John Constantine has stepped into a Shape Shifting problem caused by the belief in a Changeling Queen.
Cayuga Springs Oklahoma isn't exactly a well known tourist spot. At one time it was the home of several roughnecks, oil men, but since then the small town has become just another small town waiting for its turn to either grow or die. But strange happenings in this small town has brought The Hellblazer John Constantine to discover what's at the core of it. To find out what kind of monsters the faith of a child can bring to life.
Some mornings things are clear, the smell of greasy over cooked eggs, undercooked pancakes, and just slightly burned bacon could almost be registered as heavenly. True, these days were far and few between. Especially for someone that dealt with the kind of darkness that most people believed only existed in Stephen King novels. Unfortunately there wasn’t an Other dimensional being taking the shape of a clown. If that was the true issue then life would be far simpler. Instead the world was full of demons, vampires, werewolves, and all sorts of beasties which typically hid in the shadows and killed just enough to stay under the radar.
But today it was as if all of them had taken a vacation, and for the first time, in at least a year, he was able to breathe, and enjoy a mediocre breakfast at an IHOP knockoff. His yellow trench coat hung loosely on his arms as he used his fork to cut through the under cooked pancakes. He dipped the over elastic morsel into a glob of syrup and then plopped it into his mouth. It was delicious, breathtakingly so, or at least it seemed that way. He finished the pancakes, turned to the eggs, and began eating them.
In truth he preferred over easy. The yolk running out was one of the nicer parts of eating fried eggs, but since these had been overcooked the yolks had become hard. It was a slight disappointment, but his taste buds told him that the taste was the same. He finished the eggs, and then bit into the first of the four strips of bacon. It was hard as iron, sharp as the chef's finest knife, and somehow the tastiest thing on the plate. Of course he knew that what he was tasting wasn’t the real taste of the bacon, eggs, or pancakes. Instead it was a simple glimmer cast on the food to fool his mouth into enjoying it.
In a couple of hours he would deal with the unfortunate side effects, but that was his future self’s problem. He finished the bacon, and finally, he turned toward the coffee. Unlike the food there was no need for a glimmer on it. The coffee here was actually fairly good. He could taste the freshness of the pot, how the grounds were obviously freshly ground this morning, and it wasn’t any freeze dried shite. He drained his cup, caught a waitress, and asked for a second. She walked toward the kitchen, and came back with the pot. After getting his second cup he finally looked at the paper.
One thing he had learned through trial and error was that anything reported on that fell into darkness he dealt with typically didn’t make it into the major papers. The Daily Planet didn’t really report on anything dealing with the supernatural. No, they didn’t, but The Seer did. Most of the population believed the Seer to be nothing more than a tabloid. Something people bought and laughed at. Sightings of ghosts, villages reappearing after being gone for a hundred years, and of course ancient Lovecraftian gods raised from the very pits of hell and set upon some small island nation.
Most people blew the tabloids off, but he didn’t. Because the tabloids were normally right. Typically they covered the events that no one else would, and he would of course compare what they wrote about with any scrying he would do. He picked the paper up, opened it, and suddenly he felt the breakfast he had just eaten talking back at him. There, the words in black and white, was the realization that he had celebrated having a day off too early.
‘Sixth Disappearance in Cayuga Springs Oklahoma: Work of a Cult?’
Silently he closed his eyes, and mentally he tried to remind the Almighty that surely he owed him one by now, and that if at all possible just let this be a terrible set of consequences happening in Oklahoma. He opened his eyes and looked at the story itself.
“Disappearances themselves aren’t uncommon, and so it might seem odd that a disappearance would make its way into a story outside of a local newspaper, certainly not a national one, but it’s less about the disappearance itself, but more about the odd behavior of those interviewed.”
It was looking more and more like this wasn’t going to be a day of relaxing. Granted, he could go ahead, relax, and do nothing, but that would mean allowing whatever it was to keep a toe hold in the world, and he didn’t want to let the balances shift like that. He took a drink of the coffee, and looked at the paper again.
“I interviewed several people of interest, and found that all of them believed the people missing weren’t missing at all. The chief of police herself informed me that no paperwork had been filed, no one had called to report a missing person, yet the family of the individual insisted that they had not only filed the report with the police, but they had taken to the streets asking about the whereabouts of their son.
Looking into the story further I found that this had happened five more times in the last month. Individuals had gone missing, reports filed, and then nothing. It was simply as if the person wasn’t missing at all. Most of the small town of Cayuga Springs seemed the same way. Almost all of them knew of the individuals that had gone missing, but all swore that they weren’t. Businesses that had hired four of the six stated that they had been to work everyday. However, when I attempted to search for them at the job sights I found no trace at all.
Everyone I asked had the same story, and that seemed far too strange. Everyone had the same story. Everyone was saying the same thing. Each one of the individuals I interviewed gave me the same response as the Chief of Police. For now, the disappearances are a mystery, but they are one that I plan on following until I find the answer.”
He looked at the story again, and he wanted to put it down, go home, and simply not deal with it. That was what he wanted, but he couldn’t and he knew it. Instead he reached down beside him and opened the bag he had brought in with him. Chas had updated his carrying bag to a book bag. He explained that since most people were using them to carry their belongings in that it only made sense. And of course it received far less notice than the old turn of the century bag he had carried for years. Unfortunately he had to place new wards on it, but ultimately it was worth it.
