Part 13

Of course the mall was full of a shitton of people which made me a thousand percent more nervous so nervous in fact that I couldn’t really think in complete sentences I could only think in one giant jumbled mess that only aided me in drawing my attention to the massive amount of people who could at any point in time accidentally come upon a conversation being had by three succubi including the succubus queen as well as the magical girl who was just fighting to help her sister and the hot guy just trying to get his girlfriend back and

Eve, Evie, Eeeeeeeeeeve… Calm down, Mike said. You’re making it hard for the audience to follow.

What audience?

Bite me, I’m practicing for when this turns into a reality show.

Why are you calm right now?

Because you’re freaking out enough for both of us.

Thank you so much for telling me that.

You’re welcome.

“You doing okay?” Terry asked, ever the caring boyfriend.

I shook my head. “Not really.”

Allie patted me on the back. “Well, don’t worry about any of this. We’re going to settle this and get Mikey back out. Your mom would be really stubborn if she didn’t understand the stakes here.”

I giggled nervously. “Yeah. Stubborn.”

Of course, Allie didn’t actually know my mom. She’d probably heard a lot about her, most of it probably not true, but that’s what I’d expect with a metaphorical war between magic beings. Most of what we’re told about magical girls is a lie, based on what I’ve seen of Allie. Then again, maybe I should have known that before. When they’re described as “child-eaters” and “just this side of an apocalypse on stiletto heels”, the odds are good those descriptions are fake as shit.

The idea that this was gonna suck wouldn’t stop running through my head, and of course, the nagging desire to make an innuendo about it.

So make the innuendo. If it helps you calm down, do it.

I shook my head. No. I can’t be calm right now. Talking to my mom about what I did frightens the hell out of me.

Yeah, that’s obvious.

I will never understand how you’ve adjusted to everything I’ve put you through.

Don’t worry about it. Just, calm yourself down, and this whole thing with your mom will go just fine.

You are far too laid back for this.

I’ve learned from the best.

Allie pointed to a bench in the center court, the most public area in the goddamn mall. Sure enough, there was Abbie and my mother, sitting on the bench and looking every guy they saw up and down, likely categorizing them for fucking later. Abbie was still using the same host body as before, Mother’s host looked like she could have seduced any man she wanted before she was possessed. It took me a second to recognize her as Mike’s Economics teacher, and now I was creeped out.

Mother’s gaze locked on me and then the scowl formed on her face. I’d expected it, but that didn’t change how much it worried me. I was dreading this conversation in every way, and yet I couldn’t get away from it. It would take a great deal of mental concentration in order to get through this, a lot of focus and strength of mind…

WHY AREN’T YOU MAKING JOKES?! I shouted at Mikey.

Look, I’m not gonna do that, you need to chill and jokes in this situation won’t help. You’ll do fine, just stay calm.

Calm. Yeah, right. With my mom there, I could never be calm. I tried to slow my breathing, but I could feel my heart beating so hard that it might burst. This would not be easy.

Mom stood up. Even through her host, her clipped voice was unmistakable. She sounded like one of those British nannies on Downton Abbey, which always surprised me that it didn’t rub off on me. “Explain yourself, Evelyn,” she said, already bearing an annoyed tone that suggested she wanted nothing more than to throw me out a window.

Evelyn? Mike asked.

What? That’s what Eve is short for.

I thought you were named after Eve from Adam and Eve?

I am, but… My mom likes to use my full name when she’s angry…

Allie spoke before I could: “Ma’am, my name is Allie Cross, I’m the sister of Eve’s host body - “

“And a member of the Order of Magical Girls, I’m aware, just as I’m aware that Evelyn possessed your younger brother.” When she saw the confused and/or bewildered look on my face, Mom added, “Little happens within our species that I don’t know, young lady, and I happen to keep a close eye on the families of women I possess.”

Your mom possessed my mom?!

As if she’d heard Mike, Allie asked, “You possessed my mom?!”

Mom smiled. “You chose young Mister Cross because you believed it would curb your urges, correct?”

I wanted to scream at her. Instead, I almost-calmly asked, “You knew this whole time?”

