Suddenly A Succubus Ch. 38

Amara took a deep breath as she walked, each stair bringing her closer to the cafeteria. Previously, fresh off her reaper kill, she'd been too exhausted to care about the crowd of students, but now things felt different. The adrenaline had worn off, and she'd fed enough downstairs for her injuries to vanish completely. For a moment, she dwelled on the thought that she'd almost walked in front of a crowd of students without any clothes on.

It made her chuckle quietly to herself.

Maybe Tessa has a point; the old me would have been mortified to show so much skin in public, even my swimsuits were always rather tame. Still, most of them have probably seen my pictures, right? And I don't even have to hide my true form anymore. Actually, how much should I cover up? Is this too little, or too much?

She looked down at her "outfit"--a complex series of overlapping, chitinous plates that wrapped around her breasts and her groin. At the moment, they covered about as much as a modest, if slightly conservative, bikini.

Hm. That's no good.

With another thought, the exoskeleton began retreating. Her cleavage grew more prominent, more of her toned stomach exposed itself, and the pert curves of her ass were now on full display.

That's better. I need to feed again before this fight, so the hornier they are, the better.

Just before reaching the doors, Amara turned to face Nick and Tessa. "Anything I need to know before I go out there?"

"Um, we've barely had a chance to get a handle on things," Nick said. "They started serving food, which I think is helping, and Vee is trying to touch base with everyone. Most of them are obviously pretty freaked out; do you think it might be a good idea to tone down your appearance a bit? You know more than anyone that demons don't have the best rep."

Amara briefly looked back at her wings. "I guess I can put these away so I take up less space. Though, personally, I think we've got bigger problems than what some random students think of me."

With a flash of hellfire, Amara's wings vanished. She rolled her shoulders a few times, adjusting to the strange feeling. She'd been in her true form for more than a week straight, and it felt weird to hide it again. Once she finished, her tail reached out and opened the door, then she turned to walk into the cafeteria.

She immediately noticed that Nick was right; the food seemed to be helping. Rather than a panicked crowd of students all standing around awkwardly, they had broken up into smaller groups and were slowly picking away at their lunches. Previously, Amara hadn't bothered identifying anyone in the crowd other than Naomi; she'd been far too exhausted from her fight. Now, with no immediate threats, she allowed herself a moment to scan the crowd.

She recognized quite a few faces, though some students had their backs turned. She saw Naomi, obviously, but also Kylie, the three cultists, two guys she recognized from Luxnor's class, and a few students that had once hired her for pictures. Many of them turned to look at her, some openly staring, and others quickly averting their eyes and realizing she was watching them.

"Amara!" From off to the side, Vee looked up from the table she was standing near and immediately ran over. She threw her arms around Amara and hugged her tight. "Thank fuck you're alright. I was so worried."

Amara hugged her back, smiling as she did. "It's gonna take a lot more than a reaper to take me out. Still, if it happens, at least you know what to do, right, Vengeance?"

Vee pulled away, quickly rubbing her eyes before playfully pushing Amara's shoulder. "Oh, shut up, Hellspawn."

They both laughed, and Amara caught Tessa rolling her eyes. "Seriously, though? Still weird seeing you two all buddy buddy again."

Before she could respond, Amara paused. She'd briefly gotten caught up in the joy of seeing everyone together again, then immediately realized she'd been mistaken; they weren't all together. "Guys, where's Chloé?"

Everyone looked around for a moment, then Vee spoke up. "I swear I just saw her in that back corner. I've been trying to keep tabs on the entire cafeteria, though, maybe she slipped away? I did... kinda tell her everything that's been going on the last few months. Just my side of things, granted, but she's hard to read; I couldn't quite tell how she took it."

"Shit. I'm going to find her; you all get yourself some food." Amara started jogging to the corner they'd last seen Chloé at and started looking around. When she didn't find anything immediately, she tapped into her inner fire and tried to fully engage her senses. After a moment of focusing, she found a scent that seemed like Chloé's. It was incredibly faint, which was hardly surprising; Amara would be shocked if her friend had been horny at a time like this. Still, it was enough to follow, and soon she found herself following a path to a small maintenance staircase tucked away in a corner.

The staircase led upstairs, where a second story held a few small offices, but Amara didn't sense Chloé's presence on that floor. Instead, she kept ascending and soon opened the door to the roof. There, it only took a second to find Chloé leaning against a railing, looking over the quad.

"Chloé!" Amara gasped, running closer.

Although she quickly glanced over her shoulder, Chloé didn't seem to have much of a reaction to Amara's presence. She turned back to lean on the railing, and Amara saw her shoulders slump.

"Chloé, why are you up here?" Amara asked, joining her at the railing. "It's freezing, not to mention all the monsters skulking around the quad."

"I just... I needed some air," Chloé muttered, burying her face in her scarf.

She was obviously shivering, so Amara let out a small, controlled burst of heat to warm the area up. She stayed quiet, hoping Chloé would say something, but the next several minutes passed in silence.

"I heard you talked with Vee," Amara said eventually.

