Sanguine: Into the darkness.

Either Eve's fed on by Vince and merges with him in some weirdo shifting mix thing, or he just does it like the blood transfusion way. ... After reading, well, I wasn't wrong.

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"Reaching the room, she entered, there were two beds. The one on the left had been claimed with a pink comforter and light blue pillows. It was adorned with stuffed animals, and there were posters of rainbows and unicorns on the wall on that side."

Superchick? No? Not sure what Gen this is...

...

Okay, so not feed and merge... But he got the backpack, so he can track her down or something? Nope.

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Huh, Sanguine is taking longer to form than I expected...

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Guido's gonna die? Trying to defend his client / his money? hmmm... ... Well, nope. I keep guessing wrong...

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Sorta slow transformation, as in it's spread out over the course of this story...

And not going the easy way to get introduced to Whateley... hmmm... That's assuming she's even going to be a student instead of one of the non-students...

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What to say about the characters themselves, well, Guido's a piece of shit. That other guy.. His beliefs... Is he gonna be important later? A lack of conviction is unlikely. And he probably would be able to pay... Which means things...

Eve's had a... very hard life, but at least she's healthy and stuff? Might she be functionally immortal? Hmmm. Well, her life's looking real good now, at least. And Val's too!

Do we know if Eve's really a cyborg? Because if she is... Well, tech is a possible problem.

The tracker that may or may not exist inside Eve's head.

Truth in the tales of H.G. Wells that involves the Morlocks, interesting. Vince Calloway, called Hell-bat and Man-Bat, ouch. Okay, I want to smack his mother for brushing off his concerns like that. And at 11, early manifestation. *winces* I've bitten my tongue before, but never something like this. And like the taste of his own blood, vampire-based mutation, oh boy.

Going through such changes, and leaving such a message for his mother, hit right at the heart from the get-go. Good lord, I know mutants can undergo extreme changes but that big at age 12 and with the extreme GSD, no wonder he is hiding. Police would shoot him on sight as a monster, or at least use it as an excuse. Afraid the New York winter would kill him, darn it, no child, no matter what they look like, should have to go through this.

Eve DuMont aka Everywoman, a mutant prostitute, and shapeshifter, takes all kinds. Mousy brunette for what appears to be her true appearance. Man, whoever drove her from NYU and a hopeful future into this lifestyle needs a lesson. Guido, her pimp, comes on her day off and has a big booking for her tonight, was a sleazeball.

30% at most, Guido isn't just a pimp, he intends to keep her poor and force her to work for him to survive, this sickens me.

Eve felt sick. “You promised me! No more pedophiles. No more sick bastards. You promised!”

With a scowl, Guido reared his fist back, and swung. She knew the feeling of a broken nose all too well. Concentrating, she popped it back into place and it began to heal immediately.

“Don’t you smart off to me. I own you. That little tracker in your brain means that I know who you are, where you are. I can find you. Don’t even think of running. You’re mine, bitch, to do with as I see fit.”

Tracker in her brain! Guido needs to die. And forcing her to cater to pedos just because she is a shapeshifter, is beyond disgusting.

Several years prior…

Eve as an excited 18-year-old arrived on the campus of NYU, with a desire to study and become an actress. Talking down to a freshman because they don't know where anything is and for being a freshman, arrogant and rude. All that stuff on the left side of the room, who is her roommate?

Thinking she has to remake herself in college, Eve, you need to make friends who are happy with you the way you are. Drugged at a party and she has regen so it is powerful, dang. A drug that makes her very suggestible, that monster!

The man laughed. “I don’t advise that… Eve.” Looking at him, she shuddered as he held up her purse. “I know who you are, and I can find your loved ones… If I have to. And if you think you can shift and escape me, think again. While you were out, I had a… friend… plant a tracking device in you. You can’t run, I can find you.”

