Story: The Adjusters #1

Being the start of Book I: Whatever Happened to Marjorie Duquesne?


1 - Daniel And Jennifer

"The nations of Europe have not national armies but mercenary
armies. They protect the capitalists against the popular fury which
would condemn them to ten hours of mining or spinning. Again, while
compressing its own stomach the working class has developed abnormally
the stomach of the capitalist class, condemned to over-consumption,"
said the instructor, making his way around the lectern. He paused to
let his words sink in. "That is but one quote from Lafargue that shows
him to be aligned with the scientific socialism of Marx and Engels,
while still remaining firmly rooted in the more utopian socialism of
Proudhon. We're out of time today, so for next class, please read
Lafargue's essay reprinted in your course packet. Good day, everyone."

The room erupted in the noisy hustle and bustle of emptying classrooms
the world over. Daniel Malcolm stretched after writing himself a
reminder about the reading assignment, then sighed. A Critical History
of Communism from a Post Cold War Perspective had been a promising
course, but it was quickly devolving into an encyclopedic recap of the
early history of Marxism, with a healthy dose of philosophy thrown
in. Daniel might not have minded this turn of events so much -- it fit
into his general political science program and interests -- if not for
the classes being delivered the old-fashioned way, through an hour and
a half of stupor-inducing lecturing with a litany of quotes and dates
and hardly any interactions. Ah well, he thought, at least it's not a
difficult course.

He was packing his bag when a soft voice piped up beside him.

"Hi Dan."

He looked up, knowing what he would see. Cindy Caprese, fellow college
student, and two-month old acquaintance. he was struck once again by
just how beautiful she was. On this side of short at five foot two,
the blonde made it up by combining perfect curves with a pair of long
legs that she liked to set off by wearing the shortest skirts. Today
was no exception, and Daniel could not resist sneaking a glance at the
tanned toned thighs that disappeared under a pleated skirt that
bounced with her every move. If Cindy noticed the look, she did not
seem to mind.

"Cindy, please, I told you, call me Daniel. I really don't like Dan."

"But why not? It's so cute. I love nicknames. Mine's Cin. You know,
like in sinning?" She giggled. "So what's with the anti-nick attitude
anyways?"

Daniel sighed. He was not ready to tell that story, and certainly not
to Cindy. She was sweet, and certainly beautiful, and they were
friends of a sort, but she was not the most empathetic person he had
ever met. She would laugh. Mockery, even well-intentioned, remained
mockery.

"Never mind. Let's start again. Hi Cindy. How are you?" He grabbed his
bag and together they headed for the door.

"I'm okay. I missed you at the party last Friday."

"I decided to stay home with Jenn, she wasn't feeling well. We ended
up renting Kill Bill. Unbelievably, she had never seen it. Good time
was had by all."

Cindy reacted at Daniel's mention of his girlfriend, which was exactly
what he had hoped for. It was a gentle reminder that he was taken,
something that Cindy grudgingly acknowledged but regularly ignored or
forgot. And that was not the only thing that she tended to ignore or
forget.

They left the building, and at the top of the steps leading to the
quad they were greeted by the already cooling northeastern
weather. Darnell University was a small New England liberal arts
college and was north enough that October already brought the warning
stings of winter. Leaves were red and gold throughout the tree-filled
campus.

Daniel felt Cindy's hand on his arm, warm and soft. She had a little
come-hither smile on her face. "It's beautiful, isn't it? I love this
place in the fall. Long walks through quiet woods, finding little out
of the way places to sit down and relax..."

Her tone of voice, hitting suggestive notes in the low registers, was
having an effect on Daniel, as was her hand, now moving up his arm
towards his shoulder. He had to put a stop to it, no matter how much
fun it was, and no matter how lovely her eyes were.

He gently pushed her hand away.

"Cindy, please. I like you, you know that, but --"

"Yes, your wonderful girlfriend, I know." She sighed, somewhat
theatrically. "Just my luck. For once, I find a guy in this
godforsaken place who's not a jerk, but he's taken, and he won't even
consider leaving his girl for me."

Daniel was about to point out the obvious flaw in that argument when a
dark shadow emerged from nowhere and blindsided him.

Before he could react, he was smothered in a tight embrace, a mass of
dark hair blocking his vision. He smiled however, recognizing the
scent of berries that wafted from the body before him and the way that
that body felt against his, the long legs, the hands traveling up his
back, the breasts pushing against his chest. Jennifer Hansen felt like
home, and home felt wonderful.

