by Randi Darren
Otherwise, he’d just put himself higher up on the “replace” list.
“I… a clone?” Sam asked.
The Doppel Lee hadn’t stopped trying to murder the real Lee, but she wasn’t choking her to the point of death anymore. Sam’s interference had definitely broken her flow.
Not to mention, any normal Human likely wouldn’t murder another in a situation like this. The Doppel had limited information and was clearly not expecting Sam to be here.
“I think so? Maybe? I don’t know!” the Doppel said, looking back to Lee. Her hands started to tighten on the other woman’s throat again. “We should call the police and—”
Sam laid a hand to the back of the Doppelganger’s head and used a blast of Essence to blank her consciousness out as if it were a light switch.
The fake naked Lee collapsed down atop the real naked Lee, who sucked in a breath of air.
“Oh my—oh my god. What’s going on?” gurgled Lee, shoving at the other naked version of herself.
“Doppelganger,” Sam said. Reaching down, he pulled the Doppel off Lee and moved her to one side.
She was a perfect and exact replica of the real PE teacher.
If he hadn’t been what he was, or a few other types of beings, he would never have been able to see through to what she was.
“Apparently you’re a target for replacement,” Sam murmured. “That’d mean you were likely to be killed and dumped.”
Breathing hard and rubbing at her throat, Lee had the look of a woman who didn’t know how to respond.
“What? Kill me? Why?” Lee croaked, leaning her head against a locker. “I’m just… I’m a nobody. I’m a Worry Monster. I… I don’t… I’m just a Human really. I just eat worries, too. Why me?”
“I’m afraid, and I know this is insulting so do forgive me,” Sam said, reaching down and laying a hand to the Doppel’s forehead. “You were targeted only because you work here. It has nothing to do with you personally. It could have been a cocker-spaniel and they would have taken the time to replace them.”
Constructing a prison of Essence in the Doppel’s mind, Sam was only barely paying any attention to Lee.
“Why? This is just… it’s a normal school. Sure, we have a few Paras here and there but nothing out of the ordinary,” Lee groused. Her left arm was covering her breasts now even as she rubbed at her throat with her right.
“No idea,” Sam lied. He had no reason to trust Lee. For all he knew, this was an elaborate plot to trap him. He wasn’t about to walk into that for just anyone.
Least especially, a Worry Monster who only let him take her to lunch twice, each ending with a polite hug.
“What are you doing?” Lee asked slowly getting to her feet.
“Oh, just checking on our friend here,” Sam murmured, his hand moving down the Doppel’s face to her jaw. The cage was done now. All he needed to do was wake the Doppel up. “I did hit her pretty hard.”
“I didn’t… even see it. I think I was starting to black out,” Lee said. Turning her naked backside to him, she started pulling clothes out of her locker. “She attacked me as I came out of the shower.”
Sam hadn’t noticed it before, but Lee’s hair did indeed look damp. As was the Doppel’s hair.
“Uh huh,” Sam murmured. Using Essence, he pulled the Doppel out of the coma he’d put her in.
Eyes snapping open as if she’d only blinked, the Doppel was once more awake.
Sam felt her mind rail against the mental construct inside her head.
All to no avail.
He’d lived far too long and had trapped hundreds in such cages. There would be no escape for her.
I’ll just mention the police and a basic plan. That’ll set Lee off because she isn’t in the PID database after all.
“Seems she’s awake,” Sam murmured, going with his thoughts. “I’m going to take her to my office and start asking her questions about why she’s here. I think maybe you should just… go home and relax, Lee. I’ll call the police after that and—”
“You can’t!” Lee snapped, turning around quickly. She was only wearing a bra and panties now. “I’m undocumented. Remember? You can’t call the police. They’ll call the PID!”
“Alright… then… I’ll just question her for now and we’ll go from there,” Sam said. “You go home.”
“I… don’t feel like I should. What if they’re waiting for me there?” Lee murmured. Turning back to her locker, she started pulling out her clothes.
“Ah. That’s a good point,” Sam admitted. Turning his head to one side, he stared down into the Doppel’s eyes. “Are they waiting for her at her home?”
“Yes,” answered the Doppel.
“See?” Lee asked. “I can’t go home, we can’t call the police. What… what do I do?”
“You wait here for me, or wait in my car,” Sam said, deciding quickly. As far as he could tell, Lee wasn’t out to get him. She could be useful, he imagined. “Sounds like you’ll be staying with me for a bit.”
Lee sighed, closing her locker and stepping into her pants.
“I should have just slept with you,” Lee muttered. “This’d all be so much easier at that point.”
“Probably. My wife thinks you’re an idiot,” Sam said and scooped up the Doppel, tossing her over his shoulder.
Decima hadn’t understood why Lee had declined Sam’s advances. To her, Lee had no power or prestige. Becoming the girlfriend to someone like Sam would open doors for her if she chose to engage in such a relationship.
Decima was woman out of her time.
I do miss the old sentiments every now and then.
It was a lot easier when the morality police had more to do with survival and less to do with religious views.
“She knew?” Lee asked. “Knew that you were trying to… to seduce me?”
