The Last Shapeshifter Ch. 05

"Who's calling?" Sabrina asked gently. She knew. They all knew based on Trevor's stricken expression.

Instead of answering, Trevor showed Sabrina and Max the picture of his father as the phone continued to ring, until finally it showed missed call.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually," Sabrina said. "He's worried about you and wants to make sure you're alright."

Trevor nodded sadly. "You're half right. He does need to know I'm alright, but I'm not going to be the one that tells him. I'm hoping one of you will do that for me."

Both his friends nodded, and Max said, "Sure," at the same time as Sabrina said, "Of Course.

His friends' willingness to help, especially with this delicate situation, made up his mind for him. He told them what he had read in his mother's journal, and his discovery that he was sort of telepathically tied to the people his father had warned him about. The potential danger cast a shadow on Max and Sabrina's faces as Trevor told them that one of these people had infiltrated their hometown.

"You think they're there, looking for you?" asked Max.

"Maybe, but I don't know what they want," Trevor answered. "I need to read more of the journal, but I don't know how much detail she'll be able to give me. From what I've read so far and from what my father told me, it's just, avoid them at all cost because that's how it's always been."

"So, you should leave then," Sabrina said sadly.

"Fuck that," Trevor snapped. "My mother apparently ran her entire life from something that she didn't understand. I want to see one of these others first hand and see if there is a real reason to be afraid. And I know it's a big ask, but I'd like you to come with me, because, well, I'm terrified of doing it alone."

The wooden chair Sabrina was sitting on squeaked in protest as it was scooted closer to Trevor. Sabrina put a hand around her friend. Trevor fought back tears from the show of support, and saw that Max was nodding his head, and extended a fist.

"We got you, bro," Max said.

Trevor smiled, and then extended his fist, and bumped knuckles with his friend. The tingle began immediately. "Dude, you're horny right now!" It wasn't a question, but an accusation as Trevor stood up so quickly he almost upended the rickety table. He began retreating to the elevator as his friends followed close behind.

"I'm sorry, Trevor," Max apologized. "I just, my mind wanders, you know. I thought you could sense that or whatever."

"It can be like background noise," Trevor explained as he practically ran towards the elevator. "If I'm distracted, it can sneak up on me. But this cannot keep happening if you're going to come help," Trevor said furiously as his finger hit the elevator button. He noticed the finger was growing smaller and turning darker. He thought he recognized it. "I'm turning into Sophia Cortez again, aren't I?"

Sabrina arched her eyebrows at Max. "Former beauty contest participant? And did you say again?"

"Are these questions really what's important right now?" Max defended as he too took a turn at pressing the elevator button. It dinged a moment later and they all filed in. They all stared as the transformation picked up the pace.

"Try to fight it until we get to our room!" Sabrina ordered.

"What do you think I'm doing!" Trevor shouted, but it wasn't his voice, it was already her voice. A red swimsuit replaced the clothes he had been wearing. As he struggled to drag out the change, his eyes were already gluing themselves to Max's body and mentally undressing him. He snapped at Max one last time before he couldn't think straight. "You really have to respect my boundaries, Max."

"I already said I'm sorry! But the way you're looking at me right now makes me think you want me to do more than respect your boundaries."

"Shut up."

The elevator dinged and they all ran to their room. As Sabrina slid the card into the door reader, Sophia Cortez was already pawing at Max's pants, trying to get them off. "Helping Trevor might be a lot harder than we thought, especially if you tag along," Sabrina noted dryly.

Sophia was dragging him through the open doorway and peppering him with kisses, but Max managed to get out, "Hey, after this I'm sure I won't think about sex for at least an hour or so."

"Men are pigs," Sabrina said as she stood there holding the door open. She watched as the red swimsuit dissolved into nothing and one of the most beautiful, nude woman she had ever seen tried to get to Max's dick as fast as possible. She wondered where Trevor's phone went when all this happened. Was it absorbed temporarily in his body somehow or...

"You going to leave or..." Max as both a question and an invitation.

Sabrina sighed, but didn't step out of the room. She took the do not disturb sign and placed it on the knob, then let the door swing shut behind her. Max smiled at her and winked. "You want to take turns again or..." Seconds later, another threesome began.

