Chapter 14

“So what about vampires?” Lenny asked when the girls arrived in the woods where Alison was waiting. “Do they exist?”

“Well, something kinda like vampires exists - or at least used to,” Alison explained. “But not the sexy shirtless bad-boy who can be redeemed by the right woman’s love kind. More like the bestial terror from the sewers kind.”

“Hmph,” Lenny responded, disappointed. “Werewolves?”

Alison shook her head.

“Well what about magic? What else can you do with it?” Lenny pressed on. “Like, if you’re really good, can you levitate objects or set things on fire? Read minds?”

“Levitate no, fire yes,” Alison answered. “But it’s so difficult compared to just picking up a box of matches. Read minds yes, but only in a very narrow set of circumstances.”

Laurel chimed in: “The big magic from fantasy books basically doesn’t exist. We can only do little things. And as technology has progressed, less and less of it is worthwhile.”

“C’mon!” Lenny insisted. “Wow me! What can a master wizard do?”

“Summon demons,” Tasha suggested.

“Yeah, that, obviously,” Alison said with a smirk. “The best summoners in the world can pull demons into this world, and to a certain extent, control how we manifest. For instance, I was brought here to be a sorcerer’s high-class call girl.”

“How could that work?” Laurel asked. “You’re kind of conspicuous with the wings.”

“Master Torrance had a very exclusive client list,” Alison explained. “He could have given me a more human body, but my johns appreciated the kinkiness. Plus, I think, he wanted to make sure that if I got away I couldn’t go far. Believe me, I would love to look like you girls - blend in. Do you know how much it limits your wardrobe when everything has to be backless?”

“There isn’t a spell to get rid of your wings?” Tasha asked.

Laurel jumped in again with the answer: “It would take a bunch of really powerful witches years,” she advised her friends.

“Well it wouldn’t be quite that hard,” Alison corrected her. “For a human, yes, but we outsiders are more malleable. Still, it would be very difficult to put all the pieces together for something like that.”