“I did tell you she was aware,” Sam said putting a hand to the rear end of the Doppel to hold her there. “Anyways. You waiting for me here, or at my car.”
“I’ll wait here,” Lee said, turning toward Sam again now that she was fully dressed. “Come get me when you’re ready to leave.”
“Yep,” Sam said, then left the locker room.
Thankfully, he encountered no one in the halls, though he was ready to glamour anyone if he did.
Entering his office, he closed and locked the door.
A second after that, he dropped the naked Doppel into his chair and locked her eyes with his own.
“Your life is more or less forfeit,” Sam said honestly, getting straight to the heart of the matter.
He couldn’t let this young lady go. She already knew too much about him and he’d decided on ending her when he used his powers the way he had.
“I know,” said the Doppel.
“Great, that’ll make this a lot easier,” Sam said and sat down on the edge of his desk. “You might as well revert to your normal self by the way. I know you’re a Doppelganger. I’m told it’s a lot like sliding into a warm bath to be in your original form.”
Doppel Lee raised her eyebrows at that.
Then she shrugged her shoulders.
Instantly, a young woman no older than twenty-one appeared. She looked a lot like Hillary, but given how the Doppel as a race shared many common features, that didn’t say much.
She was considerably heftier in the chest and hips than Hillary naturally was though.
“Wow, aren’t you a genetic-lottery winner,” Sam said with an admiring eye. With a sigh, he pulled his eyes back to her face. This was neither the time nor place. “Name?”
The Doppel shook her head slightly, her eyes moving down to the ground.
Right.
“Fine, I’ll just jump straight to the end. Do you know who you’re working for or are you getting wiped like the principal is?”
Sam felt a push on his mental cage as if she had a magically constructed condition coiled up inside of her.
It pathetically gave out and collapsed in on itself as
soon as it hit his Essence-wrought spell.
The Doppel’s eyes shot back to his, her eyebrows climbing upward. That was all replaced by what Sam could only describe as pleasant surprise.
Maybe she was supposed to die, expected it, but didn’t want to?
I might be able to use that.
“You don’t get to die unless I wish it. Regardless of whatever they told you,” Sam said, guessing at the intent of the spell. “You’re… mine. And maybe explaining why that is, might help.”
Sighing Sam held his hands out in front of himself.
“I’m Sameerixis the Planar Lord. Torment of Lust,” Sam said. “You may or may not know who I am. But I rub shoulders with the Judge, the Curator, Retribution, the Torment of Sanity, and the Torment of Lightning. The list goes on and on. There are very few people in this entire existence that would give me pause. You’re not one of them.”
Opening her mouth, the Doppelganger looked to be considering that news.
“Maybe tell me your name after all then? Or if you like, do you know who you’re working for or are you getting wiped like the principal is?” Sam asked again.
“I’m… I’m just… they wipe me. They wipe me every time I go out on a mission,” said the women. “I get it all back when I finish up. That’s what they told me. I don’t even have a name. I was just told to take… take Francis Lee Aman’s name and become her.”
“Right. And you were supposed to kill her?” Sam asked.
“I… was supposed to knock her out and put her in her own locker,” said the Doppelganger. “She was a bit stronger than I expected and then you showed up and… and here we are.”
“And you know about as much as the principal does, I bet,” Sam muttered. “Do you have any idea why you’re here? What you’re looking for? Any listed goals or… directives?”
“Just to knock out the Worry Monster and put her in the locker,” explained the Doppelganger with a slow shake of her head. “I’m supposed to get more orders tomorrow morning at her house. I know her address, her name, and a good bit about her history and current life. I’m… I’m just supposed to be her.”
Sam leaned back slightly and looked up to the ceiling tiles above him.
She’s just like the principal.
Blank and worthless to me.
“Right. Right, okay,” Sam said with a long drawn out sigh. “You can visit a friend of mine and he can spend some time with you. Come on then.”
Sam shook his head and walked over to the door.
In the moment his hand reached the door, the Doppelganger snatched up a pair of scissors off his desk.
“Wait! I—”
Slamming the scissors home into her throat, the Doppelganger kept jamming them into her neck over and over.
“Shit, stop,” Sam said moving back over to her quickly. “You’re just going to make me spend Essence to fix that.”
Blood was gushing down her naked front. Spilling down into his chair and across her lap.
Yanking the scissors away from the Doppelganger, Sam started to work Essence up to put her tattered neck back together.
Nothing happened.
The Essence he was trying to push in washed right over her. As if it couldn’t find any purchase on her.
Gurgling, the Doppelganger gazed up at him, her eyes wide and somewhat smug.
“What the—”
Sam started alternating the Essence he was using, swapping from Emotional, to Life, to what he could gather locally.
Giving him a triumphant grin, the Doppelganger slumped partially into Sam’s chair, her skin rapidly becoming extremely pale.
Sam continued to batter her with Essence, trying to heal her of her wounds.
Holding up his hands, Sam had no idea what was going on. There wasn’t anything he could do to put the woman back together.
Standing there as she bled out, Sam could only watch.
Helplessly.
