SISTER'S SURRENDER

 The keys rattled in the lock as Kayla opened the battered old wooden door. She hardly noticed the creaking as the door swung inward to bump against the wall of the narrow hallway. With a grunt, she hefted three grocery bags, her computer bag and the mail. Staggering in she somehow managed to kick the door closed behind her without dropping anything.

She set her computer bag onto the table and gratefully dropped the groceries onto the floor with a heavy clunk. She took a perverse pleasure in knowing that the noise would annoy her landlord, Mrs. Phelps, downstairs. Lately, anything that would annoy the self-righteous and self centered Mrs. Phelps was an experience to savor. She felt a small grin spread on her lips at the mental image of the crotchety old woman looking up at her ceiling and squinting in disapproval.

Kayla wondered if any kids still bothered to knock on the old woman's door for Trick-Or-Treat or if they had all learned to stay away.

At the thought of kids, her contemplation turned to her kid sister, Sara, and her smile faded. In truth, Sara wasn't a kid sister anymore. At nineteen years old she was a freshman at the State College just a few miles up the road. Or at least she had been. Sara had disappeared almost three weeks ago.

Memories of those first horrible hours spent in the Police Station welled up in her and she choked. The painfully long nights spent driving up and down the city streets and sitting by the phone came back to her. No trace of the slender dark haired girl could be found anywhere. She had gone to a dance club with three of her friends on a Friday night and as near as anyone could figure, had disappeared sometime around midnight. She never said anything to her friends about going outside and no one saw her leave the club. It was as if she had simply vanished, swallowed up by the night.

With the passage of the following weeks, the frantic terror and near panic had slowly transformed into a deep seated dread and despair. Kayla was a practical woman and not given to wishful thinking and prayers. She knew, in her heart, that if her sister hadn't turned up by now something terrible had happened to her and that the chances of seeing her alive again were just about zero.

Her lips trembled and a single tear rolled down her pale cheek at the thought. With an effort of will she took a deep breath and wiped the tear away. She turned and put all her energy into putting away the groceries and getting ready for Halloween Night.

 

"Kayla, are you sure you won't come?" Mandy's voice pleaded over the phone.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not in a party mood tonight... you know?" Kayla said to her roommate. She cradled the cordless phone on her shoulder as she prepared a salad.

There was a pause on the other end then Mandy's voice, softer this time. "Yeah, I know. Are you gonna be ok alone there tonight?"

"Don't be silly. I'm a big girl, I'll be fine. You have fun at the party."

"Ok, but if you need me, call. Ok?" Mandy said in motherly tone.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... I'll be fine...."

"I mean it." Mandy broke in, surprisingly firm. "You better call if you need anything."

Kayla paused, touched by her friends concern. "I promise. No go have fun. And don't break too many hearts tonight."

There was an evil sounding chuckle on the other end followed by and innocent "Who... me?"

It was Kayla's turn to chuckle. "Yeah, you. Be good you little slut."

"I'm always good." Mandy said in a tone that was slightly less than innocent.

"So I've heard. See you later." Kayla said.

"Bye."

Kayla set the phone back onto its cradle, finished making her salad and sat at the small table under the window. It was getting dark and she saw porch lights around the neighborhood starting to come on. The small children would be coming out soon for trick-or-treating. It would be a few hours yet before the older kids came out. She knew from past experience that she wouldn't get many kids at her door. Many were scared off by the cranky Mrs. Phelps downstairs and the rest simply didn't know about the side door that led up to her second floor apartment. From the street it just looked like a back door to the house. Only a few of the local kids knew of it.

She wished that a few of the smaller kids would come by looking for candy. She loved to see their costumes and how excited they were about the holiday. It was the teenagers that she could do without. Most of them, it seemed to her, didn't even bother to make any attempt at a costume. They just walked up, knocked and expected candy. It was more than a little irritating to her.

Swallowing the last bite of her salad, she saw the first group of kids making their way down the road, stopping at an old Victorian a few houses down. She looked over at the large bowl of candy on the counter and wondered how much of it she and Mandy would have to eat.

