Suddenly A Succubus

Chloé's charity efforts lingered in Amara's thoughts for the rest of the day. Even after meeting up with Nick and heading back to her place, she found it hard to concentrate. Seeing the dumpster, hearing Chloé talk about the money they'd already raised, it somehow made the entire effort feel so much more real than it had yesterday. It wasn't just an idea anymore, it was reality. She let Nick lead most of the conversation, and she was pretty sure he noticed.

She wasn't completely silent, though. There were still the updates about the cult, about the new circle they'd found and the conversation they'd overheard. Nick seemed just as surprised to hear about Professor Luxnor's affair with Kylie; apparently he was familiar with the teacher as well and didn't think him the type.

"What if it's all connected?" Nick asked.

"What do you mean? You think Kylie's a part of this cult too?"

"No, but what if he wants her to be? Or what if he's trying to set her up to be some kind of sacrifice? There's already a huge power imbalance at play here, and he has a great excuse to invite her to secret locations without her asking why."

Amara gagged slightly even thinking about the idea. "Fuck, I hadn't thought about that. Guess it's a good thing Tessa and I are picking up the pace."

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" Nick asked, concern in his voice. "I know this is way outside my wheelhouse, but it's frustrating knowing what's going on and sitting on the sidelines."

"You're going to stay put and stay safe. We have no idea what these people are trying to do, and you're just a squishy human. Tessa's got magic, she's the only one that can read the circles, and I recently confirmed that I've got super-healing. We can hold our own."

"Wait, did you get hurt again?"

"I was testing a shapeshifting thing and cut my hand a bit, no big deal. Especially since it healed in seconds. Plus," Amara pulled the shoulder of her shirt down, "Vee stabbed me right here, the blade went completely through, and there's not a hint of it there. That sword was Enochian, too."

Nick paused for a moment before responding, his face twisting in concern. "I... didn't know that. At least it healed, right?"

His comments reminded Amara that she'd never actually gone through everything that happened at the Halloween party. She'd avoided sharing many of the details, especially the more painful ones, but sometimes it was easy to forget that Nick didn't actually know everything about her. They looked at each other for a moment, an awkward silence filling the room before Nick finally decided to change the subject.

"Well, if I'm gonna be on the sidelines for this, I think I deserve a snack." He grabbed his backpack from behind the couch and opened it up. "Make us some popcorn?"

"Do you actually have any? Or is this a setup for a terrible joke?" Amara watched as her friend pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn, then tossed it to her. "Shit, you were serious, alright then."

The two of them were sitting on the couch, Nick on one end, Amara laying on the other with her feet in his lap. She started to stand up when he grabbed her legs, preventing her from leaving. "Ah ah, no cheating." he said, waggling his finger.

"Do you want popcorn or not? The microwave isn't about to grow legs and walk over here."

"You're not going to use the microwave." he said sternly.

She stared at Nick for a few moments before the meaning of his words hit her. "No. Absolutely not!"

"You can't just ignore who you are, Amara."

"Says who? This stupid hellfire can't hurt anyone if I never use it!"

"And how are you going to do that? Can you honestly say you're never going to get mad again for the rest of your life? What happens if a fight breaks out when you confront this cult?"

"I-I'll figure something out!" Amara stammered.

"I'm sorry, but that's not going to cut it. This fire is a part of you; it fuels your shapeshifting, your ability to sleep and enjoy food. It's going to come out at some point, whether you want it to or not. When that happens, do you want to be scared of it? Or would you rather have the understanding to control it?"

Amara couldn't bring herself to respond, but her thoughts drifted back to last night. In her sleep, without realizing it, she'd manifested her true form. Who's to say the same couldn't happen with her fire?

She sighed, reluctantly meeting Nick's eyes. "...Fine."

He released her legs, letting her swing forward and plant her feet on the floor. She grabbed the bag, tore off the plastic, and held it in her palm.

Alright Amara. An open flame would be too much, right? I need heat without fire, which I know I can do; I did it with Tessa when I was breaking through the Enochian seal.

Closing her eyes, Amara focused on her inner fire. It responded eagerly to her touch, dancing and flickering inside of her. Reaching out, she pulled it into her palm and tried to release a tiny fraction of energy. For a moment, she didn't feel much of anything. She stared at the bag of popcorn, wondering if anything was going to happen, and eventually decided to push a little more. Within seconds, her hand, and then the bag, caught fire.

"Shit!"

She moved her other hand over the popcorn, trying to focus on controlling the fire. She felt the flames underneath her fingers, the warmth calling to her, and fought to exert her own will over them. Soon enough, the color turned as she regained control, and she extinguished the fire. There was a blackened hole in the middle of the bag, the kernels now visible, and Amara found a single piece of popcorn.

"Um... bon appétit?" Amara said, throwing the popcorn at Nick.

He stared at it blankly before looking back at her. "I think you can do better than that."

"Well, I ruined the bag, so I guess we'll have to try another time. Oh well." She sighed dramatically, glad the experiment was over.

