NOVEL SIMPLE v2 CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO: In which unexpected celebrity sightings and troublesome hangers-on disrupt an otherwise pleasant air voyage.
A crash and a guttural howl echoed somewhere else, deeper within the penthouse. Una wheeled towards the noise, but through the glass walls separating the patio from the interior, she could see the kitchen and living area were still empty. She studied her hands and feet: bloodied and scraped, but seemingly uninjured. The adrenaline coursing through her limbs made the cuts sting.
I’m physically powerful in this compressed form, her thoughts raced. But Nezz’s power works differently. He could catch hold of my mind, or my nanobots. They have my sigil, and I don’t even know what that could allow them to do to me… but I know in my soul—he wants to control me, to possess me, to own me to the core. Never…
Una climbed onto a planter near the edge of the building and looked out at the city. Central Park spread out below in a carpet of variegated green. To the right, the towers of Midtown Manhattan soared, with an unusual sight behind their peaks: one of the immense passenger airships approached from the east, angled towards the park. Behind her, another crash and an angry bellow told her it was time to go.
I can do this, she thought. I can pop my wings and fly… but out of this body? She shook her head. There was no time for doubt or questions. Una took a deep breath and focused, reaching within her body for the power she needed to grow wings. Nothing happened.
Terror rose through her chest, threatening to suffocate her. Have to get away… can’t let him make this body his toy… use me as some vessel! Strength coiled in her small, preternaturally dense limbs as she crouched, staring in confusion at her hands. Nanobots, don’t fail me now. It’s still me, no matter how my sigil’s growing.
Her fingers were short, pink, and capped with unadorned nails. Her adult clothes hung loosely on her adolescent frame. Heavy steps resounded through the apartment behind her. Time to grow up, kiddo.
Una willed her fingers to change, then gasped as her joints and bones shifted and grew. Her fingernails darkened to black and lengthened to points. She smiled grimly and flexed her hands. The transformation continued up her forearms, and she felt her wrists and arms shift and elongate, her muscles thickening with power and her skin turning the color of dried blood. Rounded, toned flesh swelled her skinny form into sleek curves.
She felt her hips and legs stretch as her body grew taller, and she saw the red fabric of her camisole tighten around the swell of her breasts. They grew heavy and strained against the silky garment. Una’s body matured in moments, her slender hips widening, thighs growing round and calves long, her buttocks pressing against the gray fabric of her suit.
The succubus cried out in a mixture of pleasure and pain as her horns sprouted and curved along the sides of her skull. Her hair thickened and lengthened slightly into a dark wave, and she felt a tail lash the backs of her thighs, seeking freedom. Her feet grew inhuman, every toe fusing together into hard digits, and she felt her hooves reform.
Something heavy crashed into the glass wall behind her. Una didn’t stop to look back. With a scream of desperate triumph, she launched herself off the planter and over the railing. After a moment of sheer terror and joy, she tensed her whole body and forced her wings to burst forth, tearing the silk of her suit jacket into tatters. She felt the rush of wind beneath them as she plummeted, and the familiar sensation of the air currents lifting her to soar.
Una spread wide her black feathered pinions and flew towards the east as she gained altitude. The airship loomed ahead, its massive shiny hull the largest thing on the horizon. She curved the path of her flight slightly and dared a sidelong glance back at the building. Una had gained impressive distance in just a few seconds, but she could see a bulky figure at the railing, and lumpy winged forms climbing over it: more gargoyles. She banked to her right, turning towards the airship.
So he’s sending them after me, she thought. Let’s see them try to catch me. Una flapped her wings harder and rose higher into the air, until the city below was a patchwork of brown, green, and steel. The air became thinner, and she felt the strain in her chest. Her heart beat fast and her breathing was quick, but fear and adrenaline drove her on.
Una flew towards the airship, and as she neared it she saw that the great dirigible was the equal of most skyscrapers. Its hull was a smooth curve, and she could see no windows or hatches in its polished metal side; the passenger cabin hung below.
