Suddenly A Succubus Ch. 40

Amara clenched her fists, watching them closely as blackened, chitinous plates grew from her knuckles. Once covered, she smashed them together, sparks of hellfire jumping up her wrists. She skipped from side to side, moving faster with each step to force her heart rate up. With a heavy, guttural scream, she charged at Vee, who leaned forward and braced for impact.

She threw her entire body into her first punch, grunting as the strike landed. Vee slid backwards, muttered something under her breath, and a burst of angelic magic washed over Amara. Her skin prickled, though she barely noticed.

Another shout, another strike.

Chloé shrieked as flickering, ghastly chains wrapped around her legs and pulled her towards the portal.

Amara lost focus, her body seizing as uncomfortable emotions tried to bubble up. She forced them down, slapping herself before charging Vee again. This time she jumped before striking, her fist sinking deep into the punching bag suspended between the two of them. Despite Vee's angelic strength, Amara's aggression still forced her backward.

With a step backwards, Amara spun and lashed out with her tail. Its tip was thick and blackened, a makeshift club that slammed into the bag before she moved in for another punch.

"Amara! It hurts!!"

Amara's legs shook, threatening to buckle, but she kept fighting. She threw countless blows at the punching bag, her gauntlets growing more jagged with each passing second. She forced them deeper into the fake leather, and it was only a matter of seconds before they were sharp enough to puncture.

Chloé's body flickered briefly, pulsing with energy as the planes tried to close around her. She screamed even louder, her pained wails joining together with the shrill magic. An unnatural glow took over her body as the tear in reality grew even more volatile.

Her target weak, Amara pushed the advantage. She focused everything she had on the small tear, hammering into it with everything she had. Her fury grew, hellfire leaping from her fists as she continued her assault. Fire burst from each impact as her gauntlets sank deeper with every strike, and soon the bag began breaking apart. Her prey bled thick, colorful scraps of cloth, and she wanted to see it obliterated.

The portal shrieked, and everything grew to a terrible zenith before there was nothing left to give.

Amara screamed, flames leaping from her mouth as she grabbed the punching bag. She pulled it from Vee's hands, yanking hard enough to break the chains that held it aloft. Her wings held her steady as she spun, throwing the bag high into the air. She watched as it flew higher and higher, suspended dozens of feet above the floor of the Gymnastics building, then launched a beam of light from her hands.

Chloé pulsed with light, then shattered.

The bag exploded, scattering into a thousand pieces of leather and cloth. Many of the pieces were on fire, but Amara didn't care. Her emotions finally bubbled to the surface, and she screamed before falling to her knees. She slammed a fist into the floor, the impact reverberating through her hand, then repeated herself. Each impact stung worse than the last, and she shouted until her voice threatened to collapse. The hard floor began chipping away at her chitinous gauntlets, but she wanted the pain, needed it.

Vee spoke, though her words were distant and muted. A hand found her shoulder, silently asking her to stop, and it broke her concentration. She slumped over, leaning against Vee in defeat; there was nothing left to distract herself with. Tears poured down her cheeks, the hellfire vanishing as her fury faded. She turned to Vee, wrapped her arms around her waist, and buried her face in her shoulder as she wept.

---

Amara was drained. Not physically--she'd been taking every available opportunity to make a Nick-sized dent in her mattress--but emotionally. Despite the power thrumming underneath her skin, the hellfire that had turned her into an otherworldly monster, she felt utterly broken.

Five days had passed since Brandon had been defeated, sent back to Purgatory and ripped to pieces by the very creatures he'd tried to subjugate. Five days since Chloé had single-handedly saved everyone's lives, proving that she was just as capable as her friends, even without any magic backing her up.

Five days since she--

No.

She shook her head. She desperately wanted to avoid thinking it, saying it. That one, fateful word that awaited everyone and everything in the end.

Instead, she threw her covers off and got dressed. Her movements were mechanical, she moved without passion as she pulled clothes from her closet. What she wore didn't matter, so long as it wasn't pajamas. Ever since spending a week in Purgatory with nothing but her sleepwear, she'd developed a heavy distaste for it. She spent her nights completely nude now, and dressed herself only out of spite for the outfit she'd been stuck in for so long.

