The question of how many angels can fit in a shower stall sounds like the setup for a joke, but in Heaven, we knew that the answer was eight. All eight of us angels were in our shared showers, and though we fit quite well, there would be little extra room should we ever try adding another angel.

Of course, the shower wasn’t the only place where we were lacking in space for new angels. Should we ever get a new sister, we would have to start doubling up on bedrooms or convert some of the extra space in Heaven into new bedrooms. However, we all agreed that eight angels were enough and there were no plans on adding any new ones.

It had been a full month since the fight at the Pit, and in that time my new sisters have adjusted quite well to becoming angels and joining Angel Squad. For Hannah and Julie, this wasn’t too great an adjustment, but for Petra…the former Pete, it was an enormous change.

Petra had dealt with her changes more calmly than I had and surprised me with how easily she’d taken to being a woman. Perhaps it was because she’d worked with the angels and knew what to expect, perhaps some part of her had secretly longed to be female, or perhaps it was something else entirely. Personally, I liked to think that my being there to help her had something to do with that.

As I washed myself in the shower, I looked at my newest sisters, smiling faintly as I did so. Hannah, Julie, and Petra were all fitting in perfectly. Even Petra showed absolutely no signs of discomfort or embarrassment at showering with the rest of us. Of course, I still giggled when I thought about her reactions the first time we’d invited her to shower with us, though I imagined that Dani still laughed about the first time she’d walked in on me.

“Can you wash my back?” I asked Petra.

“Sure,” she responded, doing as I’d asked. After half a minute, she giggled and said, “It’s hard to believe, but at one time this would have been one of my greatest fantasies come true…”

“I know what you mean,” I agreed with a grin. “Funny how things change.”

“You’ve got that right,” Dani added.

A few minutes later, we all got out of the showers and began to dry off. If any outsider had seen us, they probably would have been stunned by the sight of eight nearly identical women standing around, drying themselves off and brushing their hair. The only significant physical difference between us was the way we chose to do our hair.

Hannah had bleached her hair blonde and cut it into the same style she used to wear before her change. Julie, had cut her hair shoulder length and had given it red highlights. And unlike Lisa, now that she no longer needed to wear glasses, she’d happily tossed hers out. Petra’s hair was still long enough to brush the bottom of her shoulder blades, though she usually kept it in some kind of braid. From what she’d said, this was a nod to a kid sister whose hair she used to braid for her when they were kids.

“I’m so excited,” Julie exclaimed. “This is the first time I’ve really got to show off since…” She gestured down at herself. “Since I got more curves.”

“I was the same way after I first changed,” Lisa told her with a grin. Then she let out an exaggerated sigh and admitted, “I went out of my way to show off for my girlfriend, only to realize that I wasn’t all that into her anymore. It was pretty disappointing.”

“Well, Rich still likes me,” Julie protested, sounding just a little defensive.

“Of course he does,” Nicole exclaimed, giving Julie a quick hug. “You were quite a catch even before you became one of us.”

I just smiled at that, remembering the drama that we’d had to deal with after Julie showed her new body off to her boyfriend. At first, she’d been afraid that he wouldn’t be attracted to her anymore, and after she found out that he was even more attracted to her, she went off about how he didn’t like her old look. Fortunately, Julie and Rich had worked it out because for a little while it had looked like she was going to dump him, and after all the trouble she’d gone through to date him in in the first place, that would have been a shame.

“Okay girls,” Dani called out. “We’re on a schedule here.”

With that, all eight of us scattered to our separate rooms and began to get ready for the party. After everything that had happened, Rebecca, Nicole, and Dani had announced that we were holding a party to celebrate Lisa’s return and the four new angels. I was excited by this, as was everyone else. Then again, any excuse for a party was more than welcome.

Once I was in my room, I looked over the slinky and sexy dress that I’d bought for this occasion, as well as the stiletto heeled shoes. Of course, I could have borrowed shoes and a dress from my sisters, but I felt that it was time for me to start building up my own wardrobe of such things.

Fortunately, Nicole and Dani had both been eager to take Petra and I out for a shopping trip, though everything Rebecca had said about Dani was true. She really did get into shopping and trying out new clothes.

