Queen Of The Ventils

XXV

Krel had to tell the others. Of course he did. There would be no point if Archie, Nari and Douxie kept searching the bookstore like they were if the answer couldn't be found there. The general reaction was better than I anticipated; quite a bit of disappointment, a little bit of shouting on Steve's part, but fairly calm and understanding for the most part.

Yet, though everyone had handled the news rationally, I still felt like a new bout of pressure was forced upon me. It was now up to me to get these things out, and everyone was just waiting for the day when I mustered up the courage to do so. Which led us to where we were today, standing in the canals, with everyone donned in protective gear in some way, shape or form.

"I-I'm not so sure about this," I stuttered as I shuffled my feet. I was standing about fifty feet away from everyone, who had taken cover behind the shields Claire and Douxie had put up with their magic, and the shield Krel had created with his serrator. Everyone else had their weapons out and were ready to attack, should they have to subdue me.

"Come on, it'll be fine," Douxie assured me. "We're in the canals! Nobody ever comes down here. And besides, there's nobody you can hurt! We're perfectly safe."
"Then why are we hiding behind shields?" Steve asked, reinforcing the sick feeling in my gut.

"Just a precaution," Archie answered. "Now, everyone has their earplugs in?" Everybody nodded, gesturing to their ears. It was Archie's idea, in case Eclipse tried to sing to somebody, that everyone be deaf when I tried to harness her. But, I voiced my concerns about not being able to say if I needed help. Luckily, Claire had a solution to that too.

"Know the hand signal?" She called to me. I nodded, before flashing the symbol we'd agreed on; a human gesture that meant "Rock 'n Roll". "Good," Archie said, before diving behind Toby. "We're ready to go!" Slowly, I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. It wasn't even a second before I felt somebody slip in to occupy my body.

Opening my eyes, I smirked at the helpless cluster of humans cowering behind their magical shields. Hello, I sang, beckoning them closer with a finger. Wouldn't you like to join me for a walk by the seashore?

Surprisingly, the humans had no reaction. Earplugs, I hissed in anger. Over the years, sailors had been the first to discover the use of these strange devices that prevented them from hearing my song. But, I had found my own means of getting what I wanted, with or without song.

Slowly running a perfectly manicured claw through my curled, seaweed green hair, I gave a playful and seductive smile, nibbling gently on my lower lip. I let my body adopt a relaxed language; hip popped ever so slightly, the hand that wasn't twirling my ringlets gently resting at my side. The humans had started to stare in awe, save one. A female. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. They never did get the message I was trying to convey.

Letting my face relax again, I peeled back my lips in a toothy smile, and with a slender finger, I slowly beckoned them closer. Instantly, hey all rose to their feet, letting their shields drop and starting to shuffle towards me.

The female was desperately trying to get the males to turn back, waving hands in their faces or snapping her fingers, even going so far as to strike them, but it had no effect. They were all completely spellbound; trapped by the spell my body cast on them.

I grinned as they approached me, dazed and lovestruck gazes glossed over their eyes. I smiled sweetly at them, before singling out one in the crowd: A semi-tall, lanky human with blue eyes who was slumped over in contentment. Gently tracing a finger over his face, he leaned into my touch and sighed. The female became even more enraged by this, and came at me, screaming a war cry before I sent her flying back with a burst of magic.

Continuing my work on the boy, I slowly traced my nails over the bones of his face, before reaching his ears. Slowly removing them, I grinned in satisfaction as I threw them aside. He grinned as well, stupidly unaware of the danger he was in. You would like to hear me sing, right? I whispered, and he nodded eagerly. Alright.

I let a few sweet notes drop from my tongue, and instantly he was spellbound. The other males pulled out their earplugs at the look of awe on their friend's face. One by one, they all succumbed to my song, gently swaying along to the noise.

After it was done, they begged to hear more. Why wouldn't they? I was their meaning for living now; only I could satisfy their primal instincts of greed. You have such beautiful skin, I purred, tracing a nail over the throat of a tall, blonde male. I wonder what it would look like in red. Would you like to show me?

Nodding eagerly, the stupid oaf grabbed the closest sharpest object and held it to his throat. I giggled at the idiocy of men; he would kill himself happily if I so wished it. Just as I was about to give the command to make his throat run red, the female was back and was frantically making a sign with her hands.

Two fingers up, the other three in a fist. Rock n' Roll. Instantly, I froze, and screamed in horror at the predicament Aquarius had put my friends in. "Stop," I half-shouted, half-sang while she was still in my body. Instantly, the spell was shattered, and the boys scrambled away from me. You always have to ruin the fun, Aquarius pouted before slinking back into my mind.

Over the course of the next few hours, we tried again and again to try and coax Eclipse out, but no matter how hard we tried she wouldn't. Unfortunately, everyone else took advantage of this and decided to take my body for a spin. Ela, Zephyr, Scales and Cephas all took a turn trying to kill my human companions. Everyone was quick to tackle me when Insanity showed her face, and held me down while I shoved her to the far reaches of my mind.

I slumped to the ground, sweating and exhausted. Insanity had not gone back into my mind willingly, and she was now kicking and screaming curses in Ventis. Tucking my knees into my chest, I pressed my palms to my throbbing temples. "It's no use," I sighed when I gave the all-clear for the others to approach. "Whenever I open my mind to Eclipse, somebody else slips in and takes over. I'll never get these things out of my head."

Jim's face immediately lit up with an idea. "That's it," he exclaimed! "I think I know where we can go to help you!"