He dug for a moment, found an old road atlas of Oklahoma, and then he pricked the end of his finger. Closing his eyes he held the blood away from town mentioned.
“Audi me, et ostendam tibi quid mihi quaerere. Collaudentur veterrimi Collaudentur, supplex peto terebrare imaginationis umbracula, in aethere accipimus, et ignotum videre.”
He opened his eyes to see the drop of blood fall to the atlas, and then it rolled, never leaving a mark, until it touched Cayuga Springs. At which time it split not into six, but well over a hundred tiny dots. He noticed that the dots were spreading, surrounding the entire town, and slowly moving out. He handed the waitress the twenty he had found just outside of the restaurant, and then collected his change, left her a tip, and walked outside. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a charge and burn phone.
“Chas, it’s John, how do you feel about a road trip?”
Taking a jet would have been faster, but his luck, and the suggestion magic he cast, had netted him a train ticket instead. As luck would have it the train would be stopping at Cayuga Springs itself. It seemed that while the town was small, just under eight thousand people, it did have a functioning train station. He looked at Chas as his best mate opened his own book bag, pulled out a book, and began to leaf through it.
“What’s that mate?” he asked.
Chas gave him a grin, and showed him the book.
“Geraldine got this for me,” he laughed, “She’s discovered My Little Pony, and she wanted me to read about it.”
John eyed him for a moment, “Really?” he laughed, “Never took you for one of those blokes, so, what’s happening in there? Lots of sunshine and rainbows?”
Chas shook his head, “I think that she got this because it’s about My Little Pony, but I don’t think that it’s what she thought it was.”
John studied him for a moment, “How so?”
He closed the book and showed the cover to John. The gold inlay looked wonderfully done, and it appeared as if there was a picture of a small pony, with a pistol floating by her head, standing in front of the title.
“Fallout Equestria?” he asked.
Chas nodded, “Yeah, I’m surprised at how good the story is, and honestly, the heroine, she reminds me of you.”
John cocked an eyebrow, “Does she now?”
He nodded, “Yeah, she’s facing forces stronger than she is, things she shouldn’t have a chance in hell at beating, and yet she’s pushing forward. She actually just dropped a box car onto a living goddess in order to beat her.”
John gave a laugh, “Really, might have to remember that. Of course that would mean being somewhere with a train, and typically I doubt that anything we’ve faced would want to meet anywhere that would remotely give us a bloody advantage.”
The ride lasted through the night, and well into the morning before the train itself stopped. The conductor walked by, letting them know that they had reached Cayuga Springs. Both of them grabbed their bags, and together they exited the train to see a picturesque small town. People walked almost uniformly through it, and everyone seemed to greet each other with a nod, some pleasant conversation, and not much else. It had a very Pleasantville feel to it.
He watched as everyone seemed to go about their business without batting so much as an eye at either of them. That wasn’t right. People, regardless of where they lived, tended to be curious about strangers. There was typically a need to at least look at and study anyone that didn’t belong, but instead it appeared as if everyone simply was treating Chas and himself as if they belonged there.
It wasn’t the overly welcoming most of the tourist sections of the town would give in order to make visitors feel as if they belonged, but instead it felt as if everyone was treating them almost as if they had always belonged there. There was no fear, no surprise, no questioning glances, but instead there was a quiet ignorance of their presence.
“Well, that’s bloody well off,” he said as he looked at his tall American friend, “Chas, why don’t you see about getting us a rental, and we’ll go from there.”
He began to walk out when he noticed something that fractured the picturesque look of the town. A lone woman ran, as fast as she could, toward the station only to fall to her knees and weep as the train left.
“No… no no no no no no, I was supposed to get out. I… I finally got loose! I was supposed to get out!” she screamed.
Two fairly well dressed men walked toward her. Both of them had sympathetic smiles on their faces, but it was what was behind the smile that bothered John. He felt a blankness, a sort of lack of individuality from them. Normally he could feel the sense of another person right off. Not really seeing their aura, that was more along Doctor Fate’s ability than his own, but instead he could get a sense of who they were.
These two might have been department store mannequins for all he could tell about them. He glanced at the others around him, and it was the same. More of the blankness, more of almost empty slates.
“Lads, it looks like the lady simply wants to take the train, how about leaving her alone till the next one runs through?”
One of them looked at him, paused, and then the same smile greeted him, “Ah, a visitor, I’m sorry our Aunt has made a scene. She’s not well, and it wouldn’t be right to simply let her go off by herself.”
The woman looked at John, moved toward him, but one of the well dressed men touched her. When he did a glazed over look appeared in her eyes. She went limp, and the two began helping her up. John moved toward them.
“We’re sorry for the confusion, we truly are, but we need to get her home.”
John looked at them, moved forward, and began to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Chas, and then at the other people in town. Suddenly they were a point of interest. He realized that the looks weren't confusion, but instead they all looked like the two well dressed gentlemen. They seemed to be waiting to see if they needed to step into the situation.
“None of our business, sorry,” he said.
The two men left, and suddenly they were ignored again.
“John, there’s so much not adding up right now.”