This might be my best bet, she thought. Would Nezz make a move against me in broad daylight, with so many witnesses? If nothing else… I can hide. It’s not like I can fly around city airspace for too long without attracting attention I can’t afford.
The surrounding air vibrated suddenly, and she felt a strange tug of nausea. Waves of force seemed to emanate from the rear of the dirigible, where huge turbines whirred. She recalled Susan saying they were another kind of magically enhanced technology, nearly as expensive as the super-hard dragon skin hull.
I just hope their security doesn’t involve magical wards. She flapped her wings once more for good measure, then used them to glide towards the top of the passenger gondola. Although dwarfed by the airship’s massive hull, the structure that hung from stout cables beneath was still much larger than Una expected, with two decks and windows lining either side. She glided to the top, an unadorned metal platform, and landed carefully with a soft click of her hooves. Una crouched low, hoping to avoid notice.
In the distance, she could see shapes approaching the airship—small but growing with each passing moment. She counted six of them—and a haze in the air behind them she feared might be Nezz’s pet cloud of hallucinatory moths.
I’m a sitting duck out here, she thought, and looked around desperately for some way to enter the passenger cabin unseen. She folded her wings against her back as she clambered aft, where they promptly vanished.
The access hatch at one end of the roof was locked, as she had feared, and the viewing deck she could see by peering over the edge teemed with passengers pointing at sights below. Una looked back and saw the gargoyles gaining on her, their leathery wings pumping.
She cursed under her breath. I don’t want any innocents caught in the crossfire—and if I have to fight, I don’t even know how strong I am now. Una closed her eyes and considered, then shifted her awareness to see if she could sense the desires of the mortals below her. Immediately she felt the heat of their sexual energies—and in the background, their curiosity, fear, and excitement as well.
A few of them were hungry for intimate contact, she could tell, and she sensed that desire like a warm glow, but the emotions weren’t overwhelming. Most of the passengers were just excited to ride on one of the new airships and view the city from above, she figured. Then a mental sensation sparked at her like a beacon; a very particular fantasy or fixation she couldn’t quite identify. Una frowned, trying to concentrate, to find its source. The feeling came from below and to one side.
She opened her eyes and stared at her hands again, emerging blood-red from the cuff of her ruined jacket and ending in wicked nails. Her heart raced. “I can shift,” Una said out loud, trying to tap into her buried knowledge. “If I ride on the desires of another. I can become what they crave… at least for a while, fueled by their lust.”
The gargoyles were close enough that they might spot her, even crouched at the side of the smaller structure hanging from the mammoth dirigible. She had to do it now. Una let her lids fall again and sought the spark, letting its intensity guide her. As she focused, a rush of images entered her mind: red hair, the flash of a smile. Pale skin, a woman moving on a screen, camera changing from a closeup to a shot of her dancing.
She let the visions wash over her and immediately felt her body respond. Una’s flesh rippled, and her bones and joints creaked as her limbs adjusted. With a shuddering motion that jolted her, her tail and horns retracted into her skeleton. She felt herself growing slender and soft, but the fabric of her pants tightened across her ass and hips as her proportions changed. Her chest ached, swelling into a fullness that pushed her nipples into swollen prominence.
The succubus opened her eyes. Her hands were pale and dainty now, with pink nails and the creamy complexion she’d seen on the woman in the flashes of mental imagery. Freckles dotted her arms along with the ghost of a tan. Looking down, she saw her camisole straining around her new, much larger breasts, a valley of milky cleavage threatening to spill out. Her waist looked smaller, but probably because her hips were rounder and wider than ever. She touched them with her fingertips and felt their plush swell.
Una stood, feeling a little off-balance in bare human feet, and looked over her shoulder. Her suit pants, already torn by the sprouting of her hooves earlier, now threatened to split apart entirely because of the size and shape of her ass. Bright red hair fell in loose waves around her face, so she brushed it back with her fingers.
