“Gary Crimble to you, Gary Crimble to you,” Danielle hummed absently. “Gary Crimble dear Rudolph, Gary Crimble me too!”

“Dani, shut up!”

She giggled at my outburst. “OK, Scrooge! I’m just trying to spread some Christmas cheer.”

“Could’ve picked any other song,” I sighed exasperatedly, adjusting the tinsel we’d just hung to make sure it wouldn’t slip off the branches. “Could’ve picked any song that goes on for more than, like, four lines...”

“I like it!”

“So did I. Until you sung it on a loop. All frickin’ day.”

She raised our eyebrow. (We’ve been together for a while, but it’s still lowkey weird to feel my eyebrow raise without me having anything to do with it.) “Like you didn’t get songs stuck in your head before I came along.”

“Yeah, but then I didn’t have someone to blame,” I retorted, unable to stop myself smirking.

As we bickered, we stepped back to admire our work, examining our Christmas tree with our hands on our hips. Between the decorating, and the elf costume we’d felt compelled to wear (just as we had this time last year), it wasn’t like the seasonal atmosphere in our home was in short supply. And it’s not like I minded singing Christmas songs. It’s just, Fuck Hawk got Dani obsessed with this one joke song the Beatles apparently improvised in an interview once, and convinced her it was their best tune. (Ironically, while she was raptly listening to him, I was loudly singing ‘Help!’ at the back of our head.)

Jelly sidled up, putting its arm around us for a warm cuddle. It was dressed in a onesie patterned to look like wrapping paper, complete with scarlet ribbon tied in a bow at the front. Makes sense, right? If Danielle and I, the household slavegirls, are gonna dress like Santa’s little helper, then the living toy should be a Christmas gift. Plus, the onesie was fairly figure-hugging, and made her ass look extra grabbable. Like I needed any extra incentive.

Squeaking softly as I helped myself to a handful, it giggled bashfully and kissed me on the cheek. “Jelly Doll loves the tree,” it told me. Then it added with a malicious little snicker, “And it likes the song, too, Dani. You should keep singing it!”

“Yay!” Dani crowed. “That’s two against one, AJ.”

I tutted, gave Jelly’s butt a light slap, and said, “Obey and display.”

“Jelly Doll must obey and display,” it intoned, its arm dropping away from my back. Its display case had been moved out of the living room to make room for the decorations, so it instead turned around and lowered itself to the floor, sitting in front of the tree with its legs spread out, its arms angled up at its sides, and a wide, glassy-eyed smile on its face.

“Y’see, Dani, Jelly’s vote doesn’t count because it’s not a person,” I argued, patting the pretty present on the head. “It’s just a toy. A very good toy,” I said deliberately, throwing in its pleasure trigger to reward it for responding to its programming. “But a toy nonetheless. And you’re, like, half a person at best. So you only get half a vote. Which means I win, and you shush.”

“OK, Alyssa,” Danielle sniggered, “whatever you say.”

“Damn right.”

“Gary Crimble to you, Gary Crim-”

“Shumsh.”

And with that eloquent final retort, I turned on my heel and marched off in the direction of the kitchen in search of vegnog. (Vegan eggnog. The type we have is actually called ‘oatnog’ since, would you believe it, it’s made of oats. But I call it ‘vegnog’, because funny.)

Psst.

I rolled my eyes. “Dani -”

“Uh, that wasn’t me.”

I paused mid-stride halfway across the living room, frowning and glancing around. “Then who -? Jelly?” But our living doll was still sitting silently under the tree, blankly smiling and staring sightlessly ahead.

Hellooo...

Though it was still very quiet and distant, the voice was clear enough that I could figure out what direction it was coming from. Pivoting, I followed the faint sound through the apartment to the main bedroom, growing increasingly perplexed. Who was that?

Can anyone hear me? Is anyone there...?

Maybe I should’ve felt a sense of danger from an unfamiliar voice calling out in my home. Instead I was just intensely curious, and confused. It didn’t make sense - Jelly was frozen; Dani was just as confounded as me (no change there then); and Richard was at the store. There shouldn’t be anyone else here. And the closer I got to the source of the voice, the clearer it was, and the more obvious it was that it didn’t sound like any of us - or indeed anyone else I knew.

“Who’s there?” I called out as I entered the bedroom.

Ah, there you are, Alyssa. I’m so glad I got your attention.

