The Last Shapeshifter Ch. 11

Sherri grimaced at these rapid fire questions, but Patrick just laughed. "I'm sure it'll be awhile before you get any kids out of either of us. But no, everything is fine. Been going really well actually." Patrick proceeded to make small talk about the details of his life, how he had a new girlfriend, a decent job prospect, and plans for the future. He tried to pull Sherri into the conversation every now and again, but she spoke using the fewest words possible.

Finally, after half an hour, Patrick slapped his knee and said, "Well, it sure was nice seeing you Dad. We should get together again soon, maybe all of us next time."

"That means Trevor too," Sherri added quickly.

Patrick nudged his sister playfully. "He knows who I meant, sis. But speaking of our youngest sibling, how is young Trevor? Sherri and I haven't heard from him in quite awhile. Is he okay? How's he doing? Have you spoken to him recently?"

Steve had spoken to Trevor recently, a week and a half ago in fact. Almost a year ago, Trevor had made monthly calls to check in with his father. Steve had been thrilled to hear of the progress Trevor had made with his shapeshifting with the help of old and new friends. His son had been able to attain control over his ability much sooner than his mother had. Steve had been worried when Trevor told him that the new friends consisted of his mother's supposed enemies, a group of bodyhoppers. But they had not been the villains, but allies. This was a good thing, because there were several of their kind in the world now, and they wanted to live peacefully. Well, all but one, and they were trying to track that one down and contain him somehow.

Steve had been fascinated by the existence of bodyhoppers. It defied logic and reason, but so did shapeshifting. Trevor explained that bodyhoppers could blend in the same way that he could when he shapeshifted into another person, but bodyhoppers had a specific tell. Periodically, a their host body would shudder, a side effect of two souls occupying the same space. A shudder only lasted a couple of seconds, but it helped that there was something to give them away if you knew what to look for.

At the end of every phone call, Steve made Trevor promise to be careful, and told him he loved him. Steve held out hope that they'd be able to see each other again, especially now that his curse was under control. But they both agreed that Patrick and Sherri should be kept in the dark about all of this, and had made up an excuse for Trevor's absence, which Steve fell back on now.

"I'm afraid I haven't heard from him for a couple months. He said he wouldn't have access to a phone most of the time while he's overseas saving the whales."

Patrick grinned broadly, but there was doubt in his eyes. "That's the truth, right, dad? You wouldn't lie to us about where Trevor is?"

To be funny, Steve matched his son's seriousness. "To you kids, never."

"But you are lying."

This accusation had tumbled out of his daughter's mouth. The words had not been said in a playful way, but dripped with scorn. But strangest of all to Steve, was that the voice had not sounded like daughter's. It sounded like the deeper voice of a man. Steve's looked between his two kids, and wondered if Patrick had picked up a talent for ventriloquism.

Patrick laughed as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Wow, Sherri, what was that? Do you have a cold or something?"

Steve was about to ask how Patrick had thrown his voice so well, until he saw his daughter's body shudder out of the corner of his eye. He snapped his full attention back to her, but she was just sitting there, now perfectly still. Trevor's warning about a bodyhopper's tell came back to him. Why would one be here? Did he send them? But they were asking questions about him like they didn't know where he was. That meant... Steve fought to remain calm as a terrible thought occurred to him.

"Could I have a number to call him at, dad?" Patrick asked. "I never got one. You know what, let's call him now. We can put him on speaker and all talk to him together."

Steve studied Patrick's posture. He was leaning forward, his gaze intense. Sherri then leaned forward as well. They were both very passionate about calling their brother. And then he saw it a second time. A shudder, this time from Patrick. He hadn't imagined it. But then that meant that he was in the room with more than one of them. And they were trying their best to get a hold of Trevor, to learn his whereabouts. And if Trevor was with ones he trusted, then the one that Trevor said was dangerous was in the room with him right now.

Steve shoved down the panic, and focused on breathing steadily. For the first time since she had passed, he was glad that his wife was not here so she did not have to share the terror that was flowing through him. His body began to betray him, as his heart pounded louder, and a bead of sweat broke out onto his forehead. He needed to make a move. He probably only had one shot.

