Her clothes hung in strips, tatters. The torn shirt, bra, pants, panties all stretched over her body and clung tightly, making it seem she wore some kind of skin tight clothing, but with more skin on display. The other Lucy was just like the first time Michael saw her. A pale-skinned, muscular demoness with blood-red eyes, red horns, a light pattern of scales across her limbs, and large leathery wings that she stretched as Michael rounded the corner.

  He hadn't seen what her powers were the first time she had changed, but the dead bat monsters littering the floor marked her as incredibly dangerous, even if he was still not completely certain of the full range of abilities that the woman possessed, not to mention her sheer presence was a bit overwhelming to see again, and in the context of having battled demonspawn, he thought. This time, standing in front of her, the situation made Michael just a little nervous, since she looked like she might eat him.

  "What happened to you?" Michael asked. His mind wandered back to when Lucy was hiding, then had ran out into the hall. Then the two others said she'd gone somewhere, the timeline was murky. He didn't know whether "real Lucy" had any control of what was before him, so he thought the question might bring some normalcy. He hoped.

  "What happened?" She replied. Her tone seemed more than a bit irritated. "You abandoned me. You made me hide. I got scared, and when I tried to find somewhere to hide I got trapped in here." She shook her head. "Those monsters, they were going to attack me, but then... then this happened and I got the strength to defend myself," Lucy replied, "I got strong, Michael. So I fought them off and they couldn't touch me, I just ripped them to bits and threw their broken bodies around like toys," she added, grinning at him with her long sharp teeth.

  "Are you okay, Lucy?" He said. His eyes couldn't avoid her muscular figure, nor her impressive curves. And as his gaze drifted around the locker room, he realised just how powerful she must have been to take the bat-monsters down so quickly and violently. He felt the weight of the weapon he carried. "Is there anything I can do?"

  "You could try thanking me." She replied, grinning at Michael as though she was playing some game. Her body language and her demeanour suggested to Michael that the Lucy standing in front of him had little to nothing to do with the timid and terrified girl he'd last seen. She stood up then, and spread her huge, leathery wings out to her full wingspan and said, "Well, since you didn't run away screaming yet, I'll forgive you for being a bit slow."

  "Um," he began, a bit shocked as the demoness stepped towards him, the sound of clicking causing him to look down and see taloned feet touching the cold tile floor of the locker room. He also noticed the slim line of scales that traced a glossy black line up from her talons all the way to her upper thighs, disappearing into what little clothing remained. He wondered how the transformation could change so much about her without leaving her completely naked. As Lucy continued towards Michael, she stretched her arms out licked her lips.

  Then, Michael lost his breath when she quickly stepped forward and grabbed him. As the demoness wrapped him up in her arms, squeezing his whole body tightly in an almost back-cracking hug, pushing his back into the lockers as she lifted him. Then she started laughing a seductive giggle, and Michael felt her head against his cheek, the heat of her body noticeably hot, then she pushed her lips onto Michael's. Her kiss was forceful, and she moved to push her tongue into Michael's mouth, the look of lust on the redhead's face giving away her desire. He didn't know what to do about the girl's superhuman strength, but thinking quickly, he tried to use his own magical powers against her, visualising small black tendrils which, instead of crushing a foe, now gently teased the demoness' arms away from him.

  It worked.

  As Michael tried to pull away from the kiss, Lucy stopped kissing him, letting go and allowing Michael to drop back down to the ground, and she stared at him, as if she were stunned, her body unable to move as Michael telekinetically held her in place, her red eyes flickering black for just a second before they seemed to come into focus on the surroundings, the dead monsters and Michael, a little worried look in her eye.

  At least there was worry at first. But while Michael had been terrified that Lucy, even in her demon form, would have been terrified or angry at his use of power over her, that worry quickly changed into something else. Michael saw her lips curl into a grin and her red eyes widen as if to say "Wow." She smiled, almost like the cat who got the cream. And she gave out a soft moan, as if to say she approved of being restrained.

