Chapter 11

Sophia

Sophia woke to a quiet room. While Cate was always quiet, it also felt lonely. Speaking of her roommate and bestie, she looked down at her phone and smiled at a text notification from her.

“We made it in. My partner is a stiff suit. Joslyn’s a girl now. You would love to see what I’m being forced to wear. Corpses suck. Wish you were here because I need someone who laughs at my jokes. See you Monday. Cate.”

Just then there was a knock at her door.

Sophia sprang from bed, draped a cover-up over herself, and answered the door.

Standing there was Brittany.

“Brittany… hi.” She then realized something was wrong and out of place. “Wait… is it a full moon already?”

“No it isn’t,” Brittany replied with concern. “Hey — I need to see Cate.”

“I told you yesterday — Cate’s out of town.”

“Yesterday?” she echoed. “I don’t remember…”

“In the dining hall at dinner time. You asked for Cate, I told you she was out of town.”

“I don’t remember that.” She looked around, frightened.

“Britt — are you OK?”

“No,” she responded. “I was changed without the moon. I still don’t know how or why.”

“Umm…” Sophia began. Sophia realized Brittany needed someone to talk to, and Sophia was kinda lonely. “Do you wanna come in?”

“Yeah,” Brittany said, walking into the room. Out of habit she walked to Cate’s bed and sat down.

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Sophia suggested.

“Umm.. I woke up like this. I don’t remember anything from last night or yesterday evening.”

“What’s the last thing you do remember?”

“Walking to the dining hall.”

“Where you saw us.”

“Yeah, but I don’t remember interacting with you. Nor what we talked about… Sophia I’m scared.”

“Scared? Why are you scared, Brittany?”

“No!” she shouted, cringing. “It’s Brett. I’m Brett. I’m not supposed to be Brittany. Not this week anyway.”

“Oh, I’m sorry — Brett.”

“If a Were doesn’t change with the moon,” Brett explained, “they get crushing dysphoria. 

“It doesn’t happen often. Occasionally on the rare lunar eclipse at the beginning or ending of the full moon period. Or sometimes during early puberty before our bodies are ready to transform.”

“Is that what’s going on now? You’re dysphoric?”

“Very.”

“I’m so sorry. But I’m not sure how to help. This isn’t really my — or Cate’s — area of expertise.”

“I was talking to Jamie.”

Sophia looked up at the mention of her Were girlfriend. She blushed as her thoughts went to last night’s date. She had done things with Jamie she had never done with James or any previous girlfriend. 

“And she suggested that maybe this is a repeat of last year. With Mr. Sanders.”

Sophia shook off her reverie of the previous night. “It can’t be,” she replied. “Jackie died. We both saw her die in that cornfield.”

“Could someone else have restarted her work?”

“The lab is gone. The only other people who knew of her work were Ashley, Brandi, Cate, and Julie.”

“And they’re your friends.”

“We saw them yesterday during dinner. They hadn’t mentioned anything about restarting Jackie’s work — and why would they?”

“I don’t know, Sophia. I don’t know what to do. My mind is telling me one thing, and my body another. It’s killing me. I can’t go to class like this.”

“Good news, It’s Saturday.”

Brett breathed a sigh of relief.

Sophia placed her hand on Brett’s shoulder. “Why don’t you sit down while I get everyone over here and then we can discuss all of this.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

Lana

Lana laid in her bed tossing and turning. The voice was louder now. More defined. She wanted more guys. The Were wasn’t enough.

She sprang from her bed, staggered over to her dresser, and grabbed the mirror in frustration. She looked at her reflection. She was still wearing her T-shirt from last night. But there was no mistaking it. Her breasts had grown. Even her face was much more feminine now.

She let go of the dresser and clutched her breasts. They were larger for sure, the flesh of them squishing outward from between her fingers. Maybe up another cup size, if she knew what cup sizes were.  They were also much more sensitive than when she was a flat-chested boy.  She began to massage them, becoming increasingly aroused at the sensations.

Suddenly her reflection changed. The woman with red eyes and horns appeared again. This time she spoke to Lana.

“He was tasty, Lana,” she whispered through the mirror.  “Mmm, so tasty.”

“W-Who are you?” Lana asked, starting to panic.

“I’m Leila,” she cooed. “I’ve been trapped in that choker for a long time. Drinking that male essence last night has given me much-needed life.”

“It’s you,” Lana surmised. “You were the voice in my head all summer.”

“Yes. Thank you for finally finding me a meal.”

