"I'll die if I tell."
"No you won't. I promise, Suzanne. You won't die if you tell me what happened at Omar's apartment. Now, listen carefully. I want you to relax even more profoundly than you are right now. Pretend you're in a wonderful garden, lying in a hammock...it's gently swaying...you can smell the beautiful roses in the garden and your eyes are gradually closing. You have nothing to do but rest. You are peaceful and serene. Now, I'm going to count down from ten to zero, and when I get to zero you will be even more relaxed...ten..."
Vincent went on with the relaxation techniques he had been using with Suzanne for the last half hour in her hotel room. She was lying on a couch with her legs stretched out. He sat beside her in a chair.
Vincent had had to wait until he believed the drugs were entirely out of her system. It's nearly impossible to hypnotize someone that has been given any kind of narcotic, as intense concentration is necessary. Suzanne looked fresh and rejuvenated after a good nights sleep, but Vincent was exhausted. He had been compelled to check on her during the night, every hour or so, afraid the drugs might interrupt her breathing.
Vincent knew he should have taken her to a doctor, but explaining what drugs she had been given was hopeless. Since Suzanne had been manic at first, he believed she had been given an amphetamine after the sedative tea. Describing how the drugs had been ingested would require making allegations against Omar Satinov, which might have disastrous repercussions.
Now Vincent was afraid he wouldn't be able to get any information. Recalling was proving so traumatic that Suzanne had repressed her memory of the entire evening.
"I'll die if I tell," Suzanne repeated stubbornly.
"You won't have to remember what you tell me after you wake up. You'll only remember what your mind feels you're ready to handle."
"I don't have to remember?" Her voice was high and trembled.
Vincent's lips tightened in anger. Suzanne was so terrified her voice had regressed to that of a young child of perhaps five years old.
"No. You just tell your old friend, Vincent. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you. I promise. And you can forget each sentence as soon as you tell me."
Suzanne was nodding.
"As soon as you tell me, it will be gone from your mind. And you won't feel any fear. You will not experience any emotions. Okay?"
"I'm afraid."
"Shh, now. Remember, no emotions. No fear. Just start telling me, Suzanne, and everything will be fine."
There was a long pause and then Suzanne started speaking. "Omar is so handsome. The handsomest man I have ever seen. He is wearing all black. And his apartment is so beautiful. He seems glad to see me and he has such a wonderful smile, with very white teeth against his dark skin. He says he will tell me about the Old Religion and goes into the kitchen to make tea. I watch. When I'm not looking he pours some powder into the tea."
Vincent was not surprised Suzanne knew this. Subconsciously people pick up a lot of things they are not supposed to know and it never really reaches their awareness unless they are in a state like hypnosis.
Suzanne related how they both sat down on the couch. She repeated verbatim what Omar had said, much of which he had heard the night before.
"Suddenly I was so sleepy. It seemed strange, so awfully tired and dizzy and a little sick. I put my tea on the table, afraid I might drop it, but Omar told me to finish it. So I thought, fine, I will. Because he seemed so wise. And I did.
"I nodded out for a few minutes, I think, and when I woke up there were other people in the room. Four women. They were all inside a circle, about twenty feet wide, that was delineated by a red ribbon placed upon the carpet. The women were chanting, but I couldn't understand the words.
"Omar had a mask on. It reminded me of the old Lone Ranger movies because it covered only his eyes. All the women wore white robes. Omar had a black robe over his clothes. He had a sword in one hand and he was sprinkling some kind of liquid, which had a pungent smell, like flowers and herbs, toward the four corners of the living room from inside the circle. He was chanting along with the women. The room was dark, with black curtains pulled over the windows, lit only by candles which were placed around the room.
"Omar came out of the circle, and as he did so the chanting grew loud. One of the women said something about breaking the magic circle, losing power. Of course, I knew a ceremony was taking place. I though Omar was performing to show me how witches conduct rituals.
"Omar came directly to me. He scared me because he pointed the sword to my chest. I asked him what he was doing, but he said, 'You stand on the threshold between the pleasant world of men and the dominions of the dread Lords of the Outer Spaces. I give you the courage to make the assay. It were better to rush upon my weapon and perish miserably than to make the attempt with fear.'
