I was very aware of the fact that I was surrounded and outnumbered. More than a dozen other students had had been drawn to the fight with Teressa and her friends, though none of them had made a move to get involved until now. It was the same thing that happened in my old school whenever a fight broke out, especially among girls. Everyone was more interested in watching the fight than in stopping it.

But now the fight had ended with Teressa curled up on the ground, staring at me in terror while her friends had run away. The crowd was now focused intently on me, staring at me with looks of disbelief and even fear. It was easy to see that at least some of them were likely to attack me in moments so I had to get away while I still could.

I quickly glanced to my friends but Kimberly fearfully cried out, “Keep away from me…” I winced at that, knowing that I’d made a HUGE mistake in letting my succubus out. The way Sylvie and Kimberly were staring at me hurt far more than anything Teressa had done to me.

“But I’m not going to hurt you,” I protested weakly.

I was about to fly away, both to get away from the small crowed and the accusing looks from my friends, when I noticed two teachers running towards us. Mrs. Khuto had a glowing ball of light floating above her as she ran, providing far more light for everyone else to see clearly by.

“No one move,” Mrs. Khuto commanded. Then as she stopped, she pointed to me and demanded, “Who created this conjuring?”

“Conjuring?” I blurted in surprise. “I’m no conjuring.”

Mrs. Khuto stared at me with her mouth open. “It speaks?”

“This is no conjuring,” Amylia told her as she joined us. She gave me a speculative look before turning to Mrs. Khuto. “This is a student.”

“A student?” Mrs. Khuto asked in surprise, giving me another look.

“Erin Morris,” Amylia stated.

“Yes ma’am,” I answered, suddenly extremely self-conscious. It only surprised me that I hadn’t felt quite this embarrassed before since I was not only in succubus form in front of a bunch of people, but also completely naked.

“The Were,” Mrs. Khuto said, giving me a curious look. “I hadn’t realized you were a mythic.” Then she looked around and demanded, “What is happening here?”

“She turned into a monster and attacked us,” Teressa exclaimed, pointing at me. “She attacked us for no reason…”

“You liar,” I snarled at her, only to see her pale and scramble back again.

“We will take this inside,” Mrs. Khuto stated, looking to the gathered audience. “We will all discuss this with Professor Roangard.”

Amylia nodded agreement and then turned her attention back to me with a scowl. “This certainly explains why you were so reluctant to reveal your Were form.” Then she pulled out a token which looked like a crystal and stated, “Invoke.”

The magic swirled around me and I suddenly found myself wearing a sleek black dress which fit my exaggerated body perfectly, hugging my breasts and hips to show it all off. I could feel the dress against my skin which indicated that it was a conjuring, a more advanced version of the same spell Gayle had once tested on me.

“Cover up,” Amylia told me with a scowl.

I felt almost as though I was going to my own execution as we walked into the building, escorted by two angry teachers. I was both sexy and scary when I was in this form, and though I’d really pushed the scary part earlier, I was now trying to push the sexy part. It was actually quite easy as my movements in this form tended to automatically be sexy without any effort. I probably would have changed back to my normal form so that people wouldn’t keep staring at me, but I feared that if I transformed, the conjured dress would get disrupted and vanish, leaving me completely naked again.

A short time later, we were all standing out in the hall by Professor Roangard’s office and were being brought in one at a time to explain what had happened. Kaellie and Monica had even been rounded up and brought in as well. It was extremely awkward as my friends and Teressa’s friends kept glaring at each other while everyone carefully avoided looking at me. It was extremely obvious that I made them all very nervous. I kind of enjoyed that reaction from Teressa, but not from Sylvie and Kimberly.

When it was my turn, I walked into Professor Roangard’s office, feeling extremely nervous but trying not to show it. They might be about to throw me out of the Academy, but at least I could try to keep as much dignity as I could.

Professor Roangard’s office wasn’t quite what I would have expected from the head of a school of magic. It looked an ordinary office with a nice wooden desk, beige carpet, and several book shelves. I didn’t see anything that would have looked out of place in the office of any normal school headmistress. Professor Roangard sat behind the desk, watching me with a grim expression. Amylia stood to the side, looking equally grim. I was just thankful that Mrs. Khuto was watching those in the hall to make sure they didn’t share details, otherwise I would have really felt outnumbered.

“Erin Morris,” Professor Roangard stated as she looked me over. “Your sponsor warned me of your alternate form before you came here, but it is still somewhat surprising.”

“What?” I asked in surprise. “Aunt June told you?”

“Of course,” Professor Roangard responded, not taking her eyes off me. “I needed to know what animal I might expect to hear sightings of during the full moon.”

“It would have been nice to have been warned that she was a Were demon,” Amylia commented, giving Professor Roangard a pointed look.

“Succubus,” I responded with a gulp, feeling more than a little self-conscious. “I’m a Were succubus.”

Amylia looked startled at that and gave me another scrutinizing look. “Yes,” she said after a few more seconds. “I can see that.”

“Tonight is NOT the full moon,” Professor Roangard said. “This form is distracting so please change back.”

I gulped at that and then gestured down at my dress. “Monica dissolved my clothes…” I glanced to Amylia who seemed to understand my fear.

“I have another one,” Amylia said, holding out another small crystal.

With a faint nod, I willed myself to start changing back. I didn’t like the idea of changing in front of them, but after changing in front of everyone else, I didn’t exactly have an excuse not to. My body quickly began to shrink and return to normal, and as I’d feared, the conjured dress vanished in the process. As soon as I was finished returning to my plain form, Amylia invoked the same spell as before and I found myself wearing another black dress. Unfortunately, this time I no longer had the curves to make it look good.

Now that I was back to normal, my vision had become a little blurry again. Unfortunately, I’d lost my glasses when I’d transformed. They were probably on the ground with all of my tokens.

