Chapter Seven - Tall Dark Stranger

Alessandra was a tall woman in her mid-thirties with tan skin the colour of coffee with a good shot of milk. Her hair, long and dyed to somewhere between honey and straw, was pulled back into a ponytail. She stood on high heels, the posture promoting her slender body and the enormity of her, no doubt artificially blown up, tits that threatened to jump out of the tight party dress she wore.

It would have me feel bad about my exposed upper body had she not currently been staring at my horns. While Livia and I had been in no particular hurry to end our kiss prematurely, Gamma had hurried to the door and ripped it wide open with a cheery, “halooo-ooo!” That AI in girl form had no common sense.

The seconds dragged on like molasses, nobody daring to move a muscle. Then Alessandra recovered from the shock, raised a hand—and a magic shield of some kind sprang up in front of her. Her attempt to enter a battle stance was not so successful. Her heels betrayed her, she fell on her back, and the shield fizzled out.

Livia rushed forward to help her back up while I finally managed to get my thoughts together and bring my glamour back up.

“Lessie, are you alright? It’s ok, Jane’s friendly.”

“Aym fine. Just rippid my dress,” she replied with a heavy Brazilian accent.

Livia helped her up while I hurried into the bedroom to get dressed. I didn’t fully close the door, as I wanted to hear what was said. Alessandra’s power rating had shown up over her head as she worked her magic; no special “inspect” skill needed there. But her 14-48 had me concerned. That highest skill was way too high for it being fucking like with us, wasn’t it? She also clearly had some fighting skills, even if she wasn’t a full-blown battle mage. Had she been that, she’d still be standing.

“Dis is unfortunatee. Aym no usually so skittish. Ay just did not expect your friend to be ah magical. Ahnd be so open about it. Ma grandma would be ashamid.”

“Fiancée. Not friend.” I could hear the wide grin in Livia’s voice. Ah! The ring. I quickly put it into the pockets…the skirt I had donned had no pockets. Neither had the blouse. Dismayed by the Global Conspiracy Against Pockets in Women’s Clothing, I slipped it into my panties instead. It was still in the paper envelope it had come in; a box would have cost extra. Cheapskates. Couldn’t they throw in at least something for a 600-pound ring? Maybe they were miffed because it took me two months to get the money together to pay and pick it up?

“You got engagid? Congratulatione, my dear! Dat is big news. You settling down ten? Found anoder job?” Was she even trying with the th’es? Or had she cultivated that accent on purpose? I could see that. She wouldn’t be able to pretend to be a local even with perfect English.

“No, I’m not. Jane wants to join me at the agency, but she needs some job experience first. That’s why I called you.”

“Ya bot be whoring? And-e engangid? No, no, no. Let-e me tell you, whore and marry does-e not walk togeder. Not at all.”

That was my queue for rejoining. “It has worked for us for the last six years, albeit only one took money from our dates.”

“Six-e years? Ah! Yo are tat Jane. Te London girl who is-e blind to what is-e going on a round her?”

I grinned. “Not as blind as it may have seemed. But yes, it took me way too long to pick up on all the details.”

“Ahnd you are don’t mind? Happy to also become whore? Not bad need for-a money, do you?”

“No. Livia’s earning enough for both of us; that’s not the problem. I just want to do my part. A relationship is two people, after all.”

Please, Gamma, no—“In human history, relationships of various sizes have been observed. While two people is the norm nowadays, groups of multiple, even hundreds of people were quite common in some places at some times.”

“And this is Cindy. Cindy, Lessie, Lessie, Cindy. Cindy’s a bit of a recluse; her sister raised her after their parents died in a car accident. She’s visiting us to get out a bit…and learn how normal people talk.”

“Helooo-ooo!” Gamma struck a pose that would have looked fine on a Manga girl, arms drawn in with one hand up waving at the elbow, but didn’t fit her body type at all. Yet, it was among the most normal things she had done today.

“Hello, beauty. You old enough to run with our crowd?”

“Eighteen as of today. So, yes!”

“Anoder ting to celebrate den! Oh, aym so sorry I don’t-e have a present for you. Unless you take a hug?” she said, glancing at Gamma with her flashing brown eyes.

“Thank you, Lessie. I’d like that.” Gamma curtsied and opened her arms wide, which Alessandra took for an invitation for a big hug but looked more like an invitation for a lightning bolt to come down from the sky.

