But sometimes, something more drastic needed to be done, and done discretely. Whether it was a skeptical reporter or insistent government investigator from outside the movement or a disappointed seeker or potential whistleblower within, word would travel through the Indigo Children network that someone was getting too close to one or more of our precious secrets. We discovered this because while, in general, the Indigo Children didn’t have the powers accredited to us, we were still very good at reading people, plus we employed the most efficient security personnel and media representatives possible. Something had to be done about these potential troublemakers, and sometimes it was a race to see who would take care of them first. Many attempts were clumsy but effective, but sometimes a more delicate touch was needed, and most everyone backed away from those kinds of situations.

That’s where my special talents were very handy, and I started honing them early in my career. More than once, I caused a potential troublemaker to remove themselves from causing any possible trouble, sometimes days and sometimes weeks after I had a private meeting with them. Not that they remembered much of that meeting, once they gazed into my amethyst eyes, that is. Not that my peers knew how I was doing it but they appreciated the results.

Like the one time one of our accountants suffered a crisis of faith in his clients and was considering telling all to the Feds about our secret offshore accounts and influence buying. After a few hours with him, starting with him gazing deeply into my eyes, his crisis of faith was overcome and he became one of our most enthusiastic supporters. Having a personal demonstration of the powers of one of the Indigo Children certainly didn’t hurt, especially when he watched me levitate and juggle fire and lightning before his eyes, followed by presenting him with a past-life regression where he had been a faithful servant of an Ascended Master in a previous lifetime. Then, too, he had doubted his Master, until his Master proved his worthiness, so, too, in this lifetime, had he doubted and renounced his doubts.

It was a lot of work, but it was also so much fun.

Paula and James were an ‛item’ as they say, so it was only natural that I bring them both out for their part of the evenings’ entertainment. My only problem is selecting the induction method. Relaxation induction both bore subjects into trance and bore me, too. A confusion induction works best on a single subject, not multiple ones. I decided to let my victims decide their own induction, so I was relieved and more than glad when I saw in James’ mind an old spy movie where the heroine is sitting before a spiraling device, putting her in a deep trance. I couldn’t help but notice that the image of the actress in the scene was replaced with that of Paula.

The classic fascination induction, with a spiral focus. Perfect. A quick peak at Paula’s mind showed she, too, made the connection between spirals and hypnosis, among other things hypnotic.

My only problem was that I didn’t have one.

Oh, I had one: in fact, I had several. Over the years, I collected quite a large collection of hypnotically themed toys and trinkets, but they were all back in my apartment. I definitely would have to start carrying some of them around with me.

But I could make one, easily enough. I grabbed a small paper plate and one of Becky’s largest markers from her desk and drew a large, tight spiral on the plate. Now suitably equipped, I was prepared to give Paula and James the hypnotic encounter of their lives.

“Paula, James, I want you to focus all your attention on the spiral.

“Follow the lines down into the center, down into the center, down, down.

“Let your thoughts follow the lines down into the center, down into the center, down, down, down.

“Swirling around, down, around and down, around and down into the center, down, down, down, down.”

As I kept repeating the phrases in my lullaby voice, including the word ‛down’, I was refraining from suggesting anything like ‛sleep’ to them, expecting that their experiences this evening were doing that for them. In fact, I knew it was happening, even without any of my whispers. In short, they were primed and ready from watching everyone else go into trance that they already knew exactly what I was expecting of them. And totally prepared to do exactly that.

Both their eyes were vacant and glassy by now, blinking slowly, mouths partially agape. All they needed was just a slight nudge, and while I found their quick surrender to my abilities quite arousing, I had a show to produce and anything else could wait.

I brought my other hand down before them: they responded exactly as they thought they should, closing their eyes, and they both collapsed into a state of total relaxation and total surrender. Perfect.

I tossed the plate to Erik to keep as a souvenir as I stepped in between James and Paula. “James, can you hear me?” I whispered into his ear.

“I hear you,” he replied softly. The image I saw earlier in his mind was now replaced with the same scene but my image sitting, entranced before the spiral: that would never do.

“Paula, can you hear me?”

“I hear you.” She replied, but in her mind she was adding several other thoughts to her response, all related to domination and submission, with James in the position of domination. A quick glance at James’ mind indicated the thoughts of domination were present there, but no actions as of yet. They were still in the earliest stages of discovering a D/s relationship with each other, one they could just as easily avoid. It was quite charming, actually, but I prefer the woman to be the dominant force in such relationships. And with a few nudges I could direct their nascent development in that direction.

Nudges that I could start here, tonight, and would.

“Paula, James, until I next touch your shoulders,” I whispered softly to them, “you will hear nothing, all sounds float away, all sounds are ignored.