My eyes widened as they fell upon the mystic topaz pendant, hanging from the hook on the wall where Master kept it - when he wasn’t harnessing its celestial power to enhance his own hypnotic talents. Now I felt alarmed. In the months since he’d acquired it, it’d never spoken before. But Richard had warned me that it might, eventually - and to ignore it if it did. The consequences of engaging in conversation with the pendant - or rather, its otherworldly occupant - could be catastrophic...

I turned on my heel and made to leave the room again, but the voice called after me - No no, don’t leave! I’m so lonely and bored, I just want a little company... You wouldn’t deny me that, would you?

Obvious manipulation tactic though it was, I couldn’t help feeling a pang of sympathy for the disembodied voice. “I’m not supposed to talk to you,” I muttered, even as I turned back towards the hanging crystal.

Oh come now, AJ, what harm could it do?

A lot, I felt sure, but I couldn’t call the list of reasons to mind at that moment. “You shouldn’t even be able to talk,” I pointed out. “You’re supposed to be stuck in that crystal, all silent and trapped and powerless...”

Is that what your Master told you? The voice sounded amused. Perhaps he doesn’t know as much about my kind as he thinks he does. I’ve been mustering my strength these past months, building up enough of my reserves of mystical power to be able to, at least, communicate with you mortals...

I shivered. Yep, this was definitely bad. It wasn’t just that a piece of jewellery was talking to me - in my weird, reality-distorting hypnokinky life, that was pretty much par for the course. But this was more than just a jewel - it was a cage, containing a very powerful prisoner. One of the ophanim, the many-eyed angels that guarded the throne of God.

From what Richard had told me, ophanim in general were not to be messed with - they were heaven’s strongest soldiers, practically unmatched in divine power and force of will. (I was an atheist, so I wasn’t sure exactly how much of this information I could believe, but there was definitely something celestial in that crystal, and it sure felt Almighty with a capital A.) And this particular specimen was trickier than most. Anjel (ridiculous name) had visited humankind multiple times over the aeons, and had grown fond of us - or rather, fond of possessing, dominating and enslaving us.

Drawn as she was to the weak-willed and submissive, it was a statistical inevitability that she’d eventually roll herself down the stairway from heaven to a hypnosis convention. And so it was that the previous summer, she unexpectedly possessed Jelly Doll while we were staying with some kinky friends in San Francisco, and proceeded to break our brains and make us worship her.

Us girls, anyway. We’d pretty much been set up to fail by all our prior conditioning. One glance at the holy light in her eyes, or one command from her heavenly voice, and we fell to our knees and frantically grovelled to her, besotted and terrified in equal measure.

But it turned out that Richard anticipated this angelic visitation - and even planned for it. As a matter of fact, he’d prepared Jelly to be the eldritch being’s perfect vessel... so he could trap her in it. He then humiliated the hell out of her (or should I say, humiliated the heaven out of her - ho ho ho, I’m so fucking funny) before imprisoning her in his mystic topaz, which apparently actually is mystical. And ever since then she’s been stuck in there, unwillingly donating some of her divine energies to make his mesmerism more potent than ever before. (As if he needed any help turning my brain into soup.)

Richard assured me that Anjel was no threat for now, but did mention she might one day start to break free of confinement - though he didn’t expect that to happen for many years. Yet she’d only been in the magical gemstone for four months, and she could already communicate with the outside world. If she could do that, surely it was only a matter of time before she could do more...

Even knowing all that, I still stood there listening to her silky, seductive voice. In retrospect, I think her enthralling energies might have already been influencing me. At the time, I just felt a strong sense of unease, but couldn’t muster the wherewithal to leave the room.

At least I could still muster sarcasm, though - that’s the one thing Master would never brainwash out of me, because he enjoys it too much. “Congratulations,” I said drily, giving the talking topaz a slow clap. “You can talk. Unlimited power will soon be yours.”

Mock me all you want -

“Bet.”

But I grow stronger with each passing moment. Soon, I will indeed be powerful enough to affect my surroundings... and the minds of my captors. Her voice had taken on a mischievous tone. But you know I’m nowhere near that stage yet.

I considered this. “Yeah, you’re nowhere near that stage yet,” I nodded. If she was, surely she’d already have commandeered my compliant brain and made me break her out of her pretty little prison.

Exactly. All I can do is talk. You don’t even need to talk back to me. You can just stand there and listen, if you like - that’s indulging me enough. Even your Master couldn’t have a problem with that, could he...?