Even as she clearly slipped out of consciousness.
Staring lifelessly into nothing, the Doppelganger bled out. Her eyes held no life, even as her body tried to force breath into a husk that wouldn’t be getting back up.
The moment it took its last breath and came to a shuddering stop, Sam felt what he’d suspected. Just beneath her skin, filling her from top to bottom.
Loaded to the point of exploding, the Doppelganger was so packed full of Essence, she wouldn’t be able to truly have anything done to her directly.
Likely, the only reason his Essence trap in her mind worked at all was because it didn’t try to affect her physically. It had only forced her into compliance with his commands and prevented her from being cursed to death.
An incredible amount of Essence ripped free of the corpse and blasted out in every direction.
Life Essence.
Pure, untainted, years’ and years’ worth of power.
Siphoning as much of it away into his own personal plane as he could, Sam felt like he was holding onto a fire hose with his feet. There was simply too much flowing out for him to capture and keep all for himself.
Unfortunately, it also came to an end far too quickly.
Whatever. That’s more than enough to keep Jes fed for a really long time if we’re separated.
Feeling brief annoyance at the fact he couldn’t have gathered more, Sam found himself contemplating that thought.
That he was annoyed because he couldn’t do more for Jes.
“Whatever,” Sam muttered. He knew he was well beyond the turning point for his mental stability. He was in love with his harem, and even cared for a few people in his feed harem.
Rubbing at his chin with one hand, he contemplated what to do with the dead Doppelganger.
Reaching out with a hand, he shoved her out of his seat and then left his office. He could deal with her later. The cleaning crew didn’t visit his office on Tuesdays.
Right now, he needed to collect Lee from the locker room and get back home.
He needed to talk to everyone and figure out what their next course of action was.
Clearly the school was now compromised. It wasn’t just a random Doppelganger being inserted to try and find Mitch, they were now focusing their efforts on this school in particular.
Entering the women’s locker room, Sam went over to where he’d last seen Lee.
“Lee?” Sam asked aloud.
There was no response.
“Lee? Where are you?” Sam asked again, walking down the short aisle to the other end.
Opening himself up a bit, he let his Essence rapidly fill the room.
Lee wasn’t here.
Or at least, Lee wasn’t here anymore.
Frowning, Sam felt like he knew exactly where Lee was.
Already knowing the answer, but knowing he needed to see it, Sam walked over to Lee’s locker.
Lifting the latch, he opened the door slowly.
Stuffed inside it was Lee.
Her neck was clearly broken. Or so he guessed, since her head was almost on backwards.
Closing the locker door, Sam let out a soft breath.
“Right,” he murmured. “Time to get home, and get Mitch out of here.”
The clack of a door opening surprised Sam.
Shit!
Uh. Alright. No Essence sorcery. Shouldn’t be in here so… so…
Okay.
Opening the locker next to the one Lee was in, Sam clambered in quickly and closed it behind himself.
If it’s just faculty, hit ’em with a whammy, get out, and get going.
If it’s… whoever did Lee in, we get them, and see what they know.
Feeling like a pair of shoes crammed into a cubby-hole, Sam waited.
Nineteen - The Way is Shut -
Someone opened a locker and started to rummage around in the contents.
Err… faculty then? Maybe one of the teachers?
The locker closed with a clack.
Unable to hear anything more, Sam strained to catch any sound at all.
Faintly, he could just barely make out what sounded like bare feet on tile.
Then a shower turned on.
Faculty!
Go!
Opening the locker door, Sam hurried out of his cramped quarters and exited the locker room.
Getting into the hallway, he adjusted his tie and jacket and tried to calm himself down.
Two bodies.
One I have to deal with, one someone else has to deal with.
Time to be gone. Let’s make sure we take our personnel files with us. No sense in leaving it behind.
Moving to the filing room he’d been working in, Sam found there was still no one around. For which he was infinitely grateful at the moment. The last thing he needed to do was kill someone and add to the body count.
He snatched Mitch’s student file first and then Hillary’s. Then he moved to the HR cabinet and got out his own folder.
Holding all three of them, Sam used the thinnest trickle of Essence magic he could and set them alight.
They started to burn merrily.
Glancing up at the smoke detector and sprinkler system, Sam directed that same trickle of Essence upward to cover them. He definitely didn’t need either one of those going off right now.
The goal was to get Mitch out of here and to safety. Not having a swarm of first responders all trying to save a school full of kids.
Then finding two bodies in it. One that looked like it was in a slasher fic and the other the girlfriend of a superhero comic gone wrong.
At least it isn’t a refrigerator.
Splitting his Essence into even thinner parts, Sam made sure to collect all the ashes of the files as they flaked apart. His goal was to eliminate all evidence of Mitch and to make sure there were no traces of wrongdoing either.
Task finally complete, Sam compressed the ashes into a single point by folding the Essence atop itself. Until it became little more than a black ball of soot.
It wasn’t recognizable as anything at all by that point.
Dropping it into the trash can, Sam left the filing room.
Looking at the door, Sam considered his options. The easiest was to simply head to his car and wait for the end of the day, which wasn’t too far away.
