"J'sella's Story"
XXVI.
INTERLUDE
I awoke to a throbbing pain on the back of my skull. That young bitch had hit me over the head with a heavy object and had knocked me out cold.
I was gagged and blindfolded with silk handkerchiefs, and locked naked and helpless in the stocks.
I, Vanessa, mistress of dozens of Ghuls, mistress of Djinn and Ifreet alike.
Now I was locked in the stocks like a common criminal.
I cursed and I struggled helplessly. I expected the onslaught to begin but it did not.
I was alone but the stocks were secure and the knots in the gag and blindfold were competent.
Some time passed and finally heard the door open. Two sets of footsteps approached me. Had Melissa somehow come to rescue me?
A hand was placed on my forehead. It was cool and I knew it must be the Djinn.
She would put me to sleep like a helpless mortal baby. I knew ten ways to counter the spell but not when gagged and not when restrained.
She spoke the word and I was in a moment intensely sleepy. The thought of resisting fleetingly crossed my mind before blacking out.
I awoke. Again. Still gagged. Still blindfolded. Still naked. I was no longer in stocks, but that was a petty consolation. I was bound spread eagle on the bed. Just as helpless. Just as vulnerable.
Or was I just as vulnerable?
I felt different. I realized what had happened. The Djinn had warded my body with symbols of sensitivity. She had painstakingly marked all of my vulnerable spots. I could feel the faintest movement of air on my soles and between my toes and it was magnified tenfold. I could feel the fibers of the sheets below me. What was normally imperceptible was now real noticeable stimulus. My entire body tingled in anticipation.
The Djinn had done well. She needed me unconscious so she could draw the symbols which would enhance my sensitivity. Even slight movement can spoil a rune. She had traced my naked body with a finger, drawing powerful runes in a technique old as time. I grudgingly admired the work she had done. In all honesty, I had planned something similar for the Djinn myself.
She must have lost precious hours warding my body. Just a sole or just the ribs would be scarcely make a difference. She gambled that if all my major vulnerabilities were enhanced she'd have a chance of breaking me quickly.
The downside was that now instead of hours, perhaps they had just minutes to break my will.
“Vanessa,” Claudia said. "I give you the opportunity to surrender yourself to me and to my will. You have served me before and I swear to treat you fairly. Nod if you agree."
It was preposterous. I was the mistress. She was to be my slave. Now the slave would choose to humiliate and then trod over the work I had accomplished over decades.
I refused to nod. I refused even to curse her through the gag.
"Very well," Claudia said.
It started with a single fingernail. It was placed ever so carefully on the back of my left sole at the heel. I gasped into the gag, ever so softly and ever so subtle, but it would not go unnoticed.
The fingernail lingered there. Anticipation was worse than the deed itself. It is what aspiring master ticklers are taught. My pulse raced and my heart pounded. How well was the rune drawn? How would it affect my sensitivity?
The fingernail would not move. But rather a new sensation began. One of the two tormentors was blowing gently over the toes of my right foot. It instantly made my foot twitch madly. I moved my foot as best I could to escape the gentle breath but the breath followed me incessantly. I stifled laughter as best I could.
The runes were well drawn. The enchantment strong. I felt a grim feeling of dread in my gut.
I did not have opportunity to reflect upon these feelings. The fingernail moved to the center of my sole and I screamed desperately into the gag. One fingernail was followed by others and now I was madly thrashing and shaking my body.
The next thing I felt was ten fingers digging into my rib cage and moving quickly, deliberately and diabolically.
I was no longer in control of myself. I no longer thought. I only reacted.
Two pairs of fingers attacked my belly and the fingers on my left foot called the free hand to my other foot.
I shook and shouted into the gag. In less than a minute I was sweating profusely. My feet are naturally quite ticklish and the tormentor there continued her assault with only minor variations like stimulating my toes or the tops of my feet. She knew a weakness when she saw it and she sought to exploit it.
The other woman jumped from belly to hips to underarms. The tickling was not phenomenal but the runes made that a moot point.
That must be Claudia. However she was not hesitant as most beginners are. She was constant and switched between points with confidence.
