Violet was running a few minutes late. She’d had a bit of a meltdown in the bathroom earlier, underestimated how long it would take to paint her nails, and couldn’t find an outfit that was somewhere between “completely hiding her new boobs” and “completely inappropriate”. In the end she’d resolved the conflict with a lace bra — which was already uncomfortably tight — and light sweater that hung off of one shoulder, letting her adjust how much she exposed. And thank god for stretchy jeans because she wouldn’t have been able to get them on otherwise.

  As she stepped into the bar, Meryl waved excitedly from a window alcove table for two. The place felt magical. The bar itself was dimly lit by a hanging stained glass fixture running its entire length and the small tables buzzed with the excited chatter — and emotions — of couples and close friends and nervous first dates.

  Violet waved back and stepped up to the bar to order something, her own nerves growing as she waited for the bartender to notice her. She tried to subtly check whether her ears were sticking out of her hair.

  No one cares, you’re just drawing attention to it, she told herself.

  As she approached the alcove, Meryl jumped up to give her a hug. Violet barely managed to set her drink — something clear with a sprig of rosemary sticking out of it — down on the table before Meryl gave her a tight squeeze.

  “Ow owow–“

  “Ow?? Did you get shorter?” Meryl asked as she released her.

  Oh god, did I? It wouldn’t even surprise me at this point, Violet thought as she sat down. And it would explain my weight.

  “It’s a long story, somehow, considering it basically started this morning.”

  She leaned forward and pulled her sweater down to show Meryl her new cleavage. It seemed to be straining against her undersized bra even more now.

  “You got tits? What! When? Why didn’t you tell me!”

  “Today. Like, three hours ago.”

  “What? Vi! Shouldn’t you have bandages on?”

  “No no, I grew them.”

  “What! Today?? Show me again.”

  Violet leaned in again and Meryl reached most of the way toward her, pausing to meet her eyes with an inquisitive look. Violet nodded, grateful the place was so dimly lit, and Meryl squeezed one of her breasts through her bra.

  “Damn, girl. Those are nice. And you need a bigger bra!”

  Violet looked down again.

  “I’m pretty sure they’ve grown since I put this one on.”

  “How?”

  “I have no idea. Anyways, how are you?” Violet asked.

  Meryl took a sip of her orange drink, twirling its contents with the toothpick a few times before setting it back down.

  “Boring! At least compared to this!” she laughed. “For real though, not very much. I saw someone new last Friday, but I wasn’t feeling it. Oh, and work still sucks.”

  “Oof, you weren’t lying.” Violet feigned a yawn and Meryl laughed again.

  “Wait,” Meryl said, “You just claimed you sprouted those perfect tits three hours ago.”

  “I know, it sounds absurd–“

  “Yeah yeah, but you begged me to go out tonight hours before that.”

  “Oh, right. Um…” Violet flushed, poking at the condensation on her glass. “I think something is wrong with me. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was going to tell you. When I sent that text I just wanted to get away from it all, back to boring,” she said, exaggerating the last word to make it clear she was joking and really meant normal.

  Meryl pretended to be offended, then smiled briefly before her expression faded to concern. “Wrong with you? Wait, should you be drinking? Have you talked to a doctor?”

  “No! Absolutely not!” Violet shuddered at the thought of having to detail her inexplicable experience to a doctor. She’d get laughed out of the office or poked and prodded for the rest of her life, depending on how that conversation went.

  “Okay okay, just worried about you. You know you can always tell me what’s up. Or we can just get drunk if you’re not ready,” Meryl said with a wink and Violet smiled.

  “Ugh, okay fine! But I’m warning you in advance that none of it makes any sense and I’m not crazy, I think.”

  The need for that last disclaimer concerned Violet. The prospect of telling another person what she’d been experiencing suddenly made ‘crazy’ feel a lot more likely.

  “Vi, chill. Start at the beginning.”

  “Okay. Um… I’m not sure exactly when it started. Most of it was today, but for the last week or so I’ve been unusually, uh… horny.”

  She half-whispered the last word but Meryl seemed to get it, her eyes widening a little bit. Once Violet could tell Meryl was still taking her seriously, she continued.

  “Anyways, today it was like, times ten. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. I even– Oh god, this is embarrassing–” She paused, covering her face with her hands.

  “Hey, I’m not judging. You can tell me.”

  “I– Well, I just kept getting more turned on, I don’t know why, and I ended up getting off in the work bathroom.” Violet looked down at the drink she had yet to touch, still mostly covering her face with the palms of her hands.

  “What? Vi, that’s not that weird.”

  “No, I know. It was the intensity of it. I couldn’t think about anything else. I don’t know if I could have stopped myself.”

  Meryl looked — and felt — a little confused.

