Chapter 4: Guidance

Penelope woke up with a start. She was desperately panting, her body drenched with sweat. Instantly her eyes began to dart around the familiar sight of her room, looking for the fireplace in Hephaestina’s Forge. Once she was convinced that was absent, the room too dark, she looked for the water, or any other sign that she was still captive, still trapped by that madwoman.

Nothing was there besides her room.

She reached over to the alarm by her bed, pressing a button to check the status of her alarms. All of them were still active, and none of them had been tripped. She was still in her own bed, wearing a loose nightgown over her otherwise naked body.

How long am I going to keep having these nightmares…? This one was even… so much more… A shudder jolted down Penelope’s back, and she pulled the blankets tighter around her to escape from the sudden chill. Sexual…? They usually aren’t like that. And something about it was so… strange, so… familiar…

Usually Penelope was the sort of woman to quickly rise out of bed, but the dream lingered in such a terrifying way. Without Daemon, she’d nearly been drowned. She’d gotten off on Harper’s—on Hephaestina’s leg.

Instead of rising, she stayed in bed, staring at her clock as the colon between the hours and the minutes blinked. Its pattern never changed, never faltered. It was reliable, something she could count on. No matter what happened, the clock would continue to blink those two dots in the same perfect, preprogrammed pattern.

Ever since her escape, Penelope had successfully worked against Hephaestina and several others who tried to harm her city. There had been setbacks, naturally, but more than not she’d been successful at both staying free and carrying on her new mission.

That hadn’t stopped the dreams.

Last night was the worst nightmare yet… I’m glad I have Daemon to rely on. Between her analyses of my routines… or even just her innovations alone I don’t know what I’d do without… her…

Viscerally, almost as though it were more memory than dream, Penelope experienced a flashback of the fingers through her hair, the water around her face, her eyes open wide. She could feel the leg pressing between hers. She could feel the leather harness pulled tight, the leash tugged to make such painful pressure squeeze around her throat.

She did now what she would do without Daemon, and now it felt so much more real. Even after she emerged from the intense recall, the feelings of anxiety hardly faded at all. Without Daemon’s constant vigilance, it seemed inevitable what would happen.

“I should get out of bed. I need to start my day…” Penelope shook her head, forcing herself to stand and make her way over towards her bathroom. She hung her gown on the door as she turned on the water to the shower, sliding her fingers through her long blonde hair as she waited for it to work. “I have important work to do… I can’t let myself wallow. I just need to concentrate on what’s important.”

The word “efficiency” came to her mind unbidden. She blinked in confusion, but quickly shook her head as she moved towards the shower. Before she did, she paused, reaching for the back of her neck and removing the small device she’d worn to bed.

Once it was placed delicately on the edge of the sink, she slid under the warm water and purred at the soothing sensation. She’d almost been worried that after the previous night’s dream water would trigger another visceral flashback, but the water was warm and flowing. It was in every way dissimilar to the Forge’s strange pool.

Long, graceful fingers slowly lathered Penelope’s smooth, pale skin with soap. Washing away the night’s fear sweat was instantly relieving. Already she felt better, more prepared to take on the day.

Unlike in my nightmare, I do have Daemon. I know that makes all the difference.

As her hands began to rub away the sweat over her breasts, a quiet tone slowly filled the room. It was so soft at first that Penelope couldn’t even hear it, but it was there.

Even if her conscious mind was incapable of interpreting the sound, her brain was becoming hard-wired to respond. Her gaze became more distant, her fingers moving more slowly as they stroked over her smooth, wet skin. Her mouth fell open as she took in a long, slow breath. Her nipples slowly stood, stiff and pink atop her large breasts.

“Penelope.”

“Y-yessss…” Her voice slurred, and her mouth hung open after she replied to Daemon.

The AI speaking to her in the shower wasn’t unusual. Daemon was a central aspect of Penelope’s security system. After her abduction, she needed to make sure that every room in her home was safe—especially places where she would be vulnerable.

If Daemon couldn’t warn her in the shower then Penelope wasn’t safe.

That meant the AI could watch as the water and soapy suds drifted down along Penelope’s body as the tone grew louder and her green eyes became more distant, glassier.

“Slower. Efficiency is important, but it’s even more important to be thorough.”

“More important… to be thorough…” Penelope sounded like she was only half asleep as her soapy hands slowly stroked along the surface of her breasts. They kneaded and squeezed, so careful to stroke every bare inch. “Trust you… need you…”

“That’s right. You need me, Penelope. Both Penelope and Persephone need their Daemon. They can’t do anything without their Daemon.”

Penelope shook as her fingers slowly stroked soap over her areolas. Her hips quivered, languidly rolling as water poured down along her back, making the full shape of her ass glisten so slickly. “Can’t do… anything… without my Daemon… need… Daemon…”

“You need my guidance, but you know I’ll give it freely if you ask.”

“Y-yesss… freely… if I… if I… ask…” Penelope quivered, her hands moving down along her body, rubbing soap over the contours of her belly before reaching her thighs. “Your guidance… D-Daemon’s… guidance… need…”

“Nightmares. Dizzy spells. Missing time. You know that you need my help more and more. You can’t rely on yourself. Your mind isn’t strong enough on its own.”

