Rebirth Ch. 01

Ana wasn't even one of those. Past her prime, she kept her place by kissing his ass, figuratively and literally. She helped break the new girls and worked to keep everyone else in their place. Kayley already knew what she was going to say before she said it. "Carlos, baby. Kayley's home." It was a happy sing-song that Kayley added to the list of reasons to kill her.

"That fuckin' bitch," he roared as he stomped to the room, not stopping until he was right in front of her, his face contorted in renewed rage. He clearly hadn't let it go. "Can't use the door, honey? What the fuck you come back here..." He finally saw the backpack and put two and two together, knowing there was only one reason she'd have it or want it.

He grabbed her arm tightly and all but pulled her arm from the socket as she rushed to keep up as he tried to drag her into the living room that was populated by his friends from earlier as well as other hangers on. He wanted them to see how he handled his shit. And the punishment she had coming deserved to be public. Ana followed like an excited puppy.

"Where's she at?"

Kayley stood her ground. "I dunno. She said she'd call me later."

"She's full of shit, baby boy."

He turned and looked to her. "Do I look like I need your help? Shut the fuck up."

"So she's running on me? And you're running on me." 'Caught' ooooooo's chorused all around the room.

"I don't know what she wants her bag for, she just said she wanted it."

"So she can run is why." He pushed her hard enough that she had to wobble to get her balance back. "And you're the one who tries to sneak in and get it because you two little bitches are together is why. In his domain he had his swagger back. "You've always been too tight. I should've sold that bitch a long time ago. You're here to get her shit so the two of you can bolt."

"Stop smoking so much, Carlos," she said. "You know that shit makes you paranoid."

He snickered, then paced her. "Okay...okay. Maybe I'm just a dumbass. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Prove it. Where's my money? Where's my money for the night? Gimme that and tell me where the redhead is and I'll give you a couple of pops for not sticking up for me with that rich bitch after everything I do for you and we'll call it a night. That's fair. That's cool, yeah?"

Not surprisingly, everyone agreed. "So where's my fuckin' money for tonight?"

Kayley didn't pause when she probably should have. "She took it."

"Fuckin' bullshit." He gave her the back of his hand across her jaw. She buckled, but he wasn't the first to hit her like that and wouldn't be the last. "She stole from you? Even if she wanted to, you'd beat the fuck out of that girl, but ain't no way she stole from you. Why are you back for her shit?"

A believable thread appeared so she followed it. "She took the money and said if I didn't get her bag and bring it to her, I wasn't getting it back."

He thought about it. She could see the wheels turn. "Okay. Where are you gonna meet her?"

Kayley found her story and she was sticking with it. She could at least buy time for Lisa to put some distance between her and the house.

"She's crashing someplace else. She didn't tell me where when I asked. I'm supposed to get her stuff and then call her tomorrow."

He snickered at her."Tomorrow? Shit, no. She think I was just gonna let you out after this without me coming with to get the bitch that's mine? Nah, nah, nah...you know where she is. You two little bitches are gonna meet up and fly away."

He gripped her jaw so hard she winced, quivering himself. "You're my fucking property until I kick your ass out and you're never...never leaving, either one of you; not breathing anyway. Where's she at?" He again punctuated the question with the back of his hand.

This time her vision swam and she didn't know how she remained standing especially with her ears ringing like the sound of broken glass, first far away, and then close to her. The spots before her eyes from the hit streaked and smeared like rainbow on top of rainbow, all the colors of the spectrum moving and dancing and pulsing like seven individual strobes. It was coming from a sphere half the size of a soccer ball, and even looked like one in that each segment was divided. One set of hexagons would flare while the others dimmed and the next set would brighten and so on.

Once Kayley found the source on the floor she just stared. There wasn't anything else to do. It was beautiful and took everything bad away. The pain of the hits faded to nothing. The pain of everything in her life before faded to nothing. The sphere was perfect. Looking at it was happiness itself and the dim part of her mind that noticed anything around her saw that the others agreed. Everyone was fixated on the sphere and if they weren't breathing slowly and deeply as a sign of their contentment they wore the silliest smiles. She couldn't blame them as she breathed deeply, as though she could pull the light inside her so that it took everything else away.

Samuels was the first person through the front door, flanked by the twins and followed by men and women in business attire, some suited, some casual, but all would have looked out of place in this neighborhood in this house at any time of the day. It hardly mattered in the here and now because this neighborhood was not one to call the police, nor was it one where the police showed up at night unless it was in enough force to put down a riot.

