Face Lift
By Frank Morin
Face Lift
1
Chapter 1
The eighty foot yacht slipped into position at the end of
the concrete pier with a gentle thump, and I couldn’t completely
contain a surge of excitement.
This is it.
So many years’ work
boiled down to today, so many lives spent to get here.
The plan
was set.
All I have to do is execute.
I tried to stand, but nearly pitched onto the thickly
carpeted deck as Martha fought for control of the body we
shared.
You have to relax, I thought to Martha.
I can’t do this
with you fighting me every step.
Then let me do it, she thought back.
It’s my body after
all.
I suppressed a groan and forced my thoughts to remain calm.
We’ve gone over this already.
I need control, or this isn’t
going to work.
But I don’t want to do it any more.
The resistance did not come as a surprise.
Most people
couldn’t handle another soul usurping control of their body
without fighting the intrusion immediately.
She’d agreed to
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2
this, but despite her drive to find her daughter, there was only
so much she could take.
The fight instinct was ingrained too
deep, and most of the time it was a good thing.
She’d made it
eight hours without a struggle, an admirable feat, but short of
our goal.
I couldn't exactly tell myself I told you so, but I wanted
to.
I’d only ever tried sharing bodies once before, and that
fiasco had ended so badly I’d sworn never to try it again.
There was just no other way.
we’d both achieve our objectives.
If she could stay focused,
I had to distract her or
she’d work herself into a panic.
Waves of anxiety already radiated from her soul and beat
against me.
The powerful emotions strengthened the bond to her
body that I’d nearly severed when I took control.
She’d lived
in this body for nearly sixty years, so even though my soul now
possessed it too, the natural link was very strong and extremely
hard to overcome, particularly now.
I resisted the viselike pressure, careful not to push too
hard.
I couldn't afford an all-out fight for control.
That
would blow our cover and wreck everything.
Footsteps sounded in the gangway leading to the plush salon
where we waited.
Polished mahogany and gleaming brass covered
most of the room, accentuating the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Thick carpeting covered the salon floor.
Several overstuffed
chairs and a long couch arranged tastefully near the huge
windows made it easy to appreciate the spectacular view.
much furniture was overkill.
passenger.
Well, one body anyway.
So
The yacht only ever carried one
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3
The deck hand’s coming, I thought.
Remember why we’re here.
You’ve got to trust me.
Think of your daughter.
That did it, and she relaxed, allowing me full control
again.
I managed to stand just as a young man in a white suit
entered the salon.
The picture of Mediterranean health, he sported olive skin,
dashing good looks, and a charming smile.
But what stood out
most was his jet black hair plastered back with too much gel.
I
assigned him the name of Slick.
Without a word, Slick took our bag and led the way out onto
the deck.
I followed, trying not to shudder at the feel of
Martha’s heavy thighs rubbing together as we tried to walk.
She
wasn’t obese, but she was a big woman, standing over five and a
half feet.
She carried plenty of extra weight, adding to the
discomfort of wearing a woman’s body.
arthritis.
At least she didn’t have
I was grateful to not have to deal with aching
joints on top of the sagging flesh and awkward gait.
Stay focused.
I’ve worked a long time for this.
I can
handle it.
Slick offered a steadying hand as we moved down the gently
swaying gangway to the long pier.
Not one of those cheap
stainless steel and canvas gangways, this one was paneled with
red cedar capped with a brass handrail.
We breathed deep the
clean, salty air blowing in off the open ocean.
At every step, Martha’s excitement grew, mirroring my own.
At least she wasn’t fighting me anymore.
Holding the two-faced
façade of a late middle-aged woman with more money than good
sense was hard enough when she let me drive.
Face Lift
4
This is it, she thought.
waiting is finally paying off.
We did it!
A whole year of
We’re going to find her, I just
know it.
A year.
The journey that led me here started when she was
still in diapers, but I kept my thought shielded.
She was
having enough trouble without me spooking her.
Two smiling young men with perfect tans and carefully
groomed hair met us at the base of the gangway.
faces fit properly.
with.
Even their
They’d found excellent subjects to work
One was hugely muscled, with a chest that strained the
limits of his t-shirt.
I decided to call him Pecs.
The other
had the sleeves of his white cotton beach shirt rolled up to
show off his impressive arms.
That made it easy to label him,
too.
They’re gorgeous.
I barely suppressed a laugh.
Everything was riding on the
next few minutes, and she let a couple of pretty boys distract
her.
I controlled the link between our souls and could block my
thoughts at will, but she had no such ability.
rang in my mind.
Every thought
Over the past eight hours sharing her head,
I’d concentrated on getting used to the new body and running
through the plan another hundred times.
I’d managed to ignore
most of what she thought, but it was getting harder as she grew
more excited.
They have to be gorgeous, I thought back to her.
walking marketing.
They’re
Face Lift
5
I directed our gaze up to the two large signs planted at
the foot of the dock.
“Welcome to the new you.”
And “Come
bathe in the fountain of youth.”
I adjusted the strap of the oversized purse digging into
the soft tissue of our shoulder and admired the view.
Everything was perfectly orchestrated to promote the image every
visitor expected.
Hebanus Island, home of the cutting-edge DNA treatment
facility, was everything it promised on the surface.
Lying off
the coast of South America, it looked like a super-exclusive
resort.
A large, rambling Caribbean-style building with open
walks surrounded by numerous outbuildings commanded the view
above the bay.
Palm trees, carefully manicured grounds, and a
huge swimming pool visible from the pier furthered the
impression.
But there were no people.
Where a resort would be swarming with tourists eager to
enjoy the sunshine and blue-green waters, here only these
perfectly sculpted young men were visible.
to only one guest at a time.
The island catered
Those who merited a ride on the
plush yacht and exclusive attention for two weeks paid
staggering amounts of money in the search for new youth.
Their fortunes purchased amazing results.
the trip old, fat, ailing, or all three.
beautiful, and fit.
Clients started
They came back young,
The waiting list for the exclusive
experimental treatment had ballooned from one year to ten in the
past three months.
The island’s name hinted at its true purpose, although most
people did not understand.
The name was built from the roots of
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6
two Greek gods, and literally meant the island of two-faced
youth.
The name demonstrated the arrogance of these people.
They
assumed no one would realize this high-tech facility was nothing
but a glittering façade for their ancient arts, and they were
probably right.
People saw what they wanted to see.
Who would
question the official story when renewed youth was at stake?
They hadn't expected me.
Despite the passage of time, how
could I not recognize ancient Greek?
And here we were, two-
faced and looking for a youth, but not the one they planned to
give us.
I smiled.
This would prove to be a day to remember.
“Welcome to the island, ma’am,” Pecs said.
“Thank you.
I’ve been looking forward to this for a long
time.”
Arms took the roller bag from Slick and said, “Please
follow us.
Your face lift is scheduled to begin within the
hour.”
We followed the two young men, and Martha didn’t interfere.
She was probably too busy staring.
“So soon?”
“Doctor Smith doesn’t like to waste any time.”
