Part 14

“Now, remember,” Allie said, “they don’t like accepting people in who aren’t already members of the Order. You’ll have some clout because of me, but the others will be looking at you like some kind of abomination.”

I finished tying my hair into a ponytail and glared at her. “You’re kidding, right? Abomination?”

“I wish I was, but Kathy Dufresne’s sister came by last week to bring Kathy her lunch, and Mistress Bethany had me erase the last six months of her life to make her forget Kathy was ever a magical girl.”

Okay, that was concerning. “They wouldn't do that to me, would that?”

She took a deep breath, then exhaled. “There is a slight possibility of a yes.”

“So I could wake up tomorrow having forgotten everything about my life for some time?”

“We should try to avoid Mistress Bethany at all costs, yes.”

Wow, this seemed like a much better idea five minutes ago. Either way, we were already too far along to turn back now. Why the hell magical girls had the power to erase memories was a question I’d have to ask at a different time or place. For now, I just needed to keep myself cool, calm and above all else, collected. I could shit my pants in fear after this was over. Assuming, of course, that I could remember everything and wouldn’t be waking up tomorrow wondering why I was a D-cup.

Jesus, the idea of that was horrifying. I would need to do my damnedest to keep that out of mind before I did something stupid to cause it.

I felt somewhat surprised when Allie pulled up to a large mansion that looked like it could have the starring role in a horror movie. It was the only landmark in sight, way out in the country. Dark, foreboding colors dominated the siding, at least where there actually was siding. A lot of it was naked brick, left to weather the elements. The place actually kinda freaked me out. If it weren’t in the upper 90s, I’d be shivering.

I looked over at Allie. She looked about as pleased to be here as I felt, which was of course true, since she didn’t want me hurt. I wondered how often she’d come here without the fear, just to talk to friends or be told about what was going on in the magical girl world. I wonder how long I would have gone without knowing about it if not for Eve changing me. Maybe I would have never known about this place.

The both of us got out of the car and walked up to the mansion. I saw Allie visibly gulp as she reached for the doorknob, but the door opened before she could do anything. Standing there was a trio of girls, all wearing the magical girl schoolgirl outfit. The one on the left was a blonde, the middle a redhead and the one on the right had very short hair that looked like it could be brown, depending on the light.

Short Hair asked, “What are you doing out of uniform?”

Blonde asked, “Why are you here when you weren’t summoned?”

Redhead asked, “Who’s the bimbo?” I hated Redhead almost instantly.

I could tell Allie wasn’t pleased with her, either. “This is my sister, Mikaela. We’re here to see Headmistress Adelaide.”

Blonde folded her arms under her breasts. “You know the rule.”

“This is important. I wouldn’t have brought my sister hear if it wasn’t.”

Short Hair said, “You have a brother.”

“That’s what makes it important.”

Redhead seemed to figure it out first. “She’s possessed.”

Short Hair pushed the other two aside and pulled out her giant magic stick and pointed it at me. I’m pretty sure my life would have flashed before my eyes if not for the fact that Allie did her little transformation sequence and knocked me out of the way. I landed on my ass, and swore I heard something break. Then I realized it was my phone.

If I weren’t scared out of my mind, I’d want popcorn, Eve said, can we go get popcorn after we’re done here?

You’re assuming we’ll get out of here alive.

Allie had her wand out, one hand on her hip. I couldn’t see her face, but I imagined it was as pissed off as somebody who looked like they stepped out of Sailor Moon could look. Her wand was glowing bright orange, bathing the Terrible Trio in light. I stood up and brushed myself off.

Short Hair stepped forward and looked like she was ready to fight, though I knew what she wanted to do was rip Eve outta me and probably erase my memories or whatever else they could do. I was actually starting to feel like the magical girls were more evil than succubi.

Horny, not evil, Eve corrected. You should know that by now.

Oh, you know what I meant by that.

Still, don’t forget that even though I’ve got my mom’s blessing to stop, I’m still a sex demon.

Short Hair growled, “Outta the way, Allie. You know what we havta do.”

“What you havta do is let us in to see Headmistress Adelaide.”

Redhead shook her red head. “We can’t, we won’t. I don’t care if she is possessing your sister, she’s an abomination and she needs to be destroyed!” There was suddenly a crowd of other girls behind the Trio.

I shouted, “Hey, bitch, I’m not an abomination!” My voice sounded much angrier than I think I meant for it to sound.

“You kidnapped that poor girl’s body!” Blonde exclaimed.

Holy shit, these guys don’t even realize they’re not talking to me!

I’m suddenly far more worried than I was earlier, I said.

