Dream Girl

Here is the long-awaited third part of the story. Hope it was worth the wait.

Reminder of characters -----------------------

Michelle : The new woman who used to be Michael. She's basically on the run for her life.

Tina : Her life was saved by Michael. She's basically in love with Michael/Michelle.

Sarah : Tina's mother, whose life was also saved by Michelle.

Andrew : Tina's brother, who life was also saved by Michelle.

Mary : A friend of Tina's family. She's clearly high up in the witch community and generally on Michelle's side, but her loyalties are very stretched.

Richard : A member of the witch community, but also in the LAPD as a detective.

Hank : Introduced in part two. A person of equal standing to Mary within the witch community, but with vastly differing views of how Michelle should be treated.

Synopsis of previous parts. ===========================

Part One : A few years back, Michael gained telekinetic powers from a car accident, which killed his wife. Over the following years he kept these powers secret from everyone around him as he practiced and refined them.

Some years later Michael uses his powers to save the life of a family. Unknown to him, the family is part of a group of witches. The daughter, Tina took a particular shine to Michael and she wants to thank him personally. The witches are completely unaware of Michael's telekinetic abilities.

When Michael takes a short trip to San Diego to visit Tina and the family, Tina decides to transform herself into Michael's sexual fantasy. Unfortunately, things don't go according to plan. Instead of Tina being transformed, Michael is transformed into his own sexual fantasy (a blonde bombshell with a very blatant body).

He runs off in shock. There then follows a race against the clock to transform Michael back before the change becomes permanent. During this time, Michael experiences some of the highs (an orgasm) and lows (an attempted rape) of what it is like to be a woman.

Eventually the witches do catch up with Michael, but literally seconds before he is due to be turned back, the spell becomes permanent. The story ends with Michael being injected with some tranquilizer and falling asleep.

Part Two : There is a one-day break while Michael is unconscious as he's transported to Massachusetts. He wakes up in a mansion, clearly being held prisoner.

There is a meeting of the highest members of the witch community and it is discovered that Michelle's life is in danger. Mary is pushing for her to be spared, while Hank is pushing the other way.

Michelle discovers that her life may be in danger, so she uses her telekinetic powers to escape. They have no idea about Michelle's telekinetic powers. She co-incidentally meets up with Tina and they run away together.

Tina explains why Michelle's life is in jeopardy. There are numerous groups of witches (calling themselves the Kithra) and their powers are very delicately balanced. Michelle reveals her powers to Tina. They agree to head to Las Vegas to retrieve some of Michelle's money.

Mary manages to get a lead on their position and sends a team to recapture them. Michelle gets away, but Tina is captured by Hank. Hank releases Tina in the hope that she will lead him to Michelle, but tells no-one of his plans.

P.S. I've 'borrowed' Tigger's use of timescale pointers (T + 3 days etc.) from one of his stories. Without such pointers, even I was losing track of time.

T + 3 days

Dream Girl ==========

Part Three

By Phil Stevens

Chapter Eighteen ================

Michelle carried on driving for most of the morning. She was in a state of shocked trance as her mind was on autopilot. Several times, she nearly caused an accident as she failed to notice that she was closing in on a slower car.

Her mission was simple. Get to Las Vegas; retrieve her money, then return and free Tina.

The highway seemed unending. Michelle couldn't afford to go too fast because the car was effectively stolen. She remained at a constant fifty miles per hour, all the time wary of any vehicles that might be following close behind her. At that rate, it would take her days to reach Las Vegas, then days to get back, but she had no other option.

The hours continued to roll past, until she saw a sign, which caught her attention vividly. It was a huge advertising sign by the highway. It's wording caught Michelle's interest immediately against the setting sun.

"Gambler's Galore Deal. Fly to Las Vegas. $79.00 return."

Her mind started to race. Instead of spending three days traveling there, and another three traveling back, she could fly there. She would be there in a matter of hours instead of days.

For the next few minutes, she thought about it. Flying there had its disadvantages. For one thing, it would mean abandoning her car. She would have to find some transport at the other end.

Michelle saw the exit approaching. At the last minute, she decided to take it, swinging across several lanes and cutting across another driver.

Michelle drove into the town and headed for the airport. She pulled into the parking lot and gathered all her things together including Tina's purse, which contained her money and Tina's driver's license.

As she was about to get out of the car, she looked down at herself and realized that she was going to have to make some adjustments to her plan. She was still wearing the striking red dress that had been forced upon her by Sarah.

Michelle was already a drop dead gorgeous babe, but if she started walking through an airport in that dress, she wouldn't last five minutes.

She scanned the area and spotted a group of stores just beside the airport. She started her car and moved it closer, parking right beside the store entrance.

Michelle got out and dashed to the nearest clothes store, feeling a sense of relief as she passed inside. A young woman walked up and asked if she could help.

"Oh, yeah. All my luggage got lost and I need some ordinary clothes. I can't go walking around like this."

"I'll say," the woman said, "You'll have every damn stud from here to Kentucky hitting on you. What are you after?"

"Just some pants and a T-Shirt for now," Michelle replied.

"Sure, come this way."

Half an hour later, Michelle walked out of the store, feeling much more comfortable and at ease. Her striking dress was now safely tucked away, being replaced with a pair of jeans and a T-Shirt. The store assistant had originally suggested something more feminine to wear, but Michelle settled on the plain jeans and T-Shirt almost immediately. It might not have been the most appropriate, but it was what she wanted.

As she checked herself in the mirror, she still looked a complete knockout, but it was an improvement. She only looked a ten-out-of-ten on the 'babe-scale' instead of the previous twelve.

She'd also gone in for a change of underwear, some new panties and a bra. The only thing she didn't get a chance to change were her shoes. The heels that she wore were so limiting, but she wasn't sure if she had enough money to spare for some sneakers. She didn't know if there were any 'hidden extras' on the plane fare.

She parked the car in the airport parking lot and paid for a two-week ticket. It would be some time before any suspicion was raised about it, but sooner or later the car would be traced and thereafter, her eventual destination.

Michelle walked up to the check-in desk of the airline offering the deal and ordered a one-way ticket to Las Vegas. It turned out that the return tickets were actually the same price; something that always used to annoy Michael who had to continually buy one-way tickets in different names to avoid too much attention on his various trips to Vegas. Michelle settled on the return ticket.

Airlines liked to see identification, but Michael had perfected the techniques of giving false names. In the end, it was an internal flight and the airline wanted the customers. She could have used Tina's identification, but she didn't want to risk the chance that the Falcons might be able to check with the airline. She didn't know what their resources were. Somehow they had discovered their location at the motel.

As Michelle boarded the plane, she was confronted by smiles and grins of various single guys, all obviously intent on trying to get a piece of her. She wondered if she would ever get used to being drooled at.

Her seat was a window seat. After she sat down, she was ecstatic as a middle-aged woman sat next to her, effecting as a barrier against the adoring men that just wanted to know her. As the plane started to thunder down the runway, Michelle slumped back into her seat and relaxed, just dozing off to sleep in the relative safety of the aircraft.

At the same time, Tina wandered around the small town for a third time. It was early evening and beginning to get dark.

All the time, she was expecting Mary and the others to show up and recapture her. In her current state, she would not be able to offer any resistance. But so far, there was no sign of either them or Michelle.

Her memory was equally lost. She clearly remembered the day before, but everything from that morning onwards was a complete haze. She struggled to remember something, anything about Michelle.

She was sitting on a park bench and was fighting back the tears. "How can it end like this," she thought to herself.

Eventually she found the strength inside herself to say, "It's not over. They haven't caught me yet."

Tina didn't move for another ten minutes wondering what she should do. "Maybe Michelle's already been caught," she thought. That would explain why they were not bothering about her. In fact, Michelle could already be dead.

Tina buried her head in her hands. She needed to find out. She had to know what was going on. Across the street, she could see a call box. She felt herself uncontrollably drawn to it.

Tina walked over the call box and fished around in her pockets. Her purse was gone. Tina found a small amount of change. Not much, just enough for a snack to eat from one of the stores and a quick phone call.

Tina picked up the phone, hesitated slightly, and then put some coins in the box.

Tina hesitated again as her fingers hovered over the buttons. She knew that it was a risk, but she had no option.

Sarah was sitting down to dinner with her son, Andrew, Mary and a few others. The search teams in New Jersey had found nothing. They had returned to the mansion in New Jersey in the chopper. Mary was coordinating the search from there and had offered Andrew and Sarah a ride in the chopper. Actually she had insisted.

Sarah wasn't hungry. She was feeling a huge mix of fear and hope. She was delighted that neither Michelle nor Tina had been caught, but at the same time, it was tinged with fear. She knew that she might never get to speak to her daughter ever again.

Their conversation was broken when the door to the dining room was opened. A man walked inside. "Mary, can I have a quick word."

"Sure," Mary replied, putting down her knife and fork, making her apologies, then getting up from the table. They walked out into the hallway for their conversation, leaving the door open. Although no-one wanted to admit it, everyone else straining to hear what was being said, but their voices were just a little too quiet.

Their strained hearing was pierced by the sound of a phone ringing. Startled, Sarah realized that it was her cell phone.

"Oh, excuse me," Sarah said, realizing it was her phone. The sound was coming from her purse on a side table.

Andrew reached over, picked up his mother's purse and handed it to her. Sarah opened her purse, fished out her cell phone and answered it.

"Hello," she said, the dejection in her voice obvious. Other people were looking at her with interest.

"Hi Mom, it's me," came the reply.

Sarah's heart stopped beating. She had a tremendous urge to swallow in fear.

"Oh... Hi... Brenda," Sarah replied doing everything possible to hide the fear in her voice. She quickly glanced around the table and saw that most had returned to their eating. Most of them knew that Brenda was one of Sarah's 'normal' friends back in California.

"Brenda, now isn't a good time," Sarah said trying to give her daughter the hint that she wasn't alone.

"Are you alone?" Tina asked.

"No. Not really," Sarah replied. She glanced over and saw that Mary was engaged in her conversation but Mary turned to look at Sarah. Their eyes locked and Sarah tried to give Mary a convincing smile, but somehow she knew that Mary could tell. Sarah glanced away.

"Okay. Shit. I'll make it quick. Look, Michelle and I got separated. I don't know where she is. Is she back with you?"

"Err... no I haven't heard from her in a long time," Sarah thought quickly. It was the only thing she could say to answer her question without giving the game away.

"Damn. Then she must still be around. Look, Mom. I'm safe. I'm just a bit... lost at the moment. If Michelle rings you, just tell her to stay put. I'll find her," Tina said to her mother, although at that point, she didn't know where Michelle was.

Sarah looked up and saw that Mary had walked into the room. She strode straight up to Sarah and grabbed the cell phone from her.

"Hello. Who is this please?" Mary asked.

Tina, shocked to suddenly hear Mary's voice, gave out a gasp, and then smashed the handset back onto the phone. She stepped back as she realized the implications. They would almost certainly be able to trace the call. If they didn't already know where she was, they soon would.

She walked away from the call box. But Tina knew that wasn't nearly enough. She had to get away from the town... and fast. She would have to do whatever it took to get away.

"That was Tina, wasn't it," Mary questioned Sarah, the cell phone still in her hand.

"No," Sarah replied, but everyone in the room knew she was lying.

"Where is she?" Mary asked sternly.

"I don't know," Sarah replied emphatically and truthfully.

"What did she say?" Mary questioned. Sarah said nothing. "Why did you try and hide it?"

"Because, she's my daughter damn it," Sarah snapped, "and I'll do anything to protect her... anything." Sarah got up from the table and stormed out of the room.

"Satisfied," Andrew growled at Mary.

"Don't think I enjoy this Andrew," Mary stated. "I'm trying to help your sister and the sooner you both realize that, the better."

Andrew said nothing, but simply got up from the table and followed his mother out.

Mary waited half a minute, and then left the room also. She walked into an empty room and picked up a phone, dialed a number and waited for an answer.

"Hi Richard, it's me, Mary. Look Tina just called Sarah on her cell phone. I want you to do a trace on it. Also I want you to put a trace on every phone in or out of here. Call me paranoid, but I just don't know who to trust right now."

"Fuck," Hank thought to himself as he realized that his plans were not going as they should. When his men dumped Tina in that barn near the town, they had left her with a small amount of money, hoping that she would attempt to contact Michelle, using a rendezvous point that they had arranged.

But Tina had been stupid enough to contact her mother, knowing full well that it would alert the rest of the group to her location. Either Tina had been very stupid... or desperate.

He couldn't allow the rest of the group to find out what he had been planning. He would have to switch to his backup plan.

Michelle was doing her best to relax in the aircraft. So far, it hadn't been as bad as she feared, but she couldn't wait to get off the plane. The window seat, combined with the old woman sitting next to her, had kept the drooling guys at bay.

But Michelle noticed that the morbid situation did not appear to have solved her problem of being horny. After the initial sleep, she woke up all hot and bothered. At first she thought it was the cabin temperature, but it didn't take long for her to realize that it wasn't a physical heat she was feeling, but a sexual one.

Every time a girl or woman walked past, she felt a longing desire for her, but deep down Michelle knew that she would stand little chance with a woman again.

Of greater concern was the fact that as time passed by; Michelle began to get less fussy. When a young man smiled at her, and plenty did, she found herself involuntarily smiling back.

Michelle could only take so much. Eventually she couldn't help but go to the bathroom. She got up from the seat and made for the bathroom. As soon as she was inside, she felt physically compelled to unbuckle her pants and slip her hand in her panties and slide the other hand up inside her T-Shirt to her bra.

She gasped as her rough hands squeezed her sensitive nipple too tightly. Her hands slowed down and eased off a bit, but Michelle knew she wouldn't be able to stop.

She glanced up and her eyes widened as she noticed that she hadn't locked the door. Anyone could open the door from the outside. She tried to reach out and lock the door, but her hands refused to obey her brain's command. Her right hand was rubbing her love button so well and the pleasure was so intense, that her mind told her that it was worth being discovered.

Michelle summoned every inch of willpower but she couldn't bring her hands to stop. Eventually she had to reach out with her mind and flicked the lock on the door with her telekinetic powers.

Ten minutes later it was all over. Michelle was sitting on the floor basking in the afterglow of her orgasm.

"Shit, that feels good," Michelle remarked to herself. She tried to avoid making too much noise. She kept her jaw clamped shut and even bit on her tongue, but ultimately, the feelings were incredibly intense.

Michelle was beginning to learn a few extra things about her new body. First, when it needs relief, it really needs it. Michelle didn't have a choice in the matter. Her body, quite literally made her do it. She knew that she would have to keep on top of the situation, otherwise her body might end up making her do something a lot worse than stick her fingers in herself.

As she left the bathroom, her face went scarlet red as people looked at her. She thought that the noise of the aircraft had covered her groans, but that didn't stop her from blushing as she hurried to her seat.

Michelle managed to get a little more sleep and she knew she was going to need it. Eventually they reached Las Vegas. As the plane touched down on the runway at McCarren airport, she felt her breasts bounce and jiggle, further reminder of what had happened to her.

She wandered around for a while, staying out of sight as much as possible. She would have felt much safer on the Las Vegas Strip, but she was out to steal a car and that would not have been possible from one of the larger hotels, where a security camera covers virtually every square yard. It wouldn't be easy, but her telekinetic powers should aid her.

Thousands of miles away, Tina was celebrating after doing something very similar - stealing a car. However, Tina needed a much bigger break as she had no powers that could be used to get her a car, but instead, she chanced upon a small car, where the owner had stupidly left the keys inside.

Initially she felt guilty about stealing the car, but her need was simply too great to ignore the gift of chance. There was also an added bonus. After she had taken the car, she had a chance to search through. Pushed carefully down the side of one of the various compartments was one thousand dollars in cash.

At first, Tina wondered who could have been stupid enough to leave a car and money lying around like that, but she also found numerous empty liquor bottles. Tina guessed that the owner of the car was probably still lying on some street, completely drunk. However, she made a vow to herself that once all the business was over, she would repay the owner for his oversight.

She now had a car and some money. The pain had long subsided and her strength had returned. But one thing that had not returned was her magical powers. Despite all her efforts, they had gone completely, having been used up in her attempts to fight off the power stone attack.

It was a serious situation and she knew it. When a witch uses up all their power, then their link to the magical well is broken and has to be re-established from scratch. It was akin to blowing out the pilot light on a gas heating system. It has to be relit, before the entire system could be used again.

That could mean that Tina would have to go through all the initial training exercises again, which had taken her six months the first time. Getting her powers back wouldn't take that long, but it could be at least a week before she would even feel them again, and anything up to a month before they would be up to a usable level.

She was amazed that her group had not been able to find her. She knew that her innate magical abilities were broadcasting her presence like a homing beacon, so why hadn't she been recaptured? But Tina also knew that the power stone attack obviously hadn't gone according to plan, because she should have been in a coma for the next week, so perhaps she wasn't highlighted as much as she should have been.

She was sorry that they had got separated, but even if Michelle hadn't run away when she did, Tina would have insisted that she leave, now that she knew Michelle could take care of herself.

That really bugged Tina. Somehow, she knew that Michelle was capable of protecting herself, but she couldn't work out why. Her memory had not returned during the day. She knew that something important happened that morning, but she simply couldn't remember it.

Tina was headed South. She had no idea where she was going. At first she thought about going to New Jersey, but there was a big voice inside her, telling her that it wasn't right and that Michelle wasn't in New Jersey.

Unfortunately, that same voice of hers couldn't tell her where Michelle was. A zip code would have been handy, but her sub-conscious was not forthcoming. At the moment all she could work out was that Michelle wasn't in New Jersey.

However, it proved that deep down, Tina did still have her memory, but it was just buried too deep. If only she could retrieve it.

Hank's men were following a few miles behind, remaining just out of sight, relying on their ability to track her by magical means. Tina had taken the bait perfectly.

They had arranged for Tina to 'find' an unattended car. Hank assumed that Tina knew where Michelle was, but she lacked the means to get there. By providing her with a vehicle and some money, she would lead them straight to Michelle.

Michelle was out in the Nevada desert digging with a shovel that she had just bought. It was now totally dark, so she was working entirely to a small flashlight that she had also purchased. It was her third attempt to find her hidden stash. It would have been much easier to wait and dig during the day, but she didn't want to be seen out in the middle of nowhere during daylight. It would not have been so bad had she still been male, but Michelle was very quickly becoming aware how noticeable and vulnerable her new body was.

As she was digging, she had to laugh slightly. She had various scenarios as to why she might need her cash, but she never dreamed that she would be wearing a bra and panties when she came to dig them up.

She hoped that she had the right location this time, because her powers were beginning to wane and she had to use her own strength. The day had been so long and she was physically exhausted. Michelle had discovered over the past few days that her new body had very little strength compared to her old body. The shovel seemed to get progressively heavier as her powers diminished further.

Michelle drove the shovel in again, but this time she heard a clang as the shovel made contact with some metal. She carefully scraped away all the remaining dirt around the box and then got down onto her knees and pulled out the metal box that she had buried such a long time ago.

Using the flashlight, she searched through the items and they were all in place exactly as she had left them. They included eight thousand dollars in cash and a new identity that was useless given her drastic change in appearance. As she was about to toss aside the driver's license and passport, she noticed the photograph on the card and for the first time since her transformation, she was able to see her old male self.

Michelle felt her emotions well up as she stared at the picture. She knew there was every chance that she may never look like that again. Instead of throwing it away, she put it back in the tin as a souvenir.

Michelle took half of the money and put it in her pocket. She took four thousand dollars and put the remainder back in the tin and buried it again in case she somehow lost the money she had. Four thousand dollars would be enough to use in the casinos.

Michelle reburied the tin and did her best to cover up the fact that someone had been digging there. She returned to the car.

T + 4 days

Chapter Nineteen ================

Richard walked into Mary's small office early the next morning. When he saw Mary, it was clear she had been working since before the sun rose. She greeted him and they both sat down.

"So how was New Jersey?" Mary asked.

"Interesting," Richard replied.

"How so?"

"Well first, I think I now know why Tina's spell got screwed up so badly."

Mary was surprised. That was very welcome news. The matter, of how a 'normal' had some magical resistance had been of concern to everyone. Limited magical resistance is fairly normal, particularly to mind related spells, but they had encountered resistance like this before.

Richard tossed an envelope onto Mary's desk. She picked it up took out the contents. They looked like X-Ray's of a person's head. "What am I looking at," Mary asked, not having knowing what she was supposed to look for.

"They're Michael's brain scans, taken after her accident a few years back. According to the doctors I've spoken to, they are highly abnormal and not like any brain scan they've ever seen before."

"But I don't understand. How does this explain why Tina's spell went wrong?"

"Think about it," Richard replied, "Tina said that the spell went wrong because the examination of Michael's mind took too long. But if his brain was somehow... wired differently..."

"So she never did have any resistance as such," Mary stated, "she was just different and the magic didn't know how to cope, so it improvised. But what about Tina's Stun spell."

"Same thing because the Stun spell affects the brain," Richard replied, "I'd guess that she would have had resistance to any mind related spell. I doubt Tina could have adjusted his memory anyway, even if she had used the correct version of the Transformation spell."

Mary thought to herself digesting the new information, "Right, this is good news. It means that Council won't see her as being such a freak. Now what about finding her."

Richard shook his head, "No luck there. I traced the phone call to a town in upstate New York, but they'd already gone. The weird thing was, that when we asked around, people remembered seeing Tina, but they didn't remember seeing Michelle at all."

"Yeah. I think they might have got separated. Sarah didn't tell me everything, but I got the impression that's what happened. So, if they are separated, where do you think Michelle might go?"

"She could go home. We have New Jersey fairly well covered. I've been looking at her past travel history. She's been around a bit over the past few years. Excluding overseas travel, she's been to Miami, California, New Orleans, Colorado, Las Vegas, the list goes on. We don't have enough people to cover all of these destinations and none of none of them stands out. She could be anywhere."

Mary mused carefully as she looked over the list. She made a mental note of all of the locations in case any of them popped up again. She glanced over Las Vegas on the list, seeing Richard's notes that Michael may have had a gambling fixation because of his financial records. She agreed with Richard's assessment that they couldn't send people all over the country. Instead, they would have to monitor various channels and simply wait for something to turn up. "Anything else?"

