Melissa smirked, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up to you in class."

I spotted the guy a moment later. He had his eyes on my beautiful blonde girlfriend and he was walking to intercept us as the two of us exited the cafeteria. I had no doubt the guy was going to be Melissa's date for tonight or tomorrow.

"Ok," I smiled as I kept walking while she stopped to talk to the guy.

It was Thursday and our next class was with a prof I always found kind of boring. I wasn't in any hurry either, so I sort of wandered along the hall as my mind drifted elsewhere. I was loving our new home, Sue's place was perfect and Mr. Goranov did a great job with all the renovations. Last night we got the fireplace going for the first time which was kind of magical in its own way. And in two days we'd have our first guests over for a little party.

Melissa's brother and his boyfriend were coming and the plan was they'd stay over Saturday night in one of the spare bedrooms. We were going to celebrate Sam's birthday, which was early next week. It was also an excuse to see them, the last time we got together was on new years.

With my thoughts on that, I really wasn't paying attention to what was going on around me and didn't notice the danger till I felt strong hands suddenly grabbing my upper arm. I was yanked sideways through a doorway and found myself in a small storage room.

Standing in front of me were Jim and Rahul, and behind me on either side were the other two guys. I didn't know their names, but the religious dude was holding my right arm and the other one was holding my left arm.

"Mara," Lily said in a slightly urgent tone. "I can take care of this if you want. Slip back inside and I'll take over."

Rather than step inside I just looked around quietly. They'd closed the door after pulling me in here. There were metal shelves full of cleaning supplies on my left and right. Along the back wall was some equipment, like a floor polisher, carpet cleaner, heavy-duty vacuum, that kind of thing. And in the corner were some brooms, mops and buckets and whatever.

The thing that surprised me most though wasn't something in the room. It was me.

Last month when it was me and Amber facing Jim and Rahul in a stairwell, I was freaking out with adrenaline and nerves and everything. Now I was alone in a little room with four burly dudes, and I wasn't the least bit worried.

Part of that came from the knowledge that I wasn't actually alone, I had Lily with me. And part of it was from knowing I was part-demon. I was a supernatural creature and I was a lot stronger than any of these guys. And part of it was probably because I actually wanted this. Ever since I realized they were all hating on us, since they messed up Melissa's car and everything, I wanted to deal with them face to face.

"I've been looking forward to this," Jim sneered as he approached. "You cost me four teeth you little tranny bastard! Now it's payback time."

My intuition thing wasn't as clear as usual but I didn't really need it. It seemed obvious what they were planning. The other two guys were holding my arms back and to the sides so I couldn't defend myself. Jim and maybe Rahul were going to beat me while I was defenceless.

Lily sounded worried as she said, "Mara? Don't reveal your horns, don't mention anything supernatural. If you want me to take care of this, just step inside here with me."

I ignored my demon mom again as I stayed focused on Jim. Maybe it was the anger, maybe it was something to do with my part-demon nature, but I wanted to do this myself. And I was confident I could handle these four guys on my own.

In a calm level voice I stated, "Last time you laid a hand on me, I knocked you on your ass with one punch. What makes you think this time's going to be any different? You really think your boyfriends here are any match for a girl like me?"

Jim scowled and his arm came up as he stepped closer. I saw the blow coming and I clenched my jaw and braced myself, but I didn't actually try and get out of the way. Jim's right fist connected with the left side of my mouth, and that's when I learned two things.

Being part-demon did not in fact make me indestructible, and Jim hit a lot harder than my mom did.

I'd never been in a real fight before, even when I thought I was a guy. In fact the only time I could ever remember getting seriously punched in the face was when my mom slugged me last year while she was under Verothilas's influence. So it was kind of a new experience, and not one that I enjoyed in any way whatsoever.

My ears rang, my jaw ached, my lips were burning, and I could taste blood. I still had all my teeth though, none of them even felt loose.

The guy had his arm raised like he was ready to hit me again but he hesitated.

I hadn't made a sound, I wasn't crying or begging to be let go or anything. I didn't collapse or crumple into the two burly dudes who were holding my arms out to either side. I just stood there, and I was probably scowling or something. Or frowning at least.

Except a moment later I smiled. I kept my teeth clenched together and quietly said, "My turn."

I was easily able to pull my arms free from the two guys behind me. It was like overpowering a couple children or whatever, thanks to my demon strength. Then a moment later my uppercut connected with Jim's chin, his head snapped back, and he collapsed in a heap on the floor at my feet. Once again he was out cold, just like the first time.

The religious dude grabbed me from behind again, but instead of going for my arms he had one hand around my waist and the other at my chest. I felt his hand grab one of my boobs and that sort of set me off.

I took his wrist in my hand and pulled it away from my chest while I squeezed and twisted. It was as easy as snapping a pencil in half, and he let out a shriek as he stumbled back and fell to his knees.

