Annie VII: The Beast

(Chronological index: Ray as College Sophomore)

Annie spun around at the knock on the door. She backed into the corner of the desk, ready to jump down behind it and hid among the power cables.

Ray turned the stereo down and walked to the door.

If there were any justice in the universe, Annie thought, the theme from Jaws would be playing. Time seemed to slow. Ray's hand swung up, up, there was contact with the doorknob.

Slowly, ever so slowly it turned. Annie waited for the light from the hall to illuminate her impending doom.

And there it was. A bubbly blonde bounced into the room, swung her purse towards Ray's bed, and wrapped her arms around him. One foot raised from the floor as she gave him a long, intimate kiss.

It was like watching Cthulhu rising from the depths, Annie thought. She turned to make her descent. To her shock, the cords for the window blinds were wrapped around a nail in the window sill. There was nothing below her except the vertical drop.

She steeled herself to jump anyway. But her hesitation had cost her. A terribly well manicured claw wrapped around her from behind. The Beast had her in its clutches.

"There she is!" Bebe said with a giggle. "How is my favorite sylph on the whole planet?"

"I don't know," Annie said. "Put me down and I'll go ask him!"

"Silly." Bebe sat on the bed. Ray sat at the desk with an indulgent smile. "Guess what I got you, Annie-Fanny?"

"Something so saccharine sweet it'll put me in a diabetic coma?"

"No!" The girl started speaking slowly and distinctly to the sylph, who wasn't sure if she was supposed to be drunk or a Chihuahua. "I got you a costume!"

"That's what I said," Annie muttered. The Beast opened her purse and pulled out something that looked like a hot dog.

"Oh, no!" The pet started to wriggle and shout in earnest. "No! NO! NOT food! I fucking swear it! I will NOT TOLERATE This!" She twisted and aimed an imploring look at her owner. "Please don't do this to me! Please don't do this to me!"

"Oh, pooh. You never-" Bebe started to say, tugging at Annie's shirt.

"Hold on," Ray said. He held out his hand. Bebe reluctantly placed the sylph in it. Annie scurried up his sleeve and grabbed his ear.

"Not food," she said. "Not food. One fucking drunk football player thinks he finally found a hot dog that dances like the ones in the commercials and snarf! That's it for Little Hors D'oeuvre Annie!!"

"Oh, really," Bebe said with a dismissive wave. "Do you think…"

"Bebe," Ray said. "If you were at a party with the football players, and Mongo was hungry, and YOU were wearing a costume that looked like a cake, what would you do?"

Bebe stared for a second. "I wouldn't be next to the fridge, that's for sure," she admitted.

"So," Ray said, reaching up to take Annie into his hand, "how about no clothes for Annie that look anything at all like food?"

Bebe scooted forward on the bed. Annie was sure it wasn't accidental that her skirt rose so high or so quickly as she did. She reached out to place a hand on her boyfriend's knee, leaning a bit to accent her cleavage,

"But… I worked so hard on the hot dog costume," she said with a little whine.

Stay strong, Annie thought to her owner. But the fact was, her revered master was a typical male with typical vulnerabilities. If the Bebeast showed more of her Beboobs and offered a Beblow job, she was going to win the argument.

"How about a compromise?" Ray said in a soothing tone. His damned finger stroked Annie's hair, but she still stiffened in anticipation of betrayal.

"Like what?" Bebe purred.

"Annie puts on the costume once, so you can see her in it, and we take it off and she never has to wear it again?" he said.

"Um…" Bebe pretended to consider it.

"You'll just make me wear it once I've got it on!" Annie protested. The Beast smiled like a kitty with a plentitude of cream.

"No," he said. "I swear. I don't want you bitten in half any more than you do."

"Well," the blonde said slowly, "if that's the best we can agree to, I guess it'll have to do." She reached towards the sylph.

Ray, for a wonder, actually moved Annie away from the approaching claws. "How about she dresses herself?" He placed her on the desk, her cage between her and the Beast.

"Oooh, Master!" Annie purred. Bebe pouted but handed the hot dog over. Annie started to undress.

Ray moved to sit beside his girlfriend on the bed. He sought, and got, another kiss, though Bebe obviously wanted to watch Annie change.

The sylph hurried, promising to find some way to thank Ray for the distraction.

The costume fit as well as any of the others had. Annie had to admit that Bebe was good at spreading her particular sort of evil across the land.

"Okay," she said, stepping into the clear.

"Oooooh! How sweet you look!" Bebe enthused. Behind her head, Ray made a circular gesture. Annie turned to give Bebe the full effect. "Aw, it'd be a shame not to-"

"No," Ray said. It was a tone he seldom used with other humans, though Annie was familiar with it. His foot was all the way down and nailed to the floor.