Her clothes felt so restrictive now. Just before their fateful battle with Brandon, she'd burned her pajamas to a crisp and simply walked around in her chitinous exoskeleton, and the freedom had felt wonderful. In the years and months prior, clothing had been Amara's favorite way to express herself, but that joy had slowly diminished as her new body had developed.

She longed to be free, to explore the campus and the world in her true form. She hated hiding away her tail, she loved how her horns sat on her head, and she adored the feeling of wrapping her wings around herself. At the moment, everyone on campus knew her identity, but Nick encouraged her to keep her demonic attributes hidden to appear less intimidating. He'd helped Chloé talk with many of the students after Brandon's initial invasion, and quite a few of them had expressed concerns about Amara.

So what if I'm "terrifying" and "able to blow shit up with my mind", I've been the one busting my ass to keep them all safe. They don't fucking know what I've been through.

Once Amara was mostly dressed, she began shuffling to the kitchen. She'd left her jeans unbuttoned, sitting lower than usual so she could keep her tail out. As she rinsed out her coffee pot, her tail opened a nearby cabinet to grab her travel mug. She forced down a breakfast bar while the coffee brewed, and after she'd screwed the lid on her thermos, her eyes flared. She superheated the coffee until it boiled, then demanifested her tail in a burst of hellfire and buttoned her pants. With a heavy sigh of frustration, she locked up her apartment and walked outside.

Winter was in full swing for Aurelius University. Tree branches hung barren and lifeless, and a brisk wind scattered what few leaves remained on the ground. Light snowflakes fell from the sky, melting before they had a chance to land on Amara's skin. She scowled, took another sip of coffee, then started walking.

It was time to meet up with everyone at the cafeteria.

She'd been ignoring the other students ever since the fight. Vee had been spending quite a bit of time with her, which she didn't mind, but that left Nick and Tessa as the primary points of contact for everyone else. On rare occasions, in the short spans of time before and after they fucked, Nick would share small updates about how the students were feeling, but Amara never paid attention.

As she approached the dining hall, she stopped. She didn't want to go in, not yet, and instead veered around the building to visit the quad on the other side. She hadn't seen it since the fight, and surveying the wreckage sounded better than surrounding herself with flocks of frightened humans, at least for now.

Her first stop was the outer sidewalk, to the place where she'd first saved Chloé. A massive crater sat in the middle of the concrete, and the building nearby shared just as much damage. The reaper hadn't crashed entirely through the outer wall, but many of the bricks had been shattered, now lying in pieces and scattered amongst the wreckage.

A trail of destruction led towards the quad, mainly large scratches in the ground and trees, and Amara followed it onto the main field. A literal battleground awaited her. The grass, normally pristine and uniform, had effectively been reimagined as a set for an old war movie. Impact craters, massive gouges, and countless scorch marks from Amara's hellfire marred the landscape. Many trees were now missing large branches, and one had fallen over completely, its trunk snapped in half by some otherworldly force.

In the center of everything, a complex web of concentric, circular scorch marks. Lines of damage radiated out from a single point; the exact spot the portal had closed for good.

"Amara! It hurts!!"

Wincing in pain, Amara turned away. There was nothing here for her now.

Instead, she entered the dining hall through the bistro entrance, marching up the stairs to approach the cafeteria. She could hear dozens of voices, and was able to pick out Vee's in particular, along with Nick and Tessa. With a deep breath, she tried to mentally prepare herself for whatever they had planned, then walked into view.

Many of the tables had been rearranged, shifted around to better serve their purposes. The point of today's meeting, according to Nick, was to finally talk about what needed to happen next.

Vee was the first to see Amara and excused herself from her conversation before running over.

"Hey," Vee said. "How are you feeling?"

Amara shrugged, looking down at the ground. "About how you'd expect."

"We'll get through this together, alright? I know it's frustrating to be here, but this is how we keep people safe moving forward."

With a heavy sigh, Amara looked up. Vee had a powerfully sympathetic smile, and her presence made this whole gathering significantly more tolerable. "Yeah, that's what Nick keeps trying to tell me. I just don't have the energy."

