"Then Lily completed the ritual. Verothilas vanished, trapped into the brooch like Lily planned? But there was a massive release of some kind of energy, demonic or magical or both. That hit all three of us, and it damaged the house too," Melissa explained.
Susan took over, "That demonic energy affected both Melissa and I, but it got Mara even more. She was the closest, it basically went off right in her face so she got the biggest dose. And like Melissa said, it also fried the electrical system in the house. There was no power, no heat, no hot water."
When Sue stopped talking it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Mom had that look on her face she got when she was upset but trying not to let it show. I hadn't really seen that look since I was twelve and spilled a can of cola on her laptop. At least she wasn't still angry, now she mostly seemed worried. And Carol was just staring at me and my girlfriends and sipping her wine now and then. She hadn't said a word in the last hour or so.
It was xmas day. Me and my girlfriends and my mom and her girlfriend were all sitting in the den. None of us dressed yet, mom was still in her nightgown and Carol was in pyjamas, me and my girlfriends wore nightshirts.
We all exchanged gifts, then I revealed my horns and tail. I tried to explain the whole situation to my mom and Carol. And of course I made a mess of it. I couldn't explain it right, I kept forgetting parts, skipping details, or getting things in the wrong order.
And mom kept interrupting, her and Carol were both freaking out. And my girlfriends kept trying to correct the stuff I was messing up, and it just all got confusing and overwhelming. I started to panic and went into nonstop info-dump mode, which just got mom even more rattled and upset. Which made me even more anxious and I kept babbling while making less and less sense.
That's when mom lost her temper. She yelled and told me to shut up, and I completely fell apart. I burst into tears then fled inside, to Lily's apartment in our mind. I curled up on her big leather sofa and cried, while Lily hugged me and tried to calm me down.
To everyone else, it looked like I cried for a few seconds then stopped and just stared quietly at the floor.
My girlfriends took over at that point, and after I stopped crying inside I decided to just wait and listen, because of course they were doing a much better job explaining stuff than I ever could.
They started from the beginning, to put it all in context. Mom already knew most of the early stuff, but it got Carol up to speed as well. First Melissa told Carol about me getting killed and how Lily brought me back as a girl. Then she explained how she came out as trans, and made a deal with Lily to get a magical transition of her own.
Melissa explained some of the details of her agreement, like how she had to work for Lily. And Susan talked about how she wanted in on the magic and stuff too. They didn't tell all our secrets, but they explained enough. And they finished up by telling mom and Carol how defeating Verothilas resulted in me getting the horns and tail, which is what started this huge conversation in the first place.
After a few more tense quiet moments, mom asked "And that energy turned all three of you into demons?"
Melissa sighed, "No Ms. Carter. Like Mara was trying to explain, all three of us already had some um, demonic essence in us? Thanks to Lily, thanks to our agreements with Lily. You already know about Mara being pacted to her. Just sharing a body with Lily was enough I guess, it meant Mara was already a tiny bit demon?"
"As for me and Melissa," Susan continued, "Lily shared some of her essence with us, as part of our contracts. She helped us both out in different ways, and like we said, in return we kind of work for her."
"You two are really succubi?" mom asked. "Mara wasn't just confused or trying to be funny?"
My girlfriends both nodded and Melissa replied, "Part-succubus, yes. That's why I was going on so many 'dates', seeing different people all the time? We gather energy from the people we sleep with, then give that energy to Lily."
Sue quickly added, "They recover. It's not permanent, we aren't killing people or even hurting them. But that's why we have to keep seeing different people, so we're not just draining the same person over and over."
"The only people we can't drain," Melissa continued, "The only people it's safe for us to be in a steady relationship with, are each other and Mara. We're immune to each other, and she's immune to both of us. We have sex with strangers to gain energy, but when it comes to actual love and intimacy, that's just the three of us."
Mom was quiet again for a few minutes. She picked up her wine glass and drained it, then finally asked "So this magical demonic energy the other day? If you were all part-demon already, what did it do to you? What did it do to Mara?"
Susan replied, "We're still not sure Ms. Carter. We don't know all the details yet, it was only a couple days ago. We know it made Melissa and I 'more succubus' but we don't know exactly what that means. As for Mara, the most obvious effect was the appearance of her horns and tail. Lily taught her how to hide them, but since Sunday she's complained and been unhappy whenever she had to do that."
"We probably should have paid more attention to her," Melissa sighed. "We just told her to um, suck it up and get used to hiding them? But now I realize she wasn't joking or playing around when she said it felt bad to not have them."
Sue nodded, "Yeah. We should have listened. We should have talked to her more about why she was so resistant to making them disappear."
Lily and I were still on her sofa, and she put a large arm around me and gave me a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry Mara. Your girlfriends are correct. I should have been more understanding as well, I should have considered your feelings and your reasons for refusing to hide them, rather than just pushing you to do it regardless."
I didn't trust myself to talk yet so for now I stayed quiet. I leaned a little closer against Lily's side as she held me.
Other people might think she was scary or monstrous or whatever, but I thought she was beautiful. She was bigger than a human, at about eight and a half feet tall. Her skin was an iridescent royal blue, but it was still soft and warm like human skin. From the knees down her legs were like the hind legs of a big blue cat, complete with long wicked-sharp black claws. Her hands were normal human hands though.