Annie scurried behind the cage and started to change again.

"Well, okay," Bebe pouted. Annie thought that the lower lip was out far enough to qualify as a tentacle. "Maybe she can wear one of the other suits? Where are they at?"

"I don't know," Ray said, moving back to the desk chair. He collected the discarded costume and looked it over.

The Beast stood to look through the closet. "Maybe we can find them."

Not without plumbing tools, Annie thought as she pulled on her shirt.

"Do you know where to start looking?" Bebe asked.

"Depends on how efficient the plumbing is in this building," he said softly. Annie shot a shocked look up at him. He winked then turned around. "They're not on that shelf above the sink? I thought I saw Annie dressing up in front of the mirror with the Cupid one…"

The only costume Bebe could find was the Raven. "No," Ray said, "that one's reserved for our-"

"Oh, I don't care," Bebe said, tossing the plastic back back. "It's so depressing, anyway."

"Depressing? She's wonderful in that. When she recites Poe-"

"See?" Bebe said. "Poe. He's depressing."

Ray looked at Annie for a second. The two of them read Poe for fun, Moorcock for adventure and Lovecraft when they couldn't find anything on TV worth watching. In that moment, Annie knew that the human couple was doomed. At some point Bebe would leave and Ray would let her go. But not until he got tired of the sex, she estimated. Maybe twenty, thirty years tops.

He picked up his sylph, offered his arm to his girl and they left.

----

Ray pulled into the theatre parking lot. Both women in the car scanned the marquee to figure out what movie they were seeing.

"If we do," Annie said suddenly from the dashboard, "you can't complain about the technology."

"And you can't make your speech about Moneypenny," he replied.

"What are you two talking about?" Bebe asked.

"He," Annie said, pointing at Ray while he parked, "always wants to talk about why the secret weapon or the special tool won't work. Why Bond would be up shit creek if he really had to depend on Q branch."

"No," he replied, "I love Q. I just hate the way they explain the science in the movies."

"Bond movies?" Bebe asked. "We're going to see For Your Eyes?"

"That was the plan," Ray said tentatively.

Bebe shrugged and removed her seat belt. "And what's this speech? Oh!" She nodded. "Monypenny's a sylph."

"And Annie-" Ray started to say.

"Always cheers for sylphs!" Bebe smiled and got out of the car. Ray shook his head and collected his sylph.

Lois Maxwell had completed her parts of the Bond movie being produced on The Day. Everything they needed Miss Moneypenny for was in the can when she shrank.

Internet bulletin boards and the fanzines discussed her and her character's fate for two years.

Some had expected them to simply replace the actress. Others that special effects would be used to put her at normal scale. Still more were sure that the character would be retired, with or without a reference to her shrinking.

Since every intelligence and law enforcement community in the West saw sylphs as a security risk, the last seemed to be the likeliest.

When the Spy Who Loved Me came out, she'd simply been there, a little over five inches tall, working comfortably on her customized desk.

They never said word one on the screen about her shrinking. Obviously, she was still doing her job because she still could. And M clearly still trusted and depended upon her. And James still traded the same innuendo with her.

Annie fell in love with the character, the writers and the producers.

All the other sylphs on the screen were agents or dupes of the bad guy, of course. But in Annie's eyes Miss Moneypenny more than made up for the stereotypical evil and/or stupid sylph so common in spy thrillers.

Annie sprawled on Ray's shoulder and drank in the movie. One day, she was sure, there would be a Double-O field agent sylph. She'd be brunette, specializing in covert entry, partnered with Bond for an intrusion.

But he'd be in trouble, of course, and the platinum blonde spy would turn out to be an evil bitch and all her efforts to convince James that the sylph was the one screwing up their mission would blow up in her face. Maybe literally, the sylph being a Double-O and all.

Then she would stand on James' hand and… Then the SPY would stand on James' hand, there'd be a loving kiss and the music would swell up over the promise of imminent intimacy.

And Hollywood could start casting sylphs as, if not leading ladies, at least appropriate love interests.

Her backwards trip through the history of cinema, selecting roles that would be sylph appropriate, was interrupted when her platform tilted. The sounds of deep kisses from the other side of Ray's head soured her mood.

She tore up the remaining two popcorn kernels in her tub and tossed the pieces up at Ray's hair.

After the movie, they went to a restaurant Bebe suggested. As the hostess showed them to a table, Ray looked a little uncomfortable.

