even begin to approach everything that had happened in light of how she felt, "Grace, Cheyenne, I am so sorry. I wish I could have told you. I wish Erin could have told you. But, it was and still is quite literally a matter of life and death. We couldn't risk anyone knowing, if Adam found out before we were ready..." I trailed off and thought about how he'd beaten both of them, "...well, you know what he did when he did find out. I never wanted him to find out, never would have thought he would have lashed out against you. Erin yes, myself yes, but I don't know why he targeted you." I trailed off again at a loss for what to say.

Erin thankfully spoke up, "Mike, I don't know Adam that well. Of the month I was there, I only met him once before he left for over two weeks. Just vanished, he only came back about a few days ago. But when he did come back he was so busy, spending all his time with that new woman he brought back from Atlanta. But what was worse, the two of them were constantly prodding me, I could feel them, almost like they were looking at me as if they could see inside my mind. I couldn't ever get Adam alone, couldn't enact your plan.

"So," Cheyenne said with a cold tone in her voice, "What, there was some sort of plan now? Some big plot you two were trying to pull off? What were you going to go all Oceans Eleven and try to rob the brothel?" Erin and I looked at Cheyenne somewhat amazed. She really was more observant than she seemed, either that or a hell of a lucky guesser. I was betting it was a bit of both. She shook her head, "Nuh uh, no way, you're not going to try to rob Adam. Not after what he did to us."

I quickly reassured her, "No Cheyenne, if I have anything to say with it, we'll never deal with him again. I won't let him hurt you ever again if I can help it."

Erin grinned broadly and reached down to the floor for her small purse, and said, "Besides, we don't have too." She dug around in her purse for a moment then pulled out a USB thumb drive and tossed it to me. I caught it in mid air and she said, "I didn't finish my story. I said I couldn't ever get Adam alone. But late monday night, or early yesterday morning, or whatever, Eve took Malik and Estefano to bed with her. Apparently kept them going most of the night too. Adam seemed interested in an orgy of his own as well, Cheyenne, Jessica, and I were summoned to his room and he spent all night long, and well past sun up fucking us stupid." I couldn't help but notice a bit of a slight smile cross Cheyenne's face when that was said. Apparently and obviously to me, Adam and his apprentice had wanted to stock up on as much mana as they could. What better way then to fuck silly the two male employees, and the three prostitutes that lived in Adam's home on the brothel grounds. Erin continued, "Some time after Jessica and Cheyenne had passed out, and just before I think he was finally ready to call it a night himself, I did it."

I looked down at the USB drive, my heart pounding in my chest. Had the plan worked? Had Erin pulled it off? "It worked?" I asked somewhat surprised even though the plan had been a long time in the making, "It actually worked?"

Erin nodded, "As we lay there, and I could hear him start to breathe heavily, about to fall asleep, I whispered into his ear and asked me what the best dessert he'd ever had as a child was. His eyes opened up, but it was a dull blank look, as if he was sleep walking or something. He didn't say anything but he got up and left the bedroom. About an hour later he woke me up, I guess I'd fallen asleep in between Cheyenne and Jessica. He put this flash drive in my hand and said that it was done, and then laid down and passed the fuck out."

I looked at the flash drive again. "Well fuck me, I almost didn't expect it to work," I muttered quietly to myself. A month and a half ago, when Adam found out that I was planning on leaving his mentorship at Ruby's Hideaway, he'd gotten very angry. He'd attacked me in a battle of willpower, and punished me in a very humiliating and personal way. But what he didn't know was that I'd split my persona into two halves, the intellectual side fighting him defensively and acting for me, while my emotion went on a secret offense. He hadn't even thought to expect a sneak attack and I slid in past his defenses as he had attacked me. While inside his mind I'd found a deep and ancient memory in his mind. The sheer delight of eating a fried pastry topped with cream and fruit for the first time was a special and rarely visited memory of his.

