Odetta Bright abruptly stood up from the table in a burst of frustrated motion. She glared at her co-workers and said, "I think I've had enough bullshit for one night. I'm going to go find something fun to do." She scooped up her purse and pulled out a handful of bills, tossing them onto the table. "If that's not enough, you losers know where to find me," she said, turning and walking toward the exit before anyone could respond to her sudden outburst.



All of which came as a complete surprise to Odetta Bright.



She had no idea what was happening to her. One moment, she was taking a drink of wine while looking at the menu, wondering if it would be better to go with an appetizer and dessert or if she wanted a meal, and the next her body and mouth were moving entirely on her own. She tried to make her legs stop working, so that she could turn around and try to apologize to everyone and explain that she didn't know what was going on or why she said those awful things...but her body wasn't listening to her. She couldn't make herself stop. Something else was controlling her like a puppet, and she didn't know what.



Who, she heard someone say. There was a moment of confusion in Odetta's mind-the voice came from nowhere and went to nowhere, and for a moment she allowed herself a brief assumption that it must have been her imagination...and then it spoke again. Not what, who.



She wheeled around, looking for the source of the voice...well, actually, she kept right on walking, glancing over in passing to take in a bunch of middle-aged women at the bar and a table of college douchebros in varying states of inebriation. But she wanted to make herself wheel around looking for the source of the voice. Because as impossible as it seemed, it sounded like it was coming from inside her head.



I'm over there, the voice said. Odetta stopped in front of the table of douchebros and gave her body a little shimmy for them. One of them was so dead drunk he was slumped backwards in his seat, but the other two were giving her a hearty thumbs up and a leer that Odetta felt like an almost physical force. Well, my body's over there. My mind's in here with you for a while, so you better go ahead and get used to me. You can call me Darren. Or, you know, boss is good. Odetta gave them a thumbs up in return, despite her best efforts.



What's...happening to me? Odetta thought tentatively. She wasn't sure if 'Darren' could hear her thoughts the way she could hear his-for that matter, she wasn't sure if he was a real person and not just a manifestation of some kind of sudden-onset psychotic break. But whether he was real or not, Odetta had to try to get through to him if she wanted this to stop.



Oh, I'm just taking you out for a little spin, Darren said. He sounded like the memory of a voice she'd never actually heard. My boys are keeping me safe for a while so I can have a little joyride in you. Odetta's hands roamed over her hips, her buttocks, her breasts, touching herself through her clothes with a casual intimacy that she didn't feel. And damn, it's gonna be good. Say what you want about black girls, but motherfuck, you are juicy! Not crazy about the dreads, though. But hey, it's just a loaner, right? Odetta had a sudden, irrational urge to slap the inside of her own head.



Instead, she walked out the door with a lascivious wink at the college boys and headed down the street, her legs walking towards an unknown destination. She tried to make them stop again and again, focusing all her concentration on first one muscle then another, but the other person sharing her body seemed to overwhelm her struggles without any apparent effort on his part. Why... she thought, before trailing off once again into silent attention to her disobedient limbs. But it was no good. Giving up, she tried communicating with Darren again. How...how are you doing this?



The body thing? Darren said, once again sounding as though this was the kind of thing he did every night. We found this old book when we were looking for Halloween decorations, all 'Rituals of the Will' and stuff. It showed us how to leave our bodies and go into someone else. We thought it was bullshit at first, but then Austin tried it and wound up in Brandon's body. It was really weird-they just spazzed out for like ten minutes because they were both trying to move in different directions and Brandon's body didn't know who to listen to.



But we're not- Odetta grimaced in her head, even though her face was locked in a slightly predatory smile as they rounded the corner together and headed down the block. 'Spazzing out', she finished reluctantly. She didn't want to share her head with anyone, but if she had to pick, Darren would have been the bottom of a very long list.



That's because I'm better at this than you are, Darren said. You only think you're good at making your body do shit because you've never had to work at it. I do this every weekend, I've got experience in pulling on muscles and stuff. Maybe if you kept trying, you might get the hang of it, but I'm gonna be gone by then. We're just having a little fun, you and me, and then it's back to the bar and back to my body and you won't ever see me again. So shut the fuck up and enjoy it, okay? Maybe you'll even learn something about yourself.