Her face was beautiful, even in shimmering blue. Her eyes were completely black, so were her lips. And her hair was long and black like mine, but hers was sort of wild and messy. She had huge black bat-like wings, though usually they were kept folded up on her back. And she had a long tail that was like mine, except hers was thicker and about ten feet long, and it was the same shade of blue as the rest of her. She had horns too, but hers were smaller and a sky-blue colour. And while mine grew upwards out of my head up through my hair, hers stuck forwards out of her forehead.
And nobody else could see her but me, because she was stuck living inside my head. She could take over my body sometimes, but it still looked like me when she did that.
Mom sighed again, then finally turned to look at her girlfriend. "Carol? How are you doing with all this?"
Carol glanced at my mom then looked back at me. I still had the horns and tail, though my tail wasn't moving right now. It was as still as the rest of my body while I was inside with Lily.
After another moment, she picked up her glass and drank the last of her wine, then shook her head, "Emma I'm sorry, I just don't know right now."
Before mom could respond to that Carol looked back at me again and asked "Is she ok? She hasn't so much as moved in the last thirty or forty minutes."
"I think she's gone inside," Melissa replied. She nudged us and asked, "Mara, are you in there? Or Lily? Can someone let us know if Mara's ok in there?"
Lily gave me another gentle squeeze and said, "That's your cue. You've hidden long enough, go let them know how you're feeling."
"Ok," I sighed. I got up and moved to the window, then out into the body.
I raised my head up and wiped my eyes and said quietly, "I'm here. I'm sorry I ruined xmas for everyone. I didn't think things through. I thought... "
I felt more tears coming as my voice trailed off. Both Melissa and Susan put their arms around me as I just stared down at the floor again.
Mom sighed, "I'm sorry I yelled at you Mara. And you haven't ruined xmas, hon. It probably wasn't the best way to get all this out in the open, but we're here and we're doing our best to deal with it."
I didn't respond to that, I just stayed quiet for now. I still didn't entirely trust my voice.
After a pause, mom asked "Are you trying to fix this? Can you be made human again, so you aren't part demon anymore?"
That kind of caught me by surprise. I couldn't speak for my girlfriends, but for me it never even crossed my mind. I didn't need to think about it though, I already knew what my answer was.
I gulped and shook my head as I replied quietly, "I don't want to fix it. This is me and I like who I am. I like my horns and tail, as much as I like my long hair and my face, as much as I like being a girl. It feels right, it feels like me."
I knew that wasn't what my mom wanted to hear, and I was afraid to look at her so I kept staring at the floor for now.
Everyone else was quiet again. My mom took a deep breath then let out a deep sigh. "Are you happy like this Mara?"
There were more tears in my eyes but I nodded. "I'm sorry I keep upsetting you mom. And I'm not happy about all the trouble and problems and stuff? But I feel happy being me. I don't want to give it up."
She replied softly, "Ok hon."
Mom took another deep breath and sort of summed it up for herself. "So my son died and was reincarnated as my daughter because she's trans. She signed a pact with a demon to make that happen, and to ensure I'd be looked after. That resulted in her sharing her body with the demon. And now my daughter has become part-demon herself. Meanwhile her best friend signed a contract with the same demon and became part-succubus. Then my daughter's girlfriend did that too. Now my child and her two girlfriends are a demon and two succubi."
After another little pause she finished, "And I'm going to find some way to accept this, and convince myself that it's all ok."
My emotions churned and some more tears ran down my cheeks, and once again I didn't know what to say.
Eventually Carol broke the silence as she got to her feet and said, "I think I need another drink. Emma, would you like another? How about you girls, are you ready for more coolers?"
I wasn't sure I wanted another drink. I kind of wanted to just slip back inside and disappear or something. But thinking of drinks made me think of the fridge, then the kitchen, and that reminded me I was responsible for making our xmas dinner.
"I should check on the turkey," I said quietly as I got up and headed for the kitchen. It also crossed my mind after everyone went back to the den with their drinks I could just hide in the kitchen the rest of the day.
For a little while though I was able to forget about everything else and focus on cooking. I opened the oven and got an oven mitt and lifted the lid on the roasting pan. Everyone else was behind me at the fridge getting more drinks or topping up their glasses or whatever. I kind of tuned them all out while I made sure the turkey was doing ok.
Once I was satisfied there weren't any other looming disasters I closed the oven and everything, then I straightened up and turned around. Everyone else was just sort of standing there staring at me. Melissa and Susan were smirking, while I couldn't really decipher the expressions on mom and Carol's faces.
I started feeling self-conscious as I asked "What's wrong? Why are you all staring at me?"
Melissa was still grinning as she replied, "I think your mom and Carol were just a little curious Mara. You gave them both a pretty good look at your tail, when you were bending over working on the stove."
Sue suggested, "Maybe we should all go put on some clothes?"
I felt my cheeks going red as it finally dawned on me. All I had on was my nightshirt, and when I was crouching and bending over my tail was sticking up. I'd have been flashing everyone, and giving mom and Carol a good look at my behind and how my tail was attached.
"Oh," I said as I blushed. "Good idea."