v2 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: (18+) In which stock is taken and honors bestowed.

Content Warning: skinny-dipping and brief naked fondling

At least I don’t have to worry about my wings, Una thought. Once again, they’d vanished when she folded them up tight against her back. She couldn’t explain how that happened any more than she could explain how she knew to digest food or blink her eyes. It just happened through some sort of magical reflex of her body. Convenient when you have to sit on a bus for four hours. But what about the rest of me?

She looked at her hands, blood-red and tipped with pointy black nails, then sighed and ran two fingers across her horns, arcing up over her hair from her temples. Her sinuous tail, dark and slick, looped itself over one of her shoulders, as if to insist that she shouldn’t forget it. I’m incredibly noticeable, the succubus mused. And whoever I am now—whatever I am—I’m apparently not the sort of demoness who feels comfortable attracting attention.

Una couldn’t stop her mind from drifting to that problem: how am I going to get around New York City looking like this? Each time she wondered in that direction, she chided herself for vanity, or at least fruitless anxiety. She was repeating the worries that had plagued Father Michael Belmont during the weeks he and Susan had tried to hide his gradually feminizing body. He’d become increasingly youthful, womanly, and curvaceous despite their efforts to slow it. It all seems so silly now, she thought, except that I’m still plagued by this desire to look normal, whatever that means.

The overall mood of the dozen-plus passengers on the bus hovered between two poles: pensive reflection on the traumatic events of the recent past, and nervous excitement about what the future might hold. Both feelings were understandable for the refugees, as Una was now thinking of the people they’d rescued from Thomas Spencer’s testing facility. They’d suffered weeks, sometimes months, of imprisonment, mental manipulation, and experiments—she hadn’t dared to ask for details. Then came days during which their captors hadn’t shown up to provide food, or deal with broken plumbing.

Now they were free—at least in body, if not free of memory and trauma. Susan and Una, the closest thing this bus had to authority figures, promised the group that they’d figure out a safe place for everyone to stay. Unfortunately, the two of them were also dealing with their own mixture of recent trauma and the unknown future. And they hadn’t figured out where to take their nine new charges.

Maria, however, threw herself eagerly into playing a kind of “camp counselor” role. She still wore an appropriate if undersized t-shirt, but also peppered the refugees with questions about their lives, families, and powers. Some proved far more reticent than others—the cloaked figure shrouded in bushy fur hadn’t said a word, though Yevgeny vouched for it. The others were happier to share, and the back of the bus resounded with chatter.

Susan, Una and Cassandra all sat in the front of the bus, each in their own seat and preoccupied with individual thoughts. Susan seemed almost relieved to assume her usual role as researcher, trying to puzzle out possibilities of safe harbor for the refugees. But Una glanced across the aisle more than once to find Susan staring out the window, or at her own transformed physique: her larger arms and hands, her defined muscles, and impressive bust. Cassandra sat in the frontmost seat. The hunter alternated between scanning the highways and maintaining her weapons—much to the discomfiture of Bill. The driver probably wasn’t used to having swords sharpened a foot from his seat.

That left Una alone with her thoughts. She pushed away the troublesome mental itch associated with considering all the upheaval in her body and mind. There were too many things she’d done, or which others had done to her—no, it’s still not time, don’t go there.

Instead, she knew she had plenty of responsibilities to think about. Where would they take the refugees? Sherill, still under observation at Dr. Avakian’s hospital. Susan’s condition and transformed physique. The bumps on Maria’s forehead. The Vatican and whether the Archdiocese of New York would join in the hunt for their former clergyman-turned-demoness.

Then there was John, of course—she kept asking Susan to call him, but he wasn’t picking up. Still, her thoughts kept turning to her own dilemma, and how damned noticeable a fully manifested succubus would be in a metropolitan area.

There were so many things Una wanted to try; so much she needed to learn of herself; so many questions to answer. When would she be able to explore herself, what this body could do, given all the changes her friends were going through? Part of her wanted to fly, to drink in the energies of sex and see how strong she could get. Another part of her just wanted to be that ordinary girl again: Micki. A young woman, empowered by her embrace of a new gender, who hooked up with store clerks and met friends for lunch, walked by the river, contemplated her purpose in life.

