by P. S. Power
Kate and the Vampires all chuckled, though not unkindly. After a few seconds Kate let the secret out though.
“No, Maria is Zack's girl form. Hot too, like Alede top notch hot. By using something kind of like compulsion, she can fake being a Succubus really well. Like you wouldn't know she wasn't if she walked into the room right now, and would probably call me a liar when I tried to explain. But Zack's really straight, so much that Maria's only allowed to do girls. So Betty had to jump in and do all the guys so that Zack didn't wake up the next day freaking out. He was hiding from things that can read minds, so he had to really become her mentally. I can't really explain, but it's best to just go with the idea that Maria was a real and separate person that night.”
Then they had to explain how the Alede could change other people's genders too, not just their own, as long as they had enough power.
“We can show you later if you want, Don. Especially if you're providing the power for it. If you'd like. Right now though, you'll be easier to take care of as a guy.” Kate smiled at him and patted his lap gently, he was still hard, which all the Alede in the room at least, knew.
Nikki surprised her by kneeling in front of him and working at his belt. He started to stop her, but Britney, sitting beside him, started kissing him passionately, and pulling at his shirt, she left it on, but ran her hand underneath it as Nikki got his pants down. She didn't take him into her mouth though, instead she looked around the room, and finally asked Britney to help her out.
“I don't produce saliva...” Britney got it immediately and went down on him a couple of times, then they took turns, alternating. Kate looked on, thinking it seemed like fun. She'd have to remember to ask Nikki to help her and try that with him herself. Or maybe turn in to Kyle and have her and Britney, or maybe Blaine, do her. Or maybe Nikki and Don? She'd have to suggest that too. There were so many interesting possibilities with this group! Too bad Rebeca was so damaged, or that they couldn't turn the Vampires into boys...
“Hey... Has anyone ever tried transforming any Vampires into the opposite gender?” She asked suddenly, causing Nikki's head to bob up so that she could speak, Britney's mouth descended so perfectly though that Kate doubted Don noticed the disruption.
“Not that I know of... That would be, useful. Do you think we could try it soon? If it works we could go back earlier than planned. No one is looking for two guys after all. OK, a bit weird, but I'll deal. It's not like I don't do women already, so the only difference will be in technique right?” She stopped talking and traded with Britney then, working Don for several minutes until he came in her mouth. She swallowed and didn't make an issue about doing it, blood wasn't the only body fluid that contained live energy, just the most plentiful and easiest to get.
Don had to get to bed he told them and hoped the next day would be a little more normal, since he had work to catch up on now. Kate explained about the papers and how they'd managed to protect them while Britney tried to molest Keeber. Britney looked at Don and kissed him, telling him that she'd only done it because she was worried about him and didn't understand why he laughed.
She settled down to study and the boys both left, with Rebeca to watch after Blaine, leaving Nikki and her alone. She set up to study, deciding to read her text books for a while, so that Nikki could use the computer, and realized that if the other woman wanted to stay for any length of time she'd need another one. She thought about it and decided to try to ask Zack if she could borrow one of the six or so he had in the computer room.
She focused the thought quickly and let it ride on the tip of a tendril like line that she sent off to him, not knowing if it would work or not. About ten minutes later Zack walked into the room making Nikki jump, carrying a laptop and router, with all the cables they'd need.
“Troy said this would work, but if not you should tell me and he'll come fix it for you. I'm... Needed to do something else, er, Libby's waiting and told me that if I didn't get back soon she'd strip naked and start masturbating in the living room until someone helped her out...” He turned and left without waiting for a reply.
The computer worked well, being practically unused. That meant she could work on research for a while, knowing that the next section they'd be covering in class would be Mesoamerican art. She wanted enough background before they started that she'd know what would be a good topic to cover. Professor Eilis hadn't commented on the extra paper she handed in, which caused her to worry that maybe it sucked so much he was having to fight his way through it. She hoped not, but all she could do is try to make sure she did as well as possible on the next one.
At five in the morning a soft knock came at the bedroom door. Rebeca stood in the hallway with Don. He looked fidgety and embarrassed, but came in when asked anyway.
“Um, yeah, I woke up like this, you know, aroused and I tried to, you know, take care of it myself, but I can't come! I think I may be broken...” He sounded on the verge of panic, but Kate just smiled and told him to lay down on the bed. She pulled his sweat pants, obviously what he slept in, off, along with his underwear, in a single swift movement, and straddled him, already wet and well lubricated, since her nature caused her to be ready at a moment's notice. She'd started becoming aroused herself when she'd seen he had an erection.
Kate moved on top of him without bothering about foreplay and started milking him with muscles that Human women didn't even have, explaining that Zack had found a similar problem. He'd take care of things himself, like Don had tried to do, and nothing would happen. Whatever this effect of feeding the Alede was, it meant he needed a partner to actually get rid of his arousal for a while. A few days or so, at least.
She got him to come easily, and sent him back to bed. There was no reason for him not to get some of that sleep that all the Humans loved so much, after all. Rebeca stayed, since she'd need to go to bed soon herself, in the light proof box built into the frame of the one that Troy had lent her. It turned out that Nikki had built it herself. That particular Vampire was pretty handy when it came to making things like that, it seemed to Kate.