"Well... Mary... I know I'm still young by Kithra standards, but I've chosen a police officer as my day job and I'm damn good at it. All my instincts are telling me there's something wrong here. We're missing something. There's something wrong with this picture. Those brain scans are a part of the puzzle, but I've just got this gut feeling that there's something we're just not seeing."

"Why do you think that?" Mary enquired.

"It's a lot of things. It just doesn't fit right. I visited Michael's parents when they were informed about his death. They're devastated, but their grief is real. I tried to slip in a few questions to confirm everything Michael told you about his life is true and as far as I could tell, it was. But it still doesn't make sense."

"What do you think is happening?"

"I don't know. But there's definitely something we're missing.

"Could she already be a witch? A spy perhaps, planted here by one of the other groups, to try and test our... resolve."

"Nah. I thought about that. I suppose it's possible, but that doesn't fit the picture either. If she was already a witch, Tina wouldn't have been able to transform him, period. Anyway, if that was the case, then they would at least be moving against us, but we don't see any indication of that. And it still doesn't fit."

"Then what the hell is going on?"

Richard just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know".

Mary shrugged her shoulders as well, accepting the fact that there was still no plausible explanation for this enigma.

"How are you doing with all the phone traces," Mary asked, changing the subject.

"It's proving awkward. I've set up equipment to trace all of the fixed line phones here, but I don't think I'll be able to do more than three cell phones without arousing suspicion, because that has to be done at the phone company end."

"Then use magic to get what you want. If you need help with some mind control spells, I'm sure I can help out," Mary pointed out. She really needed to know exactly what was going on and these phone traces would help considerably.

"It's not that simple Mary. Even I could do that with my contact at the NYPD, but what about his boss, or his boss, or the people at the telephone companies. I can only use mind-control magic on a line-of-sight basis.

"If I set up a trace for twenty phone lines, someone's going to get suspicious. Then they'll call in Internal Affairs, maybe the FBI. Before you know it, there will be a dozen people all over the country involved. I won't be able to cover it up."

Mary sighed in acceptance of their limitations. Some of the other groups used mind-control magic at a whim, often ruining lives to get what they wanted, but the Falcons only used it when necessary and only then in minor amounts. Richard continued, "So I'm tracing Sarah's and Andrew's cell phone at the moment. I can squeeze through one more trace. Who do you want it to be?" Richard asked.

Mary mused for a moment. "Hank," she said.

"You want me to bug a Council member. You sure about that?" Richard pointed out.

"Yeah. I'll take full responsibility if anyone finds out," Mary stated.

"Don't worry. They won't. I'm very good at covering tracks."

Michelle woke up to the heat of the Nevada sun blinding her in the eyes. She woke up with a start as she realized that she fell asleep in her car out in the desert. She quickly shook herself, then started her car and headed back into town.

Once back in Vegas, the first thing she did was ditch the car. She took care to remove her fingerprints and any other trace of who had taken the car. Michelle didn't even know if her new fingerprints even matched her old, not that the police had her old prints anyway.

Then she set about doing the things that she knew had to be done. First she booked into a hotel. It was a smaller hotel, the sort of place that didn't insist on credit cards as damage collateral. The room wasn't high quality, but it would suffice.

The very next thing would be a new identity. She knew that if she went into a casino, she would be considered underage. Although she could just pass for a twenty-one year old, any Casino or bar would want to see some ID, but Michelle had none.

She decided to go to the same guy that made up Michael's fake passports, who also lived in Las Vegas. He was a wheelchair bound Vietnam cripple and would pose no threat to her. All she needed was a new name to use.

Michelle tried to think of a name, any name, but not a single appropriate name would come to mind. Eventually she had the idea to go and get a local phone book. When she had the book, she simply threw the book into the air then looked at the first female name on the page.

"Deirdre Simpson" was the first name. "Nah," Michelle thought, so she randomly flipped a few pages forward and found a more interesting name. "Lisa Trent." Michelle nodded at that choice.

"Shit, I've had two name changes in less than a week. First Michelle, now Lisa," Michelle mused to herself.

Tina woke up sometime later in the day. She had been driving long into the night and stopped only when she could go no further. The real problem was, she had no idea where she was going.

Tina pulled into a nearby diner and ordered a double breakfast. Her drive to find Michelle had meant that she hadn't eaten in over a day.

Across the room from Tina, also eating breakfast was Jack Turner. He, along with his colleague was tasked with tracking Tina right to the point when she would meet up with Michelle. Throughout Tina's drive, they had been holding back a few miles and using their magical abilities to track Tina, but when she pulled into the diner, they assumed they had reached the rendezvous point and therefore moved closer to observe. His colleague was waiting outside. Just prior to entering the diner, he had modified his appearance slightly. Nothing major. In fact it was mostly facial, but enough so that Tina wouldn't recognize him.

Tina was taking obvious precautions to avoid being discovered. She knew that she was the victim of a power stone attack and was using the smaller roads to avoid detection. She was also very suspicious of any car that appeared to be following her. They had to keep 'borrowing' other cars to avoid her finding out.

Tina was correct in her assumption that the failed power stone attack hadn't highlighted her as much as it should have done. Their tracking range was limited to a couple of miles, whereas it should have been twenty or thirty miles one day after exposure.

This was a double-edge sword. It meant that the chances of her 'signal' being picked up by other Falcons was very low, especially as Tina was steering clear of the cities, but the disadvantage was that they could only track for a few more days at best.

Tucked away in his jacket pocket was his trusty Smith & Weston. His orders from Hank were to wait until Tina and Michelle re-unite and then detain them both at any suitable location using any force necessary until Hank could join them. Hank hadn't divulged what would happen to them, but Jack wasn't totally naïve.

He sat reading his newspaper, thinking of how Tina had broken almost all of their laws. She had transformed an outsider, fallen in love with him, probably told him all their secrets and now was trying to leave the group with him. There was hardly a rule she hadn't broken. It was amazing that the Council were virtually allowing her to get away with it.

In times gone by, they would have been much more ruthless, but times had changed. Their group had become far more liberal and it was their group that was almost destroyed twenty years ago because of it. Their leaders were weak and toothless. He didn't share the hard-line views of some of the other groups, but in his opinion it was better to be a bit rough at the edges and alive, than being righteous and dead.

Jack knew that the Falcons needed a strong leader. Hank had been maneuvering into that position for some years, but not enough people supported him. Perhaps this situation would change things.

Jack saw some movement on the table he was watching. Tina appeared to be finishing her second breakfast. She walked to the ladies restroom. She returned shortly, thanked the owner, and then walked out.

Jack played it cool and waited. He could feel Tina walking away. He knew his friend would monitor her and call for help if required. After a few minutes, he walked out to his colleague.

"Anything?" he asked.

"No. She just got in and left. No phone calls, nothing," he replied.

"This can't be the meeting point then," Jack shrugged. "Come on, let's get after her."

Michelle took a cab back to her hotel. In her pocket, were a new driver's license and a new passport, both in the name of Lisa Trent, 22 years of age, born in New York. She looked at the photos of both pieces of identification. Although she had seen herself in the mirror before, to somehow see a picture of herself was different. She had forced a smile for the camera, but even this forced smile had a natural warmth to it.

It had taken a while to convince the man to make them, but Michelle persuaded him with money, although it took a thousand dollars. All the time, Michelle could see that he just couldn't take his eyes off Michelle's chest. It was as if he wasn't looking her in the face.

Since being a woman, every person Michelle had met, male and female, but especially the men, had always glanced down to her prominent chest.

As Michael, virtually every conversation had been eyeball-to-eyeball contact. But as a young woman, it was completely different. Michelle couldn't believe how obvious it was. People were not looking her in the eye. It was so frustrating. Even women took a quick glance of either admiration or jealousy.

As she put her new identity in Tina's purse, she realized the next thing Michelle needed was some clothes. If she was to go out to the Casino's tonight, she needed some presentable clothes. Her red dress was over the top, and her jeans and T-Shirt were well underdressed. She needed something in between.

"What the fuck is she doing," Jack asked his companion as he stared at Tina through a pair of binoculars. They were parked about a mile from her. She was sitting down in a field with her eyes closed.

"She's meditating," he replied.

"I know that. I mean, what's she doing meditating. She should be meeting up with Michelle, not doing... that."

"Maybe... well... perhaps... err... I don't know," he shrugged.

"Here, you keep an eye on her," Jack said as he handed him the binoculars, "I'm gonna phone Hank and keep him updated."

Jack Turner returned to their car and dialed Hank's number on his cell phone. He had been instructed to use coded language when talking. Neither of them trusted the technology to be completely secure. They talked about how the fishing trip was going. Jack was able to get across the message he needed and Hank signaled that he understood.

Jack returned to his colleague.

"No change," he reported. "Still meditating."

Across the field Tina sat in her deep meditative state. She was attempting to do two things. Firstly, she was trying to regain her magical powers. The full training could take months, but if she was able to retain just a scrap of her old power, she could use that as a base on which to build. She could have her powers back within days instead of weeks.

The second thing she was trying to do was contact Michelle telepathically. Their power of telepathy was the one of the few powers they had which didn't rely on line of sight access. Also, it required very little magical power to do it. It was virtually an innate ability of all Kithra. In fact, it was that same innate ability was also broadcasting her presence to any listening Kithra in the immediate area.

However, the ability to make contact with someone almost vanishes after about ten miles, so Tina was stopping every fifteen miles and scanning the area, searching for Michelle's mind. Tina was fully aware of how many ten-mile circles there were in the country. She was searching for a needle in a haystack. But Tina couldn't think of anything else to do. She had to do something positive and her meditations were the only thing she could think of.

Michelle walked into the large clothing store. It seemed to be a mid-range store stocking everything from the very casual to the very formal.

She inadvertently entered the store in the lingerie section. As she glanced at the displays and saw a sexy teddy, she smiled as she remembered the embarrassment at the last time she had bought such a garment for her wife years ago. She shuddered as she realized that the next time she would buy such a thing, it would probably be for herself.

She walked once around the whole store. After she had been around the various sections, her head was dizzy. There was so much choice. As a man it was simple, a shirt, pants and some shoes, nothing else.

But for a woman, there was too much variety. Should she go for a shirt or a blouse, pants or skirt, or even combine the two with a dress. Socks or hose, heels or flats. The permutations were amazing.

As she was still trying to get her bearings, one of the sales assistants walked up to her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, seeing that Michelle looked a little lost in what to buy.

"Err... yeah, I just flew in an lost my luggage and I need something to wear for tonight," Michelle replied. The lost luggage excuse seemed to work well before.

"Sure. What type of clothes do you want, formal or casual?" she asked.

"Err... well... formal I guess," Michelle replied, thinking that casual-wear would mean the leather mini-skirts she had seen two rows before.

"How about something like this," the assistant pointed out as she walked up to a display model. The mannequin was wearing a casual woman's two-piece suit with an accompanying blouse. It looked good. Michelle gave a slight nod and even a smile. Perhaps women's clothes were not all that bad.

Ten minutes later, Michelle was standing in front of a display mirror wearing the suit. It was very comfortable and she was so pleased that she was wearing pants. In fact, the only feminine item was the blouse, but that wasn't too bad. "It's just a shirt with the top button missing," Michelle convinced herself.

Michelle had also settled on a pair of flat shoes. All in all, she was pleased with the outcome.

"I'm not sure it's quite right," the assistant stated. Although she had initially suggested it, now that she could see Michelle wearing it, the assistant could see that it didn't go well with her. She seemed a little young to be wearing such formal wear. Also such suits were not designed for women with larger busts and Michelle's seemed to be spilling out of the lapels.

"No. It's fine," Michelle replied, with some authority.

"Okay then, walk this way," the assistant replied taking her to the pay desk. Although she thought that Michelle looked completely out of place, she wasn't going to argue with her. If that was what she wanted, then the store assistant was only too pleased to get the sale.

The Falcon's Council room was filled with all eight members around the oval table. The mood was one of uncertainty. One by one, each member delivered their report. Basically, none of them had found any trace of Michelle.

Finally the leader spoke, "Okay, now we need to discuss what we do with her when we get her back. Thoughts anyone?"

Mary was about to speak up, when someone else spoke first. It was Hannah. Mary knew Hannah from when they were both in their teens. They were never very close to each other, but they had always maintained a mutual respect for each other.

"Yeah, I've never met this person, Michael or Michelle or whatever her name is now, but I didn't get much sleep last night thinking about it. Let's look at the bigger picture. We've got a person here who saved three members of our group. In return, we turn him into a woman, probably permanently, against his will."

"As if that isn't enough, we imprison her, and then threaten her life. Now I know what the rules are, and last night I thought, 'well fuck the damn rules'"

Mary clenched her fist under the table. She couldn't have said it better herself. But Mary wasn't totally impartial, so the fact that it was another Council member saying this, made the argument all the more compelling.

"You can't be serious," Hank interrupted. "Look, I've got nothing against Michelle personally. But we can't afford to ignore what the rules are."

"Yes we can, Hank," Hannah replied, "It's all about having the will. It's no good just saying 'we can't'. We CAN do it... if we want to... and I think we should. We owe it to her."

"People. Look at us," Hannah continued. "Look at what we've become. We're starting to turn into the people we despise. Okay, the rules may have been needed a few centuries ago, but times change."

Someone else chipped in, "I agree with what you're saying Hannah. But some of the other groups won't see it the same way. They're still living in the past."

Finally Mary felt the time was right for her to step in, "Then let them. But we're better than that. We can look to the future."

Hank sat back silent. He could sense a change in mood. Although he had plenty of arguments, he decided to save them for now. He generally prided himself on being a rash, impulsive person, with his decisiveness usually winning through. But in the past few years, he was learning to be a more patient, calculating person.

Chapter Twenty ==============

Michelle walked briskly into the casino, dressed out in her new business suit. She had her hair tied back behind her. At first she tried to tie it up, but three failed attempts had made her settle for one of Tina's hair bands.

She also removed the small pendant that Tina had given her. It didn't seem right on her and if it was the symbol of their group, then it was the last thing Michelle wanted to wear, just in case she bumped into one of the Falcons, and they didn't know what she looked like. Also, Michelle felt awkward wearing it when it belonged to Tina. It was safely tucked away back at the motel.

Michelle picked the casino at random, but it was a well-reputed and established casino. As Michael, she used to visit the more dubious casinos, which made her conscience feel a lot better because she was essentially swindling them. But she inwardly vowed that she would not set a foot near any of them with her current body.

Swindling money out of Casino's was easy with her powers, but she had to do it right. In Vegas, people can win or lose millions of dollars in the time it takes most people to eat breakfast. But these kind of people had been coming to the town for years. Everyone knew them and the casino owners were not surprised to see them winning, although they might be disappointed. Michael had slowly and painstakingly built up his own reputation for being a gambler in the town, so if he did have a big win, it wasn't treated with any undue suspicion.

However, if a total stranger walked in and started winning then that would be a completely different matter. Michelle would have to play the game very carefully and settle for modest wins. But she didn't need to be greedy. They didn't need a million, just enough for them to be able to hide away comfortably.

As she walked into the main casino, she felt a hundred eyes turn and stare at her. Michelle walked around, searching for an empty Roulette table. As she walked, she could almost feel everyone's eyes burn into her.

She tried to put it out of her mind and concentrate on the task at hand, but the feeling that everyone was staring at her kept eating away at her defenses. It was worse than she thought. Pretty girls were everywhere in Vegas and Michelle thought it would be easy to blend in. Already, she knew she was wrong.

She headed straight for the Roulette table. Of all the games in the Casino, Roulette was the easier for her to manipulate, but even better, it was seen by the Casino to be the hardest to swindle because the players have no direct contact with the mechanism of the game, namely the wheel. So far less attention would be directed there. All in all, Michelle though that tonight should be easy pickings.

Michelle walked past one of the enclosed areas, where most of the high rollers play. Michelle would have liked to play in there, because fewer people were around, but if she did, she would look completely out of place. She would have to settle for the open tables. The stakes were a lot lower, but they should be more than sufficient.

As soon as she was at the table, she was immediately challenged for her age. She produced her fresh driver's license from her purse and was allowed to continue. It felt really awkward to be carrying around a purse. As a male, everything would have been in the suit pockets. But Michelle knew that women, even women with suits carried everything round in a purse.

It seemed only a matter of seconds, before a leeching man was standing beside her.

"Hey, babe," the guy leered, "D'ya want me to show you how to play this game." Michelle could smell the alcohol on him.

"That's okay. I already know," Michelle replied politely, annoyed at being called a 'babe'. As Michelle looked over at the man, she knew exactly what he wanted to do to her as he was undressing her with his eyes. She felt a desire to punch the guy just for his thoughts.

"Nah, a pretty girl like you can't play this. Let me show ya," he said as he moved round to Michelle's other side. As he did so, Michelle felt his hands deliberately brush across her ass and even give a slight squeeze. There was no subtlety about it. He basically fondled her. Michelle bit her lip slightly and she forced herself to calm down.

Michelle pulled up a chair and sat down, believing it would prevent the guy from touching her up again, but he had lots more tricks up his sleeve. As he leaned across to place a chip on the far end of the table, his arm brushed against Michelle's chest.

"Hey, would you stop that," Michelle said as firmly as she could.

"Sorry. An accident. Won't happen again," he replied, in the most patronizing voice Michelle could detect. Just prior to coming out, Michelle had jerked herself off in her hotel room, so she did not feel the intense sexual desire that had been so prevalent recently, but even in a female state of 'heat', she found it impossible to believe how any woman could conceivably be interested in that sort of person.

Michelle studied the table, and in particular the wheel. Manipulating the numbers should be an easy matter, but she would have to go easy. She was playing with her remaining amount of cash, just over two thousand dollars, which was a reasonable stake to walk to the table with. It showed that she had money to spend and wouldn't be too surprised at winning a few thousand more.

As far as Roulette goes, there is no such thing as a system. It's pure luck. The odds are thirty-five to one and there are thirty-eight numbers, which means that the odds are stacked slightly in favor of the Casino.

But Michelle didn't need to completely throw every roll of the ball. All she needed to do was tip the odds slightly in her favor. As Michael, she discovered that all it took was a generous win every now and then when her luck was out, just to tide her over. She would probably only need to manipulate three or four spins at the right time to tip the odds.

That plan worked flawlessly before, and Michelle intended to follow the same example. She would play the wheel just as normal and only manipulate the outcome if really needed. It was a virtually foolproof plan.

She played the first few rounds without using her powers and by pure chance; she was able to win another two thousand dollars quite quickly. It was going perfectly. She was winning fare and square, which wouldn't attract any attention at all.

"Hey, girl. How did a pretty girl like you win like that," Michelle heard. She turned to see the leech of guy sitting next to her had not gone away.

"Just luck," Michelle replied. "Can't a girl win?"

"Not one as pretty as you. Hey, if you're a lucky girl, can I get lucky with you."

Michelle turned away disgusted, in disbelief of how blatant his pick-up lines were. But something he said worried Michelle. Even in his half-drunken state, he had noticed that Michelle was winning. But Michelle hadn't been using her powers at all. She was winning by pure luck, fair and square.

Something was wrong. She wasn't putting out the right signals. She had only won two thousand dollars, but even that comparatively small amount had raised attention. Why? As Michael, she had one ten times more with less attention. What was different?

Her thoughts were broken by the sensation of something on her leg. She looked down and saw that the leering guy had placed one of his slithering hands right on her leg. Even as she looked he was working his hand upwards.

"Hey, what did I tell you," Michelle called out as she grabbed his hand and threw it away. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to do something like that. He was molesting her in public.

"Hey, come on baby, I can show you a good time. I know you're begging for it," the man suggested.

Michelle's patience finally snapped. She couldn't take anymore. "Look, just fuck off, will you," Michelle screamed at the guy at the top of her voice.

Suddenly, all background noise died completely. It was like pressing the mute button on the television. There wasn't a single sound in the hall as everyone turned to look at Michelle.

Her composure crumbled. She rushed to away, leaving all of her chips at the table. She half-ran into the bathroom just remembering at the last minute to go to the ladies room. She ran into an empty stall, closed the door and collapsed on the toilet seat. She smashed her fist against the wall of the stall in anger as she started to cry.

"I can't do this," she sobbed.

After she regained her composure, she left the bathroom. It occurred to her that her chips were still at the table. She wanted to leave, but almost all of the money she had was at the table along with her winnings. She had to go and collect them.

As soon as the left the bathroom, a tall man with a tuxedo and tie was waiting.

"Miss, I'm the floor manager. That drunken man had been removed from the building. Do you want to return to the table?"

Michelle looked around and saw that half the people in the room were looking at her. Although she could return to the table, far too much attention was upon her now. It would be pointless.

"No. I think I'll go home. Oh, I left my chips at the table."

"It's okay Miss, I have them here," the manager said, as he produced her winnings along with her purse. He walked Michelle to the cashier, who promptly cashed the chips.

"Can I get you a cab," the manager asked.

"Err No. I'll be fine. Hey look, I'm sorry if I caused a scene back there, but that guy, he just..."

"No need to apologize Miss. I hope you'll visit us again sometime."

"I'm sure I will," Michelle replied, inwardly vowing never to set foot in the place again.

Michelle left the Casino by the nearest exit. Instead of heading back to her hotel she wandered through to the parking lot and down a stairway, finally heaping herself against a wall.

"Why did it all go to pieces," Michelle thought to herself. "The plan was foolproof. Why couldn't I hold it together?"

Michelle was thinking back to how she screwed it up. Losing her cool to that jerk was a terrible thing to do, but she had lost it before then. Her plan to blend in just hadn't worked.

Michelle's state of sorrow was broken a sound. She could her some commotion down what appeared to be an alleyway connecting the parking lot to a street running beside the casino. Her curiosity instantly aroused, she moved forward and looked further down.

She could see a man and a woman arguing. The man was holding the woman roughly.

"Hey, come on. I know you still work as a damn whore. I wanna pay for it, so give it to me," Michelle heard. It was a voice she recognized, but couldn't place exactly.

"Fuck you," replied a woman's voice in a Deep South accent. "I decide who gets it and you aint gettin it."

"If I want it, I'll fucking take it."

Michelle was now less than fifteen feet away. Recognition hit her as she realized the man was the drunken leech that had molested her in the Casino. The woman, whom Michelle could now tell was black, struggled to get away.

