PROLOGUE: THE JOB

“Here’s a photo of him,” the client said.

The client’s name was Leila, and she was offering me $25,000 to find out what happened to her brother, Kyle.  Apparently, he had gone missing just over a month ago while fishing with some friends, who had also disappeared.  I remembered reading about it in the paper; it happened just a couple counties from here.  The police had no leads whatsoever.  The five of them just… vanished.  A month prior to that, in a neighboring county, another group of boys had also disappeared, roughly the same age.  The month before that, further north, another disappearance was reported.  Theories ranged from alien abductions to giant hoaxes, but to date nobody had any evidence of anything. 

I asked what made her think that I, an investigative journalist moonlighting as a private investigator, could do that the police could not.  She told me she knew that foul play was involved, somehow.  That she no longer had hope, and at this point, she just wanted answers.  I had a reputation for finding answers. 

“Can you handle the job?” She asked.

Of course I could.  For $25,000?  You’re damn right I could.  She recalled the last time she talked to him via cell phone.  He was at a bar called The Lonely Tavern, a couple clicks south of Pyramid Lake in Gainsville.  She asked around and found the name of the barkeep that was there that night.  She said he would be working this Thursday and that I should go see him then.  She paid $5,000 upfront to cover expenses.  If I found anything, anything at all, I should call her with it immediately.  She just needed closure, she said.  I any case, it was a good payday, and I needed the cash.

Find the truth.  That’s what I do.

And I’m pretty good at it.

But this job had a few “big” surprises in store for me…

CHAPTER 1: THE LONELY TAVERN

I pushed past the tavern doors roughly after 10pm that following Thursday.  This place sure lives up to its name, I thought, marveling at the lack of patrons.  The barkeep called out to me.

“Just so you know, sir, we’ll be closing soon.  Private party coming in,” he said.

“No problem.  Just a couple drinks?” I asked.

He looked down at his watch nervously but reluctantly agreed.  As dead as this place was, turning down business was probably not the best idea.  As I took a seat, I glanced at his nametag to make sure this was the guy Leila mentioned.  It was.  I opened a tab on my credit card and ordered vodka tonic.  We talked about nothing for a bit, although he seemed preoccupied through all of it.  After my second drink, the last patrons besides me finally left.  The barkeep glanced at his watch again. 

“Last call,” he said.

“Hit me once more,” I asked, tapping my empty glass onto the bar.

As he poured my last drink, I pulled out the photograph my client had given me of her brother.  When he turned around, I held it up casually in front of me, and asked him if he remembered Kyle.  He claimed to have never seen him, but his eyes said something completely different.  I slipped two crisp $100 bills across the bar and told him that all I wanted to know is if he’d ever seen the young man in the picture.  He quickly pushed the cash back towards me.

“Mister,” he said.  “I don’t want your money.  I ain’t never seen him before.”

“That’s odd.  He and his friends certainly remember you,” I said, bluffing.

“He… you talked to him?  He say anything about what happened? When they was missing?”

“Who said they were missing?” I said, cocking my head to side. He shifted his feet.

“Well, I seen him, the boy you talkin’ bout.  Seen him in the news,” he said, and not too convincingly.

“But never before in your bar?” I pressed.

An icy breeze stroked my neck as the brewery door swung upon.  Five very sloppy young men stumbled in, apparently already intoxicated.  I looked at each of them.  None were the guys I was looking for, but their profile was roughly the same.  All young studs in the primes of their lives.  Just like Kyle, I thought to myself, when a hand gripped my shoulder and turned me back towards the bar.  The bartender’s face was so close I could smell his breath.

“Mister.  You ought to leave now.  I’ll close your tab out.  The private party is here.  You best go now.  Things… you just best go.”

“What things?” I asked, signing my tab.

The barkeep leaned closer and spoke in a hushed tone.  “Mister, I ain’t tryin’ to be rude to you.  I’m tryin’ to help you here.  I seen the boy in your photograph.  Him and his friends.  And yeah, they was in here.  What happened to them… it’s is about to happen again.  Unless you wanna go missing, too,  you best get on outta here.  They said they’d leave me alone, but if they see you…” 

Sounded like the answers I needed were about to transpire in front of me.  The barkeep’s eyes flashed with urgency.  One of the young men stumbled over next to me and sat himself down on the adjacent stool.

 “Hey!” The word “Hotshot” came to mind when I looked at this cocky little douchebag.  He gave me a dismissive glance and then turned his attention to the barkeep.  “Hey, chief.  You seen a group of hotties?  A hot Asian girl?  She said you was gonna be expecting us for private party with her and her friends.  Said you’d take care of us till they got here.  You seen them?”

“Yeah, they said to stay put,” barkeep replied, then turned towards me, that get out look still in his eye.  “Hey, friend, would you mind fetching me a clean bar towel from the storage closet?  I seem to be out.”  He nodded at me knowingly.

I didn’t have my story yet, but I didn’t want to become the story either.  I glanced down the length of the bar to my right and saw the door to the storage closet.  It had a pretty clear vantage point to the action in the bar.  When I looked at the barkeep again, he nodded as if to say yes, there.

“Sure thing,” I said, standing up.

“Hey,” Hotshot clapped my shoulder.  “If they got any rubbers back there, can you bring them out for me and my boys, too?”

Classy.

CHAPTER 2: A SMALL PROBLEM

Situated in the closet, I peered through the cracked doorway to watch the action.  Nobody seemed to care that I didn’t come back.  With this group of testosterone personified, I don’t think the blood was in their brains anyhow.  Hotshot and his little buddies were getting impatient waiting for their company to show up.  The bartender shot nervous glances towards my general direction, occasionally.  I was about write this off as a waste of time and come out when another car pulled up to the bar.  I could see the headlight glare into the bar for a moment, and then turn off.  Car doors slammed, and less than a minute later, the tavern door swung open again.

Hotshot was not exaggerating, it seemed.  These girls were not “hotties.” They were absolutely beautiful.  I counted three.  A tall Asian girl appeared to be the lead.  Apparently, she belonged to Hotshot, because he approached her in an instant.  I heard him call her “Angel,” though I wasn’t sure if that was her name or just a really bad pick up line.

“I told you I’d bring friends,” Angel spoke.  Surprisingly, Angel had an English accent.  Or maybe it was Australian.  I was never any good with that.  She was flanked by two other seductresses, a tall blonde, who she introduced as “Nicole,” and a brooding brunette she called “Jayne.”  Nicole must have been six feet tall.  She was curvy as hell, the all-natural standard to which those old Baywatch gals tried to aspire.  Her golden hair was accented by sapphire eyes.  Jayne, the brunette, was the shortest of the three, by far, but with the most athletic build.  Her legs, in particular, looked very solid, straining the confines of her jeans.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she had been a gymnast.  Her emerald eyes suggested danger, and something about Jayne made me a little uneasy.  And then there was Angel.  Her black hair was long and straight, and her dark eyes suggested a hint of gentle amusement with this group of horny idiots.  She had on an almost obscenely short dress revealing fishnets that practically screamed “hooker.”  But if she was a professional, she was an expensive one.

Whatever was about to go down, it seems these three vixens were the bait.

“Two friends?” Hotshot scoffed.  “There’s five of us here!  How are we gonna party with five guys and three girls?  I don’t do sloppy seconds.”

Jayne glared with disgust.  Hotshot didn’t seem to notice, as he was staring at Nicole’s chest.

“Trust me, I don’t think you boys could handle one of us,” Jayne spoke.  Her tone was less than friendly.  It fact, it seethed with repulsion.  Angel looked at her harshly, and Jayne turned away, still steaming.

“What’s her problem?” Another one of the boys spoke.  Hotshot’s wingman, apparently.

“Can we just do this quickly?” Nicole spoke for the first time.  Her voice was as soft as her complexion.

Angel reached with one delicate hand and tugged on a chain I hadn’t noticed was hanging around her neck.  An amulet of some sort, concealed by her top, popped into view, dangling from the chain.   It looked much like a jade, only darker.  I could not help but stare at it. 

“What’s this?  Hypnosis?” Hotshot asked.

“Something like that,” Angel said.  She twisted her fingers slightly, and the amulet turned.  Behind the jade side, the stone appeared a dark blood red.  Hotshot started to say something when Angel herself muttered something inaudible.  A blinding red light flashed from the stone.  Blackness enveloped my world and I collapsed to the tile floor.

Stunned, but not unconscious, my field of vision slowly began to restore.  I was somewhere else, it seemed.  At least I thought so.  I could hear Angel’s voice, but it seemed as if it were coming from very far away.  I could see the light from the bar but couldn’t focus yet.  The sound and the light seemed to be coming from above me.  I moved towards the light, and then it hit me.

I wasn’t somewhere else.  I was still in the storage closet… but it was enormous now!  I blinked hard, trying to come to my senses.  But nothing changed.  I was standing on a single tile that was roughly the size of a driveway.  The room did not grow, I deduced.  I must have… was it possible?... shrunk.  I could not have been two inches tall, maybe less, judging by my surroundings.  The mop bucket was the size of a two-story building.  The piece of gum stuck to the floor looked like a small car parked next to me.

They were the bait, I thought.  And the trap.

CHAPTER 3: CLOSING OUT THE TAB

I assume that whatever had happened to me had similarly affected Hotshot and his buddies, though I could neither hear nor see them from my vantage point.   I ventured out of the doorway to peer at the scene.  To no surprise, the three women were their normal size still.  That is to say: staggeringly large.  The blonde, Nicole, was speaking again.

“So that’s it for this county, right?  We can get out of here?” She asked.

“That’s right,” Angel replied.  “May need to move on again.  We don’t want to draw too much attention, do we, love?”

“I still think I was risky to hit the same bar twice,” Nicole said.

“Noted.  But the location is remote.  And our friend has been very helpful,” was Angel’s reply, nodding in the direction of the bartender.

“What do we do with him?” Jayne asked.

“Bring him here,” said Angel.  She squatted down and opened her clutch purse.  “They are amusing at first, aren’t they?  I simply love their expression when they see us for the first time.” 

She made a brushing motion with her hands, and I assumed five tiny humans were just ushered into her purse.  With a light squeeze, that gargantuan hand could end all five of those boys’ lives.  Mine as well.  I swallowed hard in my throat.  Glad I’m not out there, I thought to myself.  Nicole’s once tall and now monumental body walked to the other side of the bar, beyond my field of vision.  Each step made the tiles tremor beneath me.  I waited a moment, and she returned with something cupped in the palm of her hand.  I didn’t have to see.  I knew.  It was the barkeep.  They said they’d leave me alone, he had said earlier.  Now his fate, quite literally, rested in Nicole’s hand.   Angel leaned her face towards Nicole’s hands and spoke gently to the miniature man held within.

“You did well,” said Angel.

 “Very well,” Jayne agreed.  “We’re almost tempted to restore you again.”

So, I thought, the process is reversible.

“Almost,” Angel smirked.

Well that didn’t sound good for the barkeep.  But I had my own problems.  By now, I had realized it was the flash from Angel’s amulet that caused this.  My disbelief had to be suspended, at least for now.  If I could be restored, as Jayne’s last comment suggested, then getting to that amulet was the key.  But how do I get close to it?  And what do I do once I got there?

“That’s twenty total we were able to round up,” Angel said, plucking the barkeep from Nicole’s hands like a figurine.  I could see him momentarily, kicking and writhing.  “Including last month, it’s not a bad pull at all.”  She looked down at the terrified barkeep in her hand.  “We’re leaving now.  However, we cannot restore you this time.  We simply can’t have any loose ends to worry about.”

Oh.  That didn’t sound good at all.

“Angel, please don’t.”  This was the blonde, Nicole, again.  “We let him go.  We said we would.”

“Don’t you remember what happened last time?  You want another massacre on your conscience, love?  They say they won’t tell, but then they do.  And we have to clean it all up.  No.  We don’t let them go anymore,” Angel stated with finality, turning her attention to her captive once again.  “It’s not personal, my pet.  You’ve simply outlived your usefulness to us.”

The barkeep’s end came rather suddenly.  Before he could respond to Angel’s words, she dropped him to the floor.  I could see his tiny frame fall for what seemed to me a hundred stories.  Even as he hit the unforgiving tile floor, Angel’s black stiletto came down on him.  The sound I heard could only be described as horrific.  Angel pressed her foot into the barkeep’s mangled carnage and turned her foot back and forth as if putting out a cigarette.

“Hand me that towel, would you?” Angel asked, pointing at the bar rag.

Jayne leaned in.  “This one’s gross.  I’m not touching it.  I’ll grab a towel from the closet.”

Oh.  Shit.

CHAPTER 4: THE SET UP

I instinctively threw my back against the mop bucket.  The less isolated I was, the better.  The thunderous footsteps of this green-eyed giantess approached.  Frantic, but not panicked, I considered my options.  Being discovered would be bad.  But being left behind in a closet at this size at the mercy of fate was probably a bad idea also.  I needed a way to get to that amulet.  Jayne, here, would be my ticket.

As the door swung open, an epic sandaled foot came down ten yards (from my perspective) from me.  I glanced briefly at the foot, realizing it was planted where I was standing a few moments ago.  I pictured the barkeep’s end in my mind, maybe marveling that he had survived such a terrible fall, only looking up to see a colossal foot coming down on him, as if he were nothing but a small bug.  Looking at the foot in front me, I realize that I probably was a small bug to her.  Especially this one.

I craned my neck backwards to get a good look at Jayne’s leg, and I thought that comparing her to a gymnast was an understatement.  This leg, even if I were at my normal size, was a solid bundle of pure muscle.  I took a second to admire it, and then realized my window of opportunity was closing.  She was reaching for a fresh towel.  That’s when I made my move.  I darted towards her foot and leapt onto the side of her sandal, gripping the buckle with all the strength my arms and legs would allow.  Towel in hand, she began to walk out.  Each step was an amusement park ride without safety constraints.  I closed my eyes and concentrated all my strength on not letting go.

When the ride came to a stop, I allowed myself to look around.  I was in the middle of the action now.  No turning back.  To my right I could see the long (very long) legs of Nicole, clad in a medium white skirt.  Her blue spaghetti strap top could barely contain her generous endowments.  I could almost forgive Hotshot for staring, had he not been such a blatant asswipe about it.  To my left was Angel.  Her black stiletto shoe was still place on the barkeep’s corpse.  I almost wished she wouldn’t move it so I didn’t have to see what happened when a human body is compressed under unimaginable force.  I glanced at her tight fishnets and followed her long legs up to her short skirt, which might as well have been a scarf.   

Jayne took a step forward, murmuring something to Angel and handed her a clean rag.  Angel lifted her boot to give it a good wipe.  I glanced (unfortunately) at where I last saw the barkeep had fallen.  At least it was fast, was the only consolation I would have given him, were he more than a smear.  Angel then leaned her graceful figure over to wipe what was left of the barkeep from the tile.  I held closely to Jayne’s sandal buckle, realizing I would be in Angel’s field of vision should she look over here.  Time seemed to slow, and the anticipation of being discovered was truly terrifying.  She scooped up his remains, including blood-drenched clothes and balled it into the rag.  I looked at myself for a moment thinking to myself how peculiar it was that my clothing, too, hadn’t simply fallen off.