“It's good to have useful hobbies!” She told them a few hours later when both women got in the box for the day. They'd be cozy, but once the sun rose, they wouldn't be aware of anything until it set anyway, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal, comfort wise at least.
After they went to bed, she had a few hours to herself with very little to do. That meant there was time to do normal college girl stuff, surfing the web, downloaded a few songs, which she did legally, because Zack paid for it, and she figured that someone should actually do that for the music, so that the artists didn't starve totally. Then she went to the dining hall for breakfast. Mainly because she was bored, not hungry. The extra energy she'd gotten the day before had dulled her physical hunger a lot for some reason.
She found Jelly sitting alone at a table in the small dining room off the main one, where they normally met for dinner. She went to join her and noticed that the girl looked awful, like she hadn't slept at all, her eyes wide and scared, darting around while she picked at her food. She nearly panicked when she saw Kate, then relaxed.
“Kate! God, I think I'm in trouble. Look, you saw what I did yesterday? Pointing that thing I had at the guy that attacked Blaine, well, it's technically not a legal device and now someone's investigating me. My uncle called, he's got contacts that told him... I don't know what to do! I'm so scared. I only made it to defend myself, which is legal, but I let you see it... Gah!”
Kate patted her hand and told her to stay calm.
“I'm not a Human, Jelly. So no need to freak out there. Neither is Blaine. I'm pretty sure that Morgan saw it too, but he seemed to understand and didn't mention it. I don't think there will be a problem. The investigation into you, well, that's probably because I told my friend Lisa about you and she'll want to check you out, just to make sure you aren't an assassin or something. So, really, I think you're fine. OK?”
She had to explain what an Alede was to t
he girl, since apparently Mage schooling covered other races even less than her own had. After a while she calmed down and looked almost normal.
“Say, can I stay in your room today? I'm just going to skip classes and sleep, but my roomie is going to be in and out all day. Nice girl, but noisy.”
Kate told her that she could, but that she'd probably want to be awake by dark, since that's when the Vampires underneath the bed would wake up. This got a laugh and the girl hugged her tightly, a nice full body hug that distracted her for a bit. After getting her set up, she went to work in the library until math class, then came back again after to do her homework for that class before art history. Professor Eilis asked her to stick around after class. A woman came in and sat next to him, holding the paper she'd given the week before.
Kate looked at the woman who seemed normal enough, on the surface. Dark hair turning to gray, gold wire rimmed glasses, white hose under a skirt, and a soft cream colored blouse. Her hair was down and had been permed, but looked nice enough. She was a little horsey through the face, but didn't seem angry or anything, which always made people seem more attractive to Kate.
“I had a couple people read this, just to make sure I wasn't being influenced by your looks. It's not something I'm proud of, but it can happen, so I gave it to the others in the department to check. Everyone agreed that it was thesis level work. I checked it through every database I could find, including translations of foreign papers. Every one of them assures me that it's original work. I've got to tell you that I'm jealous. If I could have done work like that when I was a freshman I wouldn't be teaching here, but at Yale or Harvard. Maybe even working at the Smithsonian. Now, this isn't an ambush. We're not even going to suggest that you go into this field, unless you want to, but Professor Ornbacker here is your student advisor, and she tells me you haven't met yet? I thought that it was time you did. Now I have office hours, so I need to get there in case anyone has a question for me.” The balding man let his face beam at her. He seemed genuinely happy about her work at least, which she found did make her feel good. She liked that someone good in their field thought she'd done a good job.
Professor Ornbacker asked her about her interests, and didn't even seem overly shocked when the first one she listed was sex. She just laughed and asked her to go on. Her second choice, other cultures, got a bit more attention and was written down on a paper the Professor had, her third interest, martial arts, also got written down, and a raised eyebrow, but no comment particularly.
They talked for about half an hour and the professor finally asked her if she'd like to take a test that might tell her what she'd really find interesting, subject wise? She agreed and they scheduled a time, about two weeks later. The woman handed her a piece of paper with the date and time on it as well as the office number she'd need to find.
“Don't let yourself get lost Miss Swanson. College can be a wonderful tool, if you use it well, but it can also be a huge speed bump, especially for the most gifted. Stay focused and interested.”
That little speech told her a lot. A thing that she'd never even imagined to be true really. These people thought... That she was smart. Not just a little bit either, but enough to be worth taking time to groom. Even if they weren't going to get sex out of it. Not that they couldn't, of course, but they didn't know that, and were still interested in helping her succeed? That was... Well, it was their job. They didn't go to extra lengths for just anyone however, did they? Not that she'd ever heard.
Later that night Jelly had a minor melt down, realizing that there were actually real Vampires sleeping under her bed. It was cute really, since she gasped and sputtered, but then merely smiled as the women both climbed out from under where she'd been sleeping all day.
