Reality Hack

by Niall Teasdale

  Nisa shook her head. ‘I don’t believe that’s what they did. I don’t think what I was feeling was a spell powerful enough to vanish her. And my understanding is that using Da’at like that would remove even the memory of her from existence. I think it was just the number of them and them being active. I mean really active instead of just watching.’

  ‘Which begs the question of what a bunch of shadowy men, possibly System Agents, want with a magazine article writer?’ Kellog said.

  ‘I don’t think these things are that kind of shadowy figure.’ Nisa knew she was saying it because of the warning the Men in Black had given her, but she still found herself avoiding mentioning that fact. ‘I think they’re something else. I think they’re something that shouldn’t exist and that’s why they stink of Da’at.’

  ‘Then what would something which shouldn’t exist want with Mrs May?’

  ‘I have absolutely no idea.’

  Tower Hamlets, October 8th.

  Faline was off her food and exceptionally tactile about saying hello as soon as Nisa walked into the flat. Of course, Nisa knew why, and her own stomach was not in the mood for a lot of food either. They were both waiting for the sky to darken and the tension was obvious.

  Having eaten a slice of toast and poured two glasses of wine, Nisa gave up trying to eat more for the time being as the sun set around six-thirty. Faline was looking restive, but not changing yet, so Nisa went to her bedroom and stripped. And then she padded back out into the lounge and curled onto the couch while her cat sat on the rug in the middle of the floor and watched her with a most un-cat-like look of… Actually, no, it was a cat expression, but twisted: Faline was looking at Nisa the way cats watched birds in trees. There was going to come a time, real soon now, when she could pounce… Nisa swallowed and felt her nipples hardening and knew that Faline could probably smell her getting wet.

  And then, as the light dimmed outside, Faline began to change. She did not slink away to hide this time. It was almost as though she wanted Nisa to see it all and that that would somehow make this all seem more intense. And it did. Nisa watched as the cat-shape flowed and distorted, as the limbs rearranged themselves and Faline’s features rearranged their form into their pixie-like, human shape.

  But when the transformation was complete tonight there was still the same hungry, waiting, animal look in the woman’s eyes, and Faline prowled across the floor toward Nisa. For a brief instant Nisa was actually afraid; she was looking into the eyes of a woman so lost in the animal part of herself that Nisa wondered whether she was going to survive the night.

  And then Faline’s hot hands touched her thighs and Nisa, too, was lost in the moment.

  ~~~

  Trina watched the sun going down with an odd feeling of dread. She had spent the last week worrying over Jilly, who should have been in a hospital, but should certainly be no threat currently, and yet there was something about the whole business…

  She was walking back toward her turf from Limehouse, cutting the corner across from Agnes Street to Burdett Road. It saved several hundred yards compared to going all the way up Agnes Street, though as the sky got darker it seemed less of a good idea. She was under trees here, not many and not thick, but the shadows were deeper and seemed to move on their own. Maybe this had been a bad idea, but why the Hell was she getting so damn nervous? Jilly was just a girl like any of the other ones Trina had taken down in her time. Right?

  Something moved on Trina’s right and she turned quickly, dropping into a ready stance. She saw Jilly’s unmarked, smiling face as she stepped into what light there was. ‘Jilly…’

  ‘Kind of,’ Jilly replied.

  ‘I beat you… Why aren’t you black and blue? I know I broke ribs.’

  ‘Yeah… that hurt, but I learned my lesson.’

  Trina stepped back and straightened up. ‘You’re asking for a truce?’

  Jilly stepped forward quickly, her right arm extending from behind her back to jab a stun rod into Trina’s ribs. Trina jerked as several tens of thousands of volts turned her nervous system into electric chaos, and then she fell to the floor, twitching. ‘No. I learned that if you want to get ahead in life, you have to cheat like a bitch.’

  ~~~

  An hour after sunset, Faline seemed to be in seventh heaven or a near approximation thereof. The strap-on was a big hit and the Witch Cat was lying with her face pressed into the back of the sofa and her butt stuck up in the air, utterly lost in the sensation of Nisa ramming the thick, rubber phallus in and out of her friend.