So I'd laid a trap for Adam. I took that memory and I tied a powerful suggestion spell to it. The easiest way to describe the spell would be that when he examined that memory again, and I somehow knew he hadn't in years, possibly decades, the suggestion would take hold in his mind. I tied it to his own mana pool, so slight that he'd never notice he was maintaining it. Once the memory was examined, and the suggestion triggered, he'd follow a series of actions that he thought were his own. Even if he examined the actions at a later date, his own rationale would make him believe that his actions were of his own doing and he'd rationalize the actions away. But he wouldn't remember. It was an elaborate trap and one that had taken me several days to set up, and one that had almost killed me putting in place. I'd almost become trapped inside Adam's mind when I had been laying it. If he hadn't been so busy fighting my intellect, and then punishing me, he would have noticed what I was doing for sure.

But I looked at the thumb drive and bounced it in my hand. It had worked, it had actually worked. Erin had pulled it off. My elation was cut short however as Cheyenne said with still a tint of anger in her voice, "So all of this, faking your death, making me go through that hell, Erin coming to the Hideaway, it was just for some stupid USB drive? Was it worth it? Was it worth him beating the ever living fuck out of us this morning Erin?"

Erin blanched, her already pale ginger complexion going a bit whiter as she looked at Cheyenne and cried, "I don't know, I don't know!" Then turning to me she said, "Whatever your shield was on my mind, he couldn't get through it for the first few days. Even with Eve prodding at me too, I knew they couldn't get through it. I did exactly like you said and whenever I thought they were trying I just repeated a song over and over in my head. Mental static you said. It worked, but then after he'd slept for a while after the orgy, he and Eve called me into a private room. They... They were too strong. They pushed into my mind, I could feel it, it was like they'd gone from trying to pick a lock to just using a battering ram. The way they broke into my mind, it was painful. I woke up late on tuesday night, alone in that room. It was the next morning that he called Cheyenne and me into his office. Then without even an explanation, that's when the badness happened." Her voice choked up, "it was bad Mike, he had a bat, and I... I couldn't move at all. No matter what he did to either of us, we were just frozen like statues."

I grit my teeth and swallowed my rising bile and anger. "The orgy," I said, thinking about why he'd have a foursome with the three women who lived at the brothel, and why Eve would let Malik and Estefano double team her all night long. "The orgy was just so they could build up as much mana as they possibly could to brute force their way past your protection and read your mind."

"But why me?" Cheyenne asked softly, "I didn't have anything to do with your plan."

I nodded, "I'm sure they read your mind too, but without any shielding they could read you like an open book. They knew you didn't have anything to do with me, that you thought I was dead. You were innocent... except for two things. You were in love with me, and you'd fallen in love with Erin. That son of a bitch knew that if he hurt you, it would get to me, and it would be further punishment for Erin."

She smiled softly and asked the question, "So was it all worth it then? I'm assuming there's some sort of money on that drive or something? Was it worth all the lying and pain to get his money?"

I shook my head, "No, there's no money on this drive. That's somewhere else. What's on this drive is more valuable than all the money Adam has."

Cheyenne seemed intrigued, "So what's on it?"

I smiled and held the drive up again, looking at the way the setting sunlight came through the windows and made it seem to glow, "Two things, two things only Cheyenne. The first his notes, his 'spellbook' I guess you could call it. But the other, oh my, the other is so much more valuable, it's my ticket to a whole new world."

Cheyenne paused waiting for me to explain and I answered her, "It's an address book. A list of names and addresses, and it's going to take me places, and if the two of you want, if you don't hate me, if you trust me, I'm bringing you both with me."

- - -

Erin, Cheyenne, and I finished our dinners, then spent the next several hours, well into the dark of night talking. Cheyenne's questions didn't end and she eventually came to terms with the strange turn of events that had taken place. I could tell she still was having trouble getting a grasp on the reality of magic, but she'd been exposed to it so much that part of her just accepted it. I told her how Ruby and I had used her for 'practice' when Ruby had been teaching me the glamour spell, but she only remembered the three way sex we used to have on a nightly basis. We told her about the hitmen, and how we'd made it look like one of them was me, well was Mike Naughton, before Erin and I had changed our looks. I even told the both of them about my first life. I told them about Michael Gray, the almost 40 year old, married, laid off high school teacher. Cheyenne seemed less surprised about that than anything else, telling me that she'd always known I'd had an old soul for what she thought was a twenty one year old. I swore them both to secrecy, and I believed them when they said they'd take my secret to the grave. Especially when I let them know that what Adam had done to them would be nothing compared to what some other people would do if they found out that they were aware of the secret world of magic. I trusted the both of them, but that didn't mean that I wasn't going to reinforce their promise with a little magical compulsion later, when I had time and mana, for their own safety of course.

