Rex was prowling the back alleys looking for something, anything of value, when he saw the woman.  She was pretty, though it was hard to see through the dirt and her tattered dress.  He pulled his switchblade out of his back pocket, and flipped it open.  “Lady, I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you’re in the wrong part of town.”

She stared at the cold-eyed teen as if she were seeing a ghost.  “No, please...  I don’t have anything of value left.”

Rex looked to her hand.  “I see a shiny ring there.  It’ll fetch enough to keep me going for a week at least.”

The woman laughed hysterically.  “I’d give it to you if I could.  It’s cursed.”

Rex laughed as well.  “Cursed?  You think I care?  Hand it over or I cut it off.”

“I’ve tried that already.  It doesn’t work.”

“I don’t believe in curses,” said Rex, eyes shifting back to the ring.

“But you do believe it could be magic.  It is.  Anyone who touches me, makes me become whatever woman they desire.  And I can’t take it off.”

“Magic?  Magic is worth a fortune.  Give me the ring!”  Rex grabbed at her hand.  The ring slipped off as easily as if it was greased.

The woman stared down at her ringless finger and started to laugh, giddily this time.  “I’m free!  Oh thank the stars, I’m finally free!”  She fled.

Rex let her go, eyes captivated by the ring.  By all rights it should be sitting in the palm of his hand, but there it was on his right ring finger, sparkling away.  He tried to take it off, and failed.  Prying at it with the blunt side of his knife didn’t help.

Rex shrugged then, and continued his prowl.  There was little enough to find on the mean streets, but his eyes were as sharp as his knife, both of which served to liberate bits of junk that could be repurposed and sold.

When he returned to his squat in the basement of a burned-out store, dawn was breaking.  His friend was sitting by their meager possessions.  “Hey Rex.  Any luck?”

“Hey Eddie.  The usual trash.  Enough for another day.”  Rex tumbled his loot to the rickety table.

“And a pretty ring.  Score!”

Rex shook his head.  “Bitch I got it from said it was cursed.  I can’t take it off.  Gimme a hand with it, will you?”

Eddie reached for the ring, but the moment he touched Rex’s hand, magic happened.  Rex’s fingers became slim and delicate.  Rex yelped and pulled away from Eddie’s touch, but it was too late.  The change spread up his arm, and when it reached his torso the sprouting of his breasts made the nature of the change perfectly clear.  His shirt changed with it, going from a dirty T-shirt to a pretty white blouse that looked incongruous under his leather vest.

Rex touched his face as it changed, taking his rough features and stubble away, replacing it with smooth skin.  His hair fell to shoulder length, lightening from black to auburn and acquiring gentle waves.

“Barbara?” asked Eddie in wonder.

“Who’s Barbara?” asked Rex in his new, delicate voice.  “I’m still Rex.”

“You even sound like her,” breathed Eddie.

“Like who?”

Eddie stared into the face of the vision before hime.  “You look exactly like my high-school crush, Barbara.  I never had the courage to talk to her, she was out of my league.  But I’ve never stopped dreaming about her.  Did... did the ring do this?”

“Duh!  Of course it was the stupid ring.”

Eddie snorted.  “You might have her voice, but you sure as hell don’t talk like her.”

“So think of me and touch me again.”  Rex held out his hand.  His far too delicate hand.  He looked away as Eddie reached out for it.  The touch did nothing this time.

“Sorry man.  It’s not like I was thinking about her when I touched you the first time.  It must work from deeper desires than that.  Maybe if you can find some chick you used to date?”

Rex moaned.  “The woman.  She said it turned her into ‘whatever woman they desire’.  I’m stuck!”

Eddie pursed his lips in thought.  “That ring could be our ticket out of this dump.”

“Dude, I can’t take it off.  We can’t sell it.”

“No, but imagine how much guys would pay for a night with their fantasy woman.”

Rex stared at Eddie, aghast.  “You’re not serious.”

“We’re bums, Rex.  Street trash.  What future do we have?”

“You’re asking me to become a fucking whore!” shouted Rex.  It didn’t have the imapct he’d hoped in his feminine voice, sounding petulant instead of forceful.  “God, I don’t even sound like me any more.”

“Would it be worse than what we do now?” asked Eddie softly.