He slapped her around the face hard. The woman, who was wearing stiletto heels, staggered slightly, having trouble keeping her balance. The man raised his hand to strike her again.

"Leave her alone," Michelle called out.

The man looked round to see who had given him the order and was shocked to see that it was the same woman that had just caused him to be thrown out of the Casino.

"You?" he stated. "You're the bitch that had me thrown out. Whadya want now?"

"I said leave her alone," Michelle repeated as sternly as she could.

"Whores sticking together is it. Well, I think I'll have my piece of you after all," he said as he left go of the woman and went to grab Michelle.

The man quite literally never knew what hit him. He saw Michelle take a swing at him, but the next thing he knew, he was flying several feet back as he hit a wall. She hit him harder than she expected, probably taking out her frustration on him. He got to his feet and stumbled away. Michelle noticed that his nose was bleeding as he stumbled, but he didn't appear seriously injured.

"Shit," the black woman called out, "Where did you learn that?"

"Oh... err... self defense classes," Michelle replied.

"Woah. I'm gonna have to get me some of those damn classes myself," she remarked as she walked up to Michelle and held out her hand. "Sindee's the name darlin. Sindee with an 'S'"

Michelle held out her hand and replied, "Mic- err... M-My name's Lisa. Lisa Trent," almost forgetting which name to use.

"Pleased to meet you Lisa. Hey, I owe you one."

"Don't worry. It was free," Michelle replied, only to happy to have intervened.

"Hey, you look far too sweet and innocent ta be in this place. Whad'ya lost or something?" Sindee asked

"Err, lost I suppose. Why was that guy bothering you?" Michelle asked.

"He wa'ned to fuck me," Sindee replied. Michelle couldn't help but smile at Sindee's blatant openness. But it also surprised Michelle because she believed from her appearance that Sindee was a street hooker. Her clothes were virtually advertising her trade.

"But he said you were a... " Michelle started, but found it very impossible to complete the question in an unoffending way.

"A whore," Sindee finished, with a smile. She put her hands on her hips, "An' what's wrong with that?"

"N-Nothing. J-Just... wondering," Michelle stuttered.

"Hey, I'm not proud of it. But it's what I do well. An' judging by the look of you, you could do it pretty well, too," the woman stated as she admired Michelle's curves "Damn, are they real."

"Perfectly natural," Michelle replied, with a bit of internal sarcasm. There was nothing at all natural about her mountainess chest.

"Huh, do you know how much natural tits like that are worth in this town?" the hooker joked.

"I'm not sure I wanna know," Michelle laughed back.

Sindee just smiled back. "Anyway, just cause I'm a hooker doesn't mean I have to screw every damn guy that waves fifty bucks in my face. I do get to choose, y'know. An' I just didn't want to do that guy tonight."

Michelle nodded, accepting the below the surface, the street whore was still a human being with real feelings.

"Hey sister. You wanna come back to may place for a drink?"

"Err... No. I... err... don't think I'll fit in there," Michelle replied, the image of a brothel filling her mind.

"Hey, it's not a whore house. I live alone in a nice house."

Michelle thought for a few seconds before replying, "Okay then," Michelle smiled.

to**************

At the same time, at another Casino nearby, Gary was surveying his prey, searching for the woman whose bed he would share, whether she wanted to or not. Although he was nearly seventy years old, Gary looked to be in his mid twenties. He had been doing this sort of thing for decades, even since the Ravens moved to Las Vegas and he never tired of it. His favorite activity was scouring the Strip for beautiful women and using his magic to turn them into his sexual toy for the evening.

The Kithra were powerful, but their powers could only affect living things. This narrowed their magical powers into a small field. Within this field, Kithra of all groups realized that their powers were concentrated into two small areas, transformations and mind control. They had other abilities, but when it really came down to it, these were the two that made the difference.

The first area, transformation, is the ability to transform oneself and others into other people or animals. This allowed them to remain young and beautiful all their natural lives. It also allowed them to bestow magical power upon another person by transforming their bodies into a form that was more capable of using magic. However, this privilege was severely restricted to the offspring of Kithra (and not all of those were allowed).

The Ravens, as a group were not very good at transformations. They could do it, but it was harder for a Raven to transform someone, whereas the Falcons found it very easy. Likewise, all groups found it difficult to transform into an animal, where the peace loving Eagles had developed an affinity with nature and could do it virtually at will.

Instead, the Ravens had decided to concentrate on the other area of their magical ability - mind control, and Gary was one of the best. It was because of their ability to control people minds that they were able to operate with almost total secrecy in Las Vegas. When the Mob moved out of Vegas a few decades back, they saw an opening and moved in.

They used this ability of subjugate and control those in power. Most of them are aware that they are being controlled, but they can't do anything about it. Over time, they are magically conditioned so that whenever one of their group approaches them, they have to do whatever they're told, without question. Most of them are men in a variety of key positions.

Effectively they are slaves, but the Raven's prefer the term servants. This is because their servants are not required to do much except assist the Ravens in remaining hidden. They are required to serve them sexually from time to time but in general, they live very high lives. The Ravens do everything they can to ensure that their servants remain in their powerful positions. For the most part, these people accept their fate and become quite happy with the arrangement.

For those that continue to fight and resist, they tend to become ineffective in their jobs and tend to lose their power in the community, the Raven's find another use for them. Visitors to Las Vegas may be amazed at the amount of young girls working as prostitutes in the various brothels who are prepared to do absolutely anything a customer wants. Little do they know who these young girls used to be?

Suddenly, Gary spotted a target. She was a young brunette sitting at one of the Blackjack tables. He studied her carefully for the next few rounds. She didn't seem to have a boyfriend or husband. Even if she had, it wouldn't have stopped Gary, but it would have complicated things slightly. He prepared his magic.

His spell would basically put her into a magical hypnotic trance. He could then give her hypnotic suggestions telepathically. The magic would ensure her compliance. All this would happen in a matter of seconds. No one would know it had happened, including her.

The suggestions were purely temporary and would only last a few hours, perhaps the rest of the night. This was one of the major limitations of their Hypnosis spell. It was effectively just a powerful hypnotic trance, but little more. Because of this, about twenty-five percent of people had a natural resistance to the spell. They didn't have a resistance to the magic itself, but to the hypnotic suggestions left by the magic.

Gary had other, more intrusive spells, which could be used to subjugate these kinds of people, but none of them could be used as easily as the Hypnosis spell. To date, there hasn't been a single 'normal' person that Gary couldn't break. Their mind control magic is that strong. However, the more willpower a person possesses, the longer it takes. Most people crumble within minutes, but some of Gary's tougher subjects have lasted hours or even days.

Gary cast his spell on her. He watched her eyes glaze over slightly. The table was in the middle of a round and the dealer reached the girl's place, but she just looked blank. The girl blinked her eyes and resumed play. Everyone, including the girl assumed had mind had been wandering. Gary smiled, knowing his 'package' had been delivered.

Gary walked round and took a position at the table, sitting down beside her. The girl noticed Gary and smiled at him. The suggestions he gave her would basically cause her to notice Gary and become interested in him. Minute by minute her interest would grow. She would also feel sexually aroused by his presence. All of this would feel totally natural to her.

Within fifteen minutes, Gary could see that she was desperate for sex. Eventually she learned over and whispered in his ear, suggesting that they go back to her room. Gary decided he would play had to get for a little while, then take eventually take her back to her room and give her what would be the fucking of her life. He will make her orgasm more times than she could count. Tomorrow morning, she will remember the mind-blowing sex she had, but her memory of what Gary looked like, would be somewhat different.

At the mansion in Massachusetts, Mary was working until late in the evening. She was in her office was pondering over Richard's report, still attempting to find what Richard called 'the missing piece'. He was right. They were missing something, but Mary couldn't figure it out either.

Rumors were also starting to fester among the group. Any normal Kithra would have had problems escaping and hiding from them, yet Michelle had done it, seemingly with ease. How? People were wondering if Michelle was some sort of super-Kithra, bred by another group and this whole incident was some kind of 'test flight' for her powers.

Mary shook her head, "No that's not possible," she told herself. There were too many things that didn't fit with this theory. Firstly, none of them sensed any magical power of any kind in Michael. Tina transformed Michael into Michelle and if Michael had been Kithra, that would not have been possible.

For now, the Council's official line was the Michael was simply an exceptional person, even though he was beginning to make James Bond look like a boy scout. However, one of the most plausible explanations seemed to be that Michael had a secret double life, perhaps working for the CIA. It would explain a lot of things.

Privately however, Mary wasn't ruling out anything. They were missing too many pieces of the puzzle to make a definitive answer.

Mary leaned back, rubbing her eyes, thinking about the bizarre sequence of events that had led her to the current situation. If only Michelle hadn't escaped. The attitude of the Council was softening and by now, she would have probably been free and starting to adjust.

A colleague brought her in another cup of coffee. She knew it was going to be yet another long night.

Michelle arrived at Sindee's house. From the outside, it looked very respectable and gave no indication of the occupation of the owner.

Michelle made herself comfortable, while Sindee changed out of her 'work' clothes. After about ten minutes, she re-emerged wearing a long elegant dress. Her face had been totally cleaned up and the transformation was stunning. To look at her, Michelle was amazed she had to resort to prostitution.

Sindee appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She had what could only be described as an average figure, nothing as good as her own. But Michelle did notice one striking fact and that was how small Sindee was. Without her high-heeled spikes, she was less than five feet tall.

Although Michael didn't have any huge interest in black women, Michelle certainly did as her panties started to get slightly damp at the sight of the elegant black lady. However, in her heightened sexual state, Michelle was probably interested in any woman. It was just a shame that the feelings were not mutual.

Sindee asked Michelle if she wanted a drink. Michelle said a glass of wine would be fine. LaDonna left the room briefly, then returned with two glasses of wine and handed one to Michelle.

"So, what's your story?" Sindee asked Michelle as she sat down beside her.

"Oh... err... I don't really have a story," Michelle stuttered.

"Everyone's got a story girl. Where they're going, what they're doing. Ya know, that sorta thing."

"Well, I'm just passing through at the moment," Michelle said, trying to deflect the questioning

She could hardly tell this stranger than a week ago, she was thirty-two year old man.

"Yeah, 'an everyone's 'just passin through' in this town as well," LaDonna remarked.

"Well, Sindee - ," Michelle started.

"Actually, it's LaDonna sister," Sindee interrupted.

"LaDonna!" Michelle repeated, confused.

"Yeah. Sindee's just my street name for the johns. My real name is LaDonna. My Mom was a Donna Summers fan."

"I can't stand Donna Summers myself," Michelle jibbed, with a lot of Michael speaking.

"Neither can I," LaDonna replied, causing both women to laugh uncontrollably for several minutes.

When they had both calmed down, LaDonna pressed again, "So Lisa, what's your story."

"Oh... well LaDonna, my story is sort of... difficult to tell."

LaDonna gave Michelle an understanding smile and didn't press her any further.

Since Michelle wasn't too forthcoming about her past, LaDonna decided to open up instead. She told Michelle about how she had come to Vegas, believing the streets were paved with gold and finding out the cold hard facts very quickly indeed.

LaDonna had originally headed for Vegas to become a showgirl or a dancer. She had the right body for it. Athletic, medium sized breasts, good hair. But there was one huge letdown in her entire body. Her height.

At barely five feet, she was far too short and was turned down again and again. It just didn't work to have ten girls at five foot eight and one girl nearly a foot shorter, so she was never able to get her foot in the door and her figure, while generally good, wasn't exceptional enough to overcome her height problem.

Eventually she was forced to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. After the initial disgust, she quickly became used to it. She started out by selling herself on the streets, then worked in the brothels. Now she takes 'phone bookings' catering for a number of repeat clients and earns a very good living. Her clients were very generous. She hates her profession, but is so used to her high lifestyle, that she didn't want to give it up.

The client who she had been to earlier that night was staying at the hotel Michelle had been at. Every time he visited Las Vegas, he would get Sindee to go round. The drunken man had been one of her former clients when she couldn't afford to have been so choosy.

The pair talked for hours. LaDonna confessed that ten years after arriving she still felt that she'd lost out on the one thing she really wanted to do. For the first time since her transformation, Michelle was finally able to relax, if only for a short time.

Eventually, the time had come for Michelle to leave. She tried to stand up, but felt a bit unsteady. She'd only had a glass of wine, but it had affected her worse than she expected.

"Hey, look it's late for you to be out alone and I can't drive cause I've drunk too much. I've got a spare room. You fancy staying there for the night."

Michelle accepted LaDonna's offer of a place to stay for the evening. LaDonna escorted Michelle to the guest room; a small but pleasant and comfortable room.

LaDonna and Michelle kissed each other goodnight on the cheek. Michelle then began the process of undressing. She carefully removed her suit and blouse folded them up, and then placed them on a chair.

She then started to her remove her bra. She took a step back and tripped over her own shoes, crashing to the floor.

She quickly picked herself up. A few seconds later, the room's door was opened as LaDonna walked in, obviously after hearing such a crashing sound.

"You all right girl?" she asked.

"Oh, sure I'm fine," Michelle mumbled back. Then she really noticed LaDonna. She was virtually naked save for a pair of black panties. She had been in the process of getting undressed at the same time as Michelle.

Standing in front of Michelle was a naked woman. Her nipples hardened almost immediately. Tina had told Michelle that she would have a wanton desire for the next week and Michelle could really feel it. She wanted LaDonna.

Michelle couldn't work out how to act. A semi-naked woman was standing in front of her and she didn't know what to do. Michelle glanced down and stared at LaDonna's breasts. They were impressive. They were not as large or as firm as Michelle's, but still impressive for a woman in a thirties. Instantly, she knew that it was the wrong this to do. Women didn't stare at other women's breasts.

She physically forced herself to look LaDonna in the eyes, all the time wanting to look back down. LaDonna saw Michelle's discomfort and quickly said goodnight a second time and closed the door.

Now that LaDonna had seen Michelle virtually naked, she couldn't help but have envy for Michelle's perfect body. LaDonna constantly worked out to try and keep in shape. But Michelle simply blew her apart. She made LaDonna look like Roseanne Barr. A tinge of jealousy crossed her as she reached her own room.

Back in the spare room, Michelle finished undressing. The incident with LaDonna had left her all hot and bothered. As she climbed into bed, she felt a burning desire deep within herself.

She had to physically clasp her hands tightly around one of the bedposts in order to avoid playing with herself. She knew that once she started, she would find it impossible to stop until she had climaxed and she also knew that she would also find it very difficult indeed to stay quiet. Eventually she fell asleep of out of sheer tiredness.

T + 5 days

Chapter Twenty-One ==================

The next morning, Jack Turner was waiting outside in the car as his colleague was inside the diner watching Tina. It was another morning and another breakfast and Tina didn't seem any closer to meeting up with Michelle.

They had been carefully tracking Tina and Jack was beginning to get the impression that Tina didn't really know where she was going. It wasn't one thing in particular, but more of a combination of clues that told Jack they were wasting their time.

Jack's concentration was broken as he saw Tina emerge from the roadside Diner and head in his general direction, not in the direction of her car. His heart rate increased slightly as adrenalin started flowing. Would it be the moment when Michelle and Tina would meet up? He checked the gun in his pocket.

Tina walked past Jack's car and to a nearby phone booth. Jack watched as she sighed briefly, before digging some change out of her pockets. She put the change in the phone, and then dialed a number. Jack remained hopeful. Perhaps she was phoning ahead to make sure that Michelle was at the meeting point.

Tina waited for a reply to the line.

"Hi Mom, it's me. Look I guess they're probably tracing this line, so I'll be quick."

"Oh, Tina, are you still alright. I've been worried about you," Sarah replied.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Have you found Michelle yet?"

"No. There's been no trace of her at all. The only lead we've had is you when you made the last phone call. Isn't she back with you then."

"No. I think they used a power stone on me and I'm having trouble remembering everything."

"Yeah. I... err... think they did," Sarah replied, feeling incredibly guilty that she had been the one to use the power stone on her daughter.

"Tina. Do you think you should turn yourself in?" Sarah asked.

"I can't Mom, not while Michelle is out there. She needs me... and I need her. Mom, she's really special."

Tina couldn't work out why she said those last few words. They seemed to come direct from her sub-conscious, like it was trying to tell her something. Neither Sarah nor Jack picked up on it.

Tina continued, "I... I just needed to know that she was still all right. Look, if she calls you, tell her I'm all right and that I'm still looking for her. Tell her to stay put and that I'll find her."

Jack listened to the rest of call. His fears were correct. Tina didn't know where Michelle was. She was just wandering around aimlessly. They were wasting their time following her.

Tina finished her phone call, then walked to her car and drove away. Deep down, she had expected her mother to say that they had already caught Michelle, which was why she felt forced to make the call once again, but once again she had been wrong and had probably given her position away once more.

Tina mentally kicked herself for asking Sarah to tell Michelle to stay put if she contacted her. It was just something she said off the top of her head to calm them both down, but in the unlikely event that Michelle did make contact, then she would be revealing her position, so the last thing she should do was stay where she was.

Jack's colleague soon joined him. Jack filled him in, then set off following Tina, though to what purpose, Jack was beginning to question.

The same morning, Michelle was lying on her bed in LaDonna's spare room, thinking to how disastrous the previous evening had gone. Even her horny sex drive that had been so prevalent recently was relieved slightly as she mourned in her disappointment.

She started out with so much confidence. All she had to do was get some money out of those places so she had enough cash for a new passport and to live comfortably for a while.

But when she was at the table, it just all went to pieces. She tried to blend into the background and not be seen, but her plan failed miserably. Everyone in the casino remembered the blonde beauty that stormed out that evening.

Michelle was having trouble exactly understanding why it failed, although she was beginning to lay the blame on the fact that she couldn't blend in as a woman. She had only won a few thousand dollars, which was a very small amount compared to how much money she had won as Michael.

But as Michael, she just blended in. She looked the part when she was a guy and no one gave a second thought when she had large wins. Now as Michelle, she felt she looked such a bimbo, which why her wins were causing a greater stir. Everyone that looked at her clearly thought that she could barely tie her shoelaces, let alone beat the casino at their own game.

Michelle couldn't think of any easy way out of it. The ability to blend-in would only come with time. That was the one thing that Michelle didn't have.

Hank slammed his fist on the table while on the phone to Jack. "What do you mean the fish got away," he half-yelled.

Jack then went on to describe, using as much coded language as he could, that they had effectively lost Tina. This had occurred after Tina's phone call to her mother. They had waited too long before setting off after Tina. Their tracking range had been reduced to just over a mile and although they could sense Tina was generally ahead of them, she must have turned off onto a different road. By the time they were able to turn back and correct their mistake, they couldn't locate her again. They had been driving around for an hour, hoping to pick up her signal without any luck. Finally Jack had been forced to call Hank and give him the bad news.

Hank was fuming. All they had to do was keep track with Tina and she was broadcasting 'like a lighthouse'. How could they possibly lose her? He instructed Jack to keep looking and slammed down the phone.

"What a fucking waste of time this has been?" he whispered out loud. All that effort to locate Tina in the first place was now gone to waste. He would have been better off simply handing her over to the Council.

Michelle, partially dressed, looked into the dresser mirror in LaDonna's spare room. One thing immediately stuck out. Her hair was a huge mess. Michelle picked up a hairbrush from a side table and started to brush it out.

Yesterday, she had considered a good short haircut. But then she remembered what Tina said about her own innate magical abilities. Apparently, even if she cut her hair, her innate magic would simply cause it to grow back within days and also, it would handicap her chances of being able to transform herself in the months to come.

Strangely enough, Michelle had thought little about the possibility of returning to manhood. In the first few hours, it had been all that drove her, but the previous few days had put everything into perspective. With her life threatened and Tina imprisoned, getting turned back into a man was the least of her problems.

Michelle knew that without the help of Tina's group, her chances of being permanently turned back were virtually zero anyway. Her only real chance of manhood was temporary transformations and to do that, she needed to keep her body constant and that included her long mane of hair.

Michelle returned her attentions to her mess of hair. Previously, either Sarah or Tina had brushed her hair out. It would be her first attempt at taming such a beast herself. How hard could it be?

Ten minutes later, the hairbrush was thrown across the room for the third time in utter frustration. Michelle looked in the mirror. It was impossible. The hair was worse than when she started.

The door to the room opened and LaDonna walked inside. She had obviously heard the sound of the hairbrush hitting the wall.

"Sorry, LaDonna, it's just a... bad hair day," Michelle said, pointing to her failed attempt. "I just can't seem to do anything with the damn thing."

LaDonna smiled, then picked up the brush, "Hey, sister, we all have days like that. Sit down and let me see what I can do."

Michelle sat down at the table dresser and LaDonna brushed out her hair for her.

"This is lovely hair," LaDonna remarked at Michelle's very silky, yet incredibly strong hair. "It must have taken years for it to grow this long," she stated.

Michelle humorous side wanted to reply, "oh no... about thirty seconds really" but she held back. She forced a brief smile as she realized that her humor was beginning to return.

"Yeah. Several years," her sensible side replied.

Eventually LaDonna finished brushing out the hair to its normal thick wavy style.

The pair talked for a little time longer, before Michelle eventually bid her farewell. She thanked LaDonna for her company and she said might pay another visit if she was held up in Vegas. LaDonna thanked her for the help in the alleyway and said Michelle was welcome anytime.

Michelle left for her hotel in a cab. The incident with LaDonna had been an interesting diversion, but it was time to get back to business. She had to go back to the Strip tonight and earn some real money.

Hank finished speaking to Jack on his cell phone. He told them to stop looking for Tina and to get back home immediately. Although still angered by the situation, it wasn't a complete disaster. It was a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained. Capturing Tina wouldn't have been a huge gain with the Council anyway. Michelle was the real prize. So Tina escaping hadn't caused Hank much of a problem. Also, he was able to reflect on Jack's report that, in his opinion, Tina didn't know Michelle's location and was wandering around aimlessly.

Hank was going over his damage limitation plans, which seemed to be fairly secure. The only shaky part would be if Michelle was somehow captured and was questioned. She would, no doubt reveal that she left Tina in a hospital and then left. The Council would probably investigate and send some someone to the hospital.

But Hank had personally erased all record that they had ever been there. On the day in question, the hospital staff had had their memories adjusted to remember that Tina discharged herself after Michelle had left her there. By the time anyone went to check out the story, their memories would already be 'fixed' and would not show up as being magically tampered with.

