Lie To Me~Ticci Toby X Reader

Chapter 20 The Reflecting God

A/N: Shout-out to the amazing Immie for buying me a ko-fi back in November (sorry for the late shout-out, depression was a biiiitch these last two months). If you want to support me guys, remember that you can do so by buying me a ko-fi and that commissions are still open! I hope you are all looking forward to the festivities and that you'll have amazing fun!

Jack is, above all else, an artist.

Anything his hand touches turns into a masterpiece like none other upon this earth, in the human world or the Other Realm. He knows it; it lingers in the way he carries himself, knowing he is far better than all the rest, part of the Elite, second only to Slender Man alone. There is something about knowing you are almost as great as a supernatural entity out of this world. Even if there is an 'almost' separating them, the demon nesting itself inside his undead heart had come out of the same realm as Him. Everyone knows that; everyone knows never to mess with the Possessed if they knew what's good for them. It saddened Jack in a way; less possible experiments to try his hand on, alas, for now, it would have to do.

His victims, all those mortals that feed the demon inside with their parts, would otherwise be nothing, absolute garbage, were it not for his hand and the fact they nourish something superior to them. Once he grabs them, they turn into perfection, an Idea like the ones Plato spoke about. Abstract, elusive, but oh so perfect.

Yet it is the very first time he gets to use his hand upon a turning Proxy. ______ was indeed providing him with the rarest of specimens, and Jack was nothing if not an opportunist. It was not that the Tall Man had specifically forbidden him from experimenting upon his subjects per se; it was more like Jack wasn't able to obtain a living one, and there is so much information a dead one can provide. There was elation within him upon the realization the walking corpse wasn't another Rake in the making, but rather _____ who had gone through hell and back, only to receive the Tall Man's Mark upon her as a reward.

It was one of those rare occasions where Jack looked forward to his experiment to survive.

'Anastacia, bring in our donor.' He instructed the female, who silently slipped inside the storage.

Pulling at his gloves, revealing clawed dark grey hands that can slice through flesh as if it were butter. Grabbing his beloved scalpel and raising it to the light to make sure it was sharp enough. ______ was laying right before him on the medical table, heavily sedated to withstand both her injuries and the poison of the Mark. It was one of the most crucial stages, and plenty of Proxies died in the transition, their brains liquifying completely. Surprising as it was for her to wake up, Jack was well aware it could prove catastrophic -especially after the panic attack she suffered.

The sound of wheels against pavement pulls Jack out of his thoughts, only to see Halloween bringing in their first donor; a girl a few years younger than ________, brought in a day or two ago, fresh and ready to be harvested. Her brown eyes stared at the ceiling emptily, and Jack frowned when he noticed the slashing marks on her neck; they needed them as untainted as they possibly could. Thanks to Halloween's ability to smell different blood types, it was easier to find a suitable donor, but if they keep breaking them, they'll need more than one.

'We shall proceed immediately.' He states, but before he rises from his chair, he catches a fleeting glow pass from Halloween's topaz eyes.

'Voice your opinion, Anastacia.' He gives her the okay to go, and the emotionless woman meets his gaze head-on.

'Do you think it was one of our own that did this?' she says, as a matter of fact, porcelain face stone-cold and deceivingly even.

Jack knew her all too well by now to know there was more concealed just out of view. Her intellect was just as sharp as the demon residing within her body. Possessed were extremely rare within their ranks and very far in between, so when Jack caught wind of another wrecking chaos among the human world, he asked Slender Man himself to go out and recruit or end them. Either way, it would have been valuable information for the eyeless man; the last thing he expected was to find a willing apprentice after a bit of...breaking in.