The walk to the office wasn’t terribly long for the trio. During the walk, Maria quickly realized that there was, in fact, a time difference between the Earth and Celesque, which was about three hours. So right now it was around 4:30 in the afternoon. As they made their way to the IRS building, they did chit chat a bit. Mostly about how Sammy was doing with their new job, which had them mostly working mid or late shifts. Though they couldn’t complain because the money was decent.

Somehow Maria and her demon managed to steer the conversation away from themselves to avoid digging their hole deeper than it already was. They would need to come up with some sort of plausible story for Maria’s Earthly friends, as not to awaken suspicion too much. Though they both knew Sammy was still a bit suspicious of it all. Hopefully that would sort itself out, though.

Once at the IRS building, they were asked to wait before Maria could see Agent Markson. Apparently she wasn’t important enough for the guy who asked her to come here to actually be ready to meet her. There wasn’t much talking as they waited, due to the receptionist giving them stern looks anytime they made a noise.

After maybe half an hour, Agent Markson came out and called for a ‘Maria Τῠ́ρᾰννος’, which was a little awkward because it just made Sammy turn and stare at the two. Without even trying to think of an answer, Maria hopped up and went with the agent, which left Sammy and the demon alone.

“Why did he use your last name for Maria?” Sammy asked, with a stern eye as they hoped one seat over to sit next to Edith.

“Oh, since Crawthord is a rather polar name at the moment, we thought using my last name would be better. Just in case any reporters and such are around.”

Sammy narrowed their eyes at the demon but couldn’t really fault that logic. If they were in the same situation, they would probably do the same.

“So—” Sammy started before the receptionist gave them a stern shush. “How did you two meet again?” the enby asked quietly

Edith paused for a minute trying to think how best to answer. “Well, we met when Maria was really young. My mother is a rather good broker, and Maria’s parents wanted to do business. We were invited to dinner, but after meeting Maria’s family for even a short time we realized they weren’t the kind of people you would want to do business with. Evidently we were correct.” It was mostly a lie but there were truths sprinkled in. “What about you two? How did you meet?” Edith asks doing her best to deflect.

Sammy sat back in the chair and started to look off into the distance as they spoke. “We met online on a trans gaming group. This was before Maria was kicked out and still had a computer to play games on. But, um, we were just online friends for a while, but then one day Maria messaged me saying she had just been kicked out, and that she was scared and didn't know what to do. So, I came and picked her up and let her stay at my place. That was the first time we met in real life.”

Edith didn’t say anything for a little while before she finally spoke. “You’re a really good friend to her. I’m sure Maria wouldn’t be the woman she is today without you. Thank you for that,” Edith said, giving Sammy a big smile

Sammy blushed lightly. They also weren’t the best at taking compliments. But maybe it was also a little bit worse because they didn’t trust Edith even though she were being very nice. Admittedly, Sammy didn’t actually think Edith was a bad person. They were just upset Maria was clearly hiding something from them about her and Edith’s relationship. Not really sure what to say, they just quietly said, “You’re welcome.”

It took nearly an hour for Maria to finally reappear. During that time Edith and Sammy didn’t talk much. There were a few questions here and there, but nothing too pressing or problematic. Edith was busy texting Ahti mostly, while Sammy did some research on Greek islands on their phone. When Maria did walk out, Edith immediately looked up, which prompted Sammy to look up.

“All done?”

“Yep, all done. And thank the gods, that guy's voice was giving me a headache,” Maria said, rubbing above her temples.

“Did everything go okay?” Sammy asked, getting out of their chair.

“Yeah, I think so. It was mostly standard questions, I guess. Basically just about when I lived with my parents, and when the last time I talked to any of my family was. He found it funny when I mentioned my older sister bought a coffee from me at the cafe I use to work at and didn’t even recognize me.”

“Wait, your sister literally talked to you and didn’t realize it?” Edith asked, a little chuffed.

“Yeah. Not sure if it was because she actually thought I was dead or not, though. Either way I don’t really care. We never got along, anyway.” Edith gave Maria a little sad smile, before giving her a side hug. “It’s fine. But anyway, the main thing was that they wanted to know if I would testify against my parents in court or not… I didn’t really know what to do, so I just said I would think about it. I don’t even know if they would even really need me.”

“Well, whatever happens, at least those pricks are getting what they deserve,” Edith said with an amused smile that neither Maria nor Sammy missed.

Stepping out back onto the street, the trio found the sky was already darkening. Night was starting to come and that ticked Sammy’s biological clock into making their stomach say it was time for food.

Maria chuckled. “Hungry, Sammy?