Rex bowed his head, shuddering as his new hair cascaded around his face.  “No.  I’d fuck a man for a hot meal right now.  For a chance to sleep in a real bed, with a real roof over my head?  He can turn me into anything he wants.  Do it.”

Eddie did his best to protect Rex.  They found a corner whose pimp was willing to sub-let at a reasonable percentage.  Eddie made sure to eye the guys who came calling, letting them know that if they messed with ‘Regina’ they were messing with him.

Rex didn’t take well to the renaming, and his pitch sucked bad enough that one of the other girls on the corner took pity on him.  She didn’t believe his ‘fantasy woman’ story at first, but humored him enough to let one of her clients touch the ‘new girl’.  Both were amazed when she became blonde and curvaceous, and her simple blouse, skirt and stockings turned into a halter top, micro-skirt and fishnet leggings.

“Holy crap!” blurted Lara.  “You really can change.”

“How much for the two of you?” asked the guy in the car.

Rex shrugged and looked to Lara.  “You up for this, kid?” asked the older woman.

“I’ll do anything.”

Lara grinned back.  “Oh, you’re going to be fun.”  She negotiated a price that made Rex’s eyes bug out, and soon the two of them were sitting in the back seat of a clean, warm car.

Afterward, Rex thanked Lara for her guidance, turning a scary experience into something that was almost fun.

Lara chuckled at the compliment.  “That’s a good start.  This work isn’t for everyone, and you have to let go of your old way of thinking.  With your looks, and that curse?  You’re going to go far, and fast.  Remember me when you’re a huge success, okay?”

Regina smiled at her.  “Of course.”

Lara’s words proved true.  Over the course of the next week, Regina drew client after client.  Each left her changed.  Her chest grew larger and larger, her hair longer and mostly but not always blonde.  But more importantly, more significantly, she grew to accept her fate.  It was not an onerous one, making people happy for money.  All it required was that she become the girl her clients expected her to be, acting flirty or friendly, but always sexy.

The sex was another matter.  The part of Regina that was still Rex tried to be disgusted by the requests, but Regina always smiled.  Smiled and agreed to anything.  And most of the time, making her clients smile left her feeling pleased.

After a week sharing a corner with Lara, Regina was making twice what Lara was.  She could see Lara’s attitude toward her changing, and after one particularly generous client left her with a tip for being “exactly what he imagined”, Regina used it to hire Lara for half an hour.

“What do you want?” asked Lara once they were away from the corner.

“I want to talk.  To thank you.  And to find a way out of this.  You resent me for taking the best clients.  I hate that I’m hurting you.  What should I do?”

Lara’s eyebrows lifted.  “You care?”

“I’m not broken.  Bent, yes.  I’ve spent a long time not caring.  But you were nice to me when I needed it most, and your advice and coaching has made what should have been unpleasant...  Well, much less unpleasant.  I expected to loathe what I needed to do.  But... I’m starting to like it.”

“Good.  Keep that, you’ll go far.  And... that might be best.  Go far from here.  There are way better places, you’re not beholden to this one.”

Regina nodded.  “And if I work elsewhere, you will do better?”

“Exactly.  I’ll miss you, little bird.  But you need to go test your wings.”

Lara gave Regina the address of a much better corner, and advice on approaching the person who ‘owned’ the location.

Regina and Eddie moved on, trading their squat for an actual apartment, with a roof and warm beds.  The clients in the new location were even more generous, and word of Regina’s “ability” spread.  She spent nights as starlets and porn stars, and treated much the same.

Then one night Eddie approached her with an offer.  “There’s a guy who wants you to be the... centerpiece of a party.  This wouldn’t be just one on one, there will be multiple guys there.”

Regina licked her lips.  “Sounds kinky.  Why are you worried?”

“The guy has a reputation.  Not a good one.  But he’s rich, rich, rich.”

“That’s the point, right?  To make money?” asked Regina.

“Yeah.  And the money is fantastic.  Set for life fantastic.”

“I’ll go, already!”

When Regina got into the limousine, the driver handed Eddie a small case.  He accepted with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and waved to Regina as if he did not expect to see her again.

Regina looked forward, and tried not to worry.  The gentleman who had hired her soon put her at ease.  He was charming and witty, and didn’t even touch her to see what she would become.

