“Okay, okay, everything’s fine. Nothing’s wrong,” I tried to assure myself, but I couldn’t help but freak out a bit.

 

Taking stock of what I’d just tried to do, I was reminded of what my mom had said about my ancestry. Although if I were supposed to be a demon, wouldn’t that have happened by now already? Reaching toward the part of my back that I had tried to stretch, I noticed that there were two small bumps that hadn’t been there yesterday. My minor freaking out then proceeded to graduate to major freaking out. I was turning into a demon for some reason and I had no idea what to do about that. I was brought out of my panic by a knock on the door.

 

“Is everything okay in there, Lillith? I heard shouting, and it sounded like you were pacing,” Rowan asked, and I decided it would be best to rip the bandage off and let her in.

 

“I changed more,” I said, and I turned around and took off my shirt to show her.

 

“Damn, Lillith, you didn’t have to freak out so much if you just wanted me to see you naked,” Rowan said, and I knew she must have had a smirk on her face which caused all manner of feelings to stir up inside me.

 

“N-no, I meant the bumps on my back,” I said, while pointing to the spots on my back where I thought wings were growing, “I know it sounds crazy, but I think they might be wings.”

 

Rowan proceeded to walk over and run her hand over the two bumps, which sent a shiver up my spine. We both stood there in silence for several moments before Rowan broke the silence.

 

“Well, I guess it’s finally time to have this conversation.”

 

“What do you mean, ‘this conversation?’”

 

“I mean that I’ve been fairly certain you’re a demon for quite some time now.”

 

“How could you possibly know that before now?”

 

“Well, for one, no other person I’ve roomed with has transformed in any way. Two, the way you described how you originally got the name Lillith sounded a lot like how a true name works.”

 

“Don’t all living creatures have a true name, though?”

 

“I mean I guess, but only demons are that affected by it, and last but not least. I’m like you, Lillith,” Rowan answered, and I just stared at her dumbfounded.

 

“Wait, you weren’t always a demon?”

 

“Well, strictly speaking I was always a demon, it’s just a matter of awakening that part of myself. All someone with demonic ancestry needs to awaken their true form is to be in the presence of demonic energy for an extended period of time. It was a lot easier finding a demon to awaken your true form back when I was a kid, and over time that knowledge was forgotten.”

 

“Wow, so you were born a human girl and became a demon like I’m becoming,” I said, and Rowan looked to her feet. It was one of the first times I had ever seen Rowan anything other than completely confident.

 

“Actually,” Rowan started while fidgeting with her hair, “I’m also like you in that way too. For most of my first fifteen years of life or so I was absolutely miserable. My parents tried to help, but they didn’t even know that we were descended from demons, so they had no idea what I needed. Eventually my depression became too much for them to handle, so they left. I tried to find them but I was never able to.”

 

“Oh my god, Rowan, that sounds absolutely awful.”

 

“Yeah, it wasn’t great. Eventually though I stumbled across a kind man named Dylan who let me stay with him. He said that he recognized the suffering I was enduring and to be honest I was just happy that someone didn’t immediately turn me away. I would later find out that he was an incubus who was assigned female at birth. I still talk to him sometimes, in fact he’s the one I told you was my dad back when this first started.”

 

“So what happened to your birth parents?”

 

“Hell if I know; after I met Dylan, I just stayed with him for a while, even after I was fully transformed. In that time he grew to be more of a father to me than my birth father was.”

 

“So what does all this mean for me, though?”

 

“Well, you’re going to start changing into a demon, and the process will take a while because of how major the changes are even if you aren’t resisting it. Unfortunately, once they start getting visible, you won’t yet have the skill to change your form.”

 

“Oh no, what am I going to do about work?”

 

“It’s alright, I’ve been planning for this for a while now. I met a fellow demon who will produce documents that claim you’ve got some sort of long-term illness and you’ll be out of work for a while.” 

 

“Okay; I hope Clara won’t be too upset with me, though.”

 

“I’m sure it will be fine, but I do think it would be a good idea for you to come to the demon support group with me sometime.”

 

“I think that would probably be a good idea; thank you for everything, Rowan,” I said, and then hugged Rowan before realizing that I still didn’t have a shirt on.

 

“Oh,” Rowan grabbed my chin and lifted my face up to look in her beautiful eyes that were full of hunger, “Lillith, I didn’t want to make it awkward before, but I can’t keep this bottled up anymore. Would you like to go out with me?”

 

I didn’t even have to think before answering by pulling Rowan in for a kiss. “Yes, a thousand times, yes.”