The dormitory kitchen was quite nice, being twice the size of the one we had at home and filled with good quality appliances. Unfortunately, most of the students didn’t appreciate it and only used the kitchen for warming soup or making grilled cheese sandwiches.

There were three tables sitting at the edge of the kitchen in order to form a dining room for students to use, though like the kitchen, it was under appreciated and was mostly used as a place for students to play board games.

At the moment, I stood at the kitchen counter, hard at work preparing dinner for my friends. Eve, Sylvie, Kimberly, and Todd were all there, joking around and watching me curiously. I’d asked Gayle to come as well, but she couldn’t make it and had to go to her sister’s bridal shower instead.

“How the hell can you move the knife so fast without cutting off your fingers?” Sylvie asked me curiously.

I just grinned and looked down at the cutting board where I was julienning some carrots for the salad. “It just takes some practice with the knife,” I answered. “My mom is a chef and had me helping out in the kitchen since I was old enough to walk. She was teaching me knife skills by the time I was eight and frequently has me working as her sous chef while she’s making dinner.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Todd asked.

“Naw, I’ve got it,” I told him. “Though if you would have asked earlier, I would have given you some potatoes to peel.”

“That’s why he didn’t ask earlier,” Eve said with a grin.

“So, what all are we having?” Sylvie asked.

I just grinned at that and answered, “Fish fingers and custard.” Todd chuckled at the Dr. Who reference while the three girls all gave me blank looks. “Salad, scalloped potatoes with gruyere and pancetta, and herb roasted chicken.”

“And what’s for dessert?” Kimberly asked with a grin.

“Chocolate mousse,” I told them with a smug grin. “I made it myself.”

“Damn,” Eve exclaimed, looking impressed. “You really are taking this dinner thing seriously.”

I just shrugged at that. “Like I said, my mom is a chef. She used to work late a lot and wanted to make sure that someone would be able to make a decent dinner when she wasn’t around.”

“First last night and now this,” Sylvie mused. “You really are trying to spoil us.”

I just laughed at that, grinning as I thought about last night. It had been quite fun to discover a whole new use for my talent, one that I could only use in succubus form. Instead of being able to make myself sexier, I could make other people sexier…and not just girls. I smiled even more as I remembered how hot Todd had looked.

Last night had been quite educational as I’d experimented and discovered some new things about how my Were and Touched sides interacted. Even after my friends had gotten tired and went to bed, I remained in my study experimenting.

One of the things I’d confirmed was that I could use the extra sexual energy I fed on in order to increase the amount of magic available to me and cast higher level spells. Unfortunately, that quickly drained me of what I’d absorbed and left me very hungry. And since there wasn’t nearly as much ambient sexual energy around the hall of sorcerers as there was in the dorms, it was fortunate that I’d only gotten to this point after Todd had already left.

The other important thing that I’d discovered, after I was out of sexual energy and feeling very hungry, was the fact that I was still able to cast the breast enlarging spell. As a succubus, I could actually draw more magical energy than I could as a human. After some trial and error with different spells, I estimated that as a succubus, I was probably a class seven or eight.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of my tokens, one that I’d cast last night but hadn’t dared to actually test out. This was the spell that I’d been wanting to cast since I first came to the Academy. This was the spell that first made me interested in magic. This was the spell that could reverse a person’s gender.

“What have you got there?” Todd asked as he saw me staring at the token.

“Nothing,” I lied, quickly putting it back in my pocket. I blushed, wondering why I was hesitating to test that spell. After all, it would only change me back for about ten minutes.

I shook my head and turned my attention back to finishing up. I quickly got the rest of the salad put together and served it to my friends while we waited for the rest of the dinner to finish cooking.

“last night was really…interesting,” Kimberly said with a chuckle. “But you ruined my clothes.”

“Ours too,” Sylvie added with a broad grin. “But it was so worth it.”

“It is pretty fun,” I agreed, though I was only in my normal form at the moment. Still, the temptation to activate my talent and transform was definitely there.

Then I looked to Todd, blushing as I remembered last night. If it wasn’t for my other friends being present, I don’t think I would have been able to ignore my desire for him. I know that I certainly hadn’t wanted to ignore it either.

“I’m just glad you let us see you like that again,” Kimberly said, giving me a curious look. “It’s kind of interesting to see you as a succubus.”

I just nodded at that, thankful that Kimberly wasn’t scared of me anymore. After the way she and Sylvie had relaxed around me last night, I knew that I was going to have to go out in public as a succubus more often. Maybe then the other students would get used to me and wouldn’t be quite as shocked.

A short time later, the rest of the food was ready so I served that to my friends as well. They all began to immediately gulp it down, making appreciative noises.

“This is great,” Todd exclaimed, giving me a look of approval. “You cook better than my mom.”

“I’ll tell her you said that,” Sylvie told him with a smirk. Then she added. “Or at least, I would if you weren’t right.”

“Can you teach me to cook like this?” Kimberly asked me, looking a little embarrassed as she admitted, “I can barely boil water.”

“We ought to make a thing of this,” Eve said with a grin. “We should take turns making dinner, maybe once every week or two.”