Underarms followed. Their smooth surfaces did not need much stimulus to force me to scream. She then prodded between my thighs slipping deeper and higher giving ample consideration to my the space between my butt cheeks which would make me cry without runes. Now tears streamed down my cheeks as I laughed and screamed in total reckless abandon. She then tickled my sex and the shaven skin around it as if she were on a mission. And she was. A mission to save her life.
She had humiliated me as I had humiliated her. I felt myself grow wet and excited despite the ticklish sensations that shot through my body. she kept a hand on my sex and reached over my body to gnaw gently on my sides. I exploded as if all that had been done to me had been mere foreplay.
It was over. It was too much. It might have been an hour or it could have been five minutes. It did not matter. I had been broken. I was not myself. The strong and proud Vanessa was gone and now replaced by a laughing and begging Vanessa. The weak Vanessa, the one who desperately desired the onslaught to stop, took over. She settled my fate and ended my reign as a dominant Ghul.
That is how it happens. It had been done to me and I had done it countless times before to others.
The gag came off and the cloth inside was removed. My hair was wet with sweat and my mouth was dry despite the gag being totally soaked.
The tickling at my feet did not cease. I continued to laugh and shout and beg. I could hear my loud and raucous laughter now unrestrained by the gag. The entire household would hear my desperate shouts and my cries for mercy.
Another Vanessa would curse and threaten and spit. Another Vanessa would be ashamed and furious at such humiliation. But this Vanessa, the weak Vanessa, just wanted the tickling to stop. No matter what the cost.
"Will you serve me?" Claudia asked.
"Yes!" I shouted between laughter. "I am your slave, your liege, your servant. I swear it and may the universe be my witness!"
The tickling ceased. I was untied and I could not move but I was lifted off the bed.
The blindfold came off and I saw that dawn was only just breaking. I had been minutes from salvation. But it matter not anymore.
I saw the Djinn and Claudia and their relieved faces.
"Who is your mistress?" Claudia asked as if to test me.
I dropped to my knees and bowed before her.
"You are, mistress," I said.
I kissed the tips of her bare toes gently and the it was over.
I was hers.
END OF INTERLUDE
XXVII.
My name is J'sella.
I am an Ifreet. I am an immortal being said to be wrought of raw fury.
It is said that I am fire and rage and the red haze that clouds your vision when you lose control to your anger.
That what is said is not far from the truth.
We are not inviting and friendly like our Djinn counterparts. We are rough around the edges and usually loners, going through our existence accompanying and learning from humans but always keeping our distance from mortals. Let the Djinn’s serve like the slaves they are. We Ifreet are independent and free.
Or at least we strive to be.
Today I am Jane.
A simple woman who works as a mechanic at Mike's Car Shop.
I have always had a passion for mechanical things. Making things work calmed my nerves and the ability to make something that was not magic do things that were clearly magical in appearance was beautiful for me.
I could make an engine purr and at the same time roar. It was like my nature reflecting my desire to be calm along with my inner nature to explode.
Mike hired me in a heartbeat. Mortals need not much motivation. Most times I don’t even need magic to keep them in line. He and the rest of the mechanics respected me for my ability and when they witnessed my occasional temper tantrums they learned to steer clear of me when I was in a bad mood.
Hadrian was dead now. How did I know he would be near me? I did not. I felt drawn to this city and I came many moons ago. When I could detect his presence, I seized the opportunity. I destroyed him. And now he'd take years to return. I would be waiting.
"Jane, gotta a guy outside wants to speak to you," Mike said. "Some guy says he knows you. Says it's urgent."
I was working under an engine and the wrench on the bolt I was tightening slipped and I hit myself on the temple. It was nothing that could hurt me physically and yet I cursed at Mike as my anger rose.
Mike went white as a ghost and he ran away. Fast.
He knew my temper. As I walked past the other mechanics they cowered away from me and looked away. No one wanted to be the target of my ire. They were rather friendly when I was in a good mood but they steered away when I threw a tantrum.
They were off the hook.
I had some loser mortal outside. Probably some idiot admirer with flowers and chocolates. Some mortal yuppies whose sport car I'd tuned up. I'd whither those flowers and melt those chocolates with an after thought. I'd seen the types. They see a pretty girl and think that just because she's pretty she's available. I vowed to make this one piss in his pants.