Max lasted much longer this time, but it was Sabrina that kept Trevor occupied for the next hour. She had orgasm after orgasm and Trevor shifted from one beefcake to the next. Max watched at first, thoroughly entertained, but eventually Max got bored, something he never thought would have happened. He went to take a shower. After Sabrina had made Trevor assume every position, she finally collapsed in a heap.

The three barely made it out in time for checkout, and drove back in the direction of home. On the way, they talked about the next steps. Initially Trevor, who seemed to have abandoned caution long ago, wanted to simply trace the signal in their hometown and confront whoever was on the other end, with his friends there of course. Sabrina shot that down for a host of reasons, the main one being that it was completely idiotic. Max's contribution was that they should plan regular sex breaks so that they wouldn't accidentally trigger an awkward, sexually charged transformation in public. Trevor blew that idea off, but noticed that Sabrina seemed to think on the idea.

In the end, they found a middle ground that they believed was bold, but cautious. They would go to the signal that emanated from their town, but observe at a distance. They would note any suspicious behaviour, take video with their phones, and call the cops if they felt anything posed a threat.

When Sabrina mentioned taking notes of suspicious activity, Max took out his phone and began typing. "Are you texting someone about this?" she demanded.

"No! I'm making a list."

Sabrina was driving, but she took a few seconds to shoot him a confused look. "What list? We haven't seen anything suspicious yet."

"Yeah, different list. This is people I'd like Trevor to turn into and have sex with."

Trevor wanted to hit his friend, but feared he'd shapeshift in the car and try to have sex with him in a moving vehicle if he did. Thankfully, Sabrina did it for him.

"Ow! What? You clearly had a list in your head this morning."

"Shut up," Sabrina said quietly. "We need to prove to Trevor that we're not just in it for the sex. He's our friend first."

"Of course he's our friend. Our friend that we're going to help out in his time of need, and also our friend who can shapeshift into anyone on the planet and will do whatever we-"

Sabrina swiped at him again. Max caught the hand with his own and laughed. "I'm kidding!"

Trevor wanted to believe him, but he wasn't so sure.

As they entered the city limits, Sabrina asked for directions on where to go. Trevor looked inside himself again and found the psychic threads. Very quickly he discovered the one filled him with dread last night. It seemed bigger, he thought maybe because they were closer. He looked at the other threads and noticed that they also varied in sizes. Some were very thin, and therefore he assumed, very far away, but the one that led into town was as big as a regular coil of rope. That's when he noticed the second one. It was strange getting the bearings in this mental space, there wasn't an up or down or left or right, but his mind tried to categorize it as such. A little lower from the thread that he had thought was the only potential threat, was another that followed it very closely, almost parallel. His town had not one, but two problems.

"Guys," Trevor started, then stopped himself. The threads weren't in the same place. He didn't want them to split up, and didn't want any more arguing. He wanted to do something. He'd pick one and warn them about the other later. "When we enter the city limits, head to the main drag and I'll figure it out from there."

Trevor kept his eyes shut and followed the threads in his mind. He saw that the further they drove, the threads grew larger, and began to diverge from one another. He decided to go with the one that seemed closer. It was difficult to give directions with his eyes shut, because he'd tell Sabrina she was going the wrong way, not understanding that if Sabrina took all of his directions literally, they'd have driven through several houses, yards and buildings. If Trevor opened his eyes to see, he lost the connection, and it took him a little bit to find the thread again each time.

At last they found a rhythm. Trevor would tell Sabrina as soon as she could to take a left, or right, and so on, and they found themselves entering a swankier part of their city, with the biggest houses and flashiest cars. The trio rarely came to this area, as they didn't run with the elite crowd that would have grown up in this high class community. Trevor had opened his eyes briefly, and was distracted by the tall houses and pristine lawns. After a minute, he remembered, and closed his eyes. When he connected to the thread again, he said, "Stop! We passed it."

"Good," said Sabrina. "We don't want to be obvious about it. I'll circle back and park a good distance away."

