The way to the car was quiet. Hecate had brought Damien a fitting shirt, then covered him with the oversized parka. His horns made it look like he had a weird head, but it wasn’t obvious from a distance. His tail was tucked into sweatpants. Finally, another blanket over his shoulders, to disguise the folded wings underneath, some surgical gloves, and finally a full-cover face mask. When they guided him past the front desk, his mom gave a well-practiced “I’m sorry but I also wasn’t going to not do this”-nod to the front desk, and went out the front door before questions could be asked. Once they were all seated in the car, Damien took off his mask, but he didn’t say anything, frowning to himself. 

 

Allyssa was worried. She kept looking at her friend, but didn’t want to force anything. She buckled up and looked up, and found her gaze caught in Hecate’s in the rear-view mirror. The woman was distinctly human. Her eyes were distinctly not. They were yellow in the same sense that the inside of a furnace was yellow, all accents of red and glowy bits that reminded Allyssa of something primal inside of her, the monkey part of her brain that told her fire dangerous. 

 

“So.”

 

Hecate’s words cut through the air. Allyssa could have sworn she felt a soft whiff past her ear and her split ends being cut off by half an inch. The air in the car became a little drier, and a little hotter. She swallowed and tried to make herself small.

 

“Allyssa.”

 

“y,” she said.

 

“Do you have anything to say?”

 

Allyssa felt an overwhelming urge to apologize. Like she’d been called to the principal’s office, about to receive the scolding of a lifetime. She hadn’t done anything wrong, had she? She hadn’t really considered what it had meant that “Ms. H” was also a demoness. Demonette? When Damien had told her she was retired Allyssa had kind of assumed she was just… a mom… worried… about… oh dear. 

 

“I… Not, really, ma’am.”

 

“Don’t you ‘Ma’am’ me, Allyssa Wright, what did you see or think you saw?”

 

“Your so--...” She paused. Damien had never answered the question. “My friend had an illness flare-up.”

 

“Don’t play stupid with me, Allyssa, you’re not good at it.”

 

The fact that she had, perhaps unintentionally, received a compliment, caught her off-guard. 

 

“Your child is a demon girl? I think? And you’re one too? But y’all are good people, so I don’t…”

 

Hecate reacted by sighing and hitting the steering wheel gently with her forehead, honking the horn softly. 

 

“Damieeeeeeen, you told her.”

 

Damien still didn’t say anything. 

 

“I’m sorry, Ms. H.”

 

Another dejected sigh.

 

“You’re… fine, Allyssa. I just…”

 

“Ms. H?”

 

Another toot from the horn.

 

“This was easier in the old country.”

 

Allyssa considered for a second, which turned into a horrified minute, about ‘the old country’.

 

“Could have just eaten you back then.”

 

There was a slight… something in her voice.

 

“Are you… joking, Ms. H?”

 

Hecate sat up straight, and finally turned towards them. 

 

“You’re fine, Allyssa. Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

 

It was hard to really believe her, gently glowing eyes and all. But her face radiated Big Mom Energy, and she seemed to genuinely want to put her at ease. 

 

“Just… we just want to live in peace and quiet. We’re not hurting anyone, Allyssa…”

 

Allyssa nodded. 

 

“Ma’a-- Ms. H. Damien is my best friend. And you’ve always been very good to me. I’m not… I’m not going to just out someone like that.”

 

Hecate smiled slightly, but the relief was visible in her eyes. It was like someone had turned down the furnace in her eyes. 

 

“You’re a good kid, Allyssa. I’m glad Damien has a friend like you.”

 

She turned back to the steering wheel, and started the car. She was focused on driving and Allyssa took a deep breath. That had gone… as okay as could have been expected, surely? Her first ever talk with Demon Mom had been intense. She’d met Hecate before, of course, back when hanging out at Damien’s house had been a more regular occurrence. Mrs H. had always been a gracious host, ready with a smile, and had often invited her to stay for dinner. Allyssa had always suspected it was because her son didn’t have many friends. 