"Uh, yeah, I think that's a great idea," Steve said. He stood up as casually as he could. "I'll go get my phone. It's charging in the other room."

"Isn't that your phone right there?" Patrick asked, pointing out the phone outline in Steve's sweatpants.

Steve thought quickly. "Oh, that's my work phone. I only have work contacts in there, and I can't remember all of your kids' phone numbers. It's hard enough to remember all the birthdays." He saw his son's eyes drift up and to the left, as if he were mulling this response over. Steve didn't wait for a response, but walked briskly out of the room into the kitchen. Once out of sight, he dialed Trevor's number.

On the first ring, he heard Patrick's voice call from the living room, "Have you gotten a new job recently, dad? Because you don't have a work phone."

As the phone began to ring, Steve heard footsteps coming towards him. He backpedaled to the kitchen's other exit, which led to a hallway with a bathroom on his immediate left, and a hallway with stairs and another exit back to the living room. He saw Sherri step in from the living room, and heard Patrick's footsteps behind him in the kitchen. Steve leaped into the bathroom and locked the door. Two seconds later he heard a large fist rattle against the wood.

"Dad, I thought we were going to call Trevor together," Patrick said with icy calm.

"I just needed to use the john first," Steve answered. The phone on the other end just kept ringing. Another bang on the door, more menacing than before. Steve finally heard the sound of an automated voice telling him to leave a message at the beep.

"Dad, I'm really going to need you to open the door."

The beep came at last, and Steve let the words tumble out. "Trevor, your family has been compromised. I'm pretty sure the bodyhopper you're looking for found me, and he's not alone. They've taken over your brother and sister, and they're trying to find out how to get to you."

The wood groaned and creaked as something large hit it from the other side.

"Do not call back. Do not come home. I wish you all the best in your long life. I'm nothing but proud of you. I love you, son."

It was the last words he could say as the door gave way. Patrick grabbed the phone from his father's hand, and saw that Steve had already ended the call. Steve watched in horror as Patrick's lips moved, but another man's low, gravelly voice came out. "Well, I guess we do this the hard way. That's okay. I always like the hard way." And then Patrick embraced his father in a hug.

This disarmed Steve, because it felt natural to hug his son. Instinct told him to reciprocate, but then Steve felt his body begin to shudder. "No!" he protested, right before he blacked out.

When Steve came to, he was no longer in the bathroom. Had he been in the bathroom? If so, how did he get in the bedroom, and why was he naked? And then he became aware that his two oldest children were staring at him, and he quickly used a pillow to cover his privates. He must have passed out in the shower and his kids brought him here. But why were his kids here? Nothing made sense, and it was maddening that he couldn't remember. And then he did. Reality came crashing down around him, and he knew the fix he was in as he saw that the eyes of his two oldest were not staring, but leering.

"I love the face they make when they remember," said the gravelly voice from Patrick's mouth.

"This is a waste of time," said the other masculine voice from Sherri's mouth. "You said he doesn't know anything."

"I said he doesn't know where Trevor is. And you gave up our best chance of finding out. Didn't I say to blend in? Didn't I say not to give yourself away? I did all the heavy lifting back there. You just sat there like a lump, not utilizing your host's memories or mannerisms like I showed you. You didn't even last five minutes! From the moment we walked in, you might have well just announced that there was someone else controlling Sherri Burrtrick, because your performance was idiotic!"

"I'm sorry, Nevyn, I-"

Patrick's powerful arms shoved Sherri's body against the wall. Patrick's face contorted with rage. "Did I give you permission to say my name?" the gravelly voice demanded. "For that matter, did I tell you to stop pretending to be Sherri Burrtrick!"

The male voice protested, "N-no! I'm sorry, I-"

Patrick's arm pulled Sherri's body forward, then slammed her harder into the wall.

"I forgot!" Sherri's voice wheezed.

Steve acted on impulse, the way any father would when seeing his daughter under attack. He leapt to her defense, but the second he touched Patrick's arm to pull him off, his hand shuddered. The next thing he remembered, he was back on the bed, naked, with his kids in the room, and after a few seconds, he remembered why.