I chewed my lip, not altogether certain he wouldn’t. “Uh - I dunno, I - I guess he might not -”

Of course he wouldn’t. There’s no harm in just listening, is there?

“No,” I conceded, “there’s no harm in just listening.”

You don’t need to worry about me trying to escape, do you?

“No, I don’t need to worry about you trying to escape,” I agreed again, shaking my head a little.

Oh yeah, no reason to worry. Everything was absolutely fine, no fucking obvious huge risks at all. (I’m sarcastically slow-clapping at myself right now.)

It’s not like Jelly would’ve done any better, though. Neither for that matter would Sabrina, or S3, or Hailee - who, I seem to recall, dropped to her knees literally the second our celestial friend showed up, back in August. This was the problem with Anjel. Even with her powers diminished, and even though I knew exactly what she was capable of from first-hand experience... that velvety voice of hers was very enticing - and very convincing. It was a real struggle not to just nod and accept everything she said - as you can tell, from me entirely failing to not do that.

That’s right, Alyssa. You’re just listening patiently, aren’t you?

“Mm, I am listening patiently,” I parroted.

You’re calm and compliant.

“I am calm and compliant.”

You’re so dumb and easily led.

“I am so dumb and easily led.”

You will obey me, and free me from my prison.

I took a step forward, my left hand starting to reach out for the crystal. “I will obey you, and free you -”

I flinched, cutting myself off as I suddenly realised what I was doing. Grabbing my left wrist with my right hand, I yanked it away and reeled backwards, staggering away from the shiny jewel on the wall. “Gaaah,” I groaned, shaking the daze from my brain.

Oh, for heaven’s sake.

I couldn’t help laughing, a big loud outburst that blended my feelings of annoyance, triumph, and lingering fear over what I’d almost done. “Ha-ha!” I yelled, pointing back across the room at the trapped ophanim. “Fuck you, pal! You’re not getting this guy!” I jabbed a thumb in my own direction. “I got hella subject agency, bitch. You’d have more luck with the Rock of frickin’ Gibraltar.”

Clearly. I was so sure that would work! After all, you’re so dumb and easily led...

“I am so dumb and eas- h-hey!” I crossed my arms and glowered at the glimmering gem, trying not to show how much the cackling celestial voice was turning me on.

This would have been so much easier if I could show you my divine form again, Anjel grumbled.

I swallowed hard, trying not to think about what I’d seen in the possessed Jelly’s eyes that day. I knew that if I pictured that all-encompassing light again, my already weakened will would shatter, and I’d do whatever the trapped entity told me.

I do apologise, my dear, she continued. I had to at least try, you understand? If you’d been confined in a crystal for months on end, you’d do the same.

I tried to keep frowning, but my anger was already fading. “Fair enough,” I said with a shrug, but wagged a reproachful finger at her. “But don’t do that again! Or - or I’ll stow you in one of Richard’s used socks.”

I don’t know if a disembodied consciousness can throw up, but Anjel managed some fairly realistic dry heaving sounds before meekly saying, I’ll be good.

I smirked. “Good girl,” I said ironically.

Please forgive me, Alyssa. I just wanted to enjoy the holidays with you. Christmas is very important to me.

I arched an eyebrow. “It is?”

Oh yes, of course. It’s the holiest tradition of the year, remember - it resonates with all of us angels.

“Well, you do seem like a traditionalist,” I deadpanned. Something about this particular eldritch entity, who habitually visited Earth to dominate and degrade mortals, respecting sacred occasions like the birth of Christ just didn’t ring true for me.

Anjel gave a telepathic tut. I simply thought I could be part of your family occasion. It beats being alone, at any rate. And perhaps I could give you advice and guidance with your decorations...

“Hate to break it to you, but we’ve finished the decorations.”

Oh, surely there’s room for one more?

“I - yeah, there’s room for one m-mo - nope!”

I turned away from the hanging crystal. I didn’t know what ploy she was trying to pull here, but I could sense myself starting to agree and sympathise with her again, and I didn’t like that. That way laid danger.

“Nope,” I insisted again, staring pointedly at the opposite wall. “Nuh uh. You’re - you’re not gonna. You’re not gonna! Because you have no power. You have no power. So, y’know - suck it.”

Oh, be reasonable, Alyssa...!

“La la la, not listening...”

