A Cold Fey in Hell

It took us almost an hour to drive to Edmonton, making our way down a gravel road and then a major highway past snow-covered farmlands. Once in the city, Mom guided me through the streets to the river valley and then to an apartment building that backed onto the North Saskatchewan River and sat along the southern edge of Capitol City Recreation Park. I figured that living so close to the river was to sell Mom’s River Nymph persona.

Mom had told us on the way that our home served as a business as well. Usually, Paranormal businesses hire Divine magic users to place illusions over the buildings they work out of, to make them seem derelict, and a spell that keeps the normies from paying too much attention. They barely notice the building and then, once they’ve passed, they only have a vague idea that they passed the building and forget about it a moment later. I could feel the divine magic at work, both spells seemed to be there, and they were very powerful.

I later found out that my mother had cast those spells around the entire building, lawn, and parking lot. Rather than seeing a derelict building, normies would completely ignore it. They would walk or drive right by and not see it at all, later thinking that it was just part of the park. Paranormals are more sensitive to magic though and would be completely unaffected by the illusion and see the building for what it was. It seemed to work since they were never bothered by the normies, and I had seen the building easily enough.

On the lawn near the street was a sign that had once said Capitol City Apartments, but it had been mostly covered in blue spray-painted graffiti, a star with the letters PNX beneath it. I recognized that graffiti. Marks like that were used to let Paranormals know that there was a business that catered to Paranormals inside. The PN stood for ‘paranormal’ while the third letter usually told what kind of business it was. Restaurants, bars, clothing stores, salons, and so on all used different letters, though I couldn’t remember ever seeing one with the letter X before and found myself curious.

I got my answer when I looked at the building itself. From the outside, it looked like a pretty normal three-story brick apartment building, though it had no windows on the first floor at all. There was a pair of sturdy wooden doors with a tall, dark-haired, olive-skinned, and muscular woman standing stoically beside them. She was huge, not just buff but close to seven feet tall if that was a normal doorway. Above that door was a pink and lavender neon sign proclaiming, “Pandora’s Box,” with an outline of a naked woman. It was a strip club.

“Wait! You want us to live in a strip club?!” I sputtered as I pulled up by the curb and stared at the front entrance. First, I got a stripper name, and now this?!

“We prefer to be called exotic dancers or entertainers, and we do more than just dance and take our clothes off. Most of us offer sex too when we’re not performing, and we make good money doing it. My partner, Pandora, is a Succubus. For her kind, and us Nymphs, there’s really no better job,” my mother said with a pleased smile. “It pays well, we have a great medical plan, and we make sure that all of our girls stay clean and healthy with weekly purification spells. We have a Healer on staff, and she’s very good with that kind of thing.”

“But you expect us to live here?!” I reiterated.

“Don’t be silly, we live above the club,” Mom said with a roll of her eyes. “I wouldn’t risk your safety. The third floor is our residential area, and there are spells and mundane security precautions to prevent anyone who shouldn’t be there from accessing that floor. The second floor has rooms for entertaining clients, and the first floor is the club itself, but you and Jessica won’t be allowed on either of those floors during business hours until you’re officially eighteen in a few weeks.”

I sighed and put the car in gear again. I was going to just find a spot in the parking lot alongside the building, but I was instead directed to a secure underground parking garage beneath the building. As I entered the security code that my mother had given me to gain access and drove inside, she said, “The outside parking lot is for customers. Those of us who live and work here park in the garage, where it’s more secure.”

Aunt Merry quickly added, “The security code that you used to get into the garage is the same one that you’ll have to enter to get to the garage or the third floor by elevator. The emergency exits and doors to the stairwells on the third floor and garage level can only be opened from the inside to prevent any unauthorized access, so you’ll be using the elevator most of the time.”

Only about half of the parking spots in the garage were taken, and Mom directed me to a spot that was fairly close to the elevator, beside a very nice red Jaguar. Besides the garage entrance, the only exits were the elevator, a door to the stairs, and a heavy metal door that we were told led to the boiler room. We all climbed out of the Charger and once we were all in the elevator Mom pressed the button for the third floor, followed by the security code when requested, and everyone was quiet as we ascended.