She nodded. “Yes, and that should tell you something.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t!”

She stepped closer to me. “I’ve known and I’ve done nothing to stop you.” She motioned toward Abbie. “I didn’t tell your sister, either. You made your choice and I’ve decided to let you deal with it.”

What the fuck? Your sister locked me away because your mom is taking a tough love approach?!

This is confusing me as much as you.

Allie asked, “So… You don’t have a problem with Eve trying to leave the succubus lifestyle?”

Mom turned to her. “I’m not queen because I force my species to do anything, and I wouldn’t be much of a mother if I stopped my daughter from pursuing her dream, even if I don’t agree with it.” She stepped over to Terry, who I’d honestly forgotten was there. “And you must be Mikaela’s love interest.” She looked him over. “Not enough meat on you for a real man, but I’m not one to judge human relationships.”

Terry laughed. “I feel so much better about you now,” he deadpanned in so much sarcasm I think somebody could have seen it visually, “now let Mike out of there.”

“Mom,” Abbie started, in obvious protest. “you can’t be entertaining this.”

Mom turned to her. “Quiet, Abigail.” She turned back to me. “I need to know now what you’ll do if you’re ever free from your urges.”

I didn’t answer her right away. I didn’t have an answer. I knew what I wanted, and that was to enjoy a life that wasn’t just promiscuous sex and hot guys all the time, maybe even start a real family someday. Was that a good enough answer, though?

Does it matter? Mike asked.

I couldn’t answer that either. I hated this, even though everything seemed to be headed in my direction. Why did all this have to be so confusing?!

I bit the proverbial bullet. “I want more than just sex to my life,” I said, “I want to be something more than just a sex demon, I want… I want, Mom, and I don’t need the sex anymore, but Mike does need her family and her friends and her boyfriend and…”

And you, Mike said.

Whuh?

C’mon, you had to know I’d say it.

Mom took a long look at me, then sat back down on the bench. “More isn’t what you want, young lady.”

I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. I just spilled on everything, I’d poured my heart out and let her know that I wanted out with everything I had, and sh -

***

“More isn’t what you want, young lady, it’s what you need.”

I… Felt different. I wasn’t trapped in my own head anymore, I was… Out. Completely. Eve wasn’t in control anymore. I felt the need to put something on to cover my stomach, but that would be dealt with later, when I was home.

Did she put you back in charge while I was being emotional?! Eve asked, and I never felt happier to hear that voice in my head again.

I immediately looked at Allie and hugged her, then did the same with Terry, with a little bit of body rubbing. God, trapped inside myself for a day and I felt like it had been months. How Eve put up with not being in control, I’d love to know.

Eve’s mom reached into the purse beside her and retrieved a makeup mirror. “Now that the two of you are back to… Normal, I suppose, I’ll be going.” She stood up and gathered her things. “Understand that this is the last time we’ll see one another.”

“Huh?”

“Sweetheart, I’m a succubus, I have many things to see and people to do before the end of the day. Abigail will apologize for what she did and you’ll be marked as a no possession in the ledger. Your life - both you and Evelyn - will be left alone, save if Abigail decides to visit.”

Allie stepped up. “Ma’am, please, if I can have a moment?”

Eve’s mother turned to face Allie. “And what does the Order ask of me?”

I saw Allie looked somewhat nervous. “A truce.”

Eve’s mom looked genuinely surprised. “Impossible. This holier-than-thou organization of self-appointed peacekeepers wants to listen for once?” She barked out a laugh. “I’m quite certain that’s the most insulting thing I’ve heard today.”

“Hey,” I said, a noticeable annoyance in my voice, “Allie’s not trying to insult you!”

“Don’t misunderstand me, young lady, it’s not the offer, it’s who’s presenting it.” She put her hand on Allie’s shoulder. “Go to the headmistress of your sect and ask her about Albania in 1853. I’ll speak to her when she contacts me, not when she sends her little messenger girl.”

Allie sighed. “She doesn’t know I came here.”

“Then tell her. She knows how to contact me.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick. “Now, I have work to do before I return home and there’s a pool boy at the local Holiday Inn who was practically begging me this morning.” She looked at Eve’s sister. “Abigail, come along.”