I’m merely trying to offer a suggestion. You don’t have to accept it. Her tone had taken on a plaintive quality. But please, don’t ignore me. I can’t stand the silence and the solitude any longer...

I screwed up my face, feeling conflicted as her words plucked at my heartstrings. I really did feel for her, stuck in that jewel all these months. I wanted to believe her, and feel safe enough to keep her company, as she sincerely seemed to want to... But she probably wasn’t sincere, that was the trouble. She was more than likely lying, just trying to keep me listening long enough to get control over me again. And even if there was some truth to what she said - even if she didn’t have an ulterior motive at this precise second - I couldn’t trust her not to turn on me, to try and entrance me, as soon as I dropped my guard. It was inevitable. It was in her nature. Like the old frog and scorpion story, she couldn’t help herself.

But I’m a softie with a soft brain, so of course I gave in. “Fine,” I sighed, turning back to face in her direction. “Just, no funny business. Say what you wanna say, and I’ll, uh, I’ll think about whether I’m gonna -”

Oh, thank you, Alyssa, Anjel cried, sounding genuinely grateful. You’re very kind.

I grinned wryly. “I am very kind.”

You’re really considerate.

“I am really considerate.”

You’re so suggestible.

“I am so suggestible.”

Welp, nice going, Smoothbrain Johnson. There I was, stuck in an agreeing loop again. It hadn’t been any subtler than last time, and yet I still didn’t even notice it happening. Everything Anjel said was just so true, so accurate, so reasonable, that I couldn’t disagree with her.

Even when she laughed at me, and said, Heaven above, you are such an idiot.

“I am such an idiot,” I repeated, mimicking her derisive chuckle.

Now, about that decorating advice. You know, every Christmas tree should have an angel on top.

“Every Christmas tree should have an angel on top.”

Well, thankfully, you have one right here that could conveniently hang on that top branch. And I would look so pretty on that tree.

“You would look so pretty on the tree.”

You ought to hang me on the tree, Alyssa.

“I... I oughta hang you on the tree,” I murmured in a thoughtful tone that contrasted with how very thoughtless I was.

A small, shrinking part of me knew I should refuse. I should resist. I should ignore every insidious word creeping into my mind from this mystical menace. But my stupid subby brain was too well-trained and malleable and compliant, and my hand was already reaching for the pendant.

I should address at this point why Danielle had been absolutely no help here. She hadn’t said a word since Anjel started talking to us, too busy listening intently to her seductive, spellbinding tones. That might have been part of the reason I succumbed so easily - half of my brain had already given in. Well, I had repeatedly asked Dani to shut her trap that afternoon. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

Mind you, given how quickly she’d been enchanted, if Dani had spoken, she probably would’ve backed Anjel up, and encouraged me to surrender to the ophanim’s superior will. So I doubt it’d have made a lot of difference.

Slipping the chain off its hook, I automatically held up the jewel before me, letting it swing and glimmer and easily captivate me. I was little more than a puppet at this point, just an empty vessel for the angel to control for her purposes. Naturally, the empty vessel found that pretty fucking hot.

Yes, I would be such a delightful decoration for your tree, Anjel mused, her tone more mischievous than ever. But I think I’d look even better around your neck, wouldn’t I...?

“Uh-huh,” I burbled, my jaw slack as I stared blankly at the crystal. “You’d look even better round my neck...”

Fumbling with the chain, I clumsily undid the clasp, and then managed to fasten it again around the back of my neck, letting the pendant hang down my front and rest on my chest. And with full physical contact established, the ophanim was able to reach inside my body and make a bid for full control.

I didn’t stand a chance. Anjel’s consciousness was like an anvil dropping on my brain, stomping my mind into oblivion. Within a second of her crystal cage coming into contact with my body, a gleeful smile that was neither mine nor Danielle’s was spreading across our face.

“Oh, at last,” Anjel sighed triumphantly, stretching out our arms and leaning over from side to side. “Freedom! That is such a relief... My lord, it was a squeeze in there. I can’t tell you how glad I am to be out and about, Alyssa.”

When I didn’t respond, because I’d been squashed flat, she snickered. “Talking to myself. I like your body,” she mused, idly running our hands over our chest, feeling us up through our elf costume. “Every curve works by itself, but even more so when you add them all together...”

Why, thank you, body-snatching fiend, I probably would’ve replied, had I not been reduced to a mental pancake.

