Key: MD, MC
Description: Siobahn meets the incubus Xander, and makes a choice to follow him… wherever he may lead.
Cover Image made by HeroineArtAi
Siobahn stared out into the club, trying to keep herself still as she nervously sat at the table, alone. The real question, however, was what was making her nervous. It may have been that her friends had all ended up hypnotized, one by one. Or…it may have been that watching each of them slip under had been a strangely arousing experience for her. And of course there was always the question in the back of her mind…how long until she was next?
It was a question she ultimately would not have to wait long to find the answer to. On the level above her, Xander watched Siobahn and scanned the rest of the club, ensuring that no one was looking his way. The club itself was mostly dark, with flashes of colored accent lights to give it a more intimate feeling. But had someone been looking his way it would be impossible for him to hide what he was about to do.
Once he was confident that no one was paying attention to him, he quickly hopped over the railing and jumped down to the next floor. The moment his feet left the floor his batlike red wings appeared from his back and helped him gently descend down to the level below, the very one that Siobahn was sitting on. The wings were less of a safety feature and more one of stealth. Had he landed at freefall speeds he would have shook the floor enough to alert the already nervous young woman of his approach. In a rare feat of grace, however, he landed gently and caught his balance. His wings slowly shrunk down and folded into the skin of his back, disappearing from sight. He looked around the club and, to his delight, no one had noticed his little stunt. This was probably less impressive than it might sound given that it was a hypnosis themed nightclub and at least half the patrons, if not more, were already well on their way to being hypnotized. At least those who hadn’t already slipped under someone’s spell.
With a playful grin the incubus walked slowly up behind Siobahn, careful to make sure she didn’t notice him moving towards her until he was close enough to calmly say “Enjoying your night, miss?” right into her ear.
Siobahn screamed. Just straight up screamed at the top of her lungs. Fortunately they were in a nightclub, so anyone further than twenty feet away didn’t even hear it. Those that did barely glanced over before going back to what they were doing. Meanwhile, Siobahn quickly spun around in her seat and began to fall off of it.
Xander was, however, quick enough to catch her by putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her a warm smile. “Easy, easy!” he said, chuckling. “I’m not going to hurt you, just playing a bit I promise!” His genuine smile and warm laugh made the frightened young woman start to relax.
“That wasn’t nice!” she grumbled, trying to regain her composure.
“That is true.” Xander admitted with a nod before he chuckled again and smiled. “But it was really funny. You should have seen yourself jump, it would have gone viral online." His joke was a bit rude, but yet his demeanor was disarming and playful enough to make Siobahn roll her eyes before letting out a slight laugh herself. “See?” Xander said. “It's alright. May I join you…miss…ummm?”
“Siobahn.” she started, swallowing nervously and pointing to the chair her friend had occupied just before she was hypnotized “Please. My friends seem to have been…” she paused for a few moments, “to be completely honest, I’m not entirely sure what the hell happened to my friends. But the seat is open if you want to use it.”
Xander sat down and relaxed, leaning onto the table so they could hear one another. “Hypnotized.” He said calmly.
“I’m sorry?” Siobahn said as a tingle of nervousness moved through her body.
Xander smiled warmly and held his hand out in a disarming fashion “Your friends, they were hypnotized.”
“How…how do you know that?” she said, feeling a bit uneasy.
“It’s really quite common around this place, to be honest” he said, rolling his eyes a bit and thinking of all the antics he had seen tonight alone. “It is a hypnosis themed nightclub after all. I mean not everyone understands that ‘Spirals’ implies hypnotism, but for those of us in the know it’s pretty self explanatory.”
Siobahn blinked at Xander as her mouth hung open in confusion. “What?” she asked as her face crinkled up “No,I know they were hypnotized, but how did YOU know they were hypnotized?” she asked, hoping the answer wouldn’t be as creepy as she thought it might be.
“Oh, I’ve been watching you and your friends from up there for the last hour or so.” he said, pointing up to the balcony he had just jumped down from.
Of course, the answer was just as creepy as she was thinking. Siobahn instinctively backed up a few steps, feeling like she had been stalked.
Xander tilted his head in confusion before it finally dawned on him. “Oh…OH! No! Not like that, I swear!” He reached under his shirt and pulled out his ID badge “I work here. I’m the manager on duty tonight. I like to perch myself up there so I can see the whole club at once. It helps me to make sure nothing gets too out of hand and gives me the best view of the whole space. The antics involving your friends were more or less…directly in front of me. Literally. It was kind of hard to miss.”
Siobahn looked at the ID badge skeptically. It looked legit to her surprise and she finally sighed a bit and relaxed. “That's…that's much better than what I thought.” she said, laughing nervously.
“You thought I was stalking you.” Xander replied with a laugh.
“Yeah, kind of.” Siobahn said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
“No, If I had been stalking you I would have just hypnotized you by now and we’d be in the corner over there getting frisky with one another.” Xander responded with a completely deadpan expression, completely without a hint of sarcasm.
“What?” Siobahn asked, unable to tell if he was joking or not.
“What?” Xander replied, equally confused.
Siobhan blinked and looked nervously at Xander again before he cracked a smile. “I’m joking!” he said as he pointed up into the rafters. “This place has excellent security. There are cameras everywhere, and the feed is backed up in a location that is accessible to the police 24/7. Or so they tell me, I honestly don’t know where the feed goes. But regardless, you are safe here. I promise you.” Despite his goofy attitude, Siobahn could hear the sincerity in his voice and knew that he meant what he said.
“So…what do you do here…as manager?” She asked, trying to be polite and trying to help herself relax.
“Well when I’m not actively managing the club, there are two managers so we switch off, you met the other one, Nadia earlier. The redhead who walked off with one of your friends?” He asked, making sure she could remember that from thirty minutes ago.
