by Randi Darren
“Oh. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Damnit,” Hillary said with a sigh and leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling. “I just was really looking forward to having you to myself so much. I mean, has Decima even made a move on you? Far as I saw, she ignored you and then went to bed early.”
“Nope. But she’s—”
“Going through things, yeah, yeah, I know,” Hillary said shaking her head. “Whatever. She needs to get over her shit. We all have our problems. Our differences.”
Grinning, Sam leaned forward and pointing his pen at her.
“Not everyone is as mentally strong as others. You, my darling, beautiful, sexy, and adorable Doppel, are much stronger than anyone thinks,” Sam said. “There’s also different kinds of strength. Like Wren, or Tiffany.”
“Yeah, Wren takes more of your dick than I can even dream of. Is her slit made out of rubber or something? I get sore and bruised after an hour. Even with shape-shifting it to fit better. And she just gets rolled all day like it’s her job,” Hillary complained.
“Part of her species. She has her own concerns and worries,” Sam said with a shrug of his shoulders, settling back into his chair again. “We all have our problems. Right?”
Hillary frowned at that, chewing at her lower lip.
“I didn’t know who I was for a long time,” Hillary said slowly. “A long, long time. Not until I hit high school. Everything kinda changed after that.”
“Yeah?” Sam asked, curious. Hillary was pretty tight lipped about her childhood.
“Yeah,” Hillary said and then sighed. “Yeah. Anyways. One of the things I wanted to talk to you about. The PE teacher seems really off to me. Like… PID needs to have a file on them, off.”
“Really? How come?” Sam asked.
“The way she looks at everyone. It’s just weird,” said Hillary. “You should go check her out.”
“Right. I could do that,” Sam said, nodding his head. It gave him something to do.
“Go back to class,” Sam said, getting up.
“No point,” Hillary grumbled. “I think I’m just going to be truant more often than not. I already learned most of this and it’s not like it’s any different.
“Besides, being known as a truant student will get me more time with you, and time wandering the grounds.”
“Fine, whatever. If you’re going to do that, you might as well take on a second personality. I’ll hire another janitor and you can be that,” Sam said and pushed his chair under his desk.
“Really? Awesome. Then we could totally have sex during work hours in your office,” Hillary said. “I’ll go work up a persona and background right now. It takes me a little bit to get into character you know.”
Sam rolled his eyes and exited his office, closing the door behind himself.
Looking toward his boss’s office at the end of the hall, he saw the light was still off.
Perfect. I’ll just get everything ready to “hire” the second janitor. We’ll just make her salary zero so the school doesn’t notice anything.
I can forge everything else and force it through without much issue.
Adjusting his tie, Sam began to casually walk towards the fields out behind the school. PE classes were held all day, except for first and last period.
It was more of an elective here after the first two years of high school.
The bell rang, signaling a change in classes.
High school students from freshman to seniors began pouring out of classrooms to start moving to their next class.
Sam casually walked through the middle of it all, as if none of it mattered to him, but was happy to see everyone.
Nodding at kids who met his eyes, holding his hands behind his back, he tried to give off an air of disciplined authority.
For the boys, it seemed to work rather well. Many of them walked around him or avoided him outright.
Unfortunately, Sam had made a mistake that he wouldn’t really be able to correct.
Or more accurately, the Curator had.
The photo sent over with his resume was exactly what Sam looked like.
His very handsome, very attractive self.
A number of young women, the seniors predominantly, practically stopped and stared at him. A few of the younger children stared at him like love-struck puppies.
Miles, I swear. You should have asked me about the picture.
Sam knew there were a number of Succubi who preyed on young men around the ages of these children.
He, personally, kept himself to adults. Sam had always done such a thing and had avoided anything he’d ever thought of as “under age”.
Even if they summoned him appropriately.
Then again, aren’t some of them eighteen? Isn’t that the age of seniors? Hm. I suppose I’ll have to ask Irma. She’ll be able to direct me.
Making his way to the back of the school, he found the PE teacher standing out in the field. From what he could see from here, she was counting what looked like soccer balls in a large metal cage on wheels.
Clicking his tongue at the idea of walking out into the grass with his dress shoes, Sam resolved himself to the possibility of getting them wet.
He trusted Hillary. If she felt something was off, he needed to check on it.
Getting within ten feet of the teacher, she finally noticed his approach as she lifted her gaze from the wire-mesh bin where she’d been putting the balls.
She had pale blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Bordering on the overly-athletic and no-boobs side of the equation, she could do to put on a few pounds. Sam could tell at a glance that it’d fill in her chest, shoulders, and hips first.
Beyond that, she was pretty. Likely in her early thirties.
To be honest, she was especially good-looking for the Worry Monster that she was.
“Good afternoon,” Sam said, smiling at the creature.
Blinking twice, the woman stood up slowly.
“You’re the vice-principal,” she said, her eyes slowly moving across his face.
“And you’re the PE teacher. But you’re not human,” Sam said, tilting his head to one side.
Snaring her with his eyes, he lashed her mind with his own. Glamouring her right then and there.
