So You Used to Be Human - Book 3 (Original Version)

Chapter 33: Semi-Charmed Kind of Life

Mr Flynn had never taken his eyes off me during this entire time.

"It appears that you've been glammered rather expertly, Mister Diego. At first we assumed that your erstwhile maker Louise since your mind bore some of her handiwork, but it appears that Beatrice has gotten her hooks deep inside of you. Extracting her from your mind is going to require a fair amount of work if we are going to get what we want from you. It may even kill you, but that's just a side effect."

"What are you talking about? Beatrice never glammered me..." I managed to stammer, my mind working overtime to figure out when this could have happened and coming up blank. Yes there had been a lot of sex and the occasional bust of violence but there hadn't been any glammering going on.

"You Mister Diego still have so much to learn. Glammering is so much more than compelling obedience from a person. There is an art to proper compulsion, entwining yourself so purposely and seamlessly into the subject's mind... into his memories and his dreams... the subject will think that his actions are his own and after a fashion they will be, but the subject will go out of his way to make your life easier and will always look more favorably on you then they should. Beatrice was always the master of this deception when she was with us. Why do you think you so readily entered into a "relationship" with such a questionable woman?"

There was no way he was letting me off the hook that easily. "You have no idea of my history of bad, bad choices man. I've done some fucked up things."

"Oh we know. We've been inside your mind Mister Diego and we know all about you. Such exploitative relationships! I particularly loved how you were able to shift the blame over to Claude when you told your mother about your relationship with your former employer, and then how you've convinced yourself that it was how it actually happened!"

"It was complicated, okay?"

"I even know about what happened with you and Jaime. I wonder why after spending so much time wth her over the last week, why it is that you still haven't discussed the main point of contention between you two? Are you actually scared Mister Diego? Even now when you have nothing to lose?"

I looked Mr Flynn in the eye, wondering how much he really knew, how deep into my memory he had managed to dig, and saw the truth on his face. He knew it all and I was ashamed that he knew so much.

"Beatrice didn't have to glammer me for me to sleep with her. The glammering probably happened later. When she attacked me, I was literally at the lowest point of my life and in a way it was good to feel something again. It's seriously fucked up, I know, but like I said, I have a history of fucked up."

Like with my boss, Liz, that hadn't been planned but she had been a kindred spirit, just eight years older than I was and she had admired my ingenuity of making jobs more efficient so that there was much less work in the end. Alcohol had eventually been involved and after that there had been a lot of wild sex in inappropriate places. My mom knew I was seeing someone since I was coming home less and less, but what do you really tell your mom when you're screwing your boss? Things had gotten more out of hand when I'd made an offhand comment to Alice, who was my boss's boss and before I knew it I had been assigned to an office job where frequent trips to Alice's office during after hours quickly became the norm. And yes I was still seeing Liz at the time, although to be honest, I wasn't seeng her as much as fucking her and crashing at her place. Questionable choices yes. Complicated, very.

Don't ask for more detail. Please. Let's just say it ended badly and quickly. Things like that don't say secret for long in small towns. One of the reasons I love the city so much.

It was like Mr Flynn could read my mind: "Do you remember the look on her face when she told you she loved you and you couldn't respond? It still burns your soul doesn't it?"