John gave a nod, “True, but there’s nothing we can do right now mate. We’ll need to sneak around a bit before we can find out what’s going on.”
Leaving wasn’t an option, so instead the two of them went to the closest hotel. Going into the hotel itself John felt something cold run down his spine. He walked toward the counter and standing behind it was a woman. She was slender, her frame more petite, and if he was to guess she had a build of a model. Her raven locks looked fitting in a French Braid, and when she looked at him her forest green eyes looked completely uninterested. Unlike the rest of the population they had seen so far she wasn't blank, but there was something under the surface that he couldn’t quite gleam. Instead she looked at him, her eyes never showing the slightest bit of intrigue, and in truth she looked more like he was annoying her simply for being in her presence.
“I’m guessing the two of you would like a room?” she asked.
He nodded, and she studied him, “It’s fifty a night, the credit card machine is broken, so cash only.”
He dug into his right pocket and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. Handing it to her she grabbed a key and passed it to him. He noticed that the key wasn’t a key card, but instead it was an actual key. He took it, and expected to sign a book, but instead she simply looked at him.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Sorry, what room?”
She rolled her eyes, “The number is on the key. It’s room fifteen, the last one down on the right hand side.”
He gave her a nod, turned, and walked outside. Unlike everyone else there was something more about her. But that something felt dangerous. He couldn’t quite tell what it was, but the more he dealt with her the more it felt like almost as if she was connected to a demonic presence. Naturally he could be wrong. It was possible that she was simply an unpleasant wanker living a normal life with a shite job. He walked to the room, and slipped the key into the lock on the door. There was an audible click as it unlocked, and he pushed the door itself open.
He’d been in enough shitehole hotels to know one when he saw one. The room itself was stuck in the American eighties. An old VHS player and TV sat on the dresser, and the sink was an odd metallic mint green that had only really been popular when cocaine was the drug of choice. He heard Chas and the two of them began to check the room for any potential traps. There was nothing in the traditional sense, but he did find a small rag doll with hair sewn into it.
It was evidence of Voodoo, but the doll itself looked to be mostly unused. He took it, placed it into a plastic bag, drew a basic circle of protection on the bag with a sharpie, and then put it into the book bag he had brought.
“So, I doubt we’re going to find anything by the normal walk around and ask method.”
John nodded, “Yeah mate, we’re bloody well fucked there,” he took a seat and looked at the dresser, “Place has a plastic feel to it. Only one that seems to be somewhat real is the girl out there.”
Chas gave a nod, “Yeah, not real friendly though.”
He gave a nod, “But I got a feeling we’re dealing with Voodoo.”
Chas looked at him, “How?”
He opened his book back and pulled out the doll, “That’s a Voodoo doll. Fairly basic, has some hair, but nothing else really. It hasn’t been used, which in itself is odd. The hair means someone meant to use it.”
Chas looked at it and then at the door, “Think that whoever made it wasn’t given a chance to really use it?”
John gave a nod, “Exactly. Either this was the start of all of this, or someone figured out what was going on, and then they tried to stop it.”
Chas looked at him, and then walked toward the door. He stopped, grabbed the sharpie from the dresser, and then opened the door. He quickly drew a circle with a few runes in what seemed to be a random order, and then in the middle he drew a single eye that was resting on a pyramid.
“Better safe than sorry,” he said.
John gave a nod, “True, but it’s not going to hurt to get good and ready.”
Cayuga Springs Motor Lodge ‘Manager’s Apartment’
A young boy sat in the living room. Soft chirping sounds came from the background, but it wasn’t until the door opened and the woman from the front desk stepped in that everything grew quiet. He watched her, seeing how she moved forward, a soft smile on her lips, and then suddenly a green flash covered her. Her true form was one that made him feel at ease. Her black carapace seemed to be accented by light green joints. Her stomach itself was of this light green color, and her hair was a darker more forest green. Her fangs, something that would inspire fear in others did nothing to frighten him.
She knelt down to where he was, “They will never bother you again.”
He hugged her, getting one in return. She lifted a black crown from the dresser and fit it to her head. Suddenly there were others similar to her standing there. Most had blank blue eyes, their emotions and thoughts a mere reflection of her own.
“Everyone is gone?”
She nodded, “All except for two visitors. I will deal with them soon. No one will ever hit you, laugh at you, or attempt to control you ever again. You are mine, and as a Queen I will ensure those that try pay for it with their lives!”
One thing that struck John as odd was that lack of a corporate establishment in this small burg. There was no chain store, no well known department store, and instead it was as if this town had simply been left behind in a simpler time. The restaurants were all local places, the department stores were more of the same. True, it wasn’t as if he had a great love for the corporate entities that often choked out smaller businesses, but not seeing them was odd in and of itself.
All of his time spent here in the good old USofA had taught him that even a tiny hamlet of about a thousand people still managed to get a discount department store that was part of the larger corporate world. Cayuga Springs wasn’t huge, but it was certainly bigger than a few places he had been to before. In all truth it should have at least managed to garner at least a McDonald’s.
“This strike you as weird?” Chas asked.
John nodded, “Yeah mate, this is bloody weird in a way that doesn’t feel at all right. It’s almost like this place was stuck back in the fifties, kept the idea of small business, and stayed there.”