  She said, in a seductress voice, "I guess play time is over for now." Then she winked.

  She started laughing. Her laughter seemed like an uncontrollable response and she began to transform. He watched her body change. It was incredible.

  It started at the tip of her horns and slowly started to travel downwards, across her muscular and well-defined body, her scales, horns and talons seemed to disappear as the redhead changed from the powerful, superhuman form of a red-skinned demoness back into a more human, though still attractive form of Lucy.

  When her red skin had gone, Lucy had been returned to the same size, shape, and figure of a much smaller young woman. But the transformation had also had a couple of side-effects, including a sudden change in mood from seductress to nervous young woman, and as she came back into her own personality, Michael watched her cover her body with her arms in an attempt to regain some sense of modesty between all the holes of clothes which were now torn and hanging in tatters.

  Michael wasn't sure what to think. He thought he was beginning to understand the "costs" that Katie had talked about, and the consequences that they would face if they used their abilities.

  He could see how his own powers were becoming more useful, or more easily available to him. He wondered what the cost would be for him as he watched Lucy sit down, somewhat embarrassed onto one of the benches.

  Before he could say anything, Sarah had slid into the room, followed by Katie who were both standing behind him and watching the redhead girl change and her body change shape from its more monstrous, powerful form back into a much more familiar twenty-something girl. Both girls had seen it happen and while they were all relieved that she was OK, Michael wasn't sure how he was supposed to broach the subject to the girls that she had, moments before, tried to force herself on him, or how it would change things. He figured silence would be his best option on that point, and decided to avoid it by thinking of something else to say to change the subject.

  The room was quiet. But then Sarah stepped forward. Michael watched as Sarah seemed to go from standing with him and Katie to walking towards her friend and standing in front of Lucy with an arm outstretched and an offer of support.

  "Come on. Let's go, Luce," Sarah said.

  "Oh God, Sarah..." Lucy replied, and it reminded him of back when he was a university student, and the girls would get drunk on nights out and cry about their boyfriends or exes while under the influence of a little too much alcohol. Of course, this was something so different it might drive him insane if he didn't stop himself thinking of it.

  As he watched Katie join Sarah in the girls' group hug on the other side of Lucy, Michael had a couple of seconds to ponder the situation he'd been thrown into.

  "Uh, girls," he said, on the one hand not wanting to break up their hug but on the other, thinking about how he could move the situation forward. To his surprise, all three women looked back at him.

  "What's wrong, Michael?" Lucy asked, and the redhead, now with a more serious expression, wiped a few tears away from her face. "Is there more monsters?"

  Michael set out his thoughts in a stream. "We haven't had a chance to rest yet," Michael began. "And we need a plan. There are so many of them, it seems. We don't know if there are any still in the school, but it's not safe here, anymore. What I thought I'd do is head back through to the library to find you some clothes Lucy. And then..." Michael trailed off.

  He had more thoughts he needed to process, and as his brain came around to them, the first was that he needed more clothes, the girls needed more clothes, and they probably needed to get out of the school, even if they'd be out on their own. But that brought with it the realisation that there would probably be a whole host of problems they hadn't yet encountered, but were just waiting for them out there.

  He took a deep breath and waited to hear if the girls had any response to the thoughts he'd shared.

  "Well," Lucy replied. Her expression had turned thoughtful, though Michael knew she'd be somewhat out of her comfort zone. "What I want to do right now is go to bed," Lucy said. Then, when nobody else said anything she continued, "I know, we're all hungry and we all probably have to go find food at some point, and it's dark and scary, and the city is a nightmare." Her face lit up. "But we could use a rest," Lucy concluded.

  "She has a point, you know." Michael turned to Sarah.

  Katie didn't look as convinced. But then she smiled a little. Michael had to wonder what was going on inside their minds.

  Lucy added, "Plus, there's no real food here, so we have to go out there at some point anyway," and her eyes moved to Michael. "But right now I want to find something warm to wear and sleep for a hundred years. It feels like my brain has gone through a food blender."