What I saw outside made me feel a chill.
And if I were any more human, maybe I'd have pissed in my own pants.
It was that Houri scourge, Hadrian Contantinius.
"Hadrian!" I shouted shocked.
"J'sella," he said as calmly as he could. He tried to appear calm but I could see his body tremble ever so slightly. He was scared witless. And with good reason. He was a pale shadow of Hadrian Contantinius. He might mature into something like Hadrian but until then I was the cat and he was the mouse. I could play with him, but the outcome would never be in doubt.
"I come in peace," he said pulling a jacket off an object he was carrying and making a quarter turn to make the mortals turn away from him and ignore his actions.
It was Hadrian's gladius. The one he used in battle all those centuries ago.
He placed it on the ground before him and raised his arms demonstrating complete non-aggression.
"I will do you nor mean you any harm. So I vow and so the universe is my witness," he recited.
It was a vow that I could not be harmed by him or his associates during this meeting.
"You should not have come here, Hadrian," I said. "You should have run and fled and lived for a while. Then you might have enjoyed a few years more of life before I would hunt you down again."
"Maybe. But in the end, it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" he said. "I've been back thirty-eight times and it seems you always cut my life short."
"Thirty times it has been me," I admitted. "Thirty-two once I reduce you to ashes."
"So it doesn't matter much if it is now or later, does it?" he asked. "I mean, if you listen before killing me, it doesn't change the outcome."
He rubbed at his forehead furiously and I saw an minor enchantment of protection unravel.
"It's just me. No magic protecting me. The woman in the car back there will not interfere. If anything she'll pick up my ashes once you're done."
The anger that should have raged deep inside only simmered. He had given himself up without a struggle, without mockery, without vows of vengeance or threats of servitude.
"Say what you must," I said curtly. "It will not save your life."
"Maybe not," he said. "Maybe this time I go the way of ashes again. And maybe I'll come back again and we'll repeat this cycle again and again. But one of these times, I might come back and maybe you won't make me toast. Maybe I'll catch you and torture you for a long Houri lifetime which will make dying thirty times worthwhile."
Anger now stirred again and much more intense. Flames appeared in my hands and in my eyes and I prepared to destroy him.
"I went back in time to my past life when you served Hadrian," he said as hot air brushed against his face.
Now that was it, he would burn and then I would drag him to the primal plane and damned be discretion, I would slay him here in public.
"And you hated your master," he said.
I drew all the fire I could and I prepared to hit him with so much power that not even ashes would remain.
"And I may be a cowardly and even dumb guy... a poor representative of the line of Hadrian Constantinius.... but I know when two people love each other."
I narrowed my eyes and held back all the fire I had gathered. The fire diminished and died as his words hit me with an impact most unexpected.
"Love?" I asked confused.
"I think you loved him and I'm pretty sure he loved you..." he said.
"He tortured me and resisted my every charm until the day he died," I said coldly.
"Well, maybe Hadrian and I are more alike than I'd care to admit. Perhaps he was a coward and preferred a tickle slave to an immortal."
I listened to his words. Could he be right? Could it be Hadrian loved me?
"Hadrian is long dead and you bear me fear and not love," I said staring into his soul and seeing his fear.
"I've seen what you can do and there is a lot to be afraid of. I want you to help me, but not as my servant. I want you to help me as an equal," he said
"It is all about you," I said detecting his sly nature.
"My life is in your hands. You can burn me and kill me. Or do as you please with me. But if you do believe, then I ask you help me track down some Ghuls and rescue my Ghul girlfriend and my Djinn mentor."
"Ghuls, Djinns, girlfirends.... now it is YOU know think I am stupid."
"I think you're a powerful and a smart woman, that's the truth. I think you have nothing to lose and all to gain. If anything we could end this feud. It's cost you a thousand years or more and me thirty incarnations. thirty-one if you fry me this moment."
I hesitated. I never hesitate.
I remembered Hadrian and his lies and his abuse. But I also recalled his hesitation. His admiration. His affection...
I became a pillar of fire.
I swept him into the flames and I phased into the primal plane. The gladius spun in the air, but I would not take it and I sent it skidding across the asphalt to the car where a Houri watched fearing the worst.
To be continued....
