Old World Magic Ch. 20

- - -

"Is it done?" the luck mage Emily Whitefeld asked me as I opened the suite's door.

I nodded, standing there wearing nothing but the hotel robe and looking at the two men behind her. One I recognized as the bodyshaper that had worked on me before the poker tournament, the other I didn't.

"And you understand the nature of the boon you'll owe me after this?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as she inspected my face.

"One favor, no questions asked," I said. My face was somewhat drawn and blank, as I was struggling to cope with the decision I'd made. Struggling to come to terms with the slide I'd taken into the person I was now. There was no doubt in my mind, I wasn't who I was before, I was a murderer now. Any justification that it was for the greater good, for self defense, that it was the best way out of the horrible situation I was in, none of it mattered. I'd killed and that would be on my soul, if I still had one.

"No," Emily said, "Not one favor, not even close. You're in my debt now, I own you, and I can call on you whenever I need it until this sort of favor is repaid." I nodded my head, agreeing, because what else was there to do? "Good," she said then pushing into the hotel suite with the two men in tow.

I held out my hand to the new man and introduced myself, "Hi, Mike..."

He cut me off, "No, no names. The less I know about you the better, and I'm certainly not telling you my name." Then he took a look at the scene in the hotel suite and whistled softly as the bodyshaper locked the door behind him. Then to Emily, "This is going to cost you. But it's not going to be too bad."

Emily nodded and then it was the bodyshaper who spoke next, "After this, you and I are square. I don't owe you anything after this." Emily again nodded, though I could see her jaw clenching. I got the sense that she was trading away the loyalty of that man for mine. I also couldn't help but wonder who was getting the better end of that bargain, me or her. The body shaper then said, "Stand behind the couch, so I can see you clearly."

I wanted to watch this carefully, because while I didn't think I'd be able to pick up the magical spells the body shaper was using in one go, I thought maybe I'd get a sense for how bodyshaping worked at the least. My detachment, shock, served me well and I was able to focus on the magical spells as he did his work. Before my eyes James's body filled out slowly, took on muscular definition. His face changed and his hair color darkened. The whole process took about half an hour, and I felt like I actually was starting to get a good sense of the magical processes that were involved.

Then it was my turn. I'd finally started to get used to the identity of Mike Naughton and here I was, changing it again. The body shaper took Erin and I into the unused bedroom and pulled a laptop out of a case. "Pick two or three pictures, I'll blend them to give you a new look." He said as he opened a file with thousands of pictures of handsome men. I scrolled through, finally picking out three that Erin agreed with. Then it was Erin's turn.

"I want to stay close to how I look, if I can?" she asked, and the bodyshaper typed in some filters, cutting the list of women's pictures down to a few dozen. When she hit on one, she said, "Can you make me look like her?"

The body shaper raised an eyebrow, "Yes, but you run the risk of being mistaken for her if you look exactly like her. Pick at least one other woman." Mia sighed and continued looking. Then the mage asked me, "Anything specific you'd like? Scars, tattoos, etc?"

"I've gotten used to not having to shave," I said running a hand across my baby smooth jaw line. "Lets keep the body hair away, just eyebrows and the top of my head." Then nodding at Erin I added, "Same for her too, I'm sure she'd appreciate not having to wax."

Erin, who'd also been wearing a robe this whole time looked up, "You can do that?" Then opening her robe and exposing her body to the shaper. His gaze was impassive, unsurprisingly I supposed. "Leave this," she said running her fingers along the pencil thin strip of red pubic hair that ran upwards across her mons. "I want to keep this, you can get rid of all of my other body hair, but this stays."

He nodded and looked at the pictures she picked out. Then asked who he should start with. I wanted to watch with a clear head, so I could watch the magic again. I studied the spells that he used to reshape reality and change Erin's body. I didn't understand everything, and I certainly wouldn't have tried to any serious body shaping on my own. But I felt like I was confident enough to make minor changes.