  Michael saw Sarah's reaction to that, the blonde girl looking anxious. Her hands started playing with the ends of the blonde strands of her ponytail as she stood up, and Michael could see her hands were shaking a little, and he realised it was all taking more of a toll on her than she'd ever let on now that her mental shield was back up.

  Taking the three girls in, he thought of a plan on the spot.

  "OK, I know you girls are tired. Lucy, especially, I guess your, um, thing that you do wears you out," Michael began, a bit cautious since they hadn't exactly shared with him the specifics of what their powers felt like or anything. He saw a nod in response to that. "And you," Michael continued, "We've been fighting those things all day. It's dark, we don't know what we're facing." His eyes scanned the group. He had their full attention, he realised, so continued, "So you guys all need some rest."

  He paused, making sure they were still with him, before he continued with his plan. "Before you rest, I want to go and grab Lucy some clothes and I'll do a sweep of the school corridors and make sure there's nothing out there that wants to get us. Then, once I've got back here with your stuff from the library, I'll stand watch outside the locker room so you girls can all get a few hours' rest. Then we'll head out when it's light. How does that sound?"

  He wasn't expecting much of a reaction. Michael knew that he wasn't used to taking charge like this but his mind had quickly come up with the plan that seemed the best way to protect them. His thoughts also had come around to how, once the sun was up, he would make sure he could get all four of them to safety and find some kind of a way for them to make their way back home. Wherever that would be.

  The girls looked to be having an internal dialogue that he was excluded from. The three women shared looks, expressions and body language, as though they could all sense each other's feelings. It wasn't anything Michael was a stranger to. It seemed that most girls he'd ever met had a way of talking to each other that men were simply not able to be a part of.

  "So what do you say?" Michael said after a minute, "Is the plan alright with you?" He could feel his eyelids were heavy, as though the girls' exhaustion were contagious, but it wasn't enough to take him away from his protective instincts and he wanted to get the three girls into bed as soon as he could.

  "We'll stay here until you get back." Lucy spoke up. She sounded sleepy.

  Michael simply said "Great," before making his way out of the locker room. Though he felt healed, spectacularly so considering how close to bleeding out he'd been earlier, he was tired and the adrenaline had probably worn off. He made sure his hands held his blade and sword firmly and he slowly opened the locker room door and stepped through. He made his way down the hall and around towards the main sports centre corridor, the florescents flickering. His ears strained to hear anything and he listened carefully as he turned down into the sports hall, and as he reached the doorway, Michael heard something in the darkness that sent shivers down his spine.

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  "Hello?" Michael whispered as the sounds seemed to be coming from within the hall. His hand gripped the handle of the sword a little tighter. As the sound came to his ears once again, it seemed to Michael like it could be one of the bat monsters. Or some kind of wild animal, perhaps.

  But then Michael stopped in his tracks when his flashlight shone on the ground in the centre of the hall.

  His mind had a moment to catch up as it dawned on him what it was that was standing before him, illuminated by his flashlight.

  The monster seemed like it had once been human. It had long limbs that seemed stretched beyond their original shape, a featureless head and what appeared to be tentacles or feelers hanging from its mouth.

  "What the fuck?" Michael whispered under his breath.

  As the monster started to move, Michael's first reaction was to raise the blade and rush forward.

  His hand held his blade aloft. His sword raised. The adrenaline began to pump and Michael saw his mind flash an image of himself once again fighting the creature. But instead of rushing to the fight, his legs stood firmly rooted in the doorway.

  The thing began to walk forward. As it moved towards Michael, it began to move a bit more erratically.

  This time Michael had more of an idea of what he was dealing with.

  The creature rushed at Michael.

  And this time Michael reacted differently, letting out a burst of power, like he'd used on the previous monsters.

  As it approached him, the creature slowed and came to a halt.

  Its arms began to rise and the body began to stretch upwards.

  Michael saw the body twist as the thing stretched its body in different directions. The sounds it made were guttural.