"Yeah. I'm mostly caught up on everything now." Chloé's voice was still muffled by her scarf, though it appeared she'd stopped shivering.

"Chloé, I should have--"

"Don't," Chloé said, cutting Amara off with unusual conviction. "Just don't."

Amara paused, shocked at the statement. Chloé was usually so timid, and the pain in her voice was obvious. "I-I... I just wanted to--"

"I know what you're gonna say," Chloé started. "You're gonna say that you wanted to tell me, but magic is dangerous. Everyone who learns about it seems to get hurt, and it's best to just keep everyone in the dark unless they stumble into it themselves?"

"Well, not exactly, but... how did you know?"

"Come on, Amara, look at me! I grew up with a miserable family, in a miserable town, and I hated every second of it. I buried myself in books, shows, games, anything I could find that would distract me from how awful my life was. I used to lie awake at night, fantasizing that I lived in a world where magic was hiding just under the surface, wishing that some magical creature would show up and tell me I'm special. That I matter, I have cool powers, and I never should have grown up in such a terrible place."

Amara wasn't sure what to say, so she stayed quiet.

"And eventually I grew out of that. Obviously, the world just sucks, there's no magic, no wonder. So, I tried to make the world I had better. I found a good college that seemed welcoming, I started volunteering, I did everything I could to fight for a better life, and I thought it was working! You all were my first real friends! You accepted me for who I was, you encouraged me to open up about myself, it felt incredible. And then... you all started acting weird. There was confusing drama, I started seeing everyone less frequently, then you and Vee vanished completely. I thought I was losing the first real friends I'd ever made."

"Chloé, I never wanted that. You're an amazing person, and I feel awful that you got caught in the crossfire. You have every right to be angry at me."

"That's just it, Amara; I'm not. I'm not angry at you, I don't blame you for any of this. I think you made the right call."

"I... I don't understand."

"This is literally my childhood dream come true, Amara. Magic is real! It's just... not for me. My being here, knowing all of this... it means something went wrong." Chloé was crying now, the tears running down her cheeks before soaking into her scarf. "In a perfect world... I'd still be in the dark. This is just more proof of what I've always known: I'm nothing. I'm nobody, I don't matter, and I never will!"

She couldn't continue anymore. Her body shook as she wept, and she reached up to push her scarf higher on her face. A cavernous void formed in Amara's stomach, a horrible guilt over how her actions had affected Chloé, and she wanted to do something to help.

Amara manifested her wings, then reached for Chloé's shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. Chloé had no energy left to resist and turned to Amara before burying her face in her shoulder.

Chloé spoke up again after a minute, her words choked as she fought through the tears, and it seemed like every thought of hers was spilling out without rhyme or reason. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I just... You look so fucking cool, Amara! Your wings are so big and you've got an awesome tail and all that cool armor, and you look just like the Queen of Blades and she's always been such a badass and I'm super fucking jealous 'cuz I always wanted to look like her!"

Hugging Chloé tight, Amara slowly rubbed her back and did her best to comfort her. "Let it all out, Chloé, I'm not going anywhere. I'm never going to let you feel alone again."

"And you can summon fire, and Vee said that you fought a giant demon on Thanksgiving and threw him back into Hell, and that sounds so cool! And it was kinda scary when you showed up with the monster's skull but also you looked crazy awesome and I wish I were half as cool as you, but I'm not!"

It took several minutes for Chloé's crying to slow down, and she spent the entire time sharing every thought she'd been bottling up. Amara held her close the whole time, happy to be there for her, even if she knew she was responsible for this breakdown. She hoped that letting Chloé purge all her emotions like this would make her feel better.

Once the tears stopped, Chloé took a few deep breaths before looking up at Amara. "Do you... do you think you could take me flying sometime?"

Amara wiped one last tear from her friend's face before responding. "I'd love to, Chloé. Though, at the moment, I can't really fly. It's a PTSD thing from when I fought Vee on Halloween."

Chloé sniffed. "I-I guess that makes sense..."

"I'll happily show you something else, though. Want to see me blow something up? Or turn my tail into a blade?"

"Your tailis really cool..."

Smiling to herself, Amara turned Chloé away from the railing, and they both took a seat on the gravel-covered roof. She slid her tail into Chloé's lap, letting her poke and prod it as much as she wanted.

Why does everyone want to see the tail first?

After a minute, Amara moved her tail away and slowly turned it into a blade, manifesting a series of chitinous plates that eventually formed into a sharp edge. She was thrilled to see a smile on Chloé's face, and she cycled through a few different shapes to try and cheer her up.

"So, who's this Queen of Blades person? Have I seen her before?" Amara asked.

Chloé shook her head. "No, she's from this game called Starcraft, and she was originally just a normal person. Well, not completely normal, she had some latent psionic abilities. Anyways, this evil Emperor guy betrayed her and she got captured by aliens, but they saw her psionic potential and..."

The explanation continued for a while, and Amara listened intently to every detail. Chloé was easily distracted and occasionally went on small tangents about the lore of the game, but eventually recounted most of the story of this character. She even pulled out her phone to show Amara pictures, which was very helpful in helping her understand the comparison.

