Chapter 557: She’s On Fire

"Why would I try to kill family?"

Arc stared at Kyan in confusion. All she’d felt from the dwarf’s threads was unguarded confusion and now panic, and no intent to lie. She didn’t hear what the Professor said as she interrupted.

"Nevermind, it wasn’t her," Arc said. "But I don’t see how we’re ’family.’"

"Wait... You don’t remember me?" Kyan asked. "Your cousin. Well, maybe not by blood, but still..."

"I never saw you before the first day of school," Arc answered. "And I have a lot of cousins."

"Oh Demon Lord... Fuck, it’s me, Kyanite! Last time we saw each other was right before that thing happened..."

The only thing Arc could tell was that she and Kyanite had a slightly thicker thread than what people Arc barely knew possessed. But when she said "that thing," the first place Arc’s mind went to was...

Fire and blood. Atikka shouting. Her brother... Her brother... grinning.

"No!" Arc half-shouted at the memory.

Kyan flinched. "Mean, but fine," she started to shift, and a moment later, instead of a dwarf, a petite demoness was standing in front of her. Same height and proportions, but now with pinkish skin and light blue hair. "Recognize me now?"

Happy to focus on anything but that thing, Arc shook her head. Kyanite looked a little familiar now that she wasn’t in her dwarf form, but not enough that Arc could feel any specific memory stirring. She replied, "No, but you must be from the House of Gems?"

Kyan snapped her fingers and pointed, "Got it in one, cuz." She smiled, but Arc felt genuine hurt behind it. "Now, what do you need me for?" she asked, looking between Arc and Professor Char.

"We need you to drain her so that she comes back into phase," Char said dryly.

"Say what? Aren’t you part succubus or something?" Kyan replied.

"I’m her teacher; it would be unprofessional at the least."

"Well, I’m her cousin."

"Not by blood," the Professor shot back. "Besides, when has the House of Gems ever shied away from-"

"It’s still weird!" Kyan raised her voice. It was clear she was uncomfortable with whatever was being proposed. "At least give us the room so we don’t give people the wrong-"

"I felt something across the campus. What’s happening?" The latest newcomer was Veng, and as much as Arc wanted to find out why he’d made himself scarce the whole week, she had other things to worry about.

"Out!" Professor Char gestured, forcing everyone out of the room. "I will guard the hall," she said, "Do what needs to be done."

With that, Arc was left alone with the cousin she never knew.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing..." Kyanite pinched her brow.

"Why were you pretending to be a dwarf?" Arc asked.

"It’s easier for me. Of all the demons in the school, I’m the only full cubi at the moment, and if people knew I’m a succubus, they’d think I’m easy or something. I just want to learn."

Arc could sympathize with that. Part of her not wanting to be outed as the daughter of Kir Gale was that she’d have to suspect anyone trying to get close to her, especially if they were after her romantically. "I think I understand," she said.

"Good, because I don’t really like going full-succubus. It’s like... a drug or something for me, and I don’t like not being in control of my own head," she shuddered. "So just think sexy thoughts and let’s get this over with, and I promise not to tell if you don’t."

"Who else knows you’re a succubus?" Arc asked.

"The Student Council. A few friends. All the professors. I’ve got a bracelet that keeps away any lusty mana," she held up her wrist, where a seemingly seamless loop of gold etched with Auntie Mosh’s signature hexagonal magic covered every part of the surface, "so I’m not tempted unless I take it off... Which I will do. Once you’re ready."

There wasn’t much to the proceedings after that. Kyan asked Arc to think of something sexy and not make it weird. Arc couldn’t for the life of her fathom what a succubus raised by her Aunt Stella would find weird-

"Are you ready yet?" Kyan interrupted Arc’s working through the concept of what was happening.

"No," Arc blushed, remembering what she was supposed to be doing. "Could you, I don’t know, not just stand in front of me?"

"Oh. Right. Guess ’cousin stuff’ isn’t your thing then," Kyan seemed relieved as she stepped around Arc.

With her view cleared, Arc tried to focus. That was when she realized that she’d never thought of herself in much of a romantic sense. Sure, she knew what she liked for pleasure, but for her, the exploration of her own body hadn’t really come with much in the way of ideation when it came to imagining someone else wanting to do... things... with her.