It didn't tie up all the loose ends, like how did Tina get from the hospital to the barn. But at worst, Hank figured he could admit to the whole scheme under the guise of merely re-capturing them both. He even had an excuse prepared as to why he had kept his plan secret from the rest of the Council. He would say that he wanted to make sure as few people as possible knew to avoid tipping of Tina in case she rang in, which would be another side-swipe at Mary.

Michelle got out of her cab and walked into the Casino. Once again, she was challenged for her age and produced her new driver's license from the pocket. Again, she was wearing her distinct business suit.

After the previous evening, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go through that experience again, but she couldn't think of anything else to do. Tina wouldn't be going anywhere for the next week and Michelle needed to something constructive.

Michelle missed Tina more than she thought possible. Although Michael had been a very independent person since his wife died, Michelle seemed to depend on emotional support. Everything seemed alien. She needed someone to help her and the only person in the world that could do that task was Tina.

Michelle took a place at the Roulette wheel. Although there were other games in the room that Michelle could manipulate, she decided to stick with the Roulette. If she couldn't win there, she had no chance elsewhere.

Her plan was much the same as the previous evening, but she would attempt to bring less attention to herself. The big problem was that she couldn't identify where she was going wrong. She knew she was putting out the wrong signals, but lacking the other person's perspective, she couldn't correct it.

Michelle was hoping that she would be able to 'work' undisturbed, but her hopes were blown apart as two hunks, clearly spotting Michelle's fantastic body, were at her side within minutes.

Michelle wasn't sure how to handle them. Yesterday, her handling of the drunk had been a dismal failure. She had to find a better way of coping with such attention. She could see both men were ogling her breasts and her business suit did not do a good job of hiding them. Even the dealer glanced at them every time he paid her out.

When one of the guys threw her an obvious chat-up line, she responded with the simple, "Oh no, I'm just waiting here for my boyfriend to get back." She inwardly cringed at the words 'my boyfriend'.

"Well, we'll just look after you until he gets here then," the other one replied.

Michelle suppressed the urge to sigh, but she knew that she'd made a mistake. The guys were not stupid. They knew she didn't have a boyfriend waiting.

She tried a few other methods to get the men to go away, but nothing worked. Then she tried to ignore them and continue with the Roulette game, but the men started putting their own opinions as to where Michelle should be betting, believing Michelle would need their assistance.

After about ten minutes, she gave up. It was hopeless. She knew that she couldn't afford to cause a scene two nights in a row or word would get around very quickly. She couldn't think of any other way to shake off her attentions.

The final straw came when Michelle noticed a couple of the cocktail waitresses serving the free drinks. One of them had a set of boobs just as big as Michelle's, which were nearly falling out of her top. Their uniforms were very skimpy, yet they were not getting as much attention as Michelle. The guys noticed them, even struck up conversation with them, but they didn't bother them. Why? How could a couple of bimbo's be getting away with it while she had to suffer with constant attention.

She left the Casino shortly afterwards. As she was walking out, she almost wanted to cry. It was hopeless. Why couldn't she do it? What was she doing wrong?

As she got into a cab and headed for her hotel, she admitted to herself that she did not have the feminine experience required to pull it off. She would have to take what little money she had and use that. Hopefully, when she was reunited with Tina, she would be able to gain the vital experience from her.

When she was back in her hotel room, she booked herself on an internal flight from Vegas to a town in upstate New York. Now that she had failed in Vegas, she wanted to get back to Massachusetts in time to free Tina from the clutches of the Falcons.

She toyed with the idea of letting the Falcons know that she was in Vegas. A quick phone call would probably do the trick. Hopefully, they would then divert all their attention there, leaving a hole in their defenses. It was a risky move though. They might easily trace Michelle's trip back East and pre-empt what she was planning.

But she had until the morning to finalize such plans. The final thing she did was call up LaDonna. She thanked her for her help and said that she was leaving early the next morning.

She took off her clothes and climbed into bed, still finding it impossible, after a week, to notice how curvy and shapely her new body was.

Michelle tried to sleep, but all she did was toss and turn from side to side. At first she thought she couldn't sleep because she wasn't used to sleeping in her new body. Up until now in her female form, she had always fallen to sleep out of sheer exhaustion or due to tranquilizers.

However, what made it worse was that Michelle was also stressed out. She thought about levitating above the bed for a while, but that wasn't enough. She needed something more. Jumping out of bed, she grabbed her jeans and T-shirt and put them on. She put on her panties, but didn't bother about her bra. After all, she wouldn't need it for what she was about to do.

Michelle discreetly left the hotel, then walked into a quiet area at the back of the parking lot. When her eyes had adjusted to the light, she carefully checked that she was completely alone.

Then she craned her head back and looked up at the sky. She took a deep breath, and then reached out with her telekinetic powers. As she built up a force of telekinetic power, she felt her body lighten and the weight of her breasts ease as she raised herself into the air.

Michelle flew directly upwards until she was several hundred feet up in the air. Then she turned her body so that she was floating face down, until she was flying above the town of Las Vegas. There was a slight risk involved in flying unaided without a hang-glider, but her need for a completely open space overruled any objections from her sensible side.

The use of a hang-glider had always been used more as a means of deflecting attention when she used to fly during the daytime. Although her powers may wane and eventually disappear, she had always managed to get to ground level in time. The trick was to fly high enough not to be noticed in the night sky, yet not too high to get the ground quickly.

Michelle was gently flying slightly away from the main Strip. She wasn't anywhere near the bright lights of the town center as that would hardly be peaceful. As she looked at the black horizon, she cast out her mind and wondered what lay beyond.

Tina was meditating for the final time that day. She was giving it one last attempt before sleeping. The futility of her quest was becoming increasingly apparent to Tina. Michelle could be anywhere within the US by now. She could, conceivably be in another country. She was looking for the proverbial "needle in a haystack".

Tina was about to give up, when suddenly, her body jolted. It felt like the sort of jolt that everybody experiences when dozing, but there was something different. There was a lingering after feeling.

Tina reached out and could see in her mind a tiny crack of light. It could only be described as the literal light at the end of the tunnel. Renewed, with such a discovery she pushed.

She felt a slight tingling on one arm and a faint breeze across her body, even though there was no wind where she was. Tina wasn't sure what was happening, but something had changed.

Tina saw a blinding flash in her mind, and then suddenly Tina could feel herself flying through the air. She could see lights below her. A few seconds later, she could feel Michelle. Somehow they were together. Michelle was beside her. She couldn't see her in the physical sense, more of the spiritual sense.

Tina called out to Michelle and told her that she was fine and that she was looking for her. Michelle seemed shocked to see her and asked her if she had been harmed.

Tina replied no, and then Michelle asked how Tina had escaped. Before Tina could answer, there was another blinding flash in her mind. Tina opened her eyes and realized that she was once again, alone in a field.

Tina ran back to her car. She scrambled around for a pen, then anything to write upon. Her vision was fading fast just like the memory of a dream. She needed to write down as much as possible, before it faded from her mind.

Tina scribbled down the important words as they were still in her mind. "West... Flying... Bright lights... Hasn't been caught... Doesn't know where I am... Alone..."

When she had finished scribbling she took some deep breaths and tried to make sense out of what she saw. Then she got in her car and sped away, screeching the wheels.

Over a thousand miles away, in the sky above Nevada, Michelle was struggling to comprehend what was happening. One minute, she was happily flying above Las Vegas, the suddenly, without any warning, it hit her. Michelle couldn't describe what is felt like. It was so intense.

"Tina," Michelle called out loud. She couldn't understand it, but it was as if she could feel Tina next to her in the field. They had been speaking together. Then Michelle looked around puzzled. All she could see was darkness with some lights fast approaching, but she was floating. She wasn't in a field at all.

With an electric jolt, Michelle's brain suddenly realized the implications of what was happening. She was flying in the air and the fast approaching lights were the lights of Vegas. She was falling to the ground.

Michelle struggled to slow herself down. Her powers were still working, but the vision she had just experienced had weakened her ability to concentrate. She could slow her descent, but she couldn't stop herself from falling.

As the ground was fast approaching, she knew she was still traveling too fast. She thought about the best position to land to cause the least damage to her body. As she was about to flip onto her back, Michelle saw something glisten in the corner of her eye.

In a millisecond, Michelle realized it was a swimming pool in someone's back yard. Using her powers, she diverted her fall to that direction, landing in the pool with a huge splash, narrowly missing the edge of the pool.

Michelle was temporarily stunned as the cold water hit her body. She had been traveling with enough force to hit the bottom of the pool, but suffered no physical damage. She kicked her feet on the bottom of the pool and propelled herself to the surface, taking huge gasp of air as she broke through. She was extremely lucky to have noticed a pool that wasn't closed over.

She reached out to the side and slowly pushed herself out of the pool as she regained her breath. Michelle looked skyward, searching for Tina, thinking that she was still up in the air.

Michelle soon realized that was impossible. What she experienced had to be some kind of vision. It was so real, so intense. It was as if Tina was beside her flying, while at the same time, she was beside Tina in some field.

"How can that be possible?" Michelle mused. As far as she was aware, Tina was safely locked up in the Falcon's mansion in Massachusetts. How could she possibly be alone in a field?

Michelle glanced at the pool, and then down at her own wet clothes, with her shirt stuck to her breasts.

"Shit, I'd do well in a wet T-Shirt competition," she mused. Michelle glanced back at the pool and reflected how lucky she had been to escape serious injury. All the time, Michelle's sensible side was chiding "told you so, told you so"

She tore her attention back to the vision she had experienced. Part of her said that it was impossible, but a growing part of her couldn't ignore what she felt. She could actually feel Tina. It was as if for a split second their minds and thoughts were one. She could feel Tina's emotions.

But there was one unmistakable feeling that Michelle picked up. Tina was looking for her. She wasn't in a coma and she wasn't locked up. How was that possible?

T + 6 days

Chapter Twenty-Two ==================

The following morning, Tina was studying a map of the US over breakfast. Although she hadn't been planning to do so, by some sheer fluke of fortune, she had formed a long-range mental link with Michelle. It was short and she hadn't learned much, but in those few seconds, she received thoughts and images.

Although what she received didn't make sense on it's own, it allowed her brain to begin to piece together her shattered memory. Tina now knew that they were heading west when they got separated. She didn't know exactly where, just that they were traveling there by car.

Hopefully over the following days, her memory would return in full and it would allow Tina to know exactly where Michelle was.

Tina took some time to ponder how she had been able to forge such a link with Michelle. Although technically possible, the chances of being able to establish such a telepathic link over such a great distance was a million to one.

Tina knew something was different. Her memory was telling her that Michelle was in some way special, but she didn't know how.

It was so frustrating to her. Tina was aware that deep down, she KNEW the answers. It was so annoying to have the answers to all her questions so close and yet so far away.

As Tina looked at all the states and cities between herself and California, she realized that she still had a mammoth task ahead of her.

But Tina now had hope. She knew that Michelle was alive and well.

Along with part of her memory, Tina had also been able to rescue part of her magical powers. She couldn't do much, but it was a start. She could nurture that glint of power so that over the next few days she would gain some, if not all of her abilities back.

Now that Tina had her abilities back, she could now sense her own magical beacon that she was emanating. She had been right. It's 'broadcast power' was well down on what it should have been, which would explain why her group had been unable to find her. She estimated that it's current range was probably about half a mile, which would have meant that when she first woke up, the range would have been no more than two miles. They could have easily missed her, expecting a much bigger radius in their search patterns.

Tina finished her breakfast, and then departed quickly.

Michelle, in her now dried jeans, T-Shirt and sneakers walked into the small store. She had heard about that store on earlier trips as Michael, but she never had a use for the owner's services until now.

All the plans to leave for the East Coast had been put on hold. Michelle had to find out what was going on. During the night, she attempted to ignore the bizarre vision that she experienced while flying, but her mind was telling her that it was far more than a dream. Either way, she had to find out.

The store's owner walked in from the back. He was a tall, slightly muscular thirty-five year old man. Michelle noticed that his eyes did the customary look over her body, a look that she was only just beginning to get used to.

"Hello, are you Harry?" Michelle asked.

"Depends who's asking," Harry replied with the clichéd response.

"I need to make a phone call?" Michelle asked.

"There's a call box a block away," Harry replied.

"No. I need to make a special phone call." Michelle looked at the man and could see that he knew what she was talking about. Michelle guessed that Harry thought she was really a cop and was trying to entrap him.

"I want to make an illegal, secure phone call that can't be traced or tapped into. I'm prepared to pay for it. Can you help me?" Michelle asked. By being so up-front, she had demonstrated that she wasn't a cop, but at the same time, she incriminated herself should this man turn out to be the police himself. It was a chance she had to take.

"Sure I can," Harry replied, now safe that he wasn't being snared. "How secure do you want it?" he asked.

"Totally. Completely untraceable and secure."

"I can make it untraceable, but I can only make it secure from this end. If the other person's phone is being tapped..."

"It's a cell phone," Michelle interrupted. "Here's the number," she said as she presented him with Tina's pocket diary containing her Sarah's cell phone number.

Harry nodded, "That makes it easier. Use a satellite phone account. Route it through a few foreign exchanges. Even the CIA won't be able to trace it and it'll be as secure as it can get."

"Okay, how much," Michelle asked.

"To you, a thousand dollars. But you'll only get a couple of minutes."

Michelle swallowed hard. That was a quarter of her available money, but she was so desperate.

"Okay. Will you take cash," she said as she took the money out of her pocket.

"Yeah," Harry replied surprised. He would have accepted a lot less and was expecting Michelle to try to knock him down in price. He was a bit concerned that Michelle had accepted so easy. It meant she was in trouble. A part of him was saying he should just turn her away now, but he did need the money, and Michelle was one hot babe. He didn't want to turn her away just yet.

Harry flipped through the bills, then said, "Come through the back. It'll take about ten minutes to set up. I have to wait for the right satellite to come in range," he said as he checked his watch, which was completely unnecessary. But he was out to impress and he wanted to appear knowledgeable.

Sarah was in her room at the mansion. Both Andrew and herself were under virtual house arrest. They could not leave the mansion without both permission and escorts. Sarah had been allowed to keep her cell phone, but she strongly suspected that this was deliberate, so that they could trace every call made.

As if on cue, her cell phone rang. She carefully picked it up. Every time it rang, she prayed it wasn't Tina or Michelle as it could give them away.

"Hello," Sarah answered.

"Hi there Sarah, it's... Michelle. Are you free to speak? Just say yes or no."

"Michelle," Sarah said in a shouting whisper, "Are you all right?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Look, I don't have long."

"Michelle, I don't think this is a good idea. I... I... think there's a trace on this line."

"Yeah. Don't worry. I guessed they would. I've got that covered. They won't be able to trace this call, but I don't have long," Michelle said as she glanced over to Harry, "Listen, I really need to know how Tina is."

"She was fine the last time I spoke to her. Oh, she told me to tell you... to stay put. She's looking for you and she'll find you."

"So... is she out of her coma then?" Michelle asked, puzzled by the tone of Sarah's response.

"What coma?" Sarah asked.

"The coma she was in when that Hank found her," Michelle stated.

"What do you mean 'when Hank found her'?" Sarah asked as her blood ran cold.

"We got separated. Hank caught her, but I escaped," Michelle stated. "Isn't Tina with you."

"No. Tina called me... twice. She said that you two got separated and that she's looking for you. Hank hasn't found her at all," Sarah stated, her body trembling.

"I'm telling you it's true. I saw it with my own eyes. It happened the day after we escaped, just after she was attacked and put into some sort of coma. When I left her, Hank had her. I saw it."

"But that's not possible. I spoke to her yesterday. She didn't say anything about being caught."

There was a few seconds of silence on either side as each person tried to make sense and comprehend what had actually happened.

Michelle was the first to break the silence, but she didn't want Harry to hear what she was about to say, so she whispered, "Well, the thing is... well... last night... I think I felt her, while I was... well it sounds crazy, but... it was like she was there with me, but she wasn't. I could sense some of her feelings and she had the feeling that she was free and looking for me."

"It makes perfect sense," Sarah replied slowly, "She must have formed a link with you... somehow. She's trying to find you. She must be really close to you for that to happen. We need to be near to someone to link to them."

"But how can she be free. Hank captured her," Michelle said.

Sarah paused for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what Michelle was saying. Sarah knew that Hank was up to something, but to think that he might have taken Tina prisoner without informing anyone.

"Are you sure that you felt that Tina was free?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. Her feelings were so... vivid. It was like I was there with her. She was in the middle of some field. I just know she was free."

"Then she is, she... she... "

"Time's up," called Harry.

"No. I need more time," Michelle called.

"Sorry, we're losing the satellite. I can't do anything about it," Harry called as the line went dead.

"Shit," Michelle called as she threw down the phone.

"Hey, careful with the equipment," Harry called.

"Sorry, I just need another line, please," Michelle pleaded. She had learned so much in that short space of time, but it wasn't enough.

"No can do," Harry replied.

"Please. I'll pay double." Michelle replied.

"It doesn't matter how much you pay. The authorities will know an unauthorized call was made on that satellite today. They won't know the details, but they'll be monitoring the situation for a while."

"Please. I really need another call," Michelle pleaded. Without realizing it, Michelle was really laying on the charm. Harry was beginning to get aroused from watching the blonde beauty beg. He didn't want to get rid of her just yet.

"Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'll set up my equipment to monitor for an older satellite, that can't be traced."

"How long with that be?" Michelle asked.

"I don't know. Could be anything from fifteen minutes to hours. You can wait around. There's a beer in the refrigerator."

"Thanks," Michelle replied, calming down and slowly made her way to the kitchen.

Sarah was still in her room, biting her nails. She was trying to piece together what had been said to her before Michelle was cut off.

"Right. They got separated. Michelle said that Hank caught her, but Tina didn't say that when I spoke to her," Sarah mused, making one point.

"Tina didn't know where she was. She said she lost her memory. Maybe she was Hank's prisoner, she just didn't remember it," was Sarah's second point.

"But what if the call Tina made to me was fake. Anyone with magic could easily reproduce Tina's voice," she considered.

"Ah, but what if that call I just had was fake. Anyone who's heard Michelle speak could reproduce her voice," Sarah's head started spinning with the various combinations.

"Hank hasn't said anything, but if he really caught Tina and lost her again, he'd be too embarrassed. He'd cover it up," Sarah was concluding.

"But Hank's not that incompetent," Sarah deduced. Hank may have his flaws, but Sarah knew that Hank was very meticulous. If he truly caught Tina, she would have never escaped... unless... he let her.

Sarah started hyperventilating as she finally pieced it together.

"So are you in some sort of trouble then," Harry said as he sat down beside Michelle, bringing another can of beer.

"Huh, what gave you that idea," Michelle said with a hint of sarcasm as she pulled the ring. Her new nails made it much easier to get under the ring-pull, but much harder to actually pull it back.

Harry just smiled in reply. "I've set my gear up to let me know when another satellite is available. It could be a few hours. You didn't tell me your name did you?"

"No. I didn't," Michelle replied, not wanting to give yet another false name. Soon she would have so many names, she wouldn't be able to remember which one to use.

Michelle drank her beer, while at the same time, digesting what Sarah had told her. According to Sarah, her vision meant that Tina was free, looking for her, and very close.

Michelle could agree with the first two, but had a real problem with the third. Something deep down within Michelle told her that Tina wasn't close. Michelle knew nothing about magic and therefore had no explanation, but she was sure that Tina was some distance away.

But one thing Michelle knew was that Tina was looking for her and would almost certainly be heading for Las Vegas. Michelle had taken a flight and arrived in Vegas very quickly. It was reasonable to expect that Tina would take longer if she was limited to road travel, plus any extra time it would have taken her to escape.

All plans to leave for Massachusetts were now on indefinite hold. Michelle needed to speak to Sarah once more and get some more information about their telepathic link. Perhaps she could initiate another one and guide Tina to her.

Two hours later, Michelle was still waiting for Harry to deliver on his promise for a second secure line. She was on her third beer and she could actually feel herself getting very heady. She hadn't learned her lesson from the night at LaDonna's.

Harry was sitting beside her. He had just checked the equipment and he said that it would be at least another half hour. Truthfully, Harry's equipment wasn't doing much at all, just 'pinging' the odd satellite as it went past. He really didn't want to risk making another call at all, but he was keeping her hanging along until he made up his mind. The pair was seated close together and began talking about things in general. The alcohol really loosened Michelle up. She began giggling helplessly.

"I need the bathroom," Michelle said after a prolonged giggle. She pushed herself up, and quickly lost her footing. She collapsed onto Harry. Harry caught her before she fell completely on top of him.

Harry was supporting Michelle with his hands on her waist. Michelle's mane of hair had fallen in front of her face, completely obscuring her view. Harry slowly moved one hand and pushed Michelle's hair aside for her.

She was about to thank him, when he put his hand on the back of her head and gently pulled her head down and kissed her on the lips. He used his tongue to part her lips.

Michelle's senses were instantly assaulted. She tried to pull her head back, but Harry's hand held it there in a gentle, but firm manner.

He slipped his other hand inside Michelle's T-Shirt and straight onto her bra, tweaking her nipple. The electric shockwave caused Michelle to gasp through her lips.

Michelle squirmed on top of Harry in a mixture of panic and excitement. Harry's tongue was now deep inside Michelle's mouth and as much as she tried to avoid it, her tongue continually made contact with his.

Then something inside Michelle's mind clicked. She tried to reach up and pull his hands away, or even use her powers to stop him, but she found she couldn't do it. There was a part of her that wanted to let Harry touch her. Michelle herself was saying 'no', her body was calling a resounding 'yes'. Her body just wasn't doing what her mind was telling it. Her body was also reacting to Harry's kiss. She could feel her nipples becoming erect and her panties getting damp.

Harry turned Michelle over so that she was lying on the sofa. In a single motion, he pulled off her T-Shirt, revealing her white bra. Seconds later, her shoes and jeans were also off. She was lying on the sofa in just her underwear. Throughout, she offered no resistance. She couldn't explain it, but she felt an overriding need to let Harry do whatever he wanted with her.

