Karmina Ch. 04

The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Come on you bitch pick up the phone.

"Hello?" said a voice on the other end of the line. About goddamn time!

"Is this Diane?" Dean asked.

"Yes. Who is this?" asked the woman. She sounded annoyed.

"It's raining penguins." said Dean. There was a moment's pause, and then:

"Yes sir."

Then she hung up. Dean touched the red button on his iPhone display, and then swiped across to his online banking app. It took a few minutes because reception wasn't great, but in the end Dean saw that his bank balance had been increased by two million dollars. He grinned and tucked his phone away in his pocket.

"Try it again now." he said to the guy behind the counter, and handed him his card. The guy didn't seem that impressed, considering they'd tried the same card three times, and it had come up 'declined' every time. The salesman didn't expect any real change, not after a phone call like that. Frankly he wished that Dean would go away. There were other people milling around the lot. He could be out there right now giving them his polished sales pitch instead of wasting his time with some guy who didn't seem to be serious. He swiped the card, the machine spat out a long piece of paper which he gave to Dean to sign for the fourth time. He checked the signature against the card again (surprise surprise), and hit the enter button on the machine to show that the signature had been approved. He stared at the little LED screen, and practically gaped when the word 'approved' flashed on the screen, spitting out another long piece of paper, the receipt and proof of purchase.

"Holy shit." said the salesman, temporarily forgetting his manners. Dean just smiled, and held out a hand for his receipt.

Fifteen minutes later Dean drove away from the car lot in a brand new BMW, chuckling in satisfaction. It had been more than a year since he'd put Diane under his spell, and given the very successful lawyer the suggestion to 'donate' money to him every time he said the phrase 'it's raining penguins'. It was good to know that suggestions made while under his special influence didn't wear off. Dean idly turned a corner, not really caring where he was going, but enjoying the smooth drive and handling of his new car. He had a complimentary full tank of gas, and he decided that he'd use it up just driving around town. He deserved a bit of a rest, he felt. The past month had been busy for Dean, what with one thing and another.

A month ago, he'd walked away from the house of Julie and her two daughters, Vanessa and Haley. He'd been living with them for a year, making them his own personal fuck slaves, completely under his spell and eager to follow his every command. For a solid year he'd fucked, screwed, and sucked his fill, until finally it had all taken its toll on him. In a fit of tears he realized that he'd become desensitized to the pleasure and excitement that sex normally brought, and it was now impossible for him to reach climax, or even remain fully erect. That realization led to another, and then another. He was completely exploiting the three women, robbing them of their lives. It was worse than stealing. He had to leave; it was the only decent thing to do. So he'd packed his things and left, pausing only to remove all of the suggestions he'd planted in their minds, and telling them to forget all about him, and what he'd had them do with him for the past year.

After that, Dean had started to put his life back together. He'd still had a lot of money left over from the first time he'd visited Diane, so he decided to put it to good use, and bought a house. After that he'd been wrapped up in creating a home for himself. The shopping for furniture, the renovations, the painting and heavy lifting, it was a lot of work. But at last it was all done, and Dean could finally just . . . relax.

***

Dean passed a café, and realized that he would very much like a coffee. Coffee was great, and it had been a few days since he'd had a cup. He parked his new car, sat down at the nearest empty table and basked in the warm afternoon sun.

"What can I get for you, sir?"

Dean looked up at the young man in the small black apron and fake smile.

"I'll have an orange mocha frappuccino." he said cheerfully, and enjoyed the cringe he got in response. "Not really. Just a large cappuccino please, with two sugars."

A few minutes later he had his coffee, and he took his first sip. He closed his eyes and savoured the taste. Goddammit he loved coffee.

"Is that . . . Dean?"

He looked up at hearing his name, but he didn't quite recognize the voice. It was a woman's voice, vaguely familiar but not enough for him to picture a face or a name. He looked around, and immediately noticed a young girl waving at him as she approached his table. She was cute, with long curly black hair and tanned skin. She sat down at his table, all smiles.

