Mummified Remains Ch. 06

There was something disturbingly enticing about the book's offer. The idea of having another being fuse with her was terrifying, but Noora couldn't complain about the results. She felt stronger than she ever had before. She wondered if a similar temptation was what caused Beverly to lose her mind.

Noora's phone began to vibrate, signaling an incoming call. She was about to dismiss it when she saw the contact name of the caller. Bev Watson.

I shouldn't take this call. I really, really should not take this call.

Just as the call was about to go to voicemail, Noora picked up. She had no clue what to expect, but braced herself for the worst.

"Hey Noora, how's it going?"

The voice was so much deeper than Noora remembered it, but it had the same inflections and lilts. Somewhere, under all those layers of evil was the human being Noora knew and loved.

"Oh Bev, what's happened to you?"

"You know exactly what happened to me. After all, it's your fault I'm like this."

Noora knew it was the truth, but the words still landed like a gut punch. If only she could go back a week and never give Bev that wretched mummy. Unfortunately, there was no spell in the book for time travel. Noora had asked early on.

"I'm so sorry, Bev."

"Don't be! I've never felt better. This cock was just what I needed."

Noora hunched over the sink and struggled to keep the vomit rising in her throat at bay. Her vision blurred as tears of black sorrow slipped from her eyes.

"I can undo this, Bev. I want to help you."

"I'm going to stop you right there, Noora. I have no interest in being 'helped'. The only thing I want is Miranda. I know you have her."

"No chance. Bev, I know what happens if you get your hands on that girl."

"Good, then we're on the same page. Anyways, I would like to make a trade. Come here Lucy, let's hear that sweet little voice of yours."

On the other end of the end, Noora heard the desperate, terrified whimpers of a young woman. Immediately her blood ran cold. Bev was not playing around.

"Bev, who is that?"

"That is Lucy Faraday, Miranda's best friend. She's a sweet little thing. So kind and pure. If you don't deliver Miranda to me by midnight, I will snap the girl's neck."

"No! Don't do that!"

"Then bring me, Miranda!"

Noora's mind raced as she tried to wrap her head around this new situation. It was all becoming too real too fast. The end of the world was scary, but it seemed too abstract to be a clear and present danger. The blood of an innocent young was another thing entirely.

What should I do? I have nothing to offer her besides Miranda. Nothing but…

"I have a counteroffer."

"There is nothing else you can offer me," Bev insisted.

"You and I both know that isn't true."

"Fine, Noora. Humor me. What else do you have to offer? Don't say that magic book of yours. I have more power in my right testicle than that pathetic rag."

"Me."

There was silence on the other end. Noora held her breath, wondering whether her gambit would work.

"You are offering yourself?"

"Yes. I will come and give myself to you if you let this girl go. I know you love me. I will love you too. I will become your wife and you my husband and we will be together like you always wanted."

Deep, heavy breathing came through the phone. Noora could practically feel her best friend's warped desires firing away in her brain.

"Midnight. The park right outside of campus by Dairy Drive. Bring yourself and no one else."

Bev hung up the phone.

Noora picked up the book and considered what she just committed to. There was no way she could really go through with it. She loved Bev and hated to betray her, but this was necessary. She had one shot at saving her friend, and the world.

"If you help me get out of this," she said to the book. "I will let you bond with me. Do we have a deal?"

A single word formed on the open page.

Deal.

***

Lucy Faraday sat in between the girls, feeling like a mouse among a pack of hungry wild cats. These women were all razor claws and piercing fangs. Their bestial eyes gleamed in the darkness. Their beauty was intense, sharp, and fundamentally predatory.

"She's so cute, master. Can we keep her?" The raven haired one said.

The redhead chimed in excitedly.

"She's so much better than her roommate. So much sweeter!"

The raven haired woman concurred, "Much better! You don't really mean to snap her neck, do you, Master?

Professor Watson gave her dark haired concubine a hard look, but said nothing.

The only member of the pack Lucy recognized was Kelsey Alvarez. Miranda's slutty roommate had never been the nicest girl, but Lucy had been able to see that she had a good heart. Plus, Kelsey had called her pretty. Plenty of people had said this, but from Kelsey, it felt genuine.

