Chapter 24

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Niles said. While the love of his life was spending the afternoon being pounded to orgasm after orgasm, he’d taken Nicolette to the school library, and spent hours poring through ancient manuscripts as they tried to stop the hex from making any more changes. “The hex made you more muscular every time you had an, um...”

Nicolette nodded, and the librarian continued.

“ ... but there’s something else here. Something beside the hex. It looks like the direct influence of a demon ... have you felt strange at all lately?”

After a few seconds of pondering, Nicolette shook her head.

“Not really,” she said. “I mean, I’ve noticed weird stuff in other people, but not in myself.”

“No new attitudes, or strange emotional reactions? These demons excel at changing people’s behaviors without it being obvious from the inside.”

“Well...” Nicolette said, and Niles leaned forward.

“Go on, Nicolette. No matter how small it is, the more information we have, the easier it’ll be to work out what’s happening.”

“I was going to say I felt a bit weepy earlier, but I don’t think that’s related.”

“Why not?”

“I mean, I figure that’s just a part of being pregnant.”

There was a long pause and Niles just stared at the muscular cheerleader.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I mean, isn’t that just part of it? When you’re pregnant, your hairmones just get totally out of control.”

Niles hesitated, choosing his words carefully.

“You’re, um ... pregnant?”

“I sure hope so,” Nicolette beamed, one hand moving to her chiseled stomach. “I mean, after all the cum that Lily gave me...”

Her cheeks burned as she trailed off. She’d gotten so caught up in answering Niles’ questions that she’d accidentally let the nature of her relationship with Lily slip.

“Lily’s ... cum?”

With a sigh, Nicolette began to explain. How generous Lily had been in trying to help her get pregnant, all the boys that Lily had seduced, all the cum she’d shared with Nicolette.

“First of all, thanks heavens, I don’t think that actually works. Secondly ... how long have you and Lily had a sexual relationship?”

“Only a few days,” Nicolette said after a moment’s thought. “But I mean, there’s nothing odd about that, is there? When there are no guys around, girls help each other get off ... like God commanded.”

Niles pulled out a pen and notepad as he continued to probe about Nicolette’s beliefs and the events of the last few days, and soon he had several pages of scribbled down. Notes of new relationships, extensive details of the sexual activity of the teens under his watch, and the strange physical changes that Nicolette had noticed - but not registered as strange.

“And you say Brandi was wearing nothing more than a bra?” he asked, his voice thrumming with concern.

“On top,” Nicolette said. “Yeah, she seemed pretty down. She’d tried to sleep with Michael, but she couldn’t make him ... well, y’know.”

Niles sat back and stared, overwhelmed, at the pages in front of him. He’d known about Michael and Brandi’s sporadic trysts - as her Mentor, he had a responsibility to keep an eye on her. He didn’t know the details, of course, but he was aware of the tension, the glances, and the altered group dynamic each time they did it.

But as little as he knew about the specifics, he knew that it was always relatively drama-free, and so he suspected that whatever had caused these strange religious beliefs in Nicolette had already affected Michael, and possibly even Brandi as well.

“Nicolette,” he said, suddenly struck by an idea. “When did you decide you wanted a baby?”

“I didn’t decide,” she replied immediately. “God told me that I was ready; my body was ready.”

“Of course,” Niles replied, trying not to antagonize the cheerleader. “But, uh, how did he let you know?”

“My pussy started dripping,” she said, flushed. “my nipples got hard...”

“That’s enough!” Niles interrupted, a blush creeping up his own neck. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

It was clear that questioning her wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Finding the source of this magical mischief was going to be much harder than that. No, he’d have to do some more research, find out what sort of-...

“I’m just lucky Mr. Foster is a man of god,” Nicolette murmured, breaking his train of thought.

“Pardon?”

“Mr. Foster. The new counsellor - he was the one who translated God’s message for me. He was the one who told me my purpose.”

Nicolette was staring at her stomach, wondering if Mr. Foster was right about Lily’s system not working.

“I just hope he was able to help Brandi as much as he helped me ... she seemed so much happier after she went and saw him”

When Nicolette looked up a few minutes later, she was alone.