Smith.
What a ridiculous name.
Why not use something with
a little more style, like Moreau?
I gestured at our ample flesh, “I didn’t buy just a face
lift.
There’s a lot more of me to work on than that.”
Arms smiled again.
joke.”
“Sorry, ma’am.
Just a little private
He shared a knowing grin with Pecs.
Face Lift
7
Martha usurped control for a second to say, “Good looking,
and a sense of humor.
If only I were thirty years younger.”
Instead of cringing at the thought, he winked at us and
said, “Come see me in a couple of days.”
Stop it, I thought, and wrenched control from her.
I need
to be able to count on you.
You stop it, she snapped back.
And stop treating me like a
child.
That was more difficult than she imagined.
a child.
To me, she was
Enjoy the view if you have to, but don’t interfere.
I
could force more cooperation, but the cost would be high,
turning the cohabitation of her body into a conflict.
I
couldn’t allow that to happen now that we were so close.
They led us to a moving sidewalk that crawled up the gentle
slope to the main building.
I scanned the empty grounds, half
expecting a heavily armed squad of security forces to intercept
us.
As we approached the building, tension began replacing my
excitement.
A gentle breeze brought scents of fresh salt air, newly cut
grass, and grilled meat from the kitchen.
We followed the young
men through a richly appointed lobby better suited to an upscale
resort than an exclusive medical retreat.
Arms excused himself
to take the roller bag to our suite, and Pecs led us to an
antique wooden elevator.
The doors closed with a solid bang behind our ample
posterior, sounding far too much like the closing of a coffin
lid.
I shuddered, but pushed aside the unpleasant memories the
thought triggered.
Face Lift
8
Trying to portray an outward calm, I focused on our
breathing while the elevator plunged three stories down into the
earth.
A faint tingling sensation swept through our body as we
passed through an invisible barrier that pushed at my soul.
Most people wouldn’t even notice, or might have shivered a
little as if with a sudden chill.
This was definitely the right place.
facility was well shielded.
The underground
No unincorporated souls would be
able to penetrate here and tamper with the bodies being prepped
for a face lift.
More importantly, the rumors were true.
allied with the Friki Zoi.
They really had
I hadn't wanted to believe it, but
this kind of warding had to be their work.
The ramifications
were so far reaching I'd need some focused time to work my way
through them all.
I was doubly grateful I'd stacked with Martha, since even
the dreaded Friki Zoi would not think to ward against a soul
concealed within the body of another.
warding was even possible.
I wasn't sure such
Martha was the key to my entry, and
I’d owe her an eternal debt if I succeeded.
The elevator slowed to a gentle stop and we exited into a
large room filled with enough medical equipment to outfit a
level-one trauma center.
Two people in white lab coats waited
beside a standard hospital bed in the center of the room.
The
first was another young man with a bull neck, who looked like a
Greek sculpture, while the other was a stunning brunette in a
mini-skirt that accentuated her spectacular legs.
Pecs gestured grandly toward the operating room and said,
“Here you are, ma’am.”
Face Lift
9
“Thank you, handsome.”
He smiled and disappeared back into the elevator while I
surveyed the room.
My blood began to race and my hands to sweat
the way they always do when I’m gearing up for action,
regardless of what body I’m wearing.
Out of long habit, I shook
out my hands as I stepped into the room, and then pulled our
oversized handbag close to our side.
I spared a single glance at the gleaming, stainless steel
equipment.
A hint of bleach hung in the still air.
The quiet
hum of machinery and the odd beep of monitors talking to
themselves broke the silence.
Our footsteps echoed loudly
against the white tile floor, and our feet were already starting
to ache in the low heels Martha had insisted on wearing.
We
should have worn more sensible shoes.
Legs smiled and Neck said, “Welcome!
Doctor Smith has
something wonderful planned for you.”
She's not the only one.
Almost before he finished speaking, a door across the room
opened and a woman dressed in simple white shorts and a thin,
sleeveless white blouse entered and approached.
Her body was
stunning, with perfect lines that made Legs seem plain in
comparison, although a cap with a wide brim concealed her face.
A thick, blond braid extending almost to her waist swayed into
view as she walked.
It’s Alice.
Martha’s relief and overwhelming joy rocked my
soul like an avalanche.
her.
I can’t believe it.
We did all of this for nothing.
It’s really her.
It’s
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10
Calm down, I thought to her as I tried to shield her
powerful emotions.
I felt neither relief nor joy.
This was
bad.
Very bad.
The last thing I’d expected to see was Martha's daughter’s
body walking toward us.
The situation had just deteriorated,
and Martha had no idea of the danger.
Face Lift
11
Chapter 2
Martha wasn’t listening, but started fighting for control.
She pushed us forward a step and started smiling.
I barely
restrained her from rushing ahead to embrace the blonde
newcomer.
“Hello, Doctor Smith,” Neck said cheerily.
“We were just
talking about you.”
It was as I feared.
woman.
Doctor Smith was the young blonde
This seriously complicated things.
Martha paused in surprise, but still struggled for control.
The young woman looked up, revealing her face.
I knew that face.
I’d expected, and even counted on her
being here, but not like this.
Curses I’d picked up from dozens
of nations over the past millennium ran through my head and I
had to bite our tongue to keep silent.
Doctor Smith smiled and my heart sank.
She’d chosen an
absolutely gorgeous body, but it didn’t really fit.
Her face,
although perfectly formed, was too hard, too old for that body.
Especially her eyes.
Despite her seemingly friendly smile, her
eyes shone with a depth of experience and cruelty impossible for
such a seemingly young person to have achieved.
The eyes always give them away.
Adrenaline began pumping through our system, and our hands
started to tingle.
She’d chosen the one body I couldn’t damage.
Face Lift
But why?
12
Had she done it because she’d discovered Martha’s true
identity, or did she know about me too?
Everything depended on
the answer to that question.
Martha’s grin turned to a gasp of horror.
no oh no.
Oh no.
Oh no oh
She closed her eyes, plunging us both into darkness.
Martha, stop it!
I hated not being able to see, and the
unexpected darkness triggered a wave of fear that shook my focus
and made it harder to maintain control.
We have to stay calm.
I wasn’t sure which of us I was talking to.
Her elation turned to crushing despair as I regained full
control and opened our eyes.
I’ve got to go to her, Martha thought.
I need to know if
it’s really her.
No, wait!
That’s a really bad . . .
Martha lost it.
Despite everything we’d worked for, the
shock of seeing her daughter’s body standing in the same room
overwhelmed her and triggered the fight reflex in her soul.
Despite her rather shallow personality, she had a strong will
and the advantage of nearly sixty years in this body.
It took
all my strength to block her from re-establishing dominion.
We
stood unmoving while we struggled, as if we’d suddenly fallen
asleep with our eyes open.
Doctor Smith approached and said, “Are you all right,
ma’am?”
I managed to block Martha enough to reply, “I’m fine.
just, you’re so young.”
“Thank you.
But that’s not what startled you, is it?”
It’s
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13
She continued to approach.