Except... that was no longer the case. Her recent encounters with Owyn and Raven had made it abundantly clear they had more than just a friendly interest in her. What if...

Arc tried to imagine what might have happened if Raven had kissed her. She felt the desire to physically pay Raven back for all the frustration she’d caused, and her imagination filled in the scene.

She rolled Raven onto the bed, pinning her, enjoying watching the dark beauty struggle for once beneath her... Helpless...

No. That didn’t feel right. Raven might have been many things, but "helpless" wasn’t one of them. Even when she’d been captured and used up a lot of blood, she’d kept fighting on. In her imagination, that meant Raven soon reversed the situation, making Arc the helpless one as she scratched her sharp little nails down her neck...

As her imagination played out, a strange, warming sensation started to spread through Arc. At first, it was just a trickle, but then it started to feel more like a hollowing out of her insides and that was when she saw the string of mana connecting her to Kyan, which was thicker than and yet distinct from the thread that connected them, even though they overlapped...

"That’s all? Keep going," Kyan said, halfway between a growl and a moan. "Do it before I forget why I’m here!"

Arc cringed, "I-I don’t think..."

"Ugh! Fine, I’ll make you!"

Suddenly, the string of mana seemed to shift, almost as if there were an outer layer of mana sheathing now moving into her, like a sheath over the outflow. That was before the thoughts hit her. Whispers of lust that seemed directionless for a confusing set of moments before her mind latched onto memories of Owyn.

She remembered seeing him naked, but where her mind went, he was on his knees as she touched his body, those puppydog eyes watching her with gentle concern and interest. Stars, she wanted to knock that concerned look from his eyes. To make him take her seriously, even though he was three times her size.

In her daydream, she took him by the hair and forced his face down to her nethers, where he parted his lips to let her inside. A moan escaped her lips, and she felt a line of drool slide down her chin.

This felt more right. Him beneath her, or rather, her in control. Riding him. All that strength of his entrusted to her... trusting her instead of just leaving her alone and... Where did that come from?

A shock dispelled the fantasy as suddenly Arc thudded to the floor, once more corporeal and entirely drained, feeling as if a warm void had replaced her mana. No sooner did she turn onto her back than Kyan dropped from above her, eyes hazy and lips wet as she tried to kiss Arc...

"Fuck, you’re so-" SLAP

Arc smacked her cousin hard enough to make her roll off. Curling up, she saw the glint of Kyan’s bracelet, and as her cousin recovered, she rolled onto her feet and dove for it.

"Oh yeah, give it to me rough!" Kyan tackled Arc just as she managed to snatch the bracelet off the floor. For a long while, they struggled, Kyan practically toying with the manaless Arc as she seized her wrists.

"Kyan... you need your bracelet!" Arc tried not to pay attention to Kyan’s knee as it pressed between her legs.

"I don’t need that silly thing... come now, cousin..." Kyan licked her lips, pressing closer...

And then, suddenly, her eyes widened. She pushed off of Arc, looking at her arms and crying out. "What’s happening? It’s burning... it feels like I’m burning!"

Arc felt the same thing, too, but more like an itch. Without wasting time, she rotated and slapped the bracelet around Kyan’s ankle, and with that, her cousin collapsed, whimpering into the fetal position.

"What’s happening?" Arc asked.

"I don’t know! I don’t-"

The doors to the room burst open, and Professor Char hurried inside, Arc’s siblings and Owyn carrying a writhing Raven into the room, crying out that her skin was on fire, and Veng came stumbling in next, clearly suffering. Arc felt the burning sensation grow in her skin. With her threadsight, she finally saw a thin, hairlike thread that seemed to lead from the three of them up and towards some other place in the Academy. The thread felt weak, and yet it pulsed with a rapid cadence that almost seemed to time itself with the burning surges of sensation. Moments later, the sense of burning abruptly stopped, and both Raven and Kyan started to calm.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Char demanded the moment quiet reasserted itself.

Shakily, Kyan stood, looking at Raven and Arc for a moment as she cleared her throat.

"I think I might know..."