Tendriles

It was the holographic dragon that did it. It had lunged forward, massive mouth open wide, and the roar was deafening inside the cave. But even as Will leapt forward, brandishing his sword to protect Deanna from the holographic beast, she had been transfixed. The sight of the gaping hole of its maw, pink and wet but vanishing into dark black depths, the wetness of its tongue, the hotness of its breath, it gave her an almost overwhelming desire to throw herself forward into its mouth and let it consume her. But she’d held herself back, and completed her night on the holodeck with Will, not letting on that she’d found the experience intensely arousing. ...

Part 1: There has been a mistake here. “Look, there has clearly been a mistake here” “Madame, allow me to assure you that you are mistaken. Your order has been processed exactly as you placed it. I have it on the computer in front of me” “And I assure you that this is not what I ordered” “Madame, I have to tell you that you have received exactly what you ordered. 1 large size child’s doll. Snow White type. And that is all you will be charged for” ...

story continues from part one Part 2: Mistress Four Twenty glanced behind her. Razor-clawed fingers extended from Four’s ball mittens, shredding them to pieces. The long claws glistened like crystal-cut glass. Definitely not any ordinary human. On balance, Twenty had seen things in the Hotel that made the distinction meaningless. What was human after all? Twenty estimated the distance between her and the alarm. There was no point worrying about treading on the lines now, was there? No more than five seconds if she moved quickly. ...

“You’re in number 12. All the way at the end.” The uniformed man on the flight line waved Jim toward a waiting aircraft at the far end of the row. Jim made his way toward number 12, winding through knots of people and individuals, all as lost as he was. Half remembered faces smiled or frowned at him, maybe struggling to remember his name. A line of VTOL aircraft, stinking pavement, barked orders, and vaguely familiar people were not part of his ideal tenth high school reunion. Of course, nothing was normal where Colliersburg was concerned. ...

Mary Rourke returned the phone to its cradle with a frown. None of the others were answering their phones, and the silence was beginning to worry her. Especially since tonight was to be the celebration of their latest coup. The Rainbow of Dreams, that’s what they called themselves. Stacy Brown, the lawyer who knew every trick, every loophole. Brenda Marshall, the accountant who could make any number do whatever she chose. Marla Freemont, the high official with the city’s Commerce Department, with her myriad contacts in local, state and federal government. And Mary, the seductress, head an array of businesses geared toward man’s baser instincts. ...

(story continues from In the Land of the Dolls 3: They Came in the Night) Part 4: Out in the Garden My twin sister and I were curled up together in our stall, The thick straw on the ground insulated us from the cold flags. Our arms curled about each other and our heads so close together our long red hair was mixed together where we lay. Our limbs had grown muscular and tanned under their regime of exercise and sexual torment. A regime that they controlled ruthlessly. The Dolls. ...

(story continues from The Pit of Pleasure 2) Part Three Jarell stood at the midpoint between the two women, the human witch still wracked by the jolts of her own magic and the dark elf matriarch. He’d tied her flat against a whipping post, setting a flogger into the most ingenious mechanism the dwarves had devised for him. “It’s a very simple game,” he said, touching the swinging arm lightly. “Every time Lady N’ventual there moves, that changes the pressure in the… well, to be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to the technical details. Neither were most of the dwarven women by the end, so there’s a chance that the engineering might not be perfect, but I’m willing to bet that it will work for now.” ...