The party was nothing at all as Regina had expected.  There was a formal dinner, followed by ballroom dancing.  As she was passed from dance partner to dance partner, she changed into one woman after another.  Not the buxom forms she’d come to expect, instead she turned into slim, elegant women in expensive dresses.  She was plied with drink as the dance continued, the music getting faster and the dances getting more energetic.

When the music ended, Regina was too dizzy to stand without help, and allowed herself to be guided to a chair in the front of the room.  There was some discussion of money, and something that sounded a lot like an auction.  Then she was gently guided to yet another car, and whisked away.

She woke on silken sheets in a darkened room.  When Regina tried to get up, she found that her arms and legs were bound in silken restraints.  Worse, she couldn’t feel any clothes.  Crying for help produced only muffled echoes.

A few minutes later, the door opened and light flooded the room.  It was paneled in dark wood, with rich tapestries covering most of the walls to muffle the sound.  In other circumstances, Regina might have found it beautiful.

A figure paced toward her.  Regina blinked against the light silhouetting it, then her eyes widened further as she recognized a figure from the party.  He had watched her with avaricious eyes from the moment she first changed.  “Did you... buy me?”

The man approached the bed, and sat beside it.  “Quick-witted.  Excellent.  Do you understand your situation?”

Regina shook her head.  “I usually go home at the end of the night.”

“Not this time.”

“Do I get to go home at some point?” she asked softly.  “Please?”

“I paid a great deal of money for you.”

“That hardly benefits me if I can’t spend it.”

A frown creased the man’s face.  “Are you claiming you were not sold by a rightful owner?”

“I do not have an owner.  I am a free woman.”

He chuckled softly.  “Is that what you wish to be?  Do you have a life to go back to?”

Regina turned away and studied the tapestry opposite the man.  She had thought it a pastoral scene at first, but now that she studied it more closely she saw the perversities hidden away in bushes or behind closed doors.  “What do you want?”

“I have a very specific fantasy that you will not find among those images.  One that leaves you entirely at my mercy.”

“Ah,” said Regina.  “Do you have any?”

“Any what?”

“Mercy.”

The man sat silently for a time.  “Yes.”

Regina turned her head back to study what she found in that face.  “Then go ahead.”

He chuckled then.  “I need your permission?”

Regina tugged at her restraints.  “It would not seem so.  And yet, you want it.”

Another long hesitation.  “Yes.”

She bowed her head.  “Touch me.”

He leaned forward, and brushed her stomach with a kiss.  Regina felt the familiar ripple of change across her skin, and craned her head to watch.  Nothing changed obviously at first, but then she felt her legs start to pull inward.  The change progressed more slowly than usual, and she watched in surprise and growing horror as her legs slithered up into her body and vanished.

After her knees were no more, she turned away from the sight of her reduction to face her captor.  “Is this your fantasy?”

His bright-eyed, avaricious look would have been answer enough, but after a pause he gathered his wits enough to reply.  “Oh yes.  It’s beautiful.  You’re beautiful.”

Regina felt the assertion was dubious at best, but the customer was always right.  So she smiled as prettily as she knew how.  “Do you really think so?”

“Very much so.  But there’s something missing...”  He looked disturbed at the realization.

“Could it be my legs?” asked Regina, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.  And failing.

He laughed merrily.  “No, as we’ve already established, that part of you is perfect.  I think it’s the arms.”

Regina struggled with the bindings at her wrists.  “My arms?  But if they vanish, what happens to the ring?”

“The ring that won’t come off?  Cursed, yes?”

Regina nodded.

“I’m sure cursed items find a way.”  He leaned over her and brushed another kiss on her right hand.

Regina watched.  The reduction was even slower this time, her hand slimming to nothing before shrinking away.  The ring followed the change, stuck to the nub of flesh as her limb retracted into her body.  In the end, her ring simply perched on the flat of her shoulder, centered on the absent socket where her arm had been.  

Her captor poked at the ring with a handkerchief-covered hand, and it wouldn’t move.  “See?  Your curse remains.”

Regina sighed in relief.  “Thank god.”

“Happy to be cursed, now?”

“Because if someone else touches me they might come back.”

He pouted playfully.  “Unhappy with your changes?”

Regina looked herself over.  She wriggled a bit, and found that without the counter-tension, she could free her remaining hand.  She used it to lever herself up to a seated position, balancing carefully on her empty hips.  “I’m helpless.  But that was true without the ring.”

“Is being helpless but cherished so bad?”

