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Suddenly, a being of ruby red and black was sitting on the sofa, her skin looking like wet latex, her curvy body begging to be touched, and short horns rose from her temples through her long flowing ebony hair with red streaks.
In a blink, she was Camila once again. She looked contritely to Henry. “Sorry. I’ll give you a warning next time.”
Lorelei glanced over at Henry, who was awkwardly crossing his legs with his arms in his lap. Before she could ask him about it, Sigrid spoke up.
“I’m a Valkyrie. I don’t use a glamor, but I can summon my armor, weapon, and wings. They glow a very bright white, which makes it hard to see, I’m told.” She smiled at the artist.
Mary was next. “I also don’t have a glamor. What you see is what you get. I’m… tough.”
Roy chuckled at her description until Lorelei looked at him. “Lycanthrope.” He dropped his glamor and switched back after she yelped in surprise.
Mary grinned. “Roy is bigger and scarier than his crew, but they’re all werewolves too. Good people, though.”
Lorelei smiled timidly at her then looked to Henry.
“Did ya wear yer kilt today?” Roy said with a scowl, and Henry’s face reddened.
“I think so,” he said.
“Don’t face us unless you’re sure,” Roy asserted.
Henry nodded and stood. He took a few steps away and presented his back to the group.
Lorelei gasped when Henry was suddenly transformed into a creature unlike any she’d seen. His upper torso was powerfully muscled with thick arms and large three-fingered hands. His hair hung down his back, longer than he wore it when human. His ears projected outward and were covered with fur! Most shocking were the large white ram’s horns on his head and his furry lower half.
He was wearing a kilt, so she couldn’t see if the fur on his goat’s legs went all the way up to his ass. Broad cloven hooves had replaced his human feet.
“Lad, are you working out? You seem… bigger,” Roy asked.
Henry glanced at him over his shoulder. “Uh, no, I haven’t been,” he said hesitantly.
“Are you going to turn around?” Camila asked him.
He looked down then over his shoulder at her. “I-I’m still showing from your effect on me.”
Camila chuckled happily. “Then, by all means, turn around.”
Sigrid frowned. “Camila. Not the time or place.”
Henry sighed and slowly turned to face them. He kept one hand in place to hold down the bulge in his kilt.
Lorelei’s eyes widened. It was Henry. There was no question. For all the physical differences, the same person was looking at her from those beautiful eyes. She bit her lip, then glanced quickly over at Camila, who watched her with a knowing little smile. A blush warmed her face.
“D-do you have any magical abilities?” she asked.
His face showed his embarrassment. “Uh, I’m not a wielder, like you.” He looked down as a strange expression of frustration flashed across his face. “All I seem to be able to do is cause people to have sex.”
“What?!?” she squeaked in shock.Content is © by NôvelDrama.Org.
His expression swung between shame and embarrassment. “Sorry, that came out wrong.” He took a deep breath. “Satyr’s can cause spontaneous orgies. It’s a pheromone release. People around me will suddenly lose all their inhibitions and have sex.”
She blinked a few times, then her eyes widened. “The subway and the dance club attacks!”
He winced. “Yeah, not really attacks. Just me losing control of an ability I didn’t know I had.”
Sigrid explained. “Baba Yaga delayed Henry’s sexual maturity by forcing a Human disguise on him for most of his life. It caught up to him recently, now that he is in his true form all the time.”
“Henry, don’t forget you can bump humans up the evolutionary ladder to become Hidden Races. That seems to me to be a significant magical ability,” Mary reminded him.
He looked at her sadly. “That’s more of a curse than an ability.”
Lorelei was staring at Henry in shock again. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands. He no longer needed a hand to hide his groin as the conversation had killed any desire he felt.
“Baba connected me… directly to a realm of Wild Magic. I’m saturated with it. When I had sex with Marisa, Camila’s daughter, she overdosed on the Wild Magic, and it burned out her glamor spell, changed her physically, and linked her to the new realm, too. Wild Magic is much stronger than the old realm’s magic.” His voice ran out, and Camila took over the description.
“Marisa became a more powerful Succubus. With the stronger magic backing her, her abilities improved. I’ve also fed from Henry, and while I avoided the overdose, I’ve been strengthened with a link to the new realm as has Sigrid and Roy-”
“Through his blood, not the other. We haven’t had sex!” Roy asserted definitively.
“His blood?” Lorelei gasped.
Roy held up his hands. “Henry was badly injured! I had to lick the wound to heal him. It’s something Lycanthropes can do. I just… swallowed his blood,” he explained.