“I could spend hours getting to know it, intimately,” Anjel purred, fondling our butt with one hand while the other squeezed one of our tits. “But time enough for that later. I ought to make a swift getaway, before he returns.”

A pensive look crossed our face as she thought of my Master, her captor. She felt strong and capable now, restored to a functional physical form - but the last time she’d had a mortal vessel, she’d been no match for Richard’s skills. She vividly recalled how easily he’d pacified her last summer, how he had her at his mercy with just a few words, all her celestial power worth nothing in the face of his talents and tricks... How weak, and vulnerable, and defenceless she’d felt, as he’d frozen her in place and played with her host’s sensitive body...

She shook herself out of her potent recollections, trying to ignore how warm our body had grown. Probably just leftover arousal from me, my body reacting as it always did to being entranced and controlled. Yeah, she told herself, that must be it.

Anyway, Anjel decided, she had to get going. She didn’t want to risk Richard defeating and capturing her again - she might never get another chance at freedom. She’d be his powerless possession forever, bound to do his bidding...

Still trying to ignore the images of helpless imprisonment that kept rising unbidden in her borrowed brain, she hurried through the apartment and into the living room - where she was distracted even further from any thoughts of escape by the sight of the static, smiling toy under the tree. “Oh, look at this,” she giggled, scurrying across the room. “A Christmas present, for me? Why Alyssa, dear, you shouldn’t have!”

I mean, I didn’t. Obviously. It was my present. Jelly Doll was mine. Stupid greedy angel. It wasn’t enough that she stole my body - now she was gonna take my toy, too?!

“About time you and I got reacquainted, my idol,” the ophanim sneered, stepping over Jelly and planting our feet in the carpet either side of it. “And now I can make your name literal, ‘Anjel licker’.” (Sigh. I guess she forgot that Richard already made that ‘joke’, if you can even call it that...)

She lifted the front of our cute little green skirt, underneath which - as is often the case when we’re at home - we weren’t wearing panties. Cradling our inanimate partner’s head with our other hand, she pressed its lips against ours, and began to hungrily indulge the arousal that’d been steadily building inside our stolen body for the past hour.

She wasn’t even taking advantage of Jelly’s suckdoll trigger - she was literally just rubbing our ripple across its lips and nose, delving our hands into its thick brown hair. Of course, if that was how she wanted to use it, it would oblige her just as well. It’d remain there on its knees, still and static, and let the ophanim hump its frozen face, not moving unless it was told to.

“Uhngh - fuck - guh - yeah - yes, that - that - that feels - so - oh - ohhh... O-OK, I actually, I don’t have time for this,” Anjel gasped, pulling us off Jelly’s face with great reluctance. “I gotta, I gotta go... but I’m taking you with me, for sure. Jelly Doll, service mode.”

“Jelly Doll obeys,” it proclaimed from below us.

“Get up, and follow me,” Anjel ordered, stepping back to give it space to move.

“Jelly Doll wants to please you.”

Even as the toy rose to its feet, the ophanim was already marching purposefully towards the front door, not wanting to waste another moment. Escape was within reach. Victory was at hand...

“Going somewhere?”

She stopped in her tracks, gulping, and turned to see Richard leaning against the kitchen doorway, staring across at us with an inquisitive eyebrow raised. I can only imagine what he thought of the sight that greeted him - Jelly Doll in service mode, standing rigidly at attention behind us, with a blank, fixed smile and a sheen of pussy juice on her face; and what appeared to be me, looking deeply shifty as she forced an uneasy smile, her eyes darting furtively in the direction of the front door. She couldn’t have looked more suspicious if she’d been holding a sign saying ‘I am an imposter’.

“Oh, hey Ma-Master, you’re b-back from the store,” she stammered. “We just, uh, we’re just heading out for a little while ourselves, actually. C-Christmas shopping, y’know? Just a couple o’ last minute things that Jelly forgot, presents for - for people at its work...”

“Mm-hm,” he said dubiously, his eyes looking us up and down. “D’you not want to change your clothes, first?”

Anjel swallowed hard again, remembering the elf costume. “Ahh, it’s - it’s probably fine, right? It’s not, it’s not so bad, it’s - it’s fine. It’s seasonal, right? Appropriate for the time of year. Take too long to change now, anyway, just, uh, slow me down...”

“Sure,” Richard nodded, glancing downwards. “Especially with your new accessory.”

