Be All That You Seem Ch. 05

Della sat in the driver's seat of the van. The door beside her slid open and Carole climbed in.

"Has she arrived?"

"Yes, she's just left the underground station and is heading to the convenience store for a pie and some cat food. I doubt she'll be in there more than ten minutes."

"Good."

Between them they had monitored Steph Clarke's journey home every evening that week. She was later than usual tonight, despite it being a Friday, but, as Carole had pointed out, that, in fact, would make it easier with the timing. There was no point turning up at the Accident & Emergency of a hospital at 5.30pm with a woman supposedly injured whilst out clubbing. Della had been confident that they could keep Steph in the van until they were ready, but Carole had been keen to get her out and on her way to her new life with as little delay as possible. Carole looked at her watch: it was now almost 8pm; late enough for a woman in her twenties to be heading off for an evening out.

"What about Jane?" Della asked. "I checked on her on Monday and she was buzzing from the weekend. She might as well have come out to that friend of hers. She certainly seems to have started kitting out her wardrobe in the right way."

"That buzz has faded a little. I looked in on her yesterday morning. I have boosted her libido a little and am beginning to getting her thinking about clubs. It'll be so much easier for her to really explore her sexuality if she is around other lesbians. For the moment it is all too rather, well, intellectual. Okay, she has fantasies, but I worry that in the end she'll just dismiss it as a 'phase'. What I have done is engineered it so that her body will give her a nice reward whenever she does something that moves her further in the direction we want. She'll get a real buzz whenever she thinks about lesbians and particularly if she imagines herself in that context. If she does something to move herself in that direction, make her look like the lesbian images of herself we fed her, as she did at the weekend when she got clothes, then she'll get another lovely burst of pleasure. That will psychologically reinforce what she has been thinking and will counteract any doubts or qualms she might have. Of course, in time, none of this will be necessary any more. As a sexually-active lesbian she'll be getting pleasure enough, I am sure."

"Well, you'll soon be working close proximity to her in the office."

"Yes, but I have got to get the ball rolling before then. If Steph disappears tonight then no-one will notice until mid-way through next week and then it will take time for them to recruit a temp, me, of course. By then I will want Jane to have been to a club a couple of times and hopefully picked up someone. Otherwise too much of it is going to be seen to come from me. You know Tom and Jake never do it this directly. The one who gets to do the sex never sees the target until they are fully ready."

"Well, we're doing it our own way. I accept what you are saying, but I am sure it will work out fine. Her libido's excited; she's got no interest in men. Once she actually starts mixing with some lesbians in the flesh, there's going to be no holding her back. She'll be begging you to suck her clit."

"Sounds fun." Carole conceded. "Still, we'll play it carefully. If she's going a bit slower than we expected then we slow down as well. There's no need to rush anything, we are well within the deadline that Tom and Jake set."

"Yes, I accept that, and we're going to have enough to occupy us for the moment with this one." Della nodded out of the windscreen to where Steph was walking along the pavement.

Once she was in a couple of metres of the van Carole slid out through the door, her appearance was now adjusted so that she appeared to be close to Steph's own age.

"Erm, hello." Carole said. In the corner of her vision she sensed Della moving passed her.

"Hello." Steph responded, seemingly happy to talk with another middle-aged women even on a gloomy street.

"I'm looking for Argyll Street. Do you know it?"

"Erm, Argyll Street. Let me think, it might ..."

Della was now behind Steph and gently rested the palm of her hand on the woman's shoulder. With her attention locked on to Carole, she had probably not even felt it. Steph crumpled backwards into Della's strong arms. Carole looked around rather nervously but there seemed to be no-one about who could have even noticed what had happened. She hurried to van and slid the side door open.

Della lifted Steph as if she was no heavier than a doll and easily put her into the van. Carole scrambled in too, still looking around, clearly self-conscious about them being seen. She slid the door closed and moved up beside Della who had laid the middle-aged woman across the bench in the back of the van. Steph looked like she was sleeping peacefully.

"Right, to work." Della said briskly. "Have you got the clothes for now?"