“You didn’t hurt him, did you?” Lana asked. “What did you do to him?”

“You mean, what you did to him?” She smiled back at Lana. “You drank from him. Now we are stronger. But that Were wasn’t filling enough. We need more.” The demon in the mirror continued, “We need more men, preferably ones that are male all of the time.” 

“This campus doesn’t have many more males.”

“Then we need to leave campus, Lana. Where are there men around here? Think!”

“Umm.. back at my former school. In town.”

“Then let’s go there.”

“I can’t,” Lana protested. “They’ll see me.”

“Let them see you.” She smiled at Lana. “Let them come to you. Obey your hunger. Your desire.”

Lana’s stomach grumbled, her resistance to being seen in public fading. “Yes. OK. Let’s go there.”

* * *

Lana walked out of Cooper Hall, through campus and out the main gate of Puellae Aurora Academy, only a block from downtown Weatherford.

Lonnie had hung out downtown quite a bit, but this time felt different. She was a girl — a TG — and her presence evoked stares from the townspeople. 

“Look at them, Lana,” Leila commanded in Lana’s head. “See how they stare? They don't see a 'freak', they see prey. They want to devour you. But you’re going to turn the tables. They are the prey, not you.”

Standing in front of the diner was a Normie boy. Lana recognized him as Drew, who was one grade below Lonnie at Weatherford High. Assuming he wasn’t held back like Lonnie, that would make Drew a senior this year. Drew was one of the stoners who liked to just loiter around downtown, smoke, and tease other people. Lonnie had even sold Drew weed a couple of times.

It’s not like there was anything better to do in Weatherford. Either you were in sports, or you had no place to go.

Typically the sight of Drew wouldn’t do anything for Lonnie, but his scent — his male essence was calling to her. The choker thrummed and Lana found herself walking straight up to Drew.

“Well, hello there,” Drew said, a mischievous grin on his face. “I haven't seen you around before.”

Leila giggled in her head, “Answer him, Lana. Invite him into your clutches. Take him. Make him yours like you did with the Were.”

Lana looked at him for a moment. Her previous self was screaming. She wasn’t attracted to men. She couldn't do this. But there was noise in her head that was increasing in volume.

“You need this,” Leila insisted over the noise. 

“He’ll recognize me,” Lana whispered to herself.

“Let him,” Leila hissed.

The noise in her head lowered as Lana reached up and caressed Drew’s arm. “Hey Drew, long time no see.”

Drew was taken aback. “Who are—”

“It’s me, Lonnie. Do you like my new body?” she teased, twirling around to give him a 360.

“Wait — Lonnie? You’re one of those freaks now?”

She let a slow, predatory smile spread across her face — a smile that felt like it belonged to Leila. 

“Want me to show you just how freaky I can be?”

Fear appeared on Drew’s face as he looked into Lana’s eyes. “I — uh…”

“I’m hungry, Drew,” Lana leaned in and whispered. The scent of his male essence was more pronounced than the tobacco scent emanating from his skin and clothes. She began to lightly nibble on his ear. “Mmm, you taste so good.”

“Don’t play with your food,” Leila buzzed.

Lana glanced toward the narrow, shaded alleyway between the diner and the old hardware store. She looked back into Drew’s eyes. She watched as his focus was lost in her gaze. “Come with me,” she directed.

“OK,” he said absently.

Lana led him into the alley and pushed him against the brick wall. She pressed her body against his. Reaching up, she cupped the back of his neck as she pulled him down into a kiss.

It wasn't like the kiss with Brett. She wasn’t sure what she had been doing then. It had been an exploration. This was an extraction. As their lips met, Lana felt the "male essence" Leila craved flowing into her like a cold refreshing drink.

Drew’s hands, which had been fumbling at Lana’s T-shirt, suddenly went limp. His knees buckled, and his eyes rolled back as the strength was drained from his limbs.

WIth Brett, she was able to stop. As a Were, his essence was laced with femaleness. With Drew it was harder. His essence was fuller and richer.

Leila’s voice echoed in a crescendo of triumph. “Yes, Lana! Drink! He is so tasty!”

As essence flowed into Lana, something else flowed out of her and into Drew.

She suddenly felt Drew shrink in her grasp. Felt breasts pushing out from his chest, squishing against her own.

Lana pulled back just as Drew slumped to the gravel pavement, unconscious and pale — and no longer male. She looked down at the new girl, feeling a surge of energy that made the world seem sharper and more vibrant.

Lana ran a hand over her chest, feeling the fullness there, the power of the choker thrumming against her skin.