“Yeah, I guess. Want to maybe go get some food?”

Admittedly Maria wasn’t terribly hungry considering she did just eat a couple of hours ago, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t eat. And it was nice to see Sammy again so why not? “Sure, but where at? I don’t um... I don’t have any money on me.”

“It’s okay, I can get it,” Edith piped in.

“Where did you get American dollars?” Maria asked in infernal.

“I got a card for myself the day you were asleep, so we could have money for coming to Earth.”

“Alright,” Maria said swapping back to English. “Where should we go? I never really ate out when I lived here.”

“Lived here?! Do you not still live here?”

“Yes, I still live here, just not at my old apartment…” Maria knew that was not the smoothest of saves, but at least Sammy didn’t keep on the topic.

“Alright, well I know of an okay bar and grill place that has decent food near here, and it’s not too expensive.”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

The place Sammy took them to wasn’t too far at all, only a ten-minute walk, which took them out of the more office building area of the city. Sammy was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk, which was a little concerning for Maria, but she didn’t say anything. Edith, on the other hand, seemed rather excited about the place they were going to. Apparently, Edith had never actually eaten at a place on Earth, so this was going to be her first time.

It was a smallish place, but there were a good number of people in it, mostly all at the bar. Maria was at least pleased it wasn’t a more dude-bro bar that Sammy’s roommates normally take them out to, which made her feel more comfortable. Also, having a number of pride flags up and about made her feel even better. This city wasn’t the nicest of places for queer folk, but at least there were some good places they could go to be themselves.

After five minutes of waiting, they were taken to a small booth near the back, where Sammy sat on one side and the couple on the other. With drink orders taken, Maria and Edith getting a cider since Edith had never had one before, and Sammy going for the standard beer, the waitress left them to their own devices. Still, Sammy stayed rather quiet and stared at the couple while Edith replied to a couple of texts. Maria just sat there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

“So,” Edith finally cut in, looking at a menu. “What is a ham...bur...ger?”

“Okay, come on! What is actually fucking going on here?” Sammy said, letting the annoyance they’ve been feeling since they called Maria be known. “I checked up on Greek Islands, and there was none called anything close to ‘Celesque’. I know for a fact you don’t speak any other languages, Maria, because you’ve told me multiple times that you failed miserably at learning other languages when you were at school. And the only thing I could find on ‘Uloyrid’ was that in a D&D fantasy translator it means ‘infernal.’ I tried even looking you up,” they said pointing at Edith, “and I couldn’t find anything. Not even a Facebook account.”

“Oh Gods, I would never use anything that slimy lizard made.”

“Fucking see! What in the hells does that even mean? What’s going on here, Maria?”

Sammy was very irate about all this which made Maria feel bad. She did really want to tell them because it would just be so much easier. If she did it could all go so very, very wrong, and she desperately didn’t want to lose Sammy. Was she even allowed to tell them anything? Like by I.P.L. law or something?

Maria just looked down at the table, her cheeks aflame, and not knowing what to say. She felt Edith’s tail wrap around her calf and give it a little reassuring squeeze.

“Do you trust them?” Maria’s demon asked.

“Of course I trust them. They’re my best friend.”

“What are you two talking about.”

“Then why not tell them?”

“Tell me what?” Sammy interjected.

“Is it okay to do that?” Maria asked, “Like there’s no laws against it or anything?”

“What?” Sammy was getting more and more worried.

“No. There are some guidelines, but they’re your friend. They’re important to you and I don’t want you to have to hide your true self from them.”

“What do you mean hide myself, I’m still… Fuck I won’t be for long… How do I even do this?”

“What’s going on?” Sammy was all but forgotten in this moment.

“We could just rip the band aid off as it were, I guess.”

“How?”

“Like this.” With that, Edith reached out with her tail, over the table and tapped Sammy on the forehead.

“Ah! What just… touched… me…” Sammy’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates, as they stared at the couple across from them. Mostly they stared at Edith as she pulled back her tail to once again hug Maria’s calf.

“What did you just do. Edith?”

“They can see through the glamour now.”

“Oh my Gods… Sammy? Are you okay?” Maria asked, reaching a hand out over to them. Sammy just kept on staring at Edith until Maria’s hand touched them, at which point their eyes suddenly shot over to Maria’s visibly nonhuman ones.

“What the fuck is going on, Maria…?” The poor enby asked with a very shaky voice. “Why...why are your eyes like that? Why is she like that?”

“It’s… Fuck, where do I begin?”

“Well, I’m a demon and you're my wife is a pretty good start, I’d say.”

“You…you married a demon?”

