The two friends sat alongside each other on Benjamin's bed, both silent. Neither tried to break the silence, until Benjamin sighed and rubbed his face. "Have we made the right decision?"
Mike couldn't answer that question.
"I'm useless here," he continued. "No-one needs my particular skills. But Ethan, he feels right at home at this agency. And you have a purpose too. You like learning these rituals, don't you?" He turned to Mike and noticed him nod, but there was something off. "Are you okay?"
Mike shook his head before he turned to face his friend again. "You're going to leave, aren't you? Ethan is going into nightshifts to hunt vampires, you will leave, and because I'm not a fighter none of the agents here respect me; they rather kill demons than sending them home. I'll be alone..."
Benjamin put a hand on Mike's shoulder. "I won't go anywhere yet, okay?"
"You will," Mike said, "because they will capture Steph and I'm here to stop you from going there." Benjamin jumped up from the bed, but Mike grabbed his arm. "And I will stop you because they will kill you if you try to intervene! You said it yourself: you don't have any skills that are an asset to this agency, there is nothing you can do against trained agents. You are expendable to them, and you are not to me."
"We can warn her!"
"They will know it was you, because the only way you can know before they move is because I told you. And I wasn't supposed to tell you this. I know you will hate me for this for the rest of your live, but if you will protect her now, you will be locked up for treatment to get rid of of the succubus charm. I believe you when you say you're not under any spell, but they won't."
Fear, anger, pain, it all battled for a place on his face. Benjamin jerked his arm back. "What about you? You can go to her without anyone seeing it."
"They know what I can do and I don't do solitary isolation any better than you do. You're claustrophobic, I'm autofobic."
"We can't do nothing; I can't live with myself if we just let this happen!"
Mike took in a deep breath and nodded. "I will warn her if you stay here. They can't prove it was me, only suspect." He closed his eyes and his body would have fallen if Benjamin hadn't caught him and gently lowered him. Mike walked through the walls until he was in Steph's room and he went straight to her. Hopefully this would work. He lifted his hand and moved it to Steph's head until he felt a kind of resistance; her aura, her soul, he wasn't sure what it was, but 'touching' a human in this way did allow him to speak to them. He had done so twice before; just hoped it worked the same in Succubi.
Steph, don't say my name and don't react to what I say. But you have to leave, right now. You will be captured if you don't.
Outside her room agents in bullet-proof armour and helmets started to gather...
"It's good you still feel like yourself," Rudrig said. "But are you sure your current feelings of who you are aren't overwritten? You move your new body around as if you always had it. And regardless..." he put his drink down. "A transformation without consent is illegal. Now there is someone higher up who wanted to burn down the spider colony, but I stopped that plan. There is one plan I, unfortunately, couldn't stop. I'm sorry, Rose."
The door opened and five agents entered, all aiming their guns at Rose.
"If you come along peacefully we won't have to hurt you," the leader of the team said.