Regina flashed him a genuine smile.  “Show me the cherished part, and I’ll tell you.”

“You do understand that if I touch you again, you will become even more helpless than you can imagine?”

Regina nodded.  “Do what you want.”  She lowered herself back down, then offered up her arm.

He hovered over her hand, then darted closer to kiss her at the elbow.  The reduction stated there.  Her arm was forced straight by the absence of its middle joint, then compressed toward it.  In the end, all that was left was wriggling fingers at her shoulder, then yet another empty dome of flesh.

Regina had watched the last reduction avidly.  “All done.”

“Not quite.”  He leaned in and pressed a kiss to the hollow of her throat.  Regina gasped at the fire his touch stoked, then again as she felt the change begin.  “Why?”

“Perfection.”

Regina’s mouth slipped away before she could find anything to say.  She closed her eyes and let herself relax into the change.  Her fate was set now, nothing more she could do about it but hope her captor cherished her enough to keep her safe.

The silence and darkness left her with only the touch of silk sheets on her back.  For a time she tried counting heartbeats, but gave it up as pointless.  The number had no meaning when she had no way to know when or if her exile from the world of senses other than touch might end.

A grazing touch across her belly felt like a lifeline in the dark, and she tried to move toward it.  The hand pulled away and left her alone for another timeless span.

Then again, a gentle touch, this time where her neck had been.  The warm, wet suction of a kiss blossomed through her world, became it.

On and on the touches went, growing more frequent, more tender, and more intimate.

Regina agreed with him in the end.  She was perfect.

*** *** ***

When Regina’s head returned, she blinked at the brightness.  “What?”

A new man was looking at her with some concern.  “Good morning, miss.  How may I be of service.”

Regina sat up, and looked around.  She was still in the same dark-panelled, tapestried room.  The man before her was dressed in a dark suit, and putting a white glove back onto his hand.  “Who are you?”

“My name is James.  I’m sir’s butler and general assistant.  I have to say this morning’s particular service is a new one.  You’re the spitting image of my wife.”

Regina blushed.  “Oh.  Um, sorry?”  She covered herself up as best she could with her hands.  She took a moment to check out her body, finding it a nice change from her usual.  She had the curves of an earnest baker, rather than a streetwalker.

“Don’t worry about it.  It’s not as if I haven’t seen it before, after all.”  The butler set a pretty floral dress on the bed.  “This is one of my wife’s.  I did not know why I was asked to bring it today, until now.”

Regina thanked him, and quickly donned the dress.  “Um, now what?”

“Sir was quite disappointed to learn that his... purchase was invalid.  He wishes you no ill, and if you would like to leave has instructed me to drive you to wherever you would like to go.”

“Oh.”  Regina sat back down on the bed.  “But he would prefer it if I stayed for a time?”

“Indeed, miss.”

“Call me Regina, please.  I’m no miss, as I’m sure you have guessed.”

“One prefers not to make assumptions.  Will you stay, then?”

Regina nodded.  “For now.”

James showed her around the house.  Regina found it a little imposing, room after room.  But there was a library with a bright solarium next to it, and she found her way back there after the household’s cook had prepared her a lovely lunch.

As the sun was setting, the owner of the house found her there.  “Ah, Regina, yes?  James said you’d look like his wife.  And that you’d decided to stay on for a time.  I hope last night was not too...”

Regina got up and went up to him.  She reached for his hand, but he quickly crossed them behind his back.  “Last night was an amazing experience.  What’s wrong?”

“I am very fond of James and Maisie.  With you looking like her, it feels... wrong.”

“Then touch me, make me yours again.”

“You’ll end up helpless.  As will I.  And dinner has been served.  Gustav is a master, and it would be a shame to let the food go to waste.”

Regina smiled.  “I asked him to surprise me when he offered me lunch.  He seemed pleased, and it was wonderful.”

The master of the house smiled.  “He does love his work.  Come,” he offered her an elbow, keeping his hand tucked tight against his side.

Regina put her hand on his jacket sleeve, and followed him to dinner.  It was every bit as good as promised, and afterward they retired to the dark room from the night before.

“Do you want to tie me up?” asked Regina as she perched on the bed.

The master cast off his jacket and loosened his tie.  “Not with silk.”

Regina lay back, and kicked off the sensible shoes she’d been wearing, also courtesy of James.  She offered up her feet, wiggling her toes at him.  “You know you want to.”