“A drink?” Jayne asked.

“One drink, then we’re off,” Angel said to the others.  “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”

Jayne was on the move again, so suddenly I almost lost my grip on her sandal buckle.  Only a few steps towards the bar.  She planted herself on the barstool I’d been on earlier, and the foot I was riding now barely touched the floor while the other was perched on one of the barstool’s legs.  My arms were getting tired.  I flinched and almost cried out as a small drawstring handbag dropped the floor next to me.  It was Jayne’s.  I dared a look upwards.  I could see her lovely leg but not much else.  She wasn’t going to reach for the purse.  At least, not yet.

I climbed very carefully to the floor.  Only Jayne and Angel were sitting.  Nicole had gone to the other side of the bar to presumably fetch the drinks.  I ventured another glance up at Jayne, now that I was slightly away from her.  A rush of adrenaline surged through me as I pondered the absolute power these three titans could wield over me.  There were gorgeous before any this had happened.  Now, quite literally, they were goddesses to me.  But judging by what Angel did to the barkeep, they weren’t the type whose attention I would like to draw. 

The amulet.  I needed to get to that and figure out how to restore myself.  I could see it still dangling from Angel’s neck.  I recalled the bright red flash that engulfed me.  It came from the red side of the stone.  I wondered if the green side of the stone had the opposite effect.  I would have to find out.  I thought about walking to Angel’s foot.  Perhaps I could scale those fishnets like a giant chainlinked fence.  But then what.  One misstep and I’d be dead.  If I were discovered, I’d be dead, or tossed in with Hotshot and his idiot friends to share their fate.  No, it was too risky a play.    The opportunity will present itself.  But not now.  But I couldn’t let them leave without me, either.  I needed a place to stow away.  Hanging onto a sandal was too tiring, dangerous, and frankly, demeaning.  My attention turned back to Jayne’s purse.  Bingo.

I touched the leather of the handbag.  It was amazing how the material looked at my new size.  Every minor crack and imperfection in the leather was magnified.  It also made for good traction.  So I climbed into Jayne’s drawstring handbag, which was still sitting, ignored, on the floor.  As I lowered myself inside, the smell of leather overwhelmed me.  It faintly reminded me of my little league mitt.  At this size, items were a little hard to identify.  A tube of chapstick looked more like an oil drum to me.  A hairbrush.  Some papers.  Receipts, maybe.

Then, a bright red light flashed.  I braced myself, at first thinking the amulet was at work again.  But no, this came from inside her purse.  It flashed again, and I saw it.  A cell phone.  My first instinct was to dial “911,” but I questioned whether the microphone would be sensitive enough to pick up the voice powered by my tiny lungs.  It flashed again.  A message?  I pushed the “OK” button by jumping onto it was both feet and all my weight, just to light up the screen.  “New Text Message!” It read.  “Press ‘OK’ to read.”  I had nothing better to do.  I jumped again.  It was too big to make out, so I stepped back from the phone…  I had to turn my head back and forth to read it, as if it were a small movie screen.

“HEY JAYNE,” it read.  “SENT A MAN 2 THE BAR 2NITE.  TAKE HIM 2.  MY GIFT 2 U FOR WHAT I DID 2 KYLE.  HE MIGHT BE HIDING WHEN U GET THERE.”

I had to take a step back to look at the callback number, just to confirm that I was the biggest (or smallest) tool in the world.  The client, Leila, had set me up.  I was supposed to be in clutch purse with the others.  I had no time to lament my own stupidity before yet another crisis arose.

“You about ready, girls?” I heard Jayne ask.

The message… I had to delete it.  Frantically, and now a little panicky, I searched for the “OPTIONS” button.  My first kick didn’t register.  I kicked again, jamming my ankle.  More options came up.  “REPLY” was the highlighted option.  Under that was “SAVE,” and under that was “DELETE”… I pushed on the “DOWN” arrow.  Nothing.  I heard Jayne stand up.  I pushed again, this time with all of my might.  “SAVE” … Um, no.

“You have them all?” Jayne was asking Angel.

“Yes.  The bold one is quite screamer,” she said.

I summoned my inner Bruce Lee one more time and kicked the “DOWN” arrow again.  “DELETE.”  I buried my shoulder into the “OK” button, bruising myself to the bone in the process.  I glanced up victoriously at the screen.

“ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE?”  Oh, for fuck’s sake.

CHAPTER 5: TAKEN FOR A RIDE

I did manage to delete the message, moments before my world was tossed upside down yet again as the handbag I was in was snatched from the floor.  This ride was even worse than the sandal, with random purse articles smashing into me.  Why do they carry so much crap in these things?  I heard a car door open.  Jayne shuffled into the vehicle as it started.  The handbag stopped flopping around.  My damage was minimal, it seemed.  At least I would get to rest and think for a bit; Angel did say it was a long ride.

BUZZ!

Ouch.  Jayne’s phone went off.  Even though it was on the opposite side of the handbag, my head throbbed.  The red light flashed again.  Light suddenly poured onto me.  I threw myself backwards and motionless as my eyes tried to adjust to the light.  An enormous hand reached near me, searching for the phone.  Her “little” finger was probably twice as long as I was.  Her hand clamped around the phone like a giant squid and pulled it out from sight.  There wasn’t much I could do at this point but wait. 

Jayne laughed as she read another text message.

“Leila wants to know if we got him,” she shouted towards the front seat.

“Him?  We got all of them.  Tell her,” Nicole called back.

“I did,” said Jayne, sending a reply text message.  “That little bitch has been kissing my ass ever since the Kyle thing.  Angel, are you going to do anything about that?”

“I’m working on it, love,” Angel casually replied from the driver’s seat.

The phone dropped into the purse again with a loud thud.  Any one of these casual movements and shifts could result in my death or my discovery, which, I concluded, were essentially the same thing.  The bag remained slightly open, so I took the opportunity to study Jayne’s face some more, since it was the only thing I could see.  Her green eyes were the most electrifying features on her beautiful face.  They did not look artificial, as far as I could tell.  Every time her eyes flickered in a new direction, my heart leapt a little.  She probably couldn’t even notice me here, but it was terrifying nonetheless.

“May I examine them?” Jayne leaned in near Angel.

Angel handed the clutch bad to her.  Jayne tugged on it, but Angel held on firmly.

“Jayne.  You know the rules.  Do not injure them.  Not yet,” Angel warned, then let go.

Not yet?

I shuffled to get a better view of what Jayne was doing.  I could see her eager face as she rummaged through Angel’s purse.  Her green eyes sparked with predatory joy.  She was disturbing, that one.

“Well, hi again, boys,” she cooed into the bag.  I wondered if any of them were hurt.  “Do you still think we need to call more friends?  No?  Don’t worry, you’ll meet the rest of us soon.”

Rest of us?

I could hear them now.  Yelling, screaming, demanding, cursing.  She seemed amused by this.  She poked her finger into the bag.  I couldn’t tell if she was petting them or prodding them.  She smiled and giggled with delight.  I imagined she played with magnifying glasses and ants as a child.  They continued to yell.  I could actually hear Hotshot’s voice apart from the others’.  He shouted something, something that made her smile vanish rather suddenly.

“No… I don’t like THAT word,” her voice had changed to a whisper.  I can only imagine what Hotshot had just called her.  But I have an idea.  She reached into the bag.  I found myself leaned forward, standing on my toes, to get a good look.  She plucked one of the boys out, the back of his hooded sweatshirt pinched between her gargantuan forefinger and thumb.  Sure, enough, it was Mr. Classy himself, Hotshot.  “You should really be more respectful.  The respectful ones tend to last longer.”

She brought him to within inches of her face.  He wasn’t talking back anymore, as far as I could tell.  He might as well have been made of stone.

“Oh, dear.  You look nervous,” she pouted with mock concern.  “Maybe because my little hand can close and end you in an instant?”

Angel was right; he was a screamer.

“Or maybe because I could swallow you whole and your last thought would be to wonder what would kill you first, the lack of oxygen or the acids in my stomach?”

Hotshot pleaded, his miniscule hands clamped together in front of his goddess.

“You SHOULD be nervous,” she said, all traces of amusement now gone.  “As much as I’d like to do those things to you, what I have planned is going to be much, much worse.  You better hope you don’t end up with me, you little shit.”

“That’s enough, Jayne,” Nicole called from the front passenger seat.

“Don’t tell me you’re feeling sorry for these insects.  Did you see how this one was staring at your chest?  They’re filthy little pigs.  They’re nothing at all.  That’s the code,” Jayne barked.

“If you make him soil himself, you’re cleaning it up,” Nicole replied matter-of-factly.

It was all surreal.  Jayne put Hotshot back into the purse and set it aside.  I had nowhere to go, so I sat and waited.  Once I got my hands on the amulet, I needed to know how to operate it.  I replayed the bar scene in my mind, over and over.  Angel had held the amulet up, and it flashed.  She uttered something.  Magic words?  Seriously?  But it was reversible.  I heard her say it.  That was the only hope I had to cling onto.  So I did.

The drive continued for a long while.  I began to get very tired.  The physical exertion.  The adrenaline crash.  The high pitched hum from the car shaking my entire body like an enormous massage chair.  I wanted to stay alert.  I wanted to stay awake.  But I couldn’t.  Leaning against the chapstick canister, I slowly drifted off into sleep.

CHAPTER 6: A CLOSE CALL

“WELL,” a voice boomed over me.

My eyes fluttered open.  It’s bright.  For a moment I think about the most bizarre dream I’ve just had.  But I know better.  My body still aches.  I still smell the strong leather aroma around me.  I feel like I’ve been unconscious for hours.  I need to get my bearings… I run the back of my hand across my eyes, willing my vision to adjust.  Then, I freeze.  Green eyes.  Dangerous ones.  Jayne.

Running would be pointless.  I simply stare up at her.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS,” she says.

I peer up at her massive form.  Absolutely helpless.  I could see her thumbs from both hands resting on either side of the handbag’s opening.  I trace her arms to her supple yet powerful frame, which brandished modest yet lovely endowments, still encased in the snug tank top she was wearing when I first saw her at the Lonely Tavern.  Her brown hair was tied in a single ponytail past her right ear.  Resigned, I looked into her green eyes again, awaiting my fate.  Then, I cock my head to the side as I realize… she’s not looking at me.

“SERIOUSLY,” she says.  “HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GONNA CALL ME?”

Her enormous right hand lurches past me like a locomotive and seizes the phone that can’t be more than ten feet away.  I hardly noticed the red light blinking on the phone, indicating another message.  I must have been tired if I slept through that phone going off.  Both Jayne and the phone disappeared from sight.  Before I had a chance to savor my good fortune (yet again), the handbag was on the move again.  My stomach dropped out from under me as she flung her purse onto another surface.  It was softer, whatever it was, which was nice since a whole dump truck of miscellaneous cosmetics, a wallet, and my chapstick bed crashed all about me.  Ouch.

But the purse was on its side now.  I could get to the opening without having to climb upwards.  I had tempted fate a little too much, I think.  After hearing her threaten to crush and eat Hotshot, and hearing her delight in his subsequent terror, I had a feeling I was in the wrong room.  Where were those guys, anyways?  I limped towards the light, and I saw Jayne’s midsection flash past me.  She had changed to sweatpants now.  She was dialing her phone with her right hand and chewing at the thumbnail of her left.  Suddenly she stopped.

“Leila,” Jayne blurted.  “What do you want?  I already got your text.  I texted you back.  We got ‘em all.  And no, you probably aren’t going to get one this time after what you did.”

I recalled her text apologizing about what she “did” to Kyle.  Jayne started pacing the room again as she continued to speak to Leila, my double-crossing client.

“No… five of them, just like before.  We always do five; you know that… what do you mean, ‘a sixth guy,’?  There was nobody else there,” Jayne stopped pacing with her back turned to me.  Now was my chance.

I sprinted out of the handbag and onto a down comforter that was larger than a football field.  I didn’t have time to survey the room much, I simply needed to get to safe place.  I darted towards the side of the bed, which wasn’t easy on this surface.  Peering over the edge, I could see the hardwood floors.  It was a long drop.

“Slow down, Lei,” Jayne was saying, “you’re telling me you sent a sixth guy over to the bar?”

I saw a spot where the comforter touched the floor and rested outward, just a bit.  If I could get over there, I could probably climb it.  I could actually fit my hands between the threads of this thing.  Definitely doable.

“Well, he wasn’t there when we got there.  Maybe he took your money and ran, stupid,” said Jayne.  “Oh, you’re there right now?  He opened a tab, huh?  Maybe he did see us.  So what?  You already know who he is.  You have his credit card there, we can figure out where he lives…”

Son of a…

“His car was still there?  I guess it’s possible we shrunk him.  If he was watching us from somewhere… if he saw the light then that’s it, he’s toast.”

Interesting, I thought.  But I still had work to do.  These girls might actually piece this together, and I had better not be standing on Jayne’s bed when they figure it out.  I climbed.  It was easier than I thought it would be.

“Lei, you know what?  After we… released the barkeep from his services… I had to get a towel from the closet.  Now that I think about it, that door was already open a little.  Maybe he was in there.  Check there.”

Now I was on the floor.  Jayne whipped around and walked in my direction.  Her legs were titanic columns of pure feminine power and destruction.  Her bare feet delicately came closer with each step.  The hardwood plank beneath me reacted by bending and creaking each time her foot landed on it.  I pushed my back into the comforter as far as it would allow.

“His car’s still there, so he didn’t leave.  Not at his normal size at least.  Look around one more time.  If he made it outside somehow, you’re in the middle of nowhere.  Nature will naturally select his puny ass in no time.  Just come back, you’ve got a couple hours.  Don’t tell anyone.   And while I appreciate the gesture, you still owe me for what you did with Kyle… No, no I won’t tell Angel.  But that’s two you owe me, now,” she teased.

Her left foot came crashing down in front of me and she stopped.  I stared literally within arm’s reach of a big toe whose nail came up to my chin.

“Hurry up and come back.  We’re about to start, so I’ll talk to you when you get here,” Jayne said and hung up the phone.

She turned and ran out of the room.  Now what?  And what on earth happened to Kyle?  Was he even the client’s brother?

CHAPTER 7: THE DRAW

Jayne was gone.  I finally had a moment to collect myself.  No climbing onto a ridiculously large foot.  No hiding in purses.  No running from goddesses.  Angel, who was the leader of this little group as far as I could tell, had the amulet.  Whatever activates it, it only affects you if you look at the light, if what Jayne said was true.  Why the women were not affected by it, I couldn’t tell.  And it was reversible, somehow.  Finding Angel would be my next course of action.  Once I got the amulet, I would have to figure out how to use it.  My fear is that it will require one of the girls to work.  In which case, I had better work on my charm.  From what I could tell, if I had to sweet-talk one of these three giantesses, my best bet would be Nicole, the lusciously tall (even at my normal height) blonde.  She hesitated to off the barkeep, and she had an apparent distaste for Jayne’s sadism towards Hotshot.  But hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.  Being this tiny doesn’t do much for your confidence.

