Maria put two fingers to her mouth and whistled, a shrill sound that rang through the sanctuary. From somewhere in the depths of the church, footsteps echoed in response.
A moment later, Xander and Alexa stepped out of the shadows near the north side of the nave. The twins wore matching outfits of black leather, with Xander’s muscular thighs and chest shown off by tight briefs and a vest with laces that criss-crossed his pectorals. The laces on Alexa’s identical vest did little to hide the generous inner curves of her breasts, while her leather thong, worn over fishnets, displayed her impressively toned legs and round buttocks.
Una coughed and couldn’t repress a smirk at one corner of her mouth. “Really? You whistle to summon your henchmen?”
Maria ignored Una’s jibe and put her hands on her hips. “You guys! You’re supposed to process in! Where are they?”
Alexa glanced at Xander. “What does she mean, process? It’s supposed to be a parade?” Her brother just shrugged, and leaned back to wave in the two hesitant figures in the shadows: Bill and Mary. Both wore the plain white robes called albs, and part of Una’s conscience nagged her. Those liturgical garments had always been worn by the clergy of St. Andrew’s, and she had to remind herself that they dated back to Roman times and pre-Christian rituals of purity. Except I’m not sure any definition of purity could include us…
Mary’s alb, though large and billowing, couldn’t conceal her exaggerated curves as they strained against the material. Una could see the swell of her breasts from across the church, and her whole body wobbled as she walked with mincing tiptoe steps on her tiny feet. Bill’s garment fit better on his curvaceous body; his transformation had also left him voluptuous but different, with thick, soft curves that swayed gently from side to side as he walked. His eyes met Una’s, and he blushed deeply and looked away again.
While Mary’s expression seemed trapped in a perpetual state of wide-eyed surprise, as if she were a doll brought to life, Bill’s eyes darted around nervously. He seemed like someone who longed to collapse in on himself and disappear. Shit, thought Una. We should have gone through individual interviews with them first. I’m forgetting all the training I had in guiding the troubled and those on the cusp of major decisions.
“Wonderful!” Susan clapped her hands, jangling as she did. “We’re all here. Now we can begin.”
Bill looked around at everyone’s attire and gulped. Mary seemed bewildered. “Begin what, now? What’s going to happen to us?” Her voice was almost cartoonishly breathy. Una almost slapped a hand to her forehead, but stilled the impulse. I’m going to have to take the lead here. Susan’s treating this like an academic exercise, and Maria just wants to play sex cult.
Susan was about to say something, but stopped when Una cleared her throat. The succubus strode forward to stand before the two nervous supplicants. “I know you’ve been told a little, but let me lay out the basics. Susan has come up with a ritual for reversing the effects you’ve experienced, with help from me and Maria, since the power that changed you came through us.”
She paused to regard them, but neither spoke, and Bill wouldn’t meet her eyes.
Una continued, trying to project confidence. “It’s not guaranteed to work—we’re not sure if anything will happen at all. But Susan has made sure it’s as safe as possible. That’s what all these markings are for, and it’s why we’re here in this church.” She looked at Susan for confirmation, hoping her claims were accurate.
The scholar nodded. “Yes, that’s basically correct. The circle around the altar acts as a kind of barrier, and the symbols inside will contain and direct the energy.”
Una turned back to keep talking before anyone else could interrupt her; she’d seen Maria open her mouth with an expression that suggested banter or joking. “If you choose to go through with this ritual, the three of us will act as catalysts, and the power will flow through us to transform you. But we need to understand what you want…and you’ll need to focus on that during the ceremony.”
“I just want my life back!” Bill’s voice rose in a pleading cry. Tears sprang to his eyes, and his womanly body tensed with intense emotion.
Before she knew what she was doing, Una had her hands on Bill’s shoulders, speaking soothingly. “Shh… I know it’s been hard, Bill. It’ll be all right. We’re here to restore things to the way they were—your body, at least.” She glanced around; even Maria and Xander looked solemn and abashed.