It turns out a good distance away without binoculars is about four houses down. When they were settled and Trevor was pretty sure which house it was, the hard part began. They sat with windows rolled down and watched and waited. The house the thread led to didn't look evil. It was a nice two story house that was probably just shy of being a full fledged mansion. Attached was a large two car garage. Nothing about the place seemed ominous or foreboding. It looked friendly enough that a girl scout wouldn't hesitate to try and unload a few dozen cookies there.

The friends spoke little that first hour. They were tense and on high alert for danger. But when nothing happened, Max had to ask, "You're sure someone is in that house, right?"

"Yeah. I told you, the thread in my mind leads right into that house, and I can sense, well, someone or something in there."

"Freaky."

Their big break happened when a mail truck turned onto the street and began making his deliveries. "Hey," Sabrina ventured, "if we steal a piece of mail we can get a name of who lives there."

"That's a federal offense," Max reminded them.

"We'll take our chances," Trevor said.

They all watched as the mail was slowly delivered, house to house. When it finally got to the one they cared about, a hand opened the box, and stuck something inside before closing the lid.

"Jackpot!" Sabrina squealed. "I'll wait for that truck to get out of sight, then I'll go snatch a letter."

When the truck finally turned a corner, Sabrina got out of the car. She noticed that the guys didn't try to stop her. Chivalry really was dead. She tried to walk as casually as possible on the opposite side of the street from the house. When she was directly across from it, she looked around cautiously. There were no cars, no neighbors out. She had a clear shot. She walked briskly and was right in front of the mailbox about to open the lid, when the front door of their target house opened and a woman stepped out.

The woman was blonde and very beautiful. She looked to be in her early or mid forties. She might have been older, but no one would think so because of her flawless skin and radiant face. Her eyes fixed on Sabrina the second the door shut behind her, and Sabrina and the boys in the car held their breath.

The woman hesitated slightly as she sized up the strange girl in front of her mailbox. She must have decided that Sabrina didn't pose a threat, because she put on a polite smile and proceeded forward. Her steps were brisk on the walkway from her house that led to her driveway, which then led to the mailbox. Sabrina had a moment of panic where she thought about making a break for it. This woman didn't look scary, but she understood better than a lot of people that appearances could be deceiving. She looked around again. One of the neighbors across the street had come out for his mail as well. Surely nothing would happen if there were witnesses. She stood her ground and put on her best fake smile.

The woman was twenty feet from her. She wasn't staring at Sabrina or looking menacing in any way. When a few feet was all that separated them, the woman initiated conversation. "Hello, can I help you?"

Sabrina's mind raced and she cursed herself for not having a lie locked and loaded. "Uh...I'm lost."

The woman's eyes showed a maternal concern. It was like Sabrina had gone from stranger to lost child in point two seconds. "Oh, where are you trying to get to?"

"Uh, I'm, oh, I was... jogging, and... forgot where I parked my car, and, hey," she pointed at her car. When she did, Trevor and Max instinctively ducked down in their seats. "...it's right over there."

The woman nodded like she understood and smiled warmly. "I do that all the time myself, forget where I parked I mean."

"Yeah, well, I should just..."

"What's your name, dear?"

"Sa-" Sabrina got out the syllable before her voice caught in her throat. She couldn't tell this woman her real name. She could be a murder, or succubus, or otherworldly creature that would hunt her down through the internet and kill her and her family. "Sorry, throat's really dry from all that running. Samantha. That's my name. Samantha."

Sabrina's stilted answer caused the woman to look her over again before she extended a hand. "It's good to meet you Samantha. I'm Genevieve, but my friends call me Jenny." She said this last part like it was top secret information.

Sabrina tried not to stare at that hand as if it were a rapid badger. She extended her own as normally as she could. It shook more than she wanted it to. When their hands touched, Sabrina almost flinched. She expected a tingle, or for her hand to melt, but...nothing happened.

"It's funny," Jenny said as the hand shake ended. "You've been running, but there's not a drop of sweat on you. Oh to be young again."

Sabrina's throat tried to close up entirely as her brain began tossing out words. "I am young, yes. But you, you look good. Not at all old I mean...very pretty." Her brain had pity on her and cut the connection to her mouth. At the same time her legs took a few steps back. She managed to say, "Well I 've got to be..." and continued walking backwards. In that moment, she realized how scared she was.