I hugged the walls and worked my way towards Jayne’s bedroom door.  I could hear some voices coming from outside, but they were pretty distant.  The door was closed, but I crawled under it with ease.  The voices were louder now, but this time they were coming from below.  I was in an open hallway.  To my back was Jayne’s still closed door, and to either side were long stretches of walls and various doors.  In front of me was an open banister that appeared to be lofted above a larger room.  Scanning around a little more, it was a large house with several bedroom doors all facing an open courtyard-style living room.  That’s where the voices were coming from.  I didn’t see a soul up on this floor, so I ventured to the banister opening and looked at the scene below.

Eleven.  I counted eleven young women, including Angel, Jayne, and Nicole.  And they were all beautiful.  From up here, I almost forgot my size predicament and simply admired the view.  Just for a moment.  They were all situated in a kind of circle, and then I noticed that the large round conference table in the middle of the room had a shallow glass resting on it.  Inside… was something.  Lots of things, in fact.  And they were moving.  I squinted and realized what I was looking at.  There were people there.  My size.  People.  In… was that an aquarium?

“So we have twenty total newcomers,” Angel’s accent was so alluring.  “Tonight, we’ll draw again.  You know the rules: You do what you please, but they must be killed by morning.  No pets, no exceptions.  Also, this will be our last draw here.  We need to move on soon.”

“If you play with them out in the common area, it is your responsibility to clean up,” Nicole pointed out.  Maybe she wasn’t as gentle as I’d hoped.

“Draw, Angel!” one of the girls called out.

Angel reached into a black velvet bag and withdrew a small piece of paper.  As she brought it up to her face I spotted the amulet again.  Probably not the best time to try and take it, but it was encouraging to at least be able to see it.  Hope was tangible that way.

“Our first draw is… Jayne!” Angel called out with glee.

One of the girls whistled.

“Who is the lucky fellow?” Another girl asked.  “One of the newbies?”

Jayne stood up instantly and walked, ever so seductively, to the glass aquarium where the rest of the people were.  From here, I couldn’t tell if they were all men, but it seemed like it.  She knelt in front of it and peered inside like a naughty cat in front of a fishbowl.  Funny thing is, I knew who she was looking for.  And so did he, probably.

“There you are…” Jayne reached in.  I swear I could hear a man yell when she snatched his body.  Poor Hotshot was going to be in for a long night, I imagined.

Angel drew more names.  Each time, a young vixen playfully leapt up to the aquarium and chose a prize like a child in a candy store.  There were jokes and whistling.  All the while, I stared at Angel and the amulet that dangled from her chest.  Once they were finished, one of the girls carried the aquarium to some unknown room down another stairway.  A basement, I presumed.  And the young women, each with a tiny human in their palms or pockets, marched up the stairs.  At this point I was tired of running all the time, so I hugged the banister and waited.  Only Jayne and Angel remained downstairs, standing.  I simply wanted to know which room was Angel’s…

            “I know,” Angel said knowingly.

            “I’ll clean up,” Jayne replied.

            Angel removed the amulet and chain from her neck and handed it to Jayne.

            “Enjoy, love,” Angel said, propping her legs on the sofa and opening a book.

            Jayne put the amulet around her neck and slowly walked up the stairs, holding good old Hotshot up to her face with a smirk.  When she was halfway up the stairs, Angel called out again.

            “Have you heard from Leila?” Angel asked, without looking up from her book.

            Jayne stopped and turned around.

            “She called, yes,” Jayne answered.  “She… just wanted to make sure the snatch went well.”

            “Awful chummy, you two,” Angel still was looking at her book.  “I would think you would be on bad terms after your little… misunderstanding.”

            “She’s making an extra effort,” Jayne replied.

            When Angel didn’t respond, Jayne slowly turned and continued up the stairs.  I was already halfway under her bedroom door.  I decided that wherever that amulet went, I would go.  And right now it was with Jayne.  I hugged the wall and made my way behind her dresser.  I faintly heard her cooing to him as she approached the door.

            “Tough luck,” she said.  “I hope you are well-rested.”

CHAPTER 8: HOTSHOT’S DEMISE

            I was now sitting stop the short dresser nearest the door.  I had climbed a long coiled telephone wire, which was a long trip, but not as difficult as I had imagined.  When she came in earlier, she put Hotshot into a small empty drinking glass on her bed.  He was there now, his hands pressed against the glass, anticipating his fate.  I could feel the excitement in her movements as she made preparation around the room.  She lit several candles, blew out the match, and discarded it into the glass with Hotshot.  She giggled as he tried to avoid it, and laughed even harder as he coughed in a cloud of smoke.  I huddled against the phone, wondering what I was about to witness.

            She locked her bedroom door with a large key, and she placed it in the top drawer of the dresser (on which I still sat).  Off went the lights.  She walked very seductively towards Hotshot’s glass prison, placing on foot barely in front of the other, and swaying her hips slowly from side to side.  Still in sweatpants and a tank top, her lazy ponytail still dangled from her shoulder.  She gently reached into the glass, picking up Hotshot by his sweatshirt once again.  He kicked and flailed his arms, and I wondered why he would waste his energy so uselessly.  She tossed him like a doll onto his back on the bed.  He was still cursing her, the nitwit.  Without warning, she flicked him in the chest with her forefinger.  I winced at the sound.  I found myself inching towards the dresser’s edge to get a better look.  I was morbidly curious to see if Jayne’s bite was as bad as her bark.

            She immediately began to undress.  I was feeling a little embarrassed to be watching her, but I did have to keep track of the amulet, after all.  Soon she was only in her little black tank top with matching black hotpants.  I had to hand it to Jayne, she kept in really good shape, specifically her legs and derriere.  Hotshot was still curled up in fetal position on the bed, still recovering from the finger turned wrecking ball.  He was barely visible on the massive comforter.  Jayne casually walked to her desk, swaying seductively and looking over her shoulder to see if Hotshot was watching.  He was, I think.  She pressed a button on her stereo, and some trance beat started playing.  It was pretty loud, but she turned it down a little.

            “Just enough so they don’t hear us playing,” Jayne said, more to herself.

            Hotshot slowly got to his feet and appeared to be yelling again.  Jayne regarded him with amusement for a moment.  Then, suddenly, she pounced onto the bed on all fours, a predator rearing for the kill.  The impact of her landing knocked Hotshot onto his back.  She leaned forward, stretching her back, her perfect derriere pointing up and out.  Wow, I thought.  Her face came close to Hotshot’s cowering body.  She darted her tongue at him, lapping him roughly in the face.  But my attention had turned to the amulet, which was now exposed again, dangling from her neck.

            “I can’t hear what you’re saying,” Jayne said, mock apologetically.  “Maybe this will help.”

            Her fingers went around the amulet, and she murmured something.  Instinctively, I shut my eyes, remembering what she said about looking at the light.  I sensed the flash through my eyelids.  I swallowed hard, not knowing if I was microscopic now.  Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked at myself.  I was okay.  I mean… still the same size as a few moments ago.  I looked up, and my jaw dropped in amazement.

            Hotshot’s size had been restored.  Not completely.  But she had reversed the process somewhat.  My guess was a little more than halfway back to normal.  Three feet tall, plus or minus.  Hope leapt in my chest once again.  It could be done.  Of that, I was absolutely certain now.  She murmured something when she held the amulet.  Had I kept my eyes open, I might be at least partially restored.  But, I realized, I wouldn’t be able to defend myself, and I would have lost my one advantage: stealth.  Much to my dismay, I could now hear Hotshot speak.

            Predictably, the first thing he did was curse at her.

            “Ooh, I thought we talked about that in the car,” she said disapprovingly.

            She was on her knees now, sitting back onto her own feet in the soft mattress.  She playfully poked Hotshot in the chest with her finger.  He lunged at her, swinging a haymaker right into her jaw with everything he had.  Not a bad punch, really.  But woefully ineffective.  Her head absorbed it, turning slightly with the force.  She smiled at him.

            “Is that all you’ve got?” She raised an eyebrow.

            Hotshot swung again, connecting again.  Same effect.  It seemed to… turn her on.

            “That one stung a little bit,” she nodded.  “But I’ve taken worse.”

            He cursed and spat and wound up another strike.  This time, with blinding speed, she caught his little arm and gave it a light twist, all in one motion.  I heard him cry out and collapse back onto the bed.  Jayne released his arm and backed away onto her feet again.  She paced slowly around the bed.

            “Stand up,” she ordered.

            He did, holding his shoulder, and still muttering obscenities.  Even standing on her bed, he wasn’t quite up to her chin level.  She continued to pace, walking in a figure “U” around the front of the bed over and over again as she spoke to him.

            “Was there another man at the bar tonight?” She asked.

            Oh, damnit.

            “What?” He asked.

            “Another man?” She repeated.  “Was there someone else there besides your stupid friends and the barkeep?”

            “Y-y-yes.  Another guy.  He was sitting at the bar, right ‘fore you all showed up,” Hotshot nodded emphatically.

            “Where was he when we came in?” Jayne continued pacing.

            “Um… he was in the closet!” Hotshot shouted.  “Barkeep asked him to get a towel.  So he went.  Was in there for awhile, now I think ‘bout it.”

            Jayne paused to consider this.  I studied her carefully, not feeling so safe all of a sudden.  I needed to get out of this place.  The client would probably be here soon, and it wouldn’t be long before they figured out that I hitched a ride to their little goddess sorority house.  Jayne seemed to come to a decision, and she started pacing again.

            “I have to tell you something.  There’s a reason I gave you some of your size back.  And it’s not because you’re a terrific conversationalist.  I do it to all of my boys.  I like a little fight,” she teased.  “Some of the girls think I’m a little… off.  Do you think that?”

            “I think you’re a nut,” Hotshot fired back.  “I don’t know who you think you are, but you best make me normal again, or I swear I’m gonna kill you, you f-“

            “You really don’t know when you to shut up, do you?” Jayne seemed a little less playful now.

            Couldn’t have said it better myself, I thought.

“Just… please… make me normal,” Hotshot stammered.

She stopped pacing.  She stood directly in front of the bed now.

“Come towards me,” she commanded.  I couldn’t see her face, but her new tone did not suggest a smile anymore.

He hesitated, but eventually stepped forward.  She grabbed the front of his sweatshirt, which appeared to shrink and grow with him as it did with me.  Not so gently, she tore it completely off of him, along with his t-shirt underneath.  He yelped as her nails grazed him.  Next, she grabbed his belt buckle and began unfastening it.  He tried to back away, even attempting to grab her hands.  But she was far too strong.  To make her point, her other arm flew around his lower back to hold him steady.  He stared down shamefully as she pulled his jeans down.  She grabbed and lifted his left leg, removing the pant leg and shoe in one motion.  She did the same with his right.  Soon, he was only in boxer shorts.  I found it mildly surprising that he was showing signs of arousal in front of his tormentor.  Even more surprising, I found myself more than a little attracted to this display of utter domination.

“See?  You do like me,” she teased, motioning towards his manhood.  With one hand, she slowly and very gently removed his last article of clothing.  She giggled at his reduced body, which apparently was very optimistic despite its current situation.  She responded by leaning in and taking his manhood full into her mouth.  He relaxed somewhat, shuddering with the sudden pleasure of an otherworldly sensation.  Somewhere in a valley between the peaks of arousal and fear, he moaned softly.  She swirled her enormous tongue around, and continued for several minutes.  He even dared to reach out and touch her hair.  She giggled and released him, drawing herself back to her full height.

“That… was… wow,” Hotshot said, forgetting his entire predicament.  “Why’d you stop?”

“I just wanted you to have a nice thought to hang on to,” she said casually.

“Are… are you going to let me go?” He asked.  

She smiled.  But it was an evil smile, I could tell, even without being able to see her face fully.  The predatory satisfaction knowing that her prey had given up.  She stepped back slipped her hotpants to the floor.  She peeled her tank top over her head.  Hotshot stared at her goddess body.  I had a pretty good view myself, from behind.  He even smiled a little, probably thinking he had her all wrong, that he was about to experience the ride of a lifetime.  But I saw the tension in the back of her legs, the arch in her back.  Like a cat moments away from pouncing onto a mouse.  And her next words chilled me to the bone:

“The truth is… you can’t fight me.  I want you to think you can.  I even want you to try.  I want to see your hope swell up.  It makes it more satisfying for me to see it disintegrate.  Because there is no more hope,” she leaned in close, and darted her large tongue across his lips so fast that he flinched.  “The truth is… I restored you halfway… because I don’t want to squish you, like the other girls often do.  I don’t want to eat you.  Or play with you.  I want to break you.  I want you hear your ribs crack.  And I want to hear you…” She prepared to pounce.  “…scream.”

I watched in horror as Jayne, nearly twice the size of Hotshot, tackled her prey and straddled him.  Reaching down she plunged his reduced manhood into her.  At first his terrified face turned into a few moments of pleasure, as she ground her pelvis into his.  But it soon turned back to terror for him as her weight pressed down on him hard.  He gripped his tiny arms and held him against the bed above his head.  She continued to plow away at his little body.  Even at his reduced size, she seemed to be enjoying him immensely, although I imagine it had more to do with psychological rather than physical pleasure.

She bucked harder.  Every cry of pain from Hotshot resulted in a groan of pleasure from Jayne.  I could hear the air being smashed out of Hotshot’s tired lungs, which were laboring vigorously under her immense weight, with each of her thrusts.  His hands clawed uselessly at the air, as his forearms were still pinned in her giantess hands.  I watched his legs straighten suddenly, toes curling inward.  He might have actually climaxed under her.  She purred approvingly.  Still gripping his arms, in his absolute moment of pleasure, she twisted her hands violently, shattering the bones in both of his forearms.  What was almost an orgasmic moan became a blood curdling scream, which only seemed to arouse her further.  She rolled suddenly onto her back, cradling his body with her massive thighs, and she released his broken arms to either side of her, like a mock hug.  He lay, sobbing with his face in her chest, not even being able to use his mangled arms to push himself up for a breath.  He attempted bite her, but she giggled with delight.  She grabbed his head with her hands and pushed him back so he could look into her evil green eyes one last time.

“Time for the grand finale,” she hissed.  “Die, you little fuck.”

Her gymnast legs coiled even tighter around his small ribcage.  Her feet locked behind him and she squeezed.  I doubted that a normal-sized man could pull oxygen into his lungs in that ferocious scissor grip.  She still held his head in her hands, watching his face with feral joy and anticipation.  She squeezed more; I could see her putting everything she had into this last squeeze.  Ribs popped like bubble wrap.  Her hips writhed beneath him, and she appeared to be climaxing, judging by her breathing.  She squeezed more, rubbing her legs back and forth against his crushed ribcage.

