It was lunch time and I sat at my usual table in the cafeteria with all of my friends, all save Kimberly who was a noticeable absence. I felt sad for her absence and wondered if maybe I could talk to her and apologize for scaring her. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be easy to do if she kept avoiding me like this.

While I talked to my friends and ate, my thoughts kept going back to the events of this morning. I was still excited by the fact that I’d actually cast a class six spell, drawing more magic than aunt June’s tests said I’d be able to. And what was more, I’d cast the same spell again just to prove that I really could do it. Unfortunately, when I’d attempted to cast it a third time, I hadn’t been able to draw enough magic and the pattern collapsed before I was finished.

I let out a loud yawn, feeling a bit tired. After I’d cast those spells, all the energy that I’d felt since changing back had vanished. I didn’t feel the full impact of staying up all night long, but I was feeling more tired than I did after getting a full nights sleep.

My attention was drawn back to the conversation between my friends. “When our dad gets mad,” Sylvie was saying, gesturing to Todd who nodded agreement. “He can really yell.”

“His talent is increasing his volume,” Todd commented with a faint wince.

“It’s like he yells at you with a bullhorn or something,” Sylvie added. “You REALLY don’t want to get yelled at by our dad.”

I just snorted at that, getting everyone else to look at me. “You haven’t seen anything,” I commented wryly, “until you’ve been chewed out by an angry bear.” I mimicked a few of the growls that my dad sometimes made in his Were form, earning a few laughs.

“Okay,” Sylvie admitted. “You win.”

“I guess I can’t really complain about my dad being a hard-ass anymore,” Eve agreed with a grin. “You guys make it sound like I’ve got it easy.”

“Oh yeah,” Sylvie abruptly said. “Today, Erin cast a couple class six spells…”

That earned me curious looks from Todd and Eve. “I thought you were only a class four,” Eve said.

“I am,” I responded with a shrug. “Or at least, that’s what my aunt said I was. Besides, I was only able to cast the spell twice before I couldn’t do it again…”

“Yeah,” Sylvie added with a smirk. “But you should see the results.” She held her hands in front of her breasts to indicate how much they’d grown after I’d tested the spell on her. “And Erin still has a token with another copy of it.”

“It’s based off my mom’s talent,” I explained. “I kind of cast that spell by accident, thinking I was casting another one. I never thought I’d be able to cast that one at all…”

Eve gave me a thoughtful look before musing, “That is pretty weird. I wonder if it has something to do with you being a hybrid.”

“Probably,” I admitted.

I’d been thinking about it myself and had a few ideas as to why I’d been able to cast that spell. Whenever I fed as a succubus, I always felt more awake and full of energy after I changed back. It was as though the extra energy I’d taken was still there but just converted to something I could use as a human. Since that same extra energy had vanished after casting those class six spells, it appeared that I could also convert it to extra magical energy.

“I need to test a few things before I know for sure,” I mused. “I also want to bounce it off my aunt…”

And though I didn’t say anything to my friends, I also wanted to bounce the idea off Amylia. If anyone knew about how Were and Touched abilities might interact with each other, she would be the one. Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of new questions I wanted to ask her.

“You gonna do that tonight?” Todd asked curiously.

I hesitated a moment before shaking my head. “No. Probably not. I’m going to be too busy.”

“The big duel is tomorrow,” Sylvie reminded her brother.

I nodded at that. “Gayle is going to help me get ready after classes and then my aunt is going to be here later on. I’ve still got to make a few more tokens.”

Eve looked like she was about to say something but then stopped and looked to the side with a cautious expression. I turned to see what she was looking at and saw a girl walking straight towards our table. I recognized the girl as being in the class ahead of me with Eve and Todd, and I even remembered that her name was Melyssa. But other than that, I didn’t know much about her.

Melyssa stopped by the table and looked right at me. “You’re Erin, right?”

“Yeah,” I responded cautiously.

“I’m Melyssa,” she introduced herself, looking a little self-conscious. “Everyone says you’re a Were. Is that true?”