Giving Chloé a chance to talk seemed to help. Her words slowly came more confidently, and her excitement over the game helped lighten her mood. Once she finished her small rant, and had tucked her phone away, Amara spoke up again.

"You know, I think there's something you could do that would really help us out."

There was a brief flash of excitement in Chloé's eyes, though hesitation quickly followed. "Like, actually? This isn't... y'know, mindless busywork to make me feel helpful?"

Amara shook her head. "Not in the slightest. I know it's been pretty hectic, and we managed to find safety for now, but Vee and I have to get back out there and stop Brandon. We don't understand magic, however, and Tessa has to help us put together a plan. What that means, though, is that none of us can really spare the time to organize everyone downstairs. We don't know who half those students are, how they're feeling, stuff like that. It would be really helpful if we had someone that was great with people, who knew how to organize crowds, that could help us put things in order."

"Oh, I don't... I don't think I'm all that great with people," Chloé muttered, digging her heel into the gravel as she stared at the ground.

"Bullshit!" Amara said. "Chloé, you put together an entire charity! You organized an all-day cleanup event at the Palace! I was there, don't forget; I saw how well you handled everyone that showed up. You told them what needed to be done, handed out supplies, it was incredible. I wouldn't be able to do that in the best of circumstances, let alone now."

There were another few moments of silence. "Well, what would you need?"

"It would be incredibly helpful if we knew a little bit about everyone that's caught up in this nightmare. Who they are, how they're feeling, maybe even if they've noticed anything unusual. Plus, if you step up, that gives them a feeling of structure. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most approachable person, not when I look like this, and we all know Tessa is anything but a ray of sunshine."

Chloé laughed quietly. "She actually attacked Naomi after you passed out. She posted some photos online and Tessa pulled a knife on her."

Amara rolled her eyes. "Ugh, I'll talk to her. Although, Nick might have already beaten me to the punch, they might be a thing now."

"I, um, heard something to that effect earlier," Chloé said quietly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Well, like, literally. Most of the cafeteria heard you three, um..."

"Oh!" Amara gasped in realization. "I see what you mean. Sorry about that, I needed to feed."

Looking over at Chloé, Amara caught her face turning bright red. "Feeding? Is that what you call it?" she asked.

Amara nodded. "It's really the only thing that makes sense. It's a separate act from having sex, I can do one without the other. I've got an innate sense that tells me how horny people are, it manifests as this kind of aura, and once it's strong enough I can tap into it to regain my strength. But, if I don't do this regularly, I get really weak. So, yeah, it's a fitting word."

Chloé seemed lost in thought, her brows furrowed, then asked another question. "So why the outfit? No offense, but it looks kind of..."

"Slutty?"

"No! That's not what I-- I meant, like, if I saw that in a game I would--" Chloé was blushing even harder now, stammering as she tried to find the right thing to say.

With a hearty laugh, Amara wrapped her arm around Chloé's shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. "It's okay, Chloé, I know what you mean. In any other context, yes, I bet I'd consider this outfit incredibly oversexualized. I could grow more plating to cover up more, but I'm going to need to feed again before we confront Brandon and those monsters. I'm flaunting my body to try and figure out who wants to fuck me."

"This is going to take some getting used to," Chloé said. "You're so different now! You sound just like Tessa!"

"I'm a succubus, aren't I?" Amara paused, thinking back to earlier when she'd almost forgotten about her nudity. "It's weird, because I completely agree--I was pretty timid before all this. But, once I figured out who I really was, it's like my life finally started. Everything makes sense now, and I feel like the person I always wanted to be is finally here. I'm probably not explaining that well, am I?"

Looking down at Chloé, Amara saw she had a huge smile frozen on her face. "Not at all, Amara. That makes perfect sense. C'mon, we should get downstairs, it's cold out here. Or, well, it was. Did you do something?"

With a smirk, Amara held out a hand and summoned a ball of fire. "Heart of hellfire, remember? I'm not going to let one of my best friends freeze to death."

Both girls laughed as they stood up. Amara went first, opening the door with her tail, and they continued making small talk about her demonic abilities as they walked downstairs back towards the cafeteria. Just before they left the staircase, she remembered her wings were still out and quickly demanifested them in a burst of hellfire.

Thankfully, when they arrived, everything seemed pretty much the same. Students were still sitting around tables and picking at food, which made Amara realize how hungry she was. "Can we get some food? I'm starving, I haven't had real food in ages."

They walked over to the serving line, where a girl with bright, unnaturally red hair stood behind the counter. She was leaning over a container of soup, holding the side while she stirred the savory contents. When she looked up, Amara noticed her eyes briefly linger on her cleavage, then her shoulder, but she quickly diverted her attention higher.

"Oh! Uh, Amara, right? Wow, they weren't kidding about your abilities. How's your shoulder?" the red-haired girl asked.

"All better, thanks. Why do you ask?"

Chloé spoke up next. "This is Ruby, she's the one who patched you up after you fainted earlier."