“Uh…” The waitress said as she came at just the perfect moment. “Here’s y’alls drinks.” Quickly she passed them out and promptly left, definitely picking up on the strange vibe of the convo they were just having. Edith was very excited by the cider in front of her and eagerly went for a taste while Sammy just downed half of their beer in one second flat.

“Okay,” Sammy said, slamming the half-filled pint glass down. They closed their eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them again and looking at the pair. “Fuck, this is real, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” Edith said between sips. “This is really good. I’ve seen cider on some of the Fay restaurant menus, but I never tried it.”

Sammy shook their head and took a long deep breath, ignoring Edith’s tangent. “Will someone please explain to me what is going on?” Though they seemed to be accepting they were sitting across from an actual demon, they did shift over closer to Maria’s end of the table.

Maria looked over at Edith for help.

“They're your friend, dear. You can do it,” Edith said with a big smile towards Maria and a squeeze of her tail.

“Alright…” Maria began, “So Edith here made a deal with my parents while Mom was still pregnant with me. The kind of deal they made was a nuptiae pact. Which basically means Edith asked for me so that I could be her wife.” Maria still couldn’t help but blush at the words.

“So you’re forced into this?” Sammy asked with worry back in their voice.

“No, I would never force Maria to do anything she didn’t want to. This is all mutual affection.”

“Well, you did kind of kidnap me and take me to your home.”

“Hey! You were being evicted, and you passed out in front of me. I was worried and didn’t want to leave you there.”

“I passed out because—”

“Because what? I kissed you and showed you my tongue,” Edith said before licking her lips in the way that sent shivers down Maria’s spine.

“Oh my gods…” Sammy said, seeing Edith’s tongue.

Maria had only ever admitted to one person before that she had a thing for split tongues and that one person was sitting across from them. Immediately, Maria tried to hide her embarrassment in her hands. “Aww, you’re so cute Maria,” the demon said, pulling Maria into a side hug.

“Anyway,” Maria said, pulling herself out from her hands. “Edith is right, this is all mutual, kidnapping aside. But there is more to the whole deal to ‘being my wife’ thing. A nuptiae pack is magical which means that the magical being and the human are meant to be a literal perfect match for each other’s soul…so literally fated magical soul mates…”

Sammy sat there for a second just looking between the two of them, while trying not to stare at Edith’s horns. “Okay, so you two are fated for one another, even though Edith specifically asked for you?”

“Well, I asked for the child in Maria’s mom’s womb. I had no control over who Maria would turn out to be. Basically, for beings like myself our bodies are made from our soul, but humans have their soul placed into an already made body. The idea is that the fates pick a perfect match for the being, and I would say they did a pretty good job,” Edith finished off with a smile, before leaning in and kissing Maria on the head. Maria couldn’t help but smile and blush at the sweet gesture from her demon.

“So, the magical world is all real. Well, more real than most people think. Edith is a demon who asked for you,” they said pointing at Maria. “In a deal before you were born. Which now means you are literal soul mates, and are very happy together?”

“That’s a pretty good summary.” Maria said with a nod, a little surprised at how well Sammy was taking this. Though she had to admit, Sammy’s more emotional side seemed to be taking a backseat to their rational side in order to not completely lose it.

“So why now? Like when did this all happen?”

“The contract was to last until Maria reached adulthood, which in this country typically means twenty-one. So I came to her on her birthday.”

“Isn’t it all a little too fast, then?” Sammy asked, seemingly more worried about their relationship movement, then the fact they were in a relationship.

“One of the effects of being soulmates is that we find it very hard to hide and/or control our emotions around one another. Whatever feelings we have for each other deep down, immediately come to the surface. So yeah, maybe it’s a little too fast, but we are fated for one another. We already kind of sealed the deal…” Maria said blushing.

“What does that mean?”

“We made love,” Edith said with a smirk.

“Oh...” Sammy went for another sip of their beer. “So...what did Maria’s parents get out of all this?”

“Money.”

“The money that has now led to their arrests?”

“Partially, partially their own fault.”

Sammy nodded. “Okay, I guess you make a deal with a demon and it doesn’t always go well.” Edith shook her head with a smile. “So, Maria, what’s the deal with the eyes and horns then?”

“Oh. Well humans aren’t really good with magic. Apparently even a little is lethal. So the pact magically changes the human to more suitably live with their partner. In my case we still aren’t sure what I’m changin— What do you mean horns?” Maria suddenly asked with very wide eyes.

“You have tiny little horns,” Sammy explained.

Slowly, Maria reached up to her head where her fingers deftly felt around till she found two very small hard and somewhat pointy bumps, exactly where her headache manifested not half an hour ago. Without moving her hands away, she turned and looked at her demon.