Abbie didn’t move, though. “Wait a minute, Evie wants to give up and this is all you do? You put her host back in charge and don’t even care that your own daughter doesn’t want to be a succubus anymore?”

Eve’s mom turned to face Abbie. “Evelyn made her decision. Do I believe it to be the right one? Of course not, but I respect her right to make that decision on her own, a very adult decision, unlike your own to silence her host.”

“But - “

“No ‘buts’, Abigail,” she said, her voice taking on a very… Guttural sound, that almost made me piss myself. Jesus, if this was how she talked to her daughters in public, I hated to think of how she talked to them in private.

It’s much the same, really, Eve said. Maybe a little more guttural.

I am so very sorry for you.

Don’t worry about it.

Eve’s mom addressed me, “Mikaela, understand that your name will be placed in the registry and no other succubi will attempt to possess you. I’d apologize for what Evelyn has done to you, but I can see that you’re not too unhappy about that.” She was looking me up and down, likely at what I was dressed in. I’d tell her that the outfit was Eve’s idea, but then again, they were my clothes. Clothes I’d bought in protest because Mindy wouldn’t let me get away from buying them no matter how hard I tried, but my clothes nonetheless. “From what I remember from possessing your mother, I’m certain you’ve been the daughter she always wanted from you.”

“Hey!” Allie said, red as a beet and almost ready to pop her wand out and go magical girl right then and there, but I could tell she was restraining herself.

“Second daughter,” Eve’s mom corrected herself. “Your mother had been one of my favorite hosts, and not just because the sex was fantastic.”

Is it okay if I tell your mom that what she just said disturbs me? I asked Eve.

I wouldn’t blame you.

Because we were likely thinking the exact same thought, Allie and I both said, “Gross,” at exactly the same time.

Eve’s mom simply smiled. “Simply my nature, darlings.” She looked at Allie. “Remember what I said about your headmistress, Allison. I’m always willing to talk so long as I’m not too engaged.” She barely glanced over her shoulder at Abbie. “Come along, Abigail,” she repeated from before.

After they were gone for a minute or two, Terry asked, “Wait, was that Mrs. Auerbach she’d possessed?!”

***

When we got back home, I pushed Terry onto the bed then jumped on top of him. Though I had Eve’s voice trying to talk to me in the back of my head, I needed to make out with the boyfriend before I did anything else. Honestly, the fact that Eve wasn’t trying to get me to fuck Terry was both welcome and a surprise, though I don’t honestly know if I’d say no right now, since being trapped in my body while Eve had been forced to take over kinda made me a little horny.

And now I knew why most girls possessed by succubi became sex-addicted messes after they were left. And this was after a day of being out of control.

Terry didn’t seem to mind when my mouth attacked his, however, and reciprocated by grabbing my ass and hugging me closer. I woulda stopped him, but the horniness was a little too strong and let him fondle all he wanted. Eve was not wrong about it feeling better when it was consensual. This actually felt really, really good and I woulda let him take my shorts off if not for the fact that I still had a little bit of my common sense left over.

Besides, we’d save that for his birthday. Or my birthday. Whichever birthday came closer, which I’m pretty sure was his.

After about five minutes of something resembling heaven, he broke off the kiss and asked, “Should I be worried about you?”

“Honestly, yes,” was all I said before I kissed him again. After that, it was five more minutes before I broke off the second kiss and said, “We should honestly stop now before I let the urges take over and start taking my clothes off.”

Allie, standing at the door the whole time, apparently, said, “That would be what I’d ask you to do.”

“Don’t just stand in my doorway while I’m making out with my boyfriend!” I screeched, which caused Terry to laugh.

“Didn’t we do this to her one time last year?” he asked.

Allie nodded. “As a matter of fact, you did. And I liked him a lot, too. But that’s water under the bridge. Now, we have more things to worry about.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like what Eve’s mom said about my headmistress.”

I got nothin’, Eve said. Not even a boyfriend to snog!

Be quiet, you felt that.

That’s not the point!

