Friday, 22:21

Dani remembered the concussive force as the Helldriver detonated. How could she ever forget it? More than anything else, it was this moment - that damn Angel’s impetuous, arrogant choice - that was responsible for everything that came afterwards.

Everything – her, her Angelic impostor of a roommate, the rest of the world – halted as the blast hit her, time distending and then stopping. She’d been rushing to stop the Angel before the force of the blast had catapulted her away. She was nearly horizontal and four feet off the ground, stuck in place and kept aware that something held time at bay.

As though Time itself were on a leash pulled tight.

Then a voice – smooth and feminine, even as it dripped with venom – whispered in her ear. Her Mistress.

“I am so sorry, little one. I wish you'd gotten a chance to become yourself.” She felt warm hands gently stroking through her hair. “You deserved it. You deserved that and so much more.”

Is...am I going to die? Tears streamed down Dani's face. Her lungs burned with the need for air and she couldn’t move her muscles, but her mind screamed the thought.

“The Angel cannot suffer your continued existence.” Her Mistress' voice was mournful.

But I'm- I don't...I want more. I want it all. I was promised-

“You were promised nothing.” Wrath coursed through her Mistress' words and into Dani. It seared where it sank into her. “You were given the chance and you failed me.”

I'm s-sorry! Please! He was so strong. I tried, but the Angel...

Her attention went to him. For a moment, she couldn't quite understand the Angel's form. No, that wasn't right. She couldn't quite perceive the Angel. Like the Angel was there and yet not. Real yet not, as if he'd been superimposed over a different, feminine form. That other form stared at her with purple irises that shimmered and roiled with burning heat. Then it stopped and the Angel's form was tangible again. The change to him was obvious. He'd lost inches of height. Rather than the jacked, barrel-chested firefighter “Chuck” had been, he was now slender yet still well-muscled. Dani wanted to drink the sight of it in. It was her first time corrupting someone, just mere hours into her existence. She felt good about that.

“Hmmm...that is curious,” came her Mistress' voice. Dani could tell that She was not speaking to her. That She was instead interested in whatever Dani had beheld within the Angel's form. It made Dani feel small. As though her Mistress did not want or have need for her.

Then the Helldriver came apart at the seams and whatever had kept time from moving forward broke apart with it. Dani thought it made such a beautiful explosion. Fractals of corruptive arcane weave pulsed with malevolent light in all directions, trailing after shards of the sundered device. One of them struck her just below her ribs. She could feel it eviscerate something of his, of the man she'd been, even as the final, dying flickers of the Helldriver reconstituted it anew. The shrapnel settled there, a final dark blessing that besmirched this man. Dani was happy as her head hit the wall with a sickening crunch.

* * *

????? - ??:??

When Dani next awoke she was on her bed. Everything felt gauzy and far away. The Angel stood over her. Whatever change had come across him was no longer apparent. He was tall and masculine. Warmth coursed through Dani. Not arousal, just...gleaming surety. As it did, her sinew stitched back together and her bones reknitted. Healing magic.

She had the urge to see it. It was macabre, but she wanted to know. It took a moment for her head to listen, though, the muscles in her neck not wanting to respond. Finally, her body relented and her gaze settled on The Angel's hand. It was outstretched, no more than a few inches over her abdomen. Scintillating, opalescent runes formed a gently rotating disc. Something was wrong, though. The Angel's fingers looked congruent with the man she knew him to be. And yet whenever the runes got too close to his fingertips, she saw them: well-manicured, long purple fingernails that belonged to a much more slender frame.

“Pretty color,” Dani rasped. The Angel's eyes flicked down to them and Dani swore she saw a glint of purple in them before it vanished. She must've distracted him, though, because the disc of runes shuddered and danced for a moment. The instability of the magic tore at Dani's flesh. Pain – sharp, blessed, holy pain – raked at her. Then she was out again.

* * *

Sunday - 17:48

When she next awoke, Dani stared at the popcorn ceiling of her bedroom. Every part of her ached. She reached to wipe the sleep from her eyes, but found that her hand wouldn't move. Alarmed, she attempted to sit up. Her feet flailed uselessly.

“What the fuck?” Dani muttered. She looked up and saw golden, gossamer ropes of energy lashed around her wrists. She tugged, finding them to be far more resilient that she’d have thought.

“You're awake.” The Angel announced. Dani's head flopped to the side. She saw him seated in a chair.

“Watching me as I sleep is the domain of perverts and vampires. And vampire perverts.” Dani rasped.

“Nonsense.” The Angel stood, and then stalked closer. “Vampires are a fiction. And I am a chaste servant of the Divine.”

It was almost charming how affronted the Angel was at the words. If it'd been under any other circumstance, it would've been...cute. Which, that was new to Dani. Or, new in the past few...

...

…

“How long was I out?”

The Angel sighed. “It is Sunday.”

“Fuck.” Two days. “And the ropes?” Dani tugged at them.

“Protection, given our last meeting.” The Angel stared at Dani. “For mine, as well as yours.”

“What?”

“You are not yourself, Dane Collier.” The Angel's mention of that other name set Dani on edge. Even as it did, she realized with painful clarity that even hearing his name had set off something. She hadn't even noticed that she wasn't...him. Now she couldn’t stop noticing it. Her perception was distinct and separate. It should have unnerved her. Instead, she felt giddy at the idea of it.

“You mean because of the...the way I almost became a succubus?”

The Angel gritted his teeth and sucked in a breath. “Yes.”

As she began to wake more fully, memories flooded back of that moment. Of the-

“The Hellshard. You-”

“It is still contained.”

Dani couldn't help it. She snickered. “Like...in you? How do you, y'know...?”

“I am not subject to human bodily functions.”