“No, this is my actual sister,” Allie said, her voice not even raising high enough to sound angry. “Now, let us through to see Headmistress Adelaide.”

Short Hair shook her head. “That’s not going to happen. This girl’s been possessed and she needs to be helped!”

Just as I was certain Allie was actually going to do something that might have ended up in these girls being assaulted with magic, an older woman wearing what looked like a nun’s habit walked into the gaggle of people in front of us. She held an air of authority around her, as several of the girls had moved out of her way without even knowing she was there. She stepped up to the doorway and gently moved Blonde and Redhead away with a simple tap of her fingers against their shoulders.

Allie just stood there. I didn’t know anything else to do but stand there. The old woman looked down at both of us (it took me a second to realize she was taller than me by at least a foot), and I saw a look in her eye that suggested she wanted to rip me limb from limb and burn the pieces in a chemical fire. Even the prospect of Short Hair doing whatever the fuck she was gonna do to me didn’t scare me as much as this woman did. I could only assume this was Headmistress Adelaide.

And then I was instantly proven wrong. “Mistress Bethany,” Allie said. Oh, crap… That was the one that liked to have people’s memories ripped apart.

Bethany barely moved her face, but her eyes flicked from me to Allie. “Miss Cross. I believe you’ve brought the enemy to our doorstep.”

Allie nodded. “Trust me, ma’am, I have an important reason for doing so, and I need to see Headmistress Adelaide.”

Bethany took a step closer to me, and I would have stepped back a little if not for the fact that I was frightened. She used what looked like a drum stick and tapped the side of my face. Whatever it was, it wasn’t magic. She gave me a strange look, then turned around and walked back inside.

Allie and I glanced at one another for a second, then Bethany said, “Inside, ladies. The Headmistress will see you.”

***

I followed Allie and Mistress Bethany through the mansion. The place was huge on the outside and fucking ginormous on the inside. Six hallways, two flights of stairs and one elevator later and we were in another hallway that looked like it came out of a medieval castle. There were no electric lights, simply torches every few feet. There were only two doors, the one we’d come from and the one at the end of the hallway. Statues sat between the torches. The whole place was more than a little creepy, even more so than the outside of the mansion.

Short Hair and Redhead followed us, but Blonde stayed out of it, for whatever reason. Honestly, I would have preferred it if neither followed us, but I didn’t actually have a say in this. The two of them were constantly glaring at me. I think I was actually to the point where I would rather have a dozen guys groping me instead, much to Eve’s semi-delight. Either way, I just wanted those two to leave me the fuck alone.

Mistress Bethany slowly led us down the long hallway until we got to the door at the end. It looked bigger than the front door, almost dungeon-like. This whole place confused the hell out of me. I glanced over at Allie, who looked as impressed or frightened (whichever one, really) as I was. Maybe she’d never been here, either.

I think this is farther than any succubus has gotten alive, Eve said.

I think this is farther than any human has gotten without getting their brains destroyed. So, more or less the same thing.

It won’t happen to us, I’m sure.

I know. Allie won’t let it happen. Plus, I… Um…

You what?

I have a sorta ace up my sleeve.

You’re wearing a tank top.

It’s an expression.

Okay, so what would this “ace” be?

Hopefully neither you nor anybody but me finds out.

Now that I think about it, I live in your head, how did I not know about this?

You were asleep. At least that’s what I’m going to tell myself.

Allie looked at me like I’d suddenly grown another head. “Sorry.” We were still waiting for the door to open. Mistress Bethany gently knocked, then stepped back a foot or two. Short Hair and Redhead didn’t look all that comfortable being there. Maybe they’d never been summoned to the Headmistress’s chambers, either.

A minute later, the door finally opened. A blinding white light spilled out of the room, but receded quickly, leaving only one of the most surprising things I’d seen since this whole mess started: A garden. A full-fledged, straight out of a botanist’s wet dreams garden. I heard birds chirping, squirrels chittering, I’m pretty sure I even heard a little stream somewhere. This was like an entirely different world or something.

Mistress Bethany led the four of us into the garden, past a tree with a dozen wind chimes hanging from it and through a small pathway between two fields of different colored flowers. I had never seen a garden like this in my life, especially one in a greenhouse.

That was when I realized we weren’t in a greenhouse. I looked up and saw the sun and the clear sky, and when I looked back at the door, I saw no walls, just a doorway standing alone like some kind of dream door. We weren’t in the mansion.

What the hell was going on here?!