Were those two flirting? According to the look Livia and I shared, I wasn’t the only one thinking that.

“Lessie, let me have a look at your dress,” Livia finally interrupted.

“How does it look? Is it bad?”

“Afraid so, Lessie. Your arse is on full display. Not that it isn’t most of the time…”

“Stille as-a naughty as-a ever, ay see.

“She’d go out in that, true. But I doubt people will let us in places in such attire,” I commented.

“As if you wouldn’t, too, if I dared you!”

“To deny that, I’d need the power to rewrite history. Alas, that one’s not mine.”

“You fit-e togeder like buttplug and ass.” That accent definitely was well-cultivated. It sounded too sexy, even with such profanities in it.

“So what do we do about the dress?” I asked. “I doubt anything of ours would fit you even remotely. Top or bottom.”

“Aye will have to order a taxi and change at-a home…”

“I may be able to mend that…?”

“How Livia? The rip goes straight through the fabric, not just the seam.”

In response, she wiggled her fingers, making tiny sparks appear between them. Oh. Oh!

“Ah, girl. You ah magical, too? Dat smells like-a witchcraft? We shoulda been talking shop years ago.”

“Yes, it is. You can smell magic?”

“Ah, yes. It comes in the tradition of te Coniapuyara, where-a we channel de magic de gods have given freely. It-a still lingers even wid dose gods slayn by de Spanish and Portugese long-a ago. We did not get along well with te witches dose conquistadores bringit along, who dought we ride wit devils and demons, but dose times are long past ahnd I harbor no ill feelings toward witches.”

That was fascinating, only marred by me knowing it was all just a memory implant. Still, Alessandra made it sound so mysterious.

“You have to tell us that story in detail another time,” Livia said, “but your dress? If you’d get out for a moment, I don’t think I can do it while you’re still in it.”

Alessandra did as prompted, showing more of her nicely toned body. She had some muscle definition that must have taken serious work, especially while not overdoing it and keeping her body fat up to keep it curvy.

“Like-a why you seeing, darling?”

I snapped my eyes up to her face guiltily, but she was talking to Gamma. And from her smile, she was teasing, not berating. Talk about robbing the cradle. Cindy was maybe half her age. But also not a real person, so what should I care about that body’s apparent age?

I felt Livia’s magic as a tingle behind my back. It was just a short moment, then she shouted, “It worked!” A very short time stop, just a second or two, told me she had her skill notifications on. I turned around and admired her handiwork. The formerly obvious rip was nowhere to be seen; all that told of the unfortunate fall Alessandra had taken were a few smudges of dust from the floor that would brush away easily.

“Ay never doubted you,” Alessandra praised. “You always do what you say, never give up. ‘Ay can do,’ she says, and no stop until done or fall inconsciente.”

“That was once, Lessie. One single time.”

“It still be praise, don’t take me wrong.”

“Not that part. Anyway, here’s your dress. That should hold up for twelve hours or so; it’s not permanent.”

“Wonderful. My spells are for people, not dresses. Jane, what is-a your especialidade, um, specialitate?”

“Specialty. I’m mostly physical with body enhancement. The “cut you into ribbons with claw” type. I think I can learn spells, but it’s not something that comes naturally to me.” That wasn’t too far from the truth, but I didn’t want to give her a complete picture yet. Livia might trust her as a human, but I had no idea what else came with those memories. For all I knew, she could eat her customers literally.

“Strong power, but not as useful inna modern city, no?”

“Not really,” I replied with a smile. “But it saved me from a lengthy stay at the hospital yesterday.”

“Oh? How-a so?”

“I proposed sitting on a bar stool with no back. Now we have a crack in the tile floor where my head landed…”

🙚⚜🙘

Alessandra took us to a fancy restaurant nearby. Those were the perks of living near city centre. No hour and a half bus rides to get anywhere. I wouldn’t miss those. I could even think about getting a driver’s licence. Livia had one, but she didn’t bother with a car. Her parents hadn’t gotten her one back when she made it for obvious reasons. But still, there were two unused parking spaces in the underground garage of her apartment building. It once had been a factory until it had been converted in the eighties, a time when integrated parking was at its peak. Given that the old sign saying “Hameswood & Cie Precision Tool Manufacturing” was still up over the main entrance, and it was well maintained, I had a certain suspicion about who actually owned the whole thing.

