Bad mornings

Where the fuck was she? He had not seen Anna in a full day now. She had disappeared without leaving any trace, she had even cleaned up her room and apparently took away with her all the money left in the house. Even the mind link Zack had established with her during the transformation was gone, destroyed as if nothing had ever happened. She had left him with only one thing: the book.

"Relax, sweet child, Anna was never that important to you... You can find another girl whenever you want"

"Oh yeah? And what about Miranda?"

"You could have taken her if you really wanted. Besides, she is a mother. She loves her daughter more than she could ever love you, for now at least. It takes time even for my powers to twist such strong bonds... And I can tell you: my magic is already working on her"

Zack sobbed. He poured himself another glass of whiskey. His plan was still going forward, the Ritual would happen soon. But in the last few days he had felt a sinister **** approaching, a chilling spectre haunting his dreams. He put one hand on the book, knowing that until he had it nobody could even attempt to challenge him.

"I know you are impatient. But you must wait. Soon you'll collect enough energies, enough souls to truly ascend to new heights of power, our rebirth is near..."

Maybe the book was right. Maybe he was simply becoming paranoid. But it was clearly something had gone wrong with Anna. Had someone kidnapped her or had she betrayed her? Was the book really trustworthy?

"Maybe I should pay another visit to someone..."

__________

Danny knocked on the door of the warehouse. He couldn't believe the message when he had read it, but being kindly asked to reach an isolated warehouse in the middle of the countryside was by far one of the least strange things to have happened to him in the last days. He could not have expected what awaited him on the other side of the door, however.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. I don't even know what I have become. I have an **** woman lying in passenger seat of the car I have practically stolen from her. What am I doing here?"

Danny looked at the road behind him. In the distance he could see the city with its square, boring grey buildings. Some crows were flying over his head, like a sign of the bad things to come.

"Where would have you gone otherwise, Danny? Fate has brought you here. Fate will lead you to new heights"

The voice in his head returned. He was hearing it more and more often. Since Rose had collapsed between his arms, the voice had never stopped talking, telling him to call Anna and later suggesting to go where the girl had told him. Sometimes, Danny struggled to distinguish the voice from his own conscience, if such a difference truly existed.

-Open! I am Danny!-

He knocked again, this time with time with more strength. Even his arm didn't look like his own anymore. It was big, muscular, with a bright red snake-like tatoo running for all its length.

-Anna! Where are you? Open the door!-

No sound came from inside the warehouse. Danny would have thought he was being pranked if the matter wasn't so serious. He remembers seeing his reflection for the first time that morning, witnessing how his lips had turned pitch black like Becky's ones and his eyes drowning in a dark sea. The purple patches of skin now completely covered his abdomen and his thighs, making them impossible to hide. Even with nobody around, Danny feared to be seen in his new form; people would have looked at him as a monster, and probably that wasn't that far from reality.

"What is the problem Danny? It's not like anybody could stop you. Soon you'll be so strong than no one will ever dare to even attempt to stand up to your might..."

-Anna! Open, now!-

He grabbed the door. He felt angry. He had come all that way and Anna, his supposed lover, refused to show up. In the past she scared him: she had humiliated him, treated him as her little **** and for a time he really feared her presence. But now things had changed, and Danny was no man for such lack of respect, not anymore. He simply pushed the door with all his strength, rejoicing at the sound of metal twisting and bending over. Danny begun to scream, focusing all his energy in the difficult task he had. He could see every single perfect muscle of his contract in a perfect harmony, ever cell of his body answering to his command. His tattoos glowed under the pale light of the morning sun, energy flowing through his veins. Suddenly he heard the door lock crack: it was a gentle, metallic sound, almost a whimper. Finally the door opened, defeated.

"I have done it!"

He took just one moment to take a breath a thin layer of sweat covering his arms and abs. It was only in that moment than Danny truly realised he had been naked for the past few hours; the anxiety, the fear which had overtaken him when Rose collapsed had erased every thought from his mind.

-Impressive. Truly impressive.-

It was clearly Anna's voice, but this time Danny had felt it directly inside his mind, unable to understand where it actually it had come from. The inside of the warehouse was a mess: scraps of metals, a pair of old motorcycles, an austere wooden table with a few bottles of wine and some loaves of bread. An old lonely lightbulb was hanging from the high ceiling, slowly swinging like a pendulum. An intense smell of tobacco filled the air, like if someone had passed the night smoking cigarettes in there. Even though the dim morning light entered the warehouse from the open door, the room was unnaturally dark, almost like the sunlight didn't dare to discover what secrets lied in those shadows.

-Anna?-

__________

Miranda woke up when her daughter had already left the house. At least she had spent the night before at home and not God knew where... How had things turned thus way? Becky had been a perfect student and a model daughter all her life. It had been difficult to raise her a single mother but she had always done her best to teach Becky the values of honesty, friendship and hard-work. And until a few days prior, Becky had never failed to deliver.

"And now she has suddenly become a... A slut!"

She couldn't find any other word to describe her. And what's worse, she couldn't find anyone to blame. It was almost unbelievable how much Becky had changed in just a few days. There was something... Unnatural about it.

"The young man who has visited me yesterday... Is he her new boyfriend? He was a jerk."

A jerk, yes. A scumbag. But a scumbag who had almost succeeded in the nearly impossible task of making Miranda feel almost desired. Deep down she knew it was all just for show, but she couldn't deny she had been pleased none the less to receive some attentions.

"Maybe I can use him. I can play his game next time so he leads me to Becky. And I'm sure he'll come back"