Chapter 13 - The Mall

The mall was a chaos of sights and sounds, a perfect hunting ground for an invisible spirit browsing for a new vessel. I felt like a complete creep, watching women, assessing them, judging them as potential hosts for my wife. Fuckable? A little too skinny? Her teeth are crooked. She looks like a bitch. I wanted to gag at the thoughts running through my head, but beyond the primal ogling, there was a pragmatic, cold calculation to it. Whoever we settled on, I'd have to sleep with her. A lot.

"How about this one?" Emma whispered, nudging me with her elbow as we crossed the main concourse, past a kiosk selling phone cases and another with cheap spices.

She pointed to a young woman with vibrant pink hair styled in an artful asymmetrical cut. She wore ripped black skinny jeans, a band t-shirt for a band I'd never heard of, and heavy black boots with silver buckles. Her arms were covered in tattoos, colorful sleeves of ink that told stories I couldn't decipher.

"Too young," I said, shaking my head. I was attempting to hold on to some scrap of morality in this fucked-up situation. I was a man in his late thirties. She looked barely twenty.

"I'm just as young as she is," Emma countered, her voice a low whisper as she followed me, her eyes fixed on the girl.

I looked at my wife, at Katherine's body, at the face that looked barely twenty-five.

"So was Mandy," Emma continued. "And the nun."

"This time we're taking our time, and we'll find someone more appropriate, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Emma whispered, her voice thick with sarcasm, a smirk playing on her lips.

This didn't sound like her, and more like the doctor we were dragging along. The doctor who blamed me for "assaulting" women but had then been rather fine with it as soon as she realized how it could benefit her career. That thought sent a cold shiver down my spine. Emma was never really Emma. I had to keep it in mind. Between the imposed personality of the host and her constant arousal for me, her choices weren't entirely her own.

"What about her? At the perfume shop?" Emma suggested, nodding toward a woman in her late thirties, with dark, curly hair and a warm, inviting smile. She wore a simple black dress and a string of pearls, and she seemed to have a natural grace as she sprayed a sample onto her wrist to smell it.

We stopped, pretending to look at a map of the mall while instead watching the woman browse.

"No, look," I whispered, pointing at a thirteen years old kid sitting on a bench in front of the store. "He's been staring at her the hole time. Looks like her son."

Emma sighed. "Shit."

We kept walking.

"How about that one?" Emma asked, gesturing with her chin toward a woman walking toward us, a shopping bag from a high-end department store in her hand. She was probably in her late twenties or early thirties, with an air of positive confidence about her. She was dressed in a tailored cream-colored pantsuit, her long dark hair bouncing with each step, her heels clicking on the polished floor.

I watched her left hand as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder. No ring. "Maybe," I said, my eyes lingering on her as she passed. "How do you want to..." I trailed off.

Emma was already on the move, her face set with a determined expression. She walked with Katherine's confident stride, her hips swaying slightly. She was a predator on the hunt, and she was closing in on her prey.

I followed at a discreet distance, my heart pounding in my chest. I was about to watch my wife, a ghost, possess another unsuspecting woman. This was our life now.

I watched as Katherine's hand brushed against the woman's arm, a quick, deliberate touch.

Both women stopped, our prey stumbling back slightly.

Katherine looked around, a bit confused, before noticing me. She seemed about to say something but just crossed her arms, stepping back, observing Emma's new host with clinical curiosity.

The other woman blinked, staring at her hands. She looked around, her eyes wide with confusion, then her gaze fell on me. A slow, predatory smile spread across her lips, but she shook her head as if to clear it, the smile faltering.

"Nope," she said as she approached me, the doctor following her, her voice crisp and professional. "I'm... She's got something going on. She's expected somewhere," she said, her voice low, her eyes darting around as if she was afraid of being overheard. She leaned closer, biting her lower lip. "It's a shame, really. That one is into some seriously dirty stuff."

I swallowed hard. "Dirty stuff?"

Emma's smile returned, wider this time. "Oh yeah," she whispered, blushing. "The kind of stuff that would make a sailor blush."

Katherine cleared her throat, phone in hand. "Are we done here? I'd like to get back home."

Emma's eyes narrowed as she looked at the doctor. "It's weird."

"What is?" Katherine asked, intrigued.

"I know you. I've been you, but I'm seeing you for the first time." Emma looked at her hands, then at Katherine, who was squinting at her like she was an equation that didn't add up.

"Surely it's not the first time you experience this?" the scientist asked.

"No. I experienced it with Clara, Mandy, Lisa," Emma said, tapping a finger on her chin. "But it's the first time I experience it as Hannah."

"Interesting..." Katherine murmured, making a note on her phone.

I cleared my throat. "Sorry doc, that woman is not going to work for us. Could you hang tight for a bit? Hopefully we won't need you to host Emma again, but just in case," I told her.

Katherine sighed. "At least I get to watch the process this time."

"Thank you."

"Alright! Let's find someone else!" Hannah declared, rubbing her hands together with a bit too much glee.