“Not bad at all,” I said, admiring my dress and imagining what Gene would say about me wearing it. I couldn’t resist smirking at that, knowing exactly the kind of effect it would have had on me back when I’d been a guy.

As I got dressed, I thought about my life and how much had changed in just a couple months. I’d lost my friend Dom, my girlfriend Cindy, and my entire identity, but I’d gained so much more than I’d lost. I’d gained a whole new life, sisters to share it with, and even a purpose for that life.

It was sad to remember that this new life also came with things like the demon queen and the loss of people I’d come to know and like. I was still having nightmares about snake demons, bombs being dropped on me, and the swarm of demons from the Pitt.

I paused what I was doing and closed my eyes, reminding myself that the demon queen was indeed dead and gone. We’d dealt with a couple small groups of demons since her death and we’d even found another three demon eggs. However, the demon queen had sent these all out before her capture and there hadn’t been any signs of other demons reproducing.

Lisa’s omega strain had been scattered across the planet and was slowly being spread from one person to the next. Within a few years, half the population would be immune to the demon strain, which would drastically reduce the number of demons that came into being. We were slowly killing the demons off, and hopefully one day, there would no longer be a single demon left alive on the planet. But until then, Angel Squad was still very much needed.

“At least we don’t have to worry about Dolenz anymore,” I muttered, thinking about the senator who’d been infected and taken into quarantine. I hadn’t heard anything about him since then, but it was safe to assume that he’d turned demon and had then been executed like any other demon. Or at least I hope he had been.

I let out a sigh and shook my head to clear these unpleasant thoughts from it. Today was a day to party and celebrate with my sisters and I refused to ruin it with thoughts of Dolenz or the demon queen. Instead, I finished getting dressed, then went to work on my hair and eventually my makeup as well.

When I was finished, I looked myself over in the full length mirror that now hung from the back of my bedroom door. “Perfect,” I said, feeling quite pleased with myself. Then again I’d spent enough time practicing with makeup to make sure that I could do it right.

I left my room and found that everyone else had already finished getting dressed and ready, except for Petra. She didn’t have her makeup on yet and looked frustrated as she exclaimed, “I can’t get this right…”

“Don’t worry,” Nicole assured her. “I’ll show you how…”

“You always made it look so easy,” Petra muttered with a shake of her head. “I never realized how much you went through to get ready for our dates…”

“You were worth it,” Nicole told her with a gentle hug. “And now that you’re my sister, you deserve to look your best too.”

Nicole led Petra away and I noticed that Hannah was watching them with an amused look. “It’s still hard to believe who she used to be,” Hannah told me with a chuckle.

I just smiled at that and reminded her, “Yeah, but I think she’d appreciate it if you thought of her as who she is now, not who she used to be. I know Dani and I both prefer it that way.”

“Of course,” Hannah responded with a nod. “I didn’t mean anything…”

“I know,” I assured her, then said, “And did I say how great that dress looks on you?”

I chatted with Hannah for a few more minutes, then went to talk to Lisa. Ever since she’d come back, the two of us had become quite close. Not only were we sisters, but she’d taken a hand in teaching me about medicine and virology.

“How’s Doctor Merrit?” I asked her curiously.

Shortly after the incident at the Pit, Dr. Merrit had gone to work for the CDC and was now in charge of monitoring the spread of the omega strain through the population. He was also in charge of the program to give out more vaccinations with the stuff, making even more people immune to the harkon virus.

“He’s doing great,” Lisa told me with a grin. “Uncle Gavin is thrilled to be working in his specialty again, especially since he can play around with the harkon vaccine.”

“I imagine,” I responded with a chuckle. It was still difficult to think of that friendly doctor as being the same asshole who every angel avoided like the plague. Then I let out a sigh and said, “It’s great that you developed a vaccine, but it’s just too bad…”

“What is?” Lisa asked me with a curious look.

“I imagine Doctor Vaughn would have been disappointed,” I explained. “I mean, she was working on the harkon virus so she could cure Rebecca. Imagine all the other people it could have cured too if this hadn’t happened. Now, the only way to stop the demon strain is to make it so everyone is also immune to the one thing that could have cured them…”

“I know,” Lisa said quietly, turning and staring out the window. She was silent for a moment before a slight smile formed on her lips. It was the same smile she had when she’d announced that she’d already spread the omega strain through the airports.