The sensation of becoming an entirely different person was distracting enough that she nearly forgot the need to hide. The gargoyles had closed in, less than a half-mile distant, and people on the observation deck yelled and pointed as they neared the airship. Una took the opportunity provided by that distraction to slip over the edge of the roof, grabbing the rim and swinging her body down onto the open deck.
The balls of her unshod feet thudded on the heavy plastic surface, and she looked around. One little girl stared wide-eyed in her direction, obviously having seen a lady jump down from the roof, but Una winked at her and put one finger to her lips. Before she backed through the door into the interior, she glimpsed the child’s conspiratorial grin as she turned to tug at her mother’s arm.
Inside, Una immediately collided with a man in an officer’s uniform as she turned. He stopped dead, his mouth falling open. “What—ma’am, are you…?” The officer’s voice trailed off, and Una followed the direction of his startled gaze. Her left breast had slipped from the too-tight confines of the strappy camisole, its pink nipple exposed at the tip of an ample areola.
She gave the young man a mischievous grin, then reached up to pull the strap up over her shoulder, giving him a good look at the side of her breast. “Sorry, sir,” she said in her most sultry voice. “I seem to have misplaced my bags, and I… I’d really like to change out of these things.”
Una leaned forward as she spoke, and the officer swallowed hard and nodded. “Of—of course, ma’am! I didn’t realize you were on board. Your belongings were probably taken to the luggage closet; it’s right at the end of the—or, I could escort you there if you like?” His stammering is kind of cute, she thought, and giggled. The officer’s response was predictable enough that Una could have written it beforehand: he flushed bright red and adjusted his pants.
“Oh no,” she cooed. “I couldn’t take you away from your duties! Just point me…” Una trailed off, seeing a dark shape flash by the row of windows. “Actually, sir—can you tell me when we’re due to land?” She twirled a finger idly through her hair and batted her eyelashes at the discomfited male.
The crewman blinked, but answered readily. “Our schedule had us docking in fifteen minutes at the mooring at the north end of Central Park’s Great Lawn. However, Captain Rogers is radioing in about this… aerial disturbance. And you can find the luggage closet on the lower deck near to the fore end, right across from the door you boarded through.” He looked nervously toward the windows. Una could hear the murmur of the crowd outside rising as more gargoyles flew past.
“Is it dangerous?” she asked, feigning alarm.
The young man’s expression turned serious. “No, ma’am. We have ways of securing the craft. It shouldn’t be long now.”
As if to dispute his statement, the form of a gargoyle thumped against a window several yards down the aisle. The crudely hewn face appeared on the other side of the glass, its mouth stretched open in a silent roar as it hung on and peered inside.
Una gasped in shock, far from entirely feigned, and jumped back; to his credit, the officer immediately stepped between her and the monster, although his hands shook. “Stay calm, ma’am,” he said, his voice trembling slightly. “They haven’t tried to board yet. Captain says OSA air traffic sighted these things in the area, but that they haven’t bothered anyone… yet.”
Damnation, Una thought. I’m still wearing the same suit I had on when they grabbed me. They might recognize it—I really do need a change of clothes. She stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on the crewman’s cheek, then whispered in his ear: “Good luck, officer! I’ll look for you later.”
He blushed and stammered again, but Una was already stepping lightly towards the stairs leading to the lower deck. A voice blared over a PA system, telling everyone to remain in their seats and to stay away from the windows. As the succubus descended, she could see the gargoyles circling.
Her pants, straining around her newly expanded curves, lasted until she reached the bottom of the stairs, when the seam in the rear finally ripped apart. Una heard the sound and felt the air on her bare ass, but kept going.
The lower deck held rows of benches, and although most passengers’ eyes remained glued to the threat outside, Una still attracted stares as she jiggled her way past, with one hand clutching the torn halves of her pants to preserve her modesty and the other arm restraining her heaving breasts. She saw a few women cover their mouths and giggle, while others stared with startled expressions that might have been shock… or recognition? She heard one man mutter something like “Holy shit.”