When she let her thoughts drift away from immediate dilemmas, she felt like an awkward teenager again. She felt nervous about everything in the world around her and her place in it. At the same time, she was impossibly ancient, wasn’t she? At least, the part of her that was Yael.

Where was that part? Yael had many powers; she could create illusions, could probably disguise herself however she wanted, she grumbled inwardly. If our memories—my memories—were cooperating, if I could access Yael, I could probably fix some of this.

A thought occurred to her: as Una, or Micki, I’m still so young compared to Yael. None of those powers are simple. In time, my self-knowledge will grow. Wait—were those her thoughts? Or Yael’s?

Yael? She questioned herself, experimentally directing the thought inwards. There was no reply, but she felt somehow reassured, as if a hand rested upon her shoulder. She opened her mouth to call out loud, then saw Cassandra looking back from the front row. The demon hunter stared at her, considering.

“What?” asked Una.

“What,” responded Cassandra, tonelessly.

Una raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one looking my way, kiddo.”

Cassandra gave her a questioning look, her own eyebrow arched in response. “Are you sure you’re not raising a demon army?”

Una laughed softly. “Please believe me when I say it was the last thing on my mind. If I was raising a demon army, I wouldn’t be moping about whether my nails are too long or why my boyfriend hasn’t called me. Right?”

The hunter shrugged. “That depends on whether you’re doing it deliberately… or because it’s in your demonic nature. You changed Susan—”

“That wasn’t me,” Una snapped. Then more gently, looking over at Susan, who remained engrossed in her phone screen. “You should ask her about it. I’m fairly sure it has to do with… angels?”

Cassandra nodded. “So she says. My elders claim angels are just stories and wishful hopes. Bu you did change Maria. Gave her succubus powers, or at least horns.” She leaned forward, pressing at Una with her steely gray gaze. “If you can change a person like that… augment them… why wouldn’t you recruit followers?”

Una sighed. “I can barely keep track of my own body and powers, Cassandra. Look, my tail does whatever it wants!” As they spoke, it was slipping towards Cassandra, who nudged it aside.

“What would I possibly do with dozens of other people with powers?” Una found her voice had grown louder than she’d intended. She glanced towards the back of the bus before continuing in a quieter tone. “Please remember: I may be a priest, but I wasn’t the one who came up with the sex cult idea. And I’m not fond of it.”

The other girl shrugged. “You don’t have to be fond of it, demon. You named your purpose: freedom, getting people to accept themselves. Maybe this is how you’re doing it."

“I’m not doing anything!” Una protested, getting loud again. “This isn’t something I planned or intended to happen! We’ve survived yesterday and today, maybe tomorrow we can—” she halted herself and looked away. The words caught on her tongue, tripped.

Cassandra frowned slightly. “Yes. What about tomorrow, Una?”

Una shook her head and stared down at the floor of the bus. She felt caught in a dream, an unplanned phantasmagoria where she could only see one step ahead and nothing else.

She forced herself to speak again. “Right before Thomas Spencer put me in solitary confinement, he came to tempt me. He offered power, a normal life, returning to my old safe post at the Church. That was when I decided that my calling involves saving people from his kind of subjugation. From becoming tools for others, rather than their own potential.”

“Saving people? You are still a priest, aren’t you? But you don’t extend that grace to yourself,” Cassandra pointed out dryly. “You got out and immediately used yourself for bait, didn’t you?” Una stared at her. This demon hunter, normally so taciturn, had sharper conversation than she’d imagined possible.

Una waved her hands helplessly. “Yes—I mean no. it’s not about saving myself, spiritually or physically. It’s about making the world better than it is. Isn’t that always what it’s about, any righteous cause? Maybe someday I’ll figure out how to do that.”

Cassandra was regarding her thoughtfully. “What are you saying, succubus? If you gain power, it would be for the cause of good?” she asked. “Not just to use power when it’s convenient?”

Una paused again. “In the cause of people and helping them be better. No matter what my relationship to my old catechism, that’s still part of what I look for in my friends and lovers. The relationships that make me want to be a better person.”

Cassandra smiled faintly. A long moment passed before she spoke again. “Take care of Susan while I’m away. And tell her goodbye for me.”

Una looked confused. “Why are you going?” she demanded suddenly. “Where are you going?”