"Then Omar went behind me and tied a blindfold around my eyes. He put an arm around my neck and one around my waist and pulled me backward, very forcefully, to where the others were inside the circle. I tried to resist. I was frightened.
"He said, 'Pass through this dread door.' His voice sounded very loud, commanding, like from a muffled loudspeaker. Then he took the blindfold off. He pointed with the sword at the place where we entered into the circle, the doorway, and said 'Agla, Azoth, Adonai.' He then drew three pentacles to seal the doorway.
"Omar tied my hands behind my back with rope he took from the pocket of his robe. He said, 'Take heed, O Lords of the watch towers of the East. Suzanne, properly prepared, will be made a witch.'
"He dragged me around the circle three times, because now I was trembling and crying, but I felt so weak, too, that I didn't protest. The whole situation was so alien. He was forcing me into something I didn't understand. This wasn't a real witch's ceremony, which is supposed to be a joyous celebration, not frightening and intimidating. I had the feeling that I was to be a sacrifice and this was the maleficent black magic Omar had told me about. I was also tired and my mind seemed confused. Sometimes the chanting seemed loud, right in my ears, and sometimes it faded to whispers. The same with the lights in the room. Most times it was dim, but suddenly it would get intensely bright.
"There was a wooden alter and he stopped me there after we had gone around the circle. He struck a bell that was sitting on the alter with a small mallet eleven times. Then another person entered the circle."
Vincent looked at Suzanne closely. She had stopped talking. He could see her eyelids twitching, an almost infallible sign that a person was in a deep hypnotic state. She had continued diaphragm breathing, like a person asleep, but her breaths were rapid, almost gasping. Perspiration sprang out on her face and dampened the curls on her forehead. He wondered if it was possible that Omar had implanted actual suggestions that would cause her physical condition to deteriorate if she related this information.
Even a young person can have a heart attack if frightened badly enough. Vincent cursed himself for not giving suggestions to overcome a physical problem, but he had not believed Omar would be so vile to make such a suggestion. Spies with very sensitive information in WW11 had been given commands to die if they revealed certain government secrets, and they had actually done so. It was like the voodoo curse.
Vincent decided to intervene since his suggestion that she would not feel any emotions was obviously failing. He had to take her deeper into hypnosis. Inexperienced hypnotists, seeing an anxiety attack like this, took the person out of state. That was exactly the wrong thing to do.
"Suzanne, you will forget what you were speaking about. We'll come back to it later. I want you to pretend you're in the garden again. In the hammock, swaying in the summer breeze. There is a blue bird flying over the hammock. Do you see it?"
It took some time. "Yes. I see the blue bird."
"Fine. Now remember this. Even as you talk to me, all of your body processes will remain calm. Your mind and your body will be totally tranquil. Do you understand."
Suzanne took a deep breath and she did seem to relax more. "Yes."
"Your heart will beat as it always does. It will not accelerate. Your breathing will remain calm. All of your organs are perfect and will continue to work perfectly as you speak to me. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Suzanne's respiration was back to normal and she seemed calm, but Vincent went on with suggestions.
"As you speak you will forget anything that was unsettling to you, and these things will not affect your body in any way. Your heart, lungs, kidneys and your brain will continue to function perfectly. You are strong and are doing very well. Now, you said another person entered the circle. Start speaking from that time."
Suzanne took a deep breath, like a sigh. "He was even bigger than Omar, taller and very muscular. I was shocked because he was wearing only an animal skin robe that tied at the neck. As he walked forward into the circle the robe was not closed and I could see enormous genitals each time he took a step. His body was hairy, like some kind of beast. On his head there were attached horns that were curved inward, like those of a bull. He was also masked.
"This creature, so enormous he didn't even seem human, stood right in front of me. That was when Omar's witches started taking off my clothes. I was crying, too weak to defend myself. They took off my blouse and bra first. Then they unbuttoned my skirt and it fell off. My underpants were pulled down and thrown from the circle. As this was going on, I saw in horror that the man in front of me was achieving a huge erection as he watched. It poked out of the front of the animal skin. It was horrible, disgusting, frightening. I couldn't see the giant's eyes, but his mouth was smiling. He was not chanting with the women and I suddenly knew why. He was a mute. He didn't have a tongue. He was staring avidly. By this time I was petrified with fear.