A while later, as they all sat and chatted, the RA, a slightly older looking girl for their floor that Kaitlyn recognized more for her blue hair than any other feature she possessed, came and knocked on the door. At first Kate worried that they'd been too loud or that someone had complained because they had too many people in the room, but the girl had just come around with an official announcement instead.
“A student, a sophomore, was killed last night. They found his body on the commons, in the bushes outside of the admin building. Right now the police are asking for everyone to stay calm, and to not go anywhere unless they really have to. If you do travel, to meals or something, try to go in groups of at least three. This is probably an isolated case, but we don't really know anything yet, so stay safe.” The words sounded like a prepared speech, the girl probably having given it a half dozen times already.
Blaine worried out loud that it would be one of the people that had attacked him the day before, marking them as guilty, but it turned out to be a drama student named Mark Williams. They heard this, or rather overheard this as people passed in the hall.
Jelly looked down and started crying then, fat tears running down her cheeks leaving pink tracks behind them. She didn't cry noisily, though. Britney held her and rocked her for a while, until she was ready to talk.
“I know him. Mark... He's, he was, really nice. I used to tease him about the blue beret he always wore, because it looked really gay. He always laughed and said it was just advertising.”
Nikki stared at Blaine, who had started crying too, finally going over and patting him on the shoulder.
“God... Blue Beret guy is dead? I knew him, too. I must have slept with him a half dozen times. I mean I knew his name, Mark, but I know a lot of guys named that, so I always called him Blue Beret guy. Damn. Who'd kill him? He was, like, totally harmless!”
Everyone simply stayed sad for the next few weeks. Blaine finally healed up from his wounds and started regular fighting practice again each day, pushing everyone a lot harder than he had before. He started insisting that Don and Jelly work out too. Running and lifting weights, both things Jelly sucked at, but Don did all right, even though he didn't understand why his roommate pushed them in particular, instead of everyone.
Blaine had a dead look in his eyes when he told him why, “Because you're the only ones that can improve from it. Us Alede, Kate and Britney and I, we're pretty much what we are. If we worked out for ten hours a day, we might get a tiny bit stronger for a while, but not enough to make it worth doing. Same with endurance or even flexibility. We all do all right in those areas, but we won't get better. The Vampires can already rip just about anyone apart, but exercise won't help them either. You and Jelly though, it might make a big difference for you... If anyone comes after you.”
That became the theme then. Everyone had to stay as ready as they could, just in case. Even if it didn't make sense.
Kate kept her grades high, which surprised her, when she stopped to think about it. After all, Alede weren't exactly known for their scholarly talents. Still, the near daily feedings and easily ready sex weren't hurting her concentration at all, which left her with a lot of time each day to work on studying. Professor Eilis made a point of encouraging her at least once a week and assigned her extra work for fun. Full research papers that the others didn't have to do. She didn't mind though, if anything it helped, since she had a lot of time to kill even having sex with four or five people each day. They were all in their little group, for the most part, so it wasn't hard to arrange. Even Jelly, who turned out to like guys a good bit more than girls, made a point of sleeping with everyone, once she understood their needs.
It wasn't until the next murder that everyone really started worrying.
This time it was a girl, a liberal arts student. No one in their group knew her at all, not even in passing, which seemed a little odd, given how many people Britney and Blaine connected with each day.
The odd thing was that the girl had been found in exactly the same place that the first body had been. No one knew anything though, since the police tried to keep everyone in the dark.
Kate watched as the campus emptied almost overnight. The school decided to make it official and closed the campus for two we
eks, due more to the fact that every class was half empty or more, than the murders, at least from what they told the students. Kate just shrugged to herself when she heard and called Claire to see if they could bring Nikki and Rebeca back.
That turned out to be a problem, George Penbroke and his cronies were still trying to find them, though what they planned when they did was unknown.
“Troy arranged his threat rather masterfully. If anyone acts against the girls now, the Mages could end up at war, one they cannot possibly win. Still, that won't help my people if they're killed...”
Kate got with Don and asked him to help her try something. She wanted, if it turned out to be possible, to transform Nikki and Rebeca into men for a while. It would be a good trick, and no one would expect it, she didn't think. Not this first time. Even people with magic didn't turn men into women and vice-versa, did they?
Laying them out on her bed, one at a time, she started in on the whole thing, feeling a little apprehensive. Just hoping that trying to transform them wouldn't kill them, or something. They weren't living flesh after all, so the whole thing had a chance of going catastrophically wrong. She tried to direct each change, envisioning the man she wanted them to become as exactly as she could.
The effort was incredible, taking more energy than she could actually hold at one time. She couldn't tell if it had to do with them being Vampires or that she tried to direct the change. Either way, it wasn't easy at all. She began to shake and not in a happy way. Don saw this and started feeding her while she worked, picking up on what was needed without her even mentioning anything, which allowed her to get them changed over the course of about an hour.
“Not bad!” Nikki said, looking in the mirror above the computer table. “I look a bit different than I thought I would, I have to say!”
Don laughed and clapped the new man on the back. Nikki, who they renamed Dwayne, had turned into a large African-American man. Tall and thin, almost six-eight.