Learn something? Odetta snapped. What the fuck do you mean, learn- Then she saw it, and even her thoughts trailed into silence for a moment. The neon sign, bent into stylized cursive with a pair of cherry-red lips over it. 'Babylon', it said, flashing over and over like a beacon in the night. Odetta knew it, if only by reputation-the most popular gay and lesbian club in the city. And as the signal changed to 'Walk', Odetta and her unwelcome hitch-hiker were heading across the street toward it.



Odetta tried to put the brakes on, picturing every muscle in her leg and trying to turn the instinctive motion into a conscious series of steps in the hopes of interrupting just one. But Darren steered her body right up to the door and paid the cover out of her purse without even seeming to notice her struggles.



You can't do this-I'm not gay! she shouted, but the words only came out in the privacy of her own head.



Me either, Darren said, his voice an audible leer in her mind. What, you think I take over a woman's body to find out what cock tastes like? Nah, the only reason to get inside a bitch like this is to find out what eating pussy feels like from the other side, and this is the place to go. Now keep quiet, I'm looking for a girl who's DTF.



You motherfucker, Odetta yelled inside her head. You little pissant son of a bitch, you think I'm going to just roll over and let you use my body like a fucking rental car? I am going to fuck you right the hell up, Darren. You want to get any peace tonight, you just turn us back around and find another woman to pull this bullshit on because I am not going to-



If I cut your little finger off and threw it in the sewer, Darren cut in, his mental voice deceptively calm, it'll hurt both of us. But you're the one who has to live with it. Odetta went quiet, a wave of terror suddenly washing through her. Either Darren didn't notice, or he didn't care.



Instead, he walked through the crowd in her body, making eye contact with each woman in turn before walking past them. Odetta couldn't tell what he was looking for-some of the women were dolled up in stylish outfits, others dressed down in their own butch chic. None of them seemed to be what he was looking for. Until...



The first time Darren looked at her, Odetta didn't even notice her. She was just one person in the crowd, studiously looking down at her phone with her long blonde hair hiding her face like a curtain. She seemed to be ignoring the dancing and drinking as though she didn't care at all. But Odetta could feel Darren's attention zeroing in on the young woman, even as his gaze moved elsewhere, and when he looked back at her, Odetta noticed the way her head rapidly darted down to look at her phone. The club light made it impossible to see clearly, but Odetta was suddenly sure the other woman was blushing.



Darren pounced. With a calm, confident stride, he crossed the distance between them in moments and curled his hand-Odetta's hand-around the back of the young woman's neck in a single swift, smooth motion. He curled their fingers into her hair and used it to steer her head up to meet their gaze, leaning in and giving her a long, slow, passionate kiss before the young woman could do more than utter a tiny mewl of surprise. Darren held the clinch for several moments, probing insistently with their tongue at the other woman's lips, before finally breaking it to say, "Hello."



The young woman's eyes looked a little unfocused as she tried to regain her equilibrium. Maybe she was about to speak, maybe she was going to tell them that something like that was inappropriate...but then Darren leaned in and whispered into her ear in Odetta's husky tones, "Come back to the alley with me and I'll let you lick my pussy."



The young woman blushed furiously, but she nodded. Darren released her neck, and she slid her phone into her purse and followed them meekly along as they headed past the restrooms to an emergency exit that was propped open with a rock. Odetta just watched, still more than a little stunned herself. She didn't even know how to process the idea of herself as a lesbian seductress who could reduce women to submissive jello with a single kiss, despite the very obvious evidence of it happening right here and now.



You just gotta look for the right girl, Darren said in her head, clearly picking up on her astonishment. It's the shy ones that go for it. Any time a girl is sitting in a lesbian bar with her head down and her eyes up, she's hoping someone else is going to make the first move. And when you just go after them like that, they cream their fucking panties thinking about how hot it is that you're not giving them a choice. He paused, and Odetta felt something in her mind like the mental equivalent of a shrug. I mean, it doesn't always work first try, but hey. It's your face getting punched if I fuck it up, right?