"There was a bowl of liquid on the alter and one of the women picked it up. All of the women dipped their hands in the bowl and then started rubbing the liquid over me. It was an oil. They covered every part of me except my hair. The oil was warm and slippery and smelled of herbs and flowers. It was woodsy and nice, but the giant was still staring.
"All the time the women were covering me with oil, they were chanting in a sing-song way, over and over, the same phrases. Then they ceremoniously unfolded a white cloth that they took off the alter. They laid the cloth on the carpet and made me lie down on it.
"All the time that I was being covered with the oils, Omar stood off to the side and watched. He was not facing me, and his head was turned partly away, but I could see his eyes riveted to the side, staring. Then he pointed to the giant and pointed down at me, as though giving a command. The giant squatted beside me and took over the oiling of my body, but he concentrated on my erogenous places. I tried to resist, so repulsed by what they were forcing upon me. One of the women kept patting my tears away with a cloth.
"The giant untied his robe and threw it off, like a matador with a cape, out of the circle. I thought he was masturbating for a minute, until I saw that he was putting on a condom. Then he pulled my legs apart and entered me with his high erection. It was easy because of all the oils. Each time he would push in there would be this enormous loud chant by the onlookers, like they were egging him on. It went on and on. I turned my head away and watched Omar, who stood staring at us in that peculiar sideways manner. He seemed perfectly calm as he watched me cry and be violated.
"Then the giant was suddenly gone. It was as if time had passed that I had missed somehow. The women were wiping the oils off of me with cloths. I think they used soap, too. I felt cleansed. I was so tired I almost went to sleep right there on the floor.
"Then Omar was kneeling beside me. He had the sword and he cut a place on my thigh. The sword was very sharp and it really didn't hurt, but it bled a lot. He was holding a tiny white kitten in his other arm. The cat jumped out of his arms and ran right to the wound and started lapping up the blood on my thigh. Then the little cat bit me. That did hurt. It was evidently trying to get more blood. Omar laughed and gave the kitten to one of the women. I think she was bitten too, because she let out a shriek.
"The giant was again standing outside the circle, handing a box to Omar. He told me, 'You will not remember any of this. You don't want to remember do you? His voice was very calm and comforting and I felt myself falling asleep again, as he said over and over again that I would not remember, but would always do exactly what he said. I was now a witch, bound to him in secrecy. That seemed perfectly agreeable.
"Then Omar said that if I told anyone, I would die. He said to make sure I told no one, he would have to exact my promise. Then he opened the box and turned it over on top of me.
"Out sprayed all these insects. Some large and some small, some black and some red. They were crawling all over my stomach and heading down my legs and up my neck. I started screaming. Omar said to promise I would not tell. I was trying to brush the insects off of me, but women were holding my arms and legs. The insects were crawling in my hair and on my face. Finally Omar snapped the top of the box hard, like a command. Then he opened the box and all the insects quickly ran into it. He shut the box, but picked one insect up between his fingers. He was holding it over my face and told me to open my mouth. I refused. I said I would do anything he asked. I was crying. The giant came inside the circle again and he pried my jaws open.
"Omar held the big black bug over my mouth. It was wiggling between his fingers as he lowered it toward my mouth. I was gagging as I could feel its legs scrabbling over my tongue.
"Omar told me I was never to tell anyone what happened. If I did I would die. I kept nodding yes, yes yes. Then he started giving me instructions about what I was to do in the future"
Suzanne was going out of control again. Her heart was palpitating so violently the entire couch was shaking.
Vincent had never been so angry in his life. He didn't need to hear the actual commands that Omar had given to Suzanne. He had heard enough. It was obvious that Omar knew of his existence and had used Suzanne back at him, to try to hurt and humiliate him.
He didn't know that bringing her out of hypnosis without understanding the extent of Omar's hold over Suzanne would be the worse mistake he had ever made.
Suzanne looked refreshed, as though she had been relieved of a great burden when he told her to wake up. But now the burden was his and covered him like leaden armor. He had been deceiving himself. His smart little tricks to lure Omar had precipitated rape and torture.
That evening, Vincent felt profoundly relieved when he dropped Suzanne off at the Honolulu airport. He stood and watched her plane depart from inside the airport lounge. She would be safely home in a few hours.