Stanley woke with the distinct impression that someone was watching him. It had to be his new housekeeper as no one else had keys to his condo and he could smell something good cooking in the kitchen. He opened his eyes and looked at the end of his bed. Long black hair. Very pretty. Petite in stature, a few inches shorter than he was and slim. Her most striking feature though were the five colored fox tails moving behind her back. Red, pink, green, blue, and violet. He had no idea what to make of this. The tails twitched, became the more familiar red, black and white of a fox's tail then vanished behind her.
"Good morning," she said.
He blinked. This was the first time she'd spoken to him. "Good morning."
"I am Yuko."
"Stanley."
"You are a puzzle."
"I am?" he asked.
"A game is being played and you are a key piece. Maybe the key piece," she said with a tilt of her head. "We do not know what the goal of this game is. Is it good or bad? We do not know what will happen if the game is allowed to complete."
"Allowed to complete. That sounds ominous," he said nervously to the small woman who had been watching him sleep, defenseless. Maybe he should ask for her key back.
She smiled at him. "I think you are good but good pieces can be used to do bad things."
"Good things too though, right? I want to do good! That should count for something," he urged.
"It should?" She looked truly puzzled by this concept.
"Of course!" He glanced at the clock. Five minutes until his alarm went off. Good enough. He turned it off and caught a flash of blue hair as she left the room with a glance and a smile back at him.
He really should ask for her key or better, get the lock changed.
He got up and switched back to his human state before he took a shower. He'd discovered that being fresh and clean as a human translated directly into being fresh and clean as a Satyr but it took much less time to dry off without all the fur.
After getting dressed he went out into the kitchen. He took a deep breath. He wasn't good with confrontation. Yuko was once more headed for the door.
"Yuko, wait."
She paused and looked back.
"I need your key please."
"My key? Why? Have I not served well?" she asked as the smile slipped from her face.
"You have done an awesome job and I am very happy with your work." Her smile returned and she turned to the door again. "However, you said some things this morning that's left me feeling like my life may be in danger from you if you continue to work for me. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to let you go."
She spun back to face him desperately. "No! Please! I take back what I said! Let me stay!"
Stanley paused seeing her dismay. "I- I wish I could. I really liked having you work for me but you can't take back what you said. I no longer feel safe with you. Please give me the key."
Large dark eyes looked up at him and filled with tears. "Please..."
Stanley's heart was breaking but he had to remain strong. "I'm so sorry..."
"Mother will learn of my mistake and will tell my father to cut off my allowance and send for me."
"What?" he said in surprise.
"The Japanese Spirits Combine will learn of my mistake and they will send me away. I do not wish to go away. All my friends are here in New York City! It is so fun here and so dull at home!" Tears were beginning to roll down her cheeks.
"So, don't leave," he suggested.
"You do not understand! I cannot be disobedient to my parents. They pay for everything! When they learn of my failure they will cut off my funds and I will be forced to go back to Japan and leave my friends. My life will be ruined!"
He blinked at her. She'd put him in a bad place. He no longer felt safe with her but he didn't want to 'ruin her life'. He glanced at the clock. He had to get to work soon. His stomach was in no mood to eat now. He sighed.
"Listen, I won't fire you now but I want to speak with you tonight when I get home. You have until then to come up with a really good reason why I should continue to trust you and not fear for my life. If you can't, you'll give me the key and leave. Understood?"
She nodded as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. On impulse he reached out his hands to gently tilt her face up and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "No more tears, please."
She dipped her head in a nod and did her best to hide a shy smile.
His thumbs tingled oddly and he shook them out as he grabbed his keys and laptop case. "I'll see you tonight."
She nodded and smiled at him, her tears already drying. He felt better about that.
His new commute was definitely shorter than his old one and he rather enjoyed moving with the throng of people to get to work. He was feeling particularly charged this morning. The server builds were moving along really well. The power protection system was going in today, more electricians, and if all went well the backup system and the storage solutions he ordered would be arriving. The new servers hummed happily and smoothly under his hands and he'd spotted the one bad network interface card early on and replaced it. That would have set him back a week if he'd missed it.
Camila also promised him an executive assistant with Paloma's talent was arriving today. He really enjoyed working with Siobhan but she didn't really understand technology or anticipate his needs like Paloma had. He tried not to get too discouraged but he doubted he'd ever find someone as gifted as Paloma.
As he walked the final block to the office he got the prickly back of the neck sensation and glanced over his shoulder. He spotted the same car once more tailing him and frowned. He turned back and saw Mr. Duncan stepping from the front door of VRL walking towards him. He heard the engine rev behind him and the car sped off past them down the road. Mr. Duncan looked at Stanley with a concerned frown on his face.
"Good morning, Mr. Duncan. Glorious morning to be stalked, isn't it?" Stanley said with a grin on his face.
"Aye. I'll have another word with the CEO about this," he grumbled.
"Thank you. That would be appreciated. Have a good day!" Stanley said as he entered the building. He took the elevator up to the top floor and walked down the hall to his office. Siobhan was packing up her things at her desk.
"Good morning, Mr. Garin!" she said with her cheeky smile.
"Good morning, Ms. Whelan," he returned.
"Oh! Who's the saucy one now?" she said with a grin.
"Just giving as good as I get," he grinned in return. "I'll miss the verbal sparring. You have been an excellent executive assistant as well."
"As I will miss your energetic but largely futile attempts to teach me the ways of the giggety flippety flops," she sighed theatrically causing him to laugh. "Before you get too comfortable, Ms. Villamor asked me to send you directly to her office when you arrive. I understand your new executive assistant has arrived. She's a real looker. Half the fellas in the mailroom are sticking pins in their CIO voodoo dolls as we speak. The other half are still crying that Paloma has left."
He nodded and put his bag in his office. He took a quick look at the servers on the test bench he'd set up, saw they were still happy, and locked up behind himself. With a nod to Siobhan he headed to Camila's office. Felix gestured for him to go in so he knocked and stepped inside closing the door behind himself.
He turned and got three steps into the office noticing Camila behind the desk, Sigrid sitting across from her and another blond woman sitting in the chair next to Sigrid. This woman stood and turned to face him. She smiled. Stanley stumbled to a stop.
The woman was more than a 'looker' as Siobhan had mentioned. She was stunning! Stanley felt like a moth drawn to her brilliance. His eyes widened and he couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his lips. He felt his posture straightening and his chest puffing out. These were automatic corrections and they seemed ridiculous considering how intensely beautiful she was and how plain and small he was.
That's when it hit him. He'd felt it but he hadn't recognized it. The pull he'd felt earlier. It wasn't just her beauty. He- he knew her. He could feel a familiarity in every cell of his body. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.
"Paloma?" he whispered.
Her smile softened. "Not any more Stanley. My name is Marisa now. You have to let my old identity go just as I had to."
He blinked in confusion. "What? Why?"
"The change I went through the night we had sex. All that energy, it permanently altered my anatomy and how I look. I'm several inches taller. Longer legs, longer torso and longer arms. Several inches wider around my chest. It also burned away my old glamor. I had to get a new one but you can see I don't look like Paloma at all. It's impossible to explain these changes, so for the Humans I had to take on a new persona. I'm Marisa now."
"I- I'm so sorry! I had no idea-"
"It's ok Stanley. I've had a few days to take it all in. I'm good with it," she smiled. "Are you ready to have me work with you as your executive assistant?"
Stanley's face split into a wide grin. "Yes!"
Camila got his attention. "Stanley, for the first few days at least you'll have to act like Marisa is a stranger. She's going to be meeting everyone for the first time again," Camila cautioned him and he thought about that and nodded.