"I haven't seen you in ages! How've you been?" she said. She had an accent that sounded English, but not quite. Dean was still at a loss as to who she was. She obviously knew him, but he was embarrassed that he couldn't remember her at all.

"Do I know you?" he asked, not sure what else to say. There could have been better ways to let her know that he couldn't remember who she was, but luckily she laughed as though he'd just told a hilarious joke.

"Dean, it's me! Fiona!"

Then suddenly his memory kicked in and he remembered. Of course! How could he forget Fiona, from Australia? She was his first. Not the first woman to sleep with him, but the woman with whom he realized he could manipulate the thoughts and behaviour of all women.

"Oh my god!" he said, smiling at his sudden realization. "I can't believe I didn't recognize you. How are you?"

They hugged as they both laughed.

"What are you doing here?" Dean asked her. "I thought you were only going to visit the states. That was, what, a year ago now? Are you back again or what?"

"Oh yea I totally had to come back. I had such fun the first time around, I decided to move here!"

"Really?"

"Absolutely. I was just on my way to look at a place to stay. I saw the ad on the website, and it looked like it was affordable and comfortable."

She started to look a little bit harried as she said this, and Dean picked up on it.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing really. I'm just not quite sure how to get there. I'm used to using public transportation in Australia. It's not the same around here, and I've had to rely on walking, but it's just so easy to get lost."

"Well, do you have the address?" he asked.

"Of course."

"Well come with me, I'll take you there."

She brightened up considerably, looking at him with bright and shining eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"Sure. Come on, let's go. Right now."

He stood up and ushered her out of her chair, abandoning his half-finished cup of coffee, and leading her to his new car. Fiona made appropriately impressed noises as she saw it, and jumped in the moment he opened the door for her.

He started driving, following her pointed directions as she consulted a scrap of paper with shorthand scribbles on it. It took less than five minutes to pull up at a quaint little house amongst other similar quaint looking houses. Fiona squealed as they pulled to a halt, and bolted out of the car to run up to the front door. She knocked, and it opened from the inside as Dean got out of the car as well. Inside was a man who looked bored and unimpressed with the world in general. Fiona bounced up and down as she announced that she was here to look at the house. He didn't really react, but made way for her jump inside to look around. Dean ambled his way up the front steps with his hands in his pockets, grinning in amusement at Fiona's excitement. The guy looked him up and down.

"You her boyfriend or something?" he asked. Dean glanced at him, and decided that the guy wasn't really interested on finding out one way or the other, but was just striking out for something to talk about to break the awkward silence.

"No. Just a friend." he said. Fiona's footsteps could be heard running this way and that elsewhere in the house. After a moment she ran back into the main room, and beamed at Dean.

"This place is awesome!" she yelped, and ran off again into another room. Dean laughed.

"How much?" he asked the guy.

"The rent is $500 a week. Three people, maybe two, will be able to afford it easily." he said.

"That's a rip off." said Dean, but the guy just shrugged.

"That's pretty much standard in this area. I've been meaning to rent out this place for a while now, just for the extra cash."

"So you're the owner?"

The guy nodded.

"How much to buy it?"

Now the guy did react. He laughed in Dean's face.

"More than you could afford." he chuckled.

"Just tell me how much, dick."

"The house cost $500,000 when I first took the mortgage. I reckon I've paid $800,000 all up over the years."

"I'll give you a million."

The guy laughed again, then saw that Dean wasn't laughing, and started to gape.

"You're serious?"

Dean took out his chequebook and wrote out a million dollars payable to cash. He tore it off and handed it to the astonished former homeowner.

"Here. Now piss off."

***

By the time that Fiona and Dean had gotten all of her stuff from her hotel room to her new home, it was starting to get dark. Fiona tossed the third and final suitcase into a corner with the others, and slumped down on the couch.

"So, yesterday I was a bum living out of a hotel, but now I own, that's right OWN, my own house. That's just crazy!"

Dean chuckled and sat down on the couch beside her. She shifted around to get up onto her knees, leaning forward to whisper in his ear.

"I had no idea you were so rich and powerful." she said teasingly. "I think I can guess what you'd like in return for such generosity."