* * *

A soft knock at the door startled Kayla out of her sleep. A glance at the clock told her it was almost midnight. A little apprehensively, she got up and tiptoed down the hallway to the door. Listening, she waited a moment. The knock was repeated, a little louder this time. She wondered who it could be at the door at this hour. It was far too late for trick-or-treaters to be out. Maybe it's some pervert or rapist, she thought eyeing the phone a few feet away. Then it occurred to her that maybe it was Mandy. Perhaps she had lost her keys or something. She was just opening her mouth to ask who was out there when a voice beyond the door spoke.

"Kayla? Are you there?"

Kayla's breath froze in her throat as a shock rippled though her. Her fingers fumbled frantically with the lock for a moment before it clicked and she whipped open the door. Tears immediately welled up in the corners of her eyes and her lips trembled as she tried to find words.

"Hi Kayla, I missed you." Said Sara.

Kayla's shock gave way to an immense tidal wave of relief and joy at seeing her sister again. "Sara!" She leapt onto her sister and they both fell to the floor of the hallway in a heap. "I can't believe that you're here! I thought..." Her voice choked off for a moment, "I thought that you were... were... well, gone." Tears rolled down her cheeks, "I was so scarred...I... I..." She choked up again and hugged Sara fiercely.

"I know... I'm sorry for that Sis. I really am." Sara said as she got up and then helped Kayla to her feet.

Kayla's mind finally started working again and her joy was tempered with a sudden burst of pent up anger that had been simmering for weeks with no outlet. "Where the hell have you been!?" She yelled, grabbing Sara by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes continued, "I've..." Her anger rapidly faltered and her words trailed off as she noticed something different about her sister. Where before Sara's eyes had been a vivid green, now they were a pale, silver gray. "I... I was... I've..." her words stumbled out as she found herself staring into her sister's eyes, unable to collect her thoughts. She felt as if she were being drawn down into those eyes, like pools of quicksilver, falling into them... helpless. She tried to look away but couldn't seem to remember how to move. The hair on the back of her neck seemed to stand up and somewhere deep in the back of her mind a quiet alarm bell was going off. Some indefinable, primal instinct was telling her that something here was wrong, horribly, dangerously wrong.

A small mischievous smile spread on Sara's lips and she looked away, breaking the spell. "I've been," she paused, "away." Her smile became warmer. "I'll explain everything to you, I promise." She held up her hand, "May I come in?"

Kayla shook her head a little, trying to regain her senses. The feeling of danger and dread had disappeared as quickly as it had come, leaving Kayla dazed. "What?" She asked dumbly.

"May I come in?" Sara repeated, tilting her head at the open doorway.

"Oh, yes, yes of course. Please come in." She motioned Sara in and closed the door behind them. As the door clicked shut she ran over the last minute in her mind. What had just happened, she wondered. Was it just her imagination? Maybe a reaction to the shock combined with no sleep? The more she concentrated, the more the moment slipped away from her, like a dream in the morning sunlight. Only vague impressions remained.

Her mind still slightly dazed, Kayla turned and looked at her sister, now in the more brightly lit kitchen. She noticed other things about her sister that were different. Sara had always been a bit of a tomboy and habitually wore very casual, comfortable clothes like jeans, jogging pants and tee-shirts. But the clothes she was wearing now were of an entirely different nature. A black, long sleeve blouse that was so sheer that it was completely see through was worn over a skin tight black camisole. The short black skirt she wore tightly hugged the curves of her backside and rode so high that Kayla found herself wondering if it would even cover her when she sat down. Black nylons and black stiletto heels completed the outfit.

"What happened to you?" She whispered to herself.

"Pardon?" Sara turned, a mischievous little half smile on her lips.

"I said..." She broke off as she once again locked eyes with her sister. The alarm in her mind came back and her thoughts scattered. "I... I was... " She stammered. "Nothing." She managed.

Sara's smile broadened as if she had just figured out something important. She looked away slowly.

Kayla's thoughts came slamming back when Sara turned away. The sense of dread was stronger this time and didn't retreat as before. It lingered now in her mind, warning her of... something. "I think I need a drink." Kayla said.

