Full Figured Chic

As soon as Sasha sensed light coming into the room, she sat upright in bed. As she expected, the space next to her hadn't been touched since she fell asleep. He would be down in the studio working on the designs now that he felt alive again, and the rest of the factory will be operating under business as usual.

But Sasha needed answers from many sources today. And she was determined to get them.

Leaping up fast, she showered and found something to wear. She wasn't going to the spa today. Today was the day for answers. And her first stop would be Greg.

In the kitchen as she gathered up the breakfast designated for her, Greg was in there getting his own meal.

"Sasha! I knew you must be back but the way Jay is working. I know this is hard to believe, but he is even more motivated than before."

"Greg, you're going to have to sit with me for a while. I need to ask you some questions."

Greg looked immediately suspicious, as if he sensed this was going to be tough.

"What do you want to know? I do have to get back to Jay."

Sasha walked over to the table in the kitchenette. "Not right now. You have to come and sit with me."

Greg moved toward the table, casting a nervous glance toward the door. "Ok, for a little while. I do need to get back to Jay."

Sasha started eating her cereal. "What did you do about Jay's room? I saw it Greg. Everything in there was trashed."

"Jay went immediately into shock. We had to get him to hospital for a couple of hours. They re hydrated him, and checked him over, but after a few hours the only sign he exhibited of not being 100% was that he was very withdrawn. The hospital staff said this was normal. While we were in the hospital, my partner, John came in with a friend and cleaned up Jay's studio, to get it back in working order and so that Jay wouldn't see it in that state again.

But, by the time I got Jay back here, he was starting to do that thing where he held on to everything. It was the best I could manage with John to get him upstairs in and into his bedroom, where he waited for you."

"Who would do this Gregg? Who would try to hurt Jay like that?"

"I have no answers for you. Jay has a private detective who is trying to find out what is going on, but the police came while Jay was in the hospital and there is no sign here of a forced entry and nothing to indicate that anyone without the proper keys got into the building."

Sasha looked closely at him. He's eyes had become shifty, as if there was something he wasn't telling her.

"But... you have a theory..." she encouraged.

"I don't. But that room Sasha. That room was torn apart by an animal, not a person. There as no intellect behind what the ... thing... destroyed ... it didn't have a plan, and we were able to salvage most of Jays plans and stick them together again. Whoever did this to Jay didn't think about what they were doing, they just inflicted damage."

"Without getting it into the building at all..."

"Yes. Without breaking in."

"That means it must have been one of the people who are already in here."

Greg looked up at Sasha suddenly. "What are you saying?"

"Jays' mother; Think about it Greg. She is off her nut anyway, and she wants Jay to think that there is something supernatural is after him. Even out of her consciousness she could have done this."

It couldn't have been her, or you, or even me for that matter."

"Why do you say that?"

"None of us have the strength to do what that creature did. It tore large plastic mannequins apart. Plus... it left large ... marks on the walls that none of us could have done."

"What kind of marks?"

"Deep scratches. Even if any of us had knives or some sort of weapon that could do the style of damage that was done, none of us would have the strength to do it the way it was done."

Sasha swallowed. She didn't want to ask the next question but she knew she would have to in order to get to the bottom of this.

"Not even a mad person... possibly Jay himself?"

Greg looked up at Sasha with some sympathy in his eyes. "I love Jay too, and even I had thought of that. I asked the police. No human could have the strength to do what was done in Jay's office."

"Then we're really left with Jay's mothers suggestions about ghosts and goblins."

"It had crossed my mind. To be honest, with you back and Jay just working again, I had sort of put it at the back of my mind. The police said if they didn't know better they would say a large dog did it."

"What I'm scared of is that it will come back again."

"I know. Jay's down there working now, and I can't promise it won't happen again. I spent in there last night, with John, in order to protect the place. Nothing happened. I was thinking we will do that every night if we have to."

"It's a good idea. At least if anything comes in you'll know exactly what it is."

"And I can't bear for him to have another setback. Now that you're here." he seemed to think for a moment then he added, "Sasha, I'm so sorry. How is your friend? I've been so caught up here that I haven't even asked you about your serious situation."