I had plenty of time to think about that driver’s license during dinner, as, aside from some polite small talk, most of what was going on between bites was Gamma and Alessandra flirting. It was a bit uncanny, with such sentences like “Ay feel you have-a a old spirit dat draw me into you,” or “I like what you do with your skin. Its smoothness is well above human average, even for your genetic makeup,” casually uttered.

For dessert, Livia and I shared a bowl. I used the chance to move close to her, feeding her with one hand and massaging her under the table with the other. “People are staring,” Livia whispered between bites.

“They are jealous. I like it,” I replied and doubled my efforts. Livia began to tremble a bit, and I imagined half the restaurant knowing what was going on behind me. It was nearly enough to get me there, too.

“Get-a a room, you two,” Alessandra chided us without much conviction as she put her spoon down.

“Look who’s talking,” I mumbled way louder than I intended.

“My room and bed are big enough for two people. You can stay there tonight, Lessie, if you want,” Gamma said. She wasn’t that oblivious, was she? She can’t be.

“Ay would like dat, if you are sure about it?” Um, hello? Didn’t she write to us she’s on her period? Not my business, not my business; keep your calm, Jane.

🙚⚜🙘

We retreated to our flat quickly after that. Two years ago, we’d have gone on a party tour through a couple of bars, about until the sun came back up, but Livia had cooled down considerably after sobering up. I kinda missed it, in a way. Not because it was something I loved or yearned for but because it always provided such a great contrast to the times with Livia that I enjoyed most. The quiet ones, sitting in her bedroom, watching a movie together or just talking.

Which I wouldn’t get tonight either, as Alessandra had plans for me.

“To see if you are a good fit for dis job, ay need to see you work. For now, Livia, would you play de customer?” Livia nodded and went into her bedroom. “Jane, in de apartment, we present to customers in sexy underwear. Dey den select girl to take to a room. Please strip to underwear like dat.”

I did just like that. While I wasn’t big on modesty, stripping under the analytic eyes of Alessandra (and Gamma) was something else. Yet, I had decided on this path, and that meant way more than standing there in underwear.

“Not very sexy, but you did not dress for dat today,” Alessandra remarked.

“No, I dressed to not walk around in panties in front of you after someone,” I stared at Gamma, “opened the door without thinking.”

“My apologies for not realising you may not want to expose your breasts in front of a woman you hadn’t met yet,” Gamma said, missing the point.

“She was talking about her not-human side, darling,” Alessandra explained. “Had I been full human, what would happenid?”

“But you are a magical.”

“You did not knowid that, did you?”

I feared Gamma would contradict her, but thankfully, Livia came back and ended the conversation. She had changed into a pair of my jeans that were tenting from something I presumed was a dildo and thrown over an old men’s shirt. “Hey baby, wanna polish my flagpole? How about 20 quid, yeah,” she said in a mock male voice, boasting a caricature of a macho.

But this was where it stopped being funny. As thrown together as Livia’s costume was, she had enough experience—and acting skill, which was a thing now—to play more convincing customers. All the while, I had to present myself like a cow at the market under Alessandra’s guidance.

After the first couple of tries, when I had the basics down, Alessandra insisted on me wearing high heels. I didn’t own any, so I had to borrow some from Livia. They were two sizes too small, but I still could get into (or onto) them. Barely. However, it made a world of difference—to my arse. Which I learnt was an important asset at this stage. The customer would usually be sat down on a couch or armchair, and the lighting in the room would favour the lower regions. So the ass went in front of the customer to reel him in while the face was kept away.

We kept at this for well over an hour until Alessandra admitted I was good enough not to make an ass out of my arse. I was happy for a second until I learnt that the next stage was “get customer into room, clean his dick at the sink or have him take a shower, put on the rubber”. Typical foreplay…um.

Turned out, Livia’s tent was a strap-on. This meant I could go through the full procedure. Over and over again. Some of her customer personas were grabby, others shy. Some didn’t want to wash; some didn’t want a rubber. And some took control the moment we went into the room, crossing the line from prostitution into rape.

The first time Livia ran that scenario, I was so perplexed that she had me bent over with the unprotected strap-on halfway up my butthole before I even realised what was going on. “Ah, no, no no, not that way, wrong hole!” I whined while trying to extricate myself.

“Oops. Sorry, Jane. I didn’t expect it to slide in without lube. Does it hurt much? Are you bleeding?” Livia apologised after taking a step back.