Mistress Bethany continued to lead us through the garden, more than I realized could even be seen anywhere in the area. This place was disturbing me far more than the mansion itself. There didn’t seem to be any end to it, and we seemed to be walking around forever. The only thing we weren’t doing was walking in circles. Hell, I wasn’t sure that would last.

Thankfully, it didn’t. We finally came upon the woman that I was certain really was Headmistress Adelaide. She was old. Very old. Mistress Bethany looked to be in her sixties, and this woman made Mistress Bethany look young. How her bones held together was a mystery. Hell, how her internal organs weren’t external was a mystery. Pencil thin was only just a little bit of an exaggeration. Whatever color her hair had been when she was younger, it was now so white it would blend in with a wall painted eggshell.

Headmistress Adelaide was knelt down, tending to some petunias. She pulled a few of them from the ground and placed them in flower pots. She worked slow, but with a great deal of care. “Good evening, Yelena,” Adelaide said. It contrasted the bright, sunny look of the skies around us, but it was like seven thirty when we came here, so I guess that line applied.

Mistress Bethany stepped closer to her. “Headmistress, there are some young women here to see you.”

Headmistress Adelaide set her trowel on the ground and used Mistress Bethany to stand. She looked more frail standing up than she did knelt down. How the hell was this woman still alive?

“Oh, Allison, Serena, Brittany, and a new girl.” I couldn’t tell which one was Serena or Brittany, so I was just going to keep calling them Short Hair and Redhead. Presumably, she was referring to us in order of where we were standing, except that I was standing beside Allie. “Is this young lady here to join our sect?”

Mistress Bethany shook her head. “No, Headmistress.” She looked over at me, then leaned close to Adelaide. “She is possessed.”

Adelaide’s eyes widened. “Possessed?” She looked at Allie. “Allison, why have you brought one such as her into our home?”

Allie didn’t move, and I could see that she was nervous. Maybe she’d never met Headmistress Adelaide. “Headmistress, this is my sister, Mikaela. Yes, she’s host to a succubus, but this succubus, Eve, is no danger. She possessed Mike to stop being a succubus.”

Adelaide’s eyes locked on me. “Michael, your younger brother?”

“Yes, Headmistress.” Allie took my hand. “Eve didn’t know what she’d do would change Mike into Mikaela, and she’s done her damnedest to help Mike adjust. She’s done nothing harmful, and has worked to reverse any situations that have proved harmful.”

Adelaide stepped closer to me and reached out to touch my face. How her fingers didn’t snap just from movement amazed me. “Evelyn,” she said, “I know your bloodline.”

Whuh? What?!

Well, your mom said she knew her.

Yeah, but this… What she just said isn’t something that just anyone would say. Can I take over for a sec?

I took a deep breath. “Eve wants to talk a moment,” I said, “will you promise not to hurt her while she’s in control?”

Adelaide nodded. “She will be safe for the time being.”

Okay, you can go now.

***

Huh, it wasn’t a “close your eyes, open your eyes” kinda change. Either way, I was out for the moment. The Headmistress seemed to realize this, too, as her hand slipped away from my face and back into her robe.

“Evelyn,” she said.

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I haven’t seen your mother in many years.”

I gulped. “That’s why we’re here, ma’am. My mother wants to--”

She cut me off. “She’s fine with your change of lifestyle?”

Bethany looked confused. “Headmistress?”

“Was she told?”

I looked between the two of them. Bethany was going back and forth between confusion and anger (why, I couldn’t tell) while Adelaide looked… Well, like an old lady who looked like she could keel over at any second.

I finally answered, “Um, yes, ma’am. Like I was about to say, that’s why we’re here, my mother wants--”

I was cut off again. “I assume she wants me to tell you about Albania, in 1854.”

Allie answered, “1853, actually.”

Adelaide nodded. “Yes, of course. It was so long ago. Lilith and I were much younger then.”

Bethany had grown to furious thanks to those few words. That her headmistress personally knew a succubus probably would anger somebody who had devoted her life to killing us.

“Headmistress,” Bethany almost whined, “what are you implying?”

The two parts of the Trio that came with us (Mike’s name for them fit so well) looked at one another with the exact same look of confusion on their faces. Hell, their hairstyles and their cup sizes were the only differences between them. I was starting to wonder if they were twins and Short Hair had just cut her hair to make sure she was recognized.

Either way, Adelaide didn’t seem to want to answer Bethany. “Yelena, please, I have a story to tell. Everything will be understood, then.” She turned around and walked toward a small chair in a clear patch. She snapped her fingers and several blankets appeared in front of it, likely for us to sit on, like children listening to a grandparent or something.