“I did notice them after you came out of that meeting, but we were with Sammy, and it was pretty clear they don’t like us talking Infernal and leaving them out.”

“Yep, only made it feel like you were hiding more stuff from me,” Sammy said.

“I have horns…but I didn’t feel them earlier,” Maria said quietly looking up at Edith.

“That’s because you weren’t focused on them. Glamour, remember? But yes, you do have horns. They are really small,” the demon said, pulling one of Maria’s hand’s away from it. “And purple, like your eyes.”

“See?” Sammy said holding out their phone to Maria, with the selfie camera open.

Maria quickly grabbed the phone and took a look at herself. But it just showed her glamour. “I can’t see it…”

“Oh right, here,” Edith said, and Maria suddenly felt the glamour fall away.

They were right. Above her temples and a little forward there were two very small, but noticeable purple horns. “Holy shit…”

“Unholy, actually,” Edith said which made Sammy start laughing, finally breaking the worried and scared look on their face. “Thank you, Sammy,” the demon said putting the glamour back on Maria. “At least someone else at this table appreciates that joke!”

“Oh gods…” Sammy said through dying laughter. “This is all fucking insane. I’m going to need another one of these,” they said before downing the rest of their beer.

“Hey, at least you’re not the one who just found out they have horns.”

“True, and I am very thankful for that.”

“Why do you guys make it sound like having horns is a bad thing?” Edith asked, “I’ve had them my whole life and they’ve never been a problem.”

“But you’ve always been a demon, Edith. I haven’t always been a…fuck, does this mean I’m a demon now?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? What do you mean ‘maybe’?”

“Well, it’s still pretty early on, but there might be one way of seeing if you really are becoming, or actually are, one”

“Okay, whats thaaAAAAAAAAAA...!”

Edith suddenly pushed her hand down the back of Maria’s pants and under her underwear. Edith’s exploring fingers quickly found their mark when they touched the end of Maria’s tailbone. A sudden wave of pleasure washed over the poor girl. It caused Maria’s little scream to turn into a low moan, which she quickly squashed by covering her mouth. She was sure her face was as red as Edith’s as the three of them finally noticed the waitress standing at the end of the table.

“I’ll give you a couple more minutes,” she said with a rather annoyed tone, before wandering off.

“What in the hells was that, Edith!?” Maria aggressively whispered, as she pulled her demon’s hand out of her pants.

A sudden laugh from outside the booth drew everybody's attention to the newcomer. She was a tall beautiful Egyptian woman that was definitely turning a few heads in the bar. There was also a magical kind of shimmer about her that Maria realized was a glamour, and after a second of focusing she found the woman to be Ahti.

“Hey, Ahti,” Edith said.

“Ahti, what are you doing here?”

“Well besides enjoying the little show you two were giving,” the jackal said with a chuckle. “Ex was trying to find me at work, so Edith said I should sneak out and come out with you guys.” With that, Ahti nonchalantly sat down on the bench next to Sammy, who was just somewhat getting used to the fact that there was a literal demon sitting across from them. But having a newcomer, who was most likely a magical being, casually sit down next to them did make the enby tense up.

Looking over at Sammy, Maria realized that Sammy was seeing Ahti through her glamour and not her real self. Without warning Maria let out a quick snorting laugh, causing everyone just turned to her which she quickly waved off.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll all see in a minute.”

“Okay? Um...,” Sammy started, not really sure what to do about the new attractive person sitting next to them, “So, why did Maria just moan in front of the waitress?”

“Oh, I can answer that, but”., Ahti turned to the couple. “They?” She said with a little questioning tone to confirm Sammy’s pronouns. With the enby’s confirming nod, she continued. “They know, right?” Another nod, this time from the couple. “Alright, so,” she turned back to looking directly at Sammy, causing the enby to blush lightly, “The end of a demon’s tail is very sensitive, and is very much an engorged zone. So Edith here just probably touched the end of Maria’s tail, if she has one, or maybe just the end of her tailbone for now.”

“Oh no. I have not just grown a tail and horns in one day,” Maria said rather shocked as she reached into the back of her pants. No tail, but her tailbone was way more sensitive than she remembered, and a lot more pleasurable. No wonder Edith really enjoyed her fellating her tail.

“Any tail, Maria?” Ahti asked.

“No… Gods I don’t think I could have dealt with growing horns and a tail in one day.”

“Aww. Not part of the tail gang yet,” the jackal said making her own tail thump audibly on the booth. Sammy jumped at the sudden sensation of something hitting the booth between them and the still glamoured Ahti. As much as they were seemingly feeling calmer about all this, they were still scared, which Maria felt bad about.