XXVI.
INTERLUDE
I awoke to a throbbing pain on the back of my skull. That young bitch had hit me over the head with a heavy object and had knocked me out cold.
I was gagged and blindfolded with silk handkerchiefs, and locked naked and helpless in the stocks.
I, Vanessa, mistress of dozens of Ghuls, mistress of Djinn and Ifreet alike.
Now I was locked in the stocks like a common criminal.
I cursed and I struggled helplessly. I expected the onslaught to begin but it did not.
I was alone but the stocks were secure and the knots in the gag and blindfold were competent.
Some time passed and finally heard the door open. Two sets of footsteps approached me. Had Melissa somehow come to rescue me?
A hand was placed on my forehead. It was cool and I knew it must be the Djinn.
She would put me to sleep like a helpless mortal baby. I knew ten ways to counter the spell but not when gagged and not when restrained.
She spoke the word and I was in a moment intensely sleepy. The thought of resisting fleetingly crossed my mind before blacking out.
I awoke. Again. Still gagged. Still blindfolded. Still naked. I was no longer in stocks, but that was a petty consolation. I was bound spread eagle on the bed. Just as helpless. Just as vulnerable.
Or was I just as vulnerable?
I felt different. I realized what had happened. The Djinn had warded my body with symbols of sensitivity. She had painstakingly marked all of my vulnerable spots. I could feel the faintest movement of air on my soles and between my toes and it was magnified tenfold. I could feel the fibers of the sheets below me. What was normally imperceptible was now real noticeable stimulus. My entire body tingled in anticipation.
The Djinn had done well. She needed me unconscious so she could draw the symbols which would enhance my sensitivity. Even slight movement can spoil a rune. She had traced my naked body with a finger, drawing powerful runes in a technique old as time. I grudgingly admired the work she had done. In all honesty, I had planned something similar for the Djinn myself.
She must have lost precious hours warding my body. Just a sole or just the ribs would be scarcely make a difference. She gambled that if all my major vulnerabilities were enhanced she'd have a chance of breaking me quickly.
The downside was that now instead of hours, perhaps they had just minutes to break my will.
“Vanessa,” Claudia said. "I give you the opportunity to surrender yourself to me and to my will. You have served me before and I swear to treat you fairly. Nod if you agree."
It was preposterous. I was the mistress. She was to be my slave. Now the slave would choose to humiliate and then trod over the work I had accomplished over decades.
I refused to nod. I refused even to curse her through the gag.
"Very well," Claudia said.
It started with a single fingernail. It was placed ever so carefully on the back of my left sole at the heel. I gasped into the gag, ever so softly and ever so subtle, but it would not go unnoticed.
The fingernail lingered there. Anticipation was worse than the deed itself. It is what aspiring master ticklers are taught. My pulse raced and my heart pounded. How well was the rune drawn? How would it affect my sensitivity?
The fingernail would not move. But rather a new sensation began. One of the two tormentors was blowing gently over the toes of my right foot. It instantly made my foot twitch madly. I moved my foot as best I could to escape the gentle breath but the breath followed me incessantly. I stifled laughter as best I could.
The runes were well drawn. The enchantment strong. I felt a grim feeling of dread in my gut.
I did not have opportunity to reflect upon these feelings. The fingernail moved to the center of my sole and I screamed desperately into the gag. One fingernail was followed by others and now I was madly thrashing and shaking my body.
The next thing I felt was ten fingers digging into my rib cage and moving quickly, deliberately and diabolically.
I was no longer in control of myself. I no longer thought. I only reacted.
Two pairs of fingers attacked my belly and the fingers on my left foot called the free hand to my other foot.
I shook and shouted into the gag. In less than a minute I was sweating profusely. My feet are naturally quite ticklish and the tormentor there continued her assault with only minor variations like stimulating my toes or the tops of my feet. She knew a weakness when she saw it and she sought to exploit it.
The other woman jumped from belly to hips to underarms. The tickling was not phenomenal but the runes made that a moot point.
That must be Claudia. However she was not hesitant as most beginners are. She was constant and switched between points with confidence.