The type of magic was different than what I was used too. Just like using the glamour spell that Ruby the succubus had taught me was different than the sort of mental manipulation that Adam had trained me in. But the essence of the magic was actually similar, use mana to fuel the desired effect, reshaping reality. But then again, a car was just an engine that used gasoline to drive wheels, but there was a huge difference between a Ford Mustang and a Honda Civic.

If anything, Erin was even more beautiful when he was done. She lay sweating and shaking on the bed, the reshaping of reality having an effect on her. "Go take a shower," I told her, "You'll feel better afterwards."

Then it was my turn. I couldn't really observe the spell work when I was the target. My body was wracked with strange and uncomfortable sensations as my bone structure changed slightly, muscles slid around, facial features changed. I was a little taken aback when I felt his cool hands on my cock, and would have twitched away but didn't feel like I was in complete control of my muscles. "And this? Whoever did this did a good job on it, but are you happy?"

I wanted him to take his hands off my junk, but said, "No complaints there."

He chuckled and said, "Maybe just a slight tweak."

I ground my teeth together, knowing I shouldn't argue with a man who could give me a micropenis with nothing but his magic. So I grudgingly said, "I trust you." But I had to wonder if he had made any modifications to Erin when he was down there. I'd assumed he was just making it so that she didn't grow any pubic hair, but if he was tweaking me, a fellow mage, what might he have done to a normal person?

- - -

I showered afterwards and then went back into the suite. The body shaper and the other man were already gone, but Emily was waiting, chatting with Erin. She turned to me, "Ok, I'm going to put the two of you up in a room on another floor, and you're going to stay there for a few days till we can get you new IDs. But you two have to stay there, don't leave. You can order room service, and if you need anything, you'll call the concierge for it. But under no circumstances are you guys to leave that room till I say it's safe, do you understand?

Erin and I looked at each other, then the two dead bodies. One the boxer still on the floor, the other the man who looked exactly like Mike Naughton. I finally said, "Erin has to leave, we have one last thing that she has to do. Once it's done I will be out from under Adam Sak's thumb."

Emily sighed, "It's your choice of course, but until you get new IDs, it's your risk to take."

Erin spoke before I had the chance, "I'll do anything to help Mike after what he's done for me. No hesitation, he needs this, that means I need this."

Emily shrugged her shoulders, "ok, lets get you to the other room. The hookers will wake up in a few hours, find..." She made air quotes with her fingers, "Mike and that guy dead, and probably freak the hell out. After that I'm going to be busy dealing with the local cops and keeping this from being too big a deal in the news. Fortunately this isn't the first dead body I've had in my hotel." She sighed, "Not even the first one this year unfortunately. So lets go."

- - -

The next two days were hell on me. Erin understood the plan, but I couldn't be there with her to help or make sure anything went ok. I couldn't help but do but obsess over anything that would go wrong and everything that I stood to lose. My new car, all the money I was paying out to Emily for her help and to pay the others who'd helped, the security of Ruby's Hideaway, the brothel that had been my home for so long. But most of all, I couldn't stop thinking about Cheyenne. She was a mixed heritage native american whore who worked at the Hideaway, and I knew she loved me. I had to admit that I had strong feelings towards her as well, and didn't know if the plan to reconnect with her was going to work. It was a long shot at the best.

I didn't do much in those first few days. Mostly I watched the news and slept. Well, that and got used to my new face. I pondered if I'd only been a mage for a few months, and already this was the third face I'd had, how many might I go through in the long life most mages lived? Would I even be able to remember what I looked like originally? What Michael Gray, the thirty eight year old out of work high school teacher looked like?

The body shaper mage had left my body pretty much as it was, but had resculpted my face quite a bit. My shoulders were a bit broader now, and my neck looked a little broader as well. My body still had that athletic build that I'd been working on maintaining with my daily exercise. But the face what had really changed. My hair was jet black and thick, cut in a rather non descript style that neither stood out nor seemed to look uncared for. My nose was bigger, a classic 'roman' nose I think they would have called it, long and with a bulge at the bridge but still nothing off putting or out of the ordinary. My jawline was strong and squared with a hint of a cleft in the chin. Above that lips that weren't too thick and a mouth that wasn't overly wide. My eyes were a deep brown almost as dark as you could imagine. They set below thick dark eyebrows that pushed towards the center, but thankfully didn't meet in that dreaded unibrow. The ears were a little larger too, but were pinned back against my skull more than the last face I'd worn. The overall effect was one of a handsome man, with heavy features. But at the same time while the overall effect was handsome and appealing, there also wasn't anything overt about the look. It was one that could easily blend into a crowd if needed.