It was horrifying how Kelsey had changed. She had the claws, fangs, pointed ears, and freakish tongue to match her unholy sisters, but it was not these things that unsettled Lucy. What chilled Lucy to the bone was Kelsey's eyes. In the past, no matter how bitchy Kelsey got, there was always a gentleness to the way she looked at you. Lucy suspected the girl cared deeply for the people in her life, but struggled to show that affection.

All traces of human kindness were stripped from Kelsey's eyes. All Lucy saw when she looked the woman in the eyes was lust like an unquenchable flame. What could possibly do this to a person?

"You should keep her master. I've watched her for a while," Kelsey fiddled with a ringlet of Lucy's golden hair. "She would make a perfect addition to our little harem."

"That may be so," Professor Watson answered. "Regardless, she is not the one I want."

Kelsey's expression darkened, making her seem positively hideous, "Miranda."

Lucy twitched upon hearing the name. Her wounded heart was still so raw. The mere mention of Miranda's name sent Lucy spiraling.

Get it together, Lucy. So what if Miranda hurt your stupid feelings? A crazed monster lady is after her and that's more important.

"You're never going to get her!" Lucy cried. "I won't let that happen!"

The three wicked sisters laughed in unison and Lucy withered. Her threat was so obviously empty. What could she possibly do to stop this hulking, powerful woman with eyes of fire? Still, she felt it her duty to stand up for her best friend. Broken heart or not, Lucy loved Miranda dearly. The thought of her coming to harm was sickening.

Lucy braced herself for Professor Watson's wrath. She had mouthed off and now came the discipline.

What happened instead was worse. The professor looked Lucy dead in the eye and grinned like a jackal.

"You poor, naive creature. I can feel the desire boiling under the surface of your heart. You keep holding out hope. Whether I get Miranda or not, you will never have her."

The sickening truth of the statement settled on Lucy like a fever. She tried to fight it. Professor Watson was evil, so obviously she must have been lying, right? Obviously. Still, the more Lucy sat with the words, the more certain she became. There was no future she could imagine where Miranda truly accepted her feelings.

"Aw, look at her. Master, I think you broke her heart!" Kelsey sneered.

"Her heart was broken long before I found her," Professor Watson said. "Now hush, my concubines. Midnight approaches."

And with that, Lucy was left to stew in a silent hell, surrounded by demons without and within.

***

"She left to go to the 'store'," Miranda said flatly.

The man, who Miranda had only recently learned was Noora's fiancé, did his best to not look in Miranda's direction and answered with a simple affirmative. It was mildly amusing how uncomfortable he seemed to be around her.

"She looked super nervous when she left," Miranda said.

"Yup."

"And this doesn't bother you at all."

"I trust her."

"But should you?"

"Yup."

Miranda was itching to get back to campus. Every minute that went by was one that brought Lucy closer to disaster.

"So let me get this straight. Noora accidentally causes her best friend to undergo a spontaneous demonic sex change. Said best friend goes on a rampage, so Noora gets a magic book and starts performing witchcraft to stop her best friend. All of this she keeps from you until the last minute. Also, she's acting super jumpy and weird, and keeps rubbing her arm like she has a rash," Miranda walked around the edge of the circle as she spoke. "She's definitely not hiding anything."

Noora's fiance strained under the pressure of Miranda's barbs.

"Yup," the man said through gritted teeth. There was a long pause and then, "damnit!"

Noora's fiance pulled out his phone and began to mutter something under his breath.

"I shouldn't be doing this," he said. "I really shouldn't be doing this."

"Doing what?"

"When Noora and I were in China, we had tracking software installed on each other's phones in case one or the other got lost. I've been meaning to uninstall it. It's a gross invasion of her privacy and I should not use it."

"Counterpoint," Miranda said, trying to push her hand through the circle's invisible barrier. "You should use it."

"What if I spy on her and she's at the store like she said? She's had a rough past few days, clearly, and she might just need some time alone."

The man looked down at his phone and his face went stony, "and she's going back to the school."

"Told you!"

Noora's fiance grabbed a jacket and prepared to leave. Just as he got to the door, Miranda yelled for him to stop.

"Just wait here. This shouldn't take more than an hour."

