The "Purifier" gulped. How had this gone so wrong? They were doing God's work, weren't they? He stared bug-eyed into space, feeling the angel-girl's one arm locked around his chest and the sword in her other hand pressed just far enough into his neck to make its point without actually cutting him. Was she going to kill him? Would he...would he die in the Lord's service? He had always thought of martyrdom as a romantic sort of thing, a noble moral victory, but now that he was actually facing it...no! No, it couldn't end like this!
"D-don't k-kill me!" he stammered, his feet kicking pointlessly in the air. Lucas rolled her eyes. "I wasn't planning to," she said. "I just want you to know I could. Okay, you three! On the ground!" She didn't go so far as to actually threaten their leader if they didn't comply, but the implication was pretty clear. The three other men prostrated themselves before her, no more eager to be on the wrong end of her sword than their leader was. As they were doing this, Marina glided down gently from the balcony and moved next to Robert, just in case something went wrong.
"Okay," Lucas said, "take your hood off. Marina, filma isso por mim, por favor." Marina nodded and moved a little closer with the camera. The leader hesitated. "Take it off!" Lucas snapped. "If you think this is God's work why are you ashamed to be seen doing it!?"
It took another moment for him to comply, but he did take his hood off. Marina got a good long look at his face with the camera, then they moved to unmasking and filming the others, who were a bit less cooperative on account of not having a sword pressed into their necks. To Robert's surprise, only one of them was a parishioner of hers, but she thought she'd seen the others around the city before. It saddened her to think that she might not have been the only source of this madness...
In a surprisingly short time, there was the sound of sirens approaching, and three police cars pulled into the church parking lot. "Wh-where did they come from?" Robert mused to herself. Lucas smiled. "Oh," she said, "our other sister went and got them." Sure enough, one of the people emerging from the cars was a third angel-girl. However, she was held back by one of the policemen for the moment while others approached, guns drawn.
"Freeze! Drop the weapon!" one of them shouted at Lucas. The angel-girl nodded and pulled the point out of her captive's neck, then let it fall to the ground. She dropped gently to the grass still clutching him; she would have liked to just drop him, but she didn't want any chance of accidentally injuring him if he sliced a toe on her blade or something. The fewer excuses these creeps had, the better.
"They were attacking her," she said, indicating the devil-woman as she none-too-gently shoved her captive away from her chest and towards the police officer. "They were going to kill her. Marina has it all on the camera."
"That's what your friend said," the policeman said, eyeing her skeptically. "I'd be interested to know how it is you knew about this ahead of time."
Lucas shrugged. "We just knew we were supposed to be here," she said. "If you need more explanation I'll have to make it up."
The officer sighed as he lowered his gun, the other cops handling the other captives. That wasn't really a satisfactory explanation, but he couldn't just dismiss stuff like this anymore...he'd seen stranger things than sudden premonitions from angels since the sun changed. He turned to Robert. "Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked.
The devil-woman took a moment to realize he was addressing her, then nodded. "I'm...I'm all right," she said. "But...what's going to happen to them?" She felt so conflicted, feeling bad for her attackers, but she knew that...for at least one of them, she bore some responsibility. She hadn't made him attack her, nor had her sermons probably done more than stir up sentiments that already existed within him, but...she was still partly responsible.
The policeman shrugged. "By the looks of things," he said, "I'd say they're going to be charged with attempted murder. Unless there's some other explanation for the noose?"
Adam sighed. A petite harpy in a now-oversized bathrobe that was nonetheless riding up and exposing her behind thanks to her tail...this was her. And it wasn't even night yet. How was she even going to get through the rest of the day like this, let alone get to work in the morning to find out what adventures awaited her there? She was...she was going to need help.
Returning to the kitchen, where she'd left her cell phone charging, she grabbed it in one talon and wriggled the charger plug loose. She set it on the floor, turned the speaker-phone mode on, and dialed a number with her claws while she sat on the floor. She waited for the other end to pick up...
"Hi, Mom?" she said, slightly stunned at how different her voice sounded now. "It's me, it's Adam. ...yes, I have changed. No, I...I exposed myself on purpose. Well, I...it's hard to explain, Mom. Just trust me that I didn't do it lightly. Eh? Well...it could have gone worse, I guess. Yes, I'm a girl now, and...oh, uh...harpy."