She released him, suddenly.  He drew in a labored breath, and then wailed in pain.  She smiled at him, her face still in her hand, and then she shoved his body downward so his face landed directly into her womanhood.  Her thighs clamped again, even more ferociously than before.  I heard a muffled scream.  Hotshot’s feet kicked randomly.  I assumed his struggles including some biting because she screamed in both pain and pleasure.  She let him struggle for awhile, and I could see him slowly suffocated, face first in her sex.  Suddenly she arched her back, and her legs flexed into steel pistons.  His neck snapped like a dry branch.  And Hotshot was gone.

CHAPTER 9: POST MORTEM

I watched Jayne unclench her python legs, and I watched Hotshot’s broken lifeless body slither off of the front of the bed and onto a heap on the floor.  Her breathing slowed to normal.  She wiped some sweat from her forehead.  I could see streaks of blood on her chest, and I am pretty sure it wasn’t hers.  I had just witnessed the complete and utter destruction of a human male at the hands (and legs) of a now extremely satisfied-looking giantess.  She worked her way onto the side of the bed and stood up.  On her way to her bathroom, she turned off the radio.  A few moments after she shut the bathroom door, I could hear her start a bath.  The amulet was still around her neck.

I lowered myself down the phone cord and back onto the floor.  There may not have been a safe room anywhere in this house, but I seriously doubted that there would be a more dangerous one than Jayne’s.  I assumed she would have to return the amulet at some point.  Angel, despite the way she nonchalantly stamped out the barkeep’s life under her foot, seemed refined and sophisticated as compared to the sadistic creature that was Jayne.  But Jayne still had the amulet.  I decided I’d see what she was up to in the bath, and figure out my next move from there.

I crawled out of Jayne’s room under the door, and I walked into the empty hallway, standing numbly for a moment, then worked my way down the hallway, hugging the wall once again.  I approached the bedroom door adjacent to Jayne’s.  I heard another voice inside.  I decided to take a peak… This room wasn’t much different than Jayne’s.  Sitting at the foot of her bed was another giantess.  She held something up in her open hand.

“My little man,” she cooed.  “It’s time to say goodbye.”

It was one of the girls from the little distribution meeting I’d witnessed earlier.  She was blonde, like Nicole, but not nearly as tall and with shorter hair.  She wore knit pajama pants and a baby tee that ironically said “Big Girl” across the chest.  She held her palm out near her face, and I could barely make out another small man, roughly my current size, kneeling and facing her.  He appeared to be pleading.  That seemed to be a common theme around here.

“I know you’re scared,” she said to him.  “But this is the way it has to be.  If it’s any consolation, I will savor every last bit of you.”

Probably not the safest room either, I thought.

I swear I could see him try to jump from her hand.  But she was fast.  She tossed him into her mouth like a potato chip.  She appeared to be working him around her mouth, and although her lips were closed her jaws appeared to be open.  To no surprise she reached down and lightly rubbed herself.  I was beginning to see another trend here.  She continued to work him around with her tongue.  I couldn’t even imagine his terror, trying to avoid enormous teeth while a skillful giant tongue continuously prodded him towards them.  I flinched as her jaws snapped shut, and she began to chew very, very slowly.  She really was savoring the poor bastard.

Sigh.  This just keeps getting better and better.

I crawled halfway under the door and stopped for a bit, sitting cross-legged.  So far, I’d witnessed a barkeep being smashed like a spider under a stiletto, watched Jayne break every bone in a man’s body during an orgasm, and now I’d had the pleasure of observing another grand finale, a giant woman devouring another man like something out of a monster movie.  It was almost too surreal to be horrific.  Besides, being horrified would dull my wits.  And I needed them now more than ever. 

I had to assume that each room would have something similar.  A giantess with her newly selected captive, performing some act of sadism on her way to some form of sexual gratification.  If I were safely at home, I might consider whether or not this turned me on or disturbed me more, but I didn’t have time to think about it, really.  I could check every room, searching for another solution.  Maybe Nicole was in one of them.  Maybe she was dangerous, too, but I hasn’t technically witnessed her murder anybody yet.  But… only one of the girls’ rooms had the amulet.  I had to assume she would return it to Angel at some point.  So that had to be the next course of action.  Stick with the deadly Jayne, and she would lead me to Angel.

Reluctantly, I made my way back towards Jayne’s room.  A couple girls burst into the hallway, giggling about what they’d done with their “men.”  One boasted about shoving her man into her derriere up to his feet.  She couldn’t tell if he’d suffocated or was simply crushed to death when she squeezed her gluts together.  The other talked about eating her man (how unoriginal).  Soon, I was at Jayne’s door again.  Back into the lioness’ lair, I could still see Hotshot’s body laying there.  How would she dispose of him? I wondered.  I could see a pocket of steam trailing into the room from Jayne’s bathroom.  She must have still been enjoying the hot bath.  A tub sure sounded good to me right about now.  Maybe not this one.  But that’s where I needed to go.

Now in the bathroom, I proceeded with extreme caution.  The floors were white tile, and I wouldn’t be hard to spot.  I could see a clawfoot bathtub with a single familiar arm draped over the side, and the top of Jayne’s brown hair.  Was she sleeping?  I wondered.  And then realized that was the thought a jackass would have just before getting killed if this were a movie.  And I’d already been enough of a tool tonight.  No, she wasn’t sleeping.

Scanning the room, there was no sign of the amulet.  I assumed it was still on her neck, not that it would do me any good there.  I glanced behind me at the bathroom door I had just crawled under.  Jackpot.  A charcoal bathrobe hung from a hook on the door.  One end of the robe’s ties touched the bathroom tile lightly.  The towel-like material was easier to climb than even the phone cord.  I worked my way over to the robe’s pocket, and lowered myself in partially.  Just enough to still monitor Jayne’s actions.  And I was right; she was awake, staring at the ceiling with that slightly evil satisfied grin still on her face.  Her exquisite body glistened in the water, which was very slight pink due to Hotshot’s blood.

When she finished bathing, she drew herself up to full height and stretched.  I was still in awe of her body, and not just because it was taller than skyscraper.  And yes, she still had the amulet.  Tying her hair into a towel she gracefully stepped out and walked towards me.  Her exquisite body glistened in the light.  But I had already witnessed the beast within this beauty.  Bracing myself for another ride, I wasn’t disappointed as she put on the bathrobe.  I felt the material behind me begin to warm with her body heat.  It was stimulating and comfortable, to say the least.

Go return what you borrowed, I muttered.

She did a couple things around her room.  She stepped over Hotshot’s corpse several times as if he were a pile of dirty laundry.  I began to think she wasn’t going to leave at all tonight, but then she picked up her cell phone again.  After dialing a number, she held the receiver to her ear.  Her opposite hand thrust into my hideaway pocket (of course), nearly jarring me loose, but no longer frightening me.

“Leila, how far are you now?” Jayne asked.  I had almost forgotten that Leila, my client, was en route to this place.  She couldn’t be very far now.  “Did you find him? … No, let’s not tell Angel.  What for?  We’ll just get in trouble.”

Interesting.

“No, I appreciate it, really.  And, yes, you still owe me for what you did to … I don’t care… Tell you what,” she said, glancing at Hotshot’s body.  “I pulled a ‘partial’ again.  And he expired before I could reduce him again.  You do disposal for me, and we’ll just call it even.  Okay? … Okay, see you in a few… No.  I’m heading to Angel’s room, to return the amulet.  Okay.  Bye.”

Bingo.

CHAPTER 10: ANGEL

            Angel’s room wasn’t upstairs at all.  Jayne trotted down into the main area where the little council of goddess had taken place.  There was one other girl in here, one of the ones who was boasting earlier about her ‘kill.’  Jayne didn’t even acknowledge her, just kept walking.  Down another staircase, we appeared to be a large airy basement.  The temperature was controlled, and it smelled almost sterile in here, it was so clean.  I saw the aquarium again, but it was empty now.  As Jayne continued to walk, I saw something else.  It looked… no it couldn’t be.  I was still staring at it when Jayne came to a stop at red door.

            “It’s me,” Jayne called, rapping her knuckles on the door.

            I prepared to make a leap for it.

            “Come in, love,” Angel’s voice called.

            The door opened, and I was immediately struck by how dark this room was compared to Jayne’s.  The light in here appeared to be all candlelight.  Jayne walked up to a small table, where Angel appeared to be dining.  I immediately saw she was not alone.  A miniature man sat on the table behind her square plate, working on eating what appeared to be a single grain of rice.  I guess the boss gets some playtime, too, I thought, as she sipped a glass of red wine and placed it on the table.  Jayne glanced at the little man, then back to Angel.

            “How did it go?” Angel asked, raising an eyebrow.

            “I’ll clean it up,” Jayne shrugged.  She reached over her head and slowly pulled the amulet up.  I was already descending the robe tie.

            “Of course,” Angel said, taking another bite of her food.  “Heard from Leila, yet?”

            I could picture the nervous expression on Jayne’s face but didn’t want to look up.  Angel didn’t seem like the type you wanted to keep secrets from.

            “She stopped by the tavern,” Jayne said.  “Making sure we covered our tracks.  She’ll be back soon.”

            “I’ve decided you can have her draw this month.  Will that smooth things out between you?”

            Jayne nodded.  “You know I can’t resist seconds.  Don’t worry about us, we’ve worked it out.”

            Dangling from the bottom of Jayne’s robe, I let go.  It was a pretty steep drop, but I landed without injury.  I looked up in time to see the amulet exchange hands.  Everything was going according to plan so far.  Although once I obtained the bloody thing, there’s no guarantee I’d be able to use it, or even lift it.  I watched Jayne thank Angel and walk outside, shutting the door.  I sprinted towards Angel’s nightstand.  Using a lamp cord this time, I climbed to the nightstand surface and sat close to the lamp, which was on, but dim.  I watched Angel finish her meal.

            “How do you like your food?” She asked her captive man.  I could not hear his response, but it was eerily quiet in here, so I imagine that she did.  “This is good, as you will need your strength.”

            Oh, brother.  Jayne 2.0? I wondered.  But I didn’t think so.

            Angel pushed her plate aside and stood up.  Her glorious figure was wreathed in a semi-transparent red robe.  Beneath that was an impressive ensemble of matching lingerie.  I found it ironic that someone named Angel would wear this much red.  Her black hair was pulled casually over a single shoulder, and her East Asian facial features were at once alluring and dangerous.  Although her features were as young as the other girls, her dark eyes suggested someone who had been around and seen a lot.  She lowered the amulet around her neck and moved towards the small man on the table.

Unlike from what I’d seen from the other women here, she did not snatch her prey with her hands.  She simply set her delicate hand onto the table and looked at him.  And he climbed into her palm without question.  The memory of her crushing the barkeep with her boot heel hours earlier still set off an alarm in the back of my head.  Even Jayne feared her, I could tell.  And that said something.  She glided towards my position and sat on her bed, which was, not surprisingly, covered in red satin sheets.  She leaned against a stack of pillows, gracefully curling a long arm behind her head while still holding her prey in the other.  She held him up to her beautiful face.  He appeared anxious but not terrified.  I surmised that so far she had been gentle with him.

            “Do you know what is happening to the other men as we speak?” She asked him.  He shook his head.  I wanted to raise my hand.  I know. “They are most likely dead by now.”

            I looked at him closely.  It dawned on me that he was one of Hotshot’s little friends.  His wingman from the tavern.  So far, he had the luckier draw.  So it seemed.

            “Will I be dead?” Wingman asked her.

            “Yes,” she replied, just as bluntly.  I shifted uncomfortably.  The man in her palm merely bowed his head, resigned to his fate.

            “But it will be a glorious death,” she reassured him.  “The others, they’re young.  They don’t fully understand yet.  Many of them, like the girl you just saw leave here, Jayne.  They think this is all about physical pleasure and domination of your kind.  That it’s all about the kill.  But it is so much more than that.”

            I was actually interested now.

            “To kill a man the size of an insect is nothing really.  I’ve squeezed the life out of a man with my little finger.  I’ve devoured countless men.  I’ve done it thousands of times myself,” she explained.  “But it becomes old after a few hundred years.”

            I stared at her.  Come again? I wanted to shout.

            “How… how old are you?” Wingman worked up the courage to ask.

            “I stopped counting.  It is irrelevant, because I am forever.  But this is my pleasure, now.  This conversation with you, my little insignificant man.  Getting you to realize what we’re trying to accomplish.  That’s my pleasure.  Like I said, killing is easy.  Getting others to kill, and enjoy doing it, that’s impressive.  Getting someone to willingly die for you… now THAT’S something to boast about.”

            Oookay.

            “With each life we take, we grow stronger.  Every life I take adds to my power.  I will teach them this, in time.  This, this amulet here.  It’s just a means to an end.  The world is changing.  A handful of men at a time.  And that, right there, the look on your face, is my pleasure.  The realization that your time as the dominant sex is over, in a big way,” she said, laughing at her own pun.  “Our numbers will continue to grow.  My girls will be ageless and beautiful.  We will keep some of you for procreation, the rest will exist to make us immortal.”  She’d practiced this speech before.  A lot.

            “You don’t have to kill me,” Wingman offered.

            “Don’t I?” She asked.  “They always say that… but you’re not listening.”

            “I can be your pet, your servant.  I’ll worship you.  Do whatever.  Procreate, like you said.  I have really good genes.  Really,” he stammered.  I gave Wingman a little more credit for being resourceful compared to Hotshot, who only expedited his own demise with Jayne.  Angel considered him for a moment, and then laughed.

            “But you are my servant already.  And you have served me well,” she replied.  “You did not try to run.  You ate with me.  I admire your composure, actually.  It is rare.  And now you’ve heard my story.  I never tire of telling it.  And now, as your last act of service… you are going to die.  It is a necessary part of this ritual, my little man.”

            He backed away suddenly, composure gone.  Her fingers curled up like serpents behind him, keeping him in place.

            “No.  There will be more dignity if you accept your fate.  I like you.  You won’t be forgotten anytime soon,” she placed him onto her bare stomach.  He looked around, looking for some chance of escape, but there was none.  “Remove your clothes,” she commanded.

            “I… no, I don’t want to,” he said.

            Angel sighed.  “They are coming off.  It will be more comfortable for you if you do it yourself.”

            He took a deep breath and looked down at himself.  He looked up at her face again.  She simply raised an eyebrow at him, still patiently waiting.  Reluctantly, he began disrobing.  Shoes and socks first.  Shirt.  Then pants.  He stood, shivering lightly on her soft abdomen, only in his underwear now. 

            “All,” she said simply.

            He hesitated, but complied.  Unlike Hotshot, he was not getting off at this humiliation.

            The hand behind her head reached towards me.  I lurched behind the lamp as she turned it on.  She leaned over the nightstand and opened the front drawer.  From inside she withdrew a sexual toy that was probably ten times my height.  I guess century-old witches have needs like everybody else, I thought.  The toy was not electrical.  It looked fairly standard, more or less shaped like my own manhood at full salute.  The base was odd, though, curved and wide, it almost looked like…

            Oh, my God, I thought, realizing what she was about to do.

