“Don’t be ashamed,” the doctor said, “it’s perfectly normal.  After all, Cleopatra may have had no idea of her true nature.”  The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves at the mention of the Egyptian queen.  I had to admit, my interest was piqued. 

“Yes that’s right,” Dr. Wineman smiled, his lesson going as planned, “Cleopatra was not human.  Can anyone guess what she was?”  Nobody said a word and I spotted a few shrugs across the room.

“Succubus,” I mumbled under my breath, quiet enough so that even Luke couldn’t hear.

“What was that?” Dr. Wineman was watching me now and he pointed to me, excited.  Damn, how did he hear?  Whatever he was, it gave him good hearing.  “Ms…plus one,” he said after looking at my nametag, “cute.  So, what did you say?”  I saw Luke cover his eyes in embarrassment over what I had written.  Made us even, he tricked me into a six week course, I embarrassed him.

Everyone was looking at me now, some with curiosity as to how I knew the answer and some with annoyance that a human knew more than them.  It’s not like I actually knew though, I had just guessed.

“Succubus,” I said again, barely any louder than before.  I kept my eyes down, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone in the room.  It was a little strange that I was right, I supposed. 

“Please, louder so everyone can hear,” the doctor’s smile grew wider.  Was he enjoying my discomfort or the fact that a human was right about something for once?  I guessed it was the latter.  I didn’t like talking loudly, or even talking much at all so I looked to Luke and he knew what to do.

“Succubus,” he said loudly, “Cleopatra was a succubus.”  The fact that Luke answered for me seemed to throw the doctor, whose endless smile finally faltered.

“Uh, correct,” he beamed, “Cleopatra was indeed a succubus.  Ms… plus one, would you mind telling us how you knew and perhaps your real name?” He chuckled to himself, amused.

“Just guessed,” I said, “it seemed obvious.”  Luke repeated my answer but never said what my name was, probably because I didn’t tell him to.

“You just guessed?” Dr. Wineman seemed surprised, enough so that he forgot to ask for my name.  I nodded at him, confirming the truth.  “Well, an excellent guess it was!  But how did you arrive at the answer?  There are a lot of creatures out there to choose from, why succubus?  Most people don’t even know what a succubus is.   And to know at your age…”  Why did the doctor want me to explain so much?  I inhaled deeply through my nose.

“Cleopatra was known for her beauty and seducing men at a young age,” I explained, not trying to be heard, “she was also ruthless when it came to killing and backstabbing.  Seemed obvious.”  Luke didn’t repeat anything this time and the doctor seemed happy with the answer.  Then again, he seemed happy all the time; it seemed out of place with his greying hair and distinguished reputation.

“Very good!” he clapped his hands and began to wander around the room again.  “Cleopatra is only one of many famous, or infamous I should say, people in history that were not actually human.  How about you all shout out some names and I’ll tell you if they were human or not.”  He stuck both hands towards the crowd and flicked his fingers towards himself.  For a moment everyone was silent but it quickly changed.

The crowd began shouting names, most of them celebrities; the doctor ignored them.

“Nixon!” One man yelled from the center row and Dr. Wineman pointed at him, a large grin on his face.

“Excellent choice young man,” he said to quiet the others down, “Nixon was in fact human.”  Some people laughed, while others were surprised.

“Hitler!” Another man said from the other side of the room.  Not an imaginative bunch here, they were just going for the obvious.  The doctor laughed, most likely thinking what I was.  It made me wonder how many times he had to go through the same people in this class.

“Adolph Hitler was human,” he said and some people groaned, “but he did know of demons.  He summoned one and sold his soul.  Can anyone guess what for?”

“Power?” the same man who suggested Hitler said.  Dr. Wineman shook his head.  Other people began suggesting money, world domination, an army.  No imagination what so ever.

“Probably charisma,” I breathed quietly, not thinking the doctor would hear me again.  I thought wrong.

“Correct!” He shouted and pointed once more at me.  Suddenly all eyes were on me again.  I shrunk a little in my seat, making a mental note not to say anything else.  “Hitler had summoned a demon and sold his soul for charisma.  Another guess?”  I gave a weak smile and shrugged.  He eyed me a moment before moving on.  “Two more and then we’ll continue!”

“Elvis!” The woman in the front row said.

“Yes!” Dr. Wineman said, “Elvis was in fact not human.  He was a Satyr.  Some of you may be thinking that doesn’t make sense, but it does.”  He tilted his head, thoughtful.  “Satyr’s are most known for being half man, half goat.  I’m sure most you of are aware that Elvis was not this.  Over time the Satyr’s evolved, shedding their half goat appearance and Elvis was the one Satyr in a million that didn’t party like his kind or lust after women.  One more and then we move on!”  I was a little surprised the doctor didn’t elaborate on what had happened after Elvis died.

I began to contemplate over Elvis the Satyr.  Satyrs were immortal beings weren’t they?  So then he really didn’t die, he was still alive, somewhere; which would explain all the supposed sightings of him, or at least most of them.  Crazy would have explained them better pre-revolution.  My eyes began to drift upwards again as I became lost in thought, thinking about immortality.  Luke gave me another elbow to the ribs to pay attention.

“Amelia Earhart,” said the girl in front of me.  She didn’t shout like the others, in fact, she was rather quiet.  That didn’t stop Dr. Wineman from hearing her though.

“Ah, Ms. Earhart,” he said, “she is a mystery, even to us.”  By “us” he must have meant Eidolon’s.  I found it interesting that even they didn’t know what had happened to her.  Unless they did know, and they just didn’t want anyone else to figure it out.  I wasn’t going to be surprised if it turned out she wasn’t human, or her disappearance had anything to do with Eidolon’s.

“Let’s continue on then,” the doctor said as he walked over to the projector.  He began to fumble with it, confused as to how it worked; like all teachers were.  Next to me Luke pulled out a small note pad, ready to take down anything he thought should be remembered.  Apparently the fact that Cleopatra and Elvis weren’t human was not note-worthy to him.

“Do you have a pen?” he asked me, not as prepared as I had given him credit for.  I reached into my handbag and handed him a purple gel pen.  He grimaced and I gave a small smirk to myself, still watching Dr. Wineman work on the projector.  “Thanks.”

I had a feeling this was going to be a long three hours and an even longer six weeks.