"Bebe, this place…"

"Expensive, I know," she said. "But it's my treat."

"I wasn't saying that," he protested as he pulled out her chair.

"I know," she replied. "But I want to do this for you. So it's for me. Besides, all I ever get here are appetizers and dessert."

"Ah," he grunted, placing Annie on the table by his plate. "Well, I'm not really all that hungry, either."

They ordered and discussed the movie. Ray was allowed to make three comments about impossible technology, now that it wouldn't interrupt the movie.

Annie declined an invitation to give her opinions on Moneypenny. Ray shrugged and turned back to Bebe.

They shared an order of nachos. Annie brought out her own hammer to break her chip into bite-sized pieces. Bebe thought it was just too cute for words and had her break up two more just for show.

Ray stood while they were clearing the appetizer. "I have to take a little break," he apologized and walked off.

"I'd like to change our desert order," Bebe told the waitress. "We'll have a Passion Cake."

"I'll bring that right out," she promised and strode off through the tables. Bebe turned her wide smile down to Annie.

"Would you like to be on the cake, sweetheart?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Ray?" Annie asked. She crossed her arms and leaned against Ray's glass. The condensation wicked through her clothes in an instant and chilled her behind. She refused to flinch, though.

"Well, I'm going to tell Ray it was your idea," The Beast said. The smile never flickered. "Now, I'll tell you this for free, darling. You should pick your battles."

"I don't need any-"

"Pay attention," Bebe hissed. "Ray is going to come back to the table. And Ray is going to see a Passion Cake. Any man that sees a Passion Cake gets excited. If you want him excited about you or about some random slut, that's up to you.

"It's also a fact that after the cake is gone, Ray's going to want to do something about that excitement. There will be two women here, you and me, and I can guarantee you, I can satisfy him better than you ever possibly could."

She leaned over and pressed her arms in. The cleavage swelled up into Annie's view like a slow, fleshy explosion.

The sylph almost boasted that she could certainly satisfy her master. But that was a secret, a taboo aspect of their relationship. Odd, considering what was going to be happening on the table in a few minutes, but what can you do, huh?

She just peeled herself off the glass and walked away from the Beast.

"How are my girls?" Ray said as he sat down.

"Ducky," Annie growled. Then she feared she looked jealous so she smiled. "Just can't wait for desert," she said.

"Me, either," he said. "Haven't had a real banana split since-"

The waitress was wheeling a cart across the room. Diners turned and even stood to watch it approach Ray and Bebe's table.

A cake stood in the center, under a cut crystal dome. Stepped platforms on either side displayed six sylphs. Three males on the right stood at attention, three women on the left posed more naturally.

"Did we order…?" Ray asked.

"It was Annie's idea," Bebe said. The cake was placed between the couple. The waitress looked between the man and woman.

"Will your sylph be participating?" Bebe looked at Ray. He shrugged and looked at Annie. She shrugged and took off her shirt.

"And who will be selecting the other sylph?" the waitress went on. Ray looked at Bebe. Bebe shrugged and said, "Whoever she likes, I guess."

Annie forced a smile, stepped out of her skirt and looked at the men.

"That one," she said. "The one on the right." He was picked up and gently deposited to Bebe's side of the Passion Cake. Annie stepped towards it from Ray's side.

"Have a passionate meal, evening and life," the waitress offered and removed the cart.

It was a wonderful cake, Annie had to admit. It was crafted to resemble a bed. Two chocolate bars were the headboard and the foot. The blankets were a thick layer of butter cream frosting. Two marshmallow pillows lay at the end.

Beyond the pastry was her 'date' for the evening. She'd selected a sylph that turned out to be shorter than she thought. He was black, muscular and apparently completely without hair.

And he was quite happy to be here, she saw. She found that she didn't really have to work that hard for the smile.

They both climbed up on the cake and slithered towards each other. "Hi, I'm Annie," she said.

He scooped up a handful of frosting and dabbed it at her face. They kissed, then licked frosting off each other's faces.

She pulled at him and lay back against a pillow. They started to touch and explore each other. At the last minute she rolled over onto her face.

If anyone was going to lick the frosting off of her, she wanted it to be Ray. And she suspected he'd be a tiny bit squeamish about licking where the little man touched her.

Her partner wasted no time and took her energetically from behind. Since this was a performance, she remembered to moan a bit louder than necessary.

The cake bounced, frosting flew and the candy bar broke in two under her grip. Finally, the male screeched and clutched her to him. She shrieked in reply and pushed back against him. Then they collapsed.

Gentle hands pulled the couple apart. She saw that Ray held the knife and smiled. She didn't worry a bit as he cut the cake in half and scooped her side onto his plate.