We talked about her idea for awhile with most of us agreeing that it sounded like a good idea, though no one really wanted to commit to being the next one to cook. Still, I had the feeling that I’d be gently pressured into cooking for them again sometime.

“So, what was that you were telling me about a Were convention,” Sylvie asked.

“Not a Were convention,” I corrected. “It’s just a meeting for some mythics.” Then I grinned and added, “In a couple days, I’m gonna be able to meet up with a bunch of other mythics…some of them around my own age. I’m kind of excited about it.”

“I’d imagine,” Eve commented thoughtfully. “I mean, mythics are pretty uncommon among the Were and a lot more rare than sorcerers are.”

I nodded at that. “I’ve only ever met two other mythics.” One of those two had been a Were jackalope that I’d met at a convention when I was a kid, and of course, the other one was Amylia.

“You’ll have to tell us all about it when you get back,” Todd said. “I mean, I’m curious about what kind of mythics there are.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, definitely being curious myself.

At the same time, I suddenly realized something that I hadn’t before. However, that would have to wait until dinner was over with. I forced my attention back to my friends.

“This was fantastic,” Sylvie said once we were finished with dinner. “Especially that chocolate mousse…”

“I can’t believe you were able to make that yourself,” Kimberly said.

I just laughed. “It’s not really that difficult. You should try my mom’s version when she mixes in amaretto.” I licked my lips in an exaggerated manner.

As I got up to go work on dishes, Todd came and put a hand on my shoulder. “You know,” he told me with a gleam in his eyes. “You’re pretty cute like this too.” And with that, he gave me a kiss.

“Get a motel room,” Sylvie teased us.

When we pulled apart, I stared at Todd and gulped. I felt just a little weak in the knees after that, though I definitely wanted to do it again.

“We should do dinner again,” Todd told me, looking just a little nervous. “Just you and me. My treat…”

I blinked at that. “You’re asking me out on a date?”

“Um…yeah,” Todd responded self-consciously.

“I’d love to,” I exclaimed, throwing my arms around Todd in a hug and giving him another kiss. I triggered my talent and grew sexier, then gave him another one. Then I forced myself to calm down and nervously reminded him, “You remember that I’m still a bit confused…” I tapped my forehead with a finger.

“It’s okay,” Todd told me with a gentle smile. “I understand.” Then he stared me straight in the eyes and added, “And I’m not confused.”

I blushed at that, feeling just a little more of my confusion fading away just as it did every time Todd did something like this. I gave him another hug and didn’t say anything. I was just glad to be holding him.

Once my friends and I had finished up, I excused myself and told them that I’d meet up with them in a bit so we could all watch a movie together. For the moment though, there was something I wanted to do while I was still thinking about it.

A short time later, I was at the building that housed the quarters for all of the school staff. Students weren’t actually banned from entering this building but we were somewhat discouraged. Because of that, I was a bit nervous as I went to knock on Amylia’s door.

When Amylia opened the door, she gave me a startled look and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“Not really,” I told her, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening in. “I just wanted to talk to you about…”

“Come in,” Amylia told me with a faint sigh.

I went inside Amylia’s quarters and was surprised at how large it was compared to my own. My dorm room was a fairly small room with a closet, while hers was more like a nice sized apartment with separate rooms, including her own bathroom and kitchen.

“I’m going to a meeting with some other mythics in a couple days,” I started off, holding up the letter from Vivian and the invitation.

Amylia gave me a wry look and said, “You know I won’t attend any such gathering.”

“No,” I quickly responded, trying to think about how to phrase this. “I’ve been told that over the last ten years, there have been a LOT more new mythics than ever before. I guess, there are three times the amount of new mythics and a LOT of them are humanoid mythics.”

“A population surge in mythics?” Amylia mused, looking vaguely curious. “I can’t say that I’ve heard of that.”

“My dad has a friend,” I started carefully. “Sort of a distant cousin who is part of a group that have been tracking mythics and trying to find out why some Were become mythics and see if there is some kind of pattern. She said that before this, humanoid Weres were almost completely unheard of.”

Amylia gave me a curious look before responding, “You are the only one besides myself that I have ever met.”

I nodded at that. “Well, Vivian and her friends found out that a lot of these new mythics are related. Apparently, a lot of us new mythics…and all of us who are humanoid ones, are all descended from the same guy.”

“Interesting,” Amylia replied. “And you think that because I am a humanoid mythic, that I might somehow be related too?” Her tone suggested that she was more than a little skeptical about that idea.

“I don’t know,” I told her, holding out Vivian’s letter. “But since Vivian said that every humanoid Were she knows of is descended from this guy, I figured I should ask you if you are too…” Then I quickly told her, “He was a Were Chimaera named Robert Dupree.”

Amylia suddenly froze at that. She let out a gasp and snatched the letter out of my hands. As she read it, her entire body actually seemed to shake.

“I haven’t heard that name in a VERY long time,” Amylia said quietly, suddenly looking very tired.

“Then you know who he is?” I gasped, almost in surprise.

“I should,” Amylia responded after a moment, her voice shaking even more as tears began to form in her eyes. Then in a near whisper, she admitted, “Robert was my son.”