Gillie returned to her office after what had been her latest great adventure... the bathroom. It started with her absentmindedly going into the men's bathroom (which didn't have a busted door), and successfully startling an officer at a urinal... she managed to pass it off as a surprise inspection. She was privately sure that this would increase the rumors that "Gill/Gillie" worked herself into absolute exhaustion.
After that came the second part of that adventure, which frustrated Gillie to no end, partially as she had never done so before... but she managed.
As she returned to her office, she found her answering machine blinking. She pressed the button.
"Gill? It's me," came Serenity's voice, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Father Michael and Paul are helping with the plan to kill the curse for good. It'll take about a week though to have enough of the cure to end it... though you and I will need to discuss this with the mayor and the city council. It would be best to have them on our side for it..."
Gillie wondered who "Father Michael" was, but guessed that if he was helping it didn't matter... though she also didn't know if she could last a week.
"The bad news is that some things never go away," Serenity's voice continued, "I've got four Leoman Love dolls here, with at least two of them victims of the game and the other pulled in by an intersection of the Game's powers and the Leoman's "true love" powers... also, those "true love" powers are no longer connected with the curse. Any and all "extras" that the Pride and the Pack have will continue. There are a couple of other things too, but it'd be best if I told you that in person... -click."
As Serenity's message ended, Gillie did the one thing that came to her mind at the second part of the message...
"DAMN IT!"
"Chief, you okay?" a voice asked from outside, "Is someone from the Pride hurt?"
"It's nothing," Gillie sighed and looked back at her paperwork, "maybe I should call it a night... and everything will be better tomorrow."
++++++++++
In the small flat, Serenity took the camera and moved into an adjoining kitchen. She couldn't stay in that room with the four love dolls any longer. She set it on the table and opened the side viewing "window" which would giver her a better look at what had been on the recorder.
It started with what looked like a punk carrying in a single female Leoman love doll. The punk removed his clothes and then began promptly making love with the love doll.
"I love you," the punk said on the recording.
That made Serenity blink and then watched as the punk slowly transformed into a Leoman and then into a male Leoman love doll.
"Unbelievable," Serenity sighed.
What followed next surprised Serenity. There was a brief flash on the screen and it began to rewind. She fumbled with the buttons, but it did nothing. When it returned to a time of 0:00 again, it started playing, but the image had changed. It showed two Leoman love dolls, one male and one female entwined around a human female who seemed to be hugging them both.
"Is it on?" the woman asked an unseen person.
"Yeah, I have it on," chuckled a male voice, "preserve everything for posterity."
The woman smiled and then spoke, "Why Lionel, Leona, you're both so friendly with my husband and I."
Serenity watched as a naked human male entered. He shook the male love doll's hand and then kissed both the human woman and the female love doll. He then sat on the other side of the female love doll.
"Leona, Audrey and I are human," the man said, "we'd get in trouble..." He paused. "The Pride... The Pride isn't?"
The man began to reposition the female love doll. He looked to the woman, Audrey.
"You'd let us join?" Audrey smiled as she moved the male Leoman doll.
Serenity shook her head as the two people began making love to the love dolls as if it was some sort of fantasy of theirs to join the pride. And through the course of their love making, they repeated the same process as the punk had before. Transformation into Leoman and then Leoman themed love doll of the appropriate gender.
Once it reached the end, again there was a strange flash and the camera began to automatically rewind. Again, Serenity couldn't stop it no matter how many buttons she pushed. When it reached the "beginning" of the tape it started playing again.
As with the time after the first "rewind" the starting image was different from the time before. It started with a dirty looking teen standing beside the bed on which there were four Leoman love dolls placed in a pair of erotic sexual positions. She could also hear teenage chuckling in the background.
"Dude, that is sick, man," the cameraman spoke.
"Yeah," the teen agreed, "but once we put this on YouTube we'll attract all sorts a business."
"You really think this will work?" the cameraman asked.
"Yeah, them furry freaks worship the Leomen, Lupman, and Felmans for some absurd reason," the teen commented.
"Cuz they're covered in fur maybe," the cameraman pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah," the teen answered, "anyway, we can sell these four to them and they an enact all their bestiality fantasies to their heart's content, and we'll make a lot of money."
"I think I saw a law case that said something about Humans mating with Felmen, Lupmen, and Leomen isn't bestiality," the cameraman spoke.
"Dude, you watch the People's Court," the teen shot back.
"And besides man, the porn industry sells Leoman, Lupman, Felman, and I think even a Dragon love doll," the cameraman answered, "for cheaper then what you're asking for..."
"They aren't selling it with a demonstrative video as well," the teen replied, "My deal is a two for one."
"You know we don't have the licenses and could in BIG trouble," the cameraman spoke.