They slipped out into the alley hand in hand, Darren leading the young woman along with an easy confidence as they walked past some stairwells leading to walkout cellars in the nearby buildings. A couple of them were already occupied, but they had no trouble finding one that was vacant. Clearly Darren had done this before.



Once they got to the bottom, Darren pushed the woman onto her knees, heedless of puddles and dirty pavement, and pulled up Odetta's dress. "Let's see you put that slutty little tongue to work," Odetta heard herself say, as she yanked her panties aside with one finger to reveal her furred mound. She tried to ignore it all-the hot breath on her clit, the hands gripping her thighs, and most especially Darren's complaints inside her mind. Dang, girl! Wish I had time to get a razor, clear some of that jungle away...



But she couldn't. The woman's mouth was on her clit now, suckling at the sensitive nub until it went stiff and throbbing against the young woman's flicking tongue. Oh damn, she heard Darren say in her head, Oh fuck that's nice. Damn, you got a big one down there. Fuck that's good, oh fuck, that's like half a chubby in her mouth, oh fuck... Odetta hated to admit it, but she understood why he was enjoying it so much. Despite everything, Odetta's pussy was getting wet from the attention.



Darren tangled Odetta's hands in the young woman's hair, mashing her face into Odetta's pussy. "That's so fucking good," she heard herself mutter, between moans that she wasn't quite sure were entirely Darren's. "Don't stop, don't fucking stop..." The woman on her knees responded by increasing her efforts, running her tongue up and down Odetta's labia in a lashing motion. She paused every once in a while to circle Odetta's clit again, stimulating it with her pursed lips before returning to Odetta's wet opening.



Odetta felt her hips bucking as the young woman intensified her efforts, sticking her tongue out as far as it would go and spiking it deep into Odetta's pussy over and over and over again as she sealed her lips over Odetta's mound and sucked hard. Odetta didn't even know what she was supposed to be feeling right now-she couldn't stop feeling violated, but the woman between her legs was nothing but a devoted and selfless lover who had no idea that anything was even wrong. It all melted into a perverse, shameful pleasure that Odetta couldn't deny even as she desperately struggled to get away from it all.



Oh fuck yeah, Darren moaned in her head, goddamn fuck yeah. Nothing like...oh fuck, nothing like having your cunt licked to make you wanna...oh, oh fuck, it's not fair, how come guys don't get to feel like this? Fuck, you have no...no fucking clue...oh, oh hell yeah, do it bitch, do it... Odetta heard the last part coming out of her mouth, and she suddenly hoped this wasn't a woman she'd see again sometime. How would she cope if this same person walked up to her on the street and whispered, 'Would you like me to lick your pussy again?' She'd have to say no...wouldn't she?



And then it got hard for both of them to think, The woman on her knees relentlessly suckled on their clit with her head bobbing up and down like she was sucking a tiny cock. The pressure and the motion and the sensation blurred into a whirlpool of pure bliss, as though all the world was narrowing down to Odetta's clit and those amazing lips sliding all over it. She heard herself grunting in animal lust, their orgasm just barely moments away...



And then the woman slipped two fingers deep into Odetta's pussy, and they both lost it. Odetta's view of the world went blurry and red as her eyes rolled back in her head and she let out a strangled gasp of pure orgasmic bliss. The woman on her knees didn't stop, though; she just kept licking and licking, remorselessly forcing every last sigh and moan out of Odetta's mouth. And the worst part was, Odetta couldn't even tell whether they were Darren's moans or hers.



After it was finally over, when the sensation finally abated enough that Darren could push her away from Odetta's pussy with one last, satiated growl, the woman stood. "Did you...like that?" she whispered shyly, her face smeared with Odetta's musk. Odetta was grateful she couldn't respond-hell, she was just grateful she wasn't asking them to return the favor. Odetta didn't know what Darren would have made her do if she had.