Bill sniffled. “It’s not just… I’m not… I mean, this isn’t what I wanted, ever! I don’t know who I am now! I can’t even leave the apartment because I feel so ashamed. CJ tried to convince me to go out with her to a gay bar, and I even tried to dress up… like a woman. But I felt like everyone could tell I’m not really one, even when they hit on me.” He looked at Una, and the tears in his eyes glittered like diamonds. “I just want to go back to being myself! Can you really help me do that? Please?”
Una nodded and squeezed his shoulder, then let go.
Maria’s eyes glistened. “Uh… Bill. I know I’ve said this before, but… I’m sorry. I didn’t intend for you or CJ to get caught up in this.”
Bill wiped his eyes and dipped his chin in acknowledgment. “I know it was an accident. Thank you… all for helping.”
Una turned to Mary. “What about you? I know it’s only been a handful of days… but how do you feel about your situation? Do you want to return to your old life?”
Mary blinked, as if she couldn’t believe anyone would care about her thoughts. Her lips parted, and she hesitated before she spoke. “Go back…? To how I used to be? I… don’t know. I don’t think I could.”
The doll-like blonde frowned, looking down at her body. “This body feels like it should belong to someone else… like I’m moving my arms and legs in a dream. I’m so bouncy and squishy everywhere, and my head keeps swimming like it’s about to pop right off of my neck. But…”
They all looked at her expectantly until she continued. “… I couldn’t possibly go back to being a man, either. I can’t even think of myself that way anymore. My mind feels like cotton candy, and I keep getting distracted. By everything! Even the air touching my skin makes me feel so alive and tingly… and I can’t stop thinking about sex.”
“I know the feeling!” Susan said brightly. Everyone turned to look at her, and she coughed. “I mean… Mary, what if we changed your body so that it’s not so… you know?”
“So big in some places and tiny in others?” Mary’s voice was a cartoonish squeak, and she gestured helplessly at the enormous breasts, which strained against the white fabric, and her rail-thin limbs. “I don’t know. I guess that would make it easier to function. But I want… to be beautiful. Can someone else… decide for me?”
Una frowned, but Maria stepped in. “Mary, this is my responsibility. I made you this way because I thought it was what you wanted… but now we’re talking about your life, not a moment of fantasy.”
The expression on Maria’s pretty face was more serious and earnest than Una ever remembered seeing, as if she’d suddenly matured. “You can entrust the details of your body to me, but you’ll have to tell me how it makes you feel, and whether it feels right.”
Mary’s eyes shone with unshed tears. Her mouth opening and closing silently for a moment before she spoke. “Really? And I can still be pretty?” After Maria’s gentle smile and nod, she continued. “I think I just want to… look like the girl next door. And I enjoy being short now…”
Susan broke in. “Just want to point out… Mary here does still have some residual mental effects.”
Xander snorted. “Oh yes, you think so? I could not tell.” Una shot him a glare, and he blanched.
“As I was saying,” Susan continued, “Her… brain fog, I guess you could call it? It’s linked to the state of her body, maybe to allow her to tolerate it.” Una glanced at Maria, who looked sheepishly back at her. “I’m hopeful that once she’s restored to a more normal form, it’ll clear up and she’ll return to normal cognitive level.”
Una nodded. “Good to note that. Okay. There are a few more things I have to say.” She looked around at the assembled group: Susan in all her finery, the twins in their leather outfits, Maria in her parodic latex garb, and the two transformed supplicants. Father, forgive me, she thought, I don’t have any other choice but to continue.
“This was the church where I served as pastor, with Father John and others besides, including Susan.” A sweeping gesture of her arm encompassed the nave and sanctuary, the candelabras and stained glass, every part of the space where she’d stood year after year, saying Mass and ministering.
“It’s a special space for me, and a holy space. But it was defiled in recent seasons… in a battle with a demon of hatred, and by my own demonic half. Still, this is a house of God, and we will enact this ceremony as a holy rite, with reverence and respect.”
Una turned to Susan. “We’re here because this is a holy place, I assume?”