“Good girl,” Leila cooed. “Now that we’re recharged, let’s find some followers.”

Lana gave a satisfied nod. The hunger was gone — but so was her resistance to being a hunter. It was replaced by satisfaction. She stepped over Drew’s unconscious form and walked back toward Main Street.

* * *

Sophia

Sophia had called upon all of the available students who were aware of what happened with Mr. Sanders — Jackie Sanders — last year. Ashley, Julia, and Brandi had been in her science club. Each of them sacrificed for her experiments. So was Sam’s girlfriend Lulu, and eventually Sophia herself.

They all met in Sophia’s dorm room to discuss Brett. Some sitting on the floor, some on each of Sophia and Cate’s beds.

Each looked curiously at the now-female Brett.

Sophia spoke up first, “Hey ladies, I invited you all here because our friend Brett woke up this morning as a girl. Yes, he’s a Werewoman, but no, it’s not the full moon.”

“So how’d this happen?” Sam was the first to ask.

“I don’t remember,” Brett replied.

“Brett doesn’t remember yesterday evening,” Sophia explained. “And there’s some concern that this is related to last year.”

“Last year - you mean what happened to us?” Brandi asked.

“No way,” Ashley disagreed. “Jackie’s research was destroyed by the Order of the Dawn. Besides, we all saw how unpredictable it was — I spent a month in a nursing home as a frail old woman, unable to tell anyone who I was.”

“Couldn’t someone — not one of us, of course — always just restart the research?” Julia asked.

“I don’t see how,” Ashley replied. “Not without the original research. Not without the lab.”

“Then what is this?” Brett asked, gesturing at his female body.

“When we saw you at dinner, you were still — Brett,” Brandi pointed out.

“What happened at dinner?” Brett asked. “I remember walking into the dining hall, and then nothing.”

“You were looking for Cate,” Sophia reminded him. 

“Because we’re fighting and I wanted to know if I did something wrong,” Brett said.

“Right.”

“Then I told you she was out of town.”

“Where?” Brett asked.

“Guys, we’ve had this conversation already,” Brandi complained.

“Well, I don’t remember that conversation.”

“Bikini Beach,” Sam said above their arguing.

Everyone looked at her.

“It’s not a secret,” she added. “She’s doing a favor for the headmistress.”

“Where is that?” Ashley asked.

“Is that a real place?” Julia added.

Sam shrugged.

“When’s she coming back?”

“Maybe Monday. Maybe longer,” Sam said.

“Focus,” Sophia said, clapping her hands. “Back to filling Brett in on yesterday.”

“What happened after I asked about Cate?” Brett asked.

“I suggested to Brett he should just cut Cate loose,” Julia said.

“Why?” Sam asked.

“It doesn’t matter at this point,” Julia waved her hands dismissively.

“But since Brett is Brittany now, maybe that helps,” Brandi said.

“Brett is not Brittany,” Ashley corrected as she threw a pillow at Brandi. “Sophia said Brett is currently dysphoric.”

“Sorry.”

Brett simply frowned. “Then what happened?”

“You started acting weird,” Julia said. “You and the new girl were repeating everything I said.”

“The new girl?” Brett asked. “Who is that?”

“Lana - the new Viral upstairs,” Sophia reminded everyone.

“Yeah,” Brandi added. “She even got up and left almost immediately after Brett left.”

“Should we invite her to this party?” Sam asked. “Perhaps she knows something.”

“Yeah,” Sophia agreed, standing up. “Be right back.” She left the room.

The rest of the girls and Brett sat around the room and looked at each other. Neither sure of what to say.

Finally Ashley spoke up. “Brett, is there anything we can do for you? For your dysphoria?”

“I dunno,” he said. “Jamie gave me a binder. But I can't shake the feeling my skin is crawling.”

“I still have some old stuff from back when I was constantly dysphoric,” Brandi said. “If this lasts much longer, I’ve got more binders and packing underwear you can have.”

Brett nodded. “Thanks. I mean - I have my male wardrobe. So I should be fine on that aspect.”

“And if you need to talk to someone — I’m here. I’ve been through it.”

Brett managed a weak smile at the gesture. “Thank you, Brandi.” 

A few minutes later, Sophia came back into the room. “She’s not there.”

Brett’s shoulders sagged, as if all of the hope he had to solve this problem had evaporated. “What now?”

“Well, I think we need to find Lana,” Sam said.

“Where could she have gone?”Julia questioned. “It’s a Saturday and… the girl doesn’t really have a social life yet.”