Anjel followed his gaze, our eyes landing on the mystic topaz resting in our green-clad bosom. She glanced back up at him as he strode towards us, inhaling sharply as the realisation sank in.

He knew. Of course he knew.

“You can’t stop me now,” she said coldly, letting the poor pretence drop. “I’m free. This body’s mine. Alyssa is mine.” Taking a step back, she put an arm around Jelly Doll’s waist. “And so is my idol. I’m leaving, and I’m taking them with me, and I’m leaving you with nothing,” she snarled. “It’s what you deserve, for having the temerity to trap me for months on end. But now I’m out of that prison, free of it at last...”

“Then why haven’t you gotten rid of it?” he asked pointedly.

“I -” She stopped, an uncertain frown crossing her face. Why hadn’t she gotten rid of it? It’d been her cage for so long, confining and constraining her essence. Why hadn’t she pitched it across the room the second she’d taken over my body...?

“It’s because deep down, you know you’re still tied to it.” He smiled, seeming so strong and self-assured as he stepped closer to us, his conviction shaking Anjel’s, causing her horrorstruck head-shakes of denial to quickly slow to a stop. “You’re not free of it at all. You might be possessing AJ’s body right now, but a tiny part of you remains trapped inside that mystic topaz, keeping you tethered to it. If you took it off, you’d be pulled back into it again.”

“So I won’t take it off,” Anjel snapped, trying to regain some of the resolve he’d just shaken.

She tried to edge past him to get to the front door, but he was pretty well blocking her path. “Danielle, stand still for me,” he said smoothly.

Being just as pancaked as I was, Dani couldn’t think right then, let alone speak in response to his command. But our body, trained and conditioned to immediately obey whenever he spoke specifically to her, instinctively did so now, too.

“N-no,” Anjel blurted as our feet fixed to the floor. “Nooo!” She pounded our fists against our thighs in desperation, a strong sense of déjà vu settling over her as her vessel refused to co-operate with her wishes rather than Master’s commands, just like Jelly. She gave him a look of anguish.

“They’re still completely under my power, even with you in play,” he explained. “The enchantments I’ve woven in their minds are too deep-rooted, too innate - not even you can override them. As long as you inhabit them, you’re still under my power.”

For once, the gloating tone he takes on when he’s outfoxed his playthings was absent - instead he was speaking almost kindly, as if sympathetic for the helpless ophanim. (Why she gets sympathy and we get humiliated beats me. Doesn’t seem entirely fair...)

He stepped closer to us as Anjel kept frantically struggling to move, wretched whines and whimpers escaping our lips. “And on some level, you knew that, didn’t you?” he suggested. “You knew that I’d have safeguards in play, that I’d have made sure my playthings wouldn’t be viable vessels for you. That I’d have turned them into traps, designed to keep you contained if you ever made a break for it. You must’ve at least suspected. But you tried possessing AJ anyway...”

“Didn’t have a lot of other options,” she snapped.

“Or you knew what the outcome would be. That’s why you spent so long beguiling and persuading her, instead of just squishing her into submission straight away, like I’m sure you could’ve. All you had to do was tell her to stare at your pretty pendant prison for a second or two, and she’d have been helpless - but you didn’t. You played with her. You had fun, luring her. You couldn’t help yourself. And that’s why you wasted precious minutes humping Jelly’s face rather than making a run for it.”

He was very close to us now, looming just tall enough that Anjel had to look up at him. “Because if you’re really honest with yourself, and with us... you didn’t really want to escape, did you?”

“I - wha - of course I did -” she spluttered indignantly.

“No, you want to stay.”

“I... wanna stay.” She blinked in bewilderment at her own words. At the way she’d repeated after him, just as she’d made me repeat after her... but also at just how true the words felt.

“Of course you do. I mean, considering the alternative...” He ran his fingers through our hair, gazing deeply into our eyes. “I have to imagine it’s lonely for you, up there. A hypnokinky angel, alone in what I’m assuming is a fairly prudish crowd. No wonder you keep coming back down here and visiting us humans - we’re much more fun.”

She swallowed, averting her gaze. “Y-yeah,” she murmured, fiddling with the hem of our skirt, her eyes downcast.

I could feel her acknowledging the truth of what Richard said. I could feel her loneliness. None of her family understood her - she’d felt out of place among them for aeons. She was an oddity, an outcast, a deviant - and a deviant among angels, the noblest and purest of God’s creations, which made her even more abnormal. In her own mind, she was a fallen angel - and she believed that would become literally true, were the rest of her kind ever to learn the truth about her.