"Yes, the sort of stuff I guess she'd wear to a club. There's more back at her flat; the place has been empty, but the landlord had the sudden urge last week to do it up and he thinks that our lady has been a good tenant of his for the past three weeks. The keys are in here." Carole lifted up the shiny shoulder bag. "Along with her motorbike licence, national insurance card, cashpoint card, enough to easily identify her. She'll be well off. I closed all Steph's accounts and simply funnelled the money to the accounts of her new identity. I sold up her flat at a price for a quick sale, but I think it will be more than enough for our twenty-something woman; she'll remember it as an inheritance from a favourite aunt. She will also have enough to buy a flat of her own when she gets settled. The cat, well, I've not done cat mind manipulation before, but I think it's happy in the new flat and thinks of how we are going to make her mistress appear as being what she expects from her owner. The cat will still be called Marlene."

Della smiled at that, clearly impressed with what Carole had achieved. "And we've decided on Sonya for the new name for Steph?"

"Yes, Sonya Clarke, the surname's the same, the initials are the same. That helps with this kind of thing. I did not want her to have too much of a silly teenage name, so I abandoned Stacey. Sonya sounds like a strong woman, a good lesbian name."

"I agree, anyway, she can always change it."

"The flat's in Kentish Town, not far from here. She could easily have been walking back from a club in Camden. Of course no-one will have seen her there not even the CCTV, but I don't think that will be a problem, especially with all this i.d. on her."

"Well, that is excellent work, Carole, you're a true professional. Now, the next stage. I'll paint the exterior and you can work on the internal mechanics once I've done that."

"Sure." Carole took the seat opposite where Steph lay.

Della pressed her hands on Steph's clothes and they seemed to crumble at her touch. In a couple of minutes the woman was naked. She opened the van window and an eddy lifted the dust and carried it off on the wind. Then Della stood back from Steph and breathed in deeply a few times as if summoning up power. She held her hands with the palms a short way apart facing each other. Then something that looked like a heat haze seemed to ripple between them. Abruptly, she then pressed each palm onto Steph's chest, just beneath her breasts and held them there. She stood braced for a few moments with her eyes closed.

Carole watched in wonder. She, like all concubivores, could manipulate her image a little, making herself appear a different age or even ethnicity, but she had never witnessed such a radical change as this. As she looked on, Steph's saggy skin with its rather dull cast seemed to tighten and blossom. Her breasts began lifting, tightening so that they were no larger than before but certainly far more pert. Of course the face was where the greatest change came: the lines began fading and her lips became smoother. Soon she looked ten, fifteen then twenty, twenty-five years younger.

"You know she was only forty-nine?" Della said as the change began to come to an end.

"Yes, I found that out when I was looking into her account details." Carole noted. "You thought she was older?"

"Yes, yes, I did. I suppose that is what the burden of life does to a woman. I'm taking her back to when she was twenty-two. That's three years before that attack she talked about."

"Yes, she should be more optimistic and looking forward to really enjoying exploring her sexuality in London. I'm going to weave in a bit of a difference this time too. She's going to be more capable at picking out gay women. Of course, it's less of an issue these days, but having her avoid making more mistakes with straight women will save her from uprooting any of her former identity's memories just in case they pop out from where they are lurking in there. If I was more vengeful I would seek out that woman who turned on her when Steph chatted her up. Her reaction was totally overboard. You could still see the scars she inflicted even now. Steph tried to keep them hidden by her hair. Well, you could see them until you started your work."

"Oh yes, they're long gone now and soon you'll be taking away the mental ones. This is one lucky woman." Della said and then stepped back as if to admire her work. "Right then, that's the first stage complete. This is Steph as she was when she was twenty-two."

Carole looked at the young woman with long red hair and slender, toned limbs. There was an energy about her that was apparent even while she was unconscious.

"Right, like this, she'd do alright looking for love in this city, but now comes the artistic part. Age reversal is nothing much, doing something creative is the part I enjoy. We want her to be a lesbian goddess. Let's start with the hair, that's easy."