The scholar nodded. “Yes, but in multiple senses. We also, um… consecrated this site on the day you mentioned. By channeling energies into Yael.” Una’s brows raised, remembering the day that Michael Belmont and Susan had coupled in the upper gallery, with John joining in as they’d reached a climax together.
She closed her eyes for a moment, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Eros and ecstatic pleasure are not unfamiliar concepts to the study of divinity. St. Teresa of Avila spoke of the pure, passionate love of God as a spear that pierced her abdomen with holy fire and delectable pain.” Maria let out a low whistle, but Una ignored her.
“Today we will draw on the force that Hildegard von Bingen called viriditas, the power of all life to grow and heal through fertility. From the Zohar to the Kama Sutra to the Secret of the Golden Flower, ancient religious and philosophical texts of the world have spoken of these energies, and the reunion in each of us of Shekinah and Tiferet, Shiva and Shakti, Yin and Yang.”
Una opened her eyes again. The six people surrounding her all gazed intently at her, and her voice dropped lower and became more intimate.
“These are the powers of love and creation, and the forces we call on today. They can be dangerous, as we have already learned.” Her eyes lingered on Bill and Mary. She took a deep breath and continued. “In this space, we ask for protection for all present, and for guidance. Let us prepare our minds for contemplation, our hearts for compassion, and our bodies for pleasure.”
“We ask the blessing of the Divine, whose names and faces are infinite, on the work we shall do today. May the blessings of Heaven and Earth, the blessings of our ancestors, the blessings of our friends and lovers, the blessings of all living creatures, and the blessings of our true selves, guide and protect us.” She closed her eyes again. “Amen.”
She expected to hear the voices of her small congregation of half a dozen respond in kind, but instead she heard Mary say her name. “Una.” Then Bill repeated the same, and then the twins, Maria and Susan. “Una. Una. Una.”
The demon priestess of pleasure and self-actualization opened her golden eyes and saw her six companions staring at her with rapt expressions. Their faces glowed with anticipation, and she felt a strange sensation, like a warm wind blowing across her skin. She smiled.
“Let us begin.” Her voice rang out with confidence, but then she coughed. “But before that… Xander, can you make sure all the doors are chained closed? If anyone finds us in here, there will be Hell to pay with the Archdiocese.”
***
Una sat atop the altar, her legs casually crossed, as Susan directed the others to their positions. This all feels right and familiar somehow, she thought, despite being one of the most deliberately blasphemous acts of my recent memory.
Maria sat in front of Una, in the wide open space at the foot of the altar steps, a wide and many-ringed circle around her. Her circle connected to two ovals on either side, within arm’s reach, where Mary and Bill kneeled, waiting. Did Yael sit like this? Millennia ago, in ancient Uruk, presiding over our worshippers as they danced and fucked?
Susan arranged the twins at either end of a semi-circular barbell pattern in the inscriptions. “All right… just stay there, within the circle. The two of you are the anchors, kind of like a ground wire in a circuit. That’s convenient, since you were both transformed by these energies, but are happy the way you are… right?”
“What if I would like his dick to get a little thicker, hm?” Alexa winked at Susan, who ignored her.
Xander rolled his eyes and adjusted his equipment with one hand. “Last night you said it was so thick it made your jaw ache.” His sister just stuck out her tongue at him. “But I never got transformed, you know? I’m still perfectly incredible.”
“Except that you split off of me. I think that counts,” Alexa retorted.
“What I remember is you splitting off from me, then growing those amazing tits and ass. But whatever.” He flung a hand, casually.
Una leaned down towards Maria. “Uh… those two are weirdly into each other, aren’t they? It’s pretty incestuous.”
Maria rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. I don’t even know if it is incest, since they’re kind of the same person, twice? Is that, like… selfcest? Is selfcest a sin?”
“I don’t think it’s ever been codified…”
Susan clapped her hands. “People! Let’s focus. Xander and Alexa, I need you to maintain a state of arousal, but without orgasm. Do you think you can manage that?”
Alexa raised an eyebrow, then looked over at her brother. “Are you telling us our job is… to edge? I can handle that, no problem. But Xander has a bit of a hair trigger. He’ll get blue balls if he holds out forever, too.”
