I sat beside Todd at our usual lunch table. The two of us held hands and kept giving each other silly grins, ignoring our lunches for the most part. I couldn’t stop thinking about last night, and obviously, neither could he.

Sex as a human was quite a bit different than as a succubus. As a succubus, it had been very powerful and primal, an act of pure lust and hunger for both Traci and myself. It had been incredible and felt unbelievably good, but it all been about the sex and feeding…nothing more.

Having sex with Todd had been very different. It wasn’t nearly as long, powerful, or physically pleasurable, but it had still been extremely fulfilling in a completely different way. It had been a little awkward and clumsy, but it had also been slower and more gentle. It had been less about the physical needs and more about the emotional. It was the difference between fucking and making love.

“What is up with you two today?” Sylvie asked, giving Todd and I odd looks.

“Well,” Eve responded with a smirk. “Erin does kind of have that just got laid look…”

Kimberly and Monica both snickered at that while Sylvie stared at us with her eyes going wide. “Wait,” Sylvie blurted out in disbelief. “You two…”

Todd and I both blushed badly but couldn’t quite say anything before Kimberly grinned and announced, “About time.”

“None of our business,” Monica commented with a faint smirk.

“The hell with our business,” Eve teased. “I want all the details…” That only made Todd and I blush all the brighter.

Sylvie looked absolutely horrified and blurted out, “I don’t want to hear about my brother’s love life.” Then she put her hands over her hears and sang, “La la la la…” That just made everyone burst out laughing.

“So,” Kimberly asked me curiously. “Is it better as a boy or as a girl?” Then she froze and clapped her hands over her mouth, quickly glancing to Monica while Sylvie, Eve, and Todd gaped at her.

“Wait,” Monica gasped, looking at the others and then asking, “You guys know…?”

“That I used to be a guy?” I responded with a nod, feeling uncomfortable with the reminder. “Yeah. Then I quickly added, “I guess I forgot to clue everyone in on who knows and who doesn’t…”

Sylvie, Todd, Kimberly, and Eve all looked a little startled. Then Sylvie asked Monica, “How long have you known?”

“Since before I got back to school,” Monica admitted.

“And you didn’t tell Teressa?” Eve asked, looking pleased at that.

Monica shook her head. “No… I knew how she’d react.” She paused at that, staring down at her food and looking sad. Teressa might be a bitch, but she had been Monica’s friend. Then she brightened up a little and looked at me. “And they know about…?” She paused, leaving it hanging there.

“Um…no,” I responded uncomfortably, not sure whether she was referring to Amylia being a hybrid or my relationship to her. Probably both. The rest of my friends were all starting at me so I gulped. “There are some things I wish I could tell you guys…but I kind of promised I’d keep them quiet. They’re not really my secrets to share and someone else would have to pay the consequences if they got out.”

“But she knows?” Sylvie asked, looking at Monica with a look that seemed to be part suspicion and part jealousy.

Monica looked uncomfortable at that. “Erin wasn’t the one who told me... I…I didn’t make any promises, but I’m not gonna spread anyone else’s secrets.”

“Leave it alone,” Todd told Sylvie and Eve, both of whom looked as though they were about to start pressing for information. “If Erin isn’t telling us something, then she has a good reason. Remember, she was pretty up front with us about being a Were and about being a…well…about her sorcerers mark.”

“Still might have been nice to have gotten a heads up about being a succubus,” Kimberly teased me. Monica nodded faintly at that.

Sylvie gave Todd a flat look and then said, “You know Erin is out of your league…”

I nearly laughed at that while Todd responded, “What?”

“She’s too good for you,” Sylvie told him with a smirk, “so you’d better treat her right. If you don’t, I’ll smack you upside the head like you’ve never been smacked.”

“I plan on it,” Todd responded, giving me a quick kiss before adding, “Treating her right that is. Not the getting smacked thing.”

“Good,” Sylvie said with a grin.

A minute later, we all got up to leave the cafeteria. I caught sight of Teressa, glaring at me with a look of absolute hatred while Kaellie sat beside her with a similar expression. It was pretty clear that they were glaring at Monica too, probably thinking of her as some kind of traitor since she’d started hanging out with me.

“I should get going,” Kimberly said. “I need to stop and pick up some things from my room before the next class.”