Harry resumed his caressing of Michelle's breasts. His ministrations had a paralyzing effect on her. She just couldn't bring herself to stop him. The sensations she was experiencing were amazing. She couldn't compare it to anything she'd ever felt before. Any remaining resistance was being melted away. She could feel her panties becoming quite wet.

Harry freed her breasts from her bra, then moved his head down and sucked on one of her nipples. Michelle cried out in ecstasy as Harry's tongue sent electric bursts of pleasure to Michelle's brain. His left hand played with her right nipple, while his left hand squeezed her left breast as he sucked on her engorged left nipple.

Michelle was becoming lost in the pleasure she was receiving. Tina had sucked her breasts several days ago and that felt good. But Harry's tongue on her breasts felt twice as good.

"Oh God, I coming," Michelle thought to herself as she felt an orgasm approach. Seconds later, she let out a groan as her body climaxed, shuddering all over.

As she came down from her peak, the need to let Harry do what he wanted to her had moved on. She now felt an uncontrollable desire to please Harry. She wanted to please him so much. It didn't matter what he wanted. She just needed to please him. It was overriding any other consideration.

She looked down and saw that she was still wearing her bra, even though her breasts had been pulled out of it. She knew that it would please Harry if she took off her bra completely. Without much more conscious thought, she leaned forward, reached behind her and unfastened her bra

She then peeled the bra away from her chest very slowly and tossed it aside seductively. She then looked down to her damp panties and just knew that they had to be taken off.

Before she could act, Harry reached and pulled her panties off for her. Michelle assisted him by wiggling her bottom so he could get them off easier. She was now totally naked.

She offered no resistance as Harry's hand began to stroke her smooth pussy. He placed his hand on her lower abdomen and used his to probe for her clitoris. Then he began to stroke it, Michelle couldn't help but gasp. She had no problems with him touching her. In fact, she wanted to be touched by him. He parted her legs completely, then leant down, buried his head between her legs and sucked on her clit. Michelle cried in ecstasy as he did this.

Harry licked her for a full five minutes, at which point, Michelle climaxed again. This time, she came twice as hard as the last time. She was pinching her own nipples as she came.

Harry eventually lifted his head up, and then stood up. Very slowly, he undressed, taking off his shirt, his shoes, his pants, until her was left just wearing his underpants.

Carefully he pulled down his underpants allowing Michelle to see his fully erect cock. Michelle was transfixed by it and couldn't take her eyes of it as Harry stroked it a couple of times. Her second orgasm had made the need to please Harry even stronger.

He moved closer to the sofa and positioned himself carefully. He put one leg on the sofa and brought his cock right up to Michelle's mouth.

For a brief moment, a part of Michelle hesitated. But her need to please Harry was so strong and she knew exactly what he wanted. She brought her hands up to his cock and stroked it, while at the same time she learned forward and swallowed the head of his cock, with every intention of sucking him off.

Her action wasn't very good. It was the first time she'd ever done it. But that didn't stop her from trying. Anyone looking at her would think she was really going for it.

This was because all she could think about was this need to please Harry and if she had to suck his cock to please him, then so be it. There were no negative thoughts inside her head. In fact, knowing that she was pleasing Harry made her all aroused. She was actually enjoying blowing him off. Right now, all she wanted to do was suck Harry off. She wanted him to shoot his load into her mouth, so that she could swallow it all.

After several minutes, Harry pulled his manhood out of Michelle's mouth. She was disappointed. She felt like she had failed.

"No. I wanna come inside your cunt. Lay down on the floor," Harry said.

Michelle's face lit up. She did not even hesitate. She scurried down onto the floor and spread her legs seductively. Harry positioned himself accordingly. He rubbed her clitoris with his cockhead.

For a brief instant, a part of Michelle flickered as she hesitated for just a second. She knew exactly what was about to happen. This was her last chance to stop it. "Take me," Michelle cried as the resistance faded. She wanted Harry inside her. Nothing else mattered.

Her penetrated her deep, causing her some pain, but at the same time, it was mixed with such incredible pleasure. Slowing Harry began to thrust in and out. Michelle moved in total rhythm with Harry, wanting this to be perfect for him.

Each thrust felt like a mini-orgasm to Michelle and she could feel a monster one approaching. Eventually Harry couldn't hold out any longer and shot his load deep into Michelle. The sensation of Harry coming inside her was enough to trigger her own orgasm. She screamed as she climaxed hard.

Harry remained on top of her for a while, pumping the last drops of his semen into her body. Michelle writhed around under him, keeping him all aroused.

Eventually, Harry carefully pulled out of her. Her fondled her for a few more moments. Michelle reached up and gave him a really passionate kiss. Eventually, he pulled away. Michelle tried to hang on to him, not wanting him to stop.

"Wait here, I'll be back soon," he said to her smiling.

Harry moved away out of sight, probably going to the toilet. Michelle lay on the floor, her hands absently finding her breasts and playing with them, all the time longing for Harry to return and caress them again.

After several minutes, parts of Michelle began to comprehend what was happening. It began to seep through to her mind that she was lying on the floor virtually naked after having had sex.

Michelle stopped playing with her breasts and she began to sober up fast. "Oh God, what have I done," Michelle screamed inside her head.

She carefully climbed to her feet and looked down at herself. She put a hand down to her groin and felt the mixed sticky fluids. She nearly fell over in shock. Tears were beginning to well in her eyes.

Showing no negative emotions, she quickly put her panties and slipped on her jeans and running shoes. She hurriedly put on her T-Shirt, not bothering with her bra as it would take her too long to put it on.

Michelle looked up to see that Harry had returned, still naked. He noticed that Michelle was getting dressed. From the way she'd gone all nymph on him, he was expecting her to still be lying on the floor waiting for more.

"Hey, that was a good fuck. Maybe another one when we finish?" he said.

"No. I've gotta go," Michelle cried as she half ran for the door.

"Hey wait," Harry called back, trying to chase after her, but he tripped over his pants. By the time he reached the door, Michelle was already fifty feet away. Harry was completely naked and couldn't follow.

Shaking his head he wandered back inside, he picked up his clothes and put them on. Shaking his head one more time, he returned to his work, wondering if the girl would ever return. She was one of the best fucks he ever had.

Sarah was sitting in Mary's office like the schoolgirl who had been sent to the head's office for bad behavior.

"Hank's fine," Mary said to Sarah, "You only broke his jaw bone when you hit him. Oh and you dislocated his shoulder when he hit the wall. He's already been healed."

"He had it coming," Sarah said. After she had deduced what Hank was up to, she confronted him, but he refused to tell her anything and treated her with total contempt.

Eventually she lost her temper, and cast a spell upon herself to give her increased strength. Although their magic could not directly harm another Kithra, there were indirect means of using their magic and increasing their strength was one of those, especially when used as a surprise. She had to be restrained by five other people.

"Yeah. I can think of twenty people that would agree with you, myself included, but that doesn't mean we go and do it. What did he do wrong?" Mary asked before throwing in a sarcastic line "Did he take your parking space or something?"

"I... I think he caught Tina and held her prisoner without telling us," Sarah said.

"Why do you say that?" Mary asked.

Sarah shrugged meekly, "I spoke to Michelle a few hours ago on my cell phone"

"That untraceable satellite call," Mary thought aloud.

"So you HAVE been tracing my calls. I knew it," Sarah accused Mary.

"I did what I had to do Sarah. But Michelle's got us running round in circles again. We couldn't trace it. Hell, we couldn't even get a recording of the conversation, because of the exchange it went though. At this point, we can't even work out what country she might be in. Richard's now convinced that Michael must have been with the CIA or the NSA."

Sarah smiled at the knowledge that her phone conversation hadn't given away Michelle's location.

"So what did she say that made you want to kill Hank?" Mary asked.

"She... she told me that when they got split up, Hank had captured her and that Tina was in some sort of coma. Then it looks like Tina escaped from Hank. I think he let her escape so she could lead him to Michelle. I... I don't know what he's got planned then."

Mary simply nodded, smiling.

"You don't sound surprised. Do you know anything about this?" Sarah questioned.

"Not officially, but I suspected something," Mary started. She couldn't tell Sarah that she'd been bugging Hank's phone calls and listening to his coded conversations with Jack. She knew he was up to something and what Sarah just said confirmed her suspicions.

"But I don't think it went how Hank expected. In fact I'm pretty sure that Tina's given Hank the slip. Did Michelle say anything else that might help us?"

"No. She got cut off before we finish. So what's gonna happen."

"I don't know yet. We have a Council meeting shortly. I want you to wait upstairs in your room until we finish."

Chapter Twenty-Three ====================

LaDonna got home with her shopping bags in hand. She was surprised to find her door unlocked. She could swear she locked it when she left. As she walked through the kitchen, she nearly dropped her bags when she saw someone sitting down.

Her momentary shock was replaced with relief when she saw Michelle sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Hey, why don't ya just invite yerself in? I thought you were leavin today," LaDonna said sarcastically.

"I... I'm sticking around for a while. I'm sorry. I just needed someone to talk to," Michelle replied. LaDonna could see Michelle had some tissues and had obviously been crying. Her hair was still slightly damp and it looked like she had taken a shower.

"Hey sure sister," LaDonna replied. She put down her bags, then sat down right beside Michelle.

"What's wrong sister?" LaDonna asked.

"Well, I was downtown today," Michelle said, then paused.

"And?" LaDonna enquired.

"Well I went to see some communications guy," Michelle stated some more, then paused again.

"And?" LaDonna enquired again, realizing that Michelle wasn't going to say anything until she was prompted.

"Well, we had to wait for something."

"And?" LaDonna enquired yet again. "Look girl, you wa'ned to talk. Now spit it out," she demanded.

"We had sex," Michelle cried, finally relieved that she's said it.

"Did he... rape you," LaDonna asked. "You should go to the police."

"No. He didn't rape me at all. We just had sex."

LaDonna had a puzzled look on her face. "So whad'ya crying for?"

"It was my first time... with a guy," Michelle confessed.

LaDonna nodded her head slowly in understanding. "Sister, the way you said that... my first time... WITH A GUY. It wasn't your first time then."

Michelle shook her head slowly. "No. Up until now, I've only been with girls."

"I kind of guessed you were... like that," LaDonna stated.

"You mean, you knew," Michelle looked at LaDonna surprised.

"Yeah. Sort of. The way you act, the way you dress... or don't dress. I saw the way you looked at me. I could see you wanted me. Trouble is, I'm not really into that sort of thing."

Michelle nodded slightly accepting that Michelle's sexual feelings for LaDonna were not mutual.

"So girl. Did you enjoy it?" LaDonna asked.

"No," Michelle replied, her voice wavering.

"DID YOU ENJOY IT?" LaDonna repeated.

Michelle tried to say 'no' again, but couldn't.

"You did, didn't you?" LaDonna pressed.

"How could I?" Michelle whimpered, "I should have hated it". The memory of what she had done was still vivid in her mind. It wasn't simply what happened, but the way it happened and the fact that she had done most of it willingly.

"Did you come?" LaDonna asked.

Michelle looked at LaDonna, surprised at her blatant openness and just nodded meekly and said "Three times."

"THREE TIMES. Look, sister. I know it's hard right now, but you'll get over it. You're a young lesbian, who just starting to realize that she's straight."

"NO. It wasn't like that. I can't be straight. I can't."

"You can't deny who you are. You can try and kid yourself, but when you come on a guy's cock three times, it means you enjoy screwing guys."

Tina was on the highway driving westward. She had checked out a few towns on the way, but there was no sign of Michelle anywhere. She had also made the attempt to recreate the events that led to their long-distance telepathic link.

Tina was still trying to work out how it had been possible for them to establish a link over such a long-distance. Although technically possible, the chances were rare, especially as Michelle had had no magical training. Tina simply had no answer.

She was driving at a comfortable sixty miles per hour, when the image of the long highway was suddenly replaced by an image of a floating a mug of coffee in the air, then an instant later, she was back in the car looking at the highway.

"What the..." Tina thought as she steadied herself. The car swerved slightly as she corrected her course.

Suddenly, she saw the image again, except the cup was spinning on Michelle's fingertip. This time, Tina knew what it was. It was a memory flashback.

Not wanting to have a prolonged flashback while at the wheel of a moving car, she pulled in at the nearest stop-point. Over the next fifteen minutes, she was bombarded by image after image, which were all fragments of her lost memory.

Gradually, her mind pieced together the missing pieces of the jigsaw. She now knew what the images meant. She remembered Michelle telling her about her telekinetic powers.

For the second time in a week she thought, "Of course, it all makes sense" as she applied her newfound knowledge of Michelle's telekinetic powers to the events of the past week.

As Tina was digesting all her remembered knowledge of Michelle's powers, she realized that there was still one vital piece of information that she could not remember... Michelle's current location. She strained to try and remember the conversation that might give a clue as to their destination, but the events were still fragmented. There were still missing pieces of the jigsaw.

"Come on, you fuck," she yelled at her own sub-conscious, "don't hold out now. Tell me where she is?"

Tina's mind continued to be bombarded with images. She remembered 'borrowing' someone else's car. She also remembered being magically attacked by a power stone and subsequently passing out. But nothing she remembered gave her a hint of where they were heading, although she knew deep down that her mind contained the answer.

Tina sat at the stop-point for another half hour, but no new images were relayed to her. Tina knew that it was only a matter of time before her full memory returned.

Eventually she started her engine again, her morale rejuvenated in her latest discovery. As she built up speed on the highway, she also felt something else. Her magical powers were also returning in strength. She could feel the magic running through her. She sped on, still searching for Michelle.

Michelle was still sulking at LaDonna's house. She was beginning to accept the simple fact that she had enjoyed having sex with a man. Although she was furious at Harry for taking advantage of her, she couldn't blame him. All he had done, was seduced a very good-looking woman. He hadn't physically forced her to do anything.

Michelle also admitted to herself that she had initially given him the wrong signals. She treated him as if she was one of the guys by drinking all these beers. When Michelle got tipsy and still didn't ease off on the drink, it gave Harry the impression that she was begging for it.

As she thought back, the sex itself was the most enjoyable she'd ever experienced. She had three intense orgasms. But what really terrified her, was her own actions through the entire episode. She seemed incapable of stopping it and at times, not even wanting to stop it.

She'd played it back in her mind several times. Although she'd had a bit to drink, she wasn't that drunk. But one thing stuck out in her mind and that was the overwhelming desire to please Harry. She could remember thinking to herself how much she wanted to please him and how much she enjoyed pleasing him.

She tried to work why she had felt like that; based upon what information Tina had given to her about her transformation. Tina had told her that she would be horny for the next week, but was she really horny enough to have sex with a man? It nearly brought her to tears again, thinking of things she did so willingly. The memory of how she sucked him cock made her wince.

Also she had to consider another, worse possibility. Her body was the product of her own sexual fantasies. Isn't it every guy's deep-seated fantasy to have a girl that simply can't say 'no' when you come on to her? As Michael, if there was one sexual trait he loved in a woman, it was sexual submissiveness. Was Michelle's new body the product of that fantasy?

What Michelle didn't know was that it was nothing to do with her own fantasies, but it was more to do with Tina's original spell. The initial spell was intended for Tina. She wanted to be Michael's dream girl for a few hours. However, she didn't know exactly what Michael's sexual desires were. Perhaps he was into things that she didn't like.

That situation wasn't totally unique. Other Kithra had encountered the same problem over the years. However, although all Kithra have protection against external magic, their own magic can affect them totally. Therefore one solution is to use a bit of mind control magic on themselves and program a response that would induce an intense need to please that particular person in a sexual way.

It doesn't make them a sex slave to that person, but it certainly brings down any possible barriers and is usually just a bit of harmless fun. Therefore, Tina had done just this in her encounter with Michael. It would be purely temporary and Tina would only respond to Michael. It would be triggered after she'd had intercourse with Michael, as she first wanted to get pregnant.

Michelle had shown no signs of it after being transformed. After all, she was nearly raped, so Tina didn't even think it was worth mentioning. However, as Richard put it, Michael's brain wasn't wired normally. Therefore the normal rule of things did not apply. The response had been programmed into Michelle's mind, but the trigger and effect were slightly different. Also, when the physical transformation into Michelle became permanent... so did the response

Throughout this, Michelle had partially forgotten about her conversation with Sarah. She didn't have the chance to speak her a second time, but Michelle was now convinced that Tina was free and looking for her. She could also feel that Tina was probably quite some distance away. Tina had known that they were headed for Vegas, so Michelle would have to stay in town.

LaDonna and Michelle talked for hours about things. Michelle poured her heart out as much as she could to LaDonna, without actually telling her the vital facts, namely that one week ago she was a man.

Michelle knew she was contradicting her own stories and it was obvious to LaDonna that Michelle was hiding a lot from her.

"LaDonna, I need your help," Michelle stated, after some lengthy discussion.

"How?"

"I need to blend in. I need to walk down the street and not be noticed."

"It aint gonna happen girl. You're just too damn good looking."

"Okay, well then I need it so that I don't get noticed so much," Michelle asked.

"Well, then you need to change your whole attitude. You dress like a damn guy. You need to start dressing like the woman you are," LaDonna pointed out. It had been obvious to LaDonna from the moment they first met, that Michelle looked more out of place than a nun in a brothel.

"But I don't want to dress like a slut," Michelle cried.

"You don't HAVE to. Dressing like a woman doesn't mean dressing like a slut. Look at me. Am I dressed like a woman?"

Michelle took a quick look at LaDonna. She had a tight skirt, medium cut top, with low heels on. All in all, she was wearing women's clothes. "Yes," Michelle responded.

"Now, am I dressed like a street hooker?" LaDonna asked.

Michelle opened her mouth to speak, but paused and looked over LaDonna once more. "No," she responded slowly. Michelle couldn't work it out, but LaDonna did not, at a quick glance appear to be a prostitute. It was only Michelle's knowledge of her trade that gave it away.

"Exactly girl. I've got two wardrobes upstairs. One for home life and one for... work. Not every girl that wears a skirt is a slut or a hooker."

Michelle hung her head and nodded. It was starting to get through to her. She had been trying to blend in as a man. She was a good-looking woman and she needed to start acting like one.

"Will you help me?" Michelle asked.

LaDonna shrugged, "Well. If ya let me. But it won't be easy." LaDonna could roughly tell where Michelle was going wrong. Michelle clearly had an intelligent mind, but she had the body of a sex goddess and the attitude of a twelve-year old tomboy. It was bizarre to think how Michelle had ever got that way.

"I'll do whatever it takes," Michelle replied.

"Sister, are you sure about that?" LaDonna asked. "I mean, I think I know where you're goin wrong and I think I know what to do, but I aint sure you're gonna like it."

"I'll do whatever it takes," Michelle repeated.

"Okay," LaDonna nodded. "I gotta to go out and get some things. You got a hundred bucks. That should just about cover everything. Oh, and what are ya sizes."

Mary walked into Hank's office, after knocking. Hank was surprised to see her.

"Come to be my bodyguard to the Council meeting, in case your friend shows up again," Hank joked.

"No. We need to talk first. We have a problem," Mary stated.

"No shit. Your friend needs putting on a leash," Hank said.

"Not that. I mean we have a real problem," Mary re-stated.

Hank was curious. It wasn't like Mary to go to Hank when he had problems. He motioned for her to sit down. Mary took a seat.

"Michelle made a call to Sarah from a satellite phone a few hours ago."

"Yeah. I heard," Hank remarked, guessing that Michelle probably told Sarah something that made her attack him.

"Well, Richard couldn't trace it. But he heard from his contact and some more transmissions were made later on. Normally, they wouldn't have picked up on it, but Richard arranged for the full works on this one. They picked up some satellite 'pings'"

"And they were able to trace it?" Hank interrupted.

"No. They could only narrow it down to the Western United States. But Richard's contact thinks he recognized the technique used. He thinks he knows who made the original transmission. He can't prove it, so they won't be taking any action, but he's given Richard a name."

"So," Hank cried. Mary was cruelly making him wait.

"Richard's checked with the police computer. Here's his last known address," Mary said as she tossed Hank a piece of paper. Hank picked up the paper and Mary saw his jaw visibly drop.

"You must be fucking joking. Las Vegas."

"I wish I was," Mary remarked.

Hank was completely taken aback. This changed everything.

Before Hank could work out the implication, he because suspicious, "So why are you telling me this?"

"Because I need you help," Mary replied, "And after you screwed things up when you lost Tina, you need mine"

Michelle was waiting patiently at LaDonna's house when she returned. She had some bags of shopping and Michelle was curious as to what she had planned. She told Michelle to wait in the kitchen while she went to her bedroom.

After about five minutes, LaDonna called Michelle into the bedroom. She could see two separate bags of clothes on LaDonna's bed.

"Right, sister, take off your clothes," LaDonna stated.

"What? Now?" Michelle asked.

"Yeah. Don't be shy. I won't touch you," LaDonna said.

"I wish you would," Michelle silently thought.

Michelle bent down and untied the laces on her sneakers and slipped them off her feet. Then she pulled off her socks and stuffed them inside the sneakers.

She then carefully unbuckled her jeans and slipped them off, quickly folded them over, then placed them on LaDonna's bed. Finally she pulled off her T-Shirt in one motion and put them on top of the jeans.

She now stood in front of LaDonna wearing just her bra and panties. She folded her arms, feeling really embarrassed.

"All of them," LaDonna said firmly.

Michelle blushed slightly, then reached behind herself and unfastened her bra, then slipped it off. Then she pulled down her panties and slipped them off. She added them to the pile of clothes on the bed.

"Okay, follow me," LaDonna said, as she picked up one of the bag of clothes.

Michelle obediently followed LaDonna through the house, completely naked, until she reached the bathroom. LaDonna then told Michelle to have a wash, to shave her legs and other areas where her blonde body hair showed a hint of growth.

Michelle obliged. When she was finished, LaDonna opened the door slightly and handed her the bag she had been carrying.

"Now, I want you to take this bag and put on all of the clothes in the bag. ALL of them, okay."

Michelle nodded slowly, not quite sure of LaDonna's plan and took the bag. LaDonna closed the door behind her.

Michelle opened the bag. Her worst fears were confirmed when she saw the bag contained the skimpiest, sexiest clothes Michelle could imagine.

"You have gotta be kidding," Michelle spoke aloud.

"No, I aint," LaDonna shouted through the door, overhearing Michelle.