            She raised her derriere slightly and began to remove her panties with her free hand.  She held them out over the side of the bed and dropped them to the floor. 

            “Know that your death with bring pleasure to your goddess,” she said.  “And because I am forever, you are forever.”

            She sat up, making him tumble onto his back, into her belly button.  She removed him delicately and laid him flat on the base of her dildo.  I was right.  It was some sort of … seat.  He began struggling and yelling something, but she held him at bay with her forefinger.  With her other hand, she produced a thin silk ribbon.  Even while he kicked and pleaded, she tied it around him and the dildo, knotting it just firm enough to hold him in place.  She slipped her finger off of him and he simply stared at her, sobbing softly.  He began pleading some more.  She only smiled.

            She leaned back, holding the dildo with Wingman trapped at its base with one hand.  Her other hand reached at me again, I ducked as she turned off the lamp.  Now, only the candlelight filled the room.  It was dark enough so that I could see her silhouette and that of the sex toy.  But Wingman, I could only hear him now.  He wailed.

            I watch the tip of the dildo disappear into her silhouette.  She moaned softly.

            “Please don’t!” Wingman was reduced to begging.

            It slipped out, and then back in, a little further.

            “PLEASE!” He shrieked.

            Out again, and then in.  Deep.  I could hear every sound of her body accommodating this foreign object into her.  It was fairly long as well as thick, as I recall.  And so far, I could still hear Wingman plead.  Her pace quickened, as did his cries for mercy.

            “This…” Angel panted, “…this is why you exist.  Your sole purpose.  To please me.”

            Well, if it wasn’t before, it is now.

            Faster now.  Her body bucked rhythmically to take in the dildo deeper and deeper.  I could imagine her clitoris engorged now, coming closer and closer to Wingman’s face.  But I could still hear him screaming.  A mixture of terror of the gaping maw trying to devour him and the wild ride shaking him senseless.  Each gentle thrust brought him closer.  And closer.  She appeared to be approaching her climax.  But right before she let loose, she stopped. 

            Angel sat up and repositioned herself onto her knees.  She held the dildo up to her face, searching until her eyes met with Wingman’s, who I could see what still securely fastened to its place.  She licked the shaft, like a popsicle, and when she got to his body she planted a gentle kiss directly onto his face.   

            “It’s time,” she said with a surprisingly gentle smile on her face.

            She lowered the toy to the bed and straddled it, still sitting up so that she could see him.  He was bent at a 90 degree angle, his legs straddled on either side of the shaft with his back against the dildo’s base.  I could barely see him in the light, but I could still hear him begging her to stop.  She responded by skewered herself onto it, plunging it as deep as it would go.  At its deepest point, Wingman’s scream was suddenly cut off, and I knew her clitoris was hitting him square in the chest and face.  She held it in, her silhouette grinding away in the darkened room.  She pulled up a bit and the screams commenced.

            “Do you love your goddess?” She asked, looking down at him again.

            He simply continued to scream.  I can’t say I would have done any different.  She plunged downward again, her entire womanhood crashing onto his body with the force of truck.  She pulled back again.

            “Do you love your goddess?” She asked again.  Louder.

            “Y-y-yes!” I heard him cry.  I was surprised to find myself standing at the edge of the nightstand, trying to see a little closer.

            “Say it.  I want to hear you say it,” she commanded him.

            “I… I love my goddess,” he managed.

            She slammed down again, harder.

            “My pussy is your temple, isn’t it?” She asked.  “You worship it, don’t you?”

            “Y-y-yes.  My temple!  My tem-“

            SLAM!

            “Say the words, slave.  Tell me my pussy is your temple.  Tell me you worship it!” She raised her voice for the first time.

            “I worship it! Oh, god.  I worship your pussy!  It is my temple… please.”

            She came down softer than before, allowing him to whimper while she continued pleasuring herself.  I heard him crying, wailing for mercy.  I watched her slowly build up to a climax, plunging again and again, each time deeper than before.  Then she paused, hovering over him.

            “Tell me you want to die,” she whispered.

            “What?” Wingman coughed up what sounded like a considerable amount of fluid.  Maybe his own blood.  Maybe her passion.  I could only imagine.

            “I want you to say it,” she said.  “Tell me you want to die.”

            “No,” he replied, calmly.

            She slammed down with incredible force.  When she pulled up, I heard him coughing in pain.  That thrust maybe have broken some ribs.  Possibly his back.

            “Say it,” she said again.

            “NO!” he coughed out defiantly.

            SLAM! 

            Angel held him in place this time, grinding her womanhood over his entire body.  I thought he would suffocate, but she came off of him suddenly, and I heard him gasping wildly for air.

            “Say it!” Her voice turned into a venomous hiss.

            “I… I want to die,” he groaned.

            “You want my pussy to devour you.  Your whole life, your entire existence.  Say it.”

            He did.

            “Do you offer yourself to me, your Goddess?”

            “Y-y-yes.”

            Angel smiled.  It was a wicked smile.  She reached down quickly and untied his passion-soaked silk restraints.  I couldn’t fully see from where I was at, but she had taken his battered body and plunged it, in its entirety, into her womanhood.  Then she skewered herself onto her toy again.  There was no turning back.  She bucked and screamed even harder than Jayne did.  I imagined Wingman lost in her boiling body, her sex muscles constricting around him with unbelievable force as she climaxed.  To top it all off, her little sex toy crashed into him like a wrecking ball over and over again.  If he wasn’t already, I imagined he would be against her cervix, being pummeled continuously.  Just as I had witnessed with Jayne and Hotshot, her prey’s ultimate pain became Angel’s ultimate pleasure.

But something was different, as she climaxed she gripped her amulet and murmured something different, and a bright blue flash caught me off guard.  And this didn’t come from the amulet this time.  It came… from her.  Down… there.  I didn’t have time to shut my eyes.  A as the light hit me I fell backwards.  As it dissipated, I looked at myself.  Nothing had changed, not as far as I could tell.  I looked at Angel, and her eyes had rolled back, showing nothing but the whites.  She howled with her sexual climax, and then fell flat onto her back.

After her breathing slowed, her silhouette arched back.  She reached down and plunged her fingers into herself.  I was glad I couldn’t see.  But she extracted his body and held him above her face, and I could see, just for a moment, his lifeless body.  Before she dropped him into her mouth and swallowed him whole.  I was flat on my back, still dazed.

            Suddenly, I found myself longing to be in Jayne’s room again.  Anywhere but here.

CHAPTER 11: WITHIN MY GRASP

            Angel casually tossed her sexual toy off of the bed onto the floor.  She collapsed backwards again with sheer exhaustion.  Her breathing slowed into a purr.  The queen of this hive fell asleep.  I pondered my next move for quite some time.  What I saw in the previous room when Jayne carried me down here flashed in my mind.  This was no small operation.  And if Angel was as old as I think she was, she had been doing this for years.  Maybe even generations.  How many people have gone missing and never been found?  I thought of Hotshot and his Wingman.  Douchebags, definitely (the former more than the latter).  But nobody deserved the grisly deaths I had witnessed.  I wondered if Wingman, as broken as he was, was possibly still alive in Angel’s stomach.  I shuddered at the thought.

            I looked back at the red door to Angel’s room.  Her lair.  It was a heavy door, with no space to crawl under.  Great.  I followed the walls, remembering how controlled the temperature was down here.  There… a vent in the wall.  Perfect.  First things first.  I needed to take that amulet from the witch’s chest.  Judging by the half empty bottle of red wine still on the table and the athletic homicidal romp I had just witnessed, she was in a deep sleep.  I had to take the chance.  But if I’m wrong…

            At least it will be my last mistake, I thought, without much comfort.

            I made a leap for the edge of her pillow.  Once again, it was easy to hang onto, since my hands and feet fit nicely into the pillow’s threads.  Looking down, I realized how much life would have sucked had I fallen.  But things already sucked… Looking at her head and her right shoulder, buried deep into the pillow, I figured that would be a good place to get onto her body.

            This is so, so stupid, I thought.  But her amulet.  It was in sight now.  It was the first time I had a really good look at it.  At my normal size, I would say it was the diameter of a poker chip.  Maybe a little bigger.  It was smooth; even at my current size I could see no imperfections on it.  I examined the colors in it again.  The front of it was red, and I distinctly remembered the red light from the bar.  The opposite side, resting on her skin, was green.  I recalled the flash from Jayne’s room, when she restored some of Hotshot’s size.  I had shut my eyes, but I felt it through my eyelids.  Was it green?  It might have been.  And then I remember the blue flash from her… nether regions.  It had blinded me momentarily, but didn’t seem to affect me.  Green.  Green was the key.  I think…

The amulet was about twenty paces from where I was.   The warm skin on Angel’s collarbone provided decent traction.  But it heaved up and down rhythmically with each breath this slumbering giantess took.  The sensation was not unlike walking across the deck of a small boat swaying with the current.  Fifteen paces now.  My anxiety level spiked as I approached her face.  At the moment she was turned away from me, so I had a clear look at her neckline and ear.  Ten paces to go.  Then, disaster.

            My blood froze as a delicate yet monstrous hand lurched towards me.  I could do nothing but brace myself.  Her nails raked her collarbone where I had stepped moments ago.  Before I could pause to savor my good fortune, she scratched again, this time her beautiful long fingers crashed right into my legs.  The ground disappeared from under me and I was flying through the air.  Sweep the leg, I dumbly thought as I fell, fell, fell…

            Whatever wind I still had from getting hit by her fingers was immediately knocked out by the impact of hitting the bed.  And at my size, no thread count feels like a soft landing.  I gasp for air; I might have even been unconscious for a few seconds.  When I woke up I realized I was sweating.  Wherever I was now, it was warm.  And humid.  And… musky?  The sheets below me were damp.  I think I knew where I was… but I hoped I was wrong.  I rolled my head to my right and was fairly certain what I was staring at was the inner flesh of Angel’s right thigh.  I turned to my left and saw the inner flesh of her left thigh.  Both of them within arm’s length.  I tilted my head backwards as far as it would go so I could confirm my newest predicament.  Well, I thought, that explains the humidity.  I rolled to my feet, careful not to touch her, and stood up.  I slowly turned around to face Angel’s epic womanhood.

The scent of Angel’s sex was alluring, and it was exaggerated due to her extreme size and proximity.  I stared, knowing full well that this was a place where Wingman, along with “thousands,” had died terrible deaths while unwillingly pleasuring her.  Here I was, at ground zero.  And yet I continued to stare.  The heat, as inviting as wood burning fire, beckoned me to come closer.  And my own body responded with inexplicable desire.  If she were to awaken and discover me, I would surely be killed, and not in a very nice way.  I took a step forward, wanting desperately to touch her.  Evidence of her passion was all around me, and it was… intoxicating.  I reached my hand out and lightly stroked the glistening surface.  Not thinking she could feel me, her entire pelvis suddenly bucked and writhed.  Her womanhood glistened some more, anticipating my next move.  But, lucky for me, she was still asleep.

Slowly, very slowly, I came to my senses, and I stepped back.  Another step, and then another.  The amulet would have to wait.  I simply had taken too many chances just now, and I didn’t want to press my luck any further.  A shadow passed over me.  I looked up to see her hand coming at me again.  I dropped to my back and watched her begin to lightly stroke herself were I had (unwisely) touched her moments ago.  I was about to get the peep show of my life, then someone knocked on the door.

“Angel,” a voice called.  The stroking stopped.

“What is it?” Angel seemed more than a little annoyed.  I hate getting interrupted myself…

“You said to tell you when Leila got back.  She’s back,” the voice called.

The client.  Terrific.  Angel sat up suddenly.  I could see her face.  My heart nearly stopped. Don’t look down.  Angel didn’t.  She began to scoot forward.  I looked away from her face and at the womanhood screaming towards me.  I turned and ran.  But she scooted again.  Her moist groin planted a few feet behind me this time.  Freakin’ Jurassic Park.  And twatasaurus rex was gaining on me.  I wouldn’t be able to dodge the next scoot.  So I turned and faced her maw of annihilation.  I would have to be precise.  When she lifted herself slightly to scoot forward again, I ran.  Towards her.  And I did my best Ricky Henderson impersonation, diving beneath her descending body before if it could crush my body.  It grew dark for a moment and I thought I had miscalculated my move.  But then… safe!  The tail of the robe she still wore brushed over me.  I made a decision to follow her… so I grabbed the robe before she cleared the rest of the bed, dangling near the back of her legs.

She cleaned herself up a little with a small towel and slipped on her undergarments again.  Wrapping and tying the front of her robe, she opened the red door.  The other girl was Nicole, the tall blond from the bar.  The one I actually did want to speak to, based on what I’ve witnessed with the others so far.

“I want to talk to her,” Angel said, presumably referring to Leila.  “Where is she?”

CHAPTER 12: CONSEQUENCES

            Still clinging to the inside of Angel’s robe, I couldn’t help but steal a glance at Angel’s majestic derriere as she marched through the basement.  I climbed closer to it, realizing that I might be visible on this virtually transparent garment.  She walked up the stairs, and every other step I would bump unceremoniously into the left side of her ass.  I reached and grabbed her panties, tired of the robe.  But I shimmied my way over towards her hip.  I wanted to see my client again.  That double-crossing little…

            “Angel!” Leila called.  “I heard the snatch was successful.”

            Well, that could mean more than one thing, I thought, somehow amused at myself.

            “Indeed,” Angel said.  “Have a seat.”

            Apparently the hip was a grand idea, because Angel sat, too.  We were in the room where the council was held earlier.  I ventured a little further forward, and there she was.  Leila.  My client.  She was beautiful, too, by the way.  I suppose being at the mercy of ugly giantesses would have made for an even worse night.  A pacific islander of some kind, maybe Hawaiian, I wasn’t sure, she had short brown hair that stopped just above her shoulders.  Her eyes were a remarkably soft (and large) brown.  And though not so tall in stature, her curves rivaled even Nicole’s.  I had been professional with her, but I did take privately take note of her general attractiveness.

            “What’s up?” Leila asked.

            “Where were you today?” Angel asked bluntly.

            “I went home for the weekend.  I told you,” Leila answered, a perfectly innocent look of confusion on her face.

            I sensed Angel’s thigh flex involuntarily.  She knows, I realized.  Angel knows.

            “Were you, love? “ Angel asked.  “It’s funny.  Because I was worried about you, after what happened between you and Jayne.  Yes, I know about that.  Jayne was quite upset, you know.”

            Leila looked solemn.  “Kyle is… was my brother.  I am just as upset.  I didn’t know you knew.”

Brother.  So it wasn’t all lies.

            “Of course I know.  But Jayne drew the rights to him.  And you killed him before she could have her play.  I don’t have to tell you what a violation of our code that is, do I?” Angel asked.

            “I… you know what Jayne does to them.  He deserved a quick finish.  He is my bro-“

            “Was,” Angel said.

            “What?”

            “Was.  You said, ‘he is my brother.’  I assumed you meant ‘was,’ right?” Angel studied Leila carefully.  Leila nodded, a little too emphatically, I noticed.