"Hello lover." Her voice was a soft purr.

He made to reply, but then she kissed him hard on the lips, and as her
mouth melted onto his, he could think no longer, only feel. He was
amazed she could still have such an effect on him, that her kisses
still felt like they were their first.

A clinical part of this mind, a small clinical part, marveled at how
Jenn's body molded perfectly to his. She was tall, almost as tall as
he was, and they fit together like they were two halves of a single
form. She was moving her hips slightly, barely enough for anyone to
notice, but his groin, the main recipient of her grinding, definitely
paid attention.

He noted how she moaned in his mouth, even as her tongue invaded
it. And he noted how Cindy's expression was three-quarters frown and
one-quarter naked hunger. His hands ran down Jenn's back, down to her
jeans-clad buttocks, and it all soon became more that he could
bear. He broke the kiss, trying to catch his breath. "Wow, to what do
I owe this?"

Jenn was expressive and assertive both in and out of bed, but she
tended to tone it down in public. Attacking him like that was anything
but toned down, however pleasant it might have been. And it had turned
him on practically instantly.

"Oh, hi. Cindy, right?" Jenn had turned her dazzling grey eyes towards
the blonde, and brushed her long dark hair away from her face.

Daniel grinned, a hand on Jenn's hip. Her face might have harbored a
warm smile, but her eyes held an unmistakable challenge. He's mine, it
underlined, back off.

Cindy got the message, stammered both a greeting and a goodbye, and
shuffled away, her cute little behind swaying with every step. Daniel
looked a moment too long and was snapped out of it by a sharp blow to
the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but what are you looking at?"

"Well, she is cute."

"Oh, and is that what you do, look at every cute girl that happens to
pass by?"

"Well..." He shrugged and tried to look sheepish.

Jenn slapped him upside the head. "You are such a boy. What am I doing
with you anyways?"

"My sense of humor? My dashing good looks?"

Jenn rolled her eyes.

They had been dating for nearly two years now, since their sophomore
year, and they were what their friends called an old couple. Their
banter, their ease with each other, their ability to complete each
other's thoughts, all revealed a connection neither of them had ever
experienced before. As Serena had said, shaking her head in mock
disgust with both love and a touch of envy in her eyes, it wasn't that
they were meant for each other, they were a single unit that had been
broken in two at birth and tossed to different ends of the country
before being reunited. Everyone had laughed at that comment, but no
one had contradicted it.

They had met in one of the university dining halls two years
earlier. Daniel had noticed the gorgeous brunette sitting alone at a
table and nibbling on her lunch while completely absorbed in a huge
tome that had to be either a biology or a law textbook, and had taken
a detour to say hi and introduce himself.

All he had been able to show for his pains was a rather curt
dismissal. Discomfited, he returned to his usual table to be greeted
by the good-natured gibes of his lunch companions. Daniel the
formidable, Daniel the lady killer, shot down, down, down. He had
shrugged it off and joined whatever topic of conversation had held
their attention that day, but he had kept sneaking peeks at the lonely
figure in the corner.

For the rest of that week, he saw her in the dining hall, always
behind a pile of books, her hair usually in a ponytail, a pen tucked
behind her ear, reading or writing, headphones plugged in. She never
acknowledged his glances.

Daniel's friends had noticed his behavior, and after mocking him and
obtaining essentially no response, had stopped and waited to see how
the story would unfold, sensing something juicy in the works.

Daniel had seen few friends dropping by the brunette's table, and the
guys that had stopped to hit on her had all been turned away, some
more harshly than others.

The following Monday, Daniel had not seen her when he came in for
lunch, and that disruption in their schedule had bothered him more
than he had cared to admit. His lunch companions had put down his sour
mood to his recovering from a weekend party.

At the end of lunch on that fateful Monday, everyone at Daniel's table
suddenly went silent. All of them, at once. Daniel had snapped out of
his reverie at the abrupt silence, and had looked around, only to find
the tall brunette standing patiently by his side, waiting for him to
notice her.

"Exam done, so how about we pick up where you left off last week?" she
had said. "Hi Daniel, I'm Jenn. Nice to meet you. And yes, I would
love to catch a coffee or a tea or a drink or a movie or a walk with
you, though perhaps not all at once."

They had gone for a walk, after picking up some warm drinks at the
main campus coffeehouse, Jenn with a hot chocolate -- her one
indulgence, she had said, gesturing at her body, a twinkle in her
eye. Daniel had studiously avoided looking at her, trying for once
hard to make a good impression, something Jenn had seemed to find
exceedingly amusing.