The entire day had been spent getting the materials they needed for John to perform a scrying spell. Normally, a scrying spell would simply let you know where someone was, but in this case he was going to figure out who someone was. The spell would need to be tweaked a bit, and that meant getting materials. They had to have pure sea salt, blood, tongue, cherry flavored pipe tobacco, and finally a twenty ounce bottle of Crystal Pepsi.
Getting the materials was interesting. They were able to get the blood and tongue from a butcher’s shop. Both had come from a hog, the sea salt came from a grocer, the pipe tobacco actually had ended up being at a small gas station, but it had taken them looking all over the town before finding a small convenience store that had a stock of Crystal Pepsi. John made a casting circle with the sea salt, then he drew the runes inside of it with the blood. He took the tongue, sliced off a small piece, and tied it to a doll that looked similar to the front desk woman.
A hair he had grabbed from her shirt, while appearing to help, had been sewn into the doll itself. He placed it in the center, and then he looked at the circle. The swell of magic flowed over it, covering it, and it leaked out like a constant drip from an old faucet. He studied it, and then sat cross legged in front of it.
“Antiquis audire mandatum istud. Veritatem imaginis,” he said.
The circle glowed a dull green, and then it turned red. A moment later flames licked up from the center of it, and he watched as the doll was covered in green flames. It transformed from the voodoo doll he had made into a hard plastic toy. It looked vaguely equine, in form, a long jagged horn stood on its head, and its legs were filled with holes. There was a sort of malice in its eyes that he couldn’t explain, and then the flames died down. When it was gone everything, including the bottle of Crystal Pepsi he had placed in the circle, had been removed.
It didn’t give him much, but it did confirm something for him. The woman manning the front of the store wasn’t human. What she was, he had no clue, but she obviously wasn’t human. He tried to figure out what it was, but it was Chas that said something.
“Was that a Changeling?”
John looked at him, “Didn’t look like one of the fey that I’ve ever seen,” he said, as he looked back at the circle.
Chas shook his head, “No, it looked like a changeling from My Little Pony,” he saw John look at him. He shook his head, “I’ve watched an episode or two with Geraldine before, and one of them had those things in them. That actually looked like their leader, Queen Chrystal or something.”
John nodded, “Okay, so we’re dealing with something that believes itself to be this changeling. That does help limit some of the options, but why did it look like a human then?”
Chas closed his eyes for a moment, as if he was trying to look inside of his mind, and then he opened them and looked at John.
“In the show they could take the form of anyone. And they could do it so well that no one would ever know the difference.”
Hearing that John looked at the ceiling, “Bloody hell. Alright, so we’ve got a cartoon shapeshifter that can practically take any form. I don’t suppose she had any real weaknesses did she?”
Chas looked at him and shrugged, “I remember that the pony she took the place of found her husband to be, they kissed, and somehow her love for her husband was enough to drive them away.”
John considered that for a moment. Sure, it was cliché, but there was a reason it was. Clichés tended to be the things that were true and stuck to the walls. There was a reason why humanity loved to follow sayings that were as old as time itself. True love beating a big bad was one of those things. When love is present, honest, real, and fantastic true love that it is, then its very nature and power are more than enough to often drive off, if not destroy, a presence of evil. It’s why the Almighty’s protection on those faithful to him is so absolute. If the doctrine is to be believed then he is made of love, and that means those things which love hurts can’t abide in his presence.
But it didn’t really help in this instance. Sure, he loved Chas, but not in the biblical sense that he was sure the kid’s show, and this big bad would require him to. So that left finding other weaknesses. He wasn’t found on the idea of looking up information about a cartoon character, but then again it wouldn’t be the first time that he had to deal with darker forces that took the form of a beloved character in order to either fool, or serve, a child.
But even if that was the case here the doll wouldn’t have shown that Changeling. It would have shown the dark force itself. It would have revealed whichever demon, spirit, or displaced warlock that had taken the form of the Changeling. So, since this thing believed itself to be what they just saw that left really only two options. The first was one of several homunculi that had been formed by belief in a character.
Unfortunately creating a homunculus was more than just belief. It took massive belief, thousands, if not millions of people believing in the same character, and then it took a very skilled sorcerer or alchemist to bring that belief together and form a body from the necessary materials while forcing those materials into a single being. It was possible that there was another magic user here, but if that was the case why wasn’t he already being attacked. Sorcerers and Alchemists that had the ability to create Homuculi didn’t skulk around and hide in the shadows when there was another practitioner of the arts in the area. They tended to clean house, and they tended to do it quickly.
So that left the other option. A loa. A lesser deity that was usually worshiped in some Voodoo and Hoodoo circles. If one had just hung around the area it would latch onto something that someone believed in hard enough. It would take shape, and then it would begin to act out like the being it took the form of. It would only grow in power as it served the one that believed in it, and it would do all it could to ensure that there was never a reason for doubt.
He took a seat, his mind focused and sure at this point. There was no doubt in his mind. That was what they were facing. It had to be a Loa. For it to have this kind of power over this town then the Loa had to already become massively powerful. John smiled, the saving grace was that the Loa would be at the mercy of only having the powers that its form had. So, this thing obviously believed it was a Changeling. Then it would only have its powers. Chas had filled him in on the shapeshifting. That left the other abilities it had.