The other guy took a swing at me but this time I ducked out of the way. Then I kicked him in the shin and down he went, clutching his leg.

At that point it crossed my mind, if I actually knew how to fight I'd be pretty fucking terrifying. Like I just took out three burly tough guys without breaking a sweat and all I had going for me was supernatural strength and some anger that had been festering for a couple weeks.

Rahul was the only guy still on his feet and I turned around to look at him. He hadn't moved, he was just standing there staring at me with wide eyes, while his three buddies were all on the floor in varying degrees of hurt. And I probably should have kept my mouth shut, I should have just left it at that, but I was still ticked off. I remembered the vibes I got from him before and like usual my mouth was a minute or two ahead of my common sense.

"Chickening out again huh?" I taunted him. "Just like last time, stand there and watch your buddies do all the work and take all the hits. Probably the smart thing to do though, right? I mean, there's no way you could take on a girl like me."

My intuition thing still wasn't as clear as usual, all I got from the guy was a bunch of hate vibes mixed with fear. About the only thing I was sure of was that he wasn't going to try and attack me. Not after seeing what I did to his three friends.

I glanced down at the others again.

Jim was still out cold, the religious dude was off to the side with his back against the shelves cradling his left arm against his chest, and the other guy was curled up clutching his right shin. I was pretty sure both of them were going to be in casts next time I saw them, and neither seemed like they wanted to try anything else right now.

Without another word I stepped past them and opened the door. I closed it again behind me as I walked out into the hall and started making my way to class. The halls were mostly empty now, I knew I was late. And I knew Melissa would probably be worried.

"Mara," Lily stated as I started walking. "Step into the nearest washroom."

Her tone made it clear that wasn't a request. I sighed but did what she said. I turned around and went back the other way then ducked into the girls washroom by the cafeteria.

As soon as we got to a mirror I realized what was the problem. And seeing the damage suddenly made me aware of the pain I'd been ignoring.

My jaw ached and my lips stung. Both lips were swollen on the left and both were split, there was some blood on my chin and I could still taste it in my mouth. A nasty bruise was spreading out across my cheek from the left corner of my mouth, and my cheek was swollen. It was obvious I'd taken a hit to the face, there was pretty much no other way to explain that kind of bruising and stuff.

I sighed and got some paper towels and ran cold water on them, then used that to carefully clean myself up.

While I was doing that, Lily asked "Are you satisfied now?"

I stared at myself in the mirror for a few more seconds then nodded, "Yeah, I am. It felt pretty good to put those jerks in their place."

It actually hurt to talk, moving my jaw and lips made the throbbing and aching worse. I tried to ignore it though. And I knew Lily could heal me but considering she hadn't done that yet, and hadn't even mentioned it, I was starting to wonder if maybe she wasn't going to. Like maybe leaving me with the pain and bruising and stuff was meant to be a lesson or whatever.

Lily sighed, "Mara I don't think that was wise. I don't think any of it was a good idea. But you've had your fun and I hope that's the end of it. Next time, if there is a next time, I'm going to take care of it myself. All right?"

"Ok Lily," I replied quietly. "We're a team. I handled it this time, next one's all yours."

She sighed again then finally offered, "Shall I heal your injuries?"

I thought it over for a few seconds then shook my head, "Maybe later. It's not too bad and if we run into any of them again this afternoon they'll know something's up if I'm miraculously healed."

"Very well Mara." Lily still sounded uncomfortable or unhappy about the whole situation but she didn't argue. "Now I suppose you should get to class. Your absence has Melissa worried about you."

It only took a minute to get to class, then I quietly slipped into the room while the prof was droning on about some new boring thing involving apertures. He ignored me but quite a few of the other students stared as I moved to take my seat next to Melissa. She was staring too and looked worried, but she couldn't really say anything while we were in class.

I gave her a lopsided smile and whispered, "I'm ok."

Then I finally turned to focus on the teacher and the lesson. Unfortunately between his boring voice and the throbbing in my jaw it was hard to concentrate.

Happily the rest of the day was uneventful. I gave Melissa a quick update on what happened as we made our way from one class to the next, then after the last class we went to the car and headed home. Once we were comfortable on the sofa I had a vodka cooler and told Melissa all the full details of what happened.

And she told me that guy who'd stopped her to talk after lunch didn't want a date after all. We both figured he was part of the whole thing, like a diversion or something. Like he stopped Melissa to talk to her so I'd be alone in that hall where the guys grabbed me.

Finally when Susan got home she freaked out when she saw the bruise and swelling on my face, and we had to go through the whole thing again to get her up to speed.

Lily mostly stayed out of it, but I knew she was listening. And I knew she wasn't happy with how I handled things, but I was. It felt good getting that out of my system.

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