Daniel had thought that she was a law student, but learned that she
was in fact an English major. She was however minoring in pre-law and
one of her dreams, besides writing the Great American Novel, was to be
a Supreme Court commenter, where she figured her law background would
be handy. Daniel was a political science major, and their afternoon
had soon found them discussing constitutional jurisprudence and the
American judicial system in general.

By the start of the evening they were having dinner, and by the end of
the evening they were in Jenn's room, disrobing frantically, and well
on their way to their first lovemaking session. Daniel remembered how
beautiful she had looked that first time, naked and spread out on her
bed, long hair spilled around her head like a halo, and remembered how
she had tasted as he went down on her, a sweet musky taste not unlike
spiced honey. He had spent a good twenty minutes kissing, licking, and
sucking at Jenn's pussy, dipping inside her with a hungry tongue
before trailing its tip up to a clit that had been standing out
aggressive and demanding attention. Daniel had loved how Jenn had held
on to his head, lifting her hips to grind against his face when his
teasing was growing too frustrating for her, and when she had finally
come that first time, he had reveled in the feeling of her thighs
tensing and trapping his head as her body went rigid before
convulsing.

"What are you thinking?" Jenn's voice brought Daniel back to the
present.

"About our first date. More specifically, the night of our first
date."

Jenn smiled and snuggled up against him.

"Mmm... delightful memories, those." She sighed. Then she looked at
him, eyes sparkling with amusement. "And what, pray tell, has brought
those thoughts to mind?"

"How delicious you look today?" And she did look delicious. Blessed
with a tall thin body honed through several years of dancing, she was
wearing a light sweater that did a poor job of concealing her generous
chest, and a pair of jeans that left very little to the imagination,
playing up her tight ass and long legs. Heeled black cowboy boots
completed the look, one of Daniel's favorites.

Jenn laughed. "You are such a dork. Are you trying to tell me," her
voice went conspiratorial, "that it had nothing to do with that cute
little blonde thing that was trying to get into your pants ten minutes
ago?"

"As I said, she was cute, but you, dear, are amazing."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Perfect answer." She lingered
by his face, kissing the line of his jaw down to his neck, her breath
warm against his skin in the chilled air of the disappearing day.

"And what do you think you're doing?" he asked.

She continued nuzzling him with light flicks of her lips. "Nothing,
why do you ask?"

"Well, let's see... Oh!" Daniel closed his eyes and groaned, as Jenn
pressed her lips in the fleshy side of his neck and nibbled and
sucked, all the while pressing her body against his. He could swear
she vibrated.

Jenn pulled back to kiss Daniel on the lips, hard and long, a kiss
that was at once generous and demanding.

"I've been itching all day, hot, horny. What's a girl to do?" asked
Jenn when they surfaced for air. She was all but rubbing herself
against him.

Jenn had always been very sexual, but the only times that Daniel has
seen her lose control like that was when she was so excited about
something that she needed to burn off excess energy.

"Okay, spill it," he said. "What got you so worked up?"

"Later. Right now, I wanna fuck."

Who was he to argue? "Okay, let's just head to --"

"No. Here."

"What? We're in the middle of --"

"No one's around. Follow me."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the building. Jenn was
right, there was no one around. She brought them down an isolated
corridor to a small room that looked like a music room, if the
equipment scattered around was any indication. It has serviceable
carpeting, which was a nice touch.

Daniel shrugged as Jenn locked the door behind them after making sure
no one had seen them sneak in. Screwing at school was hot, and Jenn
seemed more than willing, so there were no problems there. If they
were caught, then they would deal. In the meantime, might as well
enjoy it.

Jenn interrupted those reflections by unzipping his jeans and pulling
them down, briefs and all, to his ankles. His cock, rapidly hardening,
stuck straight out and Jenn stared at it with a predatory look before
running her lips over the tip as lightly as a wisp of wind. She teased
him for several minutes before engulfing the head of his cock in her
mouth and sucking him inside. Daniel gasped, as if caught by surprise
by the sensation.

Jenn lavished her love on the erect member, sucking with an enthusiasm
that betrayed both eagerness and need. Taking half of his length in
her mouth on every stroke, she used one of her hands to jack him off,
while the other kept her hair out of her face, as it was wont to swing
about wildly during her ministrations.