Vee stepped closer, playfully wrapping an arm around Amara's shoulder. "That's what your coffee is for, right? Besides, once we wrap up, Ruby is making everyone food, so at least there's something to look forward to. If nothing else, I doubt you'll need to talk much, if at all."

After chugging more coffee, Amara forced herself to nod slowly. "... Thanks, Vee."

It only took a few minutes to corral everyone to the tables, forming a vague circle so all the students could see each other. Nick called for everyone to quiet down, and once the murmurs stopped, he launched into a speech that sounded suspiciously well-practiced.

"So, I know you're all worried about what comes next. A lot of crazy shit happened over the last week, and it's not fair that you got pulled into all this. However, at the end of the day, we're all in this together, and we need to come to an agreement on how we proceed. Now, I've met with most of you in smaller groups the last few days, so hopefully we all have context for what happened on Monday. The purpose of today's meeting is to get us all on the same page about how serious the situation is. This isn't over just because we got rid of Brandon, and if we don't band together, more people are going to get hurt. However, I'm not the best person to talk about that, so... Tessa?"

Nick looked to his side, locking eyes with Tessa. They seemed to share a quick, wordless conversation, and she sighed before standing up to trade places with Nick.

"Alright. So, uh, I suck at public speaking, and I hate beating around the bush. Long story short, this has to stay a secret. The fact that you all know magic is real, and have personally witnessed a planar incursion, marks you as targets. There are countless organizations out there that benefit from keeping magic a secret, and they will not hesitate to resort to drastic measures if they think someone here is in on the secret. But that's only the first part of all this."

She cleared her throat, then continued. "This campus sits on... well, it's like a large confluence of magical energy. The walls between the different planes are incredibly thin, and until recently, we've been kept safe by a series of protective spells placed around campus. This magic essentially formed a large gate that kept otherworldly forces at bay, but Mr. Wellington's cult blew the entrance open in pursuit of power. Without it, we're completely exposed to all the other planes of existence. Things might come through; magical energies are at risk of going haywire."

From the crowd of students, a concerned redheaded girl raised her hand. "What do you mean 'things might come through'?"

"Like, monsters. Cryptids. Take the cult, for example; a powerful demon wanted to invade our world and opened the Gate to make that happen. There are other creatures like that, ones that want access to humanity, who they only see as a resource. Vampires see us as food, fae beings see us as gullible fools to toy with, demons want to steal our souls, consuming them for power."

Behind Tessa, Vee cleared her throat loudly before nodding her head at Amara.

"Sorry, most demons want to take our souls. Look, the point is, no one can know about this. I don't care what your personal feelings are, I don't care if you're having a religious panic, or anything like that. If word gets out, we're fucked. Now, to my knowledge, no one outside of this room knows about what's been happening. The planes, however, are constantly shifting around like... like tides in the ocean. If one of them brushes too close, something could very easily slip through, and that's where you all come in. Until I find a way to repair the Gate, we need all of you to report anything strange that happens on campus."

Another student in the crowd raised a hand, this one a dark-skinned girl with thick, curly hair gathered atop her head. The ends of it had been dyed red, and she spoke with exceptional confidence. "That's all well and good, but how the fuck are we supposed to explain the state of the campus? The quad looks like it was leveled by an airstrike!"

Nick stood up again. "That's a good point, Naomi, and that's part of the reason we're here. We need to think of a solid excuse. Honestly, since you have connections to the school paper, you could probably write an article to help sell the story."

"You want me to abuse my position to spread lies? I didn't join the newspaper to be a pawn in some magical conspiracy!" Naomi shouted back.

Amara rolled her head back and stared up at the ceiling. Around her, dozens of students began chipping in their thoughts, some pitching cover stories, others debating with Naomi about the importance of controlling the narrative. There was quite a bit of dissent, and despite Nick's best efforts, little progress was made. Some students agreed with Naomi, some with Tessa, and no one was able to keep the conversation focused.

It was hard to summon the strength to care. Amara zoned out for large periods of time; not quite asleep, but certainly not alert. On rare occasions she would catch other students staring at her, and she would amuse herself by flaring her eyes and scaring their gaze off.