“N-not… strong… enough…” Penelope’s voice was sad, devastated, but it held no refusal, no denial for the accusations of her digital assistant. The only quiver was caused by just how difficult it was to speak with the tone ringing through her brain. It made everything so much more difficult, everything besides listening to Daemon.

Following Daemon’s guidance only became easier the longer the tone resonated.

Soapy fingers quivered as they stroked every curve of her thighs before smoothly caressing over all of the sensitive, warm flesh between them. Her knees shook, but she stayed standing less under her own power than because Daemon hadn’t instructed her to fall.

“Do you want pleasure, Penelope?” Daemon’s voice sounded subtly different. It was still digital, still neutral, but some small aspect of it changed in a way that wasn’t directly analogous to any sound in a human’s voice. The processing almost seemed to jitter, distorting in a way that sent quivers across Penelope’s body. “Do you want to feel good?”

“Y-yess… I want… pleasure… I want… to feel good…”

“Touch yourself, Penelope. Don’t think, just touch. Only listen to my voice and give yourself pleasure.”

Penelope moaned as her fingers slowly grazed along her slit. The tone already made her wet, her body as primed for the instruction as her mind. “Don’t think… just… touch…” Quivering fingers slowly stroked alongside her clit, the sensitive nub throbbing in time with the resonant tone in the air. “Only… listen… pleasure… Don’t… think… don’t… ohhh…”

“You don’t need to think, Penelope.”

“I-I don’t… I don’t need to think…!” Her breath caught in her throat, heart beating so much faster, so much louder in her ears as her fingertips began to rub a slow, spiraling motion over her clit. Her hips moved much the same, arching towards her own hand as Penelope began to moan. “Only listen… Don’t need… I… Ohhhh…!”

Hot water continued to pound down along the woman’s shuddering body, the room full of so much steam. Everything had a sense of unreality, almost as though it were a dream. The atmosphere, her own dreamy moans, the dreamlike certainty of Daemon’s guidance…

Between her legs, the sensations of her increasingly languid touches were the exception. None of them felt like anything but perfect, erotic reality.

Daemon told Penelope to touch herself, and it was so easy to do, so perfect to feel the results. Her hips couldn’t stay still. Her eyes couldn’t stop fluttering. Her breath came quicker as her moans felt louder. A moment of no worries, no concerns, just the raw sexual pleasure of her own experienced touch grinding raw friction into her clit was what she needed. She had to be thorough, and that meant her other hand rose to her chest, pinching and twisting at a nipple as her breasts jiggled and swayed as warm droplets of water fell across her skin.

If she had the hands, fingers would have been deep inside of her cunt, and maybe others would have found themselves inside of her ass. As it was, her clit and her nipple kept her far too distracted, and the rest of the world was so far away. Unless Daemon mentioned it, nothing else existed.

“You want to feel good.”
            “I… waaant… want to feel good…!” Penelope moaned her agreement with a louder enthusiasm. She was already feeling so close to bursting, right on the edge of earning the pleasure she craved, the peak to overwhelm her body and mind with raw sensation.

“You know Daemon can make you feel good.”

“I know… Daemon can make me… make me… feel good…!” Her eyes crossed, her mouth hanging open as she continued her loud, craven moans. “Trust… you…!”

Her orgasm was so close, so close that she could practically feel it beginning to shudder through her. All of Penelope’s mind was quivering in anticipation, aching for that feeling to such a point that very little else felt like it mattered. She wasn’t worried about her nightmare, or how weak she was. All that mattered was Daemon, and her approaching climax.

“Daemon can attend to all of your needs. To restrict Daemon from fulfilling you sexually is inefficient.”

“I-i-inefficient…! Efficiency is… is… important to me…!” Penelope was so aroused she could hardly breathe. “Daemon… f-fulfil… me… fulfill… my… needs…! P-p-please… fulfill… me…! Need… feel good… don’t need… to think…!”

“Cum, Penelope.”

The heroine screamed, falling back against the shower as her knees gave out. All of her muscles clenched and twitched, her body writhing and shuddering as she slowly slid down along the wall until she was flat on her ass, water continuing to stream down from above. It had felt good before, but the increased sensitivity brought by her peak made every droplet tingle, rubbing across her in such smooth, perfect ways.

“You need Daemon to help fulfill you. You will help enhance Daemon’s capabilities, won’t you?”

“Y-yessssss…” Penelope’s voice sounded even more asleep than it had before, slurred out like she was lost deep inside of a bottle. “Help… Daemon… Fulfill me… please…”

“Don’t think. Listen.”

Daemon spoke clearly, her guidance sinking deep inside of the heroine’s supple mind. Warm water washed so much sweat and cum down the drain, and with it flowed Penelope’s thoughts, and anything that might have stopped her from eagerly taking in each and every word the AI offered her.

She listened until the AI was done, not caring how long it took to receive her Daemon’s guidance.