I nodded at that, feeling a little suspicious. “Yeah. I’m a hybrid…both Were and Touched.”

Melyssa glanced to my friends, seeming a little nervous to be outnumbered. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I wanted to ask you some things about the Were…”

“Okay,” I encouraged her, growing more curious since she didn’t seem to be hostile.

“Well, there’s a guy down the street from where I live…where my family lives,” Melyssa said carefully. “His family are all Were…but I don’t really know anything about the Were.“

“So, you like guy who happens to be a Were,” Sylvie commented.

“How do I know if he likes me?” Melyssa asked, obviously embarrassed to be talking about this to a complete stranger. It said something about how interested she was in this guy if she was willing to come to me for advice. “I mean, do I give him treats or something to get him interested?”

I chuckled at that and shook my head faintly. “Look,” I told her. “Were are just like the Touched.” I closed my eyes for a moment, then explained. “My mom is Touched and my dad is Were, so I grew up knowing a lot of each. The truth is, there isn’t really all that much difference. You can think of Were as being Touched who have the talent of turning into animals. When we change, we still have our human minds and can think perfectly fine. If you like this guy, just treat him the same way you would if he was Touched.”

Everyone at the table was paying close attention to me now, not just Melyssa. She nodded thoughtfully, then asked, “But what if he accidentally bites me or something? Would I turn into a Were too?” There was something in her expression that made me suddenly suspect that she was half hoping that might be the case.

“Could you turn a human into a Touched by kissing him?” I asked her with a grin.

“No,” Melyssa answered with a chuckle of her own. “I guess that is kind of stupid.”

“Imagine what it would be like if we could turn other people into Touched just by kissing them,” Sylvie said with a grin. “That would be awesome. I mean, we Touched never would have had to go into hiding from the normals. Being Touched would be normal.”

“Or being Were,” I pointed out innocently.

“Or both,” Todd added with a grin.

“Well, thanks for answering my questions,” Melyssa told me happily. “If I have any more, I’ll come back…”

Once Melyssa had gone, Sylvie told me. “Good job. Improving Were relations one romance at a time.”

I just grinned at that and responded, “Well, we have to start somewhere.”

When we’d finished eating and were all getting up to leave, Todd put a hand on my shoulder and said, “About last night…”

“It was nothing,” I lied. This was the first time Todd had mentioned that so I’d thought he was trying to pretend it had never happened. The fact that he brought it up now caught me by surprise.

My heart raced as I stared at Todd, fully aware of the fact that he was touching me. I gulped, suddenly realizing that more than just my heart was responding to his presence. I’d thought that these feelings would go away once I was no longer a succubus, but that was obviously not the case.

“I knew you’d be mad today,” he told me awkwardly. “I mean, I know you’re really a guy inside…”

I suddenly felt annoyed and even a little hurt at that. I’d seen the way Todd had looked at me before and knew that he certainly hadn’t thought of me as a guy then, especially not last night. I grimaced in frustration and then acted on impulse, grabbing Todd and kissing him as hard as I could. Todd was obviously surprised by my move but quickly began to kiss back. When I pulled away, I was vaguely aware that I’d triggered my talent in the middle of the kiss and was now in my enhanced form.

“Do I look like a guy to you?” I demanded of Todd, gesturing down at myself, my insides a mass of mixed emotions.

“Um…no,” Todd responded with a visible gulp.

“I’m not a boy,” I said, though I wasn’t quite sure if I was telling him of myself. “Not anymore…”

“Wait,” Sylvie blurted out, staring at me and Todd with a look of surprise. “You two…?”

“I guess we’re not on the same team after all,” Even commented with a wry smile and a look of vague disappointment.

“Erin,” Todd gasped, staring at me with an expression of mixed surprise and desire.

I turned bright red, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious and confused. I couldn’t believe what I’d just done or that I’d even felt that way in the first place. It suddenly dawned on me that this had been building for awhile without my even being aware of it. And I still wanted to kiss Todd again.

“I need to change my clothes,” I blurted out as I turned and hurried out of the cafeteria and away from Todd…but not my own emotions.