"That sounds wonderful. Do you have any wine?"

"Yes. Any preference?"

The small, mischievous smile was back. "Red." Sara said then turned and walked into the living room.

Kayla watched Sara's retreating back for a moment as her mind churned. The alarm bell was getting louder and an uncomfortable knot was developing in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong and she had no idea what it was.

Pulling a bottle of Merlot from the rack, she uncorked it and let it stand for a minute while she got out two glasses. Turning her head she looked through the doorway to see Sara standing in the darkened living room. She was looking at the bookshelf, a finger running over the spines of the books. Kayla noted that while before her sister had always been somewhat awkward and graceless, now she was poised and seemed to exude confidant sexuality. She also looked different. Her slender, almost skinny girlish frame seemed to have filled out into a curvaceous, alluring woman. Even her hair seemed more beautiful if that had been possible. Sara's best feature had always been her long mane of lustrous copper/gold hair. Now it appeared to be even longer and fuller than it had been. When Kayla had seen Sara last, her hair had only been a little past her shoulders. Now the thick mane reached down past the small of her back.

Kayla's mind was clearing more and more with each passing moment and with that new clarity, her apprehension at the strangeness of the situation increased. She began to dread her sister's explanation of where she had been and what exactly had happened to her in the last three weeks.

The glasses clinked as Kayla set them down onto the coffee table along with the bottle. "Full glass?"

"Please." Sara answered without turning her attention from the bookshelf.

Kayla poured the glasses and sat down, taking a long sip, followed by another. In short order the glass was empty and she was refilling it. When she was half way through the second glass Sara finally came over to join her.

"Thanks." She said, taking the glass and sitting down on the chair across from Kayla. "So, did you miss me?"

Kayla's alarm was now raging at full steam. The alcohol was helping to calm her mind but the more she looked, the more obvious the changes in her sister were. There was no denying that she was still the same person, but she seemed so different in so many ways.

"What happened to you?" Kayla finally managed to ask.

Sara looked the top of her glass, one eyebrow quirked up, "Do you like the change?"

"I'm not sure yet." She paused, "Answer my question."

That same mischievous smile returned. "I won't tell you." Leaning forward across the table and putting down her drink Sara said, "I'll show you."

Kayla found herself starring into her sister's quicksilver eyes once again. An unreasoning panic bloomed in her stomach and she wanted to back away but found that she couldn't move. Her mind strained and fought against the invisible bonds but try as she might, she couldn't even manage to blink her eyes. The empty wine glass slipped from her lifeless fingers and shattered on the floor next to the couch. Her thoughts began to slow as everything around her started to grow dim. Everything faded except her sister's eyes. Sara's eyes seemed to grow larger and larger, like bottomless pools of mercury that Kayla was diving into.

Sara got up slowly and made her way around the table being careful not to break the eye contact. Kayla noticed in a detached way that even though she couldn't willfully move, her head swiveled to track her sister's eyes.

Sitting down beside her, Sara leaned in close. "I missed you Sis. More than you probably know. That was the first time that we were ever really apart." She bit her lower lip in a surprisingly shy, girlish gesture. "I was so scarred at first. I wanted to get back to you so badly but I couldn't. My..." She paused, seemed to reconsider then started again, "I just couldn't."

Kayla wanted more than anything at that moment to get up and run to the other side of the room but her body remained immobile. She knew in the pit of her soul that something terrible was about to be revealed and she didn't want to know what it was.

Sara continued, "I was changed. I know that you've noticed. I can see it in your eyes. I can see everything in your eyes now, your thoughts, your dreams, hopes, fears..." A long pause followed by, "lusts." The word came out as almost a hiss. "It's a wondrous Kayla. More amazing than anything you could ever imagine."

Sara finally broke the eye contact by moving off to the side but Kayla found that she still couldn't move. She couldn't even move her eyes to the side to see what her sister was doing.

"I can read your very soul now Kayla." The voice came in a whisper, so close to her ear that she could feel her sister's cool breath with each syllable. "I know everything about you. Things you've never told anyone, not even me. I know things that you won't even admit to yourself, even things that you've only just dreamed of in the dead of the night."