The thing I found most interesting was the slightest hint of stubble beneath the skin. I'd told the body shaper I didn't want to shave, and in truth I hadn't had to yet. But the skin around my face and jaw looked a little darker. It was as if I'd just shaved my face a few minutes before looking in the mirror. Unable to resist, I peered as close into the mirror as I could, and sure enough, unlike my last face, there were follicles on my face with tiny black dots. Yet when I ran my hand across my face it was baby smooth. The hair just wasn't growing. Really, he'd done a fantastic job.

I couldn't help but find out, after the first time I jerked off out of boredom, that he had given me a little bit more down below as well. I wondered if I was almost too big now as my cock swelled to over eight inches and was even thicker than it was before. Partially out of boredom, I measured it and found that I was now about eight and a half inches long and when I wrapped a thread around and measured, I was seven inches around. Slightly girthier and longer than I had been before, but that wasn't even the biggest surprise. Obviously I was pretty good at sex, and I enjoyed it. But the first time I jerked off with my new body, I came so fast. He'd done something to my nerves, they were even more sensitive than before, and boy did I cum. But while I may not have had quite the stamina I did before as I got used to the new sensations, I noticed that I was able to get hard again almost immediately after going soft.

Part of me wondered how much Emily had paid him, and then wondered if it had been enough for such a fantastic job.

One night as I was watching the news, as I often did for lack of anything else to do, I was struck with the story I'd been waiting for. It was a report about a double homicide at a local casino. A picture of James's face was on the screen and they said that the police were seeking him as a person of interest. That was good because it meant that part of the plan had worked at least. Also shown were the pictures of Tim, the boxer looking thug, and 'Mike Naughton' as the victims. The tickets purchased online, using James's credit card weren't mentioned. The first was for a one way flight from Vegas to Mexico city, and then one from there to Havana. But certainly it made it appear that the skinny hit man had fled the country and was heading to a non extradition country. It wouldn't stand up to a thorough investigation, but the 'expert' that Emily had hired said that it was enough.

Even though James hadn't actually boarded the first plane, it created a narrative that was easily believable. That was one thing I'd learned about magic and the real world. People just wanted to think they understood what was going on around them, even when they didn't. Self delusion was a strong motivator for human understanding.

Guilt was also an undeniable motivator, and I found that I couldn't get over my actions that night. Over and over I replayed the events in my head. I'd killed, I was a murderer. I'd covered it up to protect myself and Erin, but I'd taken two mens lives and I found that it was hitting me a lot harder than the decision to kill Francis Solaris. Erin's father hadn't been easy, but it had been distant. He was a monster and he was ruining the lives of everyone he touched, like a rotten apple spoiling the entire basket. But I couldn't get past the two men I'd actually killed by my own hand. Certainly I knew they were going to kill me, or planned too. But I didn't really know much else about them, were they good men? Did they deserve their fate? Should I have made another choice? I just didn't know and so I accepted my self imposed solitary imprisonment in the hotel suite as a sort of penance.

But another strong motivator was boredom, a fact I'd come to learn after only a week of sitting alone in a hotel suite with only the occasional staff member or maid for any sort of human interaction. It started out simply, because I felt like I couldn't stand another day of only my own voice in the rooms. No company other than the TV and the occasional visit from someone delivering food or cleaning the room. I started simply, just mentally nudging people to have small conversations with me. Staying for a few minutes to talk about something that was going on in their lives. I learned that the chef staff in the casino were generally insular and felt like they were better than the rest of the hotel staff. Almost everyone delivering food had something mean to say about one chef or another, about how they were smug and superior.