Okay, Guido needs to be tortured slowly before he dies for pulling this kind of crap. 8 years old, the Katie Ann template is 8 years old in appearance! The customer needs to die as well.

Meanwhile…

Vince is in dire straights due to the cold and his hunger. Sneaking over to Manhattan and hiding in an old abandoned rail line, he can survive this ordeal. Venturing out more in spring Vince is smart enough to know the majority of people would kill him, unfortunately. Vince spots Eve and the man who paid for her services, follows, and lets out a cry in time to scare off the creep. Eve's hearing is that good she noticed Vince was there for several minutes, whoa. Eve running as the john is torn apart by Vince, just fate for man imo.

To think that they called him a monster, yet true monsters like this were allowed to roam free preying on the innocent.

Unfortunately true in our reality as well, thinking appearances are what deems someone a monster instead of actions. Unconscious, rats, Vince spared the john's life.

Police found the suspect, revealed to be one Tobert Gimlinsen unconscious and suffering from severe blood loss. Gimlinsen, a convicted pedophile, is in secure medical lock-up for violating a ruling that he is not to be within 500 feet of children.

Lock this scumbag up for a long time. Uh oh, searching for the 'monster' and little girl, this just got complicated.

Guido shows up by breaking down her door, she explains what happened, they had a plan and Tobert hadn't stuck to it at all, all his fault. Beating Eve up with a baseball bat because he isn't getting paid. *eyes red with fury* Guido needs to suffer a lot.

Has to fake being unconscious so Guido will stop and leave, injured so bad it will take an hour or two to heal even with her regen, he is a monster. Oh, "default" form, can't remember her original appearance and wouldn't take it if she could, ouch.

Vince in his hiding spot knows about the cameras and being spotted now.

They referred to themselves as the “Vermin”- cast-offs and unwanted that society had driven down here for one reason or another, many of them mutants with GSD extreme enough to make them unacceptable even in the crudest of social settings and homes.

This is just so wrong, no one, no matter their appearance, should be unwanted or driven away like this. Afraid so many want to kill him now, Vince needs help desperately.

*eyes bug out at what Guido puts Eve through* I can't think of a fate bad enough to equal his cruelty anymore. Months after the Katie Ann incident and Guido is trying to set her up with a pedo client again, please someone kill him already! Guido, you are a fool to think you've 'got this'. I hope Vince shows up and takes care of Guido once and for all.

Vince missing his family, his old life, and darn it I want to give him a hug and comfort him. Moving into the more active tunnels, please don't let his first encounter face-to-face with the 'Vermin' members be them trying to kill him.

Okay, that is messed up, not one adult asking the little girl why she is out late at night and alone. Great, the john pulls out a gun and randomly opens fire.

“She is beautiful! Her purity is going to belong to me! I will take her and use her to ascend to glory!” The man screamed in a voice that declared him to be clearly insane “I will lay upon her and ascend to godhood!”

Okay, this guy needs to be in a hospital for the criminally insane.

Vince sneaks in and attacks the john, only to be shot and have to push through the pain to lay the creep out. Guido falls off the edge of the platform and onto the track right onto the live rail, dead within seconds. The john snuck off and Vince is blinded by pain and hunger going after Eve now, uh oh.

Vince drank most of her blood and Eve doesn't blame him knowing what is needed to replenish lost energy and heal. Cameras aimed at them, Vince will be killed by the police or MCO for the attack on her if they don't get out of there, this is very bad. Eve, this isn't the best idea, now they will have a hunt and kill on sight order for Vince if they think his victims can rise as ghouls in his service.

Heading to Guido's brownstone, 40 minutes to get there carrying Vince, in her conditions that is scary long. A key under the mat, Guido was an arrogant idiot.

The sores and blisters would fade, disappear, and then new ones would appear.

What is going on there?

Vince wakes up and remembers going to rescue the little girl, and he is crying as he thinks he may have killed the girl by drinking her blood. Eve has a lot of explaining to do. Falling asleep right now might be best for Vince.

