I shook my head wordlessly. No fucking clue.
She shot a sideways look at me. “Okay. Clearly you are not in the right mood to be doing this. Backburner that though, that could come in handy. What happened today? You look better than I’ve seen you in weeks, but you’re all…” She waved a hand to encompass my whole body, then let it drop helplessly at her side.
“I found out what kind of demon I am today,” I said as I shoved a hand through my hair. “I’m a succubus.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh! Oh, wow. That explains the whole thing in Combat this afternoon. I mean, kind of. It was a really weird time to turn that on. Or turn them on.”
“Not really. Apparently, I get all kinds of power from sexual contact. Including healing power.”
“So when you were injured, your powers just kind of took over and you made out with the four closest people?”
“I guess. But I guess I kind of imprinted on them, even before that.”
She cocked her head. “So they’re, what, your goslings?”
“More like my sex slaves.” I gave a dry laugh. “I guess we’re bonded for life or something. Cassandra, the healer in the infirmary, said I could get power from any sexual contact, but that those four are my super-cell batteries.”
“Ooh. That’s kinda cool. And they’re all super hot too.”
“Yeah.” I chewed my lip, thinking about them. They were all insanely gorgeous, in their own ways. “I don’t know, it’s weird. I’m attracted to them all. I’m just not sure.”
“About what?” She frowned slightly. “Honestly, I’m jealous. You’ve got four sexy guys at your beck and call, and you have to have sex with them to survive. Honestly, I’m not seeing the downside here.”
“They are,” I said quietly. “At least I think they are. Don’t get me wrong, my body agrees with you one hundred percent. Of course I want to spend all my time rolling around naked with them.”
“Ohh… all at once? Like a harem? Oh my God, Piper. You could have your own harem!” Her eyes went all hazy and dreamy.
I snapped my fingers. “Earth to Hannah. You’re forgetting something. I may be completely reliant on their sexual energy for my power, but they aren’t reliant on me. I know Jayce is into it, but the rest of them… not so much. And here’s the thing: having sex with Jayce is amazing, but—”
“Hold on, you didn’t tell me that part! Where? When? How was he?”
“Fourth period, in the closet under the stairs, he was fantastic. The point is, even though the sex was great and powered me up like nothing else, I still felt incomplete. Like the other three guys are pieces of me somehow, and if I have one and not the others, I’ll never be fully whole.”
“Oh.” She thought about that for a second, tugging her lip between her teeth. “I see. But you’re a succubus, right? They won’t be able to resist you.”
I shrugged. “Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. Maybe they won’t, but they’ll want to, and that’s just as bad. Well, kind of. It’s just that they hold this insane amount of power over my life and my well-being, and that is fucking terrifying.”
Hannah smiled at me and patted my hand. “Look at me, Piper. Everything is gonna be okay, I promise. You know what you need?”
“A stiff drink and a time machine.”
She laughed. “Can’t help you with the time machine, but I might be able to help with the drink.”
I pulled a face. “They keep alcohol around here? That seems like a bad idea.”
“It would be, and they don’t. This group of students I’ve been talking to lately is sneaking out tonight to go drinking. It’s kind of prohibited, but Janice says they do it all the time. You want to come?”
My stomach clenched. “Are you talking about teleporting? Because I don’t know if we should be doing that without a guide. We’ll end up embedded in a rock face or something.”
“Not if we can see where we’re teleporting to,” she said slyly. “Look.”
She brought me to the window and pointed toward a valley on the opposite peak. Clusters of golden lights were just starting to come on. “That’s a little human settlement. They’re super remote, but they have a old bar in the village. All we have to do is get close, make sure we all look human, and walk the rest of the way.”
“Won’t they ask where our yaks are or whatever are? I can’t imagine many humans try to hike there.”
She giggled. “Can you imagine? But no, they won’t ask. They never do, apparently. They’ll look at you funny, but as long as you pay and don’t start any trouble, they don’t care.”
“We have no money.”