  “And it didn’t help, I still couldn’t think about anything else. I left work early to see Ryan again and I could barely control myself on the bus. I was still so turned on I– I came right there on the bus, in front of a bunch of people. I wasn’t even touching myself or anything.” Violet retreated behind her hands again. “Oh god, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, really.” Now Meryl looked thoughtful, as though she was starting to see how much this was bothering Violet. “Maybe there’s something going on with your hormones?”

  “No– Well, maybe, but then all this weird stuff started happening.”

  “Weird stuff? At Ryan’s?”

  Violet nodded. “Sorry, if this is TMI tell me to stop.”

  Meryl waved a dismissive hand.

  “We had sex, and probably would have had a lot more, if I hadn’t freaked him out.”

  “Freaked him out?”

  “Yeah, he’d just finished a second time and when I turned to look at him he was like ‘omg your eyes, you look like a demon.’ Well, not like that, but he literally used the word demon.”

  “What?” she laughed, “What does that even mean?”

  “It’s very literal, I saw it in the mirror too. My eyes were glowing this fiery purple color. I don’t know how to explain it.”

  Meryl stared at her with a confused expression. “So wait, did you feel better after that?”

  “Well, yeah. A lot better, actually–“

  “You are!”

  “What?”

  “A demon! Vi, you’re a fucking succubus!” Meryl declared as though she’d just solved the case.

  “What?”

  “Yeah! When are you going to get your horns and tail?” Meryl snorted, then realized she’d gone a little too far as an expression of terror crossed Violet’s face. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just teasing, Vi.”

  “I mean–” Violet paused nervously. “You might not be that far off, now that I’m thinking about it. I haven’t even told you half of it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Violet lifted her hair back from the side of her head closest to the alcove window and felt Meryl’s flash of surprise and giddy excitement as she saw the pointed ear. They were longer now than when Violet had first noticed them, formed from two slight curves in the shape of a knife with a soft but pointy tip. They protruded out to her sides more than they did up or behind, poking out through her hair slightly, though she wasn’t surprised Meryl had missed them in the dim light. Violet felt the conflicting thrash of Meryl’s emotions, envy and extreme excitement accompanied by self-conscious hesitation.

  “I know you love them, it’s okay,” Violet quietly reassured her friend. “I actually kind of like them too.”

  “Oh my god, Vi! I’m so jealous! Show me again!” Meryl practically exploded with relief.

  Violet blushed, “People will see!”

  “They’re not paying attention!”

  “Later!”

  “Fine, fine. They’re so cute! You know I’ve looked into having that done. I don’t think they can get results close to this, though. Yours are so long!”

  Violet flushed an even brighter pink.

  “Sorry, sorry! I’ll stop.”

  “Oh,” Violet suddenly said, “and I forgot to show you this after I mentioned Ryan.”

  Violet turned her phone to show Ryan’s last two texts, which she’d received on her way to the bar.

  “What the hell did you do to me?”

  “It’s still hard.”

  “He’s been at work for hours,” Violet added, her voice concerned.

  Meryl snorted, “Vi! What the hell? God, I shouldn’t be laughing. Is he okay?”

  “I don’t know, probably. It’s not like I even know what I might have done. I guess I’m just, like, walking viagra now or something,” Violet said with an exasperated shrug.

  Meryl laughed even harder at that.

  “There’s one more thing…”

  Meryl actually looked excited.

  “It’s probably actually the biggest thing. It’s certainly the scariest thing. You have to promise not to tell any of this to anyone, but especially this.”

  “Of course, Vi.”

  Violet thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, squeeze the toes on one of your feet.”

  “Okay?”

  “Left.”

  Meryl looked confused.

  “Left again. Right. Left. Left. Both.”

  Meryl’s eyes had grown progressively wider. “How?” Meryl asked, and Violet could feel her confusion.

  “I don’t know… I can feel what people near me are feeling. The first time was this morning. Then, again, when we had sex this afternoon, but that time it got stronger. By the end I could feel everything.”

  Meryl’s eyes looked like they were trying to pop out of her head. “Everything?”

  Violet nodded. “What it felt like for him inside me, his orgasm – which, yeah, weird stuff – even his emotions. Like–“ Violet looked down shyly for a moment before continuing. “I felt your excitement when you saw my ears.”

  Meryl blushed bright red. “Vi, that’s insane,” she whispered.

  “I know… And it seems really dangerous. Like, how is it even possible?”

  “True…” Meryl smiled slightly. “Though, it does sound pretty amazing for sex.”

  They both blushed again and looked down at their glasses. Meryl’s was empty, Violet’s still untouched.

  “Meryl… I– I don’t know how to turn it off,” Violet said, her voice getting shakier as she spoke. “What if I change more tomorrow? What’s happening to me? What if it’s really bad? What if I can’t control myself, or can’t hide it, or I ca– I can’t–”

  Meryl rushed around the table to embrace her friend as she started to sob.