The air was thick with must and salt. It pressed down on her like a physically tangible entity, and clung to her like a second skin.

Cailyn walked through the darkened corridor, guided by the pull of an unseen hand. Within her satchel resided a number of artifacts from the vault. Thanks to Chris’ chronoshift watch, she had been able to get in and out before the alarms could stop her this time.

In fact, stealing Chris’ very illegal magical belongings that he had used for making deliveries for Nate had made this entire heist far easier.

It wasn’t as if Chris would notice that they were missing. He was far too busy dealing with his own issues.

“Welcome back, little flower.” Boucher rose from behind his desk in the back room of his shop, grinning with too many teeth.

The space was nothing like Nathaniel’s immaculate office. It was dark and dreary, with floors and walls of aged, waterlogged wood. It was like stepping into the hull of an ancient shipwreck, packed with ominous trinkets and dark ensorcelled relics. Dangerous creatures snapped and snarled from the confines of their cramped cages.

Cailyn followed the pull at the core of her being, her steps squelching unpleasantly as she navigated the ragged, mildewed runner rug leading to the desk.

“I got what you asked for, master,” Cailyn said, smiling dreamily at the being behind the desk.

“Let’s see it all then,” he drawled, gesturing at the desk.

Cailyn happily complied, pouring out the contents of her satchel onto the desk. A dagger meant to imbue anyone that gripped the handle with a murderous intent; a cloak of true invisibility; a transmuter stone; a codex of demons; and the soulcatcher that held Chris’ former tormentor.

Boucher nearly lit up with glee at the bounty his plaything had gathered. His pallid, sallow complexion shifting to a sicklier shade of green as he pawed over them.

“You did real well, little flower. You earned a reward.” Boucher chortled as he stepped around his desk, his presence swelling, even as his physical frame remained the same. 

Cailyn bowed her head respectfully. “Thank you, Master.”

Boucher took a step closer and placed a hand on her head.

Despite the human appearance of the hand, Cailyn felt an unpleasant moistness from it, and the flesh had more of a yielding softness than human flesh should. A chill settled in over her body, and she felt… different. Better.

“Now you go on home, little flower. Enjoy that little bit of the bayou inside you now. A time’ll come to use it. You’ll know when. Oh, and remember, this is our little secret.”

“Of course, Master,” Cailyn nodded and took a step back, then another, before turning to leave.

=====

The cool night air somehow felt so much more alive. Smells were more intense, the dark seemed a little less dark, and she could almost feel the hum of life around her.

Cailyn wasn’t sure what had happened, why she felt so good, or how long she’d been zoning out while walking through the city, but a quick glance at her phone told her it was almost four a.m. She took a moment to orient herself, then started heading home.

She was shocked when she arrived almost half an hour later to find that the lights were still on.

Aiden looked up to meet her eyes when she stepped through the door. “Holy shit, Cay, where the fuck have you been?!” he demanded.

‘What’s his issue?’ she thought, going on the defensive. “Out having drinks with friends, why the fuck do you care?”

Aiden looked as though he might burst a blood vessel. “I’m busting my ass to cover for you and you can’t even answer my texts while you’re out drinking?! Not even when it comes to shit going on with Chris!?”

Aiden gestured at his bedroom, where he’d told Chris to try and get some sleep earlier.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t get any texts from you!” She grabbed her phone and brought up her messages - over twenty missed texts. Strange that they hadn’t appeared before on her lock screen, like she’d checked them before and ignored them, but had no memory of doing so…

“Oh, fuck,” she mumbled, checking over the messages.

“Yeah, fuck. I don’t know what’s going on with her, Cay,” Aiden said.

“Her?” Cailyn stared incredulously at Aiden.

“Shit, I meant him. It’s just hard with how sh– with how he looks.”

“I mean, we both know what his Knot changing like that probably means, but until he decides for himself, you know…?”

“Yeah, I know. But I can’t see anything but a girl when I talk to him now. He’s just… with the changes that happened today, he’s so damn pretty.”

Cailyn laughed, brushing aside the weirdness of the missed texts. “Are you crushing on Chris?”

“Wh-what!? N-No way!” Aiden denied, waving her accusation away.

“Dude you’re blushing, you totally are crushing on him!”

On the other side of the bedroom door, Chris’ chest fluff was in overdrive, and if he could blush, he would be doing so very intensely right now. 

‘Aiden sees me as a girl… and he has a crush on me! What the fuck?! That should be so weird, totally repellant, but…’ Chris’ mind whirled with countless possibilities, fantasies.

Aiden pulling her into his arms, kissing her, running his hands up and down her body, sending little electric sparks through her. All she wanted was to be there with him forever, entangling her body with his, flesh against flesh, and then… her eyes drifted over to the bed as she bit her lip. 

Chris tore himself from the fantasy as he heard Cailyn speak up about checking in on him, quickly scrambling over to the bed, leaping in and hastily covering up.