When the doors finally opened on the third floor, I was a bit shocked. I was also pleasantly surprised since I had been expecting it to open onto a hallway leading to perhaps a dozen or fewer apartments. Instead, I saw a comfortable-looking common area with hardwood floors, leather couches, recliners, a couple of beanbag chairs, a 40-inch HD television, a surround sound stereo system, a refrigerator, and a few small round wooden tables with four matching chairs at each.

Stepping off the elevator, I saw two exits to hallways near the far right and far left sides of the room. Once Mom and Merry explained that this common area was for everyone’s use, that the fridge was stocked with drinks and snacks, and that we had satellite television, radio, and Netflix they led us toward and down the left hallway. There were eight doors on each side of the hall, many of them with nameplates, and I assumed that the other hallway was the same. The doors weren’t as far apart as I would have expected, but I found out why when Mom stopped in front of the first door to the left to open it.

The door that my mother had opened led to a fairly simple dorm room rather than the apartment that I had been expecting. It was larger than any bedroom I’d ever been in and boasted both a walk-in closet and a full bathroom with a shower and Jacuzzi tub. The walls were pale lavender and the floors were still hardwood, which I was grateful for since most carpet is at least made partially from synthetic materials and would have caused allergic reactions in both me and Jess. The room was furnished with a queen-sized bed with nightstands and lamps on both sides, a digital alarm clock, a large dresser, and a vanity.

Once Mom had finished showing us the room she said, “This will be Crystal’s room, while that one is mine.” She pointed to the room across the hall from mine that I assumed bore the name ‘Tiffani’, though I didn’t really look. Then she showed us to Jessica’s, which was to the left of mine, and Bria… Melody’s, which was across the hall from Jess’s. Both my bed and Jess’s had been outfitted with satin sheets and pillowcases, wool blankets, and crocheted comforters that wouldn’t bother our allergies.

Mom and Merriwynd gave both me and Jess big hugs and then Aunt Merry reluctantly said, “We’ll let you girls get settled in, and we should have nameplates for your rooms tomorrow. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable in the common room and introduce yourselves to the other kids, they can probably answer any questions that you have.”

“Wait, other kids?” Jessica asked, looking as shocked as I was.

“Yes. Our Healer, one of our dancers, and one of our housekeepers are single mothers, so they and their kids live here too,” Aunt Merry explained. “They’re good kids, two are close to your age and you’ll be going to school with one of them. I’ll send one of the waitresses up with some dinner for the three of you, but we likely won’t see you again until closing, if you’re still awake. Tiffani is due on stage soon and I should do my job and let Annika know that she doesn’t have to double as both doorperson and bouncer anymore.”

~ * ~

After we had been left to our own devices Melody shifted back to her natural half-Demon form and teleported off to retrieve our luggage from where she had placed it when she was still known as Brianna. By the time she was done, Jessica had been able to let her ears free and remove her annoying contact lenses, and we were able to go through our stuff in my room. Not that there was much that we could use.

All of my stuff from when I was Seth had been left in the hotel in Toronto, none of Jess’s stuff would fit her since we were going to be doing the twin thing, and Melody had hardly spent any time in her real form until she met us, so most of her clothes had been meant for her taller and less shapely Surie Rourke persona. It became readily apparent that we were all going to need new wardrobes. And since Jessica’s and mine needed to be made from all-natural materials, I figured that it was going to cost us a significant chunk of the money that Chief Little had provided us.

I was also going to need car insurance, winter tires, and a security system for the Charger, not to mention gas. That was going to be another sizable chunk of our cash settlement from the hospital. None of us were very happy with the cost, but Melody and Jessica had both chosen to go along with this new identity and new look thing knowing that it wasn’t going to be easy. It wasn’t as if we couldn’t afford it with the duffel bag full of cash, and Melody had added almost another twenty grand from a nest egg she had been saving up and had put aside where nobody else could reach it.

When our inventory was complete we found that all that we had that was useful or that we wanted to keep, other than the money and Dad’s old Charger, were the clothes that we were currently wearing, Melody’s massive custom handgun and ammo, the huge shoulder purse that Melody kept God-knows-what in, the few personal items that Jessica and I had kept, and the birthday gifts that Jess and I had yet to unwrap. We had considered waiting until our new birthday to open those gifts, but we decided to open them then and there. The loss of our dad was still painful and we needed to try to move on and get into our new roles. This would be like pulling the Band-Aid off quickly.

