Three days later...

Jack Penderton hated being called a loser. In fact, nothing grated on his nerves more than the "l" word, especially if written with a capital letter, and yet, whenever he thought about it really hard he realized that the epithet suited him perfectly. He was a loser, albeit one that had learned to disguise his inadequacies over time to make himself look like a proud Alpha male. It was hard to keep up with appearances but way preferable to the alternative. 

Much like his wife, he had been born into a wealthy family but, unlike her, he had always sucked at making the best of it. The number of failed enterprises in his portfolio was staggering with real success stories always coming up short and far between. Before marrying Lucy, he had run three companies to the ground and would have gladly done it again had she not put some sense into his thick skull. Numbers had never been his strong suit and no amount of creative engineering would ever change that.

Following his marriage to her, Jack had regained some of his former respectability in the business world but was still considered somewhat toxic in many circles. Still, he persevered the best he could, slowly and surely forming new connections to keep him motivated. While he absolutely did not have to work to enjoy life to the fullest, he preferred doing so instead of always hiding behind her shadow. Relationships were fickle and often fleeting and he had no illusions about the role he played in her existence. There would come a time when they would go their separate ways, that much was certain but, until then, he was to enjoy the ride and make it last for as long as he could.

That, of course, meant making some sacrifices. While he played the role of a strong and confident individual in public, in private he meekly deferred to her all the time. All the finances were handled by her and he was allotted a monthly budget for his personal expenses he was not allowed to exceed. Impulse purchases of any kind were frowned upon and he needed her permission to even consider going against the norm. Lucy also objectified him all the time but he could live with that as long as the abominable word stayed away from their conversations. 

In the last couple of months, he had rediscovered certain long-forgotten pleasures while staying true and loyal to their relationship. The times he spent away from home always made coming back to it a more engrossing experience through and through. The sex was always better on the first night following a business trip and that was a routine he hoped would never change.

As he was leaving the airport, the first thing Jack did was text his wife to let her know he had arrived safe and soundly. More often than not, Lucy didn't text back, but when exceptions happened, they were a prelude to a good thing. Involuntarily, his cock hardened when he glanced at the phone and saw what she had typed in reply:

"Why, hello there, stud. I'm so glad you're finally back. Hurry home. I've got a wonderful thing to show you."

"Just one isn't enough, dear. You better make it two," he replied, complete with an NSFW emoji.

"I'm not talking about my boobs, silly," Lucy wrote back and he could almost hear the disappointment in her voice as she did so.

"Then what are you talking about?"

"I'm not going to ruin the surprise. Come quickly. We're all waiting for you."

"Who's we?"

Lucy's phone went silent, all chances for a straight answer gone for good. It wasn't the first time they played silly games on similar occasions yet he couldn't help but think that something didn't feel quite right. Why he didn't know and it was impossible to verbalize. The confusion would haunt him until he finally returned to the mansion.

The traffic was impossible at that time of the day, the colorful cars dragging themselves slowly across the streets. Jack sat behind the wheel, his weary eyes looking for a hint of comfort while his patience ran dangerously thin. He honked the horn more times than he could number and heard a choir of strident lamentations in response. Seconds became minutes and minutes became an hour and a half. When he finally arrived at the vicinity of his house, his curiosity had already plummeted to a minimum. Frankly, all he wanted was to park the car, head to the bedroom, and get some sleep. All 'surprises' could wait.

He had no such luck for the moment he reached the front gate he realized there was no way he would be allowed some rest. Lucy was throwing a party.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" he exclaimed.

No, there was no doubt about it. The cars, the lights, the bloody fireworks exploding in the skies above... the outer gardens were full of people in incredibly expensive and extravagant attires and loud music played everywhere. It was an incredible-looking mess, and the complete opposite of the welcoming committee he wanted to see.

"Oh come on, Lucy! What's this all about now?" Jack mumbled as he navigated the sea of guests, most of which were unfamiliar faces. Shifty eyes followed him around at every turn, even when he stormed the front door to find his wife and her daughters standing to attention like life-sized sex dolls, arms to the side, and mouths partially open.

"Welcome, Jack," Lucy said, robotically. "Took you long enough to get here."

"Hello, Jack," the twins greeted him in unison with the same vacant expression on their faces. "Lovely party, isn't it?"

"Hmmm, I guess... what's the occasion, girls?"

"The most exciting one ever," Willa replied. "Marilyn has decided she'll be staying with us until the end of the year. Isn't that amazing?"

"I'm sorry, who?" 

"As funny as ever, I see," Amy grabbed him by the left arm. "Come along, she's waiting in her office for a chance to see you again."

The young woman led him up the stairs to the same room where Lucy used to do her work. Both the matriarch of the family and Willa stayed behind to welcome more brand-new faces to the mix. The show had to go on no matter what.

Upon reaching the office door, Amy gently pushed it to the side and bowed before a striking figure wearing an emerald green leather belted mini dress and matching ankle-high boots.

"Goddess, Jack is finally here to see you," she said, her voice trembling with uncontrolled excitement.

"Thank you, my slut," Marilyn smirked. "You may kiss my ass before you leave. Lock the door on your way out and make sure no one bothers us, understood?"

"Yes, Goddess. Thank you," Amy happily scurried to plant her lips on the extraterrestrial's tight ass cheeks before exiting the room, all flustered and red.