Something cool and wet brushed briefly against her ear. Then another longer touch, then another longer still. Kayla was horrified when she realized it was her sister's tongue tracing her ear. The coolness of it shocked her and made her want to shriek in horror. She desperately wanted to push her away but couldn't, her body was a statue. Another long lick and Kayla felt something else; familiar warmth was slowly blooming in her core. Her mind was screaming at her body to resist and not to give in to the feelings that her sister was somehow igniting in her. Kayla knew that she should be disgusted with her sister's actions and also with her body's reaction to them but in some strange way it felt oddly right. Something long repressed stirred inside her.

Sara moved lower, leaving a trail of soft wet kisses down the side of Kayla's neck. Every spot her sister kissed sent a tingling shiver through Kayla's mind. The warmth in her stomach was rapidly building to a fire that was spreading throughout her body. She knew with no small amount of shame that if she could move she would be moaning by now.

"How does that feel Sis?" Sara cooed in her ear.

Without any conscious effort on her part, Kayla let out a long low moan of pleasure. Along with the building sexual bliss that was now flooding her body was another new feeling, a desire to surrender. Something in her mind was telling her that this was right. This was how it was always meant to be. She was supposed to submit to Sara.

"I told you I knew what you really wanted." Sara moved back around to face her sister. "Now tell me, isn't this what you've always wanted?" One hand trailed down Kayla's chest as she spoke. With a single fingertip she slowly traced a circle around one of Kayla's nipples which were beginning to show through the thin material of her tee shirt. "Isn't it Sis?"

Kayla knew that her sister was somehow controlling her body, making it respond to her wishes. With a stubborn determination, she resisted the feelings that were now raging through her body and her sister's strange control over her. She could feel sweat breaking out on her forehead with the mental effort. Something inside her was pushing her to answer but through sheer force of will she managed to resist. Her sister may control her body, but she couldn't have her mind too.

"Still as stubborn as ever I see." Rather than be angered or even irritated at the resistance, Sara actually seemed amused. She leaned in so close that the tips of their noses touched. "But you forget Sis; I know what makes you tick." Her finger stopped tracing lazy circles around her nipple and gave it a firm pinch.

Kayla's resolve dissolved in a sudden burst of white hot pleasure. She gasped and would have collapsed forward if she could move. Her eyes fluttered closed and another loud moan escaped her lips. A distant part of her mind registered that she was regaining more control, at least of her facial movements.

Sara asked again. "Isn't this what you want?"

Kayla uttered one word, "Yes."

"What is it that you want Sis? What do you reallyreally want? What you've always wanted... tell me." Sara purred.

Kayla heard herself breathe, "You." She didn't make a conscious decision to say the word; it seemed to come out of her mouth on its own. But once it was said, Kayla knew that it was what she really wanted, what she had always wanted. Thoughts that had been repressed for her whole life came flooding to the surface in a tidal wave of emotion and need. A lifetime of dark, forbidden fantasies surged up in her mind, courting to her desire, seducing her will, demanding her obedience. She surrendered to them.

For almost as long as Kayla could remember, she had to play the responsible one.

When the girl's parents had died years before, they had both been placed in the care of her grandmother. She was a kindly older woman who doted on them but she was also a frail and sickly. So Kayla had been forced into the position of head of the household before she was ten years old. The responsibility had forced Kayla to grow up early and she had taken her job seriously. Taking care of her grandmother as the woman aged almost before her eyes and watching out for her little sister who was turning into a bundle of reckless energy. Over the years she had managed to sheppard her sister along the right roads in life and with the death of their grandmother a few years ago had become Sara's legal guardian.

But through it all Kayla had hid a private terror that she never revealed to anyone. Secretly she had been terrified of the responsibility of it all. She had wanted more than anything to have someone take charge and tell her what to do. She didn't want to make decisions; she just wanted to be told what to do. She didn't want to live with the consequences if she made the wrong decision. For years, Kayla had wished every day for some strong person to rely on, to comfort her, to just take control of it all so she didn't have to.