Dani cackled for a long moment because really, what the fuck? It was all so absurd. Chuck, her chill bro firefighter roommate with an acumen for CoD strategy was an Angel. An Angel who had a demonic buttplug up his ass to “contain” it. And here he was - a guy who’d called her “dick lick” and “chode monster” and “ass goblin” - speaking like Sephiroth…if Sephiroth had a demonic buttplug up his ass. Then something occurred to her and she stopped laughing.

She remembered the first time that she and Chuck had bonded. It’d been years ago, back when they’d first met. It was one of the first things she'd learned about the man she knew as Chuck. He'd told her the story when they were out drinking, just after he'd moved in. It was how she knew they'd be bros. It had so thoroughly endeared him to her. “So the story of the time you shit in that dude's car as revenge was a lie?”

“I found the details on Reddit.”

Dani tried to wrench free from the ropes. It shouldn't matter and yet she was incensed. She didn't know why it felt like such a betrayal. It should've been the smallest thing. In the grand scale of the unmitigated shitshow that had been these past few days, it was nothing. It should’ve been nothing.

But that’s why it stung. Because it was stupid and it was meaningless and it was so…so…

So unflinchingly human. And now she was so far away from all of that, her world having been forever altered. Even if she got free of this, somehow, she couldn’t have a normal life. Everything was weird and the world was so much darker and stranger and scarier than it had been before Friday. Before the Helldriver.

Before she'd almost become something just as dark and strange and not normal. Lying here she felt so...incomplete. Not quite demonic enough to feel comfortable, not quite a regular human being, either. Being perceived like this made bile rise in her throat. She needed to wound someone. It felt better than feeling the awful, gnawing sense of failure or the endless, swirling confusion about what this all meant for her.

And somehow she felt like she knew how to hurt The Angel.

“You're pathetic,” she spat. “All of this just to get a girl tied to a bed? You find details about how to do that on Reddit, too, you freak?”

The Angel looked over his shoulder and then glared down at her. “You are attempting to provoke me.”

“Why wouldn't I be? This is your fantasy, right?” Dani thought of the runes and those, long, elegant fingernails. “Or did you want me to seduce you a second time? Get you to really express the girl you are?”

The Angel's golden-brown eyes burned with a violet light as his hand glowed again. A flash of runes danced across his palm and then jutted out. Space and time tore apart around the runes, rigid concepts underpinning the world reduced to liquid glass. Then, with a brilliant CRACK!, the displacement and the runes became substantial. Real. The Angel held a broadsword. It had a golden hilt inlaid with jewels. Divine, translucent flame licked up the length of the blade. In one deft move, he hefted it before resting the tip against Dani's sternum.

“Perhaps I misjudged you. Perhaps you are only the fiendish remnants of Dane Collier. Perhaps I should end you.” The Angel growled, low and scornful.

Dani just couldn't help herself. “You'd like that, wouldn't you? You’d love for me to be some foul temptress.” Dani rolled her hips. “You’d love it if I could lead you into darkness. I saw the way you craved it when I told sweet truths.” She held his stare and let a wicked grin play across her face. “When you were on your knees for me.”

It was a vicious taunt. One that seemed to hit its mark, based on the rage contorting the Angel’s face. And it felt good. Or at least it didn't feel as bad as being lost and powerless.

Once again, the Angel looked behind him. Then he shook his head in equal parts amusement and contempt, driving the sword into Dani’s chest an inch. She refused to show how much it hurt, even as she relished the clarity it brought her.

“Just for once I'd like to meet a demon who wasn't so confident.” Hatred spilled from his every word.

“Why? So you could play on her insecurities? You s-sly dog,” Dani tried to keep the bravado, but the pain made her voice quaver.

He looked over his shoulder again before meeting Dani's gaze. Dani craned to see what he was looking at, but couldn't see anything.

“You keep doing that.” Even through the pain, she couldn't help it. She was curious. The Angel whipped to face her. For a moment, his golden-brown eyes held a different tint. Purple, vibrant. Dani squinted.

“Something's up with you, 'Chuck'” she made air-quotes with her fingers...and then regretted the way the movement made the sword dig into her. “Ow.”

Whether the accusation or the comment was the cause, something Dani did made him withdraw. The sword glimmered and then vanished, its existence abjured by the same magic that had conjured it.

“I apologize. That was impolite. I should reintroduce myself. I am the Angel Val...erien. You may call me Val,” he said.

The shift caught Dani off-guard. “Dani. Sorry, I just...saying his name feels wrong.”

“And yet that is who you are. It tells me I'm right to keep you like this for a while longer. Until more of the corruption has receded. You may still be confused, but in a week's time, you'll be back to yourself. Provided...”

“Provided...?”

“Provided no self-congress.”

“Self-cong- you mean jerking off?!” A furious blush bloomed in Val's cheeks.

“Only a week, just a week. Transformation of self is a willing act. One you must resist,” Val said.

“Which is why demons like me seduce.”

“You’re not one. Not yet. And not on my watch. I can help, if you'd prefer. There are certain workings one can use to ensure chastity.” Val's hands began to glow with power, the beginnings of spellwork forming at his fingertips.

Oh hell no. “No, I, uh...I'll be fine. I'll be good!”

The light faded from Val's hands. “Swear it to me, then. Say these words: 'I swear to the Angel Val that I will not fondle, touch, or abuse myself in any lewd or sexual manner.'”

His voice was so insistent and commanding. It set off something in Dani and she felt…warm. Huh. So the submissive thing wasn’t just a fluke. “I swear to the Angel Val that I will not fondle, touch, or abuse myself in any lewd or sexual manner.” Even as Dani said it, it felt like something locked into place. The heat she’d felt from his words dimmed. She felt more like...herself? No. More like him. Oh.

