I was certain I hadn’t changed my sheets during the night. And I know for sure I don’t sleepwalk. So my blanket and pillow feeling softer than when I had gone to bed last night was extremely unusual. Of course, the softness just made me want to doze off and continue sleeping. Which I was about to do, until I shifted to the side and felt off. Just, off. Not sick, not sweaty, not overheating nor too cold. Just, off. It was at that moment I decided to sit up, not yet opening my eyes. The weight shifting on my chest was unfamiliar. So unfamiliar, in fact, my eyes shot open and I looked down. 

“W-what the hell?!?!” A voice rang out across my apartment. It had come from my throat. I had made it say those words. But the voice that came out was not mine. It made my hand shoot up to my throat, rubbing it and finding no hints of an Adam’s apple. Or any hint of facial hair. I know I’m walking around the big thing, but how would you feel if you woke up with tits the color of coke cans? Pretty freaked out I’d say! I had to figure out all the changes... I threw off my blanket and almost leapt out of bed, until I tripped on my briefs that had managed to slip down my legs.

“Ah, fuck! ugh, wait, my face isn’t touching the floor…?” I got myself off the ground and at last into the bathroom, turning the light on and seeing my reflection. 

The face staring back at me could have been my mom at 19; had she had candy-red skin, black hair, and a pair of stubby, kinda bullet point horns. I had definitely shrunk. And I was definitely looking much more feminine than yesterday. Yes I’m not mentioning that part of my new anatomy, but, it felt weird... It felt weird how right it felt. But with the adrenaline of the original freak out breaking off, and me having time to properly examine myself, I could only laugh. Laugh and cry. My knees gave out, as I now sat on the floor, sobbing and laughing. 

“Whose idea of a joke is this? I can’t be the only guy who gets weird thoughts about being a girl, so why, why did I have to wake up like this? What am I gonna tell dad? What am I gonna tell everyone? I’m screwed!” I leaned to the side and went from sitting on the floor to laying on the floor, sobbing, holding my arms over my chest in a single person hug. How could this have happened in the first place? I laid on the floor and cried for a solid ten minutes, before it hit me. Grease Lord! I peeled myself off the tiles and approached my closet, grabbing a hoodie out of it. At least it was big enough to pretty much count as a dress, even though I was going commando for the rest.

When I knocked on my downstairs neighbor’s door, I wasn’t expecting to hear cartoony sounds of stuff falling over from inside.

“No no no those were organised! Coming! I’m coming hold on!” Oh god I hoped he wasn’t... The door opened to reveal him. Greasy black hair to his shoulders, a t-shirt and jeans with a weird long coat over them, circles under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in a week.

“Yes hell...ooooh...” 

“I know you did this. I don’t know how you did this, but I know you did.” I was holding down the front of the hoodie, making sure I was covered. He opened the door completely, inviting me in. 

“I’ll show you.” I walked by him quickly, as he closed the door and followed me. His apartment was a mess. I felt like Godzilla walking through Tokyo trying to get around his towers of books. Bundles of fabric strung around in places. A coffee table with a closed laptop on it. And my nose caught a whiff of something. Bitter yet sweet. It smelled familiar and different. I had almost followed to smell to the source, if not for Wizard Dude clearing his throat to get my attention. I turned to face him as he gestured to the floor. Okay it wasn’t a Human Transmutation Circle, but still a Transmutation Circle from how it looked, and it had transmuted me a human into a little demon lady.

“Okay, so, last night, I tried like… 50? 50ish different demonic heritage awakening rituals.”

I shot him a look as if he just claimed to be the second coming of Christ. 

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“Why the HELL would you do that?” I threw my arms in the air in frustration, before shooting them down quickly again to pull the hoodie down. It was big on me, but not big enough to avoid pulling up with a specific arm movement. And he caught a glimpse of my downstairs guessing by his blush. Great. 

