The Jezebels of Bedlam.

Chapter 49 - An Imaginary Friend

"NO, YOU MUSTN'T!" Theodora cried.

The others looked at her in confusion. She began to tremble. Myrddin reached for her concerned, but she shook her head and held up her hand to stop him. He understood. She needed to get her words out. She'd had another vision. Tweldor's training enhanced everyone's natural abilities, and both she and Mairead had been quite prolific of late.

Ursula and Max looked at one another in alarm. The others had seen this before, but for the two of them, this was still strange and new. Ursula tended to want to talk when she was nervous, so Myrddin caught her eye and shook his head to indicate that she should remain silent. He moved to sit between her and Max and squeezed Ursula's hand in support. She smiled at him, grateful.

This group of twelve had become increasingly close over the past few weeks at Tweldor — weeks that were mere hours back home. Myrddin now looked directly at Theodora, who was still shaken. "Okay baby, just breathe. That's it love, deep breath in. Now, breathe out. You're safe. We're all here, and we're listening," he said.

Theodora nodded and smiled at him lovingly. She had stopped shaking. Myrddin always managed to calm her, when the images she saw frightened her. Taking another deep breath out, she addressed Rosemonde, trying to explain what she had seen.

"M-Morty will take you if you go back without your memories. He will confuse your thoughts, but because he has always been with you, you will trust him. You will believe everything he says to you. You will forget that he only appears in your dreams. You will confuse those dreams with real memories and then forget all about us and about Drew," she said.

Ursula couldn't contain herself any longer. "Who the hell is Morty?" she asked.

"I would like to know that too," Drew said. "Rosemonde?"

Rosemonde's response was to burst out laughing. "Oh, Drew you have nothing to be jealous of; and Dora, don't be silly! You'd have seen that Morty is an imaginary friend. That's all. He doesn't even exist," she said. "He's been in my head since I was a very small child. Obviously, I outgrew him eventually, but then one day, after Jean-Paul's death, there he was again, in my imagination and in my dreams. After mum and then dad died, my therapist encouraged me to continue to talk to him, because he was a coping mechanism. He's not even real, so he can't possibly hurt me." She giggled.

"He IS real and he WILL hurt you." Theodora was becoming more and more agitated as Rosemonde shook her head and continued to laugh. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, ROSEMONDE LISTEN TO ME! MORTY IS ASMODEUS."

Rosemonde stopped laughing. "Wh-what? N-no! I love Morty. I trust him. He's comfortable, like a teddy bear that you grow up with. It can't be true. It can't be. No. Oh my God, no!"

"It-is-true!" Theodora was gritting her teeth now, completely exasperated. "I do not choose my visions Rosemonde, and given how fervently we are all praying for guidance in everything that we are doing, I have no doubt that my visions are coming from the right source. You need to take this very seriously. You cannot risk wiping your memories."

"I'm sorry, Theodora. I will take it seriously. I am. I'm just-" Tears welled in Rosemonde's eyes. Embarrassed, she ran from the room.

"Great! Just fucking great! Now I've upset her. What am I supposed to do now?" Theodora asked anxiously.

"You lose the bad language, and together we do what we always do — pray for guidance," Mairead replied seriously.

"Yeah...please...everyone just...pray." Drew sighed. "I'll go and get her..."

Every room contained a gong, which could be used to summon the Domina and the Councillors. Leo struck the gong three times to indicate that their group needed to call a meeting as a matter of urgency.

Vladimir let out a loud howl. "Is good, vill be all good. You vill see." He was getting better at controlling his emotions. His fingernails had lengthened and his eyes had begun to change, but to his credit, he halted the transformation and did not shift.

Gianna rubbed his back in a soothing gesture. "Come on Vlad, let's pray," she said.

☆☆☆☆☆

"So, what is your strategy Mo, to help the girl, or to hinder her? My only concern is salvaging the reputation of Du Malum," Charles Du Malum spoke confidently with Asmodeus. When it came to maintaining a public profile, he knew that this board member would tread carefully.

"Either works for me, as long as she is in my power," Asmodeus replied. "You were right of course, Charles. Azazael should not have involved that Jason woman... Apart from giving birth to her son, one wonders just what she knew about him. The company looks rather foolish, now that the lie about Paul's romantic involvement with Rosemonde has been revealed."

"Say it how it is Mo. It makes me look foolish. The company bears my name and I called the press conference."

"Under Azazael's orders! It's fine. Our Prince understands that. You helped me get rid of Azazael. Now I will help you Charles. Paul's mother, that greedy bitch, was always expendable. Funny thing is, Azazael asked me to help with her. I did help, myself." Asmodeus snorted. "I deliberately had the money that was deposited into her account come from Caleb's personal finances, not Du Malum Corp. Fear not, it is all traceable. All you need to do is have her investigated and it will all quickly come to light. She will be charged with fraud and again Caleb takes the fall. Du Malum makes it known that they were not and are not involved.

"Humans have pathetically short memories. Simply donate a hefty sum to a charity whose cause fits our current er, shall we say, marketing strategies? Domestic violence or some such tripe would probably be appropriate." He smirked. "It won't be long before all is forgotten, and Du Malum will be praised for its proactive stance and community service. It's all quite easy really."

Charles chuckled. "Indeed, that might actually work... To other matters now... Unlike Az', you've always loved the limelight. Would you like to be the new GM?"

"Tempting, but I thought Lilith would be better suited to running a modelling agency."

"In addition to Jezebel's? Hmm, I suppose your queen is the ultimate multi-tasker. As long as she doesn't absorb all the talent, I'm in favour of it." Charles smiled.

"Good! Call a press conference. Announce Lilith's appointment, and that we are prosecuting Mrs Jason."

"And Myrddin?"

"I may have further use of him, so we need to make it known that Caleb set him up. We need to have him completely exonerated so that he comes out of hiding."

"He won't be as easily fooled as the general public."

"True, but he is vulnerable to his little sister so, we use that. Besides, I promised him to Zoiia. Unlike Azazael, I keep my promises."

Charles raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Of course. It's bad karma to break a promise." Asmodeus winked and Charles laughed out loud.

"Oh, this will be most entertaining." He smiled.

"Indeed Charlie, I think you will find my plans rather...fun. As for Rosemonde. I just might be the man of her dreams."