She'd just agreed to something that would kill her. Or close enough to it.

“Was that...magic?” Dani asked.

Val nodded. “Pact magic. Unbreakable, too. Which means I no longer need these.”

Dani felt the ropes give.

“Just a week and you will be yourself again. Your name will no longer feel unfamiliar. You will be fine.” Val urged.

Dani gave a faint smile. She was no longer bound, but the weight of everything was finally catching up to her. “Great. Good, even. Um...listen, I got lightly stabbed and I'm still really achy from what I'm pretty sure was my body hitting a wall at hundreds of miles an hour, so...can I just...sleep?”

Val nodded. “Of course.” He withdrew and headed for the door. Dani pulled the thin sheets of the bed over her and curled up, facing away from him. She heard Val put his hand on the doorknob, but then he paused.

“I have trust in you.” Then Val took his leave. When the door closed, Dani let the tears she'd been hold back flow. She didn't know if Angels had heightened hearing, so she didn't allow herself to make a noise.

The darkness of sleep took her again after an hour of silent sobs. In it, she was outside herself. She watched again as her body had started to become her own. Watched her breasts grow. Her hair lengthened. Skin softened, hips widened. It was her, but so much more than she was. A promise. The promise she'd believed everything had gone wrong. Before Val and his righteous charge to “save” her.

Even just drinking it in, Dani filled with a certainty that nothing could withstand her charm. Hells, those hips. That sensuous bow of her lips. The smoldering allure in her eyes…. It felt good. This woman looked confident in her body, relaxed and at ease. She'd never known a moment of confidence that was truly hers. The only time she'd felt something akin to it was under the thrall of the Helldriver. Even then, it felt artificial. Impressed upon her.

Then a hand tore through her promised self’s chest. There was no blood where the skin rent apart, and as it tore it sounded like...fabric. As if the promise wasn't real. Like even this was a costume. Another hand burst free. Masculine. His hand. They clawed at the air, seeking Dani. And Dani felt herself being pulled toward it. She wanted to run. Panic suffused every mote of her consciousness. She knew that if they enveloped her, she would die. She needed to be awake. Now.

* * *

Monday - 07:24

Dani screamed into the emptiness of her bedroom, alert and sweating. Morning light shone through the windows. She'd anticipated that Val would come bursting in through her door, but it was just...still.

The rest of the apartment was just as still. She even checked in Val's room. It was sparse, the walls bare. No sign of him. Fuck. Probably bad.

Dani left Val’s room and saw something on the living room table glint in the morning light. She approached carefully. Weird unexplained shit after leaving someone’s room was like…always bad.

As she got closer, though, all she saw was a piece of paper with some neat, concise handwriting and…a watch. It had a thin golden frame and a white face with black, roman numerals. The strap was brown leather. It looked entirely non-threatening.

So had the Helldriver. Maybe a little extra, but non-threatening.

Dani picked it up, bracing herself for whatever would happen. Nothing did. She regarded it. “Just a watch, then?” She picked up the paper next to it and began reading.

Dane Collier,

This is not just a watch.

“Fuckin’ knew it,” Dani muttered.

Concealed within this humble watch is a powerful working of Arcane ingenuity. It will mask you in your entirety. Your body, clothes, and voice will be as they once were…and will be again. I wish I had been there to aide you, but I must away on a sojourn. I made you a promise, my friend. You will get through this. It will take time, but you’ll start to see him again. And then you’ll to start to become him again. Your world will repair itself and you will move onto greater endeavors.

Know that you are not alone. You have the power of the Heavens on your side.

Yours,

The Angel Val

“Jesus, get an editor, Val. ‘Wear it. It’ll make you a dude.’ Two lines. Fuckin’ Lord of the Rings ass monologue instead.” Dani crumpled up the note, then sighed. She smoothed it out. She wasn’t mad at him. This whole situation was just…ten shades of fucked. And calling in sick wasn’t an option. She took the watch and headed off to the bathroom. She needed to get ready.

Dani didn’t take a shower. She’d realized after stripping down that she couldn’t, not without getting her much, much longer hair wet. It was how she ended up staring at herself for the first time.

The mirror wasn't lying, but Dani couldn't understand her own image. Val promised her it would get better.

Except.

That feeling. It clung to her. It was like it was trying to suffocate her. Every part of her should've felt happy. And she did! Having a soul, it turns out, was pretty neat and good. Having the autonomy necessary to make your own choices? Yes. Very important. Making sure she got back to normal...

Dani met her own gaze, looked at the stranger staring back at her. She was happy except for that feeling. The one she got when she saw the face in the mirror. She pursed her lips. They were fuller. Plump, even. There was a glisten to them that had to be unnatural, too. It was as though she'd just now applied gloss to them. The same held true for the rest of her features. She was so much softer, so much more feminine. Her skin was beyond unblemished. Like whatever had been done to her had left her permanently airbrushed. “Dolled up”. She felt less...angular, even as she recognized things that were his.

His.

That word. She didn't know how to feel about it. Which was part of the problem. Before, things were clear cut. She knew things. Or, he knew things and she had his memories of knowing things, if she was being honest with herself. Now? Now it was all jumbled up and it wasn't clear to her where she stood.

For so long she...wasn't. And then she was. Not only was she, but she was conscious that she was here. Now.

But none of the memories were hers. They were his. His life. If she thought real hard she could almost smudge his face out of the memory. Pretend she'd always been there. Even when she could manage it, the joy of it faded fast and in its stead was always sorrow.