Her hand was resting on his thigh, and it started to slowly travel north as she kissed his cheek, and then his neck. Her fingers brushed up against his crotch, but the touch didn't stir anything, and Dean pulled away to move a little way down the couch. He remembered the suggestions he'd left with Fiona when they'd last seen each other in Australia, that she'd remember the fun they'd had fondly, and that they'd always be good friends. He appreciated her affection, but it still didn't make any difference to his situation. She immediately picked up that something was up, and started to pout.

"What's wrong?" she asked, half joking. "You don't like me anymore?"

"It's not that." he said. Her face fell when she realised that he was serious, and that something was wrong. She decided to pull things back a little bit, for the time being anyway.

"Well, something's going on. Tell me about it." she said, and leaned back against the arm of the couch to play her part as the eager listener.

Dean tried to talk, opening his mouth a couple of times to start, but nothing would come out. He had no idea how to start, or even what he should tell her. He didn't want to reveal his special power, but how else would he be able to tell Fiona what was wrong? He eventually decided that he couldn't tell her the complete truth, but a modified version might work.

"I just got out of a bad breakup." he said. It was practically true anyway. Even though his situation with Julie, Haley and Vanessa hadn't really been a relationship, leaving them and disappearing from their lives could be considered a kind of breakup. "We met shortly after I met you, actually. We met in a supermarket."

And then Dean told her almost everything, tastefully editing parts of it. He revealed that he'd shared his relationship with Julie with two other women, but neglected to mention that they were also her daughters. He talked about how great the sex was for most of the time, until recently. He told Fiona how hard it was for him to even get an erection anymore, much less have an orgasm. By the time he finished talking about it the stars were out, and Fiona had to go around the house, turning on all the lights.

"That's quite a story." she said. Her face was impassive, and Dean couldn't really tell what she thought about the whole thing. "So, what? You didn't want sex in return for buying me a house?"

"That's right."

"So what do you want?"

Dean shrugged. In truth he hadn't wanted anything other than to help out a friend, and he told her so.

After a while things started to get a little uncomfortable, so Dean got up to leave.

"Wait a minute." she said, and rushed over to him. "I'm having a house warming party tomorrow night. I'd like you to come."

She pressed herself up against him, putting her hands in the pockets of his pants. She was a little shorter than him, so she was looking straight up at him, and he was looking straight down at her. He smiled at her impish expression, and told her he'd be there.

He almost told her that he wouldn't. It's a good thing he decided to go, because it turned out to be the best decision he'd ever made.

***

The next evening, right on cue, Dean showed up at Fiona's new house in a crisp new suit, and carting a bottle of wine. It was a cheap one, but Dean had always like it, and to him that was what mattered when it came to wine. He thought he'd have been a little bit early, since the sun was still up, but as it turned out he was the last one to arrive. Everyone cheered when he came in the door. Apparently Fiona had been very talkative about how she'd acquired her new home, and everyone was lining up to shake Dean by the hand. They were mostly Australian, he could tell by the accents, and most of the guys present had that kind of bronzed, suntanned look. The girls just looked gorgeous, naturally.

The last person to greet Dean was strange, and gave Dean a funny feeling in his gut. The feel of her hand in his as they shook, it felt like a mild electric shock across his whole palm. It wasn't unpleasant, but warm and tingly. He liked it. He looked up into the eyes of the woman who made his skin tingle, and was intrigued by what he saw.

If ever there was a woman who fit the description of the term 'surfer chick', then she was standing in front of dean right now. She had dark, Mediterranean olive skin, with dark shining deep brown eyes. Her hair had the stiff, starched quality that came about from daily exposure to the ocean, and was hanging in rough dreadlocks down her back, held from her face by a brightly coloured bandana. Dean couldn't help himself, and let his eyes roam up and down her body. Her baggy jeans hung from her hips with a belt, and the jacket she was wearing was cut off just below her chest, leaving her entire midriff exposed. There was just a bikini top under the jacket.