Soon she’d be too close.
My
mind raced as I altered the original plan and fought down a
growl of frustration.
I should’ve known things were going too well.
I took a single step away from her and clutched our
oversized purse to our side.
Shaking our head I said, “No.
You
remind me of someone.”
She smiled again and ran her hands down her sides,
highlighting curves that would make most men pant with desire.
“Just like your daughter, yes?” she asked with a wicked grin.
This can’t be happening, Martha thought.
It’s a nightmare.
All struggle ceased as her mind shut down, overcome by shock.
I could not spare the energy to reply.
through some of the tension.
Martha, not to me.
A surge of hope cut
Doctor Smith was talking to
All of this was orchestrated to torture a
mother, not corner an old adversary.
She didn’t know I was here.
Painting a nervous smile on our face, I said, “Yes.
Exactly like her.”
“I know.”
smug victory.
Doctor Smith considered us with an expression of
“I know everything.”
So melodramatic.
So full of herself.
I returned her smile with my own.
She frowned at the
unexpected reaction, and an expression of doubt flitted across
her perfect features.
Too late.
“Did you know about this?”
Face Lift
14
I yanked our flabby hand out of the purse, lifted a doublebarreled revolver, pointed it at Neck, and pulled the trigger.
The revolver sounded a lot like a nail gun as its two
barrels spat projectiles at Neck.
I’d actually used the same
compressed air technology in developing the weapon.
The first
projectile, shaped like a long bullet, struck Neck in the center
of the chest and exploded with a bright blue flash.
It jolted
him with a brief but intense electric shock that convulsed every
muscle.
The second projectile struck a nanosecond later and
pumped a fast-acting neurotoxin into his body.
The double-strike sent him crashing to the floor where he
lay twitching.
He’d be unconscious for hours.
I didn’t wait to
watch him fall, but swung the custom weapon toward Legs.
She
stood rooted in place, staring at Neck as he collapsed, one hand
covering her mouth.
I fired again.
She met my gaze just as the two projectiles struck.
The
look of disbelief evaporated into unfocused terror as the
electric shock wracked her lovely form.
Good.
She’d been taken by surprise, just like Neck.
Even if
they’d tried to respond, to block sensory input from the body,
it wouldn’t have helped.
The electric pulse would rattle even
the best trained FaceTaker, and the neurotoxin would shut down
the body and block any override commands they tried.
It was the only way to be sure.
counted on to take them down.
Bullets just couldn’t be
I didn’t need to kill them, but I
had to be sure they’d stay down.
They might be simple
Face Lift
15
assistants like they appeared, or they might be FaceTakers, or
even Friki Zoi.
I couldn’t take any chances.
Only a couple of seconds had elapsed, and I spun the gun
back around toward Doctor Smith.
No!
intended.
Martha shouted the thought as she realized what I
She came out of her stupor and assaulted my control,
trying to stop me.
The strength of her passion caught me by
surprise, and the gun wavered as we staggered sideways into the
hospital bed, wrestling for possession of the body.
Martha, stop this!
I won’t hurt her.
I don’t believe you, she snarled.
me.
It’s Alice.
I’m not going to let you hurt my little girl.
You lied to
Get out!
She no longer fought just to regain a little shared
control, but to eject me entirely from her body.
She’d no
longer willingly submit to me.
So be it.
She’d served her purpose.
Time to remove her.
But before I could sever the link between her soul and
body, Doctor Smith crash-tackled us into the bed.
Her body was
young and fit, and she slammed into us with all her strength.
Together, we rolled over the bed, legs flying and hands
grasping for purchase.
The metal frame dug into our thighs, and
I lost the revolver as we tumbled off the far side and landed
hard on the white tile floor.
Doctor Smith landed on top, and
despite our extra padding, the impact rattled us and drove the
breath from our lungs.
I couldn’t knock her off.
I hadn’t subdued Martha yet, and
didn’t have the leverage to fight both women.
Doctor Smith
Face Lift
16
knelt over us, her legs pinning our arms while she sat on our
chest.
She leaned close, her unlined but ancient face locked
into a snarl of rage.
“Where did you get that gun?”
I spat at her.
She leaned back and said, “You’ve been associating with the
wrong sort of people, Martha, and you will tell me everything I
want to know about them.”
What is she doing? Martha wailed.
I’m her mother.
No, you’re not, I shouted back at her.
It’s your
daughter’s body, but not her soul.
This can’t be happening, Martha thought.
it could really happen to her.
I never believed
Shock drained the fight out of
her, and I regained control.
I struggled to get our legs under us so I could find enough
leverage to push Doctor Smith off.
Our shoes slid uselessly
against the smooth tile, and our legs protested the strain.
I
should’ve been able to knock Doctor Smith off with Martha’s
greater weight, but this body lacked the strength to lift us
both.
Using it had been necessary to gain entry here, but now
its weakness might cost us everything.
Doctor Smith shifted her weight to more securely hold us
down.
“I will show you what I did to your daughter.
Then we’ll
talk.”
I tried to lift our legs and knee her in the back, but the
rolls of fat around our stomach prevented me from raising them
that far.
I twisted our torso, but accomplished nothing.
couldn’t break free.
I
Face Lift
17
Doctor Smith leaned forward and wrapped her fingers around
the outer edges of our jaw.
Her green eyes began to glow like
purple LED lights and her face settled into a mask of
concentration.
Not that, Martha wailed in fresh panic.
Please stop her!
Doctor Smith pulled.
Searing heat spread from her fingers along the edge of our
jaw, and the flesh around the outside of our face began to
soften.
She drove her fingers through the skin and under the
edge of Martha’s face.
The heat intensified and spread, burning
like living fire.
Help me, Martha thought.
Don’t let her take me!
Ignoring both her useless plea and the pain, I focused on
the energy pulsing down into our head from Doctor Smith’s
fingers and gently altered the flow.
This was the critical moment.
I had to be subtle or she’d feel it and realize the truth.
But she always got so excited taking a soul that I she wouldn’t
notice unless I got sloppy.
Calling on my own gift, I split my
soul from Martha’s, creating a tiny gap between us.
Doctor
Smith’s power flowed through the gap, encircling Martha’s face
and grasping her soul.
Martha screamed and her face began lifting off.
With a
wet, sucking sound, it pulled away from our head, starting at
the base of the jaw and running up to our forehead.
The link
between Martha’s soul and her body snapped.
I pushed hard with my own gift, preventing Doctor Smith’s
power from grasping at my soul too.
I hadn’t wanted to because
most FaceTakers would notice that push, but she was past
Face Lift
18
feeling.
She threw her head back and shouted with exultant
passion as she took Martha’s soul, completely caught up in the
moment.
As Martha’s face lifted, she shouted, “I’ll kill you!”
The
words trailed away to a whisper as her face came free with a
pop.
Doctor Smith laughed triumphantly and raised Martha’s face
high.
As it lifted from her body, trailers of flesh dropped
away and her face thinned.