She hated lying to the Angel about the maelstrom inside her now because her transformation had been...revelatory. She couldn't forget the elation she felt as bits of him being stripped away. It wasn't just erotic, it was...freeing. And then she remembered how she'd jolted to wakefulness in her room. Alone and afraid. So very different to the influence she’d felt from her Mis- her Mis-

Her Mis-.

The word wouldn’t form in her mind, like a record skipping. She knew it was there, she just…couldn’t say it. It left her feeling pitiful. The embrace of that other woman - that fiery warmth that gave her strength - was gone. Whatever conditioning had been forced inside her mind was still there, but dormant. It told her, each time she closed her eyes, of an end to the suffering of nonexistence. It felt like a cruel joke, sitting here cold and exposed, not sure if the body she gazed upon was one she’d ever feel comfortable with.

And these feelings. All these fucking feelings she had. He’d never felt those, she was damn sure. It was like Technicolor rainbow scalpels were vivisecting her. They cut and tore at her with emotions. Emotions that he’d never allowed.

It all made her want to wretch. It reminded her of the nightmare, of the hands that tore her apart from the inside. And she felt him as he raged, burnt and scared, thrashing in the lightless ocean she'd slumbered in. He wanted out. Out of that small corner of her, tucked somewhere deep within herself. And she could feel his revulsion, too. The inverse of hers, like he was her-

Dani's eyes flicked the wooden frame, then to the person staring back at her. “Now you're just getting too poetic,” she muttered to herself. She hadn't intended to gaze at herself anyway. It was supposed to be a quick check. Today was Monday, after all, and a different kind've hell awaited her.

Corporate hell.

* * *

Monday - 08:37

Before everything, he'd been an office worker. Some make-work job that didn't matter except to fuck over a bunch of regular folk for a greedy CEO. He was paid handsomely for his job, she knew that. And it wasn't anything particularly taxing, interesting, or that required much brainpower. The perks of being him. Perks she knew she could never get, even with all the same characteristics as him. Dani snuck a look at her own cleavage. Well arguably a few enhanced ones.

Her suit still fit, for the most part. Rather than the outfit looking over-sized or baggy, though, it looked…lewd on her. It clung to her, hugging curves and accentuating how not man she was without the watch. If Dani had seen herself walk in to work wearing this? She don’t know if she would’ve been able to control herself.

And yet, she had to. “Only a week, just a week,” Val had promised, and then she'd slip away. He'd be back in control. It was better this way. All she had to do was not touch herself for a week. And Val had cast that spell on Dani. The one that rendered her not able to…self-congress.

Dani parked her car and slipped out in the cold of the morning air, acutely aware of her lack of a bra. Her nipples were hard. Because of the cold. Yep. Just that. Definitely not the memory of being tied spread eagle to a bed, commanded to obey, and then forced into willing chastity. Nope. Didn’t enjoy that in the slightest. Still, the sensation as she headed across the lot and found her way to her office had her pulling open NMart. She clicked on the first bra she saw and bought it. Express shipped, here tonight between 6-8 PM.

If it were any other day, buying a bra would’ve been enough. She could buckle down. Today she had an actual office with a door that could lock. And she was...

Curious.

That urge. She'd not really had a body like this before. She'd glimpsed moments of life as him. Moments when he'd tapped into her without realizing it. They'd always felt wrong, like she was piloting a jangling behemoth made of flesh, bone, and sinew. Now she more…right. And now that she was alone and alert, away from the Angel's judgmental gaze, curiosity was becoming a problem. She felt her fingertips graze against her collarbone. They Explored, mapping sensations. Sensations that were hers. Memories that were hers. Memories that he couldn't control or redact.

She closed her eyes and let them continue to wander. Fine. She'd be good and be dead in a week when this transformation wore off. She’d go back to being him again and slip down into that lightless ocean. Doesn't mean she couldn't make sure that he wouldn't remember her fingertips. She would make sure that he dreamt of them. How they traced down her hips. The feel of her skin. She'd make herself so impossible to forget that he'd spend nights crying himself to sleep, wishing he'd let her stay. Again.

Again?

That memory. A memory he'd not let himself think about. Buried. Hidden from her. About her. Something-

“Okay to come in?” Kira Malone peeked her head around the door, eyebrows high but somewhat obscured beneath her neon violet bangs. Dani waved her hand. Thank god for the glamour spell that Val had cast on that watch. To everyone else, Dani would look and sound like him. Like the man she used to be. Was still. Technically.

Except.

Tears slipped down Dani's cheeks. She had memories, too. Brief and fleeting except for the few moments she'd broken free. When she thought life would just be like that: uncomplicated, blissful.

Mired in sinful corruption and loving it.

Now she was having an existential crisis at 8:38 AM on a Monday and nobody knew. She didn't have time to process this. Certainly not in front of Kira Malone, work bestie. She brought up a hand and made it look like she was scratching idly at her cheek. She hoped the glamour spell worked on bodily fluids.

Tears, specifically.

“What can I do for ya, Kir?” Dani croaked, voice thick with emotion.

“Oh, nothing,” Kira said. She sidled up to and then leaned against Dani's desk. “Just wanted to check in on my favorite office friend.?” She wore a puckish grin.

“Slacker,” Dani retorted, shooting a her a practiced grin. They were his words in her mouth. They stung and felt wrong.

“You're off today.” Kira noted clinically. “What's up?”

Dani shook her head. She had to be normal. That's all. Be normal and die.

Take it like a man. Should be easy.

“I'm fine,” she managed, teeth clenched.

“Are you sure?” Kira pressed.

“I…” She had no business saying or doing anything to endanger him. Dani exhaled, pushing away her feelings. “Yeah, just…annoyed. Mondays.”

“Q3 meeting?” Kira asked.