He swiped a bit of frosting off of her breast and licked it almost clean. When he offered her that finger she licked the last little bit off.

Then he carefully picked her up. As she suspected, he avoided any frosting that might taste of her partner. Twist as she might, he refused to clean her off anywhere below the waist. She smiled and stopped trying.

Across the table, Bebe slurped as she worked her treat completely clean. Annie glanced and saw the woman's eyes were closed. She twisted the man back and forth, diligently cleaning every fold. He seemed to be enjoying it, but that was his job.

Ray set Annie down and took up his fork. He offered a bit of the first slice to his sylph. She shook her head and reached for a napkin.

"Oh, no, no, no," Bebe said. "You missed a spot, you naughty boy."

The Beast clutched her up into the air and hungrily licked off all the frosting Ray had missed. Annie was less than thrilled, but the drop down was too big to be worth kicking.

She noticed that the other sylph was still in the other paw, watching the performance with wide eyes. And to shock him… Well, that had to be a bad sign.

She felt dirty when Bebe finally put her down. Ray's hand came at her from across the table and she flinched away. He paused, then picked her up anyway.

She started to fight, but then he started wiping her off with a damp napkin. The Beast had gotten every molecule of frosting, so Annie realized he must be trying to clean saliva off of her.

The sylph relaxed, laying back in his hand to let him. 'Thank you,' she mouthed. He winked, dipped the napkin in his drink and continued.

His hand was still wet when he placed her down on the table. She watched as he quickly sketched the letter 'A' with water. It faded quickly but she nodded to show that she'd seen it.

She wasn't sure what she was going to say, but he'd promised Amnesty. If he was doing that, the sylph was sure that the Bebeast had already lost.

Bebe held the other sylph until the waitress came to retrieve him. Then she gulped down her half of the cake and called for the check.

As they walked to the car, Annie noticed that Ray was polite, almost formal, towards Bebe. The monster seemed confused, obviously expecting to be being mauled at by now.

He handed her into the car and walked around to his side. He left Annie in her customary pocket and drove towards Bebe's place.

"Who picked the Passion Cake, Annie?" he finally asked.

"She did," Bebe and Annie both said at once.

"Then why, Annie, didn't you say so when Bebe said it was you?" Bebe gasped when he clearly accepted the sylph's side of the story without question. Annie resisted trying to do a victory dance while still apocket.

"I didn't want you to think I was jealous," she said.

"And who decided you were going to participate?" he asked.

"Well, Bebe said that you were going to be excited…"

----

Ray pulled to a stop in front of Bebe's building. "Get out," he said. Annie shrunk down into his pocket.

"What? You're going to believe her over-"

"This isn't about that," he said. He stared straight ahead, hands relaxed on the wheel. "You didn't ask before licking frosting off of my sylph. You didn't ask me, you didn't ask her."

"But you liked it," Bebe purred. A hand stole over to caress his thigh, his crotch. "I know you did."

"I didn't, really," he said, moving her hand to her own lap. "My best friend looked uncomfortable. I am sorry, Bebe, but I just can't trust you any more."

"I'll apologize," she said, "I'll make it up to-"

"Get out," he repeated.

She implored, he ignored. She whined, he waited. She begged. He turned off the car engine and got comfortable in his seat. She swore. She slugged him and she got out.

Annie's ears popped as the Beast slammed the door and slunk off into the night. Ray started the car.

"Thank you," she said. He grunted. "What time is it?" He glanced at a neon sign for the bank as they went by.

"Oh! We have to hurry home!" she said. "I know JUST what we need!"

------

He settled into the chair in the lounge juggling the box of candy and the bottle of beer. "What are we watching?" he asked.

"You'll see," Annie promised, leaning on the remote. "Some day," she muttered, "we'll just jump to the desired channel, rather than having to coast through each one…"

"By then there'll be 400 channels," he said. "You want a remote with 400 buttons?"

She finally reached her target, adjusted the volume and scurried over to his lap. "Now, this is what I did for the week after I broke up with Poul." She settled in where there was maximum heat and minimum movement.

He picked out a piece of candy and placed it near her. She broke off some of the chocolate shell and waited.

"Hang on," he said. "We were here for the week after… You snuck out and watched TV every night?"

"I was sad," she said in her most mournful voice. She wriggled a bit on his lap. "It is better with a friend, though," she admitted.

At midnight the channel started showing a very old Twilight Zone episode.

"Ah. Yes," he agreed, "this might be just what the doctor- Hey. What's in my hair?"

"Shhhhhhh!"

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