Her mouth still moved, as if trying
to scream, and her eyes rolled wildly with panic even as they
compressed into half-spheres.
Her face thinned further and became translucent, a
shimmering full-face mask trailing tendrils of rainbow smoke.
Doctor Smith, panting from the exertion, surveyed the face with
a satisfied smile.
Martha’s mouth still tried to move, looking
like someone trying to talk from under a sheet.
Vague,
indistinct words floated from the mask.
"Where’s Alice?"
Doctor Smith laughed.
“Still don’t get it do you?
at least you have something worthy to think about.
Well,
It might
keep you sane a little longer than some.”
She stood and stepped around the bed, talking to the newly
acquired face.
“Maybe I’ll visit you in a decade or two and see
how you’re doing.”
“You don’t have that much time.”
She spun around, and I clubbed her in the neck.
Stunned by the blow, she fell and dropped Martha's face.
It drifted slowly to the floor, as if floating on the rainbow
mist pooled just beneath it.
Face Lift
19
I sat on Doctor Smith’s chest and knelt on her arms, just
as she’d done to us a moment before.
While I waited for her to
come around, I took a deep breath and enjoyed the feel of air on
my face.
Having Martha’s layered over my own had been a little
claustrophobic.
My skin still tingled from the strain of
holding them both in place and keeping everything compressed so
no one noticed.
Things hadn’t gone according to plan, but I could still
make this work.
Martha had become a hindrance.
I would’ve had
to remove her anyway.
Doctor Smith stirred and looked up to meet my gaze.
gasped. “Gregorios!”
She
Her surprise quickly turned to anger.
“You two-faced, son of a . . .”
I slapped her.
She shrieked, a surprisingly girlish sound.
I was sure the
fact that I’d hit her in the face shocked her far more than any
pain from the blow.
face.
FaceTakers never hit each other in the
It was one of the unwritten rules.
Bodies could be
replaced, but faces stayed with you forever.
With that one
simple act, I’d declared the seriousness of my intentions.
“You always picked up the colloquialisms first,” I said.
“By why’d you choose that ridiculous name?”
She ignored the question.
“You’re wearing a woman,
Gregorios, and you let her keep her face?”
I shrugged.
“It was the best way to get in here.
look so surprised.
Don’t
You’ve worn a lot more bodies than me.”
“But never two faces.”
“You always lacked imagination.”
Face Lift
20
She snarled and struggled under my legs.
Gregorios.
“Let me go,
Maybe I’ll forget to tell the Council about this.”
“You’re a rotten liar, Dalal.”
Speaking her real name
brought back many memories, none of them pleasant.
I’d disliked
Dalal since the day we met, a little over sixteen centuries ago,
and that feeling had only intensified over the years.
“And you’re a walking dead man.”
“They’ve already taken everything that’s important to me.
Now, stop struggling or I’ll rip your face off right here.”
She gave me a shrewd look, “That’s why you’re here, isn’t
it?
You think I have Eirene.”
I rose and snatched up the fallen revolver.
her to get up, I said, “Let’s go to the vault.”
Gesturing for
Face Lift
21
Chapter 3
“I don’t have her,” Dalal said as she rose smoothly to her
feet and pushed her long blond braid back over her shoulder.
I scooped up Martha’s face and stuffed it into my oversized
handbag.
She’d be panicking, but that couldn’t be helped.
reincorporate her if I lived to escape the island.
I’d
She tried to
speak, but I didn’t have time to focus on the whispered message.
Her face already felt hard, like moldable plastic.
The
longer it remained separated from a body, the more difficult
communication would become.
Over time it would harden further
and shrink until it resembled the face of a china doll.
With a
little paint it could be safely placed on a doll’s body with no
one the wiser.
That was actually a preferred way to transport
unincorporated souls.
But she would not die.
Not unless her face was shattered,
or burned, or . . . well, I didn’t really like thinking about
the other alternatives.
Dalal was a FaceTaker like myself, possessing the extremely
rare gift that granted her the ability to extract a soul from
its body by removing the person’s face.
Few people realize how
intimately their faces are tied to their souls.
Four of the
five senses are located in the face for a reason.
The eyes are the window to the soul, and the face is its
anchor.
Face Lift
22
Waving her toward the door through which she had entered
just moments earlier, I repeated, “Take me to the vault.”
She glared, but obeyed.
trigger.
second.
I watched her with a finger on the
The docile, cooperative act did not fool me for a
This was an extremely dangerous woman.
She wouldn’t
hesitate a single heartbeat to take my soul if I gave her the
chance.
I knew all too well the terrors of being
unincorporated.
One of us would die before I let that happen.
Faces and their accompanying souls removed by FaceTakers
became independent of the bodies left behind.
They could later
be placed onto a faceless, or dispossessed, body.
That’s how
Dalal in the guise of Doctor Smith worked such miraculous
transformations for her clients.
The so-called DNA adjustments
were nothing but a cover-up.
She harvested young, healthy bodies that fit the
requirements of her clients, by kidnapping them from what I'd
learned.
She then removed the souls of the original owners and
placed the souls of her clients in the recently vacated bodies.
With the right hallucinatory drugs, she could convince her
clients they’d undergone radical medical treatment to restore
their youth.
What I’d done with Martha, removing her face, possessing
her body myself, and then partially restoring her face, was
significantly more difficult.
Eirene called it face stacking,
the holding of the second soul perpetually on the cusp of being
severed from connection to the body.
It strained my abilities,
but it was the one thing Dalal wouldn’t expect.
Elites of the world for millennia had spent their fortunes
buying continuing youth, moving from body to body like
Face Lift
23
parasites.
The truth had always been painstakingly concealed
from the public.
There were dangers inherent in ungifted souls
face-leaping more than a couple of times.
Besides, most
commoners were happier in their ignorance.
Now Dalal risked
exposing everything with her high-profile so-called treatment.
Every century or so, people learned of a FaceTaker’s
activities despite all the customary precautions.
It usually
resulted from a wealthy client making one too many face-leaps
and suffering too severe mental dissipation.
The holes in their soul would fill from the dregs of the
souls removed from the bodies they inhabited, those pieces that
the soul had willing left behind.
The resulting fractured soul
would often embrace the darkest elements of all their myriad
components.
In the best case, the FaceTaker would put down the broken
soul.
Second-best, the crazed soul would wreak only a little
havoc before authorities killed them, with no one really
understanding what had happened.
Occasionally more information
came out, generally resulting in panic and riots.
Very rarely, a broken soul with an exceptional will . . .
well, those souls changed history.
I shied away from thinking
too much about those painful memories.
I couldn't afford the
distraction.
People usually resorted to labeling FaceTakers as witches,
devils, or even vampires.
Why bother educating them?
It would
just give them another monster to worry about in the dark.
I followed Dalal through the door and down a long, white
corridor.
Our footsteps echoed faintly, the only sound beyond
the gentle hum of the air conditioning system.
We passed a
Face Lift
24
single door with a black placard that read, “Doctor Smith” but
did not pause.