"They told me you'd heal completely if you just had sex, and I was pretty skeptical. But, hey, seeing is believing. I'm glad you're better!" Ruby pulled out a spoon to taste the soup and grimaced in dissatisfaction.

"Something wrong?" Amara asked.

"This place just has shitty burners. I made enough soup for everyone but it's taking ages to heat up."

With a smirk, Amara raised her hand and snapped her fingers. A flurry of sparks appeared, and within moments, the soup was piping hot and bubbling. "That should be better. Let me know if it cools down again!"

"I, uh..." Ruby blinked several times as she processed the chain of events. The pulse in her aura was undeniable. "Thanks?"

After piling their plates with food, and grabbing a bowl of soup, Amara and Chloé walked into the dining hall to look for their friends. They eventually found Vee, Tessa, and Nick sitting at a table off to the side, and Vee jumped up to wave them down.

Tessa wanted to start tackling the problem at hand, but Vee shushed her and redirected the conversation to Chloé, wanting to make sure she was okay. The conversation eventually switched over to general small talk, everyone taking turns to chip in while they slowly finished their food. For the first time in what felt like ages, they were all together again, and everything was out in the open.

Despite how nice it was to be home again, and surrounded by friends, it was impossible for Amara to ignore the attention she was getting. Even just walking through the tables earlier, nearly everyone was trying to hide their attempts to look at her. She could hardly blame them; even though Vee had explained that she was an angel, Amara was still the only one that was visibly not human. Plus, her choice of outfit was working like a charm. It was incredibly easy to catch everyone that was checking her out, and she hoped she would have her pick of the lot whenever she needed to feed again.

When they finished eating, Amara even volunteered to run everyone's trays back to the kitchen. She wanted an excuse to flaunt her body, to playfully flick her tail as she walked around, and she loved feeling everyone's eyes on her.

After Amara returned, Nick jumped in surprise and reached into his bag. "Shit, I totally forgot, but I have all your stuff, both of you," he said to both Amara and Vee. Soon enough, he'd pulled out two sets of keys and two phones.

Amara snatched up her phone immediately, thrilled to have it back. She unlocked it, happy to see that Nick had kept it charged, then immediately panicked when she saw dozens of missed texts and messages from her mother. "Nick! Were you just ignoring my phone all week? My mom is freaking out!"

Nick sheepishly scratched the back of his neck as he averted his eyes. "I didn't know your unlock code, so I couldn't send a text pretending to be you! I tried to smooth things over by texting her myself, saying that you've been really busy with school, but that only works for so long."

"Ugh, I'm gonna be in so much trouble. I'm supposed to be home from break by now!" Amara started scrolling through all her missed text messages as she tried to figure out what exactly was happening. The first few were from Nick and Tessa, back when she'd first gone missing, but most of them were from her mother, Evelyn.

Earlier in the week, she'd been trying to figure out when Amara was planning on coming home. Sometimes students frontloaded all their finals to start vacation early, and her mom didn't know when Amara's tests were. Additionally, since Amara had skipped coming home for Thanksgiving, her mom was extra excited to spend Christmas with her. This also meant, of course, that she wouldn't be able to use Nick as another excuse for missing a holiday.

As time had progressed, her messages had become more emotional. On some days she seemed quite upset, rightfully so, but would then apologize or mention having talked to Nick. Later in the week she'd pivoted to concern, wondering if Amara had gotten wrapped up in something she was too scared to tell her about. The more recent texts were unusually calm and supportive, with her mother stressing that she would always love Amara, and stressing that she wouldn't be mad if something had gone wrong at school. Reading through all the texts, Amara felt terrible. She loved her mom with all her heart, and hated seeing her this distraught.

"Do you want to give her a call?" Vee asked quietly, gently grabbing Amara's wrist.

"What would I even say? Had I caught this sooner, I might have been able to make something up, but nothing I say at this point will excuse ignoring her for over a week." Amara buried her face in her hands, trying to think of a believable cover story, but she couldn't organize her thoughts. "Ugh, I don't have the energy to think about this right now, not while there's a madman breaking down the walls between reality."

"Hey, Evelyn is really understanding, and she loves you. I'm sure she'll understand once you have a chance to talk to her," Nick said. "For now, should we start tackling the aforementioned madman?"

"Yeah, probably." Amara went to tuck her phone in a pocket, then quickly remembered her lack of clothes. She gave the phone back to Nick, and once he'd put it back in his backpack, the group split into two teams. Nick and Chloé started wandering the cafeteria, making a list of everyone present and trying to put together a picture of how everyone was feeling. Vee, Tessa, and Amara stayed at their table, ready to start thinking of a plan.

Amara did her best to explain her previous encounter with Brandon. The skeletal hand, the strange ethereal chains, and the way he used them to exert control over her and the reapers. One of the most frustrating aspects was not knowing the limits of his abilities; when Amara had confronted him, she hadn't exactly been at full strength. For all she knew, a big enough orgy might make her strong enough to knock him out with a single punch, but there was no way to tell.

"Ugh, I can't believe that slimeball survived the ritual," Amara said. She then quietly added "I had a chance to finish him off, you know."