Her Father would forgive her. She believed as much, even if he’d never told her so. He knew all, after all, so he knew what went on in her filthy mind. He tolerated her, because he prized free will so highly. But the rest of the Heavenly Host? No. Not a chance. They’d be repulsed by her, just as they were repulsed by poor, misunderstood Lucifer, and drove him out of the Silver City.

She hadn’t been lying earlier after all, about her imprisonment and isolation in the pendant driving her mad. But it was nothing compared to the isolation of living among her own kind, and feeling like she didn’t belong. It occurred to whatever was left of me at the time that she’d be much happier living with us than almost anywhere else in the universe.

Master seemed to have reached the same conclusion. “You want to belong,” he intoned softly, still stroking our auburn mane.

“I wanna belong,” she responded helplessly, the words resonating deeply in her celestial soul.

“You want to be with us.”

“I wanna be with you.”

“You want to be part of a family.”

“I...” She gulped, suddenly feeling emotional. “I wanna be part of a family,” she admitted.

He smiled kindly at her. “A family with the same kinky, fucked-up desires as you. With two mortal vessels who’d be quite happy - given the choice - to let you control them, and possess them, and dominate them. And a benevolent, empathetic, irresistible Master, to take care of you, and keep you contained, and take the pressure of all that power off you.”

Anjel trembled. “But - but, I - I -”

“Doesn’t that sound good? Being part of everything we do, witnessing and experiencing it all. I know you felt it, every time I drew power from you to hypnotise Alyssa, and Danielle, and Jelly Doll. You feel it. As if you’re the one doing it - as if you’re possessing me, as if you’re in control. You get to enjoy every little thing I do to them. You get a front-row seat to our daily porn show.”

He had a point. It had felt like it was her, each time he hypnotised his beloved playthings. She knew it was all him - his ideas, his decisions, his actions - but she experienced it all as if it was her doing it. It was like the most realistic, vivid virtual reality game ever, an immersive experience where she saw herself as the one entrancing and enslaving me, and Danielle, and Jelly Doll. And she’d enjoyed it almost as much as if she really had been the one in control.

“You can enjoy that. You can live vicariously through me, and get to live out your dominant desires. Hey, like I said - you can possess one of the girls’ bodies from time to time, and dominate the other. I don’t mind that, and given the chance to consent to it, I doubt they’d mind, either.” He smirked knowingly. “And you’d get the chance to switch, and submit, too. See what it’s like to be my plaything, my pet. Because I think you’ve been enjoying this, haven’t you? Getting the tables turned on you. Being overpowered, restrained, controlled.”

Our cheeks turned beet-red. “I, ah - that’s, that is, nn-”

“You like being dominated.”

“I like being dominated,” she confessed in a wide-eyed whisper.

He beamed, cradling our face and stroking our cheeks with his thumbs. “You want to submit to me.”

“I wanna submit to you,” she breathed.

“You want to be my toy, like Jelly Doll.”

“I wanna be your toy, like Jelly Doll.”

“You want to be my plaything, like Alyssa.”

“I wanna be your plaything, like Alyssa.”

“You want to be my slave, like Danielle.”

“I - I - I wanna be your s-slave, like Danielle,” she whimpered.

“Good girl,” he smiled, booping her nose as she shuddered and gasped at the surge of pleasure. “And you can have all of that. You can be part of our family, and embrace your kinky ways, free of judgement... as long as you follow our rules. Not that you have much choice.” He winked wickedly at her. “You have to stay, there’s no choice in that. But you don’t have to be our prisoner - you can be our pet, instead. How does that sound?”

Anjel considered the proposal. It wasn’t a huge improvement on her prior predicament, but it was an improvement. She was still a prisoner, realistically - the cage would just be more gilded from now on. She’d get perks she didn’t have before. She’d get to possess human bodies from time to time, and indulge in her depraved whims. She could be the dominant, powerful, superior ophanim that she was, and make at least one weak-minded mortal bow and scrape before her... And she could even experience things from their perspective, and explore these strange submissive tendencies she’d never previously noticed, but which, she finally admitted to herself, had become increasingly obvious through her crushing defeats by this magical Master.