"It is serious Greg. And I will want to pop out to see her from time to time. I'm sorry to break the rules, but I simply won't go a day without visiting her."

"No, no ,... of course it's ok. I will send Johns friend with you if that is ok. Sort of like a minder. He can make sure you're safe, and if anything else happens, we can eliminate you as a suspect if you have a witness to your behaviours all the time."

"That's fine by me. I'm happy with that. Actually, I'm going to call the hospital now."

Greg stood to go.

"I'm really glad to have you here. Jay needs you so much." And he took his tray and left the room.

Sasha pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket and immediately dialled Penny's mother.

"Sasha?"

"Yes, it's me. How is she?"

"Much better today. She slept the entire night without waking up. She needed painkillers again this morning, but they are very excited about her dramatic recovery. Thank you again for what you did Sasha. Thank you so much."

"How is Gilbert?"

There was a slight pause. Sasha could hear a door close and she realised Penny's mother must have moved herself to another room.

"No change Sasha. He isn't any better, but thank god, he isn't any worse either."

"Jesus. I'm so sorry."

"So am I honey. Will you come to visit today?"

"Yes. I will be in there about lunch time."

"Ok. We'll see you then.' And she hung up, no doubt very keen to get back to see her daughter.

Sasha hung the phone up, and sat staring into the remnants of her breakfast tray. The food was good, but she had little stomach for it. Greg's words moved around and around in her head. No human could have the strength to do what was done in Jay's office.

"Are you ready to talk to me now?"

Sasha jumped a mile as she looked up to see Jay's mother sitting opposite her at the table.

"My god. You scared me."

"Well, I move very quietly at the moment. Like everyone else here I'm afraid, but unlike everyone else here, I know the thing that stalks us will be able to see us and hear us while we are here."

Sasha looked into the deep lucid eyes of the woman staring right back at her. The has an older woman's face, deeply lined, almost like a cheeky little monkey face, if it hadn't been so heavily doused in such a serious veneer.

Suddenly Sasha was engulfed by a tremendous need to reach out to her. This woman loved Jay as well, it was the thing they had in common. Like her, she wanted to best for Jay and that included seeing the full figured chic line come to fruition. She even wanted to see Jay and herself together. Sasha looked at her with new warmth.

"I don't know your name." She smiled.

"You never needed it before." She said as she arched her brow.

"Well, I was afraid of you before."

"And now?"

Sasha took a deep sigh. "Now I have a feeling we are going to have to join forces. Something is getting at Jay, and it isn't you and it isn't me. We may have a better chance at beating it if I stop treating you like my mortal enemy."

Jay's mother started. She seemed to see deep into Sasha, but at the same time she seemed to be hesitant, as if Sasha surprise her constantly.

"I understand. We do both want the best for Jay."

"Yes. So tell me your name, and I'll start calling you that."

"Estella."

Sasha stuck out her hand and Jay's mother took it and shook it, all the while looking at Sasha slightly from the corner of her eye.

"Nice to meet you properly Estella. I'm Sasha as you know. Now that the formal part of our introduction is over, I'm hoping we can start fresh and maybe get to the bottom of this current crisis."

Estella looked at her, with a steady gaze that floated between surprised and fascinated.

"Do you have a theory about what attacked jay's room the other night?"

"I know what attacked Jay's room."

Sasha fought back irritation. She may have something valuable to add. "What was it?"

"A daemon. Do you know anything about Daemons Ms Smith?"

Sasha ignored her turning to formal communication again. "No Estella, I don't know anything about demons, but I have a feeling you are going to fill me in on all I need to know."

"They are supernatural beings that have a dark soul. They can have powers and sometimes they do not have powers"

Sasha fought back a rising frustration. "And you think it was a demon that came into Jay's room and did what it did?"

"There's no question about it."

Sasha looked down into her tray again. She didn't know where to start with this woman.

"I'm guessing it was one with powers."

"Yes. That's correct."

Sasha thought she'd try a new approach with Jay's mother.