"What stopped you?" Vee asked with a hint of genuine curiosity.

"Nothing, really. I think I was just scared." Amara paused for a moment, thinking back to her fight with Vee. "I'd just finished feeding on the three of them, and I had so much power running through my veins. But, after what happened on Halloween... I'm always a little nervous about losing control. What happens to me if I start killing like that? Everyone else I fought that night was already dead, but I still learned some pretty scary things."

She held out a hand, curling it into a fist as she lost herself in her thoughts. "It's unnerving knowing how easily I can crush a human's spine with my bare hands."

"Hey, that fucker deserves it," Tessa said. "I don't think I would have spared him had I been you, but it's too late to look back now. He's here, and we need to stop him. That being said, I have a theory on how he might have survived in Purgatory."

"I'm all ears," Vee said, leaning forward. Amara did the same, eager to change the topic.

"So, we know that Wellington was carving runes into all the cultists. They were told the runes were to make them stronger and faster, which is true, but that was most likely a side effect of their true purpose. The real plan was to summon an army of demons, and each demon needed a host. However, while I can't be certain without examining the runes, I have a feeling they were mostly used to prepare the host bodies for possession. Demons are powerful creatures, and attempting to possess a weaker body might just kill it."

"So, how does that explain how Brandon survived?" Amara asked.

"Well, it's based on something Vee just told me. She said that, while you two were in Purgatory, you didn't really see any ghosts."

"Huh." Amara paused, thinking back to their time in Purgatory. She had never thought about it until now, but Vee was absolutely right. They had never seen anything other than the reapers and the weird glimpses of the people back on Earth.

"So, here's my thought." Tessa slid closer, gesturing with her hands as she talked. "Brandon is covered in these runes, which prepare him for possession. However, he never gets introduced to a demon, because he's too fixated on Amara, and then we disrupt the ritual. The portal freaks out because they did a shit job making it, and instead of being sucked into Hell, Brandon gets thrown into Purgatory. However, his body has already been prepped for possession, and suddenly he's surrounded by a bunch of spirits with unfinished business. They swarm him, but ghosts are nowhere near as powerful as demons. They're unable to override his consciousness, he turns the table on them, and now he has the collective energy of a fuckton of ghosts."

Amara listened intently, turning over Tessa's words in her head. "I guess that makes sense. That would also explain why his voice sounded like a bunch of different voices at once. I don't think it really explains why his magic looks like chains."

Tessa shrugged. "Hey, this is just a guess. I could be completely wrong. Maybe it's just a weird, symbolic representation of how he views the world? Magic is weird, and something it just does shit."

"This is all very interesting, and I mean no offense by this, but how does this help us stop him?" Vee asked.

"Well, I... haven't quite gotten that far yet," Tessa said sheepishly. "With this kind of stuff, often you can't start speculating on a solution until you understand how the problem is built. Like, how exactly does the possession work? If it's a one-time effect, then he's stuck like this. However, what if the runes need to be continuously active? That might mean we could disrupt his abilities by destroying the runes on his body. We can't really know for sure."

The three of them started speculating on possible solutions, running through a list of Vee's and Amara's abilities to try and put together a plan. The lack of information was incredibly unhelpful, and none of them felt particularly enthusiastic about any of their proposed plans.

Their conversation was eventually disrupted when Chloé approached the table. "Hey, um, is this a bad time?" she asked.

"Not at all, Chloé," Amara said, sighing with exhaustion. "C'mere, take a seat."

"Actually, I was hoping you could all come with me. I'm still in the middle of trying to get a lay of the land, and Naomi noticed something interesting she thought you might want to know."

"Okay? Why isn't she here then?" Tessa asked.

"She asked me to come get you. I don't think she wants to admit it, but I get the feeling she's a little shaken. You did attack her, Tessa."

"I already apologized for that!"

"Even if you did, that doesn't mean she has to forgive you," Vee said, a stern look in her eyes. "She's perfectly within her rights to be hesitant around us."

"Fine, whatever." Tessa rolled her eyes, then stood up. "Lead the way."

The four of them left the table, then walked to the back of the cafeteria. The entire back wall was a massive window that overlooked the quad, and while this normally framed a beautiful view of campus, today it served as a perfect vantage point for observing the reapers. However, as Amara approached the window, she noticed that the scene outside had changed dramatically.

The quad was still covered in unnatural fog, the three reapers still visible, but something far worse had appeared. A massive tear in space had formed in the center of the field, through which Amara could see the barren landscape of Purgatory. The tear was vaguely circular, and it loosely reminded Amara of the portal to Hell they'd seen at the Ritual, but this one was far less refined. Its edges were blurred and flickering, the air nearby warping with unnatural thickness.

In front of the portal stood a lone figure, his silhouette flickering with ghostly energy.

Brandon.

Amara clenched her fists, her breathing intensifying as she saw him again. She wanted nothing more than to charge him down and rip him to pieces, but there was no denying that he had enough power to stop her. Thoughts of every terrible thing she wanted to do to him crossed her mind, followed by all the chances she had to stop him earlier in the school year.