Instead, Darren gave her a quick kiss, just long enough to leave the taste of her own pussy in Odetta's mouth. "You were great," he said, rummaging through Odetta's purse for a moment. Odetta felt his smug, vicious satisfaction as he pulled out a tiny piece of cardboard. "Here, you take my card and give me a call sometime. I know I want to do that again-"



And then it happened. Odetta heard a tiny, imperceptible hitch in Darren's smooth delivery as he noticed it, a tremor that reflected the sudden storm of panic that she felt from him in her mind. As Darren held out the card...Odetta dropped it.



It wasn't easy. She felt like a child, relearning her motions all over again. But she made her fingers tremble, shake, and finally loosen their grip to allow the card to fall into a puddle as the young woman reached for it. She let it go, focusing her energy instead on making her legs move again.



It turned out she didn't have to. The moment he saw the business card slip out of their grasp, Darren muttered, "Gotta go," and brushed past the woman with hurried indifference to head for the stairs. There was a chaotic moment when they both tried to walk, each in slightly different rhythms, leading Odetta to wonder if the whole evening wasn't going to end with both of them lying at the bottom of the steps with their collective head cracked open. But then they got to the top and staggered away through the alley, leaving the young woman behind with a confused expression on her face.



Oh come on, Darren shouted in her head, fighting her with each step for control of her legs. Will ya just give it a rest for a few minutes already, goddammit? I get the hint, you're fucking done with me. Just fucking leave me alone so I can get us back to the goddamn bar without wandering into fucking traffic, okay?



Fuck you, Odetta snapped back. Her mental voice was thick with anger now, all the fear he'd made her feel transformed into rage as she fought for control of her body. You fucking threatened to mutilate me, you little shit. You are never getting this back. Not one fucking step, not one fucking twitch, do you hear me? I am taking you back to that goddamn bar and I am kicking you out and your asshole friends better be ready to hold me back. Because I am going to start shit.



Hey, whoa, that was just talk! Darren whimpered, all his smug bravado gone now as they made it across the street and headed for the corner. Odetta probably looked drunk as hell, but she didn't care. I mean, I wasn't really gonna-I just said that to shut you up, you know? Jeez, I was in your fucking head the whole time, I know you liked it. You don't have to be such a bitch.



Oh, just keep talking, asshole, Odetta snarled, her stride slowly evening out as she remembered the automatic motion of her own limbs. Now that she had the hang of it, she knew she'd never lose control again. Not of her own body, where she'd spent her whole life. Home-field advantage was winning. You're just making me madder.



Fine, I get it! Darren said, his voice thick with the frustrated terror of entitlement curdled into fear. I fucking get it, I promise, you'll never see me again! Jeez, it's not like you can just walk in and start hitting me! Nobody even knows I did anything! What are you gonna do, just start punching me for no reason?



Yeah, that's pretty much my plan. Odetta ran the last twenty feet or so in a glorious sprint, reveling in the way her muscles once again moved under her own power. She flung open the door, went through into the bar, and...



Nothing. No table full of college kids, no dead-drunk body-hopping Darren, none of it. The table by the door was empty. What the hell? Darren shouted, unheard by anybody but Odetta.



I don't know, Odetta said. Maybe your 'good friends' thought it would be funny to take your body someplace and leave it there. Maybe they got too drunk and the cops put all three of you in a cell to sleep it off. Maybe someone else came along and jacked their bodies, someone even better at it than you are. I don't know and right now? I don't care. I'll find you when I'm damn good and ready.



Wait, whoa, wait, Darren cried out, his voice in her head one of sheer and unmitigated panic. What do you mean, 'when I'm ready'? You gotta find me! You gotta get me out of here! You, you gotta-you just-



Like I said, Odetta purred, tasting revenge in her throat like thick cream, when I'm ready. You'll turn up sooner or later, and right now I'm a little worked up from all that sex we had earlier. I think I'm going to go out and find me a cock to play with. So if you ever want me to go looking for your body...just shut the fuck up and enjoy it. Who knows-maybe you'll even learn something about yourself.



If Darren had a response, he didn't share it with her.



THE END