He reached out then, grasping each foot in a hand.  They slowly melted away as he kneaded them.  Regina purred with pleasure at the feel of his strong hands working on her legs.  When they reached her knees, she noticed other changes as well.  Her body was no longer pudgy, but buxom, and her hair had fallen around her shoulders in dark waves.  “You changed all of me, but only erased part of my legs?  How?”

“I learned early on to hide my passions.  To bridle them.  I cannot bring your limbs back, that is beyond what my willpower can manage.  But it seems I can make the process slow enough to savour.”

He proceeded to nibble away at her limbs.  Part of an arm, a bit of leg, slowly but surely reducing her yet again to  helplessness.  She asked, at the end, to keep her head.  He tried, but running his hands reverently over her reduced body distracted him, and she felt the change take her.  She said nothing, was not sure he even noticed, and then the darkness took her.

The lovemaking was frenzied this time, not slow and careful.  Seeking something and not finding it.

In the morning she woke in Maisie’s body, with another floral dress set on a chair beside the bed.  She found that there was a private bathroom behind one of the tapestries, and took a long bath in it.  Dressed, she tried the door and found it unlocked.

James greeted her warmly, and Gustav smiled when she asked to be surprised once again.  But she felt out of place, and retreated to the solarium once more.

The master of the house found her there.  “Are you happy here?”

Regina sighed.  “It’s lovely.  If you’d asked me a year ago, something like this would be everything I wanted.  But I don’t fit here.”

“I know.  It was wrong to cage you.  I have... resolved matters with the one who sold you.  He repaid most of my bid, with ill grace.  I would suggest you move on to another city when you leave.”

Regina smiled at him.  “What will you do now, with your fantasy?”

He chuckled.  “I have the memory of that first, perfect night.  It will sustain me as I return to my wife and my appointed life.  I can stay here no more than you can, though I do come to visit when I need time away.”

“You’re married?  Does she know what you do here?”

He shook his head.  “She thinks I take lovers, and accepts that.  I have, but not often.  I shan’t think I will do so again, not after...”

“You should tell her.  You have money enough to find magic that would...”

He held up a glittering black disc, careful only to touch it by the silvered edges.  “I’ve owned this for years.  The effects are temporary, about six hours.  May I?”

Regina nodded, holding out her left hand.  Touching it made her finger vanish as if it had never been.  “But you’ve never used it before.”

“I could not imagine that someone would accept it willingly.”

“Tell her about me.  Tell her I said that the experience was one of the most beautiful in my life.”

He chuckled softly.  “I don’t know that she’ll give your words much weight.  She’s a fiery one, fierce and independent.  I love her for it dearly, but the idea that she’d consent to being so helpless...”

“Ask.  You love her, and she loves you.  Let her see.  Let her decide.”

He nodded.  “Stay as long as you like.  James will arrange transportation to wherever you would like to go next.  Gustav will travel back to the city with me, but James stays here.”

Regina kissed him goodbye, losing her arms but becoming someone other than Maisie in the process.  She spent a week at the country house, allowing James to help her though he was careful never to touch her.  She met Maisie one evening, and allowed James to change her then.  Maisie’s eyes were bright to see Regina become her twin.

Maisie invited Regina to their house, a much more comfortably sized place.  She found a pair of black dresses that were nearly identical, and did Regina’s makeup to match her own.  As twins they approached James and offered him a night he’d never forget.  He chuckled at them indulgently, and went to Maisie without hesitation.  “Thank you for the offer, dear.  But I should rather just be with you.”

Regina told James that she would leave the next day.  When she got up that morning, there was a message from the master of the house, a sealed letter on heavy parchment.  The note inside simply read, “She said yes.”

Also with it was a money order for more than Regina had ever owned in her life, or had ever expected to.  She showed it to James, who smiled.  “The master is very generous when he sees fit.”

*** *** ***

Regina had settled in to her new hometown after a month.  The townhouse she’d bought had only used a third of the money she’d been gifted, and the rest was providing her with a modest income.  If she was careful, she’d never need to work again.

She took to taking long walks in the nearby parks.  One had a lovely little hill, and she decided to climb it to see what the view was like.  Near the peak, the path widened to allow for a bench and a bit of rail, a scenic spot overlooking the valley below.  She sat there for some time, drinking in the view.

