"This didn't happen" sounded like something running through Brad's skull as well as he stood there once school ended. He didn't rightly understand what had happened when he and Doug had collided like that. It was like all the testosterone, all the back and forth masculine showboating, all the rivalry... it had all culminated in what could've either been fists flying or that unlikely make out in the school gym. Doug obviously hadn't been prepared for it - and going by how Brad saw Doug's car racing away from the school not long after the end bell rang, he'd been eager to put distance between himself and...that.
Brad didn't get it rightly himself. He was perfectly happy with himself and Janet - yet he couldn't deny something had just clicked at that time, at that place, between him and his worst enemy in the school. Maybe he should've been reading more into the exact nature of how eagerly Doug antagonized him. Maybe it could've just as easily ended in a fist fight. But the more Brad thought about it, the more curious he got about why it happened.
What got into them at that time to make them kiss like that. The passionate kiss of lovers. And what exactly might become of their interactions from now on. But Brad also distinctly felt guilty for cheating on Janet. Complicating matters even more, due to the fact Doug had made it so radiantly clear that he hoped to win Janet back through his win in the bodybuilding contest.
That was when Brad's phone buzzed - right as he was getting ready to walk home.
[Brad, its Janet. I found some information on the Tapes, and what might be going on. Are you free?]
Brad's heart sank. He thumbed over the keys, thinking about telling her outright that he kissed a boy. For reasons he couldn't quite articulate. He bit his lip as he thought back to all he did to get her more interested in him. He wanted her to love his body, he went as far as two Viewings now of that Tape. Yet here he was making out with fucking Doug, and still feeling some lingering excitement from the contact. He was still debating it when he heard the phone buzz again;
[Brad? You free?]
He couldn't bring himself to do it.
Call him a coward. Call him a liar. But he couldn't bring himself right now to say that not only did he kiss someone else, but he kissed Doug. And how in the heat of the moment, he'd felt curious - wondered about it - wondered about more. Brad started typing; [Yeah babe? Sorry about that I was distracted at the school gym after class. Yeah I'm good to meet up. Where at?]
[School library. Not far. We need to talk about this.]
Brad then responded, [I'll be right over.] And with that he took off into a run toward the library. He needed some physical activity to work off how he felt about the whole ordeal. Hopefully by the time he got over there, the whole incident with Doug would've been behind him. Yet the entire way there, Brad found himself thinking about it. About how surprisingly soft Doug's lips were, and the eagerness with which the big jock had finally let spill his libido.
By the time that Brad got there, he was adjusting his pants to make his erection less obvious.
--------
By the time that Brad got to the library, he could tell Janet had used her time to poke through some more books. It didn't take long to locate her. She had an entire table to herself, having sprawled out numerous old books and items. "I guess you worked out legs today," Janet joked, and then said, "Come on! I found some pretty interesting stuff here."
Let's roll with that, Brad figured.
As he walked over, he saw a number of these books were old accounts of witches and their grimoires, the alleged cases of encounters with straight out of Macbeth Weird Sisters, and other such things. She had a couple pages saved via pagemarkers, and as soon as he took a seat opposite her, she pulled open one of the books. "A lot of the stuff going on here is talking about debunked accusations, and the historical nightmare that happened during the witchcraft craze. But I found something interesting and relevant here."
She pointed to a page depicting a young woman apparently named Sarah accused of fraternizing with Demons. Apparently, she'd encountered a traveling salesman - oddly familiar - who had gifted her with a "book of pictures" (perhaps an early iteration of the Tapes?) and through a Demon called Vertael allegedly had been able to acquire unnatural beauty and charisma, charming local men into being her lovers. The book fixated however on the alleged contact with Vertael, not so much on the more relevant to them information about a salesman.
"Didn't you get the tapes from a traveling salesman?" Janet asked, curious.
"Yeah, and that they apparently all contain Vertael is...definitely a connection." He cupped his chin. Fixating on this was making his own issues with Doug seem more distant. Less pressing. He could focus on the issue with the salesman and the demon, less on the issue of his lacking fidelity. But as he spoke, Brad seemed distant. Trying to focus on this instead of something else.
And though he didn't notice this impression, Janet seemed to nod and looked him over. She just however decided she could ask him later if anything happened.
Janet then pulled another book over, and started reading, "Alright this one more directly concerns it. This is an account of alleged witch Lindsey Lark, on the vision she apparently had. In it, she details that she saw a game being played out in Dis, the Demonic City. In it, a Demon named Vertael loses its freedom and is confined to a bauble when it fails to defeat in a series of contests a traveling man of "some ill-repute". The Demon Vertael's allies appealed directly to Lucifer, only for the Devil to state she had made her bets, and in losing them, fell to whatever condition applied."
"So...who's the guy?" Brad asked.
"None of these books say." Janet piled one on top of another, "But they all have one commonality - the account of Lark's vision was written first, all of these stories concerning encounters with Vertael came after. So whoever or whatever brings the picture books, or film reels, or VHS tapes around...they've been at this for a very, very long time. So it's less a case of a Demon having an end in turning people into a different shape, and more that this guy...he does. And whatever role Vertael plays, she doesn't have a choice."