  It stopped. Michael stared, trying to decide what to do. Before, he'd always just used his power to crush the monsters, but having dealt with Lucy in her demon form, he knew he could hold the beast as long as he concentrated hard enough.

  He took a slow step forward, cautiously.

  The monster let out a loud hiss. The creature seemed like it wanted to lash out at Michael and he could see it trying to resist whatever magical power was holding it. Its body stretched and it tried to push forward. The monster was becoming angry and as it pushed forward against Michael's magical bonds, he saw it struggle against them.

  It's like the monster was testing its bondage, Michael realised. But it seemed like no matter what the monster tried to do to resist it, the magic that was holding it was far too strong, so it seemed for a moment to just surrender to its ethereal chains.

  As the monster seemed to relax its muscles, it let out a screeching hiss. Realising that the creature might be signalling to others of its kind, Michael let out a forceful command to silence the beast.

  Michael felt his magic react to his will. As it flowed out from him, he heard the monster let out a gasping choke, before the monster fell completely silent and the silence returned to the sports centre, as if the only noise in the room were Michael's own heartbeats, loud and fast as his mind processed what he had done to the monster, his first moment of conscious thought as his brain had started to wonder how exactly his magic worked, but more importantly what the creature was and what he might have to do to defeat more of the things in future.

  Michael took one more look at the dead creature before mentally slapping himself for getting curious and forgetting his task, which was a quick supply run up to the library to find the girls something to change into, or at the very least, something that'd act as makeshift clothing for the redhead.

  The school seemed much quieter than it had been before and as Michael made his way up the staircase from the ground level to the second floor where the sports library had been he kept a careful ear and eye out for any monsters or other horrors, though at that moment he had more than enough confidence that he would be able to take them out.

  His mind was alert. He could still hear the screeching and howls that he'd heard before. But none of them seemed to come from inside the building. As he rounded the next corridor and took the stairs back up the library, the events of the night flashed back through his mind; the fight with the cloaked figure, his doppelganger helping him, then the various skirmishes with the bat monsters, followed by a kiss from Lucy while she was transformed.

  As Michael made his way through the door into the library, he saw the body of the cloaked figure that he'd killed earlier, and as dawn broke through the window, the lifeless corpse lay, blood congealed in a dark red stain on the library carpet, its face contorted into the deathly mask that it was. He had narrowly avoided becoming a lifeless corpse on the ground tonight.

  Pushing the morbid thought aside, he thought it lucky that the girls had put their things in backpacks and left them here, and knowing he was limited in what he could carry, he just grabbed the three bags, slung them over his shoulder, and hoped it'd contain what they needed immediately.

  Whatever their next plans were, he'd have to go back to his own home and do the same, topless as he was. It then occurred to him he could pull off the tourniquet now that he was healed, and the sticky dried blood and gauze pulled at his arm hairs as it came away, but he'd clean up properly later.

  Then he made his way back to where he'd come from, being careful to not draw any unwanted attention.

  Michael kept his senses sharp for the next ten minutes. His eyes strained and he listened as his heart pounded. His hands held tightly to the hilt of his weapon and as he stepped quietly through the dark, the flickering light of the hallway began to show the locker rooms.

  The sound of footsteps brought his heart into his throat. As they drew closer, Michael quickly put himself into the darkness of a side corridor.

  He looked out from around the corner and he could make out a silhouette that seemed familiar.

  A woman.

  Michael let out the breath he'd been holding and his hand loosened the grip on his sword as the figure started to move towards Michael's position and as it did so, it moved under a flickering light, revealing her identity. As the figure came close, he saw the short, voluptuous build of Katie coming around the corner, and she jumped when Michael stepped out and grabbed her by the arms. She gasped, and her eyes shot to his face.

  "What is it, Katie? Are the other girls ok?" His mind started to race.

  "The other two are asleep, but... Michael... you've got to come and look at this. I found something out there. It might be... well, just come and look."