I was tempted to detour into the office and see
what papers or information I could glean from it, but I couldn’t
afford the extra time.
As I huffed along in Martha’s out-of-shape body, I
considered Dalal’s hourglass figure and wondered at her
operation here.
She had a great cover story and was generating
a huge fortune, but money was never an issue for FaceTakers.
Why risk discovery with such a high profile operation?
Worse, why would she risk involvement with the Friki Zoi?
Even more importantly, was she working alone, or had the
Council approved the facility?
I couldn’t imagine they would.
They’d always been extremely wary of public awareness, and even
more so where the rune-wielding Soul Bleeders were concerned.
Besides, there were the dangers of soul degradation in all the
people she ‘treated’, with significant risk of a resulting major
problem.
I despised Dalal, but she’d never been rash.
I needed to question her about these things, as soon as I
found Eirene's soul.
Until then, I could not afford any
distractions, no matter how important.
The corridor turned to the right and ended at a solid steel
door with a keypad lock and biometric eye sensor.
Fingerprint
readers would be useless given how often she liked to change
bodies.
“I know your security system,” I lied with a straight face.
Hopefully she’d believe me and not risk triggering an alarm.
“I’ll show you the vault, Gregorios.
She met my gaze, “I’m not your enemy.
Eirene is not here.”
When you see that, I’ll
expect you to leave the island peacefully.”
Face Lift
25
Did she really think me that stupid?
laugh.
I barely bit back a
Even if I wanted to believe her, she’d never let me off
the island without a fight.
“The vault,” I repeated.
Let her wonder if she’d fooled
me.
She sighed and punched a code on the keypad before leaning
down to allow the scanner to read her eye.
and the door swung inward.
The lock beeped once
I tensed, half expecting to be met
by a storm of bullets despite her reassuring words.
Beyond the door, the empty corridor continued another
thirty feet to an elevator.
Without a word, Dalal led the way
and pushed the single button.
We stepped in, and the elevator
plunged three more stories into the earth, taking us well below
sea level.
The elevator chimed, the doors opened, and we stepped into
a small, dim room.
Light from another room outlined a door on
the far wall about twenty feet away, but even with the lights
from the elevator shining behind us, the room stayed deep in
shadow.
I suppressed a shiver.
“Does the darkness still give you nightmares?”
Dalal
asked.
“Just turn on the lights,” I growled.
I hated being there,
but hated more the fact that she knew my fears.
The elevator chimed again and the doors slid closed.
I
fought down the urge to jump back inside, and grabbed Dalal’s
arm hard.
She made no move to struggle, but hit a switch on the wall
that turned on a single hanging lamp.
It provided sufficient
light to show the simple, square room with uniform white walls.
Face Lift
26
No windows, furniture, or decorations of any kind broke the
monotony.
Even the two doors were whitewashed.
The wooden one
across the room probably led to the vault, while the steel one
to our right probably held dispossessed bodies waiting for their
new hosts.
Until Dalal showed up wearing Martha’s daughter’s
body, I’d hoped to find it in there.
Dalal led the way toward the wooden door, confirming my
guess.
At each step, my nerves wound tighter until I had to
concentrate to keep from panting.
Sweat broke out on my
forehead and I wiped it away with my free hand.
Martha’s thick,
graying hair was a little suffocating, and the body started to
stink as sweat overwhelmed the deodorant we’d applied that
morning.
Conflicting emotions battled for dominance.
Remembered trauma from being encased in a lead-lined box sent a
chill down my spine, while hope spurred me forward to see for
myself if Eirene lay entombed here in the heart of the island.
The whitewashed door on the far side of the room whisked
aside, and Dalal led the way through.
larger, but just as utilitarian.
The room beyond was far
Stainless steel sheathed it
from floor to ceiling, reflecting and magnifying the fluorescent
lights running down the center of the room.
The air was chilly, instantly cooling even Martha’s heavy
body.
A huge window took up half of the opposite wall, although
whatever lay beyond was concealed by darkness.
To our left, the
room was filled with half a dozen stacks of what looked like
safety deposit boxes.
The long rows ran for fifty feet to the
end of the room and rose almost to the ten-foot ceiling.
Face Lift
27
The wall to our right held two computer workstations, and a
young man with a shock of curly brown hair and wearing a heavy
coat straddled a chair in front of one of them.
Curly looked up and Dalal shouted, “Intruder!”
She tried to run, but I’d expected her to do something like
that.
I kicked her feet out from under her as she took her
first step.
She squawked and fell forward onto the floor as
Curly grabbed at a phone sitting on the desk.
I shot him in the neck since I wasn’t sure how well the
neurotoxin needle would penetrate the jacket.
The electric jolt
knocked him out of the chair, and the fall sent the phone
skittering across the floor.
Dalal tried to scramble for it but
I stomped on her back, pushing her flat onto the floor, and
digging one of my heels into her ribs.
“That was stupid.
Don’t test my patience.”
I backed up to allow her to rise and she said, “What did
you expect me to do?”
“Only what I tell you if you want to remain living.”
She barked a laugh.
“You won’t kill this body, Gregorios.
I know you.”
“Bodies can be removed.”
She rose to her feet and gave me an appraising look.
“Are
you ready to risk a contest with me?”
I wagged the gun to draw her attention to it, “Not that
much of a risk.”
“You’re not that much of a coward.”
“And you’re not that much of a gambler.”
the workstation Curly had been using.
a name for me.”
I pointed toward
“You’re going to look up
Face Lift
28
She shrugged and went over to the desk, righted the chair,
and sat down, not sparing a glance at the still-twitching young
man.
“I told you she’s not here.”
“Show me.”
She logged into the application already running, and a
blank, gray screen appeared, broken only by a single text field.
She typed the name and hit the search button.
holding my breath.
I couldn’t help
Dalal's confidence had dimmed the stubborn
spark of hope, but it wouldn’t die until I knew for sure.
The search returned zero results.
Dalal glanced at me and I said, “Do it again.
Use her
other names.”
She sighed and tried half a dozen more searches, but all
came back empty.
I wasn't sure if she knew any of Eirene's
other previous identities, but I couldn't risk revealing them to
her if she did not.
“Satisfied?”
“Of course not.”
Nodding toward the stacks of safety deposit boxes, she
said, “You can open every box and double check if you want.”
Hope crashed into despair, and I glanced at the long
stacks, toying with the suggestion even though I knew it would
prove fruitless.
The stacks looked like safety deposit boxes,
but each one held the same thing:
a rectangular, lead-lined box
as long as my forearm and half as wide.
Known to us as Soul
Coffins, they each held a soul taken by Dalal.
The memories again made me shiver.
“With the size of your operation, I’d have expected a
bigger vault,” I said.
Face Lift
29
“I don’t need to keep that many souls around.”
gaze, “I’ve done as promised.
I shook my head.
She met my
Now, get off my island.”
“You’re going to do one more search for
me.”
She rolled her eyes and spun back to the computer terminal.
“She’s still not going to be there.”
“We’re not searching for Eirene.”
She paused, hands held over the keys.
