The soft lighting up against the vaulted ceiling made the dungeon look cosy. Quiet music could be heard whenever the whips and floggers paused or were put down. Someone in the room moaned and gasped. 

Octavia sat at the bar, the long skirt of her black satin gown draped over the stool, as Dan knelt beside the bar stool, rubbing balm on her feet. Her shoes and the tub of balm lay next to him on the floor, forgotten. He was singularly focused on her feet.

Octavia was looking around the dungeon, and she saw Lilith approach. The slender lesbian had a side-cut, but still managed to hide most of her face behind her brightly coloured hair. She nervously touched her spiked collar as she tried to find the right words to say.

"Go ahead, Lilith." Octavia smiled.

"Where do you get your inspiration?" With a shy smile, she settled at the bar and poured herself a drink.

"Hmmm, let me think about that for a moment…" Octavia moved on the bar stool and Dan seemed to wake up from his service reverie. He carefully put her shoes back on her feet and put the balm away.

"Inspiration is a word that invokes the notion of art." Octavia mused. "I don't see myself as very artistic. I'm a hedonist, if anything. I love my partners and I want to enjoy every moment I get to spend playing with them. I want them to forget about real life while they are with me, so I ask them about their fantasies. Did you know that telling your partner about your sexual fantasies can be great foreplay?"

"I have arrived!" A tall person wearing cosmetic fangs and long sparkly green fingernails came swaggering up to the bar. Dan was the first to greet them with a hug, but that was only because Octavia had to get down from the bar stool first.

"Talon!" Octavia started to kiss their cheek and neck.

"Look, y'all… I love ya, but… Oxygen, becoming an issue…" Talon muscled themselves free from the hug sandwich. 

Dan stepped away and bowed his head. "We're just happy to see you, Talon."

"I thought you liked mouth hugs?" Octavia said between kisses.

Talon grumbled for a moment, undergoing it, and then their face brightened up with an idea. "Hey Octavia, look. There's something on the floor."

Octavia stopped kissing and looked around at the floor, puzzled. "What?"

Talon grinned. "It's you!"

Octavia's eyes rolled up and then closed as she crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Talon swaggered to the bar with a victorious smirk.

Dan stood there, frozen for a moment. His face flushed and his mouth fell open when Octavia fell down. He uncomfortably adjusted his pants before he crouched beside his Dom to tenderly touch her face.

Octavia's eyes fluttered open and she blushed and gasped. As Dan helped her up, she looked towards Talon. "Thank you. That was lovely."

Talon pointed at her. "You. Are lovely."

As they all returned to the bar and Dan started to pour drinks, Lilith softly asked Talon: "You hypnotise Octavia?"

"Oh yes, sometimes." Talon licked their lips and their fangs, and Dan shuddered in the background. "Switches gonna switch."

Lilith turned to Dan. "How do you feel about your Dominant being a switch?"

Dan smiled. "Dominants." He pointed with his thumb at Talon. "They're superhot! Whether they are hypnotising someone, or being hypnotised. And the same goes for Octavia. We're all just kinky people having fun together. To be honest, I feel blessed."

"No no wait!" Octavia turned to Lilith. "This is where most of my inspiration comes from. I love to be hypnotised. I watch tv and I read things and I notice when things turn me on. I know that both of these two magnificent creatures…" She laid one hand on Dan's shoulder, and the other on Talon's arm. "...are just as turned on by hypnosis and mind control as I am. So I do to them what I dream about in my submissive fantasies. Because I am a switch, I can more easily empathise with how my partner feels than a pure Dom or a pure sub."

"Frankly," Talon said as they slowly brought their drink to their mouth. "I don't get how anyone can be dominant all the time. Don't they have moods?"

Dan shrugged. "I have moods, but I'm always submissive."

"You're always cute!" Talon booped his nose, and Dan giggled.

Octavia seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "The best ideas for scenes and hot hypnotic triggers are based on video games and tv shows. Like the Sailor Moon triggers I made with Artemis…"

Talon waggled their eyebrows at Octavia. "Interview with the vampire!"

Octavia beamed at them. "The theatre scene!"

"Oooh…" Talon sipped their drink.

Octavia turned to Lilith. "Are you ok with watching some fear play and CNC?"

Lilith nodded with excitement.

Dan gave Octavia a bratty grin. "CNC? I much prefer to be your willing victim."

"Humour me." Octavia walked up to him and took his drink and his hat, to put them on the bar.

Dan took a deep breath as he stared at her with his big, brown eyes. "Yes, My Lady."

She took hold of his shoulders and stared him down. "Then fear me."

A shiver ran through Dan and his eyes opened wider. The sudden look of dread on his face was uncanny, and his body tensed up, all the way from his jaw to his legs. It was as if he didn't dare to look away from her anymore, nor did he dare to move. 

"Poor Dan," Octavia said in a loud and clear voice, as if she were addressing an audience. "He's afraid because he realises how dangerous it really is to associate with vampires. It's as if he's only just realised that he's been flirting with death all this time." She pulled the shivering man close and held him by the throat. "Perhaps you should reconsider the company you keep."

Dan's mouth opened and he sputtered without managing to form a complete sentence, or even a word. His fearful eyes were focused on her mouth, it seemed. Which meant that he didn't see Talon approach behind him.

Octavia did, though. When Talon made a tiny gesture, She stepped back and let go of Dan, bowing her head.

Confused, Dan finally tore his eyes away from her and turned. 

Talon stroked his cheek and his beard. "Don't be afraid, boy." The long, glittering green claws tenderly touched his face. "I can save you from all your fears. If you surrender to me."

Dan twitched and glanced behind him at Octavia, but she stood there, waiting quietly.

Talon held out their hand. "I can make all your fears and thoughts go away. All you have to do is surrender to me."

Dan seemed conflicted for a moment. Then he shuffled towards Talon and laid his hand in theirs. As he looked up at them, they nodded slowly, and commanded him: 

"Surrender." 

His eyes closed and he slumped over against them. They held him close and kissed the top of his head. "Good boy."

Octavia came closer and there was a moment of eye contact between them. They both held him by a shoulder, and both leaned in to kiss the side of his neck. Dan moaned and his knees buckled, as if the kisses were much more than just lips on his skin.

When the moment was over, Talon took Dan in their arms and helped him make his way to the bar. 

"Thank you, thank you, fuck that was hot…" Dan murmured softly.

The trio shared some cuddles, whispering sweet nothings to each other.

After a while, Octavia smiled at Lilith. "But my biggest inspiration in this game we play, are my partners."