Underarms followed. Their smooth surfaces did not need much stimulus to force me to scream. She then prodded between my thighs slipping deeper and higher giving ample consideration to my the space between my butt cheeks which would make me cry without runes. Now tears streamed down my cheeks as I laughed and screamed in total reckless abandon. She then tickled my sex and the shaven skin around it as if she were on a mission. And she was. A mission to save her life.
She had humiliated me as I had humiliated her. I felt myself grow wet and excited despite the ticklish sensations that shot through my body. she kept a hand on my sex and reached over my body to gnaw gently on my sides. I exploded as if all that had been done to me had been mere foreplay.
It was over. It was too much. It might have been an hour or it could have been five minutes. It did not matter. I had been broken. I was not myself. The strong and proud Vanessa was gone and now replaced by a laughing and begging Vanessa. The weak Vanessa, the one who desperately desired the onslaught to stop, took over. She settled my fate and ended my reign as a dominant Ghul.
That is how it happens. It had been done to me and I had done it countless times before to others.
The gag came off and the cloth inside was removed. My hair was wet with sweat and my mouth was dry despite the gag being totally soaked.
The tickling at my feet did not cease. I continued to laugh and shout and beg. I could hear my loud and raucous laughter now unrestrained by the gag. The entire household would hear my desperate shouts and my cries for mercy.
Another Vanessa would curse and threaten and spit. Another Vanessa would be ashamed and furious at such humiliation. But this Vanessa, the weak Vanessa, just wanted the tickling to stop. No matter what the cost.
"Will you serve me?" Claudia asked.
"Yes!" I shouted between laughter. "I am your slave, your liege, your servant. I swear it and may the universe be my witness!"
The tickling ceased. I was untied and I could not move but I was lifted off the bed.
The blindfold came off and I saw that dawn was only just breaking. I had been minutes from salvation. But it matter not anymore.
I saw the Djinn and Claudia and their relieved faces.
"Who is your mistress?" Claudia asked as if to test me.
I dropped to my knees and bowed before her.
"You are, mistress," I said.
I kissed the tips of her bare toes gently and the it was over.
I was hers.
END OF INTERLUDE
XXVII.
My name is J'sella.
I am an Ifreet. I am an immortal being said to be wrought of raw fury.
It is said that I am fire and rage and the red haze that clouds your vision when you lose control to your anger.
That what is said is not far from the truth.
We are not inviting and friendly like our Djinn counterparts. We are rough around the edges and usually loners, going through our existence accompanying and learning from humans but always keeping our distance from mortals. Let the Djinn’s serve like the slaves they are. We Ifreet are independent and free.
Or at least we strive to be.
Today I am Jane.
A simple woman who works as a mechanic at Mike's Car Shop.
I have always had a passion for mechanical things. Making things work calmed my nerves and the ability to make something that was not magic do things that were clearly magical in appearance was beautiful for me.
I could make an engine purr and at the same time roar. It was like my nature reflecting my desire to be calm along with my inner nature to explode.
Mike hired me in a heartbeat. Mortals need not much motivation. Most times I don’t even need magic to keep them in line. He and the rest of the mechanics respected me for my ability and when they witnessed my occasional temper tantrums they learned to steer clear of me when I was in a bad mood.
Hadrian was dead now. How did I know he would be near me? I did not. I felt drawn to this city and I came many moons ago. When I could detect his presence, I seized the opportunity. I destroyed him. And now he'd take years to return. I would be waiting.
"Jane, gotta a guy outside wants to speak to you," Mike said. "Some guy says he knows you. Says it's urgent."
I was working under an engine and the wrench on the bolt I was tightening slipped and I hit myself on the temple. It was nothing that could hurt me physically and yet I cursed at Mike as my anger rose.
Mike went white as a ghost and he ran away. Fast.
He knew my temper. As I walked past the other mechanics they cowered away from me and looked away. No one wanted to be the target of my ire. They were rather friendly when I was in a good mood but they steered away when I threw a tantrum.
They were off the hook.
I had some loser mortal outside. Probably some idiot admirer with flowers and chocolates. Some mortal yuppies whose sport car I'd tuned up. I'd whither those flowers and melt those chocolates with an after thought. I'd seen the types. They see a pretty girl and think that just because she's pretty she's available. I vowed to make this one piss in his pants.
What I saw outside made me feel a chill.