"What if Beverly comes here? I won't just be alone, I'll be trapped!"

"Why would she know to come here?"

Miranda could not believe how dense this guy was. She was beginning to doubt she would be any safer with him.

"It's her best friend's house?"

"Fuck," the man muttered. "Fine, come on."

"I can't!"

"Well how am I supposed to take you then?"

Miranda looked around, noticing places where a light breeze had smudged the chalk circle. She touched the air above one of these sections and felt the invisible force give slightly.

"Smear the chalk. That should let me out."

Noora's fiance took a deep breath, "she's going to kill me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, worry about that later."

Tyler smudged away the chalk circle and Miranda felt the force surrounding her dissipate. She stepped out and felt a wave of relief wash over her. Freedom of movement was something she usually took for granted. Losing it had made her a lot twitchier than she realized.

"Thanks, that's so much better," she said. "I'm Miranda, by the way. We haven't been officially introduced."

"Tyler."

With that, the unlikely duo were off, driving into the night to find Noora before it was too late. Darkness surrounded them on all sides. As Miranda watched the trees and buildings pass by, a sense of dread set in. She could not fight the sense that she was riding to certain doom.

***

The park was dead silent when Noora arrived, and seemingly empty. A somber wind howled through the abandoned park, chilling her to the bone. The playground at the center of the park stood like an ancient shrine. The darkness seemed to twist the playful fixtures into something malevolent. It cast deep, unsettling shadows that seemed to dance at the edge of Noora's vision.

Noora looked for any trace of Beverly, but saw no sign of life.

Have I been tricked? Maybe this was all a distraction to get me away from Miranda.

Noora's arm began to itch. Apparently, the book was trying to get her attention. Noora opened it and prepared to pull her phone out for a flashlight, but suddenly noticed she could read the text just fine. Glancing around, she realized she could see perfectly fine. Apparently, the book had made another enhancement to Noora's body without her permission.

Keep your guard up. Something is here.

At first, Noora didn't feel it. She closed her eyes and listened to the little voice in her heart. Something was off. She could feel a distortion in the natural order of the world close by.

When Noora looked back out on the world, she saw them. Three pairs of glowing red eyes peered out at her from the shadows. Between them loomed a terrible figure.

"Hello, Beverly."

The figure emerged from the shadows. As soon as Noora saw her, she gasped. This was not the Beverly she knew. The diminutive toothpick Noora once knew now towered above Noora. Bev's twig arms and legs now bulged with tremendous amounts of muscle that rippled with every movement she made. Her body was a perfect balance of masculine and feminine, radiating power and sensuality in equal measure.

It was clear to Noora that the demon side of Bev had grown stronger as well. Noora remembered how Bev's brown eyes used to glitter when she got sucked into a new video game or art project during their college days. Now an unholy light burned in those eyes, erasing all traces of humanity.

Noora clutched the book and directed a series of instructions at it.

Remember, we only have one shot at this, so make sure you have everything loaded up and ready. Got it?

Even without looking down at the page, Noora could feel the book's affirmation. The bond between her and it was growing stronger.

"Does Tyler know about our agreement, Noora?"

"He knows nothing."

"Oh goodie," Bev grinned and then signaled for someone behind her. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought an audience."

The three pairs of eyes emerged from the shadows, becoming three naked women. Their bodies were aggressively feminine. Large breasts seemed to take up their entire chests. Their hips swayed seductively.

There were other things Noora noticed as well. The women's eyes glowed with the same unholy radiance as Bev's. Their fingernails were tipped with razor sharp black claws. Ugly veins of darkness writhed under their alabaster skin. The corruption infesting Beverly had spread.

One of the women, a voluptuous redhead, suddenly waved and smiled with a rictus grin at Noora. The woman's canines were like needles. Noora shuddered as she imagined those sharp points piercing her neck.

"Hello Professor Abadi! Do you recognize me?"

Noora did. It was her grad student TA, Zoey Wilson. Noora could not believe how much the girl had changed. When Noora had seen her this morning, Zoey had been a tired, heartbroken girl with a modest body and sad green eyes. Now she looked ready to pose for a centerfold in hell.

"Bev, what have you done?"

"Since you never gave me the love I deserve, I looked for it elsewhere," Bev answered. "It turns out loving me has some side effects."