            “Yes.  ‘Was.’ I just… I wanted to make it up to her.  To Jayne.  I knew it was a violation.  So I wanted to make it up to her,” Leila explained.

            “By sending a private investigator to the bar,” Angel said plainly.

            Well, shit.  I didn’t see that one coming.

            “I… she told you?” Leila asked glancing up towards Jayne’s room.  I looked up as well, and saw Jayne standing at the banister.  Jayne shook her head as if to say, “It wasn’t me.”

            “I had you followed,” Angel said.  “I already knew about the Kyle incident.  So I had you followed, just to make sure you were… okay.  He was your brother after all.”

            Leila now looked very nervous.

            “Tell me about the investigator,” Angel said.  “Where is he now?”  If she only knew…

            “He’s… nobody… I sent him to the bar to get snatched with the rest.  I figured if I could get Jayne an extra… we’d be square again.  For the Kyle situation.  He was an extra.  A bonus.  Nothing more.  He ate right out of my hands,” Leila said.  I wished I could argue otherwise, but I was clinging to a giant witch’s panties in a house full of enormous homicidal women, so I conceded the point.

            “How did you convince him?  What did you say?” Angel asked.  This was an interrogation.

            “I… said my brother was missing.  That’s all,” Leila was beginning to lose her composure.  “Angel.  It was a cover story.  To get him to the bar.  That’s all.  You said stragglers get snatched, too.  So I just figured… you know… to make it up to Jayne…”

            Angel looked at her carefully.

            “Why wasn’t he there then?  Your investigator?  He wasn’t at the bar,” Angel pressed.

            “Maybe he got cold feet…?”

            Angel sighed.  “Okay, enough lies.  Nicole, bring him please.”

            Nicole approached us from across the room.  She looked on Leila was what might have been pity.  Her hand clamped around something, or someone.  Leila seemed to be dreading each step Nicole took towards us.  Angel held out her hand.  Nicole dropped another miniature man into Angel’s palm.  I knew that face from a photograph Leila had given me.  That… was Kyle.  Kyle looked at his sister Leila, then at Nicole, then turned back to look at Angel.  Then… he looked right at me.  I shook my head at him.  He looked at me for another moment, and then turned back to his sister.  I heard Jayne’s voice holler from above us.

            “You sneaky bitch!” Jayne was almost laughing from the top of the stairs.

            “Angel, please… I can explain.  I only wanted to save-“

            Angel grasped the amulet suddenly.  I instinctively shut my eyes again.  When I opened my eyes again, Leila was two inches tall standing on the middle of a couch cushion.  Angel held Kyle and lowered him close enough for Leila to see.

            “No more talking.  You’re done lying,” Angel hissed.  “I didn’t know about you investigator until we got back tonight.  I wish he was there; I would have had something special planned for him.  But he wasn’t.  If he finds his way here, we’ll deal with him then.  But you broke another code.  You didn’t even kill Kyle.  You kept him... you were going to restore him, weren’t you?  Set him free?”

The now miniature Leila pleaded to Angel.  Tears streaked down her face.

Angel leaned closer:  “One more thing.  You were right.  Kyle was your brother.”

            Almost within her reach, she watched Angel’s hand close with brutal speed and strength.  Kyle barely had time to open his mouth, much less scream.  He was dead almost instantly, his spine and neck and everything else snapping in Angel’s bare hand all at once.  Leila shrieked and fell to her knees.

            “You’re going to come with me now,” Angel wiped the man’s remains off with a tissue, and plucked a weeping Leila off of the sofa cushion.  I glanced at Nicole who still stood there, motionless.  Her face was troubled, but she said nothing.  Off to Angel’s lair again.  Despite Leila’s treachery that got me into this mess, and her intention of delivering me to Jayne’s brutality… I felt sorry for her.

CHAPTER 13:  OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

            Angel shut the door to her room, with me still clinging to her hip, and Leila in her hand somewhere.  Once inside, Angel found a tiny fishbowl, they kind they give out when you win a single goldfish at the fair, and she dropped Leila into it, placing it on her dresser, across from the foot of the bed.

            “In the morning, I’ll decide what I am going to do with you,” Angel said.  She kissed the glass of the bowl, stamping it with lipstick. “But it won’t be pleasant.  At least, not for you.”

            I reached for Angel’s robe again.  Just in time as she took it off and draped it onto the dresser where Leila’s glass prison sat.  Angel stood at the dresser brushing her hair a moment, and then set the hairbrush down.  Her scantily clad body climbed into her bed once again, opposite from her she had her gruesome fun with Wingman.  She lay for awhile, trying to get comfortable.  From here, she really did look like an Angel.  But I knew better.  After another minute, she began to snore softly.

            I waited awhile, still encased in the cool fabric of her robe.  It still smelled of her, I noted.  Working my way out of it, I looked at the fishbowl, maybe fifty yards away.  In its center, Leila sat, faced buried in her hands, weeping the loss of her brother.  I took a deep breath and made a decision.  After a short walk, I stood directly in front of her now, only the round glass separating us.  Her face was still buried in her hands.  I hesitated for a moment, and then I rapped on the glass with my knuckles.  She looked up, startled.

“You,” the client said.

You and I, I said, we need to talk.

CHAPTER 14: CLEARING THE AIR

            Leila was on her feet in an instant.

            “ANGEL!” Leila cried.  “HE’S HERE!”

            “Do you seriously think she can hear you?” I asked.  She continued to holler.  “Even if she could,” I continued, “do you think your fate would be any less severe?”

            “It might,” she said defiantly.

            “No.  It won’t.”

            She shook her head at me.  “I figured you got shrunk.  Though I don’t know how you managed to get here.  Especially in her room.  You must have a death wish,” she said.  “So, what now?  You’re here to gloat?”

            “No.  I want to get out of here.  And I’m assuming you do, too,” I said.

            “She’ll find you.  When she wakes up, I’ll tell her you were here.  And you’ll be sorry, and she’ll restore me.  She’ll find you, and she’ll kill you-” she said.

            “Before or after she kills you, too?” I wouldn’t give her a chance to respond to that rhetorical question.  “Have you forgotten what she just did to your brother?  To Kyle?”

            Her brown eyes smoldered at the mention of his name.

            “How do you know about that?” She asked.

            “I was there.  Clinging to Angel’s… panties.  I saw.”

            “You really are trying to get yourself killed, aren’t you?” She said, shaking her head more.

            “We don’t have much time,” I said.  “Either I can disappear, leave to your fate, and take my chances alone, or we can help each other and at least make a decent attempt to get out of this place.”

            “There is no getting out of this place.”

            “What’s it going to be?” I asked.

            Leila looked at me for a long moment, and then she looked past me at the slumbering giantess witch who murdered her brother less than an hour ago.  Then her eyes met mine again.

            “Do you have a plan?” She asked.

            I smiled.  “We should have this conversation somewhere else.”

            She couldn’t argue with that.  I approached the hair brush Angel had set upon the dresser a little earlier.  With some effort, I managed to untangle a long strand of her black hair.  It was heavier than I’d imagined, and as thick as steel cable.  After several attempts at trying to maneuver one end of Angel’s hairs over the small fishbowl (I couldn’t exactly lasso the damn thing), it cleared the rim.  Pushing the hair carefully, Leila was finally able to reach it from her side of the glass.

            “Do you have it?” I asked.

            She nodded.

            I pulled, and I pulled some more.  When she neared the top, she reached her arm over the lip of the glass.  She swung a leg over, but lost her grip and tumbled right out of the bowl.  I managed to catch her in my arms.  I looked at her face for a moment, and then awkwardly set her down.  I showed her the air vent I planned to use for escape on the far wall.  She agreed it was our best way out of here.  We climbed down a cord extending from a small stereo on Angel’s dresser.  Leila was surprisingly agile, and she kept up with me all the way to the floor.  When we finally approached the air vent, I realized it was a little out of our reach.

“Now what, smart guy?” She quipped.

I scanned the room again.  “Give me a hand with that,” I said, pointing.

We found one of Angel’s stiletto pumps, the one used to crush the barkeep, not all that far away.  With our combined effort, we were able to push it up against the vent.  Climbing in through the open toe of Angel’s shoe, we carefully worked our way up the slick surface towards the heel.  Climbing the back end of the shoe, we were now at the vent.  I went inside first, then grabbed Leila’s hand and pulled her through.  I looked back at Angel’s shoe, realizing how suspicious it looked there.  We probably had a few hours before morning, maybe not even that.  Whatever we were going to do, we needed to do it fast.  When Angel saw the empty fishbowl, it wouldn’t take her long to figure out where Leila went.  And that she had help.

The vents were fairly clean, but there was enough dirt and debris to make for easy footing, especially on the inclines.  We started walking, still without a plan, but we agreed that get away from Angel’s room was a good start.  But first…

            “So I have to ask you something,” I said, still walking.  “You’ve already double-crossed me once tonight.  Should I expect a triple-cross the moment I turn my back on you?”

            “Right.  Sorry about that,” she said, sheepishly.  “I… panicked.”

            “Explain.”

            “When I came to you,” she gave me an Allstate gesture with her hands, “that was real.  I was going to have you… expose them.  Us.”

            “I figured as much,” I said.  “Your cover story was the truth.  Kyle is… was… your brother.  You even gave me his photo.  You gave me $5,000 up front.  And promised another $20,000 later.  Very Han Solo of you, by the way.  Pretty steep bait for just another guy to ‘snatch,’ don’t you think?”

            “I panicked.”

            “You said that already.”

            “When you turned your back, I got a text.  It said, ‘Abort.  She’s watching you.’  And I panicked.  That’s why I sent you to the bar.  If I followed through and gave you the proof of everything that went on here, she’d have known.  I had to think quickly.  I’m sorry.”

            “A text?  From whom?” I asked.

            “A girl.  One of the girls here.  She was gonna leave with me once we exposed this thing.”

            “Nicole?” I asked.

            She stopped.  “How… how could you possibly know that?”

            “Let’s say I have been people-watching since I’ve been here.  She’s the only one I’ve seen not enjoying herself in the… activities.  So you got cornered, and you threw me to the wolves.  That sound about right?” I asked.

            “Sorry.”

            “Yeah, you said that, too.”

            We were walking again.

            “And Jayne?  Seriously?” I threw my arms up.  “I watched what she did to her draw tonight.  Thanks a lot,” I said.

            “You know why I had to get Kyle away from her, then.”

            “How did that happen?” I wanted to hear that story.

            “Angel brought him here.  Inadvertently, in a snatch.  I didn’t know until I saw the fresh batch of guys.  I was going to select him with my draw, but Jayne beat me to it.  I took my little man to Jayne’s room, and I… offered a trade.  When she refused, I pulled a sleight of hand.  I swapped my man for Kyle and… smashed him, the other guy… before Jayne realized I’d made a switch.  I told her I didn’t mean to, and that I’d make it up to her.”

            “You’re a killer,” I pointed out.

            “I don’t want to be.  Not anymore.  All these guys are… someone’s brother, someone’s son.  Someone’s someone, you know?”  I don’t know why, but I believed her.  “It’s true.  I don’t want to be a part of this anymore.  That’s why I came to you.”

            “So you smuggled Kyle out, and then you… and Nicole… hatched a plan to get this place exposed.  That sound about right?”

            “Yes.”

            “One more thing,” I said.  “Do you seriously believe Angel snatching Kyle was an accident?”

            She looked at me.  “No.  No, I guess I don’t.”

            “So are you going to triple-cross me?”

            “No.”

            We approached the light of another vent.  The basement.  I had almost forgotten what I’d seen in this room.

            “Tell me about that,” I said, pointing.

            In the middle of the basement looked like a very small but detailed model town.  There were crude but structured buildings.  Even what could have passed for streets.  The entire model was no more than a miniature city block.  And the whole thing was draped by a mesh fence.  The material reminded me of a screen door, or a mosquito net.  But this one wasn’t designed to keep things out.

            “That’s…  I guess you can call that the city of Angel’s,” Leila said, shrugging.

            “Cute.  How many are there?”

            “A lot.  Hundreds, I dunno.  She brings them out, like forty or fifty at a time, during the monthly draw.  And let’s us pick.”

            “How many of you girls are there?”

            “Twelve, including me.”

            “How old is she?” I asked.

            “Who?”

            “You know who.”

            Even Leila didn’t know the answer to that one.

            “Fine.  Tell me how the amulet works.  That’s our key to returning to normal, right?” I asked.

            “That’s going to be a problem.  Only she, Nicole, and Jayne can actually use it,” Leila said.

            “Why?” I was somehow not all that surprised.

            “They’re witches.  I mean, Angel is a true witch, and Jayne and Nicole are her … I guess junior varsity, I dunno.  She empowered them because she trusts them.  She going to give them the… um… power.  That’s the ultimate goal of all of the girls, to be initiated into witches and learn the power.”

            “What power?” I asked.

            “Immortality.”

            “You mean agelessness?  I know she’s old…” I started shaking my head.

            “Not just old.  REALLY old.  And no, I don’t just mean agelessness.  She can’t be killed.”

            “How?” I asked.  Disbelief wouldn’t even register anymore after everything I’d seen.

            “How what?”

            “How will she be able to pass this power on?” And I can’t believe I was talking about “powers.”

            “A ritual.  Something about how she kills off her draw.”

            “The blue light,” I murmured, remembered Wingman’s end.  Leila stopped in her tracks.

            “What did you just say?” She asked.

            “Nothing.”

CHAPTER 15: ATONEMENT

            “So what do we do now?” Leila asked.

            “You tell me,” I said.  “Angel’s got the amulet now.  We can’t wait around for her to loan it to Jayne again; how often are the little ‘passing out men’ meetings again?”

            “The ‘Draws.’  That’s what we call-“

            “Whatever.  How often?” I asked.

            “Once a month.”

            I sighed.  “Well, in a couple hours, it’s going to be daylight.  Something tells me Angel isn’t going to shrug it off when she finds an empty fishbowl, a strand of hair, and one of her hooker shoes next to the air vent.  And good old Jayne… I’m gonna go out on a limb and say she isn’t going to help us.  So that leaves Nicole.  Do you trust her?”

            Leila nodded.  “She wants out just as much as I do. But…”

            “But what?”

            “She’s afraid of Angel.  Terrified.  If it comes down to it, and she has to give us up to protect herself… I’m not sure how she’ll react,” Leila said.

            I shrugged.  “She’s our best chance.  Our only chance, it seems.”

            “So… what do you want to do?  Walk up the stairs?” She pointed out of the vent to the steps on the other side of the hallway.  Each step would be like scaling the Great Wall of China.  “I’m a good climber, but my guess is we won’t make it halfway up those steps before Angel wakes up.”

            “We hitch a ride.  I’ve been doing it all night,” I said.

            “I’m not hanging on to anybody’s underwear,” Leila scowled.  “Besides, everyone is sleeping by now.  We don’t have time.  We’re not going to make it.”

            For the first time tonight, I was out of ideas.

            “You go,” she said.

            “What?”

