Brandi, Protector of the Gateway Pt. 14

"Is there some way we can bring her back?" Nicolette asked for the fifteenth time that month, feeling as though Mrs. Winter's death was directly her fault, a punishment for her jealousy and attempt at revenge.

"I'm afraid not," Niles said, pushing his glasses back. Aside from Brandi, he'd been hit hardest by Kristine's death - for days after he'd learned what had happened, he'd been inconsolable. He'd gone home, released Rita, and spent the next few hours sobbing onto her surprisingly sympathetic shoulders.

Even after regaining her freedom, she'd decided to stick around. His treatment of her had awakened a spark in the demon girl, and she was curious to see how much of his deviant behavior had been implanted by Mr. Foster, and how much of it had simply been hiding beneath the surface.

"Magic doesn't work like that," Rita added, one arm casually wrapped around Niles' waist.

Brandi wasn't happy about the demon's presence in their lives, but she knew everyone was still adjusting, and so she hadn't made an issue of it. Every time the demon glanced her way, she felt a pang of hatred; she knew the two of them would eventually come to a head.

"So...what next?" Duncan asked, awkwardly adjusting himself.

One thing that everyone was still adjusting to were the now-permanent changes to everyone's bodies. Brandi still had the body of a stripper, Duncan was sporting a python of a cock, and Nicolette was a strange combination of fit and fertile, with well-defined muscles and wide, child-bearing hips.

Which, they discovered, were soon going to be used. Her efforts had paid off; both she and Lily were pregnant.

Duncan wasn't sure how he felt about it - he wasn't sure if he was ready to be a father, if he was ready to take on that responsibility. He and Nicolette had decided not to get back together, not until they got their heads sorted out...but the young couple had found themselves unable to keep their hands off each other whenever they were alone.

Three or four times a week, they somehow managed to find themselves falling into bed together, enjoying each other's bodies. Nicolette's pregnancy hormones - combined with her memories of "Demon Week", as the group had started calling it - had given her an almost-insatiable sex drive, and Duncan was more than happy to help out in that regard.

The football player was back to his woman-loving ways, and the two of them keep discovering new ways to enjoy each other's bodies.

He wasn't looking forward to Nicolette's religious father finding out that his darling girl was not only pregnant, but that the father had broken up with her shortly after making her so. Until the baby came out white, he knew his protestations wouldn't be believed.

"We find out what happened," Lily said determinedly, "and make sure it can't ever happen again."

The biggest change, however, was in Lily. Mr. Foster's changes had stuck, and as well as being stunningly beautiful and pregnant, the redhead was now just as powerful as Brandi. Not nearly as skilled, but Niles had decided to focus his training on her until she adjusted to new new form.

So far, she'd managed to destroy three coffee mugs just by gripping them too hard.

"I've checked out the office," Michael said. "It looks like the ritual was localized to that room; if we start checking for that kind of thing when we do sweeps, we can avoid it happening again."

Brandi nodded, and then flushed slightly as she realized how much it was making her new boobs jiggle. She was still coming to terms with her new bust - she'd started wearing a sports bra, but something about the alterations that Mr. Foster had made meant that no matter how constrained her breasts were, they still jiggled alluringly at every opportunity.

"What can I do?" Harry asked nervously, and Lily shot him a kind look.

After they'd taken down Mr. Foster, Brandi had chased Harry down, prepared to destroy the abomination for what he'd done to her mother. But when she'd found him, he was uncontrollably weeping, just as horrified by his new body - and what he'd done - as everyone else was.

To top it off, he was still irresistibly attractive. It made no sense...but, of course, demon magic rarely did.

And so she'd invited him to join them, to help make sure that what happened to him wouldn't happen to anyone else.

He'd been training alongside Lily for a few weeks now, and the entire group was aware of the tension crackling between them. Two unnaturally strong, supernaturally attractive beings in close proximity...betting on what was going to happen between them would have been easy money.

And if anyone could navigate the strange mixture of perfect skin and unnatural blades that was Harry's body, it was a Protector.

Lily had even brought him with her when she'd had Greg sign papers promising that he would never seek custody or contact with their child. Harry had just rubbed two of his finger-blades against each other and Greg had signed without hesitation.

"Right now, nothing," Niles replied, and after a few minutes of discussion, the meeting was concluded.

The school was closed for a month for repairs, and when they returned it was likely to be under a whole new faculty - more than half of the teachers had requested transfers to new schools, feeling uncomfortable teaching a room full of people who had seen them having sex or directly participated.

All of their false memories had disappeared when Mr. Foster had, but what they'd actually done would never leave them.

"Brandi," Michael said, pulling the Protector to the side. "Can I have a word?"

"What's up?" she asked, utterly failing to plaster a natural-looking face on her face.

The two of them hadn't spoken since Demon Week, not really. One of the last memories Brandi had of her mother was seeing Michael pounding her from behind, and even though he and Nicolette had both explained the situation, Brandi still found it difficult to look the two of them in the eyes.

She just hoped that Nicolette's baby wasn't Michael's. DNA tests didn't work on demons, so until the child was born, they had no way of knowing.

"I just...I just wanted to say..."

Brandi resisted the urge to smirk as her former lover went completely tongue-tied.

"What's up?" she repeated, and he took a deep breath and looked her directly.

"Brandi, I just wanted to say..."

Again, he trailed off. Brandi tilted her head to the side, and pursed her lips.

"Hmm?"

"...I just wanted to say that it was really cool, what you did. With Harry."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Michael shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Lots of people wouldn't have been so forgiving."

"Well, sure. But I mean...he wasn't in control of his actions. Just like...well, we all did stuff."

"Yeah."

The two stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, until Brandi broke the silence with a laugh.

"What?" Michael said defensively, and Brandi shook her head.

"Nothing. It's just...I'm just glad things are back to normal."

"Yeah," Michael said with a nod. "Me too."