The male twin scoffed. “Worry about yourself, Lexie. I can hold back all day.”
Susan wagged her finger. “I’ll tell you when you can come. And only with my permission.” She turned to notice that Bill had a hand up. “Yes, Bill?”
“Um… do I have to have… sexual intercourse? In order to be changed… back?” His voice sounded tiny, and Una furrowed her brow.
Susan came to crouch near Mary. “Of course, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. We could always try, even without your arousal, or with you only touching yourself. But if it’s your body that’s the problem…”
Mary nodded hesitantly. “It’s not that I don’t want to have sex. I’m willing. But this body… you mentioned there might be a way to make it so that… I can handle it, at least temporarily?”
The raven-haired scholar stood up and struck her forehead with the butt of her palm, just above her glasses. “Of course, I forgot about that. I’m so sorry. Dearest of dear hearts… do you think…?”
Una’s eyes widened. “You told Bill that he could drink the essence of control? From me?”
Susan grimaced. “… yes? With his consent, I mean.”
“I mean… Bill, do you understand what it does?”
Bill nodded. “I think so. It’s like getting hypnotized, right? I’ll do whatever you tell me to, but it wears off.”
Una blinked. “Yeah, that’s more or less what it is.”
“Then… I’d like you to hypnotize me into feeling comfortable with this body. Not so I’ll want to keep it, you understand. Just until I can change back.” Bill’s voice sounded more confident, almost hopeful.
Susan spread her arms, making a gesture of offering. “Una?”
“It’s time, I suppose.” The demoness spread her own hands and clenched her fists, thrusting her breasts forward and arching her back. As she did, her body began to darken and change, the scarred and unscarred flesh alike shading into a deep crimson.
Una’s dark tail, sinuous and slick, snaked out from the base of her spine as her limbs lengthened and toned slightly, and her feet elongated and hardened into lightly furred hooves. Horns sprouted from her temples, ridged and red as they arced back over her glossy hair, and her eyes burned yellow as she stared at the supplicants below her.
“Come to me,” Una spoke with a low voice, and Bill rose to his feet, stepping into the space between Maria and the altar. Una uncrossed her legs, spreading them wide, and Bill looked up at her with wide, nervous eyes. The succubus’ tail danced before the plump, curvaceous transformee, and the tip throbbed with power as a green light emanated from deep within. The scent of Una’s arousal, sharp and musky, filled the air.
“Drink of my nectar, and I will command you to relax,” she intoned. “To enjoy yourself and to feel at ease with your own body, however temporary the effect.” Susan stepped forward and ran her hands lovingly along Una’s tail. The succubus gasped, and her eyes rolled up into her head as her lover squeezed the tail-tip, coaxing a glowing, milky-green droplet of power to well up.
Susan gestured towards Bill, who sank to his knees as she brought the tip closer to his lips. He opened his mouth, and she gently pressed the tip against his tongue, releasing the nectar. The sweet liquid lit the insides of his cheeks, and he swallowed, then licked his lips eagerly. “Thank you…” He murmured, then fell silent.
Una craned her neck forward, leaning close to Bill’s ear. “Listen now, child of man. What is your name?”
“My name… my name is William. I am William.”
“Until your form changes, your name is Bella. You know yourself to be a woman, through the pleasures of your body and the way you feel inside.” The succubus’s voice echoed with strange harmonics. “Bella, you’re beautiful. You feel sensual and feminine. You love your body and how it feels in the throes of pleasure, and you feel blessed to inhabit such a form, even if only for a short time.”
Bill—or rather, Bella’s—eyes glazed and her lips parted. “Yes,” the newly re-gendered woman whispered. “I’m beautiful. I feel like a woman. This body… this is me. I’m so lucky…” Susan’s eyes widened, and she looked over Bella’s shoulder, mouthing something at Una. The demoness nodded and continued.