            “Can you climb these air ducts?  To the next floor?” She asked.

            “I… maybe.  There’s enough gunk to hang onto, sure.  Barring a rat or a spider making me breakfast.  I don’t know.  It would still take hours.  We don’t have-“

            “I’m going back,” she said.  I stared at her in disbelief.  “Look, if she finds me missing, I’m dead anyways, we both are.  You need to get to Nicole’s room.  It’s the last door on the left.  And tell her everything you’ve told me.  Tell her you know about Kyle, she’ll believe you.  I’ll go back to Angel’s room.  Push her shoe back to where it was, climb back into my bowl, knock the hair we used loose, whatever.  If I am there when Angel wakes up, it’ll buy us at least a little time.  She tends to sleep in after a kill.  Besides, she doesn’t know you’re in the house yet.”

            “And when she wakes up and decides how to kill you?” I asked.

            “She believes in retribution.  I’ll convince her that Jayne should be the one to do it, since I wronged her.  She’ll give Jayne the amulet so Jayne can do… what Jayne does… to me.  You will need to have Nicole’s help by then, or I am dead.  She’ll know what to do.”  She turned and headed back to Angel’s room via the air duct.

            “Why?” I called after her.  She stopped and turned around.  Her eyes quivered.

            “Don’t you know why I chose you?  To help us?  Kyle’s photo was in an entire folder of evidence that I was going to give to you.  When things went wrong, I ended up using it to bait you, and I am sorry for that.  I couldn’t go to the police.  They already knew about Angel.  They know about her in lots of towns.  They won’t touch her.  They know what she’ll do to them, the entire police force if she’s cornered.  I chose you because you fix things.  That’s what you do.  You were going to fix this.  You would have helped me and Nicole and Kyle disappear, until we figured out a way to fight back.”

            “You didn’t answer the question,” I said.  “Why are you going back there?”

            “I’m going because I owe you one.  All you wanted to do was help me and my brother.  You didn’t hesitate to do it.  And I betrayed you, nearly damning you to a miserable death crushed by Jayne and her freaky legs.  And you still pulled me out of a glass prison and helped me escape.  I’m doing this… because I don’t want to be a killer anymore… so please.  Please, go.  And hurry.  I’m counting on you.”  She pointed towards the direction of the miniature city of captive men.  “They’re all counting on you.  Now go.”

            After a moment, I did.

CHAPTER 16: ASCENT

            The climb was dirty but not filthy.  I had to rest more than once, but I knew the client was probably in Angel’s room by now, and I couldn’t help but wonder what her true intentions were.  She seemed to react oddly when I made a comment about the blue flash I’d witnessed when Wingman met his unfortunate demise inside of Angel’s… temple, as she called it.  The must have been the “ritual” the client was talking about, how Angel acquires her… power.  The fact that she does this continuously makes me wonder if her power lasts only so long as she has victims.  Like a vampire, I thought.

            I saw a light above me.  A vent.  That must have been the ground floor, where the “draw” took place.  Far above, I could see another vent, the second floor.  It was a long way to go.  I climbed, considering everything I’d seen and heard so far tonight.  I wondered had Leila presented me with all the evidence she’d rounded up if I would have been able to believe it.   Watching Hotshot’s decimation and Wingman’s devouring, I was a believer now.  Are there other’s like Angel? I wondered.  Why, after all these generations of collecting men, is she just now recruiting some followers?  Her “city” was impressive, but if she was centuries old, wouldn’t it be… bigger?

            Another hour, maybe more, and I was getting close to it now.  My arms and legs burned and ached.  But I was determined.  The client… Leila… was no saint.  She herself had killed many men.  If we get out of this, I might have to ask about that.  But she wants out.  Was redemption beyond her at this point?  I’d like to think not.  The light was a little brighter now; I was a couple reaches away.  With my last reserves of strength, I hoisted my body into the vent, and peered out in to the hallway.  I could see one of the windows… the sun was rising.

            Scanning the hallway again, I looked all the way down.  Last door on the left, Leila had said.  I spotted it.  Nobody was up and about yet.  If they had half as much “fun” as Jayne and Angel, I imagined they were all pretty tired.  I didn’t even bother hugging the wall this time, breaking into a steady jog down the long, long hallway.  I stood in front of the massive doorway, catching my breath.  Maybe this isn’t the best idea, I thought for the hundredth time.  But I was tired of running, and tired of hiding.  I had to trust my ability to read people (Leila was a minor misstep, but it turns out her original intentions were, in fact, innocent).  I took a deep breath, and then crawled into Nicole’s room.

            Some daylight had poured into her room already.  Not much.  But it was getting progressively brighter.  I saw a bed on the far side of the room.  It looked like someone was in it, under the covers, but it was really hard to tell from the floor.  I worked my way to where a piece of comforter touched the hardwood floor.  More climbing.  When I got to the top, I saw her large mass under the sheet, curled up, laying on her side.  Familiar blond hair stretched from the top, and I could make out her voluptuous shape in the sheet.  The single white sheet heaved with each breath she took.  She didn’t even have a pillow.  But… her breathing was irregular, though.  Was she… awake?

            “I’m sorry,” I heard her whisper.  My blood froze.  But… she wasn’t talking to me… I saw some movement under the sheet again.  And then, she sniffled.  She was… sobbing.  I took another deep breath.  I came here for a reason, and I wasn’t about to turn back.  There simply wasn’t anywhere to go.  It was now or never.

            “Nicole,” I called out.  Not quite shouting.

            The sobbing stopped.  So did my heart, for a moment.  Slowly, painfully slowly, the white sheet withdrew from her face.  Her blue eyes appeared suddenly.  They were wide with astonishment, and looking right at me.  I could see the remnants of tears soaking the sheet beneath her.  The blue in her gaze pierced me, not with danger like Jayne’s emerald eyes, but they made me feel almost comfortable.  The sheet continued to withdraw, revealing the rest of her lovely face.  The corner of her red lips curled into a barely perceptible smile.  And I knew I was safe.  Finally.

But as the sheet withdrew a little more, something else caught my eye.  Looking down near her chin, I saw a miniature man lying on the bed beside her.  He was not crushed, or mangled, or soaked in passion.  But he was definitely dead.

            Well, I thought, wondering if my luck had finally run out, I have been wrong before.

CHAPTER 17: DISASTER

                Nicole immediately pushed herself up onto one elbow, still lying on her side.  I didn’t run.  I was too tired, and really, what would be the point?

                “Who…? Who are you?  How did you get in here?” She asked me.

                I started to tell her, but her other hand came from behind her and reached for me.  I braced myself as her palm swooped from behind me and gently nudged me enough to fall into her hand.  It was incredibly warm.  She slowly carried me towards her face.  Moment of truth. 

                “I’m sorry,” she said.  “I can’t hear you.”

                “It’s okay,” I managed, trying to maintain my balance in her hand.

                “Who are you, and how did you get in here?  Did you escape one of the rooms?” Her voice was stern, but it was forced.

                “Well, sort of,” I said.  “But let me just get one thing clear.  I wasn’t part of your ‘draw.’  Besides you and Leila, nobody even knows I’m here.  So… relax a second.”

                “Okay,” Nicole seemed relieved.  “Are… are you from the collective, downstairs?”

                 I shook my head.

                “Leila hired me.  To help her, and Kyle, and you…” I watched understanding dawn slowly onto her face.  I told her I was there during the snatch, that I stowed away in Jayne’s purse, and that I witnessed the draw, too.  She regarded me with amazement.  I told her I saw Kyle’s demise, and about my short adventure with Leila.  And then I explained the current situation.

                “She went back?” Nicole couldn’t believe it.  “Why should I believe you?  How do I know you didn’t just leave her there and concoct this story to get me to help you?”

                “Because she told me everything.  About the plan to expose this place.  And about your text message that made her panic.  I know you want to get out of here, too.  She doesn’t want to kill anymore.  And I’m guessing you don’t either.”  I couldn’t help but glance at the dead man on the bed below me.  She noticed, and her eyes narrowed.

                “Don’t you dare judge me,” she warned.  Let’s not piss off the giant woman, shall we?  “You don’t know what it’s like.  Angel checks our rooms.  You saw what happened to Leila when they found she’d been hiding her brother.  This man here, his name was Michael.  I explained everything to him.  That the only chance we have to end this is to keep my cover with Angel.  In the end, he understood.  He didn’t want to die, but he understood.  I held a finger over his face and watched him run out of air and die.  Now I have to break his body and show Angel that I am a killer, just like her and Jayne.  And I’ve been crying all morning.  I always do.  So don’t you dare judge me.”

                “I’m not,” I said holding my hands up, trying to keep her calm.  “Look, we’re not going to have much time.  When Angel wakes up, she’s going to decide Leila’s fate.  Leila says she can convince Angel that it should be Jayne that executes her, because of the whole ‘I stole your kill’ thing.  I’ve seen what Jayne likes to do with her kills; she restores them part of the way, and she’s going to need the amulet to do that.  That’s when you need to make your move and save her.  And me.  And yourself.”

                “I… can’t,” Nicole shut her eyes. 

                “Leila will be dead,” I said.

                “For all intents and purposes, she is already,” Nicole said, eyes still shut.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t let Angel think I’ve betrayed her.  I have to bring you to her.”

                “You want out.  If you think you’ll have a better opportunity than this, then all I ask is that you kill me now, and spare me a night with either Jayne or Angel,” I was bluffing, but she was buying it… I think.  Her eyes opened and studied me again, considering my words.  “Can you use the amulet on Jayne?  Or Angel?”  I asked.

                “Not Angel.  She’s immune to it.  It part of the ‘power’ she has,” Nicole said.

                “Well, Nicole.  You have a choice to make.  You can save yourself and condemn both Leila and me to death, or you can choose to stop killing.  You may not want to be judged, but you still have to choose,” I said, folding my arms.

                That was the best I had.  My goal was to get an audience with her.  Though it hadn’t happened the way I’d planned it, I was here now.  This was my bread and butter, to convince people about the best course of action to get what I need.  And this would be my golden moment of triumph.  Nicole closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them.

                “I’m sorry.  I’m taking you to Angel.  She’ll decide your fate,” she said.

                Fuck.

                Her hand closed firmly around so that only my head was exposed.  The heat from her hand was intense, and I could feel her pulse racing.  She was on her feet now, all glorious six feet of her.  She held me up to her face again, her expression was truly apologetic.

                “I really am sorry,” she said, moving towards the door.

                It was time to throw a Hail Mary pass.

                “I saw the blue flash,” I said quickly.  I saw how Leila reacted to this when I’d mentioned it in the vents.  Nicole’s reaction wasn’t much different; she stopped dead in her tracks.  Her gripped tightened around me.

                “What?” She said.

                “When Angel had her man in her clutches.  I was in the room, I saw the whole thing.  She made him say all this ‘I want to die’ stuff… then she… put him… inside her.  There was a blue flash.  It came from her not the amulet.  I saw it.”

                “You saw it.  You actually saw the light?” She asked.

                “I said it was blue, didn’t I?  Yeah, I saw it.”

                She staggered back a step, and her grip loosened, just a little.  She walked to her dresser and set me down again.  I welcomed the cool air again.  Looking up at her, I dusted myself off. 

                “I knew you would come around,” I said, not sure what had just happened.  “So what now?  I saw the light, but nothing happened to me, I just assumed that-“

                I saw it coming, but I was too stunned to move.  Nicole opened her right hand and held it above me.  Nothing clever came to mind.  I simply watched her.  She hesitated, just for a moment.  Then the hand came flying towards me with the force of a meteor.  My life flashed before my eyes, and then impact blasted away my entire universe.

********************

                I should have been dead.  But judging by the headache, I was not.  Slowly, very slowly, I opened my eyes.  A large face hovered above me, only a blur.  I blinked a couple times.  Slowly, very slowly, like a Polaroid picture, the face came into focus.  She waited until she saw the recognition register on my face.

                “I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” Angel said.

CHAPTER 18: FACE TO FACE

            The worst possible scenario I could think of was now a reality.  Even Jayne was preferable to this.  I didn’t think I’d see Angel’s face this closely again.  Only this time, she was looking at me, too.  I was on my back, on a table somewhere.  I wasn’t restrained, but it didn’t matter.  Judging by the candlelight, I was in Angel’s room.  Again.  I had failed to turn Nicole.  I didn’t think it was possible either.  All of the factors were in my favor.  She wanted out.  I saw it in her face.  She was part of Leila’s plan to hire me in the first place.  What had gone wrong?  I’m not sure.  But it was moot, now.

            “You must be thirsty,” she said, pushing a thimble towards me with her left hand.

            Slowly, I sat up.  My head throbbed, but my body was intact.  The last thing I remembered was Nicole slamming her hand onto me.  I recalled the weight of a cement truck hurled from a building onto my entire body.  And then I was here.  I couldn’t tell if I was lucky or unlucky to have survived that.  I rubbed my head, and looked at the small thimble of water.  I was thirsty.  I considered if it was drugged or worse, but I was pretty sure it didn’t matter.  If she wanted me to drink, I was going to drink one way or another.  I climbed to my feet and leaned over the container.  So I reach my hand into it and took a few large drinks of water.  It was surprisingly pure.

            “I believe you’ve met my girls already,” Angel said, motioning behind her.

            I looked up and I saw Nicole.  She looked sheepishly at me from across the room.  She even cracked a small smile.  Next to her was Jayne, eyeing me wickedly.  I knew what she wanted to do to me.

            “Yes,” I said.  “Though I hadn’t officially met you, Jayne,” I called, offering a mock salute.

            “What did he say?” Jayne asked.

            “He says, ‘hello,’ love,” Angel smirked, eyes still fixed on me.  “And, of course, you know this one here, don’t you?”

She opened her right hand and unceremoniously dropped a still-miniaturized Leila onto the table next to me, then Angel drew herself up to her full glorious height.  She got up slowly but would not look at me.  I glanced back up at Angel’s beautiful and terrible image.  She wore the familiar semi-transparent red robe/kimono.  The table was at her navel level right now.  Tracing her body upwards with my eyes, I saw she’d changed her bra to something in black.  I paused for a moment, glancing at the amulet dangling just above her cleavage, then looked at her face again.  She smiled again.

“So.  Tell me,” Angel said.  “How is it you came to be here, in our home?”

            I glanced at Leila, who was still looking down, then back at Angel.  Angel wanted information.  My guess is she didn’t fully trust this situation yet, so she wanted to hear my side of the story.  As long as I didn’t talk, she wouldn’t kill me… yet.  I turned back to my giantess tormenter and offered the cheesiest smile I could muster.

            “I’m the pizza guy,” I said.  “I was making a delivery, and then *Poof!* here I am.”

            Her eyes narrowed.  She may have expected cowering or begging.  As afraid as I was at the moment, I wasn’t going to give her that satisfaction.

            “Tell me.  Or I will tear your arms out of their sockets,” she said, a little too casually.

            “If I pass out from pain, I won’t be able to talk much, will I?” I replied.

            Angel turned back to look at Nicole and Jayne again.  “I like him,” she said.

