I stepped outside the hall of doors, feeling satisfied over my session with aunt June. It had been nice to know that my skills with magic were improving, and especially that she was impressed by how quickly I was picking up the more complicated spells. Since I’d begun thinking of spell patterns as being like puzzles, it had become a lot easier to figure them out and put them together. However, it was a real shame that I didn’t have enough raw magic to actually make use of any of the even moderately powerful spells.

“It’s too bad,” I mused to myself with a sigh. The only kind of spells I could cast with any real power to them would be elemental spells, and I would be limited even there.

I stopped and took in a deep breath of the night air. The sun had set half an hour ago and the moon hung brightly overhead. The moon was nearly full and it was only a couple more days until the actual full moon. My succubus stirred inside, almost as though eager for the time when I would have no choice but to release her.

“Don’t be so impatient,” I told myself with a wry smile, knowing that it wasn’t as though I’d been keeping my succubus completely locked up. Over the last week, I’d spent several nights in succubus form and I fully intended to do the same thing once I got to the safety of my dorm room. “Then we’ll feed…”

With that thought, I licked my lips absently. There were so many horny teenage boys at this school and they each released enough sexual energy that it filled the air. I was able to take it in without even touching a single one of them directly. And ever since I started feeding at night, none of my classmates showed any signs of even noticing it. However, I suspected that this wouldn’t be the case if I ever lost control and fed on one of them directly. Of course, that was why I stayed locked up in my room with the exception of taking a quick flight each time to stretch my wings.

I felt oddly amused by the idea that I was actually looking forward to spending some time as a succubus, especially since I’d been so terrified of it before. Of course, I’d also just spent the entire day in my enhanced form. It had been the very first time I’d done that, yet I strongly suspected it wouldn’t be the last. Then I frowned, suddenly wondering if I was starting to become too comfortable with my situation. If I got too comfortable like this, wouldn’t that mean the old me was fading away?

“Damn,” I muttered, now feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable with wanting to stretch my wings. Maybe I shouldn’t change tonight. Maybe I should try fighting my new self even harder so that I didn’t lose the Aaron I used to be.

I took my time walking back to the dorms, noticing that there were still a few other students out. I knew from experience that nearly all of them would be inside for the night in one more hour. It would only be after that when it would be safe to go out flying without being seen.

“Thank Primus for lax curfews,” I mused with a chuckle.

A lot of the rules around the Academy were pretty relaxed compared to any other school, due in large part because of our unique nature. The Touched ignored a lot of the rules of nature and physics, so it was no surprise that a lot of us didn’t take man made rules quite as seriously. At least, we didn’t unless they served a good reason like keeping us hidden from normals. And of course, a lot of sponsors had odd schedules and couldn’t always come to work with their students in convenient daylight times.

When I was nearly to the dorm, I heard someone scream. I snapped around and looked towards the sound, seeing a faint blue glow a distance away. It took me a second to realize that this was the blue glow from Sylvie’s tattoos. A moment later, I was running towards her.

As I got closer, I saw that Sylvie and Kimberly were standing at the edge of the courtyard, surrounded by three other familiar looking girls. I grimaced at the sight of Teressa, Kaellie, and Monica. Teressa and Kaellie both had tokens in hand.

“This is what you get for hanging around with that animal,” Teressa spat out at them with a sneer.

“We’re doing you a favor,” Kaellie added.

“If I had my tokens on me,” Sylvie spat out angrily.

“But you don’t,” Monica responded with a laugh.

“Leave us alone,” Kimberly demanded, the fear clear in her voice. She held her hand up and formed a glowing ball of light in her palm, looking almost as though she was threatening the other girls with it. However, it was a complete bluff as I knew her light was nothing more than light.

I froze for a moment, feeling a surge of guilt at the realization that my friends were being jumped just because they were my friends. Then I grimaced and yelled, “What the frak do you think you’re doing?”

“Erin,” Sylvie exclaimed in relief.

“Get away from here,” I ordered Teressa and her goons, reaching into my pocket for one of my tokens.

The rock that served as my token was smooth and nearly round, as well as about the size of one of the large masher type marbles. It also had a purple mark painted on its surface to tell me what it did. I just hoped that Teressa and her friends didn’t call my bluff because none of my tokens would be much good for fighting, especially not the one in my hand. The one in my hand wouldn’t do anything except change the color of their clothes to purple. It was one of the spells that I’d just learned tonight.

“So the animal does have teeth,” Kaellie said with a smirk.

“Don’t make me use this on you,” I said, trying to bluff. “I don’t want to send anyone to the hospital.”

“Damn,” Kimberly muttered. “I wish my talent was more useful…”

“After this, I’m not going anywhere without my tokens,” Sylvie stated firmly, her eyes still locked on the other girls.

I nodded agreement with Sylvie’s statement, then told Teressa, “Back your ass up now…”

“Make me,” Teressa taunted me. “You took Todd away from me so I’m going to take everyone else away from you. We’re gonna make sure they know what happens if they hang out with an animal you…”

I glared at Teressa, suddenly wondering if I might have caused some of this escalation. If I’d just told her up front that I had no interest in Todd, that might have prevented any of this from happening. But then, I remembered that before me, she’d been locked on Eve as her rival, even though Eve had made it clear she only thought of Todd as a friend. I scowled more deeply, thinking I could still try. I could tell Teressa that there was absolutely nothing going on between Todd and I. But for some reason, I couldn’t quite bring myself to say that.

Suddenly, Sylvie threw herself at Kaellie, who was the closest to her, punching her in the face and causing her to drop her token. Kimberly responded by jumping at Monica, who was fairly helpless except for her talent to embarrass other people. That left me to deal with Teressa. Before my change, I never would have considered hitting a girl. Being able to actually knock that smug look off her bitchy face just might be the best thing about my new gender.

