Chapter 32: 32. Surprises & Stress

My girlfriend and I ended up spending an hour or so with Mira, learning the ins and outs of being part-demon. Unfortunately it didn't take long for the both of us to realize we probably should have done more research, we should have taken things a lot slower.

I wasn't regretting my choice, and I hoped Marianne wasn't either, but in retrospect it was a huge decision with a lot of ramifications. And we definitely should have spent a lot more time discussing it and thinking it through.

After getting over the surprise of our physical changes, the next shock was finding out demons had to avoid caffein. Neither Mira or Mara or Lily drank coffee or cola, they even had to avoid dark chocolate and a few other things that were known to contain caffein.

When she saw the horrified looks on our faces Mira apologized and explained that it might be ok for us, since their succubi girlfriends could take caffein without any trouble. She suggested we avoid it for now though, until Eva was recovered so she could let us know for sure.

Finally Mira told us how much we'd both changed. According to what Lily told her, both Marianne and I had become roughly two-thirds demon. Which meant our humanity had dwindled to a third of what it was originally.

She also explained that my girlfriend and I probably gained other demonic traits or abilities. She said it might take a while to notice them or figure them out. Like she told us both her and Mara had supernatural demonic strength, they could both see in the dark, and they had a kind of intuition thing that gave them insight into what humans were thinking.

Once again I was left thinking Marianne and I should have taken this whole thing a lot slower, we really should have tried to learn more about these sorts of possibilities.

Then Mara took over for a bit, which was strange to say the least. We only just got used to Mara and Lily sharing a body, it seemed weird to me how Mara and Mira could also share a body. Neither of us questioned it though when Mira grew horns and a tail then introduced herself as Mara.

As Mara her demeanour was slightly different too, so it wasn't hard to remember this was the other twin and not just Mira with horns. Then she spent some time telling me about the reality of having a tail in a world where most people didn't, along with various things she'd had to get used to or ways she'd found to adapt to her situation.

I'd already figured out I had to sit at an angle on the sofa, and I'd need to deal with clothes and things. The leggings felt weird having them tucked up under the tail, but it was better than trying to stuff the new appendage inside the back of them. My leggings were stretchy, but not that stretchy.

Mara also explained how she handled stuff like cars, restaurants, what kind of chairs worked best, that sort of thing. She gave me some pointers about clothes, and loaned me a long black tunic top that hung down to my thighs. That would hide the problem with my leggings at the back, so at least I wasn't too indecent.

And finally she taught me and Marianne a spell that would hide our non-human parts.

Not that my girlfriend really needed it, her horns were pretty well concealed by her hair. But the magic would keep them hidden in the event of her hair getting wet, or wind blowing it the wrong way or something.

I should have been more excited about learning how to cast an actual magic spell, but instead it just didn't seem that impressive. I figured that was partially because all it did was hide the demonic parts that I wasn't even used to having yet.

For that matter I hadn't even really processed the fact that I wasn't human anymore. It was easy to forget about the ears and the tail, and mostly I didn't feel that different. Maybe a bit overwhelmed, but that was it.

On the subject of magic, Mara cautioned that the spell just made the demonic bits invisible but didn't actually remove them. So someone touching Marianne's head would still feel her horns. Same with my tail and ears, visible or not people could still feel them, and if I wasn't careful my tail could get sat on or caught in doors and things.

She also mentioned there were other spells we could use that would remove the demonic changes entirely. Basically they'd transform us into a 'human guise', but that kind of magic was more complex and Mara wasn't qualified to teach it to us. She promised Eva would be able to help though, once she was awake.

Another weird and slightly-annoying thing I discovered was my demon-cat ears weren't additions, they were replacements. I no longer had human ears, the sides of my head were just smooth. It was hard to tell thanks to my long blonde hair, but there was a chance people would notice something was up.

The thing that made it annoying was it meant I couldn't wear earrings anymore. In fact the little gold hoops I had on earlier turned up on the sofa where I'd been sitting when it happened.

It was around that point when my phone buzzed with a text. It was from my dad, and as I read it I noticed the time was half past one in the afternoon. And dad wanted to know if we'd be coming by for another visit.

"It's my dad," I said as I looked at my girlfriend. "I really want to head back to the hospital and see him again. Do you mind if we do that?"

Marianne shook her head, "Of course I don't mind."

Mara added, "There's some other stuff we should talk about, but it can wait."

I sent dad a text that we'd be there soon, then we thanked Mara and Mira for their help. I added, "When Eva wakes up please let her know where we are ok? Or I guess we might come back here afterwards?"

"Perhaps we should exchange contact information," Marianne suggested. "So we can call or text instead of just dropping in."

Mara gave us both her and Mira's contact info, and Marianne and I gave her ours. Then the two of us thanked the ravenette for her help and bid her a good afternoon, before heading for the door.

"Lexi," Marianne reminded me before opening the door. "You need to do that magic to hide things."

I blushed but did the spell like Mara taught us. I didn't feel any different, but my tail was no longer visible and I had to trust my ears were hidden too. Then once we got in the car both of us had to take a few moments to adjust things. My girlfriend needed to move the seat back and reset the mirrors, while I spent a full two minutes trying to figure out how to get comfortable.

In the end I had a grumpy pout on my face while Marianne tried not to giggle too much.

"Sorry Lexi," she said as we pulled out onto the road. "I hope you're not too uncomfortable? For what it's worth, you still look adorable."

