Lilith groaned. “My…head hurts.”

An unfamiliar voice greeted her. “Are you OK, mistress?”

“Yeah, fine. Just a headache.” Lilith sat upright, and then scrambled backwards. “Whoa, who are you?!”

Alex giggled. “Hello, mistress! My name is Alex!”

Lilith looked around desperately, and spotted Vithi. “Vithi, what’s going on!? Why is this girl calling me mistress?!”

Vithi didn’t answer for a moment. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Lilith stood and walked over to Vithi. “Uh, I was getting out of the window and then…um, I think there was some dude or something? It’s all really fuzzy.”

Vithi waved her hand towards Alex. “This is that “dude”. She tried to cast a control spell on you but failed. Turned herself into…that.”

Alex smiled hugely. “Yup!”

Lilith stood there for a second. “So, why is she calling me master?”

Vithi sighed. “The control spell had a servitude component. It made her love her new form, and made serving you make her incredibly happy. You could probably reverse that, if you wish. It’d just be the mental components, though. She’d still be bound to serve you, and still be a catgirl.”

Lilith turned to look over Alex. “So, how do you feel about all this?”

Her face screwed up in concentration. “Honestly?”

Lilith nodded.

She beamed again. “It might be the best thing that ever happened to me! I just feel so…great! Like everything before was just a bad dream, and I’ve woken up to someone comforting me!”

“So…what do you want?”

She blinked. “Want? I just want to serve you however I can!”

Lilith looked conflicted. “What if I wanted to get rid of the mental effects? It’s not right to just…kill someone like that.”

Alex laughed. “I’m not dead, silly! I’ve got all my old memories, habits, feelings, everything! I just have a new body and a disposition to serve you!” She winked conspiratorially. “To tell you the truth, I’m pretty sure I’m younger now. I was physically in my 30s before but now I think I’m your age! So, it’s kind of like the opposite of killing me!”

Lilith looked imploringly at Vithi.

“Don’t look at me!” She said. “This is your problem to deal with.”

Lucas thought it over. “Well, let’s deal with it at home. Alex, is there any way to hide your ears and tail?”

She nodded. “I can tuck my tail in my pants, and I think I can conjure up a hat. My hair should mostly cover my lack of normal ears.” She looked around and grabbed a loose plank, muttered a few words over it, and watched as it slowly morphed into a baseball cap. Satisfied, she put it on her head and put her tail in her pants. The pants bulged a little where the tail started, but for the most part she looked normal. “Ready!”

Lilith turned to Vithi, waiting for her to enter her lair.

“I think I’ll walk.” She said, stretching a little. “Alex here was the one watching us, so there really isn’t a point in hiding.” She paused, turning to Alex. “Were you the only one watching?”

Alex nodded. “Yup. Well, I was the only one for the past bit. They sent me to keep an eye on the house just in case you guys came back to it.”

Lilith looked at the two of them, then shrugged. “Alright, let’s go.”

Lilith sat on one of her couches, looking at Alex, who was standing in front of her. “I don’t feel comfortable having you in an altered state of mind like this.” She said, looking Alex up and down.

“Well, I was planning to do the same thing to you, mistress.” Alex argued.

“Please don’t call me mistress.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Vithi stifled a laugh. She had started up a game again but seemed to be paying some attention to the conversation.

Lilith rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Just talk to me like you would anyone else.”

“Alright. What are you going to do, then?”

Lilith frowned. “Put you back to normal, mentally?”

“But I’d be your servant anyway, and I’m really happy this way!”

Lucas sighed. “If you want to make that decision in your normal state of mind, then I’d let you. Not while you’re like this. How do I put you back to normal?”

Alex pouted. “Just tell me to go back to normal and I will. You really shouldn’t, though.”

“Alright, then do it.”

Alex stiffened for a long moment, and then relaxed. “It’s done.”

Vithi paused the game and turned to face the two. Lilith looked carefully at Alex, who was frowning deeply. “So…how do you feel?” She asked.

“Bad. My body feels all wrong, and I’m being forced into servitude.”

Lilith looked down. “I’m sorry, I really don’t want this.”