She sighed. "I know, I know, but...not much I can do about it now. I've seen worse changes, I really have. Well, yeah. Mom, I was wondering...when it's dark out, could you come over? I'm still trying to deal with this, and I could really use some company. Yes, I'm at Grandma's. ...Thanks, Mom. You're the best."
Miss Violet led the little squirrel-girl into a coatroom with a couple of sizable wardrobe cabinets, and began to look through them until she found what she was looking for. "Here we are," she said, pulling a couple hangers out and holding them up. It was a simple white blouse with a vest on top, a loose necktie, and a skirt that looked like it would be a little less than knee-length on her. "This is our traditional girls' uniform," she said. "It's what most of our girls wear. We also have a dress version, since some of our students have trouble making the skirt stay around the waist."
Lilly noticed that Miss Violet herself was wearing a grown-up version, though she appeared uncharacteristically fidgety when the hem of the skirt brushed against her legs. She had to admit it looked pretty nice, but she hadn't thought they'd want her to wear girls' clothes here! But then, wasn't she a...a...?
"Um, is that all of 'em?" she asked. The principal smiled and shook her head. "No. We have uniforms with just pants too, if you want, and some of our younger girls do just use the boys' uniform; that doesn't have the vest. Like I said, we're pretty flexible with this. Really, we have to be."
Lilly thought for a bit. She kind of wanted to wear boys' clothes if she could, but...she wondered, what would Jenny think?
"Um, what's Jenny wear?" she asked.
The principal thought for a minute. "Hmm, I think she's wearing the traditional uniform," she said.
Lilly thought, then decided. "I want that one," she said. She hadn't intended to wear a skirt, but if it was good enough for her friend, it was good enough for her! Miss Violet smiled. "I think that's a good choice for you. We'll find one that's the right size, and then I'll have it adjusted so there's a gap for your tails in the skirt."
Erica made it through dinner pretty well; the eating (and the surprisingly decent quality of the food) helped distract her from the reality of her situation. She got Nikki to bed as early as she could; she...she didn't know what the evening might have in store.
She was going to tell him the truth, all of it. She didn't want to, but if she didn't, it would just be her alone, fighting an increasingly desperate battle against these feelings, while he was confused and not knowing what to do...that wouldn't help either of them. But the truth, the terrifying truth...
She moved over and sat next to him in front of the fire. "S-Sam," she said, "I...I thought about it, and...I never thought I'd feel this way, but...look, you're a good man, you're a nice person, you're the closest friend I have here, you're...you're handsome, and...Sam, I...I think I...like you too."
She breathed deeply several times. She had felt like she was going to throw up, saying that, but now that it was out there, now that it was said...she didn't really think she disagreed. Samuel brightened visibly, but he didn't want to push too hard; it was one thing not to hold back in making his move, but to push her too far, too fast...he didn't want to drive her away. He just put his arm around her, and she sighed.
"But," she said, after a moment, "I need to tell you...I'm going into heat."
He blinked, confused, and then stared at her. "You mean, like a...you're going to have to...?"
She nodded. "Like...like a real skunk, yeah," she said. "Only...it's kind of different for me. It's emotional as well as...as well as physical, I get lonely and I want companionship...I don't have to do anything, but I'm going to want to, on every level. I have a day, maybe two, before it gets really strong..."
"Well, if you don't want me to, I won't do anything like that," Sam said. He hadn't planned for that kind of thing yet, anyway! She had only just kind of agreed to be his girl now, they hadn't even started any kind of courting...
She sighed and turned to him. "Sam, I...I know you wouldn't, I know you'd respect that. But...I am going to want you to, even if I don't know if I do right now. I don't want to drag you into trying to decide what I really mean, when even I don't know, and then blame you for reading me wrong later..." She paused, then took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. "Sam, I...I don't know if I can just...be your girl. I...I think we might have to jump right into...being lovers." She hung her head, long white hair hanging down over her face, her shoulders quaking. Samuel put his hand on her shoulder and she steadied a bit.
"Listen," he said, "if you don't really want this, Erica..."
"I do!" she sobbed. "I do, and it's not just the heat talking, it can't be at this point. It's just...everything I know from before...everything I knew about my old self...I've changed so much and I never even realized until-"
Sam took her in his arms and kissed her. He worried about rushing too much, but...she was getting so caught up, she needed something to pull her back to reality...and she embraced him and returned the kiss, so...she must agree.