"Thanks love," I pouted. "It's uncomfortable but I'll get used to it. Or I'll ask Eva to teach me how to remove it instead of just hiding it."

After that we were both fairly quiet for the rest of the drive. I was still thinking about everything we'd just learned, and how much more we still had to find out. About our selves, and how we'd deal with those changes going forward.

When we got to the hospital I noticed a few people seemed to be staring at the two of us as we made our way through the lobby towards the elevators, and I couldn't help feeling self-conscious. I worried that I'd let that spell slip or something, but when I caught my reflection in a glass door my new ears and tail were still invisible, so I tried not to stress about it.

We remained quiet as we rode the lift up to dad's floor, but I noticed a few more stares as we went past the nurses' station and the waiting area.

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Then we reached dad's room, and after a knock at the door I led us both inside.

"Lexi, Marianne!" he smiled as soon as we joined him.

His smile faltered a moment later as he stared at us both, "You two look different today. And Lexi, where's your bracelet? You didn't leave it at the hotel did you?"

My girlfriend and I exchanged a worried glance, then I looked at dad and asked a little nervously, "How do you mean, different?"

Dad hesitated, "You both look prettier? Did you girls get a make-over or something this morning?"

I'd been afraid he was going to say we looked evil, or maybe he could somehow see my freshly-minted demonic parts. The last thing I expected to hear was that we looked more attractive.

"Are you in heels Marianne?" dad added as he tried to look past his bed to see her feet. "You seem taller today."

We exchanged another glance, but she didn't know how to respond to this news any more than I did. Though it might explain why people were looking at us. Whatever was happening, neither of us could see it. Apart from the obvious changes I didn't look any different in the mirror, and Marianne didn't look different to me.

After a few more seconds of awkward silence dad lowered his voice and asked, "Wait is this some kind of magic thing?"

Marianne looked to me and suggested quietly, "It's probably one of those other traits Mira mentioned? She said there would be things we didn't notice right away."

"Right," I groaned softly. Then I looked to my dad and apologized, "Sorry dad. Is it really that noticeable? Me and Marianne didn't realize we looked any different."

He frowned and sort of stared intently at both me and my girlfriend for a few seconds. His expression slowly shifted to a confused frown as he finally shook his head, "That's the strange thing? You don't actually look different. You look like you did yesterday, but there's something about you now, that makes you seem more... I don't know how to describe it? More compelling."

"Marianne definitely looks taller though," he added. "Yesterday I'd swear she was only a couple inches taller than you, but now I'm sure she's got half a foot on you Lexi."

I sighed and pulled the two guest chairs closer so me and my girlfriend could sit with him. And as soon as I sat down I jumped back up with a little yelp of pain, because of course I sat on my tail. I'd already forgotten it was there when I slumped down into the seat.

My cheeks were bright red as I carefully adjusted my invisible new appendage to one side then sat down again, while Marianne did her best not to giggle or laugh. I tried to ignore her as I looked to my dad, but he was obviously curious to know what just happened between me and the chair.

In fact the only thing he seemed interested in talking about at that point was what was up today with both Marianne and I.

"Come on Lexi," dad asked as he gave me a look. "Something's obviously going on. There's something different about you, and you're acting strange. I know we just got re-acquainted yesterday but you're my child, I deserve to know if there's something wrong."

I sighed again, "I don't know how much of this is safe to tell you, but I guess you're going to find out sooner or later. So um, we were visiting with Eva's family again this morning? And she's still there. They used some powerful magic to bring her back to life? So she's not bound to me as a ghost anymore."

"That's where the bracelet is," I added. "It's hers, so it's back on her wrist now instead of mine."

Dad frowned slightly, "What else? There must be more to the story. If she's not bound to you anymore shouldn't that mean there's less magic? But it feels like there's definitely something supernatural happening here. So what is it?"

My girlfriend and I exchanged another glance, but she didn't seem to know what to say any more than I did.

"I guess um," I hesitated as I looked back at dad again. "Like I said they used some powerful magic to set Eva free and give her a new body and everything? And um, some of that kind of had an effect on us. Me and Marianne, I mean. It um, maybe changed us both, a little bit?"

Dad frowned, "How little?"

I cringed as I confessed, "Me and Marianne both maybe became partially demonic ourselves?"

My dad actually face-palmed. Then he gave me a look as he asked, "So less than a day after meeting Eva's demon family they've turned you and your girlfriend into demons?"

"It's not like that!" I protested. "I agreed to it dad! She explained the risks and everything, but it was her chance to be free and live again and everything? She's family, she's like a big sister to me and I'd do anything to help her. After everything she did for me I owe it to her."

Dad sighed, but he looked thoughtful for a few moments. Finally he responded, "Ok Lexi, I suppose I can't fault you for that. I know I'd do just about anything for you, and I'd have given anything to save your mother if I could."

After a pause he asked, "So what's changed, what's this done to you? And what was the thing with the chair?"

That made me cringe again and I admitted, "We don't know yet all the details of how we've changed? Eva's still recovering, we'll have to talk to her once she's up and about."

Marianne had been quiet for a while but she added, "There were some minor physical changes Mr. Harris. As you've already noticed, I got a little bit taller."

"And I uh," I grimaced slightly, then blushed as I cancelled the magic that kept my changes hidden. "I sprouted some fuzzy bits. It's kind of embarrassing."

Dad's eyes went wide and his jaw hung open as he stared at the furry ears ontop of my head, and the fluffy tail that was twitching back and forth by my right thigh.