After nearly an hour of conversation, most of it Amara ignored, she found herself idly listening to someone arguing with Tessa. She wasn't sure what the specific topic was, but a brown-haired athlete seemed to be concerned about safety.

"--look, I'm not saying you're wrong, but there's no way we can guarantee people won't get hurt! I mean, fuck, your friend Clara knew everything and she still--"

"Her name is CHLOÉ!!" Amara shouted, suddenly laser-focused on the conversation. She jumped to her feet, slamming the table in front of her and cracking it down the center. Her horns appeared in a burst of hellfire, and she glared at the athlete from behind a veil of flames.

Everyone went silent, the air thick with fear as everyone stared at Amara. Her breathing was heavy, and with each exhale, sparks of hellfire floated from her mouth.

She felt soft fingers grab her wrist, then quickly turned to make eye contact with Vee. "Hey, let's take a walk, okay?" Her eyes were kind, but unyielding, and Amara scoffed before turning away from the crowd and storming off. Vee stood up, quickly apologized to everyone, then hurried after her.

Outside, snow continued swirling around on the cold concrete. A thin layer had formed on the sidewalk recently, but as Amara left the building, her fury melted an obvious trail behind her.

"Amara, please!" Vee asked, finally catching up. "I know it's upsetting, but he didn't mean anything by it. Everyone's overwhelmed, that's all."

With an angry shout, Amara threw a small handful of fire at the outer cafeteria wall. "I get it! I know why I'm supposed to be here, I know why this is helpful, I know that I'm not helping matters by terrorizing everyone! I just... it's so hard to care, Vee. I have all this strength, all these powers, and... and it wasn't enough."

Vee stepped closer, and Amara instinctively put out her hellfire. The heat remained, but all danger faded as Vee put a hand on Amara's arm. "Believe me, Amara, I understand what that feels like."

Amara sighed. "I know you do, Vee, and I don't mean to blow up at you. Being in there, it's just... how can Nick and Tessa focus on all that? After what happened?"

"They want to keep us safe, Amara. Isn't that what you want too? Yes, they've found the energy to talk with all those students and try to put together a plan, but that doesn't mean they're not hurting." Vee turned to look away from the building, leaning against the wall. "Look, there's no need to go back inside. How about we just wait out here and watch the snow while they finish up. Then we can check with Nick and Tessa, see how things went, and figure out our next steps from there."

"... That's probably for the best. I've been flaring my eyes at everyone that looks at me for too long." Amara joined Vee in leaning against the wall.

"Well, I promise I won't tell Nick, but he'll probably find out eventually. Maybe we can tell him that I've already scolded you for it? That might stop him from siccing Tessa on you."

"Okay, are they a thing?" Amara asked, desperate for a change of topic. "They've been spending so much time together, and I can't figure out what to make of it. Normally I'd just read their auras, but this is more complicated then whether or not they're fucking. Especially since Nick has been keeping me fed; I doubt he has much energy left for another fuck buddy."

"I'm not too sure myself, and if I'm being honest, I don't think they've talked about it yet. They're probably just doing everything they can to stop this from growing out of control."

They slid down to sit on the sidewalk, Amara's heat keeping them both warm while they gossiped about their friends. Nearly half an hour passed of them simply enjoying each other's company, and Amara briefly paused to appreciate how far their friendship had come over the last few weeks. Their bitter rivalry seemed so distant now, and it was easy to forget how close they'd both come to killing each other.

The end of the meeting was obvious to Amara. She heard dull conversation and dishes clattering inside the building, and the familiar smells of cafeteria food heating up. She also heard someone approaching the exit, and braced herself for the presumed scolding from Nick, or possibly Tessa.

Instead, a different voice spoke up, one she didn't immediately recognize.

"Amara?" the voice asked. It was a masculine voice, though not incredibly deep. Amara looked over to see a slender man with bright blue hair and pale beige skin, a bag slung across his body. His voice was shivering ever so slightly, though she couldn't tell if that was due to her or the weather. His eyes traced over the edge of the snow, the line where Amara's heat had melted everything before stepping closer.