Kimberly hurried off while the rest of us went off in a group, leaving the cafeteria and wandering across the courtyard. Todd and I walked side by side, hand in hand.

I grinned at Todd. It was strange to think that I actually had a boyfriend, but nice as well. I felt giddy and girlie. This was a feeling that I never would have thought that I’d come to enjoy.

Now that I’d had sex as a girl, I definitely wanted to do it again. Maybe Todd and I could do it in my normal form next, or if he was feeling daring enough, in my succubus form. Of course, I’d have to be really careful but he’d probably get a huge kick out of it.

Suddenly, Teressa’s voice cried out, “How could you?”

We all stopped and turned around to see Teressa coming towards us with Kaellie right beside her. She looked furious, but to my surprise, it wasn’t me that she went to but Monica.

“How could you?” Teressa demanded, pointing at Monica. “How could you choose that THING over us…your friends?”

“Hey,” I protested angrily.

Before I could say anything more Monica snapped, “Don’t call her a thing.” She stepped forward and got right into Teressa’s face. “Erin’s a friend…and I didn’t choose her over you. I can have more than one friend.”

“She’s a freak,” Kaellie added, looking as though she was reach to grab for a token at any moment. I saw that Sylvie and Eve were doing the same and realized that this could escalate really fast.

“Why don’t we all calm down,” Todd suggested, trying to be the voice of reason. I couldn’t help but feeling proud of him for that.

“She’s the reason you left,” Teressa exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Monica admitted. “I was scared shitless. But you want to know why I came back? Because I saw something that scared me even more. I saw what happens when you decide people aren’t human anymore. I saw real monsters.”

Kaellie demanded, “What does that even mean?”

“You haven’t been the same since you came back,” Teressa accused Monica. Then she glared at me and spat out, “This is your fault... You used mind control on her… What? To turn her into a spy for you?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sylvie demanded.

Even glared at her and blurted out, “You’re crazy…”

“No,” Monica spat out angrily. “You’re the one who changed. When as the last time we had a movie night or did anything fun together? Now, all you do is how you’re going to get revenge…and she didn’t even do anything to you. This isn’t even about her being a Were. This is about you being jealous and refusing to let it go…”

“She really has gotten to you,” Kaellie insisted.

Just then, another voice yelled out, “What is going on here?”

I snapped around to see Amylia coming towards us with a grim look on her face. She didn’t look at all happy, and I knew that if she decided that we’d been out of line, I wouldn’t get any special treatment. In class, she treated me the same as every other student and I expected this would probably be the same.

“We were just having a little discussion,” Eve said.

“Yeah,” Teressa agreed with a forced smile. “Just a little talk.”

“I see,” Amylia responded with narrowed eyes. “And do talks normally occur with people holding tokens?” She gestured to Kaellie and Sylvie.

“We were just comparing our tokens,” Sylvie lied. “You know, showing them off…”

Amylia obviously wasn’t fooled, but since no attacks had actually occurred, I didn’t think there was anything she’d really be able to do. Still, she stood there for a moment, not looking happy. I knew her well enough to recognize the darker look she gave Teressa. But in spite of her knowing that Teressa was a bitch and a bigot, her professionalism as a teacher wouldn’t let her show any favoritism.

“As long as that was all you were doing,” Amylia said with the warning in her voice. “Remember, any altercations that take place outside a dueling circle will not be well looked upon.” She paused to look at each of us, me included. “Is this understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” we all said together.

Suddenly, Amylia froze and looked up into the sky. I looked up as well, gasping at the sight of a large green glow that filled part of the sky. It took me several seconds to realize that it wasn’t just a glow in the sky, it was something falling out of the sky.

“What the hell…? Sylvie demanded.

Seconds later, something hit the ground on the other side of the courtyard, creating a small explosion as stone and debris was flung from the impact. It suddenly struck me that a meteorite had just hit.

“No,” Amylia exclaimed with a look of horror. “Someone pierced the barrier…”

I took another look and realized that there was a glowing green bubble where the impact had occurred, and a moment later, the bubble popped, revealing eight people within. All of them were wearing the featureless white face masks that I recognized from the mythic gathering.

Amylia stood there with a look of horror on her face before she grimly announced, “Gregor is here.”