"Estella, you seem like a very intelligent woman. Why do you believe in this stuff?"

Estella looked at her intently. Sasha could feel her stare sink deep into her belly, as if it were a thing that could travel through her face and into her soul. It was most unnerving: the same talent Jay possessed, but affected her in a very different way.

"Sasha, when you have seen what I have seen and suffered what I have suffered, you understand that we won't always know everything about the world. You understand that you can still be taught things, even things that at first seemed farfetched. I have had every indicator that a creature not of the world as we know it is making trouble for Jay, just short of talking with the creature myself. I refuse to remain blind when my own watchfulness could be the only possibility that my son has."

"I find it very hard to believe without some kind of evidence."

"If you do nothing you will have al the evidence you need. Jay will go mad and will eventually kill himself."

"And if I do something?"

Estella's eyes lit up. "I really believe there is something that you can do. I think you can make the biggest difference to Jay's life."

"You mean the two of us together?"

"More you, I'm afraid. I think you personally can make a very big difference."

A chill went up Sasha's spine. She had a feeling this wasn't going to be good news."

"That doesn't sound like good news to me."

"I will tell you the story from the start."

For the next hour Sasha sat fascinated as Estella told her about the Daemon and Aoide.

"Many many years ago a daemon cursed to an immortal life, saw with horror the ugliness in the human heart.

The daemon, weary from travelling the earth and looking at the miserable life of humans, found a special girl child, half daemon, half human that he wanted to help him redeem his faith in human beings.

He fancied he could take the girl child and make her beautiful and special and prove to him and to others that some goodness in the human race can be preserved, that it is there to be preserved it eh first place.

The daemon turned himself into a child to play with her when they were young. He taught her tricks and clever ways to make herself so beautiful no mortal could stop staring at her if he saw her.

He taught her how to be good and kind to all humans, and she became his great hope that the human race could be saved to be wiser, and more respectful of other kind of creatures, beautiful and caring.

Over the years, Aoide fell in love with the demon, as he masked himself. he always behaved, always treated her with love and respect, as her taught her the ways of humans and encouraged her to rise above their foibles.

He imagined that being half demon, she may be able to bring some supernatural strength to the human heart and raise it above the condition he so despised.

Aoide grew to be a beautiful woman. But there was darkness inside of her still. The Daemon believed if he worked with her will, he could help her fight off any dark feelings that would come between her and a pure life.

Eventually the gods took pity on him and set him a task that he could perform to win the right to be human and claim Aoide. But the task was very difficult. He had to infiltrate a daemon lair and give secret information about evil daemons to the gods.

For three years, the daemon did as they asked, supplying them with information as a traitor while he watched Aoide grow and become a beautiful women, filled with all the goodness and love from the bright human heart and filled with all the power and determined will of the bright daemon heat.

The gods moved in on the daemon lair and destroyed all of them except for this daemon. The gods were happy with him, and promised him that he could have one wish granted. He asked that he become half human and couple with Aoide and live a long normal human life. The gods granted him this wish, and the daemons couldn't be happier."

"This is a wonderful story Estella, but I am hoping it's going somewhere." Sasha looked at her watch. "I actually have a lot to do today."

"Yes yes... of course you do. Everything is more important than how Jay can be saved."

Sasha growled low at the sarcasm but smiled sweetly and encouraging her to continue on her way with the story that, although charming, really felt as though it were going nowhere fast.

"He could never tell Aoide this news. She didn't know that he was a daemon. He intended to simply become a human and meet her and then ask for her hand. The daemon knew they would marry and then live a normal kind of life together.

As soon as the gods granted him his wish he raced to find her. In just a few days they would make him human and he could bond with her.

Tonight he wanted to see her simply to have some time together, to connect and bask in the glow of the knowledge that soon they could build a life.

But he couldn't find her. He searched all over the small town where she lived. Finally, he heard laughing coming to the barn at the back of a hotel.