Michelle thought for a few minutes, and then decided to play along with LaDonna's plan, although she wasn't sure exactly what LaDonna had in mind.

She looked through the items, a sexy black bustier with suspenders attached, a pair a sheer lace top stockings, a mini-skirt that looked little more than a belt, a top that covered her waist and part of her boobs and finally a pair of black shiny stiletto heels.

Michelle couldn't believe it. But she noticed there was one particular absence.

"Hey, LaDonna, there aren't any panties," Michelle called out.

"I know," LaDonna called back, in a tone that told Michelle that there weren't supposed to be any panties.

Sighing, Michelle decided to concede. She picked up the bustier and carefully put it on. It was clearing new and it was a perfect fit, although it took some time to get it all fastened on her body.

Next were the sheer stockings. They were not new and it was obvious that LaDonna had bought some new stuff in Michelle's size and mixed it with some of her own clothes.

The stockings were not hold-ups, so Michelle had to use the suspenders attached to the bustier. Next, the top, which was very low cut and virtually left her tits hanging out of her bustier.

The final piece of clothing was the black mini-skirt. This item didn't look new and Michelle guessed it belonged to LaDonna. Unfortunately, it didn't fit well. LaDonna's hips were smaller than Michelle's. She had to stretch and breath very deeply to buckle it up. When finished, Michelle looked down and could see that it didn't even hide her stocking tops.

Finally Michelle took the black shiny stiletto pumps. She sat down on the toilet seat and slipped them on her feet. They were a new and a good fit, but were still a little tight. She carefully stood and took a few steps. They made a clicking sound on the tiled bathroom floor that reverberated around the room.

Michelle opened the bathroom door. LaDonna was waiting outside and looked Michelle up and down. "Good," she said, "Now follow me."

Michelle followed LaDonna back to her bedroom, taking slow short steps. She had worn heels a few days earlier and had learned the basic method of how to walk in them, but these shoes were much higher. Michelle did her best to keep up with LaDonna and not fall over.

"Sit down," LaDonna motioned to the seat at her dresser.

LaDonna then turned Michelle around and applied some makeup to her face. Although Michelle couldn't see exactly what LaDonna was doing, she could tell from the various shades that LaDonna wasn't being at all liberal.

When she was finished, LaDonna escorted Michelle down to her connecting garage and motioned for her to get into the car.

"Where are we going?" Michelle demanded.

"It's a surprise," LaDonna replied.

"No fucking shit. You think I'm putting one foot outside this house dressed like this, you've gotta be fucking kidding," Michelle stated, not bothering to be restrained in her choice of language.

"I told you it wouldn't be easy. Do you want to do this or not," LaDonna stated, with her hands on her hips. "We don't have to do this. You asked me for help, remember."

Michelle nodded her concession, realizing that she, had in fact asked LaDonna for help and LaDonna did stress quite clearly that it would not be easy. Michelle carefully climbed into the car. Her tight skirt and her stiletto heels almost made her fall over.

LaDonna got into the driver's seat, and then opened the garage door with the remote. As LaDonna drove out, Michelle shrank back into the seat, almost trying to make herself invisible.

Chapter Twenty-Four ===================

Sarah was anxiously pacing up and down her room within the mansion. She heard a knock on the door, so she went to open it. As Mary walked inside, Sarah could see she was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well. How did it go?" Sarah asked.

"It went well," Mary said, smiling.

They both sat down and Mary detailed how the meeting went. Hank started off by revealing that his search team had located Tina and trailed her, and then subsequently lost her. Hank was chastised by the Council for not revealing his plans to them or involving the Council. Hank was forced to apologize to the Council for his actions and he also excused Sarah for attacking him.

Mary smiled as she saw Hank squirm. This was part of the deal she had struck with him. The Council partly bought his explanation that he had justification for not telling them, but ultimately, he lost Tina. Had he gone to the Council with this, they probably would have sanctioned it and given Hank enough resources to ensure that Hank's men wouldn't have lost track of Tina.

Of course, Mary knew that Hank couldn't have done this, because the Council would then have taken control of the situation, including the capture of Michelle. Mary didn't even want to consider what Hank had planned for Michelle.

Because of this, she could have requested Hank to be removed from all duties related to the search due to his incompetence. But she was in need of Hank's services, which was to come later in the meeting. She was content with a humble apology, plus no blame apportioned to Sarah for attacking him.

Then Mary got down to the real business, which involved Richard's evidence that Michelle is in Las Vegas. The shock that Mary saw on Hank's face was repeated among each of the Council members.

Concern about Michelle now turned to fear. What was she doing there? Had the Ravens captured her? Did they know about her? Was it just a co-incidence?

Mary already had a plan ready, which involved sending in a small team to discover the truth then recover Tina and/or Michelle. This team would include Hank, which had been part of the deal the pair had struck. Part of Mary didn't want Hank going anywhere near Michelle or Tina, but when it came to the Ravens and Las Vegas, there was only one expert, Hank. The Council probably wouldn't approve the plan if Hank wasn't involved. After some debate, the plan was accepted by the Council.

Mary finished her explanation. Sarah asked, "So what's happening?"

"We're assuming that Tina's memory has returned and that she's in Las Vegas, or making her way there."

"So what do we do?" Sarah asked.

"You need to start packing. A small case, with just the basic things," Mary said.

"Why. Where are we going?" Sarah asked.

"As I said, we're going to send in a small team to try and get them back. Myself, Richard mostly for protection, Hank mostly because of his experience with Vegas and one other person to approach both Tina and Michelle."

"Y-You mean... " Sarah started, thinking of whom would be best qualified and most trusted by both Michelle and Tina.

"Yes. You. We're going to get your daughter back."

Sarah could barely hold back her tears.

LaDonna and Michelle had been driving for about thirty minutes. Michelle didn't know exactly where they were, but it was somewhere in Downtown Vegas. Eventually LaDonna parked up somewhere and left Michelle in the car alone for about fifteen minutes.

All the time, Michelle felt constantly conspicuous because of her new slut attire.

LaDonna eventually returned to the car. She then drove a short distance until she was out on a street. Michelle knew, straight away, that the street was a hooker pick-up point. There were several girls standing on the sidewalk, clearing looking for business.

"LaDonna. What's going on?" Michelle asked, now getting really concerned as to what LaDonna's plans where.

"I need you to get out with me," LaDonna said as she slipped off her seatbelt and opened the driver's door.

Michelle thought about protesting, but believed she had come this far and it seemed pointless to back down now. "I can't believe I'm fucking doing this," she muttered to herself as she unbuckled her own safety belt and opened the door.

She attempted to climb out of the car as graciously as she could. Before closing the door, she picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. As she walked round onto the sidewalk to join LaDonna, she felt as if she needed to pull down her skirt, but realized it was already down as far as it could go.

LaDonna walked Michelle about twenty feet from the car. Michelle felt so scared and vulnerable. She was dressed as a hooker in a regular pickup point. Anyone that looked at her would be convinced she was a prostitute.

"Oh shit. Forgot something. Wait here," LaDonna said as she walked briskly back to the car. As LaDonna went back to the car, Michelle looked at her reflection in a window. With her exposed cleavage, her virtually non-existent skirt, her long blonde hair trailing down her back and her slutty red make-up, she was indistinguishable from any of the other prostitutes on the street. In fact, she looked more the part than most of the others. Her knees went weak at the thought of what LaDonna might have planned.

At that point, Michelle turned around to see that instead of getting something out of the car, LaDonna was inside the car and had pulled down in front of Michelle.

Michelle walked slowly over to the car. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Okay, I'm sorry to do this to you, but it's the only way I can teach you what you want to know,"

"What do you mean?" Michelle asked, worried.

"If you want a ride back, all you have to do is walk the length of this street, alone. I'll be waiting for you at the other end."

Realization suddenly hit Michelle. LaDonna was expecting her to walk the entire length of the street... dressed as a hooker.

"No, please, don't leave me here," Michelle begged, "please don't"

"Listen, you'll be fine. This is something you need to do. No-one will hurt you. It's the middle of the day. I'll stay close and if anyone even looks at you the wrong way, I'll run them over in the car."

"Come on LaDonna. There's gotta be another way," Michelle pleaded.

"No, there isn't. Look if you want to back out now, you can get back in the car, but if you do, then I can't help you. You're the one that's gotta do this. I can't walk that street for you. You've got to. I told ya it wouldn't be easy."

Michelle thought for about fifteen seconds. LaDonna was offering her a way-out. Michelle wanted to take that way out, but she knew that if she did that, she would be giving up and admitting that she didn't have what it took to survive as a woman. The battle hardened part of Michael's personality rose up and told her that she had to do it.

"Okay. I'll do it," Michelle said firmly.

LaDonna smiled back and said, "Good girl. I'll see ya at the other end. Good luck."

LaDonna drove off, leaving Michelle all alone. She parked up a few hundred yards away.

Michelle summoned up the courage, and then started walking down the street. Internally, she was in a state of virtual panic. It was a similar walk, which had caused to be almost raped less than a week ago and she hadn't even been dressed the part back then. What was to stop her from being raped again?

She was taking small slow steps, which in her spiked heels were the only steps she could take. Michelle was incredibly conscious of herself, but tried to make herself as calm as possible. Internally her body was trembling with fear, but externally she tried to appear as calm as she could.

Michelle was wondering what the purpose of such a lesson could be. She had asked LaDonna for help in being inconspicuous. But how could she be inconspicuous dressed as a prostitute.

The first one hundred yards were reasonably uneventful, but already her feet were aching. Michelle had never worn spiked heels before in her life and simply wasn't used to them. She used her telekinetic powers to ease her balance and would have fallen over several times had it not been for them.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a car pull up beside her. Turning round, she saw that the car contained a single occupant. Even through the slightly dimmed windows, Michelle could make out the image of a man who whose thoughts were clearly intent on having sex with her.

Michelle could hardly blame the man. She was, after all dressed as a hooker slut and anyone who looked at her, couldn't be blamed for thinking otherwise.

She continued walking, attempting to ignore him. The car pulled down further following her, "Hey lady, you want the business or not," he called out to her.

Michelle stopped, her heart racing. What would he do if she said no? Would he rape her, just like California less than a week ago. Michelle could sense that her powers were fully functional. Feeling secure from her powers, she called back, "Nah. I'm finished for the day," trying to accentuate her accent to make it more appropriate.

Michelle noticed that the man paused for a few seconds then drove off without saying a word. Michelle stood there puzzled for a few seconds, wondering why the encounter had been so simple.

She shook her head and resumed walking, not wanting to dwell on the subject too long. After about another hundred yards, the same thing happened and Michelle brushed it off in the same way.

A third customer pulled up and the same result occurred. Now Michelle was confused. If she could get rid of unwanted attentions when she was dressed in such clothes, how was it that she couldn't do that same in the Casino's when she was dressed far more conservatively?

As she was closing in on LaDonna's car, Michelle began to work it out. She was getting away with it because she was dressed the part. It occurred to her that had she been walking down the same street in her jeans and T-Shirt, more people would have noticed her.

A lot of people did notice her, but they simply assumed she was a prostitute, so that's when their attention of her ended.

The walk was very slow. LaDonna was keeping a careful distance in front of Michelle. It seemed as if she was never going to catch up with her. Eventually she noticed that she was closing in on the car. She walked the last few yards with relief and excitement.

"Oh, thank God that's over with," Michelle exclaimed as she was at the car.

"Uh-uh, you're only half done. This street's a mile long. I'm just checking you're okay."

Michelle nearly fell over when she realized she had only completely half of the journey. She looked at LaDonna and guessed that LaDonna would have allowed her to get back in the car now. But deep down, Michelle would have known that she would not have completed the task.

Michelle nodded the fact that she was prepared to go all the way. LaDonna gave her own approving nod and drove off.

Michelle started walking again. Her feet were really aching by now, so she had to take regular breaks. In her breaks, she continued her psychological analysis of why she was able to blend in easier when dressed as a hooker.

Eventually she came to the conclusion that the best way to hide was to 'hide in plain sight', meaning that if she let people see exactly what they were expecting, people would pay less attention to her.

Taking it one step further, Michelle added in the curiosity factor. People are curious in the unusual. It isn't unusual to see a busty blonde working as a hooker, but it is unusual to see her in a business suit.

By the time she closed in on LaDonna's car, she wanted to shoot herself for how stupid she had been. But Michelle still couldn't work out what the point of the lesson was. Was LaDonna saying that she should always dress like a prostitute in order to blend in?

When Michelle reached the car, she just walked round to the passenger side and collapsed inside, finally relieved that the ordeal was over.

"Hey, sister. Sorry I had to make you do that, but it was the only way," LaDonna replied sympathetically.

"I think I understand, but did I really have to go through all that," Michelle said.

"Yeah girl, you did. I'll explain when we get back home," LaDonna said as she started the engine.

LaDonna drove straight back to her house. Michelle couldn't get inside quick enough and when she was, she immediately pulled off the hooker costume without even waiting for LaDonna.

"Now can you please tell me why I had to go through that?" Michelle asked. The ordeal wasn't really that bad, and she had learned from it, but Michelle was slightly annoyed that LaDonna couldn't have simply sat her down and talked it out, instead of humiliating her.

"You see darlin, ya now know what it's like to be a slut, cause back there, on that street, that's exactly what you were; a slut, whore, hooker, bimbo. The whole shebang all in one."

"So what did I learn from that," Michelle asked. Learning how to walk down a hooker's street didn't help her blend-in in a Casino environment.

"You learned what it was REALLY like to be a slut. The thing is, girl, Ya think that every damn girl that puts on a dress in a slut. It ain't like that."

Michelle listened to LaDonna, beginning to understand what she was driving at.

"Ready for lesson two," LaDonna quipped as she held up the second bag of clothes.

LaDonna left Michelle in the bedroom as she emptied the bag on the bed and sorted through the items. Although the items were still on the sexy side, none of them approached how bad the previous items were.

Firstly there was a black bra and panties, which Michelle put on. Next were the pantyhose. After the exposed feeling of wearing just stockings before, wearing pantyhose was a welcome relief. The final item was a long dress. It was a dark crushed velvet dress. Michelle loved the feel of the fabric against her soft skin as she slipped it on.

The dress was figure hugging and skin tight, yet it didn't stretch anywhere. It showed some of her impressive cleavage, without showing ALL of it. She noticed the dark color of the dress contrasted well against her honey hair. The dress appeared to have a mixture of uses. It could just be used for daytime wear, but it was clearly designed for evening or party wear. Michelle found herself liking it.

Finally Michelle slipped on the shoes, which were open toe heels. They were not what she would have called full stiletto heels, especially after having had to walk a mile in them previously, but they didn't have a pointed heel and the heel did extend a couple of inches. They were considerably more comfortable than the shoes she had been forced to wear.

LaDonna peeked her head inside the door and saw that Michelle had finished dressing. She motioned for her to sit down at the dresser, and then began to remove her slutty makeup. Then she carefully reapplied new makeup, but Michelle could tell she was being far more sparing. In fact LaDonna only had to use a touch of lipstick, some mascara and some eye shadow, because of her extreme natural beauty.

Then she started work on Michelle's hair. Michelle couldn't fathom what LaDonna did to it, with a various assortment of clips and pins, but when she was finished, most of it was on top of her head, with just some hair trailing down to her shoulders.

When her hair was finished, LaDonna finished it off with some small items of jewelry, some earrings, a necklace and a watch from her own collection.

Eventually, when complete, she stood Michelle up and stood her front of a full-length mirror. She was stunned at her transformation.

It wasn't the first time she'd had the makeover treatment. Sarah had done the same to her a few days ago. But the situation was different. In Massachusetts, she'd done it purely because she was forced to. Today, she went through with it, because she finally realized how it was supposed to be.

"Now. Do you REALLY think you look like a slut?" LaDonna asked, as Michelle remained silent.

Michelle's head was dizzy with the transformation in clothing from slut to stunner. She swallowed hard.

"No," she replied softly, "I look... beautiful."

"You do girl," LaDonna said, attempting to hide the envy in her voice. If only she had half of what Michelle had.

Tina was still driving westward as she neared Arizona. She had applied her knowledge of Michelle's telekinetic powers to the situation. It partially explained why they had been able to telepathically link up. Perhaps her telekinetic abilities enhanced her innate telepathic ability. It would make perfect sense as they are both mind related.

She also was able to work out why she was unable to establish another link. Tina guessed that Michelle had been flying at the time of their link-up and Tina had been meditating deeply. That meant that they were both utilizing their respective abilities. So, in order for them to forge another link, Tina would have to be meditating and Michelle would have to be flying, which was an unlikely combination.

Tina had a choice. She could either spend the majority of her time traveling or meditation. She couldn't do both, so for the time being she just kept driving West, still unsure of her final destination.

As she saw the sign detailing the Arizona state line, her body jolted as she experienced another memory flashback. She pulled over to the side of the road as she was once again bombarded with images.

She remembered Michelle talking to her about a hidden stash of money and about how they should go there and retrieve it. Suddenly, she knew where they were headed, Las Vegas.

Her elation at knowing Michelle's location was instantly replaced by a deep-seated fear, "Oh, fuck, anywhere but there, anywhere," as she figured out the implications.

"Why the hell did I agree to going there?" Tina asked herself. Then she remembered her own thoughts and how she would avoid any possible confrontation with the local Ravens. But that plan assumed that they were together. Now that Michelle was alone, she wouldn't know how to handle herself. She was in grave danger.

Tina wasted no time in speeding away for Las Vegas. She would drive through the night if she had to in order to get to Vegas by tomorrow morning.

Chapter Twenty-Five ===================

Michelle stepped out of the cab and gracefully walked to the Casino. She looked around and noticed the fluorescent lights of the town were beginning to illuminate the dusk sky.

Michelle walked into the lobby with a renewed confidence. The afternoon's walk dressed as a prostitute had taught her a lot. It taught her that in order to blend in, she needed to start acting like a sexy young woman instead of acting the man trapped inside a woman's body.

As she walked into the lobby of the Casino, she accentuated the feminine walk by lightly swaying her hips. She realized just how wrong she had originally been. Although her moves and actions still gained her a lot of attention, it was the right kind of attention. The stares were more of 'damn, this is a sexy woman' instead of 'what's this sexy woman doing dressed like that'.

However, although LaDonna's improvements were good, she had stressed that Michelle still had a lot to learn. What LaDonna had done, was simply direct her down the right path.

Her primary task was to look around for Tina. Although she assumed that Tina was still a considerable distance away, she couldn't simply wait around in her hotel room. She had to do something.

But her second task was looking at the possibility of getting some money out of the casino's, as they would still need some money to run away with. Her two previous attempts ended in dismal failure. Perhaps her new outlook may improve her chances. As she scanned the gaming hall, she felt a good feeling.

Deciding to take the plunge one last time, she sat down at an empty Roulette table. As soon as she sat down, she realized her first mistake of the evening. By sitting down alone, she was advertising to all the studs around. What she should have done was sit at a table already occupied. She now knew that she had to confront her problems head on instead of trying to avoid them. She sighed slightly as she wait for the inevitable.

Gary was cruising the Strip once again, looking for more victims. His last victim two nights ago was a real success. She turned out to be extremely suggestible. His Hypnosis spell basically took full control over her mind, which was unusual.

After he'd finished having sex with her, he pondered what to do. He rarely bothered to leave permanent triggers in the minds of these girls because it was too much hassle and he could always take control of them again.

However, this girl was different, because she was so easy. He experimented by subjecting her to some of his more extreme mind control spells. She submitted totally in less than a minute. He had complete control of her. He could re-write her personality if he wanted to.

He hadn't fully made his mind up yet. He left some triggers so that she would obey him completely. She was also sexually inexperienced, so he left her with an increased sex drive, plus a fetish for giving blowjobs and wearing very sexy clothing. Right now, she'd probably be all dressed up, hitting on some guy, hoping she could get her full lips wrapped round his cock. She'd be aware of her new cravings, but wouldn't be able to work out why they were happening.

She was in town for another week, so he had until then to decide. He would probably let her go free, but even if he did, he'd consider leaving the mental changes firmly in place. She would probably go from straight-laced girl to cock-sucking slut within a few weeks. Whenever he had the opportunity to do this like that, he often did. It gave him a massive kick to know that he'd been able to alter someone's lifestyle so easily.

However, none of that managed to sate his own domination cravings for long, which is why he was out looking for someone else. As he was scanning the tables, he spied a familiar face, Maria. She noticed him and smiled back. They walked over to each other.

"Here for the same as me," Maria said as they approached. To Gary, Maria was something of a kindred spirit. The pair were long-term friends and they even had a son together, who was in his thirties. The Ravens did not have any concept of marriage or family like the rest of the world. Gary and Maria spent some time living together, but they would often live with other partners within the group, and they would both frequently visit the Strip and get their pleasure from unsuspecting tourists.

They were walking engaging in casual conversation. "Hey, feel like teaming up tonight?" Gary asked Maria. They made a good pair when selecting their victims, as Maria was very good at transformations, at least for a Raven, whereas Gary had real trouble transforming people.

They would often select an individual or even a couple; Gary would deal with the mind, while Maria would deal with the bodies. They would usually fix everything before they left, but not always. Quite a few people are living the rest of their lives in totally different bodies. Gary's mental conditioning compels them to do so and to never return to Las Vegas. But neither of them felt any guilt over the lives they'd ruined over the years.

Gary noticed that Maria was about to answer when he saw her fixate on something, "Oh... I think I'm in love," she purred.

He followed her gaze and spotted a young blonde woman who had just sat down at a Roulette table. Gary knew that Maria was bisexual. In fact she often gave herself male equipment for sex with women.

"Mmmmm. She's perfect," Gary agreed.

"Hey. I saw her first," Maria joked.

They sat down at the table, on either side of the girl and both engaged in quick casual conversation with her. She gave her name as Lisa and seemed really shy. Gary smiled thinking that she would not be shy for long.

Gary prepared his usual Hypnosis spell, designed exactly as the night before. Initially she would only follow Gary's commands, but he would gladly give control of her over to Maria, for a sexual favor. This was often the way they played things. If Gary wanted someone transformed to his liking, he would have to grant Maria a sexual favor. They had both been playing it this way for decades. He cast his spell upon Lisa.

Gary carefully watched Lisa for signs that his spell had been triggered in her mind. He also casually glanced down toward her impressive chest, and examined her curvy features, which started to make his pants bulge at the thought that he would soon have his hands on that figure. After a minute, Gary could see no sign that his spell had been accepted.