The maids that spoke english were pleasant enough but they took a lot of effort to get to stay and talk. They had a schedule and they wanted to be in and out without staying. Since I wasn't having sex and my mana replenished far more slowly, I didn't waste the time and energy trying to cast spells on them.

On the eighth day of solitude, I was blissfully contacted by Erin. She said she couldn't talk long, and was only able to call me because she'd gone out drinking at a local bar with some of the women from work. She didn't dare stay on the phone too long, because it was a pay phone and they'd wonder where she'd gone off to. She said that things were progressing as planned, and that 'it' hadn't happened yet. I wanted to ask her more, but she rushed off the phone, uttering a quick 'I miss you' before hanging up. It left me feeling lonelier than ever.

Then one day, ten days into my exile, a new maid showed up at the door. Middle aged, I would have pegged her around forty five, and with a face that spoke of some hardships in her life. She was a talker, chatting as she cleaned, which was different than most of the other maids. So I talked with her and found her to be pleasant enough. When she came back the next day, I decided to use my mental spells to get to know her better.

It was such a classic story that it seemed almost cliche. Single mother, husband cheated on her and left her with two kids. Oldest in college, and the younger going in a few years, she couldn't afford to quit either of the two jobs she had. Her personal life was next to nothing, and the only time she socialized was at work with her fellow housekeepers.

On the third day I guided her to get more personal. She never was a real beauty, but she was always 'passable' in her words. But age had taken that from her and now she was just a tired woman who worked nights cleaning offices and days in a hotel. So I glamored her, and asked her while she was in a hypnotic trance if she'd like a change. When she said yes, I felt like it was time to try to stretch my magical muscles.

In retrospect what I did was stupid, dangerous, and absolutely the wrong thing for me to do. But as I said, I was bored. A week and a half of being alone, even when you're in a comfortable place, can make some strange things happen to your decision making. I told myself I was going to start simply. While she was glamoured, I tried to recreate some of the spells I'd seen the body shaper use. 'Just one little change' I told myself, 'just to see if I can do it.'

So she left my room that day with not a single gray hair on her head. All of the follicles in her scalp had been rejuvenated, brought back to the healthy state they'd been in when she was a teen. Her dirty blonde hair seemed more full of life and body, and of course, free from gray hairs. It was harmless, no one would have ever questioned it, and if they did even think about it they'd just assume she dyed her hair. That should be totally harmless right?

Well, that's what I told myself. I suppose it was harmless to her at least. But the problem was that it wasn't enough for me. I was stagnating in this room and doing nothing but worrying about Erin and feeling my guilt. So the next few days I tried more and more. I successfully removed all the follicles of hair from her upper lip, she'd never need to bleach or wax there again. Then I smoothed out a few of the wrinkles around her eyes and forehead. Then on fourth day of trying to body shape her, I got a little bold. I actually tried moving around some of her body fat. I took it from a few of the more obvious areas like her neck and belly, and shifted them to her breasts and butt. Nothing drastic mind you, but she looked just a little bit better, healthier.

The next day it was a latino woman who cleaned my room and she either didn't speak english or she refused too. I admit I was annoyed that I couldn't continue working on the housekeeper, who I thought of as my 'project.'

But that night, now more than two weeks since I'd seen her last, Emily Whitefeld showed up at my door and pushed into the room without a greeting. "You can't be fucking with my staff Mike. The fact that you'd do so is an insult to me."

I thought about denying it, but decided that would be foolish, "I'm going insane Emily," I said honestly. "I can't stay cooped up here like this."

"A few more days, a week at the most, and your new identities will be done. I spoke with my man today. Then we can get you out for a bit."

"Why is it taking so long?" I asked, "Renia Satô was able to get my identity created in a single afternoon."

"Because Ms Satô works for the FBI. The man I'm working with doesn't. He's a go between, working with someone on the inside. It's a lot more difficult when you're trying to protect your own identity. Now stop your whining and behave, you're almost done." She sighed, and I didn't have to read her mind to see that there was something else on her mind. Something she was hesitant to talk about.