That broke Dani out of her funk. “Fucking Q3 meeting,” she groaned. Their numbers were off. Dani had meant to carve out a chunk of the day on Saturday to go through everything and come up with a plan. Before…

Fucking Val.

“What?” Kira cocked her head and oh shit Dani’d said that out loud.

“Forget it,” Dani tried to wave it away, but the tears were back in her voice. Then Kira slid her hand on top of Dani’s where it rested on the desk and she froze, stock-still. Fear cascaded through every nerve. All she wanted to do in this moment was say it. Say whatever needed to be said, even as she knew she shouldn’t.

She'd get to slumber again. Just a week! One week and she’d forget she even existed. All she needed to do was wait. It was so easy for him. Why was it so difficult for her? Why couldn't she just shut up about it? Shut up about how she was new and she was scared and she needed help. Shut up about what it meant. Shut up about things that weren't her place to say.

But Kira's eyes were so soft. Gleaming golden-brown and she was so pretty. Kira – who'd rejected her years ago when Dani had made a move, but had become her best friend all the same. Kira – who'd confided in Dani about how she never got along with her family. Kira – perfect, amazing, caring Kira Malone who just wanted to know the truth.

The truth was dangerous, though. This truth especially was dangerous. Dangerous, even as she felt it clawing up her throat. How could she fundamentally destroy her friend's perception of reality? Demons and Angels and magic…and that maybe the guy she knew never really was a guy at all. No. It was all so bizarre. All things better left unsaid. She just needed to shut up and let it pass. Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up-

“I'm a woman. And a demon. And I almost maybe corrupted an Angel and it felt…it felt so fucking amazing to tap into all these things, but then it stopped. And now I'm stuck halfway between being being me and being him and I don't know, I just don't know, I don't fucking know anymore.” Dani sobbed. Desperate, violent, wailing sobs. Less than a day and she'd confessed it. She hadn't meant to, but in retrospect how could she keep this a secret from anyone?

But then Kira's hand was on Dani's back, running up and down. The touch soothed her and she felt her worries melt. Solace and reassurance bubbled up in her. “Shhhh, it's okay. We're all a little weird,” Kira breathed, airy and disarming. “So, it sounds like you've gotten into some...stuff and, uh...I'm honored you would tell me about it. It's definitely...I didn't know you were into stuff like that and it's fine.” Kira's hand continued to circle, but something was off.

“I-I mean sissy stuff is pretty common.” Kira's voice was weird. Thick with emotion and yet...tentative. Searching. When Dani looked up, Kira's eyes were wide. It'd register as shock if Dani hadn't clocked how dilated her pupils were. Her attention roamed down, taking in how flushed Kira was. Even lower still. No. Not lower. Deeper. She didn't know why, but on instinct she willed herself to not see Kira Malone – best friend, human. She willed herself to see beyond it. See the core of what Kira Malone wanted. What she was.

And she felt it, the same way she had on Friday. And as she felt it, should could see it: the golden gleam of an Angel's soul.

Of course. Of course her best friend and her roommate were Angels. Dani was an oddity to be studied. And of course Val wouldn't have been comfortable with Dani going to work without some sort of supervision in place. Of course figuratively perfect Kira was literally a perfect Angel.

And Angels killed Demons. Fuck. Dani scrambled backward out of her chair. “Please don't hurt me.”

“Dane...” Kira shot up, distressed. Dani winced. Kira noticed. “Okay, so not that. What do you want me to call you?”

“Why? Aren't you Angels all about killing creatures like me?”

“Is that what you think of me?”

“Val seems like that!”

The gold in Kira's eyes brightened. “Valerien is not all we are.” Her voice boomed, as though Dani had profaned Kira’s creator. “Angels are not all...vengeful. Some of us have different perspectives. Some of us exist to bring respite.”

Dani felt herself relax. “It's Dani.”

“Okay then, Dani.” Kira checked her phone. “It's 8:45 in the morning. I'd call that quittin' time.”

* * *

Monday - 09:16

Callahan's Tavern was, by all accounts, a dive bar for drunks and disgruntled businessmen. It's why the bartenders knew Dani by (the wrong) name when she entered. Dani was glad that they weren't chatty types. The bar itself wasn't much: a couple booths along one wall, some round four-tops.

They chose one in the back, near the dart board and the bathroom. The faux-leather seating had worn and cracked with use and disrepair. It’s why Dani liked this place: they didn’t give a fuck.

“So,” Kira slid into the booth across from Dani. “I guess we should start with...how much did Valerien tell you?”

“Not much? Just that I'm supposed to die in a week and to not do anything to stop it.”

“What?”

“I - this me--” Dani gestured to herself, “will be 'dead' in a week, once the transformation wears off.”

Kira furrowed her brow. “That doesn't make sense.”

“Why not?”

“I'm guessing you...don't...want to change back?”

“It's...I want to be around. I just know that it'd be easier to not.”

“Okay, but...this shouldn't be possible.”

“No, I know this part. When I was under the effects of the Helldriver, I had all this succubus knowledge pushed in there. The succubus who did this modified a video game to indoctrinate us.”

Kira shook her head. “Even if that were the case, you're not...it's not...”

“What do you want me to say, Kira? Because my tits and altered perception of self both feel like it is.”

Kira let out a low grunt, a rueful smile on her lips. “I hate Demons.”

“Thanks.” Dani scowled.

“No! I meant-“ she sighed. “I hate Demons like whoever did this to you because that's not how indoctrination works.”

“My Mis-“ Dani tried to form the word, but it felt wrong. She wanted to say it, but…she couldn’t. “Can’t say the word, I guess. I hate this supernatural shit. The demon she said it was something different. That I was something...different.”