“Maybe she went into town,” Brandi suggested. “We did tell her she needed to work on her wardrobe.”

“Yeah, but she also said she was broke,” Julia pointed out.

* * *

Lana

With her hunger satiated, Lana found that she had more energy. She walked from downtown through the middle-class neighborhoods with their “Moore Miller 2024” yard signs and on to the home of Lonnie’s old acquaintance, Alice. Lana had no plan, but in Lonnie’s last months, he had no other friends other than Alice — who was more of a business associate than a friend.  

Lana hadn’t seen Alice since that fateful day she left Weatherford high for the last time. When she got the GB diagnosis, she shut herself inside and didn’t leave the house all summer until arriving at PAA.

Alice had been friendly, and had shown genuine concern the last time they saw each other.  The only problem —  Lana knew Leila sought out men. So why was she walking clear across town to find a woman?

“I was preparing to use her,” Leila replied, as if hearing Lana’s thoughts. “The choker was for her — until you picked it up. She’s already been primed.”

“Primed?” Lana asked. “What does that mean?”

Leila didn’t answer.

Lana stood outside 467 Oak Street and hesitated before Leila compelled her to walk forward to the front door.  She knocked on the door, secretly hoping nobody would be home. But could she even keep a secret from Leila anymore?

“No,” Leila responded.

Alice opened the door and looked at her.  She cocked her head before her face showed recognition.

“Oh my God!” Alice remarked. “Lonnie?”

“It’s Lana now.”

“Fuck! Wow. I heard rumors, but I didn't believe them. Come in!”  Alice opened the door to Lana and they both walked in.

Lana looked around the living room.  She had never been here. Alice’s family was one of the more prominent families in Weatherford, but Lonnie and Alice’s interactions only ever happened at school, behind closed doors, under bleachers, and the warehouse.

“There were rumors that you were dead, that you fled town, that you got arrested. But I remember what you looked like on the last day of school.”  She took in Lana’s appearance from all angles. “I mean… wow. Look at you. Sorry — where are my manners? Can I get you anything?”

“No,” Lana replied.

“How are you doing? I assume your visit is related to what was happening the last time we saw each other.”

“It is. I’m fine now. I’m taking my life into my own hands.”

“I’m so glad. Same with me. I um… I’m clean now. I got a job.  When the police arrested me, that was rock bottom.”

Lana tried to stop Leila through her thoughts, “Don’t do this.”

“We need her,” Leila insisted. “I’ve already invested a lot of magic in her. She’ll succumb quickly.”

“She’s innocent. She’s been nothing but kind to me,” Lana pleaded. “Please? She was my only… friend.”

“And she’ll be nothing but kind to you after this too. In fact, she’s just the start. You can enact revenge against all of the people who weren’t kind to you.”

Alice looked over her guest, noticing she was lost in thought. “Are you OK? Is there anything I can do?” Alice asked.

“Yes, there is,” Lana said, looking directly at Alice.

“Look into her eyes,” Leila commanded Lana.

Lana found herself moving closer to Alice and stared directly into her blue eyes. Lana couldn’t stop her own arms as she brushed her fingers along Alice’s neck.  

Alice looked back and the moment her eyes met Lana’s, they locked onto each other. She was unable to move or look away.

“She’s ours now,” Leila informed her host. “Take her — and make the enthrallment complete.”

Lana wrapped her arms around Alice and gave her a kiss.

Lana expected the kiss to be cold and without emotion, but when their lips touched, she felt immense intoxicating pleasure.  She never wanted it to end.

Alice’s eyes began to glaze, but her body instinctively fought the foreign invasion. She gasped, pushing against Lana’s shoulders. "Lonnie… No... stop... what are you…"

“Shh…” Lana purred into Alice's ear. “Don’t resist.”

“I…” Alice wanted to protest, but stopped when they locked eyes again.

Alice’s resistance was replaced with attraction and arousal as Lana resumed the kiss.  Alice joined Lana and gasped in pleasure and wrapped her arms around Lana’s shoulders.

Like with Drew, Lana could feel the energy glowing between each other. Except this time, the essence was flowing out of Lana and into Alice. The intimacy of the kiss, and Alice’s surrender, made her own knees feel like they would buckle.

The transfer was done.

With a soft sigh, Alice released her embrace. She stepped back, her arms falling limply to her sides, her eyes completely vacant and glazed over.

“Ask her who she serves,” Leila beckoned.

“Who do you serve?” Lana asked Alice.

“I serve you, Mistress,” Alice said without hesitation.