Subway train derailing due to a drunken conductor, yikes.

Had it actually crashed after hitting Guido and continuing on, or was there something more sinister going on?

I sincerely hope Guido didn't have any politicians in his pocket. Guido lived the high life, nothing but a leech, just forget about him, Eve. Strength relative to height stops at 6'6" for Eve, rats.

Wait, Vince's height is closer to her 6'6" in her current form now. Don't tell me Vince is suffering from a slow form of regenerative clone due to Eve's high-level regeneration and him having drunk so much of her blood?

That much washing to get him clean, eep. Lesions and sores are gone, wait, that could have been the start of regen cancer, crap.

Laying the poor beast down she toweled him vigorously, noting that huge clumps of fur came off as she did. The skin underneath was mottled like he had vitiligo. Funny, she hadn’t noticed that before.

Okay, now I seriously think Vince is changing due to her regen blood.

Vince is just barely awake, in pain, and needs blood to feed on. At least Eve is good at non-verbal communication as even if Vince can speak he is in no shape to right now.

Pig and ox blood, smart, plus spreading it out over various locations when purchasing. He lost body mass and height in the last few hours, regen clone, or does not get enough blood do that to him, hhm.

Firstly his genitals had begun to shrink, and secondly, his nipples were slightly larger.

Definitely regen clone of Eve, probably based on her original appearance or a younger version of it that she hasn't used in a long time.

What caught her eye, and concerned her even more were some of the stories of the regenerative factors in the blood over-writing the person’s DNA. Most of those that had survived the cancer had either come out disfigured, dead, or with physical or mental impairments.

At least the article about the girl who received regenerator blood in 1989 became an almost exact duplicate of the boy who donated it so she knows what is happening to Vince now.

Bwahaha, that idiot Guido named Eve his sole beneficiary believing he wouldn't really be dead but on the run for something and back later, an arrogant idiot to the end and beyond. Now she just has to keep Vince cooled down and alive as he goes through some big changes again. That much more changes overnight, Vince is going to need to be talked through all this when he wakes up.

Oh good, Guido's death was ruled an accident, and the investigation was already closed, that was fast. Goodkind Bank safe deposit box, figures Guido did business there.

Typing in a code, the special app on her phone linked to the custom-made fake MID and driver’s license, and changed the picture and pertinent physical information.

Guido may have been an idiot in many ways, but that is a smart purchase.

Eve, you should have taken those spreadsheets and hadn't them over to the authorities after making multiple copies just in case. Takedown some creeps, especially that congressman. $167 million, after the hell she has been put through that is the least she deserves imo.

Vince is awake and notices their hand is a female hand.

Eve awoke with a start as a loud, high-pitched shriek filled the building.

Just short of 12 years old turns into a mutant with severe GSD, considers himself a monster, and runs away. 14 now and turned into a female, seems to react worse than to the previously had GSD. *sigh*

Rapidly the appearance that she had slowly adopted faded away. Standing before Eve was the creature, It was perhaps a half foot shorter than it had been prior. Eve could tell it was definitely not male this time. Strong pectoral muscles rippled underneath modest breasts. Wide hips were accentuated by a narrower waist. Most telling of all though was the lack of protruding genitals underneath the thick fur covering the pelvic area.

Wait, this indicates Vince is a shifter who just hadn't figured out how to shift back to his human appearance, at least I think it does. Vince is a mess physically, mentally, and especially emotionally right now.

Vince is awake again and Eve can explain who and what she is so Vince understands why he has changed. Oh boy, Vince has become his own dream girl, though I wonder what he considers enormous breasts. Vince is now the kind of girl boys at Whateley trip over their own feet when seeing, though I think Vamp is going to be jealous if they meet.

Eve wishes to get Vince in to see a doctor, Vince is scared of the prospect, so long on the streets and stuck thinking others would treat him as nothing but a monster has left Vince with deep scars.

