Rule 8 - Craven

IT CAN ALWAYS GET WEIRDER.

" Y ou can talk?" I turned my head quickly and hissed at the creepy doll.

Suddenly, Delia's hard, plastic face crinkled like it was made of rubber. "You talk too?"

"Yeah, what gives? Is this why Mr. Talks A Lot was being a freak last night?"

Delia crossed her doll arms across her chest. "Oh, you're one to talk. She was screaming like she was in a movie. And she kept turning her head. I thought she was just really into Damon's talking, but she was just wanting you to watch. Disgusting."

I glanced at the front seat. Damon and Tanis had relaxed into the playful flirting from before. They weren't paying us even the slightest attention. I turned back to Delia.

"So, what's your deal then? Did you, like, come alive or something? Are you like..."

"A real doll? No. I was human once. Damon and I were engaged before the ritual."

"The ritual?"

"Yeah, he heard about some magic where you could become immortal and all powerful. He read it in a book. He was so sure it would work." She huffed. "It worked for him."

It did? I thought back to last night. I hadn't seen any scars on his chest to indicate he'd performed the ritual.

"I sewed him up really clean. He only had faint scarring, which he covered up with tattoos."

"And what happened to you then?" I snickered.

"He wasn't fast enough. When my body wasn't ready to be reinhabited, my soul panicked and flew into the closest thing that looked human. I was his sister's doll."

I shook my head. Sisters, man.

"What happened to you?" she asked. I blinked away the memories of my own messed up ritual.

"My little sister interrupted Tanis as she was working. She couldn't explain what was going on and somehow I ended up in this." I raised my arms, and Delia chortled.

"For the first time since it happened, I'm grateful I got stuck in this vessel. But I've only got a few more days." She smiled, and her eyes hardened.

I blinked.

"What does that mean?"

"Damon found me a body." She sighed wistfully. "She looks nothing like I'd wanted, but she's easy picking and she's the first woman he's ever wanted as much as he wanted me."

If my face had more emotional range, I'd have given her a confused and slightly disgusted look. "Don't you want a body you can be excited for?"

"I mean, I do." She nodded. "But Damon's wants are more important than mine. If he wants a short, Hispanic bimbo, then so be it. I'll bleach my hair. And it will be nice not to have to tan. Hers is built in."

Annoyance boiled just under my fur. I hadn't liked the way she'd described Tanis.

"I will admit, you being sentient does put a kink in the plans, but I'm sure it'll be fine." She was no longer talking to me, but more to herself. Which was fine, because I was trying to figure out the same thing she was. What do we do now? We both wanted the same things, and only one of us would get a body.

"How long have you been like this?" I asked.

"About a year. It's been rough, but Damon still loves me and we make it work. You saw last night. That was nothing." She giggled. My stomach twisted.

"Wait, you two still..."

I looked at her lap. What exactly was under her dress?

"You want to know if I'm anatomically correct." Again, she answered my thoughts. "I am, but Damon and I both agreed that it's too weird to go down that road. But he likes to watch when I have fun with myself."

What in the actual fuck.

The rest of the road trip I was stuck with Delia as she regaled me with story after story of her and Damon's bizarre sex life. I wanted to bury deep in my mind, but I was worried I'd miss something that could actually help my situation. So, I forced myself to pay attention as she explained that her doll vagina could still get wet and come like a human's.

Must be nice.

The car finally stopped and I fell forward in relief. Tanis turned around.

"Oh, Cravey-boo, what are you doing? I should have strapped you in like Delia is. That's smart of you, Damon."

"I take Delia's safety very seriously," Damon said.

That was debatable. Maybe the plastic casing, but not the actual person inside it, I thought to myself. Tanis grabbed her suitcase and me and Damon did the same. The four of us checked into the next hotel, all the while every time Delia caught my glance, she grinned wickedly.

I could almost hear her thoughts.

Not long now.

But she didn't realize she was right, but also wrong. She wasn't getting a body. I was .

We were left in the room together while the human pair went to get an early dinner. The moment the door was shut, Delia got up and began unpacking Damon's things.

"I can't do all the things I used to do when I was human, but Damon likes me to try to do as much as I can," she explained.

"Like what?" I watched from the chair I'd been placed on.

"Well, I unpack his bags every time we get to a new hotel. I also cook most meals and clean up after him. While I can't be seen doing his laundry, I do fold and iron it. I also give him foot and back rubs every night. I'm a traditionalist."

"Traditionalist?" I shook my head. What the fuck was this chick talking about? "Do you get any say in things?"

"I don't need to. Damon knows what's best for us both. He's very smart." She didn't look up from her chores.

"He couldn't even perform your ritual right. I think you use very smart a bit liberally."

Her peach cheeks flamed pink. "Don't talk about my fiancé like that. He promised he's going to make things right, and once I have a body again, he's going to give me babies and we'll finally settle down like we've always talked about."

"Babies?" I laughed and hopped off the chair. "Oh, sweetie, no one's going to let Tanis adopt a child."

She paused and turned. "I'm not adopting. I am going to carry all of our children naturally, as the good lord above intended."

"Good lord above?" I grimaced. What the hell was this chick on? God, traditionalist? She was fucking brainwashed. "Delia, that's not gonna happen. Once you sacrifice your body and soul to the Reanimator, you can't have kids on your own. Those eggs have shriveled up and died."

She screamed, causing me to startle backward. She spun all the way around with clenched fists. "You lie!"

I laughed. This was all so ridiculous. What flavor-aid had Damon fed this woman?

"I assure you, I'm not. Damon may have pulled his version of the ritual out of some magazine, but I did my research for years before I did Tanis's. You get immortality, and your body will heal when it's maimed, but you'll never pass on your genes after you've gone through the change."

Her plastic lip quivered. I stared curiously at her, wondering if she'd cry real tears. From her explanation in the van about the moisture in her doll vagina, I was entirely convinced she could cry. A trickle of red liquid slid down a cheek. Blood? She wiped it away quickly and ran out of the room, locking herself in the bathroom.

I sighed and sat on the floor. Now what?

Delia stayed in the bathroom, loudly wailing, for far too long than necessary. Eventually I looked for the remote and turned the TV on. I found Carrie playing, the Sissy Spacek version, and raised the volume, drowning out Delia. She must have heard because she stopped abruptly and came out with a hand towel covered in blood.

"What are you doing? They could come back at any moment."

I shrugged my brown, fuzzy shoulders. "So? They are going to realize what's up soon enough. Might as well just get it over. I'm tired of playing dead while Damon loudly sucks on my girlfriend's clit."

"Don't be vulgar," Delia snapped, but yet, she climbed onto the bed and sat beside me to watch the movie about the teenage girl getting her revenge on all the bullies that hurt her. We watched silently, but toward the end, Delia sniffled and said, "Good for her.".

Just as I was looking for something new to watch after the movie ended, the door lock jangled and a beep sounded through a moment later. The door opened and both of us turned our heads toward it. Damon and Tanis were laughing and smiling wide, but both froze the moment they took in the scene in front of them.

I waved to them.

"Damon, Tanis, why don't you join us? Let's talk."