I could have prevented this if I hadn't been worried about losing control.

A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she jumped in surprise. Looking to her side, she saw Vee cautiously smiling at her.

"Hey, deep breaths, we're gonna stop him. Let's put the fire out, okay?"

For a brief moment, Amara thought Vee was speaking metaphorically, but a quick look down revealed that wasn't the case. Amara's hands had literally caught fire, and her hair had even started smoldering.

"Fuck, sorry, I just... Never mind." Amara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, in for two counts, then released it. She counted to four, then opened her eyes and looked around again.

Naomi and another girl were standing near the window but had obviously taken a few steps away from Amara. They each had looks of apprehension on their faces, and Amara did her best to give them a soft smile. "Sorry, Naomi, I didn't mean to scare you. I'll be okay. You said you noticed something?"

"Uh... yeah," Naomi said, hesitating a moment before continuing. "A few things, actually. One, the portal appeared about half an hour ago, and it's been growing ever since. Brandon seems to be doing this himself; he's been pretty focused on it ever since he showed up. However, more importantly, I noticed something about those monsters. What did you call them again? Reapers? Anyways, for the most part, they're patrolling the area. What's curious, though, is what happens when they wander closer to Brandon. Every time they do, he pulls his attention away from the portal and gestures at them, like he's telling them to back off."

Amara turned her eyes back to the quad, trying to separate herself from the anger she felt looking at Brandon. It didn't look like any reapers were currently wandering closer, but she'd only been watching for a minute or two. "So, what, you've just been sitting here watching that creep for the last hour?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Check my socials? Pretend like some crazed lunatic isn't breaking down the walls of reality just outside the window?" Naomi paused, looking around at everyone as she read their expressions. "That's not what you meant, though, is it? You're trying to figure out if you can trust me."

"I didn't say that," Amara protested.

"I'm not an idiot, it's written all over your faces," Naomi said. "Look, I get it, okay? You've all got a lot of secrets, way more than I ever suspected, and I understand why you'd hesitate to trust the person snooping around the last few weeks."

"Naomi," Vee started, "we're just trying to be careful. A couple of weeks ago, dozens of seemingly normal students sold their souls to demons at the whim of a power-hungry maniac. I've been trained from birth to keep everything I do a secret, Amara has spent the last few months being hunted and blackmailed, and let's not forget that you tricked Chloé into showing you where Amara lived so you could break in for your little investigation."

"Wait, you did what?" Amara asked, stepping towards Naomi.

"I overstepped, okay? I get it!" Naomi said, nervously backing away again. "The official story about the cult seemed too clean, and I wanted to learn what really happened for myself. Yes, I wanted a good story, but it's not like I expected to get caught up in this fucking nightmare! You think I'm not scared? That I'm not freaking out about everything I've learned today?"

"You didn't seem very freaked out when you posted those photos," Tessa said, putting a hand on Amara's shoulder to hold her back.

"So I panicked a bit, sue me. I woke up today thinking that, best case scenario, I might be on the trail of a mildly interesting school scandal. Then a monster falls out of the sky, and Amara shows up with her exploding hands and tackles it to the ground, and I just... I feel like I stared death in the face and barely escaped. I pride myself on being able to think quickly in a crisis, and perhaps I reacted poorly. I understand why you want to keep this a secret, I really do, but don't you dare insinuate that I'm not desperate to walk out of this alive."

Amara turned to look at her friends, briefly taking a moment to wordlessly confer with all of them. No one seemed to be raising any objections, so she took a deep breath and said "I'm sorry for blowing up at you earlier, Naomi, I really am. My demonic blood makes me a little... aggressive at times, but that's no excuse for taking it out on you. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"

"Just... don't do it again, please. I get the feeling you don't know how scary you are."

"Deal," Amara said, hoping a big smile would put Naomi at ease. "Now, Tessa, do we think Naomi's observations might be helpful?"

Tessa had walked closer to the window at this point and was carefully watching Brandon. "If she's telling the truth... I might have an idea. Based on what you said earlier, Amara, it sounds like his power only extends so far. If he wants to magically paralyze you, he gives up his direct control over the reapers. Here, if he focuses too long on the portal, the same thing happens again. What if they don't like being subjugated?"

"You think we can, what, overload his powers?" Vee asked. "Trick him into overextending long enough that the reapers take him out for us?"

"If nothing else, I think that gives us a solid plan of attack for whatever plan we put together. The fact that the reapers don't like him, however, is interesting. Your original theory was that they're some kind of guardians of Purgatory, constantly patrolling to make sure nothing stays alive there. If that's true, that might be why they're posturing at Brandon; they can sense he's not entirely dead. What if I can amplify that separation between life and death? Create a temporary schism between himself and the source of his powers?"

"Tess, you're starting to veer into theoretical magic again. Any chance you can dumb it down for the rest of us?" Amara asked.

"It's... hmm..." Tessa paused for a moment. "I might be able to enchant an item that can cut off his powers."

"That's great!" Vee said. "What do you need? And how fast do you think you can get it up and running?"