We ordered room service, ate some light fare, and drank wine as we connected. But our conversation was not just about me. It was strange, cathartic in a way, but it was about all three of us. We each talked about ourselves, our lives, how we'd gotten to this strange place in our lives. Obviously I had a lot more to say then either of the two women, having lived almost twice as long as them. They seemed really into hearing some of the funny stories about growing up as a kid in the late seventies and early eighties, and what it was like to be in college around the same time they were born.

We talked about Erin's time at Ruby's Hideaway, and how tough it had been for her at first, living in constant fear. We talked about the nightmares, the images of the dead hitmen that haunted our sleep. We went over and over about how necessary it was, not just to protect our own lives, but also the lives of Erin's estranged mother, her half sister, and that sister's mother. Repeatedly we assured each other that what we'd done was necessary, though I still knew I'd always have my doubts.

We talked about how Erin, using the name Kia, had befriended Cheyenne. Erin admitted at first it was just that she wanted to know why I had such strong feelings for the raven haired beauty. But as she got to know Cheyenne, she saw how much pain the woman was in over the 'death' of Mike Naughton. The curiosity turned to sympathy, and eventually she began to comfort the woman. Comfort turned to a true friendship, and then very quickly into passion. The more time the two spent with each other, the more they found in each other kindred spirits. Erin said it was like she'd found a lover and a sister that she'd never had. Cheyenne said it was much the same, though she had two sisters and neither was worth a damn. Surprisingly, Cheyenne finally opened up about her past, something she admitted she hadn't done since leaving home.

Cheyenne shared with us what it was like growing up in poverty the way she had. She'd asked us if we'd ever heard of a coal mining town called Colstrip Montana, which of course, neither of us had. Then she laughed and said that she'd been lucky enough to be born in a trailer park there, surrounded by locals who thought their town, which boasted a whopping two thousand residents, was actually a big deal. The only real reason it was even on the map was because of the coal strip mines and the local high school, which drew most of the cheyenne tribe residents from the reservation to the south. She'd realized early on that the only thing she had going for her was the fact that the men in town were willing to give her things, including money, for her time. Her looks, she said, were the only thing anyone cared about. She started hooking much earlier than she should have, anything to get out of her family trailer and put some spending money in her pocket. She actually was proud of the fact that her mother, who apparently was also either a whore, or had just been a major slut, had fucked some white guy to get her knocked up. She said her oldest sister was full blooded and no where near as attractive as she was. But she was also smart enough to know that if she stayed in that town, she'd die the same living death her mother had, barely scraping by, trading failing looks for rent and food money, and drinking herself to sleep every night.

I realized then of course that Cheyenne wasn't a borderline nymphomaniac, as I'd suspected in the past, but quite simply an addict. She just had chosen sex as her addiction instead of drugs or booze. I couldn't blame her or fault her, I had to admit that I was probably a borderline sex addict myself. The few weeks of isolation had been such hell on me, that only fear of death had kept me in my hotel room. Cheyenne's story had taken a predictable turn of course. She'd slept her way across four states, sucking dick for rides, fucking for cash, till she made it to Vegas. She'd landed a job as an exotic dancer, whoring on the side when she could, but was supremely lucky enough to catch the eye of Ruby very shortly after arriving in the city of Sin.

She'd been working at Ruby's Hideaway for a little while before I came there, and said that it had actually been some of the happiest times in her life. Her own bedroom, clean beautiful clothing, men who paid to fuck her that didn't have coal dust lining every wrinkle in their weathered face, and an income that put to shame her old lifestyle. But she admitted that as happy as that time was, even it paled in comparison to the weeks she'd gotten to know me before she thought I'd died.