“What?” I asked Lisa, suddenly getting suspicious.

“Well,” Lisa responded, rolling out the word. “Hypothetically speaking, what if the omega strain had a back door? What if…under the right conditions, a custom made, individually tailored virus could slip through the omega strain and affect physical changes. Of course, the omega strain would still block out any large scale changes or mutations, but it might allow the changes necessary to cure things like cancer or the genetic defect that Rebecca once suffered from.”

I stared at Lisa with my eyes going wide, then blurted out, “You’re shitting me…”

“It’s only hypothetical,” Lisa responded smugly. “But one day, once the demons aren’t a threat and the governments eyes aren’t on us, a very controlled use of this might be able to help out a lot of people.”

I wanted to ask Lisa more about this, but it was then that the doorbell began to ring. Petra, having just finished with her makeup, started for downstairs, but Nicole stopped her.

“You can’t go to the door immediately,” Nicole explained. “You have to make them wait for at least five minutes. It’s a rule.”

“That explains a few things,” Petra muttered.

“We don’t know who it’s for yet,” Hannah said with a sigh, shaking her head and going down to get the door. The rest of us sighed and followed after her.

Mike was the first date to arrive and he immediately gave Dani a deep kiss. Once they broke apart, he gave Petra an odd look…just like he did every time he saw her. He still had a hard time accepting the former Pete’s new life, though I wondered if he might also be wondering what it would be like to become an angel himself. Maybe then he’d actually be able to beat Dani in a race without her throwing it.

Mike and Dani left after a few minutes, though I knew that I’d seen them again before long. After all, we were all going to the same party, just by different vehicles.

A few minutes later, Lisa’s date arrived. Colonel Roberts was dressed in nice clothes, civilian clothes rather than his usual uniform.

“Colonel,” Petra greeted him, just a little self-consciously. She was always just a little self-conscious when around people who knew the old her, or at least around people who weren’t sisters.

“Not tonight,” Colonel Roberts stated. “Tonight, I’m just a man named Carl.”

Normally, that kind of fraternization wouldn’t be allowed, but then again the fraternization between Hannah and Petra wouldn’t be allowed either since Hannah was an officer and Petra was enlisted. But now that they were in Angel Squad, the normal rules were thrown out the window.

“Come on Carl,” Lisa said with a laugh. She gave the colonel a kiss and the two of them left.

Over the next few minutes, Rich arrived for Julie while the other dates began following before they’d even left. Petra’s date was a soldier who used to be one of Pete’s best friends while Nicole’s was Felix, the soldier who’d been my guard back when I’d first been brought to this base.

I’d only met Hannah’s date once before and he seemed like a pretty nice guy. He was actually a guy from off base whom she’d been dating off and on for the past year. Apparently, she broke a few rules when she’d told him about her changes, but Colonel Roberts was looking the other way.

Rebecca hadn’t been dating anyone for as long as I’d known her, and I couldn’t help but feeling a little for her. After all, she deserved to have a really good guy who’d appreciate her. But for now, Captain Brooks had offered to escort her.

While everyone else’s dates arrived and picked them up, I kept thinking about what Lisa had said about her ‘hypothetical’ modifications to the omega strain which would be able to cure diseases and help people. The idea of such a thing and what it could mean for the world really excited my interests.

Then Gene finally arrived, and before he could say a word, I grabbed him in a long and passionate kiss. My whole body tingled with excitement and I gave him a wink, letting him know that he could expect a bit more later on.

“Now let’s get to that party,” I told Gene with a smirk.

“Yes ma’am,” Gene responded with a goofy grin.

I paused to stare at him, thinking once again about Lisa’s ‘hypothetical’ cure. That was definitely something I wanted a part of and I’d be talking to Lisa about that tomorrow. But for tonight, I owed my full attention to the party, my sisters, and most of all…my date.

I gave Gene another kiss, longer and deeper than before. And when finally pulled apart, I promised, “There will be a lot more than that after the party.”

The End?