“Find Alice.”
“You’re not serious.”
She stared at me incredulously.
“Why do you want Martha’s daughter?”
“Unfinished business.”
“You’ve gone soft, Gregorios.
You owe her nothing.”
“She loaned me her body.”
“So?”
She nodded at my handbag where Martha’s face rested.
“Stick her in a box and forget about her.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
her.
She actually looked confused.
I almost pitied
She just didn’t get it.
“You’d never understand, and I don’t have time to try to
explain it to you.
Just find Alice.”
She typed the name.
The screen returned a single result
and she clicked on the extract button.
I turned toward the stacks, expecting to see one of the
doors pop open.
Instead, lights kicked on outside the huge
window in the far wall, revealing a cavernous room beyond the
glass.
Dalal rose and pointed at the window.
“Take a look.”
Face Lift
30
Curious despite myself, I followed her to the window and
gasped.
The cavern was even bigger than I’d first thought,
running hundreds of yards, and rising at least three hundred
feet to a jagged ceiling.
The room where we stood perched
halfway up one wall, giving us a magnificent view of the entire
cavern.
Stacks of Soul Coffins filled the cavern and rose almost to
the ceiling.
Catwalks crossed the huge expanse, and a small
crane hung from a network of girders set into the ceiling.
There were thousands, tens of thousands, of Soul Coffins
down there.
Could they all be full?
The thought numbed my mind
as I considered the fate of so many souls caged and held in
endless darkness.
As I watched the crane started moving.
It trundled down
the length of the cavern, stopping three quarters of the way
across.
A long arm extended down.
One of the little doors
popped open, and the arm reached inside with a jointed claw.
I turned to Dalal, a hundred questions on my lips, just as
she slammed the base of an office chair into my chest.
The impact knocked me from my feet and drove the breath
from my lungs.
I crashed to the floor and the revolver spun out
of my hand and slid far out of reach.
Pain exploded through my body.
at least one of my ribs.
It felt like she’d cracked
Martha's extra padding probably kept
them from breaking, but that was little comfort.
I gasped for breath and blocked the painful sensory input.
Dalal jumped on top of me, trying to pin my arms like she had up
in the operating room.
I managed to yank one arm free, but she
slammed a knee onto the other.
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31
“Impressive, no?” she said as she grabbed at my face.
Her
eyes began to glow like burning amethysts as she summoned her
gift.
I slapped one of her hands aside and didn’t bother
responding as I reached for my own gift.
The power surged
through my soul and set my fingers tingling.
I cursed myself for being such a gullible fool.
anticipated my reaction perfectly.
She’d
That momentary lapse might
cost me everything.
Words no longer mattered.
Only one of us would rise from
this struggle.
Dalal got her hands around my face despite my efforts to
dislodge her.
Her fingers began to burn with searing heat as
she drove them against my flesh.
I fought back, blocking her
gift with my own, and clawing at her neck with my free hand.
couldn’t reach her face.
I
I could resist her power for a moment,
but unless I freed my other arm, she’d break through my defenses
all too soon.
I beat at her arms, but Martha’s body was just too weak.
Dalal wore a young, strong woman and sitting on my chest gave
her tremendous leverage.
I couldn’t win.
Dalal smiled as if reading my thoughts.
“Your face will be
my crown jewel,” she said as her fingers dug through the skin
beneath my jaw.
My defenses began to crack.
“I’ll give you a place of honor next to Eirene, at least
until your souls are needed.”
She laughed.
“You know where she is,” I panted.
Face Lift
32
“Of course.”
She knows.
Eirene!
The thought burned through my mind and I shouted with
animal rage.
Desperation gave me the strength to repel her
encroaching power.
Dalal cursed and leaned forward to apply more pressure on
my face.
“You can’t beat me, Gregorios.”
With my free hand, I punched at her jaw.
She leaned back
out of the way, easily dodging the blow, but her grip loosed
just a fraction.
It was enough.
I grabbed her pinky finger and yanked it back, twisting it
with all my strength.
It snapped.
Dalal screamed and reared back, releasing her hold and
clutching her injured finger to her chest.
I drove the heel of my hand into her sternum, driving her
up and off of me.
She fell back to the floor but rolled to her
knees and launched herself at me as I sat up.
We tumbled across
the floor, punching and clawing at each other, struggling for an
advantage.
I elbowed her in the throat and while she gagged, I wrapped
my fingers around her face.
We surged to our knees together,
bodies locked tight in our struggle.
unleashed it.
I called upon my gift and
At the same time, she grabbed my face and did the
same.
Power burned down my arms and through my fingers into her
face as I fought to sever the link between her soul and body.
Face Lift
33
Searing heat burned into my own face as she fought to do the
same to me.
Sweat dripped into my eyes and covered my arms as we rocked
back and forth, both committed fully to the struggle.
She’d
taken more souls than I had, and she exulted in the glorious
power it gave her over others.
Despite her broken finger, she
drove her power against my soul with terrible strength.
I fought for a better cause.
With fingers trembling from the strain, I focused my
thoughts on Eirene.
She’d suffered decades as an unincorporated
soul, locked in a Soul Coffin only because she served as
leverage against me.
If I failed now, she’d stay trapped forever.
Or worse.
Tapping every reserve of power, I drove my fingers through
Dalal’s skin and dug them under her face.
She screamed and
twisted under my hands, and her own power began to falter as her
focus crumbled.
“No,” she shouted.
“Wait.”
I pulled.
Her face lifted, pulling from her head with that wet
ripping sound that disgusted me more with every soul I had to
take.
Unlike Dalal, I’d learned to hate that sound and
everything it meant.
I pushed the revulsion aside and pulled harder.
Dalal’s final scream faded to a pale echo as her face came
free with a loud pop.
Flesh pulled away as it had for Martha,
and Dalal’s face thinned, hardened, and became a shimmering,
translucent mask.
Rainbow mist pooled beneath it, a visible
fraction of her soul.
Face Lift
34
The now-dispossessed body collapsed to the floor onto its
back.
The skin of the head flowed together like water in a
pond.
Within a few seconds, the ripples subsided, leaving only
smooth, empty skin broken by a single slit that allowed passage
of air into the lungs.
‘There’s much you need to know,’ Dalal whispered.
‘Don’t
do this, and I’ll tell you everything.’
I blew out a breath and shook sweat from my eyes.
“You
will tell me everything, but you’ve made your last face-leap,
Dalal.”
“Please,” she whispered desperately.
She knew better than most what torture awaited her.
are not meant to languish outside of a body.
Souls
Unincorporated
souls suffered almost unbearable torture, made worse because it
was all self-inflicted.
Over time, even the most disciplined
mind would break and descend into twisted insanity.
It was their only defense.
I stood and looked out the giant window at the rows of Soul
Coffins.
here?
Could there really be that many souls held prisoner
Why?
The scope was so vast I could barely fathom the questions
to ask.
The only reasons I could imagine for collecting such a
vast quantity of souls chilled me to the bone.
Souls could be used for more than just possessing a body.