She was careful to keep Daniel on edge, making sure that he would not
erupt too soon. Not that she minded the feel of his sperm on her face
or in her mouth, but she wanted to feel him come inside her. And so
when she felt that he was reaching the limits of what he could endure,
she let him out of her mouth and stepped away from him, remaining on
her knees. She bore an expression that looked submissive through and
through, but that a closer examination would have qualified of
wolfish.

Daniel watched her unbutton her jeans and push them off her legs along
with her boots, uncovering skin that he knew was soft and warm. Clad
only in her sweater and a diminutive pair of panties that were more
effective at titillating than covering, Jenn lay down on the floor and
beckoned, silent, hungry.

Daniel made to lie between her legs and eat her out as quid pro quo
for her earlier blow job, but Jenn grabbed him by the shoulders before
he could settle down and she pulled him to her, his cock bumping into
her thigh, his body pressing against hers. She kissed him hard as she
took hold of his cock and guided him inside her, gasping and moaning
when he entered her wet snatch, sinking to the hilt in one thrust,
sucked in, swallowed, devoured. He could taste himself on her lips and
did not mind.

Jenn was doing the fucking, that was clear, despite being under
him. Daniel, who had gone through that before, was happy to hang on
for the ride, knowing that this was Jenn's way of working off nervous
energy. He lunged in and out inside her, enjoying the feel of her
pussy massaging him on the way in and squeezing as if to keep him in
on the way out. Jenn's hips were swinging in counterpoint to his own,
adding to the pressure around his cock.

Jean kissed him, moaning throughout, and Daniel knew that she was well
on her way to an orgasm. She trailed kisses up to his ear, where she
paused to whisper to him.

"Close your eyes, baby."

"Mmm... Okay."

"Now imagine her under you, that cute little blonde thing from
class. Can you see it? She's squirming underneath you, blonde hair
spread about her. He short skirt is bunched around her waist, she has
pushed a tiny g-string to the side, and she's letting you plow
her. Can you feel her around your cock?"

Damn, she was good. The image flashed in Daniel's mind. He had no
desire to fool around on Jenn, and Jenn knew it. But he enjoyed
looking, and Jenn was fine with that. Once in a while, she even
incorporated it into their sex life.

"Oh, yes, that's it, baby." Daniel had picked up the pace, his cock
thrusting fast into her. "Fuck the little bitch good. She was begging
for it, drooling. Her little cunt must have been sopping wet when she
was standing next to you. I'm surprised I didn't find her rubbing
herself against you, humping your leg like a little bitch in heat when
I showed up."

Jenn was getting into it, her breath coming faster and faster, sweat
breaking on her brow.

"She's pushed you in an empty classroom, lay down on the floor with
her legs spread wide, stroking her cunt after pushing her flimsy
panties aside, calling you, begging you. 'Please, Daniel, please, come
fuck me. I'll do anything to feel you inside, please!'"

Jenn was keening in Daniel's ear, role-playing a begging Cindy in his
ear in a passable imitation of the young blonde student. His thrusts
got stronger, longer, and Jenn jerked and groaned every time he
bottomed out. He was getting close, and so was she.

"Come on, fuck me, fuck me," Jenn continued in Cindy's mock
voice. "Come in me, deep in me, your little blonde bitch. I'm your
little blonde bitch. I'm all yours, to do with as you wish. Ask me to
and I'll spread my legs, whenever, wherever, whatever. I'll fuck
you. I'll suck you. I'll take you in the butt if that's what you want
--"

Jenn never finished her litany, swept up as she was by a crashing
orgasm that hit just when Daniel's did. He pushed his cock as far in
as it would go, felt Jenn's pubic bone against his, and released a
buildup that had been accumulating for the better past of the last
three days. Jenn, ever so limber, wrapped her long legs around him,
crossing her ankles behind his back as she shivered in release
herself.

They took a few moments to recover, listening to their own slowing
breathing, and the surrounding silence of a university building after
classes are over.

At last, after they had dressed and made their way back out of the
building to walk in the dwindling daylight on one of the tree-lined
paths that sneaked through campus, Jenn broke the subject of what got
her so excited.

"I got the Blumburry."

"You got the what now?"

"The Blumburry scholarship, dumbass! You know, the writing scholarship
at UT Austin that I applied for last spring? Full scholarship to their
topnotch MFA program, all expenses paid."

"Congratulations, love! That's great!"

"I know! I've just been jumping around all day once I got the
call. There's just one little snag..."

"Austin."

"Yeah, Austin. Look, I know you wanted to stay in the East after
graduation, but this is kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"I know, I know..."