"Damn, she's got resistance," he telepathically communicated to Maria, who sighed ever so slightly to acknowledge she had received his message.

But this was only the start. It was quite normal for him to encounter this type of resistance. The woman clearly wasn't very suggestible. Gary could quite easily subjugate her with other spells. But he couldn't do it under the glare of the people and cameras in the Casino. Instead he selected another spell in his arsenal. This one was designed to invoke intense sexual desire towards the spell caster

Unlike the previous spell, this one will affect her directly. She would have no resistance against it. In less than a minute, she would be physically craving Gary's touch. She would quite willingly go with them to their car, allowing Gary the privacy to do what he wanted with her head.

Within a minute, he was ready again. He cast his spell upon her and waiting. She should respond almost immediately with a burning lust in her eyes. Again there was no response. However, the girl was beginning to notice that they were both starting at her. After two minutes and still no response to the spell, Gary had reached a conclusion.

"She's Kithra," both Gary and Maria transmitted at the same time.

Gary was surprised that Lisa hadn't introduced herself as Kithra. Both Gary and Maria were in the true form and most of the Kithra would recognize them. Gary certainly didn't recognize her, so she must have transformed herself from her natural form, which would explain her voluptuous figure.

Maria stuck up conversation with Lisa again, only this time she used some special phrases that Kithra use to introduce themselves in public. Gary nearly dropped his chips when Lisa didn't respond to them.

Maria was also trying to hide the shock in her voice. Gary needed to talk to Maria. Telepathy couldn't carry a proper conversation, only the odd words. He made an excuse for them to leave the table. They cashed in their chips and moved away to a slot machine some fifty feet away. Gary was playing the machine, while Maria was on one side, which allowed her to keep a close on the mystery woman.

"What's going on? Why isn't she responding to us?" Maria asked.

"I don't know," Gary replied. "I don't think she knows who we are."

"Then who is she? Hell, what group is she?"

"I don't know that either," Gary stated

"Should I go back to the table and casually talk to her."

"No. She might sense our magic," Gary replied, then a though crossed his mind. "Wait a minute, could you sense any magic from her?"

"No," Maria shrugged.

"No, neither could I," Gary mused. Being able to sense another Kithra's magic isn't an exact science, but a lack of any magical presence is only common among the new Kithra, which made her presence in Vegas all the more curious.

"Keep her in sight," Gary said to Marian, "I'll go make a phone call."

Michelle was beginning to feel more relaxed. So far, the only people that came to the table were a very weird couple. They left after about ten minutes, leaving her alone at the table. Michelle was quite please with herself, thinking that her new outlook must have made a difference. She returned her concentration to the gaming table.

The walk down the street earlier also made Michelle realize what she had been doing wrong at the Casino tables. She had been playing Roulette like a man who knows what he's doing, whereas she should have been playing it like a bimbo, who hasn't got a clue what to do. Because Roulette is a game of pure chance, it is possible for a bimbo to win, as long as that's what she appears to be.

Slowly, she managed to build up a small amount of winnings. She had walked in with a thousand dollars and now had two thousand sitting in front of her.

Her problem wasn't winning. Her powers could ensure that. The real problem was getting away with it. She had to appear as if she won by pure chance and that was the one thing she was having severe trouble with now that she was a woman.

She had two options. Her first option was to place small bets and build up her winnings gradually. Her problem was that it would require time and patience to pull it off and Michelle wasn't sure she couldn't sustain her outward bimbo nature for that long. Over time, people would get suspicious.

Her second option was to put a couple of big bets and make them come in. That could cause a lot of attention. However, she might just be able to get away with it, claiming a few lucky spins. Her biggest problem would be explaining why a girl would suddenly bet so big after previously placing small bets. The pit bosses were not stupid. They would suspect something. She needed a way of placing a big bet, without arousing suspicion.

"Howdy, pretty girl," Michelle heard from behind her. She guessed that the 'pretty girl' was supposed to be herself.

Michelle turned around to see who was paying her a compliment this time. She turned round to be greeted with a man in his forties standing there with a huge grin in his face. In the milliseconds that followed, Michelle's brain instantly told her "Texas oil millionaire" because of his look, clothes, huge hat and deep accent.

"Hi there," Michelle replied in her best girlish voice. The man took a seat right next to Michelle.

As soon as he joined the table, it seemed like a huge entourage followed him. Michelle instantly spotted the pit boss move across to the table and several onlookers followed. Michelle's table quickly became a flurry of activity.

Michelle then recognized the man. Although she didn't know him personally, she certainly knew of him. Michael had played the tables with him once before. He was practically a billionaire and was one of the big gamblers in the town, often winning or losing a million dollars in a weekend. Hell, he even had his own security guard with him.

Michelle felt tears well up in her eyes. It seemed as if her attempts to get money out of the Casino's were doomed to failure. Although her change in attitude toward clothing had increased her chances, her new body still brought the center of attention to her table.

However, the Texan did seem slightly different in his attitude to Michelle. He was standing right beside her and he seemed interested in her, but it wasn't the same as before. Michelle looked at him and realized that his first love was the table.

Part of the difference was because he could have any number of bimbo's, with a few of them already gathering round the table, hoping to get a piece. For the first time around a man, Michelle felt half-secure, because this man was more interested in the game than in her. However, none of that helped her situation. The table had still become the center of attention.

She was about to cash in her chips, when something caught her eye. She watched how the Texan next to her was playing on the wheel. For an open table, it had fairly high-stakes, with a player limit of five thousand dollars per spin and the Texan was betting to the maximum every time. But he always put about three thousand dollars on a single number, and spread the rest around, using a different number each time for his major bet.

Michelle decided to stay on the table for a while longer. She felt secure for the time being. Suddenly, one of the Texan's minor numbers came up and he won about fifteen thousand dollars in one spin. The entire table erupted in cheers. Michelle glanced up and she could see the pit boss was totally focused on the Texan. Amongst it all, Michelle began to see a way for her to win.

As she examined the Texan's gaming strategy, she realized that she could get away with it if she piggybacked on his success. All she needed was a realistic reason for her to put a big bet on the table.

Michelle gambled away part of her winnings, basically leaving the wheel to chance. Slowly, a real plan started to form in her mind. She wondered if she could really get away with it.

When was down to her last few chips, she turned to the Texan, smiled and in her best bimbo voice asked, "Oh, I'm down to my last two hundred. Can you suggest anything?"

The Texan looked back at Michelle, glanced down to her impressive chest for a few seconds, then said, "Well, ya see, I have this system. I think number six is gonna come in next, so I put a load of money on it. Tell you what, you follow me and if I'm wrong I'll make up for it."

Michelle wasn't completely sure what he meant when the Texan said he would 'make up for it', but everyone heard him make the promise. It was the opening Michelle had waited for. She could put all her money on the number, without suspicion because everyone believed the Texan would basically cover her bet if things went wrong.

Michelle knew that what she did had to look good. She carefully counted her chips, then gave her best 'what the hell' expression, and placed her chips on top of the Texan's number six.

As the dealer spun the ball around the wheel, the Texan slipped his arm around Michelle waist. Michelle initially wanted to punch him, but she decided that it would make it look even better if she was seen to be his bimbo.

Michelle looked over at the wheel and concentrated. It was her best chance and she couldn't afford to mess it up. The ball began to drop. Michelle had to keep on eye on where the ball was, and a second eye in where number six was in relation to the ball.

Michelle ensured that the ball hit the wheel in the area of number six. Then as it bounced in an out of the various slots, Michelle ensured that it's final resting spot was number six.

The entire table erupted in massive cheers. Michelle knew that she had to show extreme surprise, but she was so elated at having won, that her cheers sounded genuine anyway.

She had won seven thousand dollars in one go. The amazing thing was, that the pit boss didn't even notice it. His face had gone completely white. His, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the fifty thousand that the Texan had won.

Michelle wanted to cry out loud in joy. It wasn't only the amount of money she won, but the fact that she had finally used her new body to its advantage.

Michelle now had seven thousand dollars in chips in front of her. She did exactly the same on the next spin and followed the Texan's three thousand dollar bet, with a two hundred dollar bet of her own, but the number didn't come in. She left the wheel play for a few rounds and effectively gave some back to the Casino.

Eventually the Texan's number came in again, all on it's own and Michelle had followed it with another two hundred dollar bet. Huge cheers followed with the Texan proving his mouth was truly bigger than his hat and once again, they dealers barely noticed Michelle's relatively minor payout as the bit boss was now considering ritual suicide.

Michelle had won over twelve thousand dollars in fifteen minutes but better than that, she did it without arousing hardly any attention. She wanted to jump for joy at her achievement.

Gary man walked into the casino lobby and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed one of the quick dial numbers in the memory. He had been trying every five minutes to get an answer, but to no avail. Finally, this time a woman answered.

"Hey, Tanya. It's me, Gary. Listen carefully, I'm on the Strip in one of the casino's and I've met this girl...."

"Look," Tanya said. "I don't want to hear about your sex life"

"Tanya. I don't need your bullshit today. Now fucking shut up and listen," he shouted back, which caused a small pause on both sides. Tanya and Gary were bitter enemies and rarely spoke to one another unless it was important. Tanya listened.

"This girl. She's really good looking, so I... I cast a spell on her." the man lowered his voice so that no-one could hear the conversation.

"So what did you go over the top and you can't satisfy her and now she won't stop begging for it?"

"No. It didn't work. I mean it didn't work at all. She SHOULD have been begging for it, but she just carried on as if nothing happened."

"Then she's Kithra. She's immune. That's why she was so good looking. She transformed herself to get laid. You should have tried picking her up instead. You would have probably got lucky. What group was she anyway," she asked wondering if this girl was a witch new to the area. She wanted to know about all the witches on their patch.

"That's just it. When my spell didn't work, I guessed she was a witch, so I went to talk to her. I made a quick conversation with her and I dropped in some Kithra phrases, starting with some Raven talk, then some of the general Kithra talk. But she didn't respond, to any of them... She's Kithra... but she's not acting like one."

His statement elicited a lengthy pause from the woman.

"Where is she now?"

"Still at the Roulette wheel. Maria's watching her. She's hanging around some rich guy like she's his bimbo."

"Right. Follow her and find out where she goes. And don't lose her."

Michelle was still at the table basking in her success. She now had twenty five thousand dollars in winnings and the Texan had considerably more. Amazingly, all she needed to do was manipulate the odd spin of the wheel. The floor manager wanted to close the table and move the Texan to an enclosed area. The Texan said that he didn't like the enclosed tables. He loved the attention and all the people watching. It was the also last thing Michelle wanted, but she knew that another win and the Casino would close the table.

She also realized just how carried away she was getting. In order to complete the task, there was one more thing she had to do. She had to make the Texan lose some of the money he had just won. She felt a little guilty about making someone lose, but she guessed that the Texan was hardly short of money and after all, he did win a good chunk of it because of Michelle powers.

Over the half hour, Michelle carefully directed the game. The Texan was betting a total of five thousand dollars with each spin of the wheel so it didn't take him long to give most of it back to the Casino.

After a time, she kind of got used to hanging on his arm and allowing him to have his arm around her. She felt safe with his arm around her waist.

She soon felt she reached a point where she had to leave the table. She had 'lost' about ten thousand of her own money to the Casino but was still fifteen thousand in profit. Michael had learned that it was far better to win thirty thousand and give half of it back, than to win ten thousand and walk straight out the door. It makes the Casino feel good in that they've clawed some of the money back.

The Texan was still about seventy thousand up, which Michelle calculated was what the Texan would have been had it not been for her involvement. The color in the pit boss's face had returned slightly.

Michelle announced that she had to leave. The Texan seemed genuinely disappointed, but he understood. Michelle took a deep breath, and then asked for her gaming chips to be exchanged for cash chips. The pit boss approved the exchanged, barely taking his eyes of the Texan in the process.

She could see what was going on in the pit boss's mind. He wasn't worried about the fifteen thousand he had to pay Michelle. He was far more concerned about the Texan and how much he could conceivably win. He was still in profit and was basically 'playing with the Casino's money' which is the one thing they hate.

When Michelle received her cash chips, she thanked the Texan for his help and kissed him on the cheek. He barked to his security man, and insisted that he escort Michelle safely out of the Casino. She walked to the cashier, who paid Michelle her cash in crisp one hundred dollar bills after only a slight delay. She was then escorted to the main entrance and into a waiting cab. As she walked out, she heard the Texan loud shout as his numbers came in once again and couldn't help but smile.

The cab took her back to her hotel. During the ride, she now finally realized what she had been doing wrong in the Casino's. She'd been playing like a thirty-year-old businessman, whereas she should have been playing like a young blonde bimbo.

LaDonna's lesson had taught her that she wasn't really a bimbo, but people could accept her as a dizzy blonde a lot easier than an intellectual one. That didn't mean she'd always have to act that way, but instead, it was one of many ways in which she could present herself in order to get what she wanted done.

When she reached her hotel, she very carefully hid away her winnings in various locations. Then she called for a cab and drove around for hours, with one purpose.

She had achieved one of her missions, but now she needed the other one. She had to find Tina. A big part of her said that Tina was still a long way off, but she couldn't completely trust that feeling.

She didn't stay in one cab for too long. She would drive around a bit, then get out, go into a casino, wander around looking until someone approached her, which wasn't too long, then leave and get another cab.

Eventually, she gave up searching. She was about to go back to her motel, but decided to go to LaDonna's house. She arrived there, complete with a bottle of champagne.

Michelle couldn't give LaDonna full details of why she was celebrating, but she wanted to thank her for the help she provided.

As Michelle walked inside, a sleek black car pulled up outside. The occupants of the car watched LaDonna's house intently.

T + 7 days

Chapter Twenty-Six ==================

At sunrise the following morning, Tina was crossing the Hoover dam. Shortly afterwards, she arrived in Las Vegas. She had never been to Vegas before. It wasn't exactly top of the tourist list for Kithra of her group.

As she drove down a street, she was convinced that she recognized some locations and landmarks from the link with Michelle two days ago. Tina knew she was in the right town.

What Tina couldn't be sure of, was whether Michelle was still in Vegas, and if so, was she still safe.

Now that Tina had successfully located the correct town, she had to actually find Michelle. Because there were a considerable number of the Ravens around, she couldn't afford to use her telepathic abilities to try and contact Michelle. She was sure that she could almost feel a fragment of Michelle out there somewhere and it reassured her to believe that she was still alive.

Although the Ravens would not be able to listen in to their link, it would almost certainly alert them to the presence of outside Kithra in 'their' town. Tina would start by off by looking around town for images that seemed familiar. If she could not find Michelle by nighttime, she would be forced to search for her using magical means.

Although she wanted to find Michelle immediately, she was in no fit state. Her eyes were raw and her concentration was so bad that she probably wouldn't even see Michelle if she walked right in front of her. She booked herself into one of the hotels on the Strip, believing they would be safer. However, Tina knew that there wasn't a single safe place in the entire town for either Michelle or her. When she got to her room, she quickly washed herself, then laid down on the bed, hoping to get an hours rest before she set out to locate Michelle.

Sarah, Mary, Hank and Richard were on a regular flight from Massachusetts to Las Vegas. They had to keep their team small, because if they started sending in too many of the big guns, then the Ravens would notice very quickly. It was a calculated risk that had to be taken. Mary surveyed her team.

Richard had fought in the last battle, despite being in his late teens at the time, so he knew how to act. Both his parents were killed. Mary took it upon herself to look out for him ever since. He had shown remarkable strength of character in accepting his parent's death without the anger and hatred that would normally be expected. He had all the characteristics of a future leader and would certainly be looking for a place on the Council when he turned forty in a few years time. Of course, like the rest of the Kithra, he didn't look a day over thirty.

Sitting next to Mary, Sarah didn't know whether she should be happy or sad. When she heard the news that she was going to retrieve her daughter, she was initially elated. But as the importance of their destination began to sink in, she was in disbelief.

"I can't believe she'd go there," she whispered to Mary, "I mean, there of all places."

"I know," Mary said, feeling the same anxiety as Sarah. There was still a lot of hard work to be done.

"Do... you think the Ravens have caught Michelle?" Sarah asked.

"I hope not... for her sake," Mary re-assured.

There was that nagging feeling at the back of Mary's mind about that 'missing piece'. Could it be that Michael really was some sort of Raven spy? The trips to Las Vegas! The financial irregularities! It all seemed to be falling into place. Mary would have to play the situation very delicately. She was already working out what she could say in the event that Michelle had been a 'plant'

But on the other hand, if the Ravens had caught Michelle, then Mary would probably have to deny all knowledge of her and leave Michelle with them, with would probably be a death sentence. It would possibly be the most difficult decision of her life, but one which she would have little choice in taking.

Las Vegas was the new base of the Ravens, ever since their last base was destroyed twenty years earlier. They Falcons might just be able to defend themselves against a Raven attack, but they would never be able to mount any kind of rescue operation if Michelle was already in their hands.

Mary turned to her right. Hank, the final member of the team was sleeping soundly. Before departing Mary had long discussions with Hank regarding their best tactics. She didn't trust Hank at all, but she had no choice. She needed him on this mission. His presence was invaluable. If Michelle had been a 'plant' then she would need Hank to get them out of the situation. Hank had the natural ability to put doubt in people's minds, without any kind of magic. He could talk his way out of a firing squad if he had to, plus he knew how the Ravens operated.

Mary reflected on how she had known Hank throughout the years. Hank had always been forceful and outspoken, but at the same time, he followed his upbringing of the Falcon's teachings. Over the years, the burden of being responsible for defending the Falcons against the others had taken it's toll.

Mary would freely admit that had it not been for Hank, then the Falcon's may not have survived the war with the Ravens twenty years ago. That war had an effect on all of them, but Hank seemed to be the most changed. Everyone agreed that a different Hank had emerged, who seemed to get worse year by year.

Michelle was at her motel room after waking up late. She had to get into town again and look for Tina once more. She showered, and then put on some clean clothes. Although still woefully inept at taming her hair, she was able to at least do something with it while it was wet, although it took the best part of an hour to dry the mass.

As she was drying her hair, it struck her that it was exactly one week since she had been turned into Michelle. It had been one hell of a week.

As she dressed in her jeans and T-Shirt, she realized once more what a fool she'd been to dress in the manner that she had. Her evening dress that she wore the previous night was just a little bit too much for wandering around during the day, so Michelle decided she had to buy some more clothes.

She took a cab to LaDonna's house, hoping she would go shopping with her. There was no-one at her house and her car was gone. Michelle shrugged, assumed that LaDonna had other things to do and went shopping by herself.

LaDonna woke up from her sleep, but something felt odd. Instead of waking up in her bed, she was seated in a chair. She shook her head and looked around. She was sitting in a chair in the middle of a small, darkened room. As she opened her eyes and blinked them, she noticed that there was a single light above her pointing down.

Apart from the chair in which she was seated, there was no other furniture in the room. There were two people standing a few feet in front of her. They were an attractive man and woman.

"Hello LaDonna. My name's Tanya and this is Gary," the woman introduced.

LaDonna looked closely at them. The faces seemed partially familiar. It was nothing obvious and she couldn't quite place them. It was more like she had seen them around town.

LaDonna tried to stand up and face these people on a level situation. She attempted to stand, but found she couldn't do it. Bewildered, she pushed up again and again, but she found herself glued to the chair. She could move her feet, arms, head and everything else, but it was as if her ass was welded to the seat of the chair.

"Don't bother trying to get up," Tanya spoke softly as she watched LaDonna struggle, "you can't."

"Hey bitch, let me outta here," LaDonna lashed out.

"Don't you ever call me bitch," Tanya replied as she stared at LaDonna intently. Suddenly LaDonna felt a searing pain in her back. It was ten times more painful than she'd ever experienced in her life. She screamed in agony as she twisted on the chair, still unable to get off.

The pain disappeared a few seconds later, but even those few seconds of exposure were more than enough to get LaDonna's attention.

"We'll be back later," Tanya said to LaDonna as they both walked away to a door.

LaDonna remained perfectly still as the pain subsided further, taking regular breaths. Once the pain had completely vanished, she tried to stand up again, but found it impossible. It was really weird. She was able to move around the chair, but every time she tried to get up, it was suddenly as if her ass weighed a hundred tons.

She waited for them to return. As she did, fragments of her memory of the morning returning. She could remember these people coming to her house and making her go with them, then it all got a bit fuzzy, but she could feel that Gary had been doing something with her, but she couldn't remember what. After about ten minutes, they both returned.

"I see you're a lot calmer now," Tanya remarked.

"Why can't I get off this damn chair?" LaDonna asked. She was as much curious now as anything. She couldn't understand why she couldn't get up.

"Magic," Tanya responded.

"Yeah. Right, like David Copperfield and Siegfried & Roy," LaDonna quipped.

Tanya smiled. "Everyone says that. But no, we're nothing like that," she replied. The proliferation of illusionists in Las Vegas was purely co-incidental and the irony was that Kithra were not capable of the kind of magic that these fake magicians portray. They could not make tigers or elephants appear. Nor could they make teleport themselves out of boxes or levitate in the air.

It was just possible for them to create a mass illusion that such a thing was happening, but this wasn't very reliable and would show up on a video camera.

"But it is magic. I cast a spell on you that makes you think your ass is stuck to the chair. It isn't really, you just think it is."

"You mean you hypnotized me," LaDonna asked.

"It's similar, but it's not the same," Tanya replied.

LaDonna tried for another minute to get off the chair, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't budge. Gary and Tanya watched her struggle. Eventually she gave up.

"What do you want?" LaDonna asked in a forward manner. She didn't believe Tanya's magic story. She just wanted to know what was going on.

"Information," Tanya stated.

"What kind of information?"

"That girl you've been with these past few days. The babe with the blonde hair. I want to know everything about her."

"I don't know all that much," LaDonna replied truthfully.

"But you are her friend?" Tanya quizzed.

LaDonna paused, not wanting to answer a straight yes or no, "I wouldn't say we were friends. I just know her. She helped me out a few days back with some john, so I helped her out with her dress sense."

"Well, I want to know everything," Tanya demanded.

"And if I refuse?" LaDonna said. Although Tanya's request wasn't completely unreasonable, it infuriated her that Tanya had simply abducted her without a second thought.

