Impostor Among Us
Chapter 4 - Alternate
by MagisterAthena
Tags:
#assimilation
#consensual_kink
#consensual_non-consent
#mystery
#no_sex_no_nudity
#realistic
#serial_recruitment
#resistance
The seven of them gathered around the table for the Emergency Meeting called by the Technologist. According to the app, four people were now Impostors — and now, the Vampire knew who two of them were. Unfortunately, they didn’t know which of the two people arguing was actually on the same side as them.
The moment the Trickster had seen the trio of the Vampire, Magician and Confuser rounding the corner, he’d shouted, “The Technologist tried to hypnotise me with a pair of headphones! Only the Impostor notification gave me enough warning to escape.”
The Technologist shot back, “No, it was you who tried to hypnotise me! You with your weaving butterfly fingers — you would have had me if that notification hadn’t woken me up enough.”
The Vampire looked between them, trying to figure out which one they should support. They could feel the Impostor suggestions pulling them to help their fellow Impostor — but didn’t know which one. As the pair continued arguing, the Vampire tried to sneak glances at the Magician, to see if she had any hints.
The Magician caught the Vampire’s gaze, and subtly nodded towards the Technologist. Ahh, right. That made sense, given that the two of them had been together in the first round. They tuned back into the argument.
“...oh, so you mean I started out doing this right in your face?” The Trickster was saying, fluttering their fingers with a smirk.
“I- you-” The Technologist stuttered, before shaking herself awake. “Y-yeah, just like that. You trying to get me right here in front of everyone?”
“Doesn’t exactly help your case there, Trickster,” The Vampire interjected.
“This is just how they are though — they’ve been stimming with butterfly fingers all day,” The Confuser countered.
The Mesmerist also chimed in. “The Technologist’s been carrying around those headphones for the last couple of rounds — why is that?”
The Technologist scoffed. “Listening to music, obviously!”
“Then how come I’ve not seen you wearing them?” the Mesmerist asked pointedly.
The Technologist drew in a breath to answer, but the Vampire cut across them. “I saw them listening — once, at least.”
The discussion continued, but it was clear that things were turning against the Technologist, and the Vampire eventually stopped trying to defend her and elected not to tie themself to the sinking ship before they’d had a chance to hypnotise someone else.
The Magician, feigning irritation — at least to the Vampire’s knowing eyes — tapped the tablet, and everyone tapped their phones, the votes rolling in.
The Technologist’s phone buzzed, and she sighed knowingly. She flipped over her phone, and her eyes went wide for a moment before she slumped down in her chair, the screen to trigger the suggestions to take someone out of the game having taken effect. Her goggles slid off her head, clattering to the table just as she rose back up out of trance. The Vampire checked their phone again, seeing: The Technologist was An Impostor.
As the screen vanished, the Vampire’s phone went back to the default — and they finally learned who their other allies were — the Magician and the Conversationalist, with an even split of Impostors and innocents left.
The Magician took the lead again. “So, all that was technically a distraction — we got a notification that someone actually got made an Impostor, so one of us must have been hypnotised. You excepted, of course, Trickster. Does anyone have any ideas?”
There was a long silence as everyone looked around at each other, and the Vampire hid a grin at the Magician’s act. Well played, they thought.
“Well, guess we’ve got nothing. Keep your eyes open — though do try not to look at anything too hypnotic,” the Magician said with a smile, and the meeting broke up.
The Mesmerist went to the library, and the Vampire made sure to follow close in her wake. As the Mesmerist settled in, leaning against one of the rolling ladders, she turned and raised an eyebrow at the Vampire. “Following me that closely, huh? Thought you would have gotten your fill of messing with me,” she drawled.
“Nah, just wanted to congratulate you on figuring out the Technologist. She had me pretty fooled — nicely done seeing through her.”
The Vampire gave a nod, like a fencer acknowledging the point, and the Mesmerist returned it — her gaze settling automatically on the Vampire’s eyes.
The Vampire held her gaze for a long moment, before tilting their head and letting a sharp smile cross their face. “That eager to go under, eh?”
The Mesmerist blinked rapidly, then deliberately turned her head. “...shut up,” she said, in a small, flustered voice.
“Awww, but come on,” the Vampire wheedled, “you looked so cute just staring into my eyes. In fact…” The Vampire gently took hold of the Mesmerist’s face, pushing her gaze back to meeting the Vampire’s — the Mesmerist gasped, her eyes going wide as colour rose to her cheeks.
“You want to go under, don’t you?” the Vampire asked. “Yeah, you do. So just keep looking, keep staring, as your mind just fades away, leaving nothing there but just how nice it feels to look. You know what a vampire’s eyes are supposed to do after all, and you know how they’re affecting you.”
The Mesmerist’s mouth moved like she was trying to say something, but no sound came out. She was settling against the ladder, her head lolling back against one of the steps. The Vampire grinned widely, running their tongue across their fangs. “And when I give you a nice, big bite, you’ll just drop away so completely, under the thrall of a vampire. You’d like that.” It wasn’t a question, but the Vampire was sure the Mesmerist was already too hazy to notice, her eyes glassy and staring vacantly.
The Vampire opened their jaw wide, leaning in nice and closely to the smooth curve of the Mesmerist’s neck. Then bit, their fangs digging in. The Mesmerist gasped, then sighed as she slumped over on the Vampire, her eyes fluttering closed.
The Vampire leaned back, admiring their cutely hypnotised thrall. “So good you are, falling for a vampire’s tricks so easily.”
“And now — now, you’re going to become an Impostor, just like me, joining us in hypnotising the rest. You know what you’re supposed to do — you’ve already been programmed with the suggestions for it. You know what you’re supposed to do, what triggers you’re supposed to respond to…”
A brief smirk crossed the Vampire’s face, and they paused to pull something off the Mesmerist’s waistcoat. “And now, you can just come back up, as yet another Impostor.”
The Mesmerist’s eyes blearily blinked open, then took in the Vampire standing in front of her — grinning a broadly fanged grin, and dangling the Mesmerist’s pilfered pocket watch lazily from their hand. “Well hello there,” the Vampire purred, “congratulations on getting caught.”
“Now, you’re going to accuse the Trickster — claiming that the Trickster tried to hypnotise you. Maybe last round if that works better, they might have given you a suggestion to keep quiet about it at the last meeting. Keep arguing, and make sure you get the Trickster out.”
The Mesmerist, still bleary from the trance, blinked rapidly. “Wait, but they’ll figure out I was lying the moment the Trickster gets voted out — they’ll vote me out next for sure! I think-”
The Vampire snapped their fingers. “No, you don’t. Now, Impostor, just take a look at your pocket watch.”
The Mesmerist struggled against the suggestions, but her eyes were pulled towards her own pocket watch as if by magnets. “Look, at your pocket watch. You know how effective it is, you’ve used it yourself enough,” the Vampire soothed, their words slipping smoothly into the Mesmerist’s mind.
“So, you’re just going to keep watching this pocket watch and getting hypnotised, and while you do, I’m going to tell you to accuse the Trickster next meeting. And you’re going to do that, right? Because you’re hypnotised.”
“I- yeah…” the Mesmerist muttered, sleepily.
“Up up up,” the Vampire commanded, holding the Mesmerist’s pocket watch out for her.
The Mesmerist could only answer with a flustered glare before she deliberately took her pocket watch back, hanging it from her waistcoat once more. Then she tapped out her status on her phone, and the Vampire’s vibrated with the meeting notification. Here we go, thought the Vampire.