Della stroked her hands over and through Steph's hair. The long locks were soon retracting and were replaced by a spiky cut with her natural flame red shot through with brilliant white highlights; the back of her head was shaved. Then Della rubbed her hands together and stroked them along Steph's ears, and where she touched silver rings appeared. Her fingers rested along Steph's nose and on her tongue bestowing precious metal wherever they touched. A quick touch to the top of her labia gave that point one ring too, just to the left.

Now Della put out both index fingers as if she was about to paint with them and then indeed she did, with tattoos emerging where she touched. The interlinked female symbols on the left shoulder labelled Steph the lesbian she was and indicated her as one unafraid of that fact being seen. The complex tribal-flower pattern cascading down her right shoulder was simply beautiful. Della lifted Steph's body a little, and, sliding a hand beneath her back added a labrys tattoo between her shoulder blades.

"That will get her started, she can more as she chooses. Just one more little thing: the gift I wish I could give every female."

Della butted the crook of her thumb against Steph's clitoris. "Larger and more sensitive, she's going to have fun with that."

Della stood back from her handiwork. The middle-aged woman had gone and had been replaced by a fantasy lesbian, but one who was in fact real and one who would soon be ready to live the life Della felt she deserved.

"Job complete for me. I've done the wrappings, now you start on the gifts inside."

Carole smiled, clearly pleased at how this was going. As she and Della swapped places, Carole adopted the look of intense concentration similar to the appearance that the demoness had previously had. Carole linked her hands by their thumbs and locked them around Steph's forehead. Carole mouthed many words, only some of which Della could make out, as the concubivore wove a whole new life into this woman. First she stopped being Stephanie, Steph Clarke, instead she became Sonya. To match the body she now had, her age was no longer forty-nine, that was decades off, for now she was twenty-two. Her sexuality remained unchanged, but she gained stronger confidence and a desire not to compromise on life but to squeeze all the best experiences she could out of it.

Steph at twenty-two had been a confident woman, but had had all of that beaten out of her. Carole wove in a resilience and a determination so that even if Sonya encountered the same situation, she would have an strength to get back on her feet and get back at the world rather than simply subsiding into greyness. Steph had had no living relatives and Carole faced her usual difficulty of manufacturing some for Sonya. Instead she gave her divorced parents who had emigrated to different sides of the world and had lost interest in a daughter who was gay. Sonya was not resentful of that, she just accepted it as fact and instead found family in the women and the networks she built around her.

With the character in place, Carole relaxed a little and began feeding in all the day-to-day details that Sonya needed to function. Of course she would be a bit confused after the accident, but things would come back quickly: her address, the name of her cat, her favourite Kentish Town takeaway, her PIN numbers, email passwords, where she worked, all that kind of thing; compiling those facts were second nature to Carole but she enjoyed being a perfectionist all the same. Sonya had been in London a bare three weeks, having moved in from Reading and, though she had checked out some clubs, now she was determined to get out and really engage with the scene. Above all she was looking for some hot femme to really get to grips with. Carole hesitated for a moment but then stepped back, seemingly satisfied.

"I'll check back in a couple of weeks to see how she's doing and if there's anything I've missed. Given that we are not changing her that much, simply giving her back her opportunities and fitting her out for this decade, there should not be too much jarring. The evidence of her eyes always helps and she could not really mistake herself for something else than what she is. She's going to work in a call centre. It's not that challenging for her and I picked one where the shifts allow her to arrange her social life pretty easily. Her brash attitude, the one Steph once had, makes her better suited for that kind of thing than a lot of people. You can see her now give the spiel to the customer and gesturing 'wanker' to her colleagues. Though saying that there will be a baseline of her well-mannered behaviour, so we'll see how that pans out. Anyway, Steph was popular in her day, Sonya will be too."

"Great, this is excellent work. I'm looking forward to seeing her in action, and, of course, you get your date with her."

"Oh yes, well, I cheated there. She's been pre-programmed to like me, but not to get committed, one good weekend of sex and that'll be it."

"A weekend?"

"Well, you did say one opportunity not just one bout of intercourse." Carole smiled.

"Okay, okay, I guess you're right and I'm sure she'll be getting something out of it. Are you sure I've not converted you entirely?"

"Well, some female licking and stroking is nice for a change, but I do miss a big hard cock. And don't start on me with that about dildos, it's not the same."