“It’s even prettier at sunset.”

Regina turned to see a young man sitting on the other end of the bench.  He looked in his early twenties, clean-shaven.  Resting on the bench beside him was a well-worn satchel with the logo of a local college.  He had a sketchbook in his lap, and was drawing without looking down.  She moved closer and looked down at the work.  It was a loose sketch of Maisie.  Of her.

“Do you come here often?”  The moment she said it, she winced.  It sounded like a terrible pickup line.

“When I get the chance.  It’s beautiful, and quiet.”  He glanced over at her and smiled.  “It’s a bit warm out for gloves.”

Regina looked down at her hands.  She’d taken to wearing a pair of light gloves to avoid accidental touches.  “I have a curse.  Well, a cursed ring.  If someone touches me, I become their deepest desire.”

The young man’s eyes lit with curiosity and wonder.  “Truly?  That sounds...  I want to say incredible, but it makes sense of the gloves.  It’d be awfully inconvenient to change all the time.”

Regina smiled.  “Incredible... yes, I suppose.  I’ve been so many women.  For a time, I made my living becoming people’s dreams for money.  I was the most expensive hooker in town.”

The young man nodded, eyes distant as if he was imagining her other shapes.  “I can imagine.  I’m afraid I’m far too poor to afford such a thing.”

He opened the notebook then, and started to draw.  Regina watched for a time as a buxom woman appeared on the page.  “She’s pretty.  Someone you know?”

“Just... what I saw when you mentioned your trade.  You don’t look like that now.  Why?”

Regina shrugged. “I’ve given it up.  Decided I don’t want to do it for money any more.”  She studied him, then slipped off her gloves, and set them down with her purse at the leg of the bench, so that her wallet and keys would not be affected.  She held a bare hand out to him.  “For nice young men who smile and draw me like I’m pretty?  No charge.”

He laughed then, and his charcoal-stained hand touched hers.  Magic flickered across her body, not once, but repeatedly.  A fine sheen of green scales raced up her arm, followed by shiny black latex, then silvery metal, then finally purple fur.  Her body stabilized then, still wearing a floral dress, but this time cut to fit her slimmer body.  The dress was purple and green, matching her purple fur with its black stripes.  Her ears fanned toward him as her long, nimble tongue tested her needle-sharp teeth.

Regina stared down at her hands.  Her paws, in truth, though as she flexed them and extended her claws, she found she’d retained a thumb and a fair degree of dexterity.  “This is your fantasy?” she asked in a rumbling voice that sounded half like a purr.

“One of many.  Do you like it?”

Regina purrred softly and smiled.  “It’s lovely.  Different.  I wanted a change, and you certainly have provided.  But it’s perhaps a little impractical once we get back to town.”

He held out his hand once more, and Regina put her paw in it.  A moment later, she had a hand once more, slim and delicate.  Youthful skin spread up her arm, over her body.  Her build did not change much, and her dress kept its purple theme.  “You are a remarkable young man.”

“Not nearly as remarkable as you.  I’m Vincent, by the way.”

“Regina.”  She touched her face to reassure herself she was human.

Vincent chuckled.  “You have slitted eyes, otherwise you look normal enough to walk down the street unremarked.”

“Thank you.  This is lovely.  Is it... someone from town?”

He shook his head.  “Not now.  Mary was my high school crush, but she moved out to go to university, and never came back.  Her mother moved to be near her when she got married, so you should be fine.”

“You miss her?” asked Regina softly.

He nodded.  “Sorry.  I could probably come up with something with less baggage.  I want to kiss you so badly right now.”

Regina leaned in closer.  “Then by all means, do so.”

Vincent was an inexpert kisser, but made up for it with enthusiasm.  Regina felt her body shift multiple times within the kiss, lengthening her tongue among other things.  When she broke for air she was dizzy, and blind.  She put her hands to her face and found a round, soft orb where her head should be.  “Vincent?”

“Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry.  I got distracted.”  He touched her face, and sight returned.

“Did you turn my head into a breast?”

Vincent blushed and nodded.  “I’m so sorry.”

Regina grinned at him.  “Don’t be.”  She got up, tested her body to make sure it all worked normally.  As she put her gloves back on she asked, “If I walk up here tomorrow, will I see you?”

“Definitely.”