My gift from Dad had of course been my now-destroyed motorcycle, while Jessica had gotten me a proper leather jacket to ride it with. It was simple black leather with chrome studs on the shoulders and a diagonal zipper that could be covered with a flap that snapped closed at the neck. Since it was intended to be a bit loose on my larger male frame, it was wearable, if a bit tight in the chest, loose at the waist, and long in the sleeves. I now had a jacket, which was deeply ironic since I never get cold.

I had gotten Jessica a pair of fuzzy pink wool bunny slippers, and her present from Dad had been a box with two items inside. The first was one of those custom trophies, made to look like an Oscar with rabbit ears. The base was engraved with the words, “Best Supporting Bunny. Never give up on your dreams.” The second item was a delicate gold charm bracelet with bunny, heart, and fairy charms attached.

My sister and I held each other tight, trying to comfort one another as we both cried out what tears we had left for Dad, and she tightly clutched the trophy in her arms. I didn’t try to tell her that it would be okay because I wasn’t too sure about that myself anymore. Everything had turned upside down and nothing in our lives was the same anymore. I knew that Mom and Aunt Merry would take care of us but everything seemed so overwhelming. It was like this new life was quicksand, and no matter what we tried to do we just kept sinking in deeper. Instead, I whispered, “I love you, Sis. I’ll be by your side no matter what, and I won’t let anything keep us apart.”

Melody had given us some privacy during this time, but I think that she was waiting outside my door because after Jess and I had managed to collect ourselves there was a tentative knock on the doorframe. She had left the door open when she left us since pretty much every room in this building seemed to be soundproofed. I appreciated that since I was going to have enough problems keeping my mind off sex without the possibility of hearing people going at it in whatever room was beneath mine on the second floor.

“Someone brought up a late dinner for us if you’re hungry,” the half-Demon offered as she stepped inside. “It’s in the common room.”

I wasn’t just hungry; I was starving, and I figured that Jess was probably feeling the same since we hadn’t eaten since the flight from Vancouver to Toronto. I wasn’t sure how long ago that actually was with all the time zone jumping and our very long day and I was too tired to try to figure it out, or even really care. Suffice it to say, it had been far too long. “Let’s go eat, Jess,” I said as I helped her off the bed and to her feet.

Jessica carefully put on her new charm bracelet and dropped off her slippers and trophy (which for some reason she insisted on calling a Harvey rather than an Oscar) in her room, and then we headed to the common room to eat. I guessed that Merriwynd had suggested what they brought up for us since the meals were well-suited to our tastes. I figured that the club must have a decent kitchen in addition to the bar because the food was pretty good.

I watched in undisguised jealousy as Melody ate a double cheeseburger and fries. Most Fey, and Fey cousins, don’t eat much red meat if any, and I had discovered when eating room service in the hotel in Vancouver that that included Nymphs. I had tried eating a steak and while it was delicious I could only manage to eat half a dozen or so bites before my stomach had begun painfully cramping in protest. Aunt Merry had warned me it would happen, but I had been so determined to have something that would make me happy that I hadn’t listened.

Luckily, unlike Púca, who are almost completely vegetarian, Nymphs can eat poultry and fish. So, while Jessica was having an eight-inch vegetarian pizza, I was presented with an order of chicken wings with sides of ranch dressing, hot sauce, and honey garlic sauce to choose from and a small salad. I used the ranch for the salad and the hot sauce for the wings. For drinks, we had just grabbed some from the common room fridge, orange juice for me and Jess, and a cola for Melody. Unfortunately, soda was another thing that was no longer on the menu with my new physiology. Nobody ever said it was easy becoming a semi-mythological creature.

We were almost finished eating when the elevator doors opened and five people, who looked like normal humans at first glance, emerged loaded down with shopping bags. First, there was a Latina woman who looked to be in her thirties along with a girl, whom I guessed to be around fifteen or so, who bore a strong enough resemblance to be her daughter. A second adult woman, in perhaps her early to mid-twenties, with short-cropped auburn hair, and who was wearing sunglasses, held the hand of a little girl with bright green eyes, long ginger hair, and freckles. The last person was a somewhat attractive guy, who looked to be close to our age, with scruffy brown hair and brown eyes.

None of them seemed to notice us at first and, while the two women and the little girl headed off to one of the dorm hallways, the guy stopped to give the Latina girl a look of exasperation. “That’s not just a car, Carmen! That’s a 1970 Dodge Charger R/T in almost perfect condition!”

