Dominic stepped from the shower and wiped the mist from the mirror. He didn’t take much notice of his reflection; he just got on with the daily chore of shaving. Once he had grown a beard but it drove him mad! He smiled suddenly. His girlfriend didn’t like it much either, beard burn made it difficult to walk.

He wolfed down his breakfast and slipped on his shoes, late as usual. The boss would be cross.

"Dominic." Stephanie looked pointedly at her watch then the clock in the office they shared. He smiled at her and her heart melted, why did she have to work for a man who didn’t know he was sex on legs.

"I know, I know. How many “new lambs” are there today?" He sat down behind the desk and glanced at the sheaf of application forms. Steph put a mug of coffee before him, "Thanks love. How many men have we got?" He turned them over one by one; there were a few and no one to stretch his combat muscles. He sipped his coffee and listened to an eerie metallic tapping noise… He put his mug down and looked round the room. "Steph? Do you hear that?"

She studied her boss’ angled head he looked as though he was listening to something. "No, I hear nothing. Well just the usual impatient masses waiting for their instructor."

"I’m going! … Bully!" He left the office and walked down the bright sunlit corridor.

He stopped dead in his tracks, the door to the street had opened and shut. He felt hot suddenly, footsteps echoed on the hardwood floor of the Gym. His breathing became ragged and his flesh warmed and hardened at the sound. He followed the steps, the strangers dark shadow leapt up the wall towards him and he reached out his hand to caress its cool depths.

He caught a glimpse of an arm and extended leg with each pillar the figure passed. His mouth was dry, his drink forgotten. He slowly descended the steps to the floor of the Gym; the woman approaching him was tall, lithe, and walked with supreme confidence, her eyes focussed solely on him. He swallowed when at last she stopped and smiled at him extending her leather-gloved hand.

He took her hand aware of his all over body blush; a woman had never had this effect on him before.

"Hello, my name is Cathy, are you Dominic?" He nodded. "A friend recommended your gym, would you be able to show me the ropes?"

Say something idiot! "Ropes?" Oh, the image that conjured up in his fevered mind! She smiled and he grinned back. He caressed her hand with his thumb.

Her eyes followed his caress and she found her heartbeat increasing, bringing a flush to her cheeks. He’s the one, Joseph. I’ve found him! She stepped forward, she was not sure that he hadn’t pulled her because he still held her hand. His mouth was so close to hers now, his breath disturbing the unruly curls surrounding her face.

"Well?" She murmured.

"Yes, very well thank you…" He returned.

Her smile widened… and he chuckled. "Sorry, I can show you the ropes. You seem so familiar, have we met before?"

"DOM-IN-NIC!" The screech broke the spell between them and he rolled his eyes.

"Coming!"

"Cathy, would you like to sit in on a session, I’m afraid I’m late starting today…"

She drifted about the wide airy sunlit room listening to the repeated clank of the various machines. She smiled as the women all feigned innocence around Dominic. He had no clue that they had little wish to build muscle, in fact were interested only in HIS muscle.

She caught herself smiling as he tried to explain the intricacies of a nautilus machine to a particularly brain-dead specimen… He sighed as at last the woman conceded defeat and moved on to another less taxing piece of apparatus. He flopped onto the bench and gripped the weight handles, his knuckles whitening as he counted to ten.

She sat beside him and smiled at his profile. "Tough day?"

"Hmmm?" He looked up; she’d changed damn quickly! "I suppose I should expect it, they use this place as a pick up joint. Just once, I’d like to meet someone who wants to workout!" He pulled on the handles in frustration and the counterweight shot up.

"Teach me." She purred softly. He stared at her wondering how he could have heard her over the noise in the Gym. He smiled and knelt beside her, explaining muscle groups and how each co-operated with the other, then went on to nutrition and percentage of body fat and how many repetitions were required…

She listened intently and asked questions to obtain more information, he became animated in his conversation, and soon the rest of the world faded away as they got to know each other.

Grey One drifted across the room to study the bank of screens. The translucent wide slash, of what passed for a mouth, parted in the alien equivalent of a smile. The chosen one had potential, Cathy liked him and that suited their purpose.

The Watchers had always had the upper hand throughout the centuries. No sooner had the Hunters wiped out a settlement, than a new one would spring up. The Watcher Hunters then needed to return to the Greys compound to renew and reanimate. They had fought a losing battle for close on a thousand years and were still no closer to repaying their debt to the demons that helped them when first they arrived on the Earth. Grey One glided to the tapestry on the wall and ran a six-fingered hand across the ancient canvas.

The genetic Cache, carefully preserved in their flight from a decaying planet and the knowledge they were willing to share with their new adopted home, the Watchers chose to destroy and in the blink of an eye, their culture was gone. Well, not all gone, but divided, fragmented between three Greys. The Grey society was so ordered that if one Grey fell in battle or was murdered, then all would suffer the same fate.

Such was the destiny of a society of clones.

On Cathy’s return, the Greys had a request; they needed some genetic material from the chosen one for a cloning experiment. Cathy stared at the manifest in her hands; the request was for a sample of semen. She held her expression steady as Grey One asked her if the task were possible.

"It is not impossible, I had hoped I would have more time before becoming intimate with Dominic." She cursed her use of his name; she wanted Dom to herself for just a little while longer.

Her master smiled the smile that made her flesh crawl, the one that haunted her nightmares Grey One had been the one to press the Beelzebub thorns into her feet.

"The sooner you bring us the sample, the sooner we can manufacture the poison to feign his death and leave the clone in his place. Then we shall have our “New Watcher Hunters” and we shall be able to wipe out the cursed Watchers Council once and for all."

End of part 2

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