The bed smelled strongly of Aiden, calling all those fantasies back in full force. Chris squirmed in bed, pressing his plush thighs together to quiet the fluttering in his fluffy nether-innards.

The door swung open a crack as Cailyn peered in at the lump on the bed. Something was squirming beneath the covers, and it took her a moment to realize it was Chris’ new tail that Aiden had mentioned.

“How is she?” Aiden asked.

“He’s fine,” Cay said, pulling back and closing the door. “Sleeping, it looks like.”

Aiden let out a sigh of relief. “I was worried I might have woken her up when I shouted at you. Sorry for that, by the way.”

“It’s whatever. We’ve yelled at each other for stupider shit. Anyway, I’m fucking starving. Anything to eat?”

“Yeah,” Aiden nodded, “leftovers in the fridge from dinner. Chris is loving being able to eat real food again.”

In the room, Chris huddled in closer on himself. All he wanted right now was Aiden to be here with him, and for his body to be real again so he could do things with Aiden. 

So he could do things with him as a girl…

But he wasn’t a girl, was he?

Could he be a girl?

=====

He dragged himself from bed in a sleepy stupor, finally having managed to get a few hours of sleep following the late night. His body was still tingly and something in him still ached for a specific attention that his body couldn’t facilitate and his male pride wasn’t ready to accept. 

The clock on the bedside table read one p.m., meaning he’d slept straight on through lunchtime. His stomach fluff growled angrily in response to this realization, prompting him to trudge out into the apartment in search of noms. 

“Afternoon, sleepyhead,” Cailyn said from her post on the couch.

“Mhm… food,” Chris muttered back.

“Fridge, I ordered pizza, the rest is in there. Knock yourself out.”

Not needing a second invitation, Chris shuffled over to the fridge and grabbed the box, opening it on the counter and heaping slices onto a paper plate, not even bothering to reheat them. He shuffled over to the couch with his plate of cold pizza and plopped down, folding his legs under him.

“Damn,” Cailyn said, watching him. “You uh, you changed more overnight, apparently.”

“Huh?” Chris looked down at himself.

Oh.

His body had definitely grown overnight. If he had looked like he was in his late teens before, he definitely looked mature now. His body also looked like it was made for one thing: Sex. His curves were more pronounced, for sure. Certainly nothing too outrageously out of proportion for his body type, but he’d definitely be shopping above a C cup for bras now, and his hips couldn’t lie if they tried.

“Wow,” was his eloquent response, the pizza forgotten as he stood up and ran to the mirror to check himself out.

‘Oh, fuck, I’m hot,’ he thought, staring at the reflection.

If he had seen a girl before, he definitely saw a woman now. A young woman who was very, very sexy. His tail twined around his left leg, squeezing his thigh a bit. 

‘I wonder what Aiden will think of me now?’ he wondered.

The thought sent renewed warmth surging through him, centering on his loins and spreading through the rest of his body.

He bit his lip and tried to distract himself from those thoughts.

“Down, girl,” Cay mumbled from somewhere off to the side.

“Wh– huh?! I’m not– I wasn’t doing anything!” He turned away from the mirror, folding his arms defensively below his newly enhanced assets.

“Sure you weren’t. You got one look at yourself and nearly started groping yourself. What were you thinking about?”

“N-Nothing!” he lied. 

“Uh-huh. Look, I’m going to call Nate and explain all this to him. We’ll see what he wants to do. This isn’t typically how a Knot Thing works, so maybe something is still corrupted or something like that.”

‘You’re like me’ the demon’s words came back to his mind unbidden.

Was it true? Was he becoming a demon?

“Sure, give him a call,” Chris said.

Cailyn grabbed her phone off the coffee table and hit the contact for Nathaniel.

“Hello,” Nate’s usual calm tone came across the line as Cailyn put him on speaker.

“Hey, Nate. Got an issue with Chrissi here,” Cailyn said. “Maybe he should explain.”

Chris froze for a moment. He hadn’t spoken to Nate in a bit, and he’d changed so much…

Cailyn gestured at him to start talking, rolling her eyes.

“H-Hey, Nate,” Chris said, fidgeting.

“...Christian, a pleasure to hear from you. What is this issue Cailyn spoke of?”

“Well, you see…” Chris launched into the retelling of everything that had been happening, and of the changes to his body.

When he was done, Nate remained quiet for long enough that Chris feared the call had dropped, or that Nate had been completely dumbstruck by his tale.

“Um, Nate, are you okay?” Chris asked.

“I am. I was merely thinking, Christian,” Nate replied at long last.

“Am I totally screwed?” Chris wrung his hands nervously.

“I think…” Nathaniel began, taking a steadying breath, “that it may be time for us to consult the dreaded professionals.”

“Shit, no way, you don’t mean…?”

“Yes, Ms. Rowe… I believe we’re going to have to speak with the Office of Great Transformations.”