“What’s your name?” Sam asked.
“Francis Lee Aman,” said the woman in a wooden voice, her eyes slowly unfocusing. “I go by Lee.”
“Ah, and you’re a Worry Monster. Yes?” Sam asked. He was pretty sure on that, but he wanted to know for certain.
“Yeah. I am,” Lee said.
“You causing problems here or just passively feeding?” Sam said, walking closer to the woman. Glancing at her left hand, he didn’t see a ring there. “Are you doing anything out of the ordinary?”
“No. I moved here to get this job. It’s just easier to feed this way. I passively feed,” Lee mumbled. “Kids have a lot of worries and I doubt they mind me taking them away.”
Sam could see the appeal in that.
Also how it likely helped the kids out, too.
Like being a Boogieman and going to a hospital, I’d imagine.
“Are you married? Seeing anyone?” Sam asked.
“No. Too hard. I’m undocumented. PID doesn’t know about me. Can only date humans,” Lee explained, her voice toneless. “Doesn’t last.”
“Wanna be my spy and mistress?” Sam asked. He was curious if he could recruit her to help him watch over Mitch. A PE teacher could wander around pretty freely.
“No,” Lee said. “I don’t know you.”
“Huh, that’s fair. Let’s talk some more then,” Sam said, breaking the compulsion on her. “Maybe you’ll let me take you out for lunch tomorrow? Or dinner?”
“I… I think,” Lee said as she started to come out of the glamour. “You’re… married though.”
“That’s okay. She knows I’m actively looking for girlfriends,” Sam said with a wave of his hand. “I could introduce her to you if you like.”
Lee shook her head slightly, looking completely clueless.
“I do hope you can keep that a secret though. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to hear that,” Sam said with a smile. “I’ll come get you for lunch tomorrow. My treat. Nothing fancy, I promise. Twelve o’clock?”
He could see the resistance in Lee crumbling, but not giving way.
Not yet, at least.
“I’d really love to pick your brain as well,” Sam said, deciding to hit her where it would strike best. “And if you don’t mind, maybe you wouldn’t mind listening to my worries for me?”
There was an almost visible change in Lee.
“Sure. Lunch,” she said, giving him a bright smile, showing off her teeth. She had a snaggletooth on each side. It wasn’t much, but just enough that it gave some extra character to her pretty but somewhat common appearance.
Sam liked it.
“Great, see you then, Lee. And by the way, you look lovely in blue,” Sam said, turning around and then walking away.
Well, she’s harmless. But I can use her.
And I bet she tastes fun.
Sixteen - Monster -
Letting out a soft groan, Sam closed his eyes and rested his head back onto the rest.
The sound of the garage door closing was loud even through the car. Grating as it was, it also was the sweet promise of being home and meant that the majority of his day was over.
He was incredibly glad to be home.
The only bright spot in his day was having lunch with Lee. She was extremely knowledgeable about the school, what was going on with it, and what he needed to be worried about.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to talk her into anything fun yet, but he’d already laid some basic groundwork. A few comments and a little flirting were working wonderfully so far.
With a clack, the garage door finishing closing and Sam realized he should get moving.
His day job was over, now began the bodyguard work.
“I swear if I have to listen to a bunch of aging teachers complain about themselves all day again, I’m going to hurt someone,” Sam muttered, and opened the car door.
Stepping out of his vehicle, he grabbed his messenger bag and pulled it out. It had a bulky laptop assigned to him by the school, as well as a number of contracts and paperwork he’d have to go over tonight.
Shutting the car door, Sam was shaking his head just thinking about the work he’d be doing.
Before he could reach the door that led into the house, it was pulled open.
Standing in the doorway was Decima.
Dressed in a light blue knee-length summer dress and an unbuttoned white jacket, she looked rather pretty.
She was a sight for sore eyes.
“Hello, Wife,” Sam said coming up to Decima. “You look lovely.”
Decima frowned, looked down at herself and then back to Sam. Stepping to one side, she held the door open.
“Thank you,” she murmured as he walked into the house. Then she laid a hand to his shoulder and leaned in close to him, laying a kiss to his cheek. “Welcome home.”
That’s… uh… surprising.
And incredibly sweet.
Letting the door shut, Decima walked away from him, heading into the home.
“I’ve seen nothing happen at all while on watch,” Decima said as she vanished from view, forcing Sam to chase after her if he wanted to talk. “In fact, I would say that the neighborhood is incredibly quiet. It’ll be fairly easy to determine if anything is out of the ordinary.”
“That you can see,” Sam countered going to where the surveillance gear was set up. Entering the converted bedroom, he found Decima seating herself behind a bank of monitors arrayed on a wall.
“That I can see or sense, yes,” Decima agreed. “All the equipment has reported back that nothing is there.
“I think that I’m using it correctly per Abigail’s instruction, but I would be appreciative if you could supervise me for a moment.”
Sam smirked at that request, but wasn’t about to say no.
Setting his bag to one side, he pulled his coat off and dropped it on top.
“Sure, Wife. Show me what you got,” Sam said, walking over behind Decima.