Unfortunately that did mean research.
“So, that book you’re reading, does it have Changelings in it?”
Chas shook his head, “They’re not even mentioned.”
He nodded, “Alright. Then we’ve got to do some work. We need to find out all we can about Changelings, and we’ve got to do it quick.”
Chas smiled, “So, we’re going to be watching the show?”
John grinned, “Maybe, or maybe we can just try to assess the internet and see what they say about her.”
Chas nodded, “That makes sense, so, what do think it is?”
John looked at the door, noticed that the protection charm on it had darkened a bit. That meant that something had already tried to get inside of it once.”
“It’s a Loa, some petty little Voodoo deity that’s latched onto someone poor sod’s belief in this character. It’s taken her form, and I would bet that it’s feeding off of that belief. Since it’s taken over the town I’ve got to think that this has been happening for a while.”
Chas nodded, “Makes sense, so we browse the internet, find some information on her, and then what do we do?”
John looked at him, “Then we give this changeling a one way ticket straight out of here.”
Discovering what was going on in Cayuga Springs had been far easier than getting online. The hotel didn’t offer wifi, Chas smartphone didn’t get reception out here, and a quick look around the place revealed that even the local library had limited internet. The restaurants didn’t offer wifi for their paying customers, none of the stores offered it as well. It was as if this entire place really was stuck in the past. The Loa that had taken over here had went through some great lengths to ensure that whoever stumbled into its territory had no way of either reaching out for help, or researching anything that could be a danger to it.
The Voodoo doll that they had found, someone had the right idea, but had gone about it wrong. The doll would work, but at best it would slow the Loa down. It wasn’t in the true form that the Loa had taken. And that was important. The doll itself was well made, and it had been made exactly in the style of Voodoo that was documented by the French when they had observed the rituals. That it was so well made only spoke of the talent of the craftor, but at the same time the person who created it had obviously been a novice.
The work was exact, made in the exact form, made exactly how it would have been described in an old dusty book from the nineteenth century, but they didn’t probe and dig to find out what if that was the right form. They had made the mistake of creating the doll in the form that was presented to them. If the Loa took its other form then the doll would be practically worthless.
It also confirmed what he was sure of. It confirmed that the manager of this hotel was the one in charge. That meant that he had a direction. How to go about it was the real question. The Loa changed when they took on a new form. Often if they became something someone believed in they completely became that being. Voodoo chants and spells might slow that thing down, and if he could ever find the Loa’s original name it could potentially force it out of its current form. The problem was that he was likely never going to find its name. The Loa didn’t have a habit of allowing others to find out who they actually were.
What that meant was that he was going to have to attack it through its new form. So he had to find information on the changeling Queen. No internet meant that he couldn’t search for her that way. He could check the library again, but somehow he doubted that if there had been books, or DVDs, that featured the changeling Queen that they most likely went missing. Luckily it didn’t cut off magic. He looked at Chas.
“We’ve got to go shopping again old son.”
He nodded, “I take it that you’ve got a plan?”
John nodded, “That I do. I’m fairly sure that the Loa controlling everything has decided to cut off most media about itself from the area. For example, I’m sure that if we turned on the telly that we would most likely either just get the basic over the air channels, or we’d everything except the channels we need.”
“That makes sense,” Chas said as he nodded, “So, what’s the idea?”
John looked at him, “We’re gonna call up a muse. They’re still busy giving mankind the ideas to run with. I’m sure there’s one that gave someone the idea for My Little Pony, and I’m sure that they know about this changeling Queen, and know her weaknesses.”
Chas studied him for a moment, “John, not that I don’t have faith in you, but the muses are ancient. If you piss one off it’s likely going to turn bad.”
John nodded, “I know, that’s why we’re going to be smart about it. The last thing we need is piss off something that could decide that its next grand idea it gives to someone is how kill the two of us in the most barbaric way possible.”
With that John grabbed a small notebook from the table and began writing.
“Okay we’re gonna need honey, something local would be best, milk and we best choose whole milk,” he looked at Chas, “We’re also gonna need a symbol of creativity, pencils work in a pinch, but we want to make a good impression,” he said as he rubbed his chin, and then he looked at the book Chas had, “Boyo, that right there might be the best option.”
Chas looked at him, “John, it’s a gift.”
John nodded, “I know, and I hate to ask, but right now it looks like the purest form of creativity that we can get our hands on.”
Chas nodded, “Fine, but you’re going to replace it.”
John smiled, “Sure mate,” he said as Chas put the book on the table.
“Okay that leaves a body for the muse to inhabit. We need something that could be considered life like,” he laughed, “Now we could use a realistic sex doll.”
Chas shook his head, “I’m sure a Muse would love to inhabit something that you’re meant to stick a dick inside of.”
John laughed, “You wouldn’t be wrong mate. The Muses are Ancient Greek, and sex to the Ancient Greeks was as natural as breathing. Likely, they’d feel we were trying to honor them more by using one.”
Chas sighed, “I’m going to looking for a sex shop, aren’t I?”
John nodded, “You are mate.”
He watched as Chas shook his head, rubbed his hand across his hair, and then finally nodded, “Fine, I’ll find one.”