Alone with the stranger that appeared to be much more than it met the eye, Jack scratched his chin and muttered,

"Okay, what the fuck just happened?"

"You look confused, Jack." Marilyn sat atop Lucy's desk, legs crossed. "I bet this was the last thing you were expecting to come home to, today."

"You got that right... whoever the fuck you are."

"You already know my name... well, one of them, at least. It's a shame you weren't here the day I made my first move but we can take care of that now, can't we?"

"You still haven't answered my question," Jack stared her down like a panther getting ready to strike. "I want to know who you are, what this party is all about, and why my wife and my stepdaughters are acting so strangely. What is going on around here?"

"So many questions, and all of them predictable and boring..." Marilyn stretched her arms. "Can't we just ignore them and have a little bit of fun?"

"No, thank you," he cracked his knuckles. "If this is a prank of some sort, I'm not amused. Now tell me what I want to know."

"Trust me, you don't want to get physical with me," she retorted.

"And who are you to say such a thing? This is my house, not yours."

"Hmmm, about that..." Marilyn caressed her hair. "You've already noticed things are different around here since the last time you were around. It's not your house anymore and neither is your wife's. It's mine! I admit I wasn't planning on taking things so far but these last couple of days have been so entertaining it's almost a waste not to keep going. You're the only missing piece in this equation, but not for long."

"Your house? That's absurd! You can't just appear out of nowhere and claim everything as your own."

"Yes, I can, and I do it gladly now that I've discovered just how easy you are to manipulate. Lucy also thought ill of me when we first met and yet now I'm all her weak mind can think about and the girls are no different. I didn't appear out of nowhere, Jack. I am where I've always been and now you'll see it too."

Marylin uncrossed her legs and stepped away from the desk, circling the befuddled husband whose world had been unceremoniously torn asunder by her scathing words. Unperturbed by her seductive innuendos, he offered her an angry fist.

"I said you don't want to get physical with me," Marilyn's fingers brushed against Jack's left shoulder, immediately sapping all strength from his upper limbs. "Violence is never the answer when we can simply have a nice, quiet conversation. It will be rather one-sided but that's okay. I'm a much better talker than you'll ever be and listening soothes your mind. Listen to me, Jack. Listen only to me.

"I know your secret. In fact, I know all there is to know about you. Lucy is much more than your wife. She's practically your owner. When you married her, you knew she would take charge but you never imagined just how far she would go. She's constantly emasculating you, isn't she? When was the last time she treated you nicely behind closed doors, hmm? Never, that's when. Your marriage isn't anchored on anything truly substantial and that's just how things are meant to be. Let's face it, Jack. Lucy has always been out of your league and you'll never be anything more than a toy to her. However...

"Now, she's one of mine. Yes, your domineering spouse who was always in control lost it completely and has given all that she is to me. This is what she needed, but also what you need. What's the point of constantly being belittled by her when you can have so much more by surrendering to me? All it takes is a little adjustment, a small change in the way you see the world, and everything will be perfect again."

Marilyn touched his other shoulder and gently directed his gaze into hers. For a fraction of a second, the illusionary veil masking her true identity phased in and out of existence, a myriad of galaxies and impossible worlds engulfing his mind.

"What are you?" he asked.

"I'm everything and nothing at the same time, a form beyond all forms. The Universe is a big place, Jack, too big for any of you to comprehend, at least for now. It's possible that will change in the future but until then, you're exposed and vulnerable to whoever decides to come along and pay a visit. You're lucky it was me."

Marilyn's grip strengthened, blue jolts of energy flickering at her fingertips and coursing through his body. Each one carried within a memory that had not come to be, alternate realities overlapping his own. Jack raised both hands to his head and shouted,

"Stop! What are you doing to me?"

"Shhh, it's okay," she cooed. "It's always a shock to realize how different things can be but that realization is merely the beginning. You need to let it flow through you and let the process change you. from inside you. Listen to me, Jack.

"The major flaw of your current existence as a species is your overreliance on memories. Your relationship with the past dictates how you look at the present and how you expect the future to behave but Time is so much more than those artificial distinctions and memories are fallible. How you perceive what surrounds you and what you left behind is not immutable. Your beliefs are not set in stone, more like floating in quicksand and, at any moment, one with enough knowledge and expertise can simply walk inside your brain and change how the filing system works, kind of like... this."

Jack's head bobbed as she introduced a simple variation in his core beliefs. The memory of his wedding day froze, and Lucy's image was replaced by her own. "Do you see?" Marilyn asked.

"Y-yes," he nodded.

"Good. That's how frail your view of the world is. A tweak here, a tweak there and the impossible becomes possible. Strangers become old friends, dominant women turn into submissive little sluts, and a man who has always been a loser finds himself enthralled by someone new who will never let him go astray.

"I'm not a..."

"... loser? Yes, Jack. You are. You never get your way and you never will. The women in your life make the rules and you obey them without question and since you're now married to me..."

"But I'm not..."

"Isn't that what you remember? If I say it happened, it will keep on happening. You will never remember anything else other than the fact you love me dearly and could never live without me. This is real. It has always been real. Sleep and remember who you are to me."

Mindlessly drifting in the spiraling confusion of the words and images being planted in his brain, Jack's eyes closed to open a door to everlasting servitude.

((to be concluded))