"That's the tricky part. Ideally, I would be able to inspect the runes that were applied to him, but I doubt he's going to give us that chance."

Naomi spoke up next. "But we have other cultists here, don't we? The two guys and the teacher? If they're as reformed as they say they are, maybe they'll be willing to help with this."

"Shit, that's right!" Tessa said excitedly. "Fuck yes, okay, that's great. The only other way would be to introduce an element of Brandon from before he transformed into this thing, but we don't have time to search his place. Ugh, I wish we still had his hand, but Amara burned it up..."

Vee's eyes lit up, and she started rummaging through her coat pockets. "What about his blood?"

"That would do it. Why?"

After a second, Vee found what she was looking for; Tessa's knife, still covered in Brandon's blood. "We found your knife in the Purgatory version of the ritual chamber. I meant to give it back to you earlier, but, well, obviously we got a little sidetracked."

"Vee, this is perfect!" Tessa's tattoos started glowing, and the knife floated closer. "Fucking sweet, we might be able to pull this off. If I get the chance to study the runes on the other students, I can apply a set of magical counter runes on this knife. In theory, that will be enough to split the human and ghost parts of Brandon apart, buying us enough time to either finish him off ourselves, or for the reapers to exact their own revenge."

Tessa started muttering to herself, spinning the knife around in midair as she examined its every crevice. As she walked away, Vee looked at Naomi. "Thanks for your help, Naomi. I'm sorry Tessa is... well, Tessa."

"I'm mostly used to it, but thanks. Just do me a favor and get our campus back, will you?"

Amara nodded, then quickly left the conversation to catch up with Tessa. "Tess, hey, quick question."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"You need to investigate the runes on those cultists, right? Well, that involves them taking their clothes off, and I really need to feed, so... any chance we can kill two birds with one stone?"

Tessa stuck her tongue out in disgust. "I'm not fucking them, Amara, they're totally not my type. Besides, I need to focus on the runes, nothing else."

"I mean, duh. I'll just hold them down and do my thing while you take notes. That way I get to feed, and they'll be too focused on me to make things awkward for you. C'mon, Tess, I'm starving! The threesome was great, but I need every drop of energy I can get if we want to survive this!"

"As long as it's clear that I'm not joining in, then fine." Tessa thought to herself for a moment, then added "Plus, if there's any chance that they're tempted to try and join Brandon, I guess your presence will keep me safe."

"Exactly! I'm just your magical, slutty bodyguard!" Amara slapped Tessa's ass with her tail, and it only took another minute for them to find the cultists.

The three of them were sitting in a back corner and appeared to be doing their best to keep a low profile. As they approached, Amara did her best to remember their names and what they liked, hoping she could use it to her advantage.

First was Mr. Luxnor, the teacher she had fucked in an attempt to get more information about the cult. He liked being in control, but she had been disguised as Kylie last time. Second was Mark, the sadist. He had long black hair, and had been most excited when he thought he was pushing past Amara's limits. The last of the three was Chris, who had dirty blonde hair and a matching goatee. He had easily been the nicest of the cultists, and his only notable fetish seemed to be her tits. She assumed he would be the easiest to convince.

The exoskeleton on Amara's body shifted somewhat, accentuating her cleavage even more. When she finally made it to their table, she leaned forward while sticking her ass out to give them the best view she could. "Heya boys! How's everyone been since our last little talk?"

All three of their auras noticeably pulsed as she spoke, but in addition to the arousal, they were obviously pretty nervous. "We did exactly what you wanted! I swear I'm not involved with all of this!" Mark said.

Poor guy must still be scared of me. Guess I can't blame him.

Amara playfully walked over to him, growing a long talon and tracing it across his neck. "That much is obvious. You're all too smart to double-cross me like that, aren't you? No, we're here for another reason; we need to examine all the runes Mr. Wellington gave you."

After lingering behind Mark for a second, she took another step to get behind Chris. She leaned forward, her nearly naked breasts pushing against his back as she whispered in his ear. "Don't you want to help us out, Chris? We need to know what they look like, and I figured, since you're going to be taking your clothes off anyways... maybe we could have some fun? I know how much you loved having these tits wrapped around your dick."

Chris swallowed nervously, and his aura was strong enough that Amara was already able to start feeding. "U-um, of course! Although, last time we, uh, well, I felt really bad after. I mean, I regret what we tried to do, obviously! But also, like, physically I felt awful..."

A soft, sultry laugh left Amara before she responded. "Oh, that won't happen again. I just needed to punish you all for thinking you could control me, and I think we've learned our lesson about that, haven't we?"

Chris and Mark both nodded quickly, their fear obvious. She stood back up, wrapped her tail around Chris's arm, and helped him to his feet so they could find someplace more private. After briefly catching up with Vee to relay their plans, they returned to the bistro downstairs to begin their work.