After two more meetings on the mountainside, Regina invited Vincent back to her townhouse.  She had drawn the curtains of her living room before leaving, so they had privacy the moment the door closed.  A moment after that her gloves were off, followed by her dress.

“Touch me.  Make me your wildest fantasy.”

Vincent laughed.  “You already are.  A girl who will be anything I dream?  I don’t even know where to start.”

“I’m not going anywhere.  Start wherever you like, because I want to be everything.”

He pulled her into a kiss then, and her body changed.  The fur and the purr felt familiar.  When she broke from the kiss she checked out her body.  “The first one from the mountain.  Ooh, and I have a tail.”  She swished it around Vincent’s waist, and used it to draw him toward the bedroom.

*** *** ***

Vincent had a job as a clerk in a local store, and still lived at home with his parents.  Nominally.  Since meeting Regina, he’d spent every minute he could with her, and slept in her bed.  Frequently she woke in a different form than she’d gone to sleep, some of which weren’t even remotely human.  Vincent apologized each time, and each time Regina pulled him in for a hug whether it was with tentacles, wings, or once with pseudopods of goo.

Regina often ended up with a breast for a head when making love with Vincent.  One night as he kissed her back to humanity, Vincent asked, “What do you want to be?”

“Anything you like,” was her immediate answer.

Vincent shook his head.  “No.  I mean, if you could design your own body.  I’m game to try anything.  I bet if we worked at it, I could give you your original body back.”

Regina shook her head.  “The woman who gave me the ring said it only turned people into women.”

Vincent laughed.  “Given everything you’ve been?  I’m pretty sure she’s wrong.”  He touched Regina’s hand, and moments later she was his twin.

“Oh.  Wow.”  Regina stared down at herself, then slowly described Rex’s body.  Vincent sculpted her until her body was the one she’d had when she’d first acquired the ring.  Regina tried to call herself Rex, but it no longer felt right.

She told the story of the ring, of how she’d taken it at knifepoint.  Vincent nodded through it, then held out his hand.  “I know what the ring does.  Give it to me.”

Regina looked at him like he’d grown another head.  “Are you mad?”

Vincent smiled.  “I’m... curious.”

Regina cautiously offered her hand out.  Vincent touched the ring, and a moment later it was on his finger.  “Woah.  Magic.”

“Yeah.  But now you’re stuck.  If I touch you, I don’t know what you’ll become.  I’ve never done this before.  I don’t want to lose you.”

Vincent chuckled softly.  “You won’t.  I’m pretty sure you love me as much as I love you.  Touch me.”

Regina reached out and took Vincent’s hand.  He already had fine, artist’s hands, so the change was less noticeable there.  His arms slimmed down, and breasts grew on his chest.  When the changes stopped, Vincent looked like he’d become his own sister.  He studied himself in the mirror, and smiled.  “Interesting.  C’mere.”

“What?”

“Don’t you want to make love like this?” asked Vincent in his new, sweeter voice.  “I’m your fantasy, after all.”

Regina pounced.  Their lovemaking was as frenzied as in their first days together, and left her exhausted and sated in a way she had never been before.  She cuddled up against Vincent, and drifted to sleep.

Regina woke to a breast-faced woman sharing the bed with her, and her eyes widened in surprise.  “Oh, Victor, I had no idea.  I’m so sorry.”

The breast leaned in for a kiss, and soon had Victor’s face once more.  “No apology necessary.  That was incredible.  See, you can do it too!”

Regina very carefully reconstructed Victor as she imagined him, and he changed.  Once she was done, he got up to study himself in her full-length mirror.  “I think you’ve made some improvements.”

Regina blushed.  “I won’t apologize for that.  You look great.  May I have my ring back?”

“Why?”

“Because while this was fun, this body isn’t the one I want to live in.  I am not Rex any more.  I am your Regina.”

“As my lady wishes.”  Vincent held out his hand, and the ring jumped to Regina’s finger before they even touched.  A moment later, he was holding Regina’s familiar female body tight.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.  Now turn me into something crazy.”

Vincent thought about that for a moment.  “I need to go to work...”  In his arms, Regina dwindled, grinning up at him as she shrank.

“Taking me to work with you?”

Vincent nodded, and she dwindled further.  In the end there was nothing but a pink rubber wristband threaded through the ring.  Vincent slipped it over his wrist, kissed it tenderly, then dressed for work.

They were never apart again.