fic: Unspoiled Salt - Part 1

[smalltrolven]

Back to Masterpost
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Stefanus knew it was going to be a much harder job than most of his fellow demons ever had bothered to imagine. There was a reason why cambions weren’t created every day. Otherwise all of creation would be overrun with the things. All he wanted to do was to serve his master well, avoid the Pit or the racks and ultimately be of some small service to Lucifer, damned be his name. He was a good demon, at least that’s what he told himself.

When Crowley had chosen him out of the ranks of demons who supported the Crossroads operations for this special project, he’d preened with the admiration of his fellow demons. They’d oohed and ahhed about it, but they all knew there were big risks in being singled out by Crowley—for anything. It usually didn’t end well for those who tried to serve him. Crowley was known as being capricious and cruel, even for a demon. But Crowley was powerful. He’d been the right hand to Lilith for all these eons, and had become the King of the Crossroads when the last one had gotten shot right between the eyes by some human—so very rude.

So it was worth the risk, Stefanus told himself, given the rewards he’d been promised, it better  be worth it.

Coming back up to the earthly plane after so many years away was painful, everything sharp and loud, all the smells assaulting him, the noises so different from what he’d remembered. Everything was just more.

He swirled as just so much black smoke up high next to a metal ceiling, the smell of it tangy and intense to his hell-dulled senses. Down below were a mass of humans, all moving among machines that moved so quickly he could barely track them with his nonexistent eyes. He searched for one of them that was alone, so he could take him over unobserved, and it had to be a him, those were Crowley’s orders. For this job assignment he definitely needed to be male, the bigger and more good looking the better. The one he’d chosen was tall, almost ducking under the bathroom doorway, he had a nice head of blond hair, it was catching the light of the overhead lights. Stefanus—decision made—dove towards the man, swirling through the air as quickly as he could push himself, driving, shoving, forcing his way in. The man collapsed under his assault, going limp against the wall, knocking some papers off the bulletin board.

Stefanus slowly stood and took his first halting steps, he was sure he looked like a drunken sailor during a heaving storm. There wasn’t much time, he had to get ready for his boss’ imminent appearance. He headed towards the machines on the factory floor and leaned up against the first one to rest for a moment. Chaff and dust moved through the air, buffeted by the waves of motion from the conveyor belt. There was a tremendous amount of corn bouncing along it in mesmerizing patterns, he tracked some with his eyes getting momentarily stunned by the beauty of something so simple. He shook his head at himself, looked out at the humans working the machinery nearby, and immediately noticed and liked how high up he was compared to everyone else. This man he’d chosen was tall, much taller than he’d been way back when he’d been a human himself. Another thing to have to get used to.

Crowley cuffed him against the back of his head, slamming him into the whirring machinery of the conveyor belt.

“You idiot, straighten up,” Crowley growled. He adjusted his elegant business man’s suit from having reached up to hit him.

Stefanus didn’t know how it worked exactly, but Crowley looked the same here on Earth as he did down in Hell, a very short and round man, near balding, intense glower, sneering lip, but simmering with barely contained power.

Stefanus tried to make this new body he’d just chosen work correctly, the limbs still felt much too long and heavy after so many years of being just a smoky denizen of Hell. The concentration it took to possess a human was almost beyond his meagre powers. He’d forgotten how damn hard this could be to move all this meat around! But Crowley was there, and Stefanus knew he’d be fried in a bare instant if he didn’t manage it. Somehow he made the young man’s body stand up straighter, pushing himself off the machine that roared and pulsed along the entire length of his right side.

He’d forgotten so much about the world, but really, had it ever been this fucking loud?

“You with me now? Eh there, Stefano?” Crowley asked, raising one eyebrow as he shot his cuffs, first one and then the other, his movements precise and orderly.

Stefanus pursed his lips and tried to push some words out past them, his tongue lolled uncooperatively out of the left side of his mouth. He took a breath and concentrated everything on saying one word. “Yess,” he slurred, shook his head and tried again, “and it’sss Ste—fan—us, sshs-uh-sir.”