And if I were any more human, maybe I'd have pissed in my own pants.
It was that Houri scourge, Hadrian Contantinius.
"Hadrian!" I shouted shocked.
"J'sella," he said as calmly as he could. He tried to appear calm but I could see his body tremble ever so slightly. He was scared witless. And with good reason. He was a pale shadow of Hadrian Contantinius. He might mature into something like Hadrian but until then I was the cat and he was the mouse. I could play with him, but the outcome would never be in doubt.
"I come in peace," he said pulling a jacket off an object he was carrying and making a quarter turn to make the mortals turn away from him and ignore his actions.
It was Hadrian's gladius. The one he used in battle all those centuries ago.
He placed it on the ground before him and raised his arms demonstrating complete non-aggression.
"I will do you nor mean you any harm. So I vow and so the universe is my witness," he recited.
It was a vow that I could not be harmed by him or his associates during this meeting.
"You should not have come here, Hadrian," I said. "You should have run and fled and lived for a while. Then you might have enjoyed a few years more of life before I would hunt you down again."
"Maybe. But in the end, it all comes down to this, doesn't it?" he said. "I've been back thirty-eight times and it seems you always cut my life short."
"Thirty times it has been me," I admitted. "Thirty-two once I reduce you to ashes."
"So it doesn't matter much if it is now or later, does it?" he asked. "I mean, if you listen before killing me, it doesn't change the outcome."
He rubbed at his forehead furiously and I saw an minor enchantment of protection unravel.
"It's just me. No magic protecting me. The woman in the car back there will not interfere. If anything she'll pick up my ashes once you're done."
The anger that should have raged deep inside only simmered. He had given himself up without a struggle, without mockery, without vows of vengeance or threats of servitude.
"Say what you must," I said curtly. "It will not save your life."
"Maybe not," he said. "Maybe this time I go the way of ashes again. And maybe I'll come back again and we'll repeat this cycle again and again. But one of these times, I might come back and maybe you won't make me toast. Maybe I'll catch you and torture you for a long Houri lifetime which will make dying thirty times worthwhile."
Anger now stirred again and much more intense. Flames appeared in my hands and in my eyes and I prepared to destroy him.
"I went back in time to my past life when you served Hadrian," he said as hot air brushed against his face.
Now that was it, he would burn and then I would drag him to the primal plane and damned be discretion, I would slay him here in public.
"And you hated your master," he said.
I drew all the fire I could and I prepared to hit him with so much power that not even ashes would remain.
"And I may be a cowardly and even dumb guy... a poor representative of the line of Hadrian Constantinius.... but I know when two people love each other."
I narrowed my eyes and held back all the fire I had gathered. The fire diminished and died as his words hit me with an impact most unexpected.
"Love?" I asked confused.
"I think you loved him and I'm pretty sure he loved you..." he said.
"He tortured me and resisted my every charm until the day he died," I said coldly.
"Well, maybe Hadrian and I are more alike than I'd care to admit. Perhaps he was a coward and preferred a tickle slave to an immortal."
I listened to his words. Could he be right? Could it be Hadrian loved me?
"Hadrian is long dead and you bear me fear and not love," I said staring into his soul and seeing his fear.
"I've seen what you can do and there is a lot to be afraid of. I want you to help me, but not as my servant. I want you to help me as an equal," he said
"It is all about you," I said detecting his sly nature.
"My life is in your hands. You can burn me and kill me. Or do as you please with me. But if you do believe, then I ask you help me track down some Ghuls and rescue my Ghul girlfriend and my Djinn mentor."
"Ghuls, Djinns, girlfirends.... now it is YOU know think I am stupid."
"I think you're a powerful and a smart woman, that's the truth. I think you have nothing to lose and all to gain. If anything we could end this feud. It's cost you a thousand years or more and me thirty incarnations. thirty-one if you fry me this moment."
I hesitated. I never hesitate.
I remembered Hadrian and his lies and his abuse. But I also recalled his hesitation. His admiration. His affection...
I became a pillar of fire.
I swept him into the flames and I phased into the primal plane. The gladius spun in the air, but I would not take it and I sent it skidding across the asphalt to the car where a Houri watched fearing the worst.
To be continued....