"What is it?" Amara said flatly.

With a deep breath, the blue-haired student walked in front of Amara. He slowly kneeled to be at eye level, his movements careful and precise, before speaking again. "I know things are tough right now, but I--well, a few of us--wanted to express our gratitude for all your help, as well as our sympathy for... how everything ended."

Amara wasn't sure what to say. She'd gotten so used to everyone being scared of her, it was strange to have someone approach her so casually. She stammered awkwardly for a moment before Vee nudged her, prompting her to say something.

"Uh, yeah, whatever. Who are you?" Amara asked.

"Of course, sorry; my name is Kenji. I didn't just want to thank you, though. We found something that we wanted to give you." Kenji reached into his bag and pulled out a small bundle, which he extended to Amara. "It was tucked away in a corner of the dining hall; we noticed it when we moved all the tables for today's meeting. I believe it belonged to your friend, Chloé."

Eyes wide, Amara gasped as she reached for the bundle. She quickly unwrapped the cloth, which appeared to be some kind of table covering, then gently placed everything in her lap.

Inside, just as Kenji had said, were Chloé's things. A small crossbody purse, a lanyard with keys and an ID card, a phone, and her sketchbook. Amara retracted even more of her heat, desperate not to accidentally burn anything, as she ran a finger down the edge of the book. Chloé had always carried this everywhere, constantly drawing and taking notes. She had probably hidden it away when she'd decided to sneak towards their battle.

Tears threatened to fall, and Amara was only vaguely aware of the thanks Vee gave towards Kenji. He stood and left quickly, and once they were alone, Vee spoke up again.

"Do you... want to go to her place?" Vee asked.

Amara shook her head. She squeezed her eyes tight, burning away the tears, before she wrapped everything up again. "No. I'm not... I can't. Not yet."

"What do you want to do?"

"I... I want to go home. I don't want to be around people." Amara jumped to her feet, starting off towards her apartment before quickly pausing. "Do you want to come with? I can make us some food."

Vee nodded, then stood up to join her. They stayed silent as they walked, Amara focused on the package in her arms as Vee sent out a few texts. When they finally arrived, Amara placed everything on the counter before she ran off to change clothes. She returned in a pair of loose sweatpants, a racerback tank, as well as most of her true form. She didn't bring her wings out, they were still too big for her apartment, but she eagerly ran her fingers over her horns as she walked back into the living room.

"Nick still asking you to keep those hidden?" Vee asked, taking a seat at the counter.

"He thinks it'll be easier to convince everyone to stay quiet if they're not scared of me," Amara said, half-heartedly imitating Nick as she spoke. "What's the point? They already know I'm a demon. They've seen what I'm capable of. Weren't they all watching the fight through the cafeteria windows?"

"To my knowledge, yes. We're not living in puritan times, though; people are generally less religious across the board. I'll bet a lot of students don't care about what you are, they're more concerned with how you treat them."

"Yeah, and snapping at them doesn't help, I know, I know..." Amara rummaged through her fridge, which had recently been filled to the brim with fresh food, as she started preparing for lunch. "Ugh, I'm sorry, Vee. I know you just want to help, and I promise I don't mean to just constantly vent at you."

"I get it, Amara. Besides, listening to you vent kinda feels like letting myself do it, at least a little bit. Though, if you don't mind me saying, it seems like you haven't been spending as much time with Nick. At least, outside of the fucking."

A frying pan hit the stove, and Amara's eyes flared as she started heating it up. "Well, you and I are friends again, and you understand me more than he ever could. Plus, he's always so... calm and understanding! He's always trying to talk about feelings and think about what's best for everyone, and it's just so infuriating! Why isn't he angry? Would it kill him to let loose once in a while? To scream and throw something like a normal person?"

"He's never been a very emotional person, Amara. At least, not like that. Remember, you were a lot like him before you started changing."

The conversation continued as Amara kept cooking. Desperate to avoid thinking about Chloé's things that now sat a few feet away from her, Amara even let Vee catch her up about what was happening with the other students. Although Vee missed the end of the meeting, she had been paying attention up until that point. Among all the students that talked, most people agreed that keeping everything hidden was a good idea. Most of the conflict came from hashing out the details, such as what should happen when someone gets hurt or when a fight inevitably spins out of control.

