Author note: Welcome back, you wonderful readers, you! Sorry to leave you all on another cliffhanger, life got hectic and it took far too long for me to finish this chapter. Thanks for your patience. Shout out to my 22-26 followers and favorites, I appreciate the votes of confidence. With that, enjoy the read!
Chapter 37: Attack of the body snatchers
"Oh dear. Have I come at a bad time, little one?" rang out the tuneful voice of their patron in their head.
Taylor's felt their blood turn to ice as their terror hit new heights.
"W-what?" They said shakily. Their eyes darted around, searching for the bane of their existence.
"Oh, you're on the job! Delightful! I'll just cut right in!" Their patron's voice replied mirthfully.
A rough shove came from the side and suddenly they felt weightless. When they opened their eyes, the world was upside down and their head floated just above the ground of the gambling hall, confusing them immensely. As they waved their arms to right themselves, they realized that they were back in their normal form as well.
'What the hell?' they panicked as they managed to get upright again. They heard a whoosh of flames nearby and when they turned, their heart nearly stopped. Another Taylor stood beside them, idly dusting themselves off as patches of blue flames extinguished itself around their body. They shook their head in horrified disbelief as they couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening.
"What's going on?!" They exclaimed.
"There's no need to shout, little one. I'm right here." Their patron's lilting voice chided. Taylor froze as they heard it come from the second them.
The doppelgänger gazed back at them, and Taylor blanched. In place of their normal fiery eyes, two gleaming red scleras stared back with a look of amusement. More unnerving still was the overly wide toothy grin plastered on their face that rivaled a certain deer demon they knew. Altogether, this not-Taylor had a sinister air about them that made them want to wake up from whatever nightmare this was.
"W-What are you doing here?" They asked with a tremble to their voice.
The not-Taylor ignored them and turned to the Overlord next to them. In their panic, Taylor had forgotten about Caesar as they noted that he stood back with an unsure expression. Their patron raised their arm, bringing their fingers to his chest.
"Do give us a minute, dear. This is a private conversation." They said contemptuously. With a flick of their fingers, the Overlord shot across the room like a bullet and crashed into several slot machines. There was a painful groan heard before the Overlord lay still among the blinking wreckage. Taylor stared on in horrified awe as their aggressor was laid out like he was nothing before they wrenched their eyes back to their chuckling patron.
"What are you doing here? Why are you in my body?" They asked again desperately.
Their patron's tinkling laugh rang out before they tilted their head and smiled playfully.
"Oh, I was in the Ring on business and thought I would pop in for an impromptu visit." They replied jovially before they waved their finger around in their direction. "As for the reason behind your insubstantial state, surely you remember our deal?"
Taylor's stomach dropped as they recalled the deal for temporary possession of their body in exchange for wards, along with the searing pain and dread that accompanied the handshake between the two.
"As it were, it seems my arrival was most fortuitous for you. Just look at the state that ridiculous excuse of a demon left you in!" Taylor watched their patron lift their arms to show off their bloodied clothes and the many wounds still oozing crimson. Taylor grimaced at the number and extent of their injuries before their patron sighed dreamily.
"While I'm not opposed to the sight of blood, when it's your own, it's rather unsightly." They finished the last part with a distasteful frown. Their gaze paused near one of the gambling tables where the still unconscious Minotaur demon lay and they perked up.
"Ah, splendid! I finally get a chance to experience your unique ability in the flesh!" They said with an excited giggle as they stalked over to their supine prey.
Taylor was put off by their patron's overly chipper enthusiasm, but conceded that they needed to close the open wounds in their limbs soon. They swam over to where their patron was picking up the chains with child-like glee.
"Just a little heave-ho and that's it, correct?" They inquired cheerfully as they pulled back hard. To both their shock, their patron had used so much force that the Minotaur demon's body was flung back by the wrist and hit the table behind them with a splintering crash and a groan. They were silent for a moment before their patron chuckled merrily.
"Seems I'll need to go at it with less gusto!" They chirped before smiling sadistically. "If I'm not careful, I might rip his arm clean off!" They laughed at the idea.
Taylor swallowed dryly at the jest. Their patron readjusted and put their foot on the Minotaur's shoulder before reaching back the chains in a more controlled manner. As the chains rattled, their patron gazed around in an expectant way.
"What-" Taylor started.
"When do the silver flames appear?" Their patron cut in impatiently.
Taylor flinched slightly at the brusqueness.
"Uh. Well, I just will them to show up and they do?" Taylor responded carefully with a shrug.
Their doppelgänger's red eyes narrowed and gleamed dangerously. Taylor shrank back minutely and held up their hands in surrender.
"It should happen soon!" They replied fearfully.
Before more could be said, the rattling grew ear-splitting and without warning the chains splintered noisily. Taylor was about to congratulate them on their success, but when they saw their patron's fiery look as they let go of the chains and watched them dissolve into smoke, they decided against it.
The two stood in a tense silence as they waited for the yellow cloud to coalesce. Out of the blue, their patron spoke out.
"Tell me, what trick did you employ this time?" They asked impassively.