“Not too bad for a newbie, you haven’t been up here in a bit, right, Ste—fan—us?” Crowley asked, drawing out the syllables of his name sarcastically.

Stefanus took another breath and thought the words through clearly, then sent them down to the mouth, concentrating on pushing the breath through and past the tongue and teeth, making the lips move to form the words, “I have never been back to this plane, not since my death.”

Crowley whistled in appreciation of his feat. “Well, keep pushing him down hard inside there, so he doesn’t kick you to the back. Remember, that’s your body for now, but it’s for forever as far as the poor sod knows.”

Stefanus nodded, proud of himself for being able to move the body so smoothly. Not the body, my body now, he reminded himself.

“This place is what’s called the Heartland of America, you’re in a state named Nebraska, I’m sure you recall the map I had you study. Your assignment is to choose our ideal subject for this endeavor. Do you remember what the qualifications the woman you’re looking for must possess for us to have even the slimmest chance to be successful?”

“She is to be younger than twenty-five years, an intact virgin, physically healthy, fertile, and as unconnected to other humans as possible,” Stefanus quickly recited, hoping he hadn’t left anything crucial off the list.

“Well done, I think you’ve got it. Scout around here first among the workforce of the factory, blend in with the other workers, and if you find some likely candidates, summon me and I’ll help you choose.”

“Yes, sir, you can count on me,” Stefanus said, standing up straighter under the weight of Crowley’s instructions.

“We are—that is, Lilith is counting on you,” Crowley said before he poofed out in a small cloud of red-black smoke.

Stefanus turned around slowly, taking in the cacophony and disarray of the factory floor, there were a lot of people to choose from. There were several groups of women arrayed at the side of a long moving belt that the corn bounced along. Their hands flashed and moved, nimble and quick as they sorted the quickly passing corn. A loud whistle sounded and the group of women was replaced by another. The original group swarmed out through a door, talking and laughing together. He took off after them, to listen in.

“Is Harry ever gonna pop the question, Junie?” The tallest woman asked as they passed into the lunch room.

“I think I’ll be old and gray before those words ever pass his lips,” a woman replied as they arranged themselves around a pockmarked metal picnic table. Each of them pulled smashed sandwiches out of their work coveralls’ back pockets.

“You should go out with my cousin, Hank. He’s got the widest shoulders you’ve ever seen, and he’s sweeter than this year’s corn,” another woman said, unwrapping the wax paper wrapped sandwich in front of her on the table.

“Give me his number, and I’ll try him out sometime,” the woman who’d been called Junie answered, gesturing with her sandwich.

Stefanus noticed that one of the women hadn’t said anything, but had only watched the conversation ping back and forth between the other women. She was holding herself apart from the group, either too shy or just easily overlooked. He sat next to her in the wide space she’d left on the bench. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes but didn’t say anything to him, her hands tightened on an already squashed tuna sandwich.

“So, you been workin’ here long?” Stefanus asked, trying to imitate the accent he’d heard the women using.

Julia nodded slowly, chewing her sandwich and pointedly not meeting his eyes.

“This is my first day,” Stefanus said.

“But you’re a shift supervisor,” Julia said nodding at the name tag he wore on his chest. Her eyes flicked up and searched his face. “I mean, you must have been here a while to be at that level.”

“Nah, it was just a transfer from another facility, over in Iowa,” Stefanus said, scrambling to make up a good cover story. He was glad he’d studied that map of the USA that Crowley had given him.

“That why you don’t have a lunch with ya?” Julia asked.

“I…uh, I already ate mine, I’m just looking around the plant, trying to see what’s what before I dive into work,” Stefanus said. “It was real nice meetin’ ya, hope to see ya around.”

Julia nodded at him as he arose from the bench, and then silently stared down at her sandwich.

Stefanus touched her on her shoulder, delighting at her flinch and shudder. “I said, I hope to see ya around, Julia.”

“How did you know my name?” Julia asked, panicked eyes darting around his face and landing at a point just past his left ear.

“Your name tag,” Stefanus said, touching the badge on her chest with an aggressive poke of his finger. She flinched again as he pressed it into the softness of her breast and he strained to contain the grin he felt trying to stretch his lips.

