Crazy Seduction(erotica)

“Oh! That’s better-SHIT! What’s that?” Mick exclaimed.

“What are you seeing, Sergeant?” Gordon asked.

“Uh, it’s like you’re covered in black goo… or mist. It seems to change its nature as well as its density constantly. Freaky!”

“That’s probably what that rock-like material in the vest was. It compressed some of itself into a solid to protect him and showed up in our perceptions. When it did its job, it faded back into its invisible state,” Henry muttered. “Lorelei?”

“Nothing happens when I try to connect to Siobhan through you. “I’m going to try a direct connection with Siobhan,” she replied. “Oh! It works!” She sighed and was silent for a moment. “The golden light is beautiful! The black mist around the General is not! It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”

Henry breathed a sigh of relief. Now that she could see it, she might be able to share her impression of it with the river. “Get a good look at it.”

Henry noted his vision was dimming considerably when Lorelei was connected. The brightness and color were diminishing as if Lorelei was using up all of Siobhan’s bandwidth.

Mick noted it as well. “I’m having trouble seeing. It’s getting dimmer.”

“Lorelei is hogging the feed!” Henry teased.

“Hey!” Lorelei exclaimed.

“The yellow-white waves are coming from Henry, and yes, your connection is much stronger than his,” Siobhan said with a smile.

“It’s our affinity of being creatures of the water,” Lorelei said, then felt Siobhan’s embarrassment. She pulled her hand back from the woman and looked at her. “I’m so sorry for oversharing!”

“It’s okay. Henry forgets what I’d rather keep to myself all the time,” Siobhan said stiffly.

He froze. “Oh my god! You’re right! I’m so sorry, Siobhan!”

“If I didn’t like you so much, I’d be really angry!” she huffed.

“Justifiably so. I’m such an idiot!” he said with a remorseful expression.

Siobhan sighed deeply and rolled her eyes. “So, it works? You can both see what you need to see?”

“Yes,” Henry said with a nod. Lorelei did as well.

Henry looked to the General. “The next challenge is that we’re not strong enough to pull the aura from you. We’ll need help from something much stronger than us.”

The man’s eyebrows went up. “Some thing?”

“Yes. The dark aura is corrupt energy from vast beings inhabiting an alien realm. We need the strength of an elemental force to counteract that strength. We don’t necessarily need to pull it completely free from you. If we can expose some of your skin, I can transfer Wild Magic into you to trigger your transformation. This ends the deal Baba made and eliminates the purpose of the spell on you. That should negate it,” Henry explained.

The General held up his hands. “Hang on a second. Let me get this clear in my head. I’m completely encased in evil, corrupt energy which comes from enormous evil entities from another dimension. They’re so strong we need to assistance of an elemental force here on earth to pry the energy away from me so you can trigger my change into some random race of mythical being.”

Henry nodded. “If I can maintain the connection long enough, I can ensure you become a Satyr. It’s too difficult to involve anyone else.”

Crane held Henry’s eye as he thought about that.

“I suppose that’s better than becoming… what was it? Oh yeah, a centaur. It’s still an if, though, isn’t it? You might not be able to maintain contact.”

“Yes, that’s right, sir,” Henry said honestly.

Crane frowned. “And what happens if we just leave everything as it is?”

Henry nodded. “The corrupt energy around you will warp your personality and not in good ways. You’ll eventually become its slave, willing to do whatever it wants because that’s what you’ll want, too. Those near you will be similarly afflicted but to a lesser extent. Another impact is that Baba won’t pass on. She’ll continue to defy my efforts to eliminate the dark magic spells she contained in my head. These will warp my personality until I pull them from quarantine and begin to use them. They’re powered by the same corrupt energies, and the potential damage they can inflict would be devastating. The spells bind the energy to them, so the energy is contained for now.”

“That doesn’t seem like much of an option,” Gordon sighed.

“No, sir.”

“Okay, who is this elemental force?” Crane asked.

“It’s more of a what than a who. We’re going to ask the Hudson River.”

Henry thought the General’s expression was priceless and wished he’d thought to have his cell’s camera ready.

Click!

Henry turned to see Mick putting her cell away. She had a grin on her face.

“The Hudson. That river out there? You’re going to ask a river to pull an invisible evil force field from me?”

Henry looked to Lorelei as she might be the best one to explain. She looked at him, widened her eyes, and then rolled them at him. She cleared her throat.

“I’m a Naiad. I’m connected to and can communicate with rivers. They don’t have minds per se, but they do have a life force and consciousness. They respond to me, and if I share my intent with them clearly enough, I can get them to help me,” Lorelei explained.