"Trick?" Taylor inquired.
"Your eyes are strained. My guess is you used a new technique you recently developed. Elaborate." They clarified.
With a nod, Taylor told them about how they had cast mirages across the gambling hall and during the card game by manipulating the heat in the room and, as a result, altered the temperature of the surrounding air. This action bent the light from above and made it look like there were people in the room. They used the same principle to change the appearance of cards temporarily. Since they couldn't reproduce the noises of chatter, they had their contacts play recordings using speakers to give the illusion of a full house. They then admitted their plan hit a snag when the Overlord caught wind of their scheme and had cornered them before their arrival.
"Such an ingenious thrall." Was all they said when Taylor finished their story. Shortly thereafter, their patron hummed and they reached down to grasp the yellow hovering sphere.
It was a surreal experience to watch themselves undergo reinvigoration through an energy sphere. They saw their patron flinch back on contact with the sphere, followed by their entire body tensing and their breathing becoming heavy. Their face beamed with a wide devilish smile and a golden glimmer shone brightly behind the red sclera, disturbing Taylor slightly. Their patron grunted as their wounds closed with a series of sickening squelches and crackles, followed by a sigh of relief before they heard raucous bell-like laughter. The not-Taylor pitched their head back and basked in the euphoria as they tittered creepily with a ghoulish smile.
'Is this what I'm like when I absorb soul contract energy? No wonder people get freaked out.' they thought with an unsettled look. Glancing down, they were relieved to see that their ghost form no longer had injuries either, which gave them no small sense of comfort.
"My, my! What a rush!" They heard their patron say spiritedly before looking up at them. Their likeness admired the healed injuries for a moment before glancing at their tattered garb.
"With that done, let's fix up these soiled clothes!" They added cheerily before they snapped their fingers and the blood stains and rips in the fabric disappeared with a poof. They hummed to themselves in a satisfied tone, making Taylor relax some.
Taylor sighed and thought that was the end of it.
'They had their chance to break chains and get energized by an energy sphere. Mission accomplished.'
But to their surprise, their patron began walking across the gambling hall floor with a pep in their step. Taylor hastily swam over to catch up with them.
"Patron, where are you going?" They asked quickly as they reached their side.
"Oh, there's more fun to be had, little one. The night is young." They said with a dark chuckle as they continued forward with a fixed stare.
Taylor followed their gaze and zoned in on the Overlord still passed out among the slot machine debris. Their panic rose. Despite getting skewered and thrown around by the flameskull demon, they didn't believe anyone should be the target of their patron's cruelty. They only got a small taste of it because of their perceived usefulness, and that was enough. They waved their arms quickly to get in front of their patron.
"Oh, you don't need to worry yourself over him. You already demonstrated your might. I'd be beneath you to do anything more!" They interjected as they put their arms out to block the way.
Taylor shrunk back as their ruby-eyed doppelgänger kept up their stride and phased right through them. They gasped and flapped around desperately before making it across the room to reach the unconscious Overlord.
"Nonsense! This contemptible wretch went and damaged one of my possessions." Their voice had a deep reverberating echo of several voices at the word that made Taylor flinch. They shakily looked over at the approaching being. Their expression was bloodthirsty with eyes blazing and fiery locks shimmering and undulating menacingly.
"And that is something I simply cannot abide by." They finished with a disquieting edge to their voice.
Not knowing what else to do, they tried to grasp the Overlord's body, only for their hands to phase through them. Gritting their teeth in frustration, they heard their patron heave a sigh before they continued in a relaxed tone.
"But, alas, business before pleasure. You did say this was one of those Overlord Sinners, little one." They raised their voice in excitement as they sounded almost breathless.
"This offers more opportunities for me to get the silver flames to manifest and to experience more of those little tastes of paradise!"
Dread snaked down their spine as they quickly turned to face their patron. They looked flushed and giddy at the prospect.
"You can't do that! If you take it in too much energy at once, it'll make you sick!" Taylor pleaded, hoping to be the voice of reason.
Their patron's smile dropped a fraction before they seemed to consider it. Taylor could feel their pulse in their ears as they waited anxiously for a response. To their horror, they just shrugged and gave a heartless chuckle.
"Yes, that pesky intoxication issue. Luckily, I'm made of tougher stock, so I should scarcely feel the effects." They replied as their patron reached the two Sinners.
Taylor felt another wave of panic hit them. Things were happening too fast; they needed more time to think of some way to convince their patron to stop.
Sounds outside drew both of their attentions. Their doppelgänger huffed in annoyance before speaking dismissively to Taylor.
"Now, if I'm to have enough time to have my fun, I'll need you to run along and let me focus."
With a flick of their wrist, Taylor was pulled by another invisible force away from the Overlord and toward their red-eyed clone against their will. As they struggled to break free, their patron grinned wickedly.
"Fret not, I'll be sure not to leave any witnesses behind." They said in a conciliatory voice.
"Off to sleep with you, little one. I'm off to paint the town red!"
As their eyes grew heavy and the world went dark, Taylor knew that people were going to die by their hand tonight.