“Actually…Not at all. Weird,” I replied while feeling for damage with my fingers. There was none, not even a feeling of it having been stretched too much…Oh! Wasn’t there something about “tissue stretchiness” among my racial abilities? Alessandra also looked concerned, so I tried to find an “in-universe” explanation quickly. “I think my race’s not as uptight down there as humans. I never tried it before,” that part was true, “so I had just assumed…”

“Tat is good news. You can offer ass sex easy. Good,” Alessandra pointed out. “Now, back to training bad customer. Dat strap-on needs cleaning for real now.”

🙚⚜🙘

It was way after midnight when I fell into bed exhausted. Livia snuggled up to me after turning off the lights, leaving us in the reflections of the streetlights that shone onto the ceiling.

“Are your pussy or arse very sore?” she asked. “I have a salve that helps, but it probably is expired.”

“Not at all, actually,” I said in a low tone. “Even when you shoved that thing in dry, it didn't really hurt.”

“Boast with your superior body, and I’ll strangle you in your sleep.”

“Hey, shouldn’t you have some of those abilities, too, now?” I asked.

“Let’s see,” she said, the time stopped for a couple of moments. “Yes, you can resume with the sheet still up. It’s invisible, isn’t it?”

“It is,” I confirmed and did the same with mine.

“So, I have minor fast healing, full conception control, full STD immunity, improved disease resistance, improved muscle control, extreme tissue stretchiness, full self-lubrication, minor bone density, improved oxygen retention, improved joint range, minor night vision, improved pheromone control, full pheromone resistance, limited second form (succubus). You?”

“Very similar set, but there are plenty of differences in strength. I’d say mine are one level stronger on average. I also have full disease immunity without limitations, but I don’t have any self-lubrication. You have way better pheromone resistance and better control; I have skin toughness that you don’t. Also, my second form is ‘human’, and I have it as ‘full’. So I can turn into a human, you are one?”

“Sounds like it. That would explain the better stats, too. I’m an upgraded human; you’re a downgraded—what?”

“Demon variant 31, ‘China, traditional’, it says. Not the coolest name ever…”

“Pretty lame, Miss 31. Wanna see my succubus form?”

“Sure.” I turned to look at her.”

“I’ll get the lights.”

“No need. Pretty bright in here. For night vision on ‘average’, this is as good as full daylight.”

“Neat. I see well where there’s some light and can fully see shapes in the shadows. But colour is out of the question. And here goes nothing.”

With that, she transformed. Her body stretched until she was a good bit taller than me. Her skin turned a light grey with a neat obsidian pattern highlighting her shape. Her breasts doubled in size—diameter, not volume. Her fingernails and toenails turned into claws, silver with a black pattern, and half again as long as mine. Her hair completely disappeared, replaced by two footlong horns. Her eyes turned red, glowing brightly, and her teeth black and sharp. But the best part was her backside now sported 2 giant bat wings.

“Wow, can you fly with those?”

“Yes. Half walking speed and no carry weight at skill level 1.”

“Wicked. Also, while I find you super sexy, I don’t think a human would. You’re more a predator than a temptress.”

“I have ‘induce sleep’ and ‘soul digestion’ as racials, so, yes, predator.”

“Induce sleep? I don’t have that at all. Soul digestion is a learnable for me. Not that I intend on taking that.”

“You should. It comes with full immunity to itself at level 1.”

“Ok, bookmarked. Depends on how easy those skill points are to get. There are so many good ones in there.”

“Like what?”

“Flight. Telepathy. Strength. Claw fighting, Stealth and anti-stealth. Phasing,” I read out loud while perusing the list.

“Phasing?”

“Walking through walls.”

“That’s OP.”

“Probably. But maybe it’s not, and our enemies have the same stuff?”

“Scary.”

“What else is new?”

Her form started to flicker.

“What is—“ I started, but then Livia transformed back and explained.

“Out of energy to keep it up.”

“Can you level that?”

“The form? I don’t think so. It’s an ability. But Maybe I can train my energy pool. It’s not showing up on the character sheet.”

“Could come with gamification.”

“Let’s hope so.”

We lay there for a while, just enjoying being next to each other. At one point, Livia’s breathing turned regular. She’d fallen asleep. I lay there for a while longer, mentally tuning out the noises from the other bedroom that managed to cross the flat and find my ears. I must have drifted off without noticing, too.