Henry shook his head wearily. “We were rescuing Nate. It doesn’t matter. For conduits like Lycanthropes, Valkyries, Succubi, and Vampires, Wild Magic upgrades their abilities. I lost control of my pheromones when I was with my Human friends. We had sex, and they all changed. For Humans, they become… conduits? Mary became incredibly strong and tough though I’m not sure what kind of Hidden Race she is. Sandy’s hair grew and became sentient, so she’s a Gorgon? Dayshia’s eyes changed so she can see through glamors, but I don’t know the name of what she is. Tish became a Faun. That’s another name for a Satyr.” His expression twisted again. “Roger… he became a monster. The New York serial killer.” He looked at Lorelei, who was watching him wide-eyed with shock.
Sigrid put her hand on Henry’s shoulder. “Henry, we spoke about this. You have to let it go. How each person deals with their new state is completely in their control. According to those who knew him best, Roger wasn’t stable to begin with.”
Henry hung his head and nodded. When Sigrid pulled her hand back, he switched back to his Human glamor.
“Are your human friends hidden away since they changed so dramatically?” She glanced over at Mary. “Present company excluded.”
Sigrid shook her head. “Aside from Roger, Henry arranged for his friends to get glamors, magic disguises, so they can continue to live and work amongst Humans. They are all doing quite well and are very happy with their new lives and abilities,” Sigrid answered.
“If the Hidden Races Council is as cautious about threats to discovery as you say, why haven’t they arrested Henry? His activities seem at least as dangerous for public exposure as my paintings,” Lorelei asked.
Roy nodded. “There’s always the possibility they’ll change their minds, but Baba left them with a warning to keep their hands off. He was also protected by the Fae by order of Queen Mab, but she’s since been ousted. If the Council’s need to contain him exceeds their fear of these two powerhouses, we’ll deal with that at the time. We don’t give up on our friends.”
“Well said, Roy,” Camila said with a proud smile. She looked to Lorelei, who seemed to be processing the information she’d been given. “I think that’s probably enough background for tonight. It’s a lot to digest. Go home and sleep on it. If you have any questions, please give me a call tomorrow. I’ll leave instructions for your calls to be directed to me. If I’m not available, Sigrid or Roy can be.”
“Not Henry?” Lorelei blurted and immediately bit her tongue as she glanced in embarrassment at the man.
Camila smiled. “Certainly Henry, but not tomorrow, as he’ll be in Washington, DC, demonstrating the firewall software he wrote for several government agencies.” She grinned at Lorelei’s surprise. “Henry’s a brilliant programmer.”
“That’s another reason the Hidden Races Council should keep their hands off of him. His absence would draw the attention of the US Government,” Roy suggested as the thought came to him.
Sigrid nodded approvingly. “Let’s file that away for when it’s needed.”
Lorelei stood, so everyone else did as well. “Thank you for dinner and for taking me into your confidence. I’m really beginning to get a better picture of the true world I’m living in. I don’t know how this witch pulled me out of the past, and I won’t thank her for what he did to my life, but for the first time, I feel like I have people on my side.” The others smiled and nodded.
“We’ll bring you down to Digby and Danno in the lobby,” Roy said.
“Goodnight!” Lorelei said to the group. Everyone said their goodnights as well before Roy and Mary left the office with her.
Henry dropped into his chair and began putting the chicken he set aside from his dinner into a napkin. He triple-wrapped it with napkins then looked up to see he was being watched. “What?”
“Preparing a little snack for the trip home?” Camila asked.
He snorted and shook his head. “No. There’s a neighborhood stray cat I’ve seen. It looked hungry last time, so I’m bringing it some dinner.”
“Henry, I don’t think your building allows pets,” Sigrid said.
“I’m not taking it in. I’m just feeding it!” he protested.
“That’s how it starts. It looks at you with those pitiful eyes, and next thing you know, you’re carrying a fifty-pound bag of kitty litter,” Camila teased.
Henry sighed. “I’m not taking it in! And it doesn’t have pitiful eyes. They are quite beautiful and unique. One yellow and one blue eye. Very pretty.”
“Huh. That is a unique combination,” Sigrid said as she moved closer to Henry. “Don’t forget, you owe me a rain check on our evening.” She rested her hands on his chest as she looked into his eyes.
He leaned forward and kissed her until she gently pushed him back.
“Ohhh, no fair doing that to a girl before heading home,” she moaned.
“Sorry,” he said with a little smile.