I moved closer, still feeling like we were about to be caught red-handed stealing human bodies. I knew it was unlikely anyone would suspect the truth, but the feeling of doing something wrong was overwhelming. "How are you feeling?"

"Great! I'm so full of... energy!" she said, her voice bright and cheerful, the shopping bags swinging from her hands. "I'm thinking of buying some of those weird pretzels with the cheese sauce. I've been craving them all day. My best friend and I have a ritual of getting them every time we—"

"Emma," I cut in gently, a bit worried. "That's not what I meant."

Katherine was watching us with a clinical detachment, her eyes darting back and forth between us, her fingers flying across her phone's screen. The experiment was already underway...

"Shit, right," she said, laughing. "I'm... good. Maybe a bit weaker? I think I can manage another couple of jumps before I really need to... you know." She winked.

"Let's not push it," I said, my eyes scanning the crowd for another potential candidate. "Hopefully this is the last one for a while." I was exhausted.

"Hey, what about her?" Hannah whispered, nodding toward a woman waiting in line at a coffee shop.

I followed her gaze. The woman was in her early thirties, with mousy brown hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, a few strands escaping to frame her face. Her skin was brown, her features a mix of what I thought was Latina or maybe Middle Eastern. She was wearing a fancy-looking blouse, tailored slacks, and comfortable but expensive-looking flats. She had a professional air about her, a look of quiet competence, but there was a weariness in her posture, a slight slump to her shoulders that spoke of a long day.

"She looks high maintenance," Katherine commented, her voice flat and analytical.

"She looks loaded, is what she looks like," Hannah countered with a sly grin. "And hot."

"We're not looking for a sugar mama," I muttered, "We're looking for a stable, low-profile host who can—"

"No ring," Hannah interrupted, pointing. "Come on, let's give her a shot."

"Fine," I sighed, defeated. "But if she's not right that's it for today."

The doctor sighed, but didn't argue.

Hannah, with her newfound confidence, sauntered over to the coffee shop, Katherine and I trailing behind her. She joined the line, standing just behind the woman. I watched as Hannah pretended to fumble with her phone, her hand brushing against the woman's arm. The woman turned, waved at us with a smile, then looked at Hannah, who was now simply looking through the shop's menu without a hint of confusion. Emma was getting good at this.

"I think you'll like that one," My wife's new host whispered to me. She had a slight accent, Hispanic, I thought. "Loaded for sure. In town for a couple weeks, single." Yeah, the way she was rolling her 'r' and stretching her vowels...

"Hey!" Hannah complained, her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to skip the line?"

I raised my hands, stepping back. "Sorry!"

Emma chuckled, her new brown eyes sparkling. "Wait for me outside," she ordered, her voice firm but playful. "I'll be out in a minute."

Katherine and I found a bench a short distance away, watching the coffee shop entrance. The doctor was typing furiously on her phone, no doubt documenting every detail of this bizarre day.

"What's that whole 'clinic' thing?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. "That got you here in the first place."

Katherine paused, her fingers hovering over the screen. "It's... personal. Mandy and I go way back. I... got pregnant in college. She was the one who drove me to the clinic, held my hand, the whole nine yards. She promised to keep it secret. Guess she didn't account for your wife using her memory to **** me."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling a fresh wave of guilt.

"It was a long time ago," Katherine said, shrugging it off. "But it's not something I'd want anyone to know about."

I nodded slowly, watching my wife order her coffee in that other woman's body. The way she moved, the confidence, the small but easy smile she gave the barista, all felt so natural and yet, completely alien.

"Hold on," I said, my eyes narrowing as I focused on a small detail I'd missed before. "You're a lesbian." I stated.

Katherine snorted. "A brilliant observation."

"Then why did you..."

"Get pregnant?" she finished, her voice flat. "I was young, confused, experimenting. I thought it was just a phase. It wasn't." She looked away, her expression hard. "One time, with a random guy. It was a mistake. Mandy helped me fix it. End of story."

A moment later, the woman, or rather, Emma, emerged from the coffee shop, a large iced coffee in one hand and a small cup in the other. She walked toward us, a sway in her hips that was new, a stern confidence that seemed to radiate from her.

"Luciana," she said. "That's my new name." She handed me the iced coffee. "And I'm still Emma enough to know this is what you drink." She sat down beside me on the bench, crossing her long legs elegantly.

I took a sip of the coffee, sighing in relief. "Thank you. You have no idea how much I needed this."

"Let's go home, Calvin," Emma whispered, a hand resting on my shoulder. "The three of us had a long day."

"Tell me about it," Katherine muttered, stretching.

"Oh, right," Emma said, turning to the doctor, frowning slightly, as if she had just remembered she was there. "The four of us." she corrected herself, a smirk on her lips.

Hey there! This was chapter 13 out of 28. I will post two to three chapters a week.

Eager to continue the story? You can join my Patreon for early access or purchase the full book on Smashwords and/or Kindle!

You're also invited to join my Discord server where you'll meet lovely weirdos who love to chat about mind control, smut and hypnosis.