To be a girl was jarring, but she was no longer trapped as that … thing.

Yes, look on the bright side of all this, or you will drive yourself crazy. Vince, you survived on the streets for over 2 years on your own, you can live as a girl, especially with help. 5'10", 38" hips, 24" inches, and 36DD bust, no wonder she considers them enormous, especially at 14.

Goes out to get some sunlight after so long without, 5 minutes later back in dead and blistered sun-burned skin, yikes, stupid mutant nature made Vince too much like a vampire.

Just like how I eventually adjusted, so will you. You are stronger than you realize, having lived through what you have been through to this point.”

Trust her on this, Vince. 25 years under Guido's thumb, Eve is 44, she lived that nightmare that long and still had some hope, that is strength.

Vince watched as Eve walked in, looking like a slightly older version of Vince, minus the unusual features.

“What’s with the appearance, Maxi-Me?” Vince inquired.

Doctor appointment today so Eve is pretending to be Vince's mom, I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes Vince's guardian by the end of this story. Valentina, Val for short, good name. Now I'm starting to wonder how many similar clinics exist in the Whateley Academy universe. Oh no, a doctor who they don't know wanting to speak to Val alone, she must be assuming the worst. Poor Val, those exams are scary for those born as girls, I can't imagine how much worse it must be for her right now.

More tests while in her monster form, ouch. Hhm, is the doctor's niece a changling or regular transfemale? Her form is stable, cancer-free, hurray. I wonder what SPF Val is going to need with her severe sunlight allergy. Val is effectively Eve's sister according to her DNA.

My niece was quite interested in that, as it is almost unheard of in cases of regenerator cloning.

I wonder if it has to do with the way the blood was transfered between them and Vince's own weaker regen. Val has a lot more to adjust to now.

She is my sister. I will love her and take care of her. She freed me from that asshole. The least I can do for her is make sure she has a happy family, and as normal of a life as possible.

Oh, if that is what you want for Val then whatever you do then don't send her to Whateley Academy. That is as far from normal life as possible.

Val looked puzzled. “The capital? What is it?”

Returning her look, Eve calmly responded. “It’s the city where the governor works, but that’s not important right now.”

I get the feeling this bit is a reference to something but having a hard time figuring it out. MID card and doesn't trust the MCO in New York, good call.

“Hm? Oh… you mean human. Well, truthfully the only human blood I’ve tasted were yours and my own. Mine is… I guess… kind of ‘meh’. You on the other hand, are delicious.”

Seeing Eve lean away slightly, Val smiled and stuck out her tongue “I’m kidding. Given the… results, even if it is, I’m not going to go through all of this again.” Gesturing at her body, Valentina slouched a little.

No drinking regenerator blood, no telling how it could react or if it could cause any new changes.

Breathing hard, he poor girl fought off the sensation of fear and trepidation. Something was going to go horribly wrong, she just knew it.

Plus Val has a sense of foreboding and dread, great, not even a Whateley Academy student and attracting trouble like one.

This was a great story and origin for both Vince/Valentina and Eve. I hated seeing what they both went through, the real monsters they had to deal with, but I'm so glad it all brought them together and even gave Vince/Val their humanity back even if she had to become a girl to do so.

Guido and his clients that we encountered are the kind of scum I can't stand, preying on the vulnerable and innocent. I'm glad there is justice for the first john and for Guido. Now Eve needs a lot of therapy to help her deal with 25 years of a living nightmare.

I hope Val telling themselves it is okay they are female as long as they are human again isn't just a coping method and she is going to break down later on. The poor kid has been through a lot and right now she needs the love and support of her new big sister to help her adjust.

I can't wait to see more of Eve and Val in the future. With Eve wishing to take care of Val, I wonder if she will find out about Whateley Academy and debate sending her there.

The bat-monster-like appearance, and the genderbending leading to what we could call a 'stabler' form reminds of Vlad in El Goonish Shive.