Well.
This completely recontextualized everything. Brad had assumed the Demon was the mastermind. That it had some grander game in mind for its behavior. But this turned it into little more than a bound genie in a lamp being peddled around by a cunning man who had, by all appearances, lived for more than 500 years at this point. And not a one of these books said a damn thing about him. They all focused on the demon's name, not who had brought it around.
Because in all cases, the salesman was gone from the area and the narrative within moments of selling Vertael's service to a new buyer. There had to be some kind of reward he had in mind.
"So we know now," Brad stated, "That the thing in the tapes is a prisoner. It's the "how" these transformations are done, not the architect. But in all these cases, it seems like the person involved was caught before the salesman could reap any kind of personal reward. But in these days, there's no witch finders. There's no inquisition. So what happens if a transformation finishes?"
Not a word about that. Not a word at all.
"Let's try and see if we can find anything about that flea market. See if we can locate the salesman again. Maybe then we can get some answers." Janet said with a bit more optimism.
"...yeah. Yeah you're right." Brad didn't mention another idea he had. That he might be able to try and talk to Vertael. Maybe get some answers directly out of the Demon itself. After all, he had some time while he was under the effect of the tape. Before he lost consciousness. He might be able to try and persuade it to choose its own freedom, and possibly turn against the salesman. "You look into that. You're better at it than I am. I'll be heading home to uh, check in with my dad."
"Be careful Brad," Janet said, "We don't really know what might happen as these transformations go on. And we also don't know how many more of these tapes are circulating."
That made him pause and wonder about that. He'd remembered seeing a whole lot more tapes in that little shack. And if they were all as dirt cheap as the ones he'd bought...then who knows how many more people were running around with the goods from this 500 year old mystery man.
---------------
By the time Brad got home his warning bells were already going off when he saw that his dad had apparently just gotten home from the gym. And as much as his dad had improved at breakfast that morning, it looked like he'd put on more muscle mass still. Dressed in a white tank top and the shortest pair of shorts Brad had ever seen his dad wearing, he could see his stepmom just absolutely fawning over the man. And---did dad look the slightest bit younger? There weren't as many worry lines as usual, some of his wrinkles had alleviated, and his skin looked a bit more supple and soft. Less body hair, as well.
Did you watch any of my magic videotapes containing a hostage demon that turns people beautiful - what a question to have to field. And one Brad honestly didn't even want to field. He didn't want to sound crazy. And that's what asking if his dad had watched any of the tapes would sound like - the kind of coocoo crazy-pants questioning that would probably land someone a stay in a mental health ward.
But at the same time he found himself really admiring how powerfully muscled his dad was. He really...really was taking well to whatever he was doing that made him so muscular. It responded to him well. And Brad found himself despite his worries thinking that not every dad can be a daddy. Woah, where'd that come from? Brad asked himself. He shook his head briefly, and then paused there, mid-step, when his dad asked him in a newly confident tone, "Oh hey, there's the youngest muscle man in the family! How'd your day go today, big man?"
"What a healthy family we are," Dirk stated, "We gotta hit the gym some time, eh son? Together?"
The idea was surprisingly appealing. The idea of pumping iron with his dad - after how well he'd made a showing of himself so far - it was more than worth exploring. Certainly the best workout partner, and he hoped they could even hit the same weights. "Uh, sure dad. Just lemme know what time?"
"How about tomorrow, after school? I got off of work tomorrow, so we have free time a'plenty!" Even as Dirk said that, Brad noticed something else as he started to head toward the stairs to head to his room. His dad's voice seemed a little different than usual. There was a slight inflection that seemed off. Something that didn't show up in any of his speech before. There seemed to be the slightest hint of an English accent of some kind at the edges of his speech.
Yet as Brad nodded and said, "Sounds fun, I'm game", he was thinking about what Janet said. Maybe there was something more going on here. His dad certainly never sounded like that before - definitely didn't look like that. And Brad hurried upstairs to make sure he was out of the room when he heard the fawning his stepmom was doing starting to turn into a full on makeout. By the time he was upstairs, he heard the two of them tussling with each other - and then before long, the door to the den of the house slammed shut.
And Brad was glad the walls were thick as was the door. Because he didn't need to hear his dad having sex.
Entering his room, Brad looked at his TV with a sullen expression.
He thought about everything that happened, all the revelations, all the problems, and the issue of Doug, of Janet, of the creature Vertael, and what might be happening to people viewing these tapes. Doug as of now was still bigger, but less toned - and maybe that was a source of that awkward erotic energy. Maybe if Brad got bigger, he might be able to deal easier. Not fall into some homoerotic dominance display. Then there was Vertael and the Tapes.
He knew that using a Tape would certainly change him. And he knew he'd had two changes so far, enough to make him feasibly a bodybuilder. But the changes weren't that overwhelming. Maybe he could afford to go for a third if there was a chance he could at some point manage to acquire some answers about the salesman from Vertael. After all, she was every bit a hostage of his. He doubted she might have any form of loyalty to a man who had basically turned her into his pawn for over 500 years.
The exact decision about what to do next had him perplexed. Thinking about all that happened, and all that could...