“You’ve been very… flirty… verbally since we took this contract,” Decima said, her hands moving across the layout of switches and buttons in front of herself. It’d been the first time she’d acknowledged she was aware of what the underlying meaning of his statement meant.
“Maybe I’m just feeling like I can finally flirt with you, Lady Decima, wife of mine,” Sam said, coming to stand behind her. Laying his hands on her shoulders, he leaned forward and watched her work the controls.
Looking from the layout to the screens, Sam could see that she’d definitely been paying attention. Everything was configured for thermal vision.
That’d make sense. Even if it’s invisible to the naked eye, it should still have body heat.
Hands pausing for several seconds, Decima seemed to be looking at the screens to see what to do next.
“It’s configured for daytime thermal right now, which isn’t great but definitely workable. I found watching it through the normal visual spectrum just made me paranoid that I was missing something,” Decima muttered. Moving her hand over, she flipped it from thermal to regular. “As you can see, it makes it harder to identify things in thermal, but anything that doesn’t belong stands out. Flipping it back and forth like this—”
Decima moved the switch back and forth, moving the view of Mitch’s house from normal to thermal and back again.
“Makes it significantly easier to pick out anything and identify everything, too,” Decima said.
“I mean, looks like you’ve got it all figured out,” Sam said. His hands began to lightly rub at Decima’s shoulders. He really didn’t get too many opportunities to get his hands on her. “Certainly more than I’d have figured out.”
Having made her body with his own hands, he knew she was incredibly well put together. If she’d been born in this era rather than her own, she’d likely have been a model, actress, or just a beautiful CEO.
Decima immediately tensed up as his fingers began to rub into her.
“Thank you for your kind words,” she said and slowly began to relax. “I’ve struggled to adapt to this world, but I feel I’m learning.”
There was a strange quality to her words. One that made Sam pause and wait for her to continue.
To him, it sounded like she had more to say.
Waiting, he simply kept rubbing away at her neck and shoulders.
“I thought Jezebel was just a stupid silly whore,” Decima said finally. “A slatternly Succubus that was nothing more than what they always were. That she’d abandon us as soon as she found other men to feed on and that you were a fool to trust in her.”
I mean… she’s definitely an abnormal Succubus.
Decima would likely be correct.
If Jes wasn’t as strange as she is.
“And I was wrong,” Decima said, folding her hands in her lap. “Jes is an intelligent, kind, and very serious young woman. She can be a bit silly at times when it comes to you, but after spending time with her, talking to her a lot more, I find that her personality is more than what I thought. She’s coping with her own issues just as I am.
“A woman outside of her own time and learning to adapt. Her actions are a defense mechanism and isn’t at all what it appears to be.
“I thought that Wren was just a big, dumb Cambion bred to have sex or fight. That Tiffany was a filthy Were. Stacia a fiend and demon. Irene nothing more than a worshiper of dark evil powers. Hillary an assassin without a soul.”
Sam nodded his head.
Everything she’d said had been the normal view point of her time and era. Nothing she said was outside the norm in anyway.
“Then there’s you,” Decima said in a low voice. “The Torment of Lust himself. A singular entity that had an entire division devoted to finding and e
xterminating you and your entire organization.
“I was never personally involved in it, but I knew of it. Knew that it existed and quite a few knights and hunters were dispatched to end you. Some came back, some didn’t.”
“Yes. I did have to kill quite a few of them. They left me with no alternative. And it wasn’t as if they could actually kill me either,” Sam said with a heavy sigh. It’d been frustrating at the time. Even if they beat him in a trial of arms, or killed his vessel, he just made another in a few days and was summoned back. He was simply too big for them to take down with their resources. They’d have to have taken out his entire organization first.
“Then I find out that they used to barter the virtue of their priestesses to you for favors. That you fought alongside them,” said Decima. “That in the grand scheme of things, you’re more a neutral party and we failed to preserve our ties with you.”
Sam nodded at that. He’d been surprised when the church split ways with him. The week before, he’d had a female hunter drop by for a quick fling and bartering of herself for some help with a coven that’d enslaved an entire town.
“That the afterlife is real and I went to hell,” Decima said with a flick of her hand. “That all the good I did was thrown out because I’d done so much bad. So much evil. That the Judge was real and sentenced me accordingly. Only to go back to the place I was judged and find the Judge herself had left. That her Father, the original creator of our entire universe, is missing. A Usurper sits upon the throne backed by an army who betrayed the one who gave them life. To actually visit the last battle fought and see the remains.
“That my entire Church of One and All was… was nothing more than very strong planar beings. That it was… was… nothing. That it was all nothing. My whole life was meaningless.”
“I don’t know about meaningless,” Sam murmured, pressing his thumbs into the base of Decima’s neck. “I’m sure the Judge noted every positive thing you did. You eliminated quite a few of the nastier things out there to save others.”
“I… yes. She did. But my evil—”
“Outweighed the good, I know,” Sam said interrupting her. “And here you are with a second chance. As far as I know you’ve been doing quite a bit of good, too. You also have the gift of knowledge. You know what’ll happen on the other side and what to do to help the world along.”