Taylor awoke with a gasp as everything hurt. Their whole body felt like it was on fire and their muscles pulsated painfully when they tried to move. Underneath the pain, they felt a constant thrumming under their skin that made them feel uncomfortable and anxious. They carefully opened their eyes and recognized the pattern of their darkened ceiling and realized they were in their bed at the hotel. Not only that, they could feel that they were in a loose nightgown instead of their croupier outfit for the job.
'What happened while I was out? How did I get here?' they pondered anxiously as their head pounded like it was being hit by several hammers. Despite their desire to remain still, the overwhelming urge to vomit overrode that plan. Not wanting to be sick in their bed, they forced themselves up with a moan and cry as their breathing came in heaves and they held their stomach to stifle their nausea. They put their feet on the floor and tried to stand, but their muscles tensed and then spasmed, causing them to collapse to the ground with a scream that was cut short and then muffled by the carpet. They laid there as the pain came in waves, tears welling in their eyes as they waited for a lull.
'Fuck, it's never been this bad before.' they mused achingly.
After what felt like ages, they laboriously got on their hands and knees and shakily crawled towards the bathroom, teetering every so often and tumbling back to the ground with a hiss. Each step felt like walking on knives, but they gritted their teeth and whimpered their way until they reached the cool tiled floors of their bathroom. After a few more agonizing steps, they made it to the toilet and shakily emptied their stomach. After they finished, they managed to flush the contents away before they felt drained. They shrank down carefully and laid on the floor of the bathroom as they began shivering despite feeling too warm.
As they tried to catch their breath and slow their pounding heart, they stared at their hands and wondered what they did last night while under their patron's control. They assumed they were severely intoxicated from absorbing an Overlord's worth of energy, but they started to panic about the contact that was waiting outside the gambling hall for them during the job.
'Did they get out before my patron's rampage?'
The idea of them killing someone they tried to save made them grimace. At some point during their stewing, they passed out again.
Charlie and Vaggie made their way up to Taylor's room after lunch to search for the missing fire demon.
"I swear, if they're hungover, I'm going to make them spar with me twice a day until they never want to drink again!" Vaggie hissed as she crossed her arms angrily.
"Vaggie, I'm sure it's fine. They said they wouldn't do that again. You saw how miserable they looked then." Charlie assured Vaggie as they made it to their door. She knocked and called out.
"Taylor! You in there? We missed you at morning trust falls and lunch!"
There was no response as Vaggie grunted angrily.
"They'd better not still be in bed! They can't keep shirking their program responsibilities because of work!" Vaggie seethed as she made to kick down the door.
"Hold on, Vaggie! I have a master key!" Charlie shot back before she could complete the action.
They opened the door with a creak and flicked the lights on. The room and bed were empty, but the sheets were on the floor in a jumble.
"Maybe they went to work already?" Charlie guessed as the two of them looked around the space.
"Oh shit! Babe, get in here!" Charlie heard Vaggie's urgent echoing voice from the bathroom and quickly headed over.
Charlie gasped as she saw Vaggie crouched over a keeled over Taylor on the floor, gasping for breath and shivering. They looked pale and clammy as Vaggie held their shoulders and propped them up.
"Hey, Taylor! Can you hear us? Wake up!" Vaggie urged with a light shake.
The fire demon groaned as they cracked their eyes open and winced at the brightness of the room. After they took a moment to adjust, they looked over with hooded eyes and saw the two demonesses standing over them.
"Vaggie? Charlie? S-Shit… didn't want you… to… find me… like this." They rasped in between breaths.
"Taylor, what happened? You seemed fine when you left for work last night!" Charlie asked anxiously.
Taylor tried to rack their brain for a cover story as their head began pounding again.
"I felt… a bit off… last night… started feeling worse… as it went on… got back to the hotel… and slept… woke up and felt shitty… made it to the bathroom… to throw up… but… too tired to make it back… so I stayed here…Must have… fallen asleep." They recounted in a gravelly voice.
The trio were interrupted as Angel walked through the door.
"Hey Fuoco, ya here? Ya think ya can do me a solid and stash my-" he looked over at the unexpected visitors and hid something behind his back hastily. "I'll just come back later." He said as he began sidling out of the room.
"Angel! Go get Husk! Taylor's sick and we need his expertise on what to do!" Charlie ordered as Vaggie picked up the fire demon bridal-style to move them back to bed.
"Fuoco? One sec, I'll go get him!" Angel startled for a moment before he replied anxiously and dashed out of the room.
Taylor cried out at the jostling, muscles convulsing again as Vaggie carried them to bed and gently laid them on their side. They whimpered as they curled up into a ball and waited for the pain to diminish.
"S-sorry…still… making you worry…" they said with a tremble in their voice.
"You don't have to apologize for being sick!" Charlie admonished.
"I guess… I need… another trust exercise… in the turf… war zone… right, Vaggie?" Taylor tried to joke.
They heard Vaggie chuckle as the worst of the pain left them and they started to relax. Their eyes grew heavy as they tried to stay awake, but it didn't take long before they succumbed to sleep again.