"Well thank you for the compliment," Jenny said, waving a goodbye before she opened her mailbox.

It took all of Sabrina's willpower to resist the urge not to race back to the car. She did walk quite briskly though. When she got there, she got opened the driver's side door and saw her two compatriots still ducking down as low as possible. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Jenny wasn't still lurking outside, then announced, "All clear."

"Oh man, that was close," said Max, thankful to be sitting upright again. "We thought you were selling us out there."

"Yeah," Trevor agreed. "Why'd you point to us?"

"I'm sorry, I panicked," Sabrina explained in between deep, calming breaths. "I didn't expect her to come out right then. I tried to keep from freaking out in front of her and made up a story about getting separated from my car while jogging."

"How'd she seem?" Max asked. "Did she have fangs or antenna or a murderous gleam in her eye?"

"Uh, no. None of that really. Her name is Jenny and she seemed, well, she was very nice." As she said it, her fear seemed silly.

Max looked disappointed. "Well, I say we go see the other person Trevor saw in his head, then decide which one we're going to keep an eye on."

Trevor nodded. "Start the car and I'll give you directions to the other one." He closed his eyes and quickly found the thread. That was strange. They weren't yet moving, but it seemed to be getting larger, as if it were getting... His eyes flew open as he understood. "Whoever it is, they're coming towards us!"

Sabrina and Max surveyed up and down the street. "Are you sure?" Max asked.

Sabrina's voice was dubious as she commented, "There isn't anybody around. Maybe-" she stopped abruptly as she saw a car's front end come into view at the intersection a block down. After two seconds, it turned in their direction. "Oh shit! Oh shit! Trevor, is that the guy? Or person, or whatever?"

Trevor followed Sabrina's gaze, then closed his eyes. Five seconds later, he yelled, "Yes! Everyone down!"

They all dropped as low as they could. It was too much of a coincidence that seconds after meeting the first other they'd meet the other...other. But it was happening. Jenny must have tipped her ally off and now backup was coming. All this flew through their minds as the car's engine grew louder. And then it was there, next to them, but then it began to fade as it passed. They waited a few seconds, expecting the engine to stop altogether as the car would no doubt pull up in front of them. But it didn't. Their curiosity peaked, they all sat up a little, just in time to watch the car pull into Jenny's driveway. It did not pull into the garage, but sat there, as the driver prepared to exit the car.

Max sat straight up, then looked at his friends with disbelief. "I don't get it. I thought we were in for it, but, well, at least we know they know each other."

"You said the threads were split apart, right?" Sabrina asked Trevor.

"Well, I hadn't seen them together yet, so..." He stopped as his eyes couldn't believe what he was seeing. A very familiar muscular blonde man got out of the car and began walking towards the front door to the house. Trevor closed his eyes, hoping he was wrong about the thread, but it matched.

While he had been checking, Sabrina and Max's mouths were watching the man dumbfounded. "Is that...is he..." Max started.

"Yeah, it's him," Trevor said with a hollow voice. "My bully since childhood, Lance, he's the other thread."

With this verbal confirmation, the questions came tumbling out.

Sabrina started with, "Is this his house? Did I just talk to his mom?"

"Why'd it have to be Lance?" Trevor asked.

"The mom was hot, right?" Max chimed in. "I mean, we all saw that, right? Right?" He began looking up Lance's information on social media. "Oh shit, guys! Yeah, that's his mom."

"Is this why he was always a dick to you?" Sabrina asked Trevor.

"So they're both the people you're parents warned you about?" Max added for clarification after he stopped ogling Lance's mother on the internet.

"Well, it kind of makes sense," Trevor said. "Shapeshifting is what gets passed down genetically, so whatever makes them what they are, it probably travels in the family."

"I don't see anything about his dad online," Max noted as he continued to scroll on his phone.

"But you're right, Sabrina. He has been a dick to me, but that's all," Trevor continued. "He hasn't tried to kill or enslave me."

Sabrina was trying to logic it all out. "Do you think he knows what he is yet? Maybe his mom knows but he doesn't, kind of like you. Maybe neither of them know. Maybe their thing or...whatever it is, maybe it doesn't manifest like yours does when you hit a certain age."