            “Let me have him,” Jayne said.  “I’ll get him to talk.”  Her eyes were eager and bloodthirsty.  I thought about Hotshot’s fate and couldn’t help but shudder a little.  Angel noticed, and she smiled at me again.  I really wish she’d stop smiling at me.  I glanced over at Leila again; she still wouldn’t make eye contact with me.  Angel noticed this time, and looked at the two us with a long and thoughtful stare.

            “Jayne,” said Angel over her shoulder to her sadistic counterpart.  My muscles tensed.  “Let’s talk a moment.  Nicole, keep an eye on them.”

            Angel turned and walked with Jayne to the opposite side of the room.  I watched them go, and then looked at Nicole.  Her blues eyes still comforted me somehow.  Leila took a step towards me.

            “Are you okay?” Leila whispered.

            “No,” I said.  “I’m not okay.”

            “I didn’t betray you again,” Leila offered.  “I didn’t.”

            “Comforting.  Nicole’s not with us.  I told her the plan, and she practically smashed me with her hand…” I started.

            “HEY!” Angel called across the room.  “Don’t let them talk.  Nicole, bring her over to me!”

            Nicole would be here in two strides with those long legs of hers.

            “Think about why you survived that strike,” Leila said quickly.  “Nicole had to be sure.  Angel’s going to try and break you.  And you know how-”

            “NICOLE!” Angel hissed.  “Shut her up!”

            Nicole reached and plucked Leila from the table.  Leila cried out at me one more time.

            “Don’t tell her you saw it!  The blue flash!  You’ll be okay, just…” Leila’s voice trailed off as Nicole carried her away.  Angel snatched Leila out of Nicole’s hand and squeezed her hard enough to make her yelp.

Angel glared at Leila who struggled in her grip.  “What were you talking about? … Nothing?  Nicole, could you hear them?”

            “No.  But it didn’t look like nothing,” Nicole said.

            “Jayne.  Leila’s all yours.  Like I said, you make her talk.  Whatever you have to do.  If she doesn’t, you’re free to kill her by any means you wish,” Angel said.  Jayne held her hand out for the amulet.

            “No,” Angel said.  “Nothing fancy.  Besides, I’m going to need it.  For him,” Angel looked at me.  Jayne, with Leila now in her hand, left the room.  Nicole was about to leave, too, but Angel stopped her.  “No, you stay.  Lock the door.  You’ve proved your loyalty today.  Jayne has the taste for blood, but not the maturity.  Not yet.  It’s time you learned what real power is, love.”

            As Angel approached me, I saw Nicole close and lock the door.  The latch clicked with finality.  Angel’s midsection suddenly cut off my view of the door.  I looked up at her.  Her eyes were filled with bloodlust and hatred.  Her smile was gone.

            “Nobody defies me.  When I’m finished, you’re going to beg me to take your life,” she said.

CHAPTER 19: CHIAROSCURO

            I had watched this scene unfold last night.  But I was an observer, not a participant.  This time, Nicole was the observer, sitting on a chair beside the bed.  Angel stood by her dresser, disrobing.  I stood on a freshly laid satin red sheet, glancing back at between Angel and Nicole.  Nicole leaned close to me, her face expressionless but her eyes were… afraid?

            “Did you really think I would turn on my mistress?  And forfeit the power promised to me?” She asked.  She darted her eyes to Angel, who had just removed her panties and was now unclasping her bra.  She leaned a little closer to me, still watching Angel, and she whispered to me.  “She can’t harm you.  You saw the blue light, so you can’t be harmed, not for awhile.  Do as she says, and I’ll take care of the rest.”  The great escape is still on, it seemed.  Who says blondes are dumb?

            When Angel turned, Nicole was already sitting back in her chair.  Angel squared her shoulders to me now, her monumental naked body, save for the amulet, appeared almost dreamlike in the candlelight.  She crawled onto the bed on all fours, and crawled towards me, excruciatingly slow.  The amulet dangled, as did her breasts.  I stood perfectly frozen as she settled herself in front of me.  And there it was again, her vast and terrible womanhood.  She spread her knees on either side of me and drew herself to her full kneeling height.  I looked up directly into a total eclipse of this witch’s sexuality.  And I waited.  But I was no longer afraid.  Well, maybe a little.

            “Observe, Nicole,” Angel said.  “To achieve the greatest of power, you must make them willingly offer themselves to you.  To be devoured by your sexuality.  He thinks he will not give in.  But they always do.”  Her evil eyes looked down on me, and I felt as if the sky was speaking to me.  “When their bodies are crushed, when the pain becomes unbearable.  They always beg for it in the end.  So will it be with you.”

            “And then?” Nicole asked, clearing her throat.

            “Then you finish them.  You hold the amulet, and their life force will be drawn into you in a flash unlike the others you’ve seen.  When it is done, you will be invulnerable and ageless.  Is this what you want, Nicole.  Do you want this power?” Angel asked.

            “I do,” she said, glancing at me briefly.

            “Be sure to watch his life force pull into me.  You will feel its power.  You must do this regularly, though.  The power is not forever unless you do it again and again and again.  That is why I’ve been grooming you all to kill.  To have everlasting power you must give up childish things like compassion and remorse.  Do you understand what I am telling you?”

            “I do.”

            “Reach into that drawer,” Angel pointed to her nightstand.  I didn’t even bother to look.

            Nicole handed the sexual toy along with a fresh silk ribbon to Angel.  The time had come.  I’ve been with aggressive women before, but this was going to be very, very rough.  If Nicole was telling me what I think she was telling me, all I had to do was withstand it.  Angel’s hand scooped me up and placed me at the base of her frighteningly large dildo.  I pretended to struggle.  At least, I think I was pretending.

            “Don’t fight it,” she cooed.  “Know that your death with bring pleasure to your goddess,” she said.  “And because I am forever, you are forever… but not really.”

            I lay flat, waiting for the silk ribbon to restrain me.  I didn’t wait long.  My heart pounded in my chest.  Do as she says, Nicole said.  Easy for her to say.  The ribbon was drawn tight.  My legs straddled the base of the giant artificial shaft.  I felt like the major at the end of Dr. Stranglove, riding a warhead into oblivion like a rodeo.  Yee haw.

            The enormous lips of her womanhood glistened in anticipation.  She paused on the tip of her toy, and slowly lowered herself.  She pulled back a little, and then came down a little more, lubricating the shaft with her passion.  Her breathing deepened.  I could see Nicole, out of the corner of my eye, shifting uncomfortably.

            “This…” Angel panted, “…this is why you exist.  Your sole purpose.  To please me.”

            She must have this scripted.

            Faster now.  Her body bucked rhythmically to take in the dildo deeper and deeper.  I could see her clitoris bloom.  It crept closer to me now.  Each thrust brought it closer.  Closer.  Her knees slide sideways on the bed, always her to take it deeper.  And deeper.  And deeper.

            “Watch the fear in his eyes,” Angel said to Nicole.

            Here it was now, the climax.  She skewered herself onto it once again, plunging it as deep as it would go.  Her clitoris smashed into my face and chest.  It may not break me, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.  I coughed out the passion that had begun to choke me.  She came up again and slammed down.  Harder.  She held this time, grinding her sex into my face and body.  I could hear her screaming with pleasure, but it was muffled.  It went on for an eternity, it seemed.  I started to go numb.  Suddenly, she let me up for air again.

            “Do you love your goddess?” She asked.  It was almost time…

            “Not particularly, no,” I managed.

            SLAM!

            “Do you love your goddess?” She asked again.

            “Okay, yes.  I do,” that one really hurt, but I was still relatively unharmed.

            “Say it.  I want to hear you say it,” she commanded me.

            I did.

            SLAM!

            “My pussy is your temple, isn’t it?” She asked.  “You worship it.  Tell me you worship it.”

I said it.  She smiled with evil delight.

            She came down softly again, but with more speed and frequency.  The lips of her womanhood engorged and turned a darker red, and her passion was literally raining on me now.  I made an effort not to swallow any of it, but I had to breathe, so I did, just to clear my airway.  The bucking came harder and deeper once again, her body smashing into mine once again.  Then she paused.  This was it.

            “Tell me you want to die,” she whispered.

            Nicole’s words echoed in my mind.  Do as she says.  Why was I trusting her?  Maybe all she wanted was the power after all.  Was I simply the pawn in a game they were all playing?  My body did ache, but as far as I could tell, nothing was broken.  Could it be possible?  She can’t harm you, she said.

            “I want you to say it,” Angel said.

            “I will not,” I said, feigning defiance.

            She slammed down with the force of tidal wave.  My world was nothing but stars for a moment.  This was the blow that crushed Wingman’s little body.  She held me in place, trying to suffocate me, trying to destroy me.  All I could do was wait.  I began to black out with an enormous women’s sex pressed over my entire existence.  Then she released me again.

            “Say it.  SAY IT!” The witch shrieked.

            I coughed more of her passion out of my mouth.  “I… want to die.”

            “You want my pussy to devour you.  Your whole life, your entire existence.  Say it.”

            I did.

            “Do you offer yourself to me, your Goddess?”

            “I do,” I said.  Her hand shot towards me and tore the ribbon off mercilessly.  In her vice of a hand I could barely see anything as she positioned me just below her womanhood and thrust me in as far as I would go.

            Everything went silent, and dark, and incredibly hot.  I knew what was coming next, although nothing could have prepared me for it.  I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it.  The dildo approached me from below.  I felt the pressure of her vaginal walls release pressure for one millisecond of relief and I took a breath before the tip of the toy smashed into me.  I was thrown even deeper inside.  Here it came again.  SLAM!  My back hit something, presumably her cervix.  It was a million degrees in here.  SLAM!  Pinned between her toy and her body I had nowhere to go and nothing to do but accept the full brutality of each passionate thrust.  The muscles around me became unbearably tight.  I felt my bones start to bend but refuse to break.

            Then I heard a murmur from above.  She was saying something, holding her amulet.  The darkness turned into a brilliant blue light around me.  The pressure suddenly stopped and I felt as if I were floating in space for several seconds.  I closed my eyes but I could still see the light all around me.  And then darkness.

*********

            My eyes fluttered open, there was a face above me.  Out of focus, once again.  It was Nicole this time.  But… something was different.  Her… her size was normal.  I instinctively gripped the sheet below me.  The bed was normal, too.  I had been restored.

            “What just…?” I started.

            “No time,” Nicole said, helping me to my feet.  Nicole reached down scooped up the amulet.  I was about to ask, but she reached down again, and pulled an unconscious but miniature Angel from the bed and held her gently in her hand.  “We’ve got to get upstairs before Leila gets herself killed.”

            “Let’s go,” I said.

CHAPTER 20: ESCAPE

            With the amulet and Angel in hand, Nicole stormed through the basement.  I followed behind her.  I gave the miniature city a brief glance, but that would have to wait.  Leila was in extreme danger upstairs.  Bursting into the main room, a couple girls saw us and stood up, alarmed at the sight of a normal-sized male.  Nicole immediately shrank them and kept walking.  The light appeared to have no effect on me anymore.  Running up the stairs, another girl came out of her room, demanding to know what was going on.  FLASH!  She was reduced, too.

            The door to Jayne’s room was locked.

            “Let us in Jayne,” Nicole called.

            There was no response.

            I kicked the door in near the knob, and we marched inside.  At first, the room appeared empty, but then a wooden chair crashed onto my head.  Apparently, whatever invulnerability Angel’s first ritual bestowed upon me had expired after the second one, because I felt the full impact of that strike.  Blood immediately poured from my scalp into my right eye, and I fell to one knee.  Jayne lunged at Nicole and grabbed for the amulet, which went flying across the room.  In all the commotion, Jayne dropped Leila from her hand.  I reached out and caught her safely in my palm.  Nicole also dropped Angel’s still-unconscious body.  I didn’t bother to catch her.  She landed on the wooden floor rather hard.

            Looking in my hand I saw that Leila was unharmed.  She looked up at me and pointed to the amulet.  I nodded.  I got back onto my feet, woozy from a probably concussion, and stumbled to where the amulet lay.  I grabbed it with my free and looked down at it.  It began to glow very softly in my palm.

            “What now?” I asked Leila.

            “Use it.  You can use it now.  You have the power,” she called up to me.

            “How?  What do I do?” I asked frantically.  Across the room, Nicole was getting handled pretty badly by the athletic Jayne.  Nicole didn’t appear to be taking damage, but she was being subdued rather easily.  I didn’t have much time now.  Nicole looked up and shouted a word.  I repeated it, questioningly.  A green flash enveloped the room.  When the light dissipated, a fully restored Leila blinked at me with surprise.

            “You did it,” she said.

            I turned around just in time to see Jayne charging me.  She buried her shoulder into me and tried to shove me through the glass window.  I twisted as hard as I could and use her own momentum to let her crash into the glass.  She fell two stories and landed flat on her back.  I tried to think of a great one-liner to shout out the window, and then I realized she’d taken the amulet from me.  Crafty, I thought.

            “Are you ok?” Leila asked me.

            “Yes, but she took it.  The amulet,” I said.

            “We need to get out of here.  Now.”  The voice was Nicole’s.  She was unscathed for someone who just had her ass handed to her.   She must have been affected during Angel’s transformation.

“Guys?” Leila asked.  “Where’s Angel?”

The area where she had landed was empty.

“Another reason to leave.  Let’s GO,” Nicole said.

We marched down the stairs, passing a few of the miniature women Nicole had taken care of earlier.  But another full-sized girl came running at as.  Nicole and Leila dispatched her the old-fashioned way, with a hair pull here and a right cross there.  Nicole grabbed a jean jacket by the doorway as we left through the front door.  Leila and I followed her to a vehicle parked outside.  Reaching into the jean jacket she fumbled for a second and pulled out some keys, then tossed the jacket aside.  I jumped into the back, realizing I’d been in this car before, under radically different circumstances.

“Where’s Angel?  What happened to her?” I asked.

Nicole and Leila looked at each other and said nothing.  The car peeled onto the dirt road, and we were gone into the afternoon haze.

“What about the other men?” Leila asked.

“It’ll have to wait until another day,” Nicole said.  “But Jayne’s got the amulet.  You and Leila are not invulnerable.  Mine will wear off in a couple days, but I still can’t physically fight off the rest of the girls and Jayne all at once.  We won’t abandon those men to die. I promise we won’t.”

Leila turned to me in the back.  She smiled at me for the first time.

“You still up for the job?” The client asked.

EPILOGUE – ONE MONTH LATER

A torrential downpour of rain washed over the city streets.  The night was young, but fully blossomed.  In the darkness of the alley behind the nightclub, a man, moments ago in eager anticipation of a casual sexual encounter, finds himself standing two inches tall in a woman’s hand.  He looks up at her, horror and confusion are in his face.

“Are… are you going to hurt me?” He asks.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” a female voice responds.

Sadistic green eyes glare at him as Jayne brings his tiny body close to her face.

“I want to break you.”

THE END… SEQUEL COMING SOON (deviant1568@gmail.com)