“It’s a car,” the girl replied, sounding equally frustrated. “It gets you from point A to point B, that’s all that matters.”

“Shows what you know,” he grumbled in response before a pensive look settled over his face. “I wonder who it belongs to. Maybe one of the club owners bought it? I could see Pandora buying something like that, but her Jag was still in the garage. I can’t see Tiffani driving something like that though. Everyone knows that Nymphs can be pretty ditzy, and most of them can’t even live in cities so I doubt that they could tell the steering wheel from the gear shift, let alone drive.”

“Ditzy?!” Okay, our compulsions can leave us a bit distracted and unable to focus, something I was becoming very familiar with, but that does not mean that we’re bimbos. I was going to have enough trouble being seen as a slut or a stripper, with my name and being a Nymph, without being seen as an idiot on top. My face burned in both embarrassment and fury as I stood and stomped toward the pair, fists clenched at my sides and the remainder of my meal forgotten. “The Charger is mine, Jackass, and I drive just fine! And unlike some people, I’m smart enough to make sure that a Paranormal isn’t in the room before insulting their entire species!”

The boy’s eyes widened, and he winced as he realized just what a huge hole he had dug for himself, while the Latina girl that he had called Carmen elbowed him in the ribs and grinned as she said, “Hey, Lou. That terrible taste in your mouth right now, that’s your foot.”

Lou’s face was bright red as he stammered, “I’m… uhhh…. well… I… didn’t know we were getting new dancers here.”

“Dude, just shut up, you’re embarrassing yourself,” Carmen said before sighing and rolling her eyes.

And, of course, he assumed I was a new stripper. He probably thought I was going to be giving the extra services as well. Then there was the way that he was looking at me. I had even begun to accept those looks of desire and pitching tents, like the one he was sporting in his ratty jeans, as a compliment.

Normally, I would be fighting the urge to do something about it, but right then I was too angry. I hadn’t thought that I could get any angrier after his first remark, but color me surprised. I glared down at the straining crotch of his jeans, too angry to reply or even think straight, and that’s when I felt my magic going off. Oops.

By that time. Melody and Jessica had already decided to step in. Jess took my hand in hers, and gave it a gentle squeeze as Melody explained, “I’m here to work, I’ll be starting as a bouncer soon, but the twins here aren’t even eighteen for a few more weeks. They lost their father last week and they’re here to stay with their mother, Tiffani.”

Around the time Melody had finished her hurried explanation, Lou shuddered noticeably and started walking very stiffly toward the same hall that our dorm rooms were in, seeming to shiver as he walked away and said, “Excuse m-m-me.”

“Weird guy,” Jessica said as she watched him leave.

“Yeah, but he’s usually not that weird,” the girl said with a shrug. “He’s probably just intimidated because he thinks your mom is hot, and if you’re Tiffani’s kids that means that you’ll be Pandora’s kids soon too since they’re engaged. And the two of them are both our moms’ bosses.”

“She’s engaged?! I thought when she said partner she meant business partner, not…” I sputtered, unable to finish that sentence.

“Well, they’re kind of both. You’d think a Nymph and a Succubus would be a weird couple, but you can tell that they really care about one another, and I guess it makes sense with their similar… interests. Mom said that they’ve been together since they opened this place ten years ago, and they share the same room, though I guess they have a very open relationship. Pandora proposed a couple of months ago, but they haven’t started planning the wedding or set a date yet.” After dropping that bombshell on me, she smiled and casually extended her hand to say, “Hi, I’m Carmen Diaz.”

Since I was a little too stunned to say much of anything at that moment, Jess and Melody handled the introductions and then gave her a summary of our fake backstories. It was a good thing that I let them do the talking since I hadn’t really gotten into my new ‘role’ as easily as Melody and Jessica and probably would have revealed things that I shouldn’t have. I tuned it all out for a while and by the time I was paying attention, it seemed that Jess was finishing our fictional story with, “… I take after Dad’s side, of course, and I Manifested when I was like thirteen, but we’d almost given up on Crystal ever Manifesting until that ski trip last week.”