After she winked at a woman who stared openly with a hungry expression, Una began to wonder why she kept reacting to the attention. I’m a succubus, of course. But this isn’t quite like me… is this enjoyment of seductive flirting somehow part of the shape I’ve taken?
Moving as quickly as she could, given the state of her clothes, Una headed forwards and located a sliding door marked “Luggage.” Inside, she found an assortment of bags and suitcases on shelves. Forgive me for my trespasses, she said silently while trying to spot luggage that might contain clothes that would fit her. I’ll bring back everything I can.
She settled on an overnight bag stamped with the insignia of a luxury brand—the owner, “A. Matheson” was probably someone wealthy, judging by the designer labels she espied inside. Despite the potential fun of stripping naked in the aisle, Una pulled the entire bag into the nearby lavatory.
Moments later, she was naked and marveling at her transformed body in a cramped but private space. Her breasts were easily two cup sizes larger than they had been, and heavy enough that she craved support, but Ms. Matheson had no bras that would fit. Una did, however, find a stretchy blue scoop-neck top with a built-in shelf bra, and a pair of black yoga pants that molded to her curves and hugged her thighs and calves—almost too tight, but she squeezed in. She also dug out a pair of sneakers; they proved a loose fit, but better than nothing.
Una studied herself in the tiny mirror. Her hair was a vibrant red that contrasted with her bright blue eyes and fair complexion—she looked almost like she’d never been outdoors—and her freckles were prominent, especially over the bridge of her pert nose. Wait a second, she realized. I’ve seen this woman before! I’m… I’m a goddamn celebrity!
It all made sense suddenly—the stares, the recognition, and that someone on this airship was obsessed with this woman. Dammit, what’s her name? Felicia… Felicia Henderson? She was an actress who played a sultry secretary in a retro office drama. The role constantly featured her in 50s dresses and pencil skirts that showed off her figure to great effect… and earned her a reputation as a voluptuous sexpot.
I guess she’s the real deal, the succubus thought as her hands roamed down someone else’s stomach to the scarlet thatch at the juncture of her thighs. A natural redhead, and incredibly curvaceous without an ounce of cellulite or flab. Either she works out constantly, or I’m just the idealized form of this actress from some guy’s wet dreams. Or maybe both?
Una rubbed her brilliant blue eyes. For now, I just have to get out of this mess. She fished her phone, keys and wallet out of her ruined jacket; since the yoga pants lacked pockets, she also borrowed a small clutch purse from her benefactor to hold her things.
To look the part, she couldn’t be a complete mess—so she took the extra step of fixing her hair and quickly applying a touch of the lipstick and mascara she found in the clutch. Not exactly the right shades for her pale skin, but it would suffice.
The PA blared again, insisting that all passengers take their seats and fasten their safety belts. Una sighed and returned the borrowed bag to storage. By the time she returned to the passenger area, every seat in the central area was occupied—which made sense, as few passengers wanted to sit on the outer edge of an airship flanked by magical beasts.
Undaunted, she sat in an empty seat near a window, but as close to the aisle as possible, and tried to pretend she was a normal tourist. After mere moments, the craggy head of a gargoyle loomed into view outside, peering through the window at her.
They must be crawling along the outside, Una thought. And the only reason to do that is to find me. She almost snarled back at the creature, but reminded herself that she was trying to pass as an ordinary human. “Shoo!” Una tried to make her voice sound shrill and afraid, rather than defiant. “Get away from there!”
The gargoyle’s mouth gaped in an ugly leer, and it gave a silent chuckle. Its claw scraped at the windowpane, and Una felt her heart rac e as the creature’s talons scratched the glass. She looked away and shielded the side of her face, hoping she looked scared rather than annoyed. The gargoyle taps ceased, and when she looked back, it had vanished. She let out her breath with a long sigh.
Una heard someone cough. “Pardon me, Miss Hen—ah, Miss. Are you all right?” She looked up into the face of an unbelievably handsome man in a leather jacket and a white undershirt.
