Chapter 17

Dan could do no more than stand rigid with shock, Simon's fingers digging into his shoulders.

Simon's face was one of horror and disbelief, he had just been told by a man who claimed to be the devil himself that his wife was dead and a stranger was inhabiting her body. The whole idea was utterly ridiculous of course. But somehow, the strange Englishman was totally believable. The thing that most convinced him there may be some truth in the madness was his wife's reaction.

She had known who the man was and her denials had been unconvincing. And her behavior the last few days had been odd, as if she wasn't herself. "Who are you!!" He demanded again. "Is it true?"

Dan was torn. Should he deny everything or come clean? "He's lying! He IS the devil, remember."

Dan could see the uncertaincy in Simon's eyes. The Devil had not convinced Simon what he was saying was true. But he had done more than enough to shake the foundations of Simon's world.

The Devil saw the uncertaincy in Simon's' face. One little push should do it. "Changing people's shapes is easy, Simon. I do it every day. Observe." He made a slow gesture at Simon with his hand.

Immediately Simon felt himself shrinking, and his chest growing! He released Simon and pressed his hands to his shirt. There was no mistake, he was now the distressed owner of a large pair of breasts. "How is this possible?" He said and immediately noticed how much higher his voice was.

"I'm just showing you how easy it was to replace your wife. You have gone from a tall muscular man to a teenage bimbo. You are now female in all respects." Simon grabbed at his crotch and confirmed what the tall man was saying. His cock was gone! Replaced by a pussy, he was a woman!

"However, you don't want to be a woman. You want your wife back, mentally as well as physically." Simon felt himself returning to his male self.

Simon backed away from Dan and the the devil. "I need time to think." He mumbled and then he was gone.

Dan watched him flee out of the bar door with a feeling of hopelessness. He had spent the last several days convincing himself that life as Simon's wife wouldn't be so bad, and now Simon was running away from him. He turned back to the tall man still seated at the table. A small dragon seemingly made out of fluid green glass was running around the table. The man reached out and slammed his hand down on top of it spraying broken glass across the table.

He looked up at Dan and smiled, "I win."

Dan could think of nothing to say and turned and stalked out of the bar. He could feel tears welling up in him, but he utterly refused to show any weakness in front of the Devil.

In the car park outside the bar Simon's car was long gone. Dan climbed into his own car and sat staring ahead for several minutes. The feelings of helplessness building in him, until he thumped the steering wheel in frustration and could hold back the tears no longer. It was several minutes before he could gain control of himself. In some ways it was fairly cathartic and he felt a little better.

He checked his face in the mirror and saw the smeared makeup. He cleared up the worst excesses and tried to work out what to do next. Absolutely nothing came to mind. All his plans had been blown completely out of the water.

Dan started the car and pulled out into the street. He needed to talk to someone, he realised. The only person who he could talk to was in a modern church across town.

Samantha was cleaning the pews when Dan entered. "Hi Dan, how's it going?"

"What are you doing?"

"I offered to help after all the trouble the reverend here has gone through in finding a room I can stay in. Anyway, I hate sitting around doing nothing and this place doesn't even have a television."

Dan slumped down in a pew and looked down at his breasts almost pushing their way out the top of his expensive black dress. He had worn it to please Simon, all gone to waste now. "To tell you the truth everything just fell apart." Dan told Samantha of the encounter in the bar.

Samantha put her arm around Dan who was obviously very depressed. "What are you going to do now?"

"I haven't a clue, Samantha. That bastard has taken away the fitness centers and his wife from Simon. He seems confident he has won Simon's soul and I think he's right."

"There must be something you can do. He'll probably go off and drink himself stupid. But he'll come back, you can reassure him them. I'm sure he'll listen to you."

Dan sighed. "But he will never truly trust me again. At the back of his mind will always be the thought that I'm not who I say I am. I'll have to tell him."