Kira shook her head again. “Demons say a lot of things…and make promises they don’t keep.” Kira sounded bitter. Dani wanted to ask. She didn’t. Whatever had passed over Kira’s face when she said it left, and she blew out a quick breath. “Anyway,” Kira said, fumbling in her pockets before producing a small, rosewood colored matchbook.

Kira handed the matchbook to Dani. “Take this.”

Dani's fingers brushed against Kira's as she took it. “Um...okay?” She regarded the matchbook. Embossed in gold letter was the name of a law firm: Wilsner, Cass & Sabor. Beneath it was a single teardrop-shaped flower petal, a burnt umber color in the center that resolved to a warm peach at the edge.

“Observe.”

Kira curled her wrist, fingers glowing as small runes danced across the tips. To Dani's astonishment, a small glob of water rose from her glass and then hung in mid-air. Kira's index finger tapped at seemingly nothing and it stopped moving. Suspended.

“Neat trick, but...what does this have to do with indoctrination.”

“Burn it.” Kira gestured at the globule.

Dani shrugged, removed a match, and struck it. The tip of the match burst into flame. Dani looked to Kira, who raised a eyebrow. “Okay, I guess...” She held it underneath the glob of water. Small bubbles began to form at the heat. Dani looked to Kira.

Kira shook her head. “No. Burn it.”

“I am.” Dani gestured to the vapor wicking off the glob.

“You're boiling it.” Kira gestured again.

“Isn't that the same thing?” Dani scoffed.

“Mortals.” Kira rolled her eyes. “Burn it.”

“How?” Dani shot back.

“By burning it!” The tautology of Kira's suggestion galled Dani.

“What do you mean?”

Kira looked down at her nails before she fluttered her hand dismissively. “I mean burn it! Can you not follow simple instructions!”

“I can follow them when they make sense!”

“Then burn. The water.”

“I-”

“Burn it!” She taunted.

“I can't!”

“Why?!” She challenged.

“You can't burn water!” Dani bellowed.

Kira nodded as a smirk spread across her face. “That's right, Dani. You can't burn water.” Kira said, the adversarial quality in her voice replaced with something softer, yet just as unyielding. Pedagogic, scholarly. Mentoring. She flicked her wrist and the glob of water dropped, dousing the flame.

Dani wanted to run, even as she couldn't break her gaze from the match in her hand. A thin line of smoke drifted off it, wafting from where a burning cinder still clung to life. Burning even as everything around it – gleaming and black – tried to drown it. A black, lightless ocean. Then Dani closed her eyes. She didn't see the runes that had been seared behind her eyelids.

She saw…herself? She was a child, feeling herself grow and not understanding why she couldn't be with the girls anymore. Why they didn't want her around, either. Why they only saw him. And how much it hurt him to hold onto her. How he'd cried soft tears when he finally shoved her deep down. Buried her.

Tears slipped down Dani's cheeks again. “You can't...burn...” Dani refused to say it. To even think it. To accept the heat she'd felt on Friday. She should feel bad about it. She'd been discovered. Rescued, at great personal expense to a man. Given aide rather than be condemned, as she’d been told would happen.

“It's okay...” Kira coaxed.

“Please. Please don't make me say it if it's a joke,” Dani sobbed.

“I never would.” Kira reassured. A long moment passed in silence as Dani felt more tears fall. Water. “Tell me what it means, Dani.” Dani felt Kira's hand on her's. Soft and warm. And the fight left her. She would say it. She knew it. Even though the only way this could go was ruin and isolation and the end of all things.

“It means...” Dani sucked in an uneasy breath and opened her eyes. Kira had leaned forward, her golden-brown eyes so full of comfort. This was stupid. Why would she admit this to an Angel? It had to be a joke. Or a trap. She should just shut up. Even now, Dani could force the door that had been pushing open inside her closed. She should do that. She owed it to everyone who had given him all the things he'd gotten. But she was so tired. And it had only been three days.

Except. Except it hadn't. She couldn't stop it now. It was longer than three days. Longer than three weeks or months. It was years and decades of small indignities and grave injustices.

“I-I'm...real.” The world didn't end. Instead, Kira gave Dani's hand a light squeeze. “Very real.”

Horror and elation coursed through Dani in equal measure. “It means I'm not something of his.”

Kira shook her head. “No, you're not.”

Dani looked to the match. The cinder was gone. “Kira, I...I don't want to die.”

“You're not going to. Take a breath.” Kira paused and Dani realized she wasn’t saying it just to say it. Dani pulled in a shaky inhale through her nose. She held it for a moment, and found that when she exhaled, it wasn’t as shaky. It was incredible. It was…magic. Dani’s eyes met Kira’s.

“Angel of respite,” Kira shrugged.

Dani nodded dumbly. “Ah. You’re good at being mean.”

“Only when I need to be.” There was a glint of something in her eyes, along with a quirk of her lips. Kira hummed before she continued. “Just...look, this whole situation's complicated. We can go talk to Valerien together, though, okay?”

Dani rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whenever he gets back from his ‘sojourn’.”

“Huh?”

“He left. Didn’t say where, just…left a note. Also, why do you keep calling him by his full name. Is that an Angel thing?”

“Full name?”

“Yeah, he said to call him Val.”

“…And then he left.” Kira repeated.

“…You didn't know?”

“I didn’t. Valerien’s normally very communicative. Overly so.”

Dani snorted. “You should’ve seen the note he wrote about this!” Dani gestured to the watch. Kira regarded it for a second, then did a double take. Her brows furrowed, but before she could inquire, Dani’s phone rang. She checked it. “Oh, shit. I forgot that Laurie’s running Q3 forecasting in twenty minutes.”

“Okay, so I was wrong,” Kira mused. “You might die…at her hands.”