All of them wore dark sunglasses as they weaved through the enraptured bodies, paraphernalia, and filth to survey the house. A woman and a man stood, surveying each individual, cataloging their statistics in the living room while others moved through the house with machine-like precision.

Samuels stood in front of Kayley and sighed, not bothering to hide her disappointment. She gently moved her head to look over the redness there and light bruising beginning to form. She then looked to Carlos, seeing him look dumber than she remembered, which was something of a feat. Kayley, for her part, did nothing but let the rainbows throughout the room keep making everything perfect.

"Can you hear me, Kayley?"

"Yes."

"Why did you come back here?" The doctor had held out some hope that she might have gotten through on some level, but the girl had just run back to pimp-daddy. There were rare occasions where she was wrong and now seemed to be one of those times.

Answering tweaked the sense of euphoria that kept her warm and safe so she happily answered. "I came to get Lisa's things."

Her brow furrowed, "What would she need you to get for her?"

"Things her little brother gave her before she left home."

"You came to get them? You were going somewhere else? Where?"

"We were going to try living someplace else and see what happened if we did it together."

Samuels didn't usually enjoy being wrong, but this time she found she didn't mind it so much. I knew she had strength

"So you didn't come back to make amends to Carlos?"

"No. I was trying to leave. He caught me."

"Relax, now, Kayley. Enjoy the lights."

One of the technicians, Daniel, who was shorter than her by a head, and with his curly blonde hair and baby face, looked like the technical geek he proudly was, though the sunglasses managed to give him a hint of cool. He typed, glancing up to Kayley now and then to begin her evaluation. "Not a lot in this place that won't need extensive rehab to be viable, Doctor."

"We'll make up the cost." She glanced his way,"When haven't we?"

"When you're right..." He entered more of Kayley's data as he spoke of her. "There are a few here that are pretty decent starts."

Samuels let her hand caress the side of Kayley's face and slide her hair behind her ear. "Yes, I see that. Daniel, nothing happens to this one without my express order."

There was nothing to question about the order so he simply opened a tab, made a note, then went back to the pages cataloging her, though they now had red banners at the top and bottom of the screen that would follow her wherever she went.

The sunglasses hid the narrowing of her eyes when she finally fixed her gaze upon Carlos. Even in the machine-induced bliss he still looked smug and arrogant. "Staci? Traci? Set up our new friend as discussed please."

"Yes, Doctor," they said in unison. She loved when they did that.

Off to her left she saw one of the female techs leading two women from the back of the house, one tall well-formed brunette and a shorter, more plump girl with light brown hair, both dressed in garish heels and next to nothing else. Their makeup was freshly done, so the doctor surmised they were either on the way out.

The tech carried a palm-sized strobe as she walked backwards away from the influence of the sphere in the back of the house to the one in the living room, "Very good. Follow the light. Don't lose it. Follow it and let it make you happy." Once the girls were in with the rest, she looked to the doctor. "This is it for the house," and then retrieved her tablet and got to work without being told and she and the doctor discussed potential.

A few minutes passed and Samuels made the rounds. She trusted her people to do their jobs so she didn't hover, but she liked to see the cataloging. She liked to see their attention to detail and their own efficiency.

"Everything is ready, Doctor."

"Thank you, Staci" She went to the ramshackle kitchen that saw saw little food prepared there. Carlos sat opposite her, the node firmly pressed to the base of his skull, gun to his right, and tablet before her giving her readouts from the node and prompting her for instruction.

Before she sat down, she leaned across the table to look into his eyes behind the almost normal looking glasses, the lenses specially crafted for immunity to the strobe. The node was all that was needed now. Samuels watched him blinking normally. She saw that he was in there and she saw that his pupils were wide with confusion and fear. The twins stood on either side of him, hands behind their backs, legs parted and spines straight.

They always have such nice posture.

With a few swipes and touches she settled back in the chair with tablet in hand like it was a cherished heirloom. "I assume you understand me and can talk." She glanced down and back, "This says you can, so talk."

"What the fuck is going on?" he tried desperately to move, but thought simply didn't translate to movement. "What the fuck are you doing? What the fuck did you do to me?"

"I decided our conversation wasn't over. Kayley was correct. The world is full of men like you and, while I can't deal with them all, I can deal with the one before me."

The glasses you're wearing null the effects of the strobe that had you and has your associates feeling so happy right now. The thing at the base of your skull is in complete control of your body. Do you know what a marionette is? At this moment, that's you. Let me demonstrate. Pick up the gun."

He picked up the semi-automatic and that was all he could do. He wanted to jump the table, put it to her forehead and blast the smug look off her face and spread her all over the walls.