She held Dean's hand for a long time, looking into his eyes with a cheeky grin. Her eyes shimmered with genuine amusement. He could tell that this woman's life was an adventure unto itself.

"It's nice to finally meet you." she said. "Fiona's talked so much about you already, it's like I already know you. My name is Willow."

"Nice to meet you Willow." said Dean politely. Someone had turned on some music, with a lot of heavy bass and flowing rhythmic melodies. Dean couldn't place the song, or the band, but he liked it. Already people were starting to dance, holding their drinks up in the air and shaking their hips like tourists when they hear the native music turn on.

"You know, as much as Fiona's told me, I'm sure that there's a lot more to your friendship that she hasn't."

Dean locked eyes with the wild woman in front of him, who was still smiling at him. It was a very knowing smile. For a moment, Dean thought that she might know that Fiona had been manipulated into being friends with him. But how could she possibly know?

"I mean, the two of you meet in a hotel room, and the next day, the two of you are best friends. Lovers, even. She even admitted that there was another woman sharing your room at one point. I have to say I was intrigued."

That made Dean nervous. The house was warm, especially with all the laughing people dancing in the living room, but a cold sweat was trickling down the back of Dean's neck. Willow seemed to know the effect she was having on him, because her smile got bigger. Then without warning she pulled him into the throng of dancing people. She let go of him, and began to dance with the rest of them, facing Dean all the time, and always with her eyes locked with his. For a minute, Dean was the only one not dancing. Dean didn't really like to dance, because he was never good at it. He felt self-conscious being in the middle of the impromptu dance floor. He obviously looked as nervous as he felt, because Willow's fingers gripped his chin and forced his head back up to look at her.

"Don't look at them." she whispered, tossing her head to the rest of them. "Look at me. It's just the two of us here, Dean."

The throbbing bass of the music was primal and deep. Willow put her arms over her head and twirled her wrists as she writhed her hips around in circles, much like a belly dancer. Something stirred in Dean as he watched her, something that he thought he'd lost forever. He was getting aroused. He didn't know what it was, but something about Willow excited him, and at the very least made him want to dance with her. He started out small, stepping from side to side to the beat. She giggled, but she also took a step closer to him, until their bodies were almost touching.

"You're not used to this, are you Dean?" she said softly. Dean could barely hear her over the music, but somehow he still heard. "You're out of your element, your comfort zone. This is the first time in a long time that you haven't been in control, isn't it?"

She emphasised the word 'control', savouring it like it was a delicate flavour on her tongue. It registered to Dean, set off an alarm bell in his head. But it was drowned out by the music, by the sight of her dancing in front of him, and the warm, musky smell coming off her.

"You know something about me, don't you?" said Dean. He wasn't in any mood to play games. Besides, he was now convinced that Willow knew about his special power somehow. Right now, though, he didn't really care. He was having the most fun he could remember having, dancing with her right now.

Willow smiled at him, and abruptly stopped dancing. She turned on her heel to disappear into the small crowd of people. He chased after her without any hesitation. He wasn't concerned that she knew more than she should, or that she might tell anyone. He just wanted to dance with her some more. It was like the handshake, the electric shock. Being in her presence seemed to electrify his soul. There was a word that he knew described her perfectly, but he couldn't quite remember what it was.

She was waiting for him at the far end of the room, by the staircase that led to the second floor. She was leaning against the doorframe with one leg hitched up, like she was just lounging. Her smile was still wide as she saw him, and trotted upstairs, beckoning him with a finger. Upstairs in the hallway, the music was muted, but could still be felt through the floor. Willow was waiting for him, but now her face was serious. She touched his hand, and the same electricity tingled his skin.

"There's a lot we need to discuss, but before we do, I have to show you something. This way you will understand."

Without waiting for a response from him, she turned around and opened one of the doors in the hallway.

"Kevin. Can you come here please?" she said. She stepped back, and a young man came out of the room, which from where Dean was standing he could tell it was the bedroom. Kevin looked shy and seemed a little ashamed that he'd been found in the bedroom. Dean was immediately suspicious.

"What were you doing in there?" he asked him.