Patrick's body was now sitting on the bed, very close to him. And the gravelly voice that did not belong to his son began to speak. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nevyn, and according to the brief glimpse I've had into your mind, I'm the bodyhopper your son is searching for. But he's having trouble finding me because I developed this." He took out a small black box that emitted a flashing red light. "It jams the signal we bodyhoppers send out. I developed it myself, with the help of the brain of an old scientist friend I used to know. It's a pity she wasn't the one that developed the tracking software, otherwise I'd have tracked down more of my own kind by now. As it is, I've only found one worthy of becoming my apprentice," Nevyn pointed at Sherri and continued, "but between you and me I'm beginning to have my doubts."

Sherri frowned and her shoulders slumped. To Steve, it looked like every time he had ever told her no to something.

Nevyn prompted his cohort, "Go on and introduce yourself, since we're using our real names and all."

"But you said-" Sherri's voice began.

"I know what I said! But since you've bungled this so badly, we're going to let this be a teaching experience. And it starts with introducing yourself to Steve here."

"Okay, I'm um..." he began in his real voice.

"Real name, yes," Nevyn clarified. "But in every other way, you are to practice being Sherri."

Sherri nodded her head obediently, then continued in Sherri's voice. "I'm Lance."

"Lance, here, is my bodyhopper in training. I brought him on board recently and I'm still showing him the ropes," Nevyn explained. He noticed Steve's eyes flick towards the door. "Don't try to run, Steve. All it takes is a touch from either of us, and you'll wake up right back here on this bed. Now where was I? Oh right. Did you know Lance here knew your son? They were in the same class in school. I'm afraid Lance was a bit of a bully to Trevor, almost from the moment Lance moved to this town when he was a boy. What are the chances, your shapeshifting son being bullied by a descendant of mine who shares my bodyhopping gene. They're higher than you think Steve, because I've been responsible for a lot of babies over the years. Still, I was lucky to find Lance here. Had to track him down the old fashioned way, through tedious research. The gene was passed down on his mom's side, whom I paid a visit to some years ago. But an inspection of her mind let me know that she was not worthy to have my gift activated. But I knew it would be in her son. I waited for him to come of age, and when I paid him a visit this last week, he jumped at the chance to work under me. I still need to see if he's got the stomach for the job though."

"I-I do sir!" Sherri trilled. "I promise I'll get it right next time. I just, I wasn't used to being a girl is all. I won't disappoint you again."

"Let's put that to the test, shall we?" Nevyn challenged.

"Um...like how?" she asked.

"You're going to help me loosen dad's tongue."

"Can't you just get it from his mind?"

"I've told you, it takes time to rummage through all the information you might want from a person's memories. Do you even pay attention when I tell you these things? Sometimes it's just easier to have a conversation, which was working just fine, until you blew our cover."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Like I said, we'll just make this a teaching experience. I'll teach you how to make someone tell you all their secrets, the fun way."

Steve interrupted. "I don't know where Trevor is!"

"Oh I know," Nevyn said. "And with that phone call you made, it'll be much, much harder for me to find him. I didn't anticipate that. It would have been so easy to draw him out with your help. You have to understand why I'd want to meet him. He's unlike anyone I've ever met in my very long life, and I think he'd be very useful to me. But since you won't help me find him, you can at least tell me all about him. Maybe why he is the way he is. I already know it runs in the family."

"How about I tell you to go fuck yourself instead?" Steve growled.

"Oh Steve, there will definitely be some fucking," Nevyn chided. He grabbed Steve's arm, which began to shudder. Right before Steve lost consciousness, he heard Nevyn say, "Just try not to enjoy it too much."

A moment later, Steve's eyes opened, and Nevyn began to speak to his apprentice. "Alright. In a few minutes, you're going to fuck Steve here."

Sherri looked like she was trying not to throw up. "What? No, man! That's...there's no way!"

"And why not?" Nevyn asked coldly.

"Because, that's like, I'm a guy in here! I don't want to like, touch another guy that way!"

Nevyn raised Sherri's chin up and looked through her eyes to Lance's soul that hid within. "You didn't seem to mind fucking me the other day, did you? And I'm a guy."

"But...you were possessing my mom's body at the time."