 

Alli turned to Damien.

 

“Are you okay?” She resisted the urge to reach out and touch her friend. Damien looked… small, despite the fact that he took up considerably more space with his wings behind him. She wanted to hug him, hold him and tell him it was okay, that it was all going to be okay, even if she still didn’t really understand what ‘it’ was. She just wanted to help her friend.

 

He shook his head slightly, and finally spoke. “I don’t know. I’m just… After what you asked...”

 

In the driver’s seat, Hecate’s ears perked up. 

 

“Asked what?” Allyssa asked obliviously. 

 

“I just... when we get home, all right? You… you’re staying for a bit, right? You’re not…”

 

Allyssa finally gave in and reached over and took Damien’s hand in her own. Again she was surprised at how warm, how soft his skin was. Just like a girl, she thought with a smile, and then tried to push that thought out of her head.

 

“I’m not going anywhere.” She paused for a second. “Ass.”

 

“What did I do?”

 

She squeezed his hand, then nudged his shoulder. 

 

“That’s for thinking I’d leave you alone.”

 

“I…” He started tearing up again.

 

“No no no! I didn’t mean…”

 

“It’s a good cry, Alli. Thank you.”

 

He was the one to reach out, now, and grab her hand in his. They sat like that in silence until the car pulled up to the driveway. They hurried Damien inside. The blinds were closed to the front lawn anyway, and their backyard had very high hedges. Once comfortably inside, Damien took off the layers of material that hid him from the world. Allyssa finally saw him in this form in his full glory. His wings stretched out, gorgeous red feathers on red wings spreading ten feet wide. The muscles in his upper back were defined, presumably, she thought while trying not to stare at what she realized was a girl’s naked back, to support his wings. They rippled under his soft red skin as he flexed and stretched his wings. He turned around and caught her looking, and blushed.

 

That was new.

 

Damien blushed a deep purple.

 

She turned her head in embarrassment. “You wanted to talk? About something I asked?”

 

Damien folded his wings up quickly and became small again. She rushed over and gave him the hug she’d been wanting to since they’d been in the car, then took his hand and guided him to the sofa. He sat down, knees together, hugging himself. Not a cute girl not a cute girl not a cute girl not a cute girl, Allyssa repeated to herself. She had to keep forcing herself to remember that this was her friend Damien.

 

“You asked me if I was…”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“If I was a girl who turned into a boy or a boy who turned into a girl.”

 

“Yeah. Was that… Was that not okay?”

 

“No! I mean, yes, it’s okay. I just… I’ve never thought about it like that. I thought… You remember me before my sixteenth birthday. I’d always been a guy.”

 

“I mean… I just thought that this…” she waved noncommittally at his new form. “Was who you really were.”

 

“You.. Oh you… I mean I…”

 

“Are you okay, Damien?”

 

“I just… What if I’m not a guy who turns into a girl sometimes?”

 

Hecate was listening intently from the kitchen. She’d shifted into most of her nonhuman shape. Horns, long black talons, black sclera, and the same deep red skin her child had. Allyssa was possibly getting the breakthrough when it came to Damien that she’d never been able to achieve. 

 

“What does that mean for you?”

 

“What if I’m… I think I look like this whenever… when I think I might want to... “

 

Damien sighed.

 

“I didn’t want to be this because I didn’t want to lose you and I thought that I had to be…”

 

“Hey…”

 

Damien looked up at Allyssa, who smiled and put a hand on his back.

 

“Be you. I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you ask me to leave.”

 

“I would never…”

 

“Then I won’t.”

 

“So you’re okay with me looking like…”

 

“... a girl?”

 

“... a demon?”

 

They looked each other in the eye. Allyssa had no idea, of course, that the same kind of explosions that were going off in her chest were happening in her friend’s.

 

“I’m okay with both.”

 

“Can I be both?”

 

“Do you want to be?”