Alex drew in a long breath. “Can you at least make me comfortable with my body again? I’m stuck like this, so I might as well like it.”

“Like it as much as before or…?”

He sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

Lucas looked up. “Alright, you like your form as much as you did before.”

Alex’s face brightened instantly. “Don’t know why I was so attached to my old body anyway. This is so much better.”

Lilith frowned. “Wait, you like it more than your old one?”

She nodded. “That was how much I was set to like it before.”

“You want me to…turn that down?” She laughed nervously. “I’m talking about you like you’re a robot or something.”

Alex put her hands on her hips. “Absolutely not. I happen to like how I’m feeling right now.”

“Yeah, but…I wasn’t aware you’d be liking it more than your old body.”

“Look, I knew what I was getting into when I told you to make me like it as much as before, and you just said that if I wanted to make this sort of decision in my “unaltered” state of consciousness it would be fine.”

“I suppose…”

“And I’m happier now. Can you leave that be?”

Lilith gave in. “Alright, anything else?”

“Not that I can think of.”

Lilith tapped her chin. “Can I free you at all?”

Alex shook her head sadly. “Part of the spell’s condition is that you can’t free me with just words.”

Lilith frowned. “So, there IS a way to free you?”

Alex tilted her head. “Probably? Not familiar with undoing the spell. It never came up.”

Lucas looked at Vithi. “You have any idea, Vithi?”

Vithi shrugged. “Not my area of expertise. Couldn’t say.”

Alex collapsed onto one of the chairs. “Alright, so what are you gonna have me do?” She asked dejectedly.

“Nothing.” Lucas responded.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “You have a servant that has to do anything you tell her, and you’re not going to tell her to do anything.”

“Yup.”

“Whatever dude, not gonna complain.”

Lilith looked at Vithi, and then at Alex. “So, uh, you got a house or something to go back to?”

Alex paused. “No, I was holed up in a Society of the Light house.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I doubt they’ll let me go back now.”

Lucas sighed. “I was afraid of that. I’ll have to call Judy.”

Vithi nodded. “Good idea. Might as well, uh, let her know about your magic too.”

Lilith reached for her phone, then paused. “Speaking of the Society of the Light, are they gonna come looking for you?”

Alex shrugged. “Hard to say. They might, but I’m pretty new in the Society. If I go missing chances are they’ll send in a better geared team to take care of you, and if they so happen to find me, that’s a bonus.”

“Is there any way you could give notice without revealing what’s happened to you?” Vithi asked suddenly.

Alex shook her head. “I’m just a grunt. They haven’t given me any contact information beyond face-to-face meeting. They don’t like to leave a trail.”

“In that case, try and leave a note at some site they frequent or something, saying that you’re having to go in a bit deeper undercover or some other believable lie. And absolutely no hinting at what’s really going on or trying to let them see you or anything, alright?”

Alex nodded and left the room, a strange expression on her face.

Lilith raised an eyebrow. “She obeys you?”

Vithi froze. “Uh, yeah. Had to do with me being inside you when the spell was cast.”

Lilith frowned. “Are you sure? That doesn’t sound right.”

“Yes, I’m sure! In case you forgot, I’m the expert here.”

“You just said this wasn’t your area of expertise.”

“But I’m still more knowledgeable than you!”

Lilith raised her hands. “Alright, alright. I’m going to go text Judy.”

Judy sat nervously on one of the chairs in the family room, fidgeting slightly. “Sorry, I’m having a hard time getting this straight.” She said, looking at Alex nervously. “She’s a mage who messed up a spell and is now forced to serve you?”

Lilith nodded.

“And your wish to be a powerful mage ended up indirectly turning you into…that?”

Lilith nodded again.

“And she doesn’t have anywhere else to stay?”

Alex grimaced. “Well, I could go back to the Society, but they’d probably put me in a prison or something after they find out I’m in forced servitude.”

Judy ran her hands through her hair. “Well I don’t see a reason why she couldn’t stay but-” She was cut off by the doorbell ringing. She looked at the three girls in front of her. “I guess I’ll answer it.” She got up and hurried towards the front door.

“Are you expecting anyone?” Vithi asked.

