This had all gone wrong. So incredibly, mind numbingly wrong. That was the only thing Marian could think as she left the bathroom that she had just spent the last hour in. That time had been taken up first trying to wash blood and shapeshifter goo out of her clothes and trying to dry them under the hand dryer. Of course, that had been about as effective as it was drying hands, so everything that wasn’t her shirt was still slightly damp. Not that she was worrying about that.

They were going to be caught, and that thing was going to kill everyone. Was this some sort of karma? Some sort of cosmic punishment for trying to kill what she thought was Marcus. Sure, it hadn’t been the most moral thing to do, but they hadn’t really had a better option. The Guild cared a lot more about results than justice, and they had let the thing at the old prison go on too long to safely report it. The Guild wouldn’t let them off unless they did something more retroactive.

She had expected the thing with Marcus’ face to die with one hit. She was a lilin, and Marcus was just a witch. There was no way he could evade or survive a blow like that. But, when she attacked… She didn’t even know what had happened. He had stepped down the stares, she had swung and the next thing she knew her head was flying without her body. It was like that every time he moved. She couldn’t even track his movements, let alone react to them.

And now? Now she was under his control and Steph was dead. She didn’t even know how he killed her. It wasn’t that she couldn’t see it, but just that she couldn’t tell what he did. One second Steph was trying to chop him in half and the next she was melting at an incredible speed. Shapeshifters normally melt when they die, but it takes over a weak. She hadn’t ever heard of something causing it to happen in seconds.

She stepped into the kitchen, finding it incredibly hard to act normal. She acted normal in here everyday, but it was suddenly impossible to remember how. Pete, the chef, was the only person in the kitchen, mostly because they had practically no customers this time of day. He looked over as she tentatively walked in. “Mary, where have you been? Much longer and the boss might have actually noticed.” She tried to smile, but it felt twisted.

“Sorry Pete, I had to deal with something.” She could tell by his face that she hadn’t pulled off normally.

He frowned in worry. “Is everything okay?” Before she could respond, the person behind her slipped past.

“Yeah, we just ran into a bit of a problem.” Said something that looked and sounded exactly like Steph. The not Steph smiled apologetically, somehow managing to look just like Steph had when she made that expression. “Sorry to leave you hanging, but I think we’re going to have to take the rest of the day off.”

Pete stopped what he was doing and turned his full attention to what he thought was Steph. “Of course, we’re fine here. I’ll tell the boss, but you can go now if you have to. Is it something I can help with?”

He was obviously genuine, which made Marian all the more certain that she couldn’t let anyone know what was happening. If she did, she was sure Pete would be dead before she even saw the thing that looked like a waitress move. “No, I think we have it handled, but thank you.” Said thing responded. How the hell could he… she… it copy Steph’s mannerisms so well. The perfect copy of her appearance, something she had never heard of a shapeshifter being able to do, was weird enough, but the behavior was way too good. It walked, talked and moved exactly like her. Of course, knowing that the actual Steph was a pile of slime in the basement made the fakes realism incredibly disturbing.

“Well, you can ask if you need any help.” Pete said, returning to pre-preparing meals. Wow, business must really be slow.

“I know, but thanks.” The not Steph crossed the kitchen as if nothing, beyond whatever they were claiming was wrong, was wrong. She had a preoccupied expression, but it matched her story perfectly. Marian followed quickly, trying not to be the one called out for not belonging.

The back-exit lead onto staff parking, meaning her car was close at hand. The monster that called itself Sam slowed down to let her led the way. She glanced over, trying to spot a flaw, any mistake that could give the ruse away. There wasn’t any. Well, unless you counted the dampness of her hair, pants and shoes. Everything looked exactly like Steph had when they led what they thought was Marcus into the basement. Actually, it was to correct.

Marian frowned. Why did it look like Sam was wearing a bra? She knew as a fact the original bra had been utterly destroyed, so how… “I increased the connective tissue and changed the consistency and shape a little. Oh, and removed the nipples.” Sam answered her unasked question without looking over.

“How…?” Could she… it read her mind?

“I’m not reading your mind, you were just ogling me.” Sam stopped next to the passenger door of the car they were clearly approaching.

“I could hang upside down naked and they would keep this shape.” The perfect façade broke as a smile that Steph would never have been able to make spread across her face.

“You want me to show you?” Marian wasn’t sure wether she was furious or terrified. Had this thing just made a sexual advance in the body of her murdered co-worker? She honestly wasn’t sure if it was serious or was trying to torment her, but she didn’t like either.

“I’m good.” She finally responded, before unlocking the car.

She got in the driver’s seat and Sam crawled into shotgun, pulling the door closed after herself. “Okay, take us to this prison.” Marian buckled, started the car and glanced at her passenger.

“Aren’t you going to put your seatbelt on?” She didn’t actually care if it was sent through the windshield, but didn’t want to be pulled over because of something that stupid.

Sam looked at her like she was crazy. “Why would I do that?” She sighed and backed out into the rather small lot.

“What even are you?” She had been wondering this sense she first realized that it wasn’t Marcus, but hadn’t gotten a real answer.

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“What do you mean?” The thing that wasn’t her co-worker had already laid her chair back, lounging in a position that was incredibly ill-suited to a car.

“I mean, what are you? How did you end up looking like Marcus, and why do you want to go to the prison?” She… he… ah, fuck it. She was going to just think of Sam as a she. Marian figured she could live with offending her gender identity on the off chance that Sam could in fact read minds. Regardless, she had started rummaging through the glove compartment, dumping everything she had no interest in on the floor.