Chas left the hotel and considered the options. He could look in this town, and hope that it had what he needed, or the more likely option would be to take the rental car and head out of town to find what they were needing. He began to walk to the rental when he noticed several different individuals watching him. It was normal human behavior for someone to watch a stranger, or what they might consider a strange event. Still, even with normal human behavior typically most people only watched for a few seconds. He noticed that their eyes were on him as he got into the car, and he could practically feel them watching him as he shut the door and locked it.
The car itself wasn’t what he normally felt comfortable in. He was used to his cab, and he was used to having room. The car he was driving was less open and designed more for economy than being enjoyed. It was cramped, even in the driver’s seat, but at that moment it felt like a moving shield. He backed out, and began to drive when he noticed cars attempting to back out as he moved past them. It was as if they were trying to block him in. He saw a side street, took it, and heard a car behind him.
The side street itself wasn’t overly impressive, but he noticed that there were a couple of places that looked boarded up. He saw a darkened alleyway, turned down it, and then shut off the car. The car that was behind him drove past, and he got out. He walked toward the edge of the alley, watched as the car stopped, and then two individuals got out of it. They weren’t walking toward him, but he could hear them. Faint words said between them, although the voices didn’t really seem to match the bodies.
The woman sounded like a man, and the man sounded like a young girl.
“Where did he go?” the woman asked.
“I...I don’t know. The Queen, she’s going to destroy us for this!”
The woman stepped around, “No, she won’t. She wanted us to observe them, make sure that they weren’t trying to leave, and figure out what they were doing. We know that he came down this street, and we know that he most likely turned off into an alley. We will post lookouts at both ends of the street. That way we can tell what he had been up to.”
With that they both climbed back into their car, and he watched as they drove off. There was no getting around it at this point, and Chas knew it. Those things had taken over what seemed like the whole town, and they were watching him and John. He’d heard one of John’s friends say that it wasn’t paranoia if there really was someone out there to get you. At this point he believed that. He started to climb back into the car when he noticed the door in the alleyway. He walked closer to it, wiped some of the dirt off, and smiled.
“Ms Angelia’s Adult Novelty, and sexuality, shop,” he read.
He tried the door, found it open, and stepped inside. The entire store was dark. He stepped in a little more and suddenly the lights flickered on. He looked around, but he didn’t see anyone. Looking around he noticed that most of the merchandise had been sitting long enough to gain cobwebs and become covered with a layer of dust. He walked toward the counter and found it in a similar shape. There were no signs of anyone having stepped foot in the store for quite some time. He looked behind the counter and saw a large green gel filled sack. It looked organic, and inside of it he saw the shape of a person.
His eyes widened as he studied the shape, and then he looked up above him. There were another two, both supported from the ceiling, and both had what looked like the shapes of people. He noticed right away that even they looked as if they hadn’t been disturbed for a while. He took out his phone, even though there was no signal, and he quickly snapped a few pictures of the three sacks. When he was done he looked around the shop. He found a few low cost dolls, all of which had to be aired up, but then there was a large box that was easily the size of a short person. He opened it to see a silicon doll dressed up in a school girl’s outfit.
This was most likely the best option, so he closed the box again, lifted on it, finding that it was heavy, but doable, and he began dragging the box out before he realized that he really didn’t need it. So he reopened the box, removed the red headed doll, and carried it out like a person. He placed it into the front passenger seat of the car, and then climbed into the car himself. He started it, and drove forward down the alley. It came out on a different street, and he started back toward the motor lodge.
Unknown to him there were two sets of eyes watching him from on top of the buildings. One of the people that watched him looked toward the other. A moment later a shimmer of green magic covered her and she transformed into a bipedal insectoid. It’s black exoskeleton looked shiny in the daylight, and its wings buzzed quickly as it took the air. It flew, over other houses, toward the heart of its hive. It landed outside of the door, green magic covering it again as it transformed back into the shape it had taken.
“My Queen, we have news of the trespassers,” she said in a deep baritone.
The manager of the motorlodge looked at her and nodded, “What news do you have?”
“The trespassers have entered the recreation shop, and they left with a body. It didn’t feel alive, so I do not think that it was one of the captured ones.”
The manager watched her for a moment before green magic surrounded her and she took her royal form. The African American woman that addressed her went to her knees in respect, and she nodded toward her. She then stepped forward, “It appears to me then they had need of an empty shell,” she looked toward the stairwell where her charge was at, “We need to speed up our schedule. Tonight we take the trespassers, and then we send out more of the hive in their place. We will begin converting all that would be a potential danger, and we will have a world full of changelings when we are done.”
John looked over the doll that Chaz had brought back with him. It was petite, designed to look like a girl around nineteen, coppery red hair, a school girl’s uniform, and all together not a bad looking piece of work. He drew the circle on the carpeted floor with some masking tape that was in their bag, added the runes, the pentagram, and then he and Chaz laid the doll inside of the casting circle. He took the milk, the honey, and the book that Chaz had given him, and then he placed the three on the table next to the circle. With any luck this would work.
“Ancient ones, inspiration to man, mothers of invention, I call thee, come forth, visit with us, allow us the favor of your knowledge, grant us your inspiration.”