Before I could make the first move towards Teressa, she cried out, “Invoke…”

The knot of beads in Teressa’s hand suddenly crumbled away and there was a brilliant flash of light. An instant later, my body exploded into pain and I was flung back and hit the ground hard.

“Eat lightning,” Teressa exclaimed with a sadistic laugh.

“Erin,” Sylvie cried out, running to my side and helping me to my feet. “Are you all right…”

“A bit dazed,” I responded, taking inventory of my body and making sure I wasn’t injured.

“Activate,” Kaellie called out and suddenly the ground in front of us burst into flame. Sylvie and I both jumped back while Kaellie laughed.

Kimberly slapped at Monica frantically in a matter that would have had me laughing under any other circumstances. “You bitch,” Kimberly cried out, only to get punched in the face by her opponent.

I’d dropped my token on the ground when Teressa had hit me with that blast so reached into the pouch on my belt for another one. But just then, all my clothes suddenly dissolved, including the pouch on my belt. My tokens all hit the ground and scattered.

“Not again,” I yelled, looking down at my naked body and then glaring furiously at Monica. “I liked that shirt…”

Monica just smirked back and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a red ribbon and calmly said, “Invoke.” The ribbon crumbled away and large wolf appeared a few feet in front of her.

“What the hell?” Kimberly blurted out, staring at Monica in surprise. “But you’re not a sorceress…”

“No,” Monica responded with an even deeper smirk. “But my brother is. He gave me some of his tokens when I came here…just in case I needed them.” She snorted and added, “He wanted me to sick them on that Gayle girl, but I don’t have a problem with her. It’s you three I’ve got a problem with.”

“Keep that thing away from me,” Kaellie exclaimed, glaring at the wolf. “I can’t believe I let you have that thing bite me…” She glared at Teressa. “And it was all for nothing. You said it would get her kicked out…”

“Quit whining,” Teressa responded.

Sylvie stared at them in shock, exclaiming, “You bitches… You tried framing her…”

“Her kind doesn’t belong here,” Kaellie responded with a sneer.

“This isn’t about me being a Were,” I said, glaring at Teressa. “That’s just a rationalization because you’re a jealous loser.”

Teressa snarled but it was Monica who commanded, “Sic em…”

The wolf charged straight at me, but to my surprise, Sylvie rammed it in the side and knocked it on its side. Teressa pulled out another token but I knew I couldn’t let her use it. Unfortunately, my own tokens were scattered on the ground and I didn’t have time to search for one I could use.

Suddenly, I remembered that I did have one token left. I reached for Vera on my wrist and called out the word I’d chosen to release its magic. “Engage.”

The spell inside of my bracelet was merely the one to create a small whirlwind, but that was just what I needed. A whirlwind appeared right in front of Teressa and Kaellie and the strong wind was enough to distract them and even make Teressa drop her own token.

“Activate,” Kaellie cried out, unleashing the magic from her own token.

“I can’t move my feet!” Kimberly exclaimed in fear, looking as though she was struggling but her feet didn’t come up from the ground. “It’s like I’m glued…”

Teressa was picking up the token she’d dropped during my distraction and I really didn’t want to find out what it did. I clenched my fists angrily, knowing that I had to stop this.

I was out of useful tokens but I did still have one ace up my sleeve. I was so angry that I didn’t even think about it as reached for my last trick.

A moment later, my body began to ripple and change. I gasped as the now familiar feeling of transformation washed over me. I was growing bigger…stronger…sexier.

“What’s happening to her?” Kaellie cried out, staring at me in shock.

“Erin?” Kimberly squeaked out.

“Oh yes,” I purred as my breasts reached basketball size, sitting round and perfect on my chest. I stood to my full height of 6 foot 1 and stretched out my wings. “Now you’ve pissed me off…”

“Holy fuck in a hand bag,” Sylvie blurted out, her eyes going wide as she stared at me.

I knew that as a succubus, I was both sexy and scary at the same time. At the moment, I wanted to pump up the scary. I smiled, letting Teressa and her goons get a good look of my fangs. Then I stepped towards her, twitching my tail and holding out my clawed hands so they could see them.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?” Teressa demanded, backing away with a look of fear on her face.

“A DEMON,” Monica yelled.

The wolf launched itself right at me and dug its teeth into my forearm. It hurt so I snarled in pain and then flung the wolf, sending it flying about ten yard away. I’d suspected that I was stronger as a succubus than as a human, but this was the first time I’d really tested that. The wolf hit the ground hard and then vanished.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I snarled, suddenly grabbing Teressa and holding her firm. I ran one of my clawed nails over her cheek while she stared at me in terror. Then I stuck my tongue out to its full length and licked her cheek. “Delicious.”

I suddenly smelled urine and dropped Teressa, turning my attention to her friends. Kaellie was backing away and then turned to run. I looked to Monica and she was backing away as well with a wide eyed look of shock in her eyes.

“He was right,” Monica whispered. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it… My crazy brother was actually right. Marcus was actually right… This place is infested with evil…”

I stepped back, satisfied that I’d scared Teressa and her goons into leaving me and my friends alone. It was only then that I became aware of the fact that there were at least a dozen students, standing back and staring at me with shocked expressions.

“Oh frak,” I whispered, realizing that I’d just made a huge mistake. I turned to my friends and asked, “Are you guys okay?”

To my horror, Kimberly and Sylvie were backing away from me, staring at me with the same looks of terror that had been on the faces of Teressa and her goons.