Practitioners of dark arts, known as the Friki Zoi, hungered for
dispossessed souls like these to fuel their sorcery, consuming
the soul in the process.
Such rites had been strictly outlawed since they’d
unleashed the Black Plague.
Face Lift
35
It had taken only seven souls to do that.
With the souls held in this room, there was literally no
end to what evil could be conjured.
to the core.
The ramifications shook me
I leaned against the cool glass of the window,
breathing deep to regain my composure.
I’d come here hoping to extract from Dalal information on
where Eirene’s soul might be held.
I’d stumbled upon something
far more sinister.
Turning from the stacks of imprisoned souls, I regarded
Dalal’s face.
I felt no pity for her, and I would not relent
until she told me everything.
A small panel in the wall to the right of the window slid
aside, and a robotic arm pushed a Soul Coffin through the
opening.
Still holding Dalal’s face, I retrieved the lead-lined
box and placed it on the closest workstation.
I drew back the latch and opened it.
The face of a lovely
young woman lay inside on the black velvet padding.
By its size
and color, it had probably been in there for about a year.
It
was small, but not completely shrunken, and the rainbow mist had
faded to muted colors, but not to gray.
‘Help!
Help, please,’ the face whispered.
“That's why I'm here,” I reassured her.
From the photos
Martha had shown me, I recognized Alice.
I carefully withdrew her, and then placed Dalal in the Soul
Coffin.
‘No, Gregorios!’ she whispered.
‘Please don’t lock me in.’
Dalal had earned her punishment, but staring at the Soul
Coffin and listening to her desperate plea, so many memories
Face Lift
36
clamored in my heart that I couldn’t force my hand to close the
lid.
Not yet.
Leaving Dalal in the open coffin, I carried Alice’s face to
her body.
It lay unmoving on the floor.
The pulse would have
already slowed to one beat per minute as the body descended into
a hibernation-like state that would preserve it for months until
a new soul took up residence.
“Try to relax,” I told Alice.
“This is going to feel very
strange.”
I knelt beside the body and placed the face in position.
Focusing on my gift, I willed energy into Alice’s face.
warm and began to expand and soften under my hands.
It grew
The mist
floating around it flared into bright colors and flowed across
the blank head before sinking into the skin.
Within a few seconds the face returned to its normal size
and it too began to sink into the head.
Flesh flowed up over it
and I let go and positioned myself over the body so I could hold
it down.
The face began to shake like Jell-o in the hands of a
running child.
It slowly settled over the next several seconds
and assumed the fully rounded form of a beautiful young woman.
Alice.
Her eyes popped open, the color still changing from slate
gray to her normal brilliant blue.
She stared around wildly and
at the same time opened her mouth and gasped in her first
breath.
She drew air in deep, and then deeper, as if unable to
stop.
Then she screamed.
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37
High pitched and terrified, she screamed as she woke from
the terrible living nightmare that she’d probably felt would
never end, and began thrashing under my hands.
Using Martha’s
greater mass, I held her down and spoke soothing, meaningless
words to help draw her attention from the awful memories.
This was the critical moment.
Many souls couldn’t handle
being reincorporated after more than a day or two.
prisoner in the Soul Coffin for a year.
getting her original body back.
She’d been a
At least she was
Returning to a different body
made it harder by orders of magnitude.
After a full minute, my voice reached her and she focused
on me.
I held her gaze, still talking, and she slowly relaxed.
Releasing her, I sat up.
“Welcome back, Alice.”
She threw herself up into my arms and clung to me, weeping
like a child.
my blouse.
Great sobs wracked her frame and her tears soaked
I patted her head and continued murmuring reassuring
words to her.
After another minute, she pushed back and wiped
at her tear-streaked face.
“Feel better?”
She managed a weak smile.
I stood and said, “You’ll
probably feel a little unsteady for a few minutes, but it’ll
pass.”
She nodded, and then her eyes widened in surprise as she
stared from my face to Martha’s body.
I raised a calming hand, “There’s a few things I need to
explain to you.”
She scrambled back away from me and shrieked, “What are
you?”
“I’m the man who just saved you.”
Face Lift
38
She pointed a shaky finger at the soft, obviously feminine
body I wore, “You’re no man.”
“Well, I will be when I get back into my own body.”
“You’re one of them!”
stood.
She grabbed my oversized handbag and
She swayed dangerously for a moment, still adjusting to
being back in her body, but did not fall.
“Calm down,” I said.
“Mom?”
“You don’t want to hurt your mother.”
She gasped, recognition draining her face of color.
“You’re . . . that’s her . . . you killed my mother!”
Before I could respond, she swung the bag at me, nearly
clipping my head.
With the equipment remaining in the bag, it
was still heavy enough to serve pretty well as a weapon.
“I did not kill your mother,” I said patiently, “but if
you’re not careful, you might.”
“Let her go!” she shouted, and raised the purse again.
“I don’t have her.
You do.”
She frowned, and I pointed at the bag.
Hesitantly, she
opened it and peeked inside.
She screamed and dropped the bag.
It clattered to the
floor, and Martha’s face slid free.
“I said to be careful,” I snapped.
Alice backed away, shaking her head.
She nearly stepped on
Curly’s unmoving form, and yelped when she saw him.
She
scuttled back until she collided with one of the workstations.
Breathing fast with the onset of panic, she sank into the
remaining chair, her eyes riveted on her mother’s face.
began flowing again and she said in a terrified whisper,
“Please.”
Tears
Face Lift
39
I approached slowly.
“I know you’re confused.
trying to re-adjust to having your body back.
You’re
But time is short
and we cannot linger, so you’ve got to listen to me.
mother and I worked together to find you.
her body.
Your
She allowed me to use
She did it for you.”
Alice met my gaze.
Terror, doubt, and confusion flitted
across her features.
“My name is Greg.
I will restore your mother.”
“Promise?”
I nodded and held out my hand.
She took it and sniffled.
you with me.
I smiled reassuringly.
“I need
We’re not out of here yet.”
She squared her shoulders and nodded.
“I’ll trust you.
But if you lie to me, I’ll cut out your eyes.”
She’s recovering pretty fast.
stronger than her mother's.
I liked her spirit.
She would be all right.
A lot
I squeezed
her hand.
She shouted and yanked her hand away.
her mouth, she sucked on it.
Holding her pinky to
“What did you do?”
“Your finger’s broken. It happened when Dalal was wearing
your body.”
She shuddered and I added, “Don’t worry.
She won’t hurt
anyone else.”
Alice strode to Martha’s face, scooped it up, and hugged it
close while I retrieved my revolver.
like this.
“I can’t bear to see her
I won’t help you until you heal her.”
“Listen . . .,” I started.
Face Lift
40
She shook her head, setting her thick braid dancing.
“No.
I’ll scream every step of the way out of here unless you heal
her now.”
She definitely had spirit.
I was starting to wish she had
a little less of it.
I hadn’t planned to face-leap until we got back to my
current body on the mainland.