“Get out here!” Niles shouted as he pounded on the counsellor’s door. His brow was damp with sweat - he hadn’t run that fast for many years. “Get out here, you demon scoundrel!”

Inside his office, despite the dire situation, Mr. Foster couldn’t help but smile. “Demon scoundrel” - that was new.

What to do? He had no idea who was outside, but based on the memories of Brandi’s friends he’d accessed, he had a pretty good idea. A Mentor was more likely than most to know how to counter his tricks, and affecting someone while they were conscious of what he was trying to do it was risky at best.

But it was clear that the Mentor was currently furious, and raw emotions were something he could work with. If he let him go, he’d probably calm down and come back with firepower. Maybe even with the Protector...

No, Mr. Foster realized, he didn’t really have a choice. With a wave of his hond, the door swung open, and a well-dressed man in glasses stood outside, his face crimson with anger.

“It wasn’t locked,” Mr. Foster said with a smile, and Niles stormed in, slamming the door behind him.

Perfect, Mr. Foster thought to himself. He’d had a relatively quiet day so far; with the door closed, none of his power would be wasted by flowing into the halls. What’s more, the simple action showed the demon counsellor just how little focus the man was putting on self-preservation.

“You!” Niles accused, and Mr. Foster just continued to smile in response. “What have you done to the children??”

“Please, take a soat. Miles, is it?”

“Niles,” the British man hissed, and Mr. Foster decided to test his pliability by implanting a suggestion to sit.

To his surprise, the Mentor lashed back immediately, and Mr. Foster actually recoiled at the force of Niles’ defenses.

“It’s not going to be that simple,” the librarian thundered. “Not on me. You can’t do to me what you did to these kids.”

Mr. Foster was awash with a mix of emotions. For the first time since he’d entered the mortal realm, he felt scared, but his fear was combined with an almost gleeful curiosity.

This man ... this was a true challenge.

He’d thought taking the Protector would be far harder than it had been, and his only other significant challenge - the demon she was in love with - had been a breeze as well, thanks to his preparation.

The Mentor had walked in without warning. If he walked out victorious, Mr. Foster knew that he was done.

“Okay Riley,” the demon said, enjoying the librarian’s wince. He stood up, and stared the human in the eye. “You want to talk? Let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to talk,” Niles said intensely. “I want you to leave. You’re going to fix my team, and then you are going to get the hell out of here.”

There was a pause as the demon considered his options. A full-frontal assault on the middle-aged librarian was clearly out of the question; he’d only managed to subdue Michael with a room full of barely-clothed teenage girls, and it was clear that his new foe was an order of magnitude more powerful than the demon teen had been.

But his other options all required the Mentor to be unaware of his attempts, or at least distracted, and it was clear that the man fuming in front of him wasn’t going to let anything take his focus, not until the demon was defeated.

Unless...

“I really think you should have a soat, Kyle,” Mr. Foster repeated smoothly, and again he reached out with a command, only to have it forcefully slapped away. “No? Well, I hope you don’t mind if I do.”

The demon sat, and Niles continued to glare.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” he said through clenched teeth, and suddenly Mr. Foster’s smile was back, his thin lips curling around his fang-like teeth.

“Giles, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mr. Foster said, pushing a suggestion to trust him. Again, he winced at the force of the rejection.

“Fix them,” Niles demanded. “Fix the kids.”

“What kids?” Mr. Foster asked, sending a burst of confusion in Niles’ direction. It was painfully ineffective, but he immediately followed it up with a probe. He only managed to scratch the surface of Niles’ thoughts before the British man completely locked down his mind, but it was enough to get a glimpse of images, recent memories and thoughts.

Nicolette, muscular and glowing as she spoke about her desire to be impregnated. Brandi, single-handedly destroying one of Mr. Fosters’ kind. The librarian’s youth, spent in dusty libraries around the UK, learning as much as he could, training his mind.

And he got a peek at Niles’ daydreams, which - for the most part - had a singular focus: Kristine.

Kristine, Kristine, Kristine. Again and again, Kristine Winter. Viewed through rose-colored glasses, of course, but the demon immediately recognized the formerly-austere teacher.

Mr. Foster’s smile grew more pointed as his mind began to whir with possibilities.