"Just shut up and record this and..."
He paused and Serenity heard her own voice and Marie's coming from just outside the door.
"Dude, it's the cops!"
The teen then ran off the screen and disappeared. She heard what sounded like a window opening.
Serenity then turned her head to see an opened window nearby. When she looked back to the tape, she saw herself and Marie standing there.
"Your certain that it came from here?" Serenity asked.
"You can sense the game's use as well as I," Marie answered.
"Yes, but mine isn't precise," Serenity told the glass pup.
"I see," Marie sighed, "well the initial turn wasn't used here, but it came here somehow..."
"Do you know what it was that brought it here?" Serenity asked.
"No, but it's attached to those four love dolls," Marie then spoke.
What made Serenity blink heavily was what she saw. She saw Marie's eyes and body seem to take on a soft glow, nothing evil, but it was still a glow none the less. Four glowing orbs emerged from Marie's abdomen and floated into each love doll while Serenity was moving to get the few vials of the cure that she had (made originally to counter Jensen's pack) from her purse. When she had it ready, the two of them went about killing the curse around the four love dolls. When that was done, their conversation turned to the talk about the love dolls having souls and that they could be restored. Marie then vanished soon after. It was then that Serenity noticed the camera and turned it off.
"If they were human originally, reality had to have altered that they never were nothing but love dolls," Serenity thought to herself as she tried to judge the three different records, "and Marie somehow gave them souls... this just keeps getting worse... as if they had been nothing but love dolls, they shouldn't have registered on my "game sense"... but they did, and Marie gave them souls... I need to talk with her about this..."
++++++++++
"I'M A MONSTER!" Marie wailed as she clutched herself into her mother's chest.
"Monster?! Marie, what is this all about? I know you felt what this "transform or dare" game did to those love dolls was unfair, but you and I both know that not everything is fair and we can't just "make" everything fair. I sent four souls to them because I didn't sense anything truly evil in it, but I still feel I need to remind you about what we've agreed on..."
Marie only cried into her mother's shoulder, repeating the line "I'm a monster".
"Marie, what is all this?" Lawrence asked, sounding concerned.
"This is my mother, and thanks to my cheating I've ruined her life!" Marie wailed.
"Marie what happened to me and then to us was an accident," Eliza spoke, "you were only just starting to practice magic when you turned me into a glass human, and you weren't even aiming for me... and when you became a glass pup and we were linked, you were only trying to fix your earlier mistake. You were trying to be responsible, and you thought you had it right. There is no way you could have known what happened... and I can barely understand why you get so mad at yourself when you're reminded of it..."
That only made Marie cry harder.
"What do you mean ruined?" Abbey asked curiously, "She looks fine to me. Just like she did after Kurse was beaten."
"She isn't supposed to be this way," Marie sniffled, "I sensed a turn of the Game be used while I was telling you about the witches and it was used on a Leoman, and the Game and the Leoman's true love powers then interacted to create a mixed plague which resulted in four Leoman love dolls being created that would transform anyone who loved them into Leoman love dolls. Madame Serenity and I went to stop it before it got out of control, which we did, but I sensed reality removing the existance of the souls that had once been the people that had been the Leoman and humans that were transformed and I tried to restore them, which I was successful, but it was cheating and reality came back and bit me... as a result... I... I... I RUINED MY MOTHER'S LIFE!"
Eliza only hugged her tighter. Hoping her love flowing through her link with her daughter would make her feel better.
"She seems fine to me," Alice commented, "I would say that considering what the witches have done up to this point there are worse fates then being made of glass outside the mirrorverse. If you are really frustrated with this, perhaps you and your mother could talk with Amy when the story of the witches is over. She has always seemed to be wise when it comes to these sorts of things."
"Thank you, Alice," Marie said weakly, "thank you."
Eliza then watched as the three dirty blond pups surrounded her and her daughter and hugged them both.
"See, your friends don't think you a monster," Eliza told her daughter, "Now no more of this monster talk, okay."
"Okay," Marie said weakly.
"Marie, I'm sure this is traumatic, but if you want to stop the story and recover, we won't mind," Lawrence told the metallic gold pup.
"No, I've started the tale," Marie sighed, "I should finish it."
"You had told them about Joella's visit to Mal'akh," Eliza told her daughter, channeling their link.
Marie sighed and saw brief flashes in her mind of how her cheating had cost her. She decided to let it go for now until she could talk with Amy, but that would be later.
"Anyway, Joella would prove honest to her word in letting Mal'akh see her sister and check on her from time to time," Marie spoke, "and it would actually be the beginning point for what would be a friendship between the two of them, but that wouldn't really come until after the witches were killed as Mal'akh saw that Joella had none of the maliciousness and the malevolence that the witches had..."