Nick, on the other hand, reached into his backpack and pulled out another bag, throwing it at her. "Sorry, you're not getting off that easy. Try it again."

"What am I supposed to do? I can't feel heat the way you do! By the time I register anything, I've already created flames." Amara grumbled as she opened the bag of popcorn, throwing the wrapper on the floor in frustration. Nick said nothing, his eyes on hers as he waited for another attempt.

Grumbling, she repositioned on the couch. Instead of grabbing the bag of popcorn, she let it sit in her lap while she looked at her hands. With her palms up, she summoned small flames in each of them, trying to focus on what they felt like. The heat was comforting, the small flames skipping across her hands, but she knew it was too strong. Despite her hesitations, she remembered when she first gained control over her fire, how she'd giggled and called them cute, and she tried to focus on that feeling rather than her fear. Concentrating on the flames, she tried to slowly pull energy away from them, urging them to grow smaller. It took more effort than she'd expected, but eventually she managed to snuff out the fire while keeping the connection alive.

Focusing on that feeling, she quickly grabbed the popcorn and placed it on her hand. She stared intently at the bag, remembering that popcorn normally took a couple minutes to cook. A count began in her head, slow and steady, as she continued focusing. The seconds ticked on, each one an eternity as she fought to keep the bag from igniting, but eventually she heard a familiar popping sound.

The bag jumped in Amara's hand, causing her to flinch. Thankfully, she didn't drop the popcorn, and she moved her other hand on top of the bag to keep it steady as more and more kernels popped. Over the next minute or so, the bag continued inflating until the popping sounds grew less frequent, and she severed the connection entirely.

"Well?" Nick asked.

Amara waited a few seconds, then nervously pulled the bag open. To her delight, a fragrant, buttery smell washed over her. "I think it worked! Want some hellfire popcorn?"

The two of them took turns testing the food, and although they found a small handful of blackened popcorn, quite a bit of it was edible.

"Not bad for a second attempt!" Nick said, playfully ruffling Amara's hair. "Ready for the midterm?"

"What, there's more?"

"If you recall, Amara, we haven't eaten yet."

"Ugh, what's for dinner? More schemes?" Amara said playfully, her mouth full of popcorn.

Nick pulled Amara off the couch, bringing her to the kitchen before opening the fridge. She saw that, at some point, he'd done some grocery shopping, and she now had a considerable amount of food ready to go. They decided on a relatively simple meal, but one that would push Amara's concentration a bit further.

She started by boiling a pot of water, but this time she didn't hold it in her hands. She kept it on the stove and summoned a small fire underneath it. She focused on this exclusively for a few minutes, testing how far she could move away from the fire while still keeping the heat consistent. Just like under the cafeteria with Tessa, it took more effort the further away she was, but she was happy to have any control at all. Once the water boiled, Nick put in some spaghetti and prepped the next step.

He placed a frying pan on the stove, next to the boiling water, and placed in two pieces of chicken. After a deep breath, Amara summoned a second flame under the pan, doing her best not to lose concentration on the first. This proved much more difficult, and the water boiled over a few times when her focus slipped, but thankfully Nick was helping out. He had taken charge of setting timers, flipping the chicken when appropriate, and cleaning up when needed.

Soon enough, the spaghetti was finished, and Amara moved on to the last piece of dinner. While still focusing on the flame under the frying pan, she held a piece of store-bought garlic bread in her hand and started cooking it. This proved to be the most difficult step; previously she'd had two open flames, but now she kept one flame alive while purposely snuffing the other.

At the end of the whole ordeal, the chicken had been slightly overcooked, and Amara had accidentally burnt three of their five pieces of garlic bread, but she was happy with everything they'd put together. She grabbed their drinks, sat down at the counter, and sighed in relief.

"Alright, I'll admit it. This was a really good idea." Amara said, biting into a piece of bread. "Honestly, it was kind of fun too. I've never been much of a chef, but maybe it's something to look into."

"You seem more put together, if you don't mind me saying."

Amara paused, finishing her bite slowly before responding. "It... comes and goes. It still hurts, and I still wish I could talk with Vee, but at least I feel like I have a way forward now. You really do have the patience of a saint, you know that?"

"What can I say? I just like seeing you up on your feet."

"Oh! Want to see something cool?" Amara manifested her tail, then moved the tip next to her plate. Focusing on her tail, she watched as the familiar, chitinous exoskeleton reformed. She altered the edge, and soon had a razor-sharp knife once more. "This is what I was telling you about earlier, with my shapeshifting!"

Nick watched in surprise as Amara started cutting up her chicken with her knife-tail. "Dang, that's pretty sharp. Are you sure it's clean? Where does this stuff even come from?"

Amara kept eating as she examined her tail. "Ooh that's a good question. Is it a part of me? Am I summoning it from elsewhere?"

The two friends continued eating their dinner as they discussed theories about Amara's shapeshifting. Nick was curious how Amara's exoskeleton might compare to an insects, but she was adamant that she wasn't going to break pieces of herself off for him to study. They eventually decided that, since magic was clearly involved, they were unlikely to get any real answers anytime soon.