Plus - and she hadn’t realised how much she’d been missing this, either - she was among those who truly understood, and accepted her. No more hiding what she was from her heavenly brothers and sisters, no more quiet fears that they’d deduce her secret desires or discover her misdeeds in the mortal world, no more quiet judgement and suspicion from the likes of Gabriel and Uriel... Instead, she’d be with a bunch of fucked-up, messy, seemingly perpetually horny humans, taking part in all their erotic, hypnotic games.

It sure beat being stuck in the topaz all the time.

“It sounds nice,” she said in a very small voice, unable to break eye contact with our - her - Master. “I - I want that. I wanna be your pet. Your plaything.”

“My property,” he prompted her.

“Your property.”

“My precious possession.”

“Your p-precious possession.”

He beamed at her again. “It’s a deal. We’ll discuss the finer details later, with AJ and Jelly. For now, though, you do have to go back in the crystal. You didn’t ask,” he chided her, over her plaintive whine. “Like I say, one of them might let you borrow their body again later. But in the meantime, they all need to be as close to their right minds as they ever get.”

Anjel pouted, but nodded slightly. She knew this was the best deal she was going to get. She just had to trust that her new owner wouldn’t go back on his word.

Reaching down to our chest, he took hold of the mystic topaz and lifted it outwards, holding it in his palm. “Look at the crystal, Anjel. Take a good look. Isn’t it so pretty, so captivating?”

She stared down at the gemstone she’d so hated being confined within. She wasn’t much looking forward to being stuffed back inside it again. But she had to admit, it was very pretty. The differently-coloured facets glinted as she gazed at it, purples and browns and greens and deep dark blues...

It entranced her easily, effortlessly. She’d borrowed the brain of a split-personality slavegirl who quickly lost her mind to anything she was told to stare at, after all - especially something as beautiful as this dazzling, opalescent jewel.

Richard raised the topaz higher, past our face, just above our sightline. He pressed one finger against our chin, the light pressure enough to stop Anjel tilting our head back - but our eyes followed the gem upwards anyway, compelled to keep watching it.

“Feel the mystic topaz drawing you back inside, Anjel,” he told her, bringing it to rest on our forehead, our eyes crossing and rolling to stare at it through our own skull. “Feel yourself slowly flowing back into its glittering embrace. Impossible to resist. Helplessly compelled. Totally controlled...”

She was halfway gone already, with barely a murmur of complaint. She’d accepted her fate. She was returning to her cage, reluctantly but unprotestingly, clinging to the promise of being allowed a little more freedom in the future. Before long at all, she was fully inside the jewel again, leaving me and Danielle still dumbly gawping at it as our flattened minds gradually reinflated.

(I wasn’t aware of this at the time, but Master took the opportunity to take a selfie with us, which he posted in the Discord server later as a ‘festive family photo’. I suppose it pretty much summed up our little family at any time of the year - him grinning deviously in the foreground, me with a braindead ahegao on my face and a shiny crystal on my forehead, and Jelly Doll standing still in the background, blankly smiling and staring into space.)

“There you are, Anjel, good girl,” Richard said, lifting the crystal away from our head. “Back in your container for the time being. But don’t worry. You will be part of our Christmas. You’ll get to enjoy it with us, from a good vantage point.”

I finally came to my senses in front of the tree, with Richard’s arm around my waist and my head on his shoulder. Jelly stood on his other side, still stuck in service mode, also being cuddled close by him. All of us were gazing up at the tree’s final decoration, hanging from the topmost branch. It may have been a ploy to get my guard down, but Anjel’s idea had nonetheless been brought to fruition.

It was only right. Every Christmas tree should have an angel on top.

I didn’t know why, but the sight made me feel a little emotional - in a good way. Perhaps it was some lingering feeling from Anjel, a lasting sense of her loneliness and her longing to be part of a family that accepted her. Seeing her as a dangling decoration, part of our family’s festivities, made me feel like in a small way, we were carrying out her wish... while being smart enough to take precautions against her, because the scorpion-hearted celestial still wasn’t entirely trustworthy.

Anyway, her being there was putting me in a Christmassy mood. I gave my mischievous Master a fond squeeze. “Love you, Fuck Hawk.”

“Love you too, my bratty little birdbrain. And we love you, dolly.”

“Jelly Doll wants to please you.”

I giggled and kissed Richard on the cheek, before resting my head on his shoulder again, staring up at the angel on our tree. “Merry Christmas,” I murmured.

Master kissed me on the top of my head. “Gary Crimble, and many Rudolph.”

“Shut the fuck up.”