“Exactly for that reason. Human ability to perform magic is… limited, if you don’t have a patron or a familiar or Other blood.” He walked over to his laptop, opening it. “So, I was hoping that I had some Other blood in me, preferably Nihilim, so that I’d get cool demon powers.” Oh my god, he had a weirdly sexy wolf?boy as his wallpaper. But it was that word that caught me off-guard.

“Nihilim? What the fuck is that?” That smell caught my nose again, it was making me salivate. And from what I could gather it was coming from the… coffee cups from The Question? 

“Term for Child of a Demon. Nephilim is for Child of an Angel, Changeling for Child of Fae.” He noticed me drooling & licking my lips over the cups of coffee now. Why were they so enticing?

“Ah. Okay. So that was the one that worked. You’re free to take one if you’re okay with room temperature coffee.” I took him up on that offer and chugged it down as if I hadn’t drank anything in days. I could barely describe the flavor, but the noise I made after finishing it is not one one should make in polite company. Then again I was around Grease Lord McPotterfuck. Not very polite company. 

“What do you mean the one that worked?” I licked my face clean to make sure no drop escaped me. 

“Well, the last ritual I did required some special ingredients. The others just needed an incantation, probably why they didn’t work. This one though? It asked for a brew of four or more exotic beans in a broth form and the lactations of a bovid.” Wait lactations oh no oh fuck. “So I got a vanilla soy latte with chocolate syrup, plus a hunk of goat’s cheese.” 

“And I’m craving exactly what you said really badly now, which, fuck me, is very very very bad.” I sat down on a chair that somehow managed to peek out from around the books. 

“Why is that bad?” He asked with a concerned look, stepping closer. 

“I’m lactose intolerant!” I shouted at him, making sure not to throw my arms in the air again because I didn’t want to flash The Wizard of Grease again.

“Please tell me you can change me back and fix that.” I rubbed my face, not used to the sensation of touching horns there, or how smooth and soft my face felt. Ugh! So annoying that I’d have to give up the smooth and soft feeling when I changed back. I liked that part at least... 

“Well…” He stood there for a second, obviously thinking, before he dove into his piles of books like an Olympic swimmer and emerged with a specific tome. “Let me check, let me check- ah yes here it is! Nihilim once awakened can swap between their awakened and unawakened state at will. Since Demonic magic is more based in emotions and such.” I sighed and got off the chair, standing in the middle of the room. 

“So what now? Do I just will myself back?” I shrugged and he shrugged back. 

“I guess? Just like, think transformy thoughts. Supposed to be like a muscle you train. Let me look for something while you try it...” I rolled my eyes at him as he dove into the fabric piles this time around, and I focused. Trying to focus all of my energies on becoming me again. On becoming me. I was humming. I was ohming. I was making goofy faces. I started making different poses. 

“It’s not working! Why isn’t it working?!” I shouted towards the wizard, as he poked his head out of a pile, some clothes covering it. 

“What’re you focusing on?” He adjusted his glasses, oh right yeah he wore glasses of course the dweeb wore glasses. 

“On becoming me again?” I shrugged, and he hummed, rubbing his chin that had about six hairs desperately trying to become a beard on it. I noticed him mumbling something to himself, but I didn’t catch what. 

“Try focusing on becoming human again instead, ‘me’ might be too vague for the powers.” Too vague? What do you mean too vague? You’re too vague Dumbledore’s Emo High School Phase. But I did as he suggested, focusing on becoming human once more. And, to my surprise, a large pillar of fire appeared around me in a flash, scaring me half to death. But as it fell off, I rubbed my forehead and found no sign of horns.

“It worked! Hell yes it worked!” I threw my hands in the air, as wizard guy popped out again and immediately turned away. 

“Yes, it indeed did, and you were not wearing any, uhm, underwear I see.” Oh. Right. Fuck. Mister Donnellan was on full display. Gotta sort that out. Soon!

Unbeknownst to both Peter and his neighbor, however, someone else had felt his demonic awakening last night. Somebody both excited and supremely terrified at the prospect of an awakened Nihilim out in the open…