  ***

  A minute later, after quickly making his way back down to the girls' locker room, putting the bags down next to the sleeping girls, Michael followed the brunette out to one of the large glass panes of the sports centre that faced the outside, towards the town.

  Michael wasn't sure what he expected; maybe another hellish creature or demon or some other kind of horrible sight. He just didn't expect it to be so overwhelming.

  The world was just like a nightmare, a waking nightmare. A few miles away, on the other side of the city, there was an ominous swirling vortex of clouds that hung in the air. It was massive. Michael's mind seemed to boggle at the size of the maelstrom, his thoughts coming to him that it must be miles in size, the swirling dark cloud mass hanging over the area, a small funnel visible in the centre and reaching up into the clouds.

  Michael watched as it rotated, dark clouds swirling in the night sky, seeming to churn and boil.

  "That wasn't there before," Michael said, stating the obvious, turning to look at Katie, his thoughts now trying to figure out what it meant.

  He didn't have a clue what the vortex might mean, or what would happen to the world in the light of this strange new event.

  The two stood silently, watching as the clouds swirled and roiled above. As the maelstrom churned and spun, the night seemed darker, as if a storm was about to break. They watched for a minute, and Katie's voice came back into the silence. "Michael," she said, looking to him. "I'm scared."

  Before his conscious mind knew what to do, he took a step forward. His arms came out, wrapping Katie in an embrace, the woman pressing her body into his, and she began to shake a little. His lips met her cheek in a quick peck before he held her tightly against him. She started to sob softly as she looked out the window at the darkness and swirling vortex.

  After a couple of seconds of holding her tightly against his chest, his lips came away from the brunette's cheek, and he softly whispered in her ear. "Come on Katie. I'm sure it's going to be OK," Michael lied, thinking that things weren't likely to get much better, and not wanting her to worry about it more. "Come on. I'm here with you and the others," he whispered into the girl's ear.

  Her tears started to subside as they stood looking at each other, the only light in the hall coming from the glowing clouds outside. Michael knew it probably wouldn't help things for them to stand out in the hallway any longer, not in light of what had just happened to him in the gym, so he led the woman back down towards the girls' locker room where he hoped Lucy and Sarah would still be.

  As the two stepped through into the locker room and the florescent light flooded their eyes, Michael was relieved to see Lucy and Sarah still sleeping, Lucy leaning against one wall and Sarah sprawled across the wooden bench.

  The redhead and the blonde had found something to throw over their legs and torsos for modesty's sake and were sleeping in a deep slumber.

  "Should we wake them?" Katie whispered to Michael. The brunette stood by him.

  He shook his head, whispering back "Let's just let them get a few more minutes," Michael said.

  Then, with his mind a little clearer and less occupied, he was reminded of how much of an exhausting, long, strange night it had been for the girls, having had to use their abilities in a way that he didn't think was exactly easy, or normal.

  The pair sat down on one of the benches.

  "You can take a few minutes if you need it, Katie," Michael offered, though he was pretty sure he knew the response already, seeing the girl as tough. "I'll be on guard. Nothing else will come near us while I'm here."

  She didn't say anything. Her brown eyes just stared at Michael as she looked him over, a look in her eyes he couldn't really read but one he was starting to feel he recognised, and that caused some strange thoughts in his head as well as his groin, but he thought now was probably not the best time. Definitely not the best time.

  "Get some sleep Katie, and then in the morning we'll figure out what we can take and where we're going." Michael watched as Katie stood up from where she sat beside him on the bench, her expression having turned from sad to serious.

  Michael watched as Katie went over to another of the locker room benches and pulled some folded up clothing and put them under her head as she laid down on her side, looking over to him, and the other girls. Her eyes seemed to drift off in sleep as soon as she'd put her head down on her folded clothing. He figured that it was going to be a long few hours, and probably not very comfortable for him to stay on watch for that length of time. He looked around for a place that he might sit that would give him some comfort.

  After looking at his surroundings, he noticed that the door into the girls' locker room could be closed and he pulled the handle slowly shut. Michael didn't think they'd need a barricade or anything like that, but it would help keep any stray sounds out.