Dani gave a grim laugh. “The ice queen strikes again.” Dani looked at Kira, an eyebrow raised. Kira shook her head.

“Not a thing.”

* * *

Monday - 10:32

Laurie Teller was steely on her best days. This was not her best day. When Dani arrived two minutes late to the meeting, Laurie was already furious.

“Take a seat, Collier,” Laurie huffed. There was only one, directly across the table from Laurie. Dani took it. Only once he was seated did Laurie move. She pushed away from the table and stood, walking over to a whiteboard. She uncapped a red marker. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking and I’ve come up with the solution.”

Dani prepared to be…underwhelmed.

Laurie’s prim, sloping handwriting formed out the words “New Good Ideas”. She capped the marker, dropped it in tray attached to the board with enough height that it emitted a metallic TACK!, and then made a show of crossing her arms.

“Who has them?” Dani wanted to roll her eyes. It was exactly what she’d come to expect. Laurie wasn’t good at her job. Like most upper managers, she was out of her depth and compensated with untold sadistic cruelty to everyone outside the C-suite. Ironically, there were a few times Dani and Kira had both joked about Laurie being some sort of soul-sucking beast in disguise. Dani furrowed her brow. Come to think of it…nah.

But Dani was curious now. She stared, focusing past and deeper the same way that she’d done with Kira. She braced for what she would find. But what she found was…nothing. Just a dull white light suffusing every part of Laurie’s body. Nothing extraordinary. Thoroughly regular. Human.

Weird. What was that like? Laurie cleared her throat. Dani caught her stare, then realized to anyone else that it would’ve looked like she was giving Laurie a lurid once-over. Fuck. Laurie continued without calling further attention to it, though, and Dani relaxed. As she did, though, she noticed a flicker of something near her left hand. She looked down saw a thin red ribbon hanging in the air. It was so transparent that she had to squint her eyes.

“Dane?”

Dani flinched as she brought her gaze back up to meet Laurie’s. She’d called on Dani. Fuck. What had they been talking about?

“Right, yeah. Um, third quarter projections are 3% under KPI, but I agree with Rick that our fundamentals are strong and if we close the loop on a few projects, maybe pick some low-hanging fruit, we can absolutely deliver.” Did that even make sense? Fuck it. It was corpo speak. Dani knew none of it made sense. It didn’t matter anyway, as Dani’s focus was on the ribbon’s point of origin: Laurie. At least, it looked to be that way.

The end of the ribbon near her hand extended forward for a few feet before it became so faint that Dani couldn’t make it out against the wood grain of the table. If she hadn’t been looking for it, she’d not have noticed the way a similar ribbon seemed to float just below Laurie’s sternum.

Dani was too curious. She wanted to see what would happen. She twirled a finger around it and yanked.

“Dane if you can’t-“ Laurie’s voice cut off, replaced by a low, guttural moan. Laurie blinked, cheeks flushed. The eyes of Dani’s peers had been on her until that. Now they were all on Laurie. Laurie pulled in a deep, calming breath, and Dani felt the ribbon in her hand dissipate. Laurie replaced the scowl on her face with an icy smile.

“We’ll need to reschedule this meeting. Thank you everyone for your time.” The others in the room began to file out, but Laurie stayed seated. The burning glare she gave Dani told her that she should stay, too.

It took a minute before they were alone. Laurie didn’t speak. Neither did Dani. She’d fucked up. Only once the door had closed did Laurie begin: “I think we should discuss putting you on a Performance Improvement Plan.”

Dani’s heart thundered in her chest. She knew what it meant, but her libido had other ideas of how a stern woman like her could make sure Dani’s performance improved. No. Bad demon. She had to protect the annoying cishet guy’s job. He was…something. Except was he? Because as seconds ticked by, Dani wracked her thoughts and she could never remember him feeling…alive. Every memory was cold, distant. Even when he’d felt things they felt…wrong. It was such a contrast to the exhilaration of this. The purity of how wrong it was to be doing this.

“Hello? Dane? Do I need to explain this to you in smaller words?” Dani realized she hadn’t spoken for a solid twenty seconds and was about to say something when she felt the ribbon in her hand again. It’d reappeared just after Laurie had-

Oh. That’s what this was.

The words left Dani before she could stop them. “Laurie if you wanted to degrade me, you could’ve just asked. I didn’t know you were into that.” Dani’s hand tugged a little at the ribbon. The flush went back into Laurie’s face. This time, the ribbon remained tangible.

Laurie scowled, even as Dani could see the way her pupils had widened. “I’m a good Christian woman and I won’t be talked to by you like like that, you worm.”

Dani tugged again, a bit more insistent. Laurie gasped and shuddered. Then she seemed to realize something. “You-you…villain!”

Dani tugged. Laurie groaned, her hands splaying out on the table. “I always knew you were a creep.” Dani tugged again, but this time she didn’t let the ribbon slacken. She drew it taut. Laurie’s breathing was getting labored. “Y-you’re a loser. I-I see how little you work…” One of Laurie’s hands slipped from the table. Neither of them had any illusions about where it now lay.

“I-I loathe you and people like you. L-Lazy. So- FUCK-“ Laurie’s hand had picked up speed, working between her legs as her body shook. “So fucking goddamn terrible and unimpressive, you fucking useless excuse for a ma-“ Dani yanked hard.

“YES!” Laurie hissed in a breath, body shaking. Through the ribbon, Dani felt energy surging into her. It made her feel powerful. After feeling so off, this felt…right.

Dani leaned back, basking in the feeling. This was dumb. She did it anyway. “You’re right. I am a useless excuse for man. Except…”

She pulled on the leather strap of the watch. It slipped free and away from her skin. She felt the shimmer as her false self faded away. She didn’t even need to, though, because the look on Laurie’s face told her definitively that yes, the glamour spell wasn’t no longer in place.