Naomi, and a few others, were constantly pushing for a way to be more transparent, upset by trapping themselves in a web of lies. Tessa had done her best to describe the perils of coming clean, but without hard proof of those threats, it was a difficult conversation to have.

Notably, Kenji appeared to be putting in a lot of work to keep everyone on the same page. He was vocal about presenting a united front, and Amara suspected that's why he had been the one to approach her with Chloé's things. The rational part of her brain told her to talk with other students, to get to know them and how they felt, but those feelings were always drowned out by her more aggressive emotions.

"--but who made her the arbiter of truth? I mean, Tessa's explained the threats, and she keeps pushing back anyways," Amara said as she finished a bite of food. "Plus, she broke into my apartment! I can't believe her!"

"It's barely been a week, Amara. We still have plenty of time left of Winter Break to sort through everything, and maybe that includes getting to know everyone that's wrapped up in all of this." Vee shifted in her seat, then quickly looked down at the floor. "How about you finish up, take a breath, and try to reset. Your tail has been going nuts ever since you started cooking."

"Shit, has it?" Amara asked, pulling her tail up to inspect it.

"Oh yeah. You fidget with it constantly. It's been whipping around, tapping on the floor, things like that. Do you really not notice?"

Amara gently massaged her tail with her hands as she tried to calm down. "Not really, but I can't say I'm surprised. When I was little I used to bite my fingernails constantly, so it makes sense that a new body part means new nervous tics."

Vee looked over with a sigh, then a gentle smile. "Look, lunch was amazing as always. I hate to do this, but I've got some things to take care of. I know today was rough, but I'm happy you made the effort to get back out there. Every little step counts, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. It's easier to do all this with you around, Vee. I really do appreciate you hanging around this much."

"Us against the future! Right, Hellspawn?" Vee said, smirking.

Amara managed a small chuckle before walking Vee to the front door and hugging her goodbye. She even stood in the hallway for a bit, watching Vee leave, before finally closing the door.

Now alone, she didn't know what to do next. Her eyes lingered on Chloé's things, then quickly darted elsewhere; she wasn't ready for that yet. Instead, she decided to keep busy by cleaning up her mess in the kitchen. She moved quickly, her hands loading the dishwasher while her tail grabbed things off the counter. She moved a pan to the sink, filling it with water and soap before letting it soak, then jumped in surprise when something shattered on the floor. Turning around quickly, she found a dozen different pieces of a shattered coffee mug.

Weird. Must have tried to grab it and missed, or something.

Thankfully, cleaning up this new mess only took a minute. She threw all the pieces away, then saw the garbage can was full and slipped on her shoes to throw it out. When she returned, the kitchen was spotless, and she was once again left without anything to do.

She thought about calling Nick, or maybe Tessa, to blow off some steam, but immediately decided against it. She thought about finding something to watch, flipping through different streaming catalogs, but nothing interesting jumped out at her. In the end, she put on some random crime show she'd seen a dozen times, just to have something on in the background.

It had only been playing for a few minutes when Amara's phone started ringing.

Her mother was calling.

Amara's stomach dropped. She still hadn't returned any of her mother's messages, she'd been too wrapped up in the aftermath of their fight with Brandon. Now, after finally finding the energy to return to society, it was harder than ever to ignore this call. Instead, she pulled her tail closer, grew out her exoskeleton to hold the phone in place, and demanifested her horns. She cleared her throat, turned on the lamp next to the couch, and answered the phone.

"... Hey, Mom," Amara said meekly. The camera clicked into focus, and a video of her mother appeared on screen.

"Amara! You're okay! Oh, thank goodness!" Evelyn said, her stress obvious. "Oh, you are in so much trouble, young lady! You have been ignoring me for weeks, and I've been worried sick about you! No matter how many times Nick swore you were alright, I could tell something was off."

"Yeah, I... sorry about that, Mom."

"You were supposed to be home days ago! Do you know how close I was to driving over there myself? What on Earth have you been doing?!"