Amara let Tessa lead the action, doing her best to find suitable positions that enabled the witch's note taking. When Tessa needed to inspect Chris's back, he sat on the edge of the couch while Amara massaged his cock with her breasts. To display his chest, Amara pushed him on his back and slowly rode him, taking great care not to let him cum prematurely. Thankfully for Amara, Tessa was being extremely detailed, and she had plenty of time to enjoy her meal. Conveniently, being so close to the action was also making Tessa incredibly horny; while she never joined in, her aura was more than strong enough to give Amara even more of a meal.

By the end, Chris was writhing in desperation, eager for Amara to take mercy and let him finish. With a signal from Tessa that she had everything she needed, Amara let him shoot his load over her tits as she pushed them together, eagerly bouncing up and down for him. By the time he collapsed back onto the couch, she was already scooping his cum into her mouth to extract every last bit of energy she could.

Amara jumped to her feet, flexing her tail and cracking her neck as she reveled in the warmth of her inner fire. Her threesome with Nick and Tessa had been wonderful, but much of that energy had gone towards healing her wounds. Playing with Chris for so long had provided the excess energy she was looking for, even if she wasn't anywhere near Ritual levels yet.

When she looked over at Tessa, however, she seemed lost in thought. She idly bit her lip ring as she examined her notes, then offhandedly mentioned that they would be better off comparing Chris's runes against an additional set, just to be safe. Amara practically jumped with joy, eager for the chance for another meal, and asked Tessa to stay put while she convinced another cultist to join the party downstairs.

She sprang up the steps, taking them five at a time in her excitement. Before entering the cafeteria, however, she paused.

Huh. I'm weirdly excited about all this feeding. Is this just because I went so long without sex while I was in Purgatory?

No, that can't be it.

It's not just the feeding. It's the attention, the rush of using my sexuality as a weapon, the looks in their faces while they try to reconcile their fear with their arousal. The delicious smell of arousal as all the other students try to steal glances at my perfect body... Fuck, what a rush!

A grin on her face, she waltzed into the cafeteria with high spirits. Several auras around the room had grown, no doubt from listening in, and she breathed deep as she returned to the table with the cultists.

Predictably, Mark caved to her request almost immediately. Amara knew he wouldn't try anything funny, and she was practically giggling in excitement at the chance to toy with him some more. She started by cycling through the same positions she'd used with Chris, but found that Tessa was working much faster than she had last time. It had only been a few minutes when she confirmed that all the runes seemed identical between the two cultists. With nothing else to do, she quickly ran upstairs and left Amara alone with Mark.

Amara smirked with devilish glee as she took her time finishing him off. Reading his aura made it obvious that he wanted something rougher, just like last time, but his fear kept him from acting on those urges. Amara turned their fucking into a game; she kept taunting him about his hesitance, goading him into being rougher with her, and trying to figure out how far he would actually go.

By the time he finally came, shooting his load deep into her throat as he gripped her horns, she had a feeling the fear was starting to become its own thrill in his eyes. His arousal had grown sweeter, his aura a dramatically different color compared to the night of the ritual. She made a show of swallowing his load, and when she licked her lips, her tongue sparked with hellfire. She blew a kiss at him, flames leaping from her mouth before vanishing just inches from his face, and he flinched in fear before getting dressed and leaving in a rush.

With the fun over, Amara felt ready for the final event. She ran back upstairs to look for Tessa, and was pleased to see that the cafeteria still seemed relatively calm. Chloé had a list of all the students present that she forwarded to everyone in the group, and she gave a quick rundown of how the different students were coping with the situation. Although many of them were freaked out, none of them had done anything drastic.

Vee and Nick had done their best to talk with the more panicked students, and Vee had even pretended to bless someone in an attempt to keep them calm.

Most importantly, no one had left the building, and everyone was still safe. The portal outside had continued to grow, its presence a gripping reminder that time was not working in their favor. Together, Vee, Amara, Tessa, Chloé, and Nick discussed a plan for taking the fight to Brandon.

Tessa showed everyone the finished knife and explained that all they needed to do was stab Brandon with it; ideally, the combination of his blood and her counter runes would short out his powers. Even if the reapers didn't capitalize on that moment, it might still be enough for Amara or Vee to finish Brandon off. The biggest disagreement between everyone was who should carry the knife.

Initially, Amara had volunteered, but Nick was adamant that she shouldn't. He argued that her powers were best suited to being a large distraction, which would be doubly effective if Brandon still had unresolved feelings about her.

In the end, they gave the knife to Vee. They agreed that Nick and Chloé would stay inside the cafeteria, but that Tessa would wait on the sidelines. While she didn't have any powers, she understood planar magic better than anyone, and her telekinesis gave her the option to attack at range should an opportunity present itself.

Eventually, the plan was finalized, and they all exchanged nervous glances. They separated to make their final preparations, knowing that within the hour, they'd be fighting to take back their campus.

---

There's only one chapter left! I hope you're all excited for our third dramatic finale! It's gonna be pretty great, there's gonna be a fireworks show, and we're gonna play bingo, it's gonna be a whole thing.

Don't forget to Follow me for notifications when the last chapter goes up! And let me know your predictions for the ending down in the comments, I'd love to hear what you all think is going to happen.

Until next time! Nyx <3