Crane digested that, then asked the next obvious question. “Will we need to be in the Hudson for the river to assist?” Lorelei nodded. “Shit. You know it’s January, right?” the General grumbled.

“Yes, it’s very cold. You won’t be able to stay in there for long,” Lorelei agreed.

“Shit!” Crane scowled and looked at Henry. “Couldn’t you open a door to some tropical island, and we could soak in the water there?”

Henry shook his head with a regretful smile.

“I can communicate with rivers, but I’ve never received a response from an ocean,” Lorelei confessed.

The General sighed and looked at the gathered people for a moment. “Fuck it. Let’s give it a try, but no more than ten minutes.”

Lorelei nodded to him. “I’ll go in first and see if the river will do it. If it agrees, I’ll ask you, Siobhan, and Henry to join me.”

They stood, and Henry pulled a warm winter coat from the closet for the General. “Sorry, I don’t have any boots.” He switched to his default glamor of a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. “Wait, give me a second!”NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

Henry went to his bureau in the bedroom and returned with a pair of boxer shorts, a fleece sweatsuit, and thick socks. “This is better than the hospital gown.”

Crane took the items gratefully and quickly got changed in the washroom.

The group took the elevator to the lobby and marched outside. The cold wind off the river immediately brought a scowl of discomfort to Crane’s face, but Feinberg scooped him up into his arms then they walked to the edge of the water. Lorelei continued on into the water and was soon out of sight.

“She didn’t even flinch!” Gordon said in surprise.

Henry smiled as he nodded. “She wouldn’t be a very successful Naiad if cold water affected her.”

The General paused to consider that. He finally nodded, then shivered.

“Henry, the aura is beginning to change,” Siobhan said.

“It’s probably attempting to protect him from the cold,” Henry suggested.

A few minutes later, Lorelei came into view, standing on the water’s surface. The water under her feet seemed to be solid as it carried her to the shore. Henry grinned at her, impressed, and she smiled back at him shyly. She faced the General.

“The river is willing to help. I’ll take you out to the middle where it’s strongest.” She looked at Henry and Siobhan. “It couldn’t understand the need to bring you two as well, so you’ll have to get out there on your own.”

Siobhan looked at Henry. “It’s not a problem for me, but how good a swimmer are you?”

“I-I assumed we’d be able to do it here, near the shore. I don’t know how to swim,” Henry admitted.

“Okay, everyone back to the condo. I’m going to go get assistance from the Coast Guard,” the Sergeant said.

“I’ll wait for you in the river by the point,” Lorelei said and moved back out into the water and sank below its surface.

The General watched her slip under the waves. “I suppose she wouldn’t be very successful if she couldn’t breathe underwater too.” Henry grinned at him.

They hustled back to the building, and Mick raced away the second they were inside. Henry brought them back up to the condo, and Feinberg indicated he’d be contacted by cell when they were ready.

Henry began preparing hot beverages for the General and Siobhan as he turned off his internal heater spell again. They took seats on the comfy sofas to rest and prepare themselves.

“Henry, how did this evil aura get attached to me?” Gordon asked.

Eyes turned to the man in the kitchen, who was frowning. “I-I don’t know. When the green light fell from the sky, how did you manage to avoid being exposed to the Wild Magic?”

The General frowned. “Dulane and I did our best to keep it from touching our skin. Remember, we were the only humans left on the team. Someone had to represent humanity.”

Henry carried their mugs to them as he recalled seeing Mick kneeling next to Dulane’s empty uniform in Mab’s castle as it collapsed. “It worked for Dulane, so it must have worked for you as well. He remained on Earth, and you fell through to Eden. I’m sorry I missed him when I opened the portals.”

The General just waved off the apology. “The place was falling apart, and you were in the middle of a battle. That you were able to save any of us was a miracle. You’re not to blame for his disappearance.” He frowned. “There’s still the mystery of how these entities got to me.”

Henry knew the other-dimensional horrors couldn’t interact with anyone else on Earth other than him as he was carrying the tainted magic… he froze.

“What is it?” Crane asked when he saw the shock on Henry’s face.

Looking into the General’s eyes, Henry spoke. “The night you found me dead on the street, did you come into contact with my body?”

Crane frowned as his mind went back to the terrible event. “Uh, yes. Almost everyone who returned from Eden touched you. They… we were in shock.”

“But you were the only Human on the planet, and the green light was back in the sky, so there was no Wild Magic to come into contact with. The tainted magic in my body might have detected your unique state and allowed some of that evil to transfer to you to become a shield, blocking Wild Magic, to keep you Human and maintain the contract with Baba.”