"Then we'll make you," Tanya said coldly.

"You mean, you'll torture me with pain thingy?

"No. Nothing so crude. We don't need to torture you. We can simply take full control of your mind and then you'll tell us everything we want to know and more. And when it's over, you'll do anything we want you to do. Do you know we can make you our unconditional slave? We can make it so that you'll do anything we say," Tanya stated.

"Huh, if you could do that, you would have done it already," LaDonna said bravely.

The look in Tanya's eyes told her that she was about to receive another massive pain dose. She clenched her fists. Tanya stared intently at LaDonna, probably considering it.

But Tanya wanted to approach the situation correctly. Had the situation been different, she would have simply screwed up LaDonna's mind just for the hell of it. However, Tanya had a goal and she wanted to use the best strategy to achieve that goal. Gary had already tried using magic on her, but she appeared to be extremely resilient to mind control magic. It had taken him an hour just to program the suggestion that forces her to remain seated. She had no doubt that he could do it, but it would take time. Perhaps they didn't need to be so extreme to get what they wanted.

"You're right," Tanya conceded, "You're not very suggestible. We already tried a simple spell. But that won't stop us. We can completely screw your mind up if we want."

Tanya then walked right up to LaDonna, her face inches from hers. Now she would offer LaDonna the way out.

"However... if we get what we want without having to rip your mind apart, then we have no further use for you. All we'll do is simply erase your memory of what happened today and release you. You can live the rest of your life in freedom."

LaDonna looked Tanya deep in the eye. LaDonna thought that Tanya was serious, but all that crap about magic just wasn't possible. Tanya remained close, her eyes burning into LaDonna as she thought about it.

After about fifteen seconds of thought, LaDonna decided to give in because in the end, she really knew nothing. She didn't know much about Lisa.

"Okay, what do you want to know?" LaDonna conceded.

Tanya smiled then pulled back, "Excellent choice," she said. "Now tell me everything about that girl."

"Well I don't know much. Her name's Lisa Trent, she's got the hottest body I've ever seen, shit taste in clothes," LaDonna paused, then shrugged, "That's all I know," LaDonna replied.

"That's not good enough," Tanya sneered.

"Well, it'll have to do sister. I don't know anything more than that. I only just met the damn girl. Oh, I think she might be a lesbo as well. That's all," LaDonna said defiantly. She couldn't give Tanya what she didn't have.

"I didn't have you brought here just to hear that shit. Now tell me what I want to know," Tanya demanded.

"Listen, if you don't like it, then shove it. I don't know anymore."

"Okay, do it the fucking hard way," Tanya said angrily. She glared at LaDonna and LaDonna screamed as she felt another bout of searing pain wrack her body.

LaDonna whimpered as she recovered. Tanya turned to Gary. "Take her mind," she ordered then walked away.

Tina shuffled on the bed. She opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. She yawned and stretched as she checked her watch. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she noticed it was nearly four in the afternoon. She'd slept all day.

She was furious with herself at falling asleep for so long when she was so close to Michelle, but she quickly had to admit that she had to sleep. She couldn't keep going forever.

Tina grabbed her things, put on a quick change of clothes and made the door. She then headed into town. She would give herself four hours until it got dark before she used telepathic methods, which had to be a very last resort.

She parked her car in town, and then walked down the Las Vegas Strip. Along the route she kept seeing images she partially recognized. Even though she had never set a foot near Vegas before, she caught glimpses that seemed familiar. Tina guessed these images were gained from her short telepathic link with Michelle. She knew she was in the right town. She just had to ask.

Tina's biggest problem was that she couldn't ask around too much without arousing suspicion. She asked a few places, saying she was due to meet someone and gave Michelle's description. Although Michelle's body was fairly unique, simply saying "tall, long blonde hair and big tits" wasn't a good description.

Amazingly, that description did seem to register with one person. He clearly remembered such a young girl causing a scene at a casino a few days with a drunken customer. As Tina listened to the man's description of the events, she became convinced it was Michelle.

Tina headed straight away for the casino. When she was there, she asked about the incident. She was informed to wait while the floor manager came to see her.

As she was waiting, Tina couldn't stop herself from biting on her nails. What Michelle had done was very, very dangerous. It wasn't the Mob who ran Vegas, but the Ravens. It was them that created the town. By parading around in the casinos, should would be drawing huge attention to herself. However, Michelle had no way of knowing that because Tina hadn't told her.

"Can I help you ma'am?" she heard. Tina was slightly startled as she turned around and was greeted by a tall man in a tuxedo.

"Yeah. Do you remember a young woman that came in a few days ago? She had long blonde hair and she was wearing a suit. She got into some trouble with a drunken guy," Tina posed.

"Yes. I think I remember her," he replied. He didn't think he would ever forget her. "Lisa Trent," wasn't it.

"Y-Yeah," Tina replied, assuming Michelle would have given a false name, "Do you know where she might be staying. I'm her sister and I really need to get in contact with her," Tina asked, pleading as much as she could without going too far.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we wouldn't have that information. Don't you know where your sister is staying?"

"No. She gave us the number but we lost it. We've got a family emergency and I really need to know," Tina pleaded once more.

Tina saw the look in the manager's eye. She could tell that he did have some information, but he didn't want to reveal it. Tina thought about using her magic powers to extract the information she needed, but she neither had the time, nor magical energy required to forcibly extract it from him. Doing such a thing would take hours and she was no expert at it.

However, she didn't have to use forcible magic. The floor manager appeared as if he wanted to tell her, he just needed a little push. Instead of wading in with her full force of magic, perhaps she could use her magic to greater effect if she used less of it.

The manager did know where Michelle was staying, or at least where she WAS staying. On the night in question, he was curious as to whom the mysterious woman was, so when she rushed to the bathroom, he had searched through her purse and found the card of a hotel, probably the hotel in which she was staying. He couldn't really reveal that information without some awkward questions.

Tina really laid on the charm. She half pleaded with the manager, saying how important it was. At the same time, she cast a spell on him. It wasn't a powerful spell. All it did was increase his desire for compassion, but it may be just enough to get him to comply.

"Hold on Miss," he eventually said, "I know which cab company she used. The manager is a friend of mine. I may be able to find out where she went to."

"That would be great," Tina replied.

The manager left Tina alone. Although the girl had not taken a cab that night, he still enquired with his friend at the cab company. He checked his records and did have several bookings for Lisa Trent from the same hotel.

He returned to Tina and gave her the name of the hotel, knowing that if questions were ever asked, he could claim he got the information from the cab company. Tina left the casino immediately.

Tanya walked back into the large hall to see Gary was still 'working' on LaDonna. LaDonna was standing in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but a pair of stiletto heels.

She was standing perfectly still with one hand one her hip and her chest stuck out in a provocative pose. It was clear that she was unable to move or speak, although Tanya could see LaDonna's eyes were moving around. Tanya looked down and could see a dildo protruding slightly from her pussy.

"How she coming along?" Tanya quizzed.

"Hard work," Gary remarked, which surprised Tanya. Gary was a very experienced Kithra and taking control of people's minds, especially women was something Gary excelled at.

Tanya and Gary were bitter enemies. When their last leader died, they both pushed to become leader themselves, with Gary losing out to Tanya. Gary had been gunning for Tanya ever since, sometimes almost literally. She was almost watching her back, especially when Gary was around.

It was unusual for them to work together on anything at all, but this matter had caused them to declare a truce. Tanya knew that Gary was the best person for this job and Gary, who usually followed Tanya's orders very flagrantly, went along with Tanya mostly out of curiosity.

Tanya shrugged, realizing that despite Gary's considerable experience, there were still limitations to their ability to control people's minds. Although their magic was powerful, it wasn't just a simple task of casting one spell and zap - instant slave.

Gary had easily been able to apply a magic spell to her body, forcing her to do whatever Gary told her to, but that only controlled her body. They needed full control over her mind.

"I've got partial control over her mind. She responds to the name Crystal now. She can't remember her real name. You can question her and I doubt she'll be able to lie. The biggest problem is that I can't humiliate her. Normally I'd just make them do every sexually depraved act I can think of, but let's face it, she's probably already done that for money," Gary pointed out.

Again, Tanya was forced to agree. Humiliation is usually the first way to break a person, but that would prove very difficult for an experienced prostitute. Tanya had to admit that breaking LaDonna might not prove as simple as she first thought. Also Gary is known for his extreme distaste for prostitutes and obviously wasn't experienced with them.

However, as long as Tanya could question her, that should prove sufficient for now. Having her as their slave would be an extra bonus, but it wasn't essential.

"Let her speak," Tanya said to Gary. He nodded. LaDonna instantly felt the hold on her ability to speak being lifted. She wanted to yell out, but remained silent.

LaDonna was scared, really scared. As soon as Tanya had left, Gary had done something to her. She still didn't believe in magic, but he had definitely done something because she found it impossible to disobey him. He ordered about like a puppet as she found herself being forced to obey his every word.

At first he tried to humiliate her, but he soon tired of that. LaDonna was expecting to be forced to perform sexual acts for him, but oddly he didn't seem interested. From the way he talked, LaDonna figured that prostitutes were a turn-off for him.

Eventually, he began his assault her mind. Having him inside her mind was a terrifying experience. She compared it to the first time when a john raped her. The feelings of invasion and helplessness were the same.

The most frightening part came when she could no longer remember her real name. She responded to the name Crystal, but she knew it wasn't right. But try as hard as she might, she couldn't remember her true name. Even now, she simply couldn't remember it. The only name she could remember was Crystal.

She also found the thought of prostitution disgusting. It appalled to think that she had been a hooker herself. Again, she guessed that these thoughts were artificial, but they seemed so real. This guy was fucking with her mind and there was nothing she could do about it.

LaDonna was scared out of her head, but against her fear she knew she had to fight. Her mind was all she had left. If these people took it, then everything that LaDonna was would be gone. She fought him with every piece of mental strength that she had.

Tanya questioned LaDonna intently, starting with very personal questions. LaDonna felt compelled to tell Tanya everything she wanted to know, feeling unable to leave out any details. She told LaDonna all the things about herself that she would never normally reveal.

Tanya then questioned LaDonna thoroughly about the mystery girl, ordering her to reveal everything she knew. She was disappointed to hear that LaDonna was, for the most part, telling the truth. The afternoon had effectively been a waste of time for Tanya. However, she ordered LaDonna to tell her every exquisite detail, believing even the tiniest details may help.

When finished, Tanya wondered what she could do with LaDonna. They still didn't have full control over her mind. Although Gary would no doubt break her in time, she didn't want to waste power unnecessarily.

Suddenly, an idea struck her. Perhaps they could get some extra use out of her, and at the same time, break LaDonna's resistance. Tanya walked up to LaDonna.

"Give in to us, LaDonna," Tanya whispered in her ear. "You can speak freely."

"I-I wouldn't give you the satisfaction," LaDonna whispered back. Outwardly, she put on a great show, but inwardly the strain was showing.

"But you know we're gonna win eventually. It's just a matter of time,"

"I've got nothing to lose, you b-bitch," LaDonna said, hesitating on the word 'bitch'. She braced herself as she was prepared for another wrenching pain dose.

Tanya was annoyed, but didn't bite. Instead she reached up and carefully caressed one of LaDonna's erect nipples. She would use some of the information she had gained from LaDonna against her.

LaDonna gasped slightly, still unable to move. She wanted to tell Tanya to stop, but guessed it would simply make her do it more. She remained silent.

"You envy her, we know that? Do you know we can make you just like her? You can be tall, beautiful, and blonde. You can be a showgirl. We can make your dreams come true. All you have to do is say yes."

Chapter Twenty-Seven ====================

Mary and her team passed through Las Vegas airport. Hank and Richard were busy assessing the area, checking out any possible threat.

"Should I try contacting Tina telepathically," Sarah suggested while they were waiting.

"NO," she replied emphatically, "We'll have every Raven in the town looking for us if we do that."

"Then what do we do?" Sarah asked anxiously.

"We ask around first, discreetly. If we don't get any luck that way, then we get you to try and contact her."

Richard approached Mary. He was folding up his cell-phone and had 'that look' on this face. Mary knew

"Can I speak to you in private?" Richard asked.

Sarah was slightly surprised at being cut out of a conversation. Richard re-assured her, "It's okay, this is about something different."

Mary and Richard walked to one side. When they were out of hearing distance, Richard whispered. "Remember the window lock that Michelle picked back at the mansion."

"Yes," Mary replied, unsure of where Richard was going.

"Well, I had it sent back to the forensics lab at the LAPD. The forensics guy has just phoned me."

"And?" Mary asked, still not sure where this was going.

"The lock. It wasn't picked," he stated.

"What do you mean it wasn't picked? It had to be," Mary replied.

"I know. But the forensics labs have checked it out. There's NO sign of any tampering on the lock. If anyone had tried to pick it, there would have been marks on the inside of the lock. But there's nothing."

"Then how did she get out?" Mary exclaimed.

Richard shrugged, "I don't know. Either she a duplicate key given to her... or she opened it... some other way."

Mary glanced over to Sarah. Michelle's escape from the room had always bugged her. She knew that there was a possibility that she might have had assistance in escaping, but had discounted it because the only key to the window had been kept secure place.

However, there was only one person who would have had the chance to slip a duplicate key to Michelle.

"Wait here," she said to Richard. Mary slowly walked over to Sarah.

"Sarah, I need to ask you a question. And I need an honest answer. I promise you won't get into trouble whatever you say, okay?"

Sarah was slightly taken back by Mary's statement, "Err, yeah," she replied.

"Remember when Michelle was locked up in the secure room. Did you give her a copy of the key to the window?"

Sarah was completely taken back now. "No," she replied emphatically, "I didn't. I wouldn't have done that."

Mary believed her, but she needed to be sure, "Sarah, this is REALLY, REALLY important. If you tell me now that you gave her a key, I swear I won't turn you in. I just need to know. In fact, I'm praying that you did."

"Mary, I swear I never gave her the key. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to get hold of the key anyway," she assured her friend.

Mary looked her friend in the eyes. She knew she was telling the truth. She hadn't assisted Michelle to escape. She motioned for Richard to join them.

"Sarah didn't give her the key," she said as he approached, "she must have opened the lock... some other way."

Michelle was getting ready to go out again looking for Tina. She washed and shaved her legs again, and then carefully put on her underwear. As she slipped on the velvet dress, it felt very sensual.

Michelle didn't know how to tie her hair up. That skill would take months to learn. So she settled with having it freely falling down her back. Maybe it wasn't quite as effective as LaDonna had done it, but it would suffice.

Michelle carefully applied some makeup to her face. She was sparing and just applied a light touch of lipstick and some mascara, just as LaDonna had done.

When she was done, she picked up her purse, then walked to the door. She pulled the door open and was confronted by a woman standing there with her hand up, about to knock on the door.

Initially, she wondered whom the woman was. It didn't take her long to recognize the woman standing there.

"T-Tina," Michelle stuttered, amazed that she had found her.

Tina was even more shocked. Although she was half expecting and hoping for Michelle to be there, she was stunned to she Michelle standing in front of her all dressed up. Michelle, taking the lead pulled her inside and closed the door.

As soon as the door was closed, they flung their arms around one another and cried their eyes out. When they had both shed their emotions they pulled back from their embrace. Tina giggled slightly as she noticed that Michelle's mascara had started to run. She found tissues and cleaned her face.

"You look... great," Tina remarked as she looked Michelle up and down, impressed with the excellent way she had presented herself.

"Thanks, it's been a tough week. I've learned... a lot," Michelle said.

Tina smiled in a sympathetic manner. She knew it couldn't have been easy without her. "Tell me about it," she said.

Michelle initially didn't want to say much, but one thing she learned from the past few days, was that she shouldn't keep such things bottled up.

She spilled her heart out to Tina, who listened with intently. Michelle told her about failing in the casinos, buying the wrong clothes, her chance meeting with LaDonna. She took a pause after she told Tina about her sexual encounter with Harry.

"I'm really sorry I wasn't there for you," Tina said. She guessed that such a might happen if Michelle's hormones were left unchecked for several days, but Michelle felt too embarrassed to tell her about how much she enjoyed it and the need she felt to please Harry.

"Hey, what's done is done," Michelle replied, but then her curiosity returned. "Speaking of which, what happened to you?"

"I woke up in a barn and I lost my memory. It took me two days to get it fully back. That's why I took so long to get here," she stated.

Tina's answer puzzled Michelle, "So don't you remember when Hank caught you?"

"I don't know what you mean? When Hank caught me?"

"When I left you, Hank had you," Michelle stated.

"No. That's impossible. I woke up in some barn," Tina replied.

Michelle then carefully explained all of the events that happened after Tina had been attacked, including her capture at the hands of Hank, then details of her telephone call with her mother.

"But I don't get it... if Hank caught me then... how did I escape..."

"Oh shit," both girls replied in unison as they simultaneously reached the same conclusion.

"He let me escape," Tina stated both their thoughts, "so that I would lead him to you."

Michelle jumped up and moved to the window. She carefully looked through the blinds. It was getting dark as she slowly scanned the area. There didn't appear to be anyone out there.

"Seems to be okay," Michelle said, but now very much more nervous. "You don't think he would have followed you all this way?"

"I don't know," Tina replied, now totally unsure of everything. "He'd probably think twice before entering this town."

"Why?" Michelle asked.

"You remember I said about that mean bunch, the Ravens," Tina mentioned.

"Yeah," Michelle said.

"Well guess where their home town is?"

"Here. Vegas," Michelle replied. "Fuck," she said as she realized just how much danger she had been in.

"Yeah," Tina said, echoing Michelle's thoughts, "Hank's not really our main worry. Are you sure you haven't been watched over the past few days"

Michelle thought carefully. Although she had felt a constant sense of paranoia and was constantly looking over her shoulder, she didn't get the feeling she was being followed. But how could she know for sure when so many people were constantly looking at her.

"I don't think so," she replied.

"It's probably okay then. Where's your pendant?" Tina asked as she noticed the absent space around Michelle's neck.

"Oh, I put it away cause it was yours," Michelle said as she fetched the item from one of the drawers and handed it to Tina.

Tina sighed slightly, realizing the emotional gesture Michelle had made. She hadn't informed Michelle of the significance of wearing the pendant.

"We'd better get packed and leave right away," Tina said.

Michelle nodded her agreement. They still had much to talk about, but all that could wait.

'Crystal' was standing naked, examining her new body as per her Master's commands. Her Master was talking with Mistress Tanya. She had no choice but to comply fully with his instructions.

She ran her hands over her much larger, firmer breasts. She felt her long blonde hair and examined her white tanned skin. They would be no more racial taunts for her now. She was still aware of herself and what had transpired but felt completely unable to resist. She wondered what would happen now. She felt very calm and relaxed about it, but that was because her Master told her to feel that way. He seemed to have total control over her thoughts, feelings and desires.

Although LaDonna had not vocally responded to Tanya's offer, Tanya decided they had nothing to lose. She summoned Maria and instructed her to physically transform LaDonna into the closest representation of the mystery girl that she could manage. It wasn't perfect, but when it was finished LaDonna looked very similar to the mystery girl and could easily pass for her at a distance.

Gary and Tanya smiled at their accomplishment. LaDonna's willpower had crumbled within minutes. She wanted to keep fighting, but she was beginning to see how hopeless it was. She let down her defenses and allowed Gary to take her mind. With the deed done, they now owned her completely.

Tanya wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do with her, but was sure she would find a use. Their control over her mind wasn't permanent, but over the following days, Gary would re-condition her continually. After about the week, the effects would become permanent and they would have control over her mind for life.

Gary grudgingly congratulated Tanya on her tactics to break LaDonna and said that Maria and he would 'use' her while Tanya worked out what to do with her. Tanya was annoyed at Gary's tone, clearly indicating that their temporary 'ceasefire' was over. She nodded her acceptance, not caring what Gary did with her as long as she would be loyal to them when required, but she instructed him to leave her personality mostly intact for now, in case she needed to question her further. Gary accepted this condition and set to work on 'Crystal' ensuring her total compliance.

She left them to play with their new toy. As she was walking back, she was considering all the information she had learned about this mystery girl. LaDonna hadn't been able to provide much substantial information, but the little snippets of information were proving invaluable.

First of all, Tanya was able to reasonably guess that 'Lisa Trent' or whoever her name was had really been a man. LaDonna's descriptions of how she had been incapable of doing even the most basic feminine things were proof enough. Also, the fact that her body was in a state that would have naturally required a lot of feminine attitude to get it that way was extra evidence. Tanya concluded that the transformation must have been recent.

So somehow, a man had been transformed into such a babe. If that was the case, then his transformation had to be unwilling, because he would not have been constantly fighting his feminine side.

When Tanya considered the fact that the girl was immune to magic, then it was obvious that another Kithra, probably in direct contradiction with Kithra rules, had transformed her. She also guessed that 'Lisa' probably hadn't been given the full picture or she would have never come to Las Vegas, at least not without an escort.

She still wasn't sure who had transformed her, or why, but when she found out; their group would be severely punished. As she turned another corridor, another woman greeted her.

"I think she's getting ready to leave town... and someone else has turned up."

Tina and Michelle were taking the quickest route out of town. They had no specific destination, but were heading for California and would decide exactly where, when they were well out of Nevada. They kept a close watch behind to see if they were being followed and took measures to try and avoid it. They were reasonably satisfied, but they both knew that neither of them would relax until they were a good three hundred miles away. The journey out of the Nevada desert would be a very long one.

They engaged in short conversation. There was so much for them to talk about, but the situation stopped them from saying anything other than what was necessary. They both felt far too 'on-edge' for meaningful conversation.

Hanging back a distance, a number of cars were involved in their secret pursuit. Their orders were that they were not to crowd the women. They were to observe from a distance. They noticed that the two women had obviously guessed that they might be followed and were clearly taking measures.

In any other town, those measures would have worked. But this was their town. They owned it. It was their castle and in this town they had so many resources. They could easily have one car tail them for a few blocks, then turn off with another car picking them up.

One of the men took a call on his cell phone. He answered it, received his orders then told the others

"Okay. We can't let them leave town. We take them, now. Alive if possible. Dead if necessary."

End of Part Three

Part four should be released within 6-12 months. It will be the last part.

Phil Stevens Phil_Stevens@bigfoot.com