  Faline had been quite insistent at first, apparently wanting very much to be between Nisa’s thighs, even though the cat was the one in heat. Knowing they would likely be at it for hours, Nisa had just gone with it, but when Faline had got her off and was mewling for release herself, Nisa had got up and gone to the bedroom, and returned wearing the harness and dildo. Faline’s eyes had gone as wide as saucers. Nisa was going to have to call a break soon, because her thighs were feeling the strain and she needed more food now that the initial heat was over.

  It seemed that Faline was feeling the strain too since, when the final shudders of her next orgasm were dying, she turned her face to Nisa. ‘Enough… Enough, please… I don’t think I can do… that again.’ Which had to be treated accordingly, even if Nisa was in agreement. She grabbed Faline’s hips and pulled as she sat back on her haunches. Faline let out a squeak as she was impaled further while sitting in Nisa’s lap. ‘Please, love! I-if I come again, I’ll b-be useless for hours.’

  Nisa giggled, snuggling her nose against Faline’s neck. ‘“Love,” huh?’

  ‘I-it was a slip of the tongue,’ Faline replied, her cheeks heating. She was squirming, a fish caught on a hook she was unwilling to slip free of.

  ‘I don’t mind,’ Nisa told her. ‘I quite like it. I’m getting tired too. We should eat something if we’re going to go again later.’

  ‘We should, and we will. I am more comfortable in my skin now, but I want more of you. I have not tasted you enough tonight, and I wish you to force more of this fiendish toy upon me before morning comes.’

  ‘I am going to be a wreck at work tomorrow, aren’t I?’

  ‘I believe they are aware of the issues associated with my kind, and are also aware that the benefits outweigh them. But I will try to ensure that you have some sleep.’

  Grinning, Nisa allowed the cat-woman up from her lap, and then followed her toward the kitchen. ‘Some sleep?’

  ‘Indeed.’ It was Faline’s turn to giggle. ‘I may have to wake you for a last quickie before the sun comes up though. Perhaps you could go in a little late?’

  Westminster, October 9th.

  ‘Full moon?’ Sandra asked as Nisa passed her in the corridor.

  ‘Yeah,’ Nisa mumbled, hiding behind her sunglasses. She has considered using make-up to hide the dark rings, but the glasses had been easier.

  ‘Frank has some very good herbal pick-me-ups.’

  ‘I’ll remember to ask about them.’ Nisa walked on to her office, unlocking the door and heading in. She was unsure how much work she was going to really get done and had considered calling in sick, though she would have explained that she had come down with Faline-induced exhaustion. Well, she thought it was a reasonable malady in their line of work.

  Kellog appeared in the door of her office, looked at her slumped in her office chair for a second, and then said, ‘Full moon last night, right? You probably should’ve stayed home and slept it off.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll remember that next time.’

  ‘Since you’re in, let’s get some coffee. Norbery says the results of that facial reconstruction are in.’

  ‘Facial reconstruction… right… be right there…’

  ‘Full moon last night?’ Hanson asked as she walked past Kellog in the corridor.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ he replied.

  ‘Next time take the day off after,’ Hanson called out as she walked on, apparently entirely unbothered.


  ‘Does everyone know I’m banging my cat?’ Nisa grumbled as she made it to the door.

  ‘Everyone knows how Witch Cats are every quarter,’ Kellog replied as he started for the break room. ‘Everyone knows Faline is a Witch Cat because she was here to help bring your Probrum down. And we know you’re not averse to female sexual partners, because we did a background check.’

  Nisa grumbled something about fascist, Big Brother police states which Kellog ignored, and then they walked into the break room to find Norbery staring at a computer tablet. He looked up at them, opened his mouth, and Nisa said, ‘Yes, it was a full moon last night and I didn’t get much sleep.’

  ‘Thought that might be the case,’ the witch said, pushing a mug of coffee across the table. ‘I put something in this to get your brain firing, but you need to make up the rest. Faline won’t help, because she’ll be… excited for another day at least, but make sure she lets you rest at the weekend.’

  Nisa sagged into a chair. ‘She’ll be better tonight. A bit. I mean, she was last time.’