“Well, I wasn’t lying. I really did just wake up in his body. How I ended up in it is a story that wouldn’t make sense without a lot of background, but let’s just say I was rather… bodily challenged and someone just left his empty one lying around.” She had apparently lost interest in the glove box, because she had moved on to rummaging through the giant pocket behind her seat.

“As for why I want to go somewhere that probably has at least one of the progeny of the lightbringer. Well, that’s because I want to eat them.” Marian glanced over at that.

“Do you mean demons? You want to eat demons?” That was a rather bazar goal, unless you were a rival demon. At least, she was vaguely aware the demons ate each other, along with everything else. Sam didn’t seem like any demon she had ever heard of. They were known for being cold, emotionless and incapable of acting like normal people.

She couldn’t really call how Sam seemed to naturally act normal, but it certainly wasn’t emotionless. Plus, she was definitely capable of acting normal if she had too. “Yes, I happen to dislike their progenitor and find eating humans, including daemons, rather wasteful.” Somehow, she had managed to turn Marian’s car into a complete mess before they even reached the first light. Having already opened every compartment she could reach.

“What are you doing?” She finally asked when Sam started searching under her own seat.

“Looking for money?” She glanced over to see that, yes, she had, in fact, collected all the loose change and emergency stashes into a rather sizable pile.

“You’re stealing my money?” She said incredulously. Although, she wasn’t really sure why this of all things surprised her. Sam, for her part, looked at her as if that was a fundamentally moronic question.

“Well, obviously. Why else would I be collecting it all?” Marian wasn’t sure if that answer was because she legitimately didn’t get the problem or was just fucking with her.

“Yes, but you can’t just steal people’s stuff.” She could feel the non-comprehending stare on the side of her head.

“Why not?” It sounded like she honestly didn’t get it, but Marian was definitely leaning towards the fucking with theory.

“Because it’s illegal.” She knew how stupid that was the moment it came out.

“Ah so I’ll get in more trouble for stealing from you then I would from just killing your co-worker and forcing you into a binding oath of servitude that requires you to put yourself in moral peril? You are saying that that’s all fine, but this 237 dollars and 23 since are going to really get me in the figurative dog house, correct?” Marian decided it wasn’t worth responding, instead choosing to change the subject.

“So, are you some sort of demon?” She asked, moving back to an earlier topic. There was a pause.

“Not… in the way I think you mean.” She glanced over to the fake Steph, who was still wearing that unsettling form.

“What do you mean?” It really was unnerving to see the body of a person she had known for years, a person she had seen die only a few hours ago, with a clearly alien person controlling it.

“Well, as far as I can tell, when you say demon, you mean the drones of the Lightbringer.” Marian glanced over at that.

“Who is the Lightbringer?” She had heard her use that term before, but didn’t quite have the available attention to ask.

“You know, the Lightbringer, the Watcher of Law, Heimdall, the Shining One, Themis, Maat, the Fallen One, the progenitor of all demons?” It sounded like she was supposed to recognize this names and titles, although…

“Wait, isn’t that the black guy from the Thor movies?” There was a long pause.

“Yes… sort of.” Marian tried to remember anything about the Thor movies. Unfortunately, she had only watched one, and she really wasn’t sure which one.

“Does he have like a sword and see…” she was cut off as her passenger broke out into laughter. She looked over to see her curled up in a ball giggling. “Um, what’s so funny?” She asked, tentatively.

It was almost a minute before the laughter finally stopped enough for a clear answer. “I… just got… the Thor movies.” She broke into giggling again. “This… is so much better than the Greeks.” The giggling returned for another few minutes, occasionally broken by comments like lightning brains smash or why ice giant? It finally ended and Sam lay back, clearly satisfied with whatever had been so funny. “Yes, that is technically based on him.” Marian was starting to regret asking, but figured there was nothing better to do than finish.

“I always thought the demons came from Lucifer or something.” There was a pause.

“The Roman god of love?” There was a moment of mutual confusion, before Sam made a noise that probably meant realization. “Right, Venus meaning bright one, so Lucifer becomes… Okay, yes, that’s probably him. Or… meant to be.” That had clarified nothing, but it clearly made since too Sam. “Yes, Lucifer is basically who I mean.” Okay, she could understand that part.

“So, you are saying your not a descendant of the devil?” There was a moment of silence, before Sam burst out into laughter again. This time it was shorter, but a lot more intense.

“Lucifer is not a devil, let alone the devil. He is basically the complete opposite.” Marian wasn’t sure why the idea of Lucifer being either a devil or the devil was so funny, but had basically given up on her passenger making sense.

“So, he’s like an angel.” The laughter stopped.

“Yeah, I guess. It’s a little more complicated than that though.” Marian had the distinct impression that either a lot of things were a lot more complicated than she thought or Sam was completely insane. Probably both.

“So, Lucifer is not the devil, and you aren’t one of his descendants?” She summarized.

“If you are asking if I am a cloned nock off of an over controlling treacherous bastard who can’t be trusted to such an extent that I would resort to redundant tautologies just to say how untrustworthy they are, than no, I am not.” Marian was neither sure that she had asked that or what a tautology was, but felt it wasn’t worth questioning either.

“So, if you aren’t a demon, what are you?” She asked, choosing to keep moving forwards.

“You know the daemon princes from whom all daemons were born that rule the underworld as dark gods?” She nearly took her eyes off the road so she could gape at that one.

“You are a daemon prince?” She could see Sam frown at her.

“No, why would you think that?” She opened her mouth.

She closed her mouth. “You want to listen to music?”

She had more questions, but was pretty sure the answers wouldn’t be helpful. For the first time, she found herself looking forwards to going into a situation that probably meant certain death. At least she wouldn’t have to deal with this.