“Oh, yeah, duh, of course. See you around, Kevin,” Julia said, eyes firmly fixed on his name tag, still reluctant to meet his eyes.

Ugh, why did his name have to be something so pedestrian like Kevin. He’d have to make do, until he’d found the right woman. He headed towards the door that led back to the factory floor, but felt the attention of someone, he stopped and quickly whirled around. Stefanus thrilled at the hungry, interested look on Julia’s face, she had been watching him, maybe even wanting him. He had a live one on the hook already, Crowley would be so proud. He stood up straighter and strutted back to the table, looming over her.

“When’s your shift end, Julia?”

“I’m off at four,” Julia answered, looking up at him with her eyes gone large with surprise.

“I’ll meet ya at the main parking lot then, we can go get a beer or something,” Stefanus said with a grin at her increasing surprise, almost back to panic again. He could hear her heart beating faster, and loved the hectic flush that was spreading up to cover her face a beautiful splotchy pink.

“Uh..ok, see ya there,” Julia said, blinking slowly, smiling as he nodded at her acceptance of his invitation.

Stefanus walked away slowly, letting her have a nice, long look at the goods, and listened to the buzz of the women’s exclamations of her surprising change of fortune fill the room. He didn’t hear her voice joining in, so that was an awesome sign. She didn’t participate at all, so it seemed as if Julia wasn’t attached to these people in the least. Now to find out if there was anyone else in her life or not. And whether she was a fertile virgin.

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Crowley had told Stefanus that he’d have to likely drive a car or truck when he was possessing a human, but that it would fall into an automatic body knowledge category. Something the body he was possessing would just know how to do without him having to learn it. That was a good thing, because he’d never seen a car in person before, as he’d died well before they’d been invented.

Crowley had shown him movies of the things in action and explained the basics of it. There would be a metal key to start the thing, and he could feel that there was something that had to be keys in his pockets. That meant Kevin had a vehicle somewhere, and he figured he’d better find it and practice a bit before Julia left the building at four. He found the exit and walked out into the bright sunshine of the afternoon, eyes blinking against the sun’s glare. He hadn’t known he’d missed it, but what was left of his twisted soul soared as he soaked up the brightness.

Before he became too sun-dazed, he shook himself out of it and looked out at the parking lot. As far as his human eyes could see, there was a vast array of vehicles, all arranged in neat rows, and one of them was his.

He looked down at the keys in his hand, there was a metal tag hanging off that had a symbol and the letters BMW. He wondered what it meant, he hoped the letters would be on his car somewhere. He walked down the first row of cars closest to the door and found several that had those letters. There was one that sparkled more than the others, silver and gleaming, he headed towards it and looked for the lock. The key turned and the door opened, he slipped into the seat and felt his feet fall into position onto pedals on the floor. The key again fit into a slot, he turned it and the engine roared to life. His hands seemed to know what to do, and he let them. The car moved more quickly than he’d expected, he felt a little ill, and wondered if he could vomit in a possessed person’s body.

The corn packing plant was already well behind him, and there wasn’t much traffic, so he pressed on one of the pedals and the car leapt forward, the corn whipping by so quickly he couldn’t quite see the individual stalks. This was the most fun he’d had since he’d been apprenticing in the torture rooms a few decades ago. Taking apart souls wasn’t nearly as exhilarating as this, not even close. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something large approaching from the side. His foot slammed onto the other pedal, and the car spun in several circles and slowed to a stop. A large horn sounded right in his ear and an even larger vehicle continued on the other road.

After all those spinning circles, Stefanus was guessing he was pointed back towards the factory, and took off in that direction. Julia had no idea what she’d be getting into when she got into this vehicle with him in a few hours. The thought made him grin and rub his hands together, the car swerved when he didn’t keep them on the wheel, and he almost spun out again. He barely avoided a truck that was coming from the factory, loaded with the boxes of corn swerved off the road, it continued on, honking and a man’s beefy arm waving out the window with the middle finger extended. He’d have to remember to ask Crowley what that meant the next time that he saw him.

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Part 2