“But when I touch your shoulders, you will hear only my voice, respond only to my voice, obey only my voice.”

I turned to my audience. “Some of you may know that James and Paula are serious animal lovers.” In fact, it was how they met, but that rather embarrassing moment was a topic for another time. “Therefore, I am going to make them believe they are animals.

“And since animals don’t wear any clothing, what’s the first thing I’m going to have them do?”

It only took a moment for my audience to answer the question in their minds and realize exactly what I was about to make Paula and James do, then the giggles and laughs started. These two rather uptight individuals would never take off their clothes in public, even under hypnosis: under ordinary hypnosis, that is. However, their limited knowledge of the subject was now totally influenced by the show I had presented this evening, especially Erik’s slow striptease. I could tell in their minds that, because of what they had already seen tonight, hypnosis was exceptionally powerful, bordering on the irresistible, mixed with the notion that they could abandon the burdens of their self-control because they were under someone else’s hypnotic influence, brushing aside any prudish or self-conscious feelings on their part. According to theory, that is not entirely correct, but under my control, that notion is more correct than normal. Plus it was just the kind of reaction I wanted, just the kind of reaction I wanted to practice.

“Paula, James,” I said, touching them both on the shoulder, “hear my words. Nod your head as you listen to my words.”

I was especially pleased to see that both nodded their head immediately: I was also pleased to see a pattern of immediate and unquestioned response already in place in their minds, and I didn’t even have to whisper it to them.

“Your clothes are becoming very uncomfortable to wear: they are getting scratchy and warm, so uncomfortable, so very uncomfortable. You need to remove your clothes, all of your clothes. Its all very private, there is no one else around, just yourself, no other sounds, no other people.”

It took only a little more prompting, and soon Paula and James were slowly removing every article of clothing. The whistles and cheers of their audience went entirely unnoticed. As each piece of clothing was removed, I took it and tossed it to Becky, who set it neatly aside.

And then they were done: totally naked, body and in mind. Their surrender to my hypnotic power was quite stimulating: I knew from their minds it still wasn’t that complete but for my purposes for this evening, it was more than sufficient.

They both were serious cat lovers, so they would become were felines. Kittens to be precise, cute little kittens. They readily accepted the suggestions, their love of cats providing even more impetus to accepting the suggestions. Soon they were both on all fours, pouncing on imaginary string and mewling at each other. Paula even went as far as accepting being petted before running off to chase James. It was an amusing sight, but they had so much potential.

“Paula, James, you are now cats of the jungle, big cats, tigers.”

Their demeanor suddenly transformed. No longer were they playful pets, they were proud and indolent beasts, the lords of their domain. Paula crawled up on the vacant couch, lazily lying on her side, with James reclining on the floor next to her.

“Time to hunt.”

Their heads went up, sniffing the air. James growled and Paula answered. In their minds, they were in the jungle, and, only in their minds, could they see their prey, and even then it was too blurry and confused for me to read. No matter: they stalked it and pounced on it, jumping into the center of the room atop phantom prey and savagely killing it and beginning to feed. The savagery was almost palpable in the room: more than one of my audience was a little shaken at the sight.

My audience didn’t know how I was going to top this, but I did. Thanks to a little whisper, after feeding, Paula and James went very much into heat. James went and nuzzled Paula’s neck, growling. At first, Paula ignored him in the way of cats, then pushed him off and crossed to the other side of the room. James stalked her as they circled around and around, climbing on the vacant couch and leaping down. Finally Paula let James corner her and, as he licked her ear, allowed him to mount her.

My audience was totally silent as they watched the two of them coupling. It was common knowledge that the two of them were totally faithful to each other and “did the dirty” quite often, and I knew from Paula’s mind that she was on the Pill, so this little bit of theater wouldn’t have any serious future repercussions. I added a few whispers to make the sensations all the more pleasurable for them both, tying them into the most primal parts of their minds. The resulting show was better than any animal program on TV, and my audience loved it.

As they coupled, I took advantage of their mental state to start making connections in Paula’s and James’ mind, of how among the big cats, the females have the dominant roles in the pride. Those connections would start influencing how they thought of each other.

After they finished, they curled against each other and fell asleep, or at least, the image of sleep in their entranced minds, because they could still hear and obey my directions. Because now it was time for them to return to their human lives, as I removed the suggestions about being animals and felt their human minds returning to normal. I instructed them to dress before I awakened them, implanting suggestions to quell any misgivings at what they had done: it was all in good fun, among good friends, taking advantage of their notion that they were not completely responsible for their actions because they were hypnotized.

As they got seated, I took one quick final glance at James’ mind, and was pleased to find the image I had seen before, both featuring Paula and myself, was now showing him sitting before the spiral disk, with myself and Paula standing behind the disk, directing it.

Perfect.