Lilith shook her head. “Must be a salesman or something.” They sat in silence for a few minutes before Vithi stood up. “I’m going to go see what’s taking so long.”

Lilith made as if to stop her, but Vithi was already gone. She rounded the corner into the front entry and stopped in her tracks.

“Ah, perfect!” the man at the door said. “Vithi can vouch for me!” He was tall and thin, with short black hair. He was young looking, probably in his thirties, and wore a tailored suit.

“Tunem?!” Vithi exclaimed, stopping in the entryway.

Judy eyed him suspiciously. “So, you do know him?”

“Yes, yes,” Vithi said, hurrying over to them. “He gave my lamp to Lucas in the first place. He’s trustworthy.”

“Alright, you can come in.” Judy said grudgingly. “Provisionally. First sign of trouble and I’m kicking you out, understand?”

“Of course, ma’am.” Tunem said, hanging his jacket up on a hook near the door. “May I have a word with Vithi privately?”

Judy sighed, but left the room anyway. As soon as she was gone, Vithi put her hands on her hips and turned to Tunem. “Alright, care to explain?”

Tunem smirked. “So, how are things with you and Lucas? Things worked out well for you?”

“That’s not an answer.”

Tunem raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. If I tell you, will you answer me?”

“Yes.”

“Look, I guess things are working out fine. I’m free…for a given value of free, so that’s nice.”

Tunem frowned. “Given value?”

“Long story short, I was hiding from the Society of the Light, had to make a pact with Lucas to hide my magical signature.”

Tunem smirked. “Oh, so that’s what he wished for. Good to know.”

Vithi rolled her eyes. “You’re such a know-it-all. Why are you here?”

“Generally, a complication arises around this point in time, so I figured it would be good to come see what happens.”

“Complication is one word for it.”

“So, what happened?”

Vithi began explaining everything that had happened since waking Lucas up in the middle of the night. Tunem stopped her when she got to Alex. “Hold up, what was this guy’s name?”

“Steven. Why?”

Tunem rushed into the next room, ignoring Vithi completely. Vithi arrived just in time to see him scoop Alex into his arms. “Oh, my boy, I’ve missed you!”

Fighterman481

So, yes. Alex is Tunem's kid. This is the main reason Tunem chose Lucas in particular to get the lamp. There were quite a few other people who would work for what the Protectorate wants, but Tunem specifically chose someone close to his kid, and nudged things so it would be more likely something like this occurred. This was done without the knowledge of the Council (have I talked about them yet? I know I do later. Basically the ruling body of the Protectorate, if I haven't), so they're totally in the dark on why Lucas in particular, but they don't care much.

As for the Society and Alex's position in it, she was pretty low on the totem pole, partially because she was Tunem's kid. It was a potential leak of information, so they kept her in a grunt position.

Last couple of things to talk about are gonna be why Alex has decided what she has with regards to her body, and a bit more on the Society's structure since there's not going to be a real time that gets discussed in the story itself and is more just for explaining Alex's motives than anything.

So, Alex's choice. She's decided there's not going to be easy access to a mage knowledgeable enough to change what Lilith did to her. The biggest reason for this is that Lilith's transformation isn't a surface level thing; a lot of transformation magic, even if it's permanent, changes the target into another form. Lilith sculpted Alex's base form into something else, so it's not as simple as breaking an enchantment; you'd basically have to get someone to reverse sculpt her back into what she originally was. Given, there are people who can do that, but there are very few of them and most of them wouldn't be too happy to help Alex out. So, she decided that rather than deal with the crippling dysphoria, she would take the easy way out and just...not deal with it.

And the Society's structure. To be honest, I haven't given a terrible amount of thought to it since it's not important, but know that there's an inner circle and everyone else. The inner circle is much like the Council is to the Protectorate, and everyone else has their own ranks or whatever. But, it's important to know that, at the end of the day, the Society is a terrorist organization. They don't treat their members (at least the lower ranked ones) very well, and it's overall a pretty awful environment. That's honestly the main reason why Alex isn't really trying to mess with Lilith at all. There's more talk in-story later, but Alex wanted an out, and Lilith provided it.