“Now, go to Maria and Mary. You will take pleasure in their bodies, and they in yours. Listen to Maria’s commands and follow your body’s own instincts for joy. Do not come until Maria allows you… but feel no shame about your pleasure.”
Bella nodded slowly and turned towards Maria. The blonde succubus took her by the hand and led her to the circle opposite Mary’s, whispering softly to her.
Una turned to Susan, who still held her tail, looking greedily at the glowing droplet. The scarlet demoness raised an eyebrow. “Do you want more, love?”
Susan nodded hesitantly. “I need to preside over this ritual, however.”
The succubus’s smile was like a razor blade, thin and sharp. “I could command you to do that just as you would of your own free will. But you’d still have to obey my every word. Would you like that, little mouse?”
Her lover blushed, then nodded again, her lips parted in anticipation. “Yes.”
With one long-nailed fingertip, Una traced the underside of Susan’s chin. Her tail curled around the scholar, caressing her, and she drew her girlfriend close to whisper in her ear. “Then I’ll keep the nectar of control here for you, and you may drink when the preparations are complete.”
Xander coughed. “What happens if we cross the lines drawn here? Do we lose our souls or something?”
Susan turned with annoyance. “Does this look like a summoning circle to you? Is it drawn in salt? Don’t worry, it won't wash off with anything less than a strong detergent.”
She walked around to the center of the diagram and began lighting candles. “You should all stay in the circles if you can, to keep the power flowing in the right direction and minimize the chance of backlash. But… it’s not a big deal if you aren’t all the way inside or move a foot across. After all, we’ll need you to be in contact with each other too, especially you three.” A welcoming motion of her hands indicated Maria, Bella, and Mary.
“Shall I stay up here, then?” Una leaned an elbow on the marble slab.
Susan looked up at her and winked. “Yes, you’re the conduit. And I will help… open the way, if you take my meaning.” She lit another arc of candles, then produced a bronze prayer bowl from underneath a pew. “Ah, water from the font. I’ll be right back.”
The jingling of Susan’s ankle bells was the only sound in the sanctuary as she hurried to fetch water from the baptismal font at the back of the church. The others sat silently, breathing in anticipation.
When Susan returned to place her bowl of water on the altar, the candles had grown to a steady burn, bathing the space around the seven figures in a warm glow. “Bless this water, Dark Mistress,” said Susan. “However you wish.”
Una reached out and dipped a finger into the bronze bowl. “Blessed are you, O fountain of life,” she said. “By the all-powerful forces of Creation and Destruction, may the living water of salvation bless and transform us. Grant that, when we sprinkle or make use of these waters, we will be renewed and strengthened.”
She drew her fingers through the water, then brought her hand between her breasts and let droplets fall onto her skin. “Oh Queen of Heaven, my sister, mother and bride,” she began, not knowing where she had recalled these words from. “You who preside over all sacred waters, and whose womb gave birth to gods, may your blessing rest on this water.”
Una dipped her fingers in again and held her hand out to Susan, who bent forward and allowed Una to trace wetness on her face, from brow to nose, and from lip to chin, leaving glistening trails behind. The scholar closed her eyes and shivered.
Susan brought the bowl to Maria, who similarly anointed herself, dripping a stream of water from forehead to mouth, letting some trickle past her tongue. The ritual continued around to Mary and finally Bella. Susan lifted the bowl, then struck the side with a wooden dowel. A thrumming sound rang out, filling the space with a resonance that vibrated in everyone’s bones, and the water within the bronze vessel swirled in a clockwise direction.
“Queens of Heaven,” Una murmured. “Shaushka, Inanna, Ereshkigal, Adra, Lilith.”
A flash of lightning illuminated the sanctuary, and moments later a peal of thunder rang out, though the windows remained undisturbed. Una’s eyes glowed bright gold, and she clapped her hands twice.
Susan approached the altar and tapped something that lay on the ground near its base. The soft sound of a flute floated through the chamber, drifting down from the hidden speakers in the gallery. The rattle of a drumbeat soon joined the winding melody.
Ravel’s “Bolero,” Una thought. Interesting choice, Susan.
TFTC
TFTC