"Okay, okay, but I like working with you."

"Well, there's no need to stop. What are you doing for the next century?"

Della laughed. "Don't be in too much of a hurry, there's still work to be done here. We can't drive around with an unconscious naked woman in our van."

"Well, here's the clothing."

Carole pulled out a baggy pair of dark silver metallic-looking techno-fabric trousers plus a spaghetti strap top, pierced with small holes, and in purple, a colour, along with red that she had made Sonya like. There was a tight, smooth, red bandeau of a similar shade to act as her bra beneath. Then there was a denim-style jacket but in claret suede that complemented the top. Last were a pair of chunky-soled ankle boots with straps across the instep.

"Excellent choice." Della said and began the task of pulling the outfit on to Sonya.

Carole started with the purple socks and then the trousers. "I almost forgot."

Carole reached into her bag and pulled out the studded dark purple leather belt. She fixed it around Sonya's waist and linked on the chain that led to the big wallet that held all the i.d. details that she had so carefully acquired. Within five minutes Sonya was dressed so that she looked precisely as if she had come back from a club, though, equally, with her style, she could have been heading off to work.

"Wow, a good evening's work I think." Della said with real pride. "Now the tougher bit, I don't like doing this, but we need to."

The demoness concentrated again while Carole stood back. Della made light touches along Sonya's face, arms and hips. Where she touched this time, bruises blossomed and the muscles gained an ache.

"I'm keeping it light, no broken ribs or bones. She'll heal quickly. Some alcohol in her bloodstream too, just to keep it realistic, not enough carbohydrates in there either. She'll be ravenous when she wakes. This should convince the doctors it was a genuine accident. They may chide her, but she'll be on her way home pretty soon. Of course it will cover any confusion she experiences for now, but, as you say, her new 'real' memories should be soon taking over."

Della stood back once more and looked over the lesbian clubber who had had a minor accident. "You sit back here with Sonya; I'll drive. I want to take her to a particular hospital: it's not about taking revenge it's about seeing justice done."

**** Sonya's eyes blinked open and she gazed up at the white ceiling. She felt very spacey and a little sore especially down her left side. She found she could turn her head without too much discomfort and quickly verified that she was in a hospital. Her mouth felt dry and her stomach felt empty, but aside from the soreness nothing much else seemed to be wrong. She remembered that it was always best to not rush things when you came round so she lay there for some minutes more taking in the smells and the sounds of the ward around her.

Sonya finally sat up and was pleased to see a jug of water by her bed. They had her connected into a drip, but she somehow knew that that was standard practice and it did not hamper her movements too much. The water was refreshing but Sonya sipped it not wishing to churn up her empty stomach. She knew that the better you looked the quicker they would let you out. She was glad it was Saturday, that was unless she had been out for two days or maybe more. Surely it had been Friday night she last remembered? She'd have to call in sick on Monday and she knew Mr. Parwani would whine, but he could not complain too much as she did not get paid for the days she did not work. As long as she got back to work before he started seriously looking for her replacement then she could hold onto the job. Anyway, she did not need to sweat it, after all, she still had that cash that Aunt Emma had left her, though she wanted to save as much of that as she could for her trip to Goa next Summer and maybe a flat of her own after that.

"Nice tats." The nurse said quietly.

"Sorry?" Sonya asked as she realised she was being addressed.

The nurse standing by the next bed, flushed, embarrassed. "Sorry, did that come out loud? I do apologise. I saw them when we undressed you yesterday afternoon."

Sonya gestured the concern away. "There's no need to apologise. By the way, thanks I'm glad you like them."

The nurse seemed to hesitate and Sonya wondered if she was building up courage to say something else. Sonya knew that anyone who saw her, and was not that ignorant of contemporary society, certainly could not mistake her for anything other than a lesbian; that was something she was proud of. She guessed that by the rule of averages, at least one in ten nurses was gay, maybe more and out of her uniform, Sonya could imagine this one would look hot. Maybe the shortness of her auburn hair was not to do with hygiene issues and perhaps there were more holes in her ears than the average straight woman would have.