  Michael walked around the room for a few seconds. He wasn't really thinking of much at all. Just walking. He thought of how his feet were sore. His mind drifted to other things. It occurred to him how many hours of sleep he'd gotten the last few days. Probably not a lot.

  He decided that, although he'd planned on keeping the girls safe, there were other things that his mind needed to think about. His mind wandered. What would the maelstrom bring, and what was his place in it, or theirs. Why did the vortex exist in the first place?

  Michael took a seat on the bench and leaned his head against the lockers behind it.

  His eyes started to feel heavy, and he couldn't keep his mind from drifting.

  As the girls' breaths turned rhythmic with their restful sleep, he thought about what they were going to need when the time came for them to make a break for it in the morning, or whenever they were ready. His eyes scanned around the locker room for any signs of things they could use if they went on a trip, but other than the backpacks, clothes, and a few things like spare deodorants, towels and water bottles, there wasn't much else that would come in useful for what was about to be thrown at them, which he didn't really know.

  The minutes ticked by. Michael found himself tested by demons of a different kind. Mental ones, the 'what if's?' and the 'why didn't I?'s and 'what should we?' that kept his mind spinning.

  As the hours passed and the morning light started to show itself, the girls began to stir.

  ***

  The room had gotten a lot brighter, the sunlight coming through a window high on a wall opposite where the four were. The rays hit Lucy in the face. The redhead let out a sleepy murmur. She stretched a bit. "How long was I asleep for?" she said. Michael couldn't be sure how long they'd slept for. In a way, it didn't matter.

  He looked to each of the three beautiful girls in his care, and each of them, although sleepy, looked somewhat refreshed, ready to take on whatever it was the day held in store for them.

  Sarah sat up from where she lay. Her blonde hair had fallen across her shoulders and back in messy tangles. "How long were we asleep?" she asked. Michael wasn't really sure of that, but it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours at the very most.

  "Not long," he said, stifling a yawn of his own, "but you looked like you needed the sleep. The way your powers work... I'm still a bit unsure of the cost of them."

  Sarah looked down at her body, seeming to inspect it for anything amiss.

  Katie stretched, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes with her fingers. Her hair was mussed up and stuck out in all directions, giving the petite woman a rather adorable appearance, her skin a little red where she had pressed her head against the folded clothing.

  "I think we should leave the town today," Michael said, looking across at each girl in turn. "I'm going to go to my house, pick up a few things, and then..." he paused, wondering how the three girls might respond to his next statement, "...then we can try and find somewhere safe," he concluded.

  The girls shared a look and he knew that they thought the same as he did; that there probably wasn't anywhere that was safe left. Still, if that's what they thought, none said anything, so Michael figured it was probably a good plan. Michael had his own house he wanted to head back to and find a few supplies and anything they needed to stay out of sight, plus the sun was starting to shine and that made it easier for the four of them to travel in daylight than at night.

  Michael then said, "You guys can wait here if you want. My house is a ten minute walk away and if you'd rather I leave and go alone, I can."

  He looked to each of them. The three of them shared glances with each other. Sarah said, "We're not splitting up or letting you go anywhere without us." Her voice had an edge. She seemed a little worried that Michael was going to disappear.

  "I just figured it would be safer for me to go out and do this myself," Michael responded, though he figured the three girls would be an asset if they did encounter more of the creatures.

  "You're not leaving me behind," Katie said, as if that were the final word on it. Michael couldn't argue with her tone of voice. It sounded as if it was her way or no way. Michael also thought the other two would back Katie up. "We're coming with you, and we can get what we need and figure out where we go next. You'll be a lot safer if we go out as a group anyway."

  Michael didn't know if they were trying to be protective over him or just felt safer as a group, but he felt it would be better if they all went along with his plan. It wasn't really worth fighting over, so Michael said, "Alright then."

  Michael got up and walked towards the door, his back towards the girls. "I'll let you guys get changed in peace. Then we'll go. Together."