Light flooded the room, and suddenly the doll’s chest began to expand. The moment it did the milk and honey seemed to drain in on themselves. The book smoldered for a moment before it caught fire and burned to nothing on the table. For a moment there didn’t seem to be much else, but then it sat up. The doll seemed to study its hands, and it seemed to study as each finger bent and then relaxed back into place. After a moment it turned its head toward John. The lips of the doll curved up into a smile as it stood.
“This vessel is promising,” she said, “In truth, I’ve rarely enjoyed such a finely created vessel. Most often it is small wax figures created in what was believed to be my image.”
Oddly while both John and Chaz heard her conversation her lips didn’t move. She was still smiling, watching them, and they realized that she was using a form of telepathy to communicate with them. She was a muse, and that meant that she often spoke directly to the minds of artists. He watched as she cupped her own breasts, squeezed them, and then her mouth opened as she giggled slightly.
“This body would indeed be fun,” she said, “I almost desire to reside in it for a while.”
She looked at him, “Is this vessel normally occupied, or would it be possible for me to claim it as my own?”
He grinned, “It’s yours if you want,” he said, “Although, we could use a bit of information, if you don’t mind.”
She nodded, looked at the circle, and then at him.
“I give my word that I will not cause harm to you, or your friend, and that I shall abide by the rules set down by the first Merlin as indicated.”
He walked over and broke the circle and she stepped out. He watched as she took a seat, and seemed far too pleased with herself. Once she was settled he took a seat in front of her and watched as she seemed to study everything in the room. As much as he could figure it was a chance for her to experience things from as close to a mortal’s perspective as she had really ever had before. Releasing her wasn’t the greatest idea in the world, and he knew that. Granted she had given her word, and as such she was bound to it. If she promised not to harm them then she wouldn’t, but that only really meant that they were safe. If she decided she could go out and wipe out every single human being and not feel the slightest bit bad about it. After all she was something that was as far removed from humans as humans were removed from ants.
“”We’ve got a loa that’s taken the form of a Changeling Queen,” he said, “I know that your lot inspired the stories that became My Little Pony, and I know that means that it’s likely you know how to defeat the Changeling Queen.”
The muse looked at him, her eyes wide, and then there was an almost manic smile on her face, “My, so a villain that is able to take any form, that feeds off of emotions, and that is a master at manipulation has decided to appear here,” she said, “Well, then the answer is simple You need to have one of four things. The elements of Harmony, and they are not here. They are only available in that world. The second would be a love so powerful that it would drive her away, and while I know that you humans do have the ability to love, I doubt that any of you feel that kind of love toward one another. The third would be to willingly give your love to her. In doing that it would likely poison her, but it has to be an act of pure love, not vengeance. The forth and finally would be to smash her like the bug she is.”
He looked at her for a moment, “Smash her, how?” he asked, “How would we smash her?”
The muse shrugged, “Something heavy enough would do it. Although don’t count on conventional weapons to work on her. If she has truly become a Changeling Queen then her exoskeleton is so strong that it will stop most conventional firearms. On top of that Changelings can heal themselves with the love they steal. Wound her and she will be completely healed in seconds.”
“Would dropping a train car on her work?”
She looked toward Chaz, “Yes,” she said, “That would be heavy enough, but it’s not something you can do.”
She held out her hand, and the book that John had sacrificed to bring her to them, Fallout Equestria, appeared in her hands. When it did she laid it out before them. She smiled at them both. There, in the picture was the little unicorn dropping a train car onto what looked like a winged unicorn. The muse smiled at them.
“This one could do it,” she said, “And perhaps your best option would be to fight fire with fire. Our universes, including the ones that house these equines, are separated only by the thinnest veil. It would require almost nothing to summon one, in a more fitting form, into this universe. Of course, doing so would mean making a equal sacrifice. All magic comes at a price, and summoning another living being into this world would be no less of a price.”
John looked at her for a moment, “So the train car would kill her?”
The muse smiled, “Oh, kill, sorry,” she said, “That’s different. You asked to stop her, not kill. No, a Changeling Queen can transfer their entire essence into a drone. She would basically regain her powers in a few weeks.”
John held his tongue, which was difficult for him, and then looked at her. She’d been right . He did ask how to stop, and not how to kill it. The train car would be doable, even if it was just him, but getting it done would take more prep time than he was comfortable with spending. Since it wouldn’t work he had absolutely no intention on using it. It still didn’t give him what he needed.
“What you will need is something that will remove her power,” she said, “So you must remove her drones. There are some that will not be completely loyal to her. Those will sew the seeds of rebellion among their peers. If you wish to dethrone her then you must find the ones that are not happy with their place among her loyal followers.”
This was something he was certainly better at doing. After all, he and his mates all had gathered those who were pissed with life. Maybe if he managed to channel some Sid Vicious he could reach those that really wanted to rebel. The idea began to mold inside of his mind. He could channel Vicious. While Sid Vicious was dead the front man for the Sex Pistols left behind a legacy of rebelling against the powers that be. His music carried the anthem of the oppressed, and if done correctly he could unleash the rebellious nature that filled Sid Vicious and let it carry through to the drones.
Those that were close to rebelling anyway would have that final push. It was a chance that was worth taking. He looked at her and nodded, “Thanks love,” he said, “As promised the body is yours to do as you please.”