Without realizing when or why, the three of us had practically taken to cuddling together on the couch as we drank and talked, Cheyenne in between Erin and I. and she put her arms around me as she explained why she'd fallen so hard for me. She talked about how I always seemed so wise, and like how I was so above everything around me, but at the same time I was so down to earth and so friendly. She told me that she never once felt I treated her like a whore. I always treated her like a woman, and like a friend. She said she had never felt the way I treated her from anyone else in her life. That she felt like I would be there if she needed me, that I'd protect her, make her laugh, make her feel special.

Erin echoed that sentiment, though she admitted she'd had less time to get to know me. She said that I always felt safe and loving, and that I was the kind of man that you wanted to be around, because you knew I'd do the right thing.

Of course I realized that both of these women had severe daddy issues, and what they weren't saying was that somehow, maybe only on a subconscious level, they were keying into the positive male image that I'd always given off. It was true, I didn't treat them like whores, at least not the way most men did. Oh I'd fucked both of them silly, leaving them glazed with my cum, and their eyes rolling back in their heads from mind blowing orgasms. But I never looked down on them.

But when that conversation came up, it drifted into the realm of sex. We'd said so much, but we'd been avoiding the elephant in the room, so I finally brought it up. I looked at the second bottle of wine, now empty alongside it's equally drained brother, and felt like I had to be the one to start the difficult conversation. "So," I said after clearing my throat during a lull in the conversation, "I think it's time we talked about what the three of us are going to do."

I felt Cheyenne, who had been practically laying on me, tense up. But I pushed forwards, "I am leaving Las Vegas tomorrow. I'm willing to bring you both with me..." I shook my head and corrected myself, "No, I am not willing, I am desperately hoping that you both want to come with me. But I need to know what you two want. I know you two have grown close, I think closer than either of you are to me. If you two want to leave, don't want to go with me, I understand."

"No!" Erin cried out cutting me off, Cheyenne too was looking up at me, tears welling in her eyes. "You can't say that, can't think that Mike," Erin continued, "You can't push us away after we've finally reconnected." She looked down at Cheyenne and the two of them seemed to share some unspoken conversation in a few looks, Cheyenne nodding her head and wiping her hand across her moist eyes. "We want to come with you. It doesn't matter where, but I know I don't want to be separated from you again like that if I can help it."

Cheyenne wrapped her arms around me and buried her face into my chest, "Same here, I don't know what sort of fucked up relationship we're going to have, but I don't care. I just want to be with the both of you."

I put my arms around Cheyenne as she hugged me tightly, then as Erin leaned in, practically laying across Cheyenne to get in on the hug, I encircled her with my arms as well. "It's probably going to be dangerous," I muttered.

"Don't care," I heard Cheyenne say muffled into my chest.

"It's definitely going to be weird," I added.

"We don't care." Erin said slowly, punctuating each word.

Smiling I felt a weight lift off my chest, and then, maybe because of the wine, or maybe it was because these two beautiful women were hugging me, but I just blurted out, "and you know I'm going to have to keep fucking the both of you, because there's no way I could be around you without that, right?"

Cheyenne pulled back and looked up at Erin who simply started laughing. But the look in Cheyenne's eyes was anything but mirthful, no it was almost predatory and hungry as she challenged me, "Oh yeah? Prove it."

- - -

Cheyenne gave me a shove, pushing me backwards onto the hotel bed. I'd managed to get all of my clothes off save my boxers in the short, awkward dash to the bedroom. The three of us, kissing, stripping, and touching as we made our way from the living room couch. Erin turned Cheyenne's face towards hers, and kissed her deeply as she shimmied out of the skirt she was wearing, leaving all three of us now only in our undergarments. Myself, my boxers doing nothing to hide the stiff erection tenting it, and the women in bra and thongs.

Cheyenne broke the kiss with a moan as she reached back and unclasped her bra, letting her heavy, natural, but oh so firm breasts free. She threw the bra off into a dark corner of the room and said to Erin, "I'm sorry my love but it's been so long since I had a truly good fuck."