“I got the gist that Eve’s mom tried to get peace with the magical girls but they didn’t take it,” Terry said, slipping out from under me. The fiend. I just fell onto the bed. “And from the way she said it, Eve’s mom wasn’t too happy about that.”

“Yeah, I got that, too,” Allie stated.

“Why would the magical girls have said no to a peace process?” I asked. “Do they like fighting a metaphorical war against sex demons?”

Allie wagged her finger at me. “No, uh-un, don’t even try to suggest that. I didn’t devote myself to an order that tries to get people killed.”

I sat up. “I’m not saying you did, but it sounds really weird that the succubi tried to make peace and the magical girls brushed it off and kept the fighting going.”

She walked in and sat down on my desk chair. “You’re not wrong.”

“So what are you going to do?” Terry asked.

Allie shook her head. “I dunno.”

I answered, “Talk to them.”

She looked at me funny. “Whuh?”

“Talk to them. You and me, we go talk to your headmistress and whoever else we have to talk to, but specifically your headmistress because that’s who Eve’s mom singled out, and we get to the bottom of this. If all doesn’t go so well, Eve’s ex-boyfriend is a Norse god, maybe we do something there.”

He’s not gonna like being dragged back out here a second time in as many days.

Wait, did you call Loki while I was stuck in there?

Yes. Yes, I did. Because we just had pretty much the exact same thought for “Let’s have a magic backup plan”.

Allie sighed. “Um, whatever. Fine, say we go talk to my headmistress and we find out the Order really is trying to prolong the war for whatever reason, what do we do about it? Other than that Norse god thing, or whatever.”

“You could always ask Kendra,” Terry injected.

“Kendra Brewster?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s a sorceress.”

“She’s a what?!” Allie and I both shouted at the same time. We were getting good at that.

“That’s what she said,” he answered, with a shrug added in for good effect, “and is it really so weird?” He pointed at Allie. “You’re a magical girl,” and then he pointed at me, “and you’re possessed by the succubus princess.” He took a step back. “Now tell me how a sorceress is a weird inclusion into all this?”

He was not wrong.

“So you two go talk to the headmistress, you have either the Norse god or the sorceress held back in reserve, and you get answered what you need answered. This can’t be too difficult a process.”

Oh, good, he was on my side in all this. “He’s right,” I said, “we’ll get to the truth behind this. And if your Order is really a bunch of backstabbing cunts who want a war to keep going, you just leave it, it’s that simple.”

Allie sighed. “No, it’s really not. I made a pledge not just by word but by blood, and if I break that pledge, I don’t know what’ll happen, but the headmistresses have made damn certain that we all know it won’t be good.”

“A sorceress and a Norse god,” I said, “we have way more magic on our side than they do.”

She shook her head. “You don’t know the Order like I do. You’ve seen what I can do with my wand, the headmistresses can do a lot more than that.”

“But can they do more than a sorceress or a Norse god?”

“I don’t know, I can’t remember the magical hierarchy right now.”

“Then we just bluff our way out of this like we’re playing poker. Either way, we’re one step closer to peace between the magical girls and the succubi.”

You’re absurdly peppy about this, Eve said.

Yes, yes I am. I should be worried, shouldn’t I?

Extremely.

Oh well, peppy it is!

“C’mon, Allie, let’s get this over with.”

She nodded, then stood up. “Fine. Maybe if they see a girl and a succubus sharing a body without incident, they’ll see that the war doesn’t need to go on.”

I giggled nervously. “Yeah, we’ll just… Uh… Not tell them that I used to be a boy, I didn’t ask for this, and have only really gotten used to it because I’ve needed to.”

Oh, and the urges! Can’t let ‘em know you still suffer from the urges!

Hey, they could kill you on the spot, y’know.

Take it easy, I’m just fucking with you. Oh, and about that, could you maybe have just one sexual adventure with Terry before we go? If I’m gonna die today, I really wanna have at least one last good fuck and I could tell from the kiss earlier that he’s packing a fully loaded elephant gun.

Y’know, the only thing worse than you describing it that way is that I noticed that when I was kissing him.