“Yeah, that’s how we met actually. Crystal’s been having a bit of a hard time adjusting and then they got home and found out about the fire. It’s been a hard week for them,” Melody added as she reached out to give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Aww, now I feel bad about dropping the whole engagement thing on you like that,” Carmen said, casting an apologetic look in my direction. “I only recently Manifested too. Mom and I come from a long line of Healers. We’re pretty much normal humans, except we have golden eyes, and we have what Mom calls a focused alignment to the Divine element. We don’t really count as Mages since we can’t seem to use anything but healing and purification magic.”

“Hey, at least you can do something cool, I just changed into a rabbit, and I can’t even get my human form completely right. I despise wearing contacts and trying to hide my bunny features all of the time,” Jessica grumbled.

“Yeah, contacts suck,” Carmen readily agreed. “I have to wear them whenever I go out, but Mom says that I can probably take them out at school since I’m going to a school for Paranormals starting in January.”

“We’re supposed to be going to one too. Tiffani said that we’d be going to school with one of you,” Melody pointed out.

“Oh cool! At least we’ll all know each other. I was a bit uncertain about whether I wanted to go or not at first. I mean, sure, a school for Paranormals sounds cool, but how are we supposed to meet cute boys at St. Michelle’s School for Girls?”

“School for girls?” I managed to get out as I gaped at Carmen in horror.

“I know, right? No boys and we have to wear stupid uniforms too,” the Latina girl said with an exasperated tone and a roll of her eyes. “Lou goes to the boys’ school. Speaking of that idiot, I should introduce the three of you around. Just let me put my Christmas shopping in my room and take out my contacts real quick, I’ll be right back.”

The second that I was sure she was out of earshot, I hissed to the others, “I can’t go to a girls’ school!”

Jessica calmly looked me up and down and reported, “You have all of the qualifications you need, Sis. Trust me, nobody is gonna look at you and think you’re a dude. What’s with all the worry? I thought that you were comfortable with your body, other than having to wear clothes and being constantly horny. Speaking of, Mel, you should help her with that before she explodes.”

Melody turned as red as a cherry tomato, and I was probably blushing pretty bad too since I could feel my face burning. I looked toward Melody, and quickly away again, as my breath caught in my throat and my heart skipped a beat. Then I firmly squashed the heat of my desire as I tried to respond to my sister’s stupid hint that I was interested in Melody, or vice versa. “I… what… no! You know what I meant! I don’t know anything about being a girl!”

“Could have fooled me with the way you’re acting like some lovesick schoolgirl, you and Mel just need to get a room already,” Jess snapped back.

How could she keep saying things like that? Sure, Melody was hot and had that whole bad girl thing going for her, but I was still kind of pissed at her and she just wasn’t my type. I didn’t even know what my type was anymore. Besides, I was a total hottie so I could get anyone I wanted. Why should I care if Melody didn’t want to pursue her supposed interest in me?

I loved my sister, but I had had enough of her throwing these delusions of hers in my face. “Would you stop that?! Okay, sure, she said all that stuff under the truth spell! She mentioned being attracted to me and wishing she could share my bed, but probably half the population is in that boat! She talked about love at first sight, but did she say she was still in love?! She said that she liked me more the more time we spent together, but she’s been damn careful not to step outside the friend zone! Get it through your head! I’m damaged goods, and she isn’t interested in me that way! All that showing off for me and shamelessly flirting at first, and then nothing since she found out I used to be a guy!” I hissed in anger.

“I was trying to give you space, you gorgeous idiot! For the record, I am interested, but you’ve had one hell of a shitty few days, and I didn’t think you wanted me throwing myself at you! You’re going to get enough of that from everyone else!” Melody replied hotly. Then she surprised me by cupping my face in her hands and planting her lips on my own.

Her lips were so soft and warm as she kissed me. It was hesitant at first, for both of us, as my heart hammered away in my chest. I couldn’t be sure it if was from the surprise, the fact that I had never kissed anyone before, or the red-hot flames of desire that were swiftly spreading from my loins, throughout my body, and seemingly to the very depths of my soul. The kiss became slowly more insistent, almost frantic, as I pressed my body against Melody’s as if by doing so I could share that fire inside me with her.

She pulled away gasping for air, our hands all over one another, and I too tried to catch my breath and give myself a moment to think. It was enough time to know that I didn’t want to think, I wanted to act. Thinking was overrated anyway, and I was having a difficult time caring about anything aside from my aching nipples, the heat rushing through me, and the warm gooeyness between my legs that was soaking my panties. I dove back in, wrapping my arms around her as I engulfed her lips in my own. Soon we were going at it hot and heavy, our tongues darting frantically around one another and our hands exploring each other’s bodies through our clothes.