"I will refuse it if that's the only way we can be together, of course
--"

"Don't you dare. You've been working for exactly something like this
all your life. I'm not going to be the one taking it away from you."

"I love you."

"I love you too. We'll figure something out. Hey, maybe there's
something for me to do in Austin?"

Daniel's tone did not seem to reassure Jenn, and they remained silent
for some time, walking slowly, arms around each other.

"Serena is waiting for us at the Chocolate Inn later," said Jenn, who
seemed ready to change topic.

"Oh, okay. Sure."

"She's holding an intervention. Boyfriend trouble."

"What else is new? What did she do this time, beat him up? And can you
hold an intervention for yourself?"

Jenn shrugged. "I figured we'll go out and find a way to distract
her. We'll get the story out of her easy enough."

"Of that I have absolutely no doubt."

Jenn hit him on the shoulder.

"Don't be mean. She's your friend."

"Doesn't mean I don't find her infuriating at times."

"In any case, we'll also hear more about Marjorie. Remember her,
Marjorie Duquesne?"

"Huh, no. Should I?"

"You met her at a party at the end of last year, you know, the one
hosted by the paper?"

"I remember the party. Well, sorta. It's kind of blurry there towards
the end. Tequila, was it?"

"Whatever. Marjorie was the short half-asian girl that worked as a
photographer at the paper. She had a camera around her neck."

"Vague recollection. Cute, straight hair down to here, and curvy, very
curvy, with nice legs?"

"You are obsessed, you know that? But yes, that covers it. Though most
people consider her beautiful, not just cute."

"No one's beautiful when you're around, love."

"Flatterer. So yes, Marjorie."

"What about her?"

"According to Serena, she's been acting weird. Very weird. She quit
her photographer's post at the paper a few weeks back, and I can tell
you, she loved that job. But out of the blue, she went in to see the
editor-in-chief, and just quit. Glenn was shocked. He tried to argue
with her, practically begged her to stay, but to no avail."

"I can think of several reasons why she might quit like that."

"Yes, so can I, but none really fit -- again, according to Serena, who
worked with her quite often. I'm just part time, and our hours didn't
really overlap. But then, Marjorie goes on and disappears for several
days. Her roommates were about to call the cops when she came back,
and with no explanation for her absence. A week later, same story,
then again a couple more times. And last week, she disappeared for the
last time. She has not been seen since. The cops have been called, but
the university's keeping things quiet.

"Serena's been snooping around, and found a few things that the cops
may not know yet. In the past month, since about her fourth
disappearance, Marjorie was seen a few times with, shall we say, male
specimen of the rather lower order. Never out in the open, but
following them in shadowy corners and abandoned houses down on the
south side of town."

"Let me guess -- before that, she was as straight arrow as can be,
pure as snow, the works. So, she decided to get her wilds on."

"Maybe, but Serena doesn't like the small of it. You know her, she has
a good nose for that sort of thing."

"Ever the reporter, our Serena."

"And then yesterday, she got a call at the paper, this guy wanting to
talk to a reporter here on campus, said he has some information about
those girls that were going missing. He seemed to suggest that
Marjorie was but one of many, and that there was indeed something
strange going on. He was nervous and did not want to talk on the phone
for too long"

"How do you know all this? I thought Serena was my friend?"

"What you jealous? Anyways, Serena things that this is the story that
will bust her journalist career wide open. Can you imagine? An
investigative scoop, right here in Bumblefuck, New England, where the
most exciting thing that ever happens is encountering a hungry
squirrel that has not yet had its morning pizza out of dumpsters?"

They remained silent for a while, each lost in their thoughts,
oblivious to the noise around them that marked the late afternoon
shift from afternoon classes to evening classes on campus.

Jenn's cell phone rang, startling them out of their reverie. She
answered, exchanged a few sentences with whomever was at the other end
before clasping the phone shut.

"Professor Framingham, my advisor. I called her earlier about the
Blumburry, asking for advice. She has some time to talk to me right
now." She looked almost sheepish. Daniel felt sorry for putting her in
such a difficult position.

"Go," he said, "of course. Pick her brain as much as you can. The more
information we have, the better the decision we'll make."

She looked at him a long time before moving. "I love you. Go ahead,
I'll catch up with you later. Serena and Radhu are at the Chocolate
Inn, as usual. Tell'em I'm sorry. I'll try to be there shortly." She
leaned over to kiss Daniel before shuffling down the path back towards
the main part of the campus.

Daniel sighed, and steeled himself to learn all about the latest
Serena adventures.