“Now,” Professor Roangard said, giving me a steady look. “I have students reporting that you tried to eat them…”

“I’m a succubus,” I blurted out angrily. “If they were guys and I lost control, I might have tried to jump their bones, but other than that I’m not really dangerous.”

Amylia snickered at that and Professor Roangard almost looked as though she was about to crack a smile for a moment. However, they both covered it up quickly.

“Erin,” Amylia said. “Tell us what happened.”

I know that Amylia and Professor Roangard had both heard the story a few times already, and I got angry as I imagined what Teressa had told them. However, I tried to stay calm and then told them what really happened.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt them,” I explained when I was done, my voice shaking with emotion. My eyes were tearing up as I remembered the way Kimberly and Sylvie had looked at me. “I was just trying to scare them away so they’d leave me and my friends alone…” Then I lost it and began to cry. Tears ran down my cheeks as I blurted out, “Now they hate me…”

Amylia put a comforting hand on my shoulder and even Professor Roangard looked sympathetic. I wiped the tears from my face, feeling even more embarrassed.

After this, everyone was ushered into the office, including Mrs. Khuto. Professor Roangard looked over all of us with a hard look in her eyes. Mrs. Khuto and Amylia stood back but both looked pretty grim as well.

“This kind of behavior will not be tolerated,” Professor Roangard stated, looking at each of us in turn. “All of you have detention.”

“But they started it,” Kimberly blurted out. “They attacked us.”

“Which is why they will have detention for twice as long,” Professor Roangard said, looking at Monica, Teressa, and Kaellie. “Using magic to ambush other students in this fashion is inexcusable.”

“That’s not fair,” Monica exclaimed, glaring at me. “Aren’t you going to kick that THING out?”

“Monica Tamwright,” Amylia snapped. “I will not tolerate you speaking that way about another student. Nor have I forgotten that you used magic to attempt to frame Erin for an attack. Did you think we’d forget that your family crest is a wolf? Or that your brother attempted the same thing?”

“But she’s a monster,” Monica spat out angrily, turning to glare at me.

“Enough,” Professor Roangard said, her voice as hard as stone. “I do not want to see you follow your brother’s path. You are a talented young woman and can do better than that.”

“This is bullshit,” Monica screamed frantically. “Marcus was right about this place.” She glared at me and then at Professor Roangard. “I don’t need this… I’m not a sorceress so I don’t need to be here…”

“Monica,” Teressa started.

Monica spat on the floor then snarled, “I quit… I’m not staying in a place that lets things like that in…” She glared at me again before turning and leaving the room. Teressa looked like she was going to try stopping her, but no one else made a move.

“That was most unfortunate,” Mrs. Khuto said.

“Teressa. Erin,” Professor Roangard said, looking at each of us. “You two remain. The rest of you leave.”

Kaellie rushed out of the room as though grateful for the chance to get away. Kimberly hurried close behind her, not even looking back at me. Sylvie gave me a quick look with an unreadable expression before she too left.

“This squabbling between you girls has gotten completely out of hand,” Professor Roangard announced coldly. “I had hoped you would be mature enough to resolve your differences yourselves. Instead, I see this unacceptable escalation.”

I hung my head in shame. Teressa was the one who’d been spreading rumors and even attacked my friends, but I knew I wasn’t completely blameless. It hurt to admit that.

“From now on,” Professor Roangard stated, her voice calm but firm. “You will resolve your differences in a civilized manner. Any further fighting will be done in the duel circle.” She looked to Teressa and then me. “Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” I answered.

“Yes ma’am,” Teressa repeated. Then she turned to me and announced, “I challenge you to a duel.”

“Accepted,” I responded with a scowl.

The two of us just glared each other in silence. Now that I was back to my normal form, she was no longer afraid of me. I wished I could change again, but I had a feeling that this would be a VERY bad move right now.

“As neither of you has dueled before,” Mrs. Khuto said thoughtfully, “I recommend that the duel be scheduled no sooner than several days from now. This will give you both a chance to prepare.”

“Then it is settled,” Professor Roangard said. “Or it will be then.” She looked at Teressa and said, “Teressa, you may leave now.”

Once Teressa was gone, Mrs. Khuto said, “Now we need to discuss what to do about your Were form.”

I gulped at that, having a bad feeling about what was going to come. My Were form was a bit too extreme for most people to easily accept. I was too scary and too sexy, both at the same time.

“I recommend she be banned from changing while at the Academy,” Mrs. Khuto stated. She said this calmly, as though it was a perfectly reasonable solution. “This way there will be no threat to the other students.”

“Is she a threat?” Amylia asked with a raised eyebrow. “In her other form, she has claws and wings. How is that any more dangerous than the spells any student in the sorcerers course can cast?”

Mrs. Khuto nodded. “Point granted. But after this incident, the other students will fear her.”

Amylia smiled faintly. “So, you say we should punish a student merely for how she looks? How is her Were form any different than someone having the talent to transform their body?”

“No,” Professor Roangard said, cutting their argument short. “There will be no such restrictions on Erin’s Were form. The knowledge of her Were form is out and there is no longer any hiding it. She will be free to change at will, so long as there is no threat to the other students.” She looked me in the eyes and asked, “Is this understood.”

“Yes ma’am,” I answered, feeling relieved.

“No go,” Professor Roangard told me. Then as I started to leave the room, I heard her mutter, “Now maybe I won’t get any more reports of a giant bat flying around at night.”

“Oh frell,” I muttered as I walked away. “I don’t know the first thing about dueling.”

“Perhaps not,” Amylia said, catching me by surprise as she put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her and she gave me a faint smile and added, “You may not know much about dueling…but I believe you know someone who does.”