Lana found herself grinning at this show of power. Her attention was distracted by motion coming from behind Alice.

“Alice!” yelled her mother. “What are you doing?”

Alice didn’t reply and stood at attention waiting for Lana’s command.

“Is this your mother?” Lana asked.

Alice nodded. 

“Introduce me.”

Alice turned to her mother and said in a monotone voice, “This is my friend, Mom.”

“Your friend?” Alice’s mom snapped back in disdain. “How dare you bring this — Godless homosexuality into this Christian household!”

“She sounds delicious,” Leila said to Lana. “Have your new thrall take her.”

“She can join us,” Lana said to Alice.

Alice stepped towards her mother and held her hand out.  “Don’t worry, Mom, she’s my mistress.”

Alice’s mother tried to back away from her daughter, but found her limbs frozen.  “What… what is this? I can’t move.”

“It’ll be over soon, Mom.” Alice reached out and gently caressed the back of her mother’s head. 

Lana stepped forward. “Let me take all of your worries — all of your pain,” she found herself saying. “I can make it all go away if you serve me.”

Alice’s mother looked at her daughter with fear in her eyes. “Let me go.” 

“Let me take your fear,” Lana said.

Alice leaned in and kissed her mother.  Her mother twitched as her eyes drifted upwards.  After a tense few seconds, she finally stopped.  Her eyes were alert but she could no longer move or protest. 

Alice then stood aside to let Lana finish the subjugation.

As Lana approached, the mother's eyes widened in silent protest. Lana leaned in and kissed the older woman. Once again she felt the immense euphoria of thralling this woman, who was immediately hit with pleasure herself as her eyes closed and she bound her soul over to her new mistress.

There was a wall mirror nearby. Out of her periphery, Lana could see her feminine features harden.  She could see hints of Lonnie reappear as she used her power to enthrall a second straight woman.

Lana let go of the mother.  She was in the same trance as her daughter staring obliviously straight ahead.

“Who do you serve?” Lana asked the women.

“We serve you mistress,” both women answered in unison.

“We need to feed,” Leila thought to Lana.

As if hearing Leila, Alice turned to Lana. “Mistress, my father is still here.”

Leila perked up upon hearing a male was here. 

“Bring him to me,” Lana eagerly said.

Alice’s mother looked toward the back of the house and calmly said, “Gerald. Can you come here, dear?”

Alice’s father came into the room a few seconds later, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “What’s going on?”  He looked at Alice, then at her guest.  “Who is—” 

He didn’t get a chance to finish.

Before he could even register the glassy, vacant look in his wife's eyes, she grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss.  “What are you…” At first he was timid, worried about having a public display of affection in front of their daughter and guest. 

He was a bigger man than his wife and was able to push her away slightly, breaking the kiss.

“Alice, help your mother,” Lana commanded softly.

Alice didn't hesitate. She stepped forward and restrained her father’s arms.

“Gerald, stop fighting,” the mother murmured in that chillingly vacant voice. “It will be over soon. Just submit to Mistress.”

Gerald’s eyes widened in sheer terror as he looked from his wife to his daughter, and finally to Lana. “What did you do to them? What are you?” he thrashed, but with both of them wrapping their weight around him, he was completely trapped.

Lana’s choker thrummed as she walked over to the male.  She looked into his eyes.

He tried to look away but found he couldn’t.  Before he knew it, his brain had fogged over and his limbs went limp within his wife and daughter’s grasp.

Both Alice and her mother moved away to let Lana finalize her meal.

Lana didn’t wait. She was hungry.  She placed her lips over this and drank. The extraction was instantaneous. A cold, rushing river of masculine energy surged out of Gerald and into Lana.

Lana’s femininity returned as she drank the male essence. She peered into that same mirror and saw herself become more beautiful.

Like Drew earlier, Gerald also shrank — leaving a woman shorter and more malnourished than the man that had been there.

He collapsed where he had just been standing onto the living room floor.

Lana thrummed with new energy. Enthralling the two women had weakened her, but now she felt strong and sexy once again.

“Well done,” Leila said to Lana.  “Tell me you didn’t enjoy that.”

“I… I can’t,” Lana thought.

“Thank you for freeing me from this cage,” Leila said.  “Let's go find more.”

“Yes, mistress,” Lana said without hesitation.  She gasped as the words left her mouth. For the first time, she realized the two women beside her weren’t the only ones under Leila’s spell.  That thought quickly dissipated. Then she turned to her thralls. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, Mistress,” they replied and the three women left the house.