Cassandra hesitated, suddenly brusque again. “Home. Family business. Word reached my family. That I’m here with you.” She frowned, and the way the expression broke through her usual impassive glare gave Una a sudden shock of concern about Cassandra. She opened her mouth, but the other woman raised a hand.

“Worry less,” the demon hunter said, her expression returning to hardened stone. “I won’t let them come after any of you.”

Una swallowed. She knew little about demon hunters other than the rumors. They were fearsome warriors, a reclusive family, and preferred to leave their supernatural targets dead rather than loose on the world.

“Are you… afraid of them? Of going back?” she asked quietly.

Cassandra snorted. “If they wanted me out of the way, I’d be lying face down in a ditch somewhere already. No; but they might try to get me to hunt you down, put a stop to you.” She fixed Una with a steely glare. “And I might have to do it.”

Una looked back silently. A pang of fear arced like a knife in her stomach. Pushing back against that feeling, she came to crouch in the aisle, lowering her voice. “Cassandra… when we met, I told you I wouldn’t give in to death. Even if I look different, that hasn’t changed. And I’ll still fight to stay alive, even if I’m no match for you.” She tried to smile, and found her lips could curve upwards, just fractionally. “Also… I still trust you to do the right thing.”

To her surprise, Cassandra smiled and reached out to stroke her cheek with two dry, strong fingers. “If anyone can pull it off… “ Cassandra muttered. Rather than finish the thought, she returned to looking out of the window.

***

Cassandra pulled her own bags off the bus when they reached the Hudson River, at the small river docks where they intended to let Sia down into the water. The mermaid needed to recover in a natural body of water, she’d explained, and had no desire to travel into a city teeming with pollution.

Aidan and Caspian helped Una carry Sia out of the back door, to the edge of the quay, where they lowered her blanket into the water. Almost immediately, the mermaid slipped free of her wrapping and dove beneath the surface. The land-dwellers glanced at each other; Una figured they were all wondering the same thing, and whether they’d seen the last of Sia.

Then her green-gold head broke the surface, meters away. She laughed, a sound like chiming bells. “Come swim with me!” she called, waving to them with webbed hands. She kicked in the water, and Una saw something that surprised her. Feet?

“Wait…” she called, “Why do you have…?”

“They come in handy sometimes,” Sia laughed. “I forgot; you must all think mermaids have tails. We do, when it suits us… but without water, I couldn’t change! Now… come to me, mistress demon. I have something to tell you.” She giggled again and ducked below the surface, swimming strongly towards the docks with a visible ripple.

After a moment’s hesitation, Una unzipped her bike suit and slipped out of it, letting her naked crimson body gleam in the sunlight. Aidan gasped audibly behind her, and Caspian chuckled. Una grinned at them both and slid into the water with a rush of cool bubbles.

She popped up beside Sia in a swirl of silver waves. The mermaid grabbed her by the wrist and hauled her underwater; for a moment, Una panicked, thinking the mermaid intended to drown her. But Sia drew her closer and kissed her firmly on the lips. Una tasted sea salt and sandalwood, and felt Sia blow bubbles into her mouth. She breathed them in gratefully: oxygen filled her lungs like cold silk, bringing clarity with it.

Una blinked. She could see better than she’d expected, but the murky green waters of the river kept visibility low. The river’s swirling currents pulled at her relentlessly, forcing her to paddle constantly. Sia floated languidly, and Una could see signs of returning health. Her limbs looked rounder and fuller than they had minutes before, her face ruddy with excitement, nearly glowing in the dark waters.

The mermaid spoke, and Una could somehow hear her as easily as if they stood on shore. «I know you are the one who broke our chains, lady. Not only the barriers that kept our bodies, but the mystical control that Spencer wove around us.» The mermaid’s hands roamed over Una with startling frankness, exploring her breasts and hips. Somehow, the touch was less erotic than friendly, even when Sia playfully tweaked Una’s dark nipples.

«Of course,» Una responded, gasping for breath and finding it still in her mouth. She didn’t quite know how she spoke; her mouth moved, but no bubbles emerged. «I… I was just…» The mermaid put a finger to Una’s lips, and she fell silent.

Sia leaned in close and kissed Una again, this time more softly. «No need for explanations; you follow your nature, as do I.» She murmured into Una’s ear, sending tingling sparks across Una’s skin and through her bones.