With a heavy sigh, Amara closed her eyes briefly. She saw Chloé, the portal, the explosion, and she had trouble finding the words to speak. "Look, Mom, I... there was..."

There was a pause, and when Amara opened her eyes, she saw a different expression on her mother's face. The anger was gone, replaced with a look only a mother could give. "Oh, honey, I'm not actually mad at you. I was just so worried, and I didn't know what was going on. You know I'll always love you, right? There's nothing you could say or do that would change that."

Amara had expected anger. She had braced herself for a scolding, for harsh words and threats, but the love behind her mother's words was almost worse. As scared as she was, there was only one thing she wanted to say.

"I know, Mom. I love you too, I always will." Amara took a deep breath, preparing herself for the difficult conversation she was about to have. "There's... something I need to tell you. It's going to sound really weird, and you're not going to believe me, but I need you to trust me."

Concern grew on Evelyn's face. "Of course, honey. You can tell me anything."

Okay, Amara. There's no easy way to say this, you just have to rip the bandage off and hope for the best.

"Mom, I... I'm a demon."

Silence. Evelyn's face shifted to one of confusion, and her mouth opened a few times before words came out. "I-I don't understand. Is this one of those TikTok things? Am I being recorded? Should I be seeing a filter on you or something?"

"I'm not fucking joking, Mom!" Amara shouted. Evelyn was clearly shocked, but Amara continued anyways. "I'm a literal, straight-from-the-bible demon!"

She jumped to her feet, then summoned her true form with a flurry of hellfire. Flames swirled around her head as her horns appeared, then her wings. "I have horns, wings, and a tail, and I can summon the fires of hell to do my bidding!" To prove her point, Amara angled the phone to show off all her demonic features. She ended the sentence by holding up her hands and engulfing them in flame.

Her words grew more panicked as she continued. "I have no idea why this is happening, but ever since I started changing, my life has been a living hell! So yes, I've been ignoring you, but I didn't know what else to fucking do!"

Evelyn was still stunned. Her eyes were wide, she was breathing heavily, and Amara swore she saw tears forming. Amara was terrified, but before she could say anything else, the call ended.

"Mom?" Amara asked. "Mom?!"

Did she seriously just hang up on me?

The screen went dark, and Amara shouted in frustration. She threw her phone at the couch, then began pacing back and forth in her living room.

Should I not have done that? Did I just fucking ruin everything, again, by telling her this?

Before she had time to examine the conversation again, she felt something else. A strange pulse of energy shook the front of her apartment, one that felt familiar. It was exactly the same sensation as when the vines appeared under the cafeteria, or when the portal under Lysander Hall opened. Unsure what to expect, Amara prepared for the worst.

She summoned her chitinous gauntlets, wreathing them in hellfire as she stared at the source of the disturbance. Part of her was excited, she desperately wanted something to fight, and she was ready to rip into anything that dared to invade her home.

There was another burst of hellfire, but this time it wasn't hers. It floated near the entrance, then quickly grew in size before vanishing just as suddenly. Stepping out of the purple flames was a figure, its back turned, and Amara braced herself. This new person had large red wings, a thick red tail, and extravagant horns that sat atop her head. Rich brown hair curled down her back, then bounced slightly as the stranger turned around. Her skin was slightly darker, and she scanned the room with glowing amber irises before finding Amara. Her glowing eyes were framed with heavy crow's feet, and she wore the same look of shock Amara had seen just moments earlier.

Amara, who had almost leapt to attack this invader, froze in place. "... Mom?"

Evelyn sighed, her expression turning from surprise to deep sorrow. A tear rolled down her cheek as she stepped closer. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. We need to talk."

---

Welcome to Book Four! Apologies for being absent last time, I wanted the end of the Book to speak for itself. I figured I would make it up this time with the mother of all cliffhangers!

Anyways, a big thank you to everyone that's been enjoying my work. I know Book Three was pretty light on the spice, but Book Four will be much smuttier overall. I'll need a few chapters to set things up, however, so hopefully I can tide you over with some sweet, sweet lore.

Until next time! Nyx <3