There, in the barn was his beloved Aoide. She laid on her back, naked, her legs spread wide, and a human lay between her legs. She rolled out in ecstasy as he pounded into her in the hay, writhing, squealing, and clinging erotically to the pleasure of having him inside of her.

The Demon stared in horror at her glee. He knew the man. He was a married man, he had children. He didn't know if Aoide knew any of this, but what he did know was that she had been corrupted in his eyes. She was no longer the woman he felt he had created her to be."

"Just because she slept with someone else? She wasn't promised to the daemon was she?"

"No. And I believe she didn't know the other man was married. But to the daemon, she was wearing out -- like soap. But unlike soap, she was no longer clean."

In a rage, the demon went to the gods. They had been planning trouble for the man who'd slept with Aoide but they decided it would be more interesting to hand him to the demon. The Daemon took the man and held him in a worm ridden pit, and starved him to death. The last thing he said to the man was that he would curse his offspring."

"Ahhh, and now it all becomes clear."

Estella nodded her head. "Yes my dear. Jay is of the distant offspring of that man and Aoide. On his father's side of course."

"I would think this story would prevent all from having children."

"Yes, but I found it out from a tarot reader, and to my knowledge, no one has worked the story out through all the generations. Or if they have, it didn't stop them having children."

Sasha thought hard for a minute. There was a lot to digest. "And you are saying that Jay is cursed as a distant ancestor?"

"Yes."

"And he will die? Do we know how?"

Estella gulped and looked down a strong flush in her cheek. She looked to Sasha as though she were trying very hard not to cry.

"Yes. He will be driven to madness and then he will throw himself off a building."

Sasha's blood froze. This part of the story she could actually see coming true. "How do you know this?"

"The reader told me."

"And Jay locked you up for madness."

Relief flooded into the woman's eyes. "Yes. You can understand my pain? I want to protect my son, but everyone thinks I am mad, and yet, I know that it is he that will eventually turn mad. Except..."

"Except for what?"

"Usually the curse happens when he has had a child. His brother was taken with no child, so the curse won't continue if Jay doesn't have one."

Instinctively Sasha felt for her belly. She shook her head and decided to try to change the subject.

"What became of Aoide?"

"She was left almost mad herself. The daemon left her life almost immediately and she went crazed looking for him. She was abandoned to the world. But the sex she'd had woke in her a driving lust that not only made her want sex anywhere she could get it, but drive her to the demon, thinking that her childhood friend was all that could satisfy her lust urge. But the daemon doesn't want her. She's impure to him.

And according to the story I've heard, she now doesn't want him either, because she wants to be free in her life -- free to have the kind of lust filled sex she wants."

Sasha shook her head. "Those these two.... people have been walking around for eternity not meeting up, and in fact avoiding each other when really they want each other desperately?"

"Yes. Except technically they're not people."

"Has no one thought to bring them together?"

"I don't know. But I've never seen either of them. I don't know how you would achieve that."

Suddenly Sasha looked at the woman, seeing her in a new light.

"Then what plan did you have to help Jay and free him from the curse?"

Estella blushed immediately and Sasha felt a corresponding nervous feeling in her belly. She knew she was about to hear something she didn't want to know.

"I told Jay we needed to find a woman to replace Aoide. To seduce the daemon so that he could be at piece again."

Sasha fought down a troubled irritation that formed inside her again.

"And of course, I was that woman. That was why you were so happy to see me when I first arrived and why you were so keen to have Jay and I get together."

"Yes." She looked down at her hands.

Sasha fought the desire to get hysterical, but she had to ask one question that was terribly important to her. "How did Jay feel about all of this?"

"He was very uncooperative. I had trouble getting him in on the whole plan right from the start."

It all started to make sense to Sasha; including the pentagrams and the fact that everyone thought she was mad. She started to sympathise with Jay. She wasn't sure if the woman was mad, or just had a weird religion.

"Well, frankly Estella, it's a pretty stupid plan. It's a huge risk that the daemon will fall for another woman when he's had all of eternity to do it."

She sighed. "It's true. Also, the daemon seems to know about you, so there is no point anymore. He's trying to keep you from Jay to prevent jay's work."