  ‘Drink your coffee. We got this back from Manchester.’ He turned the tablet around and showed them what seemed to be a computer-drawn image of a human face. A girl, around Nisa’s age or a little younger. ‘They made her a blonde with blue eyes, but we don’t know that.’

  Nisa peered at the image, frowning. It kept going out of focus, so she drank some coffee and kept glaring at it. There was something about it. ‘I’m sure I know her…’

  ‘It’s quite possible you’ve seen her around your area,’ Kellog replied. ‘The Skinwalker wouldn’t have gone far for a first human victim.’

  Nisa nodded and took another gulp of coffee. It had a slightly odd flavour, like cinnamon or something had been added. Maybe that was one of Norbery’s special ingredients. Now all she needed was for it to work and kick her brain out of neutral and… Her eyes widened. ‘Oh fuck, that’s Jilly.’

  ‘Jilly?’

  ‘I don’t know her full name. She’s one of the Queens. Or she was.’

  ‘She’s gone missing?’

  ‘No. She made a play for leadership of the gang. Trina beat her off, but if she’s a Skinwalker…’

  ‘Then she’ll be back. We need to find her. Can you get in touch with this Trina? That’s Katrina Norris, yes? She was on your known associates list.’

  ‘And we’re back to Big Brother. I don’t have a number for her, but I know where she lives.’

  ‘All right, we’ll take my car.’

  Tower Hamlets.

  Trina opened her eyes, but there was still nothing but darkness. That and the pain in her arms. She had been strung up by her wrists, blindfolded, and there was something stuffed into her mouth which seemed to be firmly tied in place. Her toes just about touched the floor and pushing up on them to relieve the strain on her arms also resulted in the sound of movement nearby.

  ‘You’re awake. Good.’ Jilly’s voice, but not. There was something wrong about it. Something… not quite natural. ‘I didn’t want to start while you were unconscious.’

  Start what? What the Hell was the blonde bitch planning to do?

  ‘You’re wondering what I’m going to do with you, obviously. I’m not going to tell you. I want it to be a surprise. Well… I want the individual experiences to be a surprise. I’m still learning, but I think I’m getting better. I think… I think you’ll be able to savour the experience almost as much as I do.’

  This was not Jilly. Trina was sure of that now. There was something about the way she talked, something unnatural. And Trina was quite sure she had known Jilly as well as anyone, and she had not been a serial killer. And whoever this was, she was talking like a serial killer. And that was when Trina knew she was going to die.

  ‘I am going to let you in on one thing,’ Jilly went on. ‘I don’t see any point in holding that back. I’m going to kill you. You’re going to die a horrible death and then I’m going to skin you. But don’t worry, by the time you die you’ll wish it had happened hours before.’

  Trina swallowed. Her throat was dry. She absolutely believed that this woman, this not-Jilly, was going to do just as she said.

  ‘Let’s get started, shall we?’

  Trina felt her T-shirt being pulled taut and heard fabric being cut, and she wondered how long she had left to live.

  ~~~

  Trina was not answering the buzzer for her flat, and finding her number had just got them voice mail, but Nisa had had the bright idea of stopping by her flat on the way to Trina’s. Despite the fact that Witch Cats needed far less sleep than humans, Faline was distinctly grumpy about being dragged out of the flat where she had been happily making up lost sleep which she had not, in fact, lost.

  However, after Nisa had explained the situation, the little black cat had padded quietly off into Trina’s building, oblivious to little things like solid matter which would have been more difficult for the two humans to negotiate.

  ‘Jill Meers,’ Kellog said as they waited in his car. ‘Hanson checked through the records and found a list of known members of the Queens. Jill Meers is on it.’

  ‘Could be her,’ Nisa replied. ‘They always just get introduced as “Jilly” or “Sal.” It was six weeks before Trina told me her full name and she was trying to get me in bed.’

  ‘Huh.’ There was a pause and then, ‘You know if we find her and not the Skinwalker…’

  ‘Yeah… Is there some kind of test we can do?’

  ‘Yes, but you have to be ready to lose your friend.’

  ‘If it comes to that, I’ll have lost her already. We’ll be eliminating a monster walking around in her skin. What’s the procedure?’

  ‘Usually? Shoot the damn thing until it stops moving and then incinerate the corpse with magic. Has to be magic. Only magic can finish them. Well, you can dissolve them in acid, but that’s usually harder to arrange.’

  ‘Which makes them a real annoyance to all of us,’ Faline announced from the back seat. Nisa twisted around and looked back, and it took Kellog a second or two to realise why she was doing it. ‘She is not in the flat,’ the cat went on into Nisa’s mind. ‘Her bed has not been slept in and I could see no evidence that she was home at all last night.’

  ‘Shit!’ Nisa snapped aloud. ‘Thanks, Faline. She says it doesn’t look like Trina got home last night.’

  ‘Which probably means it has her, but it doesn’t mean she’s dead.’

  ‘Just being killed, slowly and painfully. Where?!’

  Kellog grabbed his seat belt and started buckling in. ‘Hold on to something, Faline. I know where to start looking at least.’