She sat down on the chair and everybody followed her. Allie and I both sat down on the blankets before Short Hair, Redhead or Bethany did. Short Hair and Redhead did just shortly after, but Bethany didn’t sit at all.

“Your mother wants you to know something that no member of the Order of Magical Girls has ever been told. A closely guarded secret that I have fought over a hundred and sixty years to defend. July nineteen, 1853 was the day the Order began, in Albania. It was the day I decided to throw away my heritage and become something more.” She looked at me. “No doubt you’ve put it together. Yes, dear child, I am your mother’s sister, and I too was a succubus.” I looked over at Bethany, who looked like she was about to burst. Short Hair and Redhead both looked like they’d just been told they’d lost a limb. Allie was surprised. Honestly, so was I. I hadn’t ‘put it together’ at all, though I’d had suspicions that Mom and Adelaide knew one another. Never did I imagine Adelaide was my aunt.

She continued, “Lilith and Florence. Though my name is now omitted, I was once referred to as Satan’s oldest child in the Bible. Lilith never wanted the responsibility I forced upon her, but neither did I. And, on that day in June, it came to the point that I didn’t want the life of a succubus, either.” She reached for a small teacup I hadn’t seen before. “Yes, child, you’re not truly the first succubus to want to leave that life. I had one distinct advantage, however, and that was being more powerful in magic than you.” She set the teacup back down on the table beside her that I also hadn’t seen before then. I was starting to think she was making these things appear just for dramatic purposes. “It took a great deal of time to find a host that would accept me willingly, but once I did, I began to collect around me a group of women who had suffered at the whims of other succubi. That was all the Order was intended to be. Over time, it grew, it became what it has become, and I understood exactly what needed to happen.”

Bethany pulled out that drum stick from earlier. “Headmistress, you can’t possibly be telling the truth!”

Adelaide took a drink again. “I am, Yelena. For over one hundred years, I met women whose lives were destroyed by my kind, and that led me to our current course.” She leaned forward. “Yes, child, I do believe the succubi need to be destroyed. We’ve caused nothing but pain and horror in this world. I’ve devoted my life to repairing the damage we’ve done, and your mother won’t change that.” She straightened up again. “I said you would be safe for the time being, Evelyn, and I promise that. But I won’t stop until the rest of our kind is a bloody paste on the walls of Hell.”

Me, Allie, Short Hair and Redhead all said in unison, “Holy shit.” Even Bethany looked shocked at Adelaide’s words. I guess killing succubi was alright for her, but turning us into ‘a bloody paste on the wall’ was a little too far. I couldn’t disagree. My aunt was a bitch.

Reach into my pocket, make sure my phone still works and text Now to Kendra, okay?

What?

Just do it. It’s that ace up my sleeve I mentioned.

When did you get her phone number?

Terry gave it to me, just hurry up, before your aunt kills us!

I pulled the phone out and then promptly dropped it. Something was holding my hand back from being able to pick it up again, too. I looked up at Adelaide and saw her hand casually doing motions that I hadn’t seen anybody do since I was in the succubus realm. It was something Mom had done to me when I was a kid, keeping me from moving by manipulating the magicks around us so that it felt as if I were being tied down or chained.

But we weren’t in the succubus realm, so how was she doing it?!

“I’ll take that, child,” Adelaide said as she picked up Mike’s phone. “Kendra Brewster. Not a name I’ve heard, but certainly your host must have some sort of faith in her.” She tossed the phone in my lap. “You needn’t worry, you’ll be out of here in a short time, and Allison, Serena, Brittany and Yelena will have forgotten this event ever happened.”

Allie tried to stand up, but I could tell she was held in place, too. “Wait a second! Eve’s mom -- Your sister! -- wants peace between you!”

Adelaide shook her head. “Impossible. For too long have succubi ruined the lives of women everywhere on this planet. We’re only one step shy of vampires, and that’s saying something.” She stood up and walked over to Bethany. “Lilith and I haven’t spoken in decades, though I intend to pay her a visit soon. Don’t worry, Allison, you’ll soon have forgotten everything about this meeting.”

I struggled against the magic. “I’ll just tell her what happened. She’s Mike’s sister, they share everything!”

I heard the sound of heels clicking against a marble floor. The garden around us began to disappear, though not entirely. I tried to look behind me, but Adelaide was keeping me in place far too well. It was probably another magical girl, or maybe even another succubus who agreed with Adelaide. Great, maybe even me and Mike would forget this entire thing.

I gained a ray of hope when Adelaide grew a look of pure shock. Then came the voice.

“It’s been a good, long time, Florence,” Mom said, and I could almost hear the smile on her face.