Laurie’s hand went to the cross necklace. Dani rolled her eyes. “You think God’s gonna help you, Laur?”

“Monster…”

“You sound just like the Angel I corrupted.”

“Corrupted…?”

Dani crossed her legs and leaned forward. Val. That’s right. What had he written?

Concealed within this humble watch is a powerful working of Arcane ingenuity.

Could she do that? Or something like it? Time to find out.

Dani blew out a breath. “Well, this was fun, but obviously you’re just so scandalized. I mean, if someone like me could corrupt an Angel, then surely I could corrupt a human. Like you.” Dani stood, taking the watch. “And we both know that wouldn’t do, Laurie.”

“Wouldn’t…” Laurie’s gaze was still fixed on where Dani had been before she stood.

Dani’s heart raced. What was she doing? Was she really doing this? She sauntered closer, purposefully swaying her hips. Laurie turned her head when Dani was only a few feet away.

“I know what you’re thinking. Why would God let this happen? You’ve been so good.” Dani’s fingers traced along the cross necklace. She’d expected it to burn. She felt…nothing. Not just a lack. There was emptiness inside it, like something had once been there. “Faith is cheap, Laur.” Dani’s mind kept thinking of that emptiness being filled. Filled with something that Laurie needed. “After all, I just bought yours.” She felt a jolt and that energy that had filled her left in a rush. Red light pulsed into the cross and Laurie gasped.

Dani bent down, giving Laurie a nice view of her tits. “All you need, Laur, is a little bit of spit,” she whispered.

And then he broke to the surface. Screaming. Panic flooded Dani. She backed away until she hit the whiteboard. Dani banged her head against it. Fuck. This was bad. What the fuck. Her hands shook as she fastened the watch back into place. Fuck. Out. Leave. FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK.

Dani pushed away from the whiteboard. She glanced back and saw that she’d smeared one of the words.

New ~~~ Ideas

Dani let out a crazed guffaw before she went to leave. And then she stopped as she caught her reflection in the sliding glass door. How was this for too poetic? Because a new idea was forming in her mind. She saw his masculine features, pinched in desperate terror. He wanted to flee because that was his sole reason for existing. He’d formed around her, a suffocating shell meant to keep out everything. He kept her insulated from all the things her life could’ve ever offered. Kept her cold.

And now? Now she didn’t want that. And as she let herself not just feel but accept it, the panic in her ceased. Instead she discovered she was…furious. Liquid wrath coursed through her. At him. At herself. At a world too unceasingly cruel that she’d buried herself deep in her own soul and let this…boy dictate what she was. She wouldn’t go back. It didn’t matter what happened to her. She was through fucking around and being trapped.

Dani removed the watch and palmed it. Somewhere inside her, he protested. But he was just a voice, scared of everything and flinching at shadows. She had so much more to give and to be. Fuck waiting. In the reflection she recognized herself. Imperfect, but perfectly so. ‘Evil’ and ‘dangerous’. A ‘fiend’.

And…righteous.

Dani tightened her grip on the watch, feeling the magic inside of it. The power this working held was foreign to her, but there was a familiar note to it. It was like seeing a sibling across a crowded room. Something like her lurked inside the magic’s imprint. Inside Val.

Hypocrite.

Dani dug her fingers into the glass of the watch’s face. She willed the arcane energy within to be hers. It refused. The energy of an Angel would not be so easily hers. And yet, that familiar note, that sibling…this time she called to it. And it wanted to be hers. The glass screeched as her nails dug into it. Her compatriot within would help her. Already she could feel the way it was guiding her. The frame began to falter as that tiny source of corruption in the working spread. Like fire.

Then it submitted to her. With a deafening snap, Dani crushed the watch. The working’s energy coursed into her palm and deep within herself. It was different from mortal power, siphoned from lust. This was heady. And she reveled in the destructive power it could summon.

He protested one more time, a lance of fear and bargaining straight to her psyche. If she hadn’t been ready, she might have lost control. Not this time. Not ever again.

Dani stared at her reflection, then past and through it. Stared at him. “Sorry, Dane, but…you can’t burn water.”

She flared to life, pushing her masculine shell out from within her. Hellfire would consume Dane Collier. Dani would make sure of it. She lit him ablaze, channeling the power she’d siphoned. This would work. It was working. She laughed until she felt his vocal cords disintegrate. And then she laughed some more. Everything burnt bright and hot. She felt bits of him breaking off, flaking and becoming ash. This time it wasn’t revelatory. Instead, it was just manic relief. If the fire wouldn’t burn away the tears, Dani would’ve been crying.

Then she felt wetness cascading down her cheeks. Tears? She opened her eyes. Not tears. The sprinkler. She stood right underneath one as a torrent of water cut through the flames, dousing them. The droplets hurt where they landed on her, as if they were needles made of pure ice. Panic gripped her. Whatever infernal instincts had been shoved in her head told her that normal water couldn’t stop this. Normal water didn’t fucking hurt.

But Chuck - no, Val, fucking Val - was a firefighter. The kinda guy who was a master planner and strategist when they played games. The kinda guy who would take precautions.

The kinda Angel who would conceal powerful workings in humble objects.

Dani’s eyes saw the runes etched into the sprinkler now. Far, far too late. Her hands wouldn’t move. They weren’t hers anymore. They were his. Dani reeled. She felt her shell getting stronger as the holy water doused the flames, reconstituting what she’d burnt faster than she could burn it away. She felt cold and small. She felt the lightless ocean pulling her down and away as the twisted, broken remnants of Dane Collier asserted himself.

And she knew with a sickening certainty that she would never be free.