"You know the gun is loaded?"

He could feel the difference in weight. He knew.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to shoot me?"

"Ohhhhh, fuck, yeah."

"Try, and fail."

His body let him extend his arm to put the barrel mere feet from her face. He tried to pull the trigger. This time he could feel the muscles of his arm, hand and finger try. He could feel the exertion, but that final bit of force eluded and she just watched and smiled that smug fucking smile.

"Put the gun under your chin."

He dimpled the skin under his jaw, feeling the barrel. He tried pulling his hand away and this time his face twisted ever so slightly with the effort, but his body wasn't his. He had his voice so he let out a bitter growl with the trying.

"You know if I tell you to pull the trigger you will, don't you?"

"Yeah. Fuck you, too."

She shook her head. "I'd have to be smoothed to nothing to allow that. Put the gun down."

The gun went to the table with a thud.

"I'd explain how what it happening to you is: neuro-electric overlays, the damping of some signals with the amplification of others and all that. But since I don't want to try to explain it in ways that your little mind might grasp like adding 'fuck' before every other word, and you still wouldn't understand anyway, I'll just say that while the node is on your neck I own you. You will do exactly as I say."

"I assume you deal drugs, yes or no."

"Yes."

"Do you have any buys coming up?"

"Yes."

"Excellent." She worked and spoke, "This device isn't capable of fully reprogramming you, but doing that doesn't suit my plans for you anyway."

"Reprogramming? What the fu...?

"Be quiet now."

The words died in his throat.

"While it's on, I own you. What's interesting about this particular little toy is the synaptic overlay has a very useful side effect. With it, I can accentuate things you've always wanted to do and twist them into irresistible compulsions. If you've always wanted to belt your teacher, and I give that a push here, sooner or later, usually sooner, you'll do it. If you've always been a neat freak," she began, looking around at the mess, "I can make it so that desire turns to something you cannot ignore, so that, in the example, nothing around you is ever clean enough."

"It will linger with the force of your own will even after I wipe all of this night from your head. You won't worry much about your missing girls because there are always new girls. That will be something you can take care of after you make yourself a new deal."

"I have to ask this, Carlos, even though I know the answer because I have met a thousand of you, even if they are well-groomed and in three thousand dollar suits. Have you ever just wanted to take their money? After that, you have the money and the drugs. Ever thought of doing that?"

Carlos tried hard not to answer, but he could no more resist than a feather could resist the wind. "Yes."

"There's a part of you that wants to do that, isn't there?" She smiled wickedly when she saw the fear in his eyes.

"Yes."

"Of course there is. Because you're greedy, Carlos. There's never enough, is there? There's never enough money to feed your desires. There's never enough of what your little mind calls power to feed your ego because you know how weak you really are. It's why you huff and puff and strut and hit." She prepped him with the tablet while the node beeped its agreement. Then she leaned in. "At your next meeting you will try to take their money. Of course, you might succeed, which is why a few of your friends here will be sending a warning to everyone you deal with."

"Look at this, Carlos," she said as she heard behind her the sounds of the first few cataloged individuals were being led out. "This is power. I am taking everything away from you. You will come to in an empty house. You will swagger and huff and puff and go on about your tiny, insignificant life until you meet up with your suppliers that you will be compelled to try to steal from thanks to your greed."

"But they'll be waiting for that, Carlos. Do you think they'll just shoot you in the head? I don't think so. I have known men like them. I use men like them from time to time, as even they have uses in the world. They will make you suffer. You will suffer for hours, if not days. They'll make a lesson out of you"

She rose smoothly and handed Traci the tablet. "You will wake up with almost nothing and, by the end of the week, lose everything else, including this petty existence you call a life."

Samuels turned away from him before she paused, turned back, and walked around the table almost playfully. Leaning over, she put her lips as near his ear as she could stand. Carlos didn't understand the how, but she was right that he didn't need to. He knew what would happen and his mind used his few lucid and aware moments remaining to consider which of his suppliers would do what to him, and none of the possible ends would be quick or painless.

Tears began to flow as he could do nothing but stare straight ahead as Kayley and another of the girls obediently walked to the door. He wanted to stop them. He demanded his body work, then he begged for it to. None of his internal pleas went beyond the thought.

"This is how I handle my shit, motherfucker." She headed for the door herself with the twins behind her content to leave the rest to the technicians. "Have a nice what's left of your life."

His spine chilled and tears kept falling as he watched her go, now looking forward to having the night wiped away.

To Be Continued...