Paint It Black by Nancy A. Collins

to turn on the lights. His answering machine, for once, didn't have one of Kitty's bizarre messages on it. Nothing from Sonja, either.
    He grunted as he removed his shirt. Was she mad at him?
    Did he say or do something the last time they were together that ticked her off? It was hard to figure out her moods, since she refused to take off those damn mirrored sunglasses.
    Judd wondered, not for the first time, how she could navigate in the dark so well while wearing those fuckers.

    Out of the corner of his eye he saw something move. It was the curtain covering the window that faced the alley.
    Judd frowned as he went to close the window. Funny, he didn't remember leaving the window open ...

    She stepped out of the shadows, greeting him with a smile that displayed teeth that were too sharp. She could smell the adrenaline coursing through him as his system jerked itself into overdrive. He was about to yell for help, then he recognized her. Or thought he did.

    'SSonja?'

    'Did I scare you?" She sounded like pain given voice. She sniffed the air and her smile grew even sharper. 'Yes. Yes, I did scare you, didn't I?' She moved toward him, her hands making slow, hypnotic passes as she spoke. 'I love the smell of fear in the morning.'

    'Sonja, what's wrong with your voice?'

    'Wrong?' She chuckled as she unzipped her leather jacket.
    'I always sound like this!'

    She was on him so fast he didn't even see her move, lifting him by his belt buckle and flinging him onto the bed so hard he bounced. She grabbed his jaw in one hand, angling it back so the jugular was exposed. Judd heard the snikt!
    of a switchblade and felt a cold, sharp pressure against his throat.

    'Sonja?'

    'Do not struggle. Do not cry out Do as I command, and maybe I'll let you live. Maybe.'

    'What do you want?"

    'Why, my dear, I just want to get to know you better.'
    She removed the sunglasses protecting her eyes, 'And vice versa.'

    Judd had often begged Sonja to let him look at her eyes.

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) Were they almond-shaped or round? Blue or brown or green?
    No doubt he'd always imagined them as looking human, though. Certainly he hadn't pictured them as blood-red with pupils so hugely dilated they resembled shoe buttons.

    She smirked, savoring the look of disgust on Judd's face. She pressed her lips against his, thrusting his teeth apart with her tongue, and penetrated his will with one quick shove of her mind.

    Judd's limbs twitched convulsively as she took control of his nervous system, then went still. She disengaged, physically, and stared down at him. He did not move. She had made sure of that. His body was locked into partial paralysis. Satisfied her control was secure, she moved the switchblade away from Judd's throat.

    'I can see why she finds you attractive. You're a pretty thing . . . very pretty.' She reached out and pinched one of his nipples. Judd didn't flinch. Of course not. She did not give him permission to.

    'But she's much too old-fashioned when it comes to sex, don't you agree? She's afraid to let herself go and walk on the wild side. She's so repressed.' She shrugged out of her leather jacket, allowing it to fall to the floor.

    'I will explain this to you once, and once only. I own you.
    If you do as I tell you, and you please me, then you shall be rewarded. Like this.'

    She reached into his cortex and tweaked its pleasure center.
    Judd shuddered as the wave of ecstasy swept over him, his hips involuntarily humping empty air.

    'But if you fight me, or displease me in any way, then I will punish you. Like so.'

    Judd emitted a strangled cry of pain as he was speared through the pain receptor in his head. It was as if the top of his skull had been removed and someone had dumped the contents of an ant farm on his exposed brain. His back arched until the muscles creaked. Then the pain stopped as if it had never been there at all.

    'Hold me.'

    Judd did