Noora's blood ran cold as she realized Bev's full intentions. Bev had somehow corrupted these girls into monsters through intercourse. Now she wanted to spread that same corruption to Noora.

Please tell me you have some tricks up your sleeve, book. I really need them now.

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts, Noora."

"I think anyone would, Bev," Noora tried to keep her voice steady, but terror was rapidly getting the better of her.

"Perhaps, but remember that it's not just your life on the line," Bev snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, a new figure emerged from the shadows. Instead of another monster, a petite girl stepped into the light. Her hair was a tousled blonde mess cut to neck length. Her big blue eyes were glassy, making her seem as if she was sleepwalking. Noora's heart ached as she looked upon the girl. Among so much bleak corruption, the girl was a tiny flicker of light.

Bev came up behind the girl and grabbed her gently, her big meaty fingers gently grazing the sides of the girl's small, perky breasts in the process. Then she whispered something in the girl's ear.

Immediately, light flickered in those big blue eyes. The girl's face contorted in a look of horror as she realized where she was.

"So what will it be, Noora? Will you join my harem to save this sweet young thing?"

Miranda was right. I should have picked them both up. Now I'm stuck with the worst conundrum of my life.

Noora thought of all the happy times she and Bev spent together. In Noora's mind, it was all just good fun, but for Bev, it had been something darker. Noora tried to imagine her best friend languishing for years, waiting for the right time to say something. At some point, Bev's hopes died and decomposed into something ugly and rotten.

"You don't want that, Bev."

"Trust me, I know exactly what I want."

"In your heart you do, but that thing between your legs has clouded your mind. You don't want to make me into some demonic sex slave. You want me to love you."

An indescribable expression rippled across Bev's face and her grip on the petite blonde loosened.

"Bev, I know you love me. I've always known, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for never talking to you about it, and I'm sorry that I couldn't be that person for you in the past."

Bev let go of the blonde. The girl staggered a few steps before rooting in place, too afraid to flee. Instead, she watched Noora and Bev like a terrified little animal.

"Do you have any idea how painful the last fifteen years have been, Noora?"

"I'm sorry Bev. I'm so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, but I know that doesn't mean much. Still, I'm here now."

Noora approached Bev cautiously, reaching out to cup the woman's cheek. Rapidly, the demonic features receded, leaving behind the woman Noora knew. Bev's facial features were sharper now, but they were still instantly recognizable. Noora felt the slightest relief.

"You are so beautiful," Bev said breathlessly.

The real Bev is definitely still here. Now I just have to get that side of her locked in for good.

"Kiss me, Bev."

Suddenly, Bev looked ten years younger. There were tears in her soft brown eyes.

"Really?"

"Really."

There was a spark of static electricity as their lips met. Noora could feel Bev's unsteady passion. The tenderness of the moment. If Noora was being honest with herself, it was the best kiss she had in years. Bev was an eager lover who wore her passion on her sleeve.

It's not cheating, Noora told herself. It's necessary to save Miranda, and the world. Tyler would understand.

Noora felt something hard press against her leg.

"I'm sorry," Bev said. "It's hard to control this thing."

"Don't you worry about that, Bev."

Noora couldn't imagine being in Bev's shoes. To be a woman only to suddenly be forced to switch teams the most violent, humiliating way possible. Noora didn't blame her friend for what she had done. She had been faced with an unthinkable situation.

The pair kissed more. Bev gently wrapped her arms around Noora, pressing her amazonian body tight against her lover's curves. Noora shuddered as she felt her friend's raw power. It was almost intoxicating.

Maybe I can make this work. It wouldn't be so bad, right?

A man's voice boomed, echoing throughout the park.

"What the fuck?"

Immediately, Noora and Bev broke away from each other. Noora turned and saw Tyler and Miranda approaching. The weight of what she had done came crashing down on her in an instant. Her eyes met Tyler's and she knew she would never be forgiven.

The moment Lucy saw Miranda, she bolted. It was as if all fear had left her body. The prospect of rescue from a living nightmare combined with the overwhelming joy of seeing Miranda wiped out all logical thought. It didn't help that she had just watched the seemingly miraculous return of humanity to Professor Watson.