Nevyn gently touched the side of Sherri's face. "You're right. I was possessing your mother. And that made it very easy to enjoy fucking you. I tapped into her core, into her emotions, and became her." His hand, Steve's hand, began to slide down to Sherri's chest, and began squeezing her breasts. "I could sense how sexually repressed your mother was, Lance. I knew how much she craved a man's cock, her thoughts became my thoughts, her desires, my desires. And the rest came easily, though not as easily as you did," Nevyn said with a wink. "So now I want you to do the same thing with Sherri here. I want you to dive into her psyche, and sync with her personality, her wants, her desires, her body. It's what you were supposed to do when we got here, and you failed. So I want you to try harder this time. And I want you to do it now."

"But..."

"But what!" Nevyn bellowed.

"Even if I could..." Lance/Sherri began. "Even if I did all that, this guy's not going to fuck his daughter."

Nevyn's flashed a wicked smile. "He will if he doesn't know it's his daughter."

"But, how are you going to do that? I thought we can only manipulate memories while we're-"

"You can manipulate as many false memories as you want, Lance. You can completely rewrite their personality and make them become someone else entirely. It just won't last if these memories happened outside our window of possession."

"How long do false memories last?"

"It depends on how strong you enforce them in their mind. Usually they will last a few days, longer if I've spent a significant amount of time in the host. But for today's purposes, what I'm going to implant will be fragile, easily shattered. I will overlay the truth with a lie, but leave the truth just beneath the surface. Now shut up and make the connection to your host while I get to work."

Lance wanted to keep arguing. He definitely didn't want to fuck a dude. That wasn't what he had signed up for. But...he had signed up to be a bodyhopper. Nevyn had made the possibilities seem endless. And, well, he would have said yes to anything when he had been deep in his mother's... He felt a tingle in his loins. It felt different from an erection, but was still very pleasant. He looked at Nevyn, and saw that his mentor was lost somewhere in Steve's mind. He decided to try, if anything because he felt indebted to Nevyn. And Nevyn had promised to let him be there when he changed the world.

Lance closed Sherri's eyes and began to concentrate. When he had possessed her earlier that day, he had stayed in the shallow waters of her consciousness, just enough to obtain her voice, recent memories, and some basic mannerisms. It clearly had not been enough. This time, he went deeper.

He began to see what it meant to be Sherri. Her life, her experiences, swirled around him. He saw what it was to be a beautiful young woman and a daughter. It was very different than his upbringing. He experienced puberty very differently through her eyes. He pictured vividly the time that a boy she liked asked her out, and she had said yes. They had gone out on a date, and she had felt truly desired. This led to the memory of her first sexual experience some time later. It had been her first, but certainly not her last. She knew how good it felt to have an orgasm as a woman. How it felt to slide a finger into her pussy. How it felt to be penetrated by a hard, thick cock.

As the connection solidified, it was like a dam burst. A torrent of Sherri's memories washed over Lance, and each one contained a wealth of sensations and emotions. He saw that masturbation could be way better as a woman, and the feel of a cock as it penetrated his...her pussy, there was nothing like it. It didn't seem so bad. It seemed great actually. As his soul wrapped around hers, he began to think maybe he could fuck a guy, but a foreign thought nagged at him, and he voiced his concern. "I...I can't fuck my dad."

Nevyn heard this, and opened one of Steve's eyes. "Good. You've connected to her sense of self, her moral compass. You are not defined by it though. You are still Lance, but in possession of Sherri's soul, and her femininity. And you get to relish in the taboo nature of it all, the fact that you can make this sexy body fuck someone they would never fuck in real life. To me, that's the absolute best part."

Lance felt his nipples, no, her nipples harden, and his pussy grow wet. It was all very confusing merging with another soul, especially a member of the opposite sex. It was like he was Sherri, but not. He wanted to experience the pleasure that Sherri remembered. He couldn't believe his mind had shifted that fast, but he assumed that was all part of being a bodyhopper. You kind of lost your idea of gender along the way.

"That should do on my end," Nevyn said, right before hopping back into Patrick.

"Uh, okay, what do I..." Sherri started to ask.

Nevyn sighed. "Why don't you start by seducing him. It shouldn't be difficult. He'll think you're his dead, shapeshifting wife at first, and doesn't even know that he has kids. Still, be sure to call him daddy. He'll like that, until he doesn't."