As a FaceTaker, I could change
bodies without the dangers commoners faced, but that didn't mean
there weren't risks, so I preferred to limit the number of
bodies I occupied.
It would be nice to get out of Martha form, though.
“Very well,” I said.
“Do not interfere.”
She nodded and held out Martha’s face.
“Just hold that until I tell you.”
I moved over to Curly and knelt beside his unmoving form
and said over my shoulder, “You may want to close your eyes.”
Without waiting to see if she chose to take my advice, I
released my gift and pulled off his face.
Alice gasped.
I stood and turned, holding Curly’s shimmering, translucent
face.
Alice held her injured hand to her mouth in exactly the
same gesture Legs had used before I shot her.
Curly’s face, her eyes wide with horror.
She stared at
Her lips trembled with
emotion, and tears glistened in her eyes.
“I told you not to look,” I growled.
My gift was part of me, and I wasn’t going to apologize to
her for what I could do.
Taking souls made me a little grumpy
at the best of times, and her hysterics weren’t helping.
Face Lift
41
I carried the weight of many souls on my hands, but no
longer accepted the direction of the Council.
saint, but refused to be a monster.
I’d never be a
I just wanted to free
Eirene.
She stared from Curly’s face to mine.
I barked a laugh.
“Are you a demon?”
“Please, don’t start the whole
pitchforks and burning at the stake chant.
Now’s really not a
good time.”
She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
She just
couldn’t handle it.
I sighed, forcing calm on my racing nerves.
I’m trying to help.
“I am a man.
Just close your eyes for a minute.”
She snapped her eyes closed and I stepped over to the Soul
Coffin.
‘Gregorios, wait.
Don’t do this,’ Dalal whispered,
desperate panic in her voice.
“We’ll talk later,” I said, dropping Curly’s face in beside
hers.
There wasn’t really enough room for both of them and
Curly’s face overlapped Dalal’s.
The rainbow mist of their
souls mixed and I shuddered at how that must feel with no body
to share.
“Think about how much time you want to spend in here,” I
said before slamming the lid closed.
She started to scream, but the sound cut short as the lid
closed, sealing her in the coffin.
In darkness.
I settled to the floor next to the dispossessed body Curly
had been wearing, and leaned over the head.
grasped my face.
I reached up and
I’d done this so many times over the years, my
fingers slid instantly to the points of ideal purchase.
Face Lift
42
It took only seconds to focus my gift and withdraw my soul
from most of Martha’s body.
My face started to feel light, and
I had to focus hard to keep my thoughts and gift from wandering.
This was the dangerous part.
Still holding a tiny thread of connection to the body I was
abandoning, I re-focused my gift.
and then to slide under my face.
The fingers began to tingle
Unlike taking another’s soul,
I could not entirely sever the connection between my face and
the body I was leaving, or I wouldn’t be able to control the
hands long enough to place my face onto the new body.
If my
control slipped, I’d be stuck as an unincorporated soul.
It was
far more difficult to take possession of another body that way.
With careful movements, I pulled my face away from Martha’s
body.
Feeling drained away, starting at the toes and rippling
up the legs and spine.
Other senses began to dim as the flesh
slid away and my soul rode free in my hands.
That moment of freedom was breathtaking.
My soul felt like a kite, tethered by the tiny anchor I
still maintained to Martha.
I had to fight a powerful urge to
release that last tiny link and throw my soul out into the
eternities.
My vision narrowed, and everything took on a
multidimensional sparkle, as if I looked at the world through
the facets of a jewel.
Taste and smell dimmed, but my hearing
sharpened exponentially.
I could hear the rustle of clothing as
I directed the hands to move my face toward the body Curly had
worn, the one I now intended to possess.
Alice’s rapid
breathing echoed in my ears, along with the beep of one of the
computers.
Face Lift
43
Don’t get distracted, I told myself.
The effort to hold
onto the link with Martha’s body drained tremendous amounts of
energy, and I could not hold it for long.
I directed the hands to place my face over the blank head,
and then pushed a surge of energy down through the fingers to
enable the connection to the new body.
With that last push, the
link to Martha’s body snapped, and it crashed to the floor
beside me.
It was enough.
Warmth spread through me as my soul dove into the new host.
Flesh flowed up over my face, and senses roared into my mind,
nearly overwhelming my capacity to process everything.
sounds, taste, smells, and touch.
Sights,
The last, in particular,
bombarded my mind like an avalanche as every inch of the new
body connected to my soul and I felt everything.
I gasped for breath and trembled as I connected with the
muscles.
For Alice, this had been a traumatic experience,
especially after a year in unforgiving darkness.
was like jumping into an icy river.
But for me it
An initial shock that
settled quickly to a refreshing thrill.
I usually liked to take at least a few minutes in a new
body to accustom myself to its rhythm, but I could not afford
the luxury.
Opening my eyes, I sat up and surveyed my new home.
The body was young, fit, and well proportioned.
It would
do nicely.
I stood and turned to Alice.
She sat, eyes still closed,
rocking gently back and forth in a nearby chair.
With an almost
physical shock, I realized just how gorgeous she really was.
Face Lift
44
Stuck in Martha’s late middle-aged woman’s body, it hadn’t
been as important.
But this young, male body reacted powerfully
to the presence of such a beautiful young woman.
I fought down the almost overwhelming urge to rush over and
kiss her.
I’d worn new bodies before and knew what to expect.
The hormones would be on overdrive for a while as the body
responded to the new soul, so emotions would run high.
be easy to do something rash.
It would
Her body would be doing the same
thing, so she’d be easy to take advantage of.
I didn’t have time for that.
“Alice, you can open your eyes now.”
She did, and started in surprise.
her mother’s faceless body.
She looked from me to
She didn’t say anything, but rubbed
her bare arms with her hands as if suddenly chilled.
“Give me your mother.”
After she handed the face over, I restored Martha to her
natural frame.
It took Martha only a fraction of the time it
had taken Alice to recover.
She immediately sat up and turned
to her daughter.
“Alice?
Is it really you?”
“Oh, mom!”
Alice threw herself into her mother’s arms, and the two
embraced, crying and laughing at the same time.
I slipped the Soul Coffin into the handbag and picked up my
revolver.
“Ladies,” I said.
yacht.
“We’ll have more time when we’re on the
Right now, we need to get out of here.”
They broke apart and rose to their feet.
me, “Greg, thank you.
Martha embraced
You saved my little girl.”
Face Lift
45
I patted her soft shoulder, “Couldn’t have done it without
you.”
Did I really use that ridiculous movie line?
I was really
getting old.
I led the way back to the elevator, with the two of them
following, arms around each other again.
I glanced back at the
cavernous room lying under concealing darkness.
So many questions.
Dalal had a lot to explain.
I had the
sinking feeling that the road to Eirene’s soul might be a lot
more complicated than I’d hoped.
I don’t care.
I was on that road, and I planned to stay on
it until I found her and set her free.
May the Gods pity anyone who got in my way.
As the elevator lifted us toward the surface, I smiled at
the two women.
“Time to go home.”