She grinned and looked at him. Standing she walked toward the bed, and he noticed that her body began to change. It no longer looked like the doll exactly. Oh, the figure was still the same, and her skin looked flawless, but she looked alive. He watched as she touched the bed, bending over at the waist, and then she looked back at him.
“I believe that I shall remain in the mortal world,” she said, “At least for the time gifted to a witch or warlock. After all, I have more than enough power to be one.”
He moved toward her and felt her arm. She was real, her skin felt like skin, there was warmth, the feel of a pulse, she had made the high end sex doll into a living breathing body. And from what she said she was staying. She grinned at him again. This time gently rubbing her thighs together as she pointed her posterior at him and moved it in the most enticing way. A blind man could tell what it was that she wanted, and he wasn’t promised to anyone. She bit her lip, waiting and then he looked at Chaz.
“Anywhere you can be for a while mate?”
She looked at him, “Actually, I wouldn’t mind to enjoy you both.”
Chaz shook his head, “Sorry, married,” he said, “And besides, this is more John’s thing.”
Chaz walked out of the hotel room, determined to give them space, and walked toward the car. He hoped that John knew what he was doing. The muse was ancient, and more than likely she was dangerous. He started to near the car when an uneasy feeling began to cover him. He stepped back from it, and looked around. Something wasn’t right. The hotel itself was usually abandoned, but he didn’t usually get this eerie feeling around it either.
He could hear the buzzing of something, and turned to see nothing there. Again there was a buzzing, and again he missed whatever it had been. Faint laughter echoed around him, and he looked for whatever it was that was laughing at him. A moment later she walked out. She wasn’t the hotel manager, but instead she was roughly twenty to twenty-five. She stood maybe five and a half feet tall, and her dark skin had little splotches of darker tones that rested on the bridge of her nose.
She grinned at him, her teeth looking almost normal except for two fangs. They weren’t vampire fangs. That’s something that he wouldn’t ever forget, but instead they almost looked like snake fangs. The fangs shortened, a small glow of green energy around them for a moment, and the girl moved toward him.
“You’re not afraid,” she purred, “And you’re not attracted to me either. That’s odd, usually at this point you humans either are attracted, afraid, or angry. You aren’t any of those.”
He stood there, studying her, and realized that she was a drone. Her clothes were simple enough, a white top that held a modest pair of breasts. Her jeans looked as if they were almost painted on, and she seemed fixated on him. A shimmering aura of magic surrounded her for a moment and he caught sight of her true form, but only for a moment.
“You’re brave,” she said, “Brave and loyal, I like that.”
He watched her, “What’s your name?”
She stopped, her eyes looked confused for a moment, “I… I am…” she said sounding confused by the question, “I am me.”
He looked at her, neared her, and hoped that he was making the right move here, “Surely you have a name,” he said, “Something that separates you from the others?”
She closed her eyes, and then when she opened them they looked different. Almost as if something substantial had changed inside of her. She gave a small smile, “I am Mimic, subject of Queen Chrysalis,” she said, “I have a name. I am unique.”
It happened instantly. She lifted into the air, the aura surrounding her changed from green to a light blue. And then after a moment she fell and hit the ground. Chaz ran to her, helping her up, and she shook her head, looking tired and a little off.
“Thank you,” she said, “Are we, are we friends?”
Chaz decided that if nothing else he could follow the example that was in the book his daughter gave him. He stretched out his hand to her.
“If you want to be, I’ll be your friend.”
As he shook Mimic’s hand the sound of My Way as sung by Sid Vicious began to pump through the air. The air began to charge with a feeling of rebellious need. Chaz looked toward where the room was and the understanding hit him. John was using this moment to charge the spell.
The muse was moaning as she felt John inside of her. Clothes had been cast off, and she stood only in a pair of silk white stockings. She felt the lovely feeling of this comparatively young warlock as he had his way with her. She hadn’t noticed the circle that had been made around the bed, the old tape deck that was sitting on a nightstand, that was just inside of that circle, nor did she notice when the tape deck began to play a mix tape of nothing by Sex Pistol and Sid Vicious songs.
All she knew was that in this moment she had everything that had been denied to her. She felt the wonderful feeling of lust and love that was wrapped up inside of this wonderful shell. No, it wasn’t a shell. This was her body. She’d transformed it, created a new body, and she was its soul. She wanted to experience the blissful experience of rutting like animals in heat forever. She wanted to ride the euphoric highs of lust for all eternity, and she wanted to stay with this warlock, this mage, this modern day wizard.
She breathed hard and deeply as they stopped. Her new lungs gasping for air, her new body experiencing a tingling sensation that she had never felt before, and all of it was so much overload. She lay there, feeling him still inside of her, his arms around her, and she let out a soft satisfied moan.
“She can’t have you,” she said, “I won’t let her take you.”
“What’s that love?”
She felt him move, his wonderful tool leaving her, and causing her to feel empty, but at the same time she was filled with a purpose. She turned to look at him, her eyes seeing things as a mortal might see them, and for the first time she felt something else she had never felt before. She felt longing and love.
“She can’t have you,” she said again, “Chrysalis will want you, she will want to trap you, enslave you, and I won’t let her do it.”