Siobahn nodded.
“On my nights off, or on nights like tonight when things are going smoothly, I try to mingle with the crowds, talk to people, introduce them to the joys of hypnosis and just how relaxing it can be.” He gave her a warm but serious smile.
At the mention of hypnosis Siobahn felt a tingle move through her body again, she tried to keep it hidden but she was almost certain the man across from her had noticed it. “That's…that sounds like an interesting job.” she said,trying to hide her nervousness once again.
“It can be. And what about you, what is it that brought you to this club this evening?” he asked, assuming he already knew the answer, or at least the basics of it.
“A promise I made while drunk at a Christmas party?” she asked jokingly, even though it was the truth.
Xander laughed. “Got dragged along by friends, and either didn’t know this club was hypnosis themed or had no interest in it, huh?”
“Not really.” she said, shrugging.
“Did you want to try it?” Xander asked, looking at her.
The question, simple as it was, sent another surge through Siobahn’s body. “Try…try what exactly?”
“Being hypnotized.” he said, trying to sound casual so as not to scare the obviously nervous young woman off.
Siobahn let out a nervous laugh, partially as a way to relieve the tension she was suddenly feeling, and partially out of genuine amusement. “I can’t be hypnotized.” she said, resigning herself to what she believed to be the truth.
Xander raised an eyebrow with a smile. “Oh? And why do you say that?”
“I’m too smart to be hypnotized.” she said matter of factly. “I have too much of an analytical brain, it just wouldn’t work. I’d overthink it.” she said, listing off as many reasons as she could think of. She wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince more…Xander, or herself.
Xander gave her a warm smile and leaned across the table a bit more. “Then you have nothing to lose by trying, miss.” His tone was friendly but still somehow almost seductive. As he gently leaned forward towards her, he laid his hand on the table with his palm up. Inviting her to place her hand on his.
Xander watched as Siobahn looked at him with an aroused, almost disappointed look in her eye. He’d seen this before. She wanted to try it, the idea was stuck in her mind. It was a desire, a fantasy. But yet, she didn’t believe that it could happen. Not to her. She had a myriad of reasons why it wouldn’t work. But deep down, she wanted to try it. She wanted it to work. He was sure of it.
Siobahn looked at the man in front of her and gave him a warm, almost conciliatory, smile. Deep down she really was curious. And he seemed so nice, and friendly, and… admittedly he was cute in a playful kind of way. Like a big sexy goofball. But she just couldn’t be hypnotized. In her heart she knew that. She knew she was immune to hypnosis. It just wasn’t something she would ever experience. And then, without even thinking about it. she absent-mindedly…subconsciously…accepted his offer and placed her hand on top of his without saying a word.
To her surprise Xander gently slid his thumb along to the top of her hand, keeping the rest of his palm flat, supporting her smaller, by comparison, hand in his. He gave her a warm smile and stared into her eyes. He didn’t say a word, not yet anyway. He just…stared…deeply into her eyes. Letting his thumb slide along the back of her hand, very gently. Almost… tenderly.
Siobahn blushed at first and glanced down at her hand, sitting in the man's palm, his thumb sliding along the back of her hand with a touch that was almost soothing. “Wait a minute…” she thought to herself “When did I put my hand there?” She looked to Xander to ask just that question, only to meet his gaze and find herself captivated by his eyes. They weren’t an odd color, or bright, or anything out of the ordinary. They were simply… brown. Kind of hard to see in the darkened club. But there was something about them. A feeling. Like when you look into someone’s eyes and make a connection with them. Something that transcends words. Just…a feeling. And this feeling was one of warmth, tenderness, even playfulness? It was confusing at first, but then the real feeling she was getting seemed to come through his gaze. Confidence. There was the tiniest of smirks on his face. He was staring her down, and on some level, some unconscious level, he was telling her that he was confident. Supremely confident. That he could hypnotize her.
As she stared into his eyes her mouth fell open ever so slightly. Like she was about to say something, about to comment, but then all at once the thought faded away. The subtle little smirk on Xander’s face grew into a soft, yet compelling, smile. He leaned in, standing up slowly as he did, and brought her hand up to kiss the back of it softly.
Siobahn’s mind was racing with emotions and feelings. The gesture was so out of date, yet so romantic and soothing. She felt a flood of emotions and felt herself blush. A slight smile formed on her face as she watched the much taller man, well taller than her anyways, stand up and look down at her with a smile. “I’d like you to follow me please, miss…can you do that for me?”
“I…yeah, I can follow you.” she said, confused by what she was agreeing to.
Xander smiled at her and held her hand as she slowly stood, still looking up into his eyes. He held her gaze for a moment before he lowered her hand down to her side, and released it. He took a smooth step back and then turned to walk down the stairs towards the dance floor.
Without giving it any thought, Siobahn started to follow him down the stairs. It was then that she noticed something…something she didn’t notice before. The man in front of her… had a tail? A long, slender red tail that ended in an arrowhead tip. The head of which seemed to be pointing directly at her, almost as if it was watching her, keeping an eye on her. “What have I gotten myself into?” she asked herself as her body continued following this strange man with a tail down the stairs. Almost as if she were on autopilot.
To be concluded.
Thanks to Sleepygirl for doing the editing for me. If you would like to see her editing reactions to this story, and how it affected her while she was editing you can find that here: Dragged Along - Editing Banter.
Curious what might have happened if Xander had had a little bit more of a nefarious plan for Siobahn? You can find the alternate ending to this story as well as several exclusive alternate covers for both stories on my patreon page: Dragged Along - Spirals - Part 4 Alt Ending. You can follow more adventures at Spirals Nightclub! You can also find bonus content on my Patreon page!
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