In a Bottle... Ch. 07

But didn't her just ask her what her name was? That was silly of him to forget so quickly. And kind of rude.

The teal panties were slowly being peeled off. Alan's heart was racing. He must really be horny to be this excited already and she hadn't even touched him yet. He reached down to adjust his penis as it had grown to its full length and was now very uncomfortable and found that his zipper was down. Maybe she had touched him already. Or had he touched himself?

He realized that his hands were balled up into fists. His heart wasn't racing because he was horny, it was anger he had been feeling. And confusion. He wouldn't be that horny anyway, he had plenty of sex at home with...

"Carmella!" Alan suddenly shouted causing Winifrey to startle just as she was about to take off his pants.

"Magik! Lucky and Misty!" he continued to yell their names so he wouldn't forget them immediately. He was getting tired of this haze seeping deeper into his mind with every thought he produced. He needed to focus.

This frightened, nude woman kneeling on the floor in front of him was linked to his harem somehow. She had said or done something that made him very angry. His obsessive training took over and he threw an illusion at her out of habit and leapt backwards out of her reach. Blindness. He didn't need to be invisible if she couldn't see six inches in front of her face.

Winifrey, finally realizing why he was yelling names just as his blindness struck, went ballistic and began slinging spells randomly as her world instantly plunged into darkness. Alan could see the blue hue of them clearly now that she was no longer trying to mask her magic. She was strong indeed. Strong and subtle, what a deadly mix.

He dodged to one side as he continued to back away from her and barely avoided taking her next spell directly. He masked the sound of his footsteps with more illusions to keep her guessing.

"Forget, damn you!" She screamed. "How are you able to disentangle your mind from my willpower? I will eradicate your consciousness!"

Alan was still struggling to focus on who the magi were, an impossible task with as much time as she had to strengthen the enchantment she had wrapped tightly around his psyche. He had also begun to forget about his genies, the memory of them fading as quickly as the echo of their names from when he had shouted them. He did know, however, that this very attractive woman was using magic intending to harm him. He kept that one thought in the front of his mind and tried to formulate a strategy. She had slowed in her random spell slinging, presumably from mental fatigue, but was getting more accurate with her shots.

"You want to know what we want your friends for?" she sneered haughtily. "We separate the wheat from the chaff. A magi's gotta eat. We just so happen to eat magic and your little genies are chock full of nutritional goodness."

Alan threw an illusion around the room of echoing footsteps from every direction in an attempt to keep her confused, but her aim remained true and a spell passed through his hip, latching on. Immediately he felt better. This woman couldn't be that dangerous, she couldn't even cast spells. She was only a receptionist. He began to relax.

He had come here to find the magi. He wasn't entirely sure what he was going to do when he found them, but it seemed important. The receptionist wasn't worth interrogating, she obviously knew nothing of their secrets. But why then was he trying to blind and confuse her? A memory leaked through of the shimmery blue waves contacting him moments before. It was faint but it was real. He struggled to hold on to that one memory. It was like trying to grasp a handful of sand and watching it pour between his fingers.

Alan ducked just in time as he broke her spell and saw another heading straight for his face. If her first one had been that strong landing on his hip, he would be done for if she managed to attack his mind directly. She still couldn't see but her aim was getting better. She knew where he was somehow. He needed to end this before she managed to pacify him completely.

Alan dodged another spell and formulated a nasty illusion that he threw back at her. She had stood up and was moving around by feel now but remained an easy target. He made contact and wove his illusion into her inner ear, giving her the worst vertigo imaginable.

Immediately she hit the floor, her legs going in two different directions. Her head bounced and she began thrashing around, rolling to and fro. She stopped casting spells completely and after Alan intensified the enchantment as much as he dared he began to get all of his memories back.

She was one of the magi and she was going to drain his genies. His genies. The fact that he could have even forgotten them at all sent a shiver down his spine at how dangerous magic could be. Maybe this just wasn't something that a person could prepare for. He just had to remain vigilant and react according to the situation. He was lucky that he could be creative while thinking on his feet. Somehow even with his blindness enchantment she had been able to sense his presence. Magi indeed. Who knew who these people were or what hidden abilities they had up their sleeves?

Alan wasn't sure if Winifrey had blacked out from having the spins for so long, but he wasn't about to let up until he was sure. He cautiously approached her writhing form on the ground. He would have to kill her. If he left any magi alive, they would be after him for revenge and likely twice as dangerous. He had been thinking about how his last fight with a magi had gone. They had no qualms about roasting him or his friends. He shouldn't feel guilt that they got equal treatment.

Although technically the police had killed Eneros for him. It made his knees weak to think about ending another person's life. Another thing, he supposed, that you couldn't ever really prepare for.

Winifrey spasmed violently and threw up several times. Alan released his vertigo illusion.

He held his breath and placed his foot upon her throat. He gradually applied pressure, feeling her soft tissue and cartilage collapse under his weight. Abruptly he stopped and just stared down at her naked, supine body. He had already won. This was no longer self-defense, it was murder. Alan was many things, but a cold blooded killer wasn't one of them. He refused to defend his friends by killing someone else's. He had been trying to talk himself into killing another human--as evil as she may be, she was still a person.

Alan lifted his foot off of her and knelt down. He rested his hand in front of her mouth and nose. She had a red mark on her neck, but he could still feel her breathing. There was another way to deal with this, he decided.