“Oh right, you still can’t see me can you, cutie?” Ahti asked, causing Sammy to look right at them. “Here.” With that Ahti gently bopped Sammy on the nose, and the moment Maria was secretly waiting for started to unfold.

As soon as Ahti’s glamour was dropped Sammy’s green eyes went wide as they openly stared at the jackal. Immediately their face started to turn bright red though the light makeup. Ahti just looked back and curiously raised an eyebrow at the enby’s reaction. After nearly a full ten seconds of staring, Maria couldn’t hold in a snort.

Suddenly Sammy turned away and looked directly at Maria. “Don’t you dare say anything!”

Maria didn’t hold in the laughter any longer, and just let it all out. Sammy put their face in their hands while Edith and Ahti just looked between the two humans. Well, one human and the ever-changing Maria.

“Care to explain what’s going on?” Edith asked with a light chuckle.

“Whatever it is, it’s pretty adorable,” Ahti chimed in with a smirk, not looking away from Sammy, who kept taking not-so-sneaky glances at her, which made them blush harder.

“Why is this happening…?” Sammy grumbled into their hands

“Oh gods. The look on your face, Sammy!” Maria said somehow through the laughing fit.

 Edith and Ahti shared a look of interested confusion before realization came over Ahti’s face. The jackal let out a very amused laugh as they looked back over at Sammy, leaving Edith to be the only person in the group to not understand.

“Are you a bit of a furry, Sammy?” Ahti asked, leaning in closer to Sammy. Edith let out a snort, as Sammy somewhat slammed their head down onto the table, with their arms wrapped around to hide the now burning blush on their face. “Aww, you are. That’s really cute,” Ahti said with a laugh as her tail happily thumped against the booth in a happy wag. “I’m glad to know that some humans find me attractive. You’re not so bad yourself, cutie.”

“Can we talk about something other than whether or not I’m a furry, please?” Sammy mumbled after a little pause from inside their little arm cave.

“Oh, I think it’s pretty well established that you are, Sammy,” Maria’s demon said with a chuckle. Sammy only curled up tighter into their arms, which Ahti seemed to find even more adorable if her tail was anything to go by. “But sure, that’s maybe enough embarrassment for now. So, my dear Maria,” she said looking back at the not-so-human human. “Looks like you’re turning into a demon after all.”

Maria took in a deep breath, calming down from the laughing fit. “Yeah, looks like it,” she said running a hand through her hair and hitting one of her horns on the way. “Fuck me…”

“Well, if you insist,” Edith smirked out as she pushed Maria up back against the wall, as her tail snuck its way down the back of Maria’s pants.

“Nononono! Edith, not here!” Maria panicked as she felt Edith’s tail brush against her tail bone. Her demon chuckled and gave her a quick kiss before pulling away.

“Hmm, maybe we’ll try exhibitionism another time.” The scarlet demon gave her trademark smirk to her lover but didn’t remove the tail and gave it a little flick.

Maria held in a gasp and turned her red face away from her lover, spotting that Sammy had brought their head back up. Still their blush matched hers. Magical beings really are fluster storms. Edith and Ahti shared a chuckle.

“Okay, but seriously. Am I a demon now?” Maria asked genuinely.

“Do you feel like one?” Asked Edith.

“I— I don’t know. Maybe not right now. It’s really fast. I mean, will I even feel that different when it’s all done?”

“Probably not,” Ahti chimed in. “You’ll still be you, Maria. Just a somewhat different body. The shape may change but the soul’s the same.” Ahti gave her a reassuring smile.

“That's a good way of putting it, Ahti,” Edith said, finally removing her tail from Maria’s underwear and wrapping it around her waist, pulling her in close.

“That’s actually really reassuring,” Maria said with a sigh of relief. “But what am I more physically now? Human or demon?”

“Maybe a bit closer to the demon side, albeit not by much” Edith admitted. “Probably will take some time to fully get there physically, but still. You’re definitely leaning demon with those cute little horns of yours.”

The now newly minted almost-demon took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well…guess I’m Maria the demon now.”

“Maria the demon,” Sammy repeated. “I think that sounds cool. Better than ‘Sammy the human’.” Sammy gave Maria a cheesy smile.

“Don’t you mean ‘Sammy the furry’?” Ahti asked leaning in close to the enby and letting her tail wag against them. “Because I think that sounds pretty adorable.” Sammy’s somewhat dissipating blush instantly returned as Ahti’s muzzle nearly grazed their cheek. “Cute.”