  ~~~

  Jilly, or whatever had taken her place, liked needles and seemed to have an instinct for where to put them to send searing pain through Trina’s body. The ones jammed through her nipples had been more or less expected and, truth be told, had more or less stopped hurting now. The thick ones that were rammed into joints… Those ones had Trina screaming into her gag every time.

  It would often take a couple of tries to hit just the right spot, and that was somehow worse as when the needle was pushed slowly in, there would be the sharp stab as it entered and then the dull agony of it pushing through flesh. Then it would stop against bone and there would be an irritated grunt from Jilly and the needle would be yanked out, and there would be another stab. And then it would hit something instead of bone. A nerve? Fire would rip up through Trina’s body and she would be left jerking in her bonds while Jilly found another needle and selected a new spot.

  And then it stopped. The pain from the needle that had gone into the back of her right knee was still lancing up her thigh and Trina did not notice for a minute that Jilly seemed to have wandered off. Then the blindfold was pulled off her head.

  Jilly was not smiling. Straight-faced, she stood there and looked at Trina, almost as though she was trying to judge something in her expression. She was naked from the waist up. Blood streaked her skin in places, and smudges of the same showed o
n the worn denim jeans she was wearing. She was holding a large, nasty-looking hunting knife in her right hand, though it hung at her side almost as if forgotten.

  ‘I… didn’t ask to be like this,’ Jilly said. If she expected an answer she was not going to get one. Maybe answering was unnecessary anyway since her eyes were drifting away from Trina’s. ‘I mean it kind of just started and got out of control… and then there was… I mean, how do you get around being able to…’ Her eyes flicked up again, sparks of fire showing in the back of them. ‘I figured I was crazy. No one can do this shit. Stealing skins? That’s like Clive Barker crazy shit, right? That’s Stephen King, Pet Cemetery or something. Nuts. Then I killed Jill and… I’m getting way better at the skinning though. I had some practice.’ She looked away again and then wandered off, stepping out of Trina’s line of sight.

  The room they were in… It looked like the front room of a house, though it was a little hard to tell. Someone, presumably Jilly, had tacked blankets over the windows and the only light came from a single table lamp on the floor near Trina’s feet. There was a sofa off on her left though and the decoration looked suburban, kind of bland for a girl who ran with a street gang. Trina tried to focus through the pain: had Jilly still been living with her parents?

  ‘I haven’t decided how to kill you yet.’ The voice was behind Trina’s back, not moving. ‘I could make it fairly quick and painless. I could pinch your nose shut and you’ll suffocate in a minute or two. Books say that’s not a bad way to go. I’ve been wondering, though, how many needles I can get into the base of your skull before I hit something vital.’ Trina almost flinched as she felt something touch her neck, a sharp point which slid up under her hair. ‘I might paralyse you before I kill you though…’ The pressure increased. ‘Maybe I’ll try a couple of these and then the other.’

  ~~~

  The house looked like all the other ones on Carbis Road: not especially old, terraced with a paved area for parking off the street out front. The large Ford sedan parked outside it barely fitted, the boot jutting out over the pavement. It all looked normal, but there was something not quite right and it took Nisa a second to figure out what it was.