I wanted… no, I needed her so badly. I needed to get those annoying clothes off and do what every instinct that I had was screaming for me to do. I needed something inside me. Most of all though, I needed to show her how very much I wanted her to make me hers.

The polite cough ruined everything, not because I had actually paid any attention to it, but because Melody had broken off our kiss. I was desperate for more, to take this further, and I tried to kiss her again, confused as to why she had suddenly stopped. Maybe it was because those annoying clothes were getting in the way? I was fevered, my large chest heaving as I reached up to remove my top, but Melody had grabbed my wrists and held them firmly yet gently in her powerful grip.

“Crystal, we need to cool it,” Melody’s voice spoke tremulously, breaking through the fog of lust and desire that held me captive. I shook my head, trying to clear it, to remember where and who I was. Though I was still aflame with desperate desire, I remembered. Then I felt myself burning with embarrassment instead as I looked toward Jessica and Carmen and realized what I had been ready and eager to do right there in front of them.

I looked away, and tried to control my breathing and bury the desire that was consuming me as my sister smirked and teased, “Well, if you two are done inspecting one another’s dental work, among other things, Carmen was going to introduce us to some people.”

I remained quiet as Carmen covered a giggle and said, “Follow me, almost everyone is working downstairs right now, except for my mom and the housekeeping staff, so it won’t take long.” She offered to give us a tour and explain how things worked in our new home the next day, but for now, she took us to officially meet the others, starting with Lou. As we walked toward his room she explained, “We all call him Lou for short, it’s just easier, but his actual name is Louis-Phillippe Garou. He’s seventeen, and he and his mom, Genevieve, are Werewolves. She’s one of the dancers here.”

She stopped and knocked on the door with his name on it and, when he answered, he immediately frowned at me. He was dressed only in a t-shirt and boxers now and while he looked yummy, I was still having trouble shaking off that kiss with Melody and how it had affected me. Lou didn’t say anything, so Carmen took the initiative. “Why’d you take off so fast, Lou? You didn’t even stick around to introduce yourself to the new girls.”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it had something to do with the fact that someone froze my underwear solid,” the Werewolf grumbled with another dirty look in my direction.

I flushed in embarrassment. So that was what I did? I squirmed and looked at the suddenly fascinating floor. “I’m sorry, I only Manifested recently, and I can’t control my…”

I was interrupted as Jessica and Carmen both began giggling and the latter of the pair grinned at me. “Really?! While he was wearing them?! Talk about giving the poor boy a case of blue balls! Can you do bras too? You’re going to be a riot at slumber parties!”

Lou didn’t seem to find it as funny as they did, and I had been a guy recently enough to be sympathetic. I couldn’t look at him as I muttered in response to Carmen, “Gee thanks, just what I always wanted to hear.” I took a deep breath and then forced myself to look Lou in the eye. “Look, I’m sorry, but you were being kind of a douchebag and I can’t control my magic yet. Anyway, let’s start over. I’m Crystal, my sister is Jessica, and that’s Melody.”

Lou sighed and shrugged. “I guess that I was being a jerk and generalizing. It’s just, that Nymphs do have a reputation, and until now I only met your mother. She’s nice, but she can be a bit flighty sometimes.”

“We’re not stupid,” I countered in irritation, “we just get distracted. Look, you’re a teenage guy so you’ve probably got sex dominating your thoughts a lot, especially in this place. Now, instead of just thinking about sex, make that being the horniest that you’ve ever been, and multiply the intensity by about five thousand. And this isn’t just a lot of the time, but every single waking second of every single day.”

I let him think about that for a second before adding, “But wait, there’s more! Add in the fact that clothes are annoying as fuck to wear and doing so causes you constant anxiety, you have to fight the urge to rip them off every single second as well, and you have no choice but to wear them while living around humans and other Paranormals. Then there’s the constant need to be near the element that you’re aligned to as well. Try having all of that take over your entire life, and let’s see how well you can concentrate on everything around you.”

It was Lou’s turn to look at the floor, but I wasn’t feeling too sympathetic anymore because I was still insanely horny from kissing Melody, and talking about my damn compulsions and horniness just made me more aware of them. At least I didn’t have to be around snow or ice all of the time. It was nice when I could be, but I knew just how lucky I was to be aligned to the Divine as well, not that I could tell anyone else about that.