The mermaid’s body moved, and Una saw her legs had rejoined into an impressive tail. Now Sia ran her hands down her own belly, and Una noticed with a start that the mermaid’s abdomen bulged slightly, as if with child.

«Yes,» said Sia, noticing where Una looked. Her face brightened. «My daughter has been gestating for so long, but now I can carry her to term! It was a shame to make her wait so…» Her eyes went wide and she stroked her belly gently. A smile crept across her face as she looked at Una again.

«Here is my gratitude, demon.» The mermaid’s eyes flashed, and her tail coiled around Una’s waist, drawing them close. «We shall call my daughter Loali-una Sia-essa. I name her in your honor.»

Una could only blink. «That’s—that’s an amazing honor. But it’s too much, I can’t claim to…»

Sia smiled and shook her head gently. Then she sang: a series of clicks and chirps, high-pitched and liquid in their sound. From the depths of the river, a huge grouper rose and swam towards them, coming to keep pace alongside the mermaid.

Then Sia kissed Una again, slowly, savoringly, as if they had all the time in the world. Her tail slipped against Una’s own, and then away.  «Goodbye, my lady Una. Remember me when you walk upon the shore again.» With a flick of her tail, the mermaid grasped the grouper by its dorsal fin and dove into the depths, moving downstream into the darkness of the Hudson. The current sucked at Una’s whole body, trying to pull her after them, but she managed to paddle back up to the docks and gasp her way back into the sunshine.

She found Susan reaching a hand down to help her up. The formerly slight scholar now hauled her up with ease, her newly impressive biceps barely straining. Una shook herself dry and squeezed into her leather suit with a series of wet squeaks.

She glanced around as she dressed, but other than the bus idling at the roadside, they were alone. Where is—

“Cassandra took off,” said Susan, with her typical insight into what Una had been thinking. “We should have known this day was coming. She’s charged with hunting down demons, not… you know, fraternizing? Sororizing?”

Una smiled. “You were listening to us, huh?”

Susan smirked. “That was really cute when you went on about being a good person.” She sighed. “Though I guess that’s not much of a surprise.” She shook her head. “Still the same old Father Michael, in some ways!”

“And not at all in others,” said Una with a shrug. “Although I could say the same of you, tall, dark and beautiful.”

She took a moment to appraise Susan’s body, still wrapped in a toga-like covering. Amazon, she thought, maybe that’s the best word for what she looks like. Undeniably female, almost curvy as a state of a fertility goddess, with wide hips and heavy breasts. Rather than soft curves, muscles defined her voluptuous form. Her reformed body was shapely in the fashion of a cross-trained athlete or weightlifter.

Susan’s eyes were still the same warm brown color as before, but the golden flecks Una had noticed in recent weeks now seemed to glow.

She met Una’s stare with frank gravity. “I don’t know how to explain this, either. Something must have kicked in to protect me from what that nun was trying to do to me. When she attacked me earlier, on the night we rescued you… something similar happened. It’s something having to do with the golden seed. There’s no other possibility.”

Una nodded, uncertain and suddenly feeling the slightest shiver of fear. That was another thing she’d avoided thinking of: the strange visitation that had disrupted one of their first lovemaking sessions. The terrifying, cold angelic being who had emerged through Susan’s bedroom wall and placed a droplet of shining light on Susan’s tongue. An encounter that had now drastically changed her lover.

“I know,” said Susan. “Don’t think I’ve been neglecting it. Well, not entirely. We’ll have to talk about it soon… I think I’m going to need your help.” She suddenly swayed and placed a hand on Una’s shoulder to steady herself.

“It’s… as if I have too much inside me, built up pressure. Like my body keeps reminding me I need to push… something out?” She grimaced and squeezed Una’s arm gently. “But I’m sure it’ll be okay,” she said reassuringly. “I’ve got it under control.”

Una couldn’t bring herself to smile back. “We’ll figure it out, Susan. We always do? Or you do, at least. But we also must figure out what to do with all these people. They’re counting on us—we can’t just drop them off at the bus station. Some might have families nearby, but others are alone and vulnerable. Any ideas on where we could take them?”

Susan tapped her lower lip, the mannerism that always showed she was thinking. She gave a slight sigh. “Nope. None. But I’m working on it.”