“I get it,” Lou reluctantly admitted. “Well, I don’t think that I can actually get it, but I have a pretty good idea now. I’m sorry, I’m a big, hairy ass. I’ve… uhh… got some things to take care of before bed. I’ll see you all at breakfast in the morning.” His face turned beet red as he hurriedly stepped back and closed the door.

“Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good idea what he needs to take care of,” Jessica said with a laugh. “I’m surprised he didn’t close the door on it.”

“Huh?” I cleverly asked in my confusion.

Jessica, Melody, and Carmen were all laughing, and it was a moment before my sister managed to get enough control over herself to explain. “Let’s just say that the door wasn’t the only wood between you when he rushed back into his room. He was just wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts so it was really obvious, but who could blame him? I mean, there was a Nymph at his door talking about wanting sex and to rip her clothes off all the time.”

I really need to patent the shade of red that my face has been turning with frightening regularity of late. I wasn’t sure if I should be embarrassed, flattered, disturbed, or horny. I settled for all of the above. I wasn’t so out of it that I wasn’t able to get in a dig back at my sister though. “I wouldn’t know, Jess, I wasn’t looking at his crotch. I thought I was the one with sex on the brain here, but maybe I’m not the only one, hmmm? So, why were you looking?” Her bright red face was more than enough reward for me.

After that, Carmen took us to meet Jack and Jill, the husband-and-wife pair of Brownies that made up two-thirds of the housekeeping staff, followed by the Auburn-haired woman and her redheaded daughter. Aislinn was a Selkie, and the last member of the housekeeping staff, and her daughter Sorcha would probably Manifest when she started puberty as well, but at only four years old she had a while to wait. We didn’t get to meet Sorcha yet since she hadn’t had a nap earlier in the day and had just gone to sleep, but we were promised that we’d see her at breakfast the next morning and Aislinn was more than happy to talk to some of her ‘cousins’ for a while.

Since Selkies were Fey cousins, closely related to Púca, she had a lot in common with Jess and me with the allergies and the usual Fey compulsions regarding the truth and promises. The Brownies did too, but Brownies prefer to stay in the background and typically aren’t very social except with one another, so we kept our visit with them brief. While Púca are technically animals who change into humanoid forms, Selkies are the opposite, humans who can turn into seals. While that meant that Aislinn didn’t have the shapeshifting issues that Jess had, she did have one problem. Selkies see best underwater or in low light, so she had to wear sunglasses when outside during the day or in brightly lit places.

The last stop was to meet Carmen’s mother, Dr. Isabella Diaz. She was a medical doctor in addition to her Healing gift and Carmen wanted to follow in her footsteps someday. She looked after the medical needs of everyone who lived above or worked at the club, and she and Carmen lived there so she would be available if needed. She didn’t spend all of her time there though, as she also had a general practice for Paranormal patients nearby that she kept open from nine in the mornings to two in the afternoons from Mondays to Thursdays.

Once Carmen had made the round of introductions, Dr. Diaz smiled and said, “It’s nice to meet all of you, it’s good to know that Carmen will know some other girls at school. As she has probably told you, I’ll be acting as your doctor while you’re staying here, so I would like to see the three of you for general checkups tomorrow and to establish a baseline. I’ll talk to Tiffani to arrange something, but since tomorrow is Sunday, I should be available all day.”

I tried to act like it was no big deal, but the thought of seeing Carmen’s mother as a patient was freaking me out. Melody looked concerned as well. I couldn’t stop thinking about, and dreading, that visit during our short conversation and then on our way back to our rooms. What if she figured out my secret, or asked something that I didn’t know the answer to but should?

As freaked out and distracted as I was though, I was also dead tired. We all were, Jessica and Melody could barely keep their eyes open. It had felt like the longest day ever, we all had jet lag, and it was now all catching up with us as we shuffled to our dorm rooms and mumbled our good nights.

I didn’t even have the energy to try to take the edge off the rampant horniness that I had barely been able to control since I had Manifested two days ago. It just figured